Αλέξανδρος Γ. Σφακιανάκης: 01/24/19

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Recovery and utilization of collagen protein powder extracted from chromium leather scrap waste

Abstract

In this work, we investigate collagen protein powder (CPP) extracted from chromium leather scrap waste (CLSW). The composition and molecular weight distribution of CPP were determined by elemental analysis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), respectively. The microstructure and size distribution of CPP were then characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nanometer analyzer instrument. Finally, CPP was treated with corn starch (CS), and the swelling behavior of the resulting CPP-CS blend was investigated in order to determine its range of applications. The experimental data showed that CPP contains 13 different amino-acids. CPP also displayed low mineral salt levels and a nitrogen content of 43.84%, indicating its potential use as an organic fertilizer. The molecular weight range of CPP is 6.5 to ~ 26.6 kDa. After the obtained CPP was blended with CS, the CPP-CS blend is endowed with optimal swelling properties and is able to overcome the solubility drawbacks of CPP alone. In addition, when the CPP was used as a natural fertilizer, the germination rate and height of kidney beans obviously increased.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2Tc4hAT

Arsenic, selenium, and metals in a commercial and vulnerable fish from southwestern Atlantic estuaries: distribution in water and tissues and public health risk assessment

Abstract

The anadromous catfish Genidens barbus is a vulnerable and economically important species from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Concentrations of As, Co, Fe, Se, and Zn were determined in water and muscle, gill, and liver of catfish from two southwestern Atlantic estuaries (Brazil and Argentina) and health risk via fish consumption was evaluated. High spatial variability was observed in the metals, As, and Se distribution for both estuaries. Considering all tissues, element concentrations (mg/kg, wet weight) were As = 0.41–23.50, Co = 0.01–2.9, Fe = 2.08–773, Se = 0.15–10.7, and Zn = 3.97–2808). Most of the trace elements tended to be higher in Brazil than in Argentina, except for Co, Fe, Se, and Zn in liver and Fe and Co in muscle and gill, respectively. Arsenic accumulation order was muscle > liver ≥ gill. Only As (muscle) was above the maximum recommended by international guidelines at both estuaries. The target hazard quotient ranged from 0.10 to 1.58, suggesting that people may experience significant health risks through catfish consumption. Supposing that the inorganic/toxic As ranged between 1 and 20% of the total, the recommended maximum intakes per capita bases were 6.1–95 and 8.4–138 kg/year (wet weight) for Brazil and Argentina, respectively. Carcinogenic risk for As intake was within the acceptable range but close to the recommended limit (> 10⁻⁴). These results highlights the importance of quantifying the As species in catfish muscle in order to generate more reliable risk estimates.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2AX54P5

Vertical flow wetlands and hybrid systems for the treatment of landfill leachate

Abstract

Landfill leachates contain a variety of toxic compounds, which makes them one of the most difficult types of wastewater to be treated. An alternative "green" technology for leachate treatment is the use of constructed wetlands (CWs). The aims of this study were to select macrophytes and substrates to be used in vertical flow wetlands (VFWs) and to evaluate the performance of hybrid systems composed by a VFW and a horizontal subsurface flow (HSSW) or a free water surface flow (FWSW) wetlands for the treatment of a high ammonium concentration landfill leachate. In microcosms scale experiments, Typha domingensis, Scirpus californicus, and Iris pseudacorus were studied to assess their tolerance to raw and diluted leachate. Substrate selection for VFWs was evaluated using different layers of light expanded clay aggregate (LECA), coarse sand, fine sand, and gravel. Contaminant removals were higher in planted than in unplanted wetlands. Plants did not tolerate the raw effluent but showed a positive effect on plant growth when exposed to the diluted leachate. T. domingensis and I. pseudacorus showed higher contaminant removal ability and tolerance to landfill leachate than S. californicus. VFW with LECA + coarse sand showed the best performance in removal efficiencies. Hybrid system composed by VFW-FWSW planted with T. domingensis presented the best performance for the treatment of landfill leachate with high concentrations of ammonium.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2WoQGIy

Acute ecotoxicological effects of salicylic acid on the Polychaeta species Hediste diversicolor : evidences of low to moderate pro-oxidative effects

Abstract

Contamination of the aquatic environment by pharmaceutical drugs is an emerging issue in ecotoxicology. Aquatic organisms, in the presence of xenobiotics, tend to activate defensive mechanisms against toxic effects in order to mitigate and/or compensate for the toxic damages that frequently result from these interactions. Salicylic acid (SA) is a common drug, widely used in human medicine due to its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic properties, as well as its activity in terms of preventing platelet aggregation, among other clinical and cosmetic uses. It is commonly found in levels of the nanograms per liter to the micrograms per liter range in receiving waters, and its presence has been related to toxic effects in aquatic organisms, including oxidative stress. However, the number of studies that characterize the ecotoxicological profile of salicylates is still scarce and no studies have been published about the putative toxic effects of SA, especially in marine polychaetes. In order to determine the potential ecotoxicological effects caused by SA, individuals of the marine Polychaeta species Hediste diversicolor were exposed for 96 h to ecologically relevant concentrations of this compound, and several biochemical endpoints were evaluated, namely the activity of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT), the phase II biotransformation isoenzymes glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), the cholinergic enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and the determination of lipoperoxidative damage (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay). The obtained results demonstrated that despite the pro-oxidative effects elicited by SA, exposure to realistic levels of this compound was not able to generate a state of oxidative stress, and the adaptive protective responses elicited by exposed individuals were effective enough to minimize and/or inhibit the damage potentially caused by overproduced reactive oxygen species.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2R9LzIk

French Doctors on Yellow Vest Carbon Tax Protestors: “Alarming” Number of Injuries

Guest essay by Eric Worrall French Doctors have sounded the alarm over apparent rough treatment by security forces of yellow vest protestors marching against President Macron's carbon tax. Doctors Say Number of Serious Injuries Inflicted on Yellow Vests Unprecedented Chris Tomlinson 23 Jan 2019 Doctors, activists and others are sounding the alarm over the number…

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Global Energy Balances … Except When It Doesn’t

surface-downwelling-solar-radiation-43-m

Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach. I came across an interesting 2014 paper called "The energy balance over land and oceans: an assessment based on direct observations and CMIP5 climate models". In it, they make a number of comparisons between observational data and 43 climate models regarding the large-scale energy flows of the planet. Here's a typical…

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2sKkjWZ

Facile Synthesis of Homochiral Compounds Integrating Circularly Polarized Luminescence and Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence

Chem. Commun., 2019, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC08947G, Communication

Wen-Ting Deng, Hang Qu, Zhe-Yu Huang, Lin Shi, Zhiyong Tang, Xiaoyu Cao, Jun Tao
A pair of novel chiral one-dimensional compounds with the general formula [Cd(NO3)2L2]∙THF (where L is R- or S-2,2-bis(methoxymeth oxy)-6,6-bis(4-pyridyl)-1,1-binaphthyl) for the first time show circularly polarized luminescence, second harmonic generation...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Journals via hj on Inoreader https://rsc.li/2RaymyU

Biomonitoring chronic lead exposure among battery manufacturing workers in Tunisia

Abstract

The aim of the study was the biomonitoring of the chronic exposure to Pb by measuring its levels in blood, urine, and hair of battery workers. Blood lead (BPb), urinary lead (UPb), hair lead (HPb), and urinary δ-aminolevulinic acid (UALA) levels were determined for 52 workers in a battery plant and compared to those of 20 non-occupational exposed subjects (controls). BPb and UPb levels were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). HPb levels were measured by triple quadrupole ICP-MS and UALA levels were determined using cation exchanger column. The measured levels were significantly higher compared to the controls exceeding the OSHA cutoff values (p < 0.01). The GM mean levels of BPb, UPb, UALA, and HPb of workers were 715 μg L⁻¹, 331 μg L⁻¹, 16.3 mg g⁻¹, and 234 μg g⁻¹, respectively. The GM mean levels of BPb, UPb, UALA, and HPb of controls were 93.6 μg L⁻¹, 36.3 μg L⁻¹, 1.9 mg g⁻¹, and 1.8 μg g⁻¹, respectively. Significant correlations were observed between BPb and UALA (r = 0.630, p = 0.000), UPb and UALA (r = 0.566, p = 0.000), and between BPb and HPb (r = 0.466, p = 0.004). The significant correlation between BPb and HPb suggests the usefulness of hair for assessing occupational exposure particularly when the study area presents medium to high levels of Pb pollution. The association between Pb biomarkers and potential confounding factors revealed significant influence of the occupational factor over smoking and alcohol consumption. The results of this study urge for the reinforcement of the implemented engineering controls and safety measures in order to reduce exposure and to address the health issues related to Pb poisoning.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2sKCkV6

Here’s a new one: “The Little Ice Age could offer a glimpse of our tumultuous future.”

Guest now I've heard everything by David Middleton From that eminent scientific publication, Foreign Policy… The Coming Climate Crisis The Little Ice Age could offer a glimpse of our tumultuous future. BY AMITAV GHOSH Over the last couple of decades, as the impact of global warming has intensified, the discussion of climate change has spilled…

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Judith Curry On The Causes Of Recent Warming

By Paul Homewood

A challenging post from Judith Curry ;

https://judithcurry.com/2019/01/23/early-20th-century-global-warming/

Judith, in her usual thorough way, introduces much scientific thinking, both pro and anti.

But her summing up puts the whole thing in a nutshell:

In order to have any confidence in the IPCC and NCA attribution statements, much greater effort is needed to understand the role multi-decadal to millennial scales of internal climate variability.

Much more effort is needed to understand not only the early 20th century warming, but also the 'grand hiatus' from 1945-1975. Attempting to attribute these features to aerosol (stratospheric or pollution) forcing haven't gotten us very far. The approach taken by Xie's group is providing important insights.

Once we do satisfactorily explain these 20th century features, then we need to tackle the 19th century — overall warming, with global sea level rise initiating ~1860, and NH glacier melt initiating ~1850. And then we need to tackle the last 800 years – the Little Ice Age and the 'recovery'. (See my previous post 400 years(?) of global warming). The mainstream attribution folk are finally waking up to the importance of multidecadal ocean oscillations — we have barely scratched the surface re understanding century to millennial scale oscillations, as highlighted in the recent Gebbie and Huybers paper discussed on Ocean Heat Content Surprises.

There are too many climate scientists that expect global surface temperature, sea ice, glacier mass loss and sea level to follow the 'forcing' on fairly short time scales. This is not how the climate system works, as was eloquently shown by Gebbie and Huybers. The Arctic in particular responds very strongly to multidecadal and longer internal variability, and also to solar forcing.

Until all this is sorted out, we do not have a strong basis for attributing anything close to ~100% of the warming since 1950 to humans, or for making credible projections of 21st century climate change.

It is a point I have often made.

There is little dispute, outside of the blinkered Hockey Stick community, that the world's climate has regularly swung from warm to cold and back again.

The most recent episode, of course, was the plunge from the MWP to LIA.

Yet nobody, in my opinion, has come up with any plausible theory to explain these cycles.

Until we can explain why the world's climate changed from Middle Age warmth to the coldest times since the Ice Age culminating in the 19thC, we cannot hope to understand why it has warmed up again since.

As Judith notes, it seems that the oceans have a big role to play in this, and this is something else today's CO2 obsessed scientists have little understanding of.

We hear that the oceans have warmed up as a result of AGW. But as anybody with basic knowledge of oceanography will tell you, it is ocean temperatures which dictate the world's climate, and not vice versa.

And until we can fully explain what drives oceanic changes, we cannot hope to predict what might happen in the future.

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2U94i8O

[ASAP] Effective and Noneffective Recombination Center Defects in Cu2ZnSnS4: Significant Difference in Carrier Capture Cross Sections

TOC Graphic

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b03933

from Journals via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2Wjhwlo

India Green News: 2018 India's Sixth Warmest Year on Record

33._gn_2019-01-24_cc.png?itok=K57q0w5G

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader https://on.nrdc.org/2Mx9n86

Bio-removal of cadmium from aqueous solutions by filamentous fungi: Trichoderma spp. and Piriformospora indica

Abstract

Six strains of Trichoderma spp. and Piriformospora indica have been studied for cadmium tolerance and bioaccumulation capacities by the poisoned food technique. A quantitative assay for Trichoderma spp. and P. indica was conducted in broth cultures supplemented with different cadmium concentrations (0–500 mg/l). In addition, the growth pattern of P. indica was determined by growing the fungus in a solid medium amended with eight concentrations of cadmium (0–200 mg/l). Generally, an increasing cadmium gradient in the culture medium suppressed the ability of fungi for cadmium accumulation. However, a negative relation was observed between the biomass production of fungi and cadmium uptake (q: mg/g biomass). Results showed that Trichoderma spp., especially T. simmonsii [UTFC 10063], are tolerant to cadmium toxicity and have a high ability to cadmium bioaccumulation. The biomass production of T. simmonsii [UTFC 10063] was significantly stimulated and increased by 46.1% when cadmium concentration increased from 0 to 125 mg/l. Moreover, 91.7 and 31.2% of cadmium removal was observed at 10 and 500 mg/l of the cadmium concentration, respectively. P. indica, however, showed a lower tolerance and removal efficiency for cadmium as compared with Trichoderma spp. Therefore, Trichoderma spp., especially T. simmonsii [UTFC 10063], can be exploited as potent bio-removal agents in cadmium-polluted aqueous solutions.

Graphical abstract

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from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2SbLEQs

U.S. foundations funding Canadian anti-pipeline protests

From CBC News January 22, 2019 Debate grows over impact of American funding being directed towards Canadian environmental campaign. Excerpts below in italics with my bolds.

Alberta at Noon host Judy Aldous spoke to researcher and blogger Vivian Krause, as well as award-winning Calgary author Chris Turner, Monday about the degree to which U.S. dollars are shaping the conversation we're now having in Canada about building pipelines.

Krause has estimated that various U.S. funders have contributed in the neighbourhood of $40-million in recent years to hundreds of Canadian environmental and Indigenous groups. The goal is to help them spread a message about the need to land-lock Alberta crude through protests against the construction of new pipelines.

Krause believes those American dollars are financing a message that has turned the conversation around, adding topics like pipeline development have become toxic.

"The campaign has been devastating," Krause said.

"I think the campaign is the reason why Northern Gateway was cancelled: Energy East, Keystone, Trans Mountain.

"And this is the same organization, same strategy, same funders that stopped the Mackenzie [Valley] gas pipeline. I think the coastal gas pipeline is also in serious trouble.

"I have no hope for any pipeline [being approved for development] until this campaign is brought to an end," she said.

Turner, meanwhile, said that foundations such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and the U.S. environmental group the Tides Foundation have far less of ability to manipulate the environmental agenda in Canada than Krause suggests.

He didn't disagree with the numbers but disputed Krause's interpretation of them.

Krause said she isn't opposed to the principle of funding environmental groups from outside the country. However, she said she feels there has been a disproportionate focus on the oilsands by American environmental activists, particularly considering the U.S. is now one of the top oil producers on the planet.

She also suggested that by turning up the heat on Canadian energy development, those same activists are enabling — or perhaps are motivated by — a desire to open up markets for American oil producers.

"But here's the thing," she added. "Guess whose oil is getting to market and is getting the highest prices? It's not Canadian oil or gas. It's American oil and gas."

She asked why environmentalist don't instead focus on "landlocking the development of American oil and gas."

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2DxaIJh

New study claims to establish a causal link between climate, conflict, and migration

This is another brick in the wall of my theory that all climate attribution studies are extended exercises in Texas Sharpshooting ~ctm From the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA-led research has established a causal link between climate, conflict, and migration for the first time, something which has been widely suggested in the media…

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