Discriminating sources of PCB contamination in fish on the coastal shelf off San Diego, California (USA)

Management of coastal ecosystems necessitates the evaluation of pollutant loading based on adequate source discrimination. Monitoring of sediments and fish on the shelf off San Diego has shown that some areas on the shelf are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Here, we present an analysis of PCB contamination in fish on the shelf off San Diego designed to discriminate possible sources. The analysis was complicated by the variability of species available for analysis across the shelf, variable affinities of PCBs among species, and non-detects in the data. We utilized survival regression analysis to account for these complications. We also examined spatial patterns of PCBs in bay and offshore sediments and reviewed more than 20 years of influent and effluent data for local wastewater treatment facilities. We conclude that most PCB contamination in shelf sediments and fish is due to the ongoing practice of dumping contaminated sediments dredged from San Diego Bay.     

Measuring velocities using the CMB and LSS

Here is discussed various ways by which the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation can be use to measure the velocities of matter in the universe. We include some new statistical techniques for using the kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect and integrated Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) effect to determine velocities by correlating wide area CMB maps with overlapping large-scale structure (LSS) surveys.     

High temperature heat contents and heat capacities of liquids and glasses in the system NaAlSi3O8-CaAl2Si2O8

Enthalpies and heat capacities of glasses and of stable liquids in the system NaAlSi₃O₈-CaAl₂Si₂O₈ have been measured by drop and differential scanning calorimetry. Within experimental error, values of C _p and of H _{T 300} of three intermediate compositions fall on straight line interpolations between the end members for both liquids and glasses, indicating that excesses in true and in mean heat capacities [(H _T –H ₃₀₀)/(T–300)] are small or absent. A value for the heat capacity of the An₁₀₀ liquid component can therefore be derived, and is probably a better estimate than that based on measurements on the pure substance alone. On the assumption of zero excess heat capacity in this system, heats of mixing in the stable liquids are equal to those measured in the glasses by solution calorimetry, and can be as negative as -2 kcal mol^–1.Heat capacities of solids and glasses in the Ab-An system are similar and do not vary greatly with composition. The C _P's of the liquids, however, increase strongly with An content, suggesting major structural changes take place across the binary.