The Baltic Sea is vulnerable to environmental changes. With the increasing shipping activities, the risk of oil spills remains high. Archaea are widely distributed in many environments. However, the distribution and the response of archaeal communities to oil contamination have rarely been investigated in brackish habitats. Hence, we conducted a survey to investigate the distribution, diversity...

The status of the contamination of Dutch marine harbor sediments was reevaluated after a period in which emissions from point sources had been greatly reduced. Data on sediment chemistry from 1999 and 2000 were assessed against screening levels (SLs) selected from available sediment quality guidelines and representing a low probability of adverse biological effects. This yielded a ranking of th...

The microorganisms Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Zygosaccharomyces bailii and an oil-based emulsion, have been subjected to shock compression using the flyer-plate technique to initial pressures of 0.8 GPa (in the suspension). In each experiment, a stainless steel capsule was used to contain the broths and allow for recovery without contamination. Where cavitation was mostly suppr...

With the rapid development of the petroleum industry, a large number of oil contaminants leaked into the soil in the petrochemical complex areas, gas stations, automobile factory and other places, which resulted in serious soil contamination. Micro-Biological degradation of oil pollution was the focus of the present study. Many hydrocarbon-contaminated environments were characterized by low or ...

Water is one of the most significant destructive contaminations to lubricants which in turn lead to more power consumption and early damage to rotating machines. This study explores the effect of water contents in gearbox lube oil on the responses of electrical supply parameters. A two stage gearbox based mechanical transmission system driven by a sensorless variable speed drive (VSD) is utilis...

An approach to rapid protein crystallization using very small samples is described. A computer controlled microdispenser is used to make crystallization samples as microbatch droplets under oil. Samples of 1—2 ~l are dispensed ready-mixed and with good precision. The samples are protected from evaporation, contamination and physical shock by the oil. When favourable conditions for crystallizati...

The present barium content of Southern California coastal waters was determined to be 11 to 22 micrograms per kilogram of seawater. These values may be used as base-line concentrations to monitor marine contamination during future off-shore oil and gas explorations.