Inputs and distributions of synthetic musk fragrances in an estuarine and coastal environment; a case study

Synthetic musks are ubiquitous contaminants in the environment. Compartmental distributions (dissolved, suspended particle associated and sedimentary) of the compounds throughout an axial estuarine transect and in coastal waters are reported. High concentrations of Galaxolide^® (HHCB) and Tonalide^® (AHTN) (987-2098 ng/L and 55-159 ng/L, respectively) were encountered in final effluent samples from sewage treatment plants (STPs) discharging into the Tamar and Plym Estuaries (UK), with lower concentrations of Celestolide^® (ADBI) (4-13 ng/L), Phantolide^® (AHMI) (6-9 ng/L), musk xylene (MX) (4-7 ng/L) and musk ketone (MK) (18-30 ng/L). Rapid dilution from the outfalls is demonstrated with resulting concentrations of HHCB spanning from 5 to 30 ng/L and those for AHTN from 3 to 15 ng/L. The other musks were generally not detected in the estuarine and coastal waters. The suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sedimentary profiles and compositions (HHCB:AHTN ratios) generally reflect the distribution in the water column with highest concentrations adjacent to sewage outfalls.     

Ecological planning for land use and ruraldevelopment of Taojiang County

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Waging the struggle for healthy eating: food environments,dietary regimes and Brazil's dietary guidelines

The struggle for healthy eating is a nascent social movement that represents active resistance to the hostile food environments created by multinational food and beverage corporations. Using a political economy approach and leveraging Winson's [2013. The industrial diet: the degradation of food and the struggle for healthy eating. Vancouver: UBC Press] concepts of dietary regimes and the industrial diet, this paper will examine the strengths and limitations of Brazil's new dietary guidelines and discuss its role as a precursor to a new dietary regime that incorporates social justice and sustainability.     

Residential Flood Damage After Hurricane Floyd,Mold, Household Remediation,and Respiratory Health

We conducted a retrospective, cross‐sectional study of flooding, mold exposure, remediation, and respiratory symptom prevalence on a random sample of respondents from Bound Brook, New Jersey, a community that received extensive flood damage from Hurricane Floyd in September 1999. Over 3,000 homes were impacted, some with water damage to the second floor. Many required condemnation. In 2001 to 2002 we conducted a randomized telephone survey of 29 families still living in flood‐damaged and repaired homes and 18 families who had not experienced flood damage from Floyd. Flood status was the last question on the interview, leaving the interviewer effectively blinded as to status. Flood damage was a strong predictor of mold growth (p < 0.001), and there was a strong association between flooding and physician‐confirmed respiratory symptoms in the aftermath of the flood (28 of 29 cases vs. 10 of 18 referents; p < 0.001). There was also an association between flood status and continued symptom prevalence in the month prior to the interviews (22 of 29 cases vs. 6 of 18 referents; p < 0.01). Most flooded homes required removal and replacement of various building materials, which was usually delayed for days or weeks pending re‐occupancy. Many occupants participated in the renovation without adequate personal protection. Persons assisting with cleanup work were more likely to report five or more symptoms (p < 0.002). Smokers with mold damage reported five or more symptoms in the 30 days before the interviews, more frequently than nonsmokers with mold damage. These results are consistent with previous reports of flooding, mold, and illness, but demonstrate that self‐remediation of mold (particularly with lack of training and personal protective equipment) and smoking are significant risk factors for mold‐related symptoms. Exposure during cleanup of moldy materials was a significant contributor to symptoms, and recommendations should include more reliance on professionals and enhanced personal protective equipment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Group size, queuing and helping decisions in facultatively eusocial hover wasps

In facultatively eusocial hover wasps, some females leave their natal nests while others choose to stay and become helpers. We tested whether the decisions of 126 newly emerged females to stay or leave depended on group size: the number of females already resident on their natal nests. We predicted that females would be less likely to stay in larger groups, where the benefits of helping are probably smaller and there is a smaller chance of inheriting the dominant position. We also predicted that unrelated females would be less likely to join larger groups. We manipulated group size by removing residents from nests. Newly emerged females disappeared from their natal nests at a rate of 2.5% per day, but did not disappear from manipulated nests at higher rates than controls. Experimentally reducing group size also did not increase the frequency of joiners. Newly emerged females disappeared at twice the rate of older subordinate females, suggesting the existence of a `leaving window' early in life. One problem is the difficulty of distinguishing between leaving and death. Received: 7 July 1998 / Accepted after revision: 25 October 1998     

Sorption of heavy metals in strongly weathered soils: an overview

Current knowledge of sorption processes in tropical soils is reviewed. Landscapes throughout the tropics are dominated by oxisols which occupy extensive areas of potentially highly productive soils. These soils are dominated by low-activity sesquioxide minerals and clays that have variable charge surfaces. The limited information on tropical soils available suggests that the composition of the ambient soil solution can influence sorption through changes in particle surface-charge density. Thus the observed decrease in sorption in the presence of divalent index cations may be related to the effect of ionic charge on the double-layer thickness which is manifested through a change in surface-charge characteristics. However, much work needs to be done to differentiate the effect of cation charge on surface-charge density from the competitive effect between the index cation and heavy-metal ions for the sorption sites. The effects of inorganic and organic ligands on adsorption of Cd by variable charge surfaces are also reviewed.     

A Calibrated,High‐Resolution GOES Satellite Solar Insolation Product for a Climatology of Florida Evapotranspiration1

Paech, Simon J., John R. Mecikalski, David M. Sumner, Chandra S. Pathak, Quinlong Wu, Shafiqul Islam, and Taiye Sangoyomi, 2009. A Calibrated, High‐Resolution GOES Satellite Solar Insolation Product for a Climatology of Florida Evapotranspiration. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1328‐1342. Abstract: Estimates of incoming solar radiation (insolation) from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite observations have been produced for the state of Florida over a 10‐year period (1995‐2004). These insolation estimates were developed into well‐calibrated half‐hourly and daily integrated solar insolation fields over the state at 2 km resolution, in addition to a 2‐week running minimum surface albedo product. Model results of the daily integrated insolation were compared with ground‐based pyranometers, and as a result, the entire dataset was calibrated. This calibration was accomplished through a three‐step process: (1) comparison with ground‐based pyranometer measurements on clear (noncloudy) reference days, (2) correcting for a bias related to cloudiness, and (3) deriving a monthly bias correction factor. Precalibration results indicated good model performance, with a station‐averaged model error of 2.2 MJ m^?2/day (13%). Calibration reduced errors to 1.7 MJ m^?2/day (10%), and also removed temporal‐related, seasonal‐related, and satellite sensor‐related biases. The calibrated insolation dataset will subsequently be used by state of Florida Water Management Districts to produce statewide, 2‐km resolution maps of estimated daily reference and potential evapotranspiration for water management‐related activities.     

Residual and contact herbicide transport through field lysimeters via preferential flow

Usage of glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)-glycine] and glufosinate [2-amino-4-(hydroxy-methylphosphinyl)butanoic acid] may reduce the environmental impact of agriculture because they are more strongly sorbed to soil and may be less toxic than many of the residual herbicides they replace. Preferential flow complicates the picture, because due to this process, even strongly sorbed chemicals can move quickly to ground water. Therefore, four monolith lysimeters (8.1 m(2) by 2.4 m deep) were used to investigate leaching of contact and residual herbicides under a worst-case scenario. Glufosinate, atrazine (6-chloro-N(2)-ethyl-N(4)-isopropyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine), alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl) acetamide], and linuron (3-3,4-dichlorophenyl-1-methoxy-1-methylurea) were applied in 1999 before corn (Zea mays L.) planting and glyphosate, alachlor, and metribuzin [4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one] were applied in 2000 before soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] planting. A high-intensity rainfall was applied shortly after herbicide application both years. Most alachlor, metribuzin, atrazine, and linuron losses occurred within 1.1 d of rainfall initiation and the peak concentration of the herbicides coincided (within 0.1 d of rainfall initiation in 2000). More of the applied metribuzin leached compared with alachlor during the first 1.1 d after rainfall initiation (2.2% vs. 0.035%, P < 0.05). In 1999, 10 of 24 discrete samples contained atrazine above the maximum contaminant level (atrazine maximum contaminant level [MCL] = 3 mug L(-1)) while only one discrete sample contained glufosinate (19 mug L(-1), estimated MCL = 150 mug L(-1)). The results indicate that because of preferential flow, the breakthrough time of herbicides was independent of their sorptive properties but the transport amount was dependent on the herbicide properties. Even with preferential flow, glyphosate and glufosinate were not transported to 2.4 m at concentrations approaching environmental concern.     

Cost Evaluation for Selected Remediation Technologies

Relatively little data are available to document the historical cost for using common remediation technologies, and site managers often must rely on information from technology vendors and predictive models, which may not accurately reflect the experiences of previous technology users. To help address these concerns, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an evaluation of data on historical costs of common remediation technologies. Cost curves were developed for four technologies, showing the relationship between cost for remediation and quantity of material treated. Although costs are known to be highly site‐specific and affected by many factors, the curves are useful in illustrating the variability of historical costs and the economies of scale for treating relatively large quantities of material. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A COMPARISON OF SINGLE‐CELL AND MULTICELL CULVERTS FOR STREAM CROSSINGS1

ABSTRACT: Single‐barrel culverts are a common means of roadway crossings for smaller streams. While this culvert design provides an economical solution for a crossing, the adverse effects of conveying the stream through a single opening can be far reaching. The single‐barrel culvert is typically sized for a design storm much greater than the channel forming discharge. This oversizing causes an interruption of the normal flow patterns and sediment transport for the system. Shallow depths at low flow in the pipe and perching at the outlet can impede fish passage. Multicell culverts (where the main culvert at the channel invert is sized for bankfull discharge, and additional pipes are placed at the floodplain elevation to convey overbank flow up to the design discharge) have been recommended as a best management practice to minimize erosion and improve fish passage. This flume study scaled a prototype single‐barrel culvert to both a single‐cell model, and a multicell design to compare outlet scour and flow depths within the culvert. The results provide designers and planners with evidence of the benefits of multicell culverts to justify the higher cost of installation compared to single‐barrel culverts.