Groundwater contamination by nitrates in the city of Konya, (Turkey): a GIS perspective

Groundwater is an essential drinking water source in the city of Konya, Turkey. Approximately 75% of the city's water consumption has been supplied from 198 groundwater wells for the last six years. Nitrate (NO(3)(-)) is one of the important water quality parameters and was measured in the water samples taken from 139 wells in 1998 and from 156 wells in 2001 within the study area of 427.5 km(2). To evaluate the nitrate data, a vector-based GIS software package ArcView GIS 3.2 was used. A hardcopy map of the city was digitized in the UTM projection system. The locations of the wells were obtained by a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. According to the maps produced, nitrate concentrations generally tend to increase in the city center, the average concentrations being 2.2 and 16.1mg/L for the years of 1998 and 2001, respectively. A statistical correlation procedure was also applied to well depths and nitrate concentrations. As a result, correlation coefficients of 0.259 and 0.261 were obtained for data collected in 1998 and 2001. It is concluded that the distribution of nitrate concentrations is not correlated with well depths within the study area.     

The impact of economic,social, and political globalization and democracy on life expectancy in low-income countries: are sustainable development goals contradictory?

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations are important guides for the development processes of developing countries. However, achieving all of these goals is only possible if the goals are consistent with each other. It has been observed in the literature that possible contradictions between these goals are ignored. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate whether two sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN are contradictory or supporting each other in low-income countries. These SDGs are “Good Health and Well-Being” (SDG3) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG17). For this purpose, the role of globalization and democracy in life expectancy is empirically investigated in 16 low-income countries over the period 1970–2017. While globalization has been used as an indicator of the partnership between countries, democracy has been used as an indicator of accountability and cooperation between governments and societies. According to estimations of the continuous-updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and bias-adjusted ordinary least squares (BA-OLS), globalization and its subcomponents such as economic, social, and political globalization affect life expectancy positively. Democracy also increases life expectancy in those countries. The GDP per capita is also used as a control variable. Our results show that a higher level of per capita income is positively associated with higher levels of life expectancy. In conclusion, no contradiction was found between SDG3 and SDG17 in those countries. Achieving a healthier society requires economic, social, and political integration between governments and societies.

     

Hospital site selection using fuzzy AHP and its derivatives

Environmental managers are commonly faced with sophisticated decisions, such as choosing the location of a new facility subject to multiple conflicting criteria. This paper considers the specific problem of creating a well-distributed network of hospitals that delivers its services to the target population with minimal time, pollution and cost. We develop a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis process that combines Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis with the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and use this process to determine the optimum site for a new hospital in the Tehran urban area. The GIS was used to calculate and classify governing criteria, while FAHP was used to evaluate the decision factors and their impacts on alternative sites. Three methods were used to estimate the total weights and priorities of the candidate sites: fuzzy extent analysis, center-of-area defuzzification, and the α-cut method. The three methods yield identical priorities for the five alternatives considered. Fuzzy extent analysis provides less discriminating power, but is simpler to implement and compute than the other two methods. The α-cut method is more complicated, but integrates the uncertainty and overall attitude of the decision-maker. The usefulness of the new hospital site is evaluated by computing an accessibility index for each pixel in the GIS, defined as the ratio of population density to travel time. With the addition of a new hospital at the optimum site, this index improved over about 6.5 percent of the geographical area.     

Effect of industrial by-products containing electron acceptors on mitigating methane emission during rice cultivation

Three industrial by-products (fly ash, phosphogypsum and blast furnace slag), were evaluated for their potential re-use as soil amendments to reduce methane (CH₄) emission resulting from rice cultivation. In laboratory incubations, CH₄ production rates from anoxic soil slurries were significantly reduced at amendment levels of 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 5% (wt wt⁻¹), while observed CO₂ production rates were enhanced. The level of suppression in methane production was the highest for phosphogypsum, followed by blast slag and then fly ash. In the greenhouse experiment, CH₄ emission rates from the rice planted potted soils significantly decreased with the increasing levels (2–20 Mg ha⁻¹) of the selected amendments applied, while rice yield simultaneously increased compared to the control treatment. At 10 Mg ha⁻¹ application level of the amendments, total seasonal CH₄ emissions were reduced by 20%, 27% and 25%, while rice grain yields were increased by 17%, 15% and 23% over the control with fly ash, phosphogypsum, and blast slag amendments, respectively. The suppression of CH₄ production rates as well as total seasonal CH₄ flux could be due to the increased concentrations of active iron, free iron, manganese oxides, and sulfate in the amended soil, which acted as electron acceptors and controlled methanogens’ activity by limiting substrates availability. Among the amendments, blast furnace slag and fly ash contributed mainly to improve the soil nutrients balance and increased the soil pH level towards neutral point, but soil acidity was developed with phosphogypsum application. Conclusively, blast slag among the selected amendments would be a suitable soil amendment for reducing CH₄ emissions as well as sustaining rice productivity.     

Status and challenges of hospital solid waste management: case studies from Thailand, Pakistan, and Mongolia

Healthcare waste management is a serious public health concern. In developing countries, compared to developed nations, the management of infectious wastes has not received sufficient attention. Recently, worldwide awareness has grown of the need to impose stricter controls on the handling and disposal of wastes generated by healthcare facilities. This exploratory study attempted in seven selected hospitals to explain the situation of healthcare waste management, with a focus on handling practices, occupational safety, and the implementation status of waste management policy, together with other pertinent policy issues. It was noted that the current system of healthcare waste management was underdeveloped and was in dire need of immediate attention and improvement, especially in Mongolia and Pakistan; the medical waste management practices were better in the hospitals studied in Thailand. This study underscores the importance for improvement of medical waste management of a national regulatory framework, a sound internal management system, and programs to train and ensure the safety of related personnel, as well as programs to estimate quantities of waste generated and to evaluate appropriate techniques of disposal. Once a healthcare waste management plan has been prepared, a regular program of inspection and review can be undertaken within the healthcare institution. A good inspection program can also expose problems and new issues in managing healthcare wastes.     

Safety analysis of slipping barefoot on marble covered wet areas

This study was conducted in order to determine the suitable surface processing techniques which will increase the safety of pedestrians, reducing the risk of slipping on wet floor coverings on which they walk barefoot. In the scope of the study, slip angle of surface-processed marbles in three different dimensions is determined by using DIN 51097 Standard “The determination of the characteristics that reduce slipping on wet, barefoot surfaces”. Slip angles were calculated with the help of an inclined plane method and by using three different surface processing techniques (polishing, honing and tumbling techniques) for five different types of marble. It was found that the parameters which affected slip angle values of the marbles were surface roughness, plate sizes, grain size of the abrasives used for surface processing, physical and mechanical properties. Statistical analysis was used to determine the relationship between these parameters. The marbles were then grouped according to safe utilization places depending on slip angle and surface roughness, according to the statistical results.     

The feasibility of decontamination of reduced saline sediments from copper using the electrokinetic process

The remediation of metal contamination in estuarine and reduced sediments is another challenge for the electrokinetic process. Problems result from the complex chemical composition of saline reduced sediments. In the experiments described here copper was added into saline reduced sediments to simulate the natural situation. Two constant voltages were applied across the electrokinetic cell to investigate the effect of an increase in potential difference on the electrokinetic process. Acetic acid at pH 6 and 4 was also added to the cathode in separate experiments to enhance copper removal. The results from this study showed that in the unenhanced experiments most of copper remained in the soil and was unaffected by the electrokinetic process. At the end of unenhanced electrokinetic experiments, the copper concentration was found only to be slightly changed in the anode region. Up to 21% of the copper was found precipitated near the anode when the applied voltage was 10V and this increased to 25% when the applied voltage was 7V. In the enhanced electrokinetic experiments up to 98% of copper was removed from section 1 and precipitated again in sections 2 and 3. This indicates that a significant amount copper removal from the saline sediments may be achieved by the enhanced electrokinetic process.     

Equilibrium partitioning theory to predict the sediment toxicity of the anionic surfactant C(12)-2-LAS to Corophium volutator

The study of the effect of the sorption of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) on the bioavailability to marine benthic organisms is essential to refine the environmental risk assessment of these compounds. According to the equilibrium partitioning theory (EqP), the effect concentration in water-only exposure will be similar to the effect concentration in the sediment pore water. In this work, sorption and desorption experiments with two marine sediments were carried out using the compound C₁₂-2-LAS. The effect of the sediment sorption on the toxicity of benthic organisms was studied in water-only and in sediment bioassays with the marine mud shrimp Corophium volutator. In addition, three common spiking methods were tested for its application in the toxicity tests, as well as the stability of the surfactant during the water-only and sediment-water test duration. LC50 values obtained from water-only exposure showed a good correspondence with the pore water concentrations calculated from the sorption and desorption isotherms in the spiked sediments.     

多孔SBA-15颗粒对Cd(Ⅱ)的吸附缝合及其对土壤Cd(Ⅱ)的修复潜力

为拓展多孔硅酸盐等矿物材料在钝化土壤重金属中的应用,以Na2Si O_3为硅源,制备了二氧化硅多孔材料SBA-15,用透射电镜、X射线衍射、氮气吸附-解吸和红外光谱等手段对其结构进行了表征,并在此基础上,以批试验法研究了SBA-15对Cd(Ⅱ)吸附特征和缝合性能,并通过小青菜盆栽试验法探讨了其对土壤Cd的钝化潜力.结果表明,合成的SBA-15具有规则中孔特征,比表面积507.3 m2·g-1,孔径7.38 nm;体系pH≥7.0时,在100 mg·L~(-1)的Cd(Ⅱ)溶液中SBA-15的最大吸附量可达76.43 mg·g-1,吸附过程可用Langmuir模型描述,增加介质离子强度对Cd(Ⅱ)的吸附具有抑制作用.吸附Cd(Ⅱ)后的SBA-15可以用0.1 mol·L~(-1)HNO_3进行再生,但当向吸附Cd(Ⅱ)的SBA-15中引入Na2Si O_3后,可以通过SBA-15的孔隙缝合有效地固定被吸附的Cd(Ⅱ),从而抑制Cd(Ⅱ)向环境中释放.小青菜盆栽试验表明,SBA-15对Cd(Ⅱ)污染土壤的改良效果明显,能有效地降低土壤有效态Cd(Ⅱ)的含量,促进土壤Cd水溶态和交换态向碳酸盐和铁锰氧化物结合态及残渣态的转化,抑制Cd(Ⅱ)在小青菜体内的积累,增加小青菜产量.研究表明,利用SBA-15的吸附缝合能力以SBA-15和Na2Si O_3配合使用,是进行土壤中Cd修复的有效方法.     

Environmental flows and its evaluation of restoration effect based on LEDESS model in Yellow River Delta wetlands

Due to freshwater supplement scarcity and heavy human activities, the fresh water wetland ecosystem in Yellow River Delta is facing disintegrated deterioration, and it is seriously affecting the health of the Yellow River ecosystem. This paper identifies the restoration objectives of wetland aiming to protect ecological and economic values and development as well as the water resources of the Yellow River. The hydraulic and groundwater coupling model and Landscape Ecological Decision and Evaluation Support System (LEDESS) of the Yellow River Delta were established to calculate environmental flows of degraded wetlands. LEDESS is a computer-based model developed and used to assess and evaluate the effects of land-use changes on nature. In this study, LEDESS is used to assess and evaluate the ecological effects and the restoration possibilities considering several environmental flows’ supplement scenarios. This included the changes of suitable habitat conditions and its ecological carrying capacities for indicator species, e.g., Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), Oriental stork (Ciconia boyciana), and Saunder’s gull (Larus relictus), and changing of ecological patterns. The results showed that replenishing fresh water to wetlands is one of the effective adaptive measures to mitigate wetland degradation and improve its habitat quality and carrying capacities. This study indicated that landscape ecology approach is not only considered as a good way to solve complex problems in ecosystem management but also can be used to decide on the environmental flows and assess its ecological effects in large-scale wetland rehabilitation. This integrated method could make environmental flows estimated and assessment more rational than the results of hydrologic methods. It could assist decision makers to “see” the ecological effects after water supplementing and so alleviate the contradictions between environmental flows and production water demands, and can facilitate the implementation of environmental flows in most countries with water resources shortage.