Effects of golpar (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Heracleum persicum</Emphasis> Desf.) and probiotics in drinking water on performance,carcass characteristics,organ weights,blood plasma constituents,and immunity of broilers

Increasing levels of Heracleum persicum (golpar) in drinking water were studied in broilers. Two hundred and forty-one-day-old male chickens were allocated to one of six treatments: control, without added phytogenics nor probiotics in drinking water, and probiotics at recommended manufacturer’s level (P) or 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 ml/l of golpar extract solution (G1, G1.5, G2, and G2.5 treatments, respectively) in drinking water. As a result of this study, no linear or quadratic trends in the feed intake (FI) and feed conversion rate (FCR) due to golpar supplementation were found. Body weight gain, final body weight, and relative carcass weight showed a positive linear response with increasing levels of golpar supplementation. Neither golpar nor probiotics had effects on the percentages of edible parts of the carcass. Golpar supplementation levels caused a linear negative response of the albumin content in blood plasma, whereas both abdominal fat as percentage of carcass weight and uric acid levels in blood plasma linearly increased. The effects on Ig responses were only observed at 42 days of age and were similar in probiotics and the highest level of golpar supplementation. Based on our results, both probiotics and golpar supplementation could improve broiler performance and immune function.     

Municipal solid waste effective stress analysis

The mechanical behavior of municipal solid waste (MSW) has attracted the attention of many researchers in the field of geo-environmental engineering in recent years and several aspects of waste mechanical response under loading have been elucidated. However, the mechanical response of MSW materials under undrained conditions has not been described in detail to date. The knowledge of this aspect of the MSW mechanical response is very important in cases involving MSW with high water contents, seismic ground motion and in regions where landfills are built with poor operation conditions. This paper presents the results obtained from 26 large triaxial tests performed both in drained and undrained conditions. The results were analyzed taking into account the waste particles compressibility and the deformation anisotropy of the waste samples. The waste particles compressibility was used to modify the Terzaghi effective stress equation, using the Skempton (1961) proposition. It is shown that the use of the modified effective stress equation led to much more compatible shear strength values when comparing Consolidated-Drained (CD) and Consolidated-Undrained (CU), results, explaining the high shear strength values obtained in CU triaxial tests, even when the pore pressure is almost equal to the confining stress.     

Quantitative gap analysis for the West Coast of Florida based on experts’ opinion

The primary objective of this study was to identify gaps in coastal and marine data available through the Gulf Geospatial Assessment of Marine Ecosystems (GAME) project for the west coast of Florida. A survey was designed and sent to more than 2,000 experts working with coastal and ocean issues in the Gulf of Mexico to elicit their opinions. The survey asked the experts to rank 12 data categories and score the relevance of four qualifiers (spatial resolution, temporal resolution, age of data, and level of detail) using a discrete choice approach. The statistical interpretation of experts?? responses allowed assigning a relative value to each available data set, based upon their qualifiers. The results were then displayed in a Geographic Information System to visually show how the total value for all data categories or for a specific data category varies spatially and to identify data gaps. It was found that the total data set value is generally higher within Tampa Bay and along the coast. Areas with low total value show a lack of data sets that have qualifiers falling within the ideal range, as per experts?? opinions. The gap maps created for this project are useful to identify priority areas where money should be invested for future data collection.     

Assessment of the impact of the meteorological meso-scale circulation on air quality in arid subtropical region

In this paper, COSMO numerical weather prediction model is used to simulate land-sea breeze circulation in the north coast of Oman and to analyze the variability of the PBL depth. Typical summer day 1st August 2009 and winter day 1st January 2009 were simulated and verified by surface observations. The COSMO model was initialized using the German global model which runs as 40 km resolution and 40 vertical layers. The simulations show differences in the onset, strength, and inland penetration of the sea breeze. The high sea-land thermal contrast in the summer season induces earlier onset and progression of the sea breeze with larger horizontal and vertical extents. The summer and winter inland penetration is simulated around 150 and 65 km, respectively. The PBL depth was defined from the verticals profiles of the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE). The simulated PBL height varied at 1,600 m in summer and 700 m in the winter case. These results are in general in good agreement with the simulations of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Data Assimilation System (NCEP-GDAS) model. The dispersive ability of the atmosphere was tested through the vertical mixing coefficient (VMC) generated by NCEP-GDAS simulations. The VMC during the summer simulated case is approximately four times larger than the respective one during the winter case. Consequently, during the advection of winter sea breeze, a shallow dome less than 100 m is shaped and forms an obstacle to the air-pollutant dispersion.     

Siting MSW landfill using weighted linear combination and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology in GIS environment (case study: Karaj)

Selection of landfill site is a complex process and needs many diverse criteria. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the suitability of the studied site as landfill for MSW in Karaj. Using weighted linear combination (WLC) method and spatial cluster analysis (SCA), suitable sites for allocation of landfill for a 20-year period were identified. For analyzing spatial auto-correlation of the land suitability map layer (LSML), Maron’s I was used. Finally, using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the most preferred alternative for the landfill siting was identified. Main advantages of AHP are: relative ease of handling multiple criteria, easy to understand and effective handling of both qualitative and quantitative data.As a result, 6% of the study area is suitable for landfill siting and third alternative was identified as the most preferred for siting MSW landfill by AHP.The ranking of alternatives were obtained only by applying the WLC approach showed different results from the AHP. The WLC should be used only for the identification of alternatives and the AHP is used for prioritization. We suggest the employed procedure for other similar regions.     

Model and algorithm for bi-fuel vehicle routing problem to reduce GHG emissions

Because of the harmful effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted by petroleum-based fuels, the adoption of alternative green fuels such as biodiesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) is an inevitable trend in the transportation sector. However, the transition to alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) fleets is not easy and, particularly at the beginning of the transition period, drivers may be forced to travel long distances to reach alternative fueling stations (AFSs). In this paper, the utilization of bi-fuel vehicles is proposed as an operational approach. We present a mathematical model to address vehicle routing problem (VRP) with bi-fuel vehicles and show that the utilization of bi-fuel vehicles can lead to a significant reduction in GHG emissions. Moreover, a simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to solve large instances of this problem. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on some random instances.     

Fluoride removal from aqueous solution by direct contact membrane distillation: theoretical and experimental studies

Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane was used for fluoride removal from aqueous solution. This study has been carried out on heat and mass transfer analyses in DCMD. The dusty-gas model was used to analyze the mass transfer mechanism and to calculate the permeate flux. The heat transfer is analyzed based on energy balance, and the different layers are considered as a series of thermal resistances. Mass transfer analysis showed that the transition Knudsen-molecular diffusion is the dominant mechanism to describe the transport of water vapor through the pores of the PVDF membrane. The most significant operating parameter is the feed temperature. The permeate increases sensitively with feed temperature and velocity, and it shows insignificant change with feed salts concentration. Heat transfer analysis showed the conduction through the matrix of the membrane presents the major part of available energy. The increasing feed temperature leads to increase thermal efficiency (TE) and decrease temperature polarization coefficient (TPC). The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical values. Therefore, it is suggested to work at high feed temperature, which will benefit both the thermal efficiency and permeate flux. The experimental results proved that DCMD process is able to produce almost fluoride-free water suitable for many beneficial uses.     

Comparative study of the sensitivity to cadmium of two populations of Gambusia affinis from two different sites

This study aims to demonstrate the influence of animals' origin on their sensitivity toward heavy metals. For this purpose, we compared LC(50) of cadmium in two populations of Gambusia affinis captured in two geographically isolated environments in the east of Tunisia; Oued El Gsil in the city of Monastir (S2) and Oued Chenini in the region of Gabes (S1). Although physicochemical parameters of the water (pH, dissolved oxygen and salinity) are similar in the two studied sites, cadmium concentrations in water, sediments and fish tissues from S1 are significantly higher (P < 0.01) than those from S2, 48-h and 96-h LC(50) of the (S1) population are significantly higher than those from S2. In the same way, the offspring of the polluted site (S1) population exhibit 48-h and 96-h LC(50) values much higher than those of the reference site (S2) population. These results show that the population of the Gabes region is more resistant to cadmium than that of the Monastir region and that this resistance could have a genetic basis. These results indicate the influence of the origin of animals that has to be taken into account not only in laboratory toxicity tests, but also in field ecotoxicological studies.     

Corynebacterium glutamicum as an indicator for environmental cobalt and silver stress–A proteome analysis

Cobalt and silver are toxic for cells, but mechanisms of this toxicity are largely unknown. Analysis of Corynebacterium glutamicum proteome from cells grown in control and cobalt or silver enriched media was performed by two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) followed by mass spectrometry. Our results indicate that the cell adapted to cobalt stress by inducing five defense mechanisms: Scavenging of free radicals, promotion of the generation of energy, reparation of DNA, reparation and biogenesis of Fe-S cluster proteins and supporting and reparation of cell wall. In response to the detoxification of Ag⁺ many proteins were up-regulated, which involved reparation of damaged DNA, minimizing the toxic effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and energy generation. Overexpression of proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis (1,4-alpha-glucan branching enzyme and nucleoside-diphosphate-sugar epimerase) upon cobalt stress and induction of proteins involved in energy metabolism (2-methylcitrate dehydratase and 1, 2-methylcitrate synthase) upon silver demonstrate the potential of these enzymes as biomarkers of sub-lethal Ag⁺ and Co toxicity.     

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions from water using polyaniline nanofibers modified gold electrode

Polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers were electrochemically synthesized on gold electrode using ethanol as soft template by the cyclic voltammetry technique. The PANI nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Linear sweep voltammetry was used to investigate electrocatalytic activity of the PANI nanofibers modified electrode toward the reduction of nitrate ions. Results showed that the electroreduction process strongly depends on the applied potential. At the potential value of about -0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl, the electroreduction of nitrate anions to nitrite anions was identified as the rate-determining step of the electroreduction process. In the potential range of -0.8 to -1.0 V, reduction of nitrite to hydroxylamine occurs, followed by the reduction to ammonia. At potentials more negative than -1.0 V, nitrite is directly reduced to ammonia. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of PANI nanofibers modified electrode in the electroreduction of nitrate ions compared to traditional reduction methods.