A comparative study of risk perception in small and large communities where chemical industries are present

Opinion polls were conducted to assess the level of risk perceived by the citizens in communities of different sizes where chemical industries were present. The aim of the study was to relate the risk perceived to variables such as the nature of risks, the specific information received regarding the industrial activity and the economic impact of this activity in the community.     

Trisomy 15 mosaicism owing to familial reciprocal translocation t(1;15): implication for prenatal diagnosis

We describe a 4-year-old female child with severe global mental retardation, myoclonic epilepsy, proximal hypotonia and dysmorphisms, whose prenatal diagnosis following amniocentesis revealed a constitutional female karyotype carrying a t(1;15)(q10;p11) familial reciprocal translocation. Post-natal high-resolution karyotype, Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) screening for subtelomeric rearrangements, VNTR search for UPD15 in the blood and fibroblast, and WCP1 and 15 in the mother, failed to provide an explanation for the complex clinical phenotype of the proband. Since the pachytene configuration of the translocated chromosomes defines a high probability of 3:1 segregation, an extensive workup was undertaken to look for a possibly cryptic mosaicism. Four percent of the cells with trisomy 15 was found in the peripheral blood lymphocytes examined by classical cytogenetic technique and interphase FISH analysis. The clinical features associated with cryptic trisomy 15 mosaicism and the problems concerning prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling for carriers of translocations at high risk of 3:1 segregation are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fed-batch and batch operating mode analysis of a stirred anaerobic sequencing reactor with self-immobilized biomass treating low-strength wastewater

This work presents an analysis of a stirred anaerobic sequencing discontinuous reactor with different substrate feeding strategies resulting in batch, fed-batch/batch and fed-batch operating modes. The reactor, containing granulated biomass, was fed with approximately 2.0L of synthetic domestic wastewater with Chemical Oxygen Demand of nearly 500 mg/L per cycle and operated at 30 degrees C and 50 rpm. Three feeding strategies with a total cycle time of 6 h, including 30-min settling, were adopted: batch mode with a fill cycle of 6 min, a fed-batch/batch mode with fill cycles of 60, 120 and 240 min and fed-batch mode with a fill cycle of 320 min. The system attained average non-filtered and filtered substrate removal efficiency of 78 and 84%, respectively, for all operating conditions, presenting good stability, solid retention and no granule break-up. A first order kinetic model with a residual organic matter concentration was proposed to analyze the influence of the feeding strategy on the performance during a cycle and bicarbonate alkalinity and total volatile acids concentration profiles were also quantified in order to verify the transient stability behavior.     

Review of ozone and temperature lidar validations performed within the framework of the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change

The use of assimilation tools for satellite validation requires true estimates of the accuracy of the reference data. Since its inception, the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) has provided systematic lidar measurements of ozone and temperature at several places around the world that are well adapted for satellite validations. Regular exercises have been organised to ensure the data quality at each individual site. These exercises can be separated into three categories: large scale intercomparisons using multiple instruments, including a mobile lidar; using satellite observations as a geographic transfer standards to compare measurements at different sites; and comparative investigations of the analysis software. NDSC is a research network, so each system has its own history, design, and analysis, and has participated differently in validation campaigns. There are still some technological differences that may explain different accuracies. However, the comparison campaigns performed over the last decade have always proved to be very helpful in improving the measurements. To date, more efforts have been devoted to characterising ozone measurements than to temperature observations. The synthesis of the published works shows that the network can potentially be considered as homogeneous within +/-2% between 20-35 km for ozone and +/-1 K between 35-60 km for temperature. Outside this altitude range, larger biases are reported and more efforts are required. In the lower stratosphere, Raman channels seem to improve comparisons but such capabilities were not systematically compared. At the top of the profiles, more investigations on analysis methodologies are still probably needed. SAGE II and GOMOS appear to be excellent tools for future ozone lidar validations but need to be better coordinated and take more advantage of assimilation tools. Also, temperature validations face major difficulties caused by atmospheric tides and therefore require intercomparisons with the mobile systems, at all sites.     

Fluxes and pools of methane in wetland rice soils with varying organic inputs

Measurements of methane emission rates and concentrations in the soil were made during four growing seasons at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, on plots receiving different levels of organic input. Fluxes were measured using the automated closed chambers system (total emission) and small chambers installed between plants (water surface flux). Concentrations of methane in the soil were measured by collecting soil cores including the gas phase (soil-entrapped methane) and by sampling soil solution in situ (dissolved methane). There was much variability between seasons, but total fluxes from plots receiving high organic inputs (16–24 g CH₄ m^–2) always exceeded those from the low input plots (3–9 g CH₄ m^–2). The fraction of the total emission emerging from the surface water (presumably dominated by ebullition) was greater during the first part of the season, and greater from the high organic input plots (35–62%) than from the low input plots (15–23%). Concentrations of dissolved and entrapped methane in the low organic input plots increased gradually throughout the season; in the high input plots there was an early-season peak which was also seen in emissions. On both treatments, periods of high methane concentrations in the soil coincided with high rates of water surface flux whereas low concentrations of methane were generally associated with low flux rates.     

Biopotentiality as an index of environmental compensation for composting plants

The Biopotentiality Index is a landscape ecology indicator, which can be used to estimate the latent energy of a given land and to assess the environmental impacts due to the loss of naturalness on a landscape scale. This indicator has been applied to estimate the effectiveness of the measures put in place to provide an environmental compensation for the revamping of a composting plant. These compensation measures are represented by a green belt with a minimum width of 25 m all around the plant, representing both a windbreak and a buffer zone, and by two wide wooded zones acting as core natural areas.This case-study shows that the compensation index could be used as a key tool in order to negotiate the acceptance of waste treatment plant with the population.     

Digit ratios (2D:4D), secondary sexual characters and cell-mediated immunity in house sparrows <Emphasis Type="Italic">Passer domesticus</Emphasis>

Homeobox genes regulate development of digits, and it has been suggested that the ratio of length of second to length of fourth digit reflects such genetic effects in a sex-specific manner. We show that digit ratios in the sexually dichromatic house sparrow Passer domesticus differ between sexes, with males having higher ratios than females, and that individuals produce consistent ratios on the two feet. If Homeobox or other genes had pleiotropic effects on development of digits, behavior, and physiology of males and females, we would expect secondary sexual characters and immunity to be related to digit ratio in a sex-specific manner. The size of the visible part of the black badge in February (a secondary sexual character), but not total badge size, was positively correlated with digit ratios, suggesting that males with more male-like digit ratios had larger visible badges. Because of sex-specific effects of development on secondary sexual characters and immunity, we predicted sex-specific differences in immune response to be related to digit ratio. House sparrows with large digit ratios had weaker T cell-mediated immune response than individuals with small digit ratios, particularly in females, implying that females with more male-like digit ratios had weak immune responses. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that early development, as reflected by digit ratios, and genetics affect the expression of adult characters that are supposedly strongly contributing to fitness.