Precipitation-driven decrease in wildfires in British Columbia

Trends of summer precipitation and summer temperature and their influence on trends in summer drought and area burned in British Columbia (BC) were investigated for the period 1920–2000. The complexity imposed by topography was taken into account by incorporating high spatial resolution climate and fire data. Considerable regional variation in trends and in climate–fire relationships was observed. A weak but significant increase in summer temperature was detected in northeastern and coastal BC, whereas summer precipitation increased significantly in all regions—by up to 45.9 %. A significant decrease in province-wide area burned and at the level of sub-units was strongly related to increasing precipitation, more so than to changing temperature or drought severity. A stronger dependence of area burned on precipitation, a variable difficult to predict, implies that projected changes in future area burned in this region may yield higher uncertainties than in regions where temperature is predominantly the limiting factor for fire activity. We argue that analyses of fire–climate relationships must be undertaken at a sufficiently high resolution such that spatial variability in limiting factors on area burned like precipitation, temperature, and drought is captured within units.     

Maximising household waste recycling at civic amenity sites in Lancashire, England

In the UK, all local authorities have been set statutory performance standards for the recycling and composting of household waste. As part of their strategy for achieving these standards, Lancashire County Council (LCC) has made a number of alterations to the layout and facilities available at civic amenity sites (renamed Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)) in the county and tried to create a more positive image of the sites for members of the public. This study consisted of two surveys carried out in order to establish how to maximise household waste recycling at the 26 HWRCs in Lancashire. A telephone survey was carried out amongst all Lancashire's HWRC attendants in order to establish the effects of recent site improvements and to provide an indication of overall customer satisfaction. An on-site questionnaire survey was conducted amongst HWRC customers on five selected sites, over three separate seasons, incorporating comparative weekend and weekday surveys at each site. This survey investigated public opinion of HWRCs in Lancashire, as well as exploring effective methods that would assist customers in maximising the amount of recycling at HWRCs. The attendants' survey revealed that site attendants were actively encouraging customers to segregate waste more efficiently at the HWRCs, and that a recycling-related bonus scheme had provided an incentive towards this effort. Site attendants have a key role in educating the public about waste segregation and the effective use of HWRCs. Lancashire HWRC users were mostly male, used private cars to transport waste and showed high levels of customer satisfaction. Practical changes to encourage more recycling at HWRCs were clearly identified in the customers' survey; these include longer opening hours and the provision of boxes to enable pre-separation of waste. The study has clearly shown how the results of user surveys can provide practical assistance in the development of improved sustainable waste management strategies.     

J-value analysis of different regulatory limits for workers and the public

The J-value technique allows an objective determination to be made of the resources that should be applied cost effectively to improve heath and safety. This is essential if capabilities are to be employed optimally and risks reduced in a way that reflects their severity. Although other considerations such as good practice and socio-political influences may affect a final decision on the resources to be sanctioned, the incorporation of these additional factors should be made transparent if the decision is no longer to be based on cost effectiveness. The J-value provides an objective criterion by which to judge when “reasonable practicability” has been achieved in committing resources for safety improvement, which is the legal requirement under health and safety law in the UK.Moreover, the J-value methodology also allows other related issues to be addressed objectively. Regulatory bodies apply different limits for workers and the general public, with higher risks being permitted for workers. Although a factor of about 10 has been used in several contexts, no objective rationale has been developed for this particular figure until now. However, it is shown that application of the J-value analysis can provide a justification for a ratio of workers’ risk to public risk of approximately this size if certain reasonable assumptions are made. Thus the paper provides the first quantitative explanation for the different levels of protection demanded by regulators nationally and internationally for workers and public.     

Leader self‐awareness: An examination and implications of women's under‐prediction

Self‐awareness represents an important aspect of leadership. However, past research on leader self‐awareness has focused on one component of self‐awareness, self versus others' ratings, leaving the second component, the ability to anticipate the views of others, largely neglected. We examined this second component of self‐awareness by focusing on women leaders who have been found to under‐predict how others rate them. In two studies, we measured how women leaders anticipate the views of their bosses in regard to their leadership. In Study 1, 194 leaders rated their leadership, were rated by their bosses, and then predicted how their bosses rated their leadership. While we found that women under‐predict their boss ratings compared with men, we did not find that boss gender or feedback played a role in this under‐prediction. In Study 2, 76 female leaders identified (via open‐ended questions) possible reasons and consequences of under‐prediction for women in organizations. Results from Study 2 reveal the following: (1) the reasons for women's under‐prediction include a lack of self‐confidence, differences in feedback needs, learned gender roles, and self‐sexism; and (2) the perceived consequences of under‐prediction are negative for both women and the organization. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phytoplankton composition of Euphrates River in Al-Hindiya barrage and Kifil City region of Iraq

Seasonal variations in phytoplankton abundance and their composition were studied at five stations in the middle region (between Al-Hindiya barrage to Kifil City) of the Euphrates River in Iraq between March, 2004, and February, 2005. A total 151 taxa of phytoplankton were identified, belonging to Bacillariophyceae (98), Chlorophyceae (33), Cyanophyceae (14), Euglenophyceae (2), Xanthophyceae (2), and Dinophyceae (2). The total abundance of phytoplankton cells varied from 136 to 5312 cells l(-1) with maxima in spring and fall. Bacillariophyceae were the most abundant group at all stations. Some species of phytoplankton occurred continuously during the study period (Cyclotella ocellata, C. meneghiana, Cocconeis placentula, Nitzchia spp, Meringosphaera spinosa). The study recorded four species as new records for Iraqi. The phytoplankton was indicative of oligotrophic conditions although it showed some signs of organic pollution near cities.     

Can marine mammals be used to monitor oceanographic conditions?

The breeding performance of higher predators has often been used to monitor fluctuations in the abundance of important prey stocks in marine ecosystems. The development of electronic data-loggers in recent years has also provided the opportunity of using wide-ranging marine animals to measure physical oceanographic conditions. In this study, time–depth recorders (TDRs) programmed to record temperature were deployed on female Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) at Bird Island, South Georgia (54°00′S; 38°02′W) during the breeding seasons 1994 to 1998. Temperature sensors had relatively slow response times, and thermal radiation errors occurred during the day when seals spent a large proportion of their time at the surface. Nevertheless, measurements provided temperature–depth profiles which were typical of the vertical stratification of the ocean. During the early stages of a foraging trip temperature increased, suggesting that fur seals travelled northwards from South Georgia towards the warmer waters of the Polar Front. In addition, higher temperatures were recorded by females that remained at sea for longer, implying that these individuals also travelled further. Mean sea-surface temperature (SST) increased from ∼1 to 4 °C from December to March and agreed with SSTs from ship, buoy and satellite. Future studies on marine mammals which combine satellite tracking with oceanographic measurements are likely to provide valuable information on biophysical aspects of the ocean. Received: 16 June 1998 / Accepted: 13 February 1999     

Surfactant enhanced recovery of tetrachloroethylene from a porous medium containing low permeability lenses. 2. Numerical simulation

A numerical model of surfactant enhanced solubilization was developed and applied to the simulation of nonaqueous phase liquid recovery in two-dimensional heterogeneous laboratory sand tank systems. Model parameters were derived from independent, small-scale, batch and column experiments. These parameters included viscosity, density, solubilization capacity, surfactant sorption, interfacial tension, permeability, capillary retention functions, and interphase mass transfer correlations. Model predictive capability was assessed for the evaluation of the micellar solubilization of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in the two-dimensional systems. Predicted effluent concentrations and mass recovery agreed reasonably well with measured values. Accurate prediction of enhanced solubilization behavior in the sand tanks was found to require the incorporation of pore-scale, system-dependent, interphase mass transfer limitations, including an explicit representation of specific interfacial contact area. Predicted effluent concentrations and mass recovery were also found to depend strongly upon the initial NAPL entrapment configuration. Numerical results collectively indicate that enhanced solubilization processes in heterogeneous, laboratory sand tank systems can be successfully simulated using independently measured soil parameters and column-measured mass transfer coefficients, provided that permeability and NAPL distributions are accurately known. This implies that the accuracy of model predictions at the field scale will be constrained by our ability to quantify soil heterogeneity and NAPL distribution.     

Significance of Atmospheric Ozone as a Phytotoxicant

Since the recognition of ozone as a major phytotoxicant in crop plants in 1957, ozone type symptoms have been observed in a wide range of vegetation. These observations include leafy vegetables, field, forage, and textile crops, also shrubs, broad-leafed ornamental, fruit and forest trees, and various conifers. Fumigation experiments at various institutions have confirmed the etiological relation of ozone in many of these observations. Such visible injuries fail to provide a reliable index to the damaging impact of ozone on the numerous plants affected. Hidden injury or damage by ozone at sub-necrotic levels has been reported and experimentally established in a number of crop plants. Evidence is available which indicats that citrus varieties are so affected, and that much of the citrus decline in Southern California may be ozone induced. Photochemically induced ozone may prove to be the most persistent, if not the most difficult, of atmospheric phytotoxicants to control. Ozone type injury has been reported from eighteen different states, and from Canada to Japan.