Is this trail too crowded? A choice experiment to evaluate tradeoffs and preferences of park visitors in Garibaldi Park,British Columbia

Large crowds in parks can be a problem for park managers and visitors. However, perceptions of crowding are difficult to measure due to coping mechanisms deployed by park visitors. Furthermore, perceptions of crowding should not be measured in isolation, but rather as part of a suite of conditions that comprise the visitors’ outdoor experience. We used a dichotomous choice experiment with visual images and eight attributes to estimate park users’ utilities associated with their visitor experience in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. Our visual method allowed us to control for background view and compare user preferences on hiking trails with preferences at final destinations. We find that utilities are more sensitive to crowding at viewpoints than to other aspects of the outdoor experience. Thus, visitor satisfaction and crowding perceptions are more likely to be defined by where visitors have these encounters rather than the total number of encounters.     

Phenomenological compensation of thermally caused position and orientation errors of rotary axes

Thermal errors of machine tools are one of the major sources of inaccuracy. Therefore, the reduction of temperature induced deviations or the compensation of the resulting tool center point (TCP) errors have been of strong interest to the manufacturing industry for a couple of years. Up to now, the observation of the environment, the main spindle, the linear axes and the machine bed were in the focus of research, but with the rising demand for 5-axis machine tools and the increasing requirements regarding their accuracy, the analysis of the thermal behavior of rotary axes becomes more and more important. This paper gives an overview of corresponding thermal measurements of machine tools. The thermal behavior of rotary and swiveling axes is analyzed in detail. A simulation model and an approach for a phenomenological compensation of the TCP error are introduced and verified by measurements.     

Integrated methodology for assessing the HCH groundwater pollution at the multi-source contaminated mega-site Bitterfeld/Wolfen

A large-scale groundwater contamination characterises the Pleistocene groundwater system of the former industrial and abandoned mining region Bitterfeld/Wolfen, Eastern Germany. For more than a century, local chemical production and extensive lignite mining caused a complex contaminant release from local production areas and related dump sites. Today, organic pollutants (mainly organochlorines) are present in all compartments of the environment at high concentration levels. An integrated methodology for characterising the current situation of pollution as well as the future fate development of hazardous substances is highly required to decide on further management and remediation strategies. Data analyses have been performed on regional groundwater monitoring data from about 10 years, containing approximately 3,500 samples, and up to 180 individual organic parameters from almost 250 observation wells. Run-off measurements as well as water samples were taken biweekly from local creeks during a period of 18 months. A kriging interpolation procedure was applied on groundwater analytics to generate continuous distribution patterns of the nodal contaminant samples. High-resolution geological 3-D modelling serves as a database for a regional 3-D groundwater flow model. Simulation results support the future fate assessment of contaminants. A first conceptual model of the contamination has been developed to characterise the contamination in regional surface waters and groundwater. A reliable explanation of the variant hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) occurrence within the two local aquifer systems has been derived from the regionalised distribution patterns. Simulation results from groundwater flow modelling provide a better understanding of the future pollutant migration paths and support the overall site characterisation. The presented case study indicates that an integrated assessment of large-scale groundwater contaminations often needs more data than only from local groundwater monitoring. The developed methodology is appropriate to assess POP-contaminated mega-sites including, e.g. HCH deposits. Although HCH isomers are relevant groundwater pollutants at this site, further organochlorine pollutants are present at considerably higher levels. The study demonstrates that an effective evaluation of the current situation of contamination as well as of the related future fate development requires detailed information of the entire observed system.     

Characterization of MSWI fly ash through mineralogy and water extraction

This paper investigates the mineralogical characteristics of fresh, aged and hot water extracted MSWI fly ash for providing the baseline information of minerals stability which controls the released heavy metals into the environment. Quantitative determination of bulk phase abundance in the fresh fly ash by the XRD Rietveld refinement method provided composition levels for amorphous and crystalline phases such as potassium tetrachlorozincate (K₂ZnCl₄), gehlenite, halite, quartz, anhydrite, and feldspar. The minerals association in the fly ash is clearly unstable and subject to mineralogical reactions. The phases of K₂ZnCl₄, halite and anhydrite in the fresh fly ash were involved in hydration and dissolution/precipitation processes to form new minerals such as the Zn-bearing mineral gordaite, syngenite, gypsum and hydrocalumite. The solubility-controlling phases and extractability of heavy metals were examined in a Soxhlet hot water-extractor. Here the soluble salts were simply removed from fly ash while Ca-, Al-, Si- and SO₄²⁻-bearing hydrate minerals were precipitated from the extraction solution. Furthermore, a low release of heavy metals Zn, Pb and Cd in hot water was noticed, indicating a strong retention of the trace metals in the mineral phases remaining in the insoluble fly ash residues.     

Ultrafine particles at workplaces of a primary aluminium smelter

The number concentration and size distribution of ultrafine particles in a S?derberg and a prebake potroom of an aluminium primary smelter have been measured using a scanning mobility particle spectrometer. The particle morphology was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The study shows the existence of elevated number concentrations of ultrafine particles in both potrooms. The main source of these particles is likely to be the process of anode changing. The ultrafine particles were measured directly at the source but could also be identified as episodes of high number concentrations in the general background air. Unlike the larger particles belonging to the 50-100 nm mode, the nanoparticle mode could not be detected in the TEM indicating that they may not be stable under the applied sampling conditions and/or the high vacuum in the instrument.     

Developing Effective Decision Support for the Application of “Gentle” Remediation Options: The GREENLAND Project

Gentle remediation options (GRO) are risk management strategies/technologies that result in a net gain (or at least no gross reduction) in soil function as well as risk management. They encompass a number of technologies, including the use of plant (phyto‐), fungi (myco‐), and/or bacteria‐based methods, with or without chemical soil additives or amendments, for reducing contaminant transfer to local receptors by in situ stabilization, or extraction, transformation, or degradation of contaminants. Despite offering strong benefits in terms of risk management, deployment costs, and sustainability for a range of site problems, the application of GRO as practical on‐site remedial solutions is still in its relative infancy, particularly for metal(loid)‐contaminated sites. A key barrier to wider adoption of GRO relates to general uncertainties and lack of stakeholder confidence in (and indeed knowledge of) the feasibility or reliability of GRO as practical risk management solutions. The GREENLAND project has therefore developed a simple and transparent decision support framework for promoting the appropriate use of gentle remediation options and encouraging participation of stakeholders, supplemented by a set of specific design aids for use when GRO appear to be a viable option. The framework is presented as a three phased model or Decision Support Tool (DST), in the form of a Microsoft Excel‐based workbook, designed to inform decision‐making and options appraisal during the selection of remedial approaches for contaminated sites. The DST acts as a simple decision support and stakeholder engagement tool for the application of GRO, providing a context for GRO application (particularly where soft end‐use of remediated land is envisaged), quick reference tables (including an economic cost calculator), and supporting information and technical guidance drawing on practical examples of effective GRO application at trace metal(loid) contaminated sites across Europe. This article introduces the decision support framework. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Social spiders catch larger prey: a study of Anelosimus eximius (Araneae: Theridiidae)

Summary During a 1-year-study in tropical Panama, prey of the social theridiid Anelosimus eximius was analysed at two locations and compared with the potential prey spectrum according to sweepnet catches, pitfall traps and bowl traps. Compared with other web-building spiders, A. eximius catch an unusually high number of large insects: about 90% are flying ants, beetles,lepidopterans hemipterans, cockroaches and grasshoppers. This is the result of a communal strategy to overwhelm prey. Webs are maintained commonly, and several spiders attack an entangled insect simultaneously. More spiders participate on insects that are larger and struggle more. The ability to catch large prey insects is discussed as a major driving factor for sociality in spiders.     

Analytische Schnellerkennungsmethoden: Bewertung abzulagernder Abfälle und Kontrolle von Deponien

Rapid test methods have been developed to classify waste. These procedures includes rapid elution and analytical determination methods for the detection of such elements as copper, nickel and zinc. Test kits for matter analysis (with a time requirement of about 30 minutes) have been modified with regard to the matrix waste. A comparison between such rapid testing methods and standard procedures using real samples leads to a similar waste classification. The reduction in time and costs via rapid assay methods allows multiple determinations of wastes to consequently increase the reliability of results from heterogeneous samples. The simple and rapid employment of these tests also makes an “on-site” performance possible.