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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Waste management
The interest in air pollution modelling has shown substantial growth over the last five years. This was particularly evident by the increasing number of participants attending the NATO/CCMS International Technical Meetings on Air Pollution modelling and its Application. At the last meeting 118 papers and posters were selected from an abundance of submitted abstracts divided over five modelling topics: (i) model assessment and verification, including policy applications, (ii) air pollution modelling in coastal areas with emphasis on the mediterranean region, (iii) accidental atmospheric releases, including warning systems and regulations, (iv) modelling of global and long-range transport and (v) new developments in turbulent diffusion. A round-table discussion chaired by John Irwin (USA) and Jan Kretzschmar (Belgium) on the harmonization of air pollution models was attended by more than 50 scientists and is reported in these proceedings. The opening paper addressed the main issue of this conference: modelling over complex terrain. Of particular interest were coastal areas where the surface inhomogeneities introduce small-scale circulation and varying atmospheric stability, often combined with a complex topography. As the conference was located on the beautiful island of Crete, problems faced by the host nation, particularly Athens and its environs were obvious examples for consideration. These together with other regions with similar geographical features were addressed. Heavily populated and industrialized as they often are, air quality is generally poor there and emission regulations are desired. Obviously, a major task of air pollution dispersion modelling is to assist policy makers in formulating sensible regulations.
The growing perception of the public and politicians that life is extremely risky has led to a dramatic and increasing interest in risk analysis. The risks may be very diverse as demonstrated by the range of subjects covered at the annual meetings of the Society for Risk Analysis. There is a need to pause and see how well the present approaches are serving the nation. The theme, "Setting National Priorities," which was chosen for the 1987 SRA Annual Meeting, reflects the concern that in dealing with individual kinds of risks, society may be more concerned with the trees than the forest. It is surprising how little attention is being given to the holistic aspects of risk. Who, for instance, is responsible for a national strategy to manage the reduction of health or other risks? Individual agencies have the responsibility for specific patterns of exposure, but these are not integrated and balanced to determine how the nation as a whole can obtain the greatest benefit for the very large investment which is made in risk-related research and analysis.
As society has become increasingly aware of the potential threats to human health due to exposures to toxic chemicals in the environment and the workplace and in consumer products, it has placed increased demands upon the still-fledgling science of toxicology. As is often the case when science is called upon to supply firm answers when pertinent information and fundamental knowledge are lack ing, both the scientific and the social issues become confused and new tensions develop. One of the major purposes of this book is to focus on those aspects of the science of toxicology that pertain most to social issues-namely, analysis of risk for purposes of human health protection. Although it is apparent that the discipline of toxicology is not yet prepared to provide firm answers to many questions concerning human risk, it is important that the rigorously derived information be used in the most objective and logical way to yield the closest approximation to the truth. This book is designed to sup ply as much guidance for such tasks as is permitted by the current state of our knowledge. Its emphasis is thus placed on interpretation of toxicity data (broadly defined) for assessing risks to human health. In this way, it differs from other basic toxicology texts, most of which emphasize methods for performing studies or describe various toxicological endpoints and classes of toxic agents."
The difficulties associated with making risk assessments on the basis of experimental results are familiar to practitioners in many fields engineering, epidemiology, chemistry, etc. These difficulties are particularly common in problems that have dynamic and stochastic characteristics driven by multiple purposes and goals, with complex interconnections and inter dependencies. Acquiring an appropriate data base, processing and analyzing model results, and transmitting these results at an appropriate technical, social, political, and institutional level are additional difficulties that must be addressed. This book is grounded on the premise that risks are best assessed on the basis of experimental results and sound mathematical analyses, coupled with the knowledge of experts. The carcinogenicity prediction and battery selection (ePBS) approach described herein provides a systematic mechan ism-a synthesis of systems and statistical and decision analyses-to aid researchers and decision makers in the critical field of carcinogenicity prediction in selecting an appropriate battery of tests to use and in translating experimental results into information that can be used as an aid to decision making."
As we enter the nineties, there is worldwide awareness that the future of all mankind is inexorably linked by the world we share, and its response to man's activities. Lasers and the optical sciences have brought powerful tools to measure and understand our environment. LIDAR (laser radar) and laser fluorescence allow us to measure atmospheric and oceanic pollutants, as well as industrial emissions, from many kilometers distance. And a variety of sensitive laser-based spectroscopic techniques permit the accurate analysis of heavy metals and other trace elements in the environment. In September 1989, an international group of scientists me.t in Erice, Sicily, for the 14th Course of the International School of Quant~ Electronics. This Course was devoted to "Optoelectronics for Envi~onmental Science", and was ably directed by Prof. V. S. Letokhov of the USSR Institute of Spectroscopy and Prof. A. M. Scheggi of the C.N.R. Electro magnetic Waves Institute, Florence, Italy. This book gives the proceedings of that conference, which covered not only basic tutorial papers but also reports on the latest research results. The first half of this volume describes the techniques used for direct "In-Situ Measurements" of the environment. In "Techniques and Programs", four chapters and one extended abstract give tutorial discussions of the most important remote sensing techniques: LIDAR, laser fluorescence, and optical fiber sensors, plus a description of the Italian program in this area.
The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established the "Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society" (CCMS) in 1969. The CCMS was charged with developing meaningful environmental and social programmes for solving existing problems and developing long-range goals for environmental protection. In 1983, at the Fall Plenary of the CCMS, the Norwegian delegate Dr. H.C. Christensen, proposed a Pilot Study on "Risk Management of Chemicals in the Environment". A draft proposal, written by Dr. Kari Kveseth of the Center for Industrial Research in Oslo, was presented. Dr. Christensen also informed the participants at the meeting that Norway was willing to act as the Pilot Country. The project was initially planned for 3 years, but it was later extended through 1987. The inaugural meeting was held in Oslo in April 1984 with participants from Denmark, Greece, France and Italy, in addition to representatives from several Norwegian institutions. The attendees concluded that a Pilot Study, as delineated in the draft proposal, would be useful, and it was decided to work out a detailed project plan based on the proposal.
1 2 J. H. SCHROEDER and B. H. PURSER 1 Introduction A symposium convened during the Vth International Coral Reef Congress in Papeete, Tahiti, 1985, encouraged the editors to assemble this volume of case studies by participating and, especially, by nonparticipating scientists. An attempt was made to include case studies from various regions and geological periods, carried out on various scales from regional to ultrastructural. We hope to present an overall view of reef diagenesis. Although the volume focuses on reef diagenesis, fields also to be considered are biology, paleontology, and sedimentary facies distribution, as they provide the context and, to some extent, encompass the determinants of diagenetic processes. The scope has been limited to reef diagenesis because we feel that reefs have relatively clearly defined geometries, which facilitate the evaluation of diagenetic trends and the definition of diagenetic models. On the other hand, their many different components make reefs somewhat more complex than other deposits, and this creates difficulties in deciphering diagenetic histories; the study of reefs, therefore, is not the simplest manner of solving the many problems relating to carbonate diagenesis. An additional reason for evaluating reef diagenesis is the reservoir potential of these carbonate bodies. To illustrate the point, in the recent collection of 35 case studies of carbonate reservoirs (Roehl and Choquette 1985), reefs were involved in 15. The emphasis on porosity development in many studies of the present volume is therefore not of mere academic interest.
Life is often considered to be a journey. The lifecycle of waste can similarly to be a journey from the cradle (when an item becomes be considered is placed in the dustbin) to the grave (when value valueless and, usually, is restored by creating usable material or energy; or the waste is transformed into emissions to water or air, or into inert material placed in a landfill). of this book This preface provides a route map for the journey the reader will undertake. Who? Who are the intended readers of this book? Waste managers (whether in public service or private companies) will find a holistic approach for improving the environmental quality and the of managing waste. The book contains general principles economic cost based on cutting edge experience being developed across Europe. Detailed data and a computer model will enable operations managers to develop data-based improvements to their systems. oj waste will be better able to understand how their actions can Producers influence the operation of environmentally improved waste management systems. oj products and packages will be better able to understand how Designers their design criteria can improve the compatibility of their product or package with developing, environmentally improved waste management systems. Waste data specialists (whether in laboratories, consultancies or environ mental managers of waste facilities) will see how the scope, quantity and quality of their data can be improved to help their colleagues design more effective waste management systems."
Contained in this volume are the proceedings of the international conference on the "Genetic Toxicology of Complex Mixtures," held from July 4-7, 1989, in Washington, DC. This meeting was a satellite of the "Fifth International Conference on Environmental Mutagens" and the seventh in a biennial series of conferences on "Short-term Bioassays in the Analysis of Complex Environmental Mixtures. " Our central objective in calling together key researchers from around the world was to extend our knowledge of the application of the methods of genetic toxicology and analytical chemistry in the evaluation of chemical mixtures as they exist in the environment. This conference emphasized the study of genotoxicants in air and water, and the assessment of human exposure and cancer risk. The latest strategies and methodologies for biomonitoring of genotoxicants (including transformation products) were described in the context of the ambient environment. Source character ization and source apportionment were discussed as an aid to understand ing the origin and relative contribution of various kinds of complex mix tures to the ambient environment. Similarly, investigations of genotoxi cants found in the indoor environment (sidestream cigarette smoke) and in drinking water (chlorohydroxyfuranones) were given special attention in terms of their potential health impacts. New molecular techniques were described to enable more precise quantitation of internal dose and dose to-target tissues. The emphasis of presentations on exposures/effects assessment was on integrated quantitative evaluation of human exposure and potential health effects.
Bioremediation is a rapidly advancing field and the technology has been applied successfully to remediate many contaminated sites. The goal of every soil remediation method is to enhance the degradation, transformation, or detoxification of pollutants and to protect, maintain and sustain environmental quality. Advances in our understanding of the ecology of microbial communities capable of breaking down various pollutants and the molecular and biochemical mechanisms by which biodegradation occurs have helped us in developing practical soil bioremediation strategies. Chapters dealing with the application of biological methods to soil remediation are contributed from experts authorities in the area of environmental science including microbiology and molecular biology from academic institutions and industry."
Biofilms -- Science and Technology covers the main topics of biofilm formation and activity, from basic science to applied aspects in engineering and medicine. The book presents a masterly discussion of microbial adhesion, the metabolism of microorganisms in biofilms, modelling of mass transfer and biological reaction within biofilms, as well as the behaviour of these microbial communities in industry (waste water treatment, heat exchanger biofouling, membranes, food processing) and in medicine (teeth, implants, prosthetic devices). Laboratory techniques and industrial monitoring methods are also presented. The book is directed at readers at the postgraduate level and is organised as a textbook, containing 11 chapters, a glossary, and a detailed subject index.
The complex topic of in-situ subsurface remediation technologies has been ad dressed at an international symposium at the Universitat Stuttgart on September 26 and 27, 1995, on the occasion of the inauguration of the research facility VEGAS (Versuchseinrichtung zur Grundwasser- und Altlastensanierung). The results are contained in this book with 22 contributions from leading experts in the field from Europe and North America. The book illustrates the role of large-scale experiments in groundwater and subsurface remediation research. The subtopics address the various links between conventional laboratory experiments, technology-scale experiments and field-site studies, showing the contribution of large-scale experiments to bridging the gap between small-scale investigations and large-scale field investigations (upscaling). The interdisciplinary nature of the problems requires a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the idea has been followed to bring together the various disciplines in volved in the different aspects and facets of subsurface flow, transport and trans as hydraulics and hydrology, physics, formation, involving such diverse disciplines chemistry, microbiology, geology, industrial, chemical and hydraulic engineering, mathematics and hydroinformatics. The individual contributions from these di versified fields address the subject from different angles in an attempt to form a coherent picture of the various aspects of the complex problems of subsurface remediation. The focus is on research approaches and strategies with respect to the development of new and improved technologies and to the role of large-scale experiments in research and application.
Waste incineration is the art of completely combusting waste, while maintaining or reducing emission levels below current emission standards. Where possible, objectives include the recovering of energy as well as the combustion residues. Successful waste incineration makes it possible to achieve a deep reduction in waste volume, obtain a compact and sterile residue, and eliminate a wide array of pollutants. This book places waste incineration within the wider context of waste management, and demonstrates that, in contrast to landfills and composting, waste incineration can eliminate objectionable and hazardous properties such as flammability and toxicity, result in a significant reduction in volume, and destroy gaseous and liquid waste streams leaving little or no residues beyond those linked to flue gas neutralization and treatment. Moreover, waste incineration sterilizes and destroys putrescible matter, and produces usable heat. Incineration Technologies first appeared as a peer-reviewed contribution to the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. It provides detailed treatment of the challenges of this technically complex process, which requires huge investment and operating costs, as well as good technical skills in maintenance and plant operation. Particular attention is paid to technologies for ensuring the complete burn-out of flue gas and residues and for controlling the resulting pollutants.
This book is the Proceedings of the International Conference on Trans portation, Storage, and Disposal of Hazardous Materials, which was held at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), 1-5 July 1985. The Conference brought together representatives of academia, business, and government from East and West to discuss the nature of current problems in the area of hazardous materials. An important objective of the Conference was to suggest steps that could be undertaken by industrial firms, the insurance industry, and govern ment agencies to improve the safety and efficiency with which hazar dous materials are produced and controlled in industrialized societies. Conference sponsors were IIASA, the Geneva Association, and the Center for Risk and Decision Processes of the University of Pennsyl vania. Additional financial support was received from the US Environ mental Protection Agency, the Monsanto Corporation, the Center for Organizational Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Canadian IIASA Committee. We are grateful to all of these institutions for their generous support of this Conference. Within IIASA, a long history of research in risk activities is evi dent. This owes much to the vision of IIASA's founding Director, Howard Raiffa, and program leaders who have promoted risk research at IIASA. The present Conference continued this tradition with the strong support of IIASA's current Director, Thomas H. Lee, and Deputy Director, Vitali Kaftanov."
During late 1978, a symposium entitled "Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management" was one component of the Annual Meet ing of the Materials Research Society held in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together for the first time the entire range of sciences that form the basis for the treatment, solidification and isolation of radioactive wastes. Some 79 papers were presented to an international audience of over 300. The Symposium was such an impressive success that another will be held at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the Materials Research Society. The proceedings of the forthcoming symposium will also be published and it is for this reason that the present volume has been desig nated Volume 1. The scope of the Symposium was defined by the following steer ing committee: Rustum Roy, The Pennsylvania State University (Chairman) Richard S. Claassen, Sandia Laboratories Don Ferguson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Victor I. Spitsyn, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow David B. Stewart, United States Geological Survey Torbjorn Westermark, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The program was organized by the following committee: Gregory J. McCarthy, The Pennsylvania State University (Cha- man) Harry C. Burkholder, Battelle Memorial Institute Arnold M. Friedman Argonne National Laboratory Werner Lutze, Hahn-Meitner Institut, Berlin John G. Moore, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Robert W. Potter, II, United States Geological Survey Richard L. Schwoebe1, Sandia Laboratories Roger W. Staehle, Ohio State University."
In order to validate predictive models of the very long-term processes which affect the performance of radioactive waste repositories, there has been an increased interest in the information and understanding which can be obtained from studying similar mechanisms in natural systems. These "natural analogues," as they are known in the jargon of waste management, have been studied sporadically for many years, but there has been a considerable rejuvenation of interest in the last four years, possibly owing to the fact that performance assessment methodolo gy is gradually maturing to the point where it needs the kind of support which analogues can offer. Since 1982, the Commission of the European Communities has been involved in specific work on natural analogues in the framework of its activities on radioactive waste management, principally within the MIRAGE project which concerns migration of radionuclides in the geosphere. As a consequence, the Commission took the initiative, in 1985, of establish ing a Natural Analogue Working Group (NAWG) whose members can benefit from the overall expertise available for managing their own natural analogue research programmes. In this group, modeller' s requirements and the results of field research are exchanged at regular intervals. A number of wide-ranging investigation programmes, both on national and international scales. are currently underway or being initiated, and several of these have been discussed recently at the NAWG."
Applied geophysics were developed to explore the raw materials
needed by civilization. Today it is used to investigate the extent
and nature of buried contaminated waste and leachates.
This book encourages and demonstrates an innovative approach to the design and operation of urban wastewater systems: integrated modelling and control. Consideration of sewer system, wastewater treatment plant and receiving water body as a single system (rather than as three moderately independent units as before) opens up new types of analyses and new control algorithms for urban wastewater systems. After a comprehensive review of the literature of various fields including processes affecting water flow and quality in urban wastewater systems and their description by different types of models, this book also introduces some of the fundamental concepts of the operation of such systems. It discusses conventional as well as innovative control approaches - ranging from control by simple set-points to elaborate hierarchical control concepts taking into account the water flow and the quality of sewer systems, treatment plants and receiving water body. Thus it will enable the researcher as well as the practising engineer to analyse and to implement various types of control for a particular case study site.In order to illustrate the concepts developed, a detailed simulation study, covering the complete urban wastewater system, is presented. The conclusions drawn demonstrate that the application of innovative control concepts can lead to improved performance of wastewater systems. In addition, a comprehensive survey of mathematical optimisation methods is presented. This book can assist the practising engineer and the student to gain knowledge of all aspects of wastewater systems. To the researcher, this book provides a thorough survey of existing simulation and control concepts and inspiration for further work.
The study of the relationship between environmental pollution and human health is in its infancy. The number of substances and mixtures that have been identified in uncontrolled hazardous waste sites or that have been in advertently released into the environment is large and data on how thes~ substances are modified as they interact with one another as they migrate through soil, air, and water are limited. There are also limits on our un derstanding of how these substances may be ingested, inhaled, or absorbed by people. The complexity of possible interactions between biological, chemical, and physical components in a given environment makes it virtually impossible to evaluate the potential for adverse biological effects ade quately in the laboratory. Other, more comprehensive methods which provide realistic and interpretable results must be used. Many scientists believe that humans represent the ultimate sentinel species of a toxic exposure re sUlting from environmental pollution, however such exposures may also se verely impact environmental health. There exists a wide variety of organ isms in the natural environment that could be used to provide an early warning for potential human health effects as well as to indicate adverse ecological effects. The issue of effective utilization of sentinel species for environment al monitoring is a rapidly developing area of research which has grown in importance during the last decade.
Although present day politics seems to be preoccupied with questions of economic growth and full employment, the basic environmental problems stemming from the interactions of the economic sphere with global, regional and local environments persist and will have an even greater impact in the future. If economy and ecology are not reconciled in the years to come, mankind will not have a sustainable future on Earth. The typical negation of environmental problems in times of economic crisis is partially due to the fact that environmental and health damages of economic activities are neither priced nor included in our market price system. This allows politicians to focus their attention on insufficient economic indicators which do not reflect the actual development of the welfare of society. If economic lead indicators like GDP or balance of trade figures were better integrated with information on the environmental and health costs caused by the seemingly beneficial economic development, politicians might have better guidance as to what policy choices would benefit society most.
This is a collection of papers presented at the 1985 annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis. As always seems to occur at these meetings, the discussion was lively, the sessions were filled, and people complained about not being able to hear all the papers they wanted to because of concurrent sessions. If ever someone is in charge of a meeting, I wish them the good luck to have it be one for the Society for Risk Analysis. While I was responsible for the meeting, it could not have taken place without the efforts of the general chairman, Alan Moshissi. The program committee was chaired by Janice Longstreth, and included Lee Abramson and Vincent Covello. Together we assembled disparate papers into reasonably coherent sessions, prodded authors into getting us manuscrLpts on time, and dealt with all the last minute changes that are required for a major meeting. The Washington chapter of the Society for Risk Analysis hosted the meeting. Dr. Longstreth was president of the chapter during this fateful year and deserves a great deal of thanks for her organizational skills and efforts. Rick Cothern, Jerry Chandler, Kathleen Knox, Sue Perlin, and Paul Price played major roles in organ1z1ng the meeting and making it run smoothly. Special thanks go to Richard J. Burk, Jr. , Executive Secretary of the Society, and his staff for handling the logistics.
This book provides a basis by which instruments and transducers can be selected, assembled and integrated with a computer to measure and control physical processes in an accurate and predictable manner. It consists of two parts, the first of which lays the theoretical foundation for the second. First the Fourier analysis of signals are summarized. Then, from a systems point of view, the following chapters introduce the important aspects of filters, amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters. The second half of the book first discusses in depth the importance of the timing of the computer with its instruments, transducers and actuators. It then summarizes the physical and functional aspects of transducers and actuators and gives numerous detailed examples of how they can be integrated into computer controlled experiments and processes.
In this timely volume, scientists examine examine the physical, structural, and analytical chemistry of fuel combustion. Their contributions also address the issue of combustion efficiency and how air quality can be protected or improved. Supported by numerous illustrations, this volume be appreciated by researchers and students working in various areas of chemistry.
The volume contains the main papers presented at the 1994 EUROTOX Congress, Basel, Switzerland, August 21-24, 1994. Toxicology has become a less descriptive science because more importance has been placed on the mechanisms underlying toxic effects. This is reflected in symposia and workshops devoted to species differences in organ toxicity, receptor-mediated toxicity and stereochemical effects of xenobiotics. Recent progress in the fields of immunotoxicology, ecotoxicology, and neurotoxicology is highlighted and documented together with the present discussion on harmonized regulatory guidelines.
For a long time, lactic acid bacteria have played an indispensable
role in food production. |
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