A new process of combined pretreatment and dyeing: REST

Use of enzymes in textile processes has many advantages as far as the environmentally friendly processes are concerned. These advantages include water and energy savings, less chemical use, less fabric damage, mild and environmentally friendly process conditions. In this work, C.I. Reactive Yellow 15, C.I. Reactive Red 21 and C.I. Reactive Blue 19 were used to dye untreated woven cotton fabric in a laboratory scale dyeing machine, on a pilot scale jig and on a pilot scale winch by using a single bath combined process, in which various enzymes, namely, amylase, pectinase, and catalase were employed. This new process was named as the “Rapid Enzymatic Single-bath Treatment” (REST), since it was completed almost in half of the conventional dyeing time, and all of the stages, namely, desizing, scouring, bleaching and dyeing were carried out in a single bath without replacing the process water with fresh water until the end of the dyeing. In the REST process, the untreated, starch-sized fabric was first desized by amylase enzyme, and this was followed by a pectinase treatment in the same bath. The fabric was then bleached by H₂O₂ in the same bath, and after the hydrogen peroxide bleaching; the catalase enzyme was added to the bath to remove H₂O₂ residues before reactive dyeing. Without carrying out intermediate washings/rinsings between these processes, the reactive dyeing was carried out in a conventional way in the same bath, and finally, the fabric was taken from the bath and washed out. The colour yield was compared with the dyeings which were carried out conventionally in separate baths. Finally, the REST has many benefits in terms of water saving, reduced process time and energy consumptions compared to the conventional preparatory and dyeing process of cotton fabrics.     

Research on recycle of waste fluorescent lamp glasses and use as mineral filler in asphalt mixture

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In this study, utilization of waste fluorescent lamp as mineral filler in asphalt mixture was investigated. The phosphorus powder of fluorescent...     

The case for carbon leakage and border adjustments: where do economists stand?

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - While the EU is working toward the implementation of the world’s first Carbon Border Adjustment (CBA) Mechanism, a gap remains between the ways in...     

Classification of in-flight catering wastes in Egypt air flights and its potential as energy source (chemical approach)

Waste to energy conversion is based on the classification of waste. In-flight catering wastes resulting from Egypt Airlines economy class passengers were classified. The solid waste stream generated contains plastic, paper, left-over waste food and aluminum. The type of meal served varies according to the period of flight and so the quantity and content of the waste stream. It was found that the waste generation rate varied from 61.3 to 265 g according to the meal type. Breakfast snack meal generates the highest weight of waste which recorded an average of 265 g. Plastic waste generated varied from 39.6% to 64.6% by weight for the various types of meals served. A total amount of 725 tons were generated annually from organic waste (paper, plastic and food waste) among which a non combustible 39.4 tons of aluminum. The calorific value for each generated item is calculated and the total energy potential reached up to 14.3 TJ annually.     

A global perspective on the biology,impact and management of Chenopodium album and Chenopodium murale: two troublesome agricultural and environmental weeds

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Chenopodium album and C. murale are cosmopolitan, annual weed species of notable economic importance. Their unique biological features, including high...     

Incorporating organizational factors into probabilistic risk assessment of complex socio-technical systems: Principles and theoretical foundations

The current generation of Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA), particularly those for technical systems, does not include an explicit representation of the possible impacts of organization and management on the safety performance of equipment and personnel. There are a number of technical challenges in developing a predictive model of organizational safety performance. There is a need for a widely accepted and theoretically sound set of principles on which models of organizational influences could be developed and validated. As a result of a multidisciplinary effort, this paper explores the feasibility of developing such principles and proposes a set of principles for organizational safety risk analysis. Then, as a realization of the proposed modeling principles, a safety risk framework, named Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA), is developed. SoTeRiA formally integrates the technical system risk models with the social (safety culture and safety climate) and structural (safety practices) aspects of safety prediction models, and provides a theoretical basis for the integration. A systematic view of safety culture and safety climate leaves an important gap in modeling complex system safety risk, and SoTeRiA, describing the relationship between these two concepts, bridges this gap. The framework explicitly recognizes the relationship among constructs at multiple levels of analysis, and extends the PRA framework to include the effects of organizational factors in a more comprehensive and defensible way.     

学龄儿童肺功能水平影响因素的研究

用逐步回归分析方法对与室内、外空气污染和机体状况等有关的因素对广州市学龄儿童肺功能 (FVC、FEV1 、PEFR和 FEF2 5～ 75 )水平的影响进行研究。结果提示 ,影响肺功能水平的主要因素是内因 ,身高的影响最明显 ,呼吸系统疾病或症状发生与肺功能水平下降有关 ;室外空气污染使肺功能水平下降 ,SO2 、NOx 和 PM2 .5 的影响明显 ,PM2 .5 的影响明显大于 PM1 0 和 TSP;居室或厨房通风不良、家庭烹饪用不洁燃料对儿童肺功能的生长不利 ;被动吸烟对女性儿童肺功能有不利影响。对各种影响因素 ,PEFR和 FEF2 5～ 75 比 FVC和 FEV1 更为敏感     

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.     

Spatial analysis and facility characteristics of outdoor recreational areas in Istanbul

This article reports the results of a study that explored whether outdoor recreational areas are sufficient in Istanbul in terms of their surface area and facility characteristics. All the municipalities in 32 subprovinces of Istanbul were sent a survey in 2007 and asked to prepare a list of their outdoor recreational areas including their names, addresses, size, and facilities. All the data collected from the municipalities were used to create a GIS-based inventory by using GIS and remote sensing. As the study revealed, the outdoor recreational areas in Istanbul are far behind meeting the recreational needs of the residents in terms of area per person and facility characteristics. There are 2,470 areas which were dedicated to outdoor recreational activities in Istanbul. Total surface area of all these outdoor recreational areas is 19,2 sq kilometers; this means 1.52 m² recreational area per person in the city. This value is very low when compared to that of many cities in Europe and USA. As the study also revealed, the majority of outdoor recreational areas in Istanbul are poor in facility. Majority of the existing outdoor recreational areas are small and do not provide the public with many opportunities to engage in different outdoor activities. A more sustainable and efficient recreational plan is needed in Istanbul to meet the various recreational needs of its residents.     

In vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against Legionella isolated from environmental water systems: first results from Turkey

We evaluated the in vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against Legionella obtained from hotel and hospital water systems in three different regions of Turkey. Sixty-five Legionella strains (Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 [n?=?32], L. pneumophila serogroup 1 [n?=?27], L. pneumophila serogroup 3 [n?=?2], and Legionella spp. [n?=?4]) were tested against levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, azithromycin, and rifampicin. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of each antimicrobial agent for these strains was determined by the microdilution method using buffered yeast extract medium supplemented with 0.1% ketoglutarate broth. L. pneumophila ATCC 33152, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 were used as controls. Minimum inhibitory concentration values were in the following ranges: clarithromycin 0.001–0.5 mg/L, azithromycin 0.001–0.5 mg/L, levofloxacin 0.001–0.5 mg/L, ciprofloxacin 0.001–0.125 mg/L, and rifampicin 0.001– 0.5 mg/L. The MIC₉₀ for rifampicin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and clarithromycin were 0.015, 0.125, 0.06, 0.125, and 0.06 mg/L, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to determine in vitro activities of antimicrobial agents against Legionella species in Turkey. Rifampicin had the lowest MIC₉₀ value. It would seem that azithromycin and clarithromycin exhibit good activity as well as levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin against Legionella isolated from environmental water systems in Turkey.