Development and evaluation of a mass spectrometer-based continuous emission monitor for volatile organic compound emissions from combustion devices

A mass spectrometer-based continuous emission monitor (MS-CEM) for organic compound emissions from combustion devices was developed and evaluated at the Louisiana State University (LSU) pilot-scale rotary kiln incinerator (RKI). The MS-CEM consists of a stack probe, heat-traced sampling line, vacuum pump, particulate filter, Nafion@ dryer and mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer includes a computer that controls and optimizes the operation of the unit. The MS-CEM is capable of continuously analyzing up to 40 different volatile organic compounds on a real-time basis. The MS-CEM is capable of analyzing, computing and recording the analytical results for each and up to 40 different organic compounds in less than 0.3 s. Four different volatile organic compounds were mixed together and injected into the baghouse inlet while simultaneously analyzing each organic component exiting the RKI stack gas. The results obtained from MS-CEM were compared with the material balance values. The system response time (including the MS-CEM) varies from 1.1 to 1.5 min.     

Occurrence of organo-arsenicals in jellyfishes and their mucus

Water-soluble arsenic compound fractions were extracted from seven species of jellyfishes and subjected to analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) for arsenicals. A low content of arsenic was found to be the characteristic of jellyfish. Arsenobetaine (AB) was the major arsenic compound without exception in the tissues of the jellyfish species and mucus-blobs collected from some of them. Although the arsenic content in Beroe cucumis, which preys on Bolinopsis mikado, was more than 13 times that in B. mikado, the chromatograms of these two species were similar in the distribution pattern of arsenicals. The nine species of jellyfishes including two species treated in the previous paper can be classified into arsenocholine (AC)-rich and AC-poor species. Jellyfishes belonging to Semaostamae were classified as AC-rich species.     

Discriminatory tax and subsidy on environmental behaviors

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - This paper investigates the consumption tax and subsidy as an environmental policy instrument for environmentally aware consumers by applying the model...     

Situational Waste in Landscape Watering: Residential and Business Water Use in an Urban Utah Community1

Abstract: Landscape water conservation is an important issue for municipalities throughout the Western United States, and especially in Utah as rapid growth strains existing water supplies. We conducted interdisciplinary research in Layton, Utah, that aimed at understanding patterns of landscape water use among households and businesses. The research project involved three basic tasks. First, a landscape “water budget” was developed by producing a calibrated and classified mosaic of landscape type and area from airborne multispectral digital imagery, integrating this information with Layton City parcel boundary data to determine landscape vegetated areas per lot, and estimating irrigation needs derived from reference evapotranspiration (ETo) obtained using weather data for the Salt Lake City metropolitan region. Second, utilizing Layton water billing data, water use for each household and business was identified and categorized as “conserving,”“acceptable” or “wasteful” by determining how much the water applied varied from actual landscape plant need. Third, surveys were administered to a random stratified sample of households and businesses in the study area to investigate various factors that were hypothesized to be predictive of wasteful watering practices. This paper primarily focuses on analysis of the household and business survey data, which explores factors affecting urban landscape water use from a human behavioral perspective. We found that the most significant factors predicting actual water use were the type of irrigation system and whether the location was a household or business. Attitudinal and motivational characteristics were not consistently associated with water use. We found that wasteful watering is the result of many factors embedded in the complex context of urban landscapes. This implies that water conservation programs should identify potential wasteful users through analyses of water billing data and direct water conservation measures at these users by focusing on site‐specific evaluations and recommendations. Water audits or water checks are one such tool that some communities have employed to help people understand and assess the quantity of water needed by and applied to their landscapes. This approach provides an opportunity to evaluate situational constraints at particular locations and design appropriate strategies for reducing water waste.     

Resource utilization for decorating in three intertidal majid crabs (Brachyura: Majidae)

 For three spider crabs (Tiarinia cornigera, Micippaplatipes and Pugettia quadridens quadridens), patterns of algal utilization for decorating were compared with the dynamics of algae on an intertidal rocky shore reef where the crabs co-occurred. T. cornigera and P. quadridens quadridens were most abundant from autumn to spring when the dominant algae (Boodleacoacta, Sargassum hemiphyllum, S. thunbergii and Corallina pilulifera) occurred in high coverage, while M. platipes was most abundant from spring to autumn. Monthly change of algae used for decorating was not correlated with algae growing in the crab habitat for T. cornigera, but for M. platipes, it was positively correlated for two algal species, and for P. quadridens quadridens, negatively correlated for one algal species. Each species of the spider crabs used some algal species preferentially for decoration. Decorating preference experiments conducted in the laboratory showed that M. platipes and P. quadridens quadridens exhibited similar preference to their algal utilization in the field, whereas for T. cornigera, algal preference in the experiment differed from utilization in the field. Comparisons between materials used for decoration and gut contents revealed that T. cornigera and M. platipes used algal species differently for decorating and feeding, while P. quadridens quadridens used the same algal species for both decorating and feeding. Different tactics for camouflage are discussed in terms of algal utilizations by the three majid species. Received: 25 September 1999 / Accepted: 22 June 2000     

Comparisons of EPA Rollback,Empirical/Kinetic,and Physicochemical Oxidant Prediction Relationships in the San Francisco Bay Area

This paper describes, compares and evaluates selected Oxidant Prediction Relationships {OPRs) in terms of projections of hydrocarbon emission reductions required for attainment of the former 0.08 ppm standard and the new 0.12 ppm standard in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985. The OPRs analyzed are the LIRAQ physicochemical model, EPA’s Empirical Kinetic Modeling Approach (EKMA), linear and Appendix J rollback, and an empirical OPR based on local observations.

LIRAQ simulations indicated that to achieve the 0.12 ppm ozone standard, 1985 hydrocarbon emissions must be reduced by 27% from projected levels. The equivalent reductions derived from simple linear rollback, linear rollback with 0.04 ppm background, and the local empirical OPR were 32%, 45% and 37%, respectively. The LIRAQ simulations also showed that reduction of both hydrocarbon and NO_x emissions is less effective than reduction of hydrocarbons only. The attempt to apply EKMA failed because the Bay Area’s low hydrocarbon/NO_x ratios and observed ozone levels are not consistent with the standard EKMA isopleth curves.

For planning, proper OPR selection is important because the wide range in the projections of various OPRs translates into a correspondingly wide range in control costs. Physicochemical OPRs are preferred because they are verifiable; they account for complex topography, meteorology, and source distributions; and because they can treat a variety of control strategies. In the future, the uncertainties associated with the projections can be resolved by assessing trends in air quality on a regular basis and by upgrading and reapplying the prediction methodologies as new information becomes available.     

Neighbor burrow-plugging in Ilyoplax pusillus (Crustacea: Brachyura: Ocypodidae)

The burrow living ocypodid crab Ilyoplax pusillus (De Haan, 1835) sometimes plugs the burrow of neighbors situated from 1.0 to 8.3 cm away with surface mud, while the neighbor, termed the pluggee, is in the burrow. Most pluggers were large males, whereas pluggees were smaller than pluggers and had a sex ratio close to 1:1. After being plugged, most pluggees usually reemerged on the surface within 5 min, but occasionally took up to 77 min to do so. The plugger always foraged or performed waving displays around the burrow of the pluggee while the pluggee stayed inside the burrow. Although the activity site of the pluggee was originally directed toward the burrow of the plugger or the adjacent area, after reemergence its activity site was oriented toward another direction. From these observations, it is suggested that neighbor burrow-plugging is a behavior adopted mainly by large males as a means of maintaining the area of their surface activities against smaller neighbors. My observations were made from June 1984 to June 1985 at Fukuro River Estuary, central Japan.