Development of computer program ENMASK for prediction of residual environmental masking-noise spectra, from any three independent environmental parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Y.-S.; Liebich, R. E.; Chun, K. C.

2000-03-31

Residual environmental sound can mask intrusive4 (unwanted) sound. It is a factor that can affect noise impacts and must be considered both in noise-impact studies and in noise-mitigation designs. Models for quantitative prediction of sensation level (audibility) and psychological effects of intrusive noise require an input with 1/3 octave-band spectral resolution of environmental masking noise. However, the majority of published residual environmental masking-noise data are given with either octave-band frequency resolution or only single A-weighted decibel values. A model has been developed that enables estimation of 1/3 octave-band residual environmental masking-noise spectra and relates certain environmental parameters to A-weighted sound level. This model provides a correlation among three environmental conditions: measured residual A-weighted sound-pressure level, proximity to a major roadway, and population density. Cited field-study data were used to compute the most probable 1/3 octave-band sound-pressure spectrum corresponding to any selected one of these three inputs. In turn, such spectra can be used as an input to models for prediction of noise impacts. This paper discusses specific algorithms included in the newly developed computer program ENMASK. In addition, the relative audibility of the environmental masking-noise spectra at different A-weighted sound levels is discussed, which is determined by using the methodology of program ENAUDIBL.

Are Tourists’ Environmental Behavior Affected by Their Environmental Perceptions and Beliefs?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nichola Anastasia RAMCHURJEE

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The key to eliminating environmental problems depends mainly on how much individuals are motivated to change their consumer behaviors and participate in more environmentally responsible practices. The purpose of this research is to examine if tourists’ environmental behaviors are affected by their environmental perceptions and beliefs and how these concepts influence tourists to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors while visiting Hassan, Karnataka India. Random sampling utilizes a structured questionnaire for this investigation. The questionnaire consisted of four sections with 335 participants. The results showed that some tourists engage in positive environmental behaviors. It also revealed that the tourists largely held positive environmental beliefs and perceptions, and are aware of the concerns for the environment, however, they are not ready to transfer their environmental beliefs into their behavioral practices. Their main aim when on vacation is to experience the destination and activities offered, relax and enjoy the cultural atmosphere and to generally “have a good time”.

Parameter uncertainty in CGE Modeling of the environmental impacts of economic policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abler, D.G.; Shortle, J.S.; Rodriguez, A.G.

1999-01-01

This study explores the role of parameter uncertainty in Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modeling of the environmental impacts of macroeconomic and sectoral policies, using Costa Rica as a case for study. A CGE model is constructed which includes eight environmental indicators covering deforestation, pesticides, overfishing, hazardous wastes, inorganic wastes, organic wastes, greenhouse gases, and air pollution. The parameters are treated as random variables drawn from prespecified distributions. Evaluation of each policy option consists of a Monte Carlo experiment. The impacts of the policy options on the environmental indicators are relatively robust to different parameter values, in spite of the wide range of parameter values employed. 33 refs

Parameter uncertainty in CGE Modeling of the environmental impacts of economic policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abler, D.G.; Shortle, J.S. [Agricultural Economics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA (United States); Rodriguez, A.G. [University of Costa Rica, San Jose (Costa Rica)

1999-07-01

This study explores the role of parameter uncertainty in Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modeling of the environmental impacts of macroeconomic and sectoral policies, using Costa Rica as a case for study. A CGE model is constructed which includes eight environmental indicators covering deforestation, pesticides, overfishing, hazardous wastes, inorganic wastes, organic wastes, greenhouse gases, and air pollution. The parameters are treated as random variables drawn from prespecified distributions. Evaluation of each policy option consists of a Monte Carlo experiment. The impacts of the policy options on the environmental indicators are relatively robust to different parameter values, in spite of the wide range of parameter values employed. 33 refs.

Environmental Strategies of Affect Regulation and Their Associations With Subjective Well-Being

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalevi M. Korpela

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Environmental strategies of affect regulation refer to the use of natural and urban socio-physical settings in the service of regulation. We investigated the perceived use and efficacy of environmental strategies for regulation of general affect and sadness, considering them in relation to other affect regulation strategies and to subjective well-being. Participants from Australia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden (N = 507 evaluated the frequency of use and perceived efficacy of affect regulation strategies using a modified version of the Measure of Affect Regulation Styles (MARS. The internet survey also included the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, emotional well-being items from the RAND 36-Item Health Survey, and a single-item measure of perceived general health. Environmental regulation formed a separate factor of affect regulation in the exploratory structural equation models (ESEM. Although no relations of environmental strategies with emotional well-being were found, both the perceived frequency of use and efficacy of environmental strategies were positively related to perceived health. Moreover, the perceived efficacy of environmental strategies was positively related to life satisfaction in regulating sadness. The results encourage more explicit treatment of environmental strategies in research on affect regulation.

Environmental Strategies of Affect Regulation and Their Associations With Subjective Well-Being

Science.gov (United States)

Korpela, Kalevi M.; Pasanen, Tytti; Repo, Veera; Hartig, Terry; Staats, Henk; Mason, Michael; Alves, Susana; Fornara, Ferdinando; Marks, Tony; Saini, Sunil; Scopelliti, Massimiliano; Soares, Ana L.; Stigsdotter, Ulrika K.; Ward Thompson, Catharine

2018-01-01

Environmental strategies of affect regulation refer to the use of natural and urban socio-physical settings in the service of regulation. We investigated the perceived use and efficacy of environmental strategies for regulation of general affect and sadness, considering them in relation to other affect regulation strategies and to subjective well-being. Participants from Australia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden (N = 507) evaluated the frequency of use and perceived efficacy of affect regulation strategies using a modified version of the Measure of Affect Regulation Styles (MARS). The internet survey also included the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), emotional well-being items from the RAND 36-Item Health Survey, and a single-item measure of perceived general health. Environmental regulation formed a separate factor of affect regulation in the exploratory structural equation models (ESEM). Although no relations of environmental strategies with emotional well-being were found, both the perceived frequency of use and efficacy of environmental strategies were positively related to perceived health. Moreover, the perceived efficacy of environmental strategies was positively related to life satisfaction in regulating sadness. The results encourage more explicit treatment of environmental strategies in research on affect regulation. PMID:29720955

Reactor parameters for European economic, safety and environmental studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hancox, R.; Cooke, P.I.H.; Spears, W.R.

1990-01-01

Parameter sets for five 1200 MW e tokamak reactors were developed for the European Study Group on the Environmental, Safety-related and Economic Potential of Fusion Power, showing today's perception of the range of reactors likely to be available as a result of the Commission's fusion programme. On the basis of the cost of generating electricity, relative to a fission reactor, a reference set was chosen and endorsed by the Group for further studies including that on the environmental impact of fusion power. Key physics and technology parameters for the reference reactor are compared with values used in the ITER design, and with those from American studies. (author)

Influence of breed and environmental factors on litter parameters of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Influence of breed and environmental factors on litter parameters of rabbits ... There was a non-significant effect of season on litter site at birth, kits alive at birth and ... to rabbit reproduction as it influenced negatively more litter parameters than ...

Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaylie Rasmuson; Kurt Rautenstrauch

2003-01-01

This analysis is one of nine technical reports that support the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada (ERMYN) biosphere model. It documents input parameters for the biosphere model, and supports the use of the model to develop Biosphere Dose Conversion Factors (BDCF). The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the repository at Yucca Mountain. The ERMYN provides the TSPA with the capability to perform dose assessments. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships between the major activities and their products (the analysis and model reports) that were planned in the biosphere Technical Work Plan (TWP, BSC 2003a). It should be noted that some documents identified in Figure 1-1 may be under development and therefore not available at the time this document is issued. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2003b) describes the ERMYN and its input parameters. This analysis report, ANL-MGR-MD-000006, ''Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model'', is one of the five reports that develop input parameters for the biosphere model. This report defines and justifies values for twelve parameters required in the biosphere model. These parameters are related to use of contaminated groundwater to grow crops. The parameter values recommended in this report are used in the soil, plant, and carbon-14 submodels of the ERMYN

Echothymia: environmental dependency in the affective domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Marin, Robert S; Gorovoy, Ian R

2014-01-01

Echothymia is stimulus-bound affective behavior, an echophenomenon in the domain of affect. Like echolalia and echopraxia, it is a concomitant of the environmental dependency associated with dysfunction of the frontal-striatal systems that mediate so-called frontal lobe functions. The authors introduce the definition and phenomenology of echothymia, overview its differential diagnosis and clinical significance, and suggest ways in which understanding echothymia may contribute to clinical management.

Ethical and affective evaluation of environmental risks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bohm, G.; Pfister, H.R.

1998-01-01

Full text of publication follows: the present paper will be concerned with environmental risk perception, with special emphasis on those environmental risks that pertain to global change phenomena, such as climate change and ozone depletion. Two determinants of risk judgments are investigated that seem particularly relevant to environmental risks: ethical and affective evaluations. It is assumed that the focus of risk evaluation can be on one of two aspects: a) on an evaluation of potential losses, or b) on ethical considerations. We assume that both, potential loss and violation of ethical principles elicit emotional evaluations, but that these two judgmental aspects are associated with different specific emotions. Following cognitive emotion theories, we distinguish loss-based emotions, such as worry and fear, from ethical emotions, e.g., guilt and anger. A study is presented that investigates the role of ethical and affective evaluations in risk judgments. Various environmental risks were presented to subjects, e.g., air pollution, ozone depletion, climate change and destruction of ecological balance. For each environmental risk, subjects indicated in free-response format as well as on rating scales the extent to which ethical principles were violated, and the intensity of both loss-based and ethical emotions. The correlational structure of the emotion ratings confirms the distinction between loss-based and ethical emotions. Risk judgments co-vary with the strength of ethical evaluation and with the intensity of loss-based emotions, but are independent of ethical emotions. The implications of these findings for the risk appraisal process are discussed. (authors)

Stability of Intercellular Exchange of Biochemical Substances Affected by Variability of Environmental Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Mihailović, Dragutin T.; Budinčević, Mirko; Balaž, Igor; Mihailović, Anja

Communication between cells is realized by exchange of biochemical substances. Due to internal organization of living systems and variability of external parameters, the exchange is heavily influenced by perturbations of various parameters at almost all stages of the process. Since communication is one of essential processes for functioning of living systems it is of interest to investigate conditions for its stability. Using previously developed simplified model of bacterial communication in a form of coupled difference logistic equations we investigate stability of exchange of signaling molecules under variability of internal and external parameters.

Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaylie Rasmuson; Kurt Rautenstrauch

2003-06-20

This analysis is one of nine technical reports that support the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada (ERMYN) biosphere model. It documents input parameters for the biosphere model, and supports the use of the model to develop Biosphere Dose Conversion Factors (BDCF). The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the repository at Yucca Mountain. The ERMYN provides the TSPA with the capability to perform dose assessments. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships between the major activities and their products (the analysis and model reports) that were planned in the biosphere Technical Work Plan (TWP, BSC 2003a). It should be noted that some documents identified in Figure 1-1 may be under development and therefore not available at the time this document is issued. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2003b) describes the ERMYN and its input parameters. This analysis report, ANL-MGR-MD-000006, ''Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model'', is one of the five reports that develop input parameters for the biosphere model. This report defines and justifies values for twelve parameters required in the biosphere model. These parameters are related to use of contaminated groundwater to grow crops. The parameter values recommended in this report are used in the soil, plant, and carbon-14 submodels of the ERMYN.

Models and parameters for environmental radiological assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, C.W.

1983-01-01

This article reviews the forthcoming book Models and Parameters for Environmental Radiological Assessments, which presents a unified compilation of models and parameters for assessing the impact on man of radioactive discharges, both routine and accidental, into the environment. Models presented in this book include those developed for the prediction of atmospheric and hydrologic transport and deposition, for terrestrial and aquatic food-chain bioaccumulation, and for internal and external dosimetry. Summaries are presented for each of the transport and dosimetry areas previously for each of the transport and dosimetry areas previously mentioned, and details are available in the literature cited. A chapter of example problems illustrates many of the methodologies presented throughout the text. Models and parameters presented are based on the results of extensive literature reviews and evaluations performed primarily by the staff of the Health and Safety Research Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Environmental Transport Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

M. Wasiolek

2004-01-01

This analysis report is one of the technical reports documenting the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA) for the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows relationships among the reports developed for biosphere modeling and biosphere abstraction products for the TSPA-LA, as identified in the ''Technical Work Plan for Biosphere Modeling and Expert Support'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169573]) (TWP). This figure provides an understanding of how this report contributes to biosphere modeling in support of the license application (LA). This report is one of the five reports that develop input parameter values for the biosphere model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes the conceptual model and the mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the Biosphere Model Report in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters. The output of this report is used as direct input in the ''Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'' and in the ''Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'' that calculate the values of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater and volcanic ash exposure scenarios, respectively. The purpose of this analysis was to develop biosphere model parameter values related to radionuclide transport and accumulation in the environment. These parameters support calculations of radionuclide concentrations in the environmental media (e.g., soil, crops, animal products, and air) resulting from a given radionuclide concentration at the source of contamination (i.e., either in groundwater or in volcanic ash). The analysis was performed in accordance with the TWP (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169573])

Environmental Transport Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M. Wasiolek

2004-09-10

This analysis report is one of the technical reports documenting the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (ERMYN), a biosphere model supporting the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA) for the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows relationships among the reports developed for biosphere modeling and biosphere abstraction products for the TSPA-LA, as identified in the ''Technical Work Plan for Biosphere Modeling and Expert Support'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169573]) (TWP). This figure provides an understanding of how this report contributes to biosphere modeling in support of the license application (LA). This report is one of the five reports that develop input parameter values for the biosphere model. The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes the conceptual model and the mathematical model. The input parameter reports, shown to the right of the Biosphere Model Report in Figure 1-1, contain detailed description of the model input parameters. The output of this report is used as direct input in the ''Nominal Performance Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'' and in the ''Disruptive Event Biosphere Dose Conversion Factor Analysis'' that calculate the values of biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs) for the groundwater and volcanic ash exposure scenarios, respectively. The purpose of this analysis was to develop biosphere model parameter values related to radionuclide transport and accumulation in the environment. These parameters support calculations of radionuclide concentrations in the environmental media (e.g., soil, crops, animal products, and air) resulting from a given radionuclide concentration at the source of contamination (i.e., either in groundwater or in volcanic ash). The analysis

The effect of environmental parameters to dust concentration in air-conditioned space

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, A. M. M.; Manssor, N. A. S.; Nalisa, A.; Yahaya, N.

2017-08-01

Malaysia has a wet and hot climate, therefore most of the spaces are air conditioned. The environment might affect dust concentration inside a space and affect the indoor air quality (IAQ). The main objective of this study is to study the dust concentration collected inside enclosed air-conditioned space. The measurement was done physically at four selected offices and two classrooms using a number of equipment to measure the dust concentration and environmental parameters which are temperature and relative air humidity. It was found that the highest dust concentration produced in office (temperature of 24.7°C, relative humidity of 66.5%) is 0.075 mg/m3, as compared to classroom, the highest dust concentration produced is 0.060 mg/m3 office (temperature of 25.9°C, relative humidity of 64.0%). However, both measurements show that value still within the safety level set by DOSH Malaysia (2005-2010) and ASHRAE 62.2 2016. The office contained higher dust concentration compared to classroom because of frequent movement transpires daily due to the functional of the offices.

Key processes and input parameters for environmental tritium models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bunnenberg, C.; Taschner, M.; Ogram, G.L.

1994-01-01

The primary objective of the work reported here is to define key processes and input parameters for mathematical models of environmental tritium behaviour adequate for use in safety analysis and licensing of fusion devices like NET and associated tritium handling facilities. (author). 45 refs., 3 figs

Key processes and input parameters for environmental tritium models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunnenberg, C; Taschner, M [Niedersaechsisches Inst. fuer Radiooekologie, Hannover (Germany); Ogram, G L [Ontario Hydro, Toronto, ON (Canada)

1994-12-31

The primary objective of the work reported here is to define key processes and input parameters for mathematical models of environmental tritium behaviour adequate for use in safety analysis and licensing of fusion devices like NET and associated tritium handling facilities. (author). 45 refs., 3 figs.

Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

K. Rasmuson; K. Rautenstrauch

2004-09-14

This analysis is one of 10 technical reports that support the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada (ERMYN) (i.e., the biosphere model). It documents development of agricultural and environmental input parameters for the biosphere model, and supports the use of the model to develop biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs). The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the repository at Yucca Mountain. The ERMYN provides the TSPA with the capability to perform dose assessments. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships between the major activities and their products (the analysis and model reports) that were planned in ''Technical Work Plan for Biosphere Modeling and Expert Support'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169573]). The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes the ERMYN and its input parameters.

Agricultural and Environmental Input Parameters for the Biosphere Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

K. Rasmuson; K. Rautenstrauch

2004-01-01

This analysis is one of 10 technical reports that support the Environmental Radiation Model for Yucca Mountain Nevada (ERMYN) (i.e., the biosphere model). It documents development of agricultural and environmental input parameters for the biosphere model, and supports the use of the model to develop biosphere dose conversion factors (BDCFs). The biosphere model is one of a series of process models supporting the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the repository at Yucca Mountain. The ERMYN provides the TSPA with the capability to perform dose assessments. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the ERMYN is presented in Figure 1-1. This figure shows the interrelationships between the major activities and their products (the analysis and model reports) that were planned in ''Technical Work Plan for Biosphere Modeling and Expert Support'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169573]). The ''Biosphere Model Report'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 169460]) describes the ERMYN and its input parameters

Affect of different ICT processing parameters to the quality of tomograms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Jiang; Sun Lingxia; Ye Yunchang

2009-01-01

The quality of ICT tomograms is affected by detecting processing parameters and image processing methods besides the performances of ICT systems. Optimal processing parameters and image processing methods can promote not only the quality of tomogram but also the resolution. Some research work was carried out about processing parameters and image processing methods including choice of collimator, filter, false color composite image. And some examples were given in this paper, which can provide the ICT analyst with reference. (authors)

Microbiota and environmental stress: how pollution affects microbial communities in Manila clams.

Science.gov (United States)

Milan, M; Carraro, L; Fariselli, P; Martino, M E; Cavalieri, D; Vitali, F; Boffo, L; Patarnello, T; Bargelloni, L; Cardazzo, B

2018-01-01

Given the crucial role of microbiota in host development, health, and environmental interactions, genomic analyses focusing on host-microbiota interactions should certainly be considered in the investigation of the adaptive mechanisms to environmental stress. Recently, several studies suggested that microbiota associated to digestive tract is a key, although still not fully understood, player that must be considered to assess the toxicity of environmental contaminants. Bacteria-dependent metabolism of xenobiotics may indeed modulate the host toxicity. Conversely, environmental variables (including pollution) may alter the microbial community and/or its metabolic activity leading to host physiological alterations that may contribute to their toxicity. Here, 16s rRNA gene amplicon sequencing has been applied to characterize the hepatopancreas microbiota composition of the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum. The animals were collected in the Venice lagoon area, which is subject to different anthropogenic pressures, mainly represented by the industrial activities of Porto Marghera (PM). Seasonal and geographic differences in clam microbiotas were explored and linked to host response to chemical stress identified in a previous study at the transcriptome level, establishing potential interactions among hosts, microbes, and environmental parameters. The obtained results showed the recurrent presence of putatively detoxifying bacterial taxa in PM clams during winter and over-representation of several metabolic pathways involved in xenobiotic degradation, which suggested the potential for host-microbial synergistic detoxifying actions. Strong interaction between seasonal and chemically-induced responses was also observed, which partially obscured such potentially synergistic actions. Seasonal variables and exposure to toxicants were therefore shown to interact and substantially affect clam microbiota, which appeared to mirror host response to environmental variation. It

(1) H-MRS processing parameters affect metabolite quantification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhogal, Alex A; Schür, Remmelt R; Houtepen, Lotte C

2017-01-01

investigated the influence of model parameters and spectral quantification software on fitted metabolite concentration values. Sixty spectra in 30 individuals (repeated measures) were acquired using a 7-T MRI scanner. Data were processed by four independent research groups with the freedom to choose their own...... + NAAG/Cr + PCr and Glu/Cr + PCr, respectively. Metabolite quantification using identical (1) H-MRS data was influenced by processing parameters, basis sets and software choice. Locally preferred processing choices affected metabolite quantification, even when using identical software. Our results......Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1) H-MRS) can be used to quantify in vivo metabolite levels, such as lactate, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (Glu). However, there are considerable analysis choices which can alter the accuracy or precision of (1) H-MRS metabolite quantification...

Hallux valgus surgery affects kinematic parameters during gait.

Science.gov (United States)

Klugarova, Jitka; Janura, Miroslav; Svoboda, Zdenek; Sos, Zdenek; Stergiou, Nicholas; Klugar, Miloslav

2016-12-01

The aim of our study was to compare spatiotemporal parameters and lower limb and pelvis kinematics during the walking in patients with hallux valgus before and after surgery and in relation to a control group. Seventeen females with hallux valgus, who underwent first metatarsal osteotomy, constituted our experimental group. The control group consisted of thirteen females. Kinematic data during walking were obtained using the Vicon MX system. Our results showed that hallux valgus before surgery affects spatiotemporal parameters and lower limb and pelvis kinematics during walking. Hallux valgus surgery further increased the differences that were present before surgery. Specifically after hallux valgus surgery, the walking speed decreased even more (p=0.09, η 2 =0.19) while step time increased (p=0.002, η 2 =0.44) on both legs. The maximum ankle plantar flexion of the operated leg during toe-off decreased to a greater extend (p=0.03, η 2 =0.26). The asymmetry in the hip and the pelvis movements in the frontal plane (present preoperatively) persisted after surgery. Hallux valgus is not an isolated problem of the first ray, which could be just surgically addressed by correcting the foot's alignment. It is a long-term progressive malfunction of the foot affecting the entire kinematic chain of the lower extremity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of highway base-saturation flow rate adjustment on Kuwait's transport and environmental parameters estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

AlRukaibi, Fahad; AlKheder, Sharaf; Al-Rukaibi, Duaij; Al-Burait, Abdul-Aziz

2018-03-23

Traditional transportation systems' management and operation mainly focused on improving traffic mobility and safety without imposing any environmental concerns. Transportation and environmental issues are interrelated and affected by the same parameters especially at signalized intersections. Additionally, traffic congestion at signalized intersections has a major contribution in the environmental problem as related to vehicle emission, fuel consumption, and delay. Therefore, signalized intersections' design and operation is an important parameter to minimize the impact on the environment. The design and operation of signalized intersections are highly dependent on the base saturation flow rate (BSFR). Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses a base-saturation flow rate of 1900-passenger car/h/lane for areas with a population intensity greater than or equal to 250,000 and a value of 1750-passenger car/h/lane for less populated areas. The base-saturation flow rate value in HCM is derived from a field data collected in developed countries. The adopted value in Kuwait is 1800passengercar/h/lane, which is the value that used in this analysis as a basis for comparison. Due to the difference in behavior between drivers in developed countries and their fellows in Kuwait, an adjustment was made to the base-saturation flow rate to represent Kuwait's traffic and environmental conditions. The reduction in fuel consumption and vehicles' emission after modifying the base-saturation flow rate (BSFR increased by 12.45%) was about 34% on average. Direct field measurements of the saturation flow rate were used while using the air quality mobile lab to calculate emissions' rates. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental Factors Affecting Where People Geocache

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Golbeck

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Outdoor leisure activities are important for public health as well as family cohesiveness, yet environmental factors may easily affect someone’s ability to participate in such activities. We explored this with a focus on the social web-based treasure hunt game called Geocaching. We collected data on all US and Canadian geocaches from OpenCaching.com and conducted an online survey with twenty geocachers as a follow-up to our data analysis. Data analysis showed that geocaches were more often found in areas that were wealthier, better educated, younger, and more urban, and had higher population density and better weather. Survey results showed similar trends: Most people actively thought about where they would cache and tried to minimize risks, despite cache hiders thinking less about these concerns. These results further emphasize the importance of environmental factors when it comes to participation in outdoor activities and leads to Human–Computer Interaction design implications for location-based online social activities.

Environmental and genetic factors affecting faecal worm egg counts ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Environmental and genetic factors affecting faecal worm egg counts in Merinos divergently selected for reproduction. ... The fixed effect of birth year x sex interaction was significant, with rams showing higher mean values for FWEC than ewes ...

Environmental parameters series. 3. Concentration factors of radionuclides in freshwater organisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-03-01

This report outlines recent research activities of Radioactive Waste Management Center. Aiming to estimate the radiation dose of man exposed to radioactive materials in an environment, construction of a calculation model on the transfer of radionuclide in the environment was attempted. This issue, Environmental parameter series No.3 includes six reports on the factors related to environmental concentration for radionuclides. The title of the reports are as follows; Factors modifying the concentration factor (CF), Evaluation of accumulation of radionuclides in brackish water organisms, Dose assessment, CF derived from Japanese limnological data, Data table of CF and Metabolic parameters in relation to bioaccumulation of elements by organisms. In addition to collect and arrange the existing data, CF was calculated based on the concentration of stable elements in various lakes and rivers in Japan. (M.N.)

Parameters Affecting the Erosive Burning of Solid Rocket Motor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdelaziz Almostafa

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Increasing the velocity of gases inside solid rocket motors with low port-to-throat area ratios, leading to increased occurrence and severity of burning rate augmentation due to flow of propellant products across burning propellant surfaces (erosive burning, erosive burning of high energy composite propellant was investigated to supply rocket motor design criteria and to supplement knowledge of combustion phenomena, pressure, burning rate and high velocity of gases all of these are parameters affect on erosive burning. Investigate the phenomena of the erosive burning by using the 2’inch rocket motor and modified one. Different tests applied to fulfil all the parameters that calculated out from the experiments and by studying the pressure time curve and erosive burning phenomena.

Summary of panel session 3 -- Environmental issues affecting CCT deployment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hausker, K. [Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC (United States)

1997-12-31

The panelists discussed a variety of environmental issues that affect CCT deployment, and more broadly speaking, power development in general. The issues were both international and domestic in nature. The author summarizes the issues discussed. A summary is also presented which highlights ideas from the panelists that could be characterized as solutions to the demand for improved environmental performance and the surrounding uncertainties. The author offers some personal comments and observations.

Foraging behavior, environmental parameters and nests development of Melipona colimana Ayala (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) in temperate climate of Jalisco, México.

Science.gov (United States)

Macías-Macías, J O; Tapia-Gonzalez, J M; Contreras-Escareño, F

2017-01-01

Melipona colimana Ayala is an endemic species inhabiting temperate forests of pine and oak of south of Jalisco in Mexico. During a year, it was recorded every 15 days foraging activity, environmental parameters and the development of colonies of M. colimana in its wild habitat. For five minutes every hour from 7:00 to 21:00, the bees that entered and left the hive and bringing pollen and resin were registered. Every hour the relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and light intensity was recorded and related to foraging activity. Additionally, the weight of the colonies recently transferred to wooden boxes, the number of brood combs, honey pots and pollen were registered. The time of beginning and ending of the foraging activity differs from the reports of stingless bees of tropical weather and the same happens with the pollen collection. The environmental parameters that affect other tropical stingless bees in the foraging activity also affect M. colimana in temperate climate. It was determined that the major activity season and the presence of more pollen pots in the colony is from November through February, for what it could be the best time of the year for the division and obtainance of new colonies, while the critical period of minor activity and pollen flow was during rainy season. These data may be useful for the future sustainable use of this species in temperate climate.

Lumped parameter models for the interpretation of environmental tracer data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maloszewski, P [GSF-Inst. for Hydrology, Oberschleissheim (Germany); Zuber, A [Institute of Nuclear Physics, Cracow (Poland)

1996-10-01

Principles of the lumped-parameter approach to the interpretation of environmental tracer data are given. The following models are considered: the piston flow model (PFM), exponential flow model (EM), linear model (LM), combined piston flow and exponential flow model (EPM), combined linear flow and piston flow model (LPM), and dispersion model (DM). The applicability of these models for the interpretation of different tracer data is discussed for a steady state flow approximation. Case studies are given to exemplify the applicability of the lumped-parameter approach. Description of a user-friendly computer program is given. (author). 68 refs, 25 figs, 4 tabs.

Lumped parameter models for the interpretation of environmental tracer data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maloszewski, P.; Zuber, A.

1996-01-01

Principles of the lumped-parameter approach to the interpretation of environmental tracer data are given. The following models are considered: the piston flow model (PFM), exponential flow model (EM), linear model (LM), combined piston flow and exponential flow model (EPM), combined linear flow and piston flow model (LPM), and dispersion model (DM). The applicability of these models for the interpretation of different tracer data is discussed for a steady state flow approximation. Case studies are given to exemplify the applicability of the lumped-parameter approach. Description of a user-friendly computer program is given. (author). 68 refs, 25 figs, 4 tabs

Empathy in early childhood: genetic, environmental, and affective contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Knafo, Ariel; Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn; Davidov, Maayan; Van Hulle, Carol; Robinson, JoAnn L; Rhee, Soo Hyun

2009-06-01

We investigated the genetic and environmental origins of children's empathy toward a distress victim and its correlates with emotional symptoms and affective knowledge. The cognitive (hypothesis testing) and affective (empathic concern) empathy of 122 twin pairs in response to simulated pain by an adult examiner was observed at 3.5 years of age. Moderate (0.19 to 0.44) heritabilities were estimated for individual differences in empathy, and the nonshared environment and error accounted for the rest of the variance. Hypothesis testing and empathic concern were moderately correlated, mainly through overlapping genetic effects. Although children's affective knowledge did not correlate with their empathy, affective knowledge interacted with mother-rated emotional symptoms in predicting empathy; knowledge about emotions was associated with greater empathy in children low in emotional symptoms. In contrast, among children with high degrees of emotional symptoms, those with better affective knowledge tended to show lower empathy.

Environmental parameters linked to the last migratory stage of barnacle geese en route to their breeding sites

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Najafabadi, M.S.; Darvishzadeh, R.; Skidmore, A.K.; Kölzsch, Andrea; Exo, Klaus-Michael; Nolet, Bart A.; Griffin, Larry; Stahl, Julia; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Meratnia, Nirvana; Toxopeus, A.G.

The migration timing of birds can be controlled by endogenous parameters. However, little is known about how environmental parameters influence the timing of migration and which have the greatest influence at different stages of migration. In this study we identified the main environmental

Environmental parameters linked to the last migratory stage of barnacle geese en route to their breeding sites

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shariati Najafabadi, Mitra; Darvishzadeh, Roshanak; Skidmore, A.K.; Kölzsch, A.; Exo, K-M.; Nolet, B.A.; Griffin, L.; Stahl, J.; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Meratnia, Nirvana; Toxopeus, A.G.

2016-01-01

The migration timing of birds can be controlled by endogenous parameters. However, little is known about how environmental parameters influence the timing of migration and which have the greatest influence at different stages of migration. In this study we identified the main environmental

Environmental and Physiological Factors Affect Football Head Impact Biomechanics.

Science.gov (United States)

Mihalik, Jason P; Sumrall, Adam Z; Yeargin, Susan W; Guskiewicz, Kevin M; King, Kevin B; Trulock, Scott C; Shields, Edgar W

2017-10-01

Recent anecdotal trends suggest a disproportionate number of head injuries in collegiate football players occur during preseason football camp. In warmer climates, this season also represents the highest risk for heat-related illness among collegiate football players. Because concussion and heat illnesses share many common symptoms, we need 1) to understand if environmental conditions, body temperature, and hydration status affect head impact biomechanics; and 2) to determine if an in-helmet thermistor could provide a valid measure of gastrointestinal temperature. A prospective cohort of 18 Division I college football players (age, 21.1 ± 1.4 yr; height, 187.7 ± 6.6 cm; mass, 114.5 ± 23.4 kg). Data were collected during one control and three experimental sessions. During each session, the Head Impact Telemetry System recorded head impact biomechanics (linear acceleration, rotational acceleration, and severity profile) and in-helmet temperature. A wet bulb globe device recorded environmental conditions, and CorTemp™ Ingestible Core Body Temperature Sensors recorded gastrointestinal temperature. Our findings suggest that linear acceleration (P = 0.57), rotational acceleration (P = 0.16), and Head Impact Technology severity profile (P = 0.33) are not influenced by environmental or physiological conditions. We did not find any single or combination of predictors for impact severity. Rotational acceleration was approaching significance between our early experimental sessions when compared with our control session. More research should be conducted to better understand if rotational accelerations are a component of impact magnitudes that are affected due to changes in environmental conditions, body temperature, and hydration status.

Innate and adaptive immune traits are differentially affected by genetic and environmental factors

Science.gov (United States)

Mangino, Massimo; Roederer, Mario; Beddall, Margaret H.; Nestle, Frank O.; Spector, Tim D.

2017-01-01

The diversity and activity of leukocytes is controlled by genetic and environmental influences to maintain balanced immune responses. However, the relative contribution of environmental compared with genetic factors that affect variations in immune traits is unknown. Here we analyse 23,394 immune phenotypes in 497 adult female twins. 76% of these traits show a predominantly heritable influence, whereas 24% are mostly influenced by environment. These data highlight the importance of shared childhood environmental influences such as diet, infections or microbes in shaping immune homeostasis for monocytes, B1 cells, γδ T cells and NKT cells, whereas dendritic cells, B2 cells, CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells are more influenced by genetics. Although leukocyte subsets are influenced by genetics and environment, adaptive immune traits are more affected by genetics, whereas innate immune traits are more affected by environment. PMID:28054551

Recommended environmental dose calculation methods and Hanford-specific parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schreckhise, R.G.; Rhoads, K.; Napier, B.A.; Ramsdell, J.V.; Davis, J.S.

1993-03-01

This document was developed to support the Hanford Environmental Dose overview Panel (HEDOP). The Panel is responsible for reviewing all assessments of potential doses received by humans and other biota resulting from the actual or possible environmental releases of radioactive and other hazardous materials from facilities and/or operations belonging to the US Department of Energy on the Hanford Site in south-central Washington. This document serves as a guide to be used for developing estimates of potential radiation doses, or other measures of risk or health impacts, to people and other biota in the environs on and around the Hanford Site. It provides information to develop technically sound estimates of exposure (i.e., potential or actual) to humans or other biotic receptors that could result from the environmental transport of potentially harmful materials that have been, or could be, released from Hanford operations or facilities. Parameter values and information that are specific to the Hanford environs as well as other supporting material are included in this document

Recommended environmental dose calculation methods and Hanford-specific parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schreckhise, R.G.; Rhoads, K.; Napier, B.A.; Ramsdell, J.V. (Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)); Davis, J.S. (Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States))

1993-03-01

This document was developed to support the Hanford Environmental Dose overview Panel (HEDOP). The Panel is responsible for reviewing all assessments of potential doses received by humans and other biota resulting from the actual or possible environmental releases of radioactive and other hazardous materials from facilities and/or operations belonging to the US Department of Energy on the Hanford Site in south-central Washington. This document serves as a guide to be used for developing estimates of potential radiation doses, or other measures of risk or health impacts, to people and other biota in the environs on and around the Hanford Site. It provides information to develop technically sound estimates of exposure (i.e., potential or actual) to humans or other biotic receptors that could result from the environmental transport of potentially harmful materials that have been, or could be, released from Hanford operations or facilities. Parameter values and information that are specific to the Hanford environs as well as other supporting material are included in this document.

An analysis of parameters affecting slapdown of transportation packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergmann, V.L.; Ammerman, D.J.

1991-01-01

Several parameters affecting the accelerations experienced by packages for the transport of nuclear material during eccentric impact are evaluated. Eccentric impact on one end of a cask causes rotation leading to secondary impact, referred to as slapdown, at the other end. In a slapdown event, the rotational acceleration during the primary impact can cause accelerations at the nose and tail which are greater than those during a side-on impact. Slapdown can also cause acceleration at the tail during the secondary impact to be more severe than at the nose during primary impact. Both of these effects are investigated for two casks geometries. Other parameters evaluated are the characteristics of impact limiters and friction between the impact limiter the impacted surface. Results were obtained using SLAPDOWN, a code which models the impact response of deformable bodies. 2 refs., 11 figs

Semen parameters can be predicted from environmental factors and lifestyle using artificial intelligence methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Girela, Jose L; Gil, David; Johnsson, Magnus; Gomez-Torres, María José; De Juan, Joaquín

2013-04-01

Fertility rates have dramatically decreased in the last two decades, especially in men. It has been described that environmental factors as well as life habits may affect semen quality. In this paper we use artificial intelligence techniques in order to predict semen characteristics resulting from environmental factors, life habits, and health status, with these techniques constituting a possible decision support system that can help in the study of male fertility potential. A total of 123 young, healthy volunteers provided a semen sample that was analyzed according to the World Health Organization 2010 criteria. They also were asked to complete a validated questionnaire about life habits and health status. Sperm concentration and percentage of motile sperm were related to sociodemographic data, environmental factors, health status, and life habits in order to determine the predictive accuracy of a multilayer perceptron network, a type of artificial neural network. In conclusion, we have developed an artificial neural network that can predict the results of the semen analysis based on the data collected by the questionnaire. The semen parameter that is best predicted using this methodology is the sperm concentration. Although the accuracy for motility is slightly lower than that for concentration, it is possible to predict it with a significant degree of accuracy. This methodology can be a useful tool in early diagnosis of patients with seminal disorders or in the selection of candidates to become semen donors.

Foraging behavior, environmental parameters and nests development of Melipona colimana Ayala (Hymenoptera: Meliponini in temperate climate of Jalisco, México

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. O. Macías-Macías

Full Text Available Abstract Melipona colimana Ayala is an endemic species inhabiting temperate forests of pine and oak of south of Jalisco in Mexico. During a year, it was recorded every 15 days foraging activity, environmental parameters and the development of colonies of M. colimana in its wild habitat. For five minutes every hour from 7:00 to 21:00, the bees that entered and left the hive and bringing pollen and resin were registered. Every hour the relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and light intensity was recorded and related to foraging activity. Additionally, the weight of the colonies recently transferred to wooden boxes, the number of brood combs, honey pots and pollen were registered. The time of beginning and ending of the foraging activity differs from the reports of stingless bees of tropical weather and the same happens with the pollen collection. The environmental parameters that affect other tropical stingless bees in the foraging activity also affect M. colimana in temperate climate. It was determined that the major activity season and the presence of more pollen pots in the colony is from November through February, for what it could be the best time of the year for the division and obtainance of new colonies, while the critical period of minor activity and pollen flow was during rainy season. These data may be useful for the future sustainable use of this species in temperate climate.

Development and Validation of Children's Environmental Affect (Attitude, Sensitivity and Willingness to Take Action) Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Erdogan, Mehmet; Marcinkowski, Thomas

2015-01-01

This study focuses on the design, development, validation, and psychometric properties of the Children's Environmental Affect Scale (CEAS). The following steps were taken in developing the CEAS. A substantial review of literature on environmental affect and EL helped the researchers identify several scales and questionnaires that, in turn, help…

Environmental parameters affecting the structure of leaf-litter frog (Amphibia: Anura communities in tropical forests: a case study from an Atlantic Rainforest area in southeastern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla C. Siqueira

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Despite a recent increase of information on leaf litter frog communities from Atlantic rainforests, few studies have analyzed the relationship between environmental parameters and community structure of these animals. We analyzed the effects of some environmental factors on a leaf litter frog community at an Atlantic Rainforest area in southeastern Brazil. Data collection lasted ten consecutive days in January 2010, at elevations ranging between 300 and 520 m above sea level. We established 50 quadrats of 5 x 5 m on the forest floor, totaling 1,250 m² of sampled area, and recorded the mean leaf-litter depth and the number of trees within the plot, as well as altitude. We found 307 individuals belonging to ten frog species within the plots. The overall density of leaf-litter frogs estimated from the plots was 24.6 ind/100m², with Euparkerella brasiliensis (Parker, 1926, Ischnocnema guentheri (Steindachner, 1864, Ischnocnema parva (Girard, 1853 and Haddadus binotatus (Spix, 1824 presenting the highest estimated densities. Among the environmental variables analyzed, only altitude influenced the parameters of anuran community. Our results indicate that the study area has a very high density of forest floor leaf litter frogs at altitudes of 300-500 m. Future estimates of litter frog density might benefit from taking the local altitudinal variation into consideration. Neglecting such variation might result in underestimated/overestimated values if they are extrapolated to the whole area.

Parameters affecting tooth loss during periodontal maintenance in a Greek population.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsami, Alexandra; Pepelassi, Eudoxie; Kodovazenitis, George; Komboli, Mado

2009-09-01

Investigators have evaluated predictive parameters of tooth loss during the maintenance phase (MP). The authors conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the rate of tooth loss and to explore the parameters that affect tooth loss during MP in a Greek population. A periodontist administered periodontal treatment and maintenance care to 280 participants with severe periodontitis for a mean period +/- standard deviation of 10.84 +/- 2.13 years. The periodontist recorded the following parameters for each participant: oral hygiene index level, simplified gingival index level, clinical attachment level, probing depth measurements, initial tooth prognosis, smoking status, tooth loss during active periodontal treatment and MP, and compliance with suggested maintenance visits. The authors found that total tooth loss during active treatment (n = 1,427) was greater than during MP (n = 918) and was associated with the initial tooth prognosis, tooth type group, participants' compliance with suggested maintenance visits, smoking status and acceptability of the quality of tooth restorations. Most of the teeth extracted during maintenance had an initial guarded prognosis (n = 612). Participants whose compliance was erratic had a greater risk of undergoing tooth extraction than did participants whose compliance was complete. Participants' initial tooth prognosis, tooth type, compliance with suggested maintenance visits and smoking status affected tooth loss during MP. Initial guarded prognosis and erratic compliance increased the risk of undergoing tooth extraction during maintenance. Determining predictive parameters for disease progression and tooth loss provides critical information to clinicians so that they can develop and implement rational treatment planning.

Environmental color affects Nile tilapia reproduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volpato G.L.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available We investigated the effects of environmental color on the reproductive behavior of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Two environmental colors were tested by covering the aquarium (60 x 60 x 40 cm with white (12 groups or blue (13 groups cellophane and observing reproductive behavior in groups of 2 males (10.27 ± 0.45 cm and 3 females (10.78 ± 0.45 cm each. After assignment to the respective environmental color (similar luminosity = 100 to 120 Lux, the animals were observed until reproduction (identified by eggs in the female's mouth or up to 10 days after the first nest building. Photoperiod was from 6:00 h to 18:00 h every day. Food was offered in excess once a day and water quality was similar among aquaria. Daily observations were made at 8:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 17:00 h regarding: a latency to the first nest, b number of nests, c gravel weight removed (the male excavates the nest in the bottom of the aquarium, d nest area, and e mouthbrooding incubation (indication of reproduction. The proportion of reproducing fish was significantly higher (6 of 13 in the group exposed to the blue color compared the group exposed to the white color (1 of 12; Goodman's test of proportions. Moreover, males under blue light removed significantly larger masses of gravel (blue = 310.70 ± 343.50 g > white = 130.38 ± 102.70 g; P = 0.01 and constructed wider nests (blue = 207.93 ± 207.80 cm² > white = 97.68 ± 70.64 cm²; P = 0.03 than the control (white. The other parameters did not differ significantly between light conditions. We concluded that reproduction in the presence of blue light was more frequent and intense than in the presence of white light.

Repository environmental parameters and models/methodologies relevant to assessing the performance of high-level waste packages in basalt, tuff, and salt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Claiborne, H.C.; Croff, A.G.; Griess, J.C.; Smith, F.J.

1987-09-01

This document provides specifications for models/methodologies that could be employed in determining postclosure repository environmental parameters relevant to the performance of high-level waste packages for the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) at Richland, Washington, the tuff at Yucca Mountain by the Nevada Test Site, and the bedded salt in Deaf Smith County, Texas. Guidance is provided on the identify of the relevant repository environmental parameters; the models/methodologies employed to determine the parameters, and the input data base for the models/methodologies. Supporting studies included are an analysis of potential waste package failure modes leading to identification of the relevant repository environmental parameters, an evaluation of the credible range of the repository environmental parameters, and a summary of the review of existing models/methodologies currently employed in determining repository environmental parameters relevant to waste package performance. 327 refs., 26 figs., 19 tabs.

Repository environmental parameters and models/methodologies relevant to assessing the performance of high-level waste packages in basalt, tuff, and salt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Claiborne, H.C.; Croff, A.G.; Griess, J.C.; Smith, F.J.

1987-09-01

This document provides specifications for models/methodologies that could be employed in determining postclosure repository environmental parameters relevant to the performance of high-level waste packages for the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) at Richland, Washington, the tuff at Yucca Mountain by the Nevada Test Site, and the bedded salt in Deaf Smith County, Texas. Guidance is provided on the identify of the relevant repository environmental parameters; the models/methodologies employed to determine the parameters, and the input data base for the models/methodologies. Supporting studies included are an analysis of potential waste package failure modes leading to identification of the relevant repository environmental parameters, an evaluation of the credible range of the repository environmental parameters, and a summary of the review of existing models/methodologies currently employed in determining repository environmental parameters relevant to waste package performance. 327 refs., 26 figs., 19 tabs

Inexpensive, Open-Source, Internet of Things-Enabled Sensing Stations for Environmental Parameter Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Marchetto, P. M.; Hofmeister, K.; Walter, M. T.

2015-12-01

In the age of the Internet, data is inherently portable. Given the shrinking numbers of stream gauges in the US under the banner of the USGS and the lack of collocation of sensors for environmental parameters, it is clear the only way to collect these data is with near real-time, multi-parameters sensing stations. We are designing a system that can be built and deployed for under $300 by community groups interested in learning more about the land that they are protecting, such as conservation groups, or groups interested in the basic science behind sensing and ecology, such as makerspaces. Sensing stations like these will enable a greater diversity of data collection while increasing public awareness of environmental issues and the research process.

Sensitivity analysis of specific activity model parameters for environmental transport of 3H and dose assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rout, S.; Mishra, D.G.; Ravi, P.M.; Tripathi, R.M.

2016-01-01

Tritium is one of the radionuclides likely to get released to the environment from Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors. Environmental models are extensively used to quantify the complex environmental transport processes of radionuclides and also to assess the impact to the environment. Model parameters exerting the significant influence on model results are identified through a sensitivity analysis (SA). SA is the study of how the variation (uncertainty) in the output of a mathematical model can be apportioned, qualitatively or quantitatively, to different sources of variation in the input parameters. This study was designed to identify the sensitive model parameters of specific activity model (TRS 1616, IAEA) for environmental transfer of 3 H following release to air and then to vegetation and animal products. Model includes parameters such as air to soil transfer factor (CRs), Tissue Free Water 3 H to Organically Bound 3 H ratio (Rp), Relative humidity (RH), WCP (fractional water content) and WEQp (water equivalent factor) any change in these parameters leads to change in 3 H level in vegetation and animal products consequently change in dose due to ingestion. All these parameters are function of climate and/or plant which change with time, space and species. Estimation of these parameters at every time is a time consuming and also required sophisticated instrumentation. Therefore it is necessary to identify the sensitive parameters and freeze the values of least sensitive parameters at constant values for more accurate estimation of 3 H dose in short time for routine assessment

A review on heat sink for thermo-electric power generation: Classifications and parameters affecting performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elghool, Ali; Basrawi, Firdaus; Ibrahim, Thamir Khalil; Habib, Khairul; Ibrahim, Hassan; Idris, Daing Mohamad Nafiz Daing

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Coupling a thermoelectric power generation (TEG) to a heat sink is presented. • Review the classifications and parameters affecting performance of the TEG with heat sink. • Discuss different mathematical models of the heat sinks. • The passive heat sinks are most appropriate because of the inherent efficiency of TEG. • Medium temperature range below 300 °C is found to be most suitable for HPHS. - Abstract: In recent years, there have been growing interests in key areas related to global warming resulting from environmental emissions, and the diminishing sources of fossil fuel. The increased interest has led to significant research efforts towards finding novel technologies in clean energy production. Consequently, the merits of a thermo-electric generator (TEG) have promised a revival of alternative means of producing green energy. It is, however, impractical to account for the cost of thermal energy input to the TEG which is in the form of final waste heat. This is because the technology presents critical limitations in determining its cost efficiency nor its economic disadvantages. This paper reviews the principles of thermo-electric power production, as well the materials use, performance achieved, and application areas. The paper also takes a particular deliberation on TEG heat sinks geometries and categories. The review emphasizes more on the TEG performance while considering a number of heat sink parameters related to its performance.

Interdependence of environmental parameters and sand dwelling benthic species abundance: a multivariate approach

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Harkantra, S.N.; Parulekar, A.H.

Multivariate analysis showed dependence of distribution and abundance of sand dwelling fauna on more than one ecologically significant environmental parameters rather than one ecological master factor. Salinity, grain size, beach gradient, dissolved...

Selected environmental considerations and their measuring parameters for nuclear power plant siting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norris, J.A.

1975-01-01

The site selection process for nuclear power stations encompasses a broad range of considerations. A categorization of these considerations consistent with the needs of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, as the regulatory agency, and of the utility company involves these major areas of concern. They are issues related to safety, environmental impact, and engineering/economics. The more important environmental considerations and their measuring parameters presented in this paper include biota, ecological systems and water quality, land use, aesthetics, water availability, and meteorology. (U.S.)

Applying the Taguchi Method for Investigating the Phase-Locked Loop Dynamics Affected by Hybrid Storage System Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Ahmadzadeh

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Storage systems play an important role in performance of micro-grids. Storage systems may decrease fluctuations caused by periodic and unpredictable nature of distributed generation resource. Some micro-grids are connected to the network via a grid-interface converter. The phase-locked loop (PLL is a commonly technique for the grid synchronization of network-connected converters. Various parameters affect the stability of PLL (including the network-side and microgrid-side parameters. The effect of the micro-grid-side parameters on the stability of the PLL has not been studied so far. In this paper, the stability of PLL influenced by microgrid-side parameters has been evaluated after a detailed analytical modeling of micro-grid components (including the production power fluctuations, energy storage system, microgrid-side loads, controller parameters etc.. This paper proposes two new stability analysis criteria for PLL affected by micro-grid and hybrid storage system parameters. Using proposed criteria for stability of PLL, optimized rate of micro-grid and hybrid storage system parameters are obtained using statistical methods (Taguchi approach. Finally, behavior of PLL affected by hybrid storage system is investigated. The simulation results and eigenvalues analysis confirm the theoretical analysis and proposed criteria.

Evaluation of water quality parameters and associated environmental impact at nuclear power plant sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshi, M.L.; Hegde, A.G.

2005-01-01

The Nuclear Power Plants use a large quantity of water for the purpose of cooling the turbine condenser. The heated effluents are discharged to aquatic environment by means of once through cooling wherever large water bodies like seacoast or fresh water reservoir are available. The quality of water bodies are important for the growth and biodiversity of aquatic organisms. Several environmental factors like Temperature pH, Dissolved Oxygen have a bearing on the life cycle of aquatic organisms. The paper describes the evaluation of water quality parameters at the two typical sites one on the sea coast (Tarapur) and other at inland site Kaiga and discusses the environmental impact due to discharge to aquatic environment. It is found that the environmental impacts due to both heated effluents and radioactivity are insignificant. The water quality parameters are found to be well within the prescribed standards. (author)

Multi objective optimization model for minimizing production cost and environmental impact in CNC turning process

Science.gov (United States)

Widhiarso, Wahyu; Rosyidi, Cucuk Nur

2018-02-01

Minimizing production cost in a manufacturing company will increase the profit of the company. The cutting parameters will affect total processing time which then will affect the production cost of machining process. Besides affecting the production cost and processing time, the cutting parameters will also affect the environment. An optimization model is needed to determine the optimum cutting parameters. In this paper, we develop an optimization model to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact in CNC turning process. The model is used a multi objective optimization. Cutting speed and feed rate are served as the decision variables. Constraints considered are cutting speed, feed rate, cutting force, output power, and surface roughness. The environmental impact is converted from the environmental burden by using eco-indicator 99. Numerical example is given to show the implementation of the model and solved using OptQuest of Oracle Crystal Ball software. The results of optimization indicate that the model can be used to optimize the cutting parameters to minimize the production cost and the environmental impact.

Effects of environmental and water quality parameters on the functioning of copepod assemblages in tropical estuaries

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Adriana V.; Dias, Cristina O.; Bonecker, Sérgio L. C.

2017-07-01

We examined changes in the functioning of copepod assemblages with increasing pollution in estuaries, using sampling standardization of the salinity range to enable comparisons. Copepod assemblages were analyzed in four southeast Brazilian estuaries with different water quality levels and hydrodynamic characteristics over two years. We obtained mesozooplankton samples together with environmental and water quality parameters in the estuaries, every two months under predetermined salinities ranging from 15 to 25. The values of parameters, except species size, associated with the functioning of the copepod assemblages (biomass, productivity, and turnover rate) did not differ among estuaries. However, in the more polluted estuaries, the biomass and productivity of copepod assemblages of mesozooplankton were negatively correlated with concentration of pollution indicator parameters. Conversely, in the less polluted estuaries some degree of enrichment still seems to increase the system biomass and productivity, as these parameters were inversely related to indicators of improved water quality. The pollution level of estuaries distorted the relationship between temperature and the efficiency of converting energy to organic matter. In the less polluted estuaries, the relationship between turnover rate and temperature was over 70%, while in the most polluted estuaries, this relationship was only approximately 50%. Our results demonstrated that the functioning of assemblages in the estuaries was affected differently by increasing pollution depending on the water quality level of the system. Thus, investigating the functioning of assemblages can be a useful tool for the analysis of estuarine conditions.

Environmental Parameters Affecting the Algal Diversity in a Sewage Water Treatment Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammad, D.M.; Tawfik, T.A.; Ismail, G.A.; Abou El-Khair, W.S.; Abou El-Nour, F.

2008-01-01

The present investigation was carried out at a tertiary sewage water treatment plant located at El-Kattameya city, Cairo, Egypt, for a duration period of 12 months during 2004. The present work aimed to study the algal diversity (phyto benthos and phytoplankton) of the different tanks (collector, oxidation, settling and effluent) included in the tertiary sewage treatment system with respect to changes in physico-chemical characteristics of sewage water during the different seasons to be used for golf course irrigation. The treatment system is of the physico-biological type. Representing data of the physico-chemical parameters are air and water temperatures, ph, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended salts (TSS), total alkalinity, nutrients (nitrate, ammonia, phosphate, ortho-phosphorus, phosphorus and silicate), as well as major ions (calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfate and chloride). In addition, the treatment efficiency of the system was evaluated and the suitability of using the effluent in irrigation purposes was discussed

Relationships between daily affect and pro-environmental behavior at work : The moderating role of pro-environmental attitude

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bissing-Olson, Megan J.; Iyer, Aarti; Fielding, Kelly S.; Zacher, Hannes

Research in organizational psychology has increasingly focused on understanding the determinants of green employee behavior. The present study used a daily diary design to investigate relationships between employees' daily affect, pro-environmental attitude, as well as daily task-related

Environmental layout complexity affects neural activity during navigation in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Slone, Edward; Burles, Ford; Iaria, Giuseppe

2016-05-01

Navigating large-scale surroundings is a fundamental ability. In humans, it is commonly assumed that navigational performance is affected by individual differences, such as age, sex, and cognitive strategies adopted for orientation. We recently showed that the layout of the environment itself also influences how well people are able to find their way within it, yet it remains unclear whether differences in environmental complexity are associated with changes in brain activity during navigation. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how the brain responds to a change in environmental complexity by asking participants to perform a navigation task in two large-scale virtual environments that differed solely in interconnection density, a measure of complexity defined as the average number of directional choices at decision points. The results showed that navigation in the simpler, less interconnected environment was faster and more accurate relative to the complex environment, and such performance was associated with increased activity in a number of brain areas (i.e. precuneus, retrosplenial cortex, and hippocampus) known to be involved in mental imagery, navigation, and memory. These findings provide novel evidence that environmental complexity not only affects navigational behaviour, but also modulates activity in brain regions that are important for successful orientation and navigation. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The investigation of parameters affecting boron removal by electrocoagulation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yilmaz, A. Erdem; Boncukcuoglu, Recep; Kocakerim, M. Muhtar; Keskinler, Buelent

2005-01-01

Boron removal from wastewaters by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrode material was investigated in this paper. Several working parameters, such as pH, current density, boron concentration and type and concentration of supporting electrolyte were studied in an attempt to achieve a higher removal capacity. The experiments were carried out by keeping the pH of solution constant and optimum pH of solution was determined 8.0 for the aluminum electrode. Although energy consumption increased with decreasing boron concentration, which conductivity of these solutions were low, boron removal efficiency was higher at 100 mg/L than that of 1000 mg/L. Current density was an important parameter affecting removal efficiency. Boron removal efficiency and energy consumption increased with increasing current density from 1.2 to 6.0 mA/cm 2 . The types of different supporting electrolyte were experimented in order to investigate to this parameter effect on boron removal. The highest boron removal efficiency, 97%, was found by CaCl 2 . Added CaCl 2 increased more the conductivity of solution according to other supporting electrolytes, but decreased energy consumption. The results showed to have a high effectiveness of the electrocoagulation method in removing boron from aqueous solutions

An environmentally relevant endocrine-disrupting antiandrogen, vinclozolin, affects calling behavior of male Xenopus laevis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Frauke; Kloas, Werner

2010-09-01

Vinclozolin (VIN) is an antiandrogenic model substance as well as a common fungicide that can affect the endocrine system of vertebrates. The objective of this study was to investigate how VIN affects mate calling behavior of South African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) and whether it is effective at environmentally relevant concentrations. Male X. laevis were injected with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to stimulate their androgen-controlled mate calling behavior and were treated with VIN at concentrations of 10(-6), 10(-8) and 10(-10)M. VIN at 10(-6)M reduced calling activity. Furthermore, the vocalization composition of VIN-treated X. laevis was altered. The call types advertisement calls and chirping are uttered by reproductively active males, whereas the call types growling, ticking, and rasping indicate a sexually unaroused state of a male. VIN at any of the tested concentrations led to a decrease in utterance of calls, which indicate a sexually aroused state of the males, and an increase in relative proportions of calls, indicating a sexually unaroused state of the males. Additionally, the mean duration of clicks and the number of accentuated clicks during the advertisement calls decreased at all concentrations of VIN. No significant differences were observed in any other temporal or spectral calling parameters between the treatments. This study illustrates that exposure to the antiandrogen VIN might result in a reduced reproductive success by altering mate calling behavior of X. laevis. Moreover, it suggests that the behavioral parameters examined in this study can be used as sensitive biomarkers for detecting antiandrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds in amphibians. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimization and influence of parameter affecting the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete containing recycled concrete aggregate: using full factorial design approach

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnan, Thulasirajan; Purushothaman, Revathi

2017-07-01

There are several parameters that influence the properties of geopolymer concrete, which contains recycled concrete aggregate as the coarse aggregate. In the present study, the vital parameters affecting the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete containing recycled concrete aggregate are analyzedby varying four parameters with two levels using full factorial design in statistical software Minitab® 17. The objective of the present work is to gain an idea on the optimization, main parameter effects, their interactions and the predicted response of the model generated using factorial design. The parameters such as molarity of sodium hydroxide (8M and 12M), curing time (6hrs and 24 hrs), curing temperature (60°C and 90°C) and percentage of recycled concrete aggregate (0% and 100%) are considered. The results show that the curing time, molarity of sodium hydroxide and curing temperature were the orderly significant parameters and the percentage of Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) was statistically insignificant in the production of geopolymer concrete. Thus, it may be noticeable that the RCA content had negligible effect on the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. The expected responses from the generated model showed a satisfactory and rational agreement to the experimental data with the R2 value of 97.70%. Thus, geopolymer concrete comprising recycled concrete aggregate can solve the major social and environmental concerns such as the depletion of the naturally available aggregate sources and disposal of construction and demolition waste into the landfill.

Perinatal exposure to a mixture of persistent pollutants based on blood profiles of Arctic populations affects bone parameters in 35 days old rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stern, N.; Trossvik, C.; Hakansson, H. [Inst. of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Inst., Stockholm (Sweden); Bowers, W.; Nakai, J.S.; Chu, I. [Environmental and Occupational Toxicology Div., Environmental Health Sciences Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa (Canada)

2004-09-15

Environmental pollution of Arctic regions is a public concern. Arctic inhabitants are a high-risk group regarding health effects of environmental toxicants because of their high consumption of contaminated fish and wildlife. Developing fetuses and newborn infants may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and toxic metals. Developmental exposure to environmental pollutants affects a wide range of clinical and biochemical parameters. Disturbance in skeletal growth, an integral component of somatic development, is a novel area in the toxicity of POPs. Low-dose prenatal exposure to TCDD caused a variety of harmful effects in rat long bones. In adult rats, TCDD exposure caused inhibited bone growth and lowered biomechanical properties of tibia and exposure to the dioxin-like PCBcongener 3,3,4,4,5-pentachlorobiphenyl has been associated with a decreased strength and collagen concentration of humerus. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of perinatal exposure to a mixture of PCBs, organochlorines and methyl mercury based on blood levels of Canadian Arctic populations on skeletal development in rat pups.

How 21st century droughts affect food and environmental security

Science.gov (United States)

Kogan, Felix

The first 13th years of the 21st century has begun with a series of widespread, long and intensive droughts around the world. Extreme and severe-to-extreme intensity droughts covered 2-6% and 7-16% of the world land, respectively, affecting environment, economies and humans. These droughts reduced agricultural production, leading to food shortages, human health deterioration, poverty, regional disturbances, population migration and death. This presentation is a travelogue of the 21st century global and regional droughts during the warmest years of the past 100 years. These droughts were identified and monitored with the NOAA operational space technology, called Vegetation Health (VH), which has the longest period of observation and provide good data quality. The VH method was used for assessment of vegetation condition or health, including drought early detection and monitoring. The VH method is based on operational satellites data estimating both land surface greenness (NDVI) and thermal conditions. The 21st century droughts in the USA, Russia, Australia Argentina, Brazil, China, India and other principal grain producing countries were intensive, long, covered large areas and caused huge losses in agricultural production, which affected food and environmental security and led to food riots in some countries. This presentation investigate how droughts affect food and environmental security, if they can be detected earlier, how to monitor their area, intensity, duration and impacts and also their dynamics during the climate warming era with satellite-based vegetation health technology.

The investigation of parameters affecting boron removal by electrocoagulation method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yilmaz, A. Erdem [Department of Environmental Engineering, Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering, Erzurum (Turkey)]. E-mail: aerdemy@atauni.edu.tr; Boncukcuoglu, Recep [Department of Environmental Engineering, Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering, Erzurum (Turkey); Kocakerim, M. Muhtar [Department of Chemical Engineering, 25240, Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering Erzurum (Turkey); Keskinler, Buelent [Department of Environmental Engineering, Gebze Institute of Technology, Gebze/Kocaeli 41400 (Turkey)

2005-10-17

Boron removal from wastewaters by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrode material was investigated in this paper. Several working parameters, such as pH, current density, boron concentration and type and concentration of supporting electrolyte were studied in an attempt to achieve a higher removal capacity. The experiments were carried out by keeping the pH of solution constant and optimum pH of solution was determined 8.0 for the aluminum electrode. Although energy consumption increased with decreasing boron concentration, which conductivity of these solutions were low, boron removal efficiency was higher at 100 mg/L than that of 1000 mg/L. Current density was an important parameter affecting removal efficiency. Boron removal efficiency and energy consumption increased with increasing current density from 1.2 to 6.0 mA/cm{sup 2}. The types of different supporting electrolyte were experimented in order to investigate to this parameter effect on boron removal. The highest boron removal efficiency, 97%, was found by CaCl{sub 2}. Added CaCl{sub 2} increased more the conductivity of solution according to other supporting electrolytes, but decreased energy consumption. The results showed to have a high effectiveness of the electrocoagulation method in removing boron from aqueous solutions.

Study of design parameters affecting the motion of DNA for nanoinjection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, Regis A; Jensen, Brian D; Howell, Larry L; Black, Justin L; Burnett, Sandra H

2012-01-01

This paper reports the effects of various parameters on the attraction and repulsion of DNA to and from a silicon lance. An understanding of DNA motion is crucial for a new approach to insert DNA, or other foreign microscopic matter, into a living cell. The approach, called nanoinjection, uses electrical forces to attract and repel the desired substance to a micromachined lance designed to pierce the cell membranes. We have developed mathematical models to predict the trajectory of DNA. The mathematical model allows investigation of the attraction/repulsion process by varying specific parameters. We find that the ground electrode placement, lance orientation and lance penetration significantly affect attraction or repulsion efficiency, while the gap, lance direction, lance tip width, lance tip half-angle and lance tip height do not. (paper)

ANALYSIS OF PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE QUALITY OF A CUTTING MACHINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iveta Onderová

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The quality of cutting machines is affected by several factors that can be directly or indirectly influenced by manufacturers, technicians and users of machine tools. The most critical qualitative evaluation parameters of machine tools include accuracy and stability. Investigations of accuracy and repeatable positioning accuracy were essential for the research presented in this paper. The aim was to develop and experimentally verify the design of a methodology for cutting centers aimed at achieving the desired working precision. Before working on the topic described here, it was necessary to make several scientific analyses, which are summarized in this paper. We can build on the initial working hypothesis that by improving the technological parameters (e.g. by increasing the working speed of the machine, or by improving the precision of the positioning the quality of the cutting machine will also be improved. For the purposes of our study, several investigated parameters were set affecting positioning accuracy, such as rigidity, positioning speed, etc. First, the stiffness of the portal structure of the cutting machine was analyzed. FEM analysis was used to investigate several alternative structures of the cutting machine, and also an innovative solution for beam mounting. The second step was to integrate two types of drives into the design of the cutting machine. The first drive is a classic rack and pinion drive for cutting machines. To increase (improve the working speed of the machine, linear motors were designed as an alternative drive. The portal of the cutting machine was designed for a working speed of 260mmin−1 and acceleration of 25 m. s−2. The third step was based on the results of the analysis. In collaboration with Microstep, an experimental cutting machine in a portal version was produced using linear synchronous motors driving the portal on both sides, and with direct linear metering of its position. In the fourth step, an

Leading trends in environmental regulation that affect energy development. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steele, R V; Attaway, L D; Christerson, J A; Kikel, D A; Kuebler, J D; Lupatkin, B M; Liu, C S; Meyer, R; Peyton, T O; Sussin, M H

1980-01-01

Major environmental issues that are likely to affect the implementation of energy technologies between now and the year 2000 are identified and assessed. The energy technologies specifically addressed are: oil recovery and processing; gas recovery and processing; coal liquefaction; coal gasification (surface); in situ coal gasification; direct coal combustion; advanced power systems; magnetohydrodynamics; surface oil shale retorting; true and modified in situ oil shale retorting; geothermal energy; biomass energy conversion; and nuclear power (fission). Environmental analyses of these technologies included, in addition to the main processing steps, the complete fuel cycle from resource extraction to end use. A comprehensive survey of the environmental community (including environmental groups, researchers, and regulatory agencies) was carried out in parallel with an analysis of the technologies to identify important future environmental issues. Each of the final 20 issues selected by the project staff has the following common attributes: consensus of the environmental community that the issue is important; it is a likely candidate for future regulatory action; it deals with a major environmental aspect of energy development. The analyses of the 20 major issues address their environmental problem areas, current regulatory status, and the impact of future regulations. These analyses are followed by a quantitative assessment of the impact on energy costs and nationwide pollutant emissions of possible future regulations. This is accomplished by employing the Strategic Environmental Assessment System (SEAS) for a subset of the 20 major issues. The report concludes with a more general discussion of the impact of environmental regulatory action on energy development.

The physicochemical and environmental factors affecting the distribution of Anopheles merus along the Kenyan coast.

Science.gov (United States)

Kipyab, Pamela C; Khaemba, Battan M; Mwangangi, Joseph M; Mbogo, Charles M

2015-04-11

Members of the Anopheles gambiae complex are the main transmitters of malaria. Anopheles merus is a member of the complex found along the Kenyan coast because it breeds in saline waters. An entomological study was conducted in Garithe Malindi District, to investigate the physicochemical and environmental factors affecting the distribution of An. merus. Field and laboratory studies were used to investigate the breeding habitats of the subspecies. Mosquito larvae were sampled using standard dipping technique from small pockets of pools, ponds, hoof prints, road drain, wells and mangrove swamps found in Garithe. All 3(rd) and 4(th) instars of Anopheles larvae sampled were identified microscopically into species. A representative of Anopheles gambiae complex was then identified to specific sibling species using r-DNA PCR technique. The habitats were characterized based on temperature, conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, pH, size, distance to nearest house, canopy coverage, surface debris, presence of algae, emergent plants, turbidity and habitat types. A total of 159 morphologically identified late stage instar Anopheles gambiae s.l larvae were selected for r-DNA analysis by PCR. Out of these, 60.4% (n = 96) were Anopheles merus, 8.8% (n = 14) were Anopheles arabiensis, 18.2% (n = 29) were Anopheles gambiae s.s and 12.6% (n = 20) were unknown. Using paired t-test (t (121) = -3.331, P = 0.001) a significantly high proportion of An. merus was observed in all habitats compared to An. arabiensis, and An. gambiae s. s. In habitat characterization, Pearson's correlation analysis test showed different parameters being associated with the occurrence of An. merus larvae in the different habitats sampled. Six out of the 55 correlation coefficients (10.9%) were statistically significant, suggesting non-random association between some pairs of variables. Those that had a significantly high positive correlation with An. merus

Recommended environmental dose calculation methods and Hanford-specific parameters. Revision 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schreckhise, R.G.; Rhoads, K.; Napier, B.A.; Ramsdell, J.V. [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Davis, J.S. [Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

1993-03-01

This document was developed to support the Hanford Environmental Dose overview Panel (HEDOP). The Panel is responsible for reviewing all assessments of potential doses received by humans and other biota resulting from the actual or possible environmental releases of radioactive and other hazardous materials from facilities and/or operations belonging to the US Department of Energy on the Hanford Site in south-central Washington. This document serves as a guide to be used for developing estimates of potential radiation doses, or other measures of risk or health impacts, to people and other biota in the environs on and around the Hanford Site. It provides information to develop technically sound estimates of exposure (i.e., potential or actual) to humans or other biotic receptors that could result from the environmental transport of potentially harmful materials that have been, or could be, released from Hanford operations or facilities. Parameter values and information that are specific to the Hanford environs as well as other supporting material are included in this document.

Multi-objective optimization model of CNC machining to minimize processing time and environmental impact

Science.gov (United States)

Hamada, Aulia; Rosyidi, Cucuk Nur; Jauhari, Wakhid Ahmad

2017-11-01

Minimizing processing time in a production system can increase the efficiency of a manufacturing company. Processing time are influenced by application of modern technology and machining parameter. Application of modern technology can be apply by use of CNC machining, one of the machining process can be done with a CNC machining is turning. However, the machining parameters not only affect the processing time but also affect the environmental impact. Hence, optimization model is needed to optimize the machining parameters to minimize the processing time and environmental impact. This research developed a multi-objective optimization to minimize the processing time and environmental impact in CNC turning process which will result in optimal decision variables of cutting speed and feed rate. Environmental impact is converted from environmental burden through the use of eco-indicator 99. The model were solved by using OptQuest optimization software from Oracle Crystal Ball.

Environmentally assisted cracking of non-sensitized stainless steels - possible affecting phenomena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehrnsten, Ulla; Haenninen, Hannu

2006-09-01

Intergranular, environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) has been observed, not only in sensitized austenitic stainless steels, but also in non-sensitized stainless steels. This type of cracking has so far been connected to cold-worked stainless steels and it has been reported to occur in the oxidising environments, but it may also be a potential degradation mode in non-oxidising environments (i.e., both in BWR and PWR conditions). Localisation of plastic deformation and the interactions between oxidation and strain localisation are most probably playing the key role in cracking of cold-worked stainless steels. In this paper, the possible affecting phenomena are reviewed with the main emphasis on dynamic strain ageing. However, also environmentally enhanced creep, dynamic recovery, microstructures of the cold-worked austenitic stainless steels and relaxation are briefly discussed. Mechanistic understanding of the effects of these main factors affecting intergranular stress corrosion cracking of cold-worked, non-sensitized austenitic stainless steels is important, especially as the trend in the NDE inspection strategy is moving towards risk informed inspection. (authors)

Mountains, Monuments, and other Matter: Environmental Affects at Manzanar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ladino, Jennifer K.

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This essay investigates the natural landscapes and built structures at the Manzanar National Historic Site, the first of ten incarceration camps to open in 1941 and a temporary home for over 11,000 Japanese Americans. Using former incarceree Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s writing as a touchstone, my essay foregrounds the environmental features of the (relocation: the extreme desert weather, the mountain vistas, the incarceree-created rock gardens, the reconstructed barracks, guard tower, and barbed wire fence, and the cemetery/monument. I bring together concepts from ecocriticism and from affect theory—particularly Ben Anderson’s “affective atmospheres,” Sianne Ngai’s “tone,” and Sara Ahmed’s characterization of affect as “sticky”—and develop the notion of affective agency to describe the impacts generated by environments and objects at this national memory site. I assess how the visual and written rhetoric at the site addresses what I call an implied tourist, and I show how powerful emotions of shame, anger, grief, and compassion—and sometimes, mixed, even contradictory, affects—are not only represented in visual and written rhetoric but are also, in a sense, communicated by the environment itself. More broadly, I suggest that ecocritical theory brings a useful lens to discussions of public memory, and that affect theory helps account for the less tangible, visceral, experiences visitors have at Manzanar and other fraught historical sites, as well as within our everyday environments.

Headache symptoms and indoor environmental parameters: Results from the EPA BASE study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gretchen E Tietjen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of migraine and headache symptoms in a national sample of US office employees. Also, we explored the association of headache symptoms with indoor environmental parameters of the work place. Background: Sick building syndrome (SBS, which includes headache, is a common global phenomenon, but the underlying environmental cause is uncertain. Materials and Methods: We used data from the 1994-1998 US Environmental Protection Agency′s (EPA Building Assessment and Survey Evaluation, a cross-sectional study of workers employed in 100 public and private office buildings across 25 states. The study used a self-administered questionnaire to assess headache frequency and prevalence of self-reported physician-diagnosed (SRPD migraine. Indoor environmental parameters (IEP were collected per EPA protocol from each building over a 1-week period and included carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, temperature, relative humidity, particulate matter, volatile organic compound, illuminance, and sound level. The standards of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers were used to categorize IEP as either within- or out-of-comfort range for human dwelling. These limits delineate whether a parameter value is safe for human dwelling. Out-of-comfort range IEPs are associated with SBS and other human diseases. SRPD migraine and headache frequency were the primary outcome measures of the study. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed for the purpose of assessing the association between the outcome variable and IEPs. Results: Of the 4326 participants, 66% were females and 60% were between 30 and 49 years. Headache frequency during the last 4 weeks was as follows: None in 31%, 1-3 days in 38%, 1-3 days per week in 18%, and every or almost every workday in 8%. Females had higher SRPD migraine prevalence compared to males (27% vs. 11%, P<0.001 and were more

Human comfort and self-estimated performance in relation to indoor environmental parameters and building features

OpenAIRE

Frontczak, Monika Joanna; Wargocki, Pawel

2011-01-01

The main objective of the Ph.D. study was to examine occupants’ perception of comfort and self-estimated job performance in non-industrial buildings (homes and offices), in particular how building occupants understand comfort and which parameters, not necessarily related to indoor environments, influence the perception of comfort.To meet the objective, the following actions were taken: (1) a literature survey exploring which indoor environmental parameters (thermal, acoustic, visualenvironmen...

Preliminary study of environmental parameters associated with the feasibility of a polygeneration plant at Kennedy Space Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, G.D.

1982-01-01

The feasibility of a polygeneration plant at Kennedy Space Center was studied. Liquid hydrogen and gaseous nitrogen are the two principal products in consideration. Environmental parameters (air quality, water quality, biological diversity and hazardous waste disposal) necessary for the feasibility study were investigated. A National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) project flow sheet was to be formulated for the environmental impact statement. Water quality criteria for Florida waters were to be established

Model calibration and parameter estimation for environmental and water resource systems

CERN Document Server

Sun, Ne-Zheng

2015-01-01

This three-part book provides a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the development of useful models for complex systems. Part 1 covers the classical inverse problem for parameter estimation in both deterministic and statistical frameworks, Part 2 is dedicated to system identification, hyperparameter estimation, and model dimension reduction, and Part 3 considers how to collect data and construct reliable models for prediction and decision-making. For the first time, topics such as multiscale inversion, stochastic field parameterization, level set method, machine learning, global sensitivity analysis, data assimilation, model uncertainty quantification, robust design, and goal-oriented modeling, are systematically described and summarized in a single book from the perspective of model inversion, and elucidated with numerical examples from environmental and water resources modeling. Readers of this book will not only learn basic concepts and methods for simple parameter estimation, but also get famili...

Parameters used in the environmental pathways (DESCARTES) and radiological dose (CIDER) modules of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Integrated Codes (HEDRIC) for the air pathway. Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Snyder, S.F.; Farris, W.T.; Napier, B.A.; Ikenberry, T.A.; Gilbert, R.O.

1992-09-01

This letter report is a description of work performed for the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project. The HEDR Project was established to estimate the radiation doses to individuals resulting from releases of radionuclides from the Hanford Site since 1944. This work is being done by staff at Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories (Battelle) under a contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with technical direction provided by an independent Technical Steering Panel (TSP). The objective of this report is to-document the environmental accumulation and dose-assessment parameters that will be used to estimate the impacts of past Hanford Site airborne releases. During 1993, dose estimates made by staff at Battelle will be used by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as part of the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study (HTDS). This document contains information on parameters that are specific to the airborne release of the radionuclide iodine-131. Future versions of this document will include parameter information pertinent to other pathways and radionuclides.

When unfamiliarity matters: Changing environmental context between study and test affects recognition memory for unfamiliar stimuli

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Russo, R.; Ward, G.; Geurts, H.M.; Scheres, A.P.J.

1999-01-01

Performance in recognition memory has been shown to be relatively insensitive to the effect of environmental context changes between study and test. Recent evidence (P. Dalton, 1993) showed that environmental context changes between study and test affected recognition memory discrimination for

Process parameters affecting the delignification of eucalyptus kraft pulp with peroxyacetic acid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandranupap, P.

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Various process parameters affecting eucalyptus kraft pulp delignification with peroxyacetic acid were investigated. The results showed that pH was an important factor. The delignification rate increased with increasing pH to the value of 6. High delignification rate was obtained when the pulp was chelated with Na4-EDTA prior to the peroxyacetic acid stage. Therefore, delignification reaction rate depends on peroxyacid charge, temperature, pH and metal content of pulp.

Prolonged self-paced exercise in the heat - environmental factors affecting performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Junge, Nicklas; Jørgensen, Rasmus; Flouris, Andreas D

2016-01-01

) was on average reduced by 15% in the 14 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Ambient temperature per se was a poor predictor of the integrated environmental heat stress and 2 of the prevailing heat stress indices (WBGT and UTCI) failed to predict the environmental influence on performance. The weighing......In this review we examine how self-paced performance is affected by environmental heat stress factors during cycling time trial performance as well as considering the effects of exercise mode and heat acclimatization. Mean power output during prolonged cycling time trials in the heat (≥30°C...... of wind speed appears to be too low for predicting the effect for cycling in trained acclimatized subjects, where performance may be maintained in outdoor time trials at ambient temperatures as high as 36°C (36°C UTCI; 28°C WBGT). Power output during indoor trials may also be maintained with temperatures...

Outdoor Experiential Environmental Education: An Adult-Centred Intervention for the Affective Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Okur-Berberoglu, Emel

2017-01-01

The aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of an outdoor experiential environmental education (OEEE) programme on the affective domain of adult participants--namely, in-service teachers from Turkey. Data collection methods such as; psychodrama, non-participant observation, open-ended questions and content analysis were used within a…

Influence of short-term sampling parameters on the uncertainty of the Lden environmental noise indicator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mateus, M; Carrilho, J Dias; Da Silva, M Gameiro

2015-01-01

The present study deals with the influence of the sampling parameters on the uncertainty of noise equivalent level in environmental noise measurements. The study has been carried out through the test of different sampling strategies doing resampling trials over continuous monitoring noise files obtained previously in an urban location in the city of Coimbra, in Portugal. On short term measurements, not only the duration of the sampling episodes but also its number have influence on the uncertainty of the result. This influence is higher for the time periods where sound levels suffer a greater variation, such as during the night period. In this period, in case both parameters (duration and number of sampling episodes) are not carefully selected, the uncertainty level can reach too high values contributing to a loss of precision of the measurements. With the obtained data it was investigated the sampling parameters influence on the long term noise indicator uncertainty, calculated according the Draft 1st CD ISO 1996-2:2012 proposed method. It has been verified that this method allows the possibility of defining a general methodology which enables the setting of the parameters once the precision level is fixed. For the three reference periods defined for environmental noise (day, evening and night), it was possible to derive a two variable power law representing the uncertainty of the determined values as a function of the two sampling parameters: duration of sampling episode and number of episodes

Investigating Factors Affecting Environmental Behavior of Urban Residents: A Case Study in Tehran City- Iran

OpenAIRE

Khalil Kalantari; Hossein S.   Fami; Ali Asadi; H. M. Mohammadi

2007-01-01

Environmental problems such as air and water pollution, urban garbage and climate changes in urban areas are the results of human behavior. Only change in human behavior can reduce these environmental problems. Thus studying attitude and behavior of people is a precondition to change this situation. So the main objective of this study was to find out individual and social factors affecting environmental behavior of urban citizens. To achieve this objective a conceptual framework derived out f...

ENVIRONMENTAL AND PROCESS PARAMETERS OF METHANE FERMENTATION IN CONTINUOSLY STIRRED TANK REACTOR (CSTR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamil Kozłowski

2016-12-01

Full Text Available A key indicator of methane fermentation process which influences the cost-effectiveness of the biogas plant is efficient production of methane per 1 m3 of reactor. It depends on the proper selection of environmental and process parameters. This article present collected and analyzed the effect of the most important parameters of continuous methane fermentation (CSTR, which include temperature, pH, nutrient content and the C/N ratio in the feed medium, the presence of inhibitors, and the volume load of reactor, retention time and mixing of digestion reactor. Still, the impact of many factors remain unknown, hence there is a need for more comprehensive studies.

Affection mechanism research of initiation crack pressure of perforation parameters of horizontal well

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua Tong

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Horizontal wells show better affect and higher success rate in low water ratio cement, complex fracture zone, crevice and heavy oil blocks, it is the main measures to expand control area of a single well. Hydraulic fracturing technology is the most financial way to improve the penetration of the reservoir to increase the production. However, compare with the vertical wells, the fracture of Horizontal wells are more complex, and lead to the initiation crack pressure is much higher than vertical wells. In this paper, defined the crack judging basis, and established the finite element model which could compute the initial crack pressure, to research the affection mechanism of perforation azimuth angle, density, diameter and depth, to provide references of perforation project's design and optimize. The research of this paper has significances on further understanding the affection mechanism of perforation parameters.

A review of Environmental Impact Assessment parameters required for set up of a hydropower project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, Pankaj Kumar; Mazumdar, Asis

2013-01-01

Environmental Impact Assessment in general, hydro-meteorological conditions, topography, hydrology, water availability analysis of a river system, importance of hydropower and feasibility study of Environmental Impact assessment due to the construction of the hydropower plant have been discussed in this research work. The site selection is one of the major components so far the hydropower is concerned and also the minimum flow should have known to us so that the capacity of a hydropower plant can be predicted. The sustainable flow, which refers the flow is available throughout the year, has been calculated based on flow duration curve. This study highlights the environmental impact assessment particularly related to hydropower project. Here the study area a district town located in the eastern region of India on the banks of river Kosi has been considered. The historical rainfall and the river discharge data have been collected from various organizations. The stage-discharge correlation and hydrological parameters related to hydropower have been analyzed and also to discuss the review of environmental impact assessment in hydropower project. The EIA analysis can be also carried out by using fuzzy logic wherein the EIA parameters can be given different weight-age based on the various survey reports that have been carried out at different places at different time. Such analysis has also been provided below based on the various data obtained.

Hemato-biochemical parameters of Pesti-des Petits Ruminants (PPR affected goats in Chittagong, Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Saiful Bari

2018-06-01

Materials and methods: A presumptive diagnosis of PPR was done based on clinical signs and symptoms. A structured record keeping sheet was used for the estimation of prevalence and risk factors of PPR in goat. A total of 103 blood samples were collected randomly and analyzed for hemato–biochemical parameters using automated hemo-analyzer. Results: Out of 103 cases, Black Bengal (59% and young goats aging minimum-12 months (43.85% were recognized as highly susceptible to PPR disease. Strong association was found among all the three factors such as age, breed and sex (RR>1. All the values of hematological parameters such as TEC, TLC, Hb, PCV, and DLC were decreased in PPR affected goat as compared to healthy goats except lymphocyte counts, which was increased significantly (P=0.00. The amount of total protein (3.15 gm/L and albumin (16.88 gm/L were reduced drastically in PPR affected goats. Conclusion: The lymphocyte content in blood was significantly increased where as the total protein and albumin percent were decreased in the goats affected with PPR. Moreover, this variation in blood profile due to PPR virus infected in goat might be a good indicator in this disease diagnosis. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2018; 5(2.000: 211-217

Witnessing Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug's Strength and Struggle: The Affective Education of Reconciliation in Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Korteweg, Lisa; Root, Emily

2016-01-01

Escalating environmental controversies are placing Indigenous peoples and First Nation communities at the front lines of protests, opposing unjust government policies and corporate actions. Yet, many environmental educators are not actively engaged or affectively learning about Indigenous Land struggles against Canada's colonial oppressions.…

Monitoring some environmental impacts of oil industry on coastal zone using different remotely sensed data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.N. Hegazy

2010-06-01

Various environmental parameters which might be affected by pollution resulting from activities related to the oil industry were identified and hot spots that might be subjected to environmental deterioration were pointed out for immediate measures for environmental protection.

PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF A TUNNEL STRUCTURE EXPOSED TO FIRE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Pouran

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Behaviour of cut-and-cover tunnels exposed to fire should be analysed by using a realistic structural model that takes account of mechanical and thermal effects on the structure. This has been performed with the aid of Finite Element (FE software package called SOFiSTiK in parallel, for two types of elements as a scope of research project financed by the German Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen BAST. Since the stiffness of the structure at elevated temperatures is highly affected, a realistic model of structural behaviour of the tunnel could be only achieved by considering the nonlinear analysis of the structure. This has been performed for a 2–cell cut and cover tunnel by taking account of simultaneous reduction of stiffness and strength and the time-dependent increasing indirect effects due to axial constraints and temperature gradients induced by elevated temperatures. The thermal analyses have been performed and the effects were implemented into the structural model by the multi-layered strain model. The stress–strain model proposed by EN 1992-1-2 is implemented for the elevated temperature. Since there was sufficient amount of Polypropylene fibres in the concrete mixtures, modelling of spalling was excluded from the analysis. The critical corresponding stresses and material behaviour are compared and interpreted at different time stages. The main parameters affecting the accuracy and convergence of the results of structural analysis for the used model are identified: defining a realistic fire action, using concrete material model fulfilling the requirements of fire situation in tunnels, defining appropriate time intervals for load implementations. These parameters along with other parameters, which influence the results to a lesser degree, are identified and investigated in this paper.

Parameters used in the environmental pathways (DESCARTES) and radiological dose (CIDER) modules of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Integrated Codes (HEDRIC) for the air pathway

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Snyder, S.F.; Farris, W.T.; Napier, B.A.; Ikenberry, T.A.; Gilbert, R.O.

1992-09-01

This letter report is a description of work performed for the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project. The HEDR Project was established to estimate the radiation doses to individuals resulting from releases of radionuclides from the Hanford Site since 1944. This work is being done by staff at Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories (Battelle) under a contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with technical direction provided by an independent Technical Steering Panel (TSP). The objective of this report is to-document the environmental accumulation and dose-assessment parameters that will be used to estimate the impacts of past Hanford Site airborne releases. During 1993, dose estimates made by staff at Battelle will be used by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as part of the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study (HTDS). This document contains information on parameters that are specific to the airborne release of the radionuclide iodine-131. Future versions of this document will include parameter information pertinent to other pathways and radionuclides.

Parameters used in the environmental pathways (DESCARTES) and radiological dose (CIDER) modules of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Integrated Codes (HEDRIC) for the air pathway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snyder, S.F.; Farris, W.T.; Napier, B.A.; Ikenberry, T.A.; Gilbert, R.O.

1992-09-01

This letter report is a description of work performed for the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project. The HEDR Project was established to estimate the radiation doses to individuals resulting from releases of radionuclides from the Hanford Site since 1944. This work is being done by staff at Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories (Battelle) under a contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with technical direction provided by an independent Technical Steering Panel (TSP). The objective of this report is to-document the environmental accumulation and dose-assessment parameters that will be used to estimate the impacts of past Hanford Site airborne releases. During 1993, dose estimates made by staff at Battelle will be used by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as part of the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study (HTDS). This document contains information on parameters that are specific to the airborne release of the radionuclide iodine-131. Future versions of this document will include parameter information pertinent to other pathways and radionuclides

Environmental noise levels affect the activity budget of the Florida manatee

Science.gov (United States)

Miksis-Olds, Jennifer L.; Donaghay, Percy L.; Miller, James H.; Tyack, Peter L.

2005-09-01

Manatees inhabit coastal bays, lagoons, and estuaries because they are dependent on the aquatic vegetation that grows in shallow waters. Food requirements force manatees to occupy the same areas in which human activities are the greatest. Noise produced from human activities has the potential to affect these animals by eliciting responses ranging from mild behavioral changes to extreme aversion. This study quantifies the behavioral responses of manatees to both changing levels of ambient noise and transient noise sources. Results indicate that elevated environmental noise levels do affect the overall activity budget of this species. The proportion of time manatees spend feeding, milling, and traveling in critical habitats changed as a function of noise level. More time was spent in the directed, goal-oriented behaviors of feeding and traveling, while less time was spent milling when noise levels were highest. The animals also responded to the transient noise of approaching vessels with changes in behavioral state and movements out of the geographical area. This suggests that manatees detect and respond to changes in environmental noise levels. Whether these changes legally constitute harassment and produce biologically significant effects need to be addressed with hypothesis-driven experiments and long-term monitoring. [For Animal Bioacoustics Best Student Paper Award.

Effects of Chemistry Parameters of Primary Water affecting Leakage of Steam Generator Tube Cracks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shin, D. M.; Cho, N. C.; Kang, Y. S.; Lee, K. H. [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

Degradation of steam generator (SG) tubes can affect pressure boundary tightness. As a defense-in-depth measure, primary to secondary leak monitoring program for steam generators is implemented, and operation is allowed under leakage limits in nuclear power plants. Chemistry parameters that affect steam generator tube leakage due to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) are investigated in this study. Tube sleeves were installed to inhibit leakage and improve tube integrity as a part of maintenance methods. Steam generators occurred small leak during operation have been replaced with new steam generators according to plant maintenance strategies. The correlations between steam generator leakage and chemistry parameters are presented. Effects of primary water chemistry parameters on leakage from tube cracks were investigated for the steam generators experiencing small leak. Unit A experienced small leakage from steam generator tubes in the end of operation cycle. It was concluded that increased solubility of oxides due to high pHT could make leakage paths, and low boron concentration lead to less blockage in cracks. Increased dissolved hydrogen may retard crack propagations, but it did not reduce leak rate of the leaking steam generator. In order to inhibit and reduce leakage, pH{sub T} was controlled by servicing cation bed operation. The test results of decreasing pHT indicate low pHT can reduce leak rate of PWSCC cracks in the end of cycle.

Effects of Chemistry Parameters of Primary Water affecting Leakage of Steam Generator Tube Cracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, D. M.; Cho, N. C.; Kang, Y. S.; Lee, K. H.

2016-01-01

Degradation of steam generator (SG) tubes can affect pressure boundary tightness. As a defense-in-depth measure, primary to secondary leak monitoring program for steam generators is implemented, and operation is allowed under leakage limits in nuclear power plants. Chemistry parameters that affect steam generator tube leakage due to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) are investigated in this study. Tube sleeves were installed to inhibit leakage and improve tube integrity as a part of maintenance methods. Steam generators occurred small leak during operation have been replaced with new steam generators according to plant maintenance strategies. The correlations between steam generator leakage and chemistry parameters are presented. Effects of primary water chemistry parameters on leakage from tube cracks were investigated for the steam generators experiencing small leak. Unit A experienced small leakage from steam generator tubes in the end of operation cycle. It was concluded that increased solubility of oxides due to high pHT could make leakage paths, and low boron concentration lead to less blockage in cracks. Increased dissolved hydrogen may retard crack propagations, but it did not reduce leak rate of the leaking steam generator. In order to inhibit and reduce leakage, pH_T was controlled by servicing cation bed operation. The test results of decreasing pHT indicate low pHT can reduce leak rate of PWSCC cracks in the end of cycle

Investigation of parameters affecting the online combination of supercritical fluid extraction with capillary gas chromatography

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lou, X.W.; Janssen, J.G.M.; Cramers, C.A.M.G.

1996-01-01

Two different injectors, a split/splitless injector and a programmed temperature vaporizer (PTV) injector were investigated as the interface in on-line supercritical fluid extraction (SFE)-capillary gas chromatography (cGC). The parameters affecting the chromatographic peak shapes as well as the

Aquatic environmental assessment of Lake Balaton in the light of physical-chemical water parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebestyén, Vitkor; Németh, József; Juzsakova, Tatjana; Domokos, Endre; Kovács, Zsófia; Rédey, Ákos

2017-11-01

One of the issues of the Hungarian Water Management Strategy is the improvement and upgrading of the water of Lake Balaton. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) specifies and sets forth the achievement of the good ecological status. However, the assessment of the water quality of the lake as a complex system requires a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation procedure. Measurements were carried out around the Lake Balaton at ten different locations/sites and 13 physical-chemical parameters were monitored at each measurement site.For the interpretation of the water chemistry parameters the Aquatic Environmental Assessment (AEA) method devised by authors was used for the water body of the Lake Balaton. The AEA method can be used for all types of the water bodies since it is flexible and using individual weighting procedure for the water chemistry parameters comprehensive information can be obtain. The AEA method was compared with existing EIA methods according to a predefined criterion system and proved to be the most suitable tool for evaluating the environmental impacts in our study.On the basis of the results it can be concluded that the status of the quality of studied area on the Lake Balaton can be categorized as proper quality (from the outcome of the ten measurement sites this conclusion was reached at seven sites).

An Investigation of the dependence of CMS RPC operation on environmental parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Assran, Y. [Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Eng., Suez Canal University (Egypt); Colafranceschi, S. [INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 40, I-00044 Frascati (Italy); Doninck, W.A. [Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1050 Brussels (Belgium); Sharma, A. [CERN, CH-1211, Geneva (Switzerland); Wickramage, N., E-mail: nwickram@cern.ch [EHEP, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (India)

2011-06-15

In this paper an analysis is presented on performance of RPC chambers installed in the cosmic ray test stand at ISR, CERN. The currents of RPC chambers are studied as a function of environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and pressure, which are important for the operation of the RPC detector system at CMS. A neural network approach has been used to analyze the data and to build a model using experimental measurements and combining the results of the simulations.

Effects of particle composition and environmental parameters on catalytic hydrodechlorination of trichloroethylene by nanoscale bimetallic Ni-Fe.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Jianjun; Qian, Yajing; Liu, Wenjuan; Wang, Lutao; Ge, Yijie; Zhang, Jianghao; Yu, Jiang; Ma, Xingmao

2014-05-01

Catalytic nickel was successfully incorporated into nanoscale iron to enhance its dechlorination efficiency for trichloroethylene (TCE), one of the most commonly detected chlorinated organic compounds in groundwater. Ethane was the predominant product. The greatest dechlorination efficiency was achieved at 22 molar percent of nickel. This nanoscale Ni-Fe is poorly ordered and inhomogeneous; iron dissolution occurred whereas nickel was relatively stable during the 24-hr reaction. The morphological characterization provided significant new insights on the mechanism of catalytic hydrodechlorination by bimetallic nanoparticles. TCE degradation and ethane production rates were greatly affected by environmental parameters such as solution pH, temperature and common groundwater ions. Both rate constants decreased and then increased over the pH range of 6.5 to 8.0, with the minimum value occurring at pH 7.5. TCE degradation rate constant showed an increasing trend over the temperature range of 10 to 25°C. However, ethane production rate constant increased and then decreased over the range, with the maximum value occurring at 20°C. Most salts in the solution appeared to enhance the reaction in the first half hour but overall they displayed an inhibitory effect. Combined ions showed a similar effect as individual salts. Copyright © 2014 The Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Working parameters affecting earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) system performance for passive cooling: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Darius, D.; Misaran, M. S.; Rahman, Md. M.; Ismail, M. A.; Amaludin, A.

2017-07-01

The study on the effect of the working parameters such as pipe material, pipe length, pipe diameter, depth of burial of the pipe, air flow rate and different types of soils on the thermal performance of earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) systems is very crucial to ensure that thermal comfort can be achieved. In the past decade, researchers have performed studies to develop numerical models for analysis of EAHE systems. Until recently, two-dimensional models replaced the numerical models in the 1990s and in recent times, more advanced analysis using three-dimensional models, specifically the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation in the analysis of EAHE system. This paper reviews previous models used to analyse the EAHE system and working parameters that affects the earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) thermal performance as of February 2017. Recent findings on the parameters affecting EAHE performance are also presented and discussed. As a conclusion, with the advent of CFD methods, investigational work have geared up to modelling and simulation work as it saves time and cost. Comprehension of the EAHE working parameters and its effect on system performance is largely established. However, the study on type of soil and its characteristics on the performance of EAHEs systems are surprisingly barren. Therefore, future studies should focus on the effect of soil characteristics such as moisture content, density of soil, and type of soil on the thermal performance of EAHEs system.

Internal and external environmental factors affecting the performance of hospital-based home nursing care.

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, J-W; Kwon, Y-D; Yoon, S-J; Hwang, J-I

2011-06-01

Numerous studies on HNC services have been carried out by signifying their needs, efficiency and effectiveness. However, no study has ever been performed to determine the critical factors associated with HNC's positive results despite the deluge of positive studies on the service. This study included all of the 89 training hospitals that were practising HNC service in Korea as of November 2006. The input factors affecting the performance were classified as either internal or external environmental factors. This analysis was conducted to understand the impact that the corresponding factors had on performance. Data were analysed by using multiple linear regressions. The internal and external environment variables affected the performance of HNC based on univariate analysis. The meaningful variables were internal environmental factors. Specifically, managerial resource (the number of operating beds and the outpatient/inpatient ratio) were meaningful when the multiple linear regression analysis was performed. Indeed, the importance of organizational culture (the passion of HNC nurses) was significant. This study, considering the limited market size of Korea, illustrates that the critical factor for the development of hospital-led HNC lies with internal environmental factors rather than external ones. Among the internal environmental factors, the hospitals' managerial resource-related factors (specifically, the passion of nurses) were the most important contributing element. © 2011 The Authors. International Nursing Review © 2011 International Council of Nurses.

Assessing soil and plant parameters affecting uranium availability and plant uptake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vandenhove, H.

2009-01-01

In the assessment of the potential impact of contaminants in soils and the requirement for the implementation of corrective actions, it is important to determine the contaminant's mobility and bioavailability and to identify the processes and parameters ruling it. Mobility and bioavailability of contaminants are among others affected by the physicochemical characteristics of the environment itself and plant properties. This is also the case for uranium (U), reported to be the most frequent radionuclide contaminant in ground and surface water and soils. The actual failure of the available transfer factor (TF) data and their broad relation to soil type to be an appropriate measure for food chain transfer in assessment models, calls for a more mechanistic understanding of the individual processes affecting bioavailability. The objectives of this study were (1) to test if Diffusive Gradient in Thin film (DGT) measured concentrations adequately assess U bioavailability and (2) to evaluate if differences in U uptake by plants can be explained by variation in root-mediated changes in selected soil properties and assess the role of organic acids in this process

Temperature responses of photosynthetic capacity parameters were not affected by foliar nitrogen content in mature Pinus sylvestris.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarvainen, Lasse; Lutz, Martina; Räntfors, Mats; Näsholm, Torgny; Wallin, Göran

2018-03-01

A key weakness in current Earth System Models is the representation of thermal acclimation of photosynthesis in response to changes in growth temperatures. Previous studies in boreal and temperate ecosystems have shown leaf-scale photosynthetic capacity parameters, the maximum rates of carboxylation (V cmax ) and electron transport (J max ), to be positively correlated with foliar nitrogen (N) content at a given reference temperature. It is also known that V cmax and J max exhibit temperature optima that are affected by various environmental factors and, further, that N partitioning among the foliar photosynthetic pools is affected by N availability. However, despite the strong recent anthropogenic influence on atmospheric temperatures and N deposition to forests, little is known about the role of foliar N contents in controlling the photosynthetic temperature responses. In this study, we investigated the temperature dependencies of V cmax and J max in 1-year-old needles of mature boreal Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) trees growing under low and high N availabilities in northern Sweden. We found that needle N status did not significantly affect the temperature responses of V cmax or J max when the responses were fitted to a peaked function. If such N insensitivity is a common tree trait it will simplify the interpretation of the results from gradient and multi-species studies, which commonly use sites with differing N availabilities, on temperature acclimation of photosynthetic capacity. Moreover, it will simplify modeling efforts aimed at understanding future carbon uptake by precluding the need to adjust the shape of the temperature response curves to variation in N availability. © 2017 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.

An Investigation of TIG welding parameters on microhardness and microstructure of heat affected zone of HSLA steel

Science.gov (United States)

Musa, M. H. A.; Maleque, M. A.; Ali, M. Y.

2018-01-01

Nowadays a wide variety of metal joining methods are used in fabrication industries. In this study, the effect of various welding parameters of the TIG welding process on microhardness, depth, and microstructure of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of L450 HSLA steel and optimizing these process parameters following Taguchi experimental design was investigated. The microhardness tended to increase significantly with the increase of welding speed from 1.0 to 2.5 mm/s whereas the width of HAZ decreased. The current and arc voltage was found to be less significant in relative comparison. Microstructures of the welded samples were also studied to analyze the changes in the microstructure of the material in terms of ferrite, pearlite, bainite, and martensite formations. Welding speed was found to be the most significant factors leading to changes in microhardness and metallurgical properties. The increase of welding heat input caused an increase in width (depth) of HAZ and the growth of prior austenite grains and then enlarged the grain size of coarse grain heat affected zone (CGHAZ). However, the amount of martensite in the HAZ decreased accompanied by an opposite change of paint. It was observed that the hardness properties and the microstructural feature of HAZ area was strongly affected by the welding parameters.

4D dose simulation in volumetric arc therapy: Accuracy and affecting parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, René

2017-01-01

Radiotherapy of lung and liver lesions has changed from normofractioned 3D-CRT to stereotactic treatment in a single or few fractions, often employing volumetric arc therapy (VMAT)-based techniques. Potential unintended interference of respiratory target motion and dynamically changing beam parameters during VMAT dose delivery motivates establishing 4D quality assurance (4D QA) procedures to assess appropriateness of generated VMAT treatment plans when taking into account patient-specific motion characteristics. Current approaches are motion phantom-based 4D QA and image-based 4D VMAT dose simulation. Whereas phantom-based 4D QA is usually restricted to a small number of measurements, the computational approaches allow simulating many motion scenarios. However, 4D VMAT dose simulation depends on various input parameters, influencing estimated doses along with mitigating simulation reliability. Thus, aiming at routine use of simulation-based 4D VMAT QA, the impact of such parameters as well as the overall accuracy of the 4D VMAT dose simulation has to be studied in detail–which is the topic of the present work. In detail, we introduce the principles of 4D VMAT dose simulation, identify influencing parameters and assess their impact on 4D dose simulation accuracy by comparison of simulated motion-affected dose distributions to corresponding dosimetric motion phantom measurements. Exploiting an ITV-based treatment planning approach, VMAT treatment plans were generated for a motion phantom and different motion scenarios (sinusoidal motion of different period/direction; regular/irregular motion). 4D VMAT dose simulation results and dose measurements were compared by local 3% / 3 mm γ-evaluation, with the measured dose distributions serving as ground truth. Overall γ-passing rates of simulations and dynamic measurements ranged from 97% to 100% (mean across all motion scenarios: 98% ± 1%); corresponding values for comparison of different day repeat measurements were

Experimental studies of parameters affecting the heat generation in friction stir welding process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mijajlović Miroslav M.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Heat generation is a complex process of transformation of a specific type of energy into heat. During friction stir welding, one part of mechanical energy delivered to the welding tool is consumed in the welding process, another is used for deformational processes etc., and the rest of the energy is transformed into heat. The analytical procedure for the estimation of heat generated during friction stir welding is very complex because it includes a significant number of variables and parameters, and many of them cannot be fully mathematically explained. Because of that, the analytical model for the estimation of heat generated during friction stir welding defines variables and parameters that dominantly affect heat generation. These parameters are numerous and some of them, e. g. loads, friction coefficient, torque, temperature, are estimated experimentally. Due to the complex geometry of the friction stir welding process and requirements of the measuring equipment, adequate measuring configurations and specific constructional solutions that provide adequate measuring positions are necessary. This paper gives an overview of the process of heat generation during friction stir welding, the most influencing parameters on heat generation, constructional solutions for the measuring equipment needed for these experimental researches and examples of measured values.

Integrated approach to the understanding of the degradation of an urban river: local perceptions, environmental parameters and geoprocessing.

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, Carolina A; Almeida Neto, Miguel S de; Aretakis, Gabriela M A; Santos, Rangel E; de Oliveira, Tiago H; Mourão, José S; Severi, William; El-Deir, Ana C A

2015-09-15

The use of interdisciplinary approaches such as the proposed report provides a broad understanding of the relationship between people and the environment, revealing reliable aspects not previously considered in the study of this relationship. This study compiled evidence on the environmental degradation of an urbanized river over the past few decades, providing a diagnosis of the consequences of this process for the river, its ichthyofauna, and the local human population. The study was focused on the Beira Rio community on the Capibaribe River in the municipality of São Lourenço da Mata, Pernambuco, Brazil. Data were collected using geoprocessing and ethnobiological approaches, as well as environmental parameters. This research was conducted with the most experienced long-term residents in the local community, through interviews and participatory methodologies to recovering information about the river environment, its ichthyofauna and its environmental services for the last decades. According to the GIS analysis, the study area was subject to an accelerated process of urbanization, with the total urban area increasing from 73 565, 98 m(2) in 1974 to 383 363, 6 m(2) in 2005. The informants perceived the urban growth, especially in the late twentieth century, being this period recognized as the phase of greatest negative changes in the river environment. The perceived decline of fish stocks was indicated by the community as one of the effects of river degradation. According to the interviews, the deterioration of the river affected the ecosystem services and the relationship of the adjacent human community with this ecosystem. The environmental data indicated that the river is suffering eutrophization and has fecal coliform concentrations 160 times higher than the maximum level permitted by Brazilian legislation. The interdisciplinary approach used in this research allowed the understanding of the degradation process of an urban river and some negative effects

Sensitivity of tidal sand wave characteristics to environmental parameters: A combined data analysis and modelling approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Santen, R.B.; de Swart, H.E.; van Dijk, T.A.G.P.

2011-01-01

An integrated field data-modelling approach is employed to investigate relationships between the wavelength of tidal sand waves and four environmental parameters: tidal current amplitude, water depth, tidal ellipticity and median grain size. From echo sounder data at 23 locations on the Dutch

Indoor air quality in the Karns research houses: baseline measurements and impact of indoor environmental parameters on formaldehyde concentrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthews, T.G.; Fung, K.W.; Tromberg, B.J.; Hawthorne, A.R.

1985-12-01

Baseline indoor air quality measurements, a nine-month radon study, and an environmental parameters study examining the impact of indoor temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) levels on formaldehyde (CH 2 O) concentrations have been performed in three unoccupied research homes located in Karns, Tennessee. Inter-house comparison measurements of (1) CH 2 O concentration, (2) CH 2 O emission rates from primary CH 2 O emission sources, (3) radon and radon daughter concentrations, and (4) air exchange rates indicate that the three homes are similar. The results of the nine-month radon study indicate indoor concentrations consistently below the EPA recommended level of 4 pCi/L. Evidence was found that crawl-space concentrations may be reduced using heat pump systems whose outdoor units circulate fresh air through the crawl-space. The modeled results of the environmental parameters study indicate approximate fourfold increases in CH 2 O concentrations from 0.07 to 0.27 ppM for seasonal T and RH conditions of 20 0 C, 30% RH and 29 0 C, 80% RH, respectively. Evaluation of these environmental parameters study data with steady-state CH 2 O concentration models developed from laboratory studies of the environmental dependence of CH 2 O emissions from particleboard underlayment indicate good correlations between the laboratory and field studies

An empirical model for parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron-containing wastewaters by electrocoagulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yilmaz, A Erdem; Boncukcuoğlu, Recep; Kocakerim, M Muhtar

2007-06-01

In this study, it was investigated parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron containing wastewaters prepared synthetically, via electrocoagulation method. The solution pH, initial boron concentration, dose of supporting electrolyte, current density and temperature of solution were selected as experimental parameters affecting energy consumption. The obtained experimental results showed that boron removal efficiency reached up to 99% under optimum conditions, in which solution pH was 8.0, current density 6.0 mA/cm(2), initial boron concentration 100mg/L and solution temperature 293 K. The current density was an important parameter affecting energy consumption too. High current density applied to electrocoagulation cell increased energy consumption. Increasing solution temperature caused to decrease energy consumption that high temperature decreased potential applied under constant current density. That increasing initial boron concentration and dose of supporting electrolyte caused to increase specific conductivity of solution decreased energy consumption. As a result, it was seen that energy consumption for boron removal via electrocoagulation method could be minimized at optimum conditions. An empirical model was predicted by statistically. Experimentally obtained values were fitted with values predicted from empirical model being as following; [formula in text]. Unfortunately, the conditions obtained for optimum boron removal were not the conditions obtained for minimum energy consumption. It was determined that support electrolyte must be used for increase boron removal and decrease electrical energy consumption.

Modeling of mouse eye and errors in ocular parameters affecting refractive state

Science.gov (United States)

Bawa, Gurinder

Rodents eye are particularly used to study refractive error state of an eye and development of refractive eye. Genetic organization of rodents is similar to that of humans, which makes them interesting candidates to be researched upon. From rodents family mice models are encouraged over rats because of availability of genetically engineered models. Despite of extensive work that has been performed on mice and rat models, still no one is able to quantify an optical model, due to variability in the reported ocular parameters. In this Dissertation, we have extracted ocular parameters and generated schematics of eye from the raw data from School of Medicine, Detroit. In order to see how the rays would travel through an eye and the defects associated with an eye; ray tracing has been performed using ocular parameters. Finally we have systematically evaluated the contribution of various ocular parameters, such as radii of curvature of ocular surfaces, thicknesses of ocular components, and refractive indices of ocular refractive media, using variational analysis and a computational model of the rodent eye. Variational analysis revealed that variation in all the ocular parameters does affect the refractive status of the eye, but depending upon the magnitude of the impact those parameters are listed as critical or non critical. Variation in the depth of the vitreous chamber, thickness of the lens, radius of the anterior surface of the cornea, radius of the anterior surface of the lens, as well as refractive indices for the lens and vitreous, appears to have the largest impact on the refractive error and thus are categorized as critical ocular parameters. The radii of the posterior surfaces of the cornea and lens have much smaller contributions to the refractive state, while the radii of the anterior and posterior surfaces of the retina have no effect on the refractive error. These data provide the framework for further refinement of the optical models of the rat and mouse

Does pro-environmental behaviour affect carbon emissions?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tabi, Andrea

2013-01-01

The primary focus of this research is to explore the effect of pro-environmental behaviour on CO 2 emissions in relation to heating, electricity and transport activities in the residential sector. Changing such behaviour has considerable potential for conserving energy and is an important target of environmental policies which are designed to decrease energy consumption. It is hypothesized that people who consciously act in a pro-environmental way do not necessarily have lower CO 2 emissions more than those who do not undertake environmental activities. Data about residential energy use is based on a survey carried out in Hungary in 2010 with a sample of 1012 people. Latent cluster analysis (LCA) was conducted based on data about the reported pro-environmental behavior in the survey and four clusters were identified. Relevant sociostructural and structural factors were also inverstigated. Results of the data analysis show that no significant difference is found between the impacts of environmentally aware and environmentally unaware consumers, i.e. both ‘Brown’ and ‘Supergreen’ consumers consume approximately the same amount of energy and produce approximately the same amount of carbon emissions because the motivation-driven activities of ‘Supergreens’ are offset by structural factors

Identification of environmental factors affecting the speed of purebred Arabian racehorses in The Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schurink, A.; Theunissen, H.; Ducro, B.J.; Bijma, P.; Grevenhof, van E.M.

2009-01-01

The aim of our study was to identify environmental factors affecting the speed of purebred Arabian racehorses in The Netherlands. Data contained 380 records on 88 purebred Arabian racehorses of varying age and sex. Data were collected from March 2005 through June 2006 during 52 races of varying

Environmental Factors Affecting Computer Assisted Language Learning Success: A Complex Dynamic Systems Conceptual Model

Science.gov (United States)

Marek, Michael W.; Wu, Wen-Chi Vivian

2014-01-01

This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay ["World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution", 67(4/5), 304-315 (2011)], who observed…

Fiber optic sensors for environmental applications: A brief review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rossabi, J.

1992-04-01

Understanding the flow a groundwater quality. This understanding is achieved by measurement of the appropriate chemical and physical subsurface parameters. The ideal measurement would accurately assess a parameter without affecting the parameter or its environment. Fiber optic spectroscopy offers some of the most promising techniques for accurate, non-invasive measurements of environmental parameters. Fiber optic sensors for subsurface applications are currently being developed by several Department of Energy laboratories. Some of these sensors have been successfully deployed in the field and are attaining the goals of accurate, noninvasive, real time measurements in the subsurface

Culinary and nutritional quality of Phaseolus vulgaris seeds as affected by environmental factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kigel J.

1999-01-01

Full Text Available Efficient selection for specific culinary and nutritional quality traits needs a better understanding of the genetic and environmental control of quality traits at the structural, physiological and biochemical levels. Field experiments indicate great variability in the Phaseolus gene pool regarding the content of antinutritional compounds, as well as in cooking characteristics of the seeds. These seed attributes are strongly affected by geographic location, edaphic and climatic conditions at site of cultivation. However, information on the influence of specific environmental factors (such as temperature, water availability, edaphic conditions, etc. on seed quality traits, as well as on their stability is very scarce. This lack of knowledge impairs a faster progress in the improvement of Phaseolus seed quality.

Affective State Influences Perception by Affecting Decision Parameters Underlying Bias and Sensitivity

OpenAIRE

Lynn, Spencer K.; Zhang, Xuan; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2012-01-01

Studies of the effect of affect on perception often show consistent directional effects of a person’s affective state on perception. Unpleasant emotions have been associated with a “locally focused” style of stimulus evaluation, and positive emotions with a “globally focused” style. Typically, however, studies of affect and perception have not been conducted under the conditions of perceptual uncertainty and behavioral risk inherent to perceptual judgments outside the laboratory. We investiga...

SOME ENVIRONMENTEAL FACTORS AFFECTING BROILER HOUSING IN WINTER SEASON

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Tarek FOUDA

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this study was to study some environmental factors affecting broiler housing in winter season. The results showed that, temperature fluctuations between house ceiling and floor ranged between 0.4 to 5.93 ºC during the first two days of age. The average house temperature reduced gradually from 29.7 to 21.3 ºC. The indoor relative humidity ranged between 43.6 to 74.3 %. Specific heating power, specific fuel consumption and heating energy requirements ranged between 3850.2 W/ºC , 0.34 kg /h. ºC and 308.9 kJ/h. kg at the first week of age to 6213.4 W/ºC , 0.36 kg /h. ºC and 19.3 kJ/h. kg at the end of the life respectively

Selection of meteorological parameters affecting rainfall estimation using neuro-fuzzy computing methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, Roslan; Roy, Chandrabhushan; Motamedi, Shervin; Shamshirband, Shahaboddin; Petković, Dalibor; Gocic, Milan; Lee, Siew Cheng

2016-05-01

Rainfall is a complex atmospheric process that varies over time and space. Researchers have used various empirical and numerical methods to enhance estimation of rainfall intensity. We developed a novel prediction model in this study, with the emphasis on accuracy to identify the most significant meteorological parameters having effect on rainfall. For this, we used five input parameters: wet day frequency (dwet), vapor pressure (e̅a), and maximum and minimum air temperatures (Tmax and Tmin) as well as cloud cover (cc). The data were obtained from the Indian Meteorological Department for the Patna city, Bihar, India. Further, a type of soft-computing method, known as the adaptive-neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), was applied to the available data. In this respect, the observation data from 1901 to 2000 were employed for testing, validating, and estimating monthly rainfall via the simulated model. In addition, the ANFIS process for variable selection was implemented to detect the predominant variables affecting the rainfall prediction. Finally, the performance of the model was compared to other soft-computing approaches, including the artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), extreme learning machine (ELM), and genetic programming (GP). The results revealed that ANN, ELM, ANFIS, SVM, and GP had R2 of 0.9531, 0.9572, 0.9764, 0.9525, and 0.9526, respectively. Therefore, we conclude that the ANFIS is the best method among all to predict monthly rainfall. Moreover, dwet was found to be the most influential parameter for rainfall prediction, and the best predictor of accuracy. This study also identified sets of two and three meteorological parameters that show the best predictions.

Demographic, socioeconomic and environmental changes affecting circulation of neglected tropical diseases in Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Abou-El-Naga, Iman F

2015-11-01

Egypt has been plagued by many neglected tropical diseases since Pharaonic time. These diseases are Schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, lymphatic filariasis, leishmaniasis and fascioliasis beside the epidermal parasitic skin diseases. Indeed, theses diseases still persist as public health problem in the country by the influence of demographic, socioeconomic and environmental obstacles. This study seeks for understanding the contribution of each factor in each obstacle in neglected tropical diseases perpetuation which in turn could help the governorate in planning integrated control strategies. It was found that poverty, unregulated urbanization and inadequate sanitation are important socioeconomic factors that have great effect on the transmission dynamics of the diseases. The environmental factors which affect the epidemiology of these diseases in the country are scarcity of water, construction of dams, land reclamation for agriculture beside the climate factors. Unfortunately, the panic increase in the population growth rate minimizes the efforts done by the governorate to elevate the public health services. These conditions also affect the transmission of epidermal parasitic skin diseases including scabies, head lice and hookworm-related cutaneous larva migrans. The control programs and the recommendations to combat the diseases were discussed. The present study showed that the ecological factors affecting each neglected tropical disease in Egypt are somewhat similar which makes it worthy to develop an integrated control approaches aiming at improving the leading factors of neglected tropical diseases circulation in the country. Copyright © 2015 Hainan Medical College. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Affective state influences perception by affecting decision parameters underlying bias and sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynn, Spencer K; Zhang, Xuan; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2012-08-01

Studies of the effect of affect on perception often show consistent directional effects of a person's affective state on perception. Unpleasant emotions have been associated with a "locally focused" style of stimulus evaluation, and positive emotions with a "globally focused" style. Typically, however, studies of affect and perception have not been conducted under the conditions of perceptual uncertainty and behavioral risk inherent to perceptual judgments outside the laboratory. We investigated the influence of perceivers' experienced affect (valence and arousal) on the utility of social threat perception by combining signal detection theory and behavioral economics. We compared 3 perceptual decision environments that systematically differed with respect to factors that underlie uncertainty and risk: the base rate of threat, the costs of incorrect identification threat, and the perceptual similarity of threats and nonthreats. We found that no single affective state yielded the best performance on the threat perception task across the 3 environments. Unpleasant valence promoted calibration of response bias to base rate and costs, high arousal promoted calibration of perceptual sensitivity to perceptual similarity, and low arousal was associated with an optimal adjustment of bias to sensitivity. However, the strength of these associations was conditional upon the difficulty of attaining optimal bias and high sensitivity, such that the effect of the perceiver's affective state on perception differed with the cause and/or level of uncertainty and risk.

Pre-Analytical Parameters Affecting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Measurement in Plasma: Identifying Confounders.

Science.gov (United States)

Walz, Johanna M; Boehringer, Daniel; Deissler, Heidrun L; Faerber, Lothar; Goepfert, Jens C; Heiduschka, Peter; Kleeberger, Susannah M; Klettner, Alexa; Krohne, Tim U; Schneiderhan-Marra, Nicole; Ziemssen, Focke; Stahl, Andreas

2016-01-01

Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is intensively investigated in various medical fields. However, comparing VEGF-A measurements is difficult because sample acquisition and pre-analytic procedures differ between studies. We therefore investigated which variables act as confounders of VEGF-A measurements. Following a standardized protocol, blood was taken at three clinical sites from six healthy participants (one male and one female participant at each center) twice one week apart. The following pre-analytical parameters were varied in order to analyze their impact on VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant (EDTA vs. PECT / CTAD), cannula (butterfly vs. neonatal), type of centrifuge (swing-out vs. fixed-angle), time before and after centrifugation, filling level (completely filled vs. half-filled tubes) and analyzing method (ELISA vs. multiplex bead array). Additionally, intrapersonal variations over time and sex differences were explored. Statistical analysis was performed using a linear regression model. The following parameters were identified as statistically significant independent confounders of VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant, centrifuge, analyzing method and sex of the proband. The following parameters were no significant confounders in our data set: intrapersonal variation over one week, cannula, time before and after centrifugation and filling level of collection tubes. VEGF-A measurement results can be affected significantly by the identified pre-analytical parameters. We recommend the use of CTAD anticoagulant, a standardized type of centrifuge and one central laboratory using the same analyzing method for all samples.

Pre-Analytical Parameters Affecting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Measurement in Plasma: Identifying Confounders.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johanna M Walz

Full Text Available Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A is intensively investigated in various medical fields. However, comparing VEGF-A measurements is difficult because sample acquisition and pre-analytic procedures differ between studies. We therefore investigated which variables act as confounders of VEGF-A measurements.Following a standardized protocol, blood was taken at three clinical sites from six healthy participants (one male and one female participant at each center twice one week apart. The following pre-analytical parameters were varied in order to analyze their impact on VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant (EDTA vs. PECT / CTAD, cannula (butterfly vs. neonatal, type of centrifuge (swing-out vs. fixed-angle, time before and after centrifugation, filling level (completely filled vs. half-filled tubes and analyzing method (ELISA vs. multiplex bead array. Additionally, intrapersonal variations over time and sex differences were explored. Statistical analysis was performed using a linear regression model.The following parameters were identified as statistically significant independent confounders of VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant, centrifuge, analyzing method and sex of the proband. The following parameters were no significant confounders in our data set: intrapersonal variation over one week, cannula, time before and after centrifugation and filling level of collection tubes.VEGF-A measurement results can be affected significantly by the identified pre-analytical parameters. We recommend the use of CTAD anticoagulant, a standardized type of centrifuge and one central laboratory using the same analyzing method for all samples.

Evaluation of Parameter Uncertainty Reduction in Groundwater Flow Modeling Using Multiple Environmental Tracers

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, B. W.; Gardner, P.

2013-12-01

Calibration of groundwater flow models for the purpose of evaluating flow and aquifer heterogeneity typically uses observations of hydraulic head in wells and appropriate boundary conditions. Environmental tracers have a wide variety of decay rates and input signals in recharge, resulting in a potentially broad source of additional information to constrain flow rates and heterogeneity. A numerical study was conducted to evaluate the reduction in uncertainty during model calibration using observations of various environmental tracers and combinations of tracers. A synthetic data set was constructed by simulating steady groundwater flow and transient tracer transport in a high-resolution, 2-D aquifer with heterogeneous permeability and porosity using the PFLOTRAN software code. Data on pressure and tracer concentration were extracted at well locations and then used as observations for automated calibration of a flow and transport model using the pilot point method and the PEST code. Optimization runs were performed to estimate parameter values of permeability at 30 pilot points in the model domain for cases using 42 observations of: 1) pressure, 2) pressure and CFC11 concentrations, 3) pressure and Ar-39 concentrations, and 4) pressure, CFC11, Ar-39, tritium, and He-3 concentrations. Results show significantly lower uncertainty, as indicated by the 95% linear confidence intervals, in permeability values at the pilot points for cases including observations of environmental tracer concentrations. The average linear uncertainty range for permeability at the pilot points using pressure observations alone is 4.6 orders of magnitude, using pressure and CFC11 concentrations is 1.6 orders of magnitude, using pressure and Ar-39 concentrations is 0.9 order of magnitude, and using pressure, CFC11, Ar-39, tritium, and He-3 concentrations is 1.0 order of magnitude. Data on Ar-39 concentrations result in the greatest parameter uncertainty reduction because its half-life of 269

Comparison of parameters affecting GNP-loaded choroidal melanoma dosimetry; Monte Carlo study

Science.gov (United States)

Sharabiani, Marjan; Asadi, Somayeh; Barghi, Amir Rahnamai; Vaezzadeh, Mehdi

2018-04-01

The current study reports the results of tumor dosimetry in the presence of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with different sizes and concentrations. Due to limited number of works carried out on the brachytherapy of choroidal melanoma in combination with GNPs, this study was performed to determine the optimum size and concentration for GNPs which contributes the highest dose deposition in tumor region, using two phantom test cases namely water phantom and a full Monte Carlo model of human eye. Both water and human eye phantoms were simulated with MCNP5 code. Tumor dosimetry was performed for a typical point photon source with an energy of 0.38 MeV as a high energy source and 103Pd brachytherapy source with an average energy of 0.021 MeV as a low energy source in water phantom and eye phantom respectively. Such a dosimetry was done for different sizes and concentrations of GNPs. For all of the diameters, increase in concentration of GNPs resulted in an increase in dose deposited in the region of interest. In a certain concentration, GNPs with larger diameters contributed more dose to the tumor region, which was more pronounced using eye phantom. 100 nm was reported as the optimum size in order to achieve the highest energy deposition within the target. This work investigated the optimum parameters affecting macroscopic dose enhancement in GNP-aided brachytherapy of choroidal melanoma. The current work also had implications on using low energy photon sources in the presence of GNPs to acquire the highest dose enhancement. This study is conducted through four different sizes and concentrations of GNPs. Considering the sensitivity of human eye tissue, in order to report the precise optimum parameters affecting radiosensitivity, a comprehensive study on a wide range of sizes and concentrations are required.

An (un)healthy poster: When environmental cues affect consumers' food choices at vending machines.

Science.gov (United States)

Stöckli, Sabrina; Stämpfli, Aline E; Messner, Claude; Brunner, Thomas A

2016-01-01

Environmental cues can affect food decisions. There is growing evidence that environmental cues influence how much one consumes. This article demonstrates that environmental cues can similarly impact the healthiness of consumers' food choices. Two field studies examined this effect with consumers of vending machine foods who were exposed to different posters. In field study 1, consumers with a health-evoking nature poster compared to a pleasure-evoking fun fair poster or no poster in their visual sight were more likely to opt for healthy snacks. Consumers were also more likely to buy healthy snacks when primed by an activity poster than when exposed to the fun fair poster. In field study 2, this consumer pattern recurred with a poster of skinny Giacometti sculptures. Overall, the results extend the mainly laboratory-based evidence by demonstrating the health-relevant impact of environmental cues on food decisions in the field. Results are discussed in light of priming literature emphasizing the relevance of preexisting associations, mental concepts and goals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental and state-level regulatory factors affect the incidence of autism and intellectual disability.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrey Rzhetsky

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Many factors affect the risks for neurodevelopmental maladies such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD and intellectual disability (ID. To compare environmental, phenotypic, socioeconomic and state-policy factors in a unified geospatial framework, we analyzed the spatial incidence patterns of ASD and ID using an insurance claims dataset covering nearly one third of the US population. Following epidemiologic evidence, we used the rate of congenital malformations of the reproductive system as a surrogate for environmental exposure of parents to unmeasured developmental risk factors, including toxins. Adjusted for gender, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geopolitical factors, the ASD incidence rates were strongly linked to population-normalized rates of congenital malformations of the reproductive system in males (an increase in ASD incidence by 283% for every percent increase in incidence of malformations, 95% CI: [91%, 576%], p<6×10(-5. Such congenital malformations were barely significant for ID (94% increase, 95% CI: [1%, 250%], p = 0.0384. Other congenital malformations in males (excluding those affecting the reproductive system appeared to significantly affect both phenotypes: 31.8% ASD rate increase (CI: [12%, 52%], p<6×10(-5, and 43% ID rate increase (CI: [23%, 67%], p<6×10(-5. Furthermore, the state-mandated rigor of diagnosis of ASD by a pediatrician or clinician for consideration in the special education system was predictive of a considerable decrease in ASD and ID incidence rates (98.6%, CI: [28%, 99.99%], p = 0.02475 and 99% CI: [68%, 99.99%], p = 0.00637 respectively. Thus, the observed spatial variability of both ID and ASD rates is associated with environmental and state-level regulatory factors; the magnitude of influence of compound environmental predictors was approximately three times greater than that of state-level incentives. The estimated county-level random effects exhibited marked spatial clustering, strongly

How Creativity Was Affected by Environmental Factors and Individual Characteristics: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Lifang; Wang, Lijuan; Zhao, Yanyun

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how environmental factors (family environment and school education) and individual characteristics (personality, creative attitudes, and divergent thinking) collectively affect creative achievement of American and Chinese college students. Data were collected from 378 college students in the United States…

Seasonal variation of semen parameters correlates with environmental temperature and air pollution: A big data analysis over 6 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Santi, Daniele; Magnani, Elisa; Michelangeli, Marco; Grassi, Roberto; Vecchi, Barbara; Pedroni, Gioia; Roli, Laura; De Santis, Maria Cristina; Baraldi, Enrica; Setti, Monica; Trenti, Tommaso; Simoni, Manuela

2018-04-01

Male fertility is progressively declining in many developed countries, but the relationship between male infertility and environmental factors is still unclear. To assess the influence of environmental temperature and air pollution on semen parameters, using a big-data approach. A big data analysis of parameters related to 5131 men, living in a province of Northern Italy and undergoing semen analyses between January 2010 and March 2016 was performed. Ambient temperature was recorded on the day of analysis and the 90 days prior to the analysis and the average value of particulate matter (PM) and NO2 in the year of the test. All data were acquired by geocoding patients residential address. A data warehouse containing 990,904,591 data was generated and analysed by multiple regressions. 5573 semen analyses were collected. Both maximum and minimum temperatures registered on the day of collection were inversely related to total sperm number (p < .001), non-progressive motility (NPrM) (p < .005) and normal forms (p < .001). Results were confirmed considering temperature in the 30 and 60 days before collection, but not in the 90 days before collection. Total sperm number was lower in summer/autumn (p < .001) and was inversely related with daylight duration (p < .001). PM10 and PM2.5 were inversely related to PrM (p < .001 and p < .005) and abnormal forms (p < .001). This is the first evaluation of the relationship between male fertility-related parameters and environment using a big-data approach. A seasonal change in semen parameters was found, with a fluctuation related to both temperature and daylight duration. A negative correlation between air pollution and semen quality is suggested. Such seasonal and environmental associations should be considered when assessing changes of male fertility-related parameters over time. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An empirical model for parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron-containing wastewaters by electrocoagulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yilmaz, A. Erdem [Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, 25240 Erzurum (Turkey)]. E-mail: aerdemy@atauni.edu.tr; Boncukcuoglu, Recep [Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, 25240 Erzurum (Turkey); Kocakerim, M. Muhtar [Atatuerk University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, 25240 Erzurum (Turkey)

2007-06-01

In this study, it was investigated parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron containing wastewaters prepared synthetically, via electrocoagulation method. The solution pH, initial boron concentration, dose of supporting electrolyte, current density and temperature of solution were selected as experimental parameters affecting energy consumption. The obtained experimental results showed that boron removal efficiency reached up to 99% under optimum conditions, in which solution pH was 8.0, current density 6.0mA/cm{sup 2}, initial boron concentration 100mg/L and solution temperature 293K. The current density was an important parameter affecting energy consumption too. High current density applied to electrocoagulation cell increased energy consumption. Increasing solution temperature caused to decrease energy consumption that high temperature decreased potential applied under constant current density. That increasing initial boron concentration and dose of supporting electrolyte caused to increase specific conductivity of solution decreased energy consumption. As a result, it was seen that energy consumption for boron removal via electrocoagulation method could be minimized at optimum conditions. An empirical model was predicted by statistically. Experimentally obtained values were fitted with values predicted from empirical model being as following;[ECB]=7.6x10{sup 6}x[OH]{sup 0.11}x[CD]{sup 0.62}x[IBC]{sup -0.57}x[DSE]{sup -0.}= {sup 04}x[T]{sup -2.98}x[t] Unfortunately, the conditions obtained for optimum boron removal were not the conditions obtained for minimum energy consumption. It was determined that support electrolyte must be used for increase boron removal and decrease electrical energy consumption.

An empirical model for parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron-containing wastewaters by electrocoagulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yilmaz, A. Erdem; Boncukcuoglu, Recep; Kocakerim, M. Muhtar

2007-01-01

In this study, it was investigated parameters affecting energy consumption in boron removal from boron containing wastewaters prepared synthetically, via electrocoagulation method. The solution pH, initial boron concentration, dose of supporting electrolyte, current density and temperature of solution were selected as experimental parameters affecting energy consumption. The obtained experimental results showed that boron removal efficiency reached up to 99% under optimum conditions, in which solution pH was 8.0, current density 6.0mA/cm 2 , initial boron concentration 100mg/L and solution temperature 293K. The current density was an important parameter affecting energy consumption too. High current density applied to electrocoagulation cell increased energy consumption. Increasing solution temperature caused to decrease energy consumption that high temperature decreased potential applied under constant current density. That increasing initial boron concentration and dose of supporting electrolyte caused to increase specific conductivity of solution decreased energy consumption. As a result, it was seen that energy consumption for boron removal via electrocoagulation method could be minimized at optimum conditions. An empirical model was predicted by statistically. Experimentally obtained values were fitted with values predicted from empirical model being as following;[ECB]=7.6x10 6 x[OH] 0.11 x[CD] 0.62 x[IBC] -0.57 x[DSE] -0.04 x[T] -2.98 x[t] Unfortunately, the conditions obtained for optimum boron removal were not the conditions obtained for minimum energy consumption. It was determined that support electrolyte must be used for increase boron removal and decrease electrical energy consumption.

Evaluation of Clinical Gait Analysis parameters in patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis: Analysis of kinematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Severini, Giacomo; Manca, Mario; Ferraresi, Giovanni; Caniatti, Luisa Maria; Cosma, Michela; Baldasso, Francesco; Straudi, Sofia; Morelli, Monica; Basaglia, Nino

2017-06-01

Clinical Gait Analysis is commonly used to evaluate specific gait characteristics of patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis. The aim of this report is to present a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the changes in Clinical Gait Analysis parameters in patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis. In this study a sample of 51 patients with different levels of disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale 2-6.5) was analyzed. We extracted a set of 52 parameters from the Clinical Gait Analysis of each patient and used statistical analysis and linear regression to assess differences among several groups of subjects stratified according to the Expanded Disability Status Scale and 6-Minutes Walking Test. The impact of assistive devices (e.g. canes and crutches) on the kinematics was also assessed in a subsample of patients. Subjects showed decreased range of motion at hip, knee and ankle that translated in increased pelvic tilt and hiking. Comparison between the two stratifications showed that gait speed during 6-Minutes Walking Test is better at discriminating patients' kinematics with respect to Expanded Disability Status Scale. Assistive devices were shown not to significantly impact gait kinematics and the Clinical Gait Analysis parameters analyzed. We were able to characterize disability-related trends in gait kinematics. The results presented in this report provide a small atlas of the changes in gait characteristics associated with different disability levels in the Multiple Sclerosis population. This information could be used to effectively track the progression of MS and the effect of different therapies. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Parameters affecting TGO growth rate and the lifetime of TBC systems with MCrAlY-bondcoats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toscano, J.; Naumenko, D.; Singheiser, L.; Quadakkers, W.J. [Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, IEF 2, Juelich (Germany); Gil, A. [AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, Krakow (Poland)

2008-06-15

In the present work different parameters which affect the oxide growth on MCrAlY-bondcoats have been studied, in an attempt to find a reliable way to define the critical oxide thickness to failure of an EB-PVD thermal barrier coatings (TBC). It was found that the variation of selected parameters such as oxidation temperature, surface roughness, and bondcoat thickness certainly alters the thermally grown oxide (TGO) growth rate. However, simultaneously the morphology, composition, and/or microstructure of the oxide are changed, which can affect the critical TGO thickness to failure in a TBC system. In contrast, the variation of the oxygen partial pressure of the oxidizing atmosphere led to different TGO growth rates without significantly changing the oxide morphology and composition. Comparing the TGOs grown at different rates in the specimens exposed to high pO{sub 2} and low pO{sub 2} atmospheres, it was estimated that at failure the oxide scales in both specimens have reached a similar critical thickness. (Abstract Copyright [2008], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Climatic and Environmental Changes Affecting Communities in Atlantic Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liette Vasseur

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Small rural coastal communities located in Atlantic Canada are vulnerable to the effects of climate and environmental changes. Major storms have impounded the coastline, causing much physical damage and affecting the socioeconomics of these communities that are composed of an aging population. The current study relays findings based on interviews completed in 2011–2012, following the 2010 winter storms in Atlantic Canada. It portrays the physical and social–ecological impacts affecting 10 coastal communities located in the provinces of Québec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Semi-structured interviews held in these provinces are the basis for the contributions of this research. The findings reveal physical changes related to coastal erosion from high-wave impacts and storm surge causing flooding of the coastal zone. Also considered are strategies preferred and actually implemented by residents, such as building of protection walls, although undesirable. Due to funding constraints, however, many of these large-scale flood protection projects are not possible without governmental support. Instead, it is suggested that development be controlled and some respondents in this study upheld that relocation be used to alleviate the situation. Finally, more work is required to improve emergency planning. Better concerted short- and long-term responses need to be coordinated by local authorities and higher up in the government in order to ensure the sustainability of these coastal communities.

Influence of environmental parameters on the frictional behavior of DLC coatings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Y. [Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States). Mechanical Engineering Dept.; Erdemir, A.; Meletis, E.I. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Energy Technology Div.

1997-05-01

In a previous studies it was shown that diamond like carbon (DLC) films possess low friction coefficient (f) and excellent wear resistance. The reduction in f was found to be consistent with a ``wear induced graphitization`` mechanism of the DLC structure. A recent study showed that operational parameters (sliding velocity and loading level) influence the tribological behavior of DLC film through control of the kinetics of the graphitization process. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of environmental parameters (humidity and temperature) on the tribological behavior of DLC film and provide further support to the wear induced graphitization mechanism. Ion beam deposition was utilized to deposit DLC on a SiC substrate. Pin-on-disc experiments were conducted by varying humidity (0%, 40% and 100%) and temperature ({minus}10 C and 25 C). As-deposited DLC and wear debris was characterized by transmission electron microscopy. It was found that lower humidity increases the graphitization rate more than likely due to the reduction in the effect by the water molecules. A decreased graphitization rate was observed at lower temperature and higher humidity and can be attributed to suppression of temperature rise at hot spots. The present findings are consistent with and further verify the wear induced graphitization mechanism.

Parameters Affecting Household Income Diversity of Farmer’s Tribes in South Sumatra Tidal Wetland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Wildayana

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The research aimed to determine parameters affecting household income diversity of farmer’s tribes in South Sumatra tidal wetland, especially studied from the aspect of land acreage, education level, age of farmers and tribes of farmers. The research was using survey method and carried out from June-August 2016 in the Delta Telang I Banyuasin, South Sumatra. The data were recorded by questionnaire for 145 respondents of farmers. Data was processed, described and correlated to see the relevance of the parameters with other parameters. The research concluded that the character of household economy of farmers explaining the relation between production decisions to increase rice production is land acreage, education, age, experience of farmers, number of household members, and labor allocation. Multi commodities farming (rice and plantation was very favorable compared to monoculture rice fields? But this is a little bit contradictive with government policy that the research area is pointed out as the center of rice production. Therefore, government policy needs to motivate farmers that they can manage their farming from upstream to downstream and they work full in their own farming. The government policy should be site-specific and appropriated with the tribes of farmers

Analysis of the behavior of tubular-type equipment for nuclear waste treatment: sensitivities of the parameters affecting mass transfer yield

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, Jae Hyung; Lee, Byung Jik; Shim, Joon Bo; Kim, Eung Ho

2007-01-01

It was intended in this study to investigate the effects of various parameters on the chemical reaction or mass transfer yield in a tubular-type nuclear waste treatment equipment. Since such equipment. as a tubular reactor, multistage solvent extractor, and adsorption column, accompany chemical reaction or mass transfer along the fluid-flowing direction, mathematical modeling for each equipment was carried out first. Then their behaviors of the chemical reaction or mass transfer were predicted through computer simulations. The inherent major parameters for each equipment were chosen and their sensitivities affecting the reaction or mass transfer yield were analyzed. For the tubular reactor, the effects of axial diffusion coefficient and reaction rate constant on the reaction yield were investigated. As for the multistage solvent extractor, the back mixing of continuous phase and the distribution coefficient between fluid and solvent were considered as the major parameters affecting the extraction yield as well as concentration profiles throughout the axial direction of the extractor. For the adsorption column, the equilibrium constant between fluid and adsorbent surface. and the overall mass transfer coefficient between the two phases were taken as the major factors that affect the adsorption rate

Environmental Impacts on the Strength Parameters of Mineral-Acrylic (PMMA/ATH Facade Panels

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Aleksander Byrdy

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Composite mineral-acrylic panels consist in 80% of natural minerals produced from bauxite (aluminium hydroxides (ATH and in 20% from acrylic resin (polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA. This material due to high usability is widely used in interior finishes. Recently, the mineral-acrylic panels have been used as external claddings of buildings. So far, there are several dozen elevations realized worldwide. Due to the variability of the strength parameters of PMMA acrylic resins depending on the environmental influence, a number of tests on samples of mineral-acrylic panels to verify their suitability for use in climate conditions in Central Europe were performed. The studies determined the change of the material parameters after being subjected to aging process in conditions of high temperature, high relative humidity, freeze-thaw cycles, and UV radiation. In the studies parameters such as flexural strength and modulus of elasticity were measured at a reference temperature of 23°C. In raised and lowered temperatures only the tensile strength tests were conducted. Due to the lack of information in the available literature, the authors carried out tests of the temperature influence on the PMMA/ATH composite modulus of elasticity and flexural strength which is crucial in designing process.

An analysis of parameters affecting slapdown of transportation packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergmann, V.L.; Ammerman, D.J.

1991-06-01

In the certification of packages for transport of radioactive material, the issue of slapdown must be addressed. Slapdown is a secondary impact of the body caused by rotational accelerations induced during eccentric primary impact. In this report, several parameters are evaluated that affect slapdown severity of packages for the transport of nuclear material. The nose and tail accelerations in a slapdown event are compared to those experienced by the same cask in a side-drop configuration, in which there is no rotation, for a range of initial impact angles, impact limiter models, and friction coefficients for two existing cask geometries. In some cases, the rotation induced during a shallow-angle impact is sufficient to cause accelerations at the tail during secondary impact to be greater than those at the nose during initial impact. Furthermore, both nose and tail accelerations are often greater than the side-on accelerations. The results described here have been calculated using the code SLAPDOWN, which approximates the impact response of deformable bodies. Finally, SLAPDOWN has been used to estimate the coefficient of friction acting at the nose and tail for one particular cask during one specific slapdown drop test by comparison of results with experimental data. 2 refs., 16 figs., 3 tabs

Biometric parameters of the bream (Abramis brama) as indicators for long-term changes in fish health and environmental quality--data from the German ESB.

Science.gov (United States)

Teubner, Diana; Paulus, Martin; Veith, Michael; Klein, Roland

2015-02-01

Piscifaunal health depends upon the state and quality of the aquatic environment. Variations in physical condition of fish may therefore be attributed to changes in environmental quality. Based on time series of up to 20 years of biometric data of bream from multiple sampling sites of the German environmental specimen bank (ESB), this study assessed whether changes in biometric parameters are able to indicate long-term alterations in fish health and environmental quality. Evaluated biometric parameters of fish health comprised length and weight of individuals of a defined age class, the condition factor, lipid content and hepatosomatic index (HSI). Although there are negative trends of the HSI, the overall development of health parameters can be interpreted as positive. This seems to suggest that health parameters conclusively mirror the long-term improvement of water quality in the selected rivers. However, the applicability of the condition factor as well as lipid content as indicators for fish health remained subject to restrictions. Altogether, the results from the ESB confirmed the high value of biometric parameters for monitoring of long-term changes in state and quality of aquatic ecosystems.

Environmental processes and parameters influencing the consequences of an accidental release of radioactivity weather and season

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boeri, G.C.

1989-01-01

Seasonal, climatic and meteorological conditions may have a substantial influence on the physical factors involved in transport and deposition of airborne contaminants, and on the transfer and accumulation of radionuclides in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. As well, these environmental conditions can also have a significant influence on living habits and practices, and thus on potential radiological and economical impacts. Moreover, these conditions may affect the features and the impact of countermeasures which are adopted for the protection of the public in case of an accidental release. During a Special Session that the Committee of Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) held on the 1st-2nd September 1986 to review the radiological aspects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, it was agreed that a consultant should prepare a report reviewing different accident consequences in a radiation protection and public health perspective, and identify the influence of such parameters as time of the year, weather and environmental conditions on the overall impact and the determination of appropriate countermeasures. A Consultant Report on this issue was prepared, by Dr. G. Boeri, and submitted to the CRPPH for review and consideration at its meeting of 22nd-24th November 1987. The CRPPH subsequently agreed that the Consultant Report should be revised and completed, taking into account comments and suggestions sent to the Secretariat and focussing especially on the effect of seasonal and weather conditions in terms of their influence on the radiological impact of an accident and on the emergency countermeasures to be taken. It was decided that the Consultant Report should be developed into an Overview Paper for a workshop on this issue to be organised by the NEA in 1988

Thermal Orbital Environmental Parameter Study on the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) Using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Data

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, John R.; McConnaughey, Paul K. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The natural thermal environmental parameters used on the Space Station Program (SSP 30425) were generated by the Space Environmental Effects Branch at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) utilizing extensive data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), a series of satellites which measured low earth orbit (LEO) albedo and outgoing long-wave radiation. Later, this temporal data was presented as a function of averaging times and orbital inclination for use by thermal engineers in NASA Technical Memorandum TM 4527. The data was not presented in a fashion readily usable by thermal engineering modeling tools and required knowledge of the thermal time constants and infrared versus solar spectrum sensitivity of the hardware being analyzed to be used properly. Another TM was recently issued as a guideline for utilizing these environments (NASA/TM-2001-211221) with more insight into the utilization by thermal analysts. This paper gives a top-level overview of the environmental parameters presented in the TM and a study of the effects of implementing these environments on an ongoing MSFC project, the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS), compared to conventional orbital parameters that had been historically used.

Does environmental regulation affect energy efficiency in China's thermal power generation? Empirical evidence from a slacks-based DEA model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi, Gong-Bing; Song, Wen; Zhou, P.; Liang, Liang

2014-01-01

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has gained much popularity in performance measurement of power industry. This paper presents a slack-based measure approach to investigating the relationship between fossil fuel consumption and the environmental regulation of China's thermal power generation. We first calculate the total-factor energy efficiency without considering environmental constraints. An environmental performance indicator is proposed through decomposing the total-factor energy efficiency. The proposed approach is then employed to examine whether environmental regulation affects the energy efficiency of China's thermal power generation. We find that the environmental efficiency plays a significant role in affecting energy performance of China's thermal generation sector. Decreasing the discharge of major pollutants can improve both energy performance and environmental efficiency. Besides, we also have three main findings: (1) The energy efficiency and environmental efficiency were relatively low. (2) The energy and environmental efficiency scores show great variations among provinces. (3) Both energy efficiency and environmental efficiency are of obvious geographical characteristics. According to our findings, we suggest some policy implications. - Highlights: • We assess the energy efficiency and the environmental efficiency of China's thermal power generation simultaneously. • The energy efficiency and the environmental efficiency were relatively low during 2007–2009. • The energy efficiency and environmental efficiency show obvious geographic characters. • The environmental performance of a DMU plays a decisive role in the energy performance

An investigation of family environmental alteration affecting short-term recovery from Schizophrenia in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Rong-Min Chen, R M

1995-02-01

It has been hypothesised that change in the family environment affects short-term recovery from schizophrenia. Observation and study of 210 schizophrenic patients who were influenced by family environmental alteration show that the prognosis of schizophrenia caused suddenly by family environmental alteration is better than that of schizophrenia caused by a persistently unfavourable family environment. Hence, we think sudden family environmental alterations do not cause psychorrhoea, but slow family environmental alteration may cause change in the mental state of patients. The prognosis is worse in the countryside than in the city. From the study group, we conclude that the first cure rate was 28%, and that 26% of patients were able to work. This indicates that there were no typical cases of the core pattern of schizophrenia, and that there was a certain potential for recovery. In the future, the emphasis of prevention and treatment must be placed on the countryside, and attention should be paid to the improvement of living and working conditions there, to the correct administration of patients, and to the improvement of recovery measures and therapy. We advocate that efforts should be made in the countryside to raise the national educational and cultural level.

The use of autecological and environmental parameters for establishing the status of lichen vegetation in a baseline study for a long-term monitoring survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gombert, S.; Asta, J.; Seaward, M.R.D.

2005-01-01

In 1997 the ecological characteristics of the epiphytic species (83 lichens and two algae) of an urban area (Grenoble, France) were determined. Seven autecological indices were used to characterize the lichen ecology: illumination index, humidity index, pH of bark, nutrient status of substratum, ecological index of IAP and frequency. Six clusters (A1-A6) were defined using cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Seven environmental parameters characterizing the stations and the lichen releves were also used: elevation, parameters of artificiality (urbanization, traffic and local land use), IAP, and the percentage of nitrophytic and acidophytic species. Six clusters (B1-B6) were defined using cluster analysis and canonical correspondence analysis. Four clusters (C1-C4) were finally defined using an empirical integrated method combining the autecological and environmental parameters. This final clustering which established the status of the lichen vegetation in 1997 can be reliably used as a baseline study to effectively monitor environmental changes in this urban area. - Ecological clustering which establishes the status of lichen vegetation can be reliably used as a baseline study to monitor environmental changes

Dealing with uncertainties in environmental burden of disease assessment

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van der Sluijs Jeroen P

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs combine the number of people affected by disease or mortality in a population and the duration and severity of their condition into one number. The environmental burden of disease is the number of DALYs that can be attributed to environmental factors. Environmental burden of disease estimates enable policy makers to evaluate, compare and prioritize dissimilar environmental health problems or interventions. These estimates often have various uncertainties and assumptions which are not always made explicit. Besides statistical uncertainty in input data and parameters – which is commonly addressed – a variety of other types of uncertainties may substantially influence the results of the assessment. We have reviewed how different types of uncertainties affect environmental burden of disease assessments, and we give suggestions as to how researchers could address these uncertainties. We propose the use of an uncertainty typology to identify and characterize uncertainties. Finally, we argue that uncertainties need to be identified, assessed, reported and interpreted in order for assessment results to adequately support decision making.

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy, E-mail: jlundholm@smu.ca

2016-05-15

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%–26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21 °C–36 °C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy

2016-01-01

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%–26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21 °C–36 °C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

Environmental temperature affects physiology and survival of nanosecond pulsed electric field-treated cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Shengyong; Miao, Xudong; Zhang, Xueming; Chen, Xinhua; Wen, Hao

2018-02-01

Nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) is a novel non-thermal tumor ablation technique. However, how nsPEF affect cell physiology at different environmental temperature is still kept unknown. But this issue is of critical clinical practice relevance. This work aim to investigate how nsPEF treated cancer cells react to different environmental temperatures (0, 4, 25, and 37°C). Their cell viability, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were examined. Lower temperature resulted in higher apoptosis rate, decreased mitochondria membrane potential, and increased ROS levels. Sucrose and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) pre-incubation inhibit ROS generation and increase cell survival, protecting nsPEF-treated cells from low temperature-caused cell death. This work provides an experimental basis for hypothermia and fluid transfusion during nsPEF ablation with anesthesia. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multivariate benthic ecosystem functioning in the Arctic – benthic fluxes explained by environmental parameters in the southeastern Beaufort Sea

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H. Link

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The effects of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems and their biogeochemical cycles are difficult to predict given the complex physical, biological and chemical interactions among the ecosystem components. We studied benthic biogeochemical fluxes in the Arctic and the influence of short-term (seasonal to annual, long-term (annual to decadal and other environmental variability on their spatial distribution to provide a baseline for estimates of the impact of future changes. In summer 2009, we measured fluxes of dissolved oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, soluble reactive phosphate and silicic acid at the sediment–water interface at eight sites in the southeastern Beaufort Sea at water depths from 45 to 580 m. The spatial pattern of the measured benthic boundary fluxes was heterogeneous. Multivariate analysis of flux data showed that no single or reduced combination of fluxes could explain the majority of spatial variation, indicating that oxygen flux is not representative of other nutrient sink–source dynamics. We tested the influence of eight environmental parameters on single benthic fluxes. Short-term environmental parameters (sinking flux of particulate organic carbon above the bottom, sediment surface Chl a were most important for explaining oxygen, ammonium and nitrate fluxes. Long-term parameters (porosity, surface manganese and iron concentration, bottom water oxygen concentrations together with δ13Corg signature explained most of the spatial variation in phosphate, nitrate and nitrite fluxes. Variation in pigments at the sediment surface was most important to explain variation in fluxes of silicic acid. In a model including all fluxes synchronously, the overall spatial distribution could be best explained (57% by the combination of sediment Chl a, phaeopigments, δ13Corg, surficial manganese and bottom water oxygen concentration. We conclude that it is necessary to consider long-term environmental variability along with

Development and Substantiation of Parameters of Environmentally Friendly Technology for Filling the Vertical Mine Workings with Autoclaved Slag-Concrete

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uglyanitca Andrey

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The environmentally friendly technology for filling the vertical mine workings with autoclaved slag-concrete, prefabricated on the surface of the mine is presented in the article; the optimal parameters of filling technology are proposed. The developed technology for filling the abandoned vertical mine workings allows ensuring the environmental safety of the territories adjacent to the abandoned mine, utilizing slag dumps and providing the possibility of shaft recovery, if necessary, with minimal labor and material costs.

Influence diagram of physiological and environmental factors affecting heart rate variability: an extended literature overview

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Julien Fatisson

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Heart rate variability (HRV corresponds to the adaptation of the heart to any stimulus. In fact, among the pathologies affecting HRV the most, there are the cardiovascular diseases and depressive disorders, which are associated with high medical cost in Western societies. Consequently, HRV is now widely used as an index of health.In order to better understand how this adaptation takes place, it is necessary to examine which factors directly influence HRV, whether they have a physiological or environmental origin. The primary objective of this research is therefore to conduct a literature review in order to get a comprehensive overview of the subject.The system of these factors affecting HRV can be divided into the following five categories: physiological and pathological factors, environmental factors, lifestyle factors, non-modifiable factors and effects. The direct interrelationships between these factors and HRV can be regrouped into an influence diagram. This diagram can therefore serve as a basis to improve daily clinical practice as well as help design even more precise research protocols.

Evaluation of the parameters affecting bone temperature during drilling using a three-dimensional dynamic elastoplastic finite element model.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yung-Chuan; Tu, Yuan-Kun; Zhuang, Jun-Yan; Tsai, Yi-Jung; Yen, Cheng-Yo; Hsiao, Chih-Kun

2017-11-01

A three-dimensional dynamic elastoplastic finite element model was constructed and experimentally validated and was used to investigate the parameters which influence bone temperature during drilling, including the drill speed, feeding force, drill bit diameter, and bone density. Results showed the proposed three-dimensional dynamic elastoplastic finite element model can effectively simulate the temperature elevation during bone drilling. The bone temperature rise decreased with an increase in feeding force and drill speed, however, increased with the diameter of drill bit or bone density. The temperature distribution is significantly affected by the drilling duration; a lower drilling speed reduced the exposure duration, decreases the region of the thermally affected zone. The constructed model could be applied for analyzing the influence parameters during bone drilling to reduce the risk of thermal necrosis. It may provide important information for the design of drill bits and surgical drilling powers.

Does Cigarette Smoking Affect Seminal Fluid Parameters? A Comparative Study

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Zakarya Bani Meri

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To study the effect of cigarette smoking on seminal fluid parameters, namely; volume, sperm concentration, and motility, as well as morphology, leukocyte infiltration, among males complaining of infertility.Methods: Between August 2010 and July 2011, seminal fluid analysis was done for 1438 males who are partners of couples who visited the infertility clinic at Prince Rashid Ben Al Hassan Hospital (PRH for infertility. The men who fit the inclusion criteria (n=960 were classified into two groups: group a (non-smokers; n=564 and group B (smokers; n=396, which represents 41.25% of the study group. Seminal fluid was collected using masturbation after 3-5 days of abstinence then analyzed for volume, sperm count, sperm concentration, motility and morphology. In order to analyze whether the number of cigarettes smoked per day has an effect on the spermatogram; the smoking men were divided into two subgroups: the heavy smokers (n=266 and non-heavy smokers (n=130.Results: A total of 960 adult males were enrolled. Their age ranged between 21 and 76 years, 564 were non-smokers with mean age of 36. 45±6.27 (Mean±SD. Three-hundred-and-ninety-six were smokers with a mean age of 34.35±4.25 (Mean±SD. There was a significant effect of smoking on the motility of sperms and the ratios of abnormality (p<0.005. Concentration appeared not to be affected by smoking. Furthermore, the group of heavy smokers were found to have lower sperm concentrations and a higher percentage of abnormal sperms compared to the non-heavy smokers.Conclusion: Cigarette smoking has a deleterious effect on some of the seminal fluid parameters (motility, morphology and leukocyte count which in turn may result in male subfertility.

Heat and Moisture Transport and Storage Parameters of Bricks Affected by the Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Kočí, Václav; Čáchová, Monika; Koňáková, Dana; Vejmelková, Eva; Jerman, Miloš; Keppert, Martin; Maděra, Jiří; Černý, Robert

2018-05-01

The effect of external environment on heat and moisture transport and storage properties of the traditional fired clay brick, sand-lime brick and highly perforated ceramic block commonly used in the Czech Republic and on their hygrothermal performance in building envelopes is analyzed by a combination of experimental and computational techniques. The experimental measurements of thermal, hygric and basic physical parameters are carried out in the reference state and after a 3-year exposure of the bricks to real climatic conditions of the city of Prague. The obtained results showed that after 3 years of weathering the porosity of the analyzed bricks increased up to five percentage points which led to an increase in liquid and gaseous moisture transport parameters and a decrease in thermal conductivity. Computational modeling of hygrothermal performance of building envelopes made of the studied bricks was done using both reference and weather-affected data. The simulated results indicated an improvement in the annual energy balances and a decrease in the time-of-wetness functions as a result of the use of data obtained after the 3-year exposure to the environment. The effects of weathering on both heat and moisture transport and storage parameters of the analyzed bricks and on their hygrothermal performance were found significant despite the occurrence of warm winters in the time period of 2012-2015 when the brick specimens were exposed to the environment.

A grey-forecasting interval-parameter mixed-integer programming approach for integrated electric-environmental management–A case study of Beijing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Xingwei; Cai, Yanpeng; Chen, Jiajun; Dai, Chao

2013-01-01

In this study, a GFIPMIP (grey-forecasting interval-parameter mixed-integer programming) approach was developed for supporting IEEM (integrated electric-environmental management) in Beijing. It was an attempt to incorporate an energy-forecasting model within a general modeling framework at the municipal level. The developed GFIPMIP model can not only forecast electric demands, but also reflect dynamic, interactive, and uncertain characteristics of the IEEM system in Beijing. Moreover, it can address issues regarding power supply, and emission reduction of atmospheric pollutants and GHG (greenhouse gas). Optimal solutions were obtained related to power generation patterns and facility capacity expansion schemes under a series of system constraints. Two scenarios were analyzed based on multiple environmental policies. The results were useful for helping decision makers identify desired management strategies to guarantee the city's power supply and mitigate emissions of GHG and atmospheric pollutants. The results also suggested that the developed GFIPMIP model be applicable to similar engineering problems. - Highlights: • A grey-forecasting interval-parameter mixed integer programming (GFIPMIP) approach was developed. • It could reflect dynamic, interactive, and uncertain characteristics of an IEEM system. • The developed GFIPMIP approach was used for supporting IEEM system planning in Beijing. • Two scenarios were established based on different environmental policies and management targets. • Optimal schemes for power generation, energy supply, and environmental protection were identified

Environmental Affective Dispositions Scale (EADS): The Study of Validity and Reliability and Adaptation to Turkish

Science.gov (United States)

Fettahlioglu, Pinar; Timur, Serkan; Timur, Betül

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to conduct a research under circumstances of Turkey about the validity and reliability of the Affective Tendencies towards Environmental Scale prepared by Yavetz, Goldman and Pe'er (2009). The translation of this scale to Turkish was done by the researchers and language specialists. And then, the scale was evaluated by the…

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and satisfaction aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frontczak, Monika Joanna; Schiavon, S.; Goins, J.

2012-01-01

The article examines which subjectively evaluated indoor environmental parameters and building features mostly affect occupants' satisfaction in mainly US office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52 980 occupants in 351 office buildings over 10 years...... by the Center for the Built Environment. The survey uses 7-point ordered scale questions pertaining to satisfaction with indoor environmental parameters, workspace, and building features. The average building occupant was satisfied with his/her workspace and building. Proportional odds ordinal logistic...

Conventional, Partially Converted and Environmentally Friendly Farming in South Korea: Profitability and Factors Affecting Farmers’ Choice

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Saem Lee

2016-07-01

Full Text Available While organic farming is well established in Europe a nd USA, it is still catching up in Asian countries. The government of South Korea has implemented environmentally friendly farming that encompasses organic farming. Despite the promotion of environmentally friendly farming, it still has a low share in South Korea and partially converted farming has emerged in some districts of South Korea. However, the partially converted farming has not yet been investigated by the government. Thus, our study implemented a financial analysis to compare the annual costs and net returns of conventional, partially converted and environmentally friendly farming in Gangwon Province. The result showed that environmentally friendly farming was more profitable with respect to farm net returns. To find out the factors affecting the adoption of environmentally friendly farming, multinomial logistic regression was implemented. The findings revealed that education and subsidy positively and significantly influenced the probability of farmers’ choice on partially converted and environmentally friendly farming. Farm size had a negative and significant relationship with only environmentally friendly farming. This study will contribute to future policy establishment for sustainable agriculture as recommended by improving the quality of fertilizers, suggesting the additional investigation associated with partially converted farmers.

Interval-parameter chance-constraint programming model for end-of-life vehicles management under rigorous environmental regulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Simic, Vladimir

2016-06-01

As the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is estimated to increase to 79.3 million units per year by 2020 (e.g., 40 million units were generated in 2010), there is strong motivation to effectively manage this fast-growing waste flow. Intensive work on management of ELVs is necessary in order to more successfully tackle this important environmental challenge. This paper proposes an interval-parameter chance-constraint programming model for end-of-life vehicles management under rigorous environmental regulations. The proposed model can incorporate various uncertainty information in the modeling process. The complex relationships between different ELV management sub-systems are successfully addressed. Particularly, the formulated model can help identify optimal patterns of procurement from multiple sources of ELV supply, production and inventory planning in multiple vehicle recycling factories, and allocation of sorted material flows to multiple final destinations under rigorous environmental regulations. A case study is conducted in order to demonstrate the potentials and applicability of the proposed model. Various constraint-violation probability levels are examined in detail. Influences of parameter uncertainty on model solutions are thoroughly investigated. Useful solutions for the management of ELVs are obtained under different probabilities of violating system constraints. The formulated model is able to tackle a hard, uncertainty existing ELV management problem. The presented model has advantages in providing bases for determining long-term ELV management plans with desired compromises between economic efficiency of vehicle recycling system and system-reliability considerations. The results are helpful for supporting generation and improvement of ELV management plans. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Factors Affecting Microbiota Dynamics during Traditional Solid-state Fermentation of Chinese Daqu Starter

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Pan; Lin, Weifeng; Liu, Xiong; Wang, Xiaowen; Luo, Lixin

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated the microbiota dynamics during two industrial-scale traditional solid-state fermentation (SSF) processes of Daqu starters. Similar evolution profiles of environmental parameters, enzymatic activities, microbial amounts, and communities were observed during the medium temperature SSF (MTSSF) and low temperature SSF (LTSSF) processes. Orders of Rickettsiales and Streptophyta only dominated the initial 2 days, and Eurotiales only predominated from days 10 to 24, however, phylotypes of Enterobacteriales, Lactobacillales, Bacillales, Saccharomycetales, and Mucorales both prevailed throughout the MTSSF and LTSSF processes. Nevertheless, the pH in MTSSF process on day 5 were 5.28, while in LTSSF process (4.87) significantly lower (P < 0.05). The glucoamylase activities in MTSSF process dropped from 902.71 to 394.33 mg glucose g-1 h-1 on days 5 to 24, while significantly lower (P < 0.05) in LTSSF process and decreased from 512.25 to 268.69 mg glucose g-1 h-1. The relative abundance of Enterobacteriales and Lactobacillales in MTSSF process constituted from 10.30 to 71.73% and 2.34 to 16.68%, while in LTSSF process ranged from 3.16 to 41.06% and 8.43 to 57.39%, respectively. The relative abundance of Eurotiales in MTSSF process on days 10 to 24 decreased from 36.10 to 28.63%, while obviously higher in LTSSF process and increased from 52.00 to 72.97%. Furthermore, lower bacterial richness but higher fungal richness were displayed, markedly differences in bacterial communities but highly similarities in fungal communities were exhibited, during MTSSF process comparatively to the LTSSF process. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed microbial structure transition happened at thermophilic stages under environmental stress of moisture, pH, acidity, and pile temperature. These profound understanding might help to effectively control the traditional Daqu SSF process by adjusting relevant environmental parameters. PMID:27540378

Environmental factors affecting microbiota dynamics during traditional solid-state fermentation of Chinese Daqu starter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pan Li

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In this study, we investigated the microbiota dynamics during two industrial-scale traditional solid-state fermentation (SSF processes of Daqu starters. Similar evolution profiles of environmental parameters, enzymatic activities, microbial amounts and communities were observed during the medium temperature SSF (MTSSF and low temperature SSF (LTSSF processes. Orders of Rickettsiales and Streptophyta only dominated the initial two days, and Eurotiales only predominated from days 10 to 24, however, phylotypes of Enterobacteriales, Lactobacillales, Bacillales, Saccharomycetales and Mucorales both prevailed throughout the MTSSF and LTSSF processes. Nevertheless, the pH in MTSSF process on day 5 were 5.28, while in LTSSF process (4.87 significantly lower (P < 0.05. The glucoamylase activities in MTSSF process dropped from 902.71 to 394.33 mg glucose g-1 h-1 on days 5 to 24, while significantly lower (P < 0.05 in LTSSF process and decreased from 512.25 to 268.69 mg glucose g-1 h-1. The relative abundance of Enterobacteriales and Lactobacillales in MTSSF process constituted from 10.30% to 71.73% and 2.34% to 16.68%, while in LTSSF process ranged from 3.16% to 41.06% and 8.43% to 57.39%, respectively. The relative abundance of Eurotiales in MTSSF process on days 10 to 24 decreased from 36.10% to 28.63%, while obviously higher in LTSSF process and increased from 52.00% to 72.97%. Furthermore, lower bacterial richness but higher fungal richness were displayed, markedly differences in bacterial communities but highly similarities in fungal communities were exhibited, during MTSSF process comparatively to the LTSSF process. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed microbial structure transition happened at thermophilic stages under environmental stress of moisture, pH, acidity and pile temperature. These profound understanding might help to effectively control the traditional Daqu SSF process by adjusting relevant environmental parameters.

Antibiotics in 16-day-old broilers temporarily affect microbial and immune parameters in the gut.

Science.gov (United States)

Wisselink, H J; Cornelissen, J B W J; Mevius, D J; Smits, M A; Smidt, H; Rebel, J M J

2017-09-01

Animal health benefits from a stable intestinal homeostasis, for which proper development and functioning of the intestinal microbiota and immune system are essential. It has been established that changes in microbial colonization in early life (the first 2 wk post hatch) impacts the functioning of the adult gut and the associated crosstalk between microbiota and intestinal mucosal cells. The aim of the present study was to study the effect of the administration of antibiotics later in life (d 15 to 20 post hatch) on microbiota and immune parameters. For this purpose, chickens received from 15 d post hatch during 5 d amoxicillin or enrofloxacin through their drinking water. Before and at 6, 16, and 27 d after start of the administration of antibiotics, the composition of the microbiota in the jejunum was determined using a 16S ribosomal RNA gene-targeted DNA microarray, the CHICKChip. At 6 d after the start of the administration of the antibiotics, the composition and diversity of the microbiota were affected significantly (P antibiotic administration, the number of CD4+ T-cells and CD8+ T-cells in the duodenum was lower compared to the control animals; however, this difference was not significant. At some time points, significant differences (P antibiotics only temporarily affect intestinal microbial and immune parameters. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Seagrass Parameter Affect the Fish Assemblages in Karimunjawa Archipelago

Science.gov (United States)

Sri Susilo, Endang; Nugroho Sugianto, Denny; Munasik; Nirwani; Adhi Suryono, Chrisna

2018-02-01

Seagrass beds promote high species diversity, abundance and biomass, and become important habitats for some economically important fishes. Plants of seagrasses result in structurally highly complex habitats and offering feeding grounds, shelter from predation as well as nursery areas for diverse fish assemblages. However, research on fish communities in Southeast Asian seagrass bed is rarely conducted. In the present study fish assemblages in seagrass beds with different parameters (cover, diversity and similarity indices, domination) was investigated in the Karimunjawa Islands, Indonesia. The purpose of this study were to assess whether fish assemblages differ concerning on the abundance and the species number. This study was conducted on the seagrass bed on Karimunjawa Islands in Java Sea, particularly in the water of Menjangan Besar and Menjangan Kecil Island. Line-quadrant transect was used to assess seagrass data, while the occurrence and individual number of fish harboured in the selected seagrass bed was counted by using underwater visual census in the stationary point count transects. Seagrass cover in Menjangan Kecil Island (41%) with various canopy included both upper and lower canopy was considerable higher than those in Menjangan Besar Island (5%). Fish diversity, species composition and abundance are considerably different between the two study sites. This study revealed that seagrass density or cover and canopy structure affected the fish abundance and species number harboured.

Monitoring of conventional environmental parameters at CERN Annual Report 2003

CERN Document Server

Kleiner, S

2004-01-01

The monitoring programme for conventional environmental parameters at CERN comprises the control of water released from CERN installations, checks of water quality in rivers receiving water from CERN and monitoring of ambient air quality at places close to the CERN sites. The control of released water includes continuous monitoring of pH and temperature at six CERN water outlets and periodical sampling and analysis campaigns to check in more details the quality of the water released from the CERN sites. Regular measurements of pH, temperature, concentration of dissolved oxygen and conductivity were performed in the water of the rivers Nant d'Avril (CH) and Le Lion (F) as well as in the water of the streams around the seven LHC sites PA2 − PA8. The concentrations of nitrogen oxides and ozone in the ambient air, which may be produced in accelerator facilities and released into the environment, were measured at two off-site monitoring stations in Maisonnex (CH) and Cessy (F). The report summarises the results ...

Monitoring of conventional environmental parameters at CERN Annual Report 2004

CERN Document Server

Dziewa, A

2005-01-01

The monitoring programme for conventional environmental parameters at CERN comprises the control of water released from CERN installations, checks of water quality in rivers receiving water from CERN and monitoring of ambient air quality at places close to the CERN sites. The control of released water includes continuous monitoring of pH and temperature at six CERN water outlets and periodical sampling and analysis campaigns to check in more details the quality of the water released from the CERN sites. Sporadic river-water analyses and regular measurements of pH, temperature, concentration of dissolved oxygen and conductivity, were performed in the water of the rivers Nant d'Avril (CH) and Le Lion (F) as well as in the water of the streams around the seven LHC sites PA2 − PA8. The concentrations of nitrogen oxides and ozone in the ambient air, which may be produced in accelerator facilities and released into the environment, were measured at two off-site monitoring stations in Maisonnex (CH) and Cessy (F)....

Approaches in highly parameterized inversion - PEST++, a Parameter ESTimation code optimized for large environmental models

Science.gov (United States)

Welter, David E.; Doherty, John E.; Hunt, Randall J.; Muffels, Christopher T.; Tonkin, Matthew J.; Schreuder, Willem A.

2012-01-01

An object-oriented parameter estimation code was developed to incorporate benefits of object-oriented programming techniques for solving large parameter estimation modeling problems. The code is written in C++ and is a formulation and expansion of the algorithms included in PEST, a widely used parameter estimation code written in Fortran. The new code is called PEST++ and is designed to lower the barriers of entry for users and developers while providing efficient algorithms that can accommodate large, highly parameterized problems. This effort has focused on (1) implementing the most popular features of PEST in a fashion that is easy for novice or experienced modelers to use and (2) creating a software design that is easy to extend; that is, this effort provides a documented object-oriented framework designed from the ground up to be modular and extensible. In addition, all PEST++ source code and its associated libraries, as well as the general run manager source code, have been integrated in the Microsoft Visual Studio® 2010 integrated development environment. The PEST++ code is designed to provide a foundation for an open-source development environment capable of producing robust and efficient parameter estimation tools for the environmental modeling community into the future.

Parameters affecting level measurement interpretation of nuclear fuel solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunt, B.A.; Landat, D.A.

1999-01-01

This paper describes a level measurement technique commonly used in the measurement of radioactive liquids and equipment utilised by the inspectors for safeguards purposes. Some of the influencing parameters affecting the measurement results by this technique are characterised. An essential requisite for successful process operations in chemical facilities involving liquids generally require some physical measurements to be made in-line for both process and quality control in order to achieve the necessary final product specifications . In nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, the same objectives apply coupled however with an additional requirement of achieving nuclear material accountancy and control. In view of the strategic importance of some of the process vessels in nuclear facilities, accountancy has to be supported by volume and density measurements of low uncertainty. Inspectors therefore require instruments which are at the very least as good as or better than operator's equipment. The classical measurement technique and most widely applied for process liquids in nuclear installations is the bubbler probe or dip-tube technique. Here a regulated flow of air passes through tubes inserted to various depths into the vessel and pressure readings are measured which are a function of the presence of liquid height and density of solution in the tank. These readings, taken together with a pre-determined calibration curve are sufficient for the volume and amount of liquor in a tank to be quantified. All measurement equipment and instrumentation are long distances from the tank environment. The key physical parameter to measure at this location is therefore pressure. Equipment designed developed, commissioned and tested in the tank measurement facilities at Ispra and in nuclear installations in Europe, Japan and the USA, house digital pressure transducer modules with manufacture's declared features of better than 0.01% accuracy and long term stability of 0.01% full

A dynamical-systems approach for computing ice-affected streamflow

Science.gov (United States)

Holtschlag, David J.

1996-01-01

A dynamical-systems approach was developed and evaluated for computing ice-affected streamflow. The approach provides for dynamic simulation and parameter estimation of site-specific equations relating ice effects to routinely measured environmental variables. Comparison indicates that results from the dynamical-systems approach ranked higher than results from 11 analytical methods previously investigated on the basis of accuracy and feasibility criteria. Additional research will likely lead to further improvements in the approach.

The Role of AChE in Swimming Behavior of Daphnia magna: Correlation Analysis of Both Parameters Affected by Deltamethrin and Methomyl Exposure

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Qing Ren

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The unpredictable toxicity of insecticides may cause behavior disorder of biological organisms. In order to assess the role of acetylcholinesterase (AChE in swimming behavior of Daphnia magna, a correlation analysis of both parameters in 24 h exposure of deltamethrin (DM and methomyl (MT was investigated. The behavior responses of D. magna in DM (13.36 μg/L and 33.40 μg/L and MT (19.66 μg/L and 49.15 μg/L suggested that recovery behavior in the adjustment phase was crucial, and behavior homeostasis provided them with an optimal way to achieve a wider tolerance against environmental stress. During the experiment, positive effects on AChE activity occurred in the beginning of the exposure. Even though the de novo synthesis of AChE in D. magna might help it recover, the AChE inhibition in different treatments could be observed. Some induction effects on AChE activity at the beginning of exposure occurred, and a 50% decrease may cause toxic effects on behavior. In most treatments, the results showed that both behavior strength and AChE activity stayed in the same field within a correlation circle. These results illustrated that the environmental stress caused by both DM and MT could inhibit AChE activity and subsequently induce a stepwise behavior response, though both pesticides affect it as direct and indirect inhibitors, respectively.

Genetic and environmental factors affecting birth size variation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yokoyama, Yoshie; Jelenkovic, Aline; Hur, Yoon-Mi

2018-01-01

Background: The genetic architecture of birth size may differ geographically and over time. We examined differences in the genetic and environmental contributions to birthweight, length and ponderal index (PI) across geographical-cultural regions (Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia......) and across birth cohorts, and how gestational age modifies these effects. Methods: Data from 26 twin cohorts in 16 countries including 57 613 monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs were pooled. Genetic and environmental variations of birth size were estimated using genetic structural equation modelling....... Results: The variance of birthweight and length was predominantly explained by shared environmental factors, whereas the variance of PI was explained both by shared and unique environmental factors. Genetic variance contributing to birth size was small. Adjusting for gestational age decreased...

Correlation between nitrate concentration in groundwater and parameters affecting aquifer intrinsic vulnerability

Science.gov (United States)

Debernardi, Laura; de Luca, Domenico Antonio; Lasagna, Manuela

2008-08-01

This paper is the result of a study which was carried out in order to verify if the traditional methods to evaluate the intrinsic vulnerability or vulnerability related parameters, are able to clarify the problem of nitrate pollution in groundwater. In particular, the aim was to evaluate limitations and problems connected to aquifer vulnerability methods applied to nitrate contamination prevision in groundwater. The investigation was carried out by comparing NO3 - concentrations, measured in March and November 2004 in the shallow aquifer, and the vulnerability classes, obtained by using GOD and TOT methods. Moreover, it deals with a comparison between NO3 - concentrations and single parameters (depth to water table, land use and nitrogen input). The study area is the plain sector of Piemonte (Northern Italy), where an unconfined aquifer nitrate contamination exists. In this area the anthropogenic presence is remarkable and the input of N-fertilizers and zootechnical effluents to the soil cause a growing amount of nitrates in groundwater. This approach, used in a large area (about 10,000 km2) and in several monitoring wells (about 500), allowed to compare the efficiency of different vulnerability methods and to verify the importance of every parameter on the nitrate concentrations in the aquifer. Furthermore it allowed to obtain interesting correlations in different hydrogeological situations. Correlations between depth to water table, land use and nitrogen input to the soil with nitrate concentrations in groundwater show unclear situations: in fact these comparisons describe the phenomenon trend and highlight the maximum nitrate concentrations for each circumstance but often show wide ranges of possible nitrate concentrations. The same situation could be observed by comparing vulnerability indexes and nitrate concentrations in groundwater. These results suggest that neither single parameters nor vulnerability methods (GOD and TOT) are able to describe individually

Intergenomic rearrangements after polyploidization of Kengyilia thoroldiana (Poaceae: Triticeae) affected by environmental factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qiuxia; Liu, Huitao; Gao, Ainong; Yang, Xinming; Liu, Weihua; Li, Xiuquan; Li, Lihui

2012-01-01

Polyploidization is a major evolutionary process. Approximately 70-75% species of Triticeae (Poaceae) are polyploids, involving 23 genomes. To investigate intergenomic rearrangements after polyploidization of Triticeae species and to determine the effects of environmental factors on them, nine populations of a typical polyploid Triticeae species, Kengyilia thoroldiana (Keng) J.L.Yang et al. (2n = 6x = 42, StStPPYY), collected from different environments, were studied using genome in situ hybridization (GISH). We found that intergenomic rearrangements occurred between the relatively large P genome and the small genomes, St (8.15%) and Y (22.22%), in polyploid species via various types of translocations compared to their diploid progenitors. However, no translocation was found between the relatively small St and Y chromosomes. Environmental factors may affect rearrangements among the three genomes. Chromosome translocations were significantly more frequent in populations from cold alpine and grassland environments than in populations from valley and lake-basin habitats (P<0.05). The relationship between types of chromosome translocations and altitude was significant (r = 0.809, P<0.01). Intergenomic rearrangements associated with environmental factors and genetic differentiation of a single basic genome should be considered as equally important genetic processes during species' ecotype evolution.

Intergenomic rearrangements after polyploidization of Kengyilia thoroldiana (Poaceae: Triticeae affected by environmental factors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiuxia Wang

Full Text Available Polyploidization is a major evolutionary process. Approximately 70-75% species of Triticeae (Poaceae are polyploids, involving 23 genomes. To investigate intergenomic rearrangements after polyploidization of Triticeae species and to determine the effects of environmental factors on them, nine populations of a typical polyploid Triticeae species, Kengyilia thoroldiana (Keng J.L.Yang et al. (2n = 6x = 42, StStPPYY, collected from different environments, were studied using genome in situ hybridization (GISH. We found that intergenomic rearrangements occurred between the relatively large P genome and the small genomes, St (8.15% and Y (22.22%, in polyploid species via various types of translocations compared to their diploid progenitors. However, no translocation was found between the relatively small St and Y chromosomes. Environmental factors may affect rearrangements among the three genomes. Chromosome translocations were significantly more frequent in populations from cold alpine and grassland environments than in populations from valley and lake-basin habitats (P<0.05. The relationship between types of chromosome translocations and altitude was significant (r = 0.809, P<0.01. Intergenomic rearrangements associated with environmental factors and genetic differentiation of a single basic genome should be considered as equally important genetic processes during species' ecotype evolution.

Effluent and environmental monitoring of Chalk River Laboratories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pilgrim, T.; De Waele, C.; Gallagher, C. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, ON (Canada)

2014-07-01

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL's) Environmental Protection Program has been gathering environmental monitoring data at its Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) for over 60 years. The comprehensive effluent and environmental monitoring program at CRL consists of more than 600 sampling locations, including the Ottawa River, with approximately 60,000 analyses performed on air and liquid effluent parameters each year. Monitoring for a variety of radiological and non-radiological parameters is regularly conducted on various media, including ambient air, foodstuff (e.g. milk, fish, garden produce, large game, and farm animals), groundwater, Ottawa River water and other surface water on and off-site. The purpose of the monitoring program is to verify that past and current radiological and non-radiological emissions derived from AECL operations and activities, such as process water effluent into the Ottawa River, are below regulatory limits and demonstrate that CRL operations do not negatively affect the quality of water on or leaving the site. In fact, ongoing program reports demonstrate that radiological emissions are well below regulatory limits and have been declining for the past five years, and that non-radiological contaminants do not negatively affect the quality of water on and off the site. Two updated Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards for Effluent and Environmental monitoring have come into effect and have resulted in some changes to the AECL Program. This presentation will discuss effluent and surface water monitoring results, the observed trends, the changes triggered by the CSA standards, and a path forward for the future. (author)

Experimental Analyses of the Major Parameters Affecting the Intensity of Outbursts of Coal and Gas

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, W.; Peng, S. J.; Xu, J.; Liu, L. R.; Wang, G.; Geng, J. B.

2014-01-01

With an increase in mining depth and production, the intensity and frequency of outburst of coal and gas have a tendency to increase. Estimating the intensity of outbursts of coal and gas plays an important role because of its relation with the risk value. In this paper, we described the semiquantitative relations between major parameters and intensity of outburst based on physical experiments. The results showed increment of geostress simulated by horizontal load (from 1.4, 2.4, 3.2, to 3.4 MPa) or vertical load (from 2, 3, 3.6, to 4 MPa) improved the relative intensity rate (3.763–7.403% and 1.273–7.99%); the increment of porosity (from 1.57, 2.51, 3, to 3.6%) improved the relative intensity rate from 3.8 to 13.8%; the increment of gas pressure (from 0, 0.5, 0.65, 0.72, 1, to 1.5 Mpa) induced the relative intensity rate to decrease from 38.22 to 0%; the increment of water content (from 0, 2, 4, to 8%) caused the relative intensity rate to drop from 5.425 to 0.5%. Furthermore, sensitivity and range analysis evaluates coupled factors affecting the relative intensity. In addition, the distinction with initiation of outburst of coal and gas affected by these parameters is discussed by the relative threshold of gas content rate. PMID:25162042

Affective dysfunction in a mouse model of Rett syndrome: Therapeutic effects of environmental stimulation and physical activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kondo, Mari A; Gray, Laura J; Pelka, Gregory J; Leang, Sook-Kwan; Christodoulou, John; Tam, Patrick P L; Hannan, Anthony J

2016-02-01

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with mutations in the X-linked gene encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and consequent dysregulation of brain maturation. Patients suffer from a range of debilitating physical symptoms, however, behavioral and emotional symptoms also severely affect their quality of life. Here, we present previously unreported and clinically relevant affective dysfunction in the female heterozygous Mecp2(tm1Tam) mouse model of RTT (129sv and C57BL6 mixed background). The affective dysfunction and aberrant anxiety-related behavior of the Mecp2(+/-) mice were found to be reversible with environmental enrichment (EE) from 4 weeks of age. The effect of exercise alone (via wheel running) was also explored, providing the first evidence that increased voluntary physical activity in an animal model of RTT is beneficial for some phenotypes. Mecp2(+/-) mutants displayed elevated corticosterone despite decreased Crh expression, demonstrating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. EE of Mecp2(+/-) mice normalized basal serum corticosterone and hippocampal BDNF protein levels. The enrichment-induced rescue appears independent of the transcriptional regulation of the MeCP2 targets Bdnf exon 4 and Crh. These findings provide new insight into the neurodevelopmental role of MeCP2 and pathogenesis of RTT, in particular the affective dysfunction. The positive outcomes of environmental stimulation and physical exercise have implications for the development of therapies targeting the affective symptoms, as well as behavioral and cognitive dimensions, of this devastating neurodevelopmental disorder. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design parameters and source terms: Volume 1, Design parameters: Revision 0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-10-01

The Design Parameters and Source Terms Document was prepared in accordance with DOE request and to provide data for the environmental impact study to be performed in the future for the Deaf Smith County, Texas site for a nuclear waste repository in salt. This document updates a previous unpublished report by Stearns Catalytic Corporation (SCC), entitled ''Design Parameters and Source Terms for a Two-Phase Repository in Salt,'' 1985, to the level of the Site Characterization Plan - Conceptual Design Report. The previous unpublished SCC Study identifies the data needs for the Environmental Assessment effort for seven possible Salt Repository sites

Brain matters: from environmental ethics to environmental neuroethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabrera, Laura Y; Tesluk, Jordan; Chakraborti, Michelle; Matthews, Ralph; Illes, Judy

2016-02-15

The ways in which humans affect and are affected by their environments have been studied from many different perspectives over the past decades. However, it was not until the 1970s that the discussion of the ethical relationship between humankind and the environment formalized as an academic discipline with the emergence of environmental ethics. A few decades later, environmental health emerged as a discipline focused on the assessment and regulation of environmental factors that affect living beings. Our goal here is to begin a discussion specifically about the impact of modern environmental change on biomedical and social understandings of brain and mental health, and to align this with ethical considerations. We refer to this focus as Environmental Neuroethics, offer a case study to illustrate key themes and issues, and conclude by offering a five-tier framework as a starting point of analysis.

Comparison of environmental forcings affecting suspended sediments variability in two macrotidal, highly-turbid estuaries

Science.gov (United States)

Jalón-Rojas, Isabel; Schmidt, Sabine; Sottolichio, Aldo

2017-11-01

The relative contribution of environmental forcing frequencies on turbidity variability is, for the first time, quantified at seasonal and multiannual time scales in tidal estuarine systems. With a decade of high-frequency, multi-site turbidity monitoring, the two nearby, macrotidal and highly-turbid Gironde and Loire estuaries (west France) are excellent natural laboratories for this purpose. Singular Spectrum Analyses, combined with Lomb-Scargle periodograms and Wavelet Transforms, were applied to the continuous multiannual turbidity time series. Frequencies of the main environmental factors affecting turbidity were identified: hydrological regime (high versus low river discharges), river flow variability, tidal range, tidal cycles, and turbulence. Their relative influences show similar patterns in both estuaries and depend on the estuarine region (lower or upper estuary) and the time scale (multiannual or seasonal). On the multiannual time scale, the relative contribution of tidal frequencies (tidal cycles and range) to turbidity variability decreases up-estuary from 68% to 47%, while the influence of river flow frequencies increases from 3% to 42%. On the seasonal time scale, the relative influence of forcings frequencies remains almost constant in the lower estuary, dominated by tidal frequencies (60% and 30% for tidal cycles and tidal range, respectively); in the upper reaches, it is variable depending on hydrological regime, even if tidal frequencies are responsible for up 50% of turbidity variance. These quantifications show the potential of combined spectral analyses to compare the behavior of suspended sediment in tidal estuaries throughout the world and to evaluate long-term changes in environmental forcings, especially in a context of global change. The relevance of this approach to compare nearby and overseas systems and to support management strategies is discussed (e.g., selection of effective operation frequencies/regions, prediction of the most

Continuosly Stirred Tank Reactor Parameters That Affect Sludge Batch 6 Simulant Properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newell, J.; Lambert, D.; Stone, M.; Fernandez, A.

2010-01-01

). Precipitated MnO 2 is combined with metal nitrates and fed into the CSTR. The metals are precipitated by a caustic NaOH stream. The rates at which these streams are added allows for pH adjustment of the mixture. A graphical representation of this process is given in Figure 1. In using the CSTR method for developing simulant, there are various parameters that can be adjusted in order to effectuate a physical change in the resulting simulant: pH, temperature, mixing speed, and flow rate. How will changing these parameters affect the physical properties of the sludge simulant? The ability to determine which parameter affects a particular property could allow one to develop a simulant that would better match the physical characteristics of HLW sludge.

Assessment of the Eutrophication-Related Environmental Parameters in Two Mediterranean Lakes by Integrating Statistical Techniques and Self-Organizing Maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadjisolomou, Ekaterini; Stefanidis, Konstantinos; Papatheodorou, George; Papastergiadou, Evanthia

2018-03-19

During the last decades, Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems, especially lakes, have been under severe pressure due to increasing eutrophication and water quality deterioration. In this article, we compared the effectiveness of different data analysis methods by assessing the contribution of environmental parameters to eutrophication processes. For this purpose, principal components analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and a self-organizing map (SOM) were applied, using water quality data from two transboundary lakes of North Greece. SOM is considered as an advanced and powerful data analysis tool because of its ability to represent complex and nonlinear relationships among multivariate data sets. The results of PCA and cluster analysis agreed with the SOM results, although the latter provided more information because of the visualization abilities regarding the parameters' relationships. Besides nutrients that were found to be a key factor for controlling chlorophyll-a (Chl - a), water temperature was related positively with algal production, while the Secchi disk depth parameter was found to be highly important and negatively related toeutrophic conditions. In general, the SOM results were more specific and allowed direct associations between the water quality variables. Our work showed that SOMs can be used effectively in limnological studies to produce robust and interpretable results, aiding scientists and managers to cope with environmental problems such as eutrophication.

Parameters affecting temporal resolution of Time Resolved Integrative Optical Neutron Detector (TRION)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mor, I; Vartsky, D; Bar, D; Feldman, G; Goldberg, M B; Brandis, M; Dangendorf, V; Tittelmeier, K; Bromberger, B; Weierganz, M

2013-01-01

The Time-Resolved Integrative Optical Neutron (TRION) detector was developed for Fast Neutron Resonance Radiography (FNRR), a fast-neutron transmission imaging method that exploits characteristic energy-variations of the total scattering cross-section in the E n = 1–10 MeV range to detect specific elements within a radiographed object. As opposed to classical event-counting time of flight (ECTOF), it integrates the detector signal during a well-defined neutron Time of Flight window corresponding to a pre-selected energy bin, e.g., the energy-interval spanning a cross-section resonance of an element such as C, O and N. The integrative characteristic of the detector permits loss-free operation at very intense, pulsed neutron fluxes, at a cost however, of recorded temporal resolution degradation This work presents a theoretical and experimental evaluation of detector related parameters which affect temporal resolution of the TRION system

The effects of environmental parameters on zooplankton assemblages in tropical coastal estuary, South-west, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waidi O. Abdul

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The present study was carried out to examine the distribution and assemblage structure of zooplankton in relation to environmental parameters of tropical coastal estuarine ecosystem impounding Bight of Benin, Nigeria. The estuarine water samples were collected between January and December, 2014 from three sampling zones (Brushpark, Open water and Wetland then were fixed in 4% formalin. A total of twenty-eight (28 species belonging to four (4 groups were recorded in this study. These groups were rotifera, copepoda, cladocerans and ostracodas, and were all widely distributed in the three investigated zones. Higher richness, dominance and abundance indices were recorded in Zone I when compared to both Zones II and III. Cluster analysis showed five distinct species communities. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA showed a distinct smattering positive and negative correlation on the distribution of zooplankton indicating that the relative abundance of any species was dependent on specific environmental variables.

Environmental Growth Conditions of Trichoderma spp. Affects Indole Acetic Acid Derivatives, Volatile Organic Compounds, and Plant Growth Promotion

Science.gov (United States)

Nieto-Jacobo, Maria F.; Steyaert, Johanna M.; Salazar-Badillo, Fatima B.; Nguyen, Dianne Vi; Rostás, Michael; Braithwaite, Mark; De Souza, Jorge T.; Jimenez-Bremont, Juan F.; Ohkura, Mana; Stewart, Alison

2017-01-01

Trichoderma species are soil-borne filamentous fungi widely utilized for their many plant health benefits, such as conferring improved growth, disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance to their hosts. Many Trichoderma species are able to produce the auxin phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and its production has been suggested to promote root growth. Here we show that the production of IAA is strain dependent and diverse external stimuli are associated with its production. In in vitro assays, Arabidopsis primary root length was negatively affected by the interaction with some Trichoderma strains. In soil experiments, a continuum effect on plant growth was shown and this was also strain dependent. In plate assays, some strains of Trichoderma spp. inhibited the expression of the auxin reporter gene DR5 in Arabidopsis primary roots but not secondary roots. When Trichoderma spp. and A. thaliana were physically separated, enhancement of both shoot and root biomass, increased root production and chlorophyll content were observed, which strongly suggested that volatile production by the fungus influenced the parameters analyzed. Trichoderma strains T. virens Gv29.8, T. atroviride IMI206040, T. sp. “atroviride B” LU132, and T. asperellum LU1370 were demonstrated to promote plant growth through volatile production. However, contrasting differences were observed with LU1370 which had a negative effect on plant growth in soil but a positive effect in plate assays. Altogether our results suggest that the mechanisms and molecules involved in plant growth promotion by Trichoderma spp. are multivariable and are affected by the environmental conditions. PMID:28232840

Experiencing Nature through Immersive Virtual Environments: Environmental Perceptions, Physical Engagement, and Affective Responses during a Simulated Nature Walk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanna Calogiuri

2018-01-01

Full Text Available By combining physical activity and exposure to nature, green exercise can provide additional health benefits compared to physical activity alone. Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE have emerged as a potentially valuable supplement to environmental and behavioral research, and might also provide new approaches to green exercise promotion. However, it is unknown to what extent green exercise in IVE can provide psychophysiological responses similar to those experienced in real natural environments. In this study, 26 healthy adults underwent three experimental conditions: nature walk, sitting-IVE, and treadmill-IVE. The nature walk took place on a paved trail along a large river. In the IVE conditions, the participants wore a head-mounted display with headphones reproducing a 360° video and audio of the nature walk, either sitting on a chair or walking on a manually driven treadmill. Measurements included environmental perceptions (presence and perceived environmental restorativeness – PER, physical engagement (walking speed, heart rate, and perceived exertion, and affective responses (enjoyment and affect. Additionally, qualitative information was collected through open-ended questions. The participants rated the IVEs with satisfactory levels of ‘being there’ and ‘sense of reality,’ but also reported discomforts such as ‘flatness,’ ‘movement lag’ and ‘cyber sickness.’ With equivalent heart rate and walking speed, participants reported higher perceived exertion in the IVEs than in the nature walk. The nature walk was associated with high enjoyment and enhanced affect. However, despite equivalent ratings of PER in the nature walk and in the IVEs, the latter were perceived as less enjoyable and gave rise to a poorer affect. Presence and PER did not differ between the two IVEs, although in the treadmill-IVE the negative affective responses had slightly smaller magnitude than in the sitting-IVE. In both the IVEs, the negative

40 CFR 1502.15 - Affected environment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Affected environment. 1502.15 Section 1502.15 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT § 1502.15 Affected environment. The environmental impact statement shall succinctly describe the...

The affective profiles, psychological well-being, and harmony: environmental mastery and self-acceptance predict the sense of a harmonious life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danilo Garcia

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Background. An important outcome from the debate on whether wellness equals happiness, is the need of research focusing on how psychological well-being might influence humans’ ability to adapt to the changing environment and live in harmony. To get a detailed picture of the influence of positive and negative affect, the current study employed the affective profiles model in which individuals are categorised into groups based on either high positive and low negative affect (self-fulfilling; high positive and high negative affect (high affective; low positive and low negative affect (low affective; and high negative and low positive affect (self-destructive. The aims were to (1 investigate differences between affective profiles in psychological well-being and harmony and (2 how psychological well-being and its dimensions relate to harmony within the four affective profiles.Method. 500 participants (mean age = 34.14 years, SD. = ±12.75 years; 187 males and 313 females were recruited online and required to answer three self-report measures: The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule; The Scales of Psychological Well-Being (short version and The Harmony in Life Scale. We conducted a Multivariate Analysis of Variance where the affective profiles and gender were the independent factors and psychological well-being composite score, its six dimensions as well as the harmony in life score were the dependent factors. In addition, we conducted four multi-group (i.e., the four affective profiles moderation analyses with the psychological well-being dimensions as predictors and harmony in life as the dependent variables.Results. Individuals categorised as self-fulfilling, as compared to the other profiles, tended to score higher on the psychological well-being dimensions: positive relations, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, personal growth, and purpose in life. In addition, 47% to 66% of the variance of the harmony in life was

Environmental conditions affecting the efficiency and efficacy of piscicides for use in nonnative fish eradication

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Peter James

2010-01-01

Conservation of native fish is a pressing issue for fisheries managers. Conservation efforts often require eliminating threats posed by nonnative fish by eradicating them with piscicides. The piscicides rotenone and antimycin are used for eradication but their application is often inefficient or ineffective. My goal was to increase the efficiency and efficacy of nonnative fish eradication using piscicides. I identified environmental conditions affecting piscicide application, researched methods to overcome these problems, and provided tools that piscicide applicators can use to make piscicide application more efficient and effective. Rotenone and antimycin were exposed to varying levels of sunlight, turbulence, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) to determine the effect these environmental conditions have on piscicides. Bioassay fish were used to determine the toxicity of the piscicides. Sunlight and turbulence affected rotenone and antimycin but DOM did not. Increasing the concentration of chemical can increase the resistance to the effects of these environmental conditions; however, the effects of these conditions are considerable in natural settings. Observations of bioassay fish in stream applications of rotenone were used to develop a statistical model to predict the persistence of the piscicide. The model can be used to predict rotenone persistence in small montane streams and to estimate where rotenone concentrations need to be fortified. I measured the mixing rate of a chemical plume in different channel morphologies and at center or edge applications. Center application had a significantly shorter mixing distance than edge application, but mixing distance was not different among meandering, straight, and riffle/pool morphologies. Application of my findings will increase the efficiency and efficacy of native fish conservation using piscicides.

Factors affecting the transfer of radionuclides from the environment to plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golmakani, S.; Moghaddam, V.M.; Hosseini, T.

2008-01-01

Much of our food directly or indirectly originates from plant material; thus, detailed studies on plant contamination processes are an essential part of international environmental research. This overview attempts to identify and describe the most important parameters and processes affecting the behaviour of radionuclide transfer to plants. Many parameters influence these processes. These parameters are related to: (1) plant, (2) soil, (3) radionuclide, (4) climate and (5) time. Often there is no boundary between the factors and they are linked to each other. Knowledge of important factors in radionuclide transfer to plants can help to assess and prevent radiological exposure of humans. This knowledge can also help to guide researches and modelling related to transfer of radionuclides to food chain. (authors)

The Influence of Parameters Affecting Boron Removal by Electrocoagulation Process

KAUST Repository

Zeboudji, B.

2013-04-01

Boron removal in seawater desalination presents a particular challenge. In seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems boron removal at low concentration (<0.5 mg/L) is usually achieved by a second pass using brackish water RO membranes. However, this process requires chemical addition and important additional investment, operation and maintenance, and energy costs. Electrocoagulation (EC) process can be used to achieve such low boron concentration. In this work, the removal of boron from aqueous solution was carried out by EC process using aluminum and iron electrodes. Several operating parameters on the removal efficiency such as initial pH, current density, initial boron ion concentration, feed concentration, gap between electrodes, and electrode material, were investigated. In the case of bipolar electrocoagulation (BEC), an optimum removal efficiency of 96% corresponding to a final boron concentration of 0.4 mg/L was achieved at a current density of 6 mA/cm2 and pH = 8 using aluminum electrodes. The concentration of NaCl was 2,500 mg/L and the gap between the electrodes of 0.5 cm. Furthermore, a comparison between monopolar electrocoagulation (MEC) and BEC using both aluminum and iron electrodes was carried out. Results showed that the BEC process has reduced the current density applied to obtain high level of boron removal in a short reaction time compared to MEC process. The high performance of the EC showed that the process could be used to reduce boron concentration to acceptable levels at low-cost and more environmentally friendly. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Estimates of genetic parameters and environmental effects for measures of hunting performance in Finnish hounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Liinamo, A E; Karjalainen, L; Ojala, M; Vilva, V

1997-03-01

Data from field trials of Finnish Hounds between 1988 and 1992 in Finland were used to estimate genetic parameters and environmental effects for measures of hunting performance using REML procedures and an animal model. The original data set included 28,791 field trial records from 5,666 dogs. Males and females had equal hunting performance, whereas experience acquired by age improved trial results compared with results for young dogs (P Hounds with respect to their hunting ability should be based on animal model BLUP methods instead of mere performance testing. The evaluation system of field trials should also be revised for more reliability.

Evaluation of selected predictive models and parameters for the environmental transport and dosimetry of radionuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, C.W.; Dunning, D.E. Jr.; Etnier, E.L.; Hoffman, F.O.; Little, C.A.; Meyer, H.R.; Shaeffer, D.L.; Till, J.E.

1979-07-01

Evaluations of selected predictive models and parameters used in the assessment of the environmental transport and dosimetry of radionuclides are summarized. Mator sections of this report include a validation of the Gaussian plume disperson model, comparison of the output of a model for the transport of 131 I from vegetation to milk with field data, validation of a model for the fraction of aerosols intercepted by vegetation, an evaluation of dose conversion factors for 232 Th, an evaluation of considering the effect of age dependency on population dose estimates, and a summary of validation results for hydrologic transport models

Environmental monitoring guidance for DOE Order 5820.2A, Chapter 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolenc, M.R.

1988-01-01

The Defense Low-Level Waste Management Program (DLLWMP) is preparing guidance to support the requirements outlined in DOE Order 5820.2A, Chapter 3, Management of Low-Level Waste. One of these documents is the Environmental Monitoring Guidance. Environmental monitoring is required for all operational and nonoperational treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to ensure that the facility conforms to all appropriate DOE orders. An adequate environmental monitoring program must be designed to measure key parameters that may affect both short- and long-term site performance. These parameters include measuring both chemical and radiological releases in surface soil, air, surface water, flora, fauna, and subsurface soil and groundwater, both in the saturated and unsaturated zones. The monitoring program must be capable of detecting performance trends in sufficient time to allow corrective action before the facility exceeds performance objectives. The program should also provide the data input necessary to evaluate the performance assessment of the facility. This paper outlines the approach being planned to accomplish these tasks

Quantitative evaluation of the effect of parameters affecting biological and physicochemical phosphate removal from wastewaters in a Multi-Soil-Layering system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaoula LAMZOURI

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Wastewater disposal is a serious problem in Moroccan rural area. Discharged with high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen can result in eutrophication of receiving waters. Biological processes are the most adapted alternative to the needs of these areas, such as the Multi-Soil-Layering (MSL system. The process of rural wastewater treatment by MSL, which is an innovative system used for the first time in Morocco, was studied by modelling the relationships between a set of environmental factors and total phosphorus removed, based upon 153 sampling. Three MSL pilot plants, constructed in three 36 cm × 30 cm × 65 cm plastic boxes, were continuously fed with domestic wastewater, with different hydraulic loading rate (HLR of 250, 500 and 1000 l/m2/day. This study was to investigate and quantify the effect of parameters affecting biological and physico-chemical phosphate removal from wastewaters in this system, using neural networks (NNs and multiple regression analysis (MRA. The results show the influence of the hydraulic loading rate (HLR, Hydrogen potential (pH, phosphorus load (PL, nitrite (NO2--N, Dissolved Oxygen (DO, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5, and the Nitrate-nitrogen (NO3–-N in the phosphorus removal with a contribution of 36, 16, 15, 12, 9, 7 and 6% respectively.

Effects of simulated space environmental parameters on six commercially available composite materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Funk, J.G.; Sykes, G.F. Jr.

1989-04-01

The effects of simulated space environmental parameters on microdamage induced by the environment in a series of commercially available graphite-fiber-reinforced composite materials were determined. Composites with both thermoset and thermoplastic resin systems were studied. Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) exposures were simulated by thermal cycling; geosynchronous-orbit (GEO) exposures were simulated by electron irradiation plus thermal cycling. The thermal cycling temperature range was -250 F to either 200 F or 150 F. The upper limits of the thermal cycles were different to ensure that an individual composite material was not cycled above its glass transition temperature. Material response was characterized through assessment of the induced microcracking and its influence on mechanical property changes at both room temperature and -250 F. Microdamage was induced in both thermoset and thermoplastic advanced composite materials exposed to the simulated LEO environment. However, a 350 F cure single-phase toughened epoxy composite was not damaged during exposure to the LEO environment. The simuated GEO environment produced microdamage in all materials tested

Coastal flooding as a parameter in multi-criteria analysis for industrial site selection

Science.gov (United States)

Christina, C.; Memos, C.; Diakoulaki, D.

2014-12-01

Natural hazards can trigger major industrial accidents, which apart from affecting industrial installations may cause a series of accidents with serious impacts on human health and the environment far beyond the site boundary. Such accidents, also called Na-Tech (natural - technical) accidents, deserve particular attention since they can cause release of hazardous substances possibly resulting in severe environmental pollution, explosions and/or fires. There are different kinds of natural events or, in general terms, of natural causes of industrial accidents, such as landslides, hurricanes, high winds, tsunamis, lightning, cold/hot temperature, floods, heavy rains etc that have caused accidents. The scope of this paper is to examine the coastal flooding as a parameter in causing an industrial accident, such as the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and the critical role of this parameter in industrial site selection. Land use planning is a complex procedure that requires multi-criteria decision analysis involving economic, environmental and social parameters. In this context the parameter of a natural hazard occurrence, such as coastal flooding, for industrial site selection should be set by the decision makers. In this paper it is evaluated the influence that has in the outcome of a multi-criteria decision analysis for industrial spatial planning the parameter of an accident risk triggered by coastal flooding. The latter is analyzed in the context of both sea-and-inland induced flooding.

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frontczak, Monika Joanna; Schiavon, Stefano; Goins, John

2011-01-01

The paper examines which indoor environmental parameters and building features contribute occupants’ satisfaction in office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52,980 occupants in 351 office buildings over ten years at the Center for the Built Environment...... parameters listed in the survey contributed to overall workspace satisfaction. The most important parameters were: satisfaction with amount of space (odds ratio OR 1.57), noise (OR 1.27) and visual privacy (OR 1.26). Satisfaction with amount of space was not noticeably affected by size of workspace...

Major parameters affecting the calculation of equilibrium factor using SSNTD-measured track densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abo-Elmagd, M.; Mansy, M.; Eissa, H.M.; El-Fiki, M.A.

2006-01-01

The equilibrium factor F between radon and its daughters as a function of the track density ratio D/D 0 between bare and in can track detectors is solved graphically and gave more accurate solution than that solved mathematically elsewhere. The advantages of the graphical solution come from its simplicity and does not need any tedious mathematical formula or a computer program. The simplicity of this solution makes us study many parameters that affect the equilibrium factor determination such as the detector type, the diffusion chamber dimensions, the membrane specifications and the behavior of α-emitters around the detector. The results show that the equilibrium factor as a function of D/D 0 takes different form according to the facility used. The range of this study covers two widely used detectors (CR-39 and LR-115) equipped in two widely used diffusion chambers (small and medium chambers)

Study of the parameters affecting operator doses in interventional radiology using Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koukorava, C.; Carinou, E.; Ferrari, P.; Krim, S.; Struelens, L.

2011-01-01

Measurements performed within the ORAMED project helped to evaluate the dose levels to the operators’ hands, wrists, legs and eye lenses, during several types of interventional radiology (IR) and cardiology (IC) procedures, and also to determine the parameters that affect the doses. However, the study of the effect of each parameter separately, was possible only through Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, as in clinical practice many of those parameters change simultaneously. The influence of the protective equipment, the beam projections, the beam quality, the field size and the position of the operator according to the position of access of the catheter was investigated, using anthropomorphic phantoms in setups that represent realistic IR/IC procedures. The proper use of protective shields was found to be the most important way of reducing extremity and eye lens exposure during such examinations. Ceiling suspended shields can reduce the doses to the eye lenses up to 97%, but they can also reduce hand doses about 70% when placed correctly. The highest exposure to the operator is observed for left anterior oblique (LAO) and cranial projections. Additionally, for overcouch irradiations the eyes and the hands are about 6 times more exposed compared to the cases where the tube is below the operating table. For the lateral LAO projection, placing the ceiling suspended shield at the left side of the operator is twice more effective for the protection of the eyes compared to the cases where it is placed above the patient. Finally, beam collimation was found to play an important role in the reduction of the hands and wrists doses, especially when the operator is close to the irradiation field.

Carbamazepine-exposure during gestation and lactation affects pubertal onset and spermatic parameters in male pubertal offspring.

Science.gov (United States)

Andretta, Rhayza Roberta; Okada, Fatima Kazue; Paccola, Camila Cicconi; Stumpp, Taiza; de Oliva, Samara Urban; Miraglia, Sandra M

2014-04-01

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is an anti-epileptic drug that acts on Leydig cells, affecting steroidogenesis and causes fetal malformation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of CBZ on male sexual maturation and other male parameters. Rat dams were treated with CBZ during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The anogenital distance (AGD) and the anogenital index (AGI) were obtained. Testicular descent and preputial separation were also evaluated. The offspring was euthanized at PND 41 and 63. The accessory glands were weighed and the testes were collected for histopathological, morphometric and sterological analyses. The numerical density of Leydig cells and hormone dosage were obtained. CBZ caused an increase of AGI and a delay of testicular descent and of preputial separation. CBZ also caused a decrease of testosterone level and of sperm count and an increase of abnormal sperm. These results indicate that CBZ delays puberty onset and affects steroidogenesis and sperm quality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Physiological Parameters Database for Older Adults

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Physiological Parameters Database for Older Adults is available for download and contains physiological parameters values for healthy older human adults (age 60...

Environmental Factors Affecting Asthma and Allergies: Predicting and Simulating Downwind Exposure to Airborne Pollen

Science.gov (United States)

Luvall, Jeffrey; Estes, Sue; Sprigg, William A.; Nickovic, Slobodan; Huete, Alfredo; Solano, Ramon; Ratana, Piyachat; Jiang, Zhangyan; Flowers, Len; Zelicoff, Alan

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the environmental factors that affect asthma and allergies and work to predict and simulate the downwind exposure to airborne pollen. Using a modification of Dust REgional Atmosphere Model (DREAM) that incorporates phenology (i.e. PREAM) the aim was to predict concentrations of pollen in time and space. The strategy for using the model to simulate downwind pollen dispersal, and evaluate the results. Using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), to get seasonal sampling of Juniper, the pollen chosen for the study, land cover on a near daily basis. The results of the model are reviewed.

Environmental and Individual Factors Affecting Menu Labeling Utilization: A Qualitative Research Study

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Jennifer; Kiszko, Kamila; Abrams, Courtney; Islam, Nadia; Elbel, Brian

2013-01-01

Obesity is a significant public health concern that disproportionally affects low-income and minority populations. Recent policies mandating the posting of calories on menus in fast food chain restaurants have not proven to uniformly influence food choice. This qualitative research study uses focus groups to study individual and environmental factors affecting the usage of these menu labels among low-income, minority populations. Ten focus groups targeting low-income residents (n=105) were conducted at various community organizations throughout NYC in Spanish, English, or a combination of both languages, over a nine-month period in 2011. In late 2011 and early 2012, transcripts were coded through the process of thematic analysis using Atlas.ti for naturally emerging themes, influences, and determinants of food choice. Few used menu labels, despite awareness. Among the themes pertaining to menu label usage, price and time constraints, confusion and lack of understanding of caloric values, as well as the priority of preference, hunger, and habitual ordering habits were most frequently cited as barriers to menu label usage. Based on the individual and external influences on food choice that often take priority over calorie consideration, a modified approach may be necessary to make menu labels more effective and user-friendly. PMID:23402695

Surveillance and Control of Malaria Transmission in Thailand using Remotely Sensed Meteorological and Environmental Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Kiang, Richard K.; Adimi, Farida; Soika, Valerii; Nigro, Joseph

2007-01-01

These slides address the use of remote sensing in a public health application. Specifically, this discussion focuses on the of remote sensing to detect larval habitats to predict current and future endemicity and identify key factors that sustain or promote transmission of malaria in a targeted geographic area (Thailand). In the Malaria Modeling and Surveillance Project, which is part of the NASA Applied Sciences Public Health Applications Program, we have been developing techniques to enhance public health's decision capability for malaria risk assessments and controls. The main objectives are: 1) identification of the potential breeding sites for major vector species; 2) implementation of a risk algorithm to predict the occurrence of malaria and its transmission intensity; 3) implementation of a dynamic transmission model to identify the key factors that sustain or intensify malaria transmission. The potential benefits are: 1) increased warning time for public health organizations to respond to malaria outbreaks; 2) optimized utilization of pesticide and chemoprophylaxis; 3) reduced likelihood of pesticide and drug resistance; and 4) reduced damage to environment. !> Environmental parameters important to malaria transmission include temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and vegetation conditions. The NASA Earth science data sets that have been used for malaria surveillance and risk assessment include AVHRR Pathfinder, TRMM, MODIS, NSIPP, and SIESIP. Textural-contextual classifications are used to identify small larval habitats. Neural network methods are used to model malaria cases as a function of the remotely sensed parameters. Hindcastings based on these environmental parameters have shown good agreement to epidemiological records. Discrete event simulations are used for modeling the detailed interactions among the vector life cycle, sporogonic cycle and human infection cycle, under the explicit influences of selected extrinsic and intrinsic factors

Influence of environmental parameters on the concentration of subsurface dissolved methane in two hydroelectric power plants in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, M. G.; Marani, L.; Alvala, P. C.

2013-12-01

Methane (CH4) is a trace gas in the atmosphere of great importance for atmospheric chemistry as one of the main greenhouse gases. There are different sources with the largest individual production associated with the degradation of organic matter submerged in flooded areas. The amount of dissolved methane that reaches the surface depends on the production in the sediments and consumption in the water column. Both processes are associated with microbial activity and consequently dependent on the physico-chemical environmental conditions. The construction of hydroelectric dams cause flooding of areas near the river that can change the characteristics of the environment and cause changes in subsurface methane concentration. In this work, we studied two hydroelectric plants located in Brazil: Batalha (17°20'39.52"S, 47°29'34.29"W), under construction when the samples were take, and Itaipu (25°24'45.00"S, 54°35'39.00"W) which has been floated over 30 years ago. The water samples to determine dissolved methane were collected approximately 5 cm near the surface. In each collection point was measured depth, water temperature, pH and redox potential. The range of dissolved methane between the two dams was similar: 0.07-10.33 μg/l (Batalha) and 0.15-10.93 μg/l (Itaipu). However, the Batalha's average (4.04 × 3.43 μg/l; median = 3.66 μg/l) was higher than that observed in Itaipu (2.15 × 1.59 μg/l; median = 2.53 μg/l). The influence of environmental parameters on the concentration of dissolved methane was evaluated by multivariate statistical techniques (Principal Component Analysis - PCA). All of the parameters had some correlation with dissolved methane, however, the greatest contribution in Batalha was associated with pH while in Itaipu was the depth. The pH variation of the various points studied in Batalha may be associated with periods of drought and flooding of the river and hence the incorporation of organic matter in the environment. The organisms

Determination of environmental factors affecting dengue incidence ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

. Prevention movement is considered ineffective; therefore, a more efficient early warning system is required. It is required strongly correlated variables to as predictor in early warning system. This study aims to identify the environmental ...

Parameters Affecting the Transient Response of an Impacting Beam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiping Xu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Impact causes shock waves that may be unexpected and damaging. A computationally efficient impact model with a generic beam which is discrete in time and continuous in space was undertaken; an Euler-Bernoulli beam with adjustable boundary conditions and variable contact location is numerically studied under a pulse loading. Experiments on a cantilever beam were carried out to verify the effects of influential parameters. A half-sine pulse excitation was applied through a mechanical shaker, and the deflection was captured by a high speed camera. Numerous test cases were conducted that varied pulse duration, pulse amplitude, and clearance. Decreasing the pulse duration lowers all deflection amplitudes, but the time in contact is insensitive. No gap causes minimal beam response, and increasing gap generates greater deflection. Representative test cases were selected for validating the theoretical model. When comparing numerical simulation with experimental results, satisfactory agreement for amplitude and duration can be reached even with raw input parameters. The contribution of this study is the incorporation of unique pulse loading, changeable boundary conditions, adjustable contact/impact situations, comprehensive parameter studies, and high speed photography.

The basal kinetic parameters of glycogen synthase in human myotube cultures are not affected by chronic high insulin exposure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gaster, M; Schrøder, H D; Handberg, A

2001-01-01

results show that chronic exposure of human myotubes to high insulin with or without high glucose did not affect the basal kinetic parameters but abolished the reactivity of GS to acute insulin stimulation. We suggest that insulin induced insulin resistance of GS is caused by a failure of acute insulin......There is no consensus regarding the results from in vivo and in vitro studies on the impact of chronic high insulin and/or high glucose exposure on acute insulin stimulation of glycogen synthase (GS) kinetic parameters in human skeletal muscle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the kinetic...... parameters of glycogen synthase activity in human myotube cultures at conditions of chronic high insulin combined or not with high glucose exposure, before and after a subsequent acute insulin stimulation. Acute insulin stimulation significantly increased the fractional activity (FV(0.1)) of GS, increased...

External Load Affects Ground Reaction Force Parameters Non-uniformly during Running in Weightlessness

Science.gov (United States)

DeWitt, John; Schaffner, Grant; Laughlin, Mitzi; Loehr, James; Hagan, R. Donald

2004-01-01

Long-term exposure to microgravity induces detrimefits to the musculcskdetal system (Schneider et al., 1995; LeBlanc et al., 2000). Treadmill exercise is used onboard the International Space Station as an exercise countermeasure to musculoskeletal deconditioning due to spaceflight. During locomotive exercise in weightlessness (0G), crewmembers wear a harness attached to an external loading mechanism (EL). The EL pulls the crewmember toward the treadmill, and provides resistive load during the impact and propulsive phases of gait. The resulting forces may be important in stimulating bone maintenance (Turner, 1998). The EL can be applied via a bungee and carabineer clip configuration attached to the harness and can be manipulated to create varying amounts of load levels during exercise. Ground-based research performed using a vertically mounted treadmill found that peak ground reaction forces (GRF) during running at an EL of less than one body weight (BW) are less than those that occur during running in normal gravity (1G) (Davis et al., 1996). However, it is not known how the GRF are affected by the EL in a true OG environment. Locomotion while suspended may result in biomechanics that differ from free running. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how EL affects peak impact force, peak propulsive force, loading rate, and impulse of the GRF during running in 0G. It was hypothesized that increasing EL would result in increases in each GRF parameter.

Management of fire affected areas. Beyond the environmental question

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Paulo

2016-04-01

Fire is considered a natural element of the ecosystems. With exception of the polar areas, fire visited with more or less frequency all the earth biomes, determining the ecosystems characteristics, to the point that several species are fire-dependent to survive and are very resilient to their impact. Fire was a fundamental element for human evolution, which allowed us to cook, manipulation of metals, hunt, protect from predators and clear fields for agriculture. In some extension, we are only humans because of fire. In the last millennium fire was used to shape the landscape as we know today. One good example of this is the Mediterranean environment, a landscape where the ecology is not understood without the presence of fire. Until the end of the first half of the last century, fire was used frequently by farmers to landscape management. However, due to rural abandonment, change of life styles, disconnection with rural environment and lack of understanding of fire role in the ecosystems. The perception of fire changed and nowadays is understood by the population as a threat to the ecosystems, rather than a tool that helped to manage the landscape and help us in our evolution. This change of vision promoted the idea that fire has negative impacts in the ecosystems and should be banned from the nature. Something that is impossible. All these perceptions facilitated the implementation of fire-suppression policies, which today are recognized by science as one of the causes of the occurrence of frequent high-severity wildfires, with important impacts on the ecosystems, economy and society. However, most of the ecosystems can regenerate sooner or later, depending of the fire severity and the ecosystem affected. Thus, fire is not an ecological, but social and economic problem, due to lives loss and the temporary destruction of ecosystems, which local communities depend on. In this context, when we are managing fire affected areas, it goes much beyond environmental

Environmental periodicity and the coexistence problem for two competing and dispersive species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elion-Mboussa, A.

1994-11-01

The dynamic behaviour of two competing and dispersive species in a heterogeneous space and periodically fluctuating environment is studied. Periodic environmental factors were incorporated into a non-linear reaction-diffusion model, through intrinsic demographic parameters of one of the two species sharing the same favourable space. Furthermore, it was assumed that the physical environmental factors do not have an effect on the growth rate of one of the species. An ecological example of these assumptions is a host- parasite system where parasite reproduction is strongly seasonal, while host populations remain insensitive to physical environmental factors that affect the parasite populations. However, the induced effect of physical environmental factors on the non-affected species was established by means of computer calculations. The periodic oscillations which over the time lead to competitive coexistence of both species with periodic forced oscillations have been shown. It was also shown that, in a periodic environment and under appropriate initial conditions, two competing and dispersive species can coexist when in a constant environment they could not coexist. (author). 25 refs, 12 figs

A method of environmental management for landfill evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zapata Munoz, Andres Felipe; Zapata Sanchez, Carmen Elena

2013-01-01

From the description of the activities of the operation of the landfill and environmental farm Los Saltos and the physicochemical characterization of its leachate, a method of environmental assessment was proposed. It includes an analysis of interactions as a diagnostic tool for the development of a cause-effect matrix to identify the impacts on associated environmental components. With this information, it was developed a matrix of importance where impacts were classified as critical, severe, moderate and irrelevant. A qualitative assessment of environmental impact was then carried out to help identify the most impacting activities as well as the most affected parameters. As a result of this method, it was determined that the operation of a landfill has a greater impact on the physical and biotic components of the environment, producing effects such as impaired air quality, loss of aquatic species and terrestrial flora, alteration of the hydrological cycle, and deterioration of surface and groundwater quality.

Environmental setting and natural factors and human influences affecting water quality in the White River Basin, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Schnoebelen, Douglas J.; Fenelon, Joseph M.; Baker, Nancy T.; Martin, Jeffrey D.; Bayless, E. Randall; Jacques, David V.; Crawford, Charles G.

1999-01-01

The White River Basin drains 11,349 square miles of central and southern Indiana and is one of 59 Study Units selected for water-quality assessment as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National WaterQuality Assessment Program. Defining the environmental setting of the basin and identifying the natural factors and human influences that affect water quality are important parts of the assessment.

Parameters affecting the photocatalytic degradation of dyes using TiO2: a review

Science.gov (United States)

Reza, Khan Mamun; Kurny, ASW; Gulshan, Fahmida

2017-07-01

Traditional chemical, physical and biological processes for treating wastewater containing textile dye have such disadvantages as high cost, high energy requirement and generation of secondary pollution during treatment process. The advanced oxidation processes technology has been attracting growing attention for the decomposition of organic dyes. Such processes are based on the light-enhanced generation of highly reactive hydroxyl radicals, which oxidize the organic matter in solution and convert it completely into water, CO2 and inorganic compounds. In this presentation, the photocatalytic degradation of dyes in aqueous solution using TiO2 as photocatalyst under solar and UV irradiation has been reviewed. It is observed that the degradation of dyes depends on several parameters such as pH, catalyst concentration, substrate concentration and the presence of oxidants. Reaction temperature and the intensity of light also affect the degradation of dyes. Particle size, BET-surface area and different mineral forms of TiO2 also have influence on the degradation rate.

Maternal Body Mass Index Does Not Affect Neonatal Umbilical Artery Blood Gas Parameters

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Salam E. Chalouhi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study was undertaken to assess the impact of obesity on fetal well-being in glucose-tolerant and nonhypertensive women. Medical charts of all patients admitted to the labor and delivery department at our institution between January, 2011 and July, 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with diabetes/impaired glucose tolerance or hypertension were excluded. A total of 100 women, 50 lean and 50 obese, were included. Umbilical artery blood gas parameters (BGPs were compared in lean (<25 kg/m2 and obese (≥30 kg/m2 women. Obese and lean women were comparable with respect to all baseline characteristics. There was no difference in any of the BGP or Apgar scores between obese and lean patients. Pearson’s correlation coefficient found no significant correlation between BMI and BGP/Apgar scores. Maternal obesity does not seem to affect BGP and fetal well-being in glucose-tolerant and nonhypertensive women.

Deciphering the Environmental Impacts on Rice Quality for Different Rice Cultivated Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiukun; Wu, Lian; Geng, Xin; Xia, Xiuhong; Wang, Xuhong; Xu, Zhengjin; Xu, Quan

2018-01-19

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated in a wide range of climatic conditions, and is one of mankind's major staple foods. The interaction of environmental factors with genotype effects major agronomic traits such as yield, quality, and resistance in rice. However, studies on the environmental factors affecting agronomic traits are often difficult to conduct because most environmental factors are dynamic and constantly changing. A series of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from an indica/japonica cross were planted into four typical rice cultivated areas arranging from latitude N22° to N42°. The environmental data from the heading to mature (45 days) stages were recorded for each RIL in the four areas. We determined that light, temperature, and humidity significantly affected the milling quality and cooking quality overall the four areas. Within each area, these environmental factors mainly affected the head rice ratio, grain length, alkali consumption, and amylose and protein content. Moreover, the effect of these environmental factors dynamically changed from heading to mature stage. Compared to light and humidity, temperature was more stable and predictable, and night temperature showed a stronger correlation efficiency to cooking quality than day temperature, and the daily temperature range had contrary effects compared to day and night temperature on grain quality. The present study evaluated the critical phase during the grain filling stage by calculating the dynamic changes of correlation efficiency between the quality traits and climate parameters. Our findings suggest that the sowing date could be adjusted to improve rice quality so as to adjust for environmental changes.

Environmental and traffic-related parameters affecting road dust composition: A multi-technique approach applied to Venice area (Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Valotto, Gabrio; Rampazzo, Giancarlo; Visin, Flavia; Gonella, Francesco; Cattaruzza, Elti; Glisenti, Antonella; Formenton, Gianni; Tieppo, Paulo

2015-12-01

Road dust is a non-exhaust source of atmospheric particulate by re-suspension. It is composed of particles originating from natural sources as well as other non-exhaust source such as tire, brake and asphalt wear. The discrimination between atmospheric particles directly emitted from abrasion process and those related to re-suspension is therefore an open issue, as far as the percentage contribution of non-exhaust emissions is becoming more considerable due also to the recent policy actions and the technological upgrades in the automotive field, focused on the reduction of exhaust emissions. In this paper, road dust collected along the bridge that connects Venice (Italy) to the mainland is characterized with a multi-technique approach in order to determine its composition depending on environmental as well as traffic-related conditions. Six pollutant sources of road dust particles were identified by cluster analysis: brake, railway, tire, asphalt, soil + marine, and mixed combustions. Considering the lack of information on this matrix in this area, this study is intended to provide useful information for future identification of road dust re-suspension source in atmospheric particulate.

Resilience of Key Biological Parameters of the Senegalese Flat Sardinella to Overfishing and Climate Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Ba, Kamarel; Thiaw, Modou; Lazar, Najih; Sarr, Alassane; Brochier, Timothée; Ndiaye, Ismaïla; Faye, Alioune; Sadio, Oumar; Panfili, Jacques; Thiaw, Omar Thiom; Brehmer, Patrice

2016-01-01

The stock of the Senegalese flat sardinella, Sardinella maderensis, is highly exploited in Senegal, West Africa. Its growth and reproduction parameters are key biological indicators for improving fisheries management. This study reviewed these parameters using landing data from small-scale fisheries in Senegal and literature information dated back more than 25 years. Age was estimated using length-frequency data to calculate growth parameters and assess the growth performance index. With global climate change there has been an increase in the average sea surface temperature along the Senegalese coast but the length-weight parameters, sex ratio, size at first sexual maturity, period of reproduction and condition factor of S. maderensis have not changed significantly. The above parameters of S. maderensis have hardly changed, despite high exploitation and fluctuations in environmental conditions that affect the early development phases of small pelagic fish in West Africa. This lack of plasticity of the species regarding of the biological parameters studied should be considered when planning relevant fishery management plans.

How biological (fish) noise affects the performance of shallow water passive array system

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Fernandes, W.A.; Chakraborty, B.; Haris, K.; Vijayakumar, K.; Sundar, D.; Luis, R.A.A.; Mahanty, M.M.; Latha, G.

=UTF-8 How biological (fish) noise affects the performance of shallow water passive array system William Fernandes, Bishwajit Chakraborty, K. Haris, K. Vijaykumar, D. Sundar, R.A.A. Luis CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula... source distribution as well as the environmental parameters (i.e., water depth, sound speed profile, and seafloor properties). In a waveguide bounded by sea surface and seabed, multipath propagation prevails and the spatial structure of the noise...

Would environmental pollution affect home prices? An empirical study based on China's key cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Yu; Zheng, Shaoqing

2017-11-01

With the development of China's economy, the problem of environmental pollution has become increasingly more serious, affecting the sustained and healthy development of Chinese cities and the willingness of residents to invest in fixed assets. In this paper, a panel data set of 70 of China's key cities from 2003 to 2014 is used to study the effect of environmental pollution on home prices in China's key cities. In addition to the static panel data regression model, this paper uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) to control for the potential endogeneity and introduce the dynamics. To ensure the robustness of the research results, this paper uses four typical pollutants: per capita volume of SO 2 emissions, industrial soot (dust) emissions, industrial wastewater discharge, and industrial chemical oxygen demand discharge. The analysis shows that environmental pollution does have a negative impact on home prices, and the magnitude of this effect is dependent on the level of economic development. When GDP per capita increases, the size of the negative impact on home prices tends to reduce. Industrial soot (dust) has the greatest impact, and the impact of industrial wastewater is relatively small. It is also found that some other social and economic factors, including greening, public transport, citizen income, fiscal situation, loans, FDI, and population density, have positive effects on home prices, but the effect of employment on home prices is relatively weak.

How do gender differences affect families' pro-environmental consumer behaviour?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønhøj, Alice

Studies of "green" consumer behaviour have often reported differences in male and female environmental concern and participation. This paper looks into the nature of such differences within the family. Husband-wife differences with regard to family participation in a number of environmentally...... that the processes whereby environmentally oriented consumer practices are adopted and transmitted among family members receive closer research attention....

Environmental conditions influence tissue regeneration rates in scleractinian corals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabine, Alexis M; Smith, Tyler B; Williams, Dana E; Brandt, Marilyn E

2015-06-15

Natural and anthropogenic factors may influence corals' ability to recover from partial mortality. To examine how environmental conditions affect lesion healing, we assessed several water quality parameters and tissue regeneration rates in corals at six reefs around St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We hypothesized that sites closer to developed areas would have poor water quality due to proximity to anthropogenic stresses, which would impede tissue regeneration. We found that water flow and turbidity most strongly influenced lesion recovery rates. The most impacted site, with high turbidity and low flow, recovered almost three times slower than the least impacted site, with low turbidity, high flow, and low levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Our results illustrate that in addition to lesion-specific factors known to affect tissue regeneration, environmental conditions can also control corals' healing rates. Resource managers can use this information to protect low-flow, turbid nearshore reefs by minimizing sources of anthropogenic stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Important parameters affecting the cell voltage of aqueous electrical double-layer capacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Tzu-Ho; Hsu, Chun-Tsung; Hu, Chi-Chang; Hardwick, Laurence J.

2013-11-01

This study discusses and demonstrates how the open-circuit potential and charges stored in the working potential window on positive and negative electrodes affect the cell voltage of carbon-based electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) in aqueous electrolytes. An EDLC consisting of two activated carbon electrodes is employed as the model system for identifying these key parameters although the potential window of water decomposition can be simply determined by voltammetric methods. First, the capacitive performances of an EDLC with the same charge on positive and negative electrodes are evaluated by cyclic voltammetric, charge-discharge, electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) analyses, and inductance-capacitance-resistance meter (LCR meter). The principles for obtaining the highest acceptable cell voltage of such symmetric ECs with excellent reversibility and capacitor-like behaviour are proposed. Aqueous charge-balanced EDLCs can be operated as high as 2.0 V with high energy efficiency (about 90%) and only 4% capacitance loss after the 600-cycle stability checking. The necessity of charge balance (but not capacitance balance) for positive and negative electrodes is substantiated from the lower acceptable cell voltage of charge-unbalanced EDLCs.

Chemical and physical parameters affecting the performance of the Os-191/Ir-191m generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Packard, A.B.; Butler, T.A.; Knapp, F.F.; O'Brien, G.M.; Treves, S.

1984-01-01

The development of an Os-191/Ir-191m generator suitable for radionuclide angiography in humans has elicited much interest. This generator employs ''(OsO 2 Cl 4 ) 2- '' on AG MP-1 anion exchange resin with a Dowex-2 scavenger column and is eluted with normal saline at pH 1. The parent Os species is, however, neither welldefined nor homogeneous leading to less than optimal breakthrough of Os-191 (5 x 10 -3 %) and modest Ir-191m yield (10-15%). The effect of a range of parameters on generator performance has been evaluated as has been the way in which the assembly and loading process affects generator performance. In addition, a number of potential alternative generator systems have been evaluated

Assessment of the Eutrophication-Related Environmental Parameters in Two Mediterranean Lakes by Integrating Statistical Techniques and Self-Organizing Maps

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Ekaterini Hadjisolomou

2018-03-01

Full Text Available During the last decades, Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems, especially lakes, have been under severe pressure due to increasing eutrophication and water quality deterioration. In this article, we compared the effectiveness of different data analysis methods by assessing the contribution of environmental parameters to eutrophication processes. For this purpose, principal components analysis (PCA, cluster analysis, and a self-organizing map (SOM were applied, using water quality data from two transboundary lakes of North Greece. SOM is considered as an advanced and powerful data analysis tool because of its ability to represent complex and nonlinear relationships among multivariate data sets. The results of PCA and cluster analysis agreed with the SOM results, although the latter provided more information because of the visualization abilities regarding the parameters’ relationships. Besides nutrients that were found to be a key factor for controlling chlorophyll-a (Chl-a, water temperature was related positively with algal production, while the Secchi disk depth parameter was found to be highly important and negatively related toeutrophic conditions. In general, the SOM results were more specific and allowed direct associations between the water quality variables. Our work showed that SOMs can be used effectively in limnological studies to produce robust and interpretable results, aiding scientists and managers to cope with environmental problems such as eutrophication.

Modeling for waste management associated with environmental-impact abatement under uncertainty.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, P; Li, Y P; Huang, G H; Zhang, J L

2015-04-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment can generate significant amounts of pollutants, and thus pose a risk on human health. Besides, in MSW management, various uncertainties exist in the related costs, impact factors, and objectives, which can affect the optimization processes and the decision schemes generated. In this study, a life cycle assessment-based interval-parameter programming (LCA-IPP) method is developed for MSW management associated with environmental-impact abatement under uncertainty. The LCA-IPP can effectively examine the environmental consequences based on a number of environmental impact categories (i.e., greenhouse gas equivalent, acid gas emissions, and respiratory inorganics), through analyzing each life cycle stage and/or major contributing process related to various MSW management activities. It can also tackle uncertainties existed in the related costs, impact factors, and objectives and expressed as interval numbers. Then, the LCA-IPP method is applied to MSW management for the City of Beijing, the capital of China, where energy consumptions and six environmental parameters [i.e., CO2, CO, CH4, NOX, SO2, inhalable particle (PM10)] are used as systematic tool to quantify environmental releases in entire life cycle stage of waste collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of. Results associated with system cost, environmental impact, and the related policy implication are generated and analyzed. Results can help identify desired alternatives for managing MSW flows, which has advantages in providing compromised schemes under an integrated consideration of economic efficiency and environmental impact under uncertainty.

Study of the impact of environmental parameters on the operation of CMS RPCs

CERN Document Server

Assran, Yasser

2011-01-01

CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) is a general purpose detector designed to run at the highest luminosity at Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. The muon system of the CMS experiment relies on Drift Tubes (DT), Cathode Strip Chambers (CSC) and Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC). RPCs are dedicated for the first level muon trigger and they are characterized by bakelite electrodes delimited in a specialized gas volume filled with operational gas mixture. This analysis has been done for the RPC chambers installed in CMS experiment at CERN. The Currents of CMS RPCs chambers are analyzed as a function of environmental parameters such as Temperature, Humidity and pressure, which are important for the operation of the muon detector system. A novel Neural Network approach has been used to analyze the data and to build a model using experimental measurements and combining the results of the simulations. Data from RPC Chambers in CMS experiment are taken and compared to the results from neural Network.

In vitro acute exposure to DEHP affects oocyte meiotic maturation, energy and oxidative stress parameters in a large animal model.

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Barbara Ambruosi

Full Text Available Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental contaminants because of their use in plastics and other common consumer products. Di-(2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP is the most abundant phthalate and it impairs fertility by acting as an endocrine disruptor. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of in vitro acute exposure to DEHP on oocyte maturation, energy and oxidative status in the horse, a large animal model. Cumulus cell (CC apoptosis and oxidative status were also investigated. Cumulus-oocyte complexes from the ovaries of slaughtered mares were cultured in vitro in presence of 0.12, 12 and 1200 µM DEHP. After in vitro maturation (IVM, CCs were removed and evaluated for apoptosis (cytological assessment and TUNEL and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS levels. Oocytes were evaluated for nuclear chromatin configuration. Matured (Metaphase II stage; MII oocytes were further evaluated for cytoplasmic energy and oxidative parameters. DEHP significantly inhibited oocyte maturation when added at low doses (0.12 µM; P<0.05. This effect was related to increased CC apoptosis (P<0.001 and reduced ROS levels (P<0.0001. At higher doses (12 and 1200 µM, DEHP induced apoptosis (P<0.0001 and ROS increase (P<0.0001 in CCs without affecting oocyte maturation. In DEHP-exposed MII oocytes, mitochondrial distribution patterns, apparent energy status (MitoTracker fluorescence intensity, intracellular ROS localization and levels, mt/ROS colocalization and total SOD activity did not vary, whereas increased ATP content (P<0.05, possibly of glycolytic origin, was found. Co-treatment with N-Acetyl-Cysteine reversed apoptosis and efficiently scavenged excessive ROS in DEHP-treated CCs without enhancing oocyte maturation. In conclusion, acute in vitro exposure to DEHP inhibits equine oocyte maturation without altering ooplasmic energy and oxidative stress parameters in matured oocytes which retain the potential to be fertilized and develop into

In vitro acute exposure to DEHP affects oocyte meiotic maturation, energy and oxidative stress parameters in a large animal model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambruosi, Barbara; Uranio, Manuel Filioli; Sardanelli, Anna Maria; Pocar, Paola; Martino, Nicola Antonio; Paternoster, Maria Stefania; Amati, Francesca; Dell'Aquila, Maria Elena

2011-01-01

Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental contaminants because of their use in plastics and other common consumer products. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the most abundant phthalate and it impairs fertility by acting as an endocrine disruptor. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of in vitro acute exposure to DEHP on oocyte maturation, energy and oxidative status in the horse, a large animal model. Cumulus cell (CC) apoptosis and oxidative status were also investigated. Cumulus-oocyte complexes from the ovaries of slaughtered mares were cultured in vitro in presence of 0.12, 12 and 1200 µM DEHP. After in vitro maturation (IVM), CCs were removed and evaluated for apoptosis (cytological assessment and TUNEL) and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Oocytes were evaluated for nuclear chromatin configuration. Matured (Metaphase II stage; MII) oocytes were further evaluated for cytoplasmic energy and oxidative parameters. DEHP significantly inhibited oocyte maturation when added at low doses (0.12 µM; P<0.05). This effect was related to increased CC apoptosis (P<0.001) and reduced ROS levels (P<0.0001). At higher doses (12 and 1200 µM), DEHP induced apoptosis (P<0.0001) and ROS increase (P<0.0001) in CCs without affecting oocyte maturation. In DEHP-exposed MII oocytes, mitochondrial distribution patterns, apparent energy status (MitoTracker fluorescence intensity), intracellular ROS localization and levels, mt/ROS colocalization and total SOD activity did not vary, whereas increased ATP content (P<0.05), possibly of glycolytic origin, was found. Co-treatment with N-Acetyl-Cysteine reversed apoptosis and efficiently scavenged excessive ROS in DEHP-treated CCs without enhancing oocyte maturation. In conclusion, acute in vitro exposure to DEHP inhibits equine oocyte maturation without altering ooplasmic energy and oxidative stress parameters in matured oocytes which retain the potential to be fertilized and develop into embryos

Importance and sensitivity of parameters affecting the Zion Seismic Risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

George, L.L.; O'Connell, W.J.

1985-06-01

This report presents the results of a study on the importance and sensitivity of structures, systems, equipment, components and design parameters used in the Zion Seismic Risk Calculations. This study is part of the Seismic Safety Margins Research Program (SSMRP) supported by the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The objective of this study is to provide the NRC with results on the importance and sensitivity of parameters used to evaluate seismic risk. These results can assist the NRC in making decisions dealing with the allocation of research resources on seismic issues. This study uses marginal analysis in addition to importance and sensitivity analysis to identify subject areas (input parameter areas) for improvements that reduce risk, estimate how much the improvement dfforts reduce risk, and rank the subject areas for improvements. Importance analysis identifies the systems, components, and parameters that are important to risk. Sensitivity analysis estimates the change in risk per unit improvement. Marginal analysis indicates the reduction in risk or uncertainty for improvement effort made in each subject area. The results described in this study were generated using the SEISIM (Systematic Evaluation of Important Safety Improvement Measures) and CHAIN computer codes. Part 1 of the SEISIM computer code generated the failure probabilities and risk values. Part 2 of SEISIM, along with the CHAIN computer code, generated the importance and sensitivity measures

Importance and sensitivity of parameters affecting the Zion Seismic Risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

George, L.L.; O' Connell, W.J.

1985-06-01

This report presents the results of a study on the importance and sensitivity of structures, systems, equipment, components and design parameters used in the Zion Seismic Risk Calculations. This study is part of the Seismic Safety Margins Research Program (SSMRP) supported by the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The objective of this study is to provide the NRC with results on the importance and sensitivity of parameters used to evaluate seismic risk. These results can assist the NRC in making decisions dealing with the allocation of research resources on seismic issues. This study uses marginal analysis in addition to importance and sensitivity analysis to identify subject areas (input parameter areas) for improvements that reduce risk, estimate how much the improvement dfforts reduce risk, and rank the subject areas for improvements. Importance analysis identifies the systems, components, and parameters that are important to risk. Sensitivity analysis estimates the change in risk per unit improvement. Marginal analysis indicates the reduction in risk or uncertainty for improvement effort made in each subject area. The results described in this study were generated using the SEISIM (Systematic Evaluation of Important Safety Improvement Measures) and CHAIN computer codes. Part 1 of the SEISIM computer code generated the failure probabilities and risk values. Part 2 of SEISIM, along with the CHAIN computer code, generated the importance and sensitivity measures.

Humic Fertilizer and Vermicompost Applied to the Soil Can Positively Affect Population Growth Parameters of Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) on Eggs of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamadi, P; Razmjou, J; Naseri, B; Hassanpour, M

2017-12-01

The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), is a devastating pest of tomato worldwide. One of the control measures of T. absoluta is the use of biological control agents, such as Trichogramma wasps. Interactions between natural enemies and insect pests may be affected by application of fertilizers, because changes in plant quality through the fertilizer application may therefore affect herbivore characteristics and suitability of them to parasitism. Laboratory tests were carried out to evaluate the life table parameters of Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko on T. absoluta eggs reared on tomato plants treated either with vermicompost (40%), humic fertilizer (2 g/kg soil), or control (suitable mixture of field soil and sand). Population growth parameters of T. brassicae were affected by fertilizer treatments. Significant differences were found for immature life period and total fecundity of T. brassicae on the treatments. Differences of intrinsic rate of natural increase (r m ), finite rate of increase (λ), net reproductive rate (R 0 ), mean generation time (T), and doubling time (DT) of T. brassicae among treatments were also significant. The lowest values of r m , λ, and R 0 were recorded for T. brassicae developed on T. absoluta eggs on control treatment, whereas the highest values of these parameters were observed on 2 g/kg humic fertilizer. Furthermore, T. brassicae had the shortest T and DT values on 2 g/kg humic fertilizer and 40% vermicompost treatments. Our results showed that application of humic fertilizer and vermicompost could positively affect population growth parameters of T. brassicae on eggs of T. absoluta fed on tomato plants.

Parameters Affecting 137Cs Migration within Soil Profile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sefien, S.M.; Ibrahim, A.S.; Abdelmalik, W.E.Y.

2013-01-01

Some studies have been carried out on the adsorption, distribution and migration of 137 Cs within soils of the area in the vicinity of the Nuclear Research Centre, Egypt, and Ismailia Canal. The soil physicochemical and mineralogical characteristics were carried out and indicated that the soil samples consisted mainly of sand fraction (quartz) and silt fractions (semctite minerals). The kinetics of caesium adsorption and its adsorption isotherms for the tested soils were also studied. The sorption of 137 Cs on soil minerals markedly affects its migration rate. The natural background of both locations of study indicated that the amounts of 137 Cs present in the reactor site were found to be originated from the fallout and from the external contamination which affected the background level. The 137 Cs activity at the canal site was found to be 20.01 Bq/m 2 .cm, while that around the reactor site were found to be 231.15 Bq/m2.cm which may be originating from the fallout and from external contamination which affect the background level at that location. The activity in the canal soil which amounted to 20.01 Bq/m2/cm (0.87 Bq/kg) is about that of background.Based on the distribution data, the vertical distribution of 137 Cs has been studied for soil in both locations (the vicinity of the Nuclear Research Centre (NRC) and Ismailia canal). The vertical migration rates of 137 Cs were calculated for soil samples selected from different locations. These rates were found to be 0.056 and 0.031 cm/year for the reactor and canal site respectively.

TH-C-18A-09: Exam and Patient Parameters Affecting the DNA Damage Response Following CT Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elgart, S; Adibi, A; Bostani, M; Ruehm, S; Enzmann, D; McNitt-Gray, M; Iwamoto, K

2014-01-01

Purpose: To identify exam and patient parameters affecting the biological response to CT studies using in vivo and ex vivo blood samples. Methods: Blood samples were collected under IRB approval from 16 patients undergoing clinically-indicated CT exams. Blood was procured prior to, immediately after and 30minutes following irradiation. A sample of preexam blood was placed on the patient within the exam region for ex vivo analysis. Whole blood samples were fixed immediately following collection and stained for γH2AX to assess DNA damage response (DDR). Median fluorescence of treated samples was compared to non-irradiated control samples for each patient. Patients were characterized by observed biological kinetic response: (a) fast — phosphorylation increased by 2minutes and fell by 30minutes, (b) slow — phosphorylation continued to increase to 30minutes and (c) none — little change was observed or irradiated samples fell below controls. Total dose values were normalized to exam time for an averaged dose-rate in dose/sec for each exam. Relationships between patient biological responses and patient and exam parameters were investigated. Results: A clearer dose response at 30minutes is observed for young patients (<61yoa; R2>0.5) compared to old patients (>61yoa; R 2 <0.11). Fast responding patients were significantly younger than slow responding patients (p<0.05). Unlike in vivo samples, age did not significantly affect the patient response ex vivo. Additionally, fast responding patients received exams with significantly smaller dose-rate than slow responding patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: Age is a significant factor in the biological response suggesting that DDR may be more rapid in a younger population and slower as the population ages. Lack of an agerelated response ex vivo suggests a systemic response to radiation not present when irradiated outside the body. Dose-rate affects the biological response suggesting that patient response may be related to scan

Sample Size Calculation: Inaccurate A Priori Assumptions for Nuisance Parameters Can Greatly Affect the Power of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

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Elsa Tavernier

Full Text Available We aimed to examine the extent to which inaccurate assumptions for nuisance parameters used to calculate sample size can affect the power of a randomized controlled trial (RCT. In a simulation study, we separately considered an RCT with continuous, dichotomous or time-to-event outcomes, with associated nuisance parameters of standard deviation, success rate in the control group and survival rate in the control group at some time point, respectively. For each type of outcome, we calculated a required sample size N for a hypothesized treatment effect, an assumed nuisance parameter and a nominal power of 80%. We then assumed a nuisance parameter associated with a relative error at the design stage. For each type of outcome, we randomly drew 10,000 relative errors of the associated nuisance parameter (from empirical distributions derived from a previously published review. Then, retro-fitting the sample size formula, we derived, for the pre-calculated sample size N, the real power of the RCT, taking into account the relative error for the nuisance parameter. In total, 23%, 0% and 18% of RCTs with continuous, binary and time-to-event outcomes, respectively, were underpowered (i.e., the real power was 90%. Even with proper calculation of sample size, a substantial number of trials are underpowered or overpowered because of imprecise knowledge of nuisance parameters. Such findings raise questions about how sample size for RCTs should be determined.

Design parameters and source terms: Volume 1, Design parameters: Revision 0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-09-01

The Design Parameters and Source Terms Document was prepared in accordance with DOE request and to provide data for the environmental impact study to be performed in the future for the Deaf Smith County, Texas site for a nuclear waste repository in salt. This document updates a previous unpublished report to the level of the Site Characterization Plan - Conceptual Design Report, SCP-CDR. The previous unpublished SCC Study identified the data needs for the Environmental Assessment effort for seven possible salt repository sites

Developing Key Parameters for Green Performance of Partition Wall Blocks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goh Cheng Siew

2016-01-01

Full Text Available To promote sustainable construction, it is important to consider green performance of construction materials throughout the life cycle. Selecting inappropriate materials could not only affect the functional performance but also preclude the achievement of green building performance as a whole. Green performance of construction materials has therefore been one of the primary considerations of green building assessment systems. Using partition wall blocks as an example, this paper examines green performance of building materials primarily from the cradle to gate boundaries. Nine key parameters are proposed for the green performance of partition wall blocks. Apart from environmental features, technical performance of partition wall blocks is also taken into consideration since it is the determinant of the lifecycle performance. This paper offers a roadmap to decision makers to make environmentally responsible choices for their materials of internal walls and partitions, and hence provides a potential sustainable solution for green buildings.

Models and parameters for environmental radiological assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, C W [ed.

1984-01-01

This book presents a unified compilation of models and parameters appropriate for assessing the impact of radioactive discharges to the environment. Models examined include those developed for the prediction of atmospheric and hydrologic transport and deposition, for terrestrial and aquatic food-chain bioaccumulation, and for internal and external dosimetry. Chapters have been entered separately into the data base. (ACR)

Models and parameters for environmental radiological assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, C.W.

1984-01-01

This book presents a unified compilation of models and parameters appropriate for assessing the impact of radioactive discharges to the environment. Models examined include those developed for the prediction of atmospheric and hydrologic transport and deposition, for terrestrial and aquatic food-chain bioaccumulation, and for internal and external dosimetry. Chapters have been entered separately into the data base

Aerospace use of nuclear energy and current biological problems of environmental contamination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

La Verde, R; Conte, L

1982-08-25

An examination of the danger to man which could result from accidents caused by the use of nuclear energy for space purposes leads to the presentation of parameters establishing levels of environmental contamination by radionucleids from the stratotroposphere. The factors affecting the transport of radioactive pollutants in the atmosphere are indicated and the importance of their deposition and absorption by man through the alimentary canal is emphasised.

Genetic parameters, phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlations and genetic variability on sunflower in the Brazilian Savannah

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ellen Grippi Lira

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. is an annual crop that stands out for its production of high quality oil and for an efficient selection, being necessary to estimate the components of genetic and phenotypic variance. This study aimed to estimate genetic parameters, phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlations and genetic variability on sunflower in the Brazilian Savannah, evaluating the characters grain yield (YIELD, days to start flowering (DFL based on flowering date in R5, chapter length (CL, weight of a thousand achenes (WTA, plant height (H and oil content (OilC of 16 sunflower genotypes. The experiment was conducted at Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF, situated at 15º 35’ 30”S latitude, 47º 42’ 30”W longitude and 1.007m above sea level, in soil classified as dystroferric Oxisol. The experimental design used was a complete randomized block with four replicates. The nature for the effects of genotypes and blocks was fixed. Except for the character chapter length, genetic variance was the main component of the phenotypic variance among the genotypes, indicating high genetic variability and experimental efficiency with proper environmental control. In absolute terms, the genetic correlations were superior to phenotypic and environmental. The high values reported for heritability and selective accuracy indicated efficiency of phenotypic selection. Results showed high genetic variability among genotypes, which may contribute to the genetic improvement of sunflower.

[Weight parameters of water quality impact and risk grade determination of water environmental sensitive spots in Jiashan].

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Rong-Rong; Pang, Yong; Zhang, Qian; Chen, Ke; Sun, Ming-Yuan

2012-07-01

For the safety of the water environment in Jiashan county in Zhejiang Province, one-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality models are established based on three large-scale monitoring of hydrology and water quality in Jiashan county, three water environmental sensitive spots including Hongqitang dam Chijia hydrological station and Luxie pond are selected to investigate weight parameters of water quality impact and risk grade determination. Results indicate as follows (1) Internal pollution impact in Jiashan areas was greater than the external, the average weight parameters of internal chemical oxygen demand (COD) pollution is 55.3%, internal ammonia nitrogen (NH(4+)-N) is 67.4%, internal total phosphor (TP) is 63.1%. Non-point pollution impact in Jiashan areas was greater than point pollution impact, the average weight parameters of non-point COD pollutions is 53.7%, non-point NH(4+)-N is 65.9%, non-point TP is 57.8%. (2) The risk of Hongqitang dam and Chijia hydrological station are in the middle risk. The risk of Luxie pond is also in the middle risk in August, and in April and December the risk of Luxie pond is low. The strategic decision will be suggested to guarantee water environment security and social and economic security in the study.

Maintaining environmental quality while expanding biomass production: Sub-regional U.S. policy simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso; Swinton, Scott M.; Izaurralde, R. César; Manowitz, David H.; Zhang, Xuesong

2013-01-01

This paper evaluates environmental policy effects on ligno-cellulosic biomass production and environmental outcomes using an integrated bioeconomic optimization model. The environmental policy integrated climate (EPIC) model is used to simulate crop yields and environmental indicators in current and future potential bioenergy cropping systems based on weather, topographic and soil data. The crop yield and environmental outcome parameters from EPIC are combined with biomass transport costs and economic parameters in a representative farmer profit-maximizing mathematical optimization model. The model is used to predict the impact of alternative policies on biomass production and environmental outcomes. We find that without environmental policy, rising biomass prices initially trigger production of annual crop residues, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and nutrient losses to surface and ground water. At higher biomass prices, perennial bioenergy crops replace annual crop residues as biomass sources, resulting in lower environmental impacts. Simulations of three environmental policies namely a carbon price, a no-till area subsidy, and a fertilizer tax reveal that only the carbon price policy systematically mitigates environmental impacts. The fertilizer tax is ineffectual and too costly to farmers. The no-till subsidy is effective only at low biomass prices and is too costly to government. - Highlights: ► Bioeconomic optimization model predicts how biomass production affects environment. ► Rising biomass production could impair climate and water quality. ► Environmental protection policies compared as biomass supply grows. ► Carbon price protects the environment cost-effectively as biomass supply expands

A Study of Environmental Effects on Galaxy Spin Using MaNGA Data

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jong Chul; Hwang, Ho Seong; Chung, Haeun

2018-03-01

We investigate environmental effects on galaxy spin using the recent public data of MaNGA integral field spectroscopic survey containing ˜2800 galaxies. We measure the spin parameter of 1830 galaxies through the analysis of two-dimensional stellar kinematic maps within the effective radii, and obtain their large- (background mass density from 20 nearby galaxies) and small-scale (distance to and morphology of the nearest neighbour galaxy) environmental parameters for 1529 and 1767 galaxies, respectively. We first examine the mass dependence of galaxy spin, and find that the spin parameter of early-type galaxies decreases with stellar mass at log (M*/M⊙) ≳ 10, consistent with the results from previous studies. We then divide the galaxies into three subsamples using their stellar masses to minimize the mass effects on galaxy spin. The spin parameters of galaxies in each subsample do not change with background mass density, but do change with distance to and morphology of the nearest neighbour. In particular, the spin parameter of late-type galaxies decreases as early-type neighbours approach within the virial radius. These results suggest that the large-scale environments hardly affect the galaxy spin, but the small-scale environments such as hydrodynamic galaxy-galaxy interactions can play a substantial role in determining galaxy spin.

40 CFR 1508.3 - Affecting.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Affecting. 1508.3 Section 1508.3 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY TERMINOLOGY AND INDEX § 1508.3 Affecting. Affecting means will or may have an effect on. ...

(C-V) and y-parameters determination of JFETs under different environmental conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El-Ghanam, S.M., E-mail: safaaghanam@yahoo.co [Women' s College for Art, Science and Education, Ain-Shams University, Heliopolis, Cairo (Egypt)

2010-10-01

The C-V characteristics of n-channel JFET have been measured under different environmental conditions of temperature up to 140 deg. C and {gamma}-rays up to 100 kGy. For low bias voltage and frequency, the input capacitance, C{sub iss}, is shown to be a direct function of temperature. On the other hand, its value was shown to decrease from 11.68 down to 8.17 nF due to {gamma}-exposure up to 100 kGy. The y-parameters of common source amplifier were calculated under the influence of temperature and {gamma}-rays. The results show that the susceptance component of the admittance increases due to increase in temperature, while decreasing after {gamma}-exposure. Considering the cutoff frequency f{sub T0}, it is clear that as the temperature increases from 30 up to 140 deg. C, f{sub T0} dropped from 47 MHz down to 5 MHz, measured at 0.8 V. On the other hand its value was shown to increase from 43 MHz up to 102 MHz, measured at the same bias voltage, due to {gamma}-exposure up to 100 kGy.

Physiological activities of the combination of fish oil and α-lipoic acid affecting hepatic lipogenesis and parameters related to oxidative stress in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Ide, Takashi

2018-06-01

We studied the combined effect of fish oil and α-lipoic acid on hepatic lipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation and parameters of oxidative stress in rats fed lipogenic diets high in sucrose. A control diet contained a saturated fat (palm oil) that gives high rate of hepatic lipogenesis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets supplemented with 0 or 2.5 g/kg α-lipoic acid and containing 0, 20, or 100 g/kg fish oil, for 21 days. α-Lipoic acid significantly reduced food intake during 0-8 days but not the later period of the experiment. Fish oil and α-lipoic acid decreased serum lipid concentrations and their combination further decreased the parameters in an additive fashion. The combination of fish oil and α-lipoic acid decreased the activity and mRNA levels of hepatic lipogenic enzymes in an additive fashion. Fish oil increased the parameters of hepatic fatty acid oxidation enzymes. α-Lipoic acid appeared to antagonize the stimulating effects of fish oil of fatty acid oxidation through reductions in the activity of some fatty acid oxidation enzymes. α-Lipoic acid attenuated fish oil-dependent increases in serum and liver malondialdehyde levels, and this compound also reduced the serum 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine level. α-Lipoic acid affected various parameters related to the antioxidant system; fish oil also affected some of the parameters. The combination of fish oil and α-lipoic acid effectively reduced serum lipid levels through the additive down-regulation of hepatic lipogenesis. α-Lipoic acid was effective in attenuating fish oil-mediated oxidative stress.

Analysis of the Relationship Between Physical Environmental Parameters and Beach Water Quality in a Subtropical Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, X.; Wang, J. D.; Elmir, S.; Solo-Gabriele, H. M.; Wright, M. E.; Abdelzaher, A.

2006-12-01

Fecal Indicator Bacteria(FIB) are found in high concentrations in sewage water, and thus are used to indicate whether there is fecal material related pathogen present and to determine whether a beach is safe for recreational use. Studies have shown, however, in subtropical regions, FIB concentrations above EPA standards may be present in the absence of known point sources of human or animal waste, thus reducing the efficacy of FIB beach monitoring programs. An interdisciplinary study is being conducted in Miami, Florida , the goal is to understand the sources and behavior of FIB on a beach without point source loads and also to improve beach health hazard warnings in subtropical regions. This study, examines relationship between enterococci (EPA recommended FIB for use in marine water) and physical environmental parameters such as rain, tide and wind. FIB data employed include Florida Department of Health weekly beach monitoring enterococci (ENT) data during a five year period and a two-day experiment with hourly sampling at Hobie Cat Beach on Virginia Key in the Miami metropolitan area. The environmental data consist of wind from a nearby CMAN tower, and local rain and tide. The analysis also includes data from nearby beaches monitored by the Health Department. Results show the correlation coefficient between ENT and tide at Hobie Cat Beach is positive but not significant(r=0.17). Rain events have a significant influence on ENT at Hobie Cat Beach, with a correlation coefficient of up to 0.7 while at other beaches the correlation is less than 0.2. Reasons for this aberration are being investigated. Although this is the only beach allowing dogs there are other factors of possible importance, such as tidal flats frequented by birds and weaker water circulation and exchange at this beach facing a bay rather than the ocean. Higher ENT levels (> 300CFU/100ml water) are more likely (67% of the time) to be associated with periods of onshore winds, which may affect the

Quantifying the ability of environmental parameters to predict soil texture fractions using regression-tree model with GIS and LIDAR data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Mogens Humlekrog; Bou Kheir, Rania; Greve, Mette Balslev

2012-01-01

Soil texture is an important soil characteristic that drives crop production and field management, and is the basis for environmental monitoring (including soil quality and sustainability, hydrological and ecological processes, and climate change simulations). The combination of coarse sand, fine...... sand, silt, and clay in soil determines its textural classification. This study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and regression-tree modeling to precisely quantify the relationships between the soil texture fractions and different environmental parameters on a national scale, and to detect...... precipitation, seasonal precipitation to statistically explain soil texture fractions field/laboratory measurements (45,224 sampling sites) in the area of interest (Denmark). The developed strongest relationships were associated with clay and silt, variance being equal to 60%, followed by coarse sand (54...

Investigating changes in land use cover and associated environmental parameters in Taihu Lake in recent decades using remote sensing and geochemistry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changchun Huang

Full Text Available Humans have had a significant impact on the terrestrial pedosphere through activities such as agriculture and urbanization. The effects of human activities on land use and the related environmental changes were investigated through point and areal studies surrounding Meiliang Bay, which is an open area of extreme eutrophication in Taihu Lake, China. This study used remote sensing and environmental-tracer profiles [total nitrogen (TN, total phosphorus (TP, total organic carbon (TOC, grain size, and geochemical parameters] to determine the causes of changes in land use and the associated environmental parameters. The results of LUCCs (Land use/cover changes indicate that over the past three decades, total farmland decreased by 862.49 km2, with an annual decrement rate of 28.75 km2/year, and total urbanized land increased by 859.71 km2, with an annual growth rate of 28.66 km2/year. The geochemical results indicate that the trophic state of Taihu Lake was persistently intensifying and that the TN, TP, and TOC concentrations increased twofold, threefold, and twofold, respectively, from 1949 to 2010. The sources of TN, TP, and TOC were highly similar after 1975. However, before 1974, TN and TP originated from different sources than TOC. The grassland and woodland around the lake retain nutrients and sand from the land of study area. The increase in urbanized land and tertiary industries significantly increased the sediment concentrations of TN, TP, and TOC after 1980.

Environmental Health assessment 200 Days after Earthquake-Affected Region in East Azerbaijan Earthquake, North-Western of Iran, 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alihossein Zeinalzadeh

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Evaluating of health status and explore the challenges of health problems that threaten human life following disasters and major earthquakes providing windows of opportunities for health care providers in future planning of disasters. The main purpose of this report was to survey the environmental sanitation statues after 200 days of the affected populations in earthquakes of East Azerbaijan, northwestern of Iran, 2012. The survey was carried out in earthquake zones 200 days after the occurrence of the earthquake. A single stage cluster sampling from among 95 villages damaged in the earthquake of 2012 East Azerbaijan of three towns Ahar, Varzeghan and Heris were selected. The data were collected with questionnaire, site visits and evaluation of water and sanitation. In a twin Earthquake, East Azerbaijan province that 399 villages of Ahar, Varzeghan, Heris, Tabriz and Kaleibar cities were affected and 356 (89.2 % villages were destroyed between 30-100%.  Evaluation of water and sanitation infrastructure after 200 days, shown that only half of these villages consumed healthy water with high coverage and adequate. Half of the villages in 200 days after the earthquake were covered safe drinking water (treated drinking water. The bacteriological quality of drinking-water supply of the affected area was assessed in randomly collected 146 samples from this region and ten (6.8% reported as unsuitable. Solid waste management facilities in residents have not been acceptable that affect public health. Solid waste disposal was done by district residents (cooperation rural residents 68.4%, 36.8% and 76.3% in Ahar, Varzeghan and Heris, respectively. Overall, the impact of infectious and communicable diseases after Earthquake was reported 42.1% (16 villages in the Varzeghan. The lack of geographical view with a focus in mountainous and rural areas, partial support and dispersion of earthquake-stricken people in affected villages and lack of participatory need

Tubular microjets: Fabrication, factors affecting the motion and mechanism of propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Parmar, Jemish; Vilela, Diana; Sanchez, Samuel

2016-11-01

Artificial micro- and nano-swimmers are interesting systems for both fundamental understandings of swimming at low Reynolds numbers and for their promising applications in many fields, such as environmental and biomedical fields. Different architectures of self-propelled systems present various propulsion mechanisms. Among them, tubular microjets are widely used for different applications. Here, we briefly describe the fabrication of microjets by rolling up thin film and electrodeposition techniques and the principles behind these processes. Different parameters affecting the motion of microjets and existing theoretical models about microjet propulsion are discussed.

Effects of Carnitine on Sperm Parameters of Infertile Males with Idiopathic Asthenospermia

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I Amiri

2008-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Introduction & Objective: Studies confirm that a number of nutritional and environmental factors may negatively affect spermatogenesis and cause male infertility. Carnitine is an important factor for sperm motility. Carnitine deficiency decreases sperm motility and may cause male infertility. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of carnitine on sperm parameters in infertile males with idiopathic asthenospermia. Materials & Methods: This study is a before and after clinical trial performed on 40 asthenospermia men who were treated with 750 mg per/day carnitine in Fatemieh infertility research center in years 2006-2007. Sperm parameters were assessed before and after treatment. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS10 and paired T-test Results: The results showed a significant increase in sperm concentration, morphology, sperm total motility and rapid progressive motility after treatment by carnitine (p<0.05. Conclusion: Carnitine supplementation has a significant effect on sperm parameters in men with idiopathic asthenospermia.

Investigation of the parameters affecting the release of flurbiprofen from chitosan microspheres

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Müşerref Günseli Yüksel Tilkan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Flurbiprofen (FLB, a NSAID, widely used for preventing pain generally for arthritis or dental problems. In this study, FLB loaded chitosan microspheres were prepared by ionotropic gelation method. In this method, microspheres were formed by dropping chitosan solutions containing FLB into sodium alginate solutions including sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP. A variety of formulation parameters like drug:polymer ratio, drug concentration, polymer’s molecular weight, polymer concentration, pH and the concentration of TPP solutions, drying method and stirring time were analyzed. The dissolution studies were performed in a shaking water bath in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer saline (PBS at 37 °C. Laser diffractometer was used for particle size analysis, and scanning electron microscope (SEM was used for morphological properties. Drug loading and loading efficiency were calculated by using UV spectrophotometer. The particles obtained were spherical with 0.7-1.3 mm size range, and the loading efficiency was approximately 21-79%. The dissolution studies conducted revealed that drug:polimer ratio and the polymer type and concentration affected the drug release from microspheres. It was observed that increasing the polymer concentration, polymer’s molecular weight and TPP concentration decreased the FLB release from microspheres, which was according to Higuchi kinetics.

On the quantitative relationships between environmental parameters and heavy metals pollution in Mediterranean soils using GIS regression-trees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bou Kheir, Rania; Shomar, B.; Greve, Mogens Humlekrog

2014-01-01

Soil heavy metal pollution has been and continues to be a worldwide phenomenon that has attracted a great deal of attention from governments and regulatory bodies. In this context, our study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and regression-tree modeling (196 trees) to precisely quantify...... the relationships between four toxic heavy metals (Ni, Cr, Cd and As) and sixteen environmental parameters (e.g., parent material, slope gradient, proximity to roads, etc.) in the soils of northern Lebanon (as a case study of Mediterranean landscapes), and to detect the most important parameters that can be used...... between 68% and 100%), surroundings of waste areas (48 – 92%), proximity to roads (45 – 82%) and parent materials (57 – 73%) considerably influenced all investigated heavy metals, which is not the case of hydromorphological and soil properties. For instance, hydraulic conductivity (18 – 41%) and pH (23...

Identification parameters and criteria affecting airphoto lineations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Etr, H.A.

1989-01-01

In areas where bedrock exposures are predominant, linear features can be seen easily on aerial photographs as expressions of joints, faults, fractures, folds, bedding, etc. In case of limited bedrock exposures, because of surficial blanketing by unconsolidated material and/or vegetation, bedrock lineations may be faintly expressed in different fashions (e.g. subtle vegetation alignments, soil tonal differences, etc.) depending on the nature, thickness, and water content of the unconsolidated cover and the kind and homogenity of vegetation. The most important variables affecting airphoto linear features are: structure, lithology, topography, drainage, erosion, vegetation, climate, tone, scale of photographs, and use of supplementary information. (author). 31 refs

Environmental parameters influence on the dynamics of total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus densities in Crassostrea virginica harvested from Mexico’s Gulf coast

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

López-Hernández, Karla M.; Pardío-Sedas, Violeta T.; Lizárraga-Partida, Leonardo; Williams, José de J.; Martínez-Herrera, David; Flores-Primo, Argel; Uscanga-Serrano, Roxana; Rendón-Castro, Karla

2015-01-01

Highlights: • V. parahaemolyticus densities in oysters were isolated in spring and winter seasons. • Pathogenic genes abundances varied with environmental parameters seasonal changes. • Water temperature modulated V. parahaemolyticus abundance during reduced salinities. • V. parahaemolyticus with potentially pathogenic genes raises important health issues. - Abstract: The influence of environmental parameters on the total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus seasonal densities in American oysters (Crassostrea virginica) was evaluated for 1 year. Harvesting site A yielded the highest mean densities of V. parahaemolyticus tlh+, tdh+/trh−, tdh−/trh+ and tdh+/trh+ during spring season at 2.57, 1.74, 0.36, and −0.40 log 10 MPN/g, respectively, and tdh+/orf8+ during winter season (0.90 log 10 MPN/g). V. parahaemolyticus tlh+ densities were associated to salinity (R 2 = 0.372, P < 0.022), tdh+/trh+ to turbidity (R 2 = 0.597, P < 0.035), and orf8+ to temperature, salinity, and pH (R 2 = 0.964, P < 0.001). The exposure to salinity and temperature conditions during winter and spring seasons regulated the dynamics of V. parahaemolyticus harboring potentially pathogenic genotypes within the oyster. The adaptive response of V. parahaemolyticus to seasonal environmental changes may lead to an increase in survival and virulence, threatening the seafood safety and increasing the risk of illness

Factors affecting the distribution of hydrocarbon contaminants and hydrogeochemical parameters in a shallow sand aquifer

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jin-Yong; Cheon, Jeong-Yong; Lee, Kang-Kun; Lee, Seok-Young; Lee, Min-Hyo

2001-07-01

The distributions of hydrocarbon contaminants and hydrogeochemical parameters were investigated in a shallow sand aquifer highly contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons leaked from solvent storage tanks. For these purposes, a variety of field investigations and studies were performed, which included installation of over 100 groundwater monitoring wells and piezometers at various depths, soil logging and analyses during well and piezometer installation, chemical analysis of groundwater, pump tests, and slug tests. Continuous water level monitoring at three selected wells using automatic data-logger and manual measuring at other wells were also conducted. Based on analyses of the various investigations and tests, a number of factors were identified to explain the distribution of the hydrocarbon contaminants and hydrogeochemical parameters. These factors include indigenous biodegradation, hydrostratigraphy, preliminary pump-and-treat remedy, recharge by rainfall, and subsequent water level fluctuation. The permeable sandy layer, in which the mean water table elevation is maintained, provided a dominant pathway for contaminant transport. The preliminary pump-and-treat action accelerated the movement of the hydrocarbon contaminants and affected the redox evolution pattern. Seasonal recharge by rain, together with indigenous biodegradation, played an important role in the natural attenuation of the petroleum hydrocarbons via mixing/dilution and biodegradation. The water level fluctuations redistributed the hydrocarbon contaminants by partitioning them into the soil and groundwater. The identified factors are not independent but closely inter-correlated.

Selected parameters of arabica coffee quality affected by its geographical origin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alica Bobková

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper was to evaluate selected parameters of Arabica coffee quality. Arabica coffee beans originated from 21 different regions of the world. Parameters of their moisture content, water extract, water extract in dry matter, dry mater, caffeine and caffeine content in dry matter were assessed by the Slovak Technical Standard. Dry matter content ranged from 98.64 to 99.07%, the highest content was measured in sample from Cuba. Minimum dry matter content was detected in coffee beans from Mexico. Caffeine in studied samples ranged from 10 200 mg.kg-1 to 13 500 mg.kg-1. The lowest caffeine content was determined in Panama coffee, the highest was found in the sample from Indonesia. The results of moisture content and caffeine in dry mater were evaluated by the Food Code of the Slovak Republic and all observed parameters in the coffee beans meet the maximum levels given in legislation. By statistical procesing it can be seen that coffee samples originating from Ecuador, Indonesia and Nepal were similar in parameters of caffeine content and caffeine in dry matter. Other similar samples originating from Cuba, Peru, Ethiopia and Panama were statistically similar at dry matter content. Special statistical group was coffee from Salvador at the parameters of water extract and water extract in dry matter. Normal 0 21 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

Environmental Performance Report 2015

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2016-07-01

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Environmental Performance Report provides a description of the laboratory's environmental management activities for 2015, including information on environmental and sustainability performance, environmental compliance activities and status, and environmental protection programs, highlights, and successes. The purpose of this report is to ensure that U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the public receive timely, accurate information about events that have affected or could adversely affect the health, safety, and security of the public or workers; the environment; or the operations of DOE facilities. This report meets the requirements of the Annual Site Environmental Report and is prepared in accordance with the DOE Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting.

Environmental Performance Report 2016

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braus, Genevieve [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-06

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Environmental Performance Report provides a description of the laboratory's environmental management activities for 2016, including information on environmental and sustainability performance, environmental compliance activities and status, and environmental protection programs, highlights, and successes. The purpose of this report is to ensure that U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the public receive timely, accurate information about events that have affected or could adversely affect the health, safety, and security of the public or workers; the environment; or the operations of DOE facilities. This report meets the requirements of the Annual Site Environmental Report and is prepared in accordance with the DOE Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting.

growth and yield parameters of sorghum genotypes as affected

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DR. AMINU

ABSTRACT. Field trial was conducted at Bayero University, Kano research farm with the aim of determining the effect of stem injection artificial inoculation technique on the growth and yield parameters of one hundred and four sorghum genotypes against head smut. The trial was laid on a randomized complete block design ...

Mining Affected Rambla Study: Rambla del Beal, Cartagena (Murcia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez, L. F.; Millan, R.; Alvarez, A. M.; Garcia, G.; Cardona, A. I.

2010-01-01

This study was carried out in the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and the CIEMAT. The Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena provided this research framed in a project, funded by the European Union, in order to study impacts from mining activity in the Sierra de Cartagena. Moreover this study is included in the environmental science final project of Luis Francisco Rodriguez Mendizabal, directed by Rocio Millan, Ana Isabel Cardona and Ana Maria Alvarez. The objective of this study is to characterize s strongly affected by mining activity rambla which is associated to tailings carriage. In that way, through many soil parameters study, carriage trends are inferred in this system. In the study area 4 drillings up to 6 meters were performed. These are considered the most representative sites for the ramble. for many soil parameters samples were analysed from depths. In the end of the document principal conclusions are exposed. (Author) 10 refs.

The estimation of soil parameters using observations on crop biophysical variables and the crop model STICS improve the predictions of agro environmental variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Varella, H.-V.

2009-04-01

Dynamic crop models are very useful to predict the behavior of crops in their environment and are widely used in a lot of agro-environmental work. These models have many parameters and their spatial application require a good knowledge of these parameters, especially of the soil parameters. These parameters can be estimated from soil analysis at different points but this is very costly and requires a lot of experimental work. Nevertheless, observations on crops provided by new techniques like remote sensing or yield monitoring, is a possibility for estimating soil parameters through the inversion of crop models. In this work, the STICS crop model is studied for the wheat and the sugar beet and it includes more than 200 parameters. After a previous work based on a large experimental database for calibrate parameters related to the characteristics of the crop, a global sensitivity analysis of the observed variables (leaf area index LAI and absorbed nitrogen QN provided by remote sensing data, and yield at harvest provided by yield monitoring) to the soil parameters is made, in order to determine which of them have to be estimated. This study was made in different climatic and agronomic conditions and it reveals that 7 soil parameters (4 related to the water and 3 related to the nitrogen) have a clearly influence on the variance of the observed variables and have to be therefore estimated. For estimating these 7 soil parameters, a Bayesian data assimilation method is chosen (because of available prior information on these parameters) named Importance Sampling by using observations, on wheat and sugar beet crop, of LAI and QN at various dates and yield at harvest acquired on different climatic and agronomic conditions. The quality of parameter estimation is then determined by comparing the result of parameter estimation with only prior information and the result with the posterior information provided by the Bayesian data assimilation method. The result of the

Review on Development of Ceramic Membrane From Sol-Gel Route: Parameters Affecting Characteristics of the Membrane

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M. R. Othman and H. Mukhtar

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The importance of laboratory scale ceramic membrane preparation using sol-gel technique with pore sizes in the range of 1-10nm is reviewed. Parameters affecting the characteristics of membrane during membrane development are highlighted and discussed in detail. Experimental results from literatures have shown that the correct amount of acid, water, PVA, appropriate membrane thickness, proper control of drying rate, and appropriate temperature profile selection during sintering process are necessary in order to acquire sufficient strength and reduce the formation of crack in the membrane. The different temperature setting during sintering process also influences the size of pore formed.Key Words: Sol-Gel, Inorganic Membrane, Ceramic Membrane, Gas Permeation, Sintering, Sol Properties, Membrane Morphologies, Pore Size Distribution.

Parameters of atmospheric radioactivity in Bulgaria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yaneva, B.; Todorov, P.; Georgieva, D.

2006-01-01

Bulgaria is a country which is located on the Balkan Peninsula, at the Eastern part of Europe. There are a lot of polluting sources, which can affect the environmental parameters and human health. One of these parameters is a radioactivity. It can be as a result from natural and anthropological sources. One of the most important sources of radiological influence to the environment and its components is from atmosphere. Anthropological sources of atmospheric pollution are Nuclear power plants, different kinds of industrial plants, and so on. The systematic control on these parameters is made by the Ministry of environment and water in Bulgaria. The atmospheric radioactivity research is based on collecting of many samples and its examine. The collecting of these aerosol samples on different kind of filters is automatic and it is put into practice by fixed stations located in some of the main towns in Bulgaria - Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Vratza and Montana. The required amount of air for each sample is 1000m 3 . These samples are analyzed by gamma-spectrometry analysis for determination of specifies activity of natural and anthropological radionuclides in them. Monitoring data for the atmospheric radioactivity can be characterized by concentrations of Cs-137, Be-7. The results show that concentrations of Cs-137 are 3 and the concentrations for Be-7 vary from 0.7 to 15.7 mBq/m 3 . Other important radionuclides are Sr-90, Uranium and Ra-226

Use of environmental parameters to explain the variability in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract. This study attempts to explain the variability in recruitment of sardine in the northern Benguela and to develop potential models by including environmental information to predict recruitment. ... AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO ...

Visual food cues decrease postprandial glucose concentrations in lean and obese men without affecting food intake and related endocrine parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Brede, Swantje; Sputh, Annika; Hartmann, Ann-Christin; Hallschmid, Manfred; Lehnert, Hendrik; Klement, Johanna

2017-10-01

The abundance of highly palatable food items in our environment represents a possible cause of overconsumption. Neuroimaging studies in humans have demonstrated that watching pictures of food increases activation in brain areas involved in homeostatic and hedonic food cue processing. Nevertheless, the impact of food cues on actual food intake and metabolic parameters has not been systematically investigated. We tested the hypothesis that watching high-calorie food cues increases food intake and modifies anticipatory blood parameters in lean and especially in obese men. In 20 normal-weight and 20 obese healthy fasted men, we assessed the effects of watching pictures of high-calorie food items versus neutral contents on food intake measured during a standardized test buffet and subsequent snacking as well as on glucose homeostasis and endocrine parameters. Compared to neutral pictures, viewing food pictures reduced postprandial blood glucose concentrations in lean (p = 0.016) and obese (p = 0.044) subjects, without any differences in insulin or C-peptide concentrations (all p > 0.4). Viewing food pictures did not affect total calorie intake during the buffet (all p > 0.5) and snack consumption (all p > 0.4). Concentrations of ghrelin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and glucagon also remained unaffected (all p > 0.08). These data indicate that preprandial processing of food cues curbs postprandial blood glucose excursions, without immediately affecting eating behavior in normal-weight and obese men. Findings indicate that exposure to food cues does not acutely trigger calorie overconsumption but rather improves the glucoregulatory response to food intake. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Co-variation of Cholera with Climatic and Environmental Parameters ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

adjusted cholera cases and coastal ocean chlorophyll a and, to some degree, sea surface temperature, the ... environmental variables, such as air and water temperature, rainfall ... nutrients and plankton biomass (Vezulli et al., 2010). Water ...

Study of environmental pollution by heavy metals in Sepetiba Bay and Paraiba do Sul River - Guandu River by analysis of critical parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfeiffer, W.C.; Fiszman, M.; Malm, O.; Lima, N.R.W.; Azcue, J.M.

The heavy metal pollution in Sepetiba Bay and Paraiba do Sul River - Guandu River is studied by analysis of critical parameters. This ones are employed in environmental impact determination of nuclear installations. Three critic metals (Cr, Zn, Cd) and four (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr) ones are lauched by the industrial park of Sepetiba Bay and Paraiba Vale respectively. (M.A.C.) [pt

Influence of sulphate-reducing bacteria on environmental parameters and marine corrosion behavior of Q235 steel in aerobic conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wan Yi; Zhang Dun; Liu Huaiqun; Li Yongjuan; Hou Baorong

2010-01-01

The growth cycle of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), Desulfovibrio caledoniensis, and the effect of SRB on the environmental parameters and corrosion behavior of Q235 steel during a growth cycle in aerobic (air- and O 2 -saturated culture solutions) and anaerobic (N 2 - saturated culture solutions) conditions were investigated. Oxygen dissolved in the culture solutions induced slow growth and fast decay of SRB. The growth process of SRB under anaerobic and aerobic conditions influenced sulphide anion concentration (C s 2- ), pH, and conductivity (κ). The values of C s 2- and κ under aerobic conditions were lower than those under anaerobic conditions, and the pH values increased from O 2 - to air- to N 2 -saturated culture solutions. Aerobic conditions induced the open circuit potential (E OC ) to shift in the positive direction after the stationary phase of SRB growth. The charge transfer resistance (R ct ) increased quickly during the exponential growth phase, almost maintained stability during the stationary phase, and decreased after the stationary phase in all three conditions, and the impedance magnitude decreased from O 2 - to air- to N 2 -saturated culture solutions. The biofilms induced by SRB were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was performed in abiotic and SRB-containing systems to distinguish the corrosion products. The reasons for the effects of SRB on the environmental parameters and corrosion behavior of carbon steel are discussed.

A study of environmental effects on galaxy spin using MaNGA data

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jong Chul; Hwang, Ho Seong; Chung, Haeun

2018-06-01

We investigate environmental effects on galaxy spin using the recent public data of Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) integral field spectroscopic survey containing ˜2800 galaxies. We measure the spin parameter of 1830 galaxies through the analysis of two-dimensional stellar kinematic maps within the effective radii, and obtain their large-scale (background mass density from 20 nearby galaxies) and small-scale (distance to and morphology of the nearest neighbour galaxy) environmental parameters for 1529 and 1767 galaxies, respectively. We first examine the mass dependence of galaxy spin, and find that the spin parameter of early-type galaxies decreases with stellar mass at log (M*/M⊙) ≳ 10, consistent with the results from previous studies. We then divide the galaxies into three subsamples using their stellar masses to minimize the mass effects on galaxy spin. The spin parameters of galaxies in each subsample do not change with background mass density, but do change with distance to and morphology of the nearest neighbour. In particular, the spin parameter of late-type galaxies decreases as early-type neighbours approach within the virial radius. These results suggest that the large-scale environments hardly affect the galaxy spin, but the small-scale environments such as hydrodynamic galaxy-galaxy interactions can play a substantial role in determining galaxy spin.

Parameters affecting mechanical and thermal responses in bone drilling: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, JuEun; Chavez, Craig L; Park, Joorok

2018-04-11

Surgical bone drilling is performed variously to correct bone fractures, install prosthetics, or for therapeutic treatment. The primary concern in bone drilling is to extract donor bone sections and create receiving holes without damaging the bone tissue either mechanically or thermally. We review current results from experimental and theoretical studies to investigate the parameters related to such effects. This leads to a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical and thermal aspects of bone drilling to reduce their unwanted complications. This review examines the important bone-drilling parameters of bone structure, drill-bit geometry, operating conditions, and material evacuation, and considers the current techniques used in bone drilling. We then analyze the associated mechanical and thermal effects and their contributions to bone-drilling performance. In this review, we identify a favorable range for each parameter to reduce unwanted complications due to mechanical or thermal effects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental forensic research for emerging contaminants in complex environmental matrices

Science.gov (United States)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has established criteria to address many of the significant traditional pollutants demonstrated to have adverse affects on environmental quality. However, new chemicals are being created almost daily, and these new chemicals, as ...

How does consumer knowledge affect environmentally sustainable choices?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peschel, Anne O; Grebitus, Carola; Steiner, Bodo

2016-01-01

. Subjective knowledge was found to be more important in this context. Usage experience had relatively little impact on environmentally sustainable choices. Our results suggest that about 20 % of consumers in both countries are ready to adopt footprint labels in their food choices. Another 10 - 20% could...

Design criteria applicable to the environmental restoration of sites affected by uranium mining activities in the past

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carboneras, P.; Sanchez, M.

1993-01-01

In this paper the authors discuss the basic aspects to be considered while evaluating different alternatives to perform environmental restoration of sites affected by naturally occurring radionuclides, enhanced by human actions, as is the case in some old uranium mining activities. The discussion is confined to sites where radiation hazards had existed forever (sites with uranium deposits) and where the mining activities have introduced several factors modifying the initial situation, leading to the now existing one, requiring intervention as decided by the relevant authorities, in accordance with recommendations of ICRP60

Design criteria applicable to the environmental restoration of sites affected by uranium mining activities in the past

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carboneras, P. [ENRESA, Madrid (Spain); Sanchez, M. [INITEC, Madrid (Spain)

1993-12-31

In this paper the authors discuss the basic aspects to be considered while evaluating different alternatives to perform environmental restoration of sites affected by naturally occurring radionuclides, enhanced by human actions, as is the case in some old uranium mining activities. The discussion is confined to sites where radiation hazards had existed forever (sites with uranium deposits) and where the mining activities have introduced several factors modifying the initial situation, leading to the now existing one, requiring intervention as decided by the relevant authorities, in accordance with recommendations of ICRP60.

Do landfills affect the environmental quality of nearby streams?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leandro Schlemmer Brasil

2017-12-01

Full Text Available When inappropriately disposed, solid waste may contaminate the soil, water and air, leading to severe negative impacts on biodiversity. The Brazilian National Policy for Solid Waste (PNRS requires municipalities to ensure the environmental quality of landfills. Accordingly, our objective was to evaluate the community of aquatic insects in a stream with stretches downstream and upstream of a sanitary landfill. Our hypothesis was that there will be no differences in insect community between the stretches (downstream and upstream on the basis of the premise that landfills abiding by the PNRS do not cause environmental damage to nearby areas. There was no change in any aspect of the composition of the macroinvertebrate community as a result of the landfill. The only changes observed in the macroinvertebrate communities occurred between the dry and rainy seasons, which were related to the seasonality and consequent changes in the environmental conditions of the water over the year. Our study, although limited, showed primary and pioneering evidence that the PNRS can contribute positively to the conservation of the biotic quality of aquatic environments, further reinforcing the need for immediate implementation of the PNRS throughout the country.

Generalised analysis of the potential of an enterprise as a function of environmental parameters (theoretical approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karapeychik Igor M.

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Within the frameworks of the author’s concept of the potential of an enterprise as the ability to conduct its immanently appropriate activity and also the idea of presentation of the size of the potential in the form of potential function from parameters of the state of an enterprise and foreign economic environment the article develops a scientific and methodical approach to construction and analysis of the potential function of an enterprise. The offered approach envisages building an economic and mathematical model of an enterprise of the optimisation type with consideration of environmental factors, determination of the size of economic potential as a maximum possible (optimal with the set condition of an enterprise and external environment of net income, statistical test of the model with possible values of external parameters (formation of statistical sampling of the graph of the potential function of an enterprise and application of statistical methods including methods of correlation, factor and regression analysis, for the study of its properties. Operability of this approach is shown on the example of the study of properties of the potential function of a model enterprise. In the course of approbation the article demonstrates its ability to reveal specific features of impact of external factors on economic potential of an enterprise; establishes, as a common regularity, differential influence of various environmental factors, caused not only by the nature of these factors, but also production and economic specific features and specific state of an enterprise. The article shows that the quantitative values of the force of influence of the said factors upon the value of economic potential, obtained during statistical analysis of the potential function of an enterprise, could serve as an instrument of ranking these factors by the priority level in the goal setting tasks at the stage of formation of the strategy of enterprise development

Evaluating the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals using a level III model based on poly-parameter linear free energy relationships

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zukowska, Barbara; Breivik, Knut; Wania, Frank

2006-01-01

We recently proposed how to expand the applicability of multimedia models towards polar organic chemicals by expressing environmental phase partitioning with the help of poly-parameter linear free energy relationships (PP-LFERs). Here we elaborate on this approach by applying it to three pharmaceutical substances. A PP-LFER-based version of a Level III fugacity model calculates overall persistence, concentrations and intermedia fluxes of polar and non-polar organic chemicals between air, water, soil and sediments at steady-state. Illustrative modeling results for the pharmaceuticals within a defined coastal region are presented and discussed. The model results are highly sensitive to the degradation rate in water and the equilibrium partitioning between organic carbon and water, suggesting that an accurate description of this particular partitioning equilibrium is essential in order to obtain reliable predictions of environmental fate. The PP-LFER based modeling approach furthermore illustrates that the greatest mobility in aqueous phases may be experienced by pharmaceuticals that combines a small molecular size with strong H-acceptor properties

Evaluating the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals using a level III model based on poly-parameter linear free energy relationships

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zukowska, Barbara [Department of Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Faculty, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 G. Narutowicza St., 80-952 Gdansk (Poland); Breivik, Knut [NILU- Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller (Norway)]. E-mail: knut.breivik@nilu.no; Wania, Frank [Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, M1C 1A4 (Canada)

2006-04-15

We recently proposed how to expand the applicability of multimedia models towards polar organic chemicals by expressing environmental phase partitioning with the help of poly-parameter linear free energy relationships (PP-LFERs). Here we elaborate on this approach by applying it to three pharmaceutical substances. A PP-LFER-based version of a Level III fugacity model calculates overall persistence, concentrations and intermedia fluxes of polar and non-polar organic chemicals between air, water, soil and sediments at steady-state. Illustrative modeling results for the pharmaceuticals within a defined coastal region are presented and discussed. The model results are highly sensitive to the degradation rate in water and the equilibrium partitioning between organic carbon and water, suggesting that an accurate description of this particular partitioning equilibrium is essential in order to obtain reliable predictions of environmental fate. The PP-LFER based modeling approach furthermore illustrates that the greatest mobility in aqueous phases may be experienced by pharmaceuticals that combines a small molecular size with strong H-acceptor properties.

Different parameter and technique affecting the rate of evaporation on active solar still -a review

Science.gov (United States)

A, Muthu Manokar; D, Prince Winston; A. E, Kabeel; Sathyamurthy, Ravishankar; T, Arunkumar

2018-03-01

Water is one of the essential sources for the endurance of human on the earth. As earth having only a small amount of water resources for consumption purpose people in rural and urban areas are getting affected by consuming dirty water that leads to water-borne diseases. Even though ground water is available in small quantity, it has to be treated properly before its use for internal consumption. Brackish water contains dissolve and undissolved contents, and hence it is not suitable for the household purpose. Nowadays, distillation process is done by using passive and active solar stills. The major problem in using passive solar still is meeting higher demand for fresh water. The fresh water production from passive solar still is critically low to meet the demand. To improve the productivity of conventional solar still, input feed water is preheated by integrating the solar still to different collector panels. In this review article, the different parameters that affect the rate of evaporation in an active solar still and the different methods incorporated has been presented. In addition to active distillation system, forced convection technique can be incorporated to increase the yield of fresh water by decreasing the temperature of cover. Furthermore, it is identified that the yield of fresh water from the active desalination system can be improved by sensible and latent heat energy storage. This review will motivate the researchers to decide appropriate active solar still technology for promoting development.

Socio-environmental policy of Brazilian electric sector. Effects of environmental legislation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amaral, A.C.; Menezes, C.F.S.

1993-01-01

The great socio-environmental policies of Brazilian electric sector are presented, including the aspects of environmental legislation that affects the electric sector and the difficulties faced in order to adapting to this situation. The main problems that the electric sector has found to establishing its socio-environmental policies are also described. (C.M.)

Improvement of the environmental and operational characteristics of vehicles through decreasing the motor fuel density.

Science.gov (United States)

Magaril, Elena

2016-04-01

The environmental and operational characteristics of motor transport, one of the main consumers of motor fuel and source of toxic emissions, soot, and greenhouse gases, are determined to a large extent by the fuel quality which is characterized by many parameters. Fuel density is one of these parameters and it can serve as an indicator of fuel quality. It has been theoretically substantiated that an increased density of motor fuel has a negative impact both on the environmental and operational characteristics of motor transport. The use of fuels with a high density leads to an increase in carbonization within the engine, adversely affecting the vehicle performance and increasing environmental pollution. A program of technological measures targeted at reducing the density of the fuel used was offered. It includes a solution to the problem posed by changes in the refining capacities ratio and the temperature range of gasoline and diesel fuel boiling, by introducing fuel additives and adding butanes to the gasoline. An environmental tax has been developed which allows oil refineries to have a direct impact on the production of fuels with improved environmental performance, taking into account the need to minimize the density of the fuel within a given category of quality.

Regional environmental impacts of methanol-fueled vehicles. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belian, T.; Morris, R.E.; Ligocki, M.P.; Whitten, G.Z.

1991-01-01

The objectives of the study were to obtain, through simulation modeling, preliminary estimates of the regional environmental impacts methanol-fueled vehicles and to estimate the sensitivity of the model to important parameters and assumptions that affect the calculation of the impacts. The regional environmental effects of the use of M85 fuel (85 percent methanol and 15 percent gasoline) and M100 (neat methanol) relative to gasoline (an indoline blend) were estimated using a Lagrangian (trajectory) acid deposition model. The Comprehensive Chemistry Acid Deposition Model (CCADM), contains a detailed treatment of gas-phase and aqueous-phase chemistry and associated mass transfer, but provides for a less comprehensive representation of advection and diffusion. Two different meteorological regimes were analyzed: clear sky conditions and cloudy skies with a rain event. The study also included a review of gas- and aqueous-phase chemistry, with particular emphasis on methanol. The CCADM chemical mechanism was updated to include state-of-the-science (as of 1990) gas- and aqueous-phase chemistry including methanol chemistry. The CCADM was then used to analyze the regional environmental impacts from the use of methanol fuels. In performing such an analysis it was necessary to make several assumptions. The sensitivity of the analysis was examined through a series of simulations that varied key input parameters within their ranges of uncertainty

Evaluation of Environmental Quality Productive Ecosystem Guayas (Ecuador).

Science.gov (United States)

Pozo, Wilson; Pardo, Francisco; Sanfeliu, Teófilo; Carrera, Gloria; Jordan, Manuel; Bech, Jaume; Roca, Núria

2015-04-01

Natural resources are deteriorating very rapidly in the Gulf of Guayaquil and the area of influence in the Guayas Basin due to human activity. Specific problems are generated by the mismanagement of the aquaculture industry affecting the traditional agricultural sectors: rice, banana, sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, and soya also studied, and by human and industrial settlements. The development of industrial activities such as aquaculture (shrimp building for shrimp farming in ponds) and agriculture, have increasingly contributed to the generation of waste, degrading and potentially toxic elements in high concentrations, which can have adverse effects on organisms in the ecosystems, in the health of the population and damage the ecological and environmental balance. The productive Guayas ecosystem, consists of three interrelated ecosystems, the Gulf of Guayaquil, the Guayas River estuary and the Guayas Basin buffer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the environmental quality of the productive Guayas ecosystem (Ecuador), through operational and specific objectives: 1) Draw up the transition coastal zone in the Gulf of Guayaquil, 2) Set temporal spatial variability of soil salinity in wetlands rice, Lower Guayas Basin, 3) evaluate the heavy metals in wetland rice in the Lower Basin of Guayas. The physical and chemical parameters of the soils have been studied. These are indicators of environmental quality. The multivariate statistical method showed the relations of similarities and dissimilarities between variables and parameter studies as stable. Moreover, the boundaries of coastal transition areas, temporal spatial variability of soil salinity and heavy metals in rice cultivation in the Lower Basin of Guayas were researched. The sequential studies included and discussed represent a broad framework of fundamental issues that has been valued as a basic component of the productive Guayas ecosystem. They are determinants of the environmental quality of the Guayas

Discrimination of fluoride and phosphate contamination in central Florida for analyses of environmental effects

Science.gov (United States)

Coker, A. E.; Marshall, R.; Thomson, F.

1972-01-01

A study was made of the spatial registration of fluoride and phosphate pollution parameters in central Florida by utilizing remote sensing techniques. Multispectral remote sensing data were collected over the area and processed to produce multispectral recognition maps. These processed data were used to map land areas and waters containing concentrations of fluoride and phosphate. Maps showing distribution of affected and unaffected vegetation were produced. In addition, the multispectral data were processed by single band radiometric slicing to produce radiometric maps used to delineate areas of high ultraviolet radiance, which indicates high fluoride concentrations. The multispectral parameter maps and radiometric maps in combination showed distinctive patterns, which are correlated with areas known to be affected by fluoride and phosphate contamination. These remote sensing techniques have the potential for regional use to assess the environmental impact of fluoride and phosphate wastes in central Florida.

Factors influencing environmental attitude: The relationship between environmental attitude defensibility and cognitive reasoning level

Science.gov (United States)

Yount, James R.; Horton, Phillip B.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between factors believed to contribute to the formation of environmental attitudes by college nonscience majors. Key relationships addressed were the effects of a university environmental studies course on (a) environmental attitudes, (b) the amount of factual information that is brought to bear on an environmental attitude decision (defensibility), and (c) the linkages between the affective and the cognitive domains of freshman and sophomore students. When compared to the control group, the students who attended an environmental studies class did not significantly change their attitudes, but they did exhibit increases in their total [F(3, 132) = 5.91, p cognitive reasoning scores were more prone to increase defensibility [F(6, 129) = 3.78, p cognitive and affective domains in the environmental attitude decision-making process.

The Impact of Three Factors on the Recovery of Item Parameters for the Three-Parameter Logistic Model

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyung Yong; Lee, Won-Chan

2017-01-01

This article provides a detailed description of three factors (specification of the ability distribution, numerical integration, and frame of reference for the item parameter estimates) that might affect the item parameter estimation of the three-parameter logistic model, and compares five item calibration methods, which are combinations of the…

China's Environmental Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Sternfeld

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The following article discusses the environmental challenges of China‘s economic boom and its social consequences. Although the country has a relatively long history of institutionalized environmental policy, it is in the implementation at local level where it faces large implementation deficits. Environmental damage causes not only high economic costs, but also affects social stability.

The Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project: Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haerer, H.A.; Freshley, M.D.; Gilbert, R.O.; Morgan, L.G.; Napier, B.A.; Rhoads, R.E.; Woodruff, R.K.

1990-01-01

In 1988, researchers began a multiyear effort to estimate radiation doses that people could have received since 1944 at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. The study was prompted by increasing concern about potential health effects to the public from more than 40 yr of nuclear activities. We will provide an overview of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project and its technical approach. The work has required development of new methods and tools for dealing with unique technical and communication challenges. Scientists are using a probabilistic, rather than the more typical deterministic, approach to generate dose distributions rather than single-point estimates. Uncertainties in input parameters are reflected in dose results. Sensitivity analyses are used to optimize project resources and define the project's scope. An independent technical steering panel directs and approves the work in a public forum. Dose estimates are based on review and analysis of historical data related to operations, effluents, and monitoring; determination of important radionuclides; and reconstruction of source terms, environmental conditions that affected transport, concentrations in environmental media, and human elements, such as population distribution, agricultural practices, food consumption patterns, and lifestyles. A companion paper in this volume, The Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project: Technical Approach, describes the computational framework for the work

Parameters Affecting the Erosive Burning of Solid Rocket Motor

OpenAIRE

Abdelaziz Almostafa; Guozhu Liang; Elsayed Anwer

2018-01-01

Increasing the velocity of gases inside solid rocket motors with low port-to-throat area ratios, leading to increased occurrence and severity of burning rate augmentation due to flow of propellant products across burning propellant surfaces (erosive burning), erosive burning of high energy composite propellant was investigated to supply rocket motor design criteria and to supplement knowledge of combustion phenomena, pressure, burning rate and high velocity of gases all of these are parameter...

Strategic analysis of factors affecting the coupling of environmental management with business strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Lars Bjørn; Bjarnø, Ole-Christian

1997-01-01

This paper aims at introducing a framework through which companies can adress and overcome the uncertainty regarding their strategic environmental posture and formulate an appropriate environmental strategy in line with their business context, environmental pressures, internal strenghts and weakn......This paper aims at introducing a framework through which companies can adress and overcome the uncertainty regarding their strategic environmental posture and formulate an appropriate environmental strategy in line with their business context, environmental pressures, internal strenghts...

Multi-parameters sensitivity analysis of natural vibration modal for steel arch bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WANG Ying

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Because of the vehicle loads and environmental factors,the behaviors of bridge structure in service is becoming deterioration.The modal parameters are important indexes of structure,so sensitivity analysis of natural vibration is an important way to evaluate the behavior of bridge structure.In this paper,using the finite element software Ansys,calculation model of a steel arch bridge was built,and the natural vibration modals were obtained.In order to compare the different sensitivity of material parameters which may affect the natural vibration modal,5 factors were chosen to perform the calculation.The results indicated that different 5 factors had different sensitivity.The leading factor was elastic modulus of arch rib,and the elastic modulus of suspender had little effect to the sensitivity.Another argument was the opposite sensitivity effect happened between the elastic modulus and density of the material.

Environmental pollution studies

CERN Document Server

Best, Gerry

1999-01-01

This book examines a number of important contemporary environmental issues in an informative and easy-to-read style. The topics covered include sewage treatment, eutrophication, air pollution, acid rain, global warming and pollution from farming. A particularly valuable section of the book describes a range of tests that can be carried out on various environmental parameters. The procedures require relatively simple equipment and they have been pre-tested in a school laboratory. "Environmental Pollution Studies" will be of value to senior school pupils and students at college or university embarking on courses in environmental science.

Environmental status of FR Yugoslavia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stojanovic, B.

2002-01-01

This paper reviews key characteristics of environmental situation in Yugoslavia before, during and after NATO bombing against this country. Principal environmental problems and their sources are described. The 'quality' of soil, water and air, as well as some other environmental parameters is documented by available data during last decade. An analysis of main environmental issues was made. Short review of key environmental policies, instruments and institutions is also presented. (author)

Genetic parameters and environmental effects on temperament score and reproductive traits of Nellore cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrozo, D; Buzanskas, M E; Oliveira, J A; Munari, D P; Neves, H H R; Queiroz, S A

2012-01-01

Animal temperament is a trait of economic relevance and its use as a selection criterion requires the identification of environmental factors that influence this trait, as well as the estimation of its genetic variability and interrelationship with other traits. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of the covariates dam age at calving (ADC), long yearling age (YA) and long yearling weight (YW) on temperament score (T) and to estimate genetic parameters for T, scrotal circumference (SC) at long YA and age at first calving (AFC) in Nellore cattle participating in a selection program. The traits were analyzed by the restricted maximum likelihood method under a multiple-trait animal model. For all traits, contemporary group was included as a fixed effect and additive genetic and residual as random effects. In addition to these effects, YA, YW and ADC were considered for analyzing T. In the case of SC and AFC, the effect of long YW was included as a covariate. Genetic parameters were estimated for and between traits. The three covariates significantly influenced T. The heritability estimates for T, SC and AFC were 0.18 ± 0.02, 0.53 ± 0.04 and 0.23 ± 0.08, respectively. The genetic correlations between T and SC, and T and AFC were -0.07 ± 0.17 and -0.06 ± 0.19, respectively. The genetic correlation estimated between SC and AFC was -0.57 ± 0.16. In conclusion, a response to selection for T, SC and AFC is expected and selection for T does not imply correlated responses with the other traits.

Left Ventricular Myocardial Deformation Parameters Are Affected by Coronary Slow Flow Phenomenon: A Study of Speckle Tracking Echocardiography.

Science.gov (United States)

Gulel, Okan; Akcay, Murat; Soylu, Korhan; Aksan, Gokhan; Yuksel, Serkan; Zengin, Halit; Meric, Murat; Sahin, Mahmut

2016-05-01

The coronary slow flow phenomenon (CSFP) is defined as a delayed distal vessel contrast opacification in the absence of obstructive epicardial coronary artery disease during coronary angiography. There is conflicting data in medical literature regarding the effects of CSFP on the left ventricular functions assessed by conventional echocardiography or tissue Doppler imaging. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether there is any abnormality in the myocardial deformation parameters (strain, strain rate (SR), rotation, twist) of the left ventricle obtained by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in patients with CSFP. Twenty patients with CSFP were included prospectively in the study. Another 20 patients with similar demographics and cardiovascular risk factors as well as normal coronary angiography were used as the control group. Two-dimensional echocardiographic images of the left ventricle from the apical long-axis, two-chamber, four-chamber, and parasternal short-axis views were used for STE analysis. The analysis of left ventricular circumferential deformation parameters showed that the averaged peak systolic strain, systolic SR, and early diastolic SR values were significantly lower in patients with CSFP (P = 0.009, P = 0.02, and P = 0.02, respectively). Among the left ventricular rotation and twist values, apical rotation was significantly lower in patients with CSFP (P = 0.02). Further, the mean thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame count value was found to be negatively correlated with the averaged peak circumferential early diastolic SR (r = -0.35, P = 0.03). It was positively correlated with the averaged peak circumferential systolic strain (r = 0.47, P = 0.003) and circumferential systolic SR (r = 0.46, P = 0.005). Coronary slow flow phenomenon leads to significant alterations in the myocardial deformation parameters of the left ventricle as assessed by STE. Specifically, circumferential deformation parameters are affected in CSFP patients. © 2015

Environmental variation and population responses to global change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lawson, Callum R.; Vindenes, Yngvild; Bailey, Liam; van de Pol, Martijn

2015-01-01

Species' responses to environmental changes such as global warming are affected not only by trends in mean conditions, but also by natural and human-induced environmental fluctuations. Methods are needed to predict how such environmental variation affects ecological and evolutionary processes, in

Task parameters affecting ergonomic demands and productivity of HVAC duct installation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitropoulos, Panagiotis; Hussain, Sanaa; Guarascio-Howard, Linda; Memarian, Babak

2014-01-01

Mechanical installation workers experience work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) at high rates. (1) Quantify the ergonomic demands during HVAC installation, (2) identify the tasks and task parameters that generated extreme ergonomic demands, and (3) propose improvements to reduce the WMSDs among mechanical workers. The study focused on installation of rectangular ductwork components using ladders, and analyzed five operations by two mechanical contractors. Using continuous time observational assessment, the videotaped operations were analyzed along two dimensions: (1) the production tasks and durations, and (2) the ergonomic demands for four body regions (neck, arms/shoulders, back, and knees). The analysis identified tasks with low portion of productive time and high portion of extreme postures, and task parameters that generated extreme postures. Duct alignment was the task with the highest portion of extreme postures. The position of the ladder (angle and distance from the duct) was a task parameter that strongly influenced the extreme postures for back, neck and shoulders. Other contributing factors included the difficulty to reach the hand tools when working on the ladder, the congestion of components in the ceiling, and the space between the duct and the ceiling. The identified tasks and factors provide directions for improvement.

Relating Magnetic Parameters to Heavy Metal Concentrations and Environmental Factors at Formosa Mine Superfund Site, Douglas County, OR

Science.gov (United States)

Upton, T. L.

2016-12-01

Advances in the field of environmental magnetism have led to exciting new applications for this field. Magnetic minerals are ubiquitous in the environment and tend to have an affinity for heavy metals. Hence, it has been demonstrated that magnetic properties are often significantly related to concentrations of heavy metals and other pollutants. As a result, magnetic techniques have been used as proxy for determining hot spots of several types of pollution produced from a diversity of anthropogenic sources. Magnetic measurements are non-destructive and relatively inexpensive compared to geochemical analyses. The utility of environmental magnetic methods varies widely depending on biological, chemical and physical processes that create and transform soils and sediments. Applications in the direction of mapping heavy metals have been studied and shown to be quite useful in countries such as China and India but to date, little research has been done in the US. As such, there is need to expand the scope of research to a wider range of soil types and land uses, especially within the US. This study investigates the application of environmental magnetic techniques to mapping of heavy metal concentrations at the Formosa Mine Superfund Site, an abandoned mine about 25 miles southwest of Roseburg, OR. The soils and sediment at this site are derived from pyrite-rich bedrock which is weak in terms of magnetic susceptibility. Using hotspot analysis, correlation and cluster analyses, interactions between metals and magnetic parameters are investigated in relation to environmental factors such as proximity to seeps and adits. Preliminary results suggest significant correlation of magnetic susceptibility with certain heavy metals, signifying that magnetic methods may be useful in mapping heavy metal hotspots at this site. Further analysis examines the relation of various land use differences in magnetic signatures obtained throughout the Cow Creek watershed.

Physics education students’ cognitive and affective domains toward ecological phenomena

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Napitupulu, N. D.; Munandar, A.; Redjeki, S.; Tjasyono, B.

2018-05-01

Environmental education is become prominent in dealing with natural phenomena that occur nowadays. Studying environmental physics will lead students to have conceptual understanding which are importent in enhancing attitudes toward ecological phenomena that link directry to cognitive and affective domains. This research focused on the the relationship of cognitive and affective domains toward ecological phenomena. Thirty-seven Physics Education students participated in this study and validated sources of data were collected to eksplore students’ conceptual understanding as cognitive domain and to investigate students’ attitudes as affective domain. The percentage of cognitive outcome and affective outcome are explore. The features of such approaches to environmental learning are discussion through analysis of contribution of cognitive to develop the attitude ecological as affective outcome. The result shows that cognitive domains do not contribute significantly to affective domain toward ecological henomena as an issue trend in Central Sulawesi although students had passed Environmental Physics instruction for two semester. In fact, inferior knowledge in a way actually contributes to the attitude domain caused by the prior knowledge that students have as ombo as a Kaili local wisdom.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON UNCERTAINTY, SENSITIVITY, AND PARAMETER ESTIMATION FOR MULTIMEDIA ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING. EPA/600/R-04/117, NUREG/CP-0187, ERDC SR-04-2.

Science.gov (United States)

An International Workshop on Uncertainty, Sensitivity, and Parameter Estimation for Multimedia Environmental Modeling was held August 1921, 2003, at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, USA. The workshop was organized and convened by the Fe...

Environmental impact statements: new legal technique for environmental protection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldwin, M F

1975-02-01

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has required Federal agencies to re-examine all their programs affecting the environment, to consider alternative policies, to coordinate their actions with other agencies, and to disclose their environmental analyses to the public. In short, it has attempted to change decision processes markedly, in order to respond to wide-spread public concern about a deteriorating natural and human environment. The mandates of the policy are listed, but knowing that these were not sufficient to change existing agency practices, Congress established what has been called an ''action-forcing mechanism.'' Each federal agency must ''include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official.'' This statement must cover the following five points as specified in Section 102(2)(c): the environmental impact of the proposed action; any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented; alternatives to the proposed action; the relationship between local and short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented. Section 102 has been considered the heart of the National Environmental Policy Act. The specific five-point environmental report--known as an environmental impact statement--is the visible evidence of an agency's compliance with the environmental policy articulated by Congress. (MCW)

Database of Physiological Parameters for Early Life Rats and Mice

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Database of Physiological Parameters for Early Life Rats and Mice provides information based on scientific literature about physiological parameters. Modelers...

Effect of some environmental parameters on fermentative hydrogen production by Enterobacter cloacae DM11

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nath, K.; Kumar, A.; Das, D. [Indian Inst. of Technology, Kharagpur (India). Dept. of Biotechnology, Fermentation Technology Laboratory

2006-06-15

This study addressed the issue of using biological systems for hydrogen production as an environmentally sound alternative to conventional thermochemical and electrochemical processes. In particular, it examined the potential for anaerobic fermentation for biological hydrogen production and the possibility of coupling gaseous energy generation with simultaneous treatment of biodegradable waste materials. The study focused on hydrogen production by anaerobic fermentation using Enterobacter cloacae DM11, a Gram-negative, motile facultative anaerobe. Although hydrogen production by these bacteria depends on many environmental parameters, there is very little information on the effects of these factors in the hydrogen production potential of this organism. For that reason, this study examined the effect of initial medium pH, reaction temperature, initial glucose concentration, and iron (Fe2+) concentration on the fermentative production of hydrogen. Fermentative hydrogen production was carried out by Enterobacter cloacae DM11, using glucose as the substrate. Batch cultivations were performed in a 500 ml custom-designed vertical tubular bioreactor. The maximum molar yield of hydrogen was 3.31 mol (mol glucose){sub 1}. The rate and cumulative volume of hydrogen production decreased at higher initial glucose concentration. The pH of 6.5 at a temperature of 37 degrees C was most suitable for maximum rate of production of hydrogen in batch fermentation. The addition of Fe2+ on hydrogen production had a marginal enhancing effect on total hydrogen production. A simple model developed from the modified Gompertz equation was used to fit the cumulative hydrogen production curve and to estimate the hydrogen production potential, maximum production rate, and lag time. It was concluded that these study results could be used in the development of a high rate continuous hydrogen production process. 30 refs., 4 tabs., 3 figs.

A study on the relationship of environmental regulations and economic performances

Science.gov (United States)

Nisha, Jia; Chen, Shen

2017-11-01

This paper analyzes the mechanism transmission of environmental regulation affecting on economic performance from a new perspective. It shows that environmental regulations affect country’s economic performance through direct transmission and indirect transmission. Direct transmission means that environmental regulations affect economic performance from influencing corporation’s cost and revenue, and indirect transmission is that environmental regulations affect economic performance through leading to the increased effort of corporations in improving the quality of environment and building the image of fulfilling environmental responsibility.

Environmental confounding in gene-environment interaction studies.

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Vanderweele, Tyler J; Ko, Yi-An; Mukherjee, Bhramar

2013-07-01

We show that, in the presence of uncontrolled environmental confounding, joint tests for the presence of a main genetic effect and gene-environment interaction will be biased if the genetic and environmental factors are correlated, even if there is no effect of either the genetic factor or the environmental factor on the disease. When environmental confounding is ignored, such tests will in fact reject the joint null of no genetic effect with a probability that tends to 1 as the sample size increases. This problem with the joint test vanishes under gene-environment independence, but it still persists if estimating the gene-environment interaction parameter itself is of interest. Uncontrolled environmental confounding will bias estimates of gene-environment interaction parameters even under gene-environment independence, but it will not do so if the unmeasured confounding variable itself does not interact with the genetic factor. Under gene-environment independence, if the interaction parameter without controlling for the environmental confounder is nonzero, then there is gene-environment interaction either between the genetic factor and the environmental factor of interest or between the genetic factor and the unmeasured environmental confounder. We evaluate several recently proposed joint tests in a simulation study and discuss the implications of these results for the conduct of gene-environment interaction studies.

Environmental Monitoring of Microbe Metabolic Transformation

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Bebout, Brad (Inventor); Fleming, Erich (Inventor); Piccini, Matthew (Inventor); Beasley, Christopher (Inventor); Bebout, Leslie (Inventor)

2013-01-01

Mobile system and method for monitoring environmental parameters involved in growth or metabolic transformation of algae in a liquid. Each of one or more mobile apparati, suspended or partly or wholly submerged in the liquid, includes at least first and second environmental sensors that sense and transmit distinct first and second environmental, growth or transformation parameter values, such as liquid temperature, temperature of gas adjacent to and above the exposed surface, liquid pH, liquid salinity, liquid turbidity, O.sub.2 dissolved in the liquid, CO.sub.2 contained in the liquid, oxidization and reduction potential of the liquid, nutrient concentrations in the liquid, nitrate concentration in the liquid, ammonium concentration in the liquid, bicarbonate concentration in the liquid, phosphate concentration in the liquid, light intensity at the liquid surface, electrical conductivity of the liquid, and a parameter.alpha.(alga) associated with growth stage of the alga, using PAM fluorometry or other suitable parameter measurements.

Uncovering Students' Environmental Identity: An Exploration of Activities in an Environmental Science Course

Science.gov (United States)

Blatt, Erica

2014-01-01

This study at a public high school in the Northeastern United States explores how students' environmental identities are affected by various activities in an Environmental Science course. Data was collected as part of an ethnographic study involving an Environmental Science teacher and her tenth-twelfth grade students. The results focus on…

How Will Global Environmental Changes Affect the Growth of Alien Plants?

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Jujie Jia

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Global environmental changes can create novel habitats, promoting the growth of alien plants that often exhibit broad environmental tolerance and high phenotypic plasticity. However, the mechanisms underlying these growth promotory effects are unknown at present. Here, we conducted a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis using data from 111 published studies encompassing the responses of 129 alien plants to global warming, increased precipitation, N deposition, and CO2 enrichment. We compared the differences in the responses of alien plants to the four global environmental change factors across six categories of functional traits between woody and non-woody life forms as well as C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways. Our results showed that all four global change factors promote alien plant growth. Warming had a more positive effect on C4 than C3 plants. Although the effects of the four factors on the functional traits of alien plants were variable, plant growth was mainly promoted via an increase in growth rate and size. Our data suggest that potential future global environmental changes could further facilitate alien plant growth.

Interacting Environmental Stress Factors Affects Targeted Metabolomic Profiles in Stored Natural Wheat and That Inoculated with F. graminearum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esther Garcia-Cela

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Changes in environmental stress impact on secondary metabolite (SM production profiles. Few studies have examined targeted SM production patterns in relation to interacting environmental conditions in stored cereals. The objectives were to examine the effect of water activity (aw; 0.95–0.90 x temperature (10–25 °C on SM production on naturally contaminated stored wheat and that inoculated with Fusarium graminearum. Samples were analysed using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS on (a total number of known SMs, (b their concentrations and (c changes under environmental stress. 24 Fusarium metabolites were quantified. Interestingly, statistical differences (ChisSq., p < 0.001 were observed in the number of SMs produced under different sets of interacting environmental conditions. The dominant metabolites in natural stored grain were deoxynivalenol (DON and nivalenol (NIV followed by a range of enniatins (A, A1, B, B1, apicidin and DON-3-glucoside at 10 °C. Increasing temperature promoted the biosynthesis of other SMs such as aurofusarin, moniliformin, zearalenone (ZEN and their derivatives. Natural wheat + F. graminearum inoculation resulted in a significant increase in the number of metabolites produced (ChisSq., p < 0.001. For ZEN and its derivatives, more was produced under cooler storage conditions. Fusarin C was enhanced in contrast to that for the enniatin group. The relative ratios of certain groups of targeted SM changed with environmental stress. Both temperature and aw affected the amounts of metabolites present, especially of DON and ZEN. This study suggests that the dominant SMs produced in stored temperate cereals are the mycotoxins for which legislation exists. However, there are changes in the ratios of key metabolites which could influence the relative contamination with individual compounds. Thus, in the future, under more extreme environmental stresses, different dominant SMs may be formed which could

Risk perception and access to environmental information in four areas in Italy affected by natural or anthropogenic pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Coi, A; Minichilli, F; Bustaffa, E; Carone, S; Santoro, M; Bianchi, F; Cori, L

2016-10-01

A human biomonitoring (HBM) survey in four areas affected by natural or anthropogenic arsenic pollution was conducted in Italy within the framework of the SEpiAs project. A questionnaire, including the exploration of risk perception (RP) regarding environmental hazards and access to and trust in information, was administered to 282 subjects stratified by area, gender and age. The survey was designed to investigate how populations living in polluted areas could adopt prevention-oriented habits, fostered by the awareness of existing risks and, in addition, how increased knowledge of RP and information flows could support researchers in identifying recommendations, and presenting and disseminating HBM results. This study characterizes the four areas in terms of RP and access to and trust in environmental information, and provides insights into the influence of RP and environmental information on food consumption. For the data analysis, a combined random forest (RF) and logistic regression approach was carried out. RF was applied to the variables derived from the questionnaire in order to identify the most important in terms of the aims defined. Associations were then tested using Fisher's exact test and assessed with logistic regression in order to adjust for confounders. Results showed that the perception of and personal exposure to atmospheric and water pollution, hazardous industries and waste, hazardous material transportation and waste was higher in geographical areas characterized by anthropogenic pollution. Citizens living in industrial areas appeared to be aware of environmental risks and had more confidence in environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) than in public authorities. In addition, they reported an insufficient circulation of information. Concerning the influence of RP and environmental information on food consumption, a high perception of personal exposure to atmospheric pollution and hazardous industries was associated with a lower

Environmental and economic assessment of a cracked ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel cell for off-grid power applications

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Brian; Treyer, Karin

2015-02-01

Global mobile telecommunication is possible due to millions of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). Nearly 1 million of these are operating off-grid, typically powered by diesel generators and therefore leading to significant CO2 emissions and other environmental burdens. A novel type of Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC) powered by cracked ammonia is being developed for replacement of these generators. This study compares the environmental and economic performance of the two systems by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), respectively. Results show that the production of ammonia dominates the LCA results, and that renewable ammonia production pathways greatly improve environmental performance. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the fuel cell parameters that most affect system cost and environmental burdens are cell power density and lifetime and system efficiency. Recycling of anode catalyst and electrode substrate materials is found to have large impacts on environmental performance, though without large cost incentives. For a set of target parameter values and fossil sourced ammonia, the AFC is calculated to produce electricity with life cycle CO2 eq emissions of 1.08 kg kWh-1, which is 23% lower than a diesel generator with electricity costs that are 14% higher in the same application.

Environmental Measurements and Modeling

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Environmental measurement is any data collection activity involving the assessment of chemical, physical, or biological factors in the environment which affect human health. Learn more about these programs and tools that aid in environmental decisions

[Developmental parameters and vitality of newborn infants in the period 1991-2002 in the health centre in Subotica].

Science.gov (United States)

Durković, Jasmina; Pavlović, Mirjana

2005-01-01

Infants having a birth weight of 2500 g or less are known as low birth weight infants. There are multiple factors which affect the nutritional status of newborn children: genetic potential, maternal age, parity, maternal health and maternal nutrition, drugs, alcohol, smoking, geographical situation and socioeconomic living conditions. Developmental parameters were analyzed in 15,455 live newborn infants in Subotica, from 1991 to 2002. The following parameters were registred: body mass in the first hour of life, body length, head and thorax circumference. These parameters were examined and correlated with other indicators of maturity and vitality, such as gestational age and Apgar score values. Parameter mean values are presented for each year from 1991 to 2002. Mean body mass values ranged from 3335.74 g in 1991 to 3418.01 g in 1998. Compared with the estimates provided by World Health Organization, the percentage of newborn infants with birth weight under 2500 g has increased (5.64%) in 1991, which was the first year of war and sanctions in our country. From 1994 to 1997, there was a war in neighbouring republics and a huge number of refugees from war regions arrived. The percentage of newborn infants with low birth weight has increased (the gratest percentage 5.08% has been found in 1996). During 1999, our country was bombed and since then, we have an increased number of newborn infants with low birth weight (4.46% were registred in 1999 to 5.22% in 2002). The number of children born before 37th week of gestation is greatest in 2000 (3.17%). Average Apgar score in 1992 was (9.20), showing graduate decrease since 1999, with lowest value during 2001 (8.85). Harmful environmental factors can strongly affect fetal growth. Continual follow-up of developmental parameters and vitality of infants on populatin level is an index of interactions between genetic potential and environmental factors, pointing to quality of health care and preventive services.

A holistic approach to improving indoor environmental quality: A case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milam, J.A.; Kinser, D.E.

1993-01-01

One of the big six accounting firms recently consolidated several offices into a regional headquarters located in a southern metropolitan city. This regional headquarters involved seven floors totalling 187,000 square feet of tenant space in a new high rise building. The accounting firm realized that improving their employees' work environment would provide significant savings from increased worker productivity and reduced absenteeism. Therefore, the firm retained Environmental Design International (EDI) to provide consulting services to create and maintain an environmentally healthy office space. The creation of a healthy, productive and safe indoor environment involves a total, holistic approach to the various elements that affect indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in a building. A holistic approach requires detailed evaluation of all areas that impact indoor environmental quality and not just the more common review of HVAC systems. This case study shows that the optimization of a healthy indoor environment is an endless, all inclusive process: beginning with the initial construction material selections and environmental systems design; continuing through the construction and commissioning phases; and progressing to pro-active monitoring of IEQ parameters to protect the tenant's investment in a healthy, productive and safe indoor environment

Parameters affecting profile shape of a high energy low current thin ion beam. Vol. 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdel Salam, F W; Moustafa, O A; El-Khabeary, H [Accelerators Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, (Egypt)

1996-03-01

The shape of the profile of a high energy, low current beam of finite length has beam investigated. The beam profile shape depends on the initial beam radius, beam perveance, atomic mass number, charge state of ions, and beam length. These parameters can affect the relation between the initial beam radius and the corresponding final one. An optimum initial beam radius corresponding to minimum final beam at the target has been formulated and the relation between them is deduced taking account of the space charge effect. The minimum beam radius at the target was found to be equal to 2.3 of the optimum initial radius. It is concluded that in order to obtain a small beam radius at a target placed at a finite distance from an ion source, a beam of a low perveance, low atomic mass number and high number of electronic charge is required. This is an important detection for micro machining applications using the oscillating electron ion source which produces nearly paraxial thin beam of low perveance. 12 figs.

Reproductive allocation in plants as affected by elevated carbon dioxide and other environmental changes: a synthesis using meta-analysis and graphical vector analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xianzhong; Taub, Daniel R; Jablonski, Leanne M

2015-04-01

Reproduction is an important life history trait that strongly affects dynamics of plant populations. Although it has been well documented that elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere greatly enhances biomass production in plants, the overall effect of elevated CO2 on reproductive allocation (RA), i.e., the proportion of biomass allocated to reproductive structures, is little understood. We combined meta-analysis with graphical vector analysis to examine the overall effect of elevated CO2 on RA and how other environmental factors, such as low nutrients, drought and elevated atmospheric ozone (O3), interacted with elevated CO2 in affecting RA in herbaceous plants. Averaged across all species of different functional groups and environmental conditions, elevated CO2 had little effect on RA (-0.9%). RA in plants of different reproductive strategies and functional groups, however, differed in response to elevated CO2. For example, RA in iteroparous wild species decreased by 8%, while RA in iteroparous crops increased significantly (+14%) at elevated CO2. RA was unaffected by CO2 in plants grown with no stress or in low-nutrient soils. RA decreased at elevated CO2 and elevated O3, but increased in response to elevated CO2 in drought-stressed plants, suggesting that elevated CO2 could ameliorate the adverse effect of drought on crop production to some extent. Our results demonstrate that elevated CO2 and other global environmental changes have the potential to greatly alter plant community composition through differential effects on RA of different plant species and thus affect the dynamics of natural and agricultural ecosystems in the future.

Sensitivity analysis of parameters important to nuclear criticality safety of Castor X/28F spent nuclear fuel cask

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leotlela, Mosebetsi J. [Witwatersrand Univ., Johannesburg (South Africa). School of Physics; Koeberg Operating Unit, Johannesburg (South Africa). Regulations and Licensing; Malgas, Isaac [Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, Duinefontein (South Africa). Nuclear Engineering Analysis; Taviv, Eugene [ASARA consultants (PTY) LTD, Johannesburg (South Africa)

2015-11-15

In nuclear criticality safety analysis it is essential to ascertain how various components of the nuclear system will perform under certain conditions they may be subjected to, particularly if the components of the system are likely to be affected by environmental factors such as temperature, radiation or material composition. It is therefore prudent that a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine and quantify the response of the output to variation in any of the input parameters. In a fissile system, the output parameter of importance is the k{sub eff}. Therefore, in attempting to prevent reactivity-induced accidents, it is important for the criticality safety analyst to have a quantified degree of response for the neutron multiplication factor to perturbation in a given input parameter. This article will present the results of the perturbation of the parameters that are important to nuclear criticality safety analysis and their respective correlation equations for deriving the sensitivity coefficients.

Environmental factors affecting inflammatory bowel disease: have we made progress?

Science.gov (United States)

Lakatos, Peter Laszlo

2009-01-01

The pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is only partially understood; various environmental and host (e.g. genetic, epithelial, immune, and nonimmune) factors are involved. The critical role for environmental factors is strongly supported by recent worldwide trends in IBD epidemiology. One important environmental factor is smoking. A meta-analysis partially confirms previous findings that smoking was found to be protective against ulcerative colitis and, after the onset of the disease, might improve its course, decreasing the need for colectomy. In contrast, smoking increases the risk of developing Crohn's disease and aggravates its course. The history of IBD is dotted by cyclic reports on the isolation of specific infectious agents responsible for Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. The more recently published cold chain hypothesis is providing an even broader platform by linking dietary factors and microbial agents. An additional, recent theory has suggested a breakdown in the balance between putative species of 'protective' versus 'harmful' intestinal bacteria - this concept has been termed dysbiosis resulting in decreased bacterial diversity. Other factors such as oral contraceptive use, appendectomy, dietary factors (e.g. refined sugar, fat, and fast food), perinatal events, and childhood infections have also been associated with both diseases, but their role is more controversial. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that economic development, leading to improved hygiene and other changes in lifestyle ('westernized lifestyle') may play a role in the increase in IBD. This review article focuses on the role of environmental factors in the pathogenesis and progression of IBDs. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Ground-water heat pumps: an examination of hydrogeologic, environmental, legal, and economic factors affecting their use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Armitage, D M; Bacon, D J; Massey-Norton, J T; Miller, J D

1980-11-12

Groundwater is attractive as a potential low-temperature energy source in residential space-conditioning applications. When used in conjuncton with a heat pump, ground water can serve as both a heat source (for heating) and a heat sink (for cooling). Major hydrogeologic aspects that affect system use include groundwater temperature and availability at shallow depths as these factors influence operational efficiency. Ground-water quality is considered as it affects the performance and life-expectancy of the water-side heat exchanger. Environmental impacts related to groundwater heat pump system use are most influenced by water use and disposal methods. In general, recharge to the subsurface (usually via injection wells) is recommended. Legal restrictions on system use are often stricter at the municipal and county levels than at state and Federal levels. Although Federal regulations currently exist, the agencies are not equipped to regulate individual, domestic installations. Computer smulations indicate that under a variety of climatologic conditions, groundwater heat pumps use less energy than conventional heating and cooling equipment. Life-cycle cost comparisons with conventional equipment depend on alternative system choices and well cost options included in the groundwater heat pump system.

Biochar physico-chemical properties as affected by environmental exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sorrenti, Giovambattista; Masiello, Caroline A.; Dugan, Brandon; Toselli, Moreno

2016-01-01

To best use biochar as a sustainable soil management and carbon (C) sequestration technique, we must understand the effect of environmental exposure on its physical and chemical properties because they likely vary with time. These properties play an important role in biochar's environmental behavior and delivery of ecosystem services. We measured biochar before amendment and four years after amendment to a commercial nectarine orchard at rates of 5, 15 and 30 t ha −1 . We combined two pycnometry techniques to measure skeletal (ρ s ) and envelope (ρ e ) density and to estimate the total pore volume of biochar particles. We also examined imbibition, which can provide information about soil hydraulic conductivity. Finally, we investigated the chemical properties, surface, inner layers atomic composition and C1s bonding state of biochar fragments through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Ageing increased biochar skeletal density and reduced the water imbibition rate within fragments as a consequence of partial pore clogging. However, porosity and the volume of water stored in particles remained unchanged. Exposure reduced biochar pH, EC, and total C, but enhanced total N, nitrate-N, and ammonium-N. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses showed an increase of O, Si, N, Na, Al, Ca, Mn, and Fe surface (0–5 nm) atomic composition (at%) and a reduction of C and K in aged particles, confirming the interactions of biochar with soil inorganic and organic phases. Oxidation of aged biochar fragments occurred mainly in the particle surface, and progressively decreased down to 75 nm. Biochar surface chemistry changes included the development of carbonyl and carboxylate functional groups, again mainly on the particle surface. However, changes were noticeable down to 75 nm, while no significant changes were measured in the deepest layer, up to 110 nm. Results show unequivocal shifts in biochar physical and chemical properties/characteristics over short (~ years

Correlations among Stress Parameters, Meat and Carcass Quality Parameters in Pigs

Science.gov (United States)

Dokmanovic, Marija; Baltic, Milan Z.; Duric, Jelena; Ivanovic, Jelena; Popovic, Ljuba; Todorovic, Milica; Markovic, Radmila; Pantic, Srdan

2015-01-01

Relationships among different stress parameters (lairage time and blood level of lactate and cortisol), meat quality parameters (initial and ultimate pH value, temperature, drip loss, sensory and instrumental colour, marbling) and carcass quality parameters (degree of rigor mortis and skin damages, hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness, meatiness) were determined in pigs (n = 100) using Pearson correlations. After longer lairage, blood lactate (prigor mortis (p<0.05), suggesting that lactate could be a predictor of both meat quality and the level of preslaughter stress. Cortisol affected carcass quality, so higher levels of cortisol were associated with increased hot carcass weight, carcass fat thickness on the back and at the sacrum and marbling, but also with decreased meatiness. The most important meat quality parameters (pH and temperature after 60 minutes) deteriorated when blood lactate concentration was above 12 mmol/L. PMID:25656214

Does Methylphenidate Affect Cystometric Parameters in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khae Hawn Kim

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Methylphenidate (MPH is one of the most commonly prescribed psychostimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD. However, there is limited research on its effects on lower urinary tract function. This study investigated changes in cystometric parameters after intragastric administration of MPH in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs, an animal model of ADHD. Methods: Fourteen- to 16-week-old male SHRs (n=10, weighing between 280 and 315 g, were used. Three micturition cycles were recorded before administering MPH. One hour after each intragastric MPH injection, three cycles of cystometrogram were obtained in the awake condition. Various cystometric parameters were evaluated, including basal pressure (BP, maximal pressure (MP, threshold pressure (TP, bladder capacity (BC, micturition volume (MV, micturition interval (MI, and residual volume (RV. The data were analyzed using paired Student t-tests. Results: Five SHRs were each administered a dose of 3-mg/kg MPH, and the other five received a dose of 6-mg/kg MPH. BP and MP increased significantly in the rats that received the 3-mg/kg MPH injection, but not in those that received the 6-mg/kg injection. BC, MV, and MI significantly increased in the rats that received the 6-mg/kg MPH injection, but not in those that received the 3-mg/kg injection. There were no significant changes in TP after either injection. Conclusions: Significant increases in BC, MV, and MI after the 6-mg/kg MPH injection suggest that the peripheral and the central nervous systems may play important roles in bladder function in those receiving MPH for ADHD.

Obstacle circumvention and eye coordination during walking to least and most affected side in people with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbieri, Fabio Augusto; Polastri, Paula Favaro; Gobbi, Lilian Teresa Bucken; Simieli, Lucas; Pereira, Vinicius Ignácio Alota; Baptista, André Macari; Moretto, Gabriel Felipe; Fiorelli, Carolina Menezes; Imaizumi, Luis Felipe Itikawa; Rodrigues, Sérgio Tosi

2018-07-02

The mechanisms that contribute to gait asymmetry in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) are unclear, mainly during gait with greater environmental demand, such as when an obstacle is circumvented while walking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of obstacle circumvention of the least and most affected side on motor and gaze behavior in people with PD under/without the effects of dopaminergic medication. Fifteen people with PD and 15 matched-control individuals were instructed to walk along a pathway, at a self-selected velocity, and to circumvent an obstacle, avoiding contact with it. Each participant performed five trials for each side. Kinematic parameters, mediolateral and horizontal body clearance to the obstacle, strategy to circumvent the obstacle, and gaze behavior were calculated. Parameters were grouped according to the side that the obstacle was circumvented and compared by three-way ANOVAs. Both people with PD and the control group presented asymmetry to circumvent an obstacle during walking, however this was exacerbated in people with PD. Individuals with PD presented safe strategies (largest mediolateral and horizontal body clearance to the obstacle, "lead-out" strategy, and higher number and time of fixations on the obstacle) during obstacle circumvention for the least affected side compared to the most affected side. In addition, positive effects of dopaminergic medication on body clearance, spatial-temporal parameters, and gaze behavior were evidenced only when the obstacle was circumvented to the least affected side. The obstacle circumvention to the most affected side is risky for people with PD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Salt Stress (NaCl on Germination and Early Seedling Parameters of Three Pepper Cultivars (Capsicum annuum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aloui Hassen

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Salinity is one of the major environmental problem that lead to a deterioration of agricultural land and, as a result, to a reduction in crop productivity worldwide. This research tested the effect of different salinity levels on germination and early seedling growth of three pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cultivars which were "Beldi", "Baklouti" and "Anaheim Chili". Experimental treatment included 7 concentrations of NaCl (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 g/l. Results indicated that all investigate traits were affected by salt stress. Salt stress affected on germination parameters and radicle and plumule length. Fresh weight and dry weight of evaluated seedlings was also affected. "Anaheim Chili" cultivar was shown to be the most restraint cultivar to salt stress in comparison to "Beldi" and "Baklouti" cultivars.

Composition and structure of the larval fish community related to environmental parameters in a tropical estuary impacted by climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Sloterdijk, Hans; Brehmer, Patrice; Sadio, Oumar; Müller, Hanno; Döring, Julian; Ekau, Werner

2017-10-01

Mangrove ecosystems have long been considered essential habitats and are commonly viewed and referred to as "nursery areas". They are highly sensitive to climate change, and environmental transformations in these ecosystems are expected. The Sine Saloum estuary is a case of a system affected by global climate change where reduced precipitation and temperature increase have resulted in an inversion of the salinity gradient. Within the estuary, the composition and structure of the larval fish community related to environmental parameters were investigated using neuston and ring trawl nets. Larval fishes were sampled at 16 stations distributed along a salinity and distance-to-the-sea gradient during four field campaigns (November 2013, February, June, and August 2014) covering an annual cycle. This is the first study documenting the spatial and temporal assemblages of fish larvae in an inverse estuary. The total of 41 taxa representing 24 families and 34 genus identified in this study was lower than that of other tropical estuaries. Clupeidae spp. was the dominant taxon, accounting for 28.9% of the total number of fish larvae caught, followed by Gerreidae spp. (21.1%), Hyporamphus picarti (18.8%), Diplodus bellottii (8.9%), Hypleurochilus langi (4.8%), Mugilidae spp. (4.4%), and Gobiidae sp.1 (3.5%). A total of 20 taxa were recorded within the upper estuary region, whereas 29 and 37 taxa were observed in the middle and lower reaches, respectively. While larval fish were captured at all sites and during all seasons, abundances and richness decreased with increasing salinity. Larval fish assemblages also showed a clear vertical structure corresponding to three distinct water strata. Salinity, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen were the variables that best explained the spatial and temporal differences in larval fish assemblages. It is difficult to forecast the future situation for this system but so far, compared to other mangrove estuarine systems, we have

Spatial-temporal parameters of gait in women with fibromyalgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Heredia Jiménez, José María; Aparicio García-Molina, Virginia A; Porres Foulquie, Jesús M; Delgado Fernández, Manuel; Soto Hermoso, Victor M

2009-05-01

The aim of the present study was to determine if there are differences in such parameters among patients affected by fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy subjects and whether the degree of affectation by FM can decrease the gait parameters. We studied 55 women with FM and 44 controls. Gait analysis was performed using an instrumented walkway for measurement of the kinematic parameters of gait (GAITRite system), and patients completed a Spanish version of Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Significant differences (p Gait parameters of women affected by FM were severely impaired when compared to those of healthy women. Different factors such as lack of physical activity, bradikinesia, overweight, fatigue, and pain together with a lower isometric force in the legs can be responsible for the alterations in gait and poorer life quality of women with FM.

Field measurements of key parameters associated with nocturnal OBT formation in vegetables grown under Canadian conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, S.B.; Workman, W.G.; Korolevych, V.; Davis, P.A.

2012-01-01

The objective of this study was to provide the parameter values required to model OBT formation in the edible parts of plants following a hypothetical accidental tritium release to the atmosphere at night. The parameters considered were leaf area index, stomatal resistance, photosynthesis rate, the photosynthetic production rate of starch, the nocturnal hydrolysis rate of starch, the fraction of starch produced daily by photosynthesis that appears in the fruits, and the mass of the fruit. Values of these parameters were obtained in the summer of 2002 for lettuce, radishes and tomatoes grown under typical Canadian environmental conditions. Based on the maximum observed photosynthetic rate and growth rate, the fraction of starch translocated to the fruit was calculated to be 17% for tomato fruit and 14% for radish root. - Highlights: ► Plant physiological parameters affecting nocturnal OBT formation have been investigated. ► The fraction of starch produced daily by photosynthesis in the leaves that appears in the fruit was calculated. ► Realistic estimates of OBT concentrations following a nighttime accidental HTO release to the atmosphere.

The Influence of Environmental Factors on Employee Comfort Based on an Example of Location Temperature

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Szer I.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Work in unfavorable, changing environmental conditions negatively affects people working on scaffoldings used on construction sites, which may increase the risk of occurrence of dangerous situations. The purpose of this article is to show the scale of temperature changes which workers are exposed to. The paper compares examples of temperature measurements obtained from a metrological station and during tests on scaffoldings located in the Lodz and Warsaw regions. This article also presents the methodology of examining environmental parameters of the surroundings where employees work on scaffoldings. Analysis results show that high temperatures and significant temperature variations frequently occur on the scaffoldings, which leads to a lack of adaptability and consequently to tiredness or decreased alertness. Unfavorable environmental conditions can lead to behaviors which, in turn, can cause accidents.

Domestic and environmental factors of chikungunya-affected families in Thiruvananthapuram (Rural district of Kerala, India

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T S Anish

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The world is experiencing a pandemic of chikungunya which has swept across Indian Ocean and the Indian subcontinent. Kerala the southernmost state of India was affected by the chikungunya epidemic twice, first in 2006 and then in 2007. Kerala has got geography and climate which are highly favorable for the breeding of Aedes albopictus, the suspected vector. Aim: The aim of the study was to highlight the various domestic and environmental factors of the families affected by chikungunya in 2007 in Thiruvananthapuram district (rural of Kerala. Settings and design: This is a cross-sectional survey conducted in Thiruvananthapuram (rural district during November 2007. Materials and Methods : Samples were selected from field area under three Primary Health Centers. These areas represent the three terrains of the district namely the highland, midland, and lowland. The sample size was estimated to be 134 houses from each study area. The field area of health workers was selected as clusters and six subcenters from each primary health center were randomly selected (lot method. Results and Conclusions: The proportion of population affected by chikungunya fever is 39.9% (38.9-40.9%. The investigators observed water holding containers in the peri-domestic area of 95.6% of the houses. According to regression (binary logistic analysis, the area of residence [adjusted odds ratio (OR = 8.01 (6.06-14.60], residing in a non-remote area [adjusted OR=0.25 (0.16-0.38], perceived mosquito menace [adjusted OR=3.07 (2.31-4.64], and containers/tires outside the house [adjusted OR=5.61 (2.74-27.58] were the independent predictors of the occurrence of chikungunya in households.

Plutonium speciation affected by environmental bacteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neu, M.P.; Icopini, G.A.; Boukhalfa, H.

2005-01-01

Plutonium has no known biological utility, yet it has the potential to interact with bacterial cellular and extracellular structures that contain metal-binding groups, to interfere with the uptake and utilization of essential elements, and to alter cell metabolism. These interactions can transform plutonium from its most common forms, solid, mineral-adsorbed, or colloidal Pu(IV), to a variety of biogeochemical species that have much different physico-chemical properties. Organic acids that are extruded products of cell metabolism can solubilize plutonium and then enhance its environmental mobility, or in some cases facilitate plutonium transfer into cells. Phosphate- and carboxylate-rich polymers associated with cell walls can bind plutonium to form mobile biocolloids or Pu-laden biofilm/mineral solids. Bacterial membranes, proteins or redox agents can produce strongly reducing electrochemical zones and generate molecular Pu(III/IV) species or oxide particles. Alternatively, they can oxidize plutonium to form soluble Pu(V) or Pu(VI) complexes. This paper reviews research on plutonium-bacteria interactions and closely related studies on the biotransformation of uranium and other metals. (orig.)

Salt stress-induced protein pattern associated with photosynthetic parameters and andrographolide content in Andrographis paniculata Nees.

Science.gov (United States)

Talei, Daryush; Valdiani, Alireza; Maziah, Mahmood; Sagineedu, Sreenivasa Rao; Abiri, Rambod

2015-01-01

Andrographis paniculata is a multifunctional medicinal plant and a potent source of bioactive compounds. Impact of environmental stresses such as salinity on protein diversification, as well as the consequent changes in the photosynthetic parameters and andrographolide content (AG) of the herb, has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The present study showed that the salinity affects the protein pattern, and subsequently, it decreased the photosynthetic parameters, protein content, total dry weight, and total crude extract. Exceptionally, the AG content was increased (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, it was noticed that the salinity at 12 dS m(-1) led to the maximum increase in AG content in all accessions. Interestingly, the leaf protein analysis revealed that the two polymorphic protein bands as low- and medium-sized of 17 and 45 kDa acted as the activator agents for the photosynthetic parameters and AG content. Protein sequencing and proteomic analysis can be conducted based on the present findings in the future.

Effects of Photoperiod on the Haematological Parameters of Clarias Gariepinus Fingerlings Reared in Water Recirculatory System

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Solomon S.G.

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Haematological analyses has been routinely used in determining the physiological state of animals and known to be affected by different environmental factors, the present study was therefore designed to assess the effect of 24 hours of light (00D: 24L, 24 hours of darkness (24D: 00L and 12 hour light / 12 hours darkness (12D: 12L photoperiod on the haematological parameters of the African Catfish. At the end of the six weeks experiment, it was observed that some haematological parameters such as Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC, the Mean White Blood Cells (WBC, Mean Red Blood Cells (RBC, Haemoglobin content (HGB, Platelet count (PLT showed significant difference (P0.05. However MCHC and MCH were noticed to increase as the light period increased while the other parameters reduced as the light period increased. The findings indicate that exposure of the African Catfish to continuous light for six weeks duration elicits response in the haematological profile of the fish.

Environmental parameters of the Tennessee River in Alabama. 2: Physical, chemical, and biological parameters. [biological and chemical effects of thermal pollution from nuclear power plants on water quality

Science.gov (United States)

Rosing, L. M.

1976-01-01

Physical, chemical and biological water quality data from five sites in the Tennessee River, two in Guntersville Reservoir and three in Wheeler Reservoir were correlated with climatological data for three annual cycles. Two of the annual cycles are for the years prior to the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant operations and one is for the first 14 months of Plant operations. A comparison of the results of the annual cycles indicates that two distinct physical conditions in the reservoirs occur, one during the warm months when the reservoirs are at capacity and one during the colder winter months when the reservoirs have been drawn-down for water storage during the rainy months and for weed control. The wide variations of physical and chemical parameters to which the biological organisms are subjected on an annual basis control the biological organisms and their population levels. A comparison of the parameters of the site below the Power plant indicates that the heated effluent from the plant operating with two of the three reactors has not had any effect on the organisms at this site. Recommendations given include the development of prediction mathematical models (statistical analysis) for the physical and chemical parameters under specific climatological conditions which affect biological organisms. Tabulated data of chemical analysis of water and organism populations studied is given.

An Analysis of Environmental Dimensions Affected in Adoption of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles: A Study in Shah ALAM Industrial AREA, Selangor

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Siron Rusinah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to identify the perceptions of respondents on environmental dimensions hat affected in adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The study was conducted at Shah Alam industrial areas of Selangor, Malaysia, with the number of respondents are 120 respondents with various job positions that related with engineering and automobiles industry. The findings of the research shows that the dimensions of HFCV Internal Environmental total score of the items statement is 3.40 with the percentage of agreement in implementation is 3.72 percent, HFCV Environmental Information Systems shows that the total score of the items statement is 3.63 with the percentage of agreement on use to great extend is 42.5 percent, HFCV Cooperation with Customers shows that the total score of the items statement is 3.81 with the percentage of agreement on implementation is 44.2 percent. The findings on HFCV Eco Design shows that the total score of items statement is 4.02 with the percentage of agreement on implementation is 42.3 percent, HFCV Environmental Organizational Culture shows that the total score of the items statement is 3.37 with the percentage of agreement is 34.2 percent, HFCV Environmental Leadership shows that the total score of the items statement is 3.34 with the percentage of agreement is 48.2 percent. HFCV Proactive Green Innovation shows that the total score of items statement is 4.10 ahead of automobile got the highest mean score of 4.32 with the percentage of agreement is 41 percent. HFCV Environmental performance shows that the total score of the items statement is 3.87 with the percentage of agreement is 39 percent and the last environmental dimensions was HFCV Environmental Risks shows that the total score of the item statement is 4.00 with the percentage of agreement is 40 percent

ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

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Oana MIHAI

2006-01-01

Full Text Available From a company’s perspective, there seem to be two underlying forces driving company interest in various kinds of environmental performance data that might be considered varieties of accounting. The first is a growing demand from company stakeholders, based on an increased interest in environmental issues. Interested stakeholders are not only the consumers, but also industrial customers, financialinstitutions and others. For this reason, more and more companies are producing environmental reports, but these are often low on data content, which adversely affects company credibility on environmental issues.

The effects of acclimatization on blood clotting parameters in exertional heat stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Vesić, Zoran; Vukasinović-Vesić, Milica; Dincić, Dragan; Surbatović, Maja; Radaković, Sonja S

2013-07-01

Exertional heat stress is a common problem in military services. Considering the coagulation abnormalities are of major importance in development of severe heat stroke, we wanted to examine changes in hemostatic parameters in soldiers during exertional heat stress test as well as the effects of a 10-day passive or active acclimatization in a climatic chamber. A total of 40 male soldiers with high aerobic capacity performed exertional heat stress test (EHST) either in cool [20 degrees C, 16 degrees C wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT)], or hot (40 degrees C, 29 degrees C, (WBGT) environment, unacclimatized (U) or after 10 days of passive (P) or active (A) acclimatization. Physiological strain was measured by tympanic temperatures (Tty) and heart rates (HR). Platelet count (PC), antithrombin III (AT), and prothrombin time (PT) were assessed in blood samples collected before and immediately after the EHST. EHST in hot conditions induced physiological heat stress (increase in Tty and HR), with a significant increase in prothrombin time in the groups U and A. Platelet counts were significantly higher after the EHST compared to the basic levels in all the investigated groups, regardless environmental conditions and acclimatization state. Antithrombin levels were not affected by EHST whatsoever. In the trained soldiers, physiological heat stress caused mild changes in some serum parameters of blood clotting such as prothrombin time, while others such as antithrombin levels were not affected. Platelet counts were increased after EHST in all groups. A 10-day passive or active acclimatization in climatic chamber showed no effect on parameters investigated.

What is the effect of optimum independent parameters on solar heating systems?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaçan, Erkan; Ulgen, Koray; Kaçan, Erdal

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The efficiency effect of 4 independent parameters over the solar heating system are examined. • 3 of 4 independent parameters are found as decisive parameter for system design. • Maximum exergetic efficiency exceeded 11% at optimized process. • Maximum environmental efficiency reached up to 95% at optimized process. • The optimum outside temperature and solar radiation are found as 22 °C and 773 W/m"2 for all responses. - Abstract: Researchers are rather closely involved in Solar Combisystems recently, but there is lack of study that presents the optimum design parameters. Therefore, in this study the influence of the four major variables, namely; outside, inside temperature, solar radiation on horizontal surface and instantaneous efficiency of solar collector on the energetic, exergetic and environmental efficiencies of Solar Combisystems are investigated and system optimization is done by a combination of response surface methodology. Measured parameters and energetic–exergetic and environmental performance curves are found and statistical model is created parallel with the actual data. It is found that statistical model is significant and all “lack-of-fit” values are non-significant. Thus, it is proved that statistical model strongly represents the design model. Outside temperature, solar radiation on horizontal surface and instantaneous efficiency of solar collector are the decisive parameters for all responses but instantaneous efficiency of solar collector is not for environmental efficiency. Maximum exergetic efficiency exceeded 11%, maximum environmental efficiency reached up to 95% at optimized process. The optimum value of the outside temperature and solar radiation are found as 22 °C and 773 W/m"2 for all responses, on the other hand optimum collector efficiency is found around 60% for energetic and exergetic efficiency values. Inside temperature is not a decisive parameter for all responses.

An environmental tolerance index for ostracodes as indicators of physical and chemical factors in aquatic habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Curry, B. Brandon

1999-01-01

Continental ostracode occurrences reflect salinity, solute composition, temperature, flow conditions, and other environmental properties of the water they inhabit. Their occurrences also reflect the variability of many of these environmental parameters. Environmental tolerance indices (ETIs) offer a new way to express the nature of an ostracode's environment. As defined herein, ETIs range in value from zero to one, and may be calculated for continuous and binary variables. For continuous variables such as salinity, the ETI is the ratio of the range of values of salinity tolerated by an ostracode to the total range of salinity values from a representative database. In this investigation, the database of continuous variables consists of information from 341 sites located throughout the United States. Binary ETIs indicate whether an environmental variable such as flowing water affects ostracode presence or absence. The binary database consists of information from 784 sites primarily from Illinois, USA. ETIs were developed in this investigation to interpret paleohydrological changes implied by fossil ostracode successions. ETI profiles may be cast in terms of a weighted average, or on presence/absence. The profiles express ostracode tolerance of environmental parameters such as salinity or currents. Tolerance of a wide range of values is taken to indicate shallow water because shallow environments are conducive to thermal variability, short-term water residence, and the development of currents from wind-driven waves.

Environmental Culture and the Factors Affecting It (Case Study: The Citizens of Shiraz City

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Zahra Hemmati

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the environmental crisis is considered as one of the major challenges that human is faced. Many scientists have proposed technological solutions to reduce or prevent environmental crises, however, some of them have suggested the necessity of new relation and interaction between nature and human, and also, the need for a new environmental culture. This study aims to explore the environmental culture and its influencing factors in Shiraz city. Research was conducted by using survey method, cluster sampling and questionnaire. In total, 402 completed questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Research findings indicate that environmental culture had positive and significant relationship with opportunities and facilities offered, feeling efficiency and environmental education. However, environmental culture had no significant relationship with environmental knowledge and social norms. Also, multivariate regression results show that opportunities and facilities offered and feeling efficiency are significant with environmental culture.

Estimating environmental conditions affecting protozoal pathogen removal in surface water wetland systems using a multi-scale, model-based approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Miles E; Hogan, Jennifer; Smith, Woutrina A; Oates, Stori C; Miller, Melissa A; Hardin, Dane; Shapiro, Karen; Los Huertos, Marc; Conrad, Patricia A; Dominik, Clare; Watson, Fred G R

2014-09-15

Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, and Toxoplasma gondii are waterborne protozoal pathogens distributed worldwide and empirical evidence suggests that wetlands reduce the concentrations of these pathogens under certain environmental conditions. The goal of this study was to evaluate how protozoal removal in surface water is affected by the water temperature, turbidity, salinity, and vegetation cover of wetlands in the Monterey Bay region of California. To examine how protozoal removal was affected by these environmental factors, we conducted observational experiments at three primary spatial scales: settling columns, recirculating wetland mesocosm tanks, and an experimental research wetland (Molera Wetland). Simultaneously, we developed a protozoal transport model for surface water to simulate the settling columns, the mesocosm tanks, and the Molera Wetland. With a high degree of uncertainty expected in the model predictions and field observations, we developed the model within a Bayesian statistical framework. We found protozoal removal increased when water flowed through vegetation, and with higher levels of turbidity, salinity, and temperature. Protozoal removal in surface water was maximized (~0.1 hour(-1)) when flowing through emergent vegetation at 2% cover, and with a vegetation contact time of ~30 minutes compared to the effects of temperature, salinity, and turbidity. Our studies revealed that an increase in vegetated wetland area, with water moving through vegetation, would likely improve regional water quality through the reduction of fecal protozoal pathogen loads. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motion coordination affects movement parameters in a joint pick-and-place task

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vesper, Cordula; Soutschek, Alexander; Schubö, Anna

2009-01-01

This study examined influences of social context on movement parameters in a pick-and-place task. Participants’ motion trajectories were recorded while they performed sequences of natural movements either working side-by-side with a partner or alone. It was expected that movement parameters would...... person performed the task while being observed by the partner. Results indicate that participants adapted their movements temporally and spatially to the joint action situation: Overall movement duration was shorter, and mean and maximum velocity was higher when actually working together than when...... action tasks....

Testing parameters of TMR heads affected by dynamic-tester induced EMI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kruesubthaworn, A.; Sivaratana, R.; Ungvichian, V.; Siritaratiwat, A.

2007-01-01

A variety of expected electromagnetic interference (EMI) sources of both radiated and conducted EMI emissions produced by a dynamic tester is studied. It is determined that the power cable connector of the robot arm radiates a significant electric field (E-field) of about 197 V/m at 1 foot away and an estimated calculation of the E-field of about 212 mV/m is at the spindle motor. These fields can be attenuated by about 20-30 dB when using a copper lined Faraday's cage. Furthermore, the study has revealed that the radiated EMI plays a more significant role than the conducted EMI. In addition, it is determined that out of seven selected testing parameters, the SGAW is rather more sensitive to EMI than conventional failure parameters, especially static glitche during the write cycle

Biochar physico-chemical properties as affected by environmental exposure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorrenti, Giovambattista, E-mail: g.sorrenti@unibo.it [Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, viale G. Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna (Italy); Masiello, Caroline A., E-mail: masiello@rice.edu [Departments of Earth Science, BioSciences, and Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 (United States); Dugan, Brandon, E-mail: dugan@rice.edu [Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 (United States); Toselli, Moreno, E-mail: moreno.toselli@unibo.it [Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, viale G. Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna (Italy)

2016-09-01

To best use biochar as a sustainable soil management and carbon (C) sequestration technique, we must understand the effect of environmental exposure on its physical and chemical properties because they likely vary with time. These properties play an important role in biochar's environmental behavior and delivery of ecosystem services. We measured biochar before amendment and four years after amendment to a commercial nectarine orchard at rates of 5, 15 and 30 t ha{sup −1}. We combined two pycnometry techniques to measure skeletal (ρ{sub s}) and envelope (ρ{sub e}) density and to estimate the total pore volume of biochar particles. We also examined imbibition, which can provide information about soil hydraulic conductivity. Finally, we investigated the chemical properties, surface, inner layers atomic composition and C1s bonding state of biochar fragments through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Ageing increased biochar skeletal density and reduced the water imbibition rate within fragments as a consequence of partial pore clogging. However, porosity and the volume of water stored in particles remained unchanged. Exposure reduced biochar pH, EC, and total C, but enhanced total N, nitrate-N, and ammonium-N. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses showed an increase of O, Si, N, Na, Al, Ca, Mn, and Fe surface (0–5 nm) atomic composition (at%) and a reduction of C and K in aged particles, confirming the interactions of biochar with soil inorganic and organic phases. Oxidation of aged biochar fragments occurred mainly in the particle surface, and progressively decreased down to 75 nm. Biochar surface chemistry changes included the development of carbonyl and carboxylate functional groups, again mainly on the particle surface. However, changes were noticeable down to 75 nm, while no significant changes were measured in the deepest layer, up to 110 nm. Results show unequivocal shifts in biochar physical and chemical properties/characteristics over

Urban-rural status affects associations between domains of environmental quality and adverse birth outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

The relationship between environmental conditions and human health varies by environmental domain and urbanicity. To account for multiple ambient environmental conditions, we constructed an Environmental Quality Index (EQI) for health research. We used U.S. county level data rep...

A Sensitivity Analysis Approach to Identify Key Environmental Performance Factors

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Xi Yu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Life cycle assessment (LCA is widely used in design phase to reduce the product’s environmental impacts through the whole product life cycle (PLC during the last two decades. The traditional LCA is restricted to assessing the environmental impacts of a product and the results cannot reflect the effects of changes within the life cycle. In order to improve the quality of ecodesign, it is a growing need to develop an approach which can reflect the changes between the design parameters and product’s environmental impacts. A sensitivity analysis approach based on LCA and ecodesign is proposed in this paper. The key environmental performance factors which have significant influence on the products’ environmental impacts can be identified by analyzing the relationship between environmental impacts and the design parameters. Users without much environmental knowledge can use this approach to determine which design parameter should be first considered when (redesigning a product. A printed circuit board (PCB case study is conducted; eight design parameters are chosen to be analyzed by our approach. The result shows that the carbon dioxide emission during the PCB manufacture is highly sensitive to the area of PCB panel.

The Effect of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on Elementary School Students' Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Erdogan, Mehmet

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on elementary school students' environmental knowledge, affect, skills and behavior which are the main components of environmental literacy. The sample consisted of 45 students (25 males, 20 females) studying in 4th through 8th grades and living in…

Uncertainty related to Environmental Data and Estimated Extreme Events

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burcharth, H. F.

The design loads on rubble mound breakwaters are almost entirely determined by the environmental conditions, i.e. sea state, water levels, sea bed characteristics, etc. It is the objective of sub-group B to identify the most important environmental parameters and evaluate the related uncertainties...... including those corresponding to extreme estimates typically used for design purposes. Basically a design condition is made up of a set of parameter values stemming from several environmental parameters. To be able to evaluate the uncertainty related to design states one must know the corresponding joint....... Consequently this report deals mainly with each parameter separately. Multi parameter problems are briefly discussed in section 9. It is important to notice that the quantified uncertainties reported in section 7.7 represent what might be regarded as typical figures to be used only when no more qualified...

Factors affecting patterns of Amblyomma triste (Acari: Ixodidae) parasitism in a rodent host.

Science.gov (United States)

Colombo, Valeria C; Nava, Santiago; Antoniazzi, Leandro R; Monje, Lucas D; Racca, Andrea L; Guglielmone, Alberto A; Beldomenico, Pablo M

2015-07-30

Here we offer a multivariable analysis that explores associations of different factors (i.e., environmental, host parameters, presence of other ectoparasites) with the interaction of Amblyomma triste immature stages and one of its main hosts in Argentina, the rodent Akodon azarae. Monthly and for two years, we captured and sampled rodents at 16 points located at 4 different sites in the Parana River Delta region. The analyses were conducted with Generalized Linear Mixed Models with a negative binomial response (counts of larvae or nymphs). The independent variables assessed were: (a) environmental: trapping year, season, presence of cattle; type of vegetation (natural grassland or implanted forest); rodent abundance; (b) host parameters: body length; sex; body condition; blood cell counts; natural antibody titres; and (c) co-infestation with other ectoparasites: other stage of A. triste; Ixodes loricatus; lice; mites; and fleas. Two-way interaction terms deemed a priori as relevant were also included in the analysis. Larvae were affected by all environmental variables assessed and by the presence of other ectoparasites (lice, fleas and other tick species). Host factors significantly associated with larval count were sex and levels of natural antibodies. Nymphs were associated with season, presence of cattle, body condition, body length and with burdens of I. loricatus. In most cases, the direction and magnitude of the associations were context-dependent (many interaction terms were significant). The findings of greater significance and implications of our study are two. Firstly, as burdens of A. triste larvae and nymphs were greater where cattle were present, and larval tick burdens were higher in implanted forests, silvopastoral practices developing in the region may affect the population dynamics of A. triste, and consequently the eco-epidemiology of Rickettsia parkeri. Secondly, strong associations and numerous interactions with other ectoparasites suggest that

Validation of photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters as biomarkers for isoproturon toxic effect on alga Scenedesmus obliquus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dewez, David; Didur, Olivier; Vincent-Heroux, Jonathan; Popovic, Radovan

2008-01-01

Photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters were investigated to be used as valid biomarkers of toxicity when alga Scenedesmus obliquus was exposed to isoproturon [3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea] effect. Chlorophyll fluorescence induction of algal cells treated with isoproturon showed inactivation of photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers and strong inhibition of PSII electron transport. A linear correlation was found (R 2 ≥ 0.861) between the change of cells density affected by isoproturon and the change of effective PSII quantum yield (Φ M' ), photochemical quenching (q P ) and relative photochemical quenching (q P(rel) ) values. The cells density was also linearly dependent (R 2 = 0.838) on the relative unquenched fluorescence parameter (UQF (rel) ). Non-linear correlation was found (R 2 = 0.937) only between cells density and the energy transfer efficiency from absorbed light to PSII reaction center (ABS/RC). The order of sensitivity determined by the EC-50% was: UQF (rel) > Φ M' > q P > q P(rel) > ABS/RC. Correlations between cells density and those photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters provide supporting evidence to use them as biomarkers of toxicity for environmental pollutants. - Photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters are reliable biomarkers of isoproturon toxicity

Environmental victims: environmental injustice issues that threaten the health of children living in poverty.

Science.gov (United States)

Cureton, Shava

2011-01-01

Children living in poverty are disproportionately at risk from and affected by environmental hazards. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 13 million children in America live in poverty. Thus, not only are millions of children living in poverty but are also living in environments that are hazardous to their health. Impoverished children are more likely to live in environments with heavily polluting industries, hazardous waste sites, contaminated water and soil, in old housing with deteriorating lead-based paint, in areas with limited access to healthy food, and more. Poor children residing in these toxic environments are either at risk or suffer from a myriad of health disparities, such as asthma, cancer, lead poisoning, obesity, and hyperactivity. This unfortunate reality is better known as environmental injustice. Environmental injustice recognizes that economically disadvantaged groups are adversely affected by environmental hazards more than other groups. To remedy this dilemma, environmental justice seeks to address these unfair burdens of environmental health hazards on poor communities. The purpose of this article is to (a) examine the environmental living conditions of children living in poverty, (b) examine the environmental health disparities of children living in poverty, (c) discuss environmental justice legislation, (d) describe government initiatives to improve environmental health, and (e) propose recommendations that executes measures to protect the health of children.

Urban habitat complexity affects species richness but not environmental filtering of morphologically-diverse ants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Ossola

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assemblages. In natural and semi-natural ecosystems, habitat complexity is principally regulated by ecological successions or disturbance such as fire and grazing. Urban ecosystems provide an opportunity to test relationships between habitat, ant assemblage structure and ant traits using novel combinations of habitat complexity generated and sustained by human management. We sampled ant assemblages in low-complexity and high-complexity parks, and high-complexity woodland remnants, hypothesizing that (i ant abundance and species richness would be higher in high-complexity urban habitats, (ii ant assemblages would differ between low- and high-complexity habitats and (iii ants living in high-complexity habitats would be smaller than those living in low-complexity habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis, ant species richness was higher in low-complexity habitats compared to high-complexity habitats. Overall, ant assemblages were significantly different among the habitat complexity types investigated, although ant size and morphology remained the same. Habitat complexity appears to affect the structure of ant assemblages in urban ecosystems as previously observed in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, the habitat complexity filter does not seem to be linked to ant morphological traits related to body size.

Urban habitat complexity affects species richness but not environmental filtering of morphologically-diverse ants

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, Michael A.; Christie, Fiona J.; Hahs, Amy K.; Livesley, Stephen J.

2015-01-01

Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assemblages. In natural and semi-natural ecosystems, habitat complexity is principally regulated by ecological successions or disturbance such as fire and grazing. Urban ecosystems provide an opportunity to test relationships between habitat, ant assemblage structure and ant traits using novel combinations of habitat complexity generated and sustained by human management. We sampled ant assemblages in low-complexity and high-complexity parks, and high-complexity woodland remnants, hypothesizing that (i) ant abundance and species richness would be higher in high-complexity urban habitats, (ii) ant assemblages would differ between low- and high-complexity habitats and (iii) ants living in high-complexity habitats would be smaller than those living in low-complexity habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis, ant species richness was higher in low-complexity habitats compared to high-complexity habitats. Overall, ant assemblages were significantly different among the habitat complexity types investigated, although ant size and morphology remained the same. Habitat complexity appears to affect the structure of ant assemblages in urban ecosystems as previously observed in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, the habitat complexity filter does not seem to be linked to ant morphological traits related to body size. PMID:26528416

Effects of environmental temperature fluctuations on the parameters of a thermoelectric battery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozlov, Yu.F.; Oganov, E.P.

1980-01-01

A numerical analysis is presented for the effects of lags on the output parameters of a radioisotope thermoelectric battery under conditions of diurnal temperature variation in the environment. Allowance for the inertial effects causes a phase shift and change in amplitude of the variations in the thermal and electrical parameters. The amplitude of the temperature fluctuations in the hot junctions is substantially reduced, while the output electrical power increases. The data provide a more rigorous basis for choosing the parameters of radioisotope batteries during design. 9 refs

The effect of environmental parameters on contaminant uptake by a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There was also no discernable relationship between pH and contaminants uptake by the sampling devices as was expected with non polar, non-ioniseable solutes. The uptake of compounds with lower molar volumes was most susceptible to the presence oh humic materials. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental ...

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy

2016-05-15

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%-26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21°C-36°C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

The Garbage Gospel: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain the Role of Religious Institutions in Affecting Pro-Environmental Behavior among Ethnic Minorities

Science.gov (United States)

Lakhan, Calvin

2018-01-01

This study used Azjen's Theory of Planned Behavior to examine how pro-recycling and pro-environmental messaging delivered by religious leaders affects stated recycling behavior among ethnic minorities. Using data collected from 12 religious institutions in three Ontario, Canada, communities, a promotion and education program was developed to: (1)…

Science Education for Environmental Awareness: Approaches to Integrating Cognitive and Affective Domains

Science.gov (United States)

Littledyke, Michael

2008-01-01

Science education has an important part in developing understanding of concepts that underpin environmental issues, leading potentially to pro-environmental behaviour. However, science is commonly perceived negatively, leading to inappropriate and negative models of science that do not connect to people's experiences. The article argues that the…

[Dynamics of hormonal parameters changes in workers affected by noise nuisance].

Science.gov (United States)

Lizarev, A V

2008-01-01

The dynamics of hormonal parameters changes in workers of noise dangerous occupations was studied over 5 year period. It was shown that with extension of length of service the content of hormones in peripheral blood of patients with sensorineural deafness has not changed significantly.

Seasonal variation of meteorological factors on air parameters and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The impacts of gas flaring on meteorological factors at Ibeno, Eket, Onna, Esit Eket and Umudike - Nigeria were investigated by measuring air quality parameters. The results show that the mean concentration of air parameters value were below Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) and United States ...

Land surface and climate parameters and malaria features in Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, Y. A.; Anh, N. K.

2017-12-01

Land surface parameters may affect local microclimate, which in turn alters the development of mosquito habitats and transmission risks (soil-vegetation-atmosphere-vector borne diseases). Forest malaria is a chromic issue in Southeast Asian countries, in particular, such as Vietnam (in 1991, approximate 2 million cases and 4,646 deaths were reported (https://sites.path.org)). Vietnam has lowlands, sub-tropical high humidity, and dense forests, resulting in wide-scale distribution and high biting rate of mosquitos in Vietnam, becoming a challenging and out of control scenario, especially in Vietnamese Central Highland region. It is known that Vietnam's economy mainly relies on agriculture and malaria is commonly associated with poverty. There is a strong demand to investigate the relationship between land surface parameters (land cover, soil moisture, land surface temperature, etc.) and climatic variables (precipitation, humidity, evapotranspiration, etc.) in association with malaria distribution. GIS and remote sensing have been proven their powerful potentials in supporting environmental and health studies. The objective of this study aims to analyze physical attributes of land surface and climate parameters and their links with malaria features. The outcomes are expected to illustrate how remotely sensed data has been utilized in geohealth applications, surveillance, and health risk mapping. In addition, a platform with promising possibilities of allowing disease early-warning systems with citizen participation will be proposed.

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and satisfaction aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design.

Science.gov (United States)

Frontczak, M; Schiavon, S; Goins, J; Arens, E; Zhang, H; Wargocki, P

2012-04-01

The article examines which subjectively evaluated indoor environmental parameters and building features mostly affect occupants' satisfaction in mainly US office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52,980 occupants in 351 office buildings over 10 years by the Center for the Built Environment. The survey uses 7-point ordered scale questions pertaining to satisfaction with indoor environmental parameters, workspace, and building features. The average building occupant was satisfied with his/her workspace and building. Proportional odds ordinal logistic regression shows that satisfaction with all 15 parameters listed in the survey contributed significantly to overall workspace satisfaction. The most important parameters were satisfaction with amount of space (odds ratio OR 1.57, 95% CI: 1.55-1.59), noise level (OR 1.27, 95% CI: 1.25-1.29), and visual privacy (OR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.24-1.28). Satisfaction with amount of space was ranked to be most important for workspace satisfaction, regardless of age group (below 30, 31-50 or over 50 years old), gender, type of office (single or shared offices, or cubicles), distance of workspace from a window (within 4.6 m or further), or satisfaction level with workspace (satisfied or dissatisfied). Satisfaction with amount of space was not related to the gross amount of space available per person. To maximize workspace satisfaction, designer should invest in aspects that increase satisfaction with amount of space and storage, noise level, and visual privacy. Office workers will be most satisfied with their workspace and building when located close to a window in a private office. This may affect job satisfaction, work performance, and personal and company productivity. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Punta Higuero environmental studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, E.D.; Youngbluth, M.J.; Nutt, M.E.; Yeaman, M.N.; Yoshioka, P.; Canoy, M.J.

1975-01-01

Site selection surveys and environmental research studies of seven coastal sites in Puerto Rico for construction of power generating facilities were carried out. Data are presented on the physical, chemical, and geological parameters of the Punta Higuero site, and the ecological parameters of zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish communities. Plant associations are included. (U.S.)

Is Environmental Training Critical to Environmental Sustainability Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OT Aladesanmi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In the past few decades, concern for the environment has increased significantly with evidences of change in perception of people's values and attitudes towards the environment. This study presents the results of a survey carried out among postgraduate students undergoing training in environmental and non-environmental fields with the aim of comparing their environmental sustainable behaviour. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of environmental training on the postgraduate students? awareness, perceptions and behaviours with focus on the attitudes of the respondents towards environmental sustainability, and how these attitudes affect their behaviour. A purposive sampling method was used to obtain data using a semi-structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of 50 and 47 postgraduate students undergoing training in environmental and non-environmental respectively. The data was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS. The results of the study revealed that most of the students in environmental fields readily transferred the knowledge acquired in their training to a sustainable behaviour. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i3.11083 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(3 2014: 241-251

Chlorination pattern effect on thermodynamic parameters and environmental degradability for C₁₀-SCCPs: Quantum chemical calculation based on virtual combinational library.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yuzhen; Pan, Wenxiao; Lin, Yuan; Fu, Jianjie; Zhang, Aiqian

2016-01-01

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are still controversial candidates for inclusion in the Stockholm Convention. The inherent mixture nature of SCCPs makes it rather difficult to explore their environmental behaviors. A virtual molecule library of 42,720 C10-SCCP congeners covering the full structure spectrum was constructed. We explored the structural effects on the thermodynamic parameters and environmental degradability of C10-SCCPs through semi-empirical quantum chemical calculations. The thermodynamic properties were acquired using the AM1 method, and frontier molecular orbital analysis was carried out to obtain the E(HOMO), E(LUMO) and E(LUMO)-E(HOMO) for degradability exploration at the same level. The influence of the chlorination degree (N(Cl)) on the relative stability and environmental degradation was elucidated. A novel structural descriptor, μ, was proposed to measure the dispersion of the chlorine atoms within a molecule. There were significant correlations between thermodynamic values and N(Cl), while the reported N(Cl)-dependent pollution profile of C10-SCCPs in environmental samples was basically consistent with the predicted order of formation stability of C10-SCCP congeners. In addition, isomers with large μ showed higher relative stability than those with small μ. This could be further verified by the relationship between μ and the reactivity of nucleophilic substitution and OH attack respectively. The C10-SCCP congeners with less Cl substitution and lower dispersion degree are susceptible to environmental degradation via nucleophilic substitution and hydroxyl radical attack, while direct photolysis of C10-SCCP congeners cannot readily occur due to the large E(LUMO)-E(HOMO) values. The chlorination effect and the conclusions were further checked with appropriate density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Validation of photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters as biomarkers for isoproturon toxic effect on alga Scenedesmus obliquus.

Science.gov (United States)

Dewez, David; Didur, Olivier; Vincent-Héroux, Jonathan; Popovic, Radovan

2008-01-01

Photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters were investigated to be used as valid biomarkers of toxicity when alga Scenedesmus obliquus was exposed to isoproturon [3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea] effect. Chlorophyll fluorescence induction of algal cells treated with isoproturon showed inactivation of photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers and strong inhibition of PSII electron transport. A linear correlation was found (R2>or=0.861) between the change of cells density affected by isoproturon and the change of effective PSII quantum yield (PhiM'), photochemical quenching (qP) and relative photochemical quenching (qP(rel)) values. The cells density was also linearly dependent (R2=0.838) on the relative unquenched fluorescence parameter (UQF(rel)). Non-linear correlation was found (R2=0.937) only between cells density and the energy transfer efficiency from absorbed light to PSII reaction center (ABS/RC). The order of sensitivity determined by the EC-50% was: UQF(rel)>PhiM'>qP>qP(rel)>ABS/RC. Correlations between cells density and those photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters provide supporting evidence to use them as biomarkers of toxicity for environmental pollutants.

A study of the physical factors affecting air pollution dispersion in Helwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Megahed, A.A.

1992-01-01

Air pollution is considered as one of the most important environmental problems facing the humanity. Cement industry, usually, is responsible for building high levels of pollutants. The present research focused on the study of air pollution control of cement industry using mathematical modeling. A mathematical dispersion model was developed based on Gaussian distribution where the dispersion parameters increase with increasing atmospheric turbulence. The Gaussian equation takes in consideration the effect of emission rates. stack height, buoyant plume rise, weather and meteorological parameters. The model was tested for different stack heights, wind speeds. And atmospheric stability classes. Maximum ground level concentration of cement pollutants were measured in different locations of Helwan, south Cairo around the cement factories. Analysis of results shows that the ground level of pollutants concentrations are inversely proportional to wind speed and atmospheric stability classes. Stack height also affects the behaviour of deposition of cement particulates. The model results show satisfactory agreement with the measured concentrations. 6 figs

Distributed Multi-Sensor Real-Time Building Environmental Parameters Monitoring System with Remote Data Access

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beinarts Ivars

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper the advanced monitoring system of multiple environmental parameters is presented. The purpose of the system is a long-term estimation of energy efficiency and sustainability for the research test stands which are made of different building materials. Construction of test stands, and placement of main sensors are presented in the first chapter. The structure of data acquisition system includes a real-time interface with sensors and a data logger that allows to acquire and log data from all sensors with fixed rate. The data logging system provides a remote access to the processing of the acquired data and carries out periodical saving at a remote FTP server using an Internet connection. The system architecture and the usage of sensors are explained in the second chapter. In the third chapter implementation of the system, different interfaces of sensors and energy measuring devices are discussed and several examples of data logger program are presented. Each data logger is reading data from analog and digital channels. Measurements can be displayed directly on a screen using WEB access or using data from FTP server. Measurements and acquired data graphical results are presented in the fourth chapter in the selected diagrams. The benefits of the developed system are presented in the conclusion.

Sensitivity analysis on parameters and processes affecting vapor intrusion risk

KAUST Repository

Picone, Sara

2012-03-30

A one-dimensional numerical model was developed and used to identify the key processes controlling vapor intrusion risks by means of a sensitivity analysis. The model simulates the fate of a dissolved volatile organic compound present below the ventilated crawl space of a house. In contrast to the vast majority of previous studies, this model accounts for vertical variation of soil water saturation and includes aerobic biodegradation. The attenuation factor (ratio between concentration in the crawl space and source concentration) and the characteristic time to approach maximum concentrations were calculated and compared for a variety of scenarios. These concepts allow an understanding of controlling mechanisms and aid in the identification of critical parameters to be collected for field situations. The relative distance of the source to the nearest gas-filled pores of the unsaturated zone is the most critical parameter because diffusive contaminant transport is significantly slower in water-filled pores than in gas-filled pores. Therefore, attenuation factors decrease and characteristic times increase with increasing relative distance of the contaminant dissolved source to the nearest gas diffusion front. Aerobic biodegradation may decrease the attenuation factor by up to three orders of magnitude. Moreover, the occurrence of water table oscillations is of importance. Dynamic processes leading to a retreating water table increase the attenuation factor by two orders of magnitude because of the enhanced gas phase diffusion. © 2012 SETAC.

Ocean acidification affects parameters of immune response and extracellular pH in tropical sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus and Echinometra luccunter.

Science.gov (United States)

Leite Figueiredo, Débora Alvares; Branco, Paola Cristina; Dos Santos, Douglas Amaral; Emerenciano, Andrews Krupinski; Iunes, Renata Stecca; Shimada Borges, João Carlos; Machado Cunha da Silva, José Roberto

2016-11-01

The rising concentration of atmospheric CO 2 by anthropogenic activities is changing the chemistry of the oceans, resulting in a decreased pH. Several studies have shown that the decrease in pH can affect calcification rates and reproduction of marine invertebrates, but little attention has been drawn to their immune response. Thus this study evaluated in two adult tropical sea urchin species, Lytechinus variegatus and Echinometra lucunter, the effects of ocean acidification over a period of 24h and 5days, on parameters of the immune response, the extracellular acid base balance, and the ability to recover these parameters. For this reason, the phagocytic capacity (PC), the phagocytic index (PI), the capacity of cell adhesion, cell spreading, cell spreading area of phagocytic amebocytes in vitro, and the coelomic fluid pH were analyzed in animals exposed to a pH of 8.0 (control group), 7.6 and 7.3. Experimental pH's were predicted by IPCC for the future of the two species. Furthermore, a recovery test was conducted to verify whether animals have the ability to restore these physiological parameters after being re-exposed to control conditions. Both species presented a significant decrease in PC, in the pH of coelomic fluid and in the cell spreading area. Besides that, Echinometra lucunter showed a significant decrease in cell spreading and significant differences in coelomocyte proportions. The recovery test showed that the PC of both species increased, also being below the control values. Even so, they were still significantly higher than those exposed to acidified seawater, indicating that with the re-establishment of the pH value the phagocytic capacity of cells tends to restore control conditions. These results demonstrate that the immune system and the coelomic fluid pH of these animals can be affected by ocean acidification. However, the effects of a short-term exposure can be reversible if the natural values ​​are re-established. Thus, the effects of

45 CFR 641.16 - Preparation of environmental documents, generally.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... affect climate and weather patterns; (3) May adversely affect air or water quality; (4) May affect... knowledge and expertise. (e) Type of environmental document. The type of environmental document required... bases for much of the year, and the need to obtain items or materials requiring long lead times), it may...

Host and Environmental Factors Affecting the Intestinal Microbiota in Chickens.

Science.gov (United States)

Kers, Jannigje G; Velkers, Francisca C; Fischer, Egil A J; Hermes, Gerben D A; Stegeman, J A; Smidt, Hauke

2018-01-01

The initial development of intestinal microbiota in poultry plays an important role in production performance, overall health and resistance against microbial infections. Multiplexed sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons is often used in studies, such as feed intervention or antimicrobial drug trials, to determine corresponding effects on the composition of intestinal microbiota. However, considerable variation of intestinal microbiota composition has been observed both within and across studies. Such variation may in part be attributed to technical factors, such as sampling procedures, sample storage, DNA extraction, the choice of PCR primers and corresponding region to be sequenced, and the sequencing platforms used. Furthermore, part of this variation in microbiota composition may also be explained by different host characteristics and environmental factors. To facilitate the improvement of design, reproducibility and interpretation of poultry microbiota studies, we have reviewed the literature on confounding factors influencing the observed intestinal microbiota in chickens. First, it has been identified that host-related factors, such as age, sex, and breed, have a large effect on intestinal microbiota. The diversity of chicken intestinal microbiota tends to increase most during the first weeks of life, and corresponding colonization patterns seem to differ between layer- and meat-type chickens. Second, it has been found that environmental factors, such as biosecurity level, housing, litter, feed access and climate also have an effect on the composition of the intestinal microbiota. As microbiota studies have to deal with many of these unknown or hidden host and environmental variables, the choice of study designs can have a great impact on study outcomes and interpretation of the data. Providing details on a broad range of host and environmental factors in articles and sequence data repositories is highly recommended. This creates opportunities to

Host and Environmental Factors Affecting the Intestinal Microbiota in Chickens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jannigje G. Kers

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The initial development of intestinal microbiota in poultry plays an important role in production performance, overall health and resistance against microbial infections. Multiplexed sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons is often used in studies, such as feed intervention or antimicrobial drug trials, to determine corresponding effects on the composition of intestinal microbiota. However, considerable variation of intestinal microbiota composition has been observed both within and across studies. Such variation may in part be attributed to technical factors, such as sampling procedures, sample storage, DNA extraction, the choice of PCR primers and corresponding region to be sequenced, and the sequencing platforms used. Furthermore, part of this variation in microbiota composition may also be explained by different host characteristics and environmental factors. To facilitate the improvement of design, reproducibility and interpretation of poultry microbiota studies, we have reviewed the literature on confounding factors influencing the observed intestinal microbiota in chickens. First, it has been identified that host-related factors, such as age, sex, and breed, have a large effect on intestinal microbiota. The diversity of chicken intestinal microbiota tends to increase most during the first weeks of life, and corresponding colonization patterns seem to differ between layer- and meat-type chickens. Second, it has been found that environmental factors, such as biosecurity level, housing, litter, feed access and climate also have an effect on the composition of the intestinal microbiota. As microbiota studies have to deal with many of these unknown or hidden host and environmental variables, the choice of study designs can have a great impact on study outcomes and interpretation of the data. Providing details on a broad range of host and environmental factors in articles and sequence data repositories is highly recommended. This creates

Environmental surveillance at Hanford for CY-1975 data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, P.J.; Fix, J.J.; Speer, D.R.

1976-04-01

This document contains detailed data collected by the Hanford Environmental Surveillance program during 1975. Environmental Surveillance responsibilities at Hanford are divided between Hanford Environmental Health Foundation (HEHF) and Battelle-Northwest (BNW). HEHF is responsible for measuring all nonradiological air quality and sanitary water parameters of interest. BNW is responsible for measuring radiological parameters in all environmental media of significance and for measuring both radiological and nonradiological parameters of Columbia River water and ground water. A brief description of the method and location of sample collection during 1975 is included. Data are tabulated on the content of specific radionuclides in surface air. Columbia River water, drinking water, ground water, foods, fish, and wild animals. Data are also included on content of NO 2 and SO 2 in air, nitrates in Columbia River water, ground water, and drinking water, and water quality of samples of Columbia River water collected at various sampling locations

Deviations of Lambert-Beer???s law affect corneal refractive parameters after refractive surgery

OpenAIRE

Jim??nez Cuesta, Jos?? Ram??n; Rodr??guez-Mar??n, Francisco; Gonz??lez Anera, Rosario; Jim??nez del Barco Jaldo, Luis Miguel

2006-01-01

We calculate whether deviations of Lambert-Beer???s law, which regulates depth ablation during corneal ablation, significantly influence corneal refractive parameters after refractive surgery and whether they influence visual performance. For this, we compute a point-to-point correction on the cornea while assuming a non-linear (including a quadratic term) fit for depth ablation. Post-surgical equations for refractive parameters using a non-linear fit show significant differences with respect...

studies on the correlation of some aggregate parameters in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

BARTH EKWUEME

simulations for problem solving and forecasting environmental conditions .... METHODS. Parameters: The water quality parameters examined were, Turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS),. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), 5-day Biochemical. Oxygen Demand ..... Vogel's Textbook of Quantitative. Chemical Analysis 6th ed ...

Sea surface stability parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, A.H.; Suich, J.E.

1978-01-01

A number of studies dealing with climatology of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean have been published in the last ten years. These published studies have dealt with directly measured meteorological parameters, e.g., wind speed, temperature, etc. This information has been useful because of the increased focus on the near coastal zone where man's activities are increasing in magnitude and scope, e.g., offshore power plants, petroleum production, and the subsequent environmental impacts of these activities. Atmospheric transport of passive or nonpassive material is significantly influenced by the turbulence structure of the atmosphere in the region of the atmosphere-ocean interface. This research entails identification of the suitability of standard atmospheric stability parameters which can be used to determine turbulence structure; the calculation of these parameters for the near-shore and continental shelf regions of the U.S. east coast from Cape Hatteras to Miami, Florida; and the preparation of a climatology of these parameters. In addition, a climatology for average surface stress for the same geographical region is being prepared

Company environmental communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andriola, L.; Luciani, R.; Borghini, S.

2001-01-01

Environmental communication is becoming a sine qua non for companies which are more and more pressed by the need to reinforce communication with interested parties: environmental groups, local communities, local and national authorities, employees, share-holders, banks, insurance companies, customers and consumers. Reliable environmental information, just like economical and property data, is now required during both company take-over and financing, and in some cases it can affect insurance premiums. In fact, environmental guarantees are more and more often required because breaching environmental regulations can entail legal sanctions going as far as suspension of business. There now also Green investment funds that engage their resources only against specific environmental guarantees on the part of the companies that, before being selected for the investment, are submitted to rather accurate questionnaires by the investment manager [it

Indirect environmental effects of nuclear war affecting health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leaf, A.

1984-01-01

The indirect effects of a nuclear war that will affect the health of survivors are considered to include consequences to: (a) the economies of nations, (b) food and nutrition, (c) water supplies, (d) the climate and the ecosphere, and (e) sanitation and public health; and they include long-term radiation effects

Influence of environmental parameters and of their interactions on the release of metal(loid)s from a construction material in hydraulic engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmukat, A.; Duester, L.; Goryunova, E.; Ecker, D.; Heininger, P.; Ternes, T.A.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • DoE supported multi-factorial study on the metal(loid) release from copper slag. • Interactions of four parameters were studied and weighted. • An effective separation method between slag and sediment was established. • The metal(loid) partitioning between sediment, slag and eluent is described. • The knowledge on the potential environmental impact of copper slag is increased. - Abstract: Besides the leaching behaviour of a construction material under standardised test-specific conditions with laboratory water, for some construction materials it is advisable to test their environmental behaviour also under close to end use conditions. The envisaged end use combined with the product characteristics (e.g. mineral phases) is decisive for the choice of environmental factors that may change the release of substance that potentially cause adverse environmental effects (e.g. fertilisation or ecotoxicity). At the moment an experimental link is missing between mono-factorial standardised test systems and non standardised complex incubation experiments such as mesocosms which are closer to environmental conditions. Multi-factorial batch experiments may have the potential to close the gap. To verify this, batch experiments with copper slag were performed which is used as armour stones in hydraulic engineering. Design of experiments (DoE) was applied to evaluate the impact of pH, ionic strength, temperature and sediment content on the release of As, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb and Zn. The study shows that release and sediment-eluent partitioning of metal(loid)s are impacted by interactions between the studied factors. Under the prevalent test conditions sediment acts as a sink enhancing most strongly the release of elements from the material.

Influence of environmental parameters and of their interactions on the release of metal(loid)s from a construction material in hydraulic engineering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmukat, A., E-mail: schmukat@harzwasserwerke.de [Harzwasserwerke GmbH, Zur Granetalsperre 8, 38685 Langelsheim (Germany); Federal Institute of Hydrology, Department of Aquatic Chemistry, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz (Germany); Duester, L. [Federal Institute of Hydrology, Department of Aquatic Chemistry, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz (Germany); Goryunova, E. [Federal Institute of Hydrology, Department of Aquatic Chemistry, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz (Germany); KAPP-Chemie GmbH & Co. KG, Industriestr. 2-4, 56357 Miehlen (Germany); Ecker, D.; Heininger, P.; Ternes, T.A. [Federal Institute of Hydrology, Department of Aquatic Chemistry, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz (Germany)

2016-03-05

Highlights: • DoE supported multi-factorial study on the metal(loid) release from copper slag. • Interactions of four parameters were studied and weighted. • An effective separation method between slag and sediment was established. • The metal(loid) partitioning between sediment, slag and eluent is described. • The knowledge on the potential environmental impact of copper slag is increased. - Abstract: Besides the leaching behaviour of a construction material under standardised test-specific conditions with laboratory water, for some construction materials it is advisable to test their environmental behaviour also under close to end use conditions. The envisaged end use combined with the product characteristics (e.g. mineral phases) is decisive for the choice of environmental factors that may change the release of substance that potentially cause adverse environmental effects (e.g. fertilisation or ecotoxicity). At the moment an experimental link is missing between mono-factorial standardised test systems and non standardised complex incubation experiments such as mesocosms which are closer to environmental conditions. Multi-factorial batch experiments may have the potential to close the gap. To verify this, batch experiments with copper slag were performed which is used as armour stones in hydraulic engineering. Design of experiments (DoE) was applied to evaluate the impact of pH, ionic strength, temperature and sediment content on the release of As, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb and Zn. The study shows that release and sediment-eluent partitioning of metal(loid)s are impacted by interactions between the studied factors. Under the prevalent test conditions sediment acts as a sink enhancing most strongly the release of elements from the material.

Aquatic hyphomycetes as environmental quality bioindicators in the Chirgua River (Bejuma, Venezuela

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Fernández

2017-01-01

Full Text Available At present, the evaluation of water resources uses bioindicators, such as additional diagnostic systems, because they indicate anthropogenic disturbances. Aquatic hyphomycetes,  part of the trophic chain of aquatic ecosystems, are indicators of water quality through their varying  presence and concentration of conidia based on environmental disturbance; therefore, this research assessed their bioindicator role for environmental quality in the Chirgua River in Venezuela. In 2011 in two areas: 1 Headwaters (unaffected and 2 downstream area (affected, physico-chemical parameters (O2, conductivity, pH, temperature and total solids and nutrients were determined weekly (SO4-2, PO4-3, NO2-2 and NO3-3, along with coliforms (total and fecal and water hyphomycetes (number of species and conidia/mL. We identified a total of 44 species, 42 (20 exclusive in zone 1 and 24 (2 exclusive in zone 2. In the affected sector, the number of species and conidia/mL of the coliforms (total and fecal decreased, as compared to the unaffected zone. Sensitive species to environmental disturbance for coliforms included Brachiosphaera tropicalis, Camposporium antenatum, Campylospora filicladia, Campylospora parvula, Clavatospora tentacula, Clavatospora stellata, Culicidospora gravida, Diplocladiella scalaroides, Flabellospora acuminata, Helicomyces colligatus, Helicomyces sp., Helicomyces torquatus, Phalangispora constricta, Tetracladium marchalianum and Triscelophorus monosporus, while tolerant species included Alatospora acuminata, Campylospora chaetocladia, Flabellospora crassa, Isthmotricladia gombakiensis, Tetraploa cf. Aristata and Triscelophorus acuminatus.

Shifts of community composition and population density substantially affect ecosystem function despite invariant richness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spaak, Jurg W.; Baert, Jan M.; Baird, Donald J.; Eisenhauer, Nico; Maltby, Lorraine; Pomati, Francesco; Radchuk, Viktoriia; Rohr, Jason R.; Brink, van den Paul J.; Laender, De Frederik

2017-01-01

There has been considerable focus on the impacts of environmental change on ecosystem function arising from changes in species richness. However, environmental change may affect ecosystem function without affecting richness, most notably by affecting population densities and community

Influence of environmental parameters on production of the acrolein precursor 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde by Lactobacillus reuteri DSMZ 20016 and its accumulation by wine lactobacilli.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Rolene; du Toit, Maret; Kossmann, Jens

2010-01-31

Lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Lactobacillus are known to convert glycerol into 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) during anaerobic glycerol fermentation. Wine quality can be gravely compromised by the accumulation of 3-HPA, due to its spontaneous conversion to acrolein under wine making conditions. Acrolein is not only a dangerous substance for the living cell, but has been implicated in the development of unpleasant bitterness in beverages. This study evaluates the effect of individual environmental parameters on 3-HPA production by Lactobacillus reuteri DSMZ 20016, which only proved possible under conditions that allow accumulation well below the threshold concentration affecting cell viability. 3-HPA production was optimal at pH 6 and in the presence of 300 mM glycerol. Production increased with an increase in cell concentration up to an OD(600) of 50, whereas higher cell concentrations inhibited accumulation. Data presented in this study suggest that 3-HPA plays a role in regulating its own production through quorum sensing. Glycerol dehydratase possessing bacterial strains isolated from South African red wine, L. pentosus and L. brevis, tested positive for 3-HPA accumulation. 3-HPA is normally intracellularly reduced to 1,3-propanediol. This is the first study demonstrating the ability of wine lactobacilli to accumulate 3-HPA in the fermentation media. Recommendations are made on preventing the formation of acrolein and its precursor 3-HPA in wine. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing uncertainty and sensitivity of model parameterizations and parameters in WRF affecting simulated surface fluxes and land-atmosphere coupling over the Amazon region

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Y.; Wang, C.; Huang, M.; Berg, L. K.; Duan, Q.; Feng, Z.; Shrivastava, M. B.; Shin, H. H.; Hong, S. Y.

2016-12-01

This study aims to quantify the relative importance and uncertainties of different physical processes and parameters in affecting simulated surface fluxes and land-atmosphere coupling strength over the Amazon region. We used two-legged coupling metrics, which include both terrestrial (soil moisture to surface fluxes) and atmospheric (surface fluxes to atmospheric state or precipitation) legs, to diagnose the land-atmosphere interaction and coupling strength. Observations made using the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility during the GoAmazon field campaign together with satellite and reanalysis data are used to evaluate model performance. To quantify the uncertainty in physical parameterizations, we performed a 120 member ensemble of simulations with the WRF model using a stratified experimental design including 6 cloud microphysics, 3 convection, 6 PBL and surface layer, and 3 land surface schemes. A multiple-way analysis of variance approach is used to quantitatively analyze the inter- and intra-group (scheme) means and variances. To quantify parameter sensitivity, we conducted an additional 256 WRF simulations in which an efficient sampling algorithm is used to explore the multiple-dimensional parameter space. Three uncertainty quantification approaches are applied for sensitivity analysis (SA) of multiple variables of interest to 20 selected parameters in YSU PBL and MM5 surface layer schemes. Results show consistent parameter sensitivity across different SA methods. We found that 5 out of 20 parameters contribute more than 90% total variance, and first-order effects dominate comparing to the interaction effects. Results of this uncertainty quantification study serve as guidance for better understanding the roles of different physical processes in land-atmosphere interactions, quantifying model uncertainties from various sources such as physical processes, parameters and structural errors, and providing insights for

Environmental Health

Science.gov (United States)

Our environment affects our health. If parts of the environment, like the air, water, or soil become polluted, it ... in the home can trigger asthma attacks. Some environmental risks are a part of the natural world, ...

Initial Northwest Power Act Power Sales Contracts : Final Environmental Impact Statement. Volume 1, Environmental Analysis.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1992-01-01

This is volume 1 of the final environmental impact statement of the Bonneville Power Administration Information is included on the following: Purpose of and need for action; alternatives including the proposed action; affected environment; and environmental consequences.

Generic models and parameters for assessing the environmental transfer of radionuclides from routine releases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-01-01

This report is addressed to national regulatory bodies and technical and administrative personnel responsible for performing environmental impact analyses, in particular for generic assessments of doses to most exposed individuals from routine releases of radioactive effluents to atmospheric and aquatic environments. The concern of society in general for the quality of the environment and the realization that all human activities have some environmental effect, in which actions and reactions are coupled in a complex but predictable manner, have led to the development of a procedure for environmental impact analysis. This procedure is a predictive one, which tries to forecast probable environmental effects before some action, such as the construction and operation of a nuclear power station, is decided upon. The method of prediction is by the application of models that attempt to describe the environmental processes in mathematical terms in order to produce a quantitative result which can be used in the decision-making process

Identifiability of parameters and behaviour of the MCMC chains: a case study using the reaction norm model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shariati, M M; Korsgaard, I R; Sorensen, D

2009-01-01

model with unknown covariates (RNUC) is a model in which unknown environmental effects can be inferred jointly with the remaining parameters. The problem of identifiability of parameters at the level of the likelihood and the associated behaviour of MCMC chains were discussed using the RNUC...... as fixed and there are other fixed factors in the model, the contrasts involving environmental effects, the variance of environmental sensitivities (genetic slopes) and the residual variance are the only identifiable parameters. These different identifiability scenarios were generated by changing...... as an example. It was shown theoretically that when environmental effects (covariates) are considered as random effects, estimable functions of the fixed effects, (co)variance components and genetic effects are identifiable as well as the environmental effects. When the environmental effects are treated...

Environmental Factors Affecting the Strength Characteristics of Modified Resin Mortars

Science.gov (United States)

Debska, Bernardeta; Licholai, Lech

2017-12-01

Resin concretes are composites in which a cement binder has been completely replaced by a synthetic resin. These materials are a good choice for the construction industry, especially in solutions requiring high strength, fast curing and durability. Polymer mortars are mainly used for the manufacture of industrial floors and prefabricated products such as tanks for aggressive chemicals, sewage pipes, or road and bridge drainage systems, as well as for the repair of damaged concrete structures. In all these applications, the strength and high chemical resistance of the applied material solutions are of key importance. It is particularly crucial to obtain information on how resin composites behave when exposed to aggressive agents over extended periods of time. It is also very important to use waste materials in order to obtain resin composites, as these activities are very well inscribed in the idea of environmental protection and meet the criteria of sustainable construction. The mortars described in this article meet the above principles. The article presents how the compressive strength of glycolyzate-modified epoxy mortars, obtained with the use of poly(ethylene terephthalate), changes after they are immersed in 10% sodium chloride solution. Sodium chloride solution was chosen due to the prospective applicability of the tested composites as repair materials used for e.g. bridges or overpasses that are exposed to this salt solution in wintertime. Changes in the properties of the composite samples were monitored over the period of one year. Statistical analysis of the test results was carried out with the use of Statistica programme. The module available in the mentioned program called Nonparametric Statistics - Comparing multiple independent samples made it possible to check the monitoring times during which the compressive strength values differed significantly. The obtained results allowed for determining the equation of the function approximating the course of

Environmental assessment for the Processing and Environmental Technology Laboratory (PETL)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) on the proposed Processing and Environmental Technology Laboratory (PETC) at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (SNL/NM). This facility is needed to integrate, consolidate, and enhance the materials science and materials process research and development (R ampersand D) currently in progress at SNL/NM. Based on the analyses in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required, and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)

Environmental assessment for the Processing and Environmental Technology Laboratory (PETL)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) on the proposed Processing and Environmental Technology Laboratory (PETC) at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (SNL/NM). This facility is needed to integrate, consolidate, and enhance the materials science and materials process research and development (R&D) currently in progress at SNL/NM. Based on the analyses in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required, and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Pannell, David J; Gibson, Fiona L

2016-04-01

Conservation decision makers commonly use project-scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high--up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted-additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real-world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30-50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

The environmental footprint of a membrane bioreactor treatment process through Life Cycle Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ioannou-Ttofa, L.; Foteinis, S.; Chatzisymeon, E.; Fatta-Kassinos, D.

2016-01-01

This study includes an environmental analysis of a membrane bioreactor (MBR), the objective being to quantitatively define the inventory of the resources consumed and estimate the emissions produced during its construction, operation and end-of-life deconstruction. The environmental analysis was done by the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, in order to establish with a broad perspective and in a rigorous and objective way the environmental footprint and the main environmental hotspots of the examined technology. Raw materials, equipment, transportation, energy use, as well as air- and waterborne emissions were quantified using as a functional unit, 1 m"3 of urban wastewater. SimaPro 8.0.3.14 was used as the LCA analysis tool, and two impact assessment methods, i.e. IPCC 2013 version 1.00 and ReCiPe version 1.10, were employed. The main environmental hotspots of the MBR pilot unit were identified to be the following: (i) the energy demand, which is by far the most crucial parameter that affects the sustainability of the whole process, and (ii) the material of the membrane units. Overall, the MBR technology was found to be a sustainable solution for urban wastewater treatment, with the construction phase having a minimal environmental impact, compared to the operational phase. Moreover, several alternative scenarios and areas of potential improvement, such as the diversification of the electricity mix and the material of the membrane units, were examined, in order to minimize as much as possible the overall environmental footprint of this MBR system. It was shown that the energy mix can significantly affect the overall sustainability of the MBR pilot unit (i.e. up to 95% reduction of the total greenhouse gas emissions was achieved with the use of an environmentally friendly energy mix), and the contribution of the construction and operational phase to the overall environmental footprint of the system. - Highlights: • The environmental sustainability of an

Grazing intensity affects the environmental impact of dairy systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguirre-Villegas, H A; Passos-Fonseca, T H; Reinemann, D J; Larson, R

2017-08-01

Dairy products are major components of the human diet but are also important contributors to global environmental impacts. This study evaluated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, net energy intensity (NEI), and land use of confined dairy systems with increasing levels of pasture in the diet. A Wisconsin farm was modeled to represent practices adopted by dairy operations in a humid continental climate typical in the Great Lakes region and other climates that have large differences in seasonal temperatures. Five grazing scenarios (all of which contained some portion of confinement) were modeled based on different concentrations of dry matter intake from pasture and feed supplementation from corn grain, corn silage, and soybean meal. Scenarios that incorporate grazing consisted of 5 mo of pasture feeding from May to September and 7 mo of confined feeding from October to April. Environmental impacts were compared within the 5 scenarios that incorporate grazing and across 2 entirely confined scenarios with and without on-farm electricity production through anaerobic digestion (AD). To conduct a fair comparison, all scenarios were evaluated based on the same total amount of milk produced per day where resource inputs were adjusted according to the characteristics of each scenario. A cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment evaluated the environmental burdens that were partitioned by allocation between milk and meat and by system expansion when biogas-based electricity was produced. Overall, results for all scenarios were comparable. Enteric methane was the greatest contributor to GHG emissions, and the production of crops was the most energy-intense process. For the confined scenario without AD, GHG emissions were 0.87 kg of CO 2 equivalents, NEI was 1.59 MJ, and land use was 1.59 m 2 /kg of fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM). Anaerobic digestion significantly reduced emissions to 0.28 kg of CO 2 equivalents/kg of FPCM and reduced NEI to -1.26 MJ/kg of FPCM, indicating

STAND STRUCTURE OF Pinus hartwegii AFFECTED BY FIRE USING NEIGHBOURHOOD PARAMETERS IN THE SIERRA MADRE ORIENTAL, MEXICO.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Yemilet Avila Flores

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research was to characterize the pattern of spatial structure of a Pinus hartwegii forest in the Sierra Madre Oriental, affected by a fire in 1998. Sampling was stratified by fire severity. Three fire severity classes were defined based on the degree of crown consumption (low, medium and high. Three sample plots of 40m x 40m were established for each severity. The variables obtained for all trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH ≥ 5 cm in each plot were: DBH to 1.30 m (cm, height (m, spatial location by recording the azimuth (° and distance (m from center of the plot to each tree. To describe the stand structure three groups of indices were employed: “contagion” and “distances” (Wi and Di, “dominance” (Ui, and “size differentiation” (TDi and THi for DBH and height respectively. An analysis of variance was performed to detect differences between dasometrics parameters by fire severity. Statistical analysis shows significant differences (p>0.001 in the parameters such as basal area, diameter, and height, along the low, medium, and high fire severities. The characterization of the Pinus hartwegii spatial structure suggests that, with increasing degree of fire severity, the stands showed an increase on the aggregation index, however, the dimensional differentiation and dominance indices decreases as the fire severity increases.

Design parameters and source terms: Volume 3, Source terms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-10-01

The Design Parameters and Source Terms Document was prepared in accordance with DOE request and to provide data for the environmental impact study to be performed in the future for the Deaf Smith County, Texas site for a nuclear waste repository in salt. This document updates a previous unpublished report by Stearns Catalytic Corporation (SCC), entitled ''Design Parameters and Source Terms for a Two-Phase Repository in Salt,'' 1985, to the level of the Site Characterization Plan - Conceptual Design Report. The previous unpublished SCC Study identifies the data needs for the Environmental Assessment effort for seven possible Salt Repository sites. 11 refs., 9 tabs

Environmental parameters influence on the dynamics of total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus densities in Crassostrea virginica harvested from Mexico's Gulf coast.

Science.gov (United States)

López-Hernández, Karla M; Pardío-Sedas, Violeta T; Lizárraga-Partida, Leonardo; Williams, José de J; Martínez-Herrera, David; Flores-Primo, Argel; Uscanga-Serrano, Roxana; Rendón-Castro, Karla

2015-02-15

The influence of environmental parameters on the total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus seasonal densities in American oysters (Crassostrea virginica) was evaluated for 1 year. Harvesting site A yielded the highest mean densities of V. parahaemolyticus tlh+, tdh+/trh-, tdh-/trh+ and tdh+/trh+ during spring season at 2.57, 1.74, 0.36, and -0.40 log10 MPN/g, respectively, and tdh+/orf8+ during winter season (0.90 log10 MPN/g). V. parahaemolyticus tlh+ densities were associated to salinity (R(2)=0.372, Pturbidity (R(2)=0.597, P<0.035), and orf8+ to temperature, salinity, and pH (R(2)=0.964, P<0.001). The exposure to salinity and temperature conditions during winter and spring seasons regulated the dynamics of V. parahaemolyticus harboring potentially pathogenic genotypes within the oyster. The adaptive response of V. parahaemolyticus to seasonal environmental changes may lead to an increase in survival and virulence, threatening the seafood safety and increasing the risk of illness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Impacts of a Multi-Borehole Geothermal System: Model Sensitivity Study

Science.gov (United States)

Krol, M.; Daemi, N.

2017-12-01

Problems associated with fossil fuel consumption has increased worldwide interest in discovering and developing sustainable energy systems. One such system is geothermal heating, which uses the constant temperature of the ground to heat or cool buildings. Since geothermal heating offers low maintenance, high heating/cooling comfort, and a low carbon footprint, compared to conventional systems, there has been an increasing trend in equipping large buildings with geothermal heating. However, little is known on the potential environmental impact geothermal heating can have on the subsurface, such as the creation of subsurface thermal plumes or changes in groundwater flow dynamics. In the present study, the environmental impacts of a closed-loop, ground source heat pump (GSHP) system was examined with respect to different system parameters. To do this a three-dimensional model, developed using FEFLOW, was used to examine the thermal plumes resulting from ten years of operation of a vertical closed-loop GSHP system with multiple boreholes. A required thermal load typical of an office building located in Canada was calculated and groundwater flow and heat transport in the geological formation was simulated. Consequently, the resulting thermal plumes were studied and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of different parameters like groundwater flow and soil type on the development and movement of thermal plumes. Since thermal plumes can affect the efficiency of a GSHP system, this study provides insight into important system parameters.

Acute exposure to the biopesticide azadirachtin affects parameters in the gills of common carp (Cyprinus carpio).

Science.gov (United States)

Murussi, Camila R; Costa, Maiara D; Leitemperger, Jossiele W; Flores-Lopes, Fábio; Menezes, Charlene C; Loebens, Luisa; de Avila, Luis Antonio; Rizzetti, Tiele M; Adaime, Martha B; Zanella, Renato; Loro, Vania L

2016-02-01

The biopesticide, azadirachtin (Aza) is less hazardous to the environment, but may cause several toxic effects in aquatic organisms. The Cyprinus carpio (n=12, for all concentrations) after 10days of acclimation under controlled conditions, were exposed at 20, 40, and 60μL/L of Aza during 96h. After this period, fish were anesthetized and euthanized then mucus layer and gills collected. In this study, the effects of exposure to different Aza concentrations were analysed through a set of biomarkers: Na(+)/K(+-)ATPase, lipid peroxidation (TBARS), protein carbonyl (PC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), non-protein thiols (NPSH), ascorbic acid (AsA) and histological parameters and, yet, protein and glucose concentration in the surface area of mucous layer. Na(+)K(+-)ATPase was inhibited at 40 and 60μL/L compared to control. TBARS decreased at 40μL/L compared to control. PC, SOD and GST increased at 60μL/L in comparison to control. CAT increased at 20 and 60μL/L, and GPx increased in all Aza concentrations compared to control. NPSH decreased and AsA increased in all concentrations in comparison to control. Histological analyses demonstrated an increase in the intensity of the damage with increasing Aza concentration. Alterations in histological examination were elevation and hypertrophy of the epithelial cells of the secondary filament, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the mucous and chlorate cells and lamellar aneurism. Glucose and protein concentrations in mucus layer increased at 60μL/L compared to control. In general, we suggest that 60μL/L Aza concentration affected several parameters causing disruptions carp metabolism. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Stieger, Stefan; Kandler, Christian; Tran, Ulrich S; Pietschnig, Jakob; Voracek, Martin

2017-03-01

In today's world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate issue concerns the origin of these implicit evaluations. The present genetically sensitive multi-group study analyzed data from 223 twin pairs and 222 biological core families to estimate possible genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and affect. The results show that implicit self-esteem and affect maintain a substantial genetic basis, but demonstrate little influence from the shared environment by siblings (e.g., shared familial socialization in childhood). A bivariate analysis found that implicit and explicit evaluations of the same construct share a common genetic core which aligns with the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model.

Graphical Methodology of Global Pollution Index for the Environmental Impact Assessment Using Two Environmental Components

OpenAIRE

Corneliu Cojocaru; Diana Mariana Cocârţă; Irina Aura Istrate; Igor Creţescu

2017-01-01

One of the applied methods for environmental impact assessment is the index of global pollution (IGP) proposed by Rojanschi in 1991. This methodology enables the global estimation for the ecosystem state affected more or less by human activities. Unfortunately, Rojanschi’s method has a limitation; it can be applied only if at least three environmental components are considered. Frequently, many environmental impact assessment applications rely on analysis of only two environmental components....

Environmental conditions regulate the impact of plants on cloud formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, D F; Buchholz, A; Tillmann, R; Kleist, E; Wu, C; Rubach, F; Kiendler-Scharr, A; Rudich, Y; Wildt, J; Mentel, Th F

2017-02-20

The terrestrial vegetation emits large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOC) into the atmosphere, which on oxidation produce secondary organic aerosol (SOA). By acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), SOA influences cloud formation and climate. In a warming climate, changes in environmental factors can cause stresses to plants, inducing changes of the emitted VOC. These can modify particle size and composition. Here we report how induced emissions eventually affect CCN activity of SOA, a key parameter in cloud formation. For boreal forest tree species, insect infestation by aphids causes additional VOC emissions which modifies SOA composition thus hygroscopicity and CCN activity. Moderate heat increases the total amount of constitutive VOC, which has a minor effect on hygroscopicity, but affects CCN activity by increasing the particles' size. The coupling of plant stresses, VOC composition and CCN activity points to an important impact of induced plant emissions on cloud formation and climate.

Parameters that affect parallel processing for computational electromagnetic simulation codes on high performance computing clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Hongsik

changing computer hardware platforms in order to provide fast, accurate and efficient solutions to large, complex electromagnetic problems. The research in this dissertation proves that the performance of parallel code is intimately related to the configuration of the computer hardware and can be maximized for different hardware platforms. To benchmark and optimize the performance of parallel CEM software, a variety of large, complex projects are created and executed on a variety of computer platforms. The computer platforms used in this research are detailed in this dissertation. The projects run as benchmarks are also described in detail and results are presented. The parameters that affect parallel CEM software on High Performance Computing Clusters (HPCC) are investigated. This research demonstrates methods to maximize the performance of parallel CEM software code.

Does foreign direct investment affect environmental pollution in China's cities? A spatial econometric perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qianqian; Wang, Shaojian; Zhang, Wenzhong; Zhan, Dongsheng; Li, Jiaming

2018-02-01

Environmental pollution has aroused extensive concern worldwide. Existing literature on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and environmental pollution has, however, seldom taken into account spatial effects. Addressing this gap, this paper investigated the spatial agglomeration effects and dynamics at work in FDI and environmental pollution (namely, in waste soot and dust, sulfur dioxide, and wastewater) in 285 Chinese cities during the period 2003-2014, using global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation. Our results showed significant spatial autocorrelation in FDI and environmental pollution levels, both of which demonstrated obvious path dependence characteristics in their geographical distribution. A range of agglomeration regions were observed. The high-value and low-value agglomeration areas of FDI were not fully consistent with those of environmental pollution. This result indicates that higher inflows of FDI did not necessarily lead to greater environmental pollution from a geographic perspective, and vice versa. Spatial panel data models were further adopted to explore the impact of FDI on environmental pollution. The results of a spatial lag model (SLM) and a spatial error model (SEM) revealed that the inflow of FDI had distinct effects on different environmental pollutants, thereby confirming the Pollution Heaven Hypothesis and Pollution Halo Hypothesis. The inflow of FDI was found to have reduced waste soot and dust pollution to a certain extent, while it increased the degree of wastewater and sulfur dioxide pollution. The findings set out in this paper hold significant implications for Chinese environmental pollution protection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the Environmental Factors Affecting the Structural and Cytotoxic Properties of IAPP Peptides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marianna Flora Tomasello

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Pancreatic islets in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM patients are characterized by reduced β-cells mass and diffuse extracellular amyloidosis. Amyloid deposition involves the islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP, a neuropancreatic hormone cosecreted with insulin by β-cells. IAPP is physiologically involved in glucose homeostasis, but it may turn toxic to β-cells owing to its tendency to misfold giving rise to oligomers and fibrils. The process by which the unfolded IAPP starts to self-assemble and the overall factors promoting this conversion are poorly understood. Other open questions are related to the nature of the IAPP toxic species and how exactly β-cells die. Over the last decades, there has been growing consensus about the notion that early molecular assemblies, notably small hIAPP oligomers, are the culprit of β-cells decline. Numerous environmental factors might affect the conformational, aggregation, and cytotoxic properties of IAPP. Herein we review recent progress in the field, focusing on the influences that membranes, pH, and metal ions may have on the conformational conversion and cytotoxicity of full-length IAPP as well as peptide fragments thereof. Current theories proposed for the mechanisms of toxicity will be also summarized together with an outline of the underlying molecular links between IAPP and amyloid beta (Aβ misfolding.

Environmental factors affecting large-bodied coral reef fish assemblages in the Mariana Archipelago.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin L Richards

Full Text Available Large-bodied reef fishes represent an economically and ecologically important segment of the coral reef fish assemblage. Many of these individuals supply the bulk of the reproductive output for their population and have a disproportionate effect on their environment (e.g. as apex predators or bioeroding herbivores. Large-bodied reef fishes also tend to be at greatest risk of overfishing, and their loss can result in a myriad of either cascading (direct or indirect trophic and other effects. While many studies have investigated habitat characteristics affecting populations of small-bodied reef fishes, few have explored the relationship between large-bodied species and their environment. Here, we describe the distribution of the large-bodied reef fishes in the Mariana Archipelago with an emphasis on the environmental factors associated with their distribution. Of the factors considered in this study, a negative association with human population density showed the highest relative influence on the distribution of large-bodied reef fishes; however, depth, water temperature, and distance to deep water also were important. These findings provide new information on the ecology of large-bodied reef fishes can inform discussions concerning essential fish habitat and ecosystem-based management for these species and highlight important knowledge gaps worthy of additional research.

Environmentally associated spatial changes of a macrozoobenthic community in the Saemangeum tidal flat, Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Ryu, Jongseong; Khim, Jong Seong; Choi, Jin-Woo; Shin, Hyun Chool; An, Soonmo; Park, Jinsoon; Kang, Daeseok; Lee, Chang-Hee; Koh, Chul-Hwan

2011-05-01

Estuarine tidal flats are both ecologically and economically important, hence developing methods to reliably measure ecosystem health is essential. Because benthic fauna play a central role in the food web of tidal flats, in this study we set out to quantitatively describe the intertidal zonation of macro-invertebrates and their associations with specific environmental parameters along three transects in the Saemangeum tidal flat, Korea. The abundance and biomass of intertidal fauna with respect to five environmental parameters (i.e., shore level, mud content, coarse sand content, water content, and organic content) were measured, to identify environmental factors that influence macrofaunal distribution in intertidal soft bottom habitats. A total of 75 species were identified, with dominant species showing distinct zones of distribution along all transects. The number of species recorded in each transect was found to be dependent on sediment characteristics and salinity. Cluster analysis classified the entire study area into three faunal assemblages (i.e., location groups), which were delineated by characteristic species, including (A) ' Periserrula-Macrophthalmus', (B) ' Umbonium-Meretrix', and (C) ' Prionospio-Potamocorbula'. Four environmental variables (i.e., shore level, water content, mud content, and organic content) appeared to determine factors that distinguished the three faunal assemblages, based on the discriminant analysis. The faunal assemblage types of the sampled locations were accurately predicted from environmental variables in two discriminant functions, with a prediction accuracy of 98%. It should be noted that the zonation of benthos in the lower section (C) of Sandong had been affected by the construction of a nearby dike, while this parameter had remained essentially unchanged at the other two location groups (A-B). Overall, the zonation of benthos from the Saemangeum tidal flat was explained adequately by the measured environmental variables

The application of predictive modelling for determining bio-environmental factors affecting the distribution of blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Gilgel Gibe watershed in Southwest Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambelu, Argaw; Mekonen, Seblework; Koch, Magaly; Addis, Taffere; Boets, Pieter; Everaert, Gert; Goethals, Peter

2014-01-01

Blackflies are important macroinvertebrate groups from a public health as well as ecological point of view. Determining the biological and environmental factors favouring or inhibiting the existence of blackflies could facilitate biomonitoring of rivers as well as control of disease vectors. The combined use of different predictive modelling techniques is known to improve identification of presence/absence and abundance of taxa in a given habitat. This approach enables better identification of the suitable habitat conditions or environmental constraints of a given taxon. Simuliidae larvae are important biological indicators as they are abundant in tropical aquatic ecosystems. Some of the blackfly groups are also important disease vectors in poor tropical countries. Our investigations aim to establish a combination of models able to identify the environmental factors and macroinvertebrate organisms that are favourable or inhibiting blackfly larvae existence in aquatic ecosystems. The models developed using macroinvertebrate predictors showed better performance than those based on environmental predictors. The identified environmental and macroinvertebrate parameters can be used to determine the distribution of blackflies, which in turn can help control river blindness in endemic tropical places. Through a combination of modelling techniques, a reliable method has been developed that explains environmental and biological relationships with the target organism, and, thus, can serve as a decision support tool for ecological management strategies.

Environmental impact assessment of coal power plants in operation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartan Ayfer

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Coal power plants constitute an important component of the energy mix in many countries. However, coal power plants can cause several environmental risks such as: climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, a tool has been proposed to calculate the environmental impact of a coal-fired thermal power plant in operation by using multi-criteria scoring and fuzzy logic method. We take into account the following environmental parameters in our tool: CO, SO2, NOx, particulate matter, fly ash, bottom ash, the cooling water intake impact on aquatic biota, and the thermal pollution. In the proposed tool, the boundaries of the fuzzy logic membership functions were established taking into account the threshold values of the environmental parameters which were defined in the environmental legislation. Scoring of these environmental parameters were done with the statistical analysis of the environmental monitoring data of the power plant and by using the documented evidences that were obtained during the site visits. The proposed method estimates each environmental impact factor level separately and then aggregates them by calculating the Environmental Impact Score (EIS. The proposed method uses environmental monitoring data and documented evidence instead of using simulation models. The proposed method has been applied to the 4 coal-fired power plants that have been operation in Turkey. The Environmental Impact Score was obtained for each power plant and their environmental performances were compared. It is expected that those environmental impact assessments will contribute to the decision-making process for environmental investments to those plants. The main advantage of the proposed method is its flexibility and ease of use.

Environmental impact assessment of coal power plants in operation

Science.gov (United States)

Bartan, Ayfer; Kucukali, Serhat; Ar, Irfan

2017-11-01

Coal power plants constitute an important component of the energy mix in many countries. However, coal power plants can cause several environmental risks such as: climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, a tool has been proposed to calculate the environmental impact of a coal-fired thermal power plant in operation by using multi-criteria scoring and fuzzy logic method. We take into account the following environmental parameters in our tool: CO, SO2, NOx, particulate matter, fly ash, bottom ash, the cooling water intake impact on aquatic biota, and the thermal pollution. In the proposed tool, the boundaries of the fuzzy logic membership functions were established taking into account the threshold values of the environmental parameters which were defined in the environmental legislation. Scoring of these environmental parameters were done with the statistical analysis of the environmental monitoring data of the power plant and by using the documented evidences that were obtained during the site visits. The proposed method estimates each environmental impact factor level separately and then aggregates them by calculating the Environmental Impact Score (EIS). The proposed method uses environmental monitoring data and documented evidence instead of using simulation models. The proposed method has been applied to the 4 coal-fired power plants that have been operation in Turkey. The Environmental Impact Score was obtained for each power plant and their environmental performances were compared. It is expected that those environmental impact assessments will contribute to the decision-making process for environmental investments to those plants. The main advantage of the proposed method is its flexibility and ease of use.

Multi-parameter analysis for the technical and economic assessment of photovoltaic systems in the main European Union countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bortolini, Marco; Gamberi, Mauro; Graziani, Alessandro; Mora, Cristina; Regattieri, Alberto

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Performance cost model assesses the feasibility and profitability of PV systems. • Multi-country and multi-parameter analysis of PV systems in the European Union area. • The impact of key technical, environmental, economic and financial data is assessed. • Germany, Italy and Spain present the most effective PV sector support strategies. • The rated power and energy self-consumption ratio affect PV plant profitability. - Abstract: In the last decades, the attention to solar energy as a renewable and nonpolluting energy source increased a lot through scientists, private and public institutions. Several efforts are made to increase the diffusion of such a source and to create the conditions making it competitive for the energy market. Particularly, for the photovoltaic (PV) sector, the module efficiency increase, manufacturing cost reduction and a strong public support, through favorable incentive schemes, generates a significant rise in the installed power, exceeding 40 GWp in 2010. Although the global trend of the PV sector is positive, differences among countries arise out of local peculiarities and evolutions in the national support policies. This paper investigates such issues focusing on the feasibility analysis of PV solar systems for eight relevant countries in the European Union area, i.e. France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom. A multi-country and multi-parameter comparative analysis, based on the net present value and payback capital budget indices, allows to highlight the conditions most affecting the economic feasibility of PV systems. The national support strategies, along with the most relevant technical, environmental, economic and financial parameters, are the key features included and compared in the analysis. The major results deal with the conditions which make PV systems potentially profitable for each country and installation feature. The national support strategies to the PV

Examination of Parameters Affecting the House Prices by Multiple Regression Analysis and its Contributions to Earthquake-Based Urban Transformation

Science.gov (United States)

Denli, H. H.; Durmus, B.

2016-12-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors which may affect the apartment prices with multiple linear regression analysis models and visualize the results by value maps. The study is focused on a county of Istanbul - Turkey. Totally 390 apartments around the county Umraniye are evaluated due to their physical and locational conditions. The identification of factors affecting the price of apartments in the county with a population of approximately 600k is expected to provide a significant contribution to the apartment market.Physical factors are selected as the age, number of rooms, size, floor numbers of the building and the floor that the apartment is positioned in. Positional factors are selected as the distances to the nearest hospital, school, park and police station. Totally ten physical and locational parameters are examined by regression analysis.After the regression analysis has been performed, value maps are composed from the parameters age, price and price per square meters. The most significant of the composed maps is the price per square meters map. Results show that the location of the apartment has the most influence to the square meter price information of the apartment. A different practice is developed from the composed maps by searching the ability of using price per square meters map in urban transformation practices. By marking the buildings older than 15 years in the price per square meters map, a different and new interpretation has been made to determine the buildings, to which should be given priority during an urban transformation in the county.This county is very close to the North Anatolian Fault zone and is under the threat of earthquakes. By marking the apartments older than 15 years on the price per square meters map, both older and expensive square meters apartments list can be gathered. By the help of this list, the priority could be given to the selected higher valued old apartments to support the economy of the country

Environmental risk evaluation to minimize impacts within the area affected by the Wenchuan earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du, Pengfei; Chen, Jining; Chen, Chao; Liu, Yi; Liu, Jianguo; Wang, Hongtao; Zhang, Xiaojian

2012-01-01

Earthquakes can be devastating to built infrastructure and the natural environment, as evidenced by the March 2011, M = 9.0 earthquake, and subsequent tsunami, in Japan. As seen in the Japanese event, environmental damage caused by secondary disasters (tsunami, leakage from a nuclear reactor) can equal or exceed the impacts of the primary event. In order to develop an environmental assessment system to examine secondary disasters, a comprehensive environmental impact evaluation was conducted after the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on 12 May 2008 in the Sichuan Province, China. This evaluation focused on several key environmental elements such as wastewater, drinking water, soil, solid waste, radiation, and ecosystem-level effects. As part of this assessment, an analysis of root causes and potential solutions was conducted for key issues such as population relocation and resettlement in temporary dwellings, recovery of environmental protection functions, industrial development strategies and production recovery. Methods for post-quake environmental assessment were developed, utilizing GIS-based techniques for spatial evaluation of primary and secondary disaster patterns. The goal of this exercise was the development of effective assessment methods that can be rapidly applied in a post-disaster situation to reduce and mitigate damage caused by secondary disasters, and facilitate the recovery of impaired environmental management structure and function. - Highlights: ► A comprehensive post-quake environmental risk evaluation system was developed. ► The research identifies potential long-term environmental risks in many aspects. ► The research analyzes potential solutions for many typical post-disaster issues. ► Effective assessment methods can be applied in a post-disaster situation to reduce damage caused by secondary disasters.

Environmental risk evaluation to minimize impacts within the area affected by the Wenchuan earthquake

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Pengfei, E-mail: dupf@tsinghua.edu.cn; Chen, Jining, E-mail: jchen1@tsinghua.edu.cn; Chen, Chao, E-mail: chen_water@tsinghua.edu.cn; Liu, Yi, E-mail: yi.liu@tsinghua.edu.cn; Liu, Jianguo, E-mail: jgliu@tsinghua.edu.cn; Wang, Hongtao, E-mail: htwang@tsinghua.edu.cn; Zhang, Xiaojian, E-mail: zhangxj@tsinghua.edu.cn

2012-03-01

Earthquakes can be devastating to built infrastructure and the natural environment, as evidenced by the March 2011, M = 9.0 earthquake, and subsequent tsunami, in Japan. As seen in the Japanese event, environmental damage caused by secondary disasters (tsunami, leakage from a nuclear reactor) can equal or exceed the impacts of the primary event. In order to develop an environmental assessment system to examine secondary disasters, a comprehensive environmental impact evaluation was conducted after the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on 12 May 2008 in the Sichuan Province, China. This evaluation focused on several key environmental elements such as wastewater, drinking water, soil, solid waste, radiation, and ecosystem-level effects. As part of this assessment, an analysis of root causes and potential solutions was conducted for key issues such as population relocation and resettlement in temporary dwellings, recovery of environmental protection functions, industrial development strategies and production recovery. Methods for post-quake environmental assessment were developed, utilizing GIS-based techniques for spatial evaluation of primary and secondary disaster patterns. The goal of this exercise was the development of effective assessment methods that can be rapidly applied in a post-disaster situation to reduce and mitigate damage caused by secondary disasters, and facilitate the recovery of impaired environmental management structure and function. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A comprehensive post-quake environmental risk evaluation system was developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The research identifies potential long-term environmental risks in many aspects. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The research analyzes potential solutions for many typical post-disaster issues. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Effective assessment methods can be applied in a post-disaster situation to reduce damage caused by secondary disasters.

Factors affecting 210Po and 210Pb activity concentrations in mussels and implications for environmental bio-monitoring programmes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carvalho, Fernando P.; Oliveira, Joao M.; Alberto, G.

2011-01-01

The activity of 210 Po and 210 Pb was determined in mussels of the same size (3.5-4.0 cm shell length) sampled monthly over a 17-month period at the Atlantic coast of Portugal. Average radionuclide concentration values in mussels were 759 ± 277 Bq kg -1 for 210 Po (range 460-1470 Bq kg -1 dry weight), and 45 ± 19 Bq kg -1 for 210 Pb (range 23-96 Bq kg -1 dry weight). Environmental parameters and mussel biometric parameters were monitored during the same period. Although there was no seasonal variation of radionuclide concentrations in sea water during the study period, the concentration of radionuclide activity in mussels varied seasonally displaying peaks of high concentrations in winter and low concentrations in summer. Analysis of radionuclide data in relation to the physiological Condition Index of mussels revealed that 210 Po and 210 Pb activities in the mussel (average activity per individual) remained nearly constant during the investigation period, while mussel body weight fluctuated due to fat storage/expenditure in the soft tissues. Similar variation of radionuclide concentrations was observed in mussels transplanted from the sea coast into the Tejo Estuary. However, under estuarine environmental conditions and with higher food availability throughout the year, transplanted mussel Condition Index was higher than in coastal mussels and average radionuclide concentrations were 210 ± 75 Bq kg -1 (dry weight) for 210 Po and 10 ± 4 Bq kg -1 (dry weight) for 210 Pb, therefore lower than in coastal mussels with similar shell length. It is concluded that the apparent seasonal fluctuation and inter-site difference of radionuclide concentrations were mostly caused by mussel body weight fluctuation and not by radionuclide body burden fluctuation. This interpretation can be extended to the apparent seasonal fluctuation in concentrations of lipophilic and lipophobic contaminants in mussels, and provides an explanation for occasional high concentrations of 210 Po

Overview of emerging environmental technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olson, D.C.

2000-01-01

DOD is executing environmental restoration projects in accordance with compliance regulations from many federal agencies. With the passage of amendments to the Superfund law in 1986 that stated a preference for treatment instead of disposal, demand developed for alternative methods that provided more permanent and less costly solutions for dealing with contaminated materials. The Army files environmental impact statements on major programs and specific projects that are currently affecting, or have the potential to affect the environment. Personnel conducting those studies may find it helpful to learn about current environmental assessment methods and the outcomes of previous environmental studies. The Army currently spends almost 2.4% of its total budget on environmental programs. As the future budget picture continues to decline, new technologies offer the potential to provide a lower cost means of achieving the same level of environmental protection. This paper will provide an overview of environmental restoration planning and procedures, discuss information capabilities available on the Internet, provide summaries of recent technological literature and field studies; and identifies areas of informational 'gaps'. It concludes by urging closer ties between industry and the Army, as well as the need to pursue new and innovative techniques to solve old problems. (author)

Approaches in highly parameterized inversion—PEST++ Version 3, a Parameter ESTimation and uncertainty analysis software suite optimized for large environmental models

Science.gov (United States)

Welter, David E.; White, Jeremy T.; Hunt, Randall J.; Doherty, John E.

2015-09-18

The PEST++ Version 1 object-oriented parameter estimation code is here extended to Version 3 to incorporate additional algorithms and tools to further improve support for large and complex environmental modeling problems. PEST++ Version 3 includes the Gauss-Marquardt-Levenberg (GML) algorithm for nonlinear parameter estimation, Tikhonov regularization, integrated linear-based uncertainty quantification, options of integrated TCP/IP based parallel run management or external independent run management by use of a Version 2 update of the GENIE Version 1 software code, and utilities for global sensitivity analyses. The Version 3 code design is consistent with PEST++ Version 1 and continues to be designed to lower the barriers of entry for users as well as developers while providing efficient and optimized algorithms capable of accommodating large, highly parameterized inverse problems. As such, this effort continues the original focus of (1) implementing the most popular and powerful features of the PEST software suite in a fashion that is easy for novice or experienced modelers to use and (2) developing a software framework that is easy to extend.

Evaluation of different physical parameters that affect the clinical image quality for gamma camera by using different radionuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salah, F.A.; Ziada, G.; Hejazy, M.A.; Khalil, W.A.

2008-01-01

Some scintillation camera manufactures adhere to standard code of performance specification established by National Electric Manufactures Association (NEMA). Items such as differential and integral uniformity, spatial resolution energy resolution, etc. are all calculated with reproducible methodology that allows the user reliable technique for creation of these standards to avoid any lack of clinical service that may violate the ethics of patient care. Because 99m Tc is the most frequently used radionuclide in nuclear medicine, many clinics perform the daily uniformity and weekly resolution checks using this radionuclide. But when other commonly used radionuclide such as Tl-201,Ga-67 and I-131 are used, no standardized quality control is performed. So in these study we perform to evaluate the response of ADAC(digital) gamma camera and SELO(analogue) gamma camera to four radionuclide (Tl-201,Ga-67, I-131, and 99m Tc) flood image acquired using different non-uniformity correction tables. In the planer study uniformity and resolution images were obtained using ADAC and SELO cameras, linearity was obtained only by ADAC camera, while in the SPECT study uniformity and contrast images were obtained using ADAC camera only. The response for using different non-uniformity correction tables acquired using different isotopes was different from gamma camera model to another. We can conclude that the most of the gamma camera quality control parameters (uniformity, resolution and contrast) are influenced by variation in the correction tables, while other parameters not affected by this variation like linearity. (author)

Environmental Policy and Technological Change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaffe, Adam B.; Newell, Richard G.; Stavins, Robert N.

2002-01-01

The relationship between technological change and environmental policy has received increasing attention from scholars and policy makers alike over the past ten years. This is partly because the environmental impacts of social activity are significantly affected by technological change, and partly because environmental policy interventions themselves create new constraints and incentives that affect the process of technological developments. Our central purpose in this article is to provide environmental economists with a useful guide to research on technological change and the analytical tools that can be used to explore further the interaction between technology and the environment. In Part 1 of the article, we provide an overview of analytical frameworks for investigating the economics of technological change, highlighting key issues for the researcher. In Part 2, we turn our attention to theoretical analysis of the effects of environmental policy on technological change, and in Part 3, we focus on issues related to the empirical analysis of technology innovation and diffusion. Finally, we conclude in Part 4 with some additional suggestions for research

Factors affecting endoglucanase production by Trichoderma reesei ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jane

2011-08-22

Aug 22, 2011 ... from the ANOVA analysis have a significant value of Pmodel>F= 0.0008 and R2 .... there are various environmental and nutritional factors ... reported to affect cellulase production from wheat straw ... many factors affecting simultaneously the fermentation ..... and control its stability (Kalra and Sandhu, 1986).

Performance analysis of pin fins with temperature dependent thermal parameters using the variation of parameters method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cihat Arslantürk

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The performance of pin fins transferring heat by convection and radiation and having variable thermal conductivity, variable emissivity and variable heat transfer coefficient was investigated in the present paper. Nondimensionalizing the fin equation, the problem parameters which affect the fin performance were obtained. Dimensionless nonlinear fin equation was solved with the variation of parameters method, which is quite new in the solution of nonlinear heat transfer problems. The solution of variation of parameters method was compared with known analytical solutions and some numerical solution. The comparisons showed that the solutions are seen to be perfectly compatible. The effects of problem parameters were investigated on the heat transfer rate and fin efficiency and results were presented graphically.

Environmental enrichment affects adrenocortical stress responses in the endangered black-footed ferret

Science.gov (United States)

Poessel, S.A.; Biggins, D.E.; Santymire, R.M.; Livieri, T.M.; Crooks, K.R.; Angeloni, L.

2011-01-01

Potential stressors of wildlife living in captivity, such as artificial living conditions and frequent human contact, may lead to a higher occurrence of disease and reduced reproductive function. One successful method used by wildlife managers to improve general well-being is the provision of environmental enrichment, which is the practice of providing animals under managed care with environmental stimuli. The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is a highly-endangered carnivore species that was rescued from extinction by removal of the last remaining individuals from the wild to begin an ex situ breeding program. Our goal was to examine the effect of environmental enrichment on adrenocortical activity in ferrets by monitoring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM). Results demonstrated that enrichment lowered FGM in juvenile male ferrets, while increasing it in adult females; enrichment had no effect on FGM in juvenile females and adult males. These results correspond with our findings that juvenile males interacted more with the enrichment items than did adult females. However, we did not detect an impact of FGM on the incidence of disease or on the ability of ferrets to become reproductive during the following breeding season. We conclude that an environmental enrichment program could benefit captive juvenile male ferrets by reducing adrenocortical activity. ?? 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Validation of photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters as biomarkers for isoproturon toxic effect on alga Scenedesmus obliquus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dewez, David; Didur, Olivier; Vincent-Heroux, Jonathan [University of Quebec in Montreal, Department of Chemistry, Environmental Toxicology Research Center - TOXEN, 2101, Jeanne-Mance, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2J6 (Canada); Popovic, Radovan [University of Quebec in Montreal, Department of Chemistry, Environmental Toxicology Research Center - TOXEN, 2101, Jeanne-Mance, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2J6 (Canada)], E-mail: popovic.radovan@uqam.ca

2008-01-15

Photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters were investigated to be used as valid biomarkers of toxicity when alga Scenedesmus obliquus was exposed to isoproturon [3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea] effect. Chlorophyll fluorescence induction of algal cells treated with isoproturon showed inactivation of photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers and strong inhibition of PSII electron transport. A linear correlation was found (R{sup 2} {>=} 0.861) between the change of cells density affected by isoproturon and the change of effective PSII quantum yield ({phi}{sub M'}), photochemical quenching (q{sub P}) and relative photochemical quenching (q{sub P(rel)}) values. The cells density was also linearly dependent (R{sup 2} = 0.838) on the relative unquenched fluorescence parameter (UQF{sub (rel)}). Non-linear correlation was found (R{sup 2} = 0.937) only between cells density and the energy transfer efficiency from absorbed light to PSII reaction center (ABS/RC). The order of sensitivity determined by the EC-50% was: UQF{sub (rel)} > {phi}{sub M'} > q{sub P} > q{sub P(rel)} > ABS/RC. Correlations between cells density and those photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters provide supporting evidence to use them as biomarkers of toxicity for environmental pollutants. - Photosynthetic-fluorescence parameters are reliable biomarkers of isoproturon toxicity.

Fault parameters and macroseismic observations of the May 10, 1997 Ardekul-Ghaen earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Amini, H.; Zare, M.; Ansari, A.

2018-01-01

The Ardekul (Zirkuh) earthquake (May 10, 1997) is the largest recent earthquake that occurred in the Ardekul-Ghaen region of Eastern Iran. The greatest destruction was concentrated around Ardekul, Haji-Abad, Esfargh, Pishbar, Bashiran, Abiz-Qadim, and Fakhr-Abad (completely destroyed). The total surface fault rupture was about 125 km with the longest un-interrupted segment in the south of the region. The maximum horizontal and vertical displacements were reported in Korizan and Bohn-Abad with about 210 and 70 cm, respectively; moreover, other building damages and environmental effects were also reported for this earthquake. In this study, the intensity value XI on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS) and Environmental Seismic Intensity (ESI) scale was selected for this earthquake according to the maximum effects on macroseismic data points affected by this earthquake. Then, according to its macroseismic data points of this earthquake and Boxer code, some macroseismic parameters including magnitude, location, source dimension, and orientation of this earthquake were also estimated at 7.3, 33.52° N-59.99° E, 75 km long and 21 km wide, and 152°, respectively. As the estimated macroseismic parameters are consistent with the instrumental ones (Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT) location and magnitude equal 33.58° N-60.02° E, and 7.2, respectively), this method and dataset are suggested not only for other instrumental earthquakes, but also for historical events.

Prediction of environmental parameters of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with COSMO-RS