Fossil and biogenic CO₂ from waste incineration based on a yearlong radiocarbon study

We describe the first long-term implementation of the radiocarbon (¹⁴C) method to study the share of biogenic (%Bio C) and fossil (%Fos C) carbon in combustion CO₂. At five Swiss incinerators, a total of 24 three-week measurement campaigns were performed over 1 year. Temporally averaged bag samples were analyzed for ¹⁴CO₂ by accelerator mass spectrometry. Significant differences between the plants in the share of fossil CO₂ were observed, with annual mean values from 43.4 ± 3.9% to 54.5 ± 3.1%. Variations can be explained by the waste composition of the respective plant. Based on our dataset, an average value of 48 ± 4%Fos C was determined for waste incineration in Switzerland. No clear annual trend in %Fos C was observed for four of the monitored incinerators, while one incinerator showed considerable variations, which are likely due to the separation and temporary storage of bulky goods.     

Modeling affective and cognitive responses to soft-target terrorism over time

Environment Systems and Decisions - There is great value in understanding the public’s reactions to terror attacks, though such reactions pose stark challenges for sound psychological...     

Analysing spectroscopy data using two-step group penalized partial least squares regression

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - A statistical challenge to analyse hyperspectral data is the multicollinearity between spectral bands. Partial least squares (PLS) has been extensively...     

Numerical and experimental studies of turbulence in vegetated open-channel flows

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - A numerical model based on the double-averaged (spatial and ensemble averaged) method has been developed to simulate vegetated free surface flows. The classical $$k...     

Heavy metals contamination in mudflat and mangrove sediments (Mumbai,India)

The focus of this study, carried out on mudflat and mangrove sediments of Ulhas Estuary and Thane Creek in Mumbai, India, documents how sediment analysis in different ecosystems can help in understanding metal behaviour and pollution status of the region. Based on the the geoaccumulation index (I _geo ), the study shows that the estuarine and creek regions, being recipients of industrial and domestic wastes, display moderate pollution. Ulhas Estuary with higher clay and organic matter contents, exhibits higher amounts of metals than Thane Creek. Furthermore, using correlation and cluster analyses, the creek projects stable subenvironments with similar types of metal associations, with Fe and total organic carbon as the dominant metal carriers. By contrast, in the estuarine subenvironments, the metal associations do not reveal any distinct trend, which may be attributed to the disturbance caused by dredging activities routinely carried out in the region. Factor analysis carried out on I _geo data in both regions further helped in identifying polluted metal groups.     

Antispermatogenic effects of artemether: An animal model

Various antimalarial drugs have been shown to exert different adverse effects; however, scanty information is available for artemether-induced potential side effects. The present study assessed effects of artemether on lipid profile, sperm count, and histological features of testes in an animal model. The mean total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins, low-density lipoproteins, triglyceride, and total proteins in mice-administered artemether were higher compared with controls. The mean sperm counts in mice treated with artemether were reduced when compared with controls. In addition, it was observed that artemether affected the histopathology of seminiferous epithelia and Leydig cells. Evidence indicates that artemether exerts adverse effects in mice testes.     

Determination of metallic cobalt in the atmosphere

Due to the fact that, among the different chemical species, metallic cobalt is characterized by the highest toxicity, in this paper is proposed a procedure for its determination in the atmospheric paniculate. The air is filtered on a cellulose or glass fiber membrane, to collect the paniculate containing among the other species, metallic cobalt: the determination is based on a selective dissolution of the metallic cobalt possibly present followed by its determination by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The typical interferences that can be present in the matrix are discussed and suggestions for their minimisation are proposed. By the following procedure is also possible to determine separately the sum of the insoluble and water soluble cobalt compounds.