Effect of Alkaline Treatment and Coupling Agent on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Macadamia Nutshell Residues Based PP Composites

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The influence of alkaline treatment on the thermal and mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) reinforced with fibers from macadamia nutshell (5 to 30...     

Harnessing the potential of integrated systematics for conservation of taxonomically complex,megadiverse plant groups

The value of natural history collections for conservation science research is increasingly recognized, despite their well-documented limitations in terms of taxonomic, geographic, and temporal coverage. Specimen-based analyses are particularly important for tropical plant groups for which field observations are scarce and potentially unreliable due to high levels of diversity-amplifying identification challenges. Specimen databases curated by specialists are rich sources of authoritatively identified, georeferenced occurrence data, and such data are urgently needed for large genera. We compared entries in a monographic database for the large Neotropical genus Myrcia in 2007 and 2017. We classified and quantified differences in specimen records over this decade and determined the potential impact of these changes on conservation assessments. We distinguished misidentifications from changes due to taxonomic remodeling and considered the effects of adding specimens and georeferences. We calculated the potential impact of each change on estimates of extent of occurrence (EOO), the most frequently used metric in extinction-risk assessments of tropical plants. We examined whether particular specimen changes were associated with species for which changes in EOO over the decade were large enough to change their conservation category. Corrections to specimens previously misidentified or lacking georeferences were overrepresented in such species, whereas changes associated with taxonomic remodeling (lumping and splitting) were underrepresented. Among species present in both years, transitions to less threatened status outnumbered those to more threatened (8% vs 3%, respectively). Species previously deemed data deficient transitioned to threatened status more often than to not threatened (10% vs 7%, respectively). Conservation scientists risk reaching unreliable conclusions if they use specimen databases that are not actively curated to reflect changing knowledge.     

Will Evolving Climate Conditions Increase the Risk of Floods of the Large U.S.‐Canada Transboundary Richelieu River Basin?

In spring 2011, an unprecedented flood hit the complex eastern United States (U.S.)–Canada transboundary Lake Champlain–Richelieu River (LCRR) Basin, destructing properties and inducing negative impacts on agriculture and fish habitats. The damages, covered by the Governments of Canada and the U.S., were estimated to C$90M. This natural disaster motivated the study of mitigation measures to prevent such disasters from reoccurring. When evaluating flood risks, long‐term evolving climate change should be taken into account to adopt mitigation measures that will remain relevant in the future. To assess the impacts of climate change on flood risks of the LCRR basin, three bias‐corrected multi‐resolution ensembles of climate projections for two greenhouse gas concentration scenarios were used to force a state‐of‐the‐art, high‐resolution, distributed hydrological model. The analysis of the hydrological simulations indicates that the 20‐year return period flood (corresponding to a medium flood) should decrease between 8% and 35% for the end of the 21st Century (2070–2099) time horizon and for the high‐emission scenario representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5. The reduction in flood risks is explained by a decrease in snow accumulation and an increase in evapotranspiration expected with the future warming of the region. Nevertheless, due to the large climate inter‐annual variability, short‐term flood probabilities should remain similar to those experienced in the recent past.     

Evidence-based guidelines for automated conservation assessments of plant species

Assessing species’ extinction risk is vital to setting conservation priorities. However, assessment endeavors, such as those used to produce the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, have significant gaps in taxonomic coverage. Automated assessment (AA) methods are gaining popularity to fill these gaps. Choices made in developing, using, and reporting results of AA methods could hinder their successful adoption or lead to poor allocation of conservation resources. We explored how choice of data cleaning type and level, taxonomic group, training sample, and automation method affect performance of threat status predictions for plant species. We used occurrences from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to generate assessments for species in 3 taxonomic groups based on 6 different occurrence-based AA methods. We measured each method's performance and coverage following increasingly stringent occurrence cleaning. Automatically cleaned data from GBIF performed comparably to occurrence records cleaned manually by experts. However, all types of data cleaning limited the coverage of AAs. Overall, machine-learning-based methods performed well across taxa, even with minimal data cleaning. Results suggest a machine-learning-based method applied to minimally cleaned data offers the best compromise between performance and species coverage. However, optimal data cleaning, training sample, and automation methods depend on the study group, intended applications, and expertise.     

Occupational exposure to formaldehyde in an institute of morphology in Brazil: a comparison of area and personal sampling

Background, aims, and scope

Formaldehyde (FA) is a harmful chemical, which is classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Solutions of FA that are used to preserve cadavers in research and education morphological institutes represent a risk to occupational health of professionals and students. During the dissection of cadavers in the anatomy laboratories, FA vapors are emitted, resulting in the exposure of students and their instructors to elevated levels of FA. The World Health Organization recommends an air quality guideline value of 0.1 mg m^?3 for exposure to FA. The limit of occupational exposure adopted by the Brazilian legislation (2.3 mg m^?3) is markedly higher than those adopted by institutions of other countries around the world. The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of personal exposure and the area concentration of FA in the morphology department of the Federal Fluminense University, Brazil, and investigate and compare the relationship between them.

Methods

Four rooms distributed in the three floors of the Morphology Department were evaluated: the embalming laboratory, the anatomy laboratories, the corridor of the teachers?? rooms, and the entrance hall. Thirty-six samples in total were collected in the second semester of 2010 and first semester of 2011. The air sampling and FA analysis were performed according to the EPA TO-11A Protocol, using a diffusive sampling device for carbonyl compounds. Personal samples were collected from monitors using a sampling device pinned on each person??s lapel. The samples were analyzed using rapid resolution liquid chromatography with UV-DAD detection at 360 nm.

Results and discussion

The concentrations of FA ranged from 0.20 and 0.18 mg m^?3 in the corridor between the teachers?? rooms, 0.03 to 0.37 mg m^?3 in the entrance hall, 0.22 to 2.07 mg m^?3 in the anatomy laboratory, 2.21 to 2.52 mg m^?3, in the embalming room. The levels found in the corridor between the teachers?? rooms and in the entrance hall were lower than in other compartments because of their large distances to the sources of FA and better ventilation. The other rooms presented higher levels of FA because of the activities carried there (embalming and dissection procedures). Even in the rooms that showed the lowest levels of FA, the values found were higher than those established by all international guideline limits, except the Brazilian legislation limit, although, the concentration level in the embalming room was even greater than the Brazilian guideline. These concentrations are 100?C1,000-fold higher than those reported in an FA outdoor study. The exposure levels of monitors and students ranged from 1.89 to 4.82 mg m^?3, indicating that current practices at the Morphology Department at the university would represent a health risk. The simultaneous monitoring of area concentrations and personal exposure showed that the characteristics of classes and of cadavers?? parts, the number of students in the room and even the activities of the monitors influence the FA concentrations.

Conclusion

This study revealed that the concentration of FA was low in the ventilated areas of the Morphology Department, and that the personal exposure when the person was close to the cadavers during the dissection procedure was higher than the mean FA concentration. This should be considered in the risk assessment of FA during these activities without effective protection equipment. It is suggested that the Brazilian legislation of exposure to formaldehyde requires an urgent update considering international legislation.     

Information Required for the Selection and Performance Evaluation of Wet Scrubbers

The term “wet scrubber” or simply “scrubber,” for the purpose of this report, is intended to include any device using liquid to effect the removal of solid or liquid particles which are entrained in process air or gas streams. This guide is intended to provide information required for the selection and performance evaluation of all types of scrubbers installed for the primary purpose of removing such particulates from any process gas stream. It is not intended to cover scrubbers for the collection of gaseous and/or vapor constituents which involve gas absorption mechanisms.     

The Fourth Generation: New Strategies Call for New Eco‐Indicators

Under pressure from public opinion, the attitude of companies toward environmental issues has changed considerably since the 1970s. Over the past decades, there have been three distinct generations of environmental strategies and indicators. Now, at the beginning of a new century, we can start to see the contours of the fourth generation of environmental strategies and indicators—a generation that eventually will change the rules of the business game. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Coping with variability and change: Floods and droughts

Floods and droughts are natural phenomena for which the risks of occurrence are likely to continue to grow. Increasing levels of exposure and insufficient adaptive capacity are among the factors responsible for the rising vulnerability. The former is conditioned by anthropopressure (e.g., economic development of flood–prone areas) and adverse effects of climate change; scenarios for future climates indicate the possibility of amplified water–related extremes. This article presents the current situation of coping with extreme hydrological events within the pressure–state–response framework. Among promising response strategies, the role of forecast and warning, and of watershed management are reviewed. Sample success stories and lessons learnt related to hydrological extremes are given and policy implications discussed.     

The landscape design of forestry

The value placed by the public on the nation's rural landscapes is emphasised by vociferous criticism of insensitive, large‐scale afforestation. As forestry causes massive changes in the landscape in the short term, with results that last for decades, the opportunity provided to improve and conserve should be positively grasped. There is evidence that concensus exists over a considerable part of landscape and design, and this paper explores some of the major factors in landscape design which are consistently important in forest landscapes.     

Relationship between foliar injury and changes in antioxidant levels in red and Norway spruce exposed to acidic mists

Elevated levels of total glutathione and enhanced activities of glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase were found in needles of red spruce which had been exposed to acidic mists. Reduced levels of ascorbate were also detected. Such observations suggest that oxidative stress is involved in processes which resist foliar injury caused by acidic misting. Different ionic compositions of the acidic mists applied had pronounced effects on the levels of these antioxidants and the activities of related enzymes. Sulphate was found to be most effective in causing increases in glutathione, while additions of ammonium and/or nitrate mitigated the effects of sulphuric acid. Moreover, it is the composition of ions in the applied mists, rather than the levels of acidity, that determines the extent of the overall response of red spruce. By contrast, although acidic mists caused similar increases in glutathione content of Norway spruce needles, no statistically significant changes of ascorbate or related enzymic activities were found.