Resources and Environment最新文献

{"title":"Application of Principal Component Analysis for Developing Water Quality Index for Selected Coastal Areas of Alexandria Egypt","authors":"S. Fathy, F. Hamid, M. Shreadah, L. Mohamed, Mohamed G. El-Gazar","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120206.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120206.08","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents water quality analysis of three sites located in the coastal area of Alexandria, Egypt. Principal co mponent analysis (PCA) approach was used to develop water quality index (WQI). PCA results revealed that Nubaria and Umou m drains were the most highly polluted samp ling sites and supposed to be hotspots of environ mental pollutants due to industrial, agricultural and do mestic wastes disposed and eluted compared to Kilo 21 d rain which could be considered the control site for the present study. The findings with the help o f principal co mponents suggested are being of great importance in establishing guidelines for the ad ministration of water sources and the improvement of water quality in these areas.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"7 1","pages":"297-305"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82684970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Economics of Farm Resource Utilization in River Nile State of Northern Sudan","authors":"Elgilany A. Ahmed, Jamalludin Sulaiman, Saidatulakmal Mohd","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120206.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120206.01","url":null,"abstract":"In Sudan, land tenants use numerous crops to intensify production in an attempt to improve household food security and income. Resources-use optimization is crit ical to produce field crops wh ich are regarded as essential food and cash crops in Sudan. This paper looks at River Nile State of north Sudan as a case study due to its high potential to grow food and cash crops. The crops are co mmonly produced under pump irrigation fro m the River Nile. Production of these crops in the State faces numerous hindrances, including inefficiency of resources utilization, lo w level of productivity and high cost of production. The research aimed to optimise the use of available resources in food and cash crops. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires on 70 randomly selected respondents. A linear programming technique was used to assess the optimal co mb ination of resources in the crops under study. The model revealed that tenants would get higher returns by optimising resource utilizat ion in food and cash crop production. The State tenants should therefore be guided on how to optimally utilize their resources and be encouraged to grow cash and food crops as a significant contribution to farm sustainability and malnutrit ion alleviation.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"39 1","pages":"248-252"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80220447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can Bio-Ethanol be Regarded as Carbon Neutral? Assessment of the Effect of Reducing Oil Use","authors":"M. Yamashita*, Hiroyuki Aimoto","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120205.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120205.07","url":null,"abstract":"The present study examined the efficacy of the use of bio-ethanol as an environmental protection measure by conducting quantitative assessment of the amount of CO2 emitted in its lifecycle, including the process of growing plants used as materials for bio-ethanol production. As a conclusion, it was suggested that the use of bio-ethanol does not reduce CO2 emissions, as it stands now, because a large amount of energy is required to produce it, i.e., bio-ethanol production consumes fossil fuels in a large quantity and emits a massive amount of CO2. Actually, the use of bio-ethanol varieties made from corn or wood as an alternative fuel to gasoline increased CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the production and use of bio-ethanol was less cost-effective than other CO2 reduction measures. This means that, in terms of both its effectiveness and economic efficiency, bio-ethanol would not contribute to promoting Japan's \"Biomass Nippon Strategy\" and accomplishing its primary goal, the \"prevention of global warming\".","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"93 1","pages":"240-247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83848138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Food and Water Security in the Arab World and Sudan: Status and Threats","authors":"Nagat Elmulthum, Lubna Mohamed Musa, Hanan OsmanAli","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120206.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120206.03","url":null,"abstract":"Emphasizing the importance of food and water security, this study aimed at studying and analysing food and water security situation in the Arab World with special emphasis on Sudan. The Study employed descriptive statistics using secondary data collected fro m various sources. Results obtained indicated that food consumption gap in the Arab World increased by 24% in 2010 co mpared to 1973. Results obtained indicated that the per capita available water in the Arab World decreased from 3430 m 3 in 1960 to 1250m 3 in 2000 to 876 m 3 in 2010. A further decline in per capita available water to 667m 3 in 2025 and 500m 3 in 2050 is expected. These figures reflects a threatening situation for water and food security in the Arab World during the current century bearing in mind that the water poverty line is estimated at 1000m 3 .The separation of Sudan into two countries has adversely affected the per capita available water in the democratic republic of Sudan. Results of the study proved that the self-sufficiency rat io of cereals in Sudan was less than 100% for most of the seasons during the period 1986/87-2006/ 07 indicat ing that production of cereal crops is below the consumption requirements of Sudanese people. The shift in consumption habits towards wheat in Sudan coupled with low co mparat ive advantage resulted in low wheat self-sufficiency ratio during the period 1986/87-2007/ 08. Th is lo w self -sufficiency rat io in wheat gives an indication that the shortage in available food is mainly attributed to the significant consumption gap in wheat. Results indicated that wheat imports are real burden on Sudanese economy absorbing most of the foreign exchange generated fro m exports of Agricultural sector. Results obtained indicated that water productivity of Sorghu m, Wheat and Groundnut grown in Gezira scheme in Sudan was very low compared to the average international water productivity. Based on the results of the study we recommend the allocation ofsubstantial financial resources to enhance food production, investment in water projects and efficient use of water with special consideration of health threats associated with the implementation of water pro jects. Develop ment of along-termwater and food production plan for the Arab countries based on the principles of cooperation and equitable distribution is highly reco mmended.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"18 1","pages":"265-270"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78976820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Empirical Model to Estimate UV index in Some Upper Egypt Regions","authors":"S. M. Shazly, K. O. Kassem, A. Hassan, Eman F. El-Nobi","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120205.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120205.05","url":null,"abstract":"Emp irical models to estimate the u ltraviolet index (UVI) for all sky conditions in ten locations in Upper Egypt have been developed. Multiple linear regression technique has been used for lin king each o f the UVI as a dependent variable, and all of the declination (δ), cosine solar zenith angle at noon (cosSZAn), total ozone column (TOC) in DU, reflectivity (reflc) in % and aerosol index (AI) as independent variables. A dataset corresponding to the period (1978-1999) was used to develop the models and an independent dataset (year 2000) was used for validation purposes. The data set for each location, including erythemal u ltraviolet (EUV) at noon in mW/m 2 , (TOC) in DU, reflectiv ity (reflc) in % and (AI), was retrieved fro m Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) remote sensing instrument. For all locations, the emp irical models exp lain more than 93% of UVI variab ility due to changes in all independent variables. In addit ion, one single model for all the locations has been constructed. Model performance was determined for each location by calcu lating the mean bias error (M BE %) and the root mean square error (RMSE %). In addition, mean absolute error (MAE %), modelling efficiency (M E), modelling index (d ), and t-statistics have been computed. The empirical model provides reliable fo recast UVI in order to inform the public about the possible harmfu l effects of UV rad iation over-exposure.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"43 1","pages":"216-227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78711915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Energy and Environmental Aptitude (EEA) to Assess Solar Energy Exploitation in Cities","authors":"G. Viegas, G. Juan","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120205.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120205.02","url":null,"abstract":"In Argentina, the number of residential buildings (ho mes) has grown 20% in the last decade (2000-2010), thus increasing the level of non-renewable energy consumption of the residential area per inhabitant (0.25 TOE per capita per year in 2000, 0.3 TOE per capita per year in 2010) and lowering the construction quality. This situation has a significant impact on the GHG emissions to the environment. W ithin this context, this paper aims to assess the energy and environ- mental aptitude (EEA) of residential building groups in characteristic urban areas (urban mosaics), to estimate the potenti- ality of solar energy and energy efficiency explo itation. To begin with, the follo wing urban area variab les were calculated fro m aerial and satellite image classification techniques: i. Horizontal heat d issipation area; ii. Construction sys tem of horizontal heat dissipation area - Roofs; iii. Vert ical heat dissipation perimeter - Walls; iv. Bu ilt-up area height. Then, obtained results were exposed on two characteristic urban areas, differing in the co mpactness of its fabric, what allowed to evaluate that the urban area of greater co mpactness presented lower energy loss and similar EEA in relation to the urban area of lo wer co mpactness. This conclusion contributes to the discussion about the diffuse city and the co mpact city, since it reinforces the need to develop urban conglomerates with greater building co mpactness.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"21 1","pages":"185-192"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84473589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Treatment of Water Using Water Hyacinth, Water Lettuce and Vetiver Grass - A Review","authors":"Piyush Gupta, Surendra Roy, A. Mahindrakar","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120205.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120205.04","url":null,"abstract":"Phytoremediat ion techniques for the treatment of different types of wastewater have been used by several researchers. These techniques are reported to be cost effective compared to other methods. Various contaminants like total suspended solids, dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, hardness, biochemical o xygen demand, chemical o xygen demand, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, heavy metals, and other contaminants have been minimized using water hyacinth, water lettuce and vetiver grass. In this paper, role of these plant species, origin and their occurrence, ecological factors and their efficiency in reduction of different water contaminants have been presented.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"54 1","pages":"202-215"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82054659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phenoloxidases Produced by Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Baccharis Dracunculifolia D. C. (Asteraceae)","authors":"S. B. Onofre, P. Steilmann, Francisc O Beltrão","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120206.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120206.04","url":null,"abstract":"Phenolic co mpounds fall within the waste resulting fro m the biodegradation of natural and anthropogenic, are found in soil and water, but despite being widely distributed in nature are part of the main pollutants toxic waste discarded by a wide variety of industries such as textiles, petroleum refining, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, coating metals, wood preservatives, dyes, plastics and resins, coal conversion, and are components of many biocides. In order to remedy the impacts of these compounds, seven endophytic fungal species isolated from Baccharis dracunculifolia D. C. (Asteraceae) were studied to determine their ability to produce phenoloxidases capable of degrading phenolic compounds. The fungi were inoculated in media containing different concentrations of gallic acid, incubated at 28℃ and mon itored every 48 h. En zy me production was assessed through the observation of an amber-co lored halo, which is characteristic of the Bavendamm's reaction. On ly Fusarium sp. strain D3-FB and Cercospora sp. strain D7-FB showed degradation halos at all concentrations. Although developed in the same med ia, the other species showed no signs of the Bavendamm's reaction.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"102 1","pages":"271-274"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77272012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Studies on Meteorological Parameters and Mixing Height in Gold Mining Area","authors":"Surendra Roy, Piyush Gupta, T. Singh","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120205.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120205.06","url":null,"abstract":"Gold mining at Ko lar Go ld Fields is closed but some industries in this area are in operation and some may like to be established. Data on at mospheric and meteorological parameters were generated using SODA R (Sound Detection and Ranging) and auto matic weather station in different seasons. Over 2000 sodar echograms were recorded and classified into six categories like rising layer, thermal plu me (free), ground based layer (spiky top), ground based layer (flat top), ground based mu ltiple layers and dot echo structures. Using echograms, unstable period was determined to know the d iluting capability of at mosphere for pollutants in the seasons. The highest duration of mixing heights revealed the period of h ighest dispersion. Based on the sodar echograms and mixing height, stability classes for the d ifferent times of the day were evaluated, which can be used for the estimation of dispersion coefficients. Influence of wind speed, wind direction, temperature, hu midity, solar rad iation and rainfall on mixing heights was studied. Statistical model was developed for the prediction of mixing height. Model adequacy was checked using F-statistics, normal d istribution curve and correlation between predicted and measured values of mixing heights.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"48 1","pages":"228-239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79334082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of Mixing Height at Qena/Upper Egypt Based on Radiosonde Data","authors":"S. M. Shazly, K. O. Kassem, A. Hassan, A. Hala.E.","doi":"10.5923/J.RE.20120206.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5923/J.RE.20120206.05","url":null,"abstract":"Radiosonde and surface meteorological data have been carried out in south valley university meteorological station at Qena / upper Egypt for estimation of maximu m and minimu m mixing height MH during the periods (2006 - 2008) and (October 2004 - September 2005), respectively. The effect of some meteorological parameters such as temperature (T 0 C), wind speed (WS m/s), and relat ive humidity (RH%) on maximu m M H has been studied. It is found that average daily maximu m MH ranges fro m (700 m) to (2367 m) in winter, and fro m (567 m) to (2700 m) in autumn and fro m (1133 m) to (4860 m) in spring, and fro m (1200 m) to (3750 m) in sum mer. Seasonal average value of maximu m MH reaches its maximu m (2425 m and 2481 m) during spring and summer, respectively, while, it attains its minimu m ( 1418 m and 1504 m) during winter and autu mn, respectively. M inimu m M H has generally a value between 100 and 200 m. Seasonal average of minimu m MH is characterized by small fluctuation. Where, it varies fro m (166 m and 197 m) during spring and summer, respectively to (161 m and 173 m) during winter and autumn, respectively. Monthly averages of maximu m M H is associated forwardly with T and WS and associated backwardly with RH. A model relates monthly average values of maximu m M H at afternoon with T, WS and RH has been constructed and can be used locally for estimation of monthly average MH.","PeriodicalId":21136,"journal":{"name":"Resources and Environment","volume":"60 1","pages":"275-280"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78103058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}