Sub-tropical urban environment affecting content and composition of non-structural carbohydrates of Lolium multiflorum ssp. italicum cv. Lema

This study analyzed the relationship between environmental factors, especially air pollution and climatic conditions, and non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in plants of Lolium multiflorum exposed during 10 consecutive periods of 28 days at a polluted site (Congonhas) and at a reference site in São Paulo city (Brazil). After exposure, NSC composition and leaf concentrations of Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd were measured. The seasonal pattern of NSC accumulation was quite similar in both sites, but plants at Congonhas showed higher concentrations of these compounds, especially fructans of low and medium degree of polymerization. Regression analysis showed that NSC in plants growing at the polluted site were explained by variations on temperature and leaf concentration of Fe (positive effect), as well as relative humidity and particulate material (negative effect). NSC in the standardized grass culture, in addition to heavy metal accumulation, may indicate stressing conditions in a sub-tropical polluted environment.     

Pharmaceutical contamination in residential, industrial, and agricultural waste streams: risk to aqueous environments in Taiwan

This is a comprehensive study of the occurrence of antibiotics, hormones and other pharmaceuticals in water sites that have major potential for downstream environmental contamination. These include residential (hospitals, sewage treatment plants, and regional discharges), industrial (pharmaceutical production facilities), and agricultural (animal husbandries and aquacultures) waste streams. We assayed 23 Taiwanese water sites for 97 targeted compounds, of which a significant number were detected and quantified. The most frequently detected compounds were sulfamethoxazole, caffeine, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen, followed closely by cephalexin, ofloxacin, and diclofenac, which were detected in >91% of samples and found to have median (maximum) concentrations of 0.2 (5.8), 0.39 (24.0), 0.02 (100.4), 0.41 (14.5), 0.15 (31.4), 0.14 (13.6) and 0.083 (29.8) microg/L, respectively. Lincomycin and acetaminophen had high measured concentrations (>100 microg/L), and 35 other pharmaceuticals occurred at the microg/L level. These incidence and concentration results correlate well with published data for other worldwide locations, as well as with Taiwanese medication usage data, suggesting a human contamination source. Many pharmaceuticals also occurred at levels exceeding predicted no-effect concentrations (PNEC), warranting further investigation of their occurrence and fate in receiving waters, as well as the overall risks they pose for local ecosystems and human residents. The information provided here will also be useful for development of strategies for regulation and remediation.     

Geostatistical analysis to identify hydrogeochemical processes in complex aquifers: a case study (Aguadulce unit, Almeria, SE Spain)

The Aguadulce aquifer unit in southeastern Spain is a complex hydrogeological system because of the varied lithology of the aquifer strata and the variability of the processes that can take place within the unit. Factorial analysis of the data allowed the number of variables to be reduced to 3 factors, which were found to be related to such physico-chemical processes as marine intrusion and leaching of saline deposits. Variographic analysis was applied to these factors, culminating in a study of spatial distribution using ordinary kriging. Mapping of the factors allowed rapid differentiation of some of the processes that affect the waters of the Gador carbonate aquifer within the Aguadulce unit, without the need to recur to purely hydrogeochemical techniques. The results indicate the existence of several factors related to salinity: marine intrusion, paleowaters, and/or leaching of marls and evaporitic deposits. The techniques employed are effective, and the results conform to those obtained using hydrogeochemical methods (vertical records of conductivity and temperature, ion ratios, and others). The findings of this study confirm that the application of such analytical methods can provide a useful assessment of factors affecting groundwater composition.     

Continuous improvement and existing safety systems

This paper highlights some of the issues facing owner/operators when attempting to align personnel, procedures, and equipment to achieve cost effective and safe operating performance. Each issue is presented using simple and practical thoughts toward life, collected from fortune cookies consumed during the technical editing of CCPS's Guidelines for Safe and Reliable Instrumented Protective Systems (2007).     

Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) breeding in Alaska,USA, are exposed to PCBs while on their Asian wintering grounds

Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) breeding in Alaska declined 53% during 1977–1993. We compare concentrations of environmental contaminants in red-throated loons among four nesting areas in Alaska and discuss potential ramifications of exposure on reproductive success and population trends. Eggs from the four areas had similar total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations, but eggs from the Arctic coastal plain had different congener profiles and greater toxic equivalents (TEQs) than eggs from elsewhere. Satellite telemetry data indicate that red-throated loons from the Arctic coastal plain in northern Alaska winter in southeast Asia, while those breeding elsewhere in Alaska winter in North America. Different wintering areas may lead to differential PCB accumulation among red-throated loon populations. For eggs from the Arctic coastal plain, TEQs were great enough to postulate PCB-associated reproductive effects in piscivores. The correlation between migration patterns and PCB profiles suggests that red-throated loons breeding in northern Alaska are exposed to PCBs while on their Asian wintering grounds.     

Resource frontiers and agglomeration economies: The varied logics of transnational land-based investing in Southern and Eastern Africa

Actor-level data on large-scale commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are scarce. The peculiar choice of transnational investing in African land has, therefore, been subject to conjecture. Addressing this gap, we reconstructed the underlying logics of investment location choices in a Bayesian network, using firm- and actor-level interview and spatial data from 37 transnational agriculture and forestry investments across 121 sites in Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We distinguish four investment locations across gradients of resource frontiers and agglomeration economies to derive the preferred locations of different investors with varied skillsets and market reach (i.e., track record). In contrast to newcomers, investors with extensive track records are more likely to expand the land use frontier, but they are also likely to survive the high transaction costs of the pre-commercial frontier. We highlight key comparative advantages of Southern and Eastern African frontiers and map the most probable categories of investment locations.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01682-z.     

Determination of dimethyl fumarate (DMFu) in silica gel pouches using gas chromatography coupled ion trap mass spectrometry

A simple method for the determination of dimethyl fumarate (DMFu) in silica gel pouches has been developed. The gas chromatographic behaviour of DMFu was investigated; the instrumental method, based on EI mass spectrometry coupled with an Ion Trap Detector operating whether in full scan mode or in MS/MS mode was also investigated. Several factors have been evaluated and optimized during the development process: solvent and temperature of extraction, type of stationary phase in capillary column. The analytical procedure consists of two steps as follows: (a) the sample preparation using 10 g of sample extracted with acetonitrile in an ultrasonic, heated bath and (b) the determination by gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry in conjunction with chromatographic separation is a very powerful combination for identification of an analyte in the extract in spite of selective detectors employed with GC, such as ECD, FPD and NPD, that offer only limited specificity. Blank samples show no interfering peaks in the areas of interest, so the specificity of the method was assured under the investigated GC/MS conditions. The method has been validated in terms of recovery, repeatability, linearity, detection limits and measurement uncertainty. The results obtained meet both the method validation criteria and requirements of the European/National legislation. The method was verified to be accurate with 97 % mean recoveries at 0.05 mg/kg and 1.00 mg/kg levels; the repeatability (expressed as RSD %) was found to be better than 15 %. Good linearity was found in the range between 0.05 μg/mL and 5.0 μg/mL and a value of R2 > 0.9998 was calculated. The procedure ensures high specificity and a good sensitivity with detection limit (ld) of 0.02 mg/kg and quantification limit (LOQ) of 0.05 mg/kg. This procedure has been successfully applied for the analysis of several hundred of real samples collected during a monitoring control plan started last year in our country. All samples exceeding the maximum allowed level of DMFu (0, 1 mg/kg) were confirmed by GC/MS/MS (ITD) for a higher degree of confidence in identification. The main advantages of this method include: rapidity, simplicity (few, simple steps), reliability, cheapness, no need for long and difficult clean-up and evaporation steps, high specificity by using GC/MS and GC/MS/MS, availability for routine monitoring.     

Response patterns in adult forest trees to chronic ozone stress: identification of variations and consistencies

The responsiveness of adult beech and spruce trees to chronic O(3) stress was studied at a free-air O(3) exposure experiment in Freising/Germany. Over three growing seasons, gas exchange characteristics, biochemical parameters, macroscopic O(3) injury and the phenology of leaf organs were investigated, along with assessments of branch and stem growth as indications of tree performance. To assess response pattern to chronic O(3) stress in adult forest trees, we introduce a new evaluation approach, which provides a comprehensive, readily accomplishable overview across several tree-internal scaling levels, different canopy regions and growing seasons. This new approach, based on a three-grade colour coding, combines statistical analysis and the proficient ability of the "human eye" in pattern recognition.     

Relationships between hope,optimism, and conservation engagement

The loss and degradation of nature can lead to hopelessness and despair, which may undermine engagement in conservation actions. Emerging movements, such as that behind the organization Conservation Optimism, aim to avert potential despair of those involved in conservation. Some argue that fostering positive states, such as hope or optimism, can motivate engagement and action; however, others question whether fostering hope or optimism may inadvertently undermine perceived gravity of conservation challenges. We examined this issue by quantifying dispositional hope and optimism with a representative sample of Australians (n = 4285) and assessing their relationship with indicators of conservation engagement. We used the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia as a case study. We asked participants what they could do to help the GBR, then classified their responses into 2 outcome variables: identifying climate actions (i.e., actions that tackle the main threat to the reef) and identifying plastic actions (i.e., actions that are popular among community members). We also quantified likelihood of performing these actions and appraisals of both threats and actions. One dimension of hope, hope pathways (defined by Snyder's hope theory as knowing different ways to act), was associated with greater capacity to identify climate-related behaviors (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44) and plastic reduction behaviors (OR = 1.22) and greater likelihood of adopting climate-related actions (β = 0.20). Optimism was associated with recognition of plastic reduction behaviors only (OR = 1.22). Neither hope nor optimism undermined appraisal of conservation threats. The effects of optimism were mediated by reduced action futility, and effects of hope pathways were mediated by stronger perceptions of threats to the reef (threat appraisal) and confidence in performing useful actions (coping appraisal). Our findings suggest that dispositional hope can strengthen, rather than undermine, appraisal of conservation challenges and solutions and thereby increase conservation engagement.     

Evaluating the vulnerability of surface waters to antibiotic contamination from varying wastewater treatment plant discharges

Effluents from three wastewater treatment plants with varying wastewater treatment technologies and design were analyzed for six antibiotics and caffeine on three sampling occasions. Sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, and clindamycin were detected in the effluents at concentrations ranging from 0.090 to 6.0 microg/L. Caffeine was detected in all effluents at concentrations ranging from 0.19 to 9.9 microg/L. These findings indicate that several conventional wastewater management practices are not effective in the complete removal of antibiotics, and their discharges have a large potential to affect the aquatic environment. To evaluate the persistence of antibiotics coming from the wastewater discharges on the surrounding surface waters, samples were collected from the receiving streams at 10-, 20- and 100-m intervals. Ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, and clindamycin (0.043 to 0.076 microg/L) were found as far as 100 m from the discharge point, which indicates the persistence of these drugs in surface waters.