The accumulating impacts from human development are threatening water quality and availability in the watersheds of Western Canada. While environmental impact assessment (EIA) is tasked with identifying such cumulative impacts, the practice is limited to individual projects, is not widely applied, overlooks activities occurring on the landscape, and fails to capture the effects of multiple projects over time. Limitations of the project-by-project approach are spurring the emergence of a regional framework for assessing aquatic cumulative effects within watershed boundaries. Watershed-based cumulative effects assessment (WCEA) will need a standard set of ecosystem components and indicators for assessment across the watershed, but it is not clear how such valued ecosystem components (VECs) and related measurable parameters should be identified. This study examined how aquatic VECs and indicators were used within project-based EIA in the South Saskatchewan River watershed and considered whether they could be scaled up for use in WCEA. A semi-quantitative analysis compared a hierarchy of assessment components and measurable parameters identified in the environmental impact statements of 28 federal screening, 5 federal comprehensive and 2 provincial environmental assessments from the South Saskatchewan River watershed, and examined factors affecting aquatic VEC selection. While provincial assessments were available online or at a central archive, federal assessments were difficult to access. Results showed that regulatory compliance was the dominant factor influencing VEC selection, followed by the preferences of government agencies with different mandates, and that provincial licensing arrangements interfered with VEC selection. The frequency of VECs and indicators used for aquatic assessment within EIA does not reflect the aquatic cumulative effect assessment (CEA) priorities for the watershed. The effective selection of VECs and indicators for aquatic cumulative effects assessment in practice requires both the implementation of WCEA and updating of guidelines for project-based EIA.

In Sweden, detailed development plans (DDPs) go through a screening process to decide whether their implementation could cause significant environmental impact or not. The criteria in the legislation were studied to see if an environmental impact assessment was needed. This study also investigated 26 DDPs from 12 out of 13 of the municipalities in Östergötland and how they meet up to the demands in relevant legislation, for example the rules for Environmental Impact Assessments. Plans that concerned suburban communities and new housing were selected. The environmental issues highlighted in the plan documents were compared to selected topics from the GIS data base 'Östgötakartan' to see if the assessments made by the municipalities were reasonable judged. The results showed that in 54% of the municipalities, the screening processes corresponded with the Environmental Impact Assessment criteria. The most common flaws were that neither the national environmental goals nor the motivation of the decision was given any significant attention. The results of the questions that were sent to the municipalities showed that the working procedures vary among the municipalities. 73% of the municipalities used checklists as a basis for their assessments, whereas the rest worked in workgroups. Further the results indicated that there was a correlation between screening processes which had large flaws, according to the legislation criteria, and the lack of a county ecologist. In Sweden there is no real monitoring of how the legislation is implanted in the screening processes in different municipalities, which means that the processes can have flaws.

Background: The environmental aspect of transportation has got a lot of attention over the past years. It has its origin in the growing awareness of environmental problems such as the global warming. In Europe the transportation industry is responsible for 21 per cent of the total emission. While studies of the subject show that an environmental friendly distribution and transportation is considered a success factor for many companies, there is a lack of interest from them to invest to obtain it. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find the current distribution situations and the factors that influence the transportation and environmental impacts while maintaining the same customer service level, as well as how these factors will influence distribution situations in some Chinese medical instrument manufacturing companies. Method: To gather data the authors will conduct a qualitative multiple case studies in the form of interviews at couple of medical equipment manufacturing companies to create the deep understanding needed to comprehend a company’s distribution system. Results, conclusion: Initially, the current situation of distribution system in Chinese medical instrument manufacturing companies has been found according to the cases companies’ analysis. Second, the four factors which would influence transportation and the environmental impact while keeping the same customer service level have been identified. They are fill rate, consolidation, standardization and postponement. Furthermore, benefiting how these factors will influence distribution situation through efficiency in transportation has been given as the suggestion and recommendation to some Chinese medical instrument manufacturing companies.

Given paper discusses motocross as a part of motorsport from the viewpoint of sustainabilityand considers continuously growing impact of human activity on the environment.The theoretical framework of this paper is based on the concepts which position motorsport ina context of sustainability at both global and team levels within the borders of systems theory.Training and racing activities of the MXStar team based in Uppsala (Sweden) are described inthe paper from the environmental perspective. Changing of the team’s technical performanceas well as their behavioural models has certain driving and restraining forces that are analyzedin particular in the discussion part of the paper. Recommendations for the MXStar team havebeen developed in accordance with the results of detailed analysis of the team’senvironmental impact.The authors concluded that environmental performance of motocross racing composes fromtechnical and behavioural inputs of each participating team. In order to optimize theenvironmental impact of the motocross each team member has to be innovative in bothperspectives.

Karlstads kommun har satt upp mål i transportstrategin som syftar till att öka antal cykelresor i Karlstad. Vid användning avger cykeln varken växthusgaser eller föroreningar. Vardagsbeslut att ta cykeln exempelvis till arbetet leder till att koldioxidutsläpp kan reduceras. Cykling kan därmed bidra till att uppfylla viktiga miljömål. Cykling främjar hälsa. Världshälsoorganisationen WHOs rekommenderade dagsbehov av 30 min fysisk aktivitet kan med fördel utföras på cykel. Cykeltrafikens omfattning påverkas av fysiska förutsättningar, psykologiska faktorer samt politikens utformning.   Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar cykeltrafiken i Karlstad. Hur påverkar dom faktorerna Karlstadsbornas val och motivation att cykla och vilka av dessa faktorer går att påverka? För att få ett underlag till analys utfördes en enkätundersökning bland 50 invånare i Karlstad. Av de svar som gavs på enkätens öppna och stängda frågor framkom att det som påverkar Karlstadsinvånarnas val att cykla väl samstämde med tidigare teorier och forskning.   Det främsta motivet till att invånarna i Karlstad cyklar framkom vara motion. Den främsta orsaken till att välja ett annat transportmedel är långa transportsträckor. Undersökningen pekar på att de åtgärder som förknippas med förbättrande av cykeltrafikens infrastruktur är mest efterfrågade. Genom att underlätta för Karlstadsborna att ta sig fram på cykel kan cykeltrafiken ökas. / Karlstad municipality has in their transport strategy set targets which aims to increase the number of bicycle trip within the city. When used the bicycle emits either greenhouse gases or pollutants. Everyday decisions to take the bike to work for example can lead to reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, cycling can thus contribute to the meeting of important environmental objectives. Cycling promotes health. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended daily ration of 30 minutes of physical activity can readily be performed on a bicycle. Bicycle traffic volumes are affected by physical conditions, psychological factors and political policies.   The purpose of this investigation is to determine which factors affect bicycle traffic in Karlstad. How do these factors influence Karlstad inhabitants choice and motivation to ride their bicycles, and which of these factors can be influenced? To obtain a basis for analysis a survey among 50 inhabitants of Karlstad was conducted. From the responses given to the open and closed questions, it appeared that what influences the inhabitants of Karlstad´s choice to cycle were in tune with previous theories and research.   The primary motive of the inhabitants of Karlstad for cycling appeared to be exercise. The main reason for choosing a different mean of transportation is long distances. This survey suggests that the measures associated with enhancement of bicycle transport infrastructure are most in demand. By making it easier for Karlstad locals to get around by bike, bicycle traffic can be increased.

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In order to understand the relative impact from natural and anthropogenic sources, Principal Component Analysis - Structural Equation Modeling (PCA-SEM) was used to analyze the phytoplankton dynamics in coastal waters of Taiwan. PCA was used to analyze the changes of the water quality, followed by constructing of conceptual model which incorporated with biological data, and finally verified by SEM. Three study sites were selected: Chang Hua coastal waters, Kaohsiung mud dumping waters and the adjacent waters of Kaohsiung Nansing project. These sites represent the ordinary coastal water ecosystem of western Taiwan, off-shore ocean with one defined pollution sources, and anthropogenic impacted water area, respectively. The results showed that in Chang Hua coastal waters, river input and seasonal change were the primary factors effecting phytoplankton change. Water temperature was the main reason of phytoplankton changes, followed by the influence of dissolved organic matter in Kaohsiung mud dumping site. Whereas waters near Kaohsiung Nansing project, cooling water from Daling power plant coupled with the change of nutrients and heavy metal concentrations, as well as oil pollution, were the major causes of phytoplankton variation. The goodness-of-fits were good for the three models in this study, revealing that PCA- SEM is suitable to analyze the environmental changes of the costal waters of Taiwan. Logistic methods used in this study are also good for the study of benthic or fish community, and are suitable to apply on environmental impact assessments.

Processing facilities are normally designed with sufficient flexibility to handle nominal variations. When the process features planned changes in feedstock and products, scheduling is often used to optimize process operation. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a new approach to design and scheduling with economic, environmental, heat integration and inherently safer design objectives. Specifically, this work introduces a systematic framework and the associated mathematical formulation for simultaneous process design and scheduling while simultaneously addressing economic, environmental, heat integration and inherently safer design objectives. Therefore, more than one type of proper tradeoffs are established between these objectives. The environmental issues pertaining to the parameterized process retrofitting, scheduling, and operation strategies are simultaneously considered along with the environmental impact of these changes. Similarly, the design synthesis of heat-exchange networks (HENs) is addressed in the context of optimizing energy consumption under scheduling scenarios. Finally, the goal of inherently safer design is simultaneously considered with the expected schedules of the process. Several optimization formulations are developed for the projected schedules while allowing design modifications and retrofitting changes. The modifications and changes include new environmental management units, synthesis of flexible and optimal HENs, and design of an inherently safer process. Process models with the appropriate level of relevant details are included in the formulations. A discretization approach has been adopted to allow for a multiperiod optimization formulation over a given time horizon. The resulting framework identifies opportunities for synergism between the economic, environmental, heat integration and inherently safer design objectives. It also determines points of diminishing return beyond which tradeoffs between the above mentioned objectives are established. The devised procedure is illustrated with case studies.

Knowledge of visitor impacts is critical for sustainable tourism management in national parks. The focus of past tourism impact research on national parks is either on bio-physical impacts (conducted as recreation ecology research) or on social impacts (human dimensions, including environmental perception and crowding). Research integrating these two dimensions has been rarely conducted. This research aims to fill this gap through the integrative approach that attempts to understand current biophysical impacts of visitor activities in a national park, and it examines how visitors perceive these impacts. The primary objectives of this dissertation are 1) to provide a synthesis of existing of bio-physical impacts of visitor activities in the Khao Yai National Park (KYNP) and 2) to examine visitors’ perception of those impacts. Also, the factors affecting visitors’ perception are analyzed. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. Previous impact studies conducted in KYNP were reviewed. A visitor survey was conducted between December 2008 and February 2009. The questionnaires were distributed to 628 domestic and 40 international visitors. The 38 KYNP official interviews were completed. Based on previous impact research in KYNP, the most common bio-physical impacts include soil compaction, removal of humus layer, erosion, plant damage, soil and root exposure, water quality deterioration, disturbance and feeding wildlife. Other environmental impacts include noise pollution and garbage accumulation. The results indicate that more than 30 percent of visitors do not recognize the negative results of their activities. With the exception of vegetation and water impacts, overall, visitors perceive the impacts as less severe than the actual impacts. Environmental impacts are rated differently by the KYNP officials, domestic, and international visitors. Also, significant differences were found among birders, hikers, and campers. The key factors influencing impact perceptions include income level, education level, residential location, park visitation experience, length of stay in KYNP, recreation activity, frequency of activity, group type, and group size. It is suggested that both the quality and the quantity of visitor impact research are needed to construct the body of knowledge of impacts in KYNP. A long-term impact monitoring is required to sustain the ecological integrity in KYNP.

The level of major transporting infrastructure of one culture often reflects its level of civilisation. In the past, the focused of transportation network concentrated mostly on the transporting and safety efficiency, nevertheless, demonstrated very little appreciation of the ecosystem. As the result, the development in conveyance provide a highly convenient modern life style, at the same time brought to the nature environment and landscapes unrecoverable impacts. It is often found that around the world the predominant concerns of early road constructions involved engineering and constructing challenges rather than the considerations of environmental maintenances. This has caused great ecological repayments such as the landslides, the avalanches and the debris flow disaster; consequently, it has become an urgent and vital issue, which has the priory even above economical and tourist developments. In the recent years, under the influences of the global ecologist movements, eco-engineering has become the fashion in our present public transporting infrastructures designs. However, the maturity of such vastly depend on a long term systematically scheme as well as the broad education to the general pubic. This study is based on both national and international related literature survey and the observations from the local experts with references to our internal assignment¡Xthe Green Island Coastal Highway. Its goal is to provide an alternative opinions and inspection on such project.