Relationships between the abnormalities of the male reproductive organs and the accumulation of phenol compounds in the striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius, inhabiting Korea

The relationships between the abnormalities of the male reproductive organs in striped field mice and the accumulation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals were assessed. Most mice collected at three areas were contaminated with phenol or organotin compounds. Fourteen to 42% of the mice at each area had abnormally shrunken reproductive organs, and some of them were contaminated with high levels of phenol compounds. Moreover, all the shrunken reproductive organs were damaged in the histological structure. The damage was observed also from several mice accumulating a high level of phenol compounds even though they had normally developed reproductive organs, although no damage was found in the mice accumulating a high level of organotin compounds. Collectively, the abnormalities of the reproductive organs in the mice seemed to be related to the accumulation of phenol compounds rather than of organotin compounds.     

The environmental impact of industrialization in East Asia and strategies toward sustainable development

The East Asian economy has been growing fast in recent years, and environmental stresses are building up rapidly. Transboundary air pollution, water shortages, drinking water contamination, freshwater and marine pollution, deforestation, climatic disasters, and other environmental problems are becoming serious threats to the well-being of people in this densely populated region. The ESI (environmental sustainability index) reported by the World Economic Forum in 2005 is a good indicator of the environmental status of the region; most East Asian countries ranked at the bottom. East Asia is not moving toward a sustainable society, and the environment will not sustain the current rate of economic development for long. The traditional culture of East Asia used to be sustainable, so we can learn much from our traditions. Land use should be planned from an ecological point of view so as to best preserve the land’s productivity and stability. There should be definite goals as to where and how much to preserve the three important ecological bases: forests, coastal wetlands and agricultural farms. The forest is the base for the terrestrial ecosystem, including flood control, water resources, and climate; the coastal wetland is the base for the marine ecosystem; farmland is the base for producing food. Within these defined goals, limits should be set on how much land can be utilized for activities like urban development, manufacturing, and recreation. Limits on the pollution load resulting from such activities should be set so as not to irreversibly damage the environment. Economic development should be planned to allow the use of energy and resources only after satisfying these constraints.

A taxonomy of performance influencing factors for human reliability analysis of emergency tasks

This paper introduces the process for, and the result of, the selection of performance influencing factors (PIFs) for the use in human reliability analysis (HRA) of emergency tasks in nuclear power plants. The approach taken in this study largely consists of three steps. First, a full-set PIF system is constructed from the collection and review of existing PIF taxonomies. Secondly, PIF candidates are selected from the full-set PIF system, considering the major characteristics of emergency situations and the basic criteria of PIF for use in HRA. Finally, a set of PIFs is established by structuring representative PIFs and their detailed subitems from the candidates. As a result, a set of PIFs comprised of the 11 representative PIFs and 39 subitems was developed.     

美国可持续的建筑服务:承包商在绿色建筑中的作用

成功的可持续建筑设计和建造过程的特点是合作的和跨科学的,然而在很多情况下,实现建设服务并未被看作是可持续的建筑项目的设计和交工的一个必要步骤,承包商常常仅仅被看作是建筑服务的经纪人,他们只是简单地遵循图纸和技术要求,并且只是通过建筑现场再循环环计划对可持续的建筑工程做出贡献,宾夕法尼亚州立大学和实现优秀建筑的合作伙伴(PACE)正在联合进行关于在成功地交付高性能的可持续建筑物过程中建筑管理伙伴作用的研究,其目的是确定对可持续的建筑项目起决定性作用的过程和决策中建造服务工作的价值,和为参与可持续的设计和建筑过程的合作单位开发先进的技术.     

Bridge building within the province of proactivity

The research questions posed in this study highlight the importance of valuing proactivity in both prompting an individual to engage in proactive behavior and encouraging the expression of that behavior. We integrate a variety of constructs from the proactivity literature to gain a deeper understanding of proactive behavior as it relates to proactive motivation and supervisory performance evaluations. First, we draw upon self‐determination theory, expectancy–value theory, and the recent integration of the proactive motivation literature to hypothesize that proactive behavior is predicted by the interaction of “can do” and “reason to” proactive motivational states. Second, on the basis of performance theory, we hypothesize that the relationship between proactive behavior and performance depends upon the extent to which the supervisor values proactivity. Specifically, we argue that supervisors with proactive personalities are more likely to value and reward subordinate proactive behavior than passive supervisors. Results provide support for both of our hypotheses. Interestingly, results show that proactive behavior did not result in negative consequences but rather that there was a cost (i.e., lower performance rating) for not taking charge for employees with proactive supervisors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Urban development and landscape change in the Yangtze River Delta region in China

The impact of large-scale urban development on land resources has long been debated by urban planners and designers. This study investigated the extent to which different urban characteristics are associated with land-cover change. The Yangtze River Delta region in China, forming one of the largest sprawling urban landscapes among the regions around the world, was chosen for the study area. Spatial analysis and multiple regression methods were applied to empirically investigate the pattern of resource sites lost to urban development in the area between the 1950s and 2017. The results showed that contrary to the widespread notion that large-sized cities are predominantly responsible for a region’s environmental degradation, city size was not a significant factor in determining the rate of resource loss. Large-sized cities gained their populations with far lesser impacts on land than small-sized cities and towns if normalized to the same number of populations. One explanation for the diminishing effect of city size on land-cover change relates to the degree of spatial dispersion of urban development and local differences in social valuation of diversified lands by cities.     

Compositional data analysis and geochemical modeling of CO2–water–rock interactions in three provinces of Korea

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The CO2-rich spring water (CSW) occurring naturally in three provinces, Kangwon (KW), Chungbuk (CB), and Gyeongbuk (GB) of South Korea was classified based...     

Reductive dissolution and sequestration of arsenic by microbial iron and thiosulfate reduction

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Iron oxide and oxy-hydroxide are commonly used for remediation and rehabilitation of arsenic (As)-contaminated soil and water. However, the stability of As...     

Colloid mobilization and heavy metal transport in the sampling of soil solution from Duckum soil in South Korea

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Colloid mobilization is a significant process governing colloid-associated transport of heavy metals in subsurface environments. It has been studied for the...     

Distribution of quinolone and macrolide resistance genes and their co-occurrence with heavy metal resistance genes in vegetable soils with long-term application of manure

The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has become an increasingly serious global public health issue. This study investigated the distribution characteristics and influencing factors of ARB and ARGs in greenhouse vegetable soils with long-term application of manure. Five typical ARGs, four heavy metal resistance genes (MRGs), and two mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were quantified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The amount of ARB in manure-improved soil greatly exceeded that in control soil, and the bacterial resistance rate decreased significantly with increases in antibiotic concentrations. In addition, the resistance rate of ARB to enrofloxacin (ENR) was lower than that of tylosin (TYL). Real-time qPCR results showed that long-term application of manure enhanced the relative abundance of ARGs in vegetable soils, and the content and proportion of quinolone resistance genes were higher than those of macrolide resistance genes. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that qepA and qnrS significantly correlated with total and available amounts of Cu and Zn, highlighting that certain heavy metals can influence persistence of ARGs. Integrase gene intI1 correlated significantly with the relative abundance of qepA, qnrS, and ermF, suggesting that intI1 played an important role in the horizontal transfer of ARGs. Furthermore, there was a weakly but not significantly positive correlation between specific detected MRGs and ARGs and MGEs. The results of this study enhance understanding the potential for increasing ARGs in manure-applied soil, assessing ecological risk and reducing the spread of ARGs.

Graphic abstract