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The use of geophysical techniques can contribute considerably to the advancement and optimization of subsurface surveys, due to the low costs and time effectiveness. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has great potential to rapidly and non-invasively evaluate soil in sites affected by the Fundão dam collapse, Southeastern Brazil. The objective of this work was to investigate the thickness of the iron ore tailing layer deposited in a stretch of the Gualaxo do Norte River, besides identifying the most efficient electromagnetic frequency for analysis of this type of material. Three antennas (200, 400 and 900 MHz) were used for GPR surveys in three transects. The radargrams were processed with filtering and gain techniques, aiming to improve the signal quality. We could detect three ground reflection zones with different electromagnetic properties, representing, sequentially, the topsoil, the tailing layer, and the C horizon of the original soil, separated by two reflectors representing the boundaries layers. The tailing layer presented an average thickness of approximately 1 m. 200 MHz presented the best results, whose signal reached the greatest penetration depth and detected the entire tailing layer thickness, besides the others layers present. Using field control points, we could observe that the depths obtained with radargrams had 93% of concordance with the actual depths, which is very satisfactory. The results indicate that the 200 MHz antenna is a better option in surveys involving stratification on Technosols constituted by tailings and GPR should be more explored in the evaluation of soil and sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines various laws governing telecommunication installations in Nigeria with a view to addressing the perceived shortcomings in the laws. While the National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency Act (NESREA Act) and the National Communications Commission (NCC Act) have been enacted to solve the problems associated with the effects of telecommunication mast installation in public places, the outcome of these laws seem inadequate for failure to provide effective means of enforcing same. The study considered the provisions of NESREA Act which is the principal Law enacted for ensuring that environ- mental standards are maintained and protected in Nigeria and the provisions of NCC Act which is the law that establishes the principal body which regulates telecommunication installations in Nigeria as well as other legislations. While NESREA in its Regulation provided for a setback of 10 metres, the NCC Act provided for a setback of 5 metres, which often conflicts and put victims at disadvantage and also conflict between the two regulatory bodies. It was observed that serious environmental hazards are linked to installation of tele- communication masts within/close to residential premises. Among these are leukemia, cancer, cracks on the buildings, pollution, such as water, land and air. The problems also include telecommunication masts falling on buildings and sometimes death due to sub- standard materials used in the installation as against the stated standard by the controlling regulatory bodies.

Sludge solubilization is known as a rate-limiting step of anaerobic digestion. Although radio frequency (RF) has been applied for sludge pretreatment due to its similar thermal effect as microwave, the potential non-thermal effects of RF treatment remain controversial. In this study, we demonstrate that RF pretreatment enhances the solubilization and lysis of sludge by 8.02%-19.69% through both thermal and non-thermal mechanisms with less energy input. Scanning electron microscope images provide direct evidence that RF-induced microcurrents penetrated bacterial cells, leading to the release of intracellular substances through formed pores. Additionally, the non-thermal effect of RF treatment which could weaken the cell protection and accelerate the lysis rate involves the disruption of binding forces between extracellular polymeric substances and microbial cells. On average, the utilization of RF at a frequency of 27.12 MHz demonstrates its efficacy as a sludge pretreatment technique, as evidenced by a 13.39% reduction in energy consumption and a 16.9% improvement in treatment performance compared to conductive heating (CH). The findings of this study elucidate the possible mechanism of RF treatment of sludge and could establish a theoretical basis for the practical application of RF treatment in sludge management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Historically, titanium (Ti) has maintained the reputation of being an inert and relatively biocompatible metal, suitable for use in both medical and dental prosthesis. There are many published articles supporting these views, but there is recent scientific evidence that Ti, or its corrosive by‐products, may cause harmful reactions in humans. It is important for all medical and dental professionals to understand the implications, complexities, and all potential pathways of exposure to this metal. These exposures are not only from the environment but also through various commonly used products in medicine that are often completely overlooked. These external (intermittent) and internal (constant) exposures have an impact on whole‐body health. This review examines possible harmful effects, risks, and often ignored potential complications of Ti exposure to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phones are being widely used throughout the world resulting in progressive exposure to electromagnetic frequency generated by them. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the adverse effect of long-term mobile phone usage on auditory brainstem response (ABR). This prospective, crosssectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, in the Departments of Physiology and ENT, Government Medical College, Jammu. The study involved 60 subjects, divided into three groups of 20 each, based on the usage of mobile phone - Group A: Control subjects, Group B: Subjects using mobile phone for 30 minutes/day for 4 years; and Group C: Subjects using mobile phone for 30 minutes/day for 4-8 years. Their ABR was recorded and analyzed for latency of waves I to V, as well as interpeak latencies of I-III, III-V and I-V in milliseconds. There was statistically no significant difference in ABR parameters i.e. latencies of waves and interpeak latencies among groups A, B and C. Similar to earlier studies done, no significant delay in ABR parameters was observed in long-term mobile phone users as compared to Control subjects. The present study suggests that long-term exposure to EMF generated by commercial mobile phones does not produce measurable effect on ABR parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Children today are exposed to cell phones early in life, and may be the most vulnerable if exposure is harmful to health. We investigated the association between cell phone use and hearing loss in children. Methods The Danish National Birth Cohort ( DNBC) enrolled pregnant women between 1996 and 2002. Detailed interviews were conducted during gestation, and when the children were 6 months, 18 months and 7 years of age. We used multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, marginal structural models ( MSM) with inverse-probability weighting, and doubly robust estimation ( DRE) to relate hearing loss at age 18 months to cell phone use at age 7 years, and to investigate cell phone use reported at age 7 in relation to hearing loss at age 7. Results Our analyses included data from 52 680 children. We observed weak associations between cell phone use and hearing loss at age 7, with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals from the traditional logistic regression, MSM and DRE models being 1.21 [95% confidence interval [CI] 0.99, 1.46], 1.23 [95% CI 1.01, 1.49] and 1.22 [95% CI 1.00, 1.49], respectively. Conclusions Our findings could have been affected by various biases and are not sufficient to conclude that cell phone exposures have an effect on hearing. This is the first large-scale epidemiologic study to investigate this potentially important association among children, and replication of these findings is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes the induction-lockin-thermography (ILT) in non-destructive testing (NDT). The defect can be localised and its depth estimated by the phase and the module of the temperature in synchronic regime. Various sources of external energy can be used to excite the heat flux in examined object. In this work the electromagnetic induction is employed to heat the specimen. The interaction of the specimen with the induction stimulation is studied by using the axisymmetric magnetothermal model, which is solved by the finite element method (FEM). This study aims to detect the eventual defect by choosing both parameters, electromagnetic and thermal frequencies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: Children today are exposed to cell phones early in life, and may be at the greatest risk if exposure is harmful to health. We investigated associations between cell phone exposures and headaches in children., Study Design: The Danish National Birth Cohort enrolled pregnant women between 1996 and 2002. When their children reached age seven years, mothers completed a questionnaire regarding the child's health, behaviors, and exposures. We used multivariable adjusted models to relate prenatal only, postnatal only, or both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure to whether the child had migraines and headache-related symptoms., Results: Our analyses included data from 52,680 children. Children with cell phone exposure had higher odds of migraines and headache-related symptoms than children with no exposure. The odds ratio for migraines was 1.30 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.68) and for headache-related symptoms was 1.32 (95% confidence interval: 1.23-1.40) for children with both prenatal and postnatal exposure., Conclusions: In this study, cell phone exposures were associated with headaches in children, but the associations may not be causal given the potential for uncontrolled confounding and misclassification in observational studies such as this. However, given the widespread use of cell phones, if a causal effect exists it would have great public health impact.