A social appraisal of beverage containers recycling : A UK perspective

A social appraisal of the beverage container involves assessment of external costs. Analysis of available data shows that the returnable generates less external costs than the non-returnable, though refinement of the UK situation requires more detailed data. The ranking depends on the returnable's trippage rate, but it seems the returnable can achieve the trippage needed to make it socially preferable.     

The behavioral component in the meaning of places

How do people think about the physical setting in the world around them? Part of the answer to this question may be in terms of the behaviors that occur there. To explore people's knowledge of behavior—place associations, twenty places (shown via color photographs) were assessed in five ways: (a) ratings of the place's suitability for each of eleven behaviors, (b) ratings of the expected frequency of occurrence of the eleven behaviors, (c) free listings of reasons for going to each place, (d) free listings of activities-while-there and (e) free listings of activities associated with the place. Results showed that people can distinguish places on the basis of behaviors, that the behavioral component of place meaning is composed of distinct aspects, and that knowledge of behavior is related to a global, overall representation of a place.     

Supply responses in tropical forestry: A Malaysian case study

The rapid exhaustion of Malaysia's commercial primaeval forest base has raised questions regarding the management and economic responses in the sector. The article assesses the institutional and management structure of Malaysian forestry which, together with the social and political barriers at work, prevent an orderly programme of harvesting and reforestation. The supply is then set out in terms of an econometric model, formulated both in static and dynamic terms to measure, among other things, the responses of output to price changes. The model, which is the first of its kind to be tested for the Malaysian forestry sector, is applied on three wood-based commodities — sawlogs, sawnwood and plywood. To learn of possible regional variations, the model is also applied to data of the country's three principal components — Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. The results indicate that short-run price elasticities of supply are low, and in some cases, even contrary to expectations based on economic theory. Allowing for data inconsistencies, the slow responses of output to changes in price may be attributed to the method of wood disposal, its timing as well as the social and political barriers to entry at work in the sector.     

Dynamic routing with ant system and memory-based decision-making process

Environment Systems and Decisions - Dynamic routing is an essential tool for today’s cities. Dynamic routing problems can be solved by modelling them as dynamic optimization problems (DOPs)....     

USA tackles critical materials

The USA is heavily dependent on foreign sources for supplies of key materials essential to the nation's defence and to the operation of its vital industries. For example, it depends on foreign sources for 22 of the 27 metals considered vital to the country's economy. A public workshop on Conservation and Substitution Technology for Critical Materials was held from 15–17 June 1981 at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennesse, to examine national policies towards resolving the supply problems associated with chromium, cobalt, tantalum and titanium.     

Entropy maximizing evolutionary design optimization of water distribution networks under multiple operating conditions

Environment Systems and Decisions - The informational entropy model for flow networks was formulated over 30 years ago by Tanyimboh and Templeman (University of Liverpool, UK) for a single...     

Australia's uranium

Australia's uranium comprises about 18% of the Western World's reasonably assured reserves. Mining, milling and export have been proceeding since the federal government's decision in August 1977. The timetable for development of several other projects involves matters such as environmental issues, approval by the aboriginal people and mining practice policies. The author discusses the background to present uranium mining in Australia and examines the industry's likely international significance.     

The ‘new’ economics of iron and steel

The author commences his analysis of the iron and steel industry by examining the historical background of the industry, and discusses its importance for the world economy. He examines the implications for the world industry of the successful development of the steel industry in Japan, and traces the evolution of a commodity cartel in the iron ore market, analysing the price levels of the commodity in the ‘free’ and ‘controlled’ markets. Following a discussion of the role of energy and coking coal supplies in the industry, the author examines the evolution of this industry in the less developed countries, with particular reference to the role of technology in the industry's development. He concludes that there have been important structural changes in the world industry, embraced by the concept of ‘partial demise’.     

The role of the Australian minerals industry in world mineral supplies

Australia is one of the world's main producers and exporters of both fuel and non-fuel minerals. Among the main commodities produced for export are bauxite/alumina, iron ore, and nickel—Australia is also an increasingly important source of supply of black coal, especially for Japan, and is a significant producer and exporter of a number of base metals. Resources are adequate to support a substantial expansion of both non-oil fuels and other minerals. The potential for growth, both in terms of specific commodities and in the overall role of Australia in the world mineral industry, will depend to a very large extent on the cost competitiveness of Australian mining and on continuing inflow of capital.     

Seating position and impression formation in an office setting

The relationships between seating position (professor and student sitting across a desk or at a small conference table) and the professor's sex on subjects' impressions of the professor in a feedback situation were evaluated. Using a 2 × 2 design, 188 student subjects rated a hypothetical professor located in one of two seating positions depicted on a simple line drawing in terms of a number of interpersonal attributes. Significant differences were found for seating position, but effects were not found for either sex of professor or the sex of professor by seating position interaction.     

Global competition for strategic mineral supplies

The USA's dependence on imported sources of strategic minerals has grown substantially since the second world war, while its ability to protect the sealanes critical to foreign supplies has deteriorated. Domestic production has been severely hampered by a lack of access to mining on public lands, and by excessive environmental regulations. No major purchases have been made for the strategic stockpile in 20 years. Concern has been growing in Western Europe and in Japan about secure supplies of strategic minerals. Being even more dependent on foreign sources of supply than the USA, some of these countries have recently initiated their own strategic stockpilling programmes. The USSR, long an important exporter of metals, appears to have changed its mineral trade policy, and has sharply reduced exports while entering the market as an importer of a number of key metals. These developments foreshadow growing competition for world supplies of strategic minerals.     

China's offshore petroleum frontiers: Confrontation? Conflict? Cooperation?

Asia's offshore, from North Korea to Indonesia, is becoming an increasingly important petroleum frontier, one disputed by various littoral states. The People's Republic of China (PRC) intends to become a major petroleum producer, with the offshore playing a major role. The paper examines: (1) important jurisdictional disputes; (2) accommodations between disputants; and (3) third-party involvements, such as the USA. Recent progress towards dispute solution has occurred - establishment of a Japan-Korea Joint Development Zone and a PRC overture towards Japan for settlement of suzerainty in the Senkakus. PRC and Vietnamese disagreements seem less tractable. New US policies towards the two Chinas, along with the USSR's support for Vietnam, further complicate the region's offshore disputes.     

Thermal radiation in oxy-fuel flames

This work investigates thermal radiation in oxy-fuel flames, based on experiments and modelling. Experiments were conducted in a 100 kW test facility in air and oxy-fuel combustion atmospheres, using two different types of fuels, lignite and propane. In-flame measurements of gas composition, temperature and total radiation intensity, were performed and used as input to radiation modelling to examine the influence of oxy-fuel conditions on gas and particle radiation characteristics. In the modelling, the spectral properties of CO₂ and H₂O are treated by means of a statistical narrow band model and particle radiation is modelled for both scattering and non-scattering particles.Experiments on the propane flame show that the flame radiation conditions are drastically influenced by the recycling conditions. With OF 27 conditions (27% oxygen in the feed gas) and dry recycling, the temperature is slightly lower compared to air-fired conditions, but the emitted intensity is significantly increased. Modelling shows that this is mainly caused by a significantly increased soot radiation. Propane flame images show that the presence of soot in oxy-fuel conditions varies strongly with recycling conditions. The contribution due to an increased emission by CO₂ is of minor importance. In the lignite experiments similar flame temperatures were kept during air and oxy-fuel combustion (OF 25 conditions with dry recycling). The measurements show that the intensity levels in both flames are similar which is due to a strong particle radiation in both environments. The modelling reveals that the dominance by particle radiation contra gas radiation is closely related to whether the particles are scattering or non-scattering.     

Household participation in waste recycling: Some national survey evidence from Scotland

Increasing levels of household waste have raced up national, regional and municipal environmental policy agendas around the world, especially as heavy reliance on landfill and incineration is becoming prohibitively expensive and also a high profile source of local voter dissent or vociferous NIMBY behaviour. In an attempt to reduce reliance on these options, UK local authorities have increasingly been forced to turn to recycling. This paper reports on a broad empirical study of household recycling, utilizing national survey-based evidence (drawn from over 31 000 interviews in Scotland). Hitherto, very few published empirical studies have addressed the household recycling decision using national survey data to furnish baseline evidence. For this purpose logit analysis is undertaken, using data extracted from the Scottish Household Surveys of 2000 and 2001. This work also serves as the basis for further detailed modelling of a selection of illustrative household types. After consideration of particular waste streams and the availability of different recycling schemes, the effects on the probability of recycling participation of age, income level, household composition, car ownership and local authority were analysed. While there are clear income effects, the picture regarding the impact of household composition and some other factors is more complex.     

Resources policies in Australia

Developments in Australia's resource industries in recent years have raised policy issues not previously encountered, and their consideration has been superimposed onto traditional policies affecting resource production and use. This review of Australia's policies on resources - here meaning minerals and energy policies - looks at the objectives of these policies and their interrelationships. It considers issues such as management, development objectives, investment, taxation, environment and processing, and likely future developments.     

Sleep and the sleep environment temperature

EEG's and skin temperature measurements were made on six men and six women while sleeping in environments whose temperatures were 10·0°C, 21·1°C, and 32·2°C. Analysis of the EEG recordings showed that the proportion of time in each sleep stage was not affected by the temperature of the sleep environment. The weighted mean skin temperatures of the subjects were similar for the 10·0°C and 21·1°C condition, with a mean of 34·5°C for the sleep period. The mean weighted skin temperature for the 32·2°C condition was 35·6°C. A questionnaire administered when the subjects had awakened showed that women did not sleep as well at 10·0°C as at the other temperatures, when sleeping in conventional bedding and clothing.     

I don't feel that about environmental psychology today. But I want to

Environmental psychology—psychogeography as many geographers called it-was a politically motivated attempt on the part of academicians of the late 1960s to transform their study into a form of praxis, with consequences for the choice of subjects (more naturally occurring) and methods (more ethological). In geography, theoretical foundations were perceived in the work, among others, of Carl Sauer and J. K. Wright, while William Bunge exemplified the possibilities of geography as praxis. The joint venture was exciting, not because it was new, but because it was perceived as having consequences in the world of action. This shaped the work more than anything. Contemporary work lacks these qualities. In a phrase, it doesn't matter. It needs to.     

Are Scientists Right and Non-Scientists Wrong? Reflections on Discussions of GM

The aim of this article is to further our understanding of the “GM is unnatural” view, and of the critical response to it. While many people have been reported to hold the view that GM is unnatural, many policy-makers and their advisors have suggested that the view must be ignored or rejected, and that there are scientific reasons for doing so. Three “typical” examples of ways in which the “GM is unnatural” view has been treated by UK policy-makers and their advisors are explored. These are the Government’s position (DEFRA Report), the account of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and the position of Nigel Halford, a scientist with an advisory role to the Government. I show that their accounts fail to mount a convincing critique. Then, I draw on an empirical research project held during  2003–2004 at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north east of England. Scientists met with non-scientists in a range of facilitated one-to-one conversations (“exchanges”) on various environmental issues, one of which was on GM. Our findings show that some scientists who rejected the “GM is unnatural” view struggled to do so consistently. Their struggle is interpreted in terms of a conflict between a so-called “scientific” worldview, and a different worldview that underlies the concerns of those who held the “GM is unnatural” view. This worldview is explored further by an examination of their concerns. What distinguishes this worldview from the “scientific” worldview is that the instrumentalization of the nonhuman world is questioned to a larger extent. I conclude that, because the underlying concerns of those who held the “GM is unnatural” view were not with GM as such, yet with a worldview that was considered to be problematic, and of which many GM applications were held to be expressions, policy-makers and their advisors should reflect on the critical worldview of those who claim that GM is unnatural if they want to engage seriously with their concerns.     

Putting the ‘E’ into LSPs: Representing the Environment within Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in the UK

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study with residents living in six deprived neighbourhoods in the UK and the front-line workers and local policymakers responsible for the renewal of these areas. The study was an attempt to raise awareness of local environmental concerns in the context of a national and local policy agenda, which has, until recently, largely overlooked the impacts of degraded environments on the lives and activities of the people who live in them. A key aim for the study was to raise people's concerns with local decision-makers and examine how far these might be addressed through the existing financial, administrative and legislative arrangements for neighbourhood renewal in the UK, namely Local Strategic Partnerships. The research was designed to provide practical lessons and policy recommendations for others wishing to raise the profile of environmental justice in the context of neighbourhood level regeneration projects, in both the UK and elsewhere in the ‘developed’ world.     

Urban early adolescents,crowding and the neighbourhood experience: A preliminary investigation

This interview study focused on urban early adolescents' conscious experiences of high density conditions. Thirty children residing in apartments in two boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan), participated in this study. Control variables included income level, age, family constellation, and length of residence. Sex, apartment density, building size and neighbourhood density served as classification variables. The interview lasted approximately forty minutes and addressed the following issues.Personal conceptualizations and definitions of crowding.Evaluation of the children's perceived neighbourhood.Peer relationships.Perceived social and physical opportunities and constraints.Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and content analyzed.The children's conceptualizations of crowding emphasized large numbers of people, spatial restriction and an aversive experience of the situation as relevant components of the crowding construct. The restriction of behavioural choice as it relates to goal postponement and the child's efforts to come to terms with larger organizational social structures, underlined the interpretation of crowding as a socio-physical stressor. While information overload was depicted as another relevant characteristic of crowding situations, its aversive experience was mediated by the presence of known others. Even though this diversity on social and physical levels was often experienced as stressful, it was also positively viewed in situations where interpersonal contact or a sense of familiarity were not overriden by other situation demands.Boys tended to spend more time in their neighbourhood engaged in a broader range of activities than girls. In this sample, boys also took less part in structured group activities and rated their neighbourhoods somewhat more positively than girls. Girls experienced less freedom and more social restrictions in exploring and actively interacting with their extended surroundings than boys.The issues of movement and situationally imposed behavioural restriction were central themes in children's conscious experiences of high density situations. Emphasis was placed on physiological arousal linked to the perception of aversive social qualities of high density situations. It appears that an increase in the need to act out is more a function of the child's awareness of having to conform to external norms, or experiencing a loss of perceived social control in situations where vigilance is required, than a clear cognisance of spatial restrictions.The investigation of the impact of high density conditions on the child's sociocognitive development and identity formation is viewed as potentially fruitful directions for future research.