Enhanced recycling through a materials tax

This article attempts to evaluate whether an appropriate consumption-based tax is likely to be successful in reducing demand for certain exhaustible resources, thereby curtailing their rate of depletion and increasing the demand for, and utilization of, secondary materials. The nature of such a tax and anticipated effects (including environmental impact) of its imposition on certain primary materials are considered, concentrating here on one metal, aluminium. The study concludes that a tax based on the exhaustible resources and energy used in the production of a good is likely to create more savings for fossil fuels than for other exhaustible resources.     

Vocal regulation of use of space by groups of titi monkeys Callicebus moloch

Summary The daily movements and the resulting activity and calling fields are described for three groups of titi monkeys Callicebus moloch. Groups move to the periphery of their home range in the early morning and then call. Playback experiments confirmed that both proximity and location of calling by neighboring animals affect the group's response. Subsequent countercalling often regulates the approach of neighboring groups to a boundary. After encountering adjacent groups, animals return to areas near the home range center. Movements, calling behavior, and the response to neighboring groups all increase the probability of intergroup encounters in the early morning. Encounters define and reinforce the conventional location of boundaries. Boundaries decrease the probability of intergroup encounters at other times and allow exclusive use of space.     

Book reviews

Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to Action

John Friedmann. Princeton University Press, 1987, 501pp.

New Communities for Urban Squatters: Lessons from the Plan that Failed in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Charles L. Choguill, Plenum Press, New York 1987, pp. 213.

Models of Urban and Regional Systems in Developing Countries

George Chadwick, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1987, xv +320pp.

Price: £17.50.     

The choice of two prey types that minimises the probability of starvation

Summary In this paper we investigate the optimal diet of a forager faced with two prey types. Classical optimal foraging theory, based on the maximization of the mean net rate of energetic gain , predicts that the optimal policy is either to take only the more profitable prey type or to take both prey types. The decision between these policies does not depend on the forager's energy reserves or the time available for foraging. We develop two alternative models, based on the minimization of the probability of starvation. In the first model, foraging occurs continuously, and it is optimal to take a prey type if and only if it increases the forager's energy reserves. In the second model foraging stops at dusk, and the forager dies during the night if its reserves at dusk are too low. The optimal policy, which has to be found numerically by dynamic programming, depends on the forager's reserves and the time left till dusk. In general the optimal policy is either to take both types or to take only the more profitable type. Taking both types is optimal when reserves are low, and there is some evidence that this occurs. The models show that factors that have been ignored in classical models may be of importance.     

Particulate emissions from construction activities

Although it has long been recognized that road and building construction activity constitutes an important source of particulate matter (PM) emissions throughout the United States, until recently only limited research has been directed to its characterization. This paper presents the results of PM10 and PM2.5 (particles < or = 10 microm and < or = 2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter, respectively) emission factor development from the onsite testing of component operations at actual construction sites during the period 1998-2001. Much of the testing effort was directed at earthmoving operations with scrapers, because earthmoving is the most important contributor of PM emissions across the construction industry. Other sources tested were truck loading and dumping of crushed rock and mud and dirt carryout from construction site access points onto adjacent public paved roads. Also tested were the effects of watering for control of scraper travel routes and the use of paved and graveled aprons at construction site access points for reducing mud and dirt carryout. The PM10 emissions from earthmoving were found to be up to an order of magnitude greater than predicted by AP-42 emission factors drawn from other industries. As expected, the observed PM2.5:PM10 emission factor ratios reflected the relative importance of the vehicle exhaust and the resuspended dust components of each type of construction activity. An unexpected finding was that PM2.5 emissions from mud and dirt carryout were much less than anticipated. Finally, the control efficiency of watering of scraper travel routes was found to closely follow a bilinear moisture model.     

The Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization Study: Part II. Filter-based measurements of fine and coarse particulate matter mass and composition

The Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization Study (SEARCH) was implemented in 1998-1999 to provide data and analyses for the investigation of the sources, chemical speciation, and long-term trends of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM10-2.5) in the Southeastern United States. This work is an initial analysis of 5 years (1999-2003) of filter-based PM2.5 and PM10-2.5 data from SEARCH. We find that annual PM2.5 design values were consistently above the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 15 microg/m3 annual standard only at monitoring sites in the two largest urban areas (Atlanta, GA, and North Birmingham, AL). Other sites in the network had annual design values below the standard, and no site had daily design values above the NAAQS 65 microg/m3 daily standard. Using a particle composition monitor designed specifically for SEARCH, we found that volatilization losses of nitrate, ammonium, and organic carbon must be accounted for to accurately characterize atmospheric particulate matter. In particular, the federal reference method for PM2.5 underestimates mass by 3-7% as a result of these volatilization losses. Organic matter (OM) and sulfate account for approximately 60% of PM2.5 mass at SEARCH sites, whereas major metal oxides (MMO) and unidentified components ("other") account for > or = 80% of PM10-2.5 mass. Limited data suggest that much of the unidentified mass in PM10-2.5 may be OM. For paired comparisons of urban-rural sites, differences in PM2.5 mass are explained, in large part, by higher OM and black carbon at the urban site. For PM10, higher urban concentrations are explained by higher MMO and "other." Annual means for PM2.5 and PM10-2.5 mass and major components demonstrate substantial declines at all of the SEARCH sites over the 1999-2003 period (10-20% in the case of PM2.5, dominated by 14-20% declines in sulfate and 11-26% declines in OM, and 14-25% in the case of PM10-2.5, dominated by 17-30% declines in MMO and 14-31% declines in "other"). Although declining national emissions of sulfur dioxide and anthropogenic carbon may account for a portion of the observed declines, additional investigation will be necessary to establish a quantitative assessment, especially regarding trends in local and regional emissions, primary carbon emissions, and meteorology.