Reason,emotion, compassion: can altruism survive professionalisation in the humanitarian sector?

The humanitarian sector has grown enormously over the past two decades. Some fear that professionalisation comes at the expense of altruistic volunteering. This may be a valid concern if altruism is the product of organisational culture and individual experiences rather than an innate trait. This paper examines advances in evolutionary biology and neurology that provide evidence in support of both the nature and nurture arguments, echoing earlier insights from social sciences. It then questions to what extent humanitarian principles build on altruistic impulses or instead seek to constrain them, and reviews recruitment profiles of selected humanitarian organisations and applicants' letters accordingly. This initial investigation warrants further research to identify how altruism as a personal trait and an organisational principle has influenced diverse humanitarian actors and traditions. This paper outlines how training curricula and organisational reward systems can build on—rather than stifle—natural altruism to nurture critical, reflexive practitioners.     

Contrasting foraging tactics by northern gannets (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sula bassana</Emphasis>) breeding in different oceanographic domains with different prey fields

In order to forage and to provision offspring effectively, seabirds negotiate a complex of behavioural, energetic, environmental and social constraints. In first tests of GPS loggers with seabirds in North America, we investigated the foraging tactics of free-ranging northern gannets (Sula bassana) at a large and a medium-sized colony that differed in oceanography, coastal position and prey fields. Gannets at Low Arctic colony (Funk Island) 50 km off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada provisioned chicks almost entirely with small forage fish (capelin Mallotus villosus, 89%), while at boreal colony (Bonaventure Island) 3 km from shore in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, Canada, large pelagic fish dominated parental prey loads (Atlantic mackerel Scomber scombrus 50%, Atlantic herring Clupea harengus 33%). Mean foraging range and the total distance travelled per foraging trip were significantly greater at the larger inshore colony (Bonaventure) than at the smaller offshore colony (Funk Island; 138 and 452 km vs. 64 and 196 km, respectively). Gannets from Funk Island consistently travelled inshore to forage on reproductive capelin shoals near the coast, whereas foraging flights of birds from Bonaventure were much more variable in direction and destination. Birds from the Low Arctic colony foraged in colder sea surface water than did birds from the boreal colony, and dive characteristics differed between colonies, which is concordent with the difference in prey base. Differences between the colonies reflect oceanographic and colony-size influences on prey fields that shape individual foraging tactics and in turn generate higher level colony-specific foraging “strategies”.     

PM2.5 and PM10 air pollution peaks are associated with emergency department visits for psychotic and mood disorders

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Particulate matters with a diameter of less than 10&nbsp;µm (PM10) or less than 2.5&nbsp;µm (PM2.5) are major air pollutants. Their...     

Efficient oxidation of bisphenol A with oxysulfur radicals generated by iron-catalyzed autoxidation of sulfite at circumneutral pH under UV irradiation

There is actually a need for efficient methods to clean waters and wastewaters from pollutants such as the bisphenol A endocrine disrupter. Advanced oxidation processes currently use persulfate or peroxymonosulfate to generate sulfate radicals. There are, however, few reports on the use of sulfite to generate sulfate radicals, instead of persulfate or peroxymonosulfate, except for dyes. Here we studied the degradation of the bisphenol A using iron(III) as catalyst and sulfite as precursor of oxysulfur radicals, at initial pH of 6, under UV irradiation at 395 nm. The occurrence of radicals was checked by quenching with tert-butyl alcohol and ethanol. Bisphenol A degradation products were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Results reveal that iron(III) or iron(II) have a similar oxidation efficiency. Quenching experiments show that the oxidation rate of bisphenol A is 47.7 % for SO ₄ ^·? , 37.3 % for SO ₅ ^·? and 15 % for HO^·. Bisphenol A degradation products include catechol and quinone derivatives. Overall, our findings show that the photo-iron(III)–sulfite system is efficient for the oxidation of bisphenol A at circumneutral pH.     

Effect of iron speciation on the photodegradation of Monuron in combined photocatalytic systems with immobilized or suspended TiO2

Photodegradation kinetics of Monuron (3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea) in photoreactor with immobilized and suspended TiO₂ photocatalyst were studied. The effect of addition of ferric or ferrous perchlorate was investigated. Whatever the concentration of Fe(III/II) added there is no significant negative effect on the photodegradation rate of pollutants. On the contrary, depending on speciation and concentration of iron salts, slight or marked acceleration of the photodegradation kinetics was observed. This positive influence was more pronounced in the case of TiO₂ suspensions than for TiO₂ layers. Fe(III) was generally more effective than Fe(II).     

A general kinetic law for heavy metal vaporization during municipal solid waste incineration

Metal emissions from waste incineration plants become a great environmental concern because of their toxicity for both human health and environment. Metals are not destroyed by high-temperature thermal treatment and some vaporized metals may be emitted. It is thus essential to understand the release mechanism of metals during high-temperature waste treatment, in order to improve the understanding of their behavior and the control of their emission. The objective of this study is to identify the kinetic law for metal release from realistic artificial waste. The vaporization of three metals of most concern (Cd, Pb and Zn) during municipal waste incineration was studied. The vaporization rate at the particle level was determined from the experimental concentration profile in the outlet gas of a fluidized bed reactor, by using the inverse method that was previously developed and validated by our team. As a first step, the kinetic parameters were determined thanks to experiments carried out at several temperatures. Specific laws, for each studied metal, were thus obtained as a function of temperature. Nevertheless, it is very useful to identify all the experimental kinetic curves (all studied metals at all temperatures) to one single mathematical law. Therefore, a general kinetic law, expressing the solid matrix influence on the metal vaporization dynamic, was determined as a second step. It permits to predict the vaporization characteristic time and the time course of the metal concentration in the waste.     

Documenting lemming population change in the Arctic: Can we detect trends?

Lemmings are a key component of tundra food webs and changes in their dynamics can affect the whole ecosystem. We present a comprehensive overview of lemming monitoring and research activities, and assess recent trends in lemming abundance across the circumpolar Arctic. Since 2000, lemmings have been monitored at 49 sites of which 38 are still active. The sites were not evenly distributed with notably Russia and high Arctic Canada underrepresented. Abundance was monitored at all sites, but methods and levels of precision varied greatly. Other important attributes such as health, genetic diversity and potential drivers of population change, were often not monitored. There was no evidence that lemming populations were decreasing in general, although a negative trend was detected for low arctic populations sympatric with voles. To keep the pace of arctic change, we recommend maintaining long-term programmes while harmonizing methods, improving spatial coverage and integrating an ecosystem perspective.     

Interaction of erythromycin ethylsuccinate and acetaminophen with protein fraction of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from various bacterial aggregates

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are, along with microbial cells, the main components of the biological sludges used in wastewater treatment and natural biofilms. EPS play a major role in removing pollutants from water by means of sorption. The ability of soluble EPS (S-EPS) and bound EPS (B-EPS) derived from various bacterial aggregates (flocs, granules, biofilms) to bind at pH 7.0?±?0.1 to two pharmaceutical substances, acetaminophen (ACE) and erythromycin ethylsuccinate (ERY), has been investigated using the fluorescence quenching method. Two intense fluorescence peaks, A (Ex/Em range, 200–250/275–380 nm) and B (Ex/Em range, 260–320/275–360 nm), corresponding respectively to the aromatic protein region and soluble microbial by-product-like region, were identified in a three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix of EPS samples. The fluorescence peak, which corresponds to humic-like substances, was also identified though at low intensity. The ability of EPS to bind ACE was found to exceed that for ERY. The aromatic protein fraction of EPS displays a slightly higher affinity for drugs than that shown by the soluble microbial by-product-like fraction. The S-EPS and B-EPS present the same affinity for ACE and ERY. The effective quenching constants (log K) derived from the Stern–Volmer Equation equaled at peak A (with S-EPS): 3.7?±?0.2 to 4.0?±?0.1 for ACE and 2.1?±?0.3 to 2.7?±?0.1 for ERY. With B-EPS, these values were 3.9?±?0.1 to 4.0?±?0.1 for ACE and 2.0?±?0.2 to 2.6?±?0.1 for ERY. Our results suggest that the weaker EPS affinity for ERY than for ACE serves to partially explain why only about 50–80 % of ERY is removed from wastewater at the treatment plant. Moreover, this work demonstrates that EPS from natural river biofilms are able to bind drugs, which in turn may limit the mobility of drugs in natural waters.     

How changes in diet and trade patterns have shaped the N cycle at the national scale: Spain (1961–2009)

During the last five decades (1961–2009), Spain has experienced a considerable expansion in the nutrient cycle of its agricultural sector and, in particular, a threefold increase in anthropogenic reactive nitrogen inputs, from 536 Gg N year^?1 in 1961–1965 to 1673 Gg N year^?1 in 2005–2009. Import of feed (soybean, cereals, and cakes) from America and Europe to supply a growing livestock population constitutes the largest share of this increase, along with intensification of synthetic fertilizer use. While in the early 1960s, Spain was nearly self-sufficient in terms of food and feed supply, the net import of agricultural products presently equals domestic crop production, when expressed in terms of nitrogen content (ca. 650 Gg N year^?1). The most important driver of this shift appears to be the rapid change in domestic consumption patterns, which evolved from a typical Mediterranean diet to an animal-protein-rich diet similar to the North European and American diets. Besides livestock production mostly for national consumption, the Spanish agricultural system has specialized in vegetal products with low N content such as olive oil, wine, vegetables, and citrus fruit, which are for the most part exported. The nitrogen load exported outside the Spanish borders by rivers is very low (6.5 % of the total net N input). As a result of the high import and low export of reactive nitrogen, the Spanish mainland is suffering from considerable pollution by local emissions of reactive nitrogen forms to air and water.