Research poster: Vulnerability to climate change and policy support in rural Nevada

Supervisor: Dr. William James Smith, Jr. Research poste

Climate change in rural Nevada: The influence of vulnerability on risk perception and environmental behavior

In this research, I examine the impact of vulnerability on risk perception, stated willingness to adopt individual mitigation behavior, and support for climate change mitigation policies. My major research question is, Does vulnerability to climate change increase risk perception, encourage more energy-efficient individual behavior, and enhance support for climate change mitigation policies? But to understand the role of vulnerability I also pursue answers to questions regarding its three components: Physical vulnerability; sensitivity and adaptive capacity. I investigate the following sub-questions: Do physical vulnerability, and sensitivity to climate change increase risk perception, encourage more energy-efficient individual behavior, and enhance support for climate change mitigation policies? Does greater adaptive capacity to climate change decrease risk perception, discourage more energy-efficient individual behavior, and weaken support for climate change mitigation policies? The research population is Nevada farmers and ranchers. This research is based on my work for a Nevada NSF EPSCoR project titled, Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Science, Education and Outreach. Specifically, my research is a part of the activities of the Policy, Decision Making and Outreach project\u27s component. Within this project, Nevada ranchers and farmers were surveyed in December 2009 and August 2010 regarding their socioeconomic characteristics and climate change related knowledge, beliefs, risk perceptions, environmental behaviors and policy preferences. I utilize the data gathered in that survey in addition to GIS based secondary data on water availability and use, and population densities in Nevada. Using the GIS based secondary data, I map Water Resource Vulnerability in Nevada to perform an assessment of physical vulnerability to climate change. I assess both sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate change using the socioeconomic data collected from the survey. Then, I aggregate the three vulnerability components into a composite vulnerability index unique to each farmer and rancher. I employ multiple regression analysis to investigate the influence of the composite vulnerability index, and its three separate components on risk perceptions. I utilize logistic regression to investigate the influence of the composite vulnerability index and its components on the willingness to adopt climate change mitigation individual actions and support for mitigation policies. The research establishes that vulnerability to climate change is not a significant factor in determining risk perception or the willingness to engage in, or support most of the climate change mitigation actions or policies. While vulnerable ranchers and farmers are more supportive of taking actions mitigating climate change; they are less supportive of climate change mitigation polices perceived as being costly including taxing corporations and fuel

壁付鉄筋コンクリート部材の耐震性能の高度化に関する研究

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(工学)Doctor of Engineeringdoctora

Las Vegas: The perils of deception fueled growth

There are two types of deception – the deception of others and self-deception. Las Vegas thrives on both. Many would be aware of the importance of the first type of deception for the health of the Las Vegas economy, as they would for Macau, Monte Carlo, etc. Without the symbol of wealth to achieve elite global tourism status, and the ‘moth to the flame’ illusion of the likelihood of visitors to get ‘lucky’ and win great wealth, there would be no Las Vegas as it is known today. There is no other major reason to come to the city. There is no major natural resource to encourage development – no river like the Thames of England or Pasig of the Philippines cutting through, nor large mammal populations passing through ‘fruited plains’ as was once the case in the middle of the U.S., and certainly no close proximity to the productive estuaries or forests – little that would make major development inevitable. Only a few springs attracted people in early years, many of which were pumped to extinction as development increased (Deacon 2007) (Figure 1). Yet, Las Vegas occupies a unique place in global culture, buoyed by the deceptive notion that it offers a shortcut to wealth; and the far more realistic promise that it can meet most person’s hedonistic, if not repressed, desires with enough geographic disconnection from the homes of visitors to keep activities discrete. This is the ‘deal’ the city cuts with visitors

Climate change and rural Nevadans: What do they think and why?

Outline: - Introducing Nevada Ranchers and Farmers - Climate Change Views and Perceptions - Research questions - Methodology - Results and Discussion - Conclusion - Q and

Exploring the health system for sustainable and integrated acute malnutrition services applying a systems lens: the case of Afghanistan

Introduction: Afghanistan has an estimated annual burden of severe acute malnutrition in children under five of over 600,000, with less then 30% accessing care. Since 2009, acute malnutrition has been part of the country’s Basic Package of Health Services, which is outsourced for implementation to local partners and regulated by the Ministry of Public Health. A gradual transition to government implementation is expected to change the dynamics of health system functions and actors, with unpredictable outcomes. Building competencies in applying systems thinking by taking into account tacit knowledge may strengthen adaptive management and leadership for improving sustainable and integrated acute malnutrition interventions. We explored the dynamics of the health system with a systems lens to identify opportunities for improving sustainable and integrated acute malnutrition services to inform policies. Methods: A mixed method design involved over 70 health actors to explore the health system capacity through participatory system dynamics mapping based on rapid observation, key informant interviews, group discussions and document review. The policy analysis investigated acute malnutrition coverage. A network analysis explored involvement and influences of health actors. A framework approach appraised key health system functions and explored the level of integration of acute malnutrition. System changes over time and causal loop analyses explored system dynamics to identify leverages for improving and sustaining health outcome. Results: Key policies and strategies were in place but did not consistently recognise severe acute malnutrition as a major childhood illness. Narrow involvement of health actors missed opportunities for ‘learning together’ and developing sustainable and broad-based technical leadership. The health actors network showed two scale free hubs of the Public Nutrition Directorate and health workers of health facilities making the link between government and partners at and between the national/provincial and community levels. The Basic Package of Health Services left community-based nutrition underdeveloped and 40% of the hard-to-reach population uncovered. Most funding remained emergency based, and quality and ownership were limited despite major training efforts. The extent of integration was stronger at implementation level than at policy and organisational level. Behaviour-over-time, mapping the effects of financial and technical support on effective coverage, showed late but fast expansion of coverage. Causal loop analysis, building on tacit knowledge to describe the complexity of interactions and influences, found reinforcing effects from policy, competency and community involvement and dumping effects from financial and technical support on improving quality. Based on the learning from the change mechanisms, an initial theory of change identified assumptions that should be tested and refined in evaluations. Conclusion: The exploration of health system capacity and dynamics uncovered strengths and missed opportunities for sustaining integrated acute malnutrition services in Afghanistan. This study is an initial step in applying systems thinking using tacit knowledge through participative approaches to explain unpredictable behaviour and foster dialogue and ‘learning together’ for improving sustainable and integrated acute malnutrition services. Further research should encourage applying systems thinking to further understand dynamic complexity by opening the black box to understand why change happens, how and under what circumstances, and design effective interventions

Aplikasi Metode Kinematik-Diferensial Global Positioning System Untuk Penentuan Tinggi Muka Air Laut Sesaat Dalam Survei Bathimetri

Salah satu komponen penting dalam survei bathimetri adalah pasang surut air laut (pasut) yang digunakan untuk koreksi kedalaman hasil pemeruman. Kedudukan pasut diidentifikasikan melalui pengamatan pasut menggunakan palem pasut di pinggir pantai atau dermaga/pelabuhan. Perkembangan teknologi memungkinkan penggunaan GPS (Global Positioning System) pada survei bathimetri. Selain posisi horisontal, GPS dapat digunakan untuk menentukan posisi vertikal. Pasut yang didapatkan dengan GPS merupakan tinggi muka air terhadap ellipsoid. Sehingga perlu adanya koreksi agar pasut GPS dapat digunakan untuk koreksi kedalaman. Dalam penelitian tugas akhir ini dilakukan pengamatan pasut menggunakan GPS metode kinematik. Pengamatan pasut GPS dilakukan selama survei bathimetri berlangsung. Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) digunakan untuk mendapatkan nilai tinggi muka air laut yang diamati menggunakan GPS. Tinggi muka air laut yang didapatkan kemudian direduksi menggunakan geoid (N). Model geoid yang dipakai adalah Earth Gravitational Model (EGM2008). Selain data pasut GPS dan model geoid, data lain yang digunakan adalah pengamatan pasut sesaat secara manual yang diamati selama survei bathimetri. Data pengamatan pasut manual digunakan untuk perbandingan grafik pasang surut yang dihasilkan oleh pasut GPS. Hasil penelitian ini berupa grafik pasang surut GPS yang telah terkoreksi dengan geoid dan grafik pasang surut pengamatan. Dari kedua grafik tersebut kemudian dibandingkan nilai tinggi yang dihasilkan. Pada dasarnya tinggi yang didapatkan menggunakan GPS merupakan tinggi muka air laut yang mengacu pada bidang ellipsoid. Sehingga, nilai tingginya akan sangat berbeda dengan nilai tinggi pengamatan tinggi muka air laut secara manual. Tetapi, secara grafik yang dihasilkan akan memiliki karakter yang sama. Kuantitas data yang dihasilkan juga sangat berbeda, data pasut GPS akan memiliki jumlah data yang lebih banyak dari pasut pengamatan. ======================================================================================================================== An essential part in bathymetry survey is ocean tidal, which is used to reduce sounding observation. The tidal was identified through tides observation in particular location. Development of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology enables in bathymetry survey. GPS could be used not only for horizontal positioning, but also for vertical positioning. High-accuracy GPS for vertical positioning was relatively new to the hydrographic survey. The tidal which could be detected by GPS was surface level with respect to ellipsoid. Therefore, for analysis, GPS-derived vertical information must be translated using some combination data. In this study would be carried out tidal observation using kinematic GPS. GPS tides observations were done during bathymetry survey. Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) would be used as a processing method of GPS tides data. In this study, we would use data of GPS tides observation, conventional tides observation and Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008). Conventional tides observation data was used as a tide graph comparator, whereas EGM2008 was used to reduce the ellipsoid height into orthometric height. The result of this study was a comparison between tide graph to GPS tides and observation tides graph. The height value and quantity of data which was generated than GPS tides observation and conventional tides observation was very different. However, the resultant tidal graphs had the same characteristics

Attention to Human Dignity and Its Role in Increasing Spirituality

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate about the dignity of human and its role in increasing the spirituality in light of Islam. The founding shows that spirituality has been considered as a desirable thing throughout humans’ life and lots of effort have been made to strengthen it. There are several factors that raise and cultivate spirituality, but among these factors, human dignity has essential role and basis. In this research, while explaining the concept of spirituality, the importance of human dignity in creating a spiritual personality is emphasized, and how the influence of human dignity in increasing spirituality will also be investigated, and it is proven that the source of spirituality is paying attention to inherent and deprivations, neglect and lack of attention to the position and dignity of the royal soul of man

Research methods in economics to evaluate the role of energy efficiency and financial inclusion in achieving China’s carbon neutrality target

In the recent literature, energy efficiency got the attention of scholars due to its discouraging impact on CO2 emissions, which is considered the most prevalent greenhouse gas that human activities produce. Data reports that China is the leading CO2 emitting country across the globe, and still the environmental degradation is in progress. Thus, the current paper empirically investigates the impact of energy efficiency (ENEF), financial inclusion (FD), GDP, export diversification (EXD), and human capital index (HCI) on the environmental degradation of China over the period from 1988 to 2018. This study uses various time-series tests to empirically investigate the determinant of CO2 emissions, including normality tests, unit root tests, and combined cointegration tests. Besides, the long-run coefficients are analyzed via the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS), and the Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR) estimators. The empirical findings reveal that all the variables are cointegrated in the long run. However, the coefficient estimate shows that ENEF and HCI significantly promote environmental sustainability. While GDP, FD, and EXD significantly promote environmental degradation by enhancing the CO2 level in the atmosphere. This study recommends practical policy implications based on the empirical findings: energy-efficient products and energy sources could be promoted