Environmental assessment,microstructural behaviour,stress–strain characteristics,and effect of exposure to extreme temperature on sustainable concrete made with dolomite mining residues

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Mining and extraction of stones and minerals play a significant role in many countries economic growth in the world. The production of dolomite...     

Developing indicators for assessing land-use sustainability in a tropical agro-ecosystem: The case of Sakaekrang watershed,Thailand

While the concept of sustainable land management is now widely accepted, there remains considerable scope for developing location-specific land-use indicators for sustainability evaluation. A study was conducted to investigate the indicators of land-use sustainability in the context of tropical agro-ecosystems using the case of Sakaekrang watershed, Thailand. The biophysical data were generated from Geographic Information Systems (GIs) and the socioeconomic data were collected through a field survey. In the light of sustainable land management objectives, a total of 32 criteria were considered in the analysis to determine land-use sustainability and identify indicators that best explain the sustainability level. About one quarter of the agricultural area in the watershed meets the sustainability threshold, indicating a substantial unstable area in the watershed. Among 11 indicators that showed a significant relationship with the computed land-use sustainability, land quality, source of farm income, and evapo transpiration were the most important.     

Performance Evaluation of Human-Specific Viral Markers and Application of Pepper Mild Mottle Virus and CrAssphage to Environmental Water Samples as Fecal Pollution Markers in the Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

Monitoring of environmental water is crucial to protecting humans and animals from possible health risks. Although numerous human-specific viral markers have been designed to track the presence of human fecal contamination in water, they lack adequate sensitivity and specificity in different geographical regions. We evaluated the performances of six human-specific viral markers [Aichi virus 1 (AiV-1), human adenoviruses (HAdVs), BK and JC polyomaviruses (BKPyVs and JCPyVs), pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and crAssphage] using 122 fecal-source samples collected from humans and five animal hosts in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. PMMoV and crAssphage showed high sensitivity (90–100%) with concentrations of 4.5–9.1 and 6.2–7.0 log₁₀ copies/g wet feces (n = 10), respectively, whereas BKPyVs, JCPyVs, HAdVs, and AiV-1 showed poor performances with sensitivities of 30–40%. PMMoV and crAssphage were detected in 40–100% and 8–90%, respectively, of all types of animal fecal sources and showed no significantly different concentrations among most of the fecal sources (Kruskal–Wallis test, P > 0.05), suggesting their applicability as general fecal pollution markers. Furthermore, a total of 115 environmental water samples were tested for PMMoV and crAssphage to identify fecal pollution. PMMoV and crAssphage were successfully detected in 62% (71/115) and 73% (84/115) of water samples, respectively. The greater abundance and higher mean concentration of crAssphage (4.1 ± 0.9 log₁₀ copies/L) compared with PMMoV (3.3 ± 1.4 log₁₀ copies/L) indicated greater chance of detection of crAssphage in water samples, suggesting that crAssphage could be preferred to PMMoV as a marker of fecal pollution.

     

Turbulent secondary flows in wall turbulence: vortex forcing,scaling arguments,and similarity solution

Spanwise surface heterogeneity beneath high-Reynolds number, fully-rough wall turbulence is known to induce a mean secondary flow in the form of counter-rotating streamwise vortices—this arrangement is prevalent, for example, in open-channel flows relevant to hydraulic engineering. These counter-rotating vortices flank regions of predominant excess(deficit) in mean streamwise velocity and downwelling(upwelling) in mean vertical velocity. The secondary flows have been definitively attributed to the lower surface conditions, and are now known to be a manifestation of Prandtl’s secondary flow of the second kind—driven and sustained by spatial heterogeneity of components of the turbulent (Reynolds averaged) stress tensor (Anderson et al. J Fluid Mech 768:316–347, 2015). The spacing between adjacent surface heterogeneities serves as a control on the spatial extent of the counter-rotating cells, while their intensity is controlled by the spanwise gradient in imposed drag (where larger gradients associated with more dramatic transitions in roughness induce stronger cells). In this work, we have performed an order of magnitude analysis of the mean (Reynolds averaged) transport equation for streamwise vorticity, which has revealed the scaling dependence of streamwise circulation intensity upon characteristics of the problem. The scaling arguments are supported by a recent numerical parametric study on the effect of spacing. Then, we demonstrate that mean streamwise velocity can be predicted a priori via a similarity solution to the mean streamwise vorticity transport equation. A vortex forcing term has been used to represent the effects of spanwise topographic heterogeneity within the flow. Efficacy of the vortex forcing term was established with a series of large-eddy simulation cases wherein vortex forcing model parameters were altered to capture different values of spanwise spacing, all of which demonstrate that the model can impose the effects of spanwise topographic heterogeneity (absent the need to actually model roughness elements); these results also justify use of the vortex forcing model in the similarity solution.     

Simulating future land use and ecosystem services in Northern Thailand

Enhancing ecosystem services is important as it provides foundation for the wellbeing of people. This paper presents the future land use simulation for enhancing ecosystem services using CLUMondo dynamic spatial model. The land use change was assessed from 1989 to 2013 in Wang Thong watershed of Northern Thailand using GIS and a set of ecosystem services was assessed using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. Future land uses until 2030 were projected for three policy scenarios, namely business-as-usual, integrated land use development, and enhancing environmental services with different levels of emphasis on ecosystem services. In business-as-usual scenario, it was observed that ecosystem services will decline by 2030 from the base year of 2013, whereas in integrated land use development scenario, the ecosystem services will increase by 5% compared to base year due to anticipated effective protection of remaining forests in all existing and proposed protected areas of the study area. In enhancing environmental services scenario, the ecosystem services will increase by 15%. Such results can serve as useful information in policy formulation in developing land use options, which help enhance ecosystem services in future.     

Time series modelling of respiratory hospital admissions and geometrically weighted distributed lag effects from ambient particulate air pollution within Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

The distributed lag effects of ambient particulate air pollution exposure on respiratory hospital admissions in Kathmandu Valley are modelled using daily time series data. The extended exposure to PM₁₀ is accounted for by assigning weights to daily average PM₁₀ which decline geometrically as the lag period increases in days. Results show that the percent increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hospital admissions and respiratory admissions including COPD, asthma, pneumonia, and bronchitis per 10 μg/m³ rise in PM₁₀ are found to be 4.85% for 30 days lag effect, about 15.9% higher than that observed for same-day lag effect and 3.52% for 40 days lag effect, about 28.9% higher than the observed value for same-day lag effect, respectively.     

Agricultural GHG emission and calorie intake nexus among different socioeconomic households of rural eastern India

A study was conducted to examine the interrelationships among socioeconomic factors, household consumption patterns, calorie intake and greenhouse gas emissions factors in rural eastern India based on household survey data. Findings indicated that higher monthly per capita incomes (12.1–80.1$) were associated with greater average calorie intakes (2021–2525 kcal d^?1). As estimated by the FEEDME model, in total 17.2% of the population was calorie malnourished with a regional disparity of 29.4–18.2% malnourishment. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were calculated only on the basis of crop and livestock production and consumption. Rice accounted for the highest share of total GHG emissions, on average 82.6% on a production basis, which varied from 58.1% to 94.9% in regional basis. Rice contributed the greatest share (~?65% and 66.2%) in terms of both calories and GHG emissions (CO₂ eq y^?1), respectively, on a consumption basis. We conclude that extensive rice farming and increasing animal product consumption are dominant factors in the higher carbon footprint in this region and are likely to further increase with increase in per capita income. This study provides useful information to help for better crop planning and for fine-tuning food access policy, to reduce carbon footprint and calorie malnutrition.

     

Non-powered hand tool improvement research for prevention of work-related problems: a review

Purpose. In lower-middle-income countries, most of the work is performed manually using non-ergonomic hand tools which results in work-related health problems. Using hand tools designed in line with ergonomic principles may play an important role in reducing work-related health concerns significantly. Methods. Scientific databases (PubMed, EBSCOhost) and e-publishers were searched for articles from 1985 to 2015 using the following keywords: ‘hand tool’, ‘ergonomics’, ‘usability’ and ‘design’. After applying selection criteria to 614 articles, 58 articles related to the physical design of hand tools were selected. Results. Seventeen articles were related to hand tool improvement in the manufacturing sector. Musculoskeletal disorders were found to be the most frequently occurring work-related health problems. Most of the articles focused on product and qualitative variables for improvement in hand tools, while few articles considered human and task variables. Conclusions. Literature shows that hand tool improvement studies have been given less importance in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. However, some work of significance is reported in the agriculture sectors of these countries. Hence, it is concluded that ergonomic intervention in hand tools is much needed for those industries which employ traditional methods of working.     

Loss of crop yields in India due to surface ozone: an estimation based on a network of observations

Surface ozone is mainly produced by photochemical reactions involving various anthropogenic pollutants, whose emissions are increasing rapidly in India due to fast-growing anthropogenic activities. This study estimates the losses of wheat and rice crop yields using surface ozone observations from a group of 17 sites, for the first time, covering different parts of India. We used the mean ozone for 7 h during the day (M7) and accumulated ozone over a threshold of 40 ppbv (AOT40) metrics for the calculation of crop losses for the northern, eastern, western and southern regions of India. Our estimates show the highest annual loss of wheat (about 9 million ton) in the northern India, one of the most polluted regions in India, and that of rice (about 2.6 million ton) in the eastern region. The total all India annual loss of 4.0–14.2 million ton (4.2–15.0%) for wheat and 0.3–6.7 million ton (0.3–6.3%) for rice are estimated. The results show lower crop loss for rice than that of wheat mainly due to lower surface ozone levels during the cropping season after the Indian summer monsoon. These estimates based on a network of observation sites show lower losses than earlier estimates based on limited observations and much lower losses compared to global model estimates. However, these losses are slightly higher compared to a regional model estimate. Further, the results show large differences in the loss rates of both the two crops using the M7 and AOT40 metrics. This study also confirms that AOT40 cannot be fit with a linear relation over the Indian region and suggests for the need of new metrics that are based on factors suitable for this region.     

A conceptual framework for understanding illegal killing of large carnivores

The growing complexity and global nature of wildlife poaching threaten the survival of many species worldwide and are outpacing conservation efforts. Here, we reviewed proximal and distal factors, both social and ecological, driving illegal killing or poaching of large carnivores at sites where it can potentially occur. Through this review, we developed a conceptual social–ecological system framework that ties together many of the factors influencing large carnivore poaching. Unlike most conservation action models, an important attribute of our framework is the integration of multiple factors related to both human motivations and animal vulnerability into feedbacks. We apply our framework to two case studies, tigers in Laos and wolverines in northern Sweden, to demonstrate its utility in disentangling some of the complex features of carnivore poaching that may have hindered effective responses to the current poaching crisis. Our framework offers a common platform to help guide future research on wildlife poaching feedbacks, which has hitherto been lacking, in order to effectively inform policy making and enforcement.