Monitoring, reporting and vrification for national REDD+programmes: two proposals

Different options have been suggested by Parties to the UNFCCC (United Framework Convention on Climate Change) for inclusion in national approaches to REDD and REDD + (reduced deforestation, reduced degradation, enhancement of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forest, and conservation of forest carbon stocks). This paper proposes that from the practical and technical points of view of designing action for REDD and REDD + at local and sub-national level, as well as from the point of view of the necessary MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification), these should be grouped into three categories: conservation, which is rewarded on the basis of no changes in forest stock, reduced deforestation, in which lowered rates of forest area loss are rewarded, and positive impacts on carbon stock changes in forests remaining forest, which includes reduced degradation, sustainable management of forest of various kinds, and forest enhancement. Thus we have moved degradation, which conventionally is grouped with deforestation, into the forest management group reported as areas remaining forest land, with which it has, in reality, and particularly as regards MRV, much more in common. Secondly, in the context of the fact that REDD/REDD + is to take the form of a national or near-national approach, we argue that while systematic national monitoring is important, it may not be necessary for REDD/REDD + activities, or for national MRV, to be started at equal levels of intensity all over the country. Rather, areas where interventions seem easiest to start may be targeted, and here data measurements may be more rigorous (Tier 3), for example based on stakeholder self-monitoring with independent verification, while in other, untreated areas, a lower level of monitoring may be pursued, at least in the first instance. Treated areas may be targeted for any of the three groups of activities (conservation, reduced deforestation, and positive impact on carbon stock increases in forest remaining forest)

In-Space technology experiments program. A high efficiency thermal interface (using condensation heat transfer) between a 2-phase fluid loop and heatpipe radiator: Experiment definition phase

Space Station elements and advanced military spacecraft will require rejection of tens of kilowatts of waste heat. Large space radiators and two-phase heat transport loops will be required. To minimize radiator size and weight, it is critical to minimize the temperature drop between the heat source and sink. Under an Air Force contract, a unique, high-performance heat exchanger is developed for coupling the radiator to the transport loop. Since fluid flow through the heat exchanger is driven by capillary forces which are easily dominated by gravity forces in ground testing, it is necessary to perform microgravity thermal testing to verify the design. This contract consists of an experiment definition phase leading to a preliminary design and cost estimate for a shuttle-based flight experiment of this heat exchanger design. This program will utilize modified hardware from a ground test program for the heat exchanger

Demystifying the link between institutional theory and stakeholder theory in sustainability reporting

In response to the global challenge of climate change, companies increasingly disclose sustainability-related information in form of sustainability reports. These reports, however, vary significantly due to multiple institutional and stakeholder pressures. From an academic perspective, institutional theory links these different outcomes to the influences of competing institutional logics on the field-level, representing institutional complexity on the field-level which is characterised by multiple demands from different stakeholders. Although current literature acknowledges that stakeholder may affect institutional logics, it is limited to categorise stakeholder influences on the firm-level, lacking conceptual clarity. Based on institutional and stakeholder constructs, this paper demonstrates that institutional and stakeholder theory provide, on different levels, a theoretical foundation to examine the influences on sustainability reporting. Various constructs of stakeholder theory and institutional fields as well as their limitations and further classification concepts are identified and discussed. This paper thereby advances the understanding between field-level pressures and firm-level agency and demonstrate that both theories can complement each other when examining the influences on sustainability reporting

Barriers to minority women in undergraduate engineering programs

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3488408

Lebensleistung tierzüchterisch abbilden geht das?

Different traits have been defined to describe the performance of dairy animals during their lifetime: productive lifetime, lifetime production, life efficiency and contribution trouble-free cows that reach the performance optimum of lactations. This continuous performance should be on basis of good roughage feed efficiency. Within the present total merit indices it is not possible to determine which cow fulfils these demands on longevity, health, performance and cost reduction. Further research is necessary to investigate the suitability of this trait for breeding value estimation or if the calculation of an index may be more useful

Assessing satellite-derived land product quality for earth system science applications: results from the ceos lpv sub-group

The value of satellite derived land products for science applications and research is dependent upon the known accuracy of the data. CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites), the space arm of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), plays a key role in coordinating the land product validation process. The Land Product Validation (LPV) sub-group of the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) aims to address the challenges associated with the validation of global land products. This paper provides an overview of LPV sub-group focus area activities, which cover seven terrestrial Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). The contribution will enhance coordination of the scientific needs of the Earth system communities with global LPV activities