Cooling of bat hibernacula to mitigate white-nose syndrome

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease that has caused precipitous declines in several North American bat species, creating an urgent need for conservation. We examined how microclimates and other characteristics of hibernacula have affected bat populations following WNS-associated declines and evaluated whether cooling of warm, little-used hibernacula could benefit bats. During the period following mass mortality (2013–2020), we conducted 191 winter surveys of 25 unmanipulated hibernacula and 6 manipulated hibernacula across Pennsylvania (USA). We joined these data with additional datasets on historical (pre-WNS) bat counts and on the spatial distribution of underground sites. We used generalized linear mixed models and model selection to identify factors affecting bat populations. Winter counts of Myotis lucifugus were higher and increased over time in colder hibernacula (those with midwinter temperatures of 3–6 °C) compared with warmer (7–11 °C) hibernacula. Counts of Eptesicus fuscus, Myotis leibii, and Myotis septentrionalis were likewise higher in colder hibernacula (temperature effects = –0.73 [SE 0.15], –0.51 [0.18], and –0.97 [0.28], respectively). Populations of M. lucifugus and M. septentrionalis increased most over time in hibernacula surrounded by more nearby sites, whereas Eptesicus fuscus counts remained high where they had been high before WNS onset (pre-WNS high count effect = 0.59 [0.22]). Winter counts of M. leibii were higher in hibernacula with high vapor pressure deficits (VPDs) (particularly over 0.1 kPa) compared with sites with lower VPDs (VPD effect = 15.3 [4.6]). Counts of M. lucifugus and E. fuscus also appeared higher where VPD was higher. In contrast, Perimyotis subflavus counts increased over time in relatively warm hibernacula and were unaffected by VPD. Where we manipulated hibernacula, we achieved cooling of on average 2.1 °C. At manipulated hibernacula, counts of M. lucifugus and P. subflavus increased over time (years since manipulation effect = 0.70 [0.28] and 0.51 [0.15], respectively). Further, there were more E. fuscus where cooling was greatest (temperature difference effect = –0.46 [SE 0.11]), and there was some evidence there were more P. subflavus in hibernacula sections that remained warm after manipulation. These data show bats are responding effectively to WNS through habitat selection. In M. lucifugus, M. septentrionalis, and possibly P. subflavus, this response is ongoing, with bats increasingly aggregating at suitable hibernacula, whereas E. fuscus remain in previously favored sites. Our results suggest that cooling warm sites receiving little use by bats is a viable strategy for combating WNS.     

Effects of Liming and Ash Application on Below Ground Ectomycorrhizal Community Structure in Two Norway Spruce Forests

The effect of lime and ash additions upon the below ground ectomycorrhizal communities was studied at two spruce forest sites, Horröd and Hasslöv, in Southern Sweden. At Hasslöv, fifteen years after the addition of 8.75 ton ha^-1 of dolomite, the species richness of the mycorrhizal community was unchanged. However, the liming resulted in an almost total replacement of species normally found under the site conditions, with only three morphotypes from a total of 24 distinguished being common to both the control and limed plots. At Horröd, four years after the application of 3.25 ton ha^-1 crushed lime, there was a significant reduction in the number of species recorded. This was not a result of a reduction in root tips sampled, since there was no significant treatment effect upon root tip abundance. Instead, it appeared that the less common species present in the control plots had been lost following liming. At the same site, the addition of 4.28 ton ha^-1 of wood ash had little effect upon the mycorrhizal community as a whole, with only small changes recorded in the abundance of a small number of species. This study highlights the urgent need for additional data on the temporal and load response of ectomycorrhizal fungi to the addition of lime. This information is vital in view of the proposed widespread use of lime as a counter measure to soil acidification.     

A New Approach to Setting Vehicle Emission Standards

Urban ambient air quality trend analysis was evaluated as an alternative to rollback analysis to estimate vehicle emission standards needed to achieve national ambient air quality standards. Examination of the trends of monthly maximum 8 hour average carbon monoxide concentrations, central business district traffic activity, and emission rates from vehicles on the road suggests that the automotive exhaust emission standard for carbon monoxide derived in response to the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 may be ten times too severe. The excessive stringency of the vehicle emission standard for carbon monoxide was confirmed by two different analyses of the correlation between annual mean carbon monoxide concentration and frequency of occurrence of carbon monoxide concentrations above the level of the 8-hour standard. One correlation analysis using all available CAMP data involved an empirical approach and the other assumed that carbon monoxide concentrations are described by the lognormal distribution. Based on the analysis of CAMP air quality data, a vehicle carbon monoxide emission standard of approximately 29 grams per mile appears adequate to meet the ambient air quality standard. The large difference between the results of this analysis and the 1976 Federal vehicle carbon monoxide emission standard indicates the advisability of applying this methodology to verification of the standards for hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen.     

The Role of Pressure Drop and Flow Redistribution on Modeling Mercury Control Using Sorbent Injection in Baghouse Filters

Abstract

A mathematical model based on simple cake filtration theory was coupled to a reviously developed two-stage mathematical model for mercury (Hg) removal using powdered activated carbon injection upstream of a bag-house filter. Values of the average permeability of the filter cake and the filter resistance extracted from the model were 4.4× 10^?13 m² and 2.5 ×10^?4 m^?1, respectively. The flow is redistributed during partial cleaning of the filter, with flows higher across the newly cleaned filter section. The calculated average Hg removal efficiency from the baghouse is lower because of the high mass flux of Hg exiting the filter in the newly cleaned section. The model shows that calculated average Hg removal is affected by permeability, filter resistance, fraction of the baghouse cleaned, and cleaning interval.     

Injury prevention programs against distracted driving: Are they effective?

Introduction: Distracted driving (talking and/or texting) is a growing public safety problem, with increasing incidence among adult drivers. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence of distracted driving (DD) among health care providers and to create awareness against DD. We hypothesized that distracted driving is prevalent among health care providers and a preventive campaign against distracted driving would effectively decrease distracted driving among health care providers.

Methods: We performed a 4-phase prospective interventional study of all health care providers at our level 1 trauma center. Phase 1: one week of pre-intervention observation; phase 2: one week of intervention; phase 3: one week of postintervention observation; and phase 4: one week of 6 months of postintervention observation. Observations were performed outside employee parking garage at the following time intervals: 6:30–8:30 a.m., 4:40–5:30 p.m., and 6:30–7:30 p.m. Intervention included an e-mail survey, pamphlets and banners in the hospital cafeteria, and a postintervention survey. Hospital employees were identified with badges and scrubs, employees exiting through employee gate, and parking pass on the car. Outcome measure was incidence of DD pre, post, and 6 months postintervention.

Results: A total of 15,416 observations (pre: 6,639, post: 4,220, 6 months post: 4,557) and 520 survey responses were collected. The incident of DD was 11.8% among health care providers. There was a significant reduction in DD in each time interval of observation between pre- and postintervention. On subanalysis, there was a significant decrease in talking (P = .0001) and texting (P = .01) while driving postintervention compared to pre-intervention. In the survey, 35.5% of respondents admitted to DD and 4.5% respondents were involved in an accident due to DD. We found that 77% respondents felt more informed after the survey and 91% respondents supported a state legislation against DD. The reduction in the incidence of DD postintervention was sustained even at 6-month follow-up.

Conclusion: There was a 32% reduction in the incidence of distracted driving postintervention, which remained low even at 6-month follow-up. Implementation of an effective injury prevention campaign could reduce the incidence of distracted driving nationally.     

The more I want,the less I have left to give: The moderating role of psychological entitlement on the relationship between psychological contract violation,depressive mood states,and citizenship behavior

Research has emphasized the negative effects of organizations' broken promises and failed obligations on employee attitudes and behaviors. However, not all employees respond in the same manner. This paper integrates research on psychological contracts and psychological entitlement to examine how individuals with exceedingly high demands and expectations react to a perceived letdown by the organization. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we argue that a psychological contract violation is associated with employee depressive mood states, which, in turn, influence the amount of citizenship behavior displayed. We further posit that psychological entitlement moderates the link between contract violation and depressive mood states. Using Hayes' PROCESS macro to assess a moderated mediation model, findings from a multi‐source field study support our predictions. This research contributes to the work on psychological contracts and psychological entitlement on multiple fronts. Suggestions for future research and practical implications for managers are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

'Capacity for Change': Testing a Model for the Inclusion of Social Indicators in Australia's National Land and Water Resources Audit

The complexity of relationships between social change and natural resource management has generated interest in the identification of indicators that might provide more streamlined means for monitoring and planning. In the case of Australia's National Land and Water Resources Audit, interest has focused on the capacity of resource managers to implement more sustainable resource-use practices. This paper reports on an attempt to develop indicators of 'capacity for change' that are statistically reliable and both meaningful and useful to resource managers at a variety of scales. It will be argued, however, that social, spatial and temporal variability in change processes means that no discrete list of social indicators can achieve this task. At the same time that rigorous testing is needed to challenge common-sense assumptions about who is capable of change and where to target capacity-building programmes, data collection and interpretation must be embedded in processes of ongoing negotiation and adaptation among all those involved in, or affected by, resource management.     

Diversity in the later Paleogene proboscidean radiation: a small barytheriid from the Oligocene of Dhofar Governorate,Sultanate of Oman

Despite significant recent improvements to our understanding of the early evolution of the Order Proboscidea (elephants and their extinct relatives), geographic sampling of the group’s Paleogene fossil record remains strongly biased, with the first ~30 million years of proboscidean evolution documented solely in near-coastal deposits of northern Africa. The considerable morphological disparity that is observable among the late Eocene and early Oligocene proboscideans of northern Africa suggests that other, as yet unsampled, parts of Afro-Arabia might have served as important centers for the early diversification of major proboscidean clades. Here we describe the oldest taxonomically diagnostic remains of a fossil proboscidean from the Arabian Peninsula, a partial mandible of Omanitherium dhofarensis (new genus and species), from near the base of the early Oligocene Shizar Member of the Ashawq Formation, in the Dhofar Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. The molars and premolars of Omanitherium are morphologically intermediate between those of Arcanotherium and Barytherium from northern Africa, but its specialized lower incisors are unlike those of other known Paleogene proboscideans in being greatly enlarged, high-crowned, conical, and tusk-like. Omanitherium is consistently placed close to late Eocene Barytherium in our phylogenetic analyses, and we place the new genus in the Family Barytheriidae. Some features of Omanitherium, such as tusk-like lower second incisors, the possible loss of the lower central incisors, an enlarged anterior mental foramen, and inferred elongate mandibular symphysis and diminutive P₂, suggest a possible phylogenetic link with Deinotheriidae, an extinct family of proboscideans whose origins have long been mysterious.     

Sexual contact influences orientation to plant attractant in Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Chemical signals emitted by insects and their hosts are important for sexual communication and host selection. Plant volatiles facilitate the location of suitable hosts for feeding and oviposition, and may moderate responses to sex and aggregation pheromones. While mating has been shown to moderate behavioral responses to pheromones in a number of insects, little is known about the effects of mating on behavioral responses of insects to plant attractants, and even less is known about the mechanisms involved. In this study, mating was shown to decrease behavioral responses of the Colorado potato beetle to a host kairomone within 24 h, and attraction to the kairomone recovers only after 72 h. This decrease in responsiveness also occurs when only contact with the opposite sex is allowed; the effect is not observed with contact among individuals of the same sex. Peripheral olfactory responses to a component of the kairomone correlate with the observed behavioral responses and suggest involvement of antennal receptors in the behavioral change.