Current state and possible developments of municipal solid waste management system in the Leningrad region and Saint Petersburg : a life cycle assessment

Waste management in Saint Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region is based on landfilling nowadays. Municipal solid waste is normally collected by a one-bin system. Around 10-20% of collected waste is sorted at the sorting stations to recover recyclable materials. Additionally, at some stations, composting of a screening reject is applied to produce a landfill cover material. Such a system results in a vast amount of waste degrading in the landfills instead of being used as a resource. Also, this way of handling waste is greenhouse gas-intensive. These concerns, coupled with the growing amount of generated waste, led to the reformation of the waste management system in the area which is currently underway. To help the reformation succeed, this thesis provides the evaluation of the environmental performance of the municipal solid waste management system in the area through a life cycle assessment. The evaluation is conducted for several scenarios, including the current state of the system and the state that should be reached by 2024 aided by the reformation. Furthermore, the effects of proposed improvements are evaluated in separate scenarios. The impact is assessed in terms of climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion (fossil fuels). The overall reduction of the environmental impact is seen as the system develops, and it is mostly reached via avoided production. Given relatively high capture rates of recyclables, the separate collection shows the largest effect. Among waste fractions, it is the recycling of paper and organic waste treated in anaerobic conditions that reduce the impact the most

Health and environmental factors for children Irkutsk region

The analysis of the environmental factors of child and adolescent agencies Irkutsk region, the primary indicator of disease and preventive screening children for 2001-2011 years to identify adverse factors affecting the health of children. The study used standard methods for the analysis of time series ranking. In the Irkutsk region during the study period in 1,6-6,0 times while the share of child and adolescent agencies that do not meet sanitary requirements, the level of noise, electromagnetic radiation, light, microclimate and furniture. In the region remains high proportion of child and adolescent agencies that do not meet health legislation, in terms of light and electromagnetic radiation - in 2011 All-Russian regional indices exceeded by 4.6 and 2.7 percentage points respectively. To factors are disadvantaged and nutrition. Despite the positive trend, in 2011, the regional indicators of the nutritional status of children in the child and adolescent institutions exceeded the all-Russian, first of all, by microbiological -1.8 times and calorie content, completeness attachments ready meals - to 1.5 times. Over 2001-2011 years primary indicator of child morbidity Irkutsk region increased by 37 %, the growth of the incidence of 16 types of diseases. In 2011, the regional figures exceeded all-Russian and 9 of the 19 classes of diseases. According to the results of preventive medical examinations, the number of children with low vision and poor posture in 2011 compared to 2001 in all age groups, with scoliosis - in the middle and upper classes. In 2001, six out of 12 regional indices analyzed exceeded the all-Russian According to medical examinations, in 2011 these figures were already 11. During the study period, the children's health deteriorated in the Irkutsk region and is assessed as unsatisfactory

Life cycle assessment of the existing and proposed municipal solid waste management system in Moscow, Russia

This study provides the first life cycle assessment (LCA) for municipal solid waste waste management system in one of the largest cities in Europe, Moscow. Its significance stems from recent important changes in the waste management system, the introduction of limited source separate collection in 2020, and the first examination of sorted municipal solid waste (MSW) composition. Moscow city generates 8.1 million tonnes of MSW per year, most of which is still mainly disposed of in landfill sites. The study assesses the current situation, the waste management system planned to be operational by 2024 and proposes improvements to separate collection and treatment of organic waste that could be adopted in the future. In this context, 6 scenarios are compared using LCA based approach. The impacts are presented as global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP). The results show that the existing MSW management system has the highest GWP and AP. Planned changes to the system by 2024 will reduce impacts in all categories. The largest emissions reduction potential is found for refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production and its use in cement kilns as a replacement for coal, which reduces emissions by 1.1 kg CO2-eq/kgRDF and results in a negative AP. The change in EP remains negligible. Separate collection and treatment of biowaste is also beneficial, with anaerobic digestion being the most advantageous treatment method. Nevertheless, even after the implementation of all initiatives, landfill still represents about 53% of direct emissions in GWP. Sensitivity analysis estimated that flaring of landfill gas can reduce GWP from landfill sites by a factor greater than two. With these changes, the total emissions of the system approach zero. Energy recovery at MSW incineration plants and substitution to the grid gives reductions in GWP and EP in the range of 35% and provides especially significant reductions in AP. The waste management system in Moscow accounts for 3% of residents’ carbon footprint, which might drop to 1% if appropriate changes to the system are implemented.Post-print / Final draf

The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Central Register : 6,000 patients after 25 years of monitoring of referral and treatment of extremity and trunk wall soft-tissue sarcoma

Purpose - We wanted to examine the potential of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Central Register, and evaluate referral and treatment practice for soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities and trunk wall (STS) in the Nordic countries. Background - Based on incidence rates from the literature, 8,150 (7,000-9,300) cases of STS of the extremity and trunk wall should have been diagnosed in Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden from 1987 through 2011. The SSG Register has 6,027 cases registered from this period, with 5,837 having complete registration of key variables. 10 centers have been reporting to the Register. The 5 centers that consistently report treat approximately 90% of the cases in their respective regions. The remaining centers have reported all the patients who were treated during certain time periods, but not for the entire 25-year period. Results - 59% of patients were referred to a sarcoma center untouched, i.e. before any attempt at open biopsy. There was an improvement from 52% during the first 5 years to 70% during the last 5 years. 50% had wide or better margins at surgery. Wide margins are now achieved less often than 20 years ago, in parallel with an increase in the use of radiotherapy. For the centers that consistently report, 97% of surviving patients are followed for more than 4 years. Metastasis-free survival (MFS) increased from 67% to 73% during the 25-year period. Interpretation - The Register is considered to be representative of extremity and trunk wall sarcoma disease in the population of Scandinavia, treated at the reporting centers. There were no clinically significant differences in treatment results at these centers.Peer reviewe

The role of criptorchidism and it’s surgery treatment in the retardation ofphysical and sex development in teenagers

A retrospective survey of 43 patiens 13-16 years old of age with cryptorchidism of which 34 boys were operated on in childhood. Evaluated the physical and sexual development. Diagnosis of the functional state of the reproductive system (pituitaiy-honad complex) and adrenal glands included the determination of serum hormones. It has been shown, that addescents with unilateral inguinal retention and early orchidopexy carried out a specialized hospital had no abnormalites in physical development and timing of puberty. More than half ofthe cases showed sings ofthe hypogonadism, which previously had not been diagnosed and corrected. Particular attention is drawn to the need for early surgical treatment and signs of hormone deficience.Представлены результаты ретроспективного обследования 43 пациентов 13-16-летнего возраста с крипторхизмом, 34 из них были прооперированы в детстве. Изучены показатели антропометрии и полового развития. Впервые оценено состояние гипофизарно-гонадной системы во взаимосвязи с надпочечниковым андрогенезом. Показано, что физиологические сроки пубертата наблюдались только у 12 детей с 1 -сторонней паховой ретенцией и ранней орхипексией. Признаки гипогонадизма, которые ранее не были диагностированы и устранены, выявлены более чем в половине случаев. Особое внимание обращено на необходимость как раннего оперативного лечения, так и выявления гормональной недостаточности у детей с криптор-хизмом

Analysis of existing domestic and internationalpractices of the unmanned aerial vehicles’ using in construction and some prospects for their using in the Middle Urals

The using of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining popularity around the world in lots of different spheres of life, the construction industry is no exception. The dynamics of the development of the UAV’s using in Russia is considered. The practice of using drones in various areas of construction is presented: topographical survey, construction control, monitoring of the technical condition of the building. The prospects for the UAV’s using in the Middle Urals are reviewed

Microbial metatranscriptomics in a permanent marine oxygen minimum zone

Simultaneous characterization of taxonomic composition, metabolic gene content and gene expression in marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) has potential to broaden perspectives on the microbial and biogeochemical dynamics in these environments. Here, we present a metatranscriptomic survey of microbial community metabolism in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific OMZ off northern Chile. Community RNA was sampled in late austral autumn from four depths (50, 85, 110, 200 m) extending across the oxycline and into the upper OMZ. Shotgun pyrosequencing of cDNA yielded 180 000 to 550 000 transcript sequences per depth. Based on functional gene representation, transcriptome samples clustered apart from corresponding metagenome samples from the same depth, highlighting the discrepancies between metabolic potential and actual transcription. BLAST-based characterizations of non-ribosomal RNA sequences revealed a dominance of genes involved with both oxidative (nitrification) and reductive (anammox, denitrification) components of the marine nitrogen cycle. Using annotations of protein-coding genes as proxies for taxonomic affiliation, we observed depth-specific changes in gene expression by key functional taxonomic groups. Notably, transcripts most closely matching the genome of the ammonia-oxidizing archaeon Nitrosopumilus maritimus dominated the transcriptome in the upper three depths, representing one in five protein-coding transcripts at 85 m. In contrast, transcripts matching the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis dominated at the core of the OMZ (200 m; 1 in 12 protein-coding transcripts). The distribution of N. maritimus-like transcripts paralleled that of transcripts matching ammonia monooxygenase genes, which, despite being represented by both bacterial and archaeal sequences in the community DNA, were dominated (> 99%) by archaeal sequences in the RNA, suggesting a substantial role for archaeal nitrification in the upper OMZ. These data, as well as those describing other key OMZ metabolic processes (e.g. sulfur oxidation), highlight gene-specific expression patterns in the context of the entire community transcriptome, as well as identify key functional groups for taxon-specific genomic profiling.Agouron InstituteGordon and Betty Moore FoundationUnited States. Dept. of Energy (Office of Science)Comisión Nacional de Investigación Ciencia y Tecnología (Chile) (Program Fondap

Method for Monitoring Snow Load On Building Surfaces Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicals

Во всем мире набирает популярность применения беспилотных летательных аппаратов (БПЛА) в различных сферах жизнедеятельности, сфера строительства не является исключением. В статье предложен новый способ мониторинга снеговой нагрузки с применением БПЛА. позволяющий оперативно предупреждать возникновение сверхнормативной снеговой нагрузки на покрытии здания в целом и его отдельных участках.The using of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is gaining popularity in various spheres of life around the world, the construction sector is not exception. The article proposes a new method for monitoring snow load using UAVs, which allows you to quickly prevent the occurrence of excess snow load on the building

Giant Cell Tumor: A Rare Condition in the Immature Skeleton—A Retrospective Study of Symptoms, Treatment, and Outcome in 16 Children

Background. Pediatric giant cell tumor (GCT) of bone is rare and the course of the disease in the immature skeleton is sparsely described. We performed a retrospective study addressing symptoms, treatment, and outcome in children with GCT. Methods. Review of medical records and images of patients with GCT. Patients were detected from our hospital prospective database and those with open epiphyseal cartilages were included. Results. 16 children (75% girls) from 6 to 15 years old were identified. Eight lesions (50%) were in long bones and 4 (25%) in flat bones. One lesion appeared to be purely epiphyseal. All patients had pain as the initial symptom. Local recurrence developed in 2 patients. 14 of 16 patients returned to normal activity with no sequelae. One patient developed anisomelia after surgery. Conclusions. The biological tumor behavior in children does not seem to differ from what is reported in adults. Lesions in flat bones are very unusual, but our data alone do not provide enough evidence to conclude that this is more common in the immature skeleton. Literature review showed only one previous case report describing a purely epiphyseal GCT. Intralesional curettage is appropriate treatment and gives good functional results with acceptable recurrence rates