Water input requirements of the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea

The deepest point on Earth, the Dead Sea level, has been dropping alarmingly since 1978 by 0.7 m/a on average due to the accelerating water consumption in the Jordan catchment and stood in 2008 at 420 m below sea level. In this study, a terrain model of the surface area and water volume of the Dead Sea was developed from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data using ArcGIS. The model shows that the lake shrinks on average by 4 km²/a in area and by 0.47 km³/a in volume, amounting to a cumulative loss of 14 km³ in the last 30 years. The receding level leaves almost annually erosional terraces, recorded here for the first time by Differential Global Positioning System field surveys. The terrace altitudes were correlated among the different profiles and dated to specific years of the lake level regression, illustrating the tight correlation between the morphology of the terrace sequence and the receding lake level. Our volume-level model described here and previous work on groundwater inflow suggest that the projected Dead Sea–Red Sea channel or the Mediterranean–Dead Sea channel must have a carrying capacity of >0.9 km³/a in order to slowly re-fill the lake to its former level and to create a sustainable system of electricity generation and freshwater production by desalinization. Moreover, such a channel will maintain tourism and potash industry on both sides of the Dead Sea and reduce the natural hazard caused by the recession.     

The use and safety of medications known to affect driving in Jordan: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the main driving-impairing medications used by drivers in Jordan, the reported frequency of medication side effects, the frequency of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) while using driving-impairing medicines, as well as factors associated with MVCs.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1,049 individuals (age 18–75 years) who are actively driving vehicles and taking at least one medication known to affect driving (anxiolytics, antidepressants, hypnotics, antiepileptics, opioids, sedating antihistamines, hypoglycemic agents, antihypertensives, central nervous system [CNS] stimulants, and herbals with CNS-related effects) was conducted in Amman, Jordan, over a period of 8 months (September 2013–May 2014) using a structured validated questionnaire.

Results: Sixty-three percent of participants noticed a link between a medicine taken and feeling sleepy and 57% stated that they experience at least one adverse effect other than sleepiness from their medication. About 22% of the participants reported having a MVC while on medication. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that among the participants who reported having a crash while taking a driving-impairing medication, the odds ratios were significantly higher for the use of inhalant substance (odds ratio [OR] = 2.787, P = .014), having chronic conditions (OR = 1.869, P = .001), and use of antiepileptic medications (OR = 2.348, P = .008) and significantly lower for the use of antihypertensives (OR = 0.533, P = .008).

Conclusion: The study results show high prevalence of adverse effects of medications with potential for driving impairment, including involvement in MVCs. Our findings highlight the types of patient-related and medication-related factors associated with MVCs in Jordan, such as inhalant use, presence of chronic conditions, and use of antiepileptics.     

Poly(Acrylic Acid) Grafted Sodium Alginate Di-Block Hydrogels as Efficient Biosorbents; Structure-Property Relevance

Naturally-based poly(acrylic acid) grafted sodium alginate di-block hydrogels were investigated as high efficiency biosorbents for copper(II) ion. The grafted di-block hydrogel was characterized using FTIR, TGA and SEM techniques. Blank and immobilized algal biosorbent beads formed via 2.0% (w/w) calcium ions were also investigated. Batch adsorption experiments revealed optimal pH dependence of copper(II) ion biosorption at pH 5.5 with high efficient copper(II) ion uptake of 98.5 mg/g. The dynamics studies showed that the high efficiency copper(II) ion biosorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics with significant contribution of intraparticle diffusion mechanism. The equilibrium data fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) adsorption isotherm models. Thermodynamics parameters for copper(II) biosorption on blank and immobilized algal beads depicted the spontaneous nature of the biosorption process. Such high efficiency, feasibility, simplicity, and low cost properties adapt the di-block biosorbent to be the next generation promising biosorbents for water decontamination and to help in the recovery of the missing ecologic harmony.     

Application of polyaniline-based adsorbents for dye removal from water and wastewater—a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Several industries release varying concentration of dye-laden effluent with substantial negative consequences for any receiving environmental...     

Extrication of biodiesel feedstock from early stage of food waste liquefaction

Biodiesel is commonly produced from vegetable oils, mostly edible and more expensive than petroleum diesel. By considering the cost of the conversion processes, cheap feedstock such as triglycerides and fatty acids (FA) extracted from early stage of food waste liquefaction has become a better choice than vegetable oils, as it could provide high yield of biodiesel without any compromise to food supply and other resources. In this study, FA from early stage of food waste liquefaction was extracted and tested for use as feedstock for biodiesel synthesis. The raw material was not pretreated but extraction was done by dry and wet methods. It was found that wet method could minimized the lost of short and medium-chained FA as well as reducing the number of steps required, thus, yielding higher amount of FA as feedstock. The effects of mixing, methanol ratio, reaction time and catalyst content were investigated for the acid-catalyzed esterification. The maximum biodiesel conversion obtained was 97.4 %.     

Stochastic modeling and optimization of medical waste collection in Northern Jordan

Jordan has witnessed a rapid increase in healthcare facilities during the last two decades. As a consequence, the amount of generated medical waste have been increased rapidly and a proper management system is indeed needed to eliminate the environmental and health hazards resulted from such waste. An approved medical waste treatment facility is the incinerator located at the northern region of Jordan which serves the four northern governorates. Two trucks are used to pickup waste from the hospitals in these governorates to be treated at the incinerator. In this paper, a route scheduling model is proposed to minimize the total travel distance which in turn minimizes transportation cost and reduces emissions. The proposed model takes into account the capacity of trucks, number of visits per week, timing between visits along with the service level required by the hospitals. An optimal routing schedule was found and verified. Compared to current routing schedule, a saving of 102 km per week was achieved.     

Local community acceptance of the rare earth industry: the case of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Malaysia

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the local community response to a newly installed rare earth (RE) refinery facility and the factors underlying its acceptance. House-to-house interviews, using structured questionnaire, were conducted in 2013 (N = 370). Results show that the community was divided into deciding whether they agreed with the presence of the facility, 41.36 % (for) and 41.62 % (against). The remaining fraction of the community was undecided, which made up 17.03 % of the total respondents. This paper identifies six significant predictors of risk acceptance: gender, education status, place of residence, Factor 1 (variables—perception of safety, concern on effects, and trust in the operators), Factor 2 (variables—social and individual benefits), and Factor 3 (variables—no confidence in government). This study gives insights on how the public respond to potential hazardous facilities and highlights the need for policy makers to consider public sentiment which can interfere with further expansion of the RE industry.     

Detection of veterinary drug residues in surface waters collected nearby farming areas in Galicia,North of Spain

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment has become a matter of concern in the last decade due to potential risks posed to non-target organisms and the potential for unintended human exposure via food chain. This concern has been driven by a high detection frequency for drugs in environmental samples; these substances are produced in large quantities and are used in both veterinary and human medicine, leading to deposition and potential effects in the environment. However, few studies have focused on the presence of pharmaceuticals in rural areas associated with farming activities in comparison to urban areas. The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of pharmaceutically active compounds in surface waters collected from urban and rural areas in northwestern Spain. A monitoring study was conducted with 312 river water samples analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Positive detection of pharmaceuticals was made for 51 % of the samples. Decoquinate, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxypyridazine and trimethoprim were the drugs most frequently detected, being present in more than 10 % of the samples. The sampling sites located downstream of the discharge points for wastewater treatment plants yielded the highest number of positive samples, 13 % of the positive samples were detected in these sites and 38 % of the samples collected near the collection point of a drinking water treatment plant were positive.