Postfire succession in a forest of the cryolithozone: The example of central Yakutia

The results of studies on postfire succession in larch forests of the permafrost zone are discussed. The main directions of successional processes in burned-out areas of different ages are described. It has been shown that secondary pyrogenic successions in larch forests follow the scheme of rapid regeneration without tree species replacement and the model of succession tolerance. Groups of plant species with different life strategies and indicator species characterizing different stages of the overgrowing of burned-out areas have been identified.     

Introducing an integrated climate change perspective in POPs modelling, monitoring and regulation

This paper presents a review on the implications of climate change on the monitoring, modelling and regulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Current research gaps are also identified and discussed.Long-term data sets are essential to identify relationships between climate fluctuations and changes in chemical species distribution. Reconstructing the influence of climatic changes on POPs environmental behaviour is very challenging in some local studies, and some insights can be obtained by the few available dated sediment cores or by studying POPs response to inter-annual climate fluctuations. Knowledge gaps and future projections can be studied by developing and applying various modelling tools, identifying compounds susceptibility to climate change, local and global effects, orienting international policies.Long-term monitoring strategies and modelling exercises taking into account climate change should be considered when devising new regulatory plans in chemicals management.     

High time-resolved measurements of organic air toxics in different source regimes

High time-resolved (HTR) measurements can provide significant insight into sources and exposures of air pollution. In this study, an automated instrument was developed and deployed to measure hourly concentrations of 18 gas-phase organic air toxics and 6 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at three sites in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The sites represent different source regimes: a site with substantial mobile-source emissions; a residential site adjacent to a heavily industrialized zone; and an urban background site. Despite the close proximity of the sites (less than 13 km apart), the temporal characteristic of outdoor concentrations varied widely. Most of the compounds measured were characterized by short periods of elevated concentrations or plume events, but the duration, magnitude and composition of these events varied from site to site. The HTR data underscored the strong role of emissions from local sources on exposure to most air toxics. Plume events contributed more than 50% of the study average concentrations for all pollutants except chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane, and carbon tetrachloride. Wind directional dependence of air toxic concentrations revealed that emissions from large industrial facilities affected concentrations at all of the sites. Diurnal patterns and weekend/weekday variations indicated the effects of the mixing layer, point source emissions patterns, and mobile source air toxics (MSATs) on concentrations. Concentrations of many air toxics were temporally correlated, especially MSATs, indicating that they are likely co-emitted. It was also shown that correlations of the HTR data were greater than lower time resolution data (24-h measurements). This difference was most pronounced for the chlorinated pollutants. The stronger correlations in HTR measurements underscore their value for source apportionment studies.     

Vegetation and outdoor recess time at elementary schools: What are the connections?

Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that landscapes with more vegetation have a positive impact on children's focus, attention, and cognitive development. In school, children are able to regain focus, suppress impulses, and pay attention in class longer after exposure to natural settings. Because children spend much of their time in school, the amount and types of vegetation on school grounds may influence their development. Public elementary schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia (N = 988) were surveyed to examine correlations between school ground vegetation and outside recess. The number of trees on school grounds, the size of the school grounds, and the presence of sports fields were modestly correlated with greater outside recess time. These correlations support common sense because sports fields facilitate supervised play and larger school grounds provide space for sports fields and playgrounds and additional opportunities for free play. More trees on school grounds provide a welcoming environment for students and teachers, and encourage outside play. These results may help school personnel design and maintain school grounds that increase outdoor recess time.     

How organizational motives and communications affect public trust in organizations: The case of carbon dioxide capture and storage

Preventing climate change is among the greatest environmental challenges facing the world today. Recently developed carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology is an important strategy to mitigate climate change. Public trust in organizations involved in CCS technology is important for successful implementation of this technology. This work adresses how inferred organizational motives and organizational communications affect public trust in these organizations. Study 1 (N = 264) showed that Dutch citizens generally have less trust in the industrial organizations than in the environmental NGOs involved in CCS. As predicted, inferred organizational motives (organization-serving motives versus public-serving motives) accounted for this difference. In Study 2 (N = 78) and Study 3 (N = 51) we used experimental designs. Both experiments showed that organizations that communicated arguments incongruent with inferred organizational motives instigated less trust than organizations that communicated arguments congruent with inferred organizational motives. Study 3 additionally showed that communicating an incongruent and a congruent argument together diminished the negative effects of the incongruent argument. In both Study 2 and Study 3 the effect of congruency on trust was mediated by perceived honesty of the organizations.     

Application of lime and calcium hypochlorite in the dephenolisation and discolouration of olive mill wastewater

The application of hypochlorite for the removal of soluble COD, phenolic and polyphenolic like compounds, and other organic compounds responsible for the olive mill wastewater (OOWW) colour has been experimentally studied. After the OOWW filtration on a sand column, the effluent was subjected to a fast liming under optimal conditions. Lime application reduced polyphenols, COD and SS contents to half of their initial values but an important blackening of the treated OOWW was observed, especially when adding high concentrations of lime (10% (W/V) and 15% (W/V)).A second stage of treatment was applied using calcium hypochlorite. In this stage, removal of the studied compounds reached as much as 95% at higher concentrations, and particularly the colouring of OOWW which is generally difficult to eliminate was greatly reduced. The OOWW hypochloration acted through coagulation–flocculation and a rapid oxidation of the organic matter proceeded from the first 5 min. The kinetic study of the degradation of the waste polluting compounds from liming showed that Ca(ClO)₂ reacts similarly in the elimination of organic compounds, polyphenols, SS and colouration. The analysis of the organochloride compounds generated by the reaction between hypochlorite and the organic compounds showed that DDD, DDT and the heptachlor contents exceeded the values recommended by the International and European drinking water standards.     

Fast firing of tiles containing paper mill sludge, glass cullet and clay

The paper describes results obtained in the development of a previous research. We study here, in fast firing, the sintering behaviour and measure some properties of tiles containing a mixture of 60 wt% of paper mill sludge and 40 wt% of glass cullet. The behaviour of this material is compared to those displayed by materials obtained by the same mixture added with 10, 20 and 30 wt% of a natural red clay. In parallel, the same properties are measured also on a reference blend, which is presently used to produce commercial tiles. We show that powders containing 60 wt% of paper sludge and 40 wt% of glass cullet to which 30 wt% of clay is added give rise to materials that display a stable sintering process and have good hardness and strength and therefore could be used for the industrial production of tiles.     

Comparative environmental analysis of waste brominated plastic thermal treatments

The aim of this research activity is to investigate the environmental impact of different thermal treatments of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), applying a life cycle assessment methodology. Two scenarios were assessed, which both allow the recovery of bromine: (A) the co-combustion of WEEE and green waste in a municipal solid waste combustion plant, and (B) the staged-gasification of WEEE and combustion of produced syngas in gas turbines. Mass and energy balances on the two scenarios were set and the analysis of the life cycle inventory and the life cycle impact assessment were conducted. Two impact assessment methods (Ecoindicator 99 and Impact 2002+) were slightly modified and then used with both scenarios. The results showed that scenario B (staged-gasification) had a potentially smaller environmental impact than scenario A (co-combustion). In particular, the thermal treatment of staged-gasification was more energy efficient than co-combustion, and therefore scenario B performed better than scenario A, mainly in the impact categories of "fossil fuels" and "climate change". Moreover, the results showed that scenario B allows a higher recovery of bromine than scenario A; however, Br recovery leads to environmental benefits for both the scenarios. Finally the study demonstrates that WEEE thermal treatment for energy and matter recovery is an eco-efficient way to dispose of this kind of waste.