Many industry sectors are increasingly project-based. Relationship management is recognized as a focus of the next generation of project management. As a major sector, the construction industry has increasingly embraced the concept of project-based relationship management in recent years. On the other hand, project managers have grown steadily in prominence. This empirical research explores the contribution of construction project managers to relationship management through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Relationship management in project environments can be either internal or external. This research identifies 18 roles of project managers in internal relationship management (IRM) and 18 roles in external relationship management (ERM). As a result of data analysis, they are categorized into six internal role groups and five external role groups, respectively. In addition to role identification and categorization, this research provides further evidence for the change in construction today from traditional project management that concentrates on planning and control to new project management that highlights the importance of people and working relationships.

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Lewis and Clark Lake is located on the main stream of the Missouri River. The reservoir is formed behind Gavins Point dam near Yankton, South Dakota, U.S.A. The Lewis and Clark Lake reach extends about 40 km from the Gavins Point dam. The reservoir delta has been growing since the closure of Gavins Point dam in 1955 and has resulted in a 21% reduction of storage within the maximum pool of the reservoir. Among several sediment management methods, drawdown flushing has been recommended as a possible management technique. The engineering viability of removing sediments deposited in the lake should be examined by numerical modeling before implementing a drawdown flushing. GSTARS4 was used for this study and calibrated by using measured data from 1975 to 1995. Channel cross-section changes and amount of flushed sediment were predicted with four hypothetical flow scenarios. The flushing efficiencies of all scenarios were estimated by comparing the ratios between water consumption and flushed sediment during flushing.

Anhydrous ammonia (NH3) is injected below the soil surface during application to limit loss to the atmosphere. Application at a shallower depth may reduce tractor power or allow greater speed, which could increase field capacity if NH3 losses are held to acceptable levels. Losses of NH3 during, and for 1 h after, field application were measured from a typical knife injector treatment operated at a 15-cm (6-in.) depth and 8-km/h (5-mph) travel speed and from a single-disc injector operated at shallower depths [5 and 10 cm (2 and 4 in.)] and a range of travel speeds [8, 12, and 16 km/h (5, 7.5, and 10 mph)]. NH3 losses during application as measured with a hood over the single-disc injector were 3% to 7% in clay loam, silty clay loam, and loam soils and 21% to 52% in a coarser-textured fine sandy loam soil. Applying with a knife injector at deeper depth resulted in losses of 1% to 2% across all soil types. NH3 losses measured during an hour after application with stationary collection over the injection trench were 1% or less for all treatments. Losses during application were 5 to 55 times greater than during the first hour after application.

In fishes, swimming performance is considered an important metric to measure fitness, dispersal and migratory abilities. The swimming performance of individual larval fishes is often integrated into models to make inferences on how environmental parameters affect population-level dynamics (e.g. connectivity). However, little information exists regarding how experimental protocols affect the swimming performance of marine fish larvae. In addition, the technical setups used to measure larval fish swimming performance often lack automation and accurate control of water quality parameters and flow velocity. In this study, we automated the control of multi-lane swimming chambers for small fishes by developing an open-source algorithm. This automation allowed us to execute repeatable flow scenarios and reduce operator interference and inaccuracies in flow velocity typically associated with manual control. Furthermore, we made structural modifications to a prior design to reduce the areas of lower flow velocity. We then validated the flow dynamics of the new chambers using computational fluid dynamics and particle-tracking software. The algorithm provided an accurate alignment between the set and measured flow velocities and we used it to test whether faster critical swimming speed (Ucrit) protocols (i.e. shorter time intervals and higher velocity increments) would increase Ucrit of early life stages of two tropical fish species [4–10-mm standard length (SL)]. The Ucrit of barramundi (Lates calcarifer) and cinnamon anemonefish (Amphiprion melanopus) increased linearly with fish length, but in cinnamon anemonefish, Ucrit started to decrease upon metamorphosis. Swimming protocols using longer time intervals (more than 2.5 times increase) negatively affected Ucrit in cinnamon anemonefish but not in barramundi. These species-specific differences in swimming performance highlight the importance of testing suitable Ucrit protocols prior to experimentation. The automated control of flow velocity will create more accurate and repeatable data on swimming performance of larval fishes. Integrating refined measurements into individual-based models will support future research on the effects of environmental change.