Environmental requirements for furniture industry: the case study of Brazilian Southeast industry

Despite more than 20 years of economic progress, especially in emerging economies like Brazil, the gap between developed and developing countries is still large, and environment problems have risen significantly. In this context, this paper aims to make the Brazilian furniture production cleaner, analyzing the environmental requirements considered by the micro and small enterprises (SMEs) in made-to-order furniture industry during the product development process (PDP). Another attempt was to identify the internal and external factors that led to the incorporation of these requirements. In this regard, a comprehensive review of eco-design concept that consists of composing environmental requirements into the PDP, through methods, tools, guidelines and techniques, was carried out. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and in loco observations, analyzing each activity of the PDP and the environmental requirements on 18 SMEs in Brazil. The outcomes show that the economic factors determine the way in which the enterprises respond to the environmental issues and how adequate their companies according to laws and regulations. Moreover, the small number of qualified professionals in this field lead to difficulties to structure the sector, in other words, to produce with less environment impact.     

Ionic Dye Removal Using Solvent-Assisted Ionic Micellar Flocculation

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The environmental impacts caused by dyes in industrial wastewater are incalculable, due to their adverse effects on the ecosystem and human life,...     

Arsenic contamination and speciation in surrounding waters of three old cinnabar mines

The impact of arsenic pollution in waters from the surroundings of three abandoned Hg mines in Northern Spain, as well as reaching the Caudal River, was evaluated. For assessing the factors controlling arsenic release, an extensive study based on the physicochemical characterization and multivariate statistical analysis of waters upstream and downstream each mine site was performed. Waters downstream of the La Soterra?a mine present the highest arsenic concentrations, up to 38.8 mg L(-1), coming mainly from the solubilisation of calcium, magnesium and strontium arsenates at a pH close to neutral. Although arsenic concentrations downstream of La Pe?a are markedly lower, these values remain too high, indicating that the encapsulation carried out in this spoil heap is insufficient. In addition, the high water flow in this point involves an extremely high input of arsenic to the surroundings (0.3 g s(-1)). Waters close to tailings from Los Rueldos suffer from acid mine drainage, provoking an important solubilisation of arsenic and heavy metals, a situation which is rapidly softened with distance. The study of arsenic speciation reveals the omnipresence of As(v) in waters from the three mines, whereas in La Pe?a low amounts of As(iii) were also detected. Different preservation methods for As speciation were compared, such as the addition of HCl, EDTA and the storage of samples without any additive, and no alteration of samples in any case up to nine months after the collection was observed. A study of seasonal variations of As and the main parameters affecting its concentration and speciation was completed throughout a year, showing no remarkable dependency with rainfall for any studied variable.     

A global evaluation of metabolic theory as an explanation for terrestrial species richness gradients

We compiled 46 broadscale data sets of species richness for a wide range of terrestrial plant, invertebrate, and ectothermic vertebrate groups in all parts of the world to test the ability of metabolic theory to account for observed diversity gradients. The theory makes two related predictions: (1) In-transformed richness is linearly associated with a linear, inverse transformation of annual temperature, and (2) the slope of the relationship is near -0.65. Of the 46 data sets, 14 had no significant relationship; of the remaining 32, nine were linear, meeting prediction 1. Model I (ordinary least squares, OLS) and model II (reduced major axis, RMA) regressions then tested the linear slopes against prediction 2. In the 23 data sets having nonlinear relationships between richness and temperature, split-line regression divided the data into linear components, and regressions were done on each component to test prediction 2 for subsets of the data. Of the 46 data sets analyzed in their entirety using OLS regression, one was consistent with metabolic theory (meeting both predictions), and one was possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, no data sets were consistent. Of 67 analyses of prediction 2 using OLS regression on all linear data sets and subsets, two were consistent with the prediction, and four were possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, one was consistent (albeit weakly), and four were possibly consistent. We also found that the relationship between richness and temperature is both taxonomically and geographically conditional, and there is no evidence for a universal response of diversity to temperature. Meta-analyses confirmed significant heterogeneity in slopes among data sets, and the combined slopes across studies were significantly lower than the range of slopes predicted by metabolic theory based on both OLS and RMA regressions. We conclude that metabolic theory, as currently formulated, is a poor predictor of observed diversity gradients in most terrestrial systems.     

European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) populations under arsenic and metal stress: evaluation of exposure at a mining site

Two populations of the European bee-eater were studied, one living at a reference site and the other at a metal mining site. The concentration of arsenic and 11 metals (Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) was measured in feathers and regurgitated pellets collected at both sites. Cadmium, chromium, mercury, nickel, and lead were at least twofold higher in feathers of birds from the contaminated site than in the reference site, suggesting that this population was exposed to higher metal levels. Similarly, levels of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, iron, and lead were also at least twofold higher in pellets from the contaminated area. The obtained results suggested that the impacted population of Merops apiaster is at risk due to the exposure to some metals.     

Pesticide exposure and health conditions among orange growers in Southern Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the exposure to pesticides through the biomarkers analysis, as well as life habits and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in a group of farmers who grow citrus in the Vale do Caí region, in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The study population consisted of 73 volunteer farmers, 45 males and 28 females, aged between 13 and 69 years old. The control group consisted of 30 individuals who were not exposed to pesticides. Measures of urea, creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), plasma cholinesterase (BChE) activity, and hematological parameters were analyzed. The study population also answered a structured questionnaire on life habits and health. The results showed that BChE activity was significantly lower in the exposed group than in the control group. AST, ALT, and creatinine were increased in the group of women exposed to pesticides when compared to the control group. GGT, urea, and hematological parameters did not show statistical differences for both male and female group. The most prevalent symptom reported by farmers after exposure to pesticides was headache. Furthermore, it was verified that the use of complete PPE is only made by 38% of the studied population.     

Psychoactive drugs: occurrence in aquatic environment,analytical methods,and ecotoxicity—a review

This review focused on seven psychoactive drugs being six benzodiazepines (alprazolam, bromazepam, clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam, and oxazepam) and one antidepressant (citalopram) widely consumed by modern society and detected in different aqueous matrices (drinking water, surface water, groundwater, seawater, estuary water, influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants). The review included 219 selected scientific papers from which 1642 data/entries were obtained, each entry corresponding to one target compound in one aqueous matrix. Concentrations of all investigated drugs in all aqueous matrices varied from 0.14 to 840,000 ng L^?1. Citalopram presented the highest concentrations in the aqueous matrices. Based on the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, differences between wastewater influents and effluents were not significant for most wastewater categories, suggesting that conventional wastewater treatment systems as such do not remove or remove partially these compounds. High-income countries showed much lower concentrations in surface water than the group formed by upper-middle-, lower-middle-, and low-income countries. Regarding analytical methods, solid-phase extraction (SPE) was by far the most used extraction method (83%) and performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (73%) coupled to mass spectrometry (99%) the most common analytical method. Changes in behavior and in survival rates were the most common effects reported on bioindicators (aquatic species) due to the presence of these drugs in water. Concentrations of psychoactive drugs found in surface waters were most of the time within the range that caused measurable toxic effects in ecotoxicity assays.     

Recovery after trampling disturbance in a canopy-forming seaweed population

The recovery of Ascophyllum nodosum, and the associated benthic community, was followed after repeated trampling disturbance at different intensities, from 2005 to 2010, at its southern limit (41°41′27″N; 8°50′57″W). The cover of A. nodosum and associated organisms and the demography of A. nodosum individuals in the most disturbed areas were followed over a recovery period of 54 months. Recovery of A. nodosum assemblages was negatively affected by increasing trampling intensity. After 54 months, the highest intensity plots were still significantly different from control plots. Growth and mortality rates of A. nodosum increased shortly after disturbance but progressively recovered to levels close to control plots. The results of this study demonstrate the sensitivity of this habitat-building species to human trampling and also show its plasticity to cope with disturbance events.     

A multi-integrated approach on toxicity effects of engineered TiO2 nanoparticles

The new properties of engineered nanoparticles drive the need for new knowledge on the safety, fate, behavior and biologic effects of these particles on organisms and ecosystems. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been used extensively for a wide range of applications, e.g, self-cleaning surface coatings, solar cells, water treatment agents, topical sunscreens. Within this scenario increased environmental exposure can be expected but data on the ecotoxicological evaluation of nanoparticles are still scarce. The main purpose of this work was the evaluation of effects of TiO₂ nanoparticles in several organisms, covering different trophic levels, using a battery of aquatic assays. Using fish as a vertebrate model organism tissue histological and ultrastructural observations and the stress enzyme activity were also studied. TiO₂ nanoparticles (Aeroxide® P25), two phase composition of anatase (65%) and rutile (35%) with an average particle size value of 27.6±11 nm were used. Results on the EC₅₀ for the tested aquatic organisms showed toxicity for the bacteria, the algae and the crustacean, being the algae the most sensitive tested organism. The aquatic plant Lemna minor showed no effect on growth. The fish Carassius auratus showed no effect on a 21 day survival test, though at a biochemical level the cytosolic Glutathione-S-Transferase total activity, in intestines, showed a general significant decrease (p<0.05) after 14 days of exposure for all tested concentrations. The presence of TiO₂ nanoparticles aggregates were observed in the intestine lumen but their internalization by intestine cells could not be confirmed.