Ergonomic analysis of working postures using OWAS in semi-trailer assembly,applying an individual sampling strategy

In semi-trailer assembly, workers are exposed to several physical risk factors. Awkward working postures have not yet been investigated in semi-trailer assembly, although they are known to be a major risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders. We therefore conducted a comprehensive ergonomic analysis of working postures using the Ovako working posture analysing system (OWAS), with an individual sampling strategy. The postural load in semi-trailer assembly was assessed on the basis of 20,601 observations of 63 workers executing a representative set of nine work tasks. According to the OWAS, the postural load of various working postures and body part positions may have a harmful effect on the musculoskeletal system. We therefore give examples of corrective measures that could improve awkward working postures. Applying an individual sampling strategy was revealed to have advantages over a collective strategy, so this is recommended for future ergonomic analyses.     

Reach‐Scale Geomorphic and Biological Effects of Localized Streambank Armoring

Armoring of streambanks is a common management response to perceived threats to adjacent infrastructure from flooding or erosion. Despite their pervasiveness, effects of reach‐scale bank armoring have received less attention than those of channelization or watershed‐scale hydromodification. In this study, we explored mechanistic ecosystem responses to armoring by comparing conditions upstream, within, and downstream of six stream reaches with bank armoring in Southern California. Assessments were based on four common stream‐channel assessment methods: (1) traditional geomorphic measures, (2) the California Rapid Assessment Method for wetlands, (3) bioassessment with benthic macroinvertebrates, and (4) bioassessment with stream algae. Although physical responses varied among stream types (mountain, transitional, and lowland), armored segments generally had lower slopes, more and deeper pools and fewer riffles, and increased sediment deposition. Several armored segments exhibited channel incision and bank toe failure. All classes of biological indicators showed subtle, mechanistic responses to physical changes. However, extreme heterogeneity among sites, the presence of catchment‐scale disturbances, and low sample size made it difficult to ascribe observed patterns solely to channel armoring. The data suggest that species‐level or functional group‐level metrics may be more sensitive tools than integrative indices of biotic integrity to local‐scale effects.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Middle-Eocene artiodactyls from Shanghuang (Jiangsu Province,Coastal China) and the diversity of basal dichobunoids in Asia

A new assemblage of basal dichobunoid artiodactyls from the middle-Eocene Shanghuang fissure fillings includes the diacodexeid Jiangsudon shanghuangensis gen. and sp. nov., a new species of the lantianine dichobunoid Elaschitotherium, Elaschitotherium crepaturus sp. nov., and an indeterminate suoid which is presently the earliest record of this clade. Diacodexeids are also represented by two forms provisionally referred to cf. Diacodexis sp. and to an indeterminate Diacodexeidae, respectively. The occurrence of diacodexeids in Shanghuang contrasts with the early and earliest middle-Eocene chronological range of the family in Europe and North America and suggests that the stratigraphic range of the family in Asia extends up to the middle Eocene. This may reflect particular habitats in coastal China that may have been relatively stable during the early and middle Eocene, thus preserving forest-dwelling artiodactyls that became extinct in the other Holarctic regions. Compared to other supposedly coeval North American, European, and Asian faunas, the Shanghuang mammalian assemblage is most similar to early Uintan faunas of North America but is also remarkable in recording forms close to taxa that are characteristic of the Wasatchian and Bridgerian North American Land Mammal Ages. The Irdinmanhan age of the Shanghuang fauna is supported by the mammalian assemblage recovered from the fissure D, but an Arshantan age cannot be completely ruled out at this point. Although the Shanghuang assemblage is biased towards preservation of small components of the mammalian fauna, the Shanghuang fauna provide an important and unique window into the Eocene diversity and early evolution of cetartiodactyls in eastern Asia.     

Assessing conservation opportunity on private land: socio-economic, behavioral, and spatial dimensions

This study presents a method for assessing conservation opportunity on private land based on landholders' socio-economic, behavioral, and farm characteristics. These characteristics include age, gender, education, level of off-farm income, farm size, proportion of remnant native vegetation on-farm, and ecological value of native vegetation on-farm. A sample of landholders who own greater than 2 ha of land in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin region were sent a mail-based survey about their values and preferences for environmental management (N = 659, 52% response). Cross-tabulations and ANOVA statistical analysis techniques were used to compare the socio-economic attributes across three landholder classes: disengaged, moderately engaged, and highly engaged in native vegetation planting. Results indicate that highly engaged landholders were more likely to be female, formally educated, hobby farmers who managed small parcels of land and have high off-farm incomes, whereas disengaged landholders held significantly stronger farming connections (more farming experience, family have lived on the farm for more generations). Spatial analysis revealed area-specific differences in conservation opportunity and conservation priority. In some areas, properties of high ecological value were managed by highly engaged landholders, but nearby properties of high value were managed by moderately engaged or disengaged landholders. Environmental managers therefore cannot assume areas of high conservation priority will be areas of high conservation opportunity. At the regional scale, the potential for revegetation seems most promising within the moderately engaged landholder group considering the vast amount of land managed by this group in areas of high ecological value, particularly within the less represented Mallee and Coorong and Rangelands sub-regions. We suggest that incentive schemes which purchase conservation need to be targeted at disengaged landholders; mentoring schemes led by commercial farmers highly engaged in native vegetation planting should be directed at moderately engaged landholders, and; awards programs which acknowledge conservation successes should be targeted at highly engaged landholders.     

Skier and Snowboarder Motivations and Knowledge Related to Voluntary Environmental Programs at an Alpine Ski Area

Many alpine ski areas have recently adopted voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) such as using recycling, renewable energy, and biofuels to help reduce their environmental impacts. Studies have addressed the performance of these VEPs in mitigating environmental impacts of this industry, but little is known about visitor awareness and perceptions of these programs. This article addresses this knowledge gap by exploring skier and snowboarder knowledge of VEPs at a ski area and the influence of these programs on their motivations to visit this area currently and behavioral intentions to visit again in the future. Data were obtained from an onsite survey at the Mt. Bachelor ski area in Oregon, USA (n = 429, 89.7% response rate). Few skiers and snowboarders were knowledgeable of VEPs at this area and fewer than 20% were motivated to visit on their current trip because of these programs. Other attributes such as scenery, snow conditions, and access were more important for influencing visitation. Up to 38% of skiers and snowboarders, however, intend to visit this ski area more often if it adopts and promotes more VEPs. Managers can use these results to inform communication and marketing of their environmental programs and performance to visitors. Additional implications for management and future research are discussed.     

The role of canopy structural complexity in wood net primary production of a maturing northern deciduous forest

The even-aged northern hardwood forests of the Upper Great Lakes Region are undergoing an ecological transition during which structural and biotic complexity is increasing. Early-successional aspen (Populus spp.) and birch (Betula papyrifera) are senescing at an accelerating rate and are being replaced by middle-successional species including northern red oak (Quercus rubra), red maple (Acer rubrum), and white pine (Pinus strobus). Canopy structural complexity may increase due to forest age, canopy disturbances, and changing species diversity. More structurally complex canopies may enhance carbon (C) sequestration in old forests. We hypothesize that these biotic and structural alterations will result in increased structural complexity of the maturing canopy with implications for forest C uptake. At the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), we combined a decade of observations of net primary productivity (NPP), leaf area index (LAI), site index, canopy tree-species diversity, and stand age with canopy structure measurements made with portable canopy lidar (PCL) in 30 forested plots. We then evaluated the relative impact of stand characteristics on productivity through succession using data collected over a nine-year period. We found that effects of canopy structural complexity on wood NPP (NPPw) were similar in magnitude to the effects of total leaf area and site quality. Furthermore, our results suggest that the effect of stand age on NPPw is mediated primarily through its effect on canopy structural complexity. Stand-level diversity of canopy-tree species was not significantly related to either canopy structure or NPPw. We conclude that increasing canopy structural complexity provides a mechanism for the potential maintenance of productivity in aging forests.     

Robustness and vulnerability of community irrigation systems: The case of the Taos valley acequias

Traditional economic and policy analysis theory has emphasized the implementation of private or public property rights regimes in order to sustainably manage natural resources. More recent work has challenged this approach by examining the strengths and weakness of common property governance of such resources. This paper contributes to this literature by analyzing the acequia irrigation communities in northern New Mexico. Through statistical analysis, we find that the acequias’ ability to maintain collective-action as estimated by a critical performance function, crop production, is aided by water sharing agreements and access to groundwater, and that it is hampered by property rights fragmentation and urbanization.     

Mutualist-induced morphological changes enhance growth and survival of corals

Species interactions can induce morphological changes in organisms that affect their subsequent growth and survival. In Moorea, French Polynesia, epibiotic gammaridean amphipods induce the formation of long, branch-like coral “fingers” on otherwise flat, encrusting, or plating Montipora coral colonies. The fingers form as corals encrust tubes built by the amphipods and lead to significant changes in colony morphology. This study examines the costs and benefits of this association to the amphipods and corals and demonstrates that the interaction is a mutualism. Amphipods gain protection from predators by living within corals, and corals benefit by enhanced growth and survival. Benefits to the coral arise through direct effects due to the amphipods’ presence as well as through benefits derived from the altered colony morphology. This study demonstrates that induced morphological plasticity can be a mechanism for facilitation, adding to our knowledge of the roles mutualism, and phenotypic plasticity play in ecology.     

Estimation of late twentieth century land-cover change in California

We present the first comprehensive multi-temporal analysis of land-cover change for California across its major ecological regions and primary land-cover types. Recently completed satellite-based estimates of land-cover and land-use change information for large portions of the United States allow for consistent measurement and comparison across heterogeneous landscapes. Landsat data were employed within a pure-panel stratified one-stage cluster sample to estimate and characterize land-cover change for 1973?C2000. Results indicate anthropogenic and natural disturbances, such as forest cutting and fire, were the dominant changes, followed by large fluctuations between agriculture and rangelands. Contrary to common perception, agriculture remained relatively stable over the 27-year period with an estimated loss of 1.0% of agricultural land. The largest net declines occurred in the grasslands/shrubs class at 5,131 km² and forest class at 4,722 km². Developed lands increased by 37.6%, composing an estimated 4.2% of the state??s land cover by 2000.