The COVID-19 - An Agent for Bioterrorism?

Bioterrorism is a form of terrorism where there is intentional release of biological agent (bacteria, virus, fungi or other germs) to cause harm, illness or death of people, livestock and crops. It is an unlawful use of microorganisms to inflict various forms of harm/harmful incidence or injuries in humans, whole population and environment. There are reasons why this COVID-19 global pandemic appears to represent a deliberate act of Bioterrorism. This is occurring at a critical time in the worldwide especially in times of US presidential election cycle. It appears to be worse in males which have implications for military which might be seen as a biological weapon. This has created a market whiplash the large pullback in markets. COVID-19 represents a tremendous opportunity for investment and wealth redistribution like Swine flu pandemic in 2008-2009 when fortunes were made during that recovery.

Fighting Insurgency, Ruining the Environment: the Case of Forest Fires in the Dersim Province of Turkey

Environmental destruction has long been used as a military strategy in times of conflict. A long-term example of environmental destruction in a conflict zone can be found in Dersim/Tunceli province, located in Eastern Turkey. In the last century, at least two military operations negatively impacted Dersim’s population and environment: 1937–38 and 1993–94. Both conflict and environmental destruction in the region continued after the 1990s. Particularly after July 2015, when the brief peace process that began in 2013 ended, conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) resumed and questions arose about the cause of forest fires in Dersim. In this research we investigate whether there is a relationship between conflict and forest fires in Dersim. This is denied by the Turkish state but asserted by many Dersim residents, civil society groups, and political parties. We use a multi-disciplinary approach, combining methods of qualitative analysis of print media (newspapers), social media (Twitter), and local accounts, together with quantitative methods: remote sensing and spatial analysis. Interdisciplinary analysis combining quantitative datasets with in-depth, qualitative data allows a better understanding of the role of conflict in potentially exacerbating the frequency and severity of forest fires. Although we cannot determine the cause of the fires, the results of our statistical analysis suggest a significant relationship between fires and conflict in Dersim, indicating that the incidence of conflicts is generally correlated with the number of fires.

Comparative Study on Relative Fossil Energy Carrying Capacity in China and the United States

Based on resource carrying capacity, this study used the revised theory of relative resource carrying capacity (RRCC) and introduced an innovative concept of relative fossil energy carrying capacity (RFECC), which evaluates the degree of fossil energy sustainability based on the relationship between economy, population, and environment. This study took China and the United States as the study objects, took the whole country as the reference area, and calculated the RFECC of population, economic, and environmental resources from 2000 to 2018. Therefore, based on the comparative analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: (i) there is a big difference in the RFECC between China and the United States, which is manifested in the inverted U-shaped trend in China and the U-shaped trend in the United States; (ii) the relative fossil energy carrying states in China and the United States are different, mainly reflected in the economy and environment; (iii) the gap in RFECC between China and the United States has gradually widened; in general, China’s economic RFECC is better than that of the United States, while environmental RFECC and population RFECC in the United States is better than that of China; and (iv) coal and oil should be used as a breakthrough point for the sustainable fossil energy and sustainable development for China and the United States, respectively.

Investigation of a cluster of decompression sickness cases following a high-altitude chamber flight

Although relatively safe, hypoxia exposure is a mandatory training requirement for aircrew that carries the risk of decompression sickness (DCS). Usually DCS affects only one individual at a time. Here, a cluster of three simultaneous cases is reported. Since these numbers were well in excess of the usually encountered incidence rate, the purpose of this work was to identify the most likely reasons using the epidemic DCS investigation framework which involves four main considerations: time; place; population; and environment. Based on time and place observations, this cluster clearly falls into the individual-based classification, where the environment is a primary concern. Indeed, equipment analysis allowed us to identify the most likely reason for two out of three cases (perforations in the oro-nasal oxygen masks worn during training). It led to replacement of damaged equipment and modification of teaching to prevent such damage. It is recommended that this investigative template may be used for any future occurrences of DCS in clusters.

Justification of Requirements to the Volume of the Start-Up Complex of Technical Means of Radiation Control During the Physical Start-Up of Novovoronezh NPP-2 Power Units

The physical start-up is a stage of the power unit commissioning, which includes reactor core fuelling, achieving the first criticality and completion of all required tests and measurements at the power level. At the stages of physical start-up the priority task is to determine the scope of radiation monitoring equipment, put into operation and sufficient for absolute safety assurance and unambiguous assessment of the power unit radiation exposure of personnel, population and environment.

Management of Sars-Cov-2 Medical Waste Against a Covid19 Pandemic in Indonesia: A Literature Review

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 RNA transmission in wastewater has a risk of fecal transmission ofSARS-CoV-2 to humans and the environment. Despite the increasing number of cases in almostall areas in Indonesia, the study to review and evaluate waste management resulted from medicalfacilities is still limited and less explored. This literature review aims to analyze the applicabilityof WHO guidelines on wastewater management to be implemented in Indonesia. Scientific paperswere collected from several electronic databases such as PubMed, PLoS, Researchgate, WHO,Elsevier, Science, SARS-CoV-2, Covid19, and wastewater. The articles were selected based on theinclusion criteria that use SARS-CoV-2, Covid19, and wastewater as the main variables observed.The articles published before 2013 were excluded from this review. Discussion: Wastewatermonitoring of SARS-CoV-2 within medical and health facilities is implemented to identify thevirus’s presence as the causative agent of Covid19 disease, which contaminated the environmentand society. The results of the analysis in wastewater can be used to determine the infectioncontrol in health facilities while also beneficial in formulating the monitoring of environmentalimpacts caused by the waste. These efforts would support policies or interventions based on publichealth by applying social distances, locking, quarantine areas that aim to break the Covid19transmission. Conclusion: Briefly, by considering the urgency of Covid19 pandemic containmentand control measures of transmission in health facilities, population and environment. It is a wastemanagement guideline that is highly required to be implemented based on public health aspects.

Risk Analysis and Route Optimization of Dangerous Goods Transportation Based on the Empirical Path Set

Based on the empirical path set generated from the track data of dangerous goods vehicles, we present a new method for the risk analysis and path optimization of dangerous goods transportation. First of all, by exploring the travel rules of dangerous goods transport vehicles hidden in the track data, combined with the path set generation algorithm, the method of determining the empirical path set of dangerous goods transport is studied. Secondly, based on the empirical path set, mainly considering the travel rules of vehicles and people on the road, as well as the distribution of population and environment-sensitive areas along the road, a dual objective path selection model is proposed to comprehensively measure the risk and cost of road transportation under time-varying conditions. On this basis, given the principle of avoiding high-risk transportation paths, a comprehensive method of integrating multiple algorithms is proposed to solve the model. Finally, taking a road network as an example, the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified. The method proposed takes both practicability and safety into account. Based on the experience path set, considering the time-varying characteristics, the decision-maker could choose the appropriate transportation path of dangerous goods according to different preferences, so as to better solve the problem of path selection for dangerous goods transportation.