Use of rainwater for non-potable purposes in the Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon has about 69 % of available freshwater in Brazil, an amount that ends up creating the illusion that no lack of water and not lacking in the region, the large supply of this resource becomes a problem when it comes to the Management and Planning Water Resources in the Amazon, according to the wasteful use and lack of maintenance of stocks, compounded by the release of untreated wastewater. Speaking of water conservation programs in the Amazon a few decades ago and still today, with less intensity, is somewhat strange, given the large amount of water available and the culture of abundance. Thus, this research discusses the importance of the use of rainwater for non-potable purposes, since the potential for exploitation, throughout the year, due to this high rainfall in the Amazon region, ranging from, on average, 119.6 mm in months from November to 441.6 mm in March. The methods used for sizing of the reservoir were the Rippl and interactive, and economic viability checking done by the methods of net present value and discounted payback. As a result, there was a volume exceeding 1,000 m³ obtained by the method of Rippl, while the interactive method was a maximum of 75 m³. The economic viability presented fragile as a function of time to return exceeds the useful life of the utilization system for rainwater.     

Vehicular particulate matter emissions in road tunnels in Sao Paulo, Brazil

In the metropolitan area of S?o Paulo, Brazil, ozone and particulate matter (PM) are the air pollutants that pose the greatest threat to air quality, since the PM and the ozone precursors (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) are the main source of air pollution from vehicular emissions. Vehicular emissions can be measured inside road tunnels, and those measurements can provide information about emission factors of in-use vehicles. Emission factors are used to estimate vehicular emissions and are described as the amount of species emitted per vehicle distance driven or per volume of fuel consumed. This study presents emission factor data for fine particles, coarse particles, inhalable particulate matter and black carbon, as well as size distribution data for inhalable particulate matter, as measured in March and May of 2004, respectively, in the Janio Quadros and Maria Maluf road tunnels, both located in S?o Paulo. The Janio Quadros tunnel carries mainly light-duty vehicles, whereas the Maria Maluf tunnel carries light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. In the Janio Quadros tunnel, the estimated light-duty vehicle emission factors for the trace elements copper and bromine were 261 and 220 microg km(-1), respectively, and 16, 197, 127 and 92 mg km(-1), respectively, for black carbon, inhalable particulate matter, coarse particles and fine particles. The mean contribution of heavy-duty vehicles to the emissions of black carbon, inhalable particulate matter, coarse particles and fine particles was, respectively 29, 4, 6 and 6 times higher than that of light-duty vehicles. The inhalable particulate matter emission factor for heavy-duty vehicles was 1.2 times higher than that found during dynamometer testing. In general, the particle emissions in S?o Paulo tunnels are higher than those found in other cities of the world.     

Determination of plate waste in primary school lunches by weighing and visual estimation methods: A validation study

The aim of this study was to validate the visual estimation method for aggregated plate waste of main dish at Portuguese primary school canteens. For this purpose plate waste at school lunch was measured for 505 individual servings, using weighing individual servings and plate waste and visual estimation method by a 6-point scale, as developed by Comstock et al. (1981). A high variability of initial serving weights was found with serving sizes ranging from 88.9 to 283.3 g and with a coefficient of variation ranging from 5.5% to 24.7%. Mean plate waste was 27.5% according to the weighing method. There was a significant bias in the conversion of the visual waste estimations to actual waste, being overestimated by an average of 8.0 g (ranging from ?12.9 g to 41.4 g). According to Bland and Altman plot, the mean difference between methods was of 8.0 g and the amplitude interval was 102.6 g. The study showed that the visual estimation method is not as accurate as the weighing method in assessing nonselective aggregated plate waste at primary school canteens. Our findings are thus very important on considering plate waste assessment, since the wide variation on initial servings introduces a relevant bias when considering standard portions or a random sample of initial servings. Although, greater convenience, time-saving and the possibility to monitor plate waste of large groups, make the visual estimation method an important method to assess plate waste at school canteens, these results highlighted the need of portions standardization and control of initial servings to allow for its use.     

Distribution of potentially harmful elements in soils around a large coal-fired power plant

An understanding of the spatial distribution and contribution of a power plant to local soil contamination is important for the planning of soil use and prioritizing remedial actions for public safety. Consequently, the aim of this study was to map the spatial distribution of potentially hazardous elements (PHEs; Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cd, As, and Se) in soils around a large (796 MW) coal-fired power plant in Brazil. For the purpose, 33 soil samples were collected in the area within a radius of approximately 17.5 km from the plant and subsequently analyzed for PHEs. The frequency and direction of winds were also obtained from a meteorological station in the region. The sampling area was divided into four quadrants (northwest: N-NW; northeast: N-NE; southeast: S-SE; southwest: S-SW), and there were significant negative correlations between the distance and the concentrations of Se in the S-SE quadrant and As in the S-SW and S-SE quadrants. There were positive correlations between distance from the plant and the concentration of Mn in the N-NE quadrant and the concentration of Cd in the S-SW quadrant. The dominant direction of the winds was N-NE. The indexes used in this study showed low-to-moderate enrichment factor, but detailed analysis of the dominant quadrant of the winds showed a correlation with higher concentrations in the soils closer to the power plant for at least seven of the PHEs analyzed, especially with regard to As. Therefore, we conclude that the distribution of the metalloid As can be used as a marker of the spatial distribution of contamination from the thermoelectric plant, but the dynamics of the other elements suggests that the presence of other sources of contamination may also compromise the quality of local soils.

     

Rice straw ash extract, an efficient solvent for regioselective hydrothiolation of alkynes

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Herein, we describe a simple and inexpensive protocol for the hydrothiolation of alkynes. In this context, water extract of rice straw ash (WERSA) has been proven...     

Size distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a roadway tunnel in Lisbon, Portugal

Atmospheric aerosols of four aerodynamic size ranges were collected using high volume cascade impactors in an extremely busy roadway tunnel in Lisbon (Portugal). Dust deposited on the tunnel walls and guardrails was also collected. Average particle mass concentrations in the tunnel atmosphere were more than 30 times higher than in the outside urban background air, revealing its origins almost exclusively from fresh vehicle emissions. Most of the aerosol mass was concentrated in submicrometer fractions (65%), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were even more concentrated in the finer particles with an average of 84% of total PAH present in sizes smaller than 0.49 μm. The most abundant PAH were methylated phenanthrenes, fluoranthene and pyrene. About 46% of the total PAH mass was attributed to lower molecular weight compounds (two and three rings), suggesting a strong influence of diesel vehicle emissions on the production of local particulate PAH. The application of diagnostic ratios confirmed the relevance of this source of PAH in the tunnel ambient air. Deposited dust presented PAH profiles similar to the coarser aerosol size range, in agreement with the predominant origin of coarser aerosol particles from soil dust resuspension and vehicle wear products.     

Overcoming the blame game to learn from major accidents: A systemic analysis of an Anhydrous Ammonia leakage accident

This article aims to demonstrate the need for changing the methods with which accidents are analyzed, if we truly wish to use what we uncover from them to learn and enrich our knowledge base of organizational management. The goal is to relinquish the broadly adopted and rather simplistic paradigm that accepts the search for human error and unsafe acts performed by workers, and produces “guilt diagnostics”. Instead, we use a systemic accident analysis methodology, based on the sociotechnical principle of understanding the real operating conditions in which accidents take place. In order to demonstrate the benefits of the theoretical framework, we compare the analyses of an Anhydrous Ammonia gas leakage accident in a fish processing plant using the traditional accident analysis model based on unsafe acts and the proposed systemic approach. The results favor the latter since it tends to be more reliable and offering useful recommendations to safety management processes, thus helping to prevent accidents, especially in complex systems.     

Understanding organizational diversity management programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future research

With the changing demographic composition of the workforce, managing diversity in organizations is an important organizational function. Organizations have employed varying approaches to diversity management (DM), resulting in varying organizational outcomes. Meanwhile, researchers have called for more theoretical development within the DM area. We present a framework rooted in social and cross‐cultural psychological research, to foster theory development and empirical testing in the area of DM. We also derive several propositions to guide future research on DM and note some boundary conditions that suggest research opportunities of their own. Our framework contributes a theoretical conceptualization that enhances our understanding of organizations' DM efforts, integrates current typologies, and suggests new directions of inquiry for management scholars as well as guidelines for practitioners in the area. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Health impact assessment of air pollution in an area of the largest coal mine in Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Coal exploration and burning activities are among the activities with the greatest potential to cause atmospheric pollution due to the combustion...