Preferred Handrail Height for Spiral Stairs—A Fitting Trial Study

Stairways are, in general, a thoroughly studied subject, but there is almost no scientific data available about spiral stairs. They are, however, widely used in homes, industrial sites and public buildings. The purpose of this study was to determine preferred handrail heights for a spiral stairway. The most preferred handrail height for descent was 105 cm. On the other hand, 95% of the participants regarded handrail heights between 95 and 100 cm satisfactory for descending. Participants’ anthropometric data was combined with the handrail height preference to develop a draft of a model to predict preferred handrail height for other user populations.     

Mobility and Methylation of Mercury in Forest Soils Development of an In-Situ Stable Isotope Tracer Technique and Initial Results

A method for investigating in-situmethylation and mobility of mercury has beendeveloped and applied to forest soil. The methodis based on additions of stable ¹⁹⁹Hgisotopes to forest soil plots followed bysampling and analysis of isotope ratios of totalmercury and MeHg using ICP-MS. Initial resultsindicate that a fraction (30%) of the mercuryadded to the forest soils is immobilised over atime scale of 16 months. A small but significantfraction of the mercury is methylated during thesame time scale. Higher methylation rates werefound in wetland soil than in dry forest podzolsoil.     

Occurrence and rates of terminal electron-accepting processes and recharge processes in petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated subsurface

The occurrence and rates of terminal electron acceptor processes, and recharge processes in the unsaturated zone of a boreal site contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons in the range C(10) to C(40) were examined. Soil microcosms were used to determine the rates of denitrification, iron (Fe) reduction, sulfate (SO(4)) reduction, and methanogenesis in two vertical soil profiles contaminated with oil, and in a noncontaminated reference sample. Furthermore, the abundances of the 16S rRNA genes belonging to Geobacteracaea in the samples were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Analyses of ground water chemistry and soil gas composition were also performed together with continuous in situ monitoring of soil water and ground water chemistry. Several lines of evidence were obtained to demonstrate that both Fe reduction and methanogenesis played significant roles in the vertical profiles: Fe reduction rates up to 3.7 nmol h(-1) g(-1) were recorded and they correlated with the abundances of the Geobacteracaea 16S rRNA genes (range: 2.3 x 10(5) to 4.9 x 10(7) copies g(-1)). In the ground water, ferrous iron (Fe(2+)) concentration up to 55 mg L(-1) was measured. Methane production rates up to 2.5 nmol h(-1) g(-1) were obtained together with methane content up to 15% (vol/vol) in the soil gas. The continuous monitoring of soil water and ground water chemistry, microcosm experiments, and soil gas monitoring together demonstrated that the high microbial activity in the unsaturated zone resulted in rapid removal of oxygen from the infiltrating recharge thus leaving the anaerobic microbial processes dominant below 1.5 m depth both in the unsaturated and the saturated zones of the subsurface.     

Bacterial community changes in response to oil contamination and perennial crop cultivation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We investigated bacterial community dynamics in response to used motor oil contamination and perennial crop cultivation by 16S rRNA gene amplicon...     

Evaluation of the European population intake fractions for European and Finnish anthropogenic primary fine particulate matter emissions

The intake fraction (iF) has been defined as the integrated incremental intake of a pollutant released from a source category or region summed over all exposed individuals. In this study we evaluated the iFs in the population of Europe for emissions of anthropogenic primary fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) from sources in Europe, with a more detailed analysis of the iF from Finnish sources. Parameters for calculating the iFs include the emission strengths, the predicted atmospheric concentrations, European population data, and the average breathing rate per person. Emissions for the whole of Europe and Finland were based on the inventories of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and the Finnish Regional Emission Scenario (FRES) model, respectively. The atmospheric dispersion of primary PM_2.5 was computed using the regional-scale dispersion model SILAM. The iFs from Finnish sources were also computed separately for six emission source categories. The iFs corresponding to the primary PM_2.5 emissions from the European countries for the whole population of Europe were generally highest for the densely populated Western European countries, second highest for the Eastern and Southern European countries, and lowest for the Northern European and Baltic countries. For the entire European population, the iF values varied from the lowest value of 0.31 per million for emissions from Cyprus, to the highest value of 4.42 per million for emissions from Belgium. These results depend on the regional distribution of the population and the prevailing long-term meteorological conditions. Regarding Finnish primary PM_2.5 emissions, the iF was highest for traffic emissions (0.68 per million) and lowest for major power plant emissions (0.50 per million). The results provide new information that can be used to find the most cost-efficient emission abatement strategies and policies.     

Developing interdisciplinary environmental frameworks

The purpose of this article is to review interdisciplinary systemic frameworks of environmental protection and evaluate their use as tools, educational policymaking and education. We analyze the pressures-state-responses (PSR) framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the drivers-pressures-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework developed in the European Environment Agency and a later environmental political dynamics framework developed by Schroll and Staerdahl. We then continue the discussion by introducing a comprehensive model, labeled as the environmental protection process (EPP) framework that can be used to analyze and teach why there are environmental problems, what are their characteristics, and in which ways they can be mitigated. The EPP model is used for classifying measures of coping with environmental problems. Finally, a submodel of individual and societal factors affecting human action is formed. Environmental issues of transport are used as an illustrative example. We hope to contribute a relevant way to outline a wide interdisciplinary picture of environmental problems and solutions.     

Effectiveness of Constructed Overland Flow Areas in Decreasing Diffuse Pollution from Forest Drainages

Forestry is the largest scale human impact affecting catchments in Finland and a prominent source of diffuse pollution in many water courses. Among the forestry activities, draining of wetlands had the most pronounced impacts on sediment, nutrient, and metal loading in the past. At present, renovation of old ditches and fertilization of peatlands constitute the major risk of forestry-induced diffuse pollution. Contemporary forestry aims at decreasing this risk with various riparian buffer strip designs. Among such designs, creation of overland flow areas by plugging the outlet ditches is increasingly used. Our objectives were to evaluate the potential of constructed overland flow areas to function as riparian buffers and estimate the quality and quantity of diffuse pollution from old versus recent forest drainages. We studied retention and release of pollutants from 20 constructed, 2- to 10-m-wide overland flow areas receiving drainage water from forested peatlands. Drainage waters were sampled above and below the plugged ditches three times per year from 1998 to 1999. Chemical oxygen demand and nutrient and metal loads and concentrations varied strongly between seasons, years, and drainage areas. Areas subjected to recent ditch renovations and fertilizations had clearly elevated seasonal loads and concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), PO₄, Fe, and Al in comparison to old treatment areas. Especially TP loads were high above the national average values measured for forestry-induced diffuse pollution. In general, water quality above and below the buffer strips did not differ significantly. Our results indicate that plugged outlet ditches and associated narrow overland flow areas do not function as proper buffers in peatland areas. We suggest that wider buffers with extensive overland flow areas are needed in order to control diffuse pollution from forested and drained peatlands.     

Voluntary exercise at the expense of reproductive success in Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus)

Energy demands of gestation and lactation represent a severe challenge for small mammals. Therefore, additional energetic burdens may compromise successful breeding. In small rodents, food restriction, cold exposure (also in combination) and wheel running to obtain food have been shown to diminish reproductive outcome. Although exhibited responses such as lower incidence of pregnancy, extended lactation periods and maternal infanticide were species dependent, their common function is to adjust energetic costs to the metabolic state reflecting the trade-off between maternal investment and self-maintenance. In the present study, we sought to examine whether voluntary exercise affects reproduction in Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), which are known for their high motivation to run in a wheel. Voluntary exercise resulted in two different effects on reproduction; in addition to increased infanticide and cannibalism, which was evident across all experiments, the results of one experiment provided evidence that free access to a running wheel may prevent successful pregnancy. It seems likely that the impact of voluntary wheel running on reproduction was associated with a reduction of internal energy resources evoked by extensive exercise. Since the hamsters were neither food-restricted nor forced to run in the present study, an energetic deficit as reason for infanticide in exercising dams would emphasise the particularly high motivation to run in a wheel.