Discussion: Should the Dams Be Removed to Save the Pacific Northwestern Salmon Population?

From 1885 till now, dams keep played an important role in Pacific Northwest. However, despite providing transportation convenience and electricity affecting the salmon population, they greatly impacted the salmon population. Nowadays, people standing for different parties are arguing whether the dams should be removed to restore the salmon population. Currently, a solid plan for dam removal has been proposed by Congressman Simpson. And it’s barely a start, further discussions will become more intensified and require an urgent environmental political response.

Assessing the Employee Well-Being and Performance in Small-Sized Construction Organization

Performance in paid work has for many years been studied as an important form of individual and group behavior, with researchers and practitioners often aiming for its enhancement through job design, staff selection and development, or shaping managerial style and organizational culture. In parallel with this interest in performance, psychologists in employment settings have also worked to understand the sources and consequences of well-being, motivation and performance. These three variables are examined together in the assessing the employee well-being in small-sized construction organization in Ekiti State. Employee well-being is considered as an important tool for enhancing worker’s performance and construction sector is not an exception. It has been empirically established that well-being has positive impact on construction worker’s performance. Moreover, empirical studies have shown that performance in the sector has been decreasing globally. This study therefore aims at understand the demanding working environment of the construction industry and the factors which lead to employees being troubled. The researcher was of the opinion that an improved well-being of employees can significantly improve the organization productivity. Quantitative research design was employed with same questionnaire administered on the population covered. Random sampling techniques were used to select small-sized construction organization sampled from a selected population in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used to administer questionnaires to various employees. 75questionnaires were administered to employee collectively and 70 was filled and returned which constitute 93.3% success rate. Questionnaire was designed in Likert scale of 1-5. Analysis was done by statistical packages for social sciences version 17. Descriptive statistics which include mean percentile and tables were used to present the data. One Way Analysis of Variance was used to determine whether there is relationship between well-being and organization performance. Data analysis and results on the factors affecting small-sized construction organization employee well-being indicates that there is a statistically significant linear relationship between well-being and performance. The result also revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between well-being and employee’s performance which reinforces the reinforcement and expectancy theory of remuneration especially the concept of Thorndike’s Law of Effect meaning a response followed by a reward is more likely to recur in the future. The study concluded that well-being has impact on employees and organization performance and recommend that the employers of labor both private and government must not take the well-being of their employees for granted because it will result in low productivity.

Process Design for Biohydrogen Production from Waste Materials and Its Application

Biohydrogen is regarded as an attractive future clean energy carrier due to its high energy content and environmentally friendly conversion. Biohydrogen reactor is widely used in studies concerning the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste, sewage sludge, wastewater and other organic solids. Anaerobic digestion is a series of biological processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material (biomass or waste feedstock) in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas, which may generate electricity and heat, or can be processed into renewable natural gas and transportation fuels. This review article explains the scientific processes of anaerobic digestion process such as hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and hydrogenesis as well as methods to produce biohydrogen gas such as fermentation and biophotolysis for the waste management technology and sources of renewable energy and concludes with solutions that may allow anaerobic digestion to become more widely adopted throughout the developing countries to control the waste management system.

An analysis of Trophy Hunting Tourism Marketing Mix Performance of Zimbabwe

The study analysed the performance of trophy hunting tourism marketing mix activities in Zimbabwe in an attempt to improve tourism performance. Mixed methodology research comprising of 137 survey stakeholders and survey 274 tourists, one (1) focus group discussion and four (4) in-depth interview key informants was carried out from January 2019 to June 2019.Hunting quotas were based on the three regions, of Zimbabwe and Wildlife Management Authority, namely Southern Region, Western Region and Northern Region showing tourists type and stakeholder classes, and this was done. Quantitative data were analysed by correlation tests and one sample mean test values using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Qualitative data were synthesised using content and narrative analyses. The study indicated that Zimbabwe performed highly in terms of process, product, people and place marketing mix strategies in its trophy hunting activities. The results indicated a weak relationship between perceptions of local and foreign trophy hunting tourists on rating the marketing mix performance of Zimbabwe. Tourists and stakeholders were found to have a significant positive relationship in their perceptions of wildlife tourism performance of Zimbabwe. The test of trophy hunting acceptability showed a statistically significant and above average performance of Zimbabwe on trophy hunting marketing mix. The study concluded that, though Zimbabwe performs high on overall trophy hunting tourism marketing mix strategies, there was need for improvements on promotion and pricing strategies.

Response Efficacy in Environmental Discounting: Concern and Action towards Climate Change Threats

Extending preceding environmental discounting studies, we examined the role of response efficacy (in low, control, and high conditions) in participants’ valuation of climate-change concern and action across four psychological distance dimensions (temporal, spatial, social, and probabilistic). Participants gave ratings of concern and action in the context of two hypothetical scenarios which were directly related to two different threats (droughts and floods) posed by unmitigated climate change. Rachlin’s hyperboloid discount functions fit the data well. The previously observed gap between concern and action ratings was not replicated in the main analyses, but was seen in the ratings at the minimum distance values. Response efficacy differentially affected ratings of concern and action at the minimum distance values for the temporal, social, and probabilistic dimensions, but differentially affected discount values (k) only for the probabilistic dimension. Compared to their level of concern with the environmental threat, participants who were led to believe that their actions were not efficacious were less willing to engage in mitigation behaviors than participants who were led to believe that their actions were efficacious. The insights gained through the current research effort may be valuable for policymaking as well as intervention design aiming to increase societal mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Contamination Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediment Cores from De Montigny Lake around Siscoe-Sullivan Former Mining Sites, Val-d’Or, Canada

Seven sediment cores were collected from De Montigny Lake in order to determine concentrations, and contamination assessment of heavy metals such as Cr, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cu, Co and Cd. The mean concentrations of heavy metals are as follows: 48.3 mg/kg for Cr, 36.4 mg/kg for Zn, 20.6 mg/kg for Ni, 14.7 mg/kg for Pb, 10.2 mg/kg for Cu, 6.7 mg/kg for Co and 0.1 mg/kg for Cd. Based on the sediment quality guidelines, the mean concentration metals such as Cr, Cu and Ni exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guideline. However, the concentration of Cr was more than the Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for Protection of Aquatic Life (CCME), and Threshold Effect Level (TEL) guidelines. The metal contamination in the sediments was also evaluated using Enrichment Factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) to assess natural and anthropogenic factors. The results of enrichment factor methods demonstrated that sediments from De Montigny Lake were moderately to high enriched, mainly controlled by through anthropogenic activities. According to Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs), the concentrations metals from the core sediment of De Montigny Lake are classified as having moderate impacts with potential adverse biotoxic effects.

Source and Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Water from Mboppi River in Douala–Cameroon

Having a source attributed to anthropogenic activities such as incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic materials, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are toxic organic pollutants that the ubiquity is no more to be proved. The purpose of this work is to identify and quantify the hydrocarbons pollution of the Mboppi River. Eight (8) samples of water were collected in the river during the dry and the rainy season (4samples for each season). Hydrocarbon fraction was extracted by magnetic agitation of the mixture water/hexane followed by clean-up, fractionation and subsequently, analysis using gas chromatography coupled to a Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). Total concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the samples were ranged between 196.3-1040.19 µg/L in the river. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with more than four rings showed the highest concentrations in the river independently from the seasonal variation while the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with 2 or 3 rings were usually present in low concentrations or sometimes undetectable. From the data, it was also possible to conclude that there is predominance of petroleum sources, and essentially closed to the more industrialized areas. Mboppi River can then be considered as being among the most polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons polluted environment in comparison with some rivers and estuaries.

Wetlands, Fishes and Pandemics with Special Reference to India

Water is life, life is water. Water is indispensably important for sustenance of life. Wetlands serve as potential water bodies, harbouring coveted bioresources, which sustain animal life. Fish is a significant bioresource for nutrition and avocation of the people. There are various types of wetlands in the Indian sub-continent. India has c 67,429 wetlands covering c 4.1 million ha. Concomitantly, c 21,723 living species of fish have been recorded out of 39,900 species of vertebrates. Of these, c 8411 are freshwater (FW) species and c 11,650 are marine. India recorded c 2500 species of fishes; of which, c 930 live in FW and c 1570 are marine. The hitherto unknown dreadful, virulent, enigmatic Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), has been sweeping the FW fishes in an epidemic dimension, unhindered, unimpeded and unabated, almost semi-globally; and, has been causing large-scale mortality among them, since 1988, rendering many of them endangered. Concomitantly, the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, among the human, was first reported at Wuhan, China, in late December 2019. The first 54 reported cases of COVID-19 were observed in December 2019 at Wuhan, China, and this, subsequently, had spread across the globe. India has been facing much impacts of COVID19 pandemic since its inception in China.

Tourism and Urbanization, An Interconnected Evolution

While there is extensive literature on the evolution of tourism and the urbanization process, the interlinks between these two evolutions are not yet fully explored; maybe because they are separate disciplines, or taught independently of each other. This research navigates the spatial dimension of travel evolution alongside the attendant expansion of the urbanization process. It defines the nexus between tourism as a global demand and the physical infrastructure that accommodates such a force. The built environment, manifested in both its urban forms and its systems of mobility, is shaped by, and has been shaping, many factors including tourism. Using comparative narratives that describes tourist curiosity, the tourism routs and the tourism destinations across time, this work further explores the historical relationship between urbanization and tourism by emphasizing how the evolution of each has influenced the other. Itanalyzes different eras and identifies how the tourist, the travel mode and the destination have influenced each other through time. Considered one of the world's oldest tourist destinations, Egypt is used here to demonstrate the interlocking relationship of tourism and urbanization. The research concludes that appreciating these two phenomena in isolation proves challenging insofar as the evolution of tourism through time can not only be attributed to the tourism demand but also to the shape and form of the destination and the mobile systems available in each era and locale.

Exploring the Transformation Mechanism of Ecological Value Realization by Property Right Trading of Rural hydropower

The transformation and upgrading of rural hydropower rely on the property right trading market, and the professional property right trading market serves as the foundation to truly transform lucid waters and lush mountains into mountains of gold and silver. The study believes that by using two means, namely, government regulation and market incentive, water resources can be turned into ecological hydropower resources to finally realize the economic value of green energy through the ecological value transforming mechanism. The transforming mechanism, impelled by green hydropower certification and evaluation and professional property right trading market, has realized the ecological values, which not only promotes the green development of the local economy, but also realizes the transformation and upgrading of the rural hydropower industry. With the hydropower property right trading center, the development of the hydropower industry has encountered historic opportunities. At present, it is necessary to strive to improve the corresponding system, mechanism and cultural environment of the trading center to achieve the predetermined goal, and further standardize and improve the transaction activities. There are in all three figures and three tables.