REGIONAL PLANNING OF WASTEWATER REUSE FOR IRRIGATION AND RIVER REHABILITATION

With some agri-environmental restrictions, municipal wastewater can be utilized for agricultural irrigation and river rehabilitation. This paper develops a single-year planning model for a region in Israel which consists of a city and three potential wastewater consumers. The model incorporates, in one endogenous system, the economic, physical and biological relationships in the water-soil-plant environment system and its objective is to maximize the regional social welfare composed of the sum of agricultural and environmental net benefits. The model determines the optimal crop mix and the optimal allocation of the limited water and land resources among all potential users. Then, different allocation approaches from the concept of transferable utility games are applied to determine a reasonable and fair allocation of the additional net benefits which will be accepted by the players. The results support the collaboration among the economic entities and indicate economic and environmental advantages which can serve the decision-makers.Wastewater reuse, Allocation, Optimization Model, Transferable utility games, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Why FDA Has Adopted HACCP Regulations to Ensure the Safety of Food

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a form of statistical quality control adopted by FDA as a regulatory tool to ensure the safety of seafood and juice products. HACCP evolved from the teachings of Walter A. Shewhart and W. Edwards Deming, pioneers in the field of statistical quality control. Their revolutionary concept—controlling the quality of the product by controlling critical steps in the product’s manufacture rather than relying upon end-product inspection—provided manufacturers with a scientific means of identifying and preventing potential hazards from impairing product quality. FDA adopted HACCP-like regulations for low-acid canned foods and acidified foods in the 1970s, requiring food processors to control the heat sterilization portions of their manufacturing processes in order to prevent botulism toxin from forming in the final product. The regulations identified the hazards and manufacturing controls to be instituted—tasks that HACCP leaves to the manufacturer. Indeed, FDA adopted seafood HACCP regulations in 1995 as a means of shifting the burden of identifying the myriad seafood hazards and appropriate manufacturing controls from the Agency to food processors. Although both FDA and industry have struggled in their transition to a HACCP system, federal regulators continue to view HACCP with favor. In 2001, FDA chose HACCP for its regulation of juice products, finding HACCP to be a flexible regulatory tool that both promotes industry self-education and allows manufacturers to engage in innovative methods of quality control. Although pure HACCP regulations continue to be unpopular with some members of the food industry, the concepts underlying HACCP are likely to inform FDA’s promulgation of current good manufacturing practices for the food and dietary supplement industries

Influence of Sedum Species on Thermal Performance of Green Roofs in a Mediterranean Climate

The use of vegetated roofs (green roofs) is a common method for combatting the urban heat island effect and heat-related health consequences. The performance of green roofs depends on the type and composition of its various components, including plants, substrate, insulation, drainage, or other roof layers, as well as climate. While some studies have looked at vegetation’s functional properties in determining thermal effects, none have occurred in Southern California. Because green roof performance is highly dependent on climate, this knowledge gap stands in the way of providing the area with optimally performing designs. This study addressed this knowledge gap by using vegetated roof simulation cells to examine the impacts of two different plant species on thermal properties of a green roof. The plants were two species in the genus Sedum, which is the most commonly used taxon in green roofs. Nine cells were used, where 3 cells had Sedum acre, 3 cells had Sedum rubrotinctum, and 3 cells had bare substrate only. Ambient, soil level, and interior temperatures were collected at 30-minute intervals during the study period, which lasted from March 4th until April 8th. Temperatures were compared afterwards across treatments and location. Both plant species lowered daily maximum temperatures and temperature ranges. However, Sedum acre was far more effective, lowering mean daily max temperatures and temperature ranges by 1.6 �C and 1.4 �C, respectively. Sedum rubrotinctum lowered both mean daily maximum temperatures and temperature range by 0.5 �C

Estimated daily phthalate exposures in a population of mothers of male infants exhibiting reduced anogenital distance.

Phthalate diesters have been shown to be developmental and reproductive toxicants in animal studies. A recent epidemiologic study showed certain phthalates to be significantly associated with reduced anogenital distance in human male infants, the first evidence of subtle developmental effects in human male infants exposed prenatally to phthalates. We used two previously published methods to estimate the daily phthalate exposures for the four phthalates whose urinary metabolites were statistically significantly associated with developmental effects in the 214 mother-infant pairs [di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) , diethyl phthalate (DEP) , butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) , diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP) ] and for another important phthalate [di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) ]. We estimated the median and 95th percentile of daily exposures to DBP to be 0.99 and 2.68 microg/kg/day, respectively ; for DEP, 6.64 and 112.3 microg/kg/day ; for BBzP, 0.50 and 2.47 microg/kg/day ; and for DEHP, 1.32 and 9.32 microg/kg/day. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reference doses for these chemicals are 100 (DBP) , 800 (DEP) , 200 (BBzP) , and 20 (DEHP) microg/kg/day. The median and 95th percentile exposure estimates for the phthalates associated with reduced anogenital distance in the study population are substantially lower than current U.S. EPA reference doses for these chemicals and could be informative to any updates of the hazard assessments and risk assessments for these chemicals

(Re)Vitalizing Philanthropy: The Emergence of Indigenous Philanthropy and its Implications for Civil Society throughout the Developing World

As developing countries have become more integrated within the global economy, new, developing world-based economic elites have emerged as important philanthropists and development actors. The burgeoning trend of indigenous philanthropy holds particularly important implications for traditionally resource scarce civil society throughout the developing world. Unlike their Western – and particularly US based – counterparts, these foundations emerged from the context in which they focus their projects. This paper explores whether and how the rise of an indigenous philanthropic sector holds promise for the expansion and consolidation of civil society in the developing world in light of the various limited capacities in which this sector operates

Collapse of composite tubes under end moments

Cylindrical tubes of moderate wall thickness such as those proposed for the original space station truss, may fail due to the gradual collapse of the tube cross section as it distorts under load. Sometimes referred to as the Brazier instability, it is a nonlinear phenomenon. This paper presents an extension of an approximate closed form solution of the collapse of isotropic tubes subject to end moments developed by Reissner in 1959 to include specially orthotropic material. The closed form solution was verified by an extensive nonlinear finite element analysis of the collapse of long tubes under applied end moments for radius to thickness ratios and composite layups in the range proposed for recent space station truss framework designs. The finite element analysis validated the assumption of inextensional deformation of the cylindrical cross section and the approximation of the material as specially orthotropic

Analysis of Formation Flying in Eccentric Orbits Using Linearized Equations of Relative Motion

Geometrical methods for formation flying design based on the analytical solution to Hill's equations have been previously developed and used to specify desired relative motions in near circular orbits. By generating relationships between the vehicles that are intuitive, these approaches offer valuable insight into the relative motion and allow for the rapid design of satellite configurations to achieve mission specific requirements, such as vehicle separation at perigee or apogee, minimum separation, or a specific geometrical shape. Furthermore, the results obtained using geometrical approaches can be used to better constrain numerical optimization methods; allowing those methods to converge to optimal satellite configurations faster. This paper presents a set of geometrical relationships for formations in eccentric orbits, where Hill.s equations are not valid, and shows how these relationships can be used to investigate formation designs and how they evolve with time

How Family Stability Affects Children

The following commentary serves as a response to the article, “Family Stability and Childhood Behavioral Outcomes: A Critical Review of the Literature.” The review article provides a good overview into family factors affecting children, but falls short in discussing how modifying family factors could change specific child behavioral outcomes. The next step in this field of research is a unified definition of family stability, a standardized measure of family stability, and discussion of how child behavior affects family stability, and how changes in family stability could affect child behavior

Progress in Turbulence Detection via GNSS Occultation Data

The increased availability of radio occultation (RO) data offers the ability to detect and study turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. An analysis of how RO data can be used to determine the strength and location of turbulent regions is presented. This includes the derivation of a model for the power spectrum of the log-amplitude and phase fluctuations of the permittivity (or index of refraction) field. The bulk of the paper is then concerned with the estimation of the model parameters. Parameter estimators are introduced and some of their statistical properties are studied. These estimators are then applied to simulated log-amplitude RO signals. This includes the analysis of global statistics derived from a large number of realizations, as well as case studies that illustrate various specific aspects of the problem. Improvements to the basic estimation methods are discussed, and their beneficial properties are illustrated. The estimation techniques are then applied to real occultation data. Only two cases are presented, but they illustrate some of the salient features inherent in real data