Detection and Classification of Motor Vehicle Noise in a Forested Landscape

Noise emanating from human activity has become a common addition to natural soundscapes and has the potential to harm wildlife and erode human enjoyment of nature. In particular, motor vehicles traveling along roads and trails produce high levels of both chronic and intermittent noise, eliciting varied responses from a wide range of animal species. Anthropogenic noise is especially conspicuous in natural areas where ambient background sound levels are low. In this article, we present an acoustic method to detect and analyze motor vehicle noise. Our approach uses inexpensive consumer products to record sound, sound analysis software to automatically detect sound events within continuous recordings and measure their acoustic properties, and statistical classification methods to categorize sound events. We describe an application of this approach to detect motor vehicle noise on paved, gravel, and natural-surface roads, and off-road vehicle trails in 36 sites distributed throughout a national forest in the Sierra Nevada, CA, USA. These low-cost, unobtrusive methods can be used by scientists and managers to detect anthropogenic noise events for many potential applications, including ecological research, transportation and recreation planning, and natural resource management.     

Plant availability of zinc and copper in soil after contamination with brass foundry filter dust: effect of four years of aging

We investigated the effect of 4 yr of aging of a noncalcareous soil contaminated with filter dust from a brass foundry (80% w/w ZnO, 15% w/w Cu0.6Zn0.4) on the chemical extractability of Zn and Cu and their uptake by barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), pea (Pisum sativum L.), and sunflower (Helianthus annus L.). Pot experiments were conducted with the freshly contaminated soil (2250 mg kg-1 Zn; 503 mg kg-1 Cu), with the contaminated soil aged for 4 yr in the field (1811 mg kg-1 Zn; 385 mg kg-1 Cu), and with the uncontaminated control soil (136 mg kg-1 Zn; 32 mg kg-1 Cu). In comparison with the uncontaminated soil, the growth of barley and pea was clearly reduced in both contaminated soils, while toxicity symptoms did not systematically vary from the freshly contaminated to the 4 yr aged soil. The sunflower did not grow in the contaminated soils. The slow oxidative dissolution of the brass platelets led to an increase in the solubility and the plant uptake of Cu from the freshly contaminated to the 4 yr aged soil. In an earlier study, we found that the fine-grained ZnO dissolved in the field soil within 9 mo and that about half of the released Zn was incorporated into a layered double hydroxide phase and about half was adsorbed to the soil matrix. These changes in Zn speciation did not lead to a reduction of the Zn contents in the shoots and roots of barley and pea grown in the aged soil as compared with the freshly contaminated soil.     

Salinity effects on glucose uptake and catabolism in the obligately psychrophilic marine bacterium Vibrio marinus

Studies on the effects of various salinities on the uptake and catabolism of glucose in Vibrio marinus MP-1 revealed several significant shifts in total uptake and respiration as the cells were subjected to increasingly greater concentrations of NaCl. As the salinity increased from 0.30 to 1.0 M NaCl, there was a decrease in the C₆/C₁ (CO₂) ratio. The resulting patterns suggests that the relative participation of the hexose monophosphate pathway in glucose catabolism was altered. This pathway is apparently shut down in the region of the minimum-growth salinity, and may be related to growth limitation at rower salinities. The shift in C₆/C₁ ratio was not affected by changing the incubation temperature, nor was it dependent specifically on the presence of Na⁺ or Cl^-. As the salinity increased from 0.15 to 0.30 M NaCl, there was a shift in the total uptake patterns which suggests the formation and loss of metabolic by-products derived from the first, second, sixth, and presumably fifth carbons of glucose.This paper was taken in part from a dissertation by the senior author, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Ph.D. degree, Oregon State University, Corvallis. Published as technical paper No. 3647, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.     

Conservation‐Induced Wastewater Flow Reductions Improve Nitrogen Removal: Evidence from New York City1

Abstract: Water resources are under increasing pressure to meet potable supply needs while sustaining aquatic ecosystems and fisheries. Growing populations and enforcement of the Total Maximum Daily Load provisions of the Clean Water Act present public water and wastewater utilities with costly options to meet potable water demands and reduce pollutant discharges into receiving waters. This paper documents that New York City’s comprehensive water conservation program – designed to extend the city’s safe yield of potable water—has also resulted in reduced nitrogen discharges from the city’s water pollution control plants during a period of population increases. This paper demonstrates and quantifies the effects that wastewater inflow volume reductions have on increased nitrogen removal, controlling for plant process changes. Conservation programs have saved the city billions of dollars in delayed or avoided capital improvements to both water and wastewater treatment plants, and have enabled the city to meet interim effluent discharge standards.     

Joint submissions,output related payments and environmental co-operatives: Can the Dutch experience innovate UK agri-environment policy?

This paper describes three relatively recent innovations in the Dutch agri-environment programme which have helped nature management to be contiguous with natural features allowing the landscape to be managed whole rather than piecemeal—and thus generate higher quality and greater scope in environmental management. The first two, joint submissions by neighbouring farmers and payments related to the level of environmental output delivered, are scheme innovations. The third, Environmental Co-operatives (EC)—clubs of neighbouring farmers that inter alia co-ordinate and help manage the scheme innovations—is an institutional innovation. None has an equivalent in the UK. Evidence from interviews with farmer and non-farmer members, policy makers, academics and other interested parties show the role EC play in overcoming some of the postulated problems of the two scheme innovations. Not all the problems have been overcome, and cost-benefit analyses have not been conducted, nevertheless there is sufficient evidence to suggest that these innovations have benefited all actors involved: farmers, the government, the environment and the rural economy. Analysis of UK agri-environment policy using actor network theory (ANT) suggests the UK government will need to show similar levels of trust in and commitment to the farming community before these innovations could be introduced in the UK.     

In Vitro Biodegradation of Polyester-Based Plastic Materials by Selected Bacterial Cultures

A simple and rapid in vitro test was designed for the assessment of the biodegradation of polyester-based plastics by selected biodegrading bacterial strains. Variovorax paradoxus LMG 16137 was used for the degradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) and Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae LMG 17238 fo the synthetic-based polyesters poly(-caprolactone) (PCL), poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate), and a starch-PCL blend. Degradation by the bacteria was studied in liquid medium with the plastics (films, granules, and injection-molded test bars) as sole sources of carbon. Degradation was followed through gravimetry, growth of the culture, and tensile testing. The effects of incubation time, inoculum density, aeration, incubation temperature, and pH of the medium on the mass loss were investigated and conditions optimized. The test allowed to obtain reproducible results on the mass loss of plastic samples in less than 3 weeks and yielded excellent partially degraded samples for further analysis.     

Training obstetricians and midwives to present screening tests: Evaluation of two brief interventions

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of two brief training interventions to improve obstetricians' and midwives' explanations to patients of a routine prenatal screening test. Health professionals were randomly allocated to one of two intervention groups or a control group. Information-giving about the test and communication skills were assessed at baseline, post-training and 3-month follow-up from audiotaped consultations. Both intervention groups received a 1-h training session involving small group discussions focused around a video. In addition, one group received individual feedback on their baseline and post-training consultations. Twenty-six midwives and nine obstetricians completed the study according to the protocol. Changes between baseline and post-training, and between baseline and follow-up, were computed. Information-giving and communication skills improved significantly in subjects receiving training and feedback on their performance, with the greatest improvements occurring before feedback was given. Those receiving training without feedback significantly improved their communication skills and showed some improvement in information-giving. These results show that modest improvements in communication can be made with relatively brief training. Greater and more sustained improvements may be found if all staff were trained, and trained on a regular basis.     

Biamnial elevated alpha-fetoprotein and positive acetylcholinesterase in twins,one with anencephaly

Anencephaly in twin B was accompanied by elevated amniotic fluid alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and a positive acetylcholinesterase (AChE) band on gel electrophoresis in both twin sacs, although twin A was normal. AChE results did not help distinguish the false positive AFP in this set of twins, implying that AChE may diffuse transamniotically as has been previously postulated for AFP. In light of the low concordance rate for neural tube defects in twins, patient counselling in this situation must include the information that AFP and AChE may be falsely elevated in normal twin when the other twin has a neural tube defect.