Characterization of municipal solid waste from the main landfills of Havana city

The city of Havana, the political, administrative and cultural centre of Cuba, is also the centre of many of the economic activities of the nation: industries, services, scientific research and tourism. All of these activities contribute to the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), which also impact other Cuban cities. Inadequate handling of waste and the lack of appropriate and efficient solutions for its final disposal and treatment increase the risk and possibility of contamination. The main difficulty in the development of a system of management of MSW lies in the lack of knowledge of the chemical composition of the waste that is generated in the country as a whole, and especially in Havana, where solid waste management decisions are made. The present study characterizes MSW in Havana city during 2004. The Calle 100, Guanabacoa and Ocho Vías landfills were selected for physical-chemical characterization of MSW, as they are the three biggest landfills in the city. A total of 16 indicators were measured, and weather conditions were recorded. As a result, the necessary information regarding the physical-chemical composition of the MSW became available for the first time in Cuba. The information is essential for making decisions regarding the management of waste and constitutes a valuable contribution to the Study on Integrated Management Plan of MSW in Havana.     

A vehicle emissions system using a car simulator and a geographical information system: Part 1--System description and testing

A methodology for estimating vehicular emissions comprising a car simulator, a basic traffic model, and a geographical information system is capable of estimating vehicle emissions with high time and space resolution. Because of the extent of the work conducted, this article comprises two sections: In Part 1 of this work, we describe the system and its components and use examples for testing it. In Part 2 we will study in more detail the emissions of the sample fleet using the system and will make comparisons with another emission model. The experimental data for the car simulator is obtained using on-board measuring equipment and laboratory Fourier transform IR (FTIR) measurements with a dynamometer following typical driving cycles. The car simulator uses this data to generate emission factors every second. These emission factors, together with information on car activity and velocity profiles of highways and residential and arterial roads in Mexico City in conjunction with a basic traffic model, provide emissions per second of a sample fleet. A geographical information system is used to localize these road emissions.     

Development of a simple, accurate SPME-based method for assay of VOCs in column breakthrough experiments

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography is to be used for assay of effluent liquid samples from soil column experiments associated with VOC fate/transport studies. One goal of the fate/transport studies is to develop accurate, highly reproducible column breakthrough curves for 1,2-cis-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) to better understand interactions with selected natural solid phases. For SPME, the influences of the sample equilibration time, extraction temperature and the ratio of volume of sample bottle to that of the liquid sample (V(T)/V(w)) are the critical factors that could influence accuracy and precision of the measured results. Equilibrium between the gas phase and liquid phase was attained after 200 min of equilibration time. The temperature must be carefully controlled due to variation of both the Henry's constant (K(h)) and the fibre/gas phase distribution coefficient (K(fg)). K(h) decreases with decreasing temperature while K(fg) increases. Low V(T)/V(w) yields better sensitivity but results in analyte losses and negative bias of the resultant assay. High V(T)/V(w) ratio yields reduced sensitivity but analyte losses were found to be minimal, leading to better accuracy and reproducibility. A fast SPME method was achieved, 5 min for SPME extraction and 3.10 min for GC analysis. A linear calibration function in the gas phase was developed to analyse the breakthrough curve data, linear between a range of 0.9-236 microgl(-1), and a detection limit lower than 5 microgl(-1).     

Business closure and relocation: a comparative analysis of the Loma Prieta earthquake and Hurricane Andrew

The occurrence of a number of large‐scale disasters or catastrophes in recent years, including the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the Kashmir earthquake (2005), Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Ike (2008), have raised our awareness regarding the devastating effects of disasters on human populations and the importance of developing mitigation and preparedness strategies to limit the consequences of such events. However, there is still a dearth of social science research focusing on the socio‐economic impact of disasters on businesses in the United States. This paper contributes to this research literature by focusing on the impact of disasters on business closure and relocation through the use of multivariate logistic regression models, specifically focusing on the Loma Prieta earthquake (1989) and Hurricane Andrew (1992). Using a multivariate model, we examine how physical damage to the infrastructure, lifeline disruption and business characteristics, among others, impact business closure and relocation following major disasters.     

A test of the substitution–habitat hypothesis in amphibians

Most examples that support the substitution‐habitat hypothesis (human‐made habitats act as substitutes of original habitat) deal with birds and mammals. We tested this hypothesis in 14 amphibians by using percentage occupancy as a proxy of habitat quality (i.e., higher occupancy percentages indicate higher quality). We classified water body types as original habitat (no or little human influence) depending on anatomical, behavioral, or physiological adaptations of each amphibian species. Ten species had relatively high probabilities (0.16–0.28) of occurrence in original habitat, moderate probability of occurrence in substitution habitats (0.11–0.14), and low probability of occurrence in refuge habitats (0.05–0.08). Thus, the substitution–habitat hypothesis only partially applies to amphibians because the low occupancy of refuges could be due to the negligible human persecution of this group (indicating good conservation status). However, low occupancy of refuges could also be due to low tolerance of refuge conditions, which could have led to selective extinction or colonization problems due to poor dispersal capabilities. That original habitats had the highest probabilities of occupancy suggests amphibians have a good conservation status in the region. They also appeared highly adaptable to anthropogenic substitution habitats.     

Hunting for common ground between wildlife governance and commons scholarship

Wildlife hunting is essential to livelihoods and food security in many parts of the world, yet present rates of extraction may threaten ecosystems and human communities. Thus, governing sustainable wildlife use is a major social dilemma and conservation challenge. Commons scholarship is well positioned to contribute theoretical insights and analytic tools to better understand the interface of social and ecological dimensions of wildlife governance, yet the intersection of wildlife studies and commons scholarship is not well studied. We reviewed existing wildlife-hunting scholarship, drawing on a database of 1,410 references, to examine the current overlap with commons scholarship through multiple methods, including social network analysis and deductive coding. We found that a very small proportion of wildlife scholarship incorporated commons theories and frameworks. The social network of wildlife scholarship was densely interconnected with several major publication clusters, whereas the wildlife commons scholarship was sparse and isolated. Despite the overarching gap between wildlife and commons scholarship, a few scholars are studying wildlife commons. The small body of scholarship that bridges these disconnected literatures provides valuable insights into the understudied relational dimensions of wildlife and other overlapping common-pool resources. We suggest increased engagement among wildlife and commons scholars and practitioners to improve the state of knowledge and practice of wildlife governance across regions, particularly for bushmeat hunting in the tropics, which is presently understudied through a common-pool resource lens. Our case study of the Republic of Congo showed how the historical context and interrelationships between hunting and forest rights are essential to understanding the current state of wildlife governance and potential for future interventions. A better understanding of the interconnections between wildlife and overlapping common-pool resource systems may be key to understanding present wildlife governance challenges and advancing the common-pool resource research agenda.     

Using Canonical Correlation Analysis to Identify Environmental Attitude Groups: Considerations for National Forest Planning in the Southwestern U.S.

As public land management agencies pursue region-specific resource management plans, with meaningful consideration of public attitudes and values, there is a need to characterize the complex mix of environmental attitudes in a diverse population. The contribution of this investigation is to make use of a unique household, mail/internet survey data set collected in 2007 in the Southwestern United States (Region 3 of the U.S. Forest Service). With over 5,800 survey responses to a set of 25 Public Land Value statements, canonical correlation analysis is able to identify 7 statistically distinct environmental attitudinal groups. We also examine the effect of expected changes in regional demographics on overall environmental attitudes, which may help guide in the development of socially acceptable long-term forest management policies. Results show significant support for conservationist management policies and passive environmental values, as well as a greater role for stakeholder groups in generating consensus for current and future forest management policies.     

Effects of crowding due to habitat loss on species assemblage patterns

Terrestrial animals are negatively affected by habitat loss, which is assessed on a landscape scale, whereas secondary effects of habitat loss, such as crowding, are usually disregarded. Such impacts are inherently hard to address and poorly understood, and there is a growing concern that they could have dire consequences. We sampled birds throughout a deforestation process to assess crowding stress in an adjacent habitat remnant in the southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Crowding is expected of highly mobile taxa, especially given the microhabitat heterogeneity of Neotropical forests, and we hypothesized that the arrival of new individuals or species in refuges shifts assemblage patterns. We used point counts to obtain bird abundances in a before-after-control-impact design sampling of a deforestation event. Temporal changes in taxonomic and functional diversity were examined with metrics used to assess alpha and beta diversity, turnover of taxonomic and functional similarity, and taxonomic and functional composition. Over time increased abundance of some species altered the Simpson index and affected the abundance-distribution of traits in the habitat remnant. Taxonomic composition and functional composition changed in the remnant, and thus bird assemblages changed over time. Taxonomic and functional metrics indicated that fugitives affected resident assemblages in refuges, and effects endured >2 years after the deforestation processes had ceased. Dissimilarity of taxonomic composition between pre- and postdeforestation assemblages increased, whereas functional composition reverted to preimpact conditions. We found that ecological disruptions resulted from crowding and escalated into disruptions of species’ assemblages and potentially compromising ecosystem functioning. It is important to consider crowding effects of highly mobile taxa during impact assessments, especially in large-scale infrastructure projects that may affect larger areas than is assumed.     

Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae) as a phytoremediator for soils contaminated by heavy metals in abandoned mines

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Dodonaea viscosa (L.) Jacq. is a plant with a wide distribution that expands throughout almost all Mexican territory and is used in traditional...