Facilitating and evaluating public participation in urban parks management

Active citizen involvement is driven by assumptions about inclusivity, equity and fairness and as such is part of an agenda for devolving power, largely from local authorities to individual persons or groups. Few theorists and practitioners doubt the benefits of such deliberative involvement but there is, as yet, little guidance on how to initiate, establish and support individual groups, nor how to evaluate their processes and outcomes. This lack of guidance often leads to groups being inadequately or inappropriately supported which, consequently, reduces their ability to engage in the very local political processes that they were initiated to address. This paper offers a new approach to the creation and support of such groups and outlines the design of two participation evaluation matrices, one to monitor the process and one to evaluate the outcome of the participatory exercise, providing a valuable feed-back tool for participants and facilitators. The paper concludes that it is important to have the financial commitment and willingness of the local authority to recognise public involvement as an educative process, to empower people and to allow groups to develop and own their achievements.     

Studies on leaching from spruce twigs and beech leaves

Leaching, depending on the acidity of the eluent, was investigated for K, Mg and Mn. The curves for the leachate concentration versus time could be described by a power function. Leaching from old needles exceeded leaching from young needles to a high degree, but the ratios of the leached elements were almost equal. A method for continuous measurements of pH change in solutions contacting plant materials was developed. The results were in agreement with data on acidity changes in water falling through spruce or beech canopies.     

Robust benchmark dose determination based on profile score methods

We investigate several methods commonly used to obtain a benchmark dose and show that those based on full likelihood or profile likelihood methods might have severe shortcomings. We propose two new profile likelihood-based approaches which overcome these problems. Another contribution is the extension of the benchmark dose determination to non full likelihood models, such as quasi-likelihood, generalized estimating equations, which are widely used in settings such as developmental toxicity where clustered data are encountered. This widening of the scope of application is possible by the use of (robust) score statistics. Benchmark dose methods are applied to a data set from a developmental toxicity study.     

Toxaphen in der Umwelt

Residue analysis of toxaphene has been difficult because of the complexity of the technical mixture consisting of a high number of compounds with very similar structure and differing chlorine content. Furthermore, the composition of toxaphene in environmental samples varies widely and is normally not related to that of the technical mixture. Therefore, quantification of single components in environmental samples was impossible. After the isolation and identification of a great number of components during the last decade, enough standards are available for the reliable quantification of toxaphene in all environmental compartments. Recently, most research has been performed on the separation of chiral components of toxaphene with a view to identifying the degradation mechanisms and distribution pathways.     

Food production in the city: (re)negotiating land,food and property

This paper addresses issues of access to land for food production in Toronto by offering fresh perspectives on urban agriculture in the neo-liberal city of the global north. It examines attempts to scale up urban agriculture that emphasise changing the relationships between land access, property and new collaborative relationships among different stakeholders. These initiatives involve renegotiating access to land for growing food between private property owners and landless growers, concomitant shifts in control over valued resources and commercialisation. These shifts are often based on relations of trust within a sharing economy rather than public battles over political decisions to develop urban agriculture lands. Growing food on private lands in the city is political in challenging taken-for-granted ideas and practices of property and urban agriculture. New approaches offer options for training and income, as well as expanding the land base for urban agriculture. Small-scale farming projects are affirmative political manoeuvres. They challenge urban residents to consider land for food production across the categories of public and private property. We document three approaches that challenge current property relations: temporary use of a development site through “soft” squatting; redesignating suburban backyards for farmer training and community-based and private food production; and garden sharing of private home backyards for urban food production and commercial growing. Such initiatives articulate alternative visions of sustainability and food security that rely on principles of collaboration and a sharing economy that challenge prevailing notions of property ownership and food security.     

Examination of honeys and flowers as soil element indicators

Detection of soil element deficiencies is time consuming, requiring a major commitment for field work and analysis. Bees concentrate some elements in their honey which could allow soil element concentrations to be predicted without having to take large numbers of soil samples. We measured 14 element concentrations in soil, sunflower, acacia flower and honey samples from two different regions of Hungary. Across sites, the elements with significant correlation coefficients between honey and soil concentrations, in descending order of probability, were Cu > Ba >Sr = Ni > Zn > Mn = Pb >As. Bioconcentration from soil to honey was similar for areas with acacia and sunflower flowers. In the macroelements, it was the greatest for K, S and P and least for Mg and Na, and in the microelements, greatest for B, then Zn, then Cu, then As, Mo and Sr and least for Fe, Ba, Mn and Pb. It is concluded that in acacia and sunflower-growing regions, honey can give an accurate estimate of soil element concentrations for Cu and Ba and provides relevant information for Sr, Ni, Zn, Mn, Pb and As.