Assessment comparison of commercial TiO2 and TiO2 sol-gel on the degradation of caffeine using artificial radiation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The presence of endocrine disrupting compounds in water receptor bodies, such as drugs, currently has in scientific field a great focus of studies...     

Evaluation of bisphenol A levels in Nigerian thermal receipts and estimation of daily dermal exposure

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high production volume chemical that has wide industrial applications, especially as a color developer in thermal papers. The...     

Hazardous bauxite red mud and ferrous slag management to produce sustainable construction materials

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This paper reports the development and characterization of new ceramics from hazardous bauxite red mud (50...     

Influence of daytime running lamps on visual reaction time of pedestrians when detecting turn indicators

Introduction

This article describes one experiment that studied the influence of Daytime Running Lamps (DRL) on pedestrian detection of turn indicators.

Method

An experimental device including one DRL and one turn indicator was used in order to determine Visual Reaction Times (VRT) of 148 observers in different situations involving turn indicator activation. Such situations were combinations of three main variables: color of DRL, separation between DRL and Turn Indicator, and observation angle.

Results

Significant changes in VRT were found depending on the configurations above, especially the observation angle and the color of DRL. This second result demonstrates that amber DRLs inhibit the detection of Turn Indicators.

Impact on industry

One of the main targets of this paper is to recommend that carmakers introduce only white DRLs on new vehicles. We also intend to advise regulatory bodies working on automotive regulation about the consequences of allowing amber DRLs and also about the danger of introducing constrains on the distance between DRL and Turn Indicator without further experimental evidences.     

Global sea-level rise is recognised, but flooding from anthropogenic land subsidence is ignored around northern Manila Bay, Philippines

Land subsidence resulting from excessive extraction of groundwater is particularly acute in East Asian countries. Some Philippine government sectors have begun to recognise that the sea-level rise of one to three millimetres per year due to global warming is a cause of worsening floods around Manila Bay, but are oblivious to, or ignore, the principal reason: excessive groundwater extraction is lowering the land surface by several centimetres to more than a decimetre per year. Such ignorance allows the government to treat flooding as a lesser problem that can be mitigated through large infrastructural projects that are both ineffective and vulnerable to corruption. Money would be better spent on preventing the subsidence by reducing groundwater pumping and moderating population growth and land use, but these approaches are politically and psychologically unacceptable. Even if groundwater use is greatly reduced and enlightened land-use practices are initiated, natural deltaic subsidence and global sea-level rise will continue to aggravate flooding, although at substantially lower rates.     

First Step for an Ecological Risk Assessment to Evaluate the Impact of Diffuse Pollution in Lake Vela (Portugal)

Lake Vela, located in the Portuguese littoral-centre, is a temperate shallow lake exhibiting a high trophic status. This aquatic ecosystem has been potentially exposed to contamination generated by agricultural and livestock activities held in their drainage basin, which seriously compromise their health. This work summarizes some background information and presents the problem formulation step of the ERA. Therefore, it evaluates the characteristics of the stressor(s), describes the ecological system and receptors and suggests a conceptual model, which predicts the potential exposure pathways, relating suspected sources to the defined endpoints. This introductory step also described an analysis plan on the entire study, which includes a delineation of the assessment design, data needs, measures, and methods for conducting the analysis phase of the risk assessment process.     

Leaching composted lignocellulosic wastes to prepare container media: Feasibility and environmental concerns

The leaching of salt and mineral elements from three composts prepared with residual vegetable crop biomass (melon, pepper or zucchini) was studied using methacrylate columns and distilled water. The benefits of the leached composts to be used for ornamental potted plant production were also analysed. After leaching 5 container capacities of effluent, both the electrical conductivity and the concentration of soluble mineral elements in compost leachates decreased substantially and remained close to the target levels. Composts reacted differently to leaching due to differences in the raw waste sources and the composting process and hence, in their physical and chemical characteristics. At the end of the experiment, after pouring 8 container capacities of water, the leaching efficiency of the salts was 96%, 93% and 87% for melon, pepper and zucchini-based composts, respectively. Mineral elements differed in their ability to be removed from the composts; N (NH₄⁺ and NO₃^?), K⁺, Na⁺, Cl^?, and SO₄^2? were leached readily, whereas H₂PO₄^?, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ were removed hardly. Leached composts showed a range of physico-chemical and chemical characteristics suitable for use as growing media constituents. Potted Calendula and Calceolaria plants grew in the substrates prepared with the leached composts better than in those made with the non-leached ones. Finally, special emphasis must be paid to the management of the effluents produced under commercial conditions to avoid environmental pollution.     

CONTEMPORANEOUS AUTOREGRESSIVE-MOVING AVERAGE (CARMA) MODELING IN WATER RESOURCES1

ABSTRACT: The Contemporaneous Autoregressive-Moving Average (CARMA) model is a simple and efficient model that can be used to fit many multivariate hydrological time series. For certain types of multistation river flow systems, the CARMA model is naturally obtained when the physical restrictions of the system or the characteristics of the data are taken in consideration during the formulation of the model. It is shown how the CARMA model can optimally be used to handle multiple time series where the number of observations in each series may be different. Adequate model building techniques, as well as computational and statistical efficient algorithms to estimate the parameters of the model, are given. The methodologies and applications of the CARMA model are illustrated with three examples. It is also shown how the full multivariate ARMA model may lead to losses in efficient of the estimators when the CARMA model is adequate.     

Field Exposure Study of Polylactic Acid (PLA) Plastic Films in the Banana Fields of Costa Rica

For use by the banana industry of Costa Rica, polylactic acid (PLA) plastic ropes and banana finger shrouds must remain operational for 14 to 16 weeks, and they also must be able to break down in the soil after serving their purposes. The banana field at La Rebusca Farm (Costa Rica) and the experiment station at University of Costa Rica were selected for a field exposure study of Cargill EcoPla Generation II (GII) and Cargill EcoPla monolayer (Ca-I) PLA films. The average monthly temperature, relative humidity, and cumulative rainfall of the La Rebusca Farm and the University of Costa Rica site were 26 and 22°C, 92 and 84%, and 352 and 177 in., respectively. The PLA plastic films at the La Rebusca Farm lost their mechanical properties earlier than at the University of Costa Rica site because of the higher temperature and relative humidity of the banana farm. The Ca-I film meets the 14-week operational time frame and it is recommended for further studies as ropes and banana shrouds.