Coupled pot and lysimeter experiments assessing plant performance in microbially assisted phytoremediation

We performed an experiment at pot scale to assess the effect of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) on the development of five plant species grown on a tailing dam substrate. None of the species even germinated on inoculated unamended tailing material, prompting use of compost amendment. The effect of inoculation on the amended material was to increase soil respiration, and promote elements immobilisation at plant root surface. This was associated with a decrease in the concentrations of elements in the leaching water and an increase of plant biomass, statistically significant in the case of two species: Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra. The experiment was repeated at lysimeter scale with the species showing the best development at pot scale, A. capillaris, and the significant total biomass increase as a result of inoculation was confirmed. The patterns of element distribution in plants also changed (the concentrations of metals in the roots of A. capillaris and F. rubra significantly decreased in inoculated treatments, while phosphorus concentration significantly increased in roots of A. capillaris in inoculated treatment at lysimeter scale). Measured variables for plant oxidative stress did not change after inoculations. There were differences of A. capillaris plant–soil system response between experimental scales as a result of different substrate column structure and plant age at the sampling moment. Soil respiration was significantly larger at lysimeter scale than at pot scale. Leachate concentrations of As, Mn and Ni had significantly larger concentrations at lysimeter scale than at pot scale, while Zn concentrations were significantly smaller. Concentrations of several metals were significantly smaller in A. capillaris at lysimeter scale than at pot scale. From an applied perspective, a system A. capillaris—compost—PGPB selected from the rhizosphere of the tailing dam native plants can be an option for the phytostabilisation of tailing dams. Results should be confirmed by investigation at field plot scale.     

The impact of the board of directors on business climate change management: case of Brazilian companies

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - The corporate sector is one of the main emitters in the world due to the production process and therefore is identified as a major...     

The impact of Six Sigma in the performance of a Pollution Prevention program

The diffusion of Pollution Prevention faces organizational barriers as for instance resistance to change, insufficient support from decision-makers, unclear project leadership, insufficient employee accountability and inflexible organizational structures. To understand how to overcome such barriers, the performance of a Pollution Prevention program of a multinational corporation is analyzed. The quantitative analyses of 2096 Pollution Prevention projects conducted between 1995 and 2007 support the conclusion that the performance of the Pollution Prevention program increased after the implementation of the Six Sigma program. Moreover, the analyses of 1906 Pollution Prevention projects and 31,133 Six Sigma projects for cost reduction in 27 countries indicate that in countries where the implementation of Six Sigma is more expressive, pollution is prevented more than in countries with less expressive Six Sigma implementation. In fact, the Six Sigma implementation improved the organizational capability for data based project management. Therefore, comparing six years before and six years after the Six Sigma implementation, the total number of Pollution Prevention projects recognized increased 6.9 times and the total amount of pollution prevented increased by 62%. The qualitative analysis describes how the Six Sigma program interacts with the Pollution Prevention program in the studied company.     

Occurrence of Human Enteric Viruses in Commercial Mussels at Retail Level in Three European Countries

In this study, the prevalence of different enteric viruses in commercial mussels was evaluated at the retail level in three European countries (Finland, Greece and Spain). A total of 153 mussel samples from different origins were analysed for human norovirus (NoV) genogroups I and II, hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV). Human adenovirus (HAdV) was also tested as an indicator of human faecal contamination. A full set of controls (such as sample process control, internal amplification controls, and positive and negative controls) were implemented during the process. The use of a sample process control allowed us to calculate the efficiencies of extraction, which ranged from 79 to 0.5?%, with an average value of 10?%. Samples were positive in 41?% of cases, with HAdV being the most prevalent virus detected (36?%), but no significant correlation was found between the presence of HAdV and human NoV, HAV and HEV. The prevalences of human norovirus genogroup II, HEV and human NoV genogroup I were 16, 3 and 0.7?%, respectively, and HAV was not detected. The estimated number of PCR detectable units varied between 24 and 1.4?×?10³?g^?1 of digestive tract. Interestingly, there appeared to be a significant association between the type of mussel species (M. galloprovincialis) and the positive result of samples, although a complete overlap between country and species examined required this finding to be confirmed including samples of both species from all possible countries of origin.     

Mitigation of energy intensity of an industrial off-gas cleaning system using process engineering solutions

In smelting processes, a large amount of off-gas emission is often generated, which can cause serious environmental and plant hygiene problems if not properly treated. Off-gas cleaning systems extract and treat the hazardous emissions, and ensure that the smelter operation is in accordance with environmental and industrial hygiene regulations. To this end, it is paramount that a well-designed control structure be incorporated into the system. In this work a plantwide control design procedure is applied to an industrial nickel smelter furnace off-gas cleaning system. We first approach the problem by conducting a steady-state analysis based on a nonlinear model of the process, where the objective is to determine how to achieve safe, clean and economic operation in terms of energy consumption. Results reveal that a large amount of energy can be saved by controlling the temperature in the furnace freeboard at its upper bound (active constraint). For the same reason, the temperatures in the two louvers (active constraints) should be controlled at their respective upper bounds so to minimize air intake into the system. The selection of the “unconstrained” variable to be controlled is found by applying the self-optimizing control technique, and the results indicate that a small loss is acceptable when one of the manipulated variables is fixed at its nominal optimal operating point, a highly desirable choice from an operational viewpoint. The bottleneck of the system is identified as the fans' discharge pressures when we allow the feed rate as a degree of freedom. Furthermore, a design change consisting of the installation of an auxiliary air intake in the smelter furnace shows to be a very effective economic alternative to minimize energy consumption. A control structure is then designed where the issue is to keep pressures in the system well within the negative region by determining the configuration of the regulatory and supervisory control layers such that acceptable dynamic performance in face of known, deterministic disturbance is achieved. Nonlinear dynamic simulations are performed to validate the suggested control structure for both modes of operation in the original system and in the proposed design change. The results showed that both regulatory and supervisory designs should make use of the simplicity of decentralized PI control schemes associated with some cascaded configurations so as to boost the disturbance rejection capabilities of the system.     

Microbial fuel cell-induced production of fungal laccase to degrade the anthraquinone dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R

Environmental Chemistry Letters - The anthraquinone dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R is largely used in the textile industry. However, its removal from wastewaters is costly and complex. Many methods...     

Application of decision tools to ethical analysis in biodiversity conservation

Achieving ethically responsible decisions is crucial for the success of biodiversity conservation projects. We adapted the ethical matrix, decision tree, and Bateson's cube to assist in the ethical analysis of complex conservation scenarios by structuring these tools so that they can implement the different value dimensions (environmental, social, and animal welfare) involved in conservation ethics. We then applied them to a case study relative to the decision-making process regarding whether or not to continue collecting biomaterial on the oldest of the two remaining northern white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a functionally extinct subspecies of the white rhinoceros. We used the ethical matrix to gather ethical pros and cons and as a starting point for a participatory approach to ethical decision-making. We used decision trees to compare the different options at stake on the basis of a set of ethical desiderata. We used Bateson's cube to establish a threshold of ethical acceptability and model the results of a simple survey. The application of these tools proved to be pivotal in structuring the decision-making process and in helping reach a shared, reasoned, and transparent decision on the best option from an ethical point of view among those available.     

Cycling Skill Inventory: Assessment of motor–tactical skills and safety motives

Abstract

Objective: It is well established within the traffic psychology literature that a distinction can be made between driving skill and driving style. The majority of self-report questionnaires have been developed for car drivers, whereas only limited knowledge exists on the riding skill and style of cyclists. Individual differences in cycling skills need to be understood in order to apply targeted interventions.

Methods: This study reports on a psychometric analysis of the Cycling Skill Inventory (CSI), a self-report questionnaire that asks cyclists to rate themselves from definitely weak to definitely strong on 17 items. Herein, we administered the CSI using an online crowdsourcing method, complemented with respondents who answered the questionnaire using paper and pencil (n?=?1,138 in total). Our analysis focuses on understanding the major sources of variance of the CSI and its correlates with gender, age, exposure, and self-reported accident involvement as a cyclist.

Results: The results showed that 2 components underlie the item data: Motor–tactical skills and safety motives. Correlational analyses indicated that participants with a higher safety motives score were involved in fewer self-reported cycling accidents in the past 3 years. The analysis also confirmed well-established gender differences, with male cyclists having lower safety motives but higher motor–tactical skills than female cyclists.

Conclusions: The nomological network of the CSI for cyclists is similar to that of the Driving Skill Inventory for car drivers. Safety motives are a predictor of self-reported accident involvement among cyclists.