Understanding slums: analysis of the metabolic pattern of the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

This paper illustrates an innovative approach to characterize the metabolic pattern of informal urban settlements or slums with the aim to better understand the factors that affect the material standard of living of slum residents, the dynamics of slum development and the interaction of the slum with its wider socioeconomic context. The proposed system of accounting, multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM), integrates socioeconomic and spatial data and studies energy and monetary flows in relation to the pattern of human activities and land uses. The theoretical basis of the approach is illustrated with data from Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In particular, we show how to construct taxonomies of accounting categories to characterize: (1) the set of activities carried out by the slum dwellers, to which to link assessments of flow rates per hour; (2) the set of land uses or spatial elements making up the slum, to which to link assessments of flow densities per hectare. The analysis of the interaction of Vidigal with its wider socioeconomic context focuses on monetary flows and transport (job commuting).     

Understanding adaptive capacity and capacity to innovate in social–ecological systems: Applying a gender lens

Development policy increasingly focuses on building capacities to respond to change (adaptation), and to drive change (innovation). Few studies, however, focus specifically on the social and gender differentiation of capacities to adapt and innovate. We address this gap using a qualitative study in three communities in Solomon Islands; a developing country, where rural livelihoods and well-being are tightly tied to agriculture and fisheries. We find the five dimensions of capacity to adapt and to innovate (i.e. assets, flexibility, learning, social organisation, agency) to be mutually dependant. For example, limits to education, physical mobility and agency meant that women and youth, particularly, felt it was difficult to establish relations with external agencies to access technical support or new information important for innovating or adapting. Willingness to bear risk and to challenge social norms hindered both women’s and men’s capacity to innovate, albeit to differing degrees. Our findings are of value to those aspiring for equitable improvements to well-being within dynamic and diverse social–ecological systems.     

Detection and quantitative analysis of 21 veterinary drugs in river water using high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Introduction

The use of veterinary drugs in food production focuses on the control and improvement of animal health. The disadvantage of this practice is that pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are released into the environment, finding their way to natural water systems and becoming a potential risk to non-target organism.

Methods

This paper reports the development and validation of a quantitative method, based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, for the simultaneous analysis of 21 veterinary drugs, antimicrobials, corticosteroids, coccidiostats and antifungal agents, in surface water.

Results

The precision of the method was established by calculating the mean recoveries, which were in the range of 94?C101%. The developed method was employed to conduct the first monitoring study on the presence of veterinary drugs in the Galicia region, Northwest of Spain and was applied to 235 surface water samples. Eleven veterinary drugs were detected at concentrations from below the limit of quantification to 2,978.6?ng?L^?1. Limits of detection and quantification were in the range of 6.2 (betamethasone, cortisone, decoquinate, dexamethasone, maduramycin, monensin, narasin, salinomycin, sulfachloropyridazine, sulfamethoxypyridazine and trimethoprim) to 12.5?ng?L^?1 (for the rest of the selected drugs) and 12.5 (betamethasone, cortisone, decoquinate, dexamethasone, maduramycin, monensin, narasin, salinomycin, sulfachloropyridazine, sulfamethoxypyridazine and trimethoprim) to 25.0?ng?L^?1 (for the remaining pharmaceuticals), respectively.

Conclusion

Sulfonamides were the group most frequently found, which are widely used in veterinary medicine.     

Cellulose and Nanocellulose from Maize Straw: An Insight on the Crystal Properties

In this work cellulose was extracted from corn/maize straw (Zea mays) by means of an environmental-friendly multistep procedure involving alkaline treatment and a totally chlorine-free bleaching. This multistep procedure efficiently removed lignin and hemicelluloses. The pulp resulting from each step was characterized by attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The optimum pulping time (time of alkaline treatment) was determined by means of thermogravimetric analysis. The extracted cellulose is highly crystalline as verified by X-ray diffraction. The partial acid hydrolysis with sulfuric acid led to the isolation of cellulose whiskers in aqueous suspension as confirmed by light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The depolarization ratio value of these nanocrystals is the same as that determined for cotton whiskers, showing that this ratio does not depend on the cellulose source. The maize whiskers are arranged laterally in bundles with average thickness around five times that of the crystallite.     

Silica removal in industrial effluents with high silica content and low hardness

High silica content of de-inked paper mill effluents is limiting their regeneration and reuse after membrane treatments such as reverse osmosis (RO). Silica removal during softening processes is a common treatment; however, the effluent from the paper mill studied has a low hardness content, which makes the addition of magnesium compounds necessary to increase silica removal. Two soluble magnesium compounds (MgCl₂?6H₂O and MgSO₄?7H₂O) were tested at five dosages (250–1,500 mg/L) and different initial pH values. High removal rates (80–90 %) were obtained with both products at the highest pH tested (11.5). With these removal efficiencies, it is possible to work at high RO recoveries (75–85 %) without silica scaling. Although pH regulation significantly increased the conductivity of the waters (at pH 11.5 from 2.1 to 3.7–4.0 mS/cm), this could be partially solved by using Ca(OH)₂ instead of NaOH as pH regulator (final conductivity around 3.0 mS/cm). Maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal obtained with caustic soda was lower than with lime (15 vs. 30 %). Additionally, the combined use of a polyaluminum coagulant during the softening process was studied; the coagulant, however, did not significantly improve silica removal, obtaining a maximum increase of only 10 %.     

Analysis of atmospheric aerosol (PM2.5) in Recife city,Brazil

Several studies indicate that mortality and morbidity can be well correlated to atmospheric aerosol concentrations with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM_2.5). In this work the PM_2.5 at Recife city was analyzed as part of a main research project (INAIRA) to evaluate the air pollution impact on human health in six Brazilian metropolitan areas. The average concentration, for 309 samples (24-hr), from June 2007 to July 2008, was 7.3 µg/m³, with an average of 1.1 µg/m³ of black carbon. The elemental concentrations of samples were obtained by x-ray fluorescence. The concentrations were then used for characterizing the aerosol, and also were employed for receptor modelling to identify the major local sources of PM_2.5. Positive matrix factorization analysis indicated six main factors, with four being associated to soil dust, vehicles and sea spray, metallurgical activities, and biomass burning, while for a chlorine factor, and others related to S, Ca, Br, and Na, we could make no specific source association. Principal component analysis also indicated six dominant factors, with some specific characteristics. Four factors were associated to soil dust, vehicles, biomass burning, and sea spray, while for the two others, a chlorine- and copper-related factor and a nickel-related factor, it was not possible to do a specific source association. The association of the factors to the likely sources was possible thanks to meteorological analysis and sources information. Each model, although giving similar results, showed factors’ peculiarities, especially for source apportionment. The observed PM_2.5 concentration levels were acceptable, notwithstanding the high urbanization of the metropolitan area, probably due to favorable conditions for air pollution dispersion. More than a valuable historical register, these results should be very important for the next analysis, which will correlate health data, PM_2.5 levels, and sources contributions in the context of the six studied Brazilian metropolises.

Implications: The analysis of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in Recife city, Brazil, gave a significant picture of the local concentration and composition of this pollutant, which exhibits robust associations to adverse human health effects. Data from 1 year of sampling evaluated the seasonal variability and its connections with weather patterns. Source apportionment in this metropolitan area was obtained based in a combination of receptor models: principal component analysis (PCA)/chemical mass balance (CMB) and positive matrix factorization (PMF). These results give guidelines for local air pollution control actions, providing significant information for a health study in the context of establishing a new national air pollution protocol based on Brazilian cities data.     

Influence of copper status on the accumulation of toxic and essential metals in cattle

The aim of the present study was to assess whether the use of pig slurry and associated copper accumulation in calves grazing pastures fertilized with pig slurry from the Deza region in NW Spain has a significant influence on toxic metal and essential metal levels, and to investigate whether copper accumulation is correlated with the levels of these other metals. Correlations between copper, toxic metals (cadmium, lead) and essential metals (molybdenum, iron, zinc, selenium, manganese and cobalt) concentrations were evaluated in liver and kidney of 195 calves from the region of Deza. Metal concentrations were determined by ICP-OES and correlations between pairs of elements by Pearson correlation analysis. There was a strongly significant positive association between copper and lead in the liver. Considering the trace metals, copper in the liver showed significant positive correlations with cobalt in both liver and kidney, and with molybdenum in the liver. In addition, significant correlations were observed between copper and most essential metals in kidney. These associations are similar to those found in different animal species experimentally dosed with copper and other metals, as well as in cattle exposed to normal copper concentrations.     

Multiyear monitoring of survival following mitigation-driven translocation of a long-lived threatened reptile

Translocation is used by managers to mitigate the negative impacts of development on species. Moving individuals to a new location is challenging, and many translocation attempts have failed. Robust, posttranslocation monitoring is therefore important for evaluating effects of translocation on target species. We evaluated the efficacy of a translocation designed to mitigate the effects of a utility-scale solar energy project on the U.S. federally listed Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). The species is a long-lived reptile threatened by a variety of factors, including habitat loss due to renewable energy development in the Mojave Desert and portions of the Colorado Desert in southern California (southwestern United States). We translocated 58 individual tortoises away from the project's construction site and intensively monitored them over 5 years (2012–2017). We monitored these individuals and tortoises located in the translocation release area (resident tortoises; n = 112) and control tortoises (n = 149) in a nearby location. We used our tortoise encounter data and known-fate survival models to estimate annual and cumulative survival. Translocated tortoises in each of 2 size classes (120–160 mm, >160 mm) did not survive at lower rates than resident and control tortoises over the study period. For models with different sets of biotic and abiotic covariates, annual and cumulative estimates of survival were always >0.87 and >0.56, respectively. Larger tortoises tended to have higher survival, but translocated tortoises were not differentially affected by the covariates used to model variation in survival. Based on these findings, our translocation design and study protocols could inform other translocation projects for desert species. Our case study highlights the benefits of combining rigorous scientific monitoring with well-designed, mitigation-driven management actions to reduce the negative effects of development on species of conservation concern.     

Pyrolysis of polypropylene waste using sulfonated carbon catalyst synthesized from sugarcane bagasse

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In this study, thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene waste (PP) was investigated using a batch reactor in the temperature range...     

Systems-based accident analysis methods: A comparison of Accimap, HFACS, and STAMP

Three accident causation models, each with their own associated approach to accident analysis, currently dominate the human factors literature. Although the models are in general agreement that accidents represent a complex, systems phenomenon, the subsequent analysis methods prescribed are very different. This paper presents a case study-based comparison of the three methods: Accimap, HFACS and STAMP. Each was used independently by separate analysts to analyse the recent Mangatepopo gorge tragedy in which six students and their teacher drowned while participating in a led gorge walking activity. The outputs were then compared and contrasted, revealing significant differences across the three methods. These differences are discussed in detail, and the implications for accident analysis are articulated. In conclusion, a modified version of the Accimap method, incorporating domain specific taxonomies of failure modes, is recommended for future accident analysis efforts.