Bad Practice in Erosion Management: The Southern Sicily Case Study

This case study from Sicily illustrates a common sequence of events where one unwise action was countered with another, which in turn created additional problems. The situation arose through strong political interference and ignorance (or lack of concern) regarding the environmental impacts of human interventions on the shoreline and by the public perception that government has a duty to protect private property. The poor design and location of ports and harbours produced infilling problems and huge updrift accretion with concomitant downdrift erosion. The human-induced coastal retreat was counteracted by the progressive emplacement of breakwaters creating a “domino” effect. On many occasions these were constructed to protect unplanned and illegal (in the sense that they do not conform to planning regulations) beachfront summer houses. Without the presence of these structures, there would have been no need for publicly funded intervention. Furthermore, only a narrow coastal belt close to the shoreline is used by bathers on the wide beaches formed updrift of ports and harbours and in the lee of breakwaters, most of the accreted beach being unused or partially occupied by tourist developments. Thus beach users and municipalities acquired some benefits from beach accretion at specific sites, the opposite being true in eroding areas

The second iteration of the Systems Prioritization Method: A systems prioritization and decision-aiding tool for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Volume 1, Synopsis of method and results

In March 1994, the US Department of Energy Carlsbad Area Office (DOE/CAO) embarked on an effort to design and implement a performance- based decision-aiding tool to provide an analytical basis for planning, prioritizing, and selecting programmatic options for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This tool, called Systems Prioritization Method (SPM) defines the most viable combinations of scientific investigations, engineered alternatives (EAs), and waste acceptance criteria (WAC) for supporting the final WIPP compliance application. The scope of SPM is restricted to selected portions of applicable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) long-term performance regulations. SPM calculates the probabilities of certain sets of activities demonstrating compliance with various regulations. SPM provides results in the form of a decision matrix to identify cost-effective programmatic paths with a high probability of successfully demonstrating compliance

The GOGREEN survey: Post-infall environmental quenching fails to predict the observed age difference between quiescent field and cluster galaxies at z>1

We study the star formation histories (SFHs) and mass-weighted ages of 331 UVJ-selected quiescent galaxies in 11 galaxy clusters and in the field at 11 has been driven by different physical processes than those at play at z=0

Cross-border trafficking in human beings: prevention and intervention strategies for reducing sexual exploitation

Over the years, growing attention has been given to the phenomenon of trafficking in human beings (THB). Sexual exploitation was until recently by far the most commonly identified feature of THB, followed by forced labour. Many activities to combat trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation have been initiated by numerous supranational, international as well as national organizations. Much is written about these initiatives, but some areas have been neglected. Knowledge on ‘what works’ is in particular limited. The growing attention to THB entails a demand for more information. The severity of the crime and the impact on its victims makes it of utmost importance to gain more insight into the working and effectiveness of anti-trafficking strategies and interventions. The main objective of this review was to assess the presently available evidence on the effects of interventions that aim to prevent and suppress trafficking in human beings

"Our Last Hope": Women's Votes for Hitler - A Reappraisal

Peer reviewe

The Final Allied Offensive on the Western Front in 1918

Reprinted with permission from the Royal Albertal United Services Institut

The Effect of a Six Week Program of Systematic Training on Counsellors

A group of graduate students were trained according to a popular "helping" model which purports to increase the ability to be facilitative. It was found that graduates were more facilitative after training, were able to train others, and that this type of facilitation ability may be related to self-facilitation. Results should be interpreted in light of the fact that there was no control group and that the measures of facilitation were of a paper-pencil variety rather than simulations of actual interaction.Un groupe d'étudiants inscrits aux études supérieures ont reçu un entraînement selon un modèle populaire d'assistance qui réclame pouvoir augmenter l'habileté d'aider le client. On a observé qu'après leur entraînement, ces étudiants possédaient cette habileté à un degré plus avancé, étaient capables d'entrainer d'autres personnes, et que ce genre d'habileté pouvait s'apparenter à la facilitation de soi. L'interprétation des résultats doit tenir compte du fait qu'il n'y avait pas de groupe contrôle et que les mesures employées étaient du type "crayon-papier" plutôt que des simulations de véritables interactions

The systems prioritization method (SPM) CD-ROM demonstration for Waste Management `96

In March 1994, the Department of Energy Carlsbad Area Office (DOE/CAO) implemented a performance-based planning method to assist in prioritization within the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Probabilistic performance calculations were required for the Systems Prioritization Method (SPM) and roughly 46,700 combinations of activities were analyzed, generating a large volume of information to be documented, analyzed, and communicated. A self-contained information management system consisting of a relational database on a 600-megabyte CD-ROM was built to meet this need. The CD-ROM was used to store performance assessment results, data analysis and visualization tools, information about the activities, electronic copies of 40 ILFR 191 and 40 CFR 268, technical reference papers, and the final SPM report. Copies of the CD-ROM were distributed to interested members of the public, WIPP participants, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)