Monitoring Biofilm Thickness Using A Non-Destructive, On-Line, Electrical Capacitance Technique

Abstact The present study was designed to evaluate indirect, non-invasive, on-line measurement of biofilm thickness using an electrical capacitance technique. Several assays were carried out and the results showed that, at a frequency of 1 kHz, electrical capacitance could be used to measure biofilm thickness indirectly (with a correlation coefficient of 0.9495). The reproducibility revealed by the assays was also highly satisfactory.However, in contrast to what was expected, there was an inverse relationship between electrical capacitance and biofilm thickness, i.e. electrical capacitance diminished with the increase in the biofilm thickness.The tests were also carried out at different frequencies (1 kHz, 10 kHz and 100 kHz)     

砒砂岩区不同留茬高度及坡向下沙棘根系分形特征

为提高内蒙古砒砂岩区沙棘(Hippophae rhamnoides)人工林根系的生长能力,对东(E)、南(S)、西(W)、北(N)不同坡向沙棘植株进行了距地表0、10、15、20 cm(即a、b、c、d)留茬高度处理,而根系分形特征是植物根系构型应对环境异质性的表型可塑性,为反映沙棘根系对不同坡向不同留茬生长环境的适应...     

Effect of Cadmium on Microbial Activity and a Ryegrass Crop in Two Semiarid Soils

Soil pollution with Cd is an environmental problem common in the world, and it is necessary to establish what Cd concentrations in soil could be dangerous to its fertility from toxicity effects and the risk of transference of this element to plants and other organisms of the food chain. In this study, we assessed Cd toxicity on soil microorganisms and plants in two semiarid soils (uncultivated and cultivated). Soil ATP content, dehydrogenase activity, and plant growth were measured in the two soils spiked with concentrations ranging from 3 to 8000 mg Cd/kg soil and incubated for 3 h, 20 days, and 60 days. The Cd concentrations that produced 5%; 10%;, and 50%; inhibition of each of the two soil microbiological parameter studied (ecological dose, ED, values) were calculated using two different mathematical models. Also, the effect of Cd concentration on plant growth of ryegrass (Lolium perenne, L.) was studied in the two soils. The Cd ED values calculated for soil dehydrogenase activity and ATP content were higher in the agricultural soils than in the bare soil. For ATP inhibition, higher ED values were calculated than for dehydrogenase activity inhibition. The average yields of ryegrass were reduced from 5.03 to 3.56 g in abandoned soil and from 4.21 to 1.15 g in agricultural soil with increasing concentrations of Cd in the soil. Plant growth was totally inhibited in abandoned and agricultural soils at Cd concentrations above 2000 and 5000 mg/kg soil, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the concentration of Cd in the plants and the total or DTPA-extractable concentrations of Cd in the soil.     

Influence of soil properties and aging on the toxicity of copper on compost worm and barley

Influence of soil properties and aging on Cu partitioning and toxicity was assessed on 10 artificial soils constituted using a statistical design considering pH (5.5 and 7.5), organic matter (1-30% [w/w]), and clay content (5-35% [w/w]). Total Cu as well as water-, CaCl2-, and diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA)-extracted Cu fractions were determined for each soil mixture. Ecotoxic effect was assessed by determining growth inhibition of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and compost worm (Eisenia fetida) mortality. Analyses were repeated after a 16-wk aging period of the soils at pH 7.5 (8 x 2-wk wetting and drying cycle). Results indicated that pH was the main factor controlling Cu partitioning, ahead of organic matter and clay content. Calcium chloride (0.5 M)-extracted Cu fractions showed the best correlation with toxic responses (r = 0.55-0.66; p < 0.05), while total and DTPA-extracted Cu concentrations could not explain differences in toxicity. Direct regressions between toxicity and soil properties (pH, organic matter, and clay content) provided better explanation of variance: r2= 0.50 (p = 0.00006) for compost worm mortality, r2= 0.77 (p < 0.00001) for barley shoot inhibition, and r2= 0.92 (p < 0.00001) for barley root inhibition. Copper toxicity was mainly influenced by pH and, to a lesser extent, by organic matter and clay content. Aging in organic soils revealed a slight reduction in ecotoxicity while an increase was observed in soils with low organic matter content. Further investigation using longer aging periods would be necessary to assess the significance of this observation.     

Study of the evolution of aerosol emissions from coal-fired power plants due to coagulation, condensation, and gravtitational settling and health impact

This paper studies the scavenging efficiencies of aerosol emissions from coal-fired power plants under different removal mechanisms (coagulation, heterogeneous nucleation and gravitational settling) as a function of time. It also analyses the ‘health impact’ of the aerosol before and after the above dynamic mechanisms by comparing the respirable dust fractions. The well-known equations of evolution are applied to an average PSD that represents the exhaust particulate emissions from coal-fired power plants (i.e. Aboño power plant in Asturias that belongs to Hidrocantábrico Group, S.A.). From this study it is inferred that respirable dust is scavenged with the greatest difficulty and when compared with the initial volume of respirable dust, roughly 20% remains after 18 h of gravitational settling. Therefore, gravitational settling is the main removal mechanism of respirable dust compared to condensation and coagulation.     

Larvicidal and pupicidal activities of eco-friendly phenolic lipid products from Anacardium occidentale nutshell against arbovirus vectors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus are vectors of diseases that constitute public health problems. The discovery of products capable of...     

Probabilistic health risk assessment of nitrosamines in drinking water of Shaoxing,Zhejiang, China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Nitrosamines (NAms) are potent genotoxic and carcinogenic but widely detected in drinking water. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of...     

Study on the denitrification performance of FexLayOz/activated coke for NH3-SCR and the effect of CO escaped from activated coke at mid-high temperature on catalytic activity

Currently, activated coke is widely used in the removal of multiple pollutants from industrial flue gas. In this paper, a series of novel Fe_xLa_yO_z/AC catalysts was prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation for NH₃-SCR denitrification reaction. The introduction of Fe-La bimetal oxides significantly improved the denitrification performance of activated coke at mid-high temperature, and 4% Fe_0.3La_0.7O_1.5/AC exhibited a superior NO_x conversion efficiency of 90.1% at 400 °C. The catalysts were further characterized by BET, SEM, XRD, Raman, EPR, XPS, FTIR, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, et al., whose results showed that the perovskite-type oxide of LaFeO₃ and oxygen vacancies were produced on the catalysts’ surfaces during roasting. Fe-La doping enhanced the amount of acid sites (mainly Lewis and other stronger acid sites) and the content of multifarious oxygen species, which were beneficial for NO_x removal at mid-high temperature. Moreover, it was investigated that the effect of released CO from activated coke at mid-high temperature on the NO_x removal through the lifetime test, in which it was found that a large amount of CO produced by pyrolysis of activated coke could promote the NO_x removal, and long-term escaping of CO on the activated coke carrier did not have a significant negative impact on catalytic performance. The results of the TG-IR test showed that volatile matter is released from the activated coke while TG results showed that the weight loss rate of 4% Fe_0.3La_0.7O_1.5/AC only was 0.0015~0.007%/min at 300–400 °C. Hence, 4% Fe_0.3La_0.7O_1.5/AC had excellent thermal stability and denitrification performance to be continuously used at mid-high temperature. Finally, the mechanisms were proposed on the basis of experiments and characterization results.

     

Simultaneous removal of metronidazole and Pb(II) from aqueous solution onto bifunctional activated carbons

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this work, it was analyzed the behavior of three commercial activated carbons with different textural and chemical properties to adsorb...     

膜过滤-气相色谱法测定涂料中的苯系物、环己酮和甲苯二异氰酸酯

采用膜过滤-气相色谱法测定涂料中的苯系物、环己酮和甲苯二异氰酸酯（TD I）。用7种规格的石英毛细管色谱柱对混合标准溶液和涂料试样进行了分析实验,实验结果表明,不同属性的涂料试样添加固定量的正十四烷作内标物,经膜过滤净化后,苯系物、环己酮和TD I可采用DB-1-3或DB-1-2色谱柱同时分离并测定。测试数据经多级校准曲线处理后涂料试样中苯系物、环己酮和TD I的加标回收率为98.6%～101.8%,各组分分析结果的变异系数均小于2.0%,检出限均小于1.50×10^-5g。