Managing Interacting Criteria: Application to Environmental Evaluation Practices

The need for organizations to evaluate their environmental practices has been recently increasing. This fact has led to the development of many approaches to appraise such practices. In this paper, a novel decision model to evaluate company’s environmental practices is proposed to improve traditional evaluation process in different facets. Firstly, different reviewers’ collectives related to the company’s activity are taken into account in the process to increase company internal efficiency and external legitimacy. Secondly, following the standard ISO 14031, two general categories of environmental performance indicators, management and operational, are considered. Thirdly, since the assumption of independence among environmental indicators is rarely verified in environmental context, an aggregation operator to bear in mind the relationship among such indicators in the evaluation results is proposed. Finally, this new model integrates quantitative and qualitative information with different scales using a multi-granular linguistic model that allows to adapt diverse evaluation scales according to appraisers’ knowledge

Physical-chemical and mineralogical characterization of fine aggregates from construction and demolition waste recycling plants

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) represents around 31% of all waste produced in the European Union. It is today acknowledged that the consumption of raw materials in the construction industry is a non-sustainable activity. It is thus necessary to reduce this consumption, and the volume of CDW dumped, by using this waste as a source of raw materials for the production of recycled aggregates. One potential use of these aggregates is their incorporation in reinforced concrete as a replacement of natural aggregates. A concrete that incorporates these aggregates and still performs well requires them to be fully characterized so that their behaviour within the concrete can be predicted. Coarse recycled aggregates have been studied quite thoroughly, because they are simpler to reintroduce in the market as a by-product, and so has the performance of concrete made with them. This paper describes the main results of research designed to characterize the physical and chemical properties of fine recycled aggregates for concrete production and their relationship with mineralogical composition and preprocessing. The constraints of the incorporation of fine aggregates in reinforced concrete are discussed. It is shown that, unless a developed processing diagram is used, this application is not feasible. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A extensão rural na perspectiva de agricultores assentados do Pontal do Paranapanema – SP

The policy of São Paulo State Government rural settlements, conducted by the Itesp Foundation, has its own technical assistance and rural extension service, brainstormed to attend its public specific demands. This article seeks to check if Itesp’s rural extension program satisfies its settled beneficiaries and if social-economic characteristics interfere in this individual judgment. The research was drawn at Santa Rosa and Rancho Grande settlements, Holy Rose and Big Ranch, respectively, both located at Paranapanema Pontal – SP, Unfortunate River Branch, according to native language. At first interviews concerning quality were conducted amongst settlers, selected intentionally to obtain evaluation parameters of ATER’s service. Elaborated with these results, a direct and objective questionnaire was applied to a larger random sample, from which individual appreciations were attained. The statistical analysis of multiple correspondences, followed by ascendant hierarchic classification, indicated the existence of seven homogenous settler groups, demonstrating the influence of social-economic traits in individual ratings. The existence of settlers both satisfied and unsatisfied with ATER’s service was noticed, which demands more flexible approaches by the Foundation towards divergent beneficiaries.rural settlement, analysis of multiple correspondences, Likert´s scale, Agribusiness, Q16,

Genetic variation and possible origins of weedy rice found in California.

Control of weeds in cultivated crops is a pivotal component in successful crop production allowing higher yield and higher quality. In rice-growing regions worldwide, weedy rice (Oryza sativa f. spontanea Rosh.) is a weed related to cultivated rice which infests rice fields. With populations across the globe evolving a suite of phenotypic traits characteristic of weeds and of cultivated rice, varying hypotheses exist on the origin of weedy rice. Here, we investigated the genetic diversity and possible origin of weedy rice in California using 98 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and an Rc gene-specific marker. By employing phylogenetic clustering analysis, we show that four to five genetically distinct biotypes of weedy rice exist in California. Analysis of population structure and genetic distance among individuals reveals diverse evolutionary origins of California weedy rice biotypes, with ancestry derived from indica, aus, and japonica cultivated rice as well as possible contributions from weedy rice from the southern United States and wild rice. Because this diverse parentage primarily consists of weedy, wild, and cultivated rice not found in California, most existing weedy rice biotypes likely originated outside California

A comparison of open-source LiDAR filtering algorithms in a mediterranean forest environment

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is an emerging remote-sensing technology with potential to assist in mapping, monitoring, and assessment of forest resources. Despite a growing body of peer-reviewed literature documenting the filtering methods of LiDAR data, there seems to be little information about qualitative and quantitative assessment of filtering methods to select the most appropriate to create digital elevation models with the final objective of normalizing the point cloud in forestry applications. Furthermore, most algorithms are proprietary and have high purchase costs, while a few are openly available and supported by published results. This paper compares the accuracy of seven discrete return LiDAR filtering methods, implemented in nonproprietary tools and software in classification of the point clouds provided by the Spanish National Plan for Aerial Orthophotography (PNOA). Two test sites in moderate to steep slopes and various land cover types were selected. The classification accuracy of each algorithm was assessed using 424 points classified by hand and located in different terrain slopes, cover types, point cloud densities, and scan angles. MCC filter presented the best overall performance with an 83.3% of success rate and a Kappa index of 0.67. Compared to other filters, MCC and LAStools balanced quite well the error rates. Sprouted scrub with abandoned logs, stumps, and woody debris and terrain slopes over 15° were the most problematic cover types in filtering. However, the influence of point density and scan-angle variables in filtering is lower, as morphological methods are less sensitive to them

A fossil shark tooh in early contexts of Cerro Casa de Piedra 7, southwest Patagonia, Argentina

Fil: Castro, Alicia Susana. División Arqueología. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Cione, Alberto Luis. División Paleontología Vertebrados. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Civalero, María Teresa. INAPL. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: De Nigris, Mariana. INAPL. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Acceso a jeringas estériles entre los jóvenes de Madrid y Barcelona que se inyectan drogas y su asociación con las prácticas de riesgo

[EN] To evaluate access to sterile syringes and its association with injection risk behaviour in Madrid and Barcelona. Cross-sectional community study by computer-assisted personal interview in 465 young heroin injectors between 2001 and 2003. Some 4.2% had not obtained any free sterile syringes in the previous 12 months. In Madrid 32.1% had obtained all their sterile syringes free of charge (ASSF), versus 44.6% in Barcelona (p<0.01). Not sharing (not using syringes used by someone else and not front/backloading) was associated with obtaining ASSF (OR=1.69) and with sporadic injection (OR=1.83). Not reusing one's own syringes was associated with the same two variables (OR=4.02 and OR=2.50, respectively). Access to sterile syringes is very high in Madrid and Barcelona, although the two cities have different approaches. The acquisition of all syringes free of charge should be facilitated, especially among frequent injectors. [ES] Evaluar el acceso a jeringas estériles y su asociación con prácticas de inyección de riesgo en Madrid y Barcelona. Material y método: Estudio transversal en la comunidad de 465 jóvenes que se inyectan heroína, realizado entre 2001 y 2003, mediante entrevista asistida por ordenador. Un 4,2% no obtuvo jeringas estériles gratuitas en los últimos 12 meses. En Madrid, el 32,1% obtuvo todas las jeringas estériles gratis (TJEG), frente al 44,6% de Barcelona (p < 0,01). No compartir (no utilizar jeringas ajenas usadas o droga diluida en las usadas por otros) se asoció con obtener TJEG (odds ratio [OR] = 1,69) e inyectarse esporádicamente (OR = 1,83). No reutilizar las jeringas propias se asoció con las mismas variables (OR = 4,02 y OR = 2,50, respectivamente). En Madrid y Barcelona el acceso a jeringas estériles es muy elevado, aunque con modelos diferentes. Debe facilitarse la obtención de todas las jeringas estériles gratis, especialmente entre los jóvenes que se inyectan con mayor frecuencia.This research was financed primarily by the Fundación para Investigación y la Prevención del Sida en España (FIPSE 3035/99 - Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention in Spain); the analysis was possible thanks to the support of the Ciber de Epidemiología y Salud Pública.S