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Abstract Critical Infrastructure Protection is a relatively new scientific domain stemming from an American Presidential directive PDD-63 of May 1998. Critical Infrastructure (CI) performance and protection are national priorities for all European Union (EU) countries following the introduction of the EU Directive 2008/114/EC, which takes an all hazards approach. This paper has an international focus. At the global and European level, the interest in identifying the impacts of climate change on CIs and extreme weather events (EWE) has increased in the last decades, following several high-profile so-called natural disasters. Concern is evidenced by the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EU Commission’s Staff Working Document on Risk Assessment and Mapping; Guidelines for Disaster Management, SEC (2010) 1626. This paper presents and discusses scientific work which has been published in this area, with a focus on energy CI. The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on energy CI are initially identified. Important aspects in CI protection such as risk assessment, interdependencies with other sectors, and adaptation/resilience options are subsequently presented and discussed.

The effects of clinostating on physiological processes and biochemical characteristics of wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L.) both healthy and infected by the wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) were studied. In six experiments, each lasting over 30 days, healthy and infected plants of the dwarf Apogee variety were grown under conditions of continuous horizontal and vertical clinostating with 2 rpm at 21 +/- 2 degrees C and 6000 1x (the optimal moisture of a substrate being maintained). The control variants (healthy and infected) were simultaneously grown under the same conditions of temperature and illumination in stationary containers and in open pots. During the experiment, visual observations were carried out over the state of tested plants. After completing the experiment, biometric indices, pigment, carbohydrate and dry matter contents were determined in all the plants. It was shown that clinostating sharply reduced the reproductive function of healthy plants and considerably affected their biomass (productivity) and concentration of chlorophylls and sugars. The viral infection resulted in further reduction of these characteristics. In control variants the viral effect was more significant. We speculate that clinostating reduced the rate of reproduction and spread of the virus.

PurposeThe world society as a whole and Ukraine are realizing that climate change and decarbonization are critical issues. This study aims to determine whether the aviation and transportation industries in Ukraine have rearranged their priorities as a result of this investigation. The process of decarbonization and adaptation begins with a legislative point of view and then moves on to technology, improvements, infrastructure, energy and emissions stages to meet the primary goals.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of the content of the literature about decarbonization and the legislation and application processes for airport de-carbonization in Ukraine. The study focuses on the landing and take-off cycle of the airports. The statistics on the transportation of the Ukrainian territory have been looked at over time to determine whether or not there have been any shifts.FindingsThere are significant reduction figures found in the Poltava region. Double-figure emissions reductions in four years of series are 5.9%, 41.0% and 19.3%, in the respective years of 2018, 2019 and 2020, which is a 55.3% reduction compared with 2020 to 2017.Practical implicationsBecause the transportation industry and aviation generate a significant amount of carbon dioxide, steps must be taken to cut emissions. The decarbonization process ought to proceed in the form of a series of actions to achieve carbon reduction goals with a broader range of participants. In addition, an aviation subsidy for biofuels may be required to initiate the shift by having the taxation change.Originality/valueAs far as the literature surveys, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive Ukrainian decarbonization analysis that considers legislation, technology, improvements, infrastructure, energy and emissions in addition to just those four categories.

Protected areas are necessary for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. Wildfires are major threats to forests and other natural areas, because they may cause irreversible damages. The aim of this study was to analyze the perspective of experts (N = 284), from six countries of the Black Sea, on the current status and problems of protected areas and wildfires. Understanding their points of view could enhance future management on these issues in the region. Data collection was carried out for 9 months, using a web-based questionnaire. Wildfires were perceived as a serious problem in Turkey, Armenia and Greece but as a substantially less serious problem in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. In Greece, Armenia, and especially Ukraine, the current designated protected areas are considered sufficient to maintain biodiversity, while in Romania, Turkey, and especially Moldova, more areas should be designated as protected. A major need in all countries (except for Turkey) is the increased use of information and communication technologies for both wildfire suppression and protected area management. Experts were divided on whether wildfire suppression and management of protected areas are interconnected. However, there is growing awareness of the adverse impacts of climate change in protected areas and the frequency of wildfires in the future. The most frequently suggested measures to alleviate these impacts were: changes in forest management and increasing public awareness for wildfire suppression, along with changes in forest management and increased staff training to enhance protected area conservation.

The thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha ferments glucose and xylose to ethanol at high temperatures. However, H. polymorpha cannot utilize starchy materials or xylans. Heterologous amylolytic and xylanolytic enzymes have to be expressed in this yeast to provide for utilization and growth on starch and xylan. Genes SWA2 and GAM1 from the yeast Schwanniomyces occidentalis, encoding alpha-amylase and glucoamylase, respectively, were expressed in H. polymorpha. The expression was achieved by integration of the SWA2 and GAM1 genes under the strong constitutive promoter of the H. polymorpha glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (HpGAP) into H. polymorpha genome. Resulting transformants acquired the ability to grow on a minimal medium containing soluble starch as a sole carbon source. Ethanol production at high-temperature fermentation from starch by the recombinant strains was up to 10 g/L. The XYN2 gene encoding endoxylanase of the fungus Trichoderma reseei was expressed in H. polymorpha. Co-expression of xlnD gene coding for beta-xylosidase of the fungus Aspergillus niger and the XYN2 gene in H. polymorpha was achieved by integration of these genes under control of the HpGAP promoter. Resulting transformants were capable of growth and alcoholic fermentation on a minimal medium supplemented with birchwood xylan as a sole carbon source at 48 degrees C.

The Ghana Nuclear Power Agenda is a program laid out by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in collaboration with the government of Ghana to guide and facilitate the installation of Ghana’s first ever nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant is expected to generate between 1000 and 12,800 MW of electricity from its inception to the final installations in a span of 20 years. Ghana's Third National Communication (TNC) Report to the UNFCCC indicates 59 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2e) emission in 2011. Between 1991 and 2011, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew by 20% as energy intensity of the economy rose alongside with a growing demand in industry, transport and households. If nothing is done to curtail GHG emissions from its major sources such as transport and fossil-source energy in Ghana, the looming catastrophe of the changing climate will occur faster than we imagine. Nuclear power has been cited as environmentally friendly (zero-to-low carbon emission), efficient and sustainable source of energy that works down on CO2 emission. It offers current and future energy needs without burdening future generations with a broken environment. Using Crystal Ball simulation model, the current study estimates a cumulative increase (35%) in CO2 emission in a span of ten years without nuclear power in Ghana’s energy mix. With the inclusion of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix, the model estimates CO2 emission cut by 12.5% for the same period, and 18.2% in 20 years. Thus, given the same period of time, the rate of emission of CO2 was found to be more than twice its reduction.

Abstract This paper studies the effect of mechanical pretreatment of NPKCa-containing waste (vegetable waste VW and thickened sewage activated sludge TSAS) on biogas production and agronomic quality of the digestates. The efficiency of this process was evaluated by the yield of methane during anaerobic co-digestion with bioadditive (cheese whey), as well as the nutrients content in digestates by using an agrochemical test. It was found that with increasing comminution intensity the particle size of the substrate decreases from 50 to 16 μm which causes an increase in biogas yield by ~30%. As a result, the carbon content in the digestates decreases from 72 to 44%, whereas nutrients content increases by, %TS: N – 3.4; P – 3.7; K – 3.7; Ca – 7.6. The grinded substrate was used for anaerobic digestion with the addition of various amounts of cheese whey. Obtained digestates have a stimulating effect on the growth of barley and peas plants. In particular, digestion with 3 wt% of whey had the maximum impact on plant yield (+0.3–0.4 t ha−1 compared to control). Moreover, the combination of vigorous comminution with the addition of whey leads to a significant reduction in the fermentation duration (up to 4 times) and increases biogas production by 41%. Obtained digestates can be considered as organo-mineral fertilizers since they contain up to 43% of the total amount of NPKCa and meet the requirements for the content of heavy metals under Ukrainian legislation.

Presowing seed treatment in a magnetic field allows increasing the crops yield, reduce the plants incidence and improve the products quality. The magnetic induction and the movement velocity in the magnetic field should be maintained at an optimum level during the seed treatment process. For this purpose, the electrotechnological complex was developed that consists of four pairs of permanent magnets and the transporter with electric drive. The change of the electric drive angular velocity of the transporter is affected by the load shift and the supply voltage change. For the transporter electric drive dynamics analysis an analytical expression for the drive drum efforts was obtained, which made it possible to determine the transporter mechanical characteristics for seeds of different crops and the electric drive power. The approximation of the transporter loading diagram on separate sections by linear functions is proposed, then the analytical expressions describing electromechanical transients in the electric drive could be obtained. The deviation of the electric drive angular velocity from the optimum value does not exceed 3.3% (with the load changes), and 1% (with a voltage permissible variation). The development method of electrotechnological complex for presowing seeds processing by magnetic field was described in the paper, the yield increasing of agricultural crops by it application based on previous researches is near 25–40%.

The production of bread with addition of selenium-enriched soya malt was studied. Processing of this soya malt included soaking of the soya beans in the solution of hydroselenite with concentration 1.5 mg Se/L (20 μg of Se per 1 g of soya beans), then 4 days of beans germination at 20 °C, drying at 50 °C until moisture content 8%, separation from the sprouts and grinding. The soya malt was a powder containing 15-18 μg of Se in 1 g. The accumulated selenium was mainly in the protein fraction of soya malt. Addition of selenium-enriched soya malt to leaven intensified activity of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. The quality of the wheat bread with selenium-enriched soya malt was better than that of the bread in control. The enriched bread had specific pleasant smell and soft texture. The daily intake of 277 g of bread with the selenium-enriched soya malt, which is added in quantity of 1.0-1.75% to mass of plain flour, ensures the consumption of 30-50% of selenium recommended daily allowance for 17 million population of the northern and northwestern Ukraine.