Adaptive Management of Stream Channel Maintenance at Bridge Crossings in the Northern Tier Region,Pennsylvania1

Abstract: An adaptive management framework is applied to the problem of identifying mitigation measures for sediment deposition near bridge crossings in small streams in the Northern Tier region of northern Pennsylvania. The presence of the rigid bridge infrastructure introduces a challenge for applying adaptive management practices, because the integrity of the bridge structure itself has to be maintained regardless of the mitigation practices used in the stream channel near the bridge. In an effort to overcome the unacceptable risk that field‐scale adaptive management experiments present to rigid bridge infrastructure, an adaptive management approach for laboratory‐scale experimentation of mitigation methods at bridge crossings in the Northern Tier region is presented as a way to decrease the level of uncertainty about channel response to mitigation measures and increase the rate of learning about the effectiveness of these measures. Four cycles of adaptive management experiments are discussed to demonstrate that this approach results in fast and efficient learning about channel response to mitigation methods for the given conditions. The value of monitoring and of assessment of monitored data in the overall efficiency of the adaptive management approach is highlighted. Assessment of what was learned in the adaptive management experiment cycles presented here leads to new directions to continually improve management policies and practices in stream channels at bridge crossings in the Northern Tier region. The adaptive management process, rather than continuing with a normally risk‐averse management approach, results in opportunities for learning new information about a system’s response.     

Corruption in emergency procurement

Corruption in emergency procurement reduces the resources available for life‐saving operations, lowers the quality of products and services provided, and diverts aid from those who need it most. ¹ 1 The paper is based on a study for a project of the Chr Michelsen Institute (CMI)'s U4 Anti‐Corruption Resource Centre entitled ‘Corruption in Emergencies’ (see http://www.u4.no ).
It also negatively influences public support for humanitarian relief, both in the affected country and abroad. This paper aims to unpack and analyse the following question in order to mitigate risk: how and where does corruption typically occur, and what can be done? Suggested strategies reflect a multi‐layered approach that stresses internal agency control mechanisms, conflict‐sensitive management, and the need for common systems among operators.     

Lead traceability along soil-melliferous flora-bee family-apiary products chain

Indirect measures were considered to study the lead transfer along the soil-melliferous flora-bee family-apiary products food chain. The concentrations of total and bioavailable lead in the soil were first investigated. Next, the lead level in different organs of melliferous flora and subsequently in the bee family and apiary products was measured. The results indicate a decrease in contamination as follows: honeybees > drones > propolis > wax > bee larvae > honey > royal jelly. The statistical analysis highlights the "lead pollution bioindicator" role of honeybees, honey and propolis. The risk factor parameter allows the prediction of the most impacted month and the least impacted of the melliferous season.     

Excitation–emission matrices applied to the study of urban effluent discharges in the Chubut River (Patagonia, Argentina)

Natural and contaminated waters of the final reaches of the Chubut River (Patagonia, Argentina) were studied to obtain information about river organic matter and effects of domestic and industrial discharges (fishery effluents and sewages). Fluorescence Excitation–Emission Matrices (EEMs) were obtained from samples only filtered (0.45 μm) and diluted, if necessary, to avoid the inner filter effect. In addition, physicochemical parameters were measured to know the quality of the water and the effluents. Results show that EEMs allow a rapid and simple control of the effluents from fisheries and domestic sewage in Chubut River estuary, necessary to take management decisions.     

The News You Choose: news media preferences amplify views on climate change

How do choices among information sources reinforce political differences on topics such as climate change? Environmental sociologists have observed large-scale and long-term impacts from news media and think-tank reports, while experimental science-communication studies detect more immediate effects from variations in supplied information. Applying generalized structural equation modeling to recent survey data, previous work is extended to show that political ideology, education and their interaction predict news media information choices in much the same way they predict opinions about climate change itself. Consequently, media information sources serve as intervening variables that can reinforce and, through their own independent effects, amplify existing beliefs about climate change. Results provide empirical support for selective exposure and biased assimilation as mechanisms widening political divisions on climate change in the United States. The findings fit with the reinforcing spirals framework suggesting partisan media strengthens climate change beliefs which then influences subsequent use of media.     

Social justice and mobility in coastal Louisiana,USA

Regional Environmental Change - Louisiana faces extensive coastal land loss which threatens the livelihoods of marginalized populations. These groups have endured extreme disruptive events in the...     

Ecosystem responses to climate change at a Low Arctic and a High Arctic long-term research site

Long-term measurements of ecological effects of warming are often not statistically significant because of annual variability or signal noise. These are reduced in indicators that filter or reduce the noise around the signal and allow effects of climate warming to emerge. In this way, certain indicators act as medium pass filters integrating the signal over years-to-decades. In the Alaskan Arctic, the 25-year record of warming of air temperature revealed no significant trend, yet environmental and ecological changes prove that warming is affecting the ecosystem. The useful indicators are deep permafrost temperatures, vegetation and shrub biomass, satellite measures of canopy reflectance (NDVI), and chemical measures of soil weathering. In contrast, the 18-year record in the Greenland Arctic revealed an extremely high summer air-warming of 1.3 °C/decade; the cover of some plant species increased while the cover of others decreased. Useful indicators of change are NDVI and the active layer thickness.     

Ultrasound effects on the activity of Aspergillus niger lipases in their application in dairy wastewater treatment

We evaluated the effect of ultrasound radiation on lipase activity. The experiments were conducted using a low‐cost crude enzyme extract. We then used this lipase to treat dairy effluent. The results of our study presented an increase of approximately 430% in the concentration of free fatty acids.     

Modeling Atmospheric Mercury Deposition in the Vicinity of Power Plants

Abstract

Two mathematical models of the atmospheric fate and transport of mercury (Hg), an Eulerian grid–based model and a Gaussian plume model, are used to calculate the atmospheric deposition of Hg in the vicinity (i.e., within 50 km) of five coal–fired power plants. The former is applied using two different horizontal resolutions: coarse (84 km) and fine (16.7 km). More than 96% of the power plant Hg emissions are calculated with the plume model to be transported beyond 50 km from the plants. The grid–based model predicts a lower fraction to be transported beyond 50 km: >91% with a coarse resolution and >95% with a fine resolution. The contribution of the power plant emissions to total Hg deposition within a radius of 50 km from the plants is calculated to be <8% with the plume model, <14% with the Eulerian model with a coarse resolution, and <10% with the Eulerian model with a fine resolution. The Eulerian grid–based model predicts greater local impacts than the plume model because of artificially enhanced vertical dispersion; the former predicts about twice as much Hg deposition as the latter when the area considered is commensurate with the resolution of the grid–based model. If one compares the local impacts for an area that is significantly less than the grid–based model resolution, then the grid–based model may predict lower local deposition than the plume model, because two compensating errors affect the results obtained with the grid–based model: initial dilution of the power plant emissions within one or more grid cells and enhanced vertical mixing to the ground.     

Apportionment of Ambient Primary and Secondary Pollutants during a 2001 Summer Study in Pittsburgh Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency UNMIX

Abstract

Apportionment of primary and secondary pollutants during the summer 2001 Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS) is reported. Several sites were included in PAQS, with the main site (the supersite) adjacent to the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Schenley Park. One of the additional sampling sites was located at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, located ～18 km southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) mass, gas-phase volatile organic material (VOM), particulate semivolatile and nonvolatile organic material (NVOM), and ammonium sulfate were apportioned at the two sites into their primary and secondary contributions using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency UNMIX 2.3 multivariate receptor modeling and analysis software. A portion of each of these species was identified as originating from gasoline and diesel primary mobile sources. Some of the organic material was formed from local secondary transformation processes, whereas the great majority of the secondary sulfate was associated with regional transformation contributions. The results indicated that the diurnal patterns of secondary gas-phase VOM and particulate semivolatile and NVOM were not correlated with secondary ammonium sulfate contributions but were associated with separate formation pathways. These findings are consistent with the bulk of the secondary ammonium sulfate in the Pittsburgh area being the result of contributions from distant transport and, thus, decoupled from local activity involving organic pollutants in the metropolitan area.