From the LCA of food products to the environmental assessment of protected crops districts: a case-study in the south of Italy

In the present study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the energy consumption and environmental burdens associated with the production of protected crops in an agricultural district in the Mediterranean region. In this study, LCA was used as a 'support tool', to address local policies for sustainable production and consumption patterns, and to create a 'knowledge base' for environmental assessment of an extended agricultural production area. The proposed approach combines organisation-specific tools, such as Environmental Management Systems and Environmental Product Declarations, with the environmental management of the district. Questionnaires were distributed to producers to determine the life cycle of different protected crops (tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, melons and zucchinis), and obtain information on greenhouse usage (e.g. tunnel vs. pavilion). Ecoprofiles of products in the district were also estimated, to identify supply chain elements with the highest impact in terms of global energy requirements, greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication, water consumption and waste production. These results of this study enable selection of the 'best practices' and ecodesign solutions, to reduce the environmental impact of these products. Finally, sensitivity analysis of key LCA issues was performed, to assess the variability associated with different parameters: vegetable production; water usage; fertiliser and pesticide usage; shared greenhouse use; substitution of plastics coverings; and waste recycling.     

Using qualitative scenarios to understand regional environmental change in the Canadian North

This paper discusses the application of qualitative scenarios to understand community vulnerability and adaptation responses, based on a case study in the Slave River Delta region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Three qualitative, graphic scenarios of possible alternative futures were developed, focusing on two main drivers: climate change and resource development. These were used as a focal point for discussions with a cross-section of residents from the community during focus groups, interviews and a community workshop. Significant overlap among the areas of perceived vulnerability is evident among scenarios, particularly in relation to traditional land use. However, each scenario also offers insights about specific challenges facing community members. Climate change was perceived to engender mostly negative livelihood impacts, whereas resource development was expected to trigger a mix of positive and negative impacts, both of which may be more dramatic than in the “climate change only” scenario. The scenarios were also used to identify adaptation options specific to individual drivers of change, as well as more universally applicable options. Identified adaptation options were generally aligned with five sectors—environment and natural resources, economy, community management and development, infrastructure and services, and information and training—which effectively offer a first step towards prioritization of “no regrets” measures. From an empirical perspective, while the scenarios highlighted the need for bottom-up measures, they also elucidated discussion about local agency in adaptation and enabled the examination of multi-dimensional impacts on different community sub-groups. An incongruity emerged between the suite of technically oriented adaptation options and more socially and behaviourally oriented barriers to implementation. Methodologically, the qualitative scenarios were flexible, socially inclusive and consistent with the Indigenous worldview; allowed the incorporation of different knowledge systems; addressed future community vulnerability and adaptation; and led to the identification of socially feasible and bottom-up adaptation outcomes. Despite some caveats regarding resource requirements for participatory scenario development, qualitative scenarios offer a versatile tool to address a range of vulnerability and adaptation issues in the context of other Indigenous communities.     

A cost-precision model for marine environmental monitoring,based on time-integrated averages

Ongoing marine monitoring programs are seldom designed to detect changes in the environment between different years, mainly due to the high number of samples required for a sufficient statistical precision. We here show that pooling over time (time integration) of seasonal measurements provides an efficient method of reducing variability, thereby improving the precision and power in detecting inter-annual differences. Such data from weekly environmental sensor profiles at 21 stations in the northern Bothnian Sea was used in a cost-precision spatio-temporal allocation model. Time-integrated averages for six different variables over 6 months from a rather heterogeneous area showed low variability between stations (coefficient of variation, CV, range of 0.6–12.4%) compared to variability between stations in a single day (CV range 2.4–88.6%), or variability over time for a single station (CV range 0.4–110.7%). Reduced sampling frequency from weekly to approximately monthly sampling did not change the results markedly, whereas lower frequency differed more from results with weekly sampling. With monthly sampling, high precision and power of estimates could therefore be achieved with a low number of stations. With input of cost factors like ship time, labor, and analyses, the model can predict the cost for a given required precision in the time-integrated average of each variable by optimizing sampling allocation. A following power analysis can provide information on minimum sample size to detect differences between years with a required power. Alternatively, the model can predict the precision of annual means for the included variables when the program has a pre-defined budget. Use of time-integrated results from sampling stations with different areal coverage and environmental heterogeneity can thus be an efficient strategy to detect environmental differences between single years, as well as a long-term temporal trend. Use of the presented allocation model will then help to minimize the cost and effort of a monitoring program.     

Applying models of employee identity management across cultures: Christianity in the USA and South Korea

Identity management refers to the decisions individuals make about how they present their social identities to others. We examined cross‐cultural differences in distancing and affirming identity management strategies of Christian‐identified employees utilizing samples from the USA and South Korea. Religious centrality, risks of disclosure, pressure to assimilate to organizational norms, and nation were key antecedents of chosen identity management strategies. Risks of disclosure and pressure to assimilate related to more distancing and less affirming strategies when religious centrality was low, but nation served as a boundary condition for the moderating effects of religious centrality. Distancing strategies related to negative outcomes regardless of religious centrality, but affirming strategies only related to positive outcomes when religious centrality was low. We discuss how this work contributes to theoretical and practical understanding of identity management in the workplace and across cultures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of dye auxiliaries on chemical oxygen demand and colour competitive removal from textile effluents using Posidonia oceanica

The use of an abundant and widely distributed seagrass species, Posidonia oceanica, as a biosorbent for the direct dye Yellow 44 was successfully shown. The studies were performed on the single dyestuff dissolved in water and in a dyebath containing agents commonly used in the textile industry, i.e. a surfactant (Lavotan TBU), a sequestring agent (Meropan DPE), a softening agent (Eurosoft CI10) and a salt (NaCl). The colour reduction results showed that P. oceanica was found to be more efficient for removal of Yellow 44 from an aqueous solution (162 mg g^?1) than from a dyebath solution (135 mg g^?1), according to the Langmuir isotherm model. For the single dyestuff sorption, Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies highlighted chemical sorption between the dye alcohol function and the sorbent acid function. The chemical oxygen demand removal percentages were found to be 54.9 and 76.6% for Yellow 44 dissolved in aqueous solution and in dyebath solution, respectively. This confirmed the both sorption of the chemical auxiliaries and the dye on P. oceanica.     

Recording the occurrence of trophic level changes in the lagoon of Venice over the '90s

Four areas of the Venice lagoon, placed near the Malamocco mouth (Alberoni, st. A), in the Lido watershed (Sacca Sessola, st. B) and near the mainland under the influence of freshwater and urban (San Giuliano, st. C) or industrial (Fusina, st. D) effluents were monitored in two periods: 1989-92 and 1998-99 in order to quantify some environmental changes (macroalgal and phytoplankton biomass, nutrient concentrations, physico-chemical variables) occurred in both the water column and the surface sediment over the '90s. Stations B and C, two areas particularly affected by macroalgae exhibited a biomass of ca. 20 and 8 kg WW m(-2), respectively, during 1989-90. In 1998-99 maximum densities decreased to ca. 0.3 and 0.01 kg WW m(-2). During that period, phytoplankton also decreased significantly both in peaks (Chl a: from 58-86 to 4.0-3.5 microg dm(-3)) and mean values (Chl a: from 9.1-10.3 to 1.3-1.4 microg dm(-3)), especially at sts. C and D. As far as nutrient concentrations are concerned, a different trend was observed in the water column and in the surface sediment, mainly because of the reduction of the primary producers and the disappearance of anoxic crises. In 1998-99 reactive phosphorus (RP) in the water column was up to ca. 3 times as high as in 1989-92. Conversely, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was not significantly changed. In 1998-99 the 5 cm sediment top layer at sts. B, C, displayed a significant total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) decrease (TN annual mean: from 1.29 and 2.79 mg DW g(-1) to 0.69 and 1.47 mg DW g(-1), respectively; TP: from 401 and 626 microg DW g(-1) to 360 and 455 microg DW g(-1)). A different result was found at st. A which in 1998-99 was colonised by the seagrass Zostera marina L. That station showed a TN sediment increase from 0.25 to 0.67 mg DW g(-1) and a TP decrease from 455 to 350 microg DW g(-1). Station D, which did not show any macrophyte biomass coverage either in 1992-93 or in 1998-99, exhibited negligible differences. Besides the monitoring of biomasses and nutrients, significant changes related to oxygen concentration, water transparency, pH and E(h) and sediment rates were also recorded.     

Psychosocial risks in small enterprises: the mediating role of perceived working conditions in the relationship between enterprise size and workers’ anxious or depressive episodes

Purpose. The relationship between enterprise size and psychosocial working conditions has received little attention so far but some findings suggest that conditions are more favorable in small enterprises. This could have a positive impact on workers’ mental health. The objective of this study was to test the mediating effect of perceived working conditions in the relationship between enterprise size and anxious or depressive episodes. Methods. Data from the 2010 SUMER – Surveillance Médicale des Expositions aux Risques professionnels (French periodical cross-sectional survey) were analyzed; N?=?31,420 for the present study. Anxious or depressive episodes were measured with the hospital anxiety and depression scale and the perceived working conditions were psychological demand, decision latitude and social support as assessed with Karasek's job content questionnaire. The indirect effect was tested according to the method proposed by Preacher and Hayes. Results. In a multivariate logistic regression, the risk of anxious or depressive episodes was found to be lower in micro enterprises (2–9 employees). Formal tests pointed to a significant indirect effect of enterprise size on mental health through perceived working conditions, with a larger effect for psychological demand. Conclusion. This study highlights perceived working conditions as an explanation of the effects of enterprise size.     

Impacts of renewable energy on output elasticities and implications for factor shares in European countries: fresh evidence from panel threshold models

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The objective of this paper is to examine, for a panel of seven countries from the European Union, spanning the period 1986–2015, whether the...     

Long-term variability of metals from fungicides applied in amended young vineyard fields of La Rioja (Spain)

The long-term variability of total Cu content from fungicides applied in a certified wine region of Spain (La Rioja) and of other metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn) was evaluated in three young vineyard soils and subsoils unamended and amended with spent mushroom substrates (SMS) over a 3-year period (2006–2008). SMS is a promising agricultural residue as an amendment to increase the soil organic matter content but may modify the behaviour of metals from pesticide utilisation in vineyards. Fresh and composted SMS was applied each year at a rate of 25 t ha⁻¹ (dry-weight). Copper concentrations in the three unamended soils were 21.2–88.5, 25.5–77.1, and 29.4–78.4 mg kg⁻¹. They exceeded natural Cu concentrations of the region and reference sub-lethal hazardous concentration for soil organism. The concentrations of Cd, Ni, Pb, and Zn were largely below the sub-lethal limits. Thus, although Cu levels were lower than those of established vineyards, vine performance, and productivity might be affected. The variation in behaviour between different amendments for each soil was high, so a generic conclusion could not be drawn. The amendment practice seemed to have caused temporarily Cu mobilization respect to untreated soils. Total zinc concentrations fall within the range of the natural soil of La Rioja and were significantly affected (p < 0.05) especially by fresh state SMS addition, with increasing up to 75% respect to untreated specimen. The results indicated a build-up of fresh sites for metal retention at both surface and subsurface level, although no accumulation of metals was observed in the short-term period. However, the benefit for soils and the negative effects need to be monitored in the long run.     

Specificity of metal tolerance and use of excluder metallophytes for the phytostabilization of metal polluted soils: the case of Silene paradoxa L.

This work was planned for providing useful information about the use of excluder metallophytes for phytostabilization of soils contaminated also with elements scarcely represented in the metalliferous environment of origin. To this aim, we investigated tolerance and accumulation of several different elements in a metallicolous and a nonmetallicolous population of Silene paradoxa through a hydroponic experiment. S. paradoxa metallicolous population showed increased tolerance not only to all the metals highly represented in the environment of origin but also to some of those scarcely present. Therefore, our results deposed in favor of the occurrence of the co-tolerance phenomenon in S. paradoxa for some elements. Metal accumulation was higher in the roots than in the shoots and lower in the metallicolous population than in the nonmetallicolous one, thus showing tolerance mechanisms to be based largely on metal exclusion. Anyway, the relative contribution of avoidance and of internal tolerance to metal tolerance was shown to be element-dependent. Present data revealed that metallicolous plants can effectively posses metal co-tolerances, which deserve to be investigated; as such, plants can actually represent a precious and exploitable tool also for the phytostabilization of soils contaminated with elements underrepresented in the environment of their origin.