Analysis of airborne pollen fall in Nicosia (Cyprus)

Airborne pollen distribution in the city of Nicosia (Cyprus) was measured volumetrically during two consecutive years 2007–2008 on weekly basis using Lanzoni trap (Lanzoni VPPS 2000). A total of 7,880 pollen grains/m³ belonging to 44 taxa, in 2007 were 3,593 pollen grains/m³ and in 2008 it was 4,287 pollen grains/m³, were determined. Out of these, 25 belonged to the arboreal and 19 to the non-arboreal taxa. At the end of 2 years, total pollen counts were 78.76% arboreal, 19.32% non-arboreal, and 1.92% unidentified taxa. The number of pollen in the arboreal plants followed the trend as Pinaceae (29.96%), Cupressaceae/Taxaceae (18.33%), Olea europaea L. (6.92%), and Quercus spp. (4.92%), and for non-arboreal representatives, these were Poaceae (8.46%), Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae (2.61%), Plantago spp. (1.69%), and Parietaria spp. (1.51%). The distribution of pollen in the atmosphere of Nicosia followed the trend as March, April, May, and June.     

How do climatic change,cereal crops and livestock production interact with carbon emissions? Updated evidence from China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Carbon dioxide emission and climatic variation have a detrimental influence on the atmosphere as well as on agriculture production. The key aim of the...     

Effect of inorganic and organic solutes on zero-valent aluminum-activated hydrogen peroxide and persulfate oxidation of bisphenol A

The effect of varying inorganic (chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and phosphate) and organic (represented by humic acid) solutes on the removal of aqueous micropollutant bisphenol A (BPA; 8.8 μM; 2 mg/L) with the oxidizing agents hydrogen peroxide (HP; 0.25 mM) and persulfate (PS; 0.25 mM) activated using zero-valent aluminum (ZVA) nanoparticles (1 g/L) was investigated at a pH of 3. In the absence of the solutes, the PS/ZVA treatment system was superior to the HP/ZVA system in terms of BPA removal rates and kinetics. Further, the HP/ZVA process was not affected by nitrate (50 mg/L) addition, whereas chloride (250 mg/L) exhibited no effect on the PS/ZVA process. The negative effect of inorganic anions on BPA removal generally speaking increased with increasing charge in the following order: NO₃^? (no inhibition)?<?Cl^? (250 mg/L)?=?SO₄^2??<?PO₄^3? for HP/ZVA and Cl^? (250 mg/L; no inhibition)?<?NO₃^??<?SO₄^2??<?PO₄^3? for PS/ZVA. Upon addition of 20 mg/L humic acid representing natural organic matter, BPA removals decreased from 72 and 100% in the absence of solutes to 24 and 57% for HP/ZVA and PS/ZVA treatments, respectively. The solute mixture containing all inorganic and organic solutes together partly suppressed the inhibitory effects of phosphate and humic acid on BPA removals decreasing to 46 and 43% after HP/ZVA and PS/ZVA treatments, respectively. Dissolved organic carbon removals were obtained in the range of 30 and 47% (the HP/ZVA process), as well as 47 and 57% (the PS/ZVA process) for the experiments in the presence of 20 mg/L humic acid and solute mixture, respectively. The relative Vibrio fischeri photoluminescence inhibition decreased particularly for the PS/ZVA treatment system, which exhibited a higher treatment performance than the HP/ZVA treatment system.     

Nonparametric Ranked-set Sampling Confidence Intervals for Quantiles of a Finite Population

Ranked-set sampling from a finite population is considered in this paper. Three sampling protocols are described, and procedures for constructing nonparametric confidence intervals for a population quantile are developed. Algorithms for computing coverage probabilities for these confidence intervals are presented, and the use of interpolated confidence intervals is recommended as a means to approximately achieve coverage probabilities that cannot be achieved exactly. A simulation study based on finite populations of sizes 20, 30, 40, and 50 shows that the three sampling protocols follow a strict ordering in terms of the average lengths of the confidence intervals they produce. This study also shows that all three ranked-set sampling protocols tend to produce confidence intervals shorter than those produced by simple random sampling, with the difference being substantial for two of the protocols. The interpolated confidence intervals are shown to achieve coverage probabilities quite close to their nominal levels. Rankings done according to a highly correlated concomitant variable are shown to reduce the level of the confidence intervals only minimally. An example to illustrate the construction of confidence intervals according to this methodology is provided.     

Order restricted randomized designs and two sample inference

This paper develops a new design that relies on subjective judgment ranking to compare subsets of experimental units. This judgment ranking is used along with restricted randomization to improve statistical inference for the contrast between two levels of a treatment. The new design assigns the judgment ranked units in a subset to different treatments. Such an assignment translates the positive dependence among units within each subset into negative dependence for the estimators of treatment means, and hence leads to a reduction in variance for the contrast. For the proposed design, a test for the difference in means of two treatment levels is developed along with an associated confidence interval. It is shown that the null distribution of the proposed test is approximated reasonably well with the Student’s t-distribution for sample sizes as small as 6. A simulation study indicates that the proposed design is advantageous compared to its competitors in the literature for both high and low quality rankings. The new design’s advantage increases with the quality of rankings.     

A chemical substitution study for a wet processing textile mill in Turkey

Wet processing textile industry has many different processing stages (dyeing, sizing, de-sizing, scouring, softening, etc.). Many chemicals currently used in the wet processing textile industry affect the amount and the type of waste produced and their influence on the aquatic life of the receiving stream. One of the critical steps in pollution prevention studies is auditing the use of chemicals and making the necessary chemical substitutions. This chemical substitution study was conducted on one of the major textile factories in Turkey with a capacity of 20,000 tons of denim fabric per year. During this study, chemical consumption level, receipts applied, environmentally problematic and alternative chemicals were examined. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for the Textiles Industry was accepted as main reference document and also related case studies were examined. According to the study, over 70% reduction in sulphide, which is very toxic to aquatic life, was achieved by replacing sulphur dyestuff with low sulphide content. By replacing an alternative complexing agent, the mill not only prevented the 3100 kg/month COD load to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), but also obtained more biodegradable wastewater generated during production. On the other hand, some of the chemical substitution options were on progress or dropped.     

Advanced physico-chemical treatment experiences on young municipal landfill leachates

In this study, Membrane Filtration (UF+RO), Struvite (MAP) precipitation and ammonia stripping alternatives were studied on biologically pre-treated Landfill Leachate. The results indicated that the system including the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor (UASBR) and Membrane Reactors (UF+RO) has been offered as an appropriate treatment alternative for young landfill leachates. This system provided high removals of COD, colour and conductivity (>98-99%). For ammonia removal, struvite precipitation was applied at the stoichiometric ratio (Mg:NH4:PO4=1:1:1) to anaerobically pre-treated raw landfill leachate effluent having an influent ammonium concentration of 2240 mg/l. Maximum ammonium nitrogen removal was observed as 85% at pH of 9.2. In ammonia stripping following 2 h of aeration, the removal was 72% at pH=12 while the removals were around 20% at pH=10 and pH=11. When membrane reactor, and struvite precipitation or ammonia stripping was applied to anaerobically pre-treated effluents, the results indicated that each system could be used as an appropriate post-treatment option for young landfill leachates. In economic aspect, ammonia stripping was found as the cheapest alternative with high ammonium removal. However, when both high COD and ammonium removals were to be achieved membrane technology such as UF+RO (SW) could be considered as the most appropriate system due to the fact that COD removal could be obtained very low by ammonia stripping.     

Pollution caused by peoples�� use for socio-economic purposes (agricultural, recreation and tourism) in the G?lc��k Plain Settlement at Bozda? Plateau (?demi?-?zmir/Turkey): a case study

Mountainous areas, which form the largest geography of our country and are called reserves of resources owing to their difficulty of accessibility, have been increasingly under threat of exploitation and overuse in recent years. The area in question from among the mountainous areas, which are sensitive ecosystems with their environmental components, is the Bozda? mass located in Gölcük Plateau Settlement, which has been subject to intensive construction and use. This study is intended to reveal the current uses of Gölcük Plateau (agricultural, recreation, and tourism) and determine the sources and effects of pollution as a result of these uses and aims at revealing how the permanent residents of Gölcük Plateau Settlement on Bozda? Plateau, which is a center of attraction with respect of recreation and tourism activities, and those who go there only in certain periods, use the environment for tourism and recreational purposes, and determine their positive and negative impacts on environment through SWOT analysis.     

Combining ranking information in judgment post stratified and ranked set sampling designs

Judgment post stratified (JPS) and ranked set sampling (RSS) designs rely on the ability of a ranker to assign ranks to potential observations on available experimental units. In many settings, there are often more than one rankers available and each of these rankers provide judgment ranks. This paper proposes two sampling schemes, one for JPS and the other for RSS, to combine the judgment ranks of these rankers to produce a strength of agreement measure for each fully measured unit. This strength measure is used to draw inference for the population mean and cumulative distribution function. The paper shows that the estimators constructed based on this strength measure provide a substantial improvement over the same estimators based on judgment ranking information of a single best ranker.