Subjective Annoyance Response to Diesel Engine Sound During Idling Conditions

Subjective annoyance response to diesel engine sound during idling conditions was evaluated by 80 participants. Eight different sound spectra were presented to the participants at a constant level of 80 dB(A) in a paired comparison procedure. Stereo-recorded sound stimuli were played back through a pair of loudspeakers in an anechoic room. Four objective parameters of loudness, sharpness, impulsiveness, and roughness were found to be the determining factors that cause subjective annoyance. An annoyance prediction model for the test stimuli of an idling diesel engine was developed on the basis of these factors. The objective parameters and their interactions have a significant effect on the annoyance prediction model. The spectral distribution indicated by test participants to be pleasant can be used as a basis for appropriate modification of engine sound. A single microphone measurement in free field conditions can be used to estimate objective parameters for defining the cause of annoyance.     

On the use of scenario analysis in combination with prescriptive fire safety design requirements

Experience with fire safety engineering under a performance-based fire safety regulation regime shows that the majority of the analyses performed are scenario based. A comparison with purely pre-accepted performance requirement is made in order to assess the relative safety level of the alternative design compared with the pre-accepted design. We find this approach problematic because it undermines the value of performing analyses. The approach accepts oversimplification and justifies unrealistic assumptions on the basis that it will not affect the comparison. This distances the analyses from reality and reduces their value to answer a yes/no question on acceptability. The considerable time and resources spent on searching for and analyzing a pre-accepted design could be spent on analyzing the design at hand. If fire safety analyses are to have any real impact on design, it is necessary that regulators strengthen the position of analytical design. This must include a provision of a clear set of performance goals, which are possible to transform into quantitative evaluation criteria by the engineers, to avoid comparisons with pre-accepted performance requirements.     

New tools in local energy planning: experimenting with scenarios,public participation and environmental assessment

This article presents a model for local energy planning and its application in a full-scale experiment in a Swedish municipality. The model is based on legal requirement, research findings and standards of good practice and includes a combination of analytical and procedural tools intended to support rational decision-making: external scenarios, a citizens’ panel, life cycle analysis and qualitative environmental assessment (EA). The application of the model indicates that the decision-support tools selected can give several new and valuable inputs to local energy planning, such as local knowledge and values through citizen dialogue and comprehensive EAs. However, the experiment also shows that there are several challenges involved in applying the tools, for example, it is difficult to get citizens and the industry to participate and that it is complicated to combine several different tools for decision-making into a single planning process. Moreover, the experiences from the application suggest that the model for local energy planning show great potential but needs to be improved before it can be used as a standard of good practice.     

Risk and vulnerability analysis: A feasible process for local climate adaptation in Sweden?

Climate change is an important new challenge for local authorities. This study analyses the potential for using the Swedish mandatory process for risk and vulnerability analysis (RVA) as a vehicle to improve local climate adaptation work. An advantage with RVA is its comprehensive approach in dealing with all relevant threats and all vital functions of society. In order to test the applicability of incorporating climate adaptation into RVA, we studied practical experiences from three Swedish municipalities. In all municipalities, a pre-study to identify relevant climate-induced events was performed. In one municipality, this was followed by a more detailed analysis of the potential impacts of these events on the functions of the various administrations and companies within the local authority. Problems identified in successful integration of climate change into the municipal RVA process were lack of sufficient knowledge to identify the impacts of climate change on the level of the respective specialist or district administration and lack of resources to perform the analysis. There were also some difficulties in including a long-term perspective relevant for climate adaptation into RVA, which usually focuses on current threats. A positive outcome was that work on extreme climate events in RVA provided a traceable method to identify events with a potentially great impact on the function of local society and results that could be fed into other ongoing processes, such as spatial planning and housing plans.     

Meta-analysis of landowner participation in voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services

Many voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services (ES) have low participation rates, insufficient enrollment areas, and inefficient ecological outcomes. Understanding participation behavior in such programs has therefore become a crucial part of policy success. We synthesized a large body of literature on the behavior of nonindustrial private forest owners based on surveys of stated (intended) participation or data on actual participation in existing or hypothetical programs. Using metaregression analysis, we examined how methodological, program-characteristic, and economic-incentive variables affected participation rate estimates. Participation rates tended to be overestimated when landowner participation was elicited in hypothetical choice situations (compared with real situations) and when dichotomous choice surveys (compared with census data) were used. The marginal effect sizes were quite large, for example, a 31% increase with use of stated choices in hypothetical scenarios, and practitioners should therefore be aware of them. However, use of choice experiment surveys in a modified scenario based on existing programs had no effect on participation when all other determinants were controlled for. Participation rates decreased significantly as length of the contract increased and when there was no withdrawal option. These results suggest that perpetual contracts have a lower negative impact on participation than time-limited contracts with a duration of over 50 years. We confirmed that as compensation amounts increased, participation increased. One-time up-front payments were more effective in increasing initial participation than annual payments for contracts of over 5 years. We identified the robust determinants and the effect sizes of those determinants on landowner participation rate estimates, thereby contributing to a better understanding of forest owner behavior and offering useful insights to enable researchers and resource managers to improve the design and efficiency of new and existing forest ES programs.     

Differential effects of a local industrial sand lance fishery on seabird breeding performance.

Fisheries management across the world is moving toward an ecosystem-based approach, implying that fishery effects on nontarget species should be taken into account. However, such effects are often not well understood, partly because, they can be difficult to distinguish from impacts of environmental fluctuations. We evaluated the effects of an industrial sand lance (Ammodytes marinus) fishery off the North Sea coast of the United Kingdom, which has been opened and closed in a quasi-experimental fashion, on sand-lance-dependent breeding seabirds. Controlling for environmental variation (sea surface temperature, abundance of larval sand lance, and size of adult sand lance), we found that, when the fishery was operating, breeding productivity in the intensively studied seabird colony on the Isle of May was significantly depressed for one surface-feeding seabird species, the Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), but not for four diving species. Analyzing Kittiwake data from 12 colonies inside and outside the closure zone in a replicated before-after control-impact design, we again found that breeding productivity was significantly depressed in the closure zone when the fishery was active, whereas no effect was found in the control zone. Furthermore, Kittiwake breeding productivity was negatively correlated with fishery effort during the fishery period in the closure zone, but not in the control zone. The contrasting findings in the two zones could be related to environmental differences or to the fact that only one study colony in the control zone was exposed to high fishery effort within the typical foraging range of Kittiwakes during the breeding season. The strong impact on Kittiwakes, but not on diving species, could result from (1) inherently high sensitivity to reduced prey availability, (2) changes in the vertical distribution of sand lance at lower densities, (3) sand lance showing avoidance behavior to fishery vessels, or a combination of some or all of these factors. These findings indicate that local fishery closures can benefit sensitive predators and should be considered as a tool for future ecosystem-based fisheries management.     

斯德哥尔摩群岛水质历史上的城市影响

从历史的角度看,斯德哥尔摩市居民人数的增长对周围湖泊和沿岸地区的水质产生了负面影响.自19世纪中叶以来,政府的治理和为改善水质所采取的措施一直在进行中.由于采样很少,而且使用了不同的参数和方法,因此很难根据首次化学和生物调查结果来评估与以后若干年相比较的19世纪的水况.但是,可以根据开始于20世纪初的浮游生物调查的结果对水质进行一次回顾性评价.在具有与整个20世纪相似温度条件的夏季对反映富营养状况的蓝藻Planktothrixagardhii的发生进行了调查.调查结果表明,从20世纪初到90年代初.在斯德哥尔摩群岛,富营养化条件可能一直占优势.20世纪的最后10年,水质似乎比l00年前要好.今天较好的水况很可能是在度水处理方面采取适当措施的结果.     

Extensive cross-disciplinary analysis of biological and chemical control of Calanus finmarchicus reproduction during an aldehyde forming diatom bloom in mesocosms

Egg and faecal pellet production and egg hatching success of the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus were monitored over a period of 14?days (14?C28 April, 2008) while fed water from 4 differently treated mesocosms and ambient water. Two of the mesocosms used were inoculated with the polyunsaturated aldehyde (PUA)-producing diatom Skeletonema marinoi, while 2 received only nutrient additions with or without silica. The mesocosms developed blooms of S. marinoi, mixed diatoms or the haptophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii, respectively. Faecal pellet production of C. finmarchicus increased with increasing food availability. Egg production increased with time in all mesocosms to a maximum single female production of 232 eggs female^?1?day^?1 (average of 90 eggs female^?1?day^?1) and followed the development of ciliates and P. pouchetii, but was not affected by the observed high (up to 15?nmol?L^?1) PUA production potential of the phytoplankton. The hatching success of the eggs produced on the mesocosm diets was high (78?C96%) and was not affected by either aldehydes in the maternal diet or exposure to the dissolved aldehydes in the water.