RESTORATION AND NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 721-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa J. Mazzotta ◽  
James J. Opaluch ◽  
Thomas A. Grigalunas
Keyword(s):  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Methods ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACT To date, the focus of damage assessment has tended to be either on economic valuation of lost services in monetary terms or on scientific studies of resource restoration. This paper suggests an alternative approach that integrates legal concepts based on the public trust doctrine, economic methods of determining compensation, and scientific approaches to restoration. The approach is based on a definition of restoration as a remedy for oil spill damages which identifies alternative restoration actions that provide resource services that are “equally desirable” to society as those lost due to the spill. The least costly of these alternatives is then selected as the cost-effective means of making the public whole.

Ethics of Cyber War Attacks

2011 ◽  
pp. 105-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil C. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Cyber Warfare ◽  
Collateral Damage ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Damage Repair ◽  
Conventional Weapons ◽  
Cyber War

Offensive cyber warfare raises serious ethical problems for societies, problems that need to be addressed by policies. Since cyber weapons are so different from conventional weapons, the public is poorly informed about their capabilities and may endorse extreme ethical positions in either direction on their use. Cyber weapons are difficult to precisely target given the interdependence of most computer systems, so collateral damage to civilian targets is a major danger, as when a virus aimed at military sites spreads to civilian sites. Damage assessment is difficult for cyber war attacks, since most damage is hidden inside data; this encourages massive attacks in the hopes of guaranteeing some damage. Damage repair may be difficult, especially for technologically primitive victim countries. For these reasons, some cyber war attacks may be prosecutable as war crimes. In addition, cyber-war weapons are expensive and tend to lose effectiveness quickly after use as they lose the element of surprise, so the weapons are not cost effective.

scholarly journals Psychosocial intervention for carers of people with dementia: What components are most effective and when? A systematic review of systematic reviews

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Dickinson ◽  
Johanne Dow ◽  
Grant Gibson ◽  
Louise Hayes ◽  
Shannon Robalino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Psychosocial Interventions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Format ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Informal Carers ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACTBackground:Psychosocial interventions for carers of people with dementia are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in dementia care. We aim to systematically review the evidence from existing systematic reviews of psychosocial interventions for informal carers of people with dementia.Methods:Thirty-one systematic reviews were identified; following quality appraisal, data from 13 reviews, rated as high or moderate quality, were extracted.Results:Well-designed, clearly structured multi-component interventions can help maintain the psychological health of carers of people with dementia and delay institutionalization of the latter. To be most effective, such interventions should include both an educational and a therapeutic component; delivery through a support group format may further enhance their effectiveness.Conclusions:Successful translation of evidence into practice in this area remains a challenge. Future research should focus on determining the most cost-effective means of delivering effective multi-component interventions in real-world settings; the cost-effective potential of technology-based interventions is considerable.

The Cost of Certainty in Natural Resource Damage Assessment Under the Oil Pollution Act of 19901

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Robert Greene
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Hedonic Price ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hedonic Price Models ◽  
Habitat Equivalency Analysis ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Scaling Methods ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACT Pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), natural resource trustees are empowered to seek recovery for damages to natural resources caused by discharges of oil and/or certain threats of discharges of oil. To determine the proper amount of damages, trustees undertake the process of “scaling,” which is an attempt to calculate the size of restoration actions that would be required to expedite recovery of injured natural resources to baseline and compensate the public for interim lost resources and services. Trustees utilize various scaling methods, including service-to-service methods, such as habitat equivalency analysis, and value-to-value methods, such as hedonic price models and contingent valuation. Regardless of the method chosen, however, the scaling is directly dependent on the level of injury caused by a spill. Disputes between trustees and those parties designated as responsible for the spill (responsible parties or RPs) often occur in determining the level of injury. In many cases, as a result of either these disputes or the trustees' desire to determine the precise level of injury, trustees undertake costly and time-consuming injury studies. These studies oftentimes are inefficient because the resulting gains in certainty often are achieved through disproportionately expensive studies relative to the resulting gains in restoration. In certain instances, attempts to achieve greater certainty can destroy an otherwise efficient and cooperative restoration effort and run contrary to the OPA 90 regulations. Such attempts also can lead to costly litigation for both the public and the RP involved. Lastly, attempts to achieve greater certainty during injury assessment can unnecessarily increase the scale of compensatory restoration because of delays in implementing restoration actions. Both trustees and RPs must recognize those instances in which achieving greater certainty leads to increased costs to both the public and the RP. In such situations, stipulating to certain injury assumptions can lead to overall net gains for both the public and the RP. These stipulations can be used to induce RPs to increase other aspects of the restoration, thereby increasing overall gains for the public at less cost to the RP.

scholarly journals Investigating the usefulness of machine translation for newcomers at the public library

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Bowker ◽  
Jairo Buitrago Ciro
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Evaluation Survey

This study investigates the potential of machine translation as an efficient and cost-effective means to translate sections of the Ottawa Public Library website into Spanish to better meet the linguistic needs of the Spanish-speaking newcomer community. One-hundred and fourteen community members participated in a recipient evaluation survey, in which they evaluated four different versions of a translated portion of the library’s website — a professional human translation, a maximally post-edited machine translation, a rapidly post-edited machine translation, and a raw machine translation. Participants also considered metadata such as the time and cost required to produce each version. Findings show that while machine translation cannot address every need, there are some instances for which the faster and cheaper post-edited versions are considered useful and acceptable to the community.

scholarly journals A PROPOSED RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY FOR WASHINGTON STATE1

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Geselbracht ◽  
Jonathan Rubin ◽  
Thomas M. Leschine
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Assessment Procedures

ABSTRACT A state legislature sponsored study of Washington's oil spill damage assessment programs has revealed a number of problems. Studies designed to assess damages following major marine oil spills have not always been cost-effective and appropriate, state oil spill response activities have been difficult to fund, agencies have had difficulties spending damage recoveries in accordance with state law, and laws and regulations provide inadequate guidance on how to monetize resource damages identified. In addition, state agencies lack an alternative to field-based studies for compensation recovery in situations where damages are for all intents and purposes unquantifiable. An examination of CERCLA-based natural resource damage assessment procedures, the civil penalties in lieu of damages system employed by the State of Alaska, and other damage assessment practices had led to a recommendation for substantial changes in state marine resource damage assessment procedures. The recommended approach emphasizes the use of CERCLA-like preassessment screening to guide decisions about whether to quantify damages through field studies or to charge civil penalties in lieu of damages, as done in Alaska. In addition, emphasis is placed on direct negotiations with the responsible party to identify restoration/enhancement projects as alternatives to paying damages, and on developing capabilities to manage recovered damages and assessment costs through a new revolving fund.

scholarly journals EVALUATION OF THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICES: VARIABILITY OF THE METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Oksana Yurievna Dyagel
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Compulsory Health Insurance ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Analytical Tools

The purpose of the article was to reveal the analytical tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the allocated financing funds for the provision of the services provided in the public sector of the economy, the application of which does not have a uniform methodology today. The possibility to solve this issue is shown with regard to the compulsory health insurance system. To achieve the goal, the study reveals the definition of such categories as “effect” and “efficiency” of the medical institutions activities, “efficiency of spending” of the Territorial Fund for Compulsory Health Insurance. There is revealed the analytical significance of the existing methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of health care costs; their comparative analysis is carried out. Based on the results, the alternative is proposed, based on the system of the cost-effectiveness indices to achieve the health, social and economic effects of medical institutions; the analytical advantages of the alternative proposed are justified.

scholarly journals A prototype of web-based PPGIS for municipal planning using open source software

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohong (Serena) Ma
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Municipal Planning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Decision Making ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Gis Software ◽  
Common Barriers

Web-based Public Participation Geographic Information System (WebPPGIS) is inherently about empowering GIS and Web technology and enabling the public users to use the technology to capture their local knowledge and immerse them into the spatial decision making process. However, there have [sic] some common barriers to WebPPGIS implementation such as lack of communication mechanism for the public; lack of friendly use interface for the non-expert public users; and the cost of the GIS software packages etc. This thesis presents the results of a research project, aiming at overcoming the above barriers and implementing a practical WebPPGIS. General requirements of WebPPGIS are summarized based on the analysis of current researches and a prototype is implemented to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. Also this thesis illustrates that Open Source Software (OSS) is a competetive solution for developing cost-effective WebPPGIS. Further, the evaluation of the prototype has been performed against the requirements

scholarly journals THE SECOND GENERATION OF NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS: LESSONS LEARNED?1

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 727-731
Author(s):  
Randall B. Luthi ◽  
Linda B. Burlington ◽  
Eli Reinharz ◽  
Sharon K. Shutler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
General Counsel ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment

ABSTRACT The Damage Assessment Regulations Team (DART), under the Office of General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has centered its efforts on developing natural resource damage assessment regulations for oil pollution in navigable waters. These procedures will likely lower the costs associated with damage assessments, encourage joint cooperative assessments and simplify most assessments. The DART team of NOAA is developing new regulations for the assessment of damages due to injuries related to oil spills under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. These regulations will involve coordination, restoration, and economic valuation. Various methods are currently being developed to assess damages for injuries to natural resources. The proposed means include: compensation tables for spills under 50,000 gallons, Type A model, expedited damage assessment (EDA) procedures, and comprehensive procedures. They are being developed to provide trustees with a choice for assessing natural resource damages for each oil spill.

Light Rail Lite or Cost-Effective Improvements to Bus Service?

2005 ◽  
Vol 1927 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Hess ◽  
Brian D. Taylor ◽  
Allison C. Yoh
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Rapid Transit ◽  
Service Characteristics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Bus Service ◽  
The Cost

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing rapidly in popularity because it is viewed widely as an efficient and effective means to improve both transit service and patronage. This paper argues that two distinct views of BRT are emerging: ( a) BRT as a new form of high-speed, rubber-tired, rail-like rapid transit and ( b) BRT as a cost-effective way to upgrade both the quality and image of traditional fixed-route bus service. These two views carry different price tags because the cost of planning, constructing, and operating BRT depends on the complexity of new service features and on rises for BRT that offer service characteristics approaching those of light rail. This study fills a gap in the literature on the costs of BRT by examining in detail component costs–-actual costs for recently implemented services and projected costs for planned new services–-for a sample of BRT systems in North American cities. The study examined BRT costs of 14 planned and recently opened BRT systems to determine how the wide range of BRT service and technology configurations affect costs. The study found that although some of the most successful and popular new BRT systems are high-quality services operating in mixed traffic and implemented at relatively low cost, most BRT projects on the drawing boards are more elaborate, more expensive systems than many currently in service. Most new BRT projects emphasize elaborate LRT-type improvements to lines and stations in one or a few corridors rather than less splashy improvements (such as next-bus monitors, signal preemption, queue-jump lanes, and so forth) affecting more lines and modes in local transit networks. Among the 14 systems examined here, most could be characterized as light rail lite.

San Diego Field Operational Test of Smart Call Boxes: Technical Aspects

1997 ◽  
Vol 1603 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Banks ◽  
Patrick A. Powell
Keyword(s):  
System Integration ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Test System ◽  
Incident Detection ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Operational Test ◽  
Field Operational Test ◽  
The Cost

Smart call boxes are devices similar to those used as emergency call boxes in California. The basic call box consists of a microprocessor, a cellular transceiver, and a solar power source. The smart call box system also includes data-collection devices, call-box maintenance computers, and data recording systems at a central location. The goal of the smart call box field operational test (FOT) was to demonstrate that smart call boxes are feasible and cost-effective means of processing and transmitting data for tasks such as traffic census, incident detection, hazardous weather reporting, changeable message sign control, and video surveillance. The objective of the FOT evaluation was to determine the cost-effectiveness of smart call boxes, but because of schedule slippage the evaluation focused on only functional adequacy and capital costs. The concept for the smart call box system was found to be feasible but not necessarily optimal for the tasks involved. System integration was a major problem. Also, the number of external devices that can be attached to a single call box while maintaining the economic advantages of the system is restricted by wiring costs and limitations of the solar power supply. Test system performance was mixed. One subtest was canceled before the installation of equipment, functional systems were produced for only three of the four remaining subtests, and reliable operation was observed in only one case. In most cases, system costs will be dominated by the expense of installing wiring. Consequently, smart call boxes will be cost-effective compared with hardwire systems at many sites but may not be cost-effective compared with alternative wireless systems.

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