Protecting tropical forests from the rapid expansion of rubber using carbon payments

Expansion of Hevea brasiliensis rubber plantations is a resurgent driver of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian rubber extent is massive, equivalent to 67% of oil palm, with rapid further expansion predicted. Results-based carbon finance could dis-incentivise forest conversion to rubber, but efficacy will be limited unless payments match, or at least approach, the costs of avoided deforestation. These include opportunity costs (timber and rubber profits), plus carbon finance scheme setup (transaction) and implementation costs. Using comprehensive Cambodian forest data, exploring scenarios of selective logging and conversion, and assuming land-use choice is based on net present value, we find that carbon prices of $30-$51 per tCO2are needed to break even against costs, higher than those currently paid on carbon markets or through carbon funds. To defend forests from rubber, either carbon prices must be increased, or other strategies are needed, such as corporate zero-deforestation pledges, and governmental regulation and enforcement of forest protection

Green synthesis of tin oxide based nanoparticles using Terminalia bellirica seed extract: impact of operating temperature and antimony dopant on sensitivity for carbon dioxide gas sensing application

Green synthesis of undoped tin oxide (SnO2) and 2 wt% antimony doped tin oxide (Sb:SnO2) for carbon dioxide (CO2) gas sensing application is reported. The structural, morphological and optical properties of nanoparticles were investigated using XRD, SEM, EDX, HRTEM, FTIR and UV-Vis characterisation techniques. CO2 gas sensing studies were carried out by using calibration setup on pellets of nanoparticles. From XRD, SEM and HRTEM analysis, the average size of Sb:SnO2 nanoparticles were found decreased than the SnO2 nanoparticles. EDX analysis indicated the presence of tin, antimony and oxygen elements in the structure of nanoparticles. The presence of functional groups responsible for the formation of nanoparticles was identified by FTIR spectra. Bandgap of SnO2 and Sb:SnO2 nanoparticles was found to be 3.67 eV and 3.47 eV respectively. The sensitivity of SnO2 and Sb:SnO2 nanoparticles at the optimized operating temperature was found as 18.32% and 35% at 1000 ppm CO2 gas concentration

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Not AvailableBabesia vogeli infection is an important tick-borne haemoprotozoan disease of canids. The study was carried out to understand the prevalence and molecular phylogeny of B. vogeli in pet dogs. A total of 128 blood samples were collected during study period. The microscopy based prevalence of 7.81% was recorded for large form of Babesia spp. We developed and standardized heat shock protein (hsp) 70 genebased PCR assay with high analytical sensitivity and specificity tested with B. gibsoni, H. canis and D. repens. The PCR assay on all the blood samples revealed higher prevalence rate of 25% of B. vogeli infection. The correlation analysis for age, breed, sex and presence of ticks on animal body did not reveal significant association with B. vogeliinfection, and among the clinical factors, only pale mucus membrane was significantly associated with presence of infection. The sequence analysis revealed 99.8–99.9% identity among themselves and 99.8–100% similarity with the published sequences of B. vogeli. Phylogenetically, all the Indian isolates clustered together with Japan and Taiwan isolates, indicating genetically similar species circulation in Asian content. In conclusion, in addition to clinical and microscopic examination, the PCR assay is recommended for confirmatory diagnosis of B. vogeli infection as genetically similar species are circulating in dogs.Not Availabl

Cytotoxicity based screening for radioprotective properties of methanolic extract of Tragia involucrata L. on cultured human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to gamma radiation

469-477Radioprotective drugs of plant origin with bioactives are a boon against ionizing radiation injuries. Tragia involucrata L. (Indian stinging nettle), has medicinal properties and is traditionally used to treat various ailments. Here, we evaluated the radioprotective efficacy of the methanolic whole plant extract of T. involucrata against the damaging effects of gamma radiation. Cultured lymphocytes were treated with methanolic extract for one hour and irradiated with (1-4 Gy) gamma radiation. This pretreatment of lymphocytes with methanolic extract significantly increased the cell viability at 10 μg/mL and reduced the damage to the treated cells compared to the radiation control. In addition, a significant decrease in comet parameters (Comet length and percent DNA in tail and olive moment) and formation of micronuclei (P P Tragia involucrata L. has been proposed as a candidate with a radioprotective property, and further study on animal models would strengthen this claim

RRI-GBT MULTI-BAND RECEIVER: MOTIVATION, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT

We report the design and development of a self-contained multi-band receiver (MBR) system, intended for use with a single large aperture to facilitate sensitive and high time-resolution observations simultaneously in 10 discrete frequency bands sampling a wide spectral span (100-1500 MHz) in a nearly log-periodic fashion. The development of this system was primarily motivated by need for tomographic studies of pulsar polar emission regions. Although the system design is optimized for the primary goal, it is also suited for several other interesting astronomical investigations. The system consists of a dual-polarization multi-band feed (with discrete responses corresponding to the 10 bands pre-selected as relatively radio frequency interference free), a common wide-band radio frequency front-end, and independent back-end receiver chains for the 10 individual sub-bands. The raw voltage time sequences corresponding to 16 MHz bandwidth each for the two linear polarization channels and the 10 bands are recorded at the Nyquist rate simultaneously. We present the preliminary results from the tests and pulsar observations carried out with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope using this receiver. The system performance implied by these results and possible improvements are also briefly discussed