Valuing third sector sustainability organisations – qualitative contributions to systemic social transformation

The number and diversity of civil society or third sector sustainability organisations (TSSOs) have increased in recent decades. TSSOs play a prominent role in local approaches to sustainability. However, the contributions made by TSSOs are not fully understood, beyond a limited suite of quantifiable outputs and impacts. In this qualitative study, we examine how four TSSOs from two Australian regions, Tasmania and Queensland's Sunshine Coast, contribute to social transformation beyond discrete outputs. We examine the operation, ethos, scope and influence of these organisations over time. In so doing, we identify three common ways in which these organisations facilitate social change: by (i) enhancing social connectivity through boundary work; (ii) mobilising participatory citizenship and (iii) contributing to social learning. We conclude that TSSOs contribute significantly to the systemic social conditions that enable change for sustainability and the development of community resilience and well-being, but do so in ways undervalued by existing metrics, formal evaluation processes and funding models. Clearer recognition of, and strategic emphasis on, these qualitative contributions to social transformation is vital in ensuring that TSSOs remain viable and effective over the long term.     

Cladistic analysis of Bantu languages: a new tree based on combined lexical and grammatical data

The phylogeny of the Bantu languages is reconstructed by application of the cladistic methodology to the combined lexical and grammatical data (87 languages, 144 characters). A maximum parsimony tree and Bayesian analysis supported some previously recognized clades, e.g., that of eastern and southern Bantu languages. Moreover, the results revealed that Bantu languages south and east of the equatorial forest are probably monophyletic. It suggests an unorthodox scenario of Bantu expansion including (after initial radiation in their homelands and neighboring territories) just a single passage through rainforest areas followed by a subsequent divergence into major clades. The likely localization of this divergence is in the area west of the Great Lakes. It conforms to the view that demographic expansion and dispersal throughout the dry-forests and savanna regions of subequatorial Africa was associated with the acquisition of new technologies (iron metallurgy and grain cultivation).Electronic supplementary material  Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on lime spray dryer (LSD) ash using different extraction methods

In this study, traditional Soxhlet, automatic Soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction techniques were employed to determine the speciation and concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on lime spray dryer (LSD) ash samples collected from the baghouse of a spreader stoker boiler. To test the efficiencies of different extraction methods, LSD ash samples were doped with a mixture of 16 US EPA specified PAHs to measure the matrix spike recoveries. The results showed that the spike recoveries of PAHs were different using these three extraction methods with dichloromethane (DCM) as the solvent. Traditional Soxhlet extraction achieved slightly higher recoveries than automatic Soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction. Different solvents including toluene, DCM:acetone (1:1 V/V) and hexane:acetone (1:1 V/V) were further examined to optimize the recovery using ultrasonic extraction. Toluene achieved the highest spike recoveries of PAHs at a spike level of 10 microg kg(-1). When the spike level was increased to 50 microg kg(-1), the spike recoveries of PAHs also correspondingly increased. Although the type and concentration of PAHs detected on LSD ash samples by different extraction methods varied, the concentration of each detected PAH was consistently low, at microg kg(-1) levels.     

Relative risk of abnormal karyotype in fetuses found to have an atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) on fetal echocardiography

One hundred and twenty-five fetuses were identified as having an AVSD with normal venous connections, normal arterial connections and normal cardiac situs on fetal echocardiography. Fetal karyotype was known in 111 of these cases. The relative risk of fetal trisomy 21 at mid-trimester was 107 (95% CI 87–127) times the expected number of cases compared with risk from maternal age alone, and that for trisomy 21,18 or 13 was 95 (95% CI 79–109). This data may be useful in counselling pregnant women about risk of fetal karyotypic abnormality after a diagnosis of fetal AVSD. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of the Applicability of Capsid-Integrity Assays for Detecting Infectious Norovirus Inactivated by Heat or UV Irradiation

Food and Environmental Virology - Human noroviruses are the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis. In the absence of a practical culture technique for routine analysis of infectious noroviruses,...     

Testing of a GIS model ofEucalyptus Iargiflorens health on a semiarid,saline floodplain

Irrigated agriculture has resulted in substantial changes in water flows to the lower reaches of the River Murray. These changes have led to large-scale occurrences of dieback inEucalyptus largiflorens (black box) woodlands as well as increased inputs of salt to the river. Management options to address problems of this scale call for the use of spatial data sets via geographic information systems (GIS). A GIS exists for one floodplain of the River Murray at Chowilla, and a simple model predicted six health classes ofEucalyptus largiflorens based on groundwater salinity, flooding frequency, and groundwater depth.To determine the usefulness of the model for vegetation management, the quality of both the model and the GIS data sets were tested. Success of the testing procedure was judged by the degree of spatial matching between the model's predictions of health and that assessed from aerial photographs and by field truthing. Analyses at 80 sites showed that tree health was significantly greater where groundwater salinity was less than 40 dS/m or flooding occurred more frequently than 1 in 10 years or depth to groundwater exceeded 4 m. Testing of the GIS data sets found that vegetation was misclassified at 15% of sites. Association was shown between GIS-predicted values and field-truthed values of groundwater salinity but not groundwater depth. The GIS model of health is a useful starting point for future vegetation management and can be further improved by increasing the quality of the data coverages and further refining of the model to optimize parameters and thresholds.     

FRESH GROUND WATER STORED IN AQUIFERS UNDER THE CONTINENTAL SHELF: IMPLICATIONS FROM A DEEP TEST,NANTUCKET ISLAND,MASSACHUSETTS1

ABSTRACT: A deep water-resource and stratigraphic test well near the center of Nantucket Island, about 40 miles (64 km) off the New England Coast, has encountered freshwater at greater depth than predicted by the Ghyben-Herzberg principle. An uppermost lens of fresh-water, which occupies relatively permeable glacial-outwash sand and gravel to a depth of 520 ft. (158 m), is probably in hydrodynamic equilibrium with the present level of the sea and the height of the water table. However, two zones of freshwater between 730-820 ft. (222-250 m) and 900-930 ft. (274-283 m) are anomalously deep. A third zone extending from 1150-1500 ft. (350-457 m) contains slightly salty ground water (2 to 3 parts per thousand dissolved solids). Several explanations are possible, but the most likely is that large areas of the Continental Shelf were exposed to recharge by precipitation during long periods of low sea level in Pleistocene time. After the last retreat of glacial ice, seawater rapidly drowned the shelf around Nantucket Island. Since then, about 8000 years ago, the deep freshwater zones which underlie dense clay layers have not had time to adjust to a new equilibrium. Under similar circumstances freshwater may remain trapped under extensive areas of the Continental Shelf wherever clay confining beds have not permitted saltwater to intrude rapidly to new positions of hydrodynamic equilibrium. The implications are far reaching because all continental shelfs were exposed to similar hydrologic influences during Pleistocene time.     

AN IMPLICIT APPROACH TO PRICING AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSFERS TO URBAN USES1

ABSTRACT: The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre-foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.     

Transport and biodegradation of perchlorate in soils

Perchlorate (ClO4-) contamination of ground water and surface water is a widespread problem, particularly in the western United States. This study examined the effect of biodegradation on perchlorate fate and transport in soils. Solute transport experiments were conducted on two surface soils. Pulses of solution containing perchlorate and Br- were applied to saturated soil columns at steady state water flow. Perchlorate behaved like a nonreactive tracer in Columbia loam (coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Oxyaquic Xerofluvent) but was degraded in Yolo loam (fine-silty, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Mollic Xerofluvent). Batch experiments demonstrated that perchlorate removal from solution in Yolo loam was caused by biodegradation. Other batch experiments with Yolo loam surface and subsurface soils, Columbia loam surface soil, and dredge tailings demonstrated that perchlorate biodegradation required anaerobic conditions, an adequate carbon source, and an active perchlorate-degrading microbial population. The sequential reduction of perchlorate and NO3- by an indigenous soil microbial community in Yolo loam batch systems was also studied. Nitrate reduction occurred much sooner than perchlorate reduction in soils that had not been previously exposed to perchlorate, but NO3- and perchlorate were simultaneously reduced in soils previously exposed to perchlorate. The results of this study have implications for in situ remediation schemes and for agricultural soils that have been contaminated by perchlorate-tainted irrigation water.