Processes involved in uptake and release of nitrogen dioxide from soil and building stones into the atmosphere

Atmospheric NO₂ was taken up by samples of various soils and building stones. The NO₂ uptake rate constants were highest in soil samples taken during the summer months. However, the NO₂ uptake rate constants of the soils and building stones were not significantly correlated with any of the following variables: moisture, pH, ammonium, nitrite, or nitrate. NO₂ uptake by soil and stone was not abolished by autoclaving indicating a chemical uptake process. NO₂ uptake by acidic and air-dry soils and stones resulted in nearly stoichiometric reduction of NO₂ to NO. This reduction was enhanced by the addition of ferrous iron and was further enhanced by incubation under 1 ppmv SO₂. The results suggest that NO₂ reduction may be coupled to oxidation of ferrous to ferric iron which may be reduced again by atmospheric SO₂ thus regenerating the ferrous iron content of the soil or stone. Conversion of NO₂ to NO was not observed in neutral or/and moist soils and stones. NO₂ was also taken up by purified and sterilized quartz sand moistend with water. This uptake was enhanced by addition of humic material but not by addition of bacteria which both had been extracted from genuine soil. Under most conditions, only uptake but no release of NO₂ was observed. However, NO₂ was released in air-dry soils that were heated to 45–65°C, or in ammonium-fertilized soil or stone that was drying up at room temperature. Under the latter conditions mimicking field practice, the NO₂ release reached rates that were similar to the NO release rates.     

Effects of bed materials on the performance of an anaerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor treating domestic sewage

The objective of this study was to determine the best performance of an anaerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor (AnSBBR) based on the use of four different bed materials as support for biomass immobilization. The bed materials utilized were polyurethane foam (PU), vegetal carbon (VC), synthetic pumice (SP), and recycled low-density polyethylene (PE). The AnSBBR, with a total volume of 7.2L, was operated in 8-h batch cycles over 10 months, and fed with domestic sewage with an average influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 358+/-110mg/L. The average effluent COD values were 121+/-31, 208+/-54, 233+/-52, and 227+/-51mg/L, for PU, VC, SP, and PE, respectively. A modified first-order kinetic model was adjusted to temporal profiles of COD during a batch cycle, and the apparent kinetic constants were 0.52+/-0.05, 0.37+/-0.05, 0.80+/-0.04, and 0.30+/-0.02h(-1) for PU, VC, SP, and PE, respectively. Specific substrate utilization rates of 1.08, 0.11, and 0.86mg COD/mgVS day were obtained for PU, VC, and PE, respectively. Although SP yielded the highest kinetic coefficient, PU was considered the best support, since SP presented loss of chemical constituents during the reactor's operational phase. In addition, findings on the microbial community were associated with the reactor's performance data. Although PE did not show a satisfactory performance, an interesting microbial diversity was found on its surface. Based on the morphology and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) results, PE showed the best capacity for promoting the attachment of methanogenic organisms, and is therefore a material that merits further analysis. PU was considered the most suitable material showing the best performance in terms of efficiency of solids and COD removal.     

Some observations of the structure of the choroid plexus and its cysts

The structure of the choroid plexus was studied in five normal human embryos, three normal fetuses and three fetuses with choroid plexus cysts. These were detected by ultrasound and the fetuses were karyotypically normal. The choroid plexus appears in the lateral cerebral ventricles at the seventh developmental week. The early structure is lobulated with vessels running in the mesenchymal stroma and forming capillary nets under the single-layered ependymal epithelium. This embryonal structure is converted into the fetal type during the ninth developmental week as the embryonal capillary net is replaced by elongated loops of wavy capillaries that lie under regular longitudinal epithelial folds. The choroid plexus cysts exhibited accumulation of fluid within distended mesenchymal stroma and did not show the wavy folds on this surface, which was smooth. Within this connective tissue of the cyst wall were distended angiomatous interconnecting thin-walled capillaries. Therefore, filled cavities were not lined by any epithelium. We suggest that fetal choroid plexuses cysts (at least in many cases) are in fact pseudocysts exhibiting angiomatous patterns of capillaries in their walls. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of new technologies in reducing energy demand

Energy efficiency is often stated to be the most cost-effective measure for satisfying our energy demand with minimal environmental damage. However, the potential energy savings attainable in 'the real world' are frequently overestimated, as is shown in an industrial case study of the glass industry. Nevertheless, there are significant energy savings to be realized, and the role of new technologies in this is important. However, the key to the effective use of new technology for improved energy efficiency is good management and. for best effect, it must be integrated into the normal resource management activities of a company.     

Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously: a comparative analysis of twenty-four US cities

After briefly reviewing some conceptual underpinnings of sustainable cities, this paper analyses and compares sustainable cities initiatives in 24 US cities. The central question addressed in the paper is why some cities seem to take sustainability more seriously than others. Numerous demographic, socioeconomic and other characteristics of the cities are correlated with an Index of Taking Sustainability Seriously, which is a composite of some 34 different variables indicating whether each city engages in specific sustainability programmes, policies or activities. Many of the standard explanations, such as the income and wealth of the community, the liberalness of the city and the growth pressures placed on the city, are found to exhibit no correlation with the seriousness of the sustainability effort. What do correlate with the Index are: reliance on manufacturing, where having more residents employed in manufacturing industries is associated with less seriousness; and, the age of the population, where cities with older populations take sustainability more seriously. This has three implications for the future development of sustainable cities. First, some of the cities that might be said to need sustainability programmes the most--cities with heavy manufacturing that are more prone to pollution production--are the least likely to take such programmes seriously. Secondly, as cities' manufacturing bases decline, they should find it increasingly feasible to engage in sustainability initiatives. And, thirdly, as the populations of cities age, policy-makers should also find it easier to support, develop and take seriously sustainability programmes.     

Multicriteria Group Decision-making Model for Environmental Conflict Analysis in the Cape Region,Mexico

This paper is concerned with developing a model for group decision making under multiple criteria. The multiple criteria group decision making (MCGDM)problem involves a set of feasible land use patterns that are evaluated on the basis of multiple, conflicting and noncommensurate criteria by a group of individuals. The model integrates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and an integer mathematical programming method. The former provides a tool for structuring the decision problem and determining land suitability for different socio-economicactivities (the uses of land), the latter is used to identify the land use pattern that maximizes consensus among interest groups. The model is used to analyze environmental conflict over land resource allocation in the Cape Region of Mexico.