Use of recycling stations in Borlänge, Sweden--volume weights and attitudes

This paper presents a study of recycling stations in the municipality of Borl?nge, Sweden. The main objectives were to measure volume weights of recyclables, to facilitate future planning of collection intervals and bin/container volume, and to investigate the general attitudes among the public towards waste management in general and recycling stations in particular. Volume weights measured in bins/containers were: paper/newsprint: 297 kg/m3, glass packaging: 297 kg/m3, metal packaging: 81.7 kg/m3, paper packaging: 27.8 kg/m3, plastic packaging: 28.1 kg/m3. The recycling stations have been in use since 1994. Most visitors (90%) arrived by car but said the visit to the recycling station was not the main purpose of the trip. The results from the interviews indicated that the people who use the recycling stations have found ways to incorporate waste sorting into their everyday lives, with the help of information, design of the collection system and environmental concerns.     

Risk Removed? Steps Towards Building Trust in Humanitarian Mine Action

This article examines the role of building trust in Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA). The role of trust following a mine-clearance operation is largely an unexplored region. Drawing on case studies from Angola, Mozambique and Afghanistan, the article explores how trust can be understood in the context of humanitarian initiatives such as landmine clearance, and outlines the challenges associated with building trust among populations with experience of armed conflict. Because trust is difficult to re-establish following a war, the argument presented here suggests that one way in which this can be done is through building relationships at the organisational and interpersonal levels. The analysis reviews specific measures that mine-action agencies have used to build trust, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. The analysis concludes by suggesting general guidelines for how mine-action practitioners can facilitate trust, and by outlining some promising avenues for future research.     

Preventing femoral fractures among elderly: The community safety approach

The current picture of fatal injuries in Sweden is dominated by falls, which account for about 40%. Furthermore, falls are by far the most dominating cause of hospital in-patient care (57%). The aetiologic mechanisms behind falls and fractures are complicated, with a multifactorial causal pattern.The Lidköping Accident Prevention Programme — one of the few comprehensive community intervention programs in the world — provides an opportunity to discuss links between a multifactorial intervention program and related injuries in the elderly. The incidence of femoral fractures in Lidköping shows a significantly declining trend for females (− 6.6% per year) and a − 5.4% decline for males during the study period of 1987–1992. The control area of Skaraborg County showed a minor decrease and Sweden as a whole showed an increasing trend during the same period.In spite of the methodological problems of attributing effects in quasi-experiments, there is some support for the claim that the declining trend in the trial area was largely the result of the intervention program. This conclusion is further strengthened by the recently published report from the USA showing that a multiple-risk-factor intervention strategy resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of falling among elderly persons in the community.     

The relative importance of subjective and structural factors for individual adaptation to climate change by forest owners in Sweden

A growing body of literature argues that subjective factors can more accurately explain individual adaptation to climate change than objective measurers of adaptive capacity. Recent studies have shown that personal belief in climate change and affect are much better in explaining climate awareness and action than income, education or gender. This study focuses on the process of individual adaptation to climate change. It assesses and compares the influence of cognitive, experiential and structural factors on individuals’ views and intentions regarding climate change adaptation. Data from this study comes from a survey with 836 forest owners in Sweden. Ordinal and binary logistic regression was used to test hypotheses about the different factors. Results show that cognitive factors—namely personal level of trust in climate science, belief in the salience of climate change and risk assessment—are the only statistically significant factors that can directly explain individuals’ intention to adapt to climate change and their sense of urgency. Findings also suggest that structural or socio-demographic factors do not have a statistically significant influence on adaptation decision-making among Swedish forest owners. The study also offers valuable insights for communication interventions to promote adaptation. Findings strongly suggest that communication interventions should focus more strongly on building trust and addressing stakeholders’ individual needs and experiences.

     

Adapting forest health assessments to changing perspectives on threats—a case example from Sweden

A revised Swedish forest health assessment system is presented. The assessment system is composed of several interacting components which target information needs for strategic and operational decision making and accommodate a continuously expanding knowledge base. The main motivation for separating information for strategic and operational decision making is that major damage outbreaks are often scattered throughout the landscape. Generally, large-scale inventories (such as national forest inventories) cannot provide adequate information for mitigation measures. In addition to broad monitoring programs that provide time-series information on known damaging agents and their effects, there is also a need for local and regional inventories adapted to specific damage events. While information for decision making is the major focus of the health assessment system, the system also contributes to expanding the knowledge base of forest conditions. For example, the integrated monitoring programs provide a better understanding of ecological processes linked to forest health. The new health assessment system should be able to respond to the need for quick and reliable information and thus will be an important part of the future monitoring of Swedish forests.     

Biomonitoring of arsenic through mangrove oyster (Crassostrea corteziensis Hertlein, 1951) from coastal lagoons (SE Gulf of California): occurrence of arsenobetaine and other arseno-compounds

In this study, we examined the bioavailability of arsenic through the mangrove oyster Crassostrea corteziensis sampled from seven coastal lagoons in SE Gulf of California during the rainy and dry seasons. As concentrations in soft tissue of oysters C. corteziensis fluctuated between 5.2 and 11.6 μg/g on dry weight; organisms from the control site presented the lowest As concentrations in the two sampling seasons. As speciation was evaluated in selected samples and indicated that arsenobetaine was the major arseno-compound accounting for 53.5–74.7 % of total As. Lower percentage contributions were obtained for nonextractable As (9.7–25.5 %) and other molecules such as arsenocholine and methyl-arsonate (<5 %). Inorganic As was detectable in only two samples, at concentrations lower than 0.1 μg/g. These As data are the first generated in NW Mexico and indicate that C. corteziensis is safe for human consumption in terms of arseno-compounds. It is evident that As bioavailability in these lagoons is low.     

Characterisation of individual aerosol particles on moss surfaces: implications for source apportionment

The size, morphology and chemical composition of 8405 particles on moss surfaces (Hylocomium splendens) was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis. Two moss samples from three locations in Southern Norway (Alg?rd, Birkeland, Neslandsvatn) and two sampling years (1977 and 2005) each were selected leading to a total of 12 samples investigated. At all three locations, particle deposition decreased substantially with time. The major particle groups encountered include silicates, iron-rich silicates, metal oxides/hydroxides, iron oxides/hydroxides, carbonates, carbon-rich particles, silicate fly ashes, iron-rich silicate fly ashes, and iron oxide fly ashes. Between 1977 and 2005, the relative number abundance of the three fly ash groups decreased substantially from approximately 30-60% to 10-18% for the small particles (equivalent projected area diameter <1 microm), and from 10-35% to 2-9% for large particles with diameters ≥1 microm. This decrease of fly ash particles with time was overlooked in previous papers on atmospheric input of pollutants into ecosystems in Southern Norway. In general, the presence of fly ash particles is ignored in most source apportionment studies based on bulk chemical analysis. Consequently, the geogenic component (crustal component) derived from principal component analysis is overestimated systematically, as it has a similar chemical composition as the fly ash particles. The high abundance of fly ashes demonstrates the need to complement source apportionment based on bulk chemistry by scanning electron microscopy in order to avoid misclassification of this important anthropogenic aerosol component.     

发光细菌毒性法在饮用水水质评估与预警中的应用

通过对温州地区水源地、自来水等水质指标的研究,评估发光细菌(费氏弧菌)生物预警毒性监测的有效性,并结合实际案例,探讨以发光细菌生物毒性指标评估、预警水质的可行性。在正常情况下,饮用水水源地水质在低发光抑制率区间(±18%),如果水质遭遇农药污染等非正常情况,发光抑制率明显升高。在自来水净水过程中的各个处理阶段,发光细菌的水质毒性检测表现出敏感性,可以用于水质安全在线实时监控。     

Optimising vegetation monitoring. A case study in A French lowland forest

Biodiversity monitoring surveys are rarely optimised statistically before being initiated. Here, we optimised the monitoring of plants in a temperate forest. The total inventory cost, the number and size of quadrats were optimised to detect a 10% change in species richness over 5 years with α = β = 0.05, using data from ongoing long-term floristic monitoring programs. The procedure showed that the inventory cost would be ca 15% lower using 100-, 200-m² quadrats instead of 300- or 400-m² quadrats. Despite the cost associated with the optimisation (e.g. gathering preliminary data) and the imprecise estimates (due to the typically small sample size of the pilot studies), optimisation would often be a better option than expert opinion when designing a monitoring survey.