Internet Web-Based Information System for Scrap Vehicle Disposal in Taiwan

The scrap vehicle recycling program was formally initiated in 1995 when the illegal dumping issues of scrap tires and cars turn out to be intolerable in the society of Taiwan. The inherent complexity of such a recycling program, however, by integrating many public and private sectors that functions as a whole from the collection, storage, transport, treatment, and the disposal of scrape vehicles, makes the entire managerial efficiency hard to be maintained. Therefore, the state-of-the-art information technology via the use of the Internet platform becomes an indispensable tool to present a good communication mechanism, to provide the essential information sharing between all users and agencies, and to end up with improving the overall managerial efficiency. The idea using advanced web database along with geographical information system to help general public to dump their scrap vehicles smoothly and to make governmental agency control the disposal procedure easily could be one of the best solutions from the long-term environmental management perspective. This paper, representing contemporary progress of environmental management skill performed by the Foundation for Reduction, Reuse and Recovery, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in Taiwan, is designed to illustrate how to build up such a system, as named by the Scrap Vehicles Recycling Program Information System (SVRPIMS) in order to meet the requirement from both supply and demand sides of scrap vehicles disposal. Experience gained in this study indicates that the SVRPIMS successfully integrates the Coldfusion^® and Mapguide^® software engineering technologies on the World Wide Web (WWW) platform. After actual implementation in 1999, it proved that communication between users and agencies at various levels in the recycling program became much easier through instant information retrieval and analysis via such a system. Besides, SVRPIMS also provides two decision-support functionalities to assist in automatic search for the most appropriate dumping site for the users and to perform possible trading of spare parts for the recyclers through a logistic optimization analysis.     

Estimation of Land Use Specific Runoff and Pollutant Concentration for Tapi River Basin in India

Non-point source (NPS) pollution is the result of various land use practices such as agriculture, sites of construction and waste disposal, urban development and so on. The control of NPS pollution is possible by regular monitoring and assessment on watershed basis to educate people for implementing well-known structural and non-structural measures. Recent trend is to use GIS based modelling tool for assessment of rainfall-runoff and non-point loading. The approach requires generation and analysis of basin wide data on various features of land and estimates of Event Mean Concentrations (EMCs) of pollutants in the runoff. In the present paper, basin wide data in different districts of Tapi basin has been analysed for land use distribution; fertilizer application; low, medium and high-density habitation; and annual rainfall. Coefficients of runoff have been estimated considering pervious and impervious area for different land use types, and compared with the reported values for Indian conditions. The estimated mean annual runoff flow indicated that two districts Jalgaon and Dhule contribute maximum runoff to the Tapi River. Estimates of EMCs for BOD and nutrients (N and P) in the runoff from various districts are useful in GIS-based modelling study for NPS pollution assessment.     

Dynamic Hydrologic Simulation of the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM)

Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) consists of a pair of research watersheds, East Bear Brook (EBB) and West Bear Brook (WBB). Years of research and observations have shown both watersheds have high similarity in geographic and hydrologic characteristics; a simple comparison of hydrographs from these two watersheds further substantiates this similarity. The Object Watershed Link Simulation (OWLS) model was developed and used to simulate the hydrological processes within the BBWM. The OWLS model is a 3-dimensional, vector-based, visualized, physically-based, distributed watershed hydrologic model. Simulation results not only provide a close examination of hydrologic processes within a watershed, but also dynamically visualize the processes of flow separations and Variable Source Areas (VSA). Results from flow separations suggest that surface flow from riparian area is the predominate component for the flood rising limb and that macropore flow from riparian area dominates during the falling limb. Soil matrix flow has little effect flood period but is a persistent contributor to base flow. Results from VSA visualization demonstrate 3-D dynamic changes in surface flow distribution and suggest that downstream riparian areas are the major contributing area for peak flow. As water chemistry is highly relevant to the flow paths within a watershed, simulations have provided valuable information about source of stream flow and the water migration dynamics to support the study of watershed chemistry in the BBWM. More specific linkages between the chemistry behavior and the dynamic hydrologic processes should become the next simulation effort in the watershed study. There are many questions that are critical to watershed chemistry studies like: which flow component (surface flow, macropore flow, soil matrix flow) predominates during peak flows? How do the flow components distribute during a flood event? How do flow contributions differ between these two watersheds? Which portion of the watershed contributes the most to the peak flows? These questions remain unknown from previous observations and only can be addressed with a physically-based distributed model.     

Spatial patterns of nitrate,chloride, sulfate,and fluoride concentrations in the Woodbine Aquifer of north-central Texas

A geographic information system was used to map and analyze nitrate, chloride, sulfate, and fluoride concentrations in 110 wells tapping the Woodbine Aquifer. The study area, covering ninecounties in north-central Texas, includes large percentages of both urban and agricultural land uses. Land use maps were compared with solute concentration data, and statistics were applied to detect associations between solutes, well depth, andland use. Anthropogenic sources such as fertilizer applications and natural sources such as gypsum, lignite, and clay deposits controlled nitrate, chloride, and sulfate concentrations, each inversely correlated with well depth. However, only one nitrate observation – from a shallow well in the aquifer's outcrop zone – surpassed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 44.3 mg L^-1. By comparison, nearly half of the sulfate and several of the chloride observations surpassed the MCL of 250 mg L^-1for each of those ions. Volcanic ash deposits influenced fluorideconcentrations, which directly correlated with well depth. There were no statistically significant associations between solute concentrations and land use. Low recharge rates and confining layers have mitigated anthropogenic impacts on solute levels in the aquifer.     

灰色系统模型在总悬浮物预测中的应用

以１９８６－１９９４年东北某城市总悬浮物统计资料为依据，应用灰色系统理论ＧＭ（１，１）模型对总量浮物数值进行预测分析。     

新疆大气自动监测系统数据与同期隔日报数据对比及影响分析

全区19个城市大气自动监测系统于2005年1月正式开始运行,本文对系统的运行情况进行了简述,并对空气质量日报数据和同期的隔日报数据进行对比分析,对采用自动监测系统后空气污染指数的变化以及对环境管理决策产生的影响进行了讨论.     

Development of a Model for Simulation of Solute Transport in a Stream–Aquifer System

A model for simulation of solute transport in a dynamic stream–aquifer system is developed by integrating four existing sub-models. Interface packages are created to link the sub-models. The developed model is successfully used to simulate chloride transport in the stream–aquifer system of the Arkansas River and the Equus Beds Aquifer in Kansas and demonstrates that chloride concentration in the aquifer decreases in the vicinity of the simulated channel over time.     

Carbon Monoxide Concentration in a Street Canyon of Buenos Aires City (Argentina)

The analysis of three years of 8-h CO concentration values registered in a deep street canyon downtown shows high frequency of values that exceed WHO health protection guidelines. An inverse relationship between opposing percentiles of the distributions of CO concentrations and mean wind speed could be found. Data also showed a variation of mean CO values with prevailing wind direction. The averaged concentration value obtained when the sampler probe is on the leeward side is lower than the obtained when it is on the windward wall. A preliminary explanation of this feature may be related to the advection of polluted air from a high traffic density area nearby.     

Trace metals in the shells of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from the Poland coast of Baltic sea

The Odiel salt marshes (Marismas del Odiel) are an important nature area declared a Biosphere Reserve, but they are greatly affected by pollution from the Odiel River. Surface sediments from this area were analysed using the latest version of the BCR sequential extraction procedure to determine the fractionation of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn among four geochemical phases (acid-soluble, reducible, oxidisable and residual). The total content of each of the metals and As was also determined. The results showed high concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, with maximums of 791 mg kg⁻¹ of As, 8.5 mg kg⁻¹ of Cd, 2,740 mg kg⁻¹ of Cu, 1,580 mg kg⁻¹ of Pb and 3,920 mg kg⁻¹ of Zn. The concentrations of Cr, Mn and Ni were low since there are no sources of pollution by them in the area. A comparison of the metal and As levels with the sediment quality guidelines showed that the pollution is sufficient to produce noxious effects in aquatic organisms in most of the Odiel salt marshes. Based on the chemical distribution of the elements, it was found that Cd and Zn were the most mobile (i.e., elements that can pass easily into the water under changing environmental conditions). However, Cr, Fe, Ni and As were present in the greatest percentages in the residual fraction, which implies that these elements are strongly linked to the sediments.     

An Integrated Approach for Impact Assessment of Water Harvesting Techniques in Dry Areas: The Case of Oued Oum Zessar Watershed (Tunisia)

In the arid regions of Tunisia, considerable investments are being made to maintain the old water harvesting techniques and introduce new ones to capture the scarce amount of rainwater (100 mm to 230 mm annually) for agricultural and domestic purposes. However, no detailed assessment of the multiple effects and the costs and benefits of these techniques have been made so far. This paper summarizes the results of an in depth investigation of the multiple impacts (runoff mobilization, ground water recharge, agro-socio-economic impacts) of the water harvesting works undertaken in the watershed of oued Oum Zessar (southeastern Tunisia). The importance of interdisciplinary and integrated approaches was revealed through this detailed impact assessment and economic evaluation. In fact, the profitability of the water harvesting works depends largely on the criteria chosen. However, further refinements are needed to better include all possible impacts (positive and negative) that occur as a result of the installation of the water harvesting structures.     

The potential of remote sensing for monitoring land cover changes and effects on physical geography in the area of Kayisdagi Mountain and its surroundings (Istanbul)

The effect of land cover change, from natural to anthropogenic, on physical geography conditions has been studied in Kayisdagi Mountain. Land degradation is the most important environmental issue involved in this study. Most forms of land degradation are natural processes accelerated by human activity. Land degradation is a human induced or natural process that negatively affects the ability of land to function effectively within an ecosystem. Environmental degradation from human pressure and land use has become a major problem in the study area because of high population growth, urbanization rate, and the associated rapid depletion of natural resources. When studying the cost of land degradation, it is not possible to ignore the role of urbanization. In particular, a major cause of deforestation is conversion to urban land. The paper reviews the principles of current remote sensing techniques considered particularly suitable for monitoring Kayisdagi Mountain and its surrounding land cover changes and their effects on physical geography conditions. In addition, this paper addresses the problem of how spatially explicit information about degradation processes in the study area rangelands can be derived from different time series of satellite data. The monitoring approach comprises the time period between 1990 and 2005. Satellite remote sensing techniques have proven to be cost effective in widespread land cover changes. Physical geography and particularly natural geomorphologic processes like erosion, mass movement, physical weathering, and chemical weathering features etc. have faced significant unnatural variation.     

Dissolved oxygen content as an index of water quality in San Vicente Bay,Chile (36 degrees 45'S)

The present report describes some effects of industrial and municipal effluents on the waters of San Vicente Bay. Analyses ofthe main substances contained in the fishing industry effluentsuggest rating criteria based on the oxygen saturation of thewater as an assessment of organic pollution. Six cruises were carried out throughout the Bay, from June to December 1996. Watersamples were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, oil and grease content, and sediment samples for organic matter content. Waterparameters (salinity, temperature) were used to characterize theBay's hydrography, and to calculate values for oxygen saturation. The measurements demonstrated a local broad range of oxygen deficit, with a maximum of 45% in the winter to 95% in the spring. In November more than 65% of the Bay's area showed oxygendeficits greater than 40%. Organic matter was unusually high insediments along the northern sector of the Bay. The results suggest that the oxygen depletion was a representative parameterfor establishing a relative scale of water quality in this Bay.     

Signal-transfer modeling for regional assessment of forest responses to environmental changes in the southeastern United States

Stochastic transfer of information in a hierarchy of simulators is offered as a conceptual approach for assessing forest responses to changing climate and air quality across 13 southeastern states of the USA. This assessment approach combines geographic information system and Monte Carlo capabilities with several scales of computer modeling for southern pine species and eastern deciduous forests. Outputs, such as forest production, evapotranspiration and carbon pools, may be compared statistically for alternative equilibrium or transient scenarios providing a statistical basis for decision making in regional assessments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Diversity of epiphytic lichens and metal contents of Parmelia caperata thalli as monitors of air pollution in the town of Pistoia (c Italy)

The results of a biomonitoring survey carried out in the town of Pistoia (central Italy) using the biodiversity of epiphytic lichens and the accumulation of heavy metals in thalli of Parmelia caperata as indicators of air pollution are reported. Compared to previous surveys, the overall situation generally improved, with higher lichen diversity at most stations and lower metal concentrations in P. caperata thalli. However, the general picture according to a calibrated scale of environmental naturality/alteration was substantially negative, with about 87% of the study area classified as `altered' (including the lichen desert) or `semi-altered'. To explain this apparent contradiction, it has been suggested that lichen colonization is determined by declining SO₂ concentrations, while major injuries to lichen communities are caused by the constantly high levels of NO_X. In spite of the low levels of Pb measured in P. caperata thalli, vehicular traffic was excluded as the main source of atmospheric pollution. Domestic heating seems to be the main cause of changes in the diversity of epiphytic lichens in the study area.     

Spatial and Temporal Trends of Physicochemical Parameters in the Water of the Reconquista River (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

The Reconquista river is one of the most polluted watercourses in Argentina. More than 3 million people and over 10,000 industries are settled on its basin. The available data show that pollution is mainly related to the discharge of domestic and industrial liquid wastes that are poured into the river almost untreated. At present no site of the river can be characterized as free of pollutants. Samples were taken monthly from 5 sites of the river; some 18–20 physicochemical parameters were determined in each sample. Analyses revealed significant differences in the degree of deterioration between sites. Two of them, close to the source of the river (Cascallares-S₁ and Paso del Rey-S₂) resulted less polluted than the two points located close to the mouth of the river (San Martin-S₄ and Bancalari-S₅). The worsening of the water quality in S₄–S₅ was attributed to the discharges of the Moron stream, a tributary that flows into the main course of the river a complex mixture of non treated waste waters. PCA was used in the ordination of samples (sites, season and physicochemical parameters). In the PCA performed using all variables, the first principal component showed positive correlation with N-NH₄ ⁺, conductivity, orthophosphate, BOD₅, COD and alkalinity, and negative correlation with DO. The second principal component was positively correlated with pH, temperature and chlorophyll a and negatively with phenols and hardness. In respect to the spatial distribution, the plot of the scores for the first two components of samples taken in each sampling station showed S₁ and S₂ values displayed farthest at the left side of the X axis with high DO. In contrast, S₄ and S₅ values stayed at the right side of this axis with high N-NH₄ ⁺, conductivity, orthophosphate, BOD₅, COD and alkalinity; data of S₃ were “intermediate". In order to identify seasonal trends in the concentration of contaminants scores of cases labeled by season were plotted. The line drawn on the ordination plane showed that summer samples tended to converge to the upper right portion of the graph where pollution variables had more importance on the first axis, and along the second axis with high correlation with pH, temperature and chlorophyll a. Winter scores were settled in the left lower part of the plot with minor contribution of pollution parameters and more importance of DO on the first axis. Samples of autumn and spring did not fit a clear cut pattern. Deceased     

Migratory crustaceans as biomonitors of metal pollution in their nursery areas. The Lesina lagoon (SE Italy) as a case study

Lichens collected in an unpolluted forest (background) in November 2004, transplanted at 41 sampling sites along the Madina-Tetteh Quarshie road, retrieved in February 2005 and analysed were found to contain higher concentrations of Manganese (Mn), Vanadium (V), lead, Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni) than in the background area. Observations showed that of all the heavy metals studied, Manganese concentrations were highest at all sampling points with maximum values around a traffic light, an intersection and car fitting/mechanic workshops. Significant correlations were found between Ni and Mn, Mn and Cr and Mn and V. Statistical analysis also revealed a relatively even dispersion of the studied elements on the eastern side of the road than on the western side.     

Inorganic constituents of urban air pollution in the Lazio region (Central Italy)

A field study was carried out at six locations in the Lazio region (Central Italy) aimed at characterising atmospheric particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) from the point of view of the chemical composition and grain size distribution of the particles, the mixing properties of the atmosphere, the frequency and relevance of natural events. The combination of four different analytical techniques (ion chromatography, X-ray fluorescence and ICP for inorganic components, thermo-optical analysis for carbon compounds) yielded sound results in terms of characterisation of the air masses. During the first three months of the study (October-December 2004), many pollution events of natural (sea-salt or desert dust episodes) or anthropogenic nature were identified and characterised. More than 90% of the collected mass was identified by chemical analysis. The central role played by the mixing properties of the lower atmosphere when pollution events occurred was highlighted. The results show a major impact of primary anthropogenic pollutants on traffic stations and a homogeneous distribution of secondary pollutants over the regional area. An evaluation of the sources of PM and an identification of possible reliable tracers were obtained using a chemical fractionation procedure.     

Determination of heavy metal pollution with environmental physicochemical parameters in waste water of Kocabas Stream (Biga, Canakkale, Turkey) by ICP-AES

Waste water pollution of industrial areas can answer for the serious consequences of one of the most important environmental threats to the future. In this study, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry method (ICP-AES) is proposed to determine heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, Zn, Al, Fe, Ni, Co, Mn) and major elements (Ca, Mg) in waste water of Kocabas Stream. The concentration of metals in the waste water samples taken from 9 different stations (St.) in Biga-Kocabas Stream in November 2004 (autumn period) were determined after simple pretreatment of samples by the proposed ICP-AES method. An analysis of a given sample is completed in about 15 min for ICP-AES the method. The results of heavy metals concentrations in waste water were found between 0.00001–77.69610 mg l⁻¹ by the ICP-AES technique. The concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Mg and Ca 0.00001 (St.3,6,7) – 0.0087 mg l⁻¹ (St.9), 0.00001 (St.4-7) – 0.0020 mg l⁻¹ (St.8), 0.00001 (St.1,3-7,9) – 0.0041 mg l⁻¹ (St.2), 0.0620 (St.2) – 0.2080 mg l⁻¹ (St.3), 0.0082 (St.6) – 0.2290 mg l⁻¹ (St.8), 0.3580 (St.2) – 1.7400 mg l⁻¹ (St.3), 0.2240 (St.1) – 0.6790 mg l⁻¹ (St.3), 0.0080 (St.1) – 1.5840 mg l⁻¹ (St.3), 0.0170 (St.3) – 0.0640 mg l⁻¹ (St.2), 0.0010 (St.1,4,5,8) – 0.0080 mg l⁻¹ (St.3), 5.0640 (St.9) – 5.2140 mg l⁻¹ (St.1) and 43.3600 (St.2) – 77.6961 mg l⁻¹ (St.9), respectively. Also we measured environmental physicochemical parameters such as temperature, salinity, specific conductivity, total dissolved solid (TDS), pH, oxidation and reduction potential (ORP), and dissolved oxygen (DO) in the waste water at sampling stations.