Exploring the Potential of Dutch Pig Farmers and Urban-Citizens to Learn Through Frame Reflection

The Dutch pig husbandry has become a topic of public debate. One underlying cause is that pig farmers and urban-citizens have different perspectives and underlying norms, values and truths on pig husbandry and animal welfare. One way of dealing with such conflicts involves a learning process in which a shared vision is developed. A prerequisite for this process is that both parties become aware of their own fixed patterns of thoughts, actions, and blind spots. Therefore, we conducted five homogeneous focus groups consisting of either urban-citizens or pig farmers. The first part of the sessions aimed to make the participants aware of their own perspectives and underlying norms and values concerning animal welfare, farm practices or consumer behavior. Then, by the use of role-play and film fragments showing the perspectives of the other party, we aimed to stimulate frame reflection. The farmers maintained their own perspective and defended their practices. They denied the perspective of the urban-citizens by portraying them as ignorant of the “factual” farm practices. They proposed the use of one-way information, but our results indicate that this is likely to fail as a strategy to support or restore public acceptance. Our case shows hardy any consensus regarding the relevance of the facts at stake and a very limited amount of shared values. However, the shared love for animals together with the recognition by the urban-citizens of the inescapable dilemma for farmers to adopt a use-framing towards animals might provide an opening for further learning strategies.     

A multiobjective optimization framework for multicontaminant industrial water network design

The optimal design of multicontaminant industrial water networks according to several objectives is carried out in this paper. The general formulation of the water allocation problem (WAP) is given as a set of nonlinear equations with binary variables representing the presence of interconnections in the network. For optimization purposes, three antagonist objectives are considered: F(1), the freshwater flow-rate at the network entrance, F(2), the water flow-rate at inlet of regeneration units, and F(3), the number of interconnections in the network. The multiobjective problem is solved via a lexicographic strategy, where a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) procedure is used at each step. The approach is illustrated by a numerical example taken from the literature involving five processes, one regeneration unit and three contaminants. The set of potential network solutions is provided in the form of a Pareto front. Finally, the strategy for choosing the best network solution among those given by Pareto fronts is presented. This Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem is tackled by means of two approaches: a classical TOPSIS analysis is first implemented and then an innovative strategy based on the global equivalent cost (GEC) in freshwater that turns out to be more efficient for choosing a good network according to a practical point of view.     

The hypoxia avoidance behaviour of juvenile Atlantic cod (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus morhua</Emphasis> L.) depends on the provision and pressure level of an O<Subscript>2</Subscript> refuge

The frequency of low O₂ (hypoxia) has increased in coastal marine areas but how fish avoid deleterious water masses is not yet clear. To assess whether the presence and oxygen pressure (PO₂) level of an O₂ refuge affects the hypoxia avoidance behaviour of fish, individual Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) were exposed to a range of O₂ choices in a 2-way choice chamber at 11.4°C over two different experiments. Cod in the first experiment were allowed access to a fixed O₂ refuge (fully air-saturated seawater) whilst oxygen pressure (PO₂) on the other side was reduced in steps to a critically low level, i.e. 4.3 kPa—a point where cod can no longer regulate O₂ consumption. Under these conditions, cod did not avoid any level of hypoxia and fish swimming speed also remained unchanged. In contrast, strong avoidance reactions were exhibited in a second experiment when fish were again exposed to 4.3 kPa but the safety, i.e. PO₂, of the refuge was reduced. Fish not only spent less time at 4.3 kPa as a result of fewer sampling visits but they also swam at considerably slower speeds. The presence of an avoidance response was thus strongly related to refuge PO₂ and it is unlikely that cod, and possibly other fish species, would enter low O₂ to feed in the wild if a sufficiently safe O₂ refuge was not available. It is therefore hypothesized that the feeding range of fish may be heavily compressed if hypoxia expands and intensifies in future years.     

Soil pollution in day-care centers and playgrounds in Norway: national action plan for mapping and remediation

Systematic geochemical mapping based on sampling and analysis of surface soils (0–2 cm) has been carried out in several Norwegian cities. The soils in the oldest parts of the cities are contaminated with metals (especially Pb) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Due to the fact that children are often in contact with surface soil, it was realized that special focus had to be directed towards soils in day-care centers and playgrounds. The first mapping and remedy program was initiated in Trondheim in 1996. Here, the importance of copper–chromium–arsenic (CCA)-pressure-impregnated wood in playing equipment as a pollution source for soils was documented, and a process was started with the aim to ban this product. Soils from day-care centers in the inner city of Bergen were polluted to a degree that required remediation in 45% out of 87 centers, mainly due to high concentrations of Pb and benzo(a)pyrene. In Oslo, 38% of 700 day-care centers needed remediation due to soil pollution by Pb, BaP, Cd, Hg, Ni and PCB. Removal of CCA-impregnated wood was necessary in more than half of the day-care centers The Norwegian parliament has decided to investigate all outdoor playing areas in day-care centers, playgrounds and schoolyards in Norway, starting in 2007 with day-care centers in the ten largest cities and five most important industrial areas. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has developed quality criteria for soils in day-care centers and playgrounds for As, Cd, Cr⁶⁺, Hg, Ni, Pb, zinc, PAH_sum16, benzo(a)pyrene, and PCB_sum7. The Geological Survey of Norway has developed guidance for mapping of soil pollution (sampling, chemical analysis and reporting) in day-care centers. Especially the sampling strategy has been developed in the period 1996–2007, and the preferred sampling strategy is to collect at least 10 samples of surface soil (0–2 cm) from (1) “original soil” on the site, (2) artificial man-made “hills”, and (3) soils used for growing vegetables. A total number of 2,000 day-care-centres are to be investigated, and necessary remediation should be completed before the end of 2010.     

Pruning waste management and climate change in Sierra Mágina’s olive groves (Andalusia,Spain)

Regional Environmental Change - In the context of climate change, concern is raising about the negative effects of some pruning waste management practices. On the one hand, burning of pruning...     

Chromosome analysis of multipronuclear human oocytes after in vitro fertilization

Multipronuclear human eggs are frequent after in vitro fertilization. Their chromosome analysis can provide useful information. Before cleavage it can confirm the suspected poly-ploidy. Among the cleaved multipronuclear eggs it provides an estimation of the incidence of the possible return to diploidy. Ninety-four multipronuclear eggs were fixed at the first, second, or third cleavage according to the air-drying method of Tarkowski with or without colchicine exposure: 60 were successfully analysed. Twelve were stopped before cleavage (six without colchicine treatment and six with colchicine treatment). They were polyploid, confirming the cytological observation. Forty-eight eggs cleaved and were stopped by colchicine treatment and karyotyped. Seventeen eggs (35 per cent) had produced diploid embryos. Mosaicism was frequent (15 cases, 31 per cent). Triploidy was not frequent (8 eggs, 17 per cent). Haploidy constituted the remaining cases (8 eggs, 17 per cent). Our data indicate that the initial count of pronuclei is a reliable test. Multipronuclear one-cell oocytes were confirmed to be polyploid. Furthermore, the developmental capacity of the multipronuclear oocytes is variable. Most of them cleaved. However, many multipronuclear oocytes led to diploid cleaving eggs.     

Risk of amniocentesis and laboratory findings in a series of 1500 prenatal diagnoses

The experiences with 1500 midtrimester prenatal diagnoses are reported. Abnormal findings of amniotic fluid investigations led to 43 therapeutic abortions. In ± 30 percent of the chromosome anomalies diagnosed, the significance of the effect on fetal development was inconclusive. The outcomes of all pregnancies except one are known. Fetal loss and perinatal mortality involved 69 cases, 23 (33 percent) of which occurred within three weeks after amniocentesis. In these 23 cases there appeared to be a relationship between the degree of experience of the gynaecologist and fetal loss: 3·7 percent when this experience was limited to a maximum of 10 punctures diminishing to 0·3 percent with an experience of more than 50 punctures. It is concluded that the risk of an abortion due to amniocentesis decreases as the gynaecologist becomes more experienced with the puncture technique.     

昆明市蔬菜及其土壤中铅、镉、铜和锌含量水平及污染评价

对昆明市蔬菜及其土壤中铅、镉、铜和锌含量水平进行了初步的调查并对其土壤污染进行了评价,结果表明蔬菜土壤重金属Pb、Cd、Cu、Zn均存在一定程度的污染,其中Pb、Zn为轻污染,Cd、Cu为中污染,土壤重金属综合评价为中污染.蔬菜可食部分Pb、Cd、Zn的含量均超过国家食品卫生标准和绿色蔬菜标准,依次为Pb、Cu、Cd、Zn.蔬菜中Pb含量过高与汽车尾气Pb污染有很大的关系.     

Female choice of mates in a polygynous insect,the whitespotted sawyer Monochamus scutellatus

Summary Adult female whitespotted sawyers Monochamus scutellatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) were placed on succeeding days with two males differing visibly in size. Females showed a significant preference for the larger of two males. The rate of oviposition was significantly higher when the female was paired with the larger male. Both the rate of movement by the paired female and her rate of indicating non-receptivity were significantly lower when the female was paired with the larger male. This species exhibits resource defense polygyny, and females appear to choose mates mainly on the basis of the quality of resources defended. This study suggests, however, that when resource quality is constant, females choose mates on the basis of their size.