Perceptions toward stewardship among residents living near U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

Although stewardship has been widely defined and used in environmental management and planning, there is a dearth of studies that describe how the lay public perceives this concept. A national sample of residents in 14 states who live near DOE nuclear facilities were interviewed to delineate public understanding and awareness of the stewardship program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This study discusses the findings of the survey and discusses how institutional trust influences public participation and resident’s choices of potential stewards. Almost 40% of the respondents could not define stewardship; those who did, believed that ‘responsibility,’ ‘management,’ and ‘accountability’ are key elements of stewardship. In addition, about a third of the respondents identified Federal groups and the DOE as potential stewards. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

An analysis of end-of-life terminology in the carbon fiber reinforced plastic industry

While many studies and reviews into the practices conducted by industry and academia to recycle and remanufacture carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) exist, to date no investigation exists which regards the correctness of the use of the terms recycling and remanufacturing. As such, this paper seeks to analyse the CFRP reuse industry’s attempt to recycle and remanufacture manufacturing waste CFRP and end-of-life (EOL) CFRP with an emphasis on the terminology used to describe these practices. Firstly, this paper presents a justification of the importance of using EOL terminology correctly; outlining the benefits and problems associated with using the correct and incorrect terminology. This paper finds that in the case of CFRP remanufacturing, terminology is being applied incorrectly and in the case of CFRP recycling, particular care should be taken when applying the term recycled to CFRP or stating that CFRP has been recycled. Further, this paper proposes new terminology (in keeping with EU directives) which could be adopted by industry and academia working in this area. This paper also finds that in the case of remanufacture, CFRP is incapable of being remanufactured.     

Climate change,food stress,and security in Russia

Farming in higher latitudes is generally believed to benefit from a warmer climate due to extended growing season, reduced risk of frost, availability of more productive cultivars, and an opening potential of farming in northern locations. We analyzed the impact of climate change on production of cereals in Russia and found that this general perception of beneficiary effect of a warmer climate is unlikely to hold, primarily due to increasing risk of droughts in the most important agricultural areas of the country. Past impacts of droughts on food security throughout the twentieth century suggest that a number of adaptation options are available to mitigate the increasing risks of crop failure. We analyze the effectiveness of these measures in connection with a set of climate change projections, under two contrasting scenarios of interregional grain trade: “Fortress Market” and “Open Market.”     

Cross-sectional mortality studies and air pollution risk assessment

The use of coefficients, derived from cross-sectional mortality studies, for air pollution risk assessment is quite controversial. In this study, the major limitations of cross-sectional studies are reviewed. The consistency of results from the major recent cross-sectional studies is examined, and the sensitivity of results to model specification is analyzed. Finally, the implications for risk assessment of our inquiries are discussed.     

Volatile Organic Compounds: Sampling Methods and Their Worldwide Profile in Ambient Air

The atmosphere is a particularly difficult analytical system because of the very low levels of substances to be analysed, sharp variations in pollutant levels with time and location, differences in wind, temperature and humidity. This makes the selection of an efficient sampling technique for air analysis a key step to reliable results. Generally, methods for volatile organic compounds sampling include collection of the whole air or preconcentration of samples on adsorbents. All the methods vary from each other according to the sampling technique, type of sorbent, method of extraction and identification technique. In this review paper we discuss various important aspects for sampling of volatile organic compounds by the widely used and advanced sampling methods. Characteristics of various adsorbents used for VOCs sampling are also described. Furthermore, this paper makes an effort to comprehensively review the concentration levels of volatile organic compounds along with the methodology used for analysis, in major cities of the world.     

A basidiomycete isolated from the skeleton of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Pocillopora damicornis</Emphasis> (Scleractinia) selectively stimulates short-term survival of coral skeletogenic cells

Endolithic fungi bore through the extracellular calcium carbonate skeleton of reef-building scleractinian corals, both healthy and dead, and effect net erosion of coral reefs. Potential fungal interactions with coral tissue were investigated using an in vitro approach suggested by earlier observations of skeletal repair cones at the site of fungal perforation in Porites sp. A fungal strain was isolated from the skeleton of a long-term culture of healthy, tissue-covered, Pocillopora damicornis Linnaeus colonies maintained in a recirculating system in Monaco. As coral soft tissue spontaneously dissociated in vitro, the skeleton became exposed and hyaline hyphae emerged radially from 15% of the total clipped branches. In this study, which was performed between January 2001 and March 2003, 35 skeleton–hypha explants were embedded in agar-based solid medium, yielding 60% hyphal growth. A fungal strain (F19-3-1) of the dominant (80%) morphology was isolated and propagated in agar-based solid medium. The strain was identified by 18S and 26S rDNA gene sequence analysis as a basidiomycete in the genus Cryptococcus. Co-cultures were used to provide experimental exposure of coral soft tissue to the fungus. The fungus extended the survival of coral cells by 2 days, selectively maintaining skeletogenic cell types. This effect may be interpreted as stimulation by the fungus of a short-term coral defense response.Communicated by J.P. Grassle, New Brunswick     

Modeling Diapause Termination of Rhipicephalus Appendiculatus using Statistical Tools to Detect Sudden Behavioral Changes and Time Dependencies

This paper presents statistical methodology to analyze longitudinal binary responses for which a sudden change in the response occurs in time. Probability plots, transition matrices, and change-point models and more advanced techniques such as generalized auto-regression models and hidden Markov chains are presented and applied on a study on the activity of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, the major vector of Theileria parva, a fatal disease in cattle. This study presents individual measurements on female R. appendiculatus, which are terminating their diapause (resting status) and become active. Comprehending activity patterns is very important to better understand the ecology of R. appendiculatus. The model indicates that activity and non-activity act in an absorbing way meaning that once a tick becomes active it shows a tendency to remain active. The change-point model estimates that the sudden change in activity happens on December 10. The reaction of ticks on acceleration and changes in rainfall and temperature indicates that ticks can sense climatic changes. The study revealed the underlying not visually observable states during diapause development of the adult tick of R. appendiculatus. These states could be related to phases during the dynamic event of diapause development and post-diapause activity in R. appendiculatus.     

The temporal changes of the concentration level of typical toxic organics in the river sediments around Beijing

In this study, the current situation of five types of toxic organics and endocrine disrupters in the sediments of rivers around Beijing, i.e., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalic acid esters (PAEs), organic chlorinated pesticides (OCPs), estrogens (Es), and bisphenol A (BPA), which included 56 contaminants, was analyzed and compared with that registered by the historical literatures. The ecological risks were also assessed. The total concentration of PAHs, PAEs, OCPs, Es, and BPA ranged from 232.5 ng·g^–1 to 5429.7 ng·g^–1, 2047.2 ng·g^–1 to 18051.5 ng·g^–1, 4.5 ng·g^–1 to 11.7 ng·g^–1, 18.1 ng·g^–1 to 105.2 ng·g^–1, and 36.3 ng·g^–1 to 69.6 ng·g^–1, respectively. Among these five types of organic compounds, the concentration levels of PAHs and OCPs have decreased significantly in the last ten years, while those of PAEs and Es had an upward trend compared with the previous studies. BPA still remained at a moderately high level, as it was ten years ago. The risks of the PAEs in all of the sample sites, and fluoranthene, benzo[a]anthrene, and benzo[a]pyrene in the Wenyu River sediment, were relatively high. These results supplemented the database of toxic organics’ concentration levels in the sediments of Beijing rivers.

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Distribution of Juvenile,subadult and adult Scylla serrata (Crustacea: Portunidae) on tidal flats in Australia

In Deception Bay, northern Australia, during 1979–1981, a study was made of the distribution of Scylla serrata (Forskal) in an area having a broad intertidal zone. Juveniles (20 to 99 mm carapace width) were resident in the mangrove zone, remaining there during low tide. The majority of subadult crabs (100 to 149 mm) migrated into the intertidal zone to feed at high tide and retreated to subtidal waters at low tide. Adults (150 mm and larger) were caught mainly subtidally and only small numbers were captured in the intertidal at high tide. Few crabs were captured in the coolest months (May to August). Adults were captured on the flats mainly in the warmest months (January to April), but subadults could be captured over the entire summer (September to March). Juveniles were found in the upper intertidal throughout the year.