Preventing impaired driving using alcohol policy

Considerable progress has been made in the reduction of impaired driving crashes during the last two decades. Much of this progress is attributable to strengthening laws against impaired driving along with vigorous enforcement efforts aimed at deterring impaired driving. In addition, many useful strategies can also be applied that focus on the control of alcohol availability, use, and promotion. Alcohol policies include controls on the price of alcohol, the location, density, and opening hours of sales outlets, controls on the social availability of alcohol, and on the promotion and advertising of alcohol. Enforcement of these policies is an important aspect of their effectiveness. These strategies have been shown to be effective or promising in reducing impaired driving as well as other consequences related to alcohol use and misuse.     

Metal ferrite incorporated polysulfone thin-film nanocomposite membranes for wastewater treatment

Effluents from food, fermentation, and sugar industries contain a large quantity of glucose which has to be removed to limit the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the water discharged. This work proposes novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes incorporated with MgFe₂O₄ and ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles to address this concern. The nanoparticles synthesized by the sol–gel method was extensively characterized and then incorporated into the active polyamide layer of the thin-film composite polysulfone membranes. The change in membrane morphology, wettability, chemical structure, and mechanical strength with the incorporation of nanoparticles was studied in detail. Membranes with 0.005 wt.% MgFe₂O₄ nanoparticle exhibited highest glucose rejection (96.52?±?2.35%) at 10 bar, 25 °C, and sufficiently high pure water flux (50.54?±?1.92 L/m²h). This membrane also displayed 69.1?±?5.12% salt rejection when challenged with 2000 ppm synthetic NaCl solution.

     

Microbial and size characterization of airborne particulate matter collected on sticky tapes along US–Mexico border

Particulate matter(PM) emissions from various sources can affect significantly human health and environmental quality especially in the Chihuahuan Desert region along US–Mexico border. The objective of this study was to use the low-cost sticky tape method to collect airborne PM for size characterization and identification of fungal spores. Sticky tape samplers were placed at 1.0 and 2.0 m above the ground surface at experimental sites in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and at 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 m at New Mexico sites, USA. Soil samples were collected in both countries to determine fungal diversity, texture and moisture content Dust particles collected from all of the experimental sites had a dominant texture of clay( 0.002 mm). The dominant textures identified from soil samples collected from the US and Mexican sites were loam and sandy clay loam, respectively. Alternaria, Penicillium and Fusarium were frequently found funguses in the US sites while Alternaria and Aspergillus were commonly observed in the Mexican sites. The sticky tapes also showed a similar diversity of fungal microorganisms present in the airborne PM at both Mexico and US sites Alternaria, Penicillium and Aspergillus were the three groups of airborne fungal microorganisms consistently present in the US and Mexican sites. The low-cost sticky tape method has the potential to be used for characterizing different airborne microorganisms and dust particles.     

Fate of prions in soil: a review

Prions are the etiological agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSSEs), a class of fatal neurodegenerative diseases affecting humans and other mammals. The pathogenic prion protein is a misfolded form of the host-encoded prion protein and represents the predominant, if not sole, component of the infectious agent. Environmental routes of TSE transmission areimplicated in epizootics of sheep scrapie and chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer, elk, and moose. Soil represents a plausible environmental reservoir of scrapie and CWD agents, which can persist in the environment for years. Attachment to soil particles likely influences the persistence and infectivity of prions in the environment. Effective methods to inactivate TSE agents in soil are currently lacking, and the effects of natural degradation mechanisms on TSE infectivity are largely unknown. An improved understanding of the processes affecting the mobility, persistence, and bioaviailability of prions in soil is needed for the management of TSE-contaminated environments.     

Regulatory and Mixed Policy Options for Reducing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions

This article discusses non-fiscal policy options to reduce energy demand and the resulting environmental impacts, and it reviews experiences with these options to date. Such policies include accelerating technology development and demonstration, stimulating product demand via procurement policies, applying efficiency standards to information-poor end-use sectors, and encouraging utility energy-efficiency programs. Efforts to implement such measures are underway in several industrialised countries and have begun in developing countries. Increasing energy efficiency is an important area for near-term carbon emission reductions, and a key strategy for cost-effective mitigation of global climate change. However, little of the energy-efficiency potential identified by technical studies will be realised in the absence of policies to reduce barriers to energy-efficiency investments. Performance standards can overcome the lack of information on the part of energy users, while technology procurement helps overcome the view of manufacturers that introducing efficient products is risky. The effects of these policy options on product markets are characterised, showing the synergy between different instruments and their potential to create and transform markets for energy-efficient products, systems and services. The existence of such energy-efficiency markets can stimulate new progress and innovation, providing the conditions in which the continuous process of technical improvement is significantly accelerated. Most policy analysis and discussions regarding climate-change mitigation have centred on various forms of carbon emission taxes and to some extent on tradable emission offsets or permits. This article concludes with an examination of why non-fiscal options are mostly absent from energy-economic models and climate-change policy studies, and we suggest approaches to include them more fully in energy-policy analysis and implementation.     

Prenatal diagnosis of sex chromosome aneuploidy: possible reasons for high rates of pregnancy termination

Sex chromosome aneuploidy (SCA), when detected in amniocentesis, is usually an unexpected result of a test carried out for another purpose. For most SCAs, the prognosis is milder and less predictable than trisomy 21, and therefore parents are faced with a difficult decision regarding the option of pregnancy termination. While studies from Europe and the USA report a declining trend in termination rates for SCA, our local experience is different. During the period 1989–1998, we diagnosed 60 SCA (including mosaics) in 20 106 amniocenteses (0.29%) and 48 (80%) of these pregnancies were terminated, a significantly higher proportion than has been reported in Europe and the USA. The present study shows that the difference between our experience and others' may be related to differences in cultural norms and values. Thirty women were interviewed, of whom 23 terminated and seven continued the pregnancy. Interview analyses showed that the main reason behind the decision to terminate the pregnancy was associated with the parents' fear of non-specific abnormality of the child, and concerns about abnormal sexual development. Although genetic counseling practised in our center aims to be non-directive, 56% of the women reported that the counseling was either directive towards termination, or that they at least felt that the counselor's attitude was pro-termination. Most women (93%) reported themselves as having come to terms with their decision. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地下水铀污染的原位微生物还原与固定:在美国能源部田纳西橡树岭放射物污染现场的试验

总结了美国斯坦福大学和橡树岭国家实验室等在美国能源部田纳西州橡树岭综合试验基地进行的铀污染原位微生物修复阶段性试验结果.本试验利用微生物以乙醇为电子供体还原地下水和沉积物中的六价铀为不溶解的四价铀,使之原位固定化.随后通过加入溶解氧和硝酸盐来试验微生物还原后的地下水层中还原固定态铀的稳定性.通过预处理和长期间隔注入乙醇...     

Oral bioavailability reveals an overestimation of the toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in atmospheric particulate matter

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmospheric particulate matter have adverse effects on human health, yet total PAH concentrations...