Strategies for successful field deployment in a resource-poor region: Arsenic remediation technology for drinking water

Strong long-term international partnership in science, technology, finance and policy is critical for sustainable field experiments leading to successful commercial deployment of novel technology at community-scale. Although technologies already exist that can remediate arsenic in groundwater, most are too expensive or too complicated to operate on a sustained basis in resource-poor communities with the low technical skill common in rural South Asia. To address this specific problem, researchers at University of California-Berkeley (UCB) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) invented a technology in 2006 called electrochemical arsenic remediation (ECAR). Since 2010, researchers at UCB and LBNL have collaborated with Global Change Program of Jadavpur University (GCP-JU) in West Bengal, India for its social embedding alongside a local private industry group, and with financial support from the Indo-US Technology Forum (IUSSTF) over 2012–2017. During the first 10 months of pilot plant operation (April 2016 to January 2017) a total of 540 m3 (540,000 L) of arsenic-safe water was produced, consistently and reliably reducing arsenic concentrations from initial 252 ± 29 to final 2.9 ± 1 parts per billion (ppb). This paper presents the critical strategies in taking a technology from a lab in the USA to the field in India for commercialization to address the technical, socio-economic, and political aspects of the arsenic public health crisis while targeting several sustainable development goals (SDGs). The lessons learned highlight the significance of designing a technology contextually, bridging the knowledge divide, supporting local livelihoods, and complying with local regulations within a defined Critical Effort Zone period with financial support from an insightful funding source focused on maturing inventions and turning them into novel technologies for commercial scale-up. Along the way, building trust with the community through repetitive direct interactions, and communication by the scientists, proved vital for bridging the technology-society gap at a critical stage of technology deployment. The information presented here fills a knowledge gap regarding successful case studies in which the arsenic remediation technology obtains social acceptance and sustains technical performance over time, while operating with financial viability

Distribution pattern and heavy metal accumulation in lichens of Bangalore city with special reference to Lalbagh garden

Occurrence of 30 species of lichens belonging to 19 genera and 15 families in 12 localities of Bangalore city is reported. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus and Lalbagh garden record the maximum number of 24 and 18 species of lichens respectively, which can be directly attributed to the presence of a variety of trees in the area providing diverse substrate for lichen growth. Heavy-metal accumulation in few prominent lichens of some localities is also analysed. Cr and Pb were maximum in Chrysothrix candelaris (L.) Laundon, at AMCO Batteries area with 95.29 and 623.95 μg g-1 dry wt. respectively. Fe and Cu were maximum in Bulbothrix isidiza (Nyl.) Hale and Pyxine petricola Nyl. at IISc campus with 22721 and 338.12 μg g-1 dry wt. respectively, while Lecanora perplexa Brodo at Lalbagh garden has 531.5 μg g-1 dry wt. of Zn. The lichen flora of Lalbagh garden is compared to an earlier enumeration. It is interesting to note that in the last 18 years lichen flora of the area has changed significantly, as only four species were common between the two studies. The fast pace of urbanization together with air pollution may probably be the reason for the change in lichen flora of this area. The present number, type of lichen and the level of metals accumulated will be a record for conducting future biomonitoring studies in this fastest-growing city of India

On the maximum cloud zone and the ITCZ over Indian, longitudes during the southwest monsoon

An investigation is presented of the daily variation of the maximum cloud zone (MCZ) and the 7W mb trough in the Northern Hemisphere over the Indian longitudes 70-90°E during April-October for 1973-77. It is found that during June-September there are two favorable locations for a MCZ over these longitudes-on a majority of days the MCZ is present in the monsoon zone north of 15°N, and often a secondary MCZ occurs in the equatorial region (0-10°N). The monsoon MCZ gets established by northward movement of the MCZ occurring over the equatorial Indian ocean in April and May. The secondary MCZ appears intermittently, and is characterized by long spells of persistence only when the monsoon MCZ is absent. In each of the seasons studied, the MCZ temporarily disappeared from the mean summer monsoon location (15-28°N) about four weeks after it was established near the beginning of July. It is reestablished by the northward movement of the secondary MCZ, which becomes active during the absence of the monsoon MCZ, in a manner strikingly similar to that observed in the spring to summer transition. A break in monsoon conditions prevails just prior to the temporary disappearance of the monsoon MCZ. Thus we conclude that the monsoon MCZ cannot survive for longer than a month without reestablishment by the secondary MCZ. Possible underlying mechanisms are also discussed

Bragg Gratings in Crystalline Waveguides Fabricated by Focused Ion Beam Milling

Results of an optimization study of deeply-etched Bragg gratings in KY(WO4)2:Yb3+ to obtain photonic cavity structures are reported. By optimizing parameters such as dose per area, dwell time and pixel resolution the redeposition effects are minimized and 4.3um-deep gratings are achieved

Sacred groves

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Closing the sea surface mixed layer temperature budget from in situ observations alone: Operation Advection during BoBBLE

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a fundamental driver of tropical weather systems such as monsoon rainfall and tropical cyclones. However, understanding of the factors that control SST variability is lacking, especially during the monsoons when in situ observations are sparse. Here we use a ground-breaking observational approach to determine the controls on the SST variability in the southern Bay of Bengal. We achieve this through the first full closure of the ocean mixed layer energy budget derived entirely from in situ observations during the Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment (BoBBLE). Locally measured horizontal advection and entrainment contribute more significantly than expected to SST evolution and thus oceanic variability during the observation period. These processes are poorly resolved by state-of-the-art climate models, which may contribute to poor representation of monsoon rainfall variability. The novel techniques presented here provide a blueprint for future observational experiments to quantify the mixed layer heat budget on longer time scales and to evaluate these processes in models

Northeast Indian stalagmite records Pacific decadal climate change: Implications for moisture transport and drought in India

This is the final version. It is currently under embargo. It was first published by Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063826/full.Two types of El Niño events are distinguished by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies centered in the central or eastern equatorial Pacific. The Central Pacific El Niño events (CP-El Niño) are more highly correlated with weakening of the central Indian Summer Monsoon and linked to decadal Pacific climate variability. We present a 50 year, subannually resolved speleothem δ18O record from northeast India that exhibits a significant correlation with northern Pacific decadal variability and central equatorial Pacific SSTs. Accordingly, we suggest that δ18O time series in similar northeast Indian speleothems are effective tools for investigating preinstrumental changes in Pacific climate, including changes in El Niño dynamics. In contrast to central India, rainfall amounts in northeast India are relatively unaffected by El Niño. However, back trajectory analysis indicates that during CP-El Niño events moisture transport distance to northeast India is reduced, suggesting that variations in moisture transport primarily control δ18O in the region.This work was supported through the BanglaPIRE project (NSF OISE-0968354), an award from the Vanderbilt International Office to JLO and SFMB, and awards from the Cave Research Foundation and the Geological Society of America to CGM. SFMB received financial support from the Schweizer National Fond (SNF), Sinergia grant CRSI22 132646/1