Assessing the Restoration Success of River Widenings: A Landscape Approach

During the last 200 years, many rivers in industrialized countries have been modified by canalization. In the last two decades, the philosophy of river management has changed considerably, and restoration of ecological integrity has become an important management goal. One appealing restoration approach is to create “river widenings” that permit braiding within a limited area. This study presents a new and efficient framework for rapidly assessing such widening projects and offers a novel method to comparing restored sites with near-natural stretches (stencil technique). The proposed framework evaluates spatial patterns of riparian habitat types using landscape metrics as indicators. Three case studies from river restoration (river widening) in Switzerland are presented for demonstration purposes.The method compares restored sites with prerestoration conditions and near-natural conditions, which are assumed to represent the worst and best case states of a river system. To take into account the limited spatial extent of the restored sites, the so-called “stencil technique” was developed, where the landscape metrics of the near-natural reference sites are calculated for both the entire study area and smaller sections (clips). The clips are created by using a stencil that has the exact shape and size of the restored area (random window-sampling technique). Subsequently, the calculated metrics for the restored sites are compared to the range of values calculated for the near-natural data subset. Our studies show that the proposed method is easy to apply andprovides a valid way to assess the restoration success of river widenings. We found that river widenings offer real opportunities for establishing riparian habitats. However, they promote mainly pioneer successional stages and the habitat mosaic of the restored section is more complex than at the near-natural reference sites.     

Integrating industrial ecology principles into a set of environmental sustainability indicators for technology assessment

This paper focuses on the environmental component of sustainability of technology, taking into account the role of industrial ecology. Assessment of environmental sustainability of technology traditionally focuses on immediate impact of technology on the environment through quantifying resource extraction and generated emissions. However, technology does not only exchange materials with the environment but also with the industrial society as a whole, the so-called industrial metabolism. A higher compatibility of a specific technology with the industrial system, as studied in industrial ecology, can result in lower resource extraction and reduced waste emission, indirectly contributing to a better environmental sustainability.Starting from the considerations above and based on the second law of thermodynamics, the paper presents a set of five environmental sustainability indicators for the assessment of products and production pathways, integrating industrial ecology principles. The indicators, all scaled between 0 and 1, take into account: (1) renewability of resources; (2) toxicity of emissions; (3) input of used materials; (4) recoverability of products at the end of their use; (5) process efficiency.The applicability of the elaborated set of indicators is illustrated for different production pathways of alcohols (petrochemical and oleochemical based), polyethylene end-of-life options and electricity production from non-renewable (natural gas and fossil oil) and renewable resources (hydropower, photovoltaic conversion of solar irradiation).     

MEASURING DROUGHT IMPACTS: THE ILLINOIS CASE1

ABSTRACT: Drought is an interaction between physical processes and human activities. This study quantified the impacts of precipitation deficiencies on streamflow, reservoirs, and shallow ground water supplies. An in-depth analysis of newspaper accounts of droughts between paired cities, one in drought and one not in drought, were used to measure the differences in the types of drought impacts, and in the time of onset of impacts as related to developing precipitation deficiencies. Precipitation deficiencies related to the onset and the magnitude of surface water supply adjustments, and to shallow ground water problems, were established. Thus, monitoring and prediction of the onset and magnitude of drought problems can now be done from readily available data on precipitation deficiencies. Newspapers were found to be reliable indicators for the timing of drought impacts and adjustments as precipitation deficiency develops. A review of local and state adjustments during two recent droughts revealed most decision makers lacked information and experience in dealing with drought.     

Measuring mining safety with injury statistics: lost workdays as indicators of risk

PROBLEM: Mining in the United States remains one of the most hazardous industries, despite significant reductions in fatal injury rates over the last century. Coal mine fatality rates, for example, have dropped almost a thousand-fold since their peak in 1908. While incidence rates are very important indicators, lost worktime measures offer an alternative metric for evaluating job safety and health performance. The first objective of this study examined the distributions and summary statistics of all injuries reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1983 through 2004. Over the period studied (1983-2004), there were 31,515,368 lost workdays associated with mining injuries, for an equivalent of 5,700 person-years lost annually. The second objective addressed the problem of comparing safety program performance in mines for situations where denominator data were lacking. By examining the consequences of injuries, comparisons can be made between disparate operations without the need for denominators. Total risk in the form of lost workday sums can help to distinguish between lower- and higher-risk operations or time periods. METHOD: Our method was to use a beta distribution to model the losses and to compare underground coal mining to underground metal/nonmetal mining from 2000 to 2004. RESULTS: Our results showed the probability of an injury having 10 or more lost workdays was 0.52 for coal mine cases versus 0.35 for metal/nonmetal mine cases. In addition, a comparison of injuries involving continuous mining machines over 2001-2002 versus 2003-2004 showed that the ratio of average losses in the later period to those in the earlier period was approximately 1.08, suggesting increasing risks for such operations. DISCUSSION: This denominator-free safety measure will help the mining industry more effectively identify higher-risk operations and more realistically evaluate their safety improvement programs. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Attention to a variety of metrics concerning the performance of a job safety and health program will enhance industry's ability to manage these programs and reduce risk.     

湿地退化的人为影响因素分析——基于时间序列数据和截面数据的实证分析

湿地退化受自然和区域社会经济发展等诸多因素的影响,目前中国湿地生态系统的综合研究备受学者关注。论文在学者们研究的基础上,重点分析影响湿地的社会经济发展人为影响因素,运用全国大尺度统计数据进行定量化研究。应用SPSS 17.0统计软件对其进行主成分及因子回归分析,进一步找出影响显著的因子并对中国湿地发展趋势进行预测。研究结果表明,中国湿地退化的人为因素主要受三大主成分影响,即城市发展(FAC₁)、农村生产及全国基础设施(FAC₂)以及资源禀赋(FAC₃)的影响;通过多元线性回归分析,与湿地退化过程中相关的指标湿地总面积(Y₁)、地表水资源量(Y₂)、天然湿地面积(Y₃)以及湿地面积占本省国土面积比(Y₄)4个指标均受FAC₁的影响且较为显著(α=0.05);Y₃与城市发展关系非常显著(α=0.01);FAC₂对Y₃与Y₄的影响较为显著;同时FAC₃对Y₃的影响较为显著。研究最后拟合出了湿地退化指标与三大主成分的拟合线性方程,并提出了相关对策建议,以期对中国湿地及其生态系统健康发展提供有益的帮助。     

广东省台风暴潮灾害社会经济系统脆弱性分析——模糊数学方法

给出了台风暴潮灾害社会经济系统脆弱性的定义,应用模糊综合评价方法提供了计算台风暴潮灾害社会经济系统脆弱性的评估模式,进而探讨了脆弱性的空间分布状况,并将其应用于广东省台风暴潮灾害的脆弱性评估,所提方法可以较好地综合多种社会经济因素对台风暴潮灾害的影响.     

Post-disaster resettlement, development and change: a case study of the 1990 Manjil earthquake in Iran

Planned and involuntary resettlement after natural disasters has been a major policy in post-disaster reconstruction in developing countries over the past few decades. Studies show that resettlement can result in significant adverse impacts on the resettled population. Conversely, a well-planned and managed resettlement process can produce positive long-term development outcomes. This article presents the results of a case study undertaken 11 years after the 1990 Manjil earthquake in Iran. During the reconstruction period, a policy of involuntary planned resettlement was pursued extensively. The socioeconomic changes that occurred as a consequence of this policy of involuntary resettlement are analysed. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey that involved a sample of 194 relocated households (grouped into a settlement that later became a town). The paper shows that relocated families face difficult socioeconomic challenges after relocation and regrouping. This is especially true with respect to employment, income, the empowerment of women and lifestyle issues.     

Detecting fatigue in car drivers and aircraft pilots by using non-invasive measures: The value of differentiation of sleepiness and mental fatigue

Introduction: Fatigue is one of the most crucial factors that contribute to a decrease of the operating performance of aircraft pilots and car drivers and, as such, plays a dangerous role in transport safety. To reduce fatigue-related tragedies and to increase the quality of a healthy life, many studies have focused on exploring effective methods and psychophysiological indicators for detecting and monitoring fatigue. However, those fatigue indicators rose many discrepancies among simulator and field studies, due to the vague conceptualism of fatigue, per se, which hinders the development of fatigue monitoring devices. Method: This paper aims to give psychological insight of the existing non-invasive measures for driver and pilot fatigue by differentiating sleepiness and mental fatigue. Such a study helps to improve research results for a wide range of researchers whose interests lie in the development of in-vehicle fatigue detection devices. First, the nature of fatigue for drivers/pilots is elucidated regarding fatigue types and fatigue responses, which reshapes our understanding of the fatigue issue in the transport industry. Secondly, the widely used objective neurophysiological methods, including electroencephalography (EEG), electrooculography (EOG), and electrocardiography (ECG), physical movement-based methods, vehicle-based methods, fitness-for-duty test as well as subjective methods (self-rating scales) are introduced. On the one hand, considering the difference between mental fatigue and sleepiness effects, the links between the objective and subjective indicators and fatigue are thoroughly investigated and reviewed. On the other hand, to better determine fatigue occurrence, a new combination of measures is recommended, as a single measure is not sufficient to yield a convincing benchmark of fatigue. Finally, since video-based techniques of measuring eye metrics offer a promising and practical method for monitoring operator fatigue, the relationship between fatigue and these eye metrics, that include blink-based, pupil-based, and saccade-based features, are also discussed. To realize a pragmatic fatigue detector for operators in the future, this paper concludes with a discussion on the future directions in terms of methodology of conducting operator fatigue research and fatigue analysis by using eye-related parameters.     

Evaluating Flow Metric‐Based Stream Classification Systems to Support the Determination of Ecological Flows in North Carolina

Hydroecological classification systems are typically based on an assemblage of streamflow metrics and seek to divide streams into ecologically relevant classes. Assignment of streams to classes is suggested as an initial step in the process of establishing ecological flow standards. We used two distinct hydroecological river classification systems available within North Carolina to evaluate the ability of a hydrologic model to assign the same classes as those determined by observed streamflows and to assess the transferability of such systems to ungaged streams. Class assignments were examined by rate of overall matches, rate of class matches, spatial variability in matches, and time period used in class assignment. The findings of this study indicate assignments of stream class: (1) are inconsistent among different classification systems; (2) differ between observed and modeled data; and (3) are sensitive to the period of record within observed data. One clear source of inconsistency/sensitivity in class assignments lies with the use of threshold values for metrics that distinguish stream classes, such that even small changes in metric values can result in different class assignments. Because these two hydroecological classification systems are representative of other classification systems that rely on quantitative decision thresholds, it can be surmised that the use of such systems based on stream flow metrics is not a reliable approach for guiding ecological flow determinations.     

Design of indicators for measuring product performance in the circular economy

Abstract

This paper explores measurement of product performance with respect to circular economy (CE) principles. Potential indicators are assessed with special attention given to questions such as: the variables that should be measured; how these variables should be assessed; and in which format they should be presented. The resulting considerations are used to develop a prototype whose design is informed through feedback from CE experts. The prototype uses a points-based questionnaire which converges into a simple final result with minimum and maximum limits. The selected approach is critically appraised, and its utility for decision-making discussed. The prototype is tested against a product in the chemical processing industry. The strengths include: ease of use; simplicity; speed; and an effective metaphor for the diffusion of CE principles. The limitations include: the opaque and potentially misleading nature of a single metric; superficial engagement with decision-making; and the reliance on context-specific assumptions. Future developments could include refining the approach to encourage deeper reflection, and generalisation of the approach to different industry sectors or sustainability frameworks.