Trends over 1999–2014 in the concentrations of Ba,Cs, Co,Mo, Pb,Sb, Tl,and W in urine of US children aged 6–11 years

Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for children aged 6–11 years for 1999–2014 were used to study time trends and factors affecting the urinary levels of barium, cobalt, cesium, molybdenum, lead, antimony, thallium, and tungsten. Adjusted levels in urine declined every two years by 5.9% for barium, by 1.2% for cesium, by 18.2% for lead, and by 14% for antimony. For every additional smoker smoking inside a home, the levels of barium increased by 10.6% and for lead by 10%, but for tungsten levels decreased by 7.7%.     

Impact of pregnancy and other factors including smoking on the urinary levels of triclosan

Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used to evaluate the impact of pregnancy on the levels of triclosan (TCS) in urine. Regression models were fitted to evaluate this association with adjustment for other factors that may affect the levels of TCS. Pregnant females had higher levels of TCS than non-pregnant females but the differences were not statistically significant. Levels of TCS were statistically significantly lower during the second trimester than during the third trimester. Smoking was associated with statistically significantly lower levels of TCS. The reasons for the association between smoking and the levels of TCS are not known. Further research is needed in this area.     

Oceanographic characteristics of areas used by Cory’s shearwaters during short and long foraging trips in the North Atlantic

Many breeding seabird species are central-place foragers and constrained to find productive prey patches within their foraging ranges. We assessed how different populations of a pelagic seabird species, the Cory’s shearwater Calonectris diomedea, breeding in oceanic and neritic conditions, cope with these constraints in the North Atlantic, during both incubation and chick-rearing periods. We analysed 237 foraging trips to study the movements and oceanographic characteristics of foraging habitats of seven different populations of Cory’s shearwaters. Generally, oceanic populations exhibited higher foraging effort, by travelling more time and to more distant areas, and larger home ranges and feeding areas, than the neritic population (i.e. breeding on an island within the Portuguese continental platform). On their short trips (i.e. ≤4 days), birds from the different populations fed mostly in shallower waters around the colony. During long trips (i.e. ≥5 days), feeding areas of both oceanic and neritic populations were characterized by high concentration values of chlorophyll-a, low sea-surface temperature and shallower habitats, with oceanic populations of the Azores exploiting areas north of the islands over known seamounts and frontal regions. Birds from other oceanic population (Selvagens) also exploited the African continental shelf system on their long trips. The home ranges of the different populations overlapped widely, but there was a general spatial segregation in terms of the core feeding areas at the population level. Core feeding areas and areas of foraging overlap between different populations should be important to inform conservation management measures, such as the definition of Marine Important Bird Areas for seabirds over the North Atlantic.     

CLFUG: A GIS‐scaleable model of pesticide fate in the soil–groundwater system based on clearance and fugacity paradigms

A model of pesticide transport through the soil profile based on clearance and fugacity paradigms is presented, and an example of its application in a GIS environment is shown. A validation of the model at the field plot scale is presented using data obtained at a crop in a semiarid irrigated agricultural basin which was treated with Lindane. The adequacy at the regional scale is tested by inspection of the model predictions and the measured concentrations of the pesticide obtained from a regional phreatimetric net. The clearance concept is used to obtain estimates of the volumes of some environmental phases. These are further used to solve the equations of thermodynamic equilibrium at equal fugacity and obtain concentration estimates. The model closely reproduces the observed percolation trends, and is consistent with the regional pattern of Lindane distribution in groundwater. An application of the model as unitary module for the simulation of non‐point pesticide sources in a raster GIS frame is shown. Its performance (run time, data needed, etc.) is comparable to that of other existing algorithms, and presents some advantages to planners and evaluators of environmental quality in that it incorporates an explicit 2‐D approach and allows the identification of polluted areas downslope with respect to those directly treated with the pesticides. Further, it can be implemented in a variety of GIS and spatial data processors.     

Bayes Estimation of a Distribution Function Using Ranked Set Samples

Aranked set sample (RSS), if not balanced, is simply a sample of independent order statistics gener- ated from the same underlying distribution F. Kvam and Samaniego (1994) derived maximum likelihood estimates of F for a general RSS. In many applications, including some in the environ- mental sciences, prior information about F is available to supplement the data-based inference. In such cases, Bayes estimators should be considered for improved estimation. Bayes estimation (using the squared error loss function) of the unknown distribution function F is investigated with such samples. Additionally, the Bayes generalized maximum likelihood estimator (GMLE) is derived. An iterative scheme based on the EM Algorithm is used to produce the GMLE of F. For the case of squared error loss, simple solutions are uncommon, and a procedure to find the solution to the Bayes estimate using the Gibbs sampler is illustrated. The methods are illustrated with data from the Natural Environmental Research Council of Great Britain (1975), representing water discharge of floods on the Nidd River in Yorkshire, England     

Trihalomethane formation in ozonated and chlorinated surface water

The relatively recent discovery of disinfection by-products has driven the main regulatory organisms to set maximum contaminant levels for certain substances in drinking water. Trihalomethanes can be deemed as the most important group of by-products in chlorinated surface waters. The present work has focused on trihalomethane formation in a full-scale water treatment plant. We studied the effect of several factors, including ozonation, on trihalomethane levels in chlorinated treated water. The treatment scheme also includes an ozonation step. Electronic Publication     

Associations between concentrations of selected perfluoroalkyl acids and concentrations of blood cadmium,lead, and total mercury

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Data (N = 2552) from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for US adults aged ≥ 20 years for 2011–2016 were analyzed to...     

Assessing coastal management case studies around Europe using an indicator based tool

Over 350 European Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) ‘best practice’ case studies are documented in the OURCOAST online public database, to ensure that lessons learned from experiences and practices are shared and improve coastal management practices. However, concrete criteria for ‘best practice’ are missing and a critical evaluation of the success of these case studies did not take place. We present an indicator-based tool and methodology that allows assessing the progress towards sustainability of ICZM measures. An indicator-based tool was applied to 18 thematically different coastal case studies using two different methods: a fast screening and an analysis in-depth assessment. Both methods used help to identify strengths and weaknesses of ICZM and their contribution to sustainable development. However, indicator scores were highly affected by evaluators’ background and perception. The tool is user-friendly and easy to apply, it indicates what progress has made towards sustainability and to which extent targets have been met.