Ergonomics: It's Here to Stay,Despite the OSHA Standard Repeal

Congress repealed OSHA's Ergonomics Program Standard. But ergonomics remains an important health and safety issue for businesses. Moreover, additional regulation in this area is likely to come in the future. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Adsorption and detection of some phenolic compounds by rice husk ash of Kenyan origin

Rice husk ash (RHA) obtained from a rice mill in Kenya has been used as an inexpensive and effective adsorbent (and reagent) for the removal (and detection) of some phenolic compounds in water. The abundantly available rice mill waste was used in dual laboratory-scale batch experiments to evaluate its potential in: (i) the removal of phenol, 1,3-dihydroxybenzene (resorcinol) and 2-chlorophenol from water; and (ii) the detection of 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (pyrocatechol) and 1,2,3-trihydroxybenzene (pyrogallol) present in an aqueous medium. The studies were conducted using synthetic water with different initial concentrations of the phenolic compounds. The effects of different operating conditions (such as contact time, concentration of the phenolic compounds, adsorbent quantity, temperature, and pH) were assessed by evaluating the phenolic compound removal efficiency as well as the extent of their color formation reactions (where applicable). RHA exhibits reasonable adsorption capacity for the phenolic compounds and follows both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Adsorption capacities of 1.53 x 10(-4), 8.07 x 10(-5), and 1.63 x 10(-6) mol g(-1) were determined for phenol, resorcinol and 2-chlorophenol, respectively. Nearly 100% adsorption of the phenolic compounds was possible and this depended on the weight of RHA employed. For the detection experiments, pyrocatechol and pyrogallol present in water formed coloured complexes with RHA, with the rate of colour formation increasing with temperature, weight of RHA, concentration of the phenolic compounds and sonication. This study has proven that RHA is a useful agricultural waste product for the removal and detection of some phenolic compounds.     

IMPLEMENTATION OF BIORETENTION SYSTEMS: A WISCONSIN CASE STUDY1

ABSTRACT: The implementation of various bioretention systems was analyzed, including rain gardens, vegetated swales, trenches, and infiltration basins in the St. Francis subdivision, Cross Plains, Wisconsin. Through the examination of archival data and interviews with key participants, it was found that although regulatory and political pressures encouraged the inclusion of bioretention, current standards for storm water management prevailed. The developers had to meet both existing requirements and anticipated rules requiring infiltration. As a result, bioretention systems simply supplemented, rather than replaced, traditional storm water practices. The confusion surrounding dual standards contributed to substantial delays in the negotiations among relevant stakeholders in the watershed. It is concluded that the St. Francis subdivision serves as both a cautionary tale and a bioretention success story. As a caution, this situation demonstrates the need for careful review and refinement of existing storm water ordinances to incorporate water quality improvement technologies, such as bioretention. The demonstrated success of the St. Francis development, however, is that it became a positive prototype for best management storm water practices elsewhere in the region. In addition, the water quality monitoring data from the site has contributed to development of a new county ordinance, the first in Wisconsin to address both quantity and quality of storm water runoff.     

Book reviews

Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use. Ernst von Weizacker, Amory Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins, 1997, London, Earthscan, ISBN 1 85383 407 6, £15.99 (hbk)

Local and Global: Management of Cities in the Information Age,. Jordi Borja & Manuel Castells, 1997, London, Earthscan, 277pp. ISBN 1 85383 441 6, £19.95 (pbk)

Wasted: counting the costs of global consumption. Michael Redclift, 1996, Earthscan, London, 173pp. ISBN 1 85383 360 6, £32.50(hbk), 1 85383 355 X, £12.95(pbk)

Eco-feminist Natures: race, gender, feminist theory and political action. Noel Sturgeon, 1997, New York, Routledge, ISBN 0 415 912504, £12.99 (pbk)

Global Warming and Global Politics. Matthew Paterson, 1996, London and New York, Routledge, ISBN 0 415 13871 X, US$85.00, UK£50.00, (hbk) ISBN 0 415 13872 8, US$20.99, UK£12.88, (pbk)

Managing for Local Sustainability: policy, problem-solving, practice and place. Valerie M. Brown (Ed.), 1997, Commonwealth of Australia, 314 pp. ISBN 0642 26464 3, Copies of the report can be obtained from: National Office of Local Government Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Sports and Territories, GPO Box 9834, Canberra ACT 2601. Tel: (06) 289 2222; fax (06) 289 2436.

Local Agenda 21, Local Authorities and Tourism: a United Kingdom perspective. David Leslie & Fiona Muir, 1996, Glasgow, Caledonian University, ISBN 0 948255 52 8, £9.00

Straws in the Wind: medieval urban environmental law — the case of Northern Italy. Ronald E. Zupko & Robert A. Laures, 1996, Boulder, CO, Westview Press, 152 pp. ISBN 0 8133 2972 8, £10.00 (pbk)     

A plasma display window?-The shifting baseline problem in a technologically mediated natural world

Humans will continue to adapt to an increasingly technological world. But are there costs to such adaptations in terms of human well being? Toward broaching this question, we investigated physiological effects of experiencing a HDTV quality real-time view of nature through a plasma display “window.” In an office setting, 90 participants (30 per group) were exposed either to (a) a glass window that afforded a view of a nature scene, (b) a plasma window that afforded a real-time HDTV view of essentially the same scene, or (c) a blank wall. Results showed that in terms of heart rate recovery from low-level stress the glass window was more restorative than a blank wall; in turn, a plasma window was no more restorative than a blank wall. Moreover, when participants spent more time looking at the glass window, their heart rate tended to decrease more rapidly; that was not the case with the plasma window. Discussion focuses on how the purported benefits of viewing nature may be attenuated by a digital medium.     

Feeding rates and prey selectivity of planktonic decapod larvae in the Western English Channel

Meroplankton are seasonally important contributors to the zooplankton, particularly at inshore sites, yet their feeding ecology is poorly known relative to holoplankton. While several studies have measured feeding in decapod larvae, few studies have examined the feeding rates of decapod larvae on natural prey assemblages throughout the reproductive season. We conducted 8 feeding experiments with Necora puber, Liocarcinus spp. and Upogebia spp. zoea larvae collected from the L4 monitoring site off Plymouth (50°15.00′N, 4°13.02′W) during spring–summer 2009 and 2010. This period spanned moderate-to-high food availability (0.5–1.6 µg chl-a L^?1), but a great range in food composition with small cells <20 µm dominating in 2010. Daily rations averaged 17, 60 and 22 % of body C for the 3 respective decapod species. Clearance rates differed according to prey type, and all 3 decapod genera showed evidence of selection of dinoflagellates. Importantly, small cells including nano- and pico-plankton were ingested, this being demonstrated independently by flow cytometric analysis of the feeding experiments and molecular analysis. PCR-based analysis of the haptophyte portion of the diet revealed ingestion of Isochrysis galbana by decapod larvae in the bottle incubations and Isochrysis galbana and Phaeocystis globosa by decapod larvae collected directly from the field. This study has shown that pico- and nano-sized plankton form an important supplement to the diverse and variable diet of decapod larvae.