Vitalizing effects of being outdoors and in nature

Five studies utilizing survey, experimental, and diary methods assessed the effects of being outdoors on subjective vitality. In Study 1, we used a vignette method to examine whether being outdoors was associated with vitality, above and beyond the influences of physical activity and social interactions. Study 2 explored the effects of being outdoors on vitality through an experimental design contrasting indoor and outdoor walks. In Study 3, participants were exposed to photographic scenes of either nature or buildings. Results showed that only the nature scenes enhanced subjective vitality. Studies 4 and 5 used a diary methodology to examine within-person variations in subjective energy as a function of being outdoors, again controlling for physical and social activity. Being outdoors was associated with greater vitality, a relation that was mediated by the presence of natural elements. Limitations of these studies are discussed, as well as their implications for research on energy and vitalization.     

Assessing water use and quality through youth participatory research in a rural Andean watershed

Water availability, use and quality in a rural watershed of the Colombian Andes were investigated through participatory research involving local youth. Research included the quantification of disaggregated water use at the household level; comparison of water use with availability; monitoring water quality of streams, community water intakes and household faucets; and the determination of land use – water quality interactions. Youth were involved in all aspects of the research from design to implementation, dissemination of results and remediation options. Quantification of domestic and on-farm water use, and water availability indicated that water availability was sufficient during the study period, but that only an 8% decrease in dry season supply would result in shortages. Elevated conductivity levels in the headwaters were related to “natural” bank erosion, while downstream high conductivity and coliform levels were associated with discharges from livestock stalls and poorly maintained septic tanks in the stream buffer zone. Through the involvement of youth as co-investigators, the knowledge generated by the research was appropriated at the local level. Community workshops led by local youth promoted water conservation and water quality protection practices based on research, and resulted in broader community participation in water management. The approach involving youth in research stimulated improved management of both land and water resources, and could be applied in small rural watersheds in developed or developing countries.     

DYNAMICS OF SIMULATED EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION OVER DRYLAND FARMING IN SASKATCHEWAN1

ABSTRACT: Irrigation development in Saskatchewan was initiated as an instrument to bring forth regional stability through drought proofing and diversification in the agricultural sector. This development has been surrounded by controversies. Particularly, some critics questioning its economic value to the farmer. In this study, irrigation on a farm is compared as a growth alternative to the expansion of dryland farming. Under relatively conservative machine replacement policies, modest family withdrawals, government subsidized irrigation loans, and relatively favorable gross operating margins, irrigation can be a profitable undertaking in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.     

The use of Landsat multispectral scanner data for the analysis and management of flooding on the river Severn,England

Remote sensing has emerged as one of the major techniques for the analysis and delineation of large floods. This analysis can provide data invaluable for the hydrological management of large river systems. A need for information on the extent of floodplain inundation for the lower reaches of the largest river in the UK was met by a search through Landsat images of floods and the analysis of the best example recorded. Automated classification of the Landsat imagery of this flood on the river Severn in 1977 was used to provide estimates of the extent and spatial distribution of inundation. Flood images were generated using the Plessey IDP 3000 image processor, and the maps derived accorded well with aerial photography and qualitative flood information. Three distinct floodplain environments were delineated and flood images produced by different spectral bands compared. Specific questions prompted by flood hazard management and concerning the processes and extent of flooding were answered by the Landsat data analysis. Management of the flood risk of large rivers is expensive and remote sensing data is a relatively cheap and effective way of monitoring control works and providing data for the prediction of the effects of future hydrological works. Remote sensing is a practical way in which spatial information concerning the behavior of large dynamic systems can be obtained both quickly and relatively cheaply.     

UK interpretation and implementation of the EEC Shellfish directive

The EEC Shellfish Directive is a policy designed to protect and, where necessary, improve the quality of designated shellfish waters. Its implementation within the UK, however, has had no effect upon water quality for two reasons. First, the policy has important defects, having ambiguities concerning public health provisions and lacking designation criteria. Second, UK government has sought to achieve formal compliance, while at the same time ensuring that its full financial impact on public expenditure has been contained. Consequently, only those fisheries which already comply with water quality standards have been designated. Within Wales, one fishery has been designated, while other, commercially more important, but grossly contaminated shellfisheries have not.     

ASSESSING THE THREAT TO LIFE FROM DAM FAILURE1

ABSTRACT: To facilitate decisions regarding the need for modification of potentially unsafe dams, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation developed procedures for assessing the threat to human lives posed by the failure of individual dams. The procedures provide a conceptual model of the variables influencing the loss of life from dam failure and a method for predicting loss of life based on the size of the population at risk from failure and the amount of warning time available for that population. The prediction equations are based on an analysis of 24 dam failures and major flash floods occurring since 1950. Adjustments to the predictions to reflect special local conditions are also discussed.     

Treatment of Perchlorate‐Contaminated Groundwater Using Highly Selective,Regenerable Ion‐Exchange Technology: A Pilot‐Scale Demonstration

Treatment of perchlorate‐contaminated groundwater using highly selective, regenerable ion‐exchange technology has been recently demonstrated at Edwards Air Force Base, California. At an influent concentration of about 450 μg/l ClO₄^?, the bifunctional anion‐exchange resin bed treated approximately 40,000 empty bed volumes of groundwater before a significant breakthrough of ClO₄^? occurred. The presence of relatively high concentrations of chloride and sulfate in site groundwater did not appear to affect the ability of the bifunctional resin to remove ClO₄^?. The spent resin bed was successfully regenerated using the FeCl₃^?HCl regeneration technique recently developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and nearly 100 percent of sorbed ClO₄^? was displaced or recovered after elution with as little as about two bed volumes of the regenerant solution. In addition, a new methodology was developed to completely destroy ClO₄^? in the FeCl₃^?HCl solution so that the disposal of perchlorate‐containing hazardous wastes could be eliminated. It is therefore anticipated that these treatment and regeneration technologies may offer an efficient and cost‐effective means to remove ClO₄^? from contaminated groundwater with significantly reduced generation of waste requiring disposal. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

STREAM RESTORATION IN THE VICINITY OF BRIDGES1

ABSTRACT: The number of stream restoration and enhancement projects being implemented is rapidly increasing. At road crossings, a transition must be created from the restored channel through the bridge or culvert opening. Given conflicting design objectives for a naturalized channel and a bridge opening, guidance is needed in the design of the transition. In this paper we describe the use of vanes, cross vanes, and w‐weirs, commonly used in stream restoration and enhancement projects, that may provide an adequate transition at bridges. Laboratory experiments were conducted on vanes and cross vanes to provide a transition for single span bridge abutments and on w‐weirs to provide a transition for double span bridges which have a pier in mid‐channel. The results of the experiments provided design criteria for transitions using each of the three structures. Prior field experience provided guidance on appropriate applications in terms of the stream and bridge characteristics.     

Modeling the relationships between land use and land cover on private lands in the Upper Midwest, USA

This paper presents an approach to modeling land-cover change as a function of land-use change. We argue that, in order to model the link between socio-economic change and changes in forest cover in a region that is experiencing residential and recreational development and agricultural abandonment, land-use and land-cover change need to be represented as separate processes. Forest-cover change is represented here using two transition probabilities that were calculated from Landsat imagery and that, taken together, describe a Markov transition matrix between forest and non-forest over a 10-year period. Using a three-date land-use data set, compiled and interpreted from digitized parcel boundaries, and scanned aerial photography for 136 sites (c. 2500 ha) sampled from the Upper Midwest, USA, we test functional relationships between forest-cover transition probabilities, standardized to represent changes over a decade, and land-use conditions and changes within sample sites. Regression models indicated that about 60% of the variation in the average forest-cover transition probabilities (i.e. from forest to non-forest and vice versa) can be predicted using three variables: amount of agricultural land use in a site; amount of developed land use; and the amount of area increasing in development. In further analysis, time lags were evaluated, showing that agricultural abandonment had a relatively strong time-lag effect but development did not. We demonstrate an approach to using forest-cover transition probabilities to develop spatially-constrained simulations of forest-cover change. Because the simulations are based on transition probabilities that are indexed to a particular time and place, the simulations are improved over previous applications of Markov transition models. This modeling approach can be used to predict forest-cover changes as a result of socio-economic change, by linking to models that predict land-use change on the basis of exogenous human-induced drivers.