Biofuel production and implications for land use, food production and environment in India

There is a large interest in biofuels in India as a substitute to petroleum-based fuels, with a purpose of enhancing energy security and promoting rural development. India has announced an ambitious target of substituting 20% of fossil fuel consumption by biodiesel and bioethanol by 2017. India has announced a national biofuel policy and launched a large program to promote biofuel production, particularly on wastelands: its implications need to be studied intensively considering the fact that India is a large developing country with high population density and large rural population depending upon land for their livelihood. Another factor is that Indian economy is experiencing high growth rate, which may lead to enhanced demand for food, livestock products, timber, paper, etc., with implications for land use. Studies have shown that area under agriculture and forest has nearly stabilized over the past 2-3 decades. This paper presents an assessment of the implications of projected large-scale biofuel production on land available for food production, water, biodiversity, rural development and GHG emissions. The assessment will be largely focused on first generation biofuel crops, since the Indian program is currently dominated by these crops. Technological and policy options required for promoting sustainable biofuel production will be discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical guidelines for management of fisheries resources, biodiversity and environment of Victoria basin lakes

Lake victoria is the second largest lake in the world.the lake is shatred between three East African countries (Kenya,Uganda and Tanzania) the lake basin is estimatedto have about 30 million people who depend on it as a source of fish for food,employment,income and recreation.the lake is transport locally and regionally is used for recreation and is recongnised internationally for its high fish species diversity of ecological and scientific value. This document in the first in a series to be produced on different fish production systems in Uganda and should stimulate discussions and comments to guide application of scientific findings into the policy environment.

The history of fish communities, biodiversity and environment of Lake Victoria and the lessons learnt

The first fishery survey of Lake Victoria was conducted between 1927 and 1928 (Graham 1929). Atthat time, the lake had a diverse fish fauna and the fishery was dominated by two endemic tilapiine cichlids; Oreochromis esculentus (Graham 1929) and O. variabilis (Boulenger 1906). There were a number of other species such as Protopterus aethiopicus Heckel 1851, Bagrus docmac (Forsk.) 1775, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), Barbus species, mormyrids, Synodontis spp, Schilbe intermedius (Linn.) 1762 and Rastrineobola argentea Pellegrin, 1904 that were also abundant in the lake most of which made a significant contribution to the fishery (Graham 1929, Worthington 1929, 1932, Kudhongania & Cordone 1974). Haplochromine cichlids were represented by at least 300 species more than 99% of them endemic (Greenwood, 1974; Witte et al., 1992 a & b). The fishery of Lake Victoria was similar to that of lakes Kyoga and Nabugabo (Worthington 1929; Trewavas 1933; Greenwood 1965, 1966; Beadle 1962, 1981). There were also important fisheries on the inflowing rivers of Lake Victoria, the most important of which were Labeo victorianus and Barbus altianalis (Cadwallader 1965). The small sized species notably Rastrineobola argentea and haplochromines cichlids were not originally commercially exploited.

The application of microwave radiation to analytical and environment chemistry

This review presents the latest advances in the application of microwave energy to analytical chemistry. The fundamental principles of microwave field interaction with the matter are presented and their significance for the chemist is discussed, followed by the basic principles of microwave equipment construction and operation. Examples of the techniques that utilized microwave energy for digestion, extraction, chemical reaction, preconcentration, and desorption of the analytical sample are presented. A separate section describes the examples of usage of microwave technology in catalysis, environmental, and nuclear chemistry and engineering.

Continuous Plankton Records - Phytoplankton Zooplankton And Environment Northeast Atlantic And North-Sea 1958-1980

Year-to-year fluctuations in the abundance of phytoplankton in the North-East Atlantic and the North Sea for the period 1958 to 1980 are described. Based on similarities between their annual fluctuations in abundance, the taxa may be divided into two groups, one of 12 species of diatoms and 1 species of Ceratium, the other of 5 species of Ceratium. The annual fluctuations in abundance of the Ceratium group is negatively correlated with a component of sea surface temperature (representing changes in the open ocean) and with the frequency of cyclonic weather over the United Kingdom. The Diatom group shows very similar annual fluctuations to those of most of the zooplankton species. Both groups show a high ·proportion of long wavelength variability in the form of a more less linear downward trend in abundance over the whole period. There is evidence to suggest that the high proportion of long wavelength variability shown by the zooplankton is influenced by inherent persistence in stocks from year-to year. The phytoplankton show little or no persistence. The close relationship between zooplankton and phytoplankton may, therefore, involve feed-back through nutrient recycling so influencing the annual levels of abundance of phytoplankton.

‘Reason’ and ‘tickle’ as pragmatic constructs in the discourse of advertising

This paper explores certain pragmatic features of advertising discourse. It focuses on and expands upon a binary distinction between types of advertising discourse which was proposed initially by Bernstein (1974) and which has been touched upon more recently by other commentators such as Cook (1992). This is the distinction between reason advertisements (those which suggest a motive or reason for purchase) and tickle advertisements (those which appeal to humour, emotion and mood). It will be argued that Bernstein's distinction can be accommodated relatively systematically within contemporary frameworks of language and discourse. Drawing on a range of work in pragmatics and in systemic-functional linguistics, this paper takes some tentative steps towards the development of a theoretical model with accounts for this particular communicative-cognitive dimension of advertising discourse.