• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.12-23
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• 2018

Quantitative information on biomass and available nutrients are essential for developing sustainable forest management strategies to regulate atmospheric carbon. An attempt was made at Chilapatta Reserve Forest in Duars region of West Bengal to quantify its above and below ground carbon along with available "N", "P" and "K" in the soil. Stratified random nested quadrats were marked for soil, biomass and litter sampling. Indirect or non-destructive procedures were employed for biomass estimation. The amount of these available nutrients and organic carbon quantified in soil indicates that the forest soil is high in organic carbon and available "K" and medium in phosphorus and nitrogen. The biomass, soil carbon and total carbon (soil C＋C in plant biomass) in the forest was 1,995.98, 75.83 and $973.65Mg\;ha^{-1}$. More than 90% of the carbon accumulated in the forest was contributed by the trees. The annual litter production of the forest was $5.37Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Carbon accumulation is intricately linked with site quality factors. The estimated biomass of $1,995.98Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ clearly indicates this. The site quality factor i.e. tropical moist deciduous with optimum availability of soil nutrients, heavy precipitation, high mean monthly relative humidity and optimum temperature range supported luxuriant growth which was realized as higher biomass accumulation and hence higher carbon accumulated.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.76-85
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• 2003

In this study, a continuous stabilization process is used to make high-performance carbon fiber from polyacrylonitrile(PAM)-based fibers. The effect of oxygen content of PAN-based fiber on the stabilization process and the properties of the resultant carbon fibers is investigated. In order to research the progress of stabilization reaction FT-IR, elemental analysis, density, DSC, etc are used. Stabilization is carried out in air atmosphere from the 200 to $300^\circ{C}$ temperature range. An increase of PAN-based fibers diameter reduces the oxygen content during the continuous stabilization process. A higher oxygen content increase the density, tensile strength and modulus in the resultant carbon fibers. The most appropriate oxygen content in the stabilized fiber should be about 12%. Fibers having more than 2% oxygen content yield carbon fibers with inferior properties. Those carbon fibers also have sufficient commercial availability.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.5-11
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• 2016

Background: As the decomposition of lignocellulosic compounds is a rate-limiting stage in the nutrient mineralization from organic matters, elucidation of the changes in soil enzyme activity can provide insight into the nutrient dynamics and ecosystem functioning. The current study aimed to assess the effect of thinning intensities on soil conditions. Un-thinned control, 20 % thinning, and 30 % thinning treatments were applied to a Larix kaempferi forest, and total carbon and nitrogen, total carbon to total nitrogen ratio, extractable nutrients (inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium), and enzyme activities (acid phosphatase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-xylosidase, ${\beta}$-glucosaminidase) were investigated. Results: Total carbon and nitrogen concentrations were significantly increased in the 30 % thinning treatment, whereas both the 20 and 30 % thinning treatments did not change total carbon to total nitrogen ratio. Inorganic nitrogen and extractable calcium and magnesium concentrations were significantly increased in the 20 % thinning treatment; however, no significant changes were found for extractable phosphorus and potassium concentrations either in the 20 or the 30 % thinning treatment. However, the applied thinning intensities had no significant influences on acid phosphatase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-xylosidase, and ${\beta}$-glucosaminidase activities. Conclusions: These results indicated that thinning can elevate soil organic matter quantity and nutrient availability, and different thinning intensities may affect extractable soil nutrients inconsistently. The results also demonstrated that such inconsistent patterns in extractable nutrient concentrations after thinning might not be fully explained by the shifts in the enzyme-mediated nutrient mineralization.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2007년도 Proceedings of ISRS 2007
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• pp.98-100
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• 2007

Tropical forests have variety of biodiversity values, which provide invaluable services to the living being on earth. In the recent years, tropical forests are regarded as valuable global resources that act as sink for carbon dioxide in order to mitigate global climatic change. In many parts of the world, tropical forests are being rapidly cleared by various means. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is concentrated in the upper 12 inches of the soil. So it is readily depleted owing to the degradation activities. In the present study, it was aimed to assess the magnitude of disturbance in the availability of SOC in a semi- evergreen forest, situated in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The forest density of this region was mapped with QuickBird satellite data. Intensive field soil sampling and floristic study were conducted to estimate the SOC status in different density classes and to identify the species availability. The SOC density ranged from 274.06 t/ha to 147.84 t/ha in the very dense and degraded semi-evergreen forest respectively. The SOC content was also varied from 3.70 to 1.83 % in the very dense semi-evergreen and medium semi-evergreen forests respectively. The species composition in different density classes was also varied considerably. As a result of this study, it was identified that the disturbance to forests by various means not only affect the density of forests but also affect the below ground SOC status proportionately.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.1-17
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• 2012

This Paper deals with the stochastic behavior and failure analysis of a Viscose Staple Fibre Plant which produces fibre for making clothes. The fibre making plant is a complex system with various subsystems as: Vendor (supplies Charcoal and Sulphur, raw materials for the process), Carbon di sulphide Plant, Acid Plant, Pulp Plant and Processing Plant. The considered system can completely fail due to failure of any of the subsystems. The Carbon di Sulphide Plant can fail in two different ways, due to lack of Sulphur or Charcoal. Processing Plant has the configuration 5-out-of-10: d and 6-out-of-10: f. It is also assumed that the system can fail due to workers strike and catastrophic failure. All failures follow exponential time distribution whereas all repairs follow general time distribution. Preventive Maintenance policy has been applied to reduce the failure in the system. Various reliability characteristics such as transition state probabilities, steady state behavior, reliability, availability, M.T.T.F and the cost analysis have been obtained using supplementary variable technique and Gumbel-Hougaard copula methodology.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• 제49권5호
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• pp.510-516
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• 2016

Soil respiration has been recognized as a key factor of the change of organic matter and fertility due to the carbon and nitrogen mineralization. In this study, we evaluated the effect of soil respiration on the light fraction-C and inorganic N content depending on temperature in soil applied with organic matter. Soil respiration was calculated by using total $CO_2$ flux released from soil applied with $2Mg\;ha^{-1}$ of rice straw compost and rye for 8 weeks incubation at 15, 25, $35^{\circ}C$ under incubation test. After incubation test, light fraction and inorganic N content were investigated. Rye application dramatically increased soil respiration with increasing temperature. $Q_{10}$ value of rye application was 1.69, which was higher 27% than that of rice straw compost application. Light-C and $NO_3-N$ contents were negatively correlated to soil respiration. Light-C in rye application more decreased than that in rice straw compost with temperature levels. These results indicate that temperature sensitivity of soil respiration could affect soil organic mater content and N availability in soil due to carbon availability. Also, light fraction would be useful indicator to evaluate decomposition rate of organic matter in soil under a short-term test.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.117-121
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• 2005

Platinum catalysts for the DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) were impregnated on several carbon supports and their catalytic activities were evaluated with cyclic voltammograms of methanol electro-oxidation. To increase the activities of the Pt/C catalyst, carbon supports with high electric conductivity such as mesoporous carbon, carbon nanofiber, and carbon nanotube were employed. The Pt/e-CNF (etched carbon nanofiber) catalyst showed higher maximum current density of $70 mA cm^{-2}$ and lower on-set voltage of 0.54 V vs. NHE than the Pt/Vulcan XC-72 in methanol oxidation. Although the carbon named by CNT (carbon nanotube) series turned out to have larger BET surface area than the carbon named by CNF (carbon nanofiber) series, the Pt catalysts supported on the CNT series were less active than those on the CNF series due to their lower electric conductivity and lower availability of pores for Pt loading. Considering that the BET surface area and electric conductivity of the e-CNF were similar to those of the Vulcan XC-72, smaller Pt particle size of the Pt/e-CNF catalyst and stronger metal-support interaction were believed to be the main reason for its higher catalytic activity.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.335-349
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• 2017

To cope with the demand on giant and durable buildings, reinforcement of concrete is a practical problem being extensively investigated in the civil engineering field. Among various reinforcing techniques, fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) has been proven to be an effective approach. In practice, such fibers include steel fibers, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon fibers and asbestos fibers, with the length scale ranging from centimeters to micrometers. When advancing such technique down to the nanoscale, it is noticed that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are stronger than other fibers and can provide a better reinforcement to concrete. In the last decade, CNT-reinforced concrete attracts a lot of attentions in research. Despite high cost of CNTs at present, the growing availability of carbon materials might push the usage of CNTs into practice in the near future, making the reinforcement technique of great potential. A review of existing research works may constitute a conclusive reference and facilitate further developments. In reference to the recent experimental works, this paper reports some key evaluations on CNT-reinforced cementitious materials, covering FRC mechanism, CNT dispersion, CNT-cement structures, mechanical properties and fire safety. Emphasis is placed on the interplay between CNTs and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) at the nanoscale. The relationship between the CNTs-cement structures and the mechanical enhancement, especially at a high-temperature condition, is discussed based on molecular dynamics simulations. After concluding remarks, challenges to improve the CNTs reinforcement technique are proposed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.68-77
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• 2023

The effect of soil damage on the physicochemical characteristics and activity of the soil microbial community is not well known. This study investigates this relationship by analyzing 11 soil samples collected from various points of soil damage across Gyeonggi-do. Soil damage resulted from forest fires, landslides, and development areas, with their impacts most severe on the topsoil layer (0-30 cm). Dehydrogenase and β-glucosidase activities were notably higher at locations damaged by forest fires compared to other sites. While enzyme activities in soils influenced by landslides and development areas were relatively low, sites with a pollution history exhibited elevated dehydrogenase activity, likely due to past microbial response to the pollution. Additionally, an assessment of carbon substrate usability by soil microorganisms indicated higher substrate availability in areas impacted by forest fires, contrasting with lower availability in landslide and development sites. Statistical analysis revealed a positive correlation between organic content of sand and clay and microbial activity. These findings provide valuable insights into soil damage and associated restoration research, as well as management strategies.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2014

Timber harvest in natural forests and its implications on carbon sequestration were investigated in the Southwestern Nigeria. Data on timber harvest from forest estates for a 3-year period were collected from the official record of States' Forestry Department. The data registered the species, volume and number of timbers exploited during the study period. The data were analyzed accordingly for rate of timber harvest and carbon value of the exploited timbers using existing biomass functions. Values were compared for significant differences among states using one way analysis of variance. The results showed that the most exploited logs, in terms of volume and number of trees, have the highest amount of carbon removal. There was a variation in type of timber species being exploited from each state. The total number of harvested trees from Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti and Osun were estimated at 100,205; 111,789; 753; 15,884 and 18,153 respectively. Total quantity of carbon removed for the 3-year period stood at 2.3 million metric tons, and this translated to 8.4 million metric tons of $CO_2$. The annual carbon and $CO_2$ removal therefore were estimated at 760,120.73 tons and 2.8 million tons/ year respectively. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the amount of $CO_2$ removed from the five states. Based on our result, we inferred that there is increasing pressure on economic tree species and it is plausible that they are becoming scarce from the forests in Southwestern Nigeria.. If the present rate of log removal is not controlled, forests could become carbon source rather than carbon sink and the on biological conservation, wood availability and climate change may turn out grave. For the forest to perform its environmental role as carbon sink, urgent conservation measures and logging policies are needed to be put in place.