Canada shows the way

Editorial

Canada shows the way     

Mobilising social energy against environmental challenge: understanding the groundwater recharge movement in western India

This paper explores a large-scale and growing popular movement to augment groundwater recharge in the Saurashtra region of western India, an area that has been facing acute water scarcity and other associated problems. As a social phenomenon, the movement is at an early stage of its development. However, it is interesting to study it for many reasons. First, even a decade after it began, it is still growing in scale and following. Second, it is entirely spontaneous and internally driven, necessitating no public resources or support. Third, early indications are that its social and ecological impacts are beneficial and highly significant. Fourth, the movement was catalysed and spearheaded by spiritual and religious institutions, which made ingenious use of non-economic messages and motivators in forging a new natural resource ethic based on a broad, collective rationality among movement members. It appears, however, that beyond a threshold, the movement acquired a logic and energy of its own which might fuel its future sustainability and growth. Finally, the movement has important lessons to offer because mobilising social energy on such a scale and intensity can perhaps be one of most effective responses to many of the environmental challenges the world faces today.     

Three-dimensional nickel ion transport through porous media using magnetic resonance imaging

The transport of Ni2+ ions in a column, filled with porous media, was observed in three dimensions and time by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a clinical scanner. For porous media we used glass beads or quartz sand in a saturated continuous flow mode. The magnetic moment of Ni2+ decreased the T1 relaxation time of 1H in aqueous solution. This concentration-dependent effect was used by a fast low angle shot (FLASH) MRI sequence for imaging the concentration of the dissolved ions. Since Ni2+ behaves as a conservative tracer under the chosen conditions, the tracer motion was representative for the water flow in the porous medium. Currently, we can achieve an isotropic spatial resolution of 1.5 mm and a temporal resolution of 170 s. The transport observation gives direct access to hydraulic flow properties of the porous media. The fluid flow velocity field was calculated by a fronttracking method and the statistical properties of the velocities were investigated. We also compared the experimental data with the three-dimensional particle tracking model PARTRACE, which uses the experimental flow field as input.     

Disparity of a Seat Cushion and Its Influence on Postural Control

Properties of supporting surfaces of a seat have an influence on postural control. Centre of pressure (COP) displacement parameters reflect both the balance controlling process and movements of the centre of a mass of entire body. The subjects of the study were 9 healthy men. A seat cushion was examined with a 2-force platform setup. Force exertion at a seat pan and feet and COP displacement at a seat pan were measured to analyse postural control. Analysis of variance determined the differences in postural control depending on a cushion type among the subjects. Significant differences in COP displacement parameters were in COP trajectory length, medio-lateral COP displacement and COP velocity. The results of the study showed that foam cushion ensures better postural control.     

Kinetic,equilibrium and thermodynamic studies for the sorption of metribuzin from aqueous solution using banana peels,an agro-based biomass

Banana peels were employed for the removal of metribuzin from aqueous solution. Sorption in the batch mode was optimized regarding pH, contact time, sorbent dose, initial pesticide concentrations, and temperature. The sorption data were fitted to pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, intraparticle diffusion, Elovich, and liquid film diffusion model, the pseudo-second-order exhibiting best fit (R² = 0.9803). Of the four most common sorption isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Tempkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich), the data followed the Langmuir isotherm with highest correlation. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 167 mg g^?1. Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy showed that the sorption was exothermic and spontaneous.     

Water quality monitoring of Al-Habbaniyah Lake using remote sensing and in situ measurements

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment - A good quality drinking water is essential for human survival. However, a large percentage of the populations in most developing countries (Nigeria...     

Proposed formulation of surface water quality and modelling using gene expression,machine learning,and regression techniques

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The rising water pollution from anthropogenic factors motivates further research in developing water quality predicting models. The available models...