Aggregate eco-efficiency indices for New Zealand--a principal components analysis

Eco-efficiency has emerged as a management response to waste issues associated with current production processes. Despite the popularity of the term in both business and government circles, limited attention has been paid to measuring and reporting eco-efficiency to government policy makers. Aggregate measures of eco-efficiency are needed, to complement existing measures and to help highlight important patterns in eco-efficiency data.This paper aims to develop aggregate measures of eco-efficiency for use by policy makers. Specifically, this paper provides a unique analysis by applying principal components analysis (PCA) to eco-efficiency indicators in New Zealand.The study reveals that New Zealand's overall eco-efficiency improved for two out of the five aggregate measures over the period 1994/1995–1997/1998. The worsening of the other aggregate measures reflects, among other things, the relatively poor performance of the primary production and related processing sectors. These results show PCA is an effective approach for aggregating eco-efficiency indicators and assisting decision makers by reducing redundancy in an eco-efficiency indicators matrix.     

Local agenda 21, compulsory competitive tendering and local environmental practices

This paper focuses on the issues arising from Local Agenda 21 where the role of local authorities is seen as vital in promoting and achieving sustainable development. The implications of the current forms of public sector restructuring for local authorities, and in particular the consequences of the requirement to contract out the delivery and management of traditional environmental services such as grounds maintenance are considered. The paper concludes that the ongoing processes of local government restructuring, together with the removal of many functions from local democratic control, are reducing the capacity of local communities to respond positively to the demands of Local Agenda 21.     

Synthesis and relative response factors for the 22 tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (TCDDs) by electron-impact ionization mass spectrometry

We report the response factors of all of the tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (TCDDs) relative to 2, 3, 7, 3-TCDD by electron-impact ionization mass spectrometry. We used CP SIL 88 capillary column interfaced a ZAB-2F high-resolution mass spectrometer operating at 10,000 resolving power     

Coastal community resilience: analysis of resilient elements in 3 districts of Tamil Nadu State, India

India has a long coastline of about 7,517 km. with 20% occupying the coastal area. Due to increase in population; people have been exploring the possibility of developmental opportunities in the coastal areas. Tsunami in 2004 was another unexpected natural catastrophe which badly affected many South Indian coastal states especially the state of Tamil Nadu. Coastal communities here are increasingly at risk from many chronic and episodic coastal hazards which threaten the health and stability of coastal ecosystems and communities. The degradation of the coastal environment from chronic human-induced actions threaten food security, livelihoods, the overall economic development and well being of coastal communities. Disasters big or small affecting the coastal communities are reminders that, coastal communities are not resilient to normally recurring hazards. This fact has raised the question of developing community resilience since the most effective approach to reducing the long-term impact of coastal hazards would be to enhance capacities of coastal communities through initiatives which are aimed at ensuring a sustainable recovery in the aftermath of a disaster as well as reducing people’s vulnerability to these disasters. Eight elements of resilience i.e., Governance, Coastal Resource Management, Land Use and Structural Design, Society and Economy, Risk Knowledge, Warning and Evacuation, Emergency Response and Disaster Recovery have been identified which are considered essential to reduce risk from coastal hazards, accelerate recovery from disaster events, and adapt to changing conditions by the affected community. In this paper, all the eight resilience elements have been examined with respect to vulnerability and capacity assessment in selected Tsunami (2004) affected districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in order to identify the extent of resilience.     

Compound urban crises

The crises that cities face—such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism—are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.     

Continuing pollution from the Rum Jungle U-Cu project: A critical evaluation of environmental monitoring and rehabilitation

The former Rum Jungle uranium-copper project, Australia, is an internationally important case study on environmental pollution from and rehabilitation of mining. The Rum Jungle mining project is briefly reviewed, followed by a critical evaluation of monitoring data and pollution loads prior to and after rehabilitation - leading to the conclusion that rehabilitation has clearly failed the test of time after just two decades. The most critical findings are the need to understand pollution cycles holistically, and designing monitoring regimes to match, explicit inclusion of radiological criteria (lacking in original planning), and finally the need to set targets based on environmental criteria. Two examples include polluted groundwater which was excluded from rehabilitation and the poor design, construction and/or performance of engineered soil covers - both leading to increasing acid drainage impacts on the Finniss River. The critical review therefore presents a valuable case study of the environmental performance of uranium mine site rehabilitation.     

Sampling Duration Calculations

ABSTRACT

Routine air quality monitoring produces filter samples that, when analyzed, yield the total amount of the aerosol present in the volume of air drawn by the pump in the monitoring device during the given sampling period. From this we obtain an average concentration of the aerosol for the given duration. The samples are therefore really aggregate samples. A natural question then is “what is the effect of the duration of aggregation on the accuracy and precision of the estimate of the quantity of interest?” The answer depends on a number of factors, such as the quantity that is being estimated: a mean, or an extreme value, or some other quantity; the nature of the measurement error—additive versus multiplicative; the costs of laboratory analyses, and so on. In this paper, we investigate these issues when the interest is in estimating the mean concentration of a specified aerosol species over a fixed time period. In particular, we propose a method for determining a sampling duration that will yield the “best estimate” of the mean concentration for a given cost whenever appropriate statistical assumptions hold.     

Kinetics and equilibrium properties of the biosorption of Cu2+ by algae

The purpose of this study was to examine the kinetics and equilibrium properties of freshwater algae with Cu²⁺. This was a model system to explore using algae as biosensors for water quality. Methods included making luminescence measurements (fluorescence) and copper ion-selective electrode (CuISE) measurements vs. time to obtain kinetic data. Results were analyzed using a pseudo-first-order model to calculate the rate constants of Cu²⁺ uptake by algae: k _p(Cu?Calgae)?=?0.0025?±?0.0006?s^?1 by CuISE and k _p(Cu?Calgae)?=?0.0034?±?0.0011?s^?1 by luminescence. The binding constant of Cu?Calgae, K _Cu?Calgae, was 1.62?±?0.07?×?10⁷?M^?1. Fluorescence results analyzed using the Stern?CVolmer relationship indicate that algae have two types of binding sites of which only one appears to affect quenching. The fluorescence-based method was found to be able to detect the reaction of algae with Cu²⁺ quickly and at a detection limit of 0.1?mg?L^?1.