Water Usage- Who Cares?: A Planner\u27s Viewpoint

This paper presents a discussion on the general subject of water. The answer to the question, Water Usage-Who Cares? should be easy--everyone. Water is needed for human consumption, for sanitary purposes, for plants, fish and animals, for commerce and industry, and a myriad of other uses. The interest groups are many and varied. A more appropriate question, however, would be Water-Who Gets It? This question is not so easy, since it involves a human equation which too many times is based on emotions rather than facts. Also, we can expect a broad spectrum of values that is attached to various water uses. With this background, I will address the subject through the eyes of the Corps of Engineers. I opted for this approach since I believe it will outline what has been happening in the water resources field in the Missouri River region as well as mirroring the rest of the nation. I will also address the subject in terms of the past, present, and future, since it is the linkage of the past and present that provides us with insights to the future. Lest anyone get the idea that all water development is the private domain of the Corps, let me dispel that notion. Water developments in this region, as well as the nation, reflect a combination of federal programs with those of states, local communities, and the private sector. The development of water resources by these combined efforts over the last three decades has been phenomenal. Addressing the subject through the eyes of the Corps is simply to use a large sample that reflects all the problems inherent in developing, regulating, and managing water resources

Water Usage- Who Cares?: A Planner\u27s Viewpoint

This paper presents a discussion on the general subject of water. The answer to the question, Water Usage-Who Cares? should be easy--everyone. Water is needed for human consumption, for sanitary purposes, for plants, fish and animals, for commerce and industry, and a myriad of other uses. The interest groups are many and varied. A more appropriate question, however, would be Water-Who Gets It? This question is not so easy, since it involves a human equation which too many times is based on emotions rather than facts. Also, we can expect a broad spectrum of values that is attached to various water uses. With this background, I will address the subject through the eyes of the Corps of Engineers. I opted for this approach since I believe it will outline what has been happening in the water resources field in the Missouri River region as well as mirroring the rest of the nation. I will also address the subject in terms of the past, present, and future, since it is the linkage of the past and present that provides us with insights to the future. Lest anyone get the idea that all water development is the private domain of the Corps, let me dispel that notion. Water developments in this region, as well as the nation, reflect a combination of federal programs with those of states, local communities, and the private sector. The development of water resources by these combined efforts over the last three decades has been phenomenal. Addressing the subject through the eyes of the Corps is simply to use a large sample that reflects all the problems inherent in developing, regulating, and managing water resources

National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings

Governments are becoming interested in the concept of human well-being and how truly to assess it. As an alternative to traditional economic measures, some nations have begun to collect information on citizens' happiness, life satisfaction, and other psychological scores. Yet how could such data actually be used? This paper is a cautious attempt to contribute to thinking on that question. It suggests a possible weighting method to calculate first-order changes in society's well-being, discusses some of the potential principles of democratic ‘well-being policy’, and (as an illustrative example) reports data on how sub-samples of citizens believe feelings might be weighted

National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings

Governments are becoming interested in the concept of human well-being and how truly to assess it. As an alternative to traditional economic measures, some nations have begun to collect information on citizens’ happiness, life satisfaction, and other psychological scores. Yet how could such data actually be used? This paper is a cautious attempt to contribute to thinking on that question. It suggests a possible weighting method to calculate first-order changes in society’s well-being, discusses some of the potential principles of democratic ‘well-being policy’, and (as an illustrative example) reports data on how sub-samples of citizens believe feelings might be weighted

Pre-Operative Clinical Variation by Health Insurance Carrier in 12,285 Male Surgical Patients with Moderate Morbid Obesity

In the ongoing obesity epidemic, every surgeon now treats patients with weight-related medical problems. In managing these medically fragile surgical patients, every clinical insight helps. While variation according to health insurance has been reported in mixed sex bariatric surgery populations, whether or not clinical characteristics in the subset of moderately obese male surgical patients vary by insurance carrier is unknown. The objective of this study was to identify clinical variation by insurance type in moderately obese men. Results showed that pre-operative clinical characteristics of moderately obese male surgical patients vary by the health insurance coverage type to which they subscribe. Medicare and Medicaid insured suffer the most from weight-related problems. Private and Self-Pay patients are at lower risk of obesity co-morbidities than Medicaid and Medicare. These results suggest that surgeons should consider moderately obese Medicare and Medicaid men at increased risk for peri-operative medical illnesses

Spatio-temporal patterns in the postglacial flooding of the Great Barrier Reef shelf, Australia

The shelf of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) was progressively marine flooded from the last glaciation maximum (LGM) (ca 20 ka BP) until the last sea-level highstand (ca 6 ka BP), affecting the depositional evolution of the GBR margin and associated deposits. However, the physiographic variables related to this process have not been fully characterized, especially in relation to the sedimentary processes at the shelf margin. For this study, we used a bathymetric model of the entire shelf and a shelf margin sub-set, divided into 33 latitudinal zones. Postglacial marine flooding was simulated and flooded area (km2), flooding magnitude (km2 per sea-level increment), flooding rate (km2. ky−1) and coastline length (km) were estimated for each zone, from 130 m to 0 m below present sea level, representing the period from 20 ka to 6 ka BP. Our results show that the postglacial marine flooding did not occur uniformly and that some sub-regions (e.g. the southern-central GBR) had early and rapid flooding. Coastal complexity increased in the mid-postglacial, reaching maximum values at around 9 ka BP. This reflects a coastal landscape evolving from a linear, laterally connected coast to a complex coast dominated by estuaries and lagoons, partly returning to its initial linearity during highstand. Flooding trends and geological evidence make two depositional relationships apparent. Firstly, the timing and magnitude of the off-shelf sediment flux appears linked to the presence and orientation of a shelf-edge rim, and to the extension and morphology of the evolving drainage network. Secondly, the periods of shelf-edge reef development and demise seem to respond to the remobilisation, trapping or redirection of fine sediments. We propose a sedimentation model for the shelf margin and the slope driven by the interplay of sea-level rise and shelf physiography, and we highlight two fundamental processes: (1) the cross-shelf sediment transport related to coastline retreat under rising sea levels, and (2) the effectiveness of transient embayments in redirecting or trapping sediments. The quantifications provided in this study have implications in the estimation of Pleistocene carbonate budgets and the atmospheric carbon cycle, as well as for past human migrations