published_or_final_version / Zoology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Manufacturers are increasingly being held responsible for the fate of their products once they reach their end-of-life phase. This research uses a combination of total disassembly time and recyclability to gauge the environmental impact of a product at this stage of its use. Recyclability, or wasted weight, is a function of the material contained by a product’s subassemblies as it is taken apart. This project suggests a graph-based method of representing product assemblies. Unlike many existing representation methods which are used in the field of automated disassembly, the method proposed here takes component connection methods into account. This, combined with a library of disassembly defining graph grammars, ensures that the disassembly simulation performed on this assembly approximates real-life disassembly procedures as closely as possible. The results of this simulation are Pareto sets whose contents represent various points in the disassembly process. Each member of the set is evaluated using the two primary parameters of disassembly time and wasted weight. This Pareto set can be used to judge a particular product’s performance during end-of-life, from the perspective of recyclability, against that of another product. / text

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; Robert G. Varady, compiler.

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; Susan Parker, compiler. / February 1980 (revised January 1981)

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; A. Paige Grant, compiler.

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; Mark Speece, compiler.

The purpose of this research study was to conduct an ethnographic assessment for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of a proposed expansion plan for the Santa Fe Ski Area located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Along with expansion into forest areas outside the existing Special Use permit boundaries, the proposed plan includes new buildings, parking lots, lifts, ski runs, and snowmaking within the existing ski area boundary. The ethnographic assessment concentrates on those cultural resources known to be in the area, as identified by Pueblo participants in the research study. This project had three objectives: a) what impact would the project have on the traditional uses, cultural uses, values, and belief practices of Tesuque Pueblo and other Pueblos' uses of the area; b) how would the ski area expansion affect the traditional use area of the Tesuque Pueblo and other Pueblos; and c) what specific areas of traditional cultural use, including those of Hispanic origin, would be affected by the proposed alternatives.

The extraction of raw materials has environmental impacts. Forestry and the extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, gold and other minerals can have serious impacts on the environment. Exploration and evaluation, development activities, production and mine closure result in high costs. The years of waiting between the start of exploration, commencement of production and mine closure create specific challenges in accounting for mining organisations. Most of the damages caused by mining activities cannot be hidden because of the processes involved, it is best to prevent it rather than avoidance. It is important to implement Environmental Management Accounting (EMA), which will assist in presenting a decision-making system for corporations. The system measures and promotes environmental performance by identifying effective cost assessment structures. This study assessed the awareness of environmental management accounting in the mining industry. An analytical methodology was used. A questionnaire was administered to a selected group of participants. It was based on the employee’s understanding of their organisation’s practices or point of view on environmental issues to build a case about the awareness of environmental management accounting. Selected participants were mine management or mine production personnel, financial practitioners and environmental practitioners from different mining organisations in the Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North-West provinces of the Republic of South Africa. All participants in the study are employees in the mining industry. Mine management is less aware of environmental management accounting compared to environmental and financial practitioners. Mine production personnel only perceive environmental issues as costs to the operations. This group rated compliance with regulation as the main driver for their organisation’s environmental management system. Gauteng province is more aware of environmental management accounting compared to Mpumalanga and North West provinces. Organisations with high annual turnover tend to disclose more financial environmental information than those with low annual turnover. Organisations explain and classify environment-related costs differently according to the intended use of the cost information. There are standards and measures to collect and record environmental and accounting information stipulated in ISO14001 including environmental management systems (EMS) in different organisations. Systems and measures put in place ensure good environmental performance in the mining operations. The tracking and reduction in the amount of energy, water and materials used by organisations may result in environmental benefits. Employees should have environmental cost information associated with their operations in order to minimise environmental impacts of an organisation. The findings of the study indicated low levels of awareness of environmental management accounting in the mining industry; however, there is a higher level of awareness of environmental impacts and costs, environmental management system and financial environmental information. The level of rating at which organisations generate and record physical and monetary information of environmental management accounting is higher. / MBAm, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014