Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic aspects of Acid rain'

Precipitation over the eastern United States has been increasing in acidity, particularly within the last three decades. The average annual pH of rain in this area is about 4.2. The foliar surface, or phylloplane, of soybean can be damaged by rain acidified to pH 2.9. Simulated acidic precipitation has an overall inhibitory influence on soil microbial processes. The effect acidic precipitation may have on epiphytic microorganisms has not been examined. Bacteria are among the most numerous residents on the phylloplane.

Master of Science

CAPES
A escassez, deterioração da qualidade dos mananciais e o aumento da demanda por água tem sido problema global. Diante desses problemas o uso de fontes alternativas é citado como solução, com destaque para o aproveitamento de água da chuva. Em alguns locais, a água da chuva escoada de telhados tem sido utilizada para fins potáveis e não potáveis e a água da chuva in natura tem qualidade superior ao de águas superficiais e subterrâneas. Embora a água da chuva tenha qualidade físico-química dentro dos padrões de potabilidade, é necessário melhorar sua qualidade para utilizá-la. Assim neste trabalho é avaliado o tratamento da água da chuva por filtro ascendente (volume de 35,4 L) com meio suporte de 0,50 m de seixo rolado e camada filtrante composta de 0,15m de brita, 0,25 m de areia e 0,55 m de carvão ativado e desinfecção por radiação UV. Para melhorar a qualidade da água antes de chegar ao filtro foi instalado um dispositivo de primeiro descarte com volume de 41,4 L. A avaliação do tratamento foi realizada através da análise dos parâmetros pH, temperatura, cor, oxigênio dissolvido, turbidez, amônia, nitrito, nitrato, fosfato, sulfato, DQO e coliformes. Os valores médios obtidos para os parâmetros físico-químicos da água após o tratamento foram de 6,7 para o pH, 22,3 °C para a temperatura, 12,5 UPC para cor, 6,7 mg/L para OD, 0,5 UNT para turbidez, 0,2 mg/L para amônia, 0,01 mg/L para nitrito, 1,7 mg/L para nitrato, 0,2 mg/L para fosfato, 0,7 mg/L para sulfato e 1,3 mg/L para DQO. O tratamento proposto obteve resultados de eficiência para remoção de cor de 22,4%, turbidez de 28,6%, amônia de 50,0%, nitrito de 23,1%, nitrato de 37,0%, fosfato de 95,1% sulfato de 41,7% e DQO de 66,7% e reduziu o numero de microrganismos para um valor menor que o limite detectável do método de análise. Todos os valores médios obtidos para os parâmetros físico-químicos atendem aos padrões exigidos pela portaria 2914/2011 do Ministério da Saúde para água potável.
The scarcity, quality deterioration of water sources and increasing demand for water has been global problem. Faced with these problems the use of alternative sources is cited as a solution, especially taking advantage of rainwater. In some places, rainwater drained roofs have been used for potable and non-potable purposes and rainwater in nature has superior quality to the surface water and groundwater. Although rainwater has physicochemical quality within the potability standards, it is necessary to improve their quality to use it. Thus this work is evaluated treatment of rainwater by upflow filter (35,4 L volume) with support means of 0,50 m of Boulder and filter layer of 0,15 m of crushed stone, 0,25 m of sand and 0,55 m of activated carbon and UV disinfection. To enhance the water quality before reaching the filter was installed a first-flush device with volume of 41,4 L. The characterization of the water before and after treatment was performed through analysis of parameters pH, temperature, color, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, COD and coliforms. The mean values obtained for the physicochemical parameters of the water after treatment were 6,7 to pH 22,3 °C for temperature, 12,5 UPC for color, 6,7 mg/L to OD, 0,5 NTU for turbidity, 0,2mg/L for ammonia, 0,01 mg/L for nitrite, 1,7 mg/L for nitrate, 0,2 mg/L for phosphate,0,7 mg/L for sulfate and 1,3 mg/L for COD. The obtained results proposed treatment for color removal efficiency of 22,4%, haze 28,6%, 50,0% ammonia, 23,1% nitrite, nitrate 37,0%, Phosphate 95,1%, sulfate 41,7% and COD of 66,7% and reduced the number of microorganisms to a value less than the detectable limit of the analysis method. All mean values obtained for the physicochemical parameters meet the standards required by the Order 2914/2011 of the Ministry of Health for drinking water.

by Ng Wing-Sze Cecilia.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-93).
ABSTRACT --- p.ii
TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.iii
CHAPTER
Chapter 1. --- COMPANY PROFILE --- p.1
The Walt Disney Parks --- p.1
Hong Kong Disneyland --- p.1
Location --- p.1
Park Developer & Operator --- p.2
Financing --- p.2
Infrastructure --- p.3
Schedule of Operation --- p.4
Chapter 2. --- HONG KONG DISNEYLAND BUSINESS MODEL --- p.6
Revenue Model --- p.7
Customer Base --- p.7
Pricing Strategy --- p.8
Financial Performance Variable --- p.9
Risk Management Program --- p.10
The Walt Disney Company Risk Management --- p.10
HKDL Risk Management --- p.13
Risk Management on Book Record --- p.13
Chapter 3. --- PRECIPITATION RISK EXPOSURE --- p.15
Introduction to Precipitation --- p.15
Distinguish between Weather and Climate --- p.16
Rainfall Risk Exposure --- p.16
Precipitation in Hong Kong --- p.17
Overview --- p.17
Rainstorm Warning System --- p.18
Practices on Rainy Days --- p.20
Theme Park Industry --- p.20
The Ocean Park --- p.21
Rainfall Risk Mitigation --- p.21
Chapter 4. --- WEATHER DERIVATIVES --- p.24
Evolution --- p.24
The Birth of Weather Derivatives --- p.24
Weather Risk Management Association --- p.24
Year 1999 --- p.25
Year 2000 --- p.25
Year 2001 --- p.26
Year 2002 --- p.26
Precipitation Derivatives --- p.27
Market & Market Players --- p.28
Types of Product --- p.30
Index Derivatives --- p.30
Event-Basis Derivatives --- p.32
Chapter 5. --- Hedging Against Rainfall Risk with Weather Derivatives --- p.33
Formation of Hedging Strategy --- p.34
Hedging Objectives --- p.34
Hedging Target --- p.35
Dimension of Precipitation Impacts --- p.35
Normal Revenue without Rainfall Risk --- p.40
Revenue Forecasting for Year 1 --- p.41
Specifications on the Contracts --- p.46
Chapter 6. --- General Recommendations to HKDL for hedging with all kinds of Rainfall Derivatives --- p.49
Choice of Market and Counter Parties --- p.49
Index Model Design --- p.50
Dimensions of Variables & Time Scale --- p.50
Accumulated Rainfall Index --- p.51
Methodologies of Rainfall Measurements --- p.54
Location of Rainfall Measuring Stations --- p.54
Measuring Instrument --- p.56
Historical Data Consistency --- p.58
Data Availability and Reliability --- p.59
Choice of Strike Level --- p.59
Tick Size and Maximum Payments --- p.62
Pricing Approach --- p.63
Chapter 7. --- Example of Rainfall Derivatives --- p.66
Black/Red Rainstorm Signal Call --- p.66
Specifications --- p.66
Revenue model under Different Scenario --- p.68
Chapter 8. --- Portfolio Management --- p.70
Risk Management Information System --- p.70
Issues on Book Keeping --- p.71
Chapter 9. --- CONCULSION --- p.72

M. Tech. Mechanical engineering.
Acid deposition is caused by the emission of acidic gases, for example, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. Nitrogen oxide emissions can be controlled by the proper selection of equipment and operating conditions. Sulfur dioxide on the other hand, can be cleaned by means of procombustion, combustion or post-combustion techniques; the latter being the most effective. The objective of this study is to find suitable additives which will augment the reactivity of lime towards FGD (flue gas desulfurization), while at the same time being easily available at a low price. Zeolite based sorbents yielded the highest reactivity, and all additives, except iron waste, had pozzolanic materials as their main reactive compounds.

Assessing and managing risks posed by climate variability and change is challenging in the tropics, from both a scientific and a socio-economic perspective. While our understanding of the tropical land rainfall variability and its future projection is highly uncertain, most of the vulnerable countries with a limited adaptation capability are within the tropical band. This dissertation combines a process-based physical understanding with observational analysis to characterize the spatio-temporal changes in the tropical land rainfall during a transient El Niño evolution, with an emphasis on the risk management of the dry and wet extremes. The broad objectives are two-fold: 1) To make better sense of the higher uncertainty in the tropical rainfall response to warming and 2) to improve climate risk management strategies in the tropical developing countries. An ENSO teleconnection mechanism, referred to as the tropical tropospheric temperature or TTT mechanism provides a theoretical framework to study the remote tropical land rainfall behavior during a transient El Niño warming. The TTT mechanism postulates that the tropic-wide free tropospheric warming interacts locally with the deep convection to modulate remote tropical climate. During the growth phase, anomalous free tropospheric temperature causes direct and fast atmospheric adjustments leading to tropospheric stability to deep moist convection and a drier response. Subsequently, during mature phase, a recovery of the initial rainfall deficit follows due to indirect and slower adjustments in surface temperature and humidity fields. In chapter 2 and 3 of this dissertation, the changes in the observed tropical land rainfall characteristics and other climate fields conditional on the growth and mature phase of El Niño warming are investigated and the role of dynamical and thermodynamic mechanisms as hypothesized by the TTT mechanism are elucidated. In chapter 4, an El Niño forecast based early action investment strategy is developed to reduce the socio-economic impacts of rainfall extremes at sub-seasonal to inter-annual lead time scales. In the part I (chapter 2), the analysis is conducted at a regional scale over the tropical Africa. Using the TTT mechanism, a physical explanation is provided for the contrasting rainfall response over the Western Sahel and tropical Eastern Africa during an El Niño. The study finds that the Western Sahel’s main rainy season (July-September) is affected by the growth phase of El Niño through (i) a lack of neighboring North Atlantic sea surface warming, (ii) an absence of an atmospheric column water vapor anomaly over the North Atlantic and Western Sahel, and (iii) higher atmospheric vertical stability over the Western Sahel, resulting in the suppression of mean seasonal rainfall as well as number of wet days. In contrast, the short rainy season (October-December) of tropical Eastern Africa is impacted by the mature phase of El Niño through (i) neighboring Indian Ocean sea surface warming, (ii) positive column water vapor anomalies over the Indian Ocean and tropical Eastern Africa, and (iii) higher atmospheric vertical instability over tropical Eastern Africa, leading to an increase in mean seasonal rainfall as well as in the number of wet days. While the modulation of the frequency of wet days and seasonal mean accumulation is statistically significant, daily rainfall intensity (for days with rainfall >1 mm/day), whether mean, median, or extreme, does not show a significant response in either region. Hence, the variability in seasonal mean rainfall that can be attributed to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon in both regions is likely due to changes in the frequency of rainfall. These observed changes agree with the predictions of the TTT mechanism. In the part II (chapter 3), a global scale analysis is performed to more generally characterize the spatio-temporal differences in remote tropical land rainfall response to El Niño warming. The principal conclusions are: 1) during the El Niño growth phase relative to the neutral phase, rainfall decreases. A significant decrease in mean accumulation can be attributed to a significant increase in proportion of dry days and decrease in median and extreme intensity. A significant descent anomaly confirms the vertical stabilization and dominance of dynamical processes. 2) During the mature phase relative to the growth phase, rainfall increases, signifying a recovery from the suppression of deep moist convection. A significant increase in mean accumulation is accompanied by a decrease in proportion of dry days and by an increase in median and extreme intensity characteristics. The significant rise in the moisture field corroborates the dominance of thermodynamic processes. These findings are expected from the TTT mechanism and generalizes the findings of part I to the global scale. In the part III (chapter 4), an El Niño forecast based index insurance policy is developed that can be used as an early action investment instrument. The forecast insurance (FI) design framework is illustrated with an application to El Niño associated flood hazard during the January-February-March-April (JFMA) season over Piura region of Peru. In order to determine the economic utility of the system, a simple cost-loss decision model, incorporating the insurance cost, is developed. The main conclusion is that the proposed El Niño forecast insurance policy with the pre-event Niño1.2 index based trigger has significant reliability and substantial utility for a wide range of policy parameters considered. Relative to a no early action strategy, the advantage of the system generally increases with i) shortening in the lead time from 9 to 1 month, ii) increase in El Niño severity level from 10 to 50 year return period and iii) increase in avoidable loss to cost ratio (LCR) ratio from 1 to 1000. These results and the forecast insurance modeling and utility evaluation frameworks have implications for designing optimal contingent financial instruments for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

This study was designed to capture the complexity of man-to-forest relationships in the endangered, world-renowned tropical rain forests of the Congo Basin in Africa. Their biological complexity and integrity have been challenged by human development and new knowledge is urgently needed to save these forests and the people dependent on them. The scope of the study was enormous because of the complexity of the resource, the diversity of forest-dependent people and actors. The major benefit of this research was in accessing and exposing new and quantitative information in remote settlements of the region by applying innovative methodologies and analytical techniques. These included: 1. The definition of forest-dependency based on detailed annual inventories of sources of households’ incomes, their statistical ranking and interpretation with logistic regressions, and the Kuznets ratio and Gini coefficients as introduced by the World Bank; 2. critical appraisal of the international parks in the region based on auto-financing principles and tested with contingent valuation and tax maximization techniques, such as Laffer’s curves, and leading to the development of new conservation models of financial self-sufficiency and a new formula for practical park management; 3. the critique of poaching by explaining and exposing food insecurities, especially deficient supplies of animal protein and associated malnutrition among the rural poor; 4. assessment of housing inadequacy among forest dwellers and its impact on forest regeneration and resources; 5. clarification of the impacts of timber logging by accessing detailed unpublished information from timber companies; 6. the introduction of survey-based valuation techniques as essential prerequisites to policy formulation and the sustainable management of forests; 7. proposing a flow chart that embraced the resources and stakeholders through the flow of market values and services for further exploration. Contrary to traditional beliefs; the results showed that both poor and wealthy households are equally dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods with no significant difference in consumed forest products between the 25% higher income earners and the 25% lower income households. Forests contribute over 57% of wage income in the region and forest-derived income is of a higher total value than any other source, including agriculture. Among forest foods, wild fruit and bushmeat are by far the most important. Therefore, the clearing of forests for agriculture or instituting conservation policies that completely keep local people away from forests will result in constrained access to resources of immense importance to local livelihoods. However, the findings contradict the commonly propagated views that timber harvesting in the region is directly responsible for deforestation, the loss of forest structure and biodiversity. It was shown that the harvesting of saplings and poles for housing may endanger forest regeneration and species composition of forests neighbouring the villages. The desired financing of national parks should be through internally generated revenues, requiring deliberate investments in facilities and infrastructure. The necessity to satisfy the basic needs of the forest-dependent people remains urgent. The complexity of man-to-forest relationships is beyond one study and needs to be further expanded on, in our quest to sustainable forest management based on participatory principles. Such management needs to provide for and be supported by various stakeholders including the local communities, state agencies, donors, NGOs, and commercial conglomerates. Moreover, the need to understand forest values beyond market principles is required in order to translate the concept of sustainable forest management from a theoretical concept in the Congo Basin to one that can reduce conflicts, deforestation, poverty and famine.

This study focuses on Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in the three basins of the Witwatersrand’s goldfields in the Vaal River System in South Africa. AMD has become a highly contested issue. A difference in its definition exists between two groups of role-players identified in the study: government and consultants/activists/NGOs. This study unpacks the differences in the way AMD is defined, the situation of AMD in each of the three basins and the socio-economic implications caused by AMD. A crucial finding was that these definitions determine how the issue is understood and what solutions these role-players propose. The main purpose of the study was to determine whether the South African government’s policy response was appropriate given the socio-economic impacts of AMD and imperatives of sustainable development. This study concluded that, in the policy, there was no clear indication as to what the socio-economic impacts are, and limited attention was therefore given to these impacts.
Development Studies
M.A. (Development Studies)