Investigation of reagent distributions on glass fiber membrane filters used in air sampling

This project has arisen from the need to produce GFFs (glass fiber filters) bearing a thin and evenly distributed coating of a selected reagent in the equatorial plane for breakthrough studies. However, it has been discovered that today's two general techniques for coating GFFs (total immersion and application of reagent solution to GFFs) have usually produced unevenly distributed coatings of reagent in the equatorial plane. In addition, quantities of reagent on GFFs from commercial sources may vary widely in the same lot of coated GFFs. Consequences are variability in capacity of coated filters at the point of breakthrough and, perhaps, wasted reagent. Although today's reagent-coated filters may be satisfactory for routine air sampling, such filters may be unacceptable for precise breakthrough studies. Research has been conducted successfully to produce nearly evenly distributed coatings of reagents in the equatorial plane of GFFs by application of reagent solutions to the centers of GFFs which are resting on crisscrossing, fine, stainless-steel wire. Distributions of coatings have been determined by punching out twenty-one 5-mm circles from each GFF and analyzing each circle by flow-injection with a UV detector. Lowest achievable relative standard deviations of measurement (RSDs) for reagents in 5-mm circles have been 5 to 7%. Reagents studied have included 1-(2-pyridyl)piperazine (1-2PP), 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH), and 1-(9-anthracenylmethyl)piperazine (MAP). Factors affecting the distribution of such coatings include choice of reagent and choice of solvent for the reagent solution.     

Using fatty acids to fingerprint biofilm communities: a means to quickly and accurately assess stream quality

The assessment of lotic ecosystem quality plays an essential role to help determine the extent of environmental stress and the effectiveness of restoration activities. Methods that incorporate biological properties are considered ideal because they provide direct assessment of the end goal of a vigorous biological community. Our primary objective was to use biofilm lipids to develop an accurate biomonitoring tool that requires little expertise and time to facilitate assessment. A model was created of fatty acid biomarkers most associated with predetermined stream quality classification, exceptional warm water habitat (EWH), warm water habitat (WWH), and limited resource (LR-AMD), and validated along a gradient of known stream qualities. The fatty acid fingerprint of the biofilm community was statistically different (P?=?0.03) and was generally unique to recognized stream quality. One striking difference was essential fatty acids (DHA, EPA, and ARA) were absent from LR-AMD and only recovered from WWH and EWH, 45 % more in EWH than WWH. Independently testing the model along a stream quality gradient, this model correctly categorized six of the seven sites, with no match due to low sample biomass. These results provide compelling evidence that biofilm fatty acid analysis can be a sensitive, accurate, and cost-effective biomonitoring tool. We conceive of future studies expanding this research to more in-depth studies of remediation efforts, determining the applicable geographic area for the method and the addition of multiple stressors with the possibility of distinguishing among stressors.     

Co-evolution of wetland landscapes,flooding, and human settlement in the Mississippi River Delta Plain

River deltas all over the world are sinking beneath sea-level rise, causing significant threats to natural and social systems. This is due to the combined effects of anthropogenic changes to sediment supply and river flow, subsidence, and sea-level rise, posing an immediate threat to the 500–1,000 million residents, many in megacities that live on deltaic coasts. The Mississippi River Deltaic Plain (MRDP) provides examples for many of the functions and feedbacks, regarding how human river management has impacted source-sink processes in coastal deltaic basins, resulting in human settlements more at risk to coastal storms. The survival of human settlement on the MRDP is arguably coupled to a shifting mass balance between a deltaic landscape occupied by either land built by the Mississippi River or water occupied by the Gulf of Mexico. We developed an approach to compare 50 % L:W isopleths (L:W is ratio of land to water) across the Atchafalaya and Terrebonne Basins to test landscape behavior over the last six decades to measure delta instability in coastal deltaic basins as a function of reduced sediment supply from river flooding. The Atchafalaya Basin, with continued sediment delivery, compared to Terrebonne Basin, with reduced river inputs, allow us to test assumptions of how coastal deltaic basins respond to river management over the last 75 years by analyzing landward migration rate of 50 % L:W isopleths between 1932 and 2010. The average landward migration for Terrebonne Basin was nearly 17,000 m (17 km) compared to only 22 m in Atchafalaya Basin over the last 78 years (p < 0.001), resulting in migration rates of 218 m/year (0.22 km/year) and <0.5 m/year, respectively. In addition, freshwater vegetation expanded in Atchafalaya Basin since 1949 compared to migration of intermediate and brackish marshes landward in the Terrebonne Basin. Changes in salt marsh vegetation patterns were very distinct in these two basins with gain of 25 % in the Terrebonne Basin compared to 90 % decrease in the Atchafalaya Basin since 1949. These shifts in vegetation types as L:W ratio decreases with reduced sediment input and increase in salinity also coincide with an increase in wind fetch in Terrebonne Bay. In the upper Terrebonne Bay, where the largest landward migration of the 50 % L:W ratio isopleth occurred, we estimate that the wave power has increased by 50–100 % from 1932 to 2010, as the bathymetric and topographic conditions changed, and increase in maximum storm-surge height also increased owing to the landward migration of the L:W ratio isopleth. We argue that this balance of land relative to water in this delta provides a much clearer understanding of increased flood risk from tropical cyclones rather than just estimates of areal land loss. We describe how coastal deltaic basins of the MRDP can be used as experimental landscapes to provide insights into how varying degrees of sediment delivery to coastal deltaic floodplains change flooding risks of a sinking delta using landward migrations of 50 % L:W isopleths. The nonlinear response of migrating L:W isopleths as wind fetch increases is a critical feedback effect that should influence human river-management decisions in deltaic coast. Changes in land area alone do not capture how corresponding landscape degradation and increased water area can lead to exponential increase in flood risk to human populations in low-lying coastal regions. Reduced land formation in coastal deltaic basins (measured by changes in the land:water ratio) can contribute significantly to increasing flood risks by removing the negative feedback of wetlands on wave and storm-surge that occur during extreme weather events. Increased flood risks will promote population migration as human risks associated with living in a deltaic landscape increase, as land is submerged and coastal inundation threats rise. These system linkages in dynamic deltaic coasts define a balance of river management and human settlement dependent on a certain level of land area within coastal deltaic basins (L).     

The Effects of Air Pollution on Exposed Cotton Fabrics

This report covers the results of one-year exposure studies of cotton fabrics exposed at different environmental sites in the metropolitan St. Louis, Mo., and Chicago, III. areas. The 12 sites range from heavy industrial to essentially rural. The data presented definitely establish a relationship between air pollution and accelerated degradation of cotton fabrics. The data include strength retention of several cotton fabrics and air pollution data, as determined by periodic measurement of dustfall, suspended particulate matter, sulfation, and sulfur dioxide.     

Sulfur Control In Coal Fired Power Plants: A Probabilistic Approach to Policy Analysis

The optimum level of sulfur pollution control for a coal fired power plant is the point where the sum of societal costs, due to pollution, and control costs is minimized. This basic microeconomic concept has been of limited practical value due to considerable uncertainty in estimating both costs. A probabilistic approach is used to characterize these uncertainties quantitatively for a hypothetical 1000 Mw_e plant located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Only mortality effects within a distance of 80 km of the plant have been included. The results allow explicit consideration of attitude toward risk and appropriate level of investment to prevent deaths. Limitations of the findings are discussed. Implications are described for policy based on alternative sets of values and assumptions.     

Weekday vs. Weekend Ambient Ozone Concentrations: Discussion and Hypotheses with Focus on Northern California

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, researchers and data analysts have reported differences between weekday and weekend ozone concentrations, with higher ozone concentrations occurring on Sundays in some locations. At that time, the phenomenon was referred to as the “Sunday effect.” In the late 1980s, additional papers focused on weekday/weekend differences in air quality in the South Coast (Los Angeles) Air Basin.

Analyses of ozone concentrations measured at a number of locations in northern California reveal that average ozone concentrations are frequently higher on weekends than on weekdays. Violations of the California 0.09 ppm 1-hour air quality standard for ozone also occur in disproportionately greater frequency on weekends. We hypothesize that this phenomenon is based largely on the differences between weekday and weekend emission patterns. We believe that the observed differences may provide information regarding which pollutant reduction strategy, NO_x or ROG control, may be more effective in reducing ambient ozone concentrations. For the northern California region, the presence of higher weekend ozone concentrations suggests the need for ROG control is greater than for NO_x control. If both NO_x and ROG are to be controlled, it is important to understand the interdependence of the two pollutants in forming ozone. With the current uncertainty and debate regarding official vehicular emission inventories, this phenomenon emphasizes the importance of using observation-based data to examine ambient pollution and emission relationships. This natural experiment of varying emissions provides an interesting test case for sophisticated air pollution model performance and evaluation.

Using a Bay Area emission inventory and an estimate of its change from weekday to weekend, combined with a generic Empirical Kinetic Modeling Approach (EKMA) diagram, we demonstrate the weekend effect. In addition, changes in the Bay Area emission inventory from 1980 to 1990, when combined with the EKMA diagram, also show why the weekend effect is more evident in the 1990s.

It is our hypothesis that the presence of the weekend effect, positive or negative, combined with changes in emission changes, provides a simple clue to whether an area is NO_xor ROG limited with respect to ozone formation.     

The influence of a real job on upper limb performance in motor skill tests: which abilities are transferred?

To investigate whether the specificities of real jobs create distinctions in the performance of workers in different motor tests for the upper limbs, 24 participants were divided into two groups according to their specific job: fine and repetitive tasks and general tasks. Both groups reproduced tasks related to aiming movements, handling and strength of the upper limbs. There were no significant differences between groups in the dexterity and performance of aiming movements. However, the general tasks group had higher grip strength than the repetitive tasks group, demonstrating differences according to job specificity. The results suggest that a particular motor skill in a specific job cannot improve performance in other tasks with the same motor requirements. The transfer of the fine and gross motor skills from previous experience in a job-specific task is the basis for allocating training and guidance to workers.     

The effect of oil sands process-affected water and naphthenic acids on the germination and development of Arabidopsis

Oil sands mining in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta results in the production of large volumes of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). We have evaluated the effects of OSPW, the acid extractable organic (AEO) fraction of OSPW, and individual naphthenic acids (NAs) on the germination and development of the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). The surrogate NAs that were selected for this study were petroleum NAs that have been used in previous toxicology studies and may not represent OSPW NAs. A tricyclic diamondoid NA that was recently identified as a component of OSPW served as a model NA in this study. Germination of Arabidopsis seeds was not inhibited when grown on medium containing up to 75% OSPW or by 50 mg L⁻¹ AEO. However, simultaneous exposure to three simple, single-ringed surrogate NAs or a double-ringed surrogate NA had an inhibitory effect on germination at a concentration of 10 mg L⁻¹, whereas inhibition of germination by the diamondoid model NA was observed only at 50 mg L⁻¹. Seedling root growth was impaired by treatment with low concentrations of OSPW, and exposure to higher concentrations of OSPW resulted in increased growth inhibition of roots and primary leaves, and caused bleaching of cotyledons. Treatment with single- or double-ringed surrogate NAs at 10 mg L⁻¹ severely impaired seedling growth. AEO or diamondoid NA treatment was less toxic, but resulted in severely impaired growth at 50 mg L⁻¹. At low NA concentrations there was occasionally a stimulatory effect on root and shoot growth, possibly owing to the broad structural similarity of some NAs to known plant growth regulators such as auxins. This report provides a foundation for future studies aimed at using Arabidopsis as a biosensor for toxicity and to identify genes with possible roles in NA phytoremediation.     

I-C-SEA Change: A participatory tool for rapid assessment of vulnerability of tropical coastal communities to climate change impacts

We present a synoptic, participatory vulnerability assessment tool to help identify the likely impacts of climate change and human activity in coastal areas and begin discussions among stakeholders on the coping and adaptation measures necessary to minimize these impacts. Vulnerability assessment tools are most needed in the tropical Indo-Pacific, where burgeoning populations and inequitable economic growth place even greater burdens on natural resources and support ecosystems. The Integrated Coastal Sensitivity, Exposure, and Adaptive Capacity for Climate Change (I-C-SEA Change) tool is built around a series of scoring rubrics to guide non-specialists in assigning scores to the sensitivity and adaptive capacity components of vulnerability, particularly for coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove habitats, along with fisheries and coastal integrity. These scores are then weighed against threat or exposure to climate-related impacts such as marine flooding and erosion. The tool provides opportunities for learning by engaging more stakeholders in participatory planning and group decision-making. It also allows for information to be collated and processed during a “town-hall” meeting, facilitating further discussion, data validation, and even interactive scenario building.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0652-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Strengthening recruitment of exploited scallops Pecten maximus with ocean warming

There is evidence that ocean warming has effects on the ecology, including recruitment dynamics, of marine organisms. In association with rising mean spring temperatures in the Irish Sea, a time-series of juvenile scallop Pecten maximus density around the Isle of Man showed a significant increasing trend since 1991. Favorable conditions (warmer water and correspondingly greater food availability) during gonad development can increase scallop gamete production. We examined the possibility that ocean warming has directly increased recruitment of exploited P. maximus around the Isle of Man by enhancing gonad development. From 1991–2007, there was a significant positive correlation between scallop recruitment and mean spring (the main period of gonad development) temperature in the year of larval settlement. Detrended (i.e., accounting for a time effect) recruitment data showed a marginally non-significant correlation to temperature. Gonadal somatic index of adult scallops and temperature were positively correlated. These relationships support the hypothesis that greater gamete production associated with ocean warming may be primarily responsible for observed increases in recruitment success and CPUE in a commercially important shellfish stock.