Cost-effective forest conservation and criteria for potential conservation targets: a Finnish case study

Selecting reserves for forest biodiversity maintenance is often done by setting criteria for components of structural elements of biodiversity, such as a volume of decaying wood. We tested how the different threshold values for the components of structural elements affect the cost-effective site selection. Using Finnish National Forest Inventory information and remote sensing data, we determined a habitat quality index and economic value for each site in Satakunta region in Finland. Moreover, we defined several sets of potential conservation targets using alternative criteria for the habitat quality index developed for the Finnish case study. These figures were used in the site selection model in order to maximize the sum of habitat index of selected areas under a given budget constraint. We found that the production possibility frontier for the outputs of timber and biodiversity is only slightly concave when using the given threshold values. Thus, the optimal combination of the outputs is sensitive to the relative values of these goods. Our results suggest that an integrated approach in forest conservation could provide to environmental managers considerable cost savings compared with current management practices. Environmental managers could also reduce conservation costs by loosening the criteria for potential conservation targets. This would not lower considerably the quality of conserved forests.     

The presence of zinc in Swedish waste fuels

Zinc (Zn) is a chemical element that has gained more attention lately owing to its possibility to form corrosive deposits in large boilers, such as Waste-to-Energy plants. Zn enters the boilers in many different forms and particularly in waste, the amount of Zn is hard to determine due to both the heterogeneity of waste in general but also due to the fact that little is yet published specifically about the Zn levels in waste. This study aimed to determine the Zn in Swedish waste fuels by taking regular samples from seven different and geographically separate waste combustion plants over a 12-month period. The analysis shows that there is a relation between the municipal solid waste (MSW) content and the Zn-content; high MSW-content gives lower Zn-content. This means that waste combustion plants with a higher share of industrial and commercial waste and/or building and demolition waste would have a higher share of Zn in the fuel. The study also shows that in Sweden, the geographic location of the plant does not have any effect on the Zn-content. Furthermore, it is concluded that different seasons appear not to affect the Zn concentrations significantly. In some plants there was a clear correlation between the Zn-content and the content of other trace metals.     

Analysis of Moisture Findings in the Interior Spaces of Finnish Housing Stock

ABSTRACT

A grading system was developed to rate the moisture damage profile of dwellings and to study the relationship between moisture-induced indoor air problems and occupant health. A total of 630 randomly selected houses and apartments, built between 1950 and 1989, were visually inspected. Moisture observations were standardized into three damage levels. Thus, a system to classify the homes into three grades was devised. The two grades of homes associated with the highest levels of damage were graded as index homes.

Overall, 51% of the sample had some kind of moisture fault in them and one in every three homes (33%) was classified as an index home. The mean number of damage incidents in the index dwellings varied from 1.4 to 2.6. The mean number of damage incidents in the reference homes was 0.28. Prevalence of index dwellings was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in houses (38%) than in apartments (26%). There was no major difference in the prevalence of index buildings in houses built in any particular decade (30-35%). Moisture was observed in 28% of bathrooms, in 10% of kitchens, and in 17% of other spaces. Indoor relative humidity (RH) levels were low in most homes.     

Optimization of pulp mill effluent treatment with catalytic adsorbent using orthogonal second-order (Box-Behnken) experimental design

Novel catalytic adsorbent (ruthenium on carbon) was employed for the treatment of pulp mill effluent in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Mathematical model and optimization of the process regarding the most favorable COD (%), TOC (%) and color (%) removal rates was developed and performed with experimental design taking into account catalytic adsorption process kinetics. As the initial experimental design, 3(3-1) half-fractional factorial design (H-FFD) was accomplished at two levels to study the significance of the main effects, such as catalytic adsorbent (g l(-1)) and hydrogen peroxide (ppm) concentrations using the response surface methodology (RSM). Finally, a four factor-three coded level central composite design (CCD) with 28 runs was performed in order to fit a second-order polynomial model. Validation of the model was accomplished by different criteria including coefficient of determination and the corresponding analysis of variance. The achieved removal rates for TOC (up to 75%), COD (up to 73%) and color (up to 68%) were observed for the defined optimal conditions: 1g l(-1) of ruthenium on carbon, 7 ppm of hydrogen peroxide, pH = 4 and ambient temperature. The proposed method benefited significantly improved TOC, COD and color removal efficiency, regenerability and reusability of the catalytic adsorbent and unaltered initial pH of an effluent in comparison to traditional adsorption or oxidation processes.     

The environmental cost of broiler production and carbon sequestration potential of eucalyptus plantations around farms in Mato Grosso do Sul,Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The present study aimed to evaluate the environmental cost of the production process of broilers from the approach of emergy accounting and carbon...     

Effects of Mn(II) and Fe(II) on microbial removal of arsenic (III)

Goal, scope, and background  Arsenic contamination in groundwater creates severe health problems in the world. There are many physiochemical and biological methods available for remediation of arsenic from groundwater. Among them, microbial remediation could be taken as one of the least expensive methods, though it takes longer treatment time. The main objective of this research was to study the improvement on remediation by addition of some essential ion salts such as Mn and Fe. Materials and methods   Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Escherichia coli were taken as model microbes from Dhulikhel, 30 km east from Kathmandu, Nepal. Results and discussion  Microbes used in this study showed different abilities in their removal of As(III) with and without addition of Mn and Fe salts. The trend of remediation increased with time. S. aureus was found to be the best among the microbes used. It showed almost 100% removal after 48-h culture, both with and without Fe and Mn salts. Rate of removal of As increased with addition of Fe and Mn for all microbes. Removal efficiency was found to increase by about 32% on average after addition of salts in 24-h cultures of S. aureus.     

Long-Term Effects of Forestry on Birds of the Eastern Canadian Boreal Forests: a Comparison with Fennoscandia

Abstract: Logging is considered the most important threat to species in boreal forests. In contrast to eastern Canada, where most boreal forests remain largely untouched, in Fennoscandia it is possible to assess the cumulative, long-term effects of intensive forestry on wildlife. But harvesting of stands is rapidly changing Canadian boreal forests, which represent an important proportion of the world's boreal forests. We show that Fennoscandia and eastern Canada present striking similarities in terms of forest-age structure, natural-disturbance regime, and structure of bird assemblages, and we provide an assessment of the long-term effects of forestry on eastern Canadian birds of the boreal forest. We used life-history traits from habitat, nesting site, and geographical range to calculate an index of sensitivity to changes induced by modern forestry for boreal species of each region. Tropical migrants commonly found in eastern Canadian boreal forests have life-history traits that are not threat factors in relation to changes caused by modern forestry. Therefore, the general belief that tropical migrants in North America are more sensitive to landscape changes than those in Europe may not hold for species found in the boreal coniferous forests of eastern Canada. Nine Fennoscandian species present high levels of sensitivity, and at least eight eastern Canadian species are of similar concern. In both regions, most of the sensitive species are resident cavity nesters. Given the important similarities between the two regions, the northern expansion of commercial forestry in eastern Canada is likely to result in the significant decline of several resident species, as has occurred in Fennoscandia.     

Forecasting Air Quality Parameters Using Hybrid Neural Network Modelling

Urban air pollution has emerged as an acute problem in recent years because of its detrimental effects on health and living conditions. The research presented here aims at attaining a better understanding of phenomena associated with atmospheric pollution, and in particular with aerosol particles. The specific goal was to develop a form of air quality modelling which can forecast urban air quality for the next day using airborne pollutant, meteorological and timing variables.Hourly airborne pollutant and meteorological averages collected during the years 1995–1997 were analysed in order to identify air quality episodes having typical and the most probable combinations of air pollutant and meteorological variables. This modelling was done using the Self-Organising Map (SOM) algorithm, Sammon's mapping and fuzzy distance metrics. The clusters of data that were found were characterised by statistics. Several overlapping Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) models were then applied to the clustered data, each of which represented one pollution episode. The actual levels for individual pollutants could then be calculated using a combination of the MLP models which were appropriate in that situation.The analysis phase of the modelling gave clear and intuitive results regarding air quality in the area where the data had been collected. The resulting forecast showed that the modelling of gaseous pollutants is more reliable than that of the particles.     

Self-reported wrist and finger symptoms associated with other physical/mental symptoms and use of computers/mobile phones

Recently, computer, mobile phone and Internet use has increased. This study aimed to determine the possible relation between self-reported wrist and finger symptoms (aches, pain or numbness) and using computers/mobile phones, and to analyze how the symptoms are specifically associated with utilizing desktop computers, portable computers or mini-computers and mobile phones. A questionnaire was sent to 15,000 working-age Finns (age 18–65). Via a questionnaire, 723 persons reported wrist and finger symptoms often or more with use. Over 80% use mobile phones daily and less than 30% use desktop computers or the Internet daily at leisure, e.g., over 89.8% quite often or often experienced pain, numbness or aches in the neck, and 61.3% had aches in the hips and the lower back. Only 33.7% connected their symptoms to computer use. In the future, the development of new devices and Internet services should incorporate the ergonomics of the hands and wrists.     

Cadmium and chromium in human lung tissue in relation to smoking and lung cancer

The pulmonary Cd and Cr content was determined from 53 lung cancer patients operated for cancer and from 39 patients who died of non‐malignant diseases. The results were correlated with smoking habits, pulmonary emphysema and occupational history. Both the pulmonary Cd and Cr increased with the amount of smoking. In ex‐smokers the Cr content in lung tissue did not diminish with the time since stopping smoking, but the Cd did follow the half‐life of about 9 years. The pulmonary Cd, compared with smoking habits, behaved similarly in both the lung cancer and control patients, whereas Cr in the lung cancer patients could not be explained solely by smoking, but some of the cancer patients may have been occupationally exposed to Cr. Speciation was not studied.