Images of war: using satellite images for human rights monitoring in Turkish Kurdistan

In areas of war and armed conflict it is difficult to get trustworthy and coherent information. Civil society and human rights groups often face problems of dealing with fragmented witness reports, disinformation of war propaganda, and difficult direct access to these areas. Turkish Kurdistan was used as a case study of armed conflict to evaluate the potential use of satellite images for verification of witness reports collected by human rights groups. The Turkish army was reported to be burning forests, fields and villages as a strategy in the conflict against guerrilla uprising. This paper concludes that satellite images are useful to validate witness reports of forest fires. Even though the use of this technology for human rights groups will depend on some feasibility factors such as prices, access and expertise, the images proved to be key for analysis of spatial aspects of conflict and valuable for reconstructing a more trustworthy picture.     

Mikrobielle Sanierung von 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluol (TNT) kontaminierten Böden

Within the limits of a feasability study abouton-site bioremediation methods for TNT-contaminated soils, composting was chosen as a very promising and cheap method. This method was critically compared with those described in the literature and was primarily rated under ecotoxicological aspects. The investigated location is the former munition plant «Tanne» in the aerea of Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Lower Saxony, Germany. To estimate the autochtonic microflora, we assessed the number of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria and determined their respiration activity in soils. In addition, we isolated bacteria and examined their capacity to metabolize TNTin vitro. Both the amount of autochtonic microrganisms (4.7×10⁸ to 1.2×10¹⁰ colony forming units (cfu)/kg dryweight) as well as their respiration activity did not correlate with the concentrations of nitrotoluenes in the soils. With high contaminated soil (20 g TNT/kg dry weight) we carried out a small compost in the range of 10 liters. During 28 days of composting TNT-concentration decrease over 90% and only minor amounts of monoaminodinitrotoluenes were generated. However, an acidic pretreatment of the compost material at the end of the reaction showed that TNT could be partially resolved under these extreme conditions and that an ecotoxicological risk may still exist. Possible changes in the realization of the composting process in order to make sure that the contaminants are savely bound to the humin matrix are discussed.     

Exposure to radiation from global system for mobile communications at 1,800 MHz significantly changes gene expression in rat hippocampus and cortex

We have earlier shown that radio frequency electromagnetic fields can cause significant leakage of albumin through the blood–brain barrier of exposed rats as compared to non-exposed rats, and also significant neuronal damage in rat brains several weeks after a 2 h exposure to a mobile phone, at 915 MHz with a global system for mobile communications (GSM) frequency modulation, at whole-body specific absorption rate values (SAR) of 200, 20, 2, and 0.2 mW/kg. We have now studied whether 6 h of exposure to the radiation from a GSM mobile test phone at 1,800 MHz (at a whole-body SAR-value of 13 mW/kg, corresponding to a brain SAR-value of 30 mW/kg) has an effect upon the gene expression pattern in rat brain cortex and hippocampus—areas where we have observed albumin leakage from capillaries into neurons and neuronal damage. Microarray analysis of 31,099 rat genes, including splicing variants, was performed in cortex and hippocampus of 8 Fischer 344 rats, 4 animals exposed to global system for mobile communications electromagnetic fields for 6 h in an anechoic chamber, one rat at a time, and 4 controls kept as long in the same anechoic chamber without exposure, also in this case one rat at a time. Gene ontology analysis (using the gene ontology categories biological processes, molecular functions, and cell components) of the differentially expressed genes of the exposed animals versus the control group revealed the following highly significant altered gene categories in both cortex and hippocampus: extracellular region, signal transducer activity, intrinsic to membrane, and integral to membrane. The fact that most of these categories are connected with membrane functions may have a relation to our earlier observation of albumin transport through brain capillaries.     

成都市大气颗粒物粒径分布及其对能见度的影响

使用环境颗粒物分析仪（GRIMM180）对成都市2018年10月—2019年9月0.25~32 μm的大气颗粒物数浓度粒径分布进行观测,结合细颗粒物（PM_2.5）质量浓度以及相对湿度（RH）、能见度、降水量等气象要素数据,分析了成都市大气颗粒物粒径分布及其与能见度的关系.结果表明,观测期间成都市大气颗粒物以细粒子为主,0.25~0.5 μm的粒子数浓度占总数浓度的97.75%,数浓度谱呈单峰分布,2018年秋季、2019年夏季表面积谱呈双峰分布,2018年冬季、2019年春季表面积谱呈三峰,体积谱均为三峰分布;在不同RH区间,PM_2.5质量浓度及数浓度均与能见度呈负相关,且其中0.25~0.5 μm粒径段的细颗粒物因为对可见光波段的米散射效应而对能见度产生较大影响;在不同RH情况下,不同粒径段颗粒物数浓度对能见度的影响程度有所差别：在低RH（<70%）下,0.25~0.3 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度影响最大;在中等RH（70%~80%）下,0.3~0.5 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度的影响最大;而在高RH（>80%）下,0.3~0.5 μm和0.5~1 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度影响相当.     

Using Wet-FGD systems for mercury removal

A plan to control mercury emissions to the atmosphere and to establish mercury emission limits has recently been elaborated by the European Commission, making it necessary to devise an efficient and cost effective mercury removal technology. Towards this end wet flue gas desulfurization units appear as a promising option for multi-pollutant control. However, more investigation on mercury removal and a greater mercury removal efficiency are required to achieve this objective. In the present work scrubber chemistry and the application of various solid additives to enhance mercury removal in wet scrubbers is evaluated. The results obtained show a significant correlation between mercury removal efficiency and the pH of the scrubber slurry and SO2 concentration. A weaker correlation was observed between oxygen or slurry concentration and removal efficiency. Finally several solid oxides were found to be effective additives for enhancing mercury capture in wet scrubbers.