White rot fungi can be a promising tool for removal of bisphenol A,bisphenol S,and nonylphenol from wastewater

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are a wide group of chemicals that interfere with the endocrine system. Their similarity to natural steroid...     

Decreasing the hazardous effect of waste quartz powder and the toxicity of epoxy resin by its synergistic application in industrial coatings

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Quartz powder sourced from industrial wastes is very hazardous. It is because it contains large amounts of fine particles. Thus, it has the potential...     

Regional challenges in tourist wetland systems: an integrated approach to the Ria Formosa in the Algarve, Portugal

Coastal change and coastal erosion have been a long-existing source of environmental changes. Traditionally, regional changes in wetland systems and their relations to agriculture, industry and urbanization are a major cause for concern. Nowadays, coastal distress has reached even global proportions: the problems of coastal change are strongly linked to the loss of fragile ecosystems, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. Given that over 70 % of all human activity is in coastal areas, it is clear that many environmental and socio-economic changes occur at a local level and manifest themselves in a spatial context. The physical effect on the geographic morphology is evident in the related consequences for land use. A deep understanding of the changes in land use, and simultaneously in coastal erosion, calls for the integrated monitoring of the most relevant effects in fragile regions. The Ria Formosa wetland system is a unique and very special wetland system in the Algarve (Portugal) and has been integrated in the NATURA 2000 network. The strong symbiosis between nature, agriculture and fisheries, as well as tourism, in the Algarve has led to spatial-ecological synergy. By using coastal recession analysis techniques by means of remote-sensed imagery from 1987, 1989, 2000 and 2007 and by combining this information with available data sets on surface erodibility, a cost surface on multitemporal transitions of land-use classes from the CORINE Land Cover data allows us to assess and integrate a decision-making framework by means of GIS. The novelty of this combined approach to land-use management is the blend of spatial analysis and remote-sensing techniques that share important information on ecosystems at risk. Our findings suggest a growing concern to the area brought by anthropogenic activity. This is studied to a spatial accounting of the distribution of land changes and transitions, where (1) a significant loss of coastal area is witnessed along the Ria Formosa, leading in particular to loss of agricultural land. (2) This loss is underpinned by an increase in leisure facilities to respond to the tourism demand of the region of the Algarve, while landscape metrics suggest that these areas are more volatile for coastal erosion. (3) Simulation through Markov chains on the land use and effects of urban, agricultural, forest and wetland dynamics suggests that by 2026, it is expected to continue to have an increase in urban land, leading to an augmented vulnerability of coastal erosion processes brought by the loss of forest areas which protect from erosion given the root system that directly protects from the existing wave energy and helps sedimentation processes. The above methodology and the availability of data that are freely available render such a combined approach interesting for many other regions of the world, where tourism, coastal change and regional balance are of the utmost importance for sustainable development. The advanced research tools presented here are of critical importance for coastal zone degradation management.     

Luminance of the Surround and Visual Fatigue of VDT Operators

Luminance distribution in the visual field is considered as one of causal factors with a significant influence on visual fatigue, especially for intensive and extended Video Display Terminal (VDT) work. The aim of the study was to define visual fatigue of VDT operators for different values of surrounding luminance. Experiments were carried out in laboratory conditions under 3 lighting conditions. Only 1 lighting parameter—the luminance of the wall behind the display (surrounding luminance)—changed. Visual fatigue was measured both by a subjective evaluation of different visual complaints (asthenopic symptoms) and by objective measurements of changes in the following visual functions: accommodation, convergence, habitual horizontal phoria, critical fusional frequency (CFF), and visual acuity. The same experiments were done for CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and LCD TFT (Liquid Crystal Display with Thin Film Transistor) screens. The results of the study have shown that there was no significant influence of the value of surrounding luminance on the asthenopic symptoms for either type of screen. A general tendency towards bigger visual complaints for LCD TFT than for CRT participants was found. An objective evaluation of visual fatigue demonstrated a tendency towards bigger changes in visual functions with an increase of surrounding luminance for both screens. Statistical analysis of the results has shown that surrounding luminance influences significantly the reduction of the accommodation amplitude (significance level < .05).     

Aspects of Tests and Assessment of Filtering Materials Used for Respiratory Protection Against Bioaerosols. Part II: Sweat in the Environment,Microorganisms in the Form of a Bioaerosol

The second part of the article presents the results of a study of antimicrobial activity of filter nonwovens with an addition of biocides, as a function of the presence of sweat in the environment and the method of microbe deposition on a nonwoven in the form of a liquid and a bioaerosol. At the same time, the filtration efficiency of nonwovens against microorganisms in the form of a bioaerosol was tested with the dynamic method. The results showed that the addition of sweat on the surface of a nonwoven resulted in an insignificant decrease of biological activity that still remained high. Moreover, an active nonwoven showed biostatic and biocidal activity only when microbes were deposited on the surface in the form of a solution. The nonwoven did not show any biological activity after deposition of microorganisms with the dynamical method in the form of a bioaerosol.     

A Contribution to the Study of the Antidust Respirators’ Real Performance

In most industrial enterprises, hazardous factors are present in quantities exceeding permissible levels. Such a situation requires using antidust respiratory protection. It has been suggested, however, that filters for respirators are not assessed properly and that lab results might not be related to real filtering efficiency in industry. This article contains test results of some commercially available filtering half-masks, including the effect of loading with real dust, high humidity, high temperature, and a combination of loading with dust and high humidity on the half-masks’ performance. The results show that the effect of these factors is considerable and that a combination of loading with silica dust and exposing to high humidity can cause a complete loss of performance.     

Assessment of waste management technology using BATNEEC options, technology quality method and multi-criteria analysis

Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Costs (BATNEEC) options, technology quality method and multi-criteria analysis were proposed as means of developing indices for evaluating municipal waste management systems. The proposed indices can be treated as a tool for ranking the system taking into account technical, environmental, economic, social and other objectives, bearing in mind specific features of the area involved. The analysis was made for three different incineration plants (Spittelau in Vienna, Warsaw and Tarnobrzeg) together with alternative waste disposal versions (with or without biogas burning and with MBP Mechanical-Biological Process) and the waste management infrastructure. The results showed that incineration of waste is much more beneficial than disposal. These results conform to the waste hierarchy identified in EU Directive 2008/98, but the indices created are easy to interpret and useful as a tool for communicating with the public, which is often a crucial factor in determining the location of investment.     

Betaine removal during thermo- and mesophilic aerobic batch biodegradation of beet molasses vinasse: influence of temperature and pH on the progress and efficiency of the process

The key issue in achieving a high extent of biodegradation of beet molasses vinasse is to establish the conditions for the assimilation of betaine, which is the main pollutant in this high-strength industrial effluent. In the present study, aerobic batch biodegradation was conducted over the temperature range of 27-63°C (step 9°C), at a pH of 6.5 and 8.0, using a mixed culture of bacteria of the genus Bacillus. Betaine was assimilated at 27-54°C and the pH of 8.0, as well as at 27-45°C and the pH of 6.5. The processes where betaine was assimilated produced a high BOD(5) removal, which exceeded 99.40% over the temperature range of 27-45°C at the pH of 8.0, as well as at 27°C and the pH of 6.5. Maximal COD removal (88.73%) was attained at 36°C and the pH of 6.5. The results indicate that the process can be applied on an industrial scale as the first step in the treatment of beet molasses vinasse.     

Influence of anthropogenic transformations of river bed on plant and macrozoobenthos communities

This study describes the influence of urban area on plant communities and benthic invertebrates inhabiting the S?upia River (northern Poland). Ten plant communities and 37 macrozoobenthos taxa were determined during four seasonal samplings at 25 sampling sites (October 2005 and January, April, and August 2006). The obtained data set was statistically evaluated in order to reveal the influence of anthropogenic transformations on the investigated communities against the background of other abiotic factors. Multivariate regression tree (MRT) method was used for vegetation, while for benthic fauna, both MRT and artificial neural network (ANN) methods were applied. The following explanatory variables were used: season, water temperature, and salinity; location of a sampling site; degree of human impact on the riverbed; microhabitat; and substrate type. MRT analyses showed significant differences in plant community structure depending on the location of a sampling site, indicating the influence of anthropogenic pressure, while macrozoobenthos composition differed significantly only between seasons. The overall ANN model proved the importance of type and location of a sampling site for the approximation of benthic fauna density. Additionally, influence of the explanatory variables on the consecutive macrozoobenthos taxa was analyzed on the basis of separate ANN.     

The applicability of compost,zeolite and calcium oxide in assisted remediation of acidic soil contaminated with Cr(III) and Cr(VI)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The effect of soil amendments, i.e., compost, zeolite, and calcium oxide, on the chemical properties of soil contaminated with Cr(III) and Cr(VI) and...