The objective of this study was to develop a method for measuring the mobility of persistent organic pollutants in the solid phase of soils within the context of environmental pollution risk assessment. A new diffusive probe, purposely designed by adapting the diffusive gradient technique method, measures labile organic species by immobilizing them after diffusion through a thin deionized water...

A hydrophobic constriction site can act as an efficient barrier to ion and water permeation if its diameter is less than the diameter of an ion's first hydration shell. This hydrophobic gating mechanism is thought to operate in a number of ion channels, e.g. the nicotinic receptor, bacterial mechanosensitive channels (MscL and MscS) and perhaps in some potassium channels (e.g. KcsA, MthK and Kv...

Assessing the behaviour of organic chemicals in soil is a complex task as it is governed by the physical chemical properties of the chemicals, the characteristics of the soil as well as the ambient conditions of the environment. The chemical partitioning space, defined by the air-water partition coefficient (K(AW)) and the soil organic carbon-water partition coefficient (K(OC)), was employed to...

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are widely used for their antimicrobial activity and consequently the particles will become environmental contaminants. This study evaluated in sand and soil matrices the toxicity of 10nm spherical Ag NPs (1 and 3 mg Ag/L) toward a beneficial soil bacterium, Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6. In sand, both NP doses resulted in loss in bacterial culturability whereas in a...

background and aims: the main cause of many problems in developing countries is related to the provision of safe drinking water. since the health of drinking water is important in the busy centers such as hospitals, clinics and health centers, this study was done to investigate the role of water coolers connected to the municipal system in microbial quality of drinking water in behbahan city. m...

the paper presents the case study of the current formation of a brazilian pit lake from an iron ore mining activity. the water used for the filling of the lake comes from rain, ground water and the complementary pumpage from a close river. at its final stage, which will be reached around year 2018, lake aguas claras will have a surface area of 0.67 km2 and the depth of 234 m, which will make it...

A dual-pathway model is proposed for transport across the tight junction (TJ) in rat proximal tubule: large slit breaks formed by infrequent discontinuities in the TJ complex and numerous small circular pores, with spacing similar to that of claudin-2. This dual-pathway model is developed in the context of a proximal tubule model (Weinstein AM. Am J Physiol Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol 247: ...

F reeze-drying or lyophilization is a process that removes water from a substance. This dehydration process is performed under vacuum while the substance is in a frozen state. Lyophilization technology is used to freeze-dry products such as biologicals, bacterial cultures, analytical chemistry moieties, and therapeutic molecules (e.g., antibodies, vaccines, drugs, and heat-sensitive proteins). ...

It is a common sense that structure of material determines its function. The change of macroscopic properties of materials is caused by the changes of its microstructure. For example, a porous structure as a honeycomb would facilitate rapid water diffusion or promote a rapid water uptake during drying or cooking. On the contrary, a compact structure or fewer pores at the surface of the product ...

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................224 Experimental Design: Sampling Number and Frequency.............................................................224 Sampling Plans .....................................................................................................................2...