The contingent effect of constructive confrontation on the relationship between shared mental models and decision quality

Work teams are being utilized more frequently to give organizations access to the broader knowledge and skill base of employees, as well as to provide for adaptive, efficient decision‐making. In teams, we argue that constructive confrontation norms are an important contingency variable in the relationship between mental model similarity and decision quality. Mental model similarity helps team members understand one another's perspectives and reduces the likelihood of conflict. Accordingly, mental model similarity improves decision quality. When strong norms of constructive confrontation are in place, however, teams are in a better position to reap the benefits of conflict (greater diversity of inputs) without experiencing its negative consequences. Thus, when constructive confrontation norms are strong, less mental model similarity (i.e., more diversity of perspectives) is likely to improve decision quality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of real-time instruments and gravimetric method when measuring particulate matter in a residential building

This study used several real-time and filter-based aerosol instruments to measure PM_2.5 levels in a high-rise residential green building in the Northeastern US and compared performance of those instruments. PM_2.5 24-hr average concentrations were determined using a Personal Modular Impactor (PMI) with 2.5 µm cut (SKC Inc., Eighty Four, PA) and a direct reading pDR-1500 (Thermo Scientific, Franklin, MA) as well as its filter. 1-hr average PM_2.5 concentrations were measured in the same apartments with an Aerotrak Optical Particle Counter (OPC) (model 8220, TSI, Inc., Shoreview, MN) and a DustTrak DRX mass monitor (model 8534, TSI, Inc., Shoreview, MN). OPC and DRX measurements were compared with concurrent 1-hr mass concentration from the pDR-1500. The pDR-1500 direct reading showed approximately 40% higher particle mass concentration compared to its own filter (n = 41), and 25% higher PM_2.5 mass concentration compared to the PMI_2.5 filter. The pDR-1500 direct reading and PMI_2.5 in non-smoking homes (self-reported) were not significantly different (n = 10, R² = 0.937), while the difference between measurements for smoking homes was 44% (n = 31, R² = 0.773). Both OPC and DRX data had substantial and significant systematic and proportional biases compared with pDR-1500 readings. However, these methods were highly correlated: R² = 0.936 for OPC versus pDR-1500 reading and R² = 0.863 for DRX versus pDR-1500 reading. The data suggest that accuracy of aerosol mass concentrations from direct-reading instruments in indoor environments depends on the instrument, and that correction factors can be used to reduce biases of these real-time monitors in residential green buildings with similar aerosol properties.

Implications: This study used several real-time and filter-based aerosol instruments to measure PM_2.5 levels in a high-rise residential green building in the northeastern United States and compared performance of those instruments. The data show that while the use of real-time monitors is convenient for measurement of airborne PM at short time scales, the accuracy of those monitors depends on a particular instrument. Bias correction factors identified in this paper could provide guidance for other studies using direct-reading instruments to measure PM concentrations.     

Study of two species prey-predator model in imprecise environment with MSY policy under different harvesting scenario

Parameters involve in various ecological models are mostly uncertain due to ever changing characteristic of nature. This article, deals with a basic predator–prey model where ecological parameters are considered as parametric-functional nature of interval numbers. The dynamical behaviors of the model system have been discussed in the imprecise environment. Moreover, the concept of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) has been incorporated in the model system under imprecise environment, and MSY policies under different harvesting scenarios have been discussed. Finally all the analytical findings are testified through extensive numerical simulations and the article ended with a conclusion.

     

Fluoride contamination in and around selected geothermal sites in Odisha,Eastern India: assessment of ionic relations,fluoride exposure and remediation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fluoride contamination in groundwater is a major problem throughout the world as well as in India. High-fluoride content was reported in the hot...     

Social,hydro-ecological and climatic change in the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh

Regional Environmental Change - This study investigates the historical development of the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh through the lens of human-delta co-evolutionary system. The change...     

DOMESTIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT BY PEATLANDS IN A NORTHERN CLIMATE: A WATER QUALITY STUDY1

ABSTRACT: The use of peatlands as the main form of wastewater treatment in a northern climate was studied for the James Bay Energy Society. The Fontanges campsite (70° 17′ 30″ W; 54° 34′ 00″ N) was chosen as the study site. In less than 1.5 km from the point of discharge BOD₅, COD, total hardness, inorganic carbon, orthophosphates, total phosphorus, ammonia and total nitrogen were reduced by at least 90 percent. The peatland treatment system studied is divided into four components, each having a specific function. The first part combines the action of microorganisms and adsorption on peat, thus reducing the organic content while increasing the inorganic constituents. The second part uses peat to adsorb the inorganic elements already present in the wastewater and those produced in the first part of the system. The third component acts as an aerator, increasing the dissolved oxygen and decreasing the BOD₅ levels of the water. The fourth part removes most of the remaining nutrients, thus acting like a tertiary treatment. Overall, peatlands seemed to be effective in treating domestic settled wastewater in a cold climate.     

Application of Decision Analysis to Forest Road Deactivation in Unstable Terrain

Resource managers require objective methodologies to optimize decisions related to forest road deactivation and other aspects of road management, especially in steep terrain, where road-related slope failures inflict extensive environmental damage. Decision analysis represents a systematic framework that clearly identifies real options and critical decision points. This framework links current decisions with expected future outcomes and provides advantages such as a common currency to systematically explore the liability consequences of limited budget expenditures to road deactivation and other road-related activities. Furthermore, the decision framework prevents the analysis from becoming hopelessly entangled by the vast number of possibilities generated by the alternative occurrences, magnitudes, and consequences of landslide/debris flow events and provides the information required for the first step of an adaptive management process. Here, a structured analysis of potential environmental risks for a road deactivation project in coastal British Columbia, Canada is presented. The application of decision analysis generates a ranking of the expected benefits of proposed deactivation activities on various road sections. The ranking distinguishes between road sections that offer high expected benefit from those that offer moderate to low expected benefit. Seventeen of 171, 100–m road segments accounted for 18% of the cumulative cost and 98% of the cumulative expected net benefits from road deactivation. Furthermore, the cost of deactivating a section of road is related to the expected benefit from such deactivation, thus providing the basis for more effective resource allocation and budgeting decisions.     

MULTICRITERIA PROGRAMMING OF WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS FOR RURAL AREAS1

ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to present a multicriteria methodology for decision aid at the stage of programming a water supply system (WSS) for a rural area. The programming stage is an intermediate one between planning and designing water supply facilities, and can be decomposed into two problems: (a) setting up a priority order of water users, taking into account socio-economic criteria; and (b) choosing the best technical variant of the WSS. Among the criteria considered for the latter problem, there is a criterion of distance between the socio-economic priorities of users and the precedence orders of users according to the technical programming, which plays a coordinating role between problems (a) and (b). All steps of the presented methodology are illustrated by a real case study.     

Book reviews

Rebuilding the City: Property‐led Urban Regeneration

P. Healey, S. Davoudi, M. O'Toole, S. Tavsanoglu & D. Usher (Eds)

London, E. & F. N. Spon, 1992, 312 pp., £30

Der Wert stadtnaher Wälder als Erholungsraum: Eine ökonomishce Analyse am Beispiel von Lugano (Value of Urban Forests as Recreational Areas: An Economic Analysis on the Case of Lugano)

Claudia Nielsen

Chur (Switzerland), Verlag Rüegger, 1992, 261 pp., SFr 48

Urban Planning under Thatcherism: The Challenge of the Market

A. Thornley

London, Routledge, 1991, 253 pp., £14.99

Sustainable Development and Urban Form, European Research in Regional Science 2

M. J. Breheny (Ed)

London, Pion, Limited, 1992, 292 pp., £28.00.

Tourism, Museums and the Local Economy: The Economic Impact of the North of England Open Air Musuem at Beamish

Peter Johnson & Barry Thomas

Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 1992, 160 pp., £29.50