Venice: A Fragile Destination

Flooding is one of the starkest environmental disasters which can wreck havocs in a nation. Venice, a beautiful destination for tourism might likely disappear if appropriate action and measures are not taken by the government to arrest the situations.

Venice is one of the world's island regions covered almost completely by water. The city of Venice is located within 118 minor islands that are linked with the bridges and separated by canals. The beauty of this situation is its artworks and architecture characterization that distinguish it. The flood tides that often threaten comes in from the Adriatic between autumn and the beginning of spring.

Venice has been experiencing flood disaster for a longtime. The renowned tourist region of Italy suffered a great deal from the effect of floods. Tourists had to attach plastic bags to their legs to take a dip in St. Mark's Square on Sunday when sea water rose beyond normal and gushed through the city. The water heights during the disaster extend to 1.49 meters that are about 5 feet. This goes beyond the normal range of the Adriatic Sea. The disaster was also accompanied by bad weather that took a toll on Italy during the weekend.

According to history, the recent acquaalta (Venice’s high water) is the sixth highest flood disaster since 1872. The flood took over the entire city and its peak reached several meters upwards. Many residents of the Italian city left the city mainland and relocated to other regions

Venice is under great threat of extreme storm waves and if careful measures are not taken to minimize the environmental disaster, it is likely that Venice might disappear. The proposed water level rise as a feature of international warming. On the expedition by the water level researcher, significant evidences were predicted that there is a fast change in the water. Research on regional systems like sediment compaction and anthropogenic processes revealed the concept of Vertical Ground Motion (VGM). This holds for the vital situations of Venice, and some other regions, which are specifically subjected to the present sea level surge. VGM is a significant issue for anthropisation of the seaside locations that are subjected to the current water level increase, which occurs at 2-3 mm/yr. typically, but, that spatially differs by numerous mm/yr.  VGM might help to understand their different reasons and contribute to the resolution of such a crucial social challenge. Recognizing the causes of VGM and anticipating their impacts is a probability, however, uncertainty continues to be large. In addition, anthropogenic causes, tectonics, mantle mechanics, volcanism, and glaciers modifications are amongst the major contributors in charge of upright ground motion. Anthropogenic reasons feature hydrocarbon or water pumping. Venice sediment deprivation is due to river diversion, dams and irrigation.

 There is need to take into consideration different factors because of their effect on the morphology, the function of structural task or volcanism is conceptually simple at energetic plate margins, although it is occasionally challenging to quantify. Mantle flow regularly forms the strong Earth by customizing the heterogeneous distribution of its interior masses. On the long-term, vibrant topography, i.e. the departure of the Earth's surface area from a static stability as a feedback to the viscous flow in the mantle, affects all components of the world with a magnitude that may go beyond 1000 m. As a remedial measure, the dike construction like Maldives can well fit in into Venice in order to control the action of flood. 

YOUR CHILDREN COULD END UP OVERWEIGHT BECAUSE OF THE AIR YOU BREATHE!

It appears that certain chemicals polluting the air that pregnant mothers breathe could be the cause of their babies developing a tendency to put on weight all along their lives. A study undertaken in the city of New York demonstrates that exposure of pregnant women to diesel exhaust can predispose the children to obesity.

Diesel Smoke:Threat for Man and his Environment

This human study in New York, focusing on prenatal exposure to diesel exhaust, demonstrates that that a pregnant women exposed to concentrations such as those found in major cities has twice as many chances of seeing her child and up overweight or obese. Robin Whyatt, deputy director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental health says: "Not only was their body mass higher, but it was higher due to body fat rather than bone or lean muscle mass".

The chemicals responsible for such actions have been identified. What can affect the future weight of your children are the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mostly called the PAHs? These complex and almost unbreakable chemicals are a petrol derivatives molecules. Whyatts’s and colleague Rundle’s works tend to show that PAHs might affect the functioning of fat cells.

Rundle explains: “Fat cells are like a storage container for lipids. As they swell, they get heavier because more is being stored. When you start to exercise or diet, the fat cells are supposed to release lipids; that’s how you lose weight. There’s some data showing PAHs interfere with that process”. Scientists believe that PAHs count among the chemicals that can act like estrogen and disrupt your body’s hormonal pathways are concentrations. “Estrogen is … extremely important during fetal development and the reproductive system” Whaytt says.

The study by Rundle and Whyatt was published in April 2013 in the American Journal of Epidemiology. It states evidence related to what the scientific world was already suspecting after similar researches have been going on and testing the actions of such molecules on animal cells. Rundle and Whyatt have exposed pregnant mice to PAHs, and the results clearly demonstrate that the progeny of the group of mice exposed ended up significantly fatter than mice treated normally.

PAHs are a group of over 100 different chemicals with various sources. The most common sources of PAHs are burning coal, oil, gas, tobacco and general and industrial waste. The amount of sources and the concentration in the air are becoming seriously worrying in some places, like big busy urban areas. PAHs can even be found in the air as a result of burning candles or incense sticks. You can even inhale some when you are barbecuing or grilling some food! Of course, the largest part that is reject into our environment is the result of our use of refined petrol, especially diesel products it seems. PAHs just seem to be everywhere!

Along with PAHs, the air we breathe, the water we drink and bathe in, and the earth we use to grow and produce our food are all getting seriously infected with byproducts of Man’s activity; and a lot of them are harmful not only for the environment, but for our bodies too. And gaining weight abnormally certainly isn’t the worst thing pollution can do to you…

CARDIO TRAINING TO LOSE WEIGHT!

The final results in terms of lost weight by physical exercise really depend only on a few things. And one of them is how this specific exercise affects your heart rate; in other words the most cardio training your exercise is, the more likely you are to reduce the amount of fat in your body.

Exercising is just like anything else in this world; it just has to be done right for it to work. And depending on what your aims are, you will pick specifically the type of exercise the best suited for prevailing condition. And as far as weight loss is concerned, there's one important thing you should not forget when picking the physical activity you want to and to your diet and other weight loss program tools: cardio.

CLASSICAL DANCE- AN ART FOR WEIGHT LOSS!

Dance increases the rate of the body absorbs in oxygen and eject carbon dioxide and other toxins. The forms of classical dance work as a vibrant workout for muscles in the body by increasing cardiovascular endurance. It gives similar results workouts in gyms. As a matter of fact, classical dance is an art having exercise of every part of the body. Artistic vibration/or movement of hips, legs, belly, shoulders all contribute in fitness make a belly flat and control of weight,

The dancing activity helps with stress management, improving overall health and well-being. There are different forms of dance like hiphop, latin, jazz, freestyle and classical which use a lot of body movement, technique and energy. An hour of a dance session can help to burn 200-400 calories in the body.

Art of Dancing to Lose Weight

Bharatnatyam is a classical dance form from Tamil Nadu. It has slow and lightning fast movements leaps, intricate footwork and neck movements. It involves extensive use of ankles, neck and abdomen, along with the ligaments and associated muscles which support to tone up muscles. This form of classical dance helps with weight loss, strengthen the bones and muscles in legs and hips and lower the risk of heart diseases.

Madhav, a trainer of classical dance stated that Odissi, another form of classical dance benefits the body in helping losing weight. He further commented that stretching positions which starts toning up muscles gradually can burn 250 calories by an hour practicing Odissi dance. Regular dancing will help improving posture and muscle strength, maintaining strong bones, beating stress and increasing balance.

Mrigank A., the head of Physiotherapy Department at Tamanna NGO, commented that all dance forms have the ability to assist in raising cardiovascular endurance which affects further improvement of longevity of lungs and heart. But classical dance has better results at toning lower thighs and limbs and calf muscles. He further pointed out that regular practicing of classical dances will help in keeping the body well-toned, and Kathak, Odissi and Bharatnatyam are better at toning the lower limbs.

Total Ownership Cost of Hybrid Vehicle: Save Money & Be Environmental Friendly

The hybrid electric vehicles are vehicles that utilize energy from different resources including electric grid and having tendancy to replace petroleum as a source of energy.Hybrid electric vehicles are also one of these hybrid vehicles having minimized energy consumption and emissions including carbon dioxide comparative to traditional vehicles. Battery size, cost,weight, and its life cycle are important concerns in Total Ownership Cost (TCO). Payback period is also important while making calculations for purchasing cost of hybrid vehicles. Although,it is true,that hybrid vehicles have a higher manufacturing cost in comparison with traditional vehicles.

Many studies have investigated to evaluate hybrid electrical vehicles based on the fuel economy and initial costs  in 2010 including Fisker Karma and Toyota Prius in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The results showed  variations in the context of model and assumptions associated with benefits and cost calculation. The initial cost varies  between $:4600 and $:9100. Moreover, maintenance and salvage value were not incorporated as a component of TCO.          

To calculate TCO, average electricity consumption and fuel for different driving distances can be taken into account. The studies reported average power usage of about 15 kWh/100 km for the CD-mode and traction electricity is offered mostly by an internal combustion engine in CS-mode, so the typical power usage over the entire driving range reduced, where the average energy intake was improving. The outcomes for energy intake of the hybrid electric cars are dramatically higher compared with the EREV especially for greater electric battery sizes. The calculated energy intake was 135 MJ/100 km for a battery size of 5 kWh, which represented the configuration of Toyota Prius-PHEV. For this instance, the share of usage for electrical power from grid and fuel were determined as 15 % and 85 %, respectively. The consumed electricity expense for electrical energy and fuel were calculated based on the electricity intake and the assumed costs of the power service providers. In addition, studies showed that the energy cost decrease by increasing size of battery size..

Based on model developed  energy cost for hybrid car is 0.68/Km

So, TCO based on fuel consumption for 100000 Km = $6826

Gasoline consumption of Toyota Corolla with same features =10000liter

Gasoline price on the 31st  July 2014= $1.279/liter (App.)

Hence, total fuel cost for conventional vehicle for travel distance of 100000 Km =$12790

In short, it is evident from the above TCO calculations that the hybrid vehicles are more economical with half operating cost apart from environmental friendly. The user may enjoy benefits by exemption of the carbon tax and same them them from fluctuating fuel prices.