CONTAMINATION OF SURFACE AND GROUND WATERS BY RUNOFF WATER FROM A CATTLE FARM AT FALENTY, POLAND

Contamination of surface and ground waters by runoff waterfrom a cattle farm at Falenty, Poland. The paper presents the results of theanalysis of runoff water from a cattle farm at Falenty near Warsaw, Poland. Thewater samples came from two wells collecting the outflow, the nearest drainingditch and the nearest stream. The sampling frequency was higher in the rainperiods. The reaction, conductivity, COD, concentration of ammonia, nitrite, andnitrate nitrogen, as well as phosphates was determined. Additionally, the totalquantity of psychrophilic and mesophilic bacteria, fungi, Proteus sp., sulphidereducing bacteria and the coliform index was also counted. Results showed anincreased level of COD and higher concentration of phosphate ions in therainwater in the area of the farmyard. Relatively high microbiological indexeswere also observed. During periods with rain, the values of the biochemicaldemand for oxygen (COD) and concentration of phosphate ions exceeded thethresholds for flowing waters

Behavior Selection Using Utility-Based Reinforcement Learning in Irregular Warfare Simulation Models

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/joris.2013070105The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) provides a conceptual model for use in assessing behavioral intentions of humans. Agent based social simulations seek to represent the behavior of individuals in societies in order to understand the impact of a variety of interventions on the population in a given area. Previous work has described the implementation of the TPB in agent based social simulation using Bayesian networks. This paper describes the implementation of the TPB using novel learning techniques related to reinforcement learning. This paper provides case study results from an agent based simulation for behavior related to commodity consumption. Initial results demonstrate behavior more closely related to observable human behavior. This work contributes to the body of knowledge on adaptive learning behavior in agent based simulations

Universities’ contributions to sustainable development’s social challenge: a case study of a social innovation practice

There is an increasing recognition that dealing with sustainable development need to address the social structures that encourage unsustainable economic and environmental practices. Universities represent important sources of knowledge for addressing sustainable development, but there has been relatively limited consideration of their contributions to these social elements. Drawing on recent interest in social innovation as to conceptualise social change and community development, this paper aims to understand universities' involvement in the process of social innovation, for the particular case of a Brazilian higher education institution. By exploring how universities can contribute to the different stages of the social innovation process, it highlights the capacities that universities have to address the social sustainable development challenge. The paper identifies five characteristics of universities contributions to social innovation and sets out an agenda for future research necessary to understand universities' wider contributions to sustainable development.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. An earlier version of this paper was presented at Regional HELIX conference, 29th June – 1st July 2016, Castelo Branco, Portugal. We would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for commenting on an earlier version of this paper. Any errors or omissions remain the authors’ responsibility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio