Nonparametric estimation of petroleum accident risk to improve environmental protection

The researchers collected and examined 10 years of petroleum-related accidents in the state capital of New York (NY) to develop a preliminary model (N = 1,005). The goal of the research was to propose an evidence-driven methodology to inform urban environmental policy making and emergency preparedness planning. Albany, NY, USA, was a preferentially selected sample site since it was a large city in an environmentally sensitive region with controversial oil–gas fracking policies being debated within government. The objective of the study was to develop a predictive model from petroleum accident data using nonparametric inferential statistical techniques to avoid the constraints inherent of normal distribution assumptions. A statistically significant model was formulated and tested, which indicated that the probability of petroleum accidents in the gas–oil industry was almost six times higher than their occurrence by people in other groups, such as electricity generation, transportation, hospitals, universities, warehouses, government, businesses, and residences.     

A Comparative Ergonomics Postural Assessment of Potters and Sculptors in the Unorganized Sector in West Bengal,India

Potters and sculptors perform their work in very awkward postures. The purpose of this study was to analyse these postures. The modified Nordic questionnaire was used to analyse musculoskeletal discomfort. Rapid entire body assessment (REBA) and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) were used to evaluate the subjects’ postures. There were no significant differences between times of discomfort and the group of subjects. However, there were significant differences in discomfort in different body parts. The analysis indicated that various body postures were harmful to the subjects and that there were profound deviations from natural curvature of various body parts due to awkward body postures. Ergonomics intervention was required to improve the quality of life.     

Spatial and temporal variation in the size at maturity of the western rock lobster Panulirus cygnus George

The sizes at which female and male western rock lobster Panulirus cygnus become mature were examined over 32 years from records at six localities along the coast of Western Australia. The size of males at maturity was estimated from a subset of these data by a morphometric and a physiological method, with both producing statistically similar results. Males were larger at first maturity than females at the same sites. For both sexes, the sizes at first maturity at each location correlated (P<0.05) with the mean annual water temperature at that location, decreasing from south to north along the mainland coast and being smallest at the offshore Abrolhos Islands. Smaller sizes at maturity were recorded for both sexes than have been published previously. One certain explanation for these differences is that management measures protecting females with ovigerous setae have distorted size compositions and the ratio of immature to mature females, thereby increasing the likelihood of capturing small mature females. However, these fishing effects cannot fully account for the progressive decline in CL₅₀ observed over the past 20 years. Other possible hypotheses considered include increases in water temperature over this period, as well as whether this change could be consistent with a genotypic response caused by the selective removal of large lobsters combined with high exploitation rates.     

Availability estimation of a multi-state wind farm in fuzzy environment

Wind is one of the fastest growing renewable energy resources in the electric power system. Availability of wind energy is volatile in nature due to the stochastic behavior of wind speed and non-linear variation of the wind power curve of wind turbine generator. Because of this impression and uncertainty, the availability estimation of wind power has become a challenging issue. In this paper, Markov Fuzzy Reward technique has been proposed for finding out the reliability of wind farm by assessing the availability of wind power. According to this technique, availability of the wind power has been estimated considering wind farm and demand both as a multi-state system. In addition to the availability, different reliability indices such as the number of absolute failures, mean time to deficiency, and probability of failures of a wind farm have been assessed in a time horizon, which can provide useful information for the power system planner at wind farm installing stage. A comparison of this study reveals the efficacy of the proposed Markov Fuzzy Reward approach over the conventional Markov Reward approach.     

Lysimeter Test of Coke Plant Effluent Disposal to Land in India

ABSTRACT

From the Indian national point of view, the importance of coal carbonizing industries is great and growing. These industries produce huge quantities of highly polluted effluents and discharge them into rivers without proper treatment. A large coke plant of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. has been surveyed, and the impact of its effluent on surface water quality is discussed. Approximately 175-200 m³ of effluents are discharged from the plant every day. Land application has been considered as a low-cost means of disposal of coke oven effluents. Column lysimeters were prepared by collecting soil from a nearby agricultural field, putting it layerwise into a column, and compacting it carefully to simulate the original in situ conditions. Raw effluents, diluted effluent, and water (as a blank) were applied to the three lysimeters twice a week with a 5 cm flooding. Upon application of diluted effluent (1:1) into lysimeter No. 2, the leachate collected at 190 cm depth was within the tolerance limit of drinking water standard (IS 10,500). The impact of raw and diluted effluent on groundwater quality and soil are discussed. The renovation efficiency of living filter (lysimeter No. 2) was 99.37% for oil and grease, 86.92% for COD, and 53.22% for TDS, and it is estimated that 2.73 hectares of land can be irrigated with the effluents of the coke plant without deteriorating groundwater and soil quality.     

Assessing Landscape Functions with Broad-Scale Environmental Data: Insights Gained from a Prototype Development for Europe

We examine the advantages and disadvantages of a methodological framework designed to analyze the poorly understood relationships between the ecosystem properties of large portions of land, and their capacities (stocks) to provide goods and services (flows). These capacities (stocks) are referred to as landscape functions. The core of our assessment is a set of expert- and literature-driven binary links, expressing whether specific land uses or other environmental properties have a supportive or neutral role for given landscape functions. The binary links were applied to the environmental properties of 581 administrative units of Europe with widely differing environmental conditions and this resulted in a spatially explicit landscape function assessment. To check under what circumstances the binary links are able to replace complex interrelations, we compared the landscape function maps with independently generated continent-wide assessments (maps of ecosystem services or environmental parameters/indicators). This rigorous testing revealed that for 9 out of 15 functions the straightforward binary links work satisfactorily and generate plausible geographical patterns. This conclusion holds primarily for production functions. The sensitivity of the nine landscape functions to changes in land use was assessed with four land use scenarios (IPCC SRES). It was found that most European regions maintain their capacity to provide the selected services under any of the four scenarios, although in some cases at other locations within the region. At the proposed continental scale, the selected input parameters are thus valid proxies which can be used to assess the mid-term potential of landscapes to provide goods and services.     

Modeling of Indoor Air Treatment of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans Using High-Efficiency Particulate Air-Carbon Filtration

Abstract

A high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-carbon filtration system was developed by the Access Business Group, LLC, to reduce the indoor levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). The HEPA filter removes the particle-bound PCDD/Fs, and the carbon filter removes the gaseous fraction. Because of the toxicity of PCDD/Fs, it is very difficult to handle them in the laboratory. In this study, mathematical modeling was performed to evaluate the performance of the HEPA-carbon filtration system for PCDD/Fs removal and to optimize its design and operation. The model was calibrated with experimental data conducted with toluene in a sealed room. Model simulations with four selected congeners demonstrated that it takes ～1 hr for the indoor air treatment system to reach the maximum removal efficiency and that the carbon air filter has a life time of 10⁷ yr for dioxin removal. Given a zero emission from the HEPA filter, the overall removal efficiency is 78.7% for 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxins, 89.8% for octa-chlorodibenzodioxin, 78% for tetra-chlorodibenzofuran, and 89.8% for octachlorodibenzofuran. The larger the mass emission from the HEPA filter, the lower the overall removal efficiency, and the larger the ratio of the filter flow rate (Q_f) to the room flow rate (Q), the higher the overall removal efficiency. When the ratio of Q_f/Q is 15, an overall removal efficiency of 90% can be reached for all four of the selected compounds. The removal of the four selected compounds does not change as the relative humidity increases ≤90%.     

Comparison of emission of dioxins and furans from gasohol- and ethanol-powered vehicles

The exhaust emissions of 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were investigated in two spark-ignition light-duty vehicles, one gasohol-fueled and a flexible-fuel one fueled with hydrated ethanol. Gasohol is a mixture of gasoline and 22% ethanol. The influence of fuel type and quality, lubricant oil type, and use of fuel additives on the formation of these compounds was tested using standardized U.S. Federal Test Procedure (FTP)-75 cycle tests. The sampling of the PCDD/Fs followed the recommendations of a modified U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 23 (www.epa.gov/ttn/ emc/promgate/m-23.pdf) and the analysis basically followed the U.S. EPA Method 8290 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/ hazard/testmethods/sw846/pdfs/8290a.pdf). Results showed that emission factors of PCDD/Fs for the.gasohol vehicle varied from undetected to 0.068 pg international toxic equivalency (I-TEQ) km(-1) (average of 0.0294 pg I-TEQ km(-1)), whereas in the ethanol vehicle they varied from 0.004 to 0.157 pg (I-TEQ) km(-1) (average of 0.031 pg I-TEQ km(-1)). In the gasohol-powered vehicle, the use of fuel additive diminished the emission of Octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) significantly, whereas in the ethanol vehicle no significant associations were observed between the investigated variables and the emissions.     

Effect of insolation and overhead canopy on macrozoobenthos of tropical freshwater ponds

Distribution and abundance of macrozoobenthic species were investigated in open and shaded sites of tropical freshwater pond ecosystems in Kolkata. Water temperature of open sites was higher than the shaded sites but transparency value was lower at the lighted sites presumably related with the production of phytoplankton in the presence of sunlight. Diversity of species was recorded highest (26 species) along with total benthos density (5999 no/m²) at slightly illuminated open site. Mean biomass was also highest at the slightly illuminated open site. Total benthos density of macrozoobenthos was lower at the fully shaded and fully lighted sites. The greater occurrence and abundance of most macrozoobenthic species-including total benthos density and biomass at the slightly illuminated open site was probably associated with microhabitat suitability supported by moderate presence of macrophytes. Higher quality food (algae and algal detritus) and thermal suitability as well as phototactic attraction of motile epibenthic gastropods and other organisms contribute to the greater abundance and production of biomass at this site.     

Carcinogenic potential, levels and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures in indoor and outdoor environments and their implications for air quality standards

Both the World Health Organization and the UK Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS) have considered benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) as a marker of the carcinogenic potency of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) mixture, when recommending their respective guidelines for PAHs in outdoor air. The aim of this research is to compare the concentrations and relative abundance of individual PAH and their contribution to the overall carcinogenic potential of the PAH mixture in indoor and outdoor environments to assess the suitability of the UK air quality standard derived for outdoor air for use as a guideline for indoor environments. Samples were collected onto filters using active sampling in different indoor and outdoor microenvironments. The ratio of individual compounds to BaP, the BaP equivalent concentrations and the percentage contribution of each individual compound to the total carcinogenic potential of the PAH mixture were calculated. Mean concentrations were generally lower indoors (BaP=0.10 ng/m(3)) than outdoors (BaP=0.19 ng/m(3)), with the exception of indoor environments with wood burners (BaP=2.4 ng/m(3)) or ETS (BaP=0.6 ng/m(3)). The ratio of individual PAHs to BaP showed no significant differences between indoors (e.g. DahA/BaP=0.27) and outdoors (DahA/BaP=0.31). The relative contribution of BaP to the PAH overall carcinogenic potency is similar indoors (49%), outdoors (54%) and in the smelter environment (48%) used by EPAQS to derive the UK Air Quality Standard for ambient air. These results suggest the suitability of BaP as a marker for the carcinogenic potential of the PAH mixture irrespective of the environment. Despite small differences in PAH mixture composition indoors and outdoors, the level of protection afforded by the present EPAQS standard is likely to be similar whether it is applied to indoor or outdoor air.