Jockeying for position in the humanitarian field: Iraqi refugees and faith-based organisations in Damascus

The rise in the number of interventions by faith-based organisations in the humanitarian field has reignited debate about the role of religion in the public sphere. This paper presents a nuanced examination of the part played by religious institutions and networks in the strategies of forced migrants in urban contexts. Furthermore, it considers how such organisations work to integrate displaced populations into their new surroundings. Drawing on two case studies and ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with Iraqi refugees and refugee service providers in Damascus, Syria, carried out between March 2010 and March 2011, it evaluates how Iraqi refugees, as active social agents, utilise religious institutions and networks in conjunction with established international humanitarian organisations to produce a distinctive geography of exile. In addition, it draws attention to how the Syrian state exerts influence over religious actors and how ultimately this affects the decision-making of forced migrants.     

Discriminant analysis for the prediction of sand mass distribution in an urban stormwater holding pond using simulated depth average flow velocity data

The approach of this paper is to predict the sand mass distribution in an urban stormwater holding pond at the Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel (SMART) Control Centre, Malaysia, using simulated depth average floodwater velocity diverted into the holding during storm events. Discriminant analysis (DA) was applied to derive the classification function to spatially distinguish areas of relatively high and low sand mass compositions based on the simulated water velocity variations at corresponding locations of gravimetrically measured sand mass composition of surface sediment samples. Three inflow parameter values, 16, 40 and 80 m³ s^?1, representing diverted floodwater discharge for three storm event conditions were fixed as input parameters of the hydrodynamic model. The sand (grain size?>?0.063 mm) mass composition of the surface sediment measured at 29 sampling locations ranges from 3.7 to 45.5 %. The sampling locations of the surface sediment were spatially clustered into two groups based on the sand mass composition. The sand mass composition of group 1 is relatively lower (3.69 to 12.20 %) compared to group 2 (16.90 to 45.55 %). Two Fisher’s linear discriminant functions, F ₁ and F ₂, were generated to predict areas; both consist of relatively higher and lower sand mass compositions based on the relationship between the simulated flow velocity and the measured surface sand composition at corresponding sampling locations. F ₁?=??9.405?+?4232.119?×?A???1795.805?×?B?+?281.224?×?C, and F ₂?=??2.842?+?2725.137?×?A???1307.688?×?B?+?231.353?×?C. A, B and C represent the simulated flow velocity generated by inflow parameter values of 16, 40 and 80 m³ s^?1, respectively. The model correctly predicts 88.9 and 100.0 % of sampling locations consisting of relatively high and low sand mass percentages, respectively, with the cross-validated classification showing that, overall, 82.8 % are correctly classified. The model predicts that 31.4 % of the model domain areas consist of high-sand mass composition areas and the remaining 68.6 % comprise low-sand mass composition areas.     

Effect of Sugar Palm Fiber (SPF) to the Structural and Optical Properties of Bioplastics (SPF/Starch/Chitosan/Polypropylene) in supporting Mechanical Properties and Degradation Performance

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Recycling plastic waste by mix with natural polymers for bio-plastic packaging produces plastics with high mechanical properties and easily degradable. In...     

Evaluation of fresh and stored rainwater quality in fluoride and arsenic endemic area of Thar Desert,Pakistan

In the current study, the chemistry of fresh and stored rainwater of Thar Desert, Pakistan, was estimated during two consecutive monsoon periods. The present research deals with the variation in physicochemical parameters, total arsenic (As^t), inorganic arsenic species (Asⁱ, As^V, As^III), and fluoride (F^?) in stored rainwater (SRW) at different time intervals (1 week to 3 months). The pH of fresh rainwater (FRW) samples showed slightly acidic to neutral in nature (6.08–7.06) which were inconsistent with the reference pH value (5.6) of rainwater. The resulted data indicated that As^t and F^? levels in SRW were enhanced with time duration. The levels of As^t and F^? in SRW after different time intervals were found in the range of 194–683 μg/L and 10–35.4 mg/L, respectively. The values of As^t and F^? were 20–70 and 7–24 times higher than those of WHO permissible limits, 10 μg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively. The As^III was dominant species in SRW, which corresponds to >60 % of Asⁱ. The characteristics of the SRW revealed an unacceptable quality to consume for drinking and agricultural purposes in the studied area.     

Fuzzy rule-based modelling for human health risk from naturally occurring radioactive materials in produced water

Produced water, discharged from offshore oil and gas operations, contains chemicals from formation water, condensed water, and any chemical added down hole or during the oil/water separation process. Although, most of the contaminants fall below the detection limits within a short distance from the discharge port, a few of the remaining contaminants including naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) are of concern due to their bioavailability in the media and bioaccumulation characteristics in finfish and shellfish species used for human consumption. In the past, several initiatives have been taken to model human health risk from NORM in produced water. The parameters of the available risk assessment models are imprecise and sparse in nature. In this study, a fuzzy possibilistic evaluation using fuzzy rule based modeling has been presented. Being conservative in nature, the possibilistic approach considers possible input parameter values; thus provides better environmental prediction than the Monte Carlo (MC) calculation. The uncertainties of the input parameters were captured with fuzzy triangular membership functions (TFNs). Fuzzy if-then rules were applied for input concentrations of two isotopes of radium, namely (226)Ra, and (228)Ra, available in produced water and bulk dilution to evaluate the radium concentration in fish tissue used for human consumption. The bulk dilution was predicted using four input parameters: produced water discharge rate, ambient seawater velocity, depth of discharge port and density gradient. The evaluated cancer risk shows compliance with the regulatory guidelines; thus minimum risk to human health is expected from NORM components in produced water.     

Solid Waste Management Practices in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Solid waste management practices in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia are reviewed. The officials of various municipalities and agencies responsible for collecting and disposing of municipal waste were interviewed. The refuse generation rate found is in the range of 1.61–2.72 kg per capita per day. The refuse composition data indicate a high percentage of glass, metals, and wood. For storage purposes, 0.2-m³ barrels are used in residential areas and 0.75 to 1.50 m³-capacity containers are used in commerical areas. The present solid-waste collection system is labor-intensive, and a significant part of the budget is spent on collection and haul operations. The unit collection and haul cost is much higher than the unit disposal cost of refuse. The direct haul of refuse is the common practice, and the use of transfer stations has not yet been considered. It is also observed that the disposal methods used at these sites are not in line with modern techniques for refuse disposal. Landfilling and combined burning and landfilling are the common disposal methods at all the sites.     

GIS based ArcPRZM-3 model for bentazon leaching towards groundwater

Groundwater contamination due to pesticide applications on agricultural lands is of great environmental concern. The mathematical models help to understand the mechanism of pesticide leaching in soils towards groundwater. We developed a user-friendly model called ArcPRZM-3 by integrating widely used Pesticide Root Zone Model version 3 (PRZM-3) using Visual Basic and Geographic Information System (GIS) based Avenue programming. ArcPRZM-3 could be used to simulate pesticide leaching towards groundwater with user-friendly input interfaces coupled with databases of crops, soils and pesticides. The outputs from ArcPRZM-3 could be visualized in user-friendly formats of tables, charts and maps. In this study we evaluated ArcPRZM-3 model by simulating bentazon leaching in soil towards groundwater. ArcPRZM-3 was applied to 37 sites in Woodru County, Arkansas, USA to observe the daily average dissolved bentazon concentration for soybean, sorghum and rice at a depth of 1.8 m for a period of two years. Nineteen ranks of bentazon leaching potential were obtained using ArcPRZM-3 for all sites having di erent soil and crop combinations. ArcPRZM-3 simulation results for bentazon were compatible with the field monitored data in term of relative ranking and trend, although some uncertainties exist. This study indicated that macropore flow mechanism would be important in analyzing the e ect of irrigation on groundwater contamination due to pesticides. Overall, ArcPRZM-3 could be used to simulate pesticide leaching towards groundwater more e ciently and e ectively as compared to PRZM-3.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in coastal sediments of Southern Terengganu,South China Sea,Malaysia: source assessment using diagnostic ratios and multivariate statistic

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Surface sediments along the Southern Terengganu coast (≤7 km from the coast) were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The...     

Energy efficiency and energy rebound,intensity, and output effects in transport sector of Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - According to Jevon’s paradox, energy efficiency leads to more energy consumption instead of low. So, calculating the size of energy rebound...