Impacts of quarrying activities on the environment and livelihood of people in Border II sub-location,Nyando sub-county,Kisumu County,Kenya

The aim of the study was to assess the impacts of quarrying activities on the environment and livelihood of people in the Border II sub-location. Primary data was collected through questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion, laboratory analysis and observations. Whereas, secondary data was obtained from Landsat satellite images, journals, articles, books and reports. The acquired data were analyzed using excel and Arc GIS; and presented into tables and figures. The Land use/cover change analysis from the satellite images of the area showed that quarry lands have increased by 5.2 Ha (0.26%). Quarrying activities in the area were perceived to have both positive and negative impacts on the livelihood of people and the environment. Some of the most serious environmental problems were; dust pollution (82%), noise (76%), land degradation (74%), vegetation loss (60%) and vibration (52%). Whereas, negative socioeconomic impacts were; building cracks (54%), injuries (36%), school dropouts (35%), roads damages (33%), child labor (31%) and crop effects (30%). Moreover, 45% of the area residents and 44% of the quarry workers have experienced health problems related to quarrying activities. Nevertheless, there was a significant relationship between quarrying activities and the environmental as well as human health problems in the area (p<0.05). The positive impacts identified are; employment, roads improvement, security, CSR, building materials, business opportunities, among others. To mitigate the negative impacts, the quarry operators should develop and implement an Environmental and Social management Plan, including fair compensation of the project which affect a person, relocation of near homes, environmental pollution control, public participation, scaling down blasting activities, and strict policies compliance and enforcement.     

Design and operating practices for safe conveying of particulate solids

I am pleased to offer this treatise on the conveying of particulate solids. In doing so I wish to acknowledge the immense contributions of Trevor Kletz in providing guidance to the chemical process industries in many areas including inherently safer design principles and operating practices.     

A closure test for time-specific capture-recapture data

The assumption of demographic closure in the analysis of capture-recapture data under closed-population models is of fundamental importance. Yet, little progress has been made in the development of omnibus tests of the closure assumption. We present a closure test for time-specific data that, in principle, tests the null hypothesis of closed-population model M_t against the open-population Jolly-Seber model as a specific alternative. This test is chi-square, and can be decomposed into informative components that can be interpreted to determine the nature of closure violations. The test is most sensitive to permanent emigration and least sensitive to temporary emigration, and is of intermediate sensitivity to permanent or temporary immigration. This test is a versatile tool for testing the assumption of demographic closure in the analysis of capture-recapture data.     

Guided group discussion and the reported use of toxic products: The persuasiveness of hearing others’ views

Guided group discussion ( [Lewin et?al., 1952], [Werner, 2003] and [Werner and Adams, 2001]) was used to persuade groups to replace their toxic home and garden chemicals with nontoxic alternatives. We hypothesized that discussion would allow participants to hear others endorse the new information, and this normative information would facilitate persuasion. Approximately two months after the group discussion, we obtained questionnaires from the organizer of the meeting and a member of the group who had missed the meeting because of another obligation (i.e., not because of disinterest in the topic). Most organizers were female and analyses were limited to females. This quasi-experimental matched control group design indicated that those who attended the meeting were more favorable towards using nontoxics and more interested in sharing leftover toxic products with friends (instead of discarding them). Path and mediation analyses showed that the organizer’s evaluation of the meeting predicted her final attitude, and perceptions that the group endorsed the material (perceived group norm) partially mediated this relationship. A second mediation analysis showed that evaluation of the meeting predicted intention to share leftover toxics and this relationship was fully mediated by the organizer’s impression that the group would also share leftovers. The results support the idea that persuasion is based both on individual evaluation and normative influence, especially when people are not confident others will accept the behavior, such as sharing leftover toxic products.     

Investor attitudes toward the value of corporate environmentalism: New survey findings

During the past several years, an increasing body of evidence and opinion has formed concerning the relationships between advancements in environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) management and the financial performance of the organization. In recent work,¹ we have described a new theoretical model linking improvements in environmental management systems and environmental performance to corporate risk, stock volatility, and market value, as well as an empirical evaluation that validated our model. A number of other studies² have documented changes in the market value of corporate equity as a function of environmental accidents, incidents, and (conversely) accomplishments. These are in addition to the numerous examples presented in the literature and at EH&S conferences and symposia that suggest that concerted efforts to reduce the organization's environmental “footprint” can yield cost savings, increased market share, reduced time to market, and perhaps other financial benefits. Some have gone so far as to proclaim that a new era has begun, in which environment-friendly corporations will increasingly be recognized and rewarded by financial market participants, and organizations that lag behind will be severely penalized.³ This article documents a new survey undertaken to identify important environmental factors, if any, investors employ in evaluating the quality and worth of equity and debt financing instruments.     

Attitudes of Private- and Public-Land Managers in Wyoming, USA, Toward Beaver

Castor canadensis ) management in Wyoming, USA, was sent to 5265 private-land managers and 124 public-land managers during 1993. The survey was developed in response to increasing interest in beaver management and beaver reintroduction possibilities. Private-land managers responding to the survey supplied information on 62,859 km² of land area and 20,037 km of streams. Primary concerns about beaver damage centered on (in decreasing order of importance) blocked irrigation ditches, girdled timber, blocked culverts, and flooded pastures, roads, crops, and timber. Primary benefits that landowners perceive that beaver give them were, in order of importance, elevated water tables, increased riparian vegetation, and increased stock-watering opportunities. Public-land managers also listed these benefits and detriments among their top concerns for beaver. Over 45% of landowners with beaver on their property and all of the public-land managers displayed an interest in a beaver reintroduction program and in more proactive beaver management.     

Flux Force Condensation Aspirative Wet Scrubbing of Submicron Particles

A novel aspirative wet scrubber system makes use of condensation forces to enhance fine particulate collection. A pressure gain of 2 to 4 inches, W.C. is generated by the system and total water pump power requirements for multistage systems are 2 horsepower per thousand scfm. of gas throughput. No fans or blowers are utilized. When scrubbing hot combustion products carrying 0.1 to 6.0 micron metal oxide particles from a kiln, total collection efficiency was 99.4%. Collection of fly ash, in the particle size range 0.1 to 10 microns, has been measured at 99.5% efficiency.