The Mid-Canada Radar Line and First Nations' people of the James Bay region, Canada: an evaluation using log-linear contingency modelling to analyze organochlorine frequency data

Abandoned radar line stations in the North American arctic and sub-arctic regions are point sources of contamination, especially for PCBs. Few data exist with respect to human body burden of organochlorines (OCs) in residents of communities located in close proximity to these radar line sites. We compared plasma OC concentration (unadjusted for total lipids) frequency distribution data using log-linear contingency modelling for Fort Albany First Nation, the site of an abandoned Mid-Canada Radar Line station, and two comparison populations (the neighbouring community of Kashechewan First Nation without such a radar installation, and Hamilton, a city in southern Ontario, Canada). This type of analysis is important as it allows for an initial investigation of contaminant data without imputing any values. The two-state log-linear model (employing both non-detectable and detectable concentration frequencies and applicable to PCB congeners 28 and 105 and cis-nonachlor) and the four-state log-linear model (using quartile concentration frequencies for Aroclor 1260, PCB congeners [99,118,138,153,156,170,180,183,187], beta-HCH, p,p'-DDT +p,p'-DDE, HCB, mirex, oxychlordane, and trans-nonachlor) revealed that the effects of subject gender were inconsequential. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between the groups examined were attributable to the effect of location on the frequency of detection of OCs or on their differential distribution among the concentration quartiles. In general, people from Hamilton had higher frequencies of non-detections and of concentrations in the first quartile (p < 0.05) for most OCs compared to people from Fort Albany and Kashechewan (who consume a traditional diet of wild meats that does not include marine mammals). An unexpected finding was that, for Kashechewan males, the frequency of many OCs was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the 4th concentration quartile than that predicted by the four-state log-linear model, but significantly lower than expected in the 1st quartile for beta-HCH. The levels of PCBs found for women in Fort Albany and Kashechewan were greater than those reported for Dene (First Nation people) and Métis (mixed heritage) of the western Northwest Territories (NWT) who did not consume marine mammals, and for Inuit living in the central NWT (occasional consumers of marine mammals). Moreover, the levels of total p,p'-DDT were greater for Fort Albany and Kashechewan women compared to these same aboriginal groups.     

The multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) and the sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART): two novel evaluation methods for developing optimal training programs

Current methodologies in training evaluation studies largely employ a single method entitled random confirmatory trials, prompting several concerns. First, practitioners and researchers often analyze the effectiveness of their entire omnibus training, rather than the individual elements or identifiable components of the training program. This slows the testing of theory and development of optimal training programs. Second, a common training is typically administered to all employees within an organization or workgroup; however, certain factors may cause individualized training to be more effective. Given these concerns, the current paper presents two training evaluation methodologies to overcome these problems: the multiphase optimization strategy and sequential multiple assignment randomized trials. The multiphase optimization strategy is a method to evaluate a standard training, which emphasizes the importance of a multi‐stage training evaluation process to analyze individual training elements. In contrast, sequential multiple assignment randomized trial is used to evaluate an adaptive training that varies over time and/or trainees. These methodologies jointly overcome the problems noted earlier, and they can be integrated to address several of the key challenges facing training researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Fluorine Compounds on Vegetation,with Special Reference to Sweet Corn

Since 1951 many fumigation experiments have been carried out with different species and varieties of plants, including field corn and sweet corn. Results for gladiolus and Milo maize have been summarized, but only brief mention has been made of results obtained with corn. This report summarizes some of the earlier results obtained with sweet corn, used alone or in comparative tests with field corn is unreplicated experiments and the results of replicated fumigation experiments with Marcross sweet corn (Zea mays L.) and lamb’s-quarters (Chenopodium album L.) carried out in 1963.     

Sulfur Dioxide Emissions and Market Effects under the Clean Air Act Acid Rain Program

ABSTRACT

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA90) established a national program to control sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from electricity generation. CAAA90's market-based approach includes trading and banking of Soumissions allowances. We analyzed data describing electric utility SO₂ emissions in 1995, the first year of the program's Phase I, and market effects over the 1990-1995 period. Fuel switching and flue-gas desulfurization were the dominant means used in 1995 by targeted generators to reduce emissions to 51% of 1990 levels. Flue-gas desulfur-ization costs, emissions allowance prices, low-sulfur coal prices, and average sulfur contents of coals shipped to electric utilities declined over the 1990-1995 period. Projections indicate that 13-15 million allowances will have been banked during the program's Phase I, which ends in 1999, a quantity expected to last through the first decade of the program's stricter Phase II controls. In 1995, both allowance prices and SO₂ emissions were below pre-CAAA90 expectations. The reduction of SO₂ emissions beyond pre-CAAA90 expectations, combined with lower-than-expected allowance prices and declining compliance costs, can be viewed as a success for market-based environmental controls.     

UV wavelengths make female three-spined sticklebacks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>) more attractive for males

Numerous fishes possess UV vision and show UV patterns, which often play a role in social communication, especially during courtship. UV light is scattered strongly in water and thus might be used for intra-specific close-range communication without being detected by predators. In addition to the red-belly colouration and blue-coloured iris, male three-spined sticklebacks possess UV reflectance on their skin, and females prefer males presented with UV light rather than without. To investigate whether UV also influences male visual preference for females in this species, we used a dichotomous mate choice design in which one female could be viewed by a male in two visual conditions. Courting male sticklebacks preferred females that were presented in full-spectrum conditions including UV to the same females presented in conditions lacking this light component. Furthermore, control trials with neutral-density filters indicated that male preference in the UV treatment was not affected by a difference in achromatic brightness between the UV+ and UV− stimuli. Reflectance measurements of gravid females suggest an enhanced UV contrast between the dark bar pattern, which is characteristic of gravid females, and silvery body parts.     

Age Dependence of Female to Male Fatality Risk in the Same Crash: An Independent Reexamination

A 1988 study reported that females are more likely than males to be killed by the same physical insult. This was determined by analyzing 1975–1983 data. The present study revisits this question using 123,678 fatalities from 1984–1996 data. As none of these data contributed to the earlier study, the present investigation is therefore independent of the earlier one. Female to male fatality risk ratios are calculated for 14 categories of vehicle occupants, including six light truck occupants (belted and unbelted drivers and right front passengers, and unbelted left and right rear passengers). The earlier study did not include light trucks. Close agreement is found between the results of the present and prior studies, thus solidifying the interpretation that findings are of a general nature and not dependent on specific data sets. Except at ages less than about 10 years, or older than about 55, females are more likely to be killed than males. While obtained using traffic data, the results are interpreted to reflect fundamental differences in human physiological response to blunt trauma in general, and are expected to apply to blunt trauma from falls, being struck by objects, etc.     

Estimation of temporary emigration in male toads

Male boreal toads (Bufo boreas) are thought to return to the breeding site every year but, if absent in a particular year, will be more likely to return the following year. Using Pollock's robust design we estimated temporary emigration (the probability a male toad is absent from a breeding site in a given year) at three locations in Colorado, USA: two in Rocky Mountain National Park and one in Chaffee County. We present data that suggest that not all male toads return to the breeding site every year. Our analyses indicate that temporary emigration varies by site and time (for example, from 1992 to 1998, the probability of temporary emigration ranged from 10% to 29% and from 3% to 95% at Lost Lake and Kettle Tarn, respectively). Although the results provide weak evidence that males are more likely to return after a year's hiatus, a general pattern of state-dependent temporary emigration was not supported. We also hypothesized relationships between temporary emigration and a number of weather variables. While some competitive models included weather covariates, imprecise and variable estimates of the effects of these covariates precluded fully defining their impact on temporary emigration.     

The Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization Study, part 3: continuous measurements of fine particulate matter mass and composition

Deployment of continuous analyzers in the Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization Study (SEARCH) network began in 1998 and continues today as new technologies are developed. Measurement of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) mass is performed using a dried, 30 degrees C tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM). TEOM measurements are complemented by observations of light scattering by nephelometry. Measurements of major constituents include: (1) SO4(2-) via reduction to SO2; (2) NH4+ and NO3- via respective catalytic oxidation and reduction to NO, (3) black carbon (BC) by optical absorption, (4) total carbon by combustion to CO2, and (5) organic carbon by difference between the latter two measurements. Several illustrative examples of continuous data from the SEARCH network are presented. A distinctive composite annual average diurnal pattern is observed for PM2.5 mass, nitrate, and BC, likely indicating the influence of traffic-related emissions, growth, and break up of the boundary layer and formation of ammonium nitrate. Examination of PM2.5 components indicates the need to better understand the continuous composition of the unmeasured "other" category, because it contributes a significant fraction to total mass during periods of high PM2.5 loading. Selected episodes are presented to illustrate applications of SEARCH data. An SO2 conversion rate of 0.2%/hr is derived from an observation of a plume from a coal-fired power plant during early spring, and the importance of local, rural sources of NH3 to the formation of ammonium nitrate in particulate matter (PM) is demonstrated.