Livelihood Sustainability and Community Based Co-Management of Forest Resources in China: Changes and Improvement

Community-based co-management (CBCM) has been applied in some communities near natural reserves in China. This paper uses Gansu Baishuijiang National Natural Reserve in China as a case study for livelihood improvements under CBCM projects. We demonstrate change from 2006 to 2010 in five classes of livelihood capital (social, human, natural, physical and financial capitals), illustrating the effectiveness of CBCM projects. Specifically, there are increases in mean family income and improvements in forest conservation. However, some problems in the design and implementation of CBCM projects remain, including the complicated social and political relationship between government and community, social exclusion and uneven application of benefits within communities, and the lack of integration of indigenous cultures and traditional beliefs. Attention for special groups in community and improving the design of CBCM Projects. Study shows that under the cooperation of government, CBCM projects and local community residents, the harmonious development of sustainable livelihood improvement and forest resources conservation will be an important trend in the future.     

Thermal co-reduction approach to vary size of silver nanoparticle: its microbial and cellular toxicology

In recent years, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have attracted considerable interest in the field of food, agriculture and pharmaceuticals mainly due to its antibacterial activity. AgNPs have also been reported to possess toxic behavior. The toxicological behavior of nanomaterials largely depends on its size and shape which ultimately depend on synthetic protocol. A systematic and detailed analysis for size variation of AgNP by thermal co-reduction approach and its efficacy toward microbial and cellular toxicological behavior is presented here. With the focus to explore the size-dependent toxicological variation, two different-sized NPs have been synthesized, i.e., 60 nm (Ag60) and 85 nm (Ag85). A detailed microbial toxicological evaluation has been performed by analyzing minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), diameter of inhibition zone (DIZ), growth kinetics (GrK), and death kinetics (DeK). Comparative cytotoxicological behavior was analyzed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. It has been concluded by this study that the size of AgNPs can be varied, by varying the concentration of reactants and temperature called as “thermal co-reduction” approach, which is one of the suitable approaches to meet the same. Also, the smaller AgNP has shown more microbial and cellular toxicity.     

Analysis of constraints and potentials for wastewater management in the coastal city of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Manado is the largest and most densely populated coastal city in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The city is facing problems of wastewater discharged from various sources. These problems are driven by high population pressure, increasing economic activity, and low household income, in combination with inadequate organizational structure of government institutions for addressing the wastewater problems as well as for law enforcement. There have been no community initiatives to prevent or mitigate wastewater problems. Therefore, a wastewater management plan is urgently needed to prevent and mitigate pollution caused by discharged wastewater. In this paper we analyze the current situation with respect to environmental state, sources and treatment of wastewater, socio-economic and institutional capacities as well as community awareness. Constraints and potentials are discussed to give recommendations for an integrated wastewater management plan for the city of Manado.     

Heavy metal concentration and distribution in a dated sediment core of Nainital Lake in the Himalayan region

The concentrations and distribution of the elements, including heavy metals such as As, Ba, Br, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Ga, K, Mn, Na, Rb, Sc, Sr, Th and Zn, were investigated in dated sediment cores of Nainital Lake located in the Himalayan region, in Uttar Pradesh state of India, which is considered as a remote background area. The concentrations of the elements were measured by instrumental neutron activation analysis using the k0 method. The International Atomic Energy Agency certified reference material SL-3 was used to evaluate the accuracy of the method. The normalized data for a series of elements were used to understand the source of loading. Elements like Br, Co, Cr, Fe, K, Mn and Zn show a negative correlation with increasing depth whereas elements like As, Ba, Cs, Na and Rb show a positive correlation with increasing depth. By considering the concentration for the bottom segments of the core as close to the baseline concentration, recent flux values for different elements were calculated. An increase in the flux value was observed for Br, Cr, Fe, K, Mn and Zn, which can be attributed to anthropogenic contribution in recent years.     

Breast cancer incidence and exposure to pesticides among women originating from Jaipur

Environmental contamination by pesticides has been documented in biotic and abiotic components. These persistent organic pollutants are lipid soluble, nonbiodegradable, and endocrine disrupters. The present study was therefore planned to determine whether the levels of these pesticides like DDT and its metabolites DDD and DDE, dieldrin, heptachlor, and HCH and its isomers (alpha, beta, and gamma) were higher in blood of breast cancer patients when compared with normal women who did not suffer from major diseases like blood pressure, tuberculosis, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, arthritis, cancer, etc. and had not undergone any major surgery. The results indicated that organochlorine pesticides taken for analysis were found significantly high in breast cancer patients irrespective of age, diet, and geographic distribution.     

Observations on life cycle of certain spiders from Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu

Survey was conducted, in the different forests ecosystems of Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu in Nilgris, Coimbatore, Erode, Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli districts to collect the adult spiders and study them taxonomically. Fifty-six species of spider collections were made. From the fifty six, biology was studied for six spider species, such as Micrommata virescens n.sp., Oxyopes javanus, Peucetia virridana, Agelena kariansholensis n.sp., Heteropoda venatoria and Olios hampsoni. Biology studies with Peucetia virridana and Micrommata virescens showed that both species took more than 350 days to complete their life cycles. Heteropoda venetoria and Oxyopes javanus took more than 250 days to complete their life cycle. Agelena kariansholensis took 381 days and Olios hampsoni took 345 days to complete their life cycles. 30% of Peucetia virridana and more than 20% of Heteropoda venatoria and Micrommata virescens and 7% of Oxyopes javanus developed into adults in captivity.     

Uptake and accumulation of potentially toxic metals (Zn, Cu and Pb) in soils and plants of Durgapur industrial belt

Uptake and accumulation of metals in crops may cause possible health risks through food chain. A field survey was conducted to investigate the accumulation of potentially toxic metals contamination in soil and plants irrigated with complexed industrial effluents. Concentration of Zn, Cu and Pb was 205-255,101-130,118-177 microg g(-1) in rhizosphere soils and 116-223, 57-102 and 63-95 microg g(-1) d. wt. in root and 95-186, 44-75 and 27-58 microg g(-1) d. wt. in shoot, respectively. The trend in Cu and Pb was in the order: soil > root > shoot > seed while in Zn it was soil > root > seed > shoot. Roots accumulated a larger fraction of soil Cu (70%) > Zn (67%) > Pb (54%). Bioaccumulation coefficient of soil to root ranged from 51-98 for Zn, 54-85 for Cu and 43-63 for Pb.Analysis of variance showed marginal change in bioaccumulation coefficient, noticed between plants (p > 0.05) while it varied significantly (p < 0.01) between tissues and metals. It increased from root to seed/fruit (root > shoot > seed/fruit) while decreased between metals from Zn to Pb (Zn > Cu > Pb). Out of the three, two Cu and Pb accumulated to phyotoxic levels while Zn was within threshold limit of phytotoxicity.     

湖泊水动力模型外部输入条件不确定性和敏感性分析

以我国典型的大型浅水湖泊太湖为研究区域,采用国内外常用的环境流体动力学模型(EFDC),结合拉丁超立方取样(LHS)方法,研究湖泊水动力模型中4个重要的外部输入条件,即3个边界输入条件(出入湖流量、风速、风向)和1个初始输入条件(初始水位),对模型水动力模拟结果(水位、水龄以及流场)的影响与贡献.结果表明,初始水位的设定对模拟全湖水位和水龄产生决定性影响,不确定性的贡献率分别达到85.73%和66.125%,对垂向平均流速影响的贡献率只有3%;风速对表面流速模拟结果影响较大,贡献率达到58.70%,而对水位和水龄的贡献率分别为5.25%和3.00%.在垂向上,各层流速受外部输入条件不确定性的影响规律相似,贡献率排序为风速(55%~60%)>风向(10%~15%)>初始水位≈出入湖流量(1%~5%).因此在模拟大型浅水湖泊水动力过程时,可以根据不同的输出目标能够有针对性地提高外部输入条件的准确度,为提高模型精确度提供有效信息.     

Effect of feed slurry dilution and total solids on specific biogas production by anaerobic digestion in batch and semi-batch reactors

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Biomass from various sources such as cow dung is a significant source of&nbsp;renewable energy (as biogas) in many regions globally, especially...