CC.OO. (“Comisiones Obreras”) – ISTAS (Union Institute of Work,Environment and Health) participatory action plan for a healthier work organization: A case study

Spanish workers have been among the most exposed to psychosocial risks across the European Union.CC.OO. and ISTAS decided to establish an action plan to empower workers’ health and safety representatives to have an influence on the psychosocial risk assessment processes leading to negotiations with employers over a more democratic, fair and healthier work organization.Most important outcomes included 3600 companies which have followed a participatory process culminating with the implementation of agreed upon at source preventive measures in 40% of cases.There exists some evidence that preventive actions have increased in Spain since CC.OO.’s workers’ health and safety representatives started systematically pushing for improvements in the psychosocial work environment, however the quality of such actions is less clear.Future priorities include: first, to overcome barriers related to the interaction with external agents, especially with professional and administrative bodies. Second, to increase collaboration with scientific institutions to ensure and improve quality of both risk assessment tools and preventive actions. Third, to evaluate at the source interventions at company level with special interest in looking at the involvement of worker representatives, managers and OH professionals and the impact of their involvement on the undertaking of effective preventive actions. Fourth, increasing interaction between ISTAS and CC.OO. in order to place demands for the improvement of psychosocial working conditions more centrally in collective bargaining. Fifth, trying to increase unity of action of all Spanish workers’ unions on the subject.     

Magnetic Nanocrystalline Cellulose: Azithromycin Adsorption and In Vitro Biological Activity Against Melanoma Cells

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This study reports a simple methodology of obtaining magnetic nanocrystalline cellulose under very mild conditions employing only Fe2+ as the iron source,...     

Integrated Treatment of Mining Dam Wastewater with Quaternized Chitosan and PAN/HPMC/AgNo3 Nanostructured Hydrophylic Membranes

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This study was developed a novel nanostructured membrane by electrospinning process, from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) modify by hydroxypropyl methylcellulose...     

Imposex occurrence in marine whelks at a military facility in the high Arctic

Imposex was found in the Arctic whelk Buccinum finmarkianum at several marine stations off Thule Air Base, an US military facility in Northwest Greenland. This indicates a widespread contamination with the antifouling agents, tributyltin (TBT) or triphenyltin (TPhT) in the area, but such contamination was not supported by the organotin analyses in sediments, whelks and clams, which in general was below the analytical detection limit. Organotin concentrations above the detection limit were found only at one station close to a quay, where the highest frequency of imposex also occurred. This suggests that imposex in B. finmarkianum is a biomarker of TBT more sensitive than the detection limits, which the analytical chemistry could achieve in this study.     

Assessing the viability of electro-absorption and photoelectro-absorption for the treatment of gaseous perchloroethylene

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This work focuses on the development of electro-absorption and photoelectro-absorption technologies to treat gases produced by a synthetic waste...     

COVID-19 pandemic: environmental and social factors influencing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in São Paulo,Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 14 million people worldwide so far. Brazil is currently the second leading country in number of...     

A data synthesis on the biochar properties and implications for air,soil, and water quality in Brazil

Biochar has been intensively researched worldwide. In Brazil, there is a variety of feedstock production that can be turned into soil amendments of high performance through biochar conversion, especially solid wastes. However, advances in biochar research in Brazil have not been systematically evaluated to indicate possible gaps and suggest future research for eco-friendly applications. Thus, in this work we evaluated biochar properties and effects on air, water, and soil quality based on data gathered from researches performed in Brazil. Biochar has been mainly evaluated as soil conditioner (37%), material characterization (17%), water treatment (12%), and greenhouse gases emissions (9%). Based on the data synthesis of 68 feedstocks used for biochar production, we observed that the pyrolysis temperature profoundly affects biochar properties. Meta-analysis indicated benefits of biochar addition to soils for chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical attributes that have resulted in increases in root growth (+30%), and plant shoots (+45%). Pyrolysis temperature and feedstock are key choices to design biochar properties aiming to retain dyes, aromatic hydrocarbon, pesticides, and metals in water and wastewater treatment. It was also observed an increase in CO₂ and a decrease in N₂O emissions after biochar application to soils in short-term experiments. Although there is a growing interest in the development of electrochemical sensors and biochar-based fertilizers, technological applications of biochar are still incipient in Brazil. Future research should prioritize long-term and mechanistically evaluations of biochar under field conditions and the development of eco-friendly technological applications.