Evidence of nuclear reactions in the Pd lattice

An operating Pd//D₂O, Li⁺, Cl⁻//Pt cell, placed in an external electrostatic field, yielded unexpected results, viz. (i) Morphological changes in the form of discrete sites exhibiting molten-like features, i.e. features that require substantial energy expenditure. (ii) Presence of elements (Al, Mg, Ca, Si, Zn, ...) that could not be extracted from cell components and deposited on discrete sites. The cell design and the experimental protocol assuring reproducibility is described in detail.     

流域的可持续管理:国际多个流域的案例研究

全球淡水资源正在不断受到污染和亏耗,威胁着可持续发展及人类和生态系统的健康.本文通过美国、日本、瑞士和巴西四个不同流域的案例研究,阐述了与淡水资源密切相关的可持续发展中的缺陷,指明了水资源可持续管理的总体方向.由于近几十年来人口的增长和经济的发展,每个流域的水质、流量和生物资源量都在下降.但是对于不同的流域来说,与水有关的这些问题的严重程度和文化观念大不相同,因而形成各自独特的水资源管理政策.在工业化国家,例如美国、瑞士和日本,这类政策允许采用资金密集型和能源密集型技术,使得这些国家在满足其水资源需求的同时还能尽量降低人类健康风险.然而,从可持续发展的观点看,以有限的自然资源为基础制定的这类政策,并非长久之计.对于新兴工业化国家(如巴西)来说,昂贵的水资源管理技术在经济上常常行不通,因而限制了新兴工业化国家和发展中国家对发达国家提供的技术的利用程度.要实现水资源的可持续管理,发达国家、新兴工业化国家和发展中国家都需要经历一个学习的过程,同时还需要遵循本文介绍的可持续发展的通用原则.     

The contribution of azo dyes to the mutagenic activity of the Cristais River

To verify whether dyes emitted within the discharge of a dye processing plant were contributing to the mutagenicity repeatedly found in the Cristais River, Sao Paulo, Brazil, we chemically characterized the following mutagenic samples: the treated industrial effluent, raw and treated water, and the sludge produced by a Drinking Water Treatment Plant (DWTP) located approximately 6 km from the industrial discharge. Considering that 20% of the dyes used for coloring activities might be lost to wastewaters and knowing that several dyes have mutagenic activity, we decided to analyze the samples for the presence of dyes. Thin layer chromatographic analysis indicated the presence of three prevalent dyes in all samples, except for the drinking water. This combination of dyes corresponded to a commercial product used by the industry, and it tested positive in the Salmonella assay. The structures of the dye components were determined using proton magnetic resonance and mass spectrometric (MS) methods, and the dyes were tested for mutagenicity. The blue component was identified as the C.I. Disperse Blue 373, the violet as C.I. Disperse Violet 93, and the orange as C.I. Disperse Orange 37. The dyes showed mutagenic responses of 6300, 4600, and 280 revertants/microg for YG1041 with S9 respectively. A bioassay-directed fractionation/chemical analysis showed that the C.I. Disperse Blue 373 contributed 55% of the mutagenic activity of the DWTP sludge. We showed that these dyes contributed to the mutagenic activity found in the Cristais River environmental samples analyzed and are indirectly affecting the quality of the related drinking water. Therefore, we believe that this type of discharge should be more thoroughly characterized chemically and toxicologically. Additionally, human and ecological risks associated with the release of dye processing plant effluents should be more fully investigated, especially where the resultant water is taken for human consumption.     

Valuation of Ecological Resources and Functions

/ Ecological resources are natural resources that provide certain necessary but overlooked system maintenance functions within ecosystems. Environmental economics is in search of an appropriate analysis framework to determine economic values of such resources. This paper presents a framework that estimates and compiles the components of value for a natural ecosystem. The framework begins with the ecological processes involved, which provide functions within the ecosystem and services valued by humans. We discuss the additive or competive nature of these values, and estimate these values through conventional and unconventional techniques. We apply the framework to ecological resources in a shrub-steppe dryland habitat being displaced by development. We first determine which functions and services are mutually exclusive (e.g., farming vs soil stabilization) and which are complementary or products of joint production (e.g., soil stabilization and maintenance of species). We then apply benefit transfer principles with contingent valuation methodology (CVM), travel cost methodology (TCM), and hedonic damage pricing (HDP). Finally, we derive upper-limit values for more difficult-to-value functions through the use of human analogs, which we argue are the most appropriate method of valuation under some circumstances. The highest values of natural shrub-steppe habitat appear to be derived from soil stabilization.KEY WORDS: Natural resource economics; Ecological economics; Ecological resources; Shrub-steppe; Environmental valuation; Cost; Benefit; Value     

Using Insurance to Enhance Nitrogen Fertilizer Application to Reduce Nitrogen Losses to the Environment

The advantage of using insurance to help a farmer adopt a best nitrogen management plan (BNMP) that reduces the impact of agricultural production on the environment is analytically and empirically demonstrated. Using an expected value analysis, it is shown that an insurance program can be structured soas to reduce a farmer's cost of bearing the adoption risk associated with changing production practices and, thus, to improve the farmer's certainty equivalent net return thereby promoting the adoption of a BNMP. Using the adoption of growing-season only N fertilizer application in Iowa as a case study, it is illustrated how insurance may be used to promote the adoption of this practice to reduce N fertilizeruse. It is shown that it is possible for a farmer and an insurance company both to have an incentive to develop an insurance adoption program that will benefit both the farmer and the insurance company, increasing net social welfare and improving environmental quality in Iowa.     

Source characterisation of atmospheric platinum group element deposition into an ombrotrophic peat bog

Platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and osmium were found to be enriched relative to their expected natural concentrations in peat samples from Thoreau's Bog, an ombrotrophic peat bog in Concord, Massachusetts. The source of osmium into the bog was determined from its isotopic composition (187Os/188Os). Osmium is composed of 4% lithogenic osmium from atmospheric soil dust, 41% of anthropogenic osmium and 55% of osmium from a non-lithogenic, non anthropogenic source, with rain being a likely candidate for the latter. Significant anthropogenic and rain contributions are also expected for iridium. In contrast, platinum, palladium and rhodium are almost exclusively anthropogenic. The larger enrichments of platinum, palladium and rhodium indicate that automobile catalysts are the source of platinum group elements to Thoreau's bog. The bog is located approximately 300 m from a major road and, therefore, the occurrence of platinum elements is evidence for regional dispersion of these metals. The absence of a clear trend following the introduction of catalysts indicates that platinum group elements are not quantitatively conserved in peat with downward leaching and plants playing an important role in the accumulation of platinum group elements.     

A Bibliography of Air Pollution Films

The purpose of this bibliography is to list and describe the motion pictures and film strips that are recent enough to be of use not only to those interested in air pollution control but also to those deeply involved in air pollution control effort.     

Computer-Intensive Methods in Traffic Safety Research

The analysis of traffic safety data archives has improved markedly with the development of procedures that are heavily dependent upon computers. Three such procedures are described here. The first procedure involves using computers to assist in the identification and correction of invalid data. The second procedure makes greater computational demands, and involves using computerized algorithms to fill in the “gaps” that typically occur in archival data when information regarding key variables is not available. The third and most computer-intensive procedure involves using data mining techniques to search archives for interesting and important relationships between variables. These procedures are illustrated using examples from data archives that describe the characteristics of traffic accidents in the USA and Australia.     

Effects of leadership consideration and structure on employee perceptions of justice and counterproductive work behavior

In this paper, we examine the effects of leadership consideration and structure on two important organizational behavior outcomes: employee perceptions of organizational justice and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We examine these effects across two studies using multisource data (employees and supervisors in Study 1; employees and coworkers in Study 2). Results reveal that consideration and structure have distinct effects across distributive, procedural, informational, and interpersonal dimensions of justice. Moreover, results suggest that consideration and structure have multiplicative effects on employee CWB. We find the highest levels of CWB among employees of supervisors who exhibit high structure and low consideration. Interestingly, results also suggest that the effects of structure on CWB may be curvilinear (u‐shaped) such that moderate levels of structure are associated with the lowest levels of CWB. We discuss implications for future consideration and structure research as well as managerial practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.