scholarly journals Quantitative assessment of environmental impacts at the urban scale: the ecological footprint of a university campus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Genta ◽  
S. Favaro ◽  
G. Sonetti ◽  
G. V. Fracastoro ◽  
P. Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Planning Decision ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Campus Activities ◽  
Technical Solutions

AbstractThis paper explores the consumption-based ecological footprint method and its application aiming at a quantitative assessment of the sustainability of a university campus. The goal is to inform the planning decision-making process and evaluate the socio-technical solutions implemented in local urban settings for reducing energy consumption, decreasing environmental impacts and improving the quality of life of the campus' inhabitants. The case study taken for the analysis is the Politecnico di Torino, a Higher Education Institution (HEI) located in Northern Italy counting around 33,000 enrolled students in 2016. Data were collected from departments and administrative units of the Politecnico di Torino to identify the pressure exerted by the campus activities on the ecosystem during a reference year (2016). The study identified six main categories of consumption that were associated with their ecological footprint, i.e. the amount of land needed to produce the required resources and to absorb the generated waste, including CO2 emissions. Total footprint resulted in 6,200 gha: about half of the total city area, meaning that the campus would need a 310 times larger area to be self-sufficient. Normalizing this result with the number of students yields 0.19 gha/student. Transports had the highest share, with 49.4% out of the total campus impact, whereas energy covered 40.1%. Food, waste, land use and water counted, respectively, for 5.7%, 3.7%, 0.7% and 0.5%. This study presents the most comprehensive analysis to date of the environmental impact associated with an Italian HEI. This methodology and its implementation for the specific case of HEIs contribute to gain a better understanding of the overall impact of a university campus, as well as to create thresholds for comparative analysis, decision-making tools and policymaking to reduce the ecological footprint of the educational sector.

scholarly journals Educação Ambiental em nível de pós-graduação: Júri Simulado sobre impactos ambientais de empresa incineradoraEnvironmental Education at the postgraduate level: Simulated Jury on environmental impacts of incineration CompanyEducación Ambiental a nivel de postgrado: Jurado Simulado sobre impactos ambientales de empresa incineradora

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-154
Author(s):  
Marcos Paulo Gomes Mol ◽  
Valdir Lamim-Guedes
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Enseñanza Superior ◽  
Postgraduate Level ◽  
Belo Horizonte

Neste texto relatamos uma ação de Júri Simulado desenvolvido durante uma disciplina de Educação Ambiental de um curso de pós-graduação stricto sensu em saneamento e meio ambiente de uma instituição de ensino superior localizada em Belo Horizonte-MG. O Júri Simulado teve como tema central a situação de uma empresa de incineração envolvida em impactos ambientais e o Júri tomou importantes decisões em relação ao controle das atividades deste empreendimento, incluindo diversas visões sobre a atuação da empresa. A atividade permitiu aos participantes a oportunidade de ampliar os conhecimentos sobre o tema em discussão, além de exercitar a compreensão sobre a complexidade de tomadas de decisões em situações de divergência, sendo, portanto, uma ação relevante de educação ambiental para o ensino superior. This paper is related to a Simulated Jury academic action developed during an Environmental Education module of a stricto sensu postgraduate course in sanitation and environment of a higher education institution located in Belo Horizonte-MG. The Simulated Jury had the central theme about an incineration company involved with environmental impacts and the Jury took important decisions regarding the control of the activities of this undertaking, including several views on an update of the company. The activity allowed participants to increase their knowledge on the topic discussed, as well as to exercise an understanding of the complexity of decision-making in situations of divergence, and, therefore, a relevant action of environmental education for higher education. En este texto relatamos una acción de Jurado Simulado desarrollado durante una disciplina de Educación Ambiental de un curso de postgrado stricto sensu en saneamiento y medio ambiente de una institución de enseñanza superior ubicada en Belo Horizonte-MG. El Jurado Simulado tuvo como tema central la situación de una empresa de incineración involucrada en impactos ambientales y el Jurado tomó importantes decisiones en relación al control de las actividades de este emprendimiento, incluyendo diversas visiones sobre la actuación de la empresa. La actividad permitió a los participantes la oportunidad de ampliar los conocimientos sobre el tema en discusión, además de ejercitar la comprensión sobre la complejidad de tomas de decisiones en situaciones de divergencia, siendo, por lo tanto, una acción relevante de educación ambiental para la enseñanza superior.

scholarly journals Women’s empowerment for abortion and family planning decision making among marginalized women in Nepal: a mixed method study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heera KC ◽  
Mangala Shrestha ◽  
Nirmala Pokharel ◽  
Surya Raj Niraula ◽  
Prajjwal Pyakurel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Modern Contraceptives ◽  
Marginalized Women ◽  
Planning Decision

Abstract Background Women’s empowerment is multidimensional. Women’s education, employment, income, reproductive healthcare decision making, household level decision making and social status are vital for women’s empowerment. Nepal is committed to achieving women empowerment and gender equality, which directly affects the reproductive health issues. This can be achieved by addressing the issues of the poor and marginalized communities. In this context, we aimed to find the association of women’s empowerment with abortion and family planning decision making among marginalized women in Nepal. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted at selected municipalities of Morang district of Nepal from February 2017 to March 2018. A mixed method approach was used, where 316 married marginalized women of reproductive age (15–49 years) and 15 key informant interviews from representative healthcare providers and local leaders were taken. From key informants, data were analysed using the thematic framework method. Findings obtained from two separate analyses were drawn together and meta inferences were made. Results Women’s empowerment was above average, at 50.6%. Current use of modern contraceptives were more among below average empowerment groups (p 0.041, OR 0.593 C.I. 0.36–0.98). We could not find any statistically significant differences among levels of women’s empowerment, including those women with abortion knowledge (p 0.549); family planning knowledge (p 0.495) and women’s decision for future use of modern contraceptives (p 0.977). Most key informants reported that unsafe abortion was practiced. Conclusions Women’s empowerment has no direct role for family planning and abortion decision making at marginalized communities of Morang district of Nepal. However, different governmental and non-governmental organizations influence woman for seeking health care services and family planning in rural community of Nepal irrespective of empowerment status.

scholarly journals Concordance, communication, and shared decision-making about family planning among couples in Nepal: A qualitative and quantitative investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-376
Author(s):  
Carol R. Underwood ◽  
Lauren I. Dayton ◽  
Zoé Mistrale Hendrickson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Partner Communication ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Couple Communication ◽  
Spousal Concordance ◽  
Planning Decision

Couple communication and joint decision-making are widely recommended in the family planning and reproductive health literature as vital aspects of fertility management. Yet, most studies continue to rely on women’s reports to measure couple concordance. Moreover, the association between communication and decision-making is often assumed and very rarely studied. Arguably, associations between dyadic communication and shared decision-making constitute a missing link in our understanding of how communication affects fertility-related practices. Informed by Carey’s notions of transmission and ritual communication, this study sought to address those gaps with two complementary studies in Nepal: a qualitative study of married men and women and a quantitative study of 737 couples. To assess spousal concordance on matters of family planning-related communication and decision-making in the quantitative study, responses from the couple were compared for each question of interest and matched responses were classified as concordant. Quantitative results found that more than one-third of couples reported spousal communication on all measured family planning-related topics. Nearly, 87% of couples reported joint decision-making on both family planning use and method type. Partner communication was significantly and positively associated with concordant family planning decision-making in both bivariate and multivariate models. Couples communicating about three family planning topics had more than twice the odds of concordant family planning decision-making than did those not reporting such communication. The qualitative findings provided insights into discordant as well as concordant interactions, revealing that decision-making, even when concordant, is not necessarily linear and is often complex.

BRAZILIAN GMO REGULATION: DOES IT HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH?

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 1250013 ◽  
Author(s):  
DENISE GALLO PIZELLA ◽  
MARCELO PEREIRA DE SOUZA
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Genetically Modified Crops ◽  
Gm Crops ◽  
Gm Crop ◽  
Institutional Issues ◽  
Institutional Aspects ◽  
Biosafety Evaluation

Brazil is the second largest producer of genetically modified crops (GM crops) and the National Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio) the decision making agency on this matter. The country uses Risk Analysis (RA) and project EIA as tools for biosafety evaluation. This paper aims to review the appropriateness of these tools for evaluating the environmental impacts of GM crops, also considering institutional aspects. An overview of the process of release of GM crops in Brazil along with important operational and institutional aspects is provided. The results indicate that project EIA could be applied to GM crops in specific sites and RA could give support to the evaluation of GM crop itself. Regarding institutional issues, it is concluded that decisions should be made by the environmental bodies, and not by the CTNBio.

scholarly journals Management Accounting Information in Vietnamese Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Thi Tu Oanh Le ◽  
Thi Ngoc Bui ◽  
Manh Dung Tran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Management Accountants ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Planning Decision

The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam play an increasingly important role in the economy by the amount (representing 97.7% of Vietnam firms), contribute economic development and create more employment opportunities. However, because of economic crisis, financial downturn, unhealthy competitions, free trade agreements and others, the number of SMEs recently is downsizing in firm size, human resources and more and more SMEs go bankruptcy in the context of Vietnam. This situation may be due to the enterprise use ineffective management accounting tools.This article reviews and assesses the creation and use of management accounting information which has an important part to play with respect to planning, decision-making, monitoring and controlling of the activities of SMEs in Vietnam. Data collected from a posted survey of five enterprises with twenty two interviews of directors, chief accountants and management accountants. The results show that management accounting information has not really been interested from managers and accountants. Management accounting information is weak in quantity and poor in quality; administrators are operating firms primarily based on personal experiences. Therefore, management accounting information has not been promoted in the management, monitoring and decision making of SMEs in Vietnam. The addition of management accounting knowledge for managers and accountants is necessary for development of SMEs.

scholarly journals Specifics of Management of Enterprise Innovation Activities in the Czech Republic – The Decision-Making Mechanism

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Jindra Peterková ◽  
Jiří Franek
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Enterprise Innovation ◽  
Technical Solutions ◽  
Hierarchy Process

Abstract The majority of Czech managers are aware that the long-term competitiveness of the company depends primarily on the use of innovative technical solutions and investments in new technologies. Despite awareness of the importance of innovation, many companies do not know how to manage, implement, and evaluate them. Empirical research showed that most innovation firms implement, but do not systematically manage the implementation of innovative projects and the allocation of funds. There is a contradiction between companies’ ability to orientate themselves in the approaches available in the area of innovation management and the existence of a large number of approaches that can be used to address a particular type of innovation problem. A set of innovation concepts has been created to solve those challenges. Practical steps of the decision-making mechanism for selecting innovation concepts have been proposed. The decision-making mechanism is based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and serves primarily for managers of medium and large enterprises.

scholarly journals Approbation of the Decision Making Tendency Inventory in the Russian Sample

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-163
Author(s):  
A.Yu. Razvaliaeva
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Scale Structure ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Ambiguity Intolerance

We present the results of approbating the Decision Making Tendency Inventory (Misuraca et al., 2015) in the Russian sample (N=423, Mage= 25,01, SD = 9,63). The development of H. Simon’s satisficing theory in the current studies is considered. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the theoretical three-scale structure of the inventory. We describe the relations between maximizing, minimizing and satisficing scales and personal factors of decision-making, age, and education (its level and difficulty). The study demonstrates that maximizing and satisficing are close tendencies, implemented in case of making important effortful and resource-consuming (e.g., time-consuming) decisions, whereas minimizing is connected to withdrawal from effort and knowledge, avoidant strategies and ambiguity intolerance. The yielded results suggest that satisficing needs to be trained in conditions of high demands for the cognitive sphere such as studying in a higher education institution.

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