Present to future sediment transport of the Brahmaputra River: reducing uncertainty in predictions and management

The Brahmaputra River in South Asia carries one of the world’s highest sediment loads, and the sediment transport dynamics strongly affect the region’s ecology and agriculture. However, present understanding of sediment conditions and dynamics is hindered by limited access to hydrological and geomorphological data, which impacts predictive models needed in management. We here synthesize reported peer-reviewed data relevant to sediment transport and perform a sensitivity analysis to identify sensitive and uncertain parameters, using the one-dimensional model HEC-RAS, considering both present and future climatic conditions. Results showed that there is considerable uncertainty in openly available estimates (260–720 Mt yr^?1) of the annual sediment load for the Brahmaputra River at its downstream Bahadurabad gauging station (Bangladesh). This may aggravate scientific impact studies of planned power plant and reservoir construction in the region, as well as more general effects of ongoing land use change and climate change. We found that data scarcity on sediment grain size distribution, water discharge, and Manning’s roughness coefficient had the strongest controls on the modelled sediment load. However, despite uncertainty in absolute loads, we showed that predicted relative changes, including a future increase in sediment load by about 40 % at Bahadurabad by 2075–2100, were consistent across multiple model simulations. Nevertheless, for the future scenarios we found that parameter uncertainty almost doubled for water discharge and river geometry, highlighting that improved information on these parameters could greatly advance the abilities to predict and manage current and future sediment dynamics in the Brahmaputra river basin.     

White rot fungi can be a promising tool for removal of bisphenol A,bisphenol S,and nonylphenol from wastewater

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are a wide group of chemicals that interfere with the endocrine system. Their similarity to natural steroid...     

Internal and External Factors Influencing Time-Related Injury Risk in Continuous Shift Work

Time-related accident risk in shift work may be attributed to internal factors, such as fatigue, level of performance, sleep propensity, and to some external factors, like shift system, physical and social environment. Six hundred and sixty-eight events in the metallurgical industry have been analysed in terms of time of day, time on task, consecutive day of the shift block, day of the week, and season.

The injury rate was similar on all shifts but more severe accidents happened in the nighttime. Somewhat more injuries occurred in the second half of the shift, in the second part of a shift block, and in summer compared with winter. There were fewer injuries at weekends.     

Seasonal patterns of the bacterioplankton community composition in a lake threatened by a pesticide disposal site

Background aim and scope  

The objective of the study was to determine the effects of ca. 35 years of pesticide contamination (pesticide dump—PD) of Lake Szeląg Wielki (located in the north-eastern Poland) on changes in the microbial communities of aquatic ecosystems. In the years 2008–2009, analyses were carried out for seasonal changes in the quantity and composition of bacterioplankton in the lake examined, which is of high significance to the tourism and fishing industries and is located in the vicinity of an area subjected to reclamation after a pesticide dump.     

Pulse Nebulization in Pneumatic Devices

Aerosols of a physiological salt solution and aqueous solutions of salbutamol, sodium cromoglicate, and dornase aifa were generated in a pneumatic nebulizer and analyzed in a system with controlled humidity of air as a carrier gas. Mass distribution of aerosol particles and yield of generation for pulse nebulization were measured. Pulsation of generation was realized with an attachment maintained by a computer program. Opening times of the valve were in the range 50-800 ms. The results indicate the possibility of improving aerosol particle delivery to the lung using a pulse generation system.     

Determining Attenuation of Impulse Noise With an Electrical Equivalent of a Hearing Protection Device

Determining the effectiveness of impulse noise attenuation with hearing protection devices (HPDs) is an important part of their selection. Measuring impulse noise parameters under an HPD would involve exposing subjects to impulses with a high peak sound pressure level. This paper presents a computational method of determining impulse noise parameters under the cups of earmuffs. Calculations are done using the transfer function of earmuffs, determined with Shaw’s electrical equivalent of an HPD, taking into account the design parameters of earmuffs. The developed method was used for calculations in the presence of impulse noise generated by gunshots. To verify the computational method, the results of these calculations were compared with the results of measurements.     

Application of Neural Networks in Active Noise Reduction Systems

Active noise reduction systems based on a control unit in the form of a finite impulse response filter assume the linearity of every single component. Neural networks, which have so far been seldom used in this field, are a kind of a filter with the ability to project nonlinear characteristics of an active noise reduction system. This paper presents some simulation research studies of active noise reduction systems based on neural networks. Also presented are results of the operation of systems with different levels of complexity as well as the influence of different parameters of a neural network and of the system itself on those results.     

The effect of the corticosteroid hormone cortexolone on the metabolites produced during phenanthrene biotransformation in Cunninghamella elegans

The metabolism of phenanthrene and the mammalian corticosteroid hormone cortexolone by the fungus Cunninghamella elegans was studied. The amounts of the cortexolone transformation products, cortisol and epicortisol, were affected by the presence of phenanthrene. Approximately 40% more cortisol was produced by C. elegans in cultures with phenanthrene. In contrast, epicortisol formation decreased. C. elegans transformed phenanthrene to phenanthrene trans-1,2-,3,4-, and 9,10-dihydrodiols, phenols, diphenols (diols) and glucoside conjugates of 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 9-phenanthrols. Almost all of the phenanthrene initially added was metabolized to ethyl acetate extractable metabolites. In the mycelia and culture medium extracts, phenanthrol glucosides represented 80% and 94% of the total metabolites, respectively. The major metabolite was the glucoside conjugate of 1-phenanthrol. The presence of cortexolone affected the biodegradation of phenanthrene by decreasing the amounts of phenanthrene metabolites compared to control cultures.