1,720,958 research outputs found
Environmental conflict and decision-making: the case of hydroelectric power
No full textAs management of the environment becomes more complex and the number of potentially conflicting issues to be balanced expands, there will be increasing and more intense debates about the course(s) of action(s) to be taken. Navigation of conflict determines trade-offs established and decisions taken, and will become progressively important, as the need to unify incompatible uses grows. Both definition and management of environmental conflict is ambiguous, lacking in understanding and mechanisms to effectively handle disputes. Interdisciplinary consideration of conflict highlights its potential to yield functional and dysfunctional aspects, recognising dispute is not inherently negative. Framing environmental debates as conflict situations may yield substantial management benefits.Using case studies (UK), this research identifies the impact of stakeholder conflict on achieving sustainable decision-making, and, seeks to develop conceptual tools to aid exploration of disputes, using the issue of hydropower development. Growing environment awareness has simultaneously emphasised the benefits of hydroelectric power and its environmental costs. In a changing policy climate, where renewable energy generation potential and environmental protection are needed, conflict between stakeholders is considerable. To meet practitioner’s needs, an understanding of conflict is needed.Findings highlight the existence and nature of stakeholder conflict. Environmental conflict is epitomized by: parameters of the problem, characteristics of the stakeholders and dispute process. Conflict is recognised as a platform for expression which may yield functional or dysfunctional consequences for decision-making. The impact of the individual is significant; variables such as perceptions, behaviours and personalities, alongside facets of the problem, characterise disputes. Assessment of conflict at a range of spatial and temporal scales, established capacity for escalation, stagnation and the development of impasses, each with differential impacts on decision-making.A conceptual framework illustrating the impact of conflict on decision-making, and role in the facilitation of change is generated. Conflict is recognised as a critical management point for facilitating sustainable decisions. From a management perspective, it is important to manage conflict at this critical point to achieve the best decision. This research outlines an alternative approach to the conceptualisation and management of environmental conflict, and highlights the significant impact of the individuals involved. The identification, application and further development of methodologies have yielded a number of conceptual tools for conflict management. Recognising the important role of conflict as a mechanism for change may be crucial for the future of environmental management
Understanding the role of the stakeholder in environmental conflicts: the case of hydroelectric power
No full textManaging sustainable development conflicts: the impact of stakeholders in small-scale hydropower schemes
No full textThe growing importance of the environment and its management has simultaneously emphasized the benefits of hydroelectric power and its environmental costs. In a changing policy climate, giving importance to renewable energy development and environmental protection, conflict potential between stakeholders is considerable. Navigation of conflict determines the scheme constructed, making sustainable hydropower a function of human choice. To meet the needs of practitioners, greater understanding of stakeholder conflict is needed. This paper presents an approach to illustrate the challenges that face small-scale hydropower development as perceived by the stakeholders involved, and how they influence decision-making. Using Gordleton Mill, Hampshire (UK), as a case study; soft systems methodology, a systems modeling approach, was adopted. Through individual interviews, a range of problems were identified and conceptually modeled. Stakeholder bias towards favoring economic appraisal over intangible social and environmental aspects was identified; costs appeared more influential than profit. Conceptual evaluation of the requirements to meet a stakeholder-approved solution suggested a complex linear systems approach; considerably different from the real-life situation. The stakeholders introduced bias to problem definition; transferring self-perceived issues onto the project owner. Application of soft systems methodology caused a shift in project goals, away from further investigation, towards consideration of project suitability. The challenge of sustainable hydropower is global, with a need to balance environmental, economic, and social concerns. It is clear that in this type of conflict, an individual can significantly influence outcomes; highlighting the need for more structured approaches to deal with stakeholder conflicts in sustainable hydropower development
Sustainable hydropower and soft systems methodology: a systems approach to complexity and conflict
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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