Environmental quality assessment combining sediment metal levels, biomarkers and macrobenthic communities: application to the óbidos coastal lagoon (Portugal)

Macroinvertebrate benthic communities are one of the key biological components considered for the assessment of benthic integrity in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). However, under moderate contamination scenarios, the assessment of macrobenthic alterations at community level alone could be insufficient to discriminate the environmental quality of coastal and transitional waters. Keeping this in view, sediment quality of moderately contaminated sites in a coastal lagoon (óbidos lagoon, Portugal) was assessed by the combination of sediment metal levels, Carcinus maenas biomarkers (accumulated metals and oxidative stress responses) and macrobenthic communities. Two sites were selected in confined inner branches (BS and BB) and a third one in the middle lagoon (ML). The site BB presented slightly higher levels of metals in sediment but biological variables calculated for macrobenthic data were not significantly different between sites. The biotic index M-AMBI that is being applied to assess environmental quality of transitional waters in the scope of the WFD pointed either to high (site ML) or good quality status (BS and BB) in the selected sites. However, crabs from BB site presented significantly higher levels of Ni in hepatopancreas than those from ML and macrobenthic community structure was significantly different between BB and ML. Additionally, spatial differences were obtained for oxidative stress parameters suggesting that BB site presented stressors for crabs (higher GST and lower GSH_t at BB site). Factor analysis (PCA) integrating sediment contamination, biomarkers in crabs and macrobenthic data also distinguished BB site as the most environmentally disturbed. On the other hand, at ML site, some macrobenthic variables (equitability and polychaetes’ diversity) were found to be enhanced by current environmental conditions, suggesting the existence of a better sediment quality. Current results pointed to the usefulness of integrating macrobenthic community alterations with responses at organism level (bioaccumulation and biochemical endpoints) in order to increase the accuracy of environmental quality assessment in lagoon systems. Moreover, the application of different statistical methods was also found to be recommendable.     

Curcumin and Its Analogs as a Therapeutic Strategy in Infections Caused by RNA Genome Viruses

Food and Environmental Virology - The use of natural resources for the prevention and treatment of diseases considered fatal to humanity has evolved. Several medicinal plants have nutritional and...     

Environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations – Part 2: methodological approach for performing vulnerability analysis of watersheds

Environmental vulnerability analysis has been sparsely used in environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of technological innovations. The present paper proposes a methodological approach to carry out vulnerability analysis of watersheds and to integrate this analysis into methods of environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations. This approach is applied to the Ambitec-Life Cycle method, described in Part 1 (this issue) of this study. The case study of green coconut substrate compared to ripe coconut substrate, also described in Part 1 (this issue), is now presented considering the vulnerability analysis of the watersheds where the life cycle stages of these products occur. The integration of vulnerability analysis in Ambitec-Life Cycle contributes to a better understanding of the environmental aspects of agro-industrial technological innovations with potential to cause significant impacts in watersheds where these innovations are implemented.     

Genetic toxicity in surface water from Guaíba Hydrographic Region under the influence of industrial, urban and agricultural sewage in the Drosophila wing-spot test

Mutagenic and recombinagenic activity of surface waters in the Guaíba Hydrographic Region (RS, Brazil) was investigated using the SMART in Drosophila melanogaster. Two positive results in Caí River (September 2000 and August 2001) and in Taquari River (August 2001 and February 2002)--linked to direct recombinagenic toxicants were observed. In Jacuí samples, an indirect mutagenic and recombinagenic action was detected in a September 2000 collection and a direct recombinational activity was observed in February 2002. Also in February 2002--samples from Dilúvio Brook and Guaíba Lake (GPC) were able to induce wing spots by mitotic recombinagenesis. The former sampling site showed toxicants to have a direct action, and the latter an increment in mitotic recombination that depended on metabolic action. The SMART wing test shows that all positive responses were mainly related to homologous mitotic recombination.     

Perceived importance of sustainability dimensions in the Portuguese metal industry

The growing interest of stakeholders regarding the contribution of organizations to Sustainable Development is influencing organizational behavior and strategic planning. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perception of the importance of organizational sustainability dimensions in a relevant economic sector: the metal industry. Survey data was collected from a sample of 211 Portuguese industries, and non-parametric statistical tests were used to validate five research hypotheses regarding the importance of the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability. The results obtained demonstrate awareness of the sampled industries regarding all sustainability dimensions, recognizing that their importance has been increasing over the years, and prospecting that this importance will continue to increase in the future. The industries in this sample revealed different degrees of perceived importance for the different sustainability dimensions: the highest importance was given to the economic dimension, and culture was considered the least important sustainability dimension. However, the perception of the respondents is that these differences will be less relevant in the future. The results also show that companies with certified management systems reveal a higher perceived importance regarding sustainability dimensions. Also, industries with higher values of annual turnover, number of employees and export sales tend to give higher degrees of importance to sustainability dimensions. Considering the economic, environmental and social impacts of metal industries at an international level, the awareness of this industrial sector regarding the importance of sustainability is a relevant step to the commitment towards Sustainable Development.     

The photocatalytic disinfection of urban waste waters

In this paper we present the results of the photocatalytic disinfection of urban waste water. Two microbial groups, total coliforms and Streptococcus faecalis, have been used as indexes to test disinfection efficiencies. Different experimental parameters have been checked, such as the effect of TiO2, solar or UV-lamp light and pH. Disinfection of water samples has been achieved employing both UV-lamp and solar light in agreement with data shown by other authors. The higher disinfection rates obtained employing an UV-lamp may be explained by the stronger incident light intensity. Nevertheless no consistent differences have been found between TiO2-photocatalysis and direct solar or UV-lamp light irradiation at natural sample pH (7.8). At pH 5 the presence of TiO2 increases the relative inactivation rate compared with the absence of the catalyst. After the photocatalytic bacterial inactivation, the later bacterial reappearance was checked for total coliforms at natural pH and pH 5, with and without TiO2. Two h after the photocatalytic treatment, CFU increment was almost nill. But 24 and 48 h later an important bacterial CFU increment was observed. This CFU increment is slower after irradiation with TiO2 at pH 5 in non-air-purged samples.     

Identification, analysis and dissemination of information on near misses: A case study in the construction industry

Near misses are well-known for providing a major source of useful information for safety management. They are more frequent events than accidents and their causes may potentially result in an accident under slightly different circumstances. Despite the importance of this type of feedback, there is little knowledge on the characteristics of near misses, and on the use of this information in safety management. This article proposes guidelines for identifying, analyzing and disseminating information on near misses in construction sites. In particular, it is proposed that near misses be analyzed based on four categories: (a) whether or not it was possible to track down the event; (b) the nature of each event, in terms of its physical features (e.g. falling objects); (c) whether they provided positive or negative feedback for the safety management system; and (d) risk, based on the probability and severity associated with each event. The guidelines were devised and tested while a safety management system was being developed in a healthcare building project. The monitoring of near misses was part of a safety performance measurement system. Among the main results, a dramatic increase in both the number and quality of reports stands out after the workforce was systematically encouraged to report. While in the first 4 months of the study – when the workforce was not encouraged to report – there were just 12 reports, during the subsequent 4 months – when the workforce was so encouraged – there were 110 reports, all of them being analyzed based on the four analytical categories proposed.     

Sustainable development in the BRICS countries: an efficiency analysis by data envelopment

There is much concern about the social and environmental impacts caused by the economic growth of nations. Thus, to evaluate the socio-economic performance of nations, economists have increasingly addressed matters related to social welfare and the environment. It is within the scope of this context that this work discusses the performance of countries in the BRICS group regarding sustainable development. The objective of this study regards evaluating the efficiency of these countries in transforming productive resources and technological innovation into sustainable development. The proposed objective was achieved by using econometric tools as well as the data envelopment analysis method to then create economic, environmental, and social efficiency rankings for the BRICS countries, which enabled to carry out comparative analyses on the sustainable development of those countries. The results of such assessments can be of interest for more specific scientific explorations.     

Enhancing submerged coastal constructions by incorporating multifunctional purposes

Surfing has becoming more and more attractive in the past few decades, constituting nowadays an important source of revenue for many countries with extensive coastlines. For this purpose and also for environmental reasons, the conventional ways of protecting a coastline appear to entail some disadvantages. An innovative and interesting way of improving surfing capacities and contributing to protect a local coastal zone is by means of multifunctional artificial reefs. A multifunctional artificial reef (MFAR) is a submerged structure that serves several purposes; in particular, it may enhance the surfing possibilities and the environmental value of the local area. This structure has some promising new aspects, too: first, it provides an unimpaired visual amenity; second, it offers tourist and economic benefits by improving the surfing conditions; third, it can enhance the environmental value of the area where it is built, and fourth, if designed properly, the down drift erosion can be minimal. An appropriate reef design in terms of ‘surfability’, i.e. the possibility to surf a wave, for the Leirosa beach, located to the south of Figueira da Foz, midway along Portugal’s West Atlantic coast, has been investigated. In order to achieve the best design several steps were conducted. First, the performance of the Boussinesq-type COULWAVE model is tested with experimental data. Next, this numerical model is used to define the best values for three design parameters: reef angle; geometry of the reef (without or with a platform), and horizontal dimensions for the appropriate geometry. A preliminary design was achieved step by step, making use of the theory and of the state of the art of multifunctional reefs. This reef geometry is used in the numerical study. In terms of ‘surfability’ and for the conditions of the local coastline of Leirosa, the following values were found for the main parameters: a reef angle of 66°; a structure height of 3.20 m; a reef geometry composed of a delta without a platform; a reef submergence of 1.50 m, and a structure seaward slope of 1:10.