Air Quality Monitoring During Construction and Initial Occupation of a New Building

Air quality monitoring was conducted during the late construction and early occupation stages of the College of DuPage Student Resource Center (SRC) addition from April 24,1995, to July 20,1995. Chemical contaminants monitored included combustibles; cleaning solvents; and human, furniture, and carpeting effluents. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ethanol, propane, 3-pentanone, methyl cyclohexane, methyl formate, tetrahydrofuran, methyl methacrylate, and cyclohexane were used as calibration standards for continuous infrared absorption measurements. Indoor water content, outdoor relative humidity, indoor and outdoor temperatures, and indoor airborne particulate matter were measured. After most construction and indoor painting and carpeting were completed, a two-week air-out was performed using a continuous supply of fresh air, without recirculated air. This resulted in a low "case study" level of contaminants. Contaminant levels increased significantly after furniture and people move-ins and student use. Contaminant level changes were observed during typical indoor construction days, before and after a power outage-caused loss of ventilation, and in the presence of carpentry machines. A "naive" sensory panel contributed its "perception" of air quality, and anair quality survey was conducted among new building employees. No significant or consistent effects of indoor contaminants or indoor temperature upon indoor perception were noted. An inverse relationship between indoor air quality perceptions and the outdoor Temperature-Humidity Index was found.     

The perceived compatibility of safety and production expectations in hazardous occupations

INTRODUCTION: Safety hazards are unavoidable in many work environments. Employees must be both productive and safe, however, conflicting safety and production demands can negatively affect safety, production, or both. The employee's perception of the compatibility of management's safety and production expectations is a possible predictor of such consequences. This paper defines "safety-production compatibility" and describes how measures of safety-production compatibility, as well as safety pressure and production pressure, were developed. METHOD: We used LISREL structural equation modeling to test the influences of safety-production compatibility, safety pressure, and production pressure on safe work behavior and interference with performing other work tasks. The 239 study participants were workers employed in diverse but hazardous occupations. RESULTS: Pressure to work safely was positively associated with safe work behavior. The perceived compatibility of safety and production demands positively influenced safe work behavior and reduced the interference of safety hazards performing other tasks. Safety-production compatibility was also found to mediate the relationship between trust in management and safe work behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this field study suggest increased compatibility, and thus less conflict, between safety and production demands influences safe work behavior and the interference of safety hazards with performing other work tasks. More broadly, the worker's reaction to multiple work demands is a safety and performance influence. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Safety management efforts that focus only on the hazards fail to eliminate many accidents because accidents arise from many factors including technology, safety climate, social influences, production, and safety demands. This study suggests that workers differ in their perception of the compatibility of safety and production demands. These differences will show up in safe work behavior, influencing the effectiveness of safety management efforts and the trust workers have in management's concern for safety.     

How to encourage conflict in the environmental decision-making process: imparting lessons from civic environmentalism to local policy-makers

The literature on civic environmentalism suggests that the environmental decision-making process must be perceived by citizens to be inclusive, transparent, and legitimate in order to avoid conflict and encourage stakeholder collaboration. We suggest that studies of environmental decision-making must apply this framework to three key variables: agenda setting, conflicts of interest, and politicised institutions, which impact the potential for citizen collaboration at the local level. Using content analysis of newspaper articles, participant observations, and informal field interviews, we evaluate a case study of citizen opposition to a power plant air permit. We demonstrate how citizen perceptions of agenda setting by local officials, conflicts of interest, and the inability of citizens to affect final decisions after winning in multiple legal and administrative venues, creates conflict by not embodying these civic environmentalist principles. We conclude with policy suggestions for creating a less conflict-riddled process.     

Phosphorus leaching under a restored tallgrass prairie and corn agroecosystems

Most studies of phosphorus (P) movement in soil have based their conclusions on patterns of extractable soil P as a function of depth, which has led to the assumption that no substantial leaching loss occurs because of high P-fixation capacity in mineral soils. Few studies have involved high-quality leachate samples collected below the root zone; rather, most have involved tile drainage systems. Equilibrium-tension lysimeters installed at a depth of 1.4 m were used to evaluate and compare P leaching from a restored tallgrass prairie and corn (Zea mays L.) agroecosystems on Plano silt loam soil (fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Argiudoll) in southcentral Wisconsin during a 5-yr period. The corn agroecosystem treatments included nitrogen (N)-fertilized (f) or N-unfertilized (nf) and no-tillage (NT) or chisel-plowed (CP). Mean volume-weighted molybdate-reactive phosphorus (MRP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) concentrations were similar within replicate samples, but always higher in NTf corn than in the prairie or CPf corn systems, though drainage from the CPf corn was always higher than from the NTf corn system. Water-extractable soil P concentrations at any given depth were not positively correlated with leachate concentrations, suggesting that macropore flow causes infiltrating runoff to preferentially bypass the bulk of the soil matrix. Leachate-P concentrations from the natural and managed agroecosystems exceeded 0.01 mg P L(-1) and leaching losses were significantly higher from N-fertilized corn, regardless of tillage, than from the prairie or N-unfertilized corn systems, from which leachate-P concentrations and loads were similar. Increased root growth from N fertilization could cause more macropore formation, preferential flow, and P mineralization from decaying roots compared with N-unfertilized systems, which could contribute to a N-fertilization effect on P leaching.     

Empirical Estimation of Stream Discharge Using Channel Geometry in Low‐Gradient,Sand‐Bed Streams of the Southeastern Plains

Manning's equation is used widely to predict stream discharge (Q) from hydraulic variables when logistics constrain empirical measurements of in‐bank flow events. Uncertainty in Manning's roughness (n_M) is the major source of error in natural channels, and sand‐bed streams pose difficulties because flow resistance is affected by flow‐dependent bed configuration. Our study was designed to develop and validate models for estimating Q from channel geometry easily derived from cross‐sectional surveys and available GIS data. A database was compiled consisting of 484 Q measurements from 75 sand‐bed streams in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina (Southeastern Plains), and Florida (Southern Coastal Plain), with six New Zealand streams included to develop statistical models to predict Q from hydraulic variables. Model error characteristics were estimated with leave‐one‐site‐out jackknifing. Independent data of 317 Q measurements from 55 Southeastern Plains streams indicated the model (Q = A_cR_H^0.6906S^0.1216; where A_c is the channel area, R_H is the hydraulic radius, and S is the bed slope) best predicted Q, based on Akaike's information criterion and root mean square error. Models also were developed from smaller Q range subsets to explore if subsets increased predictive ability, but error fit statistics suggested that these were not reasonable alternatives to the above equation. Thus, we recommend the above equation for predicting in‐bank Q of unbraided, sandy streams of the Southeastern Plains.     

Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay,Lake Michigan,USA

Continued resource degradation in various areas of the Great Lakes has led to doubts of the adequacy of conventional science and management approaches. The need for a more holistic approach, identified as an ecosystem approach, appears now to be more widely accepted although progress with implementation is slow. We argue here that ecosystem science is an integral part of an ecosystem approach and is a prerequisite to effective management planning.One of the problems of implementing an ecosystem approach is forging the link between ecosystem based research and management. For Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, certain structural and functional qualities of the ecosystem have been used to define operational guides and to formulate management objectives. These objectives are being utilized in the development of a remedial action plan for Green Bay.Deceased 5 February 1986.     

Defining the Reference Condition for Wadeable Streams in the Sand Hills Subdivision of the Southeastern Plains Ecoregion,USA

The Sand Hills subdivision of the Southeastern Plains ecoregion has been impacted by historical land uses over the past two centuries and, with the additive effects of contemporary land use, determining reference condition for streams in this region is a challenge. We identified reference condition based on the combined use of 3 independent selection methods. Method 1 involved use of a multivariate disturbance gradient derived from several stressors, method 2 was based on variation in channel morphology, and method 3 was based on passing 6 of 7 environmental criteria. Sites selected as reference from all 3 methods were considered primary reference, whereas those selected by 2 or 1 methods were considered secondary or tertiary reference, respectively. Sites not selected by any of the methods were considered non-reference. In addition, best professional judgment (BPJ) was used to exclude some sites from any reference class, and comparisons were made to examine the utility of BPJ. Non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that use of BPJ may help designate non-reference sites when unidentified stressors are present. The macroinvertebrate community measures Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera richness and North Carolina Biotic Index showed no differences between primary and secondary reference sites when BPJ was ignored. However, there was no significant difference among primary, secondary, and tertiary reference sites when BPJ was used. We underscore the importance of classifying reference conditions, especially in regions that have endured significant anthropogenic activity. We suggest that the use of secondary reference sites may enable construction of models that target a broader set of management interests.