Phycoremediation of heavy metals by the three-color forms of Kappaphycus alvarezii

In the present investigation, three living color forms (brown, green and pale yellow) of Kappaphycus alvarezii were examined for their biosorption ability in the laboratory. The brown color form proved to be an excellent metal biosorbent, i.e. it could adsorb good amount of cadmium 3.064 mg/100 gf.wt. and cobalt 3.365 mg/100 gf.wt. It also removed 2.799 mg/100 gf.wt. of chromium. The green color form absorbed 2.684, 3.43 and 2.692 mg/100 gf.wt. of cadmium, cobalt and chromium, respectively. In contrast, the pale yellow form removed almost equal proportion of cadmium 0.961 mg/100 gf.wt. and chromium 0.942 mg/100 gf.wt. It also removed 1.403 mg/100 gf.wt. cobalt. Thus, the living color forms of this seaweed could form an effective biosorbent material for removal of heavy metals.     

On land supply and the price of residential housing

This paper develops an econometric model to examine the impact of land supply on residential housing prices. Specifically, this study examines the role of population, permanent income, real mortgage interest rates, construction cost, speculative demand, land supply and government land policy in the determination of private housing prices in Hong Kong. Empirical results provide strong evidence that an increase in land supply will bring forth a decrease in housing prices. The results also reveal that housing prices are dominated by the fundamental demographic and economic factors. The relatively small response coefficients suggest that speculative demand and land supply have a significant but modest impact on housing prices.     

Effect of calcinations temperature of CuO nanoparticle on the kinetics of decontamination and decontamination products of sulphur mustard

Present study investigates the potential of CuO nanoparticles calcined at different temperature for the decontamination of persistent chemical warfare agent sulphur mustard (HD) at room temperature (30 ± 2 °C). Nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation method and characterized by using SEM, EDAX, XRD, and Raman Spectroscopy. Synthesized nanoparticles were tested as destructive adsorbents for the degradation of HD. Reactions were monitored by GC-FID technique and the reaction products characterized by GC-MS. It was observed that the rate of degradation of HD decreases with the increase in calcination temperature and there is a change in the percentage of product of HD degradation. GC-MS data indicated that the elimination product increases with increase in calcination temperature whereas the hydrolysis product decreases.     

Self-efficacy as a moderator of information-seeking effectiveness.

The authors assessed previously unexplored processes by which information seeking and self-efficacy contribute to self-regulatory effectiveness in industrial selling. They assessed the synergistic interaction of inquiry and monitoring with respect to role clarity and tested whether this interaction was further moderated by self-efficacy. Results indicated that the role-clarifying effects of feedback inquiry and monitoring were contingent rather than independent. Role clarity increased as the combination of inquiry and monitoring increased. Furthermore, these joint effects were moderated by self-efficacy, such that high-self-efficacy employees were able to effectively use the combination of inquiry and monitoring to clarify role expectations, whereas low-self-efficacy employees were not. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“紧凑住区”：中国未来城郊住宅可持续发展的方向？

在住宅建设的过程中节约用地是城市可持续发展的要求。住房改革后,大量城郊住宅的发展伴随着城市边缘地区和近郊区农业和生态用地的大量流失。因此,探讨未来中国城郊住宅可持续发展的方向成为设计和规划领域的重要问题。本文探讨了“密集型住宅小区”在节约住宅用地和改善小区居住环境方面的表现,并建立了定量分析的系统模型对住宅小区空间密集程度和它对小区居住环境的影响进行分析。通过对广州的三个住宅小区的具体研究,本文初步判断增加小区的密集程度确实可以带来小区在整体环境上的一些改善。