The MERSADE Project (LIFE--European Union) tested the Las Cuevas decommissioned mining complex (Almadén mercury district, Spain) as a potential site for the installation of a future European prototype safe deposit of surplus mercury from industrial activities. We here present the results of a baseline study on the distribution of mercury in soils and air in the Las Cuevas complex and surroundin...

Rapid procedures (i.e. within 5 to 15 minutes) for earthquake and tsunami early warnings focus on earthquake location, depth, magnitude, and slowness, but initial tsunami early warnings are more often issued without knowing the mechanism of the earthquake. Kawakatsu (1998) proposed using a limited number of stations to automatically detect, locate and determine the source parameters of earthqua...

Blood serum samples collected from randomly selected groups of 100 persons inhabiting rural community 'A' located in eastern Poland and exposed to floods by the Vistula river, and 98 persons inhabiting rural community 'B', also located in eastern Poland, but in the area not exposed to floods were examined by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for the presence of antibodies against 18 Lept...

Control of norovirus outbreaks relies on enhanced hygiene measures, such as handwashing, surface cleaning, using disposable paper towels, and using separate toilets for sick and well persons. However, little is known about their effectiveness in limiting further spread of norovirus infections. We analyzed norovirus outbreaks in 7 camps at an international scouting jamboree in the Netherlands du...

Since early November 2016, the number of laboratory-confirmed norovirus infections reported in Germany has been increasing steeply. Here, we report the detection and genetic characterisation of an emerging norovirus recombinant, GII.P16-GII.2. This strain was frequently identified as the cause of sporadic cases as well as outbreaks in nine federal states of Germany. Our findings suggest that th...

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Thresholds based on critical combinations of amount/duration of precipitation and flood events were estimated for the Corgo hydrographic basin, in northern Portugal. Thirty-one flood events in the Corgo basin were identified between 1865 and 2011 from a database of hydrometeorological disasters in Portugal. The minimum, maximum, and pre-warning thresholds that define the boundaries for flood oc...

We compare teleseismic P-wave records for earthquakes in the magnitude range from 6.0 to 9.5 with synthetics for a self-similar, ~2 source model and conclude that the energy radiated by very large earthquakes (M,, > 8~) is not self-similar to that radiated from smaller earthquakes (Mw < 81). Furthermore, in the period band from 2 sec to several tens of seconds, we conclude that large subduction...

Norovirus (NV) is the most common causative agent of nonbacterial gastroenteritis. Reports of surveillance of NV in facilities that reported outbreaks are frequently found in publications, but reports of that in facilities without outbreaks are not found. We investigated the molecular epidemiology of NV isolates derived from asymptomatic food handlers working at a non-outbreak food catering fac...

Two organizations within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) are responsible for disseminating critical information to their customers prior to and during severe weather. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) focuses on conducting an overall assessment of the environmental conditions on the national scale, and issues the appropriate severe wea...