Determination of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions from a commercial dairy farm with an exercise yard and the health-related impact for residents

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Airborne emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have the potential to pose a risk to human health and the environment. Here, we...     

Predicting long-term development of abandoned subalpine conifer forests in the Swiss National Park

In the past 35 years, various kinds of dynamic models have been used to study vegetation development during primary or secondary succession. Typically, one specific model or models with the same conceptual background were employed. It remains largely unknown to what extent such model-based findings, e.g., on the speed of succession, depend on the specific model approach.To address this issue, we estimated the time elapsing during secondary succession in subalpine conifer forests of the Swiss National Park using three models of different conceptual background: (i) a forest gap model, (ii) a Markov chain model, and (iii) a minimum spanning tree model.Starting from a 95- to 125-year-old mountain pine (Pinus montana Miller) forest, all three models predicted a similar successional development. Even though the forest gap model and the Markov chain model are based on totally different approaches and were calibrated using different data sets, they both forecasted that it would take 500–550 years to reach a late-successional forest stage. The minimum spanning tree model, which only reveals a certain number of time steps yielding a minimum time estimate, showed a development of tree density (stems/ha) that was similar to the results of the forest gap model, but a strict quantitative comparison is not feasible.Our study shows that modeling forest development using three different approaches is quite powerful to obtain a robust estimate of the speed of forest succession. In our case, this estimate is higher than what has been suggested in previous studies that investigated secondary forest succession. The use of several approaches allows for a more comprehensive analysis in terms of variables covered (e.g., relative forest cover in the Markov approach vs. stand-scale species composition in the forest gap model). We recommend that in studies focusing on the speed of succession, several models should be employed simultaneously to identify inconsistencies in our knowledge and to increase confidence in the results.     

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal blood group phenotypes: current practice and future prospects

Fetuses of women with alloantibodies to RhD (D) are at risk from hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, but only if the fetal red cells are D-positive. In such pregnancies, it is beneficial to determine fetal D type, as this will affect the management of the pregnancy. It is possible to predict, with a high level of accuracy, fetal blood group phenotypes from genotyping tests on fetal DNA. The best source is the small quantity of fetal DNA in the blood of pregnant women, as this avoids the requirement for invasive procedures of amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Many laboratories worldwide now provide noninvasive fetal D genotyping as a routine service for alloimmunized women, and some also test for c, E, C and K. In many countries, anti-D immunoglobulin injections are offered to D-negative pregnant women, to reduce the chances of prenatal immunization, even though up to 40% of these women will have a D-negative fetus. High-throughput, noninvasive fetal D genotyping technologies are being developed so that unnecessary treatment of pregnant women can be avoided. Trials suggest that fetal D typing of all D-negative pregnant women is feasible and should become common practice in the near future. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biodiversity provides ecosystem services: scientific results versus stakeholders’ knowledge

Exploiting the complementarities between biological components in agricultural systems is presented as a solution to increase food production and decrease environmental problems. This amounts to maximizing the ecosystem services (i.e., the benefits human obtain from ecosystems) provided by biodiversity at the expense of the disservices (i.e., the nuisances human obtain from ecosystems). In recent years, science has produced significant results supporting this strategy, but their application in the field is dependent on stakeholders’ knowledge. This article therefore addresses two questions: What do stakeholders know about the services and disservices provided by biodiversity? Does this knowledge agree with scientific results? We address these questions by combining a literature review of 39 scientific articles and interviews with 8 farmers and 3 farm advisors in France. Scientific results and stakeholders’ knowledge both indicate that within- and between-field plant biodiversity have a positive effect on the provision of ecosystem services. For instance, it can reduce inputs and give higher and more stable plant production. It may even improve farmers’ management conditions. However, our work revealed two gaps in our scientific knowledge. Only 3 scientific articles connected ecosystem services with plant biodiversity at the farm scale or between fields, while stakeholders did so for 43 % of the services they mentioned. Similarly, management services concerned about one-third of the services mentioned by stakeholders but were addressed in only 3 scientific articles. Stakeholders’ expertise can thus help us to prioritize research options in order to simultaneously fill scientific gaps and produce knowledge relevant to practice.     

Will Musculoskeletal,Visual and Psychosocial Stress Change for Visual Display Unit (VDU) Operators When Moving From a Single-Occupancy Office to an Office Landscape?

This study investigated the effect of moving from single-occupancy offices to a landscape environment. Thirty-two visual display unit (VDU) operators reported no significant change in visual discomfort. Lighting conditions and glare reported subjectively showed no significant correlation with visual discomfort. Experience of pain was found to reduce subjectively rated work capacity during VDU tasks. The correlation between visual discomfort and reduced work capacity for single-occupancy offices was r_s = .88 (p = .000) and for office landscape r_s = .82 (p = .000). Eye blink rate during habitual VDU work was recorded for 12 operators randomly selected from the 32 participants in the office landscape. A marked drop in eye blink rate during VDU work was found compared to eye blink rate during easy conversation. There were no significant changes in pain intensity in the neck, shoulder, forearm, wrist/hand, back or headache (.24 < p < .67). Pain levels in different body areas were significantly correlated with reduced work capacity, .77 < r_s < .99 (p = .000).     

A Methodology for Assessing Blast Protection in Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb Suits

To reduce human casualties associated with explosive ordnance disposal, a wide range of protective wear has been designed to shield against the blast effects of improvised explosive devices and munitions. In this study, 4 commercially available bomb suits, representing a range of materials and armor masses, were evaluated against 0.227 and 0.567 kg of spherical C-4 explosives to determine the level of protection offered to the head, neck, and thorax.

A Hybrid III dummy, an instrumented human surrogate [1], was tested with and without protection from the 4 commercially available bomb suits. 20 tests with the dummy torso mounted to simulate a kneeling position were performed to confirm repeatability and robustness of the dummies, as well as to evaluate the 4 suits. Correlations between injury risk assessments based on past human or animal injury model data and various parameters such as bomb suit mass, projected area, and dummy coverage area were drawn.     

Perspectives on Disconnects Between Scientific Information and Management Decisions on Post-fire Recovery in Western US

Environmental regulations frequently mandate the use of “best available” science, but ensuring that it is used in decisions around the use and protection of natural resources is often challenging. In the Western US, this relationship between science and management is at the forefront of post-fire land management decisions. Recent fires, post-fire threats (e.g. flooding, erosion), and the role of fire in ecosystem health combine to make post-fire management highly visible and often controversial. This paper uses post-fire management to present a framework for understanding why disconnects between science and management decisions may occur. We argue that attributes of agencies, such as their political or financial incentives, can limit how effectively science is incorporated into decision-making. At the other end of the spectrum, the lack of synthesis or limited data in science can result in disconnects between science-based analysis of post-fire effects and agency policy and decisions. Disconnects also occur because of the interaction between the attributes of agencies and the attributes of science, such as their different spatial and temporal scales of interest. After offering examples of these disconnects in post-fire treatment, the paper concludes with recommendations to reduce disconnects by improving monitoring, increasing synthesis of scientific findings, and directing social-science research toward identifying and deepening understanding of these disconnects.     

Self-ignition of tetrafluoroethylene induced by rapid valve opening in small diameter pipes

This work investigates the ignition of tetrafluoroethylene induced by the adiabatic compression that can arise by activating a high speed valve separating two portions of a pipeline with a high pressure difference. In the tests performed the high pressure zone contained tetrafluoroethylene at pressures between 15 and 30 bar. For the low pressure zone, experiments with nitrogen, air and tetrafluoroethylene were carried out. The pressure range in the low pressure zone was comprised between 0.05 and 1 bar. The pipe diameters analyzed were 15 and 20 mm. For the analyzed geometries, special conditions were required in order to reach reproducible ignitions, namely air at temperatures of at least 105 °C had to be present in the compression pipe. Furthermore, a minimum length of the compression pipe had to be used. The current work describes the experimental setup employed for the tests and discusses the achieved results. Numerical simulations were performed in order to clarify unexpected findings.     

Characterization of Drought in the South Atlantic,United States

Drought has been less extensively characterized in the humid South Atlantic compared to the arid western United States. Our objective was to characterize drought in the South Atlantic and to understand whether drought has become more severe in this region over time. Here we used monthly streamflow to characterize hydrological drought. Hydrological drought occurred when streamflow fell below the 20th percentile over three consecutive months and terminated once streamflow remained above the 20th percentile for three consecutive months. We characterized the frequency, duration, magnitude, and severity of events using the above definition. Significant changes in drought characteristics were tested with Mann‐Kendall over three periods: 1930‐2010, 1930‐1969, and 1970‐2010. We show that 71% of drought events were shorter than six months, while 7% were multiyear events. There was little evidence of trends in drought characteristics to support the claim of drought becoming more severe in the South Atlantic over the 20th Century. The one exception was a significant increase in the joint probability of nearby basins being simultaneously in drought conditions in the southern portion of the study area from 1970 to 2010. While drought characteristics have changed little through time, decreasing average streamflow in non drought periods coupled with increasing water demand provide the context within which recent multiyear drought events have produced significant stress on existing water infrastructure.