Comprehensive analysis on sorptive uptake of enrofloxacin by activated carbon derived from industrial paper sludge.

The current investigation deals with how chemically activated carbon derived from industrial paper sludge (ACPS) performs on sorptive removal of enrofloxacin (ENF), an antibacterial drug from its water solution. Thermogravimetric (TGA) and proximate analysis of raw paper sludge (RPS) were conducted. ACPS was characterized with proximate analysis, XRD, FT-IR, SEM and BET. The influence of five operational parameters viz. adsorbate concentration (initial), dose of adsorbent, pH, temperature, and contact time on the adsorption of ENF onto ACPS has been conducted using batch experiments. The process of adsorption was optimized through ANN (artificial neural network) in addition to RSM (response surface methodology). The maximum percentage removal (95.85%) was achieved at initial ENF concentration 12 mg/g, adsorbent dose 1.2 g/L, contact duration of 18 h and temperature 20 °C. Kinetic data were best fitted into pseudo-second order kinetic model and adsorption equilibrium study indicates that the adsorption process follows Langmuir isotherm model. Adsorption capacity was noted to have a highest value of 44.44 mg/g. A study on thermodynamics of the adsorption process suggests that it exhibits spontaneity, being essentially exothermic. Cost analysis and reusability study confirm that adsorbent produced from industrial paper sludge is cost-effective and reusable. Therefore, ACPS as adsorbent has potency for removing ENF from aqueous solution.

Cultura y sociedad: Próspero Calderón y su legado para las artes, letras y publicaciones costarricenses / Culture and society: Prospero Calderón and his legacy for Costa Rican arts, letters and publications

Resumen Próspero Calderón (1862-1934) será el primer costarricense que se dedique a la profesión de editor; asimismo, será fotógrafo, docente, diseñador y precursor de las Artes gráficas en el país. Bajo sus ideales de promoción de la cultura se fundan las primeras publicaciones costarricenses en formato de revista: Costa Rica Ilustrada y Páginas Ilustradas, presentando en sus páginas fotografías de H.N. Rudd, Manuel Gómez Miralles y Amando Céspedes, entre otros, así como textos de Joaquín García Monge, Justo A. Facio, Carmen Lyra y Lisímaco Chavarría. Su aporte es imprescindible en el estudio de la sociedad y del arte costarricense en la transición del s. XIX al s. XX. Por lo anterior, para la realización de esta investigación, se recurrió a la Metodología Histórica, desarrollada a partir de las etapas heurística y hermenéutica, para finalizar con una propuesta teórica bajo la figura de Biografía histórica.

Abstract Prospero Calderón (1862-1934) will be the first Costa Rican to devote himself to the profession of editor; Likewise he will be photographer, teacher, designer and precursor of the graphic arts in the country. Under its ideals for the promotion of culture, the first Costa Rican publications are published in a magazine format: Costa Rica Ilustrada and Páginas Ilustradas, featuring on its pages photographs of H.N. Rudd, Manuel Gómez Miralles and Amando Céspedes, among others, as well as texts by Joaquín García Monje, Justo A. Facio, Carmen Lyra and Lisímaco Chavarría. His contribution is essential in the study of Costa Rican society and art in the transition of the s. XIX to s. XX. In order to carry out this research, was used the Historical Methodology, developed from the heuristic and hermeneutic stages, to conclude with a theoretical proposal under the figure of Historical Biography.

Comparing gender discrimination and inequality in indie and traditional publishing.

In traditional publishing, female authors' titles command nearly half (45%) the price of male authors' and are underrepresented in more prestigious genres, and books are published by publishing houses, which determined whose books get published, subject classification, and retail price. In the last decade, the growth of digital technologies and sales platforms have enabled unprecedented numbers of authors to bypass publishers to publish and sell books. The rise of indie publishing (aka self-publishing) reflects the growth of the "gig" economy, where the influence of firms has diminished and workers are exposed more directly to external markets. Encompassing the traditional and the gig economy, the book industry illuminates how the gig economy may disrupt, replicate, or transform the gender discrimination mechanisms and inequality found in the traditional economy. In a natural experiment spanning from 2002 to 2012 and including over two million book titles, we compare discrimination mechanisms and inequality in indie and traditional publishing. We find that indie publishing, though more egalitarian, largely replicates traditional publishing's gender discrimination patterns, showing an unequal distribution of male and female authors by genre (allocative discrimination), devaluation of genres written predominantly by female authors (valuative discrimination), and lower prices within genres for books by female authors (within-job discrimination). However, these discrimination mechanisms are associated with far less price inequality in indie, only 7%, in large part due to the smaller and lower range of prices in indie publishing compared to traditional publishing. We conclude that, with greater freedom, workers in the gig economy may be inclined to greater equality but will largely replicate existing labor market segmentation and the lower valuation of female-typical work and of female workers. Nonetheless, price setting for work may be more similar for workers in the gig economy due to market competition that will compress prices ranges.

Occupational Contact Dermatitis in North American Print Machine Operators Referred for Patch Testing: Retrospective Analysis of Cross-Sectional Data From the North American Contact Dermatitis Group 1998 to 2014.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the epidemiology of contact dermatitis (CD) in print machine operators (PMOs). OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of CD and characterize clinically relevant and occupationally related allergens among PMOs undergoing patch testing. METHODS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the North American Contact Dermatitis Group data from 1998 to 2014. RESULTS: Of 39,332 patch-tested patients, 132 (0.3%) were PMOs. Among PMOs, most were male (75.0%) and white (92.4%). The majority were printing press operators (85.6%). The most frequent sites of dermatitis were hands (63.6%), arms (29.5%), and face/scalp (24.2%). More than half had an occupationally related skin condition (56.1%). Final diagnoses were most commonly allergic CD (58.3%) and irritant CD (33.3%). Cobalt (20.8%), carba mix (12.5%), thiuram mix (8.3%), and formaldehyde (8.3%) were the most frequent occupationally related allergens. The top allergen sources included inks (22.9%), gloves (20.8%), and coatings/dye/copy/photographic chemicals (14.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Allergic CD, irritant CD, and involvement of exposed body areas were common among PMOs. Common allergens included rubber accelerators, metals, and preservatives.

Concretes and mortars with waste paper industry: Biomass ash and dregs.

This article describes a study on the viability of using waste from the paper industry: biomass boiler ash and green liquor dregs to fabricate mortars and concretes. Both types of ash were characterized by obtaining their chemical and mineralogical composition, their organic matter content, granulometry, adsorption and other common tests for construction materials. Seven different mortars were fabricated, one for reference made up of cement, sand, and water, three in which 10, 20, or 30% of the cement was replaced by biomass ash, and three others in which 10, 20, or 30% of the cement was replaced with dregs. Test specimens were fabricated with these mortars to conduct flexural and compression tests. Flexural strength is reduced for all the mortars studied. Compressive strength increases for the mortars fabricated with biomass ash and decreases for the mortar with dregs. Finally, 5 concretes were made, one of them as a reference (neither biomass ash nor dregs added), two of them with replacements of 10 and 20% of biomass ash instead of cement and another two with replacements of 10 and 20% of dregs instead of cement. The compressive and tensile splitting strength increase when a 10% of ash is replaced and decrease in all the other cases. The modulus of elasticity always decreases.

Fenton-like degradation of Methylene Blue using paper mill sludge-derived magnetically separable heterogeneous catalyst: Characterization and mechanism.

For the paper industry, the disposal and management of the yielded sludge are a considerable challenge. In our work, the paper mill sludge-derived magnetically separable heterogeneous catalyst (PMS-Fe-380) was prepared easily through a facile synthesis method. The morphology and structure of PMS-Fe-380 were fully characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller analysis. The catalytic activity of PMS-Fe-380 was evaluated by degradation of Methylene Blue (MB). The reusability and stability of PMS-Fe-380 were evaluated in five repeated runs, which suggested that PMS-Fe-380 manifested excellent stability of catalytic activity. Moreover, leaching tests indicated that the leached iron is negligible (<0.5mg/L). This study provides an alternative environmentally friendly reuse method for paper mill sludge and a novel catalyst PMS-Fe-380 that can be considered as a promising heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst.

Acid mine drainage neutralization in a pilot sequencing batch reactor using limestone from a paper and pulp industry.

This study investigated the implications of using two grades of limestone from a paper and pulp industry for neutralization of acid mine drainage (AMD) in a pilot sequencing batch reactor (SBR). In this regard, two grades of calcium carbonate were used to neutralize AMD in a SBR with a hydraulic retention time (including settling) of 100 min and a sludge retention time of 360 min, by simultaneously monitoring the Fe(II) removal kinetics and overall assessment of the AMD after treatment. The Fe(II) kinetics removal and overall AMD treatment were observed to be highly dependent on the limestone grade used, with Fe(II) completely removed to levels lower than 50 mg/L in cycle 1 after 30 min using high quality or pure paper and pulp limestone. On the contrary, the other grade limestone, namely waste limestone, could only achieve a similar Fe(II) removal efficiency after four cycles. It was also noticed that suspended solids concentration plays a significant role in Fe(II) removal kinetics. In this regard, using pure limestone from the paper and pulp industry will have advantages compared with waste limestone for AMD neutralization. It has significant process impacts for the SBR configuration as it allows one cycle treatment resulting in a significant reduction of the feed stock, with subsequent generation of less sludge during AMD neutralization. However, the use of waste calcium carbonate from the paper and pulp industry as a feed stock during AMD neutralization can achieve significant cost savings as it is cheaper than the pure limestone and can achieve the same removal efficiency after four cycles.

The correlation between mental health and multiple chemical sensitivity: a survey study in Japanese workers.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to determine the correlation between mental health and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). METHOD: The present study was conducted at two companies in 2011; both in Kyushu, Japan. The "subjective symptoms" subscale of the "Self-diagnosis Checklist for Assessment of Workers' Accumulated Fatigue" was used as a mental health subscale. To determine if multiple chemical exposure has an impact on mental health, we composed an original path model using structural equation analysis. RESULT: Our final path model can be regarded as good: CMIN/DF = 1.832, CFI = 0.996, and RMSEA = 0.038, AIC = 71.158. As expected, chemical sensitivity and other chemical sensitivity scores predicted the health effects of multiple chemical exposure (ß = 0.19, 0.64). Mental health was predicted by symptom severity and life impact (ß = 0.56 and 0.12), which were both affected by multiple chemical exposure (ß = 0.38 and 0.89, respectively). CONCLUSION: As far as we are aware, this is the first study using path analysis to explore whether MCS can indicate mental health in worker populations worldwide, and we found a significant causal relationship between them. This could indicate that more focus should be placed on the impact of MCS on mental health in future investigations.

Sample preparation and determination of biomass content in solid recovered fuels: a comparison of methods.

The biomass content of material from pulp and paper production (a mixture of waste and paper and thin layer packaging plastics) is determined by the adapted balance method. This novel approach is a combination of combustion elemental analysis (CHNSO) and a data reconciliation algorithm based on successive linearisation for evaluation of the analysis results. It also involves less effort and expense than conventional procedures. However, the CHNSO technique only handles small mass amounts (few hundred milligrams), so cryogenic impact milling was applied for particle size reduction below 200 µm in order to generate homogeneous, representative analysis samples. The investigation focuses on the parameters biogenic content as a percentage of the total mass xB and xB (TC), which is the biomass stated as a fraction of the total carbon value. The results are within 1%-5% of the data obtained by the reference methods, namely the selective dissolution method and (14)C- method. Additionally, advantages and drawbacks of the adapted balance method in comparison with standard methods are discussed, showing that the adapted balance method is a method to be considered for the determination of biomass content in solid recovered fuels or similar materials.

Vermicomposting of paper mill solid waste using epigeic earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae.

A 90 day study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of an exotic earthworm species (Eudrilus eugeniae) for decomposition of different types of organic substrates (mixed liquor suspended solids, cow dung and leaf litter) into valuable vermicompost. Mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and leaf litter (LL) were mixed with cow dung (CD) in eight different ratios with three replicates for each treatment. All vermibeds expressed a significant decrease in pH, organic carbon, C:N ratio and an increase in total nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. Overall, earthworms could maximize decomposition and mineralization efficiency in bedding with lower proportions of MLSS. Maximum value for earth worm zoo mass and higher concentration of nutrient content was observed in CD + MLSS + LL in 1:1:2 ratios. Earthworm mortality tended to increase with increasing proportion of MLSS and maximum mortality in E. eugeniae was recorded for MLSS treatment alone. Results indicate that vermicomposting might be useful for managing the energy and nutrient of MLSS on a low-input basis. Products of this process can be used for sustainable land restoration practices.

Evaluating the manufacturability and combustion behaviors of sludge-derived fuel briquettes.

Based on the physical and chemical properties as well as calorific values of pulp sludge and textile sludge, this study investigates the differences between manufacturability, relationship between extrusion pressure and formability, as well as stability and combustion behaviors of extruded sludge-derived fuel briquettes (ESBB) and cemented sludge-derived fuel blocks (CSBB). The optimum proportion and relevant usage ESBB policies are proposed as well. Experimental results indicate that a large amount of water can be saved during the ESBB manufacturing process. Additionally, energy consumption decreases during the drying process. ESBB also has a more compact structure than that of CSBB, and its mean penetration loading is approximately 18.7 times higher as well. Moreover, the flame temperature of ESBB (624-968°C) is significantly higher than that of CSBB (393-517°C). Also, the dry bulk density and moisture regain of ESBB is significantly related to the penetration loading. Furthermore, the optimum mix proportion of ESBB is co-determined by the formability of pulp sludge and the calorific values of textile sludge. While considering the specific conditions (including formability, stability and calorific values), the recommended mix proportion for ESBB is PS50TS50.

Impacts of industrial waste resources on maize (Zea mays L.) growth, yield, nutrients uptake and soil properties.

Discharging untreated highly acidic (pH<4.0), organic and nutrients rich monosodium glutamate wastewater (MW), and highly alkaline (pH>10.0) paper-mill wastewater (PW) causes environmental pollution. When acidity of MW neutralized (pH 6.5±0.1) with PW and lime (treatments represented as MW+PW and MW+Lime), then MW may be utilized as a potential source of nutrients and organic carbon for sustainable food production. Objectives of this study were to compare the effects of PW and lime neutralized MW and chemical fertilizers on maize (Zea mays L. cv. Snow Jean) plant growth, yield, nutrients uptake, soil organic matter and humic substances. The field experiment was carried out on maize using MW at 6000 L ha(-1). Impacts of the MW application on maize crop and soil properties were evaluated at different stages. At harvest, plant height, and plant N and K uptake were higher in MW treatment. Leaf area index at 60 days after sowing, plant dry matter accumulation at harvest, and kernels ear(-1) and 100-kernel weight were higher in MW+Lime treatment. Kernel N, P, K, Mn, Fe and Zn, and plant Zn uptake were highest in MW+Lime. Plant Fe uptake, and soil organic matter and humic substances were highest in MW+PW. The MW+PW and MW+Lime treatments exhibited comparable results with chemically fertilized treatment. The MW acidity neutralized with lime showed positive impacts on growth, yield and nutrients uptake; nevertheless, when MW pH neutralized with PW has an additional benefit on increase in soil organic matter and humic substances.