Discovering and characterizing farm households’ resilience under water scarcity

Water scarcity at an alarming rate has been a limiting factor for sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid environments of the world. It has resulted in a number of problems such as poverty and food insecurity among farm households. Therefore, building and improving resilience, as a way to mitigate the impacts of water scarcity, is important for farm households. But one of the significant steps for planning to improve farm households’ resilience under water scarcity is investigation of the current level of resilience of these households and understanding their variances. Therefore, this study offers a classification of farm households’ diversity based on resilience. Primary data were collected from 260 randomly selected farm households in 21 villages around Parishan wetland, Iran. Farm Household Resilience Scale was used to measure resilience. Cluster analysis suggested three groups: highly, medium-, and low-resilient farm households. The results of comparing three groups revealed that highly resilient farm households characterize with higher risk management, more agricultural water security, more positive psychological traits, and better knowledge management. Also, they had better water quality, attended more agricultural extension activities, and used modern irrigation systems. Farm households’ resilience map using GIS software illustrated that there is a relationship between resilience and farm location from the wetland. The findings of this study could be used by planner and policy-makers to improve farm households’ resilience in arid and semi-arid environments. Improvement in knowledge management system is recommended as one of the most effective policy instruments in building resilience.     

Laser photo-oxidative degradation of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene

Degradation of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (DMDBT), persistent sulfur contaminant in fuel oils has been achieved in non-polar phase by laser-irradiating DMDBT alone and in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen. The most efficient degradation in the presence of molecular oxygen is judged to be the first example of self-sensitized photo-oxygenation of thiophenes, in which DMDBT sequentially acts as 1O2 sensitizer and reactant.     

Transboundary Pollution Control and Competitiveness Concerns in a Two-Country Differential Game

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - We analyze a transboundary pollution control problem in a heterogeneous two-country differential game setting in which regulators care for the implications...