8,201 research outputs found
Towards a circular economy: A cross-case analysis of recycling in three South African towns
The concept of circular economy includes three aspects from a
human perspective, namely Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Studying
human behaviour is important in understanding and evaluating
the possible success of any of the three elements. We explored
the link between household waste practices and local
governmentsâ ability to provide proper waste management, as
stipulated in the South African Constitution, as well as the factors
linked to different waste management practices through a crosscase
analysis using a mixed-method research design. Households
in Calvinia, Philippolis and Polokwane handle waste differently
due to different levels of municipal waste services rendered and
the availability of local recycling options
Guidelines for Impact Assessment in Law Drafting
These guidelines replace the Guidelines for Impact Assessment in Law Drafting issued by the Government in 2007. The purpose of the revised guidelines is to improve the quality of impact assessments and thus the acts to be drafted. The guidelines help law drafters plan impact assessments, identify and assess different types of impacts and, where necessary, seek further information.
The first part of the guidelines lays down general principles for impact assessments. This part deals with starting points for an impact assessment, the stages of the impact assessment as part of the law drafting process, the special features of impact assessments in projects concerning EU legislation and treaties, and information collection, methods and documentation in connection with impact assessments.
The second part of the guidelines provides instructions on special questions related to the assessment of different types of impacts. The guidelines describe what the different types of impacts mean, how they can be assessed, and what information sources are available for this purpose. The impacts to be assessed are divided into economic impacts, environmental impacts and other human and societal impacts.
In addition, the guidelines contain a checklist for the impact assessment process, a checklist for the identification of impacts and a list of further instructions and information sources referred to in the guidelines
Openness in Education as a Praxis: From Individual Testimonials to Collective Voices
Why is Openness in Education important, and why is it critically needed at this moment? As manifested in our guiding question, the significance of Openness in Education and its immediate necessity form the heart of this collaborative editorial piece. This rather straightforward, yet nuanced query has sparked this collective endeavour by using individual testimonies, which may also be taken as living narratives, to reveal the value of Openness in Education as a praxis. Such testimonies serve as rich, personal narratives, critical introspections, and experience-based accounts that function as sources of data. The data gleaned from these narratives points to the understanding of Openness in Education as a complex, multilayered concept intricately woven into an array of values. These range from aspects such as sharing, access, flexibility, affordability, enlightenment, barrier-removal, empowerment, care, individual agency, trust, innovation, sustainability, collaboration, co-creation, social justice, equity, transparency, inclusivity, decolonization, democratisation, participation, liberty, and respect for diversity. This editorial, as a product of collective endeavour, invites its readers to independently engage with individual narratives, fostering the creation of unique interpretations. This call stems from the distinctive character of each narrative as they voice individual researchersâ perspectives from around the globe, articulating their insights within their unique situational contexts
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Landfill site trees: Potential source or sink of greenhouse gases?
Tree stems can transport greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced belowground to the atmosphere. Previous studies in natural wetland and upland ecosystems have quantified tree stem fluxes of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O). However, tree stem GHG fluxes have not previously been measured in the context of managed environments. The work presented in this thesis aimed to quantify GHG fluxes from tree stems on closed landfill sites.
To investigate the potential for trees growing on closed landfill sites to act as conduits for GHGs produced belowground to the atmosphere, GHG fluxes were measured from tree stem and soil surfaces. In situ measurements from a closed landfill site in the UK were examined for spatial and temporal patterns and evaluated against data from a comparable non-landfill area. Measurements were also conducted from landfill sites in the UK with varying management practices and different tree species present. The resulting flux values were scaled up to estimate the magnitude of tree stem GHG fluxes from closed landfills at a national level.
The findings presented here show evidence of tree mediated GHG transport on closed landfill sites and temporal variations in fluxes from tree stems were also observed, with generally higher fluxes in the summer months. Stem CH4 fluxes varied between trees growing on landfill sites with different management practices. Additionally, stem N2O fluxes displayed spatial patterns, with decreasing emissions at increased height from the forest floor, indicating an underground source. Evidence suggested that GHG fluxes from closed landfills are influenced by factors including the quantity of GHG produced in the waste (linked to the age of the site), the susceptibility of the area to waterlogging and landfill management techniques put in place upon closure (for example, clay caps, cover soils and gas extraction). Upscaled CH4 and N2O flux values from tree stems on closed landfill sites corresponded to less than 1% of the total CH4 and N2O emissions reported from UK landfills in 2020.
Overall, results indicated that measuring soil fluxes alone from forested landfill sites would result in an underestimation of the total surface fluxes. However, the emission rates from tree stems on closed landfills observed in this thesis do not exceed those in natural ecosystems. Therefore, with careful planning and management, the recommendation is that trees can be planted on closed landfill sites in the UK without emitting atypical levels of GHGs. However, including gas fluxes from tree stems on closed landfills would increase the accuracy of GHG budgets at national and global levels
Urbanised forested landscape: Urbanisation, timber extraction and forest care on the ViÈeu Valley, northern Romania
By looking at urbanisation processes from the vantage point of the forest, and the ways in which it both constitutes our living space while having been separated from the bounded space of the urban in modern history, the thesis asks: How can we (re)imagine urbanisation beyond the limits of the urban? How can a feminine line of thinking engage with the forest beyond the capitalist-colonial paradigm and its extractive project? and How can we âthink with careâ (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017) towards the forest as an inhabitant of our common world, instead of perpetuating the image of the forest as a space outside the delimited boundaries of the city? Through a case study research, introducing the ViÈeu Valley in northern Romania as both a site engaged in the circulation of the global timber flow, a part of what Brenner and Schmid (2014) name âplanetary urbanisationâ, where the extractive logging operations beginning in the late XVIIIth century have constructed it as an extractive landscape, and a more than human landscape inhabited by a multitude of beings (animal, plant, and human) the thesis argues towards the importance of forest care and indigenous knowledge in landscape management understood as a trans-generational transmission of knowledge, that is interdependent with the persistence of the landscape as such. Having a trans-scalar approach, the thesis investigates the ways in which the extractive projects of the capitalist-colonial paradigm have and still are shaping forested landscapes across the globe in order to situate the case as part of a planetary forest landscape and the contemporary debates it is engaged in. By engaging with emerging paradigms within the fields of plant communication, forestry, legal scholarship and landscape urbanism that present trees and forests as intelligent beings, and look at urbanisation as a way of inhabiting the landscape in both indigenous and modern cultures, the thesis argues towards viewing forested landscapes as more than human living spaces. Thinking urbanisation through the case of the ViÈeu Valleyâs urbanised forested landscape, the thesis aligns with alternate ways of viewing urbanisation as co-habitation with more than human beings, particularly those emerging from interdisciplinary research in the Amazon river basin (Tavares 2017, Heckenberger 2012) and, in light of emerging discourses on the rights of nature, proposes an expanded concept of planetary citizenship, to include non-human personhood
Visual Programming Paradigm for Organizations in Multi-Agent Systems
Over the past few years, due to a fast digitalization process, business activities witnessed the adoption of new technologies, such as Multi-Agent Systems, to increase the autonomy of their activities. However, the complexity of these technologies often hinders the capability of domain experts, who do not possess coding skills, to exploit them directly.
To take advantage of these individuals' expertise in their field, the idea of a user-friendly and accessible Integrated Development Environment arose. Indeed, efforts have already been made to develop a block-based visual programming language for software agents.
Although the latter project represents a huge step forward, it does not provide a solution for addressing complex, real-world use cases where interactions and coordination among single entities are crucial. To address this problem, Multi-Agent Oriented Programming introduces organization as a first-class abstraction for designing and implementing Multi-Agent Systems.
Therefore, this thesis aims to provide a solution allowing users to impose an organization on top of the agents easily. Since ease of use and intuitiveness remain the key points for this project, users will be able to define organizations through visual language and an intuitive development environment
Implications of the blockchain technology adoption by additive symbiotic networks
Funding Information: Funding: This work was supported by Fundação para a CiĂȘncia e Tecnologia, Lisboa, Portugal [Grant No SFRH/BD/145448/2019 and via the project UIDB/00667/2020 (UNIDEMI)]. Publisher Copyright: © 2023A vibrant debate has been initiated around the potential adoption of blockchain technology for enhancing the development of industrial symbiosis networks, particularly for promoting the creation of additive symbiotic networks. Despite the potential benefits of trust creation and elimination of intermediary entities, adopting such innovative technologies promises to disrupt the current supply chains of those symbiotic networks. The literature on these topics is still beginning; thus, the present research intends to contribute. A framework for understanding the implications of adopting the blockchain technology in the supply chain structure (specifically, in the dependency dimension) of an additive symbiotic network was developed, considering a network theory lens. The case study method was deemed to be suitable for carrying out this research. A case study related to an additive symbiotic network is described in detail, with the development of two scenarios: scenario I âas-isâ for the current state of the network and scenario II âto-beâ considering the adoption of the blockchain technology. Results show that adopting blockchain technology impacts the supply chain structure of additive symbiotic networks. More specifically, there are implications for the power distribution among the network's stakeholders.publishersversionpublishe
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Production networks in the cultural and creative sector: case studies from the publishing industry
The CICERONE project investigates cultural and creative industries through case study research, with a focus on production networks. This report, part of WP2, examines the publishing industry within this framework. It aims to understand the industryâs hidden aspects, address statistical issues in measurement, and explore the industryâs transformation and integration of cultural and economic values. The report provides an overview of the production network, explores statistical challenges, and presents qualitative analyses of two case studies. It concludes by highlighting the potential of the Global Production Network (GPN) approach for analyzing, researching, policymaking, and intervening in the European publishing network.
The CICERONE projectâs case study research delves into the publishing industry, investigating its production networks and examining key aspects often unseen by the public. The report addresses statistical challenges in measuring the industry and sheds light on its ongoing transformations and integration of cultural and economic values. It presents an overview of the production network, explores statistical issues, and provides qualitative analyses of two case studies. The report emphasizes the potential of the GPN approach for analyzing and intervening in the European publishing network, ultimately contributing to research, policymaking, and understanding within the industry
Knitting Circular Ties: Empowering Networks for the Social Enterprise-led Local Development of an Integrative Circular Economy
Circular economy (CE) discourse primarily focuses on business-as-usual and resource-related economic processes whilst overlooking relational-spatial aspects, especially networking for local development. There are, however, many mission-driven social enterprises (SEs) engaging in short-loop activities at the neighbourhood and city scales (e.g., reuse, upcycling, refurbishing or repair). Such localised activities are often overlooked by mainstreampolicies, yet they could be vital to the local development of the CE into a more socio-environmentally integrated set of localised social structures and relations. This paper examines the role of SEs, their networks and structures in building a more socially integrated CE in the City of Hull (UK). Drawing upon the Social Network Analysisapproach and semi-structured interviews with 31 case study SEs representing variegated sectors (e.g., food, wood/furniture, textiles, arts & crafts, hygiene, construction/housing, women, elderly, ethnic minorities, homeless, prisoners, mentally struggling), it maps SEsâ cross-sector relationships with private, public and socialsector organizations. It then considers how these network constellations could be âwovenâ into symbiotic relationships between SEs whilst fostering knowledge spillovers and resource flows for the local development of a more socially integrative CE. We contend that integrating considerations of SEsâ organizational attributes andtheir socio-spatial positioning within networks and social structures offers new insights into the underlying power relations and variegated levels of trust within the emergent social-circular enterprise ecosystem. These aspects are presented in the form of a comprehensive heuristic framework, which reveals how respective organizational and network characteristics may impact SEsâ performance outcomes and, ultimately, a more integrated approach to local CE development
Beaver Management Groups: Capturing lessons from the River Otter Beaver Trial and River Tamar Catchment
This is the final version. Available from Natural England via the link in this recordThis commissioned report is a social science case study of how beaver management groups are forming around the unofficial beaver populations. It draws on findings from a previous, peer-reviewed study that captured the experiences of stakeholders involved in governing the River Otter Beaver Trial (ROBT) (Renewed Coexistence: Learning from Steering Group Stakeholders on a Beaver Reintroduction Project in England, 2022), and explores the applicability of those findings to the River Tamar. The findings of the report can be applied to other settings and inform the development of other Beaver Management Groups.
The findings were that Beaver Management Groups can be adaptive structures that evolve in reflection of changing circumstances and new learning. Rather than being a fixed governance structure therefore, Beaver Management Groups themselves are a process, that seeks to facilitate renewed coexistence between humans and beavers in catchment settings. Three key stages to in the beaver management group process were identified: âFormationâ, âFunctioningâ, and âFuture?â. It also considers the external factors at play at each stage of the process
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