In 2004/2005, a European Twinning Project was carried out to support Polish occupational safety and health institutions in putting into practice Directive 2000/54/EC regarding the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work. Information on and training in sampling and analysing biological agents of people responsible for bioaerosol measurements and the assessment of measuring results from the workplace atmosphere were part of the project. This paper is an extract of the authors' activities within the project and can be used as a tool for comparable activities in future projects with other European Union candidates. It gives information on working standards for bioaerosol measurements worked out and commonly used in Germany within the frame of European guidelines for bioaerosol measurements in the workplace atmosphere. Additionally it summarizes the authors' long practical experience in carrying out bioaerosol measurements in the atmosphere of various workplaces. 相似文献
The ubiquitous β-Proteobacterium Gallionella ferruginea is known as stalk-forming, microaerophilic iron(II) oxidizer, which rapidly produces iron oxyhydroxide precipitates. Uranium and neptunium sorption on the resulting intermixes of G. ferruginea cells, stalks, extracellular exudates, and precipitated iron oxyhydroxides (BIOS) was compared to sorption to abiotically formed iron oxides and oxyhydroxides. The results show a high sorption capacity of BIOS towards radionuclides at circumneutral pH values with an apparent bulk distribution coefficient (Kd) of 1.23 × 104 L kg?1 for uranium and 3.07 × 105 L kg?1 for neptunium. The spectroscopic approach by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy, which was applied on BIOS samples, showed the formation of inner-sphere complexes. The structural data obtained at the uranium LIII-edge and the neptunium LIII-edge indicate the formation of bidentate edge-sharing surface complexes, which are known as the main sorption species on abiotic ferrihydrite. Since the rate of iron precipitation in G. ferruginea-dominated systems is 60 times faster than in abiotic systems, more ferrihydrite will be available for immobilization processes of heavy metals and radionuclides in contaminated environments and even in the far-field of high-level nuclear waste repositories.
Corporate image, European Emission Trading System and Environmental
Regulations, encourage pulp industry to reduce carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions. Kraft pulp mills produce
CO2 mainly in combustion processes. The largest sources
are the recovery boiler, the biomass boiler, and the lime kiln. Due to utilizing
mostly biomass-based fuels, the CO2 is largely biogenic.
Capture and storage of CO2 (CCS) could offer pulp and paper
industry the possibility to act as site for negative CO2
emissions. In addition, captured biogenic CO2 can be used as
a raw material for bioproducts. Possibilities for CO2
utilization include tall oil manufacturing, lignin extraction, and production of
precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), depending on local conditions and
mill-specific details. In this study, total biomass-based CO2
capture and storage potential (BECCS) and potential to implement capture and
utilization of biomass-based CO2 (BECCU) in kraft pulp mills
were estimated by analyzing the impacts of the processes on the operation of two
modern reference mills, a Nordic softwood kraft pulp mill with integrated paper
production and a Southern eucalyptus kraft pulp mill. CO2
capture is energy-intensive, and thus the effects on the energy balances of the
mills were estimated. When papermaking is integrated in the mill operations, energy
adequacy can be a limiting factor for carbon capture implementation. Global carbon
capture potential was estimated based on pulp production data. Kraft pulp mills have
notable CO2 capture potential, while the on-site utilization
potential using currently available technologies is lower. The future of these
processes depends on technology development, desire to reuse
CO2, and prospective changes in legislation.
Variability in flower colour of animal-pollinated plants is common and caused, inter alia, by inter-individual differences in pigment concentrations. If and how pollinators, especially bees, respond to these small differences in pigment concentration is not known, but it is likely that flower colour variability impacts the choice behaviour of all flower visitors that exhibit innate and learned colour preferences. In behavioural experiments, we simulated varying pigment concentrations and studied its impact on the colour choices of bumblebees and honeybees. Individual bees were trained to artificial flowers having a specific concentration of a pigment, i.e. Acridine Orange or Aniline Blue, and then given the simultaneous choice between three test colours including the training colour, one colour of lower and one colour of higher pigment concentration. For each pigment, two set-ups were provided, covering the range of low to middle and the range of middle to high pigment concentrations. Despite the small bee-subjective perceptual contrasts between the tested stimuli and regardless of training towards medium concentrations, bees preferred neither the training stimuli nor the stimuli offering the highest pigment concentration but more often chose those stimuli offering the highest spectral purity and the highest chromatic contrast against the background. Overall, this study suggests that bees choose an intermediate pigment concentration due to its optimal conspicuousness. It is concluded that the spontaneous preferences of bees for flower colours of high spectral purity might exert selective pressure on the evolution of floral colours and of flower pigmentation. 相似文献
Recent molecular data on the maternally inherited mitochondrial (mt) DNA have challenged the traditional view that the now
extinct Baltic sturgeon population belonged to the European sturgeon Acipenser sturio. Instead, there is evidence that American sea sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus historically immigrated into the Baltic Sea. In this study, we test the hypothesis that A. oxyrinchus introgressed into, rather than replaced, the A. sturio population in the Baltic. We established four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the nuclear MHC II antigen gene with
a species-specific SNP pattern. Using an ancient DNA approach and two independent lines of molecular evidence (sequencing
of allele-specific clones, SNaPshot), we detected both A. sturio and A. oxyrinchus alleles in the available museum material of the now extinct Baltic sturgeon population. The hybrid nature of the Baltic population
was further confirmed by very high levels of heterozygosity. It had been previously postulated that the immigration of the
cold-adapted A. oxyrinchus into the Baltic occurred during the Medieval Little Ice Age, when temperature likely dropped below the degree inducing spawning
in A. sturio. Under this scenario, our new findings suggest that the genetic mosaic pattern in the Baltic sturgeon population (oxyrinchus mtDNA, sturio and oxyrinchus MHC alleles) is possibly caused by sex-biased introgression where spawning was largely restricted to immigrating American
females, while fertilization was predominantly achieved by abundant local European males. The hybrid nature of the former
Baltic sturgeon population should be taken into account in the current reintroduction measures.
Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users. 相似文献
Males often face strong mating competition by neighboring males in their social environment. A recent study by Plath et al.
(Anim Behav 75:21–29, 2008a) has demonstrated that the visual presence of a male competitor (i.e., an audience male) affects
the expression of male mating preferences in a poeciliid fish (Poecilia mexicana) with a weaker expression of mating preferences when an audience male observed the focal male. This may be a tactic to reduce
sperm competition, since surrounding males likely share intrinsic preferences for female traits or copy mate choice decisions.
Here, we examined the hypothesis that a same-sex audience would affect female mate preferences less than male mating preferences. Our hypothesis was based on the assumptions that (1) competition for
mates in a fashion that would be comparable in strength to sperm competition or overt male–male aggression is absent among
Poecilia females, and (2) P. mexicana females typically form female-biased shoals, such that almost any female mate choice in nature occurs in front of a female
audience. Poecilia females (P. mexicana, surface and cave form, and the closely related gynogenetic Poecilia formosa) were given a choice between a large and a small male, and the tests were repeated while a conspecific, a heterospecific,
or no audience female (control) was presented. Females spent more time in the neutral zone and, thus, less time near the males
during the second part of a trial when an audience was presented, but—consistent with predictions—females showed only slightly
weaker expression of mate preferences during the second part of the tests. This decline was not specific to the treatment
involving an audience and was significantly weaker than the effect seen in the male sex. 相似文献
Environment Systems and Decisions - Organizational and technical approaches have proven successful in increasing the performance and preventing risks at socio-technical systems at all scales.... 相似文献