In today’s fiercely competitive environment, the goal of any enterprise is to make money now and in the future (Goldratt, 1992). In order to fulfill this goal, an enterprise should eliminate waste embedded in the value stream. Industrial engineers frequently play a key role in reducing cost. The philosophy of many in lean manufacturing is that the things that can’t be measured can’t be properly managed (Womack & Jones, 1996). This thesis presents a method to incorporate an environmental index into the value stream and thereby increase the opportunities for waste minimization. The proposed method of incorporation of the environmental index is explained in detail using a hypothetical case study. How to calculate the environmental index, the present state and future state maps of the value stream are explained in detail. The two major steps presented by this method are: Identify environmental wastes and incorporate the identified wastes into the value stream map. For determining the method among given alternatives, this thesis uses the Waste Stream Prioritization Method WSPM) (TNRCC, 1998). It also provides an activity based model (IDEF0) to present the method for incorporating the environmental index / Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. / "December 2005."

Research has long recognized and studied the dynamics of groundwater processes. More recently, groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are being recognized for their diversity and vulnerability to anthropogenic impact. Groundwater in karst landscapes presents a distinctive situation where flow through the subsurface often moves rapidly on the scale of days and weeks as opposed to years or millennia in other systems. This distinctive situation of karst systems and their vulnerability to human impacts necessitate an integrated and multifaceted approach for the management of these important resources. However, development of such an approach is complicated by the difficulty of obtaining detailed data about the ecosystem, especially in remote areas of developing countries. Additionally, management difficulties related to political boundaries, jurisdictions, and land ownership can result in ineffective and inconsistent policies and practices across a single catchment. In order to address these issues, this dissertation creates a new composite model for groundwater dependent ecosystem (GDE) management in areas of karst development. Within this new composite model, the combination of the Karst Disturbance Index (KDI) and groundwater vulnerability mapping recognizes both human disturbance and how the physical nature of the karst will enhance this impact. These studies bridge the gap between science and management by connecting the final model to management strategies for a sub-catchment of the Rio la Venta watershed, the majority of which is within the Reserva de la Biosfera Selva el Ocote in Chiapas, Mexico. This composite model serves as an adaptable spatial tool for management planning and protection for all components of the karst environment.

Tourism in cold and cool-climate regions is largely characterized by recreational and sightseeing activities at water-based natural attractions such as beaches, coastal cliffs, and waterfalls. While the economic benefits of the tourism industry can contribute to a sustainable future for these regions, the environmental implications of a hastilydeveloped industry cannot be ignored given that cold-climate and cool-climate landscapes are at risk of rapid environmental change from a warming climate and other environmental concerns. This study consisted of the development of the Tourism Impact Index for Water-Based Natural Sites, the first of its kind, and its application and refinement in the field at various water-based natural tourism sites in Iceland and the Washington Olympic Peninsula. As no direct precedent for the index exists, the creation of the initial index draft was informed by other environmental indices available from the literature in related disciplines. The index contains 44 visually-assessed indicators, each scored on a scale of zero to three regarding potential severity of environmental impact. As the index was applied throughout the two study regions, improvements were incorporated into the design so as to create a well-validated product that may be shared with tourism managers and developers and with researchers to aid in the continued expansion of literature on tourism-environment interactions.

The intent of this research was to create and evaluate a karst tourism management index (KTMI). This index is intended to be a new management tool designed to quantify environmental disturbances caused specifically by tourism activities in karst regions, particularly show caves and springs. In an effort to assess the effectiveness of the index as a management tool in karst terrains, after development, the index was applied to six case study sites. A review of the management policies at each study site was conducted with the use of standard policy critique methods and semistructured interviews with managers at the study sites. After interviews were completed, the newly created index was applied to the study areas with the aid of park land managers. Including land managers in the application process allowed for active land managers to provide more meaningful feedback on potential improvements to the KTMI to ensure the most universally applicable and thoroughly field-tested index tool was created. Upon application and continual refinement of the index to the six study sites, a new data-driven management tool to measure disturbances to karst terrains by tourism was developed. The KTMI consist of an Overall Score category that is broken down into the two main categories of Management and Tourism. The KTMI contains 168 indicators that all need to be scored individually to obtain results, with Management containing 100 of the indicators and Tourism containing the other 68 indicators.

No description available.

[pt] Uma forma de avaliar a qualidade da água e a qualidade ambiental de um reservatório para monitoramento futuro é listar e analisar as concentrações de tudo o que a mesma tem. Tal lista poderia ser tão longa quanto o número de elementos analisados, podendo ir de 20 e poucos componentes comuns a centenas. É assim que vários índices de qualidade têm sido propostos por serem capazes de sintetizar o maior número destes parâmetros de qualidade em um único valor de fácil interpretação. Não obstante, uma vez que a maior parte dos índices formulados serem para águas moventes, os mesmos têm pouca utilidade para lagos e reservatórios. Lagos e reservatórios são geralmente avaliados e classificados com base em índices de estado trófico e em análises de suas composições químicas. Porém, um índice de estado trófico não tem a mesma representatividade de um índice de qualidade, visto que o termo qualidade sugere uma avaliação subjetiva, importante ressaltar essa distinção de conceitos. Excelente ou pobre, a referência de qualidade da água depende do seu uso e das atitudes locais das pessoas. A definição de estado trófico e seu índice correspondente deveriam permanecer neutros a tais julgamentos subjetivos, mantendo-se numa estrutura dentro da qual podem ser feitas várias avaliações da qualidade da água. Dessa forma, no presente trabalho, criou-se um modelo de avaliação da qualidade da água e da qualidade ambiental para um reservatório tropical oligo-mesotrófico (reservatório das Lajes) capaz de representar em uma escala numérica as gradações nos níveis de qualidade, além de levar em consideração a subjetividade implícita no conceito de qualidade. A subjetividade da avaliação em discussão motivou o emprego da Lógica Fuzzy, metodologia capaz de representar, de forma mais eficiente e clara, os limites dos intervalos de variação dos parâmetros de qualidade para um conjunto de categorias subjetivas, quando esses limites não são bem definidos ou são imprecisos. Assim, foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta computacional baseada em Sistemas de Inferência Fuzzy que avalia automaticamente a qualidade em função de variáveis físicas, químicas e biológicas do reservatório. O referido modelo foi desenvolvido com base no conhecimento de especialistas em qualidade de água e qualidade ambiental do Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) e do Departamento de Biologia Animal da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). O modelo foi avaliado utilizando dados de coleta do reservatório das Lajes coletados no ano 2005, 2008 e 2009. / [en] There are many approaches to monitor the water and environmental qualities of a reservoir. One approach is to list and analyze the concentration of chemicals and physical characteristics that the amount of water it contains. Such a list could be as long as the number of elements analyzed, from a few common components to hundreds. Thus, many indices have been proposed since they are able to synthesize as many of these quality parameters into a single value for an easy interpretation. However, majority of the indices are formulated to evaluate lentic ecosystems, they have little use for lakes and reservoirs. Lakes and reservoirs are generally evaluated and classified based on trophic state indices and chemical composition analysis. Nevertheless, a trophic state index does not have the same representativeness of a quality index. The term quality implies a subjective judgment that is best kept separate from the concept of trophic state. Excellent or poor, water quality depends on the use of that water and the local attitudes of the people. The definition of trophic state and its corresponding index should remain neutral to these subjective judgments, remaining a framework within which various evaluations of water quality may be made. Accordingly, in today s world of technology and advancement there exists a unique model to evaluate water quality and environmental quality for a tropical oligo-mesotrophic reservoir which is located and known as the reservoir of Lajes in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This model is capable of representing quality levels on a numerical scale gradation, and also takes into consideration the subjectivity implicit in the concept of quality. The subjectivity, implicit in the concept of quality, motivated the use of fuzzy logic. This is a methodology to represent more efficiently the limits of ranges of quality parameters for a set of subjective categories, when these limits are not well defined or are inaccurate. As a result, we developed a computational tool based on a Fuzzy Inference System that automatically assesses the quality in terms of the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the reservoir. The model was developed based on the knowledge of experts on water quality and environmental quality from the Biological Sciences and Health Center of Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) and from the Department of Animal Biology of the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). The model was evaluated with data from the Lajes reservoir during the years 2005, 2008 and 2009.

The focus of this master thesis is the concept of environmental democracy at the level of the Aarhus convention. Environmental democracy rights which are the rights to access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters were mentioned for the first time at the global level in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992. With this Principle the main role of public participation in decision-making in environmental matters was acknowledged and it had a significant impact on fulfillment of sustainable development goals. To these days the most important elaboration of Principle 10 in international law is Aarhus Convention signed within the framework of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 1998. Main research question of this thesis is if it is possible to measure environmental democracy on the level of the region of UNECE, so the implementation of the Aarhus Convention provisions by its member states. Therefore, the research problem is the creation of the theoretical framework and the methodological procedure for building of composite indicator which will measure environmental democracy rights at the level of Aarhus convention. That will be demonstrated on the first pillar of the Convention. This thesis...