Effectively empowering: A different look at bolstering the effectiveness of global environmental assessments

Global environmental assessments are widely considered to play a prominent role in environmental governance. However, they are also criticised for a lack of effectiveness in informing policy and decision-making. In response, GEAs have adopted a number of strategies to bolster their effectiveness, including by orienting themselves towards solutions (solution-orientation), increasing the diversity of included experts (participation), and producing more targeted assessments (contextualisation). In this article, we analyse these strategies as attempts to be effective for multiple audiences while also identifying the limitations of these strategies. Based on this analysis, we propose to conceive of GEAs as processes that are able to empower diverse actors – ranging from diplomats in international negotiations to civil society activists, or indigenous and local knowledge holders – to act towards socio-environmental objectives. Seen in this light, the effectiveness of GEAs can be improved by reflecting on which actors can benefit from assessments and how assessments can contribute to their empowerment. This strategy goes beyond current proposals that aim to strengthen the authority of assessments by boosting the scientific quality and credibility of the reports. Indeed, it complements them with an explicitly political perspective. Using examples of empowerment in different phases of GEA production and use, we argue that this reconceptualisation of effectiveness requires assessments to reflect a diversity of problem and solution frames, thereby creating entry points for the empowerment of a broad range of actors. We conclude by providing three illustrative ideas to improve effectiveness for the design and execution of assessments

The stranding anomaly as population indicator: the case of Harbour Porpoise <i>Phocoena phocoena</i> in North-Western Europe

Ecological indicators for monitoring strategies are expected to combine three major characteristics: ecological significance, statistical credibility, and cost-effectiveness. Strategies based on stranding networks rank highly in cost-effectiveness, but their ecological significance and statistical credibility are disputed. Our present goal is to improve the value of stranding data as population indicator as part of monitoring strategies by constructing the spatial and temporal null hypothesis for strandings. The null hypothesis is defined as: small cetacean distribution and mortality are uniform in space and constant in time. We used a drift model to map stranding probabilities and predict stranding patterns of cetacean carcasses under H-0 across the North Sea, the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, for the period 1990-2009. As the most common cetacean occurring in this area, we chose the harbour porpoise <i>Phocoena phocoena</i> for our modelling. The difference between these strandings expected under H-0 and observed strandings is defined as the stranding anomaly. It constituted the stranding data series corrected for drift conditions. Seasonal decomposition of stranding anomaly suggested that drift conditions did not explain observed seasonal variations of porpoise strandings. Long-term stranding anomalies increased first in the southern North Sea, the Channel and Bay of Biscay coasts, and finally the eastern North Sea. The hypothesis of changes in porpoise distribution was consistent with local visual surveys, mostly SCANS surveys (1994 and 2005). This new indicator could be applied to cetacean populations across the world and more widely to marine megafauna

Thermal Wave Methods: Some Experimental Pitfalls

Uncertainties in the spatial distributions calculated from thermal wave data are normally attributed to the ill-posed deconvolution problem. This paper focusses on the impact of "ill-posed" experimental conditions on the pyroelectric spectra. The spectra are affected by structural inhomogeneities and temporal changes in the electrical and thermal properties, by distortions caused by the electric circuit, by frequency-dependent properties and by piezoelectricity. Experimental results are given for PVDF and LiTaO3. Suggestions are made to reduce the effect of experimental errors.status: publishe

Special issue of the IEEE transactions on dielectrics and electrical insulation electrets and related phenomena

We are pleased to announce that the June 2018 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation (TDEI) will be a special issue on electrets and related phenomena. This issue is open to all authors. Presenters of papers at the IEEE 16th International Symposium on Electrets (ISE16) to be held during September 4-7, 2017 in Leuven (Belgium) are especially encouraged to submit their work to this special issue. For more information on ISE16 please go to www.ise16.eu.status: publishe

REPORT ON THE 16TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ELECTRETS (ISE 16)

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Photothermal dielectric spectroscopy: A novel technique for the determination of the dielectric, pyroelectric and thermal properties of thin dielectric films

A novel technique is described which combines dielectric measurements with a time and frequency dependent photothermal excitation. The sample, a thin metallized film, is placed in an aluminium ring which serves as a heat sink. At different temperatures both the dielectric and pyroelectric spectra are obtained by applying sequentially an AC-voltage and a modulated heat flux to the sample. The thermal properties are assessed by the application of a local laser heating; the resulting increase in the mean sample temperature is recorded by high precision capacitance measurements at a fixed frequency. From the equilibrium increment Delta C(T) and the temperature dependence of the capacitance C(T) we can find the temperature increment Delta T(T) and thus the thermal conductivity, while from the transient response Delta C(T,t) the thermal diffusivity can be obtained. Combination of all information further yields the pyroelectric coefficient and the specific heat. Experiments on PVDF were performed at temperatures from -60 to 110 degrees C to show the capabilities of the new method.status: publishe

Electrets and Related Phenomena

affiliation: van Turnhout, J (Reprint Author), Delft Univ Technol, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Delft, Netherlands. van Turnhout, Jan, Delft Univ Technol, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Delft, Netherlands. Wubbenhorst, Michael, Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Phys & Astron, Lab Soft Matter & Biophys, Leuven, Belgium. research-areas: Engineering; Physics web-of-science-categories: Engineering, Electrical & Electronic; Physics, Applied number-of-cited-references: 0 times-cited: 0 usage-count-last-180-days: 0 usage-count-since-2013: 0 journal-iso: IEEE Trns. Dielectr. Electr. Insul. doc-delivery-number: GN8BI unique-id: ISI:000439376900001 da: 2019-01-1

Characterization of the cure of epoxy resins by pyroelectric calorimetry

The inverse photopyroelectric technique (IPPE) was adapted for the measurement of the thermal effusivity of resins during isothermal curing. The pyroelectric sensor consisted of a 9 mu m PVDF film heated by a modulated laser beam and coated with a thick layer of uncured epoxy. From the high frequency part of the pyroelectric spectra of this bilayer the sensitivity of the pyroelectric detector was determined, while from the low frequency part the sample's effusivity (c rho k)/sup 1/2 / was found. The isothermal crosslinking of an DGEBA-based epoxy with DDM was studied at cure temperatures between 38 and 60 degrees C. The thermal effusivity shows a marked increase until it drops when the rubber to glass transition is passed, i.e. when the network formed vitrifies to its glassy state. Concurrent results from modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) showed that the increase in the effusivity by up to 30% is mainly caused by the increase in thermal conductivity due to the crosslinking, while the stepwise decrease should be attributed to the drop in specific heat. Further consideration of the frequency dependence of the vitrification time obtained by IPPE-, MDSC- and dielectric studies confirmed that the same dynamic process, viz. vitrification, is monitored with these different techniques.status: publishe