Session D3: Net Ecosystem Services Analysis as a Floodplain Restoration and Management Tool

Abstract: Established ecological fundamentals typically determine design, success and efficiency of restoration and management of floodplain and aquatic resources. Some of the more common criticisms center around the facts that commonly used methods: 1) do not have a quantitative basis for the estimates, 2) are not transparent to allow thorough review and stakeholder input, and 3) do not demonstrate direct and indirect benefits to the affected public. Integrating ecosystem services concepts and approaches and their evaluation for planning and performing ecological restoration is a practical alternative to the traditional restoration approach and can improve the restoration product, provide stakeholder support and ultimate value to the local public. Increased human influence and potential global influences (e.g. climate change) will directly affect floodplains and aquatic resources in the future with potential for substantial changes in physical effects (e.g. flooding and storm events), chemical changes (water quality), biological (changes in habitat and species distribution), and ultimately how humans use the services provided by these ecosystems. This will have substantial financial and human use implications in floodplain areas and general ecosystem health that provide these services to humans. Recent scientific thinking is increasingly focused on an ecosystems services approach. The concept, advanced by the United Nation’ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), brings a fresh approach to identifying and managing environmental risks within the limited financial and infrastructural resources available to most entities. This presentation will focus on the use of Net Ecosystem Services Analysis (NESA) for maximizing benefit and prioritizing future expenditures. The key to this is the quantification and rigorous analysis of the services provided by ecosystems that are important to people. NESA case studies will be used to demonstrate quantification tools and approaches used in similar assessments to manage floodplain ecosystem services

IVOA Recommendation: VOResource: an XML Encoding Schema for Resource Metadata Version 1.03

This document describes an XML encoding standard for IVOA Resource Metadata, referred to as VOResource. This schema is primarily intended to support interoperable registries used for discovering resources; however, any application that needs to describe resources may use this schema. In this document, we define the types and elements that make up the schema as representations of metadata terms defined in the IVOA standard, Resource Metadata for the Virtual Observatory [Hanicsh et al. 2004]. We also describe the general model for the schema and explain how it may be extended to add new metadata terms and describe more specific types of resources

IVOA Registry Relational Schema Version 1.1

Registries provide a mechanism with which VO applications can discover and select resources - first and foremost data and services - that are relevant for a particular scientific problem. This specification defines an interface for searching this resource metadata based on the IVOA's TAP protocol. It specifies a set of tables that comprise a useful subset of the information contained in the registry records, as well as the table's data content in terms of the XML VOResource data model. The general design of the system is geared towards allowing easy authoring of queries

IVOA Recommendation: IVOA Registry Interfaces Version 1.0

Registries provide a mechanism with which VO applications can discover and select resources--e.g. data and services--that are relevant for a particular scientific problem. This specification defines the interfaces that support interactions between applications and registries as well as between the registries themselves. It is based on a general, distributed model composed of so-called searchable and publishing registries. The specification has two main components: an interface for searching and an interface for harvesting. All interfaces are defined by a standard Web Service Description Language (WSDL) document; however, harvesting is also supported through the existing Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, defined as an HTTP REST interface. Finally, this specification details the metadata used to describe registries themselves as resources using an extension of the VOResource metadata schema

Effects of Perceived Treatment on Quality of Life and Medical Outcomesin a Double-blind Placebo Surgery Trial

Context This study was part of a large double-blind sham surgery–controlled trial designed to determine the effectiveness of transplantation of human embryonic dopamine neurons into the brains of persons with advanced Parkinson\u27s disease. This portion of the study investigated the quality of life (QOL) of participants during the 1 year of double-blind follow-up. Objectives To determine whether QOL improved more in the transplant group than in the sham surgery group and to investigate outcomes at 1 year based on perceived treatment (the type of surgery patients thought they received). Design Participants were randomly assigned to receive either the transplant or sham surgery. Reported results are from the 1-year double-blind period. Setting Participants were recruited from across the United States and Canada. Assessment and surgery were conducted at 2 separate university medical centers. Participants A volunteer sample of 40 persons with idiopathic Parkinson\u27s disease participated in the transplant ( parent ) study, and 30 agreed to participate in the related QOL study: 12 received the transplant and 18 received sham surgery. Interventions Interventions in the parent study were transplantation and sham brain surgery. Assessments of QOL were made at baseline and 4, 8, and 12 months after surgery. Main Outcome Measures Comparison of the actual transplant and sham surgery groups and the perceived treatment groups on QOL and medical outcomes. We also investigated change over time. Results There were 2 differences or changes over time in the transplant and sham surgery groups. Based on perceived treatment, or treatment patients thought they received, there were numerous differences and changes over time. In all cases, those who thought they received the transplant reported better scores. Blind ratings by medical staff showed similar results. Conclusions The placebo effect was very strong in this study, demonstrating the value of placebo-controlled surgical trials