NH Department of Environmental Services Shellfish Program Activities, January 2006 – December 2006

This report summarizes the activities of the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Shellfish Program for the period of January 2006 to December 2006, emphasizing those tasks for which NHDES received direct funding from the NH Estuaries Project. The NHDES Shellfish Program conducts a number of activities to minimize the health risks associated with consuming shellfish, and to continue to comply with National Shellfish Sanitation Program guidelines. These include water sampling on a prescheduled/randomized basis, as well as a pollution source identification and evaluation program. These sampling programs are supplemented by other activities aimed at improving the management of conditionally-approved harvesting areas. Augmented sampling in conditionally approved areas after rainfall events and/or sewage treatment plant upsets provides information to improve management decisions and, in some cases, increase harvesting opportunities. A study to compare results from two different bacterial analysis methods (the traditional fecal coliform Most Probable Number, or MPN, test, and a newer fecal coliform membrane filtration test using mTEC agar) was initiated in 2004 and continued through 2006. The results of the study will help DES determine how classification of growing areas might change if the lessexpensive mTEC test is chosen to replace the traditional MPN method. Sanitary surveys were completed for the Hampton/Seabrook Estuary, as well as for the Piscataqua River (North) growing area, which encompasses the tidal portions of the Cocheco River, Salmon Falls River, and Upper Piscataqua River. Future work will focus on maintaining the classifications established by sanitary surveys conducted since 2000. The remaining 13 percent of unclassified estuarine waters will be periodically evaluated to determine if/when sanitary surveys should be conducted

NHDES Shellfish Program Activities, Jan -Dec 2004, Nash, C

This report summarizes the activities of the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Shellfish Program for the period of January 2004 to December 2004. The NHDES Shellfish Program conducts a number of activities to minimize the health risks associated with consuming shellfish, and to continue to comply with National Shellfish Sanitation Program guidelines. Among basic program functions is a routine water quality monitoring program, which involved the collection of nearly 800 samples at over 70 sites in 2004, the results of which are used to ensure that assessments of water quality for all areas are kept up-to-date. Weekly “red tide” monitoring was critical for early detection of dangerous levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxin in offshore waters in August, leading a nearly one-month closure to all harvesting in the Atlantic coastal waters. The program’s pollution source identification and evaluation program involved the collection of nearly 200 water samples, used to guide proper classification of the receiving waters. A number of other studies and sampling programs, including effluent dilution/dispersion studies of the Newmarket and Dover wastewater treatment facilities, were completed. A particularly useful sampling program has been the initiation of post-rainfall water and shellfish tissue sampling in conditionally approved areas. This program improved management decisions and increased harvesting opportunities in Hampton/Seabrook Harbor, providing data that drove decisions to open the flats on most of the 16 days that the harbor was available for harvesting. Sanitary surveys were completed for Great Bay, and are near completion for Little Bay and the Bellamy River. Surveys for Hampton/Seabrook Harbor, the Cocheco River, Salmon Falls River, and the Upper Piscataqua River have been initiated and are scheduled for completion in 2005

Inference in Hidden Markov Models with Explicit State Duration Distributions

In this letter we borrow from the inference techniques developed for unbounded state-cardinality (nonparametric) variants of the HMM and use them to develop a tuning-parameter free, black-box inference procedure for Explicit-state-duration hidden Markov models (EDHMM). EDHMMs are HMMs that have latent states consisting of both discrete state-indicator and discrete state-duration random variables. In contrast to the implicit geometric state duration distribution possessed by the standard HMM, EDHMMs allow the direct parameterisation and estimation of per-state duration distributions. As most duration distributions are defined over the positive integers, truncation or other approximations are usually required to perform EDHMM inference

Land cover map 2007: using OBIA for LCM2007

Land cover map 2007 (LCM2007) is an object-based land cover map for the UK containing around 10 million objects. The LCM2007 spatial framework is based on the generalisation of national cartography products (OS MasterMap for Great Britain and Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland for NI). 34 composite images (based on summer and winter data) were classified using a maximum likelihood classifier. Areas where composite data were not available were filled with classifications from single-date data. A set of knowledge-based enhancements (KBEs) were then applied to refine the classification using ancillary data sets, including soil and altitude data. The final product showed a correspondence of 83%, when compared to 9127 ground reference polygons. A range of LCM2007 data products are available ranging from the full vector data set, with 10 attributes per polygon, to a 25m raster data set and a series of 1km raster products

Do Expenditures for Student Support Services Lead to Demonstrable Gains in Student Achievement?

Wood, Allemand, Anderson, and Cheslock present a brief overview and analysis of the article, Relationship between types of school district expenditures and student performance, originally published in Applied Economics Letters. The authors present a summary of the key components of the article including the introduction, method and results of the study. They offer an additional analysis of implications for future practice, including a discussion of legislation and the conflicting evidence that school counseling and support services benefit students in academic and social competencies, as well as evidence that the cost seems to outweigh the benefits

The Physiological Basis for Altered Na\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e and Cl\u3csup\u3e-\u3c/sup\u3e Movement Across the Gills of Rainbow Trout (\u3cem\u3eOncorhynchus mykiss\u3c/em\u3e) in Alkaline (pH=9.5) Water

To test the hypothesis that internal ion imbalances at high pH are caused by altered branchial ion transporting capacity and permeability, radiotracers (24Na+ and 36Cl-) were used to measure ion movements across the gills of intact rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during 3 d exposure to pH 9.5. At control pH (pH 8.0), the trout were in net ion balance, but by 8 h at high pH, 60%–70% reductions in Cl- influx (Cl) and Na+ influx (JNa/in) led to net Cl- and Na+ losses of -200 µmol kg-1 h-1. Outflux (diffusive efflux plus renal ion losses) was not initially altered. By 72 h, net Cl- balance was reestablished because of a restoration of JCl/in. Although JNa/in remained 50% lower at this time, counterbalancing reductions in Na+ outflux restored net Na+ balance. One-substrate ion-uptake kinetics analyses indicated that reduced ion influx after 8 h at pH 9.5 was caused by 50% decreases in Cl- and Na+ maximal transport rates (JCl/max, JNa/max), likely reflecting decreased numbers of functional transport sites. Two-substrate kinetic analyses indicated that reduced internal HCO3- and H+ supply for respective branchial Cl-/base and Na+/acid transport systems also contributed to lower JCl/in and, to a lesser extent, lower JNa/in at pH 9.5. Recovery in in of JCl/in after 3 d accounted for restoration of Cl- balance and max likely reflected increased numbers of transport sites. In contrast, JNa/in remained 33% lower after 3 d, but a lower affinity of the max gills for Na+ (fourfold greater KNa/m) accounted for the chronic m reduction in Na+ influx at pH 9.5. Thus, reestablishment of Cl- uptake capacity and counterbalancing reductions in Na+ outflux allows rainbow trout to reestablish net ion balance in alkaline waters

Effects of Chronic Waterborne Nickle Exposure on Two Successive Generations of \u3cem\u3eDaphnia Magna\u3c/em\u3e

In a 21-d chronic toxicity test in which an F0 generation of Daphnia magna were exposed to waterborne Ni, the noobservable-effect concentration (for survival, reproduction, and growth) was 42 μg Ni L-1, or 58% of the measured 21-d median lethal concentration (LC50) of 71.9 μg Ni L-1 (95% confidence interval, 56.5–95.0). Chronic exposure to 85 μg Ni L-1 caused marked decreases in survival, reproduction, and growth in F0 animals. In the F1 generation (daphnids born of mothers from the chronically exposed F0 generation), animals chronically exposed to 42 μg Ni L-1 for 11 d weighed significantly less (20%) than controls, indicating increased sensitivity of F1 animals. Additionally, in this successive generation, significant decreases in whole-body levels of metabolites occurred following exposure to both 42 μg Ni L-1 (decreased glycogen and adenosine triphosphate [ATP]) and 21 μg Ni L-1 (decreased ATP). No significant changes were observed in whole-body total lipid, total protein, and lactate levels at any concentration. Whereas F1 neonates with mothers that were exposed to 21 μg Ni L-1 showed increased resistance to acute Ni challenge, as measured by a significant (83%) increase in the acute (48-h) LC50, F1 neonates with mothers that were exposed to 42 μg Ni L-1 were no more tolerant of acute Ni challenge than control animals were. Nickel accumulations in F1 animals chronically exposed to 21 and 42 μg Ni L-1 were 11- and 18-fold, respectively, above control counterparts. The data presented suggest that chronic Ni exposure to two successive generations of D. magna lowered the overall energy state in the second generation. Whereas the quantity of neonates produced was not affected, the quality was; thus, environmentally meaningful criteria for regulating waterborne Ni concentrations in freshwater require consideration of possible multigenerational effects

Implications for alcohol minimum unit pricing advocacy: what can we learn for public health from UK newsprint coverage of key claim-makers in the policy debate?

On May 24th 2012, Scotland passed the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) Bill. Minimum unit pricing (MUP) is an intervention that raises the price of the cheapest alcohol to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms. There is a growing literature on industry’s influence in policymaking and media representations of policies, but relatively little about frames used by key claim-makers in the public MUP policy debate. This study elucidates the dynamic interplay between key claim-makers to identify lessons for policy advocacy in the media in the UK and internationally. Content analysis was conducted on 262 articles from seven UK and three Scottish national newspapers between 1st May 2011 and 31st May 2012, retrieved from electronic databases. Advocates’ and critics’ constructions of the alcohol problem and MUP were examined. Advocates depicted the problem as primarily driven by cheap alcohol and marketing, while critics’ constructions focused on youth binge drinkers and dependent drinkers. Advocates justified support by citing the intervention’s targeted design, but critics denounced the policy as illegal, likely to encourage illicit trade, unsupported by evidence and likely to be ineffective, while harming the responsible majority, low-income consumers and businesses. Critics’ arguments were consistent over time, and single statements often encompassed multiple rationales. This study presents advocates with several important lessons for promoting policies in the media. Firstly, it may be useful to shift focus away from young binge drinkers and heavy drinkers, towards population-level over-consumption. Secondly, advocates might focus on presenting the policy as part of a wider package of alcohol policies. Thirdly, emphasis on the success of recent public health policies could help portray the UK and Scotland as world leaders in tackling culturally embedded health and social problems through policy; highlighting past successes when presenting future policies may be a valuable tactic both within the UK and internationally

Representations of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in UK newspapers: a case study of a public health policy debate

Background: Mass media influence public acceptability, and hence feasibility, of public health interventions. This study investigates newsprint constructions of the alcohol problem and minimum unit pricing (MUP). Methods: Quantitative content analysis of 901 articles about MUP published in 10 UK and Scottish newspapers between 2005 and 2012. Results: MUP was a high-profile issue, particularly in Scottish publications. Reporting increased steadily between 2008 and 2012, matching the growing status of the debate. The alcohol problem was widely acknowledged, often associated with youths, and portrayed as driven by cheap alcohol, supermarkets and drinking culture. Over-consumption was presented as a threat to health and social order. Appraisals of MUP were neutral, with supportiveness increasing slightly over time. Arguments focused on health impacts more frequently than more emotive perspectives or business interests. Health charities and the NHS were cited slightly more frequently than alcohol industry representatives. Conclusion: Emphases on efficacy, evidence and experts are positive signs for evidence-based policymaking. The high profile of MUP, along with growing support within articles, could reflect growing appetite for action on the alcohol problem. Representations of the problem as structurally driven might engender support for legislative solutions, although cultural explanations remain common