Arsenic and antimony distribution in the Ría de Arousa: before and after the Prestige oil tanker sinking

The behaviour of arsenic and antimony in the Ría de Arousa (Galicia, north west of Spain) and the influence of the Prestige accident in the estuary is evaluated. As and Sb were simultaneously determined by HG-ICPOES in seawater samples after a preconcentration with La in a knotted reactor. The highest As concentration is in the inner and middle parts of the ría where the current is weaker and next to the main ports of the area. The largest Sb concentrations were found in the bay of the ría. Linear variation of concentration vs. salinity for As and As/Sb ratios indicated that there was no pollution in the waters of Arousa. The Prestige oil spillage had no serious influence and the values of arsenic (most of them <1.5 microg L(-1)) are similar to the average oceanic concentration, whereas concentrations for antimony (most of them <0.15 microg L(-1)) are less than the oceanic ones.     

Variation in posture quality across musical instruments and its impact during performances

Objective. Bad posture increases the risk that a musician may suffer from musculoskeletal disorders. This study compared posture quality required by different instruments or families of instruments. Methods. Using an ad-hoc postural observation instrument embracing 11 postural variables, four experts evaluated the postures of 100 students attending a Spanish higher conservatory of music. Results. The agreement of the experts’ evaluations was statistically confirmed by a Cohen's κ value between 0.855 and 1.000 and a Kendall value between 0.709 and 1.000 (p?χ² tests revealed significant association between instrument families and seated posture with respect to pelvic attitude, dorsal curvature and head alignment in both sagittal and frontal planes. This analysis also showed an association between instrument families and standing posture with respect to the frontal plane of the axis of gravity, pelvic attitude, head alignment in the frontal plane, the sagittal plane of the shoulders and overall posture. Conclusions. While certain postural defects appear to be common to all families of instruments, others are more characteristic of some families than others. The instrument associated with the best posture quality was the bagpipe, followed by percussion and strings.     

Air Quality Modeling Using the PSO-SVM-Based Approach,MLP Neural Network,and M5 Model Tree in the Metropolitan Area of Oviedo (Northern Spain)

The main aim of this study was to construct several regression models of air quality using techniques based on the statistical learning, in the metropolitan area of Oviedo, in northern Spain. In this research, a hybrid particle swarm optimization-based evolutionary support vector regression is implemented to predict the air quality from the experimental dataset (specifically, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and dust) collected from 2013 to 2015 in the metropolitan area of Oviedo. Furthermore, a multilayer perceptron network (MLP) and the M5 model tree were also fitted to the experimental dataset for comparison purposes. Finally, the predicted results show that the hybrid proposed model is more robust than the MLP and M5 model tree prediction methods in terms of statistical estimators and testing performances.     

Carbon stocks and losses to deforestation in protected areas in Brazilian Amazonia

Regional Environmental Change - By 2014 approximately 2.2 million km2 (~43%) of Brazil’s Legal Amazonia region had been incorporated into an extensive network of 718 protected areas, which...     

Trees on the move: using decision theory to compensate for climate change at the regional scale in forest social-ecological systems

Regional Environmental Change - The adaptation of social-ecological systems such as managed forests depends largely on decisions taken by forest managers who must choose among a wide range of...     

Life cycle assessment tool of electricity generation in Portugal

This paper investigates multi-stakeholder arrangements initiated by businesses and NGOs from the North that aim to enhance a more sustainable agricultural production at specific localities in Southern countries. We aim to better understand the search for concerted action in multi-actor arrangements. Therefore, this paper presents a diagnostic framework with three strategic challenges the partnership projects are facing: linking global economic objectives to local needs, values and interests; bridging public and private interests and responsibilities; and seeking trade-offs between social, environmental and economic values. Starting from the partnerships’ Theory of Change, this diagnostic framework is applied to comparative case studies of partnership projects in the cocoa sector in Indonesia, which are part of a Northern-based public–private partnership to improve farmers’ prospective. It is concluded that the economic reality faced by the farmers differs from that of the Northern actors; collaboration with governments is difficult because of different organizational cultures; and the partnership projects underestimate the strength of vested social relations the smallholders are part of. Overall, the initiators of the partnerships seem to work with a too restricted economic interpretation of the local reality.     

Discrete-choice experiments valuing local environmental impacts of renewables: two approaches to a case study in Portugal

Despite the often mentioned environmental benefits associated with transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, their use for electricity production has non-negligible negative environmental impacts. The most commonly mentioned in surveys concern different types of landscape impacts, impacts on the fauna and flora, and noise. These impacts differ by size and location of plants, and by source of energy, rendering the policy decision complex. In addition, there are other welfare issues to take into consideration, as positive and negative environmental impacts are not evenly distributed among population groups. This paper proposes to compare the welfare impacts of renewable energy sources controlling for the type of renewable as well as the specific environmental impact by source. To this end, two discrete-choice experiments are designed and applied to a national sample of the Portuguese population. In one case, only individual negative impacts of renewables are used, and in another case, the negative impacts interact with a specific source. Results show the robustness of discrete-choice experiments as a method to estimate the welfare change induced by the impacts of renewable energy sources. Overall, respondents are willing to pay to reduce the environmental impacts, thus making compensation for local impacts feasible. Moreover, the estimations reveal that respondents are significantly sensitive to the detrimental environmental effects of specific renewable energy sources, being willing to pay more to use these sources of energy relative to others.     

Environmental pollution in Africa

Mining and minerals industries are fast-growing, but at the same time, they have gained more attention due to their impacts over the environment and society. This research aims to provide new insights into the topic of perception and awareness toward sustainability in industrial mining in Brazil. The work included in-depth interviews with a set of companies’ managers/directors focusing in particular on aspects related to the social and environmental dimensions, including communication and relationship with the community, impact assessment and mitigation strategies. The knowledge and use of for formal indicators was also evaluated and analyzed through the proposed Model for Sustainability Assessment of Mining (SAoM model), which was applied to all participating companies. The results put in evidence the existing gap between large and small companies, with these last ones showing lower awareness for the impacts of their activities. The lack of community engagement and of local stakeholders’ involvement, as well as the disregard for actions to mitigate their environmental and social impacts, is the main challenges to be overcome by this sector. The sector has then a long path to go toward sustainability and an active involvement of public institutions is required to allow for its development without compromising locals welfare.     

Traffic and outdoor air pollution levels near highways in Baghdad,Iraq

In Iraq, the number of passenger cars, trucks and buses, local generators, and heavy construction equipment rose to a considerable extent since 2003, causing high environmental problems. Many types of pollutants were monitored and recorded for 24 h during March 2016. The study attempts to explore and establish a relationship between the volume of activity and the movement of motor vehicles of various compounds and contaminants resulting from their exhaust pipes, such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matters, oxides of nitrogen, VOCs, and unburned hydrocarbons. The study focused in and around Mohammad Al-Qasim highway adjacent to the University of Technology, Baghdad. The results showed the need for urgent treatments addressed by the environmental authorities in the city. The study results demonstrated that these contaminants are increased during periods of the beginning and end of working hours for government departments. Some types of sulfur compounds (H₂S and SO₂) concentrations were at serious health-threatening levels, which is a result of the high sulfur content in the Iraqi fuel. The concentrations of NOx and VOC were high, also, which could make the studied area vulnerable to the risk of smog formation. The Iraqi government should make greater efforts to protect the environment and human in this country from the transportation pollution risks.     

Energy–growth nexus revisited: an empirical application on transition countries

This study investigates the energy–growth nexus for transition countries analysing Granger causality between GDP growth per capita and energy use per capita. For this purpose, 17 countries located at Central and Eastern Europe and Caucasian region are chosen and a panel dataset consisting of these countries for the available period of 1990–2011 is studied. In the study, Granger causality is investigated using bootstrapped panel causality approach proposed by Konya (Econ Modell 23(6):978–992, 2006). The approach gives consistent results in case of cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity of slope coefficients between countries. Causality is examined for two scenarios: one with a trend and one without a trend. The results reveal that, in general, there is no causality running between energy consumption and economic growth, yet there is causality running from energy consumption to economic growth for some countries and sign of the relationship is always negative. Therefore, increases in energy consumption harm economic growth.