Municipal Solid Waste Characterization according to Different Income Levels: A Case Study

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Huseyin Kurtulus Ozcan

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Solid waste generation and characterization are some of the most important parameters which affect environmental sustainability. Municipal solid waste (MSW characterization depends on social structure and income levels. This study aims to determine the variations in waste components within MSW mass by income levels and seasonal conditions following the analysis conducted on the characterization of solid wastes produced in the Kartal district of the province of Istanbul, which is the research area of this study. To this end, 1.9 tons of solid waste samples were collected to represent four different lifestyles (high, medium, and low income levels, and downtown in the winter and summer periods, and characterization was made on these samples. In order to support waste characterization, humidity content and calorific value analyses were also conducted and various suggestions were brought towards waste management in line with the obtained findings. According to the results obtained in the study, organic waste had the highest rate of waste mass by 57.69%. Additionally, significant differences were found in municipal solid waste components (MSWC based on income level. Average moisture content (MC of solid waste samples was 71.1% in moisture analyses. The average of calorific (heating value (HHV was calculated as 2518.5 kcal·kg−1.

Prevalence of antibiotic prescription in southern Italian outpatients: real-world data analysis of socioeconomic and sociodemographic variables at a municipality level.

Science.gov (United States)

Russo, Veronica; Monetti, Valeria Marina; Guerriero, Francesca; Trama, Ugo; Guida, Antonella; Menditto, Enrica; Orlando, Valentina

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the geographic variation in systemic antibiotic prescription at a regional level and to explore the influence of socioeconomic and sociodemographic variables. This study was a retrospective analysis of reimbursement pharmacy records in the outpatient settings of Italy's Campania Region in 2016. Standardized antibiotic prescription rates were calculated at municipality and Local Health Unit (LHU) level. Antibiotic consumption was analyzed as defined daily doses (DDD)/1000 inhabitants per day (DID). Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between antibiotic prescription and sociodemographic and socioeconomic determinants at a municipality level. The average antibiotic prevalence rate was 46.8%. At LHU level, the age-adjusted prevalence rates ranged from 41.1% in Benevento to 51.0% in Naples2. Significant differences were found among municipalities, from 15.2% in Omignano (Salerno LHU [Sa-LHU]) to 61.9% in Moschiano (Avellino [Av-LHU]). The geographic distribution also showed significant differences in terms of antibiotic consumption, from 6.7 DID in Omignano to 41.6 in San Marcelino (Caserta [Ce-LHU]). Logistic regression showed that both municipality type and average annual income level were the main determinants of antibiotic prescription. Urban municipalities were more than eight times as likely to have antibiotic high prevalence rates compared to rural municipalities (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 8.62; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.06-18.30, P <0.001). Low average annual income level municipalities were more than eight times as likely to have antibiotic high prevalence rates compared to high average annual income level municipalities (adjusted OR: 8.48; 95% CI: 3.45-20.81, P <0.001). We provide a snapshot of Campania's antibiotic consumption, evidencing the impact of both socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors on the prevalence of antibiotic prescription. The observed intraregional variability

Transparency of the municipal public management: a study from the homepages of the large Brazilian municipalities

OpenAIRE

Cruz, Cláudia Ferreira; Ferreira, Aracéli Cristina de Sousa; Silva, Lino Martins da; Macedo, Marcelo Álvaro da Silva

2012-01-01

This study attempts to check the transparency level of information in public administration published in the homepages of 96 municipalities included among the 100 most populous in Brazil and what characteristics and socioeconomic indicators of the municipalities can contribute to explain the level of transparency observed. The level of transparency in public administration was established from a research model called Transparency Index Municipal Public Management (ITGP-M) constructed based on...

On the (In)Consistency of Citizen and Municipal Level Indicators of Social Capital and Local Government Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kampen, Jarl K

2010-06-01

We study the empirical consistency of survey based (micro level) indicators of social capital and local government performance on the one, and municipality based (aggregate level) measures of these two concepts on the other hand. Knowledge about the behavior of these indicators is helpful for evaluating the value of studies carried out in isolated contexts, that is, with access to data on either, but not both, levels. The method is by comparing data collected by Statistics Belgium on Flemish municipalities, to data collected at citizen level by means of a face-to-face survey. The available evidence supplies at best a meager basis for presupposing a shared component of the indicators under study.

An inexact two-stage stochastic energy systems planning model for managing greenhouse gas emission at a municipal level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Q.G.; Huang, G.H.

2010-01-01

Energy management systems are highly complicated with greenhouse-gas emission reduction issues and a variety of social, economic, political, environmental and technical factors. To address such complexities, municipal energy systems planning models are desired as they can take account of these factors and their interactions within municipal energy management systems. This research is to develop an interval-parameter two-stage stochastic municipal energy systems planning model (ITS-MEM) for supporting decisions of energy systems planning and GHG (greenhouse gases) emission management at a municipal level. ITS-MEM is then applied to a case study. The results indicated that the developed model was capable of supporting municipal energy systems planning and environmental management under uncertainty. Solutions of ITS-MEM would provide an effective linkage between the pre-regulated environmental policies (GHG-emission reduction targets) and the associated economic implications (GHG-emission credit trading).

Digital Governance (in Romanian Municipalities. A Longitudinal Assessment of Municipal Web Sites in Romania

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Catalin Vrabie

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This article presents a comparative cross-country study in order to know the level of web services implementation at the municipality level (what are the public services that municipalities offer to their citizens using the electronic platforms. We’ve accessed each municipality web portal from Romania (103 in total and using a defined scale; and rated every one very strictly. Most of the elements used in this research are taken from previous studies, adapted afterwards to take in relevant values for my country. Although there are numerous Romanian initiatives of connecting to the Internet even smaller communities, like small towns or even communes, we have chosen the municipalities due to the positive relation between the number of inhabitants and the capacity to e-Government of the local public administration. All of the 103 Romanian municipalities have been analysed and the results obtained will be presented on each class (there are 5 different classes – e-doc, transparency, etc., but also by the final results.

[The Italian deprivation index at census block level: definition, description and association with general mortality].

Science.gov (United States)

Caranci, Nicola; Biggeri, Annibale; Grisotto, Laura; Pacelli, Barbara; Spadea, Teresa; Costa, Giuseppe

2010-01-01

the study is aimed at developing a nationwide deprivation index at municipality and census block level, based on the 2001 Census data, and meeting epidemiological needs. The study uses data drawn from the 2001 General Census of Population and Housing. From the 280 variables defined at census block level (352,605 census tracts with average number of inhabitants 169, standard deviation 225; and average area 0.6 km², sd 2.4 km²) five traits that operationally combine to represent the multidimensionality of the social and material deprivation concept have been selected; these are: low level of education, unemployment, non-home ownership, one parent family and overcrowding. The index is calculated by summing standardized indicators and it is also available as categorical by quintiles of population. The same procedure is applied to aggregate frequency data at municipality level. The correlation between mortality and deprivation has been evaluated using 2000-2004 general mortality. considering national data, a strong north-south gradient in deprivation was observed. The municipality deprivation index 2001 is highly correlated to the index likewise calculated on the basis of the previous 1991 Census (r=0.91). General mortality was positively correlated to the index (in particular in population up to 64 years and in larger size municipalities). the pattern described by the deprivation index was coherent with what is already known about geographic distribution of poverty and its impact on mortality. Such outcome bears out the index use for epidemiological purposes.

Municipal consultation key to understanding haul road maintenance agreements for Saskatchewan rural municipalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leibel, R.E.A.

1998-01-01

Current municipal perspectives regarding the oil and gas industry in Saskatchewan were described. Municipal jurisdiction and authority regarding road development and heavy haul road maintenance agreements were defined. Based on actual work experience, collaborative working relationships between the oil and gas industry and the municipal sector is well worth some industry time and effort since it will result in cost savings for the industry. In general, rural municipalities receive very limited tax benefits to recapture the costs of road reconstruction and maintenance caused by heavy industry traffic. Road servicing costs can be recaptured only if companies respect the weight limits, hauling regulations and road bans. On the whole, municipalities in Saskatchewan are favourably disposed towards the oil and gas industry, and have done well in the past to accommodate industry's needs. It is not unreasonable therefore to expect that industry show sensitivity to the impact of its activities on the local municipality, and does its level best to be on good terms with the municipalities through early two-way communication. Text of some relevant acts of the Legislature respecting the powers and authorities of rural municipalities are appended

Identifying Green Infrastructure as a Basis for an Incentive Mechanism at the Municipality Level in Biscay (Basque Country

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Gloria Rodríguez-Loinaz

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The contributions of green infrastructure (GI to human well-being have been widely recognised; however, pathways for its systematic implementation are missing. Local governments can play a crucial role in the conservation of GI, and a formal recognition of this role in budgeting systems would foster the inclusion of GI in their agenda. The aim of this study is to identify the principal components of GI at the local level to form a basis for a compensatory economic scheme. We identified the principal components of GI based on the mapping of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision. Furthermore, we analysed the potentiality of an incentive mechanism to promote GI based on the protection status of GI. Finally, an incentive mechanism to promote GI at the municipality level was proposed. The results showed that the GI of Biscay is mainly composed of the natural forests presented in the area, and that 50% of the principal components of the GI are not protected. Furthermore, one third of the protected principal components of the GI only has protection at the municipality level. So, we propose a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES-like scheme at the municipality level based on the cover of natural forests, where the objective is the conservation and promotion of the GI.

On the (in)consistency of citizen and municipal level indicators of social capital and local government performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kampen, J.K.

2010-01-01

We study the empirical consistency of survey based (micro level) indicators of social capital and local government performance on the one, and municipality based (aggregate level) measures of these two concepts on the other hand. Knowledge about the behavior of these indicators is helpful for

EVALUATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE LEVELS IN ABUJA MUNICIPALITY USING MOBILE PHONES.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibekwe, T; Folorunso, D; Ebuta, A; Amodu, J; Nwegbu, M; Mairami, Z; Liman, I; Okebaram, C; Chimdi, C; Durogbola, B; Suleiman, H; Mamven, H; Baamlong, N; Dahilo, E; Gbujie, I; Ibekwe, P; Nwaorgu, O

2016-12-01

Noise remains a nuisance which impacts negatively on the physical, social and psychological wellbeing of man. It aggravates chronic illnesses like hypertension and other cardiopulmonary diseases. Unfortunately, increased activities from industrialization and technological transfers/drifts have tumultuously led to increased noise pollution in most of our fast growing cities today and hence the need for concerted efforts in monitoring and regulating our environmental noise. To assess the equivalent noise level (Leq) in Abuja municipality and promote a simple method for regular assessment of Leq within our environment. This is a cross-sectional community based study of the environmental Leq of Abuja municipality conducted between January 2014 and January 2016. The city was divided into 12 segments including residential, business and market areas via the Abuja Geographic Information System. The major markets were captured separately on a different scale. Measurements were taken with the mobile phone softwares having validated this with Extech 407730 digital sound level meter, serial no Z310135 . Leq(A) were measured at different points and hours of the day and night. The average Leq(A) were classified according to localities and compared with WHO standard safety levels. LeqD ranged 71-92dB(A); 42-79dB(A) and 69-90dB(A) in business/ parks, residential and market places respectively. The Night measurements were similar 18dB(A)-56dB(A) and the day-night Leq(A)=77.2dB(A) and 90.4dB(A) for residential and business zones. The night noise levels are satisfactory but the day and day-night levels are above the recommended tolerable values by WHO and therefore urgently call for awareness and legislative regulations.

Waste Management Policy in Tourism Area of Saensuk Municipality, Thailand

OpenAIRE

Wijaya, Andy Fefta; Kaewmanee, Pongsathon

2014-01-01

Saensuk Municipality is a famous tourism city in Thailand, especially Bangsaen beach. In supporting the tourism activity, it has waste managing method by using new generation administrator and technologies. However, the waste problem happened in Saensuk Municipality is included the human resource ability, technical facility, and the amount of waste. By using the qualitative descriptive method and doing a series of interview to selected informants, the researcher studied and analyzed the probl...

Social Capital, Well-Being and Municipality: Salaspils Municipality (Latvia Case

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Jēkabsone Inga

2016-06-01

Full Text Available During the last three decades, social capital has gained prominence throughout the social sciences. The concepts has been analysed in various manners (from perspectives of economics, political sciences, sociology, anthropology etc. providing wide range of theoretical conceptualizations. The aim of paper is to analyse the relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens using co-responsibility approach. In order to achieve the aim, the tasks are formulated as follows: 1 to review theoretical background for concept of social capital and subjective well-being, 2 to analyse the factors of social capital at local level, and 3 to use the results of conducted empirical research at Salaspils municipality in analysing the correlation of level of social capital and possibility to improve well-being implementing inclusive local management. Research methods used: Scientific literature studies, several stages of focus group discussions, statistical data analysis, SPIRAL methodology, scenario method. The main findings of the paper - there are evidences on relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens. In municipalities with sufficient level of social capital are good opportunities to use participatory techniques for achieving higher level of overall well-being. The paper consists of practical value how to mobilise the social capital of the municipality in order to ensure the inclusive management of the territory.

Translation of a High-Level Temporal Model into Lower Level Models: Impact of Modelling at Different Description Levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kraft, Peter; Sørensen, Jens Otto

2001-01-01

The paper attempts theoretically to clarify the interrelation between various levels of descriptions used in the modelling and the programming of information systems. We suggest an analysis where we characterise the description levels with respect to how precisely they may handle information abou...... and other textual models. We also consider the aptness of models that include procedural mechanisms such as active and object databases...

Local democracy in large municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thuesen, Annette Aagaard

2017-01-01

Municipal amalgamations in Denmark in 2007 led to concern for local rural democracy, as the number of politicians from rural areas dropped after the reform. To preserve rural democracy, local councils at the village level were established in some municipalities, and they have begun to prepare local...

The Size of Local Government Administration at a Municipal Level as a Determinant of Entrepreneurship

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Rusłan Harasym

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This artcle’s aim is to examine a dependency between local government administraton at a municipal level and the level of local entrepreneurship. This paper atempts to answer the queston of whether the size of the local government administraton has features of stmulant or de-stmulant in the process of setng up a business. In other words, does the size of public administraton at a local level (municipal level have a positve or negatve impact on creatng new business enttes? This is important due to at least a couple of reasons. First of all, the current research achievements are not extensive, when it comes to the publicatons that link entrepreneurship and the size of local government administraton. Secondly, the problem of entrepreneurship determinants consttutes stll topical and not fully investgated (or explained aspects of local economy development. Thirdly and fnally, the authors of this artcle have proposed and copyrighted an approach to the quantfcaton of the size of local government administraton, modifying commonly used measures of local public administraton. Thus, this artcle fts not only into the explanaton of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and its determinants, but also contributes to the development of knowledge about dependencies between the size of local selfgovernment and the entrepreneurship level. It expands the knowledge resource on analyzed dependencies and re-orients current approaches to similar research.

Weight Constrained DEA Measurement of the Quality of Life in Spanish Municipalities in 2011.

Science.gov (United States)

González, Eduardo; Cárcaba, Ana; Ventura, Juan

2018-01-01

This paper measures quality of life (QoL) in the 393 largest Spanish municipalities in 2011. We follow recent descriptions of QoL dimensions to propose an integrated framework composed of eight dimensions: material living conditions, health, education, environment, economic and physical safety, governance and political voice, social interaction, and personal activities. Using different sources of information we construct 16 indicators, two per each of the QoL dimensions considered. Weight constrained data envelopment analysis (DEA) is then used to estimate a composite indicator of the QoL of each municipality. Robustness is checked by altering the weight ranges introduced within the DEA specification. Results show that the Northern and Central regions in Spain attain the highest levels of QoL, while the Southern and Mediterranean regions report lower scores. These figures are consistent with those obtained by González et al. ( Soc Ind Res 82:111-145 2011) for the Spanish municipalities in 2001, although both the sample and the indicators used are different. The analysis also shows that, while it is important to restrict weights in DEA, the specific restrictions used are less important, since all the composite indicators computed are highly correlated. The results also show important differences between per capita gross domestic product and QoL at the provincial level.

Energy utilization: municipal waste incineration. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

LaBeck, M.F.

1981-03-27

An assessment is made of the technical and economical feasibility of converting municipal waste into useful and useable energy. The concept presented involves retrofitting an existing municipal incinerator with the systems and equipment necessary to produce process steam and electric power. The concept is economically attractive since the cost of necessary waste heat recovery equipment is usually a comparatively small percentage of the cost of the original incinerator installation. Technical data obtained from presently operating incinerators designed specifically for generating energy, documents the technical feasibility and stipulates certain design constraints. The investigation includes a cost summary; description of process and facilities; conceptual design; economic analysis; derivation of costs; itemized estimated costs; design and construction schedule; and some drawings.

SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL FOOD SECURITY OBSERVATORY: ANALYSIS OF FOOD PRODUCTION INDICATORS AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL IN RIO GRANDE DO SUL

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Angélica Cristina da Siqueira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Since the 1990, the theme of Human Rights and Food Security (FS has been developed in Brazil, culminating in the construction of the National Policy and Plan of Food Security (PNSAN Observatório Socioambiental em Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional: análise dos indicadores... Redes (St. Cruz Sul, Online, v. 21, nº 2, p. 49 - 62, maio/ago. 2016 50 and PLANSAN 2012/2015. The PLANSAN proposes sixty indicators divided into seven dimensions, which are clearly related to the Millennium Development Goals. In order to operationalize these indicators in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS, the Socio-Environmental Food Security Observatory of Rio Grande do Sul (OBSSAN-RS was created in partnership with the State Council for Nutrition and Food Security (CONSEA-RS and the Informatics Department of UFRGS. In this context, the aim of this paper is to present the analysis of indicators of Dimension I (Food Production of the OBSSAN-RS at municipal level, discussing the importance of this tool for monitoring the establishment of the Human Right to Adequate Food (DHAA. The data available to the municipal level were compared with the indicators suggested by PLANSAN. It was observed that although contemplate important information for understanding the context of food production in the municipalities of the state, the proposed indicators have not reached entirely the requirements to monitoring the SAN in this territorial level, so adapting it is necessary to rating the state of SAN in municipalities of the RS.

Translation of a High-Level Temporal Model into Lower Level Models: Impact of Modelling at Different Description Levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kraft, Peter; Sørensen, Jens Otto

2001-01-01

given types of properties, and examine how descriptions on higher levels translate into descriptions on lower levels. Our example looks at temporal properties where the information is concerned with the existence in time. In a high level temporal model with information kept in a three-dimensional space...... the existences in time can be mapped precisely and consistently securing a consistent handling of the temporal properties. We translate the high level temporal model into an entity-relationship model, with the information in a two-dimensional graph, and finally we look at the translations into relational...... and other textual models. We also consider the aptness of models that include procedural mechanisms such as active and object databases...

AutoBD: Automated Bi-Level Description for Scalable Fine-Grained Visual Categorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Hantao; Zhang, Shiliang; Yan, Chenggang; Zhang, Yongdong; Li, Jintao; Tian, Qi

Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic. However, most of them are heavily dependent on the artificial annotations, e.g., bounding boxes, part annotations, and so on . The requirement of artificial annotations largely hinders the scalability and application. Motivated to release such dependence, this paper proposes a robust and discriminative visual description named Automated Bi-level Description (AutoBD). "Bi-level" denotes two complementary part-level and object-level visual descriptions, respectively. AutoBD is "automated," because it only requires the image-level labels of training images and does not need any annotations for testing images. Compared with the part annotations labeled by the human, the image-level labels can be easily acquired, which thus makes AutoBD suitable for large-scale visual categorization. Specifically, the part-level description is extracted by identifying the local region saliently representing the visual distinctiveness. The object-level description is extracted from object bounding boxes generated with a co-localization algorithm. Although only using the image-level labels, AutoBD outperforms the recent studies on two public benchmark, i.e. , classification accuracy achieves 81.6% on CUB-200-2011 and 88.9% on Car-196, respectively. On the large-scale Birdsnap data set, AutoBD achieves the accuracy of 68%, which is currently the best performance to the best of our knowledge.Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic

Complete decay of radionuclides: Implications for low-level waste disposal in municipal landfills

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meck, R.A.

1996-01-01

The time required for the complete decay of a radioactive source can be quantified by specifying an acceptable probability and using an original derivation. The physical phenomenon of complete decay may be used as the technical basis to change regulations and permit, with public acceptance, the inexpensive disposal of short half-lived radioactive waste into municipal landfills. Current regulations require isolation of trash form the biosphere for 30 years during the post-closure control period for municipal landfills. Thirty years is sufficient time for complete decay of significant quantities of short-lived radionuclides, and there is a large decay capacity in the nation's landfills. As the major generators of low-level radioactive waste with relatively short half-lives, the academic, medical, and research communities likely would benefit most from such regulatory relief. Disposal of such waste is prohibited or costly. The waste must be specially packaged, stored, transported, and disposed in designated repositories. Regulatory relief can be initiated by citizens since the Administrative Procedures Act gives citizens the right to petition for regulatory change. 10 refs., 2 tabs

FINANCIAL CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR COLLECTING BODY OF A MUNICIPAL TAX

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Ernesto Rodríguez

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This article's main purpose is to propose fiscal control strategies for tax collection in a Hall of Carabobo state, taking into account the responsibility of municipal governments within its governance process to provide optimal services to citizens the municipality, in order to improve their quality of life. This research focused on the modality of feasible project and descriptive. The population under study consisted of 10 staff of the institution, applying a survey as a tool for information gathering, allowing coding, tabulating and analyzing the results. The findings established that the institution is presenting negatives in tax revenue of the municipality, which generates large arrears and tax evasion by citizens, hence leading to the importance of design strategies that lead to minimize this situation.

Need for strengthened focus on cancer rehabilitation in Danish municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Maria; Adamsen, Lis; Kjær Brinkmann, Fie

2015-01-01

by “stop smoking” courses, dietary advice, physical training guidance, patient education and individual physical training. Inequality in referral by ethnicity, age and gender was reported.Challenges encountered included low patient numbers, inadequate collaboration within and across sectors and lack......Introduction: Danish municipalities have recently been given a mandate to organise cancer rehabilitation services.Knowledge is therefore needed about the services providedand their utilisation. The aim of this national Danish baseline survey was to explore the availability, utilisation, content...... and organisation of municipal cancer rehabilitation services. Methods: Electronic questionnaires were sent to all 98 Danish municipalities in January 2013. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics and contents analysis were used. Results: A total of 91...

Need for strengthened focus on cancer rehabilitation in Danish municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Maria; Adamsen, Lis; Brinkmann, Fie Kjær

2015-01-01

by "stop smoking" courses, dietary advice, physical training guidance, patient education and individual physical training. Inequality in referral by ethnicity, age and gender was reported. Challenges encountered included low patient numbers, inadequate collaboration within and across sectors and lack......INTRODUCTION: Danish municipalities have recently been given a mandate to organise cancer rehabilitation services. Knowledge is therefore needed about the services provided and their utilisation. The aim of this national Danish baseline survey was to explore the availability, utilisation, content...... and organisation of municipal cancer rehabilitation services. METHODS: Electronic questionnaires were sent to all 98 Danish municipalities in January 2013. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics and contents analysis were used. RESULTS: A total of 91...

Municipal opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cousens, D.; Chuddy, B.; Gleeson, A.; Leckie, D.; Wahl, K.; McGarry, D.

1997-01-01

The panel discussing market opportunities for municipal electric companies was moderated by Markham Mayor Don Cousens. He expressed himself in favour of deregulation and was optimistic about the benefits it will bring to municipal electric utilities and their customers. Barry Chuddy, General Manager of Business Development for TransAlta Energy discussed the advantages of recent cogeneration and district energy for municipal utilities in Ontario and Quebec, and expressed his support for incentive-based regulation based on a level playing field, competitive generation, and a reasonable charge for stranded assets. Toronto City Councillor Dan Leckie described cogeneration and district energy as a tremendous opportunity to reduce the cost of doing business in the city core through local job creation and by keeping money in the local economy. Karl Wahl, General Manager of Hydro Mississauga expressed optimism that the government will move expeditiously toward competition, choice and lower-cost supply. David McGarry, President of Elecsar Engineering of Sarnia spoke about the significant job creating potential that deregulation will bring to the electrical industry. He cited several examples from Ontario and British Columbia

DEPENDENCE OF THE MUNICIPALITIES OF MINAS GERAIS IN RELATION TO FPM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wellington de Oliveira Massardi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This research sought to demonstrate the level of dependence of Minas Gerais municipalities on the Municipalities Participation Fund (FPM. To achieve this goal we demonstrated the representativeness of FPM in the financing structure of municipalities, measured by dividing the revenue from FPM and the municipal current revenue. It was found that the level of dependence of the vast majority of municipalities is higher than 50%, ie, the FPM resources represent the main source of municipal funding, especially for those with less than 20,000 inhabitants. Regarding geographical location, it was found that the regions of Zona da Mata and Vale do Rio Doce have the highest concentration of municipalities that have high dependence on FPM. The average population in these municipalities is 3,202 inhabitants, which leads to the conclusion that the dependence of FPM is directly related to the size of the municipality.

Municipalities' Preparedness for Weather Hazards and Response to Weather Warnings.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehiriz, Kaddour; Gosselin, Pierre

2016-01-01

The study of the management of weather-related disaster risks by municipalities has attracted little attention even though these organizations play a key role in protecting the population from extreme meteorological conditions. This article contributes to filling this gap with new evidence on the level and determinants of Quebec municipalities' preparedness for weather hazards and response to related weather warnings. Using survey data from municipal emergency management coordinators and secondary data on the financial and demographic characteristics of municipalities, the study shows that most Quebec municipalities are sufficiently prepared for weather hazards and undertake measures to protect the population when informed of imminent extreme weather events. Significant differences between municipalities were noted though. Specifically, the level of preparedness was positively correlated with the municipalities' capacity and population support for weather-related disaster management policies. In addition, the risk of weather-related disasters increases the preparedness level through its effect on population support. We also found that the response to weather warnings depended on the risk of weather-related disasters, the preparedness level and the quality of weather warnings. These results highlight areas for improvement in the context of increasing frequency and/or severity of such events with current climate change.

Possibilities of municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash utilisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, Silvie; Koval, Lukáš; Škrobánková, Hana; Matýsek, Dalibor; Winter, Franz; Purgar, Amon

2015-08-01

Properties of the waste treatment residual fly ash generated from municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash were investigated in this study. Six different mortar blends with the addition of the municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash were evaluated. The Portland cement replacement levels of the municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash used were 25%, 30% and 50%. Both, raw and washed municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash samples were examined. According to the mineralogical composition measurements, a 22.6% increase in the pozzolanic/hydraulic properties was observed for the washed municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash sample. The maximum replacement level of 25% for the washed municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash in mortar blends was established in order to preserve the compressive strength properties. Moreover, the leaching characteristics of the crushed mortar blend was analysed in order to examine the immobilisation of its hazardous contents. © The Author(s) 2015.

Serum PCDDs/Fs levels for the residents living in the vicinity and workers of the municipal incinerators in Seoul, Korea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, J.; Shin, D. [Inst. for environmental Research, Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Korea); Lim, Y. [Dept. of Environmental Health, Seonam Univ., Namwon (Korea); Chang, Y. [School of Environmental Engineering, Pohang Univ., Pohang (Korea)

2004-09-15

PCDDs and PCDFs are detected routinely, as they are widely distributed in the environment and accumulate in the food chain. Moreover, because human beings are at the top of food chain, a relatively high level of these compounds can be found in human adipose tissues, blood lipids, and breast milk fat. In Korea, the number of municipal and hazardous waste incinerators have increased since 1980. In addition, municipal waste incinerators are almost always located in residential areas. Therefore, the human health risks caused by dioxin is become an increasing public concern in Korea. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of PCDDs/PCDFs in blood from individuals living in the vicinity area of the municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI), and to compare PCDDs/PCDFs levels in blood for residents living near the MSWI, workers at the MSWI and general population living in the urban area not including the MSWI. Analysis of the results was made in terms of sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex, smoking habit, food consumption patters, and proximity to the MSWI.

Implementation of health impact assessment in Danish municipal context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kraemer, Stella R. J.; Nikolajsen, Louise Theilgaard; Gulis, Gabriel

2014-01-01

. Conclusions: Systematic and sustainable capacity building is needed to achieve high level implementation of HIA in Danish municipalities. Development of validated tools, most importantly screening tools with focus on priorities of national public health policy would enhance implementation on municipal level.......Aims: Implementation of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Danish municipalities has been analyzed using the Roger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Municipalities were chosen from among those who presented their health policies on websites according to the status of inclusion of HIA into health...... policy. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted in 6 municipalities (3 with HIA inducted in their health policy and 3 without it) gathering information on knowledge and attitudes to HIA, barriers to its implementation, social system and communication channels used or expected to be used...

Determination of sports health belief levels of individuals who do sports for recreational purposes

OpenAIRE

VURAL, Mustafa; CORUH, Yasar

2017-01-01

This study was carried out in order to determine sports health belief levels of individuals participating in sporting recreational activities in sports facilities belonging to Konya Metropolitan Municipality in terms of some demographic variables. A method for descriptive survey aimed at revealing the current situation was used in the research. Sample group of the study consists of 150 participants (female = 66 / male = 84) who attend the courses opened in Konya Metropolitan Municipality. In ...

The application of municipal renewable energy policies at community level in Denmark: A taxonomy of implementation challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Jens-Phillip

2018-01-01

The implementation of national renewable energy targets requires policies at the local level. Communities are considered as key arenas of transforming policies into actions, where technical configurations intersect with socioeconomic interests. Local governments put great efforts into developing...... and applying energy strategies. Although many frontrunner projects are well-documented, insufficient attention is paid to the average-performing municipalities that are challenged in linking technical energy scenarios with socioeconomic realities. The following implementation gap between national policy...... and local practice leads to a non-attainment of national energy targets. This paper analyses the Strategic Energy Plans (SEP) of 17 Danish municipalities based on their development, scope, and inclusion of local communities. As a synopsis, the main technical, physical, organizational and socioeconomic...

Centralisation and decentralisation in strategic municipal energy planning in Denmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sperling, Karl; Hvelplund, Frede; Mathiesen, Brian Vad

2011-01-01

Denmark's future energy system is to be entirely based on renewable energy sources. Municipalities will play an important role as local energy planning authorities in terms of adopting and refining this vision in different local contexts. Based on a review of 11 municipal energy plans, this paper examines to what extent municipal energy planning matches national 100% renewable energy strategies. The results indicate a willingness among Danish municipalities to actively carry out energy planning, and the plans reveal a large diversity of (new) activities. At the same time, however, there is a strong need for better coordination of municipal energy planning activities at the central level. It is suggested that the role of municipalities as energy planning authorities needs to be outlined more clearly in, e.g., strategic energy planning which integrates savings, efficiency and renewable energy in all (energy) sectors. This requires the state to provide municipalities with the necessary planning instruments and establish a corresponding planning framework. Consequently, there is a need for a simultaneous centralisation and decentralisation during the implementation of the 100% renewable energy vision. The paper outlines a basic division of tasks between the central and the local level within such a strategic energy planning system. - Research highlights: → There is a large variety of energy-related activities in the 11 municipal energy and climate plans. → Only few plans contain all relevant sectors and activities in relation to a 100% RES. → Neglected areas are private transport, system regulation/integration and private buildings. → There is an acute need for coordination of municipal energy planning at the central level. → Strategic energy planning should integrate national policy with municipal energy planning.

Community work – the missing link of municipal social policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moors M.

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Municipal social policy has an important role in dealing with social problems of citizens. On micro level, municipalities spend a substantial amount of their budget solving such problems. However, increasing the amount of money spent on solving problems of each individual at micro level does not provide efficient fulfilment of the tasks defined for municipal social policy making. Thus new, complementary solutions should be looked into, as new ways of development of social work in municipalities should be designed with the aim to increase the level of citizen participation and joint responsibility, especially of socially vulnerable groups. Research results let the author conclude that social activity of socially vulnerable groups should be promoted by creating a series of prerequisites, among which citizen participation, need for organisational support, activities that would foster politician and municipality officials’ attitude towards citizen participation and their social capital increase, two-way relationship between citizens and officials, and the worker that would promote citizen participation, among which is social policy making, are considered to be very important. All of this can be successfully reached by developing community work in local municipalities. This is the missing link to combine macro and micro levels, or political determination and practical implementation of citizen participation.

Typhoon and elevated radon level in a municipal water supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao, Cheng-Hsin; Weng, Pao-Shan

2000-01-01

The Municipal Water Supply at Hsinchu City is a water treatment plant using poly- aluminum chloride (PAC) for coagulation and then followed by precipitation and filtration. Its capacity is 70,000 m 3 /day. The raw water is drawn from the nearby river. Since the subject of interest is the radon level during typhoon season, the sampling period was from March to December 1999. Commercially available electret was used for water samples taken from the five ponds in the plant. This technique relies on the measurement of radon in air above a water sample enclosed in a sealed vessel. The concentration of airbone radon released from water was determined by means of the electret ion chamber. During the first sampling period there came two typhoons. One is called Magie during June 10-17, and the other called Sam during August 20-26. The first typhoon led to the radon level measured from the water samples as high as 705 Bq/m 3 , while the second caused even higher radon level as high as 772 Bq/m 3 . Similar results were obtained for the second sampling period after August till December 1999. For those measured without typhoon influence, the average radon was lower from the coagulation pond yet without coagulation process during March through August 1999. However, water samples taken from the pond after precipitation did not show similar results in radon level. (author)

Implementation of health impact assessment in Danish municipal context.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraemer, Stella Rebecca Johnsdatter; Nikolajsen, Louise Theilgaard; Gulis, Gabriel

2014-12-01

Implementation of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Danish municipalities has been analyzed using the Roger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Municipalities were chosen from among those who presented their health policies on websites according to the status of inclusion of HIA into health policy. Qualitative interviews were conducted in 6 municipalities (3 with HIA inducted in their health policy and 3 without it) gathering information on knowledge and attitudes to HIA, barriers to its implementation, social system and communication channels used or expected to be used for implementation of HIA. No significant differences were found among analyzed municipalities by status of HIA inclusion into health policy. Among barriers; a lack of tools with general validity, a lack of intersectoral working culture, balance between centralized versus participatory way of working and organizational structure of a municipality, and a lack of capacities were enlisted as most relevant. The last one is a crucial factor of an internal social system of a municipality. With regards to communication channels, reporting and presentation skills of implementers and doers are of key importance. Systematic and sustainable capacity building is needed to achieve high level implementation of HIA in Danish municipalities. Development of validated tools, most importantly screening tools with focus on priorities of national public health policy would enhance implementation on municipal level.

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 5. Thise, Skive Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-01-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area Thise, in the Municipality of Skive, northern Jutland. (LN)

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 2. Roedbyhavn, Lolland Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-01-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area at Roedbyhavn in the Municipality of Lolland, southern Denmark. (LN)

Avaliação da Vigilância Epidemiológica em âmbito municipal Evaluation of epidemiological surveillance in municipal ambit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Freese de Carvalho

2005-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVOS: avaliar a vigilância epidemiológica (VE e as características específicas da gestão municipal. MÉTODOS: foram selecionados onze municípios de Pernambuco conforme critérios geográficos, porte populacional e condição de gestão. O grau de implantação foi estimado através de entrevistas com atores-chave em três níveis de atuação da VE: nível central, unidades de saúde da família (USF e unidades de saúde tradicionais (UST, enfatizando aspectos relativos à infra-estrutura e ao processo de trabalho. Às variáveis selecionadas foram atribuídos pontos, cujo somatório, classificou a VE como: implantada, parcialmente implantada e não implantada. Para avaliar as características da gestão foram entrevistados os onze secretários municipais de saúde. RESULTADOS: a VE apresentou-se implantada em apenas 27% dos municípios e parcialmente implantada em 46%, encontrando-se mais estruturada nos municípios de grande porte e com gestão plena do sistema municipal, onde, dos três níveis estudados, observou-se que o nível central apresentou mais fragilidades, e as USF, quando comparadas às UST, obtiveram melhor desempenho. Quanto às características de gestão, embora todos os municípios estivessem certificados para realizar ações de VE, foram identificados entraves significativos para sua efetiva realização. CONCLUSÕES: A VE apresentou deficiências que comprometem a sua implantação plena no âmbito municipal.ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: to evaluate epidemiological surveil-lance (ES and its specifics management at municipal level. METHODS: eleven municipalities were selected in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, based on the geographical, demographic and management criteria. The level of implementation was estimated by way of interviews with key-players at three levels of ES: the headquarters, family health units (FHUs and traditional health units (THUs, laying emphasis on features relating to infrastructure and the work

Gender inequalities in the association between area deprivation and perceived social support: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis at the municipality level in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Mena, Emily; Kroll, Lars Eric; Maier, Werner; Bolte, Gabriele

2018-04-12

To investigate the association between area deprivation at municipality level with low perceived social support, independent of individual socioeconomic position and demographic characteristics. To assess whether there are gender inequalities in this association. Cross-sectional multilevel analysis of survey data. Germany. 3350 men and 3665 women living in 167 municipalities throughout Germany participating in the 'German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults' (DEGS1 2008-2011) as part of the national health monitoring. Perceived social support as measured by Oslo-3 Social Support Scale. Prevalence of low perceived social support was 11.4% in men and 11.1% in women. Low social support was associated in men and women with sociodemographic characteristics that indicate more disadvantaged living situations. Taking these individual-level characteristics into account, municipal-level deprivation was independently associated with low perceived social support in men (OR for the most deprived quintile: 1.80 (95% CI 1.14 to 2.84)), but not in women (OR 1.22 (95% CI 0.78 to 1.90)). The results of our multilevel analysis suggest that there are gender inequalities in the association of municipal-level deprivation with the prevalence of low perceived social support in Germany independent of individual socioeconomic position. Community health interventions aiming at promotion of social support among residents might profit from a further understanding of the observed gender differences. © 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.

[Municipal public health spending in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, from 2000 to 2007].

Science.gov (United States)

Espírito Santo, Antônio Carlos Gomes do; Fernando, Virgínia Conceição Nascimento; Bezerra, Adriana Falangola Benjamin

2012-04-01

In order to assess the impact of macro-political measures implemented in the latter half of the 1990s on the increase in public spending on health and the possible reduction in allocation inequity, a descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study was carried out involving 184 municipalities in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Data from the Public Health Budget Information System was used, with the selected indicator being spending on health per inhabitant under the responsibility of the municipality. The correlations of this variable with the municipal Human Development Index, population size and value of the municipal budget per capita were analyzed. It was seen that, although the mean increase in municipal spending on health is 190.76%, the value per capita has remained relatively low - at around R$183.79 - which is below the national and macro-regional averages. Both spending on health per capita and growth percentages are distributed irregularly among health regions as well as among municipalities within a single region. In conclusion, there is marked allocation inequity among municipalities with regard to the distribution of public resources for health, despite the macro-political measures adopted to reduce this inequity.

The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala

Science.gov (United States)

Ruano, Ana Lorena

2013-01-01

Background Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. Objective To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Design Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs) were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW program. Each of these

The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruano, Ana Lorena

2013-09-10

Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs) were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW program. Each of these spaces has participants with

The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Lorena Ruano

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. Objective: To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Design: Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW

Centralisation and decentralisation in strategic municipal energy planning in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sperling, Karl; Hvelplund, Frede; Mathiesen, Brian Vad

2011-01-01

need for better coordination of municipal energy planning activities at the central level. It is suggested that the role of municipalities as energy planning authorities needs to be outlined more clearly in, e.g., strategic energy planning which integrates savings, efficiency and renewable energy...... vision. The paper outlines a basic division of tasks between the central and the local level within such a strategic energy planning system.......Denmark’s future energy system is to be entirely based on renewable energy sources. Municipalities will play an important role as local energy planning authorities in terms of adopting and refining this vision in different local contexts. Based on a review of 11 municipal energy plans, this paper...

Local Self-Government Financing and Costs of Municipality in Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zan Jan OPLOTNIK

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This research paper focuses on the compliance of the actual system of financing local selfgovernment in Slovenia with the basic principles of the theory of decentralization and guidelines of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. It addresses the level of costs coverage within the municipal competence by using the allocated appropriate expenditure resources calculated according to the Law of Financing Municipality Act. The purpose of the paper is, therefore, to look for an answer to the question whether and to what extent the obtained funds correspond to the actual workload that municipalities have for performing statutory tasks and for exercising their competences. Analysis shows that, on an aggregate level, these actual systems ensure enough resources for local governments to cover their actual costs and current expenditures; some groups of municipalities, e.g. larger urban municipalities, municipalities with large proportions of elderly people etc. are faced with lack of funding, according to the actual costs data available, while other groups of municipalities receive more funds than they need.

Municipal energy audit: a practical guide to the identification of energy expenditures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-01-01

This publication was designed to provide small- to medium-sized Canadian municipalities with a ready-to-use, practical guide to indentify energy consumption and costs in all those operations that normally fall under the control of municipal governments. The manual was based on 7 pilot audits conducted in Ottawa, Ontario, Montague and Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Granby, Quebec, Victoria, British Columbia, St. John, New Brunswick, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, from which summaries of energy consumption patterns were drawn. Audit analysis is explained for such municipal responsibilities as street lighting, water supply, sewage disposal, public transit, police and fire protection services, garbage collection and disposal, snow and ice control and road maintenance in general, with figures presented from the survey results. A description of the audit method and worksheet forms are also included. 3 figs., 33 tabs.

Report of testing and sampling of municipal supply well PM-4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, Richard J.; Longmire, Patrick; Rogers, David B.; Mullen, Ken

1999-01-01

During drilling of regional aquifer characterization borehole R-25, located in the western part of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) at Technical Area (TA) 16, groundwater samples were collected from perched zones of saturation and the regional aquifer that contained elevated levels of high explosive (HE) compounds. One of the nearest Los Alamos County municipal supply wells potentially located down gradient from borehole R-25 is PM-4, located on Mesita del Buey at the west end of TA-54. During the winter of 1998 and 1999 the pump in PM-4 had been removed from the well for scheduled maintenance by the Los Alamos County Public Utilities Department (PUD). Because the pump was removed from PM-4, the opportunity existed to enter the well to (1) perform tests to determine where within the regional aquifer groundwater entered the well and (2) collect groundwater samples from the producing zones for analyses to determine if HE contaminants were present in discrete zones within the regional aquifer. The report of the activities that were performed during March 1999 for the testing and sampling of municipal supply well PM-4 is provided. The report provides a description of the field activities associated with the two phases of the project, including (1) the results of the static and dynamic spinner log surveys, and (2) a description of the sampling activities and the field-measured groundwater quality parameters that were obtained during sampling activities. This report also provides the analytical results of the groundwater samples and a brief discussion of the results of the project

Development of an automated system for the decentral fractioning of municipal wastes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heiko Vesper

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Background: There is a growing problem of the increasing amount of unsorted municipal wastes with the resulting consequences for the environment. The aim of this study was to present a new solutions of the system for the decentral fractioning of municipal wastes, which enable simplification and improvement of the process together with the reduction of total costs. Methods: The description of  the problem of the increasing amount of unsorted municipal wastes with the resulting consequences for the environment as well as an alternative solution for the decentral fractioning of such wastes was presented. The influence onto the environment as well as the efficiency of the costly mechanical sorting of wastes was queried. The nowadays used principles of sorted and unsorted waste disposal were elucidated and their advantages and disadvantages evaluated. Results and conclusions: Based on this evaluation an innovative and future oriented development of an automated system for the decentral fractioning of municipal wastes was presented. The new developed systems aim at the achievement of an easier, less costly and environment-friendlier process for the disposal of municipal wastes from apartment buildings.

Evaluation in Physical Education: an analysis in state and municipal schools in Maringá-PR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saray Giovana dos Santos

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Problems related to evaluation deal with many issues that Physical Education, as a pedagogical subject, has been facing. In order to investigate these aspects, this study has as its aim to analyse how and with purpose, the professionals from the area of Physical Education are evaluating studentes from the 5th to the 8th forms in state and municipal schools in Maringá. A questionnaire was used. The sample was formed by 30 teachers from 12 schools: 15 teachers from state schools and 15 from municipal schools. Descriptive statistics at simple frequency level and non-parametric test (χ2 were used. Results show that evaluation in the subject Physical Education is performed only to follow the norms, without planning and consequently without pre-defined educational objectives showing, thus, the contradictions and confusions inherent to evaluation modalities by the professionals of this area. These professionals demonstrated the precaroiusness of the understanding of evaluation role in teaching-learning process.

Visual space perception at different levels of depth description

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šikl, Radovan; Šimeček, Michal

2015-01-01

Roč. 77, č. 6 (2015), 2098–2107 ISSN 1943-3921 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-28709S Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : visual space perception * Depth scales * Level of description Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 1.782, year: 2015

Consolidation of municipalities in the newest time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yury Blagov

2017-01-01

of some RF constituent entities, there are urban districts that consist of the large not urbanized territories with a poorly developed transport, social, economic infrastructure and without any common development goals. The authors conclude that the bias towards municipalities' consolidation in many RF constituent entities is justified and caused by ignoring of the vertical command relations in former areas. At the same time, they point out the need to take into account the town-planning, economic and geographical, socio-demographic factors while transforming municipal areas into urban districts, otherwise, all these transformations are fictitious and turn into revising of powers by local elites.Conclusions. The municipal legal policy of consolidation of municipal entities is aimed at liquidating the settlement level of local self-government, which directly contradicts Part 1 of Art. 131 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which establishes the implementation of local self-government by the population, first of all, at the primary, settlement level. 

Designing a Municipality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jungersen, Ulrik; Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård

2014-01-01

Can a municipality be designed? The municipality Kolding in the southern part of Denmark asked this question. The idea emerged as a response to a recognized need for new ways of branding and developing the municipality. It is an ongoing process that was kicked off in 2012 and this paper is theref......Can a municipality be designed? The municipality Kolding in the southern part of Denmark asked this question. The idea emerged as a response to a recognized need for new ways of branding and developing the municipality. It is an ongoing process that was kicked off in 2012 and this paper...... is therefore focusing primarily on the process of changing the perception of how to organize development in a municipality. The most important elements in transforming the whole development setup are described. Finally, a short case describing one of the significant results is included....

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 3. Kertinge Mark, Kerteminde Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-01-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area Kertinge Mark in the Municipality of Kerteminde, the island Funen. (LN)

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 4. Hvidbjerg, Thyholm, Struer Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-01-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area Hvidbjerg, Thyholm, in the Municipality of Struer, northern Jutland. (LN)

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 6. Skive Vest, Skive Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-01-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area Skive Vest, in the Municipality of Skive, northern Jutland. (LN)

Compliance audits in the federal funds programs of the municipalities of Puerto Rico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis M. López

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are eligible to receive funds from the federal government of the United States. This study presents a descriptive discussion of the federal funding received by these municipalities during fiscal years 2005 to 2009. The findings of the audits performed in connection with these funds are also discussed. The results indicate that the municipalities in the sample received an average of $8.2 million a year in federal funding. The municipality of San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico, received an average of $126.5 million a year and was largest recipient of federal funds during the sample period. The results also indicate that 72.99 percent of the audits disclosed reportable conditions and 31.02 percent disclosed material weaknesses. In addition,auditors issued a qualified opinion report on 33.69 percent of the conducted audits. Lastly, 53.15 percent of all audited funds are associated with programs that disclosed audit findings.

Scoping Adaptation Needs for Smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon: A Municipal Level Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osuna Vanesa Rodríguez

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Over the past decade, several climate extreme events have caused considerable economic damage and hardship in the Brazilian Amazon region, especially for small-scale producers. Based on household surveys and focus group interviews in the Municipality of Alenquer as well as secondary data analyses and a literature review at the regional level, this study seeks to assess rural small-scale producers’ vulnerability to climate and non-climate related shocks and identify entry points for government action to support adaptation at the local level. In our case study area, small-scale producers with similar wealth, self-sufficiency, and resource use specialisation levels exhibited stark variation in levels of sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate and nonclimate related shocks. Our findings indicate that this variation is partly driven by cultural, historical, and environmental resource use specialisation strategies and partly by differences in local governance capacity and the level of social organisation. Emerging governmentled initiatives to promote climate change adaptation in the region would benefit from taking these factors into account when designing local implementation strategies and priorities.

A methodology for the measure of secondary homes tourist flows at municipal level

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Andrea Guizzardi

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The present public statistical system does not provide information concerning second houses touristic flows at sub-regional level. The lack limits local administrations' capabilities to take decisions about either: environmental, territorial and productive development, as well as regional governments in fair allocation of public financing. In the work, this information lack is overcome by proposing an indirect estimation methodology. Municipalities electric power consumption is proposed as an indicator of the stays on secondary homes. The indicator is connected to tourism flows considering both measurement errors and factors, modifying the local power demand. The application to Emilia-Romagna regional case allow to verify results’ coherence with officials statistics, as weel as to assess municipalities’ tourist vocation.

Built environment interventions aimed at improving physical activity levels in rural Ontario health units: a descriptive qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Coghill, Cara-Lee; Valaitis, Ruta K; Eyles, John D

2015-05-03

Few studies to date have explored the relationship between the built environment and physical activity specifically in rural settings. The Ontario Public Health Standards policies mandate that health units in Ontario address the built environment; however, it is unclear how public health practitioners are integrating the built environment into public health interventions aimed at improving physical activity in chronic disease prevention programs. This descriptive qualitative study explored interventions that have or are being implemented which address the built environment specifically related to physical activity in rural Ontario health units, and the impact of these interventions. Data were collected through twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews with rural public health practitioners and managers representing 12 of 13 health units serving rural communities. Key themes were identified using qualitative content analysis. Themes that emerged regarding the types of interventions that health units are employing included: Engagement with policy work at a municipal level; building and working with community partners, committees and coalitions; gathering and providing evidence; developing and implementing programs; and social marketing and awareness raising. Evaluation of interventions to date has been limited. Public health interventions, and their evaluations, are complex. Health units who serve large rural populations in Ontario are engaging in numerous activities to address physical activity levels. There is a need to further evaluate the impact of these interventions on population health.

Sacramento Municipal Utility district's interim onsite storage building for low level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillis, E.

1986-01-01

In order to meet current and anticipated needs for the low level radwaste management program at the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has a design and construction program underway which will provide an onsite interim storage facility that can be expanded in two and one-half year increments. The design approach utilized allows capital investment to be minimized and still provides radwaste management flexibility in anticipation of delays in resolution of the nationwide long term radwaste disposal situation. The facility provides storage and material accountability for all low level radwastes generated by the plant. Wastes are segregated by radioactivity level and are stored in two separate storage areas located within one facility. Lower activity wastes are stored in a lightly shielded structure and handled by lift trucks, while the higher activity wastes are stored in a highly shielded structure and handled remotely by manual bridge crane. The layout of the structure provides for economy of operation and minimizes personnel radiation exposure. Design philosophy and criteria, building layout and systems, estimated costs and construction schedule are discussed

The evaluation of the state of the Sopot Municipality environment as a condition for sustainable development of the municipality area

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Filipović Dejan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The Sopot Municipality can be conditionally characterized as 'an ecological municipality' considering it is known for its preserved and quality environment, which is the result of the absence of greater sources of degradation and environmental pollution. The structure and usage of the Sopot municipality space was influenced by its specific position and historic development, the resources, the fact it is in the vicinity of Belgrade, as well as the processes taking places in the last few decades. Besides natural, anthropogenic factors substantially influenced the way of spatial development, often violating natural conditions and possibilities. In that sense, the current environmental condition analysis represents the important integral planning base for further spatial development of the Municipality. In this paper the environmental condition is shown according to single elements (air, water, soil, the attention is drawn to the problem of waste on the Sopot Municipality area, and in the end the valorization of the environment was performed from the aspect of pollution level.

Sustainability indicators system of tourism development: a case study os the municipality of Areia – PB

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Nicole Cavalcanti Silva

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This article aims at identifying and analyzing the level of sustainability of tourism in the city of Areia - PB, by applying the methodology of the Sustainability Indicators System of Tourism Development (SISDTur proposed by Hanai (2009. This work is descriptive and it presents an exploratory and quantitative research. To carry out this investigation, three stages of data analysis criteria were established: analysis of indicators, in which the collected data were processed by statistical techniques (average, standard deviation and coefficient of variation; analysis of dimensions; and analysis of global sustainability. The results indicate that the municipality presents a partly unsustainable tourism, since among the six sustainability dimensions for tourism destinations two dimensions demonstrate intermediary sustainability, two dimensions are partially unsustainable, and the other two dimensions are unsustainable. This situation demands from public administrators the design of new action plans for the implementation of investments and projects that may facilitate the sustainable development of tourism in the municipality.

Municipal Bonds in Developing Countries. Case Study: Municipality of Stip, Republic of Macedonia

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Marija GOGOVA SAMONIKOV

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The developing countries, especially in the Balkans, barely use the municipal bonds as an alternative way of financing their activities. This paper is part of the project “The municipal bonds as an alternative source of financing municipals activities and the effective management of funds, with a special emphasis to the Municipality of Stip, R. Macedonia”. The paper has an important impact, according to both academic and practical perspective. It combines the experts’ academic analysis with the municipals potential in order to facilitate a successful municipal bond emission that would support the local economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ability and willingness of the Municipality of Stip to issue municipal bonds. The main hypothesis states that the Municipality of Stip is able to issue a municipal bond as an alternative way of financing its investment activities. The research includes the classical SWOT analysis regarding the Municipality of Stip and continues with a statistical analysis based on correlation and regression relationships within the accounts of the Municipality’s annual reports. The methodological framework is based on quantitative research methods (correlations and regression methods which result in acceptance of the main hypothesis in the paper - the municipal bonds as an alternative source for funding municipal’s activities are justified, especially if the funds are associated with a specific revenue-generating project. The findings would serve as a basis for the municipal bonds prospect, which would be the ultimate goal of combining the academic knowledge with the practical potential of the Municipality of Stip. The conclusions reveal that this would be the first municipal bond emission in the Republic of Macedonia. However, this fact can serve as an advantage in the market in terms of introducing financial instrument innovation. This paper suggests that the usage of municipal bonds is

Allocation of home care services by municipalities in Norway: a document analysis.

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Holm, Solrun G; Mathisen, Terje A; Sæterstrand, Torill M; Brinchmann, Berit S

2017-09-22

In Norway, elder care is primarily a municipal responsibility. Municipal health services strive to offer the 'lowest level of effective care,' and home healthcare services are defined as the lowest level of care in Norway. Municipalities determine the type(s) of service and the amount of care applicants require. The services granted are outlined in an individual decision letter, which serves as a contract between the municipality and the home healthcare recipient. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the scope and duration of home healthcare services allocated by municipalities and to determine where home care recipients live in relation to home healthcare service offices. A document analysis was performed on data derived from 833 letters to individuals allocated home care services in two municipalities in Northern Norway (Municipality A = 500 recipients, Municipality B = 333 recipients). In Municipality A, 74% of service hours were allotted to home health nursing, 12% to practical assistance, and 14% to support contact; in Municipality B, the distribution was 73%, 19%, and 8%, respectively. Both municipalities allocated home health services with no service end date (41% and 85% of the total services, respectively). Among recipients of "expired" services, 25% in Municipality A and 7% in Municipality B continued to receive assistance. Our findings reveal that the municipalities adhered to the goal for home care recipients to remain at home as long as possible before moving into a nursing home. The findings also indicate that the system for allocating home healthcare services may not be fair, as the municipalities lacked procedures for revising individual decisions. Our findings indicate that local authorities should closely examine how they design individual decisions and increase their awareness of how long a service should be provided.

Soy Expansion and Socioeconomic Development in Municipalities of Brazil

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Luiz Antonio Martinelli

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Soy occupies the largest area of agricultural land in Brazil, spreading from southern states to the Amazon region. Soy is also the most important agricultural commodity among Brazilian exports affecting food security and land use nationally and internationally. Here we pose the question of whether soy expansion affects only economic growth or whether it also boosts socioeconomic development, fostering education and health improvements in Brazilian municipalities where it is planted. To achieve this objective, we divided more than 5000 municipalities into two groups: those with >300 ha of soy (soy municipalities and those with <300 ha of soy (non-soy municipalities. We compared the Human Development Index (HDI and the Gini coefficient for income for these two groups of municipalities in 1991, 2000, and 2010. We made such comparison at the municipality level for the whole country, but we also grouped the municipalities by major geographical regions and states. We found that the HDI was higher in soy municipalities, especially in the agricultural frontier. That effect was not so clear in more consolidated agricultural regions of the country. Soy municipalities also had a higher Gini coefficient for income than non-soy municipalities. We concluded that soy could be considered a precursor of socioeconomic development under certain conditions; however, it also tends to be associated with an increase in income inequality, especially in the agricultural frontier.

Evaluation of Development of Cooperation in South Bohemian Municipalities in the Years 2007–2014

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Dušek Jiří

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The article presents results of the research of cooperation of municipalities in the South Bohemian Region, focused on the analysis of forms and means of cooperation between 2007 and 2014. The published results are part of an internal research that lasted for many years, the goal of which was both to analyse the development of cooperation of municipalities in the studied region and to identify the prerequisites and barriers of all cooperative relations. The research was done on a sample of 623 South Bohemian municipalities in the period of 2007-2010 and 2013- 2016, the obtained data was processed using descriptive statistics and multidimensional statistical methods, and the results show an almost 20% increase in the means of municipal cooperation across the entire South Bohemian Region. Based on the respective means of cooperation, National Healthy Cities Network of the Czech Republic saw the biggest growth, amounting to +3.275% between 2007 and 2014. Participation in local action groups, where the total of 580 municipalities are already engaged, increased by 32.12%. Although less dynamic, this growth is much more important, as it significantly contributes to the development of rural areas and their absorption abilities, mainly as regards financial resources from the national and European sources. However, fragmented means of municipal cooperation is a current problem of cooperation of municipalities, leading to the disintegrated power of the respective municipalities.

Attitudinal orientation of first level managers for improvement of municipal service delivery: Experience of training intervention in Kolkata

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Uttam Kumar Roy

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses a program of attitudinal orientation courses provided for functionaries of a large municipal corporation in India. Almost 450 Assistant Managers from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation took part in the training, which was held at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI of the Government of West Bengal, India. Under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, Indian Municipalities/Corporations (Urban Local Bodies are empowered and entrusted to perform planning, development and governance for the city/ town and to provide services to the citizens. The change in outlook towards the local government reflected in the Act has highlighted the need for greater awareness and a better attitude amongst municipal staff as well as elected representatives towards service delivery. Good governance can be achieved through the overall performance of officials of an organization, provided they possess the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies. For historical reasons, knowledge, skills and attitudes amongst officials of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs in India have been traditionally of a low standard. Willingness to perform better in the role of municipal service delivery is not common. Therein lies the need for training for improvement in service delivery, especially for organizations like large municipal corporations and municipalities.

Innovation Forms and Mechanisms of Forming the Conception of Effective Municipal Management

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Nataliya Aleksandrovna Mikhaylova

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A dynamic, uncertain external environment increases the dependence of the objectives of the system of state and municipal government on the conditions and the actions of environmental factors that entail a change in the behavior of the subjects of management, improving the ability of government to carry out strategic management and interaction of bodies of state and municipal authorities with the city-forming enterprises. The article revealed the lack of alternative mechanisms, based on an integrated management system industries and areas of the municipality and to improve the efficiency of the municipal administration in general. The use of innovative methods and mechanisms is important in the municipal administration. The analysis of innovative technologies and concepts of effective management of a municipality, such as: the “smart city” or high-tech city; “open city” or “open municipality”; city corporation or a city as in excess of corporation; city management is based on the model “contract manager”; quality management technology built into the system of municipal management based on the quality management system model. The analysis showed that the state and municipal institutions in many developed countries and in Russia are converted in order to improve its efficiency, ensuring higher service levels and transparency of its operations, giving a positive example for the extrapolation of the municipalities that have not yet using innovative forms and mechanisms management. In general, the application of innovative developments in the formation of the concept of effective municipal administration should be maintained as the regional and municipal authorities, as well as at the federal level, as innovation is the key to the further development of state and municipal management system.

The contribution of the Kakum Rural Bank to poverty reduction in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality in the central region, Ghana

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Enu-Kwesi Francis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The study was designed to examine the contribution of Kakum Rural Bank (KRB to poverty reduction in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality (KEEA. The study employed descriptive and evaluative designs. All four agencies in the KEEA municipality were included in the study. The systematic random sampling technique was used to draw 370 customers and 14 members of staff of Kakum Rural Bank who were purposively sampled for the study. Questionnaires were principally used to collect data from respondents. Graphs and tables were used to present descriptive aspects of the results while non-parametric inferential procedure was used to present the evaluative aspect. The results of the study revealed that KRB, with its financial and non-financial services, has helped in poverty reduction in the KEEA Municipality. Data gathered from the respondents showed a significant improvement in most of the poverty indicators, with the exception of provision of potable water and clothing for families. Judging by the potential that KRB has for reducing poverty, it is recommended that the bank should expand its coverage in the municipality.

40 CFR 62.14105 - Requirements for municipal waste combustor operator training and certification.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Service Center, 22 Law Drive, Post Office Box 2900, Fairfield, NJ..., Service Center, 22 Law Drive, Post Office Box 2900, Fairfield, NJ 07007. You may inspect a copy at the... subpart; (2) A description of basic combustion theory applicable to a municipal waste combustor unit; (3...

Stress level among intensive care nurses in the municipality of Paraná (Brazil

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Kelly Cristina Inoue

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Objective. To identify stress levels among intensive care nurses who work in the municipality of Western Paraná, Brazil. Methodology. This is a cross-sectional cohort study, carried out from May to July 2010, included 60 nurses from intensive care units (adult, pediatric, or neonatal of five hospitals. All participants completed the Bianchi Stress Scale. Results. The mean participant age was 31 years; 70% of the nurses were women, 33% had more than 15 years of experience, and 88% conducted care activities. The general level of stress was medium. Stress levels were low for relationships with other units and supervisors, activities related to adequate functioning of the unit and the coordination of activities of the unit. Levels were medium for the following domains: activities related to personnel management, labor conditions for the development of nursing activities, and delivery of care to patient; this last domain was related to the following stress factors: facing patient death, attending to emergencies in the unit, advising patients' family members, and conducting tasks in the minimal time available. Conclusion. Although the general stress level was medium, the identification of domains with a high score can be used to plan intervention strategies to preserve the health of intensive care nurses and, in turn, improve quality of care delivered to severely ill patients.

[Trend in inequalities in mortality due to external causes among the municipalities of Antioquia (Colombia)].

Science.gov (United States)

Caicedo-Velásquez, Beatriz; Álvarez-Castaño, Luz Stella; Marí-Dell'Olmo, Marc; Borrell, Carme

2016-01-01

To analyse the trend in inequalities in mortality due to external causes among municipalities in Antioquia, department of Colombia, from 2000 to 2010, and its association with socioeconomic conditions. External causes included violent deaths, such as homicides, suicides and traffic accidents, among others. Ecological design of mortality trends, with the 125 municipalities of Antioquia as the unit of analysis. The age-adjusted smoothed standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was estimated for each of the municipalities by using an empirical Bayesian model. Differences in the SMR between the poorest and least poor municipalities were estimated by using a two-level hierarchical model (level-1: year, level-2: municipality). Mortality due to external causes showed a downward trend in the department in the period under review, although the situation was not similar in all municipalities. The findings showed that the risk of death from external causes significantly increased in poor and underdeveloped municipalities. Intervention is required through policies that take into account local differences in mortality due to external causes. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Shared use agreements between municipalities and public schools in the United States, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Omura, John D; Carlson, Susan A; Paul, Prabasaj; Sliwa, Sarah; Onufrak, Stephen J; Fulton, Janet E

2017-02-01

Shared use agreements allow public use of school facilities during non-school hours. Such agreements can cover outdoor facilities alone or may be more comprehensive by also including indoor facilities. Our aim was to: 1) estimate the prevalence of shared use agreements and facility types covered among U.S. municipalities and 2) identify differences in prevalence by municipality characteristics. The 2014 National Survey of Community-based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living is a representative survey of US municipalities (n=2029). Data were analyzed using survey weights to create national estimates. Logistic and multinomial regression models determined odds ratios adjusting for municipality characteristics. Among 1930 municipalities with a school, 41.6% had a shared use agreement as reported by a local official, 45.6% did not, and 12.8% did not know. Significant differences in prevalence existed by population size, rural/urban status, poverty prevalence, median education level, and census region; however, after adjustment for other municipality characteristics significant differences remained only by population size, median education level, and census region. Among municipalities with a shared use agreement, 59.6% covered both outdoor and indoor facilities, 5.5% covered indoor facilities only, and 34.9% covered outdoor facilities only. Opportunities exist to expand the use of shared use agreements particularly in municipalities with small populations, lower education levels, and in the South, and to promote more comprehensive shared use agreements that include both indoor and outdoor facilities. Published by Elsevier Inc.

On the perceived usefulness of risk descriptions for decision-making in disaster risk management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Lexin; Nilsson, Anders; Sjölin, Johan; Abrahamsson, Marcus; Tehler, Henrik

2015-01-01

Managing risk using an “all-hazards” and “whole of society”-approach involves extensive communication of risk descriptions among many stakeholders. In the present study we investigate how professionals working with disaster risk management in such contexts perceive the usefulness of different descriptions of risk. Empirical data from the Swedish disaster risk management system were used in an attempt to investigate the aspects of a risk description that affect its usefulness (as perceived by professionals). Thirty-three local municipal risk and vulnerability assessments (RVA documents) produced in the region of Scania in 2012 were analyzed in terms of six variables. The documents were then ranked by professionals based on their perceived usefulness for decision-making. Statistical analysis was conducted to identify any possible correlations between the overall ranking of the usefulness of the municipal RVA:s and each of the variables. We conclude that the way the likelihood and consequences of scenarios are described influence the perceived usefulness of a risk description. Furthermore, whether descriptions of scenarios are included in a risk description or not, and whether background information concerning the likelihood of scenarios are included also influence perceived usefulness of risk descriptions. - Highlights: • Written communication of risk between professionals is investigated. • The way likelihood is described influences a risk description's usefulness. • The way consequences are described influence a risk description's usefulness. • Whether background information is included in a risk description influences its usefulness

A thermodynamic description of quarks at the subquark level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitzpatrick, G.L.

1985-01-01

A thermodynamic basis for the description of quarks at the subquark level is proposed. It is suggested that subquarks are ultrarelativistic objects confined to the quark radius R. Thus they experience accelerations of the order a≅c/sup 2//R. But this means that information excluding horizons (iota) comparable to quark radii R, namely iota≅c/sup 2//a≅R, are present. Such horizons force us to describe quarks, at the subquark level, via thermodynamics. This thermodynamic description must involve unconventional negative energy Rindler vacua, rather than the conventional zero energy Minkowski vacuum. In an average thermodynamic sense, these Rindler vacua cancel excess kinetic energy of the subquarks, thereby removing an objection to theories involving subquarks. In any such theory it is necessary to assign an Unruh temperature T, where kT≅(h/2πc)a≅(hc/2πR), to the subquark matter. The author argues that T must be the temperature of the early universe phase transition (probably first order) at which quarks condensed into hadrons. Thus quarks have a temperature T independent of hadron mass. He shows how quark properties may be derived in the foregoing thermodynamic context

Opportunities and Challenges for Public Primary School Head Teachers in the Implementation of Free Primary Education in Kisumu Municipality, Kenya: An Analytical Assessment

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Akech, Benta Achieng' Opul; Simatwa, Enose M. W.

2010-01-01

This study investigated opportunities and challenges for public primary school head teachers in the implementation of Free Primary Education in Kisumu municipality. Being a descriptive research, the study population consisted of 114 head teachers, 17,100 class seven and eight pupils in the municipality. Out of this, a sample of 37 head teachers…

Implementation of soil protection objectives at local level - case study in eight municipalities; Maaperaensuojelun toteutuminen paikallistasolla. Tapaustutkimus kahdeksassa kunnassa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehtinen, H.

2000-06-01

This study aims to define the possibilities of the local administration to implement the objectives of soil protection. Important soil issues and development needs were analysed from eight group interviews and written material collected from the voluntarily participating municipalities. Relevant legislation was also reviewed as well as the experiences the municipalities included in the study, had about their action plans for the most important groundwater areas. The scope of a local soil protection policy and its objectives were manifested rather narrowly both in the group interviews and in the planning documents. Focus was on the quality of the groundwater resources and on a better control of the contamination risks. Most important soil problems appeared to be related to storage of oil and hazardous chemicals or accidents occurring in their transport, contaminated land areas, or sand and gravel extraction. Moreover the conflicts that arise in municipal decision-making concerning land use and physical planning were discussed in the interviews. Development needs were usually linked to physical planning at a general level, soil research and monitoring, clean-up of contaminated sites, diminishing of traffic contamination risks, and intensifying supervision, counselling and information dissemination. The interviewed groups saw a need to develop soil protection with greater awareness and more systematically than before, as an integral part of existing municipal administration and decision-making. Action plans for groundwater areas were experienced as useful tools to promote soil protection, but the need for other tools was also acknowledged. Stronger emphasise should be put on the economic and social viewpoints in sustainable development when assessing and monitoring further success in soil protection. Appropriate indicators are also needed. (orig.)

Study on Construction Technology of Municipal Road and Bridge Concrete

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Fuyong

2018-03-01

With the continuous development of social economy and the accelerating process of urbanization, municipal road and bridge projects have also shown a trend of rapid development. Municipal road and bridge work can fully reflect the economic and cultural development level of cities and is also an important symbol of urban development. As a basic material of construction, concrete is widely used in engineering construction. This article will analyze the municipal road and bridge concrete construction technology, put forward corresponding measures.

Process and technological aspects of municipal solid waste gasification. A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arena, Umberto

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Critical assessment of the main commercially available MSW gasifiers. ► Detailed discussion of the basic features of gasification process. ► Description of configurations of gasification-based waste-to-energy units. ► Environmental performance analysis, on the basis of independent sources data. - Abstract: The paper proposes a critical assessment of municipal solid waste gasification today, starting from basic aspects of the process (process types and steps, operating and performance parameters) and arriving to a comparative analysis of the reactors (fixed bed, fluidized bed, entrained bed, vertical shaft, moving grate furnace, rotary kiln, plasma reactor) as well as of the possible plant configurations (heat gasifier and power gasifier) and the environmental performances of the main commercially available gasifiers for municipal solid wastes. The analysis indicates that gasification is a technically viable option for the solid waste conversion, including residual waste from separate collection of municipal solid waste. It is able to meet existing emission limits and can have a remarkable effect on reduction of landfill disposal option.

The role of the peer review process in the clean up of low-level and historic radioactive waste in the municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington, Ontario, Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Haydari, D.

2011-01-01

This paper describes the role of the Municipal Peer Review Team (MPRT) for the Municipalities of Port Hope (Port Hope Project) and Clarington (Port Granby Project) for the clean-up of low level and historic radioactive waste. The purpose of the MPRT is to provide the municipalities with a team of experts to help assist their participation in the cleanup process. The peer review process has enabled the Municipalities of Port Hope and Clarington to participate in the decision-making processes as equal parties with the Port Hope Area Initiative Management Office and the Regulatory Authorities. Furthermore, the peer review process has stressed the need for a proactive management approach for low-level radioactive waste and marginally contaminated soil clean-ups. With the work of the MPRT, the Port Hope Project has been granted a facility licence (August, 2009). Both Projects have completed the detailed design phase, where the MPRT played a major role in the review of design documentation. The MPRT has developed an excellent working relationship with the Municipal staff and Mayors of Port Hope and Clarington. The MPRT effectively manages the 'people aspects' of the Port Hope and Port Granby Projects for the municipalities and assists in building transparency and trust in all Project activities. Collaborative, multi-disciplinary dialogue has been a key element to project success. Furthermore, the MPRT has become familiar with the local residents from attending community events and public meetings and has become a trusted source on all things Project related. (author)

Clean Coal Technology: Region 4 Market Description, South Atlantic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-09-01

The Region 4 Market Description Summary provides information that can be used in developing an understanding of the potential markets for clean coal technologies (CCTs) in the South Atlantic Region. This region (which geographically is Federal Region 4) consists of the following eight states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In order to understand the potential market. A description is provided of the region's energy use, power generation capacity, and potential growth. Highlights of state government activities that could have a bearing on commercial deployment of CCTs are also presented. The potential markets characterized in this summary center on electric power generation by investor-owned, cooperative, and municipal electric utilities and involve planned new capacity additions and actions taken by utilities to comply with Phases I and II of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990. Regulations, policies, utility business strategies, and organizational changes that could impact the role of CCTs as a utility option are identified and discussed. The information used to develop the Region 4 Market Description is based mainly on an extensive review of plans and annual reports of 29 investor-owned, cooperative, and municipal coal-using electric utilities and public information on strategies and actions for complying with the CAAA of 1990

Conocimientos sobre implantes dentales en estomatólogos de los municipios de Centro Habana, Habana del Este y Habana Vieja Knowledge level on dental implants in stomatologists from Centro Habana, Habana del Este and Habana Vieja municipalities

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Eneida García López

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Se realizó una investigación descriptiva transversal, con el objetivo de evaluar el nivel de conocimiento sobre implantes dentales de los estomatólogos generales básico e integrales de los municipios, Habana del Este, Centro Habana y Habana Vieja. El Ministerio de Salud Pública tiene especial interés en la implementación y generalización de las técnicas de implantología dental a nivel de los municipios por lo que esta temática se convierte en tema de necesario dominio para los estomatólogos, pues necesitan orientar, tratar y remitir a sus pacientes. Para medir los conocimientos fue aplicada una encuesta que constaba de diez preguntas, y se utilizó los criterios de conocen y desconocen, para evaluar las respuestas según su calidad. El nivel de conocimientos se clasificó en adecuado cuando la encuesta tuvo un 70 % o más de respuestas con el criterio de conocen. El nivel de conocimientos fue no adecuado para los grupos de estudios y para los municipios.A cross-sectional and descriptive research was carried out to assess the knowledge level on dental implants of Basic and Integral General Stomatologists from Habana del Este, Centro Habana and Habana Vieja municipalities and due to its spreading in the different media and the interest of our Public Health Ministry in application of this technique at municipality level it becomes necessary domain of stomatologists because of they need to guide, to treat and to refer the patients. To knowledge measurement we applied a survey including ten questions using to know and not to know criteria to assess the answers according to its quality. The knowledge level was classified as suitable when there was a 70 % or more of answers with the criterion of to know, but this knowledge level was not suitable for study groups and for the municipalities.

Local government units initiatives on coastal resource management in adjacent municipalities in Camarines Sur, Philippines

Science.gov (United States)

Faustino, A. Z.; Madela, H. L.

2018-03-01

This research was conducted to determine the local government units (LGUs) initiatives on coastal resource management (CRM) in adjacent municipalities in Camarines Sur, Philippines. The respondents of this study are 100 fisherfolk leaders in the municipalities of Calabanga, Tinambac and Siruma. Descriptive, comparative and evaluative methods of research were employed and a survey questionnaire was used as the primary tool in data gathering. On the test of difference, the computed F-value of 12.038 and p-value of .001 revealed a very high difference in the implementation of CRM initiatives in the adjacent municipalities. The respondents in this study live below the poverty threshold. The intrusion of commercial fishers and the use of active fishing gears inside the 15-km municipal waters significantly affect the marine habitat while fishpond conversion kills the natural cycle in the mangrove forests. However, the FOs membership in the Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council empower them to engage in governance which can be a venue for them to recommend policies related to CRM. As a result of this study, a CRM monitoring and evaluation model was crafted to guide the LGUs in the review, revision and crafting of CRM programs.

Investment of financial resources for the procurement of medicines for primary care in Brazilian municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Pontes, Marcela Amaral; Tavares, Noemia Uruth Leão; Francisco, Priscila Maria Stolses Bergamo; Naves, Janeth de Oliveira Silva

2017-08-01

This study shows a descriptive data analysis related to the procurement of medicines for primary care in Brazilian municipalities, as recorded in the National database of Pharmaceutical Service Actions and Services for the period July 2013 - June 2014, by geographic region and population size. Nine hundred and sixty municipalities were analyzed, of which 27% invested monetary value equal to or greater than the minimum statutory recommendations and 43% of these are located in the Southeast. The North region has the highest number of municipalities with less investment. Municipalities with a population over 500,000 inhabitants used, on average, lower resources to provide more items to users. The average number of items purchased was 86 and represents 25% of the National List of Essential Medicines (Rename); 64% had a decentralized resource management and the most commonly used procurement method was "tender". The most purchased drugs are in line with the most prevalent primary care diseases. Findings showed that most municipalities invests below statutory recommendations and are located mainly in the North, Northeast and Midwest. It was not possible to establish a trend between population and amount invested per capita/year.

An Approach to assess the Urban Management Performance of Municipalities in Sri Lanka

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gayani Ranasinghe

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Urbanization tends bring out a number of problems, such as inadequate housing and urban services, increase land prices and construction costs, propagation of slums, pollution and deterioration of the urban environment. Currently, spatial development activities focusing on major cities of Sri Lanka are demanding urban infrastructure and services where municipalities are facing challenges on provision of the infrastructure and proper urban management too. This study seeks to identify the relevant criteria, indicators and a method for assessing the urban management performance of municipalities in Sri Lanka since specific measurement criteria and related indicators are not yet identified to evaluate urban management by the central government or local government levels. Based on Literature review, five criteria and 25 indicators were selected considering their applicability for the context of Sri Lanka. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator Method (FPPSI was applied to synthesize indicators and the Synthetic indicator has been used to show the performance of each criterion in terms of urban service delivery. Colombo Municipal Council (CMC, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Council (SJKMC and Moratuwa Municipal Council (MMC have been selected as the case studies for this research. Although selected cases are within Colombo Metropolitan Region, none of the municipalities were achieved the “High” or “Very High” level of synthetic indicator (SR>= 0.50 that shows the standard of municipal service delivery of Sri Lanka as a whole. This research lays the platform to evaluate the functional performance of Municipal Councils to guide the future scenario and to make decisions at the grass root level for managing the urbanization related issues in the country. Also this research helps the government to know the current trends of development impact and to take necessary policy level decisions to guide the economic growth in a correct

National public health policy in a local context--implementation in two Swedish municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansson, Elisabeth; Fosse, Elisabeth; Tillgren, Per

2011-12-01

In 2003 the wide-ranging Swedish National Public Health Policy (SNPHP), with a focus on health determinants, was adopted by the Swedish parliament. In the context of multilevel governance, SNPHP implementation is dependent on self-governed municipalities and counties. The aim of the study is, from a municipal perspective, to investigate public-health policies in two municipalities. Content analysis of documents and interviews provided a foundation for an explorative case study. The SNPHP at national level is overriding but politically controversial. At local level, a health-determinants perspective was detectable in the policies implemented, but none regarding to health equality. At local level, the SNPHP is not regarded as implementable; rather, limited parts have, to varying degrees, been reconciled with local public-health goals, according to municipal needs and conditions. A success-promoting factor in the two municipalities was the presence of committed and knowledgeable actors/implementers. Also, the municipality with a more centrally controlled and stable party-political leadership succeeded better in implementing structural and intersectoral community-wide policies for coordinated local health promotion. The contents of national and local public-health policies differ, and municipalities that have implemented their own local health policies do not seem to regard the SNPHP as justifiable or adoptable. If the SNPHP overall aim regarding equal health is to be achieved homogeneously in Swedish municipalities, its contents and purpose need clearer management and negotiation, so that implementation of the national policy locally is understandable and motivated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Municipalities as promoters of energy efficient buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quitzau, Maj-Britt; Hoffmann, Birgitte; Elle, Morten

Planning authorities generally experience difficulties in disseminating energy efficient technologies in the built environment. Although planning authorities formulate objectives to promote energy efficient build-ings, these objectives often turn out to be declarations of intent, since the author......Planning authorities generally experience difficulties in disseminating energy efficient technologies in the built environment. Although planning authorities formulate objectives to promote energy efficient build-ings, these objectives often turn out to be declarations of intent, since...... with practitioners in the building sector at the local level. The aim of this report is to look into municipal efforts to promote energy efficient buildings to learn from their experiences: What types of challenges are municipalities facing, when attempting to disseminate energy efficient technologies in local...... building projects through municipal planning practices, and how do they cope with these challenges? The report is based on an in-depth study of proactive planning practices performed by municipal partners in the Class 1 project and a series of experiences, strategies and instru-ments are identified...

A System of Indicators for Financial Analysis of the Municipal Real Property

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Feschiyan

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a system of financial indicators for the efficiency of use of municipal real property. Such a system must provide for meeting the information needs of a number of internal and external consumers and is of primary significance in the analysis of municipalities’ overall financial condition. The following may be pointed out as the major aspects of the practical analysis: i the analysis of the municipality’s provision with immoveable property; ii the analysis of the efficient use of certain categories of municipal real property. The paper aims at clarifying the major moments in the analysis of the structure, composition, and effective use of municipal real property, and the determination of definite indicators to be applied to this analysis oriented towards its implementation. The wide variety of parameters is reduced to a system of 16 indicators: reporting value, depreciation, ratio of replacement, ratio of cost efficiency, ratio of revenue efficiency, return on total assets, return on revenues, return on expenses, ratio of the fitness, ratio of the repair, ratio of real energy provision, ratio of workload, present value of a series of regular cash flows, equivalent yield model, return on investment, return on investment. The paper presents the structure and content of the indicators of the analysis of the municipal real property, as well as the input of these indicators. The estimation (values necessary to determine the indicators, the indicators themselves and their meaning make it possible to study the effectiveness of the operations (functioning of the municipal real property in terms of description of its physical condition, structure, content, purpose and functions, which generates revenues or brings expenditures to the municipality. The system of indicators provides for decision making with a view to boosting the efficiency of public sector management and more specifically – the management of municipal real property.

Mental health among the unemployed and the unemployment rate in the municipality.

Science.gov (United States)

Strandh, Mattias; Novo, Mehmed; Hammarström, Anne

2011-12-01

Previous research has shown that unemployment experiences increase the risk of poor mental health and that this effect differs depending on individual characteristics. Relatively little is known, however, about how the unemployment rate and labour market conditions impact the relationship. This study investigates how municipal unemployment rates and vacancy rates affect mental health in a nationally representative longitudinal survey of initially unemployed Swedish respondents. The study uses a nationally representative longitudinal survey of currently and recently unemployed people in Sweden, in which respondents were re-interviewed one year after the initial interview. Mental health was measured using the GHQ-12. The present article uses multilevel models (hierarchical linear models) to combine municipal-level information on unemployment levels and vacancy rates with individual-level control variables. Higher municipal vacancy rates improved mental health among the unemployed. However, no coherent effect of municipal unemployment rate on the relationship between unemployment and mental health was found. The effect of municipal vacancy rates can be understood in terms of the impact of perceived opportunity on the sense of life-course predictability. That there was no effect of municipal unemployment rate indicates that high local unemployment levels do not reduce the sense of shame and perceived stigma among the unemployed. Taken together, our findings would seem to present a rather bleak picture of the current dramatic labour market situation. The unemployed will be negatively affected by the extremely low demand for labour, while they will not be able to take comfort from their growing numbers.

Improvement of economic security management system of municipalities with account of transportation system development: methods of assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Khe Sun, Pak; Vorona-Slivinskaya, Lubov; Voskresenskay, Elena

2017-10-01

The article highlights the necessity of a complex approach to assess economic security of municipalities, which would consider municipal management specifics. The approach allows comparing the economic security level of municipalities, but it does not describe parameter differences between compared municipalities. Therefore, there is a second method suggested: parameter rank order method. Applying these methods allowed to figure out the leaders and outsiders of the economic security among municipalities and rank all economic security parameters according to the significance level. Complex assessment of the economic security of municipalities, based on the combination of the two approaches, allowed to assess the security level more accurate. In order to assure economic security and equalize its threshold values, one should pay special attention to transportation system development in municipalities. Strategic aims of projects in the area of transportation infrastructure development in municipalities include the following issues: contribution into creating and elaborating transportation logistics and manufacture transport complexes, development of transportation infrastructure with account of internal and external functions of the region, public transport development, improvement of transport security and reducing its negative influence on the environment.

Boreal forests can have a remarkable role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions locally: Land use-related and anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and sinks at the municipal level

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vanhala, Pekka, E-mail: pekka.vanhala@ymparisto.fi [Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, P.O. Box 140, Mechelininkatu 34 a, FI-00251 Helsinki (Finland); Bergström, Irina [Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, P.O. Box 140, Mechelininkatu 34 a, FI-00251 Helsinki (Finland); Haaspuro, Tiina [University of Helsinki, Department of Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 65, Viikinkaari 1, 00014 Helsinki (Finland); Kortelainen, Pirkko; Holmberg, Maria; Forsius, Martin [Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Environment Centre, P.O. Box 140, Mechelininkatu 34 a, FI-00251 Helsinki (Finland)

2016-07-01

Ecosystem services have become an important concept in policy-making. Carbon (C) sequestration into ecosystems is a significant ecosystem service, whereas C losses can be considered as an ecosystem disservice. Municipalities are in a position to make decisions that affect local emissions and therefore are important when considering greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. Integrated estimations of fluxes at a regional level help local authorities to develop land use policies for minimising GHG emissions and maximising C sinks. In this study, the Finnish national GHG accounting system is modified and applied at the municipal level by combining emissions and sinks from agricultural land, forest areas, water bodies and mires (land use-related GHG emissions) with emissions from activities such as energy production and traffic (anthropogenic GHG emissions) into the LUONNIKAS calculation tool. The study area consists of 14 municipalities within the Vanajavesi catchment area located in Southern Finland. In these municipalities, croplands, peat extraction sites, water bodies and undrained mires are emission sources, whereas forests are large carbon sinks that turn the land use-related GHG budget negative, resulting in C sequestration into the ecosystem. The annual land use-related sink in the study area was 78 t CO{sub 2} eq km{sup −2} and 2.8 t CO{sub 2} eq per capita. Annual anthropogenic GHG emissions from the area amounted to 250 t CO{sub 2} eq km{sup −2} and 9.2 t CO{sub 2} eq per capita. Since forests are a significant carbon sink and the efficiency of this sink is heavily affected by forest management practices, forest management policy is a key contributing factor for mitigating municipal GHG emissions. - Highlights: • The significance of natural landscapes in the regional C budgets is shown. • Boreal forests can be remarkable C sinks enabling net C sequestration in ecosystems. • The large area of forest may compensate for all C emissions in the municipality. �

FAMILY HEALTH STRATEGY OF PARTICIPATION IN MUNICIPAL HEALTH PLAN CONSTRUCTION: AN EXPERIENCE REPOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adilson Ribeiro dos Santos

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The Municipal Health Plan is an important planning tool in the management at the Unified Health System and at the same time, a mechanism for popular participation. This study aims to report the experience of the Municipal Health Plan’s workshop conducted by a Family Health Program team in a municipality in the south of Bahia Construção do Plano Municipal de Saúde. in the year 2014. This is an experience report that consolidates itself as a descriptive research tool that presents a reflection about an action that addresses a situation experienced in the professional interest of the scientific community. The workshop included the team and community members’ participation. The population's health problems follow a national trend, highlighting problems like diabetes, hypertension, worms, abuse of alcohol and other drugs inaddition to viruses. The health system problems reveal the weaknesses in local management of the Unified Health System by the insufficiency and/or lack of resources such as drugs, tests, equipment maintenance and others. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of the Municipal Health Plan as a management tool of the Unified Health System that allows closeness between users, workers and managers, as well as being a space for policy vocalization, contributing to the real effectiveness of the Unified Health System, based on participatory planning in accordance with the needs of users.

Research challenges in municipal solid waste logistics management.

Science.gov (United States)

Bing, Xiaoyun; Bloemhof, Jacqueline M; Ramos, Tania Rodrigues Pereira; Barbosa-Povoa, Ana Paula; Wong, Chee Yew; van der Vorst, Jack G A J

2016-02-01

During the last two decades, EU legislation has put increasing pressure on member countries to achieve specified recycling targets for municipal household waste. These targets can be obtained in various ways choosing collection methods, separation methods, decentral or central logistic systems, etc. This paper compares municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices in various EU countries to identify the characteristics and key issues from a waste management and reverse logistics point of view. Further, we investigate literature on modelling municipal solid waste logistics in general. Comparing issues addressed in literature with the identified issues in practice result in a research agenda for modelling municipal solid waste logistics in Europe. We conclude that waste recycling is a multi-disciplinary problem that needs to be considered at different decision levels simultaneously. A holistic view and taking into account the characteristics of different waste types are necessary when modelling a reverse supply chain for MSW recycling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste management in the regional level: Example of municipalities Pljevlja and Žabljak

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šljivančanin Dušan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The problem of proper disposal of all types of solid waste and its inadequate treatment is one of the most dominant spatial-ecological problems of modern society, and as such seriously threatens the quality of basic environmental media and public health. The aim is to point out opportunities for sustainable development of Pljevlja and Zabljak Municipalities through the development of waste management system that will control waste generation, educe the impact of waste on the environment, improve resource efficiency, ensure the proper disposal, stimulate investment in public-private sector and maximize the economic opportunities arising from waste. The subject of this paper is to find an effective model of sustainable waste management in the municipalities of Zabljak and Pljevlja, with the main objective of rational use of space, as a limited resource, and reduce overall costs of waste treatment. The studied area that includes the administrative boundaries of these municipalities in the north of Montenegro, among to traffic geographical and functional correlation, present an area that is in the official republic documents (Spatial Rlan of Montenegro until 2020, 2008 recognized as a region in which envisages the construction of regional sanitary landfills and transfer stations network. In this sense, the work will represent the implementation of policies on waste management in Montenegro, in accordance with the recommendations, directives and EU guidelines.

Comparing the subjective task difficulty of human operators with task description levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jin Kyun; Jung, Won Dea; Yang, Joon Eon

2011-01-01

Without the loss of generality, it is reasonable to say that an operating procedure consists of many steps including detailed descriptions that provide necessary information in conducting the required tasks safely and effectively. In this regard, since it is widely perceived that procedures are effective for reducing the occurrence of human performance related problems, the use of procedures is very popular in large process control systems including nuclear power plants (NPPs), commercial airplanes and railway systems. However, the secure of an operational safety by using an operating procedure can be accomplished only if human operators are able to effectively obtain necessary information from it. In other words, it is hard to expect the reduction of human performance related problems, if task descriptions are so ambiguous or incomplete that human operators feel an undue difficulty in identifying 'what have to be done' and 'how to do it' from procedures. Unfortunately, it seems that a systematic method that can be used to distinguish the proper level of task descriptions is rare. For this reason, Park et al. developed a decision chart that could be helpful for characterizing the level of task descriptions. In this study, in order to ensure the appropriateness of the suggested decision chart, more detailed investigations were conducted with the support of human operators who are working as the operating personnel of NPPs

Antenatal services for pregnant teenagers in Mbarara Municipality, Southwestern Uganda: health workers and community leaders' views.

Science.gov (United States)

Rukundo, Godfrey Zari; Abaasa, Catherine; Natukunda, Peace Byamukama; Ashabahebwa, Bob Harold; Allain, Dominic

2015-12-23

Globally, about 11% of all annual births involve adolescents aged 15-19 years. Uganda has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed stakeholders' views concerning factors affecting availability, accessibility and utilization of teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara Municipality, southwestern Uganda. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study utilizing Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). It was conducted in three divisions of Mbarara Municipality. The KIIs were held six Village Health Team (VHT) members, three gynecologists, six midwives, three Community leaders (LC 3 Secretaries for women affairs), one police officer from the Family and Child protection unit at Mbarara Police and three Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). Data analysis was done manually by identifying emergent themes which were later coded and organized into concepts which were later developed into explanations. Reproductive health stakeholders generally considered teenage pregnancy to be among the high risk pregnancies that need to be handled with care. In addition, the reproductive health workers described their experience with teenagers as challenging due to their limited skills when it comes to addressing adolescent-specific needs. Adolescent-friendly services were defined as those that could provide privacy, enough time and patience when dealing with teenagers. With this description, there were no teenager-friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality at the time of the study. There is need for proactive steps to establish these services if the needs of this subgroup are to be met. There are no teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality and few teenagers access and utilise the available general antenatal services. There is need for specialized training for health workers who deal with pregnant teens in Mbarara Municipality in order for them to provide teenager friendly services.

Is Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Economically Efficient?

Science.gov (United States)

Lavee, Doron

2007-12-01

It has traditionally been argued that recycling municipal solid waste (MSW) is usually not economically viable and that only when externalities, long-term dynamic considerations, and/or the entire product life cycle are taken into account, recycling becomes worthwhile from a social point of view. This article explores the results of a wide study conducted in Israel in the years 2000 2004. Our results reveal that recycling is optimal more often than usually claimed, even when externality considerations are ignored. The study is unique in the tools it uses to explore the efficiency of recycling: a computer-based simulation applied to an extensive database. We developed a simulation for assessing the costs of handling and treating MSW under different waste-management systems and used this simulation to explore possible cost reductions obtained by designating some of the waste (otherwise sent to landfill) to recycling. We ran the simulation on data from 79 municipalities in Israel that produce over 60% of MSW in Israel. For each municipality, we were able to arrive at an optimal method of waste management and compare the costs associated with 100% landfilling to the costs born by the municipality when some of the waste is recycled. Our results indicate that for 51% of the municipalities, it would be efficient to adopt recycling, even without accounting for externality costs. We found that by adopting recycling, municipalities would be able to reduce direct costs by an average of 11%. Through interviews conducted with representatives of municipalities, we were also able to identify obstacles to the utilization of recycling, answering in part the question of why actual recycling levels in Israel are lower than our model predicts they should be.

Operation and profits of energy boards. A study of the basis of municipal business activities and the equitableness of the profits of municipal energy boards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karhu, V.; Nissinen, T.; Valkama, P.

1999-01-01

The objective of the empirical part of the study (Chapter 6) is to evaluate the equitableness of profits on capital invested of the 16 municipal energy boards selected for this study and, at the same time, to create a general evaluation basis for equity decisions made by the authorities case by case. In this part of the study, answers are sought for the following questions: (1) how has the economic situation of the energy boards studied been recently developing based on various economic parameters? (2) have there been differences in the returns and profitability of energy boards operating as public utilities or energy boards operating in company form? (3) what kind of a price level the energy boards studied have maintained in relation to the national averages of this field? (4) is a city in a weaker economic position more tempted to require higher profits on capital invested than a city with a sound economic basis? (5) how high profits on capital invested can be considered reasonable for the whole energy board and particularly for a network business holding a monopoly? The structure of the study is as follows. Chapter 2 contains a brief description of the energy boards selected for this study and of the economic situation of the cities owning them. The theoretical part of the study is included in Chapter 3 'Municipal Self-Government and Business'. It analyses rather deeply the terminology of the municipal business, norm basis, steering of actions, restructuring of companies into business profit centres and privatisation, as well as application of the Act on Restrictions on Competition from the standpoint of a municipal self-government. Chapter 4 deals with the establishment of energy board activity, the legal basis and the criteria for pricing electricity, network services and district heat. Chapter 5 examines the Act on Restrictions on Competition as a regulator of the energy board activities. After this, there are the presentations of the research results of the

Conceptual modular description of the high-level waste management system for system studies model development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKee, R.W.; Young, J.R.; Konzek, G.J.

1992-08-01

This document presents modular descriptions of possible alternative components of the federal high-level radioactive waste management system and the procedures for combining these modules to obtain descriptions for alternative configurations of that system. The 20 separate system component modules presented here can be combined to obtain a description of any of the 17 alternative system configurations (i.e., scenarios) that were evaluated in the MRS Systems Studies program (DOE 1989a). First-approximation descriptions of other yet-undefined system configurations could also be developed for system study purposes from this database. The descriptions include, in a modular format, both functional descriptions of the processes in the waste management system, plus physical descriptions of the equipment and facilities necessary for performance of those functions

How efficient are municipalities in activating cash-help recipients in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weatherall, James; Beltov, Tor

Previous studies do not analyse activation starts as the parameter of interest in evaluating labour market programs. In this paper we evaluate municipality ability to activate cash-help recipients, which helps recipients gain the necessary skills vital to future regular employment in Denmark...... policy (ALMP) practices and organisation can only determine activation participation to a certain extent because unemployed cash-help recipient ability affects participation in activation. Municipalities can improve activation efficiency levels in the future by emulating the efficient municipalities...

Do Municipal Governments Need More Tax Powers? A Background Paper on Municipal Finance in Alberta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melville McMillan

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Local governments in Alberta have faced considerable and variable challenges over the past 60 years. For example, the rapid population and economic growth during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s created exceptional demands for schools, schooling and municipal infrastructure; demands exceeding those of the last 30 years. Local and especially municipal financing has relied heavily on the property tax throughout. Questions are being asked today about whether the property tax is sufficient for municipal government. Our historical analysis provides insights into the fiscal situation of Alberta’s municipalities that can assist in addressing those questions. The main findings are highlighted here. We conclude that current demands, though considerable, are not creating stress on the property tax as a source of municipal revenue. • The property tax burden in Alberta during the past decade is the lowest that it has been over the past 60 years. Presently, property taxes are about 3.5 per cent of personal income. They were as high as seven per cent during much of the 1960s and averaged in the four to five per cent range from 1950 to 2000. Local and provincial school taxes were responsible for most of the fluctuations in the property tax burden. Municipal property taxes ranged from two to three per cent of personal incomes and recently amounted to about 2.5 per cent, a level typical of that over the past 20 years. • Investment in local infrastructure has over the past 30 years been at half the rate of that of the previous 30 years. Only since 2006, with the assistance of provincial capital grants, has infrastructure spending shown upward movement. Capital spending lagged population growth for many years and probably contributed to a deterioration of infrastructure. • Municipal current or operating expenditures (about three-quarters of the total have been a declining share of personal incomes since the late 1980s and, since 2000, are a smaller share than

Esco in Danish municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Hansen, Jesper Rohr; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

2012-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to discuss the possible benefits of involving Energy Service Companies (ESCO) in realising energy savings in municipalities, and how ESCO projects can be formulated very differently in the various municipalities, according to building volume, use of technologies......, energy savings, type of collaboration etc. Background: Since 2008, several Danish municipalities have started energy retrofitting of municipal buildings, based on contracts with Energy Service Companies. In spite of the strong growth of ESCOs, there is also widespread scepticism about ESCO, as many...... approaches are being used in Danish municipalities, which we label the basic, the integrated and the strategic ESCO approaches. The three approaches include different ambitions, technologies, economies and innovation potentials. Whereas the basic approach implies a ‘traditional’ guarantee-based model...

Data summary of municipal solid waste management alternatives. Volume 4, Appendix B: RDF technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1992-10-01

This appendix contains background information, technical descriptions, economic data, mass and energy balances, and information on environmental releases for the refuse derived fuels (RDF) option in municipal solid waste management alternatives. Demonstration programs at St. Louis, Missouri; Franklin, Ohio; and Delaware are discussed. Information on pellet production and cofiring with coal is also presented.

Adaptive municipal electronic forms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuiper, Pieternel; van Dijk, Elisabeth M.A.G.; Bondarouk, Tatiana; Ruel, Hubertus Johannes Maria; Guiderdoni-Jourdain, Karine; Oiry, Ewan

Adaptation of electronic forms (e-forms) seems to be a step forward to reduce the burden for people who fill in forms. Municipalities more and more offer e-forms online that can be used by citizens to request a municipal product or service or by municipal employees to place a request on behalf of a

CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL CONTROL IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF FAIR SANTANA - BAHIA: THE DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Roberto Lima Falcão do Vale

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The recognition of Brazil as a citizen tends to open spaces for democratic construction, so that with this organizing principle of society shall participate effectively in state actions. Thus, the goal of research is to understand the process of implementation of local health councils in the county. The study is exploratory and descriptive, using secondary data collected through document analysis. The period of data collection began in September 2012 until January 2013. The bill (PL that provides for the establishment of Local Health Councils (CLS was approved in 1999, but the following year the city suffers a setback in social control when, after new municipal management, the same PL was repealed. The apex of the discussions was the Municipal Health Conference VI moment it strengthens the idea of embedding the CLS in the municipality. In 2006 it is proposed to draw up a supplementary standard to ensure the inclusion of this event in the municipal health plan. Procedurally, the next actions are updates of directors and expansion of CLS. We consider the technical and political empowerment of the counselors are essential to respond to the needs of the community.

Nitrate and trace elements in municipal and bottled water in Spain Nitrato y elementos traza en agua embotellada y municipal en España

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia Espejo-Herrera

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Objectives: To describe levels of nitrate and trace elements in drinking water from the study areas of a multicase-control study of cancer in Spain (MCC-Spain. Methods: A total of 227 tap water samples were randomly collected from 67 municipalities in 11 provinces and the nine most frequently consumed bottled water brands were sampled to measure levels of nitrate, arsenic, nickel, chromium, cadmium, lead, selenium and zinc. Results: The median nitrate level was 4.2mg/l (rangeObjetivos: Determinar las concentraciones de nitrato y de elementos traza en el agua de consumo de las áreas del estudio Multicaso-Control de Cáncer en España (MCC-Spain. Métodos: Se tomaron al azar 227 muestras de agua municipal en 67 municipios de 11 provincias, y 9 muestras de las aguas embotelladas más consumidas, para cuantificar la cantidad presente de nitrato, arsénico, níquel, cromo, cadmio, plomo y zinc. Resultados: La mediana de las cifras de nitrato fue 4,2mg/l (rango<1-29,0, con similares resultados en municipios urbanos y rurales (p=0,86. Los elementos traza fueron incuantificables en el 94% de las muestras de agua municipal. Se observaron diferencias entre áreas para nitrato (p<0,001 y arsénico (p=0,03. Solo el nitrato fue cuantificable en el agua embotellada (rango 2,3-15,6mg/l. Conclusiones: La cantidad de nitrato en el agua municipal difiere entre regiones y es menor que el límite regulatorio en todas las muestras. Los elementos traza son mayormente incuantificables tanto en el agua municipal como en la embotellada.

Resource Prospects of Municipal Solid Wastes Generatedin the Ga East Municipal Assembly of Ghana

OpenAIRE

Benedicta Abiti; Susanne Hartard; Heike B. Bradl; Davar Pishva; John Kojo Ahiakpa

2017-01-01

Background. Municipal solid wastes management has recently become an important public health concern. Municipal solid wastes are a major source of raw materials that could be used for resource recovery for diverse applications. Objectives. The present study aimed to determine the composition of municipal solid waste and recoverable resources from the waste of the Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Methods. An exploratory approach was used to collect ...

Renewable municipal waste barometer - EurObserv'ER - November 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-11-01

7,7 Mtoe of primary energy produced from the combustion of renewable municipal waste in the European Union in 2009. Approximately half the energy produced in Union European's municipal waste incineration plants is obtained from fermentescible waste (ie biomass waste). To date, incineration is still the main energy conversion channel for renewable municipal waste, for in 2009, biomass energy output stood at 7.7 million toe, which is a 3.3% increase on 2008. Furthermore, this amount could be doubled, assuming a constant level of waste, by investing in modernisation and combustion efficiency improvements

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN FUNDRAISING FOR MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Coriolano Barros Durand Junior

2014-09-01

Full Text Available It is the constant growth of the public administration challenges in meeting the huge demand generated by the needs in education, health, housing, infrastructure and social assistance,which can rarely be met only by the usual collection of fees of the municipalities. Hence, and in order to properly document the uses of public resources, the Federal Government adopted a new instance on the release of public funds to meet the demands of the municipalities by requiring the production of projects. Thus, mechanisms have been developed in order to receive and review projects developed in municipal levels.

Career Trajectories of Municipal Servants: Two Types of Professional Mobility (Case Study in Novgorod Region

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A A Kurakin

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The case study of a district in the Novgorod region shows some scenarios of recruiting new employees in the district and town municipalities, their work motivation and the most plausible career trajectories. The author argues that on the municipal level (district or its administrative center there are parallel career ladders for the top-ranked municipal clerks and for the rest of the municipal staff: the career trajectory of the high-ranked clerks can be described as a step-by-step trajectory, while the one of the lower-ranked employees — as a shuttle trajectory. There is an almost insurmountable border line between these two levels of municipal hierarchy, an obstacle for implementing the classical Weberian characteristics of “proper” bureaucracy: meritocratic recruitment and workers’ promotion and predictable long-term career ladders.

Waste Sites - Municipal Waste Operations

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Education | GIS Inventory — A Municipal Waste Operation is a DEP primary facility type related to the Waste Management Municipal Waste Program. The sub-facility types related to Municipal Waste...

HIV infection and AIDS in a small municipality in Southeast Brazil

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Eyer-Silva Walter A

2005-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Studies on the aspects of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities are invaluable to appropriately design control strategies, better allocate resources, and improve health care services. The objective of the study was to assess the clinical and epidemiological aspects of HIV infection in a small municipality. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out in Miracema, a small municipality in the northwestern area of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between July 1999 and December 2003. All HIV-infected adult patients followed up at the local HIV/AIDS Program were included. Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics were prospectively assessed through standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 65 adult patients who attended the local HIV/AIDS Program were analyzed. Most (34 were women (male to female ratio: 0.9. An absolute predominance of patients who were born in Miracema or neighboring municipalities (94%, lived in Miracema (90.7%, were single (70.8%, attributed the acquisition of HIV infection to unprotected heterosexual intercourse (72.3% and had a past history of snorting cocaine (27.7 was found Central nervous system disorders (including five cases of cryptococcal meningitis and acute pulmonary pneumocystosis-like respiratory failure were major causes of morbidity. Most patients (56.9% were at presented in advanced stages of HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: The predominance of patients on advanced stages of HIV infection suggest the existence of a large pool of undiagnosed cases in the community. A major feature of the cohort was an inverted male to female ratio. Further investigations over a broader geographic area are urgently needed for better understanding the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities and rural areas.

HIV infection and AIDS in a small municipality in Southeast Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter A Eyer-Silva

2005-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Studies on the aspects of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities are invaluable to appropriately design control strategies, better allocate resources, and improve health care services. The objective of the study was to assess the clinical and epidemiological aspects of HIV infection in a small municipality. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out in Miracema, a small municipality in the northwestern area of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between July 1999 and December 2003. All HIV-infected adult patients followed up at the local HIV/AIDS Program were included. Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics were prospectively assessed through standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 65 adult patients who attended the local HIV/AIDS Program were analyzed. Most (34 were women (male to female ratio: 0.9. An absolute predominance of patients who were born in Miracema or neighboring municipalities (94%, lived in Miracema (90.7%, were single (70.8%, attributed the acquisition of HIV infection to unprotected heterosexual intercourse (72.3% and had a past history of snorting cocaine (27.7 was found Central nervous system disorders (including five cases of cryptococcal meningitis and acute pulmonary pneumocystosis-like respiratory failure were major causes of morbidity. Most patients (56.9% were at presented in advanced stages of HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: The predominance of patients on advanced stages of HIV infection suggest the existence of a large pool of undiagnosed cases in the community. A major feature of the cohort was an inverted male to female ratio. Further investigations over a broader geographic area are urgently needed for better understanding the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities and rural areas.

Analysis of the Unified Health System funding and expenditure in the municipalities of the "Rota dos Bandeirantes" health region, State of São Paulo, Brazil.

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Santos, João Alves Dos; Mendes, Áquilas Nogueira; Pereira, Antônio Carlos; Paranhos, Luiz Renato

2017-04-01

The national scenario of lack of resources in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) has led to major differences in the municipalities funding models. Thus, this study aims to analyze SUS funding and expenditure in seven cities of the Rota dos Bandeirantes health region, State of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, from 2009 to 2012. Settled expenditure indicators were collected from the Public Health Budgets Information System (SIOPS) for analysis, showing descriptive data with absolute and relative frequency calculations. We identified that the per capita income available for the city of Barueri is almost tenfold that of the city of Carapicuíba, and that Barueri's health expenditure per capita is more than double that of the regional average and almost fivefold that of Carapicuíba. The Federal Government is responsible for 95.4% of all funding to municipalities. Most of the available income of the municipalities in the region include their own taxes and state transfers. All the municipalities showed a significant positive trend, both for available income and health expenditure. The regional average of own revenue spent on health is 27.3%. Carapicuíba achieved a level of 37.5%, which is much higher than the minimum of 15% required by the Federal Constitution.

Blazing the energy trail: The Municipal Energy Management Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-12-01

The Urban Consortium Energy Task Force pioneers energy and environmental solutions for US cities and counties. When local officials participate in the task force, they open the door to many resources for their communities. The US is entering a period of renewed interest in energy management. Improvements in municipal energy management allow communities to free up energy operating funds to meet other needs. These improvements can even keep energy dollars in the community through the purchase of services and products used to save energy. With this idea in mind, the US Department of Energy Municipal Energy Management Program has funded more than 250 projects that demonstrate innovative energy technologies and management tools in cities and counties through the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force (UCETF). UCETF helps the US Department of Energy foster municipal energy management through networks with cities and urbanized counties and through links with three national associations of local governments. UCETF provides funding for projects that demonstrate innovative and realistic technologies, strategies, and methods that help urban America become more energy efficient and environmentally responsible. The task force provides technical support to local jurisdictions selected for projects. UCETF also shares information about successful energy management projects with cities and counties throughout the country via technical reports and project papers. The descriptions included here capsulize a sample of UCETF`s demonstration projects around the country.

Assessment of atrazine levels in Kintampo-North and Techiman municipalities in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwarteng, L.

2013-06-01

Successes in Ghana's agriculture and saving lives from vector borne diseases would not have happened without the application of pesticides. The increasing maize farming activities in the Techiman and Kintampo-North Municipalities of the Brong-Ahafo Region have resulted in a corresponding increase in atrazine usage. The presence of pesticides in the environment and food impacts negatively on human health and create barriers to trade in agricultural commodities. Atrazine is a herbicide of concern because of its persistent in the environment. There is growing evidence of cacinogenicity, genotoxicity and endocrine disruption capacity being attributed to the ingestion of or exposure to atrazine. In this study a field survey was conducted to assess farmers' knowledge of safe handling and use of pesticides. The study also evaluated the levels of atrazine in soil at different depth and water from the study area using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and also assessed the potential health risk associated with atrazine contamination of water in the Techiman and Kintampo North Municipalities. Generally a high proportion of farmers were at a high risk of pesticide poisoning from occupational exposure. More than 80% of farmers did not practice safety precautions during pesticide mixing and application leading to considerable prevalence of pesticide related illness in this agricultural community. Atrazine residues were detected in 20% of the total soil samples analysed and the levels ranged between 0.001µg/Kg and 0.011µg/Kg. The estimated doses of atrazine do not pose any direct hazard to human health although present in water samples. Although residue levels of atrazine were low the results implicitly revealed that improper pesticide use in the study area has led to contamination of soil and poor water quality. (au)

Knowledge and technology transfer to improve the municipal solid waste management system of Durango City, Mexico.

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Valencia-Vázquez, Roberto; Pérez-López, Maria E; Vicencio-de-la-Rosa, María G; Martínez-Prado, María A; Rubio-Hernández, Rubén

2014-09-01

As society evolves its welfare level increases, and as a consequence the amount of municipal solid waste increases, imposing great challenges to municipal authorities. In developed countries, municipalities have established integrated management schemes to handle, treat, and dispose of municipal solid waste in an economical and environmentally sound manner. Municipalities of developing and transition countries are not exempted from the challenges involving municipal solid waste handling, but their task is not easy to accomplish since they face budget deficits, lack of knowledge, and deficiencies in infrastructure and equipment. In the northern territory of Mexico, the municipality of Durango is facing the challenge of increased volumes of waste with a lack of adequate facilities and infrastructure. This article analyses the evolution of the municipal solid waste management of Durango city, which includes actions such as proper facilities construction, equipment acquisition, and the implementation of social programmes. The World Bank, offering courses to municipal managers on landfill operation and waste management, promoted the process of knowledge and technology transfer. Thereafter, municipal authorities attended regional and some international workshops on waste management. In addition they followed suggestions of international contractors and equipment dealers with the intention to improve the situation of the waste management of the city. After a 15-year period, transfer of knowledge and technology resulted in a modern municipal solid waste management system in Durango municipality. The actual system did not reach the standard levels of an integrated waste management system, nevertheless, a functional evaluation shows clear indications that municipality actions have put them on the right pathway. © The Author(s) 2014.

Assessment of levels of mercury in human breast milk in Obuasi Municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asamoah-Antwi, Dinah

2016-07-01

This study was conducted to assess the levels of mercury in breast milk and its potential health risk to the breastfed infants in Obuasi Municipality. Forty eight (48) individual breast milk samples were collected from mothers in selected health facilities in Obuasi town and it’s environ. Total mercury concentrations were determined in the breast milk samples using advanced mercury analyser (AMA254 Altec s.r.o, in the Czech Republic). Methylmercury levels were determined using high performance liquid chromatography linked to inductively couple plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) with isotope dilution. The mean concentrations of Total Hg and Methyl Hg in the breast milk were 0.4043 and 0.1829 μg/L respectively. Total mercury and methylmercury concentrations ranged from 0.080 to 2.320 μg/L and 0.008 to 0.734 μg/L respectively. The estimated intake obtained in this study was lower than the reference dose established by the US EPA (0.3μg/kg/day). However the hazard quotients evaluated showed that the one month old infants had hazard quotient above the 0.2, therefore indicating that there is a potential risk for such infants and need to be managed. It was also found that (65.3%) of the mothers had no knowledge of the exposure route to mercury and it toxicity to humans. (au)

Governance in managing public health resources in Brazilian municipalities.

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Avelino, George; Barberia, Lorena G; Biderman, Ciro

2014-09-01

This study contributes to the health governance discussion by presenting a new data set that allows for comparisons of the management of health resources among Brazilian municipalities. Research on Brazil is particularly important as the provision of health services was decentralized in 1988 and since then municipalities have been given greater responsibilities for the management of fiscal resources for public health service provision. Based on detailed information on corruption practices (such as over-invoicing, illegal procurement and fake receipts) from audit reports of health programmes in 980 randomly selected Brazilian municipalities, this study deepens understanding of the relationship between health governance institutions and the incidence of corruption at the local level by exploring the extent to which horizontal and vertical accountabilities contribute to reducing the propensity of municipal government officials to divert public health resources for private gain. The results of our multiple regression analysis suggest that the experience of health municipal councils is correlated with reductions in the incidence of corruption in public health programmes. This impact is significant over time, with each additional year of health council experience reducing corruption incidence levels by 2.1% from baseline values. The findings reported in this study do not rely on the subjectivity of corruption measures which usually conflate the actual incidence of corruption with its perception by informants. Based on our results, we provide recommendations that can assist policy makers to reduce corruption. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2013; all rights reserved.

From electricity to heat: A discourse-analytical policy study of the energy system conversion at national, municipal and household levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perman, Karin

2009-01-01

The aim of this thesis is to analyse how space heating for single-family houses, and energy system conversion has been constructed and discussed at national, municipal and household levels. Political documents have been studied, and interviews have been carried out with politicians, civil servants and householders in the municipality of Falun. In order to study and analyse similarities and differences between these three political levels, the following main questions were asked: In which sense is the use of electrical heating formulated as problematic? How are the causes of these problems presented, and which solutions are suggested? What are the effects of how problems, causes and solutions are constructed? At the national level, the use of electricity produced by nuclear power was considered a problem. Initially the municipality's policy documents present the same problem, but there is a change of focus to the problem of imported electricity produced by fossil fuel, and the resulting emissions. At household level, the problem was often an old and badly functioning space-heating system. But some households did not formulate a problem before they converted. Instead they were influenced by their neighbours and thereby convinced. At all three political levels, there is consensus on the households' responsibility concerning energy transition. While industry tends to be considered incapable of cutting down its energy consumption, households are expected to take the responsibility seriously. Furthermore, within the household, the heating system tends to be constructed as a predominantly male concern. At all three levels, households are perceived as dependant on economical subsidies when taking the decision to convert from electrical heating. Although it is interesting that the interviewed householders only apply this view to others than themselves. They are convinced that other households need subsidies to act in an environmentally correct way. The discourse concerning

Effect of different levels of municipal solid waste compost and nitrogen on some grain elements concentration of sweet corn (Zea mays L. saccharata and some soil properties under Marvdasht conditions

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A. Mojab Ghasrodashti

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This experiment was conducted in order to study the influence of different levels of municipal solid waste compost and nitrogen rate on grain quality of sweet corn (Zea mays L. saccharata and some soil properties under Marvdasht conditions during growing season of 2008-2009. The experiment was arranged as split plots based on a randomized complete block design with two factors and three replications. Main plot included five levels of nitrogen fertilizer (100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 kg N.ha-1 and sub plots included four levels of municipal solid waste compost (10, 20, 30 and 40 t.ha-1. The Results showed that the highest fresh ear and grain yield resulted from application of 200 kg N.ha-1 and 40 t.ha-1 compost. The grain quality analysis showed that nitrogen had significant effect on grain nitrogen percent and had not significant effect on grain phosphorus and nitrogen content. Also, compost had significant effect on grain nitrogen and phosphorus percent but had no significant effect on grain potassium percent. Soil analysis results showed that effect of compost on organic matter, EC and pH and interactions between nitrogen and compost were significant only on soil nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus percent. Nitrogen had no significant effect only on soil nitrogen percent. Also, the results showed that optimum amount of grain nitrogen and phosphorus percent were gained by using 40 t.ha-1 municipal solid waste compost and optimum amount of grain potassium percent was achieved by using 30 t.ha-1 municipal solid waste compost. Application of 250 kg N.ha-1 and 40 t.ha-1 municipal solid waste compost consequences to optimum amount of soil nitrogen and potassium was gained and optimum amount of soil phosphorus was gained in 150 kg N.ha-1 and 40 t.ha-1 municipal solid waste compost treatments. In general, to achieve the optimum growth of this crop in similar soils, application of 250 kg N.ha-1 and 40 t.ha-1 municipal solid waste compost treatments could

40 CFR 62.15265 - How do I monitor the load of my municipal waste combustion unit?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... continuously estimate load level (for example, the feed rate of municipal solid waste or refuse-derived fuel... municipal waste combustion unit? 62.15265 Section 62.15265 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... DESIGNATED FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS Federal Plan Requirements for Small Municipal Waste Combustion Units...

Effect of different levels of municipal waste compost and maternal corm weight on yield and vegetative characteristics of saffron (Crocus sativus L.

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Zohre Gholizade

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In order to investigate the effects of different municipal waste compost levels of and maternal corm weights on yield and vegetative characteristics of saffron, an experiment was conducted with a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, University of Birjand during the growing season of 2014-2015. The treatments were four levels of municipal waste compost (0, 5, 10 and 20 t.ha-1 and three mother corm weights (0.1- 4, 4.1- 8 and 8.1- 12 g. The traits included the number of flower, fresh weight of flower, stigma and fresh weight of corm with scale, weight and diameter replacement and number of buds. The results showed that the effect of municipal waste compost was significant on total weight corm with scale, diameter of center corm and replacement corm, weight of fresh flower and stigma. The highest corm weight and number of replacement corms were obtained for treatment 10 t. ha-1 compost (21.33 g. plant -1 and 2.33 number, respectively, while the control had the lowest values (with 16.4 g. plant -1 and 1.66 number. The effect of mother corm weight was significant on the vegetative characteristics of saffron. The highest corm weight with scale, diameter of replacement, flower yield and fresh weight of flower and stigma were observed for 8.1-12 g. The most fresh  and dry weight of stigma (0.31 and 0.11 g. m -1, respectively were observed from treatment  mother corm weight 8.1-12 g, while the lowest values (0.06 and 0.03 g. m -1 were 0.1- 4g.  Interaction between municipal waste compost and corm weight had a significant effect on the weight of fresh flower, sepal, stigma and the number of lateral buds and the highest fresh weight of flower (9.36 g. m-2 and stigma (0.41 g. m-2 were observed for treatment 10 t. ha-1 and 8.1-12g. Generally, the findings of the current study revealed that the use of municipal waste compost (10 t. ha-1 and large mother corms (8/1-12 g

The Port Hope area initiative municipal involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Austin, Rick; Stevenson, Mark

2006-01-01

Port Hope (Canada) contains one of the world's oldest nuclear facility sites. From the 1930's through to the 1970's, processing residues from radium refining facilities located at the Port Hope Harbour were being stored and/or deposited on numerous sites throughout the municipality. For a variety of reasons, including spillage of material during transportation and un-monitored or unauthorized diversion of materials, many private and public properties in the municipality were contaminated with low level radioactive waste. Over the past 30 years, the community has demanded that the nuclear industry and the federal government clean up the mess left in Port Hope. In the 1980's and 1990's, the federal government sought to fulfill its commitment to clean up over one million cubic metres of contaminated material remaining in Port Hope but was unable to find a solution. The Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Siting Task Force worked in trying to find a home for historic LLRW in the 1980's and 1990's. It is only within the past 6 years that Port Hope's community began to see the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. And, the light began to shine when the communities took the issue of long term management of the waste into their own hands and proposed possible solutions to the federal government. So the Port Hope Area Initiative is a community-based initiative. In this paper the author presents some of the reasons for success (so far) and some opportunities and challenges that his municipality, and specifically municipal Council, faces as a partner in this Environmental Assessment and project development process. He addresses some of the key elements of the Project that he believes have led to the success of the Project to this point, including: the Legal Agreement and Agreement Monitoring process; the Property Value Protection Program; the Hosting Fee; the Municipal veto on some decisions; the end Use as an asset to the Community; the Value of Peer Review. He also touches

Models of municipal solid waste generation and collection costs applicable to all municipalities in Thailand

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Chira Bureecam

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to identify and measure the variables which influence municipal solid waste (MSW generation and collection costs in Thai municipality. The empirical analysis is based on the information derived from a survey conducted in a sample size of 570 municipalities across the country. The results from the MSW generation model indicate that the population density, the household size and the size of municipality are the significant determinant of waste generation. Meanwhile, with regards to the MSW collection cost model, the results showed some existence of positive in the volume of MSW collected, population density, the distance between the center of municipality to the disposal site the hazardous sorting and the size of municipality whereas, there were no evidence of the frequency of collection and the ratio of recycled material to waste generation on cost.

Isomorphism in Provision of Culture: The Case of Municipalities in Istanbul and Their Cultural Centers

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Ayça İnce

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Regardless of the diminishing budgets for investment in the cultural sphere, especially at the municipality level. Since 2000, 61 cultural centers have been opened in Istanbul alone. In spite of the growing cultural and artistic diversity and Turkish society's various demands in cultural services, of Turkish cultural policies on a local, city, and national level serves as a starting point for investigating how isomorphism transpires to the provision of cultural services on the level of Istanbul's district municipalities. This study not only explains the role of district municipalities in the cultural field of Istanbul, but also argues that three interconnected concepts—democratization, professionalization, and marketization—promote cultural convergence.

Effectiveness of the Use and Management of Municipal Real Property in Bulgaria

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Statty Stattev

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The paper provides an assessment of the effectiveness of the use and management of municipal real property (MRP, using data gathered through 173 questionnaires, addressed to representatives of 39 municipalities in Bulgaria. The paper is structured as follows: The first section gives information about the municipalities and is based on the following criteria: evaluation of the conditions in the cities; appraisal of the financial situation of the municipalities, the main sources of funding, and the sources that should be used in order to improve the their finances; existence of the relevant planning instruments, etc. The second section focuses on MRP and refers to criteria such as: rating of different aspects of MRP; existence of MRP inventory, municipal strategy and municipal unit dealing exclusively with MRP; evaluation of the selling values and the level of actual MPR rents in comparison to market rents; outsourcing of MRP management functions; assessment of the interdependence between different units of the municipalities; analysis of the focus of the attention of the elected decision makers. The paper ends with some conclusions concerning the identified problems in the process of MRP management in Bulgaria.

External evaluation in municipal level: The impacts of an experience

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Luana Ferrarotto

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The external evaluation is a consolidated reality in our country. Besides the state and federal ones, there are some municipalities that develop their own evaluation programs. To contribute with the debate about the external evaluations, this article presents data from a research which aim was to identify the actions from the Educational Secretariat from a city in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, opposite to the results of PROMASE (Municipal Assessment of the Educational System and its impact in school’s units. It is still being analyzed the path taken by the program with the aim of explaining its conception of the teaching quality. This way, the qualitative research was chosen based on the interviews with the Educational Secretary, teachers and school’s managers. Accordingly with the Secretary, after PROMASE, actions since improvements in the buildings to curricular restructuring and continuing educational were made. Even without the rankings and performance payments, it is noticeable in schools the built of what is called “hidden” and “adjustment” rankings of the pedagogical and evaluative practices to the matrix and to the evaluative instrument of the program to improve the teaching quality and improve the index. For an evaluative system to bring contributions to the network, it is noticeable that the quality must be anchored to the social quality, which more than the index, establishes its own scale as a protagonist in the process of looking to itself, adverse to the blaming of the teachers for the standards tests results and that, consequently, favors the social, political, cultural and human formation of the students.

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Process Description language Level 1 Version 1.3.

Science.gov (United States)

Moodie, Stuart; Le Novère, Nicolas; Demir, Emek; Mi, Huaiyu; Villéger, Alice

2015-09-04

The Systems Biological Graphical Notation (SBGN) is an international community effort for standardized graphical representations of biological pathways and networks. The goal of SBGN is to provide unambiguous pathway and network maps for readers with different scientific backgrounds as well as to support efficient and accurate exchange of biological knowledge between different research communities, industry, and other players in systems biology. Three SBGN languages, Process Description (PD), Entity Relationship (ER) and Activity Flow (AF), allow for the representation of different aspects of biological and biochemical systems at different levels of detail. The SBGN Process Description language represents biological entities and processes between these entities within a network. SBGN PD focuses on the mechanistic description and temporal dependencies of biological interactions and transformations. The nodes (elements) are split into entity nodes describing, e.g., metabolites, proteins, genes and complexes, and process nodes describing, e.g., reactions and associations. The edges (connections) provide descriptions of relationships (or influences) between the nodes, such as consumption, production, stimulation and inhibition. Among all three languages of SBGN, PD is the closest to metabolic and regulatory pathways in biological literature and textbooks, but its well-defined semantics offer a superior precision in expressing biological knowledge.

The impact of municipal budgets and land-use management on the hazardous waste production of Malaga municipalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soler, Ismael P.; Gemar, German; Jimenez-Madrid, Alberto

2017-01-01

Economic development and the search for competitiveness have become key issues in regions' economic success. However, despite the direct relationship between economic and environmental management, few land-use plans consider the latter aspect, and city managers delegate the responsibility for environmental impacts to state legislation and private initiatives. This myopic search for competitiveness has meant that a holistic view of environmental issues is often not integrated into municipal decision-making processes. Therefore, this study's objective was to determine the relevant direct and indirect relationships of land management and budgetary procedures of municipalities with overall production levels of hazardous waste. To this end, a primary tourist region, Málaga, was examined in terms of how this waste's environmental impacts can affect the region's vital tourism sector. This research used principal component analysis, regression by ordinary least squares, cluster analysis in two stages and a means test to compare the data for the Province of Malaga's subregions. The results confirm a positive relationship between municipal expenditure and waste production and highlight the environmental benefits of land use involving environmentally non-aggressive crops. The results also reveal a negative relationship between waste production and financial assets and a direct relationship between unproductive land and the production of hazardous waste. The findings also highlight the necessity of raising awareness about the need for collaboration between different agents, especially in the development of inter-municipal strategies.

The Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories contingency plan -a brief description

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, J.M.

1982-01-01

A brief description of the contingency plan which deals with both the on-site and off-site consequences of a serious nuclear accident is given. The off-site consequences of different size releases and the subsequent action taken by employees, radiation protection experts, municipal, Provincial and Federal authorities is described and the interaction of the various groups is discussed. (author)

Some historical tendencies of the methodological work direction in the education municipal level at the cuban context

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Orlando Ramos-Álvarez

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This work leaves from the theoretical and empiric systematizing that shows the necessity to investigate how it has evolved and what factors they have conditioned the behavior of the methodological work direction in the education municipal level. The basic budgets of the educational are approached that serve of referents for the analysis of the relationships of the organizational functional levels of the methodological work. The study is carried out in the period 1959-2017, starting in 1959 as an important milestone in the conception of the Cuban educational system. When the Revolution triumphed there were two conceptions of Education, in Cuban educational practice, on the one hand the abandoned national education system, essentially pragmatic, totally incongruous and on the other the aspirations of the Revolutionary Government, which had been forged in the revolutionary struggle between 1953 and 1959.

[Estimates of the prevalence of child malnutrition in Brazilian municipalities in 2006].

Science.gov (United States)

Benício, Maria Helena D'Aquino; Martins, Ana Paula Bortoletto; Venancio, Sonia Isoyama; Barros, Aluísio Jardim Dornellas de

2013-06-01

To estimate the prevalence of malnutrition in children for all Brazilian municipalities. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to estimate the individual probability of malnutrition in 5,507 Brazilian municipalities in 2006, in terms of predictive factors grouped according to hierarchical levels. The response variable was child malnutrition (children aged from six to 59 months with height for age and sex below -2 z-scores, according to the World Health Organization standard). The predictive variables were determinants of malnutrition measured similarly by the National Demographics and Health Survey-2006 and the Sample from the 2000 Demographic Census. At level 1 (individual): sex and age, level 2 (household): socioeconomic variables, water and indoor plumbing, urban or rural area and level 3 (municipal): location of the municipality and coverage of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in 2006. The study detected a statistically significant chance of malnutrition in male children, those living in households with two or more individuals per room, those belonging to the lowest quintiles of the socioeconomic score, those with three or more children under five in the household, those with no access to running water or located in the North. There was a negative dose-response association between FHS coverage and the chance of malnutrition (p = 0.007). FHS coverage in the municipality equal to or greater than 70% showed a 45% reduction in the chance of infant malnutrition. Estimates of the prevalence of child malnutrition show that most of the cities have the risk of malnutrition under control, very low or low. Risks of greater magnitude exist only in 158 municipalities in the North Region. Childhood malnutrition as a public health problem is concentrated in the cities of the North region, where FHS coverage is lower. A protective effect of FHS in relation to child malnutrition was found in the country as a whole, irrespective of other determinants of the problem.

An Exploration into the Municipal Capacity to Finance Capital Infrastructure

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Almos T. Tassony

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Municipal governments own and maintain two-thirds of Canada’s stock of public infrastructure. This burden is met by municipalities within the parameters afforded to them by their respective provinces. As a result, municipalities throughout the country rely on three primary revenue streams: issuing debt, financing from dedicated revenue and transfers from higher levels of government. At the same time, strict rules on borrowing, sometimes self-imposed, have left municipalities with considerable unrealized borrowing capacity. Importantly, a shift towards increased borrowing, away from a reliance on intergovernmental grants, would reinforce the linkage between local government spending and accountability and keep spending priorities in order. This paper focuses on infrastructure spending in Alberta and Ontario to illuminate how municipalities in both provinces cope with demands to provide capital- and labour-intensive programs and services. In both provinces, transportation, environmental services and recreation and culture comprise the bulk of infrastructure expenditure. In Ontario, as of 2013, 18 of the largest municipalities held assets valued at $111.8 billion. After accumulated depreciation, those assets are now estimated to be worth $73.8 billion, having lost $38 billion in value since their acquisition — although municipalities’ diligence varies. Mississauga has preserved 82.6 per cent of its assets’ original cost; Thunder Bay has only managed 45.6 per cent. In Alberta, 21 of the largest municipalities held assets valued at $51.7 billion in 2013, although thanks to depreciation, their value is now estimated at $37.8 billion. Again, there is significant variability between municipalities, with Wood Buffalo having preserved 98.6 per cent of its assets’ original value, and Crowsnest Pass with 43.9 per cent. In both provinces, the older the municipality and the weaker its fiscal capacity, the lower the net book value of its capital

Municipal Revenue Generation and Development in the Calgary and Edmonton Metropolitan Regions

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Brian W. Conger

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Municipal reliance on property taxes and the competing priorities of municipalities—in terms of where they plan and approve land development within their boundaries—in order to capture new property taxes, has led to political conflict between adjacent municipalities.1 Nowhere in Alberta is this more evident than in the Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan regions, where sustained high-levels of growth has led to the expansion of the core-cities, rapid residential development rates in peripheral urban centres and the rise urban-scale development in the rural municipal districts – spurring intrametropolitan competition, harsh words and hurt feelings amongst municipalities.2 In response to this ongoing conflict, the province and at times the municipalities themselves have developed successive regional planning frameworks over the past 60 years3 to guide development and encourage—and at times enforce—intermunicipal collaboration. In an exploration of the contemporary relationship between municipal finance and development patterns in the Calgary and Edmonton metropolitan regions, we use municipal property tax and building-permit data for new residential, commercial and industrial development to track the incidence of development since 1983 and the property tax rates for municipalities in both regions from 2001 to 2015. In looking at the tax data there is evidence of increasing competition among municipalities, in particular for non-residential development; however, the trends could also be consistent with collusion. In looking at the building permit data, although there has been a lot of development in the peripheral urban and rural municipalities, proportionately, growth and development has occurred overwhelmingly in the core-cities. Our findings point to a system where local development considerations in both metropolitan regions, and the municipal prerogative to set municipal tax rates to attract development, take precedence over the

Esco in Danish municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Hansen, Jesper Rohr; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

2011-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to discuss the possible benefits of involving Energy Service Companies (ESCO) in realising energy savings in municipalities, and how ESCO projects can be formulated very differently in the various municipalities, according to building volume, use of technologies...... municipalities see an in-house approach as a better alternative. Approach (Theory/Methodology): Our research is based on literature studies and on qualitative interviews with Danish municipalities carrying out ESCO projects, as well as with ESCO providers. Results: Our studies suggest that different ESCO......, with relatively few buildings, energy retrofitting and low investments, the integrative and strategic approach include a higher degree of partnership, a more ambitious building renovation approach, and more innovative understandings of facilities management. We also compare ESCO with energy retrofitting as an in...

Allegheny County Municipal Boundaries

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — This dataset demarcates the municipal boundaries in Allegheny County. Data was created to portray the boundaries of the 130 Municipalities in Allegheny County the...

Dealing with Multi-Level Governance and Wicked Problems in Urban Transportation Systems: The Case of Palermo Municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guido Noto

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Italian New Public Management (NPM has been mainly characterized by a political orientation toward power decentralization to local governments and privatization of public companies. Nowadays, local utilities in Italy are often run by joint stock companies controlled by public agencies such as Regional and Municipal Administrations. Due to this transformation, these companies must comply with a set of diverse expectations coming from a wide range of stakeholders, related to their financial, competitive and social performance. Such fragmented governance increases the presence of “wicked” problems in the decision-making sphere of these entities. Given this multi-level governance structure, how do these agents influence public services performance? In recent years, coordination and inter-institutional joint action have been identified as possible approaches for dealing with governance fragmentation and wicked problems deriving from it. How can we adapt a performance management perspective in order to help us reform the system and so have a better collaboration between the stakeholders involved? In order to address and discuss these research questions, a case study will be developed. The case concerns AMAT, the local utility providing the public transportation service in the Municipality of Palermo (Italy. The result of this study is a dynamic model including a set of performance indicators that help us in understanding the impact of the governing structure on the system’s performance.

Simulation Experiment Description Markup Language (SED-ML) Level 1 Version 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergmann, Frank T; Cooper, Jonathan; Le Novère, Nicolas; Nickerson, David; Waltemath, Dagmar

2015-09-04

The number, size and complexity of computational models of biological systems are growing at an ever increasing pace. It is imperative to build on existing studies by reusing and adapting existing models and parts thereof. The description of the structure of models is not sufficient to enable the reproduction of simulation results. One also needs to describe the procedures the models are subjected to, as recommended by the Minimum Information About a Simulation Experiment (MIASE) guidelines. This document presents Level 1 Version 2 of the Simulation Experiment Description Markup Language (SED-ML), a computer-readable format for encoding simulation and analysis experiments to apply to computational models. SED-ML files are encoded in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and can be used in conjunction with any XML-based model encoding format, such as CellML or SBML. A SED-ML file includes details of which models to use, how to modify them prior to executing a simulation, which simulation and analysis procedures to apply, which results to extract and how to present them. Level 1 Version 2 extends the format by allowing the encoding of repeated and chained procedures.

Evaluating the efficiency of municipalities in collecting and processing municipal solid waste: a shared input DEA-model.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogge, Nicky; De Jaeger, Simon

2012-10-01

This paper proposed an adjusted "shared-input" version of the popular efficiency measurement technique Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that enables evaluating municipality waste collection and processing performances in settings in which one input (waste costs) is shared among treatment efforts of multiple municipal solid waste fractions. The main advantage of this version of DEA is that it not only provides an estimate of the municipalities overall cost efficiency but also estimates of the municipalities' cost efficiency in the treatment of the different fractions of municipal solid waste (MSW). To illustrate the practical usefulness of the shared input DEA-model, we apply the model to data on 293 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium, for the year 2008. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Representative of the municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castellnou Barcelo, J.

2007-01-01

Full text of publication follows. The decommissioning of the Vandellos-I nuclear power plant was a big challenge for the host community of Vandellos i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant and the close-by region. Closing down of the facility resulted in a rise of unemployment and a decrease of municipal income. The public was concerned with three issues: safety, transparency and information about the decommissioning, and economic future. Therefore, from the very beginning, municipal governments entered into negotiations with ENRESA on socio-economic benefits, including local employment in dismantling activities, and other types of financial and non-financial compensation. The ADE business association, i.e. a network of business organisations was created that guided the allotment of work to local firms. To satisfy public demand, local municipalities focused on the triad of safety, dialogue and local development, considered the three 'pillars of trust'. A Municipal Monitoring Commission was created, made up of representatives of affected municipalities, the regional government, the ADE business association, trade unions, the local university, the NPP management and ENRESA to monitor the dismantling process and regularly inform the local public. Items that were handled by this Commission included: - Work process monitoring. - Workers. - Materials Control. - Conventional and radioactive or contaminated waste management. - Emanation waste management (liquid and gas) - Safety (training and accidents). - Surveillance (radiological and environmental: dust, noise). - Effects. - Fulfillment of agreed conditions. A number of communication tools and channels were used, e.g., public information meetings, an information centre, the municipal magazine, the municipal radio station, and meetings with representatives of the local press. Particularly innovative was the idea to ask academics from the University of Tarragona to help with 'translating' technical information into language that could

Organizing principles and management climate in high-performing municipal elderly care.

Science.gov (United States)

Kajonius, Petri; Kazemi, Ali; Tengblad, Stefan

2016-01-01

Purpose - Previous research has shown that user-oriented care predicts older persons' satisfaction with care. What is yet to be researched is how senior management facilitates the implementation of user-oriented care. The purpose of this study is to investigate the organizing principles and management climate characterizing successful elderly care. Design/methodology/approach - The department in one highly ranked municipality was selected and compared with a more average municipality. On-site in-depth semi-structured interviews with department managers and participatory observations at managers' meetings were conducted in both municipalities. Findings - Results revealed three key principles for successful elderly care: organizing care from the viewpoint of the older person; recruiting and training competent and autonomous employees; instilling a vision for the mission that guides operations at all levels in the organization. Furthermore, using climate theory to interpret the empirical material, in the highly successful municipality the management climate was characterized by affective support and cognitive autonomy, in contrast to a more instrumental work climate primarily focusing on organizational structure and doing the right things characterizing the more average municipality. Originality/value - The authors suggest that guiding organizing principles are intertwined with management climate and that there are multiple perspectives that must be considered by the management, that is, the views of the older persons, the co-workers and the mission. These results can guide future care quality developments, and increase the understanding of the importance of organizational climate at the senior management level.

The relationship between the Municipal Master Plan and local Watershed Plans in water management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise Gallo Pizella

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The National Water Resources Policy has as one of its tools the drafting of local Water Resource Plans. In view of water resources planning and its relationship to land use planning, the aim of this work is to analyze the institutional and legal difficulties and the potential for an integrated system of water resources management. For this, we used the method of documentary and bibliographic research, beginning with the “Estatuto da Cidade”, a law for urban policy in Brazil, and literature on water management at the municipal and watershed levels. At the municipal level, the “Master Plan” (municipal plan of land use planning became the main instrument of territorial and municipal management, defining the parameters for the compliance of social, environmental and economic functions of real property. In this sense, the municipalities have a responsibility to protect water resources and, without local support, territorial and water management cannot be integrated in the context of the river basin. Despite the difficulties of including environmental variable in urban planning, the Master Plan has the potential to shape local water management systems that are environmentally sustainable and that progressively improve water quality and quantity within the watershed. Similarly, with more significant participation of the municipality in the Basin Committee, it is possible that the forms of municipal land use and occupation can be considered during the development and implementation of the Basin Plan. Thus, the management of water resources can occur integrally.

A Comprehensive Model of Municipal Housing Stock Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muczyński Andrzej

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In many European countries there are still substantial housing needs which social landlords have to fulfill. Especially in countries with a shortage of affordable housing for underprivileged households, the effective and efficient management of the existing social housing stock, which includes technical, social, financial and tenure management activities on the strategic, tactical and operational level, is very important. The paper presents a comprehensive model of municipal housing stock management in the context of Polish conditions. This model was built by adapting the multidimensional concept of real estate management originally developed for commercial real estate portfolio management. It shows an integrative view of municipal housing stock management in Poland and contributes to the better organization and coordination of management activities and tasks in this area. The prepared model may be of interest to other countries where the functions of social landlords are mostly carried out directly by municipalities and their organizational units.

How Danish communal heat planning empowers municipalities and benefits individual consumers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chittum, Anna; Østergaard, Poul Alberg

2014-01-01

Danish municipal heat planning empowers municipalities to implement locally appropriate energy solutions that are the best fit for the locality as a whole and the individual consumers served. Supportive policies and actions at the national and local levels have encouraged heat planning that confe...... locations, the practical aspects of power sharing, socio-economic cost–benefit analyses, and communal decision-making may inform approaches to local heat planning around the world....

Waste Management Policy In Tourism Area of Saensuk Municipality, Thailand

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Pongsathon Kaewmanee

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Saensuk Municipality is a famous tourism city in Thailand, especially Bangsaen beach. In supporting the tourism activity, it has waste managing method by using new generation administrator and technologies. However, the waste problem happened in Saensuk Municipality is included the human resource ability, technical facility, and the amount of waste. By using the qualitative descriptive method and doing a series of interview to selected informants, the researcher studied and analyzed the problem, factors, and solutions of the issue. This study found that the nature of the beach and the visitor behavior is among the reason behind the large amount of waste daily in the site. Moreover, the regulation by the local government is sufficient to cover the issue if implemented fully. The study shows that the city had implemented the good governance idea in several instances, and giving the waste management to the private sector is one of the optionsto resolve the problem since the quality of the work could be improved. Keywords:waste management,public policy, tourism area, Thailand

Danish Municipal Planning in Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Jørgen

Danish municipal planning at the entrance to the 2000 years, where many things in the everyday of planning are changed after pressure from the market, the state, the municipal organisations, the investors, the citizens and the planners themselves. In this situation of change there may be good reasons...... to bear in mind what the basic task of physical planning at a local level has actually been and to discuss both what it is at the moment and what it can turn into in the future. The paper may actually raise more questions than it answers. The reason is that well-known political, administrative structures...... are breaking up, that the fight for the planning competence in the open country is raging and that the protection of the nature-freindly legislation, for which the previous government was responsible, is under quick phasing-out, at the same time as the traditional professional urban planner standards...

Danish Municipal planning in Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Jørgen

2003-01-01

Danish municipal planning at the entrance to the 2000 years, where many things in the everyday of planning are changed after pressure from the market, the state, the municipal organisation, the investors, the citizens and the planners themselves. In this situation of change there may be good reason...... to bear in mind what the basic task of physical planning at a local level has actually been and to discuss both what it is at the moment and what it can turn into in the future. The paper may actually raise more questions than it answers. The reason is that well-known political, administrative structures...... are breaking up, that the fight for planning competence in the open country is raging and that the protection og nature-friendly legislation, for which the previous gouvernment was responsible, is under quick phasing-out, at the same time as the traditional professional urban planner standards are challenged...

The Political-administrative interface in South African municipalities: Assessing the quality of local democracies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaap de Visser

2010-03-01

Full Text Available South African municipalities experience serious challenges in dealing wit the interface between politicians and officials. Inappropriate political interference in administrative matters as well as strained relations between key political and administrative officials in the municipalities appear to be the order of the day. Oftentimes, the lack of a separation of powers between legislative and executive authority at local government level is blamed for this. This contribution has attempted to draw the attention away from the conflation of legislative and executive authority in the municipal council while still recognising it as an important background. It is suggested that, instead of spending energy on examining a possible separation of powers in local government, the relevant stakeholders (i.e. national lawmakers, municipalities and supervising provinces should consider smaller institutional changes to the governance makeup of municipalities. Even more importantly, the political and administrative leadership of municipalities and political structures that surround them should be acutely aware of the consequences that inappropriate political leadership has on the functioning of municipalities and therefore on service delivery.

Fuel-related Emissions from the Croatian Municipal Solid Waste Collection System in 2013: Mixed Municipal Waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anamarija Grbeš

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Waste removal (collection and landfilling in the Republic of Croatia is the responsibility of the municipalities and local governments in 21 administrative units (counties. They entrust the respective economic activity to 208 private and public companies specialized in waste collection and treatment. Organised waste collection affects 99 % of the population. The mixed waste from households and enterprises is at various frequencies collected at the door (kerbside collection and transported by truck to a landfill, or processing plant. This article aims to estimate fuel consumption and fuel-related airborne emissions from the collection of mixed municipal waste in Croatia in 2013. The input data and emission results are shown for Croatia and each Croatian county, in total, and relative to the number of inhabitants and mass of collected waste. Annual consumption of diesel for the collection of mixed waste is estimated at 10.6 million litres. At the county level, fuel consumption ranges from 87 thousand litres to 2.2 million litres, on average 504 thousand litres per county. Total emission of CO2 is estimated at 28 000 t, which at county level ranges from 231 to 5711 t. Relative emission ranges from 3.3 to 13 kg CO2 per capita (average 6.6 kg per capita, or 8.6–28.1 kg t−1 of municipal waste (average 17 kg CO2 per ton of municipal waste. The average values of CO2 emission from MSW collection that should also be the target values are 7–9 kg for mixed waste, and 8–15 kg CO2 for separate waste streams. Apart from CO2 emission, this research estimates emission of other, diesel combustion related compounds, such as NOx, CO, lubricant related CO2, NMVOC, PM, f-BC, N2O, SO2, NH3, Pb, ID[1,2,3-cd]P, B[k]F, B[b]F, B[a]P, as well as total distance of transport.

The Impact of the Information Logistics Flows on the Processes of Municipal Wastes Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samohovych Oleksandr S.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at identifying the impact of information incompleteness and asymmetry, irrational behavior of actors on the processes of municipal wastes management. It has been found that, at the present moment in Ukraine, quality of the transfer of information flows on the municipal wastes management between the State authority, local government bodies, enterprises, and the public stays at a low level. The urban sanitation schemes are being adopted and waste management technologies are being introduced at the local level, but the local government bodies have not been provided with sufficient information to make optimal decisions. Acting independently, the market mechanism would not be able to overcome the asymmetry of information in the short terms, and the State intervention would be needed to correct the information inadequacy of the municipal waste market. Prospect for future research will be determining conditions for an effective distribution of information flows in the process of municipal wastes management.

PRELIMINARY FLORA OF ORCHIDACEAE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ABAETETUBA, PARÁ, BRAZIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edgar Augusto Lobato Afonso

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Orchidaceae is one of the largest plant families in the world with approximately 20,000 species, of which 2,462 Occur in Brazil and 421 in the Pará State. Despite this large number of species, many municipalities in the State have never been sampled floristically, among them is the municipality of Abaetetuba, located in the middle region northeast Pará. Thus, this work aimed to conduct the floristic and taxonomic preliminary study of the Orchidaceae species in the Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil. Were conducted 41 field collections between January 2012 and May 2014. For collection and specimens herborization were followed usual techniques for vascular plants, and species identification were consulted specific bibliography and experts. For all species recorded are provided descriptions, taxonomic and ecological comments, information on geographical distribution in Brazil. In addition, it presents an identification key for the species Orchidaceae of Abaetetuba. In the municipality Orchidaceae is represented by 23 species belonging to 17 genera, being Epidendrum L. the more rich with three species. The most frequent species were Catasetum macrocarpum Rich. ex Kunth and Polystachya concreta (Jacq. Garay & H.R.Sweet. Except to Vanilla mexicana Mill. and V. palmarum (Salzm. ex Lindl. Lindl. classified as hemiepiphytes, all the other species were classified as holoepiphytes. Keywords: Eastern Amazon; Epiphytes, Orchids; Nort region.

A multi-level biological approach to evaluate impacts of a major municipal effluent in wild St. Lawrence River yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Houde, Magali, E-mail: magali.houde@ec.gc.ca [Centre Saint-Laurent, Environment Canada, 105 McGill Street, Montreal, QC H2Y 2E7 (Canada); Giraudo, Maeva, E-mail: maeva.giraudo@ec.gc.ca [Centre Saint-Laurent, Environment Canada, 105 McGill Street, Montreal, QC H2Y 2E7 (Canada); Douville, Mélanie, E-mail: melanie.douville@ec.gc.ca [Centre Saint-Laurent, Environment Canada, 105 McGill Street, Montreal, QC H2Y 2E7 (Canada); Bougas, Bérénice, E-mail: berenice.bougas.1@ulaval.ca [Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, 1030, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 (Canada); Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement, 490 de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9 (Canada); Couture, Patrice, E-mail: patrice.couture@ete.inrs.ca [Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement, 490 de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9 (Canada); De Silva, Amila O., E-mail: amila.desilva@ec.gc.ca [Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Environment Canada, 867 Lakeshore Road, P.O. Box 5050, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 (Canada); Spencer, Christine, E-mail: christine.spencer@ec.gc.ca [Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Environment Canada, 867 Lakeshore Road, P.O. Box 5050, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 (Canada); Lair, Stéphane, E-mail: stephane.lair@umontreal.ca [Centre québécois sur la santé des animaux sauvages, Université de Montréal, C.P. 5000, St-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 7C6 (Canada); and others

2014-11-01

The development of integrated ecotoxicological approaches is of great interest in the investigation of global concerns such as impacts of municipal wastewater effluents on aquatic ecosystems. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a major wastewater municipal effluent on fish using a multi-level biological approach, from gene transcription and enzyme activities to histological changes. Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were selected based on their wide distribution, their commercial and recreational importance, and the availability of a customized microarray. Yellow perch were sampled upstream of a major municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and 4 km and 10 km downstream from its point of discharge in the St. Lawrence River (Quebec, Canada). Concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and metals/trace elements in whole body homogenates were comparable to those from other industrialized regions of the world. Genomic results indicated that the transcription level of 177 genes was significantly different (p < 0.024) between exposed and non-exposed fish. Among these genes, 38 were found to be differentially transcribed at both downstream sites. Impacted genes were associated with biological processes and molecular functions such as immunity, detoxification, lipid metabolism/energy homeostasis (e.g., peroxisome proliferation), and retinol metabolism suggesting impact of WWTP on these systems. Moreover, antioxidant enzyme activities were more elevated in perch collected at the 4 km site. Biomarkers of lipid metabolism, biosynthetic activity, and aerobic capacities were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in fish residing near the outfall of the effluent. Histological examination of the liver indicated no differences between sites. Correlations between PFAS, PBDE, and metal/trace element tissue concentrations and markers of peroxisomal proliferation, oxidative stress, and retinoid metabolism were found

Awareness of prevention of teenage pregnancy amongst secondary school learners in Makhado municipality.

Science.gov (United States)

Maxwell, Giliana M; Radzilani-Makatu, Makondelele; Takalani, James F

2016-04-01

Sexuality plays a very significant role in the lives of both boys and girls. It is, therefore, considered important for schools to recognise and accept sexuality as part of the development process of the child. Professor Kader Asmal (previous South African Minister of Education) suggested that the earlier the school begins to teach learners about sexuality, the better because they can be easily misled by their peers if proper guidance regarding their sexuality is not given. The current study was conducted to assess the awareness of teenagers on the prevention of teenage pregnancy (TP) in six secondary school learners situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province. The study was conducted at six secondary schools situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province in 2014. A quantitative descriptive survey study was conducted where data were collected, using self-administered questionnaires, from 381 systematically sampled participants from six secondary schools situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province. Data were analysed descriptively using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 22.0. Necessary approval procedures and ethical clearance were obtained prior to data collection. Ninety-four percent of participants agreed that TP can be prevented through abstaining from sex, whilst 65% of participants agreed that TP could be prevented by using contraceptives such as pills and injections. Eighty-three percent of participants agreed that T Pcould be prevented through the use of condoms. Seventy-four percent participants disagreed that bathing after sex prevents teenage pregnancies. Furthermore, 28% participants agreed that TP can be prevented by oral sex. The conclusion drawn was that learners are aware of the measures for preventing TP.

Awareness of prevention of teenage pregnancy amongst secondary school learners in Makhado municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giliana M. Maxwell

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Sexuality plays a very significant role in the lives of both boys and girls. It is, therefore, considered important for schools to recognise and accept sexuality as part of the development process of the child. Professor Kader Asmal (previous South African Minister of Education suggested that the earlier the school begins to teach learners about sexuality, the better because they can be easily misled by their peers if proper guidance regarding their sexuality is not given. Aim: The current study was conducted to assess the awareness of teenagers on the prevention of teenage pregnancy (TP in six secondary school learners situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province. Setting: The study was conducted at six secondary schools situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province in 2014. Methodology: A quantitative descriptive survey study was conducted where data were collected, using self-administered questionnaires, from 381 systematically sampled participants from six secondary schools situated in the Soutpansberg-West circuit, Makhado Municipality in Limpopo province. Data were analysed descriptively using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS software, version 22.0. Necessary approval procedures and ethical clearance were obtained prior to data collection. Results: Ninety-four percent of participants agreed that TP can be prevented through abstaining from sex, whilst 65% of participants agreed that TP could be prevented by using contraceptives such as pills and injections. Eighty-three percent of participants agreed that T Pcould be prevented through the use of condoms. Seventy-four percent participants disagreed that bathing after sex prevents teenage pregnancies. Furthermore, 28% participants agreed that TP can be prevented by oral sex. Conclusion: The conclusion drawn was that learners are aware of the measures for preventing TP. Keywords

A descriptive retrospective study of time consumption in home care services: how do employees use their working time?

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Solrun G; Angelsen, Ragnhild O

2014-09-26

Home care services in Norway are provided for free, and municipalities are responsible for their provision to all those in need of them, in accordance with the Act on Municipal Health and Care Services. The costs of home care services are increasing. Many municipalities are now working to find the best cost-effective solutions to ensure that home care services are of sufficient quality but still affordable. This paper describes how nurses and health workers spend their working time, with a hypothesis that driving time and time required to document details of the care given are underestimated in weekly planning schedules. This article sets out a descriptive retrospective study of day-schedules and driving routes for staff working in home care services. Data were analyzed using GIS. The driving time was between 18% and 26% of working time in municipality A, and between 21% and 23% in municipality B. Visiting time varied between 44% and 62% in municipality A, and 40% and 56% in municipality B. Other tasks, including the legally-required documentation of the care given, varied between 19% and 32% in municipality A and 21% and 38% in municipality B. Overall, 22% of the driving routes in municipality A, and 14% in municipality B, took more time than expected. In municipality A, 22% of the day-schedules underestimated overtime; this figure was 14% in municipality B. In home care services, time taken for driving and to write statutory documentation seems to have been underestimated. Better planning and organization of driving routes would reduce driving time and allow more time for other necessary work.

The hidden face of Leviathan: fiscal transparency in brazilian municipalities and its socioeconomic determinants and tax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clarice Pereira de Paiva Ribeiro

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to identify which factors influence the level of transparency of electronic municipalities. For this, we performed an evaluation of the level of transparency of municipalities, and using the discriminant analysis identify the socioeconomic and fiscal factors that influence the Fiscal Transparency Index of Municipalities. It was found that fiscal transparency is still incipient in public administration and we confirmed that transparency is associated with better indicators of socioeconomic and fiscal development, as proposed by Bellver and Kalfinann (2005. Indirectly, you can infer that better management of resources destined to health, education and employment and income generation are more important than the amount of money invested in these items for classifying the municipalities analyzed, indicating that no matter the amount of resources invested, but the quality of expenditure made.

Urban ecology and the municipal utilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

1998-01-01

Current management of municipal utilities for energy, water and solid waste is often in conflict with the ideas of ecological demonstrationprojects. The writer argue there is a need of transformation within municipal utilities and a need of new planning tools......Current management of municipal utilities for energy, water and solid waste is often in conflict with the ideas of ecological demonstrationprojects. The writer argue there is a need of transformation within municipal utilities and a need of new planning tools...

Municipal energy managers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

On 1 and 2 July, municipal energy managers from all over Europe met in Stuttgart, Germany. On these two days, more the 150 participants form 22 countries listened to presentations, took part in excursions to cutting-edge energy conservation projects in Stuttgart and, above all, participated in a broad array of workshops presented by experts firmly grounded in local practice. 27 experts drawn from 11 European countries showcased their projects and imparted their experience. The event has been accompanied by an exhibition of companies and service providers offering energy-conservation products and planning services. The first workshop dealt with energy management in Europe and examples from different active municipalities; the second one with energy management in Germany and best practice in the leading cities; the third one with non-municipal and European projects. (A.L.B.)

Localizing Climate Information for Municipal Planning in the Central U.S.

Science.gov (United States)

Shulski, M.; Umphlett, N.; Abdel-Monem, T.; Tang, Z.; Uhlarik, F.

2017-12-01

The impacts of projected climate change are an ongoing concern for municipalities. Planning at the local level often involves investigations of multiple hazards on decadal timescales. Of particular interest to cities are implications of too much or too little water, snow storms, heat waves, and freeze/thaw cycles on infrastructure, health, energy demands and water quality and availability. A two-year project led by the University of Nebraska - Lincoln has brought together scientist and stakeholder for the purpose of informing municipal planning and climate adaptation for 12 cities in the lower Missouri River Basin states (IA, NE, KS, MO). City-specific climate reports have been developed with municipal input to aid local planning efforts. Surveys to assess municipal climate data usage were distributed to all cities with a population greater than 5,000 in the four-state region. In addition, planning efforts for 18 municipalities have been evaluated for nearly 20 cities in the region to investigate local hazard mitigation, emergency, and comprehensive plans. This presentation will outline key outcomes of the project and discuss decision support tools developed in co-production with city planners.

Evaluating the efficiency of municipalities in collecting and processing municipal solid waste: A shared input DEA-model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogge, Nicky; De Jaeger, Simon

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Complexity in local waste management calls for more in depth efficiency analysis. ► Shared-input Data Envelopment Analysis can provide solution. ► Considerable room for the Flemish municipalities to improve their cost efficiency. - Abstract: This paper proposed an adjusted “shared-input” version of the popular efficiency measurement technique Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that enables evaluating municipality waste collection and processing performances in settings in which one input (waste costs) is shared among treatment efforts of multiple municipal solid waste fractions. The main advantage of this version of DEA is that it not only provides an estimate of the municipalities overall cost efficiency but also estimates of the municipalities’ cost efficiency in the treatment of the different fractions of municipal solid waste (MSW). To illustrate the practical usefulness of the shared input DEA-model, we apply the model to data on 293 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium, for the year 2008.

Adoption and diffusion of zoning bylaws banning fast food drive-through services across Canadian municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Nykiforuk, Candace I J; Campbell, Elizabeth J; Macridis, Soultana; McKennitt, Daniel; Atkey, Kayla; Raine, Kim D

2018-01-15

Healthy public policy is an important tool for creating environments that support human health and wellbeing. At the local level, municipal policies, such as zoning bylaws, provide an opportunity for governments to regulate building location and the type of services offered. Across North America, there has been a recent proliferation of municipal bylaws banning fast food drive-through services. Research on the utilization of this policy strategy, including bylaw adopters and adopter characteristics, is limited within the Canadian context. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize Canadian municipalities based on level of policy innovation and nature of their adopted bylaw banning fast food drive-through services. A multiple case history methodology was utilized to identify and analyse eligible municipal bylaws, and included development of a chronological timeline and map of adopter municipalities within Canada. Grey literature and policy databases were searched for potential adopters of municipal fast food drive-through service bylaws. Adopters were confirmed through evidence of current municipal bylaws. Geographic diffusion and diffusion of innovations theories provided a contextual framework for analysis of bylaw documents. Analysis included assignment of adopter-types, extent and purpose of bans, and policy learning activities of each adopter municipality. From 2002 to 2016, 27 municipalities were identified as adopters: six innovators and twenty-one early adopters. Mapping revealed parallel geographic diffusion patterns in western and eastern Canada. Twenty-two municipalities adopted a partial ban and five adopted a full ban. Rationales for the drive-through bans included health promotion, environmental concerns from idling, community character and aesthetics, traffic concerns, and walkability. Policy learning, including research and consultation with other municipalities, was performed by nine early adopters. This study detailed the adoption of

Innovation Management in Swedish Municipalities

OpenAIRE

Wihlman, Thomas; Hoppe, Magnus; Wihlman, Ulla; Sandmark, Hélène

2016-01-01

Research on public sector innovation is still limited, and increased knowledge of innovation processes is needed. This article is a based on a study of the implementation of innovation policies in Swedish municipalities, and gives a first-hand, empirical view of some of the complexities of innovation in the public sector. The study took place in four municipalities in central Sweden. The municipalities varied in size and organisational forms. Interviews and policy documents were used for data...

Political or dental power in private and public service provision: a study of municipal expenditures for child dental care.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersen, Lotte Bøgh; Bech, Mickael; Lauridsen, Jørgen

2012-07-01

Both professionals and politicians may affect expenditures for highly professional services provided in the public and private sector. We investigated Danish publicly financed child dental care with a special focus on the influence of politicians and dentists on the expenditure level. By studying spatial patterns in expenditure levels across municipalities, we are able to test the influences of these two main actors and the networks through which learning is achieved. Four hypotheses on the existence of different spatial spillover effects are tested. The empirical analysis is based on annual data from 1996 to 2001 for 226 Danish municipalities, thus allowing for the control for heterogeneity between municipalities and for intra-municipal correlations across time. The results point to differences in expenditures between municipalities with privately and publicly produced dental care. Furthermore, dentists appear to be the most important actors for the spatial spillover effects, and these effects are especially strong for municipalities situated in the same county that use private dental clinics. There is no evidence of political spatial spillover effects between municipalities.

Enlisting municipal governments in a national approach to clean air and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Government of Canada have a shared commitment to improve environmental performance and protect the health of Canadians. Air pollution and climate change are also a shared responsibility among federal, municipal and provincial/territorial governments. Although they operate independently, their policies and programs tend to overlap. This is both costly and inefficient. In order to create synergies and leverage the role and potential of each level of government, the FCM proposed a national approach to clean air and climate change. The approach involves all levels of government in a nationally coordinated effort, with roles appropriate to their capacities. The municipal role in clean air and climate change action, roles and responsibilities of municipal governments, and guiding principles of a new Canadian approach were discussed in this document. Recommendations and next steps were also identified. They centred on the following themes: enhancing public transit, clean transportation and related infrastructure; improving commercial and residential building efficiency; stimulating ongoing productivity and pollution prevention within municipal operations through incentives and policies; enhancing clean energy; strengthened and enforceable air quality standards; emissions trading; climate change adaptation; public education and awareness; and demonstrating success and ensuring accountability. The document concluded that only a long-term intergovernmental partnership can meet the challenges posed by climate change and air pollution. FCM urged the Government of Canada to adopt an integrative and strategic approach to clean air and climate change by enlisting municipal governments as partners in both its development and implementation

Adaptive Municipal e-forms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuiper, P.M.; van Dijk, Elisabeth M.A.G.; Boerma, A.K.; Weibelzahl, S.; Cristea, A.

2006-01-01

Adaptation of electronic forms seems to be a step forward to reduce the burden for people who fill in forms. Municipalities more and more offer eforms online that can be used to request a municipal product or service. To create adaptive e-forms that satisfy the need of end-users, involvement of

Conditions in tax collection: an analysis for the municipalities of Minas Gerais

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Aparecida Vieira

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Aiming to know which local characteristics influence the own tax revenues of municipalities in Minas Gerais, the bibliographic referential of this article versa on federalism and fiscal decentralization, indicating variables identified in the literature as determinants of municipal tax collection. The own tax revenues depends mainly on municipal tax bases and the rates levied on these bases. Thus, the municipality's income, as well as the weight of urban activities and the degree of formalization of economic activity, determine the size of this tax base and consequently the amount of funds raised. To analyze the local characteristics, secondary data were collected on the fiscal capacity of Minas Gerais municipalities for 2010, in view of the availability of data for this year. Was used factor analysis to group the variables, and quantile regression (RQ to check the effect of these in different stages of Municipal Own Revenues (MOR. Were obtained three factors: "Economic Aspects"; "Structural Aspects" and "Financial Aspects", which grouped the variables according to the correlation shown between them. With the RQ could be seen that these factors affect differently the quantile MOR (q.10, q.25, q.50, q.75 and q.90, and the highest rates are attributed to higher own tax revenues levels, demonstrating that these factors are most influential in the municipalities of higher own tax revenues. Knowing the conditions of own revenues of municipalities allows the public administration to implement actions to avoid the tax collection inefficiency, promoting the main economic activities that make up your tax base.

Political or dental power in private and public service provision: a study of municipal expenditures for child dental care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, L. B.; Bech, M.; Lauridsen, J.

2012-01-01

Both professionals and politicians may affect expenditures for highly professional services provided in the public and private sector. We investigated Danish publicly financed child dental care with a special focus on the influence of politicians and dentists on the expenditure level. By studying...... from 1996 to 2001 for 226 Danish municipalities, thus allowing for the control for heterogeneity between municipalities and for intra-municipal correlations across time. The results point to differences in expenditures between municipalities with privately and publicly produced dental care. Furthermore...... spatial patterns in expenditure levels across municipalities, we are able to test the influences of these two main actors and the networks through which learning is achieved. Four hypotheses on the existence of different spatial spillover effects are tested. The empirical analysis is based on annual data...

Cacao in México: Restrictive factors and productivity levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julio Díaz-José

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Cacao (Theobroma cacao L. represents one of the most important agricultural crops of the humid Mexican tropics. In the last 10 yr, approximately 23.000 t of this grain were no longer produced per cycle. The objective of this study was to identify characteristics and factors that restrict production in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. A survey was applied to obtain information about 184 producers and their plantations by two-stage sampling. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multilevel models were adjusted to analyze the information. Results show that there are differences (P < 0.05 in cacao yield between municipalities (380 kg ha-1 + u,o j is the estimated residual for each municipality. Crop productivity levels are higher in the state of Tabasco than in Chiapas (644 and 344 kg ha-1, respectively. Incidence of frosty pod rot of cacoa, also known as moniliasis, induced by Moniliophthora roreri [(Cif H.C. Evans, Stalpers, Samson & Benny 1978] is significantly greater (P < 0.05 in the state of Chiapas (60% than in Tabasco (48%.Producers who carry out more crop management practices increase yields and decrease the pathogen's impact on their plantations. Results suggest the need to apply differentiated public policies to promote production within each region or municipality.

Analysis of Municipal Pipe Network Franchise Institution

Science.gov (United States)

Yong, Sun; Haichuan, Tian; Feng, Xu; Huixia, Zhou

Franchise institution of municipal pipe network has some particularity due to the characteristic of itself. According to the exposition of Chinese municipal pipe network industry franchise institution, the article investigates the necessity of implementing municipal pipe network franchise institution in China, the role of government in the process and so on. And this offers support for the successful implementation of municipal pipe network franchise institution in China.

Modes of governance for municipal energy efficiency services - the case of LED street lighting in Germany

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Polzin, F.H.J.; von Flotow, Paschen; Nolden, Colin

2016-01-01

Energy efficiency retrofits are often impeded by high perceived investment risks, long payback periods and a lack of skills. At the municipal level these issues are particularly pronounced as procuring, implementing, and managing retrofits can exceed existing municipal governance capacities. The

Should large Spanish municipalities be financially compensated? Costs and benefits of being a capital/central municipality [WP-IEB

OpenAIRE

Bosch Roca, Núria; Espasa Queralt, Marta; Montolio, Daniel

2013-01-01

This paper analyse the costs and benefits of being a capital or central municipality, where central costs are understood to be incurred specifically as a result of the problems large municipalities located at the centre of an urban agglomeration face and capital costs are understood to result from the presence of regional and/or central government institutions in the municipality. However, these two qualities might also be beneficial to municipalities, resulting in a direct increase in their ...

Planning future care services: Analyses of investments in Norwegian municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagen, Terje P; Tingvold, Laila

2018-06-01

To analyse whether the Norwegian Central Government's goal of subsidizing 12,000 places in nursing homes or sheltered housing using an earmarked grant was reached and to determine towards which group of users the planned investments were targeted. Data from the investment plans at municipal level were provided by the Norwegian Housing Bank and linked to variables describing the municipalities' financial situation as well as variables describing the local needs for services provided by Statistics Norway. Using regression analyses we estimated the associations between municipal characteristics and planned investments in total and by type of care place. The Norwegian Central Government reached its goal of giving subsidies to 12,000 new or rebuilt places in nursing homes and sheltered housing. A total of 54% of the subsidies (6878 places) were given to places in nursing homes. About 7500 places were available by the end of the planning period and the rest were under construction. About 50% of the places were planned for user groups aged Investments in nursing homes were correlated with the share of the population older than 80 years and investments in sheltered houses were correlated with the share of users with intellectual disabilities. Earmarked grants to municipalities can be adequate measures to affect local resource allocation and thereby stimulate investments in future care. With the current institutional setup the municipalities adapt investments to local needs.

Implementation of public policy on alcohol and other drugs in Brazilian municipalities: comparative studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mota, Daniela Belchior; Ronzani, Telmo Mota

2016-07-01

One of the challenges with respect to public health and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs is to implement policies in support of greater co-ordination among various levels of government. In Brazil, policies are formulated by the Secretaria Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas (SENAD - State Department for Policies on Drugs) and the Ministério da Saúde (MS - Ministry of Health). This study aims to compare implementation of policies adopted by SENAD and MS at the municipal level. Three municipalities were intentionally selected: Juiz de Fora having a larger network of treatment services for alcohol and drug users; Lima Duarte, a small municipality, which promotes the political participation of local actors (COMAD - Municipal Council on Alcohol and Drugs); and São João Nepomuceno, also a small municipality, chosen because it has neither public services specialised to assist alcohol and other drugs users, nor COMAD. Data collection was conducted through interviews with key informants (n = 19) and a review of key documents concerned with municipal policies. Data analysis was performed using content analysis. In Juiz de Fora, there are obstacles regarding the integration of the service network for alcohol and other drug users and also the articulation of local actors, who are predominant in the mental health sector. In Lima Duarte, while there is a link between local actors through COMAD, their actions within the local service network have not been effective. In São João Nepomuceno, there were no public actions in the area of alcohol and drugs, and consequently insufficient local debate. However, some voluntary, non-governmental work has been undertaken. There were weaknesses in the implementation of national-level policies by SENAD and the MS, due to the limited supply of available treatment, assistance and the lack of integration among local actors. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Assessment of municipal infrastructure development and its critical influencing factors in urban China: A FA and STIRPAT approach.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Li

Full Text Available Municipal infrastructure is a fundamental facility for the normal operation and development of an urban city and is of significance for the stable progress of sustainable urbanization around the world, especially in developing countries. Based on the municipal infrastructure data of the prefecture-level cities in China, municipal infrastructure development is assessed comprehensively using a FA (factor analysis model, and then the stochastic model STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology is examined to investigate key factors that influence municipal infrastructure of cities in various stages of urbanization and economy. This study indicates that the municipal infrastructure development in urban China demonstrates typical characteristics of regional differentiation, in line with the economic development pattern. Municipal infrastructure development in cities is primarily influenced by income, industrialization and investment. For China and similar developing countries under transformation, national public investment remains the primary driving force of economy as well as the key influencing factor of municipal infrastructure. Contribution from urbanization and the relative consumption level, and the tertiary industry is still scanty, which is a crux issue for many developing countries under transformation. With economic growth and the transformation requirements, the influence of the conventional factors such as public investment and industrialization on municipal infrastructure development would be expected to decline, meanwhile, other factors like the consumption and tertiary industry driven model and the innovation society can become key contributors to municipal infrastructure sustainability.

Assessment of municipal infrastructure development and its critical influencing factors in urban China: A FA and STIRPAT approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yu; Zheng, Ji; Li, Fei; Jin, Xueting; Xu, Chen

2017-01-01

Municipal infrastructure is a fundamental facility for the normal operation and development of an urban city and is of significance for the stable progress of sustainable urbanization around the world, especially in developing countries. Based on the municipal infrastructure data of the prefecture-level cities in China, municipal infrastructure development is assessed comprehensively using a FA (factor analysis) model, and then the stochastic model STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology) is examined to investigate key factors that influence municipal infrastructure of cities in various stages of urbanization and economy. This study indicates that the municipal infrastructure development in urban China demonstrates typical characteristics of regional differentiation, in line with the economic development pattern. Municipal infrastructure development in cities is primarily influenced by income, industrialization and investment. For China and similar developing countries under transformation, national public investment remains the primary driving force of economy as well as the key influencing factor of municipal infrastructure. Contribution from urbanization and the relative consumption level, and the tertiary industry is still scanty, which is a crux issue for many developing countries under transformation. With economic growth and the transformation requirements, the influence of the conventional factors such as public investment and industrialization on municipal infrastructure development would be expected to decline, meanwhile, other factors like the consumption and tertiary industry driven model and the innovation society can become key contributors to municipal infrastructure sustainability.

Promoting Peace Education for Behaviourial Changes in Public Secondary Schools in Calabar Municipality Council Area, Cross River State, Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Uko, E. S.; Igbineweka, P. O.; Odigwe, F. N.

2015-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the promotion of peace education for behavioural changes in public secondary schools in Calabar Municipal Council Area of Cross River State. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A set of questionnaire items were validated and used for the collection of data involving 310 respondents, selected…

Municipal solid waste combustion: Fuel testing and characterization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bushnell, D.J.; Canova, J.H.; Dadkhah-Nikoo, A.

1990-10-01

The objective of this study is to screen and characterize potential biomass fuels from waste streams. This will be accomplished by determining the types of pollutants produced while burning selected municipal waste, i.e., commercial mixed waste paper residential (curbside) mixed waste paper, and refuse derived fuel. These materials will be fired alone and in combination with wood, equal parts by weight. The data from these experiments could be utilized to size pollution control equipment required to meet emission standards. This document provides detailed descriptions of the testing methods and evaluation procedures used in the combustion testing and characterization project. The fuel samples will be examined thoroughly from the raw form to the exhaust emissions produced during the combustion test of a densified sample.

Association of blood pressure and metabolic syndrome components with magnesium levels in drinking water in some Serbian municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasic-Milutinovic, Zorica; Perunicic-Pekovic, Gordana; Jovanovic, Dragana; Gluvic, Zoran; Cankovic-Kadijevic, Milce

2012-03-01

Chronic exposure to insufficient levels of magnesium (Mg) in drinking water increases the risk of magnesium deficiency and its association with hypertension, dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of the study was to assess the potential association of mineral contents in drinking water with blood pressure and other components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) (BMI as measure of obesity, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin resistance, index-HOMA IR), in a healthy population. This study was conducted in three randomly selected municipalities (Pozarevac, Grocka and Banovci), and recruited 90 healthy blood donors, aged 20-50 years. The Pozarevac area had a four times higher mean Mg level in drinking water (42 mg L(-1)) than Grocka (11 mg L(-1)). Diastolic blood pressure was lowest in subjects from Pozarevac. Serum Mg (sMg) was highest, and serum Ca(2+)/Mg (sCa/Mg) lowest in subjects from Pozarevac, and after adjustment for confounders (age, gender, BMI), only total cholesterol and sMg levels were independent predictors of diastolic blood pressure, sMg levels were independent predictors of triglycerides, and sCa/Mg predicted glucose levels. These results suggest that Mg supplementation in areas of lower magnesium levels in drinking water may be an important measure in the prevention of hypertension and MetS in general.

Transforming your Municipal Electric Utility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harper, P.

1999-01-01

A series of overhead viewgraphs accompanied this presentation which focused on what municipalities should and can do to prepare for a competitive energy market in Ontario. Particular attention was given to business strategies, restructuring and transformation of the Municipal Electric Utilities (MEU). Issues and questions regarding ownership were also discussed. Each municipality will have to decide what is the most appropriate governance and organizational structure for their MEU. It was noted that one of the most contentious areas is refinancing and rate structures. Issues regarding merger or partnering options were also discussed. 1 tab

Sexual harassment among females in working place at Dhangadhi municipality Kailali, District of Nepal

OpenAIRE

Lal Bahadur Kunwar; Bir Bahadur Kunwar; Poshan Thapa; Ishor Sharma; Shankar Singh Dhami; Lalit Jung Rokaya

2014-01-01

Sexual harassment is a challenging issue where women and men work together. It is being recognized as a violation of human rights and human dignity which undermines the equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women. So, this descriptive study was conducted in Dhangadhi Municipality Kailali District, Nepalto find out the experience of sexual harassment in female at working place. Only female respondents who were working in office were taken purposively from four sectors such as g...

The role of municipal public policies in oral health socioeconomic inequalities in Brazil: A multilevel study.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguiar, Violeta Rodrigues; Pattussi, Marcos Pascoal; Celeste, Roger Keller

2017-12-07

It is known that fluoridation has a contextual effect on oral health socioeconomic inequalities, but broad public policies have not been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of municipal public policies on oral health across different social strata. This was a cross-sectional study with 7328 12-year-old children and 5445 15-19-year-old adolescents from 177 Brazilian municipalities. Information at municipal level was collated for dental services, educational services, sanitation and water fluoridation. The main individual-level exposure was the disposable equivalent household income. The dichotomous outcomes were as follows: untreated dental caries (≥1 tooth), missing teeth (≥1 tooth) and filled teeth (≥1 tooth). Analyses were carried out using multilevel logistic regression. Interaction terms were tested between individual-level income and policy variables. The prevalence of untreated dental caries, missing and filled teeth was 47.0%, 15.1% and 47.5%, respectively. There was no significant interaction between income and policy indicators. Individuals living in municipalities with no water fluoridation had 1.42 (95% CI: 1.08-1.86) higher odds of having untreated dental caries; the odds ratio (OR) for those in municipalities with less education policies was 1.36 (95% CI: 1.07-1.73); those in municipalities with less sanitation had OR = 1.05 (95% CI: 0.78-1.40); and those in municipalities with less dental care had OR = 1.36 (95% CI: 1.02-1.80). Fluoridation and policies about sanitation, education and dental care were similarly associated with oral health in different social strata. Other policies on social and economic fields may be further explored. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Should large Spanish municipalities be financially compensated? Costs and benefits of being a capital/central municipality

OpenAIRE

Bosch Roca, Núria; Espasa Queralt, Marta; Montolio, Daniel

2014-01-01

We determine the costs and benefits of being a capital or central municipality, where central costs are understood to be incurred specifically as a result of the problems large municipalities located at the centre of an urban agglomeration face (including costs associated with social issues, immigration, commuting and diseconomies of scale) and capital costs result from the presence of regional and/or central government institutions in the municipality (loss of revenue or increase in expendit...

Copper Tube Pitting in Santa Fe Municipal Water Caused by Microbial Induced Corrosion.

Science.gov (United States)

Burleigh, Thomas D; Gierke, Casey G; Fredj, Narjes; Boston, Penelope J

2014-06-05

Many copper water lines for municipal drinking water in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA, have developed pinhole leaks. The pitting matches the description of Type I pitting of copper, which has historically been attributed to water chemistry and to contaminants on the copper tubing surface. However, more recent studies attribute copper pitting to microbial induced corrosion (MIC). In order to test for microbes, the copper tubing was fixed in hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), then the tops of the corrosion mounds were broken open, and the interior of the corrosion pits were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analysis found that microbes resembling actinobacteria were deep inside the pits and wedged between the crystallographic planes of the corroded copper grains. The presence of actinobacteria confirms the possibility that the cause of this pitting corrosion was MIC. This observation provides better understanding and new methods for preventing the pitting of copper tubing in municipal water.

Copper Tube Pitting in Santa Fe Municipal Water Caused by Microbial Induced Corrosion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas D. Burleigh

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Many copper water lines for municipal drinking water in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA, have developed pinhole leaks. The pitting matches the description of Type I pitting of copper, which has historically been attributed to water chemistry and to contaminants on the copper tubing surface. However, more recent studies attribute copper pitting to microbial induced corrosion (MIC. In order to test for microbes, the copper tubing was fixed in hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS, then the tops of the corrosion mounds were broken open, and the interior of the corrosion pits were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM. The analysis found that microbes resembling actinobacteria were deep inside the pits and wedged between the crystallographic planes of the corroded copper grains. The presence of actinobacteria confirms the possibility that the cause of this pitting corrosion was MIC. This observation provides better understanding and new methods for preventing the pitting of copper tubing in municipal water.

What implies the good work for registered nurses in municipal elderly care in Sweden?

Science.gov (United States)

Josefsson, Karin; Aling, Jenny; Östin, Britt-Louise

2011-08-01

The aim was to describe registered nurses' perceptions of what the good work implies to them in municipal elderly care. A descriptive design and a structured questionnaire specifically designed for this study were used. Sixty housing units for older people and 213 nurses participated, with a response rate of 62%. The good work included the following aspects: intellectually stimulating without guilt feelings; freedom and independence with the possibility to influence; having appreciative and pleasant fellow workers and a fair and understanding manager; a good physical and risk-free environment; work security and a steady income with the possibility of improving salary through work effort; work effort should be beneficial to others; innovative thinking and initiative should be highly valued; and pride in work without compromising personal values. Employers must take this into consideration to retain those nurses already employed and recruit nurses to municipal elderly care.

76 FR 823 - Registration of Municipal Advisors

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-06

... financial products.\\12\\ For example, as derivatives have developed in the municipal securities market, some... public information regarding the size of the municipal securities derivative market. Estimates of the..., Municipal Derivative Securities--Uses and Valuation 21 (1995) (discussion of revenue bonds). See also...

Regional and municipal energetic statistics - Sao Paulo State - 1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

The main Brazilian energetic information for subsidizing planning studies in regional and municipal level are presented, including data for the year 1987 that represent the sale of the main petroleum by-product and hydrated alcohol and the electricity consumption. (C.G.C.)

Intervención municipal en la gestión del riesgo por desastre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romero Vargas, Lorena

2004-05-01

Full Text Available El documento describe el papel que tienen las municipalidades, como actores sociales, en la reducción del riesgo por desastre a corto, mediano y largo plazo. Señala que no existe a nivel municipal una política establecida al respecto, no obstante, se puede realizar una intervención correctiva y prospectiva dentro de las potencialidades y limitaciones existentes. Expone acciones que se pueden ejecutar desde el quehacer cotidiano municipal, las cuales pueden llevarse en paralelo a procesos, programas, proyectos o actividades que se realizan The document describes the role of the municipalities as social actors in the risk reduction by disasters at short, medium and long term. It indicates that at the municipal level there is not a policy established in this regard; nevertheless, there could be a corrective and prospective intervention within the existing potentiality and limitations. It presents actions that can be executed from the daily operation of the municipality and that can be developed in parallel processes, programs, projects or activities

The impact of Tailor-Made skills based training programmes on the performance of municipalities: The case of the city of Tshwane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Solly Pooe

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Various South African municipalities are under close scrutiny due to widespread protests over poor quality of municipal services. Prior studies that examined situations in municipalities recommend training and development as the most apposite strategic tool for raising municipal performance. This study aimed to determine whether there is a statistically significant association between the provision of adequate training and development programmes and satisfactory performance at municipal level. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analyses were used in the study in which data was collected from n=131 respondents (119 questionnaires + 12 in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used for selecting eligible respondents. The results showed that 49% of respondents have had past training opportunities. The percentage of employees with satisfactory performance was equal to 52%. The study found a significant association between the provision of training and development programmes and satisfactory performance among municipal employees. At the 5% level of significance, the results show that inadequate performance was significantly associated with lack of training opportunities, low level of formal education, and lack of job satisfaction, in a decreasing order of strength. A model has been proposed for ensuring adequate performance by municipal employees, and for monitoring and evaluating progress on a quarterly basis

Empowering the Legitimacy of Municipal Decision-Making - Three Swedish Municipalities Facing the Nuclear Waste Management Issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soederberg, Olof

2001-01-01

This paper is focussed on how municipal elected leaders in three Swedish feasibility study municipalities - Nykoeping, Oskarshamn and Tierp - have tried to ensure that future decisions by their respective municipalities will be based both on factual knowledge and on existing opinions held by the general public. These efforts have contributed to an empowerment of the legitimacy of municipal decision-making within the nuclear waste management field and, probably, also served as a factor contributing to trust building with regard to these issues. The three cases show three ways to handle the problem, although there are also common features. The municipalities of Nykoeping and Oskarshamn have been facing these issues since 1995. In the case of Tierp, the municipality was confronted in late 1998 with the task to choose a strategy for its involvement in the site selection process and then, immediately, implement that strategy. A decision to construct a final repository for spent nuclear fuel has an obvious local dimension. It is not enough that an implementer is capable of developing a method that is considered to be safe enough by the regulatory authorities and by the Government. Nor is it enough that the implementer has succeeded to choose a site that these institutions consider to be suitable. A vital condition for a successful result is also that the general public, especially people living close to the site, have trust in the process leading up to the decision - and of course also that the general public is confident that the implementer and the regulator have agreed on a sound technical solution of the disposal problem. In other words, decisions in this area by Government and regulatory authorities do not only have to comply with existing legislation (obviously decisions by such bodies have to be 'legal'); they also should have a democratic legitimacy. In a representative democracy like Sweden, with high voting participation, it may seem self-evident that the

Empowering the Legitimacy of Municipal Decision-Making - Three Swedish Municipalities Facing the Nuclear Waste Management Issue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soederberg, Olof [Ministry of the Environment, Stockholm (Sweden)

2001-07-01

This paper is focussed on how municipal elected leaders in three Swedish feasibility study municipalities - Nykoeping, Oskarshamn and Tierp - have tried to ensure that future decisions by their respective municipalities will be based both on factual knowledge and on existing opinions held by the general public. These efforts have contributed to an empowerment of the legitimacy of municipal decision-making within the nuclear waste management field and, probably, also served as a factor contributing to trust building with regard to these issues. The three cases show three ways to handle the problem, although there are also common features. The municipalities of Nykoeping and Oskarshamn have been facing these issues since 1995. In the case of Tierp, the municipality was confronted in late 1998 with the task to choose a strategy for its involvement in the site selection process and then, immediately, implement that strategy. A decision to construct a final repository for spent nuclear fuel has an obvious local dimension. It is not enough that an implementer is capable of developing a method that is considered to be safe enough by the regulatory authorities and by the Government. Nor is it enough that the implementer has succeeded to choose a site that these institutions consider to be suitable. A vital condition for a successful result is also that the general public, especially people living close to the site, have trust in the process leading up to the decision - and of course also that the general public is confident that the implementer and the regulator have agreed on a sound technical solution of the disposal problem. In other words, decisions in this area by Government and regulatory authorities do not only have to comply with existing legislation (obviously decisions by such bodies have to be 'legal'); they also should have a democratic legitimacy. In a representative democracy like Sweden, with high voting participation, it may seem self-evident that

Implementing the Green City Policy in Municipal Spatial Planning: The Case of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abongile Dlani

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The term “eco-city,” and similar concepts such as “green” and “sustainable” cities, has evolved overtime concurrent to the development of the understanding of social change and mankind’s impact on environmental and economic health. With the advent of climate change impacts, modern economies developed the green city policy to create sustainable urban development, low emission, and environmentally friendly cities. In South Africa municipalities, including Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM have been tasked to and implement the green city policy. However, BCMM is yet to develop the green city policy that clearly articulate how the municipality will combat climate change and reduce its Green House Gases (GHG emissions in its spatial planning designs. Against this background, this article reviews and analyses green policy landscape in Metropolitan Municipalities. It is envisaged that the research will provide the basis for the development of a comprehensive green policy strategies and programmes for the local transition to action in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, in the Eastern Cape Province.

Thermodynamic approach to rheological modeling and simulations at the configuration space level of description

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jongschaap, R.J.J.; Denneman, A.I.M.; Denneman, A.I.M.; Conrads, W.

1997-01-01

The so-called matrix model is a general thermodynamic framework for microrheological modeling. This model has already been proven to be applicable for a wide class of systems, in particular to models formulated at the configuration tensor level of description. For models formulated at the

Absenteeism for low back pain in the municipal administration of Goiânia in the years 2008 and 2009

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Aparecida Neves Ribeiro

Full Text Available Objective To establish and evaluate the indicators of absenteeism for low back pain among municipal public servants of the city of Goiania in 2008 and 2009. Material and methods This is a descriptive, epidemiological, retrospective study. We used secondary data provided by the Municipal Medical Board of Goiânia. The sample was composed by active, statutory and commissioned civil servants of the executive branch, of both sexes, who took sick leaves for health care in the period from January 2008 to December 2009. We analyzed all cases of sick leave for health care which were taken for a period of more than 3 days and caused by low back pain. Frequency and severity indexes, proportion of lost time and average length of absences were calculated. The data were statistically analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results 625 sick leaves were analyzed. In 2008, 32% of public servants took sick leave for health care. 2.83% of these leaves were for low back pain, generating 3541 days of absence. In 2009, the total percentage of sick leaves was 30%. 5.38% of these were due to low back pain, leading to 6890 lost working days. The indicators of absenteeism for 2008 and 2009 were, respectively: frequency index = 0.009 and 0.015; severity index = 0.14 and 0.26, proportion of lost time = 13.89% and 27.34%; average length of absences = 16.39 and 16.84 days. Conclusion The results indicate the need for the creation of intervention policies on work organization, since low back pain is a disorder that can be prevented at the primary level.

Municipality Level Simulations of Dengue Fever Incidence in Puerto Rico Using Ground Based and Remotely Sensed Climate Data

Science.gov (United States)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Morin, Cory

2015-01-01

Dengue fever (DF) is caused by a virus transmitted between humans and Aedes genus mosquitoes through blood feeding. In recent decades incidence of the disease has drastically increased in the tropical Americas, culminating with the Pan American outbreak in 2010 which resulted in 1.7 million reported cases. In Puerto Rico dengue is endemic, however, there is significant inter-annual, intraannual, and spatial variability in case loads. Variability in climate and the environment, herd immunity and virus genetics, and demographic characteristics may all contribute to differing patterns of transmission both spatially and temporally. Knowledge of climate influences on dengue incidence could facilitate development of early warning systems allowing public health workers to implement appropriate transmission intervention strategies. In this study, we simulate dengue incidence in several municipalities in Puerto Rico using population and meteorological data derived from ground based stations and remote sensing instruments. This data was used to drive a process based model of vector population development and virus transmission. Model parameter values for container composition, vector characteristics, and incubation period were chosen by employing a Monte Carlo approach. Multiple simulations were performed for each municipality and the results were compared with reported dengue cases. The best performing simulations were retained and their parameter values and meteorological input were compared between years and municipalities. Parameter values varied by municipality and year illustrating the complexity and sensitivity of the disease system. Local characteristics including the natural and built environment impact transmission dynamics and produce varying responses to meteorological conditions.

Monograph of Keçiören Municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savaş Zafer Şahin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In Turkey, urban administration can be defined from a judicial perspective as the bundle of powers vested in municipalities. It is known that throughout republican history, municipalities, using these powers, have differentiated themselves via their own internal dynamics in parallel to the evolution of public policy and changes in legislation. Yet, it is obvious that there are important gaps in understanding this differentiation taking into consideration the structural conditions of individual municipalities. In particular, in order to thoroughly understand municipalities, it is important to consider periodical pictures of how each municipality has been affected by waves of decentralization and centralization experienced over the last thirty years. In this respect, this monograph, using the same monographic approach developed for the Çankaya Municipality, provides a picture of the existing situation of Ankara’s Keçiören Municipality and presents related problems and potential. This monograph, based on qualitative and quantitative research, presents a holistic evaluation of Keçiören Municipality in terms of its external environment, provision of services, decision-making processes, use of technology and communications.

International experts' conference 'Promotion of environmental protection at municipal level - strategies and approaches for action' in preparation of the UN conference on environment and development (UNCED)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stapelfeldt, U.; Klassen, I.

1992-02-01

This meeting took place in Berlin in February 1992 in the run-up to the Rio UNCED conference. The proceedings compile the schedule, the opening speeches and the papers contributed on different subjects by the working groups. A declaration ('Berlin Declaration') was passed to summarize some important statements and central targets: An environmentally compatible market economy is an essential prerequisite for a lasting ecologically acceptable development of the urban areas; the towns and cities are the natural allies of the corresponding environmental policies; urban development strategies must comprise all fields which are of environmental relevance; urban development and municipal pollution abatement are interdependent; there must be enough room for sufficiently autonomous decision-making and development at the local level to ensure, last but not least, an efficient municipal environmental management (orig./HP) [de

Modernising solid waste management at municipal level : institutional arrangements in urban centres of East Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Majale, C.

2011-01-01

The task of municipal problem solving has become a team sport that has spilled beyond the borders of government agencies and now engages a far more extensive network of social actors - public as well as private, non-profit and profit. Solid waste management is one of the key tasks associated

Trans-Americas leads the way into municipal textile recycling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ridgley, H.

1998-08-01

Most textile waste in the US still goes to the landfill--an estimated 6.6 million tons each year. But thanks to the efforts of textile recycles--such as Trans-Americas Textile Recycling CO. (Brooklyn, NY)--another 1.25 million tons gets salvaged for reuse overseas or as a feedstock for the wiping and fiber industries, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. In an era where global population levels are increasing the demand for textile waste from the Western world and municipalities are struggling to reach their waste diversion goals, boosting textile recovery rates makes sense. And it`s a waste that can be easily incorporated into existing municipal curbside or drop-off recycling programs. Since 1942, when the company first opened its doors in Brooklyn, NY, it purchased textile discards from charities. While those discards still make up the majority of Trans-Americas` supply, in the last two years, the company also began purchasing post-consumer material from municipalities. Textiles are definitely going to be an increasingly important part of recycling, as states look to meet their mandates.

ESCO in Danish municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Hansen, Jesper Rohr; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

2013-01-01

development with international ESCO experience as well as refer to public innovation literature. Combined with empirical case studies on ESCO contracting, we discuss factors and conditions that influence decisions on ESCO, the flexibility of ESCO contracts and whether it implies an innovative process...... mainly been used in the industry so far, but in recent years more and more municipalities have taken up ESCO initiatives, in order to retrofit existing public buildings, and to make them more energy efficient. ESCO is in many ways a new way of collaboration for Danish municipalities, and therefore...... in municipalities ESCOs have received much attention in different Danish energy-.efficiency policies, where ESCOs are often described as a promising way to achieve energy savings in existing housing and to overcome barriers encountered by other attempts at energy savings. Instead of assessing ESCO only...

ICT and Intellectual Disability: A Survey of Organizational Support at the Municipal Level in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsten, Camilla; Marmstål Hammar, Lena; Martin, Lene; Göransson, Kerstin

2017-01-01

Background: Young adults today have grown up in a society where information and communication technology (ICT) support empowerment and social participation. Young adults with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability are at risk for marginalization by the digital divide. The aim was to map and describe how municipal organizations in Sweden organize…

Energy management in municipal heritage; Management de l'energie dans le patrimoine municipal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-07-01

Energie-Cites has organized a week dedicated to the practices of energy consumption management in the municipalities and to network practices for energy efficiency. Practical presentations and site visits provided the participants with many methodological elements on energy policy, electricity demand management, optimising the design of municipal buildings, energy efficiency, integrated logistics for use of biomass energy, methods of energy consumption monitoring, legal framework for energy efficiency. (A.L.B.)

A Survey of Municipal Solid Waste Generation in 22 Regions of Tehran With Solid Waste Reduction Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MA Abduli

2015-07-01

Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional one conducted from 2010 to 2014. Relevant officials of the waste recovery in 22 regions of Tehran were approached in order to collect data about municipal solid waste generation through interviewing, filling out questionnaires, conducting field visits from Aradkooh Disposal and Processing Complex and collecting information on disposal and destiny of wastes. Then the data were compiled and analyzed. Results: Total solid waste generation in Tehran from 2010 to 2014 amounted to respectively 3389662, 3399344, 3449338 and 3245157 Metric Tons, categorized into three groups of municipal, companies and townships and hospital wastes. Most of the generated waste produced in Tehran was that of households and commercial (known as municipal waste from 22 Regions of Tehran. Based on the surveys conducted, per capita solid waste generation of 11 regions of Tehran ranged from 550 to 1000 grams and in other 11 ones from 1000 to 1521 grams per capita per day. The lowest and highest waste generation rate belonged respectively to region 13 with 556 grams and region 12 with 1521 grams per capita per day in 2011. Conclusion: Comparing per capita generation of municipal solid waste in different municipal regions in Tehran with maximum acceptable capacity of waste generation indicates the deviation of waste generation of all Tehran regions from the standard acceptable amount. Therefore, not only is it necessary to plan and take strategic measures to reduce Tehran waste generation but also these programs and measures should be specific to each region considering its specifications and solid waste quality and quantity.

Some remarks on bankrupt municipalities | Stander | Potchefstroom ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The insolvency of municipalities is no longer a rare incident; it is a reality. It is interesting to note that even in the United States of America the insolvency of municipalities is currently an equally serious concern. In South Africa there is much speculation regarding the causes of the insolvency of municipalities, and possible ...

[Costs estimation of tuberculosis cases detection. La Habana Vieja Municipality, Cuba. 2002].

Science.gov (United States)

Peralta Pérez, Mariana; Gálvez González, Ana M; González Ochoa, Edilberto

2007-01-01

The Cuban Tuberculosis Control Program has been able to significantly reduce the tuberculosis cases incidence in all its forms. La Habana Vieja municipality has maintained the highest incidence in Havana City province during 5 years and one of the highest in the country. To estimate the cost of Tuberculosis cases detection in Habana Vieja municipality, in the year 2002. A descriptive retrospective study to estimate the costs with social perspective was carried out. The costs of cases detection and their departures in health facilities were considered. For patients with cough/expectoration > or =14 days (RS+14) the pocket expense and monetary losses for labour absences were considered. Costs were expressed in equivalent Cuban pesos to American dollars (1 CUC = 1 USD). Information from official records in health institutions and from interviews to workers and RS+14 was obtained. Social cost of tuberculosis cases detection for an RS+14 was in average 24,11 CUC, and institutional cost was 12,55; for clinical investigation 0.37; for sputum smear microscopy 2,25; for culture 7,05; for thorax X-ray 1,67; for notification 3,07; and for registering 0,36. The biggest costs were observed in sputum smear microscopies and cultures performance; salaries and reagents were the issues contributing more in that cost. The results obtained in this study could be extrapolated to other municipalities in the country with social and economic conditions similar to La Habana Vieja.

Operation of Public Enterprises of the Municipality of Daet, Camarines Norte, Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Cristina Campana-Azuelo

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The public enterprises of the Municipality of Daet such as market, slaughterhouse and terminal were evaluated with the end view of formulating recommendations to sustain and improve its operations. It focused on determining the status of operation of public enterprises along the areas of human resource management, physical resource management and financial resource management. It utilized the qualitative-descriptive-evaluative method of research, employing focus group discussion, key informant interviews and documentary analysis. The study disclosed along human resource management that there is a need for continuing manpower capability building trainings and conduct of monitoring activies in managing the operation of public enterprises. It further revealed that personnel movement only occurs on account of retirement, resignation, transfer and creation of new items. As to physical resource management, the municipality only conduct inspection for physical facilities, buildings and equipment when there is a report from the concerned offices of the public enterprises and most of the time not evidenced by inspection reports. However, on financial resource management, the targeted incomes of public enterprises were not totally realized. Most of the disbursements of the public enterprises had exceeded the appropriation or the budgeted amount or the expenditures for the year. Disbursements of the public enterprises of the municipality were totally supported by current income collections since the operational expenses were not more than the actual collections realized. The difference was being backed up through loan advance/subsidy from the general fund taken from other income source.

Importance of physical infrastructure in the economic growth of municipalities in the northern border

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Héctor Alonso Barajas Bustillos

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper evaluates the importance of infrastructure on economic growth for the Mexican northern border municipalities. From the growth literature, we know that infrastructure, besides other factors, has been pointed out as a key factor in the long run perspectives of regional growth. Nevertheless, and within this thematic context, works that use a disaggregated analysis down to the level of the municipality are still scarce, which in the case of the northern border constitutes a scenario of much relevance given the development model adopted by the Mexican economy in recent decades. Empirical models results indicate that the municipalities of Piedras Negras, Nogales and Torreon maintain a positive relationship between physical infrastructure and growth. In the case of other municipalities like Tijuana, its elevated population growth inhibits a proper infrastructure allocation, although the positive effect induced by infrastructure on growth remains.

Differences of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards epilepsy between populations in municipal and nonmunicipal areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tiamkao S

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Somsak Tiamkao,1 Kittisak Sawanyawisuth,1,3 Karnchanasri Singhpoo,2 Sukanda Ariyanuchitkul,2 Ratchada Ngamroop4On behalf of the Integrated Epilepsy Research Group1Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; 2Community Medicine Service Section, Srinagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; 3The Research and Training Center for Enhancing Quality of Life of Working-Age People, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; 4Health Promoting Hospital Tumbon Banladchang, Nakhon Nayok Provincial Health Office, Nakhon Nayok, ThailandBackground: Information on the knowledge of, and attitudes and practices towards epilepsy of the general population in Thailand is still limited, particularly with respect to the differences between populations in municipal and nonmunicipal areas.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in a sample population of 1,000, with 500 participants each from municipal and nonmunicipal areas, in the Khon Kaen district.Results: The participants in the municipal area had higher incomes and higher education than did the participants in the nonmunicipal area. Both groups had low knowledge regarding epilepsy definition, causes, and treatment, but participants in the municipal area were more knowledgeable on the causes, types, and treatment of epilepsy. With respect to attitude, there were a significantly higher number of nonmunicipal participants than municipal participants who thought epilepsy was a disgusting disorder or that persons with epilepsy were sinful, had brain damage, and could not attend school. The municipal participants showed greater knowledge of correct practice than did nonmunicipal participants with regard to the following: not driving a car; avoiding acrobatic sports, fighting, or water sport; able to eat pork, not having to resign from work; not having to quit school; and able to have sexual relations.Conclusion: The

Study on Municipal Energy Companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-07-01

This is a summarizing overview of the local, renewable energy initiatives that are grouped under the heading of 'municipal energy company'. A municipal energy company (or sustainable energy company) is a local energy company that initiates, coordinates and/or manages sustainable energy projects with the primary objective of realizing the climate objectives. [nl

Description of the Seibersdorf incineration plant for low level waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chalupa, G.; Petschnik, G.

1986-09-01

After a description of the design and the construction principles of the incinerator building, the furnace and its attached auxilary devices are explained. The incinerator is layed out for low level wastes. It has a vertical furnace, operates with discontinuous feeding for trashes with heat-values between 600 and 10000 kcal/kg waste. The maximum throughput amounts 40 kg/h. The purification of the off-gas is guaranteed by a multistage filter system: 2 stages with ceramic candles, cooling column and a HEPA-filter system. The control of the off-gas cleaning is carried out by a stack instrumentation, consisting of an aerosol-, gas-, Iodine- and Tritium-monitor; the building is surveilled by doserate- and aerosolmonitors. (Author)

Cascade Boosting-Based Object Detection from High-Level Description to Hardware Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Khattab

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Object detection forms the first step of a larger setup for a wide variety of computer vision applications. The focus of this paper is the implementation of a real-time embedded object detection system while relying on high-level description language such as SystemC. Boosting-based object detection algorithms are considered as the fastest accurate object detection algorithms today. However, the implementation of a real time solution for such algorithms is still a challenge. A new parallel implementation, which exploits the parallelism and the pipelining in these algorithms, is proposed. We show that using a SystemC description model paired with a mainstream automatic synthesis tool can lead to an efficient embedded implementation. We also display some of the tradeoffs and considerations, for this implementation to be effective. This implementation proves capable of achieving 42 fps for 320×240 images as well as bringing regularity in time consuming.

GESTIÓN FINANCIERA Y LEGITIMIDAD MUNICIPAL [doi: 10.5329/RECADM.20040302005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edmundo Hernández Claro

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 21 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 RESUMEN A partir de los abusos que las autoridades municipales han hecho de los recursos públicos a su disposición, especialmente en el rubro de remuneraciones y compensaciones, el artículo sugiere que los gobiernos municipales enfrentan um deterioro en sus niveles de legitimidad. Destacando que el caso afecta en mayor medida a los municipios metropolitanos. Se sugiere trabajar tanto en mejores medidas de fiscalización, como en los ajustes institucionales que requieren las grandes concentraciones urbanas. Palavras chave: Eficacia, eficiencia, gasto público, gestión, inversión municipal, legitimidad, impuesto predial, nómina, recaudación, remuneraciones, sistemas complejos     ABSTRACT Since of the excess by the municipal authorities about the use of public resources, in reference to the remunerations, the article suggest that municipal government are facing a crisis in its levels of legitimacy. I suggest work in the improvement of the actions of supervision, and instutional adjusts, mainly for big urban concentrations. Key words: Efficiency, efficacy, complex system, public expenditure, management, municipal investment, legitimacy, payroll, tax

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors For Cost-Effective Municipal Water Reuse

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Özgün, H.

2015-01-01

In recent years, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology has been increasingly researched for municipal wastewater treatment as a means to produce nutrient-rich, solids free effluents with low levels of pathogens, while occupying a small footprint. An AnMBR can be used not only for on-site

Do Municipal Mergers Improve Fiscal Outcomes?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Sune Welling; Houlberg, Kurt; Holm Pedersen, Lene

2014-01-01

Improved fiscal management is a frequent justification for promoting boundary consolidations. However, whether or not this is actually the case is rarely placed under rigorous empirical scrutiny. Hence, this article investigates if fiscal outcomes are improved when municipalities are merged....... The basic argument is that the conceptualisation of fiscal management in political science is often too narrow as it focuses on the budget and pays hardly any attention to balances in the final accounts and debts – elements of management which are central to policy making. On this background, the causal...... relationship between municipal mergers and fiscal outcomes is analysed. Measured on the balance between revenues and expenses, liquid assets and debts, municipal mergers improve the fiscal outcomes of the municipalities in a five-year perspective, although the pre-reform effects tend to be negative...

Comparison of PCDD/Fs levels and profiles in leachates from ''new'' and ''old'' municipal landfills

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dudzinska, M.; Czerwinski, J.; Rut, B. [Lublin Univ. of Technology (Poland)

2004-09-15

Although the presence of PCDD/Fs in landfill leachates has been confirmed, not many experiments have been undertaken in this area, probably because of a very low solubility of PCDD/Fs in water. Modern, properly designed landfills should secure (seal) all deposited wastes and possible leakings within the damp. Leachates are collected and treated on the site or transported to a wastewater treatment plant, so they should not cause a release of any pollutants into the soil or groundwater. But PCDD/Fs as well as a number of chlorinated compounds, which may act as precursors of dioxins under aerobic or anaerobic conditions have been identified as trace contaminants in municipal wastes. The formation of dioxins during municipal waste deposition has not been studied, contrary to the formation of OCDD from precursors under aerobic conditions during composting of waste or treatment of sewage sludge5. Some information about the possible dioxin formation during landfilling might be obtained from the comparison of PCDD/F levels in the leachates from ''old - closed'' and ''new'' sites.

Report: new guidelines for characterization of municipal solid waste: the Portuguese case.

Science.gov (United States)

da Graça Madeira Martinho, Maria; Silveira, Ana Isabel; Fernandes Duarte Branco, Elsa Maria

2008-10-01

This report proposes a new set of guidelines for the characterization of municipal solid waste. It is based on an analysis of reference methodologies, used internationally, and a case study of Valorsul (a company that handles recovery and treatment of solid waste in the North Lisbon Metropolitan Area). In particular, the suggested guidelines present a new definition of the waste to be analysed, change the sampling unit and establish statistical standards for the results obtained. In these new guidelines, the sampling level is the waste collection vehicle and contamination and moisture are taken into consideration. Finally, focus is on the quality of the resulting data, which is essential for comparability of data between countries. These new guidelines may also be applicable outside Portugal because the methodology includes, besides municipal mixed waste, separately collected fractions of municipal waste. They are a response to the need for information concerning Portugal (e.g. Eurostat or OECD inquiries) and follow European Union municipal solid waste management policies (e.g. packaging waste recovery and recycling targets and the reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfill).

Allegheny County Municipal Land Use Ordinances

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — Many municipalities have their own land use ordinances and establish standards and requirements for land use and development in that municipality. This dataset is...

Greenhouse gas emissions control in integrated municipal solid waste management through mixed integer bilevel decision-making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Li, E-mail: li.he@iseis.org [MOE Key Laboratory of Regional Energy Systems Optimization, S and C Academy of Energy and Environmental Research, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206 (China); Huang, G.H.; Lu, Hongwei [MOE Key Laboratory of Regional Energy Systems Optimization, S and C Academy of Energy and Environmental Research, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206 (China)

2011-10-15

Highlights: {yields} We used bilevel analysis to treat two objectives at different levels. {yields} The model can identify allocation schemes for waste flows. {yields} The model can support waste timing, sizing, and siting for facility expansions. {yields} The model can estimate minimized total management cost and GHG emissions. - Abstract: Recent studies indicated that municipal solid waste (MSW) is a major contributor to global warming due to extensive emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, most of them focused on investigating impacts of MSW on GHG emission amounts. This study presents two mixed integer bilevel decision-making models for integrated municipal solid waste management and GHG emissions control: MGU-MCL and MCU-MGL. The MGU-MCL model represents a top-down decision process, with the environmental sectors at the national level dominating the upper-level objective and the waste management sectors at the municipal level providing the lower-level objective. The MCU-MGL model implies a bottom-up decision process where municipality plays a leading role. Results from the models indicate that: the top-down decisions would reduce metric tonne carbon emissions (MTCEs) by about 59% yet increase about 8% of the total management cost; the bottom-up decisions would reduce MTCE emissions by about 13% but increase the total management cost very slightly; on-site monitoring and downscaled laboratory experiments are still required for reducing uncertainty in GHG emission rate from the landfill facility.

Management and Employee Sati sfaction in a Municipal Administration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Polona Kambič

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Research Question (RQ: Do knowledge and skills of the director of municipal administration have an influence on employee satisfaction? Purpose: To research the knowledge and skills, a leader needs to guide employees towards reaching a work place satisfaction and consequently towards higher effectiveness of the organization. Method: A case study on a smaller municipal administration based on an interview with the director of municipal administration on development of knowledge and skills; a questionnaire for determining leadership abilities and a questionnaire for measuring work satisfaction of employees in municipal administration. Results: The influence of knowledge and skills of the director of municipal administration on employee satisfaction. Organization: Organization that strives for success needs to devote special attention to people management. Satisfied employees are successful in their work assignments and consequently contribute to effectiveness of the organization. Society: The purpose of municipal administration is to fulfill the needs of its citizens as much as possible. A quality service for citizens as service users can only be provided by satisfied employees in the municipal administration. Originality: In the municipal administration of the studied municipality a research study on the influence of knowledge and skills of the leader on employee satisfaction has not been carried out yet, so this will serve as grounds for improvement of organizational climate in the organization. Limitations/further research: The director of municipal administration is the author’s subordinate. The municipal administration has only eight employees, which is a limited sample size even though all employees participated in the research study. In the future it would be wise to conduct a study with all three municipal administrations of the Bela krajina region, as this would provide a clearer picture of employee satisfaction in the municipalities of

Policy recommendations for Canadian municipal greenhouse gas trading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seskus, A.

2002-01-01

The municipal policies regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading from municipalities in developed countries outside of Canada were examined in an effort to help establish a position on municipal carbon trading in Canada. The main uncertainty regarding this new concept of GHG emissions trading is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, when or if it will be ratified. It is premature for municipalities to have well-established polices about emissions trading because the country in which a municipality is located determines the position towards GHG emissions trading. For this study, an extensive literature search of municipal policies was conducted for both GHG trading and domestic national GHG trading. This was followed by a survey on emissions trading which was distributed to more than 350 member cities (including the United States, Europe and Australia) of the International Council for Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign. The literature search revealed that municipalities outside of Canada have not yet formulated policies to address the issue of emissions trading. Only 7 per cent of the cities felt that they were informed about emissions trading, even in Europe and Australia where domestic emissions trading is closer to becoming a reality. This paper demonstrated that it is evident that more training is needed for municipalities regarding this issue. For the very few cities that had developed a GHG trading policy, each municipal policy supported municipal participation in emissions trading under conditions that included an environmental retirement, a do-no-harm clause, or an obligation to meet voluntary commitments before excess emissions can be traded. refs., tabs., figs

MODERNIZATION, OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OF REGULATION OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AS A BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF MUNICIPALITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena B. Krylova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article highlights the problems associated with the maintenance of financial stability of municipalities. The process of improving the regulatory framework in the public sector of the economy, ensuring the development of economic entities of financial relations at the municipal level, and contributing to the achievement of financial sustainability of municipalities. We consider a number of theses that constitute the theoretical basis of the financial sustainability of municipalities. 

Municipal Development Plan, Acerra (Naples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Benevolo

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The Municipal Development Plan (Piano Urbanistico Comunale - PUC of Acerra has been drafted by a group of young professionals and researchers, led by Leonardo Benevolo, in accordance with the guidelines laid out by Regional Law no. 16 of 2004. Its complex drafting process was compressed into a brief, nine-month period in 2008 and 2009, at the end of which its initial adoption (or “predisposizione” – “preparation” or “predisposition” – in Italian legal terms was ratified by the municipal council. This article reconstructs the key moments, illustrating the main elements of the plan and how the debate about it took shape both inside and outside the municipal administration.

Environmental radon level and radiation dose to residents in Shanghai municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Haoran; Chen Peihua; Wen Yin

1992-01-01

From 1987 to 1990 we observed the diurnal and seasonal changes of radon concentrations indoors and outdoors in Shanghai Municipality. The average equilibrium factors for radon decay products indoors and outdoors were 0.5 and 0.7, respectively. The indoor radon concentrations at city proper, town and rural area were 11.2, 10.5 and 13.6 Bq/m 3 , respectively. The outdoor radon concentration was 5.1 Bq/m 3 . The occupancy factors in the city proper were 0.82 and 0.18 in the adults, 0.87 and 0.13 in the children for indoor and outdoor exposures, respectively. In 1989 the population weighted means of the annual effective dose equivalent amounted to approximately 0.53 mSv. The collective dose equivalent was 6800 man. Sv

40 CFR 230.50 - Municipal and private water supplies.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... a municipal or private water supply system. (b) Possible loss of values: Discharges can affect the... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Municipal and private water supplies... Potential Effects on Human Use Characteristics § 230.50 Municipal and private water supplies. (a) Municipal...

Site descriptions for preliminary radiological assessments of low-level waste repositories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, W.E.; Jones, C.H.; Sumerling, T.J.; Ashton, J.

1988-07-01

The environmental contexts of four sites, previously under investigation by UK Nirex Ltd. as potential locations for low-level waste disposal facilities, are described. Information on geographical setting, climate, surface hydrology, land use, agriculture, fisheries, geology and hydrogeology is presented. The geological and hydrogeological data are interpreted with the support of deterministic modelling of groundwater conditions. The routes by which radionuclides may migrate from the site are identified and reduced to 1D statistical descriptions suitable for use in probabilistic risk assessments. Additional data required to improve the assessment of the performance of the site are identified. (author)

Developing a holistic strategy for integrated waste management within municipal planning: Challenges, policies, solutions and perspectives for Hellenic municipalities in the zero-waste, low-cost direction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zotos, G.; Karagiannidis, A.; Zampetoglou, S.; Malamakis, A.; Antonopoulos, I.-S.; Kontogianni, S.; Tchobanoglous, G.

2009-01-01

The present position paper addresses contemporary waste management options, weaknesses and opportunities faced by Hellenic local authorities. It focuses on state-of-the-art, tested as well as innovative, environmental management tools on a municipal scale and identifies a range of different collaboration schemes between local authorities and related service providers. Currently, a policy implementation gap is still experienced among Hellenic local authorities; it appears that administration at the local level is inadequate to manage and implement many of the general policies proposed; identify, collect, monitor and assess relevant data; and safeguard efficient and effective implementation of MSWM practices in the framework of integrated environmental management as well. This shortfall is partly due to the decentralisation of waste management issues to local authorities without a parallel substantial budgetary and capacity support, thus resulting in local activity remaining often disoriented and isolated from national strategies, therefore yielding significant planning and implementation problems and delays against pressing issues at hand as well as loss or poor use of available funds. This paper develops a systemic approach for MSWM at both the household and the non-household level, summarizes state-of-the-art available tools and compiles a set of guidelines for developing waste management master plans at the municipal level. It aims to provide a framework in the MSWM field for municipalities in Greece as well as other countries facing similar problems under often comparable socioeconomic settings

Safety of Municipal Loan in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stetsenko Tetiana V.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The goal of the article is justification of the necessity of legal regulation of actions of the bodies of local self-government when detecting signs of insolvency. Each stage of municipal loans management is analysed from the point of view of availability of legal rules, which do not allow making municipal loans by territorial communities of the cities with weak financial state or regulate sequence of actions of municipalities in default times. The following results were obtained: majority of legal restrictions in the sphere of local finance management are directed at prevention of ungrounded loans or have the form of sanctions, applied to local bodies, which perform their debt obligations with delay; the state formally controls the process of making municipal loans, avoiding financial responsibility; the national legislation does not contain the mechanism of regulation of actions of territorial communities, which experience difficulties when performing debt obligations. The article proves expediency of adoption of a uniform regulatory-legal act in Ukraine, which would regulate all economic relations connected with making municipal loans. This legal document shall contain a section about actions of the municipality-debtor when signs of default start to appear, announcement of default and declaration of the debtor insolvent (bankrupt. The article recommends the following structure of this section: regulation of the procedure of default announcement avoidance; announcement of default with the pre-trial restoration of the debtor’s solvency; and announcement of default with declaring the debtor bankrupt juridically.

Leachate and Pollution Levels of Heavy Metals in the Groundwater near Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Site of Mashhad, Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borhan Mansouri

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the concentration of metals (lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, and nickel in the landfill leachate and heavy metals in wells downstream of municipal solid waste landfill site in the city of Mashhad. Methods: In both winter and summer seasons in 2009 samples were collected from five wells that were in landfill downstream in Mashhad. Results: Among heavy metals, nickel concentration in summer and lead concentration in winter had the highest levels. The results showed that the mean concentration of heavy metals in the studied wells was below the national standards of drinking water of Iran, WHO, and the United States. Pearson correlation coefficients also indicated that there was a significant correlation among the studied metals in the wells. Conclusion: Cd and Cu concentrations in all of the wells (except Pb in winter and Ni in summer did not pose any significant water quality problems since these concentrations were below the standards acceptable levels of drinking water.

LEAP: local environmental action plan. Municipality of Dolneni

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The Municipality of Dolneni is situated in the northern part of the Pelagonia Valley, at about 600 meters above the sea level. It is surrounded on three sides (north, northeast, east and northwest) by the mountain massifs of Dautica, Babuna and Busova Planina. The assesment of the state of the environment in the Municipality of Dolneni presented in this document is based on several principles, including, before all, human health, as well as impacts from human activities on urban and natural environment, social and economic development, etc. The impacts from environmental pollution on human health in the Municipality of Dolneni are evident. Major problem is the lack of sewerage system to collect wastewater and absence of organized landfill(s) for solid waste disposal. In addition, the improper drinking water supply in most of the settlements contributes to the increased human health risk in the Municipality. The absence of urban planning has lead to developments and uncontrolled use of natural resources that cause degradation of the environment and consequently decrease in quality of living for the population. The above problems affect the quality of living conditions and human health both directly and indirectly. In recent years, incidence of epidemics of communicable hepatitis was recovered (Debreste, Desovo), and there is a concern for a high risk of appearance of intestinal and other infectious diseases. There are no indicators of the soil quality of surface running water resources with regard to pollution. In any case, on the basis of the manner of land use and specific human activities on the territory of the Municipality, as well as on the basis of the above mentioned solid waste and waste water related problems, it may be concluded that these resources are in a rather poor condition. Other aspects of determining the quality of the environment (atmosphere, noise, natural ecosystems and biodiversity in general) are not under serious human pressure at present

CHEMICAL REACTIONS ON ADSORBING SURFACE: KINETIC LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P.P.Kostrobii

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the effective Hubbard model we suggest a statistical description of reaction-diffusion processes for bimolecular chemical reactions of gas particles adsorbed on the metallic surface. The system of transport equations for description of particles diffusion as well as reactions is obtained. We carry out the analysis of the contributions of all physical processes to the formation of diffusion coefficients and chemical reactions constants.

How to encourage road noise abatement in Nordic municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard

2008-01-01

Road noise nuisance is a huge problem in the Nordic countries, and it seems diffi cult for Nordic countries to meet national targets for its reduction. One reason for this is the lack of municipal activities in the fi eld. Th us the research question that this article seeks to answer in relation...... to already existing residential areas and roads is: which conditions in the municipal organisation and its institutional environment contribute to making municipalities provide and implement noise abatement measures? Th e assumption is that three factors infl uence how the municipalities prioritize among...... political issues: the municipal organisation itself, the local institutional environment (citizens, business and NGOs), and the state and trans-municipal networks. A study of the anatomy of municipal road noise abatement policy shows that conditions for implementing road noise abatement in existing...

Analysis of rainfall in the municipality of Castelo do Piauí, Northeast Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francílio de Amorim dos Santos

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research was to analyze rainfall in the municipality of Cas- telo do Piauí, located in the Northeast of Brazil, based on descriptive statistics and the Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI. From an historical series of 39 years (1963 to 2001, a historical average of 1006.3 mm was identi ed for this municipality, whereas the years 1985 and 1983 were considered the most and least rainy, re- spectively. The rainy season is concentrated in the months of January to April, with March being the wettest and August being the least rainy. Rainfall variability values were higher than 40% for all months and asymmetric positive distribution. The RAI allowed to establish the following dry and rainy years: 1963, 1964 and 1989 (very rainy; 1974 and 1985 (extremely rainy; 1976, 1981, 1992, 1993, 1998 and 2001 (very dry; 1983 and 1990 (extremely dry. In summary, the present study found a predominance of dry to extremely dry years in the studied area, with 53.8%.

Breast developmental anomalies in dormaa municipality of ghana: prevalence and impact on the life of the individual.

Science.gov (United States)

Agbenorku, P; Otupiri, E; Fugar, S

2013-01-01

Background. Breast developmental anomalies (BDAs) are abnormalities of breast tissue that arise during breast development. Some of the anomalies can have negative impact on the person's life. This study seeks to assess the prevalence of BDA in the Dormaa Municipality in Ghana and its impact on the life of the individual. Materials and Methods. A descriptive study involving 500 female respondents aged between 11 and 25 years from selected schools in the Dormaa Municipality using self-administered questionnaires and interviews. Results. From the study, it was found that the prevalence of BDA in the municipality was 12.8%. The commonest BDA was bilateral hypoplasia which accounted for 31.3% of the BDAs found in the study. Nine (14.1%) complained of the BDA affecting their lives with most being teased in school. Twenty-two (34.4%) girls out of the 64 with BDAs had a family member with a BDA. Conclusion. BDA is a worry; therefore, comprehensive educational programs for health workers and the general public are needed to increase awareness. Also, work should be done to include education on BDA when awareness is being raised about breast cancer and on the importance of breast self-Examination (BSE).

Regionalized LCA-based optimization of building energy supply: method and case study for a Swiss municipality.

Science.gov (United States)

Saner, Dominik; Vadenbo, Carl; Steubing, Bernhard; Hellweg, Stefanie

2014-07-01

This paper presents a regionalized LCA-based multiobjective optimization model of building energy demand and supply for the case of a Swiss municipality for the minimization of greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter formation. The results show that the environmental improvement potential is very large: in the optimal case, greenhouse gas emissions from energy supply could be reduced by more than 75% and particulate emissions by over 50% in the municipality. This scenario supposes a drastic shift of heat supply systems from a fossil fuel dominated portfolio to a portfolio consisting of mainly heat pump and woodchip incineration systems. In addition to a change in heat supply technologies, roofs, windows and walls would need to be refurbished in more than 65% of the municipality's buildings. The full potential of the environmental impact reductions will hardly be achieved in reality, particularly in the short term, for example, because of financial constraints and social acceptance, which were not taken into account in this study. Nevertheless, the results of the optimization model can help policy makers to identify the most effective measures for improvement at the decision making level, for example, at the building level for refurbishment and selection of heating systems or at the municipal level for designing district heating networks. Therefore, this work represents a starting point for designing effective incentives to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. While the results of the optimization model are specific to the municipality studied, the model could readily be adapted to other regions.

Energy management in municipal heritage; Management de l'energie dans le patrimoine municipal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-07-01

Energie-Cites has organized a week dedicated to the practices of energy consumption management in the municipalities and to network practices for energy efficiency. Practical presentations and site visits provided the participants with many methodological elements on energy policy, electricity demand management, optimising the design of municipal buildings, energy efficiency, integrated logistics for use of biomass energy, methods of energy consumption monitoring, legal framework for energy efficiency. (A.L.B.)

Privatization of municipal electrical utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, J.

1998-01-01

The challenges and special issues which arise through the sale of a municipal electric utility were discussed. The recent sales of two utilities, the Kentville Electric Commission in Nova Scotia and Cornwall Electric in Ontario, were used as examples to show how the sale of an electric utility differs from the sale of most business enterprises. Municipal utilities are integral parts of the communities they serve which introduces several complexities into the sale. Factors that require special attention in the sale of the utilities, including electricity rates, local accountability, treatment of employees and local economic development, and the need for a comprehensive communication program to deal with the substantial public interest that sale of a municipal utility will engender, were reviewed

Factors Limiting Adoption of Technologies by Farmers in Catabola Municipality, Angola

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rušarová K.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of the paper is to define the factors influencing the adoption of animal traction and/or mechanical-power technology in the conditions of Catabola municipality where hand-tool technology is being used on 99.7% of the area cultivated by small farmers. Primary data collection was conducted in the period July–August 2011; semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions were the most frequent methods used. In total, 151 small-scale farmers from 9 villages participated in the survey. Ten factors influencing the dependent variable – level of technology used by farmers in combination with hiring of labour – were defined. The factors were statistically analyzed by ANOVA. The area of cultivated land and the educational level of both parents and children were found to be the factors limiting the process of animal traction or mechanical power adoption by small farmers in the Catabola municipality. In addition, a relatively high rate of child labour was observed. With the exclusion of childless families, 62.7% of small farmer families regularly use children aged 0–14 years for field operations. The results confirm that the factor of hiring extra labour is irrelevant in determining the development in technology use by small farmers in the Catabola municipality.

Health promotion at local level: a case study of content, organization and development in four Swedish municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jansson Elisabeth VG

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Several health determinants are related to local conditions and prerequisites at community level. For this reason, strengthening community action has been one of five strategies implemented in health promotion since the end of the 1980s. Such action includes setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies, and implementing them to achieve better health. The aim of this paper is to obtain a deeper understanding of content, organization and processes in the development of local health promotion. Methods A qualitative multiple case study of four Swedish municipalities. The cases were analyzed in accordance with the principles of cross-case study analysis, and a content analysis of documents and interviews was conducted in two steps. First, a manifest content analysis was performed to identify present and former actors and measures. Thereafter, a latent content analysis was performed to investigate structures and processes in local contexts. Results The results of the inductive content analysis showed development of local health promotion in three phases: initiation, action, and achievement. Strengthening factors were local actors, health statistics and events. Hindering factors were lack of resources and vague objectives. External factors, e.g. national policies, were not perceived as prominent influencing factors. Media reports were regarded as having had an influence, but only to some extent. The content of local health promotion has developed from ad-hoc lifestyle and behaviour-related actions into structural, intersectoral actions related to determinants of health. Conclusions The municipalities have organized and developed their health promotion targets, actions and priorities on the basis of local needs and prerequisites. The three phases in the identified health promotion processes were experienced and documented as being subject to greater influence from internal rather than external strengthening and hindering

Local Environmental Action Plan of municipalities of Centar, Zrnovci, Veles and Gevgelija (Republic of Macedonia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-08-01

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is an independent, international organization established in 1990 by Hungary, the United States and the Commission of the European Communities. Twelve countries have since joined these founding sponsors. All of the REC's programs are unified in their resolve to promote regional cooperation among diverse interest groups in Central and Eastern Europe, to build the capacity of stake holders, to solve environmental problems, and to promote the development of a civil society. The book provides description of environmental action plans (LEAPs) of four different municipalities in Macedonia, identified by REC in collaboration with the Ministry for Urban Planning, Construction and Environmental of Republic of Macedonia. These municipalities are: 1) Centar (Skopje), which occupies central part of the capital of Macedonia, as a typical urban area; 2) Veles as a typical industrial area; 3) Zrnovci as a typical agricultural area; 4) Gevgelija as a transboundary and transit area

Municipal waste - management and treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paudel, E.S.R.

2005-01-01

Though per capita waste generation in Nepalese urban cities is not so high, the lack of proper waste management is considered one of the severe problems to be faced by urban people in future. With rapid urbanization, life style of people is changing their habits and consuming more materials and producing a large volume of waste in urban areas in Nepal. The nature and amount of waste generated in municipality is dependent of demography and geography. But most common aspect of municipal waste in Nepal is more than 60% of the waste biodegradable. Whatever the nature and amount of waste generated, the most common practice of managing municipal waste is to dispose in the riverside nearby or dumped elsewhere. The involvement of private sector in waste management is a new concept adopted by many municipalities in Nepal. One of the most progress approaches, 4R (reduces, reuse, recycle and refuse) principle is being practiced. The need of awareness progressive like segregation of wastes at collection point also being practiced in Nepal. Finally, Proper formulation of program and legislation and its application is one of the major challenges for local authorities in Nepal. (author)

Detailed description of a state system for accounting for and control of nuclear material at the state level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, R.J.

1985-02-01

The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed description of the technical elements of a system for the accounting for and control of nuclear material at the State Authority level which can be used by a state in the establishment of a national system for nuclear material accounting and control. It is expected that a state system designed along the lines described also will assist the IAEA in carrying out its safeguards responsibilities. The scope of this document is limited to descriptions of the technical elements of a state level system concerned with Laws and Regulations, the Information System, and the Establishment of Requirements for Nuclear Material Accounting and Control. The discussion shows the relationship of these technical elements at the state level to the principal elements of an SSAC at the facility levels

Conceptual design of a municipal energy and environmental system as an efficient basis for advanced energy planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostevšek, Anja; Petek, Janez; Čuček, Lidija; Pivec, Aleksandra

2013-01-01

Effectively implementing various energy and environmental policies contributes to the acceleration of energy performance, a reduction in negative environmental impacts, and increased deployment of renewable resources. The MEEMS (municipal energy and environmental management system) performs the almost inconceivable role of accomplishing prerequisite targets at the national level and, consequently, the European and World levels also. Therefore, a proper infrastructure for MEEMS needs to be effectively applied in order to implement policy initiatives. A novel organisational framework of MEEMS is proposed and is constituted upon three pillars: integration of the municipal metabolism approach, the KBS (knowledge-based system), and the MTIS (municipal technology innovation system). By properly addressing the dynamics of the MEES (municipal energy and environmental system), and the new conceptual organisation of MEEMS, a need for the inclusion of innovative elements can be defined regarding support mechanisms. Integration of the end-user approach defines the fundamental orientation of modern MEEMS. This new concept paves a pathway towards an intelligent energy and environmental system. This paper describes an implementation of the new conceptual design of MEEMS within the urban municipality energy system of Ptuj, Slovenia. - Highlights: • Combination of energy and environmental management system (MEEMS) within municipalities is proposed. • Novel MEEMS structure to accomplish more effective functioning of the system. • Accelerated energy policy implementation process is enabled with proposed MEEMS. • Key ingredients to transform present energy systems to more innovative ones are discussed

Partnerships between Dutch municipalities and municipalities in countries of migration to the Netherlands; knowledge exchange and mutuality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ewijk, E.; Baud, I.S.A.

2009-01-01

In recent years a growing number of Dutch municipalities have established relations with local governments in the countries of migration to the Netherlands (e.g. Turkey, Suriname and Morocco). In addition to strengthening local governance and improving service delivery in the partner municipalities,

A municipal forest report card: Results for California, USA

Science.gov (United States)

E.Gregory McPherson; Louren Kotow

2013-01-01

This study integrates two existing computer programs, the Pest Vulnerability Matrix and i-Tree Streets, into a decision-support tool for assessing municipal forest stability and recommending strategies to mitigate risk of loss. A report card concept was developed to communicate levels of performance in terms that managers and the public easily understand. Grades were...

Municipal Governments and Development in Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catalina Victory

1999-10-01

Full Text Available The processes of democratization, State reforms and administrative de-concentration that have marked the last 15 years of Latin American societies have brought about a reevaluation of the role of municipalities. The decentralization of the State has been put forth as basic objective and the economic productive restructuring happening around the world calls for a response from local initiatives: that is to say, initiatives to effect a new strategy of development “from the bottom up” that values territory as a geographic space bounded by a community of interests. One of the important actors in these local initiatives are the municipal governments who, as a first government resort, must respond to the vast demands of the population. These institutions are not consolidated, however. Instead, they are generally weak, with little economic, political and ideological power, and are limited in their autonomy, authority, legitimacy and capacity for management. In the first part of the article, and in an effort to characterize the political autonomy of the region’s municipalities, their distinct elements are analyzed – the system of representative democracy, competencies and resources, etc.. The most notorious deficiencies of Latin American municipalities are also studied. The second section analyzes the roles that these municipalities should take on to overcome these deficiencies, and goes on to offer action proposals towards creating a new model for municipal management, new ways of making policy from the municipality, and an analysis of the different instruments for promoting the local economy.

Factors associated with inter-municipality differences in dental caries experience among Danish adolescents. An ecological study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ekstrand, K R; Christiansen, M E C; Qvist, V

2009-01-01

Ekstrand KR, Christiansen MEC, Qvist V, Ismail A. Factors associated with inter-municipality differences in dental caries experience among Danish adolescents. An ecological study. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2009; 00: 000-000. (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/SAbstract - Background: Caries...... in the water supply and DMF-S values diminished in both years at a level above 0.35 ppm. The structured interview disclosed that municipalities with significant improvement in mean DMFS from 1999 to 2004 had established goals and were committed to the prevention of dental caries at the individual level...... on children and adolescents in Denmark has declined significantly over the last 30 years. Our first analysis in 1999, however, disclosed huge inter-municipality disparities in mean DMFS values as well as in prevalence of caries on Danish children; that fluoride in the water supply and the length...

Concentration levels of cesium-137 in soils of the municipalities of Guadalupe and Zacatecas before the accident of Fukushima Daiichi

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mireles, F.; Davila, J. I.; Pinedo, J. L.; Lopez, H.; Rios, C.; Saucedo, S. A.; Flores, F. E.

2011-11-01

The study of the emitter radioisotopes of gamma-rays in soil is very important considering damages to the health and quality of the environment. The main objective of this work is the study of the concentration of the artificial radioisotope 137 Cs in soil of the cities and municipalities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe of the Zacatecas State, Mexico. The study was carried out in two stages for different times, the first stage corresponded to the cities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe in 2000; and the second corresponded to the municipalities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe in 2008. The first study region was the cities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe, and environs where 20 soil samples were obtained. The second study region was inside the municipalities of Guadalupe and Zacatecas and 44 samples of near soil to the communities with major population in both municipalities were obtained. A spectrometry system of gamma-rays was used based on a coaxial detector of germanium hyper pure of high resolution, and was calculated the concentration of the 137 Cs with the energy photo-pick 661.66 KeV. In this work the activity concentrations of the 137 Cs in soil are presented and their variation in function of the time. These data will be a reference to evaluate a possible increment of the 137 Cs because of the accident of Fukushima Daiichi (Japan) nuclear power plant happened March 11, 2011. (Author)

Environmental quality and sustainability in the province of Reggio Emilia (Italy): using multi-criteria analysis to assess and compare municipal performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrarini, A; Bodini, A; Becchi, M

2001-10-01

Sustainability has become an increasingly significant issue, although practical implementation remains difficult. In Italy, promoting sustainability is particularly problematic at the provincial and municipal level, where the lack of resources and expertise, and the effects of uncoordinated policies make it difficult to achieve minimum requirements to make sustainable policies operational. One essential requirement is knowledge of baseline environmental conditions in each municipality. In the province of Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy) Legambiente, an environmental association, launched an initiative called 'Ecopaese' aimed at gathering data on environmental conditions and stimulating local administrations to implement sustainable policies. To this end, the state of the environment in the 45 municipalities within the province has been monitored using 25 indicators. Their values have been used to rank the municipalities by multiple criteria analysis (MCA). The results of this comparative approach provide information about the level of sustainability attained in the province as a whole as well as in the single municipalities. It is hoped that it will provide the basis for direct action plans at the provincial level by identifying areas for remedial action, as recommended by Agenda 21, the declaration adopted by many countries attending the Rio Summit in 1992.

Liberalisation of municipal waste handling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Busck, Ole Gunni

2006-01-01

for improved performance of municipal waste management. The study stresses the need for training and guidance of municipal administrators. Highlighting ‘best practice’ examples the study shows, however, that it is perfectly possible to end up with quality service on contract. It takes a mixture of careful...... of price reductions in stead of quality demands in both environmental and working environmental terms. A recent study showed major deficits in the capacities of the municipalities to administer qualitative requirements in the tender process and to manage the contracts as an integral part of a scheme...... forces and low quality performance. By assuming responsibility, setting and following up on high quality standards the tender instrument presents an additional instrument to legislation and market based means to institutionalize more sustainable practices in waste management...

Modeling of municipal greenhouse gas emissions. Calculation of greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction possibilities of Dutch municipalities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries de, Willem

2011-01-01

Summary Municipalities represent an active governmental layer in the Netherlands. They often have ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this way the municipalities take responsibility to reduce the threat of global warming. To implement effect

Electron beam technology for purification of municipal wastewater in the aerosol flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pikaev, A.K.; Podzorova, E.A.; Bakhtin, O.M.; Lysenko, S.L.; Belyshev, V.A.

2001-01-01

The paper summarizes the results from the study on EB and ozone treatment of wastewater in the aerosol flow. It includes the description of the respective pilot plant with output 500 m 3 /day (it is equipped with electron accelerator with electron energy 0.3 MeV and beam power 15 kW), the results of the study on the effects of electron irradiation on various group parameters (colour, COD, BOD 5 , total number of microbes, odour and so on) and content of inorganic and organic pollutants of municipal wastewater in the aerosol flow and the preliminary data on economic feasibility of the purification method. (author)

Does municipal co-financing reduce hospitalisation rates in Denmark?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vrangbæk, Karsten; Lærke Sørensen, Mette

2013-01-01

Aims: To provide a preliminary answer to the question of whether the economic incentives introduced by the municipal co-financing of hospital services work as intended in the reform. Methods: This study is based on 30 statistical cross-section linear regressions, OLS, using data from Statistics...... Denmark (Statistikbanken) and the Municipal Financial Accounts. Supplemented by data from a survey study from municipal health managers in all municipalities of the country. Results: Despite the favourable conditions presented by the design of our analysis, it is not possible to demonstrate a clear link...... between local efforts and number of admissions from the municipalities. Conclusions: The study does not support one of the fundamental theoretical assumptions behind the municipal co-financing introduced in the 2007 structural reform in Denmark. While the study failed to establish systematic links between...

The deficit mechanism of the Hungarian municipalities

OpenAIRE

Vasvári, Tamás

2012-01-01

The management of the Hungarian municipal sector has received special attention since the crisis in 2008 and interest in the sector increased further due to the changes in legislation in 2011. A great number of economy experts and speakers on behalf of the government or the municipalities provided further details on prevailing issues in the municipal sector, however, their assessment of the severity of these issues varied greatly. By describing the logical framework of the deficit mechanism t...

Fooling the Market? Municipal Yields and Unfunded State Pension Liabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lekniute, Z.; Beetsma, R.M.W.J.; Ponds, Eduard

2016-01-01

Existing empirical evidence at the country level exhibits a positive relationship between public indebtedness and the yield on the public debt. Using panel data over the period 2001 – 2014, we show that this relationship holds also for municipal bond yields and the indebtedness of U.S. states.

Greening Public Buildings: ESCO-Contracting in Danish Municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesper Rohr Hansen

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents current research on Danish municipalities’ use of Energy Service Companies (ESCO as a way to improve the standard of public buildings and to increase energy efficiency. In recent years more and more municipalities have used ESCO-contracts to retrofit existing public buildings, and to make them more energy efficient. At the moment 30 municipalities (of the 98 municipalities in Denmark are involved in, or preparing, ESCO contracts. Nevertheless, ESCO-contracting still faces many challenges on the Danish market, as there is a widespread skepticism towards the concept amongst many stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the various experience gained so far by municipalities use of ESCO-contracting, the different approached to ESCO-contracting being used in practice, as well as the different viewpoints drivers and barriers behind the development. The strong growth in ESCO-contracts reflects that the ESCO-concept fits well with a number of present problems that municipalities are facing, as well as a flexible adaptation to the local context in different municipalities.

Energy management in municipal heritage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

Energie-Cites has organized a week dedicated to the practices of energy consumption management in the municipalities and to network practices for energy efficiency. Practical presentations and site visits provided the participants with many methodological elements on energy policy, electricity demand management, optimising the design of municipal buildings, energy efficiency, integrated logistics for use of biomass energy, methods of energy consumption monitoring, legal framework for energy efficiency. (A.L.B.)

Collection of castor-oil plant germoplasm (Ricinus communis L. in two municipalities of Arauca, Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Iván Cardozo Conde

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Ricinus communis L., commonly known as the castor-oil plant, is important for its use in biofuels production. With the objective of learning about its current status, in 40 villages influential to the oil complex of Caricare (municipality of Arauquita and Caño Limón (municipality of Arauca in Arauca, Colombia (where five years earlier the crop had been established, a collection of sexual seed was carried out between December 2011 and January 2012. The variables studied include passport data as a collection resource, local name, relief, and soil type among others. A Garmin map76CSx was used in order to identify the transects and record data such as geographic location and elevation. Simple descriptive statistics were used to identify the variables of greatest variation. Using the qualitative variables of greatest importance, a contingency table analysis with a significance level of 5%, a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA and principal component analysis (PCA were performed for quantitative and qualitative variables, in addition to a classification analysis through a similarity matrix. The castor-oil plant was found in 25% of the villages visited. 12 introductions were collected, four from Caricare and eight from Caño Limón. Although the environmental conditions were favo­rable for its cultivation, there are no castor-oil plant crops in the locations visited. The absence of grain commercialization and oil extraction equipment is the main limiting factor. A garden was established using collected materials for the purpose of research, breeding and propagation.

A Qualitative Descriptive Case Study of the Requirements of the IT Industry for Entry-Level IT Positions

Science.gov (United States)

Feuerherm, Todd Michael

2009-01-01

This qualitative descriptive case study explored the requirements of the IT industry for education, IT certification, and work experience for entry-level IT professionals. Research has shown a growing problem where IT graduates were not able to meet the requirements for entry-level IT jobs. IT enrollment has decreased considerably over the past…

Renewable municipal waste barometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

In the European Union the production of primary energy from the incineration of municipal waste increased by only 0.7% in 2013 and reached 8.7 million tep (tonnes of oil equivalent). Germany ranks first with the production of 2729 ktep followed by France with 1246 ktep. A positive point is that the sale of heat to heat networks has strongly increased in some countries which means that primary energy is better used. 2 tables give the production of electricity and heat from the incineration of municipal waste in the E.U. member states in 2012 and 2013. Germany ranks first in the 2 tables. The total production of electricity and heat from the incineration of municipal waste in E.U. in 2013 reached 18741 GWh and 2361 tep respectively. A list reviews the most significant companies working in Europe in the sector of waste incineration, 8 companies are listed, 2 are German: EEW, Remondis, 3 are French: SITA (Suez Environment, Veolia and TIRU (EDF), Urbaser is spanish, Gruppo Hera is Italian and AEB-Amsterdan is dutch. (A.C.)

The characteristics to consider in municipal shared spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brinkoe, Rikke; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study is through collaboration with practitioners to identify key characteristics of municipal shared spaces and, based on these, developing a guide for establishing a shared space in a municipal real-estate portfolio. Design/methodology/approach This paper builds...... to establishing a shared space in a municipal real-estate portfolio, created in collaboration between researchers and practitioners. It provides an introduction to the topic and outlines a number of tasks that must be completed in different parts of a project, thereby providing a tool which practitioners can use...... in a municipal real-estate portfolio....

Visualizing the Forest in a Boreal Forest Landscape—The Perspective of Swedish Municipal Comprehensive Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camilla Thellbro

2017-05-01

Full Text Available At the international policy level, there is a clear link between access to information about forests and the work towards sustainable land use. However, involving forests in planning for sustainable development (SuD at the Swedish local level, by means of municipal comprehensive planning (MCP, is complicated by sector structure and legislation. Currently, there is a gap or hole in the MCP process when it comes to use and access to knowledge about forest conditions and forest land use. This hole limits the possibilities to formulate well-informed municipal visions and goals for sustainable forest land use as well as for overall SuD. Here we introduce an approach for compilation and presentation of geographic information to increase the preconditions for integrating forest information into Swedish MCP. We produce information about forest ownership patterns and forest conditions in terms of age and significant ecological and social values in forests for a case study municipality. We conclude that it is possible to effectively compile geographic and forest-related information to fill the hole in the municipal land use map. Through our approach, MCP could be strengthened as a tool for overall land use planning and hence as a base in SuD planning.

Municipal hydraulic planning for energy saving; Planeacion hidraulica municipal para el ahorro de energia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia Garcia, Enrique [PTF S.C. Consultores, Leon, Gto. (Mexico)

1999-07-01

The efficient handling of the economic and natural resources of the municipalities, is nowadays so much complex, that it requires a formal planning. In the public service of potable water supply, two fundamental approaches are conjugated to consider: the rational use of the water resource and the efficient use of the electrical energy, for its extraction from the underground deep reservoirs. In the paper that is presented, the individual features of the previous matters are described and the positive results in a municipality of the Guanajuato's Low Lands (Bajio ), where already the dual objectives are obtained and that with a more professional municipal hydraulic planning, these will be permanent, with the inherent benefit towards the population. [Spanish] El manejo eficiente de los recursos economicos y naturales de los municipios, es hoy en dia cada vez mas complejo, que requiere una planeacion formal. En el servicio publico de abastecimiento de agua potable, se conjugan dos enfoques primordiales a considerar: el uso racional del recurso agua y la utilizacion eficiente de la energia electrica, para su extraccion de los acuiferos subterraneos profundos. En el trabajo que se presenta, se describen las particularidades de lo anterior y los resultados positivos en un municipio del Bajio guanajuatense, donde ya se logran los objetivos duales y que con una planeacion hidraulica municipal mas profesional, estos seran permanentes, con el beneficio inherente hacia la poblacion.

The Main Recreative Areas in Podujeva Municipality

OpenAIRE

, F. Isufi; , F. Humolli; , S. Bulliqi

2016-01-01

Recreation is time available to human kind, excluding normal working hours that are a time for physiological and physical needs of human kind and time for sleep, which is used for entertainment, sport, hobby, rest etc. Well known fact is that recreation is a need of contemporary man, which is at the same time the reason for elaborating this subject. Podujeva Municipality is one of Republic of Kosova’s municipality, and likewise all other municipalities, offer possibilities and have similar pr...

Social change or business as usual at city hall? Examining an urban municipal government's response to neighbourhood-level health inequities.

Science.gov (United States)

Cahuas, Madelaine C; Wakefield, Sarah; Peng, Yun

2015-05-01

There is a renewed interest in the potential of municipal governments working collaboratively with local communities to address health inequities. A growing body of literature has also highlighted the benefits and limitations of participatory approaches in neighbourhood interventions initiated by municipal governments. However, few studies have investigated how neighbourhood interventions tackling health inequities work in real-time and in context, from the perspectives of Community Developers (CDs) who promote community participation. This study uses a process evaluation approach and semi-structured interviews with CDs to explore the challenges they face in implementing a community development, participatory process in the City of Hamilton's strategy to reduce health inequities - Neighbourhood Action. Findings demonstrate that municipal government can facilitate and suppress community participation in complex ways. CDs serve as significant but conflicted intermediaries as they negotiate and navigate power differentials between city and community actors, while also facing structural challenges. We conclude that community participation is important to bottom-up, resident-led social change, and that CDs are central to this work. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Municipal policies and plans of action aiming to promote physical activity and healthy eating habits among schoolchildren in Stockholm, Sweden: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Guldbrandsson, Karin; Wennerstad, Karin Modig; Rasmussen, Finn

2009-08-03

Promoting physical activity and healthy eating habits by structural measures that reach most children in a society is presumably the most sustainable way of preventing development of overweight and obesity in childhood. The main purpose of the present study was to analyse whether policies and plans of action at the central level in municipalities increased the number of measures that aim to promote physical activity and healthy eating habits among schoolchildren aged six to 16. Another purpose was to analyse whether demographic and socio-economic characteristics were associated with the level of such measures. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 25 municipalities and 18 town districts in Stockholm County, Sweden. The questions were developed to capture municipal structural work and factors facilitating physical activity and the development of healthy eating habits for children. Local policy documents and plans of action were gathered. Information regarding municipal demographic and socio-economic characteristics was collected from public statistics. Policy documents and plans of action in municipalities and town districts did not seem to influence the number of measures aiming to promote physical activity and healthy eating habits among schoolchildren in Stockholm County. Municipal demographic and socio-economic characteristics were, however, shown to influence the number of measures. In town districts with a high total population size, and in municipalities and town districts with a high proportion of adults with more than 12 years of education, a higher level of health-promoting measures was found. In municipalities with a high annual population growth, the number of measures was lower than in municipalities with a lower annual population growth. Another key finding was the lack of agreement between what was reported in the questionnaires regarding existence and contents of local policies and plans of action and what was actually found when these

Support of business and innovations in strategic planning of regional development on the municipal level of the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Grebeníček

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with a strategic planning of the regional development on the municipal level of the Czech Republic with a focus on the theme of business and innovations support. The main aim of this paper is to explore and compare 13 regional capital’s approach to the issue of business and innovations support based on information provided in the basic strategic documents. The results of the analysis show that the topic of the business and innovations support occurs in all reviewed documents. However several partial imperfections of analysed documents were also identified. The paper also fulfilled the secondary objective of assessing the strength of links between the processes of strategic planning of regional development and the processes of budgeting in the thematic area of business and innovations support.

Geographic and socioeconomic distribution of food vendors: a case study of a municipality in the Southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Nappi Correa

Full Text Available Abstract: The objective of this study was to identify the food vendor distribution profile of the city of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, and investigate its association with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of different municipal regions. This descriptive, cross-sectional study obtained the location of food vendors from secondary data from different institutional sources. The density of different types of food vendors per 1,000 inhabitants in each municipal weighted area was calculated. The Kruskal-Wallis test compared the mean density of food vendors and the weighted income areas. The lowest-income regions had the lowest density of butchers, snack bars, supermarkets, bakeries/pastry shops, natural product stores, juice bars, and convenience stores. The identification of these areas may encourage the creation of public policies that facilitate healthy food startups and/or maintenance of healthy food vendors, especially in the lowest-income regions.

Identification and Prioritization of the Factors Affecting the Implementation of Activity-Based Costing with Analytic Hierarchy Process: Qaemshahr Municipality Case Study

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Seyedeh Shayesteh Varadi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of the research is to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the successful implementation of Activity-Based Costing (ABC system in Qaemshahr Municipality so that we can learn about the factors affecting the deployment of the ABC system in the organization under study. The present study is applied and descriptive-analytical (non-experimental in terms of the objective and methodology, respectively. Statistical population of the study includes 35 managers, deputies and experts in finance and accounting department of Qaemshahr Municipality in 2016. The required data were collected using a validated questionnaire based on conceptual models; and the data were analyzed through Expert Choice and Topsis software. Research findings about the research questions show that from the perspective of managers, deputies and experts in finance and accounting department of Qaemshahr Municipality, parameters of: 1. Technical factors with the final weight vector of "0.389", 2. Individual factors with the final weight vector of "0.277", 3. Environmental factors with the final weight vector of "0.173", and 4. Organizational factors with the final weight vector of "0.161", are respectively the most important factors in the successful implementation and deployment of ABC system in Qaemshahr Municipality.

When municipalities lead co-production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tortzen, Anne

2015-01-01

from research in governance and leadership, the paper analyses a critical case of co-production in the Danish Municipality of Holbæk. The main focus is on exploring how leadership interventions are enacted by civil servants and politicians, and how these shape the co-production process. The analysis...... points to the significant role played by municipalities as hands-off leaders of co-production processes, and identifies leadership dynamics which merit further exploration....

Automated generation of partial Markov chain from high level descriptions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brameret, P.-A.; Rauzy, A.; Roussel, J.-M.

2015-01-01

We propose an algorithm to generate partial Markov chains from high level implicit descriptions, namely AltaRica models. This algorithm relies on two components. First, a variation on Dijkstra's algorithm to compute shortest paths in a graph. Second, the definition of a notion of distance to select which states must be kept and which can be safely discarded. The proposed method solves two problems at once. First, it avoids a manual construction of Markov chains, which is both tedious and error prone. Second, up the price of acceptable approximations, it makes it possible to push back dramatically the exponential blow-up of the size of the resulting chains. We report experimental results that show the efficiency of the proposed approach. - Highlights: • We generate Markov chains from a higher level safety modeling language (AltaRica). • We use a variation on Dijkstra's algorithm to generate partial Markov chains. • Hence we solve two problems: the first problem is the tedious manual construction of Markov chains. • The second problem is the blow-up of the size of the chains, at the cost of decent approximations. • The experimental results highlight the efficiency of the method

The relationship between the oil industry and municipalities in Saskatchewan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerecke, D.

1997-01-01

The relationship between oil companies and rural municipalities in Saskatchewan and the recent changes to Saskatchewan's property tax assessment scheme were discussed. There are approximately 300 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, each having its own bylaws and policies. The bylaws and policies dealing with roads and fees are the ones which affect the oil companies the most. From the industry's point of view, the biggest problem is that there is no consistency from one rural municipality to another regarding the rules that oil companies must follow. The Rural Municipalities Act and the Planning and Development Act are the sources of jurisdiction for rural municipalities. These acts allow municipalities to pass zoning bylaws for land use and development restrictions that could prevent or restrict the drilling of wells, the installation of road approaches, the crossing of roads with a pipeline or gas line, and waste disposal, among others. Examples of how the rural municipalities in Saskatchewan are dealing with the oil industry are presented. One factor that rural municipalities sometimes overlook is that trying to coexist peacefully with the oil industry frequently encourages development and keeps taxes down. The property tax reassessment based on the 1989 Rural Municipality Act, the impact of reassessment on rural municipalities, appeals against assessment, 1997 changes to the appeal rules, and major appeal issues in 1997 were also reviewed

Co-digestion of municipal sludge and external organic wastes for enhanced biogas production under realistic plant constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Tandukar, Madan; Pavlostathis, Spyros G

2015-12-15

A bench-scale investigation was conducted to select external organic wastes and mixing ratios for co-digestion with municipal sludge at the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (FWHWRC), Gwinnett County, GA, USA to support a combined heat and power (CHP) project. External wastes were chosen and used subject to two constraints: a) digester retention time no lower than 15 d; and b) total biogas (methane) production not to exceed a specific target level based on air permit constraints on CO2 emissions. Primary sludge (PS), thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) and digested sludge collected at the FWHWRC, industrial liquid waste obtained from a chewing gum manufacturing plant (GW) and dewatered fat-oil-grease (FOG) were used. All sludge and waste samples were characterized and their ultimate digestibility was assessed at 35 °C. The ultimate COD to methane conversion of PS, TWAS, municipal sludge (PS + TWAS; 40:60 w/w TS basis), GW and FOG was 49.2, 35.2, 40.3, 72.7, and 81.1%, respectively. Co-digestion of municipal sludge with GW, FOG or both, was evaluated using four bench-scale, mesophilic (35 °C) digesters. Biogas production increased significantly and additional degradation of the municipal sludge between 1.1 and 30.7% was observed. Biogas and methane production was very close to the target levels necessary to close the energy deficit at the FWHWRC. Co-digestion resulted in an effluent quality similar to that of the control digester fed only with the municipal sludge, indicating that co-digestion had no adverse effects. Study results prove that high methane production is achievable with the addition of concentrated external organic wastes to municipal digesters, at acceptable higher digester organic loadings and lower retention times, allowing the effective implementation of CHP programs at municipal wastewater treatment plants, with significant cost savings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How Danish communal heat planning empowers municipalities and benefits individual consumers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chittum, Anna; Østergaard, Poul Alberg

2014-01-01

Danish municipal heat planning empowers municipalities to implement locally appropriate energy solutions that are the best fit for the locality as a whole and the individual consumers served. Supportive policies and actions at the national and local levels have encouraged heat planning that confers significant autonomy to local governments. By examining how power is distributed and shared by different levels of governments in the planning process, this paper investigates how comprehensive energy planning in Denmark has supported the development of highly cost-effective district heating systems. Lessons from the Danish approach to heat planning are considered for their relevance to the United States, where significant technical district heating potential exists, yet remains well outside the typical energy policy discussions. While the specific Danish political context may not be transferable to other locations, the practical aspects of power sharing, socio-economic cost–benefit analyses, and communal decision-making may inform approaches to local heat planning around the world. - Highlights: • Danish district heating has cost-effectively reduced the country's emissions. • Danish heat planning has been critical to the district heating sector's success. • Danish heat planning confers substantial power to municipalities. • Empowering cities offers significant benefits to cities and consumers. • Danish planning practices can be implemented today in the U.S. and other locations

Open government and municipalities: Beyond e-governement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Cruz Meléndez

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article’s purpose is to analyze egovernment and open government as tolos to strengthen the role of municipal government. It reviews the evolution of both tolos in Mexico and contains a conceptual analysis of both terms to gain an understanding of their meaning and of the reason why they are promoted for the benefit of local governments. Finally, it explores the availability of these tools in the municipalities, and how they contribute to each municipality in the fulfillment of its responsibilities.

Pesquisa activa de pacientes con síntomas respiratorios en el Policlínico Municipal Active screening in patients with breathing symptoms in the Municipal Polyclinic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel M Pérez Pérez

Full Text Available Se realizó una investigación descriptiva y transversal que consistió en una pesquisa activa en 710 pacientes con síntomas respiratorios, pertenecientes al área de salud "Municipal" de Santiago de Cuba durante el año 2006. Se constituyó un equipo multidisciplinario de la Unidad Municipal de Higiene y Epidemiología y del área de salud, el cual trabajó en 210 viviendas seleccionadas por tener antecedentes de tuberculosis. Los principales factores de riesgo identificados para contraer la enfermedad fueron: el hábito de fumar, la edad mayor de 65 años y el alcoholismo, además de las condiciones socioeconómicas desfavorables y el hacinamiento. Setenta personas (9,8 % tenían síntomas respiratorios de más de 14 días y una fue diagnosticada con la afección. Los resultados del área de salud en la vigilancia especializada, previa a la investigación, fueron deficientes. De los pesquisados, 24 % estaban infectados por Micobacterium tuberculosis, según los resultados de la prueba de tuberculina, y de ellos, 9 % fueron hiperérgicos.A descriptive and cross-sectional investigation was carried out which consisted of an active screening in 710 patients with breathing symptoms, belonging to the "Municipal" health area of Santiago de Cuba during the year 2006. A multidisciplinary team of the Municipal Unit of Hygiene and Epidemiology and of the health area was constituted, which worked in 210 houses selected because they had a history of tuberculosis. The main risk factors identified to develop the disease were: the smoking habit, more than 65 years old and alcoholism, besides the unfavorable socioeconomic conditions and overcrowding. Seventy people (9,8% had breathing symptoms of more than 14 days and one was diagnosed with the disorder. The results of the health area in the specialized surveillance, previous to the investigation, were poor. Of the screened patients, 24% were infected by Micobacterium tuberculosis, according to the results of

Influence of Environmental Governance on Deforestation in Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon.

Science.gov (United States)

Dias, Lilian Fernandes Oliveira; Dias, David Valentim; Magnusson, William Ernest

2015-01-01

It has been argued that measuring governance at scales smaller than global could be an important management tool. However, current studies are conducted on a global scale and use expensive methods. In the present study, we assess whether the reported governance of Amazonian municipalities is related to reductions in deforestation. Economic activity (EA) affected general governance (G) positively (G = 0.81 +1.19 * EA, F1, 98 = 77.36, p deforestation before 2000 (PD), but increased significantly (p Deforestation was not significantly related to environmental governance (p = 0.82). The only indirect effect of significant magnitude was the effect of the density of forest reserves on recent deforestation through deforestation before 2000, which was strongly negative (-0.49). It is possible to assess reported actions to promote municipal governance through official data. However, it is not enough to assume that general governance or environmental governance at the municipal level, as reflected in the official statistics, benefits environmental conservation. In fact, even at the level of nation states, at which most quantification of governance has been undertaken, it seems that the relationship between governance and environmental preservation is only an assumption, because we are aware of no study that supports that hypothesis quantitatively.

RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN PRACTICE OF VALUATING MUNICIPAL REAL ESTATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg V. Likhomanov

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The authors analyze the real estate tax system of England, France, Germany, the USA, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Chile, Singapore, the Philippines, and Japan. The following activities are proposed with the aim of creating an effective system of municipal real estate management and improving the quality of local government: to organize the smooth functioning of full and timely accounting of the municipal real estate, the introduction of an automated registry system, including legal, technical, and economic components of records; to develop scientifically based optimal management solutions on the disposal of municipal property, in compliance with the balance of fiscal, investment and socially-oriented objectives in the course of operational management, transfer in use or trust, disposition, use as the authorized capital; to develop the optimal solutions for selecting strategies for achieving maximum economic efficiency and increasing investment attractiveness of municipal property; to exercise effective control over regulatory use of municipal property (especially land resources for its intended purpose; to organize work on reliable cadastral valuation of the property; to provide the state budget institutions for cadastral valuation established in the regions with qualified personnel from among the practicing independent appraisers; to engage independent appraisers for analysis and monitoring of real estate market with the aim of identifying pricing factors and ensuring reliable results, compliant with relevant market data; to completely eliminate the possibility of pressure by officials of local self-government bodies at the state budget institutions for the cadastral valuation to establish the desired orientations of the cadastral value. The authors propose to initiate the introduction of uniform date of establishment of the cadastral value on the territory of the Russian Federation with the aim of providing a

Carbon Footprint Analysis of Municipalities – Evidence from Greece

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Angelakoglou

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The economical crisis that hit Greece after 2009, significantly affected its energy consumption profile due to the increased price of domestic heating oil and gasoline. The specific study aims at the quantification of the carbon dioxide emissions in municipal level due to energy and fuel consumption. Three different municipalities in North Greece (Kavala, Alexandroupolis and Drama were assessed with the application of three different carbon footprint estimation approaches in each one of them, including two life cycle assessment methods. Results ranged from 511,799 to 571,000, 435,250 to 489,000 and 355,207 to 398,000 tons CO2 and tons CO2-eq. for Kavala, Alexandroupolis and Drama respectively. The analysis per energy type indicated the electrical energy consumption as the key factor affecting the results due to the relatively high CO2 emission coefficient of the electricity produced in Greece. The analysis per sector indicated that a percentage of nearly 75% of the total carbon footprint is assigned to the building sector whereas the private and commercial transport is accountable for the rest. Municipal activities (buildings, facilities, lighting and fleet contributed to a small percentage to the total carbon footprint (approx. 3-8%.

Health and equity in all policies in local government: processes and outcomes in two Norwegian municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Von Heimburg, Dina; Hakkebo, Berit

2017-08-01

To identify key factors in implementing Health and Equity in All Policies (HEiAP) at the local level in two Norwegian municipalities in order to accelerate the progress of promoting health, well-being and equity in other local governments. This case study is presented as a narrative from policy-making processes in two Norwegian municipalities. The story is told from an insider perspective, with a focus on HEiAP policy makers in these two municipalities. The narrative identified key learning from implementing HEiAP at the local level, i.e. the importance of strengthening system and human capacities. System capacity is strengthened by governing HEiAP according to national legislation and a holistic governance system at the local level. Municipal plans are based on theory, evidence and local data. A 'main story' is developed to support the vision, defining joint societal goals and co-creation strategies. Policies are anchored by measuring and monitoring outcomes, sharing accountability and continuous dialogue to ensure political commitment. Human capacity is strengthened through participatory leadership, soft skills and health promotion competences across sectors. Health promotion competence at a strategic level in the organization, participation in professional networks, crowd sourcing toward common goals, and commitment through winning hearts and minds of politicians and other stakeholders are vital aspects. Our experience pinpoints the importance of strengthening system and human capacity in local governments. Further, we found it important to focus on the two strategic objectives in the European strategy 'Health 2020': (1) Improving health for all and reducing health inequalities; (2) improving leadership and participatory governance for health.

Municipal service provision in rural communities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard, Helle

EU policies for rural development stress the importance of investments rather than subsidies and aim at integrating different sectoral policies in order to improve the coherence and effectiveness of public expenditure. Policies also emphasize a place-based approach for rural development and thereby...... hierarchies and considering local resources and place bound potentials.  This paper draws on a study of rural municipalities in Denmark examining how service adjustments e.g. closing of local schools are managed by rural municipalities and local communities. The paper further discusses whether rural...... municipalities can plan strategically, manage service provision and support place bound potential in rural communities in light of a competitive framework for local development....

Municipal solid waste generation in municipalities: Quantifying impacts of household structure, commercial waste and domestic fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebersorger, S.; Beigl, P.

2011-01-01

Waste management planning requires reliable data concerning waste generation, influencing factors on waste generation and forecasts of waste quantities based on facts. This paper aims at identifying and quantifying differences between different municipalities' municipal solid waste (MSW) collection quantities based on data from waste management and on socio-economic indicators. A large set of 116 indicators from 542 municipalities in the Province of Styria was investigated. The resulting regression model included municipal tax revenue per capita, household size and the percentage of buildings with solid fuel heating systems. The model explains 74.3% of the MSW variation and the model assumptions are met. Other factors such as tourism, home composting or age distribution of the population did not significantly improve the model. According to the model, 21% of MSW collected in Styria was commercial waste and 18% of the generated MSW was burned in domestic heating systems. While the percentage of commercial waste is consistent with literature data, practically no literature data are available for the quantity of MSW burned, which seems to be overestimated by the model. The resulting regression model was used as basis for a waste prognosis model (Beigl and Lebersorger, in preparation).

Descentralização e endividamento municipal: formas, limites e possibilidades Decentralization and municipal indebtedness: modes, constraints, and possibilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amaury Patrick Gremaud

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to discuss alternatives to finance investments by municipalities. In general, current revenues are insufficient to finance large investments, what brings about the necessity of municipal indebtedness. These could assume different manners, according to the nature of the investment: if it is typically public or if it offers private return. For the first case, we discuss the possibilities of a municipal bond market and, for the second, we discuss project finance and the participation of the private sector.

[Fluoride intake through consumption of water from municipal network in the INMA-Gipuzkoa cohort].

Science.gov (United States)

Jiménez-Zabala, Ana; Santa-Marina, Loreto; Otazua, Mónica; Ayerdi, Mikel; Galarza, Ane; Gallastegi, Mara; Ulibarrena, Enrique; Molinuevo, Amaia; Anabitarte, Asier; Ibarluzea, Jesús

2017-05-22

To estimate fluoride intake through consumption of water from the municipal network in pregnant women and their children from the INMA-Gipuzkoa cohort and to compare these intakes with recommended levels. In Euskadi (Spain), fluoridation of drinking water is compulsory in water supplies for more than 30,000 inhabitants. 575 pregnant women (recruitment, 2006-2008) and 424 4-year-old children (follow-up, 2010-2012) have been included. Fluoride levels in drinking water were obtained from the water consumption information system of the Basque Country (EKUIS). Water consumption habits and socioeconomic variables were obtained by questionnaire. 74.9% and 87.7% of women and children consumed water from the municipal network. Average fluoride levels in fluoridated water were 0.805 (SD: 0.194) mg/L during baseline recruitment and 0.843 (SD: 0.080) mg/L during follow up, at 4 years old of the children. Average and 95th percentile of fluoride intake were 0.015 and 0.026mg/kg per day in women and 0.033 and 0.059mg/kg per day in children. Considering only fluoride provided by drinking water, 8.71% of children living in fluoridated areas exceeded intake level recommended by the European Food Safety Authority, consisting in 0.05mg/kg per day. The results show that ingested levels of fluoride through consumption of municipal water can exceed the recommended levels in children and encourages further studies that will help in fluoridation policies of drinking water in the future. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Effect of municipal liquid waste on corrosion susceptibility of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This investigation studied the effect of municipal liquid waste discharged into the environment within Kano municipal area on the corrosion susceptibility of galvanized steel pipe burial underground. Six stagnant and six moving municipal liquid waste samples were used for the investigation. The corrosion rate of the ...

Mercury contamination and potential impacts from municipal waste incinerator on Samui Island, Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Muenhor, Dudsadee; Satayavivad, Jutamaad; Limpaseni, Wongpun; Parkpian, Preeda; Delaune, R D; Gambrell, R P; Jugsujinda, Aroon

2009-03-01

In recent years, mercury (Hg) pollution generated by municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) has become the subject of serious public concern. On Samui Island, Thailand, a large-scale municipal waste incinerator has been in operation for over 7 years with a capacity of 140 tons/day for meeting the growing demand for municipal waste disposal. This research assessed Hg contamination in environmental matrices adjacent to the waste incinerating plant. Total Hg concentrations were determined in municipal solid waste, soil and sediment within a distance of 100 m to 5 km from the incinerator operation in both wet and dry seasons. Hg analyses conducted in municipal solid waste showed low levels of Hg ranging between 0.15-0.56 mg/kg. The low level was due to the type of waste incinerator. Waste such as electrical appliances, motors and spare parts, rubber tires and hospital wastes are not allowed to feed into the plant. As a result, low Hg levels were also found in fly and bottom ashes (0.1-0.4 mg/kg and Stack concentration of Hg were less than 0.4 microg/Nm(3). Since Hg emissions were at low concentrations, Hg in soil from atmospheric fallout near this incinerator including uptake by local weeds were very low ranging from non detectable to 399 micro g/kg. However, low but elevated levels of Hg (76-275 micro g/kg) were observed in surface soil and deeper layers (0-40 cm) in the predominant downwind direction of incinerator over a distance of between 0.5-5 km. Soil Hg concentrations measured from a reference/background track opposite of the prevailing wind direction were lower ranging between 7-46 micro g/kg. Nevertheless, the trend of Hg build up in soil was clearly seen in the wet season only, suggesting that wet deposition process is a major Hg pollution source. Hg concentrations in the sea bottom sediment collected next to the last station track was small with values between 35-67 micro g/kg. Based upon the overall findings, in terms of current potential environmental risk

[A nationwide survey for implementation of Health Japan 21 anti-smoking countermeasures in municipalities throughout Japan].

Science.gov (United States)

Shinmura, Hiromi; Wakabayashi, Chihiro; Kunisawa, Naoko; Kayaba, Kazunori; Miura, Yoshihiko; Ojima, Toshiyuki; Yanagawa, Hiroshi

2008-03-01

Smoking cessation is one of the most important items for improvement of health in Japan. The Japanese government started a new campaign called the "Health Japan 21" to promote better health of Japanese citizens in the 21st century. The purpose of the present study was to observe the situation of the municipalities throughout Japan regarding implementation of anti-smoking countermeasures and setting of the level of target values to be achieved over the next ten years. Mail questionnaire forms were sent to 953 municipalities which had formulated specific local plans for the promotion of health. Of this total, 793 (83.2%) responded to the inquiry. The most commonly implemented countermeasure against smoking was restricting smoking only to limited areas in municipality offices (75%), followed by providing support for stopping smoking (35%), and providing a complete smoke free environment in municipality offices (32.4%). Proportions of local governments putting a ban on smoking on public roads (7.5%), giving publicity to restaurants with smoking restrictions (vending machines and restricting tobacco advertisement. Most municipalities have made much of anti-smoking activities. However, measures for school children were not satisfactorily implemented. The execution rates for anti-smoking activities are low in small-scale municipalities and therefore it is necessary to provide particular support in these cases.

The Impact of Amalgamations on Services in Icelandic Municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grétar Thór Eythórsson

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article deals with answering the question whether municipal amalgamations can meet the wishes at the root of the most common motives behind them: to gain cost-efficiency and more quality in the municipal services. The analysis is partly based on a survey among Icelandic local leaders in 2015 and partly on survey among citizens in 8 recently amalgamated municipalities collected with a snowball method through Facebook in the spring and summer 2013. The main results are that the impact of amalgamations on municipal services seems to depend on whether we look at the central or peripheral parts of the municipality. Both leaders and citizens seem to perceive developments of services differently depending on the position in the municipality. In the peripheries, they have significantly more negative view than in the service centres. This has to do with both their evaluation of specific services and their general evaluation of service development. However, in the general evaluation the difference is significantly larger.

75 FR 54465 - Temporary Registration of Municipal Advisors

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-08

... derivatives, guaranteed investment contracts, and the recommendation of and brokerage of municipal escrow... concerning guaranteed investment contracts, (4) recommendation and/or brokerage of municipal escrow...

Do elections matter for private-sector healthcare management in Brazil? An analysis of municipal health policy.

Science.gov (United States)

McGregor, Alecia J; Siqueira, Carlos Eduardo; Zaslavsky, Alan M; Blendon, Robert J

2017-07-12

This study analyzed several political determinants of increased private-sector management in Brazilian health care. In Brazil, the poor depend almost exclusively on the public Unified Health System (the SUS), which remains severely underfunded. Given the overhead costs associated with privately contracted health services, increased private management is one driver of higher expenditures in the system. Although left parties campaign most vocally in support of greater public control of the SUS, the extent to which their stated positions translate into health care policy remains untested. Drawing on multiple publicly available data sources, we used linear regression to analyze how political party-in-power and existing private sector health care contracting affect the share of privately managed health care services and outsourcing in municipalities. Data from two election periods-2004 to 2008 and 2008 to 2012-were analyzed. Our findings showed that although private sector contracting varies greatly across municipalities, this variation is not systematically associated with political party in power. This suggests that electoral politics plays a relatively minor role in municipal-level health care administration. Existing levels of private sector management appear to have a greater effect on the public-private makeup of the Brazilian healthcare system, suggesting a strong role of path dependence in the evolution of Brazilian health care delivery. Despite campaign rhetoric asserting distinct positions on privatization in the SUS, factors other than political party in power have a greater effect on private-sector health system management at the municipal-level in Brazil. Given the limited effect of elections on this issue, strengthening participatory bodies such as municipal health councils may better enfranchise citizens in the fundamental debate over public and private roles in the health care sector.

Optimization of energy planning strategies in municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Jens-Phillip

approach, suffers from insufficient information, tools and resources. Municipalities are often unable to take on a steering role in community energy planning. To overcome these barriers and guide municipalities in the pre-project phase, a decision-support methodology, based on community energy profiles...

Tracking persistent pharmaceutical residues from municipal sewage to drinking water

Science.gov (United States)

Heberer, Thomas

2002-09-01

In urban areas such as Berlin (Germany) with high municipal sewage water discharges and low surface water flows there is a potential risk of drinking water contamination by polar organic compounds when groundwater recharge is used in drinking water production. Thus, some pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) are not eliminated completely in the municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) and they are discharged as contaminants into the receiving waters. In terms of several monitoring studies carried out in Berlin between 1996 and 2000, PhACs such as clofibric acid, diclofenac, ibuprofen, propyphenazone, primidone and carbamazepine were detected at individual concentrations up to the μg/l-level in influent and effluent samples from STPs and in all surface water samples collected downstream from the STPs. Under recharge conditions, several compounds were also found at individual concentrations up to 7.3 μg/l in samples collected from groundwater aquifers near to contaminated water courses. A few of the PhACs were also identified at the ng/l-level in Berlin tap water samples.

Determinants of municipal solid waste management in Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Luísa Mota Freitas

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Municipal solid waste management has been a topic of interest of several authors over time, in particular the implementation and maintenance of waste collection programmes. Initially, pioneering studies focused on the economic aspects of the provided services. However, many authors later argued the costs of providing solid waste collection services should also be influenced by socio-economic and behavioural factors, exogenous to the municipalities. The present study will be developed in this context, looking, more broadly, to explain the factors influencing the decision-making of the Portuguese municipalities in implementing and maintaining programs of selective collection of solid waste, considering the economic, financial, technological and sociodemographic factors. The results show that, indeed as presented by several authors before, economic factors aren’t the only determinants that influence municipal costs concerning these services, as demographic, geographic and technological factors must be taken into account. Moreover, the enforced legislation also impacts the municipal costs due to municipalities being obliged to contribute to the success of these collection programs in order to fulfil the waste recovery targets. This implies that the costs of these services and the inherent infrastructures are usually financed by its citizens in the form of utilization taxes and also the state.

A Unified Description of Structural Levels in Biomolecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Macarulla, Alberto; And Others

1990-01-01

A single, didactic criterion for the description of all biological macromolecules is proposed. This criterion is applicable to globular, fibrous or mixed proteins, as well as to nucleic acids and lipids or polysaccharides. Specific examples are given for all except lipids and polysaccarides. (KR)

Computer-based information collection and feedback for Norwegian municipal health and social services.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, J J

1995-01-01

Norway is governed by a three-tier parliamentary system where each tier is governed by a popularly selected body: the national parliament, the county councils, and the municipality councils. This three-tier system is in many ways also reflected in the organization, management, and financing of health and social services. A large amount of information (e.g.,statistics and annual reports) flows between the three levels of management. In order to have a proper and efficient information flow, The Norwegian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has, since 1992, been conducting a nation-wide project for information collection from and feedback to municipal health and social services (see Figure 1). In this presentation, we will present the basic idea behind The Wheel. We will also discuss some of the major activities in and experiences from the project of using Information Technology to implement an electronic Wheel. The following are basic issues to consider in implementing such a system, related to the following basic issues in implementing such a system [1]: Obtaining a unified information basis to: increase the data quality, and compile "definition catalogs" that contain commonly agreed-upon definitions of central concepts and data sets that are used in the municipal health and social services [2]. Achieving electronic data collection, both in terms of the automatic selection and aggregation of relevant data from operational systems in the municipalities and in terms of using Electronic Forms. Experiments with various ways of electronically feeding back the statistics and other comparative data to the municipalities. Providing the municipal users with appropriate tools for using the statistics that are fed back.

Assessing the validity of commercial and municipal food environment data sets in Vancouver, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Daepp, Madeleine Ig; Black, Jennifer

2017-10-01

The present study assessed systematic bias and the effects of data set error on the validity of food environment measures in two municipal and two commercial secondary data sets. Sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and concordance were calculated by comparing two municipal and two commercial secondary data sets with ground-truthed data collected within 800 m buffers surrounding twenty-six schools. Logistic regression examined associations of sensitivity and PPV with commercial density and neighbourhood socio-economic deprivation. Kendall's τ estimated correlations between density and proximity of food outlets near schools constructed with secondary data sets v. ground-truthed data. Vancouver, Canada. Food retailers located within 800 m of twenty-six schools RESULTS: All data sets scored relatively poorly across validity measures, although, overall, municipal data sets had higher levels of validity than did commercial data sets. Food outlets were more likely to be missing from municipal health inspections lists and commercial data sets in neighbourhoods with higher commercial density. Still, both proximity and density measures constructed from all secondary data sets were highly correlated (Kendall's τ>0·70) with measures constructed from ground-truthed data. Despite relatively low levels of validity in all secondary data sets examined, food environment measures constructed from secondary data sets remained highly correlated with ground-truthed data. Findings suggest that secondary data sets can be used to measure the food environment, although estimates should be treated with caution in areas with high commercial density.

Ground and surface water developmental toxicity at a municipal landfill--Description and weather-related variation

Science.gov (United States)

Bruner, M.A.; Rao, M.; Dumont, J.N.; Hull, M.; Jones, T.; Bantle, J.A.

1998-01-01

Contaminated groundwater poses a significant health hazard and may also impact wildlife such as amphibians when it surfaces. Using FETAX (Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus), the developmental toxicity of ground and surface water samples near a closed municipal landfill at Norman, OK, were evaluated. The groundwater samples were taken from a network of wells in a shallow, unconfined aquifer downgradient from the landfill. Surface water samples were obtained from a pond and small stream adjacent to the landfill. Surface water samples from a reference site in similar habitat were also analyzed. Groundwater samples were highly toxic in the area near the landfill, indicating a plume of toxicants. Surface water samples from the landfill site demonstrated elevated developmental toxicity. This toxicity was temporally variable and was significantly correlated with weather conditions during the 3 days prior to sampling. Mortality was negatively correlated with cumulative rain and relative humidity. Mortality was positively correlated with solar radiation and net radiation. No significant correlations were observed between mortality and weather parameters for days 4–7 preceding sampling.

The municipalities of the Northwest region of the Czech Republic adapt to climate change: overview of barriers and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Emmer, Adam; Krkoška Lorencová, Eliška; Vačkář, David

2017-04-01

The municipalities of the Czech Republic have been facing negative impacts of changing climate in the past decades - especially floods (1997, 2002, 2010, 2013), droughts and heat waves (2013, 2015), claiming lives, material damages and economic losses up to several % of GDP. Reflecting these events, climate change adaptation should represent major issue in strategical planning on all administrative levels, which is actually not fully met nowadays. Sectoral National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) was approved by the Government of the Czech Republic in autumn 2015 and the implementation action plan is currently being approved. Adaptation strategies on lower administrative level (adaptation strategies of individual municipalities) are, however, still quite rare. In this contribution, we analyse barriers and challenges for: (i) the development of climate change adaptation strategies on administrative level of individual municipalities in the Northwest region, Czech Republic; and (ii) implementation of adaptation measures into the decision-making processes. Based on participatory seminars with key stakeholders organised in pilot municipalities, it was shown that municipalities are (at least partly) able to cope with existing risks such as floods, but are not well-prepared for expected regionally "new" risks such as long lasting heat waves, insufficient water retention and flash floods. Linking the goals of adaptation strategy with urban planning seems to be challenging task but also potentially powerfull tool to implement specific adaptation measures. It emerged, that complicated ownership relations often cause obstacles for implementation of adaptation measures, highlighting the potential of stimulation and motivation tools from the side of the municipality. On the other hand, it was also shown that despite experiencing its negative impacts, climate change is often neglected or percepted as a marginal issue by some municipalities and developing adaptation strategy is

LEAP: local environmental action plan. Municipality of Sopishte

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The establishment of the Municipality of Sopishte was preceded by the development of a kind of suburban settlement of Skopje, basically composed of illegally constructed individual houses for living. As a result from economic activities in the Municipality and the impacts from human factor, there are problems related to the disturbance of the quality of the basic environmental quality factors (water, air and soil), as well as threat to biological diversity and natural values and rarities. The Municipality of Sopishte is situated in hilly-mountain area. Significant sources of air pollution have not been recorded (in terms of industrial facilities) caused by the household neglectible air pollution caused by traffic. The Municipality is very poor in water resources. Almost 90% of the Municipality's territory are without river or stream. A potential source of water supply in this area is the river of Patishka, which is currently not used for water supply purposes. The solid waste, generated basically by the households, is not properly disposed (most frequently dumped on illegal dumping sites on the territory of the Municipality) and represents a serious problem making impacts on the quality of the environment. On the basis of the evaluation of identified environmental problems, priority activities required to be undertaken in short and medium term have been set up. Financial constrains have been taken into account in this regard. The proposed Action Plan reflects the observed needs of the population of the Municipality of Sopishte and the perception of the key problems

Indicators System Creation For The Energy Efficiency Benchmarking Of Municipal Power System Facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davydenko L.V.

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The issues of the dataware of the comparative analysis procedure (benchmarking for municipal power system facilities energy efficiency level estimation with a view of the hierarchical structure of the heat supply system are considered. The aim of the paper is the system of indicators formation for characterizing the efficiency of energy usage as on objects on lowest so on highest levels of power systems, proceeding from features of their functioning. Benchmarking methodology allows carrying out the estimation of energy efficiency level on the base of a plurality of parameters without their generalization in one indicator, but requires ensuring their comparability. Using the methodology of available statistical information that did not require deep specification and additional inspection structuring objectives and tasks of energy efficiency estimation problem has been proposed for ensuring the opportunity of benchmarking procedure implementation. This makes it possible to form the subset of indicators that ensure enough specification of the object of study, taking into account the degree of abstraction for every hierarchical level or sub problem. For a comparative analysis of energy using efficiency in municipal power systems at the highest levels of the hierarchy a plurality of indicators of the energy efficiency has been formed. Indicators have been determined with consideration of the structural elements of heat supply systems, but allowing taking into account the efficiency of the initial state of the objects, their functioning, and the questions of energy resources accounting organization. Usage of the proposed indicators provides implementation of energy using efficiency monitoring in the municipal power system and allows getting complete overview of the problem.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PRACTICE AND THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: comparative study of children and adolescents of the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul – RS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matheus Cezar Maria

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to verify possible differences in the levels of physical activity related to the socio-economic conditions of schoolchildren in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul-RS. It is of transversal-descriptive character, and its subjects are 350 schoolchildren, aged 7 to 17, of both genders. For data collection a previously validated and adapted questionnaire was used, while the chi-quadrat-test was used for statistical analysis. Significant statistical differences were detected in the manner of locomotion, with regard to the school level and socio-economic status, for both genders. The results showed that students from urban areas and of inferior socio-economic levels showed more active in this respect. In the practice of physical activities, the results pointed to a reverse relation of this variable with the socio-economic level. At school level, a prevalence of inactive subjects from the rural area was observed. The difference in the form of locomotion and the physical activities of the evaluated schoolchildren, both at school level and at their socio-economic level, demonstrates different profiles of schoolchildren, which should be considered in future intervention programs.

Distribution of uncertainties at the municipality level for flood risk modelling along the river Meuse: implications for policy-making

Science.gov (United States)

Pirotton, Michel; Stilmant, Frédéric; Erpicum, Sébastien; Dewals, Benjamin; Archambeau, Pierre

2016-04-01

river), as well as in those of the downstream part of the Meuse in which flow depths in the urbanized floodplains are particularly high when inundation occurs. This is the case of the city of Liege, as a result of a subsidence process following former mining activities. For a given climate scenario, the uncertainty ranges affecting flood risk estimates are significant; but not so much that the results for the different municipalities would overlap substantially. Therefore, these uncertainties do not hamper prioritization in terms of allocation of risk reduction measures at the municipality level. In the present climate, the uncertainties arising from flood frequency analysis have a negligible influence in the upper part of the river, while they have a considerable impact on risk modelling in the lower part, where a threshold effect was observed due to the flood protection structures (sudden transition from no inundation to massive flooding when a threshold discharge is exceeded). Varying the number of exceedance probabilities in the integration of the risk curve has different effects for different municipalities; but it does not change the ranking of the municipalities in terms of flood risk. For the other scenarios, damage estimation contributes most to the overall uncertainties. As shown by this study, the magnitude of the uncertainty and its main origin vary in space and in time. This emphasizes the paramount importance of conducting distributed uncertainty analyses. In the considered study area, prioritization of risk reduction means can be reliably performed despite the modelling uncertainties. Reference Detrembleur, S., Stilmant, F., Dewals, B., Erpicum, S., Archambeau, P., & Pirotton, M. (2015). Impacts of climate change on future flood damage on the river Meuse, with a distributed uncertainty analysis. Natural Hazards, 77(3), 1533-1549. Acknowledgement Part of this research was funded through the ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions, financed by the Wallonia

Municipal solid waste generation in municipalities: quantifying impacts of household structure, commercial waste and domestic fuel.

Science.gov (United States)

Lebersorger, S; Beigl, P

2011-01-01

Waste management planning requires reliable data concerning waste generation, influencing factors on waste generation and forecasts of waste quantities based on facts. This paper aims at identifying and quantifying differences between different municipalities' municipal solid waste (MSW) collection quantities based on data from waste management and on socio-economic indicators. A large set of 116 indicators from 542 municipalities in the Province of Styria was investigated. The resulting regression model included municipal tax revenue per capita, household size and the percentage of buildings with solid fuel heating systems. The model explains 74.3% of the MSW variation and the model assumptions are met. Other factors such as tourism, home composting or age distribution of the population did not significantly improve the model. According to the model, 21% of MSW collected in Styria was commercial waste and 18% of the generated MSW was burned in domestic heating systems. While the percentage of commercial waste is consistent with literature data, practically no literature data are available for the quantity of MSW burned, which seems to be overestimated by the model. The resulting regression model was used as basis for a waste prognosis model (Beigl and Lebersorger, in preparation). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gangolells, Marta; Casals, Miquel; Forcada, Núria; Macarulla, Marcel

2014-01-01

The research findings fill a gap in the body of knowledge by presenting an effective way to evaluate the significance of on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works prior to the construction stage. First, 42 on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works were identified by means of a process-oriented approach. Then, 46 indicators and their corresponding significance limits were determined on the basis of a statistical analysis of 25 new-build and remodelling municipal engineering projects. In order to ensure the objectivity of the assessment process, direct and indirect indicators were always based on quantitative data from the municipal engineering project documents. Finally, two case studies were analysed and found to illustrate the practical use of the proposed model. The model highlights the significant environmental impacts of a particular municipal engineering project prior to the construction stage. Consequently, preventive actions can be planned and implemented during on-site activities. The results of the model also allow a comparison of proposed municipal engineering projects and alternatives with respect to the overall on-site environmental impact and the absolute importance of a particular environmental aspect. These findings are useful within the framework of the environmental impact assessment process, as they help to improve the identification and evaluation of on-site environmental aspects of municipal engineering works. The findings may also be of use to construction companies that are willing to implement an environmental management system or simply wish to improve on-site environmental performance in municipal engineering projects. -- Highlights: • We present a model to predict the environmental impacts of municipal engineering works. • It highlights significant on-site environmental impacts prior to the construction stage. • Findings are useful within the environmental impact assessment process. • They also

Predicting on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gangolells, Marta, E-mail: marta.gangolells@upc.edu; Casals, Miquel, E-mail: miquel.casals@upc.edu; Forcada, Núria, E-mail: nuria.forcada@upc.edu; Macarulla, Marcel, E-mail: marcel.macarulla@upc.edu

2014-01-15

The research findings fill a gap in the body of knowledge by presenting an effective way to evaluate the significance of on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works prior to the construction stage. First, 42 on-site environmental impacts of municipal engineering works were identified by means of a process-oriented approach. Then, 46 indicators and their corresponding significance limits were determined on the basis of a statistical analysis of 25 new-build and remodelling municipal engineering projects. In order to ensure the objectivity of the assessment process, direct and indirect indicators were always based on quantitative data from the municipal engineering project documents. Finally, two case studies were analysed and found to illustrate the practical use of the proposed model. The model highlights the significant environmental impacts of a particular municipal engineering project prior to the construction stage. Consequently, preventive actions can be planned and implemented during on-site activities. The results of the model also allow a comparison of proposed municipal engineering projects and alternatives with respect to the overall on-site environmental impact and the absolute importance of a particular environmental aspect. These findings are useful within the framework of the environmental impact assessment process, as they help to improve the identification and evaluation of on-site environmental aspects of municipal engineering works. The findings may also be of use to construction companies that are willing to implement an environmental management system or simply wish to improve on-site environmental performance in municipal engineering projects. -- Highlights: • We present a model to predict the environmental impacts of municipal engineering works. • It highlights significant on-site environmental impacts prior to the construction stage. • Findings are useful within the environmental impact assessment process. • They also

Valuation Bases and Accounting System Entries in Financial Analysis of the Municipal Real Property

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Feschiyan

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The paper introduces a conceptual framework for an accounting of the municipal real property, and defines a respective system of indicators. The development of this framework is seen as an important prerequisite for the efficient property management. It aims to overcome the lack or poor accessibility of the information, and thus to ensure the successful municipal real property management in a strategic context. The developing of the applied approach implies that accounting indicators are divided into three main groups – values, revenues, and costs. Beside the above mentioned classification, the municipal revenues and costs are classified also as existing and proposed. The existing indicators are defined by International Accounting Standards in public sector, and some of them are considered as being appropriate for the inclusion in the financial analysis as accounting system entries. The proposed indicators are perceived as appropriate to carry out a detailed analysis of the municipal property at a lower level of desegregations. The first two paragraphs explain the main bases for the municipal property valuation - historical cost, current price, market value, present value, with a special emphasis on the use of the historical value, and the types of valuation respectively. The next three paragraphs are concentrated mainly on the accounting indicators for the municipal property assessment. The sixth paragraph represents several major accounting bases - an accounting value, a carrying value, a market value, an accumulated depreciation, revenues from the sale of assets and services, costs by economic elements, revenues from future periods and costs for future periods, and revenues from other events and costs for other events. The seventh section presents a brief comparative analysis of accounting systems of 6 municipalities in South-Eastern Europe and the last paragraph highlights the identified “good practices”.

STATE RESOURCES AS AN AXIS OF MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT IN MISIONES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José, Garzón Maceda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This article aims to present a proposal from which one seeks to promote economic and human development in the municipalities of Misiones by means of the creation of a municipal internet by implementing more efficient application criteria for the resources.The paper provides a short outline of the theoretical framework where the proposal is set out, which has three pillars: the theory of decentralization, the municipal and the association theory.Having established this, one examines the legal framework of the municipalities in the National Constitution, the Misiones Constitution and specific laws which regulate the municipal performance, and then move towards the study of the current situation of the municipalities, focusing on financial resources of 17 municipalities in the province of Misiones.After this brief diagnosis we enter fully into the proposal to be developed in depth: detailing the players involved, their funding sources, their objectives, the executive body through which they will implement the program and the assignation criteria of allocation of resources recommended so that the implementation of the proposal be efficient.

Electricity production from municipal solid waste in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordi, Guilherme Henrique; Palacios-Bereche, Reynaldo; Gallego, Antonio Garrido; Nebra, Silvia Azucena

2017-07-01

Brazil has an increasing production of municipal solid waste that, allied to the current waste management system, makes the search for alternatives of energy recovery essential. Thus, this work aims to study the incineration of municipal solid waste and the electricity production through steam cycles evaluating the influence of municipal solid waste composition. Several scenarios were studied, in which it was assumed that some fractions of municipal solid waste were removed previously. The municipal solid waste generated in Santo André city, São Paulo State, Brazil, was adopted for this study. Simulation results showed that the removal of organic matter and inert components impacts advantageously on the cycle performance, improving their parameters in some cases; in addition, there is the possibility of reusing the separated fractions. The separation of some recyclables, as plastic material, showed disadvantages by the reduction in the electricity generation potential owing to the high calorific value of plastics. Despite the high energy content of them, there are other possible considerations on this subject, because some plastics have a better recovery potential by recycling.

Transport-level description of the 252Cf-source method using the Langevin technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stolle, A.M.; Akcasu, A.Z.

1991-01-01

The fluctuations in the neutron number density and detector outputs in a nuclear reactor can be analyzed conveniently by using the Langevin equation approach. This approach can be implemented at any level of approximation to describe the time evolution of the neutron population, from the most complete transport-level description to the very basic point reactor analysis of neutron number density fluctuations. In this summary, the complete space- and velocity-dependent transport-level formulation of the Langevin equation approach is applied to the analysis of the 252 Cf-source-driven noise analysis (CSDNA) method, an experimental technique developed by J.T. Mihalczo at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which makes use of noise analysis to determine the reactivity of subcritical media. From this analysis, a theoretical expression for the subcritical multiplication factor is obtained that can then be used to interpret the experimental data. Results at the transport level are in complete agreement with an independent derivation performed by Sutton and Doub, who used the probability density method to interpret the CSDNA experiment, but differed from other expressions that have appeared in the literature

Identification of influencing municipal characteristics regarding household waste generation and their forecasting ability in Biscay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oribe-Garcia, Iraia, E-mail: iraia.oribe@deusto.es; Kamara-Esteban, Oihane; Martin, Cristina; Macarulla-Arenaza, Ana M.; Alonso-Vicario, Ainhoa

2015-05-15

Highlights: • We have modelled household waste generation in Biscay municipalities. • We have identified relevant characteristics regarding household waste generation. • Factor models are used in order to identify the best subset of explicative variables. • Biscay’s municipalities are grouped by means of hierarchical clustering. - Abstract: The planning of waste management strategies needs tools to support decisions at all stages of the process. Accurate quantification of the waste to be generated is essential for both the daily management (short-term) and proper design of facilities (long-term). Designing without rigorous knowledge may have serious economic and environmental consequences. The present works aims at identifying relevant socio-economic features of municipalities regarding Household Waste (HW) generation by means of factor models. Factor models face two main drawbacks, data collection and identifying relevant explanatory variables within a heterogeneous group. Grouping similar characteristics observations within a group may favour the deduction of more robust models. The methodology followed has been tested with Biscay Province because it stands out for having very different municipalities ranging from very rural to urban ones. Two main models are developed, one for the overall province and a second one after clustering the municipalities. The results prove that relating municipalities with specific characteristics, improves the results in a very heterogeneous situation. The methodology has identified urban morphology, tourism activity, level of education and economic situation as the most influencing characteristics in HW generation.

Identification of influencing municipal characteristics regarding household waste generation and their forecasting ability in Biscay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oribe-Garcia, Iraia; Kamara-Esteban, Oihane; Martin, Cristina; Macarulla-Arenaza, Ana M.; Alonso-Vicario, Ainhoa

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We have modelled household waste generation in Biscay municipalities. • We have identified relevant characteristics regarding household waste generation. • Factor models are used in order to identify the best subset of explicative variables. • Biscay’s municipalities are grouped by means of hierarchical clustering. - Abstract: The planning of waste management strategies needs tools to support decisions at all stages of the process. Accurate quantification of the waste to be generated is essential for both the daily management (short-term) and proper design of facilities (long-term). Designing without rigorous knowledge may have serious economic and environmental consequences. The present works aims at identifying relevant socio-economic features of municipalities regarding Household Waste (HW) generation by means of factor models. Factor models face two main drawbacks, data collection and identifying relevant explanatory variables within a heterogeneous group. Grouping similar characteristics observations within a group may favour the deduction of more robust models. The methodology followed has been tested with Biscay Province because it stands out for having very different municipalities ranging from very rural to urban ones. Two main models are developed, one for the overall province and a second one after clustering the municipalities. The results prove that relating municipalities with specific characteristics, improves the results in a very heterogeneous situation. The methodology has identified urban morphology, tourism activity, level of education and economic situation as the most influencing characteristics in HW generation

Integration of the ecosystem services concept in planning documents from six municipalities in southwestern Sweden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda C. Nordin

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The ecosystem services (ES concept refers to benefits that humanity receives from nature. Investigating how this concept has been embraced within urban planning is important when assessing the awareness of human dependence on natural functions and the potential for the ES concept to increase this awareness. We analyzed planning documents from three small and three large municipalities in southern Sweden to see how explicitly the ES concept was addressed and which individual services were mentioned. We found that five of the municipalities mentioned the ES concept explicitly and the remaining municipality addressed it implicitly. Comprehensive and green plans referred to the ES concept more explicitly than did plans that focused on a single issue. We used 23 individual ES as a reference; each was mentioned in at least one document, but those concerning habitat and recreation were mentioned most frequently. Individual ES were generally described at an elaborate level. No major differences were identified between large and small municipalities except that large ones mentioned more individual ES. Our study demonstrates that municipalities in southern Sweden have started to integrate the ES concept into their planning documents. However, there is great potential to increase and concretize the awareness of ES.

CITIZENSHIP, DEMOCRACY Y DEMANDA OF NEW MUNICIPALITIES IN SINALOA

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Jesús López-Estrada

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes the construction of citizenship and democracy in the cities of Eldorado in Culiacán municipality and Juan José Ríos in the Guasave municipality. In the processes, the following elements are present: the different social culture identities that it has built the citizens of rural communities and citizens who reside in main town of the municipality, feeling of injustice generated in largely of citizens by deficient municipality public service; and struggle for the extension and political rights. Analyzing the information provided by the social actors who have participated in these lawsuits is complemented.

Levels and trends of PCDD/Fs in human blood and milk of residents in the vicinity of a modern municipal solid waste incinerator near to Lisbon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sampaio, C.; M. Fatima Reis; J. Pereira Miguel [Inst. of Preventive Medicine, Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal); Aguiar, P. [National School of Public Health, New Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal)

2004-09-15

Possible health hazard from human exposure to municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator emissions, which can include chlorinated persistent organic compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs), is of great public concern. The needed rigorous control of these emissions should be reflected by not different time trends in the PCDD/Fs levels of both the populations residing in the vicinity of incinerators and others selected as control, similar in socio-demographic and other factors potentially influencing those levels. To check the possibility of enhanced body burdens due to MSW emissions, well-designed studies have to be performed to determine human exposure to PCDD/Fs over time. Biological (human) monitoring of these chemicals has several advantages over environmental monitoring, since it is able to measure human body burden and accounts for exposure from all sources, environmental pathways and routes of absorption. However, it is practically unable to identify specific sources, routes and pathways, important issues for risk management purposes. Since 1999, a modern municipal solid waste incinerator is operating in the Metropolitan Area of North-Lisbon, Portugal. In order to get a reliable data basis on the body burden of PCDD/Fs in the population residing in the vicinity of the plant, susceptible of identifying time trends and possible regional differences, a biomonitoring program was implemented in the ambit of the VALORSUL Environmental Health Survey, referred elsewhere. The present paper describes results of this biomonitoring program, which includes repeated cross-sectional studies and, as much as possible, regular examinations of blood and breast milk samples, to determine PCDD/F levels.

SOCIAL AUDIT OF THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM OF GENERAL EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. I. Zerchaninova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the theory and practice of social audit of the municipal system of general education. The authors have developed a conceptual model of social audit to accurately identify both the short- and long-term development prospects of the given system. The paper describes the social audit procedures in Berezovsky municipal district of Sverdlovsk region including four stages: the content analysis of municipal documents concerning the development strategy of the general education system, diagnosis of the current conditions and problems, effectiveness evaluation of the municipal system of general education, and practical  recommendations for improving the education quality. The above mentioned audit demonstrates that the indices of education development are unsystematically tracked, obstructing therefore the adjustment process. To solve the given problems the following measures are recommended: personnel policy development, creating the regional managerial reserve and organizing management workshops, informing the teachers about the modern educational tools, and updating the municipal program of the «Educational System Development of Berezovsky Municipal District for 20011–20015». However, the above suggestions target only the current problems disregarding the challenges of tomorrow which require the advancing strategy. In authors’ opinion, the main emphasis should be re-placed on the quality improvement of the municipal educational services instead of the infrastructure reinforcement. 

SOCIAL AUDIT OF THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM OF GENERAL EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. I. Zerchaninova

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the theory and practice of social audit of the municipal system of general education. The authors have developed a conceptual model of social audit to accurately identify both the short- and long-term development prospects of the given system. The paper describes the social audit procedures in Berezovsky municipal district of Sverdlovsk region including four stages: the content analysis of municipal documents concerning the development strategy of the general education system, diagnosis of the current conditions and problems, effectiveness evaluation of the municipal system of general education, and practical  recommendations for improving the education quality. The above mentioned audit demonstrates that the indices of education development are unsystematically tracked, obstructing therefore the adjustment process. To solve the given problems the following measures are recommended: personnel policy development, creating the regional managerial reserve and organizing management workshops, informing the teachers about the modern educational tools, and updating the municipal program of the «Educational System Development of Berezovsky Municipal District for 20011–20015». However, the above suggestions target only the current problems disregarding the challenges of tomorrow which require the advancing strategy. In authors’ opinion, the main emphasis should be re-placed on the quality improvement of the municipal educational services instead of the infrastructure reinforcement. 

European municipalities and the liberalized energy market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-04-01

Municipalities are directly affected by the liberalization of the energy markets. Because they all consume or even produce energy, whether it be for their own consumption or to resell it, they often distribute gas, electricity or heat, they plan urban areas and organize the energy networks on their territory, while in addition citizens expect municipalities to inform them and even protect them against the possible excesses of energy salesmen. Elected representatives administrations, local agencies, municipal companies, citizens' associations etc., all have to innovate. This supplement to Energie-Cites INFO is intended to provide you with practical information and further analyses of the liberalization process. (authors)

Better Regulation and Public Procurement in Slovenian Municipalities

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Maja KLUN

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The reduction of administrative burdens is a measure to improve regulatory quality. Most measures are directed towards reducing barriers for business while the issue of regulation inside government is not often posed. The research carried out in 2010 was intended to investigate how Slovenian municipalities and others in the public sector perceive measures to reduce administrative burdens and the areas in which they consider regulations to present the greatest burden. Results have shown that public procurement regulations are the greatest burden for municipalities and the public sector as a whole. Further research indicates which public procurement procedures municipalities used most often and what benefits they perceive in the amended legislation. Results indicate that most municipalities use open procedures most often, which procedurally is the most complex.

The Role of Transnational Municipal Networks in Transboundary Water Governance

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Savitri Jetoo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The transboundary nature of stressors impacting shared water bodies has been traditionally recognized in agreements between nation states. Several developments have led to new layers of cross border environmental actors, including regional and city level interactions. This proliferation of non-state actors is witnessed in two large water bodies, the Baltic Sea and the North American Great Lakes. In both regions, transboundary water governance was led by nation states in agreements to improve heavily contaminated waters, the Helsinki Convention (1974 and the North American Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972, respectively. Whilst there has been much research on transnational regional networks, especially in Europe, there has been less theoretical work done on transnational municipal transboundary water networks due to the delay of recognition of the legitimacy of these local government actors. This paper aims to examine the role of the transnational municipal networks in transboundary water governance by looking at the case studies of the Union of Baltic cities in the Baltic Sea region and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in the North American Great Lakes Basin. It does this by assessing the role of these transnational municipal networks in bridging water governance gaps in these regions.

Agglomeration, accessibility and industrial location: evidence from spanish municipalities

OpenAIRE

Alañón Pardo, Ángel; Arauzo Carod, Josep María

2011-01-01

This paper deals with the location decisions of manufacturing firms in Spain. We analyse how agglomeration economies and transport accessibility influence the location decisions of firms at municipality level and in three industries. The main empirical contributions of this paper are the econometric techniques used (spatial econometric models) and some of the explanatory variables (local gross domestic product, road accessibility, and the characteristics of firms in neighbouring municipalitie...

Motivating local home-owners to energy retrofitting as examples on Urban Climate Governance in Danish Municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole

I the recent years, Danish municipalities have increasingly taken up initiatives to improve energy efficiency in private buildings. The paper will present a study on how Danish municipalities in practice have carried out such efforts on convincing private home-owners to improve the energy efficie......, 2009; Bulkeley, 2009) that includes different governmental approaches for the local authorities. The challenge of local sustainability is that it is complex and defined on different levels (local, municipal, regional, national, and international), that requires a ’multilevel governance...... in practice, including the types of governance and collaborations, as well as the challenges and shortcomings of the selected approaches. Also, it will discuss the motivations for the local actors to pursue this type of initiatives, in relation to the results achieved....

GIS-Based Approach for Municipal Renewable Energy Planning to Support Post-Earthquake Revitalization: A Japanese Case Study

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Qianna Wang

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Following a regional-level study conducted in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (Wang et al., 2014 [1], this paper presents an approach for municipal renewable energy planning and its experimental application in a Japanese municipality using a Geographic Information System (GIS. The proposed approach is comprised of local issue identification, renewable energy potential evaluation and visualization, site comparison and scenario analysis. GIS was used to analyze and visualize solar, wind and biomass (forest and agriculture residue potential within Kawamata Town, Fukushima, Japan. According to local conditions, all potential sites were coded and then compared based on different criteria, such as solar radiation, wind speed, slope and land uses, among others. In the scenario analysis section, two scenarios, “renewable energy prioritized” and ”evacuation area prioritized”, were adopted and compared. The scenarios are altered in terms of placement and the number of renewable energy facilities inside and outside evacuation areas within the town. The results generated through the proposed approach can provide information on local potentials of renewable energy resources, as well as renewable energy development alternatives at the municipal level. They can be used in the interactive dialogue for the municipal renewable energy planning process, to help to fulfill the municipality’s post-earthquake energy developmental vision.

Final repository for spent nuclear fuel - the role of the municipality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berggren, Marie; Lindfors, Virpi; Andersson Oehrn, Barbro; Alm, Bertil; Soederblom, Anna-Lena; Berggren, Marie; Lindfors, Virpi

2014-01-01

In Sweden there is a long tradition of local self-government which is enshrined within the Swedish constitution, and the municipalities are responsible for matters relating to its inhabitants and their immediate environment. The municipality of Oesthammar has been engaged in the project of final repository for spent nuclear fuel since 1995 and by that time a consultative committee was established with representatives from all the political parties within the municipality and neighbouring municipalities. Future potentials as well as threats must be considered when making decisions on the most favourable site and the method used for the disposal of nuclear waste, and the application from SKB, as well as the review by the authorities, must stand up to a number of public demands. The work has included several stages of decisions for the municipality, due to the site selection process for SKB. The dialogue between the municipality and SKB as well as between the municipality and the authorities has been of great importance for getting the stepwise decision making process that has become practice in this question. The municipality has intensively followed the process concerning establishment of a final repository through consultation meetings, by being observer on meetings between SKB and Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM), seminars, statements, etc. The openness and transparency throughout the process has been essential between all actors. However, if the municipalities have a right of absolute veto, the government still can say yes even if the municipality has said no

Municipal energy managers; Responsables energie municipaux

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-07-01

On 1 and 2 July, municipal energy managers from all over Europe met in Stuttgart, Germany. On these two days, more the 150 participants form 22 countries listened to presentations, took part in excursions to cutting-edge energy conservation projects in Stuttgart and, above all, participated in a broad array of workshops presented by experts firmly grounded in local practice. 27 experts drawn from 11 European countries showcased their projects and imparted their experience. The event has been accompanied by an exhibition of companies and service providers offering energy-conservation products and planning services. The first workshop dealt with energy management in Europe and examples from different active municipalities; the second one with energy management in Germany and best practice in the leading cities; the third one with non-municipal and European projects. (A.L.B.)

Electric energy management - basis for a municipal public politics; Gestao da energia eletrica - bases para uma politica publica municipal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurahassi, Luiz Fernando

2006-07-01

Electricity is an input whose impact on the costs of the municipal public services varies according to the manner it is used and to the way it is obtained from the supplying company. The management of its use results in savings and in greater efficiency and quality of the delivered services - including the public lighting - besides, it softens environmental impacts and develops actions to orientate society towards energy-efficient consumption habits. The public sector has a significant share in the electricity final consumption in Brazil, trending to increase, but a room for consumption reduction and increase in energy efficiency can be seen in the municipalities. The purpose of this thesis is to identify concepts and set parameters that can be the basis of a public policy on electrical power management at the ambit of municipality. This paper reports a series of theoretical studies and empirical researches concerning the efficient use of electrical power in public services in cities of different countries and analyses the results reached from the application of models that successively work in the reality of cities from the Sao Paulo metropolitan area. It concludes that the municipality must play a role much more relevant than being a simple institutional electricity consumer, by proposing the basis for an intervention in the municipal reality. (author)

The Development of Brazilian Municipalities Flooded by Hydropower Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, N.; Moretto, E. M.; Roquetti, D. R.; Beduschi, L. C.; Praia, A.; Pulice, S.; Albiach, E.; Athayde, S.

2016-12-01

Hydropower plants cause negative environmental impacts during the phases of construction and operation. On the other hand, there is a general assumption that these projects also induce local development of the affected places, since there is a great influx of social and financial capital brought locally, especially during the construction phase the relationship between hydropower plant implementation s and local development has been controversial in the Environmental Impact Assessment field, and there is no empirical evidence showing how hydroelectric dam construction affects local development. Considering municipal development as a kind of local development and operationalizing the concept of human development by adopting income, longevity and education dimensions defined by Amartya Sen, this study aimed to verify empirical evidences regarding the role of hydropower plants in human development of their flooded municipalities in Brazil. For this, we considered 134 hydroelectric plants and correspondent 641 flooded municipalities, for which 155 human development indicators were obtained for the period of 2000 to 2010. Results obtained from statistical correlation analysis and their assumption tests showed that increases in the municipal flooded area and increases in the period of flooding - to which a given municipality is submitted - were associated with lower performances of human development indicators. Specifically, increases in social inequality, poverty and lower performances of longevity and education were detected for the flooded municipalities. We also found that the financial compensation was associated with better performance of municipal income and lower performances of education and longevity. Finally, approaching the growth poles theory of François Perroux and the productive linkages theory of Albert Hirschman, we suggest that the size of the flooded areas, the flooding period and the financial compensation may lead to an enclave situation in

Implementation of energy efficiency measures by municipal utilities; Umsetzung von Energieeffizienzmassnahmen durch Stadtwerke

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horst, Juri; Droeschel, Barbara [Institut fuer ZukunftsEnergieSysteme (IZES), Saarbruecken (Germany)

2012-04-15

Local players have a very special role to fill in the implementation of the German federal government's ambitious energy efficiency goals. In the past the contributions made by municipal utilities in the way of special offers or measures to develop efficiency potentials were only modest. Moreover there were specific impediments that discouraged a significant competition-driven efficiency services market from developing. However, there are other instruments available that could encourage municipal utilities to implement efficiency goals. A recent research project has shown how standardised efficiency programmes can be used to tap into existing efficiency potentials at a sufficient level of intensity and with macroeconomic benefit.

[Financial and economic sustainability of public spending on health care by local governments: an analysis of data from municipalities in Mato Grosso State, Brazil].

Science.gov (United States)

Scatena, João Henrique Gurtler; Viana, Ana Luiza d'Avila; Tanaka, Oswaldo Yoshimi

2009-11-01

Brazil's Unified National Health System is financed according to a model known as fiscal federalism, the fund-sharing rules of the Social Security Budget, Ministry of Health norms, and Constitutional Amendment 29 (EC-29), which links Federal, State, and municipal resources to health. This article discusses the sustainability of public spending on health at the municipal level. Twenty-one municipalities were studied, using municipal budget data. From 1996 to 2006, total current per capita revenues increased by 280% above the accumulated inflation and Gross Domestic Product, varying by size of municipality, which also defined the composition of the municipal budgets. Meanwhile, the budget comprising the basis for EC-29 increased less (178%), thus placing limits on the municipal share of health spending. The results observed in these municipalities are believed to reflect the reality in thousands of other Brazilian municipalities, thus jeopardizing the capacity for municipal investment in health, especially beginning in 2008. The situation may become even worse, considering the repeal of the so-called Bank Transaction Tax (CPMF), Bills of Law 306/08 and 233/08 (currently under review in the National Congress), and the world recession stemming from the U.S. financial crisis.

New municipal waste management in opinion of inhabitants of urban and rural areas of the Słupsk Powiat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucyna Klein

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article was to determine the satisfaction level and to assess the opinion of urban and rural area inhabitants of new municipal waste management system. The assessment was based on population surveys. The survey group consisted of 119 people. According to the obtained data, more than 70% of Słupsk Powiat inhabitants declare the selective collection of municipal waste. The respondents well asses the educational activities of local government. Furthermore, on the basis of the results obtained, it can be said that the inhabitants of rural areas are more involved in the implementation of sustainable municipal waste management.

Removal of Alkylphenols from Industrial and Municipal Wastewater

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J. Derco

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The results of the study of removal of nonylphenol, octylphenol and their ethoxylates from real industrial and municipal wastewater are presented. Industrial wastewater was pre-treated by coagulation with FeCl3 and adsorption on zeolite, before discharging into municipal sewer system. Their removal efficiencies in primary sedimentation tank of municipal WWTP were very low. From the practical point of view, the highest and the most significant removal efficiencies within the whole WWTP were observed for nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates. Dominancy of abiotic mechanisms of alkylphenols removal follows from adsorption measurements. Activated sludge cultivated in lab-scale extended aeration tank accounted for relatively high adsorption affinity to these substances. Activated sludge sampled from municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP receiving industrial wastewater containing alkylphenols accounted for very low adsorption affinity to these pollutants. Significantly higher removal efficiency of octylphenol ethoxylates was observed with the O3/granular active carbon (GAC process compared to the ozonation process alone. Lower toxicity impact of intermediates and products of ozonation treatment on Vibrio fischeri was measured in comparison to the O3/GAC process. Actually, the municipal WWTP effluent discharge concentration values complies with EQS values, including nonylphenols.

Hidalgo: la disputa en la aldea municipal en 2016 / Hidalgo: Contention in the Municipal Village in 2016

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Pablo Vargas González

2018-01-01

Full Text Available En 2016, en el estado de Hidalgo concurrió, por primera vez, la renovación de la gubernatura con la del Congreso y los ayuntamientos. De los comicios realizados, por las características específicas de la competencia, las elecciones de los 84 ayuntamientos fueron las que resultaron más atractivas y competitivas, y, a su vez, las que mayores conflictos presentaron, pues mostraron la disputa real por el poder, más allá de los partidos contendientes, entre actores políticos y grupos sociales. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar las particularidades de la elección municipal, es decir, las condiciones, los actores y los resultados. / The first time there were concurrent elections in Hidalgo (governorship, Congress and municipalities was in 2016. Within all the electoral processes and due to the specific features of contest, elections in the 84 municipalities proved to be the most attractive and contentious ones, while presenting the largest conflicts, as they revealed the real struggle for power beyond contending parties- among political actors and social groups. The main goal of this paper is to examine the peculiarities of municipal elections, in other words, their conditions, actors and results.

Impact of demographic factors on management competencies of the municipal sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tripolitsioti Alexandra

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to define the competencies required for the administration of the sports facilities, of the municipal sport organizations and to compare them with selected variables, such as age, educational level, type of degree and years of employment. In the study participated 401 sport’s facilities managers, of the Municipal sport organizations of the country. They answered in a questionnaire designed for the study purposes, which was sent to them postal. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA between age, educational level, type of degree and years of employment revealed that: a there were statistically significant differences between the different age groups for the facility management factor (F(3, 397= 4.947, p< 0.002 and governance factor (F(3, 397= 3.170, p< 0.024, b there were statistically significant differences between the PhD holders, the Master holders, the Higher Education graduates or any other title for the event management factor (F(3, 397= 3.073, p< 0.028 and first aid/crisis management factor (F(3, 397= 4.311, p< 0.005, c there were statistically significant differences between the different titles for the first aid- crisis management factor (F(3, 397= 10.264, p< 0.000 and governance factor (F(3, 397= 4.104, p< 0.007 and d there were statistically significant differences between the total years of employment for the first aid-crisis management factor (F(3, 397= 6.869, p< 0.000 and governance factor (F(3, 397= 3.779, p< 0.011. It is concluded that the competency factors of the Sport’s Facilities managers of the municipal sport organizations are affected by the age, the educational level, the type of degree and the years of employment.

Community-Based Policies and Support for Free Drinking Water Access in Outdoor Areas and Building Standards in U.S. Municipalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sohyun; Onufrak, Stephen; Wilking, Cara; Cradock, Angie

2018-04-01

We examined community-level characteristics associated with free drinking water access policies in U.S. municipalities using data from a nationally representative survey of city managers/officials from 2,029 local governments in 2014. Outcomes were 4 free drinking water access policies. Explanatory measures were population size, rural/urban status, census region, poverty prevalence, education, and racial/ethnic composition. We used multivariable logistic regression to test differences and presented only significant findings. Many (56.3%) local governments had at least one community plan with a written objective to provide free drinking water in outdoor areas; municipalities in the Northeast and South regions and municipalities with ≤ 50% of non-Hispanic whites were less likely and municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have a plan. About 59% had polices/budget provisions for free drinking water in parks/outdoor recreation areas; municipalities in the Northeast and South regions were less likely and municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have it. Only 9.3% provided development incentives for placing drinking fountains in outdoor, publicly accessible areas; municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have it. Only 7.7% had a municipal plumbing code with a drinking fountain standard that differed from the statewide plumbing code; municipalities with a lower proportion of non-Hispanic whites were more likely to have it. In conclusion, over half of municipalities had written plans or a provision for providing free drinking water in parks, but providing development incentives or having a local plumbing code provision were rare.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Dormaa Municipality, Ghana: why some residents remain uninsured?

Science.gov (United States)

Amo, Thompson

2014-02-21

The paper presents a quantitative investigation on the national health insurance scheme (nhis) in dormaa municipality, Ghana: why some residents remain uninsured? Since its implementation has been a little over a decade now. The aim is to identify the obstacles to enrollment by the public which would enable policy direction to ensure that all residents are registered with the scheme. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between May and July, 2013. Both purposive and simple random sampling technique were used to select 210 respondents and data obtained through self-administered and face-to-face interviews guided by structured questionnaire. chi square (X2) test of independence was adopted to show the association between socioeconomic and demographic features and membership. Findings from the research suggest that residents' decision to enrol have significant associated with gender, education, number of children, place of residence, employment and income. It was also observed that membership is highly affected by premium level. The discussion of the findings and recommendations offered, if incorporated into the policy guideline of NHIS could maintain and at the same time increase enrollment level which would guarantee quality, accessible and affordable basic health care protection for the good people of Ghana.

Proposed siting of a HLW Repository to the Municipality of Oskarshamn - Dialogue with the public and how it responds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlsson, Torsten; Hallberg, Krister; Andersson, Kjell; Aahagen, Harald; Braakenhielm, Carl-Reinhold

2001-01-01

The Swedish High Level Nuclear Waste programme is in a decision making phase where the issue is if three site investigations in three municipalities are to be initiated or not. In Oskarshamn the answer to this question is currently being prepared by three newly formed working groups. The task for these groups is to prepare reports to the Municipality Council with recommendations how this question should be answered. The work is conducted following the 'Oskarshamn Model'. The municipality is expected to answer this question early 2002. The major challenge during 2001 for the municipality is to form a dialogue with the region, the Oskarshamn public and in particular the land owners and neighbours (the most effected parties) to the proposed area of investigation. With the dialogue, the municipality should be able to continue to take decisions and post possible conditions that are supported and recognised by a large majority of the people in Oskarshamn. Should site investigations be accepted, the experience from the work conducted to date and the 'Oskarshamn Model' will continue to form a strong base for the municipality participation in the six to seven year long investigation phase

Proposed siting of a HLW Repository to the Municipality of Oskarshamn - Dialogue with the public and how it responds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, Torsten; Hallberg, Krister [Municipality of Oskarshamn (Sweden); Andersson, Kjell [Karinta-Konsult, Taeby (Sweden); Aahagen, Harald [Aahagen and Co., Vaederstad (Sweden); Braakenhielm, Carl-Reinhold [Univ. of Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Theology

2001-07-01

The Swedish High Level Nuclear Waste programme is in a decision making phase where the issue is if three site investigations in three municipalities are to be initiated or not. In Oskarshamn the answer to this question is currently being prepared by three newly formed working groups. The task for these groups is to prepare reports to the Municipality Council with recommendations how this question should be answered. The work is conducted following the 'Oskarshamn Model'. The municipality is expected to answer this question early 2002. The major challenge during 2001 for the municipality is to form a dialogue with the region, the Oskarshamn public and in particular the land owners and neighbours (the most effected parties) to the proposed area of investigation. With the dialogue, the municipality should be able to continue to take decisions and post possible conditions that are supported and recognised by a large majority of the people in Oskarshamn. Should site investigations be accepted, the experience from the work conducted to date and the 'Oskarshamn Model' will continue to form a strong base for the municipality participation in the six to seven year long investigation phase.

Quantification of uranium levels in groundwater in the municipality of San Diego de la Union Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez M, H.; Rios L, M. J.; Gaytan H, D.; Romero G, E. T.

2017-10-01

The objective of this work was to quantify the levels of uranium (U) in groundwater from 22 wells in the municipality of San Diego de la Union Mexico. The sampled wells were classified as not regularized and regularized according to records of the National Water Commission and classified by zones A, B, C, D and E. Samples were collected in triplicate in 1 L bottles, then acidified with ultra pure HNO 3 at 2% v/v and conserved at 4 degrees Celsius until analysis by mass spectrometry with magnetic sector with inductively coupled plasma source (Icp-SFMS). The preparation method was the acid digestion in the open system and re-concentration of the sample. In addition, 1 μg L -1 of indium (In) was used as a tracer to know the performance of the method. Finally, the samples were diluted in 10 ml and introduced to the Icp-SFMS to measure in low resolution the U isotopes (U-234, U-235 and U-238). The average results obtained from total U were: A= 3.65 ± 1.89 μg L -1 , B= 6.37 ± 1.46 μg L -1 , C= 3.20 ± 2.27 μg L -1 , D= 3.87 ± 1.31 μg L -1 and E= 4.44 ± 1.17 μg L -1 . According to the official Mexican standard NOM-014-CONAGUA-2003, the U levels found in the groundwater of San Diego de la Union Mexico do not exceed the permissible limits of 30 μg/L. (Author)

Development of Municipal Solid Waste Management

OpenAIRE

Teibe, Inara

2015-01-01

This paper is based on an empirical work done by author on a series of case studies such us document studies and analyzing the best practices examples. The objective of this research is to find out barriers to reach regional waste management plan demands in three municipalities: Salacgriva, Saulkrasti and Ikskile. Author gives proposal with some recommendations for development of municipal waste management as well. There are several views and attitudes of local stakeholders such us municipali...

Context Sociopolitical participation of Colombian women. Local experiences in the municipality of Boyacá (Boyacá

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Espinosa

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This item is made of reflection in order to provide some elements of analysis, and as a means to visualize the relationships and impact of rural women in scenarios of interaction and decision in public areas that surround it. Therefore shows a first component referred to the political context that preceded Colombian women for decades, and then present a second component describes the socio-political conditions of rural women in the town of Boyacá (Boyacá according to seven dimensions History of sociopolitical participation, motives or reasons for participating sociopolitically, difficulties or limitations, Achievements, Learning and Experiences, Supports Found or strategic alliances with other institutions and Generation Initiatives. This description is based on information collected through ethnographic and qualitative techniques of narrative, with women who reported actions linked to socio-political participation of the municipality, finding among other items of interest to rural women is part of the municipality or unconventional alternative scenarios of participation as a chance to break into the public life of their region, through the creation and recreation areas for review and decision making. The article is based on one of the two categories of analysis and one of the eight sub categories planted in investigative exercise called "organizational dynamics and socio-political participation of rural women in the municipality of Boyacá (Boyacá".

The impact of socioeconomic factors on municipal solid waste generation in São Paulo, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Vieira, Victor H Argentino de Morais; Matheus, Dácio R

2018-01-01

Social factors have not been sufficiently explored in municipal solid waste management studies. Latin America has produced even fewer studies with this approach; technical and economic investigations have prevailed. We explored the impacts of socioeconomic factors on municipal solid waste generation in Greater Sao Paulo, which includes 39 municipalities. We investigated the relations between municipal solid waste generation and social factors by Pearson's correlation coefficient. The Student's t-test (at p ← 0.01) proved significance, and further regression analysis was performed with significant factors. We considered 10 socioeconomic factors: population, rural population, density, life expectancy, education (secondary, high and undergraduate level), income per capita, inequality and human development. A later multicollinearity analysis resulted in the determination of inequality (r p = 0.625) and income per capita (r p = 0.607) as major drivers. The results showed the relevance of considering social aspects in municipal solid waste management and isolated inequality as an important factor in planning. Inequality must be used as a complementary factor to income, rather than being used exclusively. Inequality may explain differences of waste generation between areas with similar incomes because of consumption patterns. Therefore, unequal realities demand unequal measures to avoid exacerbation, for example, pay-as-you-throw policies instead of uniform fees. Unequal realities also highlight the importance of tiering policies beyond the waste sector, such as sustainable consumption.

Cogeneration and District Heating. Best Practices for Municipalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuorkivi, A.; Constantinescu, T.

2005-01-01

District heating (DH) and cogeneration of heat power (CHP) are well known technologies in the energy business and are often included in municipal policies as well. Some of the major benefits of DH and CHP are less known and the barriers faced by further development of DH and CHP are substantial. The main barriers are institutional. Municipalities can play a powerful role in facilitating local DH and CHP development in order to achieve the economic and environmental benefits of DH and CHP. This report is produced to assist municipalities in promoting efficient and environmental beneficial DH and CHP. The focus of the report is on the economies in transition, where the institutional barriers are acute. The report addresses the issues of organisational framework, price regulation and financing, energy demand, rehabilitation of DH systems and benchmarking of DH and CHP. The municipality may influence the DH development by a number of means. The most important means, discussed in the various chapters of the report, are: (1) City planning impacts on the heat load density. A high density is an important factor for the economics of DH and city planning may promote DH in areas with high density and individual heating modes in the areas with low density; (2) Managing the building stock owned by the municipality to join the DH system and paying for the heating services; (3) Setting strategic goals for the District Heating Enterprise (DHE), which they usually own, regarding the quality and the costs of heating. The DHE shall be given sufficient resources to work towards such goals; (4) Providing guarantees for financing DH rehabilitation and development. The DHE may not have access to commercial credits without municipal guarantees; and, (5) Supporting the DHE management by giving operational independence, supervising the management performance regularly and encouraging the co-operation with other DHEs and equipment manufacturers. Examples provided in the report of

40 CFR 60.1015 - What is a new municipal waste combustion unit?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... combustion unit? 60.1015 Section 60.1015 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... for Small Municipal Waste Combustion Units for Which Construction is Commenced After August 30, 1999... What is a new municipal waste combustion unit? (a) A new municipal waste combustion unit is a municipal...

THE CONCEPT AND SCOPE OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE ENTITIES’ COMPETENCE IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND CANADA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Larichev

2017-01-01

Full Text Available УДК 342.25The purpose of this article is to study the concept and the content of "competence" cate-gory in relation to the entities of municipal governance in Russia and Canada. The methods of theoretical analysis, along with legal methods, including formal-legal and comparative law methods are used to achieve this goal.In the article, the author notes the lack of consensus in legal science in determining the con-tent of "competence" category and its subjective identity. Some authors consider the compe-tence as a set of rights and obligations of public authorities (Yu.A. Tikhomirov, S.A. Avakyan, while others recognize the correct use of the word "competence" in relation to the public territorial collectives and institutions of public power in general (T.M. Byalkina et al..The Russian legal model for determining the competence of municipal governance entities also implies the distinction between the concepts of "local issues" and "powers." Unfortu-nately, the domestic legislator does not provide for the clear distinction of these concepts, and there is also a lack of content specification of the issues to be addressed at the local level. Recent changes in law also call into question the relation between the municipalities’ competency model and the constitutional autonomy of local government.At the base of the approach to the definition of the competence of municipal government entities in Canada, as well as within the Anglo-Saxon model in general, lies the need for decentralization of functions, which cannot be effectively carried out by the central author-ities or the private sector (A. Sancton. The competence carrier here is a municipality as a form of public corporation. This does not lead to contradiction between this carrier and other municipal governance entities (specifically, local authorities, as the latter carry out activities for the competence implementation on behalf of the corporation.The approach to the municipality as a

Perceived tourism impacts in municipalities with different tourism concentration

OpenAIRE

Nemec Rudež, Helena; Vodeb, Ksenija

2010-01-01

The paper investigates residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts in Koper and Piran municipality which are located on the Slovenian coast. The two municipalities have different tourism concentration defined as the ratio between the number of tourists and the number of residents. Specifically, the study attempts to explore differences between tourism impacts in the two municipalities. For the purpose of this study, tourism impacts are divided into economic, socio-cultural and environmental. Pr...

Ringkøbing-Skjern Energy Atlas for municipal energy planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petrovic, Stefan; Karlsson, Kenneth Bernard

2015-01-01

Ringkøbing-Skjern is Denmark's largest municipality, located in the west part of Central Denmark Region. Its medium-term goal is to achieve 100 % self-sufficiency in renewable energy supply by 2020. To achieve this ambitious goal, future courses of action have been outlined in the municipality......'s energy strategy "Energy2020" and divided into five groups: increasing production from wind, bioenergy and other renewable energy sources, reducing heat demand in buildings and converting transportation sector to renewable energy. The analysis of technical, economic and environmental impacts...... of such a variety of technologies on the municipality's energy system requires highly detailed decision support system. For that purpose, GIS-based energy atlas has been developed for Ringkøbing-Skjern municipality. The data about energy supply and demand, transmission and distribution infrastructure, energy...

Influence of Environmental Governance on Deforestation in Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lilian Fernandes Oliveira Dias

Full Text Available It has been argued that measuring governance at scales smaller than global could be an important management tool. However, current studies are conducted on a global scale and use expensive methods. In the present study, we assess whether the reported governance of Amazonian municipalities is related to reductions in deforestation. Economic activity (EA affected general governance (G positively (G = 0.81 +1.19 * EA, F1, 98 = 77.36, p < 0.001. Environmental governance (EG was not affected significantly (p = 0.43 by deforestation before 2000 (PD, but increased significantly (p < 0.001 with general governance (G (EG = -0.29 + 0.04 PD+0.98*OG, F2,97 = 42.6, p <0.001. Deforestation was not significantly related to environmental governance (p = 0.82. The only indirect effect of significant magnitude was the effect of the density of forest reserves on recent deforestation through deforestation before 2000, which was strongly negative (-0.49. It is possible to assess reported actions to promote municipal governance through official data. However, it is not enough to assume that general governance or environmental governance at the municipal level, as reflected in the official statistics, benefits environmental conservation. In fact, even at the level of nation states, at which most quantification of governance has been undertaken, it seems that the relationship between governance and environmental preservation is only an assumption, because we are aware of no study that supports that hypothesis quantitatively.

Process analysis transit of municipal waste. Part II - Domestic provisions of law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Starkowski Dariusz

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In 2013, the Polish legal system referring to municipal waste management was restructured in a revolutionary way. The analysis of new provisions of law described in the article requires particular attention, taking into account their place in the entire system of dealing with waste and connections with the remaining elements of this system. At present, Polish regulations lay down the rules of conduct with all types of waste, diversifying a subjective area of responsibility. These assumptions are determined by the provisions of law that are in force in the Republic of Poland. At present, the system of legal provisions is quite complex; however, the provisions of law of the EU constitute its base (the first article. At the level of Polish law, the goals and tasks concerned with dealing with waste were set forth, which leads to tightening of the system. All actions in this respect - from propagating the selective accumulation and collection of municipal waste, keeping the established levels of recycling and recycling of packaging wastes, and limiting the mass of biodegradable waste directed at the storage - is only a beginning of the road to reduction of environmental risks. In this case, permanent monitoring of proper waste dealing in the commune, the province as well as the entire country is essential. Third part of the article will present characterization, division, classification and identification of waste, together with the aspects of logistic process of municipal waste collection and transport.

Prefeitura Municipal de Amparo - Prefeitura Municipal de Amparo

Science.gov (United States)

, educação inclusiva, calendário educação, plano municipal de educação, projetos, notícias entre estagiários Confira as vagas para estagiários Painel de Vagas de Estágio ENSINO MEDIO (2501642 Sebastião 07 de Janeiro de 2017 - 29 de Janeiro de 2017 Carnaval de rua de Amparo 25 de Fevereiro de 2017

Dissinfection of municipal sludge and wastewater by energized electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trump, J.G.; Wright, K.A.; Sinskey, A.J.; Shah, D.N.; Fernald, R.

1979-01-01

Laboratory studies at M.I.T. and high flow rate studies at the M.D.C. Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Boston have shown the practicality and cost effectiveness of disinfecting liquid municipal sludges by injecting energized electrons. A dosage of 400 Kilorads (4 Kilograys) reduces gram-negative bacteria, including coliforms, fecal coliforms, salmonellae and shigellae, in primary raw or anaerobically digested sludges to undetectable levels. Enteric viruses are reduced by one to two orders of magnitude. This treatment also destroys parasite eggs or renders them non-infectious. Model system studies indicate that trace toxic compounds such as PCBs in water are degraded. The estimated cost of sludge disinfection by electron treatment is about $0.80 per liquid tonne for modular systems of 650 liquid tonnes per day capacity. About 6 Kilowatt-hours of input electric power per tonne is required. The temperature rise of the disinfected watery sludge is about 2 0 C. Electron disinfection combined with subsurface soil injection offers an environmentally attractive, energy-efficient, and economic two -step process for land disposal of municipal sludges with water conservation and soil improvement benefits. Combined with widely-distributed ocean feeding, electron disinfection of the municipal sludge of coastal communities offers a safe marine nutrient for increasing fish population in treated ocean areas. The electron disinfection of effluent wastewater, in lieu of chlorination, is a future application which avoids the production of potentially toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons. (Author) [pt

27 CFR 31.4 - Relation to State and municipal law.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... business contrary to the laws of such State or in places prohibited by municipal law; nor shall such... municipal law. 31.4 Section 31.4 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE... State and municipal law. Compliance with the requirements of this part shall not be held to exempt any...

Municipal Building Energy Usage

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — This data set contains energy use data from 2009-2014 for 139 municipally operated buildings. Metrics include: Site & Source EUI, annual electricity, natural...

Composition of municipal solid waste in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edjabou, Vincent Maklawe Essonanawe; Petersen, Claus; Scheutz, Charlotte

2014-01-01

Data for the composition of municipal solid waste is a critical basis for any assessment of waste technologies and waste management systems. The detailed quantification of waste fractions is absolutely needed for a better technological development of waste treatment. The current waste composition...... comparability to characterize municipal solid waste. This methodology was applied to residual waste collected from 1,442 households in three municipalities in Denmark. The main fractions contributing to the residual household waste were food waste and miscellaneous waste. Statistical analysis suggested...... of standardised and commonly accepted waste characterization methodologies, various approaches have been reported in literature. This limits both comparability and applicability of the results. The purpose of this study was to introduce a consistent methodology that reduces uncertainties and ensures data...

Telidon Videotex presentation level protocol: Augmented picture description instructions

Science.gov (United States)

Obrien, C. D.; Brown, H. G.; Smirle, J. C.; Lum, Y. F.; Kukulka, J. Z.; Kwan, A.

1982-02-01

The Telidon Videotex system is a method by which graphic and textual information and transactional services can be accessed from information sources by the general public. In order to transmit information to a Telidon terminal at a minimum bandwidth, and in a manner independent of the type of communications channel, a coding scheme was devised which permits the encoding of a picture into the geometric drawing elements which compose it. These picture description instructions are an alpha geometric coding model and are based on the primitives of POINT, LINE, ARC, RECTANGLE, POLYGON, and INCREMENT. Text is encoded as (ASCII) characters along with a supplementary table of accents and special characters. A mosaic shape table is included for compatibility. A detailed specification of the coding scheme and a description of the principles which make it independent of communications channel and display hardware are provided.

Cultivation of Azolla microphylla biomass on secondary-treated Delhi municipal effluents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arora, A.; Saxena, S. [Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (India). Centre for Conservation of Blue Green Algae

2005-07-01

Study was conducted on recycling municipal wastewaters for cultivation of Azolla microphylla biomass, which is used for inoculation into paddy fields as N biofertiliser and has other applications as green manure, animal feed and biofilter. Secondary-treated municipal wastewaters were collected from Wazirabad sewage treatment plant in New Delhi during all four seasons and tested for reactive P and heavy metal content. The reactive P levels in effluents ranged between 1-2 ppm and levels of heavy metals like Cd, Pb, Ni, Zn, Fe and Mn were well below permissible limits. A. microphylla was grown in sewage effluents and its dilutions prepared with tapwater. It showed good growth potential on sewage effluents. Doubling times during September and December months compared well with those on Espinase and Watanabe (E and W) medium and tapwater. Dried Azolla biomass produced on sewage waters did not show presence of toxic heavy metals Cd, Cr and Pb. However, levels of P in dried biomass cultivated on sewage effluents were lower as compared to those from E and W medium and tapwater. The biomass produced can be used for inoculating paddy fields or for other applications and polished wastewaters can be recycled for irrigation purposes. (author)

Delegation within municipal health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Bystedt, Maria; Eriksson, Maria; Wilde-Larsson, Bodil

2011-05-01

To describe how registered nurses (RNs) perceive delegation to unlicensed personnel (UP) in a municipal healthcare context in Sweden. Within municipal health care RNs often delegate tasks to UP. The latter have practical training, but lack formal competence. Twelve RNs were interviewed and the material was analysed using a phenomenographic approach. Owing to a shortage of RNs, delegation is seen as a prerequisite for a functioning organization. This necessity also involves a number of perceived contradictions in three areas: (1) the work situation of RNs - facilitation and relief vs. lack of control, powerlessness, vagueness regarding responsibility, and resignation; (2) the relationship with unlicensed personnel - stimulation, possibility for mentoring, use of UP competence and the creation of fairness vs. questioning UP competence; and (3) The patients - increase in continuity, quicker treatment, and increased security vs. insecurity (with respect to, for example, the handling of medicine). Registered nurses perceptions of delegation within municipal healthcare involve their own work situation, the UP and the patients. Registered nurses who delegate to UP must be given time for mentoring such that the nursing care is safe care of high quality. © 2011 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Phytoremediation potential of water caltrop (Trapa natans L.) using municipal wastewater of the activated sludge process-based municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Vinod; Chopra, A K

2018-01-01

Phytoremediation experiments were carried out to assess the phytoremediation potential of water caltrop (Trapa natans L.) using municipal wastewater collected from the activated sludge process- (ASP) based municipal wastewater treatment plant. The results revealed that T. natans significantly (P ≤ .05/P ≤ .01/P ≤ .001) reduced the contents of total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), chemical oxygen demand, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, phosphate ([Formula: see text]), sodium (Na + ), potassium (K + ), calcium (Ca 2+ ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), standard plate count, and most probable number of the municipal wastewater after phytoremediation experiments. The maximum removal of these parameters was obtained at 60 days of the phytoremediation experiments, but the removal rate of these parameters was gradually increased from 15 to 45 days and it was slightly decreased at 60 days. Most contents of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were translocated in the leaves of T. natans, whereas most contents of Cr and Pb were accumulated in the root of T. natans after phytoremediation experiments. The contents of different biochemical components were recorded in the order of total sugar > crude protein > total ash > crude fiber > total fat in T. natans after phytoremediation of municipal wastewater. Therefore, T. natans was found to be effective for the removal of different parameters of municipal wastewater and can be used effectively to reduce the pollution load of municipal wastewater drained from the ASP-based treatment plants.

SUGAR AGROINDUSTRY IMPACT IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENCRUCIJADA MUNICIPALITY IN VILLA CLARA PROVINCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramón Sánchez Sánchez

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this investigation is to show the impact in the economic, energy, ecological and sociocultural order that has experienced the sugar agroindustry in the local and territorial development of Encrucijada municipality, in Villa Clara province. The main methods and techniques used have been the surveys, the documentary analysis, the work with experts, agrarian commission’s reports of the municipal assembly, the matrix of weaknesses, strengths, threats, opportunities and the scenarios technique for the approach of strategic actions. In this work, a diagnosis study of the municipality is carried out, determining the main strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities with the corresponding strategies and actions for their improvement. Among the main results of the work is the contribution of 41 866,76 Cuban pesos in a sugar harvest for the contribution of sugar production, final honey, urea honey, cane bagasse for animal food, ice and the electric power generation as a contribution to the national net. Finally, the general procedure used is shown to directives and workers of the sector for the implementation and generalization of the work and its necessary level of consciousness of the value and importance of those productions for the improvement of conditions and quality of life of the citizens of this municipality. For the evaluation of this work the technique of consent index is used among experts.

Municipal water pollution prevention program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-03-01

EPA believes that the most effective and equitable means of assuring viability of this infrastructure is through environmentally preferred pollution prevention approaches especially through application of Municipal Water Pollution Prevention (MWPP). These approaches may enhance worker safety, improve the usability of sludge, increase the ability for local community expansion, and reduce operation and compliance costs. State-based municipal pollution prevention programs focus attention on a series of actions to prevent pollution in advance rather than taking more expensive corrective actions. MWPP encourages resource conservation to reduce water and energy use, appropriate pricing, toxicity reductions at the source, BOD reductions, recycling, proper treatment of wastes, and beneficial uses of sludge

Economic city branding in China: the multi-level governance of municipal self-promotion in the greater pearl river Delta

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H. Lu (Haiyan); M. de Jong (Martin); Y. Chen (Yawei)

2017-01-01

textabstractIn the urban development policy in China, city brands play an important role in setting targets for Chinese cities. These economic city brands, however, are not produced in an institutional vacuum: they are embedded in the visions national, provincial and municipal governments have for

Financial compensation due to municipalities that host radioactive waste deposits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Renata A. da; Simoes, Francisco Fernando L.; Martins, Vivian B.

2013-01-01

This work aims to perform calculation about the financial compensation due to municipalities where there is viability for construction of radioactive waste deposits from low and medium activity. Were used like base structure de Resolution No. 96 of August, 10, 2010, entitled 'Model of Calculation For Financial Compensation to Municipalities' where are determinate those principal characteristics by the waste and deposits, such as the half-life, activity level, type of deposits (initial, intermediate or final), costs for construction and maintenance of deposits, demography, between others. The calculation was made according to the temporally or definitive storage for solids waste like personal protection equipment (gloves, shoes, masks, etc) resins and filters used in wastewater treatment, between others, from of nuclear and radioactivity facilities. There are presented some countries that do the compensation, financial or not, for some municipalities for the construction of waste deposits and in some cases, the way that occurred the negotiation between the stake holders, in other words, the local population and the companies. Also are presented others forms of financial compensation in Brazil in consequence of activities in large scale which result in potential risk for the surrounding population and for the environment, like compensation for oil and natural gas, hydropower plants and mining. Were used on methodology the inventory of waste presented on RMBN project (Repository of Waste of Low and Medium Activity) developed by the CDTN which present the implementation of a repository for final storage to radioactive waste. With this was possible to develop a case study with the creation of four scenarios. Values were found which initially range from R$2,6 thousand to R$79,8 thousand for month. Finally are analyzed the possible influences which that values may have on the municipality budget revenue and some divergent points about the resolution. (author)

Financial compensation due to municipalities that host radioactive waste deposits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Renata A. da; Simoes, Francisco Fernando L.; Martins, Vivian B., E-mail: renata.amaral@ufrj.br, E-mail: flamego@ien.gov.br, E-mail: vbmartins@gmail.com [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2013-07-01

This work aims to perform calculation about the financial compensation due to municipalities where there is viability for construction of radioactive waste deposits from low and medium activity. Were used like base structure de Resolution No. 96 of August, 10, 2010, entitled 'Model of Calculation For Financial Compensation to Municipalities' where are determinate those principal characteristics by the waste and deposits, such as the half-life, activity level, type of deposits (initial, intermediate or final), costs for construction and maintenance of deposits, demography, between others. The calculation was made according to the temporally or definitive storage for solids waste like personal protection equipment (gloves, shoes, masks, etc) resins and filters used in wastewater treatment, between others, from of nuclear and radioactivity facilities. There are presented some countries that do the compensation, financial or not, for some municipalities for the construction of waste deposits and in some cases, the way that occurred the negotiation between the stake holders, in other words, the local population and the companies. Also are presented others forms of financial compensation in Brazil in consequence of activities in large scale which result in potential risk for the surrounding population and for the environment, like compensation for oil and natural gas, hydropower plants and mining. Were used on methodology the inventory of waste presented on RMBN project (Repository of Waste of Low and Medium Activity) developed by the CDTN which present the implementation of a repository for final storage to radioactive waste. With this was possible to develop a case study with the creation of four scenarios. Values were found which initially range from R$2,6 thousand to R$79,8 thousand for month. Finally are analyzed the possible influences which that values may have on the municipality budget revenue and some divergent points about the resolution. (author)

Quality assessment of compost prepared with municipal solid waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jodar J. R.

2017-11-01

Full Text Available One way that helps maintain the sustainability of agro-ecosystems land is the application of compost from municipal solid waste as fertilizer, because it can recover the nutrients contained in them, minimizing the negative impact on the environment. Composting as a method for preparing organic fertilizers and amendments is economically and ecologically sound and may well represent an acceptable solution for disposing of municipal solid waste. In the present work, the quality of compost is studied made from municipal solid waste; the content of mineral nutrients: potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, manganese, cupper, iron, nickel, chromium and lead has been investigated. The objective was to evaluate the changes in mineral nutrient concentration during the composting process. The compost was prepared in a pilot-plant using the turning-pile system. Temperature was used as a monitoring parameter to follow the composting progress, which underwent the typical trend of municipal solid waste composting mixtures. The results showed a similar evolution on the content of mineral nutrients of the mixture of municipal solid waste. This evolution originated in a mature compost (end sample with an adequate content of mineral elements and physical-chemical characteristics for its use in agriculture. So, the use of compost of municipal solid waste represents an important tool for fertilization requirements for its use in agriculture.

Quality assessment of compost prepared with municipal solid waste

Science.gov (United States)

Jodar, J. R.; Ramos, N.; Carreira, J. A.; Pacheco, R.; Fernández-Hernández, A.

2017-11-01

One way that helps maintain the sustainability of agro-ecosystems land is the application of compost from municipal solid waste as fertilizer, because it can recover the nutrients contained in them, minimizing the negative impact on the environment. Composting as a method for preparing organic fertilizers and amendments is economically and ecologically sound and may well represent an acceptable solution for disposing of municipal solid waste. In the present work, the quality of compost is studied made from municipal solid waste; the content of mineral nutrients: potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, manganese, cupper, iron, nickel, chromium and lead has been investigated. The objective was to evaluate the changes in mineral nutrient concentration during the composting process. The compost was prepared in a pilot-plant using the turning-pile system. Temperature was used as a monitoring parameter to follow the composting progress, which underwent the typical trend of municipal solid waste composting mixtures. The results showed a similar evolution on the content of mineral nutrients of the mixture of municipal solid waste. This evolution originated in a mature compost (end sample) with an adequate content of mineral elements and physical-chemical characteristics for its use in agriculture. So, the use of compost of municipal solid waste represents an important tool for fertilization requirements for its use in agriculture.

Lessons Learned: Community Solar for Municipal Utilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2016-12-01

This report outlines the work that STAT has completed, discusses the range of approaches utilities are taking, and highlights several challenges municipal utilities face in deciding whether and how to pursue community solar. As this report shows, there is no 'silver bullet' in terms of municipal utility community solar design or implementation - programs vary significantly and are highly dependent on localized contexts.

The Potential Value of Evaluation as Budgeting Tool for South African Municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malefetsane A. Mofolo

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The paradox around performance in the South African municipalities is undoubtedly exposed by the released reports of the Auditor-General for 2012/13 and Statistics South Africa’s Non-Financial Census of Municipalities, 2013. On the analyses of these reports, it became clear that municipalities could achieve more if stringent measures could be put in place and implemented to ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively. To that effect, this article argues that monitoring and evaluation (M&E policy framework should be fully implemented in South African municipalities. This argument emanates from the fact that exorbitant amounts are incurred on fruitless and wasteful expenditure in municipalities. This article then presents a compelling case through which maximisation of expenditure prioritisation in municipalities is warranted. To investigate the concept of expenditure prioritisation, as a principle that municipalities should espouse, the study embarks on literature review as a method deemed suitable to explore the value of evaluation as budgeting tool for South African municipalities.  The findings to this investigation, recommended that on-going or process evaluation should be more useful to inform budget decision makers in the provincial and national governments about the required capacity interventions, which could assist to deal with financial weaknesses in municipalities.

Papel de los comites de participacion ciudadana en la gestion del gobierno municipal: Caso Municipio de Monterrey.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillen, A

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The fundamental basics of participating civic committees with regards to the governmental decision making at the municipality levels are described. An example and a practical case resulting from research on participation of these committees for the Monterrey municipality are provided. The role of these civic participating committees in good democratic functioning and correct achievement of the aims of the governmental plans for the enhancement and improvement of the sociopolitical, economical and environmental quality of citizen’s life are discussed.

Non linear relationship between change in awareness in municipal solid waste management and domestic wastewater management - A case of the Jodipan and Ksatrian village, Malang, East Java

Science.gov (United States)

Zakiyya, Nida Maisa; Sarli, Prasanti Widyasih; Soewondo, Prayatni

2017-11-01

In developing countries the awareness on the importance of sanitation facilities, whether it is for municipal solid waste or domestic wastewater treatment, is still very low. Jodipan and Ksatrian Village, in Malang, East Java, are two slum areas that have recently been improved visually by using simple colorful paints. The visual improvement was expected to increase the resident's awareness on the importance of keeping the area clean; adjacent to the project, a new municipal waste management system was also put in place, changing the president's behaviour towards municipal solid waste. This study focuses on the relationship between community awareness in municipal solid waste management and domestic wastewater management. The result is expected to be an input for the government to enhance wastewater infrastructure program and its sustainability, related to its awareness on municipal solid waste. A descriptive model through questionnaire to 48 households of Jodipan sub district in Kampung Warna-warni and 69 households of Ksatrian sub district in Kampung 3D by random sampling, with an error of 0.1, was used to conduct this research. A nonlinear relationship between the change in awareness in municipal solid waste management (MSW) and domestic wastewater management was observed, with only 0.1312 of determination coefficient. Weak Spearman correlation coefficient number was found, ranging from 0.284 to 0.39, indicating another parameter turned into a role on affecting the awareness of wastewater. Further study about another parameter (eg. social and economic parameter) intervension on sanitation awareness could be investigated.

Economic City Branding in China : the Multi-Level Governance of Municipal Self-Promotion in the Greater Pearl River Delta

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lu, H.; de Jong, W.M.; Chen, Y.

2017-01-01

In the urban development policy in China, city brands play an important role in setting targets for Chinese cities. These economic city brands, however, are not produced in an institutional vacuum: they are embedded in the visions national, provincial and municipal governments have for these cities,

Municipal resilience: A paradigm shift in emergency and continuity management.

Science.gov (United States)

Solecki, Greg; Luchia, Mike

More than a decade of emergency and continuity management vision was instrumental in providing the unprecedented level of response and recovery from the great flood of 2013. Earlier assessments, planning and validation promulgated development of corporate continuity, emergency and contingency plans along with tactical, strategic and recovery operations centres that all led to a reliable emergency management model that will continue to provide the backbone for municipal resilience.

Hepatitis A behaviour in Yaguajay Municipality.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Iluminada Hernández Pérez

2009-12-01

Full Text Available A retrospective-descriptive study was made to characterize the behavior of “Hepatitis A” in Yaguajay Municipality in the period between 2006 and 2007, in which were included all the patients that were notified by Declaration Card (EDO. For collecting data, EDO cards were analized; as well as the endemic accumulative and the annual chronological series. The prevalence of this disease was determined in health areas and small population, so as to establish a geographic stratification. The disease was characterized by social-demographic variables (sex, age, home and also the seasonally of Hepatitis A. As a result all the disease prognosis in both years were over the expectation and are regarded as “Normal”, this disease behavior was higher in Meneses and Mayajigua areas representing the majority of the community population The most affected ages were under 10, from 11 to 20 and from 21 to 29. Females and the urban area registered the highest amount of cases. The seasonally was different in both years. As a conclusion we can say that the Epidemic was characterized by a wide geographical distribution where Jarahueca and Perea were the most affected communities; causing injuries in male sex, affected ages were babies, teenagers and young adults, the seasonally behaved differently in both years.

CHP plant Legionowo Poland. Description of the electricity market in Poland/CHP-feasibility analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-04-01

In 1997, a new energy law was passed in Poland. An important element of the law is that local energy is made obligatory. The law describes obligatory tasks and procedures for the Polish municipalities related to planning and organisation of the energy sector. With the objective of supporting the Polish municipalities in their obligations according to the energy law, the project 'Energy Planning in Poland at Municipal Level - Support to Decision Makers' was launched. As part of the project, Municipal Guideline Reports have been elaborated for three model municipalities. These guidelines present the basis for energy supply plans in the three municipalities. For the city of Legionowo, the following was recommended: 1. The planning processes initiated during the project should be continued/followed up, 2. Master Plan for the district heating system should be prepared, 3. The possibilities of establishment of a major natural gas-fired CHP plant of the combined cycle type should be investigated. The present report describes the electricity market in Poland, the market in which a CHP plant in Legionowo will have to operate. Furthermore the report presents the results of the feasibility analysis carried out for a new CHP plant in Legionowo. (BA)

Local Environmental Action Plan in Republic of Macedonia. Executive summaries of municipalities of Centar, Zrnovci, Veles and Gevgelija

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-06-01

The report aims at assessing the progress in adopting comprehensive environmental protection strategies at the local level. The whole project was carried out by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in collaboration with the Ministry for Urban Planning, Construction and Environmental of Republic of Macedonia (MUPCE). The REC and MUPCE identified four different municipalities to develop different modules of LEAPs with using the same methodology approach, which can be used as a pilot projects for other, more than hundred municipalities in Macedonia. These municipalities are: 1) Centar - one of the seven municipalities in the city Skopje, which occupies central part of the capital of Macedonia, as a typical urban area; 2) Veles as a typical industrial area, situated in the central part of the Republic of Macedonia, and considered as the most polluted region in the country; 3) Zrnovci - situated in the eastern part of Macedonia, a typical agricultural area, mainly for rice production; 4) Gevgelija as a transboundary and transit area

Índice de informação contábil pública: um estudo nos municípios brasileiros = Public Accounting Information Index: a study in the brazilian municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabia Jaiany Viana de Souza

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de avaliar os índices de divulgação de informação contábil pública dos municípios brasileiros. A pesquisa pode ser classificada como qualitativa, descritiva e documental. Os resultados revelaram que São Paulo foi aquele com maior pontuação para o índice analisado, com 67,86% dos itens divulgados em seu sitio, seguido por Vitória (64,29%, Londrina e Porto Alegre com (60,71%, Rio de Janeiro (53,57%, Cuiabá e Curitiba com (50% das práticas observadas nos sítios. Além disso, identificou-se Belford Roxo como o município com o menor índice (7,14% de divulgação de informações contábeis, seguido por Juazeiro do Norte (10,71% e Boa Vista (14,30%. Conclui-se que os municípios não estão evidenciando em seus portais eletrônicos informações que permitam aos cidadãos conhecer a gestão financeira de seus municípios, uma vez que foi observada a existência de entes municipais que não divulgam nenhum dos demonstrativos contábeis exigidos pela legislação vigente e que não foi possível perceber nos sítios um estímulo a sociedade participar da gestão municipal.This research aimed at evaluating the levels of disclosure of public financial information from Brazilian municipalities. The methodology consisted qualitative, descriptive and documentary research. The sample selection technique was performed by convenience and corresponded to the 100 most populous municipalities in Brazil, because these municipalities concentrate the largest share of the population (approximately 45% of the total population. The results revealed that São Paulo was the one with the highest score for the analyzed index, with 67,86% of the items published in its site, followed by Victoria (64,29%, Londrina and Porto Alegre (60,71%, Rio de Janeiro (53,57%, Cuiabá and Curitiba (50% of the practices observed on their sites. In addition, it was identified Belford Roxo as the municipality with the lowest index (7,14% to

Modern technologies of processing municipal solid waste: investing in the future

Science.gov (United States)

Rumyantseva, A.; Berezyuk, M.; Savchenko, N.; Rumyantseva, E.

2017-06-01

The problem of effective municipal solid waste (MSW) management is known to all the municipal entities of the Russian Federation. The problem is multifaceted and complex. The article analyzes the dynamics of municipal solid waste formation and its utilization within the territory of the EU and Russia. The authors of the paper suggest a project of a plant for processing municipal solid waste into a combustible gas with the help of high temperature pyrolysis. The main indicators of economic efficiency are calculated.

Utilizing Municipal Trees: Ideas From Across the Country

Science.gov (United States)

Stephen M. Bratkovich

2001-01-01

To show how municipal tree removals can be utilized for traditional wood products, this publication highlights 16 successful projects from around the country. These case studies are organized by the different types of participants: State and regional partnerships, municipalities, tree service firms, entrepreneurs, and sawmills. Contact information is provided for each...

An Industrial Ecology Approach to Municipal Solid Waste ...

Science.gov (United States)

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste provides abundant opportunities for industrial ecology-based symbiotic use. Energy production, economics, and environmental aspects are analyzed for four alternatives based on different technologies: incineration with energy recovery, gasification, anaerobic digestion, and fermentation. In these cases electricity and ethanol are the products considered, but other products and attempts at symbiosis can be made. The four technologies are in various states of commercial development. To highlight their relative complexities some adjustable parameters which are important for the operability of each process are discussed. While these technologies need to be considered for specific locations and circumstances, generalized economic and environmental information suggests relative comparisons for newly conceptualized processes. The results of industrial ecology-based analysis suggest that anaerobic digestion may improve seven emission categories, while fermentation, gasification, and incineration successively improve fewer emissions. A conceptual level analysis indicates that gasification, anaerobic digestion, and fermentation alternatives lead to positive economic results. In each case the alternatives and their assumptions need further analysis for any particular community. Presents information useful for analyzing the sustainability of alternatives for the management of municipal solid waste.

Impact of the social agendas--Agenda 21 and Healthy Cities--upon Social Determinants of Health in Brazilian municipalities: measuring the effects of diffuse social policies through the dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals.

Science.gov (United States)

do Nascimento, Paulo Roberto; Westphal, Marcia Faria; Moreira, Rafael da Silveira; Baltar, Valéria Troncoso; Moysés, Simone Tetu; Zioni, Fabiola; Minowa, Evelin

2014-01-01

In order to improve the quality of life and health of the population in recent years there have been several local social agendas, like Agenda 21 and Healthy Cities. To identify how social agendas are impacting on the living conditions and health in municipalities of the five regions of Brazil. Through an ecological longitudinal study, the social agendas' effects on the Social Determinants of Health were measured in 105 municipalities, using indicators related to the eight dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Indicators were also calculated for other 175 non-exposed municipalities. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each group of municipalities at three different moments: in the year of the agenda implementation, then 3 and 6 years later. The models were adjusted by the method of GEE to assess the effects of the agendas, time and their interaction. Nonparametric analysis of variance was used for the ordinal data with repeated measures. Impacts of the agendas were detected for reduction of hunger and increase of universal access to education: 'percentage of children under one year with protein/caloric undernourishment' (interaction effect: p = 0.02) and 'Age-grade distortion in the 8th grade of fundamental education' (interaction effect: p < 0.001). The comparative discussion between model results and descriptive statistics recommends, at further research, extending the period of investigation, using compound indexes, improving the methodology for the apprehension of the impacts of the diffuse social policies for development, as well as using 'mixed methodologies', integrating quantitative and qualitative tools.

Impact of the Social Agendas - Agenda 21 and Healthy Cities - upon Social Determinants of Health in Brazilian municipalities: measuring the effects of diffuse social policies through the dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Roberto do Nascimento

2014-01-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: In order to improve the quality of life and health of the population in recent years there have been several local social agendas, like Agenda 21 and Healthy Cities. OBJECTIVES: To identify how social agendas are impacting on the living conditions and health in municipalities of the five regions of Brazil. METHODS: Through an ecological longitudinal study, the social agendas' effects on the Social Determinants of Health were measured in 105 municipalities, using indicators related to the eight dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs. Indicators were also calculated for other 175 non-exposed municipalities. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each group of municipalities at three different moments: in the year of the agenda implementation, then 3 and 6 years later. The models were adjusted by the method of GEE to assess the effects of the agendas, time and their interaction. Nonparametric analysis of variance was used for the ordinal data with repeated measures. RESULTS: Impacts of the agendas were detected for reduction of hunger and increase of universal access to education: 'percentage of children under one year with protein/caloric undernourishment' (interaction effect: p = 0.02 and 'Age-grade distortion in the 8th grade of fundamental education' (interaction effect: p < 0.001. CONCLUSION: The comparative discussion between model results and descriptive statistics recommends, at further research, extending the period of investigation, using compound indexes, improving the methodology for the apprehension of the impacts of the diffuse social policies for development, as well as using 'mixed methodologies', integrating quantitative and qualitative tools.

Description of Lutzomyia bianchigalatiae n. sp. A sand fly within the subgenus Pintomyia Costa Lima 1932 (Diptera; Psychodidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade Filho, J D; Aguiar, G M; Dias, E S; Falcão, A L

1999-01-01

A new sand fly species is described based on males collected in Bananal, municipality of Mariana and the female from Sabará city, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Taxonomic remarks, geographic distribution and the description of new species are presented. The name Lutzomyia (Pintomyia) bianchigalatiae is in honour of Dr Eunice Aparecida Bianchi Galati, friend and researcher at the Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo.

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 5. Thise, Skive Municipality; Lav- og mellem radioaktivt affald fra Risoe, Danmark. Omegnsstudier. Rapport nr. 5. Omraede Thise, Skive Kommune

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-07-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area Thise, in the Municipality of Skive, northern Jutland. (LN)

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Site studies. Report no. 2. Roedbyhavn, Lolland Municipality; Lav- og mellem radioaktivt affald fra Risoe, Danmark. Omegnsstudier. Rapport nr. 2. Omraede Roedbyhavn, Lolland Kommune

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Binderup, M.; Larsen, Tine; Schack Pedersen, S.A.

2012-07-01

The low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings, different types of material from the research periods and waste from hospitals and research institutes) have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. In 2011, the results of the first analyses of 20 potential areas for siting a waste disposal were published. Of these potential areas, 6 specific sites were selected for further detailed studies. The site studies include information about geology, land use, nature preservation, archaeology, drinking water supply etc. The 5 municipalities with the 6 selected sites have been visited to obtain as much information about local conditions as possible. The present report describes the results for the area at Roedbyhavn in the Municipality of Lolland, southern Denmark. (LN)

Municipal Household Solid Waste Compost: Effects on Carrot ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of municipal household solid waste compost on N, P and K uptake and yield of carrot (Daucus carrota), using a coastal savanna Haplic Acrisol. Bulked samples of fresh solid waste from 45 households within the Cape Coast Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana ...

The effects of Smoke Free Work Hours in Danish municipalities

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Tina Termansen

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Since 2011, 15 Danish municipalities have implemented smoke free work hours, meaning that an employee working for the municipality may not smoke in his or her work time (about 7,5 hours a day. This is a much stricter prevention method, than former strategies preventing smoking mostly at locations and not during working hours. Research concerning the effects of smoke free work hours is non-existing. We therefore wish to look into the specific outcomes of smoke free work hours related to smoking prevalence, sickness leave and work place culture through a semi-experimental study. As the decision to implement smoke free work hours is administrative and/or political, we will not be able to randomize the intervention. Instead, we use one or more Danish municipality who are planning to implement smoke free work hours as an intervention-group and similar municipalities as control group. Data will be collected both through questionnaires about employees smoking prevalence, sickness leave and work place community, and through register data about the citizens employed in the municipalities in question. This will primarily be data on socio-economic status and health. In this way we can compare the municipalities implementing smoke free work hours with each other and find similar control municipalities. We hope, that this study can contribute to understanding the specific outcomes of implementing smoke free work hours, focusing both on health outcomes and work place culture.

The municipality as a stakeholder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmqvist, Roland

2006-01-01

The author explains how local politicians look upon the dialogue regarding nuclear installations in their municipalities. As seen from the map of European reactors there is a lot of local districts affected by nuclear operations. What has a mayor from such a community to say about the shut-down phase of such operations and especially about the need for communication between stakeholders when closing and decommissioning a nuclear power reactor? To answer this question the author has structured his presentation into 4 parts as follows: 1. The European municipalities ? some characteristics; 2. The siting of NPPs (nuclear power plants) in Europe; 3. The shutdown, decommissioning and the dismantling phases; 4. Lessons learnt

Conflict or synergy? Understanding interaction between municipalities and village commons (regole in polycentric governance of mountain areas in the Veneto Region, Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Favero

2016-08-01

Full Text Available A particular challenge for mountainous areas in Italy is the definition of suitable governance models for local resources. Several solutions have been proposed over time, resulting in the co-existence of a number of decision-making centers. A crucial role is played by municipalities, but, in recent years, village commons – regola (singular / regole (plural in the local language – have been re-constituted as institutions with local power. In this dynamic context, little is known on how municipalities and regole interact. This paper aims at improving the understanding of local governance of mountain areas in the Veneto Region, from the viewpoint of municipalities, which represent the political, legal and administrative authority. The analysis is grounded in the polycentric governance literature, especially crucial in drawing attention to level and extent of cooperation, trustworthiness, mutual learning and effort for adaptation. Tensions, conflicts and conflict-resolution mechanisms were also assessed. We carried out a survey of 14 municipalities containing regole within their administrative jurisdictions. The results of our work provide evidence that this relationship is mostly a synergistic one. Municipalities showed adaptive capacity in mirroring values and views of the regole and proved willing to share responsibilities. Their decisions were formulated whilst taking into account the need for creating the appropriate linkages with local communities. Where conflicts or discontent have emerged, they have been mostly resolved, or considered as reflecting a need for greater coordination. This outcome can be looked upon as a local polycentric governance innovation that so far has only partially received policy support at the regional level. We conclude that municipalities will continue to play a central role in regulation of local-level socio-economic dynamics, remaining the institutional reference point for mountainous areas in the Veneto

Implicating municipalities in addressing household food insecurity in Canada: A pan-Canadian analysis of news print media coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Patricia A; Gaucher, Megan; Power, Elaine M; Little, Margaret H

2016-06-27

Household food insecurity (HFI) affects approximately 13% of Canadian households and is especially prevalent among low-income households. Actions to address HFI have been occurring primarily at the local level, despite calls for greater income supports from senior governments to reduce poverty. News media may be reinforcing this trend, by emphasizing food-based solutions to HFI and the municipal level as the site where action needs to take place. The objective of this study was to examine the level and framing of print news media coverage of HFI action in Canada. Using a quantitative newspaper content analysis approach, we analyzed 547 articles gathered from 2 national and 16 local/regional English-language newspapers published between January 2007 and December 2012. News coverage increased over time, and over half was produced from Ontario (33%) and British Columbia (22%) combined. Of the 374 articles that profiled a specific action, community gardens/urban agriculture was most commonly profiled (17%), followed by food banks/meal programs (13%); 70% of articles implicated governments to take action on HFI, and of these, 43% implicated municipal governments. Article tone was notably more negative when senior governments were profiled and more neutral and positive when municipal governments were profiled. News media reporting of this issue in Canada may be placing pressure on municipalities to engage in food-based actions to address HFI. A more systematic approach to HFI action in Canada will require more balanced media reporting that acknowledges the limitations of food-based solutions to the income-based problem of HFI.

Fiscal Instruments for the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW in the Mexican Municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Violeta Mendezcarlo Silva

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Waste generation (municipal waste in the cities is, as we all know, one of the main current environmental issues. Responsibility for this kind of pollution is not only the companies’ but also the homeowners’ and the general public’s, who must redirect their behavior towards a responsible consumption, not only regarding the choices of environmentally friendly products and services but should also strive to influence the reduction of environmental damage caused by the waste itself.  The goal of this research work is to make clear that the local government (in Mexico’s case, the municipalities has the unavoidable duty of raising awareness of this issue by using tools to encourage responsible waste management, such as fiscal instruments, which in addition results in the extra benefit of raising public funds to neutralize the problem. 

Tax effort and oil royalties in the Brazilian municipalities

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Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper estimates a stochastic production frontier, to investigate whether municipalities covered by oil royalties in the last decade have reduced their tax effort in Brazil. The issue is relevant to the prospect of a substantial increase in these revenues and the new rules for distribution of the funds, established by Law No. 12.734/2012. The inputs were provided by personnel and capital expenditures, whereas the product was defined as the municipal tax collection. With the purpose of overcoming the endogeneity problems due to reverse causality of output on inputs, we used the lagged independent variable as instruments in the inefficiency equation. The data set is composed of a panel of Brazilian municipalities from 2002 to 2011. The results indicate that oil revenues have a negative impact on the estimated efficiencies, signaling reduced fiscal effort by the benefiting municipalities.

Nutrition Standards for Food Service Guidelines for Foods Served or Sold in Municipal Government Buildings or Worksites, United States, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Onufrak, Stephen J; Zaganjor, Hatidza; Moore, Latetia V; Carlson, Susan; Kimmons, Joel; Galuska, Deborah

2016-12-22

The Institute of Medicine and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that government agencies use nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold and provided at their facilities. In this study, we examine written nutrition standards for foods sold or served in local government buildings or worksites among US municipalities. We used data from a 2014 national survey of 1,945 municipal governments serving populations of 1,000 or more to assess the presence of written nutrition standards, the food groups or nutrients addressed by standards, and the populations served by facilities where standards are applied. The prevalence of standards was estimated by municipality population size, rural-urban status, census region, poverty prevalence, education level, and racial/ethnic composition. Overall, 3.2% of US municipalities reported nutrition standards with greater prevalence observed among large municipalities (12.8% of municipalities with ≥50,000 people vs 2.2% of municipalities with <2,500 people, P < .001). Prevalence differed by region, and standards were most common in the West (6.6%) and least common in the Midwest (2.0%, P = .003).The most common nutrition topics addressed in standards were offering low-calorie beverages, fruits and vegetables, and free drinking water. Most standards applied to facilities serving government employees (67%) or the general public (66%), with fewer serving institutionalized populations (23%). Few municipal governments reported having written nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in their facilities in 2014. Implementing nutrition standards for foods sold or served by local governments is a strategy for increasing access to healthier foods and beverages among municipal employees and local residents.

Strengthening Performance Management System Implementation in South African Municipalities

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Malefetsane Mofolo

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Adoption of a performance management system in municipalities presented a serious challenge for its implementation. This scenario is implicitly manifesting itself in the reports of the Auditor-General on the financial statements and performance of municipalities, as well as in the state of local government in South Africa overview report (2009. These reports called for the conceptualisation of a model that to strengthen the implementation in municipalities of a performance management system that is efficient and effective. And most importantly, this model could be beneficial for growth, development and effective service delivery.

76 FR 53678 - Calleguas Municipal Water District Notice of Surrender of Exemption (Conduit)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-29

... Municipal Water District Notice of Surrender of Exemption (Conduit) Pursuant to section 4.95(a) of the Commission's regulations,\\1\\ Calleguas Municipal Water District filed with the Commission a petition to... Municipal Water District, 87 FERC ] 62,256 (1999). \\3\\ See filing of July 11, 2011 by Calleguas Municipal...

Combustion of municipal solid wastes with oil shale in a circulating fluidized bed. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-06-30

The problem addressed by our invention is that of municipal solid waste utilization. The dimensions of the problem can be visualized by the common comparison that the average individual in America creates in five years time an amount of solid waste equivalent in weight to the Statue of Liberty. The combustible portion of the more than 11 billion tons of solid waste (including municipal solid waste) produced in the United States each year, if converted into useful energy, could provide 32 quads per year of badly needed domestic energy, or more than one-third of our annual energy consumption. Conversion efficiency and many other factors make such a production level unrealistic, but it is clear that we are dealing with a very significant potential resource. This report describes research pertaining to the co-combustion of oil shale with solid municipal wastes in a circulating fluidized bed. The oil shale adds significant fuel content and also constituents that can possible produce a useful cementitious ash.

FOOD FROM FAMILY FARMS IN THE FEEDING OF MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS IN CAXAMBU, MINAS GERAIS, IN 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Maia Pereira

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The acquisition of food from family farms can provide an adequate and safe food to students, and respect the culture, traditions and promote social control, food security and sustainable development for the city of Caxambu, Minas Gerais. Was evaluated and monitored to the supply of agricultural products for the feeding of 2,054 students from public schools in Caxambu, Minas Gerais, for family farmers in the town of Caxambu, during the academic year 2010. We performed a descriptive analysis. Two farmers have provided chayote, cabbage, cassava, cabbage, ripe pumpkin, zucchini, parsley and lettuce twice a week, excellent visual quality and the amount provided for in cronogram. Cost of family farms was 6.92% less than the amount allocated to the municipality by FNDE / PNAE. It was found that the municipality is not serving Law No. 11,947, which has a minimum of 30% for the acquisition of genres from family farms. Although this program has been little explored in 2010, the administration's efforts, in partnership with EMATER were made to motivate the participation of more farmers, by the insertion of new food in school menus.

Evolution of municipal law in 2014-2016.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yury Blagov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available УДК 342The subject. This article is devoted the municipal reform 2014-2016. The reform of state are institutes of territorial organization, organizational principles, competency bases of local self-government.The purpose of this paper is to show that the municipal reform 2014-2016 is directed on limiting local self-government and the subordination of local self-government to state authorities of the subjects of Russia.Methodology. The author uses a dialectical method, a method of analysis and synthesis, a formal legal method, a comparative legal method.Results, scope. Urban districts with intracity and intercity division areas – two new municipalities have been legally introduced. In science municipal law formed two points of view on the admissibility and feasibility of separating the urban district in the inner city areas. According to the first point of view, the separation of large urban districts in the inner city areas is acceptable and appropriate. According to the second point of view, the separation of large urban districts in the inner city areas is unacceptable and inappropriate. The author adheres to the second point of view, since the introduction of a two-tier model of local government organization would violate the principle of unity of municipal economy, will lead to the rupture of a single urban space on the organizational and financial sustainability areas dependent city district, will lead to a sharp increase in the number of deputies and municipal employees, unnecessary increase financial expenses.Municipal and regulatory policy in the sphere of organizational principles of local self-government is aimed at the maximum limit of direct elections of the population of the local self-government, which leads to their further alienation from the local authorities (the direct election of saved only 11 urban districts (13 %, which are the administrative centers of the subject of the Russian Federation. In addition, the actual

Identification of influencing municipal characteristics regarding household waste generation and their forecasting ability in Biscay.

Science.gov (United States)

Oribe-Garcia, Iraia; Kamara-Esteban, Oihane; Martin, Cristina; Macarulla-Arenaza, Ana M; Alonso-Vicario, Ainhoa

2015-05-01

The planning of waste management strategies needs tools to support decisions at all stages of the process. Accurate quantification of the waste to be generated is essential for both the daily management (short-term) and proper design of facilities (long-term). Designing without rigorous knowledge may have serious economic and environmental consequences. The present works aims at identifying relevant socio-economic features of municipalities regarding Household Waste (HW) generation by means of factor models. Factor models face two main drawbacks, data collection and identifying relevant explanatory variables within a heterogeneous group. Grouping similar characteristics observations within a group may favour the deduction of more robust models. The methodology followed has been tested with Biscay Province because it stands out for having very different municipalities ranging from very rural to urban ones. Two main models are developed, one for the overall province and a second one after clustering the municipalities. The results prove that relating municipalities with specific characteristics, improves the results in a very heterogeneous situation. The methodology has identified urban morphology, tourism activity, level of education and economic situation as the most influencing characteristics in HW generation. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A Swiss paradox? Higher income inequality of municipalities is associated with lower mortality in Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Clough-Gorr, Kerri M; Egger, Matthias; Spoerri, Adrian

2015-08-01

It has long been surmised that income inequality within a society negatively affects public health. However, more recent studies suggest there is no association, especially when analyzing small areas. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of income inequality on mortality in Switzerland using the Gini index on municipality level. The study population included all individuals >30 years at the 2000 Swiss census (N = 4,689,545) living in 2,740 municipalities with 35.5 million person-years of follow-up and 456,211 deaths over follow-up. Cox proportional hazard regression models were adjusted for age, gender, marital status, nationality, urbanization, and language region. Results were reported as hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals. The mean Gini index across all municipalities was 0.377 (standard deviation 0.062, range 0.202-0.785). Larger cities, high-income municipalities and tourist areas had higher Gini indices. Higher income inequality was consistently associated with lower mortality risk, except for death from external causes. Adjusting for sex, marital status, nationality, urbanization and language region only slightly attenuated effects. In fully adjusted models, hazards of all-cause mortality by increasing Gini index quintile were HR = 0.99 (0.98-1.00), HR = 0.98 (0.97-0.99), HR = 0.95 (0.94-0.96), HR = 0.91 (0.90-0.92) compared to the lowest quintile. The relationship of income inequality with mortality in Switzerland is contradictory to what has been found in other developed high-income countries. Our results challenge current beliefs about the effect of income inequality on mortality on small area level. Further investigation is required to expose the underlying relationship between income inequality and population health.

Issues and dilemmas in preparation and implementation of the spatial plan of the municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maksin Marija

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Disadvantages of the Serbian planning system and dilemmas about the role of spatial planning in Serbia mainly is reflected at the local level of spatial planning. The focus of the spatial plan of the municipality from the strategic to regulatory role has been shifted by the changes of legal basis. In this paper the key issues and dilemmas in the practice of preparation and implementation of the spatial plan of the municipality in Serbia are pointed out. The review of the three key issues of importance for the direct implementation of planning solutions and concepts: identification of the construction zone, the establishment of rules for the protection, arrangement and construction of physical (natural, landscape and functional entities and settlements, and elaboration of arrangement scheme for the settlement are presented. It has still not made clear what the arrangement scheme for the settlement should represent, so that in practice there is wide variety of schemes, usually completely unenforceable. Good examples of arrangement schemes elaboration within spatial plan of the municipality have been presented and analyzed. Suggestions for improving the content of the strategic and regulatory elements of the spatial plan of the municipality, as well as recommendations to the basic content of the arrangement scheme for settlement as a part of this spatial plan are proposed.

ESCO in Danish municipalities: Basic, integrative or strategic approaches?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Hansen, Jesper Rohr; Balslev Nielsen, Susanne

2012-01-01

, energy savings, type of collaboration etc. Background: Since 2008, several Danish municipalities have started energy retrofitting of municipal buildings, based on contracts with Energy Service Companies. In spite of the strong growth of ESCOs, there is also widespread scepticism about ESCO, as many...

Automation in the Teaching of Descriptive Geometry and CAD. High-Level CAD Templates Using Script Languages

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, R.; Bazán, A. M.

2017-10-01

The main purpose of this work is to study improvements to the learning method of technical drawing and descriptive geometry through exercises with traditional techniques that are usually solved manually by applying automated processes assisted by high-level CAD templates (HLCts). Given that an exercise with traditional procedures can be solved, detailed step by step in technical drawing and descriptive geometry manuals, CAD applications allow us to do the same and generalize it later, incorporating references. Traditional teachings have become obsolete and current curricula have been relegated. However, they can be applied in certain automation processes. The use of geometric references (using variables in script languages) and their incorporation into HLCts allows the automation of drawing processes. Instead of repeatedly creating similar exercises or modifying data in the same exercises, users should be able to use HLCts to generate future modifications of these exercises. This paper introduces the automation process when generating exercises based on CAD script files, aided by parametric geometry calculation tools. The proposed method allows us to design new exercises without user intervention. The integration of CAD, mathematics, and descriptive geometry facilitates their joint learning. Automation in the generation of exercises not only saves time but also increases the quality of the statements and reduces the possibility of human error.

The relationship between job satisfaction and job loyalty among municipal sports officers

OpenAIRE

C. Mafini; J. Surujlal; M. Dhurup

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and job loyalty among municipal sports officers in South Africa. With the rise in the popularity of sport in South Africa, municipalities throughout the country face the challenge of providing improved sports services. To meet this challenge, municipalities employ a variety of sports professionals, among whom are municipal sport officers. In order for them to function effectively, it is necessary for municipali...

Assessment the Relationship Between Parents' Literacy Level with Children Growth in Mashhad: An Analytic Descriptive Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masumeh Saeidi

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Present children are the investments of community in the future. Preparing children health which leads to the stability of community health, provided to accurate implementation of educational and health programs in the community and especially in mothers. So it is necessary to determine the relationship between parents' literacy  with growth rate in children. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 300 mothers referring to 10 selected Mashhad health-care centers for monitoring their 6-24-month year old infants. They completed questionnaire. Participants were selected by cluster and simple random sampling. Data were analyzed by descriptive- analytic statistics and using SPSS 16. Results: Presentfindings showed a significant relationship between literacy  level of parents with child growth status, breast feeding rate, junk food consumption, referring to health care center for growth monitoring, the age of initiating supplementary nutrition, the use of oil and butter in baby food and rate of attending in educational classes. So that higher literacy  level of parents was associated with using more formula, less junk food, oil and butter in baby's food and more referring times to health care center for monitoring child growth, desirable growth, and  also initiating supplementary food more at the assigned time (p

Assessment the Relationship between Parents' Literacy Level with Children Growth in Mashhad: An Analytic Descriptive Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bibi Leila Hoseini

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Present children are the investments of community in the future. Preparing children health which leads to the stability of community health, provided to accurate implementation of educational and health programs in the community and especially in mothers. So it is necessary to determine the relationship between parents' literacy with growth rate in children.   Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 300 mothers referring to 10 selected Mashhad health-care centers for monitoring their 6-24-month year old infants. They completed questionnaire. Participants were selected by cluster and simple random sampling. Data were analyzed by descriptive- analytic statistics and using SPSS 16.   Results: Presentfindings showed a significant relationship between literacy  level of parents with child growth status, breast feeding rate, junk food consumption, referring to health care center for growth monitoring, the age of initiating supplementary nutrition, the use of oil and butter in baby food and rate of attending in educational classes. So that higher literacy  level of parents was associated with using more formula, less junk food, oil and butter in baby's food and more referring times to health care center for monitoring child growth, desirable growth, and  also initiating supplementary food more at the assigned time (P

Measurements for municipalities 2007

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Kuhry; J.J.J. Jonker; with participation of M. Ras

2007-01-01

Original title: Maten voor gemeenten 2007. Measurements for municipalities 2007 presents a national picture of the performance delivered by local authorities and the costs of doing so. The analyses relate to the period 2000-2005. This is the fifth time this quantitative and integrated picture

Measurements for municipalities 2006

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Kuhry; J.J.J. Jonker; with cooperation of Bureau Zenc

2006-01-01

Original title: Maten voor gemeenten 2006. Measurements for municipalities 2006 (Maten voor gemeenten 2006) presents a national picture of the performance delivered by local authorities and the costs of doing so. The analyses relate to the period 1999-2004. This is the fourth time

Improving the description of collective effects within the combinatorial model of nuclear level densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilaire, S.; Girod, M.; Goriely, S.

2011-01-01

The combinatorial model of nuclear level densities has now reached a level of accuracy comparable to that of the best global analytical expressions without suffering from the limits imposed by the statistical hypothesis on which the latter expressions rely. In particular, it provides naturally, non Gaussian spin distribution as well as non equipartition of parities which are known to have a significant impact on cross section predictions at low energies. Our first global model developed in Ref. 1 suffered from deficiencies, in particular in the way the collective effects - both vibrational and rotational - were treated. We have recently improved this treatment using simultaneously the single particle levels and collective properties predicted by a newly derived Gogny interaction, therefore enabling a microscopic description of energy-dependent shell, pairing and deformation effects. In addition, for deformed nuclei, the transition to sphericity is coherently taken into account on the basis of a temperature-dependent Hartree-Fock calculation which provides at each temperature the structure properties needed to build the level densities. This new method is described and shown to give promising preliminary results with respect to available experimental data. (authors)

Cultivation of Nannochloropsis sp. in brackish groundwater supplemented with municipal wastewater as a nutrient source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise Lins de Sousa

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work was to study growth potential of the green microalgae Nannochloropsis sp. using brackish groundwater from a well in the semi-arid northeast region of Brazil as culture medium. The medium was supplemented with (% 19.4, 22.0, 44.0 and 50.0% of municipal wastewater after UASB treatment as a low-cost nutrient source. The results showed that the culture tested was capable of growing in the brackish groundwater even at salinity levels as low as 2 ppt. Furthermore it was shown that municipal wastewater could be used as a sole nutrient source for Nannochloropsis sp.

Influence of municipal policy and individual characteristics on the use of informal and formal domestic help in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Marangos, Anna Maria; Waverijn, Geeke; de Klerk, Mirjam; Iedema, Jurjen; Groenewegen, Peter P

2018-05-24

The responsibility for care and social support in the Netherlands has been decentralized to the municipalities, on the assumption that they are able to organise care and social support more effectively and efficiently. Municipalities are responsible for offering citizens the social support they need. They have policy discretion to decide how and to what extent they encourage and support the use of informal help. This article explored whether the local policy focus on informal or formal help influences the actual take-up of domestic help. Data on 567 physically disabled people who use informal or formal help in the household were linked to local policy data in 167 municipalities. We performed multilevel multinomial regression analyses. Since we expected that local policy will have more influence on people with slight or moderate disabilities, cohabitees and people aged under 75, cross-level interaction terms were included between characteristics of local policy and of individuals. The findings reveal differences between municipalities in their policy on support and differences in the use of formal or informal support between municipalities. We found no relationship between local emphasis on informal help and the use of informal help. Possible explanations: some people have a small social network, people using informal help did not apply for municipality support or even do not know the possibility exists. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Descriptions of health states associated with increasing severity and frequency of hypoglycemia: a patient-level perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harris SB

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Stewart B Harris,1 Kamlesh Khunti,2 Mona Landin-Olsson,3 Claus B Galbo-Jørgensen,4 Mette Bøgelund,4 Barrie Chubb,5 Jens Gundgaard,6 Marc Evans71Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada; 2Diabetes Research Unit, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK; 3Department of Medicine, Helsingborg Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; 4Incentive, Holte Stationsvej, Holte, Denmark; 5EU Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Novo Nordisk Ltd, Crawley, UK; 6Health Economics and HTA, Novo Nordisk A/S, Søborg, Denmark; 7Department of Diabetes, University Hospital Llandough, Cardiff, UKAims: We sought to develop descriptions of health states associated with daytime and nocturnal hypoglycemia in a structured fashion from the patient's perspective under different combinations of severity and frequency of hypoglycemic events.Methods: An expert meeting followed by two patient focus groups was used to develop comprehensive descriptions of acute consequences of severe and non-severe, daytime and nocturnal hypoglycemia. Patients with diabetes (type 1 = 85, type 2 = 162 from a survey panel then validated these descriptions and assessed how often they worried and took different actions to prevent hypoglycemia. Severity and frequency of hypoglycemia were compared with respect to how often people worried and took actions to prevent an event. The effect of hypoglycemia on 35 different life activities was quantitatively compared for patients who had and had not experienced a severe hypoglycemic event.Results: At least 95% of respondents agreed that the detailed patient-level descriptions of health states accurately reflected their experience of severe and non-severe, daytime and nocturnal hypoglycemia, thereby validating these descriptions. Respondents who had experienced a severe hypoglycemic event were generally more adversely affected in their worries and actions and life events than those who experienced only non

Analyzing Local Government Financial Performance: Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities 2005-2008

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Ricardo Corrêa Gomes

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Municipality size has become an issue since the New Public Management doctrine of disaggregating structures into manageable units. In some countries, this doctrine led to the creation of small-scale agencies relying heavily upon transfers from upper-level governments. This paper aims to contribute to performance management literature by providing empirical evidence about some determinant factors that are likely to endow local governments with superior financial performance. Data came from a sample of Brazilian municipalities and refers to the period 2005-2008. The main conclusion of this investigation is that larger cities are more likely to manage revenue and expenditure better than are smaller cities, which aligns with the discussion of amalgamation versus fragmentation. This conclusion stems from the findings that in small municipalities mayors have fewer conditions to improve financial performance due to the difficulty of raising and collecting taxes and of reducing expenditures, which makes their administrations far more dependent upon external sources of money. Therefore, this dependent relationship can be seen as the cause of poor financial performance to the extent that it lowers mayoral discretion when making decisions. Another contribution this paper proposes to theory and practice relates to the fact that in the strong-mayor form of local government, mayoral qualification is likely to have little effect upon performance.

Compaction and packaging of dry active municipal wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Zongming; Xi Xinmin

1994-01-01

The authors present the feature of a compaction system for active municipal wastes and the radiological monitoring results of workplace and environment. A variety of dry active municipal wastes could be compacted by this system. Volume reduction factor attained to 5 to 7 for soft wastes and 8 to 13 for hard wastes. No evident radiological impact was found on workplace and environment

Municipalities and opening up of energy markets; Les municipalites et l'ouverture des marches energetiques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

The opening of energy markets in Europe is modifying deeply the general framework of economic activity, modes of organisation and ways of thinking. The energy future in Europe is being determined under the influence of Community directives relating to electricity and to gas. It is also being moulded by national legislation, which is being progressively put into place in different countries of the European Union and in other European countries such as those of central Europe. These will affect the conditions under which policies for energy efficiency, for the development of renewable energy and for combating climate change are to be implemented. The liberalization of energy markets is a new and highly significant element in the European energy scene and municipalities are making a constructive contribution to this process. About 160 representatives of municipalities from 19 different European countries met at the Energie-Cites Seminar in Barcelona in order to become better informed, to exchange opinions and to debate the consequences at their level of the opening of energy markets. As a consequence they have asked themselves questions and exchanged ideas in relation with their respective situations regarding energy planning, production, distribution, and the role of population motivative. The seminar is organized around one round table about the threats and the opportunities of the opening up of energy markets, and three sessions about: what is going to change for the municipality as energy consumer, what is going to change for the municipality as energy producer, distributor and regulator-developer, and what is going to change for the municipality as motivative. (J.S.)

Research paper 2000-B-8: the implementation of the municipal waste incineration directives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lulofs, K. [Twente Univ., Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy, Enschede (Netherlands)

2000-07-01

End-of-pipe options are needed whenever recycling and source reduction can not cope with waste streams at acceptable costs. One of the disposal options is waste incineration. The incineration of waste was considered 'clean' for a long time. In the 1970's and 1980's it proved that the incineration of municipal waste was a significant source of air pollution. Notorious pollutants were hydrogen chloride, hydrogen florid, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, fine particulate matter, 'heavy metals' and dioxines and furans. Most notorious and issue of public anxiety in some countries were emissions of dioxines and that might cause cancer and birth defects. Municipal waste is domestic waste from households and comparable waste from markets and companies. Consent is present that in the long history of waste incinerators, incineration in plants started in Europe around 1900, important steps to secure health and the environment have been taken and will be taken in the future. Debates are still going on the level of emissions that is negligible and acceptable. Also in the European arena waste management is about knowledge, perceptions, uncertainties and negotiations. Arguments are on the right level of ambition and the right level of fine-tuning where precautionary measures are discussed. The European Union decided to issue two European Directives on the atmospheric emissions from municipal waste incineration in 1989. This chapter focuses on the implementation and effects of the 1989 Directives. In section 2 of this chapter we summarize the bargaining on the 1989 European Directives. Section 2 indicates that characteristics of municipal waste incineration and the level of pre-existing national regulation sectors in individual member states played decisive roles. When the 1989 Directives came into force, the requirements had to be integrated in the national legislation in European Member States. In section 3 Germany and the Netherlands will prove

An analysis of systemic thinking in decision-making processes in the municipalities within the province of KwaZulu-Natal

OpenAIRE

Mbuyiseni Goodlife Ntuli; Lawrence Mpela Lekhanya

2015-01-01

This paper advocates the adoption of systemic thinking in decision-making processes in municipalities. Most importantly, in this epoch of managing in complex and thought-provoking business environment, decision making is one of the most important skills required by any manager to remain effective. The success of a municipality or any business hinges on how well decisions are taken and implemented. In this paper, I intend to scrutinize decision making processes at strategic management levels i...

Municipal Treated Wastewater Irrigation: Microbiological Risk Evaluation

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Antonio Lonigro

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Municipal wastewater for irrigation, though treated, can contain substances and pathogens toxic for humans and animals. Pathogens, although not harmful from an agronomical aspect, undoubtedly represent a major concern with regards to sanitary and hygienic profile. In fact, vegetable crops irrigated with treated wastewater exalt the risk of infection since these products can also be eaten raw, as well as transformed or cooked. Practically, the evaluation of the microbiological risk is important to verify if the microbial limits imposed by law for treated municipal wastewater for irrigation, are valid, thus justifying the treatments costs, or if they are too low and, therefore, they don’ t justify them. Different probabilistic models have been studied to assess the microbiological risk; among these, the Beta-Poisson model resulted the most reliable. Thus, the Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Vegetali of the University of Bari, which has been carrying out researches on irrigation with municipal filtered wastewater for several years, considered interesting to verify if the microbial limits imposed by the italian law n.185/03 are too severe, estimating the biological risk by the probabilistic Beta-Poisson model. Results of field trials on vegetable crops irrigated by municipal filtered wastewater, processed by the Beta-Poisson model, show that the probability to get infection and/or illness is extremely low, and that the actual italian microbial limits are excessively restrictive.

Measurements for municipalities 2012

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evert Pommer; Ingrid Ooms; Ab van der Torre; Saskia Jansen

2012-01-01

Original title: Maten voor gemeenten 2012 Local authorities in the Netherlands are playing an ever more important role in the delivery of services to citizens, as more and more tasks are transferred from central to local government. Dutch municipalities spent a combined total of 56 billion

Sekhukhune District Municipality workshop proceedings: Wastewater treatment: Towards improved water quality to promote social and economic development

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ntombela, C

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the workshop was to reinforce, at the strategic decision-making level within the municipality, the significance of properly managed wastewater treatment facilities towards improved water quality....

An Analysis of health conditions in municipalities of Paraná

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Ovídio Cesar Barbosa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of the study is to analyze the health conditions in the municipal districts checking which of them best optimize the available resources, consequently offering more and better services to the population. In this approach, first was characterized the public health in Brazil, in the state of Paraná and in its municipalities. We build a Performance Indicator for each county in the state (PI and used variables representing mortality and longevity - infant mortality, mortality up to five years, life expectancy and probability of achieving 60 years. Regarding variables, those relating to health spending, the analysis period was from 2007 to 2010, the population information refer to the 2010 Census and the related infrastructure and health of the population, were collected at the DATASUS. The work includes all municipalities in the state of Paraná. By analyzing the results it was found that there are municipalities that can equate better their inputs and thus provide better service to its population, consequently your ID is better. Another aspect to consider is that the municipalities considered Big City are less dependent on current transfers both the state and the Union, which also have better PI. The city of Colombo was the one with the best performance indicator, while the municipalities of Cruzmaltina and Cantagalo have the worst state ID.

Municipal development indexes and petroleum royalties: a multivariable comparison approach of profiles among municipalities that receive or do not receive royalties for the petroleum they produce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danilo Alessandro Lüdke Pereira

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The Brazilian oil industry has achieved high growth rates and in 2006, the country’s self-sufficiency in oil was announced. From 1991 to 2011, Petrobras’ reserves grew by 164%. In the same period, Brazil passed the oil law (Law No. 9478, establishing new criteria for the transfer of oil royalties to Brazilian municipalities. Thus, this study aims to determine whether royalty payments to municipalities have improved their social indicators in perceptible ways. Therefore, a comparison between municipalities of similar population size that receive royalties and municipalities that do not receive them, was carried out. For the comparison, certain variables were used such as: IDHM, IFDM, IDEB and the incidence of poverty. We have used the techniques of Profile Analysis, Cluster Analysis and Factor Analysis in order to verify the difference between the matrices of data, both in the municipalities cities that receive royalties and in the ones that do not receive them.

Strengths and weaknesses in the supply of school food resulting from the procurement of family farm produce in a municipality in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Panmela; Martinelli, Suellen Secchi; Melgarejo, Leonardo; Davó-Blanes, Mari Carmen; Cavalli, Suzi Barletto

2015-06-01

The objective of this study was to assess compliance with school food programme recommendations for the procurement of family farm produce. This study consists of an exploratory descriptive study utilising a qualitative approach based on semistructured interviews with key informants in a municipality in the State of Santa Catarina in Brazil. Study participants were managers and staff of the school food programme and department of agriculture, and representatives of a farmers' organisation. The produce delivery and demand fulfilment stages of the procurement process were carried out in accordance with the recommendations. However, nonconformities occurred in the elaboration of the public call for proposals, elaboration of the sales proposal, and fulfilment of produce quality standards. It was observed that having a diverse range of suppliers and the exchange of produce by the cooperative with neighbouring municipalities helped to maintain a regular supply of produce. The elaboration of menus contributed to planning agricultural production. However, agricultural production was not mapped before elaborating the menus in this case study and an agricultural reform settlement was left out of the programme. A number of weaknesses in the programme were identified which need to be overcome in order to promote local family farming and improve the quality of school food in the municipality.

Using life cycle assessment for municipal solid waste management in Tehran Municipality Region 20

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Salar Omid

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Due to the lack of a proper waste management system, Tehran Municipality Region 20 is facing economic and environmental problems such as the high costs of a disposal system and source pollution. Life cycle assessment (LCA is a method for collecting and evaluating the inputs, outputs, and potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. The current study purposed to provide a stable and optimized system of solid waste management in Tehran Municipality Region 20. Methods: The LCA method was used to evaluate various scenarios and compare the effects on environmental aspects of management systems. Four scenarios were defined based on existing and possible future waste management systems for this region. These scenarios were considered with different percentages for source separation, composting, recycling, and energy recovery. Results: Based on the results of this study, Scenario 4 (source separation [14%] + composting [30%] + municipal recycling facility [MRF] [20%] + energy recovery [10%] + landfilling [26%] was found to be the option with the minimum environmental impact. In the absence of government support and sufficient funds for establishing energy recovery facilities, the third scenario (source separation [14%] + composting [30%] +MRF [20%] + landfilling [36%] is recommended. Conclusion: The results acquired from this investigation will confirm the belief that LCA as an environmental device may be successfully used in an integrated solid waste management system (ISWMS as a support tool for decision-making.

A Business Case Method for IT Investments in Danish Municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Persson, John Stouby; Nielsen, Peter Axel

2012-01-01

Effective management of information technology (IT) investments is increasingly important for Danish municipalities. This is why they along with other both public and private sector organizations increasingly are using IT business cases. The business case is a document specifying the main rationale...... behind the expected value and cost of an IT investment for the adopting organization. However, experiences from Danish municipalities reveal difficulties in developing effective IT business cases for purposes beyond simple cost savings. Based on collaborative action research with Danish municipalities...

77 FR 65875 - Adequacy of Arizona Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Permit Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-31

... Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Permit Program AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice... modification to Arizona's municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) permit program to allow the State to issue... amending the municipal solid waste landfill criteria at 40 CFR 258.4 to allow for Research, Development...

Exploring Challenges of Municipal Service Delivery in South Africa (1994 - 2013

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Modimowabarwa Kanyane

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article aims to explore municipal service delivery challenges in South Africa between 1994 and 2013 in order to stimulate debate in addressing problems and challenges confronting municipalities. A fundamental question to be asked stems from the challenges of municipal service delivery. Why, in spite of the existence of regulatory and institutional frameworks, are municipalities still struggling to satisfy basic community needs such as water and electricity amongst others? All of government’s official documents and contemporary literature reviewed, including the summative record of historical facts and narrative data, are evidence of the qualitative research design employed in this study. It is clearly articulated in this article that the existence of a local municipality with poor service delivery is, amongst others, a direct consequence or manifestation of municipal capacity constraints, financial viability problems, service delivery protests, convoluted political process, corruption and poor planning as well as monitoring and evaluation challenges. In the main, the article accounts for why service delivery has failed to meet the expectations of the communities and thereby provide some possible propositions for consideration to attempt to bring a resolve to critical issues raised.

Treatment of Municipal and Industrial Waste by Radiation Processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdelaziz, M.E.

1999-01-01

In recent years the effort in science and technology is shifting from conventional technologies preventing the pollution of air, water and soil, towards processing by gamma or by electron beam (EB) irradiation in order to prevent pollution, rather than curing the problems caused by production processes, which are not optimized with regard to pollution control. Radiation processing may help to improve the environmental situation in two aspects : It provides alternatives to conventional technologies for the cleaning of air, flue gases and water,...etc, and it also helps to realize clean processes for preventing pollution in the first place. This paper will outline the basic principles of radiation processing for waste streams of environmental relevance, will summarize the state-of -the-art in environmental applications of radiation processing to show both the advantages and the limitations of the radiation processing of waste streams, and to highlight the environmental and economic benefits of clean processes made possible by radiation processing applied to municipal and industrial waste. Reference is made to gamma and EB radiation sources, and description of new technologies is presented

Factors affecting the job satisfaction of municipal sport officers ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

To prevent the voluntary turnover of their employees, municipalities have the obligation to ensure that the needs and expectations of these employees are satisfied. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing the job satisfaction of municipal sport officers. Using a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was ...

Canadian municipal carbon trading primer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seskus, A.

2002-01-01

The trading of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is being suggested as an effective economic way to meet Canada's Kyoto target. Emissions trading is a market-based instrument that can help achieve environmental improvements while using the market to absorb the economical and effective measures to achieve emissions reductions. Placing a value on emissions means that in order to minimize costs, companies will be motivated to apply the lowest-cost emission reductions possible for regulatory approval. The two main types of emissions trading that exist in Canada are the trading of emissions that lead to the formation of smog or acid rain, and the trading of greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change. Since carbon dioxide is the most prevalent GHG, making up approximately 75 per cent of Canadian GHG emissions, the trading of units of GHGs is often referred to as carbon trading. The impact that emissions trading will have on municipal operations was the focus of this primer. The trading of GHG involves buying and selling of allowances of GHGs between contracting parties, usually between one party that is short of GHG credits and another that has excess credits. The 3 common approaches to emissions trading include allowance trading (cap and trade), credit trading (baseline and credit), and a hybrid system which combines both credit and allowance trading systems. The issues that impact municipalities include the debate regarding who owns the credits from landfills, particularly if power is generated using landfill gas and the power is sold as green power. Other viable questions were also addressed, including who can claim emission reduction credits if a city implements energy efficiency projects, or fuel substitution programs. Also, will municipalities be allowed to trade internationally, for example, with municipalities in the United States, and how should they spend their money earned from selling credits. This report also presents highlights from 3 emissions

SK policies the view of nuclear municipalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'abadal, M.V.

2002-01-01

The nuclear policies of the most important countries in Western Europe, already influenced by the evolution of the public opinion, have experimented strong changes together with political evolution. The future of NNP in some important countries is doubtful, as for the case of Sweden, Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, The large democratic discussions that affect permanently our society, as well as the new society of information that is being implanted, have turned the decision making processes into what is referred to as public participation and transparency, especially when these affect the environment or the immediate future of the citizens. The installation policies of nuclear plants are very similar in all the countries. Most of them are located in low density population areas, with low activity rate, high rate of elder people. These territories have many water resources, low communication infrastructure level, etc. So the typographic aspects of the European municipalities are alike (in eastern countries as well). Nuclear energy whose existence is sometimes called in question by press media, citizens and inhabitants, needs full agreement within the territory in order to work at its best. Moreover, the territory on which the plant is installed must have the necessary means of infrastructure ( development from a social and economic point of view) as well as the dues for its future and for a new positive reality as far as the citizens are concerned in order to face the corresponding challenges. Having got to this point, a territorial debate should be focused on the balance between the state's general interest and the local one as normalised operation of nuclear facilities is and will be possible only in a context of mutual respect. The new European political map and the last governmental decisions in energetic strategies grant more value to the opinion of the local authorities on the territories affected by these facilities. So, in order to express their opinion

Municipal waste management and groundwater contamination processes in Córdoba Province, Argentina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Emilio Martínez

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In Coronel Moldes, Argentina, waste management practices consist in municipal waste being tipped directly onto an area of sand dunes at the municipal waste disposal site (MWDS. Moreover, untreated liquid waste from septic tanks and latrines from urban areas are discharged in the same place. This co-disposal waste management is very common in many regions of Argentina and its impact on the groundwater of Coronel Moldes has not been evaluated. The study area is located in the vicinity of a MWDS in a flatlands environment that is typical of Argentina. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts on groundwater quality of current waste management practices in order to consider the requirement for new guidelines for sustainable groundwater management. Three groundwater monitoring wells were installed up-, across- and down-gradient of the MWDS. The principal aquifer is formed by sandy silt sediments (loess. Groundwater levels in the area of the MWDS are between 5.6 m and 7.8 m. The Vulnerability index indicates that groundwater in this area has a high vulnerability. Groundwater in the vicinity of the MWDS shows elevated electrical conductivity, high concentrations of Cl-, Na+, and HCO3- ions, COD, BOD5 and aerobic bacteria and less dissolved oxygen than the background values indicating the presence of organic matter. Municipal waste management represents a significant omission in current groundwater protection policy at Coronel Moldes. Strict supervision of solid and liquid municipal waste disposal needs to be instigated in order to ensure that the groundwater remains free of contamination and to allow a sustainable environmental management.

Institutional Factors in the Evaluation by the Entrepreneur of Municipality Investment Climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandr Yuryevich Kokovikhin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of the survey assessing the satisfaction level of small and medium businesses of the Sverdlovsk region with the factors of the institutional environment created in the area. Modern economics identifies four economic benefits of entrepreneurship development: job generation; productivity growth; innovation and economic growth. Governments, however, can exert either a positive or a negative influence on the extent to which in practice these benefits materialize. The positive result of Government policy is the investment appeal of the territory. We suppose, that the investment appeal of the territory depends on the correlation of the indicator of satisfaction and objective parameters of the institutional environment. Data for the subjective view was the survey of the satisfaction level of small and medium businesses of the Sverdlovsk region with the factors of the institutional environment at the year 2015 (more than 1000 respondents in 72 territories. Data for the objective view was Reports of the Heads of Sverdlovsk region municipalities about the efficiency in the municipal management, made public in 2015. The results of the research allow to develop a series of recommendations to improve the institutional environment for small and medium businesses. The basis for the selection of priority measures to improve the satisfaction of entrepreneurs is the correlation of the indicator of satisfaction and objective parameters of the institutional environment. The recommendations of the paper can be used by State and Municipal Governments in the policy of the increase of territory investment appeal. The scientific results of the research can become the base for further investigations of the correlation between subjective and objective factors of territorial development.

Approach to local autonomy in the German and British systems of municipal financing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Javier Durán García

2017-09-01

Full Text Available At the European level the recognition of local self-government is a peaceful matter after being approved in the European Charter of Local Autonomy. However, the scope of this local financial autonomy varies according to the model of public finances that each country adopts. In this article we analyze the German and British models of local finance, two opposite examples in the way of organizing their treasure that directly affect the scope of the local autonomy of their municipalities. After a first part where the legal basis of the local autonomy is analyzed, the main sources of municipal financing are studied in each model, and it concludes with an assessment of the financial autonomy of the local entities within the Spanish system in comparison with the exposed models.

Climate Ambassador Programmes in Municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard; Pedersen, Stine Rahbek

2016-01-01

Some Danish municipalities have developed ambassador programmes which generate environmental and climate change mitigation efforts in local public administrations and institutions. This chapter analyses the characteristics and experiences of four ambassador programmes now operating...

Factors Associated with the Competencies of Public Health Workers in Township Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Chongqing Municipality, China.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Zhifei; Cheng, Zhaohui; Fu, Hang; Tang, Shangfeng; Fu, Qian; Fang, Haiqing; Xian, Yue; Ming, Hui; Feng, Zhanchun

2015-11-09

This study aimed to explore the competencies of public health workers (PHWs) of township hospitals in Chongqing Municipality (China), and determine the related impact factors of the competencies of PHWs; A cross-sectional research was conducted on 314 PHWs from 27 township hospitals in three districts in Chongqing Municipality (China), from June to August 2014. A self-assessment questionnaire was established on the basis of literature reviews and a competency dictionary. The differences in competencies among the three districts were determined by adopting the chi-square test, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) method, and the impact factors of the competencies of PHWs were determined by adopting stepwise regression analysis. (1) RESULTS of the demographic characteristics of PHWs in three sample districts of Chongqing Municipality showed that a significant difference in age of PHWs (p = 0.021 competency results of PHWs in township hospitals, seven among the 11 aspects were found to have significant differences in the three districts by the ANOVA test; (3) By adopting the t-test and ANOVA method, results of the relationship between the characteristics of PHWs and their competency scores showed that significant differences were found in the economic level (p = 0.000 competencies of PHWs in township hospitals, including the economic level (p = 0.000 competencies of the township hospital staff in Chongqing Municipality (China), are generally insufficient, therefore, regulating the medical education and training skills of PHWs is crucial to improve the competencies of PHWs in the township hospitals of Chongqing Municipality. The results of this study can be mirrored in other areas of China.

Care coordination in primary health care: an evaluative study in a municipality in the Northeast of Brazil.

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Aleluia, Italo Ricardo Santos; Medina, Maria Guadalupe; Almeida, Patty Fidelis de; Vilasbôas, Ana Luiza Queiroz

2017-06-01

International and Brazilian studies have highlighted the importance of the coordination of care for the organization of local health systems. This study aimed to analyze the coordination of care by Primary Health Care (PHC) in a municipal health system in the State of Bahia. This study was conducted in the lead municipality of the macro-region and involved two levels of analysis: PHC team and municipal management. Outlining conditions for the study were defined (hypertension and diabetes mellitus) and an objective image corresponding to the coordination of care was developed based on current national and international literature review. Semi-structured interviews with professionals, managers of PHC services were conducted and current documentary sources were also used. It was demonstrated that the coordination of care has not been met by municipal systems, where only 14 of the 22 proposed criteria have been met. The main difficulties and reasons were: a lack of health care protocols and the non-implementation of computer systems and telecommunication technologies. The results and the conceptual framework to assess the coordination of care are relevant contributions to this study, which can be applied to other contexts with similar characteristics.

Integrated Strategies for the Control of Leishmaniasis in the Municipality of Teodoro Sampaio, SP, from a Geographical Perspective, Supported by Geoprocessing

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