Injury and loss concentration by sinkings in fishing fleets

Sinkings of fishing vessels, when accompanied by human loss, are accidents which lead to a great social upheaval, especially in the local area where they occur. In order to avoid or reduce these accidents, national governments must include in their legislation for this sector the appropriate safety measures. These resources and their distribution must be assigned in accordance with the needs of the accidentality, this requiring a detailed knowledge of the concentration of accidentality of a country’s fishing sector. In this context, the aim of the present work is twofold: first, to formulate a methodology for the fishing sector of a country, allowing the inequalities in the concentration of sinking accidents to be analysed; and second, to apply this methodology to the Spanish fishing fleet. Thus, two indices are constructed per region and type of fishing, for two variables: fishermen and vessels. Results are obtained both for the concentration of accidents and the associated Lorenz curves. An increase in the inequality in the spatial and functional distribution of these accidents is verified.     

Measurement of charge transfer during filling and emptying FIBC

Filling and emptying normal FIBC (flexible intermediate bulk containers) in hazardous areas represents a high electrostatic ignition hazard. Manufacturers of FIBC have therefore designed different measures to reduce the ignition risks from static electricity. Depending on the measures applied FIBC are categorized into types A, B, C and D. End of 2005 a new international standard for testing type D FIBC has been published. Type D FIBC have now to be certified according to this standard. Since this standard requires comprehensive ignition testing on a test rig especially designed for this purpose, industry is looking for a simpler test method, which can be used for the development of new FIBC fabric and in production quality control. In the present paper it is attempted to apply the method of charge transfer measurement to assess the ignition probability of static discharged from FIBC during filling and emptying and to correlate the results with the ignition tests performed on the standard test rig.     

Physico-Chemical Quality of Drinking Water in Rohtas District of Bihar

Water Quality Survey of Rohtas district of Bihar was conducted. Samples were collected from differentsources and analysed. 209 samples were collectedfrom 196 villages. Results of water quality surveyidentified the problem areas in respect of high iron,manganese, fluoride, nitrate and brackishness of water in the district.     

Models at the interface between science and society: impacts and options

Within the CLEAR project a new approach to integrated assessment modelling has been developed for the participatory integrated assessment of regional climate change involving citizens' focus groups. The climate change decision problem was structured by focusing separately on climate impacts and mitigation options. The attempt was made to link the different scales of the problem from the individual to the global level. The abstract topic of climate change was related to options on the level of a citizen's individual lifestyle. The option of a low energy society was emphasised in order to embed the climate change decision problem in a wider range of societal concerns. Special emphasis was given to the characterisation and communication of uncertainties. The chosen approach allows different kinds of uncertainties in one framework to be addressed. The paper concludes with a summary of the experience made, and recommendations for the use of models in participatory integrated assessments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

INASUD project findings on integrated assessment of climate policies

This communication summarizes the main findings of INASUD, an European-wide research project on integrated assessment of climate policies. The project aimed at improving the framing of climate policy analysis through the parallel use of various existing integrated assessment models. It provides a comprehensive examination of the link between uncertainty regarding damages and inertia in economic systems. Results show that the Kyoto targets and timing are consistent with the precautionary principle but offers little insurance for longer-term climate protection. Flexibility mechanisms offer potentials for cooperation with developing countries, and are necessary to tap the environmental and economic benefits of joint carbon and sulfur emissions abatement.     

Air quality and deposition of trace elements in Didouche Mourad, Algeria

Total suspended particulate matter and deposition fluxes of particles were investigated in the town of Didouche Mourad which is located 13 km north of Constantine. Samples of air particulate matter were collected at one site located in the heart of the town and situated 3 km north of a cement plant. Samples were collected from 2 November 2002 to 28 April 2003 every 3 days using a high volume air sampler. Sampling intervals were 24 h in all cases. During the same period, samples of dust fallout were collected at the same site. Samples were collected at 30-day intervals. Lead, chromium, manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt and cadmium deposition fluxes were measured and both the soluble and insoluble fractions were determined. Furthermore, the information gathered by this study was correlated with the corresponding hourly weather data provided by a weather station installed at the study station. The possible sources for dust and trace metals were analyzed by comparing average contributions of wind aspects to the concentrations and depositions of mass and chemical species with the average frequencies of wind direction. The mean concentration was 300 μg/m³. The average dust deposition rate through the period of study was 221 mg/(m².day). Results indicate that anthropogenic sources contribute greatly to trace elements. An exposure assessment to the heavy metals taking into account the inhalation route and soil dust ingestion was carried out and allowed direct comparison of trace metal intakes via these routes.     

Water quality assessment of Almatti Reservoir of Bijapur (Karnataka State, India) with special reference to zooplankton

The present investigation deals with the limnobiotic status of Almatti reservoir from February, 2003 to January, 2005. The study revealed that, the distribution and population density of zooplankton species depend upon the physico-chemical factors of the environment. Statistical analysis showed that there exists a significant relation between the biological and non-biological factors. The benthic fauna constituting the food of fish can be utilized for extensive culture operation so that the nutrients in the reservoir are not only properly cycled but also serve as a check on further eutrophication.     

Soil and vegetation carbon stocks in Brazilian Western Amazonia: relationships and ecological implications for natural landscapes

The relationships between soils attributes, soil carbon stocks and vegetation carbon stocks are poorly know in Amazonia, even at regional scale. In this paper, we used the large and reliable soil database from Western Amazonia obtained from the RADAMBRASIL project and recent estimates of vegetation biomass to investigate some environmental relationships, quantifying C stocks of intact ecosystem in Western Amazonia. The results allowed separating the western Amazonia into 6 sectors, called pedo-zones: Roraima, Rio Negro Basin, Tertiary Plateaux of the Amazon, Javari-Juruá-Purus lowland, Acre Basin and Rondonia uplands. The highest C stock for the whole soil is observed in the Acre and in the Rio Negro sectors. In the former, this is due to the high nutrient status and high clay activity, whereas in the latter, it is attributed to a downward carbon movement attributed to widespread podzolization and arenization, forming spodic horizons. The youthful nature of shallow soils of the Javari-Juruá-Purus lowlands, associated with high Al, results in a high phytomass C/soil C ratio. A similar trend was observed for the shallow soils from the Roraima and Rondonia highlands. A consistent east–west decline in biomass carbon in the Rio Negro Basin sector is associated with increasing rainfall and higher sand amounts. It is related to lesser C protection and greater C loss of sandy soils, subjected to active chemical leaching and widespread podzolization. Also, these soils possess lower cation exchangeable capacity and lower water retention capacity. Zones where deeply weathered Latosols dominate have a overall pattern of high C sequestration, and greater than the shallower soils from the upper Amazon, west of Madeira and Negro rivers. This was attributed to deeper incorporation of carbon in these clayey and highly pedo-bioturbated soils. The results highlight the urgent need for refining soil data at an appropriate scale for C stocks calculations purposes in Amazonia. There is a risk of misinterpreting C stocks in Amazonia when such great pedological variability is not taken into account.     

Magnetic mapping of fly-ash pollution and heavy metals from soil samples around a point source in a dry tropical environment

The Singrauli region in the southeastern part of Uttar Pradesh, India is one of the most polluted industrial sites of Asia. It encompasses 11 open cast coalmines and six thermal power stations that generate about 7,500 MW (about 10% of India’s installed generation capacity) electricity. Thermal power plants represent the main source of pollution in this region, emitting six million tonnes of fly-ash per annum. Fly-ash is deposited on soils over a large area surrounding thermal power plants. Fly-ashes have high surface concentrations of several toxic elements (heavy metals) and high atmospheric mobility. Fly ash is produced through high-temperature combustion of fossil fuel rich in ferromagnetic minerals. These contaminants can be identified using rock-magnetic methods. Magnetic susceptibility is directly linked to the concentration of ferromagnetic minerals, primarily high values of magnetite. In this study, magnetic susceptibility of top soil samples collected from surrounding areas of a bituminous-coal-fired power plant were measured to identify areas of high emission levels and to chart the spatial distribution of airborne solid particles. Sites close to the power plant have shown higher values of susceptibility that decreases with increasing distance from the source. A significant correlation between magnetic susceptibility and heavy metal content in soils is found. A comparison of the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility with heavy-metal concentrations in soil samples suggests that magnetic measurements can be used as a rapid and inexpensive method for proxy mapping of air borne pollution due to industrial activity.     

Seasonal variations of heavy metal contamination in river Gomti of Lucknow city region

The present study deals with the seasonal variations in the concentrations of heavy metals namely chromium, lead and mercury by using spectrophotometric methods. The water samples were collected at regular intervals from five selected sites of river Gomti in the pre-monsoon period (months of February-May) and the post monsoon period (months of October-January). The concentrations of chromium (VI) and mercury (II) were determined by using Genesys-10 UV-VIS Spectrophotometer while lead (II) concentrations were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, Perkin-Elmer 5000 model. The concentrations of all the three metals were found to be higher in the pre-monsoon period than in the post-monsoon period. The statistical analysis of the data was discussed in both the seasons in terms of mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation.