Passaic river sediment interstitial water phase I toxicity identification evaluation

A suite of tests was conducted to evaluate and identify the cause or causes of toxicity in Passaic River sediments. Sediment toxicity was measured with three types of bioassays: a whole sediment bioassay with the marine amphipod, Ampelisca abdita, and interstitial water bioassays with A. abdita and the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fisheri (Microtox((R))). In addition, a Phase I Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) was conducted to elucidate the cause of observed toxicity. Analytical concentrations of selected residues in whole sediment and interstitial water from the five sampling stations were considered in conjunction with the conclusions drawn from the toxicity tests and Phase I TIE results. Finally, a toxic units approach was used to evaluate the predicted toxicity of measured interstitial water residue concentrations. There was a lack of toxic response in the short-term interstitial water bioassays, indicating that oxidants, soluble forms of metals, and dissolved phase neutral organics were not likely toxicants. However, there was significant toxicity indicated by the whole sediment A. abidita bioassays. After 10 days, there was complete or near complete mortality in amphipods exposed to all of the sediment samples tested. Removal of interstitial water toxicity by filtration was common to all four stations that exhibited measurable initial toxicity. The observed toxicity characteristics are consistent with particle associated neutral organics. This conclusion is supported by toxicity removal via filtration, lack of toxicity in the Microtox((R)) assays, and the fact that whole sediments were more toxic than was interstitial water.     

Environmental evaluation of transfer and treatment of excess pig slurry by life cycle assessment

Slurry management is a central topic in the agronomic and environmental analysis of intensive livestock production systems. The objective of this study is to compare the environmental performance of two scenarios of collective slurry management for the disposal of excess nitrogen from animal manure. The scenarios are the transfer of slurry and its injection to crop land, and the treatment of slurry in a collective biological treatment station. The study is based on a real case in the West of France, where a group of farmers is developing a collective plan for the disposal of almost 7000 m(3) of excess pig slurry. The evaluation is carried out by Life Cycle Assessment, where emissions and resource consumption are quantified and aggregated into four environmental impact categories: eutrophication, acidification, climate change, and non-renewable energy use. Ammonia emitted is the most important contributor to acidification and eutrophication, while methane contributes most to climate change. Both ammonia and methane are mostly emitted during the storage of slurry and, in the case of the treatment scenario, also during composting the solid fraction of the slurry. The two management strategies are similar with respect to climate change, whereas eutrophication and acidification are twice as large for treatment relative to transfer. Electricity needed for the treatment process is the main contributor to non-renewable energy use for the treatment scenario, while the transfer scenario represents a net energy saving, as energy saved by the reduction of mineral fertiliser use more than compensates for the energy needed for transport and injection of slurry. The overall environmental performance of transfer is better than that of treatment, as it involves less acidification, eutrophication and non-renewable energy use. The method employed and the results obtained in this study can provide elements for a transparent discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of contrasting excess slurry management scenarios as well as the identification of the main aspects determining their environmental performance.     

Bringing the outside in: Can “external” workers experience insider status?

The current study examines the possibility that agency workers can experience perceived insider status despite their assumed “outsider” category. One hundred ninety‐one agency workers from Canadian financial firms completed surveys assessing agency worker perceptions regarding the level of support from both their supervisors and the client firms' permanent workers, as well as the agency workers' level of perceived insider status and affective commitment toward the client firm. Agency worker supervisors (within the client firm) assessed the agency workers' level of interpersonal facilitation. Results indicate that: (1) Agency workers can experience perceived insider status, regardless of their objective classification as outsiders; (2) perceived support from supervisors and the client firms' permanent workers contribute to agency worker perceptions of insider status; and (3) perceptions of insider status are associated with higher levels of both affective commitment and interpersonal facilitation, even in workers that are considered marginally tied to the organization. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Information seeking in documents by pilots: Assessment of the reliability problems caused by the transition from paper to electronic

Information seeking is completely ignored in research on aviation psychology and more generally in issues of air transport safety. But information seeking occupies a central place in the pilots’ work. And this activity is undergoing an important development: the transition from paper to electronic documents. A contribution to the assessment of this transition is presented here. The assessment is focused on deterioration of information access, understanding and exploitation, and their possible negative consequences in terms of reliability. The exploitation of the documentation by pilots, and particularly the information seeking activity, are described and linked to their contexts (i.e. the main tasks of flying that require information seeking). Then an users test is presented where some information-seeking tasks are evaluated in terms of cost and errors, by comparing electronic and paper documents. The results show that electronic documents provide new functions that seem useful but also that too many new functions generate difficulties. Then it seems that pilots need some time to learn how to use these new documents. Reducing attention needed to perform a task such as calculation is risky. Some aspects of information seeking by the pilots should be better analysed and evaluated.     

Coupling occurs before breakdown during biotransformation of Acid Blue 62 by white rot fungi

Only few data exist on the metabolites produced during the biotransformation of anthraquinonic dyes by white rot fungi (WRF). During the biotransformation of an anthraquinonic dye Acid Blue 62 (ABu62) using Pycnoporus sanguineus MUCL 41582 strain, it was previously demonstrated that the blue colour of the medium turned to red before complete dye decolourisation. To better understand the phenomenon, this study carried out ABu62 biotransformation with five different WRF strains (Coriolopsis polyzona MUCL 38443, Perenniporia ochroleuca MUCL 41114, Perenniporia tephropora MUCL 41562, P. sanguineus MUCL 38531 and Trametes versicolor MUCL 38412) and compared with P. sanguineus MUCL 41582 previously described. A multi-methodological approach (using capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, HPLC, UV, NMR and IR spectroscopies) was developed to characterise the metabolites involved and monitor their apparition. Seven metabolites were commonly found with all strains, suggesting a common metabolic pathway for ABu62 biotransformation. During the first days, dimer and oligomers of the initial ABu62 molecule were observed: the main one absorbed in the 500nm region, explaining the red colour appearance of the medium. This main metabolite was made up of two molecules of ABu62 linked by an azo bond, minus a cyclohexyl moiety. After a longer incubation time, breakdown products were observed. Based on these products characterizations, a bioconversion pathway was proposed.     

Declining levels of PCB, HCB and p,p′-DDE in adipose tissue from food producing bovines and swine in Sweden 1991–2004

The official control programme for organochlorine (OC) contaminants in food producing animals in Sweden was used to study temporal and spatial trends of the polychlorinated biphenyl CB 153, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and p,p′-DDE in adipose tissue from bovines and swine 1991–2004. Our results show that efforts to decrease OC contamination of animal feed and the environment have had a positive impact on the contamination of the animal production. OC concentrations declined significantly in almost all studied regions of Sweden. OC temporal trends were slower in bovines (6–8% per year) than in swine (10–12%). Power analyses showed that data from more than 10 years of sampling were needed for a detection of an annual OC level change of 5% in both species in the control programme, due to large within- and between-year variation in OC levels. CB 153 and p,p′-DDE levels were higher in southern than in northern Sweden. Levels decreased with age in milk cows, but not in young nulliparous cows (heifers) and bulls. Moreover, milk cows and bulls had significantly lower OC levels than heifers. Levels were not age-dependent among swine, but castrated male swine (barrows) had significantly lower OC levels than young female swine (gilts). Levels of the studied OCs are now in many cases below the LOQ of the analytical method used. Future time trend studies of these OCs thus depend on lowered LOQs in the control programme.     

Community resilience and urban planning in tsunami-prone settlements in Chile

Urban planning can serve to minimise the effects of a tsunami and enhance community resilience. This study explores to what extent urban planning has addressed tsunami resilience in four villages on Chile's South Pacific coast, each of which was struck by tsunamis in 1960, 2010, and 2015. Through a detailed policy review and semi-structured interviews with residents, this paper analyses whether tsunami mitigation policies were incorporated into regional and local planning tools. It finds that although the government proposed relocation to tsunami-safe areas after the tsunami of 1960, urban development continued mainly in tsunami inundation zones—in the context of weak local planning frameworks and in the absence of community participation. In only one of the four case studies did participatory planning bring about the relocation of an entire village to a safe location. This paper concludes that incorporating participatory risk zone planning into urban planning enhances tsunami resilience.     

The effect of nitrogen deposition on the species richness of acid grasslands in Denmark: a comparison with a study performed on a European scale

The effect of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on the species richness of acid grasslands was investigated by combining data from a large Danish monitoring program with a large European data set, where a significant non-linear negative effect of nitrogen deposition had been demonstrated (Stevens et al., 2010). The nitrogen deposition range in Denmark is relatively small and when only considering the Danish data a non-significant decrease in the species richness with nitrogen deposition was observed. However, when both data sets were combined, then the conclusion of the European survey was further corroborated by the results of the Danish monitoring. Furthermore, by combining the two data sets a more comprehensive picture of the threats to the biodiversity of acid grasslands emerge; i.e., species richness in remnant patches of acid grassland in intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes is under influence not only from nitrogen deposition, but also from current and historical land use.     

PBDE and PCB contamination of eels from the Gironde estuary: from glass eels to silver eels

Since the 1980s, the eel population has been decreasing dangerously. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are one of the suspected causes of this decline. A preliminary study of PCB contamination carried out on different fish from the Gironde estuary (southwest of France, Europe) has shown a relatively high level of contamination of eel muscles. In order to characterize the contamination level of PCBs and PBDEs (PolyBrominated Diphenyl-Ethers) in eels from this estuary more than 240 eels were collected during the years 2004-2005 in the Gironde estuarine system, from glass eels to silver eels. Individual European eels were grouped according to length and localization sites. The results have shown a low contamination level of glass eels: respectively 28 ± 11 ng g⁻¹ dw for PCBs and 5 ± 3 ng g⁻¹ dw for PBDEs. The contamination level in eels (expressed in ng g⁻¹ dw) increases from glass eels to silver eels up to 3399 ng g⁻¹ dw of PCBs for the most contaminated silver eel. Such levels of PCBs similar to those observed in Northern Europe, could raise sanitary problems connected with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. These results are worrying for the local people who regularly eat eels caught in the Gironde estuary.