Sugarcane for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production under Ambient Environment

Sugarcane is a food-cum-cash-cum-industrial crop with high varietals resistance, anti-erosive and thus helps preserve biodiversity in tropical and subtropical zones. Sustaining sugar requirement as a source of food for an ever-growing world population in the changing ambient environment due to gradual depletion of natural resources, pollution, rising costs, low productivity and expansion of urban communities are some of the major challenges in the present century. Sugarcane and sugar productivity per se in many developing countries as well as Bangladesh, where sugarcane is growing, however, productivity is still remained far below than potential due to multiple abiotic environmental factors and socio-economic reasons. Due to high demand of cereals and vegetable crops sugarcane is being pushed to stresses (water-logging, flood, drought and salinity) prone marginal lands. Sugarcane as a long duration high in-put crop is facing enormous challenges and ardently waiting for productivity boost which is only possible through introduction of modern biotechnologies in its production-processing–diversification system. Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute developed stresses (water-logging, flood, drought and salinity) tolerant high yielding varieties of sugarcane and production technologies especially intercropping for sustainable production under ambient environment in particular agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions of resource poor farmers. Technologies for ancillary crops (Date-palm, Palmyra-palm, Palm-leaves, Stevia), jaggery (locally known as gur) and mushroom production on sugarcane bagasse as functional food have been developed as well as sugar beet adaptation is being trying to sustain sugarcane and sugar production. Sugarcane and sugar producing genetic resources are also being conserved. The aim of this paper is to attempt to present the potential of sugarcane for sustainable agriculture and food production as regards the environment as well as to discuss current status of sugarcane and sugar production as food given emphasis in Bangladesh.OtherShinshu University International Symposium 2010 : Sustainable Agriculture and Environment : Asian Networks II 　信州大学国際シンポジウム2010 : 持続的農業と環境 : アジアネットワークII ― アジアネットワークの発展をめざして―. 信州大学農学部, 2010, 85-91conference pape

Transformational Marketing: Linking Marketing and Sustainability

Current marketing practices promote goods and services irrespective as to what their impacts on the environment and human society are. As this often has serious negative ecological and social consequences, change in practices and better education are required. The paper argues for the need for transformational marketing which links marketing with sustainability values in order to contribute towards mitigating or reversing the environmental and other harm caused by humans because of their poor consumption choices. Such new sustainability approach to marketing would allow to: (1) change the way marketing is perceived; (2) improve its role within society and (3) emphasize the long-term responsibility of business and consumers in relation to the marketed products, services or activities. Incorporating sustainability into education for marketing would inspire marketers to develop a new business ethics that puts global human and ecological values ahead of short-term business profits. Most importantly, such ethics would build the foundations of trust and respect allowing marketing to support only moral and responsible businesses, the benefits from which would be long-term and to broader society

Analysis of the Major Gravity and Magnetic Anomalies Centred About Bathgate, Central Scotland

A Bouguer anomaly map and an aeromagnetic map (Map 1 and 5) are presented for the central part of the Midland Valley of Scotland as a basis for a combined interpretation of a prominent anomaly centred near Bathgate. The gravity data are compiled from surveys carried out by I. G. S., Cotton, Qureshi, and Bullerwell and Phemister. The aeromagnetic map is part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sheet 11 (scale 1:250,000) published by I. G. S. On the basis of qualitative analysis and geological argument, two limiting case models for the main anomaly are proposed for qualitative investigation. Model 1 consists of Carboniferous lavas in continuity with an intrusion of identical geophysical properties as the magnetic source. Model 2, however, attributes the whole magnetic anomaly, after some smoothing by upward continuation, to a deep intrusion. The Bouguer anomaly Map is corrected for the effect of known basins of Carboniferous sediments above the lavas filling the basins with material of Lower Old Red Sandstone density. The principal remaining components of the gravity field are considered by combining the pseudogravity anomalies, calculated from magnetic anomalies and scaled to +10 mgal for two density contrasts (+0.11 g/cm3 for shallow model and +0.45 g/cm for deeper model), with the regional gravity anomaly, projected from Western Midland Valley of Scotland. This is done after adjusting for a base level shift of 15 mgal which may arise from a NE regional gradient and/or a component of the gravity effect of the Lower Old Red Sandstone basin. The density contrasts which must be used for Model 1 and 2 suggest that the rocks are basic if the model is shallow and ultra-basic if the source is deeper

Grassroots Cultural Policy for Water Management in Bangladesh

Rural Bangladesh's livelihood depends on water and the existing grassroots policy framework for sustainable water management (conservation and consumption) reflects a cultural unity within a country which is culturally very diverse. Extra-abundance or shortage of water supply is generally viewed as natural; however, prolonged or human caused water deficiency is treated as the retaliation of nature against anthropogenic transgression, which is often attributed to an act of climate change. The mostly uneducated rural people of multi-cultural Bangladesh live a simple lifestyle promoted by the country's inspiring Baul tradition, including water management. The Bauls religiously promote water conservation and are devoted to enhancing public understanding of the role of water. Spirituality can be the basis for sound water management as traditionally prevalent in rural Bangladesh's self-reliant lifestyle. Western culture and development treat water as an economic resource and commodity. Irreverence or ignorance of water related spirituality by modern societies is the fundamental reason for scarcity, pollution, over-extraction, mal-utilisation and aggressive politics of water. Values-driven water management is emphasised as the sustainability breakthrough and an essential requirement for proper development. Based on the Bangladeshi experience, the paper argues for a spirituality oriented educational policy to inform sustainable water management

Poverty Alleviation — A Push Towards Unsustainability in Bangladesh?

Social, economic, educational and infrastructure development programs in Bangladesh, including national and international aid and grants, focus on the agenda of ‘poverty alleviation’. However, they are not performing well as social and environmental degradation is on the increase. The paper analyses the reasons for the failure of development programs from a sustainability point of view. Some explanations are provided through the views of Bangladeshi rural activists, including Baul philosophers. They cover: (1) exclusion of poor people from participation in development programs, especially in natural resource management; and (2) widespread corruption accompanying foreign aid. ’Moderate poverty’ is seen in Bangladeshi culture as acceptable given the country’s conditions. It actually promotes a more sustainable way of living. ‘Poverty’ should be seen as culturally embedded and within the context of population growth and sustainable consumerism. ‘Poverty alleviation’ as promoted in development projects in Bangladesh is neither possible nor desirable, as it is not coupled with the means to achieve sustainability. The paper makes recommendations how to overcome poverty, using local knowledge and developmental wisdom. The outlined approaches relate to sustainability education, self-reliance and pro-sustainable ways of living

Characterizing natural fractures productivity in tight gas Reservoirs

Tight formations normally have production problems mainly due to very low matrix permeability and various forms of formation damage that occur during drilling completion and production operation. In naturally fractured tight gas reservoirs, gas is mainly stored in the rock matrix with very low permeability, and the natural fractures have the main contribution on total gas production. Therefore, identifying natural fractures characteristics in the tight formations is essential for well productivity evaluations. Well testing and logging are the common tools employed to evaluate well productivity. Use of image log can provide fracture static parameters, and welltest analysis can provide data related to reservoir dynamic parameters. However, due to the low matrix permeability and complexity of the formation in naturally fractured tight gas reservoirs, welltest data are affected by long wellbore storage effect that masks the reservoir response to pressure change, and it may fail to provide dual-porosity dual-permeability models dynamic characteristics such as fracture permeability, fracture storativity ratio and interporosity flow coefficient.Therefore, application of welltest and image log data in naturally fractured tight gas reservoirs for meaningful results may not be well understood and the data may be difficult to interpret. This paper presents the estimation of fracture permeability in naturally fractured tight gas formations, by integration of welltest analysis results and image log data based on Kazemi’s simplified model. Reservoir simulation of dual-porosity and dual-permeability systems and sensitivity analysis are performed for different matrix and fracture parameters to understand the relationship between natural fractures parameters with welltest permeability. The simulation results confirmed reliability of the proposed correlation for fracture permeability estimation. A field example is also shown to demonstrate application of welltest analysis and image log data processing results in estimating average permeability of natural fractures for the tight gas reservoir

Synthesis of genkwanin

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How can stories in primary education supports sustainable development in Bangladesh?

Stories are considered to be the most popular form of lore, which can facilitate the moral and ethical deliberation of sustainability for our children. It is evident that children respond better to stories than any other form of communication. Once the stories end, the lessons remain. The values tangled with the lesson transmit as they grow. Stories have always been instrumental and the most conventional way of teaching values by using illustrations from our lives. The major aim of this paper is to explore the values expressed in Bengali childlore through stories and tales and develop a framework by using a scaffolding and mapping approach. This framework attempts to analyse two commonly recognised stories, namely “Shukhu and Dukhu” and “Jackal, The Judge”, by scaffolding them with the generally acknowledged principles of sustainability and mapping them to investigate how stories can influence children to build a pro-sustainability attitude. This approach has been chosen, as recent research already points out the issues in implementing sustainability in education, but no one has yet found the way forward. The premise at the core of this theoretical article is that an interdisciplinary approach and different pedagogical tools could help build the bridge towards implementing sustainability in education as well as in society

New prenylated flavonoids from the leaves of Dodonea viscosa native to the Sultanate of Oman

AbstractTraditionally, in Oman, the whole plant is used to treat the body, including treatment of anaemia, arthritis and skin inflammation. Crude extracts were prepared from the leaves of Dodonea viscosa (D. viscosa) using different polarities of solvents to isolate flavonoid compounds from the highest activity crude extract of the selected plant species collected from AL-Jabal AL Akhdar, Nizwa. The plant samples were collected, processed and extracted with methanol using a hot extraction method. The prepared crude extract was dissolved in water and successively fractioned with different polarities of solvents to produce hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water crude extracts. The chloroform crude extract was used for the isolation of flavonoid compounds by thin layer chromatography, column chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography. The free radical scavenging activity of the isolated pure compound and the different polarities of crude extracts were determined using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl method.The highest antioxidant activity in crude extracts from the leaves of D. viscosa was in the hexane and chloroform crude extracts, and the lowest activity was in the water crude extract, followed by hexane > chloroform > ethyl acetate > methanol > butanol > water crude extracts. One new prenylated flavonoid along with one known compound were isolated from the chloroform crude extract of D. viscosa and were identified by their chemical structures using mass spectrometry, one and two dimension nuclear magnetic resonance. The isolated pure compound also showed significant antioxidant activity against DPPH. This is the first report of antioxidant compounds in the leaves of D. viscosa. The results obtained from this study might be a good natural antioxidant from the selected plant crude extracts

Effect of zinc and manganese supplementation to tricalcium phosphate rich diet for tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes)

Effects of zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) supplementation to a tricalcium phosphate (TCP) rich diet for tiger puffer have been investigated. A TCP supplement to the diet decreased the growth of fish compared to the control diet with a Ca supplementation from Ca-lactate. However, addition of either Zn or Mn to the TCP supplemented diet could not improve the growth of tiger puffer. Addition of both zinc and manganese to the TCP supplemented diet improved the growth of tiger puffer