Applying global cost-benefit analysis methods to indoor air pollution mitigation interventions in Nepal,Kenya and Sudan: Insights and challenges

Indoor air pollution from burning solid fuels for cooking is a major environmental health problem in developing countries, predominantly affecting children and women. Traditional household energy practices also contribute to substantial time loss and drudgery among households. While effective interventions exist, levels of investment to date have been very low, in part due to lack of evidence on economic viability. Between 2004 and 2007, different combinations of interventions – improved stoves, smoke hoods and a switch to liquefied petroleum gas – were implemented in poor communities in Nepal, Sudan and Kenya. The impacts were extensively evaluated and provided the basis for a household-level cost-benefit analysis, which essentially followed the methodology proposed by the World Health Organization. The results suggest that interventions are justified on economic grounds with estimated internal rates of return of 19%, 429% and 62% in Nepal, Kenya and Sudan, respectively. Time savings constituted by far the most important benefit followed by fuel cost savings; direct health improvements were a small component of the overall benefit. This paper describes the methodology applied, discusses the findings and highlights the methodological challenges that arise when a global approach is applied to a local programme.     

Functionalisation of lyocell. Part 2: Synthesis of 6‐p‐aminoanilino‐4‐p‐(β‐sulphatoethylsulphonyl)anilino‐1,3,5‐triazin‐2(1H)‐one†

A new water‐soluble monomeric agent for the aminisation of lyocell has been designed and synthesised. The agent, which contains a sulphatoethylsulphonyl group, an s‐triazinyl keto–enol tautomeric system and a primary aromatic amine was prepared in acidic media, in good yield from cyanuric chloride, p‐aminophenyl‐β‐sulphatoethylsulphone and p‐phenylenediamine, via a triazinyl betaine intermediate.     

Integrating legal liabilities in nanomanufacturing risk management

Among other things, the wide-scale development and use of nanomaterials is expected to produce costly regulatory and civil liabilities for nanomanufacturers due to lingering uncertainties, unanticipated effects, and potential toxicity. The life-cycle environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks of nanomaterials are currently being studied, but the corresponding legal risks have not been systematically addressed. With the aid of a systematic approach that holistically evaluates and accounts for uncertainties about the inherent properties of nanomaterials, it is possible to provide an order of magnitude estimate of liability risks from regulatory and litigious sources based on current knowledge. In this work, we present a conceptual framework for integrating estimated legal liabilities with EHS risks across nanomaterial life-cycle stages using empirical knowledge in the field, scientific and legal judgment, probabilistic risk assessment, and multicriteria decision analysis. Such estimates will provide investors and operators with a basis to compare different technologies and practices and will also inform regulatory and legislative bodies in determining standards that balance risks with technical advancement. We illustrate the framework through the hypothetical case of a manufacturer of nanoscale titanium dioxide and use the resulting expected legal costs to evaluate alternative risk-management actions.     

ACE-Asia intercomparison of a thermal-optical method for the determination of particle-phase organic and elemental carbon

A laboratory intercomparison of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) measurements of atmospheric particulate matter samples collected on quartz filters was conducted among eight participants of the ACE-Asia field experiment The intercomparison took place in two stages: the first round of the intercomparison was conducted when filter samples collected during the ACE-Asia experiment were being analyzed for OC and EC, and the second round was conducted after the ACE-Asia experiment and included selected samples from the ACE-Asia experiment Each participant operated ECOC analyzers from the same manufacturer and utilized the same analysis protocol for their measurements. The precision of OC measurements of quartz fiber filters was a function of the filter's carbon loading but was found to be in the range of 4-13% for OC loadings of 1.0-25 microg of C cm(-2). For measurements of EC, the precision was found to be in the range of 6-21% for EC loadings in the range of 0.7-8.4 microg of C cm(-2). It was demonstrated for three ambient samples, four source samples, and three complex mixtures of organic compounds that the relative amount of total evolved carbon allocated as OC and EC (i.e., the ECOC split) is sensitive to the temperature program used for analysis, and the magnitude of the sensitivity is dependent on the types of aerosol particles collected. The fraction of elemental carbon measured in wood smoke and an extract of organic compounds from a wood smoke sample were sensitive to the temperature program used for the ECOC analysis. The ECOC split for the three ambient samples and a coal fly ash sample showed moderate sensitivity to temperature program, while a carbon black sample and a sample of secondary organic aerosol were measured to have the same split of OC and EC with all temperature programs that were examined.     

A decision-directed approach for prioritizing research into the impact of nanomaterials on the environment and human health

The emergence of nanotechnology has coincided with an increased recognition of the need for new approaches to understand and manage the impact of emerging technologies on the environment and human health. Important elements in these new approaches include life-cycle thinking, public participation and adaptive management of the risks associated with emerging technologies and new materials. However, there is a clear need to develop a framework for linking research on the risks associated with nanotechnology to the decision-making needs of manufacturers, regulators, consumers and other stakeholder groups. Given the very high uncertainties associated with nanomaterials and their impact on the environment and human health, research resources should be directed towards creating the knowledge that is most meaningful to these groups. Here, we present a model (based on multi-criteria decision analysis and a value of information approach) for prioritizing research strategies in a way that is responsive to the recommendations of recent reports on the management of the risk and impact of nanomaterials on the environment and human health.     

Evaluating copper lysine and copper sulfate sources for heifers

The effects of feeding different sources and quantities of Cu to heifers were evaluated in a 211-d experiment. Forty crossbred predominantly Brahman x Hereford heifers averaging 13.5 mo of age and 301 kg were initially depleted of Cu. The depletion diet was fed for 70 d and consisted of low Cu and high antagonist minerals, Fe, S, and Mo at 1000 mg/kg, 0.5%, and 5 mg/kg (dry basis), respectively. On d 71, heifers continued to receive the antagonistic minerals and were allotted equally to five Cu treatments: 1) control, no additional Cu source; 2) 8 mg of Cu/kg from CuSO4; 3) 16 mg of Cu/kg from CuSO4; 4) 8 mg of Cu/kg from Cu lysine; and 5) 16 mg of Cu/kg from Cu lysine. When no notable change in concentration of Cu in the liver was observed, d 169, a second diet was formulated. The heifers were fed the same Cu treatments, but S and Mo were removed and Fe was lowered to 50 mg/kg. This diet was then fed for the final 42 d of the experiment. In addition to performance, concentrations of Cu, Fe, and Zn in the plasma and liver, plasma ceruloplasmin, hemoglobin, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of neutrophils and lymphocytes, and a cell mediated immune response (phytohemagglutinin-P, PHA) were measured. Heifers in this study had increased growth over time, but there were no treatment differences for growth and average daily gain. Liver and plasma Cu concentrations were not greatly influenced by different supplemental Cu sources. However, compared with other treatments, Cu lysine (16 mg/kg) increased liver Cu in cattle that were deficient and tended to increase plasma Cu in animals that were marginally deficient in Cu. Iron concentrations decreased over time in liver and plasma, but there was no difference in Fe and Zn concentrations in liver and plasma among treatments. Differences in ceruloplasmin and hemoglobin concentrations were significant over time but not among treatments. The SOD activity in neutrophils did not change over time, but SOD activity of lymphocytes increased over time. For the PHA immune response test, there was no effect of time or a time by treatment interaction. These data suggest that all Cu sources were available, but Cu at 16 mg/kg from Cu lysine was more beneficial than were other sources and particularly for heifers with low Cu status.     

Measurement of Aerosol Organic Compounds Using a Novel Collection/Thermal-Desorption PTR-ITMS Instrument

We report the development and characterization of a proton-transfer-reaction ion trap mass spectrometer for the speciated measurement of organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols and show results from its first field deployment. The instrument uses an aerosol collection inlet to accumulate aerosol mass followed by rapid thermal desorption to volatilize the organic compounds for in situ analysis. We have performed laboratory studies to characterize instrument performance and the instrument was deployed aboard a NOAA research vessel during the Texas Air Quality Study 2006/Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (TexAQS 2006/GoMACCS) in August–September 2006. The laboratory-determined detection limit for glutaric acid in mixed glutaric acid/NH ₄ HSO ₄ test aerosols was 0.22 ng collected mass, which corresponds to an estimated detection limit of 12 ng m^?3 for a 10 min sample based on the instrument sample flow rate of 1.8 L min^?1. During TexAQS 2006/GoMACCS, signals well above the detection limit were observed at a number of mass to charge ratios, mostly occurring during an extended period of active pollution photochemistry, but also including detection of possible primary emissions of aerosol-phase pyridine.     

Fluctuations,Order, and Disorder in Short Diblock Copolymers

The phase behavior for a series of poly(1,4‐isoprene‐b‐DL‐lactide) diblock copolymers characterized by a relatively large Flory–Huggins segment–segment interaction parameter (χ) and low degrees of polymerization (N) over a range of compositions was reported. Ordered‐state morphologies were deduced from small‐angle x‐ray scattering (SAXS) measurements, and χ(T) was determined from order‐disorder transition temperatures (T_ODT's) associated with the compositionally symmetric specimens and assuming the mean‐field theory, that is, (χN)_ODT=10.5. The ODT was determined by differential scanning calorimetry, SAXS, and dynamic mechanical spectroscopy, and shown to be weakly first‐order, with latent heats of transition that vary strongly with composition. We interpret this behavior in terms of the mean and Gauss interfacial curvature of the ordered‐state morphologies and with respect to composition fluctuations in the disordered state. These results offer a fresh strategy for investigating weakly first‐order phase transitions within the Brazovskii universality class. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 3502–3513, 2013     

Gender differences in acute alcohol effects on self-regulation of arousal in response to emotional and alcohol-related picture cues.

Basic mechanisms through which men and women self-regulate arousal have received little attention in human experimental addiction research, although stress-response-dampening and craving theories suggest an important role of emotional arousal in motivating alcohol use. This study examined gender differences in the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on psychophysiological and self-reported arousal in response to emotionally negative, positive, and neutral, and alcohol-related, picture cues. Thirty-six social drinkers (16 women) were randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or control beverage group and exposed to picture cues every 10 s (0.1 Hz presentation frequency). Psychophysiological arousal was assessed via a 0.1-Hz heart rate variability (HRV) index. A statistically significant beverage group-by-gender interaction effect on psychophysiological, but not self-reported, arousal was found. The 0.1-Hz HRV responses to picture cues were suppressed by alcohol only in men. This gender-specific suppression pattern did not differ significantly across picture cue types. There were no significant gender differences in the placebo or control group. Greater dampening of arousal by alcohol intoxication in men, compared with women, may contribute to men’s greater tendency to use alcohol to cope with stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language deficits, localization, and grammar: Evidence for a distributive model of language breakdown in aphasic patients and neurologically intact individuals.

Selective deficits in aphasic patients' grammatical production and comprehension are often cited as evidence that syntactic processing is modular and localizable in discrete areas of the brain (e.g., Y. Grodzinsky, 2000). The authors review a large body of experimental evidence suggesting that morphosyntactic deficits can be observed in a number of aphasic and neurologically intact populations. They present new data showing that receptive agrammatism is found not only over a range of aphasic groups, but is also observed in neurologically intact individuals processing under stressful conditions. The authors suggest that these data are most compatible with a domain-general account of language, one that emphasizes the interaction of linguistic distributions with the properties of an associative processor working under normal or suboptimal conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)