Water resources assessment as the basic tool for sustainable and environmentally sound river basin management

This paper deals with the methodology used for conducting a water resources assessment as the core component of water resources master plans. It is basically a quantitative and qualitative water resources balance (WRB) and an essential element of any short or long-term planning of sustainable and environmentally sound river basin development and management. The use of a water resources management balance instead of the water resources balance (water budget) that includes the water withdrawals and discharges in the balance equation should be favoured in water resources assessment. By using a water resource management balance, the multiple use of a given volume of water is accounted for so that it is possible to satisfy larger water demands than by using the natural water budget approach. This approach forces planners to look at a much wider scope of alternatives (reservoirs versus water recirculation and conservation for example) to meet the demands and also reinforces the role of water quality in water resources assessment.</jats:p

Smaller, Faster Agent Dialogues via Conversational Probing

Studies of human conversation suggest that agents whose world models are in consensus can work well together using only very narrow bandwidths. The total bandwidth required between agents could hence be minimised if we could recognise when model consensus breaks down. At the breakdown point, the communication policy could switch from some usual-case low value to a temporary high value while the model conflict is resolved. To effectively recognise the breakdown point, we need tools that recognise model conflicts without requiring extensive bandwidth. A mathematical model of probing and-or graphs suggests that, for a large range of interesting models, the number of probes required to detect consensus breakdown is quite low

Integrated cadastre (Inventory System) for pollution sources in the Danube basin in Yugoslavia

The state of the art approach to environmental protection and management calls for the implementation of major multipurpose environmental protection systems and a wide scope of preventive measures. Since environmental protection falls within the scope of problems collectively known as “externalities” which justify government intervention, i.e. the implementation of the required measures, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that adequate data is collected and analyzed prior to any decision making pertaining to environmental protection. It is this responsibility of the Government and the constitutional right of the people to live and work in a healthy environment that are the basis of the development of a Federal Integrated Cadastre of Polluters. The integrated approach requires a substantial increase in the amount of information and data on which the planning decisions of the future will be based. It is this need for information and data necessary for the implementation of the state of the art forecasting, planning and management (decision making) that brought about the development of the Integrated Cadastre (Inventory) of Polluters in the Danube basin in Yugoslavia. This paper presents the methodology used in the development of the integrated cadastre and gives a brief review of the structure of the information system used to manage the integrated cadastre.</jats:p