Winners and losers: analysing post‐disaster spatial economic demand shift

Disasters produce winners and losers. This paper evaluates such winners and losers in a spatial context. The hypothesis is that, because of severe damage to the core disaster area and the constraints associated with the cost of transportation, economic demand would shift to the immediate edge of the disaster zone where either minor or no damage is observed. Empirical analysis of growth patterns in counties/parishes in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the United States after Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) verified the spatial demand shift hypothesis. The study found that the post‐Katrina core disaster area became a ‘doughnut hole’ of low income and employment growth, surrounded by a ring of high growth counties/parishes on the edge of the hole. The short‐run adjustment in growth rates may have altered permanently the spatial distribution of employment and income both at the core and in the areas at the edge.     

鞍山市供水水质安全面临的问题与保障对策

从生活饮用水质安全的角度评价了鞍山市供水水质的安全现状，分析了鞍山市供水水质安全面临的各种挑战，探讨了影响水质安全的主要问题，并提出对鞍山市水质安全的保障对策和技术措施。     

Implementing the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty: Future applications of geographic information systems within the Committee for Environmental Protection

With the entry into force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Protocol) in January 1998, key operational aspects of the newly established Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP), such as its advisory capacity to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs) need to be urgently addressed. This paper advocates the use of a geographic information system (GIS) environmental database to reinforce the advisory capacity of the CEP. The demonstrated links between the provisions of the Protocol and GIS capabilities illustrate the potential this has to assist the CEP in delivering informed advice to ATCMs. The range of GIS applications that could be utilized by the CEP in fulfilling its functions are examined by reference to precedents in Europe (CORINE) and Australia (ARIS).     

BENEFITS OF ITERATIVE WATER SUPPLY FORECASTING IN THE WASHINGTON,D.C., METROPOLITAN AREA1

The three largest water utilities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (WMA) rely on the Potomac River and its reservoirs for water supply. These utilities have committed to a periodic review of the system's adequacy to meet future demands. In 1990, 1995, 2000, and again in 2004 (for publication in 2005) the utilities requested that the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) conduct a 20‐year water demand and resource adequacy study to fulfill this need. The selection of the five‐year interval provides multiple benefits. It allows regular updates and incorporation of recent demographic forecasts, and it increases visibility and understanding of the adequacy of the region's water resources. It also provides adequate time to conduct research on the physical system and to incorporate modifications based on this research into subsequent studies. The studies and lessons learned are presented in this case study of the WMA. The work has been a natural outgrowth of a long history of cooperative water supply planning and management among the main WMA water utilities and ICPRB.     

Design for occupational safety and health of workers in construction in developing countries: a study of architects in Nigeria

Purpose. Design for safety (DfS) of workers is amongst the prominent ways of tackling poor occupational safety and health performance in construction. However, in developing countries there is extremely limited research on DfS. This study thus makes an important contribution to the subject of DfS in developing countries by specifically examining the awareness and practice of DfS amongst architects within the construction sector of Nigeria. Materials and methods. A survey of architects, yielding 161 valid responses, was conducted. Results. While there is high awareness of the concept of DfS, the actual practice is low. Additionally, although there is high interest in DfS training, the engagement in DfS training is low. Significantly, awareness of DfS, training and education related to DfS, and membership of a design professional body have very limited bearing on the practice of DfS by architects. Conclusions. The findings are thus symptomatic of the prevalence of influential DfS implementation barriers within the construction sector. Industry stakeholders should seek to raise the profile of DfS practice within the sector. Furthermore, similar empirical studies in the construction sector of other developing countries would be useful in shedding light on the status of DfS in these countries.     

Macroinvertebrates As Bioindicators of Water Pollution in Streams Draining Dairy Farming Catchments

Runoff from intensive dairy farming systems can impair the quality of catchment waters, with potential ecological and human health implications. A water quality study was carried out in three streams in a predominantly dairy farming region, with the aim of assessing the effects of diffused- and point-sourced inputs on a number of water quality parameters and benthic macroinvertebrates. the results showed significant increases in streamwater biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄-N) and molybdate reactive phosphorus (MRP) concentrations between the farm reaches. These changes in water quality appeared to be due largely to the point-sourced inputs from farmyards, and had a significant effect on the ability of the water to support a healthy and diverse community of invertebrates. the results also showed that concentrations of dissolved oxygen (DO) and ammonium in streamwater were the two most important parameters studied that were inversely related to the invertebrate scores.     

Personal need for structure as a boundary condition for humor in leadership

Recent research has established a positive relationship between humor in leadership and organizational behavior variables. However, neither the mechanisms nor the boundary conditions of the positive effects of humor in leadership are completely understood. In this study, we contribute to these questions by investigating the relationship between humor in leadership and follower commitment and burnout in more detail. We propose that these relationships unfold via a relational process and specified this relational process in terms of leader–member exchange. Moreover, we assume that these relationships depend on followers' personal need for structure. We tested the hypothesized moderated‐mediation model in a two‐wave survey study with 142 employees. Our results support the proposed model. We found the predicted indirect effect of humor on commitment and disengagement to be stronger for followers low in need for structure. However, we did not find the proposed effects for emotional exhaustion. We discuss implications for leadership theory, humor theory, and for leadership training and practice. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentralized scheme for leaks’ location in a branched pipeline

This article presents a novel scheme for the detection and isolation of single leaks in a pipeline with a branch junction by measuring only the flow rate and pressure at the ends of the line. For the solution of this realistic issue, which commonly occurs in pipeline networks, the position of the branch junction and its flow rate are supposed to be known. The idea consists of deriving a model considering the branch junction as a known point in the pipeline such that the leak position is characterized by two possible orientations with respect to the branch (upstream and downstream of it). Thus, this model allows proposing a diagnosis scheme which includes a static selector and two identifiers designed by using a continuous extended Kalman filter with only one deviation parameter to be estimated. This framework reduces the identification task to one parameter which is associated with the deviation from a prescribed positive base position located between one of the pipeline ends and the branch. Simulation and experimental results with data of a hydraulic pilot pipeline of 200 [m] show the promise of the novel scheme.     

Conditions for a 100% renewable energy supply system in Japan and South Korea

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, alternative energy paths have been discussed for Japan, but except for a few studies the assumption is usually made that Japan is too densely populated to be suited for a near-100% sustainable, indigenous energy provision. The studies emphasizing renewable energy have proposed the use of photovoltaic power as the main source of electricity supply, in combination with diurnal battery storage and supplemented by other renewable sources such as wind, hydro, and geothermal power. Here, an alternative approach is explored, with wind and derived hydrogen production as the main energy source, but still using solar energy, biofuels, and hydropower in a resilient combination allowing full satisfaction of demands in all sectors of the economy, i.e., for dedicated electricity, transportation energy as well as heat for processes and comfort. Furthermore, the possible advantage of establishing a regional energy system with energy interchange and coordinated management of the mix of renewable energy resources across a wider region is discussed. As the closest neighbor, the energy system of South Korea is considered, first regarding the possibility of a similar full renewable energy reliance, and then for possible synergetic effects of connecting the Korean and the Japanese energy systems, in order to be able to better cope with the intermittency of renewable energy source flows.     

Value Plurality among Conservation Professionals

Abstract: Debate on the values that underpin conservation science is rarely based on empirical analysis of the values conservation professionals actually hold. We used Q methodology to investigate the values held by international conservation professionals who attended the annual Student Conference in Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge (U.K.) in 2008 and 2009. The methodology offers a quantitative means of examining human subjectivity. It differs from standard opinion surveys in that individual respondents record the way they feel about statements relative to other statements, which forces them to focus their attention on the issues they believe are most important. The analysis extracts the diverse viewpoints of the respondents, and factor analysis is used to reduce the viewpoints to a smaller set of factors that reflect shared ways of thinking. The junior conservation professionals attending the conference did not share a unifying set of core values; rather, they held a complex series of ideas and a plurality of opinions about conservation and how it should be pursued. This diversity of values empirically challenges recent proposals for conservation professionals to unite behind a single philosophy. Attempts to forge an artificial consensus may be counterproductive to the overall goals conservation professionals are pursuing.