Forest management and future changes to ecosystem services in the Romanian Carpathians

This study investigates consequences of future changes to the provision of ecosystem services (ES) in the Romanian Carpathians. Two 2040 forest management scenarios were compared, using two indicators to describe the gains and losses of ES. Changes in landslide regulation potential were defined as changes to landslide susceptibility. High nature value grasslands characterized biodiversity support. The business as usual scenario results in a 8% lower loss of landslide regulation potential compared to the alternative scenario. It also results in a 29% higher regional net gain of landslide regulation potential. Both scenarios result in the loss of biodiversity support due to their prevalent transition of forest expansion. This type of information is crucial for informing decision makers on the locations of potential gains and losses of future development.     

Assessment of Groundwater Quality in a Structurally Deformed Granitic Terrain in Hyderabad, India

Geochemical study of groundwater from a structurally deformed granitic terrain near Hyderabad (India) was carried out to understand and evaluate the hydrogeochemical processes and quality of groundwater. Several trace elements (Fe, Mn, Be, Al, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Pb, U) along with major ions and minor elements were precisely estimated in shallow and drilled wells to know the suitability of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. Analytical data shows that pH and major ion chemistry in dug wells and bore wells do not vary significantly, while some trace elements (Fe, Mn, Al, Be, Co, Pb, U and Zn) vary in dug wells and bore wells, which can be attributed to differential mineral weathering and dissolution/precipitation reactions along fractures/joints. Although the water is not potable, it was found to be suitable for irrigation with little danger in the development of harmful level of exchangeable sodium. It is inferred that the chemical composition of the groundwater in this region is likely to have its origin from silicate weathering reactions and dissolution/precipitation processes supported by rainfall and groundwater flow.     

Procedures for outlier detection in circular time series models

It is known that the occurrence of outliers in linear or non-linear time series models may have adverse effects on the modelling and statistical inference of the data. Consequently, extensive research has been conducted on developing outlier detection procedures so that outliers may be properly managed. However, no work has been done on the problem of outliers in circular time series data. This problem is the focus of this paper. The main objective is to develop novel numerical and graphical procedures for detecting these outliers in circular time series data.A number of circular time series models have been proposed including the circular autoregressive model. We extend the iterative outlier detection procedure which has been successfully used in linear time series models to the circular autoregressive model. The proposed procedure shows a good performance when investigated via simulation for the circular autoregressive model of order one. At the same time, several statistical techniques have been used to detect the change of preferred trend in time series data using SLIME and CUSUM plots. While the methods fail to indicate directly the outliers in circular time series data, we use the ideas employed to develop three novel graphical procedures for identifying the outliers. For illustration, we apply the procedures to a particular set of wind direction data. An agreement between the results of the graphical and iterative detection procedures is observed. These procedures could be very useful in improving the modelling and inferential processes for circular time series data.     

Cellulose-based beads for the adsorptive removal of wastewater effluents: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Wastewater pollution is a major issue requiring advanced treatment methods such as nanotechnologies. In particular, nanocelluloses appear promising as adsorbents...