Are we counting what counts? A closer look at environmental concern,pro-environmental behaviour,and carbon footprint

Three parallel lines of inquiry regarding individuals' support for the environment have developed within the environmental social sciences. These include individuals' concern for the environment, research on private sphere pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), i.e. household actions seeking to improve the environment (e.g. buying better light bulbs), and more recently, ecological and carbon footprints. Researchers have noted that the correlates of this third form of support for the environment are not necessarily the same as the predictors of the first two forms. Using Canadian survey data, this study examines the relationships among, and predictors of, all three forms. Evidence that there is not a link between private sphere PEB and household carbon footprints, and that measures of socio-economic status (education and income) have different effects on different types of support for the environment, invites a discussion of whether environmental social scientists are really counting what counts.     

Comparison of LLW Disposal Facilities at Major Department of Energy Sites

Near surface disposal facility design and management are examined and compared using a systems approach that defines facility performance as a function of three components (or subsystems): the disposal facility design (cover systems and bottom liners); the properties of the waste (waste composition, waste form and waste package); and the site‐specific environmental features (climate, geology, and hydrology). We report an evaluation of five DOE near surface disposal facility case studies, selected to provide a “representative” sample that included disposal sites with a range of waste and environmental characteristics across the DOE. The facilities selected were the Savannah River E‐Area Engineered Trenches, Hanford Integrated Disposal Facility, Idaho Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Oak Ridge Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, and Nevada National Security Site Area 5. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Persistent organic pollutants in Alaskan ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) blubber

Since 1987, the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) has collected tissues from 18 marine mammal species. Specimens are archived in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NIST-NBSB). AMMTAP has collected blubber, liver and/or kidney specimens from a number of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the areas near Nome and Barrow, Alaska and walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) from several locations in the Bering Sea. Thirty-three ringed seal and 15 walrus blubber samples from the NIST-NBSB were analyzed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The compounds determined included PCBs (28 congeners or congener groups), DDT and related compounds, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), chlordanes, dieldrin, and mirex. POP concentrations in ringed seal blubber were significantly higher in Barrow than in Nome when statistically accounting for the interaction of age and gender; HCB, however, was not statistically different between the two locations. Unlike males, POP concentrations and age were not significantly correlated in females probably as a result of lactational loss. POP concentrations in walrus blubber were lower than in ringed seal blubber for SigmaPCBs, chlordanes, and HCHs, but higher for dieldrin and mirex. POP concentrations in ringed seals and walrus from Alaska provide further evidence that the western Arctic tends to have lower or similar POP concentrations compared to the eastern Canadian Arctic.     

Biosensors for pathogen surveillance

Biologists, chemists, and physicists are collaborating to develop highly sensitive and specific biosensors for pathogen detection in the food, healthcare, and environmental sectors. Those novel biosensors allow quick detection and are thus expected to solve the issues of the emergence of highly virulent or antibiotic-resistant pathogens. This article reviews different types of biosensors used for pathogen detection, classified based on the type of transducer used. Optical biosensors integrate labeled means, e.g., fluorophores, quantum dots, and carbon dots to overcome photobleaching. Surface plasmon resonance is also used for enhanced sensitivity. Mechanical biosensors with piezoelectric crystals and cantilevers are adapted for the detection of food pathogens without sample preparation or labels. Conventional methods using electrodes for the measurement of electrochemical changes with differential pulse voltammetry or impedance spectroscopy are fast and highly sensitive. Immunosensors are developed for pathogen detection at trace levels using sample enrichment, signal amplification, and new visual detection techniques.     

我国环境监测体制改革探讨

本文分析了目前我国环境监测工作中普遍存在的体制不顺、职责不明、行政干预、重复监测、资源浪费、信息混乱等问题,提出监测机构垂直管理,调整监测职能,打破条块分割,整合社会监测资源,引入第三方检测的具体构想。     

Application of a Proposed Generic LLW Waste Package Analysis With Changing Infiltration in a Humid Environment

Corrosion of carbon steel boxes filled with low‐level radioactive waste and buried within a near surface disposal facility in a humid environment was evaluated using an integrated systems approach framework. The time to hydraulic failure from initial burial to development of holes through the wall of a given waste package from pitting corrosion was calculated for four corrosion scenarios under two different corrosion cases. The two corrosion cases chosen were a constant rate of corrosion and a slowing rate of corrosion. Corrosion rates were estimated for carbon steel buried in soil from several historical studies and related to the corrosivity and aeration profile of the soil. The scenarios were chosen to represent a range of possible conditions at current and future U.S. Department of Energy disposal facilities. For each scenario, once the time to hydraulic failure had been estimated, the amount of liquid present in each waste package at the time of failure was calculated as an estimate of leachate available for subsurface transport. The Savannah River E‐Area Engineered Trench was used as a basis for the hypothetical disposal facility. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Occurrence of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in water of the Nile river at the estuaries of Rosetta and Damiatta branches,north of delta,Egypt

Abstract

A study was conducted from summer 1995 to summer 1997 to assess the seasonal occurrence of pesticide residues and other organic contaminants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in water at the estuaries of Rosetta and Damiatta branches of the Nile river. The results indicated that organochlorine compounds (OCs) including HCB, lindane, p,p‘‐DDE, p,p‘DDD, p,p‘‐DDT, aroclor 1254 and aroclor 1260 were present in all the water samples at concentration levels ranging between 0.195–0.240, 0.286–0.352, 0.035–0.067, 0.019–0.033, 0.024–0.031, 0.390–0.70 and 0.166–0.330 μg/l, respectively. The levels of these compounds were higher in water of Damiatta branch than those found in water of Rosetta branch. Aldrin, dieldrin and endrin were not detected in all water samples. Only 4 compounds from 36 organophosphorus insecticides, fungicides and s‐triazine herbicides tested were detected in water samples collected during summer and autumn seasons from Rosetta branch. The concentration levels of these detected compounds, dimethoate, malathion, captan, and ametryne, ranged from 0.011 to 0.340 μg/l, respectively. Similar compounds during the same seasons as found in water of Rosetta branch were also detected in water of Damiatta branch except ametryne. The levels of the detected compounds (dimethoate, malathion and captan) ranged between 0.030 and 0.330 μg/l. The levels of detected organophosphorus insecticides, fungicides and s‐triazine herbicides were in the order: dimethoate > malathion > captan > ametryne.