Achieving quality environmental audits: Twenty tips for success

In 1995 the authors spent a considerable amount of time conducting audits and audit training classes all over the world. In rolling out Colgate-Palmolive's reengineered environmental audit program, they coupled a two-day training program with a three-day audit. Whether in Asia-Pacific, South America, Europe, or the United States, auditors, especially those newly trained, always seemed to fall into the same traps time and again. In order to facilitate the learning process, the authors prepared a list of 20 tips to use at the beginning and end of all training programs and audits. In this article, the authors share the 20 “golden rules” to help all auditors improve the quality of their audits.     

UNCERTAINTY IN ESTIMATING BANKFULL CONDITIONS1

ABSTRACT: Bankfull depth and discharge are basic input parameters to stream planform, stream restoration, and highway crossing designs, as well as to the development of hydraulic geometry relationships and the classification of streams. Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of definitions for bankfull that provide a range of values, and the actual selection of bankfull is subjective. In this paper, the relative uncertainty in determining the bankfull depth and discharge is quantified, first by examining the variability in the estimates of bankfull and second by using fuzzy numbers to describe bankfull depth. Fuzzy numbers are used to incorporate uncertainty due to vagueness in the definition of bankfull and subjectivity in the selection of bankfull. Examples are provided that demonstrate the use of a fuzzy bankfull depth in sediment trans. port and in stream classification. Using fuzzy numbers to describe bankfull depth rather than a deterministic value allows the engineer to base designs and decisions on a range of possible values and associated degrees of belief that the bankfull depths take on each value in that range.     

Thermal and mechanical properties of poly(lactic Acid) and poly(ethylene/butylene Succinate) blends

In this study, blends of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) with poly(ethylene/butylene succinate) (Bionolle) have been investigated for their thermal and mechanical properties as a function of the concentration of Bionolle. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and tensile tests were used to characterize the blends. From the results of the DMA and DSC, it was found that this blend system was not miscible within the compositions studied. DSC results showed that adding Bionolle aids in crystallization of PLA. It was observed that increasing the Bionolle concentration led to a slight increase in the strain-at-break of the blends but a decrease in the Young’s modulus and ultimate tensile strength. Biaxially oriented films showed an increase in tensile strength, modulus, and strain-at-break.     

Groundwater Remediation and Aquifer Clean-Up: A Case Study

Groundwater was being remediated with pump and treat technology at a facility where the groundwater was contaminated with commonly used degreaser solvents. Hydraulic conductivity of the heterogeneous residuum was beneficiated by applying pneumatic fracturing technology. The remedial system was controlled and monitored by a sophisticated remote telemetry system. A case history follows.     

Origin of Metazoa: Sponges as Living Fossils

Geodia cydonium  , which code for proteins. The analyses of their deduced amino acid sequences allowed a molecular biological approach to solve the problem of monophyly of Metazoa. Molecules of the extracellular matrix/basal lamina, with the integrin receptor, fibronectin, and galectin as prominent examples, cell-surface receptors (tyrosine kinase receptor), elements of sensory systems (crystallin, metabotropic glutamate receptor), and homologs/modules of an immune system (immunoglobulin like molecules, scavenger receptor cysteine-rich, and short consensus repeats, rhesus system) classify the Porifera as true Metazoa. As living fossils, provided with simple, primordial molecules allowing cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion as well as processes of signal transduction as known in a more complex manner from higher Metazoa, they also show peculiarities not known in other metazoan phyla. Tissues of sponges are rich in telomerase activity, suggesting a high plasticity in the determination of cell lineages. It is concluded that molecular biological studies with sponges as model will not only help to understand the evolution of Protoctista to Metazoa but also the complex, hierarchial regulatory network of cells in higher Metazoa.     

Emotional social support and job burnout among high‐school teachers: is it all due to dispositional affectivity?

The authors investigated whether the relationship between the contents of emotional social support and job burnout among high‐school teachers is spurious because of the role of dispositional positive and negative affectivity. A national sample of 339 teachers was surveyed via a web‐based procedure. Hierarchical regression analyses did not support spuriousness; emotional social support was uniquely predictive of three dimensions of burnout controlling for affectivity. As positive emotional social support increased, emotional exhaustion and cynicism decreased, and professional efficacy increased. As negative emotional social support increased, emotional exhaustion and cynicism also increased. Commonality analyses based on the present data and data reported by K. L. Zellars and P. L. Perrewé (2001; Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 459–467) provided additional support for the unique role of emotional social support on burnout, but these analyses suggest a greater role of affectivity than emotional social support. These findings have implications for research on burnout as well as the prevention of burnout among teachers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the response of 500 gal propane tanks to a 25% engulfing fire

This paper presents detailed data on the thermal response of two 500 gal ASME code propane tanks that were 25% engulfed in a hydrocarbon fire. These tests were done as part of an overall test programme to study thermal protection systems for propane-filled railway tank-cars.

The fire was generated using an array of 25 liquid propane-fuelled burners. This provided a luminous fire that engulfed 25% of the tank surface on one side. The intent of these tests was to model a severe partially engulfing fire situation.

The paper presents data on the tank wall and lading temperatures and tank internal pressure. In the first test the wind reduced the fire heating and resulted in a late failure of the tank at 46 min. This tank failed catastrophically with a powerful boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE). In the other test, the fire heating was very severe and steady and this tank failed very quickly in 8 min as a finite rupture with massive two-phase jet release. The reasons for these different outcomes are discussed. The different failures provide a range of realistic outcomes for the subject tank and fire condition.