...Published by the Ecological Society of America Number 10, Winter 2003 Issues in Ecology Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems Issues in Ecology Number 10 Winter 2003 Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems SUMMARY Fresh water is vital to human life and economic well-being, and societies extract vast quantities of water from rivers, lakes, wetlands, and underground aquifers to supply the requirements of cities, farms, and industries. Our need for fresh water has long caused us to overlook equally vital benefits of water that remains in stream to sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. There is growing recognition, however, that functionally intact and biologically complex freshwater ecosystems provide many economically valuable commodities and services to society. These services include flood control, transportation, recreation, purification of human and industrial wastes, habitat for plants and animals, and production of fish and other foods and marketable goods. Over the long term, intact ecosystems are more likely to retain the adaptive capacity to sustain production of these goods and services in the face of future environmental disruptions such as climate change. These ecosystem benefits are costly and often impossible to replace when aquatic systems are degraded. For this reason, deliberations about water allocation should always include provisions for maintaining the integrity of freshwater ecosystems. Scientific evidence indicates that aquatic ecosystems can be protected...
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...AIC REPORT Australian Council of Recycling TechClinics Summary Report “How can we document and recognise best practice in the Australian recycling industry?” July 2012 ACOR TechClinics Summary Report July 2012 REVISION HISTORY Client: Proposal: Prepared by: Contact Details: Ph: Email: Prepared For: Version: Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) ACOR TechClinics Summary Report The Australian Institute for Commercialisaton Sean Smith 07 3364 0602 sean.smith@ausicom.com Grant Musgrove 1.0 Brisbane | Sydney | Melbourne | Adelaide | Cairns | Gold Coast | Rockhampton a: Head Office 33 McKechnie Drive, Eight Mile Plains, QLD 4113 p: PO Box 4012, Eight Mile Plains, QLD 4113 t: 1300 364 739 f: +61 7 3364 0786 w: www.ausicom.com ABN 84 076 854 638 www.ausicom.com ACOR TechClinics Summary Report July 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 EVENT SUMMARY 1.1 TechClinic® Objectives 1.2 About TechClinics 1.3 TechClinic® Agenda 1.4 The Australian Recycling Industry Value Chain 2.0 EXPERT PRESENTATIONS 2.1 ACOR TechClinics Introduction 2.2 Queensland Case Study – Used Lube Oil Recycling 2.3 South Australia Case Study – Best Practice Process 2.1 New South Wales Case Study – Industrial Ecology 2.2 ACCC and Industry Codes of Conduct 3.0 TECHCLINIC® WORKSHOPS 3.1 What are the Opportunities for the Australian Recycling Industry? 3.2 Issues and Constraints 3.3 Needs – Brainstorming Best Practice Criteria 3.3.1 Brainstorming Best Practice Criteria 3.3.2 Brainstorming and...
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...What is climate change? The Earth's climate has changed over the last century. Increases in average temperatures have been seen around the globe and there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed in the last 50 years is due to human activities. While climate change is a global issue, it will affect us all. Climate change has the potential to adversely affect our environment, our communities and our economy unless we take action now to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts. Climate change will alter global and local climates. In Victoria, this means a warmer and drier future, with an increasing likelihood of more extreme events such as heatwaves, bushfires and storm surges. Climate change is the greatest threat facing our planet today. A warming planet alters weather patterns, water supplies, seasonal growth for plants and a sustainable way of life for us and the world’s wildlife. Climate change has already started, but it’s not too late to take action. There’s still time for us all to be part of the solution. A continuous flow of energy from the sun heats the Earth. Naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere, known as greenhouse gases – this includes carbon dioxide (CO2) - , trap this heat like a blanket, keeping the Earth at an average of 15 degrees Celsius – warm enough to sustain life. The overuse of fossil fuels is increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, trapping more and more heat and warming the Earth. As a result, we’re...
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...Local and Surrounding Ecologies and Environments of Virginia Introduction to Physical Science, SCI110 December 13, 2012 The Virginia Ecologies and Environments Ecology, as defined by Enger, Ross, & Tillery (2009), is “the branch of biology that studies the relationships between organisms and their environments”. Accordingly, the term environment is very broadly defined as “anything that affects an organism during its lifetime” (Enger, Ross, & Tillery, 2009). With these definitions in mind, it is easy to understand that organisms rely on their environments for sustainment and life. On the flip side, environments rely on organisms as well for survival. The factors that affect a living organism in any given environment can, in turn, be classified as either biotic or abiotic. Biotic factors are other living things that may affect a particular organism, for example predators. In contrast, abiotic factors are nonliving things that affect a particular organism, such as a drought or excessive rain. In reviewing the local ecology and environment of the Commonwealth of Virginia, we must first determine the region’s biome. A biome is the classification of a terrestrial community, primarily determined by climatic factors, such as precipitation patterns and temperature ranges (Enger, Ross, & Tillery, 2009). A biome also provides an indication of the type of plant life and animals that may be present within a particular region. The relationship is interdependent...
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...environment, both individually and collectively. To say that any religion cares more for the Earth than the others would be foolish and simplistic, but within each belief system there lie subtle differences that, many argue, give an indication as to how we view our position in relation to it. As Lynn White proposed in an cutting-edge yet controversial article, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" published in 1967: "What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them. Human ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny -- that is, by religion." (White 406). Christianity, wrote White, "not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends." (White 407). Christianity marked the moment humans broke away from previously common held beliefs that all beings, all forms of life, including plants, had spirits. He wrote: "In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit" (White 407). Then Christianity changed everything. Christians believed that humans were created at the end of Creation and humans therefore possessed the Earth. "By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects.”...
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...Running Head: Application of Community Health APPLICATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH & POPULATION-FOCUSED NURSING Ann Coddington Western Governors University Abstract This paper focuses on the health status of Yakima Valley in Washington State from numerous published data and interviews. A. Identification of Community/Windshield Survey This paper focuses on the health status of the Yakima Valley in Washington state. Yakima Valley is located in Washington state 150 miles southeast of Seattle. Yakima is the largest city in the county. The 2010 census places the city as the ninth largest city in Washington. The city's total population is 91000 and with a metropolitan population of 243,231. The Yakima county is divided into upper and lower valleys. The city of Yakima is in the upper valley which is more urbanized. The lower valley is less populated and has more agriculture. Yakima Valley is an agricultural community noted for wine, apple and hop production. This area produces 77% of all the hops grown in the United States. ( Yakima County, 2012) The Yakima River is the primary water source for irrigation. The river runs from its source at Lake Keechelus to the Columbia River. Yakima Valley has a steppe or semi-arid climate. Because of the semi-arid climate, vegetation is dominated by grasses or shrubs. Precipitations are low year round with only...
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...69666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates Telephone Number: 050- 3337555 Email: al_5yalah@hotmail.com Objective: Employment with an organization that provides me the opportunity to apply the skills which I have learned in the Applied Business program. EDUCATION :( 2003-2007) 2007 Diploma in Business at the Higher Colleges of Technology- Al Ain Women's College. 2003 Graduated 12th Grade, Al Dhafra Private School for Boys and Girls, Science Stream. WORK EXPERIENCE 2007 Intercontinental Al Ain Resort ( 22nd April-14th June) Front Office • Up dating data • How to take messages • Putting messages in the system • Use the telephone management • Update the VIP guests by entering data in excell • How to answer internal and external calls • How to transfer calls • CID information entry and reports Guest Relations • Guests reports • Room inspection procedure • How to check the guests profile, history • How to check the arrivals and departures • The group check in Reservation • How to take reservations • Types of reservation • The telephone manners • Reservation forms • Know the different room types ...
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...Environmentalism in Manga and Anime In Western news stories, Japan and the environment usually only come up together in one form: Japan is ruining the environment. Japan is hunting endangered whales; Japan is overfishing depleted fishing stocks; Japan has walled up the last of its wild rivers; Japan is building up all its wild areas. All these accusations are, unfortunately, true to some large degree. Even in anime, all too often what we see are images that point to a continuation of the current trend: metal and concrete mega-cities, like those in the anime Dominion, Akira, Gunnm, or in Bubblegum Crisis, or any of the other hard science-fiction worlds. Not a pleasant picture --- and in fact, in those "cyberpunk"-ish stories, the world is not a pleasant place to be in, in general. But, running through other works is a thread of a different hue. Listen closely, and a different voice is heard --- the voice of dissent, the voice protesting the loss of green spaces and clean waters and open air. Where has this voice come from? I'm not quite qualified to say for sure, but I can guess. Some of it is obvious: people who are tired of seeing tranquil forests razed, or seeing their favorite beach turned into a concrete nightmare (such as in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan); people who read the news and hear of oil spills and extinctions and pollution problems. But another aspect is surely the traditional sense of Taoism that runs deep in Japanese culture. Taoism was the primary...
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...Natural environment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Environment. See also: Nature and Environment (biophysical) Land management policies have been developed to preserve the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia while allowing ample access for visitors Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps; generally mountainous areas are less affected by human activity. A satellite image of the Sahara desert; the world's largest hot desert and third-largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species.[1] The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components: * Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries * Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human activity The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans belonging to a civilized (i.e. hierarchically structured, agricultural, densely populated...
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...4.10 Climate change impacts on water quality In developing countries, the biological quality of water is poor due to the lack of sanitation and proper treatment methods and poor health conditions (WHO, 2004). Vulnerabilities are related to a lack of relevant information. The Freshwater chapter in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (Kundzewicz et al., 2007) was unable to consider the impacts of climate change on water quality in great detail. Estimated changes in air temperature and rainfall could influence river flows and, consequently, the mobility and strength of contaminants. Amplified water temperatures will affect chemical reaction kinetics and, combined with deteriorations in quality, freshwater ecological status. With increased flows there will be changes in stream power and...
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...Data-Driven Entertainment/Education Friberger et al. defines data games as “games where gameplay and/or game content is based on real-world data external to the game, and where gameplay supports the exploration of and learning from this data.” They also use a taxonomy to explore the categories of such games. They propose to use open and linked data to procedurally generate game content. One of their examples was Open Trumps based on the popular card game Trumps. The data source for the game content is a UN database of countries and demographics indicators. However, procedural content generation entails some transformation of data into the game content. As the authors caution, we must be careful of transformations that “lead to an unacceptable loss of veracity in relation to the original source.” In our work, the game content is the original data [1, 2, 3]. Moreover, our perspective in this endeavor to foster understanding is general instead of a game focused. Thus, it is from this general point of view that we classify data-driven applications. The figure below illustrates the classification matrix: rows represent data velocity (static or dynamic) and columns the goals of the application. The first type of goals is informational: the application just provides specific information to the user usually through visualization; interaction with the data is minimal. The second type of goal focuses on interaction with the data for sensemaking; applications in this case are usually...
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...Anurans in Sitio Pahiron Brgy. Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City A Research Proposal Presented to the Biology Department, Xavier University Cagayan de Oro City In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course Seminar and Problem I (Bio 20L) By: Antonette S. Paquera July 2015 APPROVED: Dr. Astrid Sinco Adviser ACCEPTED: Ms. Christine Lovelle Mahinay Reader Project Title: Anurans in Sitio Pahiron Brgy. Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City Proponent: Antonette S. Paquera Project Duration: 4 months (June 2015-September 2015) Project Budget: Php 55, 680.90 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Title Page A....................................................................................................................i Title Page B....................................................................................................................ii TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................iii LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................v LIST OF PLATES.........................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................v I. Introduction......................................................................................................
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...Aeromonas Hydrophila: The Improbable Culprit Edwin Myrick Abstract This study examines the structure and influences of Aeromonas Hydrophila, as a stand-alone bacterium and as it contribute to Necrotizing Fasciitis. Aeromonas Hydrophila impacts both aquatic life and humans, although the infection is not commonly known. This study examines those influences and explores medical case studies where individuals experienced illness, amputation, and even death. Aeromonas Hydrophila: The Improbable Culprit As the summer months begin to elevate the mercury level, nature’s creeks and streams provide cooling entertainment from the elements. People have long used these waterways for recreation activities, such as fishing, walking, swimming, and canoeing; unsuspecting of the dangers. Most bacteria are harmless, but certain types can cause complications and disease. The flesh eating bacteria Aeromonas Hydrophila, can create unthinkable devastation through minor cuts and scratches; causing sickness, amputation, and even death. The world has thousands of micro-living organisms called bacteria, these unicellular microorganisms have cell walls, but no structured nucleus, some of these microorganisms can cause disease (Hogan, 2005). Thousands of bacteria inhibit our environment every day, many of them unidentified but not all of them are unhealthy. Bacterial cells consist of shapes; spherical, rodlike, spiral, helical, and comm-shaped (Lerner, 2005). The...
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...Zimbabwe: Water Quality Supplies Fast Deteriorating The Herald (Harare) By Sifelani Tsiko Harare THE pollution of rivers, lakes and aquifers from domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, mining runoff, agro-chemicals and other sources is now a growing threat to water resources in most countries in southern Africa. According to a new report titled "Water Quality Management and Pollution Control" in Southern Africa compiled by Prof Ngonidzashe Moyo, a freshwater biologist at the University of Limpopo in South Africa, and Sibekhile Mtetwa and other water resources development experts, the quality of water supplies in the Sadc region, once taken for granted, is becoming the focus of increasing concern. The water experts say the solid, liquid and particulate waste by-products of urbanisation and economic activities are contaminating air, soil and water quality. Water pollution has affected water quality and impacted negatively on public health and functioning of ecosystems including the rising cost of water treatment. The report suggests that the main sources of water pollution are untreated or partially treated effluents from municipal, industrial and mining wastewater discharges. Runoff from small-scale mining operations, urban stormwater and runoff from agricultural, livestock and poultry operations have also impaired the quality of water in the Sadc region. In Zimbabwe, the discharge of industrial and municipal effluent has heavily polluted Lake Chivero, Harare's principal...
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...This page is one of a series of web pages developed by the CAR/RCU on various Environmental Issues in the Caribbean. These pages are a good starting point for research into many of the pressing concerns of the nations and territories of the Wider Caribbean Region. They contain definitions, descriptions, discussions, links to relevant on-line documents and web sites. Read about other Issues. | | * Introduction * Land based pollution sources and their environmental impacts * Sewage * Oil hydrocarbons * Sediments * Nutrients * Pesticides * Solid waste and marine debris * Toxic substances * Planning and management of environmental pollution * CEP and land based sources of pollution * Pollution related CEP reports * Links to pollution related websites | INTRODUCTION | The major sources of coastal and marine pollution originating from the land vary from country to country. The nature and intensity of development activities, the size of the human population, the state and type of industry and agriculture are but a few of the factors contributing to each country’s unique pollution problems. Pollution is discharged either directly into to the sea, or enters the coastal waters through rivers and by atmospheric deposition. In order to mitigate and control the impact of pollution on coastal and marine resources, it is essential that the type and load of pollutants be identified. This involves determination of the sources and their location, and...
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