Indoor radon source fluxes: Experimental tests of a two-chamber model

Modeling houses as two coupled chambers, namely, the living area and basement, predicts more accurately the total indoor radon source flux from building materials and geology than a one-chamber model in houses with disparate radon concentrations. Three regional surveys found mean radon concentration ratios between basement and living area to range from 1.4 to 4.2, implying weak interchamber coupling in most cases. The invariability of second-order system parameters under steady infiltration but different initial conditions confirms the adequacy of the two-chamber model. The presence of a characteristic radon source flux was detected within the basements of two houses, in one case across different infiltration, coupling, and initial conditions. One-chamber models fit to two-chamber tracer gas data in one house show a source flux variation of a factor of 6 across changing coupling, while the two-chamber source flux variation was only a factor of 1.5. A substantial fraction of the apparent one-chamber living area source flux in these cases is the variable convective radon flux from the basement. The technique is not sensitive enough to detect living area source fluxes if either the interchamber coupling is strong or if the basement source flux is substantially larger.     

Prenatal interphase FISH diagnosis of PLP1 duplication associated with Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease

A submicroscopic genomic duplication in Xq22.2 that contains the entire proteolipid protein 1 gene (PLP1) is responsible for the majority of Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease (PMD) patients. We previously developed an interphase FISH assay to screen for PLP1 duplications in PMD patients using peripheral blood and lymphoblastoid cell lines. This assay has been utilized as a clinical diagnostic test in our cytogenetics laboratory. To expand usage of the interphase FISH assay to prenatal diagnosis of PLP1 duplications, we examined three PMD families with PLP1 duplications utilizing aminiotic fluid samples. In two families the FISH assay revealed fetuses with PLP1 duplications, whereas the other fetus showed a normal copy number of PLP1. Haplotype analyses, as well as an additional FISH analysis using postnatal blood samples, confirmed the results of the prenatal analyses. Our study demonstrates utility of the interphase FISH assay in the prenatal diagnosis of PLP1 duplications in PMD. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of mass transport on biostimulation of algal growth

A model is proposed to account for mass transport limitation to the uptake of major nutrients. A thin film diffusion resistance layer is hypothesized. In an example using Cyclotella nana (a diatom), diffusion resistance was calculated to result in a maximum decrease of 40% in phosphorus uptake rate. Transport limitation was demonstrated experimentally. The growth of Chlorella pyrenoidosa (a green alga) was found to be stimulated by shaking the cultures.Using similar mathematical techniques, the internal resistance to the uptake of nutrients in algal cell aggregates was also modeled.     

Book reviews

French Land Use Planning in the Fifth Republic: Real or imagined decentralisation?

Irene B. Wilson, Nijmeegse Planologische Cahiers No. 27, Geografisch en Planologisch Instituut, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, Netherlands, 1988. 228pp. ISBN 90–70219–23–9.

Environmental and Resource Economics: an Introduction

Common, M. (1988). Longman i‐xiv 1–319.

The Greening of Aid: Sustainable Livelihoods in Practice.

C. Conroy & M. Litvinoff (Eds.) Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, 1989, pp.293, £8.95 (pb).

Private Supply of Public Services: Evaluation of Real Estate Exactions, Linkage, and Alternative Land Policies.

Rachelle Alterman (Ed), New York University Press, 1988. 273pp, ISBN 0–8147–0589–8.

City Politics

Hegemonic Projects and Discourse, by Maarten A. Hajer, published by Avebury Press, the Gower Publishing Company Ltd 1989, 140 pp.

The Genius Of The Place

The English Landscape Garden 1620–1820

John Dixon Hunt and Petér Willis. Price £12.50 (Paperback) & £26.95 (Cloth). M.I.T. Press.

Vacationscape

Designing Tourist Regions — 1988 2nd Ed.

Clare A. Gunn, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, $34.95 (cloth)

Loft Living — Culture and Capital in Urban Change

Sharon Zukin. Published, British Edition ‘Radius (Century Hudson) London, 1988 Price £8.95.

First Pub. U.S. John Hopkins University Press, 1982. Note: The British Edition has an added Chapter ’More Market Forces’.

William Kent Landscape Garden Designer

John Dixon Hunt. A. Zwemmer Ltd London. 1987, 176pp.

The Pattern of Landscape

Sylvia Crowe and Mary Mitchell (1988). Packard Publishing Ltd, Chichester. 127pp, 161 photographs. Price £30. ISBN 185341 020.

International Environmental Diplomacy

Edited by J. E. Carroll     

IMPACT OF SEWAGE TREATMENT MODIFICATIONS ON WATER QUALITY OF A RESERVOIR1

ABSTRACT. As a result of several investigations conducted in the Department of Civil Engineering through the Water Resources Research Center at The University of Tennessee, dating from 1966 to the present, a rather comprehensive surveillance of water quality conditions has been maintained in Forth Loudoun Reservoir on the Tennessee River near Knowville, Tennessee. During the period covered by these investigations, the Knoxville Third Creek Sewage Treatment Plant was upgraded from a primary plant to a secondary (activated sludge) treatment plant. Comparison of the collected data is being undertaken herein to elucidate the impact of these modifications upon water quality conditions in the reservoir. Consideration is given to the improvements of water quality as related to the expenditure for modification of the treatment facilities. In addition, comment is directed toward the public health significance of the water quality conditions determined.     

Archaeological management design

Like many environmental sciences, archaeology has its origins in an academic discipline. But organizational models derived from scholarly research are not adequate for large scale archaeological salvage excavations that must be carried out by many archaeologists within a short time. A non-traditional organization model, developed to parallel the organization of project engineering, is more responsive and can be designed to preserve the most significant traditional archaeological objectives.     

Graduated driver licensing research in 2003 and beyond

This paper updates the comprehensive summary of graduated driver licensing (GDL) published in the January 2003 special issue of the Journal of Safety Research. It summarizes recent research not included in the special issue as well as research in progress or planned research. The most active research areas are risk factors for beginning teen drivers and evaluations of GDL programs. Results in each area strengthen the case for GDL. Additional research is producing valuable information about specific GDL implementation issues and the roles of parents and driver education in helping teenagers learn to drive safely.     

The effect of earned and paid media strategies in high visibility enforcement campaigns

The primary objective of this paper is to describe the impact of national seat belt enforcement mobilizations in terms of changes in public awareness, perceptions, and opinions as they relate to Operation ABC (Always Buckle Up). In order to monitor changes in public awareness and perceptions, a number of national telephone surveys were conducted. Survey results indicated that the following characteristics were associated with lower self-reported seat belt use rates: (a) males; (b) 18-34 age group; (c) persons with lower income; (d) persons with lower education; (e) persons living in rural areas; (f) residents of the Northeast, Midwest, and Great Lakes; (g) residents of states with secondary enforcement laws; and (h) persons less likely to read a newspaper and more likely to listen to the radio. Telephone surveys also suggested that the following groups are more likely to fail to properly secure a child under 12: (a) persons who say they have problems securing a child in seat belt; (b) farm belt residents; (c) Hispanic and Latinos; (d) persons who indicate that they always wear a seat belt but indicate they have not in the past month; (e) persons with older vehicles; (f) lower income respondents; (g) residents of the Deep South; (h) internet non-users; and (i) urban men. These findings provide support for some basic guidelines and suggestions for conducting seat belt enforcement activities.