Prompting safety-belt use in the context of a belt-use law: the flash-for life revisited

PROBLEM: Safety-belt use reduces motor vehicle crash-related morbidity and mortality, yet an estimated 18% of drivers do not consistently buckle up (NHTSA, 2005). In 1985, Geller and colleagues developed an interpersonal Flash-for-Life prompt that increased belt use among 22% of 1,087 unbuckled drivers (Geller, Bruff, & Nimmer, 1985). METHOD: The Flash-for-Life intervention was re-introduced at a large university with high safety-belt use (i.e., 80%). College students stood at parking-lot entrance/exits and "flashed" signs with the message, "Please Buckle Up, I Care" to unbuckled drivers. RESULTS: Of 427 unbuckled drivers observed, 30% of these complied with the prompt. Male drivers were significantly more likely to comply with prompts delivered by females. DISCUSSION: Compliance was higher than in the 1985 study, indicating a high baseline rate of safety-belt use does not negate potential beneficial influence of a prompting intervention. This intervention is particularly effective with college-aged males, a sub-group of the driving population least likely to buckle-up. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: A simple behavioral prompt could be used at most industrial complexes to increase safety-belt use among vehicle occupants who are not buckled-up.     

Nuptial coloration of red shiners (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyprinella lutrensis</Emphasis>) is more intense in turbid habitats

Communication is shaped and constrained by the signaling environment. In aquatic habitats, turbidity can reduce both the quantity and quality of ambient light and has been implicated in the breakdown of visual signaling. Here, we examined the relationship between turbidity (quantified with long-term data) and the expression of carotenoid-based nuptial coloration in the red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis), a small-bodied cyprinid. Males in more turbid habitats displayed redder fins, and an experimental manipulation of adult diet suggested that carotenoid intake alone did not explain among-population color differences. These results run counter to similar studies where signal expression decreased in turbid conditions, and may be explained by the non-territorial red shiner mating system, interactions between the mechanism of coloration and the signaling environment, or reduced cost of color expression in turbid habitats (e.g., reduced predation risk). Our results highlight how the behavioral and ecological contexts in which signals function can shape evolutionary responses to the environment.     

贵阳市大气颗粒物(PM2.5)污染特征及气象参数的影响

运用连续颗粒物采样仪(URG Model 2000-01J)对贵阳市城区大气颗粒物PM2.5进行了连续3个月(9~11月)的采集与分析,探讨了PM2.5的浓度分布特征、气象条件的影响。结果显示,贵阳市大气颗粒物PM2.5的平均质量浓度为53±27μg/m3,变化范围为3.7~186μg/m3;初步推断大气颗粒物PM2.5的污染来源主要是燃料燃烧、生物质燃烧、汽车尾气等人为源;相对湿度、风速、风向、温度等气象条件是影响大气颗粒物浓度及分布的重要因素。     

Sexual selection on receptor organ traits: younger females attract males with longer antennae

Sexual selection theory predicts that female choice may favour the evolution of elaborate male signals. Darwin also suggested that sexual selection can favour elaborate receiver structures in order to better detect sexual signals, an idea that has been largely ignored. We evaluated this unorthodox perspective by documenting the antennal lengths of male Uraba lugens Walker (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) moths that were attracted to experimentally manipulated emissions of female sex pheromone. Either one or two females were placed in field traps for the duration of their adult lives in order to create differences in the quantity of pheromone emissions from the traps. The mean antennal length of males attracted to field traps baited with a single female was longer than that of males attracted to traps baited with two females, a pattern consistent with Darwin’s prediction assuming the latter emits higher pheromone concentrations. Furthermore, younger females attracted males with longer antennae, which may reflect age-specific changes in pheromone emission. These field experiments provide the first direct evidence of an unappreciated role for sexual selection in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in moth antennae and raise the intriguing possibility that females select males with longer antennae through strategic emission of pheromones.     

Increasing risks for emerging infectious diseases within a rapidly changing High Asia

The cold and arid mountains and plateaus of High Asia, inhabited by a relatively sparse human population, a high density of livestock, and wildlife such as the iconic snow leopard Panthera uncia, are usually considered low risk for disease outbreaks. However, based on current knowledge about drivers of disease emergence, we show that High Asia is rapidly developing conditions that favor increased emergence of infectious diseases and zoonoses. This is because of the existing prevalence of potentially serious pathogens in the system; intensifying environmental degradation; rapid changes in local ecological, socio-ecological, and socio-economic factors; and global risk intensifiers such as climate change and globalization. To better understand and manage the risks posed by diseases to humans, livestock, and wildlife, there is an urgent need for establishing a disease surveillance system and improving human and animal health care. Public health must be integrated with conservation programs, more ecologically sustainable development efforts and long-term disease surveillance.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01599-7.     

Pressurized liquid extraction of six tetracyclines from agricultural soils

Veterinary antibiotics used in agriculture can be introduced into the environment through land application of animal manure, accumulating in soils and groundwaters and posing a significant risk to human health and animal well-being. As the analysis of tetracyclines in soil is challenging due to their strong interaction with soil minerals and organic carbon, the objective of this study was to develop a reliable and reproducible method for quantitative analysis of chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline, and their respective metabolites in soils. A method based on pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) with in-cell clean-up was developed for the extraction of chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline and four likely metabolites from a set of four soils. Optimized conditions included a cell size of 22?mL, soil loading of 5?g, pH of 8.0, methanol:water ratio of 3:1, 50?°C, and two cycles. Soil extracts were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ion trap mass spectrometry (MS). Recoveries of seven tetracyclines from soil ranged from 41% to 110%. The limits of detection for tetracyclines were 0.08–0.3 µg g^?1 soil, and intra- and inter-day variation ranged from 0.12–0.34%. The proposed PLE method is suitable for quantification of tetracyclines in agricultural soils at typical concentrations expected in contaminated environments.     

重型柴油车实际道路排放与行驶工况的相关性研究

采用SEMTECH-D车载排放测试仪测量了东风柴油卡车在城市实际道路工况以及等速和加速工况下的油耗及污染物排放状况.测试结果显示,测试卡车实际道路综合百公里油耗为17.8 L,NOx、CO和HC排放因子分别为3.96、8.86和2.15g·km-1.其中主干道路况相对较差,油耗与排放因子较高,是所有测试道路平均水平的1.3～1.8倍左右.研究结果表明,重型车油耗及污染物排放与各行驶工况下的速度、加速度均密切相关,车辆在高速加速行驶状态下易产生高排放.车辆在30～50 km·h-1速度区间内等速行驶时,油耗与排放因子最为经济且环境友好.车辆在加速行驶时,油耗与NOx、CO排放因子可达到城市实际道路平均水平的2.0、2.2、1.4倍,急加速时达到2.8、2.1、14倍.应用比功率概念可准确描述车辆在各运行工况下的排放水平,但在重型车上缺乏实验依据,有待进一步研究.