In this work, reactive iron nanoparticles dispersed in a carbon matrix were produced by the controlled thermal decomposition of Fe³⁺ions in sucrose. During the sucrose decomposition, the Fe³⁺ions are reduced to form iron nanometric cores dispersed in a porous carbonaceous matrix. The materials were prepared with iron contents of 1, 4, and 8 wt.% and heated at 400, 600, and 800 °C. Analyses by X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetization measurements, Raman spectroscopy, termogravimetric analyses, BET surface area, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy showed that at 400 °C, the materials are composed essentially of Fe₃O₄particles, while treatments at higher temperatures, i.e., 600 and 800 °C, produced phases such as Fe⁰and Fe₃C. The composites were tested for the oxidation of methylene blue with H₂O₂by a Fenton-type reaction and also H₂O₂decomposition, showing better performance for the material containing 8 % of iron heated at 400 and 600 °C. These results are discussed in terms of Fe²⁺surface species in the Fe₃O₄nanoparticles active for the Fenton reaction.

Freight handling in EU ports fell by more than 12 % during the global economic crisis in 2008–2009 after almost a decade of continuous growth. The decrease of freight handling in the Klaipeda seaport, the only port in Lithuania, was 6.7 % and happened due to the dominant outward movement of goods (mainly oil products). The Klaipeda seaport, due to its peculiarity, is the only ice-free port in the northern part of Baltic Sea. The present study explores the environmental impact of Klaipeda seaport activities from 2001 to 2011. Moreover, it compares the environmental effectiveness of environmental protection strategies used in the four biggest companies that, in fact, cover about 88 % of total activities (except general cargo) of the seaport. The first group of targeted companies used an environmental protection strategy to implement an ISO 14001-based environmental management system, and the second group selected to follow environmental management practices without certification. The paper analyses the development of the companies’ activities in regard to the change of environmental effectiveness. The paper evaluates the pressure of the economic crisis on the companies’ activities and its influence on environmental decisions, with particular interest in the ability of different environmental protection systems to resist and handle the expected performance. The study identified a significant decrease in companies’ activities during the crisis period. However, the economic activities and environmental effectiveness demonstrated similar short-term tendencies in regard to the environmental strategy selection but differed in long-term perspective.

This paper focuses on the synthesis of carbon nanospheres (CNSs) using fallen willow leaves as a low-cost precursor. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image demonstrated that the structure of synthesized CNSs was spherical, with a diameter of 100 nm. The crystal structure and chemical information were characterized by Raman spectrum and energy-dispersive spectrum (EDS), respectively. BET results showed that the CNSs had a larger specific surface area of 294.32 m² g⁻¹, which makes it a potentially superior adsorbent. Rh-B and heavy metal ions such as Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Cr⁶⁺were used as targets to investigate the adsorption capacity of the CNSs. The effects of adsorption parameters such as adsorption equilibrium time, dose of CNSs, adsorption kinetics, and effect factors were also studied. These findings not only established a cost-effective method of synthesizing CNSs using fallen willow leaves but also broadened the potential application range of these CNSs.

The aim of this study is to elucidate the influence of the exogenous application of gallic acid (GLA) in alleviating the detrimental effects of salinity (NaCl), osmotic stress (polyethylene glycol; PEG), and their combination in Oryza sativa L. roots. To produce same osmotic potential (−0.5 MPa), 3-week-old rice seedlings were treated with 120 mM NaCl and/or 20 % PEG6000 with/without GLA (0.75 and 1.5 mM) treatments for 72 h. Both alone and combination of stresses decreased growth (RGR) and osmotic potential (ΨΠ). Moreover, stress caused a significant increase in proline (Pro) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents. Also, Pokkali and IR-28 had higher H₂O₂-scavenging enzyme activities including catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities in NaCl-treated roots. Only CAT activity was induced in both cultivars with PEG. Therefore, the enhanced levels of lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS)) were more pronounced under PEG than NaCl. However, GLA significantly mitigated NaCl and/or PEG-induced stress injury. Under salinity, TBARS was lesser in GLA-applied rice that was associated with greater activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX), and APX. GLA in the presence of PEG improved the activities of CAT and POX. According to these findings, GLA alleviated the damaging effects of NaCl and/or PEG (especially under NaCl) by improving the antioxidative system in rice. This is the first study elucidating the effects of GLA on tolerance to salinity, osmotic stress, and their combination in plants.

With the increasing number of outbreaks of food-borne diseases caused by okadaic acid (OA) and its analogue dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX-1), two key diarrhetic shellfish poison (DSP) toxins, OA and DTX-1, have become a serious threat to public health and have attracted significant public attention in China. The aim of our study was to monitor OA and DTX-1 contamination in commercially available seafood and to provide references for tracking these toxins and preventing disease outbreaks. From 2010 to 2012, 40 species were collected from six coastal cities of four inland seas in China. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a lateral flow immunochromatographic (LFIC) test strip were used to analyse the samples, and the results were further confirmed using a commercially available ELISA kit. The monitoring results indicated that 23 of 40 species were positive for contamination. In addition, 14 of the positive species were determined to be inedible because the content of OA and DTX-1 was above the regulatory limit. Simultaneously, we verified that the digestive glands of shellfish tended to accumulate toxin, in contrast to the flesh. The highest concentrations of OA and DTX-1 were recorded in Scapharca broughtonii, which was collected from Qing Dao, in relation to the other analysed species. Moreover, the Arca family as well as Mytilus galloprovincialis were severely contaminated by OA and its analogue. The above results indicate that some of the commercially available seafood from the coastal cities in China may be inedible due to serious marine toxin contamination. The results of this study might play an important role in protecting consumer health and safety screening of marine products.

An electro/Fe²⁺/persulfate process has been conducted for toluene removal from surfactant (SDS) flushing solution, and the pseudo-second-order reaction rate constant (k ₂ value) of toluene removal has been optimized by a response surface methodology (RSM). The results indicated that in this process, the reaction between persulfate and externally added Fe²⁺ generates sulfate-free radicals, and at the same time, Fe²⁺ is electro-regenerated at the cathode by the reduction of Fe³⁺. RSM based on Box–Behnken design (BBD) has been applied to analyze the experimental variables, of which the concentrations of persulfate and Fe²⁺ showed a positive effect on the rate constant of toluene removal, whereas the concentration of SDS showed a negative effect. The interactions between pairs of variables proved to be significant, such as between SDS, persulfate, and Fe²⁺ concentrations. ANOVA results confirmed that the proposed models were accurate and reliable for analysis of the variables of the electro/Fe²⁺/persulfate process. The shapes of the 3D response surfaces and contour plots showed that the SDS, persulfate, and Fe²⁺ concentrations substantially affected the k ₂ value of toluene removal. The results indicated that increasing persulfate or Fe²⁺ concentration increased the k ₂ value, whereas increasing SDS concentration decreased the k ₂ value. The reaction intermediates have been identified by GC-MS, and a plausible degradation pathway for toluene degradation is proposed.

This work aimed to evaluate the effect of surfactants on the removal of aqueous nC₆₀ aggregates by coagulation-filtration process and assess the acute toxicity of filtrates by Microtox test. Three surfactants including cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and Triton X-100 (TX100) were selected representing cationic, anionic, and nonionic types, respectively. Results showed that the change of physicochemical properties of nC₆₀ associating with different types of surfactants determined nC₆₀’s removal efficiency and acute toxicity. CTAB increased the number of large particles. It also changed the zeta potential of nC₆₀ from negative to positive, leading to the low removal rates (17.3–50.2 %) when CTAB concentration was designed in the range of 0.03–1 g/L, and the filtrates showed acute toxicity to bioluminescent bacteria (inhibition rate > 80 %). On the contrary, TX100 obviously increased the proportion of small particles, and it is noteworthy that even less than 1 mg/L of nC₆₀ (20 % of the initial concentration) with TX100 remaining in filtrates could evoke phototoxicity due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation under UV irradiation. Compared to CTAB and TX100, SDS exerted an effect on the removal process and toxicity of nC₆₀ only when concentration was beyond the critical micelle concentration (CMC; 2.5 g/L). These findings collectively suggest that characteristics of nC₆₀ are flexible and strongly dependent on surfactant modification, as a result of which these particles could potentially find their way through water treatment route and exert a potential toxicity risk.

This paper evaluates the efficiency of water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) by introducing the lack of service quality as undesirable outputs. It also investigates whether the production frontier of WaSCs is overall constant returns to scale (CRS) or variable returns to scale (VRS) by using two different data envelopment analysis models. In a second-stage analysis, we study the influence of exogenous and endogenous variables on WaSC performance by applying non-parametric hypothesis tests. In a pioneering approach, the analysis covers 18 WaSCs from Chile, representing about 90 % of the Chilean urban population. The results evidence that the technology of the sample studied is characterized overall by CRS. Peak water demand, the percentage of external workers, and the percentage of unbilled water are the factors affecting the efficiency of WaSCs. From a policy perspective, the integration of undesirable outputs into the assessment of WaSC performance is crucial not to penalize companies that provide high service quality to customers.