Conservation of Bio synthetic pheromone pathways in honeybees Apis

Social insects use complex chemical communication systems to govern many aspects of their life. We studied chemical changes in Dufours gland secretions associated with ovary development in several genotypes of honeybees. We found that C28–C38 esters were associated only with cavity nesting honeybee queens, while the alcohol eicosenol was associated only with their non-laying workers. In contrast, both egg-laying anarchistic workers and all parasitic Cape workers from queenright colonies showed the typical queen pattern (i.e. esters present and eicosenol absent), while egg-laying wild-type and anarchistic workers in queenless colonies showed an intermediate pattern, producing both esters and eicosenol but at intermediate levels. Furthermore, neither esters nor eicosenol were found in aerial nesting honeybee species. Both esters and eicosenol are biosynthetically similar compounds since both are recognizable products of fatty acid biosynthesis. Therefore, we propose that in honeybees the biosynthesis of esters and eicosenol in the Dufours gland is caste-regulated and this pathway has been conserved over evolutionary time.     

Miscanthus for Renewable Energy Generation: European Union Experience and Projections for Illinois

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change -     

The formation of bound residues of diazinon in four UK soils: implications for risk assessment

The behaviour of diazinon in the soil determines the likelihood of further pollution incidents, particularly leaching to water. The most significant processes in the control of the fate of diazinon in the soil are microbial degradation and the formation of bound residues. Soils from four sites in the UK were amended with diazinon and its ¹⁴C labelled analogue and incubated for 100 days. After 0, 10, 21, 50 and 100 days, the formation of bound residues was assessed by solvent extraction, and the microbial degradation of diazinon by mineralisation assay. In microbially active soils, diazinon is degraded rapidly, reducing the risk of future pollution incidents. However, where there was limited mineralisation there was also significantly lower formation of bound residues, which may lead to water pollution via leaching. The formation of bound residues was dependent on extraction type. Acetonitrile extraction identified bound residues in all soils, with the bound residue fraction increasing with increasing incubation time.     

Measurement of Automobile Exhaust GAS Hydrocarbons

While snowflakes fell and Christmas carols heralded the imminent holiday, over 3000 delegates to the Third National Conference on Air Pollution were told to “Control Now for Clean Air.”

They were told this in many ways by many people—by the Vice President of the United States; by the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare who summoned the Conference; and by senators, congressmen, governors, and mayors.

Then eight panel sessions convened to discuss and to determine how to control now for clean air. Speakers from every section of American life addressed themselves to this subject; when they were finished, the eight session chairmen summarized what had been said, what had been, learned. These summaries appear on the following pages.     

The effects of mobile speed camera introduction on road traffic crashes and casualties in a rural county of England

PROBLEM: This study assesses the impact of crash and casualty numbers in correspondence to the introduction of mobile speed cameras in the rural county of Norfolk, England. METHOD: Road traffic accident casualty and crash data were collected for two years before the introduction of cameras and two years subsequently. The casualties and crashes occurring at 29 camera sites were identified and separated from those occurring in the rest of the county. Trends in crashes and casualties, and their severity, were examined graphically and comparisons were made between before and after periods. The regression to the mean effect at individual sites was estimated. RESULTS: After the introduction of cameras, overall crashes declined by 1% and crashes involving fatalities or serious injuries declined by 9% on the roads without cameras. At the camera sites, crashes decreased by 19% and fatal and serious crashes by 44%. The reduction in total crashes was significantly greater than that expected from the effect of regression to the mean in 12 out of 20 sites tested. SUMMARY: The introduction of cameras appears to have resulted in real and measurable reductions in crash risk in this rural county. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our results suggest the deployment of mobile speed cameras is an effective tool for organizations wishing to reduce road traffic casualties in areas where high crash rates have been associated with excessive vehicle speeds.     

Disposal of contaminated sediments/soils in MSW landfills: Need to consider the true cost

A disturbing trend among governmental agencies is the remediation of so‐called “nonhazardous” contaminated sediments/soils by deposition in minimum‐design Subtitle D municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills or landfills with equivalent design. This is done despite the fact that, in terms of protection of public health and environmental quality, the designation “nonhazardous” is misleading at best, and the fact that minimum‐design Subtitle D landfills as being allowed will not ensure protection of groundwater quality for as long as the buried wastes remain a threat. Although acknowledged in the regulatory documentation and exposed in the writings of a few in the scientific/engineering community, the environmental and public health issues that will inevitably be faced at minimum‐design Subtitle D landfills are underplayed, and even misrepresented, to the public. Discussion of relevant issues, as well as remarkable omissions, characterized the October 2004 United States Army Corps of Engineers (US ACE)/United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)/Sediment Management Work Group (SMWG) conference,” Addressing Uncertainty and Managing Risk at Contaminated Sediment Sites.” This article addresses many of those neglected issues. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Linking Land Cover and Water Quality in New York City’S Water Supply Watersheds

The Catskill/Delaware reservoirs supply 90% of New York City’s drinking water. The City has implemented a series of watershed protection measures, including land acquisition, aimed at preserving water quality in the Catskill/Delaware watersheds. The objective of this study was to examine how relationships between landscape and surface water measurements change between years. Thirty-two drainage areas delineated from surface water sample points (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and fecal coliform bacteria concentrations) were used in step-wise regression analyses to test landscape and surface-water quality relationships. Two measurements of land use, percent agriculture and percent urban development, were positively related to water quality and consistently present in all regression models. Together these two land uses explained 25 to 75% of the regression model variation. However, the contribution of agriculture to water quality condition showed a decreasing trend with time as overall agricultural land cover decreased. Results from this study demonstrate that relationships between land cover and surface water concentrations of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and fecal coliform bacteria counts over a large area can be evaluated using a relatively simple geographic information system method. Land managers may find this method useful for targeting resources in relation to a particular water quality concern, focusing best management efforts, and maximizing benefits to water quality with minimal costs.The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development funded and managed the research described here. It has been subjected to Agency’s administrative review and approved for publication as an EPA document.     

Principles and issues in radiological ecological risk assessment

This paper provides a bridge between the fields of ecological risk assessment (ERA) and radioecology by presenting key biota dose assessment issues identified in the US Department of Energy's Graded Approach for Evaluating Radiation Doses to Aquatic and Terrestrial Biota in a manner consistent with the US Environmental Protection Agency's framework for ERA. Current radiological ERA methods and data are intended for use in protecting natural populations of biota, rather than individual members of a population. Potentially susceptible receptors include vertebrates and terrestrial plants. One must ensure that all media, radionuclides (including short-lived radioactive decay products), types of radiations (i.e., alpha particles, electrons, and photons), and pathways (i.e., internal and external contamination) are combined in each exposure scenario. The relative biological effectiveness of alpha particles with respect to deterministic effects must also be considered. Expected safe levels of exposure are available for the protection of natural populations of aquatic biota (10 mGy d(-1)) and terrestrial plants (10 mGy d(-1)) and animals (1 mGy d(-1)) and are appropriate for use in all radiological ERA tiers, provided that appropriate exposure assumptions are used. Caution must be exercised (and a thorough justification provided) if more restrictive limits are selected, to ensure that the supporting data are of high quality, reproducible, and clearly relevant to the protection of natural populations.     

Standard purity and response factors of perfluorinated compounds

It has been reported that the relative response factors of isotopically labeled standards and unlabeled standards of the same perfluorinated compounds could be different. Individual (100 ng mL^?1) solutions of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometry under negative-ion electrospray to detect any impurities present down to 0.5%–0.1% relative to the major component. Purity of the standards ranged from approximately 86% to ≥ 97%. Standard solutions of unlabeled and isotopically labeled materials were analyzed to compare the response factors of isotopically labeled analytes versus their nonlabeled counterparts in three different matrices at equivalent concentrations: organic solvent (methanol), serum extract, and water present individually and concurrently. Not all labeled analytes have the same response factor as their nonlabeled complement, and in at least one case the matrix in which the standard is present may cause significant suppression of response. Standard solutions of electrochemical fluorination produced PFOA and PFOS were quantified under multiple reaction monitoring mode, using calibration curves prepared from standards consisting primarily of linear standards only. The use of linear only standards may cause under-prediction of concentrations, and that the working range of these standards may be limited.