Individual learning on environmental vocational education and training courses does not always lead to the workplace application of knowledge and skills

YesEmpirical research on three commercial environmental vocational education and training programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors, which influenced individual learning and learning transfer to the workplace. The extent to which behaviour change and learning transfer occurred depended on a diverse range of factors, notably the workplace utility of the course; student’s level of personal commitment and position within the employing organisation; strength of the organisation’s environmental culture; level of post-course managerial/supervisory support available within the workplace; and changing workplace circumstances/priorities

QUIESST Guidebook to Noise Reducing Devices optimisation

The aim of this guidebook is to become a reference tool for noise mitigation through a better use of Noise Reducing Devices (NRD) (e.g.: Noise Barriers or sound Absorptive Claddings). It targets all the stakeholders involved in NRD projects (designers, manufacturers, authorities, construction companies, maintenance companies...) and who are willing tooptimise the products and their use, either for rail or road noise mitigation. This guidebook is based on the final results and outcomes of the QUIESST research: it synthesizes this 3-years project and provides examples of best practices and recommendations on: • The effect of sound reflections in the far field by the definition and the determination of intrinsic far field performance indicators; • A new method for in-situ measurements of sound reflection and airborne sound insulation of NRD; • A better knowledge of the European NRD market through the first database comparing 400 different devices and their acoustic performances through more than 1400 test reports • The holistic approach on how to optimise NRD at 3 different levels: o Intrinsic (reflection, transmission and diffraction indices); o Extrinsic / holistic (acoustic, economic and environmental performances); o Global impact on typical dwellings; • The NRD sustainability: how to design, build, maintain and decommission better sustainable NRD

QUIESST: third-term progress report (invited paper)

none7The research QUIESST (QUIetening the Environment of Sustainable Surface Transport) started in November 2010 for 36 months: it targets a better knowledge about the noise barriers performances, either their intrinsic (product) or their extrinsic performances (works, environment, population). QUIESST objectives and work schedule have been presented at InterNoise 2010, as well as its mid-term progress report at InterNoise 2011. This paper will present the progress report at its third-term (6 months to its end): the technical work packages are WP2 (Relationship near-field / far field for sound reflection), WP3 (Improvement of the in-situ method for sound absorption/reflection and insulation measurement), WP4 (Noise performance evaluation: comparison of laboratory and in-situ methods), WP5 (Holistic optimization and global noise impact) and WP6 (Sustainability). Special attention will be done on the achieved results and the realistic final objectives we could reach as conclusions of the research.mixedClairbois J-P.; de Roo F.; Garai M.; Conter M.; Defrance J.; Oltean-Dumbrava C.; Fusco I.Clairbois J-P.; de Roo F.; Garai M.; Conter M.; Defrance J.; Oltean-Dumbrava C.; Fusco I

QUIESST: third-term progress report

The research QUIESST (QUIetening the Environment of Sustainable Surface Transport) started in November 2010 for 36 months: it targets a better knowledge about the noise barriers performances, either their intrinsic (product) or their extrinsic performances (works, environment, population). QUIEEST objectives and work schedule have been presented at INTERNOISE 2010, as well as its mid-term progress report at INTERNOISE 2011. This paper will present the progress report at its third-term (6 months to its end): the technical work packages are WP2 (Relationship near-field / far field for sound reflection), WP3 (Improvement of the in-situ method for sound absorption and insulation measurement), WP4 (Noise performance evaluation: comparison of laboratory and in-situ methods), WP5 (Holistic optimization and global noise impact) and WP6 (Sustainability). Special attention will be done on the achieved results and the realistic final objectives we could reach as conclusions of the research

QUIESST: toward a better knowledge and understanding of how efficient noise barriers could actually be

Since the early 80\u2019s, one models noise propagation, in the early 90\u2019s one started to standardize how to measure the intrinsic characteristics of manufactured noise barriers: in 1997, the EU funded ADRIENNE research: it was a first step, but many problems still remained. Since years, all the noise propagation software are still modeling noise barriers while characterizing those rather roughly, if not basically, whatever it is for sound absorption, airborne sound insulation or sound diffraction. The EU funded QUIESST research aims to drastically improve the knowledge and un-derstanding of how noise barriers actually works, in function of all their intrinsic characteristics and the environment within which they are installed. This paper introduces QUIESST\u2019s objectives / work schedule for the next 3 years

QUIESST: toward a better knowledge and understanding of how efficient noise barriers could actually be

Since the early 80\u2019s, one models noise propagation; in the early 90\u2019s one started to standardize how to measure the intrinsic characteristics of manufactured noise barriers: in 1997, the EU funded ADRIENNE research; it was a first step, but many problems still remained. Since many years, all the noise propagation software are still modeling noise barriers while characterizing those rather roughly, if not basically, whatever it is for sound absorption, airborne sound insulation or sound diffraction. The EU funded QUIESST research aims to drastically improve the knowledge and understanding of how noise barriers actually works, in function of all their intrinsic characteristics and the environment within which they are installed. This paper introduces QUIESST\u2019s objectives / work schedule for the next 3 years

Sustainability Criteria for Decision Support in the UK Water Industry

The incorporation of sustainability assessment into decision-making processes is a key task for water service providers in the UK and elsewhere. This paper describes the development and application of a set of sustainability criteria, which have been developed and tested with project partners in the UK and Romania. They will be used in a 'guidebook' that will set out a framework to facilitate the inclusion of sustainability in the decision-making process. This work is part of the Sustainable Water Industry Asset Resource Decisions project to develop a multi-criteria analysis decision support system to assist water service providers to assess the relative sustainability of water/wastewater system asset development decisions.

SWARD:decision support processes for the UK water industry

In industrialised countries water service providers (WSPs) must provide an appropriate level of service with an acceptable performance at an acceptable cost to customers. In the UK a move towards sustainable development is now also a major goal for WSPs. However, the imposition of institutional systems and regulatory targets still encourage the adoption of less sustainable technologies or solutions by the water industry. It is within this context, that the Sustainable Water industry Asset Resource Decisions (SWARD) project has developed a set of decision support processes that allow WSPs to assess the relative sustainability of water/wastewater system asset development decisions. A Guidebook has been produced that takes the WSP and its stakeholders through the processes essential to incorporating sustainability in asset investment decision-making. Several case studies that demonstrate the SWARD principles in application are included within the Guidebook, the experience of which is described in this paper

Making more sustainable decisions for asset investment in the water industry - sustainable water industry asset resource decisions - the SWARD project

Effective Integrated Water Management (IWM) is an aspiration for all those engaged in water service provision, and is a key component of the World Water Vision. Part of this includes the sustainability of water systems and their interaction with other urban systems. In the urban drainage field, there are many examples of attempts to establish effective integrated systems. A major problem, however, is the elusive nature of the concept of sustainability and how to translate what is known in terms of sustainability principles and objectives into action within the IWM perspective. Case studies are presented that illustrate how urban drainage problems can be approached in a way that takes due account of sustainability considerations. These studies utilise a new Guidebook that presents multi-criteria decision support systems to assist Water Service Providers (WSPs) to assess the relative sustainability of water/wastewater system asset development decisions. The Guidebook was developed as part of a UK government and industry funded multi-partner project over the past 4 years. An essential feature of the Guidebook is its transparency, as it is intended to be accessible to all stakeholders affected by a proposed development