The combination of SPMD-based sampling with appropriate bioassays and chemical analysis provided an effective tool for the identification of environmentally relevant waterborne pollutants in Lake Shkodra/Skadar. Our results show that toxicologically relevant HOPs including EROD-inducing and potentially estrogenic compounds are widely distributed in the lake and readily available for uptake by aquatic biota. Our results also suggest that alkylated PAHs rather than parent compounds may be of greater toxicological relevance in the lake. As anthropogenic influences continue to increase, SPMD-based sampling is expected to play a central role in future research concerned with the identification, monitoring and assessment of the risk posed by HOPs to Lake Shkodra/Skadar's aquatic biota.
The effect of negative ions on the probe characteristic is studied theoretically. The reliability of results obtained from probe characteristics is analyzed. The methods of determining the energy distribution functions of charged particles is analyzed as an inverse ill-posed problem. A Tikhonov’s regularization procedure for detection of negative ions from a probe characteristic is described. This method parallels the Dryvestein method with the key difference stemming from the fact that experimental determination of the second derivative of the probe characteristic is avoided. For a small ratio of negative ion to electron densities and quite plasma, the energy distribution, temperature and density for the electrons and negative ions can be estimated only from the probe characteristic and the errors in the experimental data. The model functions, simulating experimental energy distribution for the electrons and negative ions, are introduced to test applicability limitations of the method. In addition, the comparative advantages of the method are presented as well.
Nowadays, the values of natural fresh-water resources are increasing and a Pan-European methodology for water quality assessment was applied in the case of the Skadar Lake eco-system. The main goal of this paper was to classify Skadar Lake according to the environmental quality standards, prescribed in the EC directives and EUROWATERNET requirements. Basically, the criteria enable to classify the water as belonging to one of, usually, five classes with respect to a number of physicochemical and biological parameters. To determine the reference state, that could be expected if they were not significantly affected by human activities, was the second most important task. Some modeling was done to support interpretation of the measured data taken seasonally from May to October in the 2002-2004 period. A clear picture of the current state of the Skadar Lake was created and the classification will facilitate the interpretation of the environmental data relating to the Skadar Lake ecosystem. As a general conclusion it could be stated that the lake ecosystem is still in good conditions, although a small care has been done to it in the past
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