Artificial lakes as a climate change adaptation strategy in drylands: evaluating the trade-off on non-target ecosystem services

Drylands are very susceptible to the effects of climate change due to water stress. One possible climate change adaptation measure is the construction of lakes to increase water availability for drinking and irrigation (food production) and decrease fire risk. These lakes can also increase local biodiversity and human well-being. However, other non-target services such as carbon (C) storage, water purification, and sediment retention might also change. Our main aim was to evaluate the trade-offs on non-targeted ecosystem services due to lakes construction in drylands. This was done using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) modeling tools, comparing a Mediterranean area located in southwest (SW) Europe, with and without artificial lakes. Results showed that the construction of artificial lakes caused an increase of 9.4% in C storage. However, the consequent increase in agricultural area decreased water purification and sediment retention services. This could diminish the life span of the lakes changing the initial beneficial cost-benefit analysis on lakes as adaptation measures to climate change. As a global measure for mitigation and adaptation to climate change strategy, we consider lake construction in drylands to be positive since it can store C in sediments and reduces the vulnerability to water scarcity. However, as a general recommendation and when built to support or increase agriculture in semi-arid landscapes, we consider that lakes should be complemented with additional measures to reduce soil erosion and nutrient leaching such as (i) locate agricultural areas outside the lakes water basin, (ii) afforestation surrounding the lakes, and (iii) adopt the best local agriculture practices to prevent and control soil erosion and nutrient leaching.     

Knowledge hiding in organizations

Despite the efforts to enhance knowledge transfer in organizations, success has been elusive. It is becoming clear that in many instances employees are unwilling to share their knowledge even when organizational practices are designed to facilitate transfer. Consequently, this paper develops and investigates a novel construct, knowledge hiding. We establish that knowledge hiding exists, we distinguish knowledge hiding from related concepts (knowledge hoarding and knowledge sharing), and we develop a multidimensional measure of this construct. We also identify several predictors of knowledge hiding in organizations. The results of three studies, using different methods, suggest that knowledge hiding is comprised of three related factors: evasive hiding, rationalized hiding, and playing dumb. Each of these hiding behaviors is predicted by distrust, yet each also has a different set of interpersonal and organizational predictors. We draw implications for future research on knowledge management. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Copper and lead ion removal from wastewater using fava d’anta fodder (Dimorphandra gardneriana Tulasne)

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The contamination of bodies of water by potentially hazardous elements has in recent decades become an environmental problem that poses serious risks to...     

Dynamic real-time risk analytics of uncontrollable states in complex internet of things systems: cyber risk at the edge

The Internet of Things (IoT) triggers new types of cyber risks. Therefore, the integration of new IoT devices and services requires a self-assessment of IoT cyber security posture. By security posture this article refers to the cybersecurity strength of an organisation to predict, prevent and respond to cyberthreats. At present, there is a gap in the state of the art, because there are no self-assessment methods for quantifying IoT cyber risk posture. To address this gap, an empirical analysis is performed of 12 cyber risk assessment approaches. The results and the main findings from the analysis is presented as the current and a target risk state for IoT systems, followed by conclusions and recommendations on a transformation roadmap, describing how IoT systems can achieve the target state with a new goal-oriented dependency model. By target state, we refer to the cyber security target that matches the generic security requirements of an organisation. The research paper studies and adapts four alternatives for IoT risk assessment and identifies the goal-oriented dependency modelling as a dominant approach among the risk assessment models studied. The new goal-oriented dependency model in this article enables the assessment of uncontrollable risk states in complex IoT systems and can be used for a quantitative self-assessment of IoT cyber risk posture.

     

Identifying social attitudes to assist urban energy planning in Leicester

A study of social attitudes to urban energy management strategies has been undertaken as part of a research project aiming to develop an energy planning tool for urban planners. The study used a social survey to predict attitudinal responses to proposed engineering solutions, namely load management, energy efficiency and alternative supply options (renewable energy). The principal influence on attitude formation, which emerges from the literature and this study, appears to be socio-economic conditioning.The results indicate that Leicester citizens are open to alternative energy strategies, such as a willingness to pay additional amounts of money for electricity generated from renewable or sustainable sources and the purchase of low energy appliances. Over half the sample surveyed would pay up to 5% extra for an energy-efficient appliance, and a significant minority would pay extra for 'green' energy. In addition, 73% of respondents are sympathetic to Demand-side Management measures such as interruptible tariffs. The use of 'social group' analysis has proved to be a useful and sensitive tool for the market analysis of energy-related behaviour. In this study, a positive relationship between energy-related attitudes and income is revealed.