Toxicity of Workplace Aluminum Particles: Insights from Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Tests in Soil Mixtures

Lifestyle changes have led to increasing use of alternative materials in building construction, fabrication of furniture and household appliances. Apart from the associated light weight and aesthetics, Aluminum products endure various pressures that range from climatic factors to pest attacks; hence, they are more durable than wood and other conventional materials. Activities of fabricators are widespread in many Nigerian cities and these result in traces of Aluminum particles derived from cutting, shaping and surface filing. The resulting recalcitrant dust particles can exert adverse consequences on biota. Therefore, this study examined the effects of different levels of Aluminum particles on earthworm in soil mixtures by assessing their behaviour, mobility and mortality in a five-week ecotoxicity test. Worms became sluggish after only two-week exposure and this culminated in loss of mobility and ultimately mortality in exposed organisms. Mortality of worms was highest (80 – 100%) in soil mixtures with the most proportion of Aluminum particles and decreased correspondingly with contaminant levels. However, there was no mortality of worms in soil mixtures without any Aluminum particles. Lethal concentration (LC50) values of 2.564g/kg, 0.995g/kg and 0.851/kg were determined at two, four and five weeks, respectively. The results suggest that worms in the course of foraging in soil, can internalize contaminating Aluminum particles, which may lead to adverse consequences in exposed population. Considering the role of earthworms in breakdown of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling, indiscriminate disposal of Aluminum particles across various landscapes may have consequences on soil fertility, food security and sustainability

An error correction approach to modelling beef supply response in South Africa

This study modelled the supply response of beef in South Africa using the Error Correction Model (ECM). The ECM was the preferred model because it corrects for some of the limitations observed in previous studies that investigated the supply response of beef in South Africa. Using rainfall, real producers' price of beef, lamb, pork, chicken, yellow maize, imports and cattle population to represent climatic, economic, trade and demographic factors, respectively, as identified in the literature, the supply response of beef in South Africa was modelled as the number of cattle marketed for slaughtering. This article confirms that beef producers in South Africa respond to economic, climatic, trade and demographic factors in the long-run. In the short-run, however, the article shows that cattle marketed for slaughtering are responsive to climatic factors (i.e. rainfall) and imports of beef. Animal demographics, producer price of yellow maize and the producer price of beef were found not to have a short-run effect on cattle marketed for slaughtering

Entanglement fidelity for electron–electron interaction in strongly coupled semiclassical plasma and under external fields

This letter presents the effects of AB-flux field and electric field on electron–electron interaction, encircled by a strongly coupled semiclassical plasma. We found that weak external fields are required to perpetuate a low-energy elastic electron–electron interaction in a strongly coupled semiclassical plasma. The entanglement fidelity in the interaction process has been examined. We have used partial wave analysis to derive the entanglement fidelity. We found that for a weak electric field, the fidelity ratio for electron–electron interaction increases as the projectile energy increases, but remains constant or almost zero for a strong electric field. Our results provide invaluable information on how the efficiency of entanglement fidelity for a low-energy elastic electron–electron interaction in a strongly coupled semiclassical plasmacan be influenced by the presence of external field