The interdependence of work and family roles

The circumstances of the lack of attention to the interdependence of family functions and external employment in the research to date are considered. Major problems and barriers to progress are noted. One problem is the conceptual-theoretical barrier of viewing work as masculine and family responsibility as feminine. A second problem is a differential focus in the research to date in which either the family is studied with inadequate attention given to work, or the work setting is studied with insufficient consideration of family responsibilities. Research strategies are reviewed and discussed, including the need to identify combinations of types of occupations and family situations. Five work-family groups are identified. One of the five groups, single parent is used to illustrate policies pertaining to the interdependence of work and family roles. The relevance of research on role interdependence for both governmental policy and organizational policy is considered in a discussion of the effects of policy on effective integration of work and family roles.     

Explosion properties of highly concentrated ozone gas

The explosive self-decomposition characteristics of gaseous ozone with a concentration of up to almost 100 vol% were quantitatively investigated using a closed system with an electric spark device. The lower self-decomposition (explosion) limit for ozone diluted with oxygen at room temperature and atmospheric pressure was 10–11 vol%, and so ozone at more than 10–11 vol% will lead to an explosive chain decomposition reaction leading to its complete conversion to oxygen in a vessel. The lower explosion limit shifts to a higher concentration with a decrease in pressure. The limit was about 80 vol% under a reduced pressure of 10 Torr. We also confirmed that explosion trigger energy (minimum ignition energy) is strongly dependent on ozone concentration and pressure. For example, the minimum trigger energy for 15 vol% ozone at a pressure of 76 Torr (about 220 mJ) was more than 20-fold that at atmospheric pressure (about 10 mJ), and that for 13 vol% ozone (about 580 mJ) was approximately 30 times higher than that for 20 vol% (about 20 mJ) at the same pressure of 76 Torr. Moreover, the physical characteristics of the trigger energy sources (e.g. spark gap and electrode tip angle) leading to the decomposition (explosion) of ozone were investigated under various conditions.     

SUBSTATE INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION FOR MANAGING LAKES AND WATERSHEDS: A WISCONSIN CASE STUDY1

ABSTRACT: Since the 1970s, there has been extensive experimentation with new approaches to water and land resources management at the state and local levels. There is a critical need to document, assess, and synthesize lessons learned from the nation's recent experience with subnational institutional changes in environmental management. This paper examines institutional changes aimed at more integrated water and related resources management at the substate level of government. We describe innovative institutional changes in a case study of Dane County, Wisconsin, and assess the implementation and preliminary consequences of these changes. Dissatisfaction with watershed and lake management results and perceptions of institutional inadequacy led to significant changes in the structure and rules for county resources management. A new entity was created to focus watershed management responsibilities. The scope of authority and powers were expanded. However, these changes all occurred within the framework of a general purpose unit of government. The new institutional arrangements have achieved a number of milestones, although it is premature to fully assess resource outcomes. The substantive changes, implementation tactics, and overall experience in Dane County's reforms - especially with regard to addressing intergovernmental tensions and decentralized management, limited authorities and funding, and public and constituency support - have useful implications for other substate efforts at more comprehensive and integrated water resources management.     

Thermal remediation of PCDD/Fs contaminated soil by zone combustion process

A new thermal process has been proposed for remediating soils contaminated by chlorinated organic compounds, e.g., PCDD/Fs and PCBs. This is to apply the "zone combustion process" which utilizes stable combustion of coke particles in the packed bed to soils with air flow across the bed. The usefulness and validity were obtained the results showing that more than 98.9% of PCDD/Fs in the soil was successfully removed in a laboratory-scale experiment. Some pretreatment of the soil sample, such as drying, pre-granulation and addition of limestone was found to make the removal efficiency better. Although, some fundamentals on the behavior of PCDD/Fs, e.g., decomposition/vaporization ratios and formation of other compounds cannot be certainly identified yet, the present results clearly show a way to remediate the contaminated soils and solid wastes.     

The synergistic effects of hydrogen peroxide and elevated seawater temperature on the metabolic activity of the coral <Emphasis Type="Italic">Galaxea fascicularis</Emphasis>

We examined quantitative changes in the metabolism of the coral Galaxea fascicularis caused by increases in both hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) concentration and seawater temperature. Seawater temperatures were maintained at 27 or 31°C in a well-controlled incubation chamber, and three levels of H₂O₂ concentration (0, 0.3, 3.0 μM) were used in experimental treatments. Gross primary production, calcification rates and respiration rates were all affected by increased H₂O₂ concentrations and high seawater temperatures. Individual treatments of high H₂O₂ or elevated seawater temperature alone caused significant declines in coral photosynthesis and calcification rates within the 3-day incubation period. The synergistic effect of high H₂O₂ combined with high seawater temperature resulted in a 134% increase in respiration rates, which surpassed the effect of either H₂O₂ or high seawater temperature alone. Our results suggest that both high H₂O₂ concentrations and elevated temperatures in seawater can strongly affect coral metabolism; however, these effects cannot be estimated by simply summing the effects of individual stress parameters.     

Development of a dynamic transfer model of (14)C from the atmosphere to rice plants

A dynamic compartment model was investigated to describe ¹⁴C accumulation in rice plants exposed to atmospheric ¹⁴C with temporally changing concentrations. In the model, rice plants were regarded to consist of three compartments: the ear and the mobile and immobile carbon pools of the shoot. Photosynthetically fixed carbon moves into the ear and the mobile carbon pool, and these two compartments release a part of this carbon into the atmosphere by respiration. Carbon accumulated in the mobile carbon pool is redistributed to the ear, while carbon transferred into the immobile carbon pool from the mobile one is accumulated there until harvest. The model was examined by cultivation experiments using the stable isotope, ¹³C, in which the ratios of carbon photosynthetically fixed at nine times during plant growth to the total carbon at the time of harvest were determined. The model estimates of the ratios were in relatively good agreement with the experimental observations, which implies that the newly developed compartment model is applicable to estimate properly the radiation dose to the neighboring population due to an accidental release of ¹⁴C from nuclear facilities.     

Utilizing the Cyberforest live sound system with social media to remotely conduct woodland bird censuses in Central Japan

We have developed a system that streams and archives live sound from remote areas across Japan via an unmanned automatic camera. The system was used to carry out pilot bird censuses in woodland; this allowed us to examine the use of live sound transmission and the role of social media as a mediator in remote scientific monitoring. The system has been streaming sounds 8 h per day for more than five years. We demonstrated that: (1) the transmission of live sound from a remote woodland could be used effectively to monitor birds in a remote location; (2) the simultaneous involvement of several participants via Internet Relay Chat to listen to live sound transmissions could enhance the accuracy of census data collection; and (3) interactions through Twitter allowed members of the public to engage or help with the remote monitoring of birds and experience inaccessible nature through the use of novel technologies.     

Traditional Farming Landscapes for Sustainable Living in Scandinavia and Japan: Global Revival Through the Satoyama Initiative

Traditional, pre-industrial farming was adapted to the natural environment—topography, geology, hydrology, climate, and biota. Traditional land use systems are still to be traced in Scandinavia as an “infield/outland landscape”, and in Japan as a “Satoyama landscape.” There are obvious similarities and differences in land use—the main difference being that pasturing of cattle and sheep has been less important in Japan. These land use systems can be traced back to early sedentary settlements 1500–2500 years ago. In both regions, traditional management almost ceased in the mid-twentieth century leading to afforestation and decreased biological diversity. Today, there is in Japan a growing movement for landscape restoration and promotion of a sustainable living countryside based on local agrarian and forestry production, local energy, tourism, etc. With this background, the so-called Satoyama Initiative has been organized and introduced as a global socio-ecological project with ecosystem services for human well-being.     

Distribution of pesticides and bisphenol A in sediments collected from rivers adjacent to coral reefs

To investigate the deteriorating health of coral reefs in Okinawa, Japan, natural sediment samples were analyzed for diuron, Irgarol 1051, chlorpyrifos, and bisphenol A (BPA) which are hazardous to corals. Samples were analyzed by solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS). Although diuron and chlorpyrifos usage is only well recorded for farms and not for cities, these chemicals were detected in both rural and urban areas. Additionally, diuron concentration in urban areas was in some cases higher than in rural areas, which might be caused by greater consumption of these chemicals in home gardens in city areas. Irgarol 1051 was detected in downstream river areas, which are situated far from the source sites such as pier or fishery harbor (0.6–3.2 km). This result suggested that Irgarol 1051 could be transported from the river mouths to the sampling sites during flood tides. High BPA concentrations were associated with urban areas (<1.2–22.0 μg kg⁻¹), while low concentrations were associated with rural areas (nd–6.8 μg kg⁻¹). The river sediments under study are delivered to coral reefs in large quantity through runoff caused by typhoons and other heavy rains. The highly hazardous chemicals are carried into coral reefs on these sediments. Therefore, these hazardous chemical substances may already be influencing the coral reefs.     

The effects of pH on fluoxetine in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes): acute toxicity in fish larvae and bioaccumulation in juvenile fish

Recent detection of fluoxetine in the aquatic environment and fish suggests a possibly high accumulation of fluoxetine; however, no report is available on the bioaccumulation of fluoxetine in aquatic organisms. Since bioaccumulation of fluoxetine was probably dependent on pH near the pK(a) value of 10.1, experiments were conducted approximately at pH 7, 8, and 9. Distribution coefficients between 1-octanol and water (D(ow)), and those between synthetic membrane vesicles (liposomes) and water (D(lip-wat)) were determined at pH 7, 8, and 9. The D(ow) and D(lip-wat) values increased significantly with increasing pH. Acute toxicity tests were performed using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) prior to the bioaccumulation test, and 96-h LC(50) values were 5.5, 1.3, and 0.20mgl(-1) at pH 7, 8, and 9, respectively. In the bioaccumulation test, concentrations of fluoxetine and its major metabolite, norfluoxetine, in the fish body and liver were measured. The bioconcentration factors (BCF) of fluoxetine for Japanese medaka were 8.8, 3.0x10, and 2.6x10(2) in the body and 3.3x10(2), 5.8x10(2), and 3.1x10(3) in the liver at pH 7, 8, and 9, respectively. The BCF values were lower at pH 7 and higher at pH 9 mainly because of the increase in nonionized species with significantly higher hydrophobicity than the ionized species at pH values closer to pK(a). A similar trend was obtained for the concentration of norfluoxetine in the fish but the pseudo-BCF values (the ratio of the norfluoxetine concentration in the fish and the fluoxetine concentration in test water) were higher than the BCF value of fluoxetine at all pH conditions.