The effect of externally set goals on reaching integrative agreements in competitive markets

The study of the negotiation process has enjoyed a recent resurgence of scholarly interest. Of particular concern is the ability of negotiators to achieve solutions which result in integrative outcomes. The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of different levels of aspiration/goals on negotiator success and their ability to reach integrative solutions in a competitive market. One hundred fifty-eight subjects who were assigned one of four levels of goal difficulty-no goal, compromise goal, challenging goal, and difficult goal-participated in a competitive, multi-person, multi-transaction market simulation. The study found (1) challenging and difficult goals significantly enhanced participants' performance; (2) the more difficult the goal, the fewer transactions were completed; and (3) while there were no differences in total profitability among the challenging goal, compromise goal, and no goal, the difficult goal condition had a significant and negative effect on the ability of participants to achieve profitable outcomes within the market. A discussion of these findings and directions for future research are presented.     

Water Resources Research Prioritization and Management-Problems and Perspectives1

ABSTRACT: At a time when productive water resources research is essential to protecting the quality of and wisely using our limited water resources, pervasive trends toward consumerism, fiscal restraint, centralized management, and using research for other social objectives threaten research productivity. The research prioritization and management structure that these trends have created was examined in the microcosm of its application at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. The result indicated that ephemeral prioritization and the failure of research users to target researchers to their own particular needs is diluting productivity. Incremental research prioritization and greater use of advisory councils in facilitating user-researcher interaction are suggested as corrective approaches, but the only firm conclusion at this point in time must be that empirical studies of the performance of alternatives in research management structure are solely needed.     

An evaluation of Manutention training in preventing back strain and resultant injuries in nurses

As the number of manual handling injuries in carers and nurses continues to be very high, the problem of how to prevent injury has not been solved. Despite the obvious need for optimum working environments, the literature does not really support that an ergonomics or systems approach solves the injury problem. Similarly, the evidence for training as a preventive strategy is equivocal, although clearly people handling requires trained handlers for both their own and the patient's safety. This research aimed to evaluate the outcomes of training in a method of manual handling of people, Dotte's Manutention method, which claims to decrease back strain and effort in carers. The study evaluated handling techniques and injury outcomes of a group of nurses in a nursing home trained in this method, using two other homes as comparisons. The study hypothesized that training in the Manutention method would decrease back strain and resultant back injuries in nurses working in geriatric care. The results showed a clear pattern of declining incidence of nurses' back pain for the nurses trained in Manutention and increasing incidence in the other two homes. These findings approached significance with a probability of < 0.1. Of those respondents who indicated a decrease in pain during the twelve month research period, all attributed it to their training. Ninety four percent of respondents who received training agreed it made their manual handling job easier. The observation method used was not sensitive enough to evaluate the multiple movements involved in a patient transfer. A supplementary controlled study was performed using videotaping and the Ovako Working Assessment System (OWAS). Manutention lifts were rated significantly better than non-Manutention on the critical variable of working posture (p < 0.01) and observed effort (p < 0.05). Accident statistics on patient handling did not show decreased injury rates at twelve months. The difficulties of controlling variables in the workplace and of the measurement of complex handling tasks were limitations of this study.     

Investigation of the concentration and isotopic composition of inputs and outputs of Pb in waters at an upland catchment in NE Scotland

As a consequence of the accumulation of anthropogenic Pb in upland catchments, there has been much recent concern about the potential mobilisation and transport of Pb from the soils to receiving waters and also the possible harmful effects that this might have on aquatic biota. This paper presents the findings of a two-year study of Pb behaviour in an organic-rich upland catchment at Glensaugh in NE Scotland. Pb inputs to the catchment were characterised by direct measurements of Pb concentration and (206)Pb/(207)Pb ratios in rain water and interception. Pb outputs from the catchment were calculated from measurements on stream water samples taken from the two main streams, the Cairn Burn and Birnie Burn. The relative contribution of Pb from groundwater and throughflow, under different flow conditions (base flow and high flow), to stream waters was investigated via analysis of springs sourced from groundwater and of waters flowing through the various soil horizons (S (surface), A, B, C, and D), respectively. The outcome of intensive sampling and analysis over the two-year time period was that, even with marked reduction in Pb inputs over the past two decades, the catchment was still acting as a net sink for the current atmospheric deposition. Although the Pb isotopic signature for stream water is very similar to that for the contemporaneous rain water ((206)Pb/(207)Pb approximately 1.15-1.16), only a small portion of the rain water is transferred directly to stream water. Instead, the Pb input is transferred to the stream waters mainly via groundwater and it was also confirmed that the latter had a similar Pb isotopic signature. From the Pb isotopic measurements on throughflow waters, however, Pb being removed via the streams contained some previously deposited Pb, i.e. mobilisation of a small portion of soil-derived anthropogenic Pb was occurring. These findings are important not only with respect to the source/sink status of the catchment but also for calculation of the extent of retention of the current atmospheric Pb inputs, which must take account of the release of previously deposited Pb from the catchment soils, a process occurring mainly under high flow conditions.     

On the propagation of error in air pollution measurements

Four methods for estimating the uncertainties in air pollution measurements are outlined. The approaches are: analytical solution-approximation; application of distribution theory; experimentation; and simulation. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are illustrated using data from High-Volume air samplers, the instrument most commonly used for monitoring ambient concentrations of airborne particles.Dr Evans is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Mr Kinney is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Science and Physiology, Harvard School of Public Health. Dr Cooper is at the Manufacturing Research Laboratory, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM, Yorktown Heights, NY.     

POLICIES FOR RESOLVING THE CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION ISSUES: ANTAGONISTIC OR RE-ENFORCING?

Unlike the past, anthropogenic activities have begun to have greaterand greater impact on the environment. Policy formulation is no longerconfined to just responding to an existing set of environmentalconditions, but involves taking into account how the decision mightaffect the original set of environmental conditions to which the originalpolicy was formulated as a response.We discuss how certain policies could be developed, using the resultsfrom two integrated scientific models which incorporate parametersreflecting two air issues: (1) climate change, and (2) stratospheric ozonedepletion. Model results suggest very clearly that these two air issuesare not scientifically independent from each other. Following asingle-issue policy would lead to inconsistencies and undesirableconsequences in other related issues. Thus, the policy decision processhas now become complex.One of the sources of this complexity is the uncertainty in the responseof the environmental system to certain policy decisions, complexityarising from the fact that the environmental system is highly nonlinearand evolving. Model results indicate that it is essential for the policyformulation process to be flexible enough to take into account thenonlinear evolutionary nature of the environmental system. A policymust reflect, and be tailored to, the dynamical history and present stateof the system, if it is to be effective in influencing the future evolution of the system.     

Variable resource defense by the Tana River crested mangabey

Summary Behavioral observations over 16 months of two groups of Tana River crested mangabeys (Cercocebus galeritus galeritus) in East Africa provide evidence, contrary to previous reports, for site-specific aggression and territorial exclusion. In addition, movements and vocal responses to neighboring group's long-call vocalizations vary temporally, reflecting seasonal variation in food availability and distribution. Patterns of response to neighboring groups are consistent with the hypothesis that resources should be defended only when it is economic to do so. When fruit resources are rare intergroup interactions are infrequent and groups use separate areas. As fruit availability increases, the distribution of diet species influences the type of interaction; peaceful intergroup interactions generally occur when mangabeys eat uniformly distributed species and aggressive interactions occur when mangabeys eat species with patchy distributions. Differences between male vocal responses and group spatial responses may reflect conflicting objectives of territorial defense by males and females.