The Environmental Geochemistry and Bioaccessibility of Mercury in Soils and Sediments: A Review

There have been many studies of mercury geochemistry in the environment and its bioconcentration/bioaccumulation through the aquatic food chain. However, there is a dearth of information regarding the bioaccessibility of mercury in human receptors exposed primarily by soil ingestion. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge of mercury bioaccessibility and speciation in soils, and the utility of speciation methods to estimate mercury bioaccessibility. We conclude that additional research is necessary to determine: (1) whether analytical measurements can adequately determine the bioaccessibility of mercury in sediments and soils; (2) the accuracy of in vitro analyses in assessing mercury bioaccessibility; (3) the ability of mercury to cross tissue membranes of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and the small and large intestines; (4) the speciation and distribution of mercury in biological fluids; and (5) mercury bioavailability using an in vivo animal model relevant to human gastrointestinal tract conditions.     

Effects of sleep inertia on cognitive performance following a 1-hour nap

This study investigated the effects of a 1-h nap on subsequent performance in spatial memory (SM) and logical reasoning (LR) tasks. The objective was to evaluate the duration of the effects of sleep inertia (SI). The performance was measured in two independent groups of subjects. The 1-h nap took place at 00:00 h in group 1 and at 03:00 h in group 2. In each task, the experimental design comprised one no-nap condition in which subjects had no sleep before the night tests, and a nap condition that comprised the 1-h nap followed by the test sessions. To measure the duration of SI effects, the subjects were tested in two 30-min sessions and the data in each session were analysed in sub-units of time of 3 min each. In each task the results showed no effects on accuracy, and no circadian effects of napping were found. In each task, analyses of pooled data of the two groups showed that the performance in the 1-h nap condition exhibited significant reductions of speed immediately following awakening, when compared with no-nap, reflecting SI effects. In SM, the slowing lasted 24 min, and 27 min in LR. Practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Experiences with the French aging males' symptoms (AMS) scale

Introduction.?The aim of this paper is to report on experiences gained from the application of the French version of the Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) scale, to show correlations with other relevant scales and to provide population reference values for France.

Methods.?A representative survey based on an existing, representative population panel was performed in France (963 males, aged 15 + years). Other AMS data from Europe were then used for comparison. Mean scores of the French AMS scale do not systematically differ from the data of other European studies. The population reference values obtained for France strongly suggest that the scale measures can appreciate the level of well-being whatever the patients' age; however, some variables, such as age and family income, can influence the total AMS scores. Comparisons with the generic quality-of-life scale, SF-12, and a depression scale, HAD, have shown good correlations, as have comparisons with the ADAM questionnaire.

Conclusion.?The French AMS scale is a standardized, valid and simple health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scale, with results comparable to other published European findings. The results also indicate that the AMS scale can be used to measure and compare HRQoL in those less than 40 years of age.     

Differential Reliance on the Duchenne Marker During Smile Evaluations and Person Judgments

When evaluating the smiles of other people (regarding amusement, authenticity, spontaneity, or intensity), perceivers typically rely on Orbicularis oculi activity that causes wrinkles around a target’s eyes. But does this so-called Duchenne marker also impact more generalized judgments of person characteristics (e.g., regarding a target’s attractiveness, intelligence, dominance, and trustworthiness)? To address this issue, the current study asked participants to provide the above smile evaluations and person judgments for a series of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles. The results showed that smile evaluations uniformly increased during Duchenne marker presence. The marker’s effect on person judgments, in contrast, was judgment dependent. While attractiveness, dominance and intelligence ratings showed the expected enhancement, trustworthiness ratings remained unaffected by the facial cue of interest. The findings suggest that the Duchenne marker’s role as a cue of social relevance during target perception depends on the type of person inference under consideration.     

Decision-Making Under Scientific Uncertainty: The Economics of the Precautionary Principle

The Precautionary Principle has provided the foundations for building a new risk regulatory pattern under scientific uncertainty. This paper investigates how classical economic theory may, or may not, justify the Precautionary Principle. It examines the link between irreversibility, the prospect of increasing information over time and risk management. In doing so, it brings closer the notion of option value to that of precaution. Using a general modelling framework, it identifies the conditions so that the Precautionary Principle is an efficient economic guideline. It also explains why precautionary policies are not likely to emerge in a competitive economy or in the presence of a global pollution problem.     

Does the Representation of Household Behavior Matter for Welfare Analysis of Tax-benefit Policies? An Introduction

A widely shared intuition holds that individual control over money matters for the decision process within the household and the subsequent distribution of resources and welfare. As a consequence, there are good reasons to depart from the unitary model of the household and to explore the possibilities offered by models of the family accounting for several decision makers in the household and for the potential impact of tax reforms on the balance of power. This paper summarizes both the methodological and empirical findings presented in the next three papers of this special issue of the Review of the Economics of the Household. This series of contributions primarily entails a concrete comparison of the policy implications of the choice between the unitary and a particular multi-person representation: the collective representation. On the one hand, it suggests a methodology to implement the collective model of labor supply in a realistic context where participation is modeled together with working hours, and where the full tax-benefit system is accounted for. On the other hand, the empirical part relies on comprehensive simulations of tax reforms in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and allows to quantify the distortions that may affect policy recommendations based on the unitary model.

The use of military bunkers by the European badger and red fox in Western Europe

Urban Ecosystems - Intensification of agriculture and land consolidation policy induced the removal of most natural features from farmland, reducing the habitat of many wild species. Abandoned WWII...     

Observer,consigner, tracer. Les usages d’un cahier électronique controversé en établissement pénitentiaire pour mineurs

This contribution, based on research conducted within a Prison for Minors, provides an analysis of the guards’ use of a software application: the “electronic observation logbook”, designed to record and disseminate various day-to-day “observations” about prisoners. The analysis of the use of this system — which simultaneously attempts to “profile” prisoners and “track” surveillance activity — not only helps conceptually identify the type of surveillance employed in a Prison for Minors, it also reveals the growing complexity of the work of prison guards, previously studied primarily in terms of the informality of the interactional frameworks in prison.