Agriculture: Environmental Problems and Directions

Review of Iowa\u27s water quality situation has both good news and bad news components. The good news is that since passage of the 1972 federal Clean Water Act, commendable progress has been made in reducing the discharge of municipal and industrial waste pollutants into Iowa\u27s waters. The progress made in reducing pollution from these point sources is attributable to a number of factors, including the enactment of effective laws and regulations, development and implementation of improved waste management practices, and voluntary and enforced compliance

Influential Article Review - Multifaceted Analysis of the Efficacy of a Liner Shipping Network

This paper examines logistics. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: This paper deals with multidimensional examination of performances of a trunk line/route of liner container-shipping network serving an intercontinental supply chain by the conventional (Panamax Max) and mega (ULC - Ultra Large Container) ships. The trunk line/route of the network includes the supplier and the customer seaport of freight shipments consolidated into containers (TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit)), and the container ships operated by liner shipping carriers and/or their alliances providing transport services between them. The supplier and the customer seaport can be either the main seaports of the line or the hubs of the H&S (Hub-and-Spoke) network of particular liner container-shipping carriers. The multidimensional examination implies defining and developing the analytical models of indicators of the trunk line’s infrastructural, technical/technological, operational, economic, environmental, and social performances and their application to the selected real-life case. The infrastructural performances relate to the characteristics of infrastructure (berths) and container terminals in the seaports at both ends of the line. The technical/technological performances reflect the characteristics of facilities and equipment for loading/unloading and storing TEU shipments in these terminals, and that of the container ships transporting them. The operational performances include the transport service frequency, size, transport work and technical productivity of the deployed container ship fleet while serving a given volume of TEU flows during the specified time. The economic performances contain the inventory, handling, transport, and external costs of handling the TEU flows. The environmental performances relate to the fuel consumption and consequent emissions of GHG (GreenHouse Gases). Finally, the social performances in terms of impacts generally refer to noise, congestion, and safety. The models of indicators of performances have been applied to the liner container-shipping trunk line/route connecting East Asia and North Europe operated exclusively by two above-mentioned categories of ships according to the “what-if” scenario approach. The results have indicated the very high sensitivity of all considered indicators of performances to the category of deployed ships under given conditions. As well, they have shown to be dependent on each other – the operational on the technical/technological, and the economic, environmental, and social on the technical/technological and operational. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Policy challenges from the "White" Senate inquiry into workplace-related health impacts of toxic dusts and nanoparticles

On 22 June 2005 the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia voted to establish an inquiry into workplace harm related to toxic dust and emerging technologies (including nanoparticles). The inquiry became known as the "White" Inquiry after Mr Richard White, a financially uncompensated sufferer of industrial sandblasting-induced lung disease who was instrumental in its establishment. The "White" Inquiry delivered its final report and recommendations on 31 May 2006. This paper examines whether these recommendations and their implementation may provide a unique opportunity not only to modernize relevant monitoring standards and processes, but related compensation systems for disease associated with workplace-related exposure to toxic dusts. It critically analyzes the likely role of the new Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) in this area. It also considers whether recommendations related to potential workplace related harm from exposure to nanoparticles could commence a major shift in Australian healthcare regulation