Prediction of daily ground-level ozone concentration maxima over New Delhi

The pollution levels in New Delhi from industrial, residential, and transportation sources are continuously growing. As one of the major pollutants, ground-level ozone is responsible for various adverse effects on both humans and foliage. The present study aims to predict daily ground-level ozone concentration maxima over a site situated in New Delhi through neural networks (NN) and multiple-regression (MR) analysis. Although these methodologies are case and site specific, they are being developed and used widely. Therefore, to test these methodologies for New Delhi where no such study is available for ground-level ozone, six models have been developed based on NNs and MR using the same input data set. The changes in the performance capability of the two methods are sensitive to the selection of input parameters. The results are encouraging, and remarkable improvements in the performance of the models have been observed.     

Pre-concentration and separation of heavy metal ions by chemically modified waste paper gel

Iminodiacetic acid was immobilized on waste paper by chemical modification in order to develop a new type of adsorption gel for heavy metal ions. Adsorption behavior of the gel was investigated for a number of metal ions, specifically Cu(II), Pb(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Cd(II), and Co(II) at acidic pH. From batch adsorption tests, the order of selectivity was found to be as follows: Cu(II)  Fe(III) > Pb(II) > Ni(II)  Co(II) > Cd(II). Column tests were carried out for pairs of metal ions to understand the separation and pre-concentration behavior of the gel. It was found that mutual separation of Ni(II) from Co(II) and that of Pb(II) from Cd(II) can be achieved at pH 3. Similarly, selective separation of Cu(II) from Cu(II)–Fe(III) and Cu(II)–Pb(II) mixtures at pH 1.5 and 2, respectively, was observed by using this new adsorption gel. In all cases, almost complete recovery of the adsorbed metal was confirmed by elution tests with HCl.     

Dominance based fuzzy decision support framework for g-resilient (ecosilient) supplier selection: an empirical modelling

A novel decision support framework has been proposed herein to solve supplier selection problems by considering green as well as resiliency criteria, simultaneously. An expert team involving a finite number of Decision-Makers (DMs) is to be employed to obtain degree of importance of each of the evaluation criteria and also to assign an appropriate rating for each supplier alternative with respect to the criteria. Since subjective human judgment often bears some sort of ambiguity as well as vagueness, application of fuzzy set theory can be recommended in this context. The present work represents a dominance based decision support system in the light of fuzzy set theory which is basically a simplified version of TODIM and PROMETHEE. It explores dominance between two alternatives with respect to a particular criterion, based on which a global dominance measure is computed to facilitate ranking order of candidate suppliers. The approach proposed in this research seems straightforward which can exclude complex and tedious computational steps of TODIM as well as PROMETHEE. Application potential of the proposed dominance based fuzzy decision-making approach has been compared to that of Fuzzy-TOPSIS and Fuzzy-VIKOR. Good agreement has been observed. In addition to this, the concept of a unique performance index i.e. ‘g-resilient’ (also called ‘ecosilient’) index has been introduced to help in assessing suppliers’ overall performance extent. The work has also been extended to identify the ill (poor)-performing areas in which suppliers are lagging and seek further improvement towards enhancing g-resilient performance level.     

A Grey-Based Taguchi Approach for Characterization of Erosive Wear Phenomenon of Glass–Polyester Fly Ash Filled Composites

Fly ash is a solid waste generated in huge quantities from coal fired thermal power stations during the combustion of coal. In India, less than half of this is used as a raw material for concrete manufacturing and construction; the remaining is directly dumped on land side as land fill or simply piled up. Only a small fraction of it is used in development of high valued product. Due to environmental regulations, new ways of utilizing fly ash are being explored in order to safeguard the environment and provide useful ways for its utilization and disposal. With its richness in various metal oxides, it has tremendous potential to be utilized as a filler material in polymer composites. These days glass reinforced polyester composites find widespread application in erosive environment due to several advantages like high wear resistance, strength-to-weight ratio, and low cost. The cost of the composites can be further brought down using cheaper filler materials. To this end, this work uses fly ash in composite making and thereby suggests a new way of better utility of this industrial waste. It includes the processing, characterization and study of the erosion behavior of a class of such fly ash filled polyester-glass fiber composites. The engineering application of composites demands that it should have high wear resistance, low density and high tensile strength. In order to assess the behavior of composites satisfying multiple performance measures, a grey-based Taguchi approach has been adopted. After thorough analysis of factors, optimal factor settings have been suggested to improve multiple responses viz., erosive wear rate, density, flexural strength and tensile strength. This technique eliminates the need for repeated experiments; thus saves time and material. The systematic experimentation leads to determination of significant process parameters and material variables that predominantly influence the multiple responses.     

Unique phenotypes in the sperm of the earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae for assessing radiation hazards

The earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae is a segmented worm. It has two pairs of testes whose cells are highly proliferative. It was found that the earthworm, which is irradiated with X-ray, shows the following phenotypic changes in its sperm: fragmented acrosome in the head, break in the tail, and the appearance of zigzag sperm tail. Sperm morphology can be used as a tool to study radiation hazards in local areas. These three phenotypes were not observed in the sperm of worms exposed to different concentration of toxic chemicals such as sodium arsenate, lead acetate, and mercuric chloride. In contrast, exposure of worms to ethidium bromide caused fragmented acrosome in the head of their sperm cells.     

Public Perceptions and Acceptance of Intensive Forestry in Sweden

The use of intensive forestry on part of the forested area in Sweden increases the production of forest biomass and enables an increased use of such biomass to mitigate climate change. However, with increasing conflicting interests in forests and forestry, the success of such a strategy depends on the public acceptance. In this paper, the results of a mail survey show that although a majority of the general public in Sweden supports measures to increase forest growth, they oppose the use of intensive forestry practices such as the cultivation of exotic tree species, clones, and forest fertilization. The acceptance of such practices is mainly influenced by the perceptions of their environmental consequences. Public acceptance was highest for forest fertilization, whereas clone cultivation was the least accepted practice.     

Algal biofuel production and mitigation potential in India

Energy and energy services are the backbone of growth and development in India and is increasingly dependent upon the use of fossil based fuels that lead to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and related concerns. Algal biofuels are being evolved as carbon (C)-neutral alternative biofuels. Algae are photosynthetic microorganisms that convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide (CO₂) to various sugars and lipids Tri-Acyl-Glycols (TAG) and show promise as an alternative, renewable and green fuel source for India. Compared to land based oilseed crops algae have potentially higher yields (5?C12 g/m²/d) and can use locations and water resources not suited for agriculture. Within India, there is little additional land area for algal cultivation and therefore needs to be carried out in places that are already used for agriculture, e.g. flooded paddy lands (20 Mha) with village level technologies and on saline wastelands (3 Mha). Cultivating algae under such conditions requires novel multi-tier, multi-cyclic approaches of sharing land area without causing threats to food and water security as well as demand for additional fertilizer resources by adopting multi-tier cropping (algae-paddy) in decentralized open pond systems. A large part of the algal biofuel production is possible in flooded paddy crop land before the crop reaches dense canopies, in wastewaters (40 billion litres per day), in salt affected lands and in nutrient/diversity impoverished shallow coastline fishery. Mitigation will be achieved through avoidance of GHG, C-capture options and substitution of fossil fuels. Estimates made in this paper suggest that nearly half of the current transportation petro-fuels could be produced at such locations without disruption of food security, water security or overall sustainability. This shift can also provide significant mitigation avenues. The major adaptation needs are related to socio-technical acceptance for reuse of various wastelands, wastewaters and waste-derived energy and by-products through policy and attitude change efforts.     

The Impact of NTFP Sales on Rural Households’ Cash Income in India’s Dry Deciduous Forest

In recent years, researchers and policy makers have recognized that nontimber forest products (NTFPs) extracted from forests by rural people can make a significant contribution to their well-being and to the local economy. This study presents and discusses data that describe the contribution of NTFPs to cash income in the dry deciduous forests of Orissa and Jharkhand, India. In its focus on cash income, this study sheds light on how the sale of NTFPs and products that use NTFPs as inputs contribute to the rural economy. From analysis of a unique data set that was collected over the course of a year, the study finds that the contribution of NTFPs to cash income varies across ecological settings, seasons, income level, and caste. Such variation should inform where and when to apply NTFP forest access and management policies.