Search Results (8)

In thermal power plants, fly ash produced from coal combustion is a solid waste that requires large storage areas and poses environmental risks. In addition, coal ash can contain significant amounts of critical elements, including rare earth elements and yttrium (REY). Despite high supply risks, demand for REY is increasing in parallel with technological developments. Therefore, the recovery of REY from coal ash is becoming increasingly important for both solid waste disposal and as a raw material source. This study presents an integrated geochemical assessment of REY in fly ashes from coal-fired thermal power plants in Türkiye, based on systematically compiled and harmonised datasets. The REY concentration of fly ash varies between 134.00 and 429.48, with an average of 230.06 ppm. Light REY are predominant in all samples. The proportion of critical REY averages 34.75, with the highest value calculated at 42% in fly ash from the Yatağan thermal power plant. While most fly ashes show L-type enrichment, there are also samples showing M-type and H-type enrichment. According to initial national-scale estimates, coal fly ashes in Türkiye may contain approximately 3.7–5 kt of rare earth oxides per year. Despite their low REY content, Turkish fly ashes can be considered a potential source for REY recovery when considering the large waste volume, in conjunction with an integrated evaluation strategy. This study establishes a geochemical basis for future process-oriented and recovery-focused investigations. Full article

Potentially toxic element (PTE) contamination of urban soils poses long-term ecological and public health risks. Ornamental vegetation is increasingly discussed within green-infrastructure-based risk management. We screened and synthesised 167 field studies (>120 ornamental and horticultural plant species) to characterise the scope, reporting structure and design features of the available phytoremediation-related evidence. Studies assessed a mean of 3.21 elements (SD = 1.37); Pb, Cd and Zn were most frequently investigated (67%), whereas Ni, Cr and B occurred in <10%. Reported element richness differed by setting, averaging 3.8 ± 1.5 in wastewater-affected sites versus 2.6 ± 1.1 in urban parks. Using a study-by-element presence/absence matrix, co-reporting patterns separated three recurrent co-reporting profiles. The first three PCs explained 64.5% of variance (PC1: Pb–Zn–B; PC2: Cu–Ni; PC3: Cd–Cr). Accumulation was reported most often (56.8%), while stabilisation (17.9%) and translocation (25.3%) were less commonly addressed. For public space applications, accumulation-focused plantings require a defined maintenance pathway (pruning/harvest, biomass removal, and safe handling or disposal) to avoid recirculation of metal-bearing material within the urban environment. Sampling focused on aboveground tissues (73.4%) more than roots (28.9%). In multiple regression, environmental type was associated with element richness (Adj. R² = 0.08, p = 0.001). Here, richness is treated as an index of reporting breadth. Overall, the dominant quantitative signals reflect context-dependent reporting and study design patterns. They do not represent harmonised, concentration-based remediation outcomes. These patterns provide an evidence map to support context-aware interpretation and future study standardisation. Full article

Background/Objectives: A balanced nutritious diet is vital during pregnancy for both the mother and the baby. The aims of this longitudinal study were to (1) determine any differences in macro- and micronutrient intakes in a group of UK women during pregnancy (and in the post-partum period) who were overweight or obese (BMI mean (SD) 31.1 (2.9)) at antenatal booking appointment compared with women who were within the ideal BMI range (BMI mean (SD) 22.1 (1.9)) and (2) determine the proportion of women who met the Harmonized Average Requirements (H-AR) during pregnancy. Methods: Forty-two participants attended four clinic visits: three during pregnancy, one in each trimester (V1, V2, and V3), and one 12 weeks post-partum (V4). Dietary intake was assessed by 24 h diet recall and analysed using DietPlan6. Results: There were no differences in energy and macronutrient intakes between overweight/obese and lean women. During pregnancy, the overweight/obese women consumed a mean (SD) of 3238 (941) sodium (mg per day), which was approximately 10% higher compared to 2934 (732) sodium (mg per day) in the lean group (p = 0.015). Dietary and supplemental intakes of the sodium to potassium ratio was 21% higher in overweight/obese women compared to the lean women, p = 0.0031 (mean (SD) of 1.17 (0.35) versus 0.93 (0.28), respectively). Virtually all women did not meet the H-AR for niacin, folate, and vitamin D through dietary intake alone. Conclusions: The ‘eat better and not more’ message during pregnancy is supported. Full article

Water pollution with nitrogen (N) from agriculture constitutes a persisting environmental problem in intensive farming regions worldwide. Understanding the spatio-temporal interconnection between agricultural N emissions and N inputs to water bodies is key to evaluating and improving existing mitigation policies. Nitrogen flux models are an indispensable tool for addressing these complex research questions in the land use–water nexus, requiring adequate data on agricultural N surpluses. However, high-resolution farm management data are not readily available to the scientific community. We develop a municipality-level agricultural N budget model for Germany based on farm-level administration data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) and regional expert knowledge. We estimate a total agricultural N surplus of 58 kg N ha⁻¹ of utilised agricultural area as the three-year average for 2014–2016. About 90% of municipalities exhibit N surpluses between 21 and 99 kg N ha⁻¹. Evaluation with collected farm accountancy data revealed a good fit of the modelled (with observed) mineral N quantities applied. Our results highlight the potential of farm-level data for N flux models. Due to the ubiquitous reporting of land use and farming structures in the IACS, our approach can be adapted in other countries of the EU to serve as a harmonised backbone of monitoring and policy impact assessments. Full article

Background: Whole-Body Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (WBDWI) is an established technique for staging and evaluating treatment response in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and advanced prostate cancer (APC). However, WBDWI scans show inter- and intra-patient intensity signal variability. This variability poses challenges in accurately quantifying bone disease, tracking changes over follow-up scans, and developing automated tools for bone lesion delineation. Here, we propose a novel automated pipeline for inter-station, inter-scan image signal standardisation on WBDWI that utilizes robust segmentation of the spinal canal through deep learning. Methods: We trained and validated a supervised 2D U-Net model to automatically delineate the spinal canal (both the spinal cord and surrounding cerebrospinal fluid, CSF) in an initial cohort of 40 patients who underwent WBDWI for treatment response evaluation (80 scans in total). Expert-validated contours were used as the target standard. The algorithm was further semi-quantitatively validated on four additional datasets (three internal, one external, 207 scans total) by comparing the distributions of average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and volume of the spinal cord derived from a two-component Gaussian mixture model of segmented regions. Our pipeline subsequently standardises WBDWI signal intensity through two stages: (i) normalisation of signal between imaging stations within each patient through histogram equalisation of slices acquired on either side of the station gap, and (ii) inter-scan normalisation through histogram equalisation of the signal derived within segmented spinal canal regions. This approach was semi-quantitatively validated in all scans available to the study (N = 287). Results: The test dice score, precision, and recall of the spinal canal segmentation model were all above 0.87 when compared to manual delineation. The average ADC for the spinal cord (1.7 × 10⁻³ mm²/s) showed no significant difference from the manual contours. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between the average ADC values of the spinal cord across the additional four datasets. The signal-normalised, high-b-value images were visualised using a fixed contrast window level and demonstrated qualitatively better signal homogeneity across scans than scans that were not signal-normalised. Conclusion: Our proposed intensity signal WBDWI normalisation pipeline successfully harmonises intensity values across multi-centre cohorts. The computational time required is less than 10 s, preserving contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratios in axial diffusion-weighted images. Importantly, no changes to the clinical MRI protocol are expected, and there is no need for additional reference MRI data or follow-up scans. Full article

Objective: The interest in vegan nutrition and the number of vegans in Germany are increasing. Especially, young women decide to choose a vegan diet. However, there are concerns whether a vegan diet can ensure nutrient adequacy during pregnancy. Methods: The study investigated the energy and nutrient intake as well as food consumption of vegan (VN; n = 34) and omnivorous (OM; n = 16) pregnant women via a 3-day weighed dietary record at the beginning (week 9–16) and at the end (week 35–38) of pregnancy. Results: Significant differences between VN and OM were found in the intake of vitamin B12, niacin, vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, dietary fibre, salt, cholesterol, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), α-linolenic acid, and linoleic acid at the beginning and end of pregnancy. For all nutrients assessed, the VN participants’ median intake met the harmonised average requirements. However, the VN median intakes (including supplements) did not reach the D-A-CH reference values for pantothenic acid, potassium, iron, and iodine at least at one time point. The OM participants’ median intake (including supplements) did not reach the D-A-CH reference values for vitamin D, potassium, calcium, iron, PUFA, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), as well as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) at least at one time point. Excluding supplementation, both groups failed to reach the reference intakes for the following nutrients for both time periods: vitamin D, folate, iron, iodine, EPA, and DHA. In terms of mean intake (including supplementation), the VN group achieved the D-A-CH reference values for all critical nutrients in a VN pregnancy, except for iodine, while OM did not reach the reference intakes for calcium, iron, EPA, and DHA at one or both time points. Conclusion: Including appropriate supplementation, an adequate intake of critical nutrients appears to be possible in a VN diet during pregnancy. Full article

Shortlisting ecologically adaptable plant species can be a starting point for agricultural diversification projects. We propose a rapid assessment framework based on an ecological model that can accelerate the evaluation of options for sustainable crop diversification. To test the new model, expert-defined and widely available crop requirement data were combined with more than 100,000 occurrence data for 40 crops of different types (cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and tubers/roots). Soil pH, texture, and depth to bedrock data were obtained and harmonised based on the optimal rooting depths of each crop. Global baseline temperature and rainfall data were used to extract averages at each location. To evaluate the ability of the method to capture intraspecies variation, a test was performed using more than 1000 accession records of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) as an exemplar underutilised crop. Results showed that a suitability index based on soil pH and an index that combines the thermal suitability moderated by the soil pH, texture, and depth suitability have the potential to predict crop adaptability. We show that the proposed method can be combined with traditional land use and crop models to evaluate diversification options for sustainable land and agrobiodiversity resources management. Full article

The DC–DC converter for fuel cell vehicles requires high gain and wide voltage input range to boost the voltage of the fuel cell. However, with the traditional boost converter, it is difficult to meet the requirements of the fuel cell vehicle power system. Based on a quasi-Z-source network DC–DC converter, this paper proposes a composite controller, which includes a feedforward compensation network and feedback control to meet the control robustness requirement of the fuel cell vehicle power system. The dynamic model of the converter is obtained by using the state space averaging method and the small-signal dynamic modeling method. The input voltage and load disturbance experiments are performed on the DC–DC converter. Moreover, the converter is tested under the worldwide harmonised light vehicle test procedure (WLTP) to validate the effectiveness of the proposed composite controller. The simulation and experiment results show that the proposed composite controller effectively enhances the converter’s ability to resist input and load disturbance, and improves the dynamic response performance of the DC–DC converter for fuel cell vehicles. Full article