Can payments for ecosystem services contribute tosustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon?

The Brazilian Amazon supplies the world with several forests ecosystem services, many of which are essential to sustain human life on earth. Nevertheless, the Amazon is threatened by deforestation and degradation implying in reductions on the provision of these. According to economic theory, as ecosystem services are positive externalities and public goods, agents do not take into consideration the costs and benefits of their consumption and production of ecosystem services into their economic decisions. To address this problem payment for ecosystem services – PES – emerged, aiming to provide a source of income to the poor people living in forest areas, stimulating them not to deforest, and making agents who are indebted with the nature pay for their overconsumption of ecosystem services. There is still controversy about possible impacts of the instrument. This article accesses the potentials of PES to contribute to sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon using the three goals related to sustainable development proposed by the ecological economics theory: efficient allocation, fair distribution, and sustainable scale. The study shows that PES as a pure market approach is unlikely to solve neither the scale nor the distribution problems. Therefore, for PES to achieve sustainable development, markets for ecosystem services should first be constrained by a maximum sustainable scale. Then, measures should ensure fair distribution in second place. Only after these questions have been tackled, it is desirable that agents interact in the ecosystem services markets to lead to an efficient allocation of resources.Przemysław Szmi

Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence to Determine the Effectiveness of Wastewater Treatment Plants in the Removal of Natural and Synthetic Estrogens

The presence of hormones in the environment is becoming an increasingly popular topic in environmental and analytical chemistry. This research aims to develop a method to quantify the amount of two types of hormones in wastewater treatment plant effluents. The two hormones analyzed are 17β-estradiol (E2), a naturally produced hormone, and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a synthetic hormone commonly found in oral contraceptives. It has been hypothesized that synthetic hormones are significantly harder for wastewater treatment plants to remove, and the final goal of this research is to be able to test samples to determine the effectiveness of the wastewater treatment plants. The research thus far has focused on method development using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence and standard E2 and EE2 solutions. This report shows the work completed when trouble-shooting the fluorimeter and developing the method

Characterization of Active Compounds Produced in the Biotransformation of Metabolites in Kombucha Tea

Kombucha is a fermented black tea that has been hypothesized to provide many health benefits. The exact origin of these benefits, however, is continually being investigated. This study aims to identify the various active compound produced in the biotransformation of the metabolites during the fermentation process of the tea beverage, as well as quantify functions such as antioxidant capacity. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquid-liquid extractions were performed on a filtered sample of GT’s Organic Raw Kombucha® using acetonitrile and ethyl acetate. Ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were run on both the Kombucha tea and the extracts to determine their antioxidant capacity. The Kombucha tea, acetonitrile extract, and ethyl acetate extract were found to have FRAP values of 146.9, 102.7, and 71.04, respectively. The high retention of FRAP in the acetonitrile extract gives evidence that a polar hydrophobic molecule is functioning as an antioxidant in the Kombucha tea. Antioxidant capacity was further tracked using a variety of chromatographic techniques including the use of silica gel and C-18 functionalized silica flash chromatographies, as well as reverse-phase C-18 HPLC. These studies aim to further purify and characterize the compounds responsible for antioxidant capacity

Tool supported risk modeling and analysis of evolving critical infrastructures

Part 2: Workshop; International audience; Risk management is coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk, and includes the identification, analysis and mitigation of unacceptable risks. For critical infrastructures consisting of interdependent systems, risk analysis and mitigation is challenging because the overall risk picture can be strongly affected by changes in only a few of the systems. In order to continuously manage risks and maintain an adequate level of protection, there is a need to continuously maintain the validity of risk models while systems change and evolve. This paper presents a risk analysis tool that supports the modeling and analysis of changing and evolving risks. The tool supports the traceability of system changes to risk models, as well as the explicit modeling of the impact on the risk picture. The tool, as well as the underlying risk analysis method, is exemplified and validated in the domain of air traffic management. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo

A Combined Approach for Detection of Ovine Small Ruminant Retrovirus Co-Infections

Jaagsiekte retrovirus (JSRV)-induced ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is an important ovine respiratory disease in Switzerland. Furthermore, ovine lungs with OPA frequently exhibited lesions suggestive of maedi-visna virus (MVV) or caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) infection, indicating that co-morbidities might occur. Lungs and pulmonary lymph nodes were sampled from suspected OPA cases, inflammatory lung lesions and control lungs (total of 110 cases). Tissues were (a) processed for histology and immunohistochemistry (IHC), and (b) underwent DNA extraction and real-time PCR for JSRV, MVV and CAEV. Peptide sequences were used to generate virus-specific customized polyclonal antibodies. PCR-positive OPA cases and formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded MVV- and CAEV-infected synovial cell pellets served as positive controls. Fifty-two lungs were histologically diagnosed with OPA. Histological evidence of MVV/CAEV infection was detected in 25 lungs. JSRV was detected by PCR in 84% of the suspected OPA cases; six were co-infected with MVV and one with CAEV. MVV was detected by PCR in 14 cases, and four lungs were positive for CAEV. Three lungs had MVV/CAEV co-infection. In IHC, JSRV was detected in 91% of the PCR-positive cases, whereas MVV and CAEV immunoreactivity was seen in all PCR-positive lungs. Although PCR showed a higher sensitivity compared to IHC, the combined approach allows for investigations on viral cell tropism and pathogenic processes in co-morbidities, including their potential interdependency. Furthermore, an immunohistochemical tool for specific differentiation of MVV and/or CAEV infection was implemented

Effekt av halmbehandling og jordarbeiding på dekningsgrad av halmen og på avling

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