Geotechnical characteristics of a Rubber Intermixed Ballast System

Acta Geotechnica - This study aims to promote the concept of using rubber granules from waste tyres as elastic aggregates blended with traditional ballast particles for better performance of rail...     

Dredging influenced sediment toxicity of endosulfan and lindane on black tiger shrimp （Penaeus monodon Fabricius） in Chantaburi River estuary in Thailand

Series of experiments, including background sediment elutriate, spiked-sediment elutriate and spiked- water toxicity tests, were carried out to study the effect of dredging on survivability and ecological competence of commercially important shrimp postlarvae of Penaeus monodon Fabricius. The test sediment represented the most contaminated from endosulfan and lindane in the Chantaburi river mouth estuary. The maximum sediment contamination levels were 49.4 μg/kg of endosulfan and 58.1 μg/kg of lindane in dry weight basis. Dose-response studies in static, non-renewal spiked-sediment elutriate toxicity tests revealed that LC 50 （96 h） values for survival effect based on measured concentrations were 0.50 （0.26-0.95） μg/L for endosulfan and 0.92 （0.63-1.34） μg/L for lindane. The LOECs for endosulfan and lindane were 0.141 and 0.429 μg/L, respectively. The NOECs were estimated to be the dissoluted endosulfan and lindane concentrations from the Chantaburi estuary sediment. The effects on phenoloxidase enzyme activity in shrimp postlarvae exposed for sub-lethal to lethal doses in sediment elutriate were not significant （p〉0.05） at all tested dose levels. The worst case dissolution concentrations of endosulfan and lindane in the water column upon simulatory dredging in the Chantaburi estuary were found to be toxic to shrimp postlarvae on lethal and sub-lethal effects. The NOECs of respective chemicals （i.e., 0.034 and 0.16 μg/L） shared the same orders of magnitude for corresponding NOECs established for whole salt water aquatic life by the USEPA and ＂safe＂ levels calculated by 0.01 safety factor approach. In addition, the significance of multiple pollutant assessments for ecological toxicity testing is highlighted.     

Monsoon-Driven Geomorphological Changes Along the West Coast of Sri Lanka: A Combined Approach Utilizing ‘CoastSat’ and Google Earth Engine

Ocean Science Journal - Long-term field monitoring of shoreline changes is time-consuming, expensive, and labor-intensive. Instead, satellite images can be used as an alternative method to collect...