Toxic metal immobilization in contaminated sediment using bentonite- and kaolinite-supported nano zero-valent iron

This paper reports from a pilot study conducted in an ongoing research project focusing on how users and their needs are being part of the development of smart grid services. The project aims to explore how development and use of services related to smart grids in homes might affect practices involving electricity consumption. The empirical material centers around an urban development project with a focus on social sustainability. So far only preliminary remarks can be made, and these points to that smart grid services are not in the center of attention, but rather taken for granted, and that the users are rather absent from the discussions. This indicates that the practices of which electricity consumption are part are not taken into consideration, but instead it is taken for granted that users shall adjust their needs based on information about electricity consumption patterns and prices

Can we associate environmental footprints with production and consumption using Monte Carlo simulation? Case study with pork meat

BACKGROUND: Growing population demands more animal protein products. Pork remains one of the traditional and relatively sustainable types of meats for human consumption. In this paper, life-cycle assessment was performed using data from 12 pig farms. In parallel, a survey on the consumption of pork meat products was conducted analyzing responses from 806 pork meat consumers. The study aims to provide a quantitative calculation of six environmental footprints associated with the consumption of pork meat products in Serbia by analyzing data from pig farms and a pork meat consumption survey. RESULTS Results revealed that pork meat production is responsible for the emission of 3.50 kg CO2(e)kg(-1)live weight, 16.1 MJ(e)kg(-1), 0.151 mg R11(e)kg(-1), 31.257 g SO(2e)kg(-1), 55.030 g PO(4e)kg(-1)and 3.641 kg 1.4 dB(e)kg(-1). Further calculations reveal that weekly emissions of various environmental potentials associated with an average consumer of pork meat products in Serbia are estimated at values of 4.032 kg CO(2e)week(-1), 18.504 MJ(e)week(-1), 0.17435 mg R11(e)week(-1), 35.972 g SO(2e)week(-1)and 63.466 g PO(4e)week(-1). CONCLUSIONS Results show that, on the one hand, pork products are responsible for environmental production impacts that mainly occur on farms while, on the other hand, consumption is characterized with high meat inclusion rates. As a leverage strategy it is recommended for producers to concentrate on lowering the production impacts rather than trying to reach consumers for sustainability conciseness

Mortality after surgery in Europe: a 7 day cohort study

Background: Clinical outcomes after major surgery are poorly described at the national level. Evidence of heterogeneity between hospitals and health-care systems suggests potential to improve care for patients but this potential remains unconfirmed. The European Surgical Outcomes Study was an international study designed to assess outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in Europe.Methods: We did this 7 day cohort study between April 4 and April 11, 2011. We collected data describing consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome measures were duration of hospital stay and admission to critical care. We used χ² and Fisher’s exact tests to compare categorical variables and the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. Significance was set at p<0·05. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for the differences in mortality rates between countries.Findings: We included 46 539 patients, of whom 1855 (4%) died before hospital discharge. 3599 (8%) patients were admitted to critical care after surgery with a median length of stay of 1·2 days (IQR 0·9–3·6). 1358 (73%) patients who died were not admitted to critical care at any stage after surgery. Crude mortality rates varied widely between countries (from 1·2% [95% CI 0·0–3·0] for Iceland to 21·5% [16·9–26·2] for Latvia). After adjustment for confounding variables, important differences remained between countries when compared with the UK, the country with the largest dataset (OR range from 0·44 [95% CI 0·19 1·05; p=0·06] for Finland to 6·92 [2·37–20·27; p=0·0004] for Poland).Interpretation: The mortality rate for patients undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery was higher than anticipated. Variations in mortality between countries suggest the need for national and international strategies to improve care for this group of patients.Funding: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, European Society of Anaesthesiology