Analysis of terrestrial naturally occurring radionuclides in soil samples from some areas of Sirsa district of Haryana,India using gamma ray spectrometry

The activity concentration and the gamma-absorbed dose rates of the terrestrial naturally occurring radionuclides (²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K) were determined in soil samples collected from ten different locations of Sirsa district of Haryana, using HPGe detector based on high-resolution gamma spectrometry system. The range of activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in the soil samples from the studied areas varies from 19.18 Bq kg⁻¹ (Moriwala) to 40.31 Bq kg⁻¹ (Rori), 59.43 Bq kg⁻¹ (Pipli) to 89.54 Bq kg⁻¹ (Fatehpur) and 223.22 Bq kg⁻¹ (Moriwala) to 313.32 Bq kg⁻¹ (SamatKhera) with overall mean values of 27.94, 72.75 and 286.73 Bq kg⁻¹ respectively. The absorbed dose rate calculated from activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K ranges between 8.84 and 18.58, 37.02 and 55.78, and 9.24 and 12.97 nGy h⁻¹, respectively. The total absorbed dose in the study area ranges from 60.40 to 82.15 nGy h⁻¹ with an average value of 70.12 nGy h⁻¹. The calculated values of external hazard index (H _ex) for the soil samples of the study area range from 0.36 to 0.49 with an average value of 0.42.     

Advanced oxidation of catechol in reverse osmosis concentrate generated in leather wastewater by Cu–graphite electrode

Reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate generated from tannery was treated by advanced electrochemical oxidation using graphite electrodes. Catechol was selected as model organic pollutant in the RO concentrate. The influence of applied current density, catechol concentration, pH, temperature and inner electrode space of electrodes was investigated in electrochemical oxidation system. The optimized conditions were found to be current density (j), 100 mA/cm²; electrolysis time (t _eco), 60 min; pH, 7.0; and temperature, 25 °C at an inner electrode space, 2 cm. The average mass transport coefficient for the removal of catechol as COD was found to be 3.0 × 10^?5 m/s at optimum conditions. Faradic efficiency and specific energy consumption were also calculated for the applied current density. Further, the treatment of catechol was confirmed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Theoretical evaluation of current density suggested that the removal of catechol was controlled when supplied at above limiting applied current densities and mass transport controlled at lower of limiting current densities.     

Green and Eco‐Friendly Removal of Mycotoxins with Organo‐Bentonites; Isothermal,Kinetic, and Thermodynamic Studies

In the current study the application of organo‐modified bentonite for the adsorption of mycotoxins (aflatoxin B1, citrinin, patulin, and zearalenone) is presented. The modification of clays is carried out using benzyl‐tri‐n‐butyl ammonium bromide (BTB), benzethonium chloride (BTC), and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS). Various experimental parameters such as pH, time, adsorbent dose, and mycotoxins concentration are thoroughly studied. The modified clays (B‐BTB, B‐BTC and B‐DSS) are characterized by X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results depicted the high detoxification efficiency (≈99%) of modified clays for the removal of mycotoxins under optimized conditions (pH 5, time: 30 min, adsorbent amount: 50 mg). The adsorption capacities of modified clays are found in the order of: B‐BTC (AFB1: 18.02, CIT: 18.35, PAT: 18.21, ZEA: 18.09 mg g^?1) > B‐BTB (AFB1: 17.7, CIT: 18.11, PAT: 17.95, ZEA: 17.90 mg g^?1) > B‐DSS (AFB1: 17.5, CIT: 18.02, PAT: 17.86, ZEA: 17.80 mg g^?1). The obtained results fitted well with thermodynamic, isothermal (Langmuir) and pseudo‐second order kinetics. Low cost organo‐modified bentonite shows the promise in mitigating mycotoxin contamination, which could improve food safety and reduce environmental contamination.     

Analyzing the state of development of Pune City by using multi-criteria decision analysis and analytic hierarchy process

GeoJournal - As per the United Nations Human Settlement Programme Nairobi (2011), cities are the engines of economic growth with social and cultural life and spatial organization of human society...     

Satellite-Derived Regional Apparent Thermal Inertia and Gravity for Mapping Different Rock Types in Parts of Banswara,Rajasthan

The present study deals with the delineation of lineaments over Sir Creek offshore and its surroundings from EGM2008 gravity data using various derivative techniques owing to their costeffectiveness in prospective hydrocarbon exploration. Initially, 2-D and 3-D synthetic models have been generated with vertical prismatic objects at different depths. The effectiveness of total horizontal derivative (THD) technique has been established by comparing with E-W and N-S Horizontal derivatives and First Vertical derivative techniques. The residuals of Bouguer gravity data have been estimated with different cut-off wavelengths. Further, the residual anomaly map has been enhanced by the derivative techniques for the delineation of the structural features. Possible depths of the delineated lineaments have been estimated using Euler deconvolution of the Bouguer gravity data, which indicates maximum clustering over the delineated lineaments. It is observed that most of the lineaments are in the depth range of 1.0 km to 5.5km, which correlate well with the previous seismic studies. The present study reveals that the major lineament trends in the N-S, E-W and NNW-SSE directions followed by NE-SW, NW-SE and ENE-WSW directions. These major lineament trends are due to the tectonic activities occurred during Precambrian and Cretaceous period. Different small circular features, rectangular features and shorter wavelength features have also been identified, which could be the key parameter for mapping potential location for hydrocarbon exploration.     

Space–time forecasting of groundwater level using a hybrid soft computing model

Forecasting of space–time groundwater level is important for sparsely monitored regions. Time series analysis using soft computing tools is powerful in temporal data analysis. Classical geostatistical methods provide the best estimates of spatial data. In the present work a hybrid framework for space–time groundwater level forecasting is proposed by combining a soft computing tool and a geostatistical model. Three time series forecasting models: artificial neural network, least square support vector machine and genetic programming (GP), are individually combined with the geostatistical ordinary kriging model. The experimental variogram thus obtained fits a linear combination of a nugget effect model and a power model. The efficacy of the space–time models was decided on both visual interpretation (spatial maps) and calculated error statistics. It was found that the GP–kriging space–time model gave the most satisfactory results in terms of average absolute relative error, root mean square error, normalized mean bias error and normalized root mean square error.     

Multifaceted Role of Microalgae for Municipal Wastewater Treatment: A Futuristic Outlook toward Wastewater Management

Municipal wastewater (MWW) or urban wastewater (UWW) is generated by the domestic consumption of freshwater, which contains a huge amount of nutrients. The release of unprocessed wastewater causes eutrophication and harms aquatic life. Moreover, ingestion of polluted MWW causes a severe negative impact on human health. Microalgae are unicellular, eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms and have the capability of nutrient assimilation in the presence of light. Moreover, the produced biomass can be used for the generation of value-added bioproducts such as bioenergy. However, conventional microalgae-based MWW treatment is not as sustainable on a commercial scale. Therefore, more advanced approaches using microalgae need to be integrated in wastewater cultivation systems to improve nutrient removal efficiency. Thus, the present review explores the use of microalgae for the removal of nutrients from MWW, provides an outlook of direct and indirect methods of nutrient uptake from wastewater and the effects of the influencing factors in biomass growth. Moreover, the review also gives insight into recent approaches used for MWW treatment and the applications of algal biomass resulting from treated wastewater. It is predicted that microalgae-based MWW treatment systems will be a significant green approach to help eliminate nutrient loads and implement circular economy.