3,139 research outputs found
Perspectives on resilience from households in Hull – response to Defra consultation on policy options for promoting property-level flood protection and resilience
No full textEnvironmental indicators for the urban environment : a literature review
No full textA vast body of literature exists on the genesis and evolution of environmental indicators of all varieties. This document attempts to track the somewhat complicated progress of urban environmental indicators, where they are in usage and to what avail. It also emphasises the search to narrow down the range of 'ideal' indicators. The literature suggests that as experience and practice with indicators grows both in Ireland and world-wide the key set of urban environmental indicators can help policy makers and the public track sustainability issues more effectively. Indicators thus have a valuable role to play in the future of sustainable planning for urban areas.European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Environmental Services 1994-199
Measurement of Collins asymmetries in inclusive production of charged pion pairs in e+e− annihilation at BABAR
No full textWe present measurements of Collins asymmetries in the inclusive process e+e−→ππX, where π stands for charged pions, at a center-of-mass energy of 10.6 GeV. We use a data sample of 468 fb−1 collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II B factory at SLAC, and consider pairs of charged pions produced in opposite hemispheres of hadronic events. We observe clear asymmetries in the distributions of the azimuthal angles in two distinct reference frames. We study the dependence of the asymmetry on several kinematic variables, finding that it increases with increasing pion momentum and momentum transverse to the analysis axis, and with increasing angle between the thrust and beam axis
Measurement of the mass difference m(B-0)-m(B+)
No full textUsing 230 x 10(6) B (B) over bar events recorded with the BABAR detector at the e(+)e(-) storage rings PEP-II, we reconstruct approximately 4100 B-0 -> J/psi K+pi(-) and 9930 B+ -> J/psi K+ decays with J/psi -> mu(+)mu(-) and e(+)e(-). From the measured B-momentum distributions in the e(+)e(-) rest frame, we determine the mass difference m(B-0) - m(B+) = (+0.33 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.03) MeV/c(2)
Future orientation and planning in forestry: a comparison of forest managers' planning horizons in Germany and the Netherlands
No full textLong range (or strategic) planning is an important tool for forest management to deal with the complex and unpredictable future. However, it is the ability to make meaningful predictions about the rapidly changing future that is questioned. What appears to be particularly neglected is the question of the length of time horizons and the limits (if any) to these horizons, despite being considered one of the most critical factors in strategic planning. As the future creation of values lies within individual responsibility, this research empirically explored the limits (if any) of individual foresters¿ time horizons. To draw comparisons between countries with different traditions in forest management planning, data were collected through telephone surveys of forest managers in the state/national forest services of the Netherlands and Germany. In order to minimize other cultural differences, the research in Germany concentrated on the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which has considerable similarities with the Netherlands, e.g. in topography, forest types and forest functions. The results show that, in practice, 15 years appears to be the most distant horizon that foresters can identify with. This is in sharp contrast to the time horizons spanning decades and even generations that are always said to exist in forestry. The ¿doctrine of the long run¿¿the faith in the capacity of foresters to overcome the barriers of the uncertain future and look ahead and plan for long-range goals¿which in many countries still underlies traditional forest management, can therefore be rejected
Simulating urban encroachment upon Natura2000 sites using the MOLAND model : supporting appropriate assessment
No full textThe urban fabric of the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years. This has lead to a decrease in environmental quality throughout the region and disturbance of protected areas. In an effort to guide development toward a more sustainable path in the region the “Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area” were introduced in 1999. These were updated in 2004 as the “Regional Planning Guidelines: Greater Dublin Area 2004-2016” and are currently in the process of another review to become the “Regional Planning Guidelines: Greater Dublin Area 2010-2022”. As part of the review an Appropriate Assessment was undertaken to evaluate the effect of
several potential settlement patterns on the region’s protected areas. The MOLAND model was used to simulate four scenarios of possible future settlement patterns for the GDA. These four scenarios were then evaluated in terms of the impact of development on protected areas within the region.Other funderEnvironmental Protection Agencyti.kpw6/10/1
A review of research ethics in internet-based research
No full textInternet-based research methods can include; on-line surveys, web page content analysis, videoconferencing for on-line focus groups and/ or interviews, analysis of ‘e’ conversations through social networking sites, email, chat rooms, discussion boards and/ or blogs. Over the last ten years an upsurge in Internet Based Research (IBR) has led to increased interest in IBR and research ethics. Here we present some ethical guidelines for IBR whilst at the same time accepting that it would be unrealistic to expect that any single set of guidelines can cover all ethical situations concerning IBR). There is simply too much diversity across internet cultures, values and modes of operation for that to be the case. Perhaps the most useful solution to the complex challenges of IRB lies with a form of ‘negotiated ethics’, a situated approach grounded in the specifics of the online community, the methodology and the research question(s). This does not mean an ‘anything goes’ relativist approach, rather an open, pluralistic policy in relation to IBR ethical issues (Ess, 2009; AoIR, 2002)
Measurement of the branching fractions for y(2S) -> e+e- and y(2S) -> m+m-.
No full textWe measure the branching fractions of the y(2S) meson to the leptonic final states e+e- and m+m- relative to that for y(2S) -> J/yp+p-. The method uses y(2S) mesons produced in the decay of B mesons at the U(4S) resonance in a data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Using previous measurements for the y(2S) -> J/yp+p- branching fraction, we det. the e+e- and m+m- branching fractions to be 0.0078+-0.0009+-0.0008 and 0.0067+-0.0008+-0.0007, resp. [on SciFinder (R)
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