Re-evaluation and re-classification of erionite series minerals

Governments and industries have introduced regulatory measures requiring safety controls to limit asbestos exposure of the general public and asbestos workers. Although erionite is a more potent health hazard mineral than asbestos, it has received far less attention. Precise definition of erionite, types of these fibrous minerals, and most importantly, characterization requirements still raise questions and often lead to arguments and even legal disputes. Many bulk erionite samples used in animal and cell experiments for carcinogenicity are not mineralogically pure. To test this hypothesis, we characterized two erionite standards from Rome, Oregon, and Pine Valley, Nevada, USA. These standards were characterized quantitatively using modern analytical techniques, and one of them, the erionite standard from Rome, Oregon, passed the required tests for positive identification, but the other, the erionite standard from Pine Valley, Nevada, did not. Furthermore, we observed ambiguous definitions, incorrect identifications, and inaccurate reporting of clinical investigations. To address this problem, we established characterization guidelines for positive identification of erionite using a modified balance error formula, and we re-evaluated and re-classified published erionite data from the literature as erionite-Ca, erionite-Na, and erionite-K. If data did not pass either the E% or Mg-content test, then we propose that reference to them in the literature be disregarded. Erionite requires special attention from the mineralogical community to help establish its true carcinogenetic properties. We believe that the characterization guidelines established in this paper will contribute to setting up rules and regulations for evaluation of erionite by regulatory agencies.     

Arsenic mineralization,source, distribution,and abundance in the Kutahya region of the western Anatolia,Turkey

Environmental exposure to arsenic (As) in the Kutahya region of the western Anatolia, Turkey has been reported to cause various types of arsenic-associated skin disorders (Dogan, Dogan, Celebi, & Baris, 2005). A geological and mineralogical study was conducted to find the sources and distribution of the As. Geogenic (background) levels were measured in samples collected from various sources in the Gediz, Simav, Tavsanli, Emet, Yoncali, Yenicekoy, and Muratdagi areas of the Kutahya region. Based on this analysis, we determined that natural sources are a domineering factor affecting the distribution of As, which was found: (1) mainly in evaporitic minerals, including colemanite (269–3900 ppm) and gypsum (11–99,999 ppm), but also in alunite (7–10 ppm) and chert (54–219 ppm); (2) in secondary epithermal gypsum, which has a high concentration of As in the form of realgar and orpiment along fracture zones of Mesozoic and Cenozoic carbonate aquifers; (3) in rocks, including limestone/dolomite (3–699 ppm) and travertine (5–4736 ppm), which are relatively more enriched in As than volcanics (2–14 ppm), probably because of secondary enrichment through hydrological systems; (4) in coal (1.9–46.5 ppm) in the sedimentary successions of the Tertiary basins; (5) in thermal waters, where As is unevenly distributed at concentrations varying from 0.0–0.9 mg/l. The highest As concentrations in thermal water (Gediz and Simav) correlate to the higher pH (7–9.3) and T (60–83°C) conditions and to the type of water (Na–HCO₃–SO₄ with high concentration of Ca, Mg, K, SiO₂, and Cl in the water). Changes in pH can be related to some redox reactions, such as the cation exchange reactions driving the dissolution of carbonates and silicates. Fe-oxidation, high pH values (7–9.3), presence of other trace metals (Ni, Co, Pb, Zn, Al), increased salinity (Na, Cl), high B, Li, F, and SiO, high Fe, SO₄ (magnetite, specularite-hematite, gypsum), and graphite, and the presence of U, Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, and B, especially in the Emet, Gediz, and Simav areas, are the typical indicators for the geothermally affected water with high As content. A sixth source of As in this region is the ground (0.0–10.7 mg/l) and the surface waters (0.0022–0.01 mg/l), which are controlled by water–rock interaction, fracture system, and mixing/dilution of thermal waters. The high As concentration in groundwater corresponds to the areas where pathological changes are greatest in the habitants. Arsenic in ground water also effects ecology. For example, only Juriperus oxycedrus and J. varioxycedrus types of vegetation are observed in locations with the highest concentration of As in the region. Branches and roots of these plants are enriched in As.     

Preparation and characterization of calcium alginate-based composite adsorbents for the removal of Cd,Hg, and Pb ions from aqueous solution

Composite adsorbent materials containing calcium alginate, clinoptilolite, and coal-derived humic acid were prepared. Humic acid (HA), clinoptilolite (CL), alginate (AL), alginate-entrapped humic acid (AL/HA), clinoptilolite (AL/CL), and humic acid/clinoptilolite (AL/HA/CL) samples were characterized. The effectiveness of the samples as adsorbents for the removal of cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) were studied in a series of batch-adsorption experiments. For the AL, AL/HA, AL/CL, and AL/HA/CL adsorbents, uptake versus time data were evaluated using two kinetic models, a linear and a non-linear pseudo-first-order and a pseudo-second-order model. The data for each metal ion on all adsorbents showed good correspondence with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin–Radushkevich, and Temkin isotherm models. The results show that a non-linear method seems more appropriate for obtaining isotherm parameters. The non-linear Freundlich and Langmuir models for Pb and Hg produced a best fit with high R ² value (0.99). For HA adsorbent, the equilibrium data for Cd removal better fit to the non-linear Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm.     

Inheritance of pod and seed traits in chickpea

A 4 x 4 full-diallel cross was studied to estimate the gene effects and genetic parameters of pod and seed traits. According to Hayman's method, additive genetic variance was significant for pod length and seed length and width, also, both additive and dominance genetic variance were significant for pod thickness and width. As additive gene effects were significant for pod and seed traits, it is suggesting the selection of this traits early generations. Partial dominance was important for traits. The high narrow sense heritability of pod and seed traits was between 86 and 97%.     

The Effects of SO2 Pollutant on Forest Tree Needles at Mountainous Land around Izmir (Turkey)

Around the city of Izmir, Yamanlar – Manisa (north) Karabelen (south) andKemalpasa mountainous areas exist. The forested area in total covers 122,613.5 ha on these mountainous areas. This forested area has 6,146,387 m³ of wood potential. Industrial complex surroundingthe Aliaga, and thermo-electric power plants working with lignitecoal in the Soma region and some other small industrial establishmentsare located around Izmir and Manisa. These establishements have a vital importance in polluting the air. The forest, which suffers especially from SO₂ pollution, consists of Pinus brutia and Pinus nigra. Sulphur contents in 1, 2, 3 yr old needles of the trees were determined to range between 2000–8000 ppm. Microscopic investigation of the tree needles revealed that black blights on the needles indicate destruction of the cells. Annual ring thickness of trees measured showed that there has been a reduction in the forest growth and thisreduction is becoming more serious each year. Reduction in the wood production causes hundreds of billions of Turkish lira of economic loss to the Forestry Administration. It has been concluded at the end of this study that in order to stop theharm that the forests suffer, industrial establishments must pay an `ecological costs' to be added to their product cost items.     

水稻杂交后代表观直链淀粉质量分数与蜡质基因(CT)n微卫星多态性的相关性

以来自２ 个水稻杂交组合的后代遗传群体为材料,研究了蜡质基因（ Ｗｘ） 微卫星标记（ＣＴ）ｎ 多态性与稻米表观直链淀粉质量分数（ ｗ（ＡＡ）） 之间的相关性． 第１ 个群体是浙农８０１０ 与嘉育２９３ 的杂交Ｆ６ 代育种品系,双亲均为籼稻,ｗ（ＡＡ） 分别为８ ．７％ 和２５．６ ％ ,Ｗｘ 基因型为分别为（ＣＴ）１８（ＣＴ）１８ 和（ＣＴ）１１（ＣＴ）１１ ．另一群体为ＣＭ１０１ 与ＩＧＲＡ４０９ 杂交Ｆ５ 家系,亲本ＣＭ１０１ 为一个粳型糯稻,Ｗｘ 基因型为（ＣＴ）１８（ＣＴ）１８ ;ＩＧＲＡ４０９ 为籼稻,ｗ（ＡＡ） ＝ ２７．５％ ,Ｗｘ 基因型为（ＣＴ）１１（ＣＴ）１１ ．结果发现,在２ 个杂交组合的后代群体中,高ｗ（ＡＡ） 材料Ｗｘ 基因型均为（ＣＴ）１１（ＣＴ）１１ ,低ｗ（ＡＡ） 及糯稻的均为（ＣＴ）１８（ＣＴ）１８ ,中等ｗ（ＡＡ） 材料的则为（ＣＴ）１８（ＣＴ）１１ 的杂合体．统计分析表明,Ｗｘ 基因型与ｗ（ＡＡ）之间存在显著的相关性,在浙农８０１０×嘉育２９３ 和ＣＭ１０１ ×ＩＧＲＡ４０９ 两个群体中相关系数分别达０ ．９５０９ 和０．９７０４．     

The impacts of organizational green culture and corporate social responsibility on employees’ responsible behaviour towards the society

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and organizational green culture (OGC) play a significant role in developing organizations and...     

Modeling biological oxygen demand of the Melen River in Turkey using an artificial neural network technique

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are being used increasingly to predict and forecast water resources' variables. The feed-forward neural network modeling technique is the most widely used ANN type in water resources applications. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the abilities of an artificial neural networks' (ANNs) model to improve the accuracy of the biological oxygen demand (BOD) estimation. Many of the water quality variables (chemical oxygen demand, temperature, dissolved oxygen, water flow, chlorophyll a and nutrients, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) that affect biological oxygen demand concentrations were collected at 11 sampling sites in the Melen River Basin during 2001-2002. To develop an ANN model for estimating BOD, the available data set was partitioned into a training set and a test set according to station. In order to reach an optimum amount of hidden layer nodes, nodes 2, 3, 5, 10 were tested. Within this range, the ANN architecture having 8 inputs and 1 hidden layer with 3 nodes gives the best choice. Comparison of results reveals that the ANN model gives reasonable estimates for the BOD prediction.     

The assessment of the malignant mesothelioma cases and environmental asbestos exposure in Sivas province, Turkey

One of the most significant diseases related to environmental asbestos exposure is malignant mesothelioma (MM). Sivas province is located in the Central Anatolia where asbestos exposure is common. We aimed to study clinical, demographical and epidemiologic features of the patients with MM in Sivas, along with the history of asbestos exposure. In total, 219 patients with MM who were diagnosed in our hospital between 1993 and 2010 were retrospectively analyzed in terms of demographical and clinical features. Rock, soil and house plaster samples were taken from the habitats of those patients and were evaluated with optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The age of the patients ranged between 18 and 85 years. The male-to-female ratio was 1.4:1. Most of the patients confirmed an asbestos exposure history. The most frequent symptoms of the patients were chest pain (60 %) and dyspnea (50 %). The gap between the start of first symptoms and the diagnosis date was approximately 4 months in average. The plaster materials used in most of the houses were made up of mainly carbonate and silicate minerals and some chrysotile. Ophiolitic units contained fibrous minerals such as serpentine (clino + orthochrysotile) chiefly and pectolite, brucite, hydrotalcite and tremolite/actinolite in smaller amounts. MM is not primarily related to occupational asbestos exposure in our region, and hence, environmental asbestos exposure may be indicted. Yet, single or combined roles and/or interactions of other fibrous and non-fibrous minerals in the etiology of MM are not yet fully understood and remain to be investigated.