Capability of Secale montanum trusted for phytoremediation of lead and cadmium in soils amended with nano-silica and municipal solid waste compost

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The purpose of this study is to evaluate the capability of Secale montanum trusted for phytoremediation of contaminated soils with lead (Pb) and...     

Attenuation of Gaseous Pollutants by Greenbelts

The article draws attention towards the importance ofgreenbelts in attenuating gaseous pollutants andpresents the meteorological, physico-chemical,biological, and horticultural dimensions associatedwith effective greenbelt design.We have presented the gist of a system ofmethodologies, developed by us, for greenbelt design. A case study demonstrating the applicability of thesystem has been presented.     

Identification and Classification of Key Variables and their Role in Environmental Impact Assessment: Methodology and Software Package Intra

There is, as yet, no proven methodology to enable, objectively,the identification of key parameters out of a large number one normally encounters during any EIA. As EIA is a costly and time-consuming exercise, it is necessary to separate the man from the boys – so to speak – in order to optimize costs andefforts.In this paper a methodology for distinguishing the moreimportant parameters from the less important ones, developed byus, is described. The methodology aims at identifying andshortlisting the key parameters which ought to be studied in agiven EIA situation, thereby helping in reducing time, effort,and cost of EIA. With this methodology a system structure is developed whichgives hierarchical pattern of inter-parameter interaction, andreveals several distinguishing features of each parameter. Asoftware package INTRA (INTer-parameter Relationship Analysis)based on this methodology, has been developed. The paper alsodescribes a case study in which INTRA has been used to study theenvironmental impacts of urbanization of a typical third worldtown (Roorkee).     

New kinetic-spectrophotometric method for monitoring the concentration of iodine in river and city water samples

A new kinetic method has been developed for the determination of iodine in water samples. The method is based on the catalytic effect of I^? with the oxidation of Indigo Carmine (IC) by KBrO₃ in the sulfuric acid medium. The optimum conditions obtained are 0.16 M sulfuric acid, 1?×?10^?3 M of IC, 1?×?10^?2 M KBrO₃, reaction temperature of 35°C, and reaction time of 80 s at 612 nm. Under the optimized conditions, the method allowed the quantification of I^? in a range of 12–375 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.46 ng/mL. The method was applied to the determination of iodine in river and city water samples with the satisfactorily results.     

Ability of Indian pennywort Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell in the phytoremediation of sewage (greywater)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The freely and abundantly available amphibious plant Indian pennywort Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell was able to phytoremediate sewage (greywater)...     

Development of a new chemical process-industry accident database to assist in past accident analysis

Past accident analysis (PAA) is one of the most potent and oft-used exercises for gaining insights into the reasons why accidents occur in chemical process industry (CPI) and the damage they cause. PAA provides invaluable ‘wisdom of hindsight’ with which strategies to prevent accidents or cushion the impact of inevitable accidents can be developed.A number of databases maintain record of past accidents in CPI. The most comprehensive of the existing databases include Major Hazard Incident Data Service (MHIDAS), Major Accident Reporting System (MARS), and Failure and Accidents Technical Information Systems (FACTS). But each of these databases have some limitations. For example MHIDAS can be accessed only after paying a substantial fee. Moreover, as detailed in the paper, it is not infallible and has some inaccuracies. Other databases, besides having similar problems, are seldom confined to accidents in chemical process industries but also cover accidents from other domains such as nuclear power plants, construction industry, and natural disasters. This makes them difficult to use for PAA relating to CPI. Operational injuries not related to loss of containment, are also often included. Moreover, the detailing of events doesn’t follow a consistent pattern or classification; a good deal of relevant information is either missing or is misclassified.The present work is an attempt to develop a comprehensive open-source database to assist PAA. To this end, information on about 8000 accidents, available in different open-source clearing houses has been brought into a new database named by us PUPAD (Pondicherry University Process-industry Accident Database). Multiple and overlapping accident records have been carefully eliminated and a search engine has been developed for retrieval of the records on the basis of appropriate classification. PUPAD doesn’t aim to replace or substitute the well established databases such as MHIDAS and MARS but, rather, aims to compliment them.     

Investigation into effects of work-related quality of life and some related factors on cognitive failures among nurses

Objective. Cognitive failure is one of the factors which can be influenced by personal and professional characteristics. This research was carried out to study the effect of work-related quality of life (WRQoL) and some related factors on cognitive failures (CF) among nurses. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working in intensive care units, critical care units and emergency units in 2014. Results. In total, 750 nurses participated in the study. The mean?±?SD for the total CF and WRQoL was 40.5?±?12.7 and 75.8?±?13.7 respectively. The results show that CF have a statistically significant difference among the age groups, experience groups and working units. Multiple regression tests show that age, income and WRQoL have a significant effect on CF. Based on the results, for a unit increase in WRQoL we expect a 0.26 unit decrease in CF. Analysis of variance results show that the emergency ward had changed the overall effect of WRQoL on CF, after the effect of WRQoL was controlled. Conclusions. Overall results from the present research indicated that, despite the high level of WRQoL among the studied nurses, the rate of CF was not at an appropriate level. Development of supportive and interventional strategies is highly recommended.     

Assessment of four turbulence models in simulation of large-scale pool fires in the presence of wind using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

Pool fires are the most common of all process industry accidents. Pool fires often trigger explosions which may result in more fires, causing huge losses of life and property. Since both the risk and the frequency of occurrence of pool fires are high, it is necessary to model the risks associated with pool fires so as to correctly predict the behavior of such fires.Among the parameters which determine the overall structure of a pool fire, the most important is turbulence. It determines the extent of interaction of various parameters, including combustion, wind velocity, and entrainment of the ambient air. Of the various approaches capable of modeling the turbulence associated with pool fires, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has emerged as the most preferred due to its ability to enable closer approximation of the underlying physical phenomena.A review of the state of the art reveals that although various turbulence models exist for the simulation of pool fire no single study has compared the performance of various turbulence models in modeling pool fires. To cover this knowledge-gap an attempt has been made to employ CFD in the assessment of pool fires and find the turbulence model which is able to simulate pool fires most faithfully. The performance of the standard k–? model, renormalization group (RNG) k–? model, realizable k–? model and standard k–ω model were studied for simulating the experiments conducted earlier by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013). The results reveal that the standard k–? model enabled the closest CFD simulation of the experimental results.