Ecological Risks from Agricultural Land Treated with Biosolids

Author Institution (Arvai and Basta): School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University; Author Institution (Lanno): Department of Entomology, The Ohio State Universit

After the Invasion: Invasive Exotic Plants Present Critical Ecological Restoration Issues

Author Institution (Rodewald, Bouchard and Arvai): School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University; Author Institution (Miriti): Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State Universit

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

2007 ), ‘ Rethinking of Risk Communication: Lessons from the Decision

Abstract Risk communication involves three primary elements: process, content and intent. Much has been written about the first two. Much is known, for example, about the guiding principles that should be considered during the design of a risk communication. Likewise, many studies have been conducted about how best to establish the technical and informational content of a risk communication. Very little attention, by contrast, has been devoted to the intent of risk communication, which is to inform decision making for risk management. While appropriate information upon which to base risk management decisions is important, so to is an understanding of how people instinctively approach decision making under conditions of risk. Work in the decision sciences provides this oftenmissing perspective for many risk communication efforts and is, therefore, the focus of this paper

Decision Support Framework for Developing Regional Energy Strategies

In an effort to reduce “carbon pollution” as well as prepare the U.S. for the impacts of climate change, President Obama’s 2013 Climate Action Plan calls for changes to be made to the nation’s energy system. In addition to focusing on alternative portfolios of different fuels and power-generation technologies, researchers and advisory panels have urged that changes to the nation’s energy system be based on a decision-making framework that incorporates stakeholders and accounts for real-world resource, supply, and demand constraints. To date, research and development on such a framework have proven elusive. The research reported here describes the development and test of a potential decision support framework that combines elements from structured decision-making (SDM) with portfolio analysis, methods that have been used independently to elicit preferences in complex decision contexts. This hybrid framework aimed to (1) provide necessary background information to users regarding the development of coupled climate-energy strategies; (2) account for users’ values and objectives; (3) allow for the construction of bespoke energy portfolios bounded by real-world supply and demand constraints; and (4) provide a more rigorous basis for addressing trade-offs. Results show that this framework was user-friendly, led to significant increases in users’ knowledge about energy systems and, importantly, led to more internally consistent decisions. For these reasons, this framework may serve as a suitable template for supporting decisions about energy transitions in the United States and abroad

Consumer-perceived risks and choices about pharmaceuticals in the environment: a cross-sectional study

Background There is increasing concern that pollution from pharmaceuticals used in human medicine and agriculture can be a threat to the environment. Little is known, however, if people are aware that pharmaceuticals may have a detrimental influence on the environment. The present study examines people’s risk perception and choices in regard to environmental risks of pharmaceuticals used in human medicine and for agricultural purposes. Methods A representative sample of the U.S. population (N = 640) was surveyed. Respondents completed a hypothetical choice task that involved tradeoffs between human and environmental health. In addition, it was examined how much people would support an environment policy related to drug regulation. Results For agricultural pharmaceuticals, respondents reported a high level of satisfaction for a policy requiring farms to limit their use of antibiotics. In the domain of pharmaceuticals used in human medicine, we found that people were willing to consider environmental consequences when choosing a drug, but only when choices were made about treatment options for a rather harmless disease. In contrast, when decisions were made about treatment options for a severe disease, the drug’s effectiveness was the most important criterion. Conclusions It can be concluded that the environmental impact of a drug will be hardly considered in decisions about pharmaceuticals for severe diseases like cancer, and this may be due to the fact that these decisions are predominantly affective in nature. However, for less severe health risks, people are willing to balance health and environmental considerations.ISSN:1476-069