Research and education for sustainability in a beekeeping project in sub-Saharan Africa

Support to small farmers is at the heart of the fight against poverty. However, the continuous provision of support poses a major challenge which greatly affects the sustainability of development-related projects. Using a research and education approach, in which beekeeping was introduced into the curriculum of two secondary schools, we tested the potential of knowledge transfer as a means of promoting beekeeping. In this paper, we show that, with an educational program tailored to the audience needs, knowledge transfer and self-start-ups ensure better sustainability than material support. We further discuss the implications of these results in the sustenance of beekeeping as a development-related activity.     

Laboratory Scale Thermal Plasma Arc Vitrification Studies of Heavy Metal-Laden Waste

Abstract

Plasma processing has been identified as a useful tool for immobilizing heavy metal-contaminated wastes into safe, leach-resistant slag. Although much effort has gone into developing this technology on a pilot scale, not much information has been published on basic research topics. A laboratory-scale plasma arc furnace located at the University of Illinois was operated in cooperation with the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories in an effort to establish an understanding of the chemical and physical processes (such as metal volatilization and resultant gas evolution) that occur during thermal plasma treatment of metal-spiked samples. Experiments were conducted on nickel and chromium using a highly instrumented furnace equipped with a 75 kW transferred arc plasma torch. The volatility of nickel and chromium was examined as a function of varying oxygen partial pressures. Oxidizing conditions reduced the total dust gathered for both the nickel and chromium samples, although each dust sample was found to be metal-enriched. Plasma treating increased the leach-resistance of the slags by at least one order of magnitude when compared to unprocessed specimens. The leach- resistance of the nickel-containing slags increased in the presence of oxygen, whereas chromium samples remained relatively constant.     

Mortality and toxin bioaccumulation in Bufo marinus following exposure to Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii cell extracts and live cultures

Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is a cyanobacterium responsible for the production of the toxin, cylindrospermopsin (CYN). Tadpoles of the cane toad Bufo marinus were exposed to freeze-thawed whole cell extracts or live cultures of C. raciborskii containing maximum CYN concentrations of 400 microg L-1 or 232 microg L-1, respectively. Exposure to live culture treatment solutions resulted in up to 66% mortality of B. marinus, whereas tadpoles exposed to whole cell extracts containing similar toxin concentrations survived. Decreases in relative growth rates and time spent for swimming were recorded from tadpoles during both types of exposure regimes. Bioconcentration of CYN was not evident following exposure to whole cell extracts containing extracellular toxin. In contrast exposure to live cultures, which contained cell-bound toxin, resulted in maximum average tissue concentrations of 895 microg free-CYN kg-1 fresh weight. This is the first investigation of C. raciborskii exposure effects and toxin bioaccumulation in the developmental stages of an amphibian.