Assessing the impact of sea level rise on the Indus delta in Pakistan: A comprehensive analysis of flooded areas and future vulnerabilities.

This research investigates the impact of sea level rise (SLR) on the Indus Delta, a vital ecosystem increasingly vulnerable to climate change repercussions. The objective of this study is to comprehensively assess the flooded areas under various shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report. The study employs a GIS-based bathtub model, utilizing historical (1995-2014) and IPCC-projected (2020-2150) tide gauge data from Karachi, Kandla, and Okha stations to identify potential inundated areas threatened by coastal flooding. Additionally, it analyzes LANDSAT-derived multispectral images to identify coastal erosion hotspots and changes in the landscape. A supervised random forest classifier is used to classify major landforms and understand alterations in land cover. Furthermore, neural network-based cellular automata simulations are applied to predict future land cover for 2050, 2100, and 2150 at risk of inundation. The results indicate that under different SSP scenarios, the estimated inundated land area varies from 307.36 km2 (5 % confidence on SSP1-1.9) to 7150.8 km2 (95 % confidence on SSP5-8.5). By 2150, the region will lose over 550 km2 of agricultural land and 535 km2 of mangroves (mean SLR projection). This work emphasizes identifying sensitive land cover for SLR-induced coastal flooding. It might fuel future policy and modeling endeavors to reduce SLR uncertainty and build effective coastal inundation mitigation methods.

Assessing demographic and economic vulnerabilities to sea level rise in Bangladesh via a nighttime light-based cellular automata model.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6) forecasts a sea level rise (SLR) of up to 2 m by 2100, which poses significant risks to regional geomorphology. As a country with a rapidly developing economy and substantial population, Bangladesh confronts unique challenges due to its extensive floodplains and 720 km-long Bay of Bengal coastline. This study uses nighttime light data to investigate the demographic repercussions and potential disruptions to economic clusters arising from land inundation attributable to SLR in the Bay of Bengal. By using geographical information system (GIS)-based bathtub modeling, this research scrutinizes potential risk zones under three selected shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios. The analysis anticipates that between 0.8 and 2.8 thousand km2 of land may be inundated according to the present elevation profile, affecting 0.5-2.8 million people in Bangladesh by 2150. Moreover, artificial neural network (ANN)-based cellular automata modeling is used to determine economic clusters at risk from SLR impacts. These findings emphasize the urgency for land planners to incorporate modeling and sea inundation projections to tackle the inherent uncertainty in SLR estimations and devise effective coastal flooding mitigation strategies. This study provides valuable insights for policy development and long-term planning in coastal regions, especially for areas with a limited availability of relevant data.

The Race to Replace PDE5i: Recent Advances and Interventions to Treat or Manage Erectile Dysfunction: Evidence from Patent Landscape (2016-2021).

For a few decades, globally, erectile dysfunction (ED) has become more prominent even in young adults and represents a mounting health concern causing a significant effect on men's quality of life. There is an expectation that by the end of 2025, the number of ED cases can rise to 322 million. We aimed to comprehensively analyze the scientific output of scholarly articles and studies in the field of ED (2016-2021). Data from scholarly articles were collected using Pubmed, and clinical trials-related information was accessed from the clinical trials website. An extensive patent search was conducted using databases such as USPTO (United States patent and trademark office) and EPO (European patent office), WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), etc. Owing to the high market value of ED drugs, considerable interest was attained to grab the opportunities. The race to replace the phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5 inhibitor-PDE5i) can be identified as evident from the significant number of patents filed and the inventions cleared with clinical trials. Some other intriguing interventions are identified for ED treatment but have yet to gain public acceptance. The current analysis confirms the overall evolution and unexplored corners of research on ED treatment strategies with a current global projection.

Recycling of food waste to produce chicken feed and liquid fertiliser.

Most of the food waste (FW) generated by commercial activities and the majority of household FW is collected as part of general waste, which is either incinerated or landfilled. There is an increasing interest in the collection of FW as a separate waste stream and use it for the production of compost or recovery of energy through anaerobic digestion (AD) or pyrolysis. This study focused on using FW to produce chicken feed and liquid fertiliser (CFLF). The food waste samples were collected from food related businesses such as service club, café, restaurant, bakery and supermarket. The CFLF process was used to produce chicken feed pellets containing 19% of protein content, which is within the range of 16 to 22% of most commercial chicken feed pellets and within the National Research Council (NRC) recommended range of 15 to 23%. The liquid extract derived from CFLF process had high nutrient concentrations similar to those present in the feed solution used in hydroponic systems. Hence, the liquid extract from CFLF can be used to replace the commercial liquid fertiliser used in hydroponic systems. Environmental impact analysis of CFLF process using GaBi life cycle analysis (LCA) software indicated that the CFLF process can yield environmental credits for 15 out of 19 categories of impacts considered in the analysis. The measured environmental credits were significantly higher than the other disposal options such as, anaerobic digestion (AD), incineration and landfill.

Sea outfall disposal of stormwater in Doha Bay: Risk assessment based on dispersion modelling.

A 3D numerical hydrodynamic and dispersion study was carried out using the MIKE3 Hydrodynamic model to assess the dispersion of stormwater effluents discharged from the four sea outfalls into Doha bay area in Qatar. Dispersion simulations were carried out for three scenarios: dry weather, representative storm event and first flush. Input parameters (such as temperature, salinity, total suspended solids, total Nitrogen and Faecal coliform) for the dispersion simulation were defined from measurements obtained during representative events for each scenario of interest. Results show that variation of temperature and salinity mostly occurred at the vicinity of disposal point. The net sedimentation of solids was observed above 25 g/m2 within about 250 m from the outfalls. Concentration of Faecal coliform was found >500 count/100 mL >90% of the simulation time within 50 m from one of the outfalls, which reduced to 250-500 count/100 mL at 100 m distance. Simulation of exceedance for total N of 0.2 mg/L shows that during the dry weather flow condition, overall in the Southern Doha Bay, total N exceeded from 70% to >90% of the time. However, when exceedance of 0.6 mg/L of total N was modelled, the vicinity of only one outfall showed exceedance >90% of the simulation period. A risk assessment was carried out using results of the numerical dispersion modelling based on negligible, minor, moderate and major risk categories. Criteria for risk assessment were developed based on field observation of local ambient sea water condition. Risk of eutrophication, impact on swimming water quality and sedimentation of hazardous contaminants was evaluated. The developed risk criteria are applicable for similar bays in Qatar and in other GCC countries near Arabian Gulf.