Chemicals

ABB Bomem has recently designed a field-deployable reflectometer to measure the diffuse spectral reflectance of surfaces from 0.7 µm to 13.5 µm. Its spectral resolution is adjustable and can be as fine as 4 cm -1 . The instrument is designed to field and laboratory operation. It is portable and battery-operated. In its simplest mode, the instrument is automated and can be operated by non-specialist personnel with minimal training.

Pesticides are the chemicals used to control the crop harms by killing the pests causing various diseases in crop plants, thereby playing vital role in yield and crop production. The ingredients of these chemical pesticides are not only lethal to target arthropods but also for human beings. Therefore, the aim of present study was to find out the perception about the impacts of various pesticide usage on the health of cotton growing farmers in rural areas of District Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Three villages were selected purposively and 130 farmers were approached to perform a questionnaire via face to face interview. Our findings revealed that a major proportion of the respondents (56.9%) were agreed that pesticides cause illness in cotton growing farmers. The results showed the perceptions of respondents that pesticides were responsible to cause various diseases to a great extent in farmers, like increase in headache (48.5%), fatigue (40.0%), insomnia (45.4%), dizziness (37.7%), hand tremors (42.3%), skin disorders (46.9%), birth defects (36.2%), damage of liver (37.7%), damage of kidney (43.8%), respiratory problems (56.9%) and cancer (29.2%). Our results showed non-significant association between age and impacts of pesticide usage on cotton growing farmer’s health. It was illustrated that health issues were significantly correlated with education, income, lack of awareness, lack of precautionary measures and lack of facilities or personal protective equipment (PPE).There is need to implement risk reduction strategies and to arrange formal training sessions to address the proper use and storage of pesticides.

It is predicted that by the year 2050, majority of Africans will living in urban area. In Cameroon, urbanization rate radically evolved from 37.8 % in 1987 to 52.0 % in 2010 and projections for 2030 show that 2 out of 3 Cameroonians will live in urban areas. Such a situation will outstrip job creation and the capacity of Africans governments to control and provide essential infrastructure. It will also an increase of unemployment as well as underemployment, poverty, food insecurity and health risks among those living in and around cities. Urban and peri-urban agriculture appear to be a better response to these challenges, as observed in the case of Bamenda, where local productions around the town (rural urban continuum) remain essential to feeding citizens. However, environmental impacts studies have not been carried out to examine qualitative and quantitative positive impacts of these activities centered on crop production, mainly production of leafy traditional vegetables around the cities. The actual context of sustainable development requires a better understanding between the vegetable gardening and the environment, which was the main focus of research. An environmental impact assessment based on gardeners' inputs was conducted along the rural-urban continuum of Bamenda in the Northwest Region Cameroon. A survey questionnaire was administered among 150 growers divided equally in rural and peri-urban areas. The survey strongly insisted on the determination of active composition, families and chemical classes using the Phytosanitary Index ACTA, as well as the list of Cameroon registered pesticides. Data on environmental impacts were processed and analyzed through the Leopold and Fecteau matrices. Two variables were used for this: original impacts factorial (crop management) and production systems. The main results show that the majority of gardeners were young (34.67 %) of 30 to 40 years age group. Most of the gardeners in urban areas (88%) grow vegetables in home gardens of smaller size (less than 0.05 ha) while in peri-urban area, 76 % of respondents have farms measuring between 0.1 to 0.25ha located near their homes. In rural areas, the majority of growers (48 %), operating away from their habitat, owned farms larger or equal to 0.25 ha. Among the chemical used in production systems on the continuum were Carbonates and Thiocarbonates (35 %) followed by organophosphate (21 %), unidentified Pyrethroids synthetic components (17 %) and Organochlorines (4 %). The threshold of environmental impacts criticality is established and appears greater or equal to the average value of 16 in the rating scale. The results of this survey confirmed that there was an uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers on vegetables throughout the rural-urban continuum of Bamenda. The study identified lack of training and gardeners' sensitization as well as the non-compliance to the legal texts relating to the safe use of chemical fertilizers and chemicals, as the aggravating factors and causes of environmental damage around rural-urban Bamenda. (2) World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Côte d'Ivoire, 01 BP 2024 San Pedro / Tel: +225 07 05 86 90 (3) Département de géographie de l'université de Yaoundé 1. / Tel: +237 99 85 59 26/ +237 22 00 81 78 (4) AVRDC -The World Vegetable Center, Liaison Office Cameroon, C/o IITA -Cameroon, PO Box 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroun / Tel: +237 22 10 84 48//+237 97 90 00 95, (5) Department of Physical Geography, University of Freiburg, +49 761 203 3513 (Office) +49 761 203 3596 (Fax.) Résumé Il est prévu que d'ici 2050, la majorité des Africains vivront en milieu urbain. Au Cameroun, le taux d'urbanisation a radicalement évolué, passant de 37,8% en 1987 à 52,0% en 2010 et les projections pour 2030 montrent que 2 Camerounais sur 3 vivront dans des zones urbaines. Une telle situation sera supérieure à la création d'emplois et à la capacité des gouvernements africains à contrôler et à fournir l'infrastructure essentielle. On assistera également à une augmentation du chômage ainsi que du sous-emploi, l'accentuation de la pauvreté, l'insécurité alimentaire et des risques de santé chez les personnes vivant dans les centres urbains et périurbains.

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations. Abstract This study aims to examine the nonsterilized fermentation conditions for coproduction of pectinases and lipase enzymes using several fruit wastes as an energy source. Thermophilic fungal strain, Penicillium expansum CMI 39671 was used as a fermenting strain. The effect of process conditions including; nitrogen sources, pH, temperature, time and moisture contents, on the production of both enzymes were studied. The highest activities of pectinase and lipase (2817, 1870 U/g dry substrate) enzymes were found with orange peel feedstock, whereas the lowest activities of 1662 U/g and 1266 U/g were found with banana peel and papaya peel feedstocks respectively. Overall, pectinase showed higher enzymatic activities than lipase enzymes, both having similar increasing and decreasing trends, at all studied conditions. The optimum process conditions of peptone as a nitrogen source, pH 7, 40°C, 5 days and 70% moisture contents, were found to show highest enzymatic activities for both enzymes. The orange peel feedstock showed no significant difference in both enzymes' activities at sterilized and nonnotarized process conditions. Pectinase and lipase enzymes showed (13791 U/g) and (8114 U/g) for sterilized and (14091 U/g) and (8324 U/g) for nonnotarized process conditions respectively. In addition, the fungal strains also produce bacteriocin-like compounds that could inhibit microbial growth. These findings will help to design and develop robust, cost-effective and less energy intensive enzyme production processes and consequently an efficient fruit waste to energy system through open fermentation. Abstract This study aims to examine the nonsterilized fermentation conditions for coproduction of pectinases and lipase enzymes using several fruit wastes as an energy source. Thermophilic fungal strain, Penicillium expansum CMI 39671 was used as a fermenting strain. The effect of process conditions including; nitrogen sources, pH, temperature, time and moisture contents, on the production of both enzymes were studied. The highest activities of pectinase and lipase (2817, 1870 U/g dry substrate) enzymes were found with orange peel feedstock, whereas the lowest activities of 1662 U/g and 1266 U/g were found with banana peel and papaya peel feedstocks respectively. Overall, pectinase showed higher enzymatic activities than lipase enzymes, both having similar increasing and decreasing trends, at all studied conditions. The optimum process conditions of peptone as a nitrogen source, pH 7, 40°C, 5 days and 70% moisture contents, were found to show highest enzymatic activities for both enzymes. The orange peel feedstock showed no significant difference in both enzymes' activities at sterilized and nonnotarized process conditions. Pectinase and lipase enzymes showed (13791 U/g) and (8114 U/g) for sterilized and (14091 U/g) and (8324 U/g) for nonnotarized process conditions respectively. In addition, the fungal strains also produce bacteriocin-like compounds that could inhibit microbial growth. These findings will help to design and develop robust, cost-effective and less energy intensive enzyme production processes and consequently an efficient fruit waste to energy system through open fermentation.