Effect of virtual water trade on freshwater pollution in trading partners: a systematic literature review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Systematic reviews are a more complete, repeatable, and less biased form of literature reviews leading to evidence-based conclusions. A systematic...     

Development and pre-validation of a testosterone enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for predicting the sex ratio of immature loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) recovered along the western coast of the central Adriatic Sea

Plasma testosterone levels were evaluated, by validating and using a commercially available testosterone enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as an indicator of the sex of immature loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) recovered along the western coast of the central Adriatic Sea between November 2011 and February 2012. Testosterone levels were measured in blood samples collected from 28 immature turtles kept in short-term maintenance at the Fondazione Cetacea Rescue Centre (Italy). Overall, plasma testosterone ranged between 229.3 and 2628.6 pg ml^?1, suggesting that the EIA procedure is effective for determining androgen titers in immature loggerhead sea turtles. Analysis of the obtained data indicates an unbiased sex ratio supporting previous studies of juvenile loggerhead turtle sex ratios in the Mediterranean Sea. The present work can be considered a starting point for augmenting knowledge on the dynamics of juvenile loggerhead aggregations increasingly found in the northern-central Adriatic Sea and for promoting local management for conservation actions.     

Managing Watershed Externalities in India: Theory and Practice

Watershed development is the focus of poverty alleviation programs in rural India. Watershed projects aim to solve problems of externalities, but they also create their own externalities, which cause uneven distribution of costs and benefits that undermine project objectives and harm the poor. Numerous approaches exist to internalize externalities, including awareness creation, moral suasion, investment subsidies, regulatory limits and fines, indirect benefits, mergers, and recent innovations like payment for environmental services and cap and trade. These can be judged on several criteria; the best approach would solve the problem cost effectively and help or at least not hurt poor people. Watershed projects in India were examined to identify the approaches taken to internalize watershed externalities. Investment subsidies and indirect employment benefits are the least effective approaches theoretically, but they are the most commonly applied, most likely because they are easy to administer and bring popular short term gains. Some theoretically favorable approaches that have been used elsewhere, such as payment for environmental services, may not work as well in India due to high transaction costs. However, one key innovation that easily could be applied in India is to make investment subsidies contingent on performance. Legal support and property rights reform would be needed for other favorable approaches.     

Active biomonitoring of heavy metal pollution using Rosa rugosa plants

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the quality of a rural area near Faenza (Italy) by using an active biomonitoring approach, i.e., by placing homogeneous individuals of the perennial shrub Rosa rugosa in different sites throughout the area. Further sites, within the city or its environs, were used for comparison. Soil and leaves of R. rugosa were analyzed for their heavy metal content. The total heavy metal pattern of leaves closely paralleled the pattern registered in soil, with the highest content (both in total and assimilable forms) at the site in the urban area, which is exposed to heavy traffic. Pollen quality (abortiveness and viability) was also tested as a potential indicator of pollution. Pollen abortiveness was strictly related to Pb levels in leaves, while viability was inversely related to leaf Cr content. Our results suggest that R. rugosa has the potential to be a good biomonitoring system.     

Application of the Method of Organizational Congruencies in Substituting Organic Solvents With Vegetable Agents for the Cleaning of an Offset Printing Machine

The aim of this research is the application of the Method of Organizational Congruencies before and after the substitution of organic solvents with vegetable agents for the cleaning of an offset printing machine in order to assess the organizational changes. A solvent-free process is the goal of the Subsprint Project (Technology Transfer Program of the European Community). This, study shows how human and environmental health is improved by using vegetable agents, though this change may lead to some other organizational constraints such as an increase of tbe time needed, monotony, and repetitiveness of the technical actions involved. The authors underline that the knowledge of the impact of the new technology on health helps a better understanding of the resistance to the change and its further amelioration.     

Minimising emissions and energy wastage by improved industrial processes and integration of renewable energy

This article provides an introduction to this Special Issue of Journal of Cleaner Production (JCLP), which contains thirteen, carefully selected articles from the 12th Conference, “Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction” – PRES'09. This issue builds upon the multi-year co-operation between the PRES conference planners and the JCLP. The articles cover important subjects of increased efficiency in energy generation and usage and in improvements in industrial process optimisation. The first group of five papers focuses upon recent advances in emissions reduction and the resulting energy penalties. The second group of four papers deals with improving the efficiency and reliability in the utilisation of renewable energy, where hydrogen and biodiesel are the key energy carriers. The final group of three papers focus on process integration challenges of sustainable energy systems and upon the challenges of industrial/societal integration of sustainable energy systems into regional sustainable development planning.     

Morphological changes at Vellar estuary, India--impact of the December 2004 tsunami

Coastal subsystems formed by interaction of various processes, impacted by natural hazards like tsunami and storms, pose irreversible morphological changes. Vellar estuary, located on the southeast coast of India, with huge sand dunes (of 3-6m height and spread to 560ha) and barrier islands, has undergone extensive morphological changes due to the giant Indian Ocean tsunami that occurred on 26th December 2004. The damage caused by the tsunami has been quantified using extensive field data collected during pre- and post-tsunami periods through Real Time Kinematic GPS (for mapping coastal features and beach profiles) and Geographic Information System (GIS) couple. The tsunami with a wave height as high as 4m not only inundated the entire coastal land up to a maximum of 2km but also eroded the sand dunes and deposited the eroded material at the inlet, which ultimately formed as a vast tidal flat spread over 31ha. The estuary has suffered immensely due to the tsunami especially in terms of (i) loss of natural protection barriers (sand dunes), which made this coastal area more vulnerable to storm attack, and (ii) shallowness of inlet creating hindrance to navigation of fishing vessels. Based on the observations made at Vellar coast and past recovery experiences of tsunami/hurricanes elsewhere in the world, we contend that the morphological loss might take at least two annual cycles to regain its original form and the rebuilding of sand dunes may even take a decade.     

Odour impact assessment by means of dynamic olfactometry,dispersion modelling and social participation

This work discusses how it is possible to assess odour impact in presence of multiple similar sources by illustrating a case study. The study was conducted on an area of northern Italy comprising three small municipalities where four rendering plants are located near to each other. Based on the emission data resulting from olfactometric surveys conducted in different periods of the year the overall odour emission rate emitted by each plant were evaluated, showing that the major contributor to the odour impact on the territory was plant 2. These data were linked with meteorological and orographical data in order to evaluate odour dispersion with a model (Calpuff). The results of the odour dispersion modelling confirmed the outcomes of the olfactometric survey and they were further validated through a “questioning” survey, conducted with the aim of involving the population by means of questionnaires for reporting the perceived odour episodes, which showed a good correspondence (86.5%) between odour perceptions and simulated odour immissions.