Comparing environmental influences on coral bleaching across and within species using clustered binomial regression

Differential susceptibility among reef-building coral species can lead to community shifts and loss of diversity as a result of temperature-induced mass bleaching events. We evaluate environmental influences on coral colony bleaching over an 8-year period in the Florida Keys, USA. Clustered binomial regression is used to develop models incorporating taxon-specific responses to the environment in order to identify conditions and species for which bleaching is likely to be severe. By building three separate models incorporating environment, community composition, and taxon-specific responses to environment, we show observed prevalence of bleaching reflects an interaction between community composition and local environmental conditions. Environmental variables, including elevated sea temperature, solar radiation, and reef depth, explained 90% and 78% of variability in colony bleaching across space and time, respectively. The effects of environmental variables were only partially explained (33% of variability) by corresponding differences in community composition. Taxon-specific models indicated individual coral species responded differently to local environmental conditions and had different sensitivities to temperature-induced bleaching. For many coral species, but not all, bleaching was exacerbated by high solar radiation. A 25% reduction in the probability of bleaching in shallow locations for one species may reflect an ability to acclimatize to local conditions. Overall, model results indicate predictions of coral bleaching require knowledge of not just the environmental conditions or community composition, but the responses of individual species to the environment. Model development provides a useful tool for coral reef management by quantifying the influence of the local environment on individual species bleaching sensitivities, identifying susceptible species, and predicting the likelihood of mass bleaching events with changing environmental conditions.     

Replacement of a multiple hearth by a fluid bed incinerator the Greensboro case history

The incinerator at the T.Z. Osborne Plant in Greensboro, North Carolina burns sludge from its own waste water treatment plant and sludge pumped from the nearby North Buffalo plant. The two plants have a combined capacity of 36 million gallons per day of wastewater. Because of the age of and increasing high maintenance on the existing multiple hearth incinerator, and the need to increase treatment capacity, the Osborne plant concluded a study in 1992 evaluating its options for future municipal sewage sludge disposal. Options which were evaluated during the study included; (i) rehabilitation of the existing eight-year old multiple hearth unit; (ii) addition of a new multiple hearth; (iii) addition of a new fluid bed system; (iv) drying, composting, or land application. The chosen option, based on both economic and environmental considerations, was a new fluid bed system with a capacity of 2.55 tons per hour, approximately double that of the existing multiple hearth. Design of the new fluid bed system began in December 1994 and equipment delivery for the incineration system was begun in April 1995. Initial operation occurred in August 1996. Primary and secondary sludge, dewatered to 28% dry solids by centrifuge, is delivered by piston pumps to the twenty-foot freeboard ID incinerator. A shell and tube heat exchanger recuperates heat from the exhaust gas and preheats the combustion air to 1250°F, resulting in minimal auxiliary fuel use. The air pollution control device is a high-energy Tandem Nozzle® scrubber. Greensboro was the initial installation of this scrubber design on a fluid bed incinerator and its characteristics and performance are discussed. Ash is dewatered in an ash thickener/belt press system prior to disposal to landfill. The system includes a state of the art Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system for computer control of the operation. The unit was commissioned in August 1996 and has been in continuous operation since that time except for a one week inspection and maintenance shutdown in February 1999. The plant operates 24 h/day, 7 days per week. The initial performance test showed the system to readily meet federal and state air emission standards. Particulate released was 0.002 grains per dry standard cubic foot, carbon monoxide was 22.5 parts per million volumetric (ppmv) and opacity was 0.4%. These results show a significant emission reduction with the fluid bed when compared to the multiple hearth. Annual tests conducted since then and continuous emission monitoring have shown the unit to be in consistent compliance. Since the fluid bed system became operational, the old multiple hearth system has been maintained on standby as a backup, but its use has not been required. Operational experience is discussed, the most interesting of which is the relatively trouble-free operation. The minor problems which occurred and their solutions are detailed. Also included is a comparison of operation and maintenance experience of the fluid bed and the multiple hearth. Current sludge disposal actual cost data are also provided including the average cost per ton of dry solids treated. The almost three years of operational experience to date has shown that the decision to install a new fluid bed system was the correct one on both an environmental and economic basis. It has provided benefits to all interested parties — the wastewater treatment plant, the regulators, the taxpayers, and the surrounding community.     

Effects of mobile phone use on driving performance in a multiresource workload scenario

Objective: This study explores the influence of mobile phone secondary tasks on driving from the perspective of visual, auditory, cognitive, and psychomotor (VACP) multiple resource theory, and it is anticipated to benefit the human-centered design of mobile phone use while driving.

Methods: The present study investigated 6 typical phone use scenarios while driving and analyzed the effects of phone use distractions on driving performance. Thirty-six participants were recruited to participate in this experiment. We abandoned traditional secondary tasks such as conversations or dialing, in which cognitive resources can become interference. Instead, we adopted an arrow secondary task and an n-back delayed digit recall task.

Results: The results show that all mobile phone use scenarios have a significant influence on driving performance, especially on lateral vehicle control. The visual plus psychomotor resource occupation scenario demonstrated the greatest deterioration of driving performance, and there was a significant deterioration of driving speed and steering wheel angle once the psychomotor resource was occupied.

Conclusions: Phone use distraction leads to visual, cognitive, and/or motor resource functional limitations and thus causes lane violations and traffic accidents.     

Aerobic N2O emission for activated sludge acclimated under different aeration rates in the multiple anoxic and aerobic process

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas that can be emitted during biological nitrogen removal. N₂O emission was examined in a multiple anoxic and aerobic process at the aeration rates of 600 mL/min sequencing batch reactor (SBR_L) and 1200 mL/min (SBR_H). The nitrogen removal percentage was 89% in SBR_L and 71% in SBR_H, respectively. N₂O emission mainly occurred during the aerobic phase, and the N₂O emission factor was 10.1% in SBR_L and 2.3% in SBR_H, respectively. In all batch experiments, the N₂O emission potential was high in SBR_L compared with SBR_H. In SBR_L, with increasing aeration rates, the N₂O emission factor decreased during nitrification, while it increased during denitrification and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND). By contrast, in SBR_H the N₂O emission factor during nitrification, denitrification and SND was relatively low and changed little with increasing aeration rates. The microbial competition affected the N₂O emission during biological nitrogen removal.     

水中粪大肠菌群检测方法的比较

采用标准菌株、实际水样和国际标准样品,比较纸片快速法与多管发酵法的一致性。标准菌株试验表明,两种方法在粪大肠菌群的定性检测上没有显著性差异;实际水样试验表明,纸片快速法的检测结果略低于多管发酵法,但两种方法检测结果的回归关系显著;国际标准样品试验表明,两种方法的精密度与准确度均无统计学意义上的显著性差异。     

土壤微生物产电技术及其潜在应用研究进展

微生物燃料电池(microbial fuel cells,MFCs)是一种利用微生物将有机物的化学能转化为电能的装置.土壤含有产电细菌和有机质,能够在MFCs中产生电流.运行土壤MFCs能实时连续监测土壤污染和环境变化,去除土壤中污染物以及抑制淹水稻田土壤排放甲烷.实现上述功能不仅不消耗能源,相反还能产生少量电能,也无需向土壤中添加化学药剂.因此土壤MFCs是值得探索的环境友好的污染检测和修复技术以及温室气体减排技术,在环境科学与工程领域具有潜在的应用价值.由于土壤MFCs研究起步较晚,MFCs领域许多新技术尚未在土壤MFCs中得以应用.本文综述了土壤MFCs的相关研究进展,并结合MFCs技术的前沿,提出土壤MFCs可能的发展方向.     

Characterization and prediction of highway runoff constituent event mean concentration

Highway stormwater runoff quality data were collected from throughout California during 2000-2003. Samples were analyzed for conventional pollutants (pH, conductivity, hardness, and temperature); aggregates (TSS, TDS, TOC, DOC); total and dissolved metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn); and nutrients (NO(3)-N, TKN, total P, and ortho-P). Storm event and site characteristics for each sampling site were recorded. A statistical summary for chemical characteristics of highway runoff is provided based on statewide urban and non-urban highways. Constituent event mean concentrations (EMCs) were generally higher in urban highways than in non-urban highways. The chemical characteristics of highway runoff in California were compared with national highway runoff chemical characterization data. The results obtained in California were generally similar to those found in other states. The median EMC for Pb measured in studies conducted in previous decades was much higher than the current median Pb EMC in California. The lower Pb EMC in California compared to previous highway runoff monitoring is believed to be due to the elimination of leaded gasoline. An attempt was also made to identify surrogate constituents within a general family of water quality categories using Spearman correlations and selected pairs with Spearman coefficients greater than 0.8. The strongest correlations were observed among parameters associated with dissolved minerals (EC, TDS, and chloride); organic carbon (TOC and DOC); petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH and O & G); and particulate matter (TSS and turbidity). Within the metals category, total iron concentration was highly correlated with most total metal concentrations. The correlations between total and dissolved concentrations were all less than 0.8, even between total and dissolved concentrations of the same metals. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of various site and storm event variables on highway runoff constituent EMCs. Parameters found to have significant impacts on highway runoff constituent EMCs include: total event rainfall (TER); cumulative seasonal rainfall (CSR); antecedent dry period (ADP); contributing drainage area (DA); and annual average daily traffic (AADT). Surrounding land use and geographic regions were also determined to have a significant impact on runoff quality. The MLR model was also used to predict constituent EMCs. Model performance determined by comparing predicted and measured values showed good agreement for most constituents.     

Size assessment via a visual signal in snapping shrimp

Snapping shrimp are highly aggressive decapod crustaceans, with large, asymmetric chelae. Body size determines the outcome of both inter- and intrasexual interactions. Both the body and chela sizes of mated pairs are correlated, but the body size correlation is significantly stronger. In competitive interactions between individuals of the same sex, larger individuals usually win. Because the size of the major chela is a function of body size in both males and females, chela size could be used to assess body size early in interactions, before engaging in more high risk behaviors. To determine whether the major chela is used in size assessment, I presented shrimp with isolated chelae. Male snapping shrimp responded aggressively to isolated chelae when they were fixed open in a display posture, and the degree of aggressive response depended on the relative size of the chela. These data provide direct experimental evidence for the use of a visual signal in size assessment. Females, in contrast, responded aggressively to both the open and closed chela, and their responses did not depend on relative size. This sex difference in response may be due to differences in the value of certain resources, such as shelters, to males and females: females may be more willing to respond aggressively regardless of the apparent size of their opponent, in order to acquire more reliable information regarding size, motivation or fighting ability. Received: 30 December 1994/Accepted after revision: 14 August 1995     

Statistical approach for the source identification of boron in leachates from industrial landfills

Boron has been found in high concentrations in leachates from landfills located throughout Japan. However, the source(s) of boron in the leachates, i.e., what kind of waste(s) releases this element into the leachate, has not been clarified. In this study, boron concentrations in leachates from 48 industrial landfills were evaluated, in relation to the categories of waste constituting the landfill in each of the sites, by multiple regression analysis. The multiple regression analyses were carried out using the log-transformed boron concentration as a dependent variable and each of 19 categories of industrial waste (according to the Japanese Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law) as independent variables. Stepwise variable selection was employed in the analyses. Although the significant variable(s) selected varied according to the data sets analyzed (viz., data sets from least controlled landfill sites, from controlled landfill sites, and from both), cinders, slag, and waste plastics emerged as wastes with positive partial regression coefficients that significantly explained the boron levels in the leachates. These results indicated that cinders, slag, and waste plastics were the sources of high concentrations of boron in the leachates. The results of the present exploratory statistical analyses warrant a systematic survey of the boron contents of, and leachability from, cinders, slag, and waste plastics. Received: January 17, 2000 / Accepted: July 24, 2000