Representative locations from time series of soil water content using time stability and wavelet analysis

The concept of time stability has been widely used in the design and assessment of monitoring networks of soil moisture, as well as in hydrological studies, because it is as a technique that allows identifying of particular locations having the property of representing mean values of soil moisture in the field. In this work, we assess the effect of time stability calculations as new information is added and how time stability calculations are affected at shorter periods, subsampled from the original time series, containing different amounts of precipitation. In doing so, we defined two experiments to explore the time stability behavior. The first experiment sequentially adds new data to the previous time series to investigate the long-term influence of new data in the results. The second experiment applies a windowing approach, taking sequential subsamples from the entire time series to investigate the influence of short-term changes associated with the precipitation in each window. Our results from an operating network (seven monitoring points equipped with four sensors each in a 2-ha blueberry field) show that as information is added to the time series, there are changes in the location of the most stable point (MSP), and that taking the moving 21-day windows, it is clear that most of the variability of soil water content changes is associated with both the amount and intensity of rainfall. The changes of the MSP over each window depend on the amount of water entering the soil and the previous state of the soil water content. For our case study, the upper strata are proxies for hourly to daily changes in soil water content, while the deeper strata are proxies for medium-range stored water. Thus, different locations and depths are representative of processes at different time scales. This situation must be taken into account when water management depends on soil water content values from fixed locations.     

Detection of hormones in surface and drinking water in Brazil by LC-ESI-MS/MS and ecotoxicological assessment with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Daphnia magna</Emphasis>

The growing use of pharmaceutical drug is mainly due to several diseases in human and in animal husbandry. As these drugs are discharged into waterways via wastewater, they cause a major impact on the environment. Many of these drugs are hormones; in which even at low concentrations can alter metabolic and physiological functions in many organisms. Hormones were found in surface water, groundwater, soil, and sediment at concentrations from nanograms to milligrams per liter of volume—quantities known to cause changes in the endocrine system of aquatic organisms. This study aimed to develop a methodology for hormone detection (estriol, estrone, 17β-estradiol, 17α-ethinylestradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) on surface and treated water samples. Sample toxicity was assessed by ecotoxicology tests using Daphnia magna. A liquid chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization source (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was used for the analysis. The results showed that samples were contaminated by the hormones estriol, estrone, progesterone, 17β-estradiol, and 17α-ethinylestradiol during the sampling period, and the highest concentrations measured were 90, 28, 26, 137, and 194 ng·L^?1, respectively. This indicates the inflow of sewage containing these hormones at some points in the Piracicaba River in the State of Sao Paulo—Brazil. Results indicated little toxicity of the hormone estriol in D. magna, indicating that chronic studies with this microcrustacean are necessary.     

Soy production and certification: the case of Argentinean soy-based biodiesel

With the rising emphasis on biofuels as a potential solution to climate change, this paper asks whether certification schemes, developed to promote sustainable feedstock production, are able to deliver genuine sustainability benefits. The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a certification scheme that aims to promote responsible soy production through the development of principles and criteria. However, can and does this initiative address the negative impacts associated with the intensive production of soy? Taking the example of soy biodiesel produced in Argentina, this paper asks whether the social and environmental impacts of soybean production can be mitigated by the RTRS. It concludes that at present certification schemes are unlikely to be able to address either the institutional challenges associated with their implementation or the detrimental impacts of the additional demand generated by biofuels.     

A recursive ecological indicator system for the supply chain of a company

This paper proposes the concept of cumulative eco-intensity with which environmental or sustainability indicators are related to the added value of economic activities. The intensities are passed on recursively from supplier to supplier and thus make it possible to include upstream and downstream effects along the supply and waste disposal chain. The process is applied to whole companies and (by contrast with LCA) not to individual products. At comparatively low expenditure for the individual companies, it allows vertical comparisons along the value-adding chain and horizontal comparisons among companies or production locations. This provides a decision-making aid for a company seeking to fulfil its ecological or sustainability responsibility in the entire production and supply chains.     

Mutagenic activity of transition‐metal complexes: Relation structure‐mutagenic and antibacterial activity for some Pd(II), Pt(II) and Rh(I) complexes†

The inhibitory and mutagenic action of some Pd(II), Pt(II) and Rh(I) complexes towards various bacterial strains has been evaluated, and some correlations have been found between the chemical behaviour of the complexes and their selective biological activity: most of the complexes cause only a DNA damage repaired by the excision repair system. Particularly, the Rh(I) complexes used in this work show selective antibacterial effects on defective but no effect on wild‐type strains.     

Transformation of a landfill covering amended with municipal waste compost, Perugia, Italy

This research deals with the transformation of an anthropomorphous landfill covering composed of a fill soil mixed with mechanically separated municipal waste compost. The study site was a municipal landfill near Perugia, Italy. Throughout the years, waste disposal in the landfill was performed by burial in horizontal layers, each one representing a yearly disposal. The external front of the landfill thus represented the yearly disposal over a 10-yr period starting in 1993. Temporal changes in the anthropomorphous soil over this period were studied by examining and describing soil profiles, and by collecting and analyzing soil samples from the 1993, 1994, 1997, and 2001 disposals. The samples were subjected to a series of physical, chemical, and biochemical analyses. The results obtained suggest that over a 10-yr period the top layer gained a pedological structure (subangular blocky and/or crumb) giving rise to an A horizon. Improved soil structure was confirmed by an increase in macroporosity, particularly for pores larger than 50 microm, measured by image analysis of soil thin sections. Total extractable carbon showed an increase in the content of humic substances, evidenced by parameters of humification. Enzymatic activities in the A and C1 horizons were also indicative of soil evolution and may serve as a valid indicator for monitoring the evolution of anthropogenic soils containing municipal waste compost.     

Computer image generation for job simulation: An effective approach to occupational Risk Analysis

The paper deals with the general approach and features of the computer image generation for job simulation (CIGJS) method, as specially developed to support the Job Safety Analysis (JSA) technique.Starting from some general considerations on the occupational safety and health statistical data collection in Italy, when compared to US methodology, the paper provides an overview of the CIGJS method, developed to improve the effectiveness and usability of the traditional JSA.A case study is discussed in order to highlight how CIGJS makes the use of the JSA technique possible also at the design stage (this being fundamental according to a Prevention through Design approach), and allows to control the effectiveness of the adopted countermeasures.The application of the method complies with the basic European Directives requirements both on workers’ safety and health and on machinery analysis.Furthermore, CIGJS may substantially aid workers’ education and training, to the point of being a possible simulation-training device.     

Use of organic coagulant/flocculant for treatment of effluents generated in intensive rearing of swine

Separation of water for reuse is essential in an effluent treatment system, especially in activities with high water consumption, such as a pig production system. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of Tanfloc SG^® coagulant tannin/organic flocculant used to treat effluent generated during the intensive rearing of swine. For the evaluation, laboratory and in situ tests (field test) were performed. The laboratory tests were performed to define the concentration (1 and 16%), dosage (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, and 16.0 milliliters of the solution), and time (24, 48, 72, and 96 hours) of coagulation/flocculation treatment of the solid portion of the effluent. The parameters pH, turbidity, oxidation reduction potential, dissolved oxygen, and electroconductivity (in microsiemens per centimeter) were evaluated using a multiparameter probe and the parameters ammonia (NH₃), nitrate (NO₃), and nitrite (NO₂) in the laboratory, in relation to the coagulation/flocculation time of the solid part of the effluent. The use of tannin as a coagulant/flocculant of plant origin in the treatment of swine effluents was effective in reducing turbidity and concentrations of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and it allowed separation of the solid–liquid phase in approximately 68% as liquid phase.