Understanding and valuing environmental issues: the effects of availability and anchoring on judgment.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Pligt, J; van Schie, E C; Hoevenagel, R

1998-01-01

This paper addresses the effects of availability and anchoring-and-adjustment on people's beliefs and values concerning environmental issues. The first three studies focus on lay people's perceptions of the causes of large scale environmental risks, the second series of three studies deals with how people value environmental goods and how much they are prepared to pay to mitigate environmental risks. In studies 1-3 we investigate the effects of availability and anchoring-and-adjustment on estimating the contribution of various factors to large scale environmental risks. Highly complex risks such as acid rain and global warming tend to be associated with multiple causes, and our results show that estimating the role of these causes is clearly affected by availability and anchoring-and-adjustment. Both have sizeable effects and persist over time. Moreover, corrective procedures only seem to have a limited effect. Availability and anchoring-and-adjustment not only play a role in judging the possible causes of risks; they also play a role in research attempting to assess the public's willingness to pay (WTP) to protect our environment. The outcomes of WTP surveys are often used as a tool to help policy decision making. In the second part of this article we present three studies on this issue. Results provide further evidence of the impact of the two heuristics on the outcomes of WTP research. Implications for research and practice are briefly discussed.

Measuring Corporate Sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Value Added

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alena Kocmanová

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to propose a model for measuring sustainable value which would complexly assess environmental, social, and corporate governance contribution to value creation. In the paper the concept of the Sustainable Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Value Added is presented. The Sustainable Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Value Added is based on the Sustainable Value Added model and combines weighted environmental, social, and corporate governance indicators with their benchmarks determined by Data Envelopment Analysis. Benchmark values of indicators were set for each company separately and determine the optimal combination of environmental, social, and corporate governance inputs to economic outcomes. The Sustainable Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Value Added methodology is applied on real-life corporate data and presented through a case study. The value added of most of the selected companies was negative, even though economic indicators of all of them are positive. The Sustainable Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Value Added is intended to help owners, investors, and other stakeholders in their decision-making and sustainability assessment. The use of environmental, social, and corporate governance factors helps identify the company’s strengths and weaknesses, and provides a more sophisticated insight into it than the one-dimensional methods based on economic performance alone.

Valuing environmental externalities from rice-wheat farming in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lv, Yao; Gu, Shu-zhong [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Guo, Dong-mei [Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, State Environmental Protection Administration, Beijing 100029 (China)

2010-05-15

Environmental externalities generated by agriculture are attracting considerable attention. However, most research has focused either on environmental services that agriculture provides as a distinct ecosystem or the negative environmental impacts that agriculture imposes. Therefore, there is a great need to re-evaluate the all-round environmental roles of agriculture, to optimize environmental performance of agriculture and non-trade concerns in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. By valuing the environmental externalities of agriculture, this article aims to heighten awareness of the environmental roles of agriculture to stimulate its implication in agricultural policy-making. The study presents estimates of economic values of environmental externalities from rice-wheat farming system in Zhenjiang, in aspects of greenhouse gas emissions, non-point source pollution, carbon sequestration and water containing capacity. We provide a step-by-step analytic procedure, with each step including measurement of physical dimensions and monetary evaluation. The former is based on a large-scale literature review, which provided a vital foundation for the monetary valuation. The results reveal that the values of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural land, agricultural non-point source pollution, carbon sequestration by crop and soil, and the flood control function provided by agricultural land are estimated as: - US$3.61 x 10{sup 7} a{sup -1}, - US$4.59 x 10{sup 6} a{sup -1}, + US$2.30 x 10{sup 9} a{sup -1} and + US$2.21 x 10{sup 7} a{sup -1}, respectively. The net value of environmental externalities is as high as + US$2.28 x 10{sup 9} a{sup -1}, representing 17.87% of local GDP and 4.12 times the total agricultural output value in 2006. The results suggest that crops and soil in Zhenjiang are the most important carbon sinks, and that agriculture in Zhenjiang has huge positive environmental externalities, although both greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural

Environmental Impacts and Hotspots of Food Losses: Value Chain Analysis of Swiss Food Consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Beretta, Claudio; Stucki, Matthias; Hellweg, Stefanie

2017-10-03

Reducing food losses and waste is crucial to making our food system more efficient and sustainable. This is the first paper that quantifies the environmental impacts of food waste by distinguishing the various stages of the food value chain, 33 food categories that represent the whole food basket in Switzerland, and including food waste treatment. Environmental impacts are expressed in terms of climate change and biodiversity impacts due to water and land use. Climate change impacts of food waste are highest for fresh vegetables, due to the large amounts wasted, while the specific impact per kg is largest for beef. Biodiversity impacts are mainly caused by cocoa and coffee (16% of total) and by beef (12%). Food waste at the end of the food value chain (households and food services) causes almost 60% of the total climate impacts of food waste, because of the large quantities lost at this stage and the higher accumulated impacts per kg of product. The net environmental benefits from food waste treatment are only 5-10% of the impacts from production and supply of the wasted food. Thus, avoiding food waste should be a first-line priority, while optimizing the method of treatment is less relevant.

A service and value based approach to estimating environmental flows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korsgaard, Louise; Jensen, R.A.; Jønch-Clausen, Torkil

2008-01-01

at filling that gap by presenting a new environmental flows assessment approach that explicitly links environmental flows to (socio)-economic values by focusing on ecosystem services. This Service Provision Index (SPI) approach is a novel contribution to the existing field of environmental flows assessment...... of sustaining ecosystems but also a matter of supporting humankind/livelihoods. One reason for the marginalisation of environmental flows is the lack of operational methods to demonstrate the inherently multi-disciplinary link between environmental flows, ecosystem services and economic value. This paper aims...

Environmental values and their relationship to ecological services

Science.gov (United States)

Herbert W. Schroeder

2011-01-01

Natural environments give rise to value in diverse ways for different people and groups. In this paper, I present a conceptual scheme for how different kinds of value may arise from a natural environment. I use this scheme to illustrate the different ways in which people value natural environments and to clarify the relationship between environmental values and...

Assessing the wider environmental value of remediating land contamination

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bardos, R.P.; Kearney, T.E.; Nathanail, C.P.; Weenk, A.; Martin, I.D.

2000-01-01

The aim of this paper is to consider qualitative and quantitative approaches for assessing the wider environmental value of remediating land contamination. In terms of the environmental element of sustainable development, a remediation project's overall environmental performance is the sum of the

Wood-based bioenergy value chain in mountain urban districts: An integrated environmental accounting framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikodinoska, Natasha; Buonocore, Elvira; Paletto, Alessandro; Franzese, Pier Paolo

2017-01-01

emissions released by the value chain. The scenario analysis indicates that using both local sawmill residues and local forest wood chips to power the heating plant could further lower the environmental burden of the bioenergy chain, maximizing local and renewable resources use while reducing waste disposal. The multi-method environmental accounting framework provided a large set of performance and sustainability indicators useful for both local managers and policy makers in charge of ensuring a sustainable management of local forests and energy security of urban settlements.

Environmental performance, profitability, asset utilization, debt monitoring and firm value

Science.gov (United States)

Bukit, R. Br; Haryanto, B.; Ginting, P.

2018-02-01

The growing issue on firm value shows that firm value is not only determined by the firm ability to increase financial profit, but also by the company's concern in maintaining the environmental condition. The industrial development produces waste that pollutes the environment that has potential to serious impact on the next life. In addition to provide financial benefits, companies are increasingly facing pressure to be socially responsible for the survival of the company. However, past findings demonstrate that the effect of environmental performance, profitability, and asset utilization to the firm’s value are still unclear. This study aims to test whether environmental performance, firm profitability and asset utilization can effectively enhance firm value in two different conditions: intensive debt monitoring and less intensive debt monitoring. Sample of companies is taken from the list of Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2013 to 2015. Using multiple regression analysis, discloses that: in intensive monitoring, managers tend to have high firm value when company has high environmental performance and or high profitability and high asset utilization. Monitoring system needs to be intensified especially for companies with the above characteristics.

The value of what others value : How personal and group values relate to pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouman, Thijs; Steg, Emmalina; Johnson, Stephanie

2017-01-01

Personal values are considered stable predictors of environmental attitudes and behaviours (e.g., Steg et al., 2014). In addition, group values are often used to characterize groups and compare them with each other (e.g., Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). However, only little is known about the influence of

Value of sensitive in-situ environmental assets in energy resource extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thampapillai, Dodo J.

2011-01-01

The extraction of energy resources and the preservation of sensitive in-situ environmental assets are invariably mutually exclusive alternatives. The opportunity cost value of preserving the environmental assets can be assessed by recourse to resource rent taxes, and threshold values. The case study analysis carried out in this paper suggests that the preservation of these assets could be justifiable on the grounds of “acceptable sacrifice”. - Highlights: ► Resource rents owed to the state from energy resource extraction can be significant. ► Benefits if mining energy resources are over-stated when the role of sensitive environmental assets is ignored. ► Threshold values could help to resolve conflicts between environmental preservation and resource extraction.

Impact of Religious Affiliation on Ethical Values of Spanish Environmental Activists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Chuvieco

2016-05-01

Full Text Available We analyzed the impact of religious affiliation on the ethical and environmental values of Spanish environmental activists, based on an internet survey and a working seminar held with representatives of major environmental non-government organizations (ENGO of Spain. Respondents’ religious affiliations were significantly different compared with those of Spanish society in general, with a much higher proportion of Buddhists, agnostics and atheists and a lower proportion of Catholics. Strict environmental values of ENGOs activists did not show significant differences between the religious groups, which imply that religious beliefs did not impact actual environmental values. However, they did have a significant influence on the activists’ opinions on other bioethical issues. We found that Catholics and believers of other religions were more in favor than agnostics and atheists of introducing ethical limits on abortion, euthanasia or human embryo manipulation.

Environmental restoration value engineering guidance document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-07-01

This document provides guidance on Value Engineering (VE). VE is an organized team effort led by a person trained in the methodology to analyze the functions of projects, systems, equipment, facilities, services, and processes for achieving the essential functions at the lowest life cycle cost while maintaining required performance, reliability, availability, quality, and safety. VE has proven to be a superior tool to improve up-front project planning, cut costs, and create a better value for each dollar spent. This document forms the basis for the Environmental Restoration VE Program, describes the VE process, and provides recommendations on when it can be most useful on ER projects

Values in environmental research: Citizens’ views of scientists who acknowledge values

Science.gov (United States)

McCright, Aaron M.; Allen, Summer; Dietz, Thomas

2017-01-01

Scientists who perform environmental research on policy-relevant topics face challenges when communicating about how values may have influenced their research. This study examines how citizens view scientists who publicly acknowledge values. Specifically, we investigate whether it matters: if citizens share or oppose a scientist’s values, if a scientist’s conclusions seem contrary to or consistent with the scientist’s values, and if a scientist is assessing the state of the science or making a policy recommendation. We conducted two 3x2 factorial design online experiments. Experiment 1 featured a hypothetical scientist assessing the state of the science on the public-health effects of exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), and Experiment 2 featured a scientist making a policy recommendation on use of BPA. We manipulated whether or not the scientist expressed values and whether the scientist’s conclusion appeared contrary to or consistent with the scientist’s values, and we accounted for whether or not subjects’ values aligned with the scientist’s values. We analyzed our data with ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques. Our results provide at least preliminary evidence that acknowledging values may reduce the perceived credibility of scientists within the general public, but this effect differs depending on whether scientists and citizens share values, whether scientists draw conclusions that run contrary to their values, and whether scientists make policy recommendations. PMID:29069087

Environmental effects and large space systems

Science.gov (United States)

Garrett, H. B.

1981-01-01

When planning large scale operations in space, environmental impact must be considered in addition to radiation, spacecraft charging, contamination, high power and size. Pollution of the atmosphere and space is caused by rocket effluents and by photoelectrons generated by sunlight falling on satellite surfaces even light pollution may result (the SPS may reflect so much light as to be a nuisance to astronomers). Large (100 Km 2) structures also will absorb the high energy particles that impinge on them. Altogether, these effects may drastically alter the Earth's magnetosphere. It is not clear if these alterations will in any way affect the Earth's surface climate. Large structures will also generate large plasma wakes and waves which may cause interference with communications to the vehicle. A high energy, microwave beam from the SPS will cause ionospheric turbulence, affecting UHF and VHF communications. Although none of these effects may ultimately prove critical, they must be considered in the design of large structures.

Revealing Components of the Economic Value for Environmental Goods and Services from Forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bakhtiari, Fatemeh

The overall purpose and contribution of this thesis is increasing the understanding of components of the value of environmental goods. It investigates how the public perceive environmental goods (lay people’s perception) and the elements of it that they value. Providing such knowledge contributes...... to improving valuation methods, e.g. the use of the Choice Experiment (CE) for valuing forest biodiversity conservation. Increasing knowledge of lay people’s perception and mental constructs of environmental goods can help researchers to know how they can present environmental goods in CEs which align...... with respondents’ perceptions and to further understand the appropriate way of measuring these values....

Environmental values and risk: A review of Sierra Club policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, P.P.

1999-01-01

Sierra Club values are driven by an overriding environmental ethic. Sierra Club environmental values may be characterized by the concept of 'usufruct' a term favored by United States Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. Usufruct conveys the idea that the environment is ours to use, but not to destroy. Each generation has the obligation to pass on to future generations a world at least as environmentally rich as the one it inherited. It is appropriate to accept risk today in order to preserve the environment for generations yet to come. As viewed through the lens of its formal policies, the Sierra Club is an organization that embraces technology, but insists that technology be evaluated comprehensively, taking full account of both environmental and social externalities. The Club is 'risk averse' with respect to early introduction of technologies seen as likely to have significant negative environmental or social impact. The Club places heavy emphasis on process, which must involve the public meaningfully

Environmental values and risk: A review of Sierra Club policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craig, P.P. [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Graduate Group in Ecology

1999-12-01

Sierra Club values are driven by an overriding environmental ethic. Sierra Club environmental values may be characterized by the concept of 'usufruct' a term favored by United States Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. Usufruct conveys the idea that the environment is ours to use, but not to destroy. Each generation has the obligation to pass on to future generations a world at least as environmentally rich as the one it inherited. It is appropriate to accept risk today in order to preserve the environment for generations yet to come. As viewed through the lens of its formal policies, the Sierra Club is an organization that embraces technology, but insists that technology be evaluated comprehensively, taking full account of both environmental and social externalities. The Club is 'risk averse' with respect to early introduction of technologies seen as likely to have significant negative environmental or social impact. The Club places heavy emphasis on process, which must involve the public meaningfully.

Values determine the (ineffectiveness of informational interventions in promoting pro-environmental behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Willem Bolderdijk

Full Text Available Informational interventions (e.g., awareness campaigns, carbon footprint calculators are built on the assumption that informing the public about the environmental consequences of their actions should result in increased pro-environmental intentions and behavior. However, empirical support for this reasoning is mixed. In this paper, we argue that informational interventions may succeed in improving people's knowledge about the negative environmental consequences of one's actions, but this knowledge will not gain motivational force if people do not consider protecting the environment an important personal value. In an experiment, we measured individual differences in value priorities, and either presented participants a movie clip that portrayed the negative environmental consequences of using bottled water, or a control movie. As predicted, we found that the environmental movie improved recipients' knowledge of the negative environmental impact of bottled water, but this knowledge only resulted in concomitant changes in intentions and acceptability of related policies among participants who strongly endorsed biospheric (i.e. environmental values, while having no effect on those who care less about the environment. Interestingly, the results suggest that although informational interventions are perhaps not always successful in directly affecting less environmentally-conscious recipients, they could still have beneficial effects, because they make those who strongly care about the environment more inclined to act on their values.

Scientific knowledge and environmental policy. Why science needs values. Environmental essay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carolan, M.S. [Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins (United States)

2006-12-15

While the term 'science' is evoked with immense frequency in the political arena, it continues to be misunderstood. Perhaps the most repeated example of this - particularly when dealing with environmental policy and regulatory issues - is when science is called upon to provide the unattainable: namely, proof. What is scientific knowledge and, more importantly, what is it capable of providing us? These questions must be answered - by policymakers, politicians, the public, and scientists themselves - if we hope to ever resolve today's environmental controversies in a just and equitable way. This paper begins by critically examining the concepts of uncertainty and proof as they apply to science. Discussion then turns to the issue of values in science. This is to speak of the normative decisions that are made routinely in the environmental sciences (but often without them being recognized as such). To conclude, insights are gleaned from the preceding sections to help us understand how science should be utilized and conducted, particularly as it applies to environmental policy.

Environmental orientation of large energy companies? The large four and their contribution to environmental protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiyar, Dagmar

2014-01-01

The project is aimed to study the motivation and willingness for environmental engagement of the four large German energy companies RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW. The two changes of political appraisal of nuclear energy by the German government occurred during the project. The work covers the following issues: Governance and climate policy, multi-level governance, corporate governance; climate topics in the management practice, energy policy and climate policy, national and international aspects, initiatives and engagement; research design and empirical investigations.

Should We Trust in Values? Explaining Public Support for Pro-Environmental Taxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sverker C. Jagers

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we are concerned with what explains public acceptance and support of environmental taxes. We examine findings in environmental psychology emphasizing that people’s (environmental value-orientation is the dominant driver determining individuals’ support for pro-environmental policy instruments. We introduce a complementary model, mainly drawing upon findings in political science, suggesting that people’s support for policy instruments is dependent on their level of political trust and their trust in other citizens. More specifically, we analyze whether political trust and inter-personal trust affect individuals’ support for an increased carbon dioxide tax in Sweden, while checking their value orientation, self-interest, and various socio-economic values. We make use of survey data obtained from a mail questionnaire sent out to a random sample of 3,000 individuals in 2009. We find that apart from people’s values, beliefs, and norms, both political trust and interpersonal trust have significant effects on people's attitudes toward an increased tax on carbon dioxide.

The Effects of Recreation Experience, Environmental Attitude, and Biospheric Value on the Environmentally Responsible Behavior of Nature-Based Tourists

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Tsung Hung; Jan, Fen-Hauh

2015-07-01

The scientific understanding of the recreation experience and the environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists is limited. This study examines the relationship among the recreation experience, environmental attitude, biospheric value, and the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists in Taomi, Liuqiu Island, and Aowanda and Najenshan in Taiwan. A total of 1342 usable questionnaires were collected for this study. The empirical results indicate that the recreation experience influences biospheric value and environmental attitude; subsequently, it then indirectly influences the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists. Our theoretical behavioral model elucidates previously proposed but unexamined behavioral models among nature-based tourists, and it offers a theoretical framework for researchers, decision makers, managers, and tourists in the field of nature-based tourism. We conclude that when an individual participates in nature-based tourism as described here, these recreation experiences strengthen their environmental attitude and biospheric value, and consequently increase their engagement in both general and site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors.

The effects of recreation experience, environmental attitude, and biospheric value on the environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Tsung Hung; Jan, Fen-Hauh

2015-07-01

The scientific understanding of the recreation experience and the environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists is limited. This study examines the relationship among the recreation experience, environmental attitude, biospheric value, and the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists in Taomi, Liuqiu Island, and Aowanda and Najenshan in Taiwan. A total of 1342 usable questionnaires were collected for this study. The empirical results indicate that the recreation experience influences biospheric value and environmental attitude; subsequently, it then indirectly influences the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of nature-based tourists. Our theoretical behavioral model elucidates previously proposed but unexamined behavioral models among nature-based tourists, and it offers a theoretical framework for researchers, decision makers, managers, and tourists in the field of nature-based tourism. We conclude that when an individual participates in nature-based tourism as described here, these recreation experiences strengthen their environmental attitude and biospheric value, and consequently increase their engagement in both general and site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors.

Intergenerational transmission of values, attitudes, and behaviours in the environmental domain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønhøj, Alice; Thøgersen, John

2007-01-01

household practices: purchasing environmentally friendly products, curtailing electricity use, and handling waste responsibly. Significant, but weak correlations between parents and adolescents were found across all of Schwartz's ten value domains, which suggests a clear, albeit not necessarily strong......, parental influence on values. The IG influence was found to be much stronger as regards specific environmental attitudes and behaviours. Mothers seem to influence their offspring more than fathers, and some indications of sex-typed gender socialization are found. On average, the younger generation...... is significantly less environmentally conscious than their parents' generation. Still, family socialization exerts a significant influence on young consumers' proenvironmental orientation....

Toward an integrated understanding of perceived biodiversity values and environmental conditions in a national park

Science.gov (United States)

van Riper, Carena J.; Kyle, Gerard T.; Sherrouse, Ben C.; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Sutton, Stephen G.

2016-01-01

In spatial planning and management of protected areas, increased priority is being given to research that integrates social and ecological data. However, public viewpoints of the benefits provided by ecosystems are not easily quantified and often implicitly folded into natural resource management decisions. Drawing on a spatially explicit participatory mapping exercise and a Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) analysis tool, the present study empirically examined and integrated social values for ecosystem services and environmental conditions within Channel Islands National Park, California. Specifically, a social value indicator of perceived biodiversity was examined using on-site survey data collected from a sample of people who visited the park. This information was modeled alongside eight environmental conditions including faunal species richness for six taxa, vegetation density, categories of marine and terrestrial land cover, and distance to features relevant for decision-makers. Results showed that biodiversity value points assigned to places by the pooled sample of respondents were widely and unevenly mapped, which reflected the belief that biodiversity was embodied to varying degrees by multiple locations in the park. Models generated for two survey subgroups defined by their self-reported knowledge of the Channels Islands revealed distinct spatial patterns of these perceived values. Specifically, respondents with high knowledge valued large spaces that were publicly inaccessible and unlikely to contain on-ground biodiversity, whereas respondents with low knowledge valued places that were experienced first-hand. Accessibility and infrastructure were also important considerations for anticipating how and where people valued the protected land and seascapes of Channel Islands National Park.

Valuing the Environmental Benefits of Urban WaterConservation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coughlin, Katie M.; Bolduc, Chris A.; Chan, Peter T.; Dunham-Whitehead, C.; Van Buskirk, R.D.

2007-05-01

This report documents a project undertaken for theCalifornia Urban Water Conservation Council (the Council) to create a newmethod of accounting for the diverse environmental benefits of raw watersavings. The environmental benefits (EB) model was designed to providewater utilities with a practical tool that they can use to assign amonetary value to the benefits that may accrue from implementing any ofthe Council-recommended Best Management Practices. The model treats onlyenvironmental services associated directly with water, and is intended tocover miscellaneous impacts that are not currently accounted for in anyother cost-benefit analysis.

Value-driven SEA: time for an environmental justice perspective?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Connelly, Stephen; Richardson, Tim

2005-01-01

This paper argues that we cannot debate SEA procedures in isolation from questions of value, and that these debates should foreground qualities of outcomes rather than become preoccupied with qualities of process. Value differences should not be left as a question of mediation between conflicting positions. As a means of introducing this normative perspective on SEA, the paper explores how theories of environmental justice could provide a useful basis for establishing how to deal with questions of value in SEA, and help in understanding when SEA is successful and when it is not. From this perspective, 'good' SEA is more than good process. Good SEA must be able to take into account the distributional consequences of policies, plans, or programmes, with decisions driven by the recognition that certain groups tend to systematically lose out in the distribution of environmental goods and bads. SEA therefore has a role to play in redressing such imbalances

Like father, like son? Intergenerational transmission of values, attitudes, and behaviours in the environmental domain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønhøj, Alice; Thøgersen, John

2009-01-01

: purchasing environmentally friendly products, curtailing electricity use, and handling waste responsibly in a sample of 601 Danish families. Significant and positive, but weak correlations between parents' and children's values are found across all of Schwartz's ten value domains. The parent......-child correlations are stronger for specific pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. The positive correlations suggest that family socialization exert a significant influence on young consumers' pro-environmental orientation. Still, the young generation is, on average, significantly less environmentally......How is young people's pro-environmental orientation related to their parents' pro-environmental values, attitudes, and behaviours? To answer this question, we examine parent-child similarities of general values as well as specific attitudes and behaviours related to three common household practices...

Contextual Drivers of Environmental Values Cross-Culturally: Evidence from Europe Between 2004 and 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kati Orru

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Environmental issues continue to grow in international prominence, owing to the importance of environ- mental conditions to human wellbeing globally. This paper focuses on why people’s values toward care for nature and environmental protection change — one of the antecedents to pro-environmental norms and behaviour. We aimed to clarify how individual and country-level contextual factors affect environmental values in Europe. Our cross-national study used data on individual environmental values from the 2004 and 2012 rounds of the European Social Survey, in combination with macro-level data on socio-economic security, countries’ environmental performance and educational levels. Country-level results revealed that throughout the studied years, nature held more importance to people in countries with increased levels of unemployment and exacerbated income disparities, including in transitional, post-socialist economies. Care for environment is less prominent in countries already performing well in terms of socio-economic and environmental performance, i.e. in states that may have higher resilience capacity towards adverse environmental impacts. Besides a state’s science education, which functions as an effective socialiser of caring for nature, practical experiences with adverse environmental impacts (e.g. health impairment could be used to predict an increase in the mean value of the natural environment in a country.

The relationship between environmental advocacy, values, and science: a survey of ecological scientists' attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Reiners, Derek S; Reiners, William A; Lockwood, Jeffrey A

2013-07-01

This article reports the results ofa survey of 1215 nonstudent Ecological Society of America (ESA) members. The results pertain to three series of questions designed to assess ecologists' engagement in various advocacy activities, as well as attitudes on the relationship between environmental advocacy, values, and science. We also analyzed the effects of age, gender, and employment categories on responses. While many findings are reported, we highlight six here. First, ecologists in our sample do not report particularly high levels of engagement in advocacy activities. Second, ecologists are not an ideologically unified group. Indeed, there are cases of significant disagreement among ecologists regarding advocacy, values, and science. Third, despite some disagreement, ecologists generally believe that values consistent with environmental advocacy are more consonant with ecological pursuits than values based on environmental skepticism. Fourth, compared to males, female ecologists tend to be more supportive of advocacy and less convinced that environmentally oriented values perturb the pursuit of science. Fifth, somewhat paradoxically, ecologists in higher age brackets indicate higher engagement in advocacy activities as well as a higher desire for scientific objectivity. Sixth, compared to ecologists in other employment categories, those in government prefer a greater separation between science and the influences of environmental advocacy and values.

The Value Relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: The Brazilian Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Mar Miralles-Quirós

2018-02-01

Full Text Available There is extensive literature on the value relevance of social responsibility for companies that operate in developed countries. However, little is known about the influence of these practices on the price of assets listed on emerging economies, such as Brazil. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyse whether social responsibility activities carried out by companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange during the 2010–2015 period play a significant role in enhancing firm value. Unlike previous studies, we distinguish between the three modern pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG. Our overall results support the value enhancing theory rather than the shareholder expense theory. However, it is important to note that the results also show that the market does not significantly value the three ESG pillars. Specifically, the market positively and significantly values the environmental practices carried out by companies not related to environmentally sensitive industries. In contrast, the market positively and significantly values the social and corporate governance practices carried out by the companies belonging to these sensitive industries. These findings are relevant for both investors and the managers of these companies, policy makers, customers, and citizens concerned about ESG issues.

Physical foundation of the labor theory of value: production and environmental destruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obinata, T.

2005-01-01

A concept negentropy is introduced to supplement Marx's labor theory of value. The negentropy, that is a less entropy state than the thermal equilibrium state of matter, is a common property of the usefulness of material needs. The production of commodity increases the negentropy of product, but the action raises more environmental entropy than the negentropy of the product. This is environmental damage. In addition the negentropy plays a role of the substance of value and answers the issue about productive and unproductive labor. It is clarified that the origin of surplus value is the negentropy of information

The Effect of Eco-Schools on Children's Environmental Values and Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Boeve-de Pauw, Jelle; Van Petegem, Peter

2013-01-01

The study examines the effectiveness of eco-schools concerning their students' environmental values and environmental behaviour, and includes 1287 children from fifty-nine schools (thirty-eight eco-schools and twenty-one control schools) in Flanders. Controlling for effects of gender and socio-economic status, analyses show that eco-schools have…

Estimation of the environmental values of electric vehicles in Chinese cities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Boqiang; Tan, Ruipeng

2017-01-01

Automobile exhaust emissions have been one of the serious air pollution sources in most Chinese cities and the adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) can solve this problem to some extent. In this context, NEVs can be seen as a kind of public good, part of whose value cannot be reflected in a market price. This paper estimates the environmental values of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and studies the influencing factors based on a survey conducted in China's four biggest and developed cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Contingent valuation method (CVM) and the ordered Probit model are employed to achieve the objective. The results show that the least average environmental values of a BEV are 30.60 thousand CNY in the four cities. People with higher income, already having private cars, knowing more about BEVs, thinking that BEVs can improve air quality or with higher levels of education are willing to pay more. Therefore, the policymakers should take the positive WTP of consumers for the environmental effects of BEVs into consideration when pricing the BEVs and reconsider the existing subsidies to BEVs. - Highlights: • The environmental values of a BEV are estimated by CVM and an ordered Probit model. • The study is based on a random survey in the four biggest and developed cities in China. • The survey is concerning public's attitude towards battery electric vehicles (BEVs). • People who are males, with a higher income, knowing more about BEVs or with a higher level of education have a higher WTP.

The lost value of groundwater and its influence on environmental decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Paleologos, Evan K

2008-08-01

A critical aspect in establishing environmental policies lies in the proper assessment of the value of the resource being affected. Standard risk assessment analyses calculate the cost of pollution as consisting, solely, of the cost to remediate a site. This traditional definition is extended here to include the lost value of groundwater. These concepts and their impact on decision-making analyses are illustrated through the case of municipal waste landfills. Based on data from existing polluting sites, a simple cost-benefit probabilistic analysis is conducted first, which equates, as is the practice, the cost of pollution to that of remediation. This leads rationally to selection of the lowest-protection technology. Using plausible arguments the reduction in value of groundwater from potable high-quality water to irrigation water, which is what is returned after remediation, is argued. The arguments consist of: (a) the ratio of the subsidized prices of drinking to irrigation water reflects the relative value of the use of water; (b) the amount paid for remediation, in each case, represents, at a minimum, the value of the water recovered; and (c) the lost value of groundwater equals the value of drinking water minus the value of irrigation water. Incorporation of this lost value of groundwater is sufficient to drastically alter the conclusions of the decision-making analysis and make the highest level technology the most rational and profitable alternative. The broader point of this article lies in that proper accounting of environmental costs is necessary in order to alter environmental policies and practices.

Faire Value - Perspective of Chance in Environmental Accounting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ionica Oncioiu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In the stage there are some important problems concerning the environment which has stimulated the initiative of others regarding the necessity of doing something to remediate them. So, the specialists have come to the solution how increasing quality of the people’s lives and to find some strategies which offer the possibility to protect the resources of the natural environment in the process of social and economic development (a sustainable development. This concept has signaled people’s concerns about the effort to incorporate environmental benefits and costs into economic decision making. Regarding the reflection of the green or environmental accounting are still very difficult to do because that can be used in different context and with different meanings (national, financial and managerial accounting.In this paper we intend to present how the ecological accounting can be reflected at the fair value in the annual financial statements and what will be the business’s environmental impact to the sustainable development.

A systematic investigation into b values prior to coming large earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Nanjo, K.; Yoshida, A.

2017-12-01

The Gutenberg-Richter law for frequency-magnitude distribution of earthquakes is now well established in seismology. The b value, the slope of the distribution, is supposed to reflect heterogeneity of seismogenic region (e.g. Mogi 1962) and development of interplate coupling in subduction zone (e.g. Nanjo et al., 2012; Tormann et al. 2015). In the laboratory as well as in the Earth's crust, the b value is known to be inversely dependent on differential stresses (Scholz 1968, 2015). In this context, the b value could serve as a stress meter to help locate asperities, the highly-stressed patches, in fault planes where large rupture energy is released (e.g. Schorlemmer & Wiemer 2005). However, it still remains uncertain whether the b values of events prior to coming large earthquakes are always low significantly. To clarify this issue, we conducted a systematic investigation into b values prior to large earthquakes in the Japanese Mainland. Since no physical definition of mainshock, foreshock, and aftershock is known, we simply investigated b values of the events with magnitudes larger than the lower-cutoff magnitude, Mc, prior to earthquakes equal to or larger than a threshold magnitude, Mth, where Mth>Mc. Schorlemmer et al. (2005) showed that the b value for different fault types differs significantly, which is supposed to reflect the feature that the fracture stress depends on fault types. Therefore, we classified fault motions into normal, strike-slip, and thrust types based on the mechanism solution of earthquakes, and computed b values of events associated with each fault motion separately. We found that the target events (M≥Mth) and the events that occurred prior to the target events both show a common systematic change in b: normal faulting events have the highest b values, thrust events the lowest and strike-slip events intermediate values. Moreover, we found that the b values for the prior events (M≥Mc) are significantly lower than the b values for the

Reusing Recycling Material as Teaching Strategy to Strengthen Environmental Values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yudit Zaida del Carmen Alarcón de Palma

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The study was centered interest implement recycling reuse the material as a teaching strategy to strengthen environmental students “Adolfo Moreno” National Basic School Barinitas parish, municipality Bolivar, Barinas state values. School Year 2014 - 2015. The study was based on the paradigm of qualitative research and research in action type. From this point of view, the study focuses on participatory action this mode, it is limited in so-called field layouts. The study its characteristics was fulfilled in the following phases: diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation and systematization. Finally, it can be noted that the implementation of teaching strategies reuse recycle material for strengthening environmental students "Adolfo Moreno" National Basic School values; They will be incorporating parents and guardians as well as various educational actors to implement the activities involved in the proposal which seeks to change attitudes to improve through practical actions management standards and conservation practices to achieve an environmental change in institution through technical, theoretical and practical knowledge to strengthen the benefit of recyclables properly handle procedures.

Assessment of Environmental Impact and the Nutritive Value of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the environmental impact and nutritive value of water hyacinth (WH) in ruminant nutrition in Nigeria. In the first experiment, biomass yield, chemical composition, secondary metabolites and mineral content of WH harvested during the four sub seasons of the year were ...

Influences of large sets of environmental exposures on immune responses in healthy adult men.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Buqing; Rykova, Marina; Jäger, Gundula; Feuerecker, Matthias; Hörl, Marion; Matzel, Sandra; Ponomarev, Sergey; Vassilieva, Galina; Nichiporuk, Igor; Choukèr, Alexander

2015-08-26

Environmental factors have long been known to influence immune responses. In particular, clinical studies about the association between migration and increased risk of atopy/asthma have provided important information on the role of migration associated large sets of environmental exposures in the development of allergic diseases. However, investigations about environmental effects on immune responses are mostly limited in candidate environmental exposures, such as air pollution. The influences of large sets of environmental exposures on immune responses are still largely unknown. A simulated 520-d Mars mission provided an opportunity to investigate this topic. Six healthy males lived in a closed habitat simulating a spacecraft for 520 days. When they exited their "spacecraft" after the mission, the scenario was similar to that of migration, involving exposure to a new set of environmental pollutants and allergens. We measured multiple immune parameters with blood samples at chosen time points after the mission. At the early adaptation stage, highly enhanced cytokine responses were observed upon ex vivo antigen stimulations. For cell population frequencies, we found the subjects displayed increased neutrophils. These results may presumably represent the immune changes occurred in healthy humans when migrating, indicating that large sets of environmental exposures may trigger aberrant immune activity.

Environmental impact assessment and environmental audit in large-scale public infrastructure construction: the case of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Guizhen; Zhang, Lei; Lu, Yonglong

2009-09-01

Large-scale public infrastructure projects have featured in China's modernization course since the early 1980s. During the early stages of China's rapid economic development, public attention focused on the economic and social impact of high-profile construction projects. In recent years, however, we have seen a shift in public concern toward the environmental and ecological effects of such projects, and today governments are required to provide valid environmental impact assessments prior to allowing large-scale construction. The official requirement for the monitoring of environmental conditions has led to an increased number of debates in recent years regarding the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Governmental Environmental Audits (GEAs) as environmental safeguards in instances of large-scale construction. Although EIA and GEA are conducted by different institutions and have different goals and enforcement potential, these two practices can be closely related in terms of methodology. This article cites the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway as an instance in which EIA and GEA offer complementary approaches to environmental impact management. This study concludes that the GEA approach can serve as an effective follow-up to the EIA and establishes that the EIA lays a base for conducting future GEAs. The relationship that emerges through a study of the Railway's construction calls for more deliberate institutional arrangements and cooperation if the two practices are to be used in concert to optimal effect.

Genetics and evolution of function-valued traits: understanding environmentally responsive phenotypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Stinchcombe, John R; Kirkpatrick, Mark

2012-11-01

Many central questions in ecology and evolutionary biology require characterizing phenotypes that change with time and environmental conditions. Such traits are inherently functions, and new 'function-valued' methods use the order, spacing, and functional nature of the data typically ignored by traditional univariate and multivariate analyses. These rapidly developing methods account for the continuous change in traits of interest in response to other variables, and are superior to traditional summary-based analyses for growth trajectories, morphological shapes, and environmentally sensitive phenotypes. Here, we explain how function-valued methods make flexible use of data and lead to new biological insights. These approaches frequently offer enhanced statistical power, a natural basis of interpretation, and are applicable to many existing data sets. We also illustrate applications of function-valued methods to address ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral hypotheses, and highlight future directions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The economic value of the flow regulation environmental service in a Brazilian urban watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Guilherme F.; de Souza, Verônica B. F. S.; Moraes, Natália V.

2017-11-01

Urban flood management have often focused either on the capacity expansion of drainage systems or on artificial detention storage. While flood control should take part early on urban planning, not enough is known to guide such plans and provide incentive to land use decisions that minimize the vulnerability to localized floods. In this paper, we offer a broader perspective on flood protection, by treating the original hydrologic flow regulation as an environmental service, and exploring how the value of this environmental service drives economic land use decisions that convert original (permeable) land into urbanized (impermeable). We investigate the relationship between land use decisions and their hydrologic consequences explicitly, and use this relationship to simulate resulting land use scenarios depending on the value attached to the environmental service of flow regulation. Rainfall-runoff simulation model results are combined to an optimization model based on two-stage stochastic programming approach to model economic land use decisions. The objective function maximizes the total expected land use benefit in an urban area, considering the opportunity cost of permeable areas in the first stage and the resulting loss of the environmental service of flow regulation on the second stage, under several probable hydrological events. A watershed in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is used to demonstrate the approach. Different values attached to the environmental service were tested, from zero to higher than the opportunity cost of land, and artificial detention infrastructure was included to calculate the resulting land use change and the loss in the environmental service value. Results indicate that by valuing the environmental service loss and discounting it from the economic benefits of land use, alternative solutions to land use are found, with decreased peak flows and lower flood frequency. Combined solutions including structural and non

Value orientations and environmental beliefs in five countries - Validity of an instrument to measure egoistic, altruistic and biospheric value orientations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Judith I. M.; Steg, Linda

Various scholars argue that egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric value orientations are important for understanding environmental beliefs and behavior. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for the distinction between altruistic and biospheric values. This study examines whether this

A Multidimensional Environmental Value Orientation Approach to Forest Recreation Area Tourism Market Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng-Ping Wang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper uses multidimensional environmental value orientations as the segmentation bases for analyzing a natural destination tourism market of the National Forest Recreation Areas in Taiwan. Cluster analyses identify two segments, Acceptance and Conditionality, within 1870 usable observations. Independent sample t test and crosstab analyses are applied to examine these segments’ forest value orientations, sociodemographic features, and service demands. The Acceptance group tends to be potential ecotourists, while still recognizing the commercial value of the natural resources. The Conditionality group may not possess a strong sense of ecotourism, given that its favored services can affect the environment. Overall, this article confirms the use of multidimensional environmental value orientation approaches can generate a comprehensive natural tourist segment comparison that benefits practical management decision making.

The role of metadata in managing large environmental science datasets. Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melton, R.B.; DeVaney, D.M. [eds.] [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); French, J. C. [Univ. of Virginia, (United States)

1995-06-01

The purpose of this workshop was to bring together computer science researchers and environmental sciences data management practitioners to consider the role of metadata in managing large environmental sciences datasets. The objectives included: establishing a common definition of metadata; identifying categories of metadata; defining problems in managing metadata; and defining problems related to linking metadata with primary data.

Extreme value statistics and thermodynamics of earthquakes. Large earthquakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lavenda, B. [Camerino Univ., Camerino, MC (Italy); Cipollone, E. [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, S. Maria di Galeria, RM (Italy). National Centre for Research on Thermodynamics

2000-06-01

A compound Poisson process is used to derive a new shape parameter which can be used to discriminate between large earthquakes and aftershocks sequences. Sample exceedance distributions of large earthquakes are fitted to the Pareto tail and the actual distribution of the maximum to the Frechet distribution, while the sample distribution of aftershocks are fitted to a Beta distribution and the distribution of the minimum to the Weibull distribution for the smallest value. The transition between initial sample distributions and asymptotic extreme value distributions show that self-similar power laws are transformed into non scaling exponential distributions so that neither self-similarity nor the Gutenberg-Richter law can be considered universal. The energy-magnitude transformation converts the Frechet distribution into the Gumbel distribution, originally proposed by Epstein and Lomnitz, and not the Gompertz distribution as in the Lomnitz-Adler and Lomnitz generalization of the Gutenberg-Richter law. Numerical comparison is made with the Lomnitz-Adler and Lomnitz analysis using the same catalogue of Chinese earthquakes. An analogy is drawn between large earthquakes and high energy particle physics. A generalized equation of state is used to transform the Gamma density into the order-statistic Frechet distribution. Earthquake temperature and volume are determined as functions of the energy. Large insurance claims based on the Pareto distribution, which does not have a right endpoint, show why there cannot be a maximum earthquake energy.

Causal inference between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors in a large-scale region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Yuqiong; Du, Qingyun; Wang, Qi; Yu, Huanyun; Liu, Jianfeng; Tian, Yu; Chang, Chunying; Lei, Jing

2017-01-01

The causation between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors are generally obtained from field experiments at local scales at present, and lack sufficient evidence from large scales. However, inferring causation between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors across large-scale regions is challenging. Because the conventional correlation-based approaches used for causation assessments across large-scale regions, at the expense of actual causation, can result in spurious insights. In this study, a general approach framework, Intervention calculus when the directed acyclic graph (DAG) is absent (IDA) combined with the backdoor criterion (BC), was introduced to identify causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and the potential environmental factors across large-scale regions. We take the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China as a case study. The causal structures and effects were identified based on the concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, As, Cu, Hg, Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd) in soil (0–20 cm depth) and vegetable (lettuce) and 40 environmental factors (soil properties, extractable heavy metals and weathering indices) in 94 samples across the PRD. Results show that the bioavailability of heavy metals (Cd, Zn, Cr, Ni and As) was causally influenced by soil properties and soil weathering factors, whereas no causal factor impacted the bioavailability of Cu, Hg and Pb. No latent factor was found between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors. The causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors at field experiments is consistent with that on a large scale. The IDA combined with the BC provides a powerful tool to identify causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors across large-scale regions. Causal inference in a large system with the dynamic changes has great implications for system-based risk management. - Causation between the

Are personal values related to sustainable attribute choice

OpenAIRE

Mueller, Simone; Sirieix, Lucie; Remaud, Hervé

2011-01-01

Purpose: A cross-cultural study with large representative samples analyses to what degree Schwartz’s personal values and environmental concerns are related to consumers’ choices of wine with sustainable characteristics. Methodology: Across seven countries, the attribute importance and willingness to pay of consumer segments resulting from choice experiments are related to Schwartz’s personal value dimensions and environmental attitudes. Findings: Personal values were only weakly related to re...

Causal inference between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors in a large-scale region.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuqiong; Du, Qingyun; Wang, Qi; Yu, Huanyun; Liu, Jianfeng; Tian, Yu; Chang, Chunying; Lei, Jing

2017-07-01

The causation between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors are generally obtained from field experiments at local scales at present, and lack sufficient evidence from large scales. However, inferring causation between bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors across large-scale regions is challenging. Because the conventional correlation-based approaches used for causation assessments across large-scale regions, at the expense of actual causation, can result in spurious insights. In this study, a general approach framework, Intervention calculus when the directed acyclic graph (DAG) is absent (IDA) combined with the backdoor criterion (BC), was introduced to identify causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and the potential environmental factors across large-scale regions. We take the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China as a case study. The causal structures and effects were identified based on the concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, As, Cu, Hg, Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd) in soil (0-20 cm depth) and vegetable (lettuce) and 40 environmental factors (soil properties, extractable heavy metals and weathering indices) in 94 samples across the PRD. Results show that the bioavailability of heavy metals (Cd, Zn, Cr, Ni and As) was causally influenced by soil properties and soil weathering factors, whereas no causal factor impacted the bioavailability of Cu, Hg and Pb. No latent factor was found between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors. The causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors at field experiments is consistent with that on a large scale. The IDA combined with the BC provides a powerful tool to identify causation between the bioavailability of heavy metals and environmental factors across large-scale regions. Causal inference in a large system with the dynamic changes has great implications for system-based risk management. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All

Extreme value statistics and thermodynamics of earthquakes: large earthquakes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. H. Lavenda

2000-06-01

Full Text Available A compound Poisson process is used to derive a new shape parameter which can be used to discriminate between large earthquakes and aftershock sequences. Sample exceedance distributions of large earthquakes are fitted to the Pareto tail and the actual distribution of the maximum to the Fréchet distribution, while the sample distribution of aftershocks are fitted to a Beta distribution and the distribution of the minimum to the Weibull distribution for the smallest value. The transition between initial sample distributions and asymptotic extreme value distributions shows that self-similar power laws are transformed into nonscaling exponential distributions so that neither self-similarity nor the Gutenberg-Richter law can be considered universal. The energy-magnitude transformation converts the Fréchet distribution into the Gumbel distribution, originally proposed by Epstein and Lomnitz, and not the Gompertz distribution as in the Lomnitz-Adler and Lomnitz generalization of the Gutenberg-Richter law. Numerical comparison is made with the Lomnitz-Adler and Lomnitz analysis using the same Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes. An analogy is drawn between large earthquakes and high energy particle physics. A generalized equation of state is used to transform the Gamma density into the order-statistic Fréchet distribution. Earthquaketemperature and volume are determined as functions of the energy. Large insurance claims based on the Pareto distribution, which does not have a right endpoint, show why there cannot be a maximum earthquake energy.

Effect of Environmental Quality on Property Rental Values in Peri ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined the effect of environmental quality on rental values of residential accommodation at the peripheral neighbourhoods of Minna, Nigeria. Cluster sampling method was employed in the selection of sampled areas and, six neighbourhoods were randomly selected. Sample size of 600 was drawn out of the ...

Connecting Knowledge, Belief, Values and Action: Informing Climate Literacy by Using Autobiographies to Articulate Environmental Worldviews

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, M. A.

2011-12-01

Climate literacy is evolving as a specific subset of science and environmental literacy. Through a longitudinal analysis of environmental autobiographies of an internationally and religiously diverse group of environmental sciences majors at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the southern U.S., this presentation will explore: 1) sources and impact of religious beliefs on students' environmental worldview; 2) conflicts between religious, community and scientific values; and 3) navigating the tensions between trust in a religious deity as well as scientific methods and processes. Lester Milbrath states that "beliefs empower and deceive us." The media, as well as significant people and institutions, including religious institutions, socialize us and contribute to individual and societal worldviews. "We so thoroughly accept our culture's beliefs about how the world works that we hardly ever think about them even though they underlie everything we think and do." Beliefs, attitudes, and values comprise an important component of environmental literacy, a praxis-oriented concept from the field of environmental education, which is defined as: [T]he capacity to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems . . . Environmental literacy should be defined in terms of observable behaviors. (Disinger and Roth 1992, 2). Environmental literacy draws upon six areas: environmental sensitivity; knowledge; skills; beliefs, attitudes and values; personal investment and responsibility; and active involvement. It involves particular ways of thinking, acting, and valuing (Roth 1992). Religious beliefs, or lack thereof, shape worldviews, thereby influencing individual and societal environmental and more specifically, climate literacy. For example, Western Christianity espouses a hierarchical anthropocentric worldview, putting God infinitely above human beings, and

Disruptions in large value payment systems: an experimental approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abbink, K.; Bosman, R.; Heijmans, R.; van Winden, F.

2010-01-01

This experimental study investigates the behaviour of banks in a large value payment system. More specifically,we look at 1) the reactions of banks to disruptions in the payment system, 2) the way in which the history of disruptions affects the behaviour of banks (path dependency) and 3) the effect

Disruptions in large value payment systems: An experimental approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abbink, K.; Bosman, R.; Heijmans, R.; van Winden, F.; Hellqvist, M.; Laine, T.

2012-01-01

This experimental study investigates the behaviour of banks in a large value payment system. More specifically, we look at 1) the reactions of banks to disruptions in the payment system, 2) the way in which the history of disruptions affects the behaviour of banks (path dependency) and 3) the effect

Listening in on the past: what can otolith δ18O values really tell us about the environmental history of fishes?

Science.gov (United States)

Darnaude, Audrey M; Sturrock, Anna; Trueman, Clive N; Mouillot, David; Campana, Steven E; Hunter, Ewan

2014-01-01

Oxygen isotope ratios from fish otoliths are used to discriminate marine stocks and reconstruct past climate, assuming that variations in otolith δ18O values closely reflect differences in temperature history of fish when accounting for salinity induced variability in water δ18O. To investigate this, we exploited the environmental and migratory data gathered from a decade using archival tags to study the behaviour of adult plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) in the North Sea. Based on the tag-derived monthly distributions of the fish and corresponding temperature and salinity estimates modelled across three consecutive years, we first predicted annual otolith δ18O values for three geographically discrete offshore sub-stocks, using three alternative plausible scenarios for otolith growth. Comparison of predicted vs. measured annual δ18O values demonstrated >96% correct prediction of sub-stock membership, irrespective of the otolith growth scenario. Pronounced inter-stock differences in δ18O values, notably in summer, provide a robust marker for reconstructing broad-scale plaice distribution in the North Sea. However, although largely congruent, measured and predicted annual δ18O values did not fully match [ corrected]. Small, but consistent, offsets were also observed between individual high-resolution otolith δ18O values measured during tag recording time and corresponding δ18O predictions using concomitant tag-recorded temperatures and location-specific salinity estimates. The nature of the shifts differed among sub-stocks, suggesting specific vital effects linked to variation in physiological response to temperature. Therefore, although otolith δ18O in free-ranging fish largely reflects environmental temperature and salinity, we counsel prudence when interpreting otolith δ18O data for stock discrimination or temperature reconstruction until the mechanisms underpinning otolith δ18O signature acquisition, and associated variation, are clarified.

Monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts: variability of monetary values. Seminar proceedings of December 10, 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnet, Xavier; Ben Maid, Atika; Calvet, Melanie; Darses, Ophelie; Devaux, Jeremy; Simon, Olivier; Gatier, Alexis; Wittmann, Anne-laure; Bonnet, Xavier; Bonroy, Olivier; Ceci-Renaud, Nila; Tarayoun, Tedjani; Mercadie, Corinne; Adam, Gabrielle; Perrissin Fabert, Baptiste; Combet, Emmanuel; Casset, Loic; Meunier, David; Le Maitre, Helene; Brunel, Julien; Rotillon, Gilles

2015-06-01

Within the General Commission for Sustainable Development, the Service for Economics, Assessment and Integration of Sustainable Development is in charge of developing and promoting the economic valuation of policies, regulations, environmental goods and services, related to biodiversity, natural assets and environmental amenities. On December 10, 2014, it held the fifth annual seminar on monetary valuation of environmental goods, services and impacts. The first four editions respectively were devoted to economic valuation methods of environmental goods and services, implementations of these methods, uses of monetary values and methodological innovations; the 2014 seminar addressed the variability of monetary values. The ten presentations of the seminar explored the different values resulting from monetary valuation methods: what do they mean? What do they measure? Why are they relevant to integrate environmental valuation in the various economic sectors? From both a theoretical and practical point of view, theses questions were addressed by considering three main topics: the integration of environmental value in market prices, the different meanings of carbon values and the temporal variability of values used in assessment of investment projects in the transport sector. Those conferences are aimed for experts and practitioners of monetary valuation techniques as well as for users of the values produced. They provide a place to gather and facilitate dialogue between representatives from universities, government agencies and private sector involved in these issues. (authors)

The Environmental Conservation Value of the Saemangeum Open Sea in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seul-Ye Lim

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The Saemangeum open sea (SOS, which refers to the outer sea of the Saemangeum seawall in Korea, is being threatened by contamination caused by the Saemangeum development project. The policy-makers need information on the environmental conservation value of the SOS for informed decision-making about the SOS. This paper attempts to measure the environmental conservation value of the SOS. To this end, the public’s willingness to pay (WTP for conserving the SOS is derived from a 2015 contingent valuation survey of 1000 Korean households comprising 400 households residing in the Saemangeum area and 600 households living in other areas. The authors employ a one-and-one-half-bounded dichotomous choice question format. Moreover, the spike model is adopted to analyze the WTP data with zero observations. The mean annual WTP values for both areas are calculated to be KRW 3861 (USD 3.26 and KRW 3789 (USD 3.20 per household, respectively. They are statistically significant at the 1% level. When the sample is expanded to the whole country, it is worth KRW 70.9 billion (USD 59.8 million per annum. Therefore, conserving the SOS will contribute to the Korean people’s utility and can be done with public support. The value provides a useful baseline for decision-making for the SOS management.

Computational Techniques for Model Predictive Control of Large-Scale Systems with Continuous-Valued and Discrete-Valued Inputs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koichi Kobayashi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We propose computational techniques for model predictive control of large-scale systems with both continuous-valued control inputs and discrete-valued control inputs, which are a class of hybrid systems. In the proposed method, we introduce the notion of virtual control inputs, which are obtained by relaxing discrete-valued control inputs to continuous variables. In online computation, first, we find continuous-valued control inputs and virtual control inputs minimizing a cost function. Next, using the obtained virtual control inputs, only discrete-valued control inputs at the current time are computed in each subsystem. In addition, we also discuss the effect of quantization errors. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown by a numerical example. The proposed method enables us to reduce and decentralize the computation load.

A PDCA-based approach to Environmental Value Stream Mapping (E-VSM)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo; Torres Romero, Joseth; Govindan, Kannan

2018-01-01

Research into the application of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) as a tool to enhance the environmental sustainability performance of operations has been confined to a handful of studies only. Research on this green lean research stream is therefore limited, especially when compared to the vast amount...

Transformation of environmental conditions in large former Soviet countries: regional analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bityukova, V. R.; Borovikov, M. S.

2018-01-01

The article studies changes in the structure of environmental conditions of regions in the large former Soviet countries (case study of Russia and Kazakhstan) that have formed considerable contrasts in the placement of industrial complex and population settlement during the previous development stages. The changes related to the transition to market economy have led to essential transformation of environmental conditions. A complex index allowing to assess changes at the regional level in Kazakhstan and Russia and to reveal main similarities and differences between those changes is applied to studying the transformation of regional and industry structure. The article examines both industry-specific and spatial patterns forming environmental conditions at the regional level.

Ecological value orientations of prospective secondary school ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A

ecological balance is believed to depend largely on values acquired in the course of his/her life. Putnam .... North American culture and the more ecological vision of the Latin American .... ecological/environmental value orientations of different segments of .... of prospective teachers in Ethiopia as compared to participants of.

Study on environmental background values of uranium in water of Dongting Lake system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhai Pengji; Kang Tiesheng

1987-01-01

Study on environmental background values in water is the base of evaluating water quality and also is the foundational work of studying the law of distribution, accumulation and transfer of the elements. Research on background values of U in water not only can understand radioactive level but also has actual significance for the general survey of U by water. In the work uranium contents were determined by fission track analytical technique in the filtered and unfiltered specimens of river water, reservoir water and spring water taken from more than one hundred sections located in Dongting Lake system and the statistical process of data were carried out by computer. The environmental background values in water of various river system were obtained and compared with the situation of home and abroad. The seasonal variety of uranium content and the level of U in reservoir, spring water and natural reserve were discussed

76 FR 70444 - Environmental Economics Advisory Committee Augmented for the Consideration of the Value of Water...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-14

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9491-7] Environmental Economics Advisory Committee Augmented... Economics Advisory Committee to provide early advice on the value of water to the United States (U.S... to FACA and EPA policy, notice is hereby given that the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee...

What environmental factors influence resumption of valued activities post stroke: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative findings.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jellema, S.; Hees, S. van; Zajec, J.; Sande, R. van der; Nijhuis-van der Sanden M.W.G.; Steultjens, E.M.J.

2017-01-01

Objective: Identify the environmental factors that influence stroke-survivors’ reengagement in personally valued activities and determine what specific environmental factors are related to specific valued activity types. Data sources: PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO were searched until June 2016 using

Value of flexibility in systems with large wind penetration

OpenAIRE

Silva , Vera

2010-01-01

The focus of this thesis is the quantification of the value of operation flexibility in systems with large penetration of wind generation. This begins with the quantification of the impact of wind generation (WG) uncertainty on the system's needs for frequency regulation and reserve. This is done by combing the stochastic behaviour of wind generation, demand uncertainty and generation outages. Two different approaches are compared to access the implications of using normal distribution approx...

Agri-Environmental Resource Management by Large-Scale Collective Action: Determining KEY Success Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Uetake, Tetsuya

2015-01-01

Purpose: Large-scale collective action is necessary when managing agricultural natural resources such as biodiversity and water quality. This paper determines the key factors to the success of such action. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper analyses four large-scale collective actions used to manage agri-environmental resources in Canada and…

Shareholder value and the performance of a large nursing home chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-06-01

To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993-2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Healthcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains.

Environmental quality indexing of large industrial development alternatives using AHP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solnes, Julius

2003-01-01

Two industrial development alternatives have been proposed for the East Coast of Iceland in order to strengthen its socio-economic basis. The favoured option is to build a large aluminium smelter, which requires massive hydropower development in the nearby highlands. Another viable option is the construction of a 6-million-ton oil refinery, following the planned exploitation of the Timan Pechora oil reserves in the Russian Arctic. A third 'fictitious' alternative could be general development of existing regional industry and new knowledge-based industries, development of ecotourism, establishment of national parks, accompanied by infrastructure improvement (roads, tunnels, communications, schools, etc.). The three alternatives will have different environmental consequences. The controversial hydropower plant for the smelter requires a large water reservoir as well as considerable land disturbance in this unique mountain territory, considered to be the largest uninhabited wilderness in Western Europe. The aluminium smelter and the oil refinery will give rise to substantial increase of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the country (about 20%). Then there is potential environmental risk associated with the refinery regarding oil spills at sea, which could have disastrous impact on the fisheries industry. However, the oil refinery does not require any hydropower development, which is a positive factor. Finally, the third alternative could be defined as a ''green'' solution whereby the detrimental environmental consequences of the two industrial solutions are mostly avoided. In order to compare the three alternatives in an orderly manner, the analytic hierarchy process methodology of Saaty was applied to calculate the environmental quality index of each alternative, which is defined as a weighted sum of selected environmental and socio-economic factors. These factors are evaluated on a comparison basis, applying the AHP methodology, and the weights in the quality

THE APPLICATION OF THE METHOD ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE AT RISK (EVaR IN ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Cornelia I. PICIU

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Taking into account the fact that the methodology Value at Risk or the method VaR, which is omnipresent in investment banking and which has lately become a standard in the procedure of evaluating risks for any category of economic activities, we shall use a technique that is compatible with the VaR-market, called Environmental Value at Risk or EvaR. While the VaR- market uses a level of trust of 95%, the EvaR uses a set of levels up to 99,999%. Thus, we shall try to analyze the variables of the method EVaR, and the way in which this model can be applied as a risk of the lack (rarity of petroleum. This risk is not only analyzed as a unique risk of growing the prices, but also as an uncertainty risk on volatile markets, in which the price and the volatility are the main variables used by the function EVaR.

Relationships between value orientations, self-determined motivational types and pro-environmental behavioural intentions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Judith M.; Steg, Linda

2010-01-01

We examined the predictive power of egoistic altruistic and biospheric value orientations and six types of self-determined motivations (i e intrinsic motivation integrated regulation identified regulation introjected regulation external regulation and amotivation) toward acting pro-environmentally

Relationships between environmentally sound technologies and competitiveness of companies in the value chain of printed paper from forest to market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perkioe, S.

2007-07-01

Technologies play a well-known role in creating competitive advantages for companies as well as in controlling environmental impacts. This study deals with the relationship between environmentally sound technologies and the competitiveness of companies in the value chain of printed paper from forest to market. These connections are important to understand, because the technology is an important solution in facing environmental requirements. This study answers the following five questions: Which environmentally sound technologies are the most important for environmental impacts in the value chain of printed paper? How do they impact on the competitiveness of companies? How do these technologies differ across the value chain. Do they impact on competitiveness of companies in the other part of the value chain? The fifth research question involves studying differences between function mechanisms of pollution-prevention technology and pollution-abatement technology in facing legal requirements. This is studied as a part of the so-called 'Porter Hypothesis'. A term, environmental value creation, has been defined as 'performing activities by managing environmental aspects so that the value of goods and services to consumers or to customers increases.' Data was collected from the value chain of printed paper and were divided into the following parts: forest harvesting, pulp mill, paper mill and printing house. Eight experts were interviewed resulting in 69 environmentally sound technologies during the time periods 1980-1999 and 2000-2019. The data was analysed by non-parametrical statistical tests. As a result of this study, automation, measurement and information technologies, closing-up technologies and energy technologies were found to be the most important for environmental impacts and frequently mentioned responses of environmentally sound technologies in the value chain of printed paper. The cost factors of raw material and staff and

Environmental aspects of large-scale wind-power systems in the UK

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robson, A

1983-12-01

Environmental issues relating to the introduction of large, MW-scale wind turbines at land-based sites in the U.K. are discussed. Areas of interest include noise, television interference, hazards to bird life and visual effects. A number of areas of uncertainty are identified, but enough is known from experience elsewhere in the world to enable the first U.K. machines to be introduced in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. Research currently under way will serve to establish siting criteria more clearly, and could significantly increase the potential wind-energy resource. Certain studies of the comparative risk of energy systems are shown to be overpessimistic for U.K. wind turbines.

Large-scale projects between regional planning and environmental protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, G.

1984-01-01

The first part of the work discusses the current law of land-use planning, municipal and technical construction planning, and licensing under the atomic energy law and the federal law on immission protection. In the second part some theses suggesting modifications are submitted. In the sector of land-use planning substantial contributions to the protection of the environment can only be expected from programs and plans (aims). For the environmental conflicts likely to arise from large-scale projects (nuclear power plant, fossil-fuel power plant) this holds good for the most part of site selection plans. They have bearings on environmental protection in that they presuppose thorough examination of facts, help to recognize possible conflicts at an early date and provide a frame for solving those problems. Municipal construction planning is guided by the following principles: Environmental protection is an equivalent planning target. Environmental data and facts and their methodical processing play a fundamental part as they constitute the basis of evaluation. Under the rules and regulations of the federal law on immission protection, section 5, number 2 - prevention of nuisances - operators are obliged to take preventive care of risks. That section is not concerned with planning or distribution. Neither does the licensing of nuclear plants have planning character. So far as the legal preconditions of licensing are fulfilled, the scope for rejection of an application under section 7, subsection 2 of the atomic energy law in view of site selection and requirement of a plant hardly carries any practical weight. (orig./HP) [de

Shareholder Value and the Performance of a Large Nursing Home Chain

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchener, Martin; O'Meara, Janis; Brody, Ab; Lee, Hyang Yuol; Harrington, Charlene

2008-01-01

Objective To analyze corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains) that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies. Study Design To establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and processes, we conducted an historical (1993–2005) case study of one of the largest chains (Sun Helathcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data sources. Data Sources Two main sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports, industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly available California facility cost reports and quality data. Principal Findings Shareholder value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1) rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of business. Conclusions Study findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing home chains. PMID:18454781

A conservation strategy in San Andres Island: school projects and values in environmental education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forero M, German; Mahecha G, Ana Maria

2006-01-01

With the scope of showing and preserving an island endangered species, the Swanka turtle, a campaign and an environmental education program were conducted. The campaign consisted in showing the species to the community, its characteristics and its threats, through mass media and visits to different local schools. The environmental education program was carried out through a Scholar Environmental Project, which consisted on the conformation of an environmental group, where cognitive, attitudinal and participative aspects were worked together. Using a constrictive methodology the children developed some knowledge about the species and Its habitats. The scope was that they modified attitudes and behaviors towards situations that contribute to environmental damage; the reinforcement of values was the central point during all the activities. The knowledge gained by the pupils and the observed changes on their attitudes and participation show the positive results that arise when the action of environmental education focuses on the people and not the resources that are to be preserved

Communication of Social and Environmental Responsibility in the Mission, Vision and Values of BM&FBovespa and Fortune 500 companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monique Cristiane de Oliveira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study examines evidence of the socio-environmental alignment of companies listed on the Novo Mercado segment of the BM&FBovespa and in the Fortune 500, using content analysis of the mission, vision and values published by these organizations. Data were collected from the websites of the 233 companies that made up the research sample. Findings reveal that 90 of the companies investigated showed some evidence of social and environmental concerns in the dimensions analyzed. Indication of socio-environmental concerns appeared more frequently with regard to the dimension "values." Among the 42 terms encountered that refer to environmental concern, "sustainable" and "sustainability" appeared most frequently among the companies listed on BM&FBovespa, while "integrity", "ethics" and "social responsibility" were those more often used by the Fortune 500 companies. Results suggest that social and environmental disclosure is still incipient. Moreover, it is observed that organizations evincing some degree of concern in their missions, visions and values cannot necessarily be seen as socially and environmentally responsible, because the inclusion of this information in their texts is not proof that the company carries out actions of socio-environmental responsibility.

Secondary School Students' Interests, Attitudes and Values Concerning School Science Related to Environmental Issues in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Uitto, Anna; Juuti, Kalle; Lavonen, Jari; Byman, Reijo; Meisalo, Veijo

2011-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between students' interests in environmental issues, attitudes to environmental responsibility and biocentric values in school science education. The factors were investigated within the framework of three moderators: gender, school and residential area of the school. The survey was carried out using the…

Water, Air, Fire, and Earth--A Developmental Study in Portugal of Environmental Conceptions and Values.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahn, Peter H., Jr.; Lourenco, Orlando

This study contributes to an emerging body of research on the development of the human relationship with nature. One hundred and twenty participants from four grade levels (fifth, eighth, eleventh, and college) were interviewed about their environmental conceptions and values. Results showed that participants valued many aspects of nature and…

Assessing the effects of customer innovativeness, environmental value and ecological lifestyles on residential solar power systems install intention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Kee Kuo

2014-01-01

To understand the impact of environmental value, ecological lifestyle, customer innovativeness on customer intention to install solar power system (SPS) in their private houses, an empirical model was proposed. Customer innovativeness was treated as a second-order construct with two first-order dimensions, with each of the latter being measured by means of reflective indicators. Using structural equation modeling, data collected from 203 college students and faculties at a University of Taiwan were tested against the model. We found that environmental value has a positive impact on ecological lifestyle and SPS install intention. Although ecological lifestyle associates positively with SPS install intention, the effect disappears when environmental value is included in the model. The effect of customer innovativeness on SPS install intention results from the tendency of customer novelty seeking, while the impact of customer independent judgment-making on SPS install intention is insignificant. The model explained 76% of the total variations within SPS install intention. Managerial implications for promoting of SPS are considered, and suggestions for further research provided. - Highlights: • We integrate customer innovativeness into an environmental behavior model. • The impact of customer innovativeness on SPS install intention was confirmed. • The impact of novelty seeking on SPS install intention has been found. • Environmental value is the most important factor for SPS install intention. • The model explained 76% of the total variations within SPS install intention

The contribution of environmental isotopes to studies of large aquifers in Morocco

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kabbaj, A.; Zeryouhi, I.; Carlier, Ph.

1979-01-01

The geochemistry of environmental isotopes has been used for the study of various aquifers in Morocco, some of which are large, such as the Charf el Akab in the Tangiers area, the Oum er Rbia basin and the Turonian aquifer of the Tadla, the free groundwater of the Quaternary lacustrine limestones of the Sais Plain and the Lias limestone aquifer. These isotope studies take hydrogeochemical data into account and have made it possible to determine the conditions of recharge of the aquifers, to distinguish waters of different origin from the Atlas Mountains or from the Phosphate Plateau in the Tadla Basin and the Sais plain, to estimate the recharge of one aquifer by another - for example groundwater of the Lias limestones passing via the folds of the Sais Plain into the lacustrine limestone aquifer - and to test the homogeneity or heterogeneity of these aquifers and their tightness (e.g. the Turonian aquifer of the Tadla and the special case of the Charf el Akab in relation to the marine environment). Altogether, these results made it possible to test the value of the techniques used and to specify the general conditions in which they can profitably be used. (author)

Environmental bureaucracies appraised

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murphy, E F

1977-09-01

Bureaucratic mechanisms as a means of regulating the environment are evaluated. Bureaucracy as a technology is one among several instruments for regulation. Styles of environmentally concerned bureaucracies are described. Both local control and a central power to monitor developments that have a large impact on the environment and to force action beyond local strength should be established. The conflict surrounding choices for strong central powers and for a series of polycentric structures is surveyed. Bureaucracy and conflicting environmental values are discussed. Public participation in environmental bureaucracies is assessed. The institutionalization of environmental problems is reviewed. Basic social decisions should be able to prevent bureaucracy from institutionalizing environmental problems rather than trying to solve them. 1 drawing, 2 photos, 12 references.

Methodology to define biological reference values in the environmental and occupational fields: the contribution of the Italian Society for Reference Values (SIVR).

Science.gov (United States)

Aprea, Maria Cristina; Scapellato, Maria Luisa; Valsania, Maria Carmen; Perico, Andrea; Perbellini, Luigi; Ricossa, Maria Cristina; Pradella, Marco; Negri, Sara; Iavicoli, Ivo; Lovreglio, Piero; Salamon, Fabiola; Bettinelli, Maurizio; Apostoli, Pietro

2017-04-21

Biological reference values (RVs) explore the relationships between humans and their environment and habits. RVs are fundamental in the environmental field for assessing illnesses possibly associated with environmental pollution, and also in the occupational field, especially in the absence of established biological or environmental limits. The Italian Society for Reference Values (SIVR) determined to test criteria and procedures for the definition of RVs to be used in the environmental and occupational fields. The paper describes the SIVR methodology for defining RVs of xenobiotics and their metabolites. Aspects regarding the choice of population sample, the quality of analytical data, statistical analysis and control of variability factors are considered. The simultaneous interlaboratory circuits involved can be expected to increasingly improve the quality of the analytical data. Examples of RVs produced by SIVR are presented. In particular, levels of chromium, mercury, ethylenethiourea, 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol, 2,5-hexanedione, 1-hydroxypyrene and t,t-muconic acid measured in urine and expressed in micrograms/g creatinine (μg/g creat) or micrograms/L (μg/L) are reported. With the proposed procedure, SIVR intends to make its activities known to the scientific community in order to increase the number of laboratories involved in the definition of RVs for the Italian population. More research is needed to obtain further RVs in different biological matrices, such as hair, nails and exhaled breath. It is also necessary to update and improve the present reference values and broaden the portfolio of chemicals for which RVs are available. In the near future, SIVR intends to expand its scientific activity by using a multivariate approach for xenobiotics that may have a common origin, and to define RVs separately for children who may be exposed more than adults and be more vulnerable.

Assessing the value of storage services in large-scale multireservoir systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tilmant, A.; Arjoon, D.; Guilherme, G. F.

2012-12-01

Following three decades of rather low investment in dams, many regions throughout the world are now seeking to further develop new storage capacity in order to meet exploding demands for water and to hedge against the risk posed by climate change. Storage capacity is indee perceived as a key element of climate change adaptation strategies, while at the same time contributing to socioeconomic development through irrigation, energy generation, fish production, and municipal and industrial water supply. The benefits provided by dams must be balanced with the associated environmental and social costs, which can take various forms such as the degradation of ecosystems due to altered flow regimes, the relocation of people from the impoundment area, etc. The benefits of storage essentially come from the ability to move water in time, making it available during the low flow season when it becomes more valuable. As river basins develop and new dams are constructed, it may be important for planning and operational purposes to assess the individual contribution of each reservoir to the benefits of storage. We present a methodology to determine the economic value of storage in multireservoir systems based on the marginal net benefit functions of storage. In economics, the marginal net benefit function for water represents the user's willingness to pay for various quantities of water, i.e. the demand for water. Here, we will concentrate on the marginal net benefit of storing raw water in a particular reservoir for later use by different users/sectors. Based on this function, one can determine the economic value associated with changes in storage from the reservoir operating policies and the marginal value of water stored in the reservoirs. This information can nowadays be obtained from multireservoir optimization models. A cascade of reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Euphrates river basin (Turkey/Syria) is used to illustrate the methodology. To water resources planners in

The 2-MEV model: Constancy of adolescent environmental values within an 8-year time frame

Science.gov (United States)

Bogner, F. X.; Johnson, B.; Buxner, S.; Felix, L.

2015-08-01

The 2-MEV model is a widely used tool to monitor children's environmental perception by scoring individual values. Although the scale's validity has been confirmed repeatedly and independently as well as the scale is in usage within more than two dozen language units all over the world, longitudinal properties still need clarification. The purpose of the present study therefore was to validate the 2-MEV scale based on a large data basis of 10,676 children collected over an eight-year period. Cohorts of three different US states contributed to the sample by responding to a paper-and-pencil questionnaire within their pre-test initiatives in the context of field center programs. Since we used only the pre-program 2-MEV scale results (which is before participation in education programs), the data were clearly unspoiled by any follow-up interventions. The purpose of analysis was fourfold: First, to test and confirm the hypothesized factorized structure for the large data set and for the subsample of each of the three states. Second, to analyze the scoring pattern across the eight years' time range for both preservation and utilitarian preferences. Third, to investigate any age effects in the extracted factors. Finally, to extract suitable recommendations for educational implementation efforts.

Demographic influences on environmental value orientations and normative beliefs about national forest management

Science.gov (United States)

Jerry J. Vaske; Maureen P. Donnelly; Daniel R. Williams; Sandra Jonker

2001-01-01

Using the cognitive hierarchy as the theoretical foundation, this article examines the predictive influence of individuals' demographic characteristics on environmental value orientations and normative beliefs about national forest management. Data for this investigation were obtained from a random sample of Colorado residents (n = 960). As predicted by theory, a...

Valuing financial, health and environmental benefits of Bt cotton in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Kouser, Shahzad; Qaim, Matin

2012-01-01

Data from a farm survey and choice experiment are used to value the benefits of Bt cotton in Pakistan. Unlike previous research on the economic impacts of Bt, which mostly concentrated on financial benefits in terms of gross margins, we also quantify and monetize positive externalities associated with technology adoption. Due to lower chemical pesticide use on Bt cotton plots, there are significant health advantages in terms of reduced incidence of acute pesticide poisoning, and environmental...

3D-Printed Disposable Wireless Sensors with Integrated Microelectronics for Large Area Environmental Monitoring

KAUST Repository

Farooqui, Muhammad Fahad

2017-05-19

Large area environmental monitoring can play a crucial role in dealing with crisis situations. However, it is challenging as implementing a fixed sensor network infrastructure over large remote area is economically unfeasible. This work proposes disposable, compact, dispersible 3D-printed wireless sensor nodes with integrated microelectronics which can be dispersed in the environment and work in conjunction with few fixed nodes for large area monitoring applications. As a proof of concept, the wireless sensing of temperature, humidity, and H2S levels are shown which are important for two critical environmental conditions namely forest fires and industrial leaks. These inkjet-printed sensors and an antenna are realized on the walls of a 3D-printed cubic package which encloses the microelectronics developed on a 3D-printed circuit board. Hence, 3D printing and inkjet printing are uniquely combined in order to realize a low-cost, fully integrated wireless sensor node.

Environmental Values (2-MEV and Appreciation of Nature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franz X. Bogner

2018-01-01

Full Text Available When monitoring the long history of empirical instruments for environmental attitude measurement, the Two Major Environmental Value model (2-MEV with its two higher order factors: Preservation (PRE and Utilization (UTL has repeatedly and independently been confirmed. PRE assesses preferences towards conservation of nature and the environment, whilst UTL measures preferences towards utilization/exploitation of nature. The latter, however, does not yet include the positive aspects of benefitting from the (enjoyable use of nature. Consequently, besides the established 2-MEV-battery, additional items from an “Appreciation of Nature” (APR scale were applied to an Irish sample of 289 secondary school students (age: M = 14.3 years. Responses to the altogether 30-item battery were applied on an oblique rotation by using the Promax procedure: UTL and PRE appeared as orthogonally related factors, APR correlated to PRE with 0.283. Based on loading scores, the item number for each subscale was further reduced to make the analysis more manageable in educational outreach sites; on those sites, where completing questionnaires may well be quite unpopular, they are very much needed for planning and fine-tuning educational programs. Therefore, extending the 2-MEV scale with an added scale for Appreciation may help: (i to judge participants’ feedback for adjusting/balancing program contents better; and (ii to promote appreciation as a successful strategy for shifting individuals away from their individual exploitative preferences.

The value of environmental impact assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohocki, D.D.

1996-01-01

The environment and the economy are inextricably linked. Today the environmental, economic, and social associated with project and program decisions are at times of such a magnitude and duration that they exceed our ability to understand, let alone mitigate them. Energy production, distribution, pricing, policies, end uses, and externalities demonstrate the need for wise planning and informed decision making. International cooperation, based upon mutually shared respect, responsibility, and innovative solutions is an essential component of addressing contemporary issues, impacts, and opportunities. Both egypt and the united states have laws requiring environmental impact assessments. Just as egypt can learn from our successes and failures in the environmental impact assessment field over the past 36 years, the united states and other nations can learn as egypt develops and innovates its own approaches and solutions

Using frameworks to diagram value in complex policy and environmental interventions to prevent childhood obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Swank, Melissa Farrell; Brennan, Laura K; Gentry, Daniel; Kemner, Allison L

2015-01-01

To date, few tools assist policy makers and practitioners in understanding and conveying the implementation costs, potential impacts, and value of policy and environmental changes to address healthy eating, active living, and childhood obesity. For the Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), evaluators considered inputs (resources and investments) that generate costs and savings as well as benefits and harms related to social, economic, environmental, and health-related outcomes in their assessment of 49 HKHC community partnerships funded from 2009 to 2014. Using data collected through individual and group interviews and an online performance monitoring system, evaluators created a socioecological framework to assess investments, resources, costs, savings, benefits, and harms at the individual, organizational, community, and societal levels. Evaluators customized frameworks for 6 focal strategies: active transportation, parks and play spaces, child care physical activity standards, corner stores, farmers' markets, and child care nutrition standards. To illustrate the Value Frameworks, this brief highlights the 38 HKHC communities implementing at least 1 active transportation strategy. Evaluators populated this conceptual Value Framework with themes from the strategy-specific inputs and outputs. The range of factors corresponding to the implementation and impact of the HKHC community partnerships are highlighted along with the inputs and outputs. The Value Frameworks helped evaluators identify gaps in current analysis models (ie, benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis) as well as paint a more complete picture of value for potential obesity prevention strategies. These frameworks provide a comprehensive understanding of investments needed, proposed costs and savings, and potential benefits and harms associated with economic, social, environmental, and health outcomes. This framing also allowed evaluators to demonstrate the interdependence

Environmental Guide Value (VGE) and specific reference values (QS) for uranium. Synthesis and elements for application to French fresh waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

This report proposes a synthesis of works performed to determine criteria of protection of continental aquatic ecosystems with respect to uranium. These works resulted in the determination of an environmental guide value (VGE) for the assessment of the ecological and chemical condition of waters. Other specific reference values have been determined to be used in risk assessment: average annual concentration, maximum admissible concentration. After a recall of the methodology adopted for the determination of VGE in the case of uranium, the report discusses the specific reference values in the case of uranium for different organisms, for predators, for the protection of human health against a risk of exposure by consumption of fished products or drinkable water. The determination of VGE and its application are reported, and its consistency with the criterion of radiation protection of the environment applied to water and sediments is discussed. The determination of specific reference values is then discussed

Valuing Indigenous Knowledge in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea: A Model for Agricultural and Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Radcliffe, Chris; Parissi, Cesidio; Raman, Anantanarayanan

2016-01-01

Current methods of agricultural and environmental education for indigenous farmers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) fail to provide high level engagement. Indigenous knowledge (IK) forms the basis of natural resource management, agriculture and health of farmers in PNG, yet its value to agricultural and environmental education in PNG is rarely…

Consensus values for NIST biological and environmental Standard Reference Materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roelandts, I.; Gladney, E.S.

1998-01-01

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly the National Bureau of Standards or NBS) has produced numerous Standard Reference Materials (SRM) for use in biological and environmental analytical chemistry. The value listed on the ''NIST Certificate of Analysis'' is the present best estimate of the ''true'' concentration of that element and is not expected to deviate from that concentration by more than the stated uncertainty. However, NIST does not certify the elemental concentration of every constituent and the number of elements reported in the NIST programs tends to be limited.Numerous analysts have published concentration data on these reference materials. Major journals in analytical chemistry, books, proceedings and ''technical reports'' have been surveyed to collect these available literature values. A standard statistical approach has been employed to evaluate the compiled data. Our methodology has been developed in a series of previous papers. Some subjective criteria are first used to reject aberrant data. Following these eliminations, an initial arithmetic mean and standard deviation (S.D.) are computed from remaining data for each element. All data now outside two S.D. from the initial mean are dropped and a second mean and S.D. recalculated. These final means and associated S.D. are reported as ''consensus values'' in our tables. (orig.)

Extracting and analyzing ejection fraction values from electronic echocardiography reports in a large health maintenance organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Fagen; Zheng, Chengyi; Yuh-Jer Shen, Albert; Chen, Wansu

2017-12-01

The left ventricular ejection fraction value is an important prognostic indicator of cardiovascular outcomes including morbidity and mortality and is often used clinically to indicate severity of heart disease. However, it is usually reported in free-text echocardiography reports. We developed and validated a computerized algorithm to extract ejection fraction values from echocardiography reports and applied the algorithm to a large volume of unstructured echocardiography reports between 1995 and 2011 in a large health maintenance organization. A total of 621,856 echocardiography reports with a description of ejection fraction values or systolic functions were identified, of which 70 percent contained numeric ejection fraction values and the rest (30%) were text descriptions explicitly indicating the systolic left ventricular function. The 12.1 percent (16.0% for male and 8.4% for female) of these extracted ejection fraction values are <45 percent. Validation conducted based on a random sample of 200 reports yielded 95.0 percent sensitivity and 96.9 percent positive predictive value.

Calculating p-values and their significances with the Energy Test for large datasets

Science.gov (United States)

Barter, W.; Burr, C.; Parkes, C.

2018-04-01

The energy test method is a multi-dimensional test of whether two samples are consistent with arising from the same underlying population, through the calculation of a single test statistic (called the T-value). The method has recently been used in particle physics to search for samples that differ due to CP violation. The generalised extreme value function has previously been used to describe the distribution of T-values under the null hypothesis that the two samples are drawn from the same underlying population. We show that, in a simple test case, the distribution is not sufficiently well described by the generalised extreme value function. We present a new method, where the distribution of T-values under the null hypothesis when comparing two large samples can be found by scaling the distribution found when comparing small samples drawn from the same population. This method can then be used to quickly calculate the p-values associated with the results of the test.

Algorithms for large scale singular value analysis of spatially variant tomography systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao-Huu, Tuan; Brownell, G.; Lachiver, G.

1996-01-01

The problem of determining the eigenvalues of large matrices occurs often in the design and analysis of modem tomography systems. As there is an interest in solving systems containing an ever-increasing number of variables, current research effort is being made to create more robust solvers which do not depend on some special feature of the matrix for convergence (e.g. block circulant), and to improve the speed of already known and understood solvers so that solving even larger systems in a reasonable time becomes viable. Our standard techniques for singular value analysis are based on sparse matrix factorization and are not applicable when the input matrices are large because the algorithms cause too much fill. Fill refers to the increase of non-zero elements in the LU decomposition of the original matrix A (the system matrix). So we have developed iterative solutions that are based on sparse direct methods. Data motion and preconditioning techniques are critical for performance. This conference paper describes our algorithmic approaches for large scale singular value analysis of spatially variant imaging systems, and in particular of PCR2, a cylindrical three-dimensional PET imager 2 built at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. We recommend the desirable features and challenges for the next generation of parallel machines for optimal performance of our solver

What environmental factors influence resumption of valued activities post stroke: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Jellema, Sandra; van Hees, Suzanne; Zajec, Jana; van der Sande, Rob; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria Wg; Steultjens, Esther Mj

2017-07-01

Identify the environmental factors that influence stroke-survivors' reengagement in personally valued activities and determine what specific environmental factors are related to specific valued activity types. PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO were searched until June 2016 using multiple search-terms for stroke, activities, disability, and home and community environments. An integrated mixed-method systematic review of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-design studies was conducted. Two researchers independently identified relevant studies, assessed their methodological quality and extracted relevant findings. To validly compare and combine the various findings, all findings were classified and grouped by environmental category and level of evidence. The search yielded 4024 records; 69 studies were included. Most findings came from low-evidence-level studies such as single qualitative studies. All findings were consistent in that the following factors facilitated reengagement post-stroke: personal adapted equipment; accessible environments; transport; services; education and information. Barriers were: others' negative attitudes and behaviour; long distances and inconvenient environmental conditions (such as bad weather). Each type of valued activity, such as mobility or work, had its own pattern of environmental influences, social support was a facilitator to all types of activities. Although in many qualitative studies others' attitudes, behaviour and stroke-related knowledge were seen as important for reengagement, these factors were hardly studied quantitatively. A diversity of environmental factors was related to stroke-survivors' reengagement. Most findings came from low-evidence-level studies so that evidence on causal relationships was scarce. In future, more higher-level-evidence studies, for example on the attitudes of significant others, should be conducted.

Environmental impact evaluation from large energy projects; Avaliacao de impacto ambiental de grandes projetos energeticos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uribe, Alberto [Bahia Univ., Salvador, BA (Brazil)

1985-12-31

This paper builds up theoretical framework and methodological approaches to assess environmental impacts from large energy projects. It aims towards the definition of concrete tools, and technical proceedings to allow identification and quantification (or weighing) of effects on the natural and social environment. The environmental impacts assessment, (EIA), studies are described as important instruments in planning and in the choice of alternative energy policies. (author). 15 refs., 2 figs

Integrated numerical platforms for environmental dose assessments of large tritium inventory facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, P.; Ardao, J.; Velarde, M.; Sedano, L.; Xiberta, J.

2013-01-01

Related with a prospected new scenario of large inventory tritium facilities [KATRIN at TLK, CANDUs, ITER, EAST, other coming] the prescribed dosimetric limits by ICRP-60 for tritium committed-doses are under discussion requiring, in parallel, to surmount the highly conservative assessments by increasing the refinement of dosimetric-assessments in many aspects. Precise Lagrangian-computations of dosimetric cloud-evolution after standardized (normal/incidental/SBO) tritium cloud emissions are today numerically open to the perfect match of real-time meteorological-data, and patterns data at diverse scales for prompt/early and chronic tritium dose assessments. The trends towards integrated-numerical-platforms for environmental-dose assessments of large tritium inventory facilities under development.

Using donation mechanisms to value nonuse benefits from public goods

Science.gov (United States)

Patricia A. Champ; Richard C. Bishop; Thomas C. Brown; Daniel W. McCollum

1997-01-01

This paper discusses an experiment in which the value for an unfamiliar environmental good, whose total value has a large nonuse component, is verified using a revealed-preference method. As we were unable to observe preferences via an incentive compatible mechanism, we collected voluntary contributions toward the provision of the good. We make a case for interpreting...

Added value measures in education show genetic as well as environmental influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Haworth, Claire M A; Asbury, Kathryn; Dale, Philip S; Plomin, Robert

2011-02-02

Does achievement independent of ability or previous attainment provide a purer measure of the added value of school? In a study of 4000 pairs of 12-year-old twins in the UK, we measured achievement with year-long teacher assessments as well as tests. Raw achievement shows moderate heritability (about 50%) and modest shared environmental influences (25%). Unexpectedly, we show that for indices of the added value of school, genetic influences remain moderate (around 50%), and the shared (school) environment is less important (about 12%). The pervasiveness of genetic influence in how and how much children learn is compatible with an active view of learning in which children create their own educational experiences in part on the basis of their genetic propensities.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Values Clarification Activity for a Large Undergraduate Human Sexuality Course

Science.gov (United States)

Lederer, Alyssa M.

2016-01-01

Values clarification is an important tool that helps individuals to clarify their beliefs about sexuality-related issues. This lesson plan provides instructions for a 1-hour values clarification activity for a large undergraduate human sexuality course that serves as an introduction to course content and tone, stimulates students' initial thinking…

Researching Environmental Value Pluralism in Theory and Practice

OpenAIRE

White, Kendra

2011-01-01

Environmental ethics has been rising in popularity in literature steadily over recent years. With many challenges facing humans by way of endangered species, climate change, etc, environmental ethics and moral reasoning has become more important than ever. There are countless environmental philosophies to choose from and understand, and each one typically tries to claim itself as the best and only option. In order to have environmental ethics and philosophy have a better chance of being ...

Sensemaking in a Value Based Context for Large Scale Complex Engineered Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sikkandar Basha, Nazareen

The design and the development of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LSCES) requires the involvement of multiple teams and numerous levels of the organization and interactions with large numbers of people and interdisciplinary departments. Traditionally, requirements-driven Systems Engineering (SE) is used in the design and development of these LSCES. The requirements are used to capture the preferences of the stakeholder for the LSCES. Due to the complexity of the system, multiple levels of interactions are required to elicit the requirements of the system within the organization. Since LSCES involves people and interactions between the teams and interdisciplinary departments, it should be socio-technical in nature. The elicitation of the requirements of most large-scale system projects are subjected to creep in time and cost due to the uncertainty and ambiguity of requirements during the design and development. In an organization structure, the cost and time overrun can occur at any level and iterate back and forth thus increasing the cost and time. To avoid such creep past researches have shown that rigorous approaches such as value based designing can be used to control it. But before the rigorous approaches can be used, the decision maker should have a proper understanding of requirements creep and the state of the system when the creep occurs. Sensemaking is used to understand the state of system when the creep occurs and provide a guidance to decision maker. This research proposes the use of the Cynefin framework, sensemaking framework which can be used in the design and development of LSCES. It can aide in understanding the system and decision making to minimize the value gap due to requirements creep by eliminating ambiguity which occurs during design and development. A sample hierarchical organization is used to demonstrate the state of the system at the occurrence of requirements creep in terms of cost and time using the Cynefin framework. These

Rugged Large Volume Injection for Sensitive Capillary LC-MS Environmental Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanne Roberg-Larsen

2017-08-01

Full Text Available A rugged and high throughput capillary column (cLC LC-MS switching platform using large volume injection and on-line automatic filtration and filter back-flush (AFFL solid phase extraction (SPE for analysis of environmental water samples with minimal sample preparation is presented. Although narrow columns and on-line sample preparation are used in the platform, high ruggedness is achieved e.g., injection of 100 non-filtrated water samples did not result in a pressure rise/clogging of the SPE/capillary columns (inner diameter 300 μm. In addition, satisfactory retention time stability and chromatographic resolution were also features of the system. The potential of the platform for environmental water samples was demonstrated with various pharmaceutical products, which had detection limits (LOD in the 0.05–12.5 ng/L range. Between-day and within-day repeatability of selected analytes were <20% RSD.

Large reservoirs: Chapter 17

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Leandro E.; Bettoli, Phillip William

2010-01-01

Large impoundments, defined as those with surface area of 200 ha or greater, are relatively new aquatic ecosystems in the global landscape. They represent important economic and environmental resources that provide benefits such as flood control, hydropower generation, navigation, water supply, commercial and recreational fisheries, and various other recreational and esthetic values. Construction of large impoundments was initially driven by economic needs, and ecological consequences received little consideration. However, in recent decades environmental issues have come to the forefront. In the closing decades of the 20th century societal values began to shift, especially in the developed world. Society is no longer willing to accept environmental damage as an inevitable consequence of human development, and it is now recognized that continued environmental degradation is unsustainable. Consequently, construction of large reservoirs has virtually stopped in North America. Nevertheless, in other parts of the world construction of large reservoirs continues. The emergence of systematic reservoir management in the early 20th century was guided by concepts developed for natural lakes (Miranda 1996). However, we now recognize that reservoirs are different and that reservoirs are not independent aquatic systems inasmuch as they are connected to upstream rivers and streams, the downstream river, other reservoirs in the basin, and the watershed. Reservoir systems exhibit longitudinal patterns both within and among reservoirs. Reservoirs are typically arranged sequentially as elements of an interacting network, filter water collected throughout their watersheds, and form a mosaic of predictable patterns. Traditional approaches to fisheries management such as stocking, regulating harvest, and in-lake habitat management do not always produce desired effects in reservoirs. As a result, managers may expend resources with little benefit to either fish or fishing. Some locally

Environmental monitoring at CERN: present status and future plans for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoefert, M.; Stevenson, G.R.; Vojtyla, P.; Wittekind, D.

1998-01-01

The present radiological impact of CERN on the environment is negligible. It is assessed that this will also be the case after the Large Hadron Collider starts operation in 2005. Nevertheless, the environmental monitoring programme at CERN will be further extended, so as to demonstrate that the Organization fully complies with standards and limits for environmental impact of nuclear installations as laid down by authorities in the CERN host countries. (P.A.)

Corporate Governance and the Value of Excess Cash Holdings of Large European Firms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.B.J. Schauten (Marc); D.J.C. van Dijk (Dick); J-P. van der Waal (Jan-Paul)

2008-01-01

textabstractWe examine the relation between the quality of corporate governance and the value of excess cash for large European firms (FTSEurofirst 300 Index). We use Deminor ratings for Shareholder rights, Takeover defences, Disclosure and Board as proxies for the quality of corporate governance.

Corporate Governance and the Value of Excess Cash Holdings of Large European Firms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schauten, M.B.J.; van Dijk, D.J.C.; van der Waal, J.P.

2013-01-01

We examine the relation between the quality of corporate governance and the value of excess cash for large publicly listed European firms from common-law and civil-law countries. Besides different law origins, we distinguish different dimensions of corporate governance by using ratings for the

Disrupted expected value signaling in youth with disruptive behavior disorders to environmental reinforcers.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Stuart F; Fowler, Katherine A; Sinclair, Stephen; Schechter, Julia C; Majestic, Catherine M; Pine, Daniel S; Blair, R James

2014-05-01

Youth with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD), including conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), have difficulties in reinforcement-based decision making, the neural basis of which is poorly understood. Studies examining decision making in youth with DBD have revealed reduced reward responses within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex (vmPFC/OFC), increased responses to unexpected punishment within the vmPFC and striatum, and reduced use of expected value information in the anterior insula cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during the avoidance of suboptimal choices. Previous work has used only monetary reinforcement. The current study examined whether dysfunction in youth with DBD during decision making extended to environmental reinforcers. A total of 30 youth (15 healthy youth and 15 youth with DBD) completed a novel reinforcement-learning paradigm using environmental reinforcers (physical threat images, e.g., striking snake image; contamination threat images, e.g., rotting food; appetitive images, e.g., puppies) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behaviorally, healthy youth were significantly more likely to avoid physical threat, but not contamination threat, stimuli than youth with DBD. Imaging results revealed that youth with DBD showed significantly reduced use of expected value information in the bilateral caudate, thalamus, and posterior cingulate cortex during the avoidance of suboptimal responses. The current data suggest that youth with DBD show deficits to environmental reinforcers similar to the deficits seen to monetary reinforcers. Importantly, this deficit was unrelated to callous-unemotional (CU) traits, suggesting that caudate impairment may be a common deficit across youth with DBD. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The Total Economic Value of Sport Tourism in Belt and Road Development—An Environmental Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Chu Yeh

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The development of the belt and road region leads cities to significantly increase the amount of public expenditure on the new construction of facilities and infrastructure. Mass construction not only relies on many environmental resources, but might also destroy the local natural environment. In order to reveal the importance of the natural environment, this study explores the economic value of the natural landscape for sport tourism in Taiwan. While the concept of total economic value (TEV is applied to the Sun–Moon Lake Swimming Carnival Event, the travel cost method (TCM is adopted to estimate the use value for participants, and the double-bounded dichotomous contingent valuation method (CVM and survival analysis are performed to evaluate the non-use value for the residents. The use value is on average NT$ 5668 for one participant. The median willingness to pay for the option value, existence value and bequest value of every resident is NT$433, NT$411 and NT$274, respectively.

Evaluation of environmental sampling methods for detection of Salmonella enterica in a large animal veterinary hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Goeman, Valerie R; Tinkler, Stacy H; Hammac, G Kenitra; Ruple, Audrey

2018-04-01

Environmental surveillance for Salmonella enterica can be used for early detection of contamination; thus routine sampling is an integral component of infection control programs in hospital environments. At the Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (PUVTH), the technique regularly employed in the large animal hospital for sample collection uses sterile gauze sponges for environmental sampling, which has proven labor-intensive and time-consuming. Alternative sampling methods use Swiffer brand electrostatic wipes for environmental sample collection, which are reportedly effective and efficient. It was hypothesized that use of Swiffer wipes for sample collection would be more efficient and less costly than the use of gauze sponges. A head-to-head comparison between the 2 sampling methods was conducted in the PUVTH large animal hospital and relative agreement, cost-effectiveness, and sampling efficiency were compared. There was fair agreement in culture results between the 2 sampling methods, but Swiffer wipes required less time and less physical effort to collect samples and were more cost-effective.

Modified Principal Component Analysis for Identifying Key Environmental Indicators and Application to a Large-Scale Tidal Flat Reclamation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kejian Chu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Identification of the key environmental indicators (KEIs from a large number of environmental variables is important for environmental management in tidal flat reclamation areas. In this study, a modified principal component analysis approach (MPCA has been developed for determining the KEIs. The MPCA accounts for the two important attributes of the environmental variables: pollution status and temporal variation, in addition to the commonly considered numerical divergence attribute. It also incorporates the distance correlation (dCor to replace the Pearson’s correlation to measure the nonlinear interrelationship between the variables. The proposed method was applied to the Tiaozini sand shoal, a large-scale tidal flat reclamation region in China. Five KEIs were identified as dissolved inorganic nitrogen, Cd, petroleum in the water column, Hg, and total organic carbon in the sediment. The identified KEIs were shown to respond well to the biodiversity of phytoplankton. This demonstrated that the identified KEIs adequately represent the environmental condition in the coastal marine system. Therefore, the MPCA is a practicable method for extracting effective indicators that have key roles in the coastal and marine environment.

Extreme value prediction of the wave-induced vertical bending moment in large container ships

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ingrid Marie Vincent; Jensen, Jørgen Juncher

2015-01-01

increase the extreme hull girder response significantly. Focus in the present paper is on the influence of the hull girder flexibility on the extreme response amidships, namely the wave-induced vertical bending moment (VBM) in hogging, and the prediction of the extreme value of the same. The analysis...... in the present paper is based on time series of full scale measurements from three large container ships of 8600, 9400 and 14000 TEU. When carrying out the extreme value estimation the peak-over-threshold (POT) method combined with an appropriate extreme value distribution is applied. The choice of a proper...... threshold level as well as the statistical correlation between clustered peaks influence the extreme value prediction and are taken into consideration in the present paper....

Characterization of large-insert DNA libraries from soil for environmental genomic studies of Archaea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Treusch, Alexander H; Kletzin, Arnulf; Raddatz, Guenter

2004-01-01

Complex genomic libraries are increasingly being used to retrieve complete genes, operons or large genomic fragments directly from environmental samples, without the need to cultivate the respective microorganisms. We report on the construction of three large-insert fosmid libraries in total...... (approximately 1% each) have been captured in our libraries. The diversity of putative protein-encoding genes, as reflected by their distribution into different COG clusters, was comparable to that encoded in complete genomes of cultivated microorganisms. A huge variety of genomic fragments has been captured...

Staff perceptions of organisational values in a large South African manufacturing company: exploring socio-demographic differences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nico Martins

2011-11-01

Research purpose: The objective of the study was to explore the perceptions of men and women staff members, as well as members of various race and age groups, in a large South African manufacturing company about the current enactment of organisational values and the importance of these values. Motivation for the study: The challenge of managing multi-cultural work forces from different gender, race and generational backgrounds makes an understanding of how peoples’ values align with those of their organisations, as reflected in their cultures, necessary. Research design, approach and method: Using an organisational values scale, the researchers conducted a quantitative survey on a random sample of 988 participants employed in a large South African manufacturing company. Main findings: ANOVAs and post hoc multiple comparison of means tests revealed that gender, race and age have a significant effect on some of the dimensions of organisational values and that these biographical groups differ significantly in their perceptions of the importance of certain organisational values as well as how their organisations enact them. Practical/mangerial implications: The findings highlight the importance of understanding staff perceptions in creating greater commitment to organisational values as important aspects of an effective organisational culture. Contribution/value-add: This study is original research that contributes new knowledge to the field of organisational psychology and management practices.

Environmental value considerations in public attitudes about alternative energy development in Oregon and Washington.

Science.gov (United States)

Steel, Brent S; Pierce, John C; Warner, Rebecca L; Lovrich, Nicholas P

2015-03-01

The 2013 Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy signed by the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington and the Premier of British Columbia launched a broadly announced public commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through multiple strategies. Those strategies include the development and increased use of renewable energy sources. The initiative recognized that citizens are both a central component in abating greenhouse gas emissions with regard to their energy use behaviors, and are important participants in the public policymaking process at both state and local levels of government. The study reported here examines whether either support or opposition to state government leadership in the development of alternative energy technologies can be explained by environmental values as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). The research results are based on mail surveys of randomly selected households conducted throughout Oregon and Washington in late 2009 and early 2010. Findings suggest that younger and more highly educated respondents are significantly more likely than older and less educated respondents to either support or strongly support government policies to promote bioenergy, wind, geothermal, and solar energy. Those respondents with higher NEP scores are also more supportive of government promotion of wind, geothermal, and solar technologies than are those with lower NEP scores. Support for wave energy does not show a statistical correlation with environmental values, maybe a reflection of this technology's nascent level of development. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of these findings for environmental management.

Environmental orientation of large energy companies? The large four and their contribution to environmental protection; Um(welt)orientierung grosser Energiekonzerne? Die grossen Vier und ihr Beitrag zum Klimaschutz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kiyar, Dagmar

2014-07-01

The project is aimed to study the motivation and willingness for environmental engagement of the four large German energy companies RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW. The two changes of political appraisal of nuclear energy by the German government occurred during the project. The work covers the following issues: Governance and climate policy, multi-level governance, corporate governance; climate topics in the management practice, energy policy and climate policy, national and international aspects, initiatives and engagement; research design and empirical investigations.

Estimating the Economic Value of Environmental Amenities of Isfahan Sofeh Highland Park (The Individual Revealed and Expressed Travel Cost Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Amirnejad

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Natural resources and the environment, such as mountains are considered public goods. The main features of these public goods are lack of market and price for exchange. This issue leads to a worthless impression about these goods, lack of effort for their conservation and preventing resource degradation. One of the major benefits of environmental resources, such as mountains, is their function as environmental amenities (for leisure and recreation. The estimation of their recreational worth is important as a part of the total value of such resources. In this context, the aim of this study is to estimate the economic value of environmental amenities of Sofeh Highland Park in Isfahan by individual travel cost method. Materials and Methods: Travel cost method is used for the evaluation of public goods or environmental non-market commodities. It is applied to a wide range of areas, including tourism values of lakes and wetlands, coral reefs, biodiversity and national parks, recreational fishing and mountaineering. The travel cost approach does not ask willingness to pay directly, but imputes it from the observed behavior of other visitors through an estimated demand function, which relates the number of observed trips to the incurred travel cost. Underpinning the travel cost method is for the estimation of the recreational demand function, from which consumer surplus estimates can be derived. Consumer surplus -the measure of non-market benefits to the visitors- is the difference between what the visitor would be (theoretically willing to pay to go the intended recreational location, and what they are actually required to pay. In this research, the individual travel cost method was used. For this purpose, a 290 item questionnaire with simple random sampling was filled by travelers in the area in 2013. Then the demand function of environmental amenities (tourism demand was estimated in two scenarios by using negative binomial regression

Developing a GIS to facilitate data analysis for environmental restoration of a large waste site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tzemos, S.; Evans, B.J.; White, M.E.

1991-05-01

The Hanford Site area located southeastern Washington State and is a US Department of Energy Superfund cleanup site. The site contains a complex mixture of chemical and radioactive pollutants, which makes environmental monitoring, analysis, and restoration a complicated task. The Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS) has been developed to manage the data generated from the characterization and environmental monitoring of the Hanford Site. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) component of HEIS, known as HEISGIS, is being developed to help scientists spatially analyze the environmental data stored in the HEIS database and provide an integrated system for environmental restoration. HEISGIS is in its second stage of development. The first stage produced a working prototype. The second stage focuses on improvements in data accuracy, data standardization, analytical modeling capabilities, interfaces between the various software packages, and the graphical user interface. This paper describes the development of the HEISGIS and summarizes the considerations and difficulties encountered in the integration of the GIS with a large relational database. 1 ref., 1 fig., 3 tabs

Valuing physically and financially-induced flexibility in large-scale water resources systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tilmant, Amaury; Pina, Jasson; Côté, Pascal

2017-04-01

In a world characterized by rapid changes in terms of water demands and supplies, there is a growing and persistent need for institutional reforms that promote cross-sectoral, adaptive management processes and policies. Yet, in many regions throughout the world, the continued expansion of supply-side infrastructure is still perceived as the way to go despite the rising financial, social and environmental costs. This trend is further compounded by the risks posed by climate change; reservoir storage, for example, is still perceived as a key element of climate change adaptation strategies in many countries. There is a growing concern that such strategies may result in a rigidity trap whereby the physical and institutional infrastructure become inflexible and unable to adapt to changes because they are mutually reinforcing each other. However, several authors have recently advocated for adaptive, flexible, management techniques involving a more diversified portfolio of measures whose management is regularly updated as new information about supplies and demands becomes available. Despite being conceptually attractive, such a management approach presents several challenges to policy makers. One of them is the sheer amount of information that must be processed each time a management decision must be taken. To address this issue, we propose an optimization framework that can be used to determine the optimal management of a large portfolio of physical and financial assets using various hydro-climatic information. This optimization framework is illustrated with the management of a power system in Quebec involving various power stations, reservoirs, power and energy contracts as well as hydrologic and climatic data. The results can be used to assess the economic value of the flexibility induced by either the physical assets (power stations and reservoirs) or by the financial ones (contracts), an information we believe is important to highlight the benefits of adaptive

Environmental aspects of large-scale wind-power systems in the UK

Science.gov (United States)

Robson, A.

1984-11-01

Environmental issues relating to the introduction of large, MW-scale wind turbines at land-based sites in the UK are discussed. Noise, television interference, hazards to bird life, and visual effects are considered. Areas of uncertainty are identified, but enough is known from experience elsewhere in the world to enable the first UK machines to be introduced in a safe and environementally acceptable manner. Research to establish siting criteria more clearly, and significantly increase the potential wind-energy resource is mentioned. Studies of the comparative risk of energy systems are shown to be overpessimistic for UK wind turbines.

Neural nets for the plausibility check of measured values in the integrated measurement and information system for the surveillance of environmental radioactivity (IMIS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haase, G.

2003-01-01

Neural nets to the plausibility check of measured values in the ''integrated measurement and information system for the surveillance of environmental radioactivity, IMIS'' is a research project supported by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. A goal of this project was the automatic recognition of implausible measured values in the data base ORACLE, which measured values from surveillance of environmental radioactivity of most diverse environmental media contained. The conversion of this project [ 1 ] was realized by institut of logic, complexity and deduction systems of the university Karlsruhe under the direction of Professor Dr. Menzel, Dr. Martin Riedmueller and Martin Lauer. (orig.)

Spectrum-to-dose conversion operator value function of a Ge(Li) in-situ environmental gamma-ray spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terada, Hiromi; Sakai, Eiji; Katagiri, Masaki

1976-05-01

A spectrum-to-dose conversion operator value function was obtained for a 73cm 3 closed-end coaxial Ge(Li) in-situ environmental gamma-ray spectrometer; factors influencing the function are considered. (auth.)

Capturing multiple values of ecosystem services shaped by environmental worldviews: a spatial analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Riper, Carena J; Kyle, Gerard T

2014-12-01

Two related approaches to valuing nature have been advanced in past research including the study of ecosystem services and psychological investigations of the factors that shape behavior. Stronger integration of the insights that emerge from these two lines of enquiry can more effectively sustain ecosystems, economies, and human well-being. Drawing on survey data collected from outdoor recreationists on Santa Cruz Island within Channel Islands National Park, U.S., our study blends these two research approaches to examine a range of tangible and intangible values of ecosystem services provided to stakeholders with differing biocentric and anthropocentric worldviews. We used Public Participation Geographic Information System methods to collect survey data and a Social Values for Ecosystem Services mapping application to spatially analyze a range of values assigned to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the park. Our results showed that preferences for the provision of biological diversity, recreation, and scientific-based values of ecosystem services varied across a spatial gradient. We also observed differences that emerged from a comparison between survey subgroups defined by their worldviews. The implications emanating from this investigation aim to support environmental management decision-making in the context of protected areas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel Miscanthus Germplasm-Based Value Chains: A Life Cycle Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moritz Wagner

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In recent years, considerable progress has been made in miscanthus research: improvement of management practices, breeding of new genotypes, especially for marginal conditions, and development of novel utilization options. The purpose of the current study was a holistic analysis of the environmental performance of such novel miscanthus-based value chains. In addition, the relevance of the analyzed environmental impact categories was assessed. A Life Cycle Assessment was conducted to analyse the environmental performance of the miscanthus-based value chains in 18 impact categories. In order to include the substitution of a reference product, a system expansion approach was used. In addition, a normalization step was applied. This allowed the relevance of these impact categories to be evaluated for each utilization pathway. The miscanthus was cultivated on six sites in Europe (Aberystwyth, Adana, Moscow, Potash, Stuttgart and Wageningen and the biomass was utilized in the following six pathways: (1 small-scale combustion (heat—chips; (2 small-scale combustion (heat—pellets; (3 large-scale combustion (CHP—biomass baled for transport and storage; (4 large-scale combustion (CHP—pellets; (5 medium-scale biogas plant—ensiled miscanthus biomass; and (6 large-scale production of insulation material. Thus, in total, the environmental performance of 36 site × pathway combinations was assessed. The comparatively high normalized results of human toxicity, marine, and freshwater ecotoxicity, and freshwater eutrophication indicate the relevance of these impact categories in the assessment of miscanthus-based value chains. Differences between the six sites can almost entirely be attributed to variations in biomass yield. However, the environmental performance of the utilization pathways analyzed varied widely. The largest differences were shown for freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, and freshwater eutrophication. The production of insulation material

The Study of Enhancing Plans on Korean Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map (ECVAM)

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, M.; Choi, Y.; Hwang, J.; Jeon, S. W.

2016-12-01

With the limitation of land area in the Republic of Korea, land use and excessive development in Korea is one of the huge socio-environmental problems. Plethora of land owners, government, and enterprises to develop land cover are still struggling for maintaining balance between efficient land utilization and sufficient land conservation. For the feasible management and land use in the future, ECVAM(as known as Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map) was created, accompanied with objective environmental grading of land in South Korea as well as integrated environmental information. ECVAM is the mapping system expressed by five-graded quality whether to develop or conserve in given land area with different colours. This map was primarily produced as the version 1.0 to ultimately use land eco-friendly and thoroughly which contains legally considered grade factors, environmental and ecological factors since 2001. From 2013, this project has planned to renovate the version 2.0 in more precise methods - strengthening legal support for user expansion, more amplified scale to 1:5,000, and the wide-spread supply such as education for those who demands ECVAM to adjust other fields like Environmental Impact Assessment to cope with land developers. For this year, we framed the official guideline to facilitate governments to design their newly-upgraded ECVAM but also to encourage local governors to utilize this figure for given land assessments. This assessment system also include the theoretical concept called natural asset valuation and the base study plan analyzing Vertical Vegetation Profile in the grading element of Stability of Community Structure. For the further study, it needs to reorganize the assessment factors to make the linkage between the ministry of environment and the ministry of land, infrastructure and transport in Korea for sustainable land use as well as to satisfy the grading ones in other nations' environmental conservation assessments such as

Water power and environmental protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anshelm, J.

1992-01-01

This study illuminates the first large environmental debate after World War 2: the struggle against the harnessing of the northern Swedish rivers. The fascinating question is raised of how it was possible for an unparliamentary environmental protection movement to make itself heard, and influence the Swedish energy policy, though their arguments were contrary to the outspoken interests of the industry, the trade unions, and the social democratic government. This was the more fascinating because the values the opinion stressed wore of ethic, esthetic, biological, and conservation economical nature

A Study on the Teachers' Professional Knowledge and Competence in Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Kuo-Shu; Wu, Tung-Ju; Chen, Hui-Bing; Li, Yi-Bin

2017-01-01

The rapid development of technology and economy has largely enhanced the quality of life. Nevertheless, various social and environmental problems have emerged. It would be the key solution to develop environmental education in order to have people present the environmental knowledge and the attitudes and value to concern about the environment and…

Some Environmental Consequences of Large Igneous Provinces

Science.gov (United States)

Coffin, M. F.

2009-12-01

The formation of large igneous provinces (LIPs)—continental flood basalts, ‘volcanic’ margins, and oceanic plateaus—may impact the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere by rapidly releasing huge amounts of particulates, magmatic volatiles (CO2, SO2, Cl, F, etc.), and potentially volatiles (CO2, CH4, SO2, etc.) from intruded sediments (e.g., carbonates, organic-rich shales, evaporites). A key factor affecting the magnitude of volatile release is whether eruptions are subaerial or marine; hydrostatic pressure inhibits vesiculation and degassing of relatively soluble volatile components (H2O, S, Cl, F) in deep water submarine eruptions, although low solubility components (CO2, noble gases) are mostly degassed even at abyssal depths. Directly or indirectly, such injections may cause changes in the atmosphere/ocean system that can lead to perturbations of atmosphere/ocean chemistry, circulation, ecology, and biological productivity. These changes can be global in extent, particularly if environmental conditions were at or near a threshold state or tipping point. LIPs may have been responsible for some of the most dramatic and rapid changes in the global environment. For example, between ~145 and ~50 Ma, the global ocean was characterized by chemical and isotopic variations (especially in C and Sr isotope ratios, trace metal concentrations, and biocalcification), relatively high temperatures, high relative sea level, episodic deposition of black shales (oceanic anoxic events), high production of hydrocarbons, mass extinctions of marine organisms, and radiations of marine flora and fauna. Temporal correlations between the intense pulses of igneous activity associated with LIP formation and environmental changes suggest more than pure coincidence. The 1783-84 eruption of Laki on Iceland provides the only historical record of the type of volcanism that constructs transient LIPs. Although Laki produced a basaltic lava flow representing only ~1% of the volume of a typical

Valuing the benefits of environmental policy: the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Howarth A; Pearce DW; Ozdemiroglu E; Seccombe-Hett T; Wieringa K; Streefkerk CM; Hollander AEM de; EFTEC; MNV

2001-01-01

This study seeks to set priorities for environmental policy in the Netherlands. We focused on seven environmental issues including: climate change, acidification, low level ozone, particulate matter, noise, eutrophication and land contamination. These issues are prioritised using three different

Use of environmental functions to communicate the values of a mangrove ecosystem under different management regimes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilbert, A.J.; Janssen, R.

1998-01-01

Mangroves are part of rich ecosystems providing a variety of environmental goods and services. Underestimation of their value and of the impacts of human activities is a major factor contributing to the widespread loss and degradation of ecosystems. Economists frequently receive the blame for such

The relationship between Corporate Environmental Responsibility, employees’ biospheric values and pro-environmental behaviour at work

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruepert, Angela Maria; Keizer, Kees; Steg, Linda

2017-01-01

Many organizations strive for Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). This can make organizational processes and procedures more pro-environmental, but does it also promote employees’ pro-environmental behaviour? We reason that CER can encourage employees to act pro-environmentally at work by

Structural problems of public participation in large-scale projects with environmental impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bechmann, G.

1989-01-01

Four items are discussed showing that the problems involved through participation of the public in large-scale projects with environmental impact cannot be solved satisfactorily without suitable modification of the existing legal framework. The problematic items are: the status of the electric utilities as a quasi public enterprise; informal preliminary negotiations; the penetration of scientific argumentation into administrative decisions; the procedural concept. The paper discusses the fundamental issue of the problem-adequate design of the procedure and develops suggestions for a cooperative participation design. (orig./HSCH) [de

The environmental impact of the use of large wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, P. T.

The existing data base on the environmental impact of large wind energy conversion systems (WECS) is explored. The maximum blade throw distance has been calculated at 850 m, with a 5% probability of more than 300 m. Good design and inspection procedures reduce the risk. Ice throw can be prevented by aircraft deicing techniques, but detectors are still necessary. TV interference is ameliorated by the use of composite blades and directional antennas, by relocating the nearst transmission or relay station, or by introduction of cable TV. Microwave transmission effects can be avoided by careful siting of WECS in a favorable line of sight whenever within 1 km of a transmitter. Visual impact studies have produced few adverse opinions. Noise has not proved an intractable problem, although 30 dB levels have been exceeded 2100 m downwind of the Mod 2 WECS. Further studies are necessary on the effects of heightened ground turbulence produced by large WECS. It is expected that few birds will be harmed by slowly rotating blades in the birds' natural domain, a projection confirmed by sporadic studies. Finally, aircraft collisions are regarded as unlikely and actual land use, mostly confined to rural areas, is minimal.

When the globe is your classroom: teaching and learning about large-scale environmental change online

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, E. A.; Coleman, K. J.; Barford, C. L.; Kucharik, C.; Foley, J. A.

2005-12-01

Understanding environmental problems that cross physical and disciplinary boundaries requires a more holistic view of the world - a "systems" approach. Yet it is a challenge for many learners to start thinking this way, particularly when the problems are large in scale and not easily visible. We will describe our online university course, "Humans and the Changing Biosphere," which takes a whole-systems perspective for teaching regional to global-scale environmental science concepts, including climate, hydrology, ecology, and human demographics. We will share our syllabus and learning objectives and summarize our efforts to incorporate "best" practices for online teaching. We will describe challenges we have faced, and our efforts to reach different learner types. Our goals for this presentation are: (1) to communicate how a systems approach ties together environmental sciences (including climate, hydrology, ecology, biogeochemistry, and demography) that are often taught as separate disciplines; (2) to generate discussion about challenges of teaching large-scale environmental processes; (3) to share our experiences in teaching these topics online; (4) to receive ideas and feedback on future teaching strategies. We will explain why we developed this course online, and share our experiences about benefits and challenges of teaching over the web - including some suggestions about how to use technology to supplement face-to-face learning experiences (and vice versa). We will summarize assessment data about what students learned during the course, and discuss key misconceptions and barriers to learning. We will highlight the role of an online discussion board in creating classroom community, identifying misconceptions, and engaging different types of learners.

Environmental factors affecting large-bodied coral reef fish assemblages in the Mariana Archipelago.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin L Richards

Full Text Available Large-bodied reef fishes represent an economically and ecologically important segment of the coral reef fish assemblage. Many of these individuals supply the bulk of the reproductive output for their population and have a disproportionate effect on their environment (e.g. as apex predators or bioeroding herbivores. Large-bodied reef fishes also tend to be at greatest risk of overfishing, and their loss can result in a myriad of either cascading (direct or indirect trophic and other effects. While many studies have investigated habitat characteristics affecting populations of small-bodied reef fishes, few have explored the relationship between large-bodied species and their environment. Here, we describe the distribution of the large-bodied reef fishes in the Mariana Archipelago with an emphasis on the environmental factors associated with their distribution. Of the factors considered in this study, a negative association with human population density showed the highest relative influence on the distribution of large-bodied reef fishes; however, depth, water temperature, and distance to deep water also were important. These findings provide new information on the ecology of large-bodied reef fishes can inform discussions concerning essential fish habitat and ecosystem-based management for these species and highlight important knowledge gaps worthy of additional research.

The economic value of environmental services on indigenous-held lands in Australia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerstin K Zander

Full Text Available Australians could be willing to pay from $878m to $2b per year for Indigenous people to provide environmental services. This is up to 50 times the amount currently invested by government. This result was derived from a nationwide survey that included a choice experiment in which 70% of the 927 respondents were willing to contribute to a conservation fund that directly pays Indigenous people to carry out conservation activities. Of these the highest values were found for benefits that are likely to improve biodiversity outcomes, carbon emission reductions and improved recreational values. Of the activities that could be undertaken to provide the services, feral animal control attracted the highest level of support followed by coastal surveillance, weed control and fire management. Respondents' decisions to pay were not greatly influenced by the additional social benefits that can arise for Indigenous people spending time on country and providing the services, although there was approval for reduced welfare payments that might arise.

On the Values for the Turbulent Schmidt Number in Environmental Flows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlo Gualtieri

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD has consolidated as a tool to provide understanding and quantitative information regarding many complex environmental flows. The accuracy and reliability of CFD modelling results oftentimes come under scrutiny because of issues in the implementation of and input data for those simulations. Regarding the input data, if an approach based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS equations is applied, the turbulent scalar fluxes are generally estimated by assuming the standard gradient diffusion hypothesis (SGDH, which requires the definition of the turbulent Schmidt number, Sct (the ratio of momentum diffusivity to mass diffusivity in the turbulent flow. However, no universally-accepted values of this parameter have been established or, more importantly, methodologies for its computation have been provided. This paper firstly presents a review of previous studies about Sct in environmental flows, involving both water and air systems. Secondly, three case studies are presented where the key role of a correct parameterization of the turbulent Schmidt number is pointed out. These include: (1 transverse mixing in a shallow water flow; (2 tracer transport in a contact tank; and (3 sediment transport in suspension. An overall picture on the use of the Schmidt number in CFD emerges from the paper.

The Role of Reconciling Values in Efforts to Build Community Resilience to Global Environmental Change

Science.gov (United States)

Rainie, S. C.; Ferguson, D. B.; Martinez, A.

2017-12-01

Global environmental change has increasingly forced researchers and policy makers to reckon with the practical and philosophical need to integrate Indigenous knowledge with western science to support sustainable, resilient communities. Despite the recognition that integration of different ways of knowing offers a compelling approach for building long-term resilience, balancing the power dynamic that favors mainstream epistemologies over other ways of knowing remains elusive. Indigenous scholars themselves often speak of "walking in two worlds," acknowledging the distinction between Indigenous knowledge and western science and the difficulty of weaving together the two approaches. Central to the distinction between different ways of knowing are the core values that drive development and application of new knowledge. The DIKW pyramid describes the hierarchical relationships between wisdom, knowledge, information, and data. In these relationships, values drive how one turns data into information, then knowledge and wisdom. Thus, if building community resilience relies on integrating Indigenous science and Western science, a central point of focus must be on establishing which of the core values from these different knowledge systems can contribute and which may impede the goal of supporting community resilience. For example, does the absence of Western science data collection protocols (a core value of empirical science) eliminate the utility of community observations of environmental change from efforts to understand system change? Indigenous data sovereignty, an emerging framework, asserts Indigenous rights to information and promotes the role of community knowledge in creating metrics, outcomes, and ultimately actions toward resilient communities. Indigenous data sovereignty acknowledges that context and values shape data in addition to providing a lens for interpreting data. Can principles for the governance of Indigenous data, such as recognizing and supporting

Can property values capture changes in environmental health risks? Evidence from a stated preference study in Italy and the United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

Guignet, Dennis; Alberini, Anna

2015-03-01

Hedonic models are a common nonmarket valuation technique, but, in practice, results can be affected by omitted variables and whether homebuyers respond to the assumed environmental measure. We undertake an alternative stated preference approach that circumvents these issues. We examine how homeowners in the United Kingdom and Italy value mortality risk reductions by asking them to choose among hypothetical variants of their home that differ in terms of mortality risks from air pollution and price. We find that Italian homeowners hold a value of a statistical life (VSL) of €6.4 million, but U.K. homeowners hold a much lower VSL (€2.1 million). This may be because respondents in the United Kingdom do not perceive air pollution where they live to be as threatening, and actually live in cities with relatively low air pollution. Italian homeowners value a reduction in the risk of dying from cancer more than from other causes, but U.K. respondents do not hold such a premium. Lastly, respondents who face higher baseline risks, due to greater air pollution where they live, hold a higher VSL, particularly in the United Kingdom. In both countries, the VSL is twice as large among individuals who perceive air pollution where they live as high. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

Value of spatial planning for large mining and energy complexes. [Yugoslavia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matko, Z; Spasic, N

1982-01-01

In the example of the Kosovo complex (Socialist Federated Republic of Yugoslovia) an examination is made of the value of developing a spatial plan for the territory of large mining-energy complexes. The goals and expected results of spatial planning are discussed. The open method of working lignite, fuel shale and other fossil energy raw material fields at the modern level of development of technology, in addition to large-volume physical interferences in space, causes considerable structural changes of functional-economic, socioeconomic and psychological-sociological nature in the direct zone of influence of the mining-energy complex. Improvement in technology of working a lignite field does not guarantee in the near future any solutions in developing the mining-energy complexes, and therefore it is necessary to count on considerable volume of degradation of space which is governed by the existing technology. Under these conditions detailed planning and regulation of space is especially important, if one views them as a component part of long term policy for development of the mining energy complex and the zones of its influence.

Environmental improvement through product development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McAloone, Tim C.; Bey, Niki

Companies in Denmark and abroad are working increasingly to reduce human impacts on the environment and nature. At the same time there must still be a large focus on the creation of value for customers and consumers. This development gives rise to a huge potential for Danish companies, to create ...... Environmental Protection Agency’s company funding scheme. We hope you will be inspired!...

Assembling large, complex environmental metagenomes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Howe, A. C. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Jansson, J. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division; Malfatti, S. A. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tringe, S. G. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tiedje, J. M. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Brown, C. T. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Computer Science and Engineering

2012-12-28

The large volumes of sequencing data required to sample complex environments deeply pose new challenges to sequence analysis approaches. De novo metagenomic assembly effectively reduces the total amount of data to be analyzed but requires significant computational resources. We apply two pre-assembly filtering approaches, digital normalization and partitioning, to make large metagenome assemblies more computationaly tractable. Using a human gut mock community dataset, we demonstrate that these methods result in assemblies nearly identical to assemblies from unprocessed data. We then assemble two large soil metagenomes from matched Iowa corn and native prairie soils. The predicted functional content and phylogenetic origin of the assembled contigs indicate significant taxonomic differences despite similar function. The assembly strategies presented are generic and can be extended to any metagenome; full source code is freely available under a BSD license.

Environment and energy in Iceland: A comparative analysis of values and impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorhallsdottir, Thora Ellen

2007-01-01

Within an Icelandic framework plan for energy, environmental values and impacts were estimated in multicriteria analyses for 19 hydroelectric and 22 geothermal developments. Four natural environment classes were defined (geology + hydrology, species, ecosystems + soils, landscape + wilderness) with cultural heritage as the fifth class. Values and impacts were assessed through 6 agglomerated attributes: richness/diversity, rarity, size/continuity/pristineness, information/symbolic value, international responsibility and visual value. The project offers a unique opportunity for comparing environmental values and impacts within a large sample of sites and energy alternatives treated within a common methodological framework. Total values were higher in hydroelectric than in geothermal areas. Hydroelectric areas scored high for cultural heritage (particularly in rarity and information value), landscape and wilderness. Geothermal areas had high bedrock and hydrological diversity and information values, and a high landscape visual value but little cultural heritage. High values were correlated among some classes of the natural environment, all of which are likely to reflect functional relationships. In contrast, cultural heritage values were not related to natural environment values. Overall, landscape and wilderness had the highest mean value and were also most affected by energy development. Over 40% of the hydroelectric development had a predicted mean impact value of > 4 (out of a maximum of 10), compared with 10% of the geothermal projects. Excluding two outsized hydropower options, there was a significant correlation between plant capacity and impact on geology and hydrology but not with other environmental variables

Estimated pKa values for the environmentally relevant C1 through C8 perfluorinated sulfonic acid isomers.

Science.gov (United States)

Rayne, Sierra; Forest, Kaya

2016-10-14

In order to estimate isomer-specific acidity constants (pKa) for the perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) environmental contaminants, the parameterization method 6 (PM6) pKa prediction method was extensively validated against a wide range of carbon oxyacids and related sulfonic/sulfinic acids. Excellent pKa prediction performance was observed for the carbon oxyacids using the PM6 method, but this approach was found to have a severe positive bias for sulfonic/sulfinic acids. To overcome this obstacle, a correlation was developed between non-adjusted PM6 pKa values and the corresponding experimentally obtained/estimated acidity constants for a range of representative alkyl, aryl and halogen-substituted sulfonic acids. Application of this correction to the PM6 values allows for extension of this computational method to a new acid functional group. When used to estimate isomer-specific pKa values for the C1 through C8 PFSAs, the modified PM6 approach suggests an adjusted pKa range from -5.3 to -9.0, indicating that all members of this class of well-known environmental contaminants will be effectively completely dissociated in aquatic systems.

Enhancing Sustainable Innovation by Design: an Approach to the Co-creation of Economic, Social and Environmental Value

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. Rocchi

2005-01-01

textabstractThe thesis introduces a new, flexible and easy-to-use methodological design approach to envisioning product-service systems able to create economic value for business, as well as social and environmental benefits for society. Such an approach has been developed to support business

Targeting Environmental Quality to Improve Population Health ...

Science.gov (United States)

Key goals of health care reform are to stimulate innovative approaches to improve healthcare quality and clinical outcomes while holding down costs. To achieve these goals value-based payment places the needs of the patient first and encourages multi-stakeholder cooperation. Yet, the stakeholders are typically all within the healthcare system, e.g. the Accountable Care Organization or Patient-Centered Medical Home, leaving important contributors to the health of the population such as the public health and environmental health systems absent. And rarely is the quality of the environment regarded as a modifiable factor capable of imparting a health benefit. Underscoring this point, a PubMed search of the search terms “environmental quality” with “value-based payment”, “value-based healthcare” or “value-based reimbursement” returned no relevant articles, providing further evidence that the healthcare industry largely disregards the quality of the environment as a significant determinant of wellbeing and an actionable risk factor for clinical disease management and population health intervention. Yet, the quality of the environment is unequivocally related to indicators of population health including all-cause mortality. The EPA’s Environmental Quality Index (EQI) composed of five different domains (air, land use, water, built environment and social) has provided new estimates of the associations between environmental quality and health stat

Geochemical approach values to the base line (Cu, Cr, Pb, Zn and P) for environmental studies in Montevideo coastal zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brugnoli, E.; Burone, L.; Hutton, M.; Tuduri, A.; Bueno, C.; Muniz, P.; Venturini, N.; Garcia-Rodriguez, F.

2012-01-01

The geochemical base line values (background) represent the natural chemical concentrations (heavy metals) in sediments and soils. These are used in archaeological surveys to identify anomalies, and environmental studies of contaminated areas. In Montevideo coastal zone are explored the base line values for geochemical application and enrichment index

An Investigation into The Relationships and Discrepancies between UK Consumers’ Materialistic Values, Their Environmental Attitudes, and Their Consumer Behaviour

OpenAIRE

West, Laura

2013-01-01

This study examines the relationship between consumers’ materialistic values and their support for the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), which measures the extent to which individuals perceive humans as separate or an integrated part of the rest of the natural environment. The research found that although many of the participants show a strong support for the NEP, the strength of many of the individuals’ materialistic values, and the extent to which these values are promoted and reinforced th...

Legal aspects of public participation in the planning/licensing of environmentally related large-scale projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurz, A.

1991-01-01

A variety of legal problems arise in the planning/licensing of environmentally related large-scale projects associated with the control and evaluation of technical conditions and the ramifications in social and legal policy of the acceptance of, and resistance to, such projects. On the basis of a number of partial studies e.g. of the licensing procedure of a nuclear power plant (Neckar-2 reactor) the author examines the legal aspects of public participation in the administrative procedures of licensing/plans approval. The dichotomy of law and technology is covered, and public participation in administrative procedures is derived legally from the basic constitutional rights and the principle of fair hearing. After an outline of specific administrative procedures, public participation as part of administrative procedures is included in the broad legal framework of licensing/plans approval of environmentally related large-scale projects. The author concludes that public participation, within the framework of the basic decisions established by legislature, is not a tool to be used in deciding basic political conflicts. Instead, public participations in the application of law serves to protect the rights of the individual by ensuring fair proceedings paying attention to the subjective rights of the individual. As it is unable to decide political conflicts, it is also an unsuitable means of establishing of basic societal consensus, or of seeking acceptance of large-scale projects. (orig./HP) [de

How to derive biological information from the value of the normalization constant in allometric equations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaitaniemi, Pekka

2008-04-09

Allometric equations are widely used in many branches of biological science. The potential information content of the normalization constant b in allometric equations of the form Y = bX(a) has, however, remained largely neglected. To demonstrate the potential for utilizing this information, I generated a large number of artificial datasets that resembled those that are frequently encountered in biological studies, i.e., relatively small samples including measurement error or uncontrolled variation. The value of X was allowed to vary randomly within the limits describing different data ranges, and a was set to a fixed theoretical value. The constant b was set to a range of values describing the effect of a continuous environmental variable. In addition, a normally distributed random error was added to the values of both X and Y. Two different approaches were then used to model the data. The traditional approach estimated both a and b using a regression model, whereas an alternative approach set the exponent a at its theoretical value and only estimated the value of b. Both approaches produced virtually the same model fit with less than 0.3% difference in the coefficient of determination. Only the alternative approach was able to precisely reproduce the effect of the environmental variable, which was largely lost among noise variation when using the traditional approach. The results show how the value of b can be used as a source of valuable biological information if an appropriate regression model is selected.

Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chiang, Jie-Lun; Lee, Ming-Hsi; Chen, Yie-Ruey

2017-04-01

Analysis on the Critical Rainfall Value For Predicting Large Scale Landslides Caused by Heavy Rainfall In Taiwan. Kuang-Jung Tsai 1, Jie-Lun Chiang 2,Ming-Hsi Lee 2, Yie-Ruey Chen 1, 1Department of Land Management and Development, Chang Jung Christian Universityt, Tainan, Taiwan. 2Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan. ABSTRACT The accumulated rainfall amount was recorded more than 2,900mm that were brought by Morakot typhoon in August, 2009 within continuous 3 days. Very serious landslides, and sediment related disasters were induced by this heavy rainfall event. The satellite image analysis project conducted by Soil and Water Conservation Bureau after Morakot event indicated that more than 10,904 sites of landslide with total sliding area of 18,113ha were found by this project. At the same time, all severe sediment related disaster areas are also characterized based on their disaster type, scale, topography, major bedrock formations and geologic structures during the period of extremely heavy rainfall events occurred at the southern Taiwan. Characteristics and mechanism of large scale landslide are collected on the basis of the field investigation technology integrated with GPS/GIS/RS technique. In order to decrease the risk of large scale landslides on slope land, the strategy of slope land conservation, and critical rainfall database should be set up and executed as soon as possible. Meanwhile, study on the establishment of critical rainfall value used for predicting large scale landslides induced by heavy rainfall become an important issue which was seriously concerned by the government and all people live in Taiwan. The mechanism of large scale landslide, rainfall frequency analysis ,sediment budge estimation and river hydraulic analysis under the condition of extremely climate change during the past 10 years would be seriously concerned and recognized as a required issue by this

Robust stability analysis of large power systems using the structured singular value theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castellanos, R.; Sarmiento, H. [Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico); Messina, A.R. [Cinvestav, Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering, Guadalajara, Jalisco (Mexico)

2005-07-01

This paper examines the application of structured singular value (SSV) theory to analyse robust stability of complex power systems with respect to a set of structured uncertainties. Based on SSV theory and the frequency sweep method, techniques for robust analysis of large-scale power systems are developed. The main interest is focused on determining robust stability for varying operating conditions and uncertainties in the structure of the power system. The applicability of the proposed techniques is verified through simulation studies on a large-scale power system. In particular, results for the system are considered for a wide range of uncertainties of operating conditions. Specifically, the developed technique is used to estimate the effect of variations in the parameters of a major system inter-tie on the nominal stability of a critical inter-area mode. (Author)

Applying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus to the Charcoal Value Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harry K. Hoffmann

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Globally, natural resources are increasingly under pressure, especially due to population growth, economic growth and transformation as well as climate change. As a result, the water, energy, and food (WEF nexus approach has emerged to understand interdependencies and commonly manage resources within a multi-scale and multi-level framework. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the high and growing consumption of traditional biomass for cooking purposes - notably fuelwood and charcoal—is both a key source of energy and contributor for food security as well as a pressure on natural resources. Improving the bioenergy value chains is essential for limiting environmental degradation and for securing the livelihoods of millions of people. Although the WEF nexus approach entails large potential to address the complex problems arising along the bioenergy value chains, these are currently not considered. Based on the WEF nexus approach, we analyze the different steps within the charcoal value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlight the respective interdependencies and the potential for improving overall socio-economic and environmental sustainability. We emphasize the water, energy and food related implications of vicious and virtuous production cycles, separated by value chain segments. We discuss the potential and major challenges for implementing more sustainable value chains. Furthermore, we underline the necessity of applying WEF nexus approaches to these value chains in order to optimize environmental and social outcomes.

The value of local Italian supply chain of the large wild ungulates meat: the case of the red deer meat in Alpine valleys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Elena Marescotti

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Currently in Italy, in contrast to other EU countries, a supply chain for hunted game meat does not exist. Nevertheless there are the conditions for its development (Gaviglio et al., 2017; in fact game meat dishes’ has always been part of Alpine area’s culinary tradition and furthermore, management measures aimed at reducing the overpopulation of large wild ungulates leaded to an increase in the availability of their meat. In this context, the present research aims at analyze the dynamics of the value in the local non-existent supply chain of the large wild game meat by the application on the case study of the Valle Ossola (Piedmont, Italy. Due to its representativeness among Italian wild ungulates, the research focus on red deer meat. The data has been collected in 2016 through in-depth interviews and focus groups with the stakeholders involved in the supply chain: hunters, transformers and restaurateurs. Results show that for the hunter the red deer reach a hypothetical price of 6,00 €/kg. From a meat processing targeted at the maximum enhancement of the carcass, without any waste, the transformers can reach a hypothetical price of 9,80 €/kg. Whereas for the restaurateur, the red deer meat can reach a final price range between 22,88 and 51,47 €/kg (hypothesizing maximum sales of high value-added course. Through the maximization of the meat’s quality, hunter and transformers profits can increase significantly, with a redistribution of the added value throughout the supply chain. A limitation of this study is that the calculated values does not take into consideration the stakeholders’ production costs (that increasing along the supply chain. Considering our findings, the development of sustainable supply chain of the local game meat could be economically interesting. Thus, wild ungulates could represent an economic resource for the population rather than an environmental and social cost for the mountain areas.

Quick scan of the economical, technological and environmental aspects of biomass value chains

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kimball, E.; Urbanus, J.; Bloom, J.G.P.

2011-01-15

Results are presented of the AERTOs project (Associated European Research and Technology Organisations). The objective is to identify, design and implement joint, long-term, sustainable cooperation activities between RTOs (Research and Technology Organisations). The purpose of this work is a bottom-up approach to develop and deploy joint activities towards a Bio-based Economy. The results of this report will deliver input for a more extensive paper about the position of the RTOs in Europe. This report contains a quick scan of various biomass value chains that could emerge. Together with the AERTOs partners several bio-based chains were selected for further evaluation. Next, the technological, economical and environmental aspects of each step of the production chain were determined. By integrating this data over the full chain, the chains could be compared to each other in a consistent way. A sensitivity analysis then provided insight into the bottlenecks in the value chain.

Workshop: Valuing Environmental Health Risk Reductions to Children (2003)

Science.gov (United States)

This two-day workshop on children's health valuation was co-sponsored by EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, Office of Children's Health Protection, and National Center for Environmental Research as well as the University of Central Florida.

Quantified social and aesthetic values in environmental decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burnham, J.B.; Maynard, W.S.; Jones, G.R.

1975-01-01

A method has been devised for quantifying the social criteria to be considered when selecting a nuclear design and/or site option. Community judgement of social values is measured directly and indirectly on eight siting factors. These same criteria are independently analysed by experts using techno-economic methods. The combination of societal and technical indices yields a weighted score for each alternative. The aesthetic impact was selected as the first to be quantified. A visual quality index was developed to measure the change in the visual quality of a viewscape caused by construction of a facility. Visual quality was measured by reducing it to its component parts - intactness, vividness and unity - and rating each part with and without the facility. Urban planners and landscape architects used the technique to analyse three viewscapes, testing three different methods on each viewscape. The three methods used the same aesthetic elements but varied in detail and depth. As expected, the technique with the greatest analytical detail (and least subjective judgement) was the most reliable method. Social value judgements were measured by social psychologists applying a questionnaire technique, using a number of design and site options to illustrate the range of criteria. Three groups of predictably different respondents - environmentalists, high-school students and businessmen - were selected. The three groups' response patterns were remarkably similar, though businessmen were consistently more biased towards nuclear power than were environmentalists. Correlational and multiple regression analyses provided indirect estimates of the relative importance of each impact category. Only the environmentalists showed a high correlation between the two methods. This is partially explained by their interest and knowledge. Also, the regression analysis encounters problems when small samples are used, and the environmental sample was considerably larger than the other two

Environmental Values.The Dunajovický and the Košátecký Stream Catchments, Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jakubínský, Jiří; Báčová, R.

2013-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 4 (2013), s. 542-549 ISSN 1744-5647 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0073; GA MŠk(CZ) EE2.4.31.0056 Institutional support: RVO:67179843 Keywords : environmental value * map * river landscape * small watercourse * ecohydrology * Czech Republic Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 0.895, year: 2013

The main environmental and social problems in China's large coal mine construction and the countermeasures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geng, Hai-qing [State Environmental Protection Administration, Beijing (China). Appraisal Center for Environment and Engineering

2008-05-15

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, the number of China's large proposed coal mines has increased very quickly in recent years. 144 environmental impact assessment reports were submitted to SEPA during 2001 2006, so the problem of reconciling coal exploitation with the environmental and social impacts has become urgent in China's sustainable development strategy. Based on analysis of data on coal mine exploitation, it is pointed out that there are four main problems in the management of the coal sector: the SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) lags behind the practical needs; the policy is not clear; migration is neglected; and an ecological compensatory mechanism is absent. Four countermeasures are recommended: accelerating the execution of SEA; compartmentalizing typical zones for environmental management; improving the organisation of resettlement in the coal district; and installing an ecological compensatory mechanism in the coal mining industry. 13 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

The Small-Scale Hydropower Plants in Sites of Environmental Value: An Italian Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marianna Rotilio

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Since ancient times water has been accompanying technological change in the energy sector. Used as a source of hydraulic energy, it currently generates one-fifth of the global electricity production. However, according to collective imagination, hydroelectric plants are constructions of high environmental, acoustic, and visual impact, which may harm the preservation of the territory. This paper intends to address the topic of mini-hydropower that, in addition to providing the production of renewable energy, ensures a limited environmental impact even in delicate contexts with high landscape values, by elaborating a research methodology that makes these interventions compatible with them. The process of “global compatibility” checks developed to assess the feasibility of the intervention will be explained in the paper. We intend to describe here the research process undertaken to make the planning of this type of system sustainable, in contexts that need to be rehabilitated in relation both to the accessibility of citizens and to the environmental enhancement. The intervention planned will be characterized by the combined use of other renewable energy sources, in addition to water. The proposed methodology has been tested on a case study in the village of Roccacasale, in the province of L’Aquila.

Numerical solution of large nonlinear boundary value problems by quadratic minimization techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glowinski, R.; Le Tallec, P.

1984-01-01

The objective of this paper is to describe the numerical treatment of large highly nonlinear two or three dimensional boundary value problems by quadratic minimization techniques. In all the different situations where these techniques were applied, the methodology remains the same and is organized as follows: 1) derive a variational formulation of the original boundary value problem, and approximate it by Galerkin methods; 2) transform this variational formulation into a quadratic minimization problem (least squares methods) or into a sequence of quadratic minimization problems (augmented lagrangian decomposition); 3) solve each quadratic minimization problem by a conjugate gradient method with preconditioning, the preconditioning matrix being sparse, positive definite, and fixed once for all in the iterative process. This paper will illustrate the methodology above on two different examples: the description of least squares solution methods and their application to the solution of the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible viscous fluids; the description of augmented lagrangian decomposition techniques and their application to the solution of equilibrium problems in finite elasticity

How much do we value the environment? The acceptation of environmental policy and environmental measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mulder, S.; Verhue, D.; Adriaansen, M.

2005-01-01

Several surveys were conducted to investigate the public opinion in the Netherlands on the environment. The subjects investigated were: climatic change, air pollution, biodiversity, noise and soil pollution, and nature in the Netherlands. Special attention was paid to the willingness of the Dutch to accept specific environmental measures and a marketing strategy for new environmental policy. The purpose of the surveys is to broaden the support of the Dutch people for the environmental policy [nl

Environmental contamination due to release of a large amount of tritium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, Hiroshi

1988-01-01

Tritium release incidents have occurred many times in the Savannah Rever Plant in the U.S. A tritium release incident also took place in the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The present article outlines the reports by the plant and laboratory on these incidents and makes some comments on environmental contamination that may results from release of a large amount of tritium from nuclear fusion facilities. Tritium is normally released in the form of a combination of chemical compounds such as HT, DT and T 2 and oxides such as HTO, DTO and T 2 O. The percentage of the oxides is given in the reports by the plant. Oxides, which can be absorbed through the skin, are considered to be nearly a thousand times more toxic than the other type of tritium compounds. The HT type compounds (HT, DT and T 2 ) can be oxidized by microorganisms in soil into oxides (HTO, DTO and T 2 O) and therefore, great care should also given to this type of compounds. After each accidental tritium release, the health physics group of the plant collected various environmental samples, including ground surface water, milk, leaves of plants, soil and human urine, in leeward areas. Results on the contamination of surface water, fish and underground water are outlined and discussed. (Nogami, K.)

Generalizing genetical genomics: getting added value from environmental perturbation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Breitling, Rainer; Jansen, Ritsert C

2008-10-01

Genetical genomics is a useful approach for studying the effect of genetic perturbations on biological systems at the molecular level. However, molecular networks depend on the environmental conditions and, thus, a comprehensive understanding of biological systems requires studying them across multiple environments. We propose a generalization of genetical genomics, which combines genetic and sensibly chosen environmental perturbations, to study the plasticity of molecular networks. This strategy forms a crucial step toward understanding why individuals respond differently to drugs, toxins, pathogens, nutrients and other environmental influences. Here we outline a strategy for selecting and allocating individuals to particular treatments, and we discuss the promises and pitfalls of the generalized genetical genomics approach.

Development of a decision aid for energy resource management for the Navajo Nation incorporating environmental cultural values

Science.gov (United States)

Necefer, Len Edward

Decision-making surrounding pathways of future energy resource management are complexity and requires balancing tradeoffs of multiple environmental, social, economic, and technical outcomes. Technical decision aid can provide a framework for informed decision making, allowing individuals to better understand the tradeoff between resources, technology, energy services, and prices. While technical decision aid have made significant advances in evaluating these quantitative aspects of energy planning and performance, they have not been designed to incorporate human factors, such as preferences and behavior that are informed by cultural values. Incorporating cultural values into decision tools can provide not only an improved decision framework for the Navajo Nation, but also generate new insights on how these perspective can improve decision making on energy resources. Ensuring these aids are a cultural fit for each context has the potential to increase trust and promote understanding of the tradeoffs involved in energy resource management. In this dissertation I present the development of a technical tool that explicitly addresses cultural and spiritual values and experimentally assesses their influence on the preferences and decision making of Navajo citizens. Chapter 2 describes the results of a public elicitation effort to gather information about stakeholder views and concerns related to energy development in the Navajo Nation in order to develop a larger sample survey and a decision-support tool that links techno-economic energy models with sociocultural attributes. Chapter 3 details the methods of developing the energy decision aid and its underlying assumptions for alternative energy projects and their impacts. This tool also provides an alternative to economic valuation of cultural impacts based upon an ordinal index tied to environmental impacts. Chapter 4 details the the influence of various cultural, environmental, and economic outcome information provided

Environmental groups in politics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowe, P.; Goyder, J.

1983-01-01

The subject is covered in chapters, entitled: introduction; (Part I) the environmental movement (environmental groups and the attentive public; the episodic development of the environmental movement; the underlying values of environmentalism; the roots of environmental concern; the social limits to growth; elite manipulation of values); the organisation of environmental groups; environmental groups in national politics; environmental groups in local politics; (Part II) the Henley Society; Friends of the Earth; the National Trust; the Royal Society for Nature Conservation; the European Environmental Bureau. (U.K.)

Outcome and value uncertainties in global-change policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammitt, J.K.

1995-01-01

Choices among environmental policies can be informed by analysis of the potential physical, biological, and social outcomes of alternative choices, and analysis of social preferences among these outcomes. Frequently, however, the consequences of alternative policies cannot be accurately predicted because of substantial outcome uncertainties concerning physical, chemical, biological, and social processes linking policy choices to consequences. Similarly, assessments of social preferences among alternative outcomes are limited by value uncertainties arising from limitations of moral principles, the absence of economic markets for many environmental attributes, and other factors. Outcome and value uncertainties relevant to global-change policy are described and their magnitudes are examined for two cases: stratospheric-ozone depletion and global climate change. Analysis of information available in the mid 1980s, when international ozone regulations were adopted, suggests that contemporary uncertainties surrounding CFC emissions and the atmospheric response were so large that plausible ozone depletion, absent regulation, ranged from negligible to catastrophic, a range that exceeded the plausible effect of the regulations considered. Analysis of climate change suggests that, important as outcome uncertainties are, uncertainties about values may be even more important for policy choice. 53 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs

Environmental implications of large-scale adoption of wind power: a scenario-based life cycle assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arvesen, Anders; Hertwich, Edgar G

2011-01-01

We investigate the potential environmental impacts of a large-scale adoption of wind power to meet up to 22% of the world’s growing electricity demand. The analysis builds on life cycle assessments of generic onshore and offshore wind farms, meant to represent average conditions for global deployment of wind power. We scale unit-based findings to estimate aggregated emissions of building, operating and decommissioning wind farms toward 2050, taking into account changes in the electricity mix in manufacturing. The energy scenarios investigated are the International Energy Agency’s BLUE scenarios. We estimate 1.7–2.6 Gt CO 2 -eq climate change, 2.1–3.2 Mt N-eq marine eutrophication, 9.2–14 Mt NMVOC photochemical oxidant formation, and 9.5–15 Mt SO 2 -eq terrestrial acidification impact category indicators due to global wind power in 2007–50. Assuming lifetimes 5 yr longer than reference, the total climate change indicator values are reduced by 8%. In the BLUE Map scenario, construction of new capacity contributes 64%, and repowering of existing capacity 38%, to total cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. The total emissions of wind electricity range between 4% and 14% of the direct emissions of the replaced fossil-fueled power plants. For all impact categories, the indirect emissions of displaced fossil power are larger than the total emissions caused by wind power.

Understanding Values in a Large Health Care Organization through Work-Life Narratives of High-Performing Employees

Science.gov (United States)

Karnieli-Miller, Orit; Taylor, Amanda C.; Inui, Thomas S.; Ivy, Steven S.; Frankel, Richard M.

2011-01-01

Objective— To understand high-performing frontline employees’ values as reflected in their narratives of day-to-day interactions in a large health care organization. Methods— A total of 150 employees representing various roles within the organization were interviewed and asked to share work-life narratives (WLNs) about value-affirming situations (i.e. situations in which they believed their actions to be fully aligned with their values) and value-challenging situations (i.e. when their actions or the actions of others were not consistent with their values), using methods based on appreciative inquiry. Results— The analysis revealed 10 broad values. Most of the value-affirming WLNs were about the story-teller and team providing care for the patient/family. Half of the value-challenging WLNs were about the story-teller or a patient and barriers created by the organization, supervisor, or physician. Almost half of these focused on “treating others with disrespect/respect”. Only 15% of the value-challenging WLNs contained a resolution reached by the participants, often leaving them describing unresolved and frequently negative feelings. Conclusions— Appreciative inquiry and thematic analysis methods were found to be an effective tool for understanding the important and sometimes competing role personal and institutional values play in day-to-day work. There is remarkable potential in using WLNs as a way to surface and reinforce shared values and, perhaps more importantly, respectfully to identify and discuss conflicting personal and professional values. PMID:23908820

The value of renewables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, H.J.

2001-01-01

The article extols the virtues of renewable energy sources. Based largely on the outcome of an IAE meeting in May 2001, the author has outlined an approach for accelerating the development of renewables. The article quotes several statements made by the IAE with respect to the need for a secure supply of affordable energy, sustainable development, diversification, the value of renewables and challenges confronting developers of renewables. The article is presented under the sub-headings of: (i) harnessing energy market forces; (ii) understanding costs in the context of diversification; (iii) economic performance; (iv) environmental protection; (v) an IAE action plan and (vi) conclusions. The author was once the IAE's director for energy efficiency, technology and R and D

Environmental value assessment in a multidisciplinary EIA setting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erikstad, Lars; Lindblom, Inge; Jerpasen, Gro; Hanssen, Martin A.; Bekkby, Trine; Stabbetorp, Odd; Bakkestuen, Vegar

2008-01-01

Value assessment is a central element in an EIA for the understanding of the impacts of specified projects. The value assessment contains subjective elements and this may cause errors and difficulties in numeric value assessment methods. There is a need for transparent common criteria to promote discussion and understanding. A common criteria base already exists, but lack of communication between different management systems and different disciplines, all with different traditions in value assessment, makes the situation complex. In this article we have looked into the basic understanding of value linked to the investigation themes of natural environment, cultural heritage and society. The investigation themes linked to social science is difficult to incorporate into a common system, basically because they have less focus on land use and contain different value types. Much of the relevant literature about value assessment is linked to the assessment of sites of special interest as candidates for legal protection or conservation. In an EIA a much broader range of areas is introduced, including the 'every day landscape' with a lower and more general level of value. Together with a focus on mitigation and adjustments of plans, this results in a need for a more detailed value assessment scale than is normally in use today. We have suggested a new scale to ease communication between different disciplines and management systems. How we understand value is not constant over time, nor is the level of knowledge. This makes it necessary to sustain an ongoing debate on value assessment. The need for a dynamic value assessment system increases with the increasing use of database modelling, digital analysis of map data (GIS) etc. Lack of a ongoing value debate will rapidly lead to misleading and biased results

Legal aspects of public participation in the planning/licensing of environmentally related large-scale projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurz, A.

1992-02-01

A variety of legal problems arise in the planning/licensing of environmentally related large-scale projects associated with the control and evaluation of technical conditions and the ramifications in social and legal policy of the acceptance of, and resistance to, such projects. On the basis of a number of partial studies e.g. of the licensing procedure of a nuclear power plant (Neckar-2 reactor), the author examines the legal aspects of public participation in the administrative procedure of licensing/plans approval. The dichotomy of law and technology is covered, and public participation in administrative procedures is derived legally from the basic constitutional rights and the principle of fair hearing. After an outline of specific administrative procedures, public participation as part of administrative procedures is included in the broad legal framework of licensing/plans approval of environmentally related large-scale projects. The author concludes that public participation, within the framework of the basic decisions established by legislature, is not a tool to be used in deciding basic political conflicts. Instead, public participations in the application of law serves to protect the rights of the individual by ensuring fair proceedings paying attention to the subjective rights of the individual. As it is unable to decide political conflicts, it is also an unsuitable means of establishing of basic societal consensus, or of seeking acceptance of large-scale projects. This is reflected also in studies of the legal functions of public participation, according to which the lawfulness of procedures is observed without, however, the legitimacy of the project being achieved. (orig./HP) [de

Environmental improvement through product development - in Japanese

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McAloone, Tim C.; Bey, Niki

Companies in Denmark and abroad are working increasingly to reduce human impacts on the environment and nature. At the same time there must still be a large focus on the creation of value for customers and consumers. This development gives rise to a huge potential for Danish companies, to create ...... Environmental Protection Agency’s company funding scheme. We hope you will be inspired!...

Evaluation of digital soil mapping approaches with large sets of environmental covariates

Science.gov (United States)

Nussbaum, Madlene; Spiess, Kay; Baltensweiler, Andri; Grob, Urs; Keller, Armin; Greiner, Lucie; Schaepman, Michael E.; Papritz, Andreas

2018-01-01

The spatial assessment of soil functions requires maps of basic soil properties. Unfortunately, these are either missing for many regions or are not available at the desired spatial resolution or down to the required soil depth. The field-based generation of large soil datasets and conventional soil maps remains costly. Meanwhile, legacy soil data and comprehensive sets of spatial environmental data are available for many regions. Digital soil mapping (DSM) approaches relating soil data (responses) to environmental data (covariates) face the challenge of building statistical models from large sets of covariates originating, for example, from airborne imaging spectroscopy or multi-scale terrain analysis. We evaluated six approaches for DSM in three study regions in Switzerland (Berne, Greifensee, ZH forest) by mapping the effective soil depth available to plants (SD), pH, soil organic matter (SOM), effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), clay, silt, gravel content and fine fraction bulk density for four soil depths (totalling 48 responses). Models were built from 300-500 environmental covariates by selecting linear models through (1) grouped lasso and (2) an ad hoc stepwise procedure for robust external-drift kriging (georob). For (3) geoadditive models we selected penalized smoothing spline terms by component-wise gradient boosting (geoGAM). We further used two tree-based methods: (4) boosted regression trees (BRTs) and (5) random forest (RF). Lastly, we computed (6) weighted model averages (MAs) from the predictions obtained from methods 1-5. Lasso, georob and geoGAM successfully selected strongly reduced sets of covariates (subsets of 3-6 % of all covariates). Differences in predictive performance, tested on independent validation data, were mostly small and did not reveal a single best method for 48 responses. Nevertheless, RF was often the best among methods 1-5 (28 of 48 responses), but was outcompeted by MA for 14 of these 28 responses. RF tended to over

A simple method for the production of large volume 3D macroporous hydrogels for advanced biotechnological, medical and environmental applications

Science.gov (United States)

Savina, Irina N.; Ingavle, Ganesh C.; Cundy, Andrew B.; Mikhalovsky, Sergey V.

2016-02-01

The development of bulk, three-dimensional (3D), macroporous polymers with high permeability, large surface area and large volume is highly desirable for a range of applications in the biomedical, biotechnological and environmental areas. The experimental techniques currently used are limited to the production of small size and volume cryogel material. In this work we propose a novel, versatile, simple and reproducible method for the synthesis of large volume porous polymer hydrogels by cryogelation. By controlling the freezing process of the reagent/polymer solution, large-scale 3D macroporous gels with wide interconnected pores (up to 200 μm in diameter) and large accessible surface area have been synthesized. For the first time, macroporous gels (of up to 400 ml bulk volume) with controlled porous structure were manufactured, with potential for scale up to much larger gel dimensions. This method can be used for production of novel 3D multi-component macroporous composite materials with a uniform distribution of embedded particles. The proposed method provides better control of freezing conditions and thus overcomes existing drawbacks limiting production of large gel-based devices and matrices. The proposed method could serve as a new design concept for functional 3D macroporous gels and composites preparation for biomedical, biotechnological and environmental applications.

Large-scale multimedia modeling applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Droppo, J.G. Jr.; Buck, J.W.; Whelan, G.; Strenge, D.L.; Castleton, K.J.; Gelston, G.M.

1995-08-01

Over the past decade, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies have faced increasing scrutiny for a wide range of environmental issues related to past and current practices. A number of large-scale applications have been undertaken that required analysis of large numbers of potential environmental issues over a wide range of environmental conditions and contaminants. Several of these applications, referred to here as large-scale applications, have addressed long-term public health risks using a holistic approach for assessing impacts from potential waterborne and airborne transport pathways. Multimedia models such as the Multimedia Environmental Pollutant Assessment System (MEPAS) were designed for use in such applications. MEPAS integrates radioactive and hazardous contaminants impact computations for major exposure routes via air, surface water, ground water, and overland flow transport. A number of large-scale applications of MEPAS have been conducted to assess various endpoints for environmental and human health impacts. These applications are described in terms of lessons learned in the development of an effective approach for large-scale applications

An assessment of the influence of bioenergy and marketed land amenity values on land uses in the midwestern US

Science.gov (United States)

Suk-Won Choi; Brent Sohngen; Ralph. Alig

2011-01-01

There is substantial concern that bioenergy policies could swamp other considerations, such as environmental values, and lead to large-scale conversions of land from forest to crops. This study examines how bioenergy and marketed environmental rents for forestland potentially influence land use in the Midwestern US. We hypothesize that current land uses reflect market...

Environmental contamination with Staphylococcus aureus at a large, Midwestern university campus.

Science.gov (United States)

Thapaliya, Dipendra; Taha, Mohammed; Dalman, Mark R; Kadariya, Jhalka; Smith, Tara C

2017-12-01

Staphylococcus aureus can cause minor to severe life-threatening infections. The changing epidemiology of S. aureus is of public health concern due to the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains. Environmental surfaces play a crucial role in the transmission of S. aureus. The objective of this study was to examine environmental contamination and molecular characteristics of S. aureus in health professional-associated (HPA) and non-health professional-associated (NHPA) buildings at a large university. A total of 152 environmental surface samples were collected from two HPA and two NHPA campus buildings. Bacterial culture and diagnostics were done using standard microbiology methods. Polymerase chain reaction was conducted to detect mecA and PVL genes. All isolates were spa typed. A subset of isolates was characterized via multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). All S. aureus isolates were tested for antibiotic susceptibility. The overall contamination of S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was 22.4% (34/152) and 5.9% (9/152) respectively. Similar prevalence of contamination was found in HPA and NHPA buildings. A total of 17 different spa types were detected among 34 S. aureus isolates. The majority of the MRSA isolates belonged to clonal complex (CC) 8. One isolate was positive for PVL. Eleven different sequence types (STs) were detected from 17 tested isolates. ST8 was the most common. Twelve isolates (35.3%) were MDR. Almost 27% (9/34) of the isolates were MRSA. The highest contamination of S. aureus was found in high hand-touch areas such as door knobs, suggesting that human interaction in crowded environments such as academic institutions plays a crucial role in S. aureus/MRSA transmission via inanimate objects. Additionally, more than one-third of the isolates were MDR. These data reinforce the need to implement effective prevention strategies outside the healthcare setting to decrease the incidence of drug-resistant S. aureus infections

Large and growing environmental reservoirs of Deca-BDE present an emerging health risk for fish and marine mammals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ross, Peter S.; Couillard, Catherine M.; Ikonomou, Michael G.; Johannessen, Sophia C.; Lebeuf, Michel; Macdonald, Robie W.; Tomy, Gregg T.

2009-01-01

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been the subject of intense scientific and regulatory scrutiny during recent years. Of the three commercial forms (Penta, Octa and Deca) of PBDEs that have been widely used as flame retardants in textiles, furniture upholstery, plastics, and electronics, only Deca-BDE remains on the general market in North America, while a recent ruling of the European Court spells an impending end to its use in Europe. We review here highlights of aquatic research documenting the rapid emergence of PBDEs as a high priority environmental concern in Canada. PBDEs are being introduced in large quantities to the aquatic environment through sewage discharge and atmospheric deposition. In certain environmental compartments, the single congener BDE-209, the main ingredient in the Deca-BDE formulation, has surpassed the legacy PCBs and DDT as the top contaminant by concentration. Limited biomagnification of BDE-209 in aquatic food webs reflects its high log K ow and preferential partitioning into the particle phase. As a result, large environmental reservoirs of BDE-209 are being created in sediments, and these may present a long-term threat to biota: BDE-209 breaks down into more persistent, more bioaccumulative, more toxic, and more mobile PBDE congeners in the environment

Large and growing environmental reservoirs of Deca-BDE present an emerging health risk for fish and marine mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Peter S; Couillard, Catherine M; Ikonomou, Michael G; Johannessen, Sophia C; Lebeuf, Michel; Macdonald, Robie W; Tomy, Gregg T

2009-01-01

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been the subject of intense scientific and regulatory scrutiny during recent years. Of the three commercial forms (Penta, Octa and Deca) of PBDEs that have been widely used as flame retardants in textiles, furniture upholstery, plastics, and electronics, only Deca-BDE remains on the general market in North America, while a recent ruling of the European Court spells an impending end to its use in Europe. We review here highlights of aquatic research documenting the rapid emergence of PBDEs as a high priority environmental concern in Canada. PBDEs are being introduced in large quantities to the aquatic environment through sewage discharge and atmospheric deposition. In certain environmental compartments, the single congener BDE-209, the main ingredient in the Deca-BDE formulation, has surpassed the legacy PCBs and DDT as the top contaminant by concentration. Limited biomagnification of BDE-209 in aquatic food webs reflects its high log K(ow) and preferential partitioning into the particle phase. As a result, large environmental reservoirs of BDE-209 are being created in sediments, and these may present a long-term threat to biota: BDE-209 breaks down into more persistent, more bioaccumulative, more toxic, and more mobile PBDE congeners in the environment.

Use value, exchange value, and resource scarcity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, D.I.

1999-01-01

The literature on natural resource scarcity indicators is reviewed. Scarcity indicators can be classified by what is being measured: value of the resource stock or value of extracted resource commodities; whose value is considered: social vs. private scarcity; and by the mode of valuation considered: exchange value and use value. Prices and rents are common measures of exchange value or indicators of ''exchange scarcity'' and unit costs can be seen as use value indicators or indicators of u se scarcity . The major aim of this paper is to demonstrate the links between productivity indicators such as unit costs and the classical concept of use value. The two classes of indicator relate to John Commons' discussions of scarcity and efficiency, and a marginal vs. a non-marginal approach to value and scarcity. The classical use value concept also has wider relevance for issues of valuation in energy, resource, and environmental policy. (author)

Effects of incorporating environmental cost and risk aversion on economic values of pig breeding goal traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, B M; de Mey, Y; Bastiaansen, J W M; Oude Lansink, A G J M

2018-06-01

Economic values (EVs) of traits, accounting for environmental impacts and risk preferences of farmers, are required to design breeding goals that contribute to both economic and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of incorporating environmental costs and the risk preferences of farmers on the EVs of pig breeding goal traits. A breeding goal consisting of both sow efficiency and production traits was defined for a typical Brazilian farrow-to-finish pig farm with 1,500 productive sows. A mean-variance utility function was employed for deriving the EVs at finishing pig level assuming fixed slaughter weight. The inclusion of risk and risk aversion reduces the economic weights of sow efficiency traits (17%) while increasing the importance of production traits (7%). For a risk-neutral producer, inclusion of environmental cost reduces the economic importance of sow efficiency traits (3%) while increasing the importance of production traits (1%). Genetic changes of breeding goal traits by their genetic standard deviations reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and excretions of nitrogen and phosphorus per finished pig by up to 6% while increasing farm profit. The estimated EVs could be used to improve selection criteria and thereby contribute to the sustainability of pig production systems. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Producing Distribution Maps for a Spatially-Explicit Ecosystem Model Using Large Monitoring and Environmental Databases and a Combination of Interpolation and Extrapolation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arnaud Grüss

2018-01-01

Full Text Available To be able to simulate spatial patterns of predator-prey interactions, many spatially-explicit ecosystem modeling platforms, including Atlantis, need to be provided with distribution maps defining the annual or seasonal spatial distributions of functional groups and life stages. We developed a methodology combining extrapolation and interpolation of the predictions made by statistical habitat models to produce distribution maps for the fish and invertebrates represented in the Atlantis model of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM Large Marine Ecosystem (LME (“Atlantis-GOM”. This methodology consists of: (1 compiling a large monitoring database, gathering all the fisheries-independent and fisheries-dependent data collected in the northern (U.S. GOM since 2000; (2 compiling a large environmental database, storing all the environmental parameters known to influence the spatial distribution patterns of fish and invertebrates of the GOM; (3 fitting binomial generalized additive models (GAMs to the large monitoring and environmental databases, and geostatistical binomial generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs to the large monitoring database; and (4 employing GAM predictions to infer spatial distributions in the southern GOM, and GLMM predictions to infer spatial distributions in the U.S. GOM. Thus, our methodology allows for reasonable extrapolation in the southern GOM based on a large amount of monitoring and environmental data, and for interpolation in the U.S. GOM accurately reflecting the probability of encountering fish and invertebrates in that region. We used an iterative cross-validation procedure to validate GAMs. When a GAM did not pass the validation test, we employed a GAM for a related functional group/life stage to generate distribution maps for the southern GOM. In addition, no geostatistical GLMMs were fit for the functional groups and life stages whose depth, longitudinal and latitudinal ranges within the U.S. GOM are not entirely covered by

Sustainable Development of Slow Fashion Businesses: Customer Value Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sojin Jung

2016-06-01

Full Text Available As an alternative to the prevalent fast fashion model, slow fashion has emerged as a way of enhancing sustainability in the fashion industry, yet how slow fashion can enhance profitability is still largely unknown. Based on a customer value creation framework, this study empirically tested a structural model that specified the slow fashion attributes that contribute to creating perceived customer value, which subsequently increases a consumer’s intention to buy and pay a price premium for slow fashion products. An analysis of 221 U.S. consumer data revealed that delivering exclusive product value is significantly critical in creating customer value for slow fashion, and customer value, in turn, positively affects consumers’ purchase intentions. Further analysis also revealed that different slow fashion attributes distinctively affect customer value. This provides potential strategies on which slow fashion businesses can focus to secure an economically sustainable business model, thereby continuously improving environmental and social sustainability with the slow fashion ideal.

Assessing the Value of Housing Schemes through Sustainable Return on Investment: A Path towards Sustainability-Led Evaluations?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Dean

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The 2016 United Nations (UN New Urban Agenda clearly reaffirms the concept that sustainable cities require intertwined environmental and social sustainability. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 11—“Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable”—sets (as a primary target the provision of sufficient affordable housing. Despite the central role that housing plays in ensuring sustainability and the importance of both environmental and social pillars in ensuring sustainable development, current evaluative methods that support decision making on social housing interventions fail to capture all of the socio-environmental value contained in the UN SDG 11. This paper addresses the issue by demonstrating how Sustainable Return on Investment can successfully describe and analyse a range of externalities related to the sustainable value generated by social housing regeneration schemes. To achieve this goal, a single case study strategy has been chosen. Two extant projects—a high-rise housing scheme and an environmental-led program developed by City West Housing Trust (a nonprofit housing association based in the Manchester area—have been assessed in order to monetise their social and environmental value through different methods. The findings show that, historically, the environmental and social value of regeneration schemes have been largely disregarded because of a gap in the evaluation methods, and that there is room for significant improvement for future evaluation exercises.

Assessment of Future Whole-System Value of Large-Scale Pumped Storage Plants in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Teng

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the impacts and benefits of the pumped storage plant (PSP and its upgrade to variable speed on generation and transmission capacity requirements, capital costs, system operating costs and carbon emissions in the future European electricity system. The combination of a deterministic system planning tool, Whole-electricity System Investment Model (WeSIM, and a stochastic system operation optimisation tool, Advanced Stochastic Unit Commitment (ASUC, is used to analyse the whole-system value of PSP technology and to quantify the impact of European balancing market integration and other competing flexible technologies on the value of the PSP. Case studies on the Pan-European system demonstrate that PSPs can reduce the total system cost by up to €13 billion per annum by 2050 in a scenario with a high share of renewables. Upgrading the PSP to variable-speed drive enhances its long-term benefits by 10–20%. On the other hand, balancing market integration across Europe may potentially reduce the overall value of the variable-speed PSP, although the effect can vary across different European regions. The results also suggest that large-scale deployment of demand-side response (DSR leads to a significant reduction in the value of PSPs, while the value of PSPs increases by circa 18% when the total European interconnection capacity is halved. The benefit of PSPs in reducing emissions is relatively negligible by 2030 but constitutes around 6–10% of total annual carbon emissions from the European power sector by 2050.

Valores humanos como explicadores de atitudes ambientais e intenção de comportamento pró-ambiental Human values as predictors of environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Artur Peçanha de Miranda Coelho

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Os valores humanos têm sido apontados como importantes para o entendimento e predição de atitudes e comportamentos pró-ambientais. Embora a literatura saliente a relação destes três construtos, nenhuma informação foi encontrada considerando amostras brasileiras. Este estudo buscou contribuir para preencher esta lacuna. O estudo contou com a participação de 208 estudantes universitários, sendo a maioria de uma universidade privada (63,8%, do sexo feminino (73,4% e com idade média de 28 anos (DP = 7,0. Estes responderam a dois instrumentos: Questionário dos Valores de Schwartz e Escala de Atitudes Ecocêntricas e Antropocêntricas, além de uma pergunta acerca da intenção de se engajar em comportamento pró-ambiental e questões demográficas. Os resultados corroboraram estudos prévios, indicando que os valores de autotranscendência, especificamente os de orientação universalista, predizem atitudes e comportamentos pró-ambientais. Os resultados são discutidos, propondo a utilização dos valores humanos como facilitadores na promoção de comportamentos em prol do ambiente.Human values have been pointed out as important predictors of environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors. Although the literature supports the relationship between these three constructs, no information was found considering Brazilian samples. This study aimed to contribute to this gap. Participated in this study a number of 208 undergraduate students; most of them were from a private university (63.8%, female (73.4% and with mean age of 28 years (SD = 7.0. They answered the Schwartz Values Survey and the Echocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes Scale, an item to measure intention of pro-environment behaviors, and demographic questions. Results support previous studies. Specifically, self-transcendence values were the most important to explain pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. These findings are discussed regarding the possibility of

Study on Environment Performance Evaluation and Regional Differences of Strictly-Environmental-Monitored Cities in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji Guo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available With the rapid economic growth and development, the problem of environmental pollution in China’s cities is becoming increasingly serious, and environmental pollution takes on a regional difference. There is, however, little comprehensive evaluation on the environmental performance and the regional difference of strictly-environmental-monitored cities in China. In this paper, the environmental performance of 109 strictly-environmental-monitored cities in China is evaluated in terms of natural performance, management performance, and scale performance by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA, incorporating PM2.5 and PM10 as undesirable outputs. The empirical results show that: (1 At present, the natural performance is quite high, while the management performance is noticeably low for most cities. (2 The gap between the level of economic development and environmental protection among cities in China is large, and the scale efficiency of big cities is better than that of smaller cities. The efficiency value of large-scale cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc. is high, equaling 1; the value of smaller cities such as Sanmenxia, Baoding, Mudanjiang, and Pingdingshan is low, close to 0, indicating that big cities are characterized by high environmental efficiency. (3 From the perspective of region, the level of environmental performance in China is very uneven. For example, the environmental efficiency level of the Pan-Pearl River Delta region is superior to that of the Pan-Yangtze River region and the Bahia Rim region, whose values of environmental efficiency are 0.858, 0.658, and 0.622 respectively. The average efficiency of the Southern Coastal Economic Zone, Eastern Coastal Comprehensive Economic Zone, and the Comprehensive Economic Zone in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is higher than that of other regions. Finally, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward. The method used in this paper is applicable

Conceptual Challenges for Environmental Education: Advocacy, Autonomy, Implicit Education and Values

Science.gov (United States)

Schlottmann, Christopher

2012-01-01

"Conceptual Challenges for Environmental Education" is a critical analysis of environmental education from the perspective of educational ethics. It spells out elements of the conceptual foundations of an environmental education theory--among them implicit education, advocacy, Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and climate…

Spatial overlap between environmental policy instruments and areas of high conservation value in forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Sverdrup-Thygeson, Anne; Søgaard, Gunnhild; Rusch, Graciela M; Barton, David N

2014-01-01

In order to safeguard biodiversity in forest we need to know how forest policy instruments work. Here we use a nationwide network of 9400 plots in productive forest to analyze to what extent large-scale policy instruments, individually and together, target forest of high conservation value in Norway. We studied both instruments working through direct regulation; Strict Protection and Landscape Protection, and instruments working through management planning and voluntary schemes of forest certification; Wilderness Area and Mountain Forest. As forest of high conservation value (HCV-forest) we considered the extent of 12 Biodiversity Habitats and the extent of Old-Age Forest. We found that 22% of productive forest area contained Biodiversity Habitats. More than 70% of this area was not covered by any large-scale instruments. Mountain Forest covered 23%, while Strict Protection and Wilderness both covered 5% of the Biodiversity Habitat area. A total of 9% of productive forest area contained Old-Age Forest, and the relative coverage of the four instruments was similar as for Biodiversity Habitats. For all instruments, except Landscape Protection, the targeted areas contained significantly higher proportions of HCV-forest than areas not targeted by these instruments. Areas targeted by Strict Protection had higher proportions of HCV-forest than areas targeted by other instruments, except for areas targeted by Wilderness Area which showed similar proportions of Biodiversity Habitats. There was a substantial amount of spatial overlap between the policy tools, but no incremental conservation effect of overlapping instruments in terms of contributing to higher percentages of targeted HCV-forest. Our results reveal that although the current policy mix has an above average representation of forest of high conservation value, the targeting efficiency in terms of area overlap is limited. There is a need to improve forest conservation and a potential to cover this need by better

Managing environmental issues at large-scale industrial estates: Problems and initiatives in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coyle, R.

1996-01-01

A great many large-scale industrial sites are undergoing major transformation and restructuring in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The EBRD's portfolio of investment projects increasingly includes such sites, presenting the Bank with environmental challenges related to their size, complexity and history. Both technological improvements and changes in management structure are needed in order to address environmental, and health and safety, issues. The EBRD requires ''environmental due diligence'' on all of its projects under preparation. Requirements vary, depending on the nature of each project. (author)

The distribution of large herbivore hotspots in relation to environmental and anthropogenic correlates in the Mara region of Kenya

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bhola, Nina; Ogutu, Joseph O.; Said, Mohamed Y.; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Olff, Han; Fryxell, John

2012-01-01

1. The distributions of large herbivores in protected areas and their surroundings are becoming increasingly restricted by changing land use, with adverse consequences for wildlife populations. 2. We analyse changes in distributions of herbivore hotspots to understand their environmental and

Quantifying preferences for the natural world using monetary and nonmonetary assessments of value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dallimer, Martin; Tinch, Dugald; Hanley, Nick

2014-01-01

Given that funds for biodiversity conservation are limited, there is a need to understand people's preferences for its different components. To date, such preferences have largely been measured in monetary terms. However, how people value biodiversity may differ from economic theory, and there is...... in an assessment of environmental preferences, although which approach is preferable depends on why one wishes to measure values for the natural world......., but showed strong associations with self-reported well-being. Both approaches are likely to reflect a combination of the environmental properties of a site and unobserved individual preference heterogeneity for the natural world. Our results suggest that either metric will deliver mutually consistent results...... axes derived from environmental psychology theories (reflection, attachment, continuity with past). The 2 metrics were broadly congruent. Participants with above-median self-reported well-being scores were willing to pay significantly higher amounts for enhancing species richness than those with below...

Environmental impacts of a large-scale incinerator with mixed MSW of high water content from a LCA perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Ziyang; Bilitewski, Bernd; Zhu, Nanwen; Chai, Xiaoli; Li, Bing; Zhao, Youcai

2015-04-01

Large-scale incinerators are applied widely as a result of the heavy burden of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated, while strong opposition is arising from the public living nearby. A large-scale working incineration plant of 1500 ton/day was chosen for evaluation using life cycle assessment. It was found that the corresponding human toxicity impacts via soil (HTs), human toxicity impacts via water (HTw) and human toxicity impacts via air (HTa) categories are 0.213, 2.171, and 0.012 personal equivalents (PE), and global warming (GW100) and nutrient enrichment (NE) impacts are 0.002 and 0.001 PE per ton of waste burned for this plant. Heavy metals in flue gas, such as Hg and Pb, are the two dominant contributors to the toxicity impact categories, and energy recovery could reduce the GW100 and NE greatly. The corresponding HTs, HTw and HTa decrease to 0.087, 0.911 and 0.008 PE, and GW100 turns into savings of -0.007 PE due to the increase of the heating value from 3935 to 5811 kJ/kg, if a trommel screener of 40 mm mesh size is used to pre-separate MSW. MSW sorting and the reduction of water content by physical pressure might be two promising pre-treatment methods to improve the combustion performance, and the application of stricter standards for leachate discharge and the flue gas purification process are two critical factors for improvement of the environmental profile identified in this work. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Preserving biological diversity in the face of large-scale demands for biofuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, J.J.; Beyea, J.; Keeler, K.H.

1991-01-01

Large-scale production and harvesting of biomass to replace fossil fuels could reduce biological diversity by eliminating habitat for native species. Forests would be managed and harvested more intensively, and virtually all arable land unsuitable for high-value agriculture or silviculture might be used to grow crops dedicated to energy. Given the prospects for a potentially large increase in biofuel production, it is time now to develop strategies for mitigating the loss of biodiversity that might ensue. Planning at micro to macro scales will be crucial to minimize the ecological impacts of producing biofuels. In particular, cropping and harvesting systems will need to provide the biological, spatial, and temporal diversity characteristics of natural ecosystems and successional sequences, if we are to have this technology support the environmental health of the world rather than compromise it. Incorporation of these ecological values will be necessary to forestall costly environmental restoration, even at the cost of submaximal biomass productivity. It is therefore doubtful that all managers will take the longer view. Since the costs of biodiversity loss are largely external to economic markets, society cannot rely on the market to protect biodiversity, and some sort of intervention will be necessary. 116 refs., 1 tab

Environmental degradation, global food production, and risk for large-scale migrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doeoes, B.R.

1994-01-01

This paper attempts to estimate to what extent global food production is affected by the ongoing environmental degradation through processes, such as soil erosion, salinization, chemical contamination, ultraviolet radiation, and biotic stress. Estimates have also been made of available opportunities to improve food production efficiency by, e.g., increased use of fertilizers, irrigation, and biotechnology, as well as improved management. Expected losses and gains of agricultural land in competition with urbanization, industrial development, and forests have been taken into account. Although estimated gains in food production deliberately have been overestimated and losses underestimated, calculations indicate that during the next 30-35 years the annual net gain in food production will be significantly lower than the rate of world population growth. An attempt has also been made to identify possible scenarios for large-scale migrations, caused mainly by rapid population growth in combination with insufficient local food production and poverty. 18 refs, 7 figs, 6 tabs

Annoyance from environmental tobacco smoke and support for no-smoking policies at eight large Dutch workplaces

OpenAIRE

Willemsen, M. C.; de Vries, H.; Genders, R.

1996-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To collect descriptive data on annoyance from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), attitudes toward smoking at the workplace, and support for a no-smoking policy. DESIGN: Survey of eight large companies in four sectors of Dutch industry. SUBJECTS: A representative sample of smoking and non-smoking employees (n = 1480). RESULTS: Thirty- five per cent of non-smoking employees felt it was "annoying" to "very annoying" when their colleagues smoked during worktime, and 78% thought a...

Health impacts of large dams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lerer, L.B.

1999-01-01

Large dams have been criticized because of their negative environmental and social impacts. Public health interest largely has focused on vector-borne diseases, such as schistosomiasis, associated with reservoirs and irrigation projects. Large dams also influence health through changes in water and food security, increases in communicable diseases, and the social disruption caused by construction and involuntary resettlement. Communities living in close proximity to large dams often do not benefit from water transfer and electricity generation revenues. A comprehensive health component is required in environmental and social impact assessments for large dam projects

Identifying Critical Habitat for Australian Freshwater Turtles in a Large Regulated Floodplain: Implications for Environmental Water Management

Science.gov (United States)

Ocock, J. F.; Bino, G.; Wassens, S.; Spencer, J.; Thomas, R. F.; Kingsford, R. T.

2018-03-01

Freshwater turtles face many threats, including habitat loss and river regulation reducing occupancy and contributing to population decline. Limited knowledge of hydrological conditions required to maintain viable turtle populations in large floodplain wetlands hinders effective adaptive management of environmental water in regulated rivers. We surveyed three turtle species over 4 years across the Lower Murrumbidgee River floodplain, a large wetland complex with a long history of water resource development. Using site and floodplain metrics and generalized linear models, within a Bayesian Model Averaging framework, we quantified the main drivers affecting turtle abundance. We also used a hierarchical modeling approach, requiring large sample sizes, quantifying possible environmental effects while accounting for detection probabilities of the eastern long-necked turtle ( Chelodina longicollis). The three species varied in their responses to hydrological conditions and connectivity to the main river channel. Broad-shelled turtles ( Chelodina expansa) and Macquarie River turtles ( Emydura macquarii macquarii) had restricted distributions, centered on frequently inundated wetlands close to the river, whereas the eastern long-necked turtles were more widely distributed, indicating an ability to exploit variable habitats. We conclude that turtle communities would benefit from long-term management strategies that maintain a spatiotemporal mosaic of hydrological conditions. More specifically, we identified characteristics of refuge habitats and stress the importance of maintaining their integrity during dry periods. Neighboring habitats can be targeted during increased water availability years to enhance feeding and dispersal opportunities for freshwater turtles.

Some ecological guidelines for large-scale biomass plantations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffman, W.; Cook, J.H.; Beyea, J. [National Audubon Society, Tavernier, FL (United States)

1993-12-31

The National Audubon Society sees biomass as an appropriate and necessary source of energy to help replace fossil fuels in the near future, but is concerned that large-scale biomass plantations could displace significant natural vegetation and wildlife habitat, and reduce national and global biodiversity. We support the development of an industry large enough to provide significant portions of our energy budget, but we see a critical need to ensure that plantations are designed and sited in ways that minimize ecological disruption, or even provide environmental benefits. We have been studying the habitat value of intensively managed short-rotation tree plantations. Our results show that these plantations support large populations of some birds, but not all of the species using the surrounding landscape, and indicate that their value as habitat can be increased greatly by including small areas of mature trees within them. We believe short-rotation plantations can benefit regional biodiversity if they can be deployed as buffers for natural forests, or as corridors connecting forest tracts. To realize these benefits, and to avoid habitat degradation, regional biomass plantation complexes (e.g., the plantations supplying all the fuel for a powerplant) need to be planned, sited, and developed as large-scale units in the context of the regional landscape mosaic.

Green Net Value Added as a Sustainability Metric Based on ...

Science.gov (United States)

Sustainability measurement in economics involves evaluation of environmental and economic impact in an integrated manner. In this study, system level economic data are combined with environmental impact from a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a common product. We are exploring a costing approach that captures traditional costs but also incorporates externality costs to provide a convenient, easily interpretable metric. Green Net Value Added (GNVA) is a type of full cost accounting that incorporates total revenue, the cost of materials and services, depreciation, and environmental externalities. Two, but not all, of the potential environmental impacts calculated by the standard LCIA method (TRACI) could be converted to externality cost values. We compute externality costs disaggregated by upstream sectors, full cost, and GNVA to evaluate the relative sustainability of Bounty® paper towels manufactured at two production facilities. We found that the longer running, more established line had a higher GNVA than the newer line. The dominant factors contributing to externality costs are calculated to come from the stationary sources in the supply chain: electricity generation (27-35%), refineries (20-21%), pulp and paper making (15-23%). Health related externalities from Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions appear largely driven by electricity usage and emissions by the facilities, followed by pulp processing and transport. Supply

Relationship among values, beliefs, norms and ecological behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

González López, Antonio; Amérigo Cuervo-Arango, María

2008-11-01

The present study focuses mainly on the relationship between psychological constructs and ecological behaviour. Empirical analysis links personal values, ecological beliefs, consequences of environmental conditions, denial of ecological obligation, environmental control, personal norms and environment protection behaviour. Survey data from a path analysis of a Spanish sample of 403 individuals were used, showing that ecological beliefs, personal norms and eco-altruistic values have become the main psychological explanatory variables of environment protective behaviour. Ecological beliefs, when measured by the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, affected ecological behaviour decisively. Environmental and altruistic values were shown to be related to moral obligation, and a basic variable to understand behaviour. Personal norm mediated the effects of values and environmental control on ecological behaviour.

Environmentalism as a trait: gauging people's prosocial personality in terms of environmental engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Florian G; Byrka, Katarzyna

2011-02-01

According to Hardin (1968), environmental deterioration stems from self-interest undermining people's resource conservation in the collective interest. Not surprisingly, selfless prosocial motives, such as personal feelings of moral obligation, have often been recognized as a key force behind people's environmentalism. In our research, we anticipated that environmentalists-people with an inclination for pro-environmental engagement-would possess a propensity to generally act prosocially. In an extension of previous work, we expected that a well-established self-report measure of past conservation behavior would predict people's active participation in a psychological experiment. Based on subjects' degree of environmental engagement, originally established in 2003, we re-contacted a sample of 502 persons in 2005. Of these 502 (68.5% low, 31.5% high in environmentalism), 131 showed up for the announced experiment. Among those participants, we found that environmentalists' prosocial personalities were additionally reflected in their social value orientations. Ninety percent of the environmentalists turned out to be prosocials, whereas only 65% of the less environmentally engaged subjects were prosocials. Overall, our findings lend credit to a notion of environmentalism as an indicator of even subtle quantitative differences in a person's prosocial trait level. By and large, environmentalists acted more prosocially even in mundane activities unrelated to environmental conservation. Additional evidence comes from the commons dilemma experiment in which the participants partook. There, we generally found comparatively more cooperation with others for the collective good from people high in environmentalism. Our findings represent circumstantial evidence for a prosocial propensity dimension along which people differ, and which is also reflected in people's pro-environmental behavioral performance. If, however, environmentalism has to be regarded as indicative of a

Pengaruh Paradigma Lingkungan dan Personal Value terhadap Carbon Footprint Mahasiswa

OpenAIRE

Malisi, Ali Sibro; Nadiroh, Nadiroh

2017-01-01

The objective of the research was aimed to finding the influence of environmental paradigm and personal value on environmental issues. Here, the effect of environmental paradigm and personal value on environmental using Carbon Footprint Analysis were evaluated on students at Universitas Negeri Jakarta. This research uses quantitative expost facto method with sample of 194 students. The results showed that there is influence of environmental paradigm and personal value to total carbon footprin...

Process and system innovation in the building and construction industry: Developing a model for integrated value chain and life cycle management of built objects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ridder, H.A.J. de; Vrijhoef, R.

2004-01-01

The building and construction industry has a large contribution and impact on society, e.g. economical and environmental, involving a vast spectrum of stakeholders. However, the value delivering performance of the industry has often been criticized. The predictability of the value, price and costs

Measuring Values Of Environmental Quality Improvement And Leisure Time Through Combining Contingent Valuation and Travel Cost Data

OpenAIRE

Young Sook Eom; Douglas M. Larson

2004-01-01

This paper demonstrates a utility-theoretic empirical framework for estimating values of environmental quality improvement by combining travel cost and contingent valuation data in a two-constraint (time and money) budget framework. Recgninzing the role of time "prices" and time budget, the recreation demand and willingness to pay (WTP) functiuons are specified with full price and full budget arguments, with the opportunity cost of time being a fraction of wage rate. When applied to the case ...

Open source large-scale high-resolution environmental modelling with GEMS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baarsma, R.J.; Alberti, K.; Marra, W.A.; Karssenberg, D.J.

2016-01-01

Many environmental, topographic and climate data sets are freely available at a global scale, creating the opportunities to run environmental models for every location on Earth. Collection of the data necessary to do this and the consequent conversion into a useful format is very demanding however,

Proposed spatial framework to develop land use in an environmentally-sensitive area: Case study, El-Daba'a region, Egypt Part I: Ecological value assessment using GIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Jenaid, S.S.; Mohammed, W.

2008-01-01

The aim of this study is to assess the ecological characteristics of El-Daba'a area in Egypt using GIS as a first step for the development of an environmental management plan for the area. The absence of environmental planning in the process of land use development may cause many significant negative impacts on biodiversity, ecological value and the general environmental conditions and the therefore reducing such negative impacts will improve land use development. The first part of sequel of two papers, which is a part of a sustainable land use development research program, aims at designing a spatial framework to improve land use planning and development in an environmental context. The research program deals with the problem of land use planning and development in an arid coastal area under environmentally sensitive conditions. The study area is El-Daba'a region, located in the northwestern coast of Egypt, which can be described as a wild area. The approach used in this paper consists of studying the spatial ecological characteristics of El-Daba'a region using different spatial data including maps and land sat remote sensing data. These data are used to create a series of superimposed informative layers managed by a geographic information system (GIS) to describe the spatial ecological characteristics of the study area. The developed GIS allow decision makers to handle large amounts of information simultaneously such as geology, geomorphology, land cover, wild life and many other different information layers. The system is designed to help decision makers to organize, relate, analyze and visualize the ecological data and information in the study area. The developed GIS system might be used to determine the probable effects of building a nuclear power station on the ecosystem. (author)

Environmental Impacts of Large Scale Biochar Application Through Spatial Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, I.; Archontoulis, S.

2017-12-01

In an effort to study the environmental (emissions, soil quality) and production (yield) impacts of biochar application at regional scales we coupled the APSIM-Biochar model with the pSIMS parallel platform. So far the majority of biochar research has been concentrated on lab to field studies to advance scientific knowledge. Regional scale assessments are highly needed to assist decision making. The overall objective of this simulation study was to identify areas in the USA that have the most gain environmentally from biochar's application, as well as areas which our model predicts a notable yield increase due to the addition of biochar. We present the modifications in both APSIM biochar and pSIMS components that were necessary to facilitate these large scale model runs across several regions in the United States at a resolution of 5 arcminutes. This study uses the AgMERRA global climate data set (1980-2010) and the Global Soil Dataset for Earth Systems modeling as a basis for creating its simulations, as well as local management operations for maize and soybean cropping systems and different biochar application rates. The regional scale simulation analysis is in progress. Preliminary results showed that the model predicts that high quality soils (particularly those common to Iowa cropping systems) do not receive much, if any, production benefit from biochar. However, soils with low soil organic matter ( 0.5%) do get a noteworthy yield increase of around 5-10% in the best cases. We also found N2O emissions to be spatial and temporal specific; increase in some areas and decrease in some other areas due to biochar application. In contrast, we found increases in soil organic carbon and plant available water in all soils (top 30 cm) due to biochar application. The magnitude of these increases (% change from the control) were larger in soil with low organic matter (below 1.5%) and smaller in soils with high organic matter (above 3%) and also dependent on biochar

Demonstrating a new framework for the comparison of environmental impacts from small- and large-scale hydropower and wind power projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakken, Tor Haakon; Aase, Anne Guri; Hagen, Dagmar; Sundt, Håkon; Barton, David N; Lujala, Päivi

2014-07-01

Climate change and the needed reductions in the use of fossil fuels call for the development of renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy production, such as hydropower (both small- and large-scale) and wind power have adverse impacts on the local environment by causing reductions in biodiversity and loss of habitats and species. This paper compares the environmental impacts of many small-scale hydropower plants with a few large-scale hydropower projects and one wind power farm, based on the same set of environmental parameters; land occupation, reduction in wilderness areas (INON), visibility and impacts on red-listed species. Our basis for comparison was similar energy volumes produced, without considering the quality of the energy services provided. The results show that small-scale hydropower performs less favourably in all parameters except land occupation. The land occupation of large hydropower and wind power is in the range of 45-50 m(2)/MWh, which is more than two times larger than the small-scale hydropower, where the large land occupation for large hydropower is explained by the extent of the reservoirs. On all the three other parameters small-scale hydropower performs more than two times worse than both large hydropower and wind power. Wind power compares similarly to large-scale hydropower regarding land occupation, much better on the reduction in INON areas, and in the same range regarding red-listed species. Our results demonstrate that the selected four parameters provide a basis for further development of a fair and consistent comparison of impacts between the analysed renewable technologies. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The economics and environmental impacts of large-scale wind power in a carbon constrained world

Science.gov (United States)

Decarolis, Joseph Frank

Serious climate change mitigation aimed at stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will require a radical shift to a decarbonized energy supply. The electric power sector will be a primary target for deep reductions in CO2 emissions because electric power plants are among the largest and most manageable point sources of emissions. With respect to new capacity, wind power is currently one of the most inexpensive ways to produce electricity without CO2 emissions and it may have a significant role to play in a carbon constrained world. Yet most research in the wind industry remains focused on near term issues, while energy system models that focus on century-long time horizons undervalue wind by imposing exogenous limits on growth. This thesis fills a critical gap in the literature by taking a closer look at the cost and environmental impacts of large-scale wind. Estimates of the average cost of wind generation---now roughly 4¢/kWh---do not address the cons arising from the spatial distribution and intermittency of wind. This thesis develops a theoretical framework for assessing the intermittency cost of wind. In addition, an economic characterization of a wind system is provided in which long-distance electricity transmission, storage, and gas turbines are used to supplement variable wind power output to meet a time-varying load. With somewhat optimistic assumptions about the cost of wind turbines, the use of wind to serve 50% of demand adds ˜1--2¢/kWh to the cost of electricity, a cost comparable to that of other large-scale low carbon technologies. This thesis also explores the environmental impacts posed by large-scale wind. Though avian mortality and noise caused controversy in the early years of wind development, improved technology and exhaustive siting assessments have minimized their impact. The aesthetic valuation of wind farms can be improved significantly with better design, siting, construction, and maintenance procedures, but opposition may

Limiting values of large deviation probabilities of quadratic statistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jeurnink, Gerardus A.M.; Kallenberg, W.C.M.

1990-01-01

Application of exact Bahadur efficiencies in testing theory or exact inaccuracy rates in estimation theory needs evaluation of large deviation probabilities. Because of the complexity of the expressions, frequently a local limit of the nonlocal measure is considered. Local limits of large deviation

Environmental education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdulhaye, F.

2005-01-01

The environment is an intricate mixture of natural, built and social components. The natural environment includes air, water, land, climate, flora and fauna, while the built environment consists of the fabric of building infrastructure and open space. The social component of the environment embraces the aesthetics, amenity quality, architectural style, heritages, law behavior, values and traditions of the society. In ecological terms the environment is a distortion of natural ecosystems or an ecosystem in its own right. A characteristic of the urban area is their fast changing nature with respect to their size, form, density and activity. This dynamism stems out of the basic functions of economic, social and cultural developments. The complexity and multiplicity of urban activities gives rise to a variety of environmental problems. Given their different level of economic and social development and the geography, not all the cities have identical problems, yet they have much in common. While the large cities of developed countries have long suffered the problem of pollution, inner city decay and neighborhood collapse, those in the less developed countries face more varied complex problems due to their overpopulation, poverty, inadequacy and poor quality of urban services, infrastructure, transportation, and changing life style. However the increasing pollution is common to the most of the cities and is the major cause of environmental degradation. Given the very serious nature of this problem it is essential to tackle this issue by incorporating the environmental concerns in the education system of Pakistan. This paper would give a brief overview of the environmental problems, and a detailed analysis of the status environmental issues in Pakistan. (author)

Valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development in Tibet, China

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, B.; Xu, L.

2015-12-01

Hydropower development can be considered as a kind of trade-offs of ecosystem services generated by human activity for their economic and energy demand, because it can increase some river ecosystem services but decrease others. In this context, an ecosystem service trade-off framework in hydropower development was proposed in this paper. It aims to identify the ecological cost of river ecosystem and serve for the ecological compensation during hydropower development, for the hydropower services cannot completely replace the regulating services of river ecosystem. The valuing trade-offs framework was integrated by the influenced ecosystem services identification and ecosystem services valuation, through ecological monitoring and ecological economic methods, respectively. With a case study of Pondo hydropower project in Tibet, China, the valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development was illustrated. The typical ecological factors including water, sediment and soil were analyzed in this study to identify the altered river ecosystem services by Pondo hydropower project. Through the field monitoring and valuation, the results showed that the Lhasa River ecosystem services value could be changed annually by Pondo hydropower project with the increment of 5.7E+8CNY, and decrement of 5.1E+7CNY. The ecological compensation for river ecosystem should be focus on water and soil conservation, reservoir dredging and tributaries habitat protection.

Valor ambiental em uma perspectiva heterodoxa institucional-ecológica: an institutional-ecological heterodox perspective Environmental value

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurício de Carvalho Amazona

2009-04-01

Full Text Available O presente trabalho discute a perspectiva de valoração ambiental a partir de fundamentos heterodoxos, numa abordagem aqui denominada institucional-ecológica. Inicia-se pela identificação das principais limitações da abordagem neoclássica e suas correspondentes proposições de valoração, particularmente tendo-se em vista o desafio posto pelo critério de Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Em seguida, busca resgatar princípios propositivos de abordagens heterodoxas, particularmente nas formulações do campo teórico institucionalista e do campo teórico da economia ecológica, como elementos de potencial integração analítica para a constituição de uma conceituação heterodoxa de valores ambientais. Por fim, o trabalho propõe, a partir de uma discussão sobre o processo de formação e internalização dos valores ambientais e desse potencial de integração analítica, bases de constituição de uma abordagem institucional-ecológica para interpretação da valoração ambiental e, dentro dessa perspectiva, discute ao final qual o escopo de aplicação dos métodos de valoração correntemente utilizados pela Economia Ambiental Neoclássica.This article discusses an environmental valuation perspective, based on heterodox foundations, in an approach here called institutional-ecological. First, it is identified the main limits of neoclassical approach and its corresponding valuation propositions, specially having in mind the challenge placed by Sustainable Development criteria. After, it seeks to bring up propositive principles from heterodox approaches, particularly from formulations in the institutionalist field and ecological economics field. These are considered elements potentially able to analytical integration for the constitution of a heterodox framework for environmental values. Finally, based on a discussion on the process of environmental values constitution and internalization and on the so claimed analytical integration

Characterizing large river sounds: Providing context for understanding the environmental effects of noise produced by hydrokinetic turbines.

Science.gov (United States)

Bevelhimer, Mark S; Deng, Z Daniel; Scherelis, Constantin

2016-01-01

Underwater noise associated with the installation and operation of hydrokinetic turbines in rivers and tidal zones presents a potential environmental concern for fish and marine mammals. Comparing the spectral quality of sounds emitted by hydrokinetic turbines to natural and other anthropogenic sound sources is an initial step at understanding potential environmental impacts. Underwater recordings were obtained from passing vessels and natural underwater sound sources in static and flowing waters. Static water measurements were taken in a lake with minimal background noise. Flowing water measurements were taken at a previously proposed deployment site for hydrokinetic turbines on the Mississippi River, where sounds created by flowing water are part of all measurements, both natural ambient and anthropogenic sources. Vessel sizes ranged from a small fishing boat with 60 hp outboard motor to an 18-unit barge train being pushed upstream by tugboat. As expected, large vessels with large engines created the highest sound levels, which were, on average, 40 dB greater than the sound created by an operating hydrokinetic turbine. A comparison of sound levels from the same sources at different distances using both spherical and cylindrical sound attenuation functions suggests that spherical model results more closely approximate observed sound attenuation.

Staff perceptions of organisational values in a large South African manufacturing company: exploring socio-demographic differences

OpenAIRE

Martins, Nico; Coetzee, Melinde

2011-01-01

Orientation: Companies’ concerns about increasing their competitiveness, responsiveness and adaptability in a globalised, highly complex and turbulent business environment have led to a renewed interest in the role of corporate values and culture in improving organisational effectiveness and performance. Research purpose: The objective of the study was to explore the perceptions of men and women staff members, as well as members of various race and age groups, in a large South African manu...

The influence of environmental variables on spatial and temporal phytoplankton dissimilarity in a large shallow subtropical lake (Lake Mangueira, southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciane Oliveira Crossetti

2014-06-01

Full Text Available AIM: The uneven distribution of organisms in aquatic ecosystems is generally attributed to environmental heterogeneity in both space and time, reflecting the occurrence of appropriate environmental conditions and the availability of resources to biological communities. The aim of this study was to understand how the dissimilarity of the phytoplankton community in a large subtropical shallow lake is related to environmental dissimilarities. METHODS: Biotic and environmental data were gathered at 19 sites along the 90-km length of Lake Mangueira. Sampling was carried out quarterly during 2010 and 2011, totaling 152 sampling units. The relationship between phytoplankton dissimilarity and the dissimilarity of environmental variables was assessed by the BioEnv analysis. MAJOR RESULTS: There is a significant relationship between phytoplankton dissimilarity and environmental dissimilarity. The model that best explained the dissimilarity of phytoplankton among the sampling units included pH, turbidity and nitrate. CONCLUSIONS: The dissimilarity of phytoplankton was related to the dissimilarity, which were directly associated to the variability of conditions and resources in space and time in Lake Mangueira.

Integration of heterogeneous data bases for development of a large-scale environmental data atlas for multi-platform PC and workstation users

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bresnaham, P.J.; Cowen, D.J.; Jensen, J.R.; Ehler, G.B.; Mackey, H.E. Jr.

1994-01-01

Environmental monitoring and restoration at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) requires efficient access to large amounts of diverse spatial data. In order to handle this task the Environmental Sciences Section (ESS) of the Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) created an environmental data atlas that would use spatial keys to link all data sources to a common data base. These data include extensive information relating to both environmental and man-made features. The data were available in a multitude of different data structures, coordinate systems and formats. The final database also included multimedia information such as airborne multispectral scanner data, aircraft video, photography, bibliographic data, and scanned map bases. It was important that all of the data be readily accessible on the desktop of scientists regardless of the type of computer system they used. The purpose of this paper is to describe the creation of this extensive digital environmental data atlas

Mean or green : Which values can promote stable pro-environmental behavior?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Judith I. M.; Steg, Linda

In most cases, pro-environmental behavior does not maximize individual interests, but mainly benefits other people or the environment. We propose that although acting on the basis of egoistic considerations may result in pro-environmental behavior, altruistic and biospheric considerations provide

Estimated values of the environmental tritium concentration and the altitude isotope effects of δD and δ18O in Hokkaido

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikeda, Mitsuyoshi; Takata, Sigeru; Matsueda, Hiroharu

1998-01-01

Tritium ( 3 H) concentration and stable isotopic ratios δD and δ 18 O are important environmental tracer data. In Hokkaido, however, hydrological studies using these data were difficult due to a lack of environmental tritium and the altitude isotope effect values. In this study, 3 H concentrations of Hokkaido wine were measured to estimate the past rain 3 H concentrations. In addition, environmental δD and δ 18 O samples taken on Mt. Daisetsuzan, the highest peak in Hokkaido, and in the Tokachi Plain were measured. The results obtained are as follows: Estimated concentrations of 3 H in Hokkaido were higher than those in Tokyo and Tsukuba, and were consistent with geographical 3 H levels in rain around Hokkaido. Some model calculations suggested that the 3 H concentrations in the 1950's and 1960's were at least 30% higher than those in Tokyo. The altitude isotope effects obtained were -1.75±0.30 per mille/100 m and -0.24±0.01 per mille/100 m for δD and δ 18 O, respectively. These values are almost the same as, or slightly lower than those in the Chubu and Tohoku districts. Using these data, the approximate age of groundwater and the altitude of original precipitation could be estimated. (author)

Environmental Complexity: ethic-environmental propositions of the Latin- American Environmental Thought

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noguera de Echeverri, Ana Patricia

2007-01-01

In this article, are compiled the most important ethic-environmental propositions of the Latin- American Environmental Thought, that had been growing up 30 years ago. In it are authors outlined in the field of the philosophic environmental thought, as the philosopher and Colombian thinker, of Latin-American transcendence, Augusto Angel Maya, who pustules the possibility of build en Ethical - Esthetic Environmental Philosophy, in fact of the Modern Philosophy have been metaphysic, even in the empiric, positivist and neo-positivist tendencies. It has been outlined the Enrique Leff's work, Mexican, who proposes his concepts of Complexity and Environmental Known as an initial point of an ethic in the education, science and technology into of an systemic and holistic relations. Equally, the Julio Carrizosa's ethical - esthetic proposition, also Colombian, which this essay shows as a fundamental political propose against Colombian problems as violence and exclusion. The propositions of Colombian philosophers of big relevance in the politic-moral philosophy had become in a public and communicative environmental ethic, that's the case of Guillermo Hoyos Vasquez and other thinkers as in Colombia and so other Latin-American countries which are shown in this space, with the finality of to pick up in a critical way our ideas about the possibility of an environmental ethic, that means an decentred ethic, with out subject and object, and systemic ethic, where the values has come being constructed 2.500 millions years ago, of which we are pure threads, an ethic that pass of been an object to be first a value in his greater sense

Parallel Motion Simulation of Large-Scale Real-Time Crowd in a Hierarchical Environmental Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a parallel real-time crowd simulation method based on a hierarchical environmental model. A dynamical model of the complex environment should be constructed to simulate the state transition and propagation of individual motions. By modeling of a virtual environment where virtual crowds reside, we employ different parallel methods on a topological layer, a path layer and a perceptual layer. We propose a parallel motion path matching method based on the path layer and a parallel crowd simulation method based on the perceptual layer. The large-scale real-time crowd simulation becomes possible with these methods. Numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the methods and results.

Spatial extreme value analysis to project extremes of large-scale indicators for severe weather.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilleland, Eric; Brown, Barbara G; Ammann, Caspar M

2013-09-01

Concurrently high values of the maximum potential wind speed of updrafts ( W max ) and 0-6 km wind shear (Shear) have been found to represent conducive environments for severe weather, which subsequently provides a way to study severe weather in future climates. Here, we employ a model for the product of these variables (WmSh) from the National Center for Atmospheric Research/United States National Center for Environmental Prediction reanalysis over North America conditioned on their having extreme energy in the spatial field in order to project the predominant spatial patterns of WmSh. The approach is based on the Heffernan and Tawn conditional extreme value model. Results suggest that this technique estimates the spatial behavior of WmSh well, which allows for exploring possible changes in the patterns over time. While the model enables a method for inferring the uncertainty in the patterns, such analysis is difficult with the currently available inference approach. A variation of the method is also explored to investigate how this type of model might be used to qualitatively understand how the spatial patterns of WmSh correspond to extreme river flow events. A case study for river flows from three rivers in northwestern Tennessee is studied, and it is found that advection of WmSh from the Gulf of Mexico prevails while elsewhere, WmSh is generally very low during such extreme events. © 2013 The Authors. Environmetrics published by JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.

Environmental concern-based site screening of carbon dioxide geological storage in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Bofeng; Li, Qi; Liu, Guizhen; Liu, Lancui; Jin, Taotao; Shi, Hui

2017-08-08

Environmental impacts and risks related to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and storage (CCS) projects may have direct effects on the decision-making process during CCS site selection. This paper proposes a novel method of environmental optimization for CCS site selection using China's ecological red line approach. Moreover, this paper established a GIS based spatial analysis model of environmental optimization during CCS site selection by a large database. The comprehensive data coverage of environmental elements and fine 1 km spatial resolution were used in the database. The quartile method was used for value assignment for specific indicators including the prohibited index and restricted index. The screening results show that areas classified as having high environmental suitability (classes III and IV) in China account for 620,800 km 2 and 156,600 km 2 , respectively, and are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. The environmental suitability class IV areas of Bayingol Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Hotan Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Hulunbuir, Xilingol League and other prefecture-level regions not only cover large land areas, but also form a continuous area in the three provincial-level administrative units. This study may benefit the national macro-strategic deployment and implementation of CCS spatial layout and environmental management in China.

Using Bogner and Wiseman's Model of Ecological Values to Measure the Impact of an Earth Education Programme on Children's Environmental Perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Bruce; Manoli, Constantinos C.

2008-01-01

Investigating the effects of educational programmes on children's environmental perceptions has been hampered by the lack of good theoretical models and valid instruments. In the present study, Bogner and Wiseman's Model of Ecological Values provided a well-developed theoretical model. A validated instrument based on Bogner's Environmental…

Game auction prices are not related to biodiversity contributions of southern African ungulates and large carnivores

Science.gov (United States)

Dalerum, Fredrik; Miranda, Maria

2016-02-01

There is an urgent need for human societies to become environmentally sustainable. Because public policy is largely driven by economic processes, quantifications of the relationship between market prices and environmental values can provide important information for developing strategies towards sustainability. Wildlife in southern Africa is often privately owned and traded at game auctions to be utilized for commercial purposes mostly related to tourism. This market offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate how market prices relate to biologically meaningful species characteristics. In this market, prices were not correlated with species contributions to either phylogenetic or functional diversity, and species contributions to phylogenetic or functional diversity did not influence the trends in prices over time for the past 20 years. Since this economic market did not seem to appreciate evolutionary or ecologically relevant characteristics, we question if the game tourism market may contribute towards biodiversity conservation in southern Africa. We suggest that market prices in general may have limited values as guides for directing conservation and environmental management. We further suggest that there is a need to evaluate what humans value in biological organisms, and how potentially necessary shifts in such values can be instigated.

Comparison of fracture toughness values from large-scale pipe system tests and C(T) specimens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olson, R.; Scott, P.; Marschall, C.; Wilkowski, G.

1993-01-01

Within the International Piping Integrity Research Group (IPIRG) program, pipe system experiments involving dynamic loading with intentionally circumferentially cracked pipe were conducted. The pipe system was fabricated from 406-mm (16-inch) diameter Schedule 100 pipe and the experiments were conducted at 15.5 MPa (2,250 psi) and 288 C (550 F). The loads consisted of pressure, dead-weight, thermal expansion, inertia, and dynamic anchor motion. Significant instrumentation was used to allow the material fracture resistance to be calculated from these large-scale experiments. A comparison of the toughness values from the stainless steel base metal pipe experiment of standard quasi-static and dynamic C(T) specimen tests showed the pipe toughness value was significantly lower than that obtained from C(T) specimens. It is hypothesized that the cyclic loading from inertial stresses in this pipe system experiment caused local degradation of the material toughness. Such effects are not considered in current LBB or pipe flaw evaluation criteria. 4 refs., 14 figs., 1 tab

The value of routine bone marrow biopsy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma staged with PET/CT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alzahrani, M; El-Galaly, T C; Hutchings, M

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: The added diagnostic and prognostic value of routine bone marrow biopsy (BMB) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) undergoing positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) staging is controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with newly d...

Managing conflict between large carnivores and livestock.

Science.gov (United States)

van Eeden, Lily M; Crowther, Mathew S; Dickman, Chris R; Macdonald, David W; Ripple, William J; Ritchie, Euan G; Newsome, Thomas M

2018-02-01

Large carnivores are persecuted globally because they threaten human industries and livelihoods. How this conflict is managed has consequences for the conservation of large carnivores and biodiversity more broadly. Mitigating human-predator conflict should be evidence-based and accommodate people's values while protecting carnivores. Despite much research into human and large-carnivore coexistence strategies, there have been few attempts to document the success of conflict-mitigation strategies on a global scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of global research on conflict mitigation related to large carnivores and humans. We focused on conflicts that arise from the threat large carnivores pose to livestock. We first used structured and unstructured searching to identify replicated studies that used before-after or control-impact design to measure change in livestock loss as a result of implementing a management intervention. We then extracted relevant data from these studies to calculate an overall effect size for each intervention type. Research effort and focus varied among continents and aligned with the histories and cultures that shaped livestock production and attitudes toward carnivores. Livestock guardian animals most effectively reduced livestock losses. Lethal control was the second most effective control, although its success varied the most, and guardian animals and lethal control did not differ significantly. Financial incentives have promoted tolerance of large carnivores in some settings and reduced retaliatory killings. We suggest coexistence strategies be location-specific, incorporate cultural values and environmental conditions, and be designed such that return on financial investment can be evaluated. Improved monitoring of mitigation measures is urgently required to promote effective evidence-based policy. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Soybean Trade: Balancing Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of an Intercontinental Market.

Science.gov (United States)

Boerema, Annelies; Peeters, Alain; Swolfs, Sanne; Vandevenne, Floor; Jacobs, Sander; Staes, Jan; Meire, Patrick

2016-01-01

The trade in soybean, an important animal feed product, exemplifies the environmental and socio-economic impact of global markets and global agricultural policy. This paper analyses the impact of increasing production of soybean in the exporting countries (deforestation and grassland conversion) as well as in importing regions (decrease in permanent grassland by substitution of grass as feed). Ecosystem services monetary values were used to calculate the environmental and socio-economic impact of observed land use changes. This is balanced against the economic value of the global soybean trade. The results prove that consumption choices in one region have real effects on the supply of ecosystem services at a large spatial scale. Conclusively, solutions to make this global market more sustainable are discussed.

Soybean Trade: Balancing Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of an Intercontinental Market.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelies Boerema

Full Text Available The trade in soybean, an important animal feed product, exemplifies the environmental and socio-economic impact of global markets and global agricultural policy. This paper analyses the impact of increasing production of soybean in the exporting countries (deforestation and grassland conversion as well as in importing regions (decrease in permanent grassland by substitution of grass as feed. Ecosystem services monetary values were used to calculate the environmental and socio-economic impact of observed land use changes. This is balanced against the economic value of the global soybean trade. The results prove that consumption choices in one region have real effects on the supply of ecosystem services at a large spatial scale. Conclusively, solutions to make this global market more sustainable are discussed.

Environmental values in post-socialist Hungary : Is it useful to distinguish egoistic, altruistic and biospheric values?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Judith. I. M.; Steg, Linda; Keizer, Martijn; Farsang, Andrea; Watt, Alan

2012-01-01

In this article the authors examine whether the significance of biospheric values as a separate cluster next to egoistic and altruistic values is mainly a Western European phenomenon or whether biospheric values are also endorsed as a value in its own right in post-socialist Hungary. In two

Two-component model application for error calculus in the environmental monitoring data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carvalho, Maria Angelica G.; Hiromoto, Goro

2002-01-01

Analysis and interpretation of results of an environmental monitoring program is often based on the evaluation of the mean value of a particular set of data, which is strongly affected by the analytical errors associated with each measurement. A model proposed by Rocke and Lorenzato assumes two error components, one additive and one multiplicative, to deal with lower and higher concentration values in a single model. In this communication, an application of this method for re-evaluation of the errors reported in a large set of results of total alpha measurements in a environmental sample is presented. The results show that the mean values calculated taking into account the new errors is higher than as obtained with the original errors, being an indicative that the analytical errors reported before were underestimated in the region of lower concentrations. (author)

The land value impacts of wetland restoration.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaza, Nikhil; BenDor, Todd K

2013-09-30

U.S. regulations require offsets for aquatic ecosystems damaged during land development, often through restoration of alternative resources. What effect does large-scale wetland and stream restoration have on surrounding land values? Restoration effects on real estate values have substantial implications for protecting resources, increasing tax base, and improving environmental policies. Our analysis focuses on the three-county Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina region, which has experienced rapid development and extensive aquatic ecological restoration (through the state's Ecosystem Enhancement Program [EEP]). Since restoration sites are not randomly distributed across space, we used a genetic algorithm to match parcels near restoration sites with comparable control parcels. Similar to propensity score analysis, this technique facilitates statistical comparison and isolates the effects of restoration sites on surrounding real estate values. Compared to parcels not proximate to any aquatic resources, we find that, 1) natural aquatic systems steadily and significantly increase parcel values up to 0.75 mi away, and 2) parcels 0.5 mi from EEP sites gain substantial amenity value. When we control for intervening water bodies (e.g. un-restored streams and wetlands), we find a similar inflection point whereby parcels points to the need for higher public visibility of aquatic ecosystem restoration programs and increased public information about their value. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianwei Liu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Value–belief–norm (VBN theory provides a valuable framework for identifying the social-psychological determinants of various types of pro-environmental behavior. However, limited empirical study has tested the applicability of VBN theory in the western minority areas of China. Given Mongolian college students’ crucial role in promoting the sustainable development of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR of China, this study investigates how VBN clusters of variables, namely, values, the new environmental paradigm (NEP and pro-environmental personal norms (PPN, influence Mongolian college students’ self-reported public-sphere pro-environmental behavior (PSPB. The subjects were 1034 Mongolian college students from three large public universities in Hohhot. A structural equation model (SEM and bootstrapping analyses revealed that: (1 altruistic values have a significant positive influence on PSPB, egoistic values negatively influence PSPB, and biospheric values have no significant influence on PSPB; (2 egoistic values negatively predict NEP and biospheric values positively predict NEP, whereas altruistic values have no direct impact on NEP; (3 NEP has a positive influence on PPN; (4 PPN has a significant positive impact on PSPB; and (5 biospheric and egoistic values have an indirect effect on PSPB through NEP and PPN. The findings provided evidence for the cross-cultural applicability of VBN theory in a Mongolian college student sample. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and recommended directions for future research were suggested.

Generalizing genetical genomics : getting added value from environmental perturbation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Yang; Breitling, Rainer; Jansen, Ritsert C.

2008-01-01

Genetical genomics is a useful approach for studying the effect of genetic perturbations on biological systems at the molecular level. However, molecular networks depend on the environmental conditions and, thus, a comprehensive understanding of biological systems requires studying them across

The relevance of large scale environmental research infrastructures from the point of view of Ethics: the case of EMSO

Science.gov (United States)

Favali, Paolo; Beranzoli, Laura; Best, Mairi; Franceschini, PierLuigi; Materia, Paola; Peppoloni, Silvia; Picard, John

2014-05-01

EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water Column Observatory) is a large-scale European Research Infrastructure (RI). It is a geographically distributed infrastructure composed of several deep-seafloor and water-column observatories, which will be deployed at key sites in European waters, spanning from the Arctic, through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea, with the basic scientific objective of real-time, long-term monitoring of environmental processes related to the interaction between the geosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. EMSO is one of the environmental RIs on the ESFRI roadmap. The ESRFI Roadmap identifies new RIs of pan-European importance that correspond to the long term needs of European research communities. EMSO will be the sub-sea segment of the EU's large-scale Earth Observation program, Copernicus (previously known as GMES - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) and will significantly enhance the observational capabilities of European member states. An open data policy compliant with the recommendations being developed within the GEOSS initiative (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) will allow for shared use of the infrastructure and the exchange of scientific information and knowledge. The processes that occur in the oceans have a direct impact on human societies, therefore it is crucial to improve our understanding of how they operate and interact. To encompass the breadth of these major processes, sustained and integrated observations are required that appreciate the interconnectedness of atmospheric, surface ocean, biological pump, deep-sea, and solid-Earth dynamics and that can address: • natural and anthropogenic change; • interactions between ecosystem services, biodiversity, biogeochemistry, physics, and climate; • impacts of exploration and extraction of energy, minerals, and living resources; • geo-hazard early warning capability for earthquakes, tsunamis, gas-hydrate release, and slope

A preliminary evaluation of environmental indexes of great hydropower plants localized in various Brazilian states and geographical aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caetano de Souza, Antonio Carlos

2009-01-01

The predominantly tropical climate and the predominance of plateaus in Brazil contributed to the development of a high hydroelectric potential, which determined the choice of hydropower plants as main technology of electricity generation. Though this is a renewable source, dams must being established to guarantee high amount of water all over the year generating high environmental and social impact. One of the ways to evaluate environmental impacts caused by large hydropower plants is adoption of environmental indexes which are formed by ratio of installed or firm power with dam area of a hydropower plant. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact caused by these dams through the use of environmental indexes. Statistical instruments were utilized to evaluate environmental indexes in the five Brazilian regions, twenty six states, and fifteen main rivers (where at least three large hydropower plants are encountered). The periods when each hydropower plant operation was initiated were also considered. In this study, the greatest media values were found in South, Southeast, and Northeast regions respectively, and the smallest media values were found in North and Mid-West regions, respectively. More, the greatest encountered media indexes were also found in dams established in the 1950s. (author)

Design of large-scale enterprise interoperable value webs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofman, W.J.

2011-01-01

Still a lot of enterprises are faced with the issue of interoperability. Whereas large enterprises are able to implement the required technology, SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) face challenges as they lack knowledge and budget. Enterprises have defined their specific semantics and

Corporate Characteristics, Political Embeddedness and Environmental Pollution by Large U.S. Corporations

Science.gov (United States)

Prechel, Harland; Zheng, Lu

2012-01-01

Organizational and environmental sociology contain surprisingly few studies of the corporation as one of the sources of environmental pollution. To fill this gap, we focus on the parent company as the unit of analysis and elaborate environmental theories that focus on the organizational and political-legal causes of pollution. Using a compiled…

Global environmental controls of diversity in large herbivores

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olff, Han; Ritchie, Mark E.; Prins, Herbert H.T.

2002-01-01

Large mammalian herbivores occupy half of the earth's land surface and are important both ecologically and economically, but their diversity is threatened by human activities. We investigated how the diversity of large herbivores changes across gradients of global precipitation and soil fertility.

Environmentally harmful subventions in the Federal Republic of Germany; Umweltschaedliche Subventionen in Deutschland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berg, Holger; Burger, Andreas; Thiele, Karen

2008-07-01

The quality of environmental goods such as climate, water, ground or air has a high value in the population. This also is reflected in the public and private expenditures for environmental protection. The state intervenes with subventions in the economical production process and in the individual decisions of the household consumer. The present practice of subvention does not promote a sustainable development to a large extent neither from ecological view nor from economic view. Under this aspect, the authors of the contribution under consideration report on the most important environmental harmful subventions within the ranges energy supply and energy utilization, traffic, building industry and housing, agriculture. Moreover an environmentally referred controlling of subvention is described in order to dismantle systematically environmentally harmful subventions and to a sustainable policy of subvention.

Microbiological and environmental effects of aquifer thermal energy storage - studies at the Stuttgart man-made aquifer and a large-scale model system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adinolfi, M.; Ruck, W.

1993-01-01

The storage of thermal energy, either heat or cold, in natural or artificial aquifers creates local perturbations of the indigenous microflora and the environmental properties. Within an international working group of the International Energy Agency (IEA Annex VI) possible environmental impacts of ATES-systems were recognized and investigated. Investigations of storage systems on natural sites, man-made aquifers and large-scale models of impounded aquifers showed changes in microbial populations, but until now no adverse microbiological processes associated with ATES-systems could be documented. However, examinations with a model system indicate an increased risk of environmental impact. Therefore, the operation of ATES-systems should be accompanied by chemical and biological investigations. (orig.) [de

a Study on the Introduction of Total Natural Resources Management System Using the Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, J.; Lee, K.; Jang, R.; Jeon, S.

2018-04-01

The environmental impact assessment system and the environmental plan for the preservation of the land environment are carried out with the aim of preventing damage to the environment caused by human activities, improving the quality of life and creating a pleasant environment. However, despite these various systems, the natural resources have been continuously damaged, and the system to cope with them has been advanced, but there has been a limit to fully conserve natural resources from development. The total amount of natural resources is being promoted as a part of the purpose of supplementing the system, but the evaluation method of the total amount of natural resources suitable for domestic situation is not presented yet. Natural resources are diverse and complicated in their categories and elements, and their measurement units are also diverse, making it difficult to synthesize them into one unit. Therefore, in this study, we proposed a method to calculate the total amount by using the evaluation map of the Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map (ECVAM) which derives the final achievement with 5 grades using 65 evaluation items. However, we consistently applied the weight twice as much as the grade and did not utilize any information other than the map of ECVAM. The results of this study can be applied to the Total Natural Resources Management System through follow-up study such as application of various environmental information and weighting method.

A STUDY ON THE INTRODUCTION OF TOTAL NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION VALUE ASSESSMENT MAP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Hwang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The environmental impact assessment system and the environmental plan for the preservation of the land environment are carried out with the aim of preventing damage to the environment caused by human activities, improving the quality of life and creating a pleasant environment. However, despite these various systems, the natural resources have been continuously damaged, and the system to cope with them has been advanced, but there has been a limit to fully conserve natural resources from development. The total amount of natural resources is being promoted as a part of the purpose of supplementing the system, but the evaluation method of the total amount of natural resources suitable for domestic situation is not presented yet. Natural resources are diverse and complicated in their categories and elements, and their measurement units are also diverse, making it difficult to synthesize them into one unit. Therefore, in this study, we proposed a method to calculate the total amount by using the evaluation map of the Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map (ECVAM which derives the final achievement with 5 grades using 65 evaluation items. However, we consistently applied the weight twice as much as the grade and did not utilize any information other than the map of ECVAM. The results of this study can be applied to the Total Natural Resources Management System through follow-up study such as application of various environmental information and weighting method.

Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Pannell, David J; Gibson, Fiona L

2016-04-01

Conservation decision makers commonly use project-scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high--up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted-additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real-world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30-50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Application of a value-based equivalency method to assess environmental damage compensation under the European Environmental Liability Directive

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martin-Ortega, J.; Brouwer, R.; Aiking, H.

2011-01-01

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) establishes a framework of liability based on the 'polluter-pays' principle to prevent and remedy environmental damage. The ELD requires the testing of appropriate equivalency methods to assess the scale of compensatory measures needed to offset damage.

Naturalizing sentimentalism for environmental ethics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kasperbauer, Tyler Joshua

2015-01-01

. One way of testing the empirical adequacy of sentimentalism is by looking at research on environmental values. A classic problem in environmental ethics is providing an account of the intrinsic value of nonhuman entities, which is often thought to be inconsistent with sentimentalism. However...

Environmental pollution study around a large industrial area near Cairo, Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Halim, A.S.

2003-01-01

Neutron activation analysis is one of the most extensively used methods for environmental studies due to its high sensitivity, precision, versatility and multielemental character. Cement factories at Helwan, south of Cairo, contribute substantially to environmental pollution. Determination of minor and trace-elements in dust particulates from the cement industrial areas has been performed to assess the air quality from an environmental and human health point of view. Soil-7 standard reference material from IAEA and SRM-1571 from NBS were used for quality assurance testing. The data obtained indicate there is an indication that the pollution could be hazardous to people living in and around the area surveyed. (author)

Binary Classification of a Large Collection of Environmental Chemicals from Estrogen Receptor Assays by Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship and Machine Learning Methods

Science.gov (United States)

ABSTRACT: There are thousands of environmental chemicals subject to regulatory decisions for endocrine disrupting potential. A promising approach to manage this large universe of untested chemicals is to use a prioritization filter that combines in vitro assays with in silico QSA...

Contribution of environmental isotopes to the study of large aquifers in Morocco

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kabbaj, A.; Zeryouhi, I.; Carlier, P.

1978-01-01

The geochemistry of environmental isotopes has been applied to several aquifers in Maroc, some of them quite large: Charf el Akab in the Tanger region, the Oum er Rbia basin and the Tadla aquifer, the free nappe of limnic limes tone in the Sais plane, and the lias limestone aquifer. The isotopic investigations on the basis of hydrogeochemical data have given more precise information on the supply conditions of these aquifers. The types of water of different origin from the Atlas or the phosphate plateau in the Sais plane and the Tadla basin have been distinguished, the supply from one aquifer to another Lias nappe which, via the flexures of the Sais plane, supplies the nappe of limic limestone has been assessed, the homogeneity or heterogeneity of these aquifers has been investigated as well as their impermeability, the Tadla aquifer and the special case of Charf el Akab compared with the marine region. The findings have proved the usefulness of these techniques and permitted a specification of the general conditions for their application. (orig.) [de

Is environmental sustainability a strategic priority for logistics service providers?

Science.gov (United States)

Evangelista, Pietro; Colicchia, Claudia; Creazza, Alessandro

2017-08-01

Despite an increasing number of third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) regard environmental sustainability as a key area of management, there is still great uncertainty on how 3PLs implement environmental strategies and on how they translate green efforts into practice. Through a multiple case study analysis, this paper explores the environmental strategies of a sample of medium-sized 3PLs operating in Italy and the UK, in terms of environmental organizational culture, initiatives, and influencing factors. Our analysis shows that, notwithstanding environmental sustainability is generally recognised as a strategic priority, a certain degree of diversity in the deployment of environmental strategies still exists. This paper is original since the extant literature on green strategies of 3PLs provides findings predominantly from a single country perspective and mainly investigates large/multinational organizations. It also provides indications to help managers of medium-sized 3PLs in positioning their business. This is particularly meaningful in the 3PL industry, where medium-sized organizations significantly contribute to the generated turnover and market value. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prognostic value of interim FDG-PET in R-CHOP-treated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma : Systematic review and meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Adams, Hugo J A; Kwee, Thomas C.

2016-01-01

This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the prognostic value of interim 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone

The environmental impact of large dams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Razvan, E.

1992-01-01

The campaigns of conservationist groups against dams are generally based on rather emotional issues. This paper puts the situation in a more rational perspective, by analysing the various claims which tend to be put forward concerning the impacts of large dams, examining the validity of the arguments, looking at ways in which any adverse effects can be mitigated, and presenting the complexity of the problems. (author)

Prediction of breeding values and selection responses with genetic heterogeneity of environmental variance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulder, H.A.; Bijma, P.; Hill, W.G.

2007-01-01

There is empirical evidence that genotypes differ not only in mean, but also in environmental variance of the traits they affect. Genetic heterogeneity of environmental variance may indicate genetic differences in environmental sensitivity. The aim of this study was to develop a general framework

Screening compounds for early warnings about environmental pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metcalf, R.L.

1974-01-01

A laboratory model ecosystem with a terrestrial-aquatic interface has been used to evaluate the potential environmental effects of nearly 100 micropollutants including insecticides, fungicides, plasticizers, heat transfer agents, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and heavy metals. These have been evaluated largely by radiotracer techniques but atomic absorption spectrometry has also been used. Emphasis has been placed upon degradation pathways in a variety of organisms and upon quantitative data on biodegradation and bioaccumulation. The laboratory model ecosystem has substantial value as an environmental early warning element in evaluating the pollutant potential of various chemicals which may enter into the environment in trace amounts either purposely in various use patterns or accidentally from effluents of manufacture or waste products. (U.S.)

Large Mines and the Community : Socioeconomic and ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

1 janv. 2001 ... Large Mines and the Community : Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects in Latin America, Canada, and Spain. Couverture du livre Large Mines and the Community : Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects in Latin America. Directeur(s):. Gary McMahon et Felix Remy. Maison(s) d'édition: Banque ...

Contribuições para o trabalho com valores em Educação Ambiental Contributions to deal with values in Environmental Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dalva Maria Bianchini Bonotto

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Neste artigo discute-se o trabalho com valores em Educação Ambiental, o que exige uma fundamentação e posicionamento adequados. Diante do impasse entre posições relativistas e universalistas para a educação em valores, aponta-se para a necessidade de explicitar nossa posição e ação em favor dos valores ambientalmente desejáveis, considerando que as questões envolvidas com o meio ambiente dizem respeito à vida e à sobrevivência de todos os seres do planeta. Estes valores podem ser identificados junto aos princípios presentes no "Tratado de educação global para sociedades sustentáveis e responsabilidade global", apresentado pela sociedade civil na ECO-92. Por fim, ressalta-se a necessidade de se desenvolverem estratégias educativas que envolvam as dimensões aqui denominadas de cognição, afetividade e ação, resultando em um trabalho abrangente, que amplie as possibilidades de o indivíduo apreender, de maneira mais efetiva, um dado valor, tendo, então, melhores condições de construí-lo em sua vida.In this paper we discuss the value content of Environmental Education, because it requires an adequate theoretical basis and positioning. The relativist and universalistic positions are presented and it is pointed out that the environmental questions and their respective values mean much more than simple personal options. This is because the environmental questions concern life and the survival of all living beings on the planet. Thus, we must make our position and actions consistent with these values. They are identified in the principles reported in "Treatise for the global education for sustainable societies and global responsibility", which was elaborated by the civil society at ECO-92. It is also considered that values education is an issue focusing on the dimensions of cognition, feelings and action. All these three dimensions aim at achieving a broader result.

Effects of a propionic acid-based preservative on storage characteristics, nutritive value, and energy content for alfalfa hays packaged in large, round bales

Science.gov (United States)

During 2009 and 2010, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hays from two cuttings that were harvested from the same field site were used to evaluate the effects of a propionic acid-based preservative on the storage characteristics and nutritive value of hays stored as large, round bales. A total of 87 large...

Exploring Additional Determinants of Environmentally Responsible Behavior: The Influence of Environmental Literature and Environmental Attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Mobley, Catherine; Vagias, Wade M.; DeWard, Sarah L.

2010-01-01

It is often assumed that individuals who are knowledgeable and concerned about the environment will engage in environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). We use data from a large scale Web survey hosted on National Geographic's Web site in 2001-2002 to investigate this premise. We examine whether reading three classic environmental books…

Environmental spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henrik Gutzon

Using the development of intergovernmental environmental cooperation in the Baltic Sea area as a concrete example, the aim of this study is to explore how the 'environment' in situations of environmental interdependence is identified and institutionalised as political-geographical objects....... 'Environmental interdependence' is to this end conceptualised as a tension between 'political spaces' of discrete state territories and 'environmental spaces' of spatially nested ecosystems. This tension between geographies of political separateness and environmental wholeness is the implicit or explicit basis...... for a large and varied literature. But in both its critical and problemsolving manifestations, this literature tends to naturalise the spatiality of environmental concerns: environmental spaces are generally taken for granted. On the suggestion that there is a subtle politics to the specification...

Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. H. Yan

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, D. H.; Wang, H.; Li, H. H.; Wang, G.; Qin, T. L.; Wang, D. Y.; Wang, L. H.

2012-08-01

The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

Thresholds of Extinction: Simulation Strategies in Environmental Values Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Glew, Frank

1990-01-01

Describes a simulation exercise for campers and an accompanying curriculum unit--"Thresholds of Extinction"--that addresses the issues of endangered species. Uses this context to illustrate steps in the process of values development: awareness, gathering data, resolution (decision making), responsibility (acting on values), and…

Changes in ecosystem service values in Zhoushan Island using remote sensing time series data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaoping; Qin, Yanpei; Lv, Ying; Zhen, Guangwei; Gong, Fang; Li, Chaokui

2017-10-01

The largest inhabited island, Zhoushan Island, is the center of economy, culture, shipping, and fishing in the Zhoushan Archipelago New Area. Its coastal wetland and tidal flats offer significant ecological services including floodwater storage, wildlife habitat, and buffers against tidal surges. Yet, large-scale land reclamation and new land development may dramatically change ecosystem services. In this research, we assess changes in ecosystem service values in Zhoushan Island during 1990-2000-2011. Three LANDSAT TM and/or ETM data sets were used to determine the spatial pattern of land use, and previously published value coefficients were used to calculate the ecosystem service values delivered by each land category. The results show that total value of ecosystem services in Zhoushan Island declined by 11% from 2920.07 billion Yuan to 2609.77 billion Yuan per year between 1990 and 2011. This decrease is largely attributable to the 51% loss of tidal flats. The combined ecosystem service values of woodland, paddy land and tidal flats were over 90% of the total values. The result indicates that future land-use policy should pay attention to the conservation of these ecosystems over uncontrolled reclamation and coastal industrial development, and that further coastal reclamation should be on rigorous environmental impact analyses.

Identifying the role of conservation biology for solving the environmental crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalerum, Fredrik

2014-11-01

Humans are altering their living environment to an extent that could cause environmental collapse. Promoting change into environmental sustainability is therefore urgent. Despite a rapid expansion in conservation biology, appreciation of underlying causes and identification of long-term solutions have largely been lacking. I summarized knowledge regarding the environmental crisis, and argue that the most important contributions toward solutions come from economy, political sciences, and psychology. Roles of conservation biology include providing environmental protection until sustainable solutions have been found, evaluating the effectiveness of implemented solutions, and providing societies with information necessary to align effectively with environmental values. Because of the potential disciplinary discrepancy between finding long-term solutions and short-term protection, we may face critical trade-offs between allocations of resources toward achieving sustainability. Since biological knowledge is required for such trade-offs, an additional role for conservation biologists may be to provide guidance toward finding optimal strategies in such trade-offs.

Environmental gamma radiation monitoring at Visakhapatnam using thermoluminescence dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swarnkar, M.; Sahu, S.K.; Takale, R.A.; Shetty, P.G.; Pundit, G.G.; Puranik, V.D.

2012-01-01

The gamma rays are the most significant part of environmental dose due to its large range and deep penetrating power. The environmental gamma radiation is mainly originated from two sources natural radiation and artificially produced radiation. The natural radiation dose arises from the cosmic radiation (galactic and solar) and from the Earth (terrestrial) surface. In the last few decades there is a growing concern all over the world about radiation and their exposure to population. Thus it is necessary to conduct radiological environmental surveillance. The radiation survey data are useful to establish the natural background gamma radiation levels. Extensive gamma radiation survey was carried out around the surroundings of Vishakhapatnam using Thermoluminescence Dosimeters (TLDs). The CaSO 4 :(0.2 mole %) Dy Teflon TLD discs, specifically designed for environmental gamma radiation monitoring purpose were used. These TLD badge are having very high TL sensitivity, a negligible fading rate and a stable TL response. TLDs were deployed on quarterly basis for two years to obtain the cumulative gamma background radiation levels in the study area. The radiological survey was also carried out by using a calibrated radiation survey meter. The annual dose rates were computed from quarterly values actually found and normalised to 365 days. The environmental gamma radiation levels around Vishakhapatnam were found to be in the range of 0.79 mGy/y to 1.86 mGy/y. It is clearly seen from the results that location to location there is a large variation in external gamma radiation levels. During the cycle of the TLD survey, spot readings of the background radiation levels were taken, both while placing the TLDs and while removing them. The instantaneous dose rates measured using survey meter, are also following the large variation as found in TLDs. It varies between 110 nGy/hr to 210 nGy/hr. (author)

China's Environmental Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Sternfeld

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The following article discusses the environmental challenges of China‘s economic boom and its social consequences. Although the country has a relatively long history of institutionalized environmental policy, it is in the implementation at local level where it faces large implementation deficits. Environmental damage causes not only high economic costs, but also affects social stability.

Environmental Data Science

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gibert, Karina; Horsburgh, Jeffery S.; Athanasiadis, I.N.; Holmes, Geoff

2018-01-01

Environmental data are growing in complexity, size, and resolution. Addressing the types of large, multidisciplinary problems faced by today's environmental scientists requires the ability to leverage available data and information to inform decision making. Successfully synthesizing heterogeneous

Are EMS environmentally effective? The link between environmental management systems and environmental performance in European companies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hertin, J.; Berkhout, F.G.H.; Wagner, M.; Tyteca, D.

2008-01-01

Based on the analysis of a large dataset on the environmental performance of European companies in five industrial sectors, this paper examines the question of whether the presence of an environmental management system (EMS) has a positive impact on the eco-efficiency of companies. It begins with a

Analysis of changes in environmental radiation, and three types of environmental radiation detector performance comparisons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, J.H; Seo, J.H; Park, S.M; Yu, B.N; Park, J.H; Joo, K.S

2013-06-01

High-pressure ion chamber (GE Reuter-Stokes, HPIC), accuracy is high but the high price and do not have the ability nuclide analysis is a disadvantage. NaI(Tl) and PMT scintillation detector of radioactive materials can be divided. Environmental radiation measurements using a semiconductor with SiPM detector PMT to replace the value of the results were compared. SiPM detector using radiation environment were measured in the field to verify the accuracy and energy resolution. SiPMs performance as environmental radiation measurement equipment and radioactive material distinction as a personal dosimeter based technology, using the above results were prepared. The interest on the environmental radiation due to the Fukushima power plant crisis in Japan has been growing concern about the radiation environment of the relatively close proximity Korea is a very heightened state. Could be confirmed in the radiation environment of nuclear power plants around the analysis and performance of the next generation of environmental radiation meter. Fukushima power plants accident after 2 years, the equipment installed by this analysis meets the performance as a radiation detector could be confirmed as follows. CANA Inc. developed by radionuclides classification of using man-made and natural radionuclides and man-made radionuclides separated, ensure the value of the results were analyzed. Could be and alternative to the conventional detector energy resolution ( 137 CS<15%) and linearity (<15%) to satisfy the performance requirements of the measurement result of environmental radiation detector is considered. SiPM radiation environment changes and HPIC and NaI(TI) scintillation detector installed in Korea of the Fukushima power plant after the accident, radiation environment using a small alternative was to verify the accuracy of the measuring equipment. A big difference in performance as invisible by comparison with the large detector Assay miniaturization rough as a personal

Clinical value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in differentiation between benign lesions and lung cancer for large shadows in patients with pneumoconiosis

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王艳丽

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the clinical value ofF-FDG PET/CT in the differentiation between benign lesions and lung cancer for large shadows in patients with pneumoconiosis.Methods A retrospective study was conducted in21 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of pneumoconiosis who had a total of 37 large shadows in the lung fields as

Treatments of Missing Values in Large National Data Affect Conclusions: The Impact of Multiple Imputation on Arthroplasty Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ondeck, Nathaniel T; Fu, Michael C; Skrip, Laura A; McLynn, Ryan P; Su, Edwin P; Grauer, Jonathan N

2018-03-01

Despite the advantages of large, national datasets, one continuing concern is missing data values. Complete case analysis, where only cases with complete data are analyzed, is commonly used rather than more statistically rigorous approaches such as multiple imputation. This study characterizes the potential selection bias introduced using complete case analysis and compares the results of common regressions using both techniques following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. Patients undergoing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty were extracted from the 2005 to 2015 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. As examples, the demographics of patients with and without missing preoperative albumin and hematocrit values were compared. Missing data were then treated with both complete case analysis and multiple imputation (an approach that reproduces the variation and associations that would have been present in a full dataset) and the conclusions of common regressions for adverse outcomes were compared. A total of 6117 patients were included, of which 56.7% were missing at least one value. Younger, female, and healthier patients were more likely to have missing preoperative albumin and hematocrit values. The use of complete case analysis removed 3467 patients from the study in comparison with multiple imputation which included all 6117 patients. The 2 methods of handling missing values led to differing associations of low preoperative laboratory values with commonly studied adverse outcomes. The use of complete case analysis can introduce selection bias and may lead to different conclusions in comparison with the statistically rigorous multiple imputation approach. Joint surgeons should consider the methods of handling missing values when interpreting arthroplasty research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Collaborative-Large scale Engineering Assessment Networks for Environmental Research: The Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Moo-Young, H.

2004-05-01

A networked infrastructure for engineering solutions and policy alternatives is necessary to assess, manage, and protect complex, anthropogenic ally stressed environmental resources effectively. Reductionist and discrete disciplinary methodologies are no longer adequate to evaluate and model complex environmental systems and anthropogenic stresses. While the reductonist approach provides important information regarding individual mechanisms, it cannot provide complete information about how multiple processes are related. Therefore, it is not possible to make accurate predictions about system responses to engineering interventions and the effectiveness of policy options. For example, experts cannot agree on best management strategies for contaminated sediments in riverine and estuarine systems. This is due, in part to the fact that existing models do not accurately capture integrated system dynamics. In addition, infrastructure is not available for investigators to exchange and archive data, to collaborate on new investigative methods, and to synthesize these results to develop engineering solutions and policy alternatives. Our vision for the future is to create a network comprising field facilities and a collaboration of engineers, scientists, policy makers, and community groups. This will allow integration across disciplines, across different temporal and spatial scales, surface and subsurface geographies, and air sheds and watersheds. Benefits include fast response to changes in system health, real-time decision making, and continuous data collection that can be used to anticipate future problems, and to develop sound engineering solutions and management decisions. CLEANER encompasses four general aspects: 1) A Network of environmental field facilities instrumented for the acquisition and analysis of environmental data; 2) A Virtual Repository of Data and information technology for engineering modeling, analysis and visualization of data, i.e. an environmental

The Relationship between Environmental Relative Moldiness Index Values and Asthma

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — No data generated. This dataset is not publicly accessible because: There was no new data generated. It can be accessed through the following means: None available....

Economic values and corporate financial statements.

Science.gov (United States)

Magness, Vanessa

2003-07-01

Corporate financial statements do not include environmental values. This deficiency has contributed to the criticism that company managers do not include environmental impacts in the internal decision-making process. The accounting profession has not developed effective environmental reporting guidelines. This situation contributes to a second problem: the apparent inability of corporate reports to provide useful information to external parties. It has been suggested that by using nonmarket valuation methodologies, financial statements can be used to measure progress toward sustainable development. Nonmarket valuations are not generally accepted by the accounting profession. They are too subjective to support effective decisions, and too costly to obtain. Furthermore, demand for this sort of information appears small. Some of these issues may be resolved over time. The most serious challenge, however, concerns how enhanced financial reports would be used. Financial statements are supposed to help investors assess the amount, timing, and uncertainty of future cash flows. A substantial portion of environmental value is based on nonuse benefits, much of which will never be realized in company cash flows. In other words, the role of financial statements would have to change. Furthermore, since there is no general agreement as to the meaning of "sustainable development," efforts to operationalize the term have been fraught with difficulty. Moreover, monetization of environmental values could jeopardize their preservation, leaving some to question the overall objective of this form of reporting. For these reasons, while it is to be hoped that better reporting of environmental impacts will be forthcoming, the greatest advances will likely be outside the financial statements themselves.

Getting Down and Dirty: Values in Education for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Elaine; Mansfield, Caroline; Baudains, Catherine

2008-01-01

Values education and environmental education for sustainability are both spheres of education research that have manifested rapid and overlapping development in recent years. An independent primary school located in the Perth metropolitan area of Western Australia participated in research on both values education and environmental education for…

Comparison of fermented animal feed and mushroom growth media as two value-added options for waste Cassava pulp management.

Science.gov (United States)

Trakulvichean, Sivalee; Chaiprasert, Pawinee; Otmakhova, Julia; Songkasiri, Warinthorn

2017-12-01

Cassava is one of the main processed crops in Thailand, but this generates large amounts (7.3 million tons in 2015) of waste cassava pulp (WCP). The solid WCP is sold directly to farmers or pulp-drying companies at a low cost to reduce the burden of on-site waste storage. Using an integrated direct and environmental cost model, fermented animal feed and mushroom growth media were compared as added-value waste management alternatives for WCP to mitigate environmental problems. Primary and secondary data were collected from the literature, field data, and case studies. Data boundaries were restricted to a gate-to-gate scenario with a receiving capacity of 500 t WCP/d, and based on a new production unit being set up at the starch factory. The total production cost of each WCP utilization option was analyzed from the economic and environmental costs. Fermented animal feed was an economically attractive scenario, giving a higher net present value (NPV), lower investment cost and environmental impact, and a shorter payback period for the 10-year operational period. The selling price of mushrooms was the most sensitive parameter regarding the NPV, while the NPV for the price of fermented animal feed had the highest value in the best-case scenario.

The principle of environmental compatible energy supply in energy law characteristics and environmental (energy) legal connections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stecher, Michaela

2015-01-01

The course of the investigation follows the path of the electric power. Considered are the electricity industry value-added stages with their environmental impact and their relevant legal regulations. The focus in each case are the environmentally relevant legal rules of EnWG, whose own contributions are examined for environmental objective as well as the interaction with other legislation. First, the value chain of the supply or production of primary energy sources is considered closer. Second, the conversion of primary energy sources in electricity is to take in the view. The conversion plant depending on widely varying environmental impacts and the relevant legal instruments are shown. Thirdly comes the electricity downstream value-added level of network operations, through which the electric power is transmitted and distributed. In the fourth stage, the effect of support of the legal requirements for the storage of electricity is considered. Fifth value chain is the distribution, through which the direct relationship between suppliers and customers is organized. [de

Using Inequality Measures to Incorporate Environmental Justice into Regulatory Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Sam; Ruder, Eric; Roman, Henry A.; Geggel, Amelia; Nweke, Onyemaechi; Payne-Sturges, Devon; Levy, Jonathan I.

2013-01-01

Formally evaluating how specific policy measures influence environmental justice is challenging, especially in the context of regulatory analyses in which quantitative comparisons are the norm. However, there is a large literature on developing and applying quantitative measures of health inequality in other settings, and these measures may be applicable to environmental regulatory analyses. In this paper, we provide information to assist policy decision makers in determining the viability of using measures of health inequality in the context of environmental regulatory analyses. We conclude that quantification of the distribution of inequalities in health outcomes across social groups of concern, considering both within-group and between-group comparisons, would be consistent with both the structure of regulatory analysis and the core definition of environmental justice. Appropriate application of inequality indicators requires thorough characterization of the baseline distribution of exposures and risks, leveraging data generally available within regulatory analyses. Multiple inequality indicators may be applicable to regulatory analyses, and the choice among indicators should be based on explicit value judgments regarding the dimensions of environmental justice of greatest interest. PMID:23999551

On Matrix Sampling and Imputation of Context Questionnaires with Implications for the Generation of Plausible Values in Large-Scale Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, David; Su, Dan

2016-01-01

This article presents findings on the consequences of matrix sampling of context questionnaires for the generation of plausible values in large-scale assessments. Three studies are conducted. Study 1 uses data from PISA 2012 to examine several different forms of missing data imputation within the chained equations framework: predictive mean…

Framing Climate Change to Account for Values

Science.gov (United States)

Hassol, S. J.

2011-12-01

Belief, trust and values are important but generally overlooked in efforts to communicate climate change. Because climate change has often been framed too narrowly as an environmental issue, it has failed to engage segments of the public for whom environmentalism is not an important value. Worse, for some of these people, environmentalism and the policies that accompany it may be seen as a threat to their core values, such as the importance of personal freedoms and the free market. Climate science educators can improve this situation by more appropriately framing climate change as an issue affecting the economy and our most basic human needs: food, water, shelter, security, health, jobs, and the safety of our families. Further, because people trust and listen to those with whom they share cultural values, climate change educators can stress the kinds of values their audiences share. They can also enlist the support of opinion leaders known for holding these values. In addition, incorporating messages about solutions to climate change and their many benefits to economic prosperity, human health, and other values is an important component of meeting this challenge. We must also recognize that local impacts are of greater concern to most people than changes that feel distant in place and time. Different audiences have different concerns, and effective educators will learn what their audiences care about and tailor their messages accordingly.

Public participation in the licensing of large-scale projects with environmental impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

As a rule, public participation in licensing and planning procedures for large-scale projects with environmental impact is as controversial as the projects themselves. Against this background, an interdisciplinary examination of several 'cases' of public participation in administrative procedures with varying legal forms is being conducted in a joint research project run by the Department for Applied Systems Analysis (Karlsruher Nuclear Centre) and the Research Institute for Public Administration at the College for Administrative Sciences in Speyer. The actual course of events and the practical experience of the groups involved (authorities, applicants, objectors, experts) are related to the applicable legal arrangements for public participation. The question to be answered is: which expected and unexpected functions do the procedures actually fulfill and which not. Proposals for the amendment of legal policy could be developed upon the foundation of such a diagnosis. The report contains the results of the 'pilot study' on public participation in the licensing of the nuclear power plant GKN-2 in Neckarwestheim and further contributions on the issue of 'public participation', presented within the framework of a research colloquium at the School for Nuclear Technology/Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre. (orig.) [de

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, Patricia

2006-01-01

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

2006-09-15

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

The potential of shared value creation: a theoretical analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Danciu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The urgent issues economy, environment and society are facing need new approaches which allow a well-balanced sharing of value created by the economy. A step forward is the concept of shared value creation. This paper aims to analyze the main features, the content of strategy of shared value creation and to propose the social innovation as main strategic way of shared value creation. At the beginning, the drivers and challenges of shared value creation are investigated in a systematized manner, in order to better understand why this new way of doing business is needed. Then, the concept and the three levels of shared value creation are investigated as sources of economic, environmental and social benefits that a business creates. These benefits depend on how efficient and diligent the company works. We are advancing the social innovation as main strategy having the greatest potential to create value with economic, environmental and social benefits. Finally, a framework for measurement of shared value creation is included. This framework is aiming at giving a tool for checking up the potential the shared value creation has for solving environmental and social issues.

On the dependency of the decay of ground motion peak values with distance for small and large earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Dujardin, Alain; Courboulex, Françoise; Causse, Matthieu; Traversa, Paola; Monfret, Tony

2013-04-01

Ground motion decay with distance presents a clear magnitude dependence, PGA values of small events decreasing faster than those of larger events. This observation is now widely accepted and often taken into account in recent ground motion prediction equations (Anderson 2005, Akkar & Bommer 2010). The aim of this study is to investigate the origin of this dependence, which has not been clearly identified yet. Two main hypotheses are considered. On one hand the difference of ground motion decay is related to an attenuation effect, on the other hand the difference is related to an effect of extended fault (Anderson 2000). To study the role of attenuation, we realized synthetic tests using the stochastic simulation program SMSIM from Boore (2005). We build a set of simulations from several magnitudes and epicentral distances, and observe that the decay in PGA values is strongly dependent on the spectral shape of the Fourier spectra, which in turn strongly depends on the attenuation factor (Q(f) or kappa). We found that, for a point source approximation and an infinite value of Q (no attenuation) there is no difference between small and large events and that this difference increases when Q decreases. Theses results show that the influence of attenuation on spectral shape is different for earthquakes of different magnitude. In fact the influence of attenuation, which is more important at higher frequency, is larger for small earthquakes, whose Fourier acceleration spectrum has predominantly higher frequencies. We then study the effect of extended source using complete waveform simulations in a 1D model. We find that when the duration of the source time function increases, there is a larger probability to obtain large PGA values at equivalent distances. This effect could also play an important role in the PGA decay with magnitude and distance. Finally we compare these results with real datasets from the Japanese accelerometric network KIK-net.

Using value stream mapping technique through the lean production transformation process: An implementation in a large-scaled tractor company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehmet Rıza Adalı

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Today’s world, manufacturing industries have to continue their development and continuity in more competitive environment via decreasing their costs. As a first step in the lean production process transformation is to analyze the value added activities and non-value adding activities. This study aims at applying the concepts of Value Stream Mapping (VSM in a large-scaled tractor company in Sakarya. Waste and process time are identified by mapping the current state in the production line of platform. The future state was suggested with improvements for elimination of waste and reduction of lead time, which went from 13,08 to 4,35 days. Analysis are made using current and future states to support the suggested improvements and cycle time of the production line of platform is improved 8%. Results showed that VSM is a good alternative in the decision-making for change in production process.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS CERTIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aniko Miler-Virc

2012-12-01

Full Text Available ISO 14001 prescribes the requirements for a system, not environmental performance itself. Similarly, certification is of the management system itself, not environmental performance. An audit is not conducted to ascertain whether your flue gas emissions are less than X part per million nitrous oxide or that your wastewater effluent contains less that Y milligrams of bacteria per litre. Consequently, the procces of auditing the system for compliance to the standard entails checking to see that all of the necessary components of a functioning system are present and working properly.           A company can have a complete and fully functional EMS as prescribed by ISO 14001 without being certified. As certification can add to the time and expense of EMS development, it is important for you to establish, in advance, whether certification is of net benefit to you. Although most companies that develop an EMS do in fact certify, there are cases where certification does not add immediate value. Certification is not always beneficial to small and medium sized companies. Certification is not always necessary for companies with one or two large clients with environmental demands who are satisfied that you have a functional EMS (second-party declaration. Whatever decision you make, it is important to remember that just as a driver′s licence does not automatically make you a good driver, ISO 14001 certification does not automatically make your company environmentally benign or ensure that you will continually improve environmental performance. The system is only as good as the people who operate it.

Effect of production quotas on economic and environmental values of growth rate and feed efficiency in sea cage fish farming.

Science.gov (United States)

Besson, M; de Boer, I J M; Vandeputte, M; van Arendonk, J A M; Quillet, E; Komen, H; Aubin, J

2017-01-01

In sea cage fish farming, production quotas aim to constrain the impact of fish farming on the surrounding ecosystem. It is unknown how these quotas affect economic profitability and environmental impact of genetic improvement. We combined bioeconomic modelling with life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate the economic (EV) and environmental (ENV) values of thermal growth coefficient (TGC) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of sea bass reared in sea cages, given four types of quota commonly used in Europe: annual production (Qprod), annual feed distributed (Qannual_feed), standing stock (Qstock), and daily feed distributed (Qdaily_feed). ENV were calculated for LCA impact categories climate change, eutrophication and acidification. ENV were expressed per ton of fish produced per year (ENV(fish)) and per farm per year (ENV(farm)). Results show that irrespective of quota used, EV of FCR as well as ENV(fish) and ENV(farm) were always positive, meaning that improving FCR increased profit and decreased environmental impacts. However, the EV and the ENV(fish) of TGC were positive only when quota was Qstock or Qdaily_feed. Moreover, the ENV(farm) of TGC was negative in Qstock and Qdaily_feed quotas, meaning that improving TGC increased the environmental impact of the farm. We conclude that Qstock quota and Qdaily_feed quota are economically favorable to a genetic improvement of TGC, a major trait for farmers. However, improving TGC increases the environmental impact of the farm. Improving FCR represents a good opportunity to balance out this increase but more information on its genetic background is needed to develop breeding programs improving FCR.

Effect of production quotas on economic and environmental values of growth rate and feed efficiency in sea cage fish farming.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Besson

Full Text Available In sea cage fish farming, production quotas aim to constrain the impact of fish farming on the surrounding ecosystem. It is unknown how these quotas affect economic profitability and environmental impact of genetic improvement. We combined bioeconomic modelling with life cycle assessment (LCA to calculate the economic (EV and environmental (ENV values of thermal growth coefficient (TGC and feed conversion ratio (FCR of sea bass reared in sea cages, given four types of quota commonly used in Europe: annual production (Qprod, annual feed distributed (Qannual_feed, standing stock (Qstock, and daily feed distributed (Qdaily_feed. ENV were calculated for LCA impact categories climate change, eutrophication and acidification. ENV were expressed per ton of fish produced per year (ENV(fish and per farm per year (ENV(farm. Results show that irrespective of quota used, EV of FCR as well as ENV(fish and ENV(farm were always positive, meaning that improving FCR increased profit and decreased environmental impacts. However, the EV and the ENV(fish of TGC were positive only when quota was Qstock or Qdaily_feed. Moreover, the ENV(farm of TGC was negative in Qstock and Qdaily_feed quotas, meaning that improving TGC increased the environmental impact of the farm. We conclude that Qstock quota and Qdaily_feed quota are economically favorable to a genetic improvement of TGC, a major trait for farmers. However, improving TGC increases the environmental impact of the farm. Improving FCR represents a good opportunity to balance out this increase but more information on its genetic background is needed to develop breeding programs improving FCR.

Valuing the cost of environmental degradation in the face of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr. Peter Odjugo

2012-01-03

Jan 3, 2012 ... Although these environmental problems affect all parts of Nigeria, some are ..... rainfall pattern coincided with the El Nino and drought years in Nigeria with the ..... South Africa: Floods killed 120 and destroy crops. http://.www.

Visions of development and environmental values in the municipal councils of Itajaí Middle Valley, Santa Catarina State

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cleci Teresinha Noara

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This paper began in November 2006, it deals with environmental values the councils of environment of Blumenau and Indaial on the middle Vale of Itajaí, Santa Catarina State. The objective was to identify and to analyze the environment values and interests that permeate the practice of these councils. The subject becomes relevant because the theorical sources are scarces, data-collecting interviews, comments bibliographical and documentary. The results demonstrate even though the council members possess and anthropocentric vision about environment, they believe that, with a environment management integrated and participative action, close to sustainable development, it will be possible the solution of these environment problems. The study aims to be a contribution to municipal councils of environment in Itajaí basin, since it allows us to understand some of the capacities and limitations of them in the formulation and implementation of public policies for sustainable development in the region.

Environmental policy in Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsuru, Shigeto; Weidner, H. (eds.)

1989-01-01

This book deals in English with the most important features of Japanese environmental policy in a number of individual articles by different authors. The various sections report on: 1. History and organization of environmental policy; 2. The role of non-governmental actors in environmental policy (large industries); 3. Special features of environmental policies and problems; 4. Classical pollution control areas: Regulations and effects; 5. Environmental problems in a broader perspective (nature conservation); 6. Policy areas with influence on environmental quality; 7. Environmental monitoring and reporting; 8. Japanese environmental policy in an international perspective (preventive policies, developing countries). (HSCH).

Theoretical perspectives on pro-environmental behaviours

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariela PAVALACHE-ILIE

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The paper outlines a synthesis of the models (The rationalist models, models based on Theory of Reasoned Action/ Theory of Planned Behavior, prosocial models and antecedents of pro-environmental behaviors. The values models applicable for the study of pro-environmental behaviours (Rokeach’s; Schwartz’s; Kollmus and Agyeman synthesis, are presented afterwards, as the results of the studies which confirm the predictive role of values when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour.

Health and Well-Being Metrics in Business: The Value of Integrated Reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Pronk, Nicolaas P; Malan, Daniel; Christie, Gillian; Hajat, Cother; Yach, Derek

2018-01-01

Health and well-being (HWB) are material to sustainable business performance. Yet, corporate reporting largely lacks the intentional inclusion of HWB metrics. This brief report presents an argument for inclusion of HWB metrics into existing standards for corporate reporting. A Core Scorecard and a Comprehensive Scorecard, designed by a team of subject matter experts, based on available evidence of effectiveness, and organized around the categories of Governance, Management, and Evidence of Success, may be integrated into corporate reporting efforts. Pursuit of corporate integrated reporting requires corporate governance and ethical leadership and values that ultimately align with environmental, social, and economic performance. Agreement on metrics that intentionally include HWB may allow for integrated reporting that has the potential to yield significant value for business and society alike.

Environmental Impacts From the Installation and Operation of Large-scale Solar Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fthenakis, V.; Turney, Damon

2011-04-23

Large-scale solar power plants are being developed at a rapid rate, and are setting up to use thousands or millions of acres of land globally. The environmental issues related to the installation and operation phases of such facilities have not, so far, been addressed comprehensively in the literature. Here we identify and appraise 32 impacts from these phases, under the themes of land use intensity, human health and well-being, plant and animal life, geohydrological resources, and climate change. Our appraisals assume that electricity generated by new solar power facilities will displace electricity from traditional U.S. generation technologies. Altogether we find 22 of the considered 32 impacts to be beneficial. Of the remaining 10 impacts, 4 are neutral, and 6 require further research before they can be appraised. None of the impacts are negative relative to traditional power generation. We rank the impacts in terms of priority, and find all the high-priority impacts to be beneficial. In quantitative terms, large-scale solar power plants occupy the same or less land per kW h than coal power plant life cycles. Removal of forests to make space for solar power causes CO{sub 2} emissions as high as 36 g CO{sub 2} kW h{sup -1}, which is a significant contribution to the life cycle CO{sub 2} emissions of solar power, but is still low compared to CO{sub 2} emissions from coal-based electricity that are about 1100 g CO{sub 2} kW h{sup -1}.

Environmental pollution studies

CERN Document Server

Best, Gerry

1999-01-01

This book examines a number of important contemporary environmental issues in an informative and easy-to-read style. The topics covered include sewage treatment, eutrophication, air pollution, acid rain, global warming and pollution from farming. A particularly valuable section of the book describes a range of tests that can be carried out on various environmental parameters. The procedures require relatively simple equipment and they have been pre-tested in a school laboratory. "Environmental Pollution Studies" will be of value to senior school pupils and students at college or university embarking on courses in environmental science.

TOOL FOR VALUE IDENTIFICATION AND CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO PURCHASE GREEN PRODUCTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geysler Rogis Flor Bertolini

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The value to consumers of environmental issues is an important factor for decision-making organizations. This article aims to present a tool that can identify the value and the willingness of consumers to purchase environmentally friendly products. It is an exploratory research, with an interrogative model. The proposed tool consists of two steps; the first is to check the value and purchasing preference of consumers towards environmentally friendly products. The second step is the simulation of supply environmentally friendly product to consumers. Based on the results, showing whether or not consumers will buy the product eco-organizations will obtain relevant information for decision making.

A conceptualisation framework for building consensus on environmental sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

González Del Campo, Ainhoa

2017-09-15

Examination of the intrinsic attributes of a system that render it more or less sensitive to potential stressors provides further insight into the baseline environment. In impact assessment, sensitivity of environmental receptors can be conceptualised on the basis of their: a) quality status according to statutory indicators and associated thresholds or targets; b) statutory protection; or c) inherent risk. Where none of these considerations are pertinent, subjective value judgments can be applied to determine sensitivity. This pragmatic conceptual framework formed the basis of a stakeholder consultation process for harmonising degrees of sensitivity of a number of environmental criteria. Harmonisation was sought to facilitate their comparative and combined analysis. Overall, full or wide agreement was reached on relative sensitivity values for the large majority of the reviewed criteria. Consensus was easier to reach on some themes (e.g. biodiversity, water and cultural heritage) than others (e.g. population and soils). As anticipated, existing statutory measures shaped the outcomes but, ultimately, knowledge-based values prevailed. The agreed relative sensitivities warrant extensive consultation but the conceptual framework provides a basis for increasing stakeholder consensus and objectivity of baseline assessments. This, in turn, can contribute to improving the evidence-base for characterising the significance of potential impacts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Valuing the cost of environmental degradation in the face of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There are numerous environmental problems that plague different parts of the world in the face of climate change. These range from pollution, deforestation, indiscriminate bush burning and natural wild fire, desertification, climate change, rain and windstorms, flood, earthquake, volcanicity, drought and erosion among ...

Approaches in highly parameterized inversion - PEST++, a Parameter ESTimation code optimized for large environmental models

Science.gov (United States)

Welter, David E.; Doherty, John E.; Hunt, Randall J.; Muffels, Christopher T.; Tonkin, Matthew J.; Schreuder, Willem A.

2012-01-01

An object-oriented parameter estimation code was developed to incorporate benefits of object-oriented programming techniques for solving large parameter estimation modeling problems. The code is written in C++ and is a formulation and expansion of the algorithms included in PEST, a widely used parameter estimation code written in Fortran. The new code is called PEST++ and is designed to lower the barriers of entry for users and developers while providing efficient algorithms that can accommodate large, highly parameterized problems. This effort has focused on (1) implementing the most popular features of PEST in a fashion that is easy for novice or experienced modelers to use and (2) creating a software design that is easy to extend; that is, this effort provides a documented object-oriented framework designed from the ground up to be modular and extensible. In addition, all PEST++ source code and its associated libraries, as well as the general run manager source code, have been integrated in the Microsoft Visual Studio® 2010 integrated development environment. The PEST++ code is designed to provide a foundation for an open-source development environment capable of producing robust and efficient parameter estimation tools for the environmental modeling community into the future.

The Value of a Healthy Home: Lead Paint Remediation and Housing Values

OpenAIRE

Billings, Stephen B.; Schnepel, Kevin T.

2017-01-01

The presence of lead paint significantly impairs cognitive and behavioral development, yet little is known about the value to households of avoiding this residence-specific environmental health risk. In this paper, we estimate the benefits of lead-paint remediation on housing prices. Using data on all homes that applied to a HUD-funded program in Charlotte, North Carolina, we adopt a difference-in-differences estimator that compares values among remediated properties with those for which an i...

Prediction of the environmental impact and sustainability of large ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This was due largely to dilution by infiltration from rainfall recharge and the dispersive characteristics of the aquifer. The simulations also ... aquifer below. These results suggest that large-scale irrigation with gypsiferous water could be viable if irrigated fields are carefully sited to prevent waterlogging and are well managed.

THE ECONOMIC FARM SIZE AND SUSTAINABLE VALUE DISPARITIES BETWEEN ROMANIA AND THE EU STATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BURJA CAMELIA

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Romania is one of the EU countries with significant agricultural potential. The economic and social changes occurring after 1990 has profoundly affected the agriculture in Romania. The excessive land fragmentation due to land restitution to the former owners and their heirs, as well as the subsequent developments have led to a large number of small-sized agricultural holdings and a small number of large agricultural holdings, in terms of size and economy. The sustainability performance must be assessed from the economic, social and environmental points of view. The paper aims to assess the sustainable performance of the agricultural holdings in Romania on economic size classes, to highlight the directions for enhancing the performance by reorganizing the agricultural structures. For achieving this purpose, we used the Sustainable Value-based approach. The results of comparison between Romania and other EU countries highlight the importance of medium-sized farms, which achieve the best performance expressed by the Sustainable Value.

Exploring data availability for the Environmental Quality Index to assess environmental health disparities

Science.gov (United States)

The interaction between environmental insults and human health is complex. Environmental exposures tend to cluster, with disamenities (e.g., landfills, industrial plants) often located in high-minority and largely poor neighborhoods, while wealthier neighborhoods contain amenitie...

Valuing future citizens' values regarding risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleming, Patricia [Creighton Univ., Omaha (United States). College of Arts and Sciences/Philosophy

2006-09-15

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the future to citizens not yet living? If so, are there any circumstances which entitle us to de-value those not-yet-existing values. In this paper, I ground my discussion of the question of valuing future citizens' values in one of the areas of focus of the VALDOR conference: nuclear waste management and specifically the question facing the United States' program regarding an acceptable dose standard associated with the release of radioactivity into the biosphere from an underground repository. The underlying conference theme to which this discussion may be attached is community environmental justice as it applies to future citizens. I focus on the role that uncertainty plays is providing justice between present and future citizens.

Is Environmental Training Critical to Environmental Sustainability Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OT Aladesanmi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In the past few decades, concern for the environment has increased significantly with evidences of change in perception of people's values and attitudes towards the environment. This study presents the results of a survey carried out among postgraduate students undergoing training in environmental and non-environmental fields with the aim of comparing their environmental sustainable behaviour. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of environmental training on the postgraduate students? awareness, perceptions and behaviours with focus on the attitudes of the respondents towards environmental sustainability, and how these attitudes affect their behaviour. A purposive sampling method was used to obtain data using a semi-structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of 50 and 47 postgraduate students undergoing training in environmental and non-environmental respectively. The data was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS. The results of the study revealed that most of the students in environmental fields readily transferred the knowledge acquired in their training to a sustainable behaviour. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i3.11083 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(3 2014: 241-251

A large decommissioning project with added value

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clements, D.W.

1998-01-01

The East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is a centerpiece for the Department of Energy's Reindustrialization program, which seeks to convert formerly used facilities for broad, industrial purposes. BNFL and its partners have been charged with the decommissioning and decontamination of three large gaseous diffusion buildings. BNFL's prior experience with a similar site, Capenhurst, in the United Kingdom was successful in reducing the quantities and costs of low level wastes for disposal. In that program, over 99% of 160,000 tonnes of surface-contaminated materials were safely and cost-effectively treated. Resulting materials could thus be recycled for complete unrestricted re-use within the UK. Decommissioning and decontamination at the ETTP site will be informed by the prior experience and lessons learned. Specialized technologies and approaches developed at Capenhurst will find expression at ETTP. The result will be safe, cost-effective techniques that permit maximum recycle and further use of presently contaminated buildings for industrial purposes. (author)

The value of enduring environmental surrogates as predictors of estuarine benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages

Science.gov (United States)

Wildsmith, Michelle D.; Valesini, Fiona J.; Robinson, Samuel F.

2017-10-01

This study tested the extent to which spatial differences in the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages of a temperate microtidal estuary were 'explained' by the enduring (biophysical) vs non-enduring (water and sediment quality) environmental attributes of a diverse range of habitats, and thus the potential of those environmental surrogates to support faunal prediction. Species composition differed significantly among habitats in each season, with the greatest differences occurring in winter and spring and the least in summer. The pattern of habitat differences, as defined by their enduring environmental characteristics, was significantly and well matched with that in the fauna in each season. In contrast, significant matches between the non-enduring environmental and faunal data were only detected in winter and/or spring, and to a lesser extent. Field validation of the faunal prediction capacity of the biophysical surrogate framework at various 'test' sites throughout the estuary showed good agreement between the actual vs predicted key species. These findings demonstrate that enduring environmental criteria, which can be readily measured from mapped data, provide a better and more cost-effective surrogate for explaining spatial differences in the invertebrate fauna of this system than non-enduring criteria, and are thus a promising basis for faunal prediction. The approaches developed in this study are also readily adapted to any estuary worldwide.

Support system for decisions related to large-scale environmental contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, H.; Gering, F.; Huebner, S.; Proehl, G.

1999-01-01

When large amounts of radioactive substances are released into the environment, for example as a result of an accident at a nuclear installation, it is important for political decision-makers to obtain a comprehensive overview of the radiological situation as rapidly as possible. For this it is necessary both to measure the contamination in the air, soils, and food, and to estimate the present and likely future radiation exposure of the population. The most important paths of exposure are: external exposure to radionuclides from the radioactive cloud as it passes by, external exposure to radionuclides deposited on the ground and other surfaces in the human environment, internal exposure through inhalation of radionuclides, and internal exposure as a result of uptake of radionuclides in food and drink (ingestion). It is necessary to have quantitative estimates of contamination and exposure in order to decide on adequate measures to protect the population. This is particularly important when it is expected that levels will rise above the legal recommended values for contamination and dose. However, it is first necessary to check the extent to which countermeasures are possible and what negative consequences they may have, for example cost or a reduction in the quality of life as a result of no longer eating certain foods or limiting the time spent out of doors. (orig.) [de

Research report 1987-1989: Environmental Quality Laboratory and Environmental Engineering Science, W. M. Keck Laboratories

OpenAIRE

Brooks, Norman H.

1990-01-01

This research biennial report for 1987-89 covers the activities of both the Environmental Engineering Science program and the Environmental Quality Laboratory for the period October 1987-November 1989. Environmental Engineering Science is the degree-granting academic program housed in the Keck Laboratories, with associated research projects. The Environmental Quality Laboratory is a research center focusing on large scale problems of environmental quality and natural resources. All the facult...

Environmental benefits and value chain economics at biogas production, phase II. Food waste and manure; Miljoenytte og verdikjedeoekonomi ved biogassproduksjon, fase II. Matavfall og husdyrgjoedsel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moeller, Hanne; Arnoey, Silje; Modahl, Ingunn Saur; Morken, John; Briseid, Tormod; Hanssen, Ole Joergen; Soerby, Ivar

2012-07-01

The main objective has been to develop an environmental model and an economic model for the entire value chain for the production of biogas and digestate processing. The results will contribute to better decision making in the planning of new biogas plants in Norway. Shortened version.(eb)

Value oriented strategic marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milisavljević Momčilo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Changes in today's business environment require companies to orient to strategic marketing. The company accepting strategic marketing has a proactive approach and focus on continuous review and reappraisal of existing and seeking new strategic business areas. Difficulties in achieving target profit and growth require turning marketing from the dominant viewpoint of the tangible product to creating superior value and developing relationships with customers. Value orientation implies gaining competitive advantage through continuous research and understanding of what value represents to the consumers and discovering new ways to meet their required values. Strategic marketing investment requires that the investment in the creation of values should be regularly reviewed in order to ensure a focus on customers with high profit potential and environmental value. This increases customer satisfaction and retention and long-term return on investment of companies.

Work Values and College Major Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Balsamo, Michela; Lauriola, Marco; Saggino, Aristide

2013-01-01

Our study sought to clarify the nature of the known individual differences in work values associated with academic college major choice, specifically the question whether these precede or follow the choice of an academic major. To rule out environmental influences during academic study, group differences in five value orientations were evaluated…

Superior eco-efficiency performance in industry: hidden risks and value potential for strategic investors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whittaker, M.; Kiernan, M.J. [Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc., Richmond Hill, ON (Canada)

2000-07-01

It is now widely recognized that high eco-efficiency and competitiveness and financial performance go hand in hand. Innovest assessed more than 60 facets of business development, management and environmental risks in global companies representing the petroleum, chemicals, forest products, electrical utilities and other industries. It did not matter whether return on investment (ROI), return on equity (ROE) or total stock market return was considered as a basis for evaluation. Those companies that ranked at the top on environmental performance outperformed their rivals in the same sector by 17 per cent annually. In addition, the authors noticed variances as large as 500 per cent in the environmental risk profiles of companies whose credit and investment risks were deemed identical. The eco-efficiency helped generate competitive advantage and financial performance by enhancing: (1) cost containment and liability reduction, (2) sales and market share growth, (3) franchise and brand value, (4) stakeholder satisfaction and (5) innovation capacity. 2 refs., 3 figs.

Science teachers' worldviews and values regarding nature and the environment

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Wendy P.

According to the National Science Education Standards (1996), science educators are challenged with the goal of educating future citizens and policy makers to make informed decisions concerning socio-scientific issues. Previous science education research has not explored the influence of science teachers' personal worldviews and values in achieving this educational goal. The purpose of this study was to investigate secondary science teachers' worldviews and values as they relate to nature and environmental education in their science classrooms. The participants' descriptions of their environmental personae and their perception of its influence in their classrooms were also examined. The participants represented a purposeful sample of twelve certified secondary school science teachers who teach in a suburban Atlanta, Georgia school. The study employed an interpretive, qualitative methodology using a constant comparative, inductive analysis design to develop grounded theory. Each participant's worldview, values, and environmental personae regarding the natural world and the environment were explored using William Cobern's (2000) Nature Card Sort instrument, responses to five environmental scenarios and individual interviews that addressed each participant's interpretation of the effect that personal worldviews and values have in their science classrooms. The participants' worldviews and values were disproportionately reflective of both science and society with far more weight given to the contextual values of society rather than the constitutive values of science. Most of these teachers had strong spiritual worldviews of nature; however, these views were of a Puritanical nature rather than Aboriginal. The participants felt conflicted about the appropriate course of action in many environmental issues. Contrary to other studies conducted in this field, there were few philosophical differences between teachers in the different disciplines of science, with the exception

Incorporating environmental co-benefits into climate policies: A regional study of the cement industry in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Xi; Teng, Fei; Wang, Gehua

2013-01-01

Highlights: • First study on the co-benefits of mitigation measures in the cement sector in China. • We evaluate the economic value of damage of various pollutants at local level. • We evaluate 18 energy-saving technologies for 31 provinces in cement sector. • The value for the co-benefits ranged from 3 $/t CO 2 to 39 $/t CO 2 . • The large spatial variations may justify stringent targets for richer provinces. - Abstract: We analyzed the impacts of incorporating local air quality improvement and environmental co-benefits into the climate policy and mitigation technology assessment of the cement sector in China. Local air quality can benefit from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which consequently lowers abatement costs and strengthens the cost-effectiveness of mitigation technologies. We used a simplified approach to estimate environmental damage factors due to air pollution at the sub-national level in China. The calculated economic costs of environmental damage due to PM 10 , NO x , and SO 2 were 7,714 $/t, 1,006 $/t, and 902 $/t, respectively. These values vary among the provinces. We found that most energy-saving technologies in the cement industry will create significant co-benefits, ranging from 3 $/t CO 2 to 39 $/t CO 2 at the national level; however, a tradeoff for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and energy-saving technologies also resulted with increased electricity consumption. Large spatial variations of co-benefits can be gained at the sub-national level and justify the enactment of more stringent climate policies in the wealthier regions in China

Age and personal values: Similar value circles with shifting priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Borg, Ingwer; Hertel, Guido; Hermann, Dieter

2017-11-01

This study examined the relationship of personal values to age using data from two representative surveys. We hypothesized that individuals organize personal values, regardless of their age, as a circle with the same order of values on this circle but that older persons are closer to conservation and more remote from openness to change and closer to self-transcendence and more distant from self-enhancement. The structural stability of the value circle over age was largely confirmed across and within individuals. Different age groups exhibited a tendency to more strongly cluster those values that they rated as relatively important. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

SITO, Environmental Impact of Major Industrial Activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazzini, M.; Oriolo, F.

1982-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: SITO evaluates the impact of major industrial activities on the environment. The method applied accounts for the alterations of ecological, physico-chemical, aesthetical and social values caused by the development of the considered activity. Such values are usually considered as not quantifiable but very important for the quality of the environment. 2 - Method of solution: The territory affected by the industrial project is described in a one-dimensional (for example a coast development) or two-dimensional representation as a lattice of square meshes of equal size. A major feature of the model is that the impact factors are considered with reference to each single mesh. The following vectors and matrices are evaluated: a) Matrix of environmental quality characteristics. It is the product of the environmental quality index matrix and the vector of weighting factors. b) Vector of the initial environmental values. It is the sum of the columns of matrix (a). c) Matrix obtained when the environmental quality characteristics matrix is multiplied by the vector of project action factors, taking into account distance effects. d) Vector of the final environmental values. This is the sum of columns of matrix (c)

Environmental Disturbance Modeling for Large Inflatable Space Structures

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Davis, Donald

2001-01-01

Tightening space budgets and stagnating spacelift capabilities are driving the Air Force and other space agencies to focus on inflatable technology as a reliable, inexpensive means of deploying large structures in orbit...

从环境的历史到环境史——关于环境史研究的一种认识%From the history of the environment to environmental history: A personal understanding of environmental history studies

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

梅雪芹

2007-01-01

By and large, there are three kinds of research on environment: the history of environment as a field of natural history studies, the history of environment as within the scope of history of society studies, and environmental history as the study of the relationship between human and nature. The methodological perspective of the relationship between humanity and environmental distinguishes the third from the previous two. From thi sperspective, when we probe the mutual effects between human and nature, we will stress on their interactions. The new era and the realities of contemporary society foster the rise of environmental history, which has not only theoretical values but also practical significance.

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING: AN INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE U.S. MID-ATLANTIC REGION

Science.gov (United States)

Many of today's environmental problems are regional in scope and their effects overlap and interact. We developed a simple method to provide an integrated assessment of environmental conditions and estimate cumulative impacts across a large region, by combining data on land-cove...

Ranking system for national regulatory jurisdictions based on pesticide standard values in major exposures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zijian Li

2017-07-01

Full Text Available To control the risk of human exposure to pesticides, about 50 nations have promulgated pesticide soil regulatory guidance values (RGVs, and 104 nations have provided pesticide drinking water maximum concentration levels (MCLs. In addition, 90 nations have regulated pesticide agricultural commodity maximum residue limits (MRLs. Pesticide standard values (PSVs for one single pesticide varied in a range of six, seven, or even eight orders of magnitude. Some PSVs are too large to prevent the impact of pesticides on human health. Many nations have not provided PSVs for some commonly used pesticides until now. This research has introduced several completeness values and numerical values methods to evaluate the national jurisdiction’s performance on PSVs on a nation base. The national jurisdiction ranking system developed by these methods will be beneficial to the environmental regulation makers in the management of PSVs. Results also indicate that European countries perform better in the regulation of pesticide soil RGVs, drinking water MCLs, and agricultural commodity MRLs.

Public Value Dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, lotte bøgh; Beck Jørgensen, Torben; Kjeldsen, Anne-Mette

2012-01-01

Further integration of the public value literature with other strands of literature within Public Administration necessitates a more specific classification of public values. This paper applies a typology linked to organizational design principles, because this is useful for empirical public...... administration studies. Based on an existing typology of modes of governance, we develop a classification and test it empirically, using survey data from a study of the values of 501 public managers. We distinguish between seven value dimensions (the public at large, rule abidance, societal interests, budget...... the integration between the public value literature and other parts of the Public Administration discipline....

Essays in environmental economics

Science.gov (United States)

Bartz-Marvez, Sherry L.

This body of work contributes to the literature on two current topics in environmental economics: (1) the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation; and (2) the effectiveness of mandatory information disclosure as a regulatory instrument. For the first topic, we link theoretical and empirical Environmental Kuznets Curve research by using calibration and simulation to test a growth model with environmental quality as a normal good and emissions as a factor of production. We use U.S. macroeconomic, emissions and compliance data to calibrate parameters representing preferences for environmental quality and marginal abatement costs. We simulate the model starting from a less-developed initial condition and compare the predicted pollution-income relationship with that in the data. Our results are mixed. Some support exists for the theory that an inverted U-shape results from a corner solution in which less developed countries do not abate pollution. However, pollution peaks at a level of per capita income which is much lower than that observed in the U.S. data. For the second topic, we study the effectiveness of mandatory information disclosure as environmental regulation. Community-right-to-know programs such as the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) use mandatory information disclosure to "shame" dirty firms into reducing emissions. The idea is that the public---armed with previously unavailable emissions information---will pressure firms with higher-than-expected emissions to "clean-up." We use the electricity industry to study the impact of price-and-entry deregulation on the effectiveness of the TRI. Using event studies, we find that, on average, utilities experience losses in firm value immediately following TRI announcements. Using panel regressions, we show that toxic emissions released in regulated states are associated with decreases in firm value while those released in deregulated states are associated with increases in firm

Ecosystem service values for mangroves in Southeast Asia: a meta-analysis and value transfer application

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brander, L.; Wagtendonk, A.J.; Hussain, S.; McVittie, A.; Verburg, P.H.; Groot, de R.S.; Ploeg, van der S.

2012-01-01

This paper examines the value of ecosystem services provided by mangroves. It presents a metaanalysis of the economic valuation literature and applies the estimated value function to assess the value of mangroves in Southeast Asia. We construct a database containing 130 value estimates, largely for

Positive predictive value estimates for cell-free noninvasive prenatal screening from data of a large referral genetic diagnostic laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Andrea K; Cheung, Sau Wai; Smith, Janice L; Bi, Weimin; Ward, Patricia A; Peacock, Sandra; Braxton, Alicia; Van Den Veyver, Ignatia B; Breman, Amy M

2017-12-01

Since its debut in 2011, cell-free fetal DNA screening has undergone rapid expansion with respect to both utilization and coverage. However, conclusive data regarding the clinical validity and utility of this screening tool, both for the originally included common autosomal and sex-chromosomal aneuploidies as well as the more recently added chromosomal microdeletion syndromes, have lagged behind. Thus, there is a continued need to educate clinicians and patients about the current benefits and limitations of this screening tool to inform pre- and posttest counseling, pre/perinatal decision making, and medical risk assessment/management. The objective of this study was to determine the positive predictive value and false-positive rates for different chromosomal abnormalities identified by cell-free fetal DNA screening using a large data set of diagnostic testing results on invasive samples submitted to the laboratory for confirmatory studies. We tested 712 patient samples sent to our laboratory to confirm a cell-free fetal DNA screening result, indicating high risk for a chromosome abnormality. We compiled data from all cases in which the indication for confirmatory testing was a positive cell-free fetal DNA screen, including the common trisomies, sex chromosomal aneuploidies, microdeletion syndromes, and other large genome-wide copy number abnormalities. Testing modalities included fluorescence in situ hybridization, G-banded karyotype, and/or chromosomal microarray analysis performed on chorionic villus samples, amniotic fluid, or postnatally obtained blood samples. Positive predictive values and false-positive rates were calculated from tabulated data. The positive predictive values for trisomy 13, 18, and 21 were consistent with previous reports at 45%, 76%, and 84%, respectively. For the microdeletion syndrome regions, positive predictive values ranged from 0% for detection of Cri-du-Chat syndrome and Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome to 14% for 1p36 deletion

An extension of consumer environmental behavior research among expatriates

OpenAIRE

Bhuian, Shahid N.; Amyx, Douglas A.; Shamma, Hamad M.

2014-01-01

A wealth of research has explored different configurations of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, and values, and their influence on consumer environmental behavior. It is essential that a more comprehensive understanding of what lies at the root of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors be developed. This study aims to address some of the limitations in the current literature by theorizing and examining a consumer environmental behavior model that includes th...

Shades of green and REDD: Local and global contestations over the value of forest versus plantation development on the Indonesian forest frontier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eilenberg, Michael

2015-01-01

In a time of increasing land enclosures sparked by large-scale environmental initiatives and agricultural expansion, this paper examines local and global contestations over the value of forest on an Indonesian forest frontier. Engaging with recent debates on carbon forestry, the paper problematis...... for the future successes of REDD+. The Kalimantan case highlights some of the dilemmas of carbon mitigation initiatives experienced in frontier regions throughout Southeast Asia, places that have become prime battlefronts of large-scale climate change initiatives and agrarian expansion....

ISO 14001 EMS VALUE PROPOSITION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BRIGGS, S.L.K.

2001-01-01

The objective of this report is to identify business opportunities and value for Battelle Organizations to undertake IS0 14001 Environmental Management System Implementation and registration to the international standard as a corporate strategic initiative

Constructing an allocation factor based on product and process related parameters to assess environmental burdens of producing value-added sludge-based products

OpenAIRE

Pradel, M.; Aissani, L.; Canler, J.C.; Roux, J.C.; Villot, J.; Baudez, J.C.; Laforest, V.

2018-01-01

Sludge is slowly moving away from providing basic by-products and towards providing value-added products (e.g. fertilisers); therefore, it is no longer perceived as waste but as a product. Consequently, wastewater treatment plants become multifunctional systems that produce two coproducts that are given a second life: sludge and "clean" water. An allocation factor in Life Cycle Assessment can partition environmental burdens of wastewater treatment between these two products, but doing so rema...

Evolution of the societal value of water resources for economic development versus environmental sustainability in Australia from 1843 to 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Y.; Wei, J., , Dr; Western, A. W.

2017-12-01

The scale of human activity in the last 200 years has reached a point where our actions are affecting the global biophysical environment to such a degree and at such a speed that irreversible effects are being observed. Societal values are generally seen as leading to changes in human decisions and actions, but have not been addressed adequately in current water management, which is blind to changes in the social drivers for, or societal responses to, management decisions. This paper describes the evolution of societal value of water resources in Australia over a period of 169 years. These values were classified into two groups: supporting economic development versus supporting environmental sustainability. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper was used as the main data source to track the changes in the societal value of water resources. Content analysis was used to create a description of the evolution of these societal values. Mathematical regression analysis, in combination of transition theory, was used to determine the stages of transition of the societal value, and the co-evolved social-ecological framework was used to explain how the evolution of societal values interacted with water management policies/practices and droughts. Key findings included that the transition of the societal value of water resources fitted the sigmoid curve - a conceptual S curve for the transition of social systems. Also, the transition of societal value of water resources in Australia went through three stages: (1) pre-development (1900s-1960s), when the societal value of water resources was dominated by economic development; (2) take-off (1962-1980), when the societal value of water resources reflected the increasing awareness of the environment due to the outbreak of pollution events; (3) acceleration (1981-2011), when the environment-oriented societal value of water resources combined with the Millennium Drought to trigger a package of policy initiatives and management practices

Ecosystem service values for mangroves in Southeast Asia: A meta-analysis and value transfer application

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brander, L.M.; Wagtendonk, A.J.; Hussein, S.; McVittie, A.; Verburg, P.H.

2012-01-01

This paper examines the value of ecosystem services provided by mangroves. It presents a meta-analysis of the economic valuation literature and applies the estimated value function to assess the value of mangroves in Southeast Asia. We construct a database containing 130 value estimates, largely for

Integrated Programs and Pro-Environmental Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tiffany

2008-01-01

Research suggested that "nature experience as an education method played a role in developing environmental value and attitudes, and was influential in pro-environmental behaviour." Few of these studies however, assessed the long-term influences of outdoor education experiences on participants' pro-environmental behaviour. The Outward…

Energy from the desert. Very large scale photovoltaic systems: socio-economic, financial, technical and environmental aspects. Executive summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurokawa, K.; Ito, M.; Komoto, K.; Vleuten, P. van der; Faiman, D. (eds.)

2009-05-15

This executive summary report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) summarises the objectives and concepts of very large scale photovoltaic power generation (VLS-PV) systems and takes a look at the socio-economic, financial and technical aspects involved as well as the environmental impact of such systems. Potential benefits for desert communities, agricultural development and desalination of water are topics that are looked at. The potential of VLS-PV, its energy payback time and CO{sub 2} emission rates are discussed. Case studies for the Sahara and the Gobi Dessert areas are discussed. A VLS-PV roadmap is proposed and scenarios are discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made.

Environmental Monitoring and Characterization of Radiation Sources on UF Campus Using a Large Volume NaI Detector

Science.gov (United States)

Bruner, Jesse A.; Gardiner, Hannah E.; Jordan, Kelly A.; Baciak, James E.

2016-09-01

Environmental radiation surveys are important for applications such as safety and regulations. This is especially true for areas exposed to emissions from nuclear reactors, such as the University of Florida Training Reactor (UFTR). At the University of Florida, surveys are performed using the RSX-1 NaI detector, developed by Radiation Solutions Inc. The detector uses incoming gamma rays and an Advanced Digital Spectrometer module to produce a linear energy spectrum. These spectra can then be analyzed in real time with a personal computer using the built in software, RadAssist. We report on radiation levels around the University of Florida campus using two mobile detection platforms, car-borne and cart-borne. The car-borne surveys provide a larger, broader map of campus radiation levels. On the other hand, cart-borne surveys provide a more detailed radiation map because of its ability to reach places on campus cars cannot go. Throughout the survey data, there are consistent radon decay product energy peaks in addition to other sources such as medical I-131 found in a large crowd of people. Finally, we investigate further applications of this mobile detection platform, such as tracking the Ar-41 plume emitted from the UFTR and detection of potential environmental hazards.

Environmental philosophy: from theory to practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, Sahotra

2014-03-01

Environmental philosophy is a hybrid discipline drawing extensively from epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of science and analyzing disciplines such as conservation biology, restoration ecology, sustainability studies, and political ecology. The book being discussed both provides an overview of environmental philosophy and develops an anthropocentric framework for it. That framework treats natural values as deep cultural values. Tradeoffs between natural values are analyzed using decision theory to the extent possible, leaving many interesting question for philosophical deliberation. This framework is supposed to be applicable in practical contexts. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental assessment in The Netherlands: Effectively governing environmental protection? A discourse analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Runhaar, Hens, E-mail: h.a.c.runhaar@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Laerhoven, Frank van, E-mail: vanLaerhoven@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Driessen, Peter, E-mail: p.driessen@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Arts, Jos, E-mail: e.j.m.m.arts@rug.nl [University of Groningen, Faculty of Planning, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen (Netherlands)

2013-02-15

Environmental assessment (EA) aims to enhance environmental awareness and to ensure that environmental values are fully considered in decision-making. In the EA arena, different discourses exist on what EA should aim for and how it functions. We hypothesise that these discourses influence its application in practice as well as its effectiveness in terms of achieving the above goals. For instance, actors who consider EA as a hindrance to fast implementation of their projects will probably apply it as a mandatory checklist, whereas actors who believe that EA can help to develop more environmentally sound decisions will use EIA as a tool to design their initiatives. In this paper we explore discourses on EA in The Netherlands and elaborate on their implications for EA effectiveness. Based on an innovative research design comprising an online survey with 443 respondents and 20 supplementary semi-structured interviews we conclude that the dominant discourse is that EA is mainly a legal requirement; EAs are conducted because they have to be conducted, not because actors choose to do so. EA effectiveness however seems reasonably high, as a majority of respondents perceive that it enhances environmental awareness and contributes to environmental protection. However, the 'legal requirement' discourse also results in decision-makers seldom going beyond what is prescribed by EA and environmental law. Despite its mandatory character, the predominant attitude towards EA is quite positive. For most respondents, EA is instrumental in providing transparency of decision-making and in minimising the legal risks of not complying with environmental laws. Differences in discourses seldom reflect extreme opposites. The 'common ground' regarding EA provides a good basis for working with EA in terms of meeting legal requirements but at the same time does not stimulate creativity in decision-making or optimisation of environmental values. In countries characterised by

Environmental assessment in The Netherlands: Effectively governing environmental protection? A discourse analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runhaar, Hens; Laerhoven, Frank van; Driessen, Peter; Arts, Jos

2013-01-01

Environmental assessment (EA) aims to enhance environmental awareness and to ensure that environmental values are fully considered in decision-making. In the EA arena, different discourses exist on what EA should aim for and how it functions. We hypothesise that these discourses influence its application in practice as well as its effectiveness in terms of achieving the above goals. For instance, actors who consider EA as a hindrance to fast implementation of their projects will probably apply it as a mandatory checklist, whereas actors who believe that EA can help to develop more environmentally sound decisions will use EIA as a tool to design their initiatives. In this paper we explore discourses on EA in The Netherlands and elaborate on their implications for EA effectiveness. Based on an innovative research design comprising an online survey with 443 respondents and 20 supplementary semi-structured interviews we conclude that the dominant discourse is that EA is mainly a legal requirement; EAs are conducted because they have to be conducted, not because actors choose to do so. EA effectiveness however seems reasonably high, as a majority of respondents perceive that it enhances environmental awareness and contributes to environmental protection. However, the ‘legal requirement’ discourse also results in decision-makers seldom going beyond what is prescribed by EA and environmental law. Despite its mandatory character, the predominant attitude towards EA is quite positive. For most respondents, EA is instrumental in providing transparency of decision-making and in minimising the legal risks of not complying with environmental laws. Differences in discourses seldom reflect extreme opposites. The ‘common ground’ regarding EA provides a good basis for working with EA in terms of meeting legal requirements but at the same time does not stimulate creativity in decision-making or optimisation of environmental values. In countries characterised by less

Organizing the Co-Production of Health and Environmental Values in Food Production: The Constitutional Processes in the Relationships between Italian Solidarity Purchasing Groups and Farmers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaetano Martino

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The paper focuses on the Solidarity Purchasing Group (SPG, defined as a group of households that establishes an organization primarily to provide food to its members. The study aims at illustrating and testing two hypotheses. The first is that within the group, specific organizational processes take place according to which food communication practices determine the resource use objectives. The second hypothesis is the SPG tends to assign larger values to health and environmental protection than other resource use objectives. These hypotheses concern the ranking of the resource use objectives managed by the group. The idea is that an SPG defines the resource uses according to the specific group’s objectives and by means of organizational tools, especially the food communication practices. For testing purposes, we conducted an empirical analysis by submitting an online questionnaire to 900 Italian SPGs. The results firstly indicate that the organizational dimensions of SPGs, including the relationships between SPGs and farmers, influence the group objectives, providing empirical evidence that supports the first hypothesis. Moreover, the test of the second hypothesis indicates that group objectives concerning health and environmental protection are particularly valued by the SPGs. We then conclude that the groups are aimed at co-producing health and environmental protection with public authorities. We then underlined limits of the study and potential future research paths.

A qualitative approach to economic-environmental dispatch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gjengedal, T.; Hansen, O.; Johansen, S.

1992-01-01

This paper describes the principles, and suggests a methodology for expanding the dispatch of electrical power production systems for involving a pure minimum cost dispatch, to also include environmental objectives. The approach is qualitative in that no attempt is made as to assign a specific monetary value to environmental impacts, but rather maintaining the physical value of the impact through the decision process. However, the initial relative weights assigned to environmental impacts in the methodology are based on the many recent attempts to monetize environmental damages. The main contribution of the approach is to analyze how dispatch changes as a function of the total environmental weight, and as a function of the relative weighing of individual environmental insults, e.g., SO 2 , NO x and CO 2 . The methodology is illustrated with a sample production system involving environmental coast estimates from major US studies

Early subtropical forest growth is driven by community mean trait values and functional diversity rather than the abiotic environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kröber, Wenzel; Li, Ying; Härdtle, Werner; Ma, Keping; Schmid, Bernhard; Schmidt, Karsten; Scholten, Thomas; Seidler, Gunnar; von Oheimb, Goddert; Welk, Erik; Wirth, Christian; Bruelheide, Helge

2015-09-01

While functional diversity (FD) has been shown to be positively related to a number of ecosystem functions including biomass production, it may have a much less pronounced effect than that of environmental factors or species-specific properties. Leaf and wood traits can be considered particularly relevant to tree growth, as they reflect a trade-off between resources invested into growth and persistence. Our study focussed on the degree to which early forest growth was driven by FD, the environment (11 variables characterizing abiotic habitat conditions), and community-weighted mean (CWM) values of species traits in the context of a large-scale tree diversity experiment (BEF-China). Growth rates of trees with respect to crown diameter were aggregated across 231 plots (hosting between one and 23 tree species) and related to environmental variables, FD, and CWM, the latter two of which were based on 41 plant functional traits. The effects of each of the three predictor groups were analyzed separately by mixed model optimization and jointly by variance partitioning. Numerous single traits predicted plot-level tree growth, both in the models based on CWMs and FD, but none of the environmental variables was able to predict tree growth. In the best models, environment and FD explained only 4 and 31% of variation in crown growth rates, respectively, while CWM trait values explained 42%. In total, the best models accounted for 51% of crown growth. The marginal role of the selected environmental variables was unexpected, given the high topographic heterogeneity and large size of the experiment, as was the significant impact of FD, demonstrating that positive diversity effects already occur during the early stages in tree plantations.

Characterizing, for packaging and transport, large objects contaminated by radioactive material having a limited A2 value

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pope, R.B.; Shappert, L.B.; Michelhaugh, R.D.; Cash, J.M.; Best, R.E.

1998-02-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Regulations for the safe packaging and transportation of radioactive materials follow a graded approach to the requirements for both packaging and controls during transport. The concept is that, the lower the risk posed to the people and the environment by the contents, (1) the less demanding are the packaging requirements and (2) the smaller in number are the controls imposed on the transport of the material. There are likely to be a great number of situations arising in coming years when large objects, contaminated with radioactive material having unlimited A 2 values will result from various decommissioning and decontamination (D and D) activities and will then require shipment from the D and D site to a disposal site. Such situations may arise relatively frequently during the cleanup of operations involving mining, milling, feedstock, and uranium enrichment processing facilities. Because these objects are contaminated with materials having an unlimited A 2 value they present a low radiological risk to worker and public safety and to the environment during transport. However, when these radioactive materials reside on the surfaces of equipment and other large objects, where the equipment and objects themselves are not radioactive, the radioactive materials appear as surface contamination and, if the contaminated object is categorized as a surface contaminated object, it would need to be packaged for shipment according to the requirements of the Regulations for SCO. Despite this categorization, alternatives may be available which will allow these contaminants, when considered by themselves for packaging and transport, to be categorized as either (1) a limited quantity of radioactive material to be shipped in an excepted package or (2) low specific activity (LSA) materials to be shipped in an IP-1 package or possibly even shipped unpackaged. These options are discussed in this paper

Are Tourists’ Environmental Behavior Affected by Their Environmental Perceptions and Beliefs?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nichola Anastasia RAMCHURJEE

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The key to eliminating environmental problems depends mainly on how much individuals are motivated to change their consumer behaviors and participate in more environmentally responsible practices. The purpose of this research is to examine if tourists’ environmental behaviors are affected by their environmental perceptions and beliefs and how these concepts influence tourists to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors while visiting Hassan, Karnataka India. Random sampling utilizes a structured questionnaire for this investigation. The questionnaire consisted of four sections with 335 participants. The results showed that some tourists engage in positive environmental behaviors. It also revealed that the tourists largely held positive environmental beliefs and perceptions, and are aware of the concerns for the environment, however, they are not ready to transfer their environmental beliefs into their behavioral practices. Their main aim when on vacation is to experience the destination and activities offered, relax and enjoy the cultural atmosphere and to generally “have a good time”.

A Study on improvement of environmental assessment system in social, economic, and environmental sectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nam, Young Sook; Koo, Doh Wan; Keum, Kee Yong [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

1998-12-01

The environmental assessment system is assessed as a mechanism that can achieve the goal for environmental policy in 21st century. As it can evaluate social and economic feasibility of large-scale development program, this system can achieve a sustainable society by mitigating social conflicts arising from environmental problems. For making the environmental assessment system substantial, this study was implemented by the need of improvement of the system, by analyzing problems of social, economic, and environmental evaluation, which is implemented under the present system. 44 refs., 1 fig., 25 tabs.

A National Investigation of Teachers' Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shiang-Yao; Yeh, Shin-Cheng; Liang, Shi-Wu; Fang, Wei-Ta; Tsai, Huei-Min

2015-01-01

Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers' environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a…

40 CFR 35.935-18 - Value engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Value engineering. 35.935-18 Section 35.935-18 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL ASSISTANCE... engineering. A grantee must comply with the applicable value engineering requirements of § 35.926. ...

The Value of Large Sections in Surgical Pathology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria P. Foschini

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Large format sections (LS first have been introduced in breast pathology more than a century ago. Since then, they constituted for longtime a research tool to better understand breast microanatomy and the relationship between radiological images and pathological features. Similarly LS have been used to study neoplastic, inflammatory, and degenerative diseases affecting various organs, as brain, lung, gastrointentinal tract, bone, urinary tract, prostate, and placenta. Currently LS are mostly applied to diagnostic routine to better stage tumours such as prostate and breast carcinomas or to correlate radiologic imaging to gross specimens. The purpose of the present paper is to review the historical background and the basis of the applications of LS in surgical pathology, with special emphasis on breast tumours.

Benefit transfers and valuation of environmental improvements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krupnick, A.J.

1993-01-01

Growing demand for analyses of the benefits of environmental improvements (or the costs of environmental damages) has increased interest in using estimates of such benefits in one setting to calculate benefits in another setting. At present, some types of these benefits (or costs) - which can be categorized as effects on health, output, economics assets, and environmental assets - are more amenable to such benefit transfers than others. Original studies that value health effects, for example, do not always lend themselves to benefit transfers. Most of the studies that value mortality risk address the risk of accidental death, which is an inappropriate context for valuing deaths from environmental causes. One way to make benefit transfers more feasible and reliable is to design original research with the purpose of obtaining results to be used in benefit transfers. As an example, one of the most successful benefit-transfer exercises to date involves the US Environmental Protection Agency's cost-benefit analysis of regulations for phasing down the lead content of gasoline. In this analysis, the agency used existing benefit studies to estimate the values of reducing premature deaths an of avoiding acute health effects by decreasing individuals exposure to lead in gasoline. On the basis of these and other estimates, EPA argued that the phasedown made economic sense

IMPACT OF INVESTMENT IN QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ON REGIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Savovic

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Considering that quality is one of foundation of harmonized regional development, in this paper, overall view of identified need for level of product quality, improvement of environmental protection, improvement of competitiveness and improvement of quality of tourism services has been analysed. In the next phase requests of stakeholders are presented. Author has also analysed feasibility of investing in quality improvement and environmental protection in Sumadija and Pomoravlje and identified the most significant types of economic benefits and economic costs that may result from the introduction of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, HACCP and obtaining the CE mark for products and diagrammatic unveiled in the assumed maximum, realistic and minimum value applying cost/benefit analysis. On these bases, mathematical functions and calculations are applied to determine if there are different variants of total economic benefits and total economic costs. Goal was to determine if the investment in quality improvement and environmental protection in SMEs in Sumadija and Pomoravlje is largely justified and profitable.

Is environmental management an economically sustainable business?

Science.gov (United States)

Gotschol, Antje; De Giovanni, Pietro; Esposito Vinzi, Vincenzo

2014-11-01

This paper investigates whether environmental management is an economically sustainable business. While firms invest in green production and green supply chain activities with the primary purpose of reducing their environmental impact, the reciprocal relationships with economic performance need to be clarified. Would firms and suppliers adjust their environmental strategies if the higher economic value that environmental management generates is reinvested in greening actions? We found out that environmental management positively influences economic performance as second order (long term) target, to be reached conditioned by higher environmental performance; in addition, firms can increase their performance if they reinvest the higher economic value gained through environmental management in green practices: While investing in environmental management programs is a short term strategy, economic rewards can be obtained only with some delays. Consequently, environmental management is an economically sustainable business only for patient firms. In the evaluation of these reciprocal relationships, we discovered that green supply chain initiatives are more effective and more economically sustainable than internal actions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participatory approaches for environmental governance: theoretical justifications and practical effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van den Hove, Sybille

2003-01-01

A key justification for the rapid development of participatory approaches for environment and sustainable development governance stems from the characteristics of environmental issues. Environmental issues - and radioactive waste disposal is a good example - typically present four important physical characteristics: complexity, uncertainty, large temporal and spatial scales, and irreversibility, which all have consequences on what can be called the social characteristics of environmental issues. These include: social complexity and conflicts of interests, transversality, diffuse responsibilities and impacts, no clear division between micro- and macro-levels, and short-term costs of dealing with the issue associated with benefits which might occur only in the long-term. In turn, these physical and social characteristics determine the type of problem-solving processes needed to tackle environmental issues. It appears that the problem-solving processes best suited to confront global environmental issues will be dynamic processes of capacity-building, - aiming at innovative, flexible and adjustable answers, - allowing for the progressive integration of information as it becomes available, and of different value judgements and logics, - involving various actors from different backgrounds and levels. In promoting more democratic practices, these processes additionally should supersede traditional politics and allow co-ordination across different policy areas. It is deemed that participatory approaches have the potential to meet these problem-solving requirements

Qualitative assessment of environmental impacts through fuzzy logic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peche G, Roberto

2008-01-01

The vagueness of many concepts usually utilized in environmental impact studies, along with frequent lack of quantitative information, suggests that fuzzy logic can be applied to carry out qualitative assessment of such impacts. This paper proposes a method for valuing environmental impacts caused by projects, based on fuzzy sets theory and methods of approximate reasoning. First, impacts must be described by a set of features. A linguistic variable is assigned to each feature, whose values are fuzzy sets. A fuzzy evaluation of environmental impacts is achieved using rule based fuzzy inference and the estimated fuzzy value of each feature. Generalized modus ponens has been the inference method. Finally, a crisp value of impact is attained by aggregation and defuzzification of all fuzzy results

Iteratio: Calculating environmental indicator values for species and relevés.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holtland, W.J.; Braak, ter C.J.F.; Schouten, M.G.C.

2010-01-01

Question: Is it possible to translate vegetation maps into reliable thematic maps of site conditions? Method: This paper presents a new method, called Iteratio, by which a coherent spatial overview of specific environmental conditions can be obtained from a comprehensive vegetation survey of a

Investigation of Environmental Topics in the Science and Technology Curriculum and Textbooks in Terms of Environmental Ethics and Aesthetics

Science.gov (United States)

Lacin Simsek, Canan

2011-01-01

In order to solve environmental problems, it is thought that education should be connected with values. For this reason, it is emphasized that environmental issues should be integrated with ethical and aesthetic values. In this study, 6th, 7th and 8th grade science and technology curriculum and textbooks were investigated to find out how much…

Environmental gamma radiation monitoring system with a large volume air ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duftschmid, K.E.; Strachotinsky, C.; Witzani, J.

1986-01-01

An improved environmental monitoring system has been designed and tested consisting of an ionization chamber with 120 l sensitive volume, operated at atmospheric pressure, and a commercial electrometer amplifier with digital voltmeter. The system is controlled by a desk calculator with printer for automated operation and calculation of dose and doserate. The ionization chamber provides superior dosimetric performance as compared to usual GM-counters and high pressure chambers. The system has been field-tested during the 'European Intercomparison Programme for Environmental Monitoring Instruments' organized by the Commission of the European Communities. (Author)

Age and Environmental Concern: A Multivariate Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttel, Frederick H.

1979-01-01

This paper provides detailed evidence on the relationships among age, education, and environmental values. The relative strengths of association of age and education in predicting environmental attitudes are evaluated. Present and future generational politics of environmentalism are discussed. (Author/EB)

The pT-value as environmental policy indicator for the exposure to toxic substances

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slooff W; de Zwart D

1991-01-01

This report contains a proposal for an indicator to measure the effectivity of the environmental policy with regard to the theme "Verspreiding" of the Directorate-General for Environmental Protection. It is recommended to use a method which indicates the toxicity of organic pollutants as

Sustainability Policy and Environmental Policy

OpenAIRE

John C. V. Pezzey

2001-01-01

A theoretical, representative agent economy with a depletable resource stock, polluting emissions and productive capital is used to contrast environmental policy, which internalises externalised environmental values, with sustainability policy, which achieves some form of intergenerational equity. The obvious environmental policy comprises an emissions tax and a resource stock subsidy, each equal to the respective external cost or benefit. Sustainability policy comprises an incentive affectin...

Environmental Education, a Way to Introduce and Improve Urban Environmental Pollution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karami

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background In this study, high school students in Tehran were selected to investigate the role of environmental education in the prevention and control of pollution. Objectives In this regard, 10 high schools from different areas of Tehran City were used to implement an Environmental Education (EE intervention program. Patients and Methods The students of 5 high schools (first group were trained by the paper-based guidebook and students of other 5 high schools (second group trained by a teacher (EE expert. This study has been designed as a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design with comparison groups. The impact on the participant’s environmental literacy was assessed by measuring a number of environmental literacy components, including knowledge, attitude, values, and concerns as well as behavioral intention/behavior. The results were presented in a bipolar 5-point Likert response format, with an "undecided" category. Relationships among variables were examined using the general linear model formulation with subsequent ANOVA analyses. Results Results for the participants show a significant increase in the scores of knowledge and attitude about air pollution. Educational program and training tools had no effect on the concern indexes, values, and behavior toward air pollution. Review of the score changes toward waste component, shows that posttest scores (in comparison with pretest ones increases in 4 indicators of knowledge, attitude, concern, and behavior, however the value index did not change so much. Conclusions We can conclude that educational program can be used to convey the knowledge of the environment and in this regard, its implementation is necessary.

A service and value based approach to estimating environmental flows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korsgaard, Louise; Jensen, R.A.; Jønch-Clausen, Torkil

2008-01-01

An important challenge of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is to balance water allocation between different users and uses. While economically and/or politically powerful users have relatively well developed methods for quantifying and justifying their water needs, this is not the case...... methodologies. The SPI approach is a pragmatic and transparent tool for incorporating ecosystems and environmental flows into the evaluation of water allocation scenarios, negotiations of trade-offs and decision-making in IWRM....

Social values and solar energy policy: the policy maker and the advocate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shama, A.; Jacobs, K.

1980-07-01

Solar energy policy makers and advocates have significantly different hierarchies (clusters) of values upon which they evaluate the adoption of solar technologies. Content analysis, which examines the frequency with which policy makers identify different types of values, indicates that they hold economic values to be of primary importance. Environmental, social, and national security values are also substantial elements of the policy makers' value clusters associated with solar energy. This finding is confirmed by a qualitative analysis of policy makers' values. Advocates, on the other hand, assign almost equal weights (33%) to economic values and social values, slightly less weight to environmental values, and significant attention to ethical and security values as well. These results of frequency analysis are made somewhat more complicated by a qualitative interpretation of the advocates' positions. As part of their more holistic approach, several of the advocates indicated that all values discussed by them are instrumental toward achieving higher-order, ethical and environmental values. In addition, our preliminary investigation indicates that neither group is entirely homogeneous. Testing this and other propositions, as well as obtaining a similar picture of the values which the public associates with solar energy, are topics of future research.

Environmental survival of Neisseria meningitidis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tzeng, Y-L; Martin, L E; Stephens, D S

2014-01-01

Neisseria meningitidis is transmitted through the inhalation of large human respiratory droplets, but the risk from contaminated environmental surfaces is controversial. Compared to Streptococcus pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumanni, meningococcal viability after desiccation on plastic, glass or metal surfaces decreased rapidly, but viable meningococci were present for up to 72 h. Encapsulation did not provide an advantage for meningococcal environmental survival on environmental surfaces.

Why small and medium chemical companies continue to pose severe environmental risks in rural China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Guizhen; Zhang, Lei; Mol, Arthur P.J.; Wang, Tieyu; Lu, Yonglong

2014-01-01

In China, rural chemical SMEs are often believed to still largely operate below the sustainability radar. This paper investigates to what extent and how chemical SMEs are already experiencing pressure to improve their environmental performance, using an in-depth case study in Jasmine County, Hebei province. The results show that local residents had rather low trust in the environmental improvement promises made by the enterprises and the local government, and disagreed with the proposed improvement plans. Although the power of local residents to influence decision making remained limited, the chemical SMEs started to feel increasing pressures to clean up their business, from governments, local communities and civil society, and international value chain stakeholders. Notwithstanding these mounting pressures chemical SME's environmental behavior and performance has not changed radically for the better. The strong economic ties between local county governments and chemical SMEs continue to be a major barrier for stringent environmental regulation. -- Highlights: • Rural chemical SMEs are often below the sustainability radar in China. • Close local government-SMEs tie remained as a barrier for effective environmental enforcement. • Rural communities proved unable to collectively raise their voice. • National government must adopt environment-oriented political incentives. -- The paper provides a major understanding of how and why the large number of existing chemical SMEs in rural China still form major chemical risks

Poor predictive value of positive interim FDG-PET/CT in primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazarovici, Julien; Petrovanu, Cynthia; Danu, Alina; Ferme, Christophe; Ribrag, Vincent; Ghez, David [Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France). Dept. of Hematology; Paris Saclay Univ., Saint-Aubin (France); Terroir, Marie [Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France). Dept. of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology; Paris Saclay Univ., Saint-Aubin (France); Arfi-Rouche, Julia [Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France). Dept. of Radiology; Paris Saclay Univ., Saint-Aubin (France); Michot, Jean-Marie [Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France). Dept. of Drug Development (DITEP); Paris Saclay Univ., Saint-Aubin (France); Mussot, Sacha; Florea, Valentina [Marie Lannelongue Hospital, Le Plessis Robinson (France). Dept. of Thoracic Surgery; Ghigna, Maria-Rosa [Marie Lannelongue Hospital, Le Plessis Robinson (France). Dept. of Pathology; Dartigues, Peggy [Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France). Dept. of Pathology; Paris Saclay Univ., Saint-Aubin (France)

2017-11-15

Though commonly used to assess response to therapy, the prognostic value of interim FDG-PET/CT in Primary Mediastinal Large B-cell Lymphoma (PMBCL) is unclear. We conducted a retrospective study on 36 consecutive patients treated at our institution for a PMBCL between 2006 and 2014. All patients with a positive interim FDG-PET/CT had undergone histological restaging consisting either in a surgical debulking of the residual lesion (15 patients) or a CT-guided core needle biopsy (two patients). All FDG-PET/CT were secondarily reviewed according to the more recent Deauville criteria. Interim FDG-PET/CT was considered positive in 17/36 patients using visual evaluation. Among these patients, 14 had a Deauville score of 4. Histological restaging was negative in all but one case, showing inflammation and/or fibrosis. After a median follow-up of 48.5 months, a total of five patients have relapsed, two patients in the positive FDG-PET/CT group, and three patients in the negative FDG-PET/CT group, respectively. These data indicate that a positive interim FDG-PET/CT does not reflect persistence of active disease in the vast majority of PMBCL cases. The relapse rate appears similar regardless of interim FDG-PET/CT results and interpretation criteria. This suggests that interim FDG-PET/CT has a poor positive predictive value, thus kt should be used with caution in PMBCL. (orig.)

Environmental and economic assessment of a cracked ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel cell for off-grid power applications

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Brian; Treyer, Karin

2015-02-01

Global mobile telecommunication is possible due to millions of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). Nearly 1 million of these are operating off-grid, typically powered by diesel generators and therefore leading to significant CO2 emissions and other environmental burdens. A novel type of Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC) powered by cracked ammonia is being developed for replacement of these generators. This study compares the environmental and economic performance of the two systems by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), respectively. Results show that the production of ammonia dominates the LCA results, and that renewable ammonia production pathways greatly improve environmental performance. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the fuel cell parameters that most affect system cost and environmental burdens are cell power density and lifetime and system efficiency. Recycling of anode catalyst and electrode substrate materials is found to have large impacts on environmental performance, though without large cost incentives. For a set of target parameter values and fossil sourced ammonia, the AFC is calculated to produce electricity with life cycle CO2 eq emissions of 1.08 kg kWh-1, which is 23% lower than a diesel generator with electricity costs that are 14% higher in the same application.

Bifurcation of equilibria between with and without a large island in the large helical device

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ohyabu, N; Narushima, Y; Nagayama, Y; Narihara, K; Morisaki, T; Komori, A [National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki, Gifu, 509-5292 (Japan)

2005-09-01

A rapid bifurcation of the equilibria with and without a large island (n/m = 1/1) has been observed in the medium to high beta large helical device discharges. A large island imposed by an external resonant field is suddenly suppressed nearly perfectly by the plasma effects when the beta at the {iota}/2{pi} = 1 surface exceeds a critical value. The critical beta value is nearly proportional to the externally imposed resonant field normalized by the main field strength.

Kinota: An Open-Source NoSQL implementation of OGC SensorThings for large-scale high-resolution real-time environmental monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, B.; Chepudira, K.; LaBar, W.

2017-12-01

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) SensorThings API (STA) specification, ratified in 2016, is a next-generation open standard for enabling real-time communication of sensor data. Building on over a decade of OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Standards, STA offers a rich data model that can represent a range of sensor and phenomena types (e.g. fixed sensors sensing fixed phenomena, fixed sensors sensing moving phenomena, mobile sensors sensing fixed phenomena, and mobile sensors sensing moving phenomena) and is data agnostic. Additionally, and in contrast to previous SWE standards, STA is developer-friendly, as is evident from its convenient JSON serialization, and expressive OData-based query language (with support for geospatial queries); with its Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), STA is also well-suited to efficient real-time data publishing and discovery. All these attributes make STA potentially useful for use in environmental monitoring sensor networks. Here we present Kinota(TM), an Open-Source NoSQL implementation of OGC SensorThings for large-scale high-resolution real-time environmental monitoring. Kinota, which roughly stands for Knowledge from Internet of Things Analyses, relies on Cassandra its underlying data store, which is a horizontally scalable, fault-tolerant open-source database that is often used to store time-series data for Big Data applications (though integration with other NoSQL or rational databases is possible). With this foundation, Kinota can scale to store data from an arbitrary number of sensors collecting data every 500 milliseconds. Additionally, Kinota architecture is very modular allowing for customization by adopters who can choose to replace parts of the existing implementation when desirable. The architecture is also highly portable providing the flexibility to choose between cloud providers like azure, amazon, google etc. The scalable, flexible and cloud friendly architecture of Kinota makes it ideal for use in next

Health significance and statistical uncertainty. The value of P-value.

Science.gov (United States)

Consonni, Dario; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto

2017-10-27

The P-value is widely used as a summary statistics of scientific results. Unfortunately, there is a widespread tendency to dichotomize its value in "P0.05" ("statistically not significant"), with the former implying a "positive" result and the latter a "negative" one. To show the unsuitability of such an approach when evaluating the effects of environmental and occupational risk factors. We provide examples of distorted use of P-value and of the negative consequences for science and public health of such a black-and-white vision. The rigid interpretation of P-value as a dichotomy favors the confusion between health relevance and statistical significance, discourages thoughtful thinking, and distorts attention from what really matters, the health significance. A much better way to express and communicate scientific results involves reporting effect estimates (e.g., risks, risks ratios or risk differences) and their confidence intervals (CI), which summarize and convey both health significance and statistical uncertainty. Unfortunately, many researchers do not usually consider the whole interval of CI but only examine if it includes the null-value, therefore degrading this procedure to the same P-value dichotomy (statistical significance or not). In reporting statistical results of scientific research present effects estimates with their confidence intervals and do not qualify the P-value as "significant" or "not significant".

Rapid atmospheric transport and large-scale deposition of recently synthesized plant waxes

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Daniel B.; Ladd, S. Nemiah; Schubert, Carsten J.; Kahmen, Ansgar

2018-02-01

Sedimentary plant wax 2H/1H ratios are important tools for understanding hydroclimate and environmental changes, but large spatial and temporal uncertainties exist about transport mechanisms from ecosystem to sediments. To assess atmospheric pathways, we collected aerosol samples for two years at four locations within a ∼60 km radius in northern Switzerland. We measured n-alkane distributions and 2H/1H ratios in these samples, and from local plants, leaf litter, and soil, as well as surface sediment from six nearby lakes. Increased concentrations and 2H depletion of long odd chain n-alkanes in early summer aerosols indicate that most wax aerosol production occurred shortly after leaf unfolding, when plants synthesize waxes in large quantities. During autumn and winter, aerosols were characterized by degraded n-alkanes lacking chain length preferences diagnostic of recent biosynthesis, and 2H/1H values that were in some cases more than 100‰ higher than growing season values. Despite these seasonal shifts, modeled deposition-weighted average 2H/1H values of long odd chain n-alkanes primarily reflected summer values. This was corroborated by n-alkane 2H/1H values in lake sediments, which were similar to deposition-weighted aerosol values at five of six sites. Atmospheric deposition rates for plant n-alkanes on land were ∼20% of accumulation rates in lakes, suggesting a role for direct deposition to lakes or coastal oceans near similar production sources, and likely a larger role for deposition on land and transport in river systems. This mechanism allows mobilization and transport of large quantities of recently produced waxes as fine-grained material to low energy sedimentation sites over short timescales, even in areas with limited topography. Widespread atmospheric transfer well before leaf senescence also highlights the importance of the isotopic composition of early season source water used to synthesize waxes for the geologic record.

Environmental changes and violent conflict

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernauer, Thomas; Böhmelt, Tobias; Koubi, Vally

2012-01-01

This letter reviews the scientific literature on whether and how environmental changes affect the risk of violent conflict. The available evidence from qualitative case studies indicates that environmental stress can contribute to violent conflict in some specific cases. Results from quantitative large-N studies, however, strongly suggest that we should be careful in drawing general conclusions. Those large-N studies that we regard as the most sophisticated ones obtain results that are not robust to alternative model specifications and, thus, have been debated. This suggests that environmental changes may, under specific circumstances, increase the risk of violent conflict, but not necessarily in a systematic way and unconditionally. Hence there is, to date, no scientific consensus on the impact of environmental changes on violent conflict. This letter also highlights the most important challenges for further research on the subject. One of the key issues is that the effects of environmental changes on violent conflict are likely to be contingent on a set of economic and political conditions that determine adaptation capacity. In the authors' view, the most important indirect effects are likely to lead from environmental changes via economic performance and migration to violent conflict. (letter)

Potential environmental impacts associated with large-scale herbicide-tolerant GM oilseed rape crops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fellous Marc

2004-07-01

Full Text Available The Biomolecular Engineering Commission considers that the knowledge acquired in the last three years has provided significant information in reply to the points raised in its review dated 16 February 2001. The Commission has studied the potential environmental impacts associated with large-scale herbicidetolerantGMoilseed rape crops, making a distinction between direct and indirect impacts. Direct impacts stem from the intrinsic properties of herbicide-tolerant GM oilseed rape crops whereas indirect impacts result from practices associated with the farming of these crops. The Commission considers that, in the absence of the use of the herbicide in question in and outside of farmed land, there is no direct environmental risk (development of invasive crops per se associated with the presence of a herbicide-tolerance gene in oilseed rape (or related species. Nevertheless, since the interest of these tolerant crops lies in the use of the herbicide in question, indirect effects, to varying extents, have been identified and must be taken into account: the use of the herbicide in question, applied to agricultural fields containing the herbicide-tolerant crop could lead to an increase in oilseed rape volunteer populations in crop rotations; the selective pressure exerted by non-specific herbicides (to which the crops have been rendered tolerant may be very high in cases of continuous and uncontrolled use of these herbicides, and may result in the persistence of rare events such as the reproduction of fertile interspecies hybrids; the change to the range of herbicides used should be conveyed by more effective weed control and, like any change in farming practices, induce indirect effects on the agri-ecosystem, particularly in terms of changes to weeds and the associated animal life. Accordingly, the Biomolecular Engineering Commission recommends a global approach in terms of the large-scale farming of herbicide-tolerant crops that: accounts for the

Renewing the New Environmental Paradigm Scale: The Underlying Diversity of Contemporary Environmental Worldviews

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, Jennifer M.

This dissertation explored the attitudes, values, and beliefs underlying the contemporary environmental movement. At present, the most widely used means of measuring environmental attitudes is the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale. This dissertation chronicles the development and establishment of the NEP and the important role it has played in social science research. It also reviews key empirical and theoretical critiques of the scale, arguing that the worldview embodied by the NEP is representative of a narrow understanding of pro-environmental thought and that there remains the need for a new scale built using the core dimensions underlying contemporary environmentalism's diversity. Based on an assessment of contemporary environmental discourse, it was theorized that the key areas in which environmentalists diverge are with respect to nature, technology, and scale of societal response. To test this assertion, this project deeply explored a small sample of carefully selected participants with strong environmental identities and diverse attitudes and values. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using survey question items and in-depth Repertory Grid interviews. Foremost, analysis showed that the sample of environmentalists studied were far from ideologically homogenous. While they agreed with respect to certain issues, such as the seriousness of environmental problems and the inability of the earth to accommodate unlimited resource demands, they also disagreed in key areas, such as the ability of technology to solve environmental problems and the scale at which effective change occurs. With respect to effective environmental problem solving, respondents mentioned green technologies, reducing resource consumption, and policy changes, and they differentiated between these solutions based on cost, the type of social change needed to bring these solutions to fruition, and how difficult they would be to enact. Demographic differences were also assessed

Environmental risk limits for zinc

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bodar CWM; SEC

2007-01-01

Environmental Riks Limits (ERLs) were derived for zinc. ERLs serve as advisory values to set environmental quality standards in the Netherlands. The ERLs for zinc closely follow the outcomes of earlier discussions on zinc within the Water Framework Directive and EC Regulation 793/93. The ERLs

Environmental risk limits for zinc

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bodar CWM; SEC

2007-01-01

Environmental Riks Limits (ERLs) were derived for zinc. ERLs serve as advisory values to set environmental quality standards in the Netherlands. The ERLs for zinc closely follow the outcomes of earlier discussions on zinc within the Water Framework Directive and EC Regulation 793/93. The ERLs refer

Green energy and large commercial users

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Capage, Adam

2000-01-01

The difficulties faced in selling green energy to large commercial users are reviewed in this article. Four steps are identified in helping energy service suppliers (ESP) focus on opportunities for maximising revenue, namely, targeting the best prospects, identifying the right contact person, appealing to the primary contact, and helping contacts to make the sale internally. Companies with environmentally conscious customers and well defined environmental policies and led by those that promote environmental stewardship are recognised as commercial customers most likely to sign a deal for green energy

NEIMiner: nanomaterial environmental impact data miner.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Kaizhi; Liu, Xiong; Harper, Stacey L; Steevens, Jeffery A; Xu, Roger

2013-01-01

As more engineered nanomaterials (eNM) are developed for a wide range of applications, it is crucial to minimize any unintended environmental impacts resulting from the application of eNM. To realize this vision, industry and policymakers must base risk management decisions on sound scientific information about the environmental fate of eNM, their availability to receptor organisms (eg, uptake), and any resultant biological effects (eg, toxicity). To address this critical need, we developed a model-driven, data mining system called NEIMiner, to study nanomaterial environmental impact (NEI). NEIMiner consists of four components: NEI modeling framework, data integration, data management and access, and model building. The NEI modeling framework defines the scope of NEI modeling and the strategy of integrating NEI models to form a layered, comprehensive predictability. The data integration layer brings together heterogeneous data sources related to NEI via automatic web services and web scraping technologies. The data management and access layer reuses and extends a popular content management system (CMS), Drupal, and consists of modules that model the complex data structure for NEI-related bibliography and characterization data. The model building layer provides an advanced analysis capability for NEI data. Together, these components provide significant value to the process of aggregating and analyzing large-scale distributed NEI data. A prototype of the NEIMiner system is available at http://neiminer.i-a-i.com/.

Large recoverable electrostrain in Mn-doped (Ba,Sr) TiO3 ceramics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, L.X.; Chen, W.; Ren, X.

2004-01-01

In this letter we demonstrate that with a different principle, BaTiO 3 ceramics, so far considered as inferior piezoelectrics compared with Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZT), can show a large recoverable electrostrain. This principle utilizes a point-defect-mediated reversible domain switching mechanism, which can in theory generate 0.368% strain for BaTiO 3 ceramics at the best condition. Experimental results showed that, after aging at room temperature, 1.0 mol % Mn-doped (Ba 0.95 Sr 0.05 )TiO 3 ceramics generate a large recoverable nonlinear strain of about 0.12%-0.15% at a field of 3 kV/mm. This value exceeds that of conventional hard PZT piezoelectric ceramics. A microscopic model for the domain-related electrostrain effect in ceramics is proposed. It is also found that the large electrostrain effect is quite stable with respect to both changing frequency and fatigue cycles. Large electrostrain remains recoverable down to 0.05 Hz and after 10 000 cycles. These results demonstrate the potential of our approach in achieving large recoverable electrostrain in environmental-friendly (Pb-free) ceramics

Characterization and recovery of copper values from discarded slag.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Bisweswar; Mishra, Barada Kanta; Angadi, Shivakumar; Pradhan, Siddharth Kumar; Prakash, Sandur; Mohanty, Jayakrushna

2010-06-01

In any copper smelter large quantities of copper slag are discarded as waste material causing space and environmental problems. This discarded slag contains important amounts of metallic values such as copper and iron. The recovery of copper values from an Indian smelter slag that contains 1.53% Cu, 39.8% Fe and 34.65% SiO(2) was the focus of the present study. A complete investigation of the different phases present in the slag has been carried out by means of optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. It is observed that iron and silica are mostly associated with the fayalite phase whereas copper is present in both oxide and sulfide phases. These oxide and sulfide phases of copper are mostly present within the slag phase and to some extent the slag is also embedded inside the oxide and sulfide phases. The recovery of copper values from the discarded slag has been explored by applying a flotation technique using conventional sodium isopropyl xanthate (SIX) as the collector. The effects of flotation parameters such as pH and collector concentration are investigated. Under optimum flotation conditions, it is possible to achieve 21% Cu with more than 80% recovery.

Added values of photovoltaic power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-03-01

The structure, ownership and operation of electricity systems around the world are changing in response to industry restructuring, the availability of new technologies and increasing environmental awareness. At the same time, many countries have yet to provide basic energy services for their populations, particularly in areas not served by the electricity grid. Large-scale, central power generation and distribution which characterized the electricity industry for much of the 20 th century is being challenged by new technologies, which are cleaner, faster to deploy and better matched to local requirements. Higher values are being placed on ancillary services, such as power system reliability and voltage stability, so that a simple comparison of energy cost is no longer appropriate as a measure of competitiveness. Solar photovoltaic electricity is unique amongst the new energy sources for the wide range of energy and non-energy benefits which can be provided, while the use of photovoltaic power systems as an integral part of a building provides the greatest opportunity for exploiting non-energy benefits and for adding value to the photovoltaic power system. This report documents the potential added values or non-energy benefits photovoltaic power systems can provide, the current state of market development and the key barriers faced by renewable energy technologies generally and photovoltaic power systems in particular. Means by which non-energy benefits may be used to overcome barriers to the use of photovoltaic power systems are then discussed, with specific attention to the use of building integrated photovoltaics. (author)

Added values of photovoltaic power systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-03-15

The structure, ownership and operation of electricity systems around the world are changing in response to industry restructuring, the availability of new technologies and increasing environmental awareness. At the same time, many countries have yet to provide basic energy services for their populations, particularly in areas not served by the electricity grid. Large-scale, central power generation and distribution which characterized the electricity industry for much of the 20{sup th} century is being challenged by new technologies, which are cleaner, faster to deploy and better matched to local requirements. Higher values are being placed on ancillary services, such as power system reliability and voltage stability, so that a simple comparison of energy cost is no longer appropriate as a measure of competitiveness. Solar photovoltaic electricity is unique amongst the new energy sources for the wide range of energy and non-energy benefits which can be provided, while the use of photovoltaic power systems as an integral part of a building provides the greatest opportunity for exploiting non-energy benefits and for adding value to the photovoltaic power system. This report documents the potential added values or non-energy benefits photovoltaic power systems can provide, the current state of market development and the key barriers faced by renewable energy technologies generally and photovoltaic power systems in particular. Means by which non-energy benefits may be used to overcome barriers to the use of photovoltaic power systems are then discussed, with specific attention to the use of building integrated photovoltaics. (author)

Comparing spatial regression to random forests for large environmental data sets

Science.gov (United States)

Environmental data may be “large” due to number of records, number of covariates, or both. Random forests has a reputation for good predictive performance when using many covariates, whereas spatial regression, when using reduced rank methods, has a reputatio...

Estimating Ecological Value of Small Hydropower Using Contingent Valuation Method： An Application to Tongjiqiao Reservoir in Zhejiang ＂ Province, China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Han Hongyun; Zhao Liange; Zhang Tong

2012-01-01

The small hydropower （SHP） will be less competitive in the absence of environmental value. The lack of information has become an important obstacle challenging decision-makers in resource-use choices. This paper is an application of contingent valuation method （CVM） in rural China to estimate the willing- ness-to-pay （WTP） for environmental services provided by exiting hydropower station. Using the single-bounded and dichotomous- choice CVM, the ecological value of Tongjiqiao Reservoir （TJQR） is estimated, and the annual mean WTPs of single-bounded and double-bounded CVM estimation are 141.05 and 219.52 Yuan （RMB）/a, respectively. The 95% confidence interval of annual WTP on an average is 118.47, 166.79 Yuan （RMB）/a and 204.41, 236.22 （Yuan RMB）/a, respectively. In contrast, double-bounded model could obtain much more information of WTP of the inves- tigated, thus reducing the confidence interval of estimation, and enhancing the estimation accuracy of the WTP. According to the estimated mean WTP of the double-bounded CVM, the total eco- system service value of the TJQR is 15.54 million Yuan （RMB）. Compared with the conventional electricity of fossil power and large hydropower, the SHP will be less competitive in the absence of non-market value, ignoring that the environmental impacts of existing SHP will undermine the healthy development of clean energy sector.

[Environmental geochemical baseline of heavy metals in soils of the Ili river basin and pollution evaluation].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Xin-Ru; Nasier, Telajin; Cheng, Yong-Yi; Zhan, Jiang-Yu; Yang, Jian-Hong

2014-06-01

Environmental geochemical baseline models of Cu, Zn, Pb, As, Hg were established by standardized method in the ehernozem, chestnut soil, sierozem and saline soil from the Ili river valley region. The theoretical baseline values were calculated. Baseline factor pollution index evaluation method, environmental background value evaluation method and heavy metal cleanliness evaluation method were used to compare soil pollution degrees. The baseline factor pollution index evaluation showed that As pollution was the most prominent among the four typical types of soils within the river basin, with 7.14%, 9.76%, 7.50% of sampling points in chernozem, chestnut soil and sierozem reached the heavy pollution, respectively. 7.32% of sampling points of chestnut soil reached the permitted heavy metal Pb pollution index in the chestnut soil. The variation extent of As and Pb was the largest, indicating large human disturbance. Environmental background value evaluation showed that As was the main pollution element, followed by Cu, Zn and Pb. Heavy metal cleanliness evaluation showed that Cu, Zn and Pb were better than cleanliness level 2 and Hg was the of cleanliness level 1 in all four types of soils. As showed moderate pollution in sierozem, and it was of cleanliness level 2 or better in chernozem, chestnut soil and saline-alkali soil. Comparing the three evaluation systems, the baseline factor pollution index evaluation more comprehensively reflected the geochemical migration characteristics of elements and the soil formation processes, and the pollution assessment could be specific to the sampling points. The environmental background value evaluation neglected the natural migration of heavy metals and the deposition process in the soil since it was established on the regional background values. The main purpose of the heavy metal cleanliness evaluation was to evaluate the safety degree of soil environment.

Ecosystem service values for mangroves in Southeast Asia: A meta-analysis and value transfer application

OpenAIRE

M. Brander, Luke; J. Wagtendonk, Alfred; S. Hussain, Salman; McVittie, Alistair; Verburg, Peter H.; de Groot, Rudolf S.; van der Ploeg, Sander

2012-01-01

This paper examines the value of ecosystem services provided by mangroves. It presents a metaanalysis of the economic valuation literature and applies the estimated value function to assess the value of mangroves in Southeast Asia. We construct a database containing 130 value estimates, largely for mangroves in Southeast Asia. Values are standardised to US$ per hectare per year in 2007 prices. The mean and median values are found to be 4185 and 239 US$/ha/year respectively. The values of mang...

Influence of a Non-Formal Environmental Education Programme on Junior High-School Students; Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Goldman, Daphne; Assaraf, Orit Ben Zvi; Shaharabani, Dina

2013-01-01

One of the solutions implemented by schools for conducting value-based environmental education (EE) is outsourcing: allocating external environmental organizations that develop and conduct EE programmes. This study addressed such a programme--the Green Council Programme (GCP)--developed and implemented in schools by the Israeli Society for…

Seeking coherence among environmental directives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beijen, Barbara

2014-01-01

European environmental law consists of a large number of directives and regulations dealing with environmental domains such as air, water, or waste, or with issues such as greenhouse gases, chemicals or industrial emissions. These directives and regulations do not form a comprehensive system of

Castanea sativa by-products: a review on added value and sustainable application.

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Nair; Rodrigues, Francisca; Oliveira, M Beatriz P P

2015-01-01

Castanea sativa Mill. is a species of the family Fagaceae abundant in south Europe and Asia. The fruits (chestnut) are an added value resource in producing countries. Chestnut economic value is increasing not only for nutritional qualities but also for the beneficial health effects related with its consumption. During chestnut processing, a large amount of waste material is generated namely inner shell, outer shell and leaves. Studies on chestnut by-products revealed a good profile of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and cardioprotective properties. These agro-industrial wastes, after valorisation, can be used by other industries, such as pharmaceutical, food or cosmetics, generating more profits, reducing pollution costs and improving social, economic and environmental sustainability. The purpose of this review is to provide knowledge about the type of chestnut by-products produced, the studies concerning its chemical composition and biological activity, and also to discuss other possible applications of these materials.

Environmental values, ethics, and depreciative behavior in wildland settings

Science.gov (United States)

Dorceta E. Taylor; Patricia L. Winter

1995-01-01

Preliminary results were examined from a self-administered questionnaire regarding the relationships between personal values, individual characteristics, and depreciative behaviors. Respondents were queried about socio-demographics, reasons for visiting forest recreation areas, reasons for liking and disliking the forest, activities witnessed while visiting the forest...

Environmental Agency in Read-Alouds

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Rogers, Patterson; Quigley, Cassie F.; Samburskiy, Denis; Barss, Kimberly; Rivera, Seema

2015-01-01

Despite growing interest in helping students become agents of environmental change who can, through informed decision-making and action-taking, transform environmentally detrimental forms of human activity, science educators have reduced agency to rationality by overlooking sociocultural influences such as norms and values. We tackle this issue by…

Environmental accounting: A tool for promoting environmental management in the Niger Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ph. D. Uwuigne Uwalomwa

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Oil exploration and exploitation has over the last four decades impacted disastrously on the socio-physical environment of the Niger Delta oil-bearing communities in Nigeria. This invariably is responsible for the social unrest in the host communities. In response to various pressures by environmental lobby groups, companies have began to realize the need for the integration of environmental reporting practice in their annual report. To this end, this paper studied exploratively the extent to which the introduction of environmental accounting practice will help in bringing about an improved environmental sustainability and an effective environmental management system in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. The paper concludes that the integration and the disclosure of environmental liabilities will to a large extent reduce the social unrest in these areas. This in return will help organizations to maximize the efficient use of their resources, minimize environmental liabilities and demonstrate a good corporate image. The paper therefore recommends that accountants and environmental experts should pool their skills to form a multi-disciplinary team to address environmental issues.

Enhancing the Economic Value of Large Investments in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS through Inclusion of Ecosystems Services Benefits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Urrestarazu Vincent

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Although Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS are used in cities across the world as effective flood adaptation responses, their economic viability has frequently been questioned. Inclusion of the monetary value of ecosystem services (ES provided by SuDS can increase the rate of return on investments made. Hence, this paper aims at reviewing the enhancement of the economic value of large-scale investments in SuDS through inclusion of ecosystem services. This study focuses on the flood reduction capacity and the ES benefits of green roofs and rain barrels in the combined sewerage network of Montevideo Municipality in Uruguay. The methodology comprises a cost–benefit analysis—with and without monetised ES provided by SuDS—of two drainage network configurations comprising: (i SuDS; and (ii SuDS and detention storage. The optimal drainage design for both these drainage configurations have been determined using SWMM-EA, a tool which uses multi-objective optimisation based evolutionary algorithm (EA and the storm water management model (SWMM. In both design configurations, total benefits comprising both flood reduction and ES benefits are always higher than their costs. The use of storage along with SuDS provides greater benefits with a larger reduction in flooding, and thus is more cost-effective than using SuDS alone. The results show that, for both of the drainage configurations, the larger investments are not beneficial unless ES benefits are taken into account. Hence, it can be concluded that the inclusion of ES benefits is necessary to justify large-scale investments in SuDS.

Habitual and value-guided purchase behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Biel, Anders; Dahlstrand, Ulf; Grankvist, Gunne

2005-06-01

Society increasingly requests that individuals adopt environmentally benign behavior. Information campaigns purported to change people's attitudes are often regarded as prerequisites to installing such changes. While such information may be a necessary step, it is not sufficient by itself. We argue that many everyday behaviors with environmental consequences are habitual, and that little attention is given to information directed toward changing these habitual behaviors. In other instances, behavior is guided by values in a more reflective process. However, other information besides environmental consequences may draw a person's attention and affect behavioral choice. Using surveys and experimental studies targeting consumer behavior, we studied under what conditions different kinds of information is likely to influence people with varying levels of environmental concern. Based on results from these studies, implications for behavioral change are discussed.

Large-Scale Prediction of Seagrass Distribution Integrating Landscape Metrics and Environmental Factors: The Case of Cymodocea nodosa (Mediterranean–Atlantic)

KAUST Repository

Chefaoui, Rosa M.

2015-05-05

Understanding the factors that affect seagrass meadows encompassing their entire range of distribution is challenging yet important for their conservation. Here, we predict the realized and potential distribution for the species Cymodocea nodosa modelling its environmental niche in the Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic coastlines. We use a combination of environmental variables and landscape metrics to perform a suite of predictive algorithms which enables examination of the niche and find suitable habitats for the species. The most relevant environmental variables defining the distribution of C. nodosa were sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity. We found suitable habitats at SST from 5.8 °C to 26.4 °C and salinity ranging from 17.5 to 39.3. Optimal values of mean winter wave height ranged between 1.2 and 1.5 m, while waves higher than 2.5 m seemed to limit the presence of the species. The influence of nutrients and pH, despite having weight on the models, was not so clear in terms of ranges that confine the distribution of the species. Landscape metrics able to capture variation in the coastline enhanced significantly the accuracy of the models, despite the limitations caused by the scale of the study. We found potential suitable areas not occupied by the seagrass mainly in coastal regions of North Africa and the Adriatic coast of Italy. The present study describes the realized and potential distribution of a seagrass species, providing the first global model of the factors that can be shaping the environmental niche of C. nodosa throughout its range. We identified the variables constraining its distribution as well as thresholds delineating its environmental niche. Landscape metrics showed promising prospects for the prediction of coastal species dependent on the shape of the coast. By contrasting predictive approaches, we defined the variables affecting the distributional areas that seem unsuitable for C. nodosa as well as those suitable habitats not

Large-Scale Prediction of Seagrass Distribution Integrating Landscape Metrics and Environmental Factors: The Case of Cymodocea nodosa (Mediterranean–Atlantic)

KAUST Repository

Chefaoui, Rosa M.; Assis, Jorge; Duarte, Carlos M.; Serrã o, Ester A.

2015-01-01

Understanding the factors that affect seagrass meadows encompassing their entire range of distribution is challenging yet important for their conservation. Here, we predict the realized and potential distribution for the species Cymodocea nodosa modelling its environmental niche in the Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic coastlines. We use a combination of environmental variables and landscape metrics to perform a suite of predictive algorithms which enables examination of the niche and find suitable habitats for the species. The most relevant environmental variables defining the distribution of C. nodosa were sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity. We found suitable habitats at SST from 5.8 °C to 26.4 °C and salinity ranging from 17.5 to 39.3. Optimal values of mean winter wave height ranged between 1.2 and 1.5 m, while waves higher than 2.5 m seemed to limit the presence of the species. The influence of nutrients and pH, despite having weight on the models, was not so clear in terms of ranges that confine the distribution of the species. Landscape metrics able to capture variation in the coastline enhanced significantly the accuracy of the models, despite the limitations caused by the scale of the study. We found potential suitable areas not occupied by the seagrass mainly in coastal regions of North Africa and the Adriatic coast of Italy. The present study describes the realized and potential distribution of a seagrass species, providing the first global model of the factors that can be shaping the environmental niche of C. nodosa throughout its range. We identified the variables constraining its distribution as well as thresholds delineating its environmental niche. Landscape metrics showed promising prospects for the prediction of coastal species dependent on the shape of the coast. By contrasting predictive approaches, we defined the variables affecting the distributional areas that seem unsuitable for C. nodosa as well as those suitable habitats not

Valuing values: A history of wilderness economics

Science.gov (United States)

J. M. Bowker; H. K. Cordell; N. C. Poudyal

2014-01-01

Prior to the U.S. Wilderness Act of 1964, economics as a science was hardly considered applicable to the types of human values set forth in this pathbreaking legislation. Economics was largely confined to the purchasing and labor decisions of households and firms as well the functioning of markets and economies. However, around this time, John Krutilla (1967) in his...

Sensory Perception, Rationalism and Outdoor Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Auer, Matthew R.

2008-01-01

There is a strong emphasis on sensory perception and "hands-on" learning in the outdoor environmental education of children. In addition, normative concerns infuse children's environmental curricula, and in particular, the notion that environmental education is not a passive undertaking; when one appreciates the essential value of the…

A comparison of the aquatic impacts of large hydro and small hydro projects

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Lara A.

The expansion of small hydro development in British Columbia has raised concerns surrounding the effects of these projects, and the provincial government's decision to proceed with Site C has brought attention to the impacts of large hydro. Together, these decisions highlight that there are impacts associated with all energy development. My study examines the aquatic effects of large and small hydro projects using two case study sites: Site C and the Upper Harrison Water Power Project. I first determine the aquatic effects of each of the case study sites. Next, I use existing literature and benefits transfer to determine the monetary value of these effects. My results suggest that, with mitigation, small hydro projects have less of an effect on the environment than a large hydro project per unit of electricity. I also describe the implications of my study in the context of current British Columbia energy policy. Keywords: hydropower; aquatic effects. Subject Terms: environmental impact assessment; benefits transfer.

Graphical Methodology of Global Pollution Index for the Environmental Impact Assessment Using Two Environmental Components

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corneliu Cojocaru

2017-04-01

Full Text Available One of the applied methods for environmental impact assessment is the index of global pollution (IGP proposed by Rojanschi in 1991. This methodology enables the global estimation for the ecosystem state affected more or less by human activities. Unfortunately, Rojanschi’s method has a limitation; it can be applied only if at least three environmental components are considered. Frequently, many environmental impact assessment applications rely on analysis of only two environmental components. Therefore, this work aimed to develop a new graphical method to extend Rojanschi’s approach for the case of two environmental components. The proposed method avoids the average value of evaluation grades and uses only the graphical correspondence for calculation of the index of global pollution. A right-angle triangle graph methodology was proposed, where bases represented the values of evaluation grades. Thus, for the case of two environmental components, the index of global pollution was calculated as the relation between the ideal and real ecosystem states represented by the ratio between areas of external and enclosed right triangles. The developed graphical method was tested and validated for real case studies: the environmental impact assessment from a refinery located on the Romanian Black Sea Coast considering Air and Water environmental components and from a coal-fired thermoelectric power plant from Eastern Romania regarding Air and Soil environmental components. In this way, it was provided a reliable and faster tool to be used for the pollution characterization of human-derived chemicals for better decisions in risk management.

40 CFR 86.435-78 - Extrapolated emission values.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Extrapolated emission values. 86.435-78 Section 86.435-78 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles, General Provisions § 86.435-78 Extrapolated emission values...

Exploring intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values for sustainable management of social-ecological systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paola Arias-Arévalo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The values (i.e., importance that people place on ecosystems have been identified as a crucial dimension of sustainable management of social-ecological systems. Recently, the call for integrating plural values of ecosystems beyond intrinsic and instrumental values has prompted the notion of "relational values." With the aim of contributing to environmental management, we assess the environmental motivations (i.e., egoistic, biospheric, altruistic and values that people attribute to the ecosystems of the mid-upper stream of the Otún River watershed, central Andes, Colombia. We analyzed 589 questionnaires that were collected in urban and rural areas of the Otún River watershed using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regressions. We found salient biospheric motivations and the attribution of plural values (i.e., intrinsic, relational, and instrumental to the ecosystems of the mid-upper stream of the Otún River watershed. Particularly, relational values were the most frequently mentioned value domain. Further, our results showed that environmental motivations and socioeconomic factors are associated with the expression of different value domains. We found negative associations between egoistic motivations and intrinsic values and between rural respondents and instrumental values. We found positive associations between altruistic motivations and relational values and between rural respondents and both intrinsic and relational values. In light of our results, we argue that intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values coexist in people's narratives about the importance of ecosystems. Plural valuation approaches could be enhanced by differentiating relational from instrumental values and by expressing them in nonmonetary terms. We argue that multiple values of ecosystems expressed by rural and urban societies should be included in environmental management to tackle social conflicts and consider the diverse needs and interests of

Why small and medium chemical companies continue to pose severe environmental risks in rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Guizhen; Zhang, Lei; Mol, Arthur P J; Wang, Tieyu; Lu, Yonglong

2014-02-01

In China, rural chemical SMEs are often believed to still largely operate below the sustainability radar. This paper investigates to what extent and how chemical SMEs are already experiencing pressure to improve their environmental performance, using an in-depth case study in Jasmine County, Hebei province. The results show that local residents had rather low trust in the environmental improvement promises made by the enterprises and the local government, and disagreed with the proposed improvement plans. Although the power of local residents to influence decision making remained limited, the chemical SMEs started to feel increasing pressures to clean up their business, from governments, local communities and civil society, and international value chain stakeholders. Notwithstanding these mounting pressures chemical SME's environmental behavior and performance has not changed radically for the better. The strong economic ties between local county governments and chemical SMEs continue to be a major barrier for stringent environmental regulation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Informed Decision Making Process for Managing Environmental Flows in Small River Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Padikkal, S.; Rema, K. P.

2013-03-01

Numerous examples exist worldwide of partial or complete alteration to the natural flow regime of river systems as a consequence of large scale water abstraction from upstream reaches. The effects may not be conspicuous in the case of very large rivers, but the ecosystems of smaller rivers or streams may be completely destroyed over a period of time. While restoration of the natural flow regime may not be possible, at present there is increased effort to implement restoration by regulating environmental flow. This study investigates the development of an environmental flow management model at an icon site in the small river basin of Bharathapuzha, west India. To determine optimal environmental flow regimes, a historic flow model based on data assimilated since 1978 indicated a satisfactory minimum flow depth for river ecosystem sustenance is 0.907 m (28.8 m3/s), a value also obtained from the hydraulic model; however, as three of the reservoirs were already operational at this time a flow depth of 0.922 m is considered a more viable estimate. Analysis of daily stream flow in 1997-2006, indicated adequate flow regimes during the monsoons in June-November, but that sections of the river dried out in December-May with alarming water quality conditions near the river mouth. Furthermore, the preferred minimum `dream' flow regime expressed by stakeholders of the region is a water depth of 1.548 m, which exceeds 50 % of the flood discharge in July. Water could potentially be conserved for environmental flow purposes by (1) the de-siltation of existing reservoirs or (2) reducing water spillage in the transfer between river basins. Ultimately environmental flow management of the region requires the establishment of a co-ordinated management body and the regular assimilation of water flow information from which science based decisions are made, to ensure both economic and environmental concerns are adequately addressed.

On the value of endangered and other species

Science.gov (United States)

Sagoff, Mark

1996-11-01

This paper describes two frameworks—utilitarian and Kantian—society uses to make decisions concerning environmental management and, in particular, species protection. The utilitarian framework emphasizes the consequences of choices for prior preferences. A perfectly competitive market, on this model, correctly values environmental resources. The Kantian approach identifies rules appropriate to recognized situations given the identity of the decision maker. It relies on democratic political processes and institutions to provide the means by which citizens determine the identity of their community—its moral character and aspirations—and match appropriate rules to recognized situations. This paper argues that markets do not fail in any general way in measuring the economic value of plants and animals. Market prices, in general, correctly represent the marginal or exchange value of species. If society legislates against extinction, this must be understood as an exercise in Kantian decision making in view of the moral value of species, not as an attempt to “correct” a market failure or to promote social welfare or utility.

Large-volume and room-temperature gamma spectrometer for environmental radiation monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romain Coulon

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The use of a room-temperature gamma spectrometer is an issue in environmental radiation monitoring. To monitor radionuclides released around a nuclear power plant, suitable instruments giving fast and reliable information are required. High-pressure xenon (HPXe chambers have range of resolution and efficiency equivalent to those of other medium resolution detectors such as those using NaI(Tl, CdZnTe, and LaBr3:Ce. An HPXe chamber could be a cost-effective alternative, assuming temperature stability and reliability. The CEA LIST actively studied and developed HPXe-based technology applied for environmental monitoring. Xenon purification and conditioning was performed. The design of a 4-L HPXe detector was performed to minimize the detector capacitance and the required power supply. Simulations were done with the MCNPX2.7 particle transport code to estimate the intrinsic efficiency of the HPXe detector. A behavioral study dealing with ballistic deficits and electronic noise will be utilized to provide perspective for further analysis.

Environmental exposure to benzene: an update.

OpenAIRE

Wallace, L

1996-01-01

During the 1990s, several large-scale studies of benzene concentrations in air, food, and blood have added to our knowledge of its environmental occurrence. In general, the new studies have confirmed the earlier findings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) studies and other large-scale studies in Germany and the Netherlands concerning the levels of exposure and major sources. For example, the new studies found that personal exposures exceed...

An Environmental Ethic for Parks and Recreation.

Science.gov (United States)

McAvoy, Leo

1990-01-01

Suggests an environmental ethic for parks and recreation professionals who are often on the wrong side of the environmental controversy because they lack a professional ethic. This article provides a guide for implementing an environmental ethic, noting that philosophy of service must be grounded in ecological principles, not merchant values. (SM)