EFFECT OF FLOW VELOCITY ON SEDIMENT OXYGEN DEMAND: COMPARISON OF THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS1

ABSTRACT: Theoretical equations that establish the relationship between sediment oxygen demand (SOD) in a lake and the flow velocity and dissolved oxygen concentration in the bulk water already exist. These theoretical equations for oxygen consumption in the sediment express biological consumption with Michaelis-Menten kinetics, and chemical consumption by a first order reaction. Data from laboratory experiments that were conducted to validate the theoretical equations also exist. These experiments were performed in a laboratory channel with well defined flow characteristics for three types of sediments. Herein, the theoretical equations are used to model the experimental data for the three types of sediments. The values used for the parameters in the theoretical equations are determined by iteration until a best fit is obtained for the relationship of SOD to flow velocity from both the theoretical model and experimental data. The goodness of fit is measured by the standard error of prediction and the regression coefficient.     

Substance-related environmental monitoring strategies regarding soil, groundwater and surface water — an overview

Substance-related monitoring is an essential tool within environmental risk assessment processes. The soundness of policy decisions including risk management measures is often directly related to the reliability of the environmental monitoring programs. In addition, monitoring programs are required for identifying new and less-investigated pollutants of concern in different environmental media. Scientifically sound and feasible monitoring concepts strongly depend on the aim of the study. The proper definition of questions to be answered is thus of pivotal importance. Decisions on sample handling, storage and the analysis of the samples are important steps for the elaboration of problem-oriented monitoring strategies. The same applies to the selection of the sampling sites as being representative for scenarios to be investigated. These steps may become critical to handle for larger international monitoring programs and thus trigger the quality of their results. This study based on the work of an IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) task group addresses different kinds and approaches of substance-related monitoring of different compartments of soil, groundwater and surface water, and discusses their advantages and limitations. Further important aspects are the monitoring across policies and the monitoring data management using information systems.     

Contaminants in American alligator eggs from Lake Apopka,Lake Griffin,and Lake Okeechobee,Florida

Residues of organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and 16 elements were measured in American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) eggs collected in 1984 from Lakes Apopka, Griffin, and Okeechobee in central and south Florida. Organochlorine pesticides were highest in eggs from Lake Apopka. None of the elements appeared to be present at harmful concentrations in eggs from any of the lakes. A larger sample of eggs was collected in 1985, but only from Lakes Griffin, a lake where eggs were relatively clean, and Apopka, where eggs were most contaminated. In 1985, hatching success of artificially incubated eggs was lower for Lake Apopka, and several organochlorine pesticides were higher than in eggs from Lake Griffin. However, within Lake Apopka, higher levels of pesticides in chemically analyzed eggs were not associated with reduced hatching success of the remaining eggs in the clutch. Therefore, it did not appear that any of the pesticides we measured were responsible for the reduced hatching success of Lake Apopka eggs.     

Ability of transgenic poplars with elevated glutathione content to tolerate zinc(2+) stress

Phytoremediation potentials of four poplar lines, Populus nigra (N-SL clone), Populus canescens, and two transgenic P. canescens clones were investigated using in vitro leaf discs cultures. The transgenic poplars overexpressed a bacterial gene encoding gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase in the cytosol (11ggs) or in the chlopoplasts (6LgI), and therefore, they contained an elevated level of glutathione. Leaf discs of poplar clones were exposed to different concentrations of ZnSO(4) for 21 days. Zinc(2+) was phytotoxic only at high concentrations (10(-2) to 10(-1) M) at all P. canescens lines, but P. nigra was more sensitive. Transgenic poplars showed elevated heavy metal uptake as compared to the nontransformed clones. Treatments with zinc(2+) strongly induced the activity of glutathione S-transferase enzyme in untransformed poplar lines but to a lesser extent in the transgenic clones. These results suggest that transgenic poplars are more suitable for phytoremediation of soils contaminated with zinc(2+) than wild-type plants.     

Sperm morphology, swimming velocity, and longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus

Sperm competition exerts strong selection on males to produce spermatozoa with an optimal morphology that maximizes their fertilization success. Long sperm were first suggested to be favored because they should swim faster. However, studies that investigated the relationship between sperm length and sperm competitive ability or sperm swimming velocity yielded contradictory results. More recently, ratios of the different sections of a spermatozoon (the head, midpiece, and flagellum) were suggested to be more crucial in determining swimming velocity. Additionally, sperm ability to remain and survive in the female storage organs may also influence fertilization success, so that optimal sperm morphology may rather maximize sperm longevity than velocity. In this study, we investigated how sperm morphology is related to sperm velocity and sperm longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus. Sperm velocity was found to be correlated with head/flagellum ratio. Sperm with small heads relative to their flagellum showed higher swimming velocity. Additionally, shorter sperm were found to live longer. Finally, we found sperm morphological traits to vary substantially within males and the head/flagellum ratio to be unrelated to total sperm length. We discuss the hypothesis that the substantial within-male variation in sperm morphology reflects a male strategy to produce a diversity of sperm from long, fast-swimming to short, long-living sperm to maximize their fertilization success in a context of sperm competition.     

Bioethanol from waste: Life cycle estimation of the greenhouse gas saving potential

This paper considers two alternative feedstocks for bioethanol production, both derived from household waste—Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been carried out to estimate the GHG emissions from bioethanol using these two feedstocks. An integrated waste management system has been considered, taking into account recycling of materials and production of bioethanol in a combined gasification/bio-catalytic process. For the functional unit defined as the ‘total amount of waste treated in the integrated waste management system’, the best option is to produce bioethanol from RDF—this saves up to 196 kg CO₂ equiv. per tonne of MSW, compared to the current waste management practice in the UK.However, if the functional unit is defined as ‘MJ of fuel equiv.’ and bioethanol is compared with petrol on an equivalent energy basis, the results show that bioethanol from RDF offers no saving of GHG emissions compared to petrol. For example, for a typical biogenic carbon content in RDF of around 60%, the life cycle GHG emissions from bioethanol are 87 g CO₂ equiv./MJ while for petrol they are 85 g CO₂ equiv./MJ. On the other hand, bioethanol from BMW offers a significant GHG saving potential over petrol. For a biogenic carbon content of 95%, the life cycle GHG emissions from bioethanol are 6.1 g CO₂ equiv./MJ which represents a saving of 92.5% compared to petrol. In comparison, bioethanol from UK wheat saves 28% of GHG while that from Brazilian sugar cane – the best performing bioethanol with respect to GHG emissions – saves 70%. If the biogenic carbon of the BMW feedstock exceeds 97%, the bioethanol system becomes a carbon sequester. For instance, if waste paper with the biogenic carbon content of almost 100% and a calorific value of 18 MJ/kg is converted into bioethanol, a saving of 107% compared to petrol could be achieved. Compared to paper recycling, converting waste paper into bioethanol saves 460 kg CO₂ equiv./t waste paper or eight times more than recycling.     

Tree age dependence and within-canopy variation of leaf gas exchange and antioxidative defence in Fagus sylvatica under experimental free-air ozone exposure

We characterized leaf gas exchange and antioxidative defence of two-year-old seedlings and 60-year-old trees of Fagus sylvatica exposed to ambient (1 x O3) or two-fold ambient (2 x O3) O3 concentrations (maximum of 150 ppb) in a free-air canopy exposure system throughout the growing season. Decline in photosynthesis from sun-exposed to shaded conditions was more pronounced in adult than juvenile trees. Seedling leaves and leaves in the sun-exposed canopy had higher stomatal conductance and higher internal CO2 concentrations relative to leaves of adult trees and leaves in shaded conditions. There was a weak overall depression of photosynthesis in the 2 x O3 variants across age classes and canopy positions. Pigment and tocopherol concentrations of leaves were significantly affected by canopy position and tree age, whereas differences between 1 x O3 and 2 x O3 regimes were not observed. Glutathione concentrations were significantly increased under 2 x O3 across both age classes and canopy levels. Seedlings differed from adult trees in relevant physiological and biochemical traits in ozone response. The water-soluble antioxidative systems responded most sensitively to 2 x O3 without regard of tree age or canopy position.     

Rapping systems for collecting surfaces in an electrostatic precipitator

Dust build-up on adjacent surfaces is often an unwanted effect in industrial processes handling pulverized materials. In the case of electrostatic precipitation, build-up of dust on the collecting surface is the purpose of the process. Removal of this build-up is sometimes difficult, but necessary to maintain the continuity of the process. Dry-process methods for dust removal include rapping by impact.It is the intent of this paper to provide information on the general subject of dust removal from plates, on rapping systems used in electrostatic precipitators, and on measurements and order of magnitude of rapping forces.Rapping acceleration test results obtained in the laboratory are expanded to cover full-scale collecting surface plates.Effects of plate design, plate height and length, method of support, rapping, hammer weight, and lift are analyzed.