Collaborative Modeling for Decision Support in Water Resources: Principles and Best Practices

Collaborative Modeling for Decision Support integrates collaborative modeling with participatory processes to inform natural resources decisions. Practitioners and advocates claim that the approach will lead to better water management, balancing interests more effectively and reducing the likelihood of costly legal delays. These claims are easy to make, but the benefits will only be realized if the process is conducted effectively. To provide guidance for how to conduct an effective collaborative modeling process, a task committee cosponsored by the Environmental Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Institute for Water Resources developed a set of Principles and Best Practices for anyone who might convene or conduct collaborative modeling processes. The guidance is intended for both conflict resolution professionals and modelers, and our goal is to integrate these two fields in a way that will improve water resources planning and decision making. Here, the set of eight principles is presented along with a selection of associated best practices, illustrated by two different case examples. The complete document is available at: http://www.computeraideddisputeresolution.us/bestpractices/ .     

Potential biases in site and species selection for ecological monitoring

A number of the contributions to this workshop (particularly in the session on biodiversity and population monitoring) have stressed the importance of choosing appropriate species and locations for ecological monitoring. This is of pragmatic necessity: it is impossible to monitor all species at all locations. The purpose of this note is to caution against some possible pitfalls in the selection of species and sites. These pitfalls are a result of the statistical concept of regression.     

Use of noise attenuation modeling in managing missile motor detonation activities

The Sound Intensity Prediction System (SIPS) and Blast Operation Overpressure Model (BOOM) are semiempirical sound models that are employed by the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) to predict whether noise levels from the detonation of large missile motors will exceed regulatory thresholds. Field validation of SIPS confirmed that the model was effective in limiting the number of detonations of large missile motors that could potentially result in a regulatory noise exceedance. Although the SIPS accurately predicted the impact of weather on detonation noise propagation, regulators have required that the more conservative BOOM model be employed in conjunction with SIPS in evaluating peak noise levels in populated areas. By simultaneously considering the output of both models, in 2001, UTTR detonated 104 missile motors having net explosive weights (NEW) that ranged between 14,960 and 38,938 lb without a recorded public noise complaint. Based on the encouraging results, the U.S. Department of Defense is considering expanding the application of these noise models to support the detonation of missile motors having a NEW of 81,000 lb. Recent modeling results suggest that, under appropriate weather conditions, missile motors containing up to 96,000 lb NEW can be detonated at the UTTR without exceeding the regulatory noise limit of 134 decibels (dB).     

Complying with Executive Order 13148 using the Enterprise Environmental Safety And Occupational Health Management Information System

All U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) facilities are required under Executive Order (EO) 13148, "Greening the Government through Leadership in Environmental Management," to establish quality-based environmental management systems (EMSs) that support environmental decision-making and verification of continuous environmental improvement by December 31, 2005. Compliance with EO 13148 as well as other federal, state, and local environmental regulations places a significant information management burden on DoD facilities. Cost-effective management of environmental data compels DoD facilities to establish robust database systems that not only address the complex and multifaceted environmental monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting requirements demanded by these rules but enable environmental management decision-makers to gauge improvements in environmental performance. The Enterprise Environmental Safety and Occupational Health Management Information System (EESOH-MIS) is a new electronic database developed by the U.S. Air Force to manage both the data needs associated with regulatory compliance programs across its facilities as well as the non-regulatory environmental information that supports installation business practices. The U.S. Air Force, which has adopted the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology as the EMS standard that it will employ to address EO 13148 requirements.     

Fetal karyotype following ascertainment of fetal anomalies by ultrasound

Data pooled from contributors to a Registry for Cytogenetic Abnormalities and PKU (ReCAP) shows an unbalanced chromosome abnormality rate of 27 per cent (29 fetuses) for 107 fetuses with ultrasonically diagnosed fetal anomalies. Of the abnormal, 12 were trisomic, 6 were monosomy X and 6 were structural abnormalities, 4 were mosaics and one triploid.     

Preliminary evidence that copper inhibits the degradation of DDT to DDE in pip and stonefruit orchard soils in the Auckland region,New Zealand

Orchards (n=13) were sampled as part of a larger survey investigating agrichemical residues (pesticides and trace elements) in cropping soils in the Auckland region, New Zealand. SigmaDDT concentrations in orchard soils ranged from <0.03 to 24.41 mg kg(-1). DDT (o,p'- and p,p'-) comprised at least 40% of the SigmaDDT residues in 67% of orchards in which DDT residues were detected. There was a highly significant negative correlation (-0.924, P<0.001) between copper concentration (21-490 mg kg-1) and the ratio of DDE:DDT (0.4-5.2) in pip and stonefruit orchard soils. In further investigations involving five pip and stone fruit orchard sites and one grazing paddock it was found that soil respiration and the ratio of soil microbial carbon to soil carbon (%Cmic/Org-C) in orchard soils decreased with increasing copper concentration. These findings are consistent with the conclusion that elevated soil copper concentrations in pip and stone fruit orchard soils in the Auckland region may have reduced the ability of the indigenous soil microbial community to degrade DDT to DDE     

Observations on shell deformities,ultrastructure, and increment formation in the bay scallop Argopecten irradians

Shell morphology and ultrastructure were examined in the bay scallop Argopecten irradians, cultured in recirculating seawater systems under various conditions of feeding, lighting, and handling. On a unialgal diet of Thalassiosira pseudonana, scallop growth ranged from 120 to 183 m d^-1 at 20°C in the laboratory, about two-thirds of the growth rate found in the field. However, shell deposited in the laboratory differed from that in the field in several ways. In the field, scallops formed costae as an unpigmented, corrugated marginal shell layer; shell deposited in the laboratory lacked this layer and was therefore darker. Also, microstructure of the exterior shell surface of field scallops was coarsely granular, while that of cultured scallops was relatively smooth. Excessive handling of scallops in the laboratory resulted in marginal thickening of valves, a deformity which was completely arrested by a change from daily to weekly handling. Scallops cultured in the same tank with oysters developed shell-thickening on the interior of the valves. It is postulated that shell abnormalities in bivalves result from disruption of complex behavioral processes associated with shell deposition and may be elicited by a variety of natural and experimental irritants. Under natural lighting regimes and optimal conditions for growth, scallops deposited exactly one shell increment per day, but under continuous lighting, deposition of growth increments often became aphasic. In one 28-d experiment, there was a strong correlation between number of growth increments formed and increase in shell height, suggesting that shell ridge formation occurred intermittently, rather than daily, when shell growth rates fell below approximately 150 m d^-1.