Best practice recommendations for scale construction in organizational research: The development and initial validation of the Character Strength Inventory (CSI)

Proper scale development and validation provide the necessary foundation to facilitate future quantitative research in the organizational sciences. Using the framework provided by the Researcher's Notebook , the purpose of this study is twofold. First, we present a modern summary of best practice procedures for scale development, reliability analysis, and validity analysis. Second, we explain and illustrate these best practice procedures by describing each procedure in the context of developing and psychometrically analyzing a new Character Strength Inventory (CSI). Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

平果岩溶型铝土矿区苔藓多样性及对金属污染的监测指示

以广西平果岩溶型铝土矿区苔藓为研究对象,采集苔藓样品140份。采用经典形态分类法,发现苔藓属于13科25属44种,其中藓类10科22属41种,苔类3科3属3种,其中丛藓科(Pottiaceae)石灰藓属(Hydrogonium)疣叶石灰藓(Hydrogonium gangeticum)为主要优势种。丰富度指数从大到小的样地依次为原矿区、矿区农田、矿石堆、开采区、香蕉地、浓缩池、废矿区,Shannon-Wiener指数从大到小的样地依次为原矿区、矿区农田、矿石堆、浓缩池、香蕉地、开采区、废矿区。利用ICP-OES测定了该矿区土壤和苔藓的Al、Fe、Mn、Mg和Cr质量比,其中土壤Al质量比从大到小的样地依次为废矿区、浓缩池、矿石堆、原矿区、开采区、矿区农田、香蕉地,苔藓Al质量比从大到小的样地依次为开采区、废矿区、浓缩池、矿石堆、原矿区、矿区农田、香蕉地。冗余分析(RDA)表明,细叶石灰藓(Hydrogonium gracilentum)、疣叶石灰藓(Hydrogonium gangeticum)和卷叶毛口藓(Trichostomum involutum)对Al有一定耐受作用;相关性分析表明,丰富度指数与ShannonWiener指数呈极显著正相关(p0.01),丰富度指数与苔藓Al质量比呈极显著负相关(p0.01),土壤Al与苔藓Al质量比、苔藓Al与苔藓Fe质量比呈显著正相关(p0.05)。研究表明,苔藓可作为该矿区金属污染的监测指示植物。     

燃煤机组超低排放改造对汞的脱除效果研究

燃煤烟气中汞污染的控制是目前重要的环保课题之一,燃煤电厂利用现有的脱硝、脱硫、除尘设备去除汞,文章分析燃煤电厂烟气净化设备超低排放改造后汞的排放水平,说明现有废气处理设施超低排放改造,既能有效降低烟尘、二氧化硫、氮氧化物排放浓度,也有利于汞的去除,燃煤机组超低排放改造后汞的排放浓度远低于现行0.03 mg/m3的限值;通过分析燃煤电厂现有烟气净化设备对汞的协同去除效果和脱除汞的原理,提出了未来燃煤烟气汞污染控制措施的建议.     

Habitat Improvements and Fish Community Response Associated with an Agricultural Two‐Stage Ditch in Mower County,Minnesota

Water quality and stream habitat in agricultural watersheds are under greater scrutiny as hydrologic pathways are altered to increase crop production. Ditches have been traditionally constructed to remove water from agricultural lands. Little attention has been placed on alternative ditch designs that are more stable and provide greater habitat diversity for wildlife and aquatic species. In 2009, 1.89 km of a conventional drainage ditch in Mower County, Minnesota, was converted to a two‐stage ditch (TSD) with small, adjacent floodplains to mimic a natural system. Cross section surveys, conducted pre‐ and post‐construction, generally indicate a stable channel with minor adjustments over time. Vegetation surveys showed differences in species composition and biomass between the slopes and the benches, with changes ongoing. Longitudinal surveys demonstrated a 12‐fold increase in depth variability. Fish habitat quality improved with well‐sorted gravel riffles and deeper pool habitat. The biological response to improved habitat quality was investigated using a Fish Index of Biological Integrity (FIBI). Our results show higher FIBI scores post‐construction with scores more similar to natural streams. In summary, the TSD demonstrated improvements in riparian and instream habitat quality and fish communities, which showed greater fish species richness, higher percentages of gravel spawning fish, and better FIBI scores. This type of management tool could benefit ditches in other regions where gradient and geology allow.     

Maximizing Returns from Payments for Water‐Based Ecosystem Services: Incorporating Externality Effects of Land Management

Given the expansion of payments for water‐based ecosystem services (PWES) worldwide, two relevant issues are as follows: (1) determination of efficient allocations of payments among land managers, and (2) how this might change when paying one manager to implement a best management practice (BMP) to enhance an ecosystem service impacts the cost‐effectiveness of BMPs considered by other land managers not currently involved in PWES. Such externalities may be negative if diminishing returns dominate, or positive if mechanisms such as “social diffusion” dominate. We analyze how a planner should optimally allocate payments, depending on whether the expected externalities are negligible, negative, or positive. We employ (1) an optimal control model to gain insights on the problem’s dynamics, and (2) stochastic dynamic programming to determine optimal funding strategies using a specific application. The study contributes to the literature by identifying dynamically optimal PWES payment patterns, and illustrates how they should change when one accounts for externalities induced by the program. Because such impacts have not been addressed previously in a rigorous way, this treatment provides useful value added for PWES design and implementation.     

基于OPMSE与BAT的啤酒行业排放限值仿真

以OPMSE仿真计算啤酒行业排放污水中COD,BOD,NH3-N质量浓度为研究对象,查询及调研清河流域典型啤酒行业产生污水中COD,BOD,NH3-N质量浓度范围,经BAT处理后通过OPMSE的仿真计算,得出排放污水中污染物质量浓度正态分布置信区间、最佳出水及最差出水质量浓度。结果表明:置信水平为99%时,COD,BOD,NH3-N的置信区间分别为(75.83,95.95),(19.30,25.88),(5.68,6.85);最佳出水质量浓度分别为4.14 mg/L,5.36 mg/L,2.71 mg/L;最差出水质量浓度分别为20.64 mg/L,20.70 mg/L,10.86mg/L。将仿真结果与现有排放标准对比,拟定啤酒行业的污染物直接排放限值为COD=100 mg/L,BOD=30mg/L,NH3-N=8 mg/L;间接排放限值为COD=400 mg/L,BOD=80 mg/L,NH3-N=25 mg/L。     

The Use of Natural Taraxacum officinale Wigg. Populations for Assessing the State of Technogenically Disturbed Areas

Russian Journal of Ecology -     

Medieval Agroecosystems (9th–13th Centuries) in the Region of the Present-Day City of Glazov (Udmurt Republic)

Paleoethnobotanical materials and buried soils from the site of the ancient settlement of Idnakar and neighboring archaeological monuments were analyzed to reconstruct the agroecosystems of the 9th through the 13th centuries AD near the present-day city of Glazov. The results provided data on the main features of the agroecosystem structure and composition, climate, and agriculture in the Middle Ages.     

THERMAL GRADIENTS IN RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS DUE TO HEATED PLANT EFFLUENTS1

ABSTRACT The direction of heated effluents from large thermal power plants into streams and lakes has been a matter of public concern for some time, and the collection of prototype data related to the hydraulic aspects has taken on massive proportions. Unfortunately, most of the data are proprietary and not available for public analysis. The authors have endeavored to collect such data as are available to them for the initiation of steps toward generalization and the discussion of some of the more evident hydraulic considerations. The study is primarily concerned with rivers, including estuaries, with some interest in cooling ponds.     

Alien plant invasions--incorporating emerging invaders in regional prioritization: a pragmatic approach for Southern Africa

Plant invasions are a serious threat to natural and semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Most management-orientated research on invasions focuses on invaders that are already widespread and often have major impacts. This paper deals with "emerging" invaders-those alien species with the potential to become important problems without timely intervention. A climate matching procedure was developed to define areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland that could be invaded by 28 plant species that had previously been classified as emerging invaders. Information on the location of populations of these species in the study area was combined with information on their distributions (as native or alien) in parts of Australia and the United States of America. These two countries had the best available distribution data for this study. They also share many invasive alien plant species with South Africa. Climatic data obtained for weather stations near points of known occurrence in these countries were used to define the climatically suitable areas for each species in the study area. Almost 80% of the remaining natural environment in southern Africa was found to be vulnerable to invasion by at least one of these species, 50% by six or more and 24% by 16 or more species. The most vulnerable areas are the highveld grasslands and the eastern escarpment. The emerging invaders with the greatest potential range included Acacia podalyriifolia and Cortaderia selloana. The globally important invaders Ulex europaeus and Lythrum salicaria had a more limited invasion potential but could still become major invaders. There was no relationship between the extent of the climatically suitable areas for the different species and an expert ranking of their invasion potential, emphasising the uncertainties inherent in making expert assessments based on very little information. The methods used in this analysis establish a protocol for future modelling exercises to assess the invasion potential of other emerging invaders.