The Use of Contingent Valuation Methodology in Natural Resource Damage Assessments: Legal Fact and Economic Fiction.

The creation of comprehensive statutory schemes for protection of the environment has required the legal system to focus on the definition problems associated with environmental goods and with the physical, tmeporal, and aesthetic considerations related to such goods. Clearly, the events of the twentieth century have taught us that individual physical components of the natural environment, such as streams, forests, wildlife, and biota, do not exist in isolation. Instead, these components are part of the interrelated environmental systems that may, in turn, impact other environmental systems. Likewise, damage to one or more of the components of a system can result in a loss to humans of these environmental goods or the Uses provided by the system

Thyroid Doses and Risk of Thyroid Cancer from Exposure to I-131 from the Nevada Test Site

This report provides a set of look-up tables of representative thyroid doses and risks of thyroid cancer for individuals exposed to I-131 in fallout from nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. These tables are intended to be used by people who do not have access to a computer. The look-up tables contain estimates of doses and risks for eight representative birth cohorts and sixty-seven locations in eight regions around the continental United States. They were obtained using a slightly modified version of the NCI’s online dose and risk calculator for exposures to I-131 in NTS fallout. The look-up tables provided here do not cover all possible exposure situations, but they can be used to estimate the general magnitude of a person’s thyroid dose and risk of thyroid cancer from NTS fallout according to birth cohort, gender, given residence history, and given amount and type of milk consumed. This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/radiochem/1000/thumbnail.jp

Damage Tolerance Analysis of a Pressurized Liquid Oxygen Tank

A damage tolerance assessment was conducted of an 8,000 gallon pressurized Liquid Oxygen (LOX) tank. The LOX tank is constructed of a stainless steel pressure vessel enclosed by a thermal-insulating vacuum jacket. The vessel is pressurized to 2,250 psi with gaseous nitrogen resulting in both thermal and pressure stresses on the tank wall. Finite element analyses were performed on the tank to characterize the stresses from operation. Engineering material data was found from both the construction of the tank and the technical literature. An initial damage state was assumed based on records of a nondestructive inspection performed on the tank. The damage tolerance analyses were conducted using the NASGRO computer code. This paper contains the assumptions, and justifications, made for the input parameters to the damage tolerance analyses and the results of the damage tolerance analyses with a discussion on the operational safety of the LOX tank

Cloning and Characterization of Ancylostoma-secreted Protein

The developmentally arrested third stage infective larva of hookworms resumes development upon entry into the definitive host. This transition to parasitism can be modeled in vitro by stimulating infective larvae with a low molecular weight ultrafiltrate of host serum together with methylated glutathione analogues. When stimulated to resume development in vitro, activated larvae of the hookworm Ancylostoma caninum released a 42-kDa protein, termed Ancylostoma-secreted protein (ASP). ASP was the major protein released by activated hookworm larvae. Degenerate oligonucleotide primers, based on a partial internal amino acid sequence of the protein, were used together with flanking vector sequence primers to amplify a fragment from a third stage larval cDNA library by polymerase chain reaction. The fragment was used as a probe to isolate a longer clone from the larval cDNA library. The full-length ASP cDNA was found to encode a 424-amino acid protein with homology to the antigen 5/antigen 3 family of proteins from hymenopteran venoms and a family of cysteine-rich secretory proteins. ASP was expressed in bacterial cells, and a polyclonal antiserum against purified recombinant ASP was produced. The antiserum, which was demonstrated to be specific for ASP, was used as a probe to measure the kinetics of ASP release by hookworm larvae. ASP is released within 30 min of stimulation, with the majority released by 4 h. Low levels of ASP were released continuously following activation, but only if the stimuli were present in the incubation medium. The compound 4,7-phenanthroline, previously shown to inhibit larval activation, also inhibited release of ASP. The specific, rapid release of ASP by activated infective larvae suggests that this molecule occupies a critical and central role in the transition from the external environment to parasitism