Success and failure in the labour market

In previous research on unemployment, conflicting evidence has been found for a ‘reverse causation interpretation’, indicating that prolonged unemployment is a consequence of psychological distress instead of the reverse. The present longitudinal study was conducted to test this reverse causation explanation. A second issue addressed in this study was whether getting a job or not depends more strongly on subjective or psychological factors than on objective factors (e.g. a person's biographical background, length of unemployment). Two independent samples were examined: Sample 1 (n = 635) consisted of school-leavers, and sample 2 (n = 467) consisted of subjects who had been unemployed for more than one year. Some support was found for the reverse causation explanation. In addition, more than objective factors, a strong job orientation and a problem focused coping style appeared to be a precursor of success in the labour market. Accordingly, getting a job seems to be primarily a function of one's own efforts.     

Surveillance of the Health and Nutritional Status of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

Early in 1992, Bangladesh experienced an influx of Burmese refugees, reaching a total of 263,000 by May. As the health and nutritional status of the refugee population was reportedly poor, a need was felt to collect dependable data through epidemiological surveillance, on which interventions could be based. The nutritional and health status of children was dramatically poor in all camps surveyed and a deterioration was expected in the coming monsoon. Several problem areas could be identified. Based on these findings it was possible to undertake appropriate action and to avert threatening calamities. Epidemiological surveillance is an important monitoring tool to provide reliable data on the health and nutritional status of refugee populations and to help the organizations involved to prioritize and evaluate their actions.     

WATER QUALITY PREDICTION WITHIN AN INTERBASIN TRANSFER SYSTEM1

ABSTRACT A methodology for predicting the spatial and temporal levels of conservative water quality constituents within a multibasin water resource system is presented. Dissolved solids, sulfates, and chlorides are the constituents used during this investigation; however, any other conservative ion or mineral can be incorporated into the simulation model. The methodology is tested on the proposed Texas Water System. The water quality model, QNET-I, utilizes monthly canal and river flows and reservoir storage levels calculated by the Texas Water Development Board's systems simulation model. Discharge-concentration relationships are developed for each source of water in the system, including significant waste-water discharges. Reservoirs in the system are assumed to be completely mixed with respect to conservative constituents. A mass balance analysis is performed for each node and each month during the simulation period. The output from the water quality simulation is a table of the concentrations of the conservative water quality constituents at each demand point in the system and in each reservoir and canal for every month the system is in operation. The desired quality of the water at the demand locations is used to determine the economic utility of transporting and mixing water from various sources.     

MANGANESE IN LACUSTRINE ECOSYSTEMS: A REVIEW1

This paper serves as a literature review of manganese in fresh water. The major aspects of manganese occurrence discussed are: (1) sources, (2) geochemistry, (3) manganese-iron relationships, (4) effects on the fauna and flora and (5) detection.     

INTERBASIN TRANSFERS: DO WE NEED THEM?'

ABSTRACT
Three main issues are discussed: the demands for additional water stemming from population dispersion; supply alternatives to large-scale interbasin transfers; and the displacement of agriculture from nonprofit regions. It is concluded that population dispersion is unlikely to increase aggregate water demands; that large additional supplies are available from other sources at lesser costs; and that a very likely consequence of large-scale transfers will be the displacement of agriculture in other parts of the country.     

CONCENTRATIONS OF POLLUTANTS IN AGRICULTURAL RUNOFF1

ABSTRACT. .Eighteen rural lakes in Lubbock County were sampled on a routine basis following runoff-producing rainfall for a period of approximately eighteen months to determine whether or not runoff from intensively farmed agricultural areas contained significant concentrations of nitrates, phosphates, herbicides, or insecticides. An additional fifteen lakes lying within a triangle bounded by the cities of Plainview, Canyon, and Hereford, Texas, were sampled one time during the summer of 1969 to provide additional data regarding the nature and extent of the potential problem in an area with a different soil type and a slightly different cropping pattern. Based on results of detailed analyses of approximately two hundred samples of water collected from the lakes and an equal number of sediment samples collected from the same lakes at the same time, it appears that the concentrations of all chemical pollutants in runoff from agricultural lands in the High Plains are well below the allowable concentrations for drinking water.     

TECHNICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF SEWAGE EFFLUENT-IRRIGATION WATER EXCHANGE,TUCSON REGION1

ABSTRACT .Many growing municipalities near irrigated agriculture are advocating a transfer of water now utilized for irrigation to municipal use. Alternatives are presented whereby this water can be transferred to municipal use in exchange for treated sewage effluent. The irrigation water would in effect be cycled through the municipal system prior to use on the farms. A case study of the Tucson region illustrates the relevant legal, economic and technical aspects. Effluent could be delivered to irrigators in Avra Valley at a cost less than that now paid for water pumped from declining water tables. In return the City of Tucson could import ground water now being used for irrigation through an existing pipeline which presently cannot be used because of a court injunction obtained by the irrigators. It appears that such an exchange agreement could be made without modification of existing statutory law. Similar exchange arrangements may prove to be feasible in other regions containing irrigated agriculture. Increased efficiency of water use can be achieved avoiding external effects which commonly arise in a direct transfer and are difficult to evaluate. High quality water is allocated to municipal use whereas nutrient-rich sewage effluent is transferred to irrigation.     

FACTORS THAT AFFECT ACTIVATED SLUDGE PHOSPHATE RELEASE1

The activated sludge process can remove significant amounts of phosphorus from sewage, but the removal efficiency is usually significantly reduced by the release of phosphate back to solution during subsequent treatment steps. This research presents a study of soluble phosphate release from activated sludge with emphasis on defining the factors that affect such release and the actual release mechanisms. Laboratory units were used for experimental purposes. The experiments were designed to study the relationship between soluble phosphate release and various environmental factors such as redox potential (ORP), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, solids concentration, solids destruction, and sulfate salt addition. The effect of substrate utilization on phosphate uptake and the relationship between uptake characteristics and subsequent phosphate release were also studied. The results show that some phosphate storage occurs during aerobic substrate utilization. Following substrate utilization, activated sludge phosphate release is directly related to the amount of biological stress the organisms are subjected to, and the mechanism of release is primarily cell lysis. The phosphate released per unit sludge under anoxic conditions is relatively constant. Under normal environmental conditions, neither ORP or pH change have a significant affect on phosphate release.