Structural variability and its relation to edaphic attributes of mangroves in the south‐west coast of India

We estimated the tree structural variables (density, frequency and basal area) of true mangroves and soil variables like particle size distribution, carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus, sulphur, nutrient cations (K, Na, Ca, Mg) of Cochin mangroves and examined the relationship between vegetation and environment. The study sites were classified as seaward fringe, riverine and interior. Of the thirteen true mangrove species present, Avicennia officinalis, Sonneratia caseolaris and Excoecaria agallocha showed higher Importance Value Index. The mean stem density varied from 80 to 25,000 no./ha and basal area from 0.1 to 39.68 m²/ha. Seaward mangroves showed maximum stand basal area and biomass production while riverine exhibited maximum density. Maturity Index value of Cochin mangroves revealed a very low degree of structural maturity. Interior mangroves were characterized by silty soil with higher nutrient concentrations. Principal component analysis of soil data revealed that the major factors influencing mangrove vegetation were soil texture, nutrients, salinity and oxidation–reduction potential. The stem density and basal area of different species correlated highly with soil nutrients and texture (p < .001) while salinity showed negative correlations with vegetation characteristics. The data generated in the study would be fundamental in site‐specific management and conservation efforts of these degrading mangroves.     

In the Hands of the People: Harnessing the Collective Power of Village Life in India

Top-down attempts by governments and charities to rebuild rural communities after natural disasters, or to rehabilitate slums, can leave communities feeling fractured. The Hunnarshala Foundation instead focuses on re-establishing social capital, providing funding and professional support for residents so that they can work together to improve their lot. This also reinforces the value of traditional artisans' knowledge in solving modern problems. Hunnarshala's Executive Vice Chairman Sandeep Virmani explains.     

Environmental studies on impacts of dredging

The coastal zone acts as a major interface between the ocean and continents. Harbours located in this zone face grave problems from sedimentation, which is a global issue for most of the harbours of the world. Dredging which counter acts sedimentation, brings about innumerable environmental impacts — both positive and negative. As a case study, this paper reports the impacts of dredging conducted at Cochin harbour which is the second largest port along the west coast of India; this port is a nodal center in trade and commerce connecting south east Asia to European sector. The harbour operation mainly depends on maintenance form of dredging bringing about impacts which have both direct and indirect effects in the long term. The important parameters selected for this study are salinity, current, extinction coefficient, turbidity, nutrients, chlorophyll and bottom fauna. An assessment is made on both positive and negative impacts which indicate rise in turbidity, changes in nutrient content and biota. The current practice on dredging is conducive to harbour operations, regulating the material made available to the near shore areas and highlights the possible venues for utilization of spoil for reclamation of land and wetland development. A flow chart identifies the areas vulnerable to impacts arising out of dredging and its consequential environmental issues.     

张壁古堡之里坊模式探析

里坊制度曾是我国城市与农村规划的基本组织单位,随着时代的发展而逐渐消失,但经过调查与分析．作者认为在许多乡村聚落里至今仍有里坊制度的遗存该文通过分析山西介休市张壁古堡的形态格局与隐含其中的管理制度,发现其具有类似里坊制度的形态模式,进而将里坊与张壁古堡的结构模式进行详细地对比与分析．从多方面论证了这一观点,与此同时进一步阐述了张壁古堡中里坊制度遗存至夸的原因．从而揭示其村落营造中的里坊文化。     

Barriers to sustainable economic development: The Dallas-Fort Worth experience

This article examines the scope of existing economic development activity and the motivations and perceptions of practitioners to shed light on the barriers to sustainable practice. In contrast to related fields like urban planning, the economic development literature has minimally examined how practitioners think about sustainable development and the extent to which sustainable development principles are adopted in practice. This omission is significant because economic development policies can have a notable impact on the sustainable development goals of environmental protection and social equity alongside economic growth. To capture the extent to which economic developers engage in sustainable development and the barriers that practitioners face, we study fifteen cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. We find that six key barriers - a conventional economic development mindset, incentive-based practice, a lack of resources, ad hoc planning, inter-regional competition, and a lack of coordinated regional planning - impede sustainable economic development in the region.     

Heavy metal concentrations in fish,shellfish and fish products from internal markets of India vis-a-vis international standards

Heavy metals are an important group of chemical contaminants and food is the major vehicle for entry into the system. Fish constitute a major source of heavy metals in food. Concentration of heavy metals in commercially important species of fish, shellfish and fish products from fish markets in and around the Cochin area was evaluated using an atomic absorption spectrometer. The concentration ranges of Cd, Pb, Hg, Cr, As, Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, Ni, and Se in the samples were <0.07–1, <0.07–1.32, <0.05–2.31, <0.05 to 3.65, <0.1–4.14, 0.6 to 165, 0.15 to 24, <0.02 to 0.85, <0.08 to 9.2, <0.032–1.38 and; <0.03–1.35 mg/kg, respectively. The present study showed that different metals were present in the samples at different levels but within the maximum residual levels prescribed by the EU and USFDA and the fish and shellfish from these areas, in general, are safe for human consumption.     

Knowledge-based fault localization in debugging

Fault localization in program debugging is the process of identifying program statements which cause anomalous behavior. We have developed a prototype, knowledge-based model of the fault localization process. Novel features of the model include the integration of prototypic and causal reasoning about faults and a recognition-based mechanism for program abstraction. An explicit division of knowledge from the applications, programming, and language domains facilitate model tuning within as well as across applications domains. We describe model structure and performance for a class of faults associated with master file update programs.     

菘蓝种子油超微粉碎提取研究

采用超微粉碎技术对菘蓝种子进行处理,得到不同粒径的粉体,用正己烷溶剂浸提菘蓝种子油.结果表明,物料粒径对提取率的影响显著,超微粉碎有利于菘蓝种子油的提取.以物料颗粒平均直径为7.96 μm,粉体比表面积0.84 m2/mL的菘蓝种子超微粉为原料,在料液比1∶12,浸提温度85℃,浸提时间1h条件下,菘蓝种子油的提取率最大,为27.05％.     

The Victor Diamond Mine environmental assessment process: a critical First Nation perspective

Restrictive scoping has emerged as a contentious issue in environmental assessment (EA) with developments in northern Canada on Aboriginal territorial homelands. Restrictive scoping potentially leads to the exclusion of potentially affected stakeholders, constrained impact assessment, and inadequate collection of baseline information and traditional knowledge. The First Diamond Mine in Ontario, Canada, is located on the Attawapiskat River in the western James Bay region. We examined whether the scoping applied in the EA process that led to the approval of the mine addressed the needs of First Nations located southeast of the mine, specifically Fort Albany First Nation on the Albany River. Our findings indicate that the proponent, De Beers Canada Inc., with the approval of government authorities, primarily consulted and worked with Attawapiskat First Nation through the EA process and largely excluded other First Nations in the region. Limitations of EA in the context of northern Canada are identified. The potential of emerging community-based and regional land use planning in Ontario's far north is discussed.     

Mathew & Ghosh Architects

The work of Mathew & Ghosh Architects (Nisha Mathew-Ghosh and Soumitro Ghosh) boldly extends an abstract Modernist language and at the same time draws from the vitality of places. While the firm's early works were small in scale, mostly residential in nature and based on a reappraisal of the early Corbusian idiom, recent projects include large-scale urban and landscape interventions with diverse conceptual and metaphorical imperatives. They have moved from a more reticent stance to the urban exuberance of their more recent projects (for example, their own office building), something akin to a ‘savage architecture’ as posited by Kazuo Shinohara in the context of the unsynchronised nature of the modern city. The architects' object of contemplation is the urban ‘box’, whether a private residence, office or part of a church. The box is first fractured and reconstructed as a bricolage of tectonic fragments, memories and events, all tenuously related as if unity in a contemporary culture is for ever denied. Like the Japanese notion of ‘ma’, the moment between fragments - a slit or an emptiness between two hovering planes - is telling. Mathew & Ghosh participate in the continuity of a historical narrative yet mark out the fissures and disjunctions; sometimes negotiations with the continuity emerge from unintended interstices. While these configurations of the contemporary urban ‘box’ are both contextual and abstract, they are also phenomenologically rich. There is a sustained dialect to the architecture of Mathew & Ghosh that includes consummate materiality and fine crafting, light as a medium, and always, as Nisha Mathew-Ghosh states, ‘good spatial possibilities’. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.