Sustainable Mining

The mining industry moves more earth than any other human endeavor. Yet mining companies regularly claim to practice sustainable mining. Progressive redefinition of the term sustainability has emptied out the concept of its original reference to the environment. Mining companies now use the term to refer to corporate profits and economic development that will outlast the life of a mining project. The deployment of corporate oxymorons like sustainable mining is one of the key strategies corporations use to conceal harm and neutralize critique.     

essential2life

The global chemical industry has a rich history of investment in campaigns to educate the public about what it does. Beginning in the 1930s, first Dupont then the industry overall promised “Better Living Through Chemistry.” In the 1990s, the industry promoted its own environmentalism. The 2005 launch of the American Chemistry Council’s essential2life campaign was yet another update. This essay examines the shifting logics of chemical industry public education campaigns, focusing particularly on the disavowals of the essential2life campaign. The essay also raises questions about forms of collective deliberation—among scientists, among activists and within industry—that reduce vulnerability to what Kirsch and Benson call “corporate oxymorons,” facilitating critical awareness of ways vested interests shape articulations of history and knowledge.     

Foraging strategies of yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui )

I investigated the activity budget and diet of Yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui,)in warm temperate broad- leaved forest of Yakushima, Japan. Both time spent feeding and time spent moving varied considerably between half- months. However, total time spent in active behaviors— feeding time plus moving time— was stable. The composition of the diet also showed considerable variation between half- months. The macaques fed mainly on fruits, seeds,mature leaves, fallen seeds, flowers, and young leaves, each of which accounted for more than 30% of feeding time in at least 1 half- month. They also ate insects and fungi, but each of them comprised ≤ 25 and ≤ 8% of feeding time in any half- month, respectively. Time spent feeding on mature leaves, young leaves, flowers, or fallen seeds is positively correlated with total time feeding and is negatively correlated with time moving. In contrast, time feeding on fruits, seeds, insects or fungi is negatively correlated with time feeding and is positively correlated with time moving. Foraging on foods that have a low energy content, a high density, and a relatively even distribution— mature leaves— or that need much manipulation to be processed— flowers and fallen seeds— increased feeding time, while foraging on foods for which monkeys must search intensively in the forest— fruits, seeds, insects, and fungi— led to increased moving time. I examined foraging strategies of Yakushima macaques in terms of moving costs and the quality of food items. Regarding time feeding on fruits, which have more energy and may need less manipulation than other foods, as a benefit, and moving time as a cost, they seemed to employ a strategy that balanced the costs and benefits of foraging.     

Two-step concerted mechanism for alkane hydroxylation on the ferryl active site of methane monooxygenase

 A two-step concerted mechanism for the conversion of methane to methanol catalyzed by soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) is discussed. We propose that the enzymatic reaction mechanism is essentially the same as that of the gas-phase methane-methanol conversion by the bare FeO⁺ complex. In the initial stage of our mechanism, the ferryl (Fe—O) "iron" active site of intermediate Q and substrate methane come into contact to form the initial Q (CH₄) complex with an OFe—CH₄ bond. The C—H bonds of methane are significantly weakened by the formation of a five-coordinate carbon species, through orbital interactions between a C _3v - or D _2d -distorted methane and the Fe—O active site. The important transition state for an H atom abstraction exhibits a four-centered structure. The generated intermediate involves an HO—Fe—CH₃ moiety, and it is then converted into the final product complex including methanol as a ligand through a methyl migration that occurs via a three-centered transition state. The two-step concerted mechanism is consistent with recent experiments on regioselectivity of enzyme-catalyzed alkane hydroxylations. Received: 15 September 1997 / Accepted: 20 December 1997     

Craniodental Characters in the Taxonomy of Propithecus

The indriid genus Propithecus comprises the sifakas, medium-sized lemurs endemic to the forests of Madagascar. Traditionally, scientists divided the genus into only 2 or 3 species —Propithecus diadema, P. verreauxi, and, since 1988, P. tattersalli— with 4 or 5 subspecies in each of the first 2 taxa, but recent authors have suggested that many more distinct species should be recognized. We draw from quantitative and qualitative studies of craniodental traits to evaluate further the phenetic distinctiveness and taxonomic status of each named form of Propithecus. We recognize 9–10 species in the genus. The 4 or 5 species of the Propithecus diadema group —P. diadema, P. candidus, P. perrieri, P. edwardsi, and perhaps P. holomelas, if distinct— share several derived features, including large average body size and a mandible specialized for rotational chewing, and clearly comprise a closely related complex. The 5 species of the Propithecus verreauxi group —P. verreauxi, P. coquereli, P. deckenii, P. coronatus, P. tattersalli— are each highly distinctive morphologically and likely do not comprise a monophyletic group. In particular, we point out the highly distinctive cranial features of Propithecus coronatus, which researchers have traditionally largely overlooked.     

The identification of QTLs associated with the <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis> response of rye (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Secale cereale</Emphasis> L.)

This study was conducted in order to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for the in vitro culture response of winter rye (Secale cereale L.) immature embryos and immature inflorescences. A genetic linkage map comprising 67 SSRs, 9 ISSRs, 13 SAMPLs, 7 RAPDs, 2 SCARs and one EST marker was created based on the analyses of 102 recombinant inbred lines from the cross between lines L318 (which has a good response in tissue cultures) and L9 (which is unable to regenerate plants from somatic tissues and anthers). The map spans 979.2 cM, and the average distance between markers is 9.9 cM. Two characteristics were evaluated: callus induction (CI) and somatic embryogenesis ability (SE). They were expressed as the percentage of immature embryos/inflorescences producing callus (designated ECI/ICI) and the percentage of explants producing somatic embryos (ESE/ISE). All the analysed traits showed continuous variation in the mapping population but a non-normal frequency distribution. We identified nine putative QTLs controlling the tissue culture response of rye, explaining up to 41.6% of the total phenotypic variation: two QTLs for ECI — eci-1, eci-2; 4 for ESE — ece-1, ese-2, ese-3, ese-4; 2 for ICI — ici-1, ici2; and 1 for ISE — ise-1. They were detected on chromosomes 1R, 4R, 5R, 6R and 7R.     

Characterization of Phages Virulent for Sarothamnus scoparius Bradyrhizobia

Four virulent phages—ΦDl, ΦTl, ΦCYT21, and ΦOS6, infective on Sarothamnus scoparius rhizobia—were isolated from the soil and characterized for morphology, host range, rate of adsorption to bacterial cells, and genome size. New phages were separated into two morphological families: Siphoviridae with long, noncontractile tails (ΦDl, ΦTl) and Myoviridae with long, contractile tails (ΦCYT21, ΦOS6). They were also classified into two groups by a host specificity. One of them included viruses (ΦDl and ΦTl) that lysed S. scoparius bradyrhizobia and Bradyrhizobium sp. (Lupinus) strain Dl, and the second one comprised phages (ΦCYT21 and ΦOS6) that parasitized only Scotch broom native microsymbionts. Phages specific for S. scoparius rhizobia were differentiated not only by morphology and host range but also by a genome size that was in the range from 47,583 to 60,098 b.p. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The Social Impacts of Nanotechnology: an Ethical and Political Analysis

This paper attempts some predictions about the social consequences of nanotechnology and the ethical issues they raise. I set out four features of nanotechnology that are likely to be important in determining its impact and argue that nanotechnology will have significant social impacts in—at least—the areas of health and medicine, the balance of power between citizens and governments, and the balance of power between citizens and corporations. More importantly, responding to the challenge of nanotechnology will require confronting “philosophical” questions about the sort of society we wish to create and the role that technology might play in creating it. This in turn will require developing institutions and processes that allow the public to wield real power in relation to technological trajectories. My ultimate contention is that the immediate task established by the likely social impacts of nanotechnology is not so much to develop an ethics of nanotechnology as to facilitate an ethical conversation about nanotechnology.

Interaction between the tachinid parasite,Sturmiopsis inferens and granulosis virus in the sugarcane shoot borer,Chilo infuscatellus [Lep.: Crambidae]

Competition between granulosis virus (GV) and the larval parasite,Sturmiopsis inferens Tns. (Tachinidae: Diptera), was studied in 3^rd — and 4^th — instar larvae of the sugarcane shoot borer,Chilo infuscatellus Snellen (Crambidae: Lepidoptera), under laboratory conditions. Mortality due to GV infection and parasitization was 76.8 and 47.6 per cent, respectively, when they were tested separately. But when hosts were infected simultaneously with microfeeding of GV and larval parasite, a significantly low parasitism (5.5%) was obtained compared to 74.8 per cent mortality by GV infection. When the larvae were microfed with the GV 6 days after inoculation with parasitic maggots, mortality due to the virus was reduced significantly to 20.5 per cent, but when the maggot inoculation was preceded by virus microfeeding 6 days before, parasitization was unsuccessful, while 75% of larvae died of virus. Results obtained from field — collected larvae also showed that significantly more parasite puparia were recovered from healthy larvae than from virus — infected larvae. Similar differences in parasitization were not obtained in the case of healthy or virus — infected pupae.      

Positive and negative regulation ofCAR1 Expression inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Summary We localized the chromosomal targets of several of the regulatory controls of expression of theCAR1 gene. Fusion tolacZ of several fragments of the 5′ non-coding region showed that induction ofCAR1 by arginine is positively regulated by the products of theARGR genes. The target lies upstream of another site where repression by the CARGRI molecule occurs. The latter control is not specific to arginine catabolism since it also affectsCYC-1 and indeed does not appear to involve arginine. The primary target of the two other regulatory allelesCARGRII andCARGRIII is not situated in the 5′ non-coding region. Deletion analysis supports the fusion data and confirms the order of the regulatory regions: 5′—nitrogen catabolite repression—activation by arginine—CARGRI-mediated repression—CAR1.     

Faunistic similarity and endemism of earthworms in east mediterranean region

The analysis presents earthworm distribution in eight designated tectonic units (C—Cyprus, EP—East Pondites, ET—East Taurus block, Sc—Sakarya continent, Kb—Kırşehir block, L—the Levant, TM—Taurus–Menderes block, WP—West Pondites) in the East Mediterranean region (EM). It represents a full list of earthworm species (N = 81) of the region and reveals significant faunal similarities between Sc + WP, and between Kb + TM. The new Sc + WP unit is characterized by the presence of archaic (Spermophorodrilus) as well as modern earthworm fauna. In contrast, the second newly established Kb + TM unit is characterized by poorly presented earthworm autochthonous fauna and by a lack of endemic species. The analysis done on the species list (N = 73) representing the autochthonous family Lumbricidae showed statistically supported separation of L and EP between themselves and from other designated units. The Levant, part of the Arabian tectonic plate, is characterized by a high level of endemism in ancient (Healyella) and modern (Dendrobaena, Perelia) genera, and by the lack of archaic genera. The EP harbors unique species representing archaic (Eophila), ancient (Healyella), and modern (Allolobophora, Aporrectodea, Dendrobaena and Eisenia) earthworm genera in the EM. The analysis also indicates origin of earthworm fauna in TM and faunistic relationships among the designated units. Clearly, the present-day division of the EM earthworm fauna shows recognizable influences of tectonic history.     

Rates of Agonism by Diurnal Lemuroids: Implications for Female Social Relationships

Sterck and colleagues (Behaviour 134:749–774, 1997) focused attention on the evolutionary ecology of female social relationships within and between groups and proposed a model that distinguishes 4 categories of female relationships, which correspond to particular types of intra- and intergroup competition. They emphasized literature on haplorhines in their model because of numerous, detailed studies conducted on a range of species in the wild; in contrast, strepsirrhines such as the lemuroids are poorly represented. We evaluate more closely their classification of lemuroids as Dispersal-Egalitarian using a greater number of species of Lemur, Eulemur, Varecia, Hapalemur, Indri, and Propithecus. For the focal species we found that female philopatry occurs rarely, agonistic rates are relatively low, female dominance hierarchies are not stable and do not exist year-round, and intra- and intergroup female-female competition is infrequent. Therefore, our results support the suggestion that a majority of lemuroid taxa we surveyed correspond to the Dispersal-Egalitarian category with 2 probable exceptions: Lemur catta and Propithecus edwardsi. Because female Lemur catta are philopatric, have year-round dominance hierarchies with female matrilines, exhibit the highest rates of agonism in studied lemuroids, and have frequent intra- and intergroup female-female competition, it would seem that they more closely correspond to the category Resident-Nepotistic. However, maternal Lemur catta rarely support their offspring in agonistic contests and matrilineal rank is not inherited, which leads us to state that the species does not fit into any existing category that explains the nature of female social relationships. The relationships of female Propithecus edwardsi are also a challenge to categorize under the current model because some of their characteristics —typical female dispersal and low agonistic rates— fall into the Dispersal-Egalitarian category, yet other behaviors —intense targeted aggression and stable and year-round female dominance hierarchies— do not.     

The epiphytic communities of various ecological types of aquatic vegetation of five pastoral ponds

Five small water bodies located within the agricultural region of Wielkopolska (west Poland) underwent investigation. Periphyton samples were collected from various macrophyte habitats representing rush vegetation (in five water bodies), submerged aquatic plants (in three) and nymphaeids (in one): Palędzie — Ceratophyllum demersum, Potamogeton crispus, Typha latifolia; Batorowo — Phragmites australis; Piotrowo — Potamogeton natans, Ceratophyllum submersum, Typha latifolia; Tarnowo Podgórne — Typha latifolia; Dąbrówka — Zannichellia palustris, Potamogeton pectinatus, Phragmites australis. The main goal of the study was to determine the composition and abundance of the periphytic communities inhabiting various types of rush and water vegetation of five water bodies located within a mid-field landscape area. Diatoms such as Achnanthidium minutissimum, Amphora ovalis, Cocconeis placentula orNavicula cincta revealed significantly higher densities in the zone of elodeids, while green algae prevailed among nymphaeids. As a result of this study it was found that the epiphytic algae were characterised by much lower diversity in respect to a specific water body, though much greater diversity was observed in its relation to the type of substratum. Two types of habitats were distinguished — the first of simple build (helophytes and nympheids) and the second containing the complicated architecture of plant stems (elodeids).     

T helper,cytotoxic T lymphocyte,NK cell and NK-T cell subpopulations in patients with chronic hepatitis C

The phenotype of intrahepatic (IHL) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) was determined, and the production of cytokines by T lymphocytes analyzed in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Three-color fluorescence-activated cytometric analysis was done for 36 patients with untreated CHC. The percentage of peripheral blood memory T cells was higher in patients with CHC than in healthy controls (all data in %, significant atp<0.001; 74.6±2.7vs. 58.3±4.5), and a greater proportion of them were observed in the intrahepatic compartment (IHL—94.2±2.8vs. PBL—74.6±2.7). There was a higher percentage of peripheral blood T helper 1 lymphocytes expressing IFN-γ (IFN-γ/IL-4) in these patients (4.6±0.7vs. control—2.2±0.5). The expression of CXCR3 chemokine receptors on peripheral blood T helper cells was also high compared with the control (39.8±4.8vs. 26.8±2.5) and a large percentage of T cells expressing CXCR3 or CCR5 chemokine receptors was observed in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected liver (CXCR3: IHLvs. PBL—74.9±5.7vs. 39.8±4.8; CCR5: IHLvs. PBL—65.9±5.9vs. 19.1±2.1). The intrahepatic compartment contains a greater proportion of activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer-T (NK-T) cells than peripheral blood (CTL: IHLvs. PBL—69.5±3.2vs. 59.9±3.1; NK-T: IHLvs. PBL— 10.6±2.5vs. PBL: 3.99±0.5). The data suggest that in HCV-infected subjects, memory T_H1 lymphocytes, activated CTL and NK-T cells compartmentalize in liver tissue and could play an important role in pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis.     

An S-Curve-Based Approach of Identifying Biological Sequences

The main idea of S-curve diagram is to assign different angle values (from 0° to 180°) to different nucleotide acid residues or to different protein amino acids, and then according to cos α _j and sin α _j , the values are accumulated to construct an S-curve diagram, which is in strict one-to-one correspondence with the biological sequence. In addition, the S-curve diagram proves to be without the degeneracy phenomenon, so that both the degeneracy problem represented by diagrams and the problem of visualization for biological sequence data are solved. Meanwhile, a new approach to differentiate the similarity of biological sequences—the degree of similarity—is put forward on the basis of the S-curve diagram. To put it in detail, the least square approach is first adopted to obtain a straight line equation according to the S-curve diagram, then according to the distance formula of the point to the straight line, the average ratio of square sum for the distance between the S-curve and the straight line is calculated, and finally, the similarity of the biological sequences is presented by the new standard—the degree of similarity. As is shown by the experimental results, the S-curve diagram can better represent biological sequences (such as protein’s) within Cartesian coordinate system, and the mutation point of biological sequence. Thus, it turns out that the new standard—the degree of similarity is of obviously great advantage.     

15. Three Rumanian Mallomonas species (Synurophyceae), with special distribution patterns

Mallomonas is the largest genus of the Synurophyceae (chrysophytes) and includes more than 120 species. Most of them are cosmopolitan, living in freshwater habitats. The Rumanian taxa occur usually in spring or early summer at water temperatures ranging between 4 ° and 10 °C. They are most frequent in neutral or slightly acid, clear-watered, aquatic habitats of various types. However, Mallomonas paludosa Fott appears mostly in brown watered peatbog pools of low mineral contents, having a particular geographical area, with its southernmost limit in the Rumanian Eastern Carpathians. Its distribution, like that of other boreal elements, is strictly connected with the occurrence of genuine ombrogenic Sphagnum-bogs, which have their southern limit also in Romania. The other two species dealt with — M. cyathellata Wujek & Asmund and M. portae-ferreae Péterfi & Asmund —, occurring in circumneutral or moderately alkaline waters of eutrophic character, are apparently warm water forms, mostly distributed in tropical, subtropical or mediterranean zones. The Rumanian localities (in the Danube Delta and at Eşelniţa near the Danube, up stream Drobeta Turnu-Severin) might be the northern limits of M. portae-ferreae in Eastern Europe. The Danube Delta is the only locality of M. cyathellata in Europe, and its northernmost occurrence as well. The occurrence of both species in Rumania is presumably due to migratory waterfowl.     

How Does <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mimulus verbenaceus</Emphasis> (Phrymaceae) Set Seed in the Absence of Pollinators?

Mimulus verbenaceus has successfully invaded and/or competed for the very specialized habitats of desert seeps and springs characterized by scarce or no pollinators (personal observation). It has done so by evolving an ingenious mechanism of reproductive assurance in which the senescing epipetalous corolla bends down, abscisses and slides down its style dragging its anthers over the stigma lobes, resulting in self-pollination. This dragging mechanism both depends on the plants ability to self-pollinate and presumably promotes the evolution of self-pollination by providing an advantage—invasion of new habitats—to counter-balance the disadvantages of selfing. M. verbenaceus has evolved a second means of reproductive assurance that depends on the nearness of the anthers to the stigma lobes. They are close, even touching, in the red flowers, leading to much self-pollination and are well separated in the yellow flowers leading to little self-pollination. This advantage of the red-flowered plants likely explains the relative abundance of the red morph and the rarity of the yellow morph in nature as well as the greater seed set of the red-flowered morph than that of the yellow-flowered morph.     

Comparative analysis of respiratory activity in the wild type strain of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Neurospora crassa</Emphasis> and its photoreceptor complex mutants

Cell respiratory activity of protoplasts obtained from the wild type of Neurospora crassa and photoreceptor complex WCC—white collar 1 (wc-1) and white collar 2 (wc-2)—mutants of Neurospora crassa strains was investigated. Respiration inhibition by KCN in the presence of 25 mM succinate was similar in all strains and did not exceed 83–85% against control. The significant induction of KCN-resistant respiratory pathway occurred under 1% glucose oxidation in wc-1 and wc-2 mutants if compared with the wild type strains. The inhibitors of the main (cytochrome) pathway of electron transfer in mitochondria—1 mM KCN and antimycin A (4 μg/ml)—blocked the respiration rate of the protoplasts from N. crassa wild type by 75%, while the cell respiration of wc-1 and wc-2 strains was suppressed by approximately 50%. The specific inhibitor of alternative oxidase—10 mM salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM)—in combination with the blockers of mitochondrial electron transfer chain caused the total suppression of respiratory activity of protoplasts in all studied strains. It is supposed that an increase of KCN-resistance in WCC mutants under glucose oxidation is connected with alternative oxidase activation as the result of failure in reception and signal transduction of active oxygen species.     

Assessment of the state of ovaries of some fish species from Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan in relation to its anthropogenic pollution

Ovaries of four flatfish species—Liopsetta pinnifasciata, Pleuronectes obscurus, Pleuronectes yokohamae, and Glyptocephalus stelleri, as well as of Far Eastern navaga Eleginus gracilis and rudd Tribolodon brandtii caught in Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan in prespawning and/or spawning periods were studied. Under conditions of anthropogenic pollution of the bay, the state of fish ovaries is determined by several factors, such as migration activity, mode of life (bottom or pelagic), and the degree of sites pollution where females stayed in the period of the vitellogenous growth of oocytes. The pollution of the bay exerts the most damaging effect on the reproductive system of shallow species of flatfish—L. pinnifasciata and P. obscurus—that do not perform far migrations and throughout their life stay in the zone exposed to toxicants. In navaga Eleginus gracilis and flatfish P. yokohamae, and G. stelleri that perform seasonal migrations, no damages of ovaries were found.     

Nutrition, aspects of land use and environment in medieval times in southern Germany: plant macro-remain analysis from latrines (late 11th–13th century a.d.) at the town of Überlingen, Lake Constance

From high medieval courtyards at überlingen, Lake Constance (Bodensee), 17 archaeobotanical samples from seven latrines (11th–13th century) were analysed for plant macrofossils. They contained small amounts of cultivated plants and many well preserved seeds and fruits of wild plants. The most numerous cereal finds were of Triticum spelta followed by Secale cereale. Recorded oil plants were Papaver somniferum and Linum usitatissimum. Cultivated and gathered fruits such as various Prunus species, Pyrus communis and Malus domestica, Rubus sp. and Fragaria vesca were eaten by the people of überlingen. Only one seed of Ficus carica was found which may have been imported; no other imported plants could be recognised. Agrostemma githago and Vaccaria hispanica were prevalent weeds. The presence of the latter probably indicates the cultivation of cereals on the steeper slopes above überlingen. It is shown that in central Europe, V. hispanica became a troublesome weed only around the 12th/13th century A.D. Grassland species—mainly from more or less wet locations—and ruderal plants of nitrogen-rich soils were well represented in the samples and characterize the surrounding area. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at