Search results for "Resource management"
showing 10 items of 1491 documents
The Changing Role and Contribution of Social Science to Nuclear Waste Management in Finland
2008
This article explores both the social and political usage of social science research and its effectiveness, as perceived by experts, in the process of planning and decision-making in the context of Finnish nuclear waste management. The argument is that public participation in the process is important, but to reach some kind of public acceptability the actors in charge of “solving” the nuclear waste problem have to govern the societal process and respond to the claims and the needs of the public. This requires the integration of social science research into the process responsible for developing the nuclear waste management model. In trying to understand the uniquely positive nuclear waste …
Groundwater sustainability: Developing a non-cooperative optimal management scenario in shared groundwater resources under water bankruptcy condition…
2021
Abstract Groundwater level drawdown changes the hydrological cycle and poses challenges such as land subsidence and reduction of the groundwater quality. In this study, a new approach using a simulation-optimization framework was developed for shared groundwater management under water bankruptcy conditions (where water demand is greater than the allowable discharge capacity of water resources). The novelty of this study lies in using bankruptcy rules and a game model to manage a bankrupted shared groundwater resource considering aquifer sustainability. Accordingly, groundwater flow in the aquifer was numerically simulated by a finite-differences model (MODFLOW). Then, the repeated performan…
Assessing the effectiveness of green roofs in enhancing the energy and indoor comfort resilience of urban buildings to climate change: Methodology pr…
2021
Abstract The effects of climate change on the built environment represents an important research challenge. Today, green roofs (GRs) represent a viable solution for enhancing energy and urban resilience in the face of climate change, as they can have a positive impact on the building's indoor thermal comfort and energy demand, as well as inducing various environmental benefits (easing urban heat island effects, improving the management of runoff water, reducing air pollution, etc.). Thus, it is important to be able to assess their effectiveness, both today and under future climate conditions, in order to evaluate whether they can also provide a valid long-term solution. In this paper, a sim…
The way forward : Can connectivity be useful to design better measuring and modelling schemes for water and sediment dynamics?
2018
For many years, scientists have tried to understand, describe and quantify water and sediment fluxes, with associated substances like pollutants, at multiple scales. In the past two decades, a new concept called connectivity has been used by Earth Scientists as a means to describe and quantify the influences on the fluxes of water and sediment on different scales: aggregate, pedon, location on the slope, slope, watershed, and basin. A better understanding of connectivity can enhance our comprehension of landscape processes and provide a basis for the development of better measurement and modelling approaches, further leading to a better potential for implementing this concept as a managemen…
Current state of water management in Japan
2014
Financial sustainability of water utilities is essential to guarantee the provision of high quality services. The aims of this paper are to review the current state of water management in Japan and to identify the main difficulties which confront Japanese water utilities. As the facilities built when the country expanded water utilities rapidly are drawing near the renewal period concurrently, water operators must quickly accelerate facility renewal work. The statistical data from the Japan Water Works Association illustrate that one of the most significant challenges facing Japanese water utilities is to finance investments to renew facilities and to prepare them for earthquakes. Difficult…
Estimation of urban structural flood damages: the case study of Palermo
2000
Abstract The estimation of flood damage is a fundamental step in the economic analysis of a flood control projects. In particular, frequency–damage functions, derived from the hydrologic, hydraulic and damage relationships, are one of the fundamental pieces of information upon which expenditure decisions are based. The aim of this study has been to develop an empirical frequency–damage relationship, obtained by means of detailed local studies, which could be a judgement tool for flood mitigation measures in strongly urbanised drainage areas. Monuments and other estates having a cultural or artistic significance have been specifically taken into account. The analysis has been carried out for…
Assessment of water shortage in urban areas
2007
Recent history has demonstrated that extreme hydrological events such as floods and droughts can create additional stress on water supplies essential for human and ecosystem health. As stated several times by European Environmental Agency, the prudent and efficient use of water is thus an important issue in Europe and a number of policies and mechanisms have been used or have been formulated to ensure sustainable use of water in the long term. Urban uses are responsible of almost the 17% of the total European fresh water consumption and they are rapidly growing depending on the extension of urban areas and concentration of population in cities. The present chapter will discuss the phases in…
Testing the Role of Comparative Advantage and Learning in Wage and Promotion Dynamics
2012
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically whether job assignment, based on comparative advantage and learning about workers’ abilities, can explain wage and promotion dynamics within firms.Design/methodology/approachThe Gibbons and Waldman model is estimated in a generalized method of moments (GMM) framework using a unique data set on white‐collar workers in Norway, for the years 1987‐1997. The estimation is carried out on two occupational groups: technical and administrative white‐collar workers.FindingsThe placing of workers in a given position within a firm's hierarchy is based on comparative advantage. Both measurable and unmeasurable skills are important. This hold…
Soil biodiversity monitoring in Europe : ongoing activities and challenges
2009
International audience; The increasing interest in soil biodiversity and its protection includes both the biodiversity conservation issues and the mostly unknown economic and ecological values of services provided by soil biodiversity. Inventory and monitoring are necessary tools for the achievement of an adequate level of knowledge regarding soil biodiversity status and for the detection of biodiversity hot spots as well as areas where current levels of biodiversity are under threat of decline. In this paper the main tools and methodological approaches for soil biodiversity measurement are presented. Technical aspects related to the inventory and monitoring activities at a large spatial sc…
Near zero energy islands in the Mediterranean: Supporting policies and local obstacles
2014
Abstract Based on a recent technical–economical analysis on the island of Pantelleria, a policy feasibility study for a complete upgrading of the energy system of this Mediterranean Island is carried out. Pantelleria, situated between Sicily and Africa, owns a large potential in terms of renewable energy resources, although there are some obstacles in turning it into a Near Zero Energy system. Starting from a deep energy system audit, the study proposes the project for a near zero energy island, through the efficient transformation of the different existing natural energy resources into electrical energy and heat: the solar, the wind-based and the geothermal systems. In this way, the island…