Perceptions toward stewardship among residents living near U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

Although stewardship has been widely defined and used in environmental management and planning, there is a dearth of studies that describe how the lay public perceives this concept. A national sample of residents in 14 states who live near DOE nuclear facilities were interviewed to delineate public understanding and awareness of the stewardship program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This study discusses the findings of the survey and discusses how institutional trust influences public participation and resident’s choices of potential stewards. Almost 40% of the respondents could not define stewardship; those who did, believed that ‘responsibility,’ ‘management,’ and ‘accountability’ are key elements of stewardship. In addition, about a third of the respondents identified Federal groups and the DOE as potential stewards. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

Benchmarking for best practice environmental management

Benchmarking of environmental performance to demonstrate theachievement of best practice environmental management is acomponent of a new form of licensing of industrialdischarges in Western Australia. The paper describes theapproaches to benchmarking for the critical environmentalissues for an alumina refinery and wastewater treatmentplant. It also describes the lessons learnt from thebenchmarking process on appropriate methods, the benefitsand difficulties in the benchmarking process, and changesthat would assist benchmarking for best practiceenvironmental management.     

Selectivity in the complexation of actinides by humic substances

The interactions of a range of actinide elements (Th, U, Np, Pu, Am) with humic substances from the Needle's Eye natural analogue site were studied by gel permeation chromatography. Bulk humic substances were isolated by ammonia extraction, followed by dialysis against distilled water and freeze-drying. The gel permeation results suggest that Needle's Eye humic substances can be fractionated into three incompletely resolved fractions with average molecular weights determined by analytical ultracentrifugation around 49 000 for Fraction 1, around 14 700 for Fraction 2 and around 8000 for Fraction 3. Although there are significant differences between the organic matter elution patterns in individual gel permeation experiments, presumably due to differences in column packing, these are much smaller than the differences between metal ions. The uranium that is naturally present in these humic substances is largely bound in the late-eluting fraction. Spikes of the early actinides, including Np and Pu in controlled valency states, have been added to the humic substances, and gel permeation of the spiked humic substances shows that the three humic fractions vary greatly in their effectiveness and selectivity as ligands for early actinides.     

Science in the public process of ecosystem management: lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland

Partnerships and co-operative environmental management are increasing worldwide as is the call for scientific input in the public process of ecosystem management. In Hawaii, private landowners, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal agencies have formed watershed partnerships to conserve and better manage upland forested watersheds. In this paper, findings of an international workshop convened in Hawaii to explore the strengths of approaches used to assess stakeholder values of environmental resources and foster consensus in the public process of ecosystem management are presented. Authors draw upon field experience in projects throughout Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US mainland to derive a set of lessons learned that can be applied to Hawaiian and other watershed partnerships in an effort to promote consensus and sustainable ecosystem management. Interdisciplinary science-based models can serve as effective tools to identify areas of potential consensus in the process of ecosystem management. Effective integration of scientific input in co-operative ecosystem management depends on the role of science, the stakeholders and decision-makers involved, and the common language utilized to compare tradeoffs. Trust is essential to consensus building and the integration of scientific input must be transparent and inclusive of public feedback. Consideration of all relevant stakeholders and the actual benefits and costs of management activities to each stakeholder is essential. Perceptions and intuitive responses of people can be as influential as analytical processes in decision-making and must be addressed. Deliberative, dynamic and iterative decision-making processes all influence the level of stakeholder achievement of consensus. In Hawaii, application of lessons learned can promote more informed and democratic decision processes, quality scientific analysis that is relevant, and legitimacy and public acceptance of ecosystem management.     

Influence of humic acid on the sorption of uranium(IV) to kaolin

Safety assessments for radioactive waste disposal require estimations of the migration of radionuclides in soils. The influence of humic acid (HA) on the sorption of uranium in its +4 oxidation state to kaolin has been examined from pH 4 to 8, with HA concentrations of 15–200 ppm. In the absence of HA, 20–40% of the U(IV) was in solution, with more sorption occurring at higher pH. The presence of HA solubilised up to 90% of the uranium with higher solubilities at higher HA concentrations and higher pH values. Uranium sorption was mapped against HA sorption, and it was found that there was a lower level of U(IV) sorption than can be accounted for by just measuring HA sorption. However, this effect got less marked as the pH rose. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the fraction of surface-bound HA is the controlling parameter for modelling in these systems.     

Secondary analysis of time of day on simulated driving performance

PROBLEM: Age and gender are frequently controlled for in studies of driving performance, but the effects of time of day or circadian cycles on performance are often not considered. Previous research on time of day effects of simulated driving is contradictory and provides little guidance for understanding the impact of these variables on results. METHODS: Using driving simulator data from 79 subjects ages 18 to 65, this paper focuses on the impact of age, gender, and time of day on the simulated driving performance of subjects who self-selected the time of participation. RESULTS: Time of day effects were consistently evident for drivers' speed overall and across different simulated environments. Drivers in the late afternoon period consistently drove significantly slower than drivers in other time periods. Age and gender affected speed such that women and those participants 50 and older tended to drive more slowly. Time of day also had an effect on reaction time and on speed variability measures. Gender did not have significant effects on reaction time or variability measures, but age effects were present. SUMMARY: Taken together, the results suggest that time of day effects should be considered as part of simulated driving performance, and that interactions between time of day and other variables, notably age, should be controlled for as part of future research. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Implications of these findings on current efforts for older driver testing are discussed.     

Productivity equation for reclaiming surface mines

This article addresses the development of an agricultural productivity equation for predicting new soil (neo-sol) plant growth potential in Clay County, Minnesota, USA. Soil factors examined in the study include percent organic matter, percent slope, percent rock fragments, hydraulic conductivity, electrical conductivity, pH, topographic position, available water-holding capacity, bulk density, and percent clay. Squared terms and two-factor interaction terms were also examined as possible regressors. A best equation was selected that had a multiple coefficient of determination of 0.7399 and has five significant regressors and intercept withP.0001. The regressors are hydraulic conductivity, percent slope squared, bulk density times percent rock fragments, electrical conductivity times percent rock fragments, and electrical conductivity times percent organic matter. The regressors predict soil suitability for a general crop model. The crops included in the model are wheat, oats, barley, soybeans, sugar beets, sunflowers, and grasses/legumes.     

‘The good district’: Newbury as a seed‐bed for success

This study analyses the behaviour of high technology and new firms in the Newbury District of Berkshire in terms of employment, location, genealogy, and local economic impact. It finds that encouraged by good communications networks and a ‘resident electronics establishment’, the direct, as opposed to the indirect, employment consequences are generally encouraging, but not widely replicable. Moreover, the general picture of employment growth masks important differences in labour demand across occupations, particularly with respect to ‘traditional male’ skilled manual workers.     

Provisioning behavior and the estimation of investment ratios in a solitary bee,Calliopsis (Hypomacrotera) persimilis (Cockerell) (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae)

Summary One aspect of behavioral ecology that has received considerable attention, especially by students of social insects, is the relative amount of energy invested by parents in the rearing of male versus female offspring. Sexual selection theory makes predictions about how individuals should allocate their total investment in the sexes. To test these predictions we must accurately quantify the relative cost incurred by a parent in the production of an average individual of either sex. Body weight ratios are the most common estimate of cost ratio, but the correspondence between offspring body weight and energetic investment on the part of the parent has rarely been determined. Calliopsis (Hypomacrotera) persimilis is a solitary, ground-nesting bee whose natural history makes it particularly convenient for studies of investment patterns and foraging behavior. Each day females construct and provision from 1 to 6 cells in linear, closely-spaced series. Each cell is provisioned with pollen from Physalis Wrightii flowers, which is collected on two or three foraging trips. However, the temporal sequence in which two- and three-trip foraging bouts occur is not random. Females invariably begin each day provisioning cells with three trips worth of pollen and usually switch to provisioning the latter cells of the day with just two trips worth of pollen. The sex of the offspring within the same co-linear series of cells also varies non-randomly — female offspring predominate in the first cells of each series and male offspring in the latter cells. The correspondence between the number of foraging trips to provision a cell, the total time spent foraging, and offspring sex was determined for 36 cells. The data indicate a close, though not absolute, relationship between the number of foraging trips and the sex of the offspring: males usually received two trips of pollen, though some received three, whereas female offspring invariably received three trips worth of pollen. A number of potential estimates of the relative cost of female and male offspring production were calculated. Estimates of the cost ratio based on the amount of time spent foraging, adult dry body weight, and pollen ball dry weight all give similar values. Female offspring receive an energetic investment of from 1.3 to 1.5 times that of males. These results support the use of adult dry body weight ratios in the estimation of cost ratios.     

Response of Ceriodaphnia dubia to ionic silver: discrepancies among model predictions, measured concentrations and mortality

Silver thiosulfate, often a waste product of photoprocessing, is less bioavailable or toxic to aquatic organisms than is ionic silver. We conducted duplicate 48-h Ceriodaphnia dubia tests in reconstituted laboratory water using treatments of 92.7 nM Ag+ with various concentrations of thiosulfate. Expected Ag+ concentrations were generated for thiosulfate treatment levels using MINEQL + chemical equilibrium modeling. Ag+ concentrations in treatments were determined using a novel silicon-based sensor. Based on predicted Ag+ and published 48-h LC50 values for C. dubia, we did not expect to observe adverse effects. Yet, 100% mortality was observed at low thiosulfate treatments, whereas > 85% and > 95% survival was observed at higher thiosulfate treatment levels, respectively. Our results indicate that biotic responses match the sensor-based Ag+ concentrations. However, there is a discrepancy between these empirical results and responses expected to occur with Ag+ concentrations as predicted by MINEQL + chemical modeling. By correlating silicon sensor data with toxicity results obtained from our laboratory, our work clearly relates a specific chemical form (Ag+) to toxicity results.