Economic Effects of Riparian Corridors and Upland Wildlife Habitat

This study uses the hedonic price method to examine the relationship between the sale price of single-family residential properties in an urban watershed in Portland, Oregon and (1) the amount of riparian vegetation and upland wildlife habitat on a property, and (2) the amount and quality of riparian corridors within ½ mile of a property. Streams on a property are found to increase a property’s sale price while streams in the surrounding neighborhood have a negative effect. While increasing the overall percentage of riparian corridors and upland wildlife habitat is found to have a positive but declining effect on sale price, a more detailed analysis concludes that the effect depends on the type and quality of resources. The quality and quantity of riparian corridors within ½ mile of properties is being capitalized into the sale price of properties suggesting that restoration efforts will generate benefits to property owners in the study area

International perceptions of urban blue-green infrastructure: A comparison across four cities

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Blue-Green infrastructure (BGI) is recognised internationally as an approach for managing urban water challenges while enhancing society and the environment through the provision of multiple co-benefits. This research employed an online survey to investigate the perceptions of BGI held by professional stakeholders in four cities with established BGI programs: Newcastle (UK), Ningbo (China), Portland (Oregon USA), and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) (64 respondents). The results show that challenges associated with having too much water (e.g., pluvial and fluvial flood risk, water quality deterioration) are driving urban water management agendas. Perceptions of governance drivers for BGI implementation, BGI leaders, and strategies for improving BGI uptake, are markedly different in the four cities reflecting the varied local, regional and national responsibilities for BGI implementation. In addition to managing urban water, BGI is universally valued for its positive impact on residents’ quality of life; however, a transformative change in policy and practice towards truly multifunctional infrastructure is needed to optimise the delivery of multiple BGI benefits to address each city’s priorities and strategic objectives. Changes needed to improve BGI uptake, e.g., increasing the awareness of policy-makers to multifunctional BGI, has international relevance for other cities on their journeys to sustainable blue-green futures

Learning–testing process in classroom: An empirical simulation model

This paper presents an empirical micro-simulation model of the teaching and the testing process in the classroomH. It is a non-econometric micro-simulation model describing informational behaviors of the pupils, based on the observation of the pupils’ communication behavior during lessons and tests. The representation of the knowledge process is very simplified. However, we tried to study the involvements of individual motivation, capability and relationship with other pupils of each pupil, to compare them to the new-classical(and keynesian) and Austrian information and knowledge theoretical results. It is a first step and future development should concern expectation behaviors and dynamics. This paper aims too to give, we hope so, some criteria of pupils’ rationality in the classroom

Attenuation Coefficients for Water Quality Trading

Water quality trading has been proposed as a cost-effective approach for reducing nutrient loads through credit generation from agricultural or point source reductions sold to buyers facing costly options. We present a systematic approach to determine attenuation coefficients and their uncertainty. Using a process-based model, we determine attenuation with safety margins at many watersheds for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads as they transport from point of load reduction to the credit buyer. TN and TP in-stream attenuation generally increases with decreasing mean river flow; smaller rivers in the modeled region of the Ohio River Basin had TN attenuation factors per km, including safety margins, of 0.19-1.6%, medium rivers of 0.14-1.2%, large rivers of 0.13-1.1%, and very large rivers of 0.04-0.42%. Attenuation in ditches transporting nutrients from farms to receiving rivers is 0.4%/km for TN, while for TP attenuation in ditches can be up to 2%/km. A 95 percentile safety margin of 30-40% for TN and 6-10% for TP, applied to the attenuation per km factors, was determined from the in-stream sensitivity of load reductions to watershed model parameters. For perspective, over 50 km a 1% per km factor would result in 50% attenuation = 2:1 trading ratio

Porównanie metod suszenia gazu ziemnego przechowywanego w podziemnych magazynach gazu

Underground storage reservoirs are widely used. Gas is stored at 7 to 20 MPa and 20 to 35°C. Gas is saturated by moisture during the storage period. However, distributed gas should meet certain conditions. To reach requested water content the following methods can be used: absorption to triethylenglycol (TEG), adsorption by solid desiccants and multistage expansion. Energy demand, advantages and disadvantages of methods are discussed on base of chemical engineering calculations and available information.Podziemne zbiornki gazu są szeroki stosowane. Gaz przechowuje się pod ciśnieniem od 7 do 20 MPa i w temperaturze od 20 do 35°C. Podczas przechowywania gaz jest nasycony wilgocią. Jednakże rozdzielany gaz powinien spełniać określone warunki. Aby uzyskać wymaganą zawartość wilgoci w gazie można zastosować następujące metody: absorpcję glikolem trietylenowym (TEG), absorpcję stałymi substancjami osuszającymi i wielostopniową ekspansję. Zapotrzebowanie energii, zalety i wady wymienionych metod z uwzględnieniem obliczeń procesowych oraz dostępnej informacji są omówione w artykule