Detecting micronuclei frequency in some aquatic organisms for monitoring pollution of Izmir Bay (Western Turkey)

Micronuclei tests is a system of mutagenicity testing used for determining the pollution and chemicals causing changes in DNA fragments such as micronuclei in the cytoplasm of interphase cells. Damage caused on the DNA by genotoxic pollutants is the first consequence occurring in the aquatic organisms. Thus, it was attempted to determine whether pollution affected the erythrocytes and gills of fish Gobius niger and haemolymph and gills of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis living in Izmir Bay at the level of DNA by the means of micronuclei (MN) test. Organisms used in the MN test were collected from seven locations (Alsancak, Alaybey Shipyard, Karsiyaka, Bostanli, Göztepe, Konak and Pasaport) which are known as the most polluted part of inner Bay of Izmir (Western Coast of Turkey). According to the results of the present study, frequency of MN was found at high level in Alaybey Shipyard and Pasaport where wastes from existing dockyard contributed to high level of pollution. In conclusion, this study indicates that the micronuclei test gives sensitive results in monitoring the pollution, especially the pollution of harbor, and thus it might be used as standard method in regular monitoring of pollution of coastal ecosystem.     

Environmental impact of coal mining and coal seam gas production on surface water quality in the Sydney basin,Australia

The extraction of coal and coal seam gas (CSG) will generate produced water that, if not adequately treated, will pollute surface and groundwater systems. In Australia, the discharge of produced water from coal mining and related activities is regulated by the state environment agency through a pollution licence. This licence sets the discharge limits for a range of analytes to protect the environment into which the produced water is discharged. This study reports on the impact of produced water from coal mine activities located within or discharging into high conservation environments, such as National Parks, in the outer region of Sydney, Australia. The water samples upstream and downstream from the discharge points from six mines were taken, and 110 parameters were tested. The results were assessed against a water quality index (WQI) which accounts for pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, total phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen and E .coli. The water quality assessment based on the trace metal contents against various national maximum admissible concentration (MAC) and their corresponding environmental impacts was also included in the study which also established a base value of water quality for further study. The study revealed that impacted water downstream of the mine discharge points contained higher metal content than the upstream reference locations. In many cases, the downstream water was above the Australia and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council and international water quality guidelines for freshwater stream. The major outliers to the guidelines were aluminium (Al), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). The WQI of surface water at and downstream of the discharge point was lower when compared to upstream or reference conditions in the majority of cases. Toxicology indices of metals present in industrial discharges were used as an additional tool to assess water quality, and the newly proposed environmental water quality index (EWQI) lead to better trend in the impact of coal and coal seam gas mining activities on surface water quality when compared to the upstream reference water samples. Metal content limits were based on the impact points assigned by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, USA. For environmental and health impact assessment, the approach used in this study can be applied as a model to provide a basis to assess the anthropogenic contribution from the industrial and mining activities on the environment.     

Reuse of municipal effluent with drip irrigation and evaluation the effect on soil properties in a semi-arid area

Irrigation with municipal effluent was evaluated during 25 months in Southern Iran from 2003 to 2005 in which 14 tree species were irrigated with effluent and borehole water at an annual supply rate of 3,940 and 5,395 m(3) ha(-1), respectively. To mitigate the environmental effects, a drip irrigation system was designed and the amount of applied water based on pan evaporation was measured by flow meters and soil properties were monitored. The statistical results showed that the applied effluent had no adverse effect on soil properties. The soil salinity was reduced from 8.2, 6.8 and 7.0 dSm(-1) to 1.07, 1.12 and 3.5 dSm(-1 )in the soil layers 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm, respectively. The SAR decreased significantly, while soil pH increased by 0.8 and 0.6 units in the layers 0-30 and 30-60 cm. A total application of 9,335 m(3)ha(-1 )of effluent with a nitrogen and phosphorus concentration of 7.9 and 10.3 mg l(-1), added 73 and 101 kg ha(-1) of nitrogen and phosphorus to the soil. Organic carbon also increased significantly. Twenty-five months irrigation with effluent caused a slight increase in soil bulk density and a slight decrease in mean permeability. Because of an efficient filtration and high discharge rate of bubblers (drippers), no considerable sign of clogging was observed.     

Groundwater contamination by nitrates in the city of Konya, (Turkey): a GIS perspective

Groundwater is an essential drinking water source in the city of Konya, Turkey. Approximately 75% of the city's water consumption has been supplied from 198 groundwater wells for the last six years. Nitrate (NO(3)(-)) is one of the important water quality parameters and was measured in the water samples taken from 139 wells in 1998 and from 156 wells in 2001 within the study area of 427.5 km(2). To evaluate the nitrate data, a vector-based GIS software package ArcView GIS 3.2 was used. A hardcopy map of the city was digitized in the UTM projection system. The locations of the wells were obtained by a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. According to the maps produced, nitrate concentrations generally tend to increase in the city center, the average concentrations being 2.2 and 16.1mg/L for the years of 1998 and 2001, respectively. A statistical correlation procedure was also applied to well depths and nitrate concentrations. As a result, correlation coefficients of 0.259 and 0.261 were obtained for data collected in 1998 and 2001. It is concluded that the distribution of nitrate concentrations is not correlated with well depths within the study area.     

The impact of economic,social, and political globalization and democracy on life expectancy in low-income countries: are sustainable development goals contradictory?

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations are important guides for the development processes of developing countries. However, achieving all of these goals is only possible if the goals are consistent with each other. It has been observed in the literature that possible contradictions between these goals are ignored. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate whether two sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN are contradictory or supporting each other in low-income countries. These SDGs are “Good Health and Well-Being” (SDG3) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG17). For this purpose, the role of globalization and democracy in life expectancy is empirically investigated in 16 low-income countries over the period 1970–2017. While globalization has been used as an indicator of the partnership between countries, democracy has been used as an indicator of accountability and cooperation between governments and societies. According to estimations of the continuous-updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and bias-adjusted ordinary least squares (BA-OLS), globalization and its subcomponents such as economic, social, and political globalization affect life expectancy positively. Democracy also increases life expectancy in those countries. The GDP per capita is also used as a control variable. Our results show that a higher level of per capita income is positively associated with higher levels of life expectancy. In conclusion, no contradiction was found between SDG3 and SDG17 in those countries. Achieving a healthier society requires economic, social, and political integration between governments and societies.

     

Hospital site selection using fuzzy AHP and its derivatives

Environmental managers are commonly faced with sophisticated decisions, such as choosing the location of a new facility subject to multiple conflicting criteria. This paper considers the specific problem of creating a well-distributed network of hospitals that delivers its services to the target population with minimal time, pollution and cost. We develop a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis process that combines Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis with the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and use this process to determine the optimum site for a new hospital in the Tehran urban area. The GIS was used to calculate and classify governing criteria, while FAHP was used to evaluate the decision factors and their impacts on alternative sites. Three methods were used to estimate the total weights and priorities of the candidate sites: fuzzy extent analysis, center-of-area defuzzification, and the α-cut method. The three methods yield identical priorities for the five alternatives considered. Fuzzy extent analysis provides less discriminating power, but is simpler to implement and compute than the other two methods. The α-cut method is more complicated, but integrates the uncertainty and overall attitude of the decision-maker. The usefulness of the new hospital site is evaluated by computing an accessibility index for each pixel in the GIS, defined as the ratio of population density to travel time. With the addition of a new hospital at the optimum site, this index improved over about 6.5 percent of the geographical area.     

Effect of industrial by-products containing electron acceptors on mitigating methane emission during rice cultivation

Three industrial by-products (fly ash, phosphogypsum and blast furnace slag), were evaluated for their potential re-use as soil amendments to reduce methane (CH₄) emission resulting from rice cultivation. In laboratory incubations, CH₄ production rates from anoxic soil slurries were significantly reduced at amendment levels of 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 5% (wt wt⁻¹), while observed CO₂ production rates were enhanced. The level of suppression in methane production was the highest for phosphogypsum, followed by blast slag and then fly ash. In the greenhouse experiment, CH₄ emission rates from the rice planted potted soils significantly decreased with the increasing levels (2–20 Mg ha⁻¹) of the selected amendments applied, while rice yield simultaneously increased compared to the control treatment. At 10 Mg ha⁻¹ application level of the amendments, total seasonal CH₄ emissions were reduced by 20%, 27% and 25%, while rice grain yields were increased by 17%, 15% and 23% over the control with fly ash, phosphogypsum, and blast slag amendments, respectively. The suppression of CH₄ production rates as well as total seasonal CH₄ flux could be due to the increased concentrations of active iron, free iron, manganese oxides, and sulfate in the amended soil, which acted as electron acceptors and controlled methanogens’ activity by limiting substrates availability. Among the amendments, blast furnace slag and fly ash contributed mainly to improve the soil nutrients balance and increased the soil pH level towards neutral point, but soil acidity was developed with phosphogypsum application. Conclusively, blast slag among the selected amendments would be a suitable soil amendment for reducing CH₄ emissions as well as sustaining rice productivity.     

Status and challenges of hospital solid waste management: case studies from Thailand, Pakistan, and Mongolia

Healthcare waste management is a serious public health concern. In developing countries, compared to developed nations, the management of infectious wastes has not received sufficient attention. Recently, worldwide awareness has grown of the need to impose stricter controls on the handling and disposal of wastes generated by healthcare facilities. This exploratory study attempted in seven selected hospitals to explain the situation of healthcare waste management, with a focus on handling practices, occupational safety, and the implementation status of waste management policy, together with other pertinent policy issues. It was noted that the current system of healthcare waste management was underdeveloped and was in dire need of immediate attention and improvement, especially in Mongolia and Pakistan; the medical waste management practices were better in the hospitals studied in Thailand. This study underscores the importance for improvement of medical waste management of a national regulatory framework, a sound internal management system, and programs to train and ensure the safety of related personnel, as well as programs to estimate quantities of waste generated and to evaluate appropriate techniques of disposal. Once a healthcare waste management plan has been prepared, a regular program of inspection and review can be undertaken within the healthcare institution. A good inspection program can also expose problems and new issues in managing healthcare wastes.     

Safety analysis of slipping barefoot on marble covered wet areas

This study was conducted in order to determine the suitable surface processing techniques which will increase the safety of pedestrians, reducing the risk of slipping on wet floor coverings on which they walk barefoot. In the scope of the study, slip angle of surface-processed marbles in three different dimensions is determined by using DIN 51097 Standard “The determination of the characteristics that reduce slipping on wet, barefoot surfaces”. Slip angles were calculated with the help of an inclined plane method and by using three different surface processing techniques (polishing, honing and tumbling techniques) for five different types of marble. It was found that the parameters which affected slip angle values of the marbles were surface roughness, plate sizes, grain size of the abrasives used for surface processing, physical and mechanical properties. Statistical analysis was used to determine the relationship between these parameters. The marbles were then grouped according to safe utilization places depending on slip angle and surface roughness, according to the statistical results.