Magnitude and extent of chemical contamination and toxicity in sediments of Biscayne Bay and vicinity

The toxicity of sediments in Biscayne Bay and many adjoining tributaries was determined as part of a bioeffects assessments program managed by NOAA’s National Status and Trends Program. The objectives of the survey were to determine: (1) the incidence and degree of toxicity of sediments throughout the study area; (2) the spatial patterns (or gradients) in chemical contamination and toxicity, if any, throughout the study area; (3) the spatial extent of chemical contamination and toxicity; and (4) the statistical relationships between measures of toxicity and concentrations of chemicals in the sediments. The survey was designed to characterize sediment quality throughout the greater Biscayne Bay area. Surficial sediment samples were collected during 1995 and 1996 from 226 randomly-chosen locations throughout nine major regions. Laboratory toxicity tests were performed as indicators of potential ecotoxicological effects in sediments. A battery of tests was performed to generate information from different phases (components) of the sediments. Tests were selected to represent a range in toxicological endpoints from acute to chronic sublethal responses. Toxicological tests were conducted to measure: reduced survival of adult amphipods exposed to solid-phase sediments; impaired fertilization success and abnormal morphological development in gametes and embryos, respectively, of sea urchins exposed to pore waters; reduced metabolic activity of a marine bioluminescent bacteria exposed to organic solvent extracts; induction of a cytochrome P-450 reporter gene system in exposures to solvent extracts; and reduced reproductive success in marine copepods exposed to solid-phase sediments. Contamination and toxicity were most severe in several peripheral canals and tributaries, including the lower Miami River, adjoining the main axis of the bay. In the open basins of the bay, chemical concentrations and toxicity generally were higher in areas north of the Rickenbacker Causeway than south of it. Sediments from the main basins of the bay generally were less toxic than those from the adjoining tributaries and canals. The different toxicity tests, however, indicated differences in severity, incidence, spatial patterns, and spatial extent in toxicity. The most sensitive test among those performed on all samples, a bioassay of normal morphological development of sea urchin embryos, indicated toxicity was pervasive throughout the entire study area. The least sensitive test, an acute bioassay performed with a benthic amphipod, indicated toxicity was restricted to a very small percentage of the area. Both the degree and spatial extent of chemical contamination and toxicity in this study area were similar to or less severe than those observed in many other areas in the U.S. The spatial extent of toxicity in all four tests performed throughout the bay were comparable to the “national averages” calculated by NOAA from previous surveys conducted in a similar manner. Several trace metals occurred in concentrations in excess of those expected in reference sediments. Mixtures of substances, including pesticides, petroleum constituents, trace metals, and ammonia, were associated statistically with the measures of toxicity. Substances most elevated in concentration relative to numerical guidelines and associated with toxicity included polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT pesticides, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, hexachloro cyclohexanes, lead, and mercury. These (and other) substances occurred in concentrations greater than effects-based guidelines in the samples that were most toxic in one or more of the tests. (PDF contains 180 pages)

La traducción en los títulos de películas del inglés al castellano: procedimientos y resultados

Santamaría, José Miguel; Pajares, Eterio; Olsen, Vickie; Merino, Raquel; Eguíluz, Federico (eds.)

Mussel Community Studies [Year Three].

The communities associated with Mytilus californianus (mussel) beds from 20 geographic sites in southern California were examined. The study areas included six mainland sites - Government Point, Goleta Point, Ventura, Corona del Mar, Carlsbad, and San Diego,and two sites on opposite sides of seven offshore islands - San Miguel Island, Santa Rosa Island, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island, San Nicholas Island, Santa Cruz Island and San Clemente Island. : The mussel communities from all areas contributed to the master species list which now encompasses conservatively, 610 species of animals and 141 species of algae. The most diverse collection came from Cat Rock, Anacapa Island where the mussel beds supported 174 species of invertebrates. The lowest diversity was recorded for mussel beds from Ben Weston, Santa Catalina Island which contained 46 species. In general, the island mussel beds supported a greater diversity of both animals and plants. Mussel community samples were collected from upper and lower intertidal areas occupied by the mussel beds within a locality. Community differences in both composition and abundance were associated with these collections. Overall. community similarity analysis revealed five major patterns which corresponded to characteristic species assemblages occupying the mussel beds from the various geographic areas. The patterns included: (1) clusters of localities which display a north-south geographic pattern with respect to the similarity of their respective mussel communities, (2) a separation of selected island and mainland communities because of dissimilarities in their species composition, (3) differences between mussel communities. on opposite sides of the offshore islands, (4) clusters of species whose highest abundances characterize selected localities, (5) species groups ubiquitous to all mussel beds examined. The results of the community analysis further suggest that predictions can be made delineating the probable mussel community inhabitants of areas not sampled. The species distribution patterns observed appear to correspond in part to the influence of currents and water masses which bear planktonic larvae and impinge on selected localities. The most important mussel bed features associated with community differences were quantitative and qualitative differences in the potential microhabitats. Those features associate~ with greater species diversity include the pore base of coarse fraction shell and rock debris, skewness and kurtosis of the sediment grain-size distributions and mussel bed thickness. Those features associated with lower species diversity included the quantity of tar. and rock and shell debris trapped within the mussel bed. (PDF contains 51 pages)

Floating zone convection

The microgravity research, as a branch of the advanced sciences and a spe- cialized field of high technology, has been made in China since the late 1980's. The research group investigating microgravity fluid physics consisted of our col- leagues and the authors in the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and we pay special attention to the floating zone convection as our first research priority. Now, the research group has expanded and is a part of the National Microgravity Laboratory of the CAS, and the research fields have been extended to include more subjects related to microgravity science. Howev- er, the floating zone convection is still an important topic that greatly holds our research interests.

Una propuesta de valoración de textos bilingües a través de textos narrativos

[ES]El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las narraciones de hechos vividos escritas por alumnos bilingües de 8 años en euskara y en castellano. Trataremos de ver por una parte si las características del relato son las mismas en castellano y en euskara. También veremos si, independientemente de que algunos niños tengan como lengua familiar el vascuence y otros el castellano, se constata el aprendizaje de la lengua escrita en euskara en todos ellos, y si se observan aprendizajes similares para la lengua escrita castellana. Asimismo veremos si, como apuntan Idiazabal & Larringan (1997), los aprendizajes realizados a través de actividades didácticas en lengua vasca resultan efectivos también para el aprendizaje en castellano.

郭永怀先生诞辰九十周年纪念文集

目录

Marine flora and fauna of the Eastern United States Anthozoa: Acitniaria, Corallimorpharia, Ceriantharia, and Zoanthidea

This key includes 60 species of sea anemones and their relatives in the orders Actiniaria, Corallimorpharia, Ceriantharia, and Zoanthidea. Species from the intertidal zone, continental slope, and deep sea are included over a geographic range from Atlantic Canada to approximately South Carolina. In addition to the illustrated key itself, characteristics of each species are summarized in tabular form, including morphology, distribution, and types and sizes of cnidae. Ecological and taxonomic information on each species are also included in an annotated species list. (PDF file contains 76 pages.)

Environmental Studies of Monterey Bay and Central California Coastal Zone. First half-year of operation, July 1970-February 1971

(PDF contains 141 pages)

Respuesta a la sequía de Pinus radiata D. Don y su implicación en los procesos de tolerancia

160 p. (Bibliogr. 141-160)

La calidad de vida como estrategia de diferenciación de las ciudades europeas. Un enfoque de marketing de ciudades

Uno de los objetivos de este artículo es la necesidad de analizar y medir la calidad de vida de las ciudades, por medio de un conjunto de indicadores representativos que han sido propuestos por la Comisión Europea(2005), ya que si bien la Comisión Europea publicó la información correspondiente de las ciudades participantes en esta segunda auditoria urbana, dicha institución no ha publicado ningun tratamiento de dicha información, que permita extraer algunas conlcusiones sobre las similitudes o diferencias que se hayan obtenido entre las ciudades participantes. Esta es la razón por la cual este artículo se plantea el tratamiento de la información proporcionada por los citados indicadores, por medio de técnicas estadísticas de análisis multivariable, como el análisis de cluster, para el estudio de la calidad de vida de las cuidades europeas.

Parasitology and pathology of marine organisms of the world ocean

The Symposium in which the communications, as they were called during the meeting, comprising this volume were presented was held at the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in Leningrad during 13 to 16 October 1981. Conducted as part of the cooperative program of the U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. Working Group on Biological Productivity and Biochemistry of the World Ocean, the Leningrad meeting was sponsored by the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. (the Zoological Institute) and the Ministry of Fisheries of the U.S.S.R. (The Scientific Council on Fish Diseases of the Ichthyological Commission). It was an extremely interesting and successful Symposium, offering all participants the opportunity to describe the results of their studies and reviews during the course of the formal presentations and direct interchange between scientists during breaks in the program and the organized and casual social activities. The facilities provided by the Zoological Institute were quite adequate and the assistance offered by its Director, O. A. Scarlato and his staff in organization,logistics, and translation was excellent. Several of our Soviet colleagues presided over the proceedings, as did I. All were businesslike and efficient, yet graceful and accommodating. To O. N. Bauer Jell the brunt of programmatic detail and follow-up. He bore his burdens well and, with Director Scarlato and his staff, including A. V. Gussev and others of the professional and technical staffs of the Zoological Institute, helped make our stay pleasant and the Symposium productive. These organizations and individuals deserve much credit and praise as well as the thanks of their American and British colleagues. (PDF file contains 141 pages.)

Técnicas de predicción económica

Este documento es de utilidad como material docente a cualquier estudiante o persona interesada que quiera introducirse en el estudio de la predicción económica. De hecho, está pensado para su utilización, todo o en parte, en los cursos de predicción que se imparten en la licenciatura en Economía y en la licenciatura en Administración de Empresas.El contenido se centra en las técnicas de predicción cuantitativas de análisis de series temporales univariante. En el capítulo 1 se introduce la necesidad de la predicción y se describen las principales técnicas y sus limitaciones. El capítulo 2 define la noción de modelos de componentes no observados, objetivo central de este libro. Estos modelos se desarrollan con más detalle en el capítulo 3 que analiza las series con tendencia, en el capítulo 4 que trata de las series con estacionalidad y en el capítulo 5 que estudia los Modelos Estructurales de series temporales que son modelos basados en la idea de los componentes no observados pero especificados de forma estocástica. Por último, en el capítulo 6 se presenta de forma sucinta la teoría de la predicción con modelos ARIMA y el capítulo 7 ofrece al lector una colección de ejercicios como apoyo para trabajar los distintos temas planteados.