Does location of the households' matters? Identifying the households' willingness to pay and preference heterogeneity in advancement of vulnerable ecosystem services: An approach of choice experiment.

The present research underlines the need to expand far outside bundling or hierarchical providing strategy that often focuses on a specific habitat or ecosystem and creates a location-based strategy that considers how dependency in other parts of the region with ecosystem functions and processes leads to complements and resources' trade-offs. Thus, for assessment of spatial heterogeneity based on willingness to pay (WTP) for upgrading environmental attributes across Heihe River Basin (HRB), a choice experiment survey was carried out in the entire river basin. The HRB is one of the big inland river in the Northwestern region of China and is selected on basis of its geomorphological and geographical significance. A sum of 1679 individuals were interviewed through choice experiment technique from whole river basin consisting of five main cities and 33 adjoining rural areas. The Random Parameter logit model, Krinsky-Robb technique as well as delta method were applied for the evaluation of spatial heterogeneity and estimation of individual specific WTP, respectively. Spatial heterogeneity is verified among sampled individuals' preferences about upgradation of environmental attributes, such as, observed preferences of individuals' and their varying corresponding WTP amounts for per unit's upgradation in agriculture product quality, greenhouse gases reduction, farmland landscape, and biodiversity, which reflects heterogeneous tastes and preferences of the selected individuals. In addition, the assessed outcomes for identifying the impacts of distance decay through random parameter logit model depicted the vital role of distance influence on respondents' WTP for restoring the degraded environmental attributes, such that among 3 ad hoc distance bands, WTP of those sampled individuals who are in proximity of ≤ 10 km to HRB is more than the rest of the individuals, i.e., individuals living in the range of ≤ 20 km and > 20 km. For instance, WTP for agriculture product quality is 119.147 CNY/year in ≤ 10 km and is higher than the remainders.

Determining the Actual Prevalence of Hepatitis B in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B is considered the most dangerous among the five types of Hepatitis, as it is clinically asymptomatic. It can silently damage the liver over many years without being diagnosed. Hepatitis B is one of the top risks of liver complications in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a province of Pakistan, with an average prevalence rate of 2.70%. AIMS: We aimed to carefully review the previously published data on prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) in KP-Pakistan and use the statistical approach to obtain more precise estimate of the prevalence of HBV in KP-Pakistan. This study on one hand will provide a more reliable and consolidated estimate (pooled estimate) of HBV in the stated region, on the other hand, it enabled us to judge the heterogeneity among the estimates found from these studies. The study is intended to provide more authentic prevalence record and help government/ non-government organizations and health professionals, which plan to initiate HBV prevention programs in KP-Pakistan. METHODS: A meta-analysis was performed based on studies found in literature search from electronic databases and bibliography on the prevalence of HBV in KP-Pakistan from 2007 to 2017. Abstracts and results of twenty papers were thoroughly studied and the data were extracted. The findings from these studies were distributed in two groups (general and population at high risk) constituting 15 and 5 studies respectively. RESULTS: The combined prevalence by considering random model for the general population of KP-Pakistan was observed to be 2.71%, while population at high risk was reasonably high i.e. 5.64%. By comparing this prevalence rate to the highest global prevalence of HBV in the adult population of Western Pacific Region (6.2%), significant (p-value= 0.000) heterogeneity was observed among the estimates in each group. However, the funnel plot provides a symmetric look, eliminating the effect of publication bias. We can say that HBV has an alarming prevalence rate in KP-Pakistan. However, HBV is thrice more prevalent in male population of KP-Pakistan than the female population. CONCLUSION: The above results lead that HBV infection has reached an alarming state in KP-Pakistan, though projects like Prime Minister's Program for Prevention & Control of Hepatitis which are contributing in improving the health of the people of KP by trying to prevent and control the incidence of HBV. More massive vaccination and awareness programs should be initiated to prevent the spread of HBV on urgent basis. Provision of diagnostics and treatment facilities against HBV in healthcare units of KP-Pakistan should be assured.

Effect Of Cobalt-Chromium Alloy Re-Use In Dentistry On Its Castability Value.

BACKGROUND: Re-use of dental casting alloy is a routine practice, which is carried out with the motive to conserve resources. There have been studies on the re-use of alloys but a controversy exists as to the proportioning ratio of fresh to used alloy and the number of time an alloy can be recast. The objective of the study was to measure the effect of addition of 50% by weight used alloy to the fresh Cobalt-Chromium alloy on the castability. METHODS: In the present in-vitro experimental study A total of 20 specimens were cast by flame centrifuge, using modified Whitlock's method. The total sample size was divided into four groups of five specimens each. Group 1 was the control group with 100% fresh alloy cast once. In group 2, 3 and 4, a 50% by weight cut off of previous castings were mixed to the fresh alloy. The reused alloy for the group 2 and 3 was further aged or exposed to flame casting separately. The number of completely cast segments were counted and castability value was calculated according to the Whitlock's formula. RESULTS: There was no significant difference of castability value among the entire tested group (p=0.085). CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of the present study, it is recommended that commercial Co-Cr-Mo alloy can be re-used six times without affecting its castability, when 50% fresh alloy is added on each re-use.

Cadmium phytoremediation by Arundo donax L. from contaminated soil and water.

The potential of Arundo donax L. for phytoextraction of cadmium (Cd) from contaminated soil and water was probed. The plants were grown under greenhouse conditions in pots containing a nutrient solution or soil with increasing doses of Cd (0, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 µg L(-1)) for 21 days. The growth and physiology of plants were evaluated at the end of the experiment. The maximum Cd content in root was 300 µg g(-1) during hydroponics experiments over 230 µg g(-1) in soil experiment. Cd concentration in stem was 262 µg g(-1) at 750 µg L(-1) supplied Cd in hydroponics over 191.2 µg g(-1) at 1000 in soil experiment. The maximum Cd concentration in leaves from hydroponics was 187 µg g(-1). Relatively low Cd uptake occurred during soil experiment with low translocation factor (TF) values. Both Bioaccumulation Factor (BF) and TF values for hydroponics were greater than 1. The IC50 values of ABTS and DPPH showed that both time and increasing Cd concentrations affected the production of antioxidants with lower half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value on the 21st days. A. donax showed better potential for Cd remediation of aquatic environments.

Effect of Pb toxicity on the growth and physiology of two ecotypes of Elsholtzia argyi and its alleviation by Zn.

Hydroponics experiments were conducted to underpin the nature of interactions between Zn, an essential micronutrient and Pb, a nonessential element on plant growth and root morphology, as well as antioxidant adaptation in mined ecotype (ME) and nonmined ecotype (NME) of Elsholtzia argyi. Plants were exposed to 50 µM Pb having normal Zn (0.5 µM), and two other treatments of the same Pb with low (0.05 µM) and high (20 µM) Zn, respectively for 12 days. Application of Pb with normal Zn caused adverse effects on the overall growth and antioxidant capacity of both ecotypes, however; effects were more pronounced in NME. The addition of high Zn along with Pb improved the growth and antioxidant capacity of both the ecotypes, while low Zn failed to show significant changes in NME plants; however slightly aggravated the Pb toxicity in the plants of ME. Zinc antagonized Pb concentrations in root and stem of both ecotypes and leaf of ME, while no significant differences were noted in Pb concentrations of NME leaf. It is suggested that in E. argyi, mechanisms of Pb and Zn uptake and translocation as well as their interactions within the plant cell may be different for both ecotypes and need to be further investigated.

Monitoring results for organochlorine pesticides in soil and water from selected obsolete pesticide stores in Pakistan.

This study reports on the concentration and distribution pattern of organochlorine pesticides in soil and water samples collected from obsolete pesticide stores in three provinces of Pakistan and analyzed on capillary gas chromatography/electron capture detection. The data for soil and water samples were highly variable as samplings were done from diversified locations. The soil samples mainly contained DDTs followed by lindane and heptachlor. The contamination levels in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab, and Sindh were in ranges of 247-9,157 mg kg(-1), 214-10,892 mg kg(-1), and 86-1,139 mg kg(-1), respectively. In water, residue range levels were 0-15.17 (median 0.29) microg L(-1), 0.25-0.78 (median 0.36) microg L(-1), and 0.11-0.83 (median 0.21) microg L(-1) in NWFP, Punjab, and Sindh, respectively.

Influence of outliers on QTL mapping for complex traits.

A method was proposed for the detection of outliers and influential observations in the framework of a mixed linear model, prior to the quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping analysis. We investigated the impact of outliers on QTL mapping for complex traits in a mouse BXD population, and observed that the dropping of outliers could provide the evidence of additional QTL and epistatic loci affecting the 1stBrain-OB and the 2ndBrain-OB in a cross of the abovementioned population. The results could also reveal a remarkable increase in estimating heritabilities of QTL in the absence of outliers. In addition, simulations were conducted to investigate the detection powers and false discovery rates (FDRs) of QTLs in the presence and absence of outliers. The results suggested that the presence of a small proportion of outliers could increase the FDR and hence decrease the detection power of QTLs. A drastic increase could be obtained in the estimates of standard errors for position, additive and additivex environment interaction effects of QTLs in the presence of outliers.

Effect of pH on anoxic sulfide oxidizing reactor performance.

The effects of pH on the performance of anoxic sulfide oxidizing (ASO) reactor were evaluated. Performance was investigated under various operational conditions at influent pH range of 4-11. At the influent pH of 7-7.5 during loading tests and HRT tests, the sulfide oxidation was partial. In general, the amount of sulfate formed decreased with the increasing sulfide and nitrite loadings. The bacterial communities in ASO reactors were more sensitive to acidic pH compared with alkaline pH, as nitrite and sulfide removal rates dropped significantly when exposed to acidic pH 3. High dissolved bisulfide ions, nitrite and excess of sulfate (>300 mg/L) might have inhibited the sulfide oxidation under highly acidic and alkaline conditions in the ASO reactor. Based on sulfide and nitrite removal efficiencies, the ASO reactor can be operated in a wide range of pH, i.e. 5-11.

Genetic analysis for brix weight per stool and its component traits in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum).

Brix weight per stool (BW) of sugarcane is a complex trait, which is the final product of a combination of many components. Diallel cross experiments were conducted during a period of two years for BW and its five component traits, including stalk diameter (SD), stalk length (SL), stalk number (SN), stalk weight (SW), and brix scale (BS) of sugarcane. Phenotypic data of all the six traits were analyzed by mixed linear model and their phenotype variances were portioned into additive (A), dominance (D), additive x environment interaction (AE) and dominance x environment interaction (DE) effects, and the correlations of A, D, AE and DE effects between BW and its components were estimated. Conditional analysis was employed to investigate the contribution of the components traits to the variances of A, D, AE and DE effects of BW. It was observed that the heritabilities of BW were significantly attributed to A, D and DE by 23.9%, 30.9% and 28.5%, respectively. The variance of A effect for BW was significantly affected by SL, SN and BS by 25.3%, 93.7% and 17.4%, respectively. The variances of D and DE effects for BW were also significantly influenced by all the five components by 5.1%(85.5%. These determinants might be helpful in sugarcane breeding and provide valuable information for multiple-trait improvement of BW.

Prediction of anoxic sulfide biooxidation under various HRTs using artificial neural networks / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>During present investigation the data of a laboratory-scale anoxic sulfide oxidizing (ASO) reactor were used in a neural network system to predict its performance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Five uncorrelated components of the influent wastewater were used as the artificial neural network model input to predict the output of the effluent using back-propagation and general regression algorithms. The best prediction performance is achieved when the data are preprocessed using principal components analysis (PCA) before they are fed to a back propagated neural network.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Within the range of experimental conditions tested, it was concluded that the ANN model gave predictable results for nitrite removal from wastewater through ASO process. The model did not predict the formation of sulfate to an acceptable manner.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Apart from experimentation, ANN model can help to simulate the results of such experiments in finding the best optimal choice for ASObased denitrification. Together with wastewater collection and the use of improved treatment systems and new technologies, better control of wastewater treatment plant (WTP) can lead to more effective maneuvers by its operators and, as a consequence, better effluent quality.</p>

Anatomical studies on water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) under the influence of textile wastewater.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) is a prolific free floating aquatic macrohpyte found in tropical and subtropical parts of the earth. The effects of pollutants from textile wastewater on the anatomy of the plant were studied. Water hyacinth exhibits hydrophytic adaptations which include reduced epidermis cells lacking cuticle in most cases, presence of large air spaces (7 approximately 50 microm), reduced vascular tissue and absorbing structures. Textile waste significantly affected the size of root cells. The presence of raphide crystals was noted in parenchyma cells of various organs in treated plants.