Search results for "Earth and Related Environmental Sciences"

2016

BACKGROUND: While noise annoyance has become recognized as an important environmental stressor, its association to mental health has hardly been studied. We therefore determined the association of noise annoyance to anxiety and depression and explored the contribution of diverse environmental sources to overall noise annoyance. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated cross-sectional data of n = 15.010 participants of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS), a population-based, prospective, single-center cohort study in Mid-Germany (age 35 to 74 years). Noise annoyance was assessed separately for road traffic, aircraft, railways, industrial, neighborhood indoor and outdoor noise ("during the day"; "i…

The use of shallow dripwater as an isotopic marker of seepage in karst areas: A comparison between Western Sicily (Italy) and the Harz Mountains (Ger…

2013

Abstract The isotopic signature of slow-flowing dripwater collected in caves located in Western Sicily (Italy) was determined for evaluating its possible use as an isotopic tracer of the local groundwater recharge. These spot measures were compared with a longer series of local rain and spring compositions and with other samples taken, under different hydrogeological conditions, in caves of the Harz Mountains (Northern Germany). The slow flowing dripwater from Sicily showed δ 18 O/δD ratios similar to those of local rain and groundwater, demonstrating that these three are all parent waters. A parallel similarity was found in the vertical isotopic gradient (Δδ 18 O) of the three groups of wa…

Benchmark study of undrained triaxial testing of Opalinus Clay shale: Results and implications for robust testing

2021

Triaxial testing of argillaceous rocks and shales is significantly more challenging than conventional rock mechanical testing. The challenges are mainly related to the very low permeability of these geomaterials, and their sensitivity to exposure of atmosphere and brines, which induces variations of water content, suction and effective stress. There are currently no international standards to guide service laboratories for robust testing procedures for shales. A benchmark study of undrained triaxial testing was therefore initiated with three leading service laboratories in shale testing, performing 13 tests and using two different methods of establishing sample saturation prior to deformati…

Supporting information for the article: Elastic geobarometry for anisotropic inclusions in anisotropic host minerals: quartz-in-zircon.

2021

This dataset contains the supporting information for the article: Gonzalez et al. Elastic geobarometry for anisotropic inclusions in anisotropic host minerals: quartz-in-zircon. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.These supplementary materials provide further details about the elastic properties, axial conventions, and relative orientation of the host zircon and the quartz inclusion. The datasets provide all the results of the quartz-in-zircon calculations in table format. The datasets include the unrelaxed and relaxed strains, and the relaxation tensors.

Fracture Shape and Orientation Contributions to P-Wave Velocity and Anisotropy of Alpine Fault Mylonites

2021

P-wave anisotropy is significant in the mylonitic Alpine Fault shear zone. Mineral- and texture-induced anisotropy are dominant in these rocks but further complicated by the presence of fractures. Electron back-scattered diffraction and synchrotron X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) data are acquired on exhumed schist, protomylonite, mylonite and ultramylonite samples to quantify mineral phases, crystal preferred orientations, microfractures and porosity. The samples are composed of quartz, plagioclase, mica and accessory garnet, and contain 3-5% porosity. Based on the micro-CT data, the representative pore shape has an aspect ratio of 5:2:1. Two numerical models are compared to calculate the…

Application of Electronic Nose for Evaluation of Wastewater Treatment Process Effects at Full-Scale WWTP

2019

This paper presents the results of studies aiming at the assessment and classification of wastewater using an electronic nose. During the experiment, an attempt was made to classify the medium based on an analysis of signals from a gas sensor array, the intensity of which depended on the levels of volatile compounds in the headspace gas mixture above the wastewater table. The research involved samples collected from the mechanical and biological treatment devices of a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), as well as wastewater analysis. The measurements were carried out with a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) gas sensor array, when coupled with a computing unit (e.g., a computer with…

Manoeuvring between regulations to achieve locally accepted results : analysis of school meals in Latvia and Finland

2018

Rather than having a consistent food policy, countries often tend to regulate food from the margins of other policy domains such as agricultural, environmental, welfare or educational policies. Regulatory interventions perceive food as an instrument rather than a domain with its own specific set of policy issues and view food provision as an activity to achieve certain economic, social and environmental objectives. This fragments the food policy into disintegrated points of interventions from various policy areas and leaves unregulated voids that can be exploited either to improve or to reduce the effectiveness of the interventions. This article explores interlinkages between fragmented pol…

Is there a convincing case for climate veganism?

2020

AbstractClimate change compels us to rethink the ethics of our dietary choices and has become an interesting issue for ethicists concerned about diets, including animal ethicists. The defenders of veganism have found that climate change provides a new reason to support their cause because many animal-based foods have high greenhouse gas emissions. The new style of argumentation, the ‘climatic argument(s) for veganism’, may benefit animals by persuading even those who are not concerned about animals themselves but worry about climate change. The arguments about the high emissions of animal-based food, and a resulting moral obligation to abstain from eating such products, are an addition to t…

Universal method to determine acidic licit and illicit drugs and personal care products in water by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight

2016

Graphical abstract

Biochar from Waste Derived Fuels as Low-Cost Adsorbent for Waste Hydrocarbons

2020

Abstract The aim of this study is to prove technical feasibility of combined refuse derived fuel (RDF) torrefaction and oily wastewater treatment approach by using RDF derived biochar as a sorption media. Biochars prepared from refuse derived fuels in torrefaction, carbonization and pyrolysis modes were analysed as fuels and as hydrocarbon sorbents. Changes of elemental composition and properties of material during thermal treatment and subsequent washing process have been analysed. Experimental evaluation of sorption behaviour of toluene and diesel fuel on obtained biochar performed. Our results show that torrefaction/carbonization of RDF coupled with the subsequent washing of biochar is a…