Behavior of silts mixed with sludge rich in diatoms and organic matter content

La alta generación de lodos, tanto de plantas potabilizadoras como depuradoras, es una problemática ambiental de gran interés en la actualidad. En la actualidad existe una tendencia de aprovechar estos lodos, bajo ciertas normativas que regulan su uso. Este trabajo presenta las principales propiedades físicas, químicas y mineralógicas de los lodos generados en la planta potabilizadora de agua ?Suquía? de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Estos lodos, con un muy alto contenido de agua, en la actualidad se disponen con los residuos sólidos urbanos de la ciudad. El propósito de este trabajo es discutir las posibles alternativas de tratamiento de los lodos con el objeto de densificar los mismos y analizar su potencial uso como material inerte en mezclas de suelo-lodo. Las características estudiadas incluyen propiedades físicas, medición de granulometría, superficie específica, microscopía de barrido electrónico, análisis químicos y contenido de materia orgánica. En particular, se evalúa cómo la presencia de lodo afecta el comportamiento de limos recompactados con el objeto de poder construir terraplenes con este material. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los lodos generados en la planta de tratamiento de agua pueden ser mezclados de manera segura con los suelos locales y utilizados en varias aplicaciones geotécnicas.he significant amount of sludge, even from water treatment or waste water treatment plants, is a important environmental issue. There is a tendency to reuse this material nowadays, under different regulations that restrict their usage. This work presents relevant physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the sludge from the “Suquía” water treatment plant in Cordoba city, Argentine. The sludge has a significant amount of water and, even that, is currently being disposed with municipal solid wastes. The purpose of this research is to present different alternative uses for the sludge and to analyze its use as inert material in soil-sludge mixtures. Characterization consists of measurements of physical properties, particle size, specific surface, scanning electronic microscope, chemical analysis and organic matter. Mixtures of silt with different amounts of the sludge material were tested to evaluate their potential use as a construction material for slides and embankments. Obtained results show that the sediments generated in the water treatment plant can be safely mixed with local soils and used for different geotechnical applications.Fil: Francisca, Franco Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Camara, Osvaldo Raul. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Van Der Velde, Guido Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Tapping into non-English-language science for the conservation of global biodiversity.

The widely held assumption that any important scientific information would be available in English underlies the underuse of non-English-language science across disciplines. However, non-English-language science is expected to bring unique and valuable scientific information, especially in disciplines where the evidence is patchy, and for emergent issues where synthesising available evidence is an urgent challenge. Yet such contribution of non-English-language science to scientific communities and the application of science is rarely quantified. Here, we show that non-English-language studies provide crucial evidence for informing global biodiversity conservation. By screening 419,679 peer-reviewed papers in 16 languages, we identified 1,234 non-English-language studies providing evidence on the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation interventions, compared to 4,412 English-language studies identified with the same criteria. Relevant non-English-language studies are being published at an increasing rate in 6 out of the 12 languages where there were a sufficient number of relevant studies. Incorporating non-English-language studies can expand the geographical coverage (i.e., the number of 2° × 2° grid cells with relevant studies) of English-language evidence by 12% to 25%, especially in biodiverse regions, and taxonomic coverage (i.e., the number of species covered by the relevant studies) by 5% to 32%, although they do tend to be based on less robust study designs. Our results show that synthesising non-English-language studies is key to overcoming the widespread lack of local, context-dependent evidence and facilitating evidence-based conservation globally. We urge wider disciplines to rigorously reassess the untapped potential of non-English-language science in informing decisions to address other global challenges. Please see the Supporting information files for Alternative Language Abstracts

Comportamiento mecánico de limos loéssicos mezclados con lodos de plantas de tratamiento de agua con altos contenidos de diatomeas y materia orgánica

La alta generación de lodos, tanto de plantas potabilizadoras como depuradoras, es una problemática de gran interés en la actualidad. En la actualidad existe una tendencia de aprovechar estos lodos, bajo ciertas normativas que regulan un manejo sustentable. Este trabajo presenta las principales propiedades físicas, químicas y mineralógicas de los lodos generados en la planta potabilizadora de agua “Suquía” de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Estos lodos, con un muy alto contenido de agua, son un residuo cuyo potencial valor requiere ser estudiado. En este trabajo se discuten las posibles alternativas de tratamiento de los lodos con el objeto de densificar los mismos y se analiza su potencial como material inerte en mezclas de suelo-lodo. Las características estudiadas incluyen propiedades físicas, químicas, mineralógicas y geotécnicas. En particular, se evalúa cómo la presencia de lodo afecta el comportamiento de limos recompactados con el objeto de poder construir terraplenes con este material. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los lodos generados en la planta de tratamiento de agua pueden ser mezclados de manera segura con los suelos locales y utilizados en varias aplicaciones geotécnicas.The generation and disposal of sludge from water treatment and waste water treatment plants pay the attention of many researchers and practitioners. There is a tendency to reuse this material in many places around the world. This work presents relevant physical and mechanical properties of the sludge from a water treatment plant in Cordoba city, Argentine. The sludge has a significant amount of water and, even that, is currently being disposed with municipal solid wastes. The purpose of this research is to characterize the main physicochemical properties and mechanical behavior in order to find alternative uses for this material. Characterization consists of measurements of particle size, specific surface, scanning electronic microscope, chemical analysis, organic matter and water content (direct and indirect measurements). Then, mixtures of the local soil with different contents of the sludge material were tested to evaluate their potential use as a construction material for slides and embankments. Obtained results show that the sediments generated in the water treatment plant can be safely mixed with local soils and used for many geotechnical applications.Fil: Francisca, Franco Matias. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Camara, Osvaldo Raul. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Van de Velde Blandón, Germán José. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentin

Changes in surgicaL behaviOrs dUring the CoviD-19 pandemic. The SICE CLOUD19 Study

BACKGROUND: The spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus, which causes COVID-19 disease, profoundly impacted the surgical community. Recommendations have been published to manage patients needing surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey, under the aegis of the Italian Society of Endoscopic Surgery, aims to analyze how Italian surgeons have changed their practice during the pandemic.METHODS: The authors designed an online survey that was circulated for completion to the Italian departments of general surgery registered in the Italian Ministry of Health database in December 2020. Questions were divided into three sections: hospital organization, screening policies, and safety profile of the surgical operation. The investigation periods were divided into the Italian pandemic phases I (March-May 2020), II (June-September 2020), and III (October-December 2020).RESULTS: Of 447 invited departments, 226 answered the survey. Most hospitals were treating both COVID-19-positive and -negative patients. The reduction in effective beds dedicated to surgical activity was significant, affecting 59% of the responding units. 12.4% of the respondents in phase I, 2.6% in phase II, and 7.7% in phase III reported that their surgical unit had been closed. 51.4%, 23.5%, and 47.8% of the respondents had at least one colleague reassigned to non-surgical COVID-19 activities during the three phases. There has been a reduction in elective (>200 procedures: 2.1%, 20.6% and 9.9% in the three phases, respectively) and emergency (<20 procedures: 43.3%, 27.1%, 36.5% in the three phases, respectively) surgical activity. The use of laparoscopy also had a setback in phase I (25.8% performed less than 20% of elective procedures through laparoscopy). 60.6% of the respondents used a smoke evacuation device during laparoscopy in phase I, 61.6% in phase II, and 64.2% in phase III. Almost all responders (82.8% vs. 93.2% vs. 92.7%) in each analyzed period did not modify or reduce the use of high-energy devices.CONCLUSION: This survey offers three faithful snapshots of how the surgical community has reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic during its three phases. The significant reduction in surgical activity indicates that better health policies and more evidence-based guidelines are needed to make up for lost time and surgery not performed during the pandemic