Mistreatment from peers can reduce the effects of respectful treatment from bosses,and respectful peers can offset mistreatment from bosses

The present studies examine the joint influence of interpersonal fairness from peers and authorities on participants' organizational behaviors (citizenship) and attitudes (commitment). In three experimental studies, we find that mistreatment from peers, in the form of interpersonal unfairness, reduces the benefits that authorities gain from treating the same employee with high interpersonal fairness themselves. We also find that the negative effect of mistreatment from authorities can be offset by high interpersonal fairness from peers. These results come about because the interpersonal fairness shown not only by authorities but also by peers influences people's sense of standing as organization members. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations and suggestions, for future research.     

Implications of head and neck restraint test repeatability for specification improvement

Objective: Since 2005, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Incorporated (NASCAR) drivers have been required to use a head and neck restraint system (HNR) that complies with SFI Foundation, Inc. (SFI) 38.1. The primary purpose of the HNR is to control and limit injurious neck loads and head kinematics during frontal and frontal oblique impacts. The SFI 38.1 performance specification was implemented to establish a uniform test procedure and minimum standard for the evaluation of HNRs using dynamic sled testing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of the current SFI 38.1 test setup and explore the effects of a polyester seat belt restraint system.

Method: Eight sled tests were conducted using the SFI 38.1 sled test protocol with additional test setup constraints. Four 0° frontal tests and 4 30° right frontal (RF) oblique tests were conducted. The first 3 tests of each principal direction of force (PDOF) used nylon SFI 16.1 seat belt restraint assemblies. The fourth test of each PDOF used polyester SFI 16.6 seat belt restraint assemblies. A secondary data set (Lab B Data) was also supplied by the HNR manufacturer for further comparisons. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 18571 objective comparison method was used to quantify the repeatability of the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) resultant head, chest, and pelvis acceleration and upper neck axial force and flexion extension bending moment time histories across multiple tests.

Results: Two data sets generated using the SFI 38.1 test protocol exhibited large variations in mean ISO scores of ATD channels. The 8 tests conducted with additional setup constraints had significantly lower mean ISO score coefficients of variation (CVs). The Lab B tests conducted within the current specification but without the additional test setup constraints had larger mean ISO score standard deviation and CV for all comparisons. Specifically, tests with the additional setup constraints had average CVs of 3.3 and 2.9% for the 0° and 30° RF orientations, respectively. Lab B tests had average CVs of 22.9 and 24.5%, respectively. Polyester seat belt comparisons had CVs of 5.3 and 6.2% for the 0° and 30° RF orientations, respectively.

Conclusion: With the addition of common test setup constraints, which do not violate the specification, the SFI 38.1 test protocol produced a repeatable test process for determining performance capabilities of HNRs within a single sled lab. A limited study using polyester webbing seat belt assemblies versus the nylon material called for in SFI 38.1 indicates that the material likely has less effects on ATD upper neck axial force and flexion extension bending moment time histories than the test setup freedom currently available within the specification. The additional test setup constraints are discussed and were shown to improve ATD response repeatability for a given HNR.     

Using fisher-contributed secondary fins to fill critical shark-fisheries data gaps

Developing-world shark fisheries are typically not assessed or actively managed for sustainability; one fundamental obstacle is the lack of species and size-composition catch data. We tested and implemented a new and potentially widely applicable approach for collecting these data: mandatory submission of low-value secondary fins (anal fins) from landed sharks by fishers and use of the fins to reconstruct catch species and size. Visual and low-cost genetic identification were used to determine species composition, and linear regression was applied to total length and anal fin base length for catch-size reconstruction. We tested the feasibility of this approach in Belize, first in a local proof-of-concept study and then scaling it up to the national level for the 2017–2018 shark-fishing season (1,786 fins analyzed). Sixteen species occurred in this fishery. The most common were the Caribbean reef (Carcharhinus perezi), blacktip (C. limbatus), sharpnose (Atlantic [Rhizoprionodon terraenovae] and Caribbean [R. porosus] considered as a group), and bonnethead (Sphyrna cf. tiburo). Sharpnose and bonnethead sharks were landed primarily above size at maturity, whereas Caribbean reef and blacktip sharks were primarily landed below size at maturity. Our approach proved effective in obtaining critical data for managing the shark fishery, and we suggest the tools developed as part of this program could be exported to other nations in this region and applied almost immediately if there were means to communicate with fishers and incentivize them to provide anal fins. Outside the tropical Western Atlantic, we recommend further investigation of the feasibility of sampling of secondary fins, including considerations of time, effort, and cost of species identification from these fins, what secondary fin type to use, and the means with which to communicate with fishers and incentivize participation. This program could be a model for collecting urgently needed data for developing-world shark fisheries globally. Article impact statement: Shark fins collected from fishers yield data critical to shark fisheries management in developing nations.     

Wildlife impacts and vulnerable livelihoods in a transfrontier conservation landscape

Interactions between humans and wildlife resulting in negative impacts are among the most pressing conservation challenges globally. In regions of smallholder livestock and crop production, interactions with wildlife can compromise human well-being and motivate negative sentiment and retaliation toward wildlife, undermining conservation goals. Although impacts may be unavoidable when human and wildlife land use overlap, scant large-scale human data exist quantifying the direct costs of wildlife to livelihoods. In a landscape of global importance for wildlife conservation in southern Africa, we quantified costs for people living with wildlife through a fundamental measure of human well-being, food security, and we tested whether existing livelihood strategies buffer certain households against crop depredation by wildlife, predominantly elephants. To do this, we estimated Bayesian multilevel statistical models based on multicounty household data (n = 711) and interpreted model results in the context of spatial data from participatory land-use mapping. Reported crop depredation by wildlife was widespread. Over half of the sample households were affected and household food security was reduced significantly (odds ratio 0.37 [0.22, 0.63]). The most food insecure households relied on gathered food sources and welfare programs. In the event of crop depredation by wildlife, these 2 livelihood sources buffered or reduced harmful effects of depredation. The presence of buffering strategies suggests a targeted compensation strategy could benefit the region's most vulnerable people. Such strategies should be combined with dynamic and spatially explicit land-use planning that may reduce the frequency of negative human–wildlife impacts. Quantifying and mitigating the human costs from wildlife are necessary steps in working toward human–wildlife coexistence.     

Bayesian modelling of extreme wind speed at Cape Town,South Africa

In the framework of generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution, the frequentist and Bayesian methods have been used to analyse the extremes of annual maxima wind speed recorded by automatic weather stations in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. In the frequentist approach, the GEV distribution parameters were estimated using maximum likelihood, whereas in the Bayesian method the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique with the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm was used. The results show that the GEV model with trend in the location parameter appears to be a better model for annual maxima data. The paper also discusses a method to construct informative priors empirically using historical data of the underlying process from other weather stations. The results from the Bayesian analysis show that posterior inference might be affected by the choice of priors and hence by the distance between a weather station used to formulate the priors and the point of interest.     

Optimization of analytical methods to improve detection of erythromycin from water and sediment

Analytical methods to improve the detection of erythromycin in water and sediment were developed to optimize for erythromycin's recovery of extractable and bound residues from the aquatic environment. The objective of this study was to determine optimal recovery of erythromycin from water and sediment to improve its detection in environmental samples through solid-phase extraction (SPE) and sediment-extraction methods. SPE methods examined included previously reported methods for macrolide and sulfonamide antibiotics with erythromycin recoveries ranging from 75.5 % to 94.7 %. Extraction of erythromycin was performed from sand employing various solvents and buffers to determine the best method for extraction from two sandy loam pond sediments. Various extraction times were also examined, and all extraction procedures were performed in duplicate. The greatest recovery of (14)C-erythromycin in the Iowa sediment was 84 % using 0.3 M ammonium acetate at pH 4.2: acetonitrile (15:85, v/v) solution. The Oklahoma sediment yielded the greatest recovery of (14)C-erythromycin at 86.7 % with 0.3 M ammonium acetate at pH 7: acetonitrile (30:70, v/v) with a 60-minute shake time. The present results demonstrate improved extraction methods for enhancing the accuracy of erythromycin detection from environmental samples.     

Microcosm investigations of stormwater pond sediment toxicity to embryonic and larval amphibians: variation in sensitivity among species

Stormwater ponds have become common features of modern development and often represent significant amounts of open space in urbanized areas. Although stormwater ponds may provide habitat for wildlife, factors responsible for producing variation in wildlife use of ponds have received limited attention. To investigate the role of variation in species tolerances of pollutants in structuring pond-breeding amphibian assemblages, we exposed species tolerant (Bufo americanus) and not tolerant (Rana sylvatica) of urbanization to pond sediments in laboratory microcosms. Pond microcosms had elevated sediment metal levels and chloride water concentrations. Among R. sylvatica embryos, exposure to pond sediments resulted in 100% mortality. In contrast, B. americanus embryos and larvae experienced only sublethal effects (i.e., reduced size at metamorphosis) due to pond sediment exposure. Our results suggest variation in pollutant tolerance among early developmental stages of amphibians may act in concert with terrestrial habitat availability to structure amphibian assemblages associated with stormwater ponds.     

Adsorption of arsenic(V) onto fly ash: a speciation-based approach

Arsenic (As) poses a significant water quality problem and challenge for the environmental engineers and scientists in the world. The large volume of coal fly ash produced around the world is a potentially significant anthropogenic source of arsenic. Currently the leaching behavior of arsenic from fly ash is not well understood. Batch methods were used in this study to investigate arsenic leaching using a raw ash, and arsenic adsorption using a clean, washed ash. Experimental results indicated that pH had a significant effect on arsenic leaching or adsorption. Between pH 3 and 7, less arsenic was in the dissolved phase. When pH was less than 3 or greater than 7, increasing amounts of arsenic were leached or desorbed from fly ash. The leaching and adsorption behavior of arsenic was interpreted with the speciation of surface sites and arsenic. In a new approach, a speciation-based model was developed to quantify the arsenic adsorption as a function of pH and surface acidity parameters. This work is important in offering insight into the leaching mechanism of arsenic from coal fly ash, and providing a robust model based upon specific, measurable parameters to quantify arsenic adsorption by other solid media in addition to fly ash.     

The Clean Air Act: New Enforcement and Liability Provisions

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 establish new criminal and civil liability provisions that can potentially impose substantial fines and penalties. This article reviews the Act's new enforcement and liability provisions. The authors recommend that because of the new enforcement tools available to the federal government, the regulated community should implement effective self-auditing and compliance programs at facilities to help reduce the risk of criminal liability.