A study on traffic noise of two campuses of University, Balasore, India

Noise pollution is a significant environmental problem in many rapidly urbanizing areas of Orissa, India. Transportation sector is one of the major contributors to noise in these areas. The present study is an attempt to estimate traffic noise pollution at five places on the way from Vyasa Vihar Campus to Gyan Vigyan Vihar Campus of Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Orissa. The sources of noise at the studied sites are predominantly attributable to motor vehicular traffic. The noise levels of all the five locations were found to be beyond permissible limit during the day time. The contributions of different types of vehicles to environmental noise were found to ranging from 70.4-94.2, 79.0-96.1, 77.8-110.2, 70.8-90.3, 71.0-87.5, 71.1-84.4, 72.5-86.9 and 74.0-85.4 dB (A) by cargo carrying Trucks, Tractors, Dumpers, Town Buses, Motor cycles, Bolero/Trucker, Pick up and Tempo respectively. The contributions of individual vehicles towards noise pollution were found to be more than the road traffic noise-limit i.e., 70 dB (A). On certain local inhabitants interviewed, the impact of noise was observed in the forms of alterations in their physical, psychological and personal aspects. This study warrants attention from all sections of people to deal with the problem of noise pollution.     

COVID-19 and municipal solid waste (MSW) management: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Municipal solid waste (MSW) represents an inevitable by-product of human activity and a major crisis for communities across the globe. In recent...     

Uncertainty of pesticides in foodstuffs,associated environmental and health risks to humans—a critical case of Bangladesh with respect to global food policy

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The uncertain fate and transport pathways of applied pesticides are the key hidden threats with respect to the safety and quality evaluation of...     

An analytical force model for orthogonal elliptical vibration cutting technique

The elliptical vibration cutting (EVC) technique has been found to be a promising technique for ultraprecision machining of various materials. In each overlapping EVC cycle, the thickness of cut (TOC) of work material, and the tool velocity get continuously varied. These two inherent phenomena, in fact, introduce transient characteristics into its cutting mechanics, which are considered to be different from the one applied for conventional cutting technique. Recently, a few theoretical models have been developed to understand the material removal mechanism with the EVC technique; however, in those studies, the transient phenomena were not considered. In the present research, an analytical force model for the orthogonal EVC process was developed in order to fully understand the EVC mechanism, and to more accurately predict the transient cutting force values. Three important factors: (i) transient TOC, (ii) transient shear angle, and (iii) transition characteristic of friction reversal were investigated and analyzed mainly based on geometric modeling and the Lee and Shaffer's slip-line solution. Mathematical evaluation shows that they may have significant influence on EVC process, and thus on its output performance. In order to validate the proposed force model, a series of low-frequency orthogonal EVC tests were conducted. The experimental transient cutting force values were compared with the predicted values calculated using the proposed model, and they are found to be in a good agreement with each other.     

Sustainable Water Purification and Energy Generation Over Crystalline Chitosan Grafted Polyaniline Composite

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The present research demonstrates the design and development of a dual-compartment water purification proto-plant for microbial degradation of organic...     

Application of sequential leaching, risk indices and multivariate statistics to evaluate heavy metal contamination of estuarine sediments: Dhamara Estuary, East Coast of India

In the present study, concentration of some selected trace metals (Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr and Cd) are measured in Brahmani, Baitarani river complex along with Dhamara estuary and its near shore. Chemical partitioning has been made to establish association of metals into different geochemical phases. The exchangeable fraction is having high environmental risk among non-lithogeneous phases due to greater potential for mobility into pore water. The metals with highest bio-availability being Cd, Zn and Cr. The metals like Mn, Zn, Cd and Cu represent an appreciable portion in carbonate phase. Fe–Mn oxides act as efficient scavenger for most of the metals playing a prime role in controlling their fate and transport. Among non-lithogeneous phases apart from reducible, Cr showed a significant enrichment in organic phase. Risk assessment code values indicate that all metals except Fe fall under medium-risk zone. In estuarine zone Cd, Zn, Pb and Cr are released to 32.43, 26.10, 21.81 and 20 %, respectively, indicating their significant bio-availability pose high ecological risk. A quantitative approach has been made through the use of different risk indices like enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index and pollution load index. Factor analysis indicates that in riverine zone, Fe–Mn oxides/hydroxides seem to play an important role in scavenging metals, in estuarine zone, organic precipitation and adsorption to the fine silt and clay particles while in coastal zone, co-precipitation with Fe could be the mechanism for the same. Canonical discriminant function indicates that it is highly successful in discriminating the groups as predicted.     

Geospatial strategy for sustainable management of municipal solid waste for growing urban environment

This paper presents the implementation of a Geospatial approach for improving the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal suitability site assessment in growing urban environment. The increasing trend of population growth and the absolute amounts of waste disposed of worldwide have increased substantially reflecting changes in consumption patterns, consequently worldwide. MSW is now a bigger problem than ever. Despite an increase in alternative techniques for disposing of waste, land-filling remains the primary means. In this context, the pressures and requirements placed on decision makers dealing with land-filling by government and society have increased, as they now have to make decisions taking into considerations environmental safety and economic practicality. The waste disposed by the municipal corporation in the Bhagalpur City (India) is thought to be different from the landfill waste where clearly scientific criterion for locating suitable disposal sites does not seem to exist. The location of disposal sites of Bhagalpur City represents the unconsciousness about the environmental and public health hazards arising from disposing of waste in improper location. Concerning about urban environment and health aspects of people, a good method of waste management and appropriate technologies needed for urban area of Bhagalpur city to improve this trend using Multi Criteria Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing for selection of suitable disposal sites. The purpose of GIS was to perform process to part restricted to highly suitable land followed by using chosen criteria. GIS modeling with overlay operation has been used to find the suitability site for MSW.     

Role of climate risks and socio-economic factors in influencing the impact of climatic extremes: a normalisation study in the context of Odisha,India

Economic costs imposed by climatic extremes have been increasing over the years and are expected to follow a similar trend in the coming years as well. Such costs are incurred due to two factors: (1) natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change and (2) exposure and vulnerability of socio-economic factors. The impact of these factors as identified separately through a ‘normalisation technique’ is analysed in the existing normalisation studies conducted mostly in developed country contexts; these have produced mixed results. However, one needs to enquire about the influence of the above two factors in a developing country context where the anticipated impacts of climate extremes are significant. This study, therefore, makes an attempt to adjust impact data, in terms of the reported population affected and economic damages of three extreme events, namely cyclones, floods and droughts, together for societal changes between 1972 and 2009 in Odisha in eastern India. Further, the second component is analysed in two ways: (1) assuming that exposed socio-economic factors are equally vulnerable similar to the other normalisation studies, i.e. no adaptation and (2) incorporating adaptation in the existing normalisation methods—which has attracted less attention so far in the literature. The results suggest that: (a) both the natural climate variability and the socio-economic factors influence the increasing damages in the recent decades, and (b) when adaptation is introduced in the normalisation model, economic losses have reduced significantly compared to the estimates using the existing normalisation models.     

Spatial variability and temporal changes in the trace metal content of soils: implications for mine restoration plan

Trace metals in soils may be inherited from the parent materials or added to the system due to anthropogenic activities. In proposed mining areas, trace metals become an integral part of the soil system. Usually, researchers undertake experiments on plant species selection (for the restoration plan) only after the termination of mining activities, i.e. without any pre-mining information about the soil-plant interactions. Though not shown in studies, it is clear that several recovery plans remain unsuccessful while carrying out restoration experiments. Therefore, we hypothesize that to restore the area effectively, it is imperative to consider the pre-mining scenario of metal levels in parent material as well as the vegetation ecology of the region. With these specifics, we examined the concentrations of trace metals in parent soils at three proposed bauxite locations in the Eastern Ghats, India, and compared them at a spatio-temporal scale. Vegetation quantification and other basic soil parameters accounted for establishing the connection between soil and plants. The study recorded significant spatial heterogeneity in trace metal concentrations and the role of vegetation on metal availability. Oxidation reduction potential (ORP), pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC) directly influenced metal content, and Cu and Ni were lithogenic in origin. It implies that for effective restoration plant species varies for each geological location.     

Drought stress induced changes in lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system in genus Avena

Seven species of genus Avena viz., Avena sativa, Avena strigosa, Avena brevis, Avena vaviloviana, Avena abyssinica, Avena marocana and Avena sterilis were used to study the impact of drought stress on lipid peroxidation and other antioxidant enzymes. Maximum increase in the catalase activity was recorded in A. vaviloviana (129.97%) followed by A. sativa (122.82%) and A. brevis (83.38%) at vegetative stage; however at flowering stage the maximum increase was reported in A. sativa (25.62%) followed by A. sterilis (20.46%) and A. brevis (18.53%). At vegetative stage drought, maximum increase in peroxidase activity was recorded in A. sativa (122.82%) followed by A. brevis (83.38%) and A. sterilis (49.78%). Flowering stage drought, showed maximum increase in A. Sativa (27.09%) followed by A. marocana (23.50%) and A. sterilis (20.46%). A. sativa and A. sterilis showed stress tolerance at both the stages by accumulating higher percentage of peroxidase followed by A. brevis at vegetative and A. marocana at flowering stage. Level of lipid peroxidation in terms of Malondialdehyde (MDA) content was increased in the leaves when plants were subjected to moisture stress. The rate of increase in lipid peroxidation occurs irrespective of stage however; maximum increase was recorded in A. strigosa at both the stages. Avena species which showed high level of MDA content, indicates more lipid peroxidation and more membrane permeability and are comparatively more susceptible for water stress than those which produce less Malondialdehyde (MDA) content at higher magnitude of water stress such species have better capability for moisture stress tolerance.