The crystal structure of dipotassium tetranitroethide

Crystal structure of dipotassium tetranitroethide determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique

Developing a multi-metric habitat index for wadeable streams in Illinois (T-25-P-001), annual segment report to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

USFWS through IDNR State Wildlife Grant Grant/Contract No: T-25-P-001INHS Technical Report Prepared for USFWS through IDNR State Wildlife Gran

The effect of canopy position on growth and mortality in mixed sapling communities during self-thinning

This research investigates how species in the sapling phase differ in growth and survival depending on light availability (as estimated by canopy position) by means of tree-ring analysis and modelling mortality. We harvested 120 live and 158 dead saplings in self-thinning communities consisting of Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi Carr.) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Mirb. Franco) in the Netherlands. Results are evaluated within the framework of a trade-off between high-light growth and low-growth survival. Radial growth, measured at ground level, generally declined over time. In addition, a decreasing light availability further reduced growth in all species except Douglas fir. Trees died when radial growth was reduced to about 0.5 mm year¿1. Mortality in all species except Scots pine was significantly related to recent growth, but mortality curves were not different. The light-demanding Silver birch and Japanese larch differed from the shade-tolerant Douglas fir in both high-light growth and low-growth mortality, in line with a growth-survival trade-off. The light-demanding Scots pine did not fit this pattern as it was unable to transfer high radial growth into height gain, leaving it in suppressed canopy positions. This indicates the importance of height growth in the growth-survival trade-off. Differences in mortality probabilities affect the potential for coexistence, however, in all species also fast-growing individuals died suggesting additional factors causing mortality during self-thinning, other than direct competition for ligh

Developing a multi-metric habitat index for wadeable streams in Illinois (T-25-P-001). Annual Segment Report to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources Grant/Contract No: (T-25-P-001)This project was initiated to describe key aquatic habitat characteristics and their association to anthropogenic disturbance by developing a field based, rapid assessment method for qualitatively monitoring instream conditions using a multi-metric habitat index. We have developed and applied a method for rating disturbance in wadeable streams throughout Illinois and collected information on physical habitat at 299 sites to date. Index development is in the preliminary stages with field work to continue during the summer of 2008. This report summarizes work performed for the period ending April 30, 2008 (Appendix A contains Eastern Illinois University subcontract annual report).INHS Technical Report Prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resource

The West Falmouth oil spill

A spill of 650,000 to 700,000 1iters of #2 fuel oil in Buzzards Bay, Mass., USA, on September 16, 1969, has severely polluted the coastal waters, the marshes, the offshore sediments and the shell fish resources of Falmouth and of Bourne, Mass. In preliminary publications and reports we have discussed the chemical and biological data available during the first few months after the accident. The present report documents the continuation of our analytical effort; we include analyses of stations that had not previously been covered and present the data that were available by October, 1971. Three distinct, though partly overlapping, series of events followed the spill. First, within the first few hours or days after the accident, there was a very heavy kill of those organisms which came into contact with the oil. It extended over all phyla and over benthic and intertidal organisms. Next, within weeks or months after the spill, the oil pollution spread to areas that had not been immediately affected; and the kill extended, though in some cases more slowly than the spread of the oil, to outlying areas. Oil entered the marine food web and made the shellfish resources of our area unacceptable to human nutrition. The oil showed an unexpected persistence in the sediments and in marine life, especially in view of its relatively low boiling range and of earlier assertions that fuel oil pollution was transitory in nature and without long term consequences. For considerable time after the spill, the oil pollution of the sediments prevented the resettlement by the original fauna. Now, degradation of the oil has become evident. Biochemical and physical processes lead to a gradual reduction of the oil content of the polluted sediments. Concurrent with the degradation, there has been a gradual reduction in the immediate toxicity of the oil in the sediments. This has permitted resettlement of the polluted region first by the most resistant opportunists and later by a more varied and more normal fauna. However, oil-derived hydrocarbons have remained at all stations during the entire two year span for which data are now available, and it appears that the life span of pollution, even by a low boiling fuel oil must be measured in terms of many years. The eventual aim of this study is the documentation of the effects, the persistence and the eventual disappearance of pollutant hydrocarbons from a relatively small spill in a limited and previously clean coastal area. Of necessity, most of our analytical effort in the past was aimed at a survey of the extent of the oiling of the sediments and of some of the commercially important animals. As the degradation proceeds, we expect to devote a greater effort to a more detailed chemical analysis of the hydrocarbons remaining in the environment in order to define and understand the modes of degradation and to correlate chemical analyses with biological data. Parallel investigations on the weathering of different oils under other ecological and climatic circumstances are under way here and should, in combination with the West Falmouth study, give a more realistic assessment of the environmental hazard and persistence of crude oil than has been available until now.Prepared for the Office of Naval Researoh under Contract N00014-66-C0241; NR 083-0043 The. Environmental Protection Administration (Contract 18050 EBN) and the National Science Foundation (GA-19472)

Antifreeze Proteins in the Primary Urine of Larvae of the Beetle \u3cem\u3eDendroides canadensis\u3c/em\u3e

To avoid freezing while overwintering beneath the bark of fallen trees, Dendroides canadensis (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) larvae produce a family of antifreeze proteins (DAFPs) that are transcribed in specific tissues and have specific compartmental fates. DAFPs and associated thermal hysteresis activity (THA) have been shown previously in hemolymph and midgut fluid, but the presence of DAFPs has not been explored in primary urine, a potentially important site that can contain endogenous ice-nucleating compounds that could induce freezing. A maximum mean THA of 2.65±0.33°C was observed in primary urine of winter-collected D. canadensis larvae. THA in primary urine increased significantly through autumn, peaked in the winter and decreased through spring to levels of 0.2–0.3°C in summer, in a pattern similar to that of hemolymph and midgut fluid. THA was also found in hindgut fluid and excreted rectal fluid, suggesting that these larvae not only concentrate AFPs in the hindgut, but also excrete AFPs from the rectal cavity. Based on dafp transcripts isolated from Malpighian tubule epithelia, cDNAs were cloned and sequenced, identifying the presence of transcripts encoding 24 DAFP isoforms. Six of these Malpighian tubule DAFPs were known previously, but 18 are new. We also provide functional evidence that DAFPs can inhibit ice nucleators present in insect primary urine. This is potentially critical because D. canadensis larvae die if frozen, and therefore ice formation in any body fluid, including the urine, would be lethal

Occupational Exposure To Styrene: Contribution To Hearing Loss

Prolonged significant noise exposures are well known to result in permanent hearing loss. However, little is known of the contribution of industrial chemical exposures to hearing loss. Information available, both from animal and human studies, raises the possibility that certain aromatic hydrocarbons are ototoxic. The purpose of this study was to assess whether occupational styrene exposure causes hearing loss in a group of workers in the fibre reinforced plastics manufacturing industry. The hearing acuity of 299 subjects was determined, using pure tone screening audiometry, at the beginning of a single workshift and again at the end of the shift. On the same day, the personal, time-weighted average exposures of each subject to both styrene and noise were measured. In addition, information was obtained from each participant on factors including: previous work history, including exposures to noise and chemicals; use of personal protective equipment for noise or solvents; personal and family history of hearing problems; and, smoking history. Current exposures, together with work histories were used to construct lifetime noise and styrene exposure indices.;No important relationships were observed between styrene exposures and changes in hearing acuity over the course of the workshift. Therefore, styrene does not appear to exert an acute effect on hearing, at exposure levels which were generally within the current standards. Similarly, no conclusive evidence was found for a chronic styrene-induced effect on hearing acuity, when both noise and styrene exposures were taken into account. As expected, age and noise exposures were highly important variables, both positively associated with hearing loss. In addition, the detrimental effect of noise exposure on hearing acuity was found to be strengthened with increased age, suggesting a synergistic effect. Noise and styrene exposures were highly correlated, clearly illustrating the importance of considering all associated variables in analysis of such data. No conclusive evidence was found for a relationship between smoking, recreational noise, other solvent exposures and hearing loss. Further, the study highlighted the difficulties in constructing retrospective exposure indices when actual, historical measurements are lacking and reliance must be placed on alternative methods such as questionnaire responses from individual subjects

The determinants and impact of foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern Europe: A comparison of survey and econometric evidence

This note considers evidence that has been collected on the determinants and effects of foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern Europe, with a strong focus on Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. There are two main sources from which information is drawn: survey studies and econometric studies. We consider how each of these sources can contribute to research, whether they provide complementary or contradictory information, and how the information can be best exploited. We conclude that the findings of econometric studies tend to support survey results. This suggests that market size and growth potential have been the driving forces behind foreign direct investment, with factor-cost advantages playing a lesser, but still significant role. Macroeconomic and political stability were also taken into account. Investment incentives have not had a decisive influence on foreign direct investment inflows; however, the privatization process has affected the timing of foreign direct investment. Access to markets has been the primary motive for foreign direct investment; however, the absence of trade barriers and membership in free trade areas have been important for export-oriented investments. Foreign direct investment inflows have improved the overall growth potential of the economies under consideration, primarily through productivity improvements within foreign affiliates, rather than through linkages with domestic firms or spillovers