DETERMINATION OF SEDIMENT YIELD BY TRANSFERRING RAINFALL DATA1

ABSTRACT: A methodology for obtaining the optimal design value to allow for sediment storage in a reservoir is presented for the situation where no data on sediment loads in the incoming streams are available. Information concerning the amount of sediment delivered to the reservoir over its life-time is obtained by a sediment yield model which uses data on rainfall amount and duration obtained from a nearby experimental watershed. Bayesian Decision Theory is used to obtain the optimal storage requirements in order to consider the natural variation of rainfall and the sampling error due to the short rainfall record available. The normally difficult calculations involved were made tractable by the use of simplifications and approximations valid in the context of the problem. Results show that sediment storage requirements can be calculated in this manner and that consideration of the uncertainties involved leads to a storage requirement substantially larger than that calculated without such consideration.     

EVALUATING INLAND WATERWAY NAVIGATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS: THE CASE OF THE BONNEVILLE LOCK

ABSTRACT: The period of time from identification of a possibly desirable inland waterway transportation project to its actual implementation has been observed to be inordinately long. It is Hypothesized that at Least one cause of delays in project approval and implementation is a analytical credibility associated with project feasibility analysis conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This paper examines this hypothesis in terms of the proposal to construct a new, expanded lock at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The principle finding is that the analysis conducted by the Corps is conceptually flawed, methodologically questionable, internally inconsistant, and inappropriately narrow in scope.     

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AS AN AID TO LAKE RESTORATION DECISIONMAKING1

ABSTRACT: The choice of a lake rehabilitation technique can be assisted by laboratory experiments concerned with the composition and properties of the sediments. This work on Sawgrass Lake, Pinellas County, Florida, provides an example of the type of laboratory information that can be useful towards making decisions regarding the most effective restorative techniques. Experiments include chemical analysis of sediment (water content, organic content, pesticides, nutrients), rate of sediment compaction and rehydration at ambient conditions, and the effect of treatment with alum and other chemicals.     

Layer of organic pine forest soil on top of chlorophenol-contaminated mineral soil enhances contaminant degradation

Chlorophenols, like many other synthetic compounds, are persistent problem in industrial areas. These compounds are easily degraded in certain natural environments where the top soil is organic. Some studies suggest that mineral soil contaminated with organic compounds is rapidly remediated if it is mixed with organic soil. We hypothesized that organic soil with a high degradation capacity even on top of the contaminated mineral soil enhances degradation of recalcitrant chlorophenols in the mineral soil below. We first compared chlorophenol degradation in different soils by spiking pristine and pentachlorophenol-contaminated soils with 2,4,6-trichlorophenol in 10-L buckets. In other experiments, we covered contaminated mineral soil with organic pine forest soil. We also monitored in situ degradation on an old sawmill site where mineral soil was either left intact or covered with organic pine forest soil. 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol was rapidly degraded in organic pine forest soil, but the degradation was slower in other soils. If a thin layer of the pine forest humus was added on top of mineral sawmill soil, the original chlorophenol concentrations (high, ca. 70 μg g^?1, or moderate, ca. 20 μg g^?1) in sawmill soil decreased by >40 % in 24 days. No degradation was noticed if the mineral soil was kept bare or if the covering humus soil layer was sterilized beforehand. Our results suggest that covering mineral soil with an organic soil layer is an efficient way to remediate recalcitrant chlorophenol contamination in mineral soils. The results of the field experiment are promising.     

Ethical issues associated with prenatal screening using non-invasive prenatal testing for sex chromosome aneuploidy

Prenatal screening for sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs) is increasingly available through expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). NIPT for SCAs raises complex ethical issues for clinical providers, prospective parents and future children. This paper discusses the ethical issues that arise around NIPT for SCAs and current guidelines and protocols for management. The first section outlines current practice and the limitations of NIPT for SCAs. It then outlines key guidelines before discussing the ethical issues raised by this use of NIPT. We conclude that while screening for SCAs should be made available for people seeking to use NIPT, its implementation requires careful consideration of what, when and how information is provided to users.     

Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the best-known framework for voluntary reporting of environmental and social performance by business worldwide. Using extensive empirical data, including interviews and documentary analysis, we examine GRI's organizational field and conclude that since its modest beginnings in 1999 GRI has been by several measures a successful institutionalization project. But the institutional logic of this new entity, as an instrument for corporate sustainability management, leaves out one of the central elements of the initial vision for GRI: as a mobilizing agent for many societal actors. This emergent logic reflects GRI's dominant constituency – large global companies and financial institutions and international business management consultancies – and not the less active civil society organizations and organized labor. We attribute these developments to factors such as building GRI within the existing institutional structures; the highly inclusive multistakeholder process; and the underdeveloped base of information users. From the institutional theory perspective, this case shows how the process of institutionalization is deeply affected by initial strategies of the founders, and how it reproduces existing power relations. From the governance perspective, this case leads us to question the power of commodified information to mobilize civil society and to strengthen governance based on partnerships.     

Boundaries and Corridors as a Continuum of Ecological Flow Control: Lessons from Rivers and Streams

Abstract: Landscape boundaries and corridors are areas of small spatial extent relative to their large effects on ecological flows. The trend in ecological literature is to treat corridors and boundaries as separate phenomena on the landscape. This approach, however, misses a fundamental aspect they have in common: their strong influence on ecological flows. Corridors and boundaries exist at opposite ends of a permeability gradient, differing in their effects on rates and direction of flow. The position of landscape structures along this permeability gradient depends on attributes of both the flow and of the structure itself. We discuss boundaries and corridors in terms of mover specificity, scale, and effects on different levels of ecological organization, using rivers and streams to illustrate our points. We predict which structures will act as boundaries or corridors and at what spatial and temporal scales they are likely to be relevant. Considering the function of landscape structures across the boundary-corridor continuum will provide researchers and managers with a more complete, holistic viewpoint and will allow better strategies to attain conservation goals.