Forests and societal values: comparing scientific and public perception of forest health

This study examines the common ground between lay people and scientists regarding forest values and definitions of forest health. With the forest at Pinery Provincial Park, Ontario, as a case study, the authors compared six ecological indicators to determine which were sensitive to the multiple impacts of visitor use, deer browsing and fire suppression. Plant cover and proportion native species were sensitive to these impacts. Sapling height was greater in low deer density areas. The authors also conducted focused discussions with local interest groups, followed by qualitative data analysis. Overall, there was good convergence between scientific and public views of forests and forest health, although this may partly be due to the groups' interest in nature and the Pinery. Subjects saw a connection between their health and the state of the global and local environment, including forests. There is a need for increased awareness in the public to the necessity of managing high deer populations in parks to protect other forest components such as biodiversity. Forest managers must consider that people greatly value forests near them for mental well being. Group responses suggested that messages explicitly linking forest benefits to human health and well being may motivate people to protect forests.     

Evaluation of Three Air Dispersion Models: ISCST2, ISCLT2, and Screen2 for Mercury Emissions in an Urban Area

The goal of this paper is to compare and evaluate the performance of three air quality regulatory models for mercury releases. The models include Industrial Source Complex Short Term model (ISCST2), Industrial Source Complex Long Term model (ISCLT2), and SCREEN2. The evaluation is conducted in multiple point source urban environment using meteorological data, emission inventory and monitoring data for eight stations for the year 1990 to 1992. The performance of the models is evaluated using eight statistical parameters. The comparison of models results for both quarterly and annual averaging periods shows that ISCST2 predictions qualitatively match the observed concentrations; whereas SCREEN2 predicts highest concentrations and ISCLT2 the lowest concentrations. The summary of statistical analysis obtained by using three different methods of observed concentration (Co) and predicted concentrations (Cp) comparison show that the ISCST2 has a better overall performance than ISCLT2 and SCREEN2 models. However, none of the models met the criteria for a reasonable model. Summaries of 95% confidence limits on normalize mean square error (NMSE), geometric mean variance (VG) and geometric mean bias (MG) for each and among model indicate that of the three models, ISCST2 has the best overall performance indicators. Improved model performance may be achieved by incorporating different types of mercury forms into emission rate and air dispersion calculations.     

Evaluation of heavy metal contaminants in prepared noodles: source allocation and health risk assessment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, special attention has been given to emission research that led to the deposition of toxicants from road traffic. Thus, it is...     

Urban soil quality of Raipur,Chhattisgarh, India

Soil quality in urban areas in India is degraded due to multiple anthropogenic activities. The objectives of this work are to determine the concentration variations, toxicity, and sources of carbons, metals, and ions in the surface soil of Raipur, the industrialized capital city of Chhattisgarh state, India. High concentrations of Al, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, and elemental carbon (EC) were registered. Relatively lower concentrations of V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Ba, Pb, organic carbon (OC), and carbonate carbon (CC), as well as ions (viz. F^–, Cl^–, NO₃^–, SO₄^2–, Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺), were also recorded. EC was found to be one of the major pollutants, although enrichment factors pointed to high contamination with SO₄^2–, K⁺, Mg²⁺_, Cr, Mn, and Pb; and extreme contamination with NO₃^– and Ca²⁺. The spatial and temporal variations, enrichment factors, toxicity, and sources of the chemical species detected in the soil are discussed.     

Waste to energy: a decision-making process for technology selection through characterization of waste,considering energy and emission in the city of Ahmedabad,India

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal has become major issue for the city of Ahmedabad, India. Development, concentrated population and economic...     

A quantitative investigation of methane gas and solid waste management in mountainous Srinagar city-A case study

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Methane has tremendous potential for energy production, and enormous amounts of energy can be produced using suitable technology. To address this...     

Nutraceuticals and mitochondrial oxidative stress: bridging the gap in the management of bronchial asthma

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily characterized by inflammation and reversible bronchoconstriction. It is currently one of the...     

Innovations in applications and prospects of bioplastics and biopolymers: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Non-biodegradable plastics are continually amassing landfills and oceans worldwide while creating severe environmental issues and hazards to animal and human...     

Recycling of waste tire by pyrolysis to recover carbon black: an alternative reinforcing filler

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Thermal pyrolysis of waste tires is an industrially beneficial method for material and energy recovery. Pyrolytic carbon black (CBp) is considered...