摘要:

Omowunmi (Wunmi) A. SadikWunmi Sadik is a Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the Center for Advanced Sensors and Environmental Systems at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY-Binghamton). Sadik received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wollongong in Australia and did her postdoctoral research at the US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr Sadik has held appointments at Harvard University, Cornell University and Naval Research Laboratories in Washington, DC. Sadik has over 300 scientific publications and presentations in the areas of biosensors, environmental and materials chemistry. Her work in environmental chemistry utilizes electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques to study risk assessment, endocrine disrupters, and toxicity of synthetic and engineered nanomaterials. Sadik was the recipient of Harvard University's Distinguished Radcliffe Fellowship, National Science Foundation'sDiscovery Corps Senior Fellowship, SUNY Chancellor Award for Research, Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Inventor, and National Research Council COBASE fellowship.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b917248n

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

L. MorawskaLidia Morawska is a Professor at the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, and Director of the International Laboratory or Air Quality and Health at QUT. She conducts fundamental and applied research in the interdisciplinary field of air quality and its impact on human health and the environment, with a specific focus on the science of airborne particulate matter. Professor Morawska is a physicist and received her doctorate at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland for research on radon and its progeny. She has authored over 220 journal papers, book chapters and conference papers.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b912589m

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Anders BaunAnders Baun (Ph.D., M.Sc. Eng.) is an associate professor and head of the research group Nanotechnology and Risk at the Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark. He is a specialist in aquatic ecotoxicology and risk assessment of chemicals and nanomaterials.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b909730a

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Omowunmi (Wunmi) A. SadikWunmi Sadik is a Professor of Chemistry at State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY-Binghamton) and the director of the Center for Advanced Sensors and Environmental Systems. Sadik received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wollongong in Australia and did her postdoctoral research at the US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr Sadik has held appointments at Harvard University, Cornell University and Naval Research Laboratories in Washington, DC. Sadik's research currently centers on the interfacial molecular recognition processes, sensors and biomaterials, and immunochemistry with tandem instrumental techniques. Her work utilizes electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques to study risk exposure assessment, endocrine disrupters, and toxicity of engineered nanomaterials and naturally occurring chemical compounds. Sadik has over 370 scientific publications in the areas of biosensors, environmental and materials chemistry. These include referred articles (110), patents/patent applications (10), invited/keynote presentations (125), book chapters, and conference abstracts (135). Sadik is the recipient of Harvard University's Distinguished Radcliffe Fellowship, National ScienceFoundation's Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship, SUNY Chancellor Award for Research, Australian Merit Award, Chancellor Award for Outstanding Inventor, and National Research Council COBASE fellowship.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b912860c

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

IntroductionThe worldwide demand for petroleum and their refined products has grown significantly during the last decades. Unfortunately, more oil spills into the aquatic ecosystem as a consequence of the increasing demand of marine transportation of the crude oils from the remote locations of the crude oil production sites (many in the Middle East countries). Because of toxic components (such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) in the petroleum and their refined products, oil spills could be devastating to the aquatic environment, especially to the fragile shorelines. Fast and effective response measures to clean spilled oil should be taken once an oil spill accident occurs. Traditional cleanup methods (such as application of skimmers) are often confined to a large extent by weather conditions and are not able to clean the spilled oil effectively, thus they are more suitable just as the first recovery of oil spills. The usage of chemical dispersant itself may cause secondary pollution, and it may also accelerate the filtration of oil into the deeper beach aquifer, therefore there may be a risk of causing more persistent and toxic pollution. In facing these facts, the oil spill response community is seeking an economical and environmental friendly technology for spilled oil cleanup. Actually it was early in the 1970s that scientists had observed flocculation of clay and oil in saltwater, and stabilization of oil-in-water emulsion by solid particles.1–4The significance of this process in natural cleansing of oiled shorelines was ignored for decades until the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. A large portion of the oiled shorelines cleaned themselves naturally even in the sheltered coast by the production of a fluffy colloidal emulsion composed of oil droplets surrounded by micron-sized clays. This kind of emulsion did not adhere strongly to the sediment, thus largely increased oil dispersion into the water body; oil biodegradation was highly accelerated due to the increase of the oil–water contact area. This natural process has been demonstrated in other oil spill accidents and laboratory studies to have the ability to enhance cleaning of oiled shorelines greatly. In addition to the natural attenuation of spilled oil, other shoreline cleanup techniques, such as sediment relocation and sediment mixing can greatly accelerate this process.5–17Various terminologies have been used to refer to this process, such as mineral-stabilized droplet, clay–oil flocculation,5,7,10oil and fine-particle interaction,9more frequently oil–mineral aggregation (OMA)12and oil-suspended particulate matter (SPM) aggregation (OSA).18,19However, as the aggregation between oil droplets and non-mineral particles are widely observed, the term of oil-suspended particulate matter aggregates (OSAs) was introduced and used in this study.The significance of OSA formation in shoreline cleanup has motivated many studies on characteristics of OSAs under different conditions, especially studies on quantitative effects of SPM size and concentration, the oil type, and the water salinity on the OSA formation. This article aims to provide a brief review on OSA formation and its role in oiled shoreline cleansing. The effects of different controlling factors, such as oil and sediment type and concentration, salinity, temperature and mixing energy on OSA formation are discussed. Methods used for the OSA characterization studies are summarised. Related topics which are under investigation and research needs in the future to further improve our quantitative understanding of this natural process are also outlined.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b904829b

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Environmental impactPrecision agriculture is an information-intensive management strategy where production inputs such as fertilizers are matched with site-specific needs of crops. Conventional soil sample collection and laboratory analysis for nutrient levels is costly and time consuming when applied spatially as is required in precision agriculture. Sensing soil macronutrient (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) status in real time as a machine moves across a field would be more efficient. Sensing systems linked to variable-rate fertilizer application systems could target fertilizer to sub-field areas where it would be beneficial, reducing fertilizer application where nutrient levels are already sufficient. Such an approach could lower food production costs and reduce potential for negative environmental impacts to water supplies due to over-application of fertilizer nutrients.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b906634a

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

1.IntroductionThe fascination with the phenomenon of natural radioactivity arose after the first radioactive elements had been discovered by Maria Skłodowska Curie,1but quickly faded away in the light of further development of nuclear techniques. Fissile products that first emerged in an uncontrolled way were tamed in nuclear reactors and quickly widely applied in techniques and medicine as so called artificial radionuclides. As an inescapable effect of their common use, some of them were released into the environment after nuclear weapon tests and either nuclear power plant breakdowns or radioactive accidents. Long-lived ones, such as isotopes of plutonium, technetium or iodine, from the perspective of a human being's life span, will remain in the environment for ever. But by far the most noticeable in the environment are medium-lived isotopes of caesium and strontium. Finally, despite the fact that artificial radioactivity in the contemporary environment has been occurring only for a few decades it is the main subject of radiation protection. Also, the overwhelming majority of present-day radioecological research is connected with the study of the redistribution in the environment and biological action of this group of radionuclides. Far less attention is paid to the radiation risk to people and especially to the environment caused by exposure to ionizing radiation originating from naturally occurring, primordial radioactive elements, such as thorium, uranium and their decay products.Actually, radiation emitted by primordial radionuclides in their natural state that has not been altered due to human activity is considered to be a source of risk neither for human beings nor the environment. There are many areas in the world having elevated content of natural radioactive elements caused either by the geological and geochemical structure of the rocks, or by the radioactive content of water flowing from underground springs.2Whether or not it can cause a negative or positive effect on human beings is a matter of opinion. But if concentrations of natural radionuclides have been changed by deliberate or accidental industrial action it is quite another matter. According to the current radiation protection principles, the related risk, excluding impact of so called natural background, must be treated as a risk caused by artificial radioactivity.The classical case where the radiation risk caused by natural radioactivity isn't negligible is uranium mining and milling. It is abundantly clear that such processes must be carried out in regions where reachable uranium ore occurs. But such activity is considered to be an immanent part of nuclear industry so that it was enclosed within the radiation protection domain at the very beginning. After the enhanced natural radioactivity had been thoroughly studied in other industries it became clear that such phenomena are very frequently present in the anthropogenic environment. Many processes beyond the nuclear industry lead to a situation when the activity concentration of naturally occurring radionuclides is enhanced. Such situations usually take place in industrial processes where a significant mass reduction of raw materials occurs. As a matter of course, these industries of concern are not aimed at the production of natural radionuclides or the deliberate use of radiation. Therefore, radioactive isotopes are usually accumulated in waste. Such alterations to the natural state can result in an increase of radiation risk to people as well as to the environment. Each particular occurrence of natural radioactivity presents a unique scenario of exposure – usually different from those caused by artificial radionuclides present in radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel. Frequently, the amount of this type of waste can be up to hundreds of thousands of cubic metres or tonnes and they are often placed directly into the environment. In the coal mining industry, radium activity deposited in single tailing ponds may reach 300 GBq.3Probably, the biggest “producer” of waste with an enhanced concentration of natural radionuclides are phosphate processing plants where radionuclides remain associated to the phosphogypsum particles, being subsequently stored in disposal sites located in the vicinity of the factories at a rate reaching 350 MBq h−1.4As a result of the direct contact with the environment, some transformation processes, such as mobilisation of radionuclide species from solid phases or interactions of mobile and reactive radionuclide species with components in soils and sediments, may be set in motion.5Also, considerable transfer of radionuclides to biota can be observed.6,7All these result in the speciation and original distribution of radionuclides deposited in an ecosystem changing over time. Moreover, natural radionuclides are often associated with other pollutants, such as heavy metals or hydrocarbons, that can escalate the negative impact on the environment as they are dumped out of industrial plants.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b904911h

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

David SedlakDavid Sedlak is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include the fate of wastewater-derived contaminants in engineered and natural systems, advanced oxidation processes and the development and testing of technologies for potable water reuse.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b916654h

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Hans P. van EgmondHans van Egmond is Head, Section of Natural Toxins and Nitroso Compounds, Laboratory for Food and Residue Analysis, at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. He holds a MSc. degree in Food Technology and his professional interests are primarily in the food safety area, and specifically deal with mycotoxins, phycotoxins and plant toxins. He is author and co-author of 190 research and review publications in the area of natural toxins, and he has (co-)edited several books in this field. His team is involved in activities with various international organizations and several interlaboratory research and networking projects, funded by the European Commission. These largely take place at the interface of analytical methodology, risk assessment and legislative requirements for natural toxins. Hans van Egmond serves on the Editorial Board of AOAC International and he is Editor-in-Chief of ‘World Mycotoxin Journal’.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b917562h

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

Environmental impactFungi and their toxic metabolites have been indicated as one of the possible causes of the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), an illness associated with poor indoor air quality. This is the first study where mouldy environments were simultaneously monitored for the presence of 20 mycotoxins, volatile organic compounds and fungi. Substantial efforts were devoted to the establishment of optimal sample collection procedures including different techniques and fungal identification protocols. In more than 60% of the samples, one or more mycotoxins were found and related to fungal growth. Thus, mycotoxin production may be a possible risk factor for human health in water-damaged houses, especially for those mycotoxins with a higher incidence in air and dust. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the SBS.

ISSN:1464-0325    

DOI:10.1039/b906856b

出版商:RSC    

年代:2009

数据来源: RSC