A framework for combining social impact assessment and risk assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahmoudi, Hossein, E-mail: mahmoudi@uni-hohenheim.de [Department of Social Sciences in Agriculture, University of Hohenheim (Germany); Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C. (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Renn, Ortwin [Department of Technology and Environmental Sociology (and DIALOGIK), University of Stuttgart (Germany); Vanclay, Frank [Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Hoffmann, Volker [Department of Social Sciences in Agriculture, University of Hohenheim (Germany); Karami, Ezatollah [College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2013-11-15

An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify the common features of social impact assessment (SIA) and social risk assessment (SRA), and discuss the merits of a combined approach. A hybrid model combining SIA and SRA to form a new approach called, ‘risk and social impact assessment’ (RSIA) is introduced. RSIA expands the capacity of SIA to evaluate and manage the social impacts of risky projects such as nuclear energy as well as natural hazards and disasters such as droughts and floods. We outline the three stages of RSIA, namely: impact identification, impact assessment, and impact management. -- Highlights: • A hybrid model to combine SIA and SRA namely RSIA is proposed. • RSIA can provide the proper mechanism to assess social impacts of natural hazards. • RSIA can play the role of ex-post as well as ex-ante assessment. • For some complicated and sensitive cases like nuclear energy, conducting a RSIA is necessary.

A framework for combining social impact assessment and risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahmoudi, Hossein; Renn, Ortwin; Vanclay, Frank; Hoffmann, Volker; Karami, Ezatollah

2013-01-01

An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify the common features of social impact assessment (SIA) and social risk assessment (SRA), and discuss the merits of a combined approach. A hybrid model combining SIA and SRA to form a new approach called, ‘risk and social impact assessment’ (RSIA) is introduced. RSIA expands the capacity of SIA to evaluate and manage the social impacts of risky projects such as nuclear energy as well as natural hazards and disasters such as droughts and floods. We outline the three stages of RSIA, namely: impact identification, impact assessment, and impact management. -- Highlights: • A hybrid model to combine SIA and SRA namely RSIA is proposed. • RSIA can provide the proper mechanism to assess social impacts of natural hazards. • RSIA can play the role of ex-post as well as ex-ante assessment. • For some complicated and sensitive cases like nuclear energy, conducting a RSIA is necessary

A framework for combining social impact assessment and risk assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahmoudi, Hossein; Renn, Ortwin; Vanclay, Frank; Hoffmann, Volker; Karami, Ezatollah

An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify

A framework for combining social impact assessment and risk assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahmoudi, Hossein; Renn, Ortwin; Vanclay, Frank; Hoffmann, Volker; Karami, Ezatollah

2013-01-01

An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify

A life cycle assessment framework combining nutritional and environmental health impacts of diet: a case study on milk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stylianou, Katerina S.; Heller, Martin C.; Fulgoni III, Victor L.

2016-01-01

of less healthy foods (sugar-sweetened beverages). Further studies are needed to test whether this conclusion holds within a more comprehensive assessment of environmental and nutritional health impacts. Conclusions This case study provides the first quantitative epidemiology-based estimate......Purpose While there has been considerable effort to understand the environmental impact of a food or diet, nutritional effects are not usually included in food-related life cycle assessment (LCA). Methods We developed a novel Combined Nutritional and Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (CONE......-LCA) framework that evaluates and compares in parallel the environmental and nutritional effects of foods or diets. We applied this framework to assess human health impacts, expressed in Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), in a proof-of conceptcase study that investigated the environmental and nutritional...

Toward an analytical framework for understanding complex social-ecological systems when conducting environmental impact assessments in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Bowd

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Consideration of biophysical impacts has historically dominated environmental impact assessment (EIA practice. Despite the emergence of social impact assessment, the consideration of socioeconomic impacts in EIA is variable, as is the extent of their integration in EIA findings. There is growing recognition for the need to move EIA practice toward sustainability assessment, characterized by comprehensiveness, i.e., scope of impacts, integration, i.e., of biophysical and socioeconomic impacts, and a greater strategic focus. This is particularly the case in developing regions and in countries like South Africa, which have statutory requirements for the full consideration of socioeconomic impacts in EIA. We suggest that EIA practice could benefit from incorporating evolving theory around social-ecological systems (SES as an effective way of moving toward sustainability assessment. As far as we are aware, our study constitutes the first attempt to apply and formalize SES constructs to EIA practice within a regulated procedure. Our framework goes beyond conventional scoping approaches reliant on checklists and matrices by requiring the EIA practitioner to cocreate a conceptual model of the current and future social-ecological system with the implicated communities. This means social and biophysical impacts are assessed integratively, and that communities participate meaningfully in the EIA process, thereby helping address two of the most common shortfalls of EIA practice. The framework was applied in two case studies, establishment of community-based accommodation linked to existing tourism infrastructure (Eastern Cape, South Africa, and a proposed wine estate (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The framework revealed impacts, which would not be considered in a biophysically-oriented EIA, and helped identify development synergies and institutional and governance needs that are equally likely to have been overlooked. We suggest the framework has value as a

Framework for conducting environmental assessments of trade negotiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-02-01

This document described the complex task of assessing the environmental impacts of trade negotiations with particular emphasis on the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment which the Government of Canada will conduct through a systematic process which can identify and evaluate possible and significant environmental impacts of an initiative. The objective of the assessment is to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making processes at the earliest possible stage. The first part of the framework identifies the importance of recognizing environmental considerations of trade and explains how the framework will contribute to environmental policy. The second part of the framework outlines the process and analytical requirements for conducting an environmental assessment of a trade negotiation. Environmental Assessment Committees will be formed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and will include representatives from federal government departments and agencies. All analyses will be conducted in four stages which will include identifying the economic effect of the negotiation, identifying the likely environmental impact of such changes, assessing the significance of the likely environmental impacts, and identifying enhancement/mitigation options to inform the negotiations. The framework is designed to be flexible enough to be used at current and future trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and in bilateral Free Trade Agreements. An environmental assessment of trade negotiations is considered to be an important decision-making tool for promoting sustainable development. 16 refs., 1 tab

Measuring research impact in medical research institutes: a qualitative study of the attitudes and opinions of Australian medical research institutes towards research impact assessment frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Deeming, Simon; Reeves, Penny; Ramanathan, Shanthi; Attia, John; Nilsson, Michael; Searles, Andrew

2018-03-16

The question of how to measure, assess and optimise the returns from investment in health and medical research (HMR) is a highly policy-relevant issue. Research Impact Assessment Frameworks (RIAFs) provide a conceptual measurement framework to assess the impact from HMR. The aims of this study were (1) to elicit the views of Medical Research Institutes (MRIs) regarding objectives, definitions, methods, barriers, potential scope and attitudes towards RIAFs, and (2) to investigate whether an assessment framework should represent a retrospective reflection of research impact or a prospective approach integrated into the research process. The wider objective was to inform the development of a draft RIAF for Australia's MRIs. Purposive sampling to derive a heterogeneous sample of Australian MRIs was used alongside semi-structured interviews with senior executives responsible for research translation or senior researchers affected by research impact initiatives. Thematic analysis of the interview transcriptions using the framework approach was then performed. Interviews were conducted with senior representatives from 15 MRIs. Participants understood the need for greater research translation/impact, but varied in their comprehension and implementation of RIAFs. Common concerns included the time lag to the generation of societal impacts from basic or discovery science, and whether impact reflected a narrow commercialisation agenda. Broad support emerged for the use of metrics, case study and economic methods. Support was also provided for the rationale of both standardised and customised metrics. Engendering cultural change in the approach to research translation was acknowledged as both a barrier to greater impact and a critical objective for the assessment process. Participants perceived that the existing research environment incentivised the generation of academic publications and track records, and often conflicted with the generation of wider impacts. The potential to

Conceptualising the effectiveness of impact assessment processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chanchitpricha, Chaunjit; Bond, Alan

2013-01-01

This paper aims at conceptualising the effectiveness of impact assessment processes through the development of a literature-based framework of criteria to measure impact assessment effectiveness. Four categories of effectiveness were established: procedural, substantive, transactive and normative, each containing a number of criteria; no studies have previously brought together all four of these categories into such a comprehensive, criteria-based framework and undertaken systematic evaluation of practice. The criteria can be mapped within a cycle/or cycles of evaluation, based on the ‘logic model’, at the stages of input, process, output and outcome to enable the identification of connections between the criteria across the categories of effectiveness. This framework is considered to have potential application in measuring the effectiveness of many impact assessment processes, including strategic environmental assessment (SEA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), social impact assessment (SIA) and health impact assessment (HIA). -- Highlights: • Conceptualising effectiveness of impact assessment processes. • Identification of factors influencing effectiveness of impact assessment processes. • Development of criteria within a framework for evaluating IA effectiveness. • Applying the logic model to examine connections between effectiveness criteria

Conceptualising the effectiveness of impact assessment processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chanchitpricha, Chaunjit, E-mail: chaunjit@g.sut.ac.th [School of Environmental Health, Suranaree University of Technology, 111 University Avenue, Maung District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000 (Thailand); Bond, Alan, E-mail: alan.bond@uea.ac.uk [School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom); Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, Internal Box 375, North West University (Potchefstroom campus) (South Africa)

2013-11-15

This paper aims at conceptualising the effectiveness of impact assessment processes through the development of a literature-based framework of criteria to measure impact assessment effectiveness. Four categories of effectiveness were established: procedural, substantive, transactive and normative, each containing a number of criteria; no studies have previously brought together all four of these categories into such a comprehensive, criteria-based framework and undertaken systematic evaluation of practice. The criteria can be mapped within a cycle/or cycles of evaluation, based on the ‘logic model’, at the stages of input, process, output and outcome to enable the identification of connections between the criteria across the categories of effectiveness. This framework is considered to have potential application in measuring the effectiveness of many impact assessment processes, including strategic environmental assessment (SEA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), social impact assessment (SIA) and health impact assessment (HIA). -- Highlights: • Conceptualising effectiveness of impact assessment processes. • Identification of factors influencing effectiveness of impact assessment processes. • Development of criteria within a framework for evaluating IA effectiveness. • Applying the logic model to examine connections between effectiveness criteria.

Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment ...

Science.gov (United States)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include near-field chemical sources (e.g., those originating from consumer products and building materials) that have traditionally been excluded from LCA. A new generation of rapid human exposure modeling and high-throughput toxicity testing is transforming chemical risk prioritization and provides an opportunity for integration of screening-level risk assessment (RA) with LCA. The combined LCA and RA approach considers environmental impacts of products alongside risks to human health, which is consistent with regulatory frameworks addressing RA within a sustainability mindset. A case study is presented to juxtapose LCA and risk screening approaches for a chemical used in a consumer product. The case study demonstrates how these new risk screening tools can be used to inform toxicity impact estimates in LCA and highlights needs for future research. The framework provides a basis for developing tools and methods to support decision making on the use of chemicals in products. This paper presents a conceptual framework for including near-field exposures into Life Cycle Assessment using advanced human exposure modeling and high-throughput tools

Assessing the impact of healthcare research: A systematic review of methodological frameworks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samantha Cruz Rivera

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Increasingly, researchers need to demonstrate the impact of their research to their sponsors, funders, and fellow academics. However, the most appropriate way of measuring the impact of healthcare research is subject to debate. We aimed to identify the existing methodological frameworks used to measure healthcare research impact and to summarise the common themes and metrics in an impact matrix.Two independent investigators systematically searched the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE, the Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL+, the Health Management Information Consortium, and the Journal of Research Evaluation from inception until May 2017 for publications that presented a methodological framework for research impact. We then summarised the common concepts and themes across methodological frameworks and identified the metrics used to evaluate differing forms of impact. Twenty-four unique methodological frameworks were identified, addressing 5 broad categories of impact: (1 'primary research-related impact', (2 'influence on policy making', (3 'health and health systems impact', (4 'health-related and societal impact', and (5 'broader economic impact'. These categories were subdivided into 16 common impact subgroups. Authors of the included publications proposed 80 different metrics aimed at measuring impact in these areas. The main limitation of the study was the potential exclusion of relevant articles, as a consequence of the poor indexing of the databases searched.The measurement of research impact is an essential exercise to help direct the allocation of limited research resources, to maximise research benefit, and to help minimise research waste. This review provides a collective summary of existing methodological frameworks for research impact, which funders may use to inform the measurement of research impact and researchers may use to inform

Guidelines for comparative assessment of the environmental impacts of wastes from electricity generation systems. A framework for the assessment and comparison of environmental impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-02-01

The report describes the initial phase of a project intended to provide guidance to those concerned with environmental aspects of solid and hazardous waste management in electrical energy production systems. The focus is on describing a methodology for assessing and comparing the environmental impact arising from these wastes, and thereby to provide an input to overall electrical generation comparison projects, such as DECADES. The structure of the report is as follows: after considering a range of electrical energy production systems with an outline discussion of the waste streams produced in each case, the relevant treatment technologies and disposal options are reviewed. Then the elements of the framework for comparative assessment proposed in this report are described. The types of environmental impact, environmental protection criteria and indicators or end-points to measure the impact, the way in which such impacts can be quantitatively assessed and compared are discussed. 59 refs, figs and tabs

A framework for quantitative assessment of impacts related to energy and mineral resource development

Science.gov (United States)

Haines, Seth S.; Diffendorfer, James; Balistrieri, Laurie S.; Berger, Byron R.; Cook, Troy A.; Gautier, Donald L.; Gallegos, Tanya J.; Gerritsen, Margot; Graffy, Elisabeth; Hawkins, Sarah; Johnson, Kathleen; Macknick, Jordan; McMahon, Peter; Modde, Tim; Pierce, Brenda; Schuenemeyer, John H.; Semmens, Darius; Simon, Benjamin; Taylor, Jason; Walton-Day, Katherine

2013-01-01

Natural resource planning at all scales demands methods for assessing the impacts of resource development and use, and in particular it requires standardized methods that yield robust and unbiased results. Building from existing probabilistic methods for assessing the volumes of energy and mineral resources, we provide an algorithm for consistent, reproducible, quantitative assessment of resource development impacts. The approach combines probabilistic input data with Monte Carlo statistical methods to determine probabilistic outputs that convey the uncertainties inherent in the data. For example, one can utilize our algorithm to combine data from a natural gas resource assessment with maps of sage grouse leks and piñon-juniper woodlands in the same area to estimate possible future habitat impacts due to possible future gas development. As another example: one could combine geochemical data and maps of lynx habitat with data from a mineral deposit assessment in the same area to determine possible future mining impacts on water resources and lynx habitat. The approach can be applied to a broad range of positive and negative resource development impacts, such as water quantity or quality, economic benefits, or air quality, limited only by the availability of necessary input data and quantified relationships among geologic resources, development alternatives, and impacts. The framework enables quantitative evaluation of the trade-offs inherent in resource management decision-making, including cumulative impacts, to address societal concerns and policy aspects of resource development.

Adaptation strategies for health impacts of climate change in Western Australia: Application of a Health Impact Assessment framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spickett, Jeffery T.; Brown, Helen L.; Katscherian, Dianne

2011-01-01

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the globe and there is substantial evidence that this will result in a number of health impacts, regardless of the level of greenhouse gas mitigation. It is therefore apparent that a combined approach of mitigation and adaptation will be required to protect public health. While the importance of mitigation is recognised, this project focused on the role of adaptation strategies in addressing the potential health impacts of climate change. The nature and magnitude of these health impacts will be determined by a number of parameters that are dependent upon the location. Firstly, climate change will vary between regions. Secondly, the characteristics of each region in terms of population and the ability to adapt to changes will greatly influence the extent of the health impacts that are experienced now and into the future. Effective adaptation measures therefore need to be developed with these differences in mind. A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) framework was used to consider the implications of climate change on the health of the population of Western Australia (WA) and to develop a range of adaptive responses suited to WA. A broad range of stakeholders participated in the HIA process, providing informed input into developing an understanding of the potential health impacts and potential adaptation strategies from a diverse sector perspective. Potential health impacts were identified in relation to climate change predictions in WA in the year 2030. The risk associated with each of these impacts was assessed using a qualitative process that considered the consequences and the likelihood of the health impact occurring. Adaptations were then developed which could be used to mitigate the identified health impacts and provide responses which could be used by Government for future decision making. The periodic application of a HIA framework is seen as an ideal tool to develop appropriate adaptation strategies to

A framework for the quantitative assessment of climate change impacts on water-related activities at the basin scale

OpenAIRE

Anghileri, D.; Pianosi, F.; Soncini-Sessa, R.

2011-01-01

While quantitative assessment of the climate change impact on hydrology at the basin scale is quite addressed in the literature, extension of quantitative analysis to impact on the ecological, economic and social sphere is still limited, although well recognized as a key issue to support water resource planning and promote public participation. In this paper we propose a framework for assessing climate change impact on water-related activities at the basin scale. The specific features of our ...

Uncertainty-embedded dynamic life cycle sustainability assessment framework: An ex-ante perspective on the impacts of alternative vehicle options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onat, Nuri Cihat; Kucukvar, Murat; Tatari, Omer

2016-01-01

Alternative vehicle technologies have a great potential to minimize the transportation-related environmental impacts, reduce the reliance of the U.S. on imported petroleum, and increase energy security. However, they introduce new uncertainties related to their environmental, economic, and social impacts and certain challenges for widespread adoption. In this study, a novel method, uncertainty-embedded dynamic life cycle sustainability assessment framework, is developed to address both methodological challenges and uncertainties in transportation sustainability research. The proposed approach provides a more comprehensive, system-based sustainability assessment framework by capturing the dynamic relations among the parameters within the U.S. transportation system as a whole with respect to its environmental, social, and economic impacts. Using multivariate uncertainty analysis, likelihood of the impact reduction potentials of different vehicle types, as well as the behavioral limits of the sustainability potentials of each vehicle type are analyzed. Seven sustainability impact categories are dynamically quantified for four different vehicle types (internal combustion, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles) from 2015 to 2050. Although impacts of electric vehicles have the largest uncertainty, they are expected (90% confidence) to be the best alternative in long-term for reducing human health impacts and air pollution from transportation. While results based on deterministic (average) values indicate that electric vehicles have greater potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, plug-in hybrid vehicles have the largest potential according to the results with 90% confidence interval. - Highlights: • Uncertainty-embedded dynamic sustainability assessment framework, is developed. • Methodological challenges and uncertainties are addressed. • Seven impact categories are quantified for four different vehicle types.

A Conceptual Framework for Vulnerability Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Critical Oil and Gas Infrastructure in the Niger Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Justin Udie

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The impact of climate change on the Niger Delta is severe, as extreme weather events have inflicted various degrees of stress on critical oil/gas infrastructure. Typically, assets managers and government agencies lack a clear framework for evaluating the vulnerability of these systems. This paper presents a participatory framework for the vulnerability assessment of critical oil/gas infrastructure to climate change impacts in the Niger Delta context. Through a critical review of relevant literature and triangulating observational and exploratory data from the field, this paper has developed a conceptual framework with three elements: (1 a preliminary scoping activity; (2 the vulnerability assessment; and (3 mainstreaming the results into institutional asset management codes. Scoping involves the definition of research aims and objectives, review of prevailing climate burdens and impacts, exploratory investigation, screening for new (planned assets and selection of relevant infrastructure. The emphasis on screening for planned infrastructure is to facilitate the incorporation of sustainable adaptive capacities into the original design of identified systems. A conceptual framework for vulnerability assessment is presented as a robust systematic iterative model for the evaluation of selected assets using an appropriate methodology. In this study, analytic hierarchy process (AHP is applied while mainstreaming as part of the research framework is emphasised to aid commercial implementation from an expert-based perspective. The study recommends the use of other suitable methodologies and systematic approaches to test the flexibility of the framework.

Assessment of information impacts in power system security against malicious attacks in a general framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bompard, E.; Napoli, R.; Xue, F.

2009-01-01

In the analysis of power systems security, recently a new concern related to possible malicious attacks caught much attention. Coordination among different transmission system operators (TSO) in an interconnected power system to counteract such attacks has become an important problem. This paper presents a general framework for describing the physical, cyber and decision-making aspects of the problem and their interrelations; within this framework, an analytic tool for the assessment of information impacts in handling on-line security after a malicious attack is proposed and discussed. The model is based on the socially rational multi-agent systems and the equilibrium of a fictitious play is considered to analyze the impacts of various levels of information available to the interconnected system operators on the outcomes of the decision-making process under attack. A 34-buses test system, with 3 systems interconnected by tie-lines, is presented to illustrate the model and compare the impacts of different information scenarios

Assessment of information impacts in power system security against malicious attacks in a general framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bompard, E. [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Politecnico di Torino, I-10129 Torino (Italy)], E-mail: ettore.bompard@polito.it; Napoli, R.; Xue, F. [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Politecnico di Torino, I-10129 Torino (Italy)

2009-06-15

In the analysis of power systems security, recently a new concern related to possible malicious attacks caught much attention. Coordination among different transmission system operators (TSO) in an interconnected power system to counteract such attacks has become an important problem. This paper presents a general framework for describing the physical, cyber and decision-making aspects of the problem and their interrelations; within this framework, an analytic tool for the assessment of information impacts in handling on-line security after a malicious attack is proposed and discussed. The model is based on the socially rational multi-agent systems and the equilibrium of a fictitious play is considered to analyze the impacts of various levels of information available to the interconnected system operators on the outcomes of the decision-making process under attack. A 34-buses test system, with 3 systems interconnected by tie-lines, is presented to illustrate the model and compare the impacts of different information scenarios.

A bi-level environmental impact assessment framework for comparing construction and demolition waste management strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Yazdanbakhsh, Ardavan

2018-04-27

Several pioneering life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted in the past to assess the environmental impact of specific methods for managing mineral construction and demolition waste (MCDW), such as recycling the waste for use in concrete. Those studies focus on comparing the use of recycled MCDW and that of virgin components to produce materials or systems that serve specified functions. Often, the approaches adopted by the studies do not account for the potential environmental consequence of avoiding the existing or alternative waste management practices. The present work focuses on how product systems need to be defined in recycling LCA studies and what processes need to be within the system boundaries. A bi-level LCA framework is presented for modelling alternative waste management approaches in which the impacts are measured and compared at two scales of strategy and decision-making. Different functional units are defined for each level, all of which correspond to the same flow of MCDW in a cascade of product systems. For the sole purpose of demonstrating how the framework is implemented an illustrative example is presented, based on real data and a number of simplifying assumptions, which compares the impacts of a number of potential MCDW management strategies in New York City. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adapting to climate change. Towards a European framework for action. Impact Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-04-01

the general objective of promoting adaptation is translated into this context to specific objectives i.e. of identifying priority adaptation measures and of defining an action plan for the next 4 years. It also establishes operational objectives corresponding to the key problems identified in the previous section. This impact assessment is of a qualitative nature. A first set of options is presented in Chapter 4, these refer to the overall adaptation approaches, for which a proportionate assessment of the economic, environmental and social impacts is conducted to allow a prioritisation of adaptation actions. A second set of options is presented in Chapter 5, which refers to the specific actions to be undertaken in the short term. These options are assessed with respect to the operational criteria defined in chapter 3, and with respect to subsidiarity, knowledge basis and resources aspects. Chapter 6 describes the monitoring and evaluation actions to be undertaken in priority, to allow a further review of the action framework with respect to the operational objectives defined in chapter 3. The analysis is based on the 2008 EEA/JRC/WHO report on Climate Change Impacts, and on a list of other reports and papers quoted in footnotes or detailed in an appendix, together with a glossary and a report providing detailed results on the public and stakeholder consultations on the Green Paper. Annex 1 provides further details on the framework for integrated assessment of adaptation policies, including recent estimates on adaptation costs from the literature. A more detailed analysis of climate change vulnerability, adaptation potential and the need for EU action is provided for environmental cross cutting issues (Annex 2) and at Sectoral or geographical level (Annex 3). Annex 4 provides an overview of National adaptation strategies. Annex 5 provides details on the concrete measures that have been screened for the short-term EU action plan. An executive summary is presented in a

Informing the NCA: EPA's Climate Change Impact and Risk Analysis Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Sarofim, M. C.; Martinich, J.; Kolian, M.; Crimmins, A. R.

2017-12-01

The Climate Change Impact and Risk Analysis (CIRA) framework is designed to quantify the physical impacts and economic damages in the United States under future climate change scenarios. To date, the framework has been applied to 25 sectors, using scenarios and projections developed for the Fourth National Climate Assessment. The strength of this framework has been in the use of consistent climatic, socioeconomic, and technological assumptions and inputs across the impact sectors to maximize the ease of cross-sector comparison. The results of the underlying CIRA sectoral analyses are informing the sustained assessment process by helping to address key gaps related to economic valuation and risk. Advancing capacity and scientific literature in this area has created opportunity to consider future applications and strengthening of the framework. This presentation will describe the CIRA framework, present results for various sectors such as heat mortality, air & water quality, winter recreation, and sea level rise, and introduce potential enhancements that can improve the utility of the framework for decision analysis.

The science of adaptation. A framework for assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smit, B.; Burton, I.; Street, R.; Klein, R.J.T.; Maciver, D.C.

1999-01-01

This paper outlines what is meant by 'adaptation' to climate change, and how it might be addressed in the IPCC Assessments. Two roles of adaptation in the climate change field are identified: adaptation as part of impact assessment (where the key question is: what adaptations are likely?), and adaptation as part of the policy response (where the central question is: what adaptations are recommended?). The concept of adaptation has been adopted in several fields including climate impact assessment and policy development, risk management, and natural hazards research. A framework for systematically defining adaptations is based on three questions: (1) adaptation to what? (2) who or what adapts? and (3) how does adaptation occur? The paper demonstrates that, for adaptation purposes, climate extremes and variability are integral parts of climate change, along with shifts in mean conditions. Attributes for differentiating adaptations include purposefulness, timing, temporal and spatial scope, effects, form and performance. The framework provides a guide for the treatment of adaptation in the IPCC assessments, both in the assessment of impacts and in the evaluation of adaptive policy options. 64 refs

The FASSET Framework for assessment of environmental impact of ionising radiation in European ecosystems-an overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larsson, C-M

2004-01-01

The FASSET project was launched in November 2000 under the EC 5th Framework Programme to develop a framework for the assessment of environmental impact of ionising radiation in European ecosystems. It involved 15 organisations in seven European countries and delivered its final report in spring 2004. The project set out to organise radioecological and radiobiological data into a logical structure that would facilitate the assessment of likely effects on non-human biota resulting from known or postulated depositions of radionuclides in the environment. The project included an overview of 20 pathway-based environmental assessment systems targeted at radioactive substances, or at hazardous substances in general. The resulting framework includes the following fundamental elements: source characterisation; description of seven major European ecosystems; selection of a number of reference organisms on the basis of prior ecosystem and exposure analysis; environmental transfer analysis; dosimetric considerations; effects analysis; and general guidance on interpretation including consideration of uncertainties. The project has used existing information supplemented with development in some areas, e.g. Monte Carlo calculations to derive dose conversion coefficients, model development, and the building of an effects database (FRED, the FASSET Radiation Effects Database). On the basis of experience from FASSET and other recent programmes, it can be concluded that (i) there is substantial agreement in terms of conceptual approaches between different frameworks currently in use or proposed, (ii) differences in technical approaches can be largely attributed to differences in ecosystems of concern or in national regulatory requirements, (iii) sufficient knowledge is available to scientifically justify assessments following the Framework structure, but (iv) significant data gaps exist for environmental transfer of key nuclides as well as for effects data for key wildlife groups at

Impact assessment: Eroding benefits through streamlining?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bond, Alan, E-mail: alan.bond@uea.ac.uk [School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia (United Kingdom); School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, North-West University (South Africa); Pope, Jenny, E-mail: jenny@integral-sustainability.net [Integral Sustainability (Australia); Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (Australia); Morrison-Saunders, Angus, E-mail: A.Morrison-Saunders@murdoch.edu.au [School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, North-West University (South Africa); Environmental Science, Murdoch University (Australia); Retief, Francois, E-mail: francois.retief@nwu.ac.za [School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, North-West University (South Africa); Gunn, Jill A.E., E-mail: jill.gunn@usask.ca [Department of Geography and Planning and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan (Canada)

2014-02-15

This paper argues that Governments have sought to streamline impact assessment in recent years (defined as the last five years) to counter concerns over the costs and potential for delays to economic development. We hypothesise that this has had some adverse consequences on the benefits that subsequently accrue from the assessments. This hypothesis is tested using a framework developed from arguments for the benefits brought by Environmental Impact Assessment made in 1982 in the face of the UK Government opposition to its implementation in a time of economic recession. The particular benefits investigated are ‘consistency and fairness’, ‘early warning’, ‘environment and development’, and ‘public involvement’. Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Western Australia are the jurisdictions tested using this framework. The conclusions indicate that significant streamlining has been undertaken which has had direct adverse effects on some of the benefits that impact assessment should deliver, particularly in Canada and the UK. The research has not examined whether streamlining has had implications for the effectiveness of impact assessment, but the causal link between streamlining and benefits does sound warning bells that merit further investigation. -- Highlights: • Investigation of the extent to which government has streamlined IA. • Evaluation framework was developed based on benefits of impact assessment. • Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Western Australia were examined. • Trajectory in last five years is attrition of benefits of impact assessment.

Impact assessment: Eroding benefits through streamlining?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bond, Alan; Pope, Jenny; Morrison-Saunders, Angus; Retief, Francois; Gunn, Jill A.E.

2014-01-01

This paper argues that Governments have sought to streamline impact assessment in recent years (defined as the last five years) to counter concerns over the costs and potential for delays to economic development. We hypothesise that this has had some adverse consequences on the benefits that subsequently accrue from the assessments. This hypothesis is tested using a framework developed from arguments for the benefits brought by Environmental Impact Assessment made in 1982 in the face of the UK Government opposition to its implementation in a time of economic recession. The particular benefits investigated are ‘consistency and fairness’, ‘early warning’, ‘environment and development’, and ‘public involvement’. Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Western Australia are the jurisdictions tested using this framework. The conclusions indicate that significant streamlining has been undertaken which has had direct adverse effects on some of the benefits that impact assessment should deliver, particularly in Canada and the UK. The research has not examined whether streamlining has had implications for the effectiveness of impact assessment, but the causal link between streamlining and benefits does sound warning bells that merit further investigation. -- Highlights: • Investigation of the extent to which government has streamlined IA. • Evaluation framework was developed based on benefits of impact assessment. • Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Western Australia were examined. • Trajectory in last five years is attrition of benefits of impact assessment

A framework for predicting impacts on ecosystem services ...

Science.gov (United States)

Protection of ecosystem services is increasingly emphasized as a risk-assessment goal, but there are wide gaps between current ecological risk-assessment endpoints and potential effects on services provided by ecosystems. The authors present a framework that links common ecotoxicological endpoints to chemical impacts on populations and communities and the ecosystem services that they provide. This framework builds on considerable advances in mechanistic effects models designed to span multiple levels of biological organization and account for various types of biological interactions and feedbacks. For illustration, the authors introduce 2 case studies that employ well-developed and validated mechanistic effects models: the inSTREAM individual-based model for fish populations and the AQUATOX ecosystem model. They also show how dynamic energy budget theory can provide a common currency for interpreting organism-level toxicity. They suggest that a framework based on mechanistic models that predict impacts on ecosystem services resulting from chemical exposure, combined with economic valuation, can provide a useful approach for informing environmental management. The authors highlight the potential benefits of using this framework as well as the challenges that will need to be addressed in future work. The framework introduced here represents an ongoing initiative supported by the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS; http://www.nimbi

Environmental Impacts of Future Urban Deployment of Electric Vehicles: Assessment Framework and Case Study of Copenhagen for 2016-2030.

Science.gov (United States)

Bohnes, Florence A; Gregg, Jay S; Laurent, Alexis

2017-12-05

To move toward environmentally sustainable transport systems, electric vehicles (EVs) are increasingly seen as viable alternatives to internal combustion vehicles (ICVs). To ensure effectiveness of such deployment, holistic assessments of environmental impacts can help decision-makers determine optimized urban strategies in a long-term perspective. However, explicit guidance and conduct of such assessments are currently missing. Here, we therefore propose a framework using life cycle assessment that enables the quantification of environmental impacts of a transport system at full urban scale from a fleet-based, foresight perspective. The analysis of the passenger car fleet development in the city of Copenhagen for the years 2016-2030 is used as a proof-of-concept. We modeled and compared five powertrain technologies, and we assessed four fleet-based scenarios for the entire city. Our results showed relative environmental benefits from range-extended and fuel-cell EVs over ICVs and standard EVs. These results were found to be sensitive to local settings, like electricity grid mix, which could alter the relative environmental performances across EV technologies. The comprehensive framework developed here can be applied to other geographic areas and contexts to assess the environmental sustainability of transport systems.

The social impacts of dams: A new framework for scholarly analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchherr, Julian; Charles, Katrina J.

2016-01-01

No commonly used framework exists in the scholarly study of the social impacts of dams. This hinders comparisons of analyses and thus the accumulation of knowledge. The aim of this paper is to unify scholarly understanding of dams' social impacts via the analysis and aggregation of the various frameworks currently used in the scholarly literature. For this purpose, we have systematically analyzed and aggregated 27 frameworks employed by academics analyzing dams' social impacts (found in a set of 217 articles). A key finding of the analysis is that currently used frameworks are often not specific to dams and thus omit key impacts associated with them. The result of our analysis and aggregation is a new framework for scholarly analysis (which we call ‘matrix framework’) specifically on dams' social impacts, with space, time and value as its key dimensions as well as infrastructure, community and livelihood as its key components. Building on the scholarly understanding of this topic enables us to conceptualize the inherently complex and multidimensional issues of dams' social impacts in a holistic manner. If commonly employed in academia (and possibly in practice), this framework would enable more transparent assessment and comparison of projects.

Ecological risk assessment as a framework for environmental impact assessments

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Claassen, Marius

1999-01-01

Full Text Available Environmental impact assessments in South Africa are usually conducted according to the integrated environmental management (IEM) procedure. The preliminary investigation reported here, indicated that most of the ecological requirements specified...

Assessing concentrations and health impacts of air quality management strategies: Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation (FRESH-EST).

Science.gov (United States)

Milando, Chad W; Martenies, Sheena E; Batterman, Stuart A

2016-09-01

In air quality management, reducing emissions from pollutant sources often forms the primary response to attaining air quality standards and guidelines. Despite the broad success of air quality management in the US, challenges remain. As examples: allocating emissions reductions among multiple sources is complex and can require many rounds of negotiation; health impacts associated with emissions, the ultimate driver for the standards, are not explicitly assessed; and long dispersion model run-times, which result from the increasing size and complexity of model inputs, limit the number of scenarios that can be evaluated, thus increasing the likelihood of missing an optimal strategy. A new modeling framework, called the "Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation" (FRESH-EST), is presented to respond to these challenges. FRESH-EST estimates concentrations and health impacts of alternative emissions scenarios at the urban scale, providing efficient computations from emissions to health impacts at the Census block or other desired spatial scale. In addition, FRESH-EST can optimize emission reductions to meet specified environmental and health constraints, and a convenient user interface and graphical displays are provided to facilitate scenario evaluation. The new framework is demonstrated in an SO2 non-attainment area in southeast Michigan with two optimization strategies: the first minimizes emission reductions needed to achieve a target concentration; the second minimizes concentrations while holding constant the cumulative emissions across local sources (e.g., an emissions floor). The optimized strategies match outcomes in the proposed SO2 State Implementation Plan without the proposed stack parameter modifications or shutdowns. In addition, the lower health impacts estimated for these strategies suggest that FRESH-EST could be used to identify potentially more desirable pollution control alternatives in air quality management planning

[How can the impact of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in the Austrian healthcare system be assessed? Design of a conceptual framework].

Science.gov (United States)

Schumacher, I; Zechmeister, I

2012-04-01

In Austria research in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has been conducted since the 1990s. Research in HTA aims at supporting an adequate and efficient use of health care resources in order to sustain a publicly financed and solidary health care system. Ultimately, HTA research should result in better health of the population. Research results should provide independent information for decision makers. For legitimizing further research resources and for prioritizing future HTA research and guaranteeing the value of future research, HTA research needs itself to undergo evaluation. Aim of the study is to design a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of HTA research in Austria on the basis of the existing literature. An already existing review which presents methods and concepts how to evaluate HTA-impact was updated by a systematic research including literature of the years 2004-January 2010. Results were analysed in regard to 4 categories: definition of the term impact, target groups and system levels, operationalisation of indicators and evaluation methods. Overall, 19 publications were included. Referring to the 4 categories, an explanation of impact has to take into account HTAs multidisciplinary setting and needs a context related definition. Target groups, system levels, indicators and methods depend on the impact defined. Studies investigated direct and indirect impact and were focused on different target groups like physicians, nurses and decision makers on the micro-, and meso level, as well as politicians and reimbursement institutions on the macro level. Except for one reference all studies applied already known and mostly qualitative methods for measuring the impact of HTA research. Thus, an appropriate pool of instruments seems to be available. There is a lack of information about validity of applied methods and indicators. By adapting adequate methods and concepts a conceptual framework for the Austrian HTA-Impact evaluation has been

A framework for global river flood risk assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Winsemius, H. C.; Van Beek, L. P. H.; Jongman, B.; Ward, P. J.; Bouwman, A.

2013-05-01

There is an increasing need for strategic global assessments of flood risks in current and future conditions. In this paper, we propose a framework for global flood risk assessment for river floods, which can be applied in current conditions, as well as in future conditions due to climate and socio-economic changes. The framework's goal is to establish flood hazard and impact estimates at a high enough resolution to allow for their combination into a risk estimate, which can be used for strategic global flood risk assessments. The framework estimates hazard at a resolution of ~ 1 km2 using global forcing datasets of the current (or in scenario mode, future) climate, a global hydrological model, a global flood-routing model, and more importantly, an inundation downscaling routine. The second component of the framework combines hazard with flood impact models at the same resolution (e.g. damage, affected GDP, and affected population) to establish indicators for flood risk (e.g. annual expected damage, affected GDP, and affected population). The framework has been applied using the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB, which includes an optional global flood routing model DynRout, combined with scenarios from the Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE). We performed downscaling of the hazard probability distributions to 1 km2 resolution with a new downscaling algorithm, applied on Bangladesh as a first case study application area. We demonstrate the risk assessment approach in Bangladesh based on GDP per capita data, population, and land use maps for 2010 and 2050. Validation of the hazard estimates has been performed using the Dartmouth Flood Observatory database. This was done by comparing a high return period flood with the maximum observed extent, as well as by comparing a time series of a single event with Dartmouth imagery of the event. Validation of modelled damage estimates was performed using observed damage estimates from the EM

A framework for global river flood risk assessments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. C. Winsemius

2013-05-01

Full Text Available There is an increasing need for strategic global assessments of flood risks in current and future conditions. In this paper, we propose a framework for global flood risk assessment for river floods, which can be applied in current conditions, as well as in future conditions due to climate and socio-economic changes. The framework's goal is to establish flood hazard and impact estimates at a high enough resolution to allow for their combination into a risk estimate, which can be used for strategic global flood risk assessments. The framework estimates hazard at a resolution of ~ 1 km2 using global forcing datasets of the current (or in scenario mode, future climate, a global hydrological model, a global flood-routing model, and more importantly, an inundation downscaling routine. The second component of the framework combines hazard with flood impact models at the same resolution (e.g. damage, affected GDP, and affected population to establish indicators for flood risk (e.g. annual expected damage, affected GDP, and affected population. The framework has been applied using the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB, which includes an optional global flood routing model DynRout, combined with scenarios from the Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE. We performed downscaling of the hazard probability distributions to 1 km2 resolution with a new downscaling algorithm, applied on Bangladesh as a first case study application area. We demonstrate the risk assessment approach in Bangladesh based on GDP per capita data, population, and land use maps for 2010 and 2050. Validation of the hazard estimates has been performed using the Dartmouth Flood Observatory database. This was done by comparing a high return period flood with the maximum observed extent, as well as by comparing a time series of a single event with Dartmouth imagery of the event. Validation of modelled damage estimates was performed using observed damage estimates from

The social impacts of dams: A new framework for scholarly analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirchherr, Julian, E-mail: julian.kirchherr@sant.ox.ac.uk; Charles, Katrina J., E-mail: katrina.charles@ouce.ox.ac.uk

2016-09-15

No commonly used framework exists in the scholarly study of the social impacts of dams. This hinders comparisons of analyses and thus the accumulation of knowledge. The aim of this paper is to unify scholarly understanding of dams' social impacts via the analysis and aggregation of the various frameworks currently used in the scholarly literature. For this purpose, we have systematically analyzed and aggregated 27 frameworks employed by academics analyzing dams' social impacts (found in a set of 217 articles). A key finding of the analysis is that currently used frameworks are often not specific to dams and thus omit key impacts associated with them. The result of our analysis and aggregation is a new framework for scholarly analysis (which we call ‘matrix framework’) specifically on dams' social impacts, with space, time and value as its key dimensions as well as infrastructure, community and livelihood as its key components. Building on the scholarly understanding of this topic enables us to conceptualize the inherently complex and multidimensional issues of dams' social impacts in a holistic manner. If commonly employed in academia (and possibly in practice), this framework would enable more transparent assessment and comparison of projects.

A Framework for Comparative Assessments of Energy Efficiency Policy Measures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blum, Helcio; Atkinson, Barbara; Lekov, Alex

2011-05-24

When policy makers propose new policies, there is a need to assess the costs and benefits of the proposed policy measures, to compare them to existing and alternative policies, and to rank them according to their effectiveness. In the case of equipment energy efficiency regulations, comparing the effects of a range of alternative policy measures requires evaluating their effects on consumers’ budgets, on national energy consumption and economics, and on the environment. Such an approach should be able to represent in a single framework the particularities of each policy measure and provide comparable results. This report presents an integrated methodological framework to assess prospectively the energy, economic, and environmental impacts of energy efficiency policy measures. The framework builds on the premise that the comparative assessment of energy efficiency policy measures should (a) rely on a common set of primary data and parameters, (b) follow a single functional approach to estimate the energy, economic, and emissions savings resulting from each assessed measure, and (c) present results through a set of comparable indicators. This framework elaborates on models that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has used in support of its rulemakings on mandatory energy efficiency standards. In addition to a rigorous analysis of the impacts of mandatory standards, DOE compares the projected results of alternative policy measures to those projected to be achieved by the standards. The framework extends such an approach to provide a broad, generic methodology, with no geographic or sectoral limitations, that is useful for evaluating any type of equipment energy efficiency market intervention. The report concludes with a demonstration of how to use the framework to compare the impacts estimated for twelve policy measures focusing on increasing the energy efficiency of gas furnaces in the United States.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF A HEALTH TECHNOLOGY: A SCOPING REVIEW.

Science.gov (United States)

Polisena, Julie; De Angelis, Gino; Kaunelis, David; Gutierrez-Ibarluzea, Iñaki

2018-06-13

The Health Technology Expert Review Panel is an advisory body to Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) that develops recommendations on health technology assessments (HTAs) for nondrug health technologies using a deliberative framework. The framework spans several domains, including the environmental impact of the health technology(ies). Our research objective was to identify articles on frameworks, methods or case studies on the environmental impact assessment of health technologies. A literature search in major databases and a focused gray literature search were conducted. The main search concepts were HTA and environmental impact/sustainability. Eligible articles were those that described a conceptual framework or methods used to conduct an environmental assessment of health technologies, and case studies on the application of an environmental assessment. From the 1,710 citations identified, thirteen publications were included. Two articles presented a framework to incorporate environmental assessment in HTAs. Other approaches described weight of evidence practices and comprehensive and integrated environmental impact assessments. Central themes derived include transparency and repeatability, integration of components in a framework or of evidence into a single outcome, data availability to ensure the accuracy of findings, and familiarity with the approach used. Each framework and methods presented have different foci related to the ecosystem, health economics, or engineering practices. Their descriptions suggested transparency, repeatability, and the integration of components or of evidence into a single outcome as their main strengths. Our review is an initial step of a larger initiative by CADTH to develop the methods and processes to address the environmental impact question in an HTA.

Measuring the impact of methodological research: a framework and methods to identify evidence of impact.

Science.gov (United States)

Brueton, Valerie C; Vale, Claire L; Choodari-Oskooei, Babak; Jinks, Rachel; Tierney, Jayne F

2014-11-27

Providing evidence of impact highlights the benefits of medical research to society. Such evidence is increasingly requested by research funders and commonly relies on citation analysis. However, other indicators may be more informative. Although frameworks to demonstrate the impact of clinical research have been reported, no complementary framework exists for methodological research. Therefore, we assessed the impact of methodological research projects conducted or completed between 2009 and 2012 at the UK Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit Hub for Trials Methodology Research Hub, with a view to developing an appropriate framework. Various approaches to the collection of data on research impact were employed. Citation rates were obtained using Web of Science (http://www.webofknowledge.com/) and analyzed descriptively. Semistructured interviews were conducted to obtain information on the rates of different types of research output that indicated impact for each project. Results were then pooled across all projects. Finally, email queries pertaining to methodology projects were collected retrospectively and their content analyzed. Simple citation analysis established the citation rates per year since publication for 74 methodological publications; however, further detailed analysis revealed more about the potential influence of these citations. Interviews that spanned 20 individual research projects demonstrated a variety of types of impact not otherwise collated, for example, applications and further developments of the research; release of software and provision of guidance materials to facilitate uptake; formation of new collaborations and broad dissemination. Finally, 194 email queries relating to 6 methodological projects were received from 170 individuals across 23 countries. They provided further evidence that the methodologies were impacting on research and research practice, both nationally and internationally. We have used the information

Roles of social impact assessment practitioners

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, Cecilia H.M.; Ho, Wing-chung

2015-01-01

The effectiveness of social impact assessment (SIA) hinges largely on the capabilities and ethics of the practitioners, yet few studies have dedicated to discuss the expectations for these professionals. Recognising this knowledge gap, we employed the systemic review approach to construct a framework of roles of SIA practitioners from literature. Our conceptual framework encompasses eleven roles, namely project manager of SIA, practitioner of SIA methodologies, social researcher, social strategy developer, social impact management consultant, community developer, visionary, public involvement specialist, coordinator, SIA researcher, and educator. Although these roles have been stratified into three overarching categories, the project, community and SIA development, they are indeed interrelated and should be examined together. The significance of this study is threefold. First, it pioneers the study of the roles of SIA practitioners in a focused and systematic manner. Second, it informs practitioners of the expectations of them thereby fostering professionalism. Third, it prepares the public for SIAs by elucidating the functions and values of the assessment. - Highlights: • We adopt systematic review to construct a framework of roles of social impact assessment (SIA) practitioners from literature. • We use three overarching categorises to stratify the eleven roles we proposed. • This work is a novel attempt to study the work as a SIA practitioner and build a foundation for further exploration. • The framework informs practitioners of the expectations on them thus reinforcing professionalism. • The framework also prepares the public for SIAs by elucidating the functions and values of the assessment

Roles of social impact assessment practitioners

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wong, Cecilia H.M., E-mail: ceciliawonghm@gmail.com; Ho, Wing-chung, E-mail: wingcho@cityu.edu.hk

2015-01-15

The effectiveness of social impact assessment (SIA) hinges largely on the capabilities and ethics of the practitioners, yet few studies have dedicated to discuss the expectations for these professionals. Recognising this knowledge gap, we employed the systemic review approach to construct a framework of roles of SIA practitioners from literature. Our conceptual framework encompasses eleven roles, namely project manager of SIA, practitioner of SIA methodologies, social researcher, social strategy developer, social impact management consultant, community developer, visionary, public involvement specialist, coordinator, SIA researcher, and educator. Although these roles have been stratified into three overarching categories, the project, community and SIA development, they are indeed interrelated and should be examined together. The significance of this study is threefold. First, it pioneers the study of the roles of SIA practitioners in a focused and systematic manner. Second, it informs practitioners of the expectations of them thereby fostering professionalism. Third, it prepares the public for SIAs by elucidating the functions and values of the assessment. - Highlights: • We adopt systematic review to construct a framework of roles of social impact assessment (SIA) practitioners from literature. • We use three overarching categorises to stratify the eleven roles we proposed. • This work is a novel attempt to study the work as a SIA practitioner and build a foundation for further exploration. • The framework informs practitioners of the expectations on them thus reinforcing professionalism. • The framework also prepares the public for SIAs by elucidating the functions and values of the assessment.

Assessing the risk of impact of farming intensification on calcareous grasslands in Europe: a quantitative implementation of the MIRABEL framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petit, S.; Elbersen, B.S.

2006-01-01

Intensification of farming practices is still a major driver of biodiversity loss in Europe, despite the implementation of policies that aim to reverse this trend. A conceptual framework called MIRABEL was previously developed that enabled a qualitative and expert-based assessment of the impact of

A framework for the quantitative assessment of climate change impacts on water-related activities at the basin scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Anghileri

2011-06-01

Full Text Available While quantitative assessment of the climate change impact on hydrology at the basin scale is quite addressed in the literature, extension of quantitative analysis to impact on the ecological, economic and social sphere is still limited, although well recognized as a key issue to support water resource planning and promote public participation. In this paper we propose a framework for assessing climate change impact on water-related activities at the basin scale. The specific features of our approach are that: (i the impact quantification is based on a set of performance indicators defined together with the stakeholders, thus explicitly taking into account the water-users preferences; (ii the management policies are obtained by optimal control techniques, linking stakeholder expectations and decision-making; (iii the multi-objective nature of the management problem is fully preserved by simulating a set of Pareto-optimal management policies, which allows for evaluating not only variations in the indicator values but also tradeoffs among conflicting objectives. The framework is demonstrated by application to a real world case study, Lake Como basin (Italy. We show that the most conflicting water-related activities within the basin (i.e. hydropower production and agriculture are likely to be negatively impacted by climate change. We discuss the robustness of the estimated impacts to the climate natural variability and the approximations in modeling the physical system and the socio-economic system, and perform an uncertainty analysis of several sources of uncertainty. We demonstrate that the contribution of natural climate uncertainty is rather remarkable and that, among different modelling uncertainty sources, the one from climate modeling is very significant.

Canadian insights: The challenges of an integrated environmental assessment framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCaig, Karen

2005-01-01

The paper draws results from a review of literature to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the integrated environmental assessment framework in Canada with respect to the inclusion of health impact assessment. Insights include the legislative nature, rigid structure and priority for the natural environment that may restrict progress and the pool of government agencies that need to be convinced of the benefits of health impact assessment that may provide a strong structure for compliance in the long term

Towards a framework for assessment and management of cumulative human impacts on marine food webs.

Science.gov (United States)

Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Halpern, Benjamin S; Michel, Loïc N; Gobert, Sylvie; Sini, Maria; Boudouresque, Charles-François; Gambi, Maria-Cristina; Katsanevakis, Stelios; Lejeune, Pierre; Montefalcone, Monica; Pergent, Gerard; Pergent-Martini, Christine; Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo; Velimirov, Branko; Vizzini, Salvatrice; Abadie, Arnaud; Coll, Marta; Guidetti, Paolo; Micheli, Fiorenza; Possingham, Hugh P

2015-08-01

Effective ecosystem-based management requires understanding ecosystem responses to multiple human threats, rather than focusing on single threats. To understand ecosystem responses to anthropogenic threats holistically, it is necessary to know how threats affect different components within ecosystems and ultimately alter ecosystem functioning. We used a case study of a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) food web and expert knowledge elicitation in an application of the initial steps of a framework for assessment of cumulative human impacts on food webs. We produced a conceptual seagrass food web model, determined the main trophic relationships, identified the main threats to the food web components, and assessed the components' vulnerability to those threats. Some threats had high (e.g., coastal infrastructure) or low impacts (e.g., agricultural runoff) on all food web components, whereas others (e.g., introduced carnivores) had very different impacts on each component. Partitioning the ecosystem into its components enabled us to identify threats previously overlooked and to reevaluate the importance of threats commonly perceived as major. By incorporating this understanding of system vulnerability with data on changes in the state of each threat (e.g., decreasing domestic pollution and increasing fishing) into a food web model, managers may be better able to estimate and predict cumulative human impacts on ecosystems and to prioritize conservation actions. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Methodology to translate policy assessment problems into scenarios: the example of the SEAMLESS integrated framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Therond, O.; Belhouchette, H.; Janssen, S.J.C.; Louhichi, K.; Ewert, F.; Bergez, J.E.; Wery, J.; Heckelei, T.; Olsson, J.A.; Leenhardt, D.; Ittersum, van M.K.

2009-01-01

Scenario-based approaches in environmental and policy assessment studies are increasingly applied within integrated assessment and modelling frameworks. The SEAMLESS project develops such an integrated framework (SEAMLESS-IF) aiming to assess, ex-ante, impacts of alternative agro-environmental

A social-ecological impact assessment for public lands management: application of a conceptual and methodological framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda L. Bentley Brymer

2016-09-01

Full Text Available According to the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, federal action to manipulate habitat for species conservation requires an environmental impact statement, which should integrate natural, physical, economic, and social sciences in planning and decision making. Nonetheless, most impact assessments focus disproportionately on physical or ecological impacts rather than integrating ecological and socioeconomic components. We developed a participatory social-ecological impact assessment (SEIA that addresses the requirements of NEPA and integrates social and ecological concepts for impact assessments. We cooperated with the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho, USA on a project designed to restore habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus. We employed questionnaires, workshop dialogue, and participatory mapping exercises with stakeholders to identify potential environmental changes and subsequent impacts expected to result from the removal of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis. Via questionnaires and workshop dialogue, stakeholders identified 46 environmental changes and associated positive or negative impacts to people and communities in Owyhee County, Idaho. Results of the participatory mapping exercises showed that the spatial distribution of social, economic, and ecological values throughout Owyhee County are highly associated with the two main watersheds, wilderness areas, and the historic town of Silver City. Altogether, the SEIA process revealed that perceptions of project scale varied among participants, highlighting the need for specificity about spatial and temporal scales. Overall, the SEIA generated substantial information concerning potential impacts associated with habitat treatments for Greater Sage-Grouse. The SEIA is transferable to other land management and conservation contexts because it supports holistic understanding and framing of connections between humans and ecosystems. By applying

A framework for social life cycle impact assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreyer, Louise Camilla; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky; Schierbeck, Jens

2006-01-01

Goal, Scope and Background. To enhance the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool in business decision-making, a methodology for Social life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is being developed. Social LCA aims at facilitating companies to conduct business in a socially responsible manner...... by providing information about the potential social impacts on people caused by the activities in the life cycle of their product. The development of the methodology has been guided by a business perspective accepting that companies, on the one hand, have responsibility for the people affected...... in the life cycle rather than to the individual industrial processes, as is the case in Environmental LCA. Inventory analysis is therefore focused on the conduct of the companies engaged in the life cycle. A consequence of this view is that a key must be determined for relating the social profiles...

Environmental impact assessment in the Nordic Countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broden, K.; Palsson, S.E.; Poroddsson, P.

2000-12-01

A meeting on Environmental Impact Assessment has been held in Iceland, September 2-6, 2000. It was held within the framework of the project NKS/SOS-3 (Radioactive waste), subproject NKS/SOS-3.1 (Environmental Impact Assessment). The meeting included presentations, discussions and a study trip to the Egilsstadir and Myvatn districts. (au)

Social impact assessment: A review and proposed approach: Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradbury, J.A.

1986-12-01

The objective of the report is to identify the essential components of a comprehensive plan to assess the potential social impacts of the proposed construction and operation of a high level radioactive waste repository by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project. The tasks taken to achieve this objective are: examination of the literature on Social Impact Assessment (SIA); identification of different conceptual frameworks that have been proposed or used in SIA; examination of specific aspects of the frameworks; assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks; synthesis of common elements in these frameworks; and examination and evaluation of methods of data collection and analysis. 150 refs., 6 figs., 7 tabs

Social impact assessment: A review and proposed approach: Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bradbury, J A

1986-12-01

The objective of the report is to identify the essential components of a comprehensive plan to assess the potential social impacts of the proposed construction and operation of a high level radioactive waste repository by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project. The tasks taken to achieve this objective are: examination of the literature on Social Impact Assessment (SIA); identification of different conceptual frameworks that have been proposed or used in SIA; examination of specific aspects of the frameworks; assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks; synthesis of common elements in these frameworks; and examination and evaluation of methods of data collection and analysis. 150 refs., 6 figs., 7 tabs.

Risk assessment framework on time impact: Infrastructure projects in soft soil during construction stage

Science.gov (United States)

Low, W. W.; Wong, K. S.; Lee, J. L.

2018-04-01

With the growth of economy and population, there is an increase in infrastructure construction projects. As such, it is unavoidable to have construction projects on soft soil. Without proper risk management plan, construction projects are vulnerable to different types of risks which will have negative impact on project’s time, cost and quality. Literature review showed that little or none of the research is focused on the risk assessment on the infrastructure project in soft soil. Hence, the aim of this research is to propose a risk assessment framework in infrastructure projects in soft soil during the construction stage. This research was focused on the impact of risks on project time and internal risk factors. The research method was Analytical Hierarchy Process and the sample population was experienced industry experts who have experience in infrastructure projects. Analysis was completed and result showed that for internal factors, the five most significant risks on time element are lack of special equipment, potential contractual disputes and claims, shortage of skilled workers, delay/lack of materials supply, and insolvency of contractor/sub-contractor. Results indicated that resources risk factor play a critical role on project time frame in infrastructure projects in soft soil during the construction stage.

Pathways and impacts of nitrogen in water bodies: establishing a framework for integrated assessment modelling of management benefits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mikael Skou; Kronvang, Brian; Carstensen, Jacob

Monetization of environmental benefits has become relevant as an element of proportionality tests required for justifications under the EU’s Water Framework Directive article 4 (relating to benefits andcosts of measures). This study extends an impact pathway approach to analysis of aquatic...... the study demonstrates how state-of-the-art environmental modelling can be linked with valuation to provide an adequate cross-media assessment framework relevant to integrated water quality management. The results must be regarded as illustrative and more research is required in several areas to consolidate...... relationships relating to exposures. The findings nevertheless suggest the significance of health effects for overall monetary benefits related to ecological quality objectives for water....

Assessing Impact Submissions for REF 2014: An Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Manville, Catriona; Guthrie, Susan; Henham, Marie-Louise; Garrod, Bryn; Sousa, Sonia; Kirtley, Anne; Castle-Clarke, Sophie; Ling, Tom

2015-01-01

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). For the first time, part of the assessment included the wider impact of research. RAND Europe was commissioned to evaluate the assessment process of the impact element of REF submissions, and to explore the…

Road ecology in environmental impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karlson, Mårten; Mörtberg, Ulla; Balfors, Berit

2014-01-01

Transport infrastructure has a wide array of effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and road and railway networks are increasingly being associated with a loss of biodiversity worldwide. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) are two legal frameworks that concern physical planning, with the potential to identify, predict, mitigate and/or compensate transport infrastructure effects with negative impacts on biodiversity. The aim of this study was to review the treatment of ecological impacts in environmental assessment of transport infrastructure plans and projects. A literature review on the topic of EIA, SEA, biodiversity and transport infrastructure was conducted, and 17 problem categories on the treatment of biodiversity were formulated by means of a content analysis. A review of environmental impact statements and environmental reports (EIS/ER) produced between 2005 and 2013 in Sweden and the UK was then conducted using the list of problems as a checklist. The results show that the treatment of ecological impacts has improved substantially over the years, but that some impacts remain problematic; the treatment of fragmentation, the absence of quantitative analysis and that the impact assessment study area was in general delimited without consideration for the scales of ecological processes. Actions to improve the treatment of ecological impacts could include improved guidelines for spatial and temporal delimitation, and the establishment of a quantitative framework including tools, methods and threshold values. Additionally, capacity building and further method development of EIA and SEA friendly spatial ecological models can aid in clarifying the costs as well as the benefits in development/biodiversity tradeoffs. - Highlights: • The treatment of ecological impacts in EIA and SEA has improved. • Quantitative methods for ecological impact assessment were rarely used • Fragmentation effects were recognized

Road ecology in environmental impact assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karlson, Mårten, E-mail: mkarlso@kth.se; Mörtberg, Ulla, E-mail: mortberg@kth.se; Balfors, Berit, E-mail: balfors@kth.se

2014-09-15

Transport infrastructure has a wide array of effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and road and railway networks are increasingly being associated with a loss of biodiversity worldwide. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) are two legal frameworks that concern physical planning, with the potential to identify, predict, mitigate and/or compensate transport infrastructure effects with negative impacts on biodiversity. The aim of this study was to review the treatment of ecological impacts in environmental assessment of transport infrastructure plans and projects. A literature review on the topic of EIA, SEA, biodiversity and transport infrastructure was conducted, and 17 problem categories on the treatment of biodiversity were formulated by means of a content analysis. A review of environmental impact statements and environmental reports (EIS/ER) produced between 2005 and 2013 in Sweden and the UK was then conducted using the list of problems as a checklist. The results show that the treatment of ecological impacts has improved substantially over the years, but that some impacts remain problematic; the treatment of fragmentation, the absence of quantitative analysis and that the impact assessment study area was in general delimited without consideration for the scales of ecological processes. Actions to improve the treatment of ecological impacts could include improved guidelines for spatial and temporal delimitation, and the establishment of a quantitative framework including tools, methods and threshold values. Additionally, capacity building and further method development of EIA and SEA friendly spatial ecological models can aid in clarifying the costs as well as the benefits in development/biodiversity tradeoffs. - Highlights: • The treatment of ecological impacts in EIA and SEA has improved. • Quantitative methods for ecological impact assessment were rarely used • Fragmentation effects were recognized

Impact assessment of ionising radiation in wildlife

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

This R and D project was commissioned by the Environment Agency and English Nature in January 2001 to provide up-to-date information on ionising radiation impact to wildlife, upon which a robust assessment approach may be developed. The methodology will provide an interim approach, whilst awaiting the outcome of the European Commission funded project 'Framework for Assessment of Environmental Impact' (FASSET) due to end in October 2003. The aims of the report were: to summarise the latest research on the behaviour, transfer and impact of ionising radiation effects on wildlife; to outline and review relevant European Directives which have impacted on the requirements to assess the impact to wildlife from ionising radiation in the UK; to consider the role of regulatory bodies in assessing the impact of ionising radiation on wildlife with respect to England and Wales; to make recommendations on the relative biological effectiveness of different types of radiation with respect to wildlife; and to recommend an approach with which to assess the 'scale of risk' to wildlife from the effects of ionising radiation, with spreadsheets to support the methodology. The report describes the behaviour and transfer of radionuclides in a number of different ecosystem types. Particular emphasis is placed on those ecosystems most likely to be impacted by the authorised discharges of radioactivity within the UK. As there is no international consensus on the approach to be taken to assess the impact of ionising radiation on wildlife, some countries have adopted their own legislation. The report evaluates these regulatory frameworks and describe the current UK position

Framework for a comparative environmental assessment of drilling fluids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meinhold, A.F.

1998-11-01

During the drilling of an oil or gas well, drilling fluid (or mud) is used to maintain well control and to remove drill cuttings from the hole. In response to effluent limitation guidelines promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for discharge of drilling wastes offshore, alternatives to water and oil-based muds have been developed. These synthetic-based muds (SBMs) are more efficient than water-based muds (WBMs) for drilling difficult and complex formation intervals and have lower toxicity and smaller environmental impacts than diesel or conventional mineral oil-based muds (OBMs). A third category of drilling fluids, derived from petroleum and called enhanced mineral oils (EMOs), also have these advantages over the traditionally used OBMs and WBMs. EPA recognizes that SBMs and EMOs are new classes of drilling fluids, but their regulatory status is unclear. To address this uncertainty, EPA is following an innovative presumptive rulemaking process that will develop final regulations for SBM discharges offshore in less than three years. This report develops a framework for a comparative risk assessment for the discharge of SBMs and EMOs, to help support a risk-based, integrated approach to regulatory decision making. The framework will help identify potential impacts and benefits associated with the use of SBMs, EMOs, WBMs, and OBMs; identify areas where additional data are needed; and support early decision-making in the absence of complete data. As additional data becomes available, the framework can support a full quantitative comparative assessment. Detailed data are provided to support a comparative assessment in the areas of occupational and public health impacts.

A Sustainability Assessment Framework For Waterfront Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sally Said Eldeeb

2015-08-01

Full Text Available It is predicted that the global phenomena of Climate change will have far reaching effects and implications on different local urban systems. For incidence, global average sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 36 cm by the 2050s, and between 9 and 69 cm by the 2080s. Waterfront communities are the first to be affected by such impacts putting them at high risk. Planning tools are needed to assist these communities and increase their adaptive and learning capacities in the face of diverse challenges to their urban sub-systems.  The research investigates a number of sustainability frameworks and assessment rating systems for neighbourhoods and communities. It investigates the sustainable evaluation criteria carried out by three assessment rating systems. First is the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, USA, the second is BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, UK, and the third is the Estidama PEARL rating system (UAE.Examples of waterfront communities which applied the previous rating systemsare analyzed in order to determine the applicability and relevance of these systems to waterfront communities in particular.  The research concludes with a proposed framework of indicators for waterfront communities. The similarities and differences between the different rating systems and featured indicators specific to waterfront planning applied in the analyzed examples, yet absent in the three rating systems, have informed the selection of indicators in the proposed assessment framework. The proposed framework could be an effective tool for the planning and development of a waterfront community in the MENA region. In order to validate the framework, theset of environmental and physical indicators were applied on the case study of Abu Qir waterfront, Alexandria, Egypt. Conclusions and recommendations  are made that would enhance the resilience of this waterfront community and provide a comprehensive

A new framework for evaluating the impacts of drought on net primary productivity of grassland.

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Tianjie; Wu, Jianjun; Li, Xiaohan; Geng, Guangpo; Shao, Changliang; Zhou, Hongkui; Wang, Qianfeng; Liu, Leizhen

2015-12-01

This paper presented a valuable framework for evaluating the impacts of droughts (single factor) on grassland ecosystems. This framework was defined as the quantitative magnitude of drought impact that unacceptable short-term and long-term effects on ecosystems may experience relative to the reference standard. Long-term effects on ecosystems may occur relative to the reference standard. Net primary productivity (NPP) was selected as the response indicator of drought to assess the quantitative impact of drought on Inner Mongolia grassland based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and BIOME-BGC model. The framework consists of six main steps: 1) clearly defining drought scenarios, such as moderate, severe and extreme drought; 2) selecting an appropriate indicator of drought impact; 3) selecting an appropriate ecosystem model and verifying its capabilities, calibrating the bias and assessing the uncertainty; 4) assigning a level of unacceptable impact of drought on the indicator; 5) determining the response of the indicator to drought and normal weather state under global-change; and 6) investigating the unacceptable impact of drought at different spatial scales. We found NPP losses assessed using the new framework were more sensitive to drought and had higher precision than the long-term average method. Moreover, the total and average losses of NPP are different in different grassland types during the drought years from 1961-2009. NPP loss was significantly increased along a gradient of increasing drought levels. Meanwhile, NPP loss variation under the same drought level was different in different grassland types. The operational framework was particularly suited for integrative assessing the effects of different drought events and long-term droughts at multiple spatial scales, which provided essential insights for sciences and societies that must develop coping strategies for ecosystems for such events. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A College Administrator's Framework to Assess Compliance with Accreditation Mandates

Science.gov (United States)

Davis†, Jerry M.; Rivera, John-Juan

2014-01-01

A framework to assess the impact of complying with college accreditation mandates is developed based on North's (1996) concepts of transaction costs, property rights, and institutions; Clayton's (1999) Systems Alignment Model; and the educational production function described by Hanushek (2007). The framework demonstrates how sought…

Evaluating the Impact of Educational Interventions on Patients and Communities: A Conceptual Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Bzowyckyj, Andrew S; Dow, Alan; Knab, Mary S

2017-11-01

Health professions education programs can have direct effects on patients and communities as well as on learners. However, few studies have examined the patient and community outcomes of educational interventions. To better integrate education and health care delivery, educators and researchers would benefit from a unifying framework to guide the planning of educational interventions and evaluation of their impact on patients.The authors of this Perspective mirrored approaches from Miller's pyramid of educational assessment and Moore and colleagues' framework for evaluating continuing professional development to propose a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of educational interventions on patients and communities. This proposed framework, which complements these existing frameworks for evaluating the impact of educational interventions on learners, includes four levels: (1) interaction; (2) acceptability; (3) individual outcomes (i.e., knowledge, skills, activation, behaviors, and individual health indicators); and (4) population outcomes (i.e., community health indicators, capacity, and disparities). The authors describe measures and outcomes at each level and provide an example of the application of their new conceptual framework.The authors encourage educators and researchers to use this conceptual framework to evaluate the impact of educational interventions on patients and to more clearly identify and define which educational interventions strengthen communities and enhance overall health outcomes.

Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)

Science.gov (United States)

Romero-Franco, Michelle; Godwin, Hilary A; Bilal, Muhammad

2017-01-01

The potential environmental impact of nanomaterials is a critical concern and the ability to assess these potential impacts is top priority for the progress of sustainable nanotechnology. Risk assessment tools are needed to enable decision makers to rapidly assess the potential risks that may be imposed by engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), particularly when confronted by the reality of limited hazard or exposure data. In this review, we examine a range of available risk assessment frameworks considering the contexts in which different stakeholders may need to assess the potential environmental impacts of ENMs. Assessment frameworks and tools that are suitable for the different decision analysis scenarios are then identified. In addition, we identify the gaps that currently exist between the needs of decision makers, for a range of decision scenarios, and the abilities of present frameworks and tools to meet those needs. PMID:28546894

Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Romero-Franco

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The potential environmental impact of nanomaterials is a critical concern and the ability to assess these potential impacts is top priority for the progress of sustainable nanotechnology. Risk assessment tools are needed to enable decision makers to rapidly assess the potential risks that may be imposed by engineered nanomaterials (ENMs, particularly when confronted by the reality of limited hazard or exposure data. In this review, we examine a range of available risk assessment frameworks considering the contexts in which different stakeholders may need to assess the potential environmental impacts of ENMs. Assessment frameworks and tools that are suitable for the different decision analysis scenarios are then identified. In addition, we identify the gaps that currently exist between the needs of decision makers, for a range of decision scenarios, and the abilities of present frameworks and tools to meet those needs.

Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF) for Assessment of Risks of Military Training and Testing to Natural Resources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suter II, G.W.

2003-06-18

The objective of this research is to provide the DoD with a framework based on a systematic, risk-based approach to assess impacts for management of natural resources in an ecosystem context. This risk assessment framework is consistent with, but extends beyond, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework, and specifically addresses DoD activities and management needs. MERAF is intended to be consistent with existing procedures for environmental assessment and planning with DoD testing and training. The intention is to supplement these procedures rather than creating new procedural requirements. MERAF is suitable for use for training and testing area assessment and management. It does not include human health risks nor does it address specific permitting or compliance requirements, although it may be useful in some of these cases. Use of MERAF fits into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by providing a consistent and rigorous way of organizing and conducting the technical analysis for Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) (Sigal 1993; Carpenter 1995; Canter and Sadler 1997). It neither conflicts with, nor replaces, procedural requirements within the NEPA process or document management processes already in place within DoD.

Framework for Assessing Indicators of Environmental Impacts in the Transport Sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joumard, Robert; Gudmundsson, Henrik; Folkeson, Lennart

2011-01-01

The following questions were addressed in this study: How can environmental impacts of transport be identified? How can the impacts be represented by operational indicators? How can several indicators be considered jointly? How can indicators be used in planning and decision making? First......, a definition of the phrase “indicator of environmental impacts in the transport sector” was derived. The concept of a chain of causality between a source and a final target was developed as a common reference for indicators and their assessment. Criteria and methods for the assessment and selection...

Mitigation for one & all: An integrated framework for mitigation of development impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tallis, Heather, E-mail: htallis@tnc.org [The Nature Conservancy, 415 Alta Vista Dr., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (United States); Kennedy, Christina M., E-mail: ckennedy@tnc.org [The Nature Conservancy, 117 East Mountain Ave., Ft. Collins, CO 80524 (United States); Ruckelshaus, Mary [The Natural Capital Project, 371 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Goldstein, Joshua; Kiesecker, Joseph M. [The Nature Conservancy, 117 East Mountain Ave., Ft. Collins, CO 80524 (United States)

2015-11-15

Emerging development policies and lending standards call for consideration of ecosystem services when mitigating impacts from development, yet little guidance exists to inform this process. Here we propose a comprehensive framework for advancing both biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation. We have clarified a means for choosing representative ecosystem service targets alongside biodiversity targets, identified servicesheds as a useful spatial unit for assessing ecosystem service avoidance, impact, and offset options, and discuss methods for consistent calculation of biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation ratios. We emphasize the need to move away from area- and habitat-based assessment methods for both biodiversity and ecosystem services towards functional assessments at landscape or seascape scales. Such comprehensive assessments more accurately reflect cumulative impacts and variation in environmental quality, social needs and value preferences. The integrated framework builds on the experience of biodiversity mitigation while addressing the unique opportunities and challenges presented by ecosystem service mitigation. These advances contribute to growing potential for economic development planning and execution that will minimize impacts on nature and maximize human wellbeing. - Highlights: • This is the first framework for biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation. • Functional, landscape scale assessments are ideal for avoidance and offsets. • Servicesheds define the appropriate spatial extent for ecosystem service mitigation. • Mitigation ratios should be calculated consistently and based on standard factors. • Our framework meets the needs of integrated mitigation assessment requirements.

Mitigation for one & all: An integrated framework for mitigation of development impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tallis, Heather; Kennedy, Christina M.; Ruckelshaus, Mary; Goldstein, Joshua; Kiesecker, Joseph M.

2015-01-01

Emerging development policies and lending standards call for consideration of ecosystem services when mitigating impacts from development, yet little guidance exists to inform this process. Here we propose a comprehensive framework for advancing both biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation. We have clarified a means for choosing representative ecosystem service targets alongside biodiversity targets, identified servicesheds as a useful spatial unit for assessing ecosystem service avoidance, impact, and offset options, and discuss methods for consistent calculation of biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation ratios. We emphasize the need to move away from area- and habitat-based assessment methods for both biodiversity and ecosystem services towards functional assessments at landscape or seascape scales. Such comprehensive assessments more accurately reflect cumulative impacts and variation in environmental quality, social needs and value preferences. The integrated framework builds on the experience of biodiversity mitigation while addressing the unique opportunities and challenges presented by ecosystem service mitigation. These advances contribute to growing potential for economic development planning and execution that will minimize impacts on nature and maximize human wellbeing. - Highlights: • This is the first framework for biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation. • Functional, landscape scale assessments are ideal for avoidance and offsets. • Servicesheds define the appropriate spatial extent for ecosystem service mitigation. • Mitigation ratios should be calculated consistently and based on standard factors. • Our framework meets the needs of integrated mitigation assessment requirements

A simple framework for assessing the trade-off between the climate impact of aviation carbon dioxide emissions and contrails for a single flight

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A Irvine, E; J Hoskins, B; P Shine, K

2014-01-01

Persistent contrails are an important climate impact of aviation which could potentially be reduced by re-routing aircraft to avoid contrailing; however this generally increases both the flight length and its corresponding CO 2 emissions. Here, we provide a simple framework to assess the trade-off between the climate impact of CO 2 emissions and contrails for a single flight, in terms of the absolute global warming potential and absolute global temperature potential metrics for time horizons of 20, 50 and 100 years. We use the framework to illustrate the maximum extra distance (with no altitude changes) that can be added to a flight and still reduce its overall climate impact. Small aircraft can fly up to four times further to avoid contrailing than large aircraft. The results have a strong dependence on the applied metric and time horizon. Applying a conservative estimate of the uncertainty in the contrail radiative forcing and climate efficacy leads to a factor of 20 difference in the maximum extra distance that could be flown to avoid a contrail. The impact of re-routing on other climatically-important aviation emissions could also be considered in this framework. (letters)

A framework for modeling scenario-based barrier island storm impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Mickey, Rangley; Long, Joseph W.; Dalyander, P. Soupy; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Thompson, David M.

2018-01-01

Methods for investigating the vulnerability of existing or proposed coastal features to storm impacts often rely on simplified parametric models or one-dimensional process-based modeling studies that focus on changes to a profile across a dune or barrier island. These simple studies tend to neglect the impacts to curvilinear or alongshore varying island planforms, influence of non-uniform nearshore hydrodynamics and sediment transport, irregular morphology of the offshore bathymetry, and impacts from low magnitude wave events (e.g. cold fronts). Presented here is a framework for simulating regionally specific, low and high magnitude scenario-based storm impacts to assess the alongshore variable vulnerabilities of a coastal feature. Storm scenarios based on historic hydrodynamic conditions were derived and simulated using the process-based morphologic evolution model XBeach. Model results show that the scenarios predicted similar patterns of erosion and overwash when compared to observed qualitative morphologic changes from recent storm events that were not included in the dataset used to build the scenarios. The framework model simulations were capable of predicting specific areas of vulnerability in the existing feature and the results illustrate how this storm vulnerability simulation framework could be used as a tool to help inform the decision-making process for scientists, engineers, and stakeholders involved in coastal zone management or restoration projects.

The conceptual framework for physical risk assessment in multi-purpose workplaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lasota Andrzej Marek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In industry work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs are still a common problem which frequent cause of health problems, sick leave and it can result in decreased productivity, quality of work and increased absenteeism. Though, traditional manufacturing work practices do not enough take into account task variability issues during the work design – assessment process. Variations in task content and organizational work performance are due to effective use of equipments and reaching high level of productivity. But this variation has impact on work demand and risk to WRMSDs and makes some difficulties with assessment of risk. Therefore, this study aims develop a framework for assessment multi-purpose workplaces. The proposed method integrates complementary concepts of widely known techniques used for evaluation of physical risk factors to WRMSDs on workplaces. Additionally the research framework is highlighting major differences in worker’s exposure to WRMSDs risk, potential impact on awkward postures, and how these findings can be used for finding solutions in a future ergonomic intervention.

Site-dependent life-cycle impact assessment of acidification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Potting, Josepha Maria Barbara; Schöpp, W.; Blok, Kornelis

1998-01-01

The lack of spatial differentiation in current life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) affects the relevance of the assessed impact. This article first describes a framework for constructing factors relating the region of emission to the acidifying impact on its deposition areas. Next, these factors...... are established for 44 European regions with the help of the RAINS model, an integrated assessment model that combines information on regional emission levels with information on long-range atmospheric transport to estimate patterns of deposition and concentration for comparison with critical loads and thresholds...

Defining and Assessing Quality Improvement Outcomes: A Framework for Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Nawaz, Saira; Thomas, Craig; Young, Andrea

2015-01-01

We describe an evidence-based framework to define and assess the impact of quality improvement (QI) in public health. Developed to address programmatic and research-identified needs for articulating the value of public health QI in aggregate, this framework proposes a standardized set of measures to monitor and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public health programs and operations. We reviewed the scientific literature and analyzed QI initiatives implemented through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Public Health Improvement Initiative to inform the selection of 5 efficiency and 8 effectiveness measures. This framework provides a model for identifying the types of improvement outcomes targeted by public health QI efforts and a means to understand QI’s impact on the practice of public health. PMID:25689185

A climate robust integrated modelling framework for regional impact assessment of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, Gijs; Bakker, Alexander; van Ek, Remco; Groot, Annemarie; Kroes, Joop; Kuiper, Marijn; Schipper, Peter; van Walsum, Paul; Wamelink, Wieger; Mol, Janet

2013-04-01

Decision making towards climate proofing the water management of regional catchments can benefit greatly from the availability of a climate robust integrated modelling framework, capable of a consistent assessment of climate change impacts on the various interests present in the catchments. In the Netherlands, much effort has been devoted to developing state-of-the-art regional dynamic groundwater models with a very high spatial resolution (25x25 m2). Still, these models are not completely satisfactory to decision makers because the modelling concepts do not take into account feedbacks between meteorology, vegetation/crop growth, and hydrology. This introduces uncertainties in forecasting the effects of climate change on groundwater, surface water, agricultural yields, and development of groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems. These uncertainties add to the uncertainties about the predictions on climate change itself. In order to create an integrated, climate robust modelling framework, we coupled existing model codes on hydrology, agriculture and nature that are currently in use at the different research institutes in the Netherlands. The modelling framework consists of the model codes MODFLOW (groundwater flow), MetaSWAP (vadose zone), WOFOST (crop growth), SMART2-SUMO2 (soil-vegetation) and NTM3 (nature valuation). MODFLOW, MetaSWAP and WOFOST are coupled online (i.e. exchange information on time step basis). Thus, changes in meteorology and CO2-concentrations affect crop growth and feedbacks between crop growth, vadose zone water movement and groundwater recharge are accounted for. The model chain WOFOST-MetaSWAP-MODFLOW generates hydrological input for the ecological prediction model combination SMART2-SUMO2-NTM3. The modelling framework was used to support the regional water management decision making process in the 267 km2 Baakse Beek-Veengoot catchment in the east of the Netherlands. Computations were performed for regionalized 30-year climate change

Equity-focused health impact assessment: A tool to assist policy makers in addressing health inequalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simpson, Sarah; Mahoney, Mary; Harris, Elizabeth; Aldrich, Rosemary; Stewart-Williams, Jenny

2005-01-01

In Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) the use of health impact assessment (HIA) as a tool for improved policy development is comparatively new. The public health workforce do not routinely assess the potential health and equity impacts of proposed policies or programs. The Australasian Collaboration for Health Equity Impact Assessment was funded to develop a strategic framework for equity-focused HIA (EFHIA) with the intent of strengthening the ways in which equity is addressed in each step of HIA. The collaboration developed a draft framework for EFHIA that mirrored, but modified the commonly accepted steps of HIA; tested the draft framework in six different health service delivery settings; analysed the feedback about application of the draft EFHIA framework and modified it accordingly. The strategic framework shows promise in providing a systematic process for identifying potential differential health impacts and assessing the extent to which these are avoidable and unfair. This paper presents the EFHIA framework and discusses some of the issues that arose in the case study sites undertaking equity-focused HIA

Ex-Ante Impact Assessment & Value Network Analysis for SI: Report Task 7.1

OpenAIRE

Dhondt, S.; Ven, H. van de; Ziauberyte, R.; Torre, W. van der; Cressey, P.; Kaderabkova, A.; Luna, Á.; Moghadam Saman, S.; Castro Spila, J.; Terstriep, J.

2016-01-01

In this report, a conceptual framework is presented to conduct an ex-ante impact assessment for social innovation. The building blocks for an ex-ante impact assessment are goal formulation; developing the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes; determining the role of stakeholders to achieve the objectives; calculating the impact; and deciding on the social innovation. These building blocks are sequentially interconnected to each other. In conclusion, our conceptual framework aims...

Framework tool for a rapid cumulative effects assessment: case of a prominent wetland in Myanmar.

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, N; Habib, H; Venkatappa, M; Ebbers, T; Duboz, R; Shipin, O

2015-06-01

The wetland of focus, Inle Lake, located in central Myanmar, is well known for its unique biodiversity and culture, as well as for ingenious floating garden agriculture. During the last decades, the lake area has seen extensive degradation in terms of water quality, erosion, deforestation, and biodiversity concomitant with a major shift to unsustainable land use. The study was conducted, with an emphasis on water quality, to analyze environmental impacts (effects) changing the ecosystem and to comprehensively evaluate the environmental state of the ecosystem through an innovative Rapid Cumulative Effects Assessment framework tool. The assessment started with a framework-forming Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), which quantified and prioritized impacts over space and time. Critically important impacts were assessed for "intra-inter interactions" using the loop analysis simulation. Water samples were analyzed while geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing were used to identify water pollution hotspots. It was concluded that out of a plethora of impacts, pollution from municipal sources, sedimentation, and effects exerted by floating gardens had the most detrimental impacts, which cumulatively affected the entire ecosystem. The framework tool was designed in a broad sense with a reference to highly needed assessments of poorly studied wetlands where degradation is evident, but scarcely quantified, and where long-term field studies are fraught with security issues and resource unavailability (post-conflict, poor and remote regions, e.g., Afghanistan, Laos, Sudan, etc.).

Assessing the impacts of climate change on natural resource systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frederick, K.D.; Rosenberg, N.J. [eds.

1994-11-30

This volume is a collection of papers addressing the theme of potential impacts of climatic change. Papers are entitled Integrated Assessments of the Impacts of Climatic Change on Natural Resources: An Introductory Editorial; Framework for Integrated Assessments of Global Warming Impacts; Modeling Land Use and Cover as Part of Global Environmental Change; Assessing Impacts of Climatic Change on Forests: The State of Biological Modeling; Integrating Climatic Change and Forests: Economic and Ecological Assessments; Environmental Change in Grasslands: Assessment using Models; Assessing the Socio-economic Impacts of Climatic Change on Grazinglands; Modeling the Effects of Climatic Change on Water Resources- A Review; Assessing the Socioeconomic Consequences of Climate Change on Water Resources; and Conclusions, Remaining Issues, and Next Steps.

Methodological framework, analytical tool and database for the assessment of climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in Denmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skougaard Kaspersen, P.; Halsnaes, K.; Gregg, J.; Drews, M.

2012-12-15

In this report we provide recommendations about how more consistent studies and data can be provided based on available modelling tools and data for integrated assessment of climate change risks and adaptation options. It is concluded that integrated assessments within this area requires the use of a wide range of data and models in order to cover the full chain of elements including climate modelling, impact, risks, costs, social issues, and decision making. As an outcome of this activity a comprehensive data and modelling tool named Danish Integrated Assessment System (DIAS) has been developed, this may be used by researchers within the field. DIAS has been implemented and tested in a case study on urban flooding caused by extreme precipitation in Aarhus, and this study highlights the usefulness of integrating data, models, and methods from several disciplines into a common framework. DIAS is an attempt to describe such a framework with regards to integrated analysis of climate impacts and adaptation. The final product of the DTU KFT project ''Tool for Vulnerability analysis'' is NOT a user friendly Climate Adaptation tool ready for various types of analysis that may directly be used by decision makers and consultant on their own. Rather developed methodology and collected/available data can serve as a starting point for case specific analyses. For this reason alone this work should very much be viewed as an attempt to coordinate research, data and models outputs between different research institutes from various disciplines. It is unquestionable that there is a future need to integrate information for areas not yet included, and it is very likely that such efforts will depend on research projects conducted in different climate change adaptation areas and sectors in Denmark. (Author)

Malaysian Mega Science Framework: The Need for Social Impact and Sustainability Assessment

OpenAIRE

Ahmad Zainal A.; Ahmad Zulfadli

2015-01-01

This review focuses on issues surrounding wastewater management as part of the National Sustainable Development (2013-2050) under the Malaysian Mega Science Framework. In line with the national priority area of water security, this review will highlight the technical reports compiled by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) on the challenges of water resource development and wastewater management and treatment. The discussion will dwell on the social impact of pollution in water and wastewat...

Techno-Economic, Sustainability & Environmental Impact Diagnosis (TESED) Framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loureiro da Costa Lira Gargalo, Carina; Carvalho, Ana; Matos, Henrique A.

2014-01-01

that truly sustainable design alternatives can befound.This work proposes a framework,called ‘Techno-Economic Sustainability Environmental Impact Diagnosis’ (TESED) that allows users to assess chemical/biochemical processes in a product oriented analysis.TESED is asystematic and generic approach that can......Nowadays, companies are looking for new sustainable design alternatives that improve their original processes.To assesst he best designalternative, economic aspects have been the preferred indicators. However, environmental and social concerns should also be included in the decision process so...

Advancing Integrated Systems Modelling Framework for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony Halog

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The need for integrated methodological framework for sustainability assessment has been widely discussed and is urgent due to increasingly complex environmental system problems. These problems have impacts on ecosystems and human well-being which represent a threat to economic performance of countries and corporations. Integrated assessment crosses issues; spans spatial and temporal scales; looks forward and backward; and incorporates multi-stakeholder inputs. This study aims to develop an integrated methodology by capitalizing the complementary strengths of different methods used by industrial ecologists and biophysical economists. The computational methodology proposed here is systems perspective, integrative, and holistic approach for sustainability assessment which attempts to link basic science and technology to policy formulation. The framework adopts life cycle thinking methods—LCA, LCC, and SLCA; stakeholders analysis supported by multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA; and dynamic system modelling. Following Pareto principle, the critical sustainability criteria, indicators and metrics (i.e., hotspots can be identified and further modelled using system dynamics or agent based modelling and improved by data envelopment analysis (DEA and sustainability network theory (SNT. The framework is being applied to development of biofuel supply chain networks. The framework can provide new ways of integrating knowledge across the divides between social and natural sciences as well as between critical and problem-solving research.

Environmental impact assessment in the Nordic Countries; Miljoekonsekvensbeskrivningar i Norden

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broden, K. [Studsvik RadWaste AB (Sweden); Palsson, S.E. [Geislavarnir rikisins (Iceland); Poroddsson, P. [Skipulagsstofnun (Iceland)

2000-12-01

A meeting on Environmental Impact Assessment has been held in Iceland, September 2-6, 2000. It was held within the framework of the project NKS/SOS-3 (Radioactive waste), subproject NKS/SOS-3.1 (Environmental Impact Assessment). The meeting included presentations, discussions and a study trip to the Egilsstadir and Myvatn districts. (au)

Regional analysis and environmental impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parzyck, D.C.; Brocksen, R.W.; Emanuel, W.R.

1976-01-01

This paper presents a number of techniques that can be used to assess environmental impacts on a regional scale. Regional methodologies have been developed which examine impacts upon aquatic and terrestrial biota in regions through consideration of changes in land use, land cover, air quality, water resource use, and water quality. Techniques used to assess long-range atmospheric transport, water resources, effects on sensitive forest and animal species, and impacts on man are presented in this paper, along with an optimization approach which serves to integrate the analytical techniques in an overall assessment framework. A brief review of the research approach and certain modeling techniques used within one regional studies program is provided. While it is not an all inclusive report on regional analyses, it does present an illustration of the types of analyses that can be performed on a regional scale

Environmental impact assessment for energy pathways: an integrated methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sommereux-Blanc, Isabelle

2010-01-01

This document presents the synthesis of my research work contributing to the development of an integrated methodology of environmental impact assessment for energy pathways. In the context of world globalization, environmental impact assessments issues are highly linked with the following questioning: Which environmental impacts? for which demand? at which location? at which temporal scale? My work is built upon the definition of a conceptual framework able to handle these issues and upon its progressive implementation. The integration of the spatial and temporal issues within the methodology are key elements. Fundamental cornerstones of this framework are presented along the DPSIR concept (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses). They cover a comprehensive analysis of the limits and the relevance of life cycle analysis and the development of a geo-spatialized environmental performance approach for an electrical production pathway. Perspectives linked with the development of this integrated methodology are detailed for energy pathways. (author)

A Framework for Assessment of Intentional Fires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iraj Mohammadfam

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background & Objectives : It is not possible to live without using fire. However, fire could destruct human properties in a short time. One of the most important types of fire is intentional fire. This type of fire has become a great problem for insurance companies, fire departments, industries, government and business in the recent years. This study aimed to provide a framework for risk assessment of intentional fires . Methods: In the present study, risk assessment and management model for protecting critical properties and security vulnerability assessment model were used to develop a comprehensive framework for risk assessment of intentional fires. The framework was examined in an automotive industry . Results : The designed framework contained five steps as 1 asset inventory and prioritizing them according to their importance, 2 invasion assessment, 3 vulnerability assessment, 4 risk assessment and design and 5 implementation and evaluating the effectiveness of corrective/preventive actions. Thirty different scenarios for intentional fires were identified by implementing the designed framework in an automotive company, and then the associated risk of each scenario was quantitatively determined. Conclusion : Compared to seven models, the proposed framework represents its comprehension. Development of safety and security standards and a central security information bank to reduce security risks, including the risk of intentional fires is recommended .

An atmospheric vulnerability assessment framework for environment management and protection based on CAMx.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yang; Shen, Jing; Li, Yu

2018-02-01

This paper presents an atmospheric vulnerability assessment framework based on CAMx that should be helpful to assess potential impacts of changes in human, atmospheric environment, and social economic elements of atmospheric vulnerability. It is also a useful and effective tool that can provide policy-guidance for environmental protection and management to reduce the atmospheric vulnerability. The developed framework was applied to evaluate the atmospheric environment vulnerability of 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region for verification. The results indicated that regional disparity of the atmospheric vulnerability existed in the study site. More specifically, the central and southern regions show more atmospheric environment vulnerability than the northern regions. The impact factors of atmospheric environment vulnerability in the BTH region mainly derived from increasing population press, frequently unfavorable meteorological conditions, extensive economic growth of secondary industry, increased environmental pollution, and accelerating population aging. The framework shown in this paper is an interpretative and heuristic tool for a better understanding of atmospheric vulnerability. This framework can also be replicated at different spatial and temporal scales using context-specific datasets to straightly support environmental managers with decision-making. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecological Risk Assessment Framework for Low-Altitude Overflights by Fixed-Wing and Rotary-Wing Military Aircraft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Efroymson, R.A.

2001-01-12

This is a companion report to the risk assessment framework proposed by Suter et al. (1998): ''A Framework for Assessment of Risks of Military Training and Testing to Natural Resources,'' hereafter referred to as the ''generic framework.'' The generic framework is an ecological risk assessment methodology for use in environmental assessments on Department of Defense (DoD) installations. In the generic framework, the ecological risk assessment framework of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1998) is modified for use in the context of (1) multiple and diverse stressors and activities at a military installation and (2) risks resulting from causal chains, e.g., effects on habitat that indirectly impact wildlife. Both modifications are important if the EPA framework is to be used on military installations. In order for the generic risk assessment framework to be useful to DoD environmental staff and contractors, the framework must be applied to specific training and testing activities. Three activity-specific ecological risk assessment frameworks have been written (1) to aid environmental staff in conducting risk assessments that involve these activities and (2) to guide staff in the development of analogous frameworks for other DoD activities. The three activities are: (1) low-altitude overflights by fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft (this volume), (2) firing at targets on land, and (3) ocean explosions. The activities were selected as priority training and testing activities by the advisory committee for this project.

Development of a Conceptual Framework to Measure the Social Impact of Burns.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, Molly; Soley-Bori, Marina; Jette, Alan M; Slavin, Mary D; Ryan, Colleen M; Schneider, Jeffrey C; Resnik, Linda; Acton, Amy; Amaya, Flor; Rossi, Melinda; Soria-Saucedo, Rene; Kazis, Lewis E

Measuring community reintegration following burn injury is important to assess the efficacy of therapies designed to optimize recovery. This project aims to develop and validate a conceptual framework for understanding the social impact of burn injuries in adults. The framework is critical for developing the item banks used for a computerized adaptive test. We performed a comprehensive literature review and consulted with clinical experts and burn survivors about social life areas impacted by burn injury. Focus groups with burn survivors and clinicians were conducted to inform and validate the framework. Transcripts were coded using grounded theory methodology. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, was chosen to ground the content model. The primary construct identified was social participation, which contains two concepts: societal role and personal relationships. The subdomains chosen for item development were work, recreation and leisure, relating with strangers, and romantic, sexual, family, and informal relationships. Qualitative results strongly suggest that the conceptual model fits the constructs for societal role and personal relationships with the respective subdomains. This conceptual framework has guided the implementation of a large-scale calibration study currently underway which will lead to a computerized adaptive test for monitoring the social impacts of burn injuries during recovery.

A framework for clarifying the meaning of Triple Bottom-Line, Integrated, and Sustainability Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hacking, Theo; Guthrie, Peter

2008-01-01

Terms such as Integrated Assessment and Sustainability Assessment are used to label 'new' approaches to impact assessment that are designed to direct planning and decision-making towards sustainable development (SD). Established assessment techniques, such as EIA and SEA, are also widely promoted as SD 'tools'. This paper presents the findings of a literature review undertaken to identify the features that are typically promoted for improving the SD-directedness of assessments. A framework is developed which reconciles the broad range of emerging approaches and tackles the inconsistent use of terminology. The framework comprises a three-dimensional space defined by the following axes: the comprehensiveness of the SD coverage; the degree of 'integration' of the techniques and themes; and the extent to which a strategic perspective is adopted. By applying the framework, assessment approaches can be positioned relative to one another, enabling comparison on the basis of substance rather than semantics

Sustainability assessment framework for scenarios – SAFS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arushanyan, Yevgeniya, E-mail: yevgeniya.arushanyan@abe.kth.se [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, Division of Environmental Strategies Research, Drottning Kristinas väg 30, 10044 Stockholm (Sweden); KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Centre for Sustainable Communications (CESC), Lindstedtsvägen 5, 100 44 Stockholm (Sweden); Ekener, Elisabeth; Moberg, Åsa [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, Division of Environmental Strategies Research, Drottning Kristinas väg 30, 10044 Stockholm (Sweden); KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Centre for Sustainable Communications (CESC), Lindstedtsvägen 5, 100 44 Stockholm (Sweden)

2017-03-15

To address current challenges regarding sustainable development and support planning for this form of development, new learning about different possible futures and their potential sustainability implications is needed. One way of facilitating this learning is by combining the futures studies and sustainability assessment (SA) research fields. This paper presents the sustainability assessment framework for scenarios (SAFS), a method developed for assessing the environmental and social risks and opportunities of future scenarios, provides guidelines for its application and demonstrates how the framework can be applied. SAFS suggests assessing environmental and social aspects using a consumption perspective and a life cycle approach, and provides qualitative results. SAFS does not suggest any modelling using precise data, but instead offers guidelines on how to carry out a qualitative assessment, where both the process of assessing and the outcome of the assessment are valuable and can be used as a basis for discussion. The benefits, drawbacks and potential challenges of applying SAFS are also discussed in the paper. SAFS uses systems thinking looking at future societies as a whole, considering both environmental and social consequences. This encourages researchers and decision-makers to consider the whole picture, and not just individual elements, when considering different futures. - Highlights: • The paper presents a new methodological framework for qualitative sustainability assessment of future scenarios with transformative changes. • The framework suggests qualitative assessment with consumption perspective and a life cycle approach. • The paper presents the framework and provides guidelines for its application. • The paper demonstrates on an example how the framework can be applied. • The benefits, drawbacks and challenges of the framework application and the need for further development are discussed.

Sustainability assessment framework for scenarios – SAFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arushanyan, Yevgeniya; Ekener, Elisabeth; Moberg, Åsa

2017-01-01

To address current challenges regarding sustainable development and support planning for this form of development, new learning about different possible futures and their potential sustainability implications is needed. One way of facilitating this learning is by combining the futures studies and sustainability assessment (SA) research fields. This paper presents the sustainability assessment framework for scenarios (SAFS), a method developed for assessing the environmental and social risks and opportunities of future scenarios, provides guidelines for its application and demonstrates how the framework can be applied. SAFS suggests assessing environmental and social aspects using a consumption perspective and a life cycle approach, and provides qualitative results. SAFS does not suggest any modelling using precise data, but instead offers guidelines on how to carry out a qualitative assessment, where both the process of assessing and the outcome of the assessment are valuable and can be used as a basis for discussion. The benefits, drawbacks and potential challenges of applying SAFS are also discussed in the paper. SAFS uses systems thinking looking at future societies as a whole, considering both environmental and social consequences. This encourages researchers and decision-makers to consider the whole picture, and not just individual elements, when considering different futures. - Highlights: • The paper presents a new methodological framework for qualitative sustainability assessment of future scenarios with transformative changes. • The framework suggests qualitative assessment with consumption perspective and a life cycle approach. • The paper presents the framework and provides guidelines for its application. • The paper demonstrates on an example how the framework can be applied. • The benefits, drawbacks and challenges of the framework application and the need for further development are discussed.

Outcome-based ventilation: A framework for assessing performance, health, and energy impacts to inform office building ventilation decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Rackes, A; Ben-David, T; Waring, M S

2018-04-23

This article presents an outcome-based ventilation (OBV) framework, which combines competing ventilation impacts into a monetized loss function ($/occ/h) used to inform ventilation rate decisions. The OBV framework, developed for U.S. offices, considers six outcomes of increasing ventilation: profitable outcomes realized from improvements in occupant work performance and sick leave absenteeism; health outcomes from occupant exposure to outdoor fine particles and ozone; and energy outcomes from electricity and natural gas usage. We used the literature to set low, medium, and high reference values for OBV loss function parameters, and evaluated the framework and outcome-based ventilation rates using a simulated U.S. office stock dataset and a case study in New York City. With parameters for all outcomes set at medium values derived from literature-based central estimates, higher ventilation rates' profitable benefits dominated negative health and energy impacts, and the OBV framework suggested ventilation should be ≥45 L/s/occ, much higher than the baseline ~8.5 L/s/occ rate prescribed by ASHRAE 62.1. Only when combining very low parameter estimates for profitable impacts with very high ones for health and energy impacts were all outcomes on the same order. Even then, however, outcome-based ventilation rates were often twice the baseline rate or more. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Impact assessment of land use policies: Introduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bezlepkina, I.; Brouwer, F.M.; Reidsma, P.

2014-01-01

This special issue is built around a series of impact assessments of land use policies and sustainable development in developing countries, carried out in the EU-funded project LUPIS (Sixth framework programme, Global Change and Ecosystems, Contract 36955). The project targeted at the development

Environmental impact assessment in practice: A gender critique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurian, P.A.; Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN

1995-01-01

The author evaluates the extent to which environmental impact assessment (EIA) as conceptualized by EIA systems is a gendered process. Through a discourse analysis of in-depth interviews with bureaucrats, technocrats, and activists involved with the Sardar Sarovar dam project in India, the author examines the practice of EIA in a Third World country. She uses a theoretical framework, informed by a theory of gender, to evaluate the interviews. In practice, EIA is marked by gender biases that ignore the gender-specific nature of impacts. Such biases distort the impact assessment process, making environmental sustainability difficult, if not impossible, to achieve

A framework for assessing the impact of ionising radiation on non-human species ICRP Publication 91

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valentin, J.

2003-01-01

In its 1990 Recommendations, the ICRP indicated that it believed that the standards of environmental control needed to protect man to the degree currently thought desirable would ensure that other species are not put at risk. The ICRP considers that its system of radiological protection has provided a fairly good indirect protection of the human habitat. However, no internationally agreed criteria or policies explicitly address protection of the environment from ionising radiation, and it is difficult to determine or demonstrate whether or not the environment is adequately protected from potential impacts of radiation under different circumstances. The present report suggests a framework, based on scientific and ethical-philosophical principles, by which a policy for the protection of non-human species could be achieved. The primary purpose of developing such a framework is to fill a conceptual gap in radiological protection; it does not reflect any particular concern over environmental radiation hazards. The proposed framework is designed to harmonise with the ICRP's approach to the protection of human beings, but does not intend to set regulatory standards. Instead, the proposed framework is intended to be a practical tool to provide high-level advice and guidance for regulators and operators. An agreed set of quantities and units, a set of reference dose models, reference dose-per-unit-intake (or unit exposure), and reference fauna and flora are required to serve as a basis for the more fundamental understanding and interpretation of the relationships between exposure and dose and between dose and certain categories of effect, for a few, clearly defined types of animals and plants. As a first step, a small set of reference fauna and flora with supporting databases will be developed by the ICRP. Others can then develop more area- and situation-specific approaches to assess and manage risks to non-human species

An Assessment of the Impact of the Mentoring Programme on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Using Margaret Archer's morphogenetic framework, this paper seeks to assess the impact ... The key question asked in this study is: 'What impact has the mentoring ... The pass rate improved from 80% to 92% the first time the programme was ...

Economic impacts of climate change in Australia: framework and analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, Melanie

2007-01-01

Full text: There is growing interest in understanding the potential impacts of climate change in Australia, and especially the economic impacts of 'inaction'. In this study, a preliminary analysis of the possible economic impacts of future climate change in Australia is undertaken using ABARE's general equilibrium model of the global economy, GTEM. In order to understand the potential economy-wide economic impacts, the broad climatic trends that Australia is likely to experience over the next several decades are canvassed and the potential economic and non-economic impacts on key risk areas, such as water resources, agriculture and forests, health, industry and human settlements and the ecosystems, are identified. A more detailed analysis of the economic impacts of climate change are undertaken by developing two case studies. In the first case study, the economic impact of climate change and reduced water availability on the agricultural sector is assessed in the Murray-Darling Basin. In the second case study, the sectoral economic impacts on the Australian resources sector of a projected decline in global economic activity due to climate change is analysed. The key areas of required development to more fully understand the economy-wide and sectoral impacts of climate change are also discussed including issues associated with estimating both non-market and market impacts. Finally, an analytical framework for undertaking integrated assessment of climate change impacts domestically and globally is developed

Framework and operational procedure for implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bao Cunkuan; Lu Yongsen; Shang Jincheng

2004-01-01

Over the last 20 years, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been implemented and become an important instrument for decision-making in development projects in China. The Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the P.R. China was promulgated on 28 October 2002 and will be put into effect on 1 September of 2003. The law provides that Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is required in regional and sector plans and programs. This paper introduces the research achievements and practice of SEA in China, discusses the relationship of SEA and 'integrating of environment and development in decision-making (IEDD)', and relevant political and legal basis of SEA. The framework and operational procedures of SEA administration and enforcement are presented. Nine cases are analyzed and some proposals are given

Environmental impacts of future urban deployment of electric vehicles: Assessment framework and case study of Copenhagen for 2016-2030

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bohnes, Florence Alexia; Gregg, Jay Sterling; Laurent, Alexis

2017-01-01

To move towards environmentally-sustainable transport systems, electric vehicles (EVs) are increasingly seen as viable alternatives to internal combustion vehicles (ICVs). To ensure effectiveness of such deployment, holistic assessments of environmental impacts can help decision-makers determine...... a fleet-based, foresight perspective. The analysis of the passenger car fleet development in the city of Copenhagen for the years 2016-2030 is used as a proof-of-concept. We modelled and compared five powertrain technologies, and we assessed four fleet-based scenarios for the entire city. Our results...... showed relative environmental benefits from range-extended and fuel-cell EVs over ICVs and standard EVs. These results were found to be sensitive to local settings, like electricity grid mix, which could alter the relative environmental performances across EV technologies. The comprehensive framework...

Impact assessment modelling of matter-less stressors in the context of Life Cycle Assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cucurachi, Stefano

2014-01-01

In the last three decades, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework has grown to establish itself as the leading tool for the assessment of the environmental impacts of product systems.LCA studies are now conducted globally both in and outside the academia and also used as a basis for policy

Land use impact evaluation in life cycle assessment based on ecosystem thermodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagendorp, Tim; Gulinck, Hubert; Coppin, Pol; Muys, Bart

2006-01-01

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies of products with a major part of their life cycle in biological production systems (i.e. forestry and agriculture) are often incomplete because the assessment of the land use impact is not operational. Most method proposals include the quality of the land in a descriptive way using rank scores for an arbitrarily selected set of indicators. This paper first offers a theoretical framework for the selection of suitable indicators for land use impact assessment, based on ecosystem thermodynamics. According to recent theories on the thermodynamics of open systems, a goal function of ecosystems is to maximize the dissipation of exogenic exergy fluxes by maximizing the internal exergy storage under form of biomass, biodiversity and complex trophical networks. Human impact may decrease this ecosystem exergy level by simplification, i.e. decreasing biomass and destroying internal complexity. Within this theoretical framework, we then studied possibilities for assessing the land use impact in a more direct way by measuring the ecosystems' capacity to dissipate solar exergy. Measuring ecosystem thermal characteristics by using remote sensing techniques was considered a promising tool. Once operational, it could offer a quick and cheap alternative to quantify land use impacts in any terrestrial ecosystem of any size. Recommendations are given for further exploration of this method and for its integration into an ISO compatible LCA framework

Malaysian Mega Science Framework: The Need for Social Impact and Sustainability Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Zainal A.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This review focuses on issues surrounding wastewater management as part of the National Sustainable Development (2013-2050 under the Malaysian Mega Science Framework. In line with the national priority area of water security, this review will highlight the technical reports compiled by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM on the challenges of water resource development and wastewater management and treatment. The discussion will dwell on the social impact of pollution in water and wastewater and mitigation plans that need to be put in place to ensure sustainable national development and making water as a National Key Economic Area (NKEA.

Framework for the impact analysis and implementation of Clinical Prediction Rules (CPRs)

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Wallace, Emma

2011-10-14

Abstract Clinical Prediction Rules (CPRs) are tools that quantify the contribution of symptoms, clinical signs and available diagnostic tests, and in doing so stratify patients according to the probability of having a target outcome or need for a specified treatment. Most focus on the derivation stage with only a minority progressing to validation and very few undergoing impact analysis. Impact analysis studies remain the most efficient way of assessing whether incorporating CPRs into a decision making process improves patient care. However there is a lack of clear methodology for the design of high quality impact analysis studies. We have developed a sequential four-phased framework based on the literature and the collective experience of our international working group to help researchers identify and overcome the specific challenges in designing and conducting an impact analysis of a CPR. There is a need to shift emphasis from deriving new CPRs to validating and implementing existing CPRs. The proposed framework provides a structured approach to this topical and complex area of research.

Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

del Rio, Pablo [Facultad de Ciencias Juridicas y Sociales de Toledo, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, C/Cobertizo de S. Pedro Martir s/n, Toledo-45071 (Spain); Burguillo, Mercedes [Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Alcala, Pza. de la Victoria 3, 28802 Alcala de Henares, Madrid (Spain)

2008-06-15

Renewable energy sources (RES) have a large potential to contribute to the sustainable development (SD) of specific territories by providing them with a wide variety of socioeconomic and environmental benefits. However, the existing literature has put much emphasis on the environmental benefits (including the reduction of global and local pollutants), while socioeconomic impacts have not received a comparable attention. These include diversification of energy supply, enhanced regional and rural development opportunities, creation of a domestic industry and employment opportunities. With the exception of the diversification and security of energy supply, these benefits have usually been mentioned, but their analysis has been too general (i.e., mostly at the national level) and a focus on the regional and, even more so, the local level, has been lacking. At most, studies provide scattered evidence of some of those regional and local benefits, but without an integrated conceptual framework to analyse them. This paper tries to make a contribution in this regard by developing an integrated theoretical framework which allows a comprehensive analysis of the impact of renewable energy on local sustainability and which can be empirically applied to identify these benefits in different territories. (author)

ECTA/DaSy Framework Self-Assessment Comparison Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy), 2016

2016-01-01

The Self-Assessment Comparison (SAC) Tool is for state Part C and Section 619/Preschool programs to use to assess changes in the implementation of one or more components of the ECTA System Framework and/or subcomponenets of the DaSy Data System Framework. It is a companion to the ECTA/DaSy Framework Self-Assessment. Key features of the SAC are…

ASIC/FPGA Trust Assessment Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Melanie

2018-01-01

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) is developing a process to be employed in critical applications. The framework assesses levels of Trust and assurance in microelectronic systems. The process is being created with participation from a variety of organizations. We present a synopsis of the framework that includes contributions from The Aerospace Corporation.

Ex-Ante Impact Assessment & Value Network Analysis for SI: SIMPACT Working Paper 2

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dhondt, S.; Ven, H. van de; Ziauberyte, R.; Torre, W. van der; Cressey, P.; Kaderabkova, A.; Luna, Á.; Moghadam Saman, S.; Castro Spila, J.; Terstriep, J.

2016-01-01

In this paper, a conceptual framework is presented to conduct an ex-ante impact assessment for social innovation. The building blocks for an ex-ante impact assessment are goal formulation; developing the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes; determining the role of stakeholders to

Ex-Ante Impact Assessment & Value Network Analysis for SI: Report Task 7.1

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dhondt, S.; Ven, H. van de; Ziauberyte, R.; Torre, W. van der; Cressey, P.; Kaderabkova, A.; Luna, Á.; Moghadam Saman, S.; Castro Spila, J.; Terstriep, J.

2016-01-01

In this report, a conceptual framework is presented to conduct an ex-ante impact assessment for social innovation. The building blocks for an ex-ante impact assessment are goal formulation; developing the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes; determining the role of stakeholders to

Ex-Ante Impact Assessment & Value Network Analysis for SI: SIMPACT Policy Brief 1

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dhondt, S.; Ven, H. van de; Cressey, P.; Kaderabkova, A.; Luna, Á.; Moghadam Saman, S.; Castro Spila, J.; Terstriep, J.

2016-01-01

In this Policy Brief, a conceptual framework is presented to conduct an ex-ante impact assessment for social innovation. The building blocks for an ex-ante impact assessment are goal formulation; developing the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes; determining the role of stakeholders

Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment Using Near-Field Human Exposure Modeling and High-Throughput Tools for Chemicals

Science.gov (United States)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include n...

A conceptual framework for quality assessment and management of biodiversity data

Science.gov (United States)

Saraiva, Antonio Mauro; Chapman, Arthur David; Morris, Paul John; Gendreau, Christian; Schigel, Dmitry; Robertson, Tim James

2017-01-01

The increasing availability of digitized biodiversity data worldwide, provided by an increasing number of institutions and researchers, and the growing use of those data for a variety of purposes have raised concerns related to the "fitness for use" of such data and the impact of data quality (DQ) on the outcomes of analyses, reports, and decisions. A consistent approach to assess and manage data quality is currently critical for biodiversity data users. However, achieving this goal has been particularly challenging because of idiosyncrasies inherent in the concept of quality. DQ assessment and management cannot be performed if we have not clearly established the quality needs from a data user’s standpoint. This paper defines a formal conceptual framework to support the biodiversity informatics community allowing for the description of the meaning of "fitness for use" from a data user’s perspective in a common and standardized manner. This proposed framework defines nine concepts organized into three classes: DQ Needs, DQ Solutions and DQ Report. The framework is intended to formalize human thinking into well-defined components to make it possible to share and reuse concepts of DQ needs, solutions and reports in a common way among user communities. With this framework, we establish a common ground for the collaborative development of solutions for DQ assessment and management based on data fitness for use principles. To validate the framework, we present a proof of concept based on a case study at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. In future work, we will use the framework to engage the biodiversity informatics community to formalize and share DQ profiles related to DQ needs across the community. PMID:28658288

A conceptual framework for quality assessment and management of biodiversity data.

Science.gov (United States)

Veiga, Allan Koch; Saraiva, Antonio Mauro; Chapman, Arthur David; Morris, Paul John; Gendreau, Christian; Schigel, Dmitry; Robertson, Tim James

2017-01-01

The increasing availability of digitized biodiversity data worldwide, provided by an increasing number of institutions and researchers, and the growing use of those data for a variety of purposes have raised concerns related to the "fitness for use" of such data and the impact of data quality (DQ) on the outcomes of analyses, reports, and decisions. A consistent approach to assess and manage data quality is currently critical for biodiversity data users. However, achieving this goal has been particularly challenging because of idiosyncrasies inherent in the concept of quality. DQ assessment and management cannot be performed if we have not clearly established the quality needs from a data user's standpoint. This paper defines a formal conceptual framework to support the biodiversity informatics community allowing for the description of the meaning of "fitness for use" from a data user's perspective in a common and standardized manner. This proposed framework defines nine concepts organized into three classes: DQ Needs, DQ Solutions and DQ Report. The framework is intended to formalize human thinking into well-defined components to make it possible to share and reuse concepts of DQ needs, solutions and reports in a common way among user communities. With this framework, we establish a common ground for the collaborative development of solutions for DQ assessment and management based on data fitness for use principles. To validate the framework, we present a proof of concept based on a case study at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. In future work, we will use the framework to engage the biodiversity informatics community to formalize and share DQ profiles related to DQ needs across the community.

Project Assessment Framework through Design (PAFTD) - A Project Assessment Framework in Support of Strategic Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

Depenbrock, Brett T.; Balint, Tibor S.; Sheehy, Jeffrey A.

2014-01-01

Research and development organizations that push the innovation edge of technology frequently encounter challenges when attempting to identify an investment strategy and to accurately forecast the cost and schedule performance of selected projects. Fast moving and complex environments require managers to quickly analyze and diagnose the value of returns on investment versus allocated resources. Our Project Assessment Framework through Design (PAFTD) tool facilitates decision making for NASA senior leadership to enable more strategic and consistent technology development investment analysis, beginning at implementation and continuing through the project life cycle. The framework takes an integrated approach by leveraging design principles of useability, feasibility, and viability and aligns them with methods employed by NASA's Independent Program Assessment Office for project performance assessment. The need exists to periodically revisit the justification and prioritization of technology development investments as changes occur over project life cycles. The framework informs management rapidly and comprehensively about diagnosed internal and external root causes of project performance.

Using Probabilistic Methods in Water Scarcity Assessments: A First Step Towards a Water Scarcity Risk Assessment Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, Ted; Wada, Yoshihide; Aerts, Jeroen; Ward, Phillip

2016-01-01

Water scarcity -driven by climate change, climate variability, and socioeconomic developments- is recognized as one of the most important global risks, both in terms of likelihood and impact. Whilst a wide range of studies have assessed the role of long term climate change and socioeconomic trends on global water scarcity, the impact of variability is less well understood. Moreover, the interactions between different forcing mechanisms, and their combined effect on changes in water scarcity conditions, are often neglected. Therefore, we provide a first step towards a framework for global water scarcity risk assessments, applying probabilistic methods to estimate water scarcity risks for different return periods under current and future conditions while using multiple climate and socioeconomic scenarios.

Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment Using Near-Field Human Exposure Modeling and High-Throughput Tools for Chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Csiszar, Susan A; Meyer, David E; Dionisio, Kathie L; Egeghy, Peter; Isaacs, Kristin K; Price, Paul S; Scanlon, Kelly A; Tan, Yu-Mei; Thomas, Kent; Vallero, Daniel; Bare, Jane C

2016-11-01

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include near-field chemical sources (e.g., those originating from consumer products and building materials) that have traditionally been excluded from LCA. A new generation of rapid human exposure modeling and high-throughput toxicity testing is transforming chemical risk prioritization and provides an opportunity for integration of screening-level risk assessment (RA) with LCA. The combined LCA and RA approach considers environmental impacts of products alongside risks to human health, which is consistent with regulatory frameworks addressing RA within a sustainability mindset. A case study is presented to juxtapose LCA and risk screening approaches for a chemical used in a consumer product. The case study demonstrates how these new risk screening tools can be used to inform toxicity impact estimates in LCA and highlights needs for future research. The framework provides a basis for developing tools and methods to support decision making on the use of chemicals in products.

Impact assessment of ionising radiation on wildlife

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Copplestone, D.; Bielby, S.; Jones, S.

2001-01-01

This R and D project was commissioned by the Environment Agency and English Nature in January 2001 to provide up-to-date information on the impacts of ionising radiation on wildlife, upon which a robust assessment approach may be developed. This approach will also feed into the European Commission funded project 'Framework for Assessment of Environmental Impact' (FASSET), due to complete in October 2003. This report describes the behaviour and transport of radionuclides in the environment, considers the impact of ionising radiation on wildlife, and makes recommendations on an approach for the impact assessment of ionising radiation on wildlife for England and Wales. The assessment approach focuses on three ecosystems representative of those considered potentially most at risk from the impact of authorised radioactive discharges, namely a coastal grassland (terrestrial ecosystem); estuarine and freshwater ecosystems. The likely scale of the impact on wildlife is also assessed in light of a preliminary analysis based on this assessment approach. The aims of the report are: to summarise the latest research on the behaviour, transfer and impact of ionising radiation effects on wildlife; an outline and review of the relevant European and national legislation which has impacts on the requirements for assessments of the impact of ionising radiation on wildlife in the UK; to consider the role of regulatory bodies in assessing the impact of ionising radiation on wildlife with respect to England and Wales; to make recommendations on the relative biological effectiveness of different types of radiation with respect to wildlife; and to recommend an approach to assess the impacts to wildlife from ionising radiation from authorised discharges in England and Wales, with spreadsheets to support the methodology. The report demonstrates the behaviour and transfer of radionuclides in a number of different ecosystem types. Particular emphasis is placed on exposure pathways in those

TIMSS Advanced 2015 Assessment Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Mullis, Ina V. S., Ed.; Martin, Michael O., Ed.

2014-01-01

The "TIMSS Advanced 2015 Assessment Frameworks" provides the foundation for the two international assessments to take place as part of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) Advanced 2015--Advanced Mathematics and Physics. Chapter 1 (Liv…

towards a theory-based multi-dimensional framework for assessment in mathematics: The "SEA" framework

Science.gov (United States)

Anku, Sitsofe E.

1997-09-01

Using the reform documents of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (NCTM, 1989, 1991, 1995), a theory-based multi-dimensional assessment framework (the "SEA" framework) which should help expand the scope of assessment in mathematics is proposed. This framework uses a context based on mathematical reasoning and has components that comprise mathematical concepts, mathematical procedures, mathematical communication, mathematical problem solving, and mathematical disposition.

A Framework for Assessing High School Students' Statistical Reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Shiau Wei; Ismail, Zaleha; Sumintono, Bambang

2016-01-01

Based on a synthesis of literature, earlier studies, analyses and observations on high school students, this study developed an initial framework for assessing students' statistical reasoning about descriptive statistics. Framework descriptors were established across five levels of statistical reasoning and four key constructs. The former consisted of idiosyncratic reasoning, verbal reasoning, transitional reasoning, procedural reasoning, and integrated process reasoning. The latter include describing data, organizing and reducing data, representing data, and analyzing and interpreting data. In contrast to earlier studies, this initial framework formulated a complete and coherent statistical reasoning framework. A statistical reasoning assessment tool was then constructed from this initial framework. The tool was administered to 10 tenth-grade students in a task-based interview. The initial framework was refined, and the statistical reasoning assessment tool was revised. The ten students then participated in the second task-based interview, and the data obtained were used to validate the framework. The findings showed that the students' statistical reasoning levels were consistent across the four constructs, and this result confirmed the framework's cohesion. Developed to contribute to statistics education, this newly developed statistical reasoning framework provides a guide for planning learning goals and designing instruction and assessments.

Developing the RIAM method (rapid impact assessment matrix) in the context of impact significance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ijaes, Asko; Kuitunen, Markku T.; Jalava, Kimmo

2010-01-01

In this paper the applicability of the RIAM method (rapid impact assessment matrix) is evaluated in the context of impact significance assessment. The methodological issues considered in the study are: 1) to test the possibilities of enlarging the scoring system used in the method, and 2) to compare the significance classifications of RIAM and unaided decision-making to estimate the consistency between these methods. The data used consisted of projects for which funding had been applied for via the European Union's Regional Development Trust in the area of Central Finland. Cases were evaluated with respect to their environmental, social and economic impacts using an assessment panel. The results showed the scoring framework used in RIAM could be modified according to the problem situation at hand, which enhances its application potential. However the changes made in criteria B did not significantly affect the final ratings of the method, which indicates the high importance of criteria A1 (importance) and A2 (magnitude) to the overall results. The significance classes obtained by the two methods diverged notably. In general the ratings given by RIAM tended to be smaller compared to intuitive judgement implying that the RIAM method may be somewhat conservative in character.

Elements at risk as a framework for assessing the vulnerability of communities to landslides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Papathoma-Köhle

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The assessment of the vulnerability of communities prone to landslide related disasters is a topic that is growing in importance. Few studies discuss this issue and limited research has been carried out on the relationship between types of landslide and their potential impact on buildings and infrastructure. We outline a framework to undertake an assessment of the vulnerability of buildings to landslide utilising a similar framework used for assessing the vulnerability of buildings to tsunami damage. The framework is based on the development of an "elements at risk database" that takes into consideration the characteristics and use of the buildings, their importance for the local economy and the characteristics of the inhabitants (population density, age and so forth. The attributes that affect vulnerability are imported and examined within a GIS database which is used to visualise the physical, human and economic vulnerability. The results may have important implications for disaster management and emergency planning, and the database can be used by various end-users and stakeholders such as insurance companies, local authorities and the emergency services. The approach presented here can be integrated in to a wider more detailed "Framework for Landslide Risk and Vulnerability Assessment for Communities". We illustrate the potential of this framework and present preliminary results from Lichtenstein, Baden Württemberg, Germany.

Measurement and monitoring of safety: impact and challenges of putting a conceptual framework into practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chatburn, Eleanor; Macrae, Carl; Carthey, Jane; Vincent, Charles

2018-03-06

The Measurement and Monitoring of Safety Framework provides a conceptual model to guide organisations in assessing safety. The Health Foundation funded a large-scale programme to assess the value and impact of applying the Framework in regional and frontline care settings. We explored the experiences and reflections of key participants in the programme. The study was conducted in the nine healthcare organisations in England and Scotland testing the Framework (three regional improvement bodies, six frontline settings). Post hoc interviews with clinical and managerial staff were analysed using template analysis. Participants reported that the Framework promoted a substantial shift in their thinking about how safety is actively managed in their environment. It provided a common language, facilitated a more inquisitive approach and encouraged a more holistic view of the components of safety. These changes in conceptual understanding, however, did not always translate into broader changes in practice, with many sites only addressing some aspects of the Framework. One of the three regions did embrace the Framework in its entirety and achieved wider impact with a range of interventions. This region had committed leaders who took time to fully understand the concepts, who maintained a flexible approach to exploring the utility of the Framework and who worked with frontline staff to translate the concepts for local settings. The Measuring and Monitoring of Safety Framework has the potential to support a broader and richer approach to organisational safety. Such a conceptually based initiative requires both committed leaders who themselves understand the concepts and more time to establish understanding and aims than might be needed in a standard improvement programme. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

A holistic model for the selection of environmental assessment indicators to assess the impact of industrialization on indigenous health.

Science.gov (United States)

Kryzanowski, Julie A; McIntyre, Lynn

2011-01-01

Mainstream environmental assessment (EA) methodologies often inadequately address health, social and cultural impacts of concern for Canadian indigenous communities affected by industrialization. Our objective is to present a holistic, culturally-appropriate framework for the selection of indigenous health indicators for baseline health assessment, impact prediction, or monitoring of impacts over time. We used a critical population health approach to explore the determinants of health and health inequities in indigenous communities and conceptualize the pathways by which industrialization affects these determinants. We integrated and extended key elements from three indigenous health frameworks into a new holistic model for the selection of indigenous EA indicators. The holistic model conceptualizes individual and community determinants of health within external social, economic and political contexts and thus provides a comprehensive framework for selecting indicators of indigenous health. Indigenous health is the product of interactions among multiple determinants of health and contexts. Potential applications are discussed using case study examples involving indigenous communities affected by industrialization. Industrialization can worsen indigenous health inequities by perpetuating the health, social and cultural impacts of historic environmental dispossession. To mitigate impacts, EA should explicitly recognize linkages between environmental dispossession and the determinants of health and health inequities and meaningfully involve indigenous communities in the process.

PRESENTED AT: TURNOVO, BULGARIA: LANDSCAPE SCIENCES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: A NATO FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Science.gov (United States)

An international pilot study has been developed to explore the possibility of quantifying and assessing environmental condition, processes of land degradation, and subsequent impacts on natural and human resources. The purpose of the study is to foster a framework for scientific...

Effective integrated frameworks for assessing mining sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Virgone, K M; Ramirez-Andreotta, M; Mainhagu, J; Brusseau, M L

2018-05-28

The objectives of this research are to review existing methods used for assessing mining sustainability, analyze the limited prior research that has evaluated the methods, and identify key characteristics that would constitute an enhanced sustainability framework that would serve to improve sustainability reporting in the mining industry. Five of the most relevant frameworks were selected for comparison in this analysis, and the results show that there are many commonalities among the five, as well as some disparities. In addition, relevant components are missing from all five. An enhanced evaluation system and framework were created to provide a more holistic, comprehensive method for sustainability assessment and reporting. The proposed framework has five components that build from and encompass the twelve evaluation characteristics used in the analysis. The components include Foundation, Focus, Breadth, Quality Assurance, and Relevance. The enhanced framework promotes a comprehensive, location-specific reporting approach with a concise set of well-defined indicators. Built into the framework is quality assurance, as well as a defined method to use information from sustainability reports to inform decisions. The framework incorporates human health and socioeconomic aspects via initiatives such as community-engaged research, economic valuations, and community-initiated environmental monitoring.

Framework for economic pluvial flood risk assessment considering climate change effects and adaptation benefits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhou, Qianqian; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen; Halsnæs, Kirsten

2012-01-01

Climate change is likely to affect the water cycle by influencing the precipitation patterns. It is important to integrate the anticipated changes into the design of urban drainage in response to the increased risk level in cities. This paper presents a pluvial flood risk assessment framework...... to identify and assess adaptation options in the urban context. An integrated approach is adopted by incorporating climate change impact assessment, flood inundation modeling, economic tool, and risk assessment, hereby developing a step-by-step process for cost-benefit assessment of climate change adaptation...

Uncertainty assessment of climate change adaptation using an economic pluvial flood risk framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhou, Qianqian; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten

2012-01-01

It is anticipated that climate change is likely to lead to an increasing risk level of flooding in cities in northern Europe. One challenging question is how to best address the increasing flood risk and assess the costs and benefits of adapting to such changes. We established an integrated...... approach for identification and assessment of climate change adaptation options by incorporating climate change impacts, flood inundation modelling, economic tool and risk assessment and management. The framework is further extended and adapted by embedding a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the total...

Economic risk assessment of drought impacts on irrigated agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Nicolas, A.; Pulido-Velazquez, M.; Macian-Sorribes, H.

2017-07-01

In this paper we present an innovative framework for an economic risk analysis of drought impacts on irrigated agriculture. It consists on the integration of three components: stochastic time series modelling for prediction of inflows and future reservoir storages at the beginning of the irrigation season; statistical regression for the evaluation of water deliveries based on projected inflows and storages; and econometric modelling for economic assessment of the production value of agriculture based on irrigation water deliveries and crop prices. Therefore, the effect of the price volatility can be isolated from the losses due to water scarcity in the assessment of the drought impacts. Monte Carlo simulations are applied to generate probability functions of inflows, which are translated into probabilities of storages, deliveries, and finally, production value of agriculture. The framework also allows the assessment of the value of mitigation measures as reduction of economic losses during droughts. The approach was applied to the Jucar river basin, a complex system affected by multiannual severe droughts, with irrigated agriculture as the main consumptive demand. Probability distributions of deliveries and production value were obtained for each irrigation season. In the majority of the irrigation districts, drought causes a significant economic impact. The increase of crop prices can partially offset the losses from the reduction of production due to water scarcity in some districts. Emergency wells contribute to mitigating the droughts' impacts on the Jucar river system.

Ex-Ante Impact Assessment & Value Network Analysis for SI: SIMPACT Policy Brief 1

OpenAIRE

Dhondt, S.; Ven, H. van de; Cressey, P.; Kaderabkova, A.; Luna, Á.; Moghadam Saman, S.; Castro Spila, J.; Terstriep, J.

2016-01-01

In this Policy Brief, a conceptual framework is presented to conduct an ex-ante impact assessment for social innovation. The building blocks for an ex-ante impact assessment are goal formulation; developing the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes; determining the role of stakeholders to achieve the objectives; calculating the impact; and deciding on the social innovation. These building blocks are sequentially interconnected to each other. In the brief, we present the experienc...

Toward a life cycle-based, diet-level framework for food environmental impact and nutritional quality assessment: a critical review.

Science.gov (United States)

Heller, Martin C; Keoleian, Gregory A; Willett, Walter C

2013-11-19

Supplying adequate human nutrition within ecosystem carrying capacities is a key element in the global environmental sustainability challenge. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used effectively to evaluate the environmental impacts of food production value chains and to identify opportunities for targeted improvement strategies. Dietary choices and resulting consumption patterns are the drivers of production, however, and a consumption-oriented life cycle perspective is useful in understanding the environmental implications of diet choices. This review identifies 32 studies that use an LCA framework to evaluate the environmental impact of diets or meals. It highlights the state of the art, emerging methodological trends and current challenges and limitations to such diet-level LCA studies. A wide range of bases for analysis and comparison (i.e., functional units) have been employed in LCAs of foods and diet; we conceptually map appropriate functional unit choices to research aims and scope and argue for a need to move in the direction of a more sophisticated and comprehensive nutritional basis in order to link nutritional health and environmental objectives. Nutritional quality indices are reviewed as potential approaches, but refinement through ongoing collaborative research between environmental and nutritional sciences is necessary. Additional research needs include development of regionally specific life cycle inventory databases for food and agriculture and expansion of the scope of assessments beyond the current focus on greenhouse gas emissions.

Assessing Professionalism: A Theoretical Framework for Defining Clinical Rotation Assessment Criteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Armitage-Chan, Elizabeth

Although widely accepted as an important graduate competence, professionalism is a challenging outcome to define and assess. Clinical rotations provide an excellent opportunity to develop student professionalism through the use of experiential learning and effective feedback, but without appropriate theoretical frameworks, clinical teachers may find it difficult to identify appropriate learning outcomes. The adage "I know it when I see it" is unhelpful in providing feedback and guidance for student improvement, and criteria that are more specifically defined would help students direct their own development. This study sought first to identify how clinical faculty in one institution currently assess professionalism, using retrospective analysis of material obtained in undergraduate teaching and faculty development sessions. Subsequently, a faculty workshop was held in which a round-table type discussion sought to develop these ideas and identify how professionalism assessment could be improved. The output of this session was a theoretical framework for teaching and assessing professionalism, providing example assessment criteria and ideas for clinical teaching. This includes categories such as client and colleague interaction, respect and trust, recognition of limitations, and understanding of different professional identities. Each category includes detailed descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors expected of students in these areas. The criteria were determined by engaging faculty in the development of the framework, and therefore they should represent a focused development of criteria already used to assess professionalism, and not a novel and unfamiliar set of assessment guidelines. The faculty-led nature of this framework is expected to facilitate implementation in clinical teaching.

An integrated risk and vulnerability assessment framework for climate change and malaria transmission in East Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Onyango, Esther Achieng; Sahin, Oz; Awiti, Alex; Chu, Cordia; Mackey, Brendan

2016-11-11

Malaria is one of the key research concerns in climate change-health relationships. Numerous risk assessments and modelling studies provide evidence that the transmission range of malaria will expand with rising temperatures, adversely impacting on vulnerable communities in the East African highlands. While there exist multiple lines of evidence for the influence of climate change on malaria transmission, there is insufficient understanding of the complex and interdependent factors that determine the risk and vulnerability of human populations at the community level. Moreover, existing studies have had limited focus on the nature of the impacts on vulnerable communities or how well they are prepared to cope. In order to address these gaps, a systems approach was used to present an integrated risk and vulnerability assessment framework for studies of community level risk and vulnerability to malaria due to climate change. Drawing upon published literature on existing frameworks, a systems approach was applied to characterize the factors influencing the interactions between climate change and malaria transmission. This involved structural analysis to determine influential, relay, dependent and autonomous variables in order to construct a detailed causal loop conceptual model that illustrates the relationships among key variables. An integrated assessment framework that considers indicators of both biophysical and social vulnerability was proposed based on the conceptual model. A major conclusion was that this integrated assessment framework can be implemented using Bayesian Belief Networks, and applied at a community level using both quantitative and qualitative methods with stakeholder engagement. The approach enables a robust assessment of community level risk and vulnerability to malaria, along with contextually relevant and targeted adaptation strategies for dealing with malaria transmission that incorporate both scientific and community perspectives.

Institutionalizing policy-level health impact assessment in Europe: is coupling health impact assessment with strategic environmental assessment the next step forward?

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, John; Parry, Jayne; Scully, Edward

2005-06-01

European Union (EU) Member States are interested in using health impact assessment (HIA) as a means of safeguarding their obligations to protect human health under the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam. However, several have encountered difficulties institutionalizing HIA with the policy-making process. As a consequence, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has suggested coupling HIA with strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Traditionally, the incorporation of HIA into other forms of impact assessment has been resisted, for fear of losing its focus on health issues to environmental concerns, and compromising its social model of health with the introduction of biophysical indicators. But can these fears be substantiated? In this paper, we investigate the grounds for such concerns by reviewing the relevant policy documents and departmental guidelines of four non-European countries that have considered the use of integrated assessment. We found that the case for associating HIA with SEA in Europe is strong, and offers potential solutions to problems of screening, theoretical framework, causal pathways and ready entry to the policy process. Coupling HIA with SEA may thus be the next step forward in a longer journey towards institutionalizing HIA as an independent policy-linked device.

The comparative risk assessment framework and tools (CRAFT)

Science.gov (United States)

Southern Research Station. USDA Forest Service

2010-01-01

To help address these challenges, the USDA Forest Service’s Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) and the University of North Carolina Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) designed a planning framework, called the Comparative Risk Assessment Framework and Tools (CRAFT). CRAFT is...

Framework for Sustainability Performance Assessment for Manufacturing Processes- A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, K.; Sultan, I.

2017-07-01

Manufacturing industries are facing tough competition due to increasing raw material cost and depleting natural resources. There is great pressure on the industry to produce environmental friendly products using environmental friendly processes. To address these issues modern manufacturing industries are focusing on sustainable manufacturing. To develop more sustainable societies, industries need to better understand how to respond to environmental, economic and social challenges. This paper proposed some framework and tools that accelerate the transition towards a sustainable system. The developed framework will be beneficial for sustainability assessment comparing different plans alongside material properties, ultimately helping the manufacturing industries to reduce the carbon emissions and material waste, besides improving energy efficiency. It is expected that this would be highly beneficial for determination of environmental impact of a process at early design stages. Therefore, it would greatly help the manufacturing industries for selection of process plan based on sustainable indices. Overall objective of this paper would have good impact on reducing air emissions and protecting environment. We expect this work to contribute to the development of a standard reference methodology to help further sustainability in the manufacturing sector.

Are stormwater pollution impacts significant in life cycle assessment? A new methodology for quantifying embedded urban stormwater impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Robert; Jeswani, Harish Kumar; Azapagic, Adisa; Apul, Defne

2018-09-15

Current life cycle assessment (LCA) models do not explicitly incorporate the impacts from urban stormwater pollution. To address this issue, a framework to estimate the impacts from urban stormwater pollution over the lifetime of a system has been developed, laying the groundwork for subsequent improvements in life cycle databases and LCA modelling. The proposed framework incorporates urban stormwater event mean concentration (EMC) data into existing LCA impact categories to account for the environmental impacts associated with urban land occupation across the whole life cycle of a system. It consists of five steps: (1) compilation of inventory of urban stormwater pollutants; (2) collection of precipitation data; (3) classification and characterisation within existing midpoint impact categories; (4) collation of inventory data for impermeable urban land occupation; and (5) impact assessment. The framework is generic and can be applied to any system using any LCA impact method. Its application is demonstrated by two illustrative case studies: electricity generation and production of construction materials. The results show that pollutants in urban stormwater have an influence on human toxicity, freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, marine eutrophication, freshwater eutrophication and terrestrial ecotoxicity. Among these, urban stormwater pollution has the highest relative contribution to the eutrophication potentials. The results also suggest that stormwater pollution from urban areas can have a substantial effect on the life cycle impacts of some systems (construction materials), while for some systems the effect is small (e.g. electricity generation). However, it is not possible to determine a priori which systems are affected so that the impacts from stormwater pollution should be considered routinely in future LCA studies. The paper also proposes ways to incorporate stormwater pollution burdens into the life cycle databases. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All

Towards a Quantitative Performance Measurement Framework to Assess the Impact of Geographic Information Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Vandenbroucke, D.; Van Orshoven, J.; Vancauwenberghe, G.

2012-12-01

Over the last decennia, the use of Geographic Information (GI) has gained importance, in public as well as in private sector. But even if many spatial data and related information exist, data sets are scattered over many organizations and departments. In practice it remains difficult to find the spatial data sets needed, and to access, obtain and prepare them for using in applications. Therefore Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) haven been developed to enhance the access, the use and sharing of GI. SDIs consist of a set of technological and non-technological components to reach this goal. Since the nineties many SDI initiatives saw light. Ultimately, all these initiatives aim to enhance the flow of spatial data between organizations (users as well as producers) involved in intra- and inter-organizational and even cross-country business processes. However, the flow of information and its re-use in different business processes requires technical and semantic interoperability: the first should guarantee that system components can interoperate and use the data, while the second should guarantee that data content is understood by all users in the same way. GI-standards within the SDI are necessary to make this happen. However, it is not known if this is realized in practice. Therefore the objective of the research is to develop a quantitative framework to assess the impact of GI-standards on the performance of business processes. For that purpose, indicators are defined and tested in several cases throughout Europe. The proposed research will build upon previous work carried out in the SPATIALIST project. It analyzed the impact of different technological and non-technological factors on the SDI-performance of business processes (Dessers et al., 2011). The current research aims to apply quantitative performance measurement techniques - which are frequently used to measure performance of production processes (Anupindi et al., 2005). Key to reach the research objectives

E-health readiness assessment framework in iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Rezai-Rad, M; Vaezi, R; Nattagh, F

2012-01-01

Concept of e-readiness is used in many areas such as e-business, e-commerce, e-government, and e-banking. In terms of healthcare, e-readiness is a rather new concept, and is propounded under the title of E-healthcare. E-health readiness refers to the readiness of communities and healthcare institutions for the expected changes brought by programs related to Information and Communications Technology (lCT). The present research is conducted aiming at designing E-health Readiness Assessment Framework (EHRAF) in Iran. The e-health readiness assessment framework was designed based on reviewing literature on e-readiness assessment models and opinions of ICT and health experts. In the next step, Delphi method was used to develop and test the designed framework. Three questionnaires developed to test and modify the model while determining weights of the indices; afterward they were either sent to experts through email or delivered to them in face. The designed framework approved with 4 dimensions, 11 constituents and 58 indices. Technical readiness had the highest importance coefficient (0.256099), and the other dimensions were of the next levels of coefficient importance: core readiness (0.25520), social communication readiness (0.244658), and engagement readiness (0.244039). The framework presents the movement route and investment priorities in e-health in Iran. The proposed framework is a good instrument for measuring the e-readiness in health centers in Iran, and for identifying strengths and weaknesses of these centers to access ICT and its implementation for more effectiveness and for analyzing digital divide between them, as well.

E-Health Readiness Assessment Framework in Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Rezai-Rad, M; Vaezi, R; Nattagh, F

2012-01-01

Background: Concept of e-readiness is used in many areas such as e-business, e-commerce, e-government, and e-banking. In terms of healthcare, e-readiness is a rather new concept, and is propounded under the title of E-healthcare. E-health readiness refers to the readiness of communities and healthcare institutions for the expected changes brought by programs related to Information and Communications Technology (lCT). The present research is conducted aiming at designing E-health Readiness Assessment Framework (EHRAF) in Iran. Methods: The e-health readiness assessment framework was designed based on reviewing literature on e-readiness assessment models and opinions of ICT and health experts. In the next step, Delphi method was used to develop and test the designed framework. Three questionnaires developed to test and modify the model while determining weights of the indices; afterward they were either sent to experts through email or delivered to them in face. Results: The designed framework approved with 4 dimensions, 11 constituents and 58 indices. Technical readiness had the highest importance coefficient (0.256099), and the other dimensions were of the next levels of coefficient importance: core readiness (0.25520), social communication readiness (0.244658), and engagement readiness (0.244039). Conclusion: The framework presents the movement route and investment priorities in e-health in Iran. The proposed framework is a good instrument for measuring the e-readiness in health centers in Iran, and for identifying strengths and weaknesses of these centers to access ICT and its implementation for more effectiveness and for analyzing digital divide between them, as well. PMID:23304661

An integrated framework for health and ecological risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suter, Glenn W.; Vermeire, Theo; Munns, Wayne R.; Sekizawa, Jun

2005-01-01

The worldHealth Organization's (WHO's) International Program for Chemical Safety has developed a framework for performing risk assessments that integrate the assessment of risks to human health and risks to nonhuman organisms and ecosystems. The WHO's framework recognizes that stakeholders and risk managers have their own processes that are parallel to the scientific process of risk assessment and may interact with the risk assessment at various points, depending on the context. Integration of health and ecology provides consistent expressions of assessment results, incorporates the interdependence of humans and the environment, uses sentinel organisms, and improves the efficiency and quality of assessments relative to independent human health and ecological risk assessments. The advantage of the framework to toxicologists lies in the opportunity to use understanding of toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics to inform the integrated assessment of all exposed species

Impact assessment procedures for sustainable development: A complexity theory perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nooteboom, Sibout

2007-01-01

The author assumes that effective Impact Assessment procedures should somehow contribute to sustainable development. There is no widely agreed framework for evaluating such effectiveness. The author suggests that complexity theories may offer criteria. The relevant question is 'do Impact Assessment Procedures contribute to the 'requisite variety' of a social system for it to deal with changing circumstances?' Requisite variety theoretically relates to the capability of a system to deal with changes in its environment. The author reconstructs how thinking about achieving sustainable development has developed in a sequence of discourses in The Netherlands since the 1970s. Each new discourse built on the previous ones, and is supposed to have added to 'requisite variety'. The author asserts that Impact Assessment procedures may be a necessary component in such sequences and derives possible criteria for effectiveness

Development of environmental risk assessment framework using index method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, M.W.; Wu, Y.

2000-01-01

This paper presents a newly developed framework for assessing the risk from events which are considered to be major accidents to the environment according to the classifications by the United Kingdom Department of Environment (DoE). The application of an environmental risk assessment framework using the newly developed index method is demonstrated by means of a case study. The framework makes use of Environmental Hazard Index (EHI) method by the United Kingdom AEA Technology for releases to river, but improves it by taking account to toxic dose rather than concentration; taking account of long-term effects including persistence and bio accumulation, not just short term effects; extending the method to all aspects of environment, not just rivers; and allowing account to be taken of design changes to mitigate the risk. The development of the framework has also led to a revision of the tolerability criteria to be used with the framework proposed earlier by weakness and recommend further work to improve this newly proposed environmental risk assessment framework. From the study, it is recommended that the environmental risk assessment framework be applied to a wide range of other case studies in order to further improve it. The framework should be modified to maintain consistency when the DoE revises its definitions of major accidents to the environment. Ease-of-use of the framework (and any other environmental framework) would be aided by the compilation of databases for environmental toxicity, river data and available consequence models. Further work could also be done to suggest methods of mitigating the risk and including them as numerical factors within method. (author)

Frameworks to assess health systems governance: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Pyone, Thidar; Smith, Helen; van den Broek, Nynke

2017-06-01

Governance of the health system is a relatively new concept and there are gaps in understanding what health system governance is and how it could be assessed. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to describe the concept of governance and the theories underpinning as applied to health systems; and to identify which frameworks are available and have been applied to assess health systems governance. Frameworks were reviewed to understand how the principles of governance might be operationalized at different levels of a health system. Electronic databases and web portals of international institutions concerned with governance were searched for publications in English for the period January 1994 to February 2016. Sixteen frameworks developed to assess governance in the health system were identified and are described. Of these, six frameworks were developed based on theories from new institutional economics; three are primarily informed by political science and public management disciplines; three arise from the development literature and four use multidisciplinary approaches. Only five of the identified frameworks have been applied. These used the principal-agent theory, theory of common pool resources, North's institutional analysis and the cybernetics theory. Governance is a practice, dependent on arrangements set at political or national level, but which needs to be operationalized by individuals at lower levels in the health system; multi-level frameworks acknowledge this. Three frameworks were used to assess governance at all levels of the health system. Health system governance is complex and difficult to assess; the concept of governance originates from different disciplines and is multidimensional. There is a need to validate and apply existing frameworks and share lessons learnt regarding which frameworks work well in which settings. A comprehensive assessment of governance could enable policy makers to prioritize solutions for problems identified

Novel flood risk assessment framework for rapid decision making

Science.gov (United States)

Valyrakis, Manousos; Koursari, Eftychia; Solley, Mark

2016-04-01

The impacts of catastrophic flooding, have significantly increased over the last few decades. This is due to primarily the increased urbanisation in ever-expanding mega-cities as well as due to the intensification both in magnitude and frequency of extreme hydrologic events. Herein a novel conceptual framework is presented that incorporates the use of real-time information to inform and update low dimensionality hydraulic models, to allow for rapid decision making towards preventing loss of life and safeguarding critical infrastructure. In particular, a case study from the recent UK floods in the area of Whitesands (Dumfries), is presented to demonstrate the utility of this approach. It is demonstrated that effectively combining a wealth of readily available qualitative information (such as crowdsourced visual documentation or using live data from sensing techniques), with existing quantitative data, can help appropriately update hydraulic models and reduce modelling uncertainties in future flood risk assessments. This approach is even more useful in cases where hydraulic models are limited, do not exist or were not needed before unpredicted dynamic modifications to the river system took place (for example in the case of reduced or eliminated hydraulic capacity due to blockages). The low computational cost and rapid assessment this framework offers, render it promising for innovating in flood management.

Background for spatial differentiation in life cycle impact assessment. The EDIP2003 methodology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Potting, José; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

2004-01-01

The code of practice of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the recent international standards and technical reports from ISO are widely accepted as general frameworks for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) but they are not detailed methodological references, since international...... between modelled impact and the occurrence of actual impact. This technical report aims to contribute to a solution of the poor accuracy of the assessed impact in typical LCA resulting from the present disregard of spatial information in LCA....

Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: a case study on McDonald's Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Anaf, Julia; Baum, Frances E; Fisher, Matt; Harris, Elizabeth; Friel, Sharon

2017-02-06

The practices of transnational corporations affect population health through production methods, shaping social determinants of health, or influencing the regulatory structures governing their activities. There has been limited research on community exposures to TNC policies and practices. Our pilot research used McDonald's Australia to test methods for assessing the health impacts of one TNC within Australia. We adapted existing Health Impact Assessment methods to assess McDonald's activities. Data identifying potential impacts were sourced through document analysis, including McDonald's corporate literature; media analysis and semi-structured interviews. We commissioned a spatial and socioeconomic analysis of McDonald's restaurants in Australia through Geographic Information System technology. The data was mapped against a corporate health impact assessment framework which included McDonald's Australia's political and business practices; products and marketing; workforce, social, environmental and economic conditions; and consumers' health related behaviours. We identified both positive and detrimental aspects of McDonald's Australian operations across the scope of the CHIA framework. We found that McDonald's outlets were slightly more likely to be located in areas of lower socioeconomic status. McDonald's workplace conditions were found to be more favourable than those in many other countries which reflects compliance with Australian employment regulations. The breadth of findings revealed the need for governments to strengthen regulatory mechanisms that are conducive to health; the opportunity for McDonald's to augment their corporate social responsibility initiatives and bolster reputational endorsement; and civil society actors to inform their advocacy towards health and equity outcomes from TNC operations. Our study indicates that undertaking a corporate health impact assessment is possible, with the different methods revealing sufficient information to

Assessment of potential economic and environmental impacts caused by Phytophthora ramorum in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Hella Kehlenbeck

2008-01-01

Economic and environmental impacts of Phytophthora ramorum in Europe were evaluated within the European Union framework 6 project on ?Risk Analysis for P. ramorum a pathogen threat to Europe? (RAPRA). Impact assessment was conducted according to three different scenarios: 1. ?Nursery System? - describes losses occurring in...

Environmental Assessment of a Waste Incineration Tax. Case Study and Evaluation of a Framework for Strategic Environmental Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjoerklund, Anna; Johansson, Jessica; Nilsson, Maans; Eldh, Peter; Finnveden, Goeran

2003-12-01

A framework for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is tested in a case study on a proposed waste incineration tax. Also included is testing of developed methods for valuation and site-dependent life cycle impact assessment. The results indicate that although a suggested waste incineration tax of 400 SEK/ton is likely to lead to environmental improvements, these are small compared to the potential improvements as shown in more visionary scenarios. In order to go in this direction a waste incineration tax based on the content of fossil carbon in the waste would be useful. The framework for SEA includes several different pathways. These have different advantages and disadvantages and provide different types of information. It is therefore suggested that they largely complement each other and that the choice of methods should be done in relation to the function of the SEA and the questions asked.

Developing a water market readiness assessment framework

Science.gov (United States)

Wheeler, Sarah Ann; Loch, Adam; Crase, Lin; Young, Mike; Grafton, R. Quentin

2017-09-01

Water markets are increasingly proposed as a demand-management strategy to deal with water scarcity. Water trading arrangements, on their own, are not about setting bio-physical limits to water-use. Nevertheless, water trading that mitigates scarcity constraints can assist regulators of water resources to keep water-use within limits at the lowest possible cost, and may reduce the cost of restoring water system health. While theoretically attractive, many practitioners have, at best, only a limited understanding of the practical usefulness of markets and how they might be most appropriately deployed. Using lessons learned from jurisdictions around the world where water markets have been implemented, this study attempts to fill the existing water market development gap and provide an initial framework (the water market readiness assessment (WMRA)) to describe the policy and administrative conditions/reforms necessary to enable governments/jurisdictions to develop water trading arrangements that are efficient, equitable and within sustainable limits. Our proposed framework consists of three key steps: 1) an assessment of hydrological and institutional needs; 2) a market evaluation, including assessment of development and implementation issues; and 3) the monitoring, continuous/review and assessment of future needs; with a variety of questions needing assessment at each stage. We apply the framework to three examples: regions in Australia, the United States and Spain. These applications indicate that WMRA can provide key information for water planners to consider on the usefulness of water trading processes to better manage water scarcity; but further practical applications and tests of the framework are required to fully evaluate its effectiveness.

Challenges in implementing a Planetary Boundaries based Life-Cycle Impact Assessment methodology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryberg, Morten; Owsianiak, Mikolaj; Richardson, Katherine

2016-01-01

of resolving the challenges and developing such methodology is discussed. The challenges are related to technical issues, i.e., modelling and including the Earth System processes and their control variables as impact categories in Life-Cycle Impact Assessment and to theoretical considerations with respect...... to the interpretation and use of Life-Cycle Assessment results in accordance with the Planetary Boundary framework. The identified challenges require additional research before a Planetary Boundaries based Life-Cycle Impact Assessment method can be developed. Research on modelling the impacts on Earth System processes......Impacts on the environment from human activities are now threatening to exceed thresholds for central Earth System processes, potentially moving the Earth System out of the Holocene state. To avoid such consequences, the concept of Planetary Boundaries was defined in 2009, and updated in 2015...

Climate change & extreme weather vulnerability assessment framework.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-01

The Federal Highway Administrations (FHWAs) Climate Change and Extreme Weather Vulnerability : Assessment Framework is a guide for transportation agencies interested in assessing their vulnerability : to climate change and extreme weather event...

Applying social impact assessment to nursing research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradbury-Jones, Caroline; Taylor, Julie

2014-08-05

Many nurses need to construct a research proposal at some stage of their career and there are multiple texts that provide guidance on doing so. However, most texts do not provide explicit guidance on the issue of social impact--the effect of research on the social health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities and on the improved performance of relevant services. This article proposes that social impact should be considered from the beginning of a research project. It outlines a framework for assessing social impact to help strengthen the quality of research proposals and assist nurses constructing the proposal and also those evaluating it, including academic assessors or funding body reviewers. Nursing research should be useful and should have a positive effect on practice. Focusing on social impact can increase the chances of this desirable outcome.

Evaluation Framework EFI for Measuring the Impact of Learning, Education and Training

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stracke, Christian M.

2016-01-01

This article introduces the Evaluation Framework EFI for the Impact Measurement of learning, education and training: The Evaluation Framework for Impact Measurement was developed for specifying the evaluation phase and its objectives and tasks within the IDEAL Reference Model for the introduction

Improving adolescent health policy: incorporating a framework for assessing state-level policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Brindis, Claire D; Moore, Kristin

2014-01-01

Many US policies that affect health are made at the state, not the federal, level. Identifying state-level policies and data to analyze how different policies affect outcomes may help policy makers ascertain the usefulness of their public policies and funding decisions in improving the health of adolescent populations. A framework for describing and assessing the role of federal and state policies on adolescent health and well-being is proposed; an example of how the framework might be applied to the issue of teen childbearing is included. Such a framework can also help inform analyses of whether and how state and federal policies contribute to the variation across states in meeting adolescent health needs. A database on state policies, contextual variables, and health outcomes data can further enable researchers and policy makers to examine how these factors are associated with behaviors they aim to impact.

An Investigation of the Factors Affecting Performance of Environmental Impact Assessment Practices (EIA in Pakistan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahbaz Hussain

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Environmental Impact Assessment is used to detect changes that a proposed project may have on environment. The intent of present study is to investigate impact of institutional capacity and legal framework on performance of Environmental Impact Assessment practices in Pakistan such as screening, scoping and mitigation, environmental management plan and reporting. Sample of 200 EIA professionals have been selected by using random sampling approach from all provinces of Pakistan. Data has been collected through structured questionnaire and analysed by using AMOS 19 (Analysis of Moment Structures software. Results of path analysis indicated that institutional capacity and legal framework have significant direct impact on performance of all EIA practices in Pakistan. Model fit statistics such as GFI, RMR, NFI, IFI, TLI, RFI, CFI indicate the fitness of research model in this context. It has been suggested that there must be relevant and sufficient human resources that can uplift institutional capacity and legal framework must be well implemented because it will lead to enhanced performance of EIA practices in Pakistan.

Assessing and monitoring impacts of genetically modified plants on agro-ecosystems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arpaia, S.; Messéan, A.; Birch, N.A.

2014-01-01

The environmental impacts of genetically modified crops is still a controversial issue in Europe. The overall risk assessment framework has recently been reinforced by the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA) and its implementation requires harmonized and efficient methodologies. The EU-funded re...

Assessing the Organisational Impact of External Quality Assurance: Hypothesising Key Dimensions and Mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Stensaker, Bjørn; Leiber, Theodor

2015-01-01

The aim of the article is to provide a framework in which the organisational impact of external quality assurance (EQA) can be assessed. Based on existing studies of the impact of EQA in universities and colleges it is suggested that greater systematisation of how impact is measured is needed for a better understanding of how EQA can be used as a…

Framework for Shared Drinking Water Risk Assessment.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lowry, Thomas Stephen [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Tidwell, Vincent C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Peplinski, William John [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Mitchell, Roger [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Binning, David [AEM Corp., Herndon, VA (United States); Meszaros, Jenny [AEM Corp., Herndon, VA (United States)

2017-01-01

Central to protecting our nation's critical infrastructure is the development of methodologies for prioritizing action and supporting resource allocation decisions associated with risk-reduction initiatives. Toward this need a web-based risk assessment framework that promotes the anonymous sharing of results among water utilities is demonstrated. Anonymous sharing of results offers a number of potential advantages such as assistance in recognizing and correcting bias, identification of 'unknown, unknowns', self-assessment and benchmarking for the local utility, treatment of shared assets and/or threats across multiple utilities, and prioritization of actions beyond the scale of a single utility. The constructed framework was demonstrated for three water utilities. Demonstration results were then compared to risk assessment results developed using a different risk assessment application by a different set of analysts.

Environmental Impact Assessment in the Visegrad Group countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gałaś, Slávka, E-mail: sgalas@geol.agh.edu.pl [AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, Department of Environmental Analysis, Cartography and Economic Geology Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30 059 Krakow (Poland); Gałaś, Andrzej, E-mail: pollux@geol.agh.edu.pl [AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, Department of Environmental Analysis, Cartography and Economic Geology Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30 059 Krakow (Poland); Zeleňáková, Martina, E-mail: martina.zelenakova@tuke.sk [Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Vysokoškolská 4, 042 00 Košice (Slovakia); Zvijáková, Lenka, E-mail: lenkazvijakova@gmail.com [Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Vysokoškolská 4, 042 00 Košice (Slovakia); Fialová, Jitka, E-mail: jitka.fialova@mendelu.cz [Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Department of Landscape Management, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno (Czech Republic); and others

2015-11-15

Highlights: • Comparison and evaluation of EIA systems in the V4 countries are presented. • Strengths and weaknesses of EIA systems based on a questionnaire survey are stated. • The function and efficiency of the EIA application in the V4 countries are analysed. • Irregularities and shortcomings of EIA systems in the V4 should be eliminated. The Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (EIA Directive) has created a reference framework for the implementation of the system of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) into the legal systems of the Member States of the European Union, including the countries belonging to the Visegrad Group (V4): Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The Directive was the basis for the introduction of compulsory stages of the EIA process in the V4. The stages were then adapted to national requirements, including thresholds of the qualifying criteria of projects at the screening and scoping stages. The EIA system in the analysed countries has been growing, changing and being modified together with the political and economic changes of the last 30 years. Although all Visegrad Group countries are members of the EU and should harmonize the provisions of the EIA Directive and its amendments, there still exist singularities in each country's national EIA legislation, in terms of complementarities among the V4 countries, access to information resources, protection of natural resources, mitigation of socio-environmental impacts, or transboundary impact assessment. The article compares and evaluates the EIA systems in the four countries, specifies similarities and differences in the implementation of administrative proceedings and points out opportunities to strengthen the system. It presents selected results of a study conducted in 2013 within the framework of the international project “Assessment of the quality of the environment in the V4 Countries” (AQE V4). This paper indicates examples of good practice in the EIA

Environmental Impact Assessment in the Visegrad Group countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gałaś, Slávka; Gałaś, Andrzej; Zeleňáková, Martina; Zvijáková, Lenka; Fialová, Jitka

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Comparison and evaluation of EIA systems in the V4 countries are presented. • Strengths and weaknesses of EIA systems based on a questionnaire survey are stated. • The function and efficiency of the EIA application in the V4 countries are analysed. • Irregularities and shortcomings of EIA systems in the V4 should be eliminated. The Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (EIA Directive) has created a reference framework for the implementation of the system of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) into the legal systems of the Member States of the European Union, including the countries belonging to the Visegrad Group (V4): Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The Directive was the basis for the introduction of compulsory stages of the EIA process in the V4. The stages were then adapted to national requirements, including thresholds of the qualifying criteria of projects at the screening and scoping stages. The EIA system in the analysed countries has been growing, changing and being modified together with the political and economic changes of the last 30 years. Although all Visegrad Group countries are members of the EU and should harmonize the provisions of the EIA Directive and its amendments, there still exist singularities in each country's national EIA legislation, in terms of complementarities among the V4 countries, access to information resources, protection of natural resources, mitigation of socio-environmental impacts, or transboundary impact assessment. The article compares and evaluates the EIA systems in the four countries, specifies similarities and differences in the implementation of administrative proceedings and points out opportunities to strengthen the system. It presents selected results of a study conducted in 2013 within the framework of the international project “Assessment of the quality of the environment in the V4 Countries” (AQE V4). This paper indicates examples of good practice in the EIA

The development of an operational LCIA-methodology with impact categories based on the control variables in the Planetary Boundaries framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryberg, Morten; Owsianiak, Mikolaj; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

2016-01-01

This study presents a first attempt at an operational LCIA-methodology basing the definition of the impact categories on the control variables as defined in the Planetary Boundaries (PB) framework. The PB-framework introduced a set of biophysical Earth system processes and defined quantitative PBs...... that have to be respected for Earth to remain in the Holocene state. The concept is attracting a strong interest from in dustry as companies seek to assess and communicate the environmental performance of their products relative to the PBs. The PB -framework has previously been attempted included in LCA...... variables in the PB-framework and current LCIA impact categories. The new insights can be used for communicating the product’s environmental performance and to support definitions of absolute reduction targets relative to the PBs....

A Watershed Scale Life Cycle Assessment Framework for Hydrologic Design

Science.gov (United States)

Tavakol-Davani, H.; Tavakol-Davani, PhD, H.; Burian, S. J.

2017-12-01

Sustainable hydrologic design has received attention from researchers with different backgrounds, including hydrologists and sustainability experts, recently. On one hand, hydrologists have been analyzing ways to achieve hydrologic goals through implementation of recent environmentally-friendly approaches, e.g. Green Infrastructure (GI) - without quantifying the life cycle environmental impacts of the infrastructure through the ISO Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. On the other hand, sustainability experts have been applying the LCA to study the life cycle impacts of water infrastructure - without considering the important hydrologic aspects through hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) analysis. In fact, defining proper system elements for a watershed scale urban water sustainability study requires both H&H and LCA specialties, which reveals the necessity of performing an integrated, interdisciplinary study. Therefore, the present study developed a watershed scale coupled H&H-LCA framework to bring the hydrology and sustainability expertise together to contribute moving the current wage definition of sustainable hydrologic design towards onto a globally standard concept. The proposed framework was employed to study GIs for an urban watershed in Toledo, OH. Lastly, uncertainties associated with the proposed method and parameters were analyzed through a robust Monte Carlo simulation using parallel processing. Results indicated the necessity of both hydrologic and LCA components in the design procedure in order to achieve sustainability.

Health effects from indoor and outdoor exposure to fine particulate matter in life cycle impact assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fantke, Peter; McKone, T.E.; Jolliet, Olivier

2016-01-01

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution is a major contributor to human disease burden as continuously shown in the Global Burden of Disease study series. Exposures to PM2.5 concentration outdoors and indoors contribute almost equally to this burden. Despite the importance, health...... impacts from exposure to PM2.5 are often excluded from life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) characterization profiles. This is in large part because of the lack of well-vetted harmonized guidance about how to consistently assess the exposures and impacts of indoor and outdoor emissions of PM2.5 and its...... precursors. We present a framework for calculating characterization factors for indoor and outdoor emissions of primary PM2.5 and secondary PM2.5 precursors, and a roadmap for further refining this modelling framework for operational use in LCIA. The framework was developed over the last three years...

DYNAMO-HIA--a Dynamic Modeling tool for generic Health Impact Assessments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan K Lhachimi

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Currently, no standard tool is publicly available that allows researchers or policy-makers to quantify the impact of policies using epidemiological evidence within the causal framework of Health Impact Assessment (HIA. A standard tool should comply with three technical criteria (real-life population, dynamic projection, explicit risk-factor states and three usability criteria (modest data requirements, rich model output, generally accessible to be useful in the applied setting of HIA. With DYNAMO-HIA (Dynamic Modeling for Health Impact Assessment, we introduce such a generic software tool specifically designed to facilitate quantification in the assessment of the health impacts of policies. METHODS AND RESULTS: DYNAMO-HIA quantifies the impact of user-specified risk-factor changes on multiple diseases and in turn on overall population health, comparing one reference scenario with one or more intervention scenarios. The Markov-based modeling approach allows for explicit risk-factor states and simulation of a real-life population. A built-in parameter estimation module ensures that only standard population-level epidemiological evidence is required, i.e. data on incidence, prevalence, relative risks, and mortality. DYNAMO-HIA provides a rich output of summary measures--e.g. life expectancy and disease-free life expectancy--and detailed data--e.g. prevalences and mortality/survival rates--by age, sex, and risk-factor status over time. DYNAMO-HIA is controlled via a graphical user interface and is publicly available from the internet, ensuring general accessibility. We illustrate the use of DYNAMO-HIA with two example applications: a policy causing an overall increase in alcohol consumption and quantifying the disease-burden of smoking. CONCLUSION: By combining modest data needs with general accessibility and user friendliness within the causal framework of HIA, DYNAMO-HIA is a potential standard tool for health impact assessment based

Development of a probabilistic safety assessment framework for an interim dry storage facility subjected to an aircraft crash using best-estimate structural analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Almomani, Belal; Jang, Dong Chan; Lee, Sang Hoon; Kang, Hyun Gook

2017-01-01

Using a probabilistic safety assessment, a risk evaluation framework for an aircraft crash into an interim spent fuel storage facility is presented. Damage evaluation of a detailed generic cask model in a simplified building structure under an aircraft impact is discussed through a numerical structural analysis and an analytical fragility assessment. Sequences of the impact scenario are shown in a developed event tree, with uncertainties considered in the impact analysis and failure probabilities calculated. To evaluate the influence of parameters relevant to design safety, risks are estimated for three specification levels of cask and storage facility structures. The proposed assessment procedure includes the determination of the loading parameters, reference impact scenario, structural response analyses of facility walls, cask containment, and fuel assemblies, and a radiological consequence analysis with dose–risk estimation. The risk results for the proposed scenario in this study are expected to be small relative to those of design basis accidents for best-estimated conservative values. The importance of this framework is seen in its flexibility to evaluate the capability of the facility to withstand an aircraft impact and in its ability to anticipate potential realistic risks; the framework also provides insight into epistemic uncertainty in the available data and into the sensitivity of the design parameters for future research

Development of a Probabilistic Safety Assessment Framework for an Interim Dry Storage Facility Subjected to an Aircraft Crash Using Best-Estimate Structural Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belal Almomani

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Using a probabilistic safety assessment, a risk evaluation framework for an aircraft crash into an interim spent fuel storage facility is presented. Damage evaluation of a detailed generic cask model in a simplified building structure under an aircraft impact is discussed through a numerical structural analysis and an analytical fragility assessment. Sequences of the impact scenario are shown in a developed event tree, with uncertainties considered in the impact analysis and failure probabilities calculated. To evaluate the influence of parameters relevant to design safety, risks are estimated for three specification levels of cask and storage facility structures. The proposed assessment procedure includes the determination of the loading parameters, reference impact scenario, structural response analyses of facility walls, cask containment, and fuel assemblies, and a radiological consequence analysis with dose–risk estimation. The risk results for the proposed scenario in this study are expected to be small relative to those of design basis accidents for best-estimated conservative values. The importance of this framework is seen in its flexibility to evaluate the capability of the facility to withstand an aircraft impact and in its ability to anticipate potential realistic risks; the framework also provides insight into epistemic uncertainty in the available data and into the sensitivity of the design parameters for future research.

Development of a probabilistic safety assessment framework for an interim dry storage facility subjected to an aircraft crash using best-estimate structural analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Almomani, Belal; Jang, Dong Chan [Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Sang Hoon [Dept. of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Keimyung University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Hyun Gook [Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy (United States)

2017-03-15

Using a probabilistic safety assessment, a risk evaluation framework for an aircraft crash into an interim spent fuel storage facility is presented. Damage evaluation of a detailed generic cask model in a simplified building structure under an aircraft impact is discussed through a numerical structural analysis and an analytical fragility assessment. Sequences of the impact scenario are shown in a developed event tree, with uncertainties considered in the impact analysis and failure probabilities calculated. To evaluate the influence of parameters relevant to design safety, risks are estimated for three specification levels of cask and storage facility structures. The proposed assessment procedure includes the determination of the loading parameters, reference impact scenario, structural response analyses of facility walls, cask containment, and fuel assemblies, and a radiological consequence analysis with dose–risk estimation. The risk results for the proposed scenario in this study are expected to be small relative to those of design basis accidents for best-estimated conservative values. The importance of this framework is seen in its flexibility to evaluate the capability of the facility to withstand an aircraft impact and in its ability to anticipate potential realistic risks; the framework also provides insight into epistemic uncertainty in the available data and into the sensitivity of the design parameters for future research.

An Integrated Modeling Framework Forecasting Ecosystem Exposure-- A Systems Approach to the Cumulative Impacts of Multiple Stressors

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, J. M.

2013-12-01

Freshwater habitats provide fishable, swimmable and drinkable resources and are a nexus of geophysical and biological processes. These processes in turn influence the persistence and sustainability of populations, communities and ecosystems. Climate change and landuse change encompass numerous stressors of potential exposure, including the introduction of toxic contaminants, invasive species, and disease in addition to physical drivers such as temperature and hydrologic regime. A systems approach that includes the scientific and technologic basis of assessing the health of ecosystems is needed to effectively protect human health and the environment. The Integrated Environmental Modeling Framework 'iemWatersheds' has been developed as a consistent and coherent means of forecasting the cumulative impact of co-occurring stressors. The Framework consists of three facilitating technologies: Data for Environmental Modeling (D4EM) that automates the collection and standardization of input data; the Framework for Risk Assessment of Multimedia Environmental Systems (FRAMES) that manages the flow of information between linked models; and the Supercomputer for Model Uncertainty and Sensitivity Evaluation (SuperMUSE) that provides post-processing and analysis of model outputs, including uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. Five models are linked within the Framework to provide multimedia simulation capabilities for hydrology and water quality processes: the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) predicts surface water and sediment runoff and associated contaminants; the Watershed Mercury Model (WMM) predicts mercury runoff and loading to streams; the Water quality Analysis and Simulation Program (WASP) predicts water quality within the stream channel; the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model scores physicochemical habitat quality for individual fish species; and the Bioaccumulation and Aquatic System Simulator (BASS) predicts fish growth, population dynamics and bioaccumulation

mHealth Assessment: Conceptualization of a Global Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradway, Meghan; Carrion, Carme; Vallespin, Bárbara; Saadatfard, Omid; Puigdomènech, Elisa; Espallargues, Mireia; Kotzeva, Anna

2017-05-02

The mass availability and use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies offers the potential for these technologies to support or substitute medical advice. However, it is worrisome that most assessment initiatives are still not able to successfully evaluate all aspects of mHealth solutions. As a result, multiple strategies to assess mHealth solutions are being proposed by medical regulatory bodies and similar organizations. We aim to offer a collective description of a universally applicable description of mHealth assessment initiatives, given their current and, as we see it, potential impact. In doing so, we recommend a common foundation for the development or update of assessment initiatives by addressing the multistakeholder issues that mHealth technology adds to the traditional medical environment. Organized by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, we represent a workgroup consisting of patient associations, developers, and health authority representatives, including medical practitioners, within Europe. Contributions from each group's diverse competencies has allowed us to create an overview of the complex yet similar approaches to mHealth evaluation that are being developed today, including common gaps in concepts and perspectives. In response, we summarize commonalities of existing initiatives and exemplify additional characteristics that we believe will strengthen and unify these efforts. As opposed to a universal standard or protocol in evaluating mHealth solutions, assessment frameworks should respect the needs and capacity of each medical system or country. Therefore, we expect that the medical system will specify the content, resources, and workflow of assessment protocols in order to ensure a sustainable plan for mHealth solutions within their respective countries. A common framework for all mHealth initiatives around the world will be useful in order to assess whatever mHealth solution is desirable in different areas, adapting it to the

The inherent dangers of using computable general equilibrium models as a single integrated modelling framework for sustainability impact assessment. A critical note on Boehringer and Loeschel (2006)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scrieciu, S. Serban

2007-01-01

The search for methods of assessment that best evaluate and integrate the trade-offs and interactions between the economic, environmental and social components of development has been receiving a new impetus due to the requirement that sustainability concerns be incorporated into the policy formulation process. A paper forthcoming in Ecological Economics (Boehringer, C., Loeschel, A., in press. Computable general equilibrium models for sustainability impact assessment: status quo and prospects, Ecological Economics.) claims that Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models may potentially represent the much needed 'back-bone' tool to carry out reliable integrated quantitative Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs). While acknowledging the usefulness of CGE models for some dimensions of SIA, this commentary questions the legitimacy of employing this particular economic modelling tool as a single integrating modelling framework for a comprehensive evaluation of the multi-dimensional, dynamic and complex interactions between policy and sustainability. It discusses several inherent dangers associated with the advocated prospects for the CGE modelling approach to contribute to comprehensive and reliable sustainability impact assessments. The paper warns that this reductionist viewpoint may seriously infringe upon the basic values underpinning the SIA process, namely a transparent, heterogeneous, balanced, inter-disciplinary, consultative and participatory take to policy evaluation and building of the evidence-base. (author)

A quantitative framework for assessing ecological resilience

Science.gov (United States)

Quantitative approaches to measure and assess resilience are needed to bridge gaps between science, policy, and management. In this paper, we suggest a quantitative framework for assessing ecological resilience. Ecological resilience as an emergent ecosystem phenomenon can be de...

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salcito, Kendyl, E-mail: kendyl.salcito@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Singer, Burton H., E-mail: bhsinger@epi.ufl.edu [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Krieger, Gary R., E-mail: gkrieger@newfields.com [NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Weiss, Mitchell G., E-mail: mitchell-g.weiss@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Wielga, Mark, E-mail: wielga@nomogaia.org [NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Utzinger, Jürg, E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland)

2014-07-01

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salcito, Kendyl; Singer, Burton H.; Krieger, Gary R.; Weiss, Mitchell G.; Wielga, Mark; Utzinger, Jürg

2014-01-01

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact assessment

Health impact assessment in environmental impact assessment in China: Status, practice and problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, I-Shin; Yilihamu, Qimanguli; Wu, Jing; Wu, Huilei; Nan, Bo

2017-01-01

In China, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) system has gradually developed into an integrated evaluation system, owing to continuous improvement on institutional framework, system infrastructure, technical methods and professionals training, since EIA was first introduced in 1979. Though health impact assessment (HIA) is a part of the EIA system, the development of HIA is so slow as to remain at the early developing stage. This research aims to understand the extent and main issues concerning “health considerations” under the context of EIA, in China. Through case study on 42 environmental impact statements, the results demonstrate that HIA was not implemented in most of the cases, and health issues were not even mentioned in more than half of these cases. Where HIA was implemented, various problems were revealed through this study, including lacks of systematic approaching tools, insufficient supporting data on health effects, ineffective public participation, limited health considerations on biophysics, and so forth. Nevertheless, these problems can be attributed to lacks of legal supports, systematic evaluation methods, knowledge on evaluation technologies, and professional training institutions for HIA in China. In order to improve HIA methodologies, technologies, and management, to perfect HIA evaluation system, and to enhance public participation system within HIA, some recommendations from institutional, technical, administrative, and managerial aspects were then proposed in this study. - Highlights: •The status and deficiencies of HIA in EIA in China were identified and evaluated. •There were great industrial differences for the implementation of HIA in EIA. •Public participation was not well executed within HIA in EIA.

Environmental impact assessment of transportation projects: An analysis using an integrated GIS, remote sensing, and spatial modeling approach

Science.gov (United States)

El-Gafy, Mohamed Anwar

Transportation projects will have impact on the environment. The general environmental pollution and damage caused by roads is closely associated with the level of economic activity. Although Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are dependent on geo-spatial information in order to make an assessment, there are no rules per se how to conduct an environmental assessment. Also, the particular objective of each assessment is dictated case-by-case, based on what information and analyses are required. The conventional way of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study is a time consuming process because it has large number of dependent and independent variables which have to be taken into account, which also have different consequences. With the emergence of satellite remote sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this research presents a new framework for the analysis phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for transportation projects based on the integration between remote sensing technology, geographic information systems, and spatial modeling. By integrating the merits of the map overlay method and the matrix method, the framework analyzes comprehensively the environmental vulnerability around the road and its impact on the environment. This framework is expected to: (1) improve the quality of the decision making process, (2) be applied both to urban and inter-urban projects, regardless of transport mode, and (3) present the data and make the appropriate analysis to support the decision of the decision-makers and allow them to present these data to the public hearings in a simple manner. Case studies, transportation projects in the State of Florida, were analyzed to illustrate the use of the decision support framework and demonstrate its capabilities. This cohesive and integrated system will facilitate rational decisions through cost effective coordination of environmental information and data management that can be tailored to

Assessment of lightning impact frequency for process equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Necci, Amos; Antonioni, Giacomo; Cozzani, Valerio; Krausmann, Elisabeth; Borghetti, Alberto; Nucci, Carlo Alberto

2014-01-01

Fires and explosions triggered by lightning strikes are among the most frequent Natech scenarios affecting the chemical and process industry. Although lightning hazard is well known, well accepted quantitative procedures to assess the contribution of accidents caused by lightning to industrial risk are still lacking. In the present study, a quantitative methodology for the assessment of the expected frequency of lightning capture by process equipment is presented. A specific model, based on Monte Carlo simulations, was developed to assess the capture frequency of lightning for equipment with a given geometry. The model allows the assessment of lay-out effects and the reduction of the capture probability due to the presence of other structures or equipment items. The results of the Monte Carlo simulations were also used to develop a simplified cell method allowing a straightforward assessment of the lightning impact probability in a quantitative risk assessment framework. The developed approach allows an in-depth analysis of the hazard due to lightning impact by identifying equipment items with the highest expected frequency of lightning impacts in a given lay-out. The model thus supplies useful data to approach the assessment of the quantitative contribution of lightning-triggered accidents to industrial risk. - Highlights: • A specific approach to storage tank lightning impact frequency calculation was developed. • The approach is suitable for the quantitative assessment of industrial risk due to lightning. • The models developed provide lightning capture frequency based on tank geometry. • Lay-out effects due to nearby structures are also accounted. • Capture frequencies may be as high as 10 −1 events/year for standalone unprotected tanks

A framework for assessing Health Economic Evaluation (HEE) quality appraisal instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Langer, Astrid

2012-08-16

Health economic evaluations support the health care decision-making process by providing information on costs and consequences of health interventions. The quality of such studies is assessed by health economic evaluation (HEE) quality appraisal instruments. At present, there is no instrument for measuring and improving the quality of such HEE quality appraisal instruments. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to establish a framework for assessing the quality of HEE quality appraisal instruments to support and improve their quality, and to apply this framework to those HEE quality appraisal instruments which have been subject to more scrutiny than others, in order to test the framework and to demonstrate the shortcomings of existing HEE quality appraisal instruments. To develop the quality assessment framework for HEE quality appraisal instruments, the experiences of using appraisal tools for clinical guidelines are used. Based on a deductive iterative process, clinical guideline appraisal instruments identified through literature search are reviewed, consolidated, and adapted to produce the final quality assessment framework for HEE quality appraisal instruments. The final quality assessment framework for HEE quality appraisal instruments consists of 36 items organized within 7 dimensions, each of which captures a specific domain of quality. Applying the quality assessment framework to four existing HEE quality appraisal instruments, it is found that these four quality appraisal instruments are of variable quality. The framework described in this study should be regarded as a starting point for appraising the quality of HEE quality appraisal instruments. This framework can be used by HEE quality appraisal instrument producers to support and improve the quality and acceptance of existing and future HEE quality appraisal instruments. By applying this framework, users of HEE quality appraisal instruments can become aware of methodological deficiencies

2008 Arts Education Assessment Framework

Science.gov (United States)

National Assessment Governing Board, 2008

2008-01-01

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the arts measures students' knowledge and skills in creating, performing, and responding to works of music, theatre, and visual arts. This framework document asserts that dance, music, theatre and the visual arts are important parts of a full education. When students engage in the arts,…

The Contribution of Health Technology Assessment, Health Needs Assessment, and Health Impact Assessment to the Assessment and Translation of Technologies in the Field of Public Health Genomics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenkotter, N.; Vondeling, H.; Blancquaert, I.

2011-01-01

contribute to the systematic translation and assessment of genomic health applications by focussing at population level and on public health policy making. It is shown to what extent HTA, HNA and HIA contribute to translational research by using the continuum of translational research (T1-T4) in genomic...... into the impact on public health and health care practice of those technologies that are actually introduced. This paper aims to give an overview of the major assessment instruments in public health [ health technology assessment (HTA), health needs assessment (HNA) and health impact assessment (HIA)] which could...... medicine as an analytic framework. The selected assessment methodologies predominantly cover 2 to 4 phases within the T1-T4 system. HTA delivers the most complete set of methodologies when assessing health applications. HNA can be used to prioritize areas where genomic health applications are needed...

Can environmental impact assessments alone conserve freshwater fish biota? Review of the Chilean experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacy, Shaw Nozaki; Meza, Francisco J.; Marquet, Pablo A.

2017-01-01

Chile was one of many countries that initiated environmental impact assessments in the 1990s, and has relied on their use for species conservation and territorial planning without the use of larger-scale environmental and ecological planning. The capacity of Chile's environmental impact assessment system (SEIA) to evaluate resident freshwater fishes and the potential impacts of water projects and aquaculture activities – two categories of projects that create direct threats to freshwater fishes – are assessed. Of the 3997 such submissions to the SEIA, only 0.6% conducted any freshwater fish assessment, and only 0.1% conducted any quantitative assessment of expected impacts from the associated project. The small number of assessments was characterized by poor study design, inconsistent sampling methodology, and species misidentification. Traditional assessments failed to include freshwater fish ecology in the general assessment framework. The new strategic environmental evaluation system only underscores the need for vastly improved field sampling protocols and assessment methodologies.

Can environmental impact assessments alone conserve freshwater fish biota? Review of the Chilean experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacy, Shaw Nozaki, E-mail: shaw.lacy@gmail.com [Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); Departmento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul (Chile); Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul (Chile); Meza, Francisco J. [Departmento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul (Chile); Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul (Chile); Marquet, Pablo A. [Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Las Palmeras 345, Santiago (Chile); Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul (Chile)

2017-03-15

Chile was one of many countries that initiated environmental impact assessments in the 1990s, and has relied on their use for species conservation and territorial planning without the use of larger-scale environmental and ecological planning. The capacity of Chile's environmental impact assessment system (SEIA) to evaluate resident freshwater fishes and the potential impacts of water projects and aquaculture activities – two categories of projects that create direct threats to freshwater fishes – are assessed. Of the 3997 such submissions to the SEIA, only 0.6% conducted any freshwater fish assessment, and only 0.1% conducted any quantitative assessment of expected impacts from the associated project. The small number of assessments was characterized by poor study design, inconsistent sampling methodology, and species misidentification. Traditional assessments failed to include freshwater fish ecology in the general assessment framework. The new strategic environmental evaluation system only underscores the need for vastly improved field sampling protocols and assessment methodologies.

Measuring the Impact of Research: Lessons from the UK's Research Excellence Framework 2014.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gobinda Chowdhury

Full Text Available Impactful academic research plays a stellar role in society, pressing to ask the question of how one measures the impact created by different areas of academic research. Measuring the societal, cultural, economic and scientific impact of research is currently the priority of the National Science Foundation, European Commission and several research funding agencies. The recently concluded United Kingdom's national research quality exercise, the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014, which piloted impact assessment as part of the overall evaluation offers a lens to view how impact of research in different disciplines can be measured. Overall research quality was assessed through quality of outputs, 'impact' and research environment. We performed two studies using the REF 2014 as a case study. The first study on 363 Impact Case Studies (ICSs submitted in 5 research areas (UoAs reveals that, in general, the impact scores were constructed upon a combination of factors i.e. quantity of quartile-one (Q1 publications, quantity and value of grants/income, number of researchers stated in the ICSs, spin-offs created, discoveries/patents and presentation of esteem data, informing researchers/ academics of the factors to consider in order to achieve a better impact score in research impact assessments. However, there were differences among disciplines in terms of the role played by the factors in achieving their overall scores for the ICSs. The outcome of this study is thus a set of impact indicators, and their relationship with the overall score of impact of research in different disciplines as determined in REF2014, which would in the first instance provide some answers to impact measures that would be useful for researchers in different disciplines. The second study extracts the general themes of impact reported by universities by performing a word frequency analysis in all the ICSs submitted in the five chosen research areas, which were substantially

A critical analysis of hazard resilience measures within sustainability assessment frameworks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthews, Elizabeth C.; Sattler, Meredith; Friedland, Carol J.

2014-01-01

Today, numerous sustainability assessment frameworks (SAFs) exist to guide designers in achieving sustainable performance in the design of structures and communities. SAFs are beneficial in educating users and are useful tools for incorporating sustainability strategies into planning, design, and construction; however, there is currently a substantial gap in the ability of existing SAFs to incorporate hazard resistance and hazard mitigation in the broader context of sustainable design. This paper analyzes the incorporation of hazard resistant design and hazard mitigation strategies within SAFs via a multi-level analysis of eleven SAFs. The SAFs analyzed range in scale of application (i.e. building, site, community). Three levels of analysis are presented: (1) macro-level analysis comparing the number of measures strictly addressing resilience versus sustainability, (2) meso-level analysis of the coverage of types of hazards within SAFs (e.g. flood, fire), and (3) micro-level analysis of SAF measures connected to flood-related hazard resilience. The results demonstrate that hazard resistance and hazard mitigation do not figure prominently in the intent of SAFs and that weaknesses in resilience coverage exist that have the potential to lead to the design of structures and communities that are still highly vulnerable to the impacts of extreme events. - Highlights: • Sustainability assessment frameworks (SAFs) were analyzed for resilience coverage • Hazard resistance and mitigation do not figure prominently in the intent of SAFs • Approximately 75% of SAFs analyzed address three or fewer hazards • Lack of economic measures within SAFs could impact resilience and sustainability • Resilience measures for flood hazards are not consistently included in SAFs

A critical analysis of hazard resilience measures within sustainability assessment frameworks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matthews, Elizabeth C., E-mail: echiso1@lsu.edu [Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Sattler, Meredith, E-mail: msattler@lsu.edu [School of Architecture, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Friedland, Carol J., E-mail: friedland@lsu.edu [Bert S. Turner Department of Construction Management, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States)

2014-11-15

Today, numerous sustainability assessment frameworks (SAFs) exist to guide designers in achieving sustainable performance in the design of structures and communities. SAFs are beneficial in educating users and are useful tools for incorporating sustainability strategies into planning, design, and construction; however, there is currently a substantial gap in the ability of existing SAFs to incorporate hazard resistance and hazard mitigation in the broader context of sustainable design. This paper analyzes the incorporation of hazard resistant design and hazard mitigation strategies within SAFs via a multi-level analysis of eleven SAFs. The SAFs analyzed range in scale of application (i.e. building, site, community). Three levels of analysis are presented: (1) macro-level analysis comparing the number of measures strictly addressing resilience versus sustainability, (2) meso-level analysis of the coverage of types of hazards within SAFs (e.g. flood, fire), and (3) micro-level analysis of SAF measures connected to flood-related hazard resilience. The results demonstrate that hazard resistance and hazard mitigation do not figure prominently in the intent of SAFs and that weaknesses in resilience coverage exist that have the potential to lead to the design of structures and communities that are still highly vulnerable to the impacts of extreme events. - Highlights: • Sustainability assessment frameworks (SAFs) were analyzed for resilience coverage • Hazard resistance and mitigation do not figure prominently in the intent of SAFs • Approximately 75% of SAFs analyzed address three or fewer hazards • Lack of economic measures within SAFs could impact resilience and sustainability • Resilience measures for flood hazards are not consistently included in SAFs.

A Framework for Assessment of Aviation Safety Technology Portfolios

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Sharon M.; Reveley, Mary S.

2014-01-01

The programs within NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) conduct research and development to improve the national air transportation system so that Americans can travel as safely as possible. NASA aviation safety systems analysis personnel support various levels of ARMD management in their fulfillment of system analysis and technology prioritization as defined in the agency's program and project requirements. This paper provides a framework for the assessment of aviation safety research and technology portfolios that includes metrics such as projected impact on current and future safety, technical development risk and implementation risk. The paper also contains methods for presenting portfolio analysis and aviation safety Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) output results to management using bubble charts and quantitative decision analysis techniques.

Towards a meaningful assessment of marine ecological impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA).

Science.gov (United States)

Woods, John S; Veltman, Karin; Huijbregts, Mark A J; Verones, Francesca; Hertwich, Edgar G

2016-01-01

Human demands on marine resources and space are currently unprecedented and concerns are rising over observed declines in marine biodiversity. A quantitative understanding of the impact of industrial activities on the marine environment is thus essential. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely applied method for quantifying the environmental impact of products and processes. LCA was originally developed to assess the impacts of land-based industries on mainly terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. As such, impact indicators for major drivers of marine biodiversity loss are currently lacking. We review quantitative approaches for cause-effect assessment of seven major drivers of marine biodiversity loss: climate change, ocean acidification, eutrophication-induced hypoxia, seabed damage, overexploitation of biotic resources, invasive species and marine plastic debris. Our review shows that impact indicators can be developed for all identified drivers, albeit at different levels of coverage of cause-effect pathways and variable levels of uncertainty and spatial coverage. Modeling approaches to predict the spatial distribution and intensity of human-driven interventions in the marine environment are relatively well-established and can be employed to develop spatially-explicit LCA fate factors. Modeling approaches to quantify the effects of these interventions on marine biodiversity are less well-developed. We highlight specific research challenges to facilitate a coherent incorporation of marine biodiversity loss in LCA, thereby making LCA a more comprehensive and robust environmental impact assessment tool. Research challenges of particular importance include i) incorporation of the non-linear behavior of global circulation models (GCMs) within an LCA framework and ii) improving spatial differentiation, especially the representation of coastal regions in GCMs and ocean-carbon cycle models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A framework to predict the impacts of shale gas infrastructures on the forest fragmentation of an agroforest region.

Science.gov (United States)

Racicot, Alexandre; Babin-Roussel, Véronique; Dauphinais, Jean-François; Joly, Jean-Sébastien; Noël, Pascal; Lavoie, Claude

2014-05-01

We propose a framework to facilitate the evaluation of the impacts of shale gas infrastructures (well pads, roads, and pipelines) on land cover features, especially with regards to forest fragmentation. We used a geographic information system and realistic development scenarios largely inspired by the PA (United States) experience, but adapted to a region of QC (Canada) with an already fragmented forest cover and a high gas potential. The scenario with the greatest impact results from development limited by regulatory constraints only, with no access to private roads for connecting well pads to the public road network. The scenario with the lowest impact additionally integrates ecological constraints (deer yards, maple woodlots, and wetlands). Overall the differences between these two scenarios are relatively minor, with shale gas industry, we show that it is possible, within a reasonable time frame, to produce a robust assessment of the impacts of shale gas extraction. The framework we propose could easily be applied to other contexts or jurisdictions.

Resolving issues with environmental impact assessment of marine renewable energy installations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilya M. D. Maclean

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Growing concerns about climate change and energy security have fueled a rapid increase in the development of marine renewable energy installations (MREIs. The potential ecological consequences of increased use of these devices emphasizes the need for high quality environmental impact assessment (EIA. We demonstrate that these processes are hampered severely, primarily because ambiguities in the legislation and lack of clear implementation guidance are such that they do not ensure robust assessment of the significance of impacts and cumulative effects. We highlight why the regulatory framework leads to conceptual ambiguities and propose changes which, for the most part, do not require major adjustments to standard practice. We emphasize the importance of determining the degree of confidence in impacts to permit the likelihood as well as magnitude of impacts to be quantified and propose ways in which assessment of population-level impacts could be incorporated into the EIA process. Overall, however, we argue that, instead of trying to ascertain which particular developments are responsible for tipping an already heavily degraded marine environment into an undesirable state, emphasis should be placed on better strategic assessment.

A GIS-based generic real-time risk assessment framework and decision tools for chemical spills in the river basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jiping; Wang, Peng; Lung, Wu-seng; Guo, Liang; Li, Mei

2012-08-15

This paper presents a generic framework and decision tools of real-time risk assessment on Emergency Environmental Decision Support System for response to chemical spills in river basin. The generic "4-step-3-model" framework is able to delineate the warning area and the impact on vulnerable receptors considering four types of hazards referring to functional area, societal impact, and human health and ecology system. Decision tools including the stand-alone system and software components were implemented on GIS platform. A detailed case study on the Songhua River nitrobenzene spill illustrated the goodness of the framework and tool Spill first responders and decision makers of catchment management will benefit from the rich, visual and dynamic hazard information output from the software. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative assessment and management of the health and environmental impacts of energy systems. General framework and preliminary results for the nuclear fuel cycle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rostron, W; Schneider, T; Thieme, M; Dreicer, M

1992-06-01

The comparison of the effects of electricity producing systems is of growing importance in decision-making processes for energy planning. This report documents the preliminary results of a project for the CEC-DG XII Radiation Protection Programme on the comparative assessment and management of the health and environmental impacts of energy systems. The work reported in this document has also been supported by EDF - Mission Environnement. In order to profit from the comparative studies already existing, some of the most important ones were surveyed. The aim of these past energy comparison studies was mainly to obtain a global measure of the risks associated with an energy cycle, with a view to ranking the various electricity production systems; but this is now recognised as merely an academic exercise, with a limited impact in decision-making. For energy planning the development of a multi-dimensional approach seems more suitable, as this allows the different types of indicators and measures needed to assess the risks of different energy cycles to be compared. From the past studies it has been seen that health indicators are generally well established, but a weakness is noted with respect to indicators of environmental impacts. This remains a difficult subject, and until such indicators are established, surrogates like concentrations in the environment will have to be used, or qualitative comparisons must suffice. This report presents a general framework allowing for consistent comparisons between different energy systems. The key issues discussed are: assessment by fuel cycle, consideration of the dimensions of time and space, the impact pathway approach for assessing risk, and coherent indicators that can be used to measure the impacts. First results are presented for four activities of the nuclear fuel cycle according to the approach developed: (1) the construction and dismantling of a 900 MWe pressurized water reactor, (2) the transportation of materials between

Exploring Health Impact Assessment in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Wismar

2007-09-01

Full Text Available

Background: Health impact assessment (HIA prospectively judges the potential health impacts of pending decisions and feeds the assessment back into the decision making process. HIA is considered as a key tool for intersectoral collaboration. This article presents selected results of a mapping exercise on HIA in Europe. The mapping exercise is complemented by the presentation of a conceptual framework on the effectiveness of HIA and illustrative examples.

Method: Two methodologies are employed in this article: First, the use of HIA across Europe is based on a survey conducted by 21 teams in 19 countries. A semi standardized questionnaire was employed, using a wide variety of sources. Second, for the discussion on the effectiveness of HIA, a conceptual framework using four types of effectiveness was employed. Results: HIA is a common practice only in a handful of European countries. In most of Europe, HIA is at an early developmental stage. The mapping exercise, however, provides evidence that HIA can work across all sectors and at all political level, although there is currently a focus on the local level. HIA is conducted in different countries by different sets of actors and organizations, reflecting the existing setup. The evidence on the effectiveness of HIA is still inconclusive. However, single case studies and upcoming evidence suggests that HIA has the capacity to inform and influence the decision making process.

Conclusions: HIA can work and deliver. The variations in context across European countries have resulted in different forms of implementation and different dynamics of developing HIA.

Developing a sustainability framework for the assessment of bioenergy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elghali, Lucia; Clift, Roland; Sinclair, Philip; Panoutsou, Calliope; Bauen, Ausilio

2007-01-01

The potential for biomass to contribute to energy supply in a low-carbon economy is well recognised. However, for the sector to contribute fully to sustainable development in the UK, specific exploitation routes must meet the three sets of criteria usually recognised as representing the tests for sustainability: economic viability in the market and fiscal framework within which the supply chain operates; environmental performance, including, but not limited to, low carbon dioxide emissions over the complete fuel cycle; and social acceptability, with the benefits of using biomass recognised as outweighing any negative social impacts. This paper describes an approach to developing a methodology to establish a sustainability framework for the assessment of bioenergy systems to provide practical advice for policy makers, planners and the bioenergy industry, and thus to support policy development and bioenergy deployment at different scales. The approach uses multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and decision-conferencing, to explore how such a process is able to integrate and reconcile the interests and concerns of diverse stakeholder groups

Towards a more holistic sustainability assessment framework for agro-bioenergy systems — A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arodudu, Oludunsin; Helming, Katharina; Wiggering, Hubert; Voinov, Alexey

2017-01-01

The use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a sustainability assessment tool for agro-bioenergy system usually has an industrial agriculture bias. Furthermore, LCA generally has often been criticized for being a decision maker tool which may not consider decision takers perceptions. They are lacking in spatial and temporal depth, and unable to assess sufficiently some environmental impact categories such as biodiversity, land use etc. and most economic and social impact categories, e.g. food security, water security, energy security. This study explored tools, methodologies and frameworks that can be deployed individually, as well as in combination with each other for bridging these methodological gaps in application to agro-bioenergy systems. Integrating agronomic options, e.g. alternative farm power, tillage, seed sowing options, fertilizer, pesticide, irrigation into the boundaries of LCAs for agro-bioenergy systems will not only provide an alternative agro-ecological perspective to previous LCAs, but will also lead to the derivation of indicators for assessment of some social and economic impact categories. Deploying life cycle thinking approaches such as energy return on energy invested-EROEI, human appropriation of net primary production-HANPP, net greenhouse gas or carbon balance-NCB, water footprint individually and in combination with each other will also lead to further derivation of indicators suitable for assessing relevant environmental, social and economic impact categories. Also, applying spatio-temporal simulation models has a potential for improving the spatial and temporal depths of LCA analysis.

Towards a more holistic sustainability assessment framework for agro-bioenergy systems — A review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arodudu, Oludunsin, E-mail: Oludunsin.Arodudu@zalf.de [Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg (Germany); Potsdam University, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Golm (Germany); Helming, Katharina [Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg (Germany); Faculty of Landscape Management and Nature Conservation, University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), Schickler Strasse 5, 16225 Eberswalde (Germany); Wiggering, Hubert [Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg (Germany); Potsdam University, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Golm (Germany); Voinov, Alexey [ITC, Faculty of Geoinformation and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99, Enschede (Netherlands)

2017-01-15

The use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a sustainability assessment tool for agro-bioenergy system usually has an industrial agriculture bias. Furthermore, LCA generally has often been criticized for being a decision maker tool which may not consider decision takers perceptions. They are lacking in spatial and temporal depth, and unable to assess sufficiently some environmental impact categories such as biodiversity, land use etc. and most economic and social impact categories, e.g. food security, water security, energy security. This study explored tools, methodologies and frameworks that can be deployed individually, as well as in combination with each other for bridging these methodological gaps in application to agro-bioenergy systems. Integrating agronomic options, e.g. alternative farm power, tillage, seed sowing options, fertilizer, pesticide, irrigation into the boundaries of LCAs for agro-bioenergy systems will not only provide an alternative agro-ecological perspective to previous LCAs, but will also lead to the derivation of indicators for assessment of some social and economic impact categories. Deploying life cycle thinking approaches such as energy return on energy invested-EROEI, human appropriation of net primary production-HANPP, net greenhouse gas or carbon balance-NCB, water footprint individually and in combination with each other will also lead to further derivation of indicators suitable for assessing relevant environmental, social and economic impact categories. Also, applying spatio-temporal simulation models has a potential for improving the spatial and temporal depths of LCA analysis.

Alignment between South African mathematics assessment standards and the TIMSS assessment frameworks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available South Africa’s performance in international benchmark tests is a major cause for concern amongst educators and policymakers, raising questions about the effectiveness of the curriculum reform efforts of the democratic era. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to investigate the degree of alignment between the TIMSS 2003 Grade 8 Mathematics assessment frameworks and the Revised National Curriculum Statements (RNCS assessment standards for Grade 8 Mathematics, later revised to become the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS. Such an investigation could help to partly shed light on why South African learners do not perform well and point out discrepancies that need to be attended to. The methodology of document analysis was adopted for the study, with the RNCS and the TIMSS 2003 Grade 8 Mathematics frameworks forming the principal documents. Porter’s moderately complex index of alignment was adopted for its simplicity. The computed index of 0.751 for the alignment between the RNCS assessment standards and the TIMSS assessment objectives was found to be significantly statistically low, at the alpha level of 0.05, according to Fulmer’s critical values for 20 cells and 90 or 120 standard points. The study suggests that inadequate attention has been paid to the alignment of the South African mathematics curriculum to the successive TIMSS assessment frameworks in terms of the cognitive level descriptions. The study recommends that participation in TIMSS should rigorously and critically inform ongoing curriculum reform efforts.

Integrating Fuzzy Logic, Optimization, and GIS for Ecological Impact Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis A.; Juárez, Lourdes; Cruz-Bello, Gustavo

2002-09-01

Appraisal of ecological impacts has been problematic because of the behavior of ecological system and the responses of these systems to human intervention are far from fully understood. While it has been relatively easy to itemize the potential ecological impacts, it has been difficult to arrive at accurate predictions of how these impacts affect populations, communities, or ecosystems. Furthermore, the spatial heterogeneity of ecological systems has been overlooked because its examination is practically impossible through matrix techniques, the most commonly used impact assessment approach. Besides, the public has become increasingly aware of the importance of the EIA in decision-making and thus the interpretation of impact significance is complicated further by the different value judgments of stakeholders. Moreover, impact assessments are carried out with a minimum of data, high uncertainty, and poor conceptual understanding. Hence, the evaluation of ecological impacts entails the integration of subjective and often conflicting judgments from a variety of experts and stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to present an environmental impact assessment approach based on the integration fuzzy logic, geographical information systems and optimization techniques. This approach enables environmental analysts to deal with the intrinsic imprecision and ambiguity associated with the judgments of experts and stakeholders, the description of ecological systems, and the prediction of ecological impacts. The application of this approach is illustrated through an example, which shows how consensus about impact mitigation can be attained within a conflict resolution framework.

A framework for risk assessment on lean production implementation

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Giuliano Almeida Marodin

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The organizational and technical complexity of implementing the lean principles and practices can become an extensively time consuming journey with few benefits. We argue that risk assessment can aid on the understanding and management of the major difficulties on the Lean production implementation (LPI. Thus, this paper proposes a framework for risk assessment on the LPI process. The literature review permitted to adapt the risk assessment steps to the characteristics of the LPI and develop data collection and analysis procedures for each step. The Sociotechnical systems (STS theory was brought in to improve the understanding of the context’s characteristics on the proposed framework because it has a major influence on the LPI. The framework was has five steps: (a defining the unit of analysis; (b describing the context; (c risk identification; (d risk analysis; and (e risk relationships modeling.

Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from ...

Science.gov (United States)

This revision of the 2011 report, Accounting Framework for Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources, evaluates biogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources, including a detailed study of the scientific and technical issues associated with assessing biogenic carbon dioxide emissions from stationary sources. EPA developed the revised report, Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources, to present a methodological framework for assessing the extent to which the production, processing, and use of biogenic material at stationary sources for energy production results in a net atmospheric contribution of biogenic CO2 emissions. Biogenic carbon dioxide emissions are defined as CO2 emissions related to the natural carbon cycle, as well as those resulting from the production, harvest, combustion, digestion, decomposition, and processing of biologically-based materials. The EPA is continuing to refine its technical assessment of biogenic CO2 emissions through another round of targeted peer review of the revised study with the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). This study was submitted to the SAB's Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel in February 2015. http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/0/3235dac747c16fe985257da90053f252!OpenDocument&TableRow=2.2#2 The revised report will inform efforts by policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders to evaluate the technical aspects related to assessments of biogenic feedstocks used for energy at s

Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment: A Neuroscience-Based Framework for Addictive Disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwako, Laura E; Momenan, Reza; Litten, Raye Z; Koob, George F; Goldman, David

2016-08-01

This article proposes a heuristic framework for the Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment that incorporates key functional domains derived from the neurocircuitry of addiction. We review how addictive disorders (ADs) are presently diagnosed and the need for new neuroclinical measures to differentiate patients who meet clinical criteria for addiction to the same agent while differing in etiology, prognosis, and treatment response. The need for a better understanding of the mechanisms provoking and maintaining addiction, as evidenced by the limitations of current treatments and within-diagnosis clinical heterogeneity, is articulated. In addition, recent changes in the nosology of ADs, challenges to current classification systems, and prior attempts to subtype individuals with ADs are described. Complementary initiatives, including the Research Domain Criteria project, that have established frameworks for the neuroscience of psychiatric disorders are discussed. Three domains-executive function, incentive salience, and negative emotionality-tied to different phases in the cycle of addiction form the core functional elements of ADs. Measurement of these domains in epidemiologic, genetic, clinical, and treatment studies will provide the underpinnings for an understanding of cross-population and temporal variation in addictions, shared mechanisms in addictive disorders, impact of changing environmental influences, and gene identification. Finally, we show that it is practical to implement such a deep neuroclinical assessment using a combination of neuroimaging and performance measures. Neuroclinical assessment is key to reconceptualizing the nosology of ADs on the basis of process and etiology, an advance that can lead to improved prevention and treatment. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Conceptual framework for describing selected urban and community impacts of federal energy policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morris, F.A,; Marcus, A.A.; Keller, D.

1980-06-01

A conceptual framework is presented for describing selected urban and community impacts of Federal energy policies. The framework depends on a simple causal model. The outputs of the model are impacts, changes in the state of the world of particular interest to policymakers. At any given time, a set of determinants account for the state of the world with respect to an impact category. Application of the model to a particular impact category requires: establishing a definition and measure for the impact category and identifying the determinants of these impacts. Analysis of the impact of a particular policy requires the following: identifying the policy and its effects (as estimated by others), isolating any effects that themselves constitute an urban and community impact, identifying any effects that change the value of determinants, and describing the impact with reference to the new values of determinants. This report provides a framework for these steps. Three impacts addressed are: neighborhood stability, housing availability, and quality and availability of public services. In each chapter, a definition and measure for the impact are specified; its principal determinants are identified; how the causal model can be used to estimate impacts by applying it to three illustrative Federal policies (domestic oil price decontrol, building energy performance standards, and increased Federal aid for mass transit) is demonstrated. (MCW)

Best practices for assessing ocean health in multiple contexts using tailorable frameworks

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Julia S. Stewart Lowndes

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Marine policy is increasingly calling for maintaining or restoring healthy oceans while human activities continue to intensify. Thus, successful prioritization and management of competing objectives requires a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the ocean. Unfortunately, assessment frameworks to define and quantify current ocean state are often site-specific, limited to a few ocean components, and difficult to reproduce in different geographies or even through time, limiting spatial or temporal comparisons as well as the potential for shared learning. Ideally, frameworks should be tailorable to accommodate use in disparate locations and contexts, removing the need to develop frameworks de novo and allowing efforts to focus on the assessments themselves to advise action. Here, we present some of our experiences using the Ocean Health Index (OHI framework, a tailorable and repeatable approach that measures health of coupled human-ocean ecosystems in different contexts by accommodating differences in local environmental characteristics, cultural priorities, and information availability and quality. Since its development in 2012, eleven assessments using the OHI framework have been completed at global, national, and regional scales, four of which have been led by independent academic or government groups. We have found the following to be best practices for conducting assessments: Incorporate key characteristics and priorities into the assessment framework design before gathering information; Strategically define spatial boundaries to balance information availability and decision-making scales; Maintain the key characteristics and priorities of the assessment framework regardless of information limitations; and Document and share the assessment process, methods, and tools. These best practices are relevant to most ecosystem assessment processes, but also provide tangible guidance for assessments using the OHI framework. These

Making Marine Noise Pollution Impacts Heard: The Case of Cetaceans in the North Sea within Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heleen Middel

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Oceans represent more than 95% of the world’s biosphere and are among the richest sources of biodiversity on Earth. However, human activities such as shipping and construction of marine infrastructure pose a threat to the quality of marine ecosystems. Due to the dependence of most marine animals on sound for their communication, foraging, protection, and ultimately their survival, the effects of noise pollution from human activities are of growing concern. Life cycle assessment (LCA can play a role in the understanding of how potential environmental impacts are related to industrial processes. However, noise pollution impacts on marine ecosystems have not yet been taken into account. This paper presents a first approach for the integration of noise impacts on marine ecosystems into the LCA framework by developing characterization factors (CF for the North Sea. Noise pollution triggers a large variety of impact pathways, but as a starting point and proof-of-concept we assessed impacts on the avoidance behaviour of cetaceans due to pile-driving during the construction of offshore windfarms in the North Sea. Our approach regards the impact of avoidance behaviour as a temporary loss of habitat, and assumes a temporary loss of all individuals within that habitat from the total regional population. This was verified with an existing model that assessed the population-level effect of noise pollution on harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena in the North Sea. We expanded our CF to also include other cetacean species and tested it in a case study of the construction of an offshore windfarm (Prinses Amalia wind park. The total impact of noise pollution was in the same order of magnitude as impacts on other ecosystems from freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial acidification, and terrestrial ecotoxicity. Although there are still many improvements to be made to this approach, it provides a basis for the implementation of noise

Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for evaluating new medicines in Health Technology Assessment and beyond: The Advance Value Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Angelis, Aris; Kanavos, Panos

2017-09-01

Escalating drug prices have catalysed the generation of numerous "value frameworks" with the aim of informing payers, clinicians and patients on the assessment and appraisal process of new medicines for the purpose of coverage and treatment selection decisions. Although this is an important step towards a more inclusive Value Based Assessment (VBA) approach, aspects of these frameworks are based on weak methodologies and could potentially result in misleading recommendations or decisions. In this paper, a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodological process, based on Multi Attribute Value Theory (MAVT), is adopted for building a multi-criteria evaluation model. A five-stage model-building process is followed, using a top-down "value-focused thinking" approach, involving literature reviews and expert consultations. A generic value tree is structured capturing decision-makers' concerns for assessing the value of new medicines in the context of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and in alignment with decision theory. The resulting value tree (Advance Value Tree) consists of three levels of criteria (top level criteria clusters, mid-level criteria, bottom level sub-criteria or attributes) relating to five key domains that can be explicitly measured and assessed: (a) burden of disease, (b) therapeutic impact, (c) safety profile (d) innovation level and (e) socioeconomic impact. A number of MAVT modelling techniques are introduced for operationalising (i.e. estimating) the model, for scoring the alternative treatment options, assigning relative weights of importance to the criteria, and combining scores and weights. Overall, the combination of these MCDA modelling techniques for the elicitation and construction of value preferences across the generic value tree provides a new value framework (Advance Value Framework) enabling the comprehensive measurement of value in a structured and transparent way. Given its flexibility to meet diverse requirements and

A framework to assess landscape structural capacity to provide regulating ecosystem services in West Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Inkoom, Justice Nana; Frank, Susanne; Greve, Klaus; Fürst, Christine

2018-03-01

The Sudanian savanna landscapes of West Africa are amongst the world's most vulnerable areas to climate change impacts. Inappropriate land use and agriculture management practices continuously impede the capacity of agricultural landscapes to provide ecosystem services (ES). Given the absence of practical assessment techniques to evaluate the landscape's capacity to provide regulating ES in this region, the goal of this paper is to propose an integrative assessment framework which combines remote sensing, geographic information systems, expert weighting and landscape metrics-based assessment. We utilized Analytical Hierarchical Process and Likert scale for the expert weighting of landscape capacity. In total, 56 experts from several land use and landscape management related departments participated in the assessment. Further, we adapted the hemeroby concept to define areas of naturalness while landscape metrics including Patch Density, Shannon's Diversity, and Shape Index were utilized for structural assessment. Lastly, we tested the reliability of expert weighting using certainty measurement rated by experts themselves. Our study focused on four regulating ES including flood control, pest and disease control, climate control, and wind erosion control. Our assessment framework was tested on four selected sites in the Vea catchment area of Ghana. The outcome of our study revealed that highly heterogeneous landscapes have a higher capacity to provide pest and disease control, while less heterogeneous landscapes have a higher potential to provide climate control. Further, we could show that the potential capacities to provide ecosystem services are underestimated by 15% if landscape structural aspects assessed through landscape metrics are not considered. We conclude that the combination of adapted land use and an optimized land use pattern could contribute considerably to lower climate change impacts in West African agricultural landscapes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier

Preliminary assessment of the environmental and health impacts of nuclear and coal fuel cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Yin; Chen Zhuzhou; Pan Ziqiang

1992-01-01

The paper reports on the environmental impacts and health effects of coal and nuclear fuel cycles in China. Data of interest for China are presented in a comparative manner; epidemiological investigations in Shanxi province indicate that the incidences of chronic pulmonary diseases and infant cogenital malformation were apparently increased over the fall-out areas of coal-fired power stations and coal mines. The authors outline the framework of a research project on environmental assessment of nuclear energy and other energy systems. The main features of the project are: environmental and health impacts of coal and nuclear fuel cycles, environmental impact assessment of coal transportation, cost accounting of nuclear and other energy sources, health risk assessment. (author). 24 refs, 4 tabs

Impact of the European Water framework directive on knowledge of biodiversity Impact of the European Water framework directive on knowledge of biodiversity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Argillier and Mario Lepage

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The European Water framework directive requires observation and monitoring of certain biological communities to assess the ecological status of aquatic environments. How does the WFD contribute to knowledge and evaluation of aquatic biodiversity? What may be the results in terms of monitoring?The concept of biodiversity is complex and difficult to describe in an exhaustive manner. The Water Framework Directive (WFD, through its aquatic ecosystem monitoring network, aims to assess the ecological and chemical status of water bodies. This assessment requires observations on certain biological communities in a definite number of European sites representing continental, transitional and coastal water bodies. Consequently, the WFD contributes to improving knowledge on biodiversity. Nevertheless, genetic diversity and some communities are clearly not targeted and the monitoring networks are not well designed to assess changes in biodiversity. However, we may expect improvements in scientific knowledge of ecosystems and in the monitoring programmes that will make possible better convergence of environmental objectives.

Landscape impact assessment of wind farm development in Dyfed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blandford, C.; White, S.; Garrad, A.D.; Morgan, C.A.

1992-01-01

Chris Blandford Associates, in association with Garrad Hassan and Partners, was commissioned to carry out a landscape impact assessment of wind turbine development in Dyfed. The study aims to identify those areas in Dyfed where, in terms of landscape impact, local authorities might seek either to exclude or encourage wind turbine development; provide guidelines to assist local authorities in judging the impact of wind turbine developments on the landscape; provide a basis and framework for the preparation of planning policy guidelines for acceptable wind turbine and wind farm developments in Dyfed. The study context reviews current Government energy and planning policies for the encouragement of wind turbine developments, as set out in the ''non-fossil fuel obligation'' and the draft planning policy guidance note for renewable energy published last December. (author)

The inclusion of migrants in health impact assessments: A scoping review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benkhalti Jandu, Maria, E-mail: mbenkhal@uottawa.ca [University of Ottawa, Institute of Population Health, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 201, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada); Canuto de Medeiros, Bruno, E-mail: aporo@hotmail.com [University of Ottawa, Institute of Population Health, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 201, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada); Bourgeault, Ivy, E-mail: Ivy.Bourgeault@uottawa.ca [University of Ottawa, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, 1 Stewart Street, Suite 207, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada); Tugwell, Peter, E-mail: Tugwell.BB@uottawa.ca [University of Ottawa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, K1H 8M5 Ottawa (Canada); Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Clinical Epidemiology Program, K1Y 4E9 Ottawa (Canada); University of Ottawa, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, K1H 8M5 Ottawa (Canada); Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5 Ottawa (Canada)

2015-01-15

This article reports the findings of a scoping review assessing the extent and ways in which migrants have been included in health impact assessments (HIAs) and HIA evaluations worldwide. A total of 117 HIAs and two HIA evaluations were included. Only 14% of hand-searched HIAs mentioned migrants, 5% analysed migrants and only 2% included them in their recommendations. Nonetheless, migrants would be expected to be part of the analysis based on the reasons for which migrants were most commonly mentioned. Although the majority of HIAs included in the review mentioned migrants in baseline conditions and impact analysis steps, migrants were seldom included in recommendations. Furthermore, the use of frameworks or tools guiding the completion of an HIA was negatively associated with the inclusion of migrants in recommendations. This is a pivotal risk of frameworks not mentioning migrants. Although workshops and stakeholder engagement were a frequent way of including migrants in HIAs, this usually involved organizations representing migrants, and only seldom included members of the migrant community themselves. The main barriers to including migrants in the HIA impact analysis were the lack of available data on migrants and the significant additional resources required to gather and analyse additional data on migrants. Guidance is needed on ways to optimally include migrants in HIAs and ensure that recommendations for mitigation measures are optimal. - Highlights: • Scoping review found 14% of hand-searched HIAs mentioned migrants • Migrants are seldom mentioned in recommendations even when analysed • Guiding frameworks can hinder the inclusion of migrants if not explicitly mentioned • Often migrants organizations are the ones included in engagement • Main barriers to including migrants are available data and resources required.

The inclusion of migrants in health impact assessments: A scoping review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benkhalti Jandu, Maria; Canuto de Medeiros, Bruno; Bourgeault, Ivy; Tugwell, Peter

2015-01-01

This article reports the findings of a scoping review assessing the extent and ways in which migrants have been included in health impact assessments (HIAs) and HIA evaluations worldwide. A total of 117 HIAs and two HIA evaluations were included. Only 14% of hand-searched HIAs mentioned migrants, 5% analysed migrants and only 2% included them in their recommendations. Nonetheless, migrants would be expected to be part of the analysis based on the reasons for which migrants were most commonly mentioned. Although the majority of HIAs included in the review mentioned migrants in baseline conditions and impact analysis steps, migrants were seldom included in recommendations. Furthermore, the use of frameworks or tools guiding the completion of an HIA was negatively associated with the inclusion of migrants in recommendations. This is a pivotal risk of frameworks not mentioning migrants. Although workshops and stakeholder engagement were a frequent way of including migrants in HIAs, this usually involved organizations representing migrants, and only seldom included members of the migrant community themselves. The main barriers to including migrants in the HIA impact analysis were the lack of available data on migrants and the significant additional resources required to gather and analyse additional data on migrants. Guidance is needed on ways to optimally include migrants in HIAs and ensure that recommendations for mitigation measures are optimal. - Highlights: • Scoping review found 14% of hand-searched HIAs mentioned migrants • Migrants are seldom mentioned in recommendations even when analysed • Guiding frameworks can hinder the inclusion of migrants if not explicitly mentioned • Often migrants organizations are the ones included in engagement • Main barriers to including migrants are available data and resources required

Climate impacts of bioenergy: Inclusion of carbon cycle and albedo dynamics in life cycle impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bright, Ryan M.; Cherubini, Francesco; Strømman, Anders H.

2012-01-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be an invaluable tool for the structured environmental impact assessment of bioenergy product systems. However, the methodology's static temporal and spatial scope combined with its restriction to emission-based metrics in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) inhibits its effectiveness at assessing climate change impacts that stem from dynamic land surface–atmosphere interactions inherent to all biomass-based product systems. In this paper, we focus on two dynamic issues related to anthropogenic land use that can significantly influence the climate impacts of bioenergy systems: i) temporary changes to the terrestrial carbon cycle; and ii) temporary changes in land surface albedo—and illustrate how they can be integrated within the LCA framework. In the context of active land use management for bioenergy, we discuss these dynamics and their relevancy and outline the methodological steps that would be required to derive case-specific biogenic CO 2 and albedo change characterization factors for inclusion in LCIA. We demonstrate our concepts and metrics with application to a case study of transportation biofuel sourced from managed boreal forest biomass in northern Europe. We derive GWP indices for three land management cases of varying site productivities to illustrate the importance and need to consider case- or region-specific characterization factors for bioenergy product systems. Uncertainties and limitations of the proposed metrics are discussed. - Highlights: ► A method for including temporary surface albedo and carbon cycle changes in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is elaborated. ► Concepts are applied to a single bioenergy case whereby a range of feedstock productivities are shown to influence results. ► Results imply that case- and site-specific characterization factors can be essential for a more informed impact assessment. ► Uncertainties and limitations of the proposed methodologies are elaborated.

A multi-hazard regional level impact assessment for Europe combining indicators of climatic and non-climatic change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lung, T.; Lavalle, C.; Hiederer, R.; Dosio, A.; Bouwer, L.M.

2013-01-01

To better prioritise adaptation strategies to a changing climate that are currently being developed, there is a need for quantitative regional level assessments that are systematic and comparable across multiple weather hazards. This study presents an indicator-based impact assessment framework at

Forensic DNA phenotyping: Developing a model privacy impact assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Scudder, Nathan; McNevin, Dennis; Kelty, Sally F; Walsh, Simon J; Robertson, James

2018-05-01

Forensic scientists around the world are adopting new technology platforms capable of efficiently analysing a larger proportion of the human genome. Undertaking this analysis could provide significant operational benefits, particularly in giving investigators more information about the donor of genetic material, a particularly useful investigative lead. Such information could include predicting externally visible characteristics such as eye and hair colour, as well as biogeographical ancestry. This article looks at the adoption of this new technology from a privacy perspective, using this to inform and critique the application of a Privacy Impact Assessment to this emerging technology. Noting the benefits and limitations, the article develops a number of themes that would influence a model Privacy Impact Assessment as a contextual framework for forensic laboratories and law enforcement agencies considering implementing forensic DNA phenotyping for operational use. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A model for assessing social impacts of nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Atsuyuki; Kiyose, Ryohei

1981-01-01

A theoretical framework is given for assessing the social or environmental impacts of nuclear technology. A two-act problem concerning the incentive-penalty system is supposed to formulate the principle of ALAP. An observation plan to make decision on the problem is optimized with the Bayseian decision theory. The optimized solution resting on the amount of incentive or penalty is compared with an actual or practical plan. Then, by finding the indifference between the two plans, an impact is assessed in monetary terms. As regards the third step, the model does not provide the details since it is beyond the scope of the description. If there exists an actual plan, it can be easily compared with the results from this theory. If there does not or in the process of making it, its feasibility must be studied by another model or by different approaches. (J.P.N.)

A framework for global river flood risk assessments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Winsemius, H.C.; van Beek, L.P.H.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/14749799X; Jongman, B.; Ward, P.J.; Bouwman, A.

2013-01-01

There is an increasing need for strategic global assessments of flood risks in current and future conditions. In this paper, we propose a framework for global flood risk assessment for river floods, which can be applied in current conditions, as well as in future conditions due to climate and

Integrating nutritional benefits and impacts in a life cycle assessment framework: A US dairy consumption case study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernstoff, Alexi; Fulgoni III, Victor; Heller, Martin

2014-01-01

Although essential to understand the overall health impact of a food or diet, nutrition is not usually considered in food-related life cycle assessments (LCAs). As a case study to demonstrate comparing environmental and nutritional health impacts we investigate United States dairy consumption....... Nutritional impacts, interpreted from disease burden epidemiology, are compared to health impacts from more tradi-tional impacts (e.g. due to exposure to particulate matter emissions across the life cycle) considered in LCAs. After accounting for the present consumption, data relating dairy intake to public...... to environmental impacts suggesting the need for investigat-ing the balance between dietary public health advantages and disadvantages in comparison to environmental impacts....

A framework for quantifying the extent of impact to plants from linear construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Jun; Shi, Peng; Wang, Ya-Feng; Yu, Yang; Yang, Lei

2017-05-30

We present a novel framework that accurately evaluates the extent of a linear project's effect from the variability of the structure of the plant community while avoiding interference caused by pioneer species and invasive species. This framework was based on the change of dominant species in the plant community affected by construction. TWINSPAN classification and variation of the integrated importance value (IIV) of each plant species group were used to characterize the process of change in the structure of the plant community. Indicator species group and its inflection point were defined and used to judge the extent of the effects of pipelines. Our findings revealed that dominant species in the working area of the pipeline construction were different from the original plant communities. With the disturbance decreased, the composition and structure of the plant communities gradually changed. We considered the outer limit of the area affected by the construction to be the first area in which the plant community reached a steady state and was similar to the original community. The framework could be used in the post eco-environment impact assessment of linear construction to estimate the intensity of disturbance and recovery condition.

Life-cycle assessment framework for indoor emissions of synthetic nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walser, Tobias, E-mail: tobias.walser@bag.admin.ch [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Engineering (Switzerland); Meyer, David [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory (United States); Fransman, Wouter; Buist, Harrie; Kuijpers, Eelco; Brouwer, Derk [TNO (Netherlands)

2015-06-15

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a well-established method to evaluate impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health along the lifespan of products. However, the increasingly produced and applied nanomaterials (defined as one dimension <100 nm) show particular characteristics which are different from conventional chemicals or larger particles. As a consequence, LCA does not provide sufficient guidance on how to deal with synthetic nanomaterials, neither in the exposure, nor in the effect assessment. This is particularly true for the workplace, where significant exposure can be expected via the lung, the route of major concern. Therefore, we developed a concise method which allows the inclusion of indoor nanoparticle exposure into LCA. New nanospecific properties are included along the LCA stages with a particular focus on the workplace environment. We built upon existing LCA methods and nanoparticle fate and exposure studies. The impact assessment requires new approaches for nanoparticles, such as guidance on relevant endpoints, nanospecific properties that are relevant for the toxicity, and guidance on the chemical identity of nanomaterials, i.e., categorization and distinction of different forms of nanomaterials. We present a framework which goes beyond traditional approaches of LCA and includes nanospecific fate parameters in the indoor exposure assessment as well as guidance on the development of effect and characterization factors for inhaled nanoparticles. Specifically, the indoor one-box model is amended with new particle-specific parameters developed in the exposure literature. A concentration conversion and parameter estimation tool are presented. Finally, the modification of the traditional intake fraction to capture size-specific deposition and retention rate are discussed along with a strategy for a more robust effect assessment. The paper is a further step toward a fair comparison between conventional and nano-enabled products by integrating

Life-cycle assessment framework for indoor emissions of synthetic nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Walser, Tobias; Meyer, David; Fransman, Wouter; Buist, Harrie; Kuijpers, Eelco; Brouwer, Derk

2015-06-01

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a well-established method to evaluate impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health along the lifespan of products. However, the increasingly produced and applied nanomaterials (defined as one dimension chemicals or larger particles. As a consequence, LCA does not provide sufficient guidance on how to deal with synthetic nanomaterials, neither in the exposure, nor in the effect assessment. This is particularly true for the workplace, where significant exposure can be expected via the lung, the route of major concern. Therefore, we developed a concise method which allows the inclusion of indoor nanoparticle exposure into LCA. New nanospecific properties are included along the LCA stages with a particular focus on the workplace environment. We built upon existing LCA methods and nanoparticle fate and exposure studies. The impact assessment requires new approaches for nanoparticles, such as guidance on relevant endpoints, nanospecific properties that are relevant for the toxicity, and guidance on the chemical identity of nanomaterials, i.e., categorization and distinction of different forms of nanomaterials. We present a framework which goes beyond traditional approaches of LCA and includes nanospecific fate parameters in the indoor exposure assessment as well as guidance on the development of effect and characterization factors for inhaled nanoparticles. Specifically, the indoor one-box model is amended with new particle-specific parameters developed in the exposure literature. A concentration conversion and parameter estimation tool are presented. Finally, the modification of the traditional intake fraction to capture size-specific deposition and retention rate are discussed along with a strategy for a more robust effect assessment. The paper is a further step toward a fair comparison between conventional and nano-enabled products by integrating occupational exposure to synthetic nanomaterials into LCA.

Life-cycle assessment framework for indoor emissions of synthetic nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walser, Tobias; Meyer, David; Fransman, Wouter; Buist, Harrie; Kuijpers, Eelco; Brouwer, Derk

2015-01-01

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a well-established method to evaluate impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health along the lifespan of products. However, the increasingly produced and applied nanomaterials (defined as one dimension <100 nm) show particular characteristics which are different from conventional chemicals or larger particles. As a consequence, LCA does not provide sufficient guidance on how to deal with synthetic nanomaterials, neither in the exposure, nor in the effect assessment. This is particularly true for the workplace, where significant exposure can be expected via the lung, the route of major concern. Therefore, we developed a concise method which allows the inclusion of indoor nanoparticle exposure into LCA. New nanospecific properties are included along the LCA stages with a particular focus on the workplace environment. We built upon existing LCA methods and nanoparticle fate and exposure studies. The impact assessment requires new approaches for nanoparticles, such as guidance on relevant endpoints, nanospecific properties that are relevant for the toxicity, and guidance on the chemical identity of nanomaterials, i.e., categorization and distinction of different forms of nanomaterials. We present a framework which goes beyond traditional approaches of LCA and includes nanospecific fate parameters in the indoor exposure assessment as well as guidance on the development of effect and characterization factors for inhaled nanoparticles. Specifically, the indoor one-box model is amended with new particle-specific parameters developed in the exposure literature. A concentration conversion and parameter estimation tool are presented. Finally, the modification of the traditional intake fraction to capture size-specific deposition and retention rate are discussed along with a strategy for a more robust effect assessment. The paper is a further step toward a fair comparison between conventional and nano-enabled products by integrating

Cumulative Impact Assessment: Approaching Environmental Capacity in Development Area Using Environmental Impact Assessment Information

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, N.; Lee, M. J.; Maeng, J. H.

2017-12-01

Environmental impact assessment estimates the impact of development as a business unit and establishes mitigation plan. If the development is done, its economic effects can spread to the nearby areas. So that various developments can be distributed at different time intervals. The impact of the new developments can be combined with existing environmental impacts and can have a larger impact. That is, Cumulative impact assessment is needed to consider the environmental capacity of the Nearby area. Cumulative impact assessments require policy tools such as environmental impact assessment information and cumulative impact estimation models. In Korea, environmental information (water quality, air quality, etc.) of the development site is measured for environmental impact assessment and monitored for a certain period (generally 5 years) after the project. In addition, by constructing the environmental information as a spatial database, it is possible to express the environmental impact on a regional basis spatially and to intuitively use it for development site selection. Utilizing a composite model of environmental impact assessment information and Remote Sensing data for cumulative impact estimation, That can be used as a policy decision support tool that provides quantitative information for development area management, such as time series effect and sprawl phenomenon.

NANoREG framework for the safety assessment of nanomaterials

OpenAIRE

Gottardo, Stefania; Alessandrelli, Maria; Amenta, Valeria; Atluri, Rambabu; Barberio, Grazia; Bekker, Cindy; Bergonzo, Philippe; Bleeker, Eric; Booth, Andy; Borges, Teresa; Buttol, Patrizia; Carlander, David; Castelli, Stefano; Chevillard, Sylvie

2017-01-01

The NANoREG framework addresses the need to ease the nanomaterials safety assessment in the REACH Regulation context. It offers forward-looking strategies: Safe-by-Design, a Nanospecific Prioritisation and Risk Assessment, and Life Cycle Assessment. It is intended for scientific experts, regulatory authorities and industry.

E-Services quality assessment framework for collaborative networks

Science.gov (United States)

Stegaru, Georgiana; Danila, Cristian; Sacala, Ioan Stefan; Moisescu, Mihnea; Mihai Stanescu, Aurelian

2015-08-01

In a globalised networked economy, collaborative networks (CNs) are formed to take advantage of new business opportunities. Collaboration involves shared resources and capabilities, such as e-Services that can be dynamically composed to automate CN participants' business processes. Quality is essential for the success of business process automation. Current approaches mostly focus on quality of service (QoS)-based service selection and ranking algorithms, overlooking the process of service composition which requires interoperable, adaptable and secure e-Services to ensure seamless collaboration, data confidentiality and integrity. Lack of assessment of these quality attributes can result in e-Service composition failure. The quality of e-Service composition relies on the quality of each e-Service and on the quality of the composition process. Therefore, there is the need for a framework that addresses quality from both views: product and process. We propose a quality of e-Service composition (QoESC) framework for quality assessment of e-Service composition for CNs which comprises of a quality model for e-Service evaluation and guidelines for quality of e-Service composition process. We implemented a prototype considering a simplified telemedicine use case which involves a CN in e-Healthcare domain. To validate the proposed quality-driven framework, we analysed service composition reliability with and without using the proposed framework.

Framework for an Effective Assessment and Accountability Program: The Philadelphia Example

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Andrew C.; Chester, Mitchell D.; Schlesinger, Michael D.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this article is to put in the hands of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers a powerful framework for building and studying the effects of high-quality assessment and accountability programs. The framework is illustrated through a description and analysis of the assessment and accountability program in the School District of…

Towards a comprehensive assessment and framework for low and high flow water risks

Science.gov (United States)

Motschmann, Alina; Huggel, Christian; Drenkhan, Fabian; León, Christian

2017-04-01

Driven by international organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the past years have seen a move from a vulnerability concept of climate change impacts towards a risk framework. Risk is now conceived at the intersection of climate-driven hazard and socioeconomic-driven vulnerability and exposure. The concept of risk so far has been mainly adopted for sudden-onset events. However, for slow-onset and cumulative climate change impacts such as changing water resources there is missing clarity and experience how to apply a risk framework. Research has hardly dealt with the challenge of how to integrate both low and high flow risks in a common framework. Comprehensive analyses of risks related to water resources considering climate change within multi-dimensional drivers across different scales are complex and often missing in climate-sensitive mountain regions where data scarcity and inconsistencies represent important limitations. Here we review existing vulnerability and risk assessments of low and high flow water conditions and identify critical conceptual and practical gaps. Based on this, we develop an integrated framework for low and high flow water risks which is applicable to both past and future conditions. The framework explicitly considers a water balance model simulating both water supply and demand on a daily basis. We test and apply this new framework in the highly glacierized Santa River catchment (SRC, Cordillera Blanca, Peru), representative for many developing mountain regions with both low and high flow water risks and poor data availability. In fact, in the SRC, both low and high flow hazards, such as droughts and floods, play a central role especially for agricultural, hydropower, domestic and mining use. During the dry season (austral winter) people are increasingly affected by water scarcity due to shrinking glaciers supplying melt water. On the other hand during the wet season (austral summer) high flow water

Assessment of the health impact of an environmental pollution and quantitative assessment of health risks; Estimation de l'impact sanitaire d'une pollution environnementale et evaluation quantitative des risques sanitaires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-09-15

The report made by a working group is written for experts in health risk assessment or for professionals involved in risk management. It proposes a methodological and conceptual framework which could build a unified approach to a quantitative assessment of health risks. In the first part, under the form of questions and answers, it defines the health impact, describes how to assess the excess of individual risk and the related hypothesis, how to pass from the excess of individual risk to the health impact, how to express the results of an health impact calculation, how to take the lack of knowledge into account at the different steps of this calculation, what is the significance of the result of such a calculation, and how useful an health impact assessment can be. The second part proposes a more detailed presentation of the scientific background for the health impact calculation with its indicators, its uncertainties, its practice in other countries, its relevance, and its fields of application. Then, after a comment of the dose-response relationship, it reports the scientific validity of the assessment of a number of cases.

Scholarometer: a social framework for analyzing impact across disciplines.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jasleen Kaur

Full Text Available The use of quantitative metrics to gauge the impact of scholarly publications, authors, and disciplines is predicated on the availability of reliable usage and annotation data. Citation and download counts are widely available from digital libraries. However, current annotation systems rely on proprietary labels, refer to journals but not articles or authors, and are manually curated. To address these limitations, we propose a social framework based on crowdsourced annotations of scholars, designed to keep up with the rapidly evolving disciplinary and interdisciplinary landscape. We describe a system called Scholarometer, which provides a service to scholars by computing citation-based impact measures. This creates an incentive for users to provide disciplinary annotations of authors, which in turn can be used to compute disciplinary metrics. We first present the system architecture and several heuristics to deal with noisy bibliographic and annotation data. We report on data sharing and interactive visualization services enabled by Scholarometer. Usage statistics, illustrating the data collected and shared through the framework, suggest that the proposed crowdsourcing approach can be successful. Secondly, we illustrate how the disciplinary bibliometric indicators elicited by Scholarometer allow us to implement for the first time a universal impact measure proposed in the literature. Our evaluation suggests that this metric provides an effective means for comparing scholarly impact across disciplinary boundaries.

Scholarometer: a social framework for analyzing impact across disciplines.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaur, Jasleen; Hoang, Diep Thi; Sun, Xiaoling; Possamai, Lino; Jafariasbagh, Mohsen; Patil, Snehal; Menczer, Filippo

2012-01-01

The use of quantitative metrics to gauge the impact of scholarly publications, authors, and disciplines is predicated on the availability of reliable usage and annotation data. Citation and download counts are widely available from digital libraries. However, current annotation systems rely on proprietary labels, refer to journals but not articles or authors, and are manually curated. To address these limitations, we propose a social framework based on crowdsourced annotations of scholars, designed to keep up with the rapidly evolving disciplinary and interdisciplinary landscape. We describe a system called Scholarometer, which provides a service to scholars by computing citation-based impact measures. This creates an incentive for users to provide disciplinary annotations of authors, which in turn can be used to compute disciplinary metrics. We first present the system architecture and several heuristics to deal with noisy bibliographic and annotation data. We report on data sharing and interactive visualization services enabled by Scholarometer. Usage statistics, illustrating the data collected and shared through the framework, suggest that the proposed crowdsourcing approach can be successful. Secondly, we illustrate how the disciplinary bibliometric indicators elicited by Scholarometer allow us to implement for the first time a universal impact measure proposed in the literature. Our evaluation suggests that this metric provides an effective means for comparing scholarly impact across disciplinary boundaries.

A framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coteur, Ine; Marchand, Fleur; Debruyne, Lies; Dalemans, Floris; Lauwers, Ludwig

2016-01-01

Responding to future challenges and societal needs, various actions are taken in agriculture to evolve towards more sustainable farming practices. These actions imply strategic choices and suppose adequate sustainability assessments to identify, measure, evaluate and communicate sustainable development. However, literature is scarce on the link between strategic decision making and sustainability assessment. As questions emerge on how, what and when to measure, the objective of this paper is to construct a framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making. Qualitative research on own experiences from the past and a recent project revealed four categories of actual needs farmers, advisors and experts have regarding sustainability assessment: context, flexibility, focus on farm and farmer and communication. These stakeholders' needs are then incorporated into a two-dimensional framework that marries the intrinsic complexity of sustainability assessment tools and the time frame of strategic decision making. The framework allows a farm-specific and flexible approach leading to harmonized actions towards sustainable farming. As this framework is mainly a procedural instrument to guide the use of sustainability assessment tools within strategic decision making, it fits to incorporate, even guide, future research on sustainability assessment tools themselves and on their adoption on farms. - Highlights: • How to link sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making is unclear. • Two-dimensional framework incorporating stakeholders' needs regarding sustainability assessment • Linking complexity of sustainability assessment tools and the time frame of strategic decision making • Farm-specific and flexible approach to harmonize action towards sustainable farming

A framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coteur, Ine, E-mail: ine.coteur@ilvo.vlaanderen.be [Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO)-Social sciences Unit, Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115, box 2, 9820 Merelbeke (Belgium); Marchand, Fleur [Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO)-Social sciences Unit, Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115, box 2, 9820 Merelbeke (Belgium); University of Antwerp, Ecosystem Management Research Group and IMDO, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk (Belgium); Debruyne, Lies; Dalemans, Floris [Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO)-Social sciences Unit, Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115, box 2, 9820 Merelbeke (Belgium); Lauwers, Ludwig [Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO)-Social sciences Unit, Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115, box 2, 9820 Merelbeke (Belgium); University of Ghent, Department of Agricultural Economics, Coupure Links 53, 9000 Ghent (Belgium)

2016-09-15

Responding to future challenges and societal needs, various actions are taken in agriculture to evolve towards more sustainable farming practices. These actions imply strategic choices and suppose adequate sustainability assessments to identify, measure, evaluate and communicate sustainable development. However, literature is scarce on the link between strategic decision making and sustainability assessment. As questions emerge on how, what and when to measure, the objective of this paper is to construct a framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making. Qualitative research on own experiences from the past and a recent project revealed four categories of actual needs farmers, advisors and experts have regarding sustainability assessment: context, flexibility, focus on farm and farmer and communication. These stakeholders' needs are then incorporated into a two-dimensional framework that marries the intrinsic complexity of sustainability assessment tools and the time frame of strategic decision making. The framework allows a farm-specific and flexible approach leading to harmonized actions towards sustainable farming. As this framework is mainly a procedural instrument to guide the use of sustainability assessment tools within strategic decision making, it fits to incorporate, even guide, future research on sustainability assessment tools themselves and on their adoption on farms. - Highlights: • How to link sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making is unclear. • Two-dimensional framework incorporating stakeholders' needs regarding sustainability assessment • Linking complexity of sustainability assessment tools and the time frame of strategic decision making • Farm-specific and flexible approach to harmonize action towards sustainable farming.

Health impacts of climate change in Vanuatu: an assessment and adaptation action plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Spickett, Jeffery T; Katscherian, Dianne; McIver, Lachlan

2013-01-30

Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges and Pacific island countries are particularly vulnerable due to, among other factors, their geography, demography and level of economic development. A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) framework was used as a basis for the consideration of the potential health impacts of changes in the climate on the population of Vanuatu, to assess the risks and propose a range of potential adaptive responses appropriate for Vanuatu. The HIA process involved the participation of a broad range of stakeholders including expert sector representatives in the areas of bio-physical, socio-economic, infrastructure, environmental diseases and food, who provided informed comment and input into the understanding of the potential health impacts and development of adaptation strategies. The risk associated with each of these impacts was assessed with the application of a qualitative process that considered both the consequences and the likelihood of each of the potential health impacts occurring. Potential adaptation strategies and actions were developed which could be used to mitigate the identified health impacts and provide responses which could be used by the various sectors in Vanuatu to contribute to future decision making processes associated with the health impacts of climate change.

Motivators and barriers to incorporating climate change-related health risks in environmental health impact assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Lyle R; Alderman, Katarzyna; Connell, Des; Tong, Shilu

2013-03-22

Climate change presents risks to health that must be addressed by both decision-makers and public health researchers. Within the application of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA), there have been few attempts to incorporate climate change-related health risks as an input to the framework. This study used a focus group design to examine the perceptions of government, industry and academic specialists about the suitability of assessing the health consequences of climate change within an EHIA framework. Practitioners expressed concern over a number of factors relating to the current EHIA methodology and the inclusion of climate change-related health risks. These concerns related to the broad scope of issues that would need to be considered, problems with identifying appropriate health indicators, the lack of relevant qualitative information that is currently incorporated in assessment and persistent issues surrounding stakeholder participation. It was suggested that improvements are needed in data collection processes, particularly in terms of adequate communication between environmental and health practitioners. Concerns were raised surrounding data privacy and usage, and how these could impact on the assessment process. These findings may provide guidance for government and industry bodies to improve the assessment of climate change-related health risks.

Environmental Impact Assessment in the marine environment: A comparison of legal frameworks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guerra, Flávia, E-mail: f.c.diasguerra@vu.nl [Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands); Liga para a Protecção da Natureza, 1500-124 Lisboa (Portugal); Grilo, Catarina [Liga para a Protecção da Natureza, 1500-124 Lisboa (Portugal); Pedroso, Nuno M. [Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica — CENA, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 96, 13416-000 Piracicaba, SP (Brazil); Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes — cE3c, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa (Portugal); Cabral, Henrique [MARE — Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa (Portugal)

2015-11-15

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a well-established practice in most developed countries, even though its application to projects in the marine environment is at a much earlier stage of development. We use the Portuguese example to address marine EIA legislation since its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is currently the third largest in the European Union and its EIA legislation does not require various offshore activities with potentially negative environmental impacts to undergo EIA before being licensed. This paper aims to determine whether three types of projects implemented within Portuguese maritime zones – artificial reefs using sunken ships, hydrocarbon prospecting and wave-energy generation – would benefit from application of an appropriately designed EIA. We have conducted a structured review of EIA legal provisions from seven other countries, and considered whether a full EIA was required for each project type. Consequently, 12 Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) have been compared to identify patterns of (dis)similarity across countries and project types. Additionally, we identified key descriptors and predicted impacts for each project type referred to in their EIS. The main conclusion is that ultimately all three projects would benefit from mandatory EIA in Portugal. This paper is relevant for countries with large maritime areas and underdeveloped marine EIA legislation, helping improve international policy-making relating to these three types of marine projects. - Highlights: • EIA is not mandatory for some project types developed in Portuguese maritime zones. • Artificial reefs, oil&gas prospecting and wave-energy licensing differ in 8 countries. • EIA should be mandatory in Portugal for artificial reefs and oil&gas prospecting. • However, an AEInc approach is enough for wave-energy projects in Portugal. • Findings could be extended to other EU countries with extensive maritime zones.

Environmental Impact Assessment in the marine environment: A comparison of legal frameworks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerra, Flávia; Grilo, Catarina; Pedroso, Nuno M.; Cabral, Henrique

2015-01-01

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a well-established practice in most developed countries, even though its application to projects in the marine environment is at a much earlier stage of development. We use the Portuguese example to address marine EIA legislation since its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is currently the third largest in the European Union and its EIA legislation does not require various offshore activities with potentially negative environmental impacts to undergo EIA before being licensed. This paper aims to determine whether three types of projects implemented within Portuguese maritime zones – artificial reefs using sunken ships, hydrocarbon prospecting and wave-energy generation – would benefit from application of an appropriately designed EIA. We have conducted a structured review of EIA legal provisions from seven other countries, and considered whether a full EIA was required for each project type. Consequently, 12 Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) have been compared to identify patterns of (dis)similarity across countries and project types. Additionally, we identified key descriptors and predicted impacts for each project type referred to in their EIS. The main conclusion is that ultimately all three projects would benefit from mandatory EIA in Portugal. This paper is relevant for countries with large maritime areas and underdeveloped marine EIA legislation, helping improve international policy-making relating to these three types of marine projects. - Highlights: • EIA is not mandatory for some project types developed in Portuguese maritime zones. • Artificial reefs, oil&gas prospecting and wave-energy licensing differ in 8 countries. • EIA should be mandatory in Portugal for artificial reefs and oil&gas prospecting. • However, an AEInc approach is enough for wave-energy projects in Portugal. • Findings could be extended to other EU countries with extensive maritime zones

Framework of systematic sustainability assessment strategy (FSSAS) for hydroelectric power industry in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Johan, Kartina; Turan, Faiz Mohd

2017-08-01

Hydroelectric power is an alternative power resource in Malaysia and always associated with negative impact on environmental, social and economy of the surrounding site. The dispute over environmental, societal and economic issues can be minimised if compliance to sustainability development requirement is included in the project as part of the project premises during planning phase. This paper suggests a framework targeted for decision-makers in charge of implementing the projects to produce hydropower the sustainable way in Malaysian context which can mitigate the risks in social, environment and economy. The framework is strategic in nature and based on project management methodology with objective to provide a ‘common language’ by having a project value as measureable for stakeholders to state their mutual agreement of what a sustainable hydropower project in the context of Malaysia and in line with the United Nations (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper discusses how the proposed systematic sustainability assessment strategy (FSSAS) framework support the call for Malaysia to promote meaningful public participation in ensuring land and natural resource decisions and to address citizens’ interests which is the core idea of Environmental Democracy Index established in 2014. The paper argues that, even though it is at present impossible to define precision status of sustainability development with respect to the nature of the multi stakeholders and the lack of systematic assessment the proposed FSSAS framework can be a valuable tool because it tracks the project value as a quantitative deliverable to determine the status of the journey in sustainable development towards accomplishing the SDG under a consensus in hydropower industry of any scale over time.

Implementation of the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework

Science.gov (United States)

New leaching tests are available in the U.S. for developing more accurate source terms for use in fate and transport models. For beneficial use or disposal, the use of the leaching environmental assessment framework (LEAF) will provide leaching results that reflect field condit...

The Assessment of Motivation within Maslow's Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Haymes, Michael; Green, Logan

1982-01-01

Reports progress in the development of the Needsort, a research tool, for the assessment of the three developmentally earliest, within Maslow's framework, conative needs (physiological, safety, belongingness). Discusses item analyses, item selection methods, reliability studies, and validation studies across a broad range of populations. (Author)

A new framework for designing programmes of assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Dijkstra, J; Van der Vleuten, C P M; Schuwirth, L W T

2010-08-01

Research on assessment in medical education has strongly focused on individual measurement instruments and their psychometric quality. Without detracting from the value of this research, such an approach is not sufficient to high quality assessment of competence as a whole. A programmatic approach is advocated which presupposes criteria for designing comprehensive assessment programmes and for assuring their quality. The paucity of research with relevance to programmatic assessment, and especially its development, prompted us to embark on a research project to develop design principles for programmes of assessment. We conducted focus group interviews to explore the experiences and views of nine assessment experts concerning good practices and new ideas about theoretical and practical issues in programmes of assessment. The discussion was analysed, mapping all aspects relevant for design onto a framework, which was iteratively adjusted to fit the data until saturation was reached. The overarching framework for designing programmes of assessment consists of six assessment programme dimensions: Goals, Programme in Action, Support, Documenting, Improving and Accounting. The model described in this paper can help to frame programmes of assessment; it not only provides a common language, but also a comprehensive picture of the dimensions to be covered when formulating design principles. It helps identifying areas concerning assessment in which ample research and development has been done. But, more importantly, it also helps to detect underserved areas. A guiding principle in design of assessment programmes is fitness for purpose. High quality assessment can only be defined in terms of its goals.

A framework for a European network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Graef, F.; Römbke, J.; Binimelis, R.; Myhr, A.I.; Hilbeck, A.; Breckling, B.; Dalgaard, T.; Stachow, U.; Catacora-Vargas, G.; Bohn, T.; Quist, D.; Darvas, B.; Dudel, G.; Oehen, B.; Meyer, H.; Henle, K.; Wynne, B.; Metzger, M.J.; Knäbe, S.; Settele, J.; Székács, A.; Wurbs, A.; Bernard, J.P.; Murphy-Bokern, D.; Buiatti, M.; Giovannetti, M.; Debeljak, M.; Andersen, E.; Paetz, A.; Dzeroski, S.; Tappeser, B.; van Gestel, C.A.M.; Wosniok, W.; Séralini, G.-E.; Aslaksen, I.; Pesch, R.; Maly, S.; Werner, A.

2012-01-01

The assessment of the impacts of growing genetically modified (GM) crops remains a major political and scientific challenge in Europe. Concerns have been raised by the evidence of adverse and unexpected environmental effects and differing opinions on the outcomes of environmental risk assessments

Responsible research and innovation indicators for science education assessment: how to measure the impact?

Science.gov (United States)

Heras, Maria; Ruiz-Mallén, Isabel

2017-12-01

The emerging paradigm of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in the European Commission policy discourse identifies science education as a key agenda for better equipping students with skills and knowledge to tackle complex societal challenges and foster active citizenship in democratic societies. The operationalisation of this broad approach in science education demands, however, the identification of assessment frameworks able to grasp the complexity of RRI process requirements and learning outcomes within science education practice. This article aims to shed light over the application of the RRI approach in science education by proposing a RRI-based analytical framework for science education assessment. We use such framework to review a sample of empirical studies of science education assessments and critically analyse it under the lenses of RRI criteria. As a result, we identify a set of 86 key RRI assessment indicators in science education related to RRI values, transversal competences and experiential and cognitive aspects of learning. We argue that looking at science education through the lenses of RRI can potentially contribute to the integration of metacognitive skills, emotional aspects and procedural dimensions within impact assessments so as to address the complexity of learning.

Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Limestone Quarrying Operations in Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Kittipongvises, Suthirat

2017-11-01

Environmental impacts of the mineral extraction have been a public concern. Presently, there is widespread global interest in the area of mining and its sustainability that focused on the need to shift mining industry to a more sustainable framework. The aim of this study was to systematically assess all possible environmental and climate change related impacts of the limestone quarrying operation in Thailand. By considering the life cycle assessment method, the production processes were divided into three phases: raw material extraction, transportation, and comminution. Both IMPACT 2002+ and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol methods were used. Results of IMPACT 2002+ analysis showed that per 1 ton crushed limestone rock production, the total depletion of resource and GHGs emissions were 79.6 MJ and 2.76 kg CO2 eq., respectively. Regarding to the four damage categories, `resources' and `climate change' categories were the two greatest environmental impacts of the limestone rock production. Diesel fuel and electricity consumption in the mining processes were the main causes of those impacts. For climate change, the unit of CO2 eq. was expressed to quantify the total GHGs emissions. Estimated result was about 3.13 kg CO2 eq. per ton limestone rock product. The results obtained by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol were also similar to IMPACT 2002+ method. Electrical energy consumption was considered as the main driver of GHGs, accounting for approximately 46.8 % of total fossil fuel CO2 emissions. A final point should be noted that data uncertainties in environmental assessment over the complete life cycle of limestone quarrying operation have to be carefully considered.

Energy technology impacts on agriculture with a bibliography of models for impact assessment on crop ecosystems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rupp, E.M.; Luxmoore, R.J.; Parzyck, D.C.

1979-09-01

Possible impacts of energy technologies on agriculture are evaluated, and some of the available simulation models that can be used for predictive purposes are identified. An overview of energy technologies and impacts on the environment is presented to provide a framework for the commentary on the models. Coal combustion is shown to have major impacts on the environment and these will continue into the next century according to current Department of Energy projections. Air pollution effects will thus remain as the major impacts on crop ecosystems. Two hundred reports were evaluated, representing a wide range of models increasing in complexity from mathematical functions (fitted to data) through parametric models (which represent phenomena without describing the mechanisms) to mechanistic models (based on physical, chemical, and physiological principles). Many models were viewed as suitable for adaptation to technology assessment through the incorporation of representative dose-response relationships. It is clear that in many cases available models cannot be taken and directly applied in technology assessment. Very few models of air pollutant-crop interactions were identified, even though there is a considerable data base of pollutant effects on crops.

Experience and lessons from health impact assessment for human rights impact assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Salcito, Kendyl; Utzinger, Jürg; Krieger, Gary R; Wielga, Mark; Singer, Burton H; Winkler, Mirko S; Weiss, Mitchell G

2015-09-16

As globalisation has opened remote parts of the world to foreign investment, global leaders at the United Nations and beyond have called on multinational companies to foresee and mitigate negative impacts on the communities surrounding their overseas operations. This movement towards corporate impact assessment began with a push for environmental and social inquiries. It has been followed by demands for more detailed assessments, including health and human rights. In the policy world the two have been joined as a right-to-health impact assessment. In the corporate world, the right-to-health approach fulfils neither managers' need to comprehensively understand impacts of a project, nor rightsholders' need to know that the full suite of their human rights will be safe from violation. Despite the limitations of a right-to-health tool for companies, integration of health into human rights provides numerous potential benefits to companies and the communities they affect. Here, a detailed health analysis through the human rights lens is carried out, drawing on a case study from the United Republic of Tanzania. This paper examines the positive and negative health and human rights impacts of a corporate operation in a low-income setting, as viewed through the human rights lens, considering observations on the added value of the approach. It explores the relationship between health impact assessment (HIA) and human rights impact assessment (HRIA). First, it considers the ways in which HIA, as a study directly concerned with human welfare, is a more appropriate guide than environmental or social impact assessment for evaluating human rights impacts. Second, it considers the contributions HRIA can make to HIA, by viewing determinants of health not as direct versus indirect, but as interrelated.

A framework for performance and data quality assessment of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) systems in health care settings.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Togt, Remko; Bakker, Piet J M; Jaspers, Monique W M

2011-04-01

RFID offers great opportunities to health care. Nevertheless, prior experiences also show that RFID systems have not been designed and tested in response to the particular needs of health care settings and might introduce new risks. The aim of this study is to present a framework that can be used to assess the performance of RFID systems particularly in health care settings. We developed a framework describing a systematic approach that can be used for assessing the feasibility of using an RFID technology in a particular healthcare setting; more specific for testing the impact of environmental factors on the quality of RFID generated data and vice versa. This framework is based on our own experiences with an RFID pilot implementation in an academic hospital in The Netherlands and a literature review concerning RFID test methods and current insights of RFID implementations in healthcare. The implementation of an RFID system within the blood transfusion chain inside a hospital setting was used as a show case to explain the different phases of the framework. The framework consists of nine phases, including an implementation development plan, RFID and medical equipment interference tests, data accuracy- and data completeness tests to be run in laboratory, simulated field and real field settings. The potential risks that RFID technologies may bring to the healthcare setting should be thoroughly evaluated before they are introduced into a vital environment. The RFID performance assessment framework that we present can act as a reference model to start an RFID development, engineering, implementation and testing plan and more specific, to assess the potential risks of interference and to test the quality of the RFID generated data potentially influenced by physical objects in specific health care environments. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing and monitoring impacts of genetically modified plants on agro-ecosystems: the approach of AMIGA project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Arpaia

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The environmental impacts of genetically modified crops is still a controversial issue in Europe. The overall risk assessment framework has recently been reinforced by the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA and its implementation requires harmonized and efficient methodologies. The EU-funded research project AMIGA − Assessing and monitoring Impacts of Genetically modified plants on Agro-ecosystems − aims to address this issue, by providing a framework that establishes protection goals and baselines for European agro-ecosystems, improves knowledge on the potential long term environmental effects of genetically modified (GM plants, tests the efficacy of the EFSA Guidance Document for the Environmental Risk Assessment, explores new strategies for post market monitoring, and provides a systematic analysis of economic aspects of Genetically Modified crops cultivation in the EU. Research focuses on ecological studies in different EU regions, the sustainability of GM crops is estimated by analysing the functional components of the agro-ecosystems and specific experimental protocols are being developed for this scope.

Performance Assessment Framework for Private Finance Initiative Projects in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lop Nor Suzila

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Private Finance Initiative (PFI is viewed as restructuring the previous privatisation concept in delivering value for money for the Malaysian public infrastructure. Among the restructuring efforts in the privatisation is specifying the standard assessment of private concessionaires’ performance through the execution of key performance indicators (KPIs where the private concessionaires’ performance is benchmarked against the government’s standard. KPIs have served as useful tools in assessing performance of PFI projects. However, there is still lacking on determination methods performed to define and measure this KPIs and the absence of guidelines or a framework is also an issue in the implementation of the PFI procurement in Malaysia. Therefore, the objectives of this paper is to investigate the notion of performance assessment model approaches globally (i.e. UK, China, Australia, Serbia and Malaysia and to identify direction for PFI performance assessment tools (KPIs to be practiced in Malaysia. Based on the consideration of these models, this research paper propose an initial framework of performance assessment for PFI projects in Malaysia. The framework is deliberate to cover the performance of PFI at the operation and maintenance phase. The outcomes of this paper can serve as a theoretical base for the development of comprehensive and effective performance assessment for PFI projects in Malaysia.

Wind galleries: an instrument for environmental impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zunino, C.

1998-01-01

In the last decades wind galleries for non-aeronautic utilisation have proved to be a useful investigation tool in various fields, such as studies on environmental impact and risk assessment, associated with permanent or incidental release of harmful substances. In this framework the feasibility of a new installation has been evaluated in Italy, having as main target the reproduction of thermal stratification phenomena. The great deal of 'hazardous' industries, often in areas having a complex orography, as well as the high pollution levels in Italian cities, lead to the conclusion that a thermally stratified wind gallery might be an economically viable investment [it

A Conceptual Framework for Assessment of Governance Performance of Lake Basins: Towards Transformation to Adaptive and Integrative Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Emmanuel Cookey

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Governance is essential to lake basin management, but it is the most challenged and needs increased attention. Lake Basin Governance performance assessment is designed to measure the progress and impacts of policies, institutions and the roles of various actors in ensuring sustainability. It measures the performance of technical/operational, social/networks, and institutional arrangement that make up the socio-ecological system. Governance performance assessment becomes very necessary with over-emphasis of institutions on resources utilization and exploitation. The purpose of this paper is to present a governance performance assessment framework specifically for lake basins. The Adaptive Integrated Lake Basin Management (AILBM framework is a diagnostic and prescriptive performance assessment tool with an outcome to produce an adaptive and integrative system with equity, inclusiveness, transparency, accountability and flexibility to problem-solving and resilience. A case study on water governance performance assessment of the Songkhla Lake Basin (SLB in Thailand is provided for illustration and application and indicated a poor performance rating on governance in the Basin, revealing gaps, defects, strengths and weaknesses in the current system, necessary to recommend future improvements.

A GIS framework for the assessment of tick impact on human health in a changing climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada-Peña, Agustin; Venzal, José M

2007-05-01

A framework to evaluate the impact of ticks on human health under various scenarios of climate change is proposed. The purpose is not to provide a comprehensive plan (e.g. the economic impact of ticks on human society is not included), instead we wish to describe a series of indices that would be helpful by obtaining homogeneous comparisons of impact and vulnerability exerted by ticks in different regions, countries or continents, using normalized sets of population, vegetation, climate and physical attributes of the territory. Three tick species, i.e. Dermacentor marginatus, Rhipicephalus turanicus and Hyalomma marginatum, have been traced over the territory of Spain to further explain the computation of these indices. The discussion is based on tick habitat suitability, used as a measure of the abiotic (climate) fitness of the habitat for the species in question, and the sensitivity of each tick species to the rate of change of habitat suitability with respect to climate change. The impact is the rate of change in habitat suitability weighted with a fuzzy logic function evaluating the total number of people in an area, percent of rural population and accessibility of the geographical divisions (expressed as hexagons with a 10 km radius) used in the study. The different climate scenarios evaluated in relation to ticks show that the north-western part of Spain would suffer the greatest impact in case the mean temperature would increase, while the Mediterranean region would suffer the highest impact if temperatures decreased. Vulnerability, based on the sanitary structure of the territory and on the impact on human activities due to the change in tick distribution and abundance, is proposed as a measure of adaptation of society to these climate scenarios. The cost is evaluated as a function of land use and tick habitat suitability in a buffer zone surrounding each geographic division. All indices proposed have been obtained by search of common and/or publicly

Innovation strategies in a fruit growers association impacts assessment by using combined LCA and s-LCA methodologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Tecco, Nadia; Baudino, Claudio; Girgenti, Vincenzo; Peano, Cristiana

2016-10-15

In the challenging world of territorial transformations within the agriculture, there is an increasing need for an integrated methodological framework of assessment that is able to reconcile the demand for solutions that are both economically sustainable and contribute to environmental and social improvement. This study aims to assess the introduction of innovation into agro-food systems by combining an environmental life cycle (LCA) assessment and a social life cycle assessment (s-LCA) to support the decision making process of a fruit growers co-op for the adoption of mulching and covering in raspberry farming. LCA and s-LCA have been applied independently under specific consistency requirements, selecting two scenarios to compare the impact with (1) and without (2) the innovation and then combined within a cause-effect chain. The interactions between the environment and socioeconomic components were considered within a nested frameset of business and territorial features. The total emissions from raspberry production in Scenario 1, according to the Global Warming Potential (GWP) Impact Category amounted to 2.2840kg of CO2 eq. In Scenario 2, the impact of production was associated with a GWP of 0.1682kg of CO2 eq. Social repercussions analysis from Scenario 1 compared to Scenario 2 indicate more satisfaction for working conditions and the management of climate risks. The mulching and covering, implemented within a given framework of farm activity, created conditions for the preservation of a model in which raspberry production contributes to landscape protection, the business sustainability of farms and the creation of employment. The combined use of the two methods contributes to the development of a strategy planning due to its ability to deliver, as well as specific analysis at a functional level, a wider framework for assessing the consistency of the impacts related to innovation in raspberry production. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Business recovery: an assessment framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Joanne R; Brown, Charlotte; Seville, Erica; Vargo, John

2018-07-01

This paper presents a Business Recovery Assessment Framework (BRAF) to help researchers and practitioners design robust, repeatable, and comparable studies of business recovery in various post-disruption contexts. Studies assessing business recovery without adequately considering the research aims, recovery definitions, and indicators can produce misleading findings. The BRAF is composed of a series of steps that guide the decisions that researchers need to make to ensure: (i) that recovery is indeed being measured; (ii) that the indicators of recovery that are selected align with the objectives of the study and the definition of recovery; and, where necessary, (iii) that appropriate comparative control variables are in place. The paper draws on a large dataset of business surveys collected following the earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand, on 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 to demonstrate the varied conclusions that different recovery indicators can produce and to justify the need for a systematic approach to business recovery assessments. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Risk Assessment of Bioaccumulation Substances. Part II: Description of a Model Framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tamis, J.E.; Vries, de P.; Karman, C.C.

2009-01-01

This report provides a proposal for a framework for risk assessment of bioaccumulative substances, either from produced water discharges or present as background contamination. The proposed framework is such that it is compatible to the current EIF risk assessment models that are used in the

A Development Framework for Smart Cities Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustafa Khudhair Al-Alwani

2018-02-01

Full Text Available A smart city is rising as an approach and strategy to reduce the troubles produced by rapid urbanization and the growth of urban population. Although, cities continue to develop and purify their social, economic and environmental goals along with the strategies to achieve them, this phenomenon has been discussed by little research yet. However, due to the requiring immediate action or attention for practical application of the principles of smart cities, city authorities, stakeholders and local communities need to know the current reality of their city and where development is being attained in their systems. Therefore, constructing a framework for smart cities assessment will help share or exchange the newcomer strong and weak points, and emphasize where actual development is taking place and update a plan for future developments. Moreover, this assessment is able to assist cities prioritizes actions. This paper developed a guiding assessment framework for smart cites that will help the creating, carefully choosing and priorities of crucial indicators. These indicators can then show the way to the smart cites performance assessment and monitoring. Drawing on the investigation of an extensive and wide collection of literature from a variety of disciplinary areas and based on the conceptual literature on smart cities, in addition to interviews this study identify a good tool to help recognizing of virtual achievement of smart city. Furthermore, it is significant to be taken into consideration in assessing smart city smartness level.

DECISION-COMPONENTS OF NICE'S TECHNOLOGY APPRAISALS ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK.

Science.gov (United States)

de Folter, Joost; Trusheim, Mark; Jonsson, Pall; Garner, Sarah

2018-01-01

Value assessment frameworks have gained prominence recently in the context of U.S. healthcare. Such frameworks set out a series of factors that are considered in funding decisions. The UK's National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an established health technology assessment (HTA) agency. We present a novel application of text analysis that characterizes NICE's Technology Appraisals in the context of the newer assessment frameworks and present the results in a visual way. A total of 243 documents of NICE's medicines guidance from 2007 to 2016 were analyzed. Text analysis was used to identify a hierarchical set of decision factors considered in the assessments. The frequency of decision factors stated in the documents was determined and their association with terms related to uncertainty. The results were incorporated into visual representations of hierarchical factors. We identified 125 decision factors, and hierarchically grouped these into eight domains: Clinical Effectiveness, Cost Effectiveness, Condition, Current Practice, Clinical Need, New Treatment, Studies, and Other Factors. Textual analysis showed all domains appeared consistently in the guidance documents. Many factors were commonly associated with terms relating to uncertainty. A series of visual representations was created. This study reveals the complexity and consistency of NICE's decision-making processes and demonstrates that cost effectiveness is not the only decision-criteria. The study highlights the importance of processes and methodology that can take both quantitative and qualitative information into account. Visualizations can help effectively communicate this complex information during the decision-making process and subsequently to stakeholders.

A Risk-based Assessment And Management Framework For Multipollutant Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, H. Christopher; Hubbell, Bryan

2010-01-01

The National Research Council recommended both a risk- and performance-based multipollutant approach to air quality management. Specifically, management decisions should be based on minimizing the exposure to, and risk of adverse effects from, multiple sources of air pollution and that the success of these decisions should be measured by how well they achieved this objective. We briefly describe risk analysis and its application within the current approach to air quality management. Recommendations are made as to how current practice could evolve to support a fully risk- and performance-based multipollutant air quality management system. The ability to implement a risk assessment framework in a credible and policy-relevant manner depends on the availability of component models and data which are scientifically sound and developed with an understanding of their application in integrated assessments. The same can be said about accountability assessments used to evaluate the outcomes of decisions made using such frameworks. The existing risk analysis framework, although typically applied to individual pollutants, is conceptually well suited for analyzing multipollutant management actions. Many elements of this framework, such as emissions and air quality modeling, already exist with multipollutant characteristics. However, the framework needs to be supported with information on exposure and concentration response relationships that result from multipollutant health studies. Because the causal chain that links management actions to emission reductions, air quality improvements, exposure reductions and health outcomes is parallel between prospective risk analyses and retrospective accountability assessments, both types of assessment should be placed within a single framework with common metrics and indicators where possible. Improvements in risk reductions can be obtained by adopting a multipollutant risk analysis framework within the current air quality management

Development of a conceptual framework of holistic risk assessment - Landfill as a particular type of contaminated land.

Science.gov (United States)

Butt, T E; Javadi, A A; Nunns, M A; Beal, C D

2016-11-01

Landfills can be regarded as a particular type of contaminated land that has a potential to directly and indirectly pollute all of the four main spheres of the environment which are the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and eventually adversely impact the biosphere. Therefore, environmental risk assessment of a landfill has to be more integrated and holistic by virtue of its nature of being a multidimensional pollutant source. Despite this, although various risk assessment approaches have been adopted for landfill waste disposal sites, there are still wide-ranging knowledge gaps and limitations which need to be addressed. One important knowledge gap and limitation of current risk assessment approaches is the inability to fully identify, categorise and aggregate all individual risks from all combinations of hazards, pathways and targets/receptors (e.g. water, air, soil and biota) in connection to a certain landfill leachate and yet at any stage of the landfill cycle. So such an approach is required that could not only integrate all possible characteristics of varying scenarios but also contain the ability to establish an overall risk picture, irrespective of the lifecycle stage of the landfill (e.g. planning stage/pre-operation, in-operation or post-operation/closed). One such approach to address the wide-breadth of landfill impact risks is by developing a more holistic risk assessment methodology, whose conceptual framework is presented in this paper for landfill leachate in a whole-system format. This conceptual framework does not only draw together various constituting factors and sub-factors of risk assessment in a logical sequence and categorical order, but also indicates the "what, why, when and how" outputs of and inputs to these factors and sub-factors can be useful. The framework is designed to identify and quantify a range of risks associated with all stages of the landfill lifecycle, and yet in a more streamlined, logical, categorical and integrated

A modified theoretical framework to assess implementation fidelity of adaptive public health interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Dennis; Van der Stuyft, Patrick; Zabala, Maríadel Carmen; Castro, Marta; Lefèvre, Pierre

2016-07-08

One of the major debates in implementation research turns around fidelity and adaptation. Fidelity is the degree to which an intervention is implemented as intended by its developers. It is meant to ensure that the intervention maintains its intended effects. Adaptation is the process of implementers or users bringing changes to the original design of an intervention. Depending on the nature of the modifications brought, adaptation could either be potentially positive or could carry the risk of threatening the theoretical basis of the intervention, resulting in a negative effect on expected outcomes. Adaptive interventions are those for which adaptation is allowed or even encouraged. Classical fidelity dimensions and conceptual frameworks do not address the issue of how to adapt an intervention while still maintaining its effectiveness. We support the idea that fidelity and adaptation co-exist and that adaptations can impact either positively or negatively on the intervention's effectiveness. For adaptive interventions, research should answer the question how an adequate fidelity-adaptation balance can be reached. One way to address this issue is by looking systematically at the aspects of an intervention that are being adapted. We conducted fidelity research on the implementation of an empowerment strategy for dengue prevention in Cuba. In view of the adaptive nature of the strategy, we anticipated that the classical fidelity dimensions would be of limited use for assessing adaptations. The typology we used in the assessment-implemented, not-implemented, modified, or added components of the strategy-also had limitations. It did not allow us to answer the question which of the modifications introduced in the strategy contributed to or distracted from outcomes. We confronted our empirical research with existing literature on fidelity, and as a result, considered that the framework for implementation fidelity proposed by Carroll et al. in 2007 could potentially meet

Technical skills assessment toolbox: a review using the unitary framework of validity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghaderi, Iman; Manji, Farouq; Park, Yoon Soo; Juul, Dorthea; Ott, Michael; Harris, Ilene; Farrell, Timothy M

2015-02-01

The purpose of this study was to create a technical skills assessment toolbox for 35 basic and advanced skills/procedures that comprise the American College of Surgeons (ACS)/Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) surgical skills curriculum and to provide a critical appraisal of the included tools, using contemporary framework of validity. Competency-based training has become the predominant model in surgical education and assessment of performance is an essential component. Assessment methods must produce valid results to accurately determine the level of competency. A search was performed, using PubMed and Google Scholar, to identify tools that have been developed for assessment of the targeted technical skills. A total of 23 assessment tools for the 35 ACS/APDS skills modules were identified. Some tools, such as Operative Performance Rating System (OSATS) and Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OPRS), have been tested for more than 1 procedure. Therefore, 30 modules had at least 1 assessment tool, with some common surgical procedures being addressed by several tools. Five modules had none. Only 3 studies used Messick's framework to design their validity studies. The remaining studies used an outdated framework on the basis of "types of validity." When analyzed using the contemporary framework, few of these studies demonstrated validity for content, internal structure, and relationship to other variables. This study provides an assessment toolbox for common surgical skills/procedures. Our review shows that few authors have used the contemporary unitary concept of validity for development of their assessment tools. As we progress toward competency-based training, future studies should provide evidence for various sources of validity using the contemporary framework.

The Value of Mainstreaming Human Rights into Health Impact Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

MacNaughton, Gillian; Forman, Lisa

2014-01-01

Health impact assessment (HIA) is increasingly being used to predict the health and social impacts of domestic and global laws, policies and programs. In a comprehensive review of HIA practice in 2012, the authors indicated that, given the diverse range of HIA practice, there is an immediate need to reconsider the governing values and standards for HIA implementation [1]. This article responds to this call for governing values and standards for HIA. It proposes that international human rights standards be integrated into HIA to provide a universal value system backed up by international and domestic laws and mechanisms of accountability. The idea of mainstreaming human rights into HIA is illustrated with the example of impact assessments that have been carried out to predict the potential effects of intellectual property rights in international trade agreements on the availability and affordability of medicines. The article concludes by recommending international human rights standards as a legal and ethical framework for HIA that will enhance the universal values of nondiscrimination, participation, transparency and accountability and bring legitimacy and coherence to HIA practice as well. PMID:25264683

Impact assessment revisited

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thiele, Jan; Kollmann, Johannes Christian; Markussen, Bo

2010-01-01

; and (4) the total invaded range is an inappropriate measure for quantifying regional impact because the habitat area available for invasion can vary markedly among invasive species. Mathematical models and empirical data using an invasive alien plant species (Heracleum mantegazzianum) indicate......The theoretical underpinnings of the assessment of invasive alien species impacts need to be improved. At present most approaches are unreliable to quantify impact at regional scales and do not allow for comparison of different invasive species. There are four basic problems that need...... and we discuss the quantification of the invaded range. These improvements are crucial for impact assessment with the overall aim of prioritizing management of invasive species....

Retrofitting Non-Cognitive-Diagnostic Reading Assessment under the Generalized DINA Model Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huilin; Chen, Jinsong

2016-01-01

Cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) are psychometric models developed mainly to assess examinees' specific strengths and weaknesses in a set of skills or attributes within a domain. By adopting the Generalized-DINA model framework, the recently developed general modeling framework, we attempted to retrofit the PISA reading assessments, a…

Environmental impact assessment report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, K. J.; Paik, S. T.; Chung, U. S.; Jung, K. H.; Park, S. K.; Lee, D. G.; Kim, H. R.; Kim, J. K.; Yang, S. H.; Lee, B. J.; Kim, E. H.; Choi, K. S

2000-10-01

This report is the revised Environmental Impact Assessment Report which was made and submitted as one of the license documents for TRIGA Research Reactor D and D Project. The Environmental Impact Assessment Report includes introduction of decommissioning plan, status of reactors and environmental impact of surroundings. Also it was assessed and analyzed on radioactivity for environment, and the plan was established to minimize radioactive material release. Finally environmental monitoring plan was established to confirm whether contaminated or not from radioactivity during decommissioning period. According to the assessment results, the risk of excess exposure will be not on environment and public. The first Environmental Impact Assessment Report was submitted to the government for the license and reviewed by Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety. The first Report was revised including answers for the questions arising from review process.

A Framework for Assessing Reading Comprehension of Geometric Construction Texts

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai-Lin; Li, Jian-Lin

2018-01-01

This study investigates one issue related to reading mathematical texts by presenting a two-dimensional framework for assessing reading comprehension of geometric construction texts. The two dimensions of the framework were formulated by modifying categories of reading literacy and drawing on key elements of geometric construction texts. Three…

Social Impact Assessment in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Sanne Vammen; Hansen, Anne Merrild; Lyhne, Ivar

2015-01-01

Social impact assessment (SIA) is applied worldwide to assess social impacts of plans and projects. In Europe, directives on environmental assessment (EA) require attention to social impacts, however, there is a need to investigate the implementation in practise. To this end, we study three Danish...... are not suggested or are postponed and the geographical distribution of impacts assessed is biased towards including negative local impacts. We discuss the scope and handling of social impacts, and possible implications. Based on this, we conclude with the view that EA might do the job of handling social impacts...... cases, which are characterised by debates and conflicts on social issues. Analysis of the EA statements shows inclusion of a broad range of social impacts. However, the EAs do not fully match the concerns of the public, and social impacts are not always analysed in depth, mitigation measures...

Encouraging translation and assessing impact of the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement: rationale and protocol for a research impact assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Shanthi; Reeves, Penny; Deeming, Simon; Bailie, Ross Stewart; Bailie, Jodie; Bainbridge, Roxanne; Cunningham, Frances; Doran, Christopher; McPhail Bell, Karen; Searles, Andrew

2017-12-04

There is growing recognition among health researchers and funders that the wider benefits of research such as economic, social and health impacts ought to be assessed and valued alongside academic outputs such as peer-reviewed papers. Research translation needs to increase and the pathways to impact ought to be more transparent. These processes are particularly pertinent to the Indigenous health sector given continued concerns that Indigenous communities are over-researched with little corresponding improvement in health outcomes. This paper describes the research protocol of a mixed methods study to apply FAIT (Framework to Assess the Impact from Translational health research) to the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement (CRE-IQI). FAIT will be applied to five selected CRE-IQI Flagship projects to encourage research translation and assess the wider impact of that research. Phase I will develop a modified programme logic model for each Flagship project including identifying process, output and impact metrics so progress can be monitored. A scoping review will inform potential benefits. In phase II, programme logic models will be updated to account for changes in the research pathways over time. Audit and feedback will be used to encourage research translation and collect evidence of achievement of any process, output and interim impacts. In phase III, three proven methodologies for measuring research impact-Payback, economic assessment and narratives-will be applied. Data on the application of FAIT will be collected and analysed to inform and improve FAIT's performance. This study is funded by a nationally competitive grant (ID 1078927) from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Newcastle's Human Research Ethics Committee (ID: H-2017-0026). The results from the study will be presented in several peer-reviewed publications, through conference presentations and via

Replacement of chlorofluorocarbons at the DOE gaseous diffusion plants: An assessment of global impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Socolof, M.L.; McCold, L.N.; Saylor, R.E.

1997-01-01

Three gaseous diffusion plants (GDPs) for enriching uranium maintain a large inventory of chlorofluorocarbon-114 (CFC-114) as a coolant. To address the continued use of CFC-114, an ozone-depleting substance, the US Department of Energy (DOE) considered introducing perfluorocarbons (PFCs) by the end of 1995. These PFCs would not contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion but would be larger contributors to global warming than would CFC-114. The paper reports the results of an assessment of the global impacts of four alternatives for modifying GDP coolant system operations over a three-year period beginning in 1996. The overall contribution of GDP coolant releases to impacts on ozone depletion and global warming were quantified by parameters referred to as ozone-depletion impact and global-warming impact. The analysis showed that these parameters could be used as surrogates for predicting global impacts to all resources and could provide a framework for assessing environmental impacts of a permanent coolant replacement, eliminating the need for subsequent resource-specific analyses

Assessing impact of blanket interventions for MAM prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grais, Rebecca F.; Isanaka, I; Langendorf, C; Roederer, T

2014-01-01

Full text: Blanket interventions for MAM prevention (Blanket supplementary feeding programming (BSFP)) provide a supplementary food ration often accompanied by a basic medical treatment and prevention package to a vulnerable population for a defined period in a defined geographic location. There is little strong evidence on the impact of BSFP on rates of malnutrition and mortality, and scare guidance on program monitoring and evaluation to improve the implementation of specific programs. Assessing the impact of BSFP has been fraught with difficulty. Their isolated impact is difficult, if not often impossible to disentangle from larger care and prevention packages, the objectives of BSFP may vary by context, implementing agency, time and geography. Various and often multiple co-morbidities among children in the targeted group complicate matters further with respect to impact assessment. This leads to difficulties in generalizing results from one context to another and the need for more complex metrics to guide operational decision-making. Ideally, impact or effectiveness of BSFP should be addressed in a research framework where appropriate and complete data is collected in order to address specific questions. The gold standard is the conduct of randomized studies including a control group. These studies have been scarce as they may be perceived as either rarely feasible or not ethical or both. However, as generating evidence on impact of BSFP is essential to provide operational guidance, these studies should be encouraged through a diversity of robust, yet creative and pragmatic, methodological approaches. As a case study, a series of studies conducted over the past decade are reviewed in the same location in Niger highlighting the lessons learned. (author)

Motivators and Barriers to Incorporating Climate Change-Related Health Risks in Environmental Health Impact Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shilu Tong

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Climate change presents risks to health that must be addressed by both decision-makers and public health researchers. Within the application of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA, there have been few attempts to incorporate climate change-related health risks as an input to the framework. This study used a focus group design to examine the perceptions of government, industry and academic specialists about the suitability of assessing the health consequences of climate change within an EHIA framework. Practitioners expressed concern over a number of factors relating to the current EHIA methodology and the inclusion of climate change-related health risks. These concerns related to the broad scope of issues that would need to be considered, problems with identifying appropriate health indicators, the lack of relevant qualitative information that is currently incorporated in assessment and persistent issues surrounding stakeholder participation. It was suggested that improvements are needed in data collection processes, particularly in terms of adequate communication between environmental and health practitioners. Concerns were raised surrounding data privacy and usage, and how these could impact on the assessment process. These findings may provide guidance for government and industry bodies to improve the assessment of climate change-related health risks.

Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Limestone Quarrying Operations in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kittipongvises Suthirat

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Environmental impacts of the mineral extraction have been a public concern. Presently, there is widespread global interest in the area of mining and its sustainability that focused on the need to shift mining industry to a more sustainable framework. The aim of this study was to systematically assess all possible environmental and climate change related impacts of the limestone quarrying operation in Thailand. By considering the life cycle assessment method, the production processes were divided into three phases: raw material extraction, transportation, and comminution. Both IMPACT 2002+ and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol methods were used. Results of IMPACT 2002+ analysis showed that per 1 ton crushed limestone rock production, the total depletion of resource and GHGs emissions were 79.6 MJ and 2.76 kg CO2 eq., respectively. Regarding to the four damage categories, ‘resources’ and ‘climate change’ categories were the two greatest environmental impacts of the limestone rock production. Diesel fuel and electricity consumption in the mining processes were the main causes of those impacts. For climate change, the unit of CO2 eq. was expressed to quantify the total GHGs emissions. Estimated result was about 3.13 kg CO2 eq. per ton limestone rock product. The results obtained by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol were also similar to IMPACT 2002+ method. Electrical energy consumption was considered as the main driver of GHGs, accounting for approximately 46.8 % of total fossil fuel CO2 emissions. A final point should be noted that data uncertainties in environmental assessment over the complete life cycle of limestone quarrying operation have to be carefully considered.

Developing an Assessment Framework for Affordable and Sustainable Housing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Pullen

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Sustainable housing has been subject to research, practice and policy making for some considerable time. More recently attention has been drawn to the separate problem of declining affordability in housing. This paper describes research aimed at developing an assessment framework for both affordability and sustainability as part of the effort to incorporate both of these features into new housing projects. The research has a particular focus on developments aimed at urban densification. Background literature on both affordability and sustainability is reviewed as well as emerging schemes aimed at dealing with both aspects of housing developments. Performance indicators are identified and these are incorporated in an interim assessment framework which is tested using a group of industry experts. The research has highlighted areas where further development is required to attain quantitative assessments of affordable and sustainable housing developments

Assessing the impact of aviation on climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Marais

2008-04-01

Full Text Available We present an assessment of the marginal climate impacts of new aviation activities. We use impulse response functions derived from carbon-cycle and atmospheric models to estimate changes in surface temperature for various aviation impacts (CO2, NOx on methane, NOx on ozone, sulfates, soot, and contrails/induced cirrus. We use different damage functions and discount rates to explore health, welfare and ecological costs for a range of assumptions and scenarios. Since uncertainty is high regarding many aviation effects, we explicitly capture some uncertainty by representing several model parameters as probabilistic distributions. The uncertainties are then propagated using Monte Carlo analysis to derive estimates for the impact of these uncertainties on the marginal future climate impacts. Our goal is to provide a framework that will communicate the potential impacts of aviation on climate change under different scenarios and assumptions, and that will allow decision-makers to compare these potential impacts to other aviation environmental impacts. We present results to describe the influence of parametric uncertainties, scenarios, and assumptions for valuation on the expected marginal future costs of aviation impacts. Estimates of the change in global average surface temperature due to aviation are most sensitive to changes in climate sensitivity, the radiative forcing attributed to short-lived effects (in particular those related to contrails and aviation-induced cirrus, and the choice of emissions scenario. Estimates of marginal future costs of aviation are most sensitive to assumptions regarding the discount rate, followed by assumptions regarding climate sensitivity, and the choice of emissions scenario.

Development of Sustainability Assessment Framework in Hydropower sector

Science.gov (United States)

Soliha Sahimi, Nur; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Johan, Kartina

2017-08-01

Nowadays, Malaysian demand in energy sector was drastically increase due to technological developments. Since, hydropower is one of potential renewable energy source in Malaysia. The largest electricity utility company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad was provide an electricity to more than seven million people via independent suppliers in peninsular Malaysia and Sabah by intended a potential sustainable hydropower system. In order to increasingly the power capacity from current use, 1882 MW to more than 3000 MW by years 2020. In this study, the environmental issues and also the penalty to the responsible company especially on Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) towards their project or business are one of the problems. Other than that, every project or business has to prepare a sustainability statement or sustainability report as vital to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad under their listing requirements. Next, the sustainability performance on their project cannot be determined to achieve the key performance indicators (KPI) satisfaction from Government, stakeholder or any responsible agencies. This study presents an exhaustive review of these studies and suggests a direction for future developments. Sustainability Assessment framework or self-assessment is decidedly as a significant framework to assist towards sustainability reporting and to produce a Sustainability index for Hydropower sector using a mathematical model study. The results reveal that, the quantitative measurement from Sustainability Assessment framework to Systematic Sustainability Asssesment tool can be produce. In doing so, it is possible to improve the performance of the project especially in hydropower planner.

Impact assessment of the 1977 New York City blackout. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corwin, J. L.; Miles, W. T.

1978-07-01

This study was commissioned by the Division of Electric Energy Systems (EES), Department of Energy (DOE) shortly after the July 13, 1977 New York City Blackout. The objectives were two-fold: to assess the availability and collect, where practical, data pertaining to a wide variety of impacts occurring as a result of the blackout; and to broadly define a framework to assess the value of electric power reliability from consideration of the blackout and its effects on individuals, businesses, and institutions. The impacts were complex and included both economic and social costs. In order to systematically classify the most significant of these impacts and provide guidance for data collection, impact classification schemes were developed. Major economic impact categories examined are business; government; utilities (Consolidated Edison); insurance industry; public health services; and other public services. Impacts were classified as either direct or indirect depending upon whether the impact was due to a cessation of electricity or a response to that cessation. The principal economic costs of the blackout are shown. Social impacts, i.e., the changes in social activities and adaptations to these changes were particularly significant in New York due to its unique demographic and geographic characteristics. The looting and arson that accompanied the blackout set aside the NYC experience from other similar power failures. (MCW)

A Measurement Framework for Team Level Assessment of Innovation Capability in Early Requirements Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Regnell, Björn; Höst, Martin; Nilsson, Fredrik; Bengtsson, Henrik

When developing software-intensive products for a market-place it is important for a development organisation to create innovative features for coming releases in order to achieve advantage over competitors. This paper focuses on assessment of innovation capability at team level in relation to the requirements engineering that is taking place before the actual product development projects are decided, when new business models, technology opportunities and intellectual property rights are created and investigated through e.g. prototyping and concept development. The result is a measurement framework focusing on four areas: innovation elicitation, selection, impact and ways-of-working. For each area, candidate measurements were derived from interviews to be used as inspiration in the development of a tailored measurement program. The framework is based on interviews with participants of a software team with specific innovation responsibilities and validated through cross-case analysis and feedback from practitioners.

Beyond exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity: A response based ecological framework to assess species climate change vulnerability

Science.gov (United States)

Fortini, Lucas B.; Schubert, Olivia

2017-01-01

As the impacts of global climate change on species are increasingly evident, there is a clear need to adapt conservation efforts worldwide. Species vulnerability assessments (VAs) are increasingly used to summarize all relevant information to determine a species’ potential vulnerability to climate change and are frequently the first step in informing climate adaptation efforts. VAs commonly integrate multiple sources of information by utilizing a framework that distinguishes factors relevant to species exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. However, this framework was originally developed for human systems, and its use to evaluate species vulnerability has serious practical and theoretical limitations. By instead defining vulnerability as the degree to which a species is unable to exhibit any of the responses necessary for persistence under climate change (i.e., toleration of projected changes, migration to new climate-compatible areas, enduring in microrefugia, and evolutionary adaptation), we can bring VAs into the realm of ecological science without applying borrowed abstract concepts that have consistently challenged species-centric research and management. This response-based framework to assess species vulnerability to climate change allows better integration of relevant ecological data and past research, yielding results with much clearer implications for conservation and research prioritization.

[Exploring models for the assessment of the economic, social, political, and scientific impact of health research].

Science.gov (United States)

Macías-Angel, Beatriz; Agudelo-Calderón, Carlos A

2015-05-01

Health research produces effects on the health of populations. This document approaches the frameworks and the models used by developed countries to assess the impact of health research through documentary analysis of research with the highest impact. With this, it was possible to identify two guiding axes of analysis: one having to do with focus, and the other having to do with emphasis. With these, the published models, their uses, their reach, and their origins are related. Our study brings awareness to the features they have and the areas in which Colombia could implement them. We found that the framework for evaluating health research known as the "payback model" is a model for monitoring research that tracks the process and research results with multidimensional categorization of the impacts of research.

A Novel Performance Framework and Methodology to Analyze the Impact of 4D Trajectory Based Operations in the Future Air Traffic Management System

OpenAIRE

Ruiz, Sergio; Lopez Leones, Javier; Ranieri, Andrea

2018-01-01

The introduction of new Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts such as Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) may produce a significant impact in all performance areas, that is, safety, capacity, flight efficiency, and others. The performance framework in use today has been tailored to the operational needs of the current ATM system and must evolve to fulfill the new needs and challenges brought by the TBO content. This paper presents a novel performance assessment framework and methodology adapted...

A proposed framework for conducting pollution prevention design assessments (P2DAs) on U.S. Department of Energy design projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dorsey, J.A.

1995-03-01

The purpose of this manual is to provide a framework for project managers, engineers, and designers to integrate pollution prevention principles and features into DOE design projects. The framework suggested is referred to as the pollution prevention design assessment (P2DA). The P2DA is based on DOE's method for conducting pollution prevention opportunity assessments (PPOAs) on existing waste-generating operations, but the P2DA is modified because the facility or process it assesses does not physically exist during design. Before the P2DA framework is introduced in the manual, recommendations for establishing the P2DA team and budget are provided. Specific pollution prevention requirements and opportunities for each design stage as delineated in DOE Order 4700.1 Project Management System are also discussed and a sample format for drafting a P2DA report is provided in the appendix. The scope of this manual includes not only the P2DA framework, but also a background discussion of pollution prevention and related topics; the regulatory requirements mandating design for pollution prevention; the benefits and barriers of designing for pollution prevention; and the impact that pollution prevention and related environmental avoidance concepts have had on the engineering profession

Incorporating Contaminant Bioavailability into Sediment Quality Assessment Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

The recently adopted sediment quality assessment framework for evaluating bay and estuarine sediments in the State of California incorporates bulk sediment chemistry as a key line of evidence(LOE) but does not address the bioavailability of measured contaminants. Thus, the chemis...

Probabilistic assessment of the impact of coal seam gas development on groundwater: Surat Basin, Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Tao; Moore, Catherine; Raiber, Matthias

2018-05-01

Modelling cumulative impacts of basin-scale coal seam gas (CSG) extraction is challenging due to the long time frames and spatial extent over which impacts occur combined with the need to consider local-scale processes. The computational burden of such models limits the ability to undertake calibration and sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. A framework is presented that integrates recently developed methods and tools to address the computational burdens of an assessment of drawdown impacts associated with rapid CSG development in the Surat Basin, Australia. The null space Monte Carlo method combined with singular value decomposition (SVD)-assisted regularisation was used to analyse the uncertainty of simulated drawdown impacts. The study also describes how the computational burden of assessing local-scale impacts was mitigated by adopting a novel combination of a nested modelling framework which incorporated a model emulator of drawdown in dual-phase flow conditions, and a methodology for representing local faulting. This combination provides a mechanism to support more reliable estimates of regional CSG-related drawdown predictions. The study indicates that uncertainties associated with boundary conditions are reduced significantly when expressing differences between scenarios. The results are analysed and distilled to enable the easy identification of areas where the simulated maximum drawdown impacts could exceed trigger points associated with legislative `make good' requirements; trigger points require that either an adjustment in the development scheme or other measures are implemented to remediate the impact. This report contributes to the currently small body of work that describes modelling and uncertainty analyses of CSG extraction impacts on groundwater.

A framework for assessing impact of units of scholarly communication based on OAI-PMH harvesting of usage information

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Van de Sompel, Herbert

2005-01-01

The wide-spread implementation of institutional repositories (IR), digital libraries, preprint services, and open access journals has dramatically changed the communication options that are available to scholars. At the same time, scholarship itself is becoming digital, thereby fundamentally extending the notion of a unit of scholarly communication beyond journal papers to include multimedia files, data sets, simulations, visualizations, etc. Meanwhile, the evaluation of scholarly performance remains bound to the use of citation data derived from a subset of all available communication channels (pre-selected journals), and an ever decreasing subset of all communicated units (journal papers). Clearly, there is a need for frameworks that allow measuring scholarly activity and its impact in the context of this new reality. We discuss the architecture of a system that is being developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that aims at determining impact and prestige rankings on the basis of aggregated usage dat...

Regional impact assessment of land use scenarios in developing countries using the FoPIA approach: Findings from five case studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

König, H.J.; Uthes, S.; Schuler, J.; Zhen, L.; Purushothaman, S.; Suarma, U.; Sghaier, M.; Makokha, S.; Helming, K.; Sieber, S.; Chen, L.; Brouwer, F.M.; Morris, J.; Wiggering, H.

2013-01-01

The impact of land use changes on sustainable development is of increasing interest in many regions of the world. This study aimed to test the transferability of the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA), which was originally developed in the European context, to developing

Critical analysis of e-health readiness assessment frameworks: suitability for application in developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Mauco, Kabelo Leonard; Scott, Richard E; Mars, Maurice

2018-02-01

Introduction e-Health is an innovative way to make health services more effective and efficient and application is increasing worldwide. e-Health represents a substantial ICT investment and its failure usually results in substantial losses in time, money (including opportunity costs) and effort. Therefore it is important to assess e-health readiness prior to implementation. Several frameworks have been published on e-health readiness assessment, under various circumstances and geographical regions of the world. However, their utility for the developing world is unknown. Methods A literature review and analysis of published e-health readiness assessment frameworks or models was performed to determine if any are appropriate for broad assessment of e-health readiness in the developing world. A total of 13 papers described e-health readiness in different settings. Results and Discussion Eight types of e-health readiness were identified and no paper directly addressed all of these. The frameworks were based upon varying assumptions and perspectives. There was no underlying unifying theory underpinning the frameworks. Few assessed government and societal readiness, and none cultural readiness; all are important in the developing world. While the shortcomings of existing frameworks have been highlighted, most contain aspects that are relevant and can be drawn on when developing a framework and assessment tools for the developing world. What emerged is the need to develop different assessment tools for the various stakeholder sectors. This is an area that needs further research before attempting to develop a more generic framework for the developing world.

The challenge of cumulative impacts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masden, Elisabeth

2011-07-01

Full text: As governments pledge to combat climate change, wind turbines are becoming a common feature of terrestrial and marine environments. Although wind power is a renewable energy source and a means of reducing carbon emissions, there is a need to ensure that the wind farms themselves do not damage the environment. There is particular concern over the impacts of wind farms on bird populations, and with increasing numbers of wind farm proposals, the concern focuses on cumulative impacts. Individually, a wind farm, or indeed any activity/action, may have minor effects on the environment, but collectively these may be significant, potentially greater than the sum of the individual parts acting alone. Cumulative impact assessment is a legislative requirement of environmental impact assessment but such assessments are rarely adequate restricting the acquisition of basic knowledge about the cumulative impacts of wind farms on bird populations. Reasons for this are numerous but a recurring theme is the lack of clear definitions and guidance on how to perform cumulative assessments. Here we present a conceptual framework and include illustrative examples to demonstrate how the framework can be used to improve the planning and execution of cumulative impact assessments. The core concept is that explicit definitions of impacts, actions and scales of assessment are required to reduce uncertainty in the process of assessment and improve communication between stake holders. Only when it is clear what has been included within a cumulative assessment, is it possible to make comparisons between developments. Our framework requires improved legislative guidance on the actions to include in assessments, and advice on the appropriate baselines against which to assess impacts. Cumulative impacts are currently considered on restricted scales (spatial and temporal) relating to individual development assessments. We propose that benefits would be gained from elevating cumulative

Development of an Assessment Framework for Restored Forested Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Randall K. Kolka; Carl C. Trettin; E.A. Nelson

1998-01-01

Development of an assessment framework and associated indicators that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a wetland restoration is critical to demonstrating the sustainability of restored sites. An interdisciplinary approach was developed to assess how succession is proceeding on a restored bottomland site in South Carolina relative to an undisturbed...

Real-Time Risk Assessment Framework for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM)

Science.gov (United States)

Ancel, Ersin; Capristan, Francisco M.; Foster, John V.; Condotta, Ryan

2017-01-01

The new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Small Unmanned Aircraft rule (Part 107) marks the first national regulations for commercial operation of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) under 55 pounds within the National Airspace System (NAS). Although sUAS flights may not be performed beyond visual line-of-sight or over non- participant structures and people, safety of sUAS operations must still be maintained and tracked at all times. Moreover, future safety-critical operation of sUAS (e.g., for package delivery) are already being conceived and tested. NASA's Unmanned Aircraft System Trac Management (UTM) concept aims to facilitate the safe use of low-altitude airspace for sUAS operations. This paper introduces the UTM Risk Assessment Framework (URAF) which was developed to provide real-time safety evaluation and tracking capability within the UTM concept. The URAF uses Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to propagate off -nominal condition probabilities based on real-time component failure indicators. This information is then used to assess the risk to people on the ground by calculating the potential impact area and the effects of the impact. The visual representation of the expected area of impact and the nominal risk level can assist operators and controllers with dynamic trajectory planning and execution. The URAF was applied to a case study to illustrate the concept.

A Framework for Spatial Risk Assessments: Potential Impacts of Nonindigenous Invasive Species on Native Species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig R. Allen

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Many populations of wild animals and plants are declining and face increasing threats from habitat fragmentation and loss as well as exposure to stressors ranging from toxicants to diseases to invasive nonindigenous species. We describe and demonstrate a spatially explicit ecological risk assessment that allows for the incorporation of a broad array of information that may influence the distribution of an invasive species, toxicants, or other stressors, and the incorporation of landscape variables that may influence the spread of a species or substances. The first step in our analyses is to develop species models and quantify spatial overlap between stressor and target organisms. Risk is assessed as the product of spatial overlap and a hazard index based on target species vulnerabilities to the stressor of interest. We illustrate our methods with an example in which the stressor is the ecologically destructive nonindigenous ant, Solenopsis invicta, and the targets are two declining vertebrate species in the state of South Carolina, USA. A risk approach that focuses on landscapes and that is explicitly spatial is of particular relevance as remaining undeveloped lands become increasingly uncommon and isolated and more important in the management and recovery of species and ecological systems. Effective ecosystem management includes the control of multiple stressors, including invasive species with large impacts, understanding where those impacts may be the most severe, and implementing management strategies to reduce impacts.

Encouraging translation and assessing impact of the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement: rationale and protocol for a research impact assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Shanthi; Reeves, Penny; Deeming, Simon; Bailie, Ross Stewart; Bailie, Jodie; Bainbridge, Roxanne; Cunningham, Frances; Doran, Christopher; McPhail Bell, Karen; Searles, Andrew

2017-01-01

Introduction There is growing recognition among health researchers and funders that the wider benefits of research such as economic, social and health impacts ought to be assessed and valued alongside academic outputs such as peer-reviewed papers. Research translation needs to increase and the pathways to impact ought to be more transparent. These processes are particularly pertinent to the Indigenous health sector given continued concerns that Indigenous communities are over-researched with little corresponding improvement in health outcomes. This paper describes the research protocol of a mixed methods study to apply FAIT (Framework to Assess the Impact from Translational health research) to the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement (CRE-IQI). FAIT will be applied to five selected CRE-IQI Flagship projects to encourage research translation and assess the wider impact of that research. Methods and analysis Phase I will develop a modified programme logic model for each Flagship project including identifying process, output and impact metrics so progress can be monitored. A scoping review will inform potential benefits. In phase II, programme logic models will be updated to account for changes in the research pathways over time. Audit and feedback will be used to encourage research translation and collect evidence of achievement of any process, output and interim impacts. In phase III, three proven methodologies for measuring research impact—Payback, economic assessment and narratives—will be applied. Data on the application of FAIT will be collected and analysed to inform and improve FAIT’s performance. Ethics and dissemination This study is funded by a nationally competitive grant (ID 1078927) from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Newcastle’s Human Research Ethics Committee (ID: H-2017–0026). The results from the study will be presented in several

Evaluating social outcomes of HIV/AIDS interventions: a critical assessment of contemporary indicator frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannell, Jenevieve; Cornish, Flora; Russell, Jill

2014-01-01

Contemporary HIV-related theory and policy emphasize the importance of addressing the social drivers of HIV risk and vulnerability for a long-term response. Consequently, increasing attention is being given to social and structural interventions, and to social outcomes of HIV interventions. Appropriate indicators for social outcomes are needed in order to institutionalize the commitment to addressing social outcomes. This paper critically assesses the current state of social indicators within international HIV/AIDS monitoring and evaluation frameworks. We analyzed the indicator frameworks of six international organizations involved in efforts to improve and synchronize the monitoring and evaluation of the HIV/AIDS response. Our analysis classifies the 328 unique indicators according to what they measure and assesses the degree to which they offer comprehensive measurement across three dimensions: domains of the social context, levels of change and organizational capacity. The majority of indicators focus on individual-level (clinical and behavioural) interventions and outcomes, neglecting structural interventions, community interventions and social outcomes (e.g. stigma reduction; community capacity building; policy-maker sensitization). The main tool used to address social aspects of HIV/AIDS is the disaggregation of data by social group. This raises three main limitations. Indicator frameworks do not provide comprehensive coverage of the diverse social drivers of the epidemic, particularly neglecting criminalization, stigma, discrimination and gender norms. There is a dearth of indicators for evaluating the social impacts of HIV interventions. Indicators of organizational capacity focus on capacity to effectively deliver and manage clinical services, neglecting capacity to respond appropriately and sustainably to complex social contexts. Current indicator frameworks cannot adequately assess the social outcomes of HIV interventions. This limits knowledge about

Life cycle assessment to compare the environmental impact of seven contemporary food waste management systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Joel; Othman, Maazuza; Crossin, Enda; Burn, Stewart

2018-01-01

Municipal food waste (FW) represents 35-45% of household residual waste in Australia, with the nation generating 1.6Tg annually. It is estimated that 91% of this FW ends up in landfill. This study used life cycle assessment to determine and compare the environmental impact of seven contemporary FW management systems for two real-life jurisdictions; incorporating the complete waste service and expanding the system to include inert and garden waste. Although, no system exhibited a best ranking across all impact categories, FW digestion based systems were all revealed to have a lower global warming potential than composting and landfilling systems. Mechanical biological treatment, anaerobic co-digestion, and home composting all demonstrated the lowest environmental impacts for two or more of the environmental impact categories assessed. The assessment included market and technological specific variables and uncertainties providing a framework for robust decision making at a municipality level. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Strength of Bond Covenants and Bond Assessment Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noel Yahanpath

2012-06-01

Full Text Available We examine bond covenants of 29 New Zealand bond issues between 2001 and 2007.Results from the study indicate that protection provided for bondholders is weak and limited.On average, only 2-3 types of covenants are embedded with the issues and only 27% of thesecovenants provide full protection to the bondholders. However, bondholders are not compensated for taking the additional risk. We propose an alternative assessment framework that directly assesses the level of protection offered to bondholders. We calculate thecovenant quality score for the issues and classify them into four levels of protection: very high protection, moderate, low and very low. Recent legislative changes will go some way towards improving investor protection and confidence, but the effect is yet to be seen. This proposed scoring framework can be used by potential investors to complement the traditional credit ratings when making their investment decisions.

Framework for Modeling High-Impact, Low-Frequency Power Grid Events to Support Risk-Informed Decisions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veeramany, Arun; Unwin, Stephen D.; Coles, Garill A.; Dagle, Jeffery E.; Millard, W. David; Yao, Juan; Glantz, Clifford S.; Gourisetti, Sri Nikhil Gup

2015-12-03

Natural and man-made hazardous events resulting in loss of grid infrastructure assets challenge the electric power grid’s security and resilience. However, the planning and allocation of appropriate contingency resources for such events requires an understanding of their likelihood and the extent of their potential impact. Where these events are of low likelihood, a risk-informed perspective on planning can be problematic as there exists an insufficient statistical basis to directly estimate the probabilities and consequences of their occurrence. Since risk-informed decisions rely on such knowledge, a basis for modeling the risk associated with high-impact low frequency events (HILFs) is essential. Insights from such a model can inform where resources are most rationally and effectively expended. The present effort is focused on development of a HILF risk assessment framework. Such a framework is intended to provide the conceptual and overarching technical basis for the development of HILF risk models that can inform decision makers across numerous stakeholder sectors. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) 2014 Standard TPL-001-4 considers severe events for transmission reliability planning, but does not address events of such severity that they have the potential to fail a substantial fraction of grid assets over a region, such as geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), extreme seismic events, and coordinated cyber-physical attacks. These are beyond current planning guidelines. As noted, the risks associated with such events cannot be statistically estimated based on historic experience; however, there does exist a stable of risk modeling techniques for rare events that have proven of value across a wide range of engineering application domains. There is an active and growing interest in evaluating the value of risk management techniques in the State transmission planning and emergency response communities, some of this interest in the context of

Development and assessment of an integrated ecological modelling framework to assess the effect of investments in wastewater treatment on water quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Holguin-Gonzalez, Javier E; Boets, Pieter; Everaert, Gert; Pauwels, Ine S; Lock, Koen; Gobeyn, Sacha; Benedetti, Lorenzo; Amerlinck, Youri; Nopens, Ingmar; Goethals, Peter L M

2014-01-01

Worldwide, large investments in wastewater treatment are made to improve water quality. However, the impacts of these investments on river water quality are often not quantified. To assess water quality, the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires an integrated approach. The aim of this study was to develop an integrated ecological modelling framework for the River Drava (Croatia) that includes physical-chemical and hydromorphological characteristics as well as the ecological river water quality status. The developed submodels and the integrated model showed accurate predictions when comparing the modelled results to the observations. Dissolved oxygen and nitrogen concentrations (ammonium and organic nitrogen) were the most important variables in determining the ecological water quality (EWQ). The result of three potential investment scenarios of the wastewater treatment infrastructure in the city of Varaždin on the EWQ of the River Drava was assessed. From this scenario-based analysis, it was concluded that upgrading the existing wastewater treatment plant with nitrogen and phosphorus removal will be insufficient to reach a good EWQ. Therefore, other point and diffuse pollution sources in the area should also be monitored and remediated to meet the European WFD standards.

Stalking: A Multidimensional Framework for Assessment and Safety Planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, T K; Walker, Robert

2015-09-03

Despite the high prevalence of stalking and the risk of harm it poses to victims, arrest rates, prosecutions, and convictions for stalking continue to be low in the United States. The overall goal of this article is to introduce a multidimensional framework of stalking that adds to the current literature by (1) providing a conceptual framework consistent with legal elements of many stalking statutes to facilitate assessment, communication, documentation, and safety planning for stalking several victims; (2) introducing a more systematic way of assessing course of conduct and the context of fear in stalking situations in order to increase the understanding of cumulative fear for stalking victims; (3) emphasizing the aspects of stalking harm that go beyond violence and that show how harm from stalking accumulates over time including life sabotage; and (4) discussing 12 risk factors derived from the overall multidimensional framework that can be used to describe the big picture of stalking and to facilitate safety planning for victims. Implications for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

A spatial assessment framework for evaluating flood risk under extreme climates.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yun; Liu, Rui; Barrett, Damian; Gao, Lei; Zhou, Mingwei; Renzullo, Luigi; Emelyanova, Irina

2015-12-15

Australian coal mines have been facing a major challenge of increasing risk of flooding caused by intensive rainfall events in recent years. In light of growing climate change concerns and the predicted escalation of flooding, estimating flood inundation risk becomes essential for understanding sustainable mine water management in the Australian mining sector. This research develops a spatial multi-criteria decision making prototype for the evaluation of flooding risk at a regional scale using the Bowen Basin and its surroundings in Queensland as a case study. Spatial gridded data, including climate, hydrology, topography, vegetation and soils, were collected and processed in ArcGIS. Several indices were derived based on time series of observations and spatial modeling taking account of extreme rainfall, evapotranspiration, stream flow, potential soil water retention, elevation and slope generated from a digital elevation model (DEM), as well as drainage density and proximity extracted from a river network. These spatial indices were weighted using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and integrated in an AHP-based suitability assessment (AHP-SA) model under the spatial risk evaluation framework. A regional flooding risk map was delineated to represent likely impacts of criterion indices at different risk levels, which was verified using the maximum inundation extent detectable by a time series of remote sensing imagery. The result provides baseline information to help Bowen Basin coal mines identify and assess flooding risk when making adaptation strategies and implementing mitigation measures in future. The framework and methodology developed in this research offers the Australian mining industry, and social and environmental studies around the world, an effective way to produce reliable assessment on flood risk for managing uncertainty in water availability under climate change. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Critical analysis of frameworks and approaches to assess the environmental risks of nanomaterials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grieger, Khara Deanne; Linkov, Igor; Hansen, Steffen Foss

and approaches which have been developed or proposed by large organizations or regulatory bodies for NM. These frameworks and approaches were evaluated and assessed based on a select number of criteria which have been previously proposed as important parameters for inclusion in successful risk assessment......7.1.7 Critical analysis of frameworks and approaches to assess the environmental risks of nanomaterials Khara D. Grieger1, Igor Linkov2, Steffen Foss Hansen1, Anders Baun1 1Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark 2Environmental Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Brookline, USA...... Email: kdg@env.dtu.dk Scientists, organizations, governments, and policy-makers are currently involved in reviewing, adapting, and formulating risk assessment frameworks and strategies to understand and assess the potential environmental risks of engineered nanomaterials (NM). It is becoming...

Framework for Assessing Water Resource Sustainability in River Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Borden, J.; Goodwin, P.; Swanson, D.

2013-12-01

As the anthropogenic footprint increases on Earth, the wise use, maintenance, and protection of freshwater resources will be a key element in the sustainability of development. Borne from efforts to promote sustainable development of water resources is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which promotes efficiency of water resources, equity in water allocation across different social and economic groups, and environmental sustainability. Methodologies supporting IWRM implementation have largely focused on the overall process, but have had limited attention on the evaluation methods for ecologic, economic, and social conditions (the sustainability criterion). Thus, assessment frameworks are needed to support the analysis of water resources and evaluation of sustainable solutions in the IWRM process. To address this need, the River Basin Analysis Framework (RBAF) provides a structure for understanding water related issues and testing the sustainability of proposed solutions in river basins. The RBAF merges three approaches: the UN GEO 4 DPSIR approach, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment approach, and the principles of sustainable development. Merging these approaches enables users to understand the spatiotemporal interactions between the hydrologic and ecologic systems, evaluate the impacts of disturbances (drivers, pressures) on the ecosystem goods and services (EGS) and constituents of human well-being (HWB), and identify and employ analytical methods and indicators in the assessments. The RBAF is comprised of a conceptual component (RBAF-C) and an analytical component (RBAF-A). For each disturbance type, the RBAF-C shows the potential directional change in the hydrologic cycle (peak flows, seasonality, etc.), EGS (drinking water supply, water purification, recreational opportunities, etc.), and HWB (safety, health, access to a basic materials), thus allowing users insight into potential impacts as well as providing technical guidance on the methods and

Framework for Evaluating the Health Impact of the Scale-Up of Malaria Control Interventions on All-Cause Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Yé, Yazoume; Eisele, Thomas P.; Eckert, Erin; Korenromp, Eline; Shah, Jui A.; Hershey, Christine L.; Ivanovich, Elizabeth; Newby, Holly; Carvajal-Velez, Liliana; Lynch, Michael; Komatsu, Ryuichi; Cibulskis, Richard E.; Moore, Zhuzhi; Bhattarai, Achuyt

2017-01-01

Abstract. Concerted efforts from national and international partners have scaled up malaria control interventions, including insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, diagnostics, prompt and effective treatment of malaria cases, and intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scale-up warrants an assessment of its health impact to guide future efforts and investments; however, measuring malaria-specific mortality and the overall impact of malaria control interventions remains challenging. In 2007, Roll Back Malaria's Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group proposed a theoretical framework for evaluating the impact of full-coverage malaria control interventions on morbidity and mortality in high-burden SSA countries. Recently, several evaluations have contributed new ideas and lessons to strengthen this plausibility design. This paper harnesses that new evaluation experience to expand the framework, with additional features, such as stratification, to examine subgroups most likely to experience improvement if control programs are working; the use of a national platform framework; and analysis of complete birth histories from national household surveys. The refined framework has shown that, despite persisting data challenges, combining multiple sources of data, considering potential contributions from both fundamental and proximate contextual factors, and conducting subnational analyses allows identification of the plausible contributions of malaria control interventions on malaria morbidity and mortality. PMID:28990923

Sense-making and Impact Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyhne, Ivar

The poster integrates knowledge about how we make sense of situations into SEA methodology to strengthen the staging of impact assessments and the process of scoping impacts.......The poster integrates knowledge about how we make sense of situations into SEA methodology to strengthen the staging of impact assessments and the process of scoping impacts....

Integrated Risk Framework for Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Steven; Goonetilleke, Ashantha; Thomas, Evan; Hargreaves, Megan; Frost, Ray; Dawes, Les

2006-08-01

Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) are becoming increasingly important for the treatment and dispersal of effluent in new urbanised developments that are not serviced by centralised wastewater collection and treatment systems. However, the current standards and guidelines adopted by many local authorities for assessing suitable site and soil conditions for OWTS are increasingly coming under scrutiny due to the public health and environmental impacts caused by poorly performing systems, in particular septic tank-soil adsorption systems. In order to achieve sustainable onsite wastewater treatment with minimal impacts on the environment and public health, more appropriate means of assessment are required. This paper highlights an integrated risk based approach for assessing the inherent hazards associated with OWTS in order to manage and mitigate the environmental and public health risks inherent with onsite wastewater treatment. In developing a sound and cohesive integrated risk framework for OWTS, several key issues must be recognised. These include the inclusion of relevant stakeholders throughout framework development, the integration of scientific knowledge, data and analysis with risk assessment and management ideals, and identification of the appropriate performance goals for successful management and mitigation of associated risks. These issues were addressed in the development of the risk framework to provide a generic approach to assessing risk from OWTS. The utilisation of the developed risk framework for achieving more appropriate assessment and management techniques for OWTS is presented in a case study for the Gold Coast region, Queensland State, Australia.

Multi-criteria decision-making on assessment of proposed tidal barrage schemes in terms of environmental impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yunna; Xu, Chuanbo; Ke, Yiming; Chen, Kaifeng; Xu, Hu

2017-12-15

For tidal range power plants to be sustainable, the environmental impacts caused by the implement of various tidal barrage schemes must be assessed before construction. However, several problems exist in the current researches: firstly, evaluation criteria of the tidal barrage schemes environmental impact assessment (EIA) are not adequate; secondly, uncertainty of criteria information fails to be processed properly; thirdly, correlation among criteria is unreasonably measured. Hence the contributions of this paper are as follows: firstly, an evaluation criteria system is established from three dimensions of hydrodynamic, biological and morphological aspects. Secondly, cloud model is applied to describe the uncertainty of criteria information. Thirdly, Choquet integral with respect to λ-fuzzy measure is introduced to measure the correlation among criteria. On the above bases, a multi-criteria decision-making decision framework for tidal barrage scheme EIA is established to select the optimal scheme. Finally, a case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The socio-economic dimension of flood risk assessment: insights of KULTURisk framework

Science.gov (United States)

Giupponi, Carlo; Gain, Animesh; Mojtahed, Vahid; Balbi, Stefano

2013-04-01

policy framework of climate change adaptation (CCA). Three main innovations are proposed with respect to the current state of the art: (1) to include the social capacities of reducing risk, (2) to go beyond the estimation direct tangible costs, and (3) to provide an operational solution for decision support to assess risks, impacts and the benefits of plausible risk reduction measures, compatible with both the DRR and the CCA literatures. As stated above, the proposed framework is the inclusion of social capacities (adaptive and coping capacities) in the process of translating risk into a comprehensive cost matrix considering not only direct tangible costs (damages), but also the three other components deriving from the combination of tangible/intangible and direct/indirect costs. The proposed KIRAF approach is thus expected to provide: 1) an operational basis for multidisciplinary integration; 2) a flexible reference to deal with heterogeneous case studies and potentially various types of hazards; and 3) a means to support the assessment of alternative risk prevention measures including consideration of social and cultural dimensions.

Motivators and Barriers to Incorporating Climate Change-Related Health Risks in Environmental Health Impact Assessment

OpenAIRE

Turner, Lyle R.; Alderman, Katarzyna; Connell, Des; Tong, Shilu

2013-01-01

Climate change presents risks to health that must be addressed by both decision-makers and public health researchers. Within the application of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA), there have been few attempts to incorporate climate change-related health risks as an input to the framework. This study used a focus group design to examine the perceptions of government, industry and academic specialists about the suitability of assessing the health consequences of climate change within...

A Self-Assessment Framework for Inclusive Schools Supporting Assistive Technology Users.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoogerwerf, Evert-Jan; Solander-Gross, Andrea; Mavrou, Katerina; Traina, Ivan; Hersh, Marion

2017-01-01

In order to support schools to assess their performance in supporting children with disabilities in their ICT and ICT-AT needs, a self-assessment framework was developed by a task force of partners and associate partners of the ENTELIS project. The self-assessment tool aims to help educational establishments that welcome learners with disabilities to assess their current outcomes and to plan improvements in supporting these students in increasing digital literacy and developing digital skills. This includes the use of mainstream Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and specially designed digital Assistive Technologies (ICT-AT). This can only successfully happen if schools fully embrace an inclusive approach to education. In this paper the authors describe the development of the framework and the further steps for its use.

An Evaluation of Holistic Sustainability Assessment Framework for Palm Oil Production in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chye Ing Lim

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Palm oil based biodiesel offers an alternative energy source that can reduce current dependence on conventional fossil fuels and may reduce greenhouse gas (GHG emissions depending on the type of feedstock and processes used. In the Malaysian context, the palm oil industry not only provides high-yield, renewable feedstock to the world, it brings socio-economic development to the Malaysian rural community and contributes to the national income. However, the sustainability of palm oil remains controversial, due to deforestation, pollution and social conflicts associated with its production. Sustainability assessment is vital for the palm oil industry to identify weaknesses, improve its sustainability performance and improve consumer confidence. This paper proposes a holistic sustainability assessment framework for palm oil production with the aim to address the weaknesses of existing palm oil sustainability assessment methods. It identifies environmental, social and economic Headline Performance Indicators, Key Performance Indicators and their Performance Measures in crude palm oil production in a structured framework. Each quantitative/semi-quantitative performance measure is translated into Likert Scale of 1–5, where 3 is the threshold value, 5 is the ideal condition, and 1 is the worst case scenario. Calculation methods were established for the framework to provide quantitative assessment results. The framework was tested using a hypothetical example with data from existing studies. The results suggest that crude palm oil production in Malaysia is below the sustainability threshold. Evaluations of this sustainability assessment framework also demonstrate that it is a comprehensive assessment method for assessing sustainability of feedstock for biofuel production.

Assessment of the impact of frequency support on DFIG wind turbine loads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barahona Garzón, Braulio; You, Rui; Hansen, Anca Daniela

2013-01-01

This study presents models and tools for the assessment of the impact that providing frequency support has on doubly-fed generator (DFIG) wind turbine structural loads and drive train. The focus is on primary frequency support, aiming at quantifying the impact on wind turbines acting as frequency...... code and electrical models. In this simulation framework, the impact that power system conditions can have on wind turbines, and vice versa the support that wind turbines can offer to the power system can be investigated....... containment reserve and providing inertial response. The sensitivity of wind turbine load indicators—load duration- distribution and maximum load values—to inertial response control actions and different torsional models of drive train is investigated. The analysis is done by co-simulations of an aeroelastic...

Towards a comprehensive climate impacts assessment of solar geoengineering

Science.gov (United States)

Irvine, Peter J.; Kravitz, Ben; Lawrence, Mark G.; Gerten, Dieter; Caminade, Cyril; Gosling, Simon N.; Hendy, Erica J.; Kassie, Belay T.; Kissling, W. Daniel; Muri, Helene; Oschlies, Andreas; Smith, Steven J.

2017-01-01

Despite a growing literature on the climate response to solar geoengineering—proposals to cool the planet by increasing the planetary albedo—there has been little published on the impacts of solar geoengineering on natural and human systems such as agriculture, health, water resources, and ecosystems. An understanding of the impacts of different scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment will be crucial for informing decisions on whether and how to deploy it. Here we review the current state of knowledge about impacts of a solar-geoengineered climate and identify the major research gaps. We suggest that a thorough assessment of the climate impacts of a range of scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment is needed and can be built upon existing frameworks. However, solar geoengineering poses a novel challenge for climate impacts research as the manner of deployment could be tailored to pursue different objectives making possible a wide range of climate outcomes. We present a number of ideas for approaches to extend the survey of climate impacts beyond standard scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment to address this challenge. Reducing the impacts of climate change is the fundamental motivator for emissions reductions and for considering whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering. This means that the active engagement of the climate impacts research community will be important for improving the overall understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and risks presented by solar geoengineering.

Radiological impact assessment of arc welding supplies rutile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rozas Guinea, S.; Herranz Soler, M.; Perez Marin, C.; Idoeta Hermandorena, R.; Alegria gutierrez, N.; Nunez-Lagos Rogla, R.; Legarda Ibanez, F.

2013-01-01

Consumables for welding containing rutile, the coating of the electrode or the filling of tubular thread, are the most widely used and also the most radioactive since the rutile is a mineral containing traces of natural radionuclides, and is therefore considered Normal Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). As these electrodes and wire are consumed, small particles, aerosols and gases are emitted to the atmosphere of work, and may be inhaled by the welder. Therefore, and also according to the current regulatory framework and work carried out previously by the author on the radiological impact of the process of manufacture and storage of coated rutile electrodes, the objectives are: 1Calcular the internal dose for inhalation during two types of welding, one with electrodes coated and the other with thread. 2 calculate the external dose due to the deposition of particles in the work environment, slag and the immersion of the soldering iron in the cloud of smoke. 3 to assess the radiological impact. (Author)

Nuclear Energy Center: upper St. Lawrence region. Part I. Siting. Part II. Fort Drum surrogate site, description and impact assessment. Part III. Dispersed sites impact assessment and comparison with the NEC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Merry, P.A.; Luner, C.; Hong, S.W.; Canham, H.O.; Boggs, J.F.; McCool, T.P.

1976-12-01

This report is one of many supporting documents used by the Nuclear Regulatory commission in the preparation of the Nuclear Energy Center Site Survey (NECSS) mandated by Congress. While the overall study focuses on the feasibility and practicability of nuclear energy centers (NECs), this report is directed towards choosing a suitable surrogate site in the upper St. Lawrence region of New York State, assessing the probable impacts associated with construction and operation of the NEC, and comparing these impacts with those associated with small dispersed nuclear power stations. The upper St. Lawrence region is surveyed to identify a specific site that might be suitable for a surrogate NEC. Several assumptions about the basic design of an NEC are delineated, and a general overview of the characteristics of the region is given. The Fort Drum Military Reservation is chosen as a suitable surrogate site. Fort Drum and the surrounding area are described in terms of land use and population patterns, terrestrial and aquatic ecology, water use and quality, meteorology, institutional framework, and socioeconomic structure. The impacts associated with NEC development are assessed. Then the impacts associated with smaller dispersed nuclear power stations located throughout New York State are assessed and compared with the impacts associated with the NEC. Finally, the impacts due to development of the transmission line networks associated with the NEC and with the dispersed power stations are assessed and compared.

Using the Entrustable Professional Activities Framework in the Assessment of Procedural Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, Debra; Cavalcanti, Rodrigo B; Halman, Samantha; Ma, Irene W Y; Mylopoulos, Maria; Shanks, David; Stroud, Lynfa

2017-04-01

The entrustable professional activity (EPA) framework has been identified as a useful approach to assessment in competency-based education. To apply an EPA framework for assessment, essential skills necessary for entrustment to occur must first be identified. Using an EPA framework, our study sought to (1) define the essential skills required for entrustment for 7 bedside procedures expected of graduates of Canadian internal medicine (IM) residency programs, and (2) develop rubrics for the assessment of these procedural skills. An initial list of essential skills was defined for each procedural EPA by focus groups of experts at 4 academic centers using the nominal group technique. These lists were subsequently vetted by representatives from all Canadian IM training programs through a web-based survey. Consensus (more than 80% agreement) about inclusion of each item was sought using a modified Delphi exercise. Qualitative survey data were analyzed using a framework approach to inform final assessment rubrics for each procedure. Initial lists of essential skills for procedural EPAs ranged from 10 to 24 items. A total of 111 experts completed the national survey. After 2 iterations, consensus was reached on all items. Following qualitative analysis, final rubrics were created, which included 6 to 10 items per procedure. These EPA-based assessment rubrics represent a national consensus by Canadian IM clinician educators. They provide a practical guide for the assessment of procedural skills in a competency-based education model, and a robust foundation for future research on their implementation and evaluation.

A modelling framework to project future climate change impacts on streamflow variability and extremes in the West River, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Fei

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, a hydrological modelling framework was introduced to assess the climate change impacts on future river flow in the West River basin, China, especially on streamflow variability and extremes. The modelling framework includes a delta-change method with the quantile-mapping technique to construct future climate forcings on the basis of observed meteorological data and the downscaled climate model outputs. This method is able to retain the signals of extreme weather events, as projected by climate models, in the constructed future forcing scenarios. Fed with the historical and future forcing data, a large-scale hydrologic model (the Variable Infiltration Capacity model, VIC was executed for streamflow simulations and projections at daily time scales. A bootstrapping resample approach was used as an indirect alternative to test the equality of means, standard deviations and the coefficients of variation for the baseline and future streamflow time series, and to assess the future changes in flood return levels. The West River basin case study confirms that the introduced modelling framework is an efficient effective tool to quantify streamflow variability and extremes in response to future climate change.

A Function-Based Framework for Stream Assessment & Restoration Projects

Science.gov (United States)

This report lays out a framework for approaching stream assessment and restoration projects that focuses on understanding the suite of stream functions at a site in the context of what is happening in the watershed.

Categorization framework to aid exposure assessment of nanomaterials in consumer products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Steffen Foss; Michelson, Evan S.; Kamper, Anja

2008-01-01

Exposure assessment is crucial for risk assessment for nanomaterials. We propose a framework to aid exposure assessment in consumer products. We determined the location of the nanomaterials and the chemical identify of the 580 products listed in the inventory maintained by the Woodrow Wilson Inte...

A Framework for Probabilistic Multi-Hazard Assessment of Rain-Triggered Lahars Using Bayesian Belief Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pablo Tierz

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Volcanic water-sediment flows, commonly known as lahars, can often pose a higher threat to population and infrastructure than primary volcanic hazardous processes such as tephra fallout and Pyroclastic Density Currents (PDCs. Lahars are volcaniclastic flows of water, volcanic debris and entrained sediments that can travel long distances from their source, causing severe damage by impact and burial. Lahars are frequently triggered by intense or prolonged rainfall occurring after explosive eruptions, and their occurrence depends on numerous factors including the spatio-temporal rainfall characteristics, the spatial distribution and hydraulic properties of the tephra deposit, and the pre- and post-eruption topography. Modeling (and forecasting such a complex system requires the quantification of aleatory variability in the lahar triggering and propagation. To fulfill this goal, we develop a novel framework for probabilistic hazard assessment of lahars within a multi-hazard environment, based on coupling a versatile probabilistic model for lahar triggering (a Bayesian Belief Network: Multihaz with a dynamic physical model for lahar propagation (LaharFlow. Multihaz allows us to estimate the probability of lahars of different volumes occurring by merging varied information about regional rainfall, scientific knowledge on lahar triggering mechanisms and, crucially, probabilistic assessment of available pyroclastic material from tephra fallout and PDCs. LaharFlow propagates the aleatory variability modeled by Multihaz into hazard footprints of lahars. We apply our framework to Somma-Vesuvius (Italy because: (1 the volcano is strongly lahar-prone based on its previous activity, (2 there are many possible source areas for lahars, and (3 there is high density of population nearby. Our results indicate that the size of the eruption preceding the lahar occurrence and the spatial distribution of tephra accumulation have a paramount role in the lahar

A framework for the quantitative assessment of performance-based system resilience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran, Huy T.; Balchanos, Michael; Domerçant, Jean Charles; Mavris, Dimitri N.

2017-01-01

Increasing system complexity and threat uncertainty require the consideration of resilience in the design and analysis of engineered systems. While the resilience engineering community has begun to converge on a definition and set of characteristics for resilience, methods for quantifying the concept are still limited in their applicability to system designers. This paper proposes a framework for assessing resilience that focuses on the ability of a system to absorb disruptions, recover from them, and adapt over time. The framework extends current approaches by explicitly considering temporal aspects of system responses to disruptions, volatility in system performance data, and the possibility of multiple disruption events. Notional system performance data is generated using the logistic function, providing an experimental platform for a parametric comparison of the proposed resilience metric with an integration-based metric. An information exchange network model is used to demonstrate the applicability of the framework towards system design tradeoff studies using stochastic simulations. The presented framework is domain-agnostic and flexible, such that it can be applied to a variety of systems and adjusted to focus on specific aspects of resilience. - Highlights: • We propose a quantitative framework and metrics for assessing system resilience. • Metrics focus on absorption, recovery, and adaptation to disruptions. • The framework accepts volatile data and is easily automated for simulation studies. • The framework is applied to a model of adaptive information exchange networks. • Results show benefits of network adaptation against random and targeted threats.

Sustainable Sourcing of Global Agricultural Raw Materials: Assessing Gaps in Key Impact and Vulnerability Issues and Indicators.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathaniel P Springer

Full Text Available Understanding how to source agricultural raw materials sustainably is challenging in today's globalized food system given the variety of issues to be considered and the multitude of suggested indicators for representing these issues. Furthermore, stakeholders in the global food system both impact these issues and are themselves vulnerable to these issues, an important duality that is often implied but not explicitly described. The attention given to these issues and conceptual frameworks varies greatly--depending largely on the stakeholder perspective--as does the set of indicators developed to measure them. To better structure these complex relationships and assess any gaps, we collate a comprehensive list of sustainability issues and a database of sustainability indicators to represent them. To assure a breadth of inclusion, the issues are pulled from the following three perspectives: major global sustainability assessments, sustainability communications from global food companies, and conceptual frameworks of sustainable livelihoods from academic publications. These terms are integrated across perspectives using a common vocabulary, classified by their relevance to impacts and vulnerabilities, and categorized into groups by economic, environmental, physical, human, social, and political characteristics. These issues are then associated with over 2,000 sustainability indicators gathered from existing sources. A gap analysis is then performed to determine if particular issues and issue groups are over or underrepresented. This process results in 44 "integrated" issues--24 impact issues and 36 vulnerability issues--that are composed of 318 "component" issues. The gap analysis shows that although every integrated issue is mentioned at least 40% of the time across perspectives, no issue is mentioned more than 70% of the time. A few issues infrequently mentioned across perspectives also have relatively few indicators available to fully represent

Sustainable Sourcing of Global Agricultural Raw Materials: Assessing Gaps in Key Impact and Vulnerability Issues and Indicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, Nathaniel P; Garbach, Kelly; Guillozet, Kathleen; Haden, Van R; Hedao, Prashant; Hollander, Allan D; Huber, Patrick R; Ingersoll, Christina; Langner, Megan; Lipari, Genevieve; Mohammadi, Yaser; Musker, Ruthie; Piatto, Marina; Riggle, Courtney; Schweisguth, Melissa; Sin, Emily; Snider, Sara; Vidic, Nataša; White, Aubrey; Brodt, Sonja; Quinn, James F; Tomich, Thomas P

2015-01-01

Understanding how to source agricultural raw materials sustainably is challenging in today's globalized food system given the variety of issues to be considered and the multitude of suggested indicators for representing these issues. Furthermore, stakeholders in the global food system both impact these issues and are themselves vulnerable to these issues, an important duality that is often implied but not explicitly described. The attention given to these issues and conceptual frameworks varies greatly--depending largely on the stakeholder perspective--as does the set of indicators developed to measure them. To better structure these complex relationships and assess any gaps, we collate a comprehensive list of sustainability issues and a database of sustainability indicators to represent them. To assure a breadth of inclusion, the issues are pulled from the following three perspectives: major global sustainability assessments, sustainability communications from global food companies, and conceptual frameworks of sustainable livelihoods from academic publications. These terms are integrated across perspectives using a common vocabulary, classified by their relevance to impacts and vulnerabilities, and categorized into groups by economic, environmental, physical, human, social, and political characteristics. These issues are then associated with over 2,000 sustainability indicators gathered from existing sources. A gap analysis is then performed to determine if particular issues and issue groups are over or underrepresented. This process results in 44 "integrated" issues--24 impact issues and 36 vulnerability issues--that are composed of 318 "component" issues. The gap analysis shows that although every integrated issue is mentioned at least 40% of the time across perspectives, no issue is mentioned more than 70% of the time. A few issues infrequently mentioned across perspectives also have relatively few indicators available to fully represent them. Issues in the

A Review of Cogent Reflection on the Economic Impact Assessment of Conferences – MICE Tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kumar J.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available MICE tourism has grown into an important economic sector in many places, and it is quite easy to understand the relevancy of estimating the economic impact of business tourists on the local and regional economies. Several industrial and academic researches has mentioned many methods for economic impact studies (direct, indirect and induced impacts of the conference - MICE tourism related events. Of these, the input-output (I-O model and general equilibrium models (REMI and REM II are widely used for the economic impact assessments. The current paper will review economic impact studies in the c conference - MICE tourism related events and then discusses the issues related to the I-O model and general equilibrium models framework

Surgical wound dehiscence: a conceptual framework for patient assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandy-Hodgetts, Kylie; Carville, Keryln; Leslie, Gavin D

2018-03-02

This paper presents a conceptual framework which outlines the risk factors associated with surgical wound dehiscence (SWD) as identified in the literature. The purpose for the development of the conceptual framework was to derive an evidence-based, informed understanding of factors associated with SWD, in order to inform a programme of research on the aetiology and potential risk factors of SWD. Incorporated within the patient-centric conceptual framework are patient related comorbidities, intraoperative and postoperative risk factors related to SWD. These are categorised as either 'mechanical' or 'physiological mechanisms' posited to influence these relationships. The use of the conceptual model for assessment of patients has particular clinical relevance for identification of risk and the management of patients in the pre-, intra- and postoperative period.

Designing ecological climate change impact assessments to reflect key climatic drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sofaer, Helen R; Barsugli, Joseph J; Jarnevich, Catherine S; Abatzoglou, John T; Talbert, Marian K; Miller, Brian W; Morisette, Jeffrey T

2017-07-01

Identifying the climatic drivers of an ecological system is a key step in assessing its vulnerability to climate change. The climatic dimensions to which a species or system is most sensitive - such as means or extremes - can guide methodological decisions for projections of ecological impacts and vulnerabilities. However, scientific workflows for combining climate projections with ecological models have received little explicit attention. We review Global Climate Model (GCM) performance along different dimensions of change and compare frameworks for integrating GCM output into ecological models. In systems sensitive to climatological means, it is straightforward to base ecological impact assessments on mean projected changes from several GCMs. Ecological systems sensitive to climatic extremes may benefit from what we term the 'model space' approach: a comparison of ecological projections based on simulated climate from historical and future time periods. This approach leverages the experimental framework used in climate modeling, in which historical climate simulations serve as controls for future projections. Moreover, it can capture projected changes in the intensity and frequency of climatic extremes, rather than assuming that future means will determine future extremes. Given the recent emphasis on the ecological impacts of climatic extremes, the strategies we describe will be applicable across species and systems. We also highlight practical considerations for the selection of climate models and data products, emphasizing that the spatial resolution of the climate change signal is generally coarser than the grid cell size of downscaled climate model output. Our review illustrates how an understanding of how climate model outputs are derived and downscaled can improve the selection and application of climatic data used in ecological modeling. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Representativeness of environmental impact assessment methods regarding Life Cycle Inventories.

Science.gov (United States)

Esnouf, Antoine; Latrille, Éric; Steyer, Jean-Philippe; Helias, Arnaud

2018-04-15

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) characterises all the exchanges between human driven activities and the environment, thus representing a powerful approach for tackling the environmental impact of a production system. However, LCA practitioners must still choose the appropriate Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method to use and are expected to justify this choice: impacts should be relevant facing the concerns of the study and misrepresentations should be avoided. This work aids practitioners in evaluating the adequacy between the assessed environmental issues and studied production system. Based on a geometrical standpoint of LCA framework, Life Cycle Inventories (LCIs) and LCIA methods were localized in the vector space spanned by elementary flows. A proximity measurement, the Representativeness Index (RI), is proposed to explore the relationship between those datasets (LCIs and LCIA methods) through an angular distance. RIs highlight LCIA methods that measure issues for which the LCI can be particularly harmful. A high RI indicates a close proximity between a LCI and a LCIA method, and highlights a better representation of the elementary flows by the LCIA method. To illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach, representativeness of LCIA methods regarding four electricity mix production LCIs from the ecoinvent database are presented. RIs for 18 LCIA methods (accounting for a total of 232 impact categories) were calculated on these LCIs and the relevance of the methods are discussed. RIs prove to be a criterion for distinguishing the different LCIA methods and could thus be employed by practitioners for deeper interpretations of LCIA results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT PROCESS FRAMEWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikura Yamamoto

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The effective management of technology as a source of competitive advantage is of vital importance for many organizations. It is necessary to understand, communicate and integrate technology strategy with marketing, financial, operations and human resource strategies. This is of particular importance when one considers the increasing cost, pace and complexity of technology developments, combined with shortening product life cycles. A five process model provides a framework within which technology management activities can be understood: identification, selection, acquisition, exploitation and protection. Based on this model, a technology management assessment procedure has been developed, using an ``action research’’ approach. This paper presents an industrial case study describing the first full application of the procedure within a high-volume manufacturing business. The impact of applying the procedure is assessed in terms of benefits to the participating business, together with improvements to the assessment procedure itself, in the context of the action research framework. Keyword: Technology, Strategy, Management, Assessment

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

protect the environment, it is imperative to conduct environmental impact assessment ... Ethiopia enacted the Environmental Impact Assessment Proclamation in 2002 ... flora, fauna, soil, air, water, climate, natural or cultural heritage, other.

Steps toward improving ethical evaluation in health technology assessment: a proposed framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Assasi, Nazila; Tarride, Jean-Eric; O'Reilly, Daria; Schwartz, Lisa

2016-06-06

While evaluation of ethical aspects in health technology assessment (HTA) has gained much attention during the past years, the integration of ethics in HTA practice still presents many challenges. In response to the increasing demand for expansion of health technology assessment (HTA) methodology to include ethical issues more systematically, this article reports on a multi-stage study that aimed at construction of a framework for improving the integration of ethics in HTA. The framework was developed through the following phases: 1) a systematic review and content analysis of guidance documents for ethics in HTA; 2) identification of factors influencing the integration of ethical considerations in HTA; 3) preparation of an action-oriented framework based on the key elements of the existing guidance documents and identified barriers to and facilitators of their implementation; and 4) expert consultation and revision of the framework. The proposed framework consists of three main components: an algorithmic flowchart, which exhibits the different steps of an ethical inquiry throughout the HTA process, including: defining the objectives and scope of the evaluation, stakeholder analysis, assessing organizational capacity, framing ethical evaluation questions, ethical analysis, deliberation, and knowledge translation; a stepwise guide, which focuses on the task objectives and potential questions that are required to be addressed at each step; and a list of some commonly recommended or used tools to help facilitate the evaluation process. The proposed framework can be used to support and promote good practice in integration of ethics into HTA. However, further validation of the framework through case studies and expert consultation is required to establish its utility for HTA practice.

Sustainability assessment of nuclear power: Discourse analysis of IAEA and IPCC frameworks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbruggen, Aviel; Laes, Erik

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Sustainability assessments (SAs) are methodologically precarious. • Discourse analysis reveals how the meaning of sustainability is constructed in SAs. • Discourse analysis is applied on the SAs of nuclear power of IAEA and IPCC. • For IAEA ‘sustainable’ equals ‘complying with best international practices’. • The IAEA framework largely inspires IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. - Abstract: Sustainability assessments (SAs) are methodologically precarious. Value-based judgments inevitably play a role in setting the scope of the SA, selecting assessment criteria and indicators, collecting adequate data, and developing and using models of considered systems. Discourse analysis can reveal how the meaning and operationalization of sustainability is constructed in and through SAs. Our discourse-analytical approach investigates how sustainability is channeled from ‘manifest image’ (broad but shallow), to ‘vision’, to ‘policy targets’ (specific and practical). This approach is applied on the SA frameworks used by IAEA and IPCC to assess the sustainability of the nuclear power option. The essentially problematic conclusion is that both SA frameworks are constructed in order to obtain answers that do not conflict with prior commitments adopted by the two institutes. For IAEA ‘sustainable’ equals ‘complying with best international practices and standards’. IPCC wrestles with its mission as a provider of “policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive” knowledge to decision-makers. IPCC avoids the assessment of different visions on the role of nuclear power in a low-carbon energy future, and skips most literature critical of nuclear power. The IAEA framework largely inspires IPCC AR5

A framework for a european network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Graef, Frieder; Römbke, Jörg; Binimelis, Rosa

2012-01-01

Network for systematic GMO impact assessment (ENSyGMO) with the aim directly to enhance ERA and post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) of GM crops, to harmonize and ultimately secure the long-term socio-political impact of the ERA process and the PMEM in the EU. These goals would be achieved...... effects and use state-of-the art sampling, statistics and modelling approaches. To address public concerns and create confidence in the ENSyGMO results, actors with relevant specialist knowledge from various sectors should be involved....

Frameworks for Assessing Human Influence on Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

AghaKouchak, A.; Mehran, A.; Mazdiyasni, O.; Ashraf, B.

2016-12-01

The water cycle is tightly coupled with water management and human water use behavior. Human activities and water use behavior can intensify the effects of a meteorological drought (a notion referred to as Anthropogenic Drought). In this presentation, we provide a general definition of anthropogenic drought. We then briefly review two different methods for assessing human influence on water availability: (1) a data-driven multivariate approach that links the information on inflow and surface reservoir storage to water demand; (2) A model-based framework that brings a top-down and bottom-up approach to provide localized water assessment based on local available infrastructure and projected water demands. Finally, we will show how the proposed methods can be used for water management scenario analysis (e.g., local water availability based on different human water demands scenarios). This presentation is primarily based on Mehran et al (Mehran A., Mazdiyasni O., AghaKouchak A., 2015, A Hybrid Framework for Assessing Socioeconomic Drought: Linking Climate Variability, Local Resilience, and Demand, Journal of Geophysical Research, 120 (15), 7520-7533, doi: 10.1002/2015JD023147.) and AghaKouchak et al (AghaKouchak A., Feldman D., Hoerling M., Huxman T., Lund J., 2015, Recognize Anthropogenic Drought, Nature, 524 (7566), 409-4011, doi:10.1038/524409a).

A critical review of environmental impact statements in Sri Lanka with particular reference to ecological impact assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Samarakoon, Miriya; Rowan, John S

2008-03-01

This article critically reviews environmental assessment (EA) practices in Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on ecology. An overview is provided of the domestic and international influences which have shaped the administrative process which is currently a two-tiered scheme. An Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) provides a preliminary screening tool, prior to the requirement for a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A comprehensive survey of Sri Lankan national archives showed that 463 EAs were completed in the period 1981-2005, with the bulk of these in the more populated Western and North Western Provinces. Two-thirds were IEE surveys, while the remaining third advanced to full EIA. A representative sample of 130 EAs (both IEEs and full EIAs) spanning a broad range of project types, scales, and environmental settings was selected to evaluate the quality of the ecological investigations within the published environmental impact statements (EISs). These were assigned into five classes of "explanatory power", on the basis of their scientific content in relation to survey, analysis, and reporting of ecological interests. Within most EISs, the ecological impact assessment (EcIA) was restricted to the lowest two categories of ecological assessment, i.e., tokenistic presentation of reconnaissance-level species lists without further analysis of the development implications for individual organisms or communities. None of the assessments reviewed provided statistically rigorous analysis, which would be required if ecological impact studies are to include quantitative and testable predictions of impact, which could then be followed up by appropriate post-impact monitoring programs. Attention to key local issues such as biodiversity or ecosystem services, which also have strong social dimensions in the developing world, was also notably underrepresented. It was thus concluded that despite the existence of a sound legislative framework in Sri Lanka, the analysis

Using causal maps to support ex-post assessment of social impacts of dams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aledo, Antonio; García-Andreu, Hugo; Pinese, José

2015-01-01

- Highlights: • We defend the usefulness of causal maps (CM) for ex-post impact assessment of dams. • Political decisions are presented as unavoidable technical measures. • CM enable the identification of multiple causes involved in the dam impacts. • An alternative management of the dams is shown from the precise tracking of the causes. • Participatory CM better the quality of information and the governance of the research. This paper presents the results of an ex-post assessment of two important dams in Brazil. The study follows the principles of Social Impact Management, which offer a suitable framework for analyzing the complex social transformations triggered by hydroelectric dams. In the implementation of this approach, participative causal maps were used to identify the ex-post social impacts of the Porto Primavera and Rosana dams on the community of Porto Rico, located along the High Paraná River. We found that in the operation of dams there are intermediate causes of a political nature, stemming from decisions based on values and interests not determined by neutral, exclusively technical reasons; and this insight opens up an area of action for managing the negative impacts of dams

Using causal maps to support ex-post assessment of social impacts of dams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aledo, Antonio, E-mail: Antonio.Aledo@ua.es [Departamento de Sociología 1, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante 03080 (Spain); García-Andreu, Hugo, E-mail: Hugo.Andreu@ua.es [Departamento de Sociología 1, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante 03080 (Spain); Pinese, José, E-mail: pinese@uel.br [Centro de Ciências Exatas, UEL, Rodovia Celso Cid, Km 380, Campus Universitário, Londrina, PR 86057-970 (Brazil)

2015-11-15

- Highlights: • We defend the usefulness of causal maps (CM) for ex-post impact assessment of dams. • Political decisions are presented as unavoidable technical measures. • CM enable the identification of multiple causes involved in the dam impacts. • An alternative management of the dams is shown from the precise tracking of the causes. • Participatory CM better the quality of information and the governance of the research. This paper presents the results of an ex-post assessment of two important dams in Brazil. The study follows the principles of Social Impact Management, which offer a suitable framework for analyzing the complex social transformations triggered by hydroelectric dams. In the implementation of this approach, participative causal maps were used to identify the ex-post social impacts of the Porto Primavera and Rosana dams on the community of Porto Rico, located along the High Paraná River. We found that in the operation of dams there are intermediate causes of a political nature, stemming from decisions based on values and interests not determined by neutral, exclusively technical reasons; and this insight opens up an area of action for managing the negative impacts of dams.

Change Agents & Impact Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kørnøv, Lone; Larsen, Sanne Vammen; Hansen, Anne Merrild

2010-01-01

One of the challenges facing impact assessment is finding ways to work in research and practice that allow appropriate action and critical interrogation og action to enable and support sustainable change.......One of the challenges facing impact assessment is finding ways to work in research and practice that allow appropriate action and critical interrogation og action to enable and support sustainable change....

A framework for techno-economic & environmental sustainability analysis by risk assessment for conceptual process evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loureiro da Costa Lira Gargalo, Carina; Sin, Gürkan; Carvalho, Ana

2016-01-01

for techno-economic and environmental sustainability analysis through risk assessment is proposed for the early-stage design and screening of conceptual process alternatives. The alternatives within the design space are analyzed following the framework’s work-flow, which targets the following: (i) quantify...... the economic risk; (ii) perform the monetary valuation of environmental impact categories under uncertainty; (iii) quantify the potential environmental risk; (iv) measure the alternatives’ eco-efficiency identifying possible trade-offs; and, lastly (v) propose a joint risk assessment matrix......The need to achieve a sustainable process performance has become increasingly important in order to keep a competitive advantage in the global markets. Development of comprehensive and systematic methods to accomplish this goal is the subject of this work. To this end, a multi-level framework...

A framework for techno-economic & environmental sustainability analysis by risk assessment for conceptual process evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loureiro da Costa Lira Gargalo, Carina; Sin, Gürkan; Carvalho, Ana

2016-01-01

the economic risk; (ii) perform the monetary valuation of environmental impact categories under uncertainty; (iii) quantify the potential environmental risk; (iv) measure the alternatives’ eco-efficiency identifying possible trade-offs; and, lastly (v) propose a joint risk assessment matrix......The need to achieve a sustainable process performance has become increasingly important in order to keep a competitive advantage in the global markets. Development of comprehensive and systematic methods to accomplish this goal is the subject of this work. To this end, a multi-level framework...... for techno-economic and environmental sustainability analysis through risk assessment is proposed for the early-stage design and screening of conceptual process alternatives. The alternatives within the design space are analyzed following the framework’s work-flow, which targets the following: (i) quantify...

The contribution of health technology assessment, health needs assessment, and health impact assessment to the assessment and translation of technologies in the field of public health genomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenkötter, N; Vondeling, H; Blancquaert, I; Mekel, O C L; Kristensen, F B; Brand, A

2011-01-01

The European Union has named genomics as one of the promising research fields for the development of new health technologies. Major concerns with regard to these fields are, on the one hand, the rather slow and limited translation of new knowledge and, on the other hand, missing insights into the impact on public health and health care practice of those technologies that are actually introduced. This paper aims to give an overview of the major assessment instruments in public health [health technology assessment (HTA), health needs assessment (HNA) and health impact assessment (HIA)] which could contribute to the systematic translation and assessment of genomic health applications by focussing at population level and on public health policy making. It is shown to what extent HTA, HNA and HIA contribute to translational research by using the continuum of translational research (T1-T4) in genomic medicine as an analytic framework. The selected assessment methodologies predominantly cover 2 to 4 phases within the T1-T4 system. HTA delivers the most complete set of methodologies when assessing health applications. HNA can be used to prioritize areas where genomic health applications are needed or to identify infrastructural needs. HIA delivers information on the impact of technologies in a wider scope and promotes informed decision making. HTA, HNA and HIA provide a partly overlapping and partly unique set of methodologies and infrastructure for the translation and assessment of genomic health applications. They are broad in scope and go beyond the continuum of T1-T4 translational research regarding policy translation. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Use of mathematical modelling to assess the impact of vaccines on antibiotic resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkins, Katherine E; Lafferty, Erin I; Deeny, Sarah R; Davies, Nicholas G; Robotham, Julie V; Jit, Mark

2017-11-13

Antibiotic resistance is a major global threat to the provision of safe and effective health care. To control antibiotic resistance, vaccines have been proposed as an essential intervention, complementing improvements in diagnostic testing, antibiotic stewardship, and drug pipelines. The decision to introduce or amend vaccination programmes is routinely based on mathematical modelling. However, few mathematical models address the impact of vaccination on antibiotic resistance. We reviewed the literature using PubMed to identify all studies that used an original mathematical model to quantify the impact of a vaccine on antibiotic resistance transmission within a human population. We reviewed the models from the resulting studies in the context of a new framework to elucidate the pathways through which vaccination might impact antibiotic resistance. We identified eight mathematical modelling studies; the state of the literature highlighted important gaps in our understanding. Notably, studies are limited in the range of pathways represented, their geographical scope, and the vaccine-pathogen combinations assessed. Furthermore, to translate model predictions into public health decision making, more work is needed to understand how model structure and parameterisation affects model predictions and how to embed these predictions within economic frameworks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing excellence in translational cancer research: a consensus based framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajan, Abinaya; Caldas, Carlos; van Luenen, Henri; Saghatchian, Mahasti; van Harten, Wim H

2013-10-29

It takes several years on average to translate basic research findings into clinical research and eventually deliver patient benefits. An expert-based excellence assessment can help improve this process by: identifying high performing Comprehensive Cancer Centres; best practices in translational cancer research; improving the quality and efficiency of the translational cancer research process. This can help build networks of excellent Centres by aiding focused partnerships. In this paper we report on a consensus building exercise that was undertaken to construct an excellence assessment framework for translational cancer research in Europe. We used mixed methods to reach consensus: a systematic review of existing translational research models critically appraised for suitability in performance assessment of Cancer Centres; a survey among European stakeholders (researchers, clinicians, patient representatives and managers) to score a list of potential excellence criteria, a focus group with selected representatives of survey participants to review and rescore the excellence criteria; an expert group meeting to refine the list; an open validation round with stakeholders and a critical review of the emerging framework by an independent body: a committee formed by the European Academy of Cancer Sciences. The resulting excellence assessment framework has 18 criteria categorized in 6 themes. Each criterion has a number of questions/sub-criteria. Stakeholders favoured using qualitative excellence criteria to evaluate the translational research "process" rather than quantitative criteria or judging only the outputs. Examples of criteria include checking if the Centre has mechanisms that can be rated as excellent for: involvement of basic researchers and clinicians in translational research (quality of supervision and incentives provided to clinicians to do a PhD in translational research) and well designed clinical trials based on ground-breaking concepts (innovative

An Analysis of the Most Adopted Rating Systems for Assessing the Environmental Impact of Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Bernardi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Rating systems for assessing the environmental impact of buildings are technical instruments that aim to evaluate the environmental impact of buildings and construction projects. In some cases, these rating systems can also cover urban-scale projects, community projects, and infrastructures. These schemes are designed to assist project management in making the projects more sustainable by providing frameworks with precise criteria for assessing the various aspects of a building’s environmental impact. Given the growing interest in sustainable development worldwide, many rating systems for assessing the environmental impact of buildings have been established in recent years, each one with its peculiarities and fields of applicability. The present work is motivated by an interest in emphasizing such differences to better understand these rating systems and extract the main implications to building design. It also attempts to summarize in a user-friendly form the vast and fragmented assortment of information that is available today. The analysis focuses on the six main rating systems: the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM, the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB, the Haute Qualité Environnementale (HQETM, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, and the Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool.

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Southern Rocky Mountain Basins: Chapter M in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources

Science.gov (United States)

Merrill, Matthew D.; Drake, Ronald M.; Buursink, Marc L.; Craddock, William H.; East, Joseph A.; Slucher, Ernie R.; Warwick, Peter D.; Brennan, Sean T.; Blondes, Madalyn S.; Freeman, Philip A.; Cahan, Steven M.; DeVera, Christina A.; Lohr, Celeste D.; Warwick, Peter D.; Corum, Margo D.

2016-06-02

The U.S. Geological Survey has completed an assessment of the potential geologic carbon dioxide storage resources in the onshore areas of the United States. To provide geological context and input data sources for the resources numbers, framework documents are being prepared for all areas that were investigated as part of the national assessment. This report, chapter M, is the geologic framework document for the Uinta and Piceance, San Juan, Paradox, Raton, Eastern Great, and Black Mesa Basins, and subbasins therein of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. In addition to a summary of the geology and petroleum resources of studied basins, the individual storage assessment units (SAUs) within the basins are described and explanations for their selection are presented. Although appendixes in the national assessment publications include the input values used to calculate the available storage resource, this framework document provides only the context and source of the input values selected by the assessment geologists. Spatial-data files of the boundaries for the SAUs, and the well-penetration density of known well bores that penetrate the SAU seal, are available for download with the release of this report.

Review of PSR framework and development of a DPSIR model to assess greenhouse effect in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Hui-Fen; Kuo, Jeff; Lo, Shang-Lien

2011-06-01

In dealing with the complex issues of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and climate change mitigation, many interrelated factors such as cost, level of technology development, supply and demand of energy, structure of industry, and expenditures on research and development exist. Using indicators to monitor environmental impacts and evaluate the efficacies of policies and regulations has been practiced for a long time, and it can serve as a useful tool for decision making and for comparison between different countries. Although numerous indicators have been developed for relevant subjects, integrated approaches that consider individual changes, dynamic interaction, and multi-dimensions of indicators are scarce. This paper aimed to develop a Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to assess the problems. This DPSIR model is mainly related to energy consumption, environmental impacts, and policy responses. The objectives of the paper were: (1) conduct a literature review on the indicators that have been used in GHG-related studies; (2) develop a DPSIR model that incorporates GHG-related indicators and evaluate their relationships using a cause-effect chain of GHG emission; and (3) develop a calculative method that can be used to explain the dynamic correlation among the interdependent indicators. Taiwan is a significant source of global GHG emissions. A case study, using the developed framework and Taiwan's actual data of the past two decades, was conducted. The results indicate that regulatory strategies for pollution control are inadequate in terms of ensuring environmental quality, and the nature does not have the capability to revert the impacts from the existing level of pollution.

Assessing the economic benefits of vaccines based on the health investment life course framework: a review of a broader approach to evaluate malaria vaccination.

Science.gov (United States)

Constenla, Dagna

2015-03-24

Economic evaluations have routinely understated the net benefits of vaccination by not including the full range of economic benefits that accrue over the lifetime of a vaccinated person. Broader approaches for evaluating benefits of vaccination can be used to more accurately calculate the value of vaccination. This paper reflects on the methodology of one such approach - the health investment life course approach - that looks at the impact of vaccine investment on lifetime returns. The role of this approach on vaccine decision-making will be assessed using the malaria health investment life course model example. We describe a framework that measures the impact of a health policy decision on government accounts over many generations. The methodological issues emerging from this approach are illustrated with an example from a recently completed health investment life course analysis of malaria vaccination in Ghana. Beyond the results, various conceptual and practical challenges of applying this framework to Ghana are discussed in this paper. The current framework seeks to understand how disease and available technologies can impact a range of economic parameters such as labour force participation, education, healthcare consumption, productivity, wages or economic growth, and taxation following their introduction. The framework is unique amongst previous economic models in malaria because it considers future tax revenue for governments. The framework is complementary to cost-effectiveness and budget impact analysis. The intent of this paper is to stimulate discussion on how existing and new methodology can add to knowledge regarding the benefits from investing in new and underutilized vaccines. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing Information Security Strategies, Tactics, Logic and Framework

CERN Document Server

Vladimirov, Andrew; Michajlowski, Andriej

2010-01-01

This book deals with the philosophy, strategy and tactics of soliciting, managing and conducting information security audits of all flavours. It will give readers the founding principles around information security assessments and why they are important, whilst providing a fluid framework for developing an astute 'information security mind' capable of rapid adaptation to evolving technologies, markets, regulations, and laws.

Vulnerability assessment of atmospheric environment driven by human impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yang; Shen, Jing; Ding, Feng; Li, Yu; He, Li

2016-11-15

Atmospheric environment quality worsening is a substantial threat to public health worldwide, and in many places, air pollution due to the intensification of the human activity is increasing dramatically. However, no studies have been investigated the integration of vulnerability assessment and atmospheric environment driven by human impacts. The objective of this study was to identify and prioritize the undesirable environmental changes as an early warning system for environment managers and decision makers in term of human, atmospheric environment, and social economic elements. We conduct a vulnerability assessment method of atmospheric environment associated with human impact, this method integrates spatial context of Geographic Information System (GIS) tool, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators under the Exposure-Sensitivity- Adaptive Capacity (ESA) framework. Decision makers can find out relevant vulnerability assessment results with different vulnerable attitudes. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, China, we further applied this developed method and proved it to be reliable and consistent with the China Environmental Status Bulletin. Results indicate that the vulnerability of atmospheric environment in the BTH region is not optimistic, and environment managers should do more about air pollution. Thus, the most appropriate strategic decision and development program of city or state can be picked out assisting by the vulnerable results. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a practical modeling framework for estimating the impact of wind technology on bird populations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morrison, M.L. [California State Univ., Sacramento, CA (United States); Pollock, K.H. [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)

1997-11-01

One of the most pressing environmental concerns related to wind project development is the potential for avian fatalities caused by the turbines. The goal of this project is to develop a useful, practical modeling framework for evaluating potential wind power plant impacts that can be generalized to most bird species. This modeling framework could be used to get a preliminary understanding of the likelihood of significant impacts to birds, in a cost-effective way. The authors accomplish this by (1) reviewing the major factors that can influence the persistence of a wild population; (2) briefly reviewing various models that can aid in estimating population status and trend, including methods of evaluating model structure and performance; (3) reviewing survivorship and population projections; and (4) developing a framework for using models to evaluate the potential impacts of wind development on birds.

Development of a practical modeling framework for estimating the impact of wind technology on bird populations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, M.L.; Pollock, K.H.

1997-11-01