Variability and reliability of POP concentrations in multiple breast milk samples collected from the same mothers

Risk assessment of infant using a realistic persistent organic pollutant (POP) exposure through breast milk is essential to devise future regulation of POPs. However, recent investigations have demonstrated that POP levels in breast milk collected from the same mother showed a wide range of variation daily and monthly. To estimate the appropriate sample size of breast milk from the same mother to obtain reliable POP concentrations, breast milk samples were collected from five mothers living in Japan from 2006 to 2012. Milk samples from each mother were collected 3 to 6 times a day through 3 to 7 days consecutively. Food samples as the duplicated method were collected from two mothers during the period of breast milk sample collection. Those were employed for POP (PCBs, DDTs, chlordanes, and HCB) analysis. PCB concentrations detected in breast milk samples showed a wide range of variation which was maximum 63 and 60% of relative standard deviation (RSD) in lipid and wet weight basis, respectively. The time course trend of those variations among the mothers did not show any typical pattern. A larger amount of PCB intake through food seemed to affect 10 h after those concentrations in breast milk in lipid weight basis. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses indicated that the appropriate sample size for good reproducibility of POP concentrations in breast milk required at least two samples for lipid and wet weight basis.     

A numerical modeling approach to support decision-making on design of integrated multitrophic aquaculture for efficiently mitigating aquatic waste

As a bio-mitigation strategy of aquafarming pollutants, the integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) system has been proposed and developed to mitigate the waste produced during co-cultivation. Although there have been considerable implementations of IMTA worldwide, its optimal design needs a further study. Through a numerical modeling approach, this study aims to facilitate decision-making when designing IMTA to more efficiently mitigate the negative change caused by aquaculture. An improved three-dimensional numerical model is adopted to simulate the dynamics of water current and organic waste in Gokasho Bay, Japan. Results show that (1) the maximum main surface water current velocity in Hazama-ura area is less than 10 cm s^?1, where nutrient absorbers and/or suspended feeders can easily attach to a substratum; (2) southern-eastern direction water flow is dominant through the year suggesting that seaweeds (e.g., Laminaria japonica, Ulva ohnoi) or mussels (e.g., Mytilus edulis) are better arranged in the same direction; (3) horizontal distribution of organic waste on sea bottom indicates that when releasing sea cucumbers (e.g., Apostichopus japonicus), priority is given to the areas where the accumulated amount of particulate organic waste is high. Our case study provides a general idea on the optimal design of IMTA and can be scaled to the globe, especially regarding decision-making on locations for the extractive organisms. In conclusion, to improve the bio-mitigation efficiency of IMTA, location for nutrient absorbers and/or suspended feeders can be selected based on local water flow, and sea cucumbers need to be placed with a careful consideration of the waste distribution in local area.     

AEB effectiveness evaluation based on car-to-cyclist accident reconstructions using video of drive recorder

Objective: Though autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems for car-to-cyclist collisions have been under development, an estimate of the benefit of AEB systems based on an analysis of accident data is needed for further enhancing their development. Compared to the data available from in-depth accident data files, data provided by drive recorders can be used to reconstruct car-to-cyclist collisions with greater accuracy because the position of cyclists can be observed from the videos. In this study, using data from drive recorders, the performance and limitations of AEB systems were investigated.

Method: Data of drive recorders involving taxi-to-cyclist collisions were collected. Using the images collected from the drive recorders of those taxis, 40 cases of 90° car-to-cyclist intersection collisions were reconstructed using PC-Crash. Then, the collisions were reconstructed again utilizing car models with AEB systems installed while changing the sensor’s field of view (FOV) and the delay time of initiating vehicle deceleration.

Results: The angle of FOV has a significant influence on avoiding car-to-cyclist collisions. Using a 50° FOV with a braking delay time of 0.5?s resulted in avoiding 6 collisions, and using a 90° FOV resulted in avoiding an additional 14 collisions. Even when installing an ideal AEB system providing 360° FOV and no delay time for braking, 8 collisions were not avoided, though the impact velocities were reduced for all of these remaining collisions. These collisions were caused by the cyclists’ sudden appearance in front of cars, and the time-to-collision (TTC) when the cyclists appeared was less than 0.9?s.

Conclusion: The AEB systems were effective for mitigating collisions that occurred due to driver perception delay. Because cyclists have a traveling velocity, a wide-angle FOV is effective for reduction of car-to-cyclist intersection collisions. The reduction of delay time in braking can reduce the number of collisions that are close to the braking performance limit. The collisions that remained even with an ideal AEB system in the PC-Crash simulation indicate that such collisions could still occur for autonomous cars if the traffic environment does not change.     

Female sex pheromone and male behavioral responses of the bombycid moth <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trilocha varians</Emphasis>: comparison with those of the domesticated silkmoth <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis>

Analysis of female sex pheromone components and subsequent field trap experiments demonstrated that the bombycid moth Trilocha varians uses a mixture of (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienal (bombykal) and (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienyl acetate (bombykyl acetate) as a sex pheromone. Both of these components are derivatives of (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienol (bombykol), the sex pheromone of the domesticated silkmoth Bombyx mori. This finding prompted us to compare the antennal and behavioral responses of T. varians and B. mori to bombykol, bombykal, and bombykyl acetate in detail. The antennae of T. varians males responded to bombykal and bombykyl acetate but not to bombykol, and males were attracted only when lures contained both bombykal and bombykyl acetate. In contrast, the antennae of B. mori males responded to all the three components. Behavioral analysis showed that B. mori males responded to neither bombykal nor bombykyl acetate. Meanwhile, the wing fluttering response of B. mori males to bombykol was strongly inhibited by bombykal and bombykyl acetate, thereby indicating that bombykal and bombykyl acetate act as behavioral antagonists for B. mori males. T. varians would serve as a reference species for B. mori in future investigations into the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution of sex pheromone communication systems in bombycid moths.     

On illegal activities in the California state beverage container deposit system

One of the barriers to the effective use of a deposit-refund system is the burden borne by the system management actor, such as the government. The burden can be considered to increase if the system management actor collects unredeemed deposits which the system occasions. The deposit system of the state of California in the United States adopts this collection scheme to manage beverage containers. This article considers the burden of the system management actor by understanding the actual situation in the California beverage container deposit system. A variety of elements contributing to the burden was observed; however, the collection of unredeemed deposits is related to the suppression of illegal activities in the deposit system. Therefore, this article also considers the burden from the viewpoint of illegal activities and crackdowns. My conclusions with regard to the system management actor’s collection of unredeemed deposits are as follows: the collection requires that the right information regarding sales and returns be collected and the system management actor needs to verify whether the information is correct, e.g., by examining the business records of system participants.     

Chemical absorption process for degradation of VOC gas using heterogeneous gas-liquid photocatalytic oxidation: toluene degradation by photo-Fenton reaction

A novel process for degradation of toluene in the gas-phase using heterogeneous gas-liquid photocatalytic oxidation has been developed. The degradation of toluene gas by photo-Fenton reaction in the liquid-phase has experimentally examined. The photo-Fenton reaction in the liquid-phase could improve the overall toluene absorption rate by increasing the driving force for mass transfer and as a result enhance the removal of toluene in the exhaust gas. The toluene concentrations in the inlet gas were varied in the range from 0.0968 to 8.69gm(-3) with initial hydrogen peroxide concentration of 400mgl(-1) and Fe dose of 5.0mgl(-1). It was found that toluene in the inlet gas was almost completely dissolved into water and degraded in the liquid-phase for the inlet toluene gas concentration of less than 0.42gm(-3). The dynamic process of toluene gas degradation by the photo-Fenton reaction providing information for reaction kinetics and mass transfer rate was examined. Toluene removal kinetic analysis indicated that photo-Fenton degradation was significantly affected by H(2)O(2) concentration. The experimental results were satisfactorily described by the predictions simulated using the simplified tanks-in-series model combined with toluene removal kinetic analysis. The present results showed that the proposed chemical absorption process using the photo-Fenton heterogeneous gas-liquid photocatalytic oxidation is very effective for degradation of volatile organic gases.     

Trends in hazardous trace metal concentrations in aerosols collected in Beijing, China from 2001 to 2006

Daily observations of hazardous trace metal concentrations in aerosols in Beijing, China were made in the period from 2001 to 2006. We considered coal combustion as a major source of some anthropogenic metals by achieving a correlation analysis and by investigating enrichment factors and relative composition of metals. A possible extra source of some specific metals, such as Cu and Sb, was brake abrasion particles, however, we did not think the transport-related particle was a major source for the hazardous anthropogenic metals even though they could originate from vehicle exhaust and brake/tire abrasion particles. A time-trend model was used to describe temporal variations of chemical constituent concentrations during the five-year period. Several crustal elements, such as Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Co, did not show clear increases, with annual rates of change of -15.2% to 3.6%. On the other hand, serious increasing trends were noted from several hazardous trace metals. Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb, which are derived mainly from anthropogenic sources, such as coal combustion, showed higher annual rate of change (4.9-19.8%, p<0.001) according to the regression model. In particular, the Cd and Pb concentrations increased remarkably. We hypothesize that the trend towards increasing concentrations of metals in the air reflects a change that has occurred in the process of burning coal, whereby the use of higher temperatures for coal combustion has resulted in increased emissions of these metals. The increasing use of low-rank coal may also explain the observed trends. In addition, nonferrous metal smelters are considered as a potential, albeit minor, reason for the increasing atmospheric concentrations of anthropogenic hazardous metals in Beijing city.     

Arsenic and Mn levels in Isaza (Gymnogobius isaza) during the mass mortality event in Lake Biwa, Japan

The present study measured the concentrations of 25 elements (Li, Mg, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb and Bi) in the whole body of Isaza which is an endemic fish species to Lake Biwa, Japan, and compared the values in the specimens from the mass mortality Isaza (MMI) and normal fresh Isaza (NFI). The mean levels of Mn and total As (T-As) were relatively higher in MMI than in NFI. In the T-As, highly toxic inorganic As was detected in MMI. Moreover we found Mn and As concentrations in surface sediment were extremely high and temporally increased. From all these results, we could infer that the dissolution of Mn and As from surface sediment of Lake Biwa might have been one of the cause for the mass mortality of Isaza.