The assessment and prediction of temporal variations in surface water quality—a case study

In order to optimize the processes of sampling, monitoring, and management, the initial aim of this paper was to develop a model for the definition and prediction of temporal changes of water quality. In the case of the Morava River Basin (Serbia), the patterns of temporal changes have been recognized by applying different multivariate statistical techniques. The results of the conducted cluster analysis are the indicators of the existence of the three monitoring periods: the low-water, transitional, and high-water periods, which is in accordance with changes in the water flow in the analyzed river basin. A possibility of reducing the initial data set and recognizing the main pollution sources was examined by carrying out the principal component/factor analysis. The results indicate that the natural factor has a dominant influence in temporal groups. In order to recognize the discriminatory water quality parameters, a discriminant analysis (DA) was carried out. Conducting the DA enabled a significant reduction in the data set by the extraction of two parameters (the water temperature and electrical conductivity). Furthermore, the artificial neural network technique was used for testing the possibility of predicting changes in the values of the discriminant factors in the monitoring periods. The reliability of this method for the prediction of temporal variations of both extracted parameters within all temporal clusters has been proven.     

Statistical characteristics of selected elements in vegetables from Kosovo

Zinc, copper, iron, chromium and cobalt are essential elements for human health, showing toxicity only in high concentrations, while lead and cadmium are extremely toxic even as traces. Therefore, it is important to monitor the contents of toxic metals in vegetables. Large number of vegetables is grown and used in nutrition, in Kosovo. The concentrations of selected elements in vegetables (radish, onion, garlic and spinach) from Kosovo were determined using ICP-OES method. Oral intake of metals and health risk index were calculated. Statistical analysis indicated numerous positive correlations between concentrations of selected elements in vegetables. As a result of principal component analysis, 15 new variables were obtained which were characterized by eigenvalues. The sequence of health quotients for the heavy metals followed the decreasing order Zn?=?Mn?>?Pb?>?Cu?>?Ni?>?Fe?>?Cd?>?Co?>?Cr. The health quotients for all investigated heavy metals were below 1 (one), which is considered safe. The vegetables from Kosovo are mainly safe for use in everyday diet.     

A Fuzzy Model for Assessing Risk of Occupational Safety in the Processing Industry

Abstract

Managing occupational safety in any kind of industry, especially in processing, is very important and complex. This paper develops a new method for occupational risk assessment in the presence of uncertainties. Uncertain values of hazardous factors and consequence frequencies are described with linguistic expressions defined by a safety management team. They are modeled with fuzzy sets. Consequence severities depend on current hazardous factors, and their values are calculated with the proposed procedure. The proposed model is tested with real-life data from fruit processing firms in Central Serbia.     

Effect of water matrices on removal of veterinary pharmaceuticals by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes

This study explored the removal of five veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs) (sulfamethoxazole (SMETOX), trimethoprim (TMP), ciprofloxacin (CIPRO), dexamethasone (DEXA) and febantel (FEBA)) from different water matrices (Milli-Q water, model water, tap water and real pharmaceutical wastewater using four types of nanofiltration (NF) membranes (NF90, NF270, NF and HL) and two reverse osmosis (RO) membranes (LFC-1 and XLE). All VPs were added to different water matrices at a concentration of 10 mg/L. Rejections of VPs and water flux were measured. The rejection increased with increase of molecular weight. The highest rejections were obtained with RO membranes (LFC-1, XLE) and tight NF (NF90) membrane. In general, the rejection of VPs was higher in model water and tap water than in Milli-Q water, but the water flux was lower. This was mainly explained by ion adsorption inside the membranes pores. Narrower pore size counteracted the effect of presence of low concentration of natural organic matter (NOM) in tap water. The NOM was assumed to enhance the adsorption of VPs onto membrane surface, increased the size exclusion and electrostatic repulsion also appeared during the transport. Investigated water matrices had influence on water flux decline due to their complexity.     

Software for occupational health and safety risk analysis based on a fuzzy model

Risk and safety management are very important issues in healthcare systems. Those are complex systems with many entities, hazards and uncertainties. In such an environment, it is very hard to introduce a system for evaluating and simulating significant hazards. In this paper, we analyzed different types of hazards in healthcare systems and we introduced a new fuzzy model for evaluating and ranking hazards. Finally, we presented a developed software solution, based on the suggested fuzzy model for evaluating and monitoring risk.     

A fuzzy model for assessing risk of occupational safety in the processing industry

Managing occupational safety in any kind of industry, especially in processing, is very important and complex. This paper develops a new method for occupational risk assessment in the presence of uncertainties. Uncertain values of hazardous factors and consequence frequencies are described with linguistic expressions defined by a safety management team. They are modeled with fuzzy sets. Consequence severities depend on current hazardous factors, and their values are calculated with the proposed procedure. The proposed model is tested with real-life data from fruit processing firms in Central Serbia.     

Physiological testing of Mytilus galloprovincialis for the environmental assessing of coastal marine areas: a case study in Boka Kotorska Bay (the Adriatic Sea)

The aim of this work was to validate in the field certain measurement of the heart rate alterations of the bioindicator organism Mytilus galloprovicialis as a tool for ecotoxicological biomonitoring and assessment applications related to coastal and marine environment. The latter was determined by testing the mussels according to the method of functional loading (1-hour lowered salinity stress-exposure). The time of heart rate (HR) recovery (T_rec) and the coefficient of HR variation (CV_HR) in a group of tested animals were used as biomarkers for the assessment of their physiological state. It was found that the values of the biomarkers in mussels from our reference location were 1.3-1.5 times lower than in mussels from differently polluted coastal areas of the Bay. The study also included an investigation of the relationship between the mussel’s cardiac rhythm characteristics and the bioaccumulation of trace elements in their soft tissues, caused by chronic pollution. The conclusion was drawn that this approach to the physiological testing of mussels could be useful in developing a rapid and low-cost method for the assessment of the health of coastal ecosystems.     

Economic,social and environmental dimension of sustainable competitiveness of European countries

Over the last decade, promotion of competitiveness represents one of the central goals of economic policy of most of the countries. Moreover, in recent years, the promotion of competitiveness has been seen as a way of achieving desirable changes in economy and society. While there is no unity of views in the theory regarding the conceptual definition of the phenomenon of competitiveness, it is becoming less arguable that in strictly economic terms, competitiveness is a synonym for productivity. However, it should be noted that productivity growth that is accompanied by increasing social imbalance (for example, inequality in income distribution), on the one hand, and environmental pollution, on the other hand, cannot be a guarantee of improving the competitiveness of countries in the long run. Acknowledging precisely this fact and using the data from World Economic Forum on Global Competitiveness 2013, this paper elaborates on the phenomenon of sustainable competitiveness and tests the hypothesis about the positive impact of its social and environmental dimension on the economic dimension of sustainable competitiveness that is represented by the value of the Global Competitiveness Index. The survey of 34 countries confirmed the indisputable positive impact of the social dimension of sustainability, but also variable direction of the impact of the environmental dimension of sustainability (depending on the level of GDP per capita) on the economic dimension of sustainable competitiveness of European countries in 2013.     

Cadmium and mercury accumulation in European hare (Lepus europaeus): age-dependent relationships in renal and hepatic tissue

A total of 63 European hares have been collected from five Serbian agricultural regions. The hares assayed were divided into four age groups (3–6 months, 12 months, 12–24 months, and 24–36 months) and investigated upon presence at cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) in the kidney and liver. The positive significant correlation (Ps—Pearson’s coefficient) between Cd concentrations in the kidney and liver within age group the 3–6 months was found (Ps?=?0.81, p?p?p?>?0.05). Statistically significant differences were registered between Hg content in the liver of the hares aged 24–36 and 12 months (p?p?>?0.05). The strong statistically significant associations were registered between Cd and Hg content in the liver (Cd L/Hg L) in the age group 3–6 and 12–24 months (Cd L/Hg L, Ps?=?0.94; p?Ps?=?0.91; p?相似文献   

RO/NF membrane treatment of veterinary pharmaceutical wastewater: comparison of results obtained on a laboratory and a pilot scale

Background  

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are commonly derived from industrial wastewater, which is often a consequence of an inadequate treatment of the latter. Improperly pretreated pharmaceutical wastewater could cause difficulties in operations of wastewater treatment plants while incomplete elimination of ECs during the processing might result in their appearance in drinking water.