Feasibility of water purification technology in rural areas of developing countries

Water scarcity is threatening social and economic growth in rural areas of developing countries. There are potential markets for water purification technologies in these regions. The main focus of this article is to evaluate the social, economic and political feasibilities of providing water purification technologies to rural areas of developing countries. The findings of this research can serve as the basis for private investors interested in entering this market. Four representative regions were selected for the study. Economic, demographic, and environmental variables of each region were collected and analyzed along with domestic markets and political information. Rural areas of the developing world are populated with poor people unable to fulfill the basic needs for clean water and sanitation. These people represent an important group of potential users. Due to economic, social, and political risks in these areas, it is difficult to build a strong case for any business or organization focusing on immediate returns on capital investment. A plausible business strategy would be to approach the water purification market as a corporate responsibility and social investing in the short term. This would allow an organization to be well positioned once the economic ability of individuals, governments, and donor agencies are better aligned.     

Chemistry and long-term decomposition of roots of Douglas-fir grown under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and warming conditions

Elevated atmospheric CO(2) concentrations and warming may affect the quality of litters of forest plants and their subsequent decomposition in ecosystems, thereby potentially affecting the global carbon cycle. However, few data on root tissues are available to test this feedback to the atmosphere. In this study, we used fine (diameter < or = 2 mm) and small (2-10 mm) roots of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) seedlings that were grown for 4 yr in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment: ambient or elevated (+ 180 ppm) atmospheric CO(2) concentrations, and ambient or elevated (+3.8 degrees C) atmospheric temperature. Exposure to elevated CO(2) significantly increased water-soluble extractives concentration (%WSE), but had little effect on the concentration of N, cellulose, and lignin of roots. Elevated temperature had no effect on substrate quality except for increasing %WSE and decreasing the %lignin content of fine roots. No significant interaction was found between CO(2) and temperature treatments on substrate quality, except for %WSE of the fine roots. Short-term (< or = 9 mo) root decomposition in the field indicated that the roots from the ambient CO(2) and ambient temperature treatment had the slowest rate. However, over a longer period of incubation (9-36 mo) the influence of initial substrate quality on root decomposition diminished. Instead, the location of the field incubation sites exhibited significant control on decomposition. Roots at the warmer, low elevation site decomposed significantly faster than the ones at the cooler, high elevation site. This study indicates that short-term decomposition and long-term responses are not similar. It also suggests that increasing atmospheric CO(2) had little effect on the carbon storage of Douglas-fir old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest.     

Support services for lift irrigation in Bangladesh

The impacts of changing support systems for lift irrigation in Bangladesh from the public to the private sector are examined. Data are presented from an extensive study undertaken by IIMI and the Bangladesh Agricultural University. The results of the study clearly demonstrate that farmers, small dealers and input sellers all feel that transfer to the private sector has improved the quality of support services. As a result of the privatization of support services, more fuel is available, it is closer to the farms and there is less adulteration. A similar case holds for agricultural chemicals. In addition to improving the situation for small farmers, privatization has created thousands of jobs for small traders and repair shops. Data are presented that document the improvements in services and the expansion of small traders. The one issue that still must be solved is the future of deep tubewells, as the article documents that they are not economically vaiable without Government subsidies.     

What difference might sewage treatment performance make to endocrine disruption in rivers?

An assessment of the steroid estrogen removing performance of 23 different sewage treatment plants (STPs) was performed. The assessment relied on a model to estimate influent concentrations, and completed questionnaires on the STP treatment details from the relevant water companies. This information was compared with observed effluent 17beta-estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) concentrations. The 10 biological filter plants (BFP) in the study performed poorly with only 30% (SD 31) removal on average for E1. This reduced E1 removal performance of the BFPs compared to all the other STP types in the survey was statistically significant (p<0.001). Scenarios of all the STPs as activated sludge types, and one as all BFP types were modelled using the GREAT-ER model set up for the Aire/Calder catchment in the UK. This difference was shown to have an important effect on predicted river E1 concentrations and consequent risk classifications.     

Repeated geographic divergence in behavior: a case study employing phenotypic trajectory analyses

Environmental effects on behavior have long been a focus of behavioral ecologists. Among the important drivers of behavior is predation environment, which can include the presence/absence of predators, differences in resource availability, and variation in individual density. Environments with predators are often more ecologically complex and “risky” than those without predators. Populations from these environments are sometimes more active and explorative than populations from low-risk, less complex environments. To date, most comparative studies of behavior are limited to within-species comparisons of populations from divergent environments, but neglect comparisons between species following speciation, thus limiting our understanding of post-speciation behavioral evolution. Brachyrhaphis fishes provide an ideal system for studying correlations between divergent environments and behavior within and between species. Here, we test for differences in two behavioral traits—activity and exploration —between sister species Brachyrhaphis roseni and Brachyrhaphis terrabensis that occur in divergent predation environments. Species differed in activity and exploration, with higher activity and exploration levels in populations that co-occur with predators. Furthermore, we found drainage-by-species interactions, indicating that the nature of divergence varied geographically. Using the recently developed phenotypic trajectory analysis (PTA), we quantified this difference and found that, while the geographically isolated populations of sister species tended to evolve in parallel, the magnitude of divergence between species differed between drainages. Our results highlight the utility of PTA for multivariate behavioral data and corroborate past predictions that complex and risky environments are correlated with increased activity and exploration levels and that divergence continues post-speciation.     

Cognitive and affective identification: Exploring the links between different forms of social identification and personality with work attitudes and behavior

Individuals often identify with groups in order to either reduce perceived uncertainty or to feel better about who they are as individuals. This suggests that cognitive and affective identification are two distinctive forms of social identification in organizational settings. Because neurotic individuals are highly motivated to reduce perceived uncertainty, they will tend to identify cognitively with groups. Extraverted individuals, on the other hand, are highly motivated to enhance how they feel about themselves and thus identify affectively with groups. Across three studies, we develop measures of cognitive and affective identification and then show that neuroticism is positively related to cognitive identification, whereas extraversion is positively related to affective identification. We also find that affective identification provides incremental predictive validity over and above cognitive identification in the prediction of organizational commitment, organizational involvement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A case study of urban heat islands in the Carolinas

Urbanization tends to aggravate the negative effects of climate. The objective of this research is to aid in the understanding of the spatial variation of urban heat islands within selected cities in North and South Carolina. This understanding will help guide efforts to cool cities in order to increase human comfort, conserve energy and resources, and reduce air pollution in both of these states.     

Allowable levels of take for the trade in Nearctic songbirds

The take of Nearctic songbirds for the caged-bird trade is an important cultural and economic activity in Mexico, but its sustainability has been questioned. We relied on the theta-logistic population model to explore options for setting allowable levels of take for 11 species of passerines that were subject to legal take in Mexico in 2010. Because estimates of population size necessary for making-periodic adjustments to levels of take are not routinely available, we examined the conditions under which a constant level of take might contribute to population depletion (i.e., a population below its level of maximum net productivity). The chance of depleting a population is highest when levels of take are based on population sizes that happen to be much lower or higher than the level of maximum net productivity, when environmental variation is relatively high and serially correlated, and when the interval between estimation of population size is relatively long (> or = 5 years). To estimate demographic rates of songbirds involved in the Mexican trade we relied on published information and allometric relationships to develop probability distributions for key rates, and then sampled from those distributions to characterize the uncertainty in potential levels of take. Estimates of the intrinsic rate of growth (r) were highly variable, but median estimates were consistent with those expected for relatively short-lived, highly fecund species. Allowing for the possibility of nonlinear density dependence generally resulted in allowable levels of take that were lower than would have been the case under an assumption of linearity. Levels of take authorized by the Mexican government in 2010 for the 11 species we examined were small in comparison to relatively conservative allowable levels of take (i.e., those intended to achieve 50% of maximum sustainable yield). However, the actual levels of take in Mexico are unknown and almost certainly exceed the authorized take. Also, the take of Nearctic songbirds in other Latin American and Caribbean countries ultimately must be considered in assessing population-level impacts.