Involving interpreters in research studies.

It is important to include non English speakers in health services research to ensure not only the generalisability of findings but also to address health inequalities and promote social justice. One approach is to use interpreters but there is little guidance for working with an interpreter in interviews. Involving an interpreter presents challenges in the planning and conduct of research interviews which can be minimised by an awareness of various theoretical and practical implications and of potential pitfalls. Drawing both on our experiences of involving interpreters in research and on the literature, we raise some issues that researchers need to consider.

Reduction of environmental and energy footprint of microalgal biodiesel production through material and energy integration.

The life cycle impacts were assessed for an integrated microalgal biodiesel production system that facilitates energy- and nutrient- recovery through anaerobic digestion, and utilizes glycerol generated within the facility for additional heterotrophic biodiesel production. Results show that when external fossil energy inputs are lowered through process integration, the energy demand, global warming potential (GWP), and process water demand decrease significantly and become less sensitive to algal lipid content. When substitution allocation is used to assign additional credit for avoidance of fossil energy use (through utilization of recycled nutrients and biogas), GWP and water demand can, in fact, increase with increase in lipid content. Relative to stand-alone algal biofuel facilities, energy demand can be lowered by 3-14 GJ per ton of biodiesel through process integration. GWP of biodiesel from the integrated system can be lowered by up to 71% compared to petroleum fuel. Evaporative water loss was the primary water demand driver.

Sorption of endosulphan sulphate in soil organic matter.

Sorption of endosulphan sulphate in soil organic matter was investigated using Standard Elliot soil humic acid (HA) and soil fulvic acid (FA) at two ionic strengths (0.001 and 0.01). It was observed that divalent calcium ion and ionic strength affect the sorption of endosulphan sulphate in HA. All the experiments were carried out at pH 6.7 +/- 0.1. In the presence and absence of calcium (ionic strength 0.001), the solubility enhancement method was used to estimate the sorption coefficients of endosulphan sulphate in HA. For FA, the solubility enhancement method was used to estimate the sorption coefficients at an ionic strength of 0.001 (in the presence of calcium) and 0.01. The presence of calcium was found to significantly enhance (alpha = 0.01) the solubility of endosulphan sulphate in HA. Sorption coefficients at pH 6.7, obtained using the solubility enhancement method, were found to be 10-21 L/g in HA and 6 L/g in FA (in the presence of calcium). Increase in ionic strength from 0.001 to 0.01 decreased the sorption of endosulphan sulphate in HA. The effect of ionic strength and calcium on the sorption of endosulphan sulphate was most satisfactorily explained on the basis of the Donnan volume.