Composition of heavy metals and airborne fibers in the indoor environment of a building during renovation

The renovation of a building will certainly affect the quality of air in the vicinity of where associated activities were undertaken, this includes the quality of air inside the building. Indoor air pollutants such as particulate matter, heavy metals, and fine fibers are likely to be emitted during renovation work. This study was conducted to determine the concentration of heavy metals, asbestos and suspended particulates in the Biology Building, at the Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia (UKM). Renovation activities were carried out widely in the laboratories which were located in this building. A low-volume sampler was used to collect suspended particulate matter of a diameter size less than 10 μm (PM??) and an air sampling pump, fitted with a cellulose ester membrane filter, were used for asbestos sampling. Dust was collected using a small brush and scope. The concentration of heavy metals was determined through the use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy and the fibers were counted through a phase contrast microscope. The concentrations of PM?? recorded in the building during renovation action (ranging from 166 to 542 μg m?3) were higher than the value set by the Department of Safety and Health for respirable dust (150 μg m?3). Additionally, they were higher than the value of PM?? recorded in indoor environments from other studies. The composition of heavy metals in PM?? and indoor dust were found to be dominated by Zn and results also showed that the concentration of heavy metals in indoor dust and PM?? in this study was higher than levels recorded in other similar studies. The asbestos concentration was 0.0038 ± 0.0011 fibers/cc. This was lower than the value set by the Malaysian Department of Occupational, Safety and Health (DOSH) regulations of 0.1 fibers/cc, but higher than the background value usually recorded in indoor environments. This study strongly suggests that renovation issues need to be considered seriously by relevant stakeholders within the university in order to ensure that the associated risks toward humans and indoor environment are eliminated, or where this is not feasible, minimized as far as possible.     

Spatial water quality assessment of Langat River Basin (Malaysia) using environmetric techniques

This study investigates the spatial water quality pattern of seven stations located along the main Langat River. Environmetric methods, namely, the hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HACA), the discriminant analysis (DA), the principal component analysis (PCA), and the factor analysis (FA), were used to study the spatial variations of the most significant water quality variables and to determine the origin of pollution sources. Twenty-three water quality parameters were initially selected and analyzed. Three spatial clusters were formed based on HACA. These clusters are designated as downstream of Langat river, middle stream of Langat river, and upstream of Langat River regions. Forward and backward stepwise DA managed to discriminate six and seven water quality variables, respectively, from the original 23 variables. PCA and FA (varimax functionality) were used to investigate the origin of each water quality variable due to land use activities based on the three clustered regions. Seven principal components (PCs) were obtained with 81% total variation for the high-pollution source (HPS) region, while six PCs with 71% and 79% total variances were obtained for the moderate-pollution source (MPS) and low-pollution source (LPS) regions, respectively. The pollution sources for the HPS and MPS are of anthropogenic sources (industrial, municipal waste, and agricultural runoff). For the LPS region, the domestic and agricultural runoffs are the main sources of pollution. From this study, we can conclude that the application of environmetric methods can reveal meaningful information on the spatial variability of a large and complex river water quality data.     

Chemical and microbiological examination of well and Nile water

The chemical composition and microbiological contamination of well water and Nile River water used for drinking were investigated in localities around Khartoum, Sudan, to present baseline data. The chemical analyses results obtained indicated that public health hazards due to pH, Ca⁺⁺, CO₃^??, HCO₃^?, and NO₃^? are unlikely in all the samples studied, while Na⁺ and Cl^? ions concentrations in well water warrant some attention. Contamination from organic matter and suspended material is also negligible. Microbial contamination with coliform and fecal coliform is high in surface wells and in the Nile River, but negligible in deep bores, tap water, and mineral water. The logarithm of the colony count ranges from zero for mineral water to 6.8 for water from the White Nile. In addition to drawing further attention to the well water and Nile water used for drinking by a wide sector of the population, the microbial count data for water from the Nile disagreed with the generally held belief that the Nile, being one of the largest rivers of the world, carries no detectable fecal contamination. Our data also did not support the belief that the White Nile is more contaminated than the Blue Nile.     

Ciprofloxacin adsorption from aqueous solution onto chemically prepared carbon from date palm leaflets

A chemically prepared carbon was synthesized from date palm leaflets via sulphuric acid carbonization at 160℃. Adsorption of ciprofloxacin (CIP) from aqueous solution was investigated in terms of time, pH, concentration, temperature and adsorbent status (wet and dry). The equilibrium time was found to be 48 hr. The adsorption rate was enhanced by raising the temperature for both adsorbents, with adsorption data fitting a pseudo second-order model well. The activation energy, E_a, was found to be 17 kJ/mol, indicating a diffusion-controlled, physical adsorption process. The maximum adsorption was found at initial pH 6. The wet adsorbent showed faster removal with higher uptake than the dry adsorbent, with increased performance as temperature increased (25-45℃). The equilibrium data were found to fit the Langmuir model better than the Freundlich model. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorption mechanism is mainly related to cation exchange and hydrogen bonding.     

Pesticide handling practices by vegetable farmer in Kenya

Pesticide handling practices have a strong bearing on the exposure of toxic effects to target and nontarget organism. A clear understanding of determinants of pesticide handling practices is a precondition in the design and implementation of policy intervention. To accomplish this, a household survey of 425 respondents was conducted in 2008. Majority of the farmers (85 %) had inappropriately handled pesticides, mainly through, unsafe storage (23 %), unsafe disposal of leftover in either sprays solutions, or rinsate and empty pesticide containers (40 %), failure to wear the required minimum protective gear (68 %), or overdosed pesticides (27 %). However, majority of those farmers were aware of the risks of pesticide use, with over 81 % expressing the view that pesticides have harmful effects on human health, livestock, beneficial arthropods, and on water. Econometric models showed that pesticide handling practices were significantly influenced by variation in record keeping, main source advice on pesticide use, toxicity of pesticide, and geographical location. Pesticide risk perception and negative impacts experiences had no association with handling practices. The study recommends policymakers to design effective, participatory, and location targeted outreach programmes, which deal specifically on promotion of record keeping and reduction in use of harmful pesticides.     

Life cycle inventory of the commercial production of compost from oil palm biomass: a case study

This paper compared the life cycle inventory (LCI) obtained from three commercial oil palm biomass composting projects in Malaysia which use the open windrow composting system. The LCI was obtained and calculated based on the functional unit of 1 t of compost produced. The input of the inventory are the feed materials such as empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME); and utilities which include electricity generated at palm oil mill and diesel used. Composting 2.0–2.5 t of EFB and 5.0–7.5 t of POME required diesel from 218.7 to 270.2 MJ and electricity from 0 to 6.8 MJ. It is estimated that the composting emitted from 0.01 to 0.02 t CO_2eq/t_compost mainly from diesel used to operate machineries. Composting saved 65 % of time required for a complete degradation of POME when compared to ponding system, and 89 % of time required for a complete degradation of EFB compared to mulching. In terms of land required, it required 36 % less land as compared to ponding for POME and 99 % less land as compared to mulching for EFB. Based on the case study, diesel was found to be the main contributor to the environmental impact. There is a potential of upgrading the process to be more economical and environmental friendly. Using electricity as the source of energy has a lower footprint for the composting process. Instead of using raw POME, studies had reported that using treated POME either from anaerobic ponding or digested tank can accelerate the composting process.     

Supplementation with selenium nanoparticles alleviates diabetic nephropathy during pregnancy in the diabetic female rats

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The bioactivity of nanoparticles has engendered a promise in scientific communities for developing novel therapeutic strategies. This study...     

A systematic review of the utilization of waste materials as aggregate replacement in stone matrix asphalt mixes

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The daily utilization of a large amount of raw materials is causing a rapid depletion of natural resources. The growth of the human population is...     

Oleuropein alleviates malathion-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage in rats

The effects of acute exposure to 250 mg/kg malathion and the protective effects of 20 mg/kg oleuropein, both administered intraperitoneally, were evaluated in Wistar male rats. Malathion administration increased malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, total oxidant status, and DNA damage, yet decreased total antioxidant activity, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activities in blood, liver, and kidney. Administration of oleuropein reversed malathion-induced oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, and antioxidant enzyme activity.     

Histological and histochemical alterations induced by lead in the liver of the quail Coturnix coturnix

Adult males of the quail Coturnix coturnix were exposed to lead acetate trihydrate in drinking water (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1% for one–six months) to investigate histological and histochemical alterations induced by lead intoxication in the liver. Chronic exposure to subtoxic concentrations of lead produced changes in hepatocytes, portal veins, Kupffer cells, and blood sinusoids. Alterations in hepatocytes mainly involved cytoplasmic vacuolation, necrosis, cytolysis, and glycogen accumulation. Kupffer cell hyperplasia, hemosiderosis, blood sinusoidal dilatation, portal vein congestion, and edema were also observed. No fibrosis or cirrhosis in the liver of any member of the dose groups over the entire period of the study was noted. The findings revealed that chronic exposure to lead produced mild histological and histochemical changes in the liver of the quail Coturnix coturnix.