Allowing for sustainable growth under drastic immigration stress in Israel

Between 1990 and 1992 Israel's population grew by almost 10%, as a result of a sudden immigration influx. A national plan was prepared to accommodate this population growth in a sustainable manner. This paper reviews how the national plan set to accommodate such population growth without imposing undue environmental hardships on either current or future generations. Using a comprehensive environmental guidelines map and adjunct measures, the plan was able to point a way by which the population increase could be accommodated without damaging sensitive natural resources, increasing pollution to unacceptable levels or aggravating population exposure to hazards or nuisances. This plan thus provides a real‐world illustration of how, with adequate institutional structure, organization, scientific base and political resolve, a large population increase can be accommodated in a manner that does not preclude sustainability notions, even in a highly vulnerable environment.     

Annual and Diurnal Wind Patterns in the City of São Paulo

The major topographic, mesoscale, and urban influences on the wind patterns of the City of São Paulo are characterized using one year of surface wind velocity data observed at 11 surface stations within its urban limits. The data was used to study the diurnal and annual variations of wind velocity and horizontal wind divergence within the city. Results showed that the circulation over the investigated area is dominated by three major factors: sea breeze; mountain-valley circulations; and urban effects, such as roughness, building-barrier, and urban heat island. The sea breeze was found to be the dominant feature of the monthly-averaged diurnal variation of São Paulo surface winds during the eight warmest months of the year. The sea breeze front induces a velocity minimum at the time of its passage and a post-frontal afternoon velocity maximum. Mountain-valley thermal effects on the flow can be seen in the temporal divergence/convergence patterns. These thermal effects tend to be more important during colder months, at night, and when the wind velocities are low. Nighttime downslope convergent flows are present over the city during winter and spring and daytime upslope divergent flows are present over the city during summer months.     

Study of urban population attitudes towards various wastewater reuse options: Israel as a case study

This paper summarizes the findings of a survey (256 participants) conducted to determine the attitude of the Israeli urban public towards various urban water reuse options. Israel is known for its long and successful agricultural water reuse scheme, but to date no large-scale urban reuse projects have been implemented. The survey included 21 reuse options, which were clustered into three reuse categories, namely: low, medium, and high contact levels. Results show that a high proportion of the participants supported medium contact reuse options such as sidewalk landscaping (95%), domestic WC flushing (85%) and firefighting (96%). Higher contact reuse options such as domestic laundry (38%), preserved food (13%), and potable aquifer recharge (11%) found much lesser support. Less than expected support was found for low contact reuse options with 86% for field crop irrigation, 62% for aquifer recharge for agricultural irrigation, and as low as 49% for orchard irrigation. This low support is surprising, since all three options have been practiced on a large scale for over three decades in Israel without any adverse effects to the public. No correlation was found between any biographical characteristic examined (education, gender, income, marital status, having young children, and age) and support for medium contact options. For the medium contact options, the results suggest that perceived financial gain (individual and/or communal) and positive public opinion enhances support, while perceived health effects negatively affects the degree of support. Technology, trust in authorities and awareness of water and environmental issues were found to not have a significant effect on support for medium contact reuse options. Analyzing the four possible reasons for support given by participants who identified themselves as supporters of wastewater reuse revealed that the most important reason for support was "water saving", followed by "minimization of importing water from abroad". These were followed by "infrastructure cost saving" together with "environmental improvement".     

Stress‐related aftermaths to workplace politics: the relationships among politics,job distress,and aggressive behavior in organizations

In light of the growing theoretical and practical interest on organizational politics, especially its probable impact on work outcomes, two stress‐related aftermaths of influence and politics in organizations were examined. On the basis of a model by Ferris, Russ, and Fandt ( 1989b ) the idea was pursued that workplace politics may have a long‐range impact on employees' job distress and aggressive behavior in and around organizations. Three samples (n1 = 155, n2 = 184, n3 = 201) were used to examine direct and indirect/mediating relationships among the research variables. Participants were Israeli employees from the private, public, and third sectors. Findings showed that: (1) job distress was an immediate response to organizational politics across the three types of organization, and (2) job distress proved a possible mediator between organizational politics and aggressive behavior as enacted by the employees themselves. Several theoretical and practical implications of the findings that may extend our knowledge on various stress‐related aftermaths of organizational politics are noted. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital head,face, and neck malformations—Is complementary fetal MRI of value?

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a complement to ultrasound (US) in the prenatal diagnosis of craniofacial anomalies.

Methods

A historical cohort study including all pregnant women who were referred for fetal MRI because of antenatal diagnosis of craniofacial anomalies on screening US. Prenatal diagnostic US, MRI, and postnatal diagnosis were compared for consistencies and discrepancies.

Results

Forty-five pregnant women with 73 suspected fetal craniofacial anomalies diagnosed by US underwent MRI. In 40 out of 73 anomalies (54.8%), US and MRI findings were in complete agreement with postnatal diagnoses. MRI correctly ruled out the diagnosis of 24 anomalies suspected on US and diagnosed four additional pathologies that were not demonstrated by US. Out of the 85 anomalies (suspected by imaging or confirmed postnatally), confident diagnosis could be made by MRI in 68 anomalies (80%), not diagnosed in 10 (11.8%), and over-diagnosed in seven (8.2%). By US, confident diagnosis could be made in 44 anomalies (51.8%), not diagnosed in 11 (12.9%), and over-diagnosed in 30 (35.3%).

Conclusion

MRI is valuable in the antenatal evaluation of fetal craniofacial anomalies and may be useful as an adjunct to US in the prenatal work-up of craniofacial anomalies.     

Emerging conservation challenges and prospects in an era of offshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation

Globally, extensive marine areas important for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning are undergoing exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas resources. Such operations are expanding to previously inaccessible deep waters and other frontier regions, while conservation‐related legislation and planning is often lacking. Conservation challenges arising from offshore hydrocarbon development are wide‐ranging. These challenges include threats to ecosystems and marine species from oil spills, negative impacts on native biodiversity from invasive species colonizing drilling infrastructure, and increased political conflicts that can delay conservation actions. With mounting offshore operations, conservationists need to urgently consider some possible opportunities that could be leveraged for conservation. Leveraging options, as part of multi‐billion dollar marine hydrocarbon operations, include the use of facilities and costly equipment of the deep and ultra‐deep hydrocarbon industry for deep‐sea conservation research and monitoring and establishing new conservation research, practice, and monitoring funds and environmental offsetting schemes. The conservation community, including conservation scientists, should become more involved in the earliest planning and exploration phases and remain involved throughout the operations so as to influence decision making and promote continuous monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems. A prompt response by conservation professionals to offshore oil and gas developments can mitigate impacts of future decisions and actions of the industry and governments. New environmental decision support tools can be used to explicitly incorporate the impacts of hydrocarbon operations on biodiversity into marine spatial and conservation plans and thus allow for optimum trade‐offs among multiple objectives, costs, and risks.