Facilitating and evaluating public participation in urban parks management

Active citizen involvement is driven by assumptions about inclusivity, equity and fairness and as such is part of an agenda for devolving power, largely from local authorities to individual persons or groups. Few theorists and practitioners doubt the benefits of such deliberative involvement but there is, as yet, little guidance on how to initiate, establish and support individual groups, nor how to evaluate their processes and outcomes. This lack of guidance often leads to groups being inadequately or inappropriately supported which, consequently, reduces their ability to engage in the very local political processes that they were initiated to address. This paper offers a new approach to the creation and support of such groups and outlines the design of two participation evaluation matrices, one to monitor the process and one to evaluate the outcome of the participatory exercise, providing a valuable feed-back tool for participants and facilitators. The paper concludes that it is important to have the financial commitment and willingness of the local authority to recognise public involvement as an educative process, to empower people and to allow groups to develop and own their achievements.     

Predicting inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of cesium-134/137

For (134/137)Cs, and many other soil contaminants, research into transfer to plants has focused on particular crops and phytoremediation candidates, producing uptake data for a small proportion of all plant taxa. Despite the significance of differences in uptake between plant taxa, the capacity of soil-to-plant transfer models to predict them is currently confined to those taxa for which data exist, there being no method to predict uptake by other taxa. We used residual maximum likelihood (REML) analysis on data from experiments (including 89 plant taxa from China plus 32 phytoremediation candidates) together with data from the literature, to construct a database of relative (134/137)Cs concentrations in 273 plant taxa. The REML (134/137)Cs concentrations in plants are not normally distributed but significantly clustered. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), coded with a recent ordinal phylogeny for flowering plants, showed that plant taxa do not behave independently for (134/137)Cs concentration because 42 and 15% of inter-taxa differences are associated with phylogeny above the species and ordinal level, respectively. In general, Eudicots, and especially the Caryophyllales, Asterales, and Brassicales, have high (134/137)Cs concentrations, while the Fabales and Magnoliids, in particular Poales, have low (134/137)Cs concentrations. Plants of the stress-tolerant ruderal (S-R) growth strategy sensu Grime have, in general, high concentrations of Cs, while those of the competitive (C) and generalist (C-S-R) strategies have low concentrations, although these effects are less pronounced than those of phylogeny. Plant phylogeny and growth strategy might thus be used to predict a significant portion of inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of (134/137)Cs.     

A daily diary study of affective responses to psychological contract breach and exceeded promises

The psychological contract has been viewed as an explanatory framework for understanding the employment relationship, and is regarded by some researchers as central in understanding employee attitudes and behavior. Despite the importance ascribed to the psychological contract, it remains theoretically underdeveloped and has received limited empirical attention. This study takes a new approach to researching the psychological contract, through the use of daily diaries, and addresses a number of fundamental questions regarding its nature. Results show that both broken and exceeded promises occur regularly and in relation to virtually any aspect of work, that the importance of the promise contributes significantly to emotional reactions following broken and exceeded promises, and that the psychological contract is an important concept for understanding everyday fluctuations in emotion and daily mood. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in functional structure of soil bacterial communities due to fungicide and insecticide applications in canola

The fungicide vinclozolin and insecticide λ-cyhalothrin are widely used to control canola (Brassica spp.) diseases and insect pests, respectively, in Canada. We investigated non-target effects of these pesticides, applied at recommended rates, on soil microbial biomass, functional bacterial diversity and functional community structure of soil bacteria (by evaluating patterns of C substrate utilization) in canola rhizosphere and bulk soil at three locations in Alberta from 2002 to 2004. Experimental treatments were (a) untreated control, (b) vinclozolin fungicide foliar application, (c) λ-cyhalothrin insecticide foliar application, and (d) vinclozolin and λ-cyhalothrin applications. No significant pesticide effects on soil microbial biomass or functional bacterial diversity were observed, but the functional structures of soil bacteria were altered. In 1 of 12 cases, the control treatment had a different soil bacterial community structure from the 3 pesticide treatments. The fungicide treatment had different bacterial community structures from the control or insecticide treatments in 3 of 12 cases, the insecticide treatment had different community structures from the control or fungicide treatments in 4 of 12 cases, and the combined fungicide and insecticide treatment had different community structures from the other treatments in 3 of 12 cases. Therefore, evaluating soil bacterial functional structures revealed pesticide effects that were not detected when bacterial diversity or microbial biomass were measured in canola rhizosphere or bulk soil.     

A Novel Method to Capture and Analyze Flow in a Gross Pollutant Trap Using Image-Based Vector Visualization

A novel method is developed to capture and analyze several experimental flow regimes through a gross pollutant trap (GPT) with fully and partially blocked screens. Typical flow conditions and screen blockages are based on findings from field investigations that show a high content of organic matter in urban areas. Fluid motion of neutral buoyant particles is tracked using a high-speed camera and particle image velocimetry (PIV) software. The recorded fluid motion is visualized through an image-based, line integral convolution (LIC) algorithm, generally suitable for large computational fluid dynamics (CFD) datasets. The LIC method, a dense representation of streamlines, is found to be superior to the point-based flow visualization (e.g., hedgehog or arrow plots) in highlighting main flow features that are important for understanding litter capture and retention in the GPT. Detailed comparisons are made between the flow regimes, and the results are compared with CFD data previously obtained for fully blocked screens. The LIC technique is a useful tool for identifying flow structures in the GPT and areas that are subjected to abnormalities difficult to detect by conventional methods. The novel method is found to be useful both in the laboratory and in the field, with little preparation and cost. The enhancements and pitfalls of the LIC technique along with the experimentally captured flow field are presented and discussed.     

Evaluating colloidal phosphorus delivery to surface waters from diffuse agricultural sources

Colloid-facilitated phosphorus (P) delivery from agricultural soils in different hydrological pathways was investigated using a series of laboratory and field experiments. A soil colloidal P test was developed that yields information on the propensity of different soils to release P attached to soil colloids. The relationship between turbidity of soil extracts and total phosphorus (TP) was significant (r2 = 0.996, p < 0.001) across a range of agricultural soils, and a strong positive relationship (r2 = 0.86, p < 0.001) was found between "colloidal P" (H2O-CaCl2 extracts) and turbidity. Linear regression of the proportion of fine clay (<2 microm) for each soil type evaluated against the (H2O-CaCl2) colloidal P fraction gave a weak but positive relationship (r2 = 0.38, p = 0.082). The relative contribution of different particle-size fractions in transporting P in agricultural runoff from grassland soils was evaluated using a randomized plot experiment. A significant difference (p = 0.05) in both TP and reactive phosphorus (RP) in subsurface flow was recorded for different particle-size fractions, with most TP transferred either in association with the 2-microm fraction or with the 0.001-microm or smaller fractions. Total P concentrations in runoff were higher from plots receiving P amendments compared with the zero-P plots; however, these differences were only significant for the >0.45-microm particle-size fractions (p = 0.05), and may be evidence of surface applications of organic and inorganic fertilizers being transferred through the soil either as intact organic colloids or attached to mineral particles. Our results highlight the potential for drainage water to mobilize colloids and associated P during rainfall events.     

Records of atmospheric delivery of pyrolysis-derived pollutants in recent mountain lake sediments of the Julian Alps (NW Slovenia)

The historical record of the input of pyrolysis-derived pollutants via the atmosphere, i.e. black carbon (BC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP) was measured in the sediments of three remote alpine lakes situated in the Julian Alps, northwest Slovenia. Parallel sedimentary trends for BC, PAH and SCP were observed across the Julian Alps and relationships among these contaminants are discussed. Inputs of these pyrolytic-contaminants to sediments of remote lakes started to rise at the end of the 19th century, while their peak inputs were observed in the mid-20th century, amounting up to 6.0 gm(-2) yr(-1) for BC, 5200 x 10(4) m(-2) yr(-1) for SCP and 2900 microg m(-2) yr(-1) for PAH. In the last two to three decades, inputs decreased substantially, by a factor of up to 3 for BC, 7 for SCP and at least 3 for PAH.     

A laboratory study of predation by Aurelia aurita on larval herring (Clupea harengus): Experimental observations compared with model predictions

Predation by the medusa Aurelia aurita L. on early first-feeding stage larvae of the herring clupea harengus L. was studied in the laboratory. The medusae were captured in Loch Etive, Scotland. Herring larvae were reared from the extificially fertilized eggs of spawning Clyde herring caught in March, 1982. Swimming speeds, volume searched”, capture efficiency and predation rates increased as medusa size increased. Predation rates on fish larvae increased with prey density, but appeared to approach a maximum at high prey densities; in 1 h experiments, a maximum rate of predation of 6.64 larvae h^-1 was estimated by fitting an Ivlev function. A model to predict predation rates was constructed from swimming speeds, sizes and densities of medusae and larvae, and capture efficiency. The rates of predation predicted from the model fell within the range of experimental data, but tended to underestimate rates and did not account for saturation of medusae. Swimming patterns of medusae changed after prey capture: (a) before capture, encounter rates were low and medusae were relatively less active; (b) after capture of 1 larva, encounter rates doubled, with the stimulated medusae exhibiting increased activity and an aftered “searching” path; and (c) after capture of many larvae, swimming speeds and encounter rates of medusae decreased.     

液相色谱/质谱用于饮用水和地下水中的苯脲及三嗪草类除草剂的确认分析

本文介绍了液相色谱／大气压化学电离-质谱联用技术作为确认方法，检测饮用水和地下水中苯脲及三嗪草类除草剂的残留。共分析了16种除草剂，同时对分析方法进行了验证，其中标准偏差、离散度等结果均能满足饮用水的标准方法指南。