Nanofiltration of concentrated and salted tuna cooking juices

Tuna cooking juice from a Tunisian tuna-processing unit has a high level of polluting load: chemical oxygen demand (COD) is comprised between 4 and 20 g L⁻¹, nitrogen kjedahl (NK) between 0.6 and 3 g L⁻¹ and dry matter between 120 and 160 g L⁻¹. The juice has thus to be treated before being rejected into the environment. This paper considers the nanofiltration (NF) of these concentrated organic/inorganic mixtures using an AFC 30 (NF) membrane. The work focusses on the effect of organic and inorganic matters on the permeate flux and rejections of these matters. For this purpose, mixtures of salt and organic pollution (COD), used as model solutions, were prepared by the dilution of a typical industrial tuna cooking juice. The permeate flux was found to decrease when salt and organic matter concentrations increase. The recovery rate in organic matter decreases with increasing salt or organic matter content and the recovery rate of salt decreases when the COD concentration increases.     

A study on the arsenic concentration in groundwater of a coastal aquifer in south-east India: an integrated approach

The occurrence of arsenic in drinking water and its detrimental effects have drawn much attention in recent years. Several studies have been conducted in the deltaic plains of River Ganga, NE part of the India, and in other countries, but no systematic study was conducted in South India on occurrence of arsenic in groundwater. The main aim of this study is to determine the level of arsenic in groundwater and to understand the relation with other geochemical parameters of groundwater in the south-eastern coastal aquifer at Kalpakkam region, India. This region is represented by three different lithologies, viz. charnockites, flood plain alluvium and marine alluvium. Twenty-nine representative samples of groundwater were collected and analysed for major ions, metals and isotopes such as ²H and ¹⁸O. In addition, geophysical method was also attempted to understand the subsurface condition. The spatial variation in arsenic (As) indicates that higher concentration was observed around the landfill sites and irrigated regions, which was supported by geochemical, statistical and isotopic inferences. The variation in the As with depth, lithology and sources has been clearly brought out. Though the values of As does not exceed the drinking water permissible limit (10 mg/l), it has reached a near permissible level of 8.7 ppb. Hence, it is essential to understand the geochemical behaviour of As for a proper future management of the water resource in the study area.     

Effect of rise in spring air temperature on the arrival dates and reproductive success of the Song Thrush, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Turdus philomelos</Emphasis> (C.L. Brehm, 1831) in the forest–steppe of the Russian Plain

The effect of rise in spring air temperature on the breeding phenology and reproductive success of the Song Thrush in the Voronezh Nature Reserve have been studied over the periods of 1987 to 1990 and 2008 to 2012. The results show that relatively high air temperatures provide for earlier arrival of the birds from wintering grounds, earlier and more synchronous breeding of the majority of nesting pairs, and an increase in clutch size and proportion of pairs producing two broods per season. Predation pressure on bird nests decreases under such conditions, which markedly improves reproductive success. Climate warming is conducive to increasing breeding productivity of the Song Thrush population as a whole.     

Effect of temperature and precipitation on linear increment of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sphagnum fuscum</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">S. magellanicum</Emphasis> in Western Siberia

The linear increment of Sphagnum fuscum and S. magellanicum in ombrotrophic mires of Western Siberia has been measured during two years over a transect about 2500 km long extending from forest–steppe to forest–tundra. Along the latitudinal gradient, the increment of both species has proved to be correlated with annual average air temperature and, in S. magellanicum, also with annual precipitation. The determinants of their growth differ between the southern, central, and northern parts of the study region. At the regional level, the annual and summer precipitation plays a more important role than the average air temperature. The increment of S. fuscum in the southern part is positively correlated with the amount of precipitation and negatively correlated with summer temperature, whereas the situation in the central part is inverse. In S. magellanicum, the linear increment is directly dependent on the annual average temperature and annual and summer precipitation in the south and on the annual and summer precipitation in the north of Western Siberia. The dynamics of linear growth of both species in bog pine forests during the growing season are similar: its rate is the highest in June, when the linear increment of S. fuscum and S. magellanicum amounts to 60 and 85% of the annual total, respectively.     

Dietary overlap among ruminants,geese, and lemmings of Wrangel Island in summer

Trends in the dynamics of herbivore community related to trophic competition in summer have been analyzed on Wrangel Island. The results show that the trophic spectra overlap considerably, resources are partitioned on the principle “weak competitors after strong competitors,” and community dynamics in the absence of extermination depend on specific competitive advantages related to the width of food spectrum. We conclude that the dynamics of this insular community prior to the establishment of nature reserve on the island have been determined by human activities, as well as the structure of arctic herbivore communities in general.     

Vegetation cover and rainfall seasonality impact nutrient loss via runoff and erosion in the Colombian Andes

Regional Environmental Change - Mountain ecosystems provide key services to a large portion of the population in the tropics. However, they are particularly vulnerable to regional environmental...     

Renewable energy sources: conflicts and opportunities in a changing landscape

Regional Environmental Change - Replacement of conventional energy sources with renewables such as solar panels and wind turbines requires adequate land. Impact assessments should be conducted to...     

Greening flood protection through knowledge processes: lessons from the Markermeer dikes project in the Netherlands

Greening flood protection (GFP) is increasingly recognized as an adaptive and flexible approach to water management that is well suited to addressing uncertain futures associated with climate change. In the last decade, GFP knowledge and policies have developed rapidly, but implementation has been less successful and has run into numerous barriers. In this paper, we address the challenge of realizing green flood protection goals by specifically considering knowledge in the decision-making of a Dutch flood protection project in Lake Markermeer. In this project, an ecological knowledge arrangement and a traditional flood protection knowledge arrangement are compared and their interactions analysed. The analysis provides insight into the specific difficulties of implementing GFP measures and identifies ways to realize GFP goals. The primary challenge is twofold: First, a self-reinforcing cycle of knowledge production and decision-making in the flood protection domain inhibits the introduction of innovative and multifunctional approaches such as GFP; second, the distribution of power is severely unbalanced in terms of ecological enhancement and flood protection, favouring the latter. Implementation of GFP requires structural change and the integration of ecological and flood protection knowledge and policy. Potentially rewarding routes towards this integration are the exploration of shared interests in GFP and the creation of mutual dependency between knowledge arrangements. The case study and the insights it provides show that GFP is far from mainstream practice and that implementation requires serious effort and courage to break with historical practices.     

Projected twenty-first-century changes in the Central American mid-summer drought using statistically downscaled climate projections

Regional Environmental Change - In addition to periodic long-term drought, much of Central America experiences a rainy season with two peaks separated by a dry period of weeks to over a month in...     

Eco-design practices towards sustainable supply chain management: interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach

Due to increasing emphasis on sustainable practices, many organisations have attempted to leverage their supply chain performance towards balancing triple bottom line dimensions (economic, environmental and social perspectives). This paper, therefore, determines the priorities of sustainable supply chain management focusing on eco-design. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matriced’ Impacts Croise’s Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (MIMAC) are used to identify the hierarchical structure of the relationships among eco-design dimensions, and to analyse characteristics power of each dimension on supporting eco-design practices. The relationships and characteristics power of each dimension are used to determine indicators that are effective in enhancement of eco-design practice, evaluated through sustainable supply chain performance. Results indicate that product deployment is an important approach for improving eco-design practice towards sustainable supply chain management. This emphasises the purpose and impact of eco-design on sequential supply chain activities at deployment phase. Further research is required to make an overall assessment of eco-design practices across range of manufacturing industries, given the current research is based on inputs from a limited number of experts of selected organisations.