Forest landscape restoration for climate-adaptive estates in the Baakse Beek region, Gelderland

The research focuses on the estate zone of the Baakse Beek region which is facing environmental problems mainly caused by historical human intervention and climate change. Besides, in the Vorden cluster, as the land use changing caused by intense land reclamation and consolidation, the current agriculture productive landscape makes it not easy...

Insects for Food, A design exploration of changing western perception of eating insects

Currently a major part of the world protein consumption comes from the industry of livestock (animals: meat). Unfortunately, meat industry produces terrible environmental consequences and it is perhaps among the most polluting human activities. Furthermore due to the growing population it seems inviable to maintain the production rates of animal...

Measuring weight fluctuations in trees based on natural frequency

Satellite-based soil moisture measurements indicate a diurnal variation in backscatter in west Africa. This diurnal variation is assumed to be caused by variation of moisture content in vegetation (Friesen, 2008). The obtained satellite soil moisture data can be improved, if ground measurements support this hypothesis. Especially at locations...

The Mekong Deltaic Coast: Past, Present and Future Morphology

According to the future development plan, discharge sluices will be constructed at three main branches of Tien River to prevent salinity intrusion. To evaluate the consequences of these constructions to the Mekong Delta Estuaries, the empirical relationship between tidal prism and river cross-section is estimated in this study. It is found that...

Harvesting Tool for Sustainable Taxoid Extraction from Taxus Species

Taxoid is a member of a class of anticancer drugs derived from Yew (Taxus species) trees. This includes paclitaxel and docetaxel, which have found wide commercial exploitation. Currently taxoids are extracted from the taxus species through chemical extraction from needles, barks and through cell culture. These are chemical intensive processes...

Wave impact on grass covered outer slopes

Against the background of enhanced hydraulic loads due to climate change there will be a need for improvement of the flood defence system in the Netherlands in the future. These days there is a growing interest in grass as a dike cover because it is a cheap and a sustainable dike protection. Yet at the moment there is a hiatus in the knowledge...

The Effectiveness of Mangroves in Attenuating Cyclone- induced Waves

A study of the effectiveness of mangroves in attenuating cyclone- induced waves was done using the SWAN 40.55MOD numerical model. Hydraulic parameters during extreme events and local mangrove vegetation parameters were estimated for the Kanika Sands mangrove island near the upcoming Dhamra Port in Orissa, India. Simplified generic analyses were...

Wave overtopping: Impact of water jets on grassed inner slope transitions

The safety of a large part of the Netherlands depends on sea dikes. Due to climate change, a sea level rise is predicted. Together with stronger storms and more wave attack, wave overtopping on the current dikes will increase. As a response, crest levels of the dikes need to be raised in order to meet the present regulations for wave overtopping...

Solar Power from Sea - Large algae fields on ocean surfaces

Reduction of wave overtopping by Vetiver grass

In order to protect the area inside the coastal flood defend system, the height of a sea dike should be sufficient. Huge sea dikes with revetment protection which are made from traditional hard material such as block concretes or big rock has given good results. However they are quite costly to implement and materials are not always available....

Vetiver grass as bank protection against vessel-induced loads

Run-up Reduction through Vetiver Grass

Toepassingsmogelijkheden van vetiver gras en Cyperus rotundus op dijken

Wave attenuation in mangrove wetlands. Red River Delta, Vietnam

Mangrove forests cover the shores of many tropical and sub-tropical coast lines. These trees are tolerant to saline environments which enables them to grow in the tidal zone. They are known for their often complex and impressive root system. From a Civil Engineering point of view, mangrove forests are interesting for since they reduce...