The effect of turnover on work satisfaction and mental health: Support for a situational perspective

This study finds support for the situational approach to affect determination in a prospective, two-year longitudinal field study. Specifically, turnover was shown to predict changes in subsequent job measures of work satisfaction and mental health. Employees who changed jobs and occupations showed greater increases in both work satisfaction and mental health than employees who only changed jobs or employees who remained in their initial positions. Further research directions are introduced.     

Simulated grazing responses on the proposed prairies National Park

The tallgrass prairie version of the ELM Grassland Model was used to evaluate the potential impact of establishing a tallgrass prairie National Park in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. This total ecosystem model simulates (a) the flow of water, heat, nitrogen, and phosphorus through the ecosystem and(b) the biomass dynamics of plants and consumers. It was specifically developed to study the effects of levels and types of herbivory, climatic variation, and fertilization upon grassland ecosystems. The model was used to simulate the impact of building up herds of bison, elk, antelope, and wolves on a tallgrass prairie. The results show that the grazing levels in the park should not be decreased below the prepark grazing levels (moderate grazing with cattle) and that the final grazing levels in the park could be maintained at a slightly higher level than the prepark grazing levels.     

Influences, practices and opportunities for environmental supply chain management in Nova Scotia SMEs

Executives are increasingly paying attention to the importance of supply chain management [Lambert DM, Cooper MC. Issues in supply chain management. Industrial Marketing Management 2000;29(1):65–83; Hagelaar GJLF, van der Vorst JGAJ. Environmental supply chain management: using life cycle assessment to structure supply chains. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 2002;4:399–412]. The management of the supply chain can be a central aspect of a company's competitive advantage [Preuss L. Rhetoric and reality of corporate greening: a view from the supply chain management function. Business Strategy and the Environment 2005;14:123–139]. SCM also offers considerable opportunities to reduce a company's environmental impact. The supply chains of three small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Burnside Industrial Park in Nova Scotia, Canada were investigated to explore the opportunities to improve environmental performance of SMEs linked in supply chains. This study confirmed that time and, to a lesser degree, financial resources to address solid waste and energy issues are the greatest limiting factors. Small suppliers, and even to a certain degree medium-sized enterprises, have difficulties in allocating resources to initiatives that are not viewed as directly related to their core function, namely manufacturing the product or providing the service. This study clearly demonstrated that opportunities exist to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste. Although, the benefits that would be gained from the implementation of any of the individual actions in the supply chains explored in this study are individually small, the cumulative benefits that could be achieved among supply chains and within industrial parks are substantial, given the number of small- and medium-sized enterprises.     

Isolation of Atlantic cod (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus morhua</Emphasis>) nursery areas

This study examines the degree of isolation among 0-group Atlantic cod in a region where a number of resident adult congregations have been found. The location of key nursery areas in Scottish coastal waters was identified from trawl surveys of settled 0-group cod around the Scottish coast. Segregation among four of these key areas; within the Clyde, Shetland Isles, Moray Firth and Buchan was investigated using otolith elemental composition. Isotope concentrations in the otoliths of cod were analysed by solution-based inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry of the whole otolith. Discriminant analyses showed a clear separation between nursery areas based on the concentrations of three elements (manganese, barium and magnesium). The concentration of these elements was not affected by the age or size of individuals. Classification accuracy exceeded 90% for all four sites. Evidence of temporal persistence in the relative spatial differences in elemental concentrations between two sites for 2 year-classes was found. The results suggest limited exchange between sites during some period of the early life history. The significance of this limited exchange is discussed in relation to recent evidence for adult fidelity and the utility of closed areas for protecting nursery grounds.     

Reproductive success,relative abundance and population structure of two species of Nephtys in an estuarine beach

During 1978 and 1979 specimens of Nephtys hombergii in the River Tyne estuary (North East England) became gravid during the winter but did not spawn in the spring breeding season; instead their gametes were resorbed. The drastic effects of these spawning failures were apparent in the population structure in 1980, when the 1978 and 1979 year-classes were shown to be virtually absent, by the size of the individuals in the population and the numbers of growth lines in their jaws. The population structure in 1975, by contrast, indicated that recruitment during the preceding 4 to 5 yr had been good. Spawning was also effective in 1980, and an 0 group was detected in August 1980. Comparable data has been obtained for N. caeca, which occurs in the same beach. It shows that recruitment of this species during 1976–1980 was consistently good, whereas analysis of the age-class frequencies suggests that recruitment of N. caeca was poor in 1973 and 1975. The dominance relationship of the two species in the beach has been reversed during the period 1975–1980. It is suggested that the sympatric distribution of the two species is maintained in part by periodic reproductive failure. The causes of this are not yet known; possible reasons, including the extremely cold conditions experienced in 1978–1979 are discussed. The difference in frequency of the 1978, 1979 and 1980 year classes will now permit a rigorous evaluation of the relationship between the number of growth lines in the jaws and age in N. hombergii.     

Variability in adult group compositions of a prosimian primate

Many species fall into specific mating-system categories, and that category is usually associated with a suite of behavioral and morphological characteristics. Several lemur species, including Propithecus diadema edwardsi, have been labeled "idiosyncratic" because variation in socionomic sex ratios among groups is consistent with wide variation in social structure. We used several hypotheses founded in behavioral ecology to assess variability in P. d. edwardsi. First we examined 46 group-mating seasons to quantify variability. We then tested predictions that the number of males per group would increase as the number of adult females increased, and the number of males would increase as female mating synchrony increased. Examining variation in offspring survival relative to the number of adult males in a group may tell us which composition is likely to persist into the future, so we also hypothesized that as the number of males in a group increased, fertility and offspring survival would increase. We found an equal distribution of polygynous, polygynandrous, pairs, and polyandrous groups. Furthermore, female distribution and mating synchrony did not predict the number of males, and offspring survival was not correlated with the number of males. Since infants survived equally well in groups of all compositions, sifakas experienced no pressure to maintain a particular number of adult males per adult female. The small number of adults per group (mean=3.2) may result from balancing feeding competition against predator detection. Augmenting the mate pool available from the group with mates from neighboring groups may promote the notable variability seen in the adult group compositions of sifakas.     

Predator inspection behaviour in three-spined sticklebacks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>): body size,local predation pressure and cooperation

The apparently maladaptive tendency of fish to approach and inspect potential predators has been explained in terms of useful information gathering or as a signal to the predator that it has been seen. We examined this behaviour in 16 populations of wild-caught stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from ponds with and without predatory perch (Perca fluviatilis). Three large and three small individuals per population were each exposed to three model predators differing in realism. A final cooperative treatment entailed pairing subjects with a second individual from the same population, but of the alternative size class, during predator presentation. As might be expected, predator inspection behaviour was much greater in the predator-sympatric populations, and only these fish increased their level of inspection as the models became incrementally more realistic. This suggests that reductions occur in the level of costly inspection behaviour in populations without predators. Subject body size had no effect on inspection effort, which suggests a limited role for experience (we assumed larger fish to be older than smaller fish), at least over the relative age differences utilized. However, small predator-sympatric fish were the only subjects to increase inspection significantly when in a cooperative context, perhaps reflecting the inherent value of a relatively larger partner in this context. These results confirm that levels of predator inspection are both population- and situation-dependent, suggesting a trade-off in the potential costs and benefits of this behaviour.Communicated by C. St. Mary     

Influence of Downstream Control and Limited Depth on Flow Hydrodynamics of Impinging Buoyant Jets

Much study has been performed on the mixing properties of submerged, turbulent buoyant jets. It is safe to say that the problem of estimating dilution rates in vertical buoyant jets spreading in an `infinitely deep' ambient water has been more than adequately resolved by previous researchers. However, the majority of environmental applications involve discharges into ambient waters of finite depths in which a bounding surface serves to re-direct the impinging buoyant jet horizontally into a radial spreading layer. Previous research indicates that this impinging jet undergoes additional mixing before buoyancy stabilizes vertical mixing and confines the spreading layer to the vicinity of the bounding surface. Unfortunately, the conceptualization and subsequent mathematical modeling of this additional mixing phenomenon is surrounded by considerable amount of disagreement between researchers. The purpose of this study is to provide, by means of velocity and concentration profile measurements, independent experimental evidence for the existence of a critical flow state immediately downstream of the active mixing zone in the horizontally flowing, radial flow that forms after impingement. It is further shown that this critical flow state must be expressed in terms of a composite Froude Number that takes into account the possibility of a non-zero exchange layer flow. Finally, the influence of the presence of a sill-like topographic downstream control on the criticality of the radial flow immediately downstream of the active mixing zone is also investigated.     

Surface water acidification in the South Pennines I. Current status and spatial variability

The South Pennines, an area of acid-sensitive geology at the centre of a major industrial region, have undergone perhaps the most severe historic exposure to sulphur and nitrogen deposition in the UK. This study addresses a lack of existing research on the region by presenting the findings of a survey of 62 surface waters sampled during a 1-week period in April 1998. Results indicate that acidification in the region is acute; 27 of the sampled surface waters had a negative acid neutralising capacity (ANC) and 28 had a pH below 5.0. Minimum recorded pH values were below 4.0. Non-marine sulphate levels were extremely high (median 222 microeq/1), and widespread high nitrate concentrations (median 41 microeq/1) suggest that soils in the region as a whole may be at an advanced stage of nitrogen saturation. A consistent relationship was identified between site acidity and the balance between the major weathering-derived cations, calcium and magnesium, and sulphate. This could in turn be linked to catchment soil type and land use, with the most acidic conditions occurring in peat-dominated catchments, where weathering is minimal and the influence of atmospheric deposition most pronounced. Percentage of peat in each catchment was the single best predictor of surface water acidity. Nitrate concentrations, although not a dominant control on acidity, varied significantly according to land use. Elevated concentrations were observed in catchments containing forestry, due to enhanced deposition inputs, and in catchments containing improved land, linked to fertiliser use. Ammonium concentrations, although low at most catchments, were a significant component of the inorganic nitrogen total in a number of surface waters draining waterlogged peat catchments.     

Laser-induced fluorescence and fast gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with subsurface thermal extraction of organics: Field analytical technologies for expediting site characterization and cleanup

This article describes new field-based technologies that support the Dynamic Workplan/Adaptive Sampling and Analysis Program employed to better characterize hazardous waste sites at lower cost. A laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) probe was designed and field-tested with a cone penetrometer (CP) for investigating petroleum contaminants present at under-ground tank farms. The LIF produced real-time quantitative data for naphthalene and semiquantitative results for total petroleum hydrocarbons and diesel range organics. Two different projects are described employing fast gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in the field. A 70-foot heated transfer line and probe were used in combination with a cone penetrometer to thermally extract (TE) subsurface soil-bound semivolatile organics. In the second project, soil samples were collected by a Geoprobe^TM and brought to the surface for analysis. The direct measurement TECP data produced semiquantitative results while the more conventional means of collecting and analyzing samples produced risk analysis quality data in the field. A new set of mass spectrometry algorithms provided the technology breakthrough for identifying and quantifying a wide range of Environmental-Protection-Agency-listed target compounds in the presence of high levels of matrix (petroleum) interferents under fast, 7 min/sample, GC conditions.