A ranking of safety journals using different measurement methods

Using an online survey, we asked safety researchers around the globe how they perceived the quality of a list of 35 representative safety journals. We found that the most well-respected journal by expert opinion was the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries. However, taking both the respondents’ results and the citation-based results into consideration, the Journal of Hazardous Materials is the most influential journal, followed by Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Risk Analysis, Accident Analysis and Prevention and Safety Science.     

Estimating the spatial covariance structure using the geoadditive model

In geostatistics, both kriging and smoothing splines are commonly used to generate an interpolated map of a quantity of interest. The geoadditive model proposed by Kammann and Wand (J R Stat Soc: Ser C (Appl Stat) 52(1):1–18, 2003) represents a fusion of kriging and penalized spline additive models. Complex data issues, including non-linear covariate trends, multiple measurements at a location and clustered observations are easily handled using the geoadditive model. We propose a likelihood based estimation procedure that enables the estimation of the range (spatial decay) parameter associated with the penalized splines of the spatial component in the geoadditive model. We present how the spatial covariance structure (covariogram) can be derived from the geoadditive model. In a simulation study, we show that the underlying spatial process and prediction of the spatial map are estimated well using the proposed likelihood based estimation procedure. We present several applications of the proposed methods on real-life data examples.     

Impact of lime-stabilized biosolid application on Cu,Ni, Pb and Zn mobility in an acidic soil

A soil column leaching study was conducted on an acidic soil in order to assess the impact of lime-stabilized biosolid on the mobility of metallic pollutants (Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn). Column leaching experiments were conducted by injecting successively CaCl₂, oxalic acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solutions through soil and biosolid-amended soil columns. The comparison of leaching curves showed that the transport of metals is mainly related to the dissolved organic carbon, pH and the nature of extractants. Metal mobility in the soil and biosolid-amended soils is higher with EDTA than with CaCl₂ and oxalic acid extractions, indicating that metals are strongly bound to solid-phase components. The single application of lime-stabilized biosolid at a rate ranging from 15 to 30 t/ha tends to decrease the mobility of metals, while repeated applications (2?×?15 t/ha) increase metal leaching from soil. This result highlights the importance of monitoring the movement and concentrations of metals, especially in acid and sandy soils with shallow and smaller water bodies.     

Bacterial periphytic communities related to mercury methylation within aquatic plant roots from a temperate freshwater lake (South-Western France)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Macrophyte floating roots are considered as hotspots for methylmercury (MeHg) production in aquatic ecosystems through microbial activity....     

Monitoring and assessment of wetlands using Earth Observation: the GlobWetland project

The overall objective of the Ramsar Convention, signed in 1971, is the conservation and wise use of wetlands by national action and international cooperation as a means to achieving sustainable development. This complex and challenging task requires national, local and international bodies involved in the implementation of the convention to rely on suitable geo-information to better understand wetland areas, complete national inventories, perform monitoring activities, carry out assessments and put in practice suitable management plans based on updated and reliable information. In the last years, Earth Observation (EO) technology has been revealed as a key tool and unique information source to support the environmental community in different application domains, including wetlands' conservation and management. In this context, the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Ramsar Secretariat launched in 2003 the "GlobWetland" project in order to demonstrate the current capabilities of Earth Observation technology to support inventorying, monitoring, and assessment of wetland ecosystems. This paper collects the main results and findings of the "GlobWetland" project, providing an overview of the current capabilities and limits of EO technology as a tool to support the implementation of the Ramsar Convention. The project was carried out in collaboration with several regional, national and local conservation authorities and wetland managers, involving 50 different wetlands across 21 countries on four continents. This large range of users provided an excellent test bed to assess the potential of this technology to be applied in different technical, economic and social conditions.     

用于水中多环芳烃被动采样的聚合物厚度和材料的选择：哪个更有力地影响采样器性能？

本文使用3种单相聚合物制作用于多环芳烃被动采样的装置,这3种聚合物分别为聚甲醛(POM)、硅橡胶(SR)和聚乙烯(PE),通过室内试验测定了它们的分配系数和POM的扩散系数以及验证了动态积累模型。此外,在野外现场对每种装置的性能进行了评估。基于已开发模型的支持,讨论了使用不同材料和聚合物厚度的装置性能。结果表明,采样器性能,比如浓度平均周期的长短和多环芳烃的采集容量,都广受所选材料的影响。采样器的厚度也会对装置的性能造成影响,但程度很小。选择合适的聚合物和/或厚度可以使采样器更有适用于快速平衡或动态积累,以及促进膜或水边界层对动态积累的控制。此外,利用膜技术控制或平衡的化合物能够更精确的被量化,因为它们不需要利用参比法(PRC)来校正。然而,当富集浓度达到平衡后,采样器中的平均浓度就不能准备测量化合物浓度,而由膜控制的采样装置通过动态累积的方式能够提供不需要PRC校正的平均浓度;随着膜传质阻力的提高,采样器的检测限也得到提高。
精选自Angel Belles, Claire Alary, Yannick Mamindy-Pajany.Thickness and material selection of polymeric passive samplers for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water: which more strongly affects sampler properties?. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 35, Issue 7, pages 1708–1717, July 2016. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3326
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3326/full
     

Geographical variation in parasitism shapes larval immune function in a phytophagous insect

Two of the central goals of immunoecology are to understand natural variation in the immune system among populations and to identify those selection pressures that shape immune traits. Maintenance of the immune system can be costly, and both food quality and parasitism selection pressure are factors potentially driving immunocompetence. In tritrophic interactions involving phytophagous insects, host plants, and natural enemies, the immunocompetence of phytophagous insects is constrained by selective forces from both the host plants and the natural enemies. Here, we assessed the roles of host plants and natural enemies as selective pressures on immune variation among natural populations of Lobesia botrana. Our results showed marked geographical variation in immune defenses and parasitism among different natural populations. Larval immune functions were dependent of the host plant quality and were positively correlated to parasitism, suggesting that parasitoids select for greater investment into immunity in moth. Furthermore, investment in immune defense was negatively correlated with body size, suggesting that it is metabolically expensive. The findings emphasize the roles of host plants and parasitoids as selective forces shaping host immune functions in natural conditions. We argue that kinds of study are central to understanding natural variations in immune functions, and the selective forces beyond.     

Plant invasion phenomenon enhances reproduction performance in an endangered spider

Current models in evolutionary ecology predict life history alterations in response to habitat suitability to optimize fitness. Only few empirical studies have demonstrated how life history traits that are expected to trade off against each other differ among environments. In Europe, many salt marshes have been recently invaded by the grass Elymus athericus. Previous studies however showed higher densities of the endangered spider Arctosa fulvolineata (Araneae: Lycosidae) in invaded salt marshes compared to natural habitats, which suggests a lower habitat suitability in the latter. The aim of this study was to determine if this emerging habitat (1) affects the amount of resource acquisition and (2) alters the balance between life history traits that are expected to trade off against each other in this stenotopic salt marsh species. As suggested by theoretical studies, an optimization of fitness by increasing egg size at the cost of decreasing fecundity in unsuitable (i.e., natural) habitats was expected. Females presenting cocoon were then collected in close invaded and natural salt marsh areas within the Mont Saint-Michel Bay (France). By considering female mass as covariate, cocoon mass, number of eggs, and egg volume were compared between both habitats. Clutch mass was strongly determined by female mass in both habitats. Clutch mass was however significantly smaller in the natural habitat compared to the invaded habitat, indicating a higher resource acquisition in the latter. When correcting for female size, fecundity was additionally increased in the invaded habitat through a significant decrease in egg size. This phenotypic response can be explained by differences in habitat structure between invaded and natural habitats: the former offers a more complex litter favoring nocturnal wanderers like A. fulvolineata. The existence of such an adaptive reproduction strategy depending on habitat suitability constitutes an original case of an invasion that favors an endangered species.     

Valorization of marine sediments in geopolymer mortars: physico-mechanical,microstructural and environmental investigations at laboratory scale

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The high consumption of natural sand and the accumulation of mineral wastes in landfills such as dredged sediments make it necessary to valorize...