Adoption of environmental standards in Australia: focus on ISO 14001

This study aimed to explore the adoption of environmental standards in Australia, focusing on ISO 14001. The authors used purposive sampling to select a group of ISO 14001 certified and a group of ISO 14001 non-certified companies. Data were collected through a combination of website searches and content analysis. The study found that, overall, 92.9% of the ISO 14001 certified compared to 78.4% of the ISO 14001 non-certified companies promoted their environmental commitment through various methods. In addition, 33.4% of ISO 14001 non-certified companies (compared to 19.2% of certified companies) used their environmental engagement activities as a marketing tool. Second, 80.9% of ISO 14001 certified companies' and 26.7% of the non-certified companies' reports are easy to find and are clearly stated. The study concludes that Australian companies engage in similar environmental activities irrespective of whether they are ISO 14001 certified or not. Both management and research implications of the study's findings are presented.     

COST EFFECTIVE OPERATION OF URBAN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM USING DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING1

ABSTRACT: Efficient operation of a city water supply system is an important goal of all municipalities. Efficient operation should result in minimum operation cost through reduction in total energy use and/ or reduction in on-peak energy consumption. An optimization model was designed for operating the water supply systems of cities using groundwater. The Newton-Raphson pipe network was used for network analysis and a dynamic programming optimization algorithm was used for determining a schedule for pump operation in the pipe network system. The model is most suitable for use in small cities with up to 45,000 in population, but with large-scale disintegration techniques may also be used for larger cities. The savings in operation costs are a function of energy cost and energy use pattern and water use pattern in the area.     

A Phororhacoid bird from the Eocene of Africa

The bird fossil record is globally scarce in Africa. The early Tertiary evolution of terrestrial birds is virtually unknown in that continent. Here, we report on a femur of a large terrestrial new genus discovered from the early or early middle Eocene (between ～52 and 46?Ma) of south-western Algeria. This femur shows all the morphological features of the Phororhacoidea, the so-called Terror Birds. Most of the phororhacoids were indeed large, or even gigantic, flightless predators or scavengers with no close modern analogs. It is likely that this extinct group originated in South America, where they are known from the late Paleocene to the late Pleistocene (～59 to 0.01?Ma). The presence of a phororhacoid bird in Africa cannot be explained by a vicariant mechanism because these birds first appeared in South America well after the onset of the mid-Cretaceous Gondwana break up (～100?million years old). Here, we propose two hypotheses to account for this occurrence, either an early dispersal of small members of this group, which were still able of a limited flight, or a transoceanic migration of flightless birds from South America to Africa during the Paleocene or earliest Eocene. Paleogeographic reconstructions of the South Atlantic Ocean suggest the existence of several islands of considerable size between South America and Africa during the early Tertiary, which could have helped a transatlantic dispersal of phororhacoids.     

Investigation of physico-chemical properties and microbial community during poultry manure co-composting process

Co-composting of poultry manure and rubber wood sawdust was performed with the ratio of 2:1 (V/V) for a period of 60 days. An investigation was carried out to study the extracellular enzymatic activities and structural degradation utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The microbial succession was also determined by using denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis (DGGE). The compost was able to reach its highest temperature of 71°C at day 3 and stabilized between 30 and 40°C for 8 weeks. CMCase, FPase and β-glucosidase acted synergistically in order to degrade the cellulosic substrate. The xylanase activities increased gradually during the composting and reached the peak value of 11.637 U/g on day 35, followed by a sharp decline. Both LiP and MnP activities reached their peak values on day 35 with 0.431 and 0.132 U/g respectively. The FT-IR spectra revealed an increase in aromaticity and a decrease in aliphatic compounds such as carbohydrates as decomposition proceeded. TGA/DTG data exhibited significant changes in weight loss in compost samples, indicating degradation of organic matter. SEM micrographs showed higher amounts of parenchyma exposed on the surface of rubber wood sawdust at day 60, showing significant degradation. DGGE and 16S rDNA analyses showed that Burkholderia sp., Pandoraea sp., and Pseudomonas sp. were present throughout the composting process. Ornithinibacillus sp. and Castellaniella ginsengisoli were only found in the initial stage of the composting, while different strains of Burkholderia sp. also occurred in the later stage of composting.     

On-line CO, CO2 emissions evaluation and (benzene, toluene, xylene) determination from experimental burn of tropical biomass

Atmospheric pollution and global warming issues are increasingly becoming major environmental concerns. Fire is one of the significant sources of pollutant gases released into the atmosphere; and tropical biomass fires, which are of particular interest in this study, contribute greatly to the global budget of CO and CO₂. This pioneer research simulates the natural biomass burning strategy in Malaysia using an experimental burning facility. The investigation was conducted on the emissions (CO₂, CO, and Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes (BTEX)) from ten tropical biomass species. The selected species represent the major tropical forests that are frequently subjected to dry forest fire incidents. An experimental burning facility equipped with an on-line gas analyzer was employed to determine the burning emissions. The major emission factors were found to vary among the species, and the specific results were as follows. The moisture content of a particular biomass greatly influenced its emission pattern. The smoke analysis results revealed the existence of BTEX, which were sampled from a combustion chamber by enrichment traps aided with a universal gas sampler. The BTEX were determined by organic solvent extraction followed by GC/MS quantification, the results of which suggested that the biomass burning emission factor contributed significant amounts of benzene, toluene, and m,p-xylene. The modified combustion efficiency (MCE) changed in response to changes in the sample moisture content. Therefore, this study concluded that the emission of some pollutants mainly depends on the burning phase and sample moisture content of the biomass.     

Monitoring of linear alkyl benzenes (LABs) in riverine and estuarine sediments in Malaysia

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The aim of this a pioneering research is to investigate linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) as biomarkers of sewage pollution in sediments collected from four rivers...     

Ag nanoparticle-decorated chitosan/SrSnO3 nanocomposite for ultrafast elimination of antibiotic linezolid and methylene blue

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Effective design of ultrafast new-generation photocatalysts is a challenging task that requires highly dedicated efforts. This research focused on the...     

Short-term dynamics and long-term relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Nigeria: an ARDL approach with breaks

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper investigates the short-term dynamics as well as the long-term relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Nigeria,...     

Comparative low lethal effects of three insecticides on demographical traits and enzyme activity of the Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Many species of devastating insect pests have acquired a high degree of resistance to insecticides in the field during the last few decades....