25 research outputs found
Three essays on the relationship between land conservation and economic development
No full textLand degradation is a significant cause of biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and persistent poverty. In this dissertation, I explore how land conservation and conversion policies affect economic development and human welfare. I use current and historical contexts and compile primary data sources to answer this question. I use case studies from both developing and developed countries, and from both land conversion and working land conservation policies.
In the first chapter, I study the effects of forest protected areas (PAs) on surrounding households in a developing country. I use Nepal’s recently established PAs as a case study to see the effects on the households who depend on the forest. I find that PAs reduce household wood collection, but there is no evidence that other household consumption is significantly reduced by the strain of reduced access to forest resources nor that PAs rapidly attracted tourism that increased household welfare in these rural villages.
This analysis of the immediate effects of land conservation policies in Nepal cannot shed light on all the effects of conservation policies, as land and soil quality change takes time. Historical events provide a more complete picture. Thus, my second two chapters study historical land conservation policies in the United States (US).
In my second chapter, I explore the persistent impacts on the environment of the earliest farmland conservation policies in the Great Plains. The 1930s Dust Bowl compelled the federal government to undertake large soil conservation policies; I evaluate the effects of those policies over fifty years. Results show that the Voluntary Acreage Reduction program had beneficial long-term effects, increasing areas planted in grassland and decreasing soil erosion in areas that were previously heavily planted in corn and wheat.
Land conservation policies also include creating and nurturing local institutions for management. In my third chapter, I study what factors affected the speed with which local environmental institutions – the Soil Conservation Districts (SCDs) – were created to improve farmland resource management. I use historical documents to create a dataset on exactly when SCDs were established during the period of 1936-1956. A duration analysis of those data finds that SCDs did rise up more rapidly in places hit hardest by crop failure, but institutional change was slower in areas dominated by farms managed by tenants who did not have legal authority to help create SCDs to help preserve their farms.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2021-08-01The student, Aparna Howlader, accepted the attached license on 2019-07-01 at 13:43.The student, Aparna Howlader, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2019-07-01 at 14:26.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2019-07-03 at 16:59.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14122 on 2019-11-26 at 13:04:13Made available in DSpace on 2019-11-26T20:49:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Previous issue date: 2019-07-03Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 112920
Lift date: 2021-11-26T20:49:41Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 112920 on 2021-11-27T10:15:33Z
Conversion of PP-type plastic caps to plastic rope and the instruments involved: A case report
No full textWaste plastic caps (PCs) are resources. The objectives were to know the production of plastic ropes (PRs) from PCs, and to know the name and functions of the instruments involved in PRs production. Plastic Recycling Machine consisting of shredder, washing machine, mixing machine, pellet forming machine, granular, extruder, and rolling machine are involved in rope formation. Shredders crush PCs to flakes. Clean flakes are pushed into the mixer machine, then to pellet forming machine. Granular machine makes the pellet to granule. Granules were put into the extruder machine to make mold and sent to the rolling machine for making rope
GIS-based solar irradiation forecasting using support vector regression and investigations of technical constraints for PV deployment in Bangladesh
No full textSpatial distribution of soil organic carbon and nutrients in the southern Sundarbans of Bangladesh
No full textThe Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest plays a crucial role in carbon sequestration and coastal ecosystem stability. This study investigated the spatial distribution of surface soil nutrients, organic carbon (%OC), salinity, and pH, along with their interrelationships, at a regional scale in the southern part of the Sundarbans. In this study, a total of 21 soil samples were taken from 10 cm depth at 21 locations in the southern part of the Sundarbans areas. The surface soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory to determine essential soil properties, including organic carbon (%OC), nitrogen (%N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), sulfur (S), pH, electric conductivity (EC), and salinity. The results showed spatial variations of nutrient concentrations, with higher surface soil organic carbon (%OC) and nutrient levels observed in areas with lower salinity and pH. Pearson’s correlation matrix (PCM) analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between surface OC and both salinity and pH (p < 0.05). Moreover, the soils were predominantly silt-textured, with nutrient levels ranging from normal to brackish-saline, largely influenced by salinity intrusion. Cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed distinct patterns in surface soil physicochemical properties, suggesting that salinity, pH, and organic carbon are main factors influencing nutrient distribution in the study area. The study emphasizes the need to conserve the Sundarbans by reducing anthropogenic activities, regulating freshwater inflows to control salinity, and promoting mangrove regeneration to maintain soil health and ecological balance
Automatic vehicle identification system using machine learning and robot operating system (ROS)
No full text
Water quality index and health risk assessment for heavy metals in groundwater of Kashiani and Kotalipara upazila, Gopalganj, Bangladesh
No full textAbstract The groundwater quality of the Gopalganj district in Bangladesh was not well documented. Therefore, this research was done to determine the groundwater quality in the study area. The water quality index and the human health risk for heavy metal ingestion were used to describe the water quality. The water quality was performed through the estimation of turbidity, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, and concentration of sodium, potassium, ammonium, nitrate, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and arsenic. The mean turbidity, pH, and total dissolved solids in the two upazila were within the permissible limit. However, the electrical conductivity in both the upazila was higher than the WHO-prescribed value in which the higher concentration was in Kotalipara. Excess concentrations of iron and arsenic were found in the Kashiani upazila, but these were below the detection limit in Kotalipara upazila. The water quality index revealed that roughly 61.0% of samples of Kashiani upazila were of poor quality. However, about 96.0% of samples of Kotalipara upazila were of excellent quality. Chronic health risks due to the revelation of drinking have also been determined by assessing the hazard quotient and hazard index. In Kashiani, almost 85.0% of samples were elevated chronic risks for adults and 100.0% of the samples were very high chronic risks for children. In Kotalipara, all the samples (almost 100%) were suggested to have a lower chronic risk for adults and children. The results suggested that the carcinogenic risk of arsenic via oral exposure was very high for both adults and children in Kashiani upazila
Synergy between control strategies of SVC damping controller and transient stability, power oscillation damping
No full textEnergy Harvesting—Technical Analysis of Evolution, Control Strategies, and Future Aspectsa
No full textThis paper provides a technical analysis of energy harvesting (EH) in the field of power and energy sector, including different aspects of harvesting energy, individual case history, control strategies of harvesting in the field of power and energy sector together with the current trend and future aspects of it. EH is comparatively a new concept which is growing very fast since the 20th century and catching new generation research approaches. This paper not only describes the past and current scenarios of harvesting energy with radio frequency (RF) and renewables but also gives author’s own anticipation of the upcoming future trends of it by comparing the case histories
The Rail-bridge Interaction – Recent Advances with ERS Fastening System for Steel Bridges
No full textAbstractThe requirements on the existing rail infrastructure, including bridges, need for higher speed as well as to accommodate the extremely growing traffic demand has brought major changes in different solution to railway track systems in last few decades. Since the beginning of the direct fastening system for railway bridges, probably Embedded Rail System (ERS) is one of the most interesting one. Especially, the low maintenance requirements together with the capability to refurbishment of existing bridges and low noise emission has given new possibilities to this system, contributing towards environmental and economic sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and describe the response of ERS system under different vertical and horizontal load, based on a small scale laboratory test. Second part of the paper describes the numerical analysis of the application of the ERS system on the Starý most in Bratislava, where the test results were used
