Self-reported driving under the influence of alcohol and cannabis among Ontario students: Associations with graduated licensing,risk taking,and substance abuse

Objective: This article describes the patterns of self-reported driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA) and driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) among licensed Ontario students in 2009 and examines their associations with graduated licensing, risk taking, and substance use problems for understanding DUIA and DUIC behaviors. Ontario's graduated licensing system requires new drivers to hold a G1 license for a minimum of 8 months and a G2 license for a minimum of 12 months before a full and unrestricted G license can be obtained. Among other restrictions, G1 drivers must maintain a 0 blood alcohol content (BAC), have an experienced driver in the passenger seat, not drive on any high-speed expressways, and not drive between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. A G2 license is more similar to a G license, with fewer restrictions.

Method: This study analyzed data from the 2009 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS). The OSDUHS is a biennial population-based survey of students (grades 7 to 12) in Ontario, Canada.

Results: The results showed that 16.3% of licensed students in Ontario reported DUIC and 11.5% reported DUIA during the past year. After controlling for the effect of age, type of license emerged as a robust predictor for both DUIA and DUIC behavior, because students with a G2 and full license were significantly more likely to report DUIA and DUIC than drivers with a G1 license. Multivariate analyses suggested that risk-seeking behaviors were more important for understanding DUIA behavior than for DUIC behavior. Elevated problem indicators for alcohol and for cannabis were associated with DUIA and DUIC, respectively.

Conclusions: Though much attention has been paid to drinking and driving among adolescents, this research shows that more Ontario students now report driving after cannabis use than after drinking alcohol. The results identify important correlates of both behaviors that may be useful for prevention purposes.     

Effect of field margins on moths depends on species mobility: Field-based evidence for landscape-scale conservation

Agri-environment schemes (AES) are widely used policy instruments intended to combat widespread biodiversity declines across agricultural landscapes. Here, using a light trapping and mark-release-recapture study at a field-scale on nine common and widespread larger moth species, we investigate the effect of wide field margins (a popular current scheme option) and the presence of hedgerow trees (a potential scheme option in England) on moth abundance. Of these, we show that wide field margins positively affected abundances, although species did not all respond in the same way. We demonstrate that this variation can be attributed to species-specific mobility characteristics. Those species for which the effect of wide margins was strongest covered shorter distances, and were more frequently recaptured at their site of first capture. This demonstrates that the standard, field-scale uptake of AES may be effective only for less mobile species. We discuss that a landscape-scale approach, in contrast, could deliver significant biodiversity gains, as our results indicate that such an approach (perhaps delivered through targeting farmers to join AES) would be effective for the majority of wider countryside species, irrespective of their mobility level.     

The effect of the time of sampling on the compliance of bathing water in NW England with the EU Directive on bathing water quality

The ability of Morecambe’s three designated bathing waters to pass the EU Directive on Bathing Water Quality depends on the time of day when the sample is taken, the indicator organism tested for and whether the test uses the most strict (Guideline) or the least strict (Imperative) criteria. Morning and afternoon sampling for faecal coliforms, faecal streptococci and the pathogenCampylobacter was carried out monthly over the 1996 and 1997 bathing seasons. In the afternoons average faecal coliforms declined by 77% in 1996 and 87% in 1997 compared with the mornings, faecal streptococci by 79% and 83% and campylobacters by 66% and 86%. This decline in bacterial numbers between morning and afternoon was related to variations in water temperature and levels of ultraviolet radiation. All three bathing waters failed the Guideline criteria of the EU Directive on Bathing Water Quality. Using the Imperative criteria, no bathing waters passed in the mornings of either year, some passed in the afternoons of 1996 and all passed in the afternoons of 1997. The increased pass rate in 1997 coincided with improved sewage treatment, high temperatures and increased levels of sunshine. In 1997 sampling by the Environment Agency produced fewer failures than our morning sampling but more than our afternoon sampling. Their sampling was done around midday. It is suggested that where possible all sampling of EU designated bathing waters should be carried out in the early morning.     

Degradation of X-ray contrast media compounds by combined ozone and ultrasound.

The aqueous degradation of iodinated X-ray contrast media (ICM) by the combination of ozone and ultrasound has been studied. Experiments were conducted at a constant ultrasound frequency of 20 kHz, at five power densities up to 0.235 W/mL, and various ozone centrations. In experiments involving dissolved ozone in solution, the addition of ultrasound significantly decreased the oxidation performance of the dissolved ozone, while the combination of dissolved oxygen and ultrasound gave a greater oxidation performance than ultrasound alone. However, the combination of gaseous ozone and ultrasound was found to give a higher degree of compound degradation than either ozone or ultrasound alone. In the experiments with final effluent, the degradation of ICM compounds by gaseous ozone and ultrasound was found to depend on the ozone dose applied. The degradation of ICM compounds in final effluent was modeled, which was found to moderately overestimate the observed compound degradation.     

Colony nutritional status modulates worker responses to foraging recruitment pheromone in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Foraging activity in social insects should be regulated by colony nutritional status and food availability, such that both the emission of, and response to, recruitment signals depend on current conditions. Using fully automatic radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to follow the foraging activity of tagged bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) during 16,000 foraging bouts, we tested whether the cue provided by stored food (the number of full honeypots) could modulate the response of workers to the recruitment pheromone signal. Artificial foraging pheromones were applied to colonies with varied levels of food reserves. The response to recruitment pheromones was stronger in colonies with low food, resulting in more workers becoming active and more foraging bouts being performed. In addition to previous reports showing that in colonies with low food successful foragers perform more excited runs during which they release recruitment pheromone and inactive workers are more prone to leave the nest following nectar influx, our results indicate that evolution has shaped a third pathway that modulates bumblebee foraging activity, thus preventing needless energy expenditure and exposure to risk when food stores are already high. This new feedback loop is intriguing since it involves context-dependent response to a signal. It highlights the integration of information from both forager-released pheromones (signal) and nutritional status (cue) that occurs within individual workers before making the decision to start foraging. Our results support the emerging view that responses to pheromones may be less hardwired than commonly acknowledged. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Responding to Atmospheric Change: A Note on Integrated Land Planning and Management

Responsibilities for the management of Canada's land (in the sense, approximately, of biophysical environment) are currently fragmented among a multitude of government agencies, a state of affairs that will at best seriously hamper an adequate response to the profound long-term consequences of atmospheric change. The solution must be a coordinated division of labour within a dual framework of common policies and ecologically-based geographic units. On a small scale, a number of models are already functioning in Canada.     

Development of plant communities on set-aside in England

A survey of land taken out of production from the early 1990s onwards under the European Union's set-aside policy in England was carried out in 2008, to record plant communities in set-aside of different ages, effects of distance from the field edge, sowing and soil type. Communities were classified using the Countryside Vegetation System (CVS), Ellenberg indicators and Grime CSR strategy. Species richness declined with distance from the field boundary. Annuals declined with age of set-aside. In older set-aside, perennials dominated, 40-50% of species were grasses, and grasses covered over 70% of the area. Sown areas had a higher proportion of grass species and a lower proportion of wind-dispersed species. Perennial forbs increased over time in naturally regenerated swards but decreased on sown swards. Annuals and grasses were more prevalent on light soils, with more bare ground on heavy soils. Most transects fell into CVS aggregate classes ‘tall grassland/herb’ and ‘fertile grassland’. Ellenberg fertility values decreased initially but then stabilised. Competitor scores increased, and ruderal scores declined, with age. In general, the rate of change declined with age. Although few sites had plant communities of significant conservation interest, the value of set-aside is likely to be primarily to maintain botanical diversity in intensively farmed areas, as well as providing food and habitat for fauna.