A path analysis model for explaining unsafe behavior in workplaces: the effect of perceived work pressure

Background. Unsafe behavior is closely related to occupational accidents. Work pressure is one the main factors affecting employees’ behavior. The aim of the present study was to provide a path analysis model for explaining how work pressure affects safety behavior. Methods. Using a self-administered questionnaire, six variables supposed to affect safety employees’ behavior were measured. The path analysis model was constructed based on several hypotheses. The goodness of fit of the model was assessed using both absolute and comparative fit indices. Results. Work pressure was determined not to influence safety behavior directly. However, it negatively influenced other variables. Group attitude and personal attitude toward safety were the main factors mediating the effect of work pressure on safety behavior. Among the variables investigated in the present study, group attitude, personal attitude and work pressure had the strongest effects on safety behavior. Conclusion. Managers should consider that in order to improve employees’ safety behavior, work pressure should be reduced to a reasonable level, and concurrently a supportive environment, which ensures a positive group attitude toward safety, should be provided. Replication of the study is recommended.     

7种农药对管氏肿腿蜂的毒性及初级风险评价

为评估农药对寄生类自然天敌昆虫的安全性,选择管氏肿腿蜂(Scleroderma guani Xiao et Wu)作为受试生物,采用管测药膜法测定了3种杀虫剂、2种除草剂、2种杀菌剂对其致死效应,并根据田间推荐剂量计算暴露量,采用风险商值HQ对杀虫剂进行风险评估。结果显示,与空白对照比较,3种杀虫剂均具明显毒性作用,其中丁硫克百威、吡虫啉和呋虫胺对管氏肿腿蜂的24 h半致死量(24 h-LR50)分别为5.11、2.92和0.06 g a.i.·ha-1,农田内风险商值分别为60.23、16.64和3 105。除草剂和杀菌剂在3倍最大田间推荐剂量作用下,24 h管氏肿腿蜂死亡率均小于50%。上述结果表明,在田间推荐用量下,3种杀虫剂对管氏肿腿蜂的初级风险评价为存在高风险,建议进一步开展高级阶段风险评估或者采取合理的风险管理措施来降低风险;除草剂和杀菌剂对管氏肿腿蜂的风险可接受。     

Flow‐Biology Relationships Based on Fish Habitat Guilds in North Carolina

The health of freshwater biota is dependent on streamflow, yet identification of the flow regimes required to maintain ecological integrity remains challenging to states in the United States seeking to establish ecological flows. We tested the relationship between decreases in streamflow and Shannon‐Weaver diversity index of fish species for four flow‐based habitat guilds: riffle, riffle‐run, pool‐run, and pool in North Carolina. We found species that prefer shallow habitats, such as riffles and riffle‐runs were the most sensitive to decreases in streamflow; whereas no significant relationships were found for pool or pool‐run species. The sensitivity to decreases in streamflow was greatest during summer and fall, when streams are naturally lower. When all fish habitat guilds were included in the assessment of flow‐biology relationships, there were no significant relationships to decreases in streamflow. As the sensitivity of fish to reductions in streamflow is not constant across habitat guilds, combining all fish species together for flow‐biology analyses may greatly underestimate the response of fish species to decreases in flow and should be acknowledged when establishing ecological flows.     

Ecological literacy and beyond: Problem-based learning for future professionals

Ecological science contributes to solving a broad range of environmental problems. However, lack of ecological literacy in practice often limits application of this knowledge. In this paper, we highlight a critical but often overlooked demand on ecological literacy: to enable professionals of various careers to apply scientific knowledge when faced with environmental problems. Current university courses on ecology often fail to persuade students that ecological science provides important tools for environmental problem solving. We propose problem-based learning to improve the understanding of ecological science and its usefulness for real-world environmental issues that professionals in careers as diverse as engineering, public health, architecture, social sciences, or management will address. Courses should set clear learning objectives for cognitive skills they expect students to acquire. Thus, professionals in different fields will be enabled to improve environmental decision-making processes and to participate effectively in multidisciplinary work groups charged with tackling environmental issues.     

Adaptive evolution in urban ecosystems

Urban ecologists have demonstrated that cities are functioning ecosystems. It follows then that species living in these contexts should participate in and experience the same suite of biological processes, including evolution, that have occupied scientists for centuries in more “natural” contexts. In fact, urban ecosystems with myriad novel contexts, pressures, and species rosters provide unprecedentedly potent evolutionary stimuli. Here, we present the case for studying adaptive evolution in urban settings. We then review and synthesize techniques into a coherent approach for studying adaptive evolution in urban settings that combines observations of phenotypic divergence, measurements of fitness benefits of novel genetically based phenotypes, and experimental manipulations of potential drivers of adaptation. We believe that studying evolution in urban contexts can provide insights into fundamental evolutionary biology questions on rate, direction, and repeatability of evolution, and may inform species and ecosystem service conservation efforts.     

Effects of glyphosate and foliar amendments on activity of microorganisms in the soybean rhizosphere

A field study was conducted to determine the effects of glyphosate on microbial activity in the rhizosphere of glyphosate-resistant (GR) soybean and to evaluate interactions with foliar amendments. Glyphosate at 0.84 kg ae ha^{? 1} was applied GR soybean at the V4–V5 development stages. Check treatments included a conventional herbicide tank mix (2003 study only) and no herbicides (hand-weeded). Ten days after herbicide application, a commercially available biostimulant and a urea solution (21.0% N) were applied to soybean foliage at 33.5 mL ha^{? 1} and 9.2 kg ha^{? 1}, respectively. Soil and plant samples were taken 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days after herbicide application then assayed for enzyme and respiration activities. Soil respiration and enzyme activity increased with glyphosate and foliar amendment applications during the 2002 growing season; however, similar increases were not observed in 2003. Contrasting cumulative rainfall between 2002 and 2003 likely accounted for differences in soil microbial activities. Increases in soil microbial activity in 2002 suggest that adequate soil water and glyphosate application acted together to increase microbial activity. Our study suggests that general soil microbial properties including those involving C and N transformations are not sensitive enough to detect effects of glyphosate on rhizosphere microbial activity. Measurements of soil-plant-microbe relationships including specific microbial groups (i.e., root-associated Fusarium spp.) are likely better indicators of impacts of glyphosate on soil microbial ecology.     

汽车危险报警开关气候老化性能研究

针对汽车危险报警开关的气候老化性能展开研究,分别采用整车自然暴露试验技术和人工加速老化试验技术,对汽车危险报警开关的老化性能进行研究,结果显示该汽车危险报警开关表面严重变色,表明其耐气候老化性能较差;对造成汽车危险报警开关因气候老化严重变色的原因进行具体分析,提出具体的措施实施整改,并对整改后的危险报警开关耐老化性能进行验证分析,结果表明经过整改后的危险报警开关耐气候老化性能有了很大的提高。     

Stewardship among lifestyle oriented rural landowners

Changes in landownership associated with amenity migration are affecting the demographic, cadastral and ecological conditions of rural landscapes. These changes and concerns about their impacts on natural resource management, including ecological conservation, relate to both the structural consequences of landownership change, land subdivision and to the motivations, management ability and attitudes of lifestyle oriented rural landowners. Based on an Australian case study near Sydney, NSW, this paper examines the motivations and practices of such landowners, assesses potential consequences for vegetation and characterises the landowners according to three stewardship types.     

Closing a Loop: Substance Flow Analysis of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Rainbow Trout Production and Domestic Consumption System in Finland

Ongoing eutrophication is changing the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Aquaculture causes relatively small-scale nutrient emissions, but local environmental impact may be considerable. We used substance flow analysis (SFA) to identify and quantify the most significant flows and stocks of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) related to rainbow trout aquaculture in Finland. In 2004–2007, the input of nutrients to the system in the form of fish feed was 829 t N year⁻¹ and 115 t P year⁻¹. Around one-fifth of these nutrients ended up as food for human consumption. Of the primary input, 70% ended up in the Baltic Sea, directly from aquaculture and indirectly through waste management. The nutrient cycle could be closed partially by using local fish instead of imported fish in rainbow trout feed, thus reducing the net load of N and P to a fraction.