Earthquake drills and simulations in community-based training and preparedness programmes

The San Francisco, California, bay area is subject to continuous seismic risk. One particular response has been the development of community-based training programmes designed to teach residents basic emergency response skills. Citizens are taught emergency medical techniques, search and rescue, fire suppression and other fundamental response skills. Current estimates in the Bay Area place the number of programmes at more than 100. Many programmes now include an annual community drill to reinforce the training and to evaluate the programme. The study described here is based on an evaluation of an effort initiated by BayNET (Bay Area Neighborhood Emergency Training), a voluntary association of communities with community-based disaster preparedness programmes. In April 1996, BayNET asked all of its members to hold a community earthquake drill. After the drill, a mail survey was conducted of all programme managers. The survey examined the structure and administration of the programmes, training efforts and other related components. This paper describes the typology of drill formats that communities used, the role of the simulation in the city's preparedness efforts, the qualitative costs and benefits, as well as an assessment of the drill based on survey respondents.     

Risk assessment for atmospheric environmental management: a case study in the Hunter Region of New South Wales,Australia

The theoretical framework of a risk assessment scheme is applied to air quality assessment in a developing region in Australia, the Hunter Valley in the state of New South Wales. It is found that the application of such a scheme high-lights a number of inadequacies in the air quality management. New modeling methodologies are found to be necessary to assess some air quality impacts, as existing knowledge is inadequate. The importance of extensive data bases is underlined as is the need for social surveys to supplement air pollution monitoring when gauging aesthetic effects of air pollutants.A visiting fellow on leave from the School of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.     

Natural variability and correlations in the metabolic profile of healthy Eisenia fetida earthworms observed using ¹H NMR metabolomics

¹H NMR metabolomics can be used to assess the sub-lethal toxicity of contaminants to earthworms by identifying alterations in the metabolic profiles of contaminant- exposed earthworms in contrast to those of healthy (control) individuals. In support of this method this study sought to better characterize the baseline metabolic profile of healthy, mature earthworms of the species, Eisenia fetida, which is recommended for both acute and sub-lethal toxicity testing for soil contaminants. Profiles of D₂O-buffer extracted metabolites were determined using ¹H NMR spectroscopy and both inter-individual metabolic variability and pair-wise metabolic correlations were assessed. The control earthworm extracts exhibited low overall inter-individual metabolic variability, with a spectrum-wide median relative standard deviation (%RSD = standard deviation/mean × 100) of 14%, which suggests that the metabolic profile of E. fetida earthworms is well controlled in laboratory conditions and supports further use of this organism in environmental metabolomics research. In addition, strong positive correlations were detected between the levels of maltose, betaine, glycine, and glutamate as well as between the levels of lactate, valine, leucine, alanine, lysine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine which had not previously been reported. Since comparison of pair-wise metabolic correlations between control and treated organisms can reveal changes in the underlying pattern of biochemical relationships between the metabolites, identification of these significant metabolic correlations in control earthworms provides an additional characteristic that may be applied to delineate between control and treated earthworms in future NMR-based metabolomic studies.     

Taxing Variable Cost: Environmental Regulation as Industrial Policy

Conventional wisdom has it that a country that enacts strict environmental regulations will place its firms at a competitive disadvantage. This view has been challenged recently. Some commentators argue that stricter regulation will enhance domestic competitiveness: strict regulations induce innovation. We evaluate this argument in a strategic trade model. In very special cases a strengthening of regulation may result in a shift of profits from foreign to domestic firms. This is not a general result, however. Environmental regulation should, of course, be imposed to control externalities, but it is unlikely that it will serve to generate industrial advantage.     

Cytogenetic results from the U.S. collaborative study on CVS

Cytogenetic data are presented for 11 473 chorionic villus sampling (CVS) procedures from nine centres in the U.S. NICHD collaborative study. A successful cytogenetic diagnosis was obtained in 99.7 per cent of cases, with data obtained from the direct method only (26 per cent), culture method only (42 per cent), or a combination of both (32 per cent). A total of 1.1 per cent of patients had a second CVS or amniocentesis procedure for reasons related to the cytogenetic diagnostic procedure, including laboratory failures (27 cases), maternal cell contamination (4 cases), or mosaic or ambiguous cytogenetic results (98 cases). There were no diagnostic errors involving trisomies for chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. For sex chromosome aneuploidies, one patient terminated her pregnancy on the basis of non-mosaic 47,XXX in the direct method prior to the availability of results from cultured cells. Subsequent analysis of the CVS cultures and fetal tissues showed only normal female cells. Other false-positive predictions involving non-mosaic aneuploidies (n = 13) were observed in the direct or culture method, but these cases involved rare aneuploidies: four cases of tetraploidy, two cases of trisomy 7, and one case each of trisomies 3, 8, 11, 15, 16,20, and 22. This indicates that rare aneuploidies observed in the direct or culture method should be subjected to follow-up by amniocentesis. Two cases of unbalanced structural abnormalities detected in the direct method were not confirmed in cultured CVS or amniotic fluid. In addition, one structural rearrangement was misinterpreted as unbalanced from the direct method, leading to pregnancy termination prior to results from cultured cells showing a balanced, inherited translocation. False-negative results (n = 8) were observed only in the direct method, including one non-mosaic fetal abnormality (trisomy 18) detected by the culture method and seven cases of fetal mosaicism (all detected by the culture method). Mosaicism was observed in 0.8 per cent of all cases, while pseudomosaicism (including single trisomic cells) was observed in 1.6 per cent of cases. Mosaicism was observed with equal frequency in the direct and culture methods, but was confirmed as fetal mosaicism more often in cases from the culture method (24 per cent) than in cases from the direct method (10 per cent). The overall rate of maternal cell contamination was 1.8 per cent for the culture method, but there was only one case of incorrect sex prediction due to complete maternal cell contamination which resulted in the birth of a normal male. The rate of maternal cell contamination was significantly higher in samples obtained by the transcervical sampling method (2. 16 per cent) than in samples obtained by the transabdominal method (0.79 per cent). From these data, it is clear that the culture method has a higher degree of diagnostic accuracy than the direct method, which should not be used as the sole diagnostic technique. The direct method can be a useful adjunct to the culture method, in which maternal cell contamination can lead to incorrect sex prediction and potentially to false-negative diagnostic results.     

A long-term study of vitamin A and polychlorinated hydrocarbon levels in otters (Lutra lutra) in south west England

This paper presents the levels of metals and other trace elements measured in feathers of laggar falcons, Falco biarmicus jugger, in Pakistan. The laggar falcon is resident or locally migrant throughout the Indian Subcontinent where it is a rare and declining species. Breast feathers from 57 live, recently trapped, adult and juvenile laggar falcons and from five dead birds were collected from Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Mithi, Chachcro, Jacobabad and Karachi districts. Cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) were analysed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), cobalt (Co), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), scandium (Sc), chromium (Cr), cesium (Cs), lanthanum (La) and bromine (Br) by neutron activation analysis (NAA). Hg levels were below those found in other raptors with reduced reproductive success. No correlation was found between Hg and Se levels. For some metals and elements interpretation of results is difficult as no data exist in the literature. Concentrations did not differ significantly between males and females nor between juveniles and adults, but differed among districts for Pb, Hg, Co, Sc, Cr, La and Br. A significant correlation was found between Pb concentration and occurrence of louse eggs. As the laggar is resident or a partial local migrant, it is probable that the metal burden in adult and juvenile feathers reflects the level of contamination in these particular districts.     

Robustness of modelled ozone exposures and doses

This study evaluates the robustness of the AOTX and AF(st)Y indices for assessing the ozone-induced risk to vegetation. These indices represent the accumulated concentration and stomatal flux, respectively, above a threshold value. The robustness is expressed as the sensitivity to changes in inputs and the uncertainty due to input errors. The input data are taken from a regional-scale chemical transport model. Both indices show increasing sensitivity with increasing threshold values. The sensitivity depends on the threshold and the characteristics of the frequency distribution for concentrations and stomatal fluxes. AF(st)Y appears less sensitive than AOTX for the thresholds adopted for critical levels. The couplings between concentration gradients and deposition algorithms complicate the assessment of the total uncertainty. For AF(st)Y, the uncertainty due to the modelled stomatal conductance may sometimes increase, but sometimes decrease, the overall uncertainty significantly. In particular, the maximum stomatal conductance plays an important role in determining the uncertainty.     

Ambient halocarbon mixing ratios in 45 Chinese cities

During this study 158 whole air samples were collected in 45 Chinese cities in January and February 2001. The spatial distribution of different classes of halocarbons in the Chinese urban atmosphere, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Halon-1211, and other chlorinated compounds is presented and discussed. Most of these compounds were enhanced compared to background levels. However, the mean enhancement of CFCs was relatively small, with CFC-12 and CFC-11 increases of 6% (range 1–31%) and 10% (range 2–89%), respectively, with respect to the global background. On the contrary, strongly enhanced levels of CFC replacement compounds and halogenated compounds used as solvents were measured. The average Halon-1211 concentration exceeded the background of 4.3 pptv by 75% and was higher than 10 pptv in several cities. Methyl chloride mixing ratios were also strongly elevated (78% higher than background levels), which is likely related to the widespread use of coal and biofuel in China.     

The effect of manipulating sediment pH on the porewater chemistry of copper- and zinc-spiked sediments

Spiking of sediment with metal cations that readily hydrolyse causes the sediment pH to decrease. Displaced iron and manganese also oxidise and hydrolyse, further lowering sediment pH. The lower pH of metal-spiked sediments requires a subsequent sediment neutralisation. This research compared the pH adjustment of Cu- and Zn-spiked sediments using single and multiple additions of 1M NaOH. Sediment pH, redox potential, and porewater metal concentrations were monitored over 40 days. Depth profiles were also measured to investigate stratification. A single pH adjustment to pH 7 and 8 initially counteracted the pH change caused by metal additions, however, pH continued to decrease slowly thereafter. Multiple pH adjustments diminished porewater Cu, Zn and Fe concentrations to a greater extent than a single pH adjustment, but the ongoing oxidative precipitation of porewater metals continued to consume OH(-) ions and impede pH maintenance. Displacement of high iron(II) concentrations and the opposing rates of iron(II) oxidative precipitation and bacterially-mediated iron(II) production, affected the partitioning of the added metals between the sediment and pore water. Despite similar pH over the spiked-metal concentration gradient following pH adjustment, sediments spiked with higher metal concentrations produced lower porewater Fe concentrations, possibly due to toxicity to iron(III) oxyhydroxide reducing bacteria. Distinct stratification of redox potential and dissolved Fe and Cu developed over a depth of 6cm during the 40-day equilibration period. Recommendations are provided on methods for preparing metal-spiked sediments in which the partitioning of metals between dissolved and particulate phases better resembles that of in situ (field) metal-contaminated sediments.     

Investigation of insecticide leaching from potted nursery stock and aquatic health benefits of bioretention cells receiving nursery runoff

Tree nurseries and greenhouses within the USDA red imported fire ant (RIFA) quarantine zone are required to incorporate insecticides into their potting media to prevent artificial spread of RIFA. Bifenthrin and fipronil are two common insecticides that are incorporated into potting media. During irrigation and stormwater events, there is potential for insecticides to leach from nursery pots, resulting in the contamination of nearby surface waters. In this study, occurrences of insecticides in simulated nursery runoff were compared with two irrigation strategies and two types of containers in single pot leaching and field runoff simulations. In addition, toxicity of pot leachate to the aquatic invertebrate, Hyallela azteca, was measured, and removal efficiencies of insecticides from bioretention cell media were evaluated. Overhead irrigation resulted in significantly higher concentrations than drip irrigation, and RootMaker® pots allowed more leaching as compared to standard slick-wall pots. However, in all tests, the average concentration of bifenthrin during 15 days of leaching in both pot and field simulations was greater than 200 ng/L; more than 100-fold greater than the LC₅₀ for H. azteca. Toxicity studies confirmed this level of toxicity. Higher amounts of compost, 20 and 40 %, in bioretention cell media resulted in greater percent reduction of both bifenthrin and fipronil. This study determined that management techniques may be able to limit the amount of insecticide that leaches from pots and runs off to receiving water bodies. Specifically, the selection of appropriate pot types, irrigation strategies, or filtering runoff through bioretention cells may reduce contamination loads. Thus, further best management strategies such as the use of bioretention cells are needed in nursery and greenhouse facilities to prevent surface water runoff from transporting toxic insecticides.