Role In Environmental Issues Research Articles

유아교사의 지속가능발전지향 환경교육 실행 방안 탐색

This study aims to explore how early childhood teachers implement sustainable development- oriented environmental education in kindergartens and childcare centers. Data were collected through semistructured in-depth interviews with 10 early childhood teachers who had attended at least one environmental education training related to sustainable development and consistently practiced sustainable development-oriented environmental education in their classrooms for at least 10 months. The study’s findings revealed that the teachers engaged in meaningful interactions with the students to sensitize them to their responsibilities and roles in environmental issues by capturing their daily inconveniences and constraints and encourage improvement. They also attempted to implement environmental education following the principles of sustainable development by organizing the play environment and using eco-friendly materials. Moreover, they tried various teaching and learning materials and activities to keep children interested and engaged. Finally, the teachers worked with the children’s families and community members to create a practical and meaningful environment in which the children could learn about their responsibilities and roles in promoting sustainable development as citizens. The study’s findings, which examined implementation experiences from the perspective of early childhood teachers, are significant because they provide useful information for teacher support.

Geometrical optimization of city gate station’s water bath indirect heater to minimization of fuel consumption

Gas industry as one of the greatest sectors of energy, has a major role in environmental issues. A category of energy intensive parts in gas industry is heaters in City Gate Stations which consume colossal volumes of the purified gases. Different optimization strategies to improve the efficiency of these heaters entailing preheating, waste heat recovery of exhausts, insulating pipelines and mounting economizers or recuperators or even using renewable energy sources have been already introduced. Besides, finding the optimized geometry is very essential in improving the efficiency. In this study, a far efficient model for heaters was introduced using the thermal modeling of the process. Based on the properties of the inlet gas, the volume of the gas passing from the CGS and ambient conditions, the consumption of the fuel as well as heater efficiency have been computed as a function of inlet gas properties, CGS’s gas flow rate and ambient condition. Then, results were verified by real data taken from Arak CGS station in Iran. The comparison proves the great correlation between the theoretical and experimental results. Findings show that with an increase in the heater length, a reduction in thermal re-sistance coincides with a higher thermal hysteresis. This causes higher fuel consumption and lower efficiency. Moreover, the higher the length of the fire tube, the more heat is transferred to the pure water and the higher is the efficiency. Considering the optimized heater configu-ration the efficiency improves two folds; changing from 32% to 71%.

Evaluation Method of Municipal Road Construction Quality Based on Carbon Emissions using Genetic Algorithm

With the rapid development of the world economy, the infrastructure of the nations is improving day by day. The transportation system is a backbone of infrastructure of any country. Transportation plays a vital role in environmental issues as well. For a country like China, municipal road plays an important role in the transportation system but the construction should be environmental friendly. The municipal road construction should be free from carbon emissions and the road should be of good quality to increase the efficiency of road transportation. The construction quality of the road is affected by the temperature, type of material, eco-friendly material, and material quality which makes the construction quality uncertain. The environmental issues are alarming. The natural resources are exploited in order to strengthen the infrastructure of any country. There is a need to find the ways to use eco-friendly material for infrastructure in all the developing nations. The traditional quality evaluation methods do not preprocess the construction quality data to keep track of the composition of environmental friendly material in the overall material. The collected dynamic monitoring data of municipal road construction quality are sparse and the key data is not accurate to evaluate the material and its consequences on the environment. Now is the time to pay attention to the environmental issues before any economic and social progress. The evaluation method of municipal road construction quality based on an improved genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed in this paper by considering carbon emissions to keep the environment free from pollution. In the process of quality evaluation of load, a spanning tree constraint method is also introduced to form a related constraint relationship. The improved GA is used to calculate municipal road construction flow parameters to ensure the optimal evaluation results. Experimental results show that the evaluation method is accurate and reliable and meets the requirement of the current era where environment issues are at priority.

The impact of environmental management on firm performance in the U.S. lodging REITs: The moderating role of outside board of directors

Recently, many firms that have caused direct pollution to the environment have begun to think about the necessity of environmental management. As buildings have played an important role in environmental issues, the real estate industry can no longer ignore demands for environmental management. Research on environmental management has mainly focused on its financial implications. However, there has been no consensus in the literature about the relationship between environmental management and firm performance. By comparing portfolios of environmentally certified properties of 19 lodging Real Estate Investment Trusts, this study explores the relationship between environmental management and firm performance, while taking into account the moderating role of outside board of directors. The relationship between environmental management and firm performance appeared to have mixed results, but this study found a positive moderating effect of outside board of directors. This study provides new insights into the hospitality and the real estate literature from a corporate governance perspective.

Nexus between Financial Development, Renewable Energy Consumption, Technological Innovations and CO2 Emissions: The Case of India

Concerns regarding environmental sustainability have generally been an important element in achieving long-term development objectives. However, developing countries struggle to deal with these concerns, which all require specific treatment. As a result, this study explores the interaction between financial development, renewable energy consumption, technological innovations, and CO2 emissions in India from 1980 to 2019, taking into account the critical role of economic progress and urbanization. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used to quantify long-run dynamics, while the Vector Error Correction Model is used to identify causal direction (VECM). According to the study’s conclusions, financial development has a considerable positive impact on CO2 emissions. The coefficient of renewable energy consumption and technical innovations, on the other hand, is strongly negative in both the short and long run, indicating that increasing these measures will reduce CO2 emissions. Furthermore, economic expansion and urbanization have a negative impact on environmental quality since they emit a significant amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. The results of the robustness checks were obtained using the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and the Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR) approaches to verify the findings. The VECM results reveal that there is long-run causality in CO2 emissions, financial development, renewable energy utilization, and urbanization. A range of diagnostic tests were also used to confirm the validity and reliability. This study delivers new findings that contribute to the existing literature and may be of particular interest to the country’s policymakers in light of the financial system and its role in environmental issues.

Role of Eco-Efficiency in Evaluating Environmental Performance and in Accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals Case Study of ITC Ltd.

In this paradigm of global climate-change there is a need to address environmental concerns along with economic concerns for better management of corporate resources and to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Companies are becoming increasingly keen to take into consideration the role of environmental issues in economic information or in the financial markets, either due to legal mandates or at times, voluntarily. Hence, there is a situational demand of a shift of their attention towards measuring eco-efficiency. “Eco-efficiency” refers to economic-ecological efficiency which is a ratio between an economic performance indicator and an environmental performance indicator of an enterprise. As a tool, it can help to integrate conventional accounting with ecological accounting. Contextually, the present study makes an attempt to calculate eco-efficiency of ITC Ltd., an environmentally-conscious Indian conglomerate, both in a business-as-usual scenario, as well as after considering the environment-friendly measures taken by them, to find out how they are contributing towards the achievement of the SDGs. The results are based on the analysis of secondary data compiled and calculated for a five-year period of 2014-15 to 2018-19.

Modern mass spectrometry in atmospheric sciences: Measurement of volatile organic compounds in the troposphere using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the troposphere are emitted from a wide variety of natural and man-made sources and resulting in environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change. Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), a chemical ionization mass spectrometry technique using H3 O+ reagent ions, allows real-time measurements of various VOCs in air with high sensitivity (parts-per-trillion to parts-per-billion level) and fast time response (<1 s). Modern PTR-MS equipped with time-of-flight mass analyzers can measure hundreds of compounds simultaneously. The applications of PTR-MS have greatly promoted understanding VOC sources and their roles in environmental issues, and therefore, PTR-MS has become a well-established analytical technique for in situ VOC measurements in atmospheric sciences. Here, the principles and implementation of PTR-MS are described. We additionally highlight modern PTR-MS techniques for accurate identification and comprehensive quantification of various VOCs. Finally, recent applications for atmospheric science are presented, using examples from research in biomass burning emissions and chemistry.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: A PEDAGOGICAL PROPOSAL IN THE BRAZILIAN SEMI-ARID

This manuscript has as main objective to present the technical-operational procedure of the action research developed in a public high school in the North region of Ceará, in the period from 2012 to 2015, EEFM College Dom José Tupinambá da Frota, located at Avenue Dr. Guarany, 1.100, Neighborhood Cidao, Sobral, CE. This study was developed as an interdisciplinary pedagogical proposal with the first year classes of high school. It is a pedagogical practice, in which the pedagogicalproject "sustainable school" was developed, focused on the issue of water resources. The idea of the project was born from the observation of water waste in the school through the dripping of drinking fountains and air conditioning appliances and the generation of effluents, coming from kitchen sinks and bathrooms. The main objective of this project was to develop interdisciplinary pedagogical tools capable of involving students and the school community in sustainable practices, leading them to critical reflection about the relationship between man and nature in living with the semi-arid climate,where these resources are, in a sense, limited. In addition, strengthen the links between school and society, school and university, encouraging students to be interested in scientific research, to dream of a future academic career and to train citizens aware of their role in environmental issues.

PERAN PEREMPUAN DALAM KONSERVASI AIR RUMAH TANGGA

The availability of world freshwater that can be used by humans is very small in number compared with many people's estimates, especially for those living in regions with abundant of water. Water conservation should be done according to Islamic advice, then considering other users' water needs, maintaining water quality, saving energy, and considering increasing water demand as per population growth. Prior to the scarcity and water damage, water conservation needs to be done in non-domestic and domestic / household levels. Household water conservation can be done through behavioural change and technological change. This study focuses on changes in household behavior in water conservation related to the role of women. A qualitative approach is applied in this study by conducting interviews with resource persons who play a significant role in environmental issues and some are housewives. The results show that household water conservation can be done in simple and easy ways, for example by monitoring water use by children, choosing water-saving ways of gardening, washing clothes at once, and so on. The role of women in household water conservation is significant because women are the main users of water and women can educate children early on. The government is expected to arrange strategies to promote water conservation on a household scale by educating and disseminating it to women's associations at the village level.Keywords :

Chemical nature of humic substances in two typical Chinese soils (upland vs paddy soil): A comparative advanced solid state NMR study

Knowledge of the structural features of humic substances (HSs) is essential for elucidating the mechanisms of humification in different soil environments and realizing their profound roles in environmental issues. The aim of this work was to investigate the chemical structures of fulvic acid (FA), humic acid (HA) and humin (HM) fractions isolated from an upland soil (Fluvisol) and a paddy soil (Anthrosol) typical in China using advanced solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. The results revealed that there were great structural differences of HSs between the two soils. The two FAs showed distinct quantitative differences in aliphatics with more polysaccharides in the FA from the upland soil than from the paddy soil. The HM from the upland soil differed from the paddy soil HM in having more proteins/peptides (23% vs 20%), total aromatics (21% vs 12%) as well as fewer lipids (24% vs 35%) and polysaccharides (27% vs 31%). The HM fractions represented the most different components of organic matter between the two soils. The degree of difference between the two HAs fell in between that of FAs and HM fractions. In particular, the HA from the upland soil had relatively greater degree of aromaticity. Our study indicated that the upland soil exhibited a higher degree of humification compared with the paddy soil. Among the three humic fractions, the FAs featured COO/N-CO groups, and the HAs were more enriched in protonated aromatic C for both soils. In contrast, the two HM fractions contained more O-alkyl C and fewer aromatics than did the other humic fractions, being closer to the original organic materials in soils. We speculate that the evolutionary route of HSs is likely to be the transformation of original organic materials into HM, followed by increased degradation, further oxidization and conversion into HA, and then into FA.

Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of Environmental Issues and Media Coverage

Abstract This study aims to find higher education students’ perceptions about environmental issues and how the perceptions are related to perceptions of media coverage. This study investigates higher education students’ perceptions of the seriousness of environmental issues and their relation to perceptions of media coverage. Higher education students perceived a global problem, lack of clean water, as most serious environmental problem. Media has had an effect on students’ perceptions on environmental issues: when students perceived the problem as serious they also perceived the information in media concerning it appropriate. Students perceived that the media underestimate and obscure some environmental problems such as biological diversity and global warming. It was concluded that higher education educators need more knowledge of students’, future decision makers’ concerns and perceptions about environmental issues to develop more effective teaching practices in higher education. Through education environmental issues literacy, which is a precursor for engaged protection of the environment, can be fostered. This study offers some insights into higher education students’ perceptions of the media’s role in environmental issues.

Md Saidul Islam. 2014. Confronting the Blue Revolution: Industrial Aquaculture and Sustainability in the Global South. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Md Saidul Islam. 2014. <i>Confronting the Blue Revolution: Industrial Aquaculture and Sustainability in the Global South.</i> Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Towards environmentally responsible nursing: a critical interpretive synthesis

To provide a synthesis of studies on the environmental issues in nursing. Interest in the environmental issues affecting health sciences has been increasing in recent decades. Health care is one of the largest publicly provided services and it share of the environmental burden is high. Nurses play an important role in environmental health issues as they are the largest group of healthcare staff and are most directly connected to the use of energy and materials. Despite this, previous studies on nurses' roles in environmental issues have been presented in a relatively fragmented way. Systematic literature searches of peer-reviewed papers published between 2002-2012 were carried out using the CINAHL, Science Direct and PubMed electronic databases. Critical interpretive synthesis was then undertaken to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. Eleven studies were included. Based on our synthesis, environmentally responsible nursing can be identified in relation to the: (1) theoretical framework; (2) background arguments; (3) role of responsible stakeholders; and (4) targets of environmental management. A fifth element: (5) tools for practical environmental responsibility, was also presented. Awareness of environmental issues is starting to encourage nursing services to seek sustainable practices. Nurses themselves are naturally in a key position to promote and develop environmentally responsible nursing. Environmentally responsible nursing helps to promote healthy environmental practices. It also reduces undesirable practices that can burden the environment and have a negative impact on health.

Leadership and HR focus in TQM research in Australia: an assessment and agenda

Aims to examine the state of leadership and HR focus in TQM research in Australia from published literature and to determine areas for future research. The literature search covered 31 reputable referred journals over the years 1985‐1999 and identified 90 articles which focused on aspects of TQM. However, it was not possible to identify the primary focus of 23 articles, hence these were not considered for further analysis. The rest of the articles (67) were classified using the seven criteria of the Australian Business Excellence Framework and it was found that about 40 per cent of the reviewed articles had leadership and HR as primary focus. The review shows that considerable attention has been devoted to research in strategic direction, organizational culture of the leadership category and, involvement and commitment, and effectiveness and development of the people category. Further research is necessary in areas such as top management's role in environmental issues and community contribution, health, safety and well‐being of employees, and dissemination of leadership throughout organizations.

The shadow of the past: environmental issues and institutional learning in EU enlargement processes

This paper compares the role of environmental issues in negotiating Spanish membership of the European Union (EU) with the ongoing enlargement talks with Central and Eastern European countries. The paper first argues that the EU has recognized a need to change the way in which it has traditionally managed environmental issues in enlargement processes. Second, the paper provides evidence of learning processes at the Community level that could have effected a change in Community approaches to enlargement in the environmental field. However, the paper shows that the fundamental principles and procedures applied in preparing for eastern enlargement match those used in previous enlargement rounds, resembling a largely technical exercise with exclusive focus on the applicants' ability to align with the acquis communautaire and the length of transition periods. The lack of sufficient adaptation or reform suggests that path dependence and institutional inertia have constrained the scope for innovations at the level of policy strategy and institutions, for which the shadow of the past has reinforced established patterns of institutional behaviour and practices. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Corporate environmental excellence and stewardship: Five critical tasks of top management

AbstractOne of the most important challenges facing business is shaping the role of senior management in corporate environmental performance. In some leading companies, the CEO or chairman takes the initiative to carefully define his or her role because of a strong personal commitment, a keen grasp of the business incentives, in response to past problems, or because of a combination of these. In other companies, even where corporate policies genuinely support and promote corporate environmental, health, and safety programs, there may still be inaction or reluctance on the part of top management to participate or get involved. This management posture may work for a few more years, but no longer than that—and could quickly become a major detriment to any company's ongoing market success or viability.This article will focus on a strategy for getting top management involved in your company's programs and, where they are already involved, for sharing some insights we have gained from our work with a number of companies where top management has taken a strong role in environmental issues and has established precedence for what can work well.

War in the Mode of Information

everal aspects of the representation of the U.S.-Iraq War arrest my attention. These are (1) the role of environmental issues, (2) the concern for historic and cultural monuments, (3) the presence of coalition media personnel in Iraq subsequent to the outbreak of hostilities, and (4) the real-time transmission of images and sound from the theater of operations, transforming the battlefield into a theater. I believe these phenomena are without precedent in war and therefore deserve special consideration. The oil spill in the Persian Gulf was presented by the Bush administration as a deliberate sabotage of nature by Saddam Hussein. Rather than an accident of the shipping industry or a hazard of petroleum technology, this spill was attributed to the maniacal intentions of a despot. Suddenly a new criterion was imposed on the conduct of war: the preservation of the environment. War, considered the ultimate state of the polis at least since Plato, the true test of the moral fiber of the community, has become, by dint of U.S. administration spokesmen, a limited action, one carried out with constraints imposed by higher considerations, such as the environment. When the U.S. Air Force destroyed one-third of the forests of Vietnam by defoliants, napalm, and assorted chemi-

Engineer's Role in Environmental Issues

Oneof the biggest problems encountered by today's civil engineer, whether he is involved in public works or private development, is the lack of support given to many of his projects by the public. One does not have to look further than today's problems in power supply to see that organized opposition by groups of citizens can bring to a halt many engineering projects enthusiastically supported by members of the engineering profession. The most commonly cited reason for objecting to an engineering project is the damage to theenvironment that could be created by the project. The traditional problems of engineering havebeen concerned with providing the necessities and conveniences for growth. Civil engineering has been accused of being growth oriented at any cost.