Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Edwin John Routledge
Brunel University London, UK
Keynote: Biodiesel, a promising alternative diesel fuel produced by a catalytic transesterification of vegetable oils, has become more attractive nowadays, because of its environmental concerns and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. In this work, the trans-esterification of soybean oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system, using Zn, Mn, K and Ce supported by a mixture of porcelain, cinder and ceramic. 0.5 and 1 mm of Zn, Mn, K and Ce in 7 g of support were loaded, foll
Time : 09:00-09:30
Biography:
Edwin John Routledge is an Environmental Scientist whose research is concerned with understanding the effects of environmental chemicals (particularly endocrine disrupting chemicals) on aquatic wildlife. His research interest is broadly in the field of water quality. It started with investigations into endocrine disrupting chemicals and their effects on fish and amphibians, and more recently includes the effects of EDCs on molluscs. Current research (mostly unpublished) is concerned with new and emerging threats, including chemicals that impact on the retinoid system, and how chemical exposures might alter disease transmission in parasite-host interactions.
Abstract:
Since the start of the industrial revolution, society has become increasingly reliant on the use of chemicals, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers and personal care products, to name a few. In 2016, European chemical sales alone were valued at 507 billion Euros, with 80,000 chemicals reported to be in common use worldwide. Alongside the many benefits of chemicals to society, concerns about the impacts of certain chemicals to both human and wildlife health, including the so-called ‘endocrine disrupting chemicals’ is a topic of increasing concern. Since the term ‘endocrine disruptor’ was coined in 1991, extensive research into the effects of various chemicals, and chemical mixtures, on human and wildlife health has been conducted globally. More than 1,300 studies have suggested connections between endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) exposure and serious health conditions such as infertility, diabetes, obesity, hormone-related cancers and neurological disorders in humans. The range of endocrine targets captured by regulatory tests is expanding rapidly, and new mechanistic insights, such as epigenetic mechanisms of chemical-induced disease, continue to challenge the regulatory frameworks designed to protect society and the environment. Difficulties still exist in balancing the trade-offs between the benefits of chemicals to society at point of use, with the burden of proof needed to demonstrate the adverse consequences of the same chemicals once they are allowed to disperse in the environment. When dealing with such complexity, is it possible to achieve a vision of a sustainable society where chemicals are managed carefully throughout their lifecycle and where people benefit from their use and thrive within nature’s limits? What strategies and insights can sustainability science offer to help society balance the Tox-Eco system?
Keynote Forum
Manuela Marcoli
University of Genova, Italy
Keynote: Functional neuron-specific endpoints for in vitro neurotoxicity testing
Time : 09:30-10:00
Biography:
Manuela Marcoli has more than 20 years’ experience in studying neurotransmission in the central and peripheral nervous system. She has completed her MD and PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from Pavia University, Italy. She is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Genova, Italy. Main research fields are glutamatergic transmission: ionotropic/metabotropic receptors and release of neuro- and glio-transmitters in physiological conditions and in pathological animal models; network activity and transmitter receptors in neuron-astrocyte networks on multi electrode arrays: effects of neuroactive substances and neurotoxicants. She has over 85 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has been serving as a Reviewer of reputed journals.
Abstract:
Statement of the Problem: In accordance with 3Rs, alternative models are required to replace standard neurotoxicity testing. High-content, high-throughput tools are needed considering specific features of nervous system (NS) functioning to identify neurotoxic vs. cytotoxic effects. By considering intercellular communication through transmitters and transmitter sensors (receptors), and collective behavior of neuron network as relevant NS functional features, the purpose of this study is to develop tools providing neuron-specific endpoints.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: A multi-disciplinary electrophysiological, neurochemical and immunocytochemical approach, combining electrical activity recording of neuron network (on engineered micro-electrode arrays (MEAs) equipped with 60 electrodes onto which cerebrocortical neurons were cultured; data analysis through a home-made software and measurement of transmitter release was used to assess network maturation and to detect effectiveness of neuroactive/neurotoxic substances.
Findings: During network development, maturation of glutamatergic/GABAergic neuron networks, target for relevant neurotoxicity mechanisms (excitotoxicity) and drugs classes, was observed. In mature networks, synaptic connectivity was related to activation of glutamatergic pathways, and the system behaved as a sensitive sensor of glutamatergic transmission functioning. Activation or blockade of NMDA/AMPA receptors, or blockade of glutamate transporters, induced firing and bursting activity variations related to the effects on transmitter release. Also, the network sensed the fine transmission variations involved in synapse plasticity: the collective network behavior and glutamate release were controlled by NMDA-dependent NO-cGMP pathway, as indicated by its pharmacological manipulation (NO synthase/guanylyl cyclase inhibitors, NO donors/8Br-cGMP). By presenting examples of network activity modulation by neuroactive substances (glutamate/GABA receptor agonists/antagonists) and by known neurotoxicants (e.g., domoic acid, chlorpyrifos oxon), and ineffectiveness of molecules not exhibiting acute neurotoxic effects, we report evidence that MEAs-coupled neuron networks can represent an integrated approach for neurotoxicity testing based on functional neuron-specific endpoints. They might provide an effective in vitro alternative tool for evaluating substance neurotoxicity, also providing a mechanistic approach.
Recent Publications
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Frega M, Pasquale V, Tedesco M, Marcoli M, Contestabile A, et al. (2012) Cortical cultures coupled to micro-electrode arrays: a novel approach to perform in vitro excitotoxicity testing. Neurotoxicol Teratol 34:116–127.
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Marcoli M, Agnati L F, Benedetti F, Genedani S, Guidolin D, et al. (2015) On the role of the extracellular space on the holistic behaviour of the brain. Rev Neurosci 26(5):489–506.
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Fuxe J, Agnati L F, Marcoli M and Borroto-Escuela D (2015) Volume transmission in central dopamine and noradrenaline neurons ant its astroglial target. Neurochem Res 40(12):2600–14.
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Cervetto C, Vergani L, Passalacqua M, Ragazzoni M, Venturini A, et al. (2016) Astrocyte-dependent vulnerability to excitotoxicity in spermine oxidase overexpressing mouse. Neuromolecular Med 18:50–68.
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Pietropaoli S, Leonetti A, Cervetto C, Venturini A, Mastrantonio R, et al. (2018) Glutamate excitotoxicity linked to spermine oxidase overexpression. Mol Neurobiol. 55(9):7259–7270.
Keynote Forum
Simon A Morley
British Antarctic Survey, UK
Keynote: Antarctic marine biodiversity and climate change
Time : 10:00-10:30
Biography:
Simon A Morley’s research has a latitudinal focus on understanding the mechanisms that determine species tolerance and plasticity. He is a trained Physiologist completing a PhD with the University of Liverpool in 1998 before a Postdoctoral position at the University of Bangor before he joined the British Antarctic Survey as a Fisheries Ecologist, and spent two years based at King Edward Point at the Island of South Georgia.
Abstract:
Human culture and food security rely on the ecosystem services provided by historic patterns of biodiversity. We therefore need to understand the factors that determine where species can and cannot live, and the impact of both natural and anthropogenic variation. Such predictions require an understanding of the mechanisms underlying species range limits, and how they are linked to climate. The Southern Ocean offers a “natural laboratory” for testing the evolutionary and physiological capacity of species in response to their environment. Its isolation has resulted in high levels of endemism and the lack of indigenous humans means that the environment is close to pristine. It is a constantly cold ocean but with large seasonal variation in light levels, primary productivity and pH. Animals living in the Southern Ocean have several physiological adaptations for life in the cold, including natural antifreeze, increased mitochondrial densities and the ability to grow to a large size. Life in the extreme cold has also resulted in a reduced ability to cope with warming. The activity limits for limpets and clams are only 1 to 2°C above current maximum summer temperatures. Comparisons of long-term oceanographic and reproductive data-sets have shown that one of the strongest signals affecting inter-annual variability in reproduction is El Niño, which causes dramatic changes in the coastal system. In addition to this understanding, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the fastest warming regions, resulting in massive changes in the cryosphere. The reduction in the duration of winter sea ice, an increase in energy transfer from the atmosphere and the increase in iceberg scour has resulted in dramatic changes in benthic communities. Findings from the Antarctic have taught us much about the evolution of physiological capacity and the evolution of marine communities across latitudes.
Recent Publications
1. Ashton G V, Morley S A, Barnes D K A, Clark M S and Peck L S (2017) Warming by 1°C drives species and assemblage level responses in Antarctica’s marine shallows. Current Biology 27(17):2698–2705.
2. Watson S A, Morley S A and Peck L S (2017) Latitudinal trends in shell production cost from the tropics to the poles Science Advances 3(9):e1701362.
3. Morley S A, Nguyen K D, Peck L S, Lai C-H and Tan K S (2017) Can acclimation of thermal tolerance, in adults and across generations, act as a buffer against climate change in tropical marine ectotherms? J Therm. Biol. 68:195–199.
4. Morley S A, Suckling C S, Clark M S, Cross E L and Peck L S (2016) Long term effects of altered pH and temperature on the feeding energetics of the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri. Biodiversity 17:34–45.
5. Morley S A Chien-Hsian L, Clarke A, Tan K S, Thorne M A S and Peck L S (2014) Limpet feeding rate and the consistency of physiological response to temperature. J Comp Physiol. 184:563–570.
Keynote Forum
Carolyn (Tally) Palmer
Rhodes University, South Africa
Keynote: Too slow and too difficultPavel Kishcha graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1979 with an MSc in Physics, and received PhD in Geophysics from the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in 1985. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist at the Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences of Tel-Aviv University (TAU). His research interests include investigation of heating in the uppermost layer
Time : 10:30-11:00
Biography:
Carolyn (Tally) Palmer has a research trajectory from aquatic ecology and environmental water quality, together with water law and policy development, to a commitment to the transformative capacity of engaged, transdisciplinary action research praxis, based on a conceptual faming of complex social-ecological systems. Her concept of Adaptive Integrated Water Resource Management includes the recognition that participatory governance – people at the interface of knowledge production, practice and politics creates a sustainability platform and pathway that can be the foundation of local to at least national scale climate-change adaptation. At the interface of sustainability science, policy, and practice it is practice that most often fails. Carolyn brings a coherent set of transdisciplinary case studies from across South Africa to argue that participatory governance can be a key lever to embed climate change adaptation practice, making the most of linked research and development interventions.
Abstract:
Statement of the Problem: Interventions for development, sustainability, and/or climate change adaptation have a history of ambiguous outcomes and outright failures. How can interventions, and especially those that involve government, research and stakeholders, including local residents, result in sustainable outcomes that persist beyond the intervention, and move towards climate change behavior-change in the practice of all participants?
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The underpinning methodology is transdisciplinary (TD). Critical realism provides a theoretical foundation for discerning causal mechanisms in complex systems using the full range of disciplinary enquiry. The concept of complex social-ecological systems (CSES) provides a lens to forefront the role adaptation and feed-back. Expansive learning provides the mechanisms to guide processes of co-learning and the co-development of knowledge. Strategic adaptive management provides practical on-the-ground steps for stakeholders to participate in an adaptation process. The governance system in each particular CSES provides the contextual possibility of a process that will persist. Participatory governance brings the vitality and relevance of civil society. Eight case studies to probe the challenging question of whether painstaking on-the-ground trust–building; activating participatory governance processes; and engaging in reflexive praxis, can catalyze change towards climate change adaption, specifically focusing on water scarcity.
Conclusion & Significance: The selected approach is slow, with many pitfalls. There are not many examples of unequivocal success. However, we can demonstrate learning, begin to understand failure more deeply, and most importantly share “narratives of hope”. Pace of progress and the difficulty of persevering. These “narratives of hope” are the landmarks to encourage perseverance until a bigger body of evidence emerges and principles of practice are refined. We have enough examples of participatory governance being a key lever for ongoing change towards climate change adaptation to suggest it is worth persevering. The approach is easy to criticize – especially in terms of the pace of progress and the difficulty of persevering with these processes. These “narratives of hope” are the landmarks to encourage perseverance until a bigger body of evidence emerges and principles of practice are refined.
Recent Publications
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Palmer C G, Biggs R and Cumming G S (2015) Applied research for enhancing human well-being and environmental stewardship: using complexity thinking in Southern Africa. Ecology and Society 20(1):53.
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Lang D J, Wiek A, Bermann M, Stauffacher M, Martens P, et al. (2012) Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges. Sustainability Science 7(5):25–43.
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Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change 16(3):253–267.
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Cilliers P (2000) What can we learn from a theory of complexity? Emergence 2(1):23-33.
- Effective Adaptation | CO2 Capture and Sequestration | Renewable Energy to Mitigate Climate Change | Sustainability & Climate Change
Location: Bleroit 2
Chair
Paul Alexander Comet
Houston, USA
Co-Chair
Zhenghui Xie
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Session Introduction
Zenghui Xie
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Title: Hydrologic and climatic responses to global anthropogenic groundwater extraction
Biography:
Xie Z, Professor/Dr., State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modelling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Deputy Director of. He got Ph.D. from Institute of Computational Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1996, and master degree from Hunan University in 1988. He visited Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, USA, and University of Tennessee at Knoxville, USA as visiting Assistant Professor during 1998-2001,. He is working on the development of a land surface model in the climate system and its applications, land surface models and their coupling with regional and general climate models, macro-scale land hydrological models and their parameter calibrations and transfers, interactions between climate and vegetation, land data assimilation and its applications, and computational mathematics and geophysical fluid dynamics. http://web.lasg.ac.cn/staff/xie/xie.htm
Abstract:
Anthropogenic groundwater exploitation essentially changes soil moisture, land-atmosphere water and energy fluxes, even climate system. In over-exploited regions, the terrestrial water storage has been rapidly depleted, causing water unsustainability and climate change. Quantifying the hydrologic and climatic responses to anthropogenic groundwater extraction not only advances our understanding on the hydrological cycle with human intervention, but also benefits effective human water management. In this paper, the authors incorporated a scheme of anthropogenic groundwater exploitation into the Community Earth System Model 1.2.0, and conducted a series of simulations over globe to investigate the effects of groundwater exploitation on the hydrological processes and climate system around the world. The framework of the coupled model are shown in Fig. 1. The model was also applied over Heihe River Basin in northwestern China for investigating the impacts of water use and groundwater lateral flow on basin-scale land processes, and the eco-hydrological effects of stream-aquifer water interaction over riverbanks. Results show that groundwater exploitation caused drying in deep soil layers but wetting in upper layers, with a rapidly declining water table in areas with the most severe groundwater extraction, including the central United States, North China Plains and the north India and Pakistan. The atmosphere also responded to groundwater extraction, with cooling at the 850 hPa level over the north India and Pakistan and a large area in North China and central Russia. Increased precipitation occurred in North China Plains. Decreased precipitation occurred in north India because the Indian monsoon and its transport of water vapor were weaker as a result of cooling induced by groundwater use. Local terrestrial water storage was unsustainable at the current high extraction rate. Thus, a balance between reduced water withdrawal and rapid economic development must be achieved to maintain a sustainable water resource, especially in over-exploited regions.
Recent Publications
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Xie Z, Liu S, Zeng Y, Gao J, Qin P, et al. (2018) A high-resolution land model with groundwater lateral flow, water use and soil freeze-thaw front dynamics and its applications in an endorheic basin. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 123.
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Zeng Y, Xie Z and Zou J (2016) Hydrologic and climatic responses to global anthropogenic groundwater extraction. Journal of Climate 30:71–90.
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Zeng Y, Xie Z, Yu Y, Liu S, Wang L, et al. (2016) Effects of anthropogenic water regulation and groundwater lateral flow on land processes. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth System 8:1106–1131.
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Zeng Y, Xie Z, Yu Y, Liu S, Wang L, et al. (2016) Ecohydrological effects of stream–aquifer water interaction: a case study of the Heihe River basin, northwestern China. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 20:2333–2352.
Francisco Ferrando A
University of Chile, Chile
Title: Potential glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Santa Lucia village, Lake Region, Chile
Biography:
Francisco Ferrando, Geographer and Doctor in geography and territorial ordering, has his expertise in hydrology, glacial geomorphology, rock glaciers and Andean permafrost, and in the effect of global warming on their mass balance. Also, participate in governance actions about mining activities impact on the cryosphere and water quality and security. How titular professor of the department of geography of the University of Chile, brings the courses of Hydrology, Natural Hazards & Risks, and Introduction to Glaciology. At the magister, is responsible for the seminar about Climate change & Rock glaciers.
Abstract:
The Santa Lucía village (Lat.: 43°24'50''S – Long.: 72°21'59''W; 236 m.a.s.l.) is located near to the Frio River, Lake Region. This village has risks considering the natural system dynamics of the place where it is located; a wide and deep glacial valley surrounded by mountain chains with summits 1700–1800 m.a.s.l., where there are several glaciers. The analysis of the geographic surrounding of the Santa Lucía village reveals that there exist potential hazards in the nearest associated with the geomorphology and the glacial context of the upper Frio River valley. These threats are related to four glaciers that have proglacial lagoons and to the effect of the warming tendencies, with the consequent ice structural stability loss, meaning potential scenery of GLOF’s occurrence, and a possibility of a disaster for the village. The climate of the zone is characterized by considerable temperature variations, with more than 20°C in summer, and <0°C in winter, and by 3000 mm of precipitation. In summer 2017, a debris flow was triggered by a 122 mm/24 hours precipitation; intensity that is the double of the 60 mm/24 hours stablished by Hauser (1985) for the occurrence of mass movements in central Chile. This rain, that unchained a slope-slide and then a debris flow, happened over 1400 m.a.s.l., indicating where the high of the 0°C isotherm was during the event. Because no temperature information, the MODIS thermal sensor data gives the possibility to approximate the altitude and the tendency of the 0°C isotherm, process directly ligated to the occurrence of GLOF’s. According to the results of the thermal sensor data for the 2001–2017 period, the height of the 0°C isotherm was increased in ±400 m. This result, not sufficient accuracy (R²=0.3342), can be associated with an increase of the potential hazard of GLOF’s, and constitute information for the determination of a new location for the Santa Lucia village.
Recent Publications
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Vergara Dal Pont I, Santibañez F, Araneo D, Ferrando F and Moreiras S (2018) Determination of probabilities for the generation of high-discharge flows in the middle basin of Elqui River, Chile. Rev. Natural Hazards 16.
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Janke J, Bellisario A and Ferrando F (2015) Classification of debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers in the Andes of Central Chile. Geomorphology 241(2015):98–121.
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Bellisario A, Ferrando F and Janke J (2013) Water resources in Chile: The critical relation between glaciers and mining for sustainable water management. Revista Investigaciones Geográficas 46(2013):3–24.
Irene Perez Lopez
Pan-American Observatory of Landscape, Territory and Architecture, Spain
Title: Urban and architectural approaches for an effective climate change adaptation in Latin America
Biography:
Irene Perez Lopez (PhD in Architecture ETSAM-UPM, President of OPPTA). Sheisco-founder of the Pan-American Observatory of Landscape, Territory and Architecture OPPTA, a non-profit internationalorganizationfocusedontheprotection, restoration, recovery and reconstruction of urban and rural environmentswith a specialfocusonsustainableurbandesign and planning, riskmanagement (ClimateChange and man-madepressureonenvironment), and theimplementation of Resilience cities and societies. Sheworked as director of TerritorioMayor (2013-14), the Centre forUrbanStudies at the Mayor University in Chile, onthedevelopment of consultancies and design-ledresearchregardingtosustainableurbancityplanning, landscape and territory. Previously, shefoundedherown office focusonthedevelopment of architecture, urbandesign and landscapearchitectureprojects. In addition, Irene has beenAssociateProfessor and AssistantProfessor at theBíoBíoUniversity, Mayor University, Salamanca University and theSchool of Architecture at thePolytechnicUniversity of Madrid ETSAM-UPM.
Abstract:
Since 2011, Pan-American Observatory of Landscape, Territory and Architecture (OPPTA) works simultaneously on risk cause by the impacts of climate change and natural hazards in five Latin American cities. The number of unexpected and unprecedented effects of climate change and natural disasters affecting the Latin-American sub-continent in a short period of time motivated OPPTA to develop a concurrent methodology of research proposals and action to approach infrastructural, architectural, landscape and social actions, improving living condition, minimizing vulnerability and promoting the resilience of cities and communities. The proposed methodology is based on the development of five programs: active debates, competition, priority action, WikiPan and publications, which deal respectively with: research, design and implementation of projects, and the creation of an open database and publications to disseminate the results. This methodology settles mechanisms and processes to work through a multidisciplinary and transnational network along Europe and America, involving researchers, professionals and institutions, of both public and private sector. The aim of this research includes the study of risk and its associated problems to identify patterns, concurrencies and differences at the technical, infrastructural and political (identification of public policies and governance in Latin America) level. Among the 12 initial candidates, five sites have been selected: Chimalhuacán (Mexico), Lima (Peru), Puerto Saavedra (Chile), San Cristobal (Colombia) and Petropolis (Brazil). The particular context and specific problems associated to each site stimulate a simultaneous search for common solutions to ensure an effective adaptation. As a result, the technical proposals were implemented throughout the Priority Action Programme, which incorporates sustainable and resilient development plans and project; design of public infrastructures to minimize vulnerability; networks of resilience green-public areas; organization of educational programs and citizen participation with regards to urban agriculture and horticulture, waste and water management; etcetera, to ensure mitigation and endangered environment preservation.
Recent Publications
1. Pérez Maldonado (2017) Strategic Urban Plan for the Araucania Region (Chile): The environmental awareness of the community. PLEA Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2. Pérez Varela (2016) OPPTA methodology for intervention in areas affected by risk in Latin America. Procedia Engineering 161(V).
3. Zazo Aláez and Pérez Varela (2016) ARA project: municipality strategic plan for the implementation of climate change adaptation in Chimalhuacán, México. ‘Cambio climático y ciudades de América Latina’, University of Externado, Colombia, 978-958-710.
4. Pérez (2015) Toward an infrastructural architecture and urban design. Exploration in Big Scale Architecture Project. Urbano, n. 32, 0717-3997/O718-3607.
5. Pérez, Varela (2014). Emergency Landscape in five study cases in Latin America. IFLA, 978-987-96680-2-3
Chia-Fa Chi
National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
Title: The role of spatial analysis in avoiding climate change maladaptation—a systematic review
Biography:
Chia-Fa Chi is a Doctoral Candidate of the Department of Marine Environment and Engineering in National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. His main research activities are focused on adaptation to climate change in coastal areas. In particular, he is interested in the issues of maladaptive risks. He has received awards of the Graduate Students Study Abroad Program which is sponsored by Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology and National Sun Yat-sen University, separately.
Abstract:
As the practice of climate change adaptation has developed rapidly over recent decades, so has the evidence of maladaptation associated with adaptation initiatives, particularly in the form of risk transfer and risk substitution. Increasing our understanding of maladaptation is important so as to avoid negative outcomes of adaptation project implementation. However, as a research topic, maladaptation has received limited attention to date. Previous research has focused on the development of conceptual frameworks that can assist in defining and evaluating maladaptation, which can be applied to adaptation planning processes seeking to avoid maladaptation. However, practical case studies and methods which can assess and evaluate the risk of maladaptation by integrating both spatial and temporal aspects in a simulation tool have not been done to date. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the existing knowledge on maladaptation to climate change, and the interaction between land use change, adaptation planning and project design with the purpose of extending our conceptual understanding. We adopted a systematic review method which involved considering several questions including: (a) What are the definitions and categories of maladaptation? (b) What methods and theoretical frameworks exist for the assessment and evaluation of the risks of maladaptation? (c) How have climate-related research communities considered the issues of maladaptation? (d) What are the experimental studies on land use change which could be applied to minimize the risks of maladaptation in the future adaptation planning? We conclude that future research on maladaptation should integrate spatial analysis methods to assist the identification of maladaptation risk at the initial stage of adaptation planning.
Recent Publications
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Shiau-Yun Lu, Chia-Fa Chi, Chia-Wen Hsu. 2017. Study of Land Use Changes in Coastal Zone and the Response to Climate Changes in Taiwan. Conference on Regional Sea-level Changes and Coastal Impacts. New York, USA.
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Chia-Fa Chi, Shiau-Yun Lu. 2016. Linking Barriers for Adaptation and Maladaptation to Climate Change: A Brief Review. The 38th Ocean Engineering Conference in Taiwan. Taipei City, Taiwan.
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Chia-Fa Chi, Shiau-Yun Lu, Jian-Cheng Chen. 2016. Assessing the Disaster Resilience in Four Coastal Communities, Pingtung, Taiwan. Fifth International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation 2016. Toronto, Canada.
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Shih-Liang Chan, Shiau-Yun Lu, Kuo-Ching Huang, Chia-Fa Chi. 2015. Study for Adaptation Strategy Construction by Land-use Module Application. Climate Adaptation in Taiwan—International Conference of Climate Change Adaptation Technology. Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
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Chia-Fa Chi, Shiau-Yun Lu, Jeng-Di Lee. 2015. Effective Adaptive Measures Could be Maladaptation: Case Study in Chiatung Coastal Area, Pingtung, Taiwan. The 2nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA). Copenhagen, Denmark.
Shree Kumar Maharjan
Hiroshima University, Japan
Title: Exploring perceptions of local stakeholders on climate change adaptation in Central and Western Terai, Nepal
Biography:
Shree K Maharjan is currently pursuing his PhD at the Graduate School of International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Japan. He has been studying and researching on the issues of climate change adaptation in agriculture, indigenous peoples’ rights, participatory approaches, community-based biodiversity management for almost a decade. He has published more than dozens of papers on these issues. His publication H-index is 3.
Abstract:
Climate change has varied impacts on diverse livelihood sectors, which is more prominent at the community level. The stakeholders and local institutions have been supporting the communities either by building adaptive capacities and climate resilience or minimizing the impacts through different adaptation interventions. Some of these interventions are effective, whereas others need further dynamics and exertions considering the complexity of the climate risks and vulnerabilities. Hence, consolidated efforts of concerned stakeholders are required to minimize the present and future climate impacts. This study digs out and analyzes the perceptions of local stakeholders on climate change adaptation in Madi and Deukhuri valleys of Nepal through a questionnaire survey. These local stakeholders revealed flood, drought, cold wave and riverbank erosion as the major climatic risks and hazards found in the sites eventually impacting on the loss of agricultural production, loss of agricultural land and properties, loss of livestock, the emergence of diseases and pest. The stakeholders believed that most of the farmers dealing with these impacts were based on their traditional knowledge and practices, followed by with the support of NGOs and with the help of neighbors and community. The major supports of the stakeholders to deal with these impacts are on training and awareness, risk analysis and minimization, livelihood improvement, financial support, coordination and networking and facilitation in policy formulation. The stakeholders perceived that capacity building, appropriate technologies, community-based planning, prioritization of poor and marginalized, community fund and community-based monitoring, and evaluation were the most important supports required for the community, respectively.
Recent Publications
- Maharjan S K and Maharjan K L (2018) Roles and contributions of community seed banks in climate adaptation in Nepal. Development in Practice 28(2):292–302.
- Maharjan S K (2017) Riverbed farming as source of income, family nutrition and food security for landless and poor farmers in Terai region of Nepal. Scientia Recerca: innovative Techniques in Agriculture 2(1):316–319.
- Maharjan S K and Maharjan K L (2017) Indigenous peoples, indigenous knowledge and issues of indigenous peoples on climate change particularly REDD+ in developing countries. International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology 5(3):272–283.
- Maharjan S K and Maharjan K L (2017) State of climate policies, plans/strategies and factors affecting its implementation in Nepal. International Journal of Conservation Science 8(3):485-496.
- Maharjan S K, Maharjan K L, Tiwari U and Sen N P (2017) Participatory vulnerability assessment of climate change vulnerabilities and impacts in Madi Valley of Chitwan district, Nepal. Cogent Food and Agriculture 3(1).
Dai-Yeun Jeong
Asia Climate Change Education Center, South Korea
Title: A framework for achieving carbon-free society
Biography:
Dai-Yeun Jeong is presently the Director of Asia Climate Change Education Center and an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sociology at Jeju National University in South Korea. He received BA and MA Degree in Sociology from Korea University (South Korea), and PhD in Environmental Sociology from The University of Queensland (Australia). He was a Professor of Sociology at Jeju National University (South Korea) from 1981 to 2012. His past major professional activities include a Teaching Professor at the University of Sheffield in UK, the President of Asia-Pacific Sociological Association, a Delegate of South Korean Government to UNFCCC, a Delegate of South Korean Government to OECD Environmental Meeting, and a Member of Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development, Republic of Korea, etc. He has published 60 environment-related research papers in domestic and international journals and 13 books including Environmental Sociology. He has conducted 91 unpublished environment-related research projects funded by domestic and international organizations.
Abstract:
Statement of the Problems: It has been scientifically proved that the emission of human-induced greenhouse gases is the major contributor to climate change. A variety of strategies are being implemented to reduce the emission of human-induced greenhouse gases at a global, national and regional level for achieving low-carbon and carbon-neutral society. However, the ultimate goal of climate change strategy is to achieve carbon-free society which is the state of, climate before industrialization advanced in the 18th century. Nonetheless, it is quite rare to establish the framework of carbon-free society.
Contents of Presentation: In the context mentioned above, this paper will present a framework for achieving carbon-free society through overcoming the limitations inherent in the existing framework promoting low-carbon and carbon-neutral society. The presentation will be composed of three parts. First: The difference in the concept and implication of low-carbon, carbon-neutral and carbon-free society will be examined. Second: The limitations inherent in the low-carbon and carbon-neutral frameworks will be critically examined in terms of their strategies for achieving the state of climate before industrialization has been advanced in the 18th century. Third: A framework for achieving carbon-free society will be presented in a way to overcoming the limitations inherent in the existing low-carbon and carbon-neutral frameworks, focusing on overall direction of nature-based and technology-based approach, major socio-economic sectors and strategies to be included, and methodologies for analyzing the efficiency and effectiveness of the strategies.
Conclusion & Significance: No country/region currently has all requirements necessary for promoting carbon-free society. In this context, as a concluding remark, what capacity should be built will be discussed. In a word, the key significance of the presentation is in seeking for the direction and contents of achieving carbon-free society which is the ultimate destination of climate change strategy.
Recent Publications
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Jeong D-Y (2011) An effectiveness analysis of climate change policy in South Korea. Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment 20(5):585–600.
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Jeong D-Y (2009) An international comparative research on environmental carrying capacity among islands. Korean Social Science Journal 36(2):195–230.
Kozarcanin Smail
Aarhus University, Denmark
Title: Impacts of climate change on large-scale weather driven energy system design decisions for the 21st century
Biography:
Kozarcanin Smail is passionate in understanding and proposing ways of how the humanity is able to mitigate climate change during the 21st century. This interest has led him to join the Aarhus University, Sustainable Energy System group where he is employed as a PhD Fellow. He has his expertise within the subject of climate change impacts on future highly renewable large scale energy systems.
Abstract:
Increasing global warming and the resulting climatic changes are likely to advance the weather-related risks that are facing many different human and natural systems. In the attempt to cushion these effects, mitigation strategies that rely on low-cost weather driven variable renewable energy technologies are gaining ground, and installed renewable energy generation capacities are increasing significantly. We present a study on, to what extend the weather is changing in a way that also directly impacts the best system design decisions for weather-driven sustainable energy systems. The latest generation of IPCC’s climate projections, RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, have been used to represent a broad range of climate outcomes during the 21st century. These are strongly influenced by climate policies representing the latest Paris agreement, imposition of high global greenhouse gas emission prices and lack of climate policies, respectively. On behalf of the EURO-CORDEX project, three hourly climate data have been provided from six different high-resolution regional climate models for Europe. We have then applied state-of-art methods to generate bias corrected wind and solar power production time series for the 21st century, and to correct the electric consumption profiles for heating and cooling for 30 European countries. To assess the far future impacts of climate change, the production and consumption profiles are applied to a fully connected, highly-renewable, large-scale European energy system. As a result, we found small changes in the relevant energy system key metrics of the combined system dynamics compared to historical values. We concluded that the effect of climate change can most likely be ignored in the context of energy system design for the 21st century. However, in correspondence with the literature, impacts of climate change are more prominent through the demand and these strongly outweigh the energy supply side impacts.
Recent Publications
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T Brown, D Schlachtberger, A Kies, S Schramm and M Greiner (2018) Synergies of sector coupling and transmission extension in a cost-optimised, highly renewable European energy system, preprint arXiv:1801.05290.
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J Wohland, M Reyers, J Weber and D Witthaut (2017) More homogeneous wind conditions under strong climate change decrease the potential for inter-state balancing of electricity in Europe. Earth System Dynamics 8.4.
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I Tobin, et al. (2016) Climate change impacts on the power generation potential of a European mid-century wind farm scenario. Environmental Research Letters 11(3):034013.
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P Berril, et al. (2016) Environmental impacts of high penetration renewable energy scenarios for Europe. Environmental Research Letters 11(1):014012.
- Environmental Science | Toxicology | Toxicity testing
Location: Bleroit 2
Chair
Manuela Marcoli
University of Genova, Italy
Co-Chair
Edwin J Routledge
Brunel University London, UK
Session Introduction
Maria Teresa Giardi
Biosensor Srl, Italy
Title: Directed evolution, biotechnology and in silico analysis of reaction centre proteins for microorganisms and biomimetic-based biosensors in environmental toxicity monitoring
Biography:
Maria Teresa Giardi manager of research at the National Council of Research (IC-CNR) in Rome till 2015. She is now associated to CNR, working at the company Biosensor srl as research director and CEO. Her background is in industrial chemistry with extensive experience in biochemistry and molecular biology; her main interest is on photosynthetic protein stabilization and utilization in biosensors for real toxicity environmental monitoring. She is a supervisor-coordinator of several national and international projects in the field of biosensors based on plants and microorganisms and of European Space Agency’s projects involving space flights of engineered microorganisms to low orbit and to International Space
Abstract:
Tons of chemical compounds derived from human and industrial activities are incessantly threatening our environment. Current approaches for monitoring of pollutants include precise and accurate assessment of individual compounds by chemical analyses, which are however unable to provide information about bioavailability, effect on living organisms, and synergistic or antagonistic behaviour in mixtures, thus requiring combination with biomarker assays and ecosystem monitoring. These methodology strategy is time and labour intensive, demands ex-situ collection at individual locations and extensive sample preparation, and has elevated costs depending on the complexity.
To overcome these challenges, biosensor and bioassay technology can furnish advanced devices for water monitoring with greater efficiency. Indeed, integrated, cost-effective, easy to use, and fast biosensors can be projected to characterize the extent of pollution at relevant spatio-temporal scales and in terms of ecological effects. Despite this great potential, most of the published works focused on analyses of fresh water, mainly because of the highly demanding working environment that seawater constitutes. To face the challenges posed by real environments, biosensors need to be fully automated, very robust (resistant to physical impacts, high corrosion, and biofouling), drift-free or with accurate calibration, with minimal power consumption, user-friendly, and enough sensitive to measure pollutants at very low concentrations. Several examples of biosensor development for marine measurements of eutrophication, pesticides, anti-biofouling agents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, endocrine disruptors, trace metals, organism detection and algal toxins have been described in literature.
Algal biosensors react very broadly to toxicity and their detection mechanism frequently relies on measurement of the photosynthetic activity caused by 33% of pesticides actually in the market. Biosensing applications of photosynthetic organisms are based on the inhibition of the electron transfer occurring after a few minutes exposure of photosystem II (PSII) to certain pollutants, or to adverse physicochemical conditions changing the local chemical equilibrium. Indeed, when pollutants such as photosynthetic pesticides are present and encounter the photosystem, they can bind the reaction centre D1 protein and directly or indirectly inhibit the transport of electrons from the primary acceptor, plastoquinone A (QA), to the secondary quinone (QB) along the photosynthetic chain. This inhibition results in a variation of PSII fluorescence emission in a pollutant concentration-dependent manner that can be monitored by optical transduction. Based on this approach, several microalgal biosensors have been designed for pesticide and heavy metal detection in fresh water. However, hyper-saline conditions present in marine environment and stress conditions during environmental monitoring may affect the photosynthetic process resulting in significant changes in the bioassay performance. Herein we present the development of an optical bioassay for detection of photosynthetic pesticides from different chemical classes in real water samples by exploiting various green microalgae strains. Therefore, the main objectives were to select the most appropriate microalgae strains to achieve stability and adaptability into real matrices, and to develop a bioassay integrated with portable fluorescence instrumentation allowing pesticide detection at relevant environmental concentrations. Several microalgae species from Chlorophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Dinoflagellates, Diatoms and Eustigmatophyceae groups with different marine and non-marine origins, including fresh water and soil, were analysed. Lipid content of selected microalgae suggested that C. mirabilis and symbiotic associations between C.vulgaris and protozoa were the microorganisms with higher potential to acclimate to high salinity environments being mainly constituted by unsaturated lipids involved in responses to several environmental stresses.
Among the wide range of microalgae species, which have been employed to develop biosensor technology, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was especially studied since it possess a number of features that suite perfectly the requirements of an early warning environmental biosensor. It is a grass organism, easily cultivable having 8 hours doubling time and it can grow with or without carbon source, besides, it is easily transformable and all 3 genomes are sequenced. Recent our efforts have focused on increasing the stability and selectivity of PSII from microalgae for the detection of different subclasses of pollutants. These goals were achieved by using the alga C. reinhardtii mutated at the D1 protein herbicide-binding site by site-directed mutagenesis. C. reinhardtii was also modified introducing in the chloroplast antioxidant peptides, known in food able to reduce the content of free radicals, thus lessening the photooxidative membrane damage. Measurements of in-vivo antioxidant activity showed that mutant strains have improved their survival rate in the presence of singlet oxygen precursors, which highly exceeds the survival rate of control algae, showing increased stability and sensitivity for biosensor applications.
Beyond these scientific achievements, nowadays the market needs highly specific and precise in situ measurement devices able to collect and send the data in real-time for periods of months without maintenance under multi-stressors. These devices demand more robust algal biomediators. Thus, the challenge is the preservation of the algal photosynthetic functionality when integrated with electronic components or operated under fluctuating environmental conditions. To this end C. reinhardtii mutants able to quench 1O2 and other ROS, were integrated into a newly developed miniature and portable electrochemical/optical device, to measure and collect PSII data in real-time for long periods. Several photosynthetic pollutants spiked in real samples were detected within 10 min in concentrations between ng/L-μg/L and the different algae species tested showed diverse pesticide sensitivities.
Always towards to increase the biomediator performance, biomimetic peptides of the photosynthetic D1 binding niche of the microalgae C. reinhardtii were developed, both by chemical and biological synthesis, as suggested by in silico analysis. Standing out among the others, the biomimetic mutant peptide, D1pepS268C, bound to specific quantum dots, showed high ability to mimic the microalga in binding pesticides. Replacement of whole microalgae cells or their photosynthetic apparatus by mimetic peptide improved the system in terms of stability.
This approach allowed also the integration of the biomediators with quantum dots and innovative stretchable printed electrodes-based electrochemical biosensor as a wearable point-of-use screening tool for toxicity environmental analyses.
Biography:
Farasani A received his PhD from Reading University, UK in 2016 for his work on genotoxicity of cosmetic chemicals in human breast epithelial cells. He is currently working as Head of Genetic Unit in the MLT Department at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Dermal absorption of components of underarm cosmetics may be a contributory factor in breast cancer development. Aluminium (Al) salts are added as the active antiperspirant agent, and cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS) are used for purposes of conditioning and spreading. Al has been measured in human breast tissue, breast cyst fluid, nipple aspirate fluid and milk: Al levels in breast tissue have been recently reported to be a risk factor for breast cancer in young women. cVMS have been measured in human milk. The objectives of this study were to investigate any genotoxic effects of exposure to the antiperspirant salts Al chloride and Al chlorohydrate, and to the cVMS hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D3), octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) in immortalized non-transformed human breast epithelial cells. All these compounds enabled a dose-dependent growth of the non-transformed cells in suspension culture, which is an established marker of transformation. DNA damage was demonstrated using a comet assay. Long term (≥20 weeks) exposure to these compounds also resulted in loss of expression (mRNA and protein) of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 which is a key gene in the repair of DNA in breast cells. Alterations to expression of other DNA repair genes at an mRNA level will be presented. If these compounds can both damage DNA and compromise DNA repair systems, then there is the potential for breast carcinogenesis.
Recent Publications
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Farasani A and Darbre P D (2017) Exposure to cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS) causes anchorage-independent growth and reduction of BRCA1 in non-transformed human breast epithelial cells. Journal of Applied Toxicology 37(4):454–461.
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Farasani A (2017) Importance of exome sequencing in the human diseases and medical genetics. J Genet Genomic Sci. 2:006.
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Farasani A and Darbre P D (2015) Effect of aluminium chloride and aluminium chlorohydrate on DNA repair processes in MCF10A immortalized non-transformed human breast epithelial cells. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 152(2015):186–9.
Seyed Jamaleddin Shahtaheri
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Title: Development of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction procedure for trace determination of pesticide malathion in urine samples
Biography:
Seyed Jamaleddin Shahtaheri completed his PhD from Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, England in 1996. He is an Academic Member of the Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, acting as the Dean Research Deputy at the Institute for Environmental Research at the same university. He is a Member of the Persistent Organic Pollutant Review Committee (POPRC) under the Stockholm Convention, UNEP, UN. He has published more than 150 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of seven national and international journals.
Abstract:
Background: Measurement of pesticides in biological matrices is a serious challenge for researches because of their very low concentration in different matrices. The aim of this study was to develop a new sample preparation method with high accuracy, validity, simplicity as well as a short retention time for chromatographic determination of the pesticide malathion.
Methods: Dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction (DLLME) technique coupled with high performance liquid chromatography equipped with ultra violet detector (HPLC-UV) was developed for trace extraction and determination of pesticide malathion in human urine samples. One variable at a time (OVAT) method was used to optimize parameters affecting the malathion extraction. Different parameters such as extraction solvent, disperser solvent, and volume of the extraction solvent, volume of the disperser solvent, centrifugation time and speed, salt addition, and sample pH were studied and optimized.
Results: Under the optimized conditions, the limit of detection and enrichment factor of the developed procedure were 0.5 µg L-1 and 200, respectively. The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 2–250 µgL-1. The relative standard deviation for six replicate experiments at 200 µgL-1 concentration was less than 3%. The relative recoveries of spiked urine samples were 96.3%, 101.7% and 97.3% at three different concentration levels of 50, 200, and 1000 µgL-1, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the obtained results, DLLME procedure was successfully developed for the extraction of malathion from human urine samples. Compared to other extraction techniques, the proposed procedure had some advantages such as shorter extraction time, better reproducibility, and higher enrichment factor.
Recent Publications
1. Khadem M, Faridbod F, Norouzi P, Rahimi Foroushani A, Ganjali MR, Shahtaheri SJ, Yarahmadi R (2017). Modification of carbon paste electrode basec on molecularly imprinted polymer for electrochemical determination of diazinon in biological and environmental samples, Electro analysis, Vol. 29, 708-715.
2. Khadem M, Faridbod F, Norouzi P, Rahimi Foroushani A, Ganjali MR, Shahtaheri SJ, Yarahmadi R. Design and synthesis of a highly selective electrochemical sensor for occupational monitoring of diazinone, Journal of Health and Safety at Work, Vol. 7, No. 1, 9-23.
3. Harati B, Shahtaheri SJ, Karimi A, Azam K. (2017). Evaluation of health risk assessment of occupational exposure to chemical pollutant in an automobile manufacturing industry, Journal of Health and Safety at Work, Vol. 7, No. 2, 121-131.
4. Ghahri A, Golbabaei F, Vafajoo L, Mireskandari SM, Yaseri M, Shahtaheri SJ (2017). Removal of Greenhouse Gas (N2O) by Catalytic Decomposition on Natural Clinoptilolite Zeolites Impregnated with Cobalt. International Journal of Environmental Research, Vol. 11, No. 3, 327-337.
5. Kakavandi NR, Ezoddin M, Abdi K, Ghazi-Khansari M, Amini M, Shahtaheri SJ (2017). Ion pair-switchable-hydrophilicity solvent based homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of paraquat in environmental and biological samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography, Journal of Separation Science, Vol. 40, 3703-3709.
Angela Pinzon-Espinosa
Brunel University London, UK
Title: Unravelling the chemistry behind the toxic effects of refining wastewater: Characterization and remediation
Biography:
Angela Pinzon-Espinosa is a Water Scientist working at the interface between Microbiology and Chemistry. Her research interests are directed towards the link between water quality, health, and environment, and the different strategies to tackle water pollution. Her current research focuses on the detection and identification of toxic chemicals in industrial effluents using luminescent bacteria, and the development of low-cost clean-up technologies targeting refining chemicals. She is particularly interested in the science behind pollution control and the use of science for regulatory purposes, but keen on expanding her expertise to environmental management aiming to provide clean and safe water.
Abstract:
Refining transforms crude oil into marketable products with high commercial value, providing a third of the global energy requirements and numerous raw materials. The process, however, emits vast amounts of wastewater that can have harmful effects on wildlife and human health but the link between chemistry and observed toxicity is fragile because little progress has been made in determining causative agents. Consequently, current treatment technologies are not targeting key toxicants nor providing safe effluents. Here we show that naphthenic acids are important components of refining wastewater, resulting from the processing of heavy crude oil, and that they have an important contribution to the toxic effects exerted by these effluents. Furthermore, we found that their chemical stability makes them highly resistant to remediation using bacteria and Fe-TAML/H2O2 systems under laboratory conditions, and only sequential aliquots of Fe-TAML catalysts and H2O2 showed to degrade naphthenic acids (50 ppm) within 72 hours. We anticipate our results to be a starting point for better environmental regulations relevant to refining wastewater resulting from heavy crude oil, as naphthenic acids are not currently considered in the effluent guidelines for the refining sector. Furthermore, the degradation of naphthenic acids under mild conditions using Fe-TAML/H2O2 systems indicates that these catalysts hold promise for the remediation of refining wastewater in real-life scenarios.
Jianhua YAO
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Title: Prediction of compounds’ toxicities and its applications
Biography:
Jianhua Yao has her expertise in Chemoinformatics and its applications in all domains which relate to Chemistry. She has studied prediction of compounds properties for more than 10 years and developed prediction system of acute toxicity, mutagenic toxicity and carcinogenic toxicity. These systems have been applied in environmental protection.
Abstract:
A compound is a chemical entity consisting of two or more different atoms combined by chemical bonds. Their properties are basically physical, chemical, biological, toxicological, etc., and depend on their chemical structure. Toxicity is one of the properties of compounds, and is related to their chemical structures. Toxicology involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and is a discipline related to biology, chemistry, pharmacology, medicine, and nursing. Its research content includes: symptoms, mechanism, treatment and determination of poisoning. Generally, in toxicology, there are six types of toxicity: acute, mutagenic, irritative, carcinogenic, reproductive, and multiple doses. To obtain the toxicity evaluation of compounds, traditionally, people evaluated their toxicities by microbiological, animal experiments, or got them from human events reports. With the increment of experimental data, development of computer science and chemoinformatics technology, computer aided prediction toxicity of compounds become another effective way to obtain information about toxicity of compounds step by step. At present, it is being applied in related fields, such as chemical toxicity assessment concerning environmental protection, food industry, study of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), agricultural production and pharmaceutical industry, and plays a key role. Actually, in computer aided prediction toxicity of compounds, combination of data mining, analysis of relationship between reliable experimental data and chemical structures was used to obtain the knowledge/rules which would be employed to predict toxicity of a compound based on its chemical structure. Herein, two works of our group will be presented: strategies and methods of computer-aided prediction of toxicity and; evaluation of toxicity for a pesticide and its metabolites, formulating plans of environmental protection.
Fawei Yan
Renmin University of China, China
Title: Differences in PM2.5 from various combusted materials
Time : 16:50-17:10
Biography:
Fawei Yan, Master of Engineering, ever studied in School of Natural Resources and Environment, Renmin University of China, majoring in Environmental Science from 2014 to 2017. During school time (2010-2017), he participated in many research programs, for example, PM2.5 Formation, Lignocellulose Degradation (Microorganism), Waste Combustion, Soil Analysis and so on. Especially, he took part in the research Antibiotics Degradation in Water in University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA for almost 2 months in 2013. Now he work in the Planning and Development Department, Beijing New International Airport. He has his expertise in Environment Research such as PM2.5, waste combustion. His research interests are PM2.5 Generation and Green Airport.
Abstract:
PM2.5 now is a very hot topic in China and the government is taking sustained efforts to resolve this problem. Especially, in Beijing, restricting vehicles, restriction on constructions, closing low-end factories that contaminate the environment, are several means to reduce the PM2.5 generation by all respects. However, PM2.5 emerges from many sources, including natural and anthropogenic discharges. One of the main anthropogenic sources is combustion. Fuel burning is a very important source. Many researchers have deeply studied the formation of PM2.5 from coal combustion or oil combustions. However, the research on PM2.5 from other combustions is a rarity. Hence, several materials were combusted including plastic, wood and glass as the research subjects in the same operation condition in this study. These three represent three kinds of materials, chemical organic matter, organic biomass and inorganic matter. Information such as PM2.5 production and PM2.5 morphology were collected. The findings suggested that different wastes would exhibit different PM2.5 emission potentials in the same combustion operation condition and the morphologies of PM2.5 from various combustion sources is also identifiable. Plastic combustion bears the highest PM2.5 discharge potential during incomplete burning with tremendous spherical particulates in the images. Glass bears no PM2.5 discharge potential for its incombustible properties. While wood would generate PM2.5 in an irregular shape with a moderate production.
Recent Publications
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Fenfen Zhu and Fawei Yan (2017) PM2.5 emission behavior from laboratory-scale combustion of typical municipal solid waste components and their morphological characteristics. Energy & Fuels 111:855-876.
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Fawei Yan and Fenfen Zhu (2016) Preliminary study of PM2.5 formation during municipal solid waste incineration. Procedia Environmental Sciences 31:475–481.
Sadia Nasreen
University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan
Title: Synthesis of heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from cooking oil
Biography:
Abstract:
Biodiesel, a promising alternative diesel fuel produced by a catalytic transesterification of vegetable oils, has become more attractive nowadays, because of its environmental concerns and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. In this work, the trans-esterification of soybean oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system, using Zn, Mn, K and Ce supported by a mixture of porcelain, cinder and ceramic. 0.5 and 1 mm of Zn, Mn, K and Ce in 7 g of support were loaded, followed by calcinations at 600°C for 4h. Fresh and used catalyst were characterized by means of various spectroscopic techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and TG conversion was checked by HPLC. It has been observed that 1M ZnCO3 loaded in the support gives 93% TG conversion.
Recent Publications
1. Sadia Nasreen, Muhammad Nafees, Mohammad Musaanb Jaffar, Liaqat Ali Qurashi, Shamas Tabraiz, et al. (2017) Comparison and effect of Cinder supported with Manganese and Lanthanum oxide for biodiesel production. International journal of Hydrogen Energy 42 (29):18389–18396.
2. Sadia Nasreen, Liu Hui, Liaqat Ali Qureshi, Zakarea Sissou, Lukic I, et al. (2016) Cerium–manganese oxide as catalyst for transesterification of soybean oil with subcritical methanol. Fuel Processing Technology 148:76–84.
3. Sadia Nasreen, Hui Liu, Liaqat Ali Qureshi, Zakari Sissou, Ivana Lukic, et al. (2016) Heterogeneous kinetic of soybean oil transesterification with rare earth metal catalysts. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly 22(4):419–429.