How do we assess vulnerability to climate change in India? A systematic review of literature

In countries like India where multiple risks interact with socio-economic differences to create and sustain vulnerability, assessing the vulnerability of people, places, and systems to climate change is a critical tool to prioritise adaptation. In India, several vulnerability assessment tools have been designed spanning multiple disciplines, by multiple actors, and at multiple scales. However, their conceptual, methodological, and disciplinary underpinnings, and resulting implications on who is identified as vulnerable, have not been interrogated. Addressing this gap, we systematically review peer-reviewed publications (n = 78) and grey literature (n = 42) to characterise how vulnerability to climate change is assessed in India. We frame our enquiry against four questions: (1) How is vulnerability conceptualised (vulnerability of whom/what, vulnerability to what), (2) who assesses vulnerability, (3) how is vulnerability assessed (methodology, scale), and (4) what are the implications of methodology on outcomes of the assessment. Our findings emphasise that methods to assess vulnerability to climate change are embedded in the disciplinary traditions, methodological approaches, and often-unstated motivations of those designing the assessment. Further, while most assessments acknowledge the importance of scalar and temporal aspects of vulnerability, we find few examples of it being integrated in methodology. Such methodological myopia potentially overlooks how social differentiation, ecological shifts, and institutional dynamics construct and perpetuate vulnerability. Finally, we synthesise the strengths and weaknesses of current vulnerability assessment methods in India and identify a predominance of research in rural landscapes with a relatively lower coverage in urban and peri-urban settlements, which are key interfaces of transitions.     

Possible maternal offloading of metals in the plasma,uterine and capsule fluid of pregnant ragged-tooth sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the east coast of South Africa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We studied the possible metal offloading onto the progeny of three pregnant female ragged-tooth sharks (Carcharias taurus) (C. taurus). The presences...     

Computational fluid dynamics modeling of laboratory flames and an industrial flare

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology for simulating the combustion process has been validated with experimental results. Three different types of experimental setups were used to validate the CFD model. These setups include an industrial-scale flare setups and two lab-scale flames. The CFD study also involved three different fuels: C₃H₆/CH₄/Air/N₂, C₂H₄/O₂/Ar, and CH₄/Air. In the first setup, flare efficiency data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) 2010 field tests were used to validate the CFD model. In the second setup, a McKenna burner with flat flames was simulated. Temperature and mass fractions of important species were compared with the experimental data. Finally, results of an experimental study done at Sandia National Laboratories to generate a lifted jet flame were used for the purpose of validation. The reduced 50 species mechanism, LU 1.1, the realizable k-? turbulence model, and the EDC turbulence–chemistry interaction model were used for this work. Flare efficiency, axial profiles of temperature, and mass fractions of various intermediate species obtained in the simulation were compared with experimental data and a good agreement between the profiles was clearly observed. In particular, the simulation match with the TCEQ 2010 flare tests has been significantly improved (within 5% of the data) compared to the results reported by Singh et al. in 2012. Validation of the speciated flat flame data supports the view that flares can be a primary source of formaldehyde emission.

ImplicationsValidated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models can be a useful tool to predict destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) and combustion efficiency (CE) under steam/air assist conditions in the face of many other flare operating variables such as fuel composition, exit jet velocity, and crosswind. Augmented with rigorous combustion chemistry, CFD is also a powerful tool to predict flare emissions such as formaldehyde. In fact, this study implicates flares emissions as a primary source of formaldehyde emissions. The rigorous CFD simulations, together with available controlled flare test data, can be fitted into simple response surface models for quick engineering use.     

Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Ambient Halogenated Compounds

Abstract

Fugitive dust emission from limestone extraction areas is a significant pollution source. The cracking operation in limestone extraction areas easily causes high total suspended particulate (TSP) concentrations in the atmosphere, occasionally exceeding the 1-hr national emission standard of Taiwan (500 μg/m³). The concentration and size distribution were measured at different distances (0.05–15 km) in the extraction areas. The highest hourly concentrations of TSP, PM₁₀ (suspended particulate matter [PM] smaller than 10 μm), and PM_2.5 (suspended PM smaller than 2.5 μm) are 1111, 825, and 236 μg/m³, respectively, during the cracking process. Measurement results obtained from the Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor indicated that the mass median aerodynamic diameter is ～0.7 μm, with the geometric standard deviation exceeding 7. In addition, the emission factors are 0.143 and 0.211 kg/t for both vertical well and stair extraction operations, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the corresponding TSP control efficiencies for spraying water, planting grass, setting short walls, paving gravel roads, and establishing vertical well transportation are ～55, 50, 44, 22, and 30%, respectively. Furthermore, the PM₁₀ control efficiencies are ～45, 41, 54, 35, and 30%, respectively, whereas the PM_2.5 control efficiencies are roughly 23, 31, 15, 11, and 10%, individually.     

Forecasting Daily Maximum Surface Ozone Concentrations in Brunei Darussalam—An ARIMA Modeling Approach

Abstract

A time series approach using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling has been used in this study to obtain maximum daily surface ozone (O₃) concentration forecasts. The order of the fitted ARIMA model is found to be (1,0,1) for the surface O₃ data collected at the airport in Brunei Darussalam during the period July 1998-March 1999. The model forecasts of one-day-ahead maximum O₃ concentrations have been found to be reasonably close to the observed concentrations. The model performance has been evaluated on the basis of certain commonly used statistical measures. The overall model performance is found to be quite satisfactory as indicated by the values of Fractional Bias, Normalized Mean Square Error, and Mean Absolute Percentage Error as 0.025, 0.02, and 13.14% respectively.     

Profenofos induced modulation in physiological indices,genomic template stability and protein banding patterns of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

To understand the mechanism underlying organophosphate pesticide toxicity, cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 was subjected to varied concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 mg L^?1) of profenofos and the effects were investigated in terms of changes in cellular physiology, genomic template stability and protein expression pattern. The supplementation of profenofos reduced the growth, total pigment content and photosynthetic efficiency of the test organism in a dose dependent manner with maximum toxic effect at 30 mg L^?1. The high fluorescence intensity of 2′, 7′ –dichlorofluorescin diacetate and increased production of malondialdehyde confirmed the prevalence of acute oxidative stress condition inside the cells of the cyanobacterium. Rapid amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting and SDS-PAGE analyses showed a significant alteration in the banding patterns of DNA and proteins respectively. A marked increase in superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase activity and a concomitant reduction in glutathione content indicated their possible role in supporting the growth of Anabaena 7120 up to 20 mg L^?1. These findings suggest that the uncontrolled use of profenofos in the agricultural fields may not only lead to the destruction of the cyanobacterial population, but it would also disturb the nutrient dynamics and energy flow.     

Phase behaviors,fuel properties,and combustion characteristics of alcohol-vegetable oil-diesel microemulsion fuels

Biofuels are being considered as alternatives to fossil-based fuels due to depletion of petroleum-based reserves and pollutant emission concerns. Vegetable oils and bioalcohols have proven to be viable alternative fuels both with and without engine modification. However, high viscosity and low energy content are long-term operational problems with vegetable oils and bioalcohols, respectively. Therefore, vegetable oil-based microemulsification is being evaluated as a method to reduce the high viscosity of vegetable oils and enhance the miscibility of alcohol and oil phases. Studies have shown that microemulsification with different alcohols lead to varying fuel properties depending on their structure. The overall goal of this study was to formulate microemulsion fuels with single and mixed alcohol systems by determining the effects of water content, alcohol branching structure and carbon chain length on phase behaviors, fuel properties, and emission characteristics. It was found that microemulsion fuels using certain alcohols displayed favorable stability, properties, and emission characteristics. Flames of fuels with linear short-chain-length alcohols had larger near-burner blue regions and lower CO and soot emissions indicating the occurrence of more complete combustion. In addition to alcohol effects, the effect of vegetable oils, surfactants, and additives on emission characteristics were insightful in pursuit of appropriate microemulsion fuels as cleaner burning alternatives to both No.2 diesel and canola biodiesel.     

Removal of sulfadimethoxine in soil mediated by extracellular oxidoreductases

Sulfadimethoxine (SDM) is an antibiotic commonly used in concentrated animal feeding operations and released into the environment via manure application on agricultural lands. Transformation of antibiotics in soil impacts the likelihood of their entry to water bodies, uptake by plants, and thus their effect on terrestrial and aquatic organisms. We conducted experiments to incubate SDM in a sandy loam soil in the presence of humification enzymes commonly found in natural soil, laccase, horseradish peroxidase, and lignin peroxidase. Incubation with the enzymes led to significant reduction in the fraction of SDM extractable from soil, indicating the formation of bound residues. Such transformation was enhanced when the organic matter content in soil is increased or when certain chemical mediators were used along with laccase. The study provided a basis for understanding the environmental fate of sulfonamides and help with the development of remediation methods to mitigate the release of sulfonamides from soil to water.     

Novel degradation pathway of 4-chloro-2-aminophenol via 4-chlorocatechol in Burkholderia sp. RKJ 800

Burkholderia sp. RKJ 800 utilized 4-chloro-2-aminophenol (4C2AP) as the sole carbon and energy source and degraded it with release of chloride and ammonium ions. The metabolic pathway of degradation of 4C2AP was studied and a novel intermediate, 4-chlorocatechol was identified as a major degradation product of 4C2AP using high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Enzyme activities for 4C2AP-deaminase and 4-chlorocatechol-1,2-dioxygenase were detected in the crude extracts of the 4C2AP-induced cells of strain RKJ 800. The activity of the 4C2AP-deaminase confirmed the formation of 4-chlorocatechol from 4C2AP and the 4-chlorocatechol-1,2-dioxygenase activity suggested the cleavage of 4-chlorocatechol into 3-chloro-cis,cis-muconate. On the basis of the identified metabolites, we have proposed a novel degradation pathway of 4C2AP for Burkholderia sp. RKJ 800. Furthermore, the potential of Burkholderia sp. RKJ 800 to degrade 4C2AP in soil was also investigated using microcosm studies under laboratory conditions. The results of microcosm studies conclude that Burkholderia sp. RKJ 800 was able to degrade 4C2AP in soil and may be used to remediate 4C2AP-contaminated site. This is the first report of (1) the formation of 4-chlorocatechol and 3-chloro-cis,cis-muconate in the degradation pathway of 4C2AP and (2) bioremediation of 4C2AP by any bacterium.