Environmental Research Project Research Articles

Citizen science in environmental health research: A comparison with conventional approaches and creation of a guidance tool issued from the LILAS initiative

ContextPublic interest for citizen science (CS) in environmental health is growing. The goals of environmental health research projects are diverse, as are the methods used to reach these goals. Opportunities for greater implication of the civil society and related challenges differ at each step of such projects. These methodological aspects need to be widely shared and understood by all stakeholders. The LILAS initiative (acronym for “application of citizen science approaches such as LIving LAbS to research on environmental exposures and chronic risks”) aimed to 1) favor a mutual understanding of the main issues and research methods in environmental health, of their stakes for different actors, but also of the requirements, strengths and limitations of these methods and to 2) identify expected benefits and points of attention related to stronger degrees of participation as part of environmental health research projects. MethodsThe LILAS initiative gathered institutional researchers, academics and civil society representatives interested in environmental exposures. Five meetings allowed to collectively identify different types of environmental health research studies and reflect about the benefits, limitations, and methodological issues related to the introduction of growing citizen participation as part of such studies. An analytic table matrix summarizing these aspects was co-created and filled by participants, as a tool devoted to help stakeholders with the definition of future CS research projects in environmental health. ResultsFor different fields of research (e.g.: studies for assessment of environmental exposures, interventions on these exposures, quantitative risk assessment, epidemiological studies), the matrix lists expected benefits for various stakeholders, the fundamental principles of research methods and related practical constraints, but also advantages and limitations related to the use of CS or conventional research approaches. ConclusionThe LILAS initiative allowed to develop a tool which provides consolidated grounds for the co-creation of research projects on environmental exposures involving CS.

A typology of Inuit youth engagement in environmental research

The roles of Indigenous youth in environmental research remain largely unexplored with little practical guidance for achieving meaningful engagement in environmental research. This paper aims to characterize the varying types of Inuit youth engagement in environmental research conducted in Inuit Nunangat. Findings were derived from a community-engaged participatory research approach in Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet, Nunavut). Our typology of Inuit youth engagement in environmental research suggests three types of engagements: “participate”, “conduct”, and “control”. Results highlight that Inuit youth who are interested in undertaking their own environmental research projects expect to enhance their knowledge of natural and life sciences more than those who may seek short-term supportive research roles. Strategies employed by researchers seeking to enhance youth research capacity may also vary based on youth wants and expectations. Our findings suggest that there is no one-size-fits all solution. None of the engagement types identified were necessarily and inherently considered better than the others by project contributors, unlike what has been proposed in other, hierarchical, typologies. Our proposed typology contributes to a better understanding of the varying roles that Inuit youth can play in environmental research, as well as inform potential frameworks for enhancing Inuit youth engagement and leadership in research.

Polychaetes (Annelida) of Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea): An Updated and Annotated Checklist Including New Distribution Records

The diversity and distribution of polychaetes in the coastal area and the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus is presented based on both the literature records and new data acquired in a wide range of environmental monitoring programmes and research projects. A total of 585 polychaete species belonging to 49 families were reported in Cyprus waters; among them, 205 species (34%) were recorded based on the literature only, 149 (26%) were new records based on our own data, and a total of 231 spp. (40%) were recorded from both the literature and new data. A total of 51 polychaete species were identified as non-indigenous; among them, 32 were confirmed as alien species, 4 were considered cryptogenic, and 15 were considered questionable as there were doubts about their identity. The Indo-Pacific Schistomeringos loveni was reported for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, while four species already reported in the literature, namely, Bispira melanostigma, Fimbriosthenelais longipinnis Leonnates aylaoberi, and Rhodopsis pusilla, were added to the list of non-indigenous polychaetes in the Mediterranean Sea. The current work highlights the importance of implementing environmental monitoring programmes and carrying out research surveys targeting benthic macrofauna assemblages.

Accuracy of UAV-based DEMs without ground control points

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly used in various environmental research projects and other activities that require accurate topography images. The quality of elevation models derived from UAV measurements varies depending on many variables (e.g. UAV equipment used, terrain conditions, etc.). In order to improve the quality of digital models based on UAV image data, additional GNSS-RTK measurements are usually made at ground control points. The aim of this article is to evaluate the mathematical accuracy of terrain models created without ground control points. The accuracy of the models is considered in two directions: vertical and horizontal. Vertical (elevation) accuracy is calculated based on airborne laser scanning (ALS) data and horizontal (location) accuracy is calculated through comparison with high-resolution orthophotomaps. The average elevation accuracy of all created UAV-based DEMs is found to be 2.7–2.8 m (MAE), 3.1–3.3 m (RMSE), and the average horizontal accuracy is 2.1 m. Despite the low accuracy of the UAV models, the topography is reflected very well in the spatial images. This may be related to the regular and symmetrical distribution of height errors. To improve the accuracy parameters of UAV-based DEMs, it is proposed that they be rapidly georeferenced based on orthophotomaps.

Community Autonomy and Place-Based Environmental Research

Academic and government-directed research is generally portrayed as a benign problem-solving enterprise. There is a long record of important theories, discoveries, and solutions to sticky problems that research has produced. But alongside this list of important advances in knowledge, there has been a record of damage to individuals and to communities as a whole when place-based research has not been implemented thoughtfully. Researchers conducting community-facing projects are increasingly aware that place-based research may generate risks at a community level. This literature review identifies a set of dynamics through which place-based environmental research projects can undermine community autotomy where research takes place and offers a set of recommendations for researchers and institutions who wish to adopt research practices and institutional supports that honor community autonomy.

Data pipeline for managing field experiments

As agricultural and environmental research projects become more complex, increasingly with multiple outcomes, the demand for technical support with experiment management and data handling has also increased. Interactive visualisation solutions are user-friendly and provide direct information to facilitate decision making with timely data interpretation. Existing off-the-shelf tools can be expensive and require a specialist to conduct the development of visualisation solutions. We used open-source software to develop a customised near real-time interactive dashboard system to support science experiment decision making. Our customisation allowed for:• Digitalised domain knowledge via open-source solutions to develop decision support systems.• Automated workflow that only executed the necessary components.• Modularised solutions for low maintenance cost and upgrades.

Wastewater Treatment Efficiency by a Freshwater Phylactolaemate Bryozoan and Experimental Feeding with Protozoa

The wastewater treatment ponds of the King’s Royally Initiated Laem Phak Bia Environmental Research and Development (LERD) Project in west-central Thailand provide habitats for freshwater bryozoans, which are colonial invertebrate animals. Bryozoans sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore and can play an important ecological role in wastewater treatment. In this unique environment, we: (1) investigated the efficiency of a phylactolaemate bryozoan (Plumatella casmiana) in wastewater treatment, measured by BOD5, chlorophyll a and turbidity; and (2) determined the role of protozoans in the diet of the bryozoan P. casmiana. Comparison of growth rate and fecal pellet characteristics between protozoan-fed bryozoans and phytoplankton-fed bryozoans was investigated. At the end of our wastewater treatment experiment, water quality parameters were markedly improved in the treatment with bryozoans compared to the control (without bryozoans). The treatment efficiency levels for BOD5, turbidity, and chlorophyll a were 24.04%, 59.21%, and 55.13%, respectively. The growth rates of bryozoans in the experimental treatment increased over time. Our study also revealed that this bryozoan can feed on a diet of protozoans under experimental conditions. However, the average daily growth rate of protozoan-fed bryozoans -20 zooids per day was lower than that of phytoplankton-fed bryozoans 19 zooids per day. This may have been due to incomplete digestion of protozoans or insufficient nutrition in the bryozoans. The results from this study provide better understanding of bryozoan ecology and their role in wastewater treatment systems.

The use of “writing retreats” in supporting geography and environmental science undergraduate independent research projects

ABSTRACT Twenty-first century graduates need to have the aptitude to be critical thinkers and capacity to make balanced judgements. The undergraduate dissertation (capstone/independent research project) is normally undertaken at the end of the degree programme enabling students to demonstrate their ability to apply, analysis, synthesis and evaluate their knowledge. Despite the pedagogical importance of the dissertation and the implication of them for the undergraduate student experience, much of the literature on dissertations focuses on: design, structure and implementation; teaching and learning strategies; assessment criteria and marking standards; and, students’ development of subject-specific skills, personal attributes and transferable skills. However, the question remains how best to support and motivate undergraduate students in the final stages of the dissertation “write-up” process. This paper investigates and assesses the use of “writing retreats” within the final stages of the undergraduate dissertation process. Despite the benefits of writing retreats, they have to date typically only been offered to academic and research staff and postgraduate research students but not undergraduate students. This paper demonstrates that writing retreats are a feasible intervention tool that facilitates attitudinal changes, such as enhanced motivation, increased confidence and a more positive outlook on the final writing process of their independent research projects.

Efficiency Analysis of Environmental R&D Projects Using DEA and Malmquist Based on Integrated Efficiency Model

This paper evaluates the efficiency and productivity of the environmental R&D projects focused on the Next Generation Eco-Innovation Projects using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist. Environmental R&D projects consist of 19 decision making units (DMU). Two input variables and three output variables are selected to evaluate them. Inputs are total funds and researchers. Outputs are patents, papers and revenues from the projects. This paper uses a two-stage approach. First, it measures the efficiency and productivity of the environmental research projects by using DEA and Malmquist. Second, it classifies 19 DMUs into 4 groups in terms of the integrated efficiency based on the scores of static efficiency and dynamic efficiency. Then it suggests that inefficient DMUs should be improved by benchmarking the efficient DMUs. This study is expected to provide government officials with policy implications about which environmental R&D projects are inefficient and how to improve their efficiency.

Plastics biodegradation and recycling - the introduction of China-Europe cooperation project "Synthetic microorganism communities for plastic degradation and transformation"

The China-European environmental biotechnology cooperation research project on the biodegradation of waste plastics is jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the European Commission (EC), and aims to encourage Chinese and European scientists to carry out substantive research in the field of "Microorganism communities for plastics biodegradation". The goal of the project is to use the metabolic capacity of microbial communities to degrade petrochemical plastics that are easy to cause environmental pollution into monomers and small molecules, thereby realizing the biosynthesis of high-value biochemicals by microorganisms. This can not only solve the problem of plastic pollution, but also "turn waste into treasure" and create higher economic benefits. The China-European cooperative research project will promote in-depth cooperation between scientists from both sides in the field of synthetic biology, and help the two sides establish long-term and stable international exchanges and cooperation. Both China and the EU will work to solve the global plastic pollution problem, form a strategic force of science and technology, and jointly open a new chapter in the field of resource utilization of non-degradable plastics.

Living Labs and other participatory approaches applied to research on multiple environnemental exposures and chronic risks

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Participatory research in environmental health is still rare in France. The objectives of environmental health research, in general, can be very diverse (e.g.: identifying situations associated with risks estimating exposures and effects, testing the effectiveness of preventive actions) and related methods are diverse as well. Opportunities for greater implication of the civil society and related challenges differ at each step of research activities. These aspects need to be better known and shared collectively. The LILAS project aimed to 1) co-construct, among institutional researchers, academics and civil society representatives, a mutual understanding of the main problematics and research methods in environmental health, their stakes for different actors, but also the requirements, strengths and limitations of these methods 2) identify expected benefits and points of vigilance related to stronger degrees of participation as part of such environmental health research projects. METHODS: LILAS gathered institutional researchers, academics and civil society representatives interested in multiple exposures (chemical, radiological). Several meetings allowed to collectively identify different types of study (including environmental epidemiological studies) and reflect about the added value, limitations, and methodological principles related to the introduction of growing participation as part of such studies. An analysis matrix was co-created and filled by participants. RESULTS:For different types of studies (studies for assessment of environmental exposures, identification of their determinants, interventions on these exposures, development of sensors, quantitative risk assessment, environmental epidemiological studies, experimental research, studies on the health of ecosystems…), the matrix lists expected benefits for several categories of stakeholders, fundamental methodological principles and practical constraints, advantages and limitations related to the use of participatory approaches (such as the living lab one) or more “classical” approaches. CONCLUSIONS:LILAS has allowed, through a cross-acculturation process, to develop consolidated grounds for the co-construction of future participatory research projects on multiple environmental exposures. KEYWORDS: Key-words: Multiple exposures, participatory research, methods in environmental health research, Living Lab, co-creation,

Eco-innovation analysis of OECD countries with common weight analysis in data envelopment analysis

PurposeDespite unanimity in the literature that eco-innovation (EI) leads to sustainable development, evidence remains limited on measuring EI efficiency with the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). In conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, decision-making units (DMUs) are inclined to assign more favorable weights, even zero, to the inputs and outputs to maximize their own efficiency. This paper aims to overcome this shortcoming by developing a common set of weights (CSW).Design/methodology/approachUsing goal programming, this study develops a CSW model to evaluate the EI efficiency of the organization for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries and track their changes with MPI during 2010–2018.FindingsAchieving a complete ranking of DMUs, findings show the higher discrimination power of the proposed CSW compared with the original DEA models. Furthermore, results reveal that Iceland, Latvia and Luxembourg are the only OECD countries that have incessantly improved their EI productivity (MPI > 1) from 2010 to 2018. On the other hand, Japan is the OECD country that has experienced the highest yearly EI efficiency during 2010–2018. This paper also found that Iceland has the highest MPI over 2010–2018.Practical implicationsMore investment in environmental research and development (R&D) projects instead of generic R&D enables OECD members to realize more opportunities for sustainable development through minimizing energy use and environmental pollution in any form of waste and greenhouse gas emissions.Originality/valueIn addition to developing a novel common weights model for DEA-MPI to measure and evaluate the EI of OECD countries, this paper develops a CSW model by including the undesirable outputs for EI analysis.

Weather bodies: experimenting with dance improvisation in environmental education in the early years

This paper reports on insights gained from incorporating dance improvisation into a broader early years environmental education ethnographic research project. Findings are reported from a two-day workshop where a dancer was invited to work with young children to attune to the weather through their bodies. In these workshops, the practice of dance improvisation was used as a deliberate interference to disrupt the disconnected and disembodied ways in which weather is often taught to young children. The paper argues that when children attune with weather through the embodied and relational practice of dance improvisation, this challenges the common practice of learning about weather as a separate phenomenon happening outside the classroom. Dance, as an intervention, helps to de-stabilise binary human-nature relations and reveals how children might come to understand their (human) selves as also weather bodies. New ways to understand humans’ entanglements with current weather events are also articulated, offering educators and researchers strategies for considering how the practice of dance improvisation might be integrated into early years education as an innovative approach to environmental learning.

Signal Processing Plays a Key Role in Environmental Research Projects: Keeping People and Ecosystems Alive and Healthy Is Perhaps the 21st Century's Biggest Challenge [Special Reports

Despite the impressive technological strides made over the years, human lives still depend very much on the natural environment. Fortunately, technology can now be used to help address critical environmental concerns in air quality, soil condition, and weather events. In all of these areas and many others, signal processing is supporting the ability to provide immediate and long-term observations and insights.

Enhancing High-concentrated Wastewater Quality on Evaporation Rate from Five-Consecutive Oxidation Ponds as Located in Phetchaburi, Southerly Thailand

This research aimed to examine the environmental factors determining the rates of evaporation, a natural phenomenon contributing to the treatment of wastewater of 5-consecutive oxidation ponds of the King’s Royally Initiated Laem Phak Bia Environmental Research and Development Project. Data collected from the 17th of April to 30th of May 2019 by US Class A Evaporation Pan revealed that the sedimentation pond (Pond 1) has the highest rate, 7.22 mm d-1, the oxidation pond 1 (Pond 2), 5.70 mm d-1, the oxidation pond 3 (Pond 4), 5.56 mm d-1, the stabilization pond (Pond 5), mm d-1, the reference pond at 5.07 mm d-1 and the oxidation pond 2 (Pond 3), 3.59 mm d-1. Concluding the evaporation in domestic wastewater treatment plants is characterized by 1) heat generated from short and long wave radiation emitted by earth and the sun, 2) local wind profiles of the area affected the height differences of the roughness length, and 3) heat generated by the respiration and digestion process of microbial activities and other grey body contaminants. Presenting the day and night variations made for the analysis, the day evaporation was significantly higher resulted by the net radiation were accountable. Wind profile generated from the measurement of speeds and directions at two different sites at 3 and 10 m has explained for the roughness length heights over each pond as lower roughness height have cause the increased in the rates of evaporation in Pond 4 and 5 however, these process were also suppressed by high ionic bonding molecules effected suggested by the high TDS and EC values. The vertical temperature profile has conveyed the movement in the heat flux that dominated an upward flux movement in Pond 1. This is the exothermic reaction from the digestion process have suggested that extra heat has been added.

Особенности развития субъектности подростка во взаимодействии с природной средой в условиях детского образовательно-оздоровительного лагеря

The work shows that only a certain psychological and pedagogical complex, consisting of a convenient educational platform, using objects of nature in the pedagogical process; correctly selected psychological and pedagogical methods and a trained teaching staff will be able to contribute to the search and implementation of new psychological and pedagogical approaches used for the development of personality and subjectivity of adolescents. The most convenient site for these purposes may be a children's health camp. This educational platform is unique in terms of balancing lesson and extracurricular activities, providing opportunities for communicative interaction between peers, as well as adolescents and adults. It is also important that the environment of a country camp provides a child with the opportunity to discover those natural phenomena that could only be learned theoretically in the classroom. By contributing to the implementation of interdisciplinary environmental research projects, the camp creates conditions for the development of the adolescent's subjectivity in interaction with the natural environment. Receiving new skills and abilities in the camp, the child moves to a new level of education, and accordingly acquires new personal experience. Thus, the presented work shows that it is necessary to rethink the importance of children's health camps. While retaining the traditional functions of health improvement, recreation and entertainment, camps should provide and compensate for the educational and educational functions of modern school education. Camp activities should be productive.

Toward Environmental Justice in Civic Science: Youth Performance and Experience Measuring Air Pollution Using Moss as a Bio-Indicator in Industrial-Adjacent Neighborhoods.

This article reports on an interdisciplinary evaluation of the pilot phase of a community-driven civic science project. The project investigates the distribution of heavy metals in air pollution using moss growing on street trees as a bio-indicator in two industrial-adjacent neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington (USA). One goal of the ongoing project is to meaningfully engage local urban youths (eighth to twelfth grade) in the scientific process as civic scientists, and teach them about environmental health, environmental justice, and urban forestry concepts in a place-based, urban-oriented environmental research project. We describe the collaborative context in which our project developed, evaluate the quality of youth-collected data through analysis of replicate samples, and assess participants’ learning, career interests, and overall appraisal of the pilot. Our results indicate that youth scientists collected usable samples (with acceptable precision among repeated samples), learned project content (with statistically significant increases in scores of test-style survey questions; p = 0.002), and appraised their engagement favorably (with 69% of participants reporting they liked the project). We observed few changes in career interests, however. We discuss our intention to use these preliminary insights to further our community-driven education, research, and action model to address environmental injustices.

Research on Environment Education Strategy Water Resource Utilization Based on Dynamics

Wu, K.R. and Tian, M., 2020. Research on environment education strategy water resource utilization based on dynamics. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 498-501. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Nowadays, water resource utilization is the focus of the world, and people have higher requirements for a good water resource utilization. This paper based on the system dynamics to explore strategies to increase the quality of environmental education for college students. The index evaluation system of teachers' environmental education and teaching ability, students' learning level in class and students' practice level is constructed. The system dynamics model is established on each evaluation index system, and each index system is simulated and evaluated respectively. Finally, the stability of the system dynamics model is tested by sensitivity analysis. Conclusion shows that colleges should pay attention to the output of environmental research projects and encourage students to participate in scientific research projects, which can improve the quality of environmental education.

Shared discovery: A process to coproduce knowledge among scientists, policy makers, and stakeholders for solving nutrient pollution problems.

There is growing recognition of the importance of involving stakeholders in solution-oriented multidisciplinary environmental research projects. Management of nutrients to address water pollution is a wicked problem requiring multidisciplinary research and participation of stakeholders. Here, we frame participatory research as shared discovery, a deliberative, focused engagement process that serves as a directional guide for how research unfolds during the entire span of a project. We explore its application within a 5-yr, multidisciplinary research project seeking innovative solutions to nutrient management challenges in four agriculturally influenced small watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin. This process involved deliberate development of a stakeholder engagement strategy and structure, which included a specific research team dedicated to implementing shared discovery throughout. Recognizing that stakeholders involved in nutrient and watershed management engage at multiple scales, we developed a biscalar approach to engage stakeholders at both a regional or state policy level and within the local study watersheds. Early collaboration allowed stakeholders to be participatory in developing research questions and shaping research design, which made research results more applicable to the identified problems. The biscalar framework for engagement was a novel approach that allowed researchers to incorporate both broader policy concepts into research and local concerns and concepts specific to the small study watersheds, allowing solutions to be tailored to local needs. Although infusing research with stakeholder engagement and input from the outset is a time-consuming process, it bolsters research design and products and leads to greater application of research to solve nutrient pollution-a wicked problem indeed.

Aligning Community-Engaged Research to Context.

Community-engaged research is understood as existing on a continuum from less to more community engagement, defined by participation and decision-making authority. It has been widely assumed that more is better than less engagement. However, we argue that what makes for good community engagement is not simply the extent but the fit or alignment between the intended approach and the various contexts shaping the research projects. This article draws on case studies from three Community Engagement Cores (CECs) of NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Science Core Centers (Harvard University, UC Davis and University of Arizona,) to illustrate the ways in which community engagement approaches have been fit to different contexts and the successes and challenges experienced in each case. We analyze the processes through which the CECs work with researchers and community leaders to develop place-based community engagement approaches and find that different strategies are called for to fit distinct contexts. We find that alignment of the scale and scope of the environmental health issue and related research project, the capacities and resources of the researchers and community leaders, and the influences of the sociopolitical environment are critical for understanding and designing effective and equitable engagement approaches. These cases demonstrate that the types and degrees of alignment in community-engaged research projects are dynamic and evolve over time. Based on this analysis, we recommend that CBPR scholars and practitioners select a range of project planning and management techniques for designing and implementing their collaborative research approaches and both expect and allow for the dynamic and changing nature of alignment.