This study aimed at statistically investigating the association between the internal exposure of children and young adults
to uranium (U) and epidemiologically relevant external determinants of exposure. The investigation was performed with data
from two studies within the framework of the German health-related environmental monitoring program: The German Environmental Survey for Children (GerES IV) conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) with data on 1,780 children 3–14 years of age and their home environment and the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB, section: human specimens) with data on 2,253 students 20–29 years of age. Both studies provided data on the U levels in human urine for all probands.
GerES IV furthermore provided an extensive environmental and demographic database on, e.g., U levels in drinking water. The
data from GerES IV and ESB were linked by GIS to spatially relevant exposure information, including background values of U
in stream sediments and in upper and lower soils, U levels in mosses and particulate matter in the lower atmosphere, precipitation
and elevation as well as forest density. Bivariate correlation analysis and two decision tree models showed moderate but significant
associations between U in human urine and U levels in drinking water, stream sediments and upper and lower soils. Future investigations
considering additional epidemiologically relevant data sets may differentiate the results. Furthermore, the sample design
of future environmental epidemiology studies should take the spatial evaluation of the data into greater account. 相似文献
Nature-based solutions (NBS), understood as actions that use ecosystem processes to address societal needs, can play important roles to future-proof river landscape development for people and nature. However, knowledge gaps exist how NBS can be planned and implemented at landscape scales. This Special Issue brings together insights and experiences from studies of assessing, planning, and implementing NBS in river landscapes in Europe and beyond. It addresses three research fields: (i) NBS effects, looking at the effectiveness of NBS to achieve ecological, social, and/or economic outcomes, (ii) NBS planning, focusing on approaches for planning and designing NBS, and (iii) NBS governance, relating to governance and business models for implementation. The twelve contributions deliver evidence on how NBS outperform conventional, rather technical solutions, provide guidance and tools to operationalize the NBS concept into practice, and showcase successful governance models of NBS in different contexts. The editorial ends with an outlook on further research needs. 相似文献
Conservation and management of fresh flowing waters involves evaluating and managing effects of cumulative impacts on the aquatic environment from disturbances such as: land use change, point and nonpoint source pollution, the creation of dams and reservoirs, mining, and fishing. To assess effects of these changes on associated biotic communities it is necessary to monitor and report on the status of lotic ecosystems. A variety of stream classification methods are available to assist with these tasks, and such methods attempt to provide a systematic approach to modeling and understanding complex aquatic systems at various spatial and temporal scales. Of the vast number of approaches that exist, it is useful to group them into three main types. The first involves modeling longitudinal species turnover patterns within large drainage basins and relating these patterns to environmental predictors collected at reach and upstream catchment scales; the second uses regionalized hierarchical classification to create multi-scale, spatially homogenous aquatic ecoregions by grouping adjacent catchments together based on environmental similarities; and the third approach groups sites together on the basis of similarities in their environmental conditions both within and between catchments, independent of their geographic location. We review the literature with a focus on more recent classifications to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. We identify gaps or problems with the current approaches, and we propose an eight-step heuristic process that may assist with development of more flexible and integrated aquatic classifications based on the current understanding, network thinking, and theoretical underpinnings. 相似文献
GIS overlay techniques were used to provide a quantitative historic documentation of deforestation and land-use dynamics in
the Middle Mountains of Nepal between 1947 and 1990. Deforestation was most critical in the 1960s, but active afforestation
programs in the 1980s have reversed the process. In spite of these trends, the degradation problem is more complex. The GIS
evaluation showed that 86% of the recently afforested land is now under pine plantations located primarily at lower elevations
and moderately steep slopes. In contrast, rainfed agricultural expansion is most pronounced on acidic soils and steeper, upper
elevation sites, suggesting marginalization of agriculture. Agricultural expansion coupled with major losses of grazing land
to pine forests are the key processes pointing towards major animal feed deficits. An alternative animal feed source is suggested
through GIS using a topographically based microclimatic classification to generate a tree-planting map where the optimum ecological
conditions for selective native fodder tree species are identified. 相似文献
Objective: There is considerable evidence for the negative effects of driver distraction on road safety. In many experimental studies, drivers have been primarily viewed as passive receivers of distraction. Thus, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of their self-regulatory behavior. The aim of the current study was to compare drivers' performance when engaged in a system-paced secondary task with a self-paced version of this task and how both differed from baseline driving performance without distraction.
Methods: Thirty-nine participants drove in a simulator while performing a secondary visual–manual task. One group of drivers had to work on this task in predefined situations under time pressure, whereas the other group was free to decide when to work on the secondary task (self-regulation group). Drivers' performance (e.g., lateral and longitudinal control, brake reaction times) was also compared with a baseline condition without any secondary task.
Results: For the system-paced secondary task, distraction was associated with high decrements in driving performance (especially in keeping the lateral position). No effects were found for the number of collisions, probably because of the lower driving speeds while distracted (compensatory behavior). For the self-regulation group, only small impairments in driving performance were found. Drivers engaged less in the secondary task during foreseeable demanding or critical driving situations.
Conclusions: Overall, drivers in the self-regulation group were able to anticipate the demands of different traffic situations and to adapt their engagement in the secondary task, so that only small impairments in driving performance occurred. Because in real traffic drivers are mostly free to decide when to engage in secondary tasks, it can be concluded that self-regulation should be considered in driver distraction research to ensure ecological validity. 相似文献
Abstract The work reported indicates that there could be a potential of ground water pollution by NO3‐N from turkey facilities built on both sandy and clay soils. At four different depths (30.54, 61.08, 91.62, and 122.16 cm), the NO3‐N levels for the clay soil were 1572, 497, 66, and 28 ppm, and those for the sandy soil were 293, 425, 324, and 164 ppm, respectively. No significant P increases were observed but there did exist a significant increase of K in the topsoil for both clay and sandy turkey structures. The results show that swine hoop houses with less than three or four years of age may not pose a threat to groundwater pollution due to the leaching of nutrients. The only dairy feedlot sampled in this study, although it has been used for more than 20 years, did not show leaching of NO3‐N and P. However, it did show a significantly elevated concentration of potassium in the topsoil, as compared to the background sample. More sites should be investigated to verify this. 相似文献
Climate warming can change the geographic distribution and intensity of the transmission of vector-borne diseases such as
malaria. The transmitted parasites usually benefit from increased temperatures as both their reproduction and development
are accelerated. Lower Saxony (northwestern Germany) has been a malaria region until the 1950s, and the vector species are
still present throughout Germany. This gave reason to investigate whether a new autochthonous transmission could take place
if the malaria pathogen was introduced again in Germany. 相似文献
As little is known about the potential risks associated with the use of microbiologically contaminated river water for recreation, irrigation, or domestic purposes, the Msunduzi River in Pietermaritzburg (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) was evaluated. In addition to pH, temperature, and chemical oxygen demand, quantitative and qualitative microbiological analyses were performed monthly for 13 months. These included aerobic plate counts, counts of aerobic and anaerobic sporeformers, most probable numbers for total and faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli and the detection of Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and intestinal enterococci. Presumptive E. coli and S. aureus from river water samples were confirmed using PCR and additionally matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for E. coli. Aerobic plate counts were above the South African Department of Water Affairs recommended guideline level for domestic use of 100 cfu/ml for all 13 months assessed. Faecal coliform (up to 63,000 MPN/100 ml) and E. coli (up to 7,900 MPN/100 ml) levels regularly exceeded stipulated limits for safe irrigation, domestic and recreational use. The presence of Salmonella spp., S. aureus, and intestinal enterococci frequently coincided with faecal coliform and E. coli levels above 1,000 MPN/100 ml. This illustrates the value of using guideline values for faecal coliforms and E. coli as indicators for the presence of potential pathogens. PCR and MALDI-TOF MS confirmation of E. coli were in agreement, thereby demonstrating the potential of MALDI-TOF MS as a suitable alternative. These data demonstrate that potential health risks are associated with using Msunduzi River water for irrigation and recreational or domestic purposes. 相似文献