Atmospheric pollution is known to induce corrosion effects on various materials. For Greece, stone deterioration could emerge severe costs in the case of damaging cultural monuments. This work aims to investigate the corrosion process on materials of archaeological importance (marble, limestone, and sandstone) in the Greater Athens Area (GAA) by using sophisticated geoanalytical methods together with dose–response functions for selected materials, in order to derive corrosion maps for GAA in the period 2000–2009. Also, a corrosion trend analysis is performed, which can be a very helpful tool for the prediction of potential risks to monuments of cultural heritage due to atmospheric pollution. The corrosion effects on the selected materials are generally weak. Nevertheless, increasing corrosion trends are found in the eastern regions of GAA for all sheltered materials and in the northern parts of GAA for unsheltered marble. The technique is finally applied to 12 locations in GAA, which include some of the most important archaeological monuments of Athens, and provides comprehensive results for the estimation of the impact of atmospheric corrosion on the structural materials of these archaeological sites.

The historical trend of heavy metal pollution recorded in sediment cores from Lake Shinji, western Japan, was investigated to evaluate the contribution of increasing long-range transport of heavy metals from the Asian continent in recent years. The concentrations of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Zn and lead isotope ratios were determined for sediment cores collected at two sites in the lake. Among the metals, Cd, Sb, and Zn showed markedly high concentrations since the 1970s. Moreover, a high Pb concentration and less radiogenic lead isotope ratios have been observed since the 1980s in the core from a site close to the mouth of a major river. Air masses from the Asian continent, including China, Russia, and South Korea, have less radiogenic lead isotope ratios than those from Japan. This suggests that the recent increase in Pb concentration in the sediment core is primarily due to the long-range transport of heavy metals from the Asian continent, followed by their deposition in the catchment area of the river. The concentration ratios of Pb/Cd, Pb/Sb, and Pb/Zn of the sediment around 2000 were calculated on the basis of the metal concentrations in excess of those before 1940. They were then compared with the volume-weighted annual average concentration ratios of Pb/Cd, Pb/Sb, and Pb/Zn of rain samples collected on the shore of the lake for 1999–2001. The result showed that the ratios of the former to the latter are 1.0 for Cd, 0.69 for Sb, and 0.31 for Zn. Thus, it is likely that the long-range transport of Cd and Sb from the Asian continent also contributes significantly to the recent increase in the concentrations of these metals in the sediment core from Lake Shinji. For Zn, however, the contribution from the Asian continent was evaluated to be small, suggesting the importance of local sources such as effluent discharges.

The application of poly(acrylamide-co-sodium methacrylate) (AAm/SMA) hydrogel for the removal of Pb²⁺ ions from aqueous solutions has been investigated using batch adsorption technique. The extent of adsorption was investigated as a function of pH, adsorbent dose, and temperature. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra showed that –NH₂ and –COOH groups are involved in Pb²⁺ ion adsorption. The obtained results were analyzed by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second–order, and intraparticle diffusion models using both linear and nonlinear methods. It was found that the Pb²⁺ ion adsorption followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. Nonlinear regression analysis of six isotherms, Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Toth, Dubinin-Radushkevich, and Sips, have been applied to the sorption data, while the best interpretation was given by Redlich-Peterson. Based on the separation factor, R L, the Pb²⁺ ion adsorption is favorable, while the negative values of ∆G indicates that the Pb²⁺ ion adsorption on the investigated hydrogel is spontaneous.

Tree canopies are believed to act as a sink of atmospheric ammonia (NH₃). However, few studies have compared the uptake efficiency of different tree species. This study assessed the uptake of ¹⁵N-labelled NH₃ at 5, 20, 50 and 100 ppbᵥ by leaves and twigs of potted silver birch, European beech, pedunculate oak and Scots pine saplings in June, August and September 2008. Additionally, foliar uptake of ¹³C-labelled carbon dioxide (¹³CO₂) and leaf stomatal characteristics were determined per species and treatment date and the relation with ¹⁵NH₃ uptake and estimated stomatal ¹⁵NH₃ uptake were assessed. Both ¹⁵NH₃ and ¹³CO₂ uptake were affected by tree species and treatment date, but only ¹⁵NH₃ uptake was influenced by the applied NH₃ concentration. Depending on the treatment date, ¹⁵NH₃ uptake by leaves and twigs was highest at 5 (September), 20 (June) or 50 (August) ppbᵥ. Birch, beech and oak leaves showed the highest uptake in August, while for pine needles this was in June and, except at 5 ppbᵥ in June, the ¹⁵NH₃ uptake was always higher for the deciduous species than for pine. For all species except beech ¹³CO₂ uptake was highest in August and on every treatment date the ¹³CO₂ uptake by leaves of deciduous species was significantly higher than by pine needles. Leaf characteristics and ¹³CO₂ uptake did not provide a strong explanation for the observed differences in ¹⁵NH₃ uptake. This study shows that on the short-term a high interspecific variability exists in NH₃ uptake, which depends on the time in the growing season.

Over the summer and fall seasons, 2006–2010, we surveyed the fish and macroinvertebrate communities of the Tenmile Creek basin in southwestern Pennsylvania, an area undergoing accelerated extraction of energy resources—historically coal and more recently natural gas associated with the Marcellus formation. Tenmile Creek, its major South Fork (SF), and numerous tributaries drain a basin of 875 km². The drainage network is characterized as warm-water, low-gradient, and net alkaline. The purpose was to provide synoptic baseline data on water quality and the resident aquatic communities in terms of species richness, stress tolerance, and trophic structure. Overall, we sampled 20 stations on the 2 main branches and 1 on each of the 12 tributaries. We collected 26,375 fishes representing nine families and 54 species/hybrids along with 989 macroinvertebrates from 25 separate taxa. The parameter which defines water quality here is specific conductance which ranges from natural background levels of about 400 μS/cm on the minimally impaired Tenmile mainstem to 4,500 μS/cm on its SF. Diverse fish and macroinvertebrate communities were documented at levels of specific conductance exceeding 1,000 μS/cm, well above the 300 μS/cm criterion to protect aquatic life proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency for streams in the Central Appalachian Region. South Fork fish communities exhibit impairment at levels of specific conductance approaching the maximum observed here.

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) are produced by the high-temperature combustion of fossil fuels and are emitted to the atmosphere. We examined the surface morphology and the chemical composition of SCPs in samples of surface sediment from five industrial cities each of Japan and China, using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). There exists a relationship between surface morphology and the chemical composition of SCPs in China, but not for SCPs in Japan. The chemical compositions of SCPs differ between Japan and China: those in Japan are S-rich, whereas those in China are Ti-rich. The results suggest that EDS can be used to identify China-derived SCPs in East Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Wastewater samples originating from an explosives production plant (3,000 mg N l−1 nitrate, 4.8 mg l−1 nitroglycerin, 1.9 mg l−1 nitroglycol and 1,200 mg l−1 chemical oxygen demand) were subjected to biological purification. An attempt to completely remove nitrate and to decrease the chemical oxygen demand was carried out under anaerobic conditions. A soil isolated microbial consortium capable of biodegrading various organic compounds and reduce nitrate to atmospheric nitrogen under anaerobic conditions was used. Complete removal of nitrates with simultaneous elimination of nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate (nitroglycol) was achieved as a result of the conducted research. Specific nitrate reduction rate was estimated at 12.3 mg N g−1 VSS h−1. Toxicity of wastewater samples during the denitrification process was studied by measuring the activity of dehydrogenases in the activated sludge. Mutagenicity was determined by employing the Ames test. The maximum mutagenic activity did not exceed 0.5. The obtained results suggest that the studied wastewater samples did not exhibit mutagenic properties.

An increasing interest in bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted sites raises the question of the influence of seasonal and diurnal changes on soil-water temperature on biodegradation of BTEX, a widespread group of (sub)-surface contaminants. Therefore, we investigated the impact of a wide range of varying soil-water temperature on biodegradation of toluene under aerobic conditions. To see the seasonal impact of temperature, three sets of batch experiments were conducted at three different constant temperatures: 10°C, 21°C, and 30°C. These conditions were considered to represent (1) winter, (2) spring and/or autumn, and (3) summer seasons, respectively, at many polluted sites. Three additional sets of batch experiments were performed under fluctuating soil-water temperature cases (21<>10°C, 30<>21°C, and 10<>30°C) to mimic the day–night temperature patterns expected during the year. The batches were put at two different temperatures alternatively to represent the day (high-temperature) and night (low-temperature) times. The results of constant- and fluctuating-temperature experiments show that toluene degradation is strongly dependent on soil-water temperature level. An almost two-fold increase in toluene degradation time was observed for every 10°C decrease in temperature for constant-temperature cases. Under fluctuating-temperature conditions, toluene degraders were able to overcome the temperature stress and continued thriving during all considered weather scenarios. However, a slightly longer time was taken compared to the corresponding time at daily mean temperature conditions. The findings of this study are directly useful for bioremediation of hydrocarbon-polluted sites having significant diurnal and seasonal variations of soil-water temperature.

In aquafarming, 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) is widely used as an anabolic steroid to induce the sex of Nile tilapia fry to male in order to increase production yield. Nile tilapia fry is fed at a rate of 0.06 mg of MT/kg of feed during the first 21 days after hatching. MT not consumed by the fish fry may be sorbed onto the sediment in the fish ponds which may contaminate the environment when released from the ponds. Using soils and sediment from a Nile tilapia masculinization pond as sorbents in batch sorption experiments, the linear sorption coefficients (K d) of MT were found to range from 1.2 to 168.8 L/kg with an average K ₒc value of 9,450 L/kg. The linear sorption coefficients of MT were found to correlate with the organic carbon contents of the sorbents. Sorption of MT onto sand, garden soil, and sediment was not impacted by pH, but the sorption of MT onto sediment was found to be impacted by the salinity of the water. The salting out coefficient of MT in saline water was found to be approximately 0.87 L/mol.

The present work describes a detailed study about the adsorption of malachite green (MG) by a polyether-type polyurethane foam (PUF) using sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) as a carrier. The adsorption process was based on the formation of a hydrophobic ionic-pair between the MG cationic dye and the dodecylsulfate anion, which presented high affinity for the PUF. The manifold employed in the study was built up by adjusting a cylinder of PUF with 200 mg in the arm of an overhead stirrer, which was soaked (and stirred) in the solution containing the dye and SDS. The adsorption process was characterized in relation to equilibrium and kinetic aspects. Langmuir (r 2 = 0.842) and Freundlich (r 2 = 0.996) isotherms were also employed for modeling the system as well as the Nernst partition law (r 2 = 0.999). A study about the recovery of MG and the PUF regeneration was conducted, and the acetonitrile was the most efficient solvent for the desorption of the adsorbed ionic pair. The obtained results showed that the concentration of SDS added to the medium plays an important role on the adsorption process, which can be better described by employing a second-order kinetic model.