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It is already known that heavy metals pollution causes important concern to human and ecosystem health. Heavy metals in soils at the European level represents 37.3% between main contaminates affecting soils (EEA, 2007). This paper illustrates results obtained in the framework of laboratory experiments concerning the evaluation of integrated time-temperature effect in pyrolysis process applied to contaminated soil by two different ways: it is about heavy metals historically contaminated soil from one of the most polluted areas within Romania, and artificially contaminated with PCB-containing transformer oil. In particular, the authors focused on a recent evaluation of pyrolysis efficiency on removing lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) from the contaminated soil. The experimental study evaluated two important parameters related to the studied remediation methodology: thermal process temperature and the retention time in reactor of the contaminated soils. The remediation treatments were performed in a rotary kiln reactor, taking into account three process temperatures (400°C, 600°C and 800°C) and two retention times: 30 min. and 60 min. Completed analyses have focused on pyrolysis solids and gas products. Consequently, both ash and gas obtained after pyrolysis process were subjected to chemical analyses.

In the actual context of limited soil resources and the significant degree of environmental pollution, public administrations and authorities are interested in restoring contaminated sites paying attention to the impact of these soils on human health. This paper aims to present the efficiency of the the incineration as a method for treatment of the contaminated soils t based on human health risk assessment. Through various experimentations, the following metals have been studied: Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cr, Co, Cd, Hg, As and Be. The most important and interesting results concerning both thermal treatment removal efficiency and associated human health risk assessments were achieved concerning Cd, Pb and Ni contaminants. The behavior of Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Nickel (Ni) concentrations from heavy metals incineration soil has been analyzed for three incineration temperatures (600°C, 800°C and 1000°C) and two resident times of soil within the incineration reactor (30 min. and 60 min.). In this case, the level of contaminants in the treated soil can be reduced but not enough to ensure an acceptable risk for human health.

Despite of over 25 years of intensive technological efforts, sub-surface environment cleanup still remains a challenge, especially in case of highly contaminated sites. In this context, ion exchanger technologies could provide simple and effective solutions for heavy metal removal in water treatment. The challenge is finding exchanger able to operate in extreme natural environments or in situations involving natural interfering species such as inorganic ions. In this paper we exam the use of natural zeolites as versatile exchanger for environmental protection of coastal refinery's groundwater against pollution of Ni, Cd, Pb. The influence of particle diameter on clinoptilolite performances toward heavy metal removal is studied. Also, we evaluate the exchanger activities in condition of high ionic strength, commonly present in groundwater located under coastal petrol industries. The obtained results confirmed that ion exchangers could provide an effective solutions for remediation in complex environmental conditions.

Only a few years ago the presence of Reactive Gaseous Mercury (RGM) was believed to be almost exclusively the result of anthropogenic emissions and that sustained high RGM concentrations in the MBL were not considered likely. During the past ten years, an in-depth investigation was carried out in the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) of the Mediterranean Sea to quantify and possibly explain spatial and temporal patterns of Hg-species concentrations. This paper provides an overview of modeling results and atmospheric measurements performed during several cruise campaigns performed aboard the Research Vessel (RV) URANIA of the CNR over the Mediterranean sea basin. RGM concentrations have been modelled using a photochemical box model of the MBL and compared to measured data obtained during the research cruises. The comparison results supports the hypothesis that there are daytime mercury oxidation reactions occurring which have not yet been identified. Major findings of key studies carried out during ten years of ship-borne activities have been highlighted.

The paper presents the study results of mobile forms of Mn, Zn and Cu in irrigated fertilized and unfertilized chernozems typical. Irrigation affects the content and distribution of mobile forms of trace elements, increasing their removal beyond the 150 cm of soil layer. The fertilization increase the migration of Cu until 130 cm, fixed Mn and Zn in 0-60 cm of the irrigated soils. During irrigation constitutes a danger of soil contamination with Mn, Cu and Zn.

The Brazilian phosphate fertilizer is obtained by wet reaction of the igneous phosphate rock with concentrated sulphuric acid, giving as final product phosphoric acid and dehydrated calcium sulphate (phosphogypsum) as by-product. Phosphoric acid is the raw material for the production of phosphate fertilizers (SSP, TSP, MAP and DAP). Phosphogypsum waste is stored in stacks, since its level of impurities (metals and radionuclides among others) prevent its safe reutilization. However, part of this waste is used to improve fertility of agricultural soils. The main aim of this paper is to determine the levels of potentially toxic elements in phosphate fertilizers and phosphogypsum produced in Brazil. The elements Co and Cr were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis and As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn were analyzed by ICP-OES. The results obtained are lower than the limits established by the Brazilian regulatory agency for metals in fertilizers and soil conditioner.

In the environment, mercury undergoes constant changes and gets into soils or waters through atmospheric precipitation. It is quickly sorbed by mineral and organic colloids which occur in water and transported in the form of a suspension or accumulated in bottom sediment. Quality of sediments is an essential indicator of water pollution with this element. The aim of this paper was to an assessment of mercury content in bottom sediments of retention reservoirs in south-eastern Poland. The sediments were analyzed for mercury content. DMA-80 Mercury Analyzer was used for the analysis. The research results showed that average content of Hg in the majority of the studied bottom sediments did not exceed the geochemical background value, the sediments belonged to class 1 (unpolluted sediments). Evaluation of the state of sediments with the use of the geoaccumulation index and the pollution coefficient revealed moderate pollution of bottom sediments of the reservoirs in Rzeszów, Ożanna, Brzóza Stadnicka, Brzóza Królewska, Narożniki, Głuchów and considerable pollution of sediments from Rybnik and Bagna Rzeszowskie. Low mercury content in the studied sediments is generally related to lack of anthropogenic sources of this metal

This paper presents an overview of a lead contamination event that occurred over a period of time in and around Esperance, Western Australia. It also describes the scientific developments necessary to effect the large scale cleanup of lead contamination in the town. This work was possibly the largest environmental cleanup of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. The work undertaken involved characterisation and assessment of the extent of contamination, development of remediation techniques and validation procedures to ensure that that this cleaning had been successful.

The paper contains results of yielding and heavy metal content in Italian ryegrass cultivated in the fourth year of investigations conducted to determine the effect of two sewage sludges and manure applied once (in the first year of the experiment) and four times in the 1st to 4th year of the experiment. A experimental design comprised 8 treatments in 4 replications. Treatment 1 was the control (without fertilization), whereas on treatment 2 exclusively mineral fertilizers were applied. In the first year of the experiment organic fertilization (two different sewage sludges and farmyard manure) were applied on treatments 3-8, whereas in the second, third and fourth year only on variants 6-8. It was done so to make possible checking the residual effect and the effect of cumulated doses of applied organic materials in the subsequent years. Over the next three years of the experiment, the soil in variants 3-5, which was not enriched with organic materials, received mineral fertilization. On the basis of obtained results it was found that four-year sewage sludges and manure fertilization positively affected the amount and quality of Italian ryegrass yield. Total yields obtained on treatments fertilized with organic materials were statistically significantly higher (by about 20%) than the yields obtained on the treatments receiving mineral fertilizers, and twice bigger as compared with the yield from the control variant. Heavy metals contents in tops of Italian ryegrass on treatments with mineral fertilizers (2-5) was significantly higher as compared with the variants receiving organic materials. In the case of cadmium difference reached up to 100%. Contents of the analyzed heavy metals in Italian ryegrass samples, except cadmium, did not exceed values critical for plants destined for animal feed.

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) has been measured at the WMO Global Atmospheric Watch station at Cape Point, South Africa since September 1995. Two techniques were used: a low resolution manual technique till the end of 2004 and a high resolution automated technique since March 2007. The GEM measurements at Cape Point constitute only one component of the GAW monitoring program consisting of continuous measurements of CO, CH4, CO2, O3, N2O, and since March 1999 also of 222Rn. The seasonality and trend of GEM concentrations from the low resolution data was analyzed by Slemr et al. (2008) and the trend of the combined low and high resolution data until the end of 2009 by Slemr et al. (2011). In this paper we will present an updated analysis of the trend and seasonality of GEM data until the end of 2011 and compare these to measurements made at Troll, a Norwegian research station in Antarctica (Pfaffhuber et al., 2012).

In the market of geospatial systems there are several applications that handle data. Some of these components are oriented towards managing and storing data, map visualizations, and data streams, while other components are oriented towards data description and the creation of metadata. Neither of these applications offers users an overview of the process leading to the data creation up to its export to the end user. In the existing literature there are attempts to automate metadating - the term given to descriptions of data. Some companies are also trying an approach that allows, by means of workflow systems, the automation of the creation of a geospatial dataset. As a result, users of geospatial data are increasingly looking for a more structured process of managing geospatial data and metadata, and any tool that handles this process is likely to find reasonable success within this community. Public entities, mainly local ones, are often called on to deal with regulations that require web systems that reveal parameters of any given territory to users/citizens. Likewise, research organizations, especially those dealing with the environment, increasingly find themselves analyzing spatial data. Difficulties that arise when handling such data can be overcome using the approach we are proposing, which involves using a single tool that handles all the necessary steps in exporting spatial data. In this paper we present several methodologies used to manage geospatial data and metadata by means of GeoInt, a middleware tool developed at CNR-IIA that manages geospatial data produced in different research projects. GeoInt is a middleware program offering basic services that permit users to define both data and metadata. It allows users to manage map servers, and allows them to control the download and sharing processes. This research illustrates the ways in which GeoInt has been improved to minimize metadata editing by its users.

Highly structured and refined, but flexible tools are needed to deal with issues as the information management on the web and the semantic interoperability. Many issues in the field of knowledge organisation and information management can be traced back to meaning delimitation. There are opposite needs and tendencies: on one hand there’s the necessity to share a common and stable meaning of the terms in order to guarantee communication within a community. On the other hand, openness to further exploration of meaning should also be ensured to do not impoverish its richness and complexity. The term “benzene” could be defined in different ways. A biologist may consider its toxicity and the different routes on which it can enter an organism. An engineer would consider it as a fuel for combustion engine. A physicist may see it as a volatile and inflammable liquid. A fire brigade can consider benzene as a dangerous inflammable substance that cannot be extinguished by water, but only with foam. A chemist may see it as the precursor of a class of chemical compounds, etc. Benzene could be thus defined in several different ways depending on the context in which it is considered. But we should also underline that all these definitions share a common premise: “benzene” is first of all a substance (that can have toxic effects, be used as fuel, that can also cause accidents, etc.). This semantic trait seems to be unavoidable. Starting from this premise and referring also to suggestions coming from the development of applied ontologies a new environmental thesaurus format containing some innovative elements has been designed and is currently available. The goal is the development of a thesaurus aiming to become an advanced tool to be applied for environmental information management, to sustain environmental policy and research. To achieve this result EARTh has been conceived as a tool able to deal with the specific features of the environment sector (multidisciplinary character, high complexity, bio-cultural implications, etc.). In this paper the EARTh component dealing with environmental pollution and heath is presented.

Atmospheric particulate matter is characterized by a variety of chemical components, generally produced by different sources. Chemical fractionation of elements, namely the determination of their extractable and residual fractions, may reliably increase the selectivity of some elements as tracers of specific PM sources. Seasonal variations of atmospheric particulate matter concentration in PM10 and PM2.5, of elemental concentration in PM10 and PM2.5, of the extractable and residual fraction of elements in different size fractions in the range 0.18 – 18 μm are reported in this paper. The effect of the ageing of the air masses is discussed.

We owe the knowledge concerning the surface water microlayer to the wide research into marine environment and relatively scarce research done into inland city ponds ecosystems. The surface microlayer is a very thin, several hundred micrometers thick layer at the contact of water and atmosphere. This important form of air-water exchange ecotone, which constitutes the surface microlayer of water, is a specific environment as to its chemical and physical characteristics and is different from subsurface waters. It can absorb chemical substances like heavy metals, phytoneuston and bacteria in larger quantities in comparison to lower parts of the water. This characteristic feature results, among others, from the processes of transport at the contact of hydrosphere-atmosphere and also transport within the very area of surface water microlayer. The paper describes transport processes of six heavy metals: Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb from subsurface water to surface water microlayer and vice versa, analyzed in a one year cycle. The transport of chemical substances under consideration was described on a basis of experiments made during the period of one year at five city pounds in Słupsk (Polish Pomerania). During the research, samples of the surface water microlayer were collected by means of application of the Garrett mesh technique. At the same time, samples of subsurface water were collected and tested as to the content of the same parameters as the surface microlayer. Samples were sampled in month intervals. The concentration of aforementioned heavy metals was measured by mass spectrometry method and used Perkin Elmer Elan DRC aparature.

The scope of the paper was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the remediation processes by electrowinning and selective sequential precipitation, for toxic metals removal from acid mine drainage. By electrochemical experiments, high metals removal has been achieved: in particular, by Zn and Mn electrodeposition, it was possible to achieve about 93-99% Zn and Mn removal (as MnO2), with a relatively low energetic consumption. The principle of the heavy metals selective sequential precipitation is the combined application of sodium hydroxide solution and hydrogen sulfide produced by sulfate-reducing bacteria. For the hydrogen sulfide production the sulphate-reducing bacteria of genus Desulfovibrio was used. The selective sequential precipitation process reaches the selective precipitation of chosen metals with 99% efficiency – Fe, As, Al and Mn in the form of metal hydroxides, Cu and Zn as metal sulfides.

This paper presents preliminary findings for a metallomics study of mercury in the muscle of the fish from Amazonas region – Brazil, after protein separation by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and subsequent evaluation of mercury by Thermal Decomposition and Amalgamation Coupled with Atomic Absorption (TTA-CAAS). It was found that mercury is present in 18 protein spots of “dourada” muscle (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii) and 9 protein spots of “pacu” muscle (Myleussp.). The protein spots in which they were determined the presence of mercury present molecular weight of 13.5 and 21.4 kDa and isoelectric point of 3.8 and 9.2, respectively.

An important incentive for scientists and researchers is the recognition and renown given to them in citations of their work. While citation rules are well developed for the use of papers published by others, very little rules are available for the citation of data made available by others. Increasingly, citation of the source of data is also requested in the context of socially relevant topics, such as climate change and its potential impacts. Providing means for data citation would be a strong incentive for data sharing. Georeferenced data are crucial for addressing many of the burning societal problems and to support related interdisciplinary research. The lack of a widely accepted method for giving credit to those who make their data freely available and for tracking the use of data throughout their life-cycle hampers data sharing. Furthermore, only clear and transparent data citation allows other scientists to obtain the identical data to replicate findings or for further research.

In the present paper there have been shown the results of research on yhe content of Zn, Cd, Cu, Mn and Pb in chosen plants of Lake Gardno.The biggest concentration of those metals has been observed in Potamogton natans and Elodea canadensis, on average Zn – 34.9, Pb -2.77, Cd – 0.62, Cu – 3.24 and Mn – 257.4 μg g-1. It has been found that the over-ground parts of the plants under analysis cumulate several times less of heavy metals than their roots. The determined enrichment factors enabled the researchers to state that Cu in the examined plants is of natural origin while Mn, Cd and Zn – of anthropogenic origin.

Electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) is by-product of iron and steel scrap remelting in electric arc furnace. This waste is classified as a hazardous material due to the leaching of heavy metals into the environment. Geopolymeryzation of fly ash into construction materials called - geopolymer is a considering as a possible way of immobilization of heavy metals from EAFD. Mechanical properties and chemical stability of geopolymers are mostly determined by the ratio between main oxides, Na2O, Al2O3 and SiO2. In this paper we have investigated possibility of Pb immobilization from EAFD into the fly ash based geopolymer. Geopolymers are synthesized at different Na2O/Al2O3 and SiO2/Al2O3 ratios. Compressive strength and chemical stability of geopolymers with respect to the leaching of Pb in water according to the EN 12457 regulation were tested. The results have shown that Na2O/Al2O3 and SiO2/Al2O3 ratios have influence on the compressive strength of geopolymers and Pb release in the water environment.

The United Nations Environment Programme Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research Partnership Area (UNEP F&T) started its activity in 2005 and since then have provided a valuable contribution to the UNEP Mercury Programme and established a close cooperation with other international programs (i.e., GEO Task HE-09-02d / GEOSS) and conventions (UNECE-Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution). The UNEP F&T aims to improve the global understanding of international mercury emission sources, fate and transport and to encourage collaborative research activities on different aspects of atmospheric mercury cycling at local, hemispheric and global scales. This paper provides an overview of major recent and future activities carried out by the Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research Partnership Area in the framework of the UNEP Mercury Programme and the ongoing negotiation process for developing a global legally binding instrument on mercury.

Detection of low concentrations of heavy metals in environmental samples is of particular interest because most of them represent persistent, highly toxic pollutants. Cu2+ detection in environmental samples is important because it is typical heavy metal, being an essential element for human beings but at higher concentrations it can create health risks. Due to the accumulation steps involved, anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) is one of the most sensitive techniques used for the detection of low concentrations of metal ions form different environmental samples. In order to minimize sample loss during sample collection, storage and transportation it is of particular interest to perform in situ rapid and reliable routine analysis. In the present paper we describe the use of a simple, disposable pencil graphite electrode (PGE) for the determination of Cu from river water samples by mercury film anodic stripping voltammetry. The investigated water samples were collected during a period of 3 years (2009-2011), from six sampling points situated along the lower part of the Prut River (Romania). ASV measurements were performed in the presence of Hg2+ in 0.1 M HNO3 at a carbon pencil graphite working electrode. Standard addition method was applied for the quantification of Cu2+. The Cu2+ content of the most river water samples analysed exceeded 2 ⎧g/L (MEWM, 2006), the maximum admitted concentration for surface waters, and these could be due to the anthropogenic activities in the region (e.g. the largest steel factory in Romania is located in the vicinity of the sampling area). Samples show an additional importance as the region is included in a protected area, Lower Prut Floodplain Natural Park, and trace elements transfer along the aquatic food chain has been previously documented (Matache et. al, 2012). The results obtained by ASV on PGE agreed well with those obtained by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) using the Romanian standard SR ISO 11885-09. The sensor used in this work has shown some important advantages such being cheap, sensitive and able to generate reproducible results using a simple and direct electrochemical protocol. By using this type of disposable working electrodes and a portable electrochemical analysis system the developed method can be applied to the determination of copper ions directly at the sampling point.

Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) is an approach showing main sources of emission and flows of pollution to the environment, which allows to define possible environmental risk. Total identified mercury emission to air, soil and water in Poland for year 2010 from anthropogenic sources was estimated as 18.0 Mg. Annual Hg emission to air from by-product sources was equal 13.5 Mg, with the highest share of emission from brown coal-fired power plants. Mercury contained in combustion residues and removed from flue gases is transferred to waste waters, disposed to landfills and used to a concrete production with unknown amounts. Annual mercury emission to air from the use of mercury-containing products (0.5 Mg) was estimated by authors based on model for distribution and emissions for batteries, light sources, other electrical and electronic equipment and also for measuring and control equipment. Emission to air from dental practice (0.3 Mg) was estimated for combustion of wastes containing dental amalgam and from bodies cremation. SFA for the use of mercury-containing products and dental practice presents significant load of 10.4 Mg mercury contained in hazardous wastes produced annually. It covers wastes of used products, dental amalgam wastes directly from clinics as well as stream from incineration of infectious dental wastes. In the paper mercury discharges to water from large and medium industrial facilities (2.9 Mg) and municipal waste-water treatment plants in large agglomerations (0.4 Mg) are presented. Smaller loads are generates by leachate transfer from municipal landfills to WWTPs and further to agriculture and also by releases from dental amalgam in buried bodies. The paper indicates lack of information in SFA which should be regarded, mainly concerning mercury releases from municipal landfills to water and soil and emissions from municipal WWTPs to air.

The current paper combines the results of two Sixth Framework Program EU research projects aimed at developing and testing methods for integrated assessment of health risks from environmental stressors, i.e. the INTARESE and the HEIMTSA project, both of which covered a case study on environmental lead. The INTARESE case study on lead in Europe was meant to illustrate the use of the Integrated Monitoring Framework Strategy to assess the health outcome of environmental pollution by evaluating the associations between lead in various environmental compartments (air, soil, dust, drinking water and diet) and lead concentrations in blood (B-Pb) for various age-related sub-populations. The case study was aimed to investigate whether environmental, exposure and biomonitoring data at general population level, covering all EU member states, could be integrated. The HEIMTSA case study on the other hand involved the full chain assessment from policy drivers to health effect quantification of lead exposure through locally produced food on loss of IQ in pre-school children at the population level across the EU-27, including monetary valuation of the estimated health impact. Main policy scenarios cover the period from 2000 to 2020 and include the most important Community policy developments expected to affect the environmental release of lead (Pb) and corresponding human exposure patterns. Three distinct scenarios were explored: the emission situation based on 2000 data, a business-as-usual scenario (BAU) up to 2010 and 2020 and a scenario incorporating the most likely technological change expected (Most Feasible Technical Reductions, MFTR) in response to current and future legislation. Analysing environmental data, significant correlations were found between B-Pb and the concentrations of Pb in air and diet. The significant decrease of the Pb in air over time from 0.31 μg/m3 (P95: 0.94; n=98) prior to 1990 to 0.045 μg/m3 (P95:0.11; n=256) in 2007 (latest observations included) (Δ=−85%) corresponds to a decline in B-Pb by 48% and 57% in adult women and adult men, respectively. The corresponding decline in B-Pb in primary school children is 32%. The observed B-Pb levels (biomonitoring data) for each age category from the INTARESE project were translated into an average loss of IQ points/individual using the methodology developed in the HEIMTSA project based on a literature survey, i.e. using an empirical relationship based on a meta-analysis performed by Schwartz (1994). The calculated losses in IQ points were subsequently further translated into the average cost/child using a cost estimate of €10.000 per loss of IQ point based on data from a literature review. In applying the methodology for estimating the health impact and monetary valuation of IQ loss developed during the HEIMTSA project to the INTARESE biomonitoring data, we estimate the societal benefit from the reduction strategies implemented to decrease environmental lead levels in Europe for primary-school children, representing a vulnerable population, to amount to 2.5x1011 Euro at EU27 level.

Heavy metals can cause adverse effects to humans, animals and ecosystems due to their bioavailability and toxicity in various environmental compartments. In the last decades, many policy strategies and measures have been taken at global, regional and local level in relation to heavy metals, due to their adverse effects and ability to be transported over long distances. Several EU measures have been adopted in order to control the pollution from heavy metals in the main sectors. This paper will provide an overview of trends of emissions, air concentrations and atmospheric depositions of heavy metals in Italy and of the main relevant EU legislation and its goals (Directives on paints, batteries, industrial emissions, etc.) together with policies adopted at Italian level.

The chlorophyll fluorescence imaging technique is a valuable tool to study the impact of heavy metal stress in plants. The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of Cd on photosynthetic apparatus of white cabbage (Brassica oleracea subsp. capitata f. alba) plants. Two cabbage cultivars ‘Ditmarska Najwcześniejsza’ (‘DN’; early) and ‘Amager Polana’ (‘AP’; late) were used. Cd was applied before planting seedlings (10 mg Cd kg−1 DM of soil).. Measurements were performed at the 3rd leaf after 2 weeks of planting. The level of Cd-induced stress to plants was estimated by chlorophyll (Chl) content (photometrically) and analyses of images and numeric values of the major fluorescence parameters of Chl (Chl fluorescence imaging system FluorCam). Cd negatively affected the chlorophyll content and Fv/Fm, Fv’/Fm’, Φ PSII and qP in leaves of early cultivar of white cabbage. However, in the case of late cv. we did not observe such distinct changes. It suggests that late cultivars. are more resistant to Cd than the early ones. Considering methodological aspect of the study, Chl fluorescence imaging can better reveal some alterations within the leaf, because numeric values of specific parameters, which are the averaged data collected from the whole leaf, cannot reflect the tissue specificity. Abbreviations: HM – heavy metal, Cd – cadmium, Chl – chlorophyll, Fv/Fm – photochemical efficiency of PSII in the dark-adapted state, F‘v’/F‘m’ – PSII maximum efficiency, Φ PSII – quantum efficiency of PSII electron transport, NPQ – nonphotochemical quenching of maximal Chl fluorescence, qP – photochemical quenching coefficient.

In the present paper studied cumulation Ca, Na, K, Mg, Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Al and Fe in hair of sick persons (arterial hypertension, hypofunction of kidneys, arteriosclerosis) and healthy persons. Contents of selected metals were found to be significant higher in the hair of ill persons compared with those of healthy persons, with the exception of Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn. The concentrations of Fe, Zn, Ca and Mg in hair were observed to decrease with age of healthy and sick persons and concentrations Pb and Cd increased with age those. The ratios of individuals metals concentrations in hair changed depending on age too.

Low-Cost Flat Housing is the housing for low income group.. It began with a flat which has two bedrooms in each unit, then it was increased three bedrooms. The three bedrooms flat has to fit the floor area of 650 square feet, in which was later revised to 700 square feet. Small overall floor area which comes with small budget allocated for its construction, could lead to poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in low-cost flat, if not properly designed. This paper discusses on the occupants’ satisfaction perception of IEQ of a low cost flat in Kampung Teras Jernang, Selangor. The methodologies used in this study are site observation and questionnaire survey. This study concludes that the IEQ in the selected low-cost flat has acceptably fulfilled the needs and quality required by the occupants. However, there is a factor that the building occupants have expressed poor perception, which is the noise pollution.

This paper focuses on the contribution factors of building defects in Malaysian school buildings. There are several building defects commonly found in Malaysia school buildings. In fact, building defects are becoming ordinary phenomena in the construction industry which results in negative impacts on schools, in the means of building performance, health and safety aspects and overall environment conditions as well as teaching and learning processes. Thus, a study is planned to identify the common building defects faced by school buildings in Kedah, Malaysia. Then, a thorough inspection is conducted and the respective defects are recorded with the aid of photographic. As the outcomes from the interview between researcher and person-in-charge from some schools, the main factors contributing to those building defects had been determined. Besides, appropriate mitigation solutions on the building defects have been offered, which are extremely essential in retaining a healthy and serviceable school building.

A home is one of the basic human needs, thus a new concept known as Grow Home has risen. This concept was established to encourage more families to buy their own houses. The Grow Home concept is based on the notion of affordable housing. This paper aims to explore a proposal for affordable housing measurement with six assessment components. In other words, this work intends to study factors that can affect affordable housing assessment. In this paper, we investigated the 20 criteria for affordable housing assessment given by Mulliner and Maliene in their study. Then, we rearranged these criteria into five components, and added the Grow Home component. Each component has different criteria. Finally, six affordable housing measurement components are identified, namely, income ratios, loans and accommodations, facilities and services, safety and comfort, quality management, and Grow Home. These components are also considered as main factors that directly affect affordable housing. This study aspires to contribute to existing literature by proposing six assessment components as a measurement of affordable housing.

The delivery performance of the low cost housing is questioned since the occupants are prone towards safety hazards in the housing complex, such as structural instability and falling building fragments. Without defining the occupants’ requirements for the development of low cost housing, the prevailing safety factors are hard to be determined. This paper explores the rationale of safety performance assessment in the low cost housing by considering the occupants’ participation to achieve a better safety provision during occupancy period. Questionnaire survey was distributed to 380 occupants of the low cost housing in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. The result shows that 80.8% of the respondents had expressed their dissatisfaction with the safety performance of the lift. By referring to the mode of ranking level, the most significant aspect rated by the respondents is Building Safety Features, with 51.6% respondents. The attained aspects can be fundamental parameters which can be considered in the future development of low cost housing.

One of the early objectives of high-density low-cost flat housing is to overcome the squatter problems in urban areas such as in Kuala Lumpur. As the country progresses towards being a developed nation, the quality and standard of living of its people have also improved. Low-cost flat housing initiative has also gone through changes to provide better living quality. This paper discusses on the occupants’ satisfaction perception of outdoor environmental quality (OEQ) of a selected high-density low-cost flat housing located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The objective of the paper is to obtain the level of perception by the occupants of low-cost flats on the OEQ. The methodologies used in this study are site observation and questionnaire survey. This study found that the OEQ in the low-cost flat has generally fulfilled the five out of 6 elements of OEQ. The only element that found to have poor perception is the level of safety.

Heat is the process of energy circulation and replacement of air from hot to cold. In tropical climates, more heat is received because of the location of Malaysia of the equatorial line. Excessive heat in buildings causes discomfort to the occupants in tropical climate. Tropical rainforest climate receives higher solar radiation and terrestrial radiation reaching the building envelopes contributes to this problem. The design of the building should be more concern on reducing this heat. This paper provides a review of heat contribution in a terraced house indoor environment for tropical climate. A good comfortable home is part of the sustainable development agenda to improve the quality of life. Terraced houses are the most living quarters in mass living scheme for urban areas. The incoming solar energy from the sun into the building surface cannot be changed, therefore a consideration of passive building design need to be applied in terraced house design. Data collection gathered from this literature survey will assist to identify problems of discomfort occupant. This strategy would assist in improving the building industry in promoting sustainable development in Malaysia.

Triple Bottom Line of the Green Agenda 21 is essential in meeting the sustainability needs of the present and future generations in any University system. The paper reviewed existing campus sustainability issues along the Triple Bottom Line factors of People, Planet and Profit which largely overlooked the brown agenda 21 of Equitable, Viable and Bearable factors. In order that a sustainable teaching and learning process take place, the paper argued that the pursuit of Environmental, Social and Economic concerns are to be integrated with human welfare issues of Equity, Viability and Bear ability. To achieve the above objective, the researcher’s employed visual observations on the interactions between human and the biophysical environment as well as the use of relevant literature. The findings of the study showed that a sustainably holistic campus can be achieved if the University improved on the integration of its environmental concern and human welfare issues. This study underscores the importance of care of human resources for being what they are and not a commodity. The implication of the later negates the principles of fairness, equity and justice. The paper concluded that in order to have a holistic approach to campus sustainability, the welfare of the University community should be of paramount importance.

Problems associated with fragmentation in the traditional construction process, such as isolation of professionals, lack of co-ordination between design and construction, and the sequential manner of its processes, has impacted on construction performance leading to a lack of integration, wastage, low productivity and efficiency. Integrated team practice is perceived as paramount. Unfortunately, there has a limitation of study focus on the dimension of fully integrated team especially for Malaysian Industrialised Building System (IBS) projects. Accordingly, this research paper explores and identifies the dimension of fully integrated team from the traditional approach and conduct a validation process for implementing it in Malaysian IBS projects. The research presented uses interviews case study to obtain qualitative data. It was found that the dimension of fully integrated team from the traditional construction process could apply to the Malaysian IBS projects. Suggestions on how an integrated team practice in IBS design and construction process in order to minimise the fragmentation gaps will be concluded.

Designers and clients alike are now emphasising on how to make their buildings green. Currently a lot of green councils worldwide are dealing with innovative ways to implement energy efficient new buildings. They have adopted various criteria and rating systems in an endeavour to classify buildings that contribute to environment sustainability, efficiency and users health. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of the criteria adopted by selected green building councils. This paper discusses five of the rating systems available in terms of their similarities and differences and proposes a new framework based on the project life cycle for the development of the green building criteria. Criteria during the construction phase of the building is certainly lacking such as pollution control in terms of CO2 emission, dust, and other pollutants.

The Malaysian construction industry significantly contributes as an empowerment to its development vision of 2020 by reducing 40% of carbon emission. Moreover, this industry accounts as a threat to the environment, not only in terms of consumption of natural resources but also in emitting million tons of carbon emission annually. In fact, Malaysia is categorized the 30th in the world's ranking in carbon emission level. To mitigate the raise of carbon emission level from the buildings construction, several studies identified some of the effective carbon emission assessment tools for construction projects but it is lack of implementation in Malaysia. The green building index (GBI), Malaysian CIB Report has been introduced to assist the construction stakeholders in reducing the level of carbon emission and the impact of buildings on the environment. This paper presents an analysis of carbon emission from housing projects and office buildings in order to identify and quantify the main sources of carbon emission for each project and it proposes environmental friendly materials as replacement for conventional construction materials to achieve the implementation of sustainability in Malaysia.

This paper presents a comprehensive statistical research on the effect of construction cost estimating software’s features towards estimating job performance. The objectives of this study are identification of cost estimating software features, analyzing the significant relation of cost estimating software’s features towards job performance, Explore the problem faced during the implementation and lastly propose a plan to improve the cost estimating software usage among contractors in Malaysia. The study statistically reveals four features of cost estimating software that significantly impact towards changes in cost estimating job performance. These features were refined by performing interview to focus group of respondent to observe the actual possible problems during the implementation. Eventually, the proposed improvement plan was validated by the focus group of respondents to enhance the cost estimating software implementation among contractors in Malaysia.

The development of Malaysia’s economy gives the opportunities for companies to explore and operate overseas. A company has to ensure that the selected individuals are willing to work abroad, have high perseverance and always ready to meet challenges. The success of implementing the overseas assignment does not solely depend on technical expertise. It also depends on non-technical issues such as the ability to interact with colleagues at work, adaptability to the new environment and openness to the local culture. Past studies found 65% of the companies indicated that 5% of their expatriates returned prematurely from their assignment. This research, however, proved that non-technical factor such as work adjustment ought to be considered by the company. One of the non-technical factors that contribute to the failure is the expatriate’s inability to adapt to the new environment. This paper will also look into the factors that are faced by the expatriates during expatriation. The findings are obtained from empirical study and 64 respondents from Malaysian expatriate executives overseas. Suggestions and recommendations are given to improve the work adjustment of the expatriates.

The implementation of green roofs or vegetated roof as a sustainable tool to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect is relatively new in Malaysia. Although it has not been tested on an urban scale, many research findings have indicated that green roofs can contribute towards enhancing the environmental and aesthetical quality of the built environment. It was hypothesized that the low application of green roofs in the Malaysian construction industry is due to the lack of awareness, understanding and experience in its benefits especially among building practitioners. As a result, this research was initiated to determine the perception and understanding of Malaysian architects in green roofs implementation issues, as well as to identify their level of acceptance and readiness. This paper reviews practices and different research approaches in understanding the factors that influence architect’s perception towards the implementation of green roofs in the Malaysian construction industry. Architects were chosen as the only respondents due to their intensive involvement in the conceptualisation, planning, design and construction stage of a built environment project. Extensive literature review was conducted to explore past experiences in green roof implementation and to develop the theoretical framework for this research.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been considered as a solution in construction industry to numerous problems such as delays, increased lead in times and increased costs. This is due to the concept and characteristic of BIM that will reshaped the way construction project teams work together to increase productivity and improve the final project outcomes (cost, time, quality, safety, functionality, maintainability, etc.). As a result, the construction industry has witnesses numerous of BIM software available in market. Each of this software has offers different function, features. Furthermore, the adoption of BIM required high investment on software, hardware and also training expenses. Thus, there is indentified that there is a need of decision aid for appropriated BIM software selection that fulfill the project needs. However, research indicates that there is limited study attempt to guide decision in BIM software selection problem. Thus, this paper highlight the importance of decision making and support for BIM software selection as it is vital to increase productivity, construction project throughout building lifecycle.

Nowadays, increasing of energy consumption due to global warming issues such as heat island effects has attracted the awareness of researchers, architects, engineers, property developers, and authorities to the crucial of green construction or sustainable development concept. Energy efficiency has been identified as a key consideration in discussions of this concept. In term of energy, Malaysia ranked 33rd in the list of global electricity consumption and 25th in the list of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. If energy consumption continues to increase at its current rate, domestic petroleum reserve in Peninsular Malaysia is predicted to be depleted by 2014 and Sarawak by 2020 [1]. As responding to the increasing of energy consumption, the demand of green roof technology as passive cooling technique has been recognized worldwide. Generally, by greening the rooftops in urban area, the impact on the urban climate and microclimate as well as on the indoor climate of buildings beneath them will be reduced. Therefore, this paper systematically review the concepts of green roof to give a basic understanding as global. Discussion on the benefits of this concept and its components among topic will be discussed.

Malaysia’s carbon emissions grew by +235.6% from 1990 to 2005, largely due to an increase in national energy demand of 210.7% from 1990 to 2004. This unparalleled carbon emission growth, along with business-as-usual (BAU) practices will put Malaysia at high risk for carbon lock-in and a very unsustainable path of development. Malaysia clearly needs to make significant and urgent changes in its policy, economy, industries and lifestyle in order to reduce its climate change impacts. In 2010 Malaysia announced a voluntary commitment to reduce 40% of its greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 2020 (from 1990 levels). Without emissions mitigation and conservation policies, Malaysia is unlikely to meet its emissions reduction targets. Presently, Malaysia has no energy efficiency legislation in its growing building sector. This paper reviews existing building policies and energy efficiency measures in Malaysia and highlights the need to implement mandatory energy efficiency building codes in reducing the sector’s impact on climate change.

This paper focuses on a small fault zone (too small to be detected by geophysical imaging) affecting a carbonate reservoir composed of porous and low-porous layers. In a gallery located at 250-m depth in the Underground Low Noise Laboratory, hydraulic properties of a 20-m thick section of the reservoir affected by the studied fault are characterized by structural measurements and by a hydraulic injection in boreholes. Main result is that the damage zone displays contrasted permeability values (up to two orders of magnitude) inherited from the differential alteration of the intact rock layers. To characterize the impact of these hydraulic properties variations on the flow of fluids, numerical simulations of supercritical CO2 injections were performed with the TOUGH2 code. It appears, the permeability variations inside the fault zone favor the appearance of high fluid overpressure located in the layers having the highest permeability and storativity.

The recent progress of human kind has so far been strongly related to the use of fossil fuels. Nowadays, the uncontrolled growth of their use is producing a series of threats such as local pollution, global warming, and the unbalance between their growing demand and their progressive depletion is creating serious geopolitical frictions which may put at risk our civilization. While the nuclear option is seriously questioned in the Western world, the growth of renewable energy sources (RES) is creating the illusion that they may just replace fossil fuels and become a sort of panacea overcoming all aforementioned threats. Some of the shortcomings of this way of thinking are underlined in this paper. Actually, the correct answer is a combination of two factors: on one side the use of renewable energy sources, but on the other side the adoption of energy efficiency measures in order to rationalize the energy demand.

In this historical moment, technology can guarantee transport systems some good solutions which seems to be quite in line with actual needs, by improving efficiency of engines (ICEs) or of travels or even rationalizing the consumption of related activities by using ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) and by developing systems which can be sustainable through their whole life-cycle (LCC). Main results of the paper can be synthesised in pursuing the independence from the main source transport systems are based on, which is a nearly-monopoly, and use of lower unitary energy in motorised mobility in order to reduce the fuel consumption per person or per ton and – consequently – the emissions. This aim can be pursued either through higher capacity transport modes (e.g. trains, metros and automated people movers), yet guaranteeing as far as possible vehicles loaded more than their break-even in energy, or with a low level of black-oil energy used for vehicles: e.g., FEV, PHEV, natural gas for heavy-duty vehicles. The WTW analysis synthesises most of this idea.

This paper’s focus is to reflect on the global growth of urban areas, according to number and size of inhabitants and also according to the environmental, social, cultural and economic impact of this phenomenon. If city growth is an issue which addresses mainly developing countries such as China, India or the states in South America, the features acquired by urbanisation in the OCSE countries, currently undergoing economic and demographic contraction, lead towards a territorial dispersion of the built up areas with serious consequences especially in terms of soil use, pollution and loss of site identity. Thus, the solutions proposed by the various national and supranational programmes intended to guide global urbanisation to a greater sustainability must be differentiated between countries with fully developed economies from those whose economy is currently on the rise, and must also actively involve the local communities.

The present paper describes the investigation activities on the ground areas of a territory falling within the SIN Domitian Phlegrean and Agro Aversano Coast. It summarizes the general characteristics of the study area and the history of the human activities undertaken over time that may have caused a hazard to the environmental matrices. The results of sampling and analysis activities are shown with the evaluation of non-compliance with law requirements (acceptable limit values of concentration in the soil, subsoil and groundwaters).

Geopolymeraization technology is recognized as a promising method for immobilization of heavy metals by the stabilization or solidification process. This process involves the chemical reaction of alumino-silicate oxides with highly alkaline activator yielding the new material with amorphous or semi-amorphous structure, called geopolymer. Fly ash and blast furnace slag were mainly used as a raw material for geopolymerization process. In this paper we have investigated the possibility of immobilization of Zn from electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) through geopolymerization of fly ash and possibility of Zn2+ adsorption from waste waters using fly ash based geopolymers. Efficacy of Zn immobilization from electric arc furnace dust was evaluated by TCLP test while the immobilization of Zn2+ ions from the water solution was evaluated through the removal efficiency. The results have shown that geopolymerization process may successfully be used for immobilization of Zn by stabilization of EAFD and for production of low cost adsorbent for waste water treatment.

This paper describes a new comparison and determination for demonstrating the levels of Al, Cd and Pb in cow’s tail hair between Tehran as a polluted area and Semnan as an area free from pollution. The hair samples were collected from a total 227 apparently healthy lactating cows above 3 years of age. This includes 165 cows reared in industrial and urban area (Tehran) and 62 cows reared in area supposed to be free from pollution (Semnan). Prior to analysis, samples were washed with 0.1M HCl, acetone and deionized water. The hair samples were digested afterward in a mixture of nitric and perchloric acid mixture (HNO3:HCLO4=4:1 v/v). Concentrations of all metals were assessed by flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer.

Downstream turbines in a wind farm often operate under the influence of wakes from upstream turbines. Aerodynamic losses and aeromechanical issues (stochastic loads) associated with such wake-turbine interactions have been investigated before. However, the role such interactions play in the generation of aerodynamic noise has not been evaluated. This paper presents a two-step approach for predicting noise due to wake-turbine interaction. The first step involves an aerodynamic analysis of a wind farm using large eddy simulations. Time accurate data and turbulence statistics in the turbine wakes are obtained from this simulation just ahead of the downstream wind turbines. The second step uses the turbulence information with aeroacoustic models to predict radiated noise in the far field. Simulation results of two simplified model problems corresponding to these two steps are presented in this paper.