Hygienic quality of faeces treated in urine diverting vermicomposting toilets

On-site sanitation solutions have gained much interest in recent years. One such solution is the urine diverting vermicomposting toilet (UDVT). This study evaluated the hygienic quality of the composted material in six UDVTs in operation in France. Samples were taken from three sampling positions in each toilet, with increasing distance from the fresh material. The concentration of Salmonella spp., Enterococcus spp., thermotolarent coliforms and coliphages were analysed and plotted against a number of variables. The variables found to have the greatest impact was the pH (for Enterococcus spp. and thermotolarent coliforms (TTC)) and time since last maintenance (coliphages). The pH was found to correlate with the material maturity. The current practise of maintenance can cause recontamination of the stabilised material and increase the risk of regrowth of pathogenic microorganisms. A modification in the maintenance procedure, in which a fourth maturation point is introduced, would eliminate this risk. UDVTs were found to be a good on-site sanitation option as the maintenance requirement is small and the system effectively reduced odour and concentration of pathogen and indicator organisms in human waste while keeping the accumulation of material down to a minimum. If the vermicompost is to be used for crops consumed raw, an additional sanitisation step is recommended.     

Impacts of climatic change on water and natural hazards in the Alps: Can current water governance cope with future challenges? Examples from the European “ACQWA” project

This paper reviews the possible future situation of the Rhone River in the Swiss part of its catchment. Physical processes in the Alps govern the behaviour of the Rhone from its source (Rhone Glacier) to the Lake of Geneva, and substantial changes are expected to occur in the amount and seasonality of precipitation, and in the response of snow and glaciers to a warming climate. As a result, discharge in the alpine part of the Rhone River is likely to undergo an increase in winter and early spring, but strongly decreases from late spring to late autumn. These changes in water regimes will certainly be accompanied by more frequent geomorphic hazards, related to increases in heavy precipitation events and the melting of permanently frozen grounds. The direct and indirect impacts of a warming climate will affect key economic sectors such as tourism, hydropower, and agriculture, while shifts in extreme events will have an impact on the vulnerability of infrastructure and a range of economic sectors and services. Projections of the future course of events can help in advance planning and decision making in order to alleviate some of the more negative consequences of climate and hydrological impacts on key economic sectors in the region. This paper will thus discuss issues related to current and future water governance in the region, whether water-related policies are sufficiently robust today to cope with what may be rapid changes in water availability and water use in coming decades, and to resolve possible rivalries between economic sectors that may be increasingly confronted with problems of water availability at critical times of the year.     

Couples experiences of receiving uncertain results following prenatal microarray or exome sequencing: A mixed-methods systematic review

Background

Tests in pregnancy such as chromosomal microarray analysis and exome sequencing are increasing diagnostic yield for fetal structural anomalies, but have greater potential to result in uncertain findings. This systematic review investigated the experiences of prospective parents about receiving uncertain results from these tests.

Methods

A systematic search of three electronic databases was conducted. Data extraction was performed for studies that met the eligibility and quality criteria. Results were synthesised following the principles of thematic analysis.

Results

Fourteen studies (10 qualitative, 4 quantitative) were included. Findings were grouped into three overarching themes. Sources of uncertainty included the testing procedure, the diagnosis and prognosis, and health professionals' own uncertainty. The clinical impact of the uncertainty included parents struggling to make clinical decisions with the information available, the emotional impact included decisional-regret, shock, worry and feeling overwhelmed. To manage the uncertainty, parents sought support from healthcare professionals, friends, family, the internet and other parents as well as remaining hopeful.

Conclusions

Prospective parents experience a myriad of uncertainties in the prenatal setting, which must be handled sensitively. Future research should explore optimal ways of managing uncertainty to minimise harm. Recommendations are made for discussing uncertainty during pre- and post-test counseling.     

Catch rate and emergence of male and female spanner crabs (Ranina ranina) in Australia

Catches of the spanner crab, Ranina ranina (Linnaeus, 1788), in southern Queensland, Australia in 1982 and 1983 showed a seasonal cycle, with peak catches from August to September. In most catches, males outnumbered females. Catches of both male and female spanner crabs declined in November and December, when a high proportion of females caught were ovigerous. Fish, echinoderms and polychaetes were the main food items. Closed-circuit time-lapse video recording was used to study the emergence behaviour of R. ranina in a 6 m-diameter tank. Spanner crabs in this tank were buried most of the time, emerging on average for only 1.7 h d^-1. They emerged mainly between 16.00 and 24.00 hrs and, less often, between 01.00 and 15.00 hrs. Males remained emerged significantly longer than females. The duration of emergence of the females peaked before the spawning season, becoming shorter during the period when they were ovigerous. Temperature and emergence were negatively correlated. It is concluded that reproductive behaviour has a strong influence on catch composition of spanner crabs.     

A COMPUTERIZED DATA BASE FOR FLOOD PREDICTION MODELING1

ABSTRACT: A computerized geographic information system (GIS) was created in support of data requirements by a hydrologic model designed to predict the runoff hydrograph from ungaged basins. Some geomorphologic characteristics (i.e., channel lengths) were manually measured from topographic maps, while other parameters such as drainage area and number of channels of a specified order, land use, and soil type were digitized and manipulated through use of the GIS. The model required the generation of an integrated Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number for the entire basin. To this end, soil associations and land use (generated from analysis of Landsat satellite data) were merged in the GIS to acquire a map representing SCS runoff curve numbers. The volume of runoff obtained from the Watershed Hydrology Simulation (WAHS) Model using this map was compared to the volume computed by hydrograph separation and found to be accurate within 19 percent error. To quantify the effect of changing land use on basin hydrology, the GIS was used to vary percentages from the drainage area from forest to bare soil. By changing the basin runoff curve numbers, significant changes in peak discharge were noted; however, the time to peak discharge remained essentially independent of change in area of land use. The GIS capability eliminated many of the more traditional manual phases of data input arid manipulation, thereby allowing researchers to concentrate on the development and calibration of the model and the interpretation of presumably more accurate results.     

Vermicomposting toilets, an alternative to latrine style microbial composting toilets, prove far superior in mass reduction, pathogen destruction, compost quality, and operational cost

Composting toilets aim to recycle excrement into safe, stable humus. Preceding this, low costs, low risks, and mass reduction should be ensured. Source separating vermicomposting toilets (SSVCs) outperformed mixed latrine microbial composting toilets (MLMCs) in all categories. MLMCs: incurred ten times greater operational costs; created 10x more operator exposure; employed no proven pathogen reduction mechanism since solid end-products averaged 71,000 ± 230,000 CFU/g (fecal-origin) Escherichia coli and 24 ± 5% total solids, consistently failed NSF/ANSI Standard 41; failed to reduce volatile solids compared to raw fecal matter; increased total contaminated dry mass by 274%, and produced alkaline end-product (8.0 ± 0.7) high in toxic free ammonia (Solvita® 2.6 ± 1.5). SSVCs have low maintenance costs and risks; adequate worm density for pathogen destruction (0.03 ± 0.04 g-worm/g-material); reduced E. coli 200 ± 244 CFU/g in neutral (7.4 ± 0.3), stable (60 ± 10% volatile solids), and mature (4 ± 0 Solvita® NH₃) end-product.     

Impact of soil amendments on metribuzin and DCPA half-lives and mobility into agricultural runoff water

The retention and behavior of two herbicides, metribuzin [4-amino-6-tert-butyl-4, 5-dihydro-3-methylthio-1, 2, 4-triazin-5-one] and DCPA [1, 4-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 2, 3, 5, 6-tetrachloro-, dimethyl] ester, in runoff and seepage water from agricultural fields were investigated. The objectives of this investigation were to: (i) determine the dissipation and half-life (T _1/2) of metribuzin and DCPA herbicides in soil under three management practices: chicken manure (CM), sewage sludge (SS), and no-mulch native soil (NM); (ii) monitor herbicides residues in runoff and infiltration water following addition of soil amendments; and (iii) determine the impact of soil amendments on the transport of NO₃, NH₄, and PO₄ from soil into surface and subsurface water. Half-life (T _1/2) values of metribuzin were 24, 18, and 12 d in CM, SS, and NM treatments, respectively. Similarly, T _1/2 values of DCPA were greater in CM and SS incorporated soil (45.8 and 52.2 d, respectively) compared to NM native soil (26.2 d). Addition of CM and SS to native agricultural soil increased water infiltration, lowering runoff water volume and herbicide residues in runoff following natural rainfall events. We concluded that soil amendments could be used to intercept pesticide-contaminated runoff from agricultural fields. This practice might provide a potential solution to pesticide contamination of surface and seepage water from farmlands.     

A roadmap to a green chemical industry in Australia

A ‘roadmap’ has been devised for a progressive greening of the Australian chemical industry over the next two decades. The roadmap is based on a set of interactive principles broadly termed ‘economic’, ‘social’, ‘technological’, ‘environmental’ and ‘political’, which collectively form the ‘drivers of change’ in chemical industry strategy/business/policy planning—leading to greater efficiency and economic sustainability of this industry. The proposed roadmap pre-supposes that real economic, societal and environmental benefits can be obtained through greater use of existing and emerging green chemical technology. It can play an important role in developing a sustainable chemical industry in Australia. Primarily, the proposed roadmap involves a paradigm shift of the business operating plan and a significant mindset change of management.