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Full Consideration (full + consideration)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Chemistry	40%

Selected Abstracts

The potential for interactions between predation and habitat change to cause population declines of farmland birds

IBIS, Issue 1 2004
K. L. Evans
Population declines are often attributed to either habitat change or increased predation rates, without a full consideration of the potential for these two factors to interact. This may lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of the causes of population decline and thus the selection of inappropriate management solutions. Here mechanisms through which habitat change and predation could interact are reviewed. Examples of how these may have contributed to population declines are provided, focusing on European farmland birds. However, very few appropriate studies have been conducted that allow the role of such interactions to be assessed accurately. To remedy this situation experimental designs that could detect the presence of interactive mechanisms are described. When habitat change and predation interact, conservation managers are provided with the opportunity to control predation impacts through habitat management rather than predator removal, which may provide a more cost-effective management strategy. [source]

Moment independent and variance-based sensitivity analysis with correlations: An application to the stability of a chemical reactor

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL KINETICS, Issue 11 2008
E. Borgonovo
Recent works have attracted interest toward sensitivity measures that use the entire model output distribution, without dependence on any of its particular moments (e.g., variance). However, the computation of moment-independent importance measures in the presence of dependencies among model inputs has not been dealt with yet. This work has two purposes. On the one hand, to introduce moment independent techniques in the analysis of chemical reaction models. On the other hand, to allow their computation in the presence of correlations. To do so, a new approach based on Gibbs sampling is presented that allows the joint estimation of variance-based and moment independent sensitivity measures in the presence of correlations. The application to the stability of a chemical reactor is then discussed, allowing full consideration of historical data that included a correlation coefficient of 0.7 between two of the model parameters. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 40: 687,698, 2008 [source]

Analyzing Polyvinyl Chloride in Japan With the Waste Input,Output Material Flow Analysis Model

JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
Shinichiro Nakamura
Summary Effective life cycle management of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) calls for the separation of end-of-life PVC products at the time of collection not only from other wastes but among different PVC types as well. Information about the flow of PVC products in the economy is important for this purpose. Within the framework of the Japanese input,output (IO) table for the year 2000, with around 400 industry sectors, the flow of PVC is captured in terms of six PVC-embodying products and in terms of three PVC types, (1) flexible PVC (soft PVC), (2) rigid PVC (hard PVC), and (3) others. The degree of resolution; the consideration of different PVC types, which are seldom performed in the material flow analysis (MFA) literature; and the use of waste input,output material flow analysis (WIO-MFA) represent distinguishing features of our study. The use of WIO-MFA methodology enables one to convert a monetary input,output table into a physical interindustry flow table involving an arbitrary number of materials under full consideration of the mass balance. The results indicate that 40% of the PVC produced in Japan is exported (as resins and as products such as passenger motor cars), and the rest is accumulated mostly as capital stock. The largest share of accumulation goes to public construction in the form of plates, pipes, and bars, which are mostly hard-PVC products. [source]

Ecotoxicity testing of chemicals with particular reference to pesticides

PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 7 2006
Colin H Walker
Abstract Ecotoxicity tests are performed on vertebrates and invertebrates for the environmental risk assessment of pesticides and other chemicals and for a variety of ecotoxicological studies in the laboratory and in the field. Existing practices and strategies in ecotoxicity testing are reviewed, including an account of current requirements of the European Commission for the testing of pesticides and the recent REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restrictions of Chemicals) proposals for industrial chemicals. Criticisms of existing practices have been made on both scientific and ethical grounds, and these are considered before dealing with the question of possible alternative methods and strategies both for environmental risk assessment and for ecotoxicological studies more generally. New approaches from an ecological point of view are compared with recent developments in laboratory-based methods such as toxicity tests, biomarker assays and bioassays. With regard to the development of new strategies for risk assessment, it is suggested that full consideration should be given to the findings of earlier long-term studies of pollution, which identified mechanisms of action by which environmental chemicals can cause natural populations to decline. Neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption are two cases in point, and biomarker assays for them could have an important role in testing new chemicals suspected of having these properties. In a concluding discussion, possible ways of improving testing protocols are discussed, having regard for current issues in the field of environmental risk assessment as exemplified by the debate over the REACH proposals. The importance of flexibility and the roles of ecologists and ecotoxicologists are stressed in the context of environmental risk assessment. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source]

Deterrence and Incapacitation Effects in a Closed Area: A Case Study of Auto Theft in Taiwan

ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010
Hung-Lin Tao
K42; R19 Deterrence and incapacitation effects of auto theft are estimated with a full consideration of substitution effects across crime types and across districts in a closed area in which none of the effects will leak out. It is found that the increase in the cleared rate of auto theft crime in a certain district and in other districts strongly deters the auto theft in that district, indicating that the across-district deterrence effect dominates the across-district substitution effect. The across-crime deterrence effect significantly exceeds the across-crime substitution effect for close crime (general theft), but is insignificant for distant crime (violence). [source]