Green walls, along with green roofs, parks, and vertical gardens, belong to the green infrastructure of cities, which will encompass the majority of humanity in the coming decades. Green infrastructure benefits both urban residents and nature in the urban landscape, although there is no scientific consensus on the extent to which green walls, especially green facades, impact biodiversity in cities. This study examined the influence of green facades on the richness of mammals, birds, and invertebrates, considering the species and age of the plants comprising the green facade in a medium-sized city located in southwestern Poland. It was found that the implementation of green facades significantly enhances species’ biodiversity compared to non-vegetated walls. Four synanthropic bird species were nesting on green facades: Eurasian collared dove ( Streptopelia decaocto), blackbird ( Turdus merula), house sparrow ( Passer domesticus) and woodpigeon ( Columba palumbus). For the beech marten (Martes foina), the green facades are a hunting ground for birds and their eggs. This simple and effective method of creating green walls provides benefits to local wildlife by creating habitats, shelter, and foraging opportunities for selected species. However, it is difficult to determine whether green facades contribute to the formation of ecological corridors in urban environments. The study also examined the social aspect related to the establishment and maintenance of green facades on the surveyed buildings.

In this study, we performed the qualitative analysis of exoproteins during granule formation in the pres- ence or in the absence of cations. The staining of thin granule cryosections showed that nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides and calcium cations were the dominant components of the granules. Proteins are the structural components associated with calcium ions. We determined changes in the proteomic profile and tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the slime. The exopolymeric matrix containing the proteins was extracted using the Dowex resin method. Proteomic profile was analysed by SDS-PAGE method (sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) using Coomassie blue staining in the samples of the aerobic granule matrix formed in the presence of multivalent cations and compared with that of the aerobic granules cultivated without cations. The results indicate that the granule matrix is predominantly composed of large and complex proteins that are tightly bound within the granular structure. The tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (TB-EPS) may play a role in improved mechanical stability of aerobic granules. In the supernatant fraction of the sludge, only a small amount of free proteins in the medium molecular mass range was detected. The protein with high molecular mass ( 116 kDa) produced in the reactors with added Ca2+. Ca2+ had a considerable regulatory influence on production of extracellular proteins during aerobic granulation.

Passive autocatalytic recombiners (PAR) is the only used method for hydrogen removal from the containment buildings in modern nuclear reactors. Numerical models of such devices, based on the CFD approach, are the subject of this paper. The models may be coupled with two types of computer codes: the lumped parameter codes, and the computational fluid dynamics codes. This work deals with 2D numerical model of PAR and its validation. Gaseous hydrogen may be generated in water nuclear reactor systems in a course of a severe accident with core overheating. Therefore, a risk of its uncontrolled combustion appears which may be destructive to the containment structure.