Coping With Stress: Dispositional Coping Strategies of Project Managers

This study explores the relationship between project management practices, control appraisals and dispositional coping strategies used by project managers when dealing with stressful situations. Seventy-one project managers from a global sample participated by completing a web-based questionnaire. Results support the hypotheses that project managers apply more Active Coping and Planning strategies when dealing with stressful situations and that the level of maturity of the organisational practices is related to an increased use of Planning coping strategies. Findings and limitations are discussed

Charcoal morphometry for paleoecological analysis: The effects of fuel type and transportation on morphological parameters

This is the final version of the article. Available from Botanical Society of America via the DOI in this record.Premise of the study: Charcoal particles preserved in sediments are used as indicators of paleowildfire. Most research focuses on abundance as an indicator of fire frequency, but charcoals also convey information about the vegetation from which they are derived. One potential source of information is their morphology, which is influenced by the parent material, the nature of the fire, and subsequent transportation and burial. Methods: We charcoalified 26 materials from a range of plant taxa, and subjected them to simulated fluvial transport by tumbling them with water and gravel. We photographed the resulting particles, and used image analysis software to measure morphological parameters. Results: Leaf charcoal displayed a logarithmic decrease in area, and a logarithmic increase in circularity, with transportation time. Trends were less clear for stem or wood charcoal. Grass charcoal displayed significantly higher aspect ratios than other charcoal types. Conclusions: Leaf charcoal displays more easily definable relationships between morphological parameters and degree of breakdown than stem or wood charcoal. The aspect ratios of fossil mesocharcoal can indicate the broad botanical source of an assemblage. Coupled to estimates of charcoal abundance, this will improve understanding of the variation in flammability of ancient ecosystems.This research was supported by funding from a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (to C.M.B.; PCIG10-GA-2011-303610)

120 to 0 Ma tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific and analogous geological evolution of the 600 to 220 Ma Tasman Fold Belt System

We review the tectonic evolution of the SW Pacific east of Australia from ca 120 Ma until the present. A key factor that developed early in this interval and played a major role in the subsequent geodynamic history of this region was the calving off from eastern Australia of several elongate microcontinental ribbons, including the Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk-New Caledonia Ridge. These microcontinental ribbons were isolated from Australia and from each other during a protracted extension episode from ca 120 to 52 Ma, with oceanic crust accretion occurring from 85 to 52 Ma and producing the Tasman Sea and the South Loyalty Basin. Generation of these microcontinental ribbons and intervening basins was assisted by emplacement of a major mantle plume at 100 Ma beneath the southern part of the Lord Howe Rise, which in turn contributed to rapid and efficient eastward trench rollback. A major change in Pacific plate motion at ca 55 Ma initiated east-directed subduction along the recently extinct spreading centre in the South Loyalty Basin, generating boninitic lithosphere along probably more than 1000 km of plate boundary in this region, and growth of the Loyalty-Entrecasteaux arc. Continued subduction of South Loyalty Basin crust led to the arrival at about 38 Ma of the 70-60 million years old western volcanic passive margin of the Norfolk Ridge at the trench, and west-directed emplacement of the New Caledonia ophiolite. Lowermost allochthons of this ophiolite are Maastrichtian and Paleocene rift tholeiites derived from the underthrusting passive margin. Higher allochthonous sheets include a poorly exposed boninitic lava slice, which itself was overridden by the massive ultramafic sheets that cover large parts of New Caledonia and are derived from the colliding forearc of the Loyalty-Entrecasteaux arc. Post-collisional extensional tectonism exhumed the underthrust passive margin, parts of which have blueschist and eclogite facies metamorphic assemblages. Following locking of this subduction zone at 38-34 Ma, subduction jumped eastward, to form a new west-dipping subduction zone above which formed the Vitiaz arc, that contained elements which today are located in the Tongan, Fijian, Vanuatu and Solomons arcs. Several episodes of arc splitting fragmented the Vitiaz arc and produced first the South Fiji Basin (31-25 Ma) and later (10 Ma to present) the North Fiji Basin. Collision of the Ontong Java Plateau, a large igneous province, with the Solomons section of the Vitiaz arc resulted in a reversal of subduction polarity, and growth of the Vanuatu arc on clockwise-rotating, older Vitiaz arc and South Fiji Basin crust. Continued rollback of the trench fronting the Tongan arc since 6 Ma has split this arc and produced the Lau Basin-Havre Trough. This southwest Pacific style of crustal growth above a rolling-back slab is applied to the 600-220 Ma tectonic development of the Tasman Fold Belt System in southeastern Australia, and explains key aspects of the geological evolution of eastern Australia. In particular, collision between a plume-triggered 600 Ma volcanic passive margin and a 510-515 Ma boninitic forearc of an intra-oceanic arc had the same relative orientation and geological effects as that which produced New Caledonia. A new subduction system formed probably at least several hundred kilometres east of the collision zone and produced the Macquarie arc, in which the oldest lavas were erupted ca 480 Ma. Continued slab rollback induced regional extension and the growth of narrow linear troughs in the Macquarie arc, which persisted until terminal deformation of this fold belt in the late-Middle to Late Devonian. A similar pattern of tectonic development generated the New England Fold Belt between the Late Devonian and Late Triassic. Parts of the New England Fold Belt have been broken from Australia and moved oceanward to locations in New Zealand, and on the Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk-New Caledonia Rise, during the post- 120 Ma breakup. Given that the Tasman Fold Belt System grew between 600 and 220 Ma by crustal accretion like the southwest Pacific since 120 Ma, facing the open Pacific Ocean, we question whether the eastern (Australia-Antarctica) part of the Neoproterozoic Rodinian supercontinent was joined to Laurentia

Benthic macro invertebrate communities of high conservation value Thirsty and Little Thirsty Lagoons, Cape Barren Island, Tasmania

This study represents the first account of the invertebrate ecology and biology of the estuarine Thirsty and Little Thirsty coastal lagoons on Cape Barren Island, Tasmania. Due to its remoteness, Thirsty Lagoon is one of the most pristine coastal lagoon systems in Tasmania and is, therefore, an important reference point against which to measure future human impacts in coastal lagoons in the Bass Strait islands, and in south-eastern Australia generally. The system comprises two interconnected lagoons. The lower of the two lagoons, Thirsty Lagoon, is connected to the sea by an open channel allowing tidal exchange. This exchange maintains salinities in the lower reaches at or near seawater concentrations. As the basin is shallow, rates of evaporation are high, particularly in summer, elevating salinity levels and resulting in periodic drying-out of sections of the lagoonal system. At the time of our visit in late summer, freshwater input from feeder streams was minimal and there was little tidal exchange between Thirsty and, the upper lagoon, Little Thirsty. As a consequence salinities in Little Thirsty were very high (ca. 60). These coastal lagoons, and one other sampled, supported a low diversity of invertebrate fauna that is typical of coastal lagoons elsewhere in Tasmania. The fauna included marine polychaete worms, molluscs, small crustaceans and high densities of a dipteran larvae in Little Thirsty Lagoon. The fauna found in the lower reaches of Thirsty Lagoon include a number of invertebrate species that are typically marine in origin, while the upper reaches were dominated by species that commonly occur in estuaries elsewhere, albeit in low salinity or brackish waters. Despite very high salinities and periodic evaporation, Little Thirsty and Thirsty lagoons supported high densities of invertebrates that may constitute an important food source for visiting migratory and wading birds

Developing a monitoring program for six key estuaries in north-west Tasmania

Given the economic, social and environmental importance of estuaries in NW Tasmania there is a need for baseline and ongoing assessment of estuarine condition. With an appropriate monitoring program, managers can use the information gathered to underpin better management decisions, targeting any problem areas and thereby maintain or improve the condition of estuaries in the region

Long term fine aerosols at the Cape Grim global baseline station: 1998 to 2016

Fine aerosol measurements have been undertaken at the Cape Grim global baseline station since 1992. Ion beam analysis techniques were then used to determine the elemental composition of the samples from which source fingerprints can be determined. In this study six source fingerprints were identified to contribute to the measurements of PM2.5 at Cape Grim (from 1998 to 2016); fresh sea salt (57%), secondary sulfate and nitrates (14%), smoke (13%), aged sea salt (the product of NaCl reactions with SO2; 12%), soil dust (2.4%) and industrial metals (1.5%). Back trajectory analysis showed that local Tasmanian sources of soil dust contributed to the high soil dust measurements. High measurements of secondary aerosols were recorded when air masses were arriving from the Australian mainland, in the direction of the Victorian power stations. When air masses were arriving from the baseline sector, the maximum concentration of aged sea salt was 1.3 μg/m3, compared to overall maximum of 4.9 μg/m3. For secondary sulfates and nitrates the maximum concentrations were 2.5 and 7.5 μg/m3 from the baseline sector and overall, respectively. While measurements at Cape Grim can be affected from long range transport from mainland Australia and some local Tasmanian sources, the average concentrations of anthropogenic sources are still considerably lower than those measured at more populated areas. For example, at Lucas Heights (located south-west of the Sydney central business district, with little local sources) the average concentrations of secondary sulfates/nitrates and aged sea air were 1.4 and 1.0 μg/m3, respectively; compared to average concentrations of 0.8 and 0.6 μg/m3, at Cape Grim. The average concentrations of smoke were compatible at the two sites. The impact of primary aerosols from vehicle exhaust at Cape Grim was limited and no corresponding fingerprint was resolved.Crown Copyright © 2017 Published by Elsevier Lt