Microbial solubilization of phosphate materials has been studied as a means of releasing phosphate contents from cationic metal ore, and as alternative process for producing soluble phosphate. The most intensively studied aspects of microbial phosphate solubilization have been the provision of phosphate for plant up-takes by the solubilization of insoluble phosphates in rhizosphere environment, though some environmental factors such as temperature, pH and presence of some heavy metals affects microbial phosphate solubilization. But in our study, fourteen  fungal species were isolated from University of Nigeria, Nsukka agricultural soil and were tested for their phosphate solubilization activity. But today, heavy metal pollution has become one of the serious issues of concern amongst all environmental crises. Heavy metals are one of the major sources of environmental pollutants and exist in soil as free metal ions. Aspergillus niger  and Penicillum spp  were found as an efficient  organisms that are able to release high amounts of phosphate from insoluble phosphate ores in presence of cadmium metal. These isolates PF7 and GF1 were found to solubilize tricalcium phosphate  in cadmium metal environment at ambient  pH and temperature ranges of pH7 and 28˚C ± 2˚C respectively, though presence of cadmium metal slightly affects quantity solubilized. But for PF7 and GF1 fungi isolates there were significant difference  in quantity solubilized in the control group when compared with all tested concentration of cadmium, except at Day 8 and Day 12 of 1 μg/ml of GF1. This indicates that though PF7 isolate solubilizes more phosphates than GF1, but GF1 tolerates more cadmium and this supports the work done by Ezzouhri et al., which stated that Cadmium  at a concentration of 1 mM showed the strongest inhibition towards isolates from the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Alternaria and Geotrichum but only Penicillium isolates were able to grow at such cadmium concentration.

From the preliminary test,reported by Mergeay et al. and Kermasha et al., heavy metal-resistant filamentous fungi were selected and the minimal inhibitory concentration  to Cr, Pb, Cu and Zn was determined. No determinations were made for cadmium since the majority of the tested fungi were unable to grow in the presence of the cadmium metal. All these reports indicated that cadmium metal is toxic to microorganisms and serves as a hindrance to fungi phosphate solubilizers, ebb flow tray but in our research work we were able to isolate fungi that can grow at such high concentration of toxic cadmium environment.The modern way of life limits the capability of exploration and interaction of man and his natural environment, while the needs of the trainees seem not to be covered by the traditional educational system. In the past, environmental education was strictly related to the issue of survival. Man had to obtain knowledge about the behaviour of nature, to be protected from the elements present in nature, for the exploitation of natural resources, products and other goods. Over time, cultural and technological development, the concept of environmental education, began to diversify and expand the areas of learning and exploitation. This resulted in not only creating environment-related disciplines but also to a deeper study of individual research areas. Furthermore, the involvement of people in these areas of science and their systematic activation contributed to the “expansion of knowledge, greater experience, better understanding of the nature and socio-cultural progress” . The last decade there is an increased interest for the use of school gardens for educational reasons and a try for their inclusion into the curriculum. A school garden has been described as a complex reality but also as a frame that morphs the relation with the child who experiences it, since it can provide the child with opportunities of exploration and connection to the natural, cultural, historical and social inheritance of its community. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the environmental educational program of a School Garden had on pupils with disabilities. Even though, the use of school gardens in educational practice is often limited, possibly due to the fact that outdoor educational practice is not considered to be a real educational process, while teaching outdoors has been said to produce insecurity and uncertainty to the teachers. Despite current political notions for the deconstruction of special education and the construction of inclusion, environmental education in special schools, must be approached differently from environmental education in mainstream schools.

This study was conducted in two special schools in a try to explore the relationship of Environmental Education and Special Education, since the use of the first in Special Education is not common in Greece, while their combination stimulates questions about the usefulness of Environmental Education in Special Education, the relationship that exists between them as well as the role it plays to pupils labelled as special. A study from Kaplan & Kaplan claimed that man is attracted by the outdoor natural environment and acts efficiently within it, perhaps because these were the environments of his survival and development for many years. Additional studies, like Bauer or Green claim the existence of a natural, historically or culturally, positive trend towards the natural environment, and even also suggest the existence of a collective environmental thinking during early childhood. Previous studies have indicated the existence of psychological and physiological connections between man and his natural surroundings, while others examine the preference of people towards areas with vegetation, which strengthen self-respect and interpersonal relationships.The study took place within two special schools of primary education in Greece within the same area. In school A,flood and drain tray the students were involved in an environmental educational program titled “School Garden” the school year of 2010-2011, while in School B, the students had never participated in a similar program within formal education. In total the study contained two phases; phase a, in which general information were gathered through conversations with the teaching staff, and also phase b, during which the main data collection occurred. The sample of this research consists of two groups. Group A, in School A, consists of 3 boys and 2 girls who experienced the environmental educational program “School Garden” while Group B, in School B, consists of 3 boys and 2 girls who never experienced any environmental educational program in their school, Both pupils of the school were 10 years old while they were all diagnosed with cognitive difficulties and in more detail, they were characterized as, moderate to mild, intellectually disabled. The research in phase a, started from April 2012 during which 5 meetings with members of the teaching staff occurred. During the meetings the questions of phase b research were discussed and the sample was recruited. The research in phase b, was conducted using semi structured questionnaires, which were given to pupils who were selected by the teaching staff of the schools, using their own criteria, which included interest and availability to participate in the upcoming research, as well as their belief of the children’s capacity to give informed consent, through the form of individualized semi structured interviews, since many of those pupils were not able to read or write. The parents of the students were informed about the research and gave informed consent verbally for their children to take part in the research, moreover the pupils who participated in the research were informed for its purpose and aims and asked if they wanted to participate in the interviews.

To avoid neutrality and in a try to locate positive or negative stances from the sample, the answers were coded using a 4 point Likert Scale , while the data were analyzed descriptively, by comparing the frequencies of the answers the pupils of both groups. To avoid any potential risk of interfering with the teaching procedures, the interviews took place gradually, in November and December of 2012, while each of them lasted for less than 20 minutes.Pupils in group A, who participated in the environmental education program of “School Garden” seem to have in general a deeper understanding of concepts related to the environment compared to the answers the students of group B. Another noticeable fact is that the students in group A were also thinking to follow a profession related to the project they were taught. Rivkin claims that residents in heavily populated cities and especially children, need daily interaction with nature. Perhaps this conclusion is a claim of support towards the “Biophilia Hypothesis” case suggested by Kellert. According to this, man needs interaction with his natural surroundings in the same way interaction with other people is essential to him for his own development. In reality, through this matrix of interactions, the trainee approaches reality from his own perspective and acquires identity and goal. It should be noted that this investigation only concerns 2 groups of students of 2 special schools and given the fact that pupils of that particular area have different demographic characteristics as well as different lifestyles, cannot be generalized. This study also investigates opinions and stances of 10 pupils who were taught through the environmental project of “School Garden” in the school year of 2010-2011 and compares them to stances and opinions of pupils who were not engaged, within formal education, to a similar project. Therefore, this study refers to a particular program of Environmental Education and not to its entire spectrum. Urban development due to population growth and economic development has increased the impervious surfaces created by buildings and pavements. Consequently, increased stormwater runoff and volume generated from these impervious surfaces cause multiple problems affecting the sustainability of urban development. Some of the problems include, but not limited to, flooding, higher peak flows, shorter lag times, groundwater depletion, reduced base flow, increased transport of pollutants and nutrients, and erosion. To mitigate the adverse impact of urbanization around the world, several best management practices, in other words green infrastructures, have been used in a way that protect the natural hydrology of the catchment and are more beneficial to the environment.

Soak-away rain garden is one of those best management practices or green infrastructures. Soak-away rain gardens, shallow, landscaped depressions commonly located in parking lots or within small pockets in residential areas, receive stormwater runoff, and attenuate surface water and enable it to percolate into the surrounding ground. Soak-away rain gardens are becoming important stormwater best management practices. Despite the rapid acceptance of soak-away rain gardens throughout the world by water managers and landuse planners, fundamental understandings of these green infrastructures are still at an undeveloped stage. Moreover, detailed hydrologic performance that depends on many highly dynamic conditions in three dimensions  to which these facilities exposed is not currently available, partly due to the fact that in practice it is not feasible to measure a desired hydrological variable for every possible hydrological condition. On the other hand, a comprehensive mathematical modeling, which is the process of solving physical problems in the form of partial differential equations by appropriate simplification of reality, of soak-away rain gardens, though there are still a lack of modeling studies, can be a useful tool to provide a means to estimate output metrics for the purpose of guiding design and enhancing performance. In other words, a comprehensive mathematical modeling allows the user to test multiple designs under different scenarios. Moreover, with the advancement in the mathematical modeling work and the science of computer simulation, to overcome many of the difficulties in solving partial differential equations, and building blocks of modeling work, and to allow modelers to focus on solving the problem and not to spend many hours in dealing with the difficulties, there are abundant of software packages in the market, which make working with large models quicker and easier. COMSOL Multiphysics is one of those software packages that has been widely used in engineering applications as evidenced in many international conferences. Thus, it is the objective of this study to develop a 3D mathematical model to represent the hydrological process of a soak-away rain garden using COMSOL Multiphysics Java API, a Javabased interface of COMSOL Multiphysics.COMSOL Multiphysics, which uses the proven finite element method, is a powerful interactive environment for modeling and solving partial differential equations in scientific and engineering problems.