Book reviews

Toward Sustainable Communities: resources for citizens and their governments. Mark Roseland with Maureen Cureton & Heather Wornell, 1998, Gabriola Island, New Society Publishers, ISBN 0 86571 374 X, $18.95

First Mover Advantage by Eco-efficiency: local incentives for environment and employment.. C. Erdmunger & S. Schreckenberger, 1998, Freiburg, ICLEI, DM30

Agendas for Sustainability: environment and development into the twenty-first century. Mary Macdonald, 1998, London, Routledge, ISBN 0 415 15491X, £55.00 (hbk)

Women, Population and Global Crisis: a political-economic analysis. Asoka Bandarage, 1997, London, Zed Books, ISBN 1 85649 428 4, £15.95 (pbk)

Spirit of the Environment: religion, value, and environmental concern. David Cooper & Joy Palmer (Eds), 1998, London, Routledge, ISBN 0 4151 4202 4, £12.99 (pbk)

Environmental Transition in Nordic and Baltic Countries. Hans Aage (Ed.), 1998, (New Horizons in Environmental Economics). Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar, ISBN 1 85898 629 X

Sustainability Indicators: measuring the immeasurable. Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 1999, London, Earthscan Publications, 175 pp. ISBN 1 85383 498 X, LE14.95 (pbk)

The Economics of Road Transport Regulation. Erik Verhoef, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar 1996, 265 pp. ISBN 1 85898 364 9, £55.00

The Water Crisis. Julie Stauffer, London, Earthscan, 1998, ISBN 185383 436X, £12.95 (pbk)     

Workplace response of companies exposed to the 9/11 World Trade Center attack: a focus‐group study

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (9/11) left workplaces in pressing need of a mental health response capability. Unaddressed emotional sequelae may be devastating to the productivity and economic stability of a company's workforce. In the second year after the attacks, 85 employees of five highly affected agencies participated in 12 focus groups to discuss workplace mental health issues. Managers felt ill prepared to manage the magnitude and the intensity of employees' emotional responses. Rapid return to work, provision of workplace mental health services, and peer support were viewed as contributory to emotional recovery. Formal mental health services provided were perceived as insufficient. Drawing on their post‐9/11 workplace experience, members of these groups identified practical measures that they found helpful in promoting healing outside of professional mental health services. These measures, consistent with many principles of psychological first aid, may be applied by workplace leaders who are not mental health professionals.     

渣-硅灰水泥蒸压处理含镉钠低放废液

开发了一种矿渣硅灰混合水泥用来处理含多量Cd2+、Na2的低放射性废液.该水泥净浆经125℃蒸压14天的抗压强度达114MPa4用水银测孔仪测得总孔隙率为14.1%,最可几孔半径2.7nm.目前低放废液的处理常用硅酸盐水泥和矿渣水泥,从强度和微结构方面看,矿渣-硅灰混合水泥要比上述两种水泥好得多.对于废液中的Cd2+和Na+,成功地合成了无定形方沸石作为Na+的固主相,CdS为Cd2+的固化相.     

渣-硅灰水泥蒸压处理含镉钠低放废液

开发了一种矿渣硅灰混合水泥用来处理含多量Cd2+、Na2的低放射性废液.该水泥净浆经125℃蒸压14天的抗压强度达114MPa4用水银测孔仪测得总孔隙率为14.1%,最可几孔半径2.7nm.目前低放废液的处理常用硅酸盐水泥和矿渣水泥,从强度和微结构方面看,矿渣-硅灰混合水泥要比上述两种水泥好得多.对于废液中的Cd2+和Na+,成功地合成了无定形方沸石作为Na+的固主相,CdS为Cd2+的固化相.     

Experiments and modelling of phenanthrene biodegradation in the aqueous phase by a mixed culture

Pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons（PAHs） is widespread due to tmsuitable disposal of industrial waste. They are mostly defined as priority pollutants by environmental protection authorities worldwide. Phenanthrene, a typical PAH, was selected as the target in this paper. The PAH-degrading mixed culture, named ZM, was collected from a petroleum contaminated river bed. This culture was injected into phenanthrene solutions at different concentrations to quantify the biodegradation process. Results show near-complete removal of phenanthrene in three days of biodegradation if the initial phenanthrene concentration is low. When the initial concentration is high, the removal rate is increased but 20%-40% of the phenanthrene remains at the end of the experiment. The biomass shows a peak on the third day due to the combined effects of microbial growth and decay. Another peak is evident for cases with a high initial concentration, possibly due to production of an intermediate metabolite. The pH generally decreased during biodegradation because of the production of organic acid. Two phenomenological models were designed to simulate the phenanthrene biodegradation and biomass growth. A relatively simple model that does not consider the intermediate metabolite and its inhibition of phenanthrene biodegradation cannot fit the observed data. A modified Monod model that considered an intermediate metabolite （organic acid） and its inhibiting reversal effect reasonably depicts the experimental results.     

An evaluation of the interaction of morning residual layer and afternoon mixed layer ozone in Houston using ozonesonde data

The Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP) launched >220 ozonesondes in Houston (July 2004–June 2008) providing examples of pollution transported into, re-circulated within, and exported from the Houston area. Fifty-one launches occurred during the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) II and the summer portion of IONS-06 (INTEX [Intercontinental Transport Experiment] Ozonesonde Network Study). On 11 days during TexAQS II and on 8 other occasions, ozonesondes were launched both at dawn and in the afternoon. Analysis of these “intensive” launch sequences shows that morning residual layer (RL) ozone concentrations ([O₃]) explained 60–70% of the variability found in the afternoon mixed layer (ML). Furthermore, maximum RL [O₃] is nearly identical to the mean ML [O₃] from the previous afternoon (morning minus afternoon = ?1.6 ± 8.4 ppbv). During TexAQS II, mean [O₃] below 1.3 km (the mean ML height from ozonesonde data) increased from 37 ± 22 ppbv in the morning to 74 ± 18 ppbv in the afternoon, suggesting an average net local daily O₃ production of ～500–900 tons over the metropolitan Houston area.     

Protecting River Corridors in Vermont1

Kline, Michael and Barry Cahoon, 2010. Protecting River Corridors in Vermont. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):227-236. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00417.x Abstract: The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources’ current strategy for restoring aquatic habitat, water quality, and riparian ecosystem services is the protection of fluvial geomorphic-based river corridors and associated wetland and floodplain attributes and functions. Vermont has assessed over 1,350 miles of stream channels to determine how natural processes have been modified by channel management activities, corridor encroachments, and land use/land cover changes. Nearly three quarters of Vermont field-assessed reaches are incised limiting access to floodplains and thus reducing important ecosystem services such as flood and erosion hazard mitigation, sediment storage, and nutrient uptake. River corridor planning is conducted with geomorphic data to identify opportunities and constraints to mitigating the effects of physical stressors. Corridors are sized based on the meander belt width and assigned a sensitivity rating based on the likelihood of channel adjustment due to stressors. The approach adopted by Vermont is fundamentally based on restoring fluvial processes associated with dynamic equilibrium, and associated habitat features. Managing toward fluvial equilibrium is taking hold across Vermont through adoption of municipal fluvial erosion hazard zoning and purchase of river corridor easements, or local channel and floodplain management rights. These tools signify a shift away from primarily active management approaches of varying success that largely worked against natural river form and process, to a current community-based, primarily passive approach to accommodate floodplain reestablishment through fluvial processes.     

Transport pathways for arsenic and selenium: a minireview

Arsenic and selenium are metalloids found in the environment. Arsenic is considered to pose the most significant potential threat to human health based on frequency of occurrence, toxicity and human exposure. Selenium, on the other hand, ranks only 147th in toxicity but, in contrast to arsenic, is a required micronutrient. Whether a toxin or micronutrient, their metabolism requires that cells to accumulate these metalloids. In this review we discuss the membrane proteins that transport arsenic and selenium into cells, from bacteria to humans, as well as some of the efflux proteins involved in detoxification.     

Gyre formation in open and deep lacustrine embayments: the example of Lake Geneva,Switzerland

Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate gyres within open lacustrine embayments subjected to parallel-to-shore currents. In such embayments, gyre formation occurs due to flow separation at the embayment’s upstream edge. High momentum fluid from the mixing layer between the embayment and offshore flows into the embayment and produces recirculating flow. Systematic numerical experiments using different synthetic embayment configurations were used to examine the impact of embayment geometry. Geometries included embayments with different aspect ratios, depths and embayment corner angles. The magnitudes of the recirculation and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the embayment vary significantly for angles in the range 40°–55°. Embayments with corner angles less than 50° have much stronger recirculation and TKE, other parameters remaining the same. The numerical findings are consistent with gyre formation observed in two embayments located in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, and thus help explain flow patterns recorded in lacustrine shoreline regions.     

Uptake and localisation of lead in the root system of Brassica juncea

The uptake and distribution of Pb sequestered by hydroponically grown (14days growth) Brassica juncea (3days exposure; Pb activities 3.2, 32 and 217microM) was investigated. Lead uptake was restricted largely to root tissue. Examination using scanning transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy revealed substantial and predominantly intracellular uptake at the root tip. Endocytosis of Pb at the plasma membrane was not observed. A membrane transport protein may therefore be involved. In contrast, endocytosis of Pb into a subset of vacuoles was observed, resulting in the formation of dense Pb aggregates. Sparse and predominantly extracellular uptake occurred at some distance from the root tip. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the Pb concentration was greater in root tips. Heavy metal rhizofiltration using B. juncea might therefore be improved by breeding plants with profusely branching roots. Uptake enhancement using genetic engineering techniques would benefit from investigation of plasma membrane transport mechanisms.