Soil erosion is a major environmental concern because of its devastating effects on agriculture and food production worldwide. In our research, we developed a sophisticated and effective model to predict soil erosion risk and developed a risk map to aid decision making to address earth surface degradation as a means to preserve soil. We describe the modeling process adopting the ICONA (Instituto Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza) model, in conjunction with an Analytic Hierarchy Process referred to as the AHP, together with the application of a geodatabase and remote sensing data for the Rudbar basin, Guilan Province, Iran. The basin is highly sensitive to soil erosion. With advances in remote sensing and GIS, challenges of conventional methods can be overcome such as the time-consuming and data-intensive identification of soil erosion-prone areas. The land slope, the lithofacies, land-use/cover, vegetation cover, and a digital elevation model (DEM) were our key layer input
The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors affecting fire accidents in high-rise residential buildings in the Emirate of Sharjah in order to find solutions that contribute to reducing injuries and deaths from fire accidents. A large urban expansion of the Emirate of Sharjah has taken place in the form of high-rise buildings, and the Emirate is now third in the UAE in terms of the number of high-rise buildings and is home to 19% of the population. As a consequence, an increase in the rate of fire accidents has also been observed. As such, there is a need to conduct research on enhancing fire safety in high-rise buildings by conducting a literature review, in which nineteen factors affecting fire globally were identified. Because the fire characteristic is unique in every country, to identify the nature of fire in the Emirate of Sharjah, we consulted sixteen subject matter experts in the field of fire in the Emirate of Sharjah to identify the factors applicable to the
In recent years, changes in demographic structure have been observed worldwide. To sustain the growing population of elderly people with special needs, homes need a radical rethink both in designing new houses and in retrofitting new solutions to existing houses. Designs that facilitate aging in place, designs that maintain thermal comfort, and designs that have net-zero energy demands and low to zero to negative carbon footprints are needed. The article discusses the issues of construction for the elderly. The trends in the demographic development of society in selected countries are presented. Additionally, information on the housing stock for elderly people in Poland is provided. The carbon dioxide emission limits to mitigate climate change make it necessary to find an alternative to concrete and steel, traditional construction materials. In this context, Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) fulfills the sustainability requirements. However, to select the suitable panel a detailed analysis