Stewardship and the natural resources framework

New Zealand’s natural resources are under increasing pressure from competing uses and are, in some areas, approaching limits. Management of our natural resources has been and will continue to be a complex and contentious intergenerational issue. This complexity arises because of the many interrelationships and interdependencies between environmental and social systems involved in natural resource management, as well as the legacy of past decisions. The contentiousness arises, in part, because natural resources are typically finite and shared, where people hold different values regarding their appropriate use. Authors: Edward Hearnshaw, Trecia Smith, Jane Carpenter, John Pennington, Jace Mowbray, Rebecca Maplesden and James Palmer. &nbsp

Effective desktop videoconferencing with minimal network demands

Desktop Videoconferening (DVC) has been shown to effectively support remote tutorials, but specific video channel requirements are not known. There is a perception that higher levels of image quality will enhance the effectiveness of the tutorial, and this has implications on scarce network bandwidth. If it can be shown that low levels of image quality are not detrimental to learning opportunities, then the use of DVC will be more attractive to institutions inhibited by fear of high network demands. Limitations in current methods for assessing video channel quality are discussed, and a new scheme for tutorial content quality analysis is outlined. The scheme has been applied to data gathered from a trial involving 30 students studying for an accredited university module. The results show that increasing the quality of the video channel resulted in no measurable increase in the quality of dialogue within the tutorials. The conclusions are that low quality images are not necessarily detrimental, and therefore DVC could be endorsed more readily where bandwidth is limited

Towards an objective approach to the evaluation of videoconferencing

The evaluation of learning environments incorporating videoconference technology have too often relied exclusively on subjective data gathering methods. The use of these methods can cast doubt on the reliability of findings, and therefore it is important that a more objective approach can be adopted. The development and application of a new content analysis scheme is presented. It draws on the merits of previous schemes but focuses on factors which contribute to the quality of learning support by using category types readily identified within a videoconference tutorial environment. The strength of this objective approach is that data can be collected in a transparent manner within a representative educational environment. Observations arising from applying the scheme are given. Despite an element of subjectivity, the proposed scheme is thought to provide a useful tool capable of identifying the educational impact of variations within a videoconference learning environment

The Sustainability and Cost-Effectiveness of Water Storage Projects on Canterbury Rivers: The Opihi River Case

There is an increasing demand for water resources in the Canterbury region. The impact of this demand has lead to unacceptable minimum river flows, which has resulted in adverse affects to river ecology. In an effort to resolve this problem water storage projects have gained considerable attention. However, in order to consider all values of the impact of water storage projects, a systematic way of implementing an ecosystem services approach is developed. This ecosystem services approach coupled with various appropriate analytical methods are developed for the purposes of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of water storage projects and the sustainability of river systems impacted by water storage projects. For the purposes of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of water storage projects it is argued that cost utility analysis should be applied through an ecosystem services index, which is constructed from the aggregation of normalized indicators that represent each ecosystem service and preferential weights for each ecosystem service. The evaluation of sustainability is considered both according to its weak and strong definitions. Weak sustainability is evaluated by a non-declining ecosystem services index over time. Strong sustainability is evaluated by the elicitation of threshold levels or safe minimum standards where an ecosystem service, as represented by an indicator, should not pass below. These analytical methods developed are subsequently applied to the Opihi River, which is a river system located in Canterbury that has been hydrologically modified and impounded by the Opuha Dam scheme. The application of the analytical methods to the Opihi River provides a few preliminary results. Further data collection is required to fully determine the cost-effectiveness of the Opuha Dam and the sustainability of the Opihi River impacted by the dam scheme.Cost utility analysis, ecosystem services, ecosystem services index, indicators, sustainability, water storage projects, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Regularity of the density matrix for Coulombic wavefunctions

By averaging over positions of all but one of the electrons, the one-electron density matrix for electronic eigenfunctions is a convenient object in understanding how electrons are distributed around an atom or molecule. We rigorously study the regularity of this density matrix. Firstly, we show that the density matrix is analytic away from the nuclear positions and the diagonal. This analyticity is not immediate since the underlying wavefunction has points of non-smoothness which are integrated over. However, using certain directional derivatives known as cluster derivatives we can differentiate along the singularities to avoid them contributing adversely to the integral. The Coulomb potential, which is analytic away from a set of singularities, has certain analyticity bounds. These can be inherited by the wavefunction solutions to the time-independent Schrödinger equation using elliptic regularity. These bounds are then conferred onto derivatives of the density matrix in order to prove its analyticity. The density matrix is then studied at the diagonal, where pointwise bounds are obtained to derivatives both in the direction along the diagonal (u-derivatives) and perpendicular to it (v-derivatives). We find that up to four v-derivatives of the density matrix may be taken for the function to remain bounded in the vicinity of the diagonal. Whereas arbitrarily many u-derivatives may be taken without contributing to a worsened singularity at the diagonal. To prove this result, we state and prove a new pointwise bound for cluster derivatives of wavefunctions where multiple clusters are involved. This bound separates the contributions from each cluster and is likely to be of independent interest

An Emergent Economics of Ecosystem Management

Economics is an evolving and emerging field of study, so is the management of ecosystems. As such, this paper delineates the co-evolution of economic evaluation that reflects the various recognized ecosystem management approaches of anticipative, adaptive and capacitive ecosystem management. Each management approach is critiqued and from this theoretical analysis an emergent approach for the management of ecosystem is put forward, which accordingly suggests an alternative methodological approach for economic evaluations.Complexity, creativity, economic evaluation, ecosystem management, evolution, open systems, rationality, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Multicofactor proteins: structure, prediction, function

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Evaluating the sustainability of impounded river systems and the cost-effectiveness of dam projects: An ecosystem services approach

In recent times, there has been increasing demand in the Canterbury region of New Zealand for the abstraction of water from rivers. The impact of this demand has lead to unacceptable minimum river flows and has adversely affected river ecology. In an effort to resolve these issues dams have been constructed. To evaluate the impact of these dam projects on all river values, an ecosystem services approach is developed. This ecosystem services approach coupled with various evaluation methods are applied for the purposes of assessing the cost-effectiveness of the Opuha Dam and the sustainability of the Opihi river system now modified by the Opuha Dam. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this dam project cost utility analysis is applied through the development of an ecosystem services index (ESI). The index is constructed from the aggregation of normalized indicators that represent each ecosystem service and preferential weights of each ecosystem service. The evaluation of sustainability is considered both according to weak and strong criteria. Weak sustainability is evaluated by a non-declining ecosystem services index over time. Strong sustainability is evaluated by the thresholds or safe minimum standards where an ecosystem service, as represented by an indicator, should not pass below. Fifteen ecosystem services provided by the Opihi river were identified and data for forty-two indicators was compiled to assess the provision of these services pre- and post-dam. Fifteen regional and six local stakeholder representatives were interviewed to elicit preferential weights for each ecosystem service. Assessment of both the ESI and safe minimum standards indicates that since dam construction the river has progressed towards both weak and strong sustainability in its provision of ecosystem services. The cost-effectiveness of the dam however was poor. While further work remains to refine the approach, namely to develop more effective indicators of river ecosystem services, the work does present a novel method to evaluate the impacts of dams on river systems.Cost utility analysis, dam projects, ecosystem services, impounded river systems, indicators and sustainability., Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q25, Q27, Q51, Q58, Q57,

Ecosystem services review of water projects

Water projects are typically evaluated using benefit cost analysis. Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Many of these benefits are ignored in benefit cost analysis, because of the absence of markets and the limited information or understanding of how the benefits from ecosystem services are produced. Regional or local government may be interested in learning how the value of ecosystem services associated with projects may change if a project occurs. Ecosystem Service Reviews aim to make ecosystem services explicit and quantifiable so that they can be accounted for in the evaluation of water use projects. Water storage projects can enable land use intensification to occur, and confer environmental benefits in some instances (e.g., flow augmentation) and costs in others (e.g., groundwater contamination and flow‐on effects). Water storage projects can have both positive and negative outcomes for the environment. More flow can lead led to better fishing, better clarity, more contaminant dilution and a healthier aquatic ecosystem. It can also result in loss of braided river‐bird habitat, and regulated flows can result in nuisance growths of potentially toxic algal species. Irrigation can increase productivity of land within the scheme, with attendant benefits to soil quality and other out‐of‐river environmental characteristics. This paper reports the methods used to assess the impact of a water storage dam on the flow of ecosystem services in a river system. We review the range of ecosystem services that are available in a river system and examine how the flow of ecosystem services can be altered by water storage and flow augmentation through the construction of a dam. In order to list and quantify ecosystem services an attempt is made to determine a suitable site specific set of ecosystem service indicators for the Opuha‐Opihi river system case. We draw inferences about shifts in the value of ecosystem services that might arise from water projects in other contexts.Ecosystem services review,  water projects , Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,