Vertical dense jet in flowing current

The discharge of brackish water, as a dense jet in a natural water body, by the osmotic power plants, undergoes complex mixing processes and has significant environmental impacts. This paper focuses on the mixing processes that develop when a dense round jet outfall perpendicularly enters a shallow flowing current. Extensive experimental measurements of both the salinity and the velocity flow fields were conducted to investigate the hydrodynamic jet behavior within the ambient current. Experiments were carried out in a closed circuit flume at the Coastal Engineering Laboratory (LIC) of the Technical University of Bari (Italy). The salinity concentration and velocity fields were analyzed, providing a more thorough knowledge about the main features of the jet behavior within the ambient flow, such as the jet penetration, spreading, dilution, terminal rise height and its impact point with the flume lower boundary. In this study, special attention is given to understand and confirm the conjecture, not yet experimentally demonstrated, of the development and orientation of the jet vortex structures. Results show that the dense jet is almost characterized by two distinct phases: a rapid ascent phase and a gradually descent phase. The measured flow velocity fields definitely confirm the formation of the counter-rotating vortices pair, within the jet cross-section, during both the ascent and descent phases. Nevertheless, the experimental results show that the counter-rotating vortices pair of both phases (ascent and descent) are of opposite rotational direction.     

Kinetic model for phenolic compound oxidation by Fenton's reagent

A kinetic model is developed for the oxidation of phenolic compounds by Fenton's reagent. In the first stage a rigorous kinetic model is applied to calculate the different kinetic rate constants for the oxidation process of p-hydroxybenzoic acid. In a second phase a competitive method is applied to calculate these kinetic constants for another 10 phenolic compounds present in agroindustrial and pulp paper wastewaters. These 10 phenolic compounds were: beta-resorcylic acid, 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid, ferulic acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, veratric acid and 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid.     

Mapping 137Cs deposition: data validation methods and data interpretation

The "Atlas of caesium deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl accident" was prepared within the framework of the Joint Study Project 6 (JSP6) of the collaborative programme on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident between the European Commission and the Ministries responsible for Chernobyl affairs in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The radiological data provided by scientific institutes and competent authorities of more than 30 European countries were integrated into an information platform. Data validation and intercomparison were therefore essential before the interpretation of the deposition with the help of isoline maps prepared with a geographic information system (GIS) could be done. The data validation was a two-step procedure: after performing a primary logical consistency check, other techniques based on spatial statistics were used to outline uncertain data. The purpose of this paper is to present these validation methods and to discuss the advantages and constraints of these techniques. Rather than trying to improve the techniques of spatial data analysis, suggestions are made on how an adaptation of the sampling information could improve the final result.     

Macroinvertebrate response to acid mine drainage: community metrics and on-line behavioural toxicity bioassay

The hypothesis is tested that toxicity of acid mine drainage can be detected by a selection of existing macroinvertebrate community and bioindicator metrices supplemented by toxicity tests with the local mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki Girard and the shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti Millet. The behavioural responses of A. desmaresti to acid mine drainage were recorded in the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor, based on behaviour and survival as parameters. Bioassessment methods were based on community diversity, structure, function, and bioindicators and supplemented by chemical analysis (temperature, pH, metals). The Biological Monitoring Working Party adapted for the Iberian Peninsula, the number of predators (Coleoptera, Hemiptera) and the number of Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera taxa differentiated the sites well. The on-line toxicity test revealed pH-dependent acute toxicity of the acid mine drainage for the shrimp (LC(50)-48 h: pH-AMD=5.8) and a pH- dependent decrease in locomotory activity with the lowest-observed-response-times (LORTs) within 5 h of exposure. Shrimp were more sensitive to acid mine drainage than fish (LC(50)-48 h: pH-AMD=4.9). A new multimetric index combining toxicity testing and bioassessment methods is proposed.     

Polychlorobiphenyls and other organochlorine compounds in human follicular fluid

Based on observations in animals, there is an increasing evidence that a number of persistent organochlorine pollutants can alter the endocrine homeostasis, this resulting in toxic effects in particular in the developing organism. However, the role of these chemicals in determining endocrine-related diseases in humans, and possibly a decrease of fertility, is still controversial. Exposure data concerning the human reproductive system are essential for risk assessment. Based on this, the occurrence in follicular fluid of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), 2,3,7,8-chlorosubstituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane (p,p'-DDT) and its metabolites, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was investigated. With respect to PCBs, the sum of the three most abundant congeners (PCBs 138, 153 and 180) was 1230 ng/g, lipid basis (0.37 ng/g, wet weight). Congener distribution profile overlapped what is usually observed in other human tissues, as blood and milk. PCDDs, PCDFs, p,p'-DDT and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane (p,p'-DDD) were below their determination limits. 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethene (p,p'-DDE) and HCB were detected in concentrations respectively in the order of 700 and 70 ng/g, lipid basis (approximately 0.2 and approximately 0.02 ng/g, wet weight).     

History and Ethics of Keeping Pets: Comparison with Farm Animals

Perhaps the commonest reasons for the keeping of pets are companionship and as a conduit for affection. Pets are, therefore, being “used” for human ends in much the same way as laboratory or farm animals. So shouldn’t the same arguments apply to the use of pets as to those used in other ways? In accepting the “rights” of farm animals to fully express their natural behavior, one must also accept the “right” of pets to express their intrinsic natural behavior. Dogs kept in houses for most of the day are being kept in an unnatural environment. So are rabbits kept in hutches, and guinea-pigs or birds in cages. These conditions infringe the animals’ telos. Dogs are naturally pack animals, so is a dog in isolation being denied its telos? Other actions more deliberately infringe telos and autonomy. Enforced shampooing – or even exercise; hair-cutting of poodles; putting animals in clothes; and tail-docking. If de-beaking of chickens is considered wrong, then the same must be true for tail-docking of dogs. One should also question the ethics of specialist breeding – especially when that results in physiological disadvantages (boxers with breathing troubles). There would appear to be no advantage to the animals in having such health problems and when these are the direct result of the breeders’ desire for specific cosmetic traits, we should question the ethics of the practice at least as much as when animals are bred for specific agricultural traits.     

Public Space Management: Present and Potential

This paper explores approaches to the management of external public space, both now and in the future. The paper is in five parts. The discussion begins with an exploration of why public space management is universally an important concern by drawing from literature that argues that the quality of public space has declined, and that a greater engagement of the public sector in its management is required. Next, the research methodology is discussed which sought to investigate the management of public space in England as an example of trends and responses that point to a broader international concern. The approach included both a national survey of the state of play in public space management and a series of case studies that sought to explore innovative practice. Third, the results of a national survey are briefly outlined, with discussion following the same structure as the survey itself. Next, the results of detailed interviews with 20 local authority case studies that exhibited interesting or innovative practice in the local management of public space are presented. In a final part, conclusions are drawn which confirm that this is an area of public sector responsibility in need of significant investment and reform, but also that top-down initiatives from national government are beginning to inspire a burgeoning range of local government initiatives below. Therefore, although public space management remains a fragmented area of local government activity, a number of local authorities are beginning to establish a corresponding bottom-up agenda that seems to map a potential way forward for the future.