Quantifying the Inefficiency of the US Social Security System

We quantify the inefficiency of the retirement component of the US social security system within a model where agents receive idiosyncratic labor-productivity shocks that are privately observedsocial security, efficient allocations, idiosyncratic shocks

Study of channel sediments, James River & Hampton Roads area

Bottom sediment samples were collected from 3 locations transecting the channel in the lower James and Elizabeth rivers

Scanning Electron Microscope and X-Ray Diffraction Investigations of Mudrock Fabrics, Textures and Mineralogy

Mudstones from a broad range of depositional environments have been investigated to determine whether fabric, texture or mineralogy may (1) be used to identify the environment of deposition and (2) be correlated with poroperm. The diversity of fabrics and textures reflects features of the detrital mudstone composition, compaction and diagenesis, rather than environment of deposition. Preferred orientation has been disturbed by bioturbation and growth of post-compactional authigenic minerals; these factors have reduced to nil any correlation which may have existed between fabric, measured as the illite orientation ratio (O/R) and environment of deposition. It is mineralogy rather than fabric or texture which, after compaction, have most influenced the poroperm. Preliminary results suggest that abundant illite/illite-smectite results in higher poroperm than abundant detrital kaolinite

Kepone and the James River

The James River in Virginia was contaminated by the pesticide kepone when the material entered the river as early as 1968 and continued until its discovery in 1975. The river became so contaminated that commercial fisheries were closed. In 1988, 13 years after closure, all fishing restrictions were lifted. The contaminated sediments have been diluted and covered enough by uncontaminated material that the kepone flux back into the water column has diminished. Kepone concentrations in organisms inhabitating the river are finally below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration action levels. Biological, chemical, physical and geological aspects of the contamination indicate that remedial actions to remove kepone would be expensive and environmentally unwise.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsbooks/1101/thumbnail.jp

Heavy metals in oysters from Virginia since tropical storm Agnes

Rainfall from tropical storm Agnes caused the salinity of the major estuaries entering the Chesapeake Bay to be drastically lowered. Bottom sediments normally subjected to 10 to 15 salinities were under fresh water. Heavy metals, pesticides and other pollutants adsorbed to these bottom sediments were undoubtedly mobilized. These once stored concentrations were augmented by the massive amounts of erosional products which created a high pollution potential. in shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay. For this reason the Virginia Institute of Marine Science asked for and received financial assistance from the Food and Drug Administration to assess the changes in heavy metal concentrations in the eastern oyster, (Crassostrea virginica) as a result of Agnes

Polychlorinated biphenyls in the Elizabeth River : final report

For the past eight years, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has been a participant of the National Pesticide Monitoring Program. Within the framework of this program, oyster samples have been collected from areas throughout the Chesapeake Bay.and analyzed for chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides. The data from the last three years show that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB\u27s) are being concentrated by the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. The highest concentrations found were always from one station, Hospital Point, in the Elizabeth River. Samples from this station, collected during the spring of 1971, contained residues of the PCB, Aroclor(R) 1254 of 2.8 ppm. For this reason, a special study was undertaken to pinpoint the source of this pollution