Development of Bath Chemical Composition for Batch Hot-Dip Galvanizing-A Review.

Obtaining zinc coatings by the batch hot-dip galvanizing process currently represents one of the most effective and economical methods of protecting steel products and structures against corrosion. The batch hot-dip galvanizing process has been used for over 150 years, but for several decades, there has been a dynamic development of this technology, the purpose of which is to improve the efficiency of zinc use and reduce its consumption and improve the quality of the coating. The appropriate selection of the chemical composition of the galvanizing bath enables us to control the reactivity of steel, improve the drainage of liquid zinc from the product surface, and reduce the amount of waste, which directly affects the quality of the coating and the technology of the galvanizing process. For this purpose, the effect of many alloying additives to the zinc bath on the structure and thickness of the coating was tested. The article reviews the influence of various elements introduced into the bath individually and in different configurations, discusses the positive and negative effects of their influence on the galvanizing process. The current development in the field of the chemical composition of galvanizing baths is also presented and the best-used solutions for the selection and management of the chemical composition of the bath are indicated.

Patterns of Interdependence between Financial Development, Fiscal Instruments, and Environmental Degradation in Developed and Converging EU Countries.

Environmental risks, in particular climate change and environmental pollution, are among the key challenges faced by modern governments nowadays. Environmental risks are associated with specific costs and expenditures necessary to mitigate their negative effects. In this context, the financial system plays a significant role, particularly the public financial system, which allocates and redistributes public resources and has an impact on market participants by imposing environmental taxes. This study assessed the interdependence between environmental degradation and public expenditure, financial sector development, environmental taxes, and related socioeconomic policies. The aim was to diagnose and define the relationship between environmental degradation and sustainable fiscal instruments used in the financial system. The original research approach adopted in the study is the inclusion of variables representing a sustainable approach to assessment of the financial system. Two groups of European Union countries were analyzed for the period 2008-2017, namely, converging economies from Central and Eastern Europe and the largest developed economies of Western Europe. The authors found a strong relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and fiscal instruments, especially expenditure on research and development, and the development of the financial sector. In the case of environmental taxes, their impact differed depending on the country, being predominantly beneficial in countries with higher greenhouse gas emissions but unfavorable in countries with lower emissions levels.

Assessment of the Variability of Many Years of Thunderstorm Activity in the Aspect of Potential Threats to Aircraft at Selected Airports in Poland.

The article presents an assessment of the long-term variability of storm activity in the aspect of potential threats to aircraft. The analysis of data from the period 1970-2018 was conducted for selected airports in Poland: Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport, IATA code: GDN, ICAO code: EPGD (54°22'39″N 18°27'59″E, altitude above sea level 149 m above sea level); Solidarity Szczecin- Goleniow Airport, IATA code: SZZ, ICAO code: EPSC (53°35'05″ N 14°54'08″ E, altitude above sea level 47 m above sea level); Poznan-Lawica Henryk Wieniawski Airport, IATA code: POZ, ICAO code: EPPO (52°25'16″ N 16°49'35″ E, altitude above sea level 94 m above sea level); Warsaw Chopin Airport, IATA code: WAW, ICAO code: EPWA (52°09'57″ N 20°58'02″ E, altitude above sea level 110 m above sea level); Copernicus Airport Wroclaw, IATA code: WRO, ICAO code: EPWR (51°06'10″ N 16°53'10″ E, altitude above sea level 123 m above sea level); John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice, IATA code: KRK, ICAO code: EPKK (50°04'40″ N 19°47'06″ E, altitude above sea level 241 m above sea level). The purpose of this paper is to assess the long-term variability of storm activity in the aspect of potential threats to air operations in Poland with the examples of six selected airports. In order to achieve the goal, an analysis of the frequency of storm phenomena in Poland was carried out both in annual and long- term terms. The analysis will allow the assessment of the geographical diversity of the distribution of storm phenomena and their variability in the years 1970-2018. The next stage of the work will be to determine the climatic conditions that exert the greatest impact on the formation of storms. The important factors include atmospheric circulation, which, over the Polish territory, is shaped by the influence of air masses from the Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea and in addition, from the vast continental area. All these air masses clash over the area of Poland causing large variability in the frequency of occurrence of hazardous atmospheric phenomena. For this reason, the Polish climate is defined as a moderate warm climate with transitory features. The important factors affecting regional diversity are local conditions, such as terrain, nature of the land, and distance from water reservoirs. The thermal, humidity and aerodynamic properties of the substrate, which are components of radiation processes, determine the exchange of energy at the interface between the atmosphere and the earth, and largely determine the intensity of selected hazardous atmospheric phenomena. Each occurrence of a storm is a potentially dangerous meteorological event that threatens the environment and human activities, including all types of transport. The studied phenomenon of storms is particularly dangerous for air transport. Literature shows that storm phenomena in Poland are characterized by a large regional diversity, both during the year and over many years. The greatest threat of storm phenomena occurs in the warm period of the year-spring and summer.

Correction: Fuzzy Model for Quantitative Assessment of Environmental Start-up Projects in Air Transport.

The authors wish to add the following data corrections to the coauthors listed, because of the updated data for their paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [...].

Correction: A Fuzzy Model of Risk Assessment for Environmental Start-Up Projects in the Air Transport Sector. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 3753.

The authors wish to make the following correction to their paper [...].

A Fuzzy Model of Risk Assessment for Environmental Start-up Projects in the Air Transport Sector.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy model of the risk assessment for environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector at the stage of business expansion. The model developed for the following software will be a useful tool for the risk decision support system of investment funds in financing environmental start-up projects at the stage of market conquest. Developing a quantitative risk assessment for environmental start-up projects for the air transport sector will increase the resilience of making risk decisions about their financing by the investors. In this paper, a set of 21 criteria for assessing the risk of launching environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector were formulated for the first time by presenting inputs in the form of a linguistic risk assessment and the number of credible expert considerations. The fuzzy risk assessment model, based on expert knowledge, uses linguistic variables, reveals the uncertainty of the input data, and displays a risk assessment with linguistic interpretation. The result of the paper is a fuzzy model that is embedded in a generalized algorithm and tested in an example risk assessment of environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector.

Fuzzy Model for Quantitative Assessment of Environmental Start-up Projects in Air Transport.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an applied fuzzy model of information technology to obtain quantitative estimates of environmental start-up projects in air transport. The developed model will become a useful tool for venture funds, business angels, or crowdfunding platforms for the development of innovative air transport businesses. Obtaining a quantitative estimate of the environmental start-up projects will increase the sustainability of the decision making on the security of financing of such projects by investors. This article develops a fuzzy evaluation model of project start-ups in air transport as an application of our neuro-fuzzy model in a specific air transport environment. The applied model provides output ranking of start-up project teams in air transport based on a four-layer neuro-fuzzy network. The presented model declares the possibilities of the application to solve these economic problems and offers the space for subsequent research focused on its usability in several areas of start-up development, in sectors and processes differentiated. The benefits are also visible for several types of policies, with an emphasis on decision-making processes in regulatory mechanisms to support the state funding in Slovakia, the EU etc.