scholarly journals Digital Surveillance for Monitoring Environmental Health Threats: A Case Study Capturing Public Opinion from Twitter about the 2019 Chennai Water Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (14) ◽  
pp. 5077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangmei Xiong ◽  
Yulin Hswen ◽  
John A. Naslund
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Digital Surveillance ◽  
Health Threats ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
The Impact

Globally, water scarcity has become a common challenge across many regions. Digital surveillance holds promise for monitoring environmental threats to population health due to severe drought. The 2019 Chennai water crisis in India resulted in severe disruptions to social order and daily life, with local residents suffering due to water shortages. This case study explored public opinion captured through the Twitter social media platform, and whether this information could help local governments with emergency response. Sentiment analysis and topic modeling were used to explore public opinion through Twitter during the 2019 Chennai water crisis. The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) method identified topics that were most frequently discussed. A naïve Tweet classification method was built, and Twitter posts (called tweets) were allocated to identified topics. Topics were ranked, and corresponding emotions were calculated. A cross-correlation was performed to examine the relationship between online posts about the water crisis and actual rainfall, determined by precipitation levels. During the Chennai water crisis, Twitter users posted content that appeared to show anxiety about the impact of the drought, and also expressed concerns about the government response. Twitter users also mentioned causes for the drought and potential sustainable solutions, which appeared to be mainly positive in tone. Discussion on Twitter can reflect popular public opinion related to emerging environmental health threats. Twitter posts appear viable for informing crisis management as real-time data can be collected and analyzed. Governments and public health officials should adjust their policies and public communication by leveraging online data sources, which could inform disaster prevention measures.

scholarly journals Sustainable Residential Building Considerations for Rural Areas: A Case Study

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Lawrence Fulton ◽  
Bradley Beauvais ◽  
Matthew Brooks ◽  
Scott Kruse ◽  
Kimberly Lee
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Cost Of Capital ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Solar Array ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Electric Car ◽  
The Impact

Intelligent use of rural residential land and sustainable construction is inexorably linked to cost; however, options exist that are eco-friendly and have a positive return on investment. In 2011, a research residence was built to evaluate various land-use and sustainable components. This Texas house has subsequently been used for both residential and research purposes. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate break-even construction considerations, to assess environmental impacts, and to evaluate qualitatively efficacy of sustainable options incorporated in the research residence. Some of the specific components discussed are home site placement (directional positioning); materiel acquisition (transportation); wood product minimization; rainwater harvesting; wastewater management; grid-tied solar array power; electric car charging via a solar array; geothermal heating and cooling; insulation selection; windows, fixtures, and appliance selection; and on-demand electric water heaters for guest areas. This study seeks to identify the impact of proper land use and sustainable techniques on the environment and return-on-investment in rural areas. Break-even and 15-year Net Present Value (NPV) analysis at 3% and 5% cost of capital were used to evaluate traditional construction, partially sustainable construction, and fully sustainable construction options for the case study house, which was built sustainably. The additional cost of sustainable construction is estimated at $54,329. At 3%, the analysis suggests a 15-year NPV of $334,355 (traditional) versus $250,339 million (sustainable) for a difference of $84K. At 5% cost of capital, that difference falls to $63K. The total estimated annual difference in carbon emissions is 4.326 million g/CO2e for this research residence. The results indicate that good choices for quick return-on-investment in rural construction would be the use of engineered lumber, Icynene foam, and Energy Star windows and doors. Medium-term options include photovoltaic systems (PVS) capable of powering the home and an electric car. Sustainable construction options should positively affect the environment and the pocketbook. Regulations and code should require adoption of short-range, break-even sustainable solutions in residential construction.

scholarly journals Bridge over Troubled Waters

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 50-78
Author(s):  
Thomas Bickl
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Infrastructure Project ◽  
Considerable Controversy ◽  
Chinese Company ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This single-case study seeks, first, to analyse the Pelješac bridge project’s EU dimension, and the impact on the bilateral relations between Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. The bridge is part of the so-called Road Connection to South Dalmatia, an infrastructure project linking the southern exclave of Croatia with the rest of the country. This article is going to reconstruct the considerable controversy between Sarajevo and Zagreb over the project. Second, this piece of research aims at highlighting the context of the bridge being built by a State-owned Chinese company and why the EU has been paralysed over the question of third-country bidders in national EU-wide public tenders. Lastly, this paper presents a recommendation on how the problem of maritime access to and from the territorial waters of Bosnia-Herzegovina through Croatian internal waters can be solved. The article demonstrates that the three issues of controversy related to the Pelješac bridge project can and must be unbundled to arrive at sustainable solutions for the region as a whole. The method employed in this article is process-tracing covering the period between 1999 and today based on interviews, documents, and secondary literature.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AMONGST RESIDENTS OF CALABAR METROPOLIS IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA. WEST AFRICA; A CASE STUDY OF CALABAR GARMENT FACTORY

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Bright Ewona ◽  
Asuquo Bassey ◽  
Andy Ugumanim ◽  
Mercy Ukpong ◽  
Dorathy Ikwen
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Cross River ◽  
Cross River State ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Environmental Induction ◽  
The Impact

This research paper was geared toward unraveling the impact of environmental health on sustainable development amongst residents of Calabar metropolis in Cross River State, Nigeria, West Africa. In pursuant of this objective, three research questions were raised to guide the study- To what extent does environmental induction course influence sustainable development among residents of Calabar metropolis? does environmental wastes recycling affect sustainable development among residence of Calabar metropolis? and to what extend does environmental conservation influence sustainable development among residents of Calabar metropolis. A sample size of 200 respondents was considered for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a 20 - items questionnaire which was validated by research experts on health discipline. Split half reliability estimate was implored to ascertain the reliability of the instrument while simple percentage was used to analyze the data collected. From the results of our findings, possible recommendations were made to ensure sustainability of our environmental resources to enhance sustainable development.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Drought and Driving Factors Based on the GRACE-Derived Total Storage Deficit Index: A Case Study in Southwest China

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Tingtao Wu ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Wenjie Yin ◽  
Hanwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Drought Event ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
The Impact

Drought monitoring is useful to minimize the impact of drought on human production and the natural environment. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites can directly capture terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSA) in the large basin, which represents a new source of hydrological information. In this study, the GRACE-based total storage deficit index (TSDI) is employed to investigate the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of drought in Southwest China from 2003 to 2016. The comparison results of TSDI with the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and the self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (SC-PDSI) show that TSDI has significant consistency with them, which verifies the reliability of TSDI. The spatial distribution of TSDI was more consistent with the governmental drought reports than SC-PDSI in the most severe drought event from September 2009 to April 2010. Finally, the links between drought and climate indicators are investigated using the partial least square regression (PLSR) model. The results show that insufficient precipitation has the most significant impact on drought in Southwest China, followed by excessive evaporation. Although Southwest China is selected as a case study in this paper, the method can be applied in other regions as well.

scholarly journals Integrated RAGA-PP water demand forecast model (case study: Shaanxi Province, China)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Yang ◽  
Yanning Mao ◽  
Yuqi Ma ◽  
Wei Wu ◽  
Yuan Bai
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Demand Forecast ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Demand Fluctuations ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The demand for water resources in Shaanxi Province increases greatly due to the continuous growth of its population and the rapid development of the social economy. Water demand forecasting is a significant issue in the designing, maintaining and operating of a reliable and economical water supply system. An explicit mathematical method was presented in this study, based on the indicators of industrial output value, such as the gross output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The impact of total retail sales and year trends in the domestic or industrial water demands, can accurately forecast the water demand fluctuations for a municipality. Adopt RAGA-PP optimal selection model through a grouping method of data handling for water demand management to test for the case study Shaanxi, China. Results showed that the prediction effect of multivariate logarithmic model accuracy can reach 99.50%, and it is estimated that the demand for water resources in Shaanxi would exceed 10 billion m3 by 2030. The average relative error of the water consumption from 2015 to 2017 is 3.05% for the model of multiple linear and 0.50% for the model of multivariate logarithm model. Our framework can assist in developing sustainable solutions.

Determinants and barriers of PV self-consumption in Spain from the perception of the installers for the promotion of distributed energy systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
José Ángel Gimeno ◽  
Eva Llera Sastresa ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Transition Scenario

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.

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