Conservation Development Research Articles

Circular Economy Implementation in Dutch Agriculture: Assessing Sustainable Practices and Economic Impact

The implementation of circular economy principles in Dutch agriculture is a critical endeavor, requiring a thorough assessment of sustainable practices and economic impacts. This paper explores the landscape of circular agriculture, emphasizing principles such as resource efficiency, closed-loop systems, biodiversity conservation, and circular design in farming practices. It investigates the current sustainable practices in Dutch agriculture, providing insights into the adoption rates, successes, and challenges associated with these practices. A literature synthesis navigates global research on circular economy applications in agriculture, with a specific focus on Dutch practices, highlighting gaps and challenges in the existing literature. The methodological framework details the research design, criteria for evaluating sustainable practices, and a comprehensive approach for assessing economic impacts. In-depth analyses unveil specific circular practices in Dutch agriculture, assessing their adoption rates and exploring potential synergies with traditional farming methods. The economic impact section delves into a comprehensive evaluation of circular practices, considering short-term and long-term benefits and costs, job creation, market competitiveness, and sector resilience. Identifying challenges inhibiting circular agriculture adoption, including policy limitations, technological constraints, and cultural factors, precedes actionable strategies for seamless integration. Recommendations for policymakers, farmers, and stakeholders aim to address these challenges, fostering a balanced transition towards circularity. This paper provides a holistic perspective on circular agriculture in the Netherlands, contributing insights into sustainable practices, economic implications, and strategies for overcoming barriers. It underscores the importance of aligning environmental and economic dimensions for the successful advancement of circular agriculture.

Fish community composition in the tropical archipelago of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Understanding species distribution across habitats and environmental variables is important to inform area-based management. However, observational data are often lacking, particularly from developing countries, hindering effective conservation design. One such data-poor area is the Gulf of Guinea, an understudied and biodiverse region where coastal waters play a critical role in coastal livelihoods. Here, we describe the results of the largest national-scale Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS) survey in the region, aiming to understand the effects of several environmental variables on fish community composition and diversity. From 2018 to 2020, we successfully deployed 417 benthic BRUVS in the coastal waters of the São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) archipelago. Species richness and relative abundance were higher in deeper waters, on steeper slopes, and in rocky reef habitats. Nevertheless, maerl and sand habitats also hosted unique, and economically important species. Our results potentially indicate historical impacts of fishing in the archipelago, especially in São Tomé Island, where observed fishing effort is higher. Indeed, abundance of large predatory fish was low in both islands and abundance of species targeted by artisanal fisheries was lower in São Tomé than in Príncipe. Our results provide crucial information supporting the designation and future monitoring of marine protected areas in STP.

Influence of Augmented Reality Appliances on Tooth Preparation Designs-An In Vitro Study.

The aim of this work was to analyze and compare the tooth structure removal between a free-hand preparation technique and a computer-aided preparation technique using an augmented reality appliance for complete-crowns preparation designs and "root mean square" (RMS) alignment value. Ten upper teeth representatives of all dental sectors were selected from a generic model library as "Standard Tessellation Language" (STL-1) digital files and 3D-printed in an anatomically based acrylic resin experimental model. Then these were randomly assigned to the following tooth preparation techniques: Group A: free-hand preparation technique (n = 5) (FHT) and Group B: computer-aided preparation technique using an augmented reality appliance (n = 5) (AR). Experimental models were submitted to a digital impression through an intraoral scan and (STL-2) uploaded into a reverse engineering morphometric software to measure the volumetric reduction in the planned and performed tooth structure (mm3) and RMS using the Student's t-test and the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test. Statistically significant differences were observed between the volumetric reduction in the planned and performed tooth structure (mm3) of the AR and FHT study groups (p = 0.0001). Moreover, statistically significant differences were observed between the RMS of the planned and performed tooth preparations in both the AR and FHT study groups (p = 0.0005). The augmented reality appliance provides a more conservative and predictable complete-crowns preparation design than the free-hand preparation technique.

Vibration-based sensitivity analysis of a flexible steel footbridge using probabilistic walking models

Many civil engineering structures are concerned with the loads induced by human activity. Human live load modeling of walking and running is very relevant to provide comfort and acceptable structural conditions. The dynamic portion of human loads is often inaccurately modeled or neglected, leading to conservative designs or excessive vibrations. The classical model to consider walking load consists of a dynamic Force Model that considers unique walking parameters along the analysis, related to each pedestrian. Biodynamic models are an alternative to consider the Human-Structure Interaction in the analysis, but also do not vary accordingly to the human activities performed during walking. Human pacing varies continuously during walking, governed by intra- and inter-subject variabilities, giving rise to the possibility of probabilistic modeling of human walking parameters, as already proposed in the literature. In this regard, the article proposes an alternative method by using a Random Walk algorithm to incorporate walking intra-subject variability into the Force or Biodynamic models pacing frequencies. The Random Walk approach shows that walking variability can influence the final service assessment of structures and realistically represent human walking scenarios. It is aimed to discuss the RW parameters’ role and its implications on human walking modeling and vibration performance analyses to improve standardized vibration classification by simulating the walking randomness. A sensitivity analysis is performed to define proper probabilistic distributions and the range of values to be used in the random walk algorithm. A study is also conducted with a vibration performance assessment in idealized footbridges with probabilistic walking force and biodynamic models.

Comparative Evaluation of Different Endodontic Access Cavity Designs with Different Burs-An in vitro Experimental Insight into the Aspect of Fracture Resistance.

In vitro fracture resistance of extracted mandibular molars treated with various access cavity designs, including traditional endodontic cavity (TradAC), conservative/contracted endodontic cavity (ConsAC), ninja endodontic cavity (UltraAC), truss endodontic cavity (TrussAC), caries-driven access cavity (CariesAC), and intact teeth, is the focus of this study. Six groups of 20 mandibular molars, totaling 120, were used in the investigation. While the other five groups underwent various access cavity preparations, chemomechanical preparation, and obturation procedures before being repaired with composite resin, Group 1 was left unaltered (the control). A 6 mm round head tip was used to apply the fracture force, which was measured in newtons, at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min until fracture developed. According to the current study, the intact control group had the maximum fracture resistance. The access cavity groups' mean values were maximum in CariesAC followed by ConsAC, TrussAC, UltraAC, and TraditonalAC respectively. While among the four minimally invasive designs, CariesAC showed a higher fracture resistance despite the results being statistically insignificant, TradAC had a significantly lower resistance than other conservative access cavity designs.

Comparison of Different Endodontic Access Cavity Designs on the Fracture Resistance of Tooth in WaveOne Gold and TruNatomy Instrumentation.

An important aspect of the preparation of the access cavity and biomechanical preparation of the root canal is to safeguard as much of the tooth's framework as possible without affecting access and visibility. To compare the impact of the conservative design of access preparation and traditional design of access preparation in association with TruNatomy endodontic instrumentation and WaveOne Gold endodontic instrumentation on resistance to fracture by the design of a cavity for endodontic access using finite element analysis. Micro-CT radiographic images of 16 human first permanent molars of the mandible were included in the study to create representative finite element analysis computational models. A significant reduction in load for failure after endodontic preparation was observed in TDAP subcategories as compared to specimens with CDAP. However, the reduction in load for failure was comparable in both endodontic instrument systems within the CDAP and TDAP. A significant reduction in load for failure after endodontic preparation was observed in the traditional design of access preparation subcategories as compared to specimens with the conventional design of access preparation.

Experimental and computational fluid-structure interaction analysis and optimization of Deep-V planing-hull grillage panels subject to slamming loads – Part II: Irregular waves

The paper presents a comprehensive experimental and numerical study of the structural response of a planing hull in irregular waves. Two grillage panels are investigated: a traditionally designed grillage panel based on current structural design methods and an optimized grillage panel based on loads evaluated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in regular waves and mathematical optimization methods. The structural response of these two grillage panels in irregular waves is investigated both experimentally and numerically. Experiments and numerical simulations show that the largest impacts do not necessarily occur when the wave height is largest, but rather when there is a deep trough and the wave height is low. Comparing the structural response in irregular waves with the structural response in regular waves shows a reasonable correlation. Nevertheless, a more severe regular wave condition is needed to capture the wave impacts needed for structural design. Numerical simulations show that they can better predict the vertical acceleration of the center of gravity than current structural design methods. It is discussed how American Bureau of Shipping practices lead to safe but conservative structural designs and how current computational methods lead to more efficient design solutions.

Geografia da conservação: abordagens, limites e potencialidades

Biodiversity loss has been a major issue on the Global Agenda since at least the 1990s. Several scientific fields are in charge of addressing this issue, especially Conservation Biology, Landscape Ecology, and even Geography. Although the scientific and epistemological advances of the first two fields are notorious, the current causes of biodiversity loss have multiple facets, which include territorial, social, and political dimensions. To aid in the thought process of the issue, the present study used documentary research as a method, reviewing specialized literature in journals, theses, and dissertations to cover the main concepts involved in conservation studies and the contribution of related sciences. The literature review also included the perspective of Geography in conservation studies and the emergence of new perspectives, such as Conservation Geography. The main results include the initial intention of Conservation Biology to produce studies with a multidisciplinary focus, observing, however, a predominance of studies of Population Biology and Minimum Areas of Diversity. As a proposal to overcome conservation of the exclusionary type, derived from biological studies, Conservation Geography intends to coordinate the concepts of territory, landscape, and biophysical dynamics to the concept of ecosystems, producing a reading that is closer to the actors that produce the space, as well as the disputes that modify and create the territories, which are the main causes to explain the loss of biodiversity and that, in turn, would allow the production of consistent conservation designs.

The Lateral Behavior of Large-Diameter Monopiles for Offshore Wind Turbines Based on the p-y Curve and Solid FEM Methods

With the rapid increase in offshore wind turbines in China, monopiles with diameters exceeding 2 m are widely used. As these piles are subjected to lateral loads caused by wind, waves, and currents, the designs of the pile foundations supporting the offshore wind turbines are significantly influenced by their lateral behaviors. For this reason, field tests of the largest monopile on the sea and additional analysis based on the solid finite element method (FEM) and p-y curves are carried out to reveal the response of monopiles subjected to lateral loads and to figure out key technical issues related to the design process. The results revealed that the p-y curves proposed by the API code for clay showed a much “softer” response, which resulted in the conservative design of the piles. The solid FEM relied heavily on the choosing of the parameters used. At relatively small deflections, the solid FEM presented reasonable results as compared with the tests which were, however, supposed to overestimate the ultimate capacity of the piles. The results also indicated the importance of the influence of the pile–soil gap and the application of parameter analysis to achieve relatively conservative results, if the solid FEM is adopted in the design.

Sustainability and Life Cycle Analysis of 3D Printing Industries

There has been a lot of interest in the sustainability aspects of 3D Printing, also known as Additive Manufacturing, due to its potential for resource conservation, localized production, and optimized and adaptive designs. However, quantifying these sustainability advantages has proven to be a challenging task. Several tools have been developed to address this endeavor, and this article provides an overview of some of these tools, focusing on their application in the Manufacturing and Building & Construction sectors. The most widely adopted studies are Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which help us understand the environmental impact through all stages of a product’s life, and are key to identifying best practices and opportunities for innovation. By exploring the sustainability dimensions of 3D printing through the lens of life cycle analysis, this article aims to shed light on the crucial role that LCAs play in assessing the environmental implications of 3D printing practices. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of leveraging this knowledge to drive sustainable practices, improve the efficiency of the 3D printing industry, and pave the way for a more sustainable future.

Cost‐optimal Strategy for Energy Conservation Design Code of Building Envelop in Taiwan

<p>本文透過EPBD2010的建築能效成本最佳化原則以及建築外殼的熱流解析，來檢討台灣現有建築外殼節能法規的節能效益與成本效益。本文首先強調起源於寒帶氣候「高隔熱、高氣密」節能技術的德國「被動式建築認證」，並不符合溫熱氣候國家之建築節能成本最佳化策略，接著再分析2008年以來一系列論文，曾經揭露建築外殼保溫層設計或雙層外殼設計，在亞熱帶氣候會導致高空調耗能上升之「隔熱反效果現象」，因此呼籲亞熱帶與熱帶氣候國家切忌引入寒帶氣候流行的「高隔熱、高氣密」節能手法，以防止節能反效果效應。透過在亞洲地區303城市一個透天住宅與一間辦公建築空間的全年空調負荷分布分析，發現其中住宅的「隔熱反效果現象」是越往熱帶的南台灣越顯著，而辦公、商業類建築的「隔熱反效果現象」是越往涼爽的北台灣越顯著，但台灣無庸置疑是處於亞熱帶與熱帶的最顯著「隔熱反效果現象」區域，因此台灣現有建築節能法規應避免強化建築外殼的隔熱與氣密規範以避免節能反效果。本文同時採用由寒帶到熱帶12個城市的全年室內外溫差與當地建築節能法規對住宅外殼的熱傳透率U值規範，來分析住宅建築外殼隔熱規範的嚴格程度，由此發現台灣現行建築外殼隔熱法規在12個城市中已接近一個非常合理的嚴格程度、可說已接近成本最佳化水準。本文最後以近零碳建築定義之節能50%基準，來分析包括外殼、空調、照明的整體節能潛力，發現空調、照明的節能設計比建築外殼節能設計有高出4.7~7.1倍的節能潛力。因此在「隔熱反效果現象」與成本最佳化原則雙重考量之下，台灣的淨零建築已不必要求強化建築外殼節能法規，相反地應針對更高CP值、更有節能動力的空調、照明設備系統的能效設計，積極推動強制性法制化工作。</p> <p> </p><p>This paper used the cost‐optimal principle of EPBD2010 and building envelop thermal analysis to investigate the energy conservation effect and cost efficiency of existing energy conservation design code of building envelop in Taiwan. This paper firstly pointed out the Germany’s passive house certification system which emphasizing the energy conservation technology of high insulation and high airtight design which origin in cold climatic is not march the cost‐optimal strategy of building energy conservation in hot or warm climates, then analyzed a series of papers from 2008 which have revealed that more building envelop insulation or double skin design in subtropical climates might lead the increasing phenomenon of AC energy consumption, so called anti-insulation effect, so as to appeal the tropical and subtropical countries should not to introduce the cold climate’s building energy conservation technologies of high insulation and high airtight design of building envelop to prevent the opposite effect of energy conservation. Through analyzing the air conditioning thermal load distributions in 303 Asian countries for a house and an office building space, this paper found that the anti-insulation effect of residential building appeals to more significant in southerner tropical Taiwan and the anti-insulation effect of office or commercial building appeals to more significant in northerner subtropical Taiwan, it is no doubt that Taiwan is located among tropical and subtropical climates which are the most significant areas of anti-insulation effect, so that the existing Taiwan’s building energy design regulation should to be avoided to strengthen the insulation and airtight code of building envelop to avoid the anti-effect of energy conservation. As the same time, this paper analyzed the strict level of envelop insulation code of residential building in 12 cities from cold to tropical climates by comparing the annual indoor-outdoor temperature difference and the thermal transmission rate U value of the local building regulations and found Taiwan’s existing building envelop insulation code is close to a very appropriate strict standard and could be considered as a cost‐optimal level among the 12 cities. Finally, this paper analyzed the total energy conservation potential of building envelop, air conditioning and lighting by the criteria of 50% energy saving rate in nearly zero carbon building definition and found that the energy conservation potential in air conditioning and lighting design is about to 4.7~7.1 times comparing to building envelop design. So that, to consider both the anti-insulation effect and cost‐optimal strategy, Taiwan’s net zero building policy is not necessary to strengthen the existing building envelop regulation and need more aggressive to promote the mandatory legalization in the energy efficiency design of air conditioning and lighting design which is higher CP value and more energy saving power.</p> <p> </p>

Community Participation in Forest Conservation as A Forest Fire Mitigation and Adaptation on The Arjuno Mountain

Participatory conservation is an activity to mitigate and adapt to forest and land fires through field farmer school (FFS) activity which forest farmer groups (FFG), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academics attend. This research aims to provide an innovative approach to conservation activities with the community, especially on Mount Arjuno, which often experiences forest fires. The results show that local stakeholders and authorities must support community participation in forest conservation. This study shows that FFS (Field Farmer School) activities can facilitate the community in identifying problems and generating ideas for conservation activities through the agroforestry system, mitigation and adaptation of forest and land fires, and edu-ecotourism. Conservation designs and community participation strategic plans are outputs of forest fire mitigation and adaptation activities. The FFS as the methodology used is adequate for knowing what the farmer needs relating to conservation that stakeholders will program. Moreover, generating the conservation activity must be combined with activities to increase the FFG income. So, the FFG will have good welfare.

A two-dimensional effective stress framework for modelling whole-life soil strength changes due to pore pressure generation and dissipation, Part 1: Formulation

The undrained shear strength of contractive fine-grained soils changes with time, reducing due to pore pressure generation and increasing during consolidation. There is an increasing appetite to recognise these temporal soil strength changes in offshore geotechnical design, as it provides a basis for potentially less conservative designs. Contributions to this endeavour are reported across two companion papers. This first paper extends an existing effective stress framework that relates the generation of pore pressure to accumulated plastic shear strain, allowing undrained shear strength to be calculated within the context of critical-state soil mechanics. The main development is the extension of the computational domain to two dimensions, allowing calculations to be made for boundary value problems that cannot be satisfactorily simplified to one-dimensional conditions. The magnitude and distribution of accumulated shear strain surrounding objects buried in soil are quantified through a series of large deformation finite element analyses. These spatial distributions are described using a strain influence function in the new 2D framework to calculate the extent and magnitude of excess pore pressure, and in turn the mobilised soil strength around the buried object. The performance of the 2D framework is examined in the companion paper through retrospective simulations of experimental and numerical data.

A two-dimensional effective stress framework for modelling whole-life soil strength changes due to pore pressure generation and dissipation, Part 2: Applications

The accurate quantification of the temporal changes in seabed strength allows for more reliable and less conservative geotechnical design. A recently developed effective stress framework, established within a one-dimensional computational domain to quantify changes in soil strength due to pore pressure generation and dissipation, has been extended to a two-dimensional (2D) computational domain to allow for consideration of boundary value problems that are too complex to be simplified to one-dimensional conditions. The work to implement the 2D framework is reported across two companion papers. The first of the two papers utilises large deformation finite element analyses to quantify the spatial distribution of accumulated plastic shear strain. These distributions are encapsulated within a strain influence function that is used within the new 2D framework in this paper to calculate the extent and magnitude of excess pore pressure, and in turn the mobilised soil strength for a number of boundary value problems that represent typical offshore geotechnical processes. The merit of the new 2D framework is explored via retrospective simulations of existing experimental and numerical data. The resulting comparisons demonstrate the potential of the new framework, which is in quantifying the reliability of a range of geotechnical structures under complex loading conditions.

Innovative requirements and evaluation methods for slab track design

With increasing train speeds and reduced time windows for maintenance work, the interest in the application of slab track technology to increase the capacity of high-speed railways has grown. Slab track may still be considered a relatively young technology, but with several different designs available on the market. Current research on slab tracks commonly focuses on improved methods. In contrast, the formulation of requirements, and evaluation towards these, are seldom investigated. In this paper, state-of-the-art simulation models are employed to illustrate and address the needs for innovative requirements in terms of structural integrity and robustness, life cycle cost (LCC) and environmental footprint of new and existing slab track designs. Based on demonstration examples, it is argued that current standards may lead to overly conservative designs inducing higher LCC and environmental footprint than necessary. Extensions of the standards in terms of LCC and environmental footprint are suggested. The conflict of interest between structural integrity and robustness, LCC and environmental footprint is discussed, and suggestions for how to optimise slab track structures are proposed.

Producing rice, eating tradition? A multiscalar ricescape in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Hong Kong was not only a place where rice had been widely grown to support its own population, but had also once produced rice for overseas markets. However, rice production had declined rapidly since the 1960s and disappeared in the 1990s. Since the 2010s, there has been a reemergence of rice planting in Hong Kong carried out by conservationists, NGOs and individual farmers. In 2021, an heirloom rice cultivation campaign was launched by the Hong Kong government which further boosted local rice planting. Food growing is contingent on locations, yet, its symbolic meanings and signification often cross scales. This paper puts forward a multiscalar perspective of the recent ricescape, which involves overlapping socio spatial spheres, networking multiple actors, and creating multifarious interpretations of local rice. While this ricescape seems to entail converged efforts that revive the local rice identity and agricultural heritage, it has also contested the meanings of food localism in Hong Kong. We tap into the cross-scales of food movement at a time when there have been huge social rifts and interrogate the relations between rice heritage, rural conservation, and social identity and cohesion.

Optical Networks Automation Overview: A Survey

The increasing demand for data has driven the advancement of optical networks from traditional architectures to more flexible, dynamic and efficient solutions. This includes technologies like flexgrid reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs), variable bandwidth transponders (VBTs) providing different modulation, coding schemes and baud rates. These advancements have brought about new challenges that concerns to the routing and spectrum allocation (RSA), fragmented spectrum, need for rapid and efficient channel restoration, and operation and maintenance management of optical networks. To address these challenges, a dynamic and flexible network requires a highly advanced network operational system (OS) capable of efficiently managing and allocating network resources. It relies on network abstraction, sensors, actuators, and software-defined networking (SDN) to enable algorithms, management, control, and decision-making. Improving the sensing capabilities of the network is crucial. Modern hardware and sensor technology can help forecast fiber breaks, equipment failures, and other potential issues in advance, allowing for proactive actions to be taken. Machine learning (ML) methods have been proposed in the literature to enhance the accuracy of quality of transmission (QoT) estimation, mitigate nonlinearities and provide decisions. This reduces the need for conservative design margins, maximizes the capacity of optical network systems and reduces the investment in infrastructure. Failure management is a critical aspect of optical networks. Providing early-warning and proactive protection is essential. This includes detecting failures, localizing them, identifying the root causes, and estimating their magnitude. Quick response to failures is vital to maintaining network reliability

Coco: conservation design for optimal ecological connectivity

Despite global conservation efforts, biodiversity continues to decline, causing many species to face extinction. These efforts include designing protected areas to function as ecologically connected networks for habitat and movement pathway conservation. Ecological connectivity is defined as the connectivity of landscapes and seascapes that allows species to move and ecological processes to function unimpeded. It facilitates long-term species persistence and resilience, mitigates the impact of habitat fragmentation due to climate change and land-use change, and addresses ecological processes that support ecosystems. Thus, ecological connectivity is key in the design of habitat conservation networks. To incorporate many complicating factors in this process, it relies on decision-support frameworks to decide which areas to include to protect biodiversity while minimizing cost. Various approaches emerged to deal with the computational complexity involved in habitat conservation design. However, despite the importance of designing ecologically connected conservation networks, these widely used decision-support frameworks do not offer functionality to optimize ecological connectivity directly during conservation design. Here, we present a fast, exact method to use connectivity metrics during the biodiversity conservation design process. Our method is exact in the sense that it always returns optimal solutions in our model. We extend an existing Reserve Selection problem (RSP) formulation with vertex-weighted connectivity constraints to include edge-weighted connectivity constraints. Further, we describe two novel variations of the RSP to directly optimize over connectivity metrics, one with cost minimization and one with a fixed cost. We introduce Coco, an open-source decision-support system to design ecologically connected conservations. Coco provides an integer linear programming (ILP) method to include connectivity in conservation design. To this end, we formulate our novel RSP variations as an ILP. We test Coco on simulated data and two real datasets, one dataset of the Great Barrier Reef and a large-scale dataset of the marine area in British Columbia. We compare the performance of Coco to Marxan Connect and show that Coco outperforms Marxan Connect both in runtime and solution quality. Further, we compare the results of our proposed methods to the existing RSP formulation and show that our novel methods significantly increase connectivity at a lower cost.

Hydraulic Transient Impact on Surrounding Rock Mass of Unlined Pressure Tunnels

The frequent pressure pulsations due to hydraulic transients in hydropower plants induce cyclic loading on the rock mass that may contribute to increased instances of block falls and increased risk of tunnel collapse over the power plant lifetime. This study focuses on understanding the effect of frequent start and stop sequences of hydropower in unlined pressure tunnels. For this purpose, data from a pore water pressure monitoring system is utilized, which was installed at the downstream end of the headrace tunnel at the 50 MW Roskrepp hydropower plant in southern Norway. The objective of this study is to analyze the recorded data and quantify the impact of the hydraulic transient on the surrounding rock mass in the unlined pressure tunnel. The monitoring of pressure data over several years clearly shows that frequent load changes could cause a considerable effect on the rock mass and constituent joint system. A delayed response of the pressure in boreholes in the rock mass compared with inside the tunnel is seen in all start and stop sequences and is considered to be the main reason for instability caused by transients. The response of pore pressure in boreholes is greatly influenced by the characteristics of joints. The results show that the start sequence and shorter shutdown duration exert a greater impact on rock mass as compared to the stop sequence and longer shutdown duration. Therefore, it is recommended to increase the shutdown duration so that the impact can be minimized to increase the tunnel lifetime. This study recommends implementing a more conservative design approach in tunnels with weak rock masses in projects that involve frequent load changes.

Grassland intactness outcompetes species as a more efficient surrogate in conservation design

AbstractMapped representations of species−habitat relationships often underlie approaches to prioritize area‐based conservation strategies to meet conservation goals for biodiversity. Generally a single surrogate species is used to inform conservation design, with the assumption that conservation actions for an appropriately selected species will confer benefits to a broader community of organisms. Emerging conservation frameworks across western North America are now relying on derived measures of intactness from remotely sensed vegetation data, wholly independent from species data. Understanding the efficacy of species‐agnostic planning approaches is a critical step to ensuring the robustness of emerging conservation designs. We developed an approach to quantify ‘strength of surrogacy’, by applying prioritization algorithms to previously developed species models, and measuring their coverage provided to a broader wildlife community. We used this inference to test the relative surrogacy among a suite of species models used for conservation targeting in the endangered grasslands of the Northern Sagebrush Steppe, where careful planning can help stem the loss of private grazing lands to cultivation. In this test, we also derived a simpler surrogate of intact rangelands without species data for conservation targeting, along with a measure of combined migration representative of key areas for connectivity. Our measure of intactness vastly outperformed any species model as a surrogate for conservation, followed by that of combined migration, highlighting the efficacy of strategies that target large and intact rangeland cores for wildlife conservation and restoration efforts.