A History of Materials and Technologies Development

The purpose of the book is to provide the students with the text that presents an introductory knowledge about the development of materials and technologies and includes the most commonly available information on human development. The idea of the publication has been generated referring to the materials taken from the organic and non-organic evolution of nature. The suggested texts might be found a purposeful tool for the University students proceeding with studying engineering due to the fact that all subjects in this particular field more or less have to cover the history and development of the studied object. It is expected that studying different materials and technologies will help the students with a better understanding of driving forces, positive and negative consequences of technological development, etc

Heavy metal contamination of river water: sources, behaviour and remediation

Pollution from metal mining has led to severe environmental damage. The assessment of metals is very complex as they interact with a broad spectrum of biotic and abiotic components depending on physicochemical conditions. Worldwide, discharges from ancient mines are considered one of the major causes of point and diffuse pollution. This thesis investigated the sources and mobility of metal pollution associated with historical mining in a carboniferous upland catchment, located in the Northern Pennines in the UK. From chemical analysis and geochemical modelling I identified metal sulphates and metal carbonates as the main mineral sources of metals. I also demonstrated that metal carbonates are controlling metal mobility, while seasonality is also producing changes in flow and pH conditions, affecting metal concentrations and behaviour. By using speciation modelling, ecotoxicological assessment tools and in situ macroinvertebrate survey I highlighted the dynamics of metals occurring in neutral mine drainage; and suggested the application of environmental quality standards based on bioavailability data within a realistic context relating response of aquatic organisms to river water chemistry and metals. I also evaluated the effects of episodic rainfall on aqueous metal mobility and toxicity to address some knowledge gaps. I found that rainfall conditions did not alter the circumneutral conditions of the catchment, although metal mobility and speciation were affected by the abundance of carbonate and bicarbonate minerals derived from bedrock weathering. I showed that metal toxicity occurred at circumneutral pH, and mainly attributable to zinc. Moreover, I assessed the effects of episodic rainfall in metal toxicity and calculations revealed that short-term fluctuations of metal concentrations are not reflected in the predicted acute toxicity risk to aquatic organisms, underlining the complexity of chemical speciation especially during episodic events. Likewise, I provided a baseline for future mitigation strategies for catchments under risk of metal pollution. Finally, I stressed the importance of the public perception and community involvement in a holistic management of catchments for protecting riverine ecosystems and improving their water quality. Overall, this thesis provides the evidence that a comprehensive metal assessment requires a great understanding of processes and reactions occurring from metal sources to potential endpoint environments (e.g. water, sediments, and biota). For regulatory purposes, technical knowledge needs to be sensibly transferred to the community for achieving an effective integrated catchment management. Findings from this thesis are suitable for the assessment of streams draining spoil waste areas with similar geochemical conditions and inform future management strategies

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen