What's the difference between reengineering and tqem?

Reengineering has become the latest corporate management buzzword, replacing, in many cases, total quality management as the panacea for industrial ills. How different are reengineering and total quality management (TQM), if at all, and how does each apply to environmental management? In this article the authors examine the concepts of reengineering and TQM as they apply to environmental management.     

The Integrated Pest Management Educator Pilot Project in Boston Public Housing: Results and Recommendations

The German cockroach is the most common pest of urban, low-income housing in the United States and is associated with high pesticide use by residents. Cockroach allergen is implicated in asthma exacerbation and initiation and in the growing social and medical aspects of the disease. A safe and secure home environment is an environmental justice issue, and environmentally sound and effective models of cockroach control are needed in public and low-income multifamily housing. One model that offers potential is the integrated pest management (IPM) peer educator model (IPM Educator) in public housing as a component of IPM. A pre-post-analysis of an IPM Educator pilot programme in Boston public housing was undertaken. Thirty-four moderate- to high-infested units received baseline assessment and three applications of gel baits and IPM treatment by a pest control operator. Before the first pest control application, residents received written notice to prepare their units for treatment, a standard procedure. Before the second and third pest control treatments, an IPM Educator instructed residents in basic pest biology and habits, preparation for treatment, and the role of sanitation in pest control. Results showed a significant improvement in rate of preparation for pest control treatment after the IPM Educator intervention when compared with the preparation rate before the education intervention, and a significant reduction in cockroach populations by the third visit in units that were prepared and had improved sanitation, when compared with unprepared units and unclean units. The IPM peer educator is a promising, low-cost model of educating and engaging residents of urban, low-income, multifamily housing in environmentally sound pest control, thereby giving them some power and control over their living environment. It is also a potential source of professional training and jobs for public housing and other low-income housing residents.     

US copper supply : An economic/engineering analysis of cost—supply relationships

The authors present short- and long-term supply schedules for the primary US copper industry. These schedules are based on the economic theory of supply, and are derived from site- and input-specific cost data. Cost figures are arrived at by a combination of engineering process analysis and statistical cost estimation. The supply functions can be used to evaluate the effects of changes in market, policy, or other variables on US copper supply.     

Employee influence on decisions: An analysis

Attitude data from a national sample of 2300 working adults are reported. The data show that employees feel they should have more influence on a number of decisions. This feeling is stronger for decisions affecting how their job is done, than for matters of corporate policy and personnel decisions. However, it is in the policy and personnel areas that they perceive the greatest discrepancy between the amount of influence they presently have and the amount of influence they feel they should have. Older, better educated, and higher-paid respondents felt they should have more influence on all decisions. The implications of these findings for the Quality of Work Life movement were considered. The data suggest a favourable future climate for certain types of employee influence/Quality of Work Life projects.     

The emergency care setting for screening and intervention for alcohol use problems among injured and high-risk drivers: a review

Each year thousands of people are treated in emergency departments and trauma centers for alcohol-related injuries, including those sustained in drinking driving crashes. Emergency departments and trauma centers provide an opportunity to screen for alcohol use problems and intervene with injured or high-risk drivers to reduce future alcohol-related traffic and injury risk. Recently physicians have expressed interest in exploring screening and intervention for alcohol use problems in these venues as a means of improving clinical care. This article reviews the literature that has examined screening and brief interventions in acute care settings to reduce future alcohol consumption and alcohol-related injury. The methodological and practical issues inherent in conducting these studies as well as in actual practice are discussed. The chaotic environment of acute care, the large numbers of patients required to be screened to obtain an adequate study sample, and high attrition rates make study in these settings difficult at best and are methodological problems that should be addressed in future research. A basic question that has not been adequately answered by research to date is whether reduction in alcohol consumption will translate to reduced alcohol-related harm, such as driving while impaired, or injurious or fatal crashes. Long-term studies that assess records-based outcomes in addition to alcohol-consumption levels are needed.     

Effect of unfavorable trophic scenarios on amylase and protease activity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nephrops norvegicus</Emphasis> (L.) larvae during their first vertical migration: a laboratory approach

In Portuguese waters, Nephrops norvegicus larvae hatch at 400–800 m depth and need to perform a vertical migration to food-rich shallower waters to find suitable prey. The effect of suboptimal feeding on digestive enzymes activity of N. norvegicus larvae during this early period of their larval life remains unknown. Protease and amylase activities were investigated ex situ using flurometry in laboratory-hatched larvae exposed to different feeding and/or starving scenarios in the 24 h following hatching, the period during which they typically accomplish their upward vertical migration. Amylase activity was very low in comparison with protease activity, indicating that carbohydrates are not a primary energy reserve. Larvae starved for 12 h and subsequently fed displayed no increase in amylase activity, which suggests that feeding may be required before 12 h post-hatch to trigger amylase activity. Protease activity was high under all feeding conditions, and the increase in protease activity under sustained starvation indicated the catabolism of protein reserves. The ability of first-stage N. norvegicus larvae to metabolize protein reserves may play a decisive role for their survival during their first vertical migration, as it enables them to overcome the deleterious effects of short-term starvation and/or suboptimal feeding.     

Double genetically modified symbiotic system for improved Cu phytostabilization in legume roots

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Excess copper (Cu) in soils has deleterious effects on plant growth and can pose a risk to human health. In the last decade, legume-rhizobium...     

Development of environmental thresholds for nitrogen and phosphorus in streams

Inputs of nutrients (P and N) to freshwaters can cause excessive aquatic plant growth, depletion of oxygen, and deleterious changes in diversity of aquatic fauna. As part of a "National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative," the Government of Canada committed to developing environmental thresholds for nutrients to protect ecological condition of agricultural streams. Analysis of data from >200 long-term monitoring stations across Canada and detailed ecological study at ~70 sites showed that agricultural land cover was associated with increased nutrient concentrations in streams and this, in turn, was associated with increased sestonic and benthic algal abundance, loss of sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa, and an increase in benthic diatom taxa indicative of eutrophication. Chemical thresholds for N and P were defined by applying five approaches, employing either a predetermined percentile to a water chemistry data set or a relationship between water chemistry and land cover, to identify boundaries between minimally disturbed and impaired conditions. Comparison of these chemical thresholds with biological thresholds (derived from stressor-response relationships) produced an approach for rationalizing these two types of thresholds and deriving nutrient criteria. The resulting criteria were 0.01 to 0.03 mg L(-1) total P and 0.87-1.2 mg L(-1) total N for the Atlantic Maritime, 0.02 mg L(-1) total P and 0.21 mg L(-1) total N for the Montane Cordillera, ~0.03 mg L(-1) total P and ~1.1 mg L(-1) total N for the Mixedwood Plains, and ~0.10 mg L(-1) total P and 0.39-0.98 mg L(-1) total N for the interior prairies of Canada. Adoption of these criteria should result in greater likelihood of good ecological condition with respect to benthic algal abundance, diatom composition, and macroinvertebrate composition.