State Level Efforts to Regulate Agricultural Sources of Water Quality Impairment

The U.S. policy regarding water quality is codified in the 1972 Clean Water Act and amendments. The Act formally distinguishes between point sources and nonpoint sources of pollution entering waterways and assigns primary responsibility for controlling nonpoint source pollution to the states. Point sources—such as industrial facilities or wastewater treatment plants—fall under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System requirements of the Clean Water Act, and being so are subject to federal regulation and permitting requirements. A substantial reduction of emissions from point sources to waterways has occurred since the adoption of these requirements, leading to much improved water quality in many watersheds. However, in many agriculturally dominated watersheds, point sources contribute a relatively small percent of the overall nutrient load and, therefore, the restrictions on these sources have not achieved the desired improvements in water quality. The nutrients of primary concern in these watersheds are nitrogen and phosphorus, which cause excessive plant and algae growth resulting in water quality degradatio

Construction IT in 2030: a scenario planning approach

Summary: This paper presents a scenario planning effort carried out in order to identify the possible futures that construction industry and construction IT might face. The paper provides a review of previous research in the area and introduces the scenario planning approach. It then describes the adopted research methodology. The driving forces of change and main trends, issues and factors determined by focusing on factors related to society, technology, environment, economy and politics are discussed. Four future scenarios developed for the year 2030 are described. These scenarios start from the global view and present the images of the future world. They then focus on the construction industry and the ICT implications. Finally, the preferred scenario determined by the participants of a prospective workshop is presented

The Effect of Heart Failure Education on Reducing Readmissions

Management of heart failure is a significant financial challenge for the health care industry, costing approximately $33.2 billion annually. Common reasons for preventable heart failure readmissions include inadequate discharge education and lack of self-care and health management activities. Education at discharge is a vital component of improving heart failure outcomes. Following a review of the literature, high quality evidence supports that heart failure education should focus on medication adherence, sodium and fluid restriction, daily weights, activity tolerance, identification of deteriorating signs and symptoms of heart failure, and smoking cessation. The purpose of this EBP project was to reduce heart failure 30 day readmission rates by implementing an educational intervention to patients with a primary diagnosis of HF prior to discharge. The Rosswurm & Larrabee Model for evidence-based practice change and Orem’s Self Care theory guided the implementation of this project. All patients with a primary discharge diagnosis of HF were referred to the APNs from the heart failure clinic located in Northwest Indiana from October to November 2012. The intervention utilized a teaching tool developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill highlighting the best practices related to educating patients and their families on the management of heart failure to potentially reduce hospital readmission rates. Participants were monitored for 30 days post discharge and readmission rates were evaluated. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to describe the sample and to compare the effect of the educational intervention on readmission rates. The results of this EBP project positively supported that heart failure education significantly reduced readmission rates

Software Compliance: The factors impacting compliance

Organizations and monitoring agencies continue to express concern over software piracy becauseof the ethical, legal and financial implications of noncompliance. This study focuses on how softwarelicense noncompliance is actually a factor in software piracy. Many organizations use a variety of softwaretools distributed over their workforce and tracking license compliance for turnover, upgrades, andfunctional reassignments is problematic. The result of this study indicates that if organizations promote anenvironment in which software compliance and ethical beliefs are maintained, then penalties and legalconsequences are less a driver of compliance intentions. Additionally, age has a moderating effect on intentto comply indicating that as employee age increases, software piracy resulting from license noncomplianceis less likely

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Avifauna Ethological Response to Unmanned Aircraft Systems

This study investigated the ethological response of avifauna to the operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Proliferation of consumer, commercial, and military applications of UAS have provided environmental managers a new tool to use in their discipline. However, it has also promoted the need for critical examination of the effects UAS may have on existing natural resource practices, such as the management of avifauna populations. While this technology has largely been regarded as a beneficial new tool for efforts like wildlife population monitoring, it is not without potential effects to target species. This is particularly relevant to birds which share use of a common habitat feature with UAS operators – airspace. Research objectives for this project included: (1) determining how avifauna will respond to UAS operation, (2) quantify which taxonomic groups of birds have been exposed to UAS to-date, (3) identifying factors that influence the behavioral interaction, and (4) investigating the role of setback distance, or buffers, to mitigate any negative effects to birds. To accomplish this, I conducted a comprehensive literature review and metanalysis of the current body of literature reporting interactions between UAS and avifauna, distributed an original survey to US Department of the Interior Remote Pilots regarding their field observations of avifauna while flying UAS missions, and I investigated the regulatory framework for people or organizations who desire or are required to legally operate UAS within the proximate vicinity of bird species. My efforts concluded: (1) birds can respond mildly to severely, evasively or antagonistically, to the operation of UAS, (2) 87 bird species have been documented interacting with UAS as of early 2018, (3) factors of each interaction component [bird, drone, and environment] are all important variables in determining the type of reactions seen, and (4) as a general rule the implementation of a 100-meter buffer between avifauna and UAS operations should sufficiently avoid or mitigate any behavioral impacts (e.g., disturbance) to those target species. This research may serve to inform future research and regulatory mechanisms developed around the safe operation of UAS in tandem with good conservation practices for the avifauna that now shares airspace with human beings in a new way

Climate change impact on coastal fisheries and aquaculture in the SAARC

Observations in fisheries sciences related to climate change foresee a future with intensified climate change as a consequence of increased greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere because of human activities. The increase in GHGs has resulted in warming of climate systems or global warming. In last 100 years, ending in 2005, the average global air temperature near the earth’s surface has been estimated to increase at the rate of 0.74 ± 0.18°C (1.33 ± 0.32°F) (IPCC, 2007). In the latest IPCC report (IPCC, 2014), climate model projections indicated that the global surface temperature during the 21st century is likely to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7°C (0.5 to 3.1°F) for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to 4.8°C (4.7 to 8.6°F) for the highest emissions scenario. In the past, 15 of the 16 warmest years have occurred since 2001 and rank among the 15 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature since 1850. Climate change and associated warming is increasingly being felt in many parts of the globe including India. Climate change is predicted to lead to adverse, irreversible impacts on the earth and the ecosystem as a whole. Although it is difficult to connect specific weather events to climate change, increases in global temperature has been predicted to cause broader changes, including glacial retreat, arctic shrinkage and worldwide sea level rise (Mohanty et al., 2010).The Chaliyar river is one of the west flowing rivers of Western Ghats. It has many tributaries such as Karimpuzha. Punnappuzha, Kuruvanpuzha, Tiruanchipuzha, Cherupuzha. etc. with a catchment area of 1535 sq. km. The total discharge of the river is 7775 Mm3, The river which was in a pristine condition before 4 to 5 decades has become highly degraded in the lower stretches by the effluents of Gwalior Rayons and in the upper stretches by various anthropogenic factors like deforestation, high siltation, dynamite fishing and use of copper sulphate for fishing. During the summer months, the water in the river is very low due to high run off during the wet months

Corporate social responsibility: The integration of a crucial new business variable into the mainstream of corporate activity

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University