The living environment and children's fears following the Indonesian tsunami

The tsunami that struck South-east Asia on 26 December 2004 left more than 500,000 people in Aceh, Indonesia, homeless and displaced to temporary barracks and other communities. This study examines the associations between prolonged habitation in barracks and the nature of fears reported by school-age children and adolescents. In mid-2007, 30 months after the tsunami, the authors interviewed 155 child and parent dyads. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the fears reported by children and adolescents living in barracks with those reported by their peers who were living in villages. After adjusting for demographic factors and tsunami exposure, the data reveals that children and adolescents living in barracks were three times more likely than those living in villages to report tsunami-related fears. The study demonstrates that continued residence in barracks 30 months after the tsunami is associated with higher rates of reporting tsunami-related fears, suggesting that barracks habitation has had a significant impact on the psychological experience of children and adolescents since the tsunami.     

REVIEW OF A SEVENTEEN-YEAR CHLOROPHYLL RECORD AS IT PERTAINS TO THE TROPIIIC STATUS OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE,FLORIDA, USA1

ABSTRACT: A 17-year record of chlorophyll a at eight limnetic sampling stations was used to evaluate putative changes in the trophic status of Lake Okeechobee, a shallow polymictic lake located in the subtropical environment of South Florida. Significant spatial differences were observed in the temporal patterns and variability of chlorophyll a concentrations. The highest chlorophyll a values were found in the northern and northwestern regions of the lake. The center of the lake, subject to high levels of non-algal suspended solids, exhibited relatively low chlorophyll a values and coefficient of variation. The lowest chlorophyll a values were observed at the southernmost sampling station in the lake. This was also the station that showed a significant upward trend in annual mean chlorophyll a values over the 17-year period of record. Examination of the relationship between chlorophyll a and three key environmental variables (i.e., total phosphorus concentration, phosphorus loading, and lake stage) revealed significant correlations at two out of the eight stations. The overall results of this study indicate that spatial and temporal disparities in the distribution and dynamics of chlorophyll a in Lake Okeechobee mandate more temporally and spatially intense approaches to the evaluation of trophic state than used in previous studies.     

LONG-TERM PATTERNS OF WATER QUALITY IN A MANAGED WATERSHED IN OREGON: 1. SUSPENDED SEDIMENT1

The cumulative effects of forest management activities on water quality at a downstream point were monitored from 1972-1980 during development of a watershed for timber resources. Suspended sediment concentration and turbidity were measured at two hydrologic stations which bracketed a 10-km reach of the Middle Santiam River in the Western Cascades of Oregon as it flowed through an 8000-ha block of intensively managed forest land. Slope failures often accompany road building and harvesting in steep forested watersheds and pose the most serious threat to water quality. Although 180 km of road were constructed and 3400 ha of old-growth forests were harvested from slopes averaging over 60 percent, long-term changes in sediment yields remained undetectable during the period of measurement. The geologic characteristics of the basin and the road construction and maintenance techniques as prescribed by Oregon's forest practice regulations helped to minimize the occurrence of slope failures so that long-term changes in suspended sediment export rates did not occur. Throughout the nine-year measurement period, seven slope failures which added sediment directly to streams produced measurable short-term responses at the downstream sampling location, but these erosion events were too small and too infrequent to produce long-term changes in sediment yield from the watershed.     

The use of Landsat multispectral scanner data for the analysis and management of flooding on the river Severn,England

Remote sensing has emerged as one of the major techniques for the analysis and delineation of large floods. This analysis can provide data invaluable for the hydrological management of large river systems. A need for information on the extent of floodplain inundation for the lower reaches of the largest river in the UK was met by a search through Landsat images of floods and the analysis of the best example recorded. Automated classification of the Landsat imagery of this flood on the river Severn in 1977 was used to provide estimates of the extent and spatial distribution of inundation. Flood images were generated using the Plessey IDP 3000 image processor, and the maps derived accorded well with aerial photography and qualitative flood information. Three distinct floodplain environments were delineated and flood images produced by different spectral bands compared. Specific questions prompted by flood hazard management and concerning the processes and extent of flooding were answered by the Landsat data analysis. Management of the flood risk of large rivers is expensive and remote sensing data is a relatively cheap and effective way of monitoring control works and providing data for the prediction of the effects of future hydrological works. Remote sensing is a practical way in which spatial information concerning the behavior of large dynamic systems can be obtained both quickly and relatively cheaply.     

Performance of poly(vinyl alcohol) gel columns on the ion chromatographic determination of perchlorate in fertilizers

Interest in possible sources of perchlorate (ClO4) that could lead to environmental release has been heightened since the Environmental Protection Agency placed this anion on its Contaminant Candidate List for drinking water. Although recent investigations have suggested that fertilizers are minor contributors to environmental perchlorate contamination overall, there is still interest in screening commercial products for possible contamination and quantitating perchlorate when it is found. Ion chromatography (IC) has been used for this application owing to its speed, low detection limits, widespread availability, and moderate ruggedness relative to other techniques. However, fertilizer matrixes complicate the IC analysis relative to potable water matrixes. In this study, the performance of poly(vinyl alcohol) gel resin IC columns (100 mm and 150 mm) was evaluated for fertilizer matrixes using method EPA/600/R-01/026. The NaOH eluent included an organic salt, sodium 4-cyanophenoxide. Detection was by suppressed conductivity. A set of 55 different field samples representing 48 products and previously used by the EPA to assess occurrence of perchlorate in fertilizers (EPA/600/R-01/049) was reanalyzed on the 150 mm column. The 100 mm column was used to further investigate the positive hits. Both columns gave satisfactory performance in fertilizer matrixes, with spike recoveries (+/- 15%), assured reporting levels (0.5-225 microg g(-1) except for one at 1,000 microg g(-1)), accuracy (relative error < 30% always and most < 15%), and precision [injection-to-injection reproducibility < 3% relative standard deviation (RSD)] comparable to those reported in other studies. Performance did not vary substantially between column lengths. Lastly, the results of this investigation provided further evidence in support of the conclusions that had been reached previously by the EPA on the occurrence of perchlorate in fertilizers.     

APPLICATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC MODELING SYSTEM FOR WATERSHED ASSESSMENTS1

ABSTRACT: A National Pilot Project (NPP) on Livestock and the Environment was initiated in 1992 to help provide solutions to environmental problems associated with livestock production. A major development of the NPP was the Comprehensive Economic and Environmental Optimization Tool‐Livestock and Poultry (CEEOT‐LP), an integrated modeling system designed to produce economic and environmental indicators for alternative policy scenarios applied to intensive livestock production watersheds. The system consists of a farm‐level economic model (FEM) and two environmental models: the field‐scale APEX model and the watershed‐level SWAT model. To date, CEEOT‐LP has been applied to two watersheds in Texas and one in Iowa. Predicted reductions in P losses for two P‐based manure application rate scenarios, relative to baseline conditions, ranged from ?4 to ?54 percent across the three watersheds; however, N loss impacts ranged from a decrease of 34 percent to an increase of 79 percent. For five other alternative scenarios that were simulated for only one watershed, N and P loss impacts ranged between a reduction of 78 percent to an increase of 20 percent. Aggregate watershed‐level economic impacts of the seven scenarios spanned a spectrum of a 27 percent decrease to a 25 percent increase in profit, relative to the baseline.     

Reducing life-cycle environmental impacts: An industry survey of emerging tools and programs

Corporate environmental practices have been evolving quite rapidly in recent years, as consumers express their preferences for environmentally friendly products and practices, as manufacturers look “upstream” and inquire into their suppliers' environmental practices due to liability and marketing concerns, and as company operating costs increase as a result of new environmental regulations. New corporate efforts are made to anticipate (rather than respond to) outside environmental pressures, to internalize costs, and to find strategic opportunities or competitive advantages based on company or product environmental performance. This article describes a survey and research project designed to explore one aspect of these evolving corporate practices—the use of analytical tools and associated programs, such as life-cycle assessment and design-for-environment—by companies to account for impacts throughout a product'S life-cycle.     

DISCHARGE CHARACTERISTICS OF PERFORATED PIPE FOR USE IN INFILTRATION TRENCHES1

ABSTRACT: Infiltration trenches are an effective stormwater management alternative for the control of urban runoff from small areas. Perforated pipes buried within the gravel of an infiltration trench are used to distribute the inflowing runoff along the length of the trench. Laboratory tests are described that characterize the hydraulics of the orifices in perforated pipes. The results show that the steady-state exfiltration of water from the pipe into a surrounding gravel trench can be described by the orifice equation.     

On the relationship between objective increases in pay and employees' subjective reactions

This study explored whether two principles describe the relationship between the size of a pay increase (a bonus expressed as a percentage of current salary) and the attractiveness of that increase. Based on a sample of sales personnel (N = 639) and consistent with the constant proportion principle of the psychophysical law, pay increase attractiveness was unrelated to current salary level after controlling for the size of the percentage increase. In addition, at any given salary level, the relationship between the size of the increase and its attractiveness was curvilinear. The attractiveness of larger and larger bonus percentages continues to increase, but at a decreasing rate supporting the principle of diminishing returns.