The debate on sludge recycling and disposal has been recently a target of growing interest due to the expressed concern about the potential risks of its agricultural use on human health and the environment. This fact has led to revisions in government policy and regulations and many novel treatment processes have been proposed in order to make the recycling and reuse of sewage sludge sustainable. In this work, the use of some pretreatments (alkaline, thermal, and ozonation) combined with conventional anaerobic digestion has been assessed on digested sludge quality in terms of pathogens, dewatering properties, heavy metals, and organic pollutants. All pretreatments proved to be efficient to reach the requirements proposed in the Working Document on Sludge prepared by the European Commission (CEC, Council Directive of 27 April 2000 on Working Document on Sludge--third draft. Brussels: European Commission DG Environment. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/sludge/pdf/sludge_en.pdf, 2000a) and also those established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Standards for the disposal and utilization of sewage sludge, part 503. Retrieved from http://www.epa.state.il.us/public-notices/2004/lincoln-trails-mhp/draft-permit.pdf, 1993).

The acquired immunity consists of two pathways namely the humoral immunity that defends the host against extracellular pathogens such as bacteria and the cell-mediated immunity that defends the host against intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and viruses and also against cancers. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of river water collected from pristine and contaminated sites along the Eerste River, South Africa on inflammation, humoral and acquired immune pathways. Hydrophobic extracts were prepared from water collected at contaminated and pristine sites. Inflammatory activity was determined by measuring interleukin (IL)-6 levels synthesized by whole blood after incubation with the extracts. For determining the effects on acquired immunity, phytohemagglutinin stimulated whole blood from healthy volunteers was incubated with extracts. The effect on humoral immunity was determined using IL-10 as biomarker, while interferon-gamma was used as biomarker for cell-mediated immunity. The results obtained show that water from the sites downstream from human activity induced IL-6, a biomarker of inflammation. Extracts collected from a site downstream from an informal housing settlement suppressed biomarkers of both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Water from sites impacted by human activity can potentially suppress the acquired immune system and this can pose a health risk to people using this water source. Studies must be done to investigate the long-term effects of the contaminated water on animals in vivo.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the combined Cr(VI) removal capacities of nonliving (untreated rubber wood sawdust, URWS) and living biomass (URWS-immobilized Acinetobacter haemolyticus) in a continuous laboratory scale downward-flow two column system. Synthetic solutions of Cr(VI) between 237 and 320 mg L⁻¹ were mixed with 1 g L⁻¹ brown sugar in a nonsterile condition. Final Cr(VI) of between 0 and 1.6 mg L⁻¹ indicate a Cr(VI) removal capacity of 99.8-100%. The bacterial Cr(VI) reduction capacity increased with column length. This study shows the feasibility of using the two column system consisting of living (bacteria) and nonliving biomass (URWS) as a useful alternative treatment for Cr(VI) contamination in the aqueous system.

Gypsum-rich coatings found on buildings constructed with granitic rock ashlars have been studied, from both an urban and a rural area of the NW of Spain. Previous works have attributed gypsum to rock weathering by atmospheric pollution. Mineralogical, chemical, and physical data of coatings have allowed us to distinguish six different types of coatings formed in several ways. In most cases, they are originated by the deterioration calcium-rich plaster building materials. Sulfation of Ca-rich coatings, in situ gypsum dissolution and precipitation, and deposition of air pollution particles are the most important agents related to genesis of coatings. In fact, remains of plasters practically intact were found in some studied buildings. Also, data from coatings and rock ashlars suggest that gypsum-rich coatings are not formed by environment-rock interaction. Coatings located on different parts and façades of the buildings and submitted to different environmental conditions decay in a different way.

The exact contribution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to a company as well as to its stakeholders should be measurable in order to be evaluated correctly. The difficult task of measuring the results of CSR has been a matter of significant research both by academics and by practitioners. Some of the literature on corporate social responsibility combines CSR with stakeholder theory introducing corporate social performance. The literature has attempted to describe emerging models of the issues that lead to a coherent model of what would represent corporate social performance. However, it is the case that social aspects are “soft” in nature, therefore being difficult to quantify. Innovated methods of performance measurement such as that of Balanced Scorecard has lately been introduced in some companies in their attempt to include non-financial indicators to give a more balanced and forecasting power to the traditional financial performance assessment system, but the view of corporate social responsibility is rarely taken into account. Furthermore, management frameworks that try to cover social and environmental aspects, such as Global Reporting Initiative, by providing a number of related performance measures, are not able to connect them with corporate strategy and are poor evaluators of cause-effect relationships. In the present paper, a CSR performance measurement framework based on the adoption of the Balanced Scorecard approach is presented. For the development of the proposed framework, the existing assessment of CSR and Corporate Sustainability actions of the Greek companies of different sectors was analysed in order to identify common practices in CSR performance evaluation as well as existing limitations. Taking into account the social indicators suggested by the traditional balanced scorecard views, an extension of its structure is proposed in order to better embody the environmental and social aspects of company performance.

In Brazil's littoral, many iron ore industries are located in areas of restinga, a type of coastal ecosystem; such industries represent stationary sources of iron and acid particulates. The industrial sector is under expansion, threatening the already fragile ecosystem. In the present study, the simulated impact of these emissions was studied on the early establishment stages of two native plant species, Sophora tomentosa and Schinus terebinthifolius. The results indicate that S. tomentosa display deficient germination and low root tolerance when exposed to iron dust and acidity. Toxic iron concentrations were found to accumulate only in the roots of S. tomentosa plants exposed to increasing doses of iron dust. In these plants, initial growth was reduced, leading to the conclusion that S. tomentosa was unable to regulate, and, thus, to overcome, the effects of the iron dust in the substrate. In contrast, the germination, root tolerance index, and initial growth of S. terebinthifolius were not affected by iron dust and acidity, revealing the species' resistance to these pollutants. We propose that under similar field conditions, S. tomentosa would be adversely affected, whereas S. terebinthifolius would thrive. On a long-term basis, this imbalance is likely to interfere in the vegetational composition and dynamics of the affected ecosystem.

Long-term flights or the establishment of permanent bases in space provide serious challenges for life support systems. Plants are essential companion life forms for such space missions, where human habitats must mimic the cycles of life on earth to generate and recycle food, oxygen and water. Nowadays, the chemical-mechanical recycling systems used in the international space station are much more compact, less labour intensive and more reliable than plant-based systems, but these systems would be too expensive for the long-term human exploration. In order to improve living conditions for humans and plants, we need an accurate characterisation of the mass transfer phenomena related to condensation of humid air. We are interested in developing an experimental protocol, which would help us to establish a theoretical model describing the heterogeneous transfers along a wall or a plant in an air-conditioned environment. Initially, we started in dry conditions by measuring the velocity profiles within the boundary layer that develop on a horizontal or a vertical flat plate in a wind tunnel. The velocity ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 m s⁻¹. Existing coupled heat and mass transfer measurement results relevant to our applications are discussed.

Heavy metals and organochlorine residues were determined in water, sediment, fish muscle, and freshwater shrimps from aquatic environments in urban and peri-urban areas in Morogoro, Tanzania. Most of the water samples had heavy metal concentrations below WHO acceptable water quality guidelines. All sediment samples had comparable heavy metal concentrations that suggest natural rather than anthropogenic origin. Hexachlorobenzene, α-hexachlocychlohexane, cis-chlordane, trans-nonachlordane, cis-nonachlordane, pp'-DDE, op'-DDD, pp'-DDD, op'-DDT, and pp'-DDT in hairy river prawn (Macrobrachium rude), African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus), and Wami tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis) were detected at significant concentrations above the methods' detection limits. The ratio of pp'-DDT to [summation operator]DDTs was 0.4 in O. urolepis and 0.3 in C. gariepinus, which indicated previous rather than current use of DDT. In M. rude, only pp'-DDE was detected and in O. urolepis and C. gariepinus there were higher levels of pp'-DDE than pp'-DDT, which demonstrate uptake of pp'-DDE, rather than pp'-DDT, from the environment. Bioaccumulation of organochlorines and mercury was the highest in C. gariepinus, cadmium in M. rude, and lead in both M. rude and O. urolepis. Maximum detected levels of organochlorine pesticides and heavy metals in M. rude, O. urolepis, and C. gariepinus were below the maximum permissible concentrations recommended by FAO/WHO. It is concluded that, at present, the contribution of anthropogenic sources in pollution of aquatic environments in Morogoro urban and peri-urban areas are low and that the concentrations of heavy metals and organochlorine pesticides in water and fish do not indicate a risk to the consumers.

In this paper, Taguchi method was applied to determine the optimum condition for Pb (II) removal from aqueous solution by spent Agaricus bisporus. An orthogonal array experiment design (L₉(3⁴) which is of four control factors (pH, t (contact time), m (sorbent mass), and C ₀ (initial Pb (II) concentration)) having three levels was employed. Biosorption capacity (mg metal/g biosorbent) and percent removal (%) were investigated as the quality characteristics to be optimized. In order to determine the optimum levels of the control factors precisely, range analysis and analysis of variance were performed. The optimum condition for biosorption capacity was found to be pH = 5.00, t = 5.0 h, m = 0.010 g, and C ₀ = 50 mg/L. And for percent removal, the optimum condition was found to be pH = 4.00, t = 4.0 h, m = 0.100 g, and C ₀ = 50 mg/L. Under these optimum conditions, biosorption capacity and percent removal can reach 60.76 mg/g and 80.50%, respectively.