The role of corporations in ensuring biodiversity

Corporations own approximately 25% of all private land in the United States and, therefore, play an essential role in protecting biodiversity and maintaining natural habitats. The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) is a unique joint venture between conservation organizations and corporations to utilize corporate lands for ensuring biodiversity. The following case studies demonstrate how corporations have helped ensure healthy ecosystems and provided critical leadership in regional efforts. Amoco Chemical Company's Cooper River Plant has been instrumental in developing a cooperative project that involves numerous corporations, plantation owners, private citizens, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and community groups to develop a comprehensive, ecosystem-based management plan for part of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The second case focuses on the Morie Company, a national sand quarry operator headquartered in southern New Jersey, USA. Morie Company is working with WHC, community groups, the Pinelands Commission, and other state regulatory agencies to explore sustainable development opportunities for companies within the Pinelands regulations. The third case takes us to DuPont Company's Asturias, Spain, site. A win—win success story of improved habitat and cost savings is the result of DuPont's concern for the environment, ability to work with a variety of groups, and willingness to consider innovative restoration techniques. The fourth case discusses Consumers Power Company's Campbell Plant in West Olive, Michigan, USA. In addition to implementing projects that contribute to biodiversity, Consumers Power has developed an environmental education field station to teach others about the importance of natural habitats. The final case highlights Baltimore Gas & Electric Company's efforts to maintain habitat for endangered species at their Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland.     

Angler survey contributes to socially acceptable modification of harvest regulations to preserve cutthroat trout fishery in Snake River,Wyoming, USA

This is a case study that describes a survey of anglers that was used to assist in modifying fishing regulations for indigenous trout in the Snake River, Wyoming. A mail survey of anglers who purchased 1991 Wyoming fishing licenses in the two counties adjacent to the Snake River was conducted during fall 1992. Differences in angler preferences were noted between anglers who purchased licenses in two adjacent counties with different socioeconomic structures, as well as between residents and nonresidents in each county. Anglers who purchased licenses in Teton County, where there is extensive tourism and immigration by relatively wealthy residents, tended to be more specialized and less harvest oriented. Anglers in Lincoln County, which is largely agricultural and has substantially less tourism and immigration of residents, tended to fish in many different ways and indicated more desire to harvest fish. Anglers from the two counties segregated themselves; those from Teton County primarily used the upstream portion of the study reach, and those from Lincoln County primarily used a short downstream portion of the reach. Modification of fishing regulations to reduce harvest of spawning-size cutthroat trout in the Snake River probably was acceptable to most anglers due to spatial segregation and their attitudes toward harvest.The unit is jointly supported by the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the National Biological Survey.     

Adaptive management: Promises and pitfalls

Proponents of the scientific adaptive management approach argue that it increases knowledge acquisition rates, enhances information flow among policy actors, and provides opportunities for creating shared understandings. However, evidence from efforts to implement the approach in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Canada, and the Columbia River Basin indicates that these promises have not been met. The data show that scientific adaptive management relies excessively on the use of linear systems models, discounts nonscientific forms of knowledge, and pays inadequate attention to policy processes that promote the development of shared understandings among diverse stakeholders. To be effective, new adaptive management efforts will need to incorporate knowledge from multiple sources, make use of multiple systems models, and support new forms of cooperation among stakeholders.     

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.