There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Secret History: Return of the Black Death Channel 4, 7-8pm In 1348 the Black Death swept through London, killing people within days of the appearance of their first symptoms. Exactly how many died, and why, has long been a mystery. This Secret History documentary follows experts as they pick through the evidence and reveal why the plague killed on such a scale. And they ask, what might be coming next?

Medscape

Scattered literature is harnessed to critically review the possible sources, chemistry, potential biohazards and best available remedial strategies for a number of heavy metals (lead, chromium, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury and nickel) commonly found in contaminated soils. The principles, advantages and disadvantages of immobilization, soil washing and phytoremediation techniques which are frequently listed among the best demonstrated available technologies for cleaning up heavy metal contaminated sites are presented. Remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils is necessary to reduce the associated risks, make the land resource available for agricultural production, enhance food security and scale down land tenure problems arising from changes in the land use pattern.

/pdf/heavy-metals-in-contaminated-soils-a-review-of-sources-2f0ps3ifym.pdf

Heavy Metals in Contaminated Soils: A Review of Sources, Chemistry, Risks and Best Available Strategies for Remediation

The recent advances in nanotechnology and the corresponding increase in the use of nanomaterials in products in every sector of society have resulted in uncertainties regarding environmental impacts. The objectives of this review are to introduce the key aspects pertaining to nanomaterials in the environment and to discuss what is known concerning their fate, behavior, disposition, and toxicity, with a particular focus on those that make up manufactured nanomaterials. This review critiques existing nanomaterial research in freshwater, marine, and soil environments. It illustrates the paucity of existing research and demonstrates the need for additional research. Environmental scientists are encouraged to base this research on existing studies on colloidal behavior and toxicology. The need for standard reference and testing materials as well as methodology for suspension preparation and testing is also discussed.

Nanomaterials in the environment: Behavior, fate, bioavailability, and effects

The environmental conditions of Earth, including the climate, are determined by physical, chemical, biological, and human interactions that transform and transport materials and energy. This is the "Earth system": a highly complex entity characterized by multiple nonlinear responses and thresholds, with linkages between disparate components. One important part of this system is the iron cycle, in which iron-containing soil dust is transported from land through the atmosphere to the oceans, affecting ocean biogeochemistry and hence having feedback effects on climate and dust production. Here we review the key components of this cycle, identifying critical uncertainties and priorities for future research.

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Global Iron Connections Between Desert Dust, Ocean Biogeochemistry, and Climate

Introduction. Errors in Classical Analysis - Statistics of Repeated Measurements. Significance Tests. Quality Control and Sampling. Errors in Instrumental Analysis. Regression and Correlation. Non-parametric and Robust Methods. Experimental Design. Optimization and Pattern Recognition. Solutions to Exercises. Appendix 1: Summary of Statistical Tests. Appendix 2: Statistical Tests.

Statistics for Analytical Chemistry

Heavy metals in soils

Activation analysis. Adhesives and Sealants. Air analysis. Alkaloids. Amino Acids. Amperometry. Amplification Reactions. Analytical reagents. Archaeometry and antique analysis. Arsenic (speciation). Asbestos. Atomic absorption spectrometry. Atomic emission spectrometry. Atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Atomic Mass Spectrometry. Bioassays. Bioluminescence. Bleaches and Sterilants. Blood and Plasma. Buffer Solutions. Building materials. Cadmium (speciation). Capillary Electrochromatography. Capillary Electrophoresis. Carbohydrates. Carbon. Cement. Centrifugation. Ceramics. Cerebrospinal Fluid. Chemical Warfare Agents. Chemiluminescence. Chemometrics. Chiroptical Analysis. Chlorofluorocarbons and other halocarbons. Chromatography. Clinical analysis. Coal and Coke. Colour Measurement. Computer Modelling. Conductimetry and oscillometry. Cosmetics and Toiletries. Derivatization of Analytes. Dioxins. Distillation. DNA Sequencing. Drug metabolism. Electrogravimetry. Electrolytes in physiological samples. Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry (EELS). Electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Electrophoresis. Elemental speciation. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. Environmental analysis. Enzymes. Essential Oils. Ethanol. Extraction. Extraction: solvent extraction. Fertilizers. Field Flow Fractionation. Fire Assay. Flow analysis. Flow injection analysis. Fluorescence. Foam Fractionation and Floatation. Food and nutritional analysis. Forensic sciences. Fourier transform techniques. Fuel. Functional group analysis. Gas chromatography. Gastric Juices. Geochemistry. Glasses. Gravimetry. Haemoglobins. Headspace analysis. Herbicides. History of Analytical Science. Hormones. Humic and Fulvic Compounds. Immunoassays. Indicators. Infrared spectroscopy. Ion. Ion exchange. Ion-selective electrodes. Isotope Dilution Analysis. Isotope Ratio Measurements. Kinetic methods. Lab-on-a-chip Technologies. Laser-based techniques. Lead. Lipids. Liquid chromatography. Mass spectrometry. Membrane. Mercury (speciation). Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography. Micro Total Analytical Systems ( TAS). Microbiological techniques. Microelectrodes. Microscopy. Microwave Spectroscopy. Molecular Emission Cavity Analysis. Molecularly imprinted polymers. Nitric oxide: biological functions and detection. Nitrogen (speciation). Nitrosamines. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Nucleic acids. Optical spectroscopy. Ozone. Paints. Particle size analysis. Peptides. Perfumes. Personal Monitoring. Pesticides. pH. Pharmaceutical analysis. Pharmacokinetics. Phosphorescence. Phosphorus (speciation). Photoacoustic Spectroscopy. Pigments. Plastics. Polarography. Polychlorobiphenyls. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Polymers. Potentiometric Stripping Analysis. Precious Metals. Prions. Process analysis. Proteins. Proteins. Proteomics. Purines, pyrimidines and nucleotides. Qualitative analysis. Quality assurance. Radiochemical. Raman spectroscopy. Remote gas sensing. Sample dissolution for elemental analysis. Sample Handling. Sampling. Saponins. Segmented flow analysis. Selenium (speciation). Sensory Evaluation. Sequential injection analysis. Solvents. Speciation Analysis. Spectroelectrochemistry. Spectrophotometry. Spot Tests. Structural Elucidation. Sublimation. Sulfur and its Inorganic Compounds. Supercritical fluid chromatography. Surface analysis. Surfactants and detergents. Sweeteners. Textiles. Thermal analysis. Thin-layer chromatography. Thin-layer chromatography. Tin (speciation). Titrimetry. Toxins. Vitamins. Voltammetry. Volumetric gas measurements. Water analysis. Water determination. X-Ray techniques. Zone Refining.

Paul J. Worsfold

Papers

Statistics for Analytical Chemistry

Heavy metals in soils

Encyclopedia of analytical science

Methods for the determination and speciation of mercury in natural waters--a review.

Flow injection analysis, 2nd edn.