Application of the Water Poverty Index at Different Scales: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract

The Water Poverty Index is an integrated tool developed on the basis of extensive consultation with a range of scientists, practitioners and policymakers. It is primarily designed for use at the community level to enable more holistic water-resource assessments on a site-specific basis. It can however be applied at different scales to suit different needs. One of the motivations to design such a tool was an attempt to move away from the conventional, purely deterministic, approaches to water assessment, relying primarily on models and large-scale data. In today's world such an approach is inappropriate, ill representing the complexities of modern water-allocation decisions where economic, political and social issues all have a powerful role to play. This paper highlights some applications of the Water Poverty Index at different spatial scales and discusses the implications of applying indicators at these different scales.     

New carbon composite adsorbents for the removal of textile dyes from aqueous solutions: Kinetic,equilibrium, and thermodynamic studies

New carbon composite materials were prepared by pyrolysis of mixture of coffee wastes and red mud at 700 °C with the inorganic: organic ratios of 1.9 (CC-1.9) and 2.2 (CC-2.2). These adsorbents were used to remove reactive orange 16 (RO-16) and reactive red 120 (RR-120) textile dyes from aqueous solution. The CC-1.9 and CC-2.2 materials were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Nitrogen adsorption/desorption curves, scanning electron Microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The kinetic of adsorption data was fitted by general order kinetic model. A three-parameter isotherm model, Liu isotherm model, gave the best fit of the equilibrium data (298 to 323 K). The maximum amounts of dyes removed at 323 K were 144.8 (CC-1.9) and 139.5 mg g^?1 (CC-2.2) for RO-16 dye and 95.76 (CC-1.9) and 93.80 mg g^?1 (CC-2.2) for RR-120 dye. Two simulated dyehouse effluents were used to investigate the application of the adsorbents for effluent treatment.     

Effect of particle tethering and Scale‐Up on solid–liquid mass transfer in Three‐Phase fluidized beds of light particles

Solid–liquid mass transfer in three‐phase fluidized beds with low‐density particles was studied using a tethered benzoic acid particle dissolution technique. Two columns with air, water and polypropylene cylinders were used for experiments. The solid–liquid mass transfer coefficient was found to increase with column diameter but decrease with tether length. The effect of tethering on solid particle movements was also evaluated using radioactive particle tracking (RPT) technique. RPT showed that tethered particles exhibited slower movements. Statistical analysis suggests that tether lengths 3 times the column radius are sufficient to reduce the effects of tethering.     

Growth and characterization of l-phenylalanine nitric acid, a new organic nonlinear optical material

A new organic nonlinear optical material L-phenylalanine nitric acid [2C₉H₁₁NO₂.H⁺. NO₃⁻] (LPN), was synthesized in mixed solvent of deionised water and methanol and single crystals of LPN was grown by slow evaporation method. Transparent crystals upto 2.9 × 0.3 × 0.05 cm³ were obtained. The grown crystals have been subjected to powder X-ray diffraction studies to identify the crystalline nature. Single crystal X-ray diffractometer was utilized to measure unit cell parameters and to confirm the crystal structure. The modes of vibration of different molecular groups present in LPN were identified by FTIR spectral analysis. Transmission spectra reveals that the crystal has low UV cutoff of 295 nm and has a good transmittance in the entire visible region enabling its use in optical applications. Thermal properties of the crystals have been investigated using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA), which indicate that the material does not decompose before melting. The existence of second harmonic generation signals was observed using Nd:YAG laser with fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm.     

Multiwavelength imaging of defects in ultraviolet optical materials

Laser-induced damage in bare glass substrates and thin films has long been widely acknowledged as a localized phenomenon associated with the presence of micrometer and submicrometer scale defects. The scanning of both optical absorption and scattering allows us to discriminate between absorbing and nonabsorbing defects and can give specific information about the origin of the defects. We investigate the spectral properties of defects in thin films and fused-silica surfaces. Absorbing and scattering defects are studied at different wavelengths in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared ranges. Absorbing defects are shown to be highly wavelength dependent, whereas we have observed significant correlation between scattering defects.     

High-throughput method for the production and analysis of large natural product libraries for drug discovery

High-throughput methods were applied to the production, analysis, and characterization of libraries of natural products in order to accelerate the drug discovery process for high-throughput screening in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Library production integrates automated flash chromatography, solid-phase extraction, filtration, and high-throughput parallel four-channel preparative high-performance liquid chromatography to obtain the libraries in 96- or 384-well plates. Libraries consist of purified fractions with approximately one to five compounds per well. Libraries are analyzed prior to biological screening by a high-throughput parallel eight-channel liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection-mass spectrometry system to determine the molecular weight, number, and quantity of compounds in a fraction. After biological screening, active fractions are rapidly purified at the microgram level and individual compounds are rescreened for confirmation of activity. Structures of active compounds are elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Utilization of a novel microcoil probe allows NMR data to be gathered on 50 microg. As a demonstration, a library was made from the stem bark of Taxus brevifolia. Biological screening in the National Cancer Institute's in vitro panel of three cancer cell lines demonstrates that the process enables the discovery of active anticancer compounds not detected in the flash fractions from which the library originates.     

Negotiating the hybrid: art, theory and genetic technologies

Over the past decade artists have increasingly turned to science in order to investigate technology’s effect. The move from hardware-based technologies to live organisms as media, raises ethical issues that the broader art community is addressing. This paper tracks the history of instrumental disengagement to determine when and how the gradual codification of life contributed to the eventual use of live organisms in art practice.     

Accepting its random coil nature allows a partial NMR assignment of the neuronal Tau protein

A combined strategy to obtain a partial NMR assignment of the neuronal Tau protein is presented. Confronted with the extreme spectral degeneracy that the spectrum of this 441 amino acid long unstructured protein presents, we have introduced a graphical procedure based on residue type-specific product planes. Combining this strategy with the search for pairwise motifs, and combining the spectra of different Tau isoforms and even of peptides derived from the native sequence, we arrive at a partial assignment that is sufficient to map the interactions of Tau with its molecular partners. The obtained assignments equally confirm the absence of regular secondary structure in the isolated protein.