Field surveys

Human activity, particularly in the developing world, continues to make it more difficult to sustain the world s biomass growth areas. It has been estimated that tropical forests are disappearing at a rate of tens of thousands of hm per year. Satellite imaging and field surveys show that Brazil alone has a deforestation rate of approximately 8 x 10 hm /yr (5). At a mean net carbon yield for tropical rain forests of 9.90 t/hm yr (4) (4.42 short ton /acreyr), this rate of deforestation corresponds to a loss of 79.2 x 10 t/yr of net biomass carbon productivity. 

The energy audit has seven components as-it-is balance, field survey, equipment tests, checking against optimum design, idea-generation meeting, evaluation, and foUow-up. 

RM producers could centre on developing systematic collection and monitoring of trends that affect the field. Surveys from the ISO Reference Materials Committee (REMCO) and by the EU have made significant contributions in tabulating current and future activities to certify and issue new reference materials (Quevauviller 1999 Rasberry 1996). 

WHO, Field Surveys of Pesticides, Standard Protocol VBC/82.1, World Health Organization, Geneva (1982). 

One of the limitations of the portable field survey instruments in the measurement of americium is that their quantitative accuracy depends on how well the lateral and vertical distribution of americium in the soil compares with the calibration parameters used. These methods can provide a rapid assessment of americium levels on or below surfaces in a particular environment however, laboratory-based analyses of samples procured from these environmental surfaces must be performed in order to ensure accurate quantification of americium (and other radionuclides). This is due, in part, to the strong self absorption of the 59.5 keV gamma-ray by environmental media, such as soil. Consequently, the uncertainty in the depth distribution of americium and the density of the environmental media may contribute to a >30% error in the field survey measurements. Currently, refinements in calibration strategies are being developed to improve both the precision and accuracy (10%) of gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements of americium within contaminated soils (Fong and Alvarez 1997). 

Field surveys of three radiator repair shops in the Cincinnati area revealed that local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems are effective in controlling airborne lead levels. The highest concentration of airborne... 

Valciukas JA, Lilis R, Eisinger J, et al. 1978. Behavioral indicators of lead neurotoxicity Results of a clinical field survey. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 41 217-236. 

The methods described above were tested at two sites in Hawaii The Nuuanu reservoir on Oahu, which is above downtown Honolulu, and the Waikoloa Dam on Hawaii Island, which is above the town of Waimea. In both cases the analyses were performed with and without topographic data obtained by a field survey crew. Detailed results from the ca e studies and results of a sensitivity analysis are reported elsewhere. The flood inundation maps produced for Waimea and Honolulu were overlaid onto several GIS infrastructure layers. These layers included major roads, secondary roads, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, police stations, fire stations, civil defense headquarters, chemical plants, electric plants and transmission lines, water plants, and wells (which could be contaminated by floodwaters). Critical facilities in the flood zone were identified and listed along with their mailing addresses and phone numbers of contact personnel. 

Osuntokun BO, Monekosso GL, Wilson J. 1969. Relationship of a degenerative tropical neuropathy to diet report of a field survey. Br Med J 1 547-550. 

Plants have been used effectively in field surveys to determine the extent and magnitude of pollution problems and in bioassay techniques in conjunction with field surveys. Most general review articles (Table 11-1) treat, to some extent, the use of plants as indicators of air pollution. Went covered plant sensitivities to pollutants and the use of plants as indicators. He stressed the photochemical oxidants and recommended charcoal filtration for greenhouse use. Heck presented a detailed discussion and review of plants as indicators in field surveys and in the bioassay of photochemical problems. Heggestad and... 

This section is divided into reviews of plants in field surveys and plants as a bioassay technique and a brief discussion of the possible value of biologic indicators. 

Field surveys have played a significant role in the assessment of air pollution problems. Basic techniques were developed in surveys around point sources of sulfur dioxide and fluoride. Similar techniques have been developed regarding photochemical pollutants, starting with the early report by Middleton et... 

Early field surveys depended on identification of a syndrome of responses that included symptoms on both native and cultivated plant species. Middleton and Paulus directed the first large-scale survey to determine the extent and severity of photochemical-oxidant effects in California on crops of agronomic importance. Th delineated four categories of crops (field, flower, fruit, and vegetable) and one of weeds. This was the most extensive survey of oxidant effects until the late 1960 s. The information was later used as a basis for subjective estimates of economic losses. This type of visual assessment of foliar injury has been attempted in many states and has been purposefully developed in some for use in economic estimates of damage to vegetation. 

Kadota, M.. and K. Ohta. Ozone sensitivity of Japanese plant species in summer, with special reference to a tentative sensitivity grade list for applying to field survey on ozone injury. Taiki Osen Kenkyu (J. Jap. Soc. Air Pollut.) 7 19-26. (in Japanese, summary in English)... 

Hirosawa I, Asaeda G, Arizono H, et al Effects of catechol on human subjects. A field survey. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 37 107-114, 1976. 

The measured exposure coneentrations from the field survey are used as a base for a probabilistic risk assessment. In such an assessment the exposure is presented as an exposure distribution. In this study the exposure distribution presents the spatial variation in the eoneentra-tions measured in e.g. a specific harbour or for all harbours. The exposure distribution ean be eompared to the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) for TBT. The SSD represents the average sensitivity of species and the variation among speeies. As the effect data of TBT, on which the SSD is based, is derived from coneentrations in water it was necessary to reealeulate all exposure... 

Hayashi, H. et al.. Field survey of Glycyrrhiza plants in Central Asia (2). Characterization of phenolics and their variation in the leaves of Glycyrrhiza plants collected in Kazakhstan, Chem. Pharm. Bull, 51, 1147, 2003. 

The electrochemical reduction of nitric oxide in solid-state electrochemical cell is an interesting field surveyed in [95]. The working principle of the cells is the cathodic reduction of NO to nitrogen and oxygen anions. In [95], the properties of various types of solid-state electrochemical cells used for NO reduction are presented and discussed. It is shown that the cathode materials with a high redox capacity and oxygen vacancies are most active for the electrochemical reduction of nitric oxide, whereas noble metal-based electrodes show a much lower selectivity. As an alternative route, the promotion of the reduction with a reductive agent is also considered. 

Sample durations tended to be short, since the field survey team did not have advance knowledge of exposure levels to be encountered and wished to avoid overloading any of the sampling media. In most cases, the exposures measured proved to be relatively low and, as a result of the short sampling times, the loading of each sample was low. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the... 

The software of industrial hygiene logistics used to receive considerable discussion in the professional literature. A wider discussion in the contemporary literature could enhance the spread of solutions to problems investigators encounter conducting field surveys. 

Valciukas JA, Lilis R, Anderson HA, et al. 1979. The neurotoxicity of polybrominated biphenyls Results of a medical field survey. Ann N Y Acad Sci 337-367. 

In both the experimental study and the field surveys, foliar diseases were not important on irrigated tomatoes (mostly by furrow irrigation) in the semi-arid climate of California. Only occasionally, diseases such as bacterial spot Xanthomonas campestris) occurred when it rained early in the season (Clark etal. 1998). Virus symptoms were also seldom observed. There were no differences in foliar disease incidence and severity between organic and conventional farming systems. Root diseases were quite common and sometimes severe in conventional tomato fields, but were absent or only slight in low-input and organic fields. 

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