Environmental Pollution Due to Natural Factors: A Case Study in A Volcanic Area (Vulcano Island, Italy)

A major influence on the environment of active volcanic areas is expected from continuous input of chemical species pertaining to fumarolic activities occurring during inter-eruptive intervals.

The systematic investigations carried out during thirteen years in the island of Vulcano (Italy) showed also substantial contributions to phreatic waters and soils of minor constituents and trace metals from volcanic rocks with no negligible influence on growing crops.

Greater extents of these phenomena have been observed for products of hydromagmatic volcanic activity or of long-lasting weathering processes.     

Data assimilation for short range atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides: a case study of second-order sensitivity

This article presents the application of variational data assimilation to a simple Gaussian plume model for radionuclides. Adjoint modeling is applied to the model in order to minimize discrepancies between contamination observations and model outputs. The interest of such an approach is to get a better estimation of some parameters such as emissions or dispersion parameters. A second-order analysis is also performed to assess the sensitivity of the optimized parameters to some poorly known parameters. Sensitivity with respect to network design is also done.     

Secondary metabolites of the leaf surface affected by sulphur fertilisation and perceived by the diamondback moth

Summary. Summary. Oilseed rape, Brassica napus L. (cv Express), plants were grown under three different sulphur regimes: sulphur-free (S₀), normal sulphur (S_n, normal field concentration) and a sulphur-rich (S₊, 2 × concentration of S_n). We performed dual choice oviposition assays with the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, using real plants and, for the first time with this insect, artificial leaves sprayed with methanolic leaf-surface extracts. The results mirrored those of a separate study of preferences for whole plants. Females laid more eggs on surrogate leaves that were treated with S_n extracts than on S₀ plants, while only a slight, not significant, difference was observed between extracts of normal and sulphur-rich plants. This shows that chemical compounds on the leaf surface mediate the oviposition preference and that the female insect can perceive the quality of the host-plants in terms of their fertilisation status.Since leaf volatiles are known to be oviposition stimulants, we investigated the effects of leaf-surface extracts on insect olfactory responses using electroantennograms (EAGs). In agreement with the behavioural data, we found that extracts of sulphur-treated plants yielded higher EAG amplitudes than the S₀ extracts. Since the leaf content of the volatiles isothiocyanates is influenced by sulphur nutrition, we analysed the extracts for these compounds. Above the detection threshold of our GC-MS system, no isothiocyanates were found. Thus, other compounds present in the surface extracts must be perceived by the antenna.However, the HPLC analysis revealed 11 different glucosinolates. Progoitrin (2-Hydroxy-3-butenyl) and gluconapoleiferin (2-Hydroxy-4-pentenyl), which belong to the hydroxy-alkene class of glucosinolates, were the most abundant compounds. The total glucosinolate content sharply increased from S₀ to S_n plants, whereas it was slightly lower in _n versus S₊ plants. Since it is known that glucosinolates can stimulate oviposition, it seems likely that the increased content we observed was influencing the insect preference in this study too.     

Effect of food level on the acute and chronic responses of daphnids to lindane

The toxic effects of lindane on the zooplankton communities may be strongly related to the population fitness, which is highly dependent on food availability. In order to test this hypothesis, acute (immobilisation) and chronic (life-history) responses of Daphnia longispina and Daphnia magna, reared at different food levels (low, normal, and high), were assessed in laboratorial exposures to several concentrations of lindane. A bifactorial design was employed (food level versus lindane concentration) for both species. Results showed that lindane was toxic to both D. magna and D. longispina, within a similar range. However, lindane toxicity to daphnids was dependent on food level, suggesting that the latter is an important factor to take into account when assessing the toxic effects of lindane on zooplankton communities.     

Radiocarbon behaviour in seawater and the brown algae Fucus serratus in the vicinity of the COGEMA La Hague spent fuel reprocessing plant (Goury)--France

Extensive studies of the radiocarbon (14C) distribution and transfer in the marine environment of the North-Cotentin peninsula and along the English Channel have been carried out. The main aims of these studies have been to estimate the spatial and temporal variation of the 14C concentration in seawater and to calculate 14C concentration factors for some biological species. Such information will be helpful in order to calculate precisely radiation doses to humans. First results obtained in the vicinity of the COGEMA La Hague nuclear plant (Goury) indicate a 14C labelling of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in seawater (8.0-26.2 Bq.m(-3)) and a tight relationship between the 14C in the liquid releases from the plant and the 14C concentrations in DIC. The particulate organic carbon (POC) is also labelled. The concentration factor calculations for the brown algae (Fucus serratus) sampled from Goury, and also along the English Channel, give 14C values around 3000 Bq.kg(-1) fresh weight / Bq.L(-1).     

The role of door orientation on occupant injury in a nearside impact: a CIREN, MADYMO modeling and experimental study

OBJECTIVE: This study addressed the effects of vehicle height mismatch in side impact crashes. A light truck or SUV tends to strike the door of a passenger car higher causing the upper border to lead into the occupant space. Conversely, an impact centered lower on the door, from a passenger car, causes the lower border to lead. We proposed the hypothesis that the type of injury sustained by the occupant could be related to door orientation during its intrusion into the passenger compartment. METHOD: Data on door orientation and nearside occupant injuries were collected from 125 side impact crashes reported in the CIREN database. Experimental testing was performed using a pendulum carrying a frame and a vehicle door, impacting against a USDOT SID. The frame allowed the door orientation to be changed. A model was developed in MADYMO (v 6.2) using the more biofidelic dummies, BIOSID, and SIDIIs as well as USDOT SID. RESULTS: In side impact crashes with the lower border of the door leading, 81% of occupants sustained pelvic injury, 42% suffered rib fractures, and the rate of organ injury was 0.84. With the upper border leading, 46% of occupants sustained pelvic injury, 71% sustained rib fracture, and the rate of organ injuries per case increased to 1.13. The differences in the groups with respect to pelvic injury were significant at p = 0.01, rib fracture, p = 0.10, and organ injury, p = 0.001. Experimental testing showed that when the door angle changed from lower to upper border leading, peak T4 acceleration increased by 273% and pelvic acceleration decreased by 44%. The model demonstrated that when the door angle changed from lower to upper border leading, the USDOT SID showed a 29% increase in T4 acceleration and a 57% decrease in pelvic acceleration. The BIOSID dummy demonstrated a 36% increase in T1 acceleration, a 44% increase in abdominal rib 1 deflection, a 91% increase in thoracic rib 1 deflection, and a 33% decrease in pelvic acceleration. CONCLUSIONS: These data add more insight to the problem of mismatch during side impacts, where the bumper of the striking vehicle overrides the door beam, causing the upper part of the door to lead the intrusion into the passenger compartment. Even with the same delta V and intrusion, with the upper border of the door leading, more severe chest and organ injuries resulted. This data suggests that door orientation should be considered when testing subsystems for side impact protection.     

Estimating biological half-lifes of radionuclides in marine compartments from environmental time-series measurements

Modelling radionuclide transfers between seawater and marine species on a short time scale basis requires being able to take into account the transfer kinetics. This means (1) to implement the effect of the biological half-lives of radionuclides together with the concentration factor in the calculation of transfers and (2), to get these kinetic parameters for each element and species. Biological half-lives are usually determined from laboratory labelling experiments with the challenge to match natural environmental conditions. The present work proposes a simple model that implements the effect of kinetic parameters in the calculation of transfers. This model is also used to derive the biological half-life and the concentration factor for 137Cs from time-series measurements of environmental concentrations in seawater and in the brown alga Fucus serratus, as an example. These transfer parameters are finally used to predict the Cs activities in Fucus serratus on the English Channel shores.     

Stakeholder Willingness to Pay for Watershed Restoration in Rural Bolivia1

Abstract: Two CVM surveys were administered to 211 urban households and 188 rural farmer‐irrigators in the Comarapa watershed in Bolivia, South America, to estimate stakeholder willingness to pay (WTP) for a proposed upper watershed restoration program. Mean monthly household WTP to improve drinking water was $1.95 (65% of current charges), while mean annual WTP among farmer‐irrigators to improve irrigation water was $17 per hectare (34% of current costs). Aggregated to the entire population of households and farmer‐irrigators total WTP is $77,400 per year, which is 77% of the minimum cost to implement a watershed restoration program.