Wayfinding with a GPS-based mobile navigation system: A comparison with maps and direct experience

This study examined the effectiveness of a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based mobile navigation system in comparison to paper maps and direct experience of routes, by focusing on the user's wayfinding behavior and acquired spatial knowledge. Based on information received from one of these three media, participants walked six routes finding the way to goals. Results showed that GPS users traveled longer distances and made more stops during the walk than map users and direct-experience participants. Also, GPS users traveled more slowly, made larger direction errors, drew sketch maps with poorer topological accuracy, and rated wayfinding tasks as more difficult than direct-experience participants. Characteristics of navigation with these three learning media and possible reasons for the ineffectiveness of the GPS-based navigation system are discussed.     

Specific accumulation of 20 trace elements in great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) from Japan

This study is to elucidate the specific accumulation of 20 trace elements in tissues/organs of great cormorants from two different colonies (Lake Biwa and Mie) in Japan. In the body distribution of trace elements, some elements revealed tissue-specific accumulation such as most of the burden of Mo, Ag and Cd in liver, Tl and Cd in kidney, Cu, Rb and Cs in muscle, and V, Sr and Ba in bone. Gender-related variation was not observed in both populations for most of the trace elements, except for higher hepatic Sr in males from Lake Biwa. Hepatic V, muscular Hg and Tl, and Cd in liver, kidney and muscle increased with growth. Comparison of trace element levels in tissues between the two colonies showed that Cr, Rb, Sr, Cd, Cs, Ba and Tl levels were higher in Lake Biwa than in Mie, whereas Zn, Co and Hg in Mie samples were greater than Lake Biwa. Variations of elemental levels in stomach contents also showed similar patterns, thus, showing that dietary sources tended to be the main factor for these regional variations. Toxic Hg and Cd concentrations in the liver of cormorants from the two colonies were lower than those from other areas, implying relatively low exposure to these metals in the present study sites. Concentrations of V, Co, Ag, Cd, Cs, Hg, Tl, Pb and Bi in liver remained more or less at the same level between 1993 and 2003, while hepatic Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr and Ba showed apparent decrease, which might be related to the biological factors.     

Behavior of a Small Pulsed River Plume in a Strong Tidal Cross-Flow in the Akashi Strait

We carried out a field study of a small river plume emptying into Osaka Bay near the Akashi Strait in western Japan, to understand the fate of its urban-runoff-laden waters. As the river is weak compared to tidal currents, we find that the behavior of the plume is strongly influenced by phasing between tidal stage and currents (a westward-traveling progressive tidal wave). When the tidal stage rises, sea water floods up the river, and concentrated river effluent cannot be seen in Osaka Bay. During most of the river’s ebb, a topographic eddy transports river effluent towards the energetic Akashi Strait, while strong vertical shear in the tidal flow mixes the effluent with seawater. However, there is a short interval of time during which the direction of tidal flow in the Strait changes direction and the magnitude of the current is weak. At this time, shear is weak enough to allow a stratified plume of concentrated river water to form, and this plume is driven offshore, and into Osaka Bay, by baroclinic circulation. A sewage outfall, which is located very close to the river mouth, is subjected to these same conditions and therefore exhibits similar behavior. Understanding the relation between tidal phase and plume behavior will be useful to Kobe City, as well as other cities in a similar environment, for minimizing the environmental effects of their wastewater and non-point-source runoff.     

Oceanic diffusion and the pelagic insects Halobates spp. (Gerridae: Hemiptera)

Five pelagic Halobates species occupy a vast area from 40^∘ north to 40^∘ south in the three major oceans. Oceanic diffusion, constantly acting to disperse these insects, must be an important factor in determining their life history and distribution. We investigated the effects of oceanic diffusion on the following aspects of these insects. (1) The estimated radius of a patch of Halobates could be expanded by oceanic diffusion alone from an initial point of origin to 1250 km in 60 d. This distance is about 1/12 of the maximum distributional range of H. micans in the Pacific Ocean. Mutual encounter rates due to oceanic turbulence could be as high as 11 d⁻¹ even at low population densities (100 ind km⁻²). This suggests that individuals from their original habitat could find mates even when they had been carried a long distance. Thus, extensive gene mixing may occur over the whole range of a species' distribution. (2)␣Estimated growth rates are rather low (0.0026 to 0.0079 d⁻¹) compared with those of other insects. However, they are offset by a long life span (over 90 d) and an extended oviposition period (perhaps over 2␣months). Thus, pelagic Halobates spp. appear to have adopted a strategy of slow growth and prolonged longevity to cope with living in an unstable physical environment that is constantly disturbed by storms and winds. Received: 5 February 1995 / Accepted: 30 October 1997     

Separation and recovery of carbon dioxide by a membrane flash process

A novel process for carbon dioxide (CO₂) separation, which was named a membrane flash process, was developed to realize an energy-saving technology and to substitute it for a conventional regenerator. The electric energy for CO₂ recovery in a membrane flash process using aluminum oxide and diethanolamine was lower than the thermal energy of the conventional chemical absorption process. Flashing at elevated temperature by the low temperature energy significantly reduced the electric energy and required much less membrane area. This process has potentiality of low cost capture of CO₂ when the low temperature energy, which is not available for other purposes, can be utilized to elevate flashing temperature.     

Bayesian Modeling of Enteric Virus Density in Wastewater Using Left-Censored Data

Stochastic models are used to express pathogen density in environmental samples for performing microbial risk assessment with quantitative uncertainty. However, enteric virus density in water often falls below the quantification limit (non-detect) of the analytical methods employed, and it is always difficult to apply stochastic models to a dataset with a substantially high number of non-detects, i.e., left-censored data. We applied a Bayesian model that is able to model both the detected data (detects) and non-detects to simulated left-censored datasets of enteric virus density in wastewater. One hundred paired datasets were generated for each of the 39 combinations of a sample size and the number of detects, in which three sample sizes (12, 24, and 48) and the number of detects from 1 to 12, 24 and 48 were employed. The simulated observation data were assigned to one of two groups, i.e., detects and non-detects, by setting values on the limit of quantification to obtain the assumed number of detects for creating censored datasets. Then, the Bayesian model was applied to the censored datasets, and the estimated mean and standard deviation were compared to the true values by root mean square deviation. The difference between the true distribution and posterior predictive distribution was evaluated by Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence, and it was found that the estimation accuracy was strongly affected by the number of detects. It is difficult to describe universal criteria to decide which level of accuracy is enough, but eight or more detects are required to accurately estimate the posterior predictive distributions when the sample size is 12, 24, or 48. The posterior predictive distribution of virus removal efficiency with a wastewater treatment unit process was obtained as the log ratio posterior distributions between the posterior predictive distributions of enteric viruses in untreated wastewater and treated wastewater. The KL divergence between the true distribution and posterior predictive distribution of virus removal efficiency also depends on the number of detects, and eight or more detects in a dataset of treated wastewater are required for its accurate estimation.     

Viral Interference as a Factor of False-Negative in the Infectious Adenovirus Detection Using Integrated Cell Culture-PCR with a BGM Cell Line

Food and Environmental Virology - This study investigated the influence of viral interference on the detection of enteric viruses using the integrated cell culture (ICC)-PCR with a BGM cell line....     

Detection of Rotavirus Strains in Freshwater Clams in Japan

Bivalve molluscan shellfish like clams and oysters, etc., are capable to bioaccumulate surrounding contaminants from waters into their digestive systems and posing serious threats of food poisoning. Detection of rotaviruses (RVs) in shellfish is of particular importance because RVs are prone to genome reassortment resulting in the emergence of new RV variants that may compromise vaccine safety. Herein, we have detected the wild-type RVs and Rotarix/RotaTeq vaccine strains in freshwater clams collected on the riverside, Kawasaki city, from July 2019 to January 2020 and correlated the detected genotypes with that of gastroenteritis cases of nearby clinics to understand the transmission of RVs in the environment. The wild-type RVs were detected in 62 (64.6%) out of 96 freshwater clams in every study month: July, September, November, and January that are considered as off-season for RV infections. The most frequent genotypes were G2 (42.9%), G8 (28.6%), G3 (14.3%), G1 (7.1%), and G10 (7.1%), which remained comparable with genotypic distribution found in the clinical samples over the last few years indicating that these RVs may accumulate in clams since a long time. However, G10 genotype was detected in clam but not in clinical samples suggesting the presence of asymptomatic infection or RVs could be carried out from a long distance. Importantly, vaccine strains, RotaTeq (1%) but not Rotarix (0%), were also detected in a clam. Attention must be paid to monitoring the potential transmission of wild-type and vaccine RV strains in the environment to prevent the emergence of new variants generated from genome reassortment with vaccine strains.

     

Estimation of Contamination Sources of Human Enteroviruses in a Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation System by PCR–DGGE

A polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR–DGGE) method was employed to estimate the contamination sources of human enteroviruses and understand how their dominant strains vary in a wastewater treatment and reclamation system consisting of sewage collection, wastewater treatment with membrane bioreactor and open lakes for reclaimed water storage and reuse. After PCR–DGGE using a selected primer set targeting enteroviruses, phylogenetic analysis of acquired enterovirus gene sequences was performed. Enteroviruses identified from the septic tank were much more diverse than those from grey water and kitchen wastewater. Several unique types of enterovirus different from those in wastewater samples were dominant in a biological wastewater treatment unit. Membrane filtration followed by chlorination was proved effective for physically eliminating enteroviruses; however, secondary contamination likely occurred as the reclaimed water was stored in artificial lakes. Enterovirus 71 (EV71), a hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) viral pathogen, was detected mainly from the artificial lakes, implying that wastewater effluent was not the contamination source of EV71 and that there were unidentified non-point sources of the contamination with the HFMD viral pathogen in the reclaimed water stored in the artificial lakes. The PCR–DGGE targeting enteroviruses provided robust evidence about viral contamination sources in the wastewater treatment and reclamation system.     

Use of two population metrics clarifies biodiversity dynamics in large-scale monitoring: the case of trees in Japanese old-growth forests

An alkaline comet assay and a micronucleus test were carried out on erythrocytes of the European chub, Squalius cephalus L., collected in spring and autumn in 2005 and 2006 at three sampling sites in River Sava, near Zagreb, Croatia. The results of comet assay showed the lowest genotoxic influence at the least polluted site, while higher DNA damage was observed at the polluted sites. Although the basal levels of DNA damage were elevated, a clear gradation of DNA damage was found due to pollution intensity in all sampling periods. The lowest cytogenetic damage as revealed by the micronucleus test (MNT) was observed as well at the least polluted site. High variations in MN frequency were observed between sampling periods, although the number of micronucleated erythrocytes was consistently the highest one at the polluted site. The comet assay as a biomarker of genotoxic effect exhibited higher sensitivity in discriminating the genotoxic capacity of studied polluted sites while the MNT was less sensitive. However, both tests should be used together in biomonitoring studies because they can reveal different aspects of DNA damage; comet assay, the early event of genotoxic exposure, and MNT, its final result as a mutagenic potential.