scholarly journals Local Government's Resource Commitment to Environmental Sustainability: Capacity, Conservatism, and Contractual Dynamics

2021 ◽  
pp. 107808742110649
Author(s):  
Wonhyuk Cho ◽  
Daewook Kim ◽  
Angela Y. S. Park

Local governments are leading sustainability efforts through a range of initiatives, often voluntarily. While a spate of research exists to explain what drives these voluntary decisions, we are still limited in understanding how localities follow through with the resources to implement their adopted plans. This is particularly the case for environment and climate protection programs that are transboundary in nature and thus require more innovative and longer-term approaches than those that are relatively low-cost and easier to implement with future savings. This research examines local investment in promoting three of these program areas: air quality, biodiversity preservation, and ecological restoration. It investigates how local governments vary according to resource commitment and what factors explain those variations. We find several factors significant, including community capacity, political ideology, and institutional arrangements for service production and delivery. Variations are, however, found across different types of resource commitment, suggesting a more complex picture of local resource availability for advancing sustainability efforts.

Agrotek ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Baso Daeng

<em>The rate of conversion of paddy fields and irrigation water crisis suggest to consider the development of upland rice.� Empowerment of organic-based dryland done to increase rice, as well as environmental sustainability efforts.� The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of organic fertilizer residue to upland rice in the second growing season.� Experiments using a split-split plot design.� The main plot consisted of a dosage of 50% and 100% organic fertilizer in the first growing season.� Sub plot consisted of chicken manure (20 tons ha<sup>-1</sup>), <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Centrosema</span>� <span style="text-decoration: underline;">pubescens</span> (4.3 tons ha<sup>-1</sup>) + chicken manure (10 tons ha<sup>-1</sup>), and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Thitonia</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">diversifolia</span> (4.3 tons ha<sup>-1</sup>) + chicken manure (10 tons ha<sup>-1</sup>).� Sub-sub plot consist of Danau Gaung and Batu Tegi varieties.� The different types of fertilizer had no effect on plant productivity.� The addition of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Thitonia</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">diversifolia</span> gave a good effect on some growth variable and its resistance due pathogen attack.� Batu Tegi varieties are varieties that give the best response from an organic fertilizer.� Interaction between dosage, type of fertilizer, and varieties do not provide areal impact.</em>


2021 ◽  
pp. 088391152199784
Author(s):  
Nipun Jain ◽  
Shashi Singh

Development of an artificial tissue by tissue engineering is witnessed to be one of the long lasting clarified solutions for the damaged tissue function restoration. To accomplish this, a scaffold is designed as a cell carrier in which the extracellular matrix (ECM) performs a prominent task of controlling the inoculated cell’s destiny. ECM composition, topography and mechanical properties lead to different types of interactions between cells and ECM components that trigger an assortment of cellular reactions via diverse sensing mechanisms and downstream signaling pathways. The polysaccharides in the form of proteoglycans and glycoproteins yield better outcomes when included in the designed matrices. Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains present on proteoglycans show a wide range of operations such as sequestering of critical effector morphogens which encourage proficient nutrient contribution toward the growing stem cells for their development and endurance. In this review we discuss how the glycosylation aspects are of considerable importance in everyday housekeeping functions of a cell especially when placed in a controlled environment under ideal growth conditions. Hydrogels made from these GAG chains have been used extensively as a resorbable material that mimics the natural ECM functions for an efficient control over cell attachment, permeability, viability, proliferation, and differentiation processes. Also the incorporation of non-mammalian polysaccharides can elicit specific receptor responses which authorize the creation of numerous vigorous frameworks while prolonging the low cost and immunogenicity of the substance.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1949
Author(s):  
Edoardo Masut ◽  
Alessandro Battaglia ◽  
Luca Ferioli ◽  
Anna Legnani ◽  
Carolina Cruz Viggi ◽  
...  

In this study, wood mulch-based amendments were tested in a bench-scale microcosm experiment in order to assess the treatability of saturated soils and groundwater from an industrial site contaminated by chlorinated ethenes. Wood mulch was tested alone as the only electron donor in order to assess its potential for stimulating the biological reductive dechlorination. It was also tested in combination with millimetric iron filings in order to assess the ability of the additive to accelerate/improve the bioremediation process. The efficacy of the selected amendments was compared with that of unamended control microcosms. The results demonstrated that wood mulch is an effective natural and low-cost electron donor to stimulate the complete reductive dechlorination of chlorinated solvents to ethene. Being a side-product of the wood industry, mulch can be used in environmental remediation, an approach which perfectly fits the principles of circular economy and addresses the compelling needs of a sustainable and low environmental impact remediation. The efficacy of mulch was further improved by the co-presence of iron filings, which accelerated the conversion of vinyl chloride into the ethene by increasing the H2 availability rather than by catalyzing the direct abiotic dechlorination of contaminants. Chemical analyses were corroborated by biomolecular assays, which confirmed the stimulatory effect of the selected amendments on the abundance of Dehalococcoides mccartyi and related reductive dehalogenase genes. Overall, this paper further highlights the application potential and environmental sustainability of wood mulch-based amendments as low-cost electron donors for the biological treatment of chlorinated ethenes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4948
Author(s):  
Núria Boix Rodríguez ◽  
Giovanni Formentini ◽  
Claudio Favi ◽  
Marco Marconi

Face masks are currently considered key equipment to protect people against the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for such devices is considerable, as is the amount of plastic waste generated after their use (approximately 1.6 million tons/day since the outbreak). Even if the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, environmental concerns require investigation to find possible mitigation solutions. The aim of this work is to develop an eco-design actions guide that supports the design of dedicated masks, in a manner to reduce the negative impacts of these devices on the environment during the pandemic period. Toward this aim, an environmental assessment based on life cycle assessment and circularity assessment (material circularity indicator) of different types of masks have been carried out on (i) a 3D-printed mask with changeable filters, (ii) a surgical mask, (iii) an FFP2 mask with valve, (iv) an FFP2 mask without valve, and (v) a washable mask. Results highlight how reusable masks (i.e., 3D-printed masks and washable masks) are the most sustainable from a life cycle perspective, drastically reducing the environmental impacts in all categories. The outcomes of the analysis provide a framework to derive a set of eco-design guidelines which have been used to design a new device that couples protection requirements against the virus and environmental sustainability.


Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Casper ◽  
Brian P. McCullough ◽  
Danielle M. Kushner Smith

Political ideology is one of the most powerful predictors of perceptions about environmental sustainability and related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how sport fans’ sustainability-specific values, perceptions, and norms related to awareness, engagement, and influence of USA collegiate sport sustainability efforts based on political affiliation, accounting for age and gender. Data were collected using an online survey distributed to season ticket holders after the 2019 college football season that featured three sponsored sustainability initiatives at each home game. Multivariate analysis of variance and chi-square difference tests found that self-identified Democrats reported significantly higher pro-environmental values and norms, but sustainability program engagement, sponsored initiatives awareness, and influence of initiatives on behavior were politically neutral. Path analysis found that ascription of responsibility was a significant predictor of sustainability-related engagement and behaviors for both Independents and Republicans. The results and discussion sections highlight how academics and practitioners can account for political affiliation when creating campaign messaging for environmental initiatives.


2013 ◽  
Vol 756-759 ◽  
pp. 489-492
Author(s):  
Fu Lu Jin ◽  
Yun Peng Li ◽  
Hong Rui Wang

To automatic test the function and performance of an airborne radar, changeable test adapter is adopted to implement the hardware and software design of the automatic test set of the antenna, transceiver and indicator of the radar based on AT89C52. Problems such as t the different types of interfaces, the various kinds of signals and the test of microwave signal are solved successfully and the objectives of resource sharing and automatic test are realized. The test software is designed by modular structure, and with the help of automatic test set hardware, the required test items of the radar system are experimented and the test process control succeeded. Experiment results show that the automatic test set performs steadily and the results meet the requirements of the airborne radar. The set has the advantages of intelligent, manageable and reducing artificial errors. It provides effective guarantees for radars maintenance, fault diagnosis and fault detection, and has a wide application prospect with low cost.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Kenk ◽  
Toomas Haldma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study more deeply the use of performance information (PI) in the context of the administrative-territorial reform, e.g. amalgamation in the local governments (LG) with an example of Estonian LGs. Design/methodology/approach The case study method is adopted, using data from publicly available documents and interviews with the politicians and officials at the five merger cases of Estonian LG units. The data are interpreted and analysed using attribution theory. Findings The results show that amalgamation patterns do have an influence on PI use – in particular, the authors see that PI is reported to be used more frequently in cases of voluntary mergers, which may be related to the different motivations to make attributions in cases of voluntary and compulsory mergers. Originality/value The study contributes to the debate on the importance and usefulness of different types of PI, as financial as well as non-financial information and for different information users in the light of LG reform in Estonia as being a Central and Eastern European country.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Drabczyk ◽  
Edyta Wróbel ◽  
Grazyna Kulesza-Matlak ◽  
Wojciech Filipowski ◽  
Krzysztof Waczynski ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study is comparison of the diffusion processes performed using the commercial available dopant paste made by Filmtronics and the original prepared liquid dopant solution. To decrease prices of industrially produced silicon-based solar cells, the new low-cost production processes are necessary. The main components of most popular silicon solar cells are with diffused emitter layer, passivation, anti-reflective layers and metal electrodes. This type of cells is prepared usually using phosphorus oxychloride diffusion source and metal pastes for screen printing. The diffusion process in diffusion furnace with quartz tube is slow, complicated and requires expensive equipment. The alternative for this technology is very fast in-line processing using the belt furnaces as an equipment. This approach requires different dopant sources. Design/methodology/approach In this work, the diffusion processes were made for two different types of dopant sources. The first one was the commercial available dopant paste from Filmtronics and the second one was the original prepared liquid dopant solution. The investigation was focused on dopant sources fabrication and diffusion processes. The doping solution was made in two stages. In the first stage, a base solution (without dopants) was made: dropwise deionized (DI) water and ethyl alcohol were added to a solution consisting of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and 99.8 per cent ethyl alcohol. Next, to the base solution, orthophosphoric acid dissolved in ethyl alcohol was added. Findings Diffused emitter layers with sheet resistance around 60 Ω/sq were produced on solar grade monocrystalline silicon wafers using two types of dopant sources. Originality/value In this work, the diffusion processes were made for two different types of dopant sources. The first one was the commercial available dopant paste from Filmtronics and the second one was the original prepared liquid dopant solution.


1994 ◽  
Vol 348 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Dafinei ◽  
E. Auffray ◽  
P. Lecoq ◽  
M. Schneegans

ABSTRACTIn the quest for low cost scintillators to equip the very large electromagnetic calorimeters for future High Energy Physics experiments, scintillating glasses can offer an attractive alternative to crystals. The expected production price is indeed supposed to be reduced as compared to crystals, especially for very large volumes. An intense R&D effort has been made by the Crystal Clear collaboration to develop heavy scintillating fluoride glasses in close collaboration with the industry. Results will be shown on the fluorescence and scintillation properties as well as on the radiation resistance of different types of fluoride glasses. Ideas about possible improvement of present performances will also be given.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavol Kajánek

Inertial navigation system (INS) is a self-contained navigation technique. Its main purpose is to determinate the position and the trajectory of the object´s movement in space. This technique is well represented not only as a supplementary method (GPS/INS integrated system) but as an autonomous system for navigation of vehicles and pedestrians, also. The aim of this paper is to design a test for low-cost inertial measurement units. The test results give us information about accuracy, which determine the possible use in indoor navigation or other applications. There are described some methods for processing the data obtained by inertial measurement units, which remove noise and improve accuracy of position and orientation.


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