Influence of temperature on PCDD/PCDF desorption from waste incineration flyash under nitrogen

A municipal solid waste incinerator flyash was heated to between 200 and 400 degrees C under nitrogen in a bench-scale, static bed reactor for 4 days soak time. The influence of temperature on the levels of PCDD and PCDF remaining in and desorbed from the ash were investigated using GC-MS/MS. PCDD and especially PCDF formation was seen on the flyash between 225 and 300 degrees C. Large increases in the I-TEQ of the treated ash relative to the increase in its overall PCDD/PCDF content indicated that the formation of 2378-substituted congeners was favoured over that of other substitution patterns. In the absence of a source of gaseous oxygen, formation was mainly attributed to de novo reactions involving solid phase oxygen. Dechlorination of the PCDD/PCDF in flyash became increasingly important above 275 degrees C. Maximum desorption was seen at 325 degrees C, with the equivalent of 35 wt% of the PCDD/F in the original flyash being recovered from the exhaust traps at this temperature. The desorbed species were mainly M(1)CDD/CDDF-T(3)CDD/CDDF resulting from dechlorination of higher chlorinated PCDD/PCDF, with consequently low I-TEQ values.     

Political transition and emergent forest‐conservation issues in Myanmar

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long‐running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon‐scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land‐tenure insecurity, large‐scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure‐ and energy‐project planning, and reforming land‐tenure and environmental‐protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions.     

A proposed System of Hierarchical Scorecards to assess the implementation of maritime regulations

The successful implementation of a regulation in the modern complicated world is a major issue for states. A newly introduced regulation may cause conflicts of interest among various parties that are affected. A common conflict is that from one hand, the public demands the introduction of regulations that will increase safety, environmental and security standards while on the other hand industries are concerned about potential costs caused by new regulations. In this paper, the shipping industry, which is a typical example of an international industry, is chosen to carry out a cost and benefit analysis generated from the implementation of a newly introduced regulation. Consequently, a methodology is proposed capable of evaluating the implementation performance of a regulation in the shipping industry with respect to the costs and benefits that can be generated. For a simple and effective computation, a System of Hierarchical Scorecards (SHS) is developed to assist regulators in evaluating any proposed and/or existing regulations.     

Green tenants: practicing a sustainability ethics for the rental housing sector

The shift towards social, government and corporate ethics which value environmental sustainability has also embraced householders in a plethora of educational guides, policies, regulations and consumer information about green home improvements, purchasing choices and household practices. In this paper, we make the claim that the rental housing sector, and in particular the private rental sector, has yet to participate, structurally, culturally and materially, in this shift to an ethics of sustainability. We argue, however, that even on such otherwise arid ground, an alternative ethic is developing, a sustainability ethic practiced by green tenants whose activities inside and outside their homes go beyond the considerable material constraints of their dwellings and incomes, and beyond the purely transactional utility of the rental contract. These activities, relational, interconnected and resilient, offer both glimpses of a greening rental housing sector, and a clearer picture of the areas where work remains to be done. Based on a research study, we conducted of the rental sector in regional Australia, and in particular of the everyday sustainability practices of tenants, we suggest that these activities are a practice-based form of care for the world, in many ways similar to Maria Puig de la Bellacasa's practice-based, human-decentred ethics which she suggests is exemplified in the permaculture movement. The stories of the tenants we interviewed for our study also point the way to other changes which are needed to enable a practice-based sustainability ethic to flourish across the rental housing sector as a whole.     

Engaging stakeholders in an adaptation process: governance and institutional arrangements in heat-health policy development in Adelaide, Australia

Record breaking heat waves have been recorded in Adelaide, Australia in recent years and climate change would likely increase the frequency, duration and severity of heat waves. This paper describes the governance and institutional arrangements during the development of an adaptation strategy (herein referred to as heat-health policy) for heat waves in Adelaide, Australia. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and August 2011 among 18 stakeholders who were involved in the participatory process during the development of the heat-health policy. Informed consent was obtained and interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and the data analysed using framework analysis. Interview data were supplemented by data gathered through a review of documents associated with the process. The results found that the process of developing the heat-health policy was initiated by the state government and comprised of stakeholders from both the state and non-state sectors. There was a high level of leadership and political commitment demonstrated during the process, given that the different players wanted a policy to be in place before any future heat wave. A Steering Committee was established that provided coordination and oversight in addition to the Emergency Management Act within the state which provided the legislative framework during the heat-health policy development process. Although the decision-making authority was controlled by a controlled by a public institution, to a larger extent, there was collaborative decision-making by virtue of the context in which the heat-health policy was developed. An assurance mechanism established during the process was among the factors that ensured accountability during the participatory process. Overall, the development of the heat-health policy in Adelaide was largely successful, attributed to the extent of political commitment from the state government and the sound institutional and legislative framework that facilitated the process. Good governance and institutional arrangements provide the enabling environment, the structures, systems and resources that would facilitate the development of adaptation strategies such as heat-health policies.     

Self-Reported Seat Belt Use in Four Countries: A Telephone Survey

A telephone survey was conducted in four countries in November 1998 to compare drivers in the United States with those in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom regarding their attitudes toward seat belts and belt use laws. More than 90 percent of the 2251 respondents said they thought seat belts are effective, but self-reported belt use was significantly lower in the United States than in the other countries. Respondents in Australia and the United Kingdom had similar views about what they thought were important reasons for using seat belts and had the highest self-reported use. Reasons given for using belts by Canadian and US respondents were quite similar to one another, yet US respondents had significantly lower self-reported use rates, a difference thought to be due to vigorous enforcement of the law in Canada. US drivers were less likely than Australian and UK drivers to say they used belts out of habit, to avoid a ticket, or because it is required by law and more likely to say they used belts for situational reasons. US drivers were least likely to be in favor of belt use laws. Canadian drivers reported the most experience being checked by police for belt use and were most likely to think that nonusers would be caught. US drivers in primary enforcement jurisdictions were more likely than those in secondary jurisdictions to think that drivers not using belts would be caught and more likely to say they always used belts. Results of this survey indicate that seat belt use in the United States could be increased by adoption of primary enforcement laws and highly visible enforcement programs of the type used in Canada, and that seat belt use could be increased in all countries by increasing the penalties for nonuse.     

Complex responses within a desert bee guild (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) to urban habitat fragmentation.

Urbanization within the Tucson Basin of Arizona during the past 50+ years has fragmented the original desert scrub into patches of different sizes and ages. These remnant patches and the surrounding desert are dominated by Larrea tridentata (creosote bush), a long-lived shrub whose flowers are visited by > 120 native bee species across its range. Twenty-one of these bee species restrict their pollen foraging to L. tridentata. To evaluate the response of this bee fauna to fragmentation, we compared species incidence and abundance patterns for the bee guild visiting L. tridentata at 59 habitat fragments of known size (0.002-5 ha) and age (up to 70 years), and in adjacent desert. The 62 bee species caught during this study responded to fragmentation heterogeneously and not in direct relation to their abundance or incidence in undisturbed desert. Few species found outside the city were entirely absent from urban fragments. Species of ground-nesting L. tridentata specialists were underrepresented in smaller fragments and less abundant in the smaller and older fragments. In contrast, cavity-nesting bees (including one L. tridentata specialist) were overrepresented in the habitat fragments, probably due to enhanced nesting opportunities available in the urban matrix. Small-bodied bee species were no more likely than larger bodied species to be absent from the smaller fragments. The introduced European honey bee, Apis mellifera, was a minor faunal element at > 90% of the fragments and exerted little if any influence on the response of native bee species to fragmentation. Overall, bee response to urban habitat fragmentation was best predicted by ecological traits associated with nesting and dietary breadth. Had species been treated as individual units in the analyses, or pooled together into one analysis, these response patterns may not have been apparent. Pollination interactions with this floral host are probably not adversely affected in this system because of its longevity and ability to attract diverse pollinators but will demand careful further study to understand.     

Apples, Oranges, and Probabilities: Integrating Multiple Factors into Biodiversity Conservation with Consistency

We explore the problem of integrating some of the many factors involved in conservation planning by focusing on their effects on a common currency of conservation success, the probability of persistence. This approach has the potential to reduce many of the difficulties inherent in combining different pattern and process factors. For handling information expressed as probabilities, five area-selection methods are compared.