Effect of commercial pesticides on plant growth-promoting activities of Burkholderia sp. strain L2 isolated from rhizosphere of Lycopersicon esculentum cultivated in agricultural soil

The in vitro study was carried out to examine the toxicity of four commercially used pesticides (phorate, mancozeb, chlorpyrifos, and endosulfan) at the recommended dose (1X) and higher field doses (1.5X, 2X, 2.5X, and 3X) on plant growth-promoting activities of Burkholderia sp. strain L2, isolated from pesticide-treated rhizosphere of Lycopersicon esculentum. At the recommended dose, level of toxicity of all the pesticides to phosphate solubilization activity and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production was less detrimental as compared to exceeding doses. At maximum dose rate of each pesticide, the percentage decrease in phosphate solubilization and IAA production over control was found in order of chlorpyrifos < mancozeb < endosulfan < phorate. Present study proves that Burkholderia sp. strain L2 could be used as a potential microbial inoculant in the agricultural soil having persistent pesticide residues.     

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling of perfluoroalkyl substances in the human body

Currently, there are limited data on the levels of perfluoroalkyl substances other than perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid in the human body. Most of this information has been extracted from biological monitoring of plasma while the occurrence of perfluoroalkyl substances in other human tissues is rarely studied. The objective of the present study was to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model to assess the concentration of perfluoroalkyl substances in human tissues, based on an existing model previously validated for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid. Experimental data on concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances in human tissues from individuals in Tarragona County (Catalonia, Spain) were used to estimate the values of some distribution and elimination parameters needed for the simulation. No significant correlations were found between these parameters and the chain lengths. The model was finally validated for five perfluoroalkyl substances.     

Informal Institutional Responses to Government Interventions: Lessons from Madhupur National Park,Bangladesh

Madhupur National Park is renowned for severe resource ownership conflicts between ethnic communities and government authorities in Bangladesh. In this study, we applied the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to identify: (i) past and present informal institutional structures within the ethnic Garo community for land resource management; (ii) the origin of the land ownership dispute; (iii) interaction mechanisms between formal and informal institutions; and (iv) change in land management authority and informal governance structures. We identify that the informal institutions of the traditional community have undergone radical change due to government interventions with implications for the regulation of land use, informal institutional functions, and joint-decision-making. Importantly, the government’s persistent denial of the role of existing informal institutions is widening the gap between government and community actors, and driving land ownership conflicts in a cyclic way with associated natural resource degradation.     

Building low-carbon and disaster-resilient communities: integrating climate mitigation and adaptation into the assessment of self-help housing design

Housing is not only one of the major sources of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, but it has been increasingly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters, particularly those sheltering the urban poor. Both mitigation and adaptation measures are therefore required for the design and construction of low-income housing to encourage low carbon development and improve resilience to disasters. As self-help housing—the common type of housing for the urban poor in developing countries—is usually built by ordinary people with participatory approach, it is crucial to develop a low-carbon and disaster-resilient assessment tool for assisting them in making informed decisions during planning process. The objective of this article is to propose a new approach for developing a low-carbon and disaster-resilient assessment tool for self-help housing (LoDAT-SH) by combining opinions from experts and community residents to assign weights, identify indicators, and establish benchmarks with the aim to develop a simple, relevant, and practical tool for non-expert users like self-help residents. The application of the proposed methodology to a case study of a developing country, Thailand, shows the ability of LoDAT-SH, which contains 45 indicators in the four categories of low carbon development, disaster resilience, community participation, and financial consideration, in enabling self-help residents to assess the performance of their housing design, identify potential measures to create a low-carbon and disaster-resilient housing, and prioritize such actions. To support the creation of a low-carbon and disaster-resilient housing as the mitigation and adaptation strategy for urban development at the global level, the study suggests that the methodology of LoDAT-SH should be replicated to develop a more comprehensive assessment tool applicable for the use in self-help housing design in other developing countries, which will house about 900 million of the urban poor by 2020.     

Climate change mitigation policy paradigms—national objectives and alignments

The aim of this paper is to assess how policy goals in relation to the promotion of green growth, energy security, pollution control and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions have been aligned in policies that have been implemented in selected countries during the last decades as a basis for discussing how a multi objective policy paradigm can contribute to future climate change mitigation. The paper includes country case studies from Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea and the United States covering renewable energy options, industry, transportation, the residential sector and cross-sectoral policies. These countries and regions together contribute more than two thirds of global GHG emissions. The paper finds that policies that are nationally driven and that have multiple objectives, including climate-change mitigation, have been widely applied for decades in both developing countries and industrialised countries. Many of these policies have a long history, and adjustments have taken place based on experience and cost effectiveness concerns. Various energy and climate-change policy goals have worked together in these countries, and in practice a mix of policies reflecting specific priorities and contexts have been pursued. In this way, climate-change mitigation has been aligned with other policy objectives and integrated into broader policy packages, though in many cases specific attention has not been given to the achievement of large GHG emission reductions. Based on these experiences with policy implementation, the paper highlights a number of key coordination and design issues that are pertinent to the successful joint implementation of several energy and climate-change policy goals.     

Municipal solid waste management in Kolkata,India – A review

Kolkata is one of four metropolitan cities in India. With an area of 187.33 sq km and a population of about 8 million, it generates around 3,000 t d^?1 of municipal solid waste (MSW) at a rate of 450–500 g per capita per day. With rapid urbanization as a result of planned and unplanned growth and industrialization, the problems associated with handling MSW have increased at an alarming rate over the past few years. No source segregation arrangement exists; there is only limited (60%) house-to-house collection; and 50–55% open vats are used in the present collection system. The operational efficiency of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) transport system is about 50%, with a fleet composed of about 30–35% old vehicles. The majority (80%) of these, particularly the hired vehicles, are more than 20 years old. The newly added areas covered by KMC have even lower collection efficiencies, and only an informal recycling system exists. The waste collected has a low energy value (3,350–4,200 kJ kg^?1) with high moisture and inert content. A 700 t d^?1 compost plant set up in 2000 has not been functioning effectively since 2003. Open dumping (without liners and without a leachate management facility) and the threat of groundwater pollution, as well as saturation of an existing landfill site (Dhapa) are the most pressing problems for the city today. KMC spends 70–75% of its total expenditures on collection of solid waste, 25–30% on transportation, and less than 5% on final disposal arrangements. The Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, is seen as only a partial solution to the problem. A detailed plan should emphasize segregation at the source, investment in disposal arrangements (including the use of liners and leachate collection), and an optimized transport arrangement, among improvements.     

A rapid method for determination of Aroclor 1260 in cattle adipose tissue

Abstract

A simple analytical procedure for the determination of Aroclor 1260 in cattle adipose tissue is described. The polychlorinated biphenyls residues are extracted from the tissue using a soxhlet extractor and the extracts are cleaned up using a florisil SEP‐PAK cartridge. The residues are detected using a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. The effect of extraction time of the Aroclor 1260 residues from the tissue has been investigated and a period of four hours is found to give satisfactory percent recoveries. Greater than 85 percent recoveries were obtained from adipose tissue spiked with Aroclor 1260. The method can be used to detect Aroclor 1260 residue levels as low as 0.10 parts per million.

The method was used to analyze thirty‐one cattle adipose tissue samples out of which twenty‐six samples were taken from cattle suspected of exposure to a pasture containing electrical transformers and capacitors containing Aroclor 1260. Five control samples were collected from cattle with no known exposure. All twenty‐six samples were found to contain non‐detectable Aroclor 1260 residues.     

Mineral aerosols from western India: Temporal variability of coarse and fine atmospheric dust and elemental characteristics

Size-segregated aerosol samples (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) were collected during Jan–Dec-2007 from a high-altitude site located in a semi-arid region (Mt. Abu, 24.6 °N, 72.7 °E, 1680 m asl) in order to asses the temporal variability in the abundance of atmospheric mineral dust and its elemental composition over western India. The mass concentrations of fine (PM_2.5) and coarse (PM_10–2.5) mode aerosols varied from 1.6 to 46.1 and 2.3 to 102 μg m^?3 respectively over the annual seasonal cycle; with dominant and uniform contribution of mineral dust (60–80%) in the coarse mode relative to large temporal variability (11–75%) observed in the fine mode. The coarse mass fraction shows a characteristic increase with the wind speed during summer months (Mar to Jun); whereas fine aerosol mass and its elemental composition exhibit conspicuous temporal pattern associated with north-easterlies during wintertime (Oct–Feb). The Fe/Al weight ratio in PM_2.5 ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 during winter months. The relative enrichment of Fe in fine mode, compared to the crustal ratio of 0.44, is attributed to the down-wind advective transport of combustion products derived from large-scale biomass burning, industrial and automobile emission sources located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (northern India). In contrast, Ca/Al and Mg/Al weight ratios show relative enrichment of Ca and Mg in the coarse mode; indicating their dominant contribution from carbonate minerals. This has implication to efficient neutralization of atmospheric acidic species (SO₄^2? and NO₃^?) by mineral dust over western India.     

Phosphate solubilizing actinomycetes in the estuarine environment: an inventory.

Sediment samples were collected from different stations of the Vellar estuary for isolation of total actinomycetes and phosphate solubilizing actinomycetes. Phosphatase activity in the sediments was also investigated Consistently a higher number of actinomycetes, phosphate solubilizing actinomycetes and phosphatase activity were recorded from the clay sediments than the sandy sediments at all the stations. In all, 7 strains showed positive phosphatase activity. Among them, one strain PS-3 exhibited good activity and was further investigated for optimum phosphorus solubilization at different pH (6, 6.5, 7, 7.5 and 8) and incubation (1st day to 20th day) periods. The solubilizing activity was maximum at the pH 7 and an incubation period of 13 days was required for an appreciable quantity of phosphorus to be leached into the medium. Based on the chemotaxonomical and conventional methods of identification, the strain PS-3 has been tentatively identified as Streptomyces galbus. The present study indicates that phosphatase enzyme and S. galbus along with other actinomycetes species would play a major role in solubilizing the phosphate in the estuarine ecosystem and increasing the soluble phosphate concentration thereby enhancing the productivity