Public values for badgers,bovine TB reduction and management strategies

This paper applies an attribute-based stated choice experiment approach to estimate the value that society places on changes to the size of the badger population in England and Wales. The study was undertaken in the context of a rising incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle and the government's review of current bTB control policy. This review includes consideration of culling badgers to reduce bTB in cattle, since badgers are thought to be an important wildlife reservoir for the disease. The design of the CE involved four attributes (size of badger population, cattle slaughtered due to bTB, badger management strategy and household tax) at four levels with eight choice sets of two alternatives presented to respondents. Telephone interviews were undertaken with over 400 respondents, which elicited their attitudes and preferences concerning badgers, bTB in cattle and badger management strategies. The study estimated a willingness to pay of £0.10 per household per year per 100,000 badgers and £1.52 per household per year per 10,000 cattle slaughtered due to bTB which aggregated to £22 per badger and £3298 per bTB slaughtered animal for all households in England and Wales. Management strategy toward badgers had a very high valuation, highlighting the emotive issue of badger culling for respondents and the importance of government policy towards badgers.     

Screening Technology Trains for DNAPL Remediation

The Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) mandated Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study for a site contaminated with Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) pollutants. Three key efforts were a hydrogeological modeling approach, the generation of feasible sequences of technologies, and the screening of alternative technologies. This research uses a decision analysis process to provide a quantitative assessment of the candidate technologies. Decision analysis modeling was used to gain insight into each sequence of technologies. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to assess the impact of key assumptions. The results provided the DOE with an objective and traceable rationale for screening and reducing all of the potential technology combinations to 58 technology combinations and a method for identifying the top scoring combinations. The approach has wide applicability to similar CERCLA remediation efforts.     

Effect of fasting on the pattern of urinary arsenic excretion

Millions of people in some of the poorest regions of the world are exposed to high levels of arsenic through drinking contaminated water. It has been reported that development of cancer caused by arsenic exposure in such populations is dependent on dietary and nutritional factors which can modulate arsenic metabolism. Many people in arsenic exposed regions of Bangladesh and India practice fasting for at least one month every year when they refrain from consumption of food and fluid during daylight hours. How such practices may modulate arsenic metabolism has not been previously investigated. This study investigated this issue by determining total arsenic and its species in urine samples from a group of 29 unexposed volunteers at the beginning of the fasting and at the end of approximately 12 h of fasting period. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ICP-MS was used to measure the total arsenic and arsenic speciation in the urine samples, respectively. The mean total levels of arsenic at the beginning of fasting (18.3 microg g(-1) creatinine) and at the end of approximately 12 h of fasting (17.7 microg g(-1) creatinine) did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). However, the percentages of urinary arsenic as the methylated arsenic species methylarsonate (MA) were found to be significantly different (p < 0.05) and this species was observed more frequently at the end of fasting, although its overall concentration was similar. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in both the concentrations and percentages of other urinary arsenic species detected, namely arsenobetaine (AB) and dimethylarsinate (DMA). Arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)) were also analyzed, but were not detected. We conclude that fasting for a period of 12 h results in a significant increase in the percentage of urinary arsenic as MA, and its frequency of detection in the volunteers at the end of the fasting period is almost nine fold higher. This suggests that metabolism of arsenic is altered by fasting.     

What's the difference between reengineering and tqem?

Reengineering has become the latest corporate management buzzword, replacing, in many cases, total quality management as the panacea for industrial ills. How different are reengineering and total quality management (TQM), if at all, and how does each apply to environmental management? In this article the authors examine the concepts of reengineering and TQM as they apply to environmental management.     

Diel Cycling of Zinc in a Stream Impacted by Acid Rock Drainage: Initial Results from a New in situ Zn Analyzer

Recent work has demonstrated that many trace metals undergo dramatic diel (24-h) cycles in near neutral pH streams with metal concentrations reproducibly changing up to 500% during the diel period (Nimick et al., 2003). To examine diel zinc cycles in streams affected by acid rock drainage, we have developed a novel instrument, the Zn-DigiScan, to continuously monitor in situ zinc concentrations in near real-time. Initial results from a 3-day deployment at Fisher Creek, Montana have demonstrated the ability of the Zn-DigiScan to record diel Zn cycling at levels below 100 μg/l. Longer deployments of this instrument could be used to examine the effects of episodic events such as rainstorms and snowmelt pulses on zinc loading in streams affected by acid rock drainage.