Towards a smallholder hydrology for equitable and sustainable water management

Situations of water scarcity challenge sustainability and threaten small users' access to water. In response to this problem, there has been a search for a method of hydrological analysis that can better represent the needs of small water users. While this search is rooted in the debate favouring a more participatory and inclusive allocation of the resource, it also requires a new focus on smallholder hydrology that can confront the gaps and biases found in current hydrological practices in many countries. This article looks at past hydrological practices and also at results of recent studies, highlighting the perspective of smallholder irrigators in surface water planning in Zimbabwe, and groundwater planning in India. These case studies show that wider social forces, not always best science, drive hydrological practices. However, new frameworks focusing on the water user can emerge for more equitable and sustainable water management.     

Design and validation of a practical index for trauma assessment

In the past 20 years a variety of indices have been suggested for measuring the severity of trauma, however none of them meets the requirement of being a simple and objective instrument that can be utilized efficiently by lay persons and providers of health services without previous experience in triaging. A new system has been proposed which meets this requirement and which has been validated with 197 injured persons at the emergency ward of the Valle University Hospital in Call, Colombia. The instrument showed a high level of concordance with the conventional triaging method and classifies victims into four categories: critical with recovery unlikely, critical but recoverable, moderately serious, and ambulatory. There is discussion on the reliability of this instrument and it is recommended that it be validated with victims from larger disasters. Regardless, it has the advantage of being specific and free of the subjectivity that characterizes other indices.     

Inorganic nitrogen metabolism inUlva rigida illuminated with blue light

Inorganic nitrogen metabolism in blue light was studied for the green algaUlva rigida C. Agardh collected in the south of Spain (Punta Carnero, Algeciras) in the winter of 1987. NH₄ ⁺ has been reported to inhibit NO₃ ^- uptake; however,U. rigida showed a net NO₃ ^- uptake even when the NH₄ ⁺ concentration of the external medium was three or four times greater than the concentration of NO₃ ^-. NO₃ ^- uptake rates were similar in both darkness and in blue light of various photon fluence rates (PFR) ranging from 17 to 160 mol m^-2 s^-1. Since NO₃ ^- uptake is an active mechanism involving the consumption of ATP, respiratory metabolism can provide enough ATP to maintain the energetic requirement of NO₃ ^- transport even in darkness. In contrast, NO₃ ^- reduction inU. rigida was highly dependent on the net photosynthetic rate. After 7 h in blue light, intracellular NO₃ ^- concentrations ([NO₃ ^-] _i ) were higher in specimens exposed to intensities below the light compensation point (LCP) than in those incubated at a PFR above the LCP. When PFR is below the light compensation point, NO₃ ^- reduction is low, probably because all the NADH produced by the cells is oxidized in the respiratory chain in order to produce ATP to maintain a steady NO₃ ^- transport rate. The total nitrogen (TN) and carbon (TC) contents decreased from darkness to 33 mol m^-2 s^-1 in blue light. In this range, catabolic processes prevailed over anabolic ones. In contrast, increases in TN and TC contents were observed above the light compensation point. The C : N ratio increased with light intensity, reaching a stable value of 17 at 78 mol m^-2 s^-1 in blue light. Intracellular NO₃ ^- concentration and NO₃ ^- reduction appear to be directly controlled by light intensity. This external control of [NO₃ ^-]_i and the small capacity ofU. rigida to retain incorporated NO₃ ^-, NO₂ ^- and NH₄ ⁺ ions may explain its nitrophilic character.     

Contribution of canopy leaching to sulphate deposition in a Scots pine forest

Radioactive sulphate (35SO4) was applied to the soil below a Scots pine forest on 23 June 1989, and its movement into the canopy and into throughfall and stemflow was measured over 4 months. The specific activity, Bq (mg S)(-1), of the canopy increased monotonically; uptake by current-year (1989) expanding needles was initially twice as fast as by older needles or live twigs. By 10 October the canopy average specific activity was 62 Bq (mg S)(-1). The specific activity of net throughfall (throughfall + stemflow - rain), deduced from measurements from six throughfall collectors, six stemflow collectors and two rain collectors, fell rapidly from 12.6 Bq (mg S)(-1) in late July to <1 Bq (mg S)(-1) in mid-August. The results suggest (assuming rapid equilibration of 35S with sulphate in soil) that root-derived sulphate contributed c. 3% of sulphate in net throughfall and that dry deposition of SO2 and sulphate particles contributed c. 97% of the 0.56 g S m(-2) measured in net throughfall over the period. Simultaneous measurements of SO2 at canopy height and of NH3 above and within the canopy gave mean concentrations of 5.9 and 0.86 microg m(-3), respectively, sufficient to account for the sulphate measured in net throughfall only if codeposition of NH3 and SO2 occurred to canopy surfaces. The large values of specific activity observed in July, however, indicate that throughfall composition may be closely related to recent soil input of sulphate, and that equilibrium cannot be safely assumed. The possibility of a significant contribution of soil-derived sulphate to sulphate deposition in net throughfall cannot be ruled out on the basis of this experiment.     

Training refugees as primary health care workers: Past imperfect, future conditional

Many problems have been encountered in the planning and implementation of health care in refugee camps, and more specifically in the training of refugees as primary health care workers. A review of the published literature and a "survey" of the opinions and experiences of refugee, national and international health personnel regarding training has therefore been undertaken to provide an overview of what has been done and to make recommendations for future work.
The review highlights the need to reallocate resources away from high visibility emergency aid to development activities, such as training, that will create an infrastructure for primary health care and promote self-reliance.     

Sustainable development of China's regions from the perspective of ecological welfare performance: analysis based on GM(1,1) and the malmquist index

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Ecological welfare performance is a measure of the relationship between input ecological resources and output welfare, and it reflects the sustainable...     

Effects of Different Litter Treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Pinus densata in Southeast Tibet,China

Russian Journal of Ecology - The aim of this study is to explore the effects of the litter cover thickness and cleaning methods on seed germination and seedling growth of Pinus densata. The overall...     

黑河流域底栖动物群落结构及水质评价

为了解黑河流域上中游底栖动物群落结构特征及其与环境因子之间的关系,于2018年8月对研究区域17个采样点的底栖动物和水体理化指标进行调查研究.共鉴定出底栖动物43种,其中节肢动物34种（79.1%）,软体动物7种（16.3%）,环节动物2种（4.6%）;就整个研究区域而言,优势种为大蚊（Tipulidae）、豆娘幼虫（Damselfly）、水蜘蛛（Argyroneta）、耳萝卜螺（Radix auricularia）、琥珀螺（Suecinea sp.）、白旋螺（Gyraulusalbus）,干、支流优势种分布趋势为干流（6种）优于支流（5种）;底栖动物平均密度和平均生物量分别为77ind/m²和3.7423g/m²现存量存在显著空间差异,整体上干流（1032ind/m²、60.0963g/m²）大于支流（276ind/m²、3.5233g/m²）,物种数干流（36种）大于支流（15种）;单因素方差分析显示,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Margalef丰富度指数及Pielou均匀度指数分布特征为干流大于支流.黑河流域上游支流和中游干流不同河段底栖动物物种组成呈空间异质性,而多样性指数对物种组成依赖性强,但因黑河流域底栖动物物种组成受自然因素和人类活动双重影响程度差异较大,使得Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Margalef丰富度指数及Pielou均匀度指数不适合黑河水质评价.依据BI指数和综合污染指数评价表明,黑河上游支流水质优于中游干流.根据底栖动物与环境因子之间的相关矩阵分析并结合RDA分析表明：BOD₅、水温（WT）、电导率（EC）、DO、溶解性总固体（TDS）、COD_Mn及盐度是影响底栖动物群落结构的主要环境因子.