Healthy Port Futures: Rethinking Sediments for Rivermouth Landscapes

Throughout the Great Lakes, port cities are often located on the rivermouth and where rivermouths once sorted, shaped, and moved the riverine sediment into the lake. Their current use as industrial navigation channels requires cyclical mechanical maintenance dredging. Past sediment management practices have either placed the riverine sediment nearshore in confined disposal facilities (CDFs) or out in deeper open water. Both practices remove the sediment from the nearshore system, preventing its potential use in coastal protection, habitat creation, wave attenuation, and sediment nourishment. However, novel rivermouth wetlands can draw from both strategies of containment (as in a CDF) and cost-efficiency of non-containment (open lake disposal) to allow for the processing and use of sediment. This article will describe one such attempt, conducted by the Great Lakes Protection Fund-supported Healthy Port Futures project. Through a collaborative design-research process, Healthy Port Futures used a range of tools to generate, speculate, model, visualize, and test wetland forms under a range of social, ecological, and hydrological conditions. This project, understood colloquially as “the Crescent,” proposed a semi-circular, partially open-cell wetland design as a response to the complexity of rivermouth conditions. Throughout this design-research process, the project sought to acknowledge uncertainty, assess risk, and explore a range of outcomes in order to redefine the public expectations around wetland creation and restoration, and reimagine innovation along the Great Lakes coast.     

Source water quality effects on monochloramine inactivation of adenovirus, coxsackievirus, echovirus, and murine norovirus

There is a need for more information regarding monochloramine disinfection efficacy for viruses in water. In this study, monochloramine disinfection efficacy was investigated for coxsackievirus B5 (CVB5), echovirus 11 (E11), murine norovirus (MNV), and human adenovirus 2 (HAdV2) in one untreated ground water and two partially treated surface waters. Duplicate disinfection experiments were completed at pH 7 and 8 in source water at concentrations of 1 and 3 mg/L monochloramine at 5 and 15 °C. The Efficiency Factor Hom (EFH) model was used to calculate CT values (mg-min/L) required to achieve 2-, 3-, and 4-log₁₀ reductions in viral titers. In all water types, monochloramine disinfection was most effective for MNV, with 3-log₁₀ CT values at 5 °C ranging from 27 to 110. Monochloramine disinfection was least effective for HAdV2 and E11, depending on water type, with 3-log₁₀ CT values at 5 °C ranging from 1200 to 3300 and 810 to 2300, respectively. Overall, disinfection proceeded faster at 15 °C and pH 7 for all water types. Inactivation of the study viruses was significantly different between water types, but there was no indication that overall disinfection efficacy was enhanced or inhibited in any one water type. CT values for HAdV2 in two types of source water exceeded federal CT value recommendations in the US. The results of this study demonstrate that water quality impacts the inactivation of viruses and should be considered when developing chloramination plans.     

Comparative utility of hermetic and conventional grain storage bags for smallholder farmers: a meta-analysis

Postharvest management is critical to attaining household food, nutrition, and income security. Hermetic grain storage bags offer an effective pesticide-free way to protect stored grain against fungal and insect infestation. We evaluated articles indexed in the Web of Science that included experiments comparing the storage efficacy of conventional and hermetic storage bags based on grain germination rate, insect infestation, physical damage, mycotoxin contamination, and changes in weight and moisture content. Compared with grain stored in hermetic bags, grain stored in conventional bags lost 3.6-fold more seed viability, contained 42-fold more insects, had 11-fold more physical damage, and lost 23-fold more grain weight, while grain moisture levels were similar for both hermetic and conventional storage bags. Mycotoxin contamination levels were not as frequently assessed. Levels could be low in grain stored in both types of bags, or levels could be low in hermetic bags and significantly higher in conventional bags. The improved properties of grain stored in hermetic bags can increase food security and household income by providing safe storage options for maintaining seed germinability, and for consumption and/or sale when food supplies are high, or when prices are low. Hermetic bags are economically feasible for use by subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa for grain for household consumption and for carrying-over seed for planting in the next season. Additional studies are needed to verify the mycotoxin contamination results and to determine if there are differences in functional food characteristics, e.g. flavor and cooking properties, that have not been as comprehensively studied. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Practice nurses' self-reported opportunistic smoking cessation advice in three contexts.

Little is known of the current smoking cessation activities of practice nurses and their attitudes toward giving smoking cessation advice. This study aimed to (a) compare practice nurses' reports of giving smoking cessation advice as part of cervical screening with their reports of giving such advice in cardiovascular disease screening and diabetes care, (b) compare their beliefs about providing such advice in these three contexts, and (c) determine the strongest predictors of their reports of giving smoking cessation advice. A survey was completed by 152 practice nurses in the United Kingdom. The frequency with which they reported giving smoking cessation advice and their beliefs about giving such advice in three contexts are reported. Nurses reported being more likely to give smoking cessation advice and had more positive beliefs about giving it in the more traditional contexts of cardiovascular screening and diabetes care compared with cervical screening. Beliefs about the appropriateness and practicality of giving such advice in the latter context were the strongest predictors of nurses' reports of doing so. This study provides guidance on the potential barriers that need to be overcome to increase the frequency with which nurses give smoking cessation advice in the context of cervical screening.     

Comparing exemplar and prototype models of categorization.

Five experiments contrasted the prototype and exemplar theories of categorization. The stimuli for the experiments were simple perceptual figures that varied along two multi-valued dimensions. During the learning phase of each experiment, participants assigned each of a series of stimuli to one of two categories and received feedback concerning their assignments. During the generalization phase, participants made category judgments with respect to novel stimuli, including some crucial test stimuli that were (a) more similar to the prototype of one of the two categories, and at the same time, (b) more similar, on average, to the exemplars of the other category. Participants assigned the test stimuli to the latter category. This was taken as evidence favoring the exemplar over the prototype theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Perceived social support among college students: Three studies of the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of the Social Support Inventory": Correction to Brown, Brady, Lent, Wolfert, and Hall.

Reports an error in "Perceived social support among college students: Three studies of the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of the Social Support Inventory" by Steven D. Brown, Theresa Brady, Robert W. Lent, Jenny Wolfert and Sheila Hall (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1987[Jul], Vol 34[3], 337-354). In Table 5, the reliable change (RC) values for Clients 1-7 on the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the College Student Satisfaction Scale were incorrect. The corrected values are presented in the erratum. In addition, a note should be added to Table 5 that reads: "Posttreatment scores used in the calculation of RC are means obtained from the sum of posttreatment and follow-up scores." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1987-32914-001.) Perceived social support has been shown to relate to psychological distress and well-being. However, measurement of the construct has been limited by a failure to embed perceived support in a body of psychological theory that would suggest how perceived support is produced and modified. In three studies we assessed the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of a theory-derived measure of perceived social support, the Social Support Inventory (SSI). Results of the first study indicated that the SSI possessed excellent internal consistency reliability and concurrent validity, and it performed in theoretically predicted ways in a series of construct validity analyses. Results of the second study suggested that the SSI may not be influenced by mood state or demand characteristics. The third study concerned a counseling intervention developed from the SSI's theoretical base. Reported outcomes are from the first 7 consecutive college student clients exposed to the intervention for difficulties in their social transition to college. We also describe the person-environment fit theory from which the SSI was derived and discuss future conceptual and research needs on the theory, instrument, and intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defining the field of industrial-organizational psychology.

The Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CSIOP), as a Section of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), has developed a defining statement for Industrial-Organizational Psychology. This definitional statement was passed by CSIOP in June of 1995, and by the Board of Directors of CPA in August, 1996. This article presents the rationale for the definitional statement, how it was developed, and a copy of the statement itself. The statement includes the general principles of industrial-organizational psychology; ethical, professional, and legal standards; activities and training and competencies of industrial-organizational psychologists; and knowledge and competency base. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Avoided costs for solar facilities

In the USA, federal regulations require electric utilities to purchase power from qualifying facilities at rates equal to the utility's avoided cost. Included among the facilites that qualify are intermittent technologies, ie those dependent upon wind, insolation, or, in some cases, rainfall. This article reviews the special problems and procedures involved in avoided-cost estimation for intermittent technologies. It addresses data problems and the limitations of current methods, including those used to estimate the effective load-carrying capability of intermittent generation. Then, using the results of past research, the major factors determining avoided cost are identified, and the capacity displacement potential of intermittent generation is assessed.