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The Women and LGBT Center offers a variety of educational workshops and/or training for students, faculty, and staff across campus. Workshops and/or training can be adapted to fit your group size and learning objectives. Below you will find a list of the educational programs that we offer. We can also work with you to tailor a workshop/training to the needs of your department or organization.
LGBT Coming Out Panel
The primary goal of the Coming Out panel is for trained LGBTQ speakers to share their personal stories with audiences. The panelists provide information about LGBTQ issues using their own personal stories and narratives. Hearing the personal narratives and stories of LGBT identified people is one of the most powerful tools for educating audiences on identity, oppression, and allyship.
Transgender 101
In this workshop, participants will learn about transgender and non-binary identities and the needs of transgender and non-binary communities. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of gender and leave with steps they can take to help make our campus and larger communities more welcoming and affirming for everyone.
LGBT 101
This interactive training helps participants better understand the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. This training will address information about identities and terminology, specific challenges LGBT students face, and resources available on and off campus.
Ally Training
Ally Training is an interactive workshop that provides a space to gain knowledge and skills about gender and sexuality. Participants learn about LGBT communities; think critically about gender and sexuality; discuss language and privilege; re-frame myths and stereotypes; and explore how we can be allies to each other across identities and experiences. Attendees leave the training with newfound awareness and concrete steps they can take to help make SMU and larger communities more welcoming and affirming for everyone.
LGBT for Educators (K-12/Youth)
This is an LGBT 101 program that is focused on fostering dialogue and developing skills for those SMU students who will be working with youth. This is a perfect program for future K-12 educators or any students who will be working with youth in any capacity (non-profits, social work, youth pastors, etc...)
Supporting LGBT Students (Faculty, Staff, Administration)
This program is designed to help faculty, Staff, and/or Administration identify ways we can make our campus more inclusive for LGBT students. We will explore basic terminology, pronouns, and discuss useful tips for making classrooms and campus spaces more welcoming to LGBT students.
LGBT Identities and Terminology
This is an interactive workshop where participants will learn about the various identities and terms that fall under the larger LGBTQIAAP+ umbrella.
The LGBT Panel & Speaker's Bureau is a group of SMU students, faculty, and staff who are trained to go into classrooms, organizations, and staffs and talk about their experiences with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community. Anyone on campus can request for a panel to come to their group by filling out the panel request form. The person can request any topic about LGBT people. Past panels have included marriage, allies who are people of color, and experiences with mental health in the LGBT community.
Anyone at SMU can apply to be a panelist here. If you are accepted into the program you will be asked to go to a 2 hour training and we ask that you have also gone through our Allies training. After the training you will be invited to different panels and it is at your own schedule how little or many you want to go to. The LGBT Panel program is a great way to be involved in educating the campus community about LGBT issues and identities.
The LGBT Panelist program is considered a University Curriculum Proficiency for Oral Communication and Human Diversity. | https://www.smu.edu/StudentAffairs/WomenandLGBTCenter/Programs/LGBTPanel |
Deciding which curriculum materials to use is one of the most important professional judgments that educators make. Textbook adoption committees make recommendations that influence instruction for years to come, and the daily decisions teachers make about which teaching units or chapters to useand how to use themlargely determine what and how students will be expected to learn.
Such important decisions require a valid and reliable method for evaluating the quality of curriculum materials. Even an in-depth review of the topics covered by a textbook or a teaching unit may not be sufficient to determine whether the material will actually help students learn that content. What is needed is a manageable process for examining curriculum materials that gets below the surface by focusing intensely on the appropriateness of content and the utility of instructional design.
With funding from the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with hundreds of K-12 teachers, curriculum specialists, teacher educators, scientists, and materials developers, Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has been developing a process for analyzing curriculum materials. Field tests suggest that Project 2061's curriculum-analysis procedure will not only serve the materials adoption needs of the schools but also help teachers revise existing materials to increase their effectiveness, guide developers in the creation of new materials, and contribute to the professional development of those who use it.
Specific Learning Goals Are Key
Until recently, there was nothing against which to judge appropriateness of content and utility of instructional design. Now, as a result of the standards-based reform movement in education, these judgments can be made with a high degree of confidence. In science and mathematics, for example, the appearance of Science for All Americans (AAAS, 1989), Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989), Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS, 1993), and National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) has made it possible to make more thoughtful decisions about curriculum materials than ever before.
Although the Project 2061 curriculum-analysis procedure was developed using the learning goals in Benchmarks and the mathematics and science standards, subsequent work has indicated that some state education frameworks also can be used. Indeed, the process would seem to apply to any K-12 school subject for which specific learning goals have been agreed upon. These goals must be explicit statements of what knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, and they must be precise. Vague statements such as "students should understand energy" are not adequate. Instead, consider this benchmark dealing with energy-related concepts that students should know by the end of the eighth grade:
Most of what goes on in the universefrom exploding stars and biological growth to the operation of machines and the motion of peopleinvolves some form of energy being transformed into another. Energy in the form of heat is almost always one of the products of an energy transformation.
Similar explicit statements can be found in the fundamental concepts of the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards (NSES).
At its simplest level, the Project 2061 curriculum-analysis procedure involves the following five steps:
- Identify specific learning goals to serve as the intellectual basis for the analysis. This is done before beginning to examine any curriculum materials. The source for appropriate goals can be national standards or benchmark documents such as those mentioned above, state or local standards and curriculum frameworks, or sources like them. To be useful, the goals must be precise in describing the knowledge or skills they intend students to have. If the set of goals is large, a representative sample of them should be selected for purposes of analysis.
- Make a preliminary inspection of the curriculum materials to see whether they are likely to address the targeted learning goals. If there appears to be little or no correspondence, the materials can be rejected without further analysis. If the outlook is more positive, go on to a content analysis.
- Analyze the curriculum materials for alignment between content and the selected learning goals. The purpose here is to determine, citing evidence from the materials, whether the content in the material matches specific learning goalsnot just whether the topic headings are similar. At the topic level, alignment is never difficult, since most topicsheredity, weather, magnetism, and so forthlack specificity, making them easy to match. If the results of this analysis are positive, then reviewers can take the next step.
- Analyze the curriculum materials for alignment between instruction and the selected learning goals. This involves estimating the degree to which the materials (including their accompanying teacher's guides) reflect what is known generally about student learning and effective teaching and, more important, the degree to which they support student learning of the specific knowledge and skills for which a content match has been found. Again, evidence from the materials must be shown.
- Summarize the relationship between the curriculum materials being evaluated and the selected learning goals. The summary can take the form of a profile of the selected goals in terms of the content and instruction criteria, or a profile of the criteria in terms of the selected goals. In either case, a statement of strengths and weaknesses should be included. With this information in hand, reviewers can make more knowledgeable adoption decisions and suggest ways for improving the examined materials.
In addition to its careful focus on matching content and instruction to very specific learning goals, the Project 2061 procedure has other features that set it apart. For example, its emphasis on collecting explicit evidence (citing page numbers and other references) of a material's alignment with learning goals adds rigor and reliability to decisions about curriculum materials. Similarly, the Project 2061 procedure calls for a team approach to the analytical task, thus providing opportunities for reviewers to defend their own judgments about materials and to question those of other reviewers. These and other characteristics help make participation in the analytical process itself a powerful professional development experience.
The Project 2061 Curriculum-Analysis Procedure in Detail
To provide a better sense of how the procedure works, the following describes in more detail each step in the procedure, using learning goals from Project 2061's Benchmarks for Science Literacy as an illustrative frame of reference. The description pays particular attention to the various criteria used to evaluate the instructional effectiveness of materials.
Identify specific learning goals to serve as the intellectual basis for the analysis.
After reviewers have agreed upon a set of learning goals as a framework for the analysis (in this case, the benchmarks in Benchmarks for Science Literacy), the task is then to choose specific benchmarks that will serve as the focus of further study.
When evaluating standalone curriculum units that cover a relatively short period of time, it might be possible and worthwhile to analyze all of the benchmarks that appear to be targeted by the material. However, in the evaluation of year-long courses or multiyear programs, this becomes impractical. Therefore, a crucial step in the analysis procedure is the sampling of a few benchmarks that will lead to valid and reliable generalizations about the material.
Sampling of benchmarks should be representative of the whole set of goals specified in Benchmarks for Science Literacy and should reflect the reviewers' needs. For example, if the review committee's task is to select a course in high school Biology that is aligned with Benchmarks, it might identify a sample of benchmarks from life science sections in Benchmarks (e.g., cells, heredity, and evolution) and from other sections (e.g., nature of scientific inquiry, models, and communication skills). When examining middle-school science materials, one would probably want to broaden the range of benchmarks examined to include some from physical and earth science topics (e.g., energy, forces, and processes that shape the earth).
Make a preliminary inspection of the curriculum materials to see whether they are likely to address the targeted learning goals.
Once benchmarks have been selected, the next step is to make a first pass at the materials to identify those whose content appears to correspond reasonably well to Benchmarks. Materials that do not meet these initial criteria are not analyzed further.
Reviewers then examine materials on the shortened list more carefully to locate and record places where each selected benchmark seems to be targeted (e.g., particular readings, experiments, discussion questions). If several sightings are found for some or all of the sample benchmarks in the material, then these sightings will be looked at more carefully in subsequent steps of the analysis. If, on the other hand, sightings cannot be found for a significant number of the sample benchmarks, then the material is dropped from the list.
Analyze the curriculum materials for alignment between content and the selected learning goals.
This analysis is a more rigorous examination of the link between the subject material and the selected learning goals and involves giving precise attention to both ends of the matchthe precise meaning of the benchmark on one end and the precise intention of the material on the other.
With respect to each of the sampled benchmarks, the material is examined using such questions as:
- Does the content called for in the material address the substance of a specific benchmark or only the benchmark's general "topic"?
- Does the content reflect the level of sophistication of the specific benchmark, or are the activities more appropriate for targeting benchmarks at an earlier or later grade level?
- Does the content address all parts of a specific benchmark or only some? (While it is not necessary that any particular unit would address all of the ideas in a benchmark or standard, the K-12 curriculum as a whole should do so. The purpose of this question is to provide an account of precisely what ideas are treated.)
In addition, an attempt is made to estimate the degree of overlap between the material's content and the set of benchmarks of interest. Thus, this step in the analysis is designed to answer questions regarding the material's inclusion of content that is not required for reaching science literacy and the extent to which the material distinguishes between essential and non-essential content. (While distinguishing content essential for literacy from non-essential content in material might seem to be a luxury, it assists teachers in determining the range of students for which the material can be used. Identifying the non-essential material makes it easier for the teacher to direct better students to enrichment activities and allows students themselves to avoid overload from ideas that go beyond what is vital.)
Analyze the curriculum materials for alignment between instruction and the selected learning goals.
The purpose here is to estimate how well material addresses targeted benchmarks from the perspective of what is known about student learning and effective teaching. The criteria for making the judgments in the instructional analysis are derived from research on learning and teaching and on the craft knowledge of experienced educators. In the context of science literacy, these are summarized in Chapter 13, "Effective Learning and Teaching," of Science for All Americans; in Chapter 15, "The Research Base," of Benchmarks for Science Literacy; and in Chapter 3, "Science Teaching Standards," of National Science Education Standards.
From these sources, seven criteria clusters (shown below) have been identified to serve as a basis for the instructional analysis (for the specific questions within each cluster, see Appendix on page 137). The proposition here is that (1) the analysis would tie the instruction to each one of the sample benchmarks rather than look at instructional strategies globally and (2) in the ideal, all questions within each cluster would be well-addressed in any materialthey are not alternatives.
- Cluster I. Providing a Sense of Purpose: Part of planning a coherent curriculum involves deciding on its purposes and on which learning experiences will likely contribute to those purposes. But while coherence from the curriculum designers' point of view is important, it may not give students an adequate sense of what they are doing and why. This cluster includes criteria to determine whether the material attempts to make its purposes explicit and meaningful to students, either by itself or by instructions to the teacher.
- Cluster II. Taking Account of Student Ideas: Fostering better understanding in students requires taking time to attend to the ideas they already have, both ideas that are incorrect and ideas that can serve as a foundation for subsequent learning. Such attention requires that teachers be informed about prerequisite ideas/skills needed for understanding a benchmark and what their students' initial ideas arein particular, the ideas that may interfere with learning the scientific information. Moreover, teachers can help address students' ideas if they know what is likely to work. This cluster examines whether the material contains specific suggestions for identifying and relating to student ideas.
- Cluster III. Engaging Students with Phenomena: Much of the point of science is explaining phenomena in terms of a small number of principles or ideas. For students to appreciate this explanatory power, they need to have a sense of the range of phenomena that science can explain. "Students need to get acquainted with the things around themincluding devices, organisms, materials, shapes, and numbersand to observe them, collect them, handle them, describe them, become puzzled by them, ask questions about them, argue about them, and then try to find answers to their questions." (Science for All Americans, p. 201) Furthermore, students should see that the need to explain comes up in a variety of contexts.
- Cluster IV. Developing and Using Scientific Ideas: Science for All Americans includes in its definition of science literacy a number of important yet quite abstract ideas (e.g., atomic structure, natural selection, modifiability of science, interacting systems, common laws of motion for earth and heavens). Such ideas cannot be inferred directly from phenomena, and the ideas themselves were developed over many hundreds of years as a result of considerable discussion and debate about the cogency of theory and its relationship to collected evidence. Science literacy requires that students see the link between phenomena and ideas and see the ideas themselves as useful. This cluster includes criteria to determine whether the material attempts to provide links between phenomena and ideas and to demonstrate the usefulness of the ideas in varied contexts.
- Cluster V. Promoting Student Reflection: No matter how clearly materials may present ideas, students (like all people) will assign their own meanings to them. Constructing meaning well is aided by having students (1) make their ideas and reasoning explicit, (2) hold them up to scrutiny, and (3) recast them as needed. This cluster includes criteria for determining whether the material suggests how to help students express, think about, and reshape their ideas to make better sense of the world.
- Cluster VI. Assessing Progress: There are several important reasons for monitoring student progress toward specific learning goals. Having a collection of alternatives can ease the creative burden on teachers and increase the time available to analyze student responses and make adjustments in instruction based on those responses. This cluster includes criteria for evaluating whether the material includes a variety of goal-relevant assessments.
- Cluster VII. Enhancing the Learning Environment: Many other important considerations are involved in the selection of curriculum materialsfor example, the help they provide to teachers in encouraging student curiosity and creating a classroom community where all can succeed, or the material's scientific accuracy or attractiveness. The criteria listed in this cluster provide reviewers with the opportunity to comment on these and other important features.
Summarize the relationship between the curriculum materials being evaluated and the selected learning goals.
In the preliminary inspection, a few benchmarks were selected as representative of the set of goals that the material appears to target. Having analyzed whether the content in the material matches these specific benchmarks and how well the instructional strategies in the material support students learning these benchmarks, the final step in the process is to provide a profile of the material based on this analysis.
The analysis makes it possible to produce two sets of profiles. The first illustrates how well the material treats each benchmark (for which a content match was found) across all criteria examined in the instructional analysis. Based on these profiles, conclusions can be made about what the material under consideration can be expected to accomplish in terms of benchmarks. For example, the profiles may indicate that the material treats one of the examined benchmarks well and the rest only moderately or poorly.
The second set of profiles illustrates how well the material meets each criterion in the instructional analysis tool across all benchmarks examined. These profiles point to major strengths and weaknesses in the instructional design of the material. For example, the profiles may indicate that the material consistently includes appropriate experiences with phenomena relevant to the benchmarks but only occasionally provides students with opportunities to reflect on these experiences. Depending on the time available and their interests, a review committee could decide to produce either one or both sets of profiles. Profiles of different materials provide the basis for selection decisions.
Support for Users
Project 2061 is in the process of developing "Resources for Science Literacy: Curriculum Evaluation," a CD-ROM that will offer full instruction in using the procedure. The CD-ROM and its print companion volume will contain (1) detailed instructions for evaluating curriculum materials in light of Benchmarks, national standards, or other learning goals of comparable specificity; (2) case-study reports illustrating the application of the analysis procedure to a variety of curriculum materials; (3) a utility for relating findings in the case-study reports to state and district learning goals; and (4) a discussion of issues and implications of using the procedure.
Project 2061 also offers introductory workshops and longer training institutes to groups of educators. Typically three to six days long, the training institutes can be adapted to suit a variety of needs and time constraints. The project has offered customized workshops for K-12 science and mathematics teachers, teacher educators, school and university administrators, developers of curriculum materials, and policy makers. Depending on the interests of participants, the workshops can focus on understanding learning goals, selecting materials, revising existing materials, or evaluating curriculum frameworks, among other possibilities.
For information on Project 2061's workshops and institutes (or any aspects of Project 2061's work) contact Mary Koppal, Project 2061, American Association for the Advancement of Science (see the Guide to Using the Methods of Analysis section of this Guidebook for contact information).
Putting the Project 2061 Curriculum-Analysis Procedure to Work
Many of the educators involved in developing and field testing the Project 2061 procedure have begun to use it to decide on materials for their classrooms, school districts, or states; to identify shortcomings in materials they are using; and to suggest ways to improve them. Here are a few examples of how educators have adapted the procedure to their local needs and time constraints:
San Antonio.
Faced with the task of selecting a new high-school physical science textbook from five possible choices, a San Antonio school district committee requested training in the Project 2061 curriculum-analysis procedure. Already familiar with Benchmarks for Science Literacy and Science for All Americans, these 12 educators spent two days studying Project 2061's analytical criteria, as well as some additional criteria decided locally. Committee members then evaluated one material apiece, with at least two committee members independently evaluating each material. When finished with their independent evaluations, those educators reviewing the same material met to compare their results and to come to an agreement about the value of the material. Then, about three weeks after the initial training, the whole group reconvened to share their results and settle on the material. Because the evaluation procedure requires reviewers to cite evidence for judgments made, the reviewers were prepared to justify their recommendations, pointing to specific instructional strategies for particular learning goals in physical science.
After much discussion, the reviewers reached agreement on one material for the district. Throughout the process, the reviewers were very reflective and motivated by the work at hand. In fact, because the evaluation procedure had revealed some weaknesses even in the material they agreed to select, they decided to write a supplemental unit on one topic.
Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia school district was already committed to teaching toward specific learning goals derived from Benchmarks and National Science Education Standards when it set out to identify materials that are aligned with those goals. Their list of possibilities included some materials developed through National Science Foundation funding and some materials that had been favorably evaluated by the Project 2061 pilot and field test participants. The district held training institutes to introduce teachers to the evaluation procedure and to develop evaluation skills that they would use to select materials from the list of possibilities. More than 200 teachers participated in the institutes, giving the district a cadre of leaders who could assist in the school-based selection of curriculum materials.
After employing the procedure to select materials for use in their classrooms, teachers planned to make a more thorough evaluation of the materials when they eventually put them to use. Findings from the procedure also will be used to improve materials currently being implemented in district classrooms. Such remedies might include developing questions to focus students' reflection on benchmark ideas, adding activities to address student learning difficulties, or demonstrating how benchmark ideas are useful for making sense of the students' world outside the classroom.
Through its work with the Project 2061 procedure, Philadelphia has developed a group of educators who are becoming more knowledgeable about specific learning goals in Benchmarks and the National Science Education Standards and about the analysis criteria used to judge materials in light of these goals. As new, better aligned materials become available, the district will have a cadre of informed consumers who can recognize them and put them to work. Most important, district classrooms will reflect teaching and learning that engage all students in achieving science literacy goals essential for the 21st century.
Kentucky.
In the fall of 1996, Project 2061 began to work with the director of the Kentucky Middle Grades Mathematics Teacher Network to adapt the project's curriculum analysis procedure to mathematics. The Kentucky Network, which already reaches some 2,000 teachers, aims to align the state's mathematics content and teaching practices in fifth through eighth grades with the recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. In particular, the network helps to train teachers in reviewing and analyzing curriculum materials so that they can (1) discriminate between materials that only claim to align with the mathematics standards and those that actually do and (2) recognize standards in the newer, integrated mathematics curricula.
As the criterion for alignment, Project 2061 has used Kentucky's Mathematics Core Content for Assessment (which elaborates the national mathematics standards into more specific goal statements) to analyze five middle-school curriculum projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). While developing the analysis procedure and applying it to the materials, Project 2061 received continual feedback from Kentucky teachers and from a national advisory committee that included the developers of the NSF-funded curricula.
During a 1997 two-week summer workshop, 32 Kentucky teachers used the analysis procedure and case-study reports to examine middle-grade mathematics materials and develop workshops for teachers throughout the state. In doing so they (1) gained a better understanding of integrated, problem-based mathematics curricula; (2) developed the skills necessary to evaluate mathematics curricula in light of specific learning goals; and (3) developed skills necessary to effectively share what they have learned throughout their regions. The workshop participants worked during the 1997-1998 school year with teachers, schools, and districts in their regions to assist in analyzing and evaluating mathematics curriculum materials. | http://www.project2061.org/publications/articles/enc/enctims.htm |
The West Australian Kindergarten Guidelines have recently been published. The guidelines support teachers to plan lessons that are relevant to their students in the Kindy Years. The purpose of these guidelines is to help educator’s develop programs that provide the optimum level of development for the Kindergarten students. These guidelines use the EYLF as their base and provide more direction for teachers.
Th WA Kindergarten guidelines aim to ensure quality teaching and learning is at the heart of the Kindergarten years as teachers focus on their curriculum development for their early learning setting.
As teachers design curriculum we acknowledge the diverse contexts and backgrounds of the families we are serving. Children draw on their experiences when participating in Kindergarten programs. These factors all influence the way children learn. Educators will also need to account for school policies, priorities and interagency collaboration that will influence curriculum development.
With this in mind there are seven components that will need to be considered when looking at the WA Kindergarten Guidelines.
1. Differentiation & Inclusion
Differentiated curriculum ensures curriculum is based on sound knowledge of each individual child, and that experiences and interactions are engaging, relevant and respectful of each child’s background, current interests and abilities. When working with children with additional needs, educators target capabilities and work closely with families and support personnel to differentiate learning opportunities that foster equity and fairness for all children and their families.
2. Early Learning Environments
Educators plan and establish positive, vibrant and challenging intellectual, social and emotional and physical environments that promote a sense of wonder, curiosity and imagination and support risk-taking within a safe and inclusive context. The environment supports multi-modal learning with concrete materials. The temporal environment has a sense of predictability and allows for flexibility to cater for children’s different learning requirements.
3. Relationships & Partnerships
Relationships are key to all educational endeavours. Partnerships involve children, families, communities, educators and other professionals working collaboratively to provide optimal learning opportunities for active engagement and participation. Educators purposefully engage partners in children’s learning, by providing a variety of opportunities for others to contribute to children’s learning.
4. Balanced Content
The quality of interactions, and the thoughtful implementation of balanced content in experiences, assists children in attaining knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions that are a base for future learning. Children’s knowledge is constructed by the integration of concepts that are obtained from a variety of related and repeated experiences. Skills are developed and refined through frequent opportunities to use them in different contexts. Attitudes and dispositions are developed through thoughtful and responsive curriculum where children are encouraged to discuss ideas and reflect on experiences and situations.
5. Context & Strategies for Learning
Educators plan a variety of contexts, strategies and multi-modal experiences to engage children and to foster their participation and learning. These include, but are not limited to, play, small group and some whole group interactions, intentional teaching, inquiry, real life experiences, transitions and routines. As play is a primary medium for children’s learning, educators plan how they will structure, use and support play experiences. Educators use transitions and routines as learning opportunities and to support children’s increasing independence.
6. Child Participation
An effective early childhood curriculum supports active participation of children, and views children as decision-makers who promote their sense of agency. Experiences are presented in ways that children can make choices and use different processes to complete where more than one solution is possible. The environment is constructed to encourage and allow children to be as independent as possible.
7. Extension, engagement and enjoyment in learning
Early childhood educators maximise children’s learning by making knowledgeable decisions about teaching and learning in five learning and development areas related to the outcomes identified in the EYLF. While children’s interests are a focus of curriculum planning, it is the role of the educator to expand these interests with rich ideas and new opportunities. Actively engaging learners, arousing their curiosity and responding to capabilities will make children more likely to be motivated, curious and feel supported in the learning process. Educators are active participants in children’s learning and play, and encourage children to explore, support shared sustained thinking and assist children to achieve outcomes. The curriculum extends children’s knowledge, understanding and enjoyment.
Kindergarten Guidelines Learning Development Areas are based on the 5 EYLF Outcomes
The five areas of learning and development in the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines are based on the five outcomes of the EYLF (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). These areas are designed specifically for Kindergarten aged students in WA. The use the EYLF as the primary basis for learning. The guidelines acknowledge that all children are different and may not achieve all the standards outlined but this direction considers the high expectations and equity as outlined in the EYLF.
The Kindergarten guidelines offer indicators as examples and not as prescriptive standards. This is important as each group of children and context are different. Educators can use the indicators as a guide but know that there is freedom to build upon the guidelines while considering all development areas.
- IDENTITY – Children have a strong sense of identity.
- CONNECTING and CONTRIBUTING – Children are connected with and contribute to their world.
- WELLBEING – Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
- LEARNING and THINKING – Children are confident and involved learners.
- COMMUNICATING – Children are effective communicators. | https://starskills.com.au/kindergarten-guidelines/ |
The National Louis Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) is a three-year, advanced practitioner-oriented professional preparation program serving educators seeking to lead school districts and supervise instructional and support personnel at the organizational, facility or staff level. Student can choose from three major options within this degree: District-Level Educational Leadership, Leadership for Learning and Organizational Development or Leadership for Learning and Change (now available as Postsecondary Teaching and Leadership). NLU's Educational Leadership program prepares leaders for a variety of roles in schools, districts, charter organizations, universities, colleges, technical assistance organizations, policy and political organizations, and government agencies.
Aspire to advance your career with a doctoral credential related to educational leadership curriculum development, instructional leadership and faculty development.
Seek a blended-delivery program where you can work and complete your degree via face-to-face meetings (typically scheduled monthly on weekends) and continuous online communications with faculty and peers within a learning management system.
Possess the desire, determination, and available time to complete your degree in three years.
Curriculum leadership, instructional supervision, and faculty development.
Engaging educational communities to address student achievement and accountability.
Employment of education administrators is expected to grow by about eight percent through the remainder of the decade. The expected growth is primarily the result of increased enrollments of school-aged children. The number of administrative positions will continue to increase as more administrative responsibilities are placed on individual schools, particularly with regard to monitoring student achievement. Student enrollment in post-secondary schools is projected to grow more rapidly than in elementary and middle schools.
Why Earn Your Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership at NLU?
NLU has a long-standing reputation for its education and teacher training programs, and is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Since 1886, NLU has professionally developed thousands of school leaders, principals, and superintendents. Our alumni serve as an excellent career development resource for candidates and provide support related to school-based professional challenges.
With majors focusing on District-Level Educational Leadership and Leadership for Learning and Organizational Development, this Ed.D. meets the needs of professionals seeking to develop a deep understanding of leadership, curriculum development, the principles of staffing and organizational development, the supervision of learning activities, personnel relations, administrative duties related to departmental or unit management, and specific applications to various educational settings and curricula. The coursework and internship components draw on the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders to prepare graduates for success in District Level Educational Leadership positions across the country.
This option is for students interested in earning the doctoral degree and leading and managing multi-school educational systems and school districts, and prepares individuals to serve as systems administrators and district superintendents. Instruction includes educational administration; education of students at various levels; system planning and budgeting; educational policy; educational law and regulations; public relations; professional standards and ethics; and applications to specific issues, cultural context, and geographic locales. Students choosing this option must hold an Illinois general administrative or principal endorsement upon admission. Students admitted to this option must complete all 60 SH of the program, including EDL690 Educational Leadership Internship, and are then eligible to apply for the Illinois Superintendent endorsement.
Designed for individuals looking to supervise instructional and support personnel at the organizational, facility or staff level, but are not seeking state credentials, either principal or superintendent, upon completion of the doctoral program. Includes instruction in the principles of staffing and organization, the supervision of learning activities, personnel relations, administrative duties related to departmental or unit management, and specific applications to various educational settings and curricula. Students admitted to this option must complete all 60 SH of the program, including EDL690 Educational Leadership Internship, but are not eligible to apply for principal endorsement or the Superintendent endorsement.
The Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a major in Leadership for Learning and Change option is a three-year, advanced practitioner-oriented professional preparation program for a college and university faculty audience. This program serves postsecondary educators who seek to deepen their professional teaching practice, expand knowledge of instructional approaches that help college students learn, adopt a critically reflective approach to teaching, and strengthen capacities to approach college students as adult learners. With emphasis on teaching and learning processes, this Educational Leadership program prepares educators for a variety of academic roles in universities, colleges and postsecondary technical institutions.
The three-year doctoral program is offered in a cohort format. To meet the needs of working adults, students have the option to meet one weekend per month in a weekend residency with classes held on Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon. Those seeking more regular contact can elect to enroll in the more traditional model of meeting twice monthly on a specified weeknight.
All cohorts have a strong online presence using our Learning Management System for discussions, retrieval of materials, and submission of assignments. The dissertation is on-going throughout the program and is scheduled to be completed at the end of the third year. In addition, the internship component is completed during the three years with students working closely with an NLU faculty internship advisor and a cooperating professional practitioner in the doctoral candidate’s work environment. | https://www.nl.edu/academics/educationdoctoral/eddeducationalleadership/ |
Compass Charter School is a safe and nurturing educational environment that honors the individuality of each learner. By engaging in a process of inquiry, our graduates will be equipped with the necessary skills to lead fulfilling personal and professional lives, including a developed sense of self, the ability to think in innovative and flexible ways, and the inspiration to make a positive impact on their community.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHOOL
Compass Charter School is an intentionally diverse, inquiry-based, and progressive elementary school that opened in the fall of 2014 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. We serve children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Compass Charter School is seeking committed educators to join our team. Classroom Co-teachers will work in collaboration with a Special Education Co-teacher in each of our Integrated Co-Teaching classrooms. Co-teachers use a looping model and work with the same group of students for two consecutive school years.
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree preferred
3 or more years of relevant teaching experience preferred
New York State Teacher Certification (Early Childhood, Childhood, and/or Special Education)
Educational philosophy aligns with the mission and vision of Compass
Previous success in raising academic achievement of students within an urban community
Reflective practitioner in a state of constant professional growth and a willingness to share their craft with others
Has own passions and interests
Commitment to integrating sustainability and the arts into core curricular subjects
Knowledge of the school neighborhood preferred
Experience with co-teaching preferred
Experience working with children with special needs in an Integrated Co-teaching classroom preferred
Experience planning and teaching interdisciplinary units of study preferred.
Commitment to and/or knowledge of experiential and inquiry-based teaching and learning
Commitment to diverse learning environments
Strong interpersonal skills
Strong written and oral communication skills
Experience collaborating with children, families, colleagues, and administrators
Responsibilities:
Collaborate with co-teacher, coordinators, and Directors of Curriculum and Instruction to provide high-quality, relevant instruction to all children
Actively participate in a professional learning community, including professional literature circles, peer coaching, reflection meetings, planning meetings, data meetings, and staff meetings
Use a variety of assessments to measure student learning and drive instruction
Use student performance data to tailor and differentiate curriculum to individual students and to determine small groupings and modifications
Collaboratively plan interdisciplinary units of study with grade level teams, specialists, coordinators, and Directors of Curriculum and Instruction
Commit to working with one class of students for two consecutive years and with one co-teacher for two consecutive years (looping)
Actively participate in the school’s decision-making process
Regularly communicate with families, students, and community partners through phone, face-to-face conversation, or email
Integrate the real world and surrounding community into units of study, lessons, and classroom culture
Maintain positive relationships with students, families, and colleagues
Maintain confidentiality with student information and records
Create a positive and safe classroom culture and community
Teach intervention groups as needed for Response to Intervention program
To apply for this job please visit www.brooklyncompass.org. | https://diversecharters.org/job/compass-charter-school-brooklyn-ny-6-4th-grade-classroom-co-teacher-parental-leave-replacement-jan-feb-and-may-june-2020/ |
Making Adjustments During Remote Learning
This is the first article in our series of educator insights. In this first article, Leader of Learning Support, Kate Macpherson talks about how she’s making adjustments to support learners with language and learning disabilities.
I have taught remotely for just over four weeks now and it has been a steep learning curve! At Emmanuel College, we have had to shift our curriculum to the online and remote format with very little time to prepare. We teachers have worked harder than we ever have – and I didn’t think I could work harder than I was!
Teachers are doing their best to teach their curriculum in a remote learning environment, whilst also ensuring we continue to meet our assessment deadlines. At the same time, we need to remember that there is a human that is behind the curriculum and the computer screen. Especially those who have learning challenges and additional learning needs.
The World Has Changed A Lot
In pre-pandemic teaching, students with learning challenges and additional learning needs relied on their peers, as well as the physical classroom, to help them through their lessons. They were able to watch and observe what others were doing, to know they are on the right track, and they had the ability to seek advice from peers. They were used to looking at their teachers non-verbal cues for guidance and reassurance. Teachers could do the same. In the remote learning sphere, all these support networks are no longer possible. Our students are now sitting behind a computer screen, possibly without an adult to support them. They are largely left to complete their assigned learning alone; it’s hard for them to see what their peers are doing, they can’t easily ask their friend what the instruction was, and no longer have teacher notes on a whiteboard to remember how to do a task. They are now largely relying on what the computer screen is telling them to do. And they are struggling with this.
Teachers do not always know what is happening in the homes of their students and cannot understand fully everything that impacts their learning. We can’t see if there is an emotional toll on the student as a result of fear and anxiety related to family stressors caused by this world in which we now find ourselves. We always need to remember that behind our curriculum and computer, a human being sits there needing us to remember that they are there and, if need be, to help them.
Teachers Are Key
This is where the role of us teachers is even more paramount. We need to remember that this new learning environment is more likely harder than the one at school, and that the usual school supports are no longer in the form they once were. That’s why as teachers we need to be making adjustments for our students with disabilities more than ever before. We need to do this with greater emphasis, so that they are able to engage with learning and that they are not disadvantaged as a result of their disability.
Below I’ve created three lists to help you make adjustments to your classes and help your students with disabilities.
10 Adjustments to make to help Students with Disabilities
- Reduce workload expectations. Learning is hard at the best of times, but learning is even harder now. Give these humans half of what you would expect the rest of the class to do. In acknowledgement that work takes longer for them. To avoid unnecessary overload. In a deliberate effort to keep them engaged in the class and their learning. In acknowledgement that work is harder for them now.
- Break work down into smaller, manageable chunks.
- When asking the class to watch and respond to a video – set target watching times on the video with questions directly related to that section of viewing.
- Make sure communication to your students is deliberate and considered.
- Only send emails that are in bullet point format. Use numbers to provide sequence to your instructions
- Be very direct, explicit and succinct in your emails – too many words become overwhelming and are unnecessary.
- Limit the number of platforms you are asking your students to access that lesson. The fewer platforms the better.
- Provide links, where possible, in your written instructions for ease of access
- Try to establish patterns and routines – don’t make every lesson different. These students need familiarity and consistency.
- PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE – give them as much positive feedback as you can. Most importantly, praise them for their efforts and for their attendance. They need your reassurance and support now more than ever. They can’t see your smile in class but they can still receive your praise in the online world. Emoji’s make this fun ?
7 Adjustments to make when holding ‘Live Sessions’
I have become a big fan of Zoom and use this each time I have my class. However, I know there are other video meeting platforms that teachers are using, so please adapt my references to Zoom to your platform.
- Record the live sessions with students so that students can watch it at a later time and at their own pace. This supports a range of students from those who have hearing impairments, to those who process slowly and need learning repeated.
- Hold personalised tutorial sessions in the breakout rooms in Zoom, or have deliberate Zoom workshops with specific students: To further explain a concept, to demonstrate how to do something, to provide small group or 1:1 support and guidance, to encourage workshop participation.
- Ensure a Learning Support Officer, when in your lesson, is placed in a breakout room to provide targeted support
- Have students share their screen with you to show you how they are progressing with their work. I have found this so helpful. Being able to see what the student is trying to do on their computer helps me better respond to their needs.
- Deliberately group students in break out rooms for collaborative tasks. Make sure you are very deliberate and considered in who you are asking these students to work with.
- Avoid asking students to take notes in these sessions. Instead, provide them with a summary or a copy of the presentation – preferably before the session. In acknowledgement of their reading or writing disability. In acknowledgement that copying takes longer and is harder and the mental effort is better used with the actual class activity. In acknowledgement that note-taking is a skill that may be challenging
- Ask your students which form of communication they are most comfortable with so you can communicate with them in that way.
6 Adjustments that support Cognitive Deficits
- Design activities that make specific use of the accessibility tools in the Microsoft suite such as Immersive Reader. The ‘read aloud’ function and the ‘dictate’ function are particularly useful, as is the line focus. Other platforms have similar accessibility functions.
- Give the student an alternative activity to the rest of the class.
- Modify the class activity
- Ask your student to complete only specific sections of work – better yet, give them exactly what you want them to complete so they don’t know they are only doing a certain section.
- When you have a Learning Support Officer (LSO) in your class, design and plan your lesson with them in mind. Be targeted and specific with your use of the LSO.
- SLOW DOWN everything for these students – including your expectations of them.
Most of all, be kind to yourself. As a teacher, you are doing an amazing job at teaching remotely and you can’t be expected to replicate what you do in the classroom in the online world. But you can still remember the human behind your computer screen.
STEM Resources For Parents And Teachers
According to PEW research, employment in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) occupations has grown 79% since 1990, from 9.7 million to 17.3 million, outpacing overall U.S. job growth. Despite this, there is a serious skills gap which is costing economies, like the UK, £1.5 billion a year.
Research has shown that children from an early age often gender stereotype and make negative assumptions about jobs, especially those relating to STEM careers. It has also found that they make future career choices based on the influence of parents, friends of parents, teachers, the TV, and the media.
Getting children talking about STEM and STEM careers from a young age is a place to start. So too is providing children opportunities to do engaging and dynamic STEM activities, at home and in the classroom.
Here are three resources that you can use inside and outside the classroom to engage young people in STEM.
Crayola Create To Learn Family Projects and CreatED
38 fun and creative ‘at home’ activities to enhance key literacy, numeracy and STEM skills aimed at ages 3 – 12.
20 project starters and explainer videos for educators to help them bring creativity into every classroom.
Kano Creative Coding In Every Classroom
34 live-action videos to help teachers and young people crack the art of creative coding.
Makerversity
13 presenter-led videos for educators that demystify the process of 3D printing in the classroom and some hands-on activities to try out in class.
How Online Video Can Revitalise Your Classroom
Online video is needed more than ever within the classroom. By educating students through innovative methods, educators can continue to inspire.
The UK has an average world rank of 15 ⅓ across reading, mathematics and science according to the PISA 2018 summary, however, the USA is 29 ⅔! Some may regard these as respectable scores but surely, we can do better?
Educators are struggling to connect to this new ‘generation z’ of students. The curriculum needs a shake-up and I’ll hopefully explain some, potential ideas to help re-engage the modern-day student while having a look at what new tools we can utilise.
Learning styles have vastly changed
McCrindle Research summarises Generation Z’s disconnect with traditional classroom settings best stating “traditional classrooms were constructed to keep distractions out, keep the students in and keep them facing the teacher.” However, modern-day classrooms should be reconfigured and rewired to accommodate new students, new technologies and new learning styles.
“It is easy to be critical of a generation that focuses on screen time more than conversations; virtual social circles rather than real social circles. These individuals and many others are experiencing depression at ever-increasing rates and are as comfortable in the digital world as they are in the virtual world. However, to paint these students in a negative light would be greatly reducing the impact of their value, creativity, and ability to be thoughtfully-minded young scholars” elaborates WCET Frontiers.
According to UpFront Analytics, Gen Z shuns conformity and traditional however relate to storytelling and visual displays. Video is the perfect platform for delivering such content and most likely, the major influence for Gen Z to state this preference. This use of an iPad or Smartphone can aid all three of the VAK learning types for students:
- Visuals
- Linguistical = Kindle, Blog sites, Twitter
- Spatial = Video-streaming sites (e.g. Makematic, YouTube, TikTok), Instagram and Pinterest
- Auditory
- Music/Audio = Audible, Voice recordings/note-taking, Podcasts
- Kinesthetic
- Movement – Adobe Sketch, Use of keyboard or tablet to transfer V/A information.
- Tactile – Interactive quizzes and engaging, educational games.
Rise in ADHD culture?
Gen Z picks up information far-faster than any generation prior, they are natural multi-taskers after all. They strive to work in tech and influencers are their role models. According to SXSW, Gen Z’s attention span is roughly eight seconds compared to the 12-second span for millennials. Some may regard this as ADHD culture however such toxic categorising only continues to isolate the future generation away from educators and further into influencers – mutual trust needs to be re-established.
Shortform video and online sites are powerful tools that these internet-natives are drawn to. Combining them with education may seem like an arduous task that could disconnect them due to ‘pandering’. However, it can work as I will showcase below.
Bill Wurtz is an American singer-songwriter and online video creator who went viral back in 2016 for his interesting take on the ‘History of Japan‘. The video provides a highly-saturated, bursts of infographic-based information with auditory, music tracks.
The comments alone prove this video is working – it’s engaging and revolutionary educational content can learn from such methods of engagement.
Procrastination is the major stumbling block when incorporating these elements. Firstly, it needs to be redefined. I know from first-hand experience listening to music while working on a project doesn’t detract from the work produced, it can help focus the brain and quiet the dopamine-craving release from completing an online video.
Educators must open-mindedly allow input from this generation about content that works for them. I understand it will take a compromise from both sides to work practically in any nationwide curriculum but the standard exam-system just doesn’t work any longer.
Video can be engaging, educational and no longer should be seen as a ‘relief tool’ for educators to take a break from mundane learning. Incorporating them into a hybrid alongside student engagement and a better understanding of VAK learning styles and providing alternatives for each type of user is the way to a fairer, more engaged educationally society. | https://makematic.com/blog/tag/online/page/2/ |
How to nurture a long career in teaching: The Five Rs
In recent years, teaching has evolved into an even more complex pursuit, with teachers constantly facing competing demands. To teach successfully in today’s environment, there are several important attributes every teacher should develop.
In recent years, teaching has evolved into an even more complex pursuit, with teachers constantly being faced with competing demands, increasingly diverse student groups, high levels of accountability and the continual introduction of new requirements.
To teach successfully in today’s environment, there are several important attributes every teacher should develop. Not only are graduating teachers required to have relevant and up-to-date knowledge of their discipline and well-rounded teaching know-how, they are also expected to develop the capabilities that will give their career long-term sustainability, even as the teaching environment continues to change at a rapid pace.
This is a big ask of our budding teachers, who often have little time beyond their busy schedule to explore ways of making their own experience more lasting and rewarding. For this reason, it’s vitally important that tertiary education programs address the personal and professional development aspects of teaching in order to instil these values in our new teachers early on.
One way for educators to go about this is the 5Rs framework developed by Macquarie University. When consciously adopted and continuously developed, this method has demonstrated high-quality outcomes for both teachers and their students.
Below are the Five Rs we should make a conscious effort to enable for our budding teachers:
- Resilience practiced inside and outside of the classroom.
In order to be more resilient to the stresses of the teaching environment, teachers need to be aware of, and maintain, their holistic health and sense of coherence. They need the confidence and clarity of mind to manage uncertain and complex issues and unexpected events whenever they arise in their career.
Teaching is demanding for everyone; however, it has been observed that the teachers who thrive on challenges are those who are able to draw on their personal resources and the social and structural supports around them.
Educators are aware that we are losing some of our best teachers early in their career, with research telling us that 30 to 50 per cent of teachers leave the profession in the first five years. By facilitating the development of resilience in new teachers, educators will aid in mitigating this attrition rate among new teachers.
- Reflexive in their teaching practice.
Teaching is about understanding multiple and changing ecologies of learning. This encompasses individual students’ needs, the affordances of classroom spaces, student and teacher relationships, curriculums, school culture, parental expectations, community demographics and needs and expectations of the profession, and the effects of government policy.
Teachers must recognise and mediate all these elements, along with their own motivations and priorities. A reflexive approach to teaching assists in making effective and impactful decisions that ensure quality student outcomes on a daily basis.
- Responsive to students, colleagues, parents and professional communities.
Teaching is a relational profession. The best teachers make deep connections with their students, parents and communities. Most of us remember a great teacher, not because of what they taught, but because they were inspiring. They engaged us through the personal connections they made with us, and their recognisable care for our wellbeing and success.
- Ready to learn.
When teachers graduate from university, they are far from the end of their learning journey, but rather just at the beginning.
The ongoing pursuit of learning is a mark of a quality teacher. There are always new methods and ideas to try. But in practice, learning needs are not a one-size-fits-all affair. Teachers need to identify their individual learning needs within the context of their career. Then, they can pursue that learning to the benefit of both themselves and their students.
- Research engaged throughout their career.
Effective teaching practice is based on evidence. This evidence can come from their own research in the classroom and the latest academic research in learning, teaching, motivation, cognition, curriculum, technologies and spaces, to name a few. A critical understanding of data is essential, allowing it to be analysed and woven back into practice.
Data can be big or small – both types are equally important. Big data includes large-scale standardised testing, which is great for identifying unfolding trends in the teaching sector. Small data includes things like classroom assessment, which gives us details about how and why students are succeeding or failing in specific areas.
The 5Rs framework can help teachers stay focused on what’s important. It can give teachers the confidence to keep at their career, strive for personal improvement and maximise their positive impact on students. The last thing we want is for our best teachers to burnout or to leave the profession. We need to make a conscious effort to equip them with the tools they need to thrive, so they can inspire our great minds of tomorrow.
Professor Mary Ryan is the Head of the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University
Email: | https://www.mq.edu.au/about/about-the-university/faculties-and-departments/faculty-of-human-sciences/departments-and-centres/department-of-educational-studies/news-and-events/news/news/How-to-nurture-a-long-career-in-teaching |
First at the Independent (UK) (via richarddawkins.net):
An internationally renowned biologist has shocked colleagues by abandoning the established explanation for why insects appear to display altruistic behaviour.
For the last 40 years researchers have more or less agreed that most ants, bees and wasps forego reproduction to help raise another’s offspring in order to help spread the genes they share.
The theory, known as “kin selection”, was first proposed in 1955 by biologist J. B. S. Haldane, and more famously expressed in Richard Dawkin’s 1976 book The Selfish Gene.
Now however Prof Edward O. Wilson, of Harvard University, the renowned father of the field of socio-biology and a world expert on social insects, has amazed colleagues by renouncing it.
Wilson suggests something else at play, (Brandon Keim in Wired):
Only by conceiving of evolution as acting upon entire populations rather than individual organisms can we understand eusociality — the mysterious, seemingly “altruistic” behaviors exhibited by insects who forego reproduction in order to care for a colony’s young.
So says Edward O. Wilson, the legendary sociobiologist, environmentalist and entomologist, in an article published in the January issue of Bioscience. Wilson doesn’t extrapolate from bugs to people, but his conclusions raise fascinating questions about the evolutionary aspects of non-reproducing humans.
EDWARD WILSON has given us a characteristically fascinating account of the evolution of social insects (see page 6 and BioScience, vol 58, p 17). But his “group selection” terminology is misleading, and his distinction between “kin selection” and “individual direct selection” is empty. What matters is gene selection.
All we need ask of a purportedly adaptive trait is, “What makes a gene for that trait increase in frequency?” Wilson wrongly implies that explanations should resort to kin selection only when “direct” selection fails. Here he falls for the first of my “12 misunderstandings of kin selection (pdf)“, that is, he thinks it is a special, complex kind of natural selection, which it is not (Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, vol 51, p 184). | https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2008/01/e-o-wilson-on-k.html |
What is the study of behavioral ecology?
-- How animal behavior is controlled
-- How behavior develops, evolves and contributes to survival and reproduction
What 4 questions are asked in the study of behavioral ecology?
- Causation
- Development
- Function
- Evolution
Contrast proximate and ultimate causes of behavior.
Proximate
: "How"
- Focuses on immediate stimulus and mechanism for behavior
- Includes : environmental stimuli, genetic, physiological and anatomical mechanisms
Ultimate
: "why"
-Focuses on evolutionary significance of a behavior.
- Why it contributes to survival and reproduction
Give examples of each for the following behaviors:
- Fixed action pattern
- Imprinting
Fixed action pattern
- Unlearned behavior
- Effected by seasons and circadian rhythm
Imprinting
- Learning behaviors
- An animal learns a specific set of stimuli during a limited time called a critical/sensitive period.
How does the environment interact with an animal's genetic makeup to influence the development of behaviors?
Examples:
- Quality of diet on mate choice
- nature of social interactions
- Opportunities for learning
What is animal communication?
- reception of and response to signals
What is the benefit of complex signaling?
Large amount of information without ambiguity. (requires visualization eg not dark)
How is cross fostering used by behavioral ecologists?
Placing young from one species in the care of adults from another species help identify what the environment contributes to the young's behavior.
Can behavioral traits evolve by natural selection?
Yes, Natural selection favors behaviors that increase survival and reproduction.
What is optimal foraging theory?
-A compromise between nutrition and the cost of obtaining food.
- energy cost & benefit vs. risk of predation.
How is male polymorphism related to game theory?
- use of different strategies for sexual selection.
- Within the male uta stansuriana there are the blue , yellow, and orange throated males. All three use different means to ensure reproduction.
Compare intersexual and intrasexual selection.
Intersexual selection: members of one sex choose mates based on particular characteristics.
Intrasexual selection: Involves competition among members of one sex for mates.
What is altruism?
How is inclusive fitness and kin selection related to it?
"Selflessness"
- reduces individual fitness but increases fitness of others.
- Inclusive fitness increases the individual's genes and the genes of close relatives
- Kin selection is a natural selection that favors altruistic behavior by enhancing reproductive success of relatives
Describe 4 steps of the developmental process?
1 Determination
: fate of cells
2 Differentiation
: different cell types arise
3 Morphogenesis
: organize and distribute cells
4 Growth
: increased body size
How is polyspermy prevented
- The formation of fertilization envelope
How is polarity defined in the egg/zygote?
Polarity defined by yolk distribution
-Vegetal pole has the most yolk
- Animal pole has the least yolk
What germ layers are involved in neuralation and somite production?
- Somites form from mesoderm
- Nervous system produced from ectoderm. | https://freezingblue.com/flashcards/244599/preview/exam-ii-review-6 |
The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the forty-eighth contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. Jay Odenbaugh.
The Sociobiological Misadventures of Ants
In the 1960s, Richard Levins, Richard Lewontin, Robert MacArthur, E. O.Wilson, and Leigh Van Valen occasionally met in Marlboro, Vermont to discuss how “simple theory” could integrate population genetics, ecology, biogeography, and ethology (Wilson, 2006; Singh, 2001). At this time, evolutionary biology and ecology were being attacked on two fronts. On the one, there was the rise of molecular biology which looked like it would replace organismal biology (however see Hubby and Lewontin (1966); Lewontin and Hubby (1966)). On the other, there was the rise of systems ecology with its FORTRAN computers and “big data.” Richard Levins argued that this sort of modeling confused “numbers with knowledge” (Levins, 1968, 504). In response, mathematical population biology took off (Levins, 1968; Lewontin, 1974; MacArthur and Wilson, 1967). However, there was one area which had not been added: ethology, the science of animal behavior. Wilson would controversially create sociobiology as the integration of ethology and population biology. Ants would be at the center of this story, and it begins in three strands (Wilson, 2006).
First, in 1953, E. O.Wilson heard a pair of lectures at Harvard University by the great ethologists Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz. From these lectures, Wilson became enamored at the idea of a fixed action pattern. Wilson’s conviction was that the concept could be applied to ants – not through sights and sounds but through “pheromones.” A few years later, Wilson constructed an artificial nest of Plexiglas for watching an ant colony of the genus Solenopsis (“fire ants”).
Figure 1: E. O. Wilson studies fire ants in the insectary at Harvard University, September 8, 1975
He knew that scout ants left chemical trails from their abdomen in order to direct workers to food. However, he didn’t know the chemical or organ of secretion. After painstaking microscopic work and experiments of “squishing” tiny organs, he realized the organ was Dufour’s gland. Next, he needed large numbers of ants, which led Wilson and his co -workers to Florida. There, they pushed large mounds into creeks. The ants form a floating mass protecting the queen and thus they could sample as many as they wanted. After chemical analysis, they determined the pheromone to be farnesene, a terpenoid. This work coupled with the theoretical analysis of William Bossert led to some of Wilson’s most signficant and lasting contributions on pheromones and animal communication (Bossert and Wilson, 1963; Wilson and Bossert, 1963).
After this pioneering work, Wilson became restless with his study of pheromones and island biogeography respectively. He hosted the entomologist Bert Hölldobler at Harvard, which began a period of intense colloboration. Hölldobler came from Germany and the ethological tradition of Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch whereas Wilson came from that of population biology. Both thought the two should be brought together. Together they did serious and intense research on the genus Prionopelta, studying colony size, the number of queens, division of labor, and the types of animals captured by the workers. This culminated in papers and ultimately in their monumental Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Ants (1990). Wilson thus keenly understood ants as a social insect.
In 1955, Wilson was approached by Stuart Altmann to be his dissertation advisor. Altmann wanted to study the social behavior of rhesus monkeys in Cayo Santiago, which was outside of Wilson’s expertise. They lived with the monkeys for two days, spurring Wilson to think about a unified account of social behavior. Rhesus and ants are so different, could a theory be formulated for both? Wilson realized his most obvious point of contribution was the study of the division of labor in social insects. In the fifties, he had begun to study “adaptive demography,” combining allometry and the division of labor. Small changes in anatomy can change the role an ant plays in a colony (Wilson, 1968; Wilson et al., 1985). His work on the evolution of castes in social insects came to fruition with mathematician George Oster (Oster and Wilson, 1978).
By the 1970s, E. O. Wilson was captivated by this vision of an integrated “sociobiology” (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Sociobiology and its connections to population biology and ethology (Wilson, 1975, 4, 5)
On a train ride to Miami in the spring of 1965, Wilson read William D. Hamilton’s (1964a; 1964b) pair of papers on his theory of kin selection. Though skeptical at the beginning of his travels, by the time he passed through Virginia he was convinced it was right in its explanation of eusociality; his own“paradigm shift.” The primary problem of sociobiology is altruism. If an organism provides a benefit to another organism at a cost to themselves, then how could this altruistic trait evolve by natural selection when the free rider receives the benefit at no cost? Hamilton’s rule is the beautiful core for his proposed solution to the problem of altruism.
rb > c
Here r, the coefficient of relatedness, is a measure of the probability that individuals share an allele by common descent, b is benefit and c is cost to reproductive fitness. For identical twins r is 1.0, for full-siblings it is 0.5, for half-siblings it is 0.25, for cousins it is 0.125, etc. This rule says if the benefit discounted by the relatedness of the actor and recipient is greater than the cost to the actor, altruism can evolve. Hamilton’s rule implies the lower r, then greater the benefits relative to costs must be.
Hamilton thought that kin selection was crucial for explaining the evolution of eusociality in ants. Eusocial insects have cooperative care, sterile castes, and overlapping generations. For example, sisters forgo having their own offspring by helping the queen have more. Many species in the order Hymenoptera, including ants, have a special mode of sex determination, haplodiploidy. Males develop from unfertilized eggs and are thus haploid. Females develop from fertilized eggs and thus are diploid. This implies that for two sisters r = 0.75; for daughter to motherr = 0.5; for son to mother r = 0.5; for brother to brother r = 0.5; for brother to sister r = 0.25. Thus, in a haplodiploid species, if a queen mates only once, then females may have higher fitness by helping their mother produce more sisters than producing their own daughters. Haplodiploidy through kin selection provides a possible explanation of the evolution of a worker caste that helps their mother (for complications see Queller and Strassmann (1998); Nowak et al. (2010); Abbot et al. (2011)).
In the New York Review of Books November 1975, Wilson’s Sociobiology was severely criticized by his Harvard colleagues Richard Lewontin and Stephen JayGould along with others from Science for the People. They claimed determinist theories like Wilson’s provide a “genetic justification” of the status quo, sterilization laws, and Nazi Eugenics. One criticism was that Wilson abused biological metaphors or analogies.
One subtle way in which Wilson attempts to link animals and humans is to use metaphors from human societies to describe characteristics of animal societies. For instance, in insect populations, Wilson applies the traditional metaphors of “slavery” and “caste,” “specialists” and“generalists” in order to establish a descriptive framework. Thus, he promotes the analogy between human and animal societies and leads one to believe that behavior patterns in the two have the same basis. Also, institutions such as slavery are made to seem natural in human societies because of their “universal” existence in the biological kingdom. But metaphor and presumed analogy cannot be allowed to mask the absence of evidence.
One important example is Wilson’s use of ants and the evolution of eusociality in his explanation of homosexuality (Wilson, 1975, 311, 343). But his fullest discussion occurs in On Human Nature.
How can genes predisposing their carriers toward homosexuality spread through the population if homosexuals have no children? One answer is that their close relatives could have had more children as a result of their presence. The homosexual members of primitive societies could have helped members of the same sex, either while hunting and gathering or in more domestic occupations at the dwelling sites. Freed from the special obligations of parental duties, they would have been in a position to operate with special efficiency in assisting close relatives. They might further have taken the roles of seers, shamans, artists, and keepers of tribal knowledge. If the relatives – sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and others – were benefitted by higher survival and reproduction rates, the genes the individuals shared with the homosexual specialists would have increased at the expense of alternative genes. Inevitably, some of these genes would have been those that predisposed individuals toward homosexuality. (Wilson, 1978, 144-5)
Wilson’s kin selection hypothesis has been seriously criticized (Kitcher, 1985; Futuyma and Risch, 1984). First, the only evidence Wilson supplies are twin studies claiming homosexuality is heritable. But, showing a trait is heritable doesn’t show it exhibits heritable variation in fitness; i.e. it evolved by natural selection. Second, sterile workers’ aid in ants is a facultative trait with no heritability. A queen and workers differ by developmental history, not by genes. Wilson proposes heterosexuals and homosexuals differ genetically. Third, at best this explains why certain members should forgo having their own offspring and helping relatives. It doesn’t explain why they would be homosexual as opposed to heterosexual helpers.
Wilson would later claim he was a “political näif”; he didn’t expect the Marxist critique from colleagues. Regardless, for Wilson, sociobiology was an outgrowth of the attempt to integrate population biology and ethology quantitatively. It was also a remarkably controversial mix of of science, politics, and ants (Segestråle, 2000).
References
Abbot, P., J.Abe, J. Alcock, S. Alizon, J.A. Alpedrinha, M. Andersson, J.-B. Andre,M. Van Baalen, F. Balloux, S. Balshine, et al. (2011). Inclusive fitness theoryand eusociality. Nature 471(7339), E1–E4.
Bossert, W. H. and E. O. Wilson (1963). The analysis of olfactory communicationamong animals. Journal of theoretical biology 5(3), 443–469.
Futuyma, D. J. and S. J. Risch (1984). Sexual orientation, sociobiology, and evolution.Journal of Homosexuality 9(2-3), 157–168.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964a). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. ii. Journal of theoretical biology 7(1), 1–16.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964b). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. ii. Journalof theoretical biology 7(1), 17–52.
Hölldobler, B. and E. O. Wilson (1990). The ants. Harvard University Press.
Hubby, J. L. and R. C. Lewontin (1966). A molecular approach to the study of genic heterozygosity in natural populations. i. the number of alleles at different loci in drosophila pseudoobscura. Genetics 54(2), 577.
Kitcher, P. (1985). Vaulting ambition: sociobiology and the quest for human nature. MIT Press.
Levins, R. (1968). Evolution in changing environments: some theoretical explorations. Princeton University Press.
Lewontin, R. C. (1974). The genetic basis of evolutionary change, Volume 560. Columbia University Press New York.
Lewontin, R. C. and J. L. Hubby (1966). A molecular approach to the study of genic heterozygosity in natural populations. ii. amount of variation and degree of heterozygosity in natural populations of drosophila pseudoobscura. Genetics 54(2), 595.
MacArthur, R. H. and E. O. Wilson (1967). The theory of island biogeography. Princeton university press.
Nowak, M. A., C. E. Tarnita, and E. O.Wilson (2010). The evolution of eusociality. Nature 466(7310), 1057–1062.
Oster, G. F. and E. O. Wilson (1978). Caste and ecology in the social insects. Princeton University Press.
Queller, D. C. and J. E. Strassmann (1998). Kin selection and social insects. Bioscience 48(3), 165–175.
Segestråle, U. (2000). Defenders of the truth: the sociobiology debate. Oxford University Press.
Singh, R. S. (2001). Thinking about evolution: historical, philosophical, and political perspectives, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, E. O. (1968). The ergonomics of caste in the social insects. The American Naturalist 102(923), 41–66.
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press.
Wilson, E. O. (1978). On Human Nature. Harvard University Press.
Wilson, E. O. (2006). Naturalist. Island Press.
Wilson, E. O. et al. (1985). The sociogenesis of insect colonies. Science 228(4707), 1489–1495.
Wilson, E. O. and W. H. Bossert (1963). Chemical communication among animals. Recent progress in hormone research 19, 673.
Dr. Jay Odenbaugh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Lewis & Clark College. His main areas of research interest are in the philosophy and history of science (especially biology and psychology) though he has strong interests in aesthetics and ethics. In the history of philosophy, Dr. Odenbaugh is especially fascinated by the American pragmatists and their descendants. His research has tended to focus on foundational issues related to the sciences especially in evolutionary biology and ecology. Currently, he is finishing a book manuscript In a Sentimental Mood: Emotion, Evolution, and Expression, an interdisciplinary exploration of what psychology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary biology have to say about our emotions and their expression. This spring, Dr. Odenbaugh is writing a short book entitled Ecological Models for Cambridge University Press. | https://dailyant.com/2018/01/26/philosophy-phriday-the-sociobiological-misadventures-of-ants/ |
SAMPLE EXCERPT:
[. . .] Deleterious genetic mutations would be purged from the population and the inbred species may be prone to evolve sociality as all members of a colony have nearly identical genetic backgrounds. In addition to consanguineous matings (inbreeding), the process of genetic drift can also produce high levels of inbreeding.
Genetic drift is the random loss of alleles from a population owing to small population size. As increasing number of alleles are lost over a period of time, a single allele has the chance to increase in frequency and become predominant in a population. In extreme cases all copies of alleles are identical by descent. In a colony of a small number of individuals who do not intermix with other colonies the conditions are ideal for kin selection. Naked mole rats are a good example of such small colonies, which have a high degree of relatedness and show great differences between colonies. Such inbreeding might promote eusociality. (Inbreeding and genetic relatedness)
The genetic makeup of a given population is subject to changes resulting from interaction with the environment. The basic premise of Darwinian Theory of evolution is that natural selection acts on the individual, specifically on differences in the phenotypes within the population. However, in recent years, researchers tend to view selection as acting at several different levels and that these levels are loosely structured according to hierarchies of biological organization: gene - individuals - kin - groups - species. These five levels of selection are arranged along a continuum describing the degree of genetic relationship. Genes are fundamental unit, which is used to define genetic relationships. In a lineal relationship, a gene is identified its descent from another gene. That is at some time in its history the two genes were derived from a single gene by duplication, specially, meiosis during sexual reproduction.
Dawkins strongly advocates that selection acts on genes rather than on individuals as such and his theory of gene selection is provocatively referred to as the selfish gene theory. Next in the hierarchy is individual selection. Kin selection is a concept closely related to individual selection. Closely related individuals benefit from altruistic acts that promote inclusive fitness of an individual. Related individuals are likely to share many genes with a given individual. Asexual clones share all their genes. A sexual individual inherits genes fro male and female parents. Kin share genes. Siblings share 0.5 of alleles at most loci and cousins share 1/8 of their genes as they are further removed in their genetic relationships. Members of a group may not have to share genes. However, the group survives or dies as a function of how their genes and individuals react. Group selection is a concept that is subject to much debate in evolutionary biology because is difficult concept to grasp.
Selection at the group level occurs when a group of individuals produce more groups and therefore the process of group selection is analogous to individual selection, though acting at the level of groups. The traits underlying group selection must be genetic if the species is to evolve as by group selection. Species selection acts at a higher level, with members of each species sharing more genes than two individuals from a different species. Members of a group of closely related species, clade, that produce more species, have a long evolutionary history and lower extinction probability, will become overly represented at the expense of other species in much the same way as that one allele at a particular locus spreads through a population of individuals and increase in frequency at the expense of alternative alleles. (Levels of selection)
Kin selection does not operate only in on organisms that live as eusocial colonies. It is likely to operate wherever kin live in close proximity. Cannibalism is a widespread trait often found in monotypic stands of a species and when food becomes scarce or limited. Under such conditions cannibalism is resorted to. Pfenning, in his experiments with larvae of tiger salamander found that the incidence of cannibalism was less in tubs that housed siblings than in those that housed half sibs. Tubs, which housed unrelated individuals, scored the highest incidence of cannibalism. These results suggest that the larvae have kin recognition and that kin recognition alters the behavior of cannibalism. Presumably, the larva that does not eat kin will be favored by kin selection by inclusive fitness. Pfennig suggests that recognition of self or, more appropriately kin may form the distinct food eaten by groups of larvae. The larvae aggregate after hatching and a group of related larvae may remain in the group long enough to assimilate the common set of food odors that they share with their kin. (Kin selection and cannibalism)
Dawkins and other supporters of the theory of genic selection base their argument on the fact that selection changes the combination of alleles at a genetic locus. Therefore, they argue gene or genic locus must be the fundamental unit of selection. This however, is a reductionist approach according to Sinervo. If natural selection alters the allele frequency at a gene locus, the reductionist approach will reduce the problem to the lowest common denominator is all evolutionary theories, namely the gene. What is needed is a theory that connects selection and inheritance to at least some aspect of the phenotype. For example, since a gene codes for a protein, the protein could be considered as the smallest unit of the phenotype that comprises a functional unit. Studies on the selection of individual traits tend to reduce the phenotype to small parts, as a simplification necessary for statistical analysis.
However, it must be noted that individual traits are not units of selection. Every trait in an organism must be analyzed and their correlation between other traits studied, in order to completely describe the evolution of a species. In the study of behavioral traits the selection on morphological and physiological traits that might be functionally or mechanistically correlated with behavior must be considered. This approach to studying individual selection focuses on the whole organism. A good example for correlated selection is Brodie's study on garter snake morphology (striped vs. spotty) and behavior (straight slither vs. reversals) (Is the unit of selection the gene? Or the individual organism?)
The case of t-allele illustrates a 'selfish gene'. Some population of mice possesses a mutation that distorts the normal mitotic products of male mice. This mutation is located in at the t-locus. If the wild type allele at the t-locus is denoted as t+ and the mutant allele at the t-locus as t, then +/+ will produce normal wild type sperm; t/+ will produce normal sperm, however, the ratio of sperm of t-allele vs. +- allele will be distorted from the expected 50:50 by meiotic process. These heterozygotes produce 85-95% t allele sperm and only 5-15% +-allele sperm. t/t homozygotes are sterile. Because t/+ produces an over abundance of t-allele, the t-allele is termed as a selfish gene. Such a mutation, when it arises in a population, will spread rapidly and is a classic notion of a selfish gene.
The t-allele cannot spread beyond a certain frequency since that will result in the entire population becoming sterile. The t-allele needs a few +- alleles to propagate it. However, when two t-alleles end up in a single individual selection limits the spread of the allele. In this example, the genic selection that favored the production of t-allele over wild type allele is counterbalanced by individual selection that favored wild type or homozygous t-alleles. The question that now arises is: Is it also possible for genic selection to be counterbalanced by kin selection? Though there is no concrete example of such a process, it is possible to imagine a hypothetical example. (Selfish gene)
Suppose two parental birds are rearing a brood of young and a new "greedy" arises in the nest causing a chick to eat all the food, depriving other chicks of food. While the chick that has the "greedy" allele may grow up successfully, the other chicks might die. The greedy gene thus acquires a great selection advantage. However, the nests with the greedy gene produce fewer fledglings than nests containing wild type individuals. Those kin groups, which do not have the greedy gene, have a fecundity advantage relative to the kin groups where the greedy gene is present. To extend this analogy to groups of individuals not genetically related raises the question: can altruistic gene spread in such groups or will the non-altruistic (greedy) gene spread faster? Action of gene selection can be counterbalanced by the action of individual or kin selection, and the action of kin selection can be counterbalanced by the action of kin selection. The additional possibility of social selection is seen in fire ants in which non-reproductive castes alter the fitness outcome of reproductive castes and pose challenges for the study of levels of selection. (Genic, individual and kin selection)
The term "siblings" is applied to full… [END OF PREVIEW]
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In 1868 in England, Charles Darwin proposed his pangenesis theory to describe the units of inheritance between parents and offspring and the processes by which those units control development in offspring. Darwin coined the concept of gemmules, which he said referred to hypothesized minute particles of inheritance thrown off by all cells of the body. The theory suggested that an organism's environment could modify the gemmules in any parts of the body, and that these modified gemmules would congregate in the reproductive organs of parents to be passed on to their offspring.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Sperm Capacitation
The male body, followed by male reproductive organs from which the sperm originates, is depicted from top to bottom at the left. Under the male reproductive organs is a diagram of a single sperm. To the right of the sperm diagram, the physiological and morphological changes a sperm undergoes to fertilize an egg are depicted from left to right. Each change is associated with a light pink rectangle background. Each light pink rectangle corresponds to the location of the sperm within the female reproductive organs, which is depicted above it.
Format: Graphics
The Discovery of The Dikika Baby Fossil as Evidence for Australopithecine Growth and Development
When scientists discovered a 3.3
million-year-old skeleton of a child of the human lineage (hominin) in
2000, in the village of Hadar, Ethiopia, they were able to study growth
and development of Australopithecus
afarensis, an extinct hominin species. The team of researchers,
led by Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, named the fossil DIK 1-1 and nicknamed
it Dikika baby after the Dikika research site. The Dikika fossil
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
“Prenatal Stress, Glucocorticoids and the Programming of the Brain” (2001), by Leonie Welberg and Jonathan Seckl
In 2001, researchers Leonie Welberg and Jonathan Seckl published the literature review “Prenatal Stress, Glucocorticoids, and the Programming of the Brain,” in which they report on the effects of prenatal stress on the development of the fetal brain. The fetus experiences prenatal stress while in the womb, or in utero. In discussing the effects of prenatal stress, the authors describe prenatal programming, which is when early environmental experiences permanently alter biological structure and function throughout life.
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Subject: Publications, Theories
Purkinje Cells
Purkinje cells, also called Purkinje neurons, are neurons in vertebrate animals located in the cerebellar cortex of the brain. Purkinje cell bodies are shaped like a flask and have many threadlike extensions called dendrites, which receive impulses from other neurons called granule cells. Each cell also has a single projection called an axon, which transmits impulses to the part of the brain that controls movement, the cerebellum. Purkinje cells are inhibitory neurons: they secrete neurotransmitters that bind to receptors that inhibit or reduce the firing of other neurons.
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Subject: Theories
The Gradient Theory
The gradient theory is recognized as Charles Manning Child's most significant scientific contribution. Gradients brought together Child's interest in development and his fascination with the origins of individuality and organization. The gradient theory grew from his studies of regeneration, which were largely based on work he conducted with marine invertebrates, such as the ascidian flat worm, planaria and the hydroid, tubularia.
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Subject: Theories
George W. Beadle's One Gene-One Enzyme Hypothesis
The one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, proposed by George Wells Beadle in the US in 1941, is the theory that each gene directly produces a single enzyme, which consequently affects an individual step in a metabolic pathway. In 1941, Beadle demonstrated that one gene in a fruit fly controlled a single, specific chemical reaction in the fruit fly, which one enzyme controlled.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
"On the Origin of Mitosing Cells" (1967), by Lynn Sagan
On the Origin of Mitosing Cells by Lynn Sagan appeared in the March 1967 edition of the Journal of Theoretical Biology. At the time the article was published, Lynn Sagan had divorced astronomer Carl Sagan, but kept his last name. Later, she remarried and changed her name to Lynn Margulis, and will be referred to as such throughout this article. In her 1967 article, Margulis develops a theory for the origin of complex cells that have enclosed nuclei, called eukaryotic cells.
Format: Articles
Subject: Publications, Theories
Telomeres and Telomerase in Cellular Aging (Senescence)
Telomeres are sequences of DNA on the ends of chromosomes that protect chromosomes from sticking to each other or tangling, which could cause irregularities in normal DNA functions. As cells replicate, telomeres shorten at the end of chromosomes, which correlates to senescence or cellular aging. Integral to this process is telomerase, which is an enzyme that repairs telomeres and is present in various cells in the human body, especially during human growth and development.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Mechanism of Notch Signaling
Mechanism of Notch Signaling: The image depicts a type of cell signaling, in which two animal cells interact and transmit a molecular signal from one to the other. The process results in the production of proteins, which influence the cells as they differentiate, move, and contribute to embryological development. In the membrane of the signaling cell, there is a ligand (represented by a green oval). The ligand functions to activate a change in a receptor molecule. In the receiving cell, there are receptors; in this case, Notch proteins (represented by orange forks).
Format: Graphics
Edward Drinker Cope's Law of Acceleration of Growth
The Law of Acceleration of Growth is a theory proposed by Edward Drinker Cope in the US during the nineteenth century. Cope developed it in an attempt to explain the evolution of genera by appealing to changes in the developmental timelines of organisms. Cope proposed this law as an additional theory to natural selection.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Early Infantile Autism and the Refrigerator Mother Theory (1943-1970)
In 1943, child psychiatrist Leo Kanner in the US gave the first account of Early Infantile Autism that encouraged psychiatrists to investigate what they called emotionally cold mothers, or refrigerator mothers. In 1949, Kanner published Problems of Nosology and Psychodynamics of Early Infantile Autism. In that article, Kanner described autistic children as reared in emotional refrigerators. US child psychiatrists claimed that some psychological or behavioral conditions might have origins in emotional or mental stress, meaning that they might be psychogenic.
Format: Articles
Richard Woltereck's Concept of Reaktionsnorm
Richard Woltereck first described the concept of Reaktionsnorm (norm of reaction) in his 1909 paper 'Weitere experimentelle Untersuchungen uber Art-veranderung, speziell uber das Wesen quantitativer Artunterschiede bei Daphniden' ('Further investigations of type variation, specifically concerning the nature of quantitative differences between varieties of Daphnia'). This concept refers to the ways in which the environment can alter the development of an organism, and its adult characteristics.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Germ Layers
A germ layer is a group of cells in an embryo that interact with each other as the embryo develops and contribute to the formation of all organs and tissues. All animals, except perhaps sponges, form two or three germ layers. The germ layers develop early in embryonic life, through the process of gastrulation. During gastrulation, a hollow cluster of cells called a blastula reorganizes into two primary germ layers: an inner layer, called endoderm, and an outer layer, called ectoderm.
Format: Articles
The Source-Sink Model
The source-sink model, first proposed by biologist Francis Crick in 1970, is a theoretical system for how morphogens distribute themselves across small fields of early embryonic cells. A morphogen is a substance that determines the fate and phenotype of a group of cells through a concentration gradient of itself across that group. Crick’s theory has been experimentally confirmed with several morphogens, most notably with the protein bicoid , the first discovered morphogen. The model provides a theoretical structure for the understanding of some features of early embryonic development.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
"Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?" from The Ants (1990), by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
In “Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?” Bert Hölldobler and Edward Osborne Wilson discussed the predictive power of kin selection theory, a theory about the evolution of social behaviors. As part of Hölldobler's and Wilson's 1990 book titled The Ants, Hölldobler and Wilson compared predictions about the reproductive practices of ants to data about the reproductive practices of ants. They showed that the data generally supported the expected behaviors proposed by kin selection theory.
Format: Articles
Subject: Publications, Theories
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Mammals (1938-2013)
In the second half of the
twentieth century, scientists learned how to clone organisms in some
species of mammals. Scientists have applied somatic cell nuclear transfer to clone human and
mammalian embryos as a means to produce stem cells for laboratory
and medical use. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a technology applied in cloning, stem cell
research and regenerative medicine. Somatic cells are cells that
have gone through the differentiation process and are not germ
cells. Somatic cells donate their nuclei, which scientists
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories, Technologies, Processes
John von Neumann's Cellular Automata
Cellular automata (CA) are mathematical models used to simulate complex systems or processes. In several fields, including biology, physics, and chemistry, CA are employed to analyze phenomena such as the growth of plants, DNA evolution, and embryogenesis. In the 1940s John von Neumann formalized the idea of cellular automata in order to create a theoretical model for a self-reproducing machine. Von Neumann's work was motivated by his attempt to understand biological evolution and self-reproduction.
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Subject: Theories
The French Flag Model
The French flag model represents how embryonic cells receive and respond to genetic information and subsequently differentiate into patterns. Created by Lewis Wolpert in the late 1960s, the model uses the French tricolor flag as visual representation to explain how embryonic cells can interpret genetic code to create the same pattern even when certain pieces of the embryo are removed. Wolpert's model has provided crucial theoretical framework for investigating universal mechanisms of pattern formation during development.
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Neurocristopathies
Neurocristopathies are a class of pathologies in vertebrates,
including humans, that result from abnormal expression, migration,
differentiation, or death of neural crest cells (NCCs) during embryonic development. NCCs are cells
derived from the embryonic cellular structure called the neural crest.
Abnormal NCCs can cause a neurocristopathy by chemically affecting the
development of the non-NCC tissues around them. They can also affect the
development of NCC tissues, causing defective migration or
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Subject: Theories
Stem Cell Tourism
When James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin announced in 1998 that he had derived and cultured human embryonic stem cells(hESCs), Americans widely believed-and accepted-that stem cells would one day be the basis of a multitude of regenerative medical techniques. Researchers promised that they would soon be able to cure a variety of diseases and injuries such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, severe burns, and many others. But it wasn't until January 2009 that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first human clinical trials using hESCs.
Format: Articles
Lynn Petra Alexander Sagan Margulis (1938-2011)
Lynn Petra Alexander Sagan Margulis was an American biologist, whose work in the mid-twentieth century focused on cells living together in a mutually advantageous relationship, studied cells and mitochondria in the US during the second half of the twentieth century. She developed a theory for the origin of eukaryotic cells, that proposed two kinds of structures found in eukaryotic cells mitochondria in animals, and plastids in plantsÑwere once free-living bacteria that lived harmoniously and in close proximity to larger cells, a scenario called symbiosis.
Format: Articles
Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a medical condition that involves abnormal growths of tissue resembling the endometrium, which is the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus. Those growths, called endometrial lesions, typically form outside the uterus, but can spread to other reproductive organs such as ovaries and fallopian tubes. Endometrial lesions swell and bleed during menstruation, which can cause painful and heavy menstruation, as well as infertility.
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Subject: Disorders, Reproduction, Theories
Neural Crest
Early in the process of development, vertebrate embryos develop a fold on the neural plate where the neural and epidermal ectoderms meet, called the neural crest. The neural crest produces neural crest cells (NCCs), which become multiple different cell types and contribute to tissues and organs as an embryo develops. A few of the organs and tissues include peripheral and enteric (gastrointestinal) neurons and glia, pigment cells, cartilage and bone of the cranium and face, and smooth muscle.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Strains 16 and 18
The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) strains 16 and 18 are the two most common HPV strains that lead to cases of genital cancer. HPV is the most commonly sexually transmitted disease, resulting in more than fourteen million cases per year in the United States alone. When left untreated, HPV leads to high risks of cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and penile cancers. In 1983 and 1984 in Germany, physician Harald zur Hausen found that two HPV strains, HPV-16 and HPV-18, caused cervical cancer in women. In the early twenty first century, pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. | https://embryo.asu.edu/search?text=National%20Academy%20of%20Sciences%20in%20Molecular%20Biology&%3Bamp%3Bpage=5&%3Bf%5B0%5D=dc_subject_embryo%3A210&f%5B0%5D=dc_subject_embryo%3A95&page=1 |
Control of a large number of distributed systems provides several technical challenges which includes scalability of control and information processing algorithms, stability, and robustness to not only sensor/actuator noises but also to broken/delayed communication. The research conducted in CDS Lab is at the intersection of a number of multidisciplinary aspects (as shown in the figure) including:
Researchers at the CDS lab have been extensively involved in various aspects of research on multi-robot cooperative control including work on aggregation/segregation of heterogeneous units in robotic swarms, development of control laws for a robotic swarm emulating ant foraging behavior, noise induced adaptive emergent behaviors in swarm robotic systems, and performance driven decentralized control of robotic agents. Some of current focus of research in CDS Lab include: study of statistical-mechanical concepts such random graphs, random geometric graphs, and mean-field theory to model and analyze system behaviors; and study of the effect of noise on robust self-organization of robotic swarms.
Swarming Of Heterogeneous Robots
It is often difficult to obtain precise information about the states of large-scale systems due to non-linearities involved, complex interactions, and uncertainties. It may, however, be possible to analytically obtain average quantities that would provide crude representations of complex behaviors. For example, in a study on segregation of heterogeneous units in a swarm of robotics agents, average distances between agents of similar and dis-similar types were used to obtain analytical results on segregation of heterogeneous agents under very simple control laws based on differential potential.
Spatiotemporal chemotactic model for ant foraging
A significant challenge in swarm robotics is the design and control of a robotic swarm capable of adaptive behavior dictated by local communication in uncertain environments. Given their remarkable propensity to adapt to rapidly changing environments, the dynamics of biological systems, such as an ant colony system, provide fundamental insights in this context. This research focused on development of a new mathematical model, represented by coupled Partial Differential Equations inspired by Keller Segel model of bacterial chemotaxis, for ant foraging that accounts for different behaviors exhibited by foragers in search of food and food carrying ants. The model essentially shows the evolution of i) food searching (foraging) ants; ii) food carrying ants; and iii) the pheromone distribution in the space. Food search is governed by an environmental potential, the pheromone gradient and is also characterized by inherent randomness that allows for a comprehensive search of the entire domain for food sources. Moreover, a fraction of the foraging ants change character to food carrying ants within a certain neighborhood of the food sources and the reverse happens within a neighborhood of the nest.
Cyclic Pursuit by Multiple UAVs for Monitoring
This project focused on developing cooperative control laws for cyclic pursuit of robotic agents to track a closed perimeter. In this work, a linear interaction law is proposed for pursuit with UAV. Using principles of linear control theory, stability conditions were obtained and it was shown that, within specified stability regions, the system was robust to addition or deletion of agents. Similarly, cooperative control algorithms for wildfire monitoring and fighting using non-linear interaction potential is also developed.
Role of Noise in Robust Self-Organizing Behaviors
On a research studying the effect of randomness on robust flocking behaviors in multi-robotic agent systems, we were able to show that single-cluster flock would asymptotically form if designed randomness is introduced in the system. It was concluded via analysis as well as extensive simulations that randomness provided a necessary mechanism for robust flocking behavior. | http://ceas.uc.edu/cds/Projects/control-of-distributed-systems-and-swarm-robotics.html |
Between 1953 and 1957, before the Meselson-Stahl experiment verified semi-conservative replication of DNA, scientists debated how DNA replicated. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick proposed that DNA was composed of two helical strands that wound together in a coil. Their model suggested a replication mechanism, later termed semi-conservative replication, in which parental DNA strands separated and served as templates for the replication of new daughter strands.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Stem Cell Tourism
When James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin announced in 1998 that he had derived and cultured human embryonic stem cells(hESCs), Americans widely believed-and accepted-that stem cells would one day be the basis of a multitude of regenerative medical techniques. Researchers promised that they would soon be able to cure a variety of diseases and injuries such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, severe burns, and many others. But it wasn't until January 2009 that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first human clinical trials using hESCs.
Format: Articles
Beadle's One Gene-One Enzyme Hypothesis
Between 1934 and 1945, George Beadle developed a hypothesis that each gene within the chromosomes of organisms each produced one enzyme. Enzymes are types of proteins that can catalyze reactions inside cells, and the figure shows that each enzyme controls a stage in a series of biochemical reactions. The top box in this figure represents a normal process of enzyme production and biochemical reactions, and the bottom box shows how Beadle's experiments affected the normal biochemical process.
Format: Graphics
George W. Beadle's One Gene-One Enzyme Hypothesis
The one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, proposed by George Wells Beadle in the US in 1941, is the theory that each gene directly produces a single enzyme, which consequently affects an individual step in a metabolic pathway. In 1941, Beadle demonstrated that one gene in a fruit fly controlled a single, specific chemical reaction in the fruit fly, which one enzyme controlled.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Mammals (1938-2013)
In the second half of the
twentieth century, scientists learned how to clone organisms in some
species of mammals. Scientists have applied somatic cell nuclear transfer to clone human and
mammalian embryos as a means to produce stem cells for laboratory
and medical use. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a technology applied in cloning, stem cell
research and regenerative medicine. Somatic cells are cells that
have gone through the differentiation process and are not germ
cells. Somatic cells donate their nuclei, which scientists
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories, Technologies, Processes
“Some of the Uses of Electricity in Gynecology,” (1901) by William Henry Walling
In 1901, physician William Henry Walling published the article, Some of the Uses of Electricity in Gynecology, in the January issue of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal. Walling was a practicing gynecologist who studied electro-therapeutics, or the use of electricity in medicine for the treatment of disease, which was an emerging topic during the late 1800s. Walling stated that proper administration of electrical current to a woman’s vagina, uterus, bladder, or rectum could be therapeutic for gynecological diseases.
Format: Articles
Subject: Reproduction, Theories, Publications
The Formation of Reticular Theory
In the nineteenth century, reticular theory aimed to describe the properties of neurons, the specialized cells which make up the nervous system, but was later disconfirmed by evidence. Reticular theory stated that the nervous system was composed of a continuous network of specialized cells without gaps (synapses), and was first proposed by researcher Joseph von Gerlach in Germany in 1871.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case
In the mid-1960s, psychologist John Money encouraged the gender reassignment of David Reimer, who was born a biological male but suffered irreparable damage to his penis as an infant. Born in 1965 as Bruce Reimer, his penis was irreparably damaged during infancy due to a failed circumcision. After encouragement from Money, Reimer’s parents decided to raise Reimer as a girl. Reimer underwent surgery as an infant to construct rudimentary female genitals, and was given female hormones during puberty.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
John von Neumann's Cellular Automata
Cellular automata (CA) are mathematical models used to simulate complex systems or processes. In several fields, including biology, physics, and chemistry, CA are employed to analyze phenomena such as the growth of plants, DNA evolution, and embryogenesis. In the 1940s John von Neumann formalized the idea of cellular automata in order to create a theoretical model for a self-reproducing machine. Von Neumann's work was motivated by his attempt to understand biological evolution and self-reproduction.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
Ovism
Ovism was one of two models of preformationism, a theory of generation prevalent in the late seventeenth through the end of the eighteenth century. Contrary to the competing theory of epigenesis (gradual emergence of form), preformationism held that the unborn offspring existed fully formed in the eggs or sperm of its parents prior to conception. The ovist model held that the maternal egg was the location of this preformed embryo, while the other preformationism model known as spermism preferred the paternal germ cell, as the name implies.
Format: Articles
Subject: Theories
"Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?" from The Ants (1990), by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
In “Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?” Bert Hölldobler and Edward Osborne Wilson discussed the predictive power of kin selection theory, a theory about the evolution of social behaviors. As part of Hölldobler's and Wilson's 1990 book titled The Ants, Hölldobler and Wilson compared predictions about the reproductive practices of ants to data about the reproductive practices of ants. They showed that the data generally supported the expected behaviors proposed by kin selection theory.
Format: Articles
Subject: Publications, Theories
Trial of Madame Restell (Ann Lohman) for Abortion (1841)
In the spring of 1841, abortionist Ann Lohman, called Madame Restell, was convicted for crimes against one of her abortion clients, Maria Purdy. In a deathbed confession, Purdy admitted that she had received an abortion provided by Madame Restell, and she further claimed that the tuberculosis that she was dying from was a result of her abortion. Restell was charged with administering an illegal abortion in New York and her legal battles were heavily documented in the news. | https://embryo.asu.edu/search?text=Effects%20of%20Prenatal%20Alcohol%20Exposure%20on%20Ocular%20Development&f%5B0%5D=dc_subject_embryo%3A95&page=3 |
Animal Behavior, by Rubenstein, Dustin R.; Alcock, John
Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9781605355481 | 1605355488
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 6/1/2018
Chapter 1. An Introduction to Animal Behavior
Natural Selection and the Evolution of Behavior
The Cost-Benefit Approach to Behavioral Biology
The Levels of Analysis
Box 1.1. Natural selection and infanticide in primates
The Integrative Study of Animal Behavior
Approaches to Studying Behavior
The Adaptive Basis of Behavior: Mobbing in Gulls
Box 1.2. Phylogenies and the comparative method
Box 1.3. The benefit of high nest density for the arctic skua
The Science of Animal Behavior
The Integrative Study of Behavior
Chapter 2. The Integrative Study of Behavior
The Development of Song Learning
Box 2.1. Characterizing sounds made by animals
Intraspecific Variation and Dialects
Social Experience and Song Development
Mechanisms of Song Learning
Box 2.2. Song learning in birds adoptedby another species
The Genetics of Song Learning
Control of the Avian Song System
Box 2.3. Proximate mechanisms underlying song preferences in females
The Evolution of Song Learning
An Evolutionary History of Bird Song
Mechanisms of Song Learning and the Comparative Approach
Human versus Avian Vocal Learning
The Adaptive Value of Song Learning
Box 2.4. Why might song learning make males communicate more effectively with rivals or potential mates?
Adapting to the Local Environment
Recognition: Friends versus Foes
Sexual Selection: Male-Male Competition
Sexual Selection: Female Choice and Assortative Mating
The Integrative Study of Bird Song
Chapter 3. The Developmental and Genetic Bases of Behavior
Behavior Requires Genes and the Environment
The Interactive Theory of Development
Box 3.1. Behavioral genetics: Identifying the genetic basis of differences in behavior
Environmental Differences Can Cause Behavioral Differences
Genetic Differences Can Also Cause Behavioral Differences
Box 3.2. Migratory restlessness
Learning and Cognition
Learning Requires Both Genes and Environment
Learning in Complex Environments
The Adaptive Value of Learning
The Evolutionary Development of Behavior
The Evo-Devo Approach to Understanding Behavior
Box 3.3. The genetics of foraging behavior in honey bees
Early Life Developmental Conditions
The Role of the Social Environment
Developmental Homeostasis versus Developmental Constraint
Developmental Switch Mechanisms
Supergenes and Behavioral Polymorphisms
Chapter 4. The Neural Basis of Behavior
Responding to Stimuli
Complex Responses to Simple Stimuli
How Moths Avoid Bats
Box 4.1. Ultrasound detection in the moth ear
Ultrasonic Hearing in Other Insects
Neural Command and Control
Decision Making in the Brain
From Ultrasound to Ultraviolet Radiation
Selective Relaying of Sensory Inputs
Responding to Relayed Messages
The Proximate Basis of Stimulus Filtering
Box 4.2. Determining how female parasitoid wasps choose their singing male bush-cricket hosts
Box 4.3. Cortical magnification in mammals
The Evolution of Cognitive Skills
Box 4.4. Do energetic demands explain why humans have such large brains?
Chapter 5. The Physiological Basis of Behavior
Endogenous Rhythms and Changing Behavioral Priorities
Mechanisms of Changing Behavioral Priorities
The Neurobiology of Circadian Timing
The Genetics of Circadian Timing
The Physiology of Circadian Timing
Seasonal and Annual Cycles of Behavior
Cues That Entrain Cycles of Behavior
Predictable Environmental Cues
Box 5.1. Hormonal responses to light in birds
Unpredictable Environmental Cues
Social Conditions and Changing Priorities
Hormonal Mechanisms Underlying Behavioral Change
Organizational versus Activational Effects of Hormones on Behavior and Development
Box 5.2. Measuring hormones in animals
Box 5.3. Do steroid hormones modulate male parental behavior in California mice?
Hormones and Reproduction
Testosterone and Reproductive Behavior
The Costs of Hormonal Regulation
Glucocorticoids and Responding to Environmental Change
Chapter 6. Avoiding Predators and Finding Food
Avoiding Predators
Social Defenses
Box 6.1. Evolutionary game theory
Game Theory and Social Defenses
Box 6.2. Game theory and the selfish herd
Blending In
Standing Out
Optimality Theory and Antipredator Behavior
Finding Food
Optimality Theory and Foraging Decisions
Box 6.3. Territoriality and feeding behavior in golden-winged sunbirds
Box 6.4. Optimal foraging by pike cichlid fish
Criticisms of Optimal Foraging Theory
Landscapes of Fear
Game Theory and Feeding Behavior
Chapter 7. Territoriality and Migration
Where to Live
Habitat Selection
Territoriality and Resource-Holding Potential
Box 7.1. How to track migratory songbirds
Why Give Up Quickly When Fighting for a Territory?
The Dear Enemy Effect
To Stay or Go
Dispersal
Box 7.2. Opposite patterns of sex-biased dispersal in mammals and birds
Migration
The Costs and Benefits of Migration
Box 7.3. Behaviors to reduce the costs of flying during migration
Variation in Migratory Behavior
Box 7.4. Migratory pathways of Swainson's thrush
Chapter 8. Principles of Communication
Communication and Animal Signals
Information Use and Animal Signals
The Evolution of Animal Signals
Preexisting Traits and the Development of a Strange Display
The Panda Principle and Preexisting Traits
Preexisting Biases and the Evolution of Animal Signals
Box 8.1. Spiders hunting prey at night
Preexisting Traits versus Preexisting Biases
Box 8.2. Why do female moths mate with males that produce ultrasonic mimetic signals similar to those produced by predatory bats?
The Function of Animal Signals
The Adaptive Function of a Strange Display
Honest Communication and Threat Displays
Honest Signaling
Box 8.3. Mechanisms and measurement of animal coloration
When Multiple Honest Signals Are Better Than One
Deceitful Signaling
Eavesdropping on Others
Chapter 9. Reproductive Behavior
Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Sex Differences
Sex Differences in Reproductive Behavior
Box 9.1. Are sperm always cheap?
Sex Differences and Parental Investment
A Reversal in Sex Differences
Intrasexual Selection and Competition for Mates
Competition and Access to Mates
Coexistence of Conditional Mating Tactics
Coexistence of Alternative Mating Strategies
Sperm Competition
Mate Guarding and Paternity Assurance
Intersexual Selection and Mate Choice
Female Mate Choice for Direct Benefits
Female Mate Choice for Indirect Benefits
Box 9.2. Sexual selection in the peacock
Runaway versus Chase-away Sexual Selection
Cryptic Female Choice
Sexual Conflict
The Manipulation of Female Choice
Sexual Arms Races
Chapter 10. Mating Systems
Monogamy: A Lack of Multiple Mating
Why Be Monogamous?
Monogamy in Species with Paternal Care
Monogamy When Paternal Care Is Rare
Polyandry: Multiple Mating by Females
Monogamous Males and Polyandrous Females
Box 10.1. Sexual parasitism, dwarf males, and the evolution of gigolos
Polyandry and Indirect Genetic Benefits
Box 10.2. Extra-pair paternity and good genes in birds
Polyandry and Direct Benefits
Polygyny: Multiple Mating by Males
Female Defense Polygyny
Resource Defense Polygyny
Lek Polygyny
Scramble Competition Polygyny
Box 10.3. Lekking females in a sex-role reversed pipefish
Polygynandry and Promiscuity: Multiple Mating by Both Sexes
Polygynandry
Promiscuity
Chapter 11. Parental Care
Offspring Value and Parental Investment
Parental Care Decisions
Parental Favoritism in Offspring Care and Production
Parental Favoritism in Humans
Family Conflict
To Care or Not to Care
The Costs and Benefits of Parental Care
Sexual Conflict and Parental Care: Who Cares?
Box 11.1. Why do females provide all of the care in treehoppers?
Why Do Females Care?
Why Do Males Care?
Box 11.2. Reactions of nest-defending bluegill males to potential egg and fry predators under two conditions
Discriminating Parental Care
Recognizing One's Own Offspring
Box 11.3. Why do parents in some species adopt genetic strangers of their own species?
Interspecific Brood Parasitism
Choosing the Correct Host
Coevolutionary Arms Races
The Evolution of Interspecific Brood Parasitism
Chapter 12. Principles of Social Evolution
Box 12.1. The major evolutionary transitions
Altruism and the Levels of Selection
Individual versus Group Selection
Altruism and the Role of Kin Selection
Box 12.2. Calculating genetic relatedness
Kin Selection and Inclusive Fitness Theory
Challenges to Kin Selection and Inclusive Fitness Theory
Box 12.3. Altruism in amoebae
Haplodiploidy and the Evolution of Eusociality
Testing the Haplodiploidy Hypothesis
Inclusive Fitness and Monogamy in Eusocial Insects
Box 12.4. Division of labor in clonal trematode flatworms
Sterility and Caste Differentiation
Social Conflict in Animal Societies
Reproductive Conflict
Chapter 13. Social Behavior and Sociality
The Evolution of Social Behavior
Forms of Social Behavior
Mutual Benefit
Box 13.1. How do groups of animals decide where to go?
Box 13.2. Social network analysis
Altruism and Reciprocity
Non-cooperative Social Behaviors: Selfishness and Spite
Individual Differences in Social Behavior
Personalities in Social Species
The Evolution of Cooperative Breeding
Reproductive Cooperation and Kin Selection
Reproductive Benefits and Cooperative Breeding
Box 13.3. Mobbing and kinship in groups of Siberian jays
Reproductive Costs and Cooperative Breeding
Reproductive Conflict in Cooperative Breeders
Reproductive Suppression
Reproductive Skew, Extra-pair Paternity, and Social Structure
Box 13.4. Why do males and females both have elaborate traits in social species? | https://www.biggerbooks.com/animal-behavior-11th-rubenstein-dustin-r/bk/9781605355481 |
How reproductive cooperation and altruism can evolve by natural selection is one of the most fundamental questions in biology. Several insights emanated from Inclusive Fitness Theory, developed in the 1960s and 1970s: cooperation can be stable when interacting parties are unrelated provided they all increase their reproductive success, but altruism cannot evolve unless parties are related. This is because biological altruism is ultimately self-serving rather than self-sacrificing when expressing reproductive success in gene-copy currency. This “gene’s-eye” view of adaptive social evolution predicts that organisms will appear as if designed by natural selection to maximize the sum of future-generation gene copies coding for social traits via two possible routes: by direct reproduction and/or via the reproduction of relatives after adjusting for the difference in relatedness to the offspring of relatives versus one’s own.
Another important development has been the establishment of the Major Transitions in Evolution paradigm in the 1990s. This way of looking at the emergence of life’s complexity emphasizes that there have been a limited number of crucial transitions: when bacterial microbes merged to become eukaryote protists; when some such protists became permanently multicellular animals, plants, fungi and algae; and when some animals such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites evolved superorganismal colonies. However, the Major Transitions concept has not been formally connected to Inclusive Fitness Theory, and it remains to be seen whether cooperation between individuals of the same species can be captured by the same theory as mutualisms between individuals of different species. What is clear, however, is that Major Transitions always involved fundamental aspects of cooperation and altruism, and that stable adaptive outcomes cannot be understood unless we also understand the regulation of possible reproductive conflicts from first principles.
The Focus Group will use different conceptual and empirical approaches to advance our general understanding of the processes by which different levels of organismality evolved and were elaborated as distinct units of selection, despite the omnipresent corrupting forces of internal conflict.
The members of the Focus Group are: Jacobus J. (Koos) Boomsma (Convener), Ashleigh Griffin, Nancy A. Moran, Howard Ochmann, David C. Queller, and Joan E. Strassmann. | https://www.wiko-berlin.de/en/becoming-a-fellow/fellowships/focus-groups/focus-groups-at-the-wissenschaftskolleg/schwerpunktgruppen-detail/die-grossen-uebergaenge-in-der-evolution-der-organismen |
Cover: Division of labour is a fundamental aspect of insect societies and other social systems. In colonies of the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi, for example, some worker ants form a tight nest cluster where the larvae are nursed, while others leave the nest to explore and forage for food. Each ant in this picture is tagged with two colour dots to facilitate individual behavioural observations. This Special Issue integrates recent research on the ultimate and proximate underpinnings of social behaviour across a wide range of biological systems (Kronauer and Levine, pp. 4–5). Photo: Daniel Kronauer.
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SPECIAL ISSUE: Evolution of social behaviour
INSIDE JEB
EDITORIAL
REVIEWS
Genetic conflicts: the usual suspects and beyond
Summary: Diverse genetic conflicts shape a myriad of biological processes, from host–pathogen interactions to successful inheritance of chromosomes. Despite this diversity, common evolutionary and biochemical principles may dictate the course of the majority of these conflicts.
The ecology and evolution of social behavior in microbes
Summary: To avoid misleading conclusions, the study of microbial social behavior must be grounded in ecology and account for eco-evolutionary feedback. Recent developments may facilitate this experimentally and inform theoretical frameworks.
Machine vision methods for analyzing social interactions
Summary: We review recent developments in machine vision for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior that have changed the scale and resolution with which we can dissect interactions between animals.
The neurogenetics of group behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: We highlight studies that exploited computational tools and the genetic accessibility and rich social life of Drosophila melanogaster to reveal molecular and neuronal determinants of social networks and collective behavior.
Phylogeny, environment and sexual communication across the Drosophila genus
Summary: We explore the relationship between life history, phylogeny and social communication of the Drosophila genus.
Caste development and evolution in ants: it's all about size
Summary: Morphological castes in ants vary as a function of size, which has far-reaching consequences for caste development and evolution.
Evolution of the asexual queen succession system and its underlying mechanisms in termites
Summary: Termite queens conditionally use sexual and asexual reproduction, where queens produce neotenic queens by parthenogenesis but use sexual reproduction to produce other colony members.
Individual versus collective cognition in social insects
Summary: This Review discusses how social insect colonies draw on both the cognition of their individual members and the interaction networks between these individuals to form collective cognition.
When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests
Summary: Ants and termites collectively build large nests with complex architecture. Here, we review the organisation of these structures and the mechanisms involved in their construction.
Modification of feeding circuits in the evolution of social behavior
Summary: Social behaviors are linked to foraging behavior on a behavioral and mechanistic level, and we propose that modifications of feeding circuits are crucial in the evolution of social behaviors.
Cognitive skills and the evolution of social systems
Summary: Animals interacting successfully use cognitive skills such as recognizing individuals, their social rank and logic as described here in a cichlid fish, and the neural bases of these skills are identified.
Intergenerational transmission of sociality: the role of parents in shaping social behavior in monogamous and non-monogamous species
Summary: In this paper, we review the ways in which parents shape social behavior in offspring, in both monogamous and non-monogamous mammals.
How social learning adds up to a culture: from birdsong to human public opinion
Summary: We review recent converging studies, across birdsongs and human cultures, about how social learning adds up to a stable but rich culture.
In the field: an interview with Harald Wolf
In our new Conversation, Harald Wolf talks about his fieldwork experiences working with desert ants in Tunisia to understand their navigation.
Propose a new Workshop
Our Workshops bring together leading experts and early-career researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Applications are now open to propose Workshops for 2024, one of which will be held in a Global South country.
Julian Dow steps down and John Terblanche joins the JEB team
After 15 years with the journal, Julian Dow from University of Glasgow, UK, is stepping down as a Monitoring Editor. We wish Julian all the best for the future and welcome John Terblanche, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who is joining the team. Julian talks about his long association with The Company of Biologists and the journal and John tells us about his life and career in this News article.
The capture of crude oil droplets by filter feeders at high and low Reynolds numbers
Researchers from the University of Montreal, Canada, reveal how tiny filter feeding barnacles and Daphnia entrap and consume minute droplets of crude oil, introducing the pollutant at the bottom of the food chain.
Patterns and processes in amphibious fish
In their Review, Keegan Lutek, Cassandra Donatelli and Emily Standen discuss the biomechanics and neural control of terrestrial locomotion in amphibious fish. They explore how locomotor mode depends on body shape, physical constraints and phylogeny. | https://cob.silverchair.com/jeb/issue/220/1 |
In his latest book (2014), “The Meaning of Human Existence,” Harvard Professor Edward O. Wilson, 85, makes an unwise remark: he calls Oxford Professor Richard Dawkins, 73, an “eloquent science journalist.” If Wilson’s intention had been to plea for higher standards in contemporary media reporting, then Dawkins’ exquisite communication skills, proficiency in science, sharp intellect, and always controversial presence (in the right journalistic sense), would have made him a robust role model for investigative journalism. But Wilson aimed at demeaning Dawkins by invoking the character of a profession, one that has given coverage to Wilson’s career during half a century.
The Guardian (U.K.) titled the Wilson vs. Dawkins exchange a “biological warfare.” Perhaps by now the reader realizes how journalistically treasured are these scuffles. But The Guardian’s story itself fed on a previous BBC2’s Newsnight interview, where Wilson reiterated his judgment about Dawkins. Via Twitter, Dawkins responded by reaching out to his one million followers: “anybody who thinks I’m a journalist, who reports what other scientists think –as Wilson described Dawkins’ work— is invited to read ‘The Extended Phenotype’.” The latter, published in 1982, is a follow up to the famous “The Selfish Gene” of 1976; both outstanding scientific contributions to theoretical biology.
Before going any further, it is indeed imprudent to use the term “science journalist” as a dishonor, to discredit a colleague, and to inattentively belittle a vital occupation.
The Wilson-Dawkins crossfire was triggered by Dawkins’ review of Wilson’s earlier book “The Social Conquest of Earth” of 2012. In it, Wilson drifted away from a well established concept in biology, called Kin Selection, which helps understand why organisms that cooperate with close relatives, more than with strangers, can improve survival and reproduction, thus leaving descendants who carry the traits that make them social and altruistic. The evolution of high sociality, cooperation, altruism and intelligence in the human animal are often explained under kin selection theory (natural selection ultimately favoring kin).
Kin selection is an experimentally documented phenomenon, supported by most evolutionary biologists, to the point that when Wilson and collaborators wrote an article for Nature, in 2010 (which became part of a contentious chapter in “The Social Conquest of Earth”), challenging the kin selection principle and suggesting that high cooperation and altruism can still evolve regardless of kinship, 137 world scientists authored and signed a debunk-letter-to-the-Wilson’s position, which Nature published the following year. [Note that in a paper published in PLoS Biology, March 23, 2015, authors Liao, Rong and Queller completely dismiss the Wilson’s team proposal of 2010; in fact, Liao et al. state that “all… apparently novel conclusions –in the Nature’s 2010 article– are essentially false”].
In the 2010 paper, Wilson and associates acknowledged that kin selection could still work, but that an alternative scenario based on a combination of individual and group selection, not necessarily closely related members, results in a mathematically sounder model than the “elderly” –ossified– kin selection. The same assertion appeared in Wilson’s “The Social Conquest of Earth,” about which Dawkins –after borrowing words attributed to American poet and satirist Dorothy Parker— declared: “this is not a book to be tossed lightly aside. It should be thrown with great force.” And sincere regret (Dawkins’ emphasis).
Creationists, of course, grew excited about the scientists’ disagreement. Not so fast. Evolution is true regardless of the dispute over kin selection [note that researchers are constantly reexamining hypotheses and paradigms, for example, see discussion about Standard Evolutionary Theory SET versus Extended Evolutionary Synthesis EES in Nature]. And both Wilson and Dawkins, as evolutionary biologists, are secular, openly and vigorously opposed to creationism, including Theistic Evolution, Creation Science, Intelligent Design, and Evolutionary Creation; all represent belief-based views of reality, which impose a Creator or Designer in the background of causality. Wilson and Dawkins have categorically stated that there is no scientific evidence in support of any style of creationism.
Unfortunately, the message Wilson sought to convey in “The Meaning of Human Existence” was eclipsed by the exchange with Dawkins; Ed threw unnecessary punches, while Richard diverted them back with customary power; a fight with no winner. And Wilson’s book is crucially important to raise awareness about the current dehumanization of academia at American universities, which seem committed to turning off the humanities (philosophy, history, archeology, anthropology, arts, law, literature and linguistics), dismantling the social sciences, and replacing them with for-profit, translational research to generate goods for patents and commercialization; a path leading to the extinction of curiosity-driven science and risk-taking ideas, which have modernized fundamental scientific work: wisdom driven.
In closing, Wilson makes an excellent connection between human evolution and the humanities. He reasons that our history and future survival as prosperous civilizations will depend on the integration of what we discover about ourselves via science, about our bodies, brains and cultures, and on what we internalize from such discoveries via the humanities, the sentinels of knowledge in society (including journalism, my emphasis). And he envisions the relevant humanities under no faith: “the best way to live in this real world is to free ourselves of demons and tribal gods.” — © 2014 by Guillermo Paz-y-Miño-C. all rights reserved. | https://evolutionliteracy.com/2014/11/ |
Altruism in Groups: Evolutionary Biological and Psychological Evidence
Seventy years ago, A. N. Whitehead wrote that “the art of life is first to be alive, secondly to be alive in a satisfactory way, and thirdly to acquire an increase in satisfaction.” Some contemporary evolutionary theorists have maintained that only the individual who is selfish in every respect will survive and thrive in what Whitehead called the art of life. Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson beg to differ.
In their widely influential book, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (1998), Sober and Wilson use research and reason to reshuffle the biological and psychological cards when addressing prevailing scientific assumptions about altruism and egoism. The hand they play makes their book, as Jeffrey Schloss proclaims, “one of the most controversial and significant books to emerge on human evolution, and on altruism, since the sociobiological revolution.”
Because this book has exerted broad influence in the few years since being published, I offer this summary review to those wanting to keep abreast of significant developments related to science and religion concerns.
Sober and Wilson argue that evolutionary theory solves problems related to biological and psychological egoism and altruism. The authors state succinctly the book’s agenda by claiming that “the case for evolutionary altruism requires showing that group selection has been an important force in evolution. The case for psychological altruism requires showing that an ultimate concern for the welfare of others is among the psychological mechanisms that evolve to motivate adaptive behavior” (6-7).
The focal point of the evolutionary solution they propose is group selection theory. In short, the theory says that individuals sometimes act altruistically toward fellow members within the group of which they are a part so that the group as a whole survives and thrives. Group selection theory, however, does not lead the authors “to paint a rosy picture of universal benevolence.” Instead, “group selection favors within group niceness and between group nastiness” (9).
Group selection theory is actually not a new theory. Until a number of biologists attacked the supposition in the 1960s, the theory had many adherents. In recent times, however, genetic individualism has prevailed. In turn, biological egoism has become orthodoxy in evolutionary biology; most biologists have regarded non-kin altruism as illusory. When individuals help others, so the current thinking goes, they do so exclusively either to receive benefits in return or promote their own genetic self-interest.
Sober and Wilson offer their book to report and extend “a transition in evolutionary thought” that accepts group selection as a biological basis for affirming altruism, a transition “that is already in full swing” (7). “Many evolutionary biologists continue to play the ‘group selection is dead’ song from the 1960s with the same fondness they have for the Beatles,” the authors wryly comment. “Little wonder then, that scholars from other disciplines who are interested in evolution have heard almost nothing about these scientific developments” (51).
Psychological altruism has also fallen on hard times. After all, if evolutionary altruism is absent in nature, many believe that there is no good reason to affirm psychological altruism as truly present in human nature. The influence that psychological egoist theory exerts, however, “far outreaches the evidence that has been mustered on its behalf,” argue the authors (2). “The idea that human behavior is governed entirely by self-interest and that altruistic motives don’t exist has never been supported by either a coherent theory or by a crisp and decisive set of observations” (8).
The book divides into two major parts. In the first, the author’s “task is show the behaviors that benefit others at the expense of self can evolve.” In the second part, their “task is to understand psychological mechanisms that evolve to motivate these adaptive behaviors” (17-18).
The basic point of the first chapter, “Altruism as a Biological Concept,” is that “altruism can evolve to the extent that altruists and non-altruists become concentrated in different groups” (26). This concentration allows for altruism to be maladaptive with respect to individual selection but adaptive with respect to group selection. “To be sufficient, the differential fitness of groups (the force favoring the altruist) must be strong enough to counter the differential fitness of individuals within groups (the force favoring the selfish types)” (26). In this way, altruism can evolve as selection occurs through groups. (The authors define a group as “a set of individuals that influence each other’s fitness with respect to a certain trait, but not the fitness of those outside the group” ).
The authors note that “despite the importance of motives in conventional definitions, evolutionary biologists define altruism entirely in terms of survival and reproduction” (17). This means that a behavior is altruistic when it increases the survival and reproductive fitness of others and decreases the survival and reproductive fitness of the actor.
Because of what the authors call “the averaging fallacy,” a problem arises when comparing altruism and egoism. The problem is that “a single trait can appear to be altruistic or selfish depending on whether fitnesses are compared within groups or averaged across groups and then compared” (32). “When one trait is more fit than another,” explain the authors, “this may be due to pure individual selection, to pure group selection, or to a mixture of the two. The description of the effect fails to specify what the causes were” (33). Sober and Wilson boldly assert that “the entire history of evolutionary biology in the last three decades, in which group selection was rejected while other frameworks became the foundation for the study of social behavior, would have been different if the averaging fallacy had been avoided” (157).
The authors claim that the “evolutionary study of social behavior during the last thirty years has reflected a massive confusion between alternative theories that evoke different processes, on the one hand, and alternative perspectives that view the same process in different ways, on the other” (57). The authors believe that it is now possible to offer, as the title of the second chapter puts it, “A Unified Evolutionary Theory of Social Behavior.” The key to this unified theory “is to achieve a legitimate pluralism in which the different processes are distinguished from ways of viewing the same process” (57).
To the end of achieving this legitimate pluralism, the authors consider several major biological theories, including kin selection, fitness theory, evolutionary game theory, selfish gene theory, and tit-for-tat strategies. These “theories were launched as alternatives to group selection,” argue Sober and Wilson, but they are “merely different ways of looking a evolution in group structured populations” (98). At the very least, the authors contend, group selection, as one selection mechanism level (“multi-level selection”), must be included in evolutionary biology’s pluralist family of theories.
The authors single out kin selection theory (which is the idea that individuals are only altruistic toward those to whom they are genetically related and therefore those who will pass on their genes) for particular appraisal. “For all its insights,” they maintain, “kin selection has led to the constricted view that genealogical related is the one and only mechanism for the evolution of altruism; because of this theory’s widespread acceptance, altruism has eclipsed adaptation as the central question of social biology. Multi-level selection theory expands the view by focusing on adaptation as the central question and examining the fundamental ingredients of natural selection … that are required for adaptations to evolve at all levels of the biological hierarchy. Altruism can be understood only in this context of broader framework” (158). “Replacing kin selection theory with multi-level selection theory,” remark the authors, “is like shutting off the spotlight and illuminating the entire stage” (332).
In the third chapter, the authors address directly how multi-level selection relates with adaptation. They offer a procedure that involves determining what would evolve if either (1) group selection or (2) individual selection were the only evolutionary force, and then (3) examining the basic ingredients of natural selection at each level of selection. “To the extent that a trait has evolved by natural selection,” explain Sober and Wilson, “steps one and two bracket the possibilities, with real populations lying somewhere in between. The third step involves examining the fundamental ingredients of natural selection at each level to see where the population is likely to lie between the two extremes of pure between group and pure within group selection. … This three step procedure makes it clear that group selection can be a significant evolutionary force in ways that do not require groups of genetic relatives” (157).
When following this three-step procedure, multi-level selection “furnishes a framework for understanding the evolution of our own species” (102). “When we view our own species through the lenses of multi-level selection theory,” the authors conclude, “we discover that human behavior cannot be placed, in its entirety, at one point on the continuum from pure group selection to pure individual selection” (130).
Sober and Wilson apply the theory of group selection to human evolution and behavior. After all, multi-level theory should also demand that human groups be evaluated in terms of the fundamental ingredients of natural selection. The authors conclude that “human social interactions among unrelated individuals are anything but random, and our ability to learn and to change our behavior according to what we learn provides a powerful mechanism for evolution of altruism and other group advantageous behaviors” (142).
In the final chapter of the book’s first part, “Human Groups as Adaptive Units,” the authors address specific human cultures. These cultures were evaluated and analyzed by a survey from the Human Relations Area Files, which is an anthropological database designed to facilitate cross-cultural comparisons. This intriguing chapter provides further strength to the group selection theory. “As strange as it may seem against the background of individualism,” conclude the authors, “the concept of human groups as adaptive units may be supported not only by evolutionary theory but by the bulk of empirical information on human social groups in all cultures around the world” (193). The authors summarize the chapter and the first part the book by saying that “at the behavioral level, it is likely that much of what people have evolved to do is for the benefit of the group” (194).
In the second part of Unto Others, the authors discuss altruism as an issue in psychology. They begin by defining terms. Psychological egoism is defined as the theory that all our ultimate desires are self-directed. Psychological altruism maintains that we sometimes care about others for their own sake. The two theories agree that people sometimes desire that others do well. However, note the authors, “the debate concerns whether such desires are always instrumental or are sometimes ultimate” (201).
The mind resides at the forefront of the altruism and psychology discussion. An evolutionary perspective on human behavior, claim the authors, requires one to “regard the human mind as a proximate mechanism for causing organisms to produce adaptive behaviors” (200). In particular, “beliefs and desires are items in the mind that produce behavior” (208). Yet, argue Sober and Wilson, “an organism need not have a mind to be an evolutionary altruist.” Furthermore, “you don’t have to beliefs and desires to be evolutionary altruist” (202).
The authors summarize their thought by saying that, “in the debate between egoism and altruism, everyone agrees that some of the desires that people have are egoistic in character. We have suggested that individuals are able to have these uncontroversial desires only if they have the concept of an ‘I.’ Being able to use this concept does not require self-awareness, but merely self-recognition. Organisms that form perpetual beliefs that represent objects in their environment in terms of how those objects are related to self may plausibly be thought of as employing the concept of ‘I'” (216-17).
In one of the most helpful and provocative chapters, Sober and Wilson examine, as the chapter title puts it, “Three Theories of Motivation.” The three theories they have in mind are hedonism, egoism, and altruism.
The authors define hedonism as the theory that “the only ultimate desires that people have are the desires to obtain pleasure and avoid pain.” “The distinctive feature of hedonism,” the authors add, “is that it says that ultimate desires are always solipsistic” (224).
Egoism is defined as the theory that “the only ultimate goals an individual has are self-directed; people desire their own well-being, and nothing else, as end in itself” (224). The point is made that, although all hedonists are egoists, not all egoists are hedonists. After all, an egoist may desire pain for herself and avoid experiencing personal pleasure.
Altruism is defined as the theory that “people sometimes care about the welfare of others as an end in itself.” The authors quickly note that they regard altruism as “part of the pluralistic theory of motivation that maintains that people have ultimate desires about others as well as about themselves.” This means that their version of altruism “is quite compatible with the existence of widespread selfishness” (228). However, pluralism and egoism, as they define them, are incompatible, because egoism claims that people ultimately desire nothing but their own well-being.
The authors remark that their theory of pluralistic motivation can be said to describe an organism’s behavior in two ways. “One possibility is that some of the actions the organism performs are caused solely by altruistic ultimate motives while others are caused just by egoistic ultimate motives.” Another possibility is that an organism’s actions “are caused by both altruistic and egoistic ultimate motives” (308).
Sober and Wilson examine the common practice of equating altruism and morality. They make several important claims. They claim that, first, morality does not always require one to sacrifice self-interest for the sake of others. Second, being motivated by an altruistic desire is not the same as being motivated by a moral principle. Third, altruistically motivated actions can be morally wrong, while selfishly motivated actions may be morally required. Finally, altruism, as the authors understand it, does not require that one care about the welfare of another for purely other-directed reasons: “the hypothesis does not rule out the possibility that instances of helping are sometimes or even always accompanied by ultimate motives that are self-directed” (246).
Chapters eight and nine are less provocative than previous chapters. The authors examine psychological evidence and determine that this evidence does not prove conclusively whether or not human beings ever have altruistic ultimate motives. The evidence, however, does not prove the egoist hypothesis either. The main reason that psychological evidence does not wholly confirm the truth of egoism or altruism (or pluralism) is that, according to the authors, introspection does not inerrantly reveal to us our ultimate desires. The authors draw the same conclusion when discussing the philosophical arguments regarding egoism and altruism (or pluralism) as they did when discussing the psychological evidence for the debate. That is, they conclude that philosophical arguments are inconclusive.
The book’s final chapter shows how evolutionary considerations bear on the question of psychological motivation. The authors intrepidly claim that “no version of egoism is plausible for organisms such as ourselves” (297), by which they apparently mean that egoism, when defined as the theory that the only ultimate goals an individual ever has are self-directed, is not plausible as an explanation of human behavior. At the center of the chapter’s discussion is the parent-child relationship. “We can conjecture that human parents typically want their children to do well—to live rather than die, to be healthy rather than sick, and so on,” state Sober and Wilson. “The question we will address is whether this desire is merely an instrumental desire in the service in some egoistic ultimate goal, or part of a pluralistic motivational system in which there is an ultimate altruistic concern for the child’s welfare. We will argue that there are evolutionary reasons to expect motivational pluralism to be the proximate mechanism for producing parental care in our species” (302). In fact, “parental care would be more reliably produced by purely altruistic motives than by purely hedonistic motives” (319).
In a chapter subsection entitled, “A Continuum of Cognitive Capacities,” the authors note that humans and other organisms are cognitively limited. The authors lay out a continuum in which a simple conditionable organism at one end of the continuum has no, or virtually no, cognitive abilities. At the other end of the continuum is the hypothetical individual with unlimited cognitive abilities. “Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that cognition began to evolve in organisms that already had the capacity to experience pleasure and pain,” the authors venture. “Even if the first organisms that had desires were hedonists, what circumstances could make it selectively advantageous for organisms to depart from the dictates of hedonism by having some of their behaviors regulated by purely altruistic motives?” (311) The answer given is that those organisms with greater cognitive resources might be motivated to be pluralistically motivated. In fact, the authors eventually contend that “pluralism was probably available ancestrally, if hedonism was” (322).
Those organisms with sophisticated cognitive abilities have greater capacity for, and reason to, act upon pluralistic motivations. “The obvious evolutionary strategy for an organism that can form reliable beliefs about its own body and about the welfare of relevant others,” conclude the authors, “is for it to set its eyes on the prize.” The organism’s “ultimate desire should include a concern for something that is far more important in terms of evolutionary success than the states of its own consciousness” (324).
The authors conclude their discussion of how psychological altruism evolved by tying together the example of the parent-child relationship with group selection theory. “Just as motivational pluralism is a plausible design solution for the problem of getting parents to take care of their children, so pluralism is a plausible design solution for the problem of getting members of a group to take care of each other” (326). In short, “evolution has made us motivational pluralists, not egoists or hedonists” (327). | https://www.metanexus.net/altruism-groups-evolutionary-biological-and-psychological-evidence/ |
Sleepy Hollow High School AP Biology students Emma Basha, Ibeth Alvarracin, Eliza Grose, Isabella Calix, Maria Vallejo, and AJ Casiano, accompanied by science teachers Leana Peltier and Michele Zielinski traveled to Rockefeller University on January 12th for the annual Talking Science presentation. This year’s presentation was given by Dr. Daniel Kronauer, the head of the Social Evolution and Behavior Laboratory on “The Social Lives of Ants”. Students learned that clonal raider ants, while being genetically identical, exhibit complex social behaviors and are often portrayed as “superorganisms”. The Kronauer lab uses clonal raider ants to study a number of broad questions: How did complex animal societies evolve from solitary ancestors? How does behavioral and developmental plasticity give rise to division of labor? How do individual ants produce, perceive, and process social signals? And how does the composition and network structure of social groups affect group-level properties and fitness? During the lunch session the students engaged in discussions with researchers as they navigated various interactive demonstrations. | https://www.tufsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=8&ModuleInstanceID=4419&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=10556&PageID=9 |
Genetic Risk Factors and Parental Responsibility
The interaction of nature and circumstance is very close, and it is impossible to separate them with precision. Nurture acts before birth, during every stage of embryonic and pre-embryonic existence, causing the potential faculties at the time of birth to be in some degree the effect of nurture. We need not, however, be hypercritical about distinctions; we know that the bulk of the respective provinces of nature and nurture are totally different, although the frontier between them may be uncertain, and we are perfectly justified in attempting to appraise their relative importance.
– Sir Francis Galton, (1883).
The nature versus nurture (or biology versus the environment) controversy has raged on for thousands of years. Modern science, however, has rejected this dichotomy as trivially false. It is not nature versus nurture, but nature through nurture. Both play essential roles in shaping organisms such as ourselves and they often interact with each other. However, as Galton remarked above, one could still discuss the relative merits of partial biological and environmental explanations. When people reduce the complex interaction of biology, psychology, biological and social environment to “mostly biology” or “mostly environment”, they are perpetually restraining humanity into the black-and-white cage that is nature versus nurture, despite paying lip service to modern science. Worse is that “mostly biology” is incorrectly interpreted as some form of genetic determinism, whereas “mostly environment” is erroneously conceived as the notion of the blank slate and the hail of vitriolic straw man arguments begin. The fact that some Internet commentators, journalists and other interested parties do not have sufficient scientific understanding, especially with regards to biology and psychology, makes it even more troubling. This, in turn, leads to a lot of misunderstandings about the science.
Clearly not the best setup for an intellectually productive discussion.
Generally speaking, genes work as risk factors. That is, the presence of a certain genetic background does not determine that the person will develop a certain physical or mental condition or set of personality traits. Rather, it should be understood as increasing the likelihood if all other factors remain constant. To be sure, there are situations when the presence of a certain genetic mutation will almost invariably result in a specific single-gene disorder (like Huntington’s disease), but these are exceptions, rather than the rule. For many conditions and traits, the environment are not a constant across everyone with a particular genetic background.
The environment often varies and it provides another layer of risk factors. Because of other factors, people exposed to the same environment may differ. To be sure, certain environmental influences, like getting decapitated, will invariably result in the same outcome (i .e. death), but this is again exceptions. Certain individuals with more genetic or biological risk factors may develop a condition after a certain environmental influence, whereas those without it may not develop the condition in question. A textbook example of this is the condition known as phenylketonuria (PKU).
The genetic risk factor for PKU is a mutated version of a gene coding for the enzyme known as phenylalanine hydroxylase that catalyze the hydroxylation of the amino acid phenylalanine to tyrosine. When this is non-functional, phenylalanine accumulates and is converted to phenylketones. This in turn causes mental retardation, brain damage and seizures. An incredibly successful treatment is a diet free of phenylalanine and monitoring of the blood levels of this amino acid. To get stuck in the nature versus nurture or even the “mostly biological” versus “mostly environmental” dichotomy would be unproductive, because it would miss the point entirely. Both biological and environmental factors are crucial and their interaction is often forgotten or ignored.
PKU is a fairly simple case. In most other cases, it is far more complex. On the biological side, you may have hundreds or thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms that contribute to the genetic background rather than just a single mutated gene. The gene products may also interact with each other, resulting in a stronger effect together than any of the did alone. On the environmental side, there may likewise be thousands of different environmental influences, from the very early periods of gestation. These two categories are also not strictly separate, as genes exist in the environment of other genes, and environment can regulate genes. Interactions between biology and environment is of utmost importance.
When it comes to mental conditions, a third layer of complexity is added called psychology. Psychological factors influencing mental conditions may themselves influence or be influenced by biology and environment, but may also have important effects on the development, maintenance and treatment of mental conditions in their own right.
It is important to understand that investigating and pointing to contributing explanations from biology is just a way to illuminate them in order to better understand the different influences and to find ways to prevent, modify or treat whatever it is being investigated. It is not an attempt to trivialize crucial contributing explanations from environment. There is rarely an “either-or”. There is only “together with”.
Equipped with this understanding, let us look at a popular misunderstanding: the notion that attributing a given condition to contributing factors from biology means giving up or dismissing parental responsibility. This issue can come up when discussing the heritability of mental conditions or personality traits. These are usually moderately large. Those that interpret this as an attack on the relevance of environment in influencing mental conditions and personality traits are uneasy with these results. However, this need not be the case. Heritability is the proportion of phenotypic variation that can be attributed to genetic variation in a population. Heritability is a property of populations and does not correspond to the degree to which the genetic background influenced the given trait in a given individual. For instance, the heritability of egg production is only about 0.1 (Brooker, 2012) . Does this mean that genes have almost nothing to do with egg production in poultry? Not at all. If it did, we would never have bothered with artificial selection for egg production in the first place. The thing that explains this peculiar fact is that artificial selection has reduced genetic variation in the population of poultry so that environmental variation accounts for more of the variation in egg production than does the genetic variation. A second lesson is that heritability estimates may vary from population to population. The heritability of height is much larger in Australia than in China (Lai, 2006). Is this because Australia has especially deterministic genes influencing height? Of course not. It is because in China, the variation in nutrients is a more important factor for the variation in height. I will discuss a review on the many myths surrounding heritability in a later article.
Conclusion
Heritability only tells us what proportion of population variation in a trait is due to the genetic variation in a population. A heritability value of, say, 0.6 does not mean that 60% of the trait of an individual is due to genes. This means that we can, without contradiction, accept the notion that various physical and mental conditions as well as personality traits have a moderately high heritability, while retaining the position that environmental influences (such as parenting) matters for the individual. This is because high heritability of a trait in a population does not imply that the trait is strongly determined by genetics. Also, the existence of genetic risk factors for a specific condition or trait should not make us dismiss parental responsibility. Quite the opposite, it shows the value of parenting (and environment at large) in order to reduce environmental risk factors that may, together with any genetic risk factors in the individual, trigger or influence the condition.
References and Further Reading
Brooker, R. J. (2012). Genetics: Analysis and Principles. New York: McGraw-Hill, Fourth edition.
Lai, C-Q. (2006). How much of human height is genetic and how much is due to nutrition? Scientific American. Accessed: 2012-06-02. | https://debunkingdenialism.com/2012/06/02/genetic-risk-factors-and-parental-responsibility/ |
Scientists estimate that 20 to 60 percent of temperament is determined by genetics. Temperament, however, does not have a clear pattern of inheritance and there are not specific genes that confer specific temperamental traits.
Is personality based on biology?
Based on Hans Eysenck’s theory, there is a biological basis to personality, and Personality differences arise from genetic heritage [62,115]. The Eysenck’s model has three super-factors that are independent constructs: extraversion, neuroticism and Psychoticism.
What biological factors affect personality?
By and large, the influences of biological factors on personality structure are limited and indirect. The biological factors include genetic, hereditary factors, physical appearance and physique and rate of maturation.
What role does biology play in personality?
The biological perspective on personality emphasizes the internal physiological and genetic factors that influence personality. It focuses on why or how personality traits manifest through biology and investigates the links between personality, DNA, and processes in the brain.
Is human behavior genetic or learned?
Genes influence each individual’s behavioral and psychological characteristics, including intellectual ability, personality, and risk for mental illness—all of which have bearing on both parents and children within a family.
Is personality based on nature or nurture?
In fact, the major influence on personality is nonshared environmental influences, which include all the things that occur to us that make us unique individuals. These differences include variability in brain structure, nutrition, education, upbringing, and even interactions among the genes themselves.
How much of our personality is genetic?
Abstract. Human personality is 30–60% heritable according to twin and adoption studies. Hundreds of genetic variants are expected to influence its complex development, but few have been identified.
How does DNA affect personality?
The key to personality traits does not lie in how you were treated by your parents, but rather in what you inherited biologically from them: namely, the genes in your DNA. He finds that genetic heritability accounts for 50% of the psychological differences between us, from personality to mental abilities.
Can biological factors predict personality?
Studies have concluded that human personalities and temperaments are shaped by both genetics and our environment; while we may be born with certain personality traits, there still is the possibility to develop others as we experience life.
Where does your personality come from?
So whether you’d like to admit it or not, much of your personality comes from your parents. In fact, for humans, about half of the differences in personality are genetic, Soto said. The rest of the variability in personality comes from your environment, such as life experiences and birth order.
What makes up a person’s personality?
Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability.
Does biology affect behavior?
Behavior can be largely explained in terms of biology (e.g., genes/hormones). Human genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behavior to the environment. Therefore, most behavior will have an adaptive / evolutionary purpose.
What is the connection between biology and behavior?
On the one hand, biology influences behavior. For example, psychopharmacology has demonstrated the importance of neurochemical substances in the brain, and sociobiology has emphasized the role of genetic factors in behavior. On the other hand, behavior also influences biology.
How does biology affect psychology?
The biological perspective is a way of looking at psychological issues by studying the physical basis for animal and human behavior. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, immune system, nervous system, and genetics.
Are you born with your personality or does it develop?
Most modern personality models agree that the foundation of your personality is your biology. Your experiences and environment help you develop other aspects of your personality from that point on. In other words, you’re not born with a set personality.
Are humans violent by nature or nurture?
Not only the genetic make-up, but environmental factors also influence human behavior. It is well known that early-childhood environment also influences the later-life predisposition toward violent behaviors.
Does behavior depend on genes?
Genes do not specify behavior directly, but rather encode molecular products that build and govern the functioning of the brain through which behavior is expressed.
Is personality innate or learned?
A person’s overall personality starts with an inborn disposition yet changes over time as a person interacts with their environment. In other words, a person’s overall personality is made up of both natural (inborn) and adaptive (learned) traits.
Are personality traits caused by genes or environment?
Personality traits are complex, and research suggests that genetic and environmental factors shape traits. 3 These two forces interact in various ways to form our individual personalities.
Why personality is both nature and nurture?
Research has shown that one’s genes and their environment are inextricably intertwined, suggesting that both nature and nurture are important. The interplay between a person’s inherited temperament, which defines how they think, and their environment constantly reshapes personality.
Is personality acquired or inherited?
Although we do inherit our genes, we do not inherit personality in any fixed sense. The effect of our genes on our behaviour is entirely dependent on the context of our life as it unfolds day to day. Based on your genes, no one can say what kind of human being you will turn out to be or what you will do in life.
Does your environment affect your personality?
It is true that environmental influences, including parenting, affect personality. Based on genetic data, researchers have concluded that environment accounts for approximately 50 to 70 percent of personality.
Does your biology influence your personality quizlet?
Does biology influence personality? Yes; brain arousal is low, frontal lobe less active and dopamine levels are higher for extroverts. A questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors used to assess personality traits.
Is intelligence genetic?
Researchers have previously shown that a person’s IQ is highly influenced by genetic factors, and have even identified certain genes that play a role. They’ve also shown that performance in school has genetic factors.
Are the Big 5 personality traits genetic?
According to twin studies, around 40–60% of the variance in the Big Five is heritable,5, 6, 7 with some overlap in heritability between personality traits themselves. | https://scienceoxygen.com/is-personality-based-on-genetics/ |
Nature vs. Nurture
The expression “nature vs. nurture” describes the question of how much a person's characteristics are formed by either “nature” or “nurture.” “Nature” means innate biological factors (namely genetics), while “nurture” can refer to upbringing or life experience more generally.
Traditionally, “nature vs. nurture” has been framed as a debate between those who argue for the dominance of one source of influence or the other, but contemporary experts acknowledge that both “nature” and “nurture” play a role in psychological development and interact in complex ways.
Contents
The Meaning of Nature vs. Nurture
The wording of the phrase “nature vs. nurture” makes it seem as though human individuality—personality traits, intelligence, preferences, and other characteristics—must be based on either the genes people are born with or the environment in which they grew up. The reality, as scientists have shown, is more complicated, and both these and other factors can help account for the many ways in which individuals differ from each other.
What does the phrase “nature vs. nurture” get wrong?
The words “nature” and “nurture” themselves can be misleading. Today, “genetics” and “environment” are frequently used in their place—with one’s environment including a broader range of experiences than just the nurturing received from parents or caregivers. Further, nature and nurture (or genetics and environment) do not simply compete to influence a person, but often interact with each other; “nature and nurture” work together. Finally, individual differences do not entirely come down to a person’s genetic code or developmental environment—to some extent, they emerge due to messiness in the process of development as well.
How do nature and nurture work together?
A person’s biological nature can affect a person’s experience of the environment. For example, a person with a genetic disposition toward a particular trait, such as aggressiveness, may be more likely to have particular life experiences (including, perhaps, receiving negative reactions from parents or others). Or, a person who grows up with an inclination toward warmth and sociability may seek out and elicit more positive social responses from peers. These life experiences could, in turn, reinforce an individual’s initial tendencies. Nurture or life experience more generally may also modify the effects of nature—for example, by expanding or limiting the extent to which a naturally bright child receives encouragement, access to quality education, and opportunities for achievement.
How does epigenetics relate to “nature vs. nurture”?
Epigenetics—the science of modifications in how genes are expressed—illustrates the complex interplay between “nature” and “nurture.” An individual’s environment, including factors such as early-life adversity, may result in changes in the way that parts of a person’s genetic code are “read.” While these epigenetic changes do not override the important influence of genes in general, they do constitute additional ways in which that influence is filtered through “nurture” or the environment.
The Nature-vs.-Nurture Debate
Theorists and researchers have long battled over whether individual traits and abilities are inborn or are instead forged by experiences after birth. The debate has had broad implications: The real or perceived sources of a person’s strengths and vulnerabilities matter for fields such as education, philosophy, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. Today’s consensus—that individual differences result from a combination of inherited and non-genetic factors—strikes a more nuanced middle path between nature- or nurture-focused extremes.
How old is the nature-nurture debate?
The debate about nature and nurture has roots that stretch back at least thousands of years, to Ancient Greek theorizing about the causes of personality. During the modern era, theories emphasizing the role of either learning and experience or biological nature have risen and fallen in prominence—with genetics gaining increasing acknowledgment as an important (though not exclusive) influence on individual differences in the later 20th century and beyond.
Where does the phrase “nature vs. nurture” come from?
“Nature versus nurture” was used by English scientist Francis Galton. In 1874, he published the book English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture, arguing that inherited factors were responsible for intelligence and other characteristics.
What is genetic determinism?
Genetic determinism emphasizes the importance of an individual’s nature in development. It is the view that genetics is largely or totally responsible for an individual’s psychological characteristics and behavior. The term “biological determinism” is often used synonymously.
What is the “blank slate” view in psychology?
The blank slate (or “tabula rasa”) view of the mind emphasizes the importance of nurture and the environment. Notably described by English philosopher John Locke in the 1600s, it proposed that individuals are born with a mind like an unmarked chalkboard and that its contents are based on experience and learning. In the 20th century, major branches of psychology proposed a primary role for nurture and experience, rather than nature, in development, including Freudian psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
How Genetic and Environmental Factors Are Identified
Modern scientific methods have allowed researchers to advance further in understanding the complex relationships between genetics, life experience, and psychological characteristics, including mental health conditions and personality traits. Overall, the findings of contemporary studies underscore that with some exceptions—such as rare diseases caused by mutations in a single gene—no one factor, genetic or environmental, solely determines how a characteristic develops.
How can we tell what portion of psychological differences are due to genes?
Scientists use multiple approaches to estimate how important genetics are for any given trait, but one of the most influential is the twin study. While identical (or monozygotic) twins share the same genetic code, fraternal (or dizygotic) twins share about 50 percent of the same genes, like typical siblings. Scientists are able to estimate the degree to which the variation in a particular trait, like extraversion, is explained by genetics in part by analyzing how similar identical twins are on that trait, compared to fraternal twins. (These studies do have limitations, and estimates based on one population may not closely reflect all other populations.)
Which is more important, “nature” or “nurture”?
It’s hard to call either “nature” or “nurture,” genes or the environment, more important to human psychology. The impact of one set of factors or the other depends on the characteristic, with some being more strongly related to one’s genes—for instance, autism appears to be more heritable than depression. But in general, psychological traits are shaped by a balance of interacting genetic and non-genetic influences.
Is mental illness due to genes or the environment?
Both genes and environmental factors can contribute to a person developing mental illness. Research finds that a major part of the variation in the risk for psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and schizophrenia can be attributed to genetic differences. But not all of that risk is genetic, and life experiences, such as early-life abuse or neglect, may also affect risk of mental illness (and some individuals, based on their genetics, are likely more susceptible to environmental effects than others).
Is personality shaped more by genes or by the environment?
Like other psychological characteristics, personality is partly heritable. Research suggests less than half of the difference between people on measures of personality traits can be attributed to genes (one recent overall estimate is 40 percent). Non-genetic factors appear to be responsible for an equal or greater portion of personality differences between individuals. Some theorize that the social roles people adopt and invest in as they mature are among the more important non-genetic factors in personality development. | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/nature-vs-nurture |
In 1990, Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota published a striking finding: About 70 percent of the variance in IQ found in their particular sample of identical twins was found to be associated with genetic variation. Furthermore, identical twins reared apart were eerily similar to identical twins reared together on various measures of personality, occupational and leisure-time interests, and social attitudes.
Bouchard's study, along with many others, has painted a consistent picture: Genes matter. The studies say nothing about how they matter, or which genes matter, but they show quite convincingly that they indeed do matter. Genes vary within any group of people (even among the inhabitants of middle-class in Western society), and this variation contributes to variations in these people's behaviors.
Let's be clear: Twin studies have received much criticism. Even though the proliferation of advanced statistical techniques (such as structural equation modeling) and the implementation of additional controls have allayed some of the concerns, they haven't allayed all of the them.
Even so, the findings from twin studies should not be understated; it counters many a prevailing belief that we are born into this world as blank slates, completely at the mercy of the external environment. Because our psychological characteristics reflect the physical structures of our brains and because our genes contribute to those physical structures, there are unlikely to be any psychological characteristics that are completely unaffected by our DNA.
The fact that both our genes and our environment contribute to who we are and depend on each other is actually quite a good thing! Give too much control to our environment or our genes, and we lose free will. The way we work gives us choice.
Unfortunately, findings from twin studies are often misunderstood, misinterpreted and blown out of proportion -- not just by the media, but even by serious scientists who get their work published. To put things in perspective, I teamed up with the well-known developmental psychologist at Pitzer College, David S. Moore, to list eight facts about genes, twin studies, and the heritability statistic that may come as a surprise to many people -- even biologists!
- Genes, By Themselves, Can't Determine Anything
Twin studies partition the variance in nature and the variance in nurture. This allows researchers to determine whether differences in genes or differences in the environment in a particular population are associated with more of the differences in observed behavior.
In reality, all biological and psychological characteristics are constructed during development, when genes interact with local environmental factors that can be influenced by the broader environment. Therefore, gene-environment interactions are understood to drive the development of all of our characteristics. Naked DNA (or RNA) is simply not sufficient to produce psychological or biological traits.
Therefore, when it comes to understanding the development of a trait in a particular person, nature can never be separated from nurture. Science writer Matt Ridley has put it this way:
[Genes] are devices for extracting information from the environment. Every minute, every second, the pattern of genes being expressed in your brain changes, often in direct or indirect response to events outside the body. Genes are the mechanisms of experience.
The authors of many twin studies have claimed that the environments experienced by twins (or any two siblings) do little to create differences in intelligence and personality as adults. Somehow, this finding translates to the media as "parenting doesn't matter." This couldn't be farther from the truth.
Take the most essential element: a child needs to be raised in a family, almost any kind of family, to develop the ability to speak a language. Since every single person in twin studies checks that box -- that is, they are raised in a family of some sort -- this factor never varies and thus does not predict differences in ability to speak a language. But does this mean that the variable "has a family" doesn't matter in determining whether or not a person develops the ability to speak a language? Of course not! That's like saying that water has no influence on a fish's development because all fish live in water. Just because a variable doesn't vary doesn't mean it has no causal impact on a particular outcome.
The parenting factors that are statistically associated with differences between individuals should never be confused with the parenting factors that cause the development of a trait within an individual. Genes could "account for" 100 percent of the variability in a trait in a particular twin study, but this does not mean that environmental factors are therefore unimportant in the development of the trait; parents still matter and will always matter.
It turns out that parenting matters, just in a way different than originally assumed. Genes matter to the extent that they support parenting, because like any other behavior, parenting behaviors are influenced by the genes. Parents matter to the extent that they support the expression of genes.
None of the twins in Bouchard's study were reared in real poverty, were raised by illiterate parents, or were mentally retarded. There is reason to believe that under more dire circumstances, the heritability of IQ would be significantly lower than that reported by Bouchard. After all, if everyone were raised in an identical environment, variations in their psychological characteristics couldn't possibly be accounted for by anything other than variations in their genes (since there would be no variations in their developmental environments); the more variation in environments that twins in twin studies are exposed to, the lower the heritabilities we should expect to find.
In one study, Eric Turkheimer and colleagues studied 320 pairs of 7-year-old twins who were raised in extreme poverty. Among the poorest, the shared environment accounted for most of the differences in IQ (60 percent), and the genes accounted for very little. Consequently, in this study, the heritability of IQ was reported to be close to zero! Among the richest, however, the heritability of IQ approached what Bouchard found: Variations in the genes accounted for most of the differences in IQ scores, and the shared environment accounted for very little of the variance. This study points to the fact that estimates of heritability depend on the sample that is studied, and the environment of that sample.
Turkheimer's study should also be a reminder that just because something is heritable doesn't mean it's immutable. The Flynn effect -- the dramatic rise in IQ witnessed in the 20th century -- is a good example of that. The Flynn effect should be a reminder of just how much the environment matters, even after completely controlling for genes (by looking at IQ changes across generations).
This raises a deeper point: Depending on what you hold constant, you can either show a genetic contribution or an environmental contribution. The point is that both are always contributing to the development of any trait, and context matters in which accounts for more of the differences in a trait.
The heritability of a trait can vary from 0.00 to 1.00, depending on the environments from which research participants are sampled. Because we know that genes play some role in the development of any trait, the precise heritability estimate doesn't matter in a practical sense.
Heritability depends on the amount of variability in the environmental factors that contribute to a trait. The problem is that our understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of human traits in general -- and to IQ in particular -- is currently so deficient that we typically do not know if the environmental factors important in the development of a particular trait are stable across testing situations, vary somewhat across those situations, or vary wildly across those situations.
Even if a population of individuals were to develop in a range of environments believed to be the same as that in which a particular study was conducted, the results of that study would not allow us to predict developmental outcomes in the new range of environments because the environmental factors that the researchers originally focused on -- and controlled for -- might not be the relevant environmental factors at all.
Instead, the crucial environmental factors might remain unmeasured, and consequently, variability of those factors across the new range of environments could easily be very different than the variability of those factors across the environments sampled in the original study.
Of course, we could just aim to measure all of the environmental factors that might affect the development of a trait. But it is not at all obvious prior to developmental analysis which environmental factors might make important contributions to the development of specific traits, so that approach would leave us measuring a seriously unwieldy number of variables.
Because the development of behavioral and psychological characteristics can be influenced by experiential factors in ways that are unpredictable from casual observation, we cannot hope to happen to measure -- through sheer lucky guesswork -- which environmental factors contribute importantly to the development of those characteristics; we first need to understand the mechanisms by which those traits develop.
Environmental factors influence the development of highly heritable traits just as much as they influence the development of non-heritable traits (i.e. a trait like height, which is highly heritable in most developed nations, is very affected by environmental factors, like diet). Likewise, as can be seen from the example below, genetic factors influence the development of non-heritable traits just as much as they influence the development of highly heritable traits.
In fact, the least heritable features of human nature may be those that appear to be the most genetically determined! Consider the fact that having 5 fingers on each of our hands is not a particularly heritable characteristic (because most finger number variations in humans are attributable not to genetic variation, but to variations in experiences, such as accidents). Nonetheless, it is quite obvious that genetic factors play a role in determining the number of fingers we have on each of our hands!
Because heritability is a population statistic, it has nothing to say about the individual. It makes no sense to ask whether a particular individual's intelligence has been more determined by nature or by nurture. As already stated, every trait develops through the interplay of genes and the environment. Nature and nurture are complementary, not at odds.
Because adoption and twin studies that seek to account for trait variation in terms of genetic and environmental variation are always correlational, they reveal nothing about the causes of the appearance of the traits.
Adoption studies and twin studies do not entail the purposeful manipulation of either specific genes or specific environmental factors. Hence, such studies are unable to generate satisfying understandings of the factors and processes that contribute to the development of intelligence.
It's important to keep in mind that the route from genotype (genetic makeup) to phenotype (observed behavior) is hardly ever clear-cut. It's possible for many traits to involve gene-environment correlations. The idea here is that environments set off an appetite in the genes that nudges individuals to engage in certain experiences, and the environment then responds in a reciprocal fashion that reinforces an individual's nature. The genes and environment eventually become correlated.
It's very easy to imagine how slight genetic predispositions can get magnified through the course of development by the environment. Imagine if you were born slightly taller than others (maybe you don't have to imagine this!). You get picked first for the basketball team, whereas your smaller friends may not get picked at all. This would give you more experience in basketball, which increase the chances you'd get picked first for another team. Those who repeatedly don't get picked for the basketball team may invest in other skills, such as physics or art. This cycle continues to magnify observed ability differences in basketball between those who keep getting opportunities to increase their skills and those who didn't get picked that first time. The rich tend to get rich, and the poorer tend to get poorer. The causal route from genes to behavior is often very complex!
Heritability does not tell us how likely it is that people's characteristics will be inherited by their children. Because traits that are 100 percent heritable can nonetheless be strongly influenced by environmental factors, it is not the case that a trait found to be heritable in a particular twin study will be passed from a given pair of parents to their children. Let's imagine that a study of alcoholism in the United States finds that the vast majority of the variation in people's tendencies to drink to excess can be accounted for by variation in their genes. If we then take a baby, newly born to a pair of alcoholic American parents, and raise it in a small village in southern India where it never encounters alcohol across its lifespan, it will not develop alcoholism. We often talk as if we "inherit" full-blown traits from our parents, like eye colors, nose shapes and shyness. But all that we actually inherit from our parents are our genes and our genes' (and our) environments, factors that then construct full-blown traits during development. Consequently, it doesn't matter how heritable a trait is; if development of the offspring occurs in a different environment than the parent developed in, most bets are off.
Does Heritability Have Any Practicality?
We hope these eight facts have cleared up some misunderstandings. After reading these facts, it might be reasonable to ask, "Does the heritability coefficient have any practical value?"
At the very least, heritability tells us how much of the variation in IQ can be accounted for by variation in genetic factors when development occurs in an exquisitely specific range of environments. However, David S. Moore has argued that even this is not significant when we realize that the magnitude of any heritability statistic reflects the extent of variation in unidentified non-genetic factors that contribute to the development of the trait in question.
Because we cannot assess the variability (across our testing environments) of all the yet-to-be-identified non-genetic factors that influence IQ, Moore argues that estimates of the heritability of IQ are effectively uninterpretable and unable to be applied in any appropriate way. As Moore puts it in his journal article:
Many psychologists continue to compute heritability statistics without questioning what exactly it is that they reveal to us. Unfortunately, careful consideration of these statistics suggests that they might not be applicable in any meaningful way, and so, consequently, are uninteresting at best and misleading at worst.
Some of the most well-known behavioral geneticists, including Thomas Bouchard, Jr., recognize that it's time to move beyond heritability estimates. A currently active area of research is the study of epigenetics, and how the many interacting genes that make up any trait are differentially activated depending on the environment. Nature and nurture are inextricably intertwined, and it's time for science to figure out how.
Recommended Reading
Bouchard, , T.J., Lykken, D.T., McGue, M., Segal, N.L., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota Study of twins reared apart. Science, 250, 223-228.
Deary, I.J., Penke, L., & Johnson, W. (2010). The neuroscience of human intelligence differences. Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, 11, 201-211.
Harris, J.R. (1999). The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out The Way They Do. New York, NY: Free Press.
Johnson, W. (2007). Genetic and environmental influences on behavior: Capturing all the interplay. Psychological Review, 114, 423-440.
Johnson, W., Turkheimer, E., Gottesman, I.I., & Bouchard, T.J., Jr. (2009). Beyond heritability: Twin studies in behavioral research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 217-220.
Moore, D.S.. (2003) The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of "Nature vs. Nurture." New York, NY: Times Books/Henry Holt & Co.
Moore, D.S. (2006). A very little bit of knowledge: Re-evaluating the meaning of the heritability of IQ. Human Development, 49, 347-353.
Pinker, S. (2003). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York, NY: Viking.
Ridley, M. (2004). Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Turkheimer, E., Haley, A., Waldron, M., Onofio, B, & Gottesman, I.I. (2003). Socioeconomic status modifies heritability of IQ in young children. Psychological Science, 14, 623-628. | https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nature-vs-nurture_b_837915 |
Because these designer babies have healthy cells, their life span is longer than the normal ones. Third, they are intellectually enhanced. Compared to normal people, the demand of designer babies in a company will increase, they get the job while those who were born without undergoing a genetic enhancement process will loose the job because they are considered incompetent compared to designer babies. Fourth, the parents have a chance to choose the gender of their child. They will claim that it will create balance in the family but they will not realize that it will also create imbalance between the population of male and female in the society.
Impact on children The importance of fathers and the degree of contact with their children can be essential in the development of children. People go through many stages of development. According to Erik Erikson (1902-1994) who was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, known for theories about the social development of man, it is important to resolve the conflicts that occur during each stage of development to be able to continue to the next stage of development. Identity develops within a psychosocial context. As the child grows up, they come in contact with a more complex social network of family, neighbors, teachers and friends, all of which have an influence on the establishment of the identity.
One of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology is the Nature vs Nurture debate. We know that both nature and nurture play important roles in human development, but we have not known yet whether we are developed majorly because of nature or due to nurture. Nature is the coding of genes in each cell in us humans that determines the different traits that we have, such as eye color, hair color, height, and many other traits. The nurture theory holds that genetic influence over abstract traits may exist; however, the environmental factors are the real origins of our behavior. This includes the use of conditioning in order to induce a new behavior to a child, or alter an unlikely behavior being shown by the child.
For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents?
Nature is the genetics in which a child inherits from their ancestors through DNA. Certain traits, such as intelligence, are proven to be passed through nature. Others however, such as anger, are debated both ways. Nurture is the external factors in one’s upbringing, including one’s environment, family, and culture. Both of these factors are proven to be the cause of a child’s disposition later in life, through the novel Frankenstein.
They may be extremely timid or a frantic fireball and that might depend on what their parents let them do and how free they feel in their life. Though a child’s personality is developed through genetics and peer grouping, different parenting styles impact their world view and the manner in which they interact with each other. There are four main types of parenting: authoritarian, indulgent, disengaged, and helicopter. All of these styles have different effects on children and how they see things. Authoritarian Parents These types of parents are usually sterner and controlling such as setting more rules around the house.
Men are normally taller and have more muscle tone or are just normally muscular, while women are normally more slim and have more curvy bodys compared to men. I believe that a great divide does exist between men and women; however, I feel that the divide comes from how we are raised as children that creates the divide as well. At a young age we are told how we should act and certain things that each gender
Another example would be if a child’s parent gets a raise or a promotion the parent will be able to give the child a better way of living. The last level of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory is known as the macrosystem. This level is the largest level and might not seem to have such a great affect on a child, but even though it doesn’t seem like it has an effect on a child it can be the level that has the most affect on a child. This level has a great influence on a child’s development. Like all the other levels the level can also affect a child either positive or negatively.
It is possible to affect your happiness Our happiness is conditioned by a multitude of factors that impact on us since our birth. Each of us has the ability to modify some of these factors and thus affect their happiness. Everything is connected, one pulls the other, the other pulls the third, and so on. Therefore we can say that there is a reason why someone like that a someone or that. Of course it has a bias and that despite the best education, some children become examples of unfortunate people, while others have lived next to a lot of pain fail to walk the path of happiness.
However, Scott Shane (2010) may refute Bronfenbrenner’s ideology as he believes that genes play the major role in deciding an individual’s personality and traits. One of his reasons was the experiment between twins where even though they were raised apart, eventually were drawn to the same occupations. Scott Shane does raise a valuable point, however, I still believe that genes play the role on shaping our physical traits but not mentally. You see, if a child is kinesthetically talented, obviously the child would be drawn to activities such as dancing or drawing for it is egotistical and craves attention. However, it also takes nurturing to sow the interest on the child and experiences to allow it to venture in finding its
Children come into the world as clueless, inexperienced infants. People that are involved with their life can play key roles and alter different aspects of their appearance and personality. This can ultimately change who they are as they grow older.
There has been a great deal of speculations in today’s society that each individual will become the product of their environment. One’s surroundings whether good or bad are what shapes them into becoming a role model for future generations. Although growing up in a broken home without one or both parents makes it difficult for a child to learn how to act and approach life it is still likely that they can take what they have learned from their childhood and turn it into something extraordinary. It is possible to break past the stereotype that they are a product of their environment by using past experiences to revolutionize their future. When a child is first born the first person they usually see is the doctor or midwife that has delivered
However, many questions arise when we are talking about the children who may have to be tested to verify if they are carrying the gene. Is it safe to test a child who may or may not be able to handle the information? There are lots of benefits of having a genetic test, but the negative effects outweigh the benefit. I’m against genetic testing because it causes psychological distress and financial drawbacks while growing up and it can have traumatic effects on children. First of all, the main reason not to have a genetic test on children is because it can result in psychological and emotional impact on the child and their family. | https://www.ipl.org/essay/Child-Psychology-Nature-Vs-Nurture-PKGTQ5KRC4DR |
Context: Dizygotic twinsare genetically as similar as siblings who are not twins. Even if your child turns out amazingly well, it's still better to look back and say that you helped to mold them and shape them into the person they are today rather than just sitting back and letting them become whatever they will entirely on their own. The way the studies are done is like this. The situation as it presented itself by the end of the 20th century was summarized in 2002 by. Twin studies of the modern kind did not appear until the 1920s.
His method was to trace twins through their life-history, making many kinds of measurement. Polygenic Inheritance Rather than the presence or absence of single genes being the determining factor that accounts for psychological traits, behavioral genetics has demonstrated that multiple genes — often thousands, collectively contribute to specific behaviours. Yet another complication to the nature—nurture debate is the existence of. It makes a strong case, but there are others as well. You want to make sure that you talk with a psychiatrist that you feel comfortable with and that you can trust to help you and your child grow and become stronger individuals.
Some famous serial killers have come out of the worst of the worst situations, but even more of them have come out of completely normal households that never understood the strange behaviors that their sons and daughters were committing and even did everything they possibly could to change them. After considerable preparation and difficulties, the two human creatures were captured. Context: Scientists are trying to locate the genethat is responsible for Alzheimer's disease so that they can better understand how to treat this condition. His method was to trace twins through their life-history, making many kinds of measurement. They see it as an outdated state of knowledge. If we make a list of characteristic , we find that they vary greatly in how much they owe to heredity.
Nature vs nurture in psychology. Today, the majority of experts believe that both nature and nurture influence behavior and development. Adopted Studies on the other hand showed that even when these siblings are reared in the same family environment, by adulthood, there is almost no similarity in their personality, which suggests the manifestation of nature. Not all child misbehavior is a disorder and not all behavior deserves medication. In general, the earlier a particular ability appears, the more likely it is to be under the influence of genetic factors. Explain to students that after reviewing studies about nature versus nurture, they will write paragraphs summarizing their own ideas.
This easily could have been then product of a learned behavior. Overall, the debate over nature versus nurture has created various ways to view child development. Multivariate genetic analysis examines the genetic contribution to several traits that vary together. Lots of chapter notes and an extensive bibliography are included. In school, the two children may look alike. The twins share identical genes, but different family environments.
In this study he established that in any given population, biology, language, material and symbolic culture, are autonomous; that each is an equally important dimension of human nature, but that no one of these dimensions is reducible to another. If we make a list of characteristic , we find that they vary greatly in how much they owe to heredity. The results shown have been important evidence against the importance of environment when determining, happiness, for example. This kind of research works well when the features can be measured simply. We could have a nation of brilliant children. It is equally relevant to the psychology of sex and gender, where the question of how much of the alleged differences in male and female behavior is due to biology and how much to culture is just as controversial.
Because they carry the same , they may be used to investigate how much contributes to individual people. In the language of , the of a feature is the extent to which it is inherited. Increasingly, people are beginning to realize that asking how much heredity or environment influence a particular trait is not the right approach. Almost all of these studies are conducted in Western, first-world countries, and therefore cannot be extrapolated globally to include poorer, non-western populations. Research in the theory concludes that newborns are born into the world with a unique wiring to be social. Nature refers to biological or hereditary information that affects child development and learning.
Based on these studies, what conclusions can the class draw about nature versus nurture? In 2006, Magazine listed about three quarters as a figure held by the majority of studies, while a 2004 of reports in Current Directions in Psychological Science gave an overall estimate of around 0. When fraternal twins are reared apart, they show the same similarities in behavior and response as if they have been reared together. It's circular logic: The study found that negative parenting could exacerbate frustration, impulsivity, and poor self-regulation in your kid, while those adverse behaviors can provoke a harmful parenting style. According to John Watson, one of the strongest psychologists who propose environmental learning as a dominating side in the debate, once said that he can be able to train a baby randomly chosen in a group of 12 infants, to become any type of specialist Watson wants. These are things that you and they have no control over because it's formed in them.
What do these findings say about nature versus nurture? That gives a handle on how much circumstances can alter the outcomes of genetically identical people. The school has grown from the modest institution it was in the nineteenth century to one that is blamed for all the ills of society and is seen as potentially capable of curing them. Everyday experience would suggest that as people grow older, they get to know themselves better. These results did not in any way point to overwhelming contribution of heritable factors, with heritability typically ranging around 40% to 50%, so that the controversy may not be cast in terms of purist behaviorism vs. Also, believed that language is learnt from other people via behavior shaping techniques. Other theories stress that change is possible if new experiences are supported. In and behavioral genetics, researchers think nurture has an essential influence on nature.
However, these same study designs allow for the examination of environment as well as genes. If identical twins raised in different homes have many similarities but fraternal twins raised apart have nothing in common, scientists can conclude that genes are more important than environment in determining personality traits. This is certainly true of the nature-nurture debate, the modern name for the ageless argument about the importance of learning in the development of the child. Fraternal twins, or dizygotic twins, develop from two eggs, and each has its own genetic makeup. For many years, twins have been the subjects of research to determine how much of a personality is controlled by genes. | http://tring.me/nature-vs-nurture-for-kids.html |
Is our personality shaped by the environment, or are we largely programmed genetically? No one can answer whether nature or nurture leads to certain traits in individuals. We do know, however, a bit about the influences of genes and the environment when it comes to groups of specific populations — especially when we talk about us humans. Our understanding of little asexual crayfish seems rather limited.
The full story
A seven year old arrives home with her first report card from school, which is full of terrible grades. Her dad leans over her shoulder to take a peek at the academic horror show. The girl turns around and asks: So what do you think dad? Nature or nurture?
Centuries ago, John Locke and others, began arguing that our personality is mainly shaped by the environment we were raised in. Others, such as Charles Darwin, believed that we are largely programmed genetically. Modern behavioral geneticists think that it’s more complex – because the two interact. And relatively recently, a little crayfish from Germany, showed just how little we actually know — but more about her later. First, let’s go back to the girl, her dad and what we do know.
nature vs nurture
Neither the dad, nor the smartest scientists, can answer what leads to certain school outcomes of our 7-year old girl. We do know, however, a bit about the influences of genes and the environment when it comes to groups of specific populations.
Take, for example, a group of 100 white American men in their early twenties and you will probably find, on average, an IQ of 100, a height of 178 cm or around 5.8 feet, and that ten have spelling problems. We can now ask which of these 3 traits is determined by genes — anything that happened before conception, often referred to as nature; and which by the environment— anything that happened after their mothers got pregnant, often referred to as nurture.
a measurement of differences in traits
To understand the two forces, we need to acknowledge that environmental influences are often random — siblings experience home very differently. And we need to recognize that genes are complex — there is no single gene doing a single thing. We therefore know little about which trait in an individual is the result of their genetic makeup and which is due to the environment. We only know about the impact of nature and nurture on trait differences of a particular group. And to learn about that, we need to understand heritability.
heritability
Heritability is a factor that ranges between one and zero. One stands for genetic influences. Zero for environmental factors. Heritability defines the genetic impact on trait differences in a particular population. It can not measure the degree to which a trait of a particular individual is genetic.
Dyslexia, for example, has a heritability closer to 1. That means that genes explain more of the difference in spelling mistakes of our group than school, family or random factors. It does not mean that one particular person with spelling problems got them genetically. Some just didn’t get much support when they were young.
How complex the interaction between genes and environment really is becomes clear when we look at something as seemingly straightforward as IQ and height. First, let’s examine height.
heritability of height
A group of 100 white American male students are on average 178 centimeters tall — that’s roughly five feet, 10 inches. Their heritability for height is around 0.8. If some men in this group are 183 cm — or six feet tall, then heritability allows us to assume that 80% of that difference is, on average, caused by genetic variants and 20% of the difference is due to lifestyle.
If the same group of people were raised in a region that experienced systemic droughts and they never had enough to eat, their potential for an average height of 178 centimeters is far from ever being reached. The heritability for height might now go from 0.8 down to 0.5. Nature and nurture are now equally responsible for group differences. This means, heritability changes.
If we have a well nourished population on the one side and a malnourished group on the other, then the impact of nutrition on the differences in height changes from 20% to 50%. In other words, nurture matters a lot, until we reach a point from which it’s not as relevant.So what about intelligence?
Heritability of iq
The heritability of IQ is around 0.6 for people in their twenties and then increases as we age. The average IQ in our group will be around 100. But some have an IQ of 110. Genes are therefore responsible for 60% of the difference, and random factors and the environment for about 40%. In other words, for those with an IQ of 110, 6 of the additional 10 points, can, on average, be attributed to nature and 4 points to nurture. Now even if nurture plays a big role, it doesn’t mean that teachers or parents had any impact.
Unlike height, which we know how to increase through nutrition, when it comes to IQ we don’tknow much about how to improve it. Random factors seem to play a big role.
How random the environment is, becomes clear when we look at two kids that are born into the same family. Both are raised in the same shared environment, but firstborns, on average, turn out to be more intelligent than their younger siblings. And if one of two siblings was adopted, the two would have some correlation in IQ during their upbringing, but as adults they would be hardly more similar in intelligence than complete strangers. Parents, it seems, have a very limited impact on a child’s IQ.
the crayfish observation
So now what about that crayfish? In 1995 German scientists made an odd observation. The little female creature had mutated and become asexual — able to make clones of itself. As each clone shared exactly the same genetic blueprint, the scientists set up an experiment for the ultimate test. Hundreds of these little identical creatures were placed in the same environment. Same water, same temperature, same amount of food. Even though the scientists tried to control all these variables, the unthinkable happened. Some crayfish stayed tiny, others grew big. Some died, others lived on and on. And while some became social, others enjoyed solitude.
what do you think?
Why do you think that happened? Is that nature, nurture or a complex interplay of the two with some random variations in replicated genetic code? Share you thought on the comment below.
Sources
- Genetic and environmental influences on adult intelligence and special mental ability – Pubmed.gov
- How much of human height is genetic and how much is due to nutrition? – Scientificamerican.com
- Genetic and environmental influences on optimism and its relationship to mental and self-rated health: a study of aging twins by Miriam A. Mosing, Brendan P. Zietsch, Sri N. Shekar, Margaret J. Wright and Nicholas G. Martin
- G is for genes: the impact of genetics on education and achievement by Kathryn Asbury and Robert Plomin
- An aquarium accident may have given this crayfish the DNA to take over the world – Science.org
- Estimating Trait Heritability by Naomi R. Wray, Ph.D. & Peter M. Visscher
Dig deeper
- Watch Robert Sapolsky explain Heritability as part of his famous Stanford lecture on Behavioral Genetics
- Listen to this Econtalk with Michael Blastland about Nature, Nurture, Crayfish and all the things we don’t know yet
- To study how the environment impacts personality traits, researchers like to observe the upbringing of children in settings where we can eliminate some variables and better control for differences. In particular they look at two forms of twin studies. Non-identical twins who are raised in the same family — they experience a similar environment, but just like most siblings share 50% of their DNA. Identical twins who are raised in different families: In these rare instances, the twins share the same genes (in fact not all identical twins share the same genes), but were given up for adoption at birth and are therefore raised in completely different environments.
- Read this article about Identical twins don’t always have identical genes by Businessinsider.com
Classroom exercise
Understanding your own traits:
- List 3 traits that are very typical for yourself. They can be obvious ones, like your height, or less visible ones, like your sense of humor.
- Take a guess where they come from: nature? Your genes, passed on by your parents and their parents? Or nurture? Education, and random or environmental factors?
- Try to look if you find a research that looks at the heritability for these traits for your specific population. What does it tell you?
Understanding involuntary reflexes:
Try thinking of a reflex or a human behavior that brings no actual benefit in our lives. Where does it come from? Why do we do it? Any ideas? Maybe nature got an answer. | https://sproutsschools.com/nature-vs-nurture-what-are-we-made-of/?replytocom=54 |
The “nature versus nurture” debate is alive and well today, even though science has debunked the entire argument. This might seem surprising since people still claim that certain traits are from genetics while others are from the person’s upbringing. On one side, people theorize that genetics affect everything from a person’s personality to their medical problems. On the other side, there’s the theory that everything is determined by how a person is raised: their environment, family, and childhood experience. As with most debates, the truth lies somewhere in the middle—nature and nurture constantly interplay.
History
The concept of nature versus nurture was first popularized by John Locke, an English philosopher and doctor. He believed in the “blank slate” theory, which stated that all human behavioral traits were based on their environment and how they had been raised. Later in history, Darwinism was becoming widely accepted and this led scientists to believe that behavioral traits were due to genetics, not the individual’s environment. This theory stated that a person’s personality was caused by genes and already set in stone at birth. Both scientists and philosophers continued the nature versus nurture debate until modern times. Now, scientists generally agree that the argument is a fallacy and reality is much more complicated than genes versus environment.
Environment affects genes
Genes can be expressed differently depending on both the internal and external environment. A gene might be switched on or off depending on internal factors, such as age and hormone production. The external environment also has a huge impact—a large proportion of differences in gene expression are due to variation in environments and lifestyles. A well-known gene mutation in rabbits causes dark markings in certain spots but only if they were exposed to a cold climate. If the rabbits are housed in freezing temperatures, they may even develop extra pigmentation. This means that rabbits with identical gene mutations may not end up with the same set of markings. As for humans, scientists have identified the genes that control height but they sometimes work in odd combinations. Even in “predictable” gene situations, genetics only account for roughly 80% of human height variation. In other words, many traits can’t be explained completely by genetics.
Even in cases where a trait seems completely genetic and instinctual, environment still plays a role. Ducklings and goslings are known for a behavior called imprinting, in which they automatically bond to the first creature or object they see. This normally allows the baby birds to immediately recognize and follow their mothers, increasing their chance of survival. When young hatchlings are raised by humans, however, these “instinctual” genetic behaviors can be altered. In one famous experiment, a biologist raised goslings and allowed them to imprint on him. Once they reached adulthood and began looking for mates, they developed a preference for humans. In fact, they had little interest in interacting with other geese. This shows that while imprinting might be a genetic trait, it can be significantly modified by the environment.
Genes affect environment
Just as the environment can affect the expression of genes, genes may change the environment an individual winds up in. A gene might predispose someone to enjoy being outside, prompting them to develop an interest in hiking or camping. This exposure to the outdoors could in turn activate genes that help the person build a cold tolerance. There are genes linked to alcoholism, which may encourage a person to try alcohol—but the individual is never guaranteed to become an alcoholic.
Genes connected to reckless behaviors could put someone in more risky situations. Researchers have long known that individuals with bipolar disorder, an illness linked to a number of genes, tend to engage in riskier behaviors. Bipolar patients are more likely to find themselves in environments with people who use drugs—putting them at a higher risk of developing substance abuse problems. In this case, the genes didn’t directly cause addiction. The illness simply made it more likely that the individual would find themselves in a situation where they might be encouraged to try drugs. Interestingly, there are also plenty of people who carry the same genes but never develop a mental illness, providing further evidence that both genetics and environment play an equal role.
Twin Studies
Scientists no longer consider nature versus nurture to be a valid debate topic and twin studies confirm this viewpoint. Twin studies offer a rare opportunity to test whether or not a trait is primarily determined by genes. Even though identical twins will be genetically indistinguishable, they’ll end up with many different traits—even if raised in the same home.
Early twin studies allowed scientists to pinpoint some of the genes behind schizophrenia. Inheriting these “schizophrenia genes” greatly increases the chance of developing the illness, yet there are cases where one twin becomes schizophrenic while the other doesn’t. This led researchers to conclude that while there are strong genetic factors behind the disease, the environment and other unknown influences still play a role. Twin studies completely disprove the idea of human traits being completely based on genetics.
The idea of nature versus nurture is rooted in old, outdated science and philosophy. Modern research shows that environmental factors influence genetics, sometimes completely activating or deactivating a gene. There is no “versus” when talking about personality traits and inherited illnesses, both genetics and the environment influence how an individual develops.
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Sources: uchicago.edu, cell.com, genetics.org, nature.com, jamanetwork.com
Entry filed under: Despite Popular Belief. Tags: genes, genetics, nature, nurture. | https://brokensecrets.com/2017/01/21/there-is-no-versus-in-nature-versus-nurture/ |
It is crucial to define personality to understand whether heredity is or isn't the only factor influencing character. Personality can be said to be an individual's characteristics and patterns of thinking, feeling and acting. In other words, how different people perceive their environments determines the kind of personality that these people have. Heredity, on the other hand, refers to the inheritance of characteristics from parents to offspring. That said, is personality determined by genetic makeup only? The answer is no. Other factors play a significant role in determining personalities.
While genetics play n important role in shaping an individual's personality, the environment plays an equally crucial role in influencing personality. The environment can be subdivided into social, cultural and economic factors. Humans are social creatures which therefore mean that society influences different characters in different people. Parents play an essential role in shaping children's personalities as they usually provide the first social environment for kids. How parents relate to their children influences the characteristics of the kids. Strict parents who discipline their children tend to influence their children to become shy and submissive while parents who do everything for their children without punishing them develop a character of exploitative and demanding children (Zarra-Nezhad et al., 2015). Other social factors that influence personality include social class, which determines school and neighbourhood.
People from lower social class have different personalities from those that come from affluent families. Indeed, economic status is a powerful predictor of a kid's personality. Deckers et al. (2015) found out that children from families with high social status were more patient and more willing to take risks compared to children from impoverished backgrounds. This shows that the economic situation influences how people perceive themselves and the environment, ultimately determining personality type.
Everybody belongs to a society that follows a culture. As such, culture inevitably impacts personality. For instance, different cultures have different ways of greeting visitors. While Americans often hug and kiss, the Japanese bows before greeting someone. This practice is determined by the different cultures of Americans and the Japanese. Cultures also fifer concerning how children are brought up, and this tends to influence the children's personalities. Research has shown that children from cultures that emphasize on physical punishment of children display introversion, hostility and aggression. On the other hand, children from cultures where there is less physical punishment exhibit extroversion, curiosity and creativity.
In conclusion, heredity plays a vital role in determining personality but so does other factors as mentioned. The mentioned factors may affect personalities either positively or negatively. It is, therefore, imperative for societies to emphasize those practices that produce model citizens.
References
Deckers, T., Falk, A., Kosse, F., & Schildberg-Hörisch, H. (2015). How does socio-economic status shape a child's personality?
Zarra-Nezhad, M., Aunola, K., Kiuru, N., Mullola, S., & Moazami-Goodarzi, A. (2015). Parenting styles and children's emotional development during the first grade: The moderating role of child temperament. Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 5. | https://www.assignmentexpert.com/homework-answers/management/question-99191 |
Now, this case i just said is probably the most dominant psychological and biological theory to date and buss is one of the major psychologists associated with that now, taking all of this aside, the biologic theory suggests that important components of personality are inherited. Personality development is the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals from one another the dominant view in the field of personality psychology today holds that personality emerges early and continues to change in meaningful ways throughout the lifespan. One's personality is so pervasive and all-important that it presents a clinical paradox of sorts: it is hard to assess one's own personality, and impossible to overlook that of others the big picture. Although there is also a third approach, the biological approach, but the biological definition of personality which comprehends only the bio-physical characteristics of the individual organism is inadequate the psychological approach considers personally as a certain style peculiar to the individual ‘the development of personality and. Dependent personality disorder (dpd) is one of the most frequently diagnosed personality disorders it occurs equally in men and women, usually becoming apparent in young adulthood or later as.
Presented for the domains of personality, intelligence, psycho-logical interests, psychiatric illnesses, and social attitudes these findings are consistent with those reported for the traits of that they may represent a general biological phenomenon. Personality is a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psy- chophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic pat- terns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings. Article shared by this article throws light upon the top three factors influencing personality development the factors are: 1 biological factors 2cultural determinants of personality 3family influences on personality development.
Another important biological factor affecting personality is body chemistry in ancient times the difference of temperament was supposed due to differences of chemical elements in different men thus, the nervous personality was taken as the resultof excess of nervous fluid. Personality is an individual aspect of culture while culture is a collective aspect of personality each culture produces its special type or types of personality a given cultural environment sets its participant members off from other human beings operating under different cultural environments. Personality is the result, therefore, of the continuous interplay between biological disposition and experience, as is true for many other aspects of social and personality development personality develops from temperament in other ways ( thompson, winer, & goodvin, 2010 .
Biological factors are considered the primary determinants of the way a human behaves and may play a significant role in the development of mental illnesses as opposed to environmental factors, which exist outside of the organism in question, biological factors are all entirely internal. Factors affecting personality development uploaded by height, weight, physical defects, health and strength affect personality biological factors consist of the nervous system, glands and blood chemistry which determines our characteristics and habitual modes of behavior these factors form the biological basis of our personality. Biological theory: an introduction we start with biological theory for two reasons first, the theory that our genetic makeup determines, at least in part, our personality has been a strong belief among theorists for thousands of years. An individual's personality is the complex of mental characteristics that makes them unique from other people it includes all of the patterns of thought and emotions that cause us to do and say things in particular ways. Research suggests that genetics, abuse and other factors contribute to the development of obsessive-compulsive, narcissistic or other personality disorders in the past, some believed that people with personality disorders were just lazy or even evil but new research has begun to explore such.
The specific cause or causes of antisocial personality disorder (asp) are unknown like many mental health issues, evidence points to inherited traits but dysfunctional family life also increases. Finally, our model presents a number of biological vulnerabilities and environmental risk factors, many of which may increase risk for the development of other psychological disorders, such as antisocial behavior, which is often comorbid with bpd (lenzenweger, lane, loranger, & kessler, 2007) and which appears to overlap on common genetic. Our culture greatly contributes to the development of our beliefs and values for this reason, both cultural psychologists and social anthropologists believe that culture affects one's personality in addition, gender differences also influence the personality traits a person possesses.
7 personality development theories of 71 what is personality development: personality development has been a major topic of interest for some of the most prominent thinkers in other researchers believe that biological or genetic influences are the root cause of personality disorders. Personality and personality development 1 –the psychodynamic approach 2 the humanistic approach 3 the trait approach 4 resolve conflicts between our biological impulses (id) and social restraints (superego) id • the id unconsciously strives to satisfy basic. Biological factors related to the development of personality disorders (nature) simone hoermann, phd, corinne e zupanick, psyd & mark dombeck, phd researchers scientifically investigate the effect of genetic influence through the use of family and twin studies.
A summary of biological approaches in 's personality learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of personality and what it means perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Biological and humanistic styles are among the approaches that are frequently used in the description of the approaches towards the development of personality according to the theories in the process of biological development, various processes have been used in an attempt to fill the gap that is between the genes of a person and the. Personality refers to individual differences in patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving the study of personality focuses on individual differences in particular personality characteristics and how the parts of a person come together as a whole. Biological factor of personality development: these are the physical determinants based on physique and body functioning that shape personality some of these factors have been discussed below body build: body build determines a person’s capacity to do something and how he would react to people who have inferior or superior body structure.
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Professors are inclined to attribute the intelligence of their children to nature and the intelligence of their students to nurture.-Roger Masters
"Nature versus nurture" is a debate related to whether heredity or the environment most impacts human psychological development such as behavior, habits, intelligence and personality. It's obvious that you share your parents' DNA in the physical sense like you might have blue eyes like your father but it is difficult to explain your love of writing poetry or being a talented football player in the same way. The theory of genetic predispositions is known as the "nature" theory of human behavior and the theory that people think and behave in certain ways because they are taught and trained to do so is known as the "nurture" theory of human behavior. The understanding of the human genome has made it clear that Nature endows us with innate tendencies and Nurture enables expression of these genetic tendencies as we respond, adapt, learn and mature. People who take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the result of inheritance are known as nativists, where as people who take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the result of learning are known as empiricists.
The phrase 'nature and nurture' is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed -— Sir Francis Galton
According to Matt Ridley as mentioned in his book "Nature via Nurture" , human nature is a combination of Darwin's universals, Galton's heredity, James's instincts, De Vries's genes , Pavlov's reflexes, Watson's associations, Kraepelin's history, Freud's formative experience, Boas's culture, Durkheim's division of labor, Piaget's development and Lorenz's imprinting. No account of human nature would be complete without them all.
In order to understand each and every one of them we need to understand genes which allow the human mind to learn, to remember, to imitate, to absorb culture and express instincts which are the cause as well as the consequence of our actions. They were right in the sense that they contributed an original idea with a germ of truth in it; they all placed a brick in the wall. They are wrong only when they try to pull somebody else's bricks out, or to claim that the wall is held up only by their bricks.
This debate is similar to the dispute between English explores regarding source of Nile. The river Nile is actually the sum of thousands of streams and none of them can be truly called its source; the same is true of human nature.
When as by a miracle, the lovely butterfly bursts from the chrysalis full-winged and perfect...it has, for the most part, nothing to learn, because its little life flows from its organization like melody from a music box. - Douglas Alexander Spalding
The nature side of this debate emphasizes how much of an organism reflects biological factors. A few examples of biologically determined characteristics (nature) include - eye color, hair color, and skin color and certain genetic diseases. Life expectancy and height have a strong biological component, but they are also influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle. An example of a nativist theory within Psychology is Chomsky's concept of a language acquisition device ( LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce language. Emil Kraepelin was a pioneer in the development of psychiatry as a scientific discipline. He was convinced that all mental illness had an organic cause, and he was one of the first scientists to emphasize brain pathology in mental illness.
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection. - Charles Darwin
William James believed that human beings are equipped with innate tendencies that were not derived from experience but from the Darwinian natural selection . He argued that reason could make an inference which will excite imagination so as to let loose the impulse and hence the animal richest in reason might also be the animal richest in instincts. He asserted that human beings have more instincts than animals.
The view of Empiricists that humans acquire almost all their behavioral traits from "nurture" was termed tabula rasa-"blank slate" by philosopher John Locke.. Nurture refers to our childhood, social and environmental factors. The supporters of the nurture theory believe that our behavioral aspects originate from the environmental factors of our upbringing. Harvard psychologist B. F. Skinner's early experiments produced pigeons that could dance, do figure eights, and play tennis. Today known as the father of behavioral science, he eventually went on to prove that human behavior could be conditioned in much the same way as animals. Studies on infant and child temperament have revealed the most crucial evidence for nurture theories. American psychologist John Watson, best known for his controversial little Albert experiments with a young orphan named Albert, demonstrated that the acquisition of a phobia could be explained by classical conditioning.
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors." – John B. Watson
Lorenz coined the concept of critical period – the window during which environment acts irreversibly upon the development of behavior. For Lorenz, the importance of imprinting was that it was itself an instinct. Konrad Lorenz , while working with geese, rediscovered the principle of imprinting (originally described by Douglas Spalding in the 19th century) in the behavior of nidifugous birds. In his classic experiment with newly hatched goslings (baby geese). For this experiment, Lorenz split the eggs from the same goose into two, randomly-picked groups. Group A hatched in a natural environment and immediately began to follow mother goose around. Group B hatched in an incubator and the first living being they saw was Konrad Lorenz. So they immediately began to follow Mama Lorenz around… All the time.
Our problem, from the point of view of psychology and from the point of view of genetic epistemology, is to explain how the transition is made from a lower level of knowledge to a level that is judged to be higher.-Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget saw a progressive, cumulative construction of mind during childhood in response to experience. Each child goes through a series of developmental stages always in the same order, though not always at the same rate. Piaget saw cognitive development neither as learning, nor as maturation but as a combination of the two, a sort of active engagement of the developing mind with the world. He thought the mental structures necessary for development are genetically determined, but the process by which the maturing brain develops requires feedback from experience and social interaction. This feedback take two forms: assimilation and accommodation. A child assimilates predicted experiences and accommodates to unexpected ones.
According to Sigmund Freud, the naive self-love of men has had to submit to two major blows at the hands of science. The first was when they learnt that our earth was not the center of the universe but only a tiny fragment of a cosmic system of scarcely imaginable vastness... the second blow fell when biological research destroyed man's supposedly privileged place in creation and proved his descent from the animal kingdom and his ineradicable animal nature… But human megalomania will have suffered its third and most wounding blow from the psychological research of the present time which seeks to prove to the ego that it is not even master in its own house, but must content itself with scanty information of what is going on unconsciously in its mind.
A person is not merely a single subject distinguished from all the others. It is especially a being to which is attributed a relative autonomy in relation to the environment with which it is most immediately in contact.- Emile Durkheim
Franz Boas stresses the plasticity of human culture and expanded the human nature into an infinity of possibilities and pointed that culture is what set people free from their nature. A culture led process acting over a long period of human evolutionary history, could easily have led to a fundamental reworking of human psychological dispositions. Culture thee by co-evolves hand in hand with real genetic evolution. Susan Blackmore argues that many ideas and units of culture are sufficiently enduring, fecund and high-fidelity and that they therefore compete to colonize brain space.
Behavior geneticists distinguish shared family factors (i.e., those shared by siblings, making them more similar) and non-shared factors (i.e., those that uniquely affect individuals, making siblings different). The variance due to the "nature" component generally refer to the heritability of a trait. Judith Harris argues in her book that "nurture," as traditionally defined in terms of family upbringing does not effectively explain the variance for traits such as adult IQ and the Big Five personality traits.
The Big Five personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These personality factors were consistent across cultures, and many experiments have also tested the heritability of these traits. Identical twins reared apart are far more similar in personality than randomly selected pairs of people. Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins. Biological siblings are more similar in personality than adoptive siblings. The variation in personality is due to a combination of genetic factors, shared environmental influences and unique environmental influences experienced by individual and yet genetic factors play a dominant role.
Research studies estimate that the contribution of shared environment to variation in IQ in a Western society is roughly 40 percent in people younger than 20 and then falls rapidly to zero in older age groups. Conversely the contribution of genes to explain IQ variation rises from 20 percent in infancy to 40 percent in childhood to 60 percent in adults and may be even 80 percent in people past middle age. It reveals that intellectual experience of a child is generated by others ,where as an adult generates his or her own intellectual challenges. The environment is a unique set of influences chosen by the actor himself. [soruce: www.neoeugenics.net/nvn]
Studies cover siblings who are identical twins reared together (share family environment and genes), fraternal twins reared together (share family environment but only share half their genes) and adoptive siblings (share their family environment but none of their genes) and biological siblings reared together ( share the same family environment and half their genes). I n many cases, it has been found that genes make a substantial contribution and yet heritability may differ due to wide variation in environmental conditions. The variability of trait can be meaningfully spoken of as being due in certain proportions to genetic differences ("nature"), or environments ("nurture"). The field of epigenetics adds new fuel to this issue by shedding light on how environment, nutrition and social conditions affect how genes are expressed.
Personality is about as heritable as body weight. The correlation between siblings in weight is 34%. The similarity between parents and children is a little lower, at 26%. Identical twins reared in the same family have a correlation of 80% while fraternal twins reared together have only 43% similarity, which suggests that genes matter more than shared eating habits. What about adoptees? The correlation between adoptees and their adoptive parents is only 4%, and between unrelated siblings in the same family it is just 1%. By contrast, identical twins reared apart in different families are still 72% similar in weight. [source: Nature via Nurture – Matt Ridley]
According to Matt Ridley, Genes can be defined in seven different ways: Mendelian archive(inscribed with the wisdom derived from millions of years of evolutionary adjustment);a Watson-Crick recipe(achieving its effects through creation of proteins via RNAs); a Jacob-Monod developmental switch (expressing itself only in precisely specified tissues); a Garrodian health giver(ensuring a healthy developmental outcome in the expected environment );a De vriesian pangen(reused in many different developmental programs in the same species and in others); Dawkinsian gene with attitude (in its dependence on passing the test of survival through the generarion) and finally the Tooby-Cosmides gen which integrates all the above six and defines the gene as device for extracting information from the environment . They are exquisitely good at simple if-then logic: if in a certain environment, then develop in a certain way.
Heritability refers only to the degree of genetic variation between people on a trait and does not refer to the degree to which a trait of a particular individual is due to environmental or genetic factors. At a molecular level, genes interact with signals from other genes and from the environment. While there are many single-gene-locus traits, many other traits are due to the additive effects of many genes. A good example of this is height, where variance appears to be spread across many hundreds of loci. Multivariate genetic analysis which examines the genetic contribution to several traits that vary together, has demonstrated that the genetic determinants of all specific cognitive abilities such as memory, spatial reasoning and processing speed overlap greatly, such that the genes associated with any specific cognitive ability will affect all others. Multivariate genetic analysis has found that genes that affect scholastic achievement completely overlap with the genes that affect cognitive ability.
The incidence of disorders such as Huntington's disease is entirely due to genetic differences.. At the other extreme, traits such as native language are environmentally determined. However a trait is mostly shaped by both genetic dispositions and the environments in which people develop as environmental inputs may affect the expression of genes . Genes and environment work in concert, communicating back and forth to create the individual.
A classic example of gene–environment interaction is the ability of a diet low in the amino acid phenylalanine to partially suppress the genetic disease phenylketonuria. The situation is more complex in the case of Schizophrenia (a mutation in the gene Neuronal PAS domain protein 3 (NPAS3) is in some way responsible for the development of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.) where many different genes and many different environmental factors are involved. The more you discover genes that influence behavior, the more you find that they work through nurture, and the more you find that we learn from the environment, the more you discover that learning works through genes.
The genes are activated at appropriate times during development and are the basis for protein production. Proteins include a wide range of molecules, such as hormones and enzymes that act in the body as signaling and structural molecules to direct development. The product arising out of the expression of one gene may turn up the expression of another, which suppresses the expression of a third and so on.
External factors like education, food, conflict or love may enter right in the middle of this network to influence the so called thermostats on the fronts of genes which affect the timing. We can see nurture express itself through nature. Genes are the means by which nurture expresses itself, just as they are means by which nature expresses itself. The oxytocin receptors expressed in the medial amygdala fire up the dopamine system with sensations of personal addiction towards the loved one and hence pair-bonding instinct is manifest in oxytocin receptor genes. The serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is called "happiness gene" as variation in the promoter region of this gene influences the feeling of happiness.
SRY gene which is considered a gene for "maleness" switches another gene called SOX 9 which switches on and off a variety of genes in brain testis such as Lhx9, Wt1, Dax1, Gata4, Dmtr1, Amh, Wnt4 and Dhh. These genes in turn switch on and off the production of hormones, which alter the development of the body and in turn effect the expression of other genes, while some of those genes could be sensitive to external experience, diet, social setting and culture. So we can see SRY as an archive, recipe, switch, interchangeable part or health giver of maleness.
FoxP2, has recently been discovered on human chromosome 7 by Anthony Monaco and his colleagues at Oxford. Foxp2 is a gene whose job is to switch on other genes –a transcription factor and when it is bust, the person never develops full language. This gene is present in many animals like mice, monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees and hence merely possessing the gene does not make speech possible. A mutant form of FOXP2 appeared in human race with changes that alter the protein product allowing the gene to be switched on in a certain part of the brain and there by does something new by connecting parts of the brain including the region between the temporal and frontal lobes called the Sylvian fissure which is responsible for motor control of the mouth and larynx.
The region in the brain responsible for both speech and gesture is called Broca's area. Language does not spring fully formed from the brain as it is learned from other language-speaking human beings. This capacity to learn is written into the human brain by genes that open and close a critical window during which learning takes place. If a child is not exposed to a lot of spoken language during the critical learning period, he or she will always struggle with speech even after having FoxP2 gene.
Hox genes are switched on and off in different parts of the body at different times which results in different subtle effects, depending on where, when and how they are switched on. The switches that control this process are nothing but stretches of DNA upstream of genes and are known as promoters. Small changes in the promoter can have profound effects on the expression of a Hox gene. The source of the difference between the body shape of mice and chicken lies in the promoter attached to the HoxC8 gene that helps shape the thorax of the body. The promoter is a 200-letter paragraph of DNA, and in the two species it differs by just a handful of letters, but still alters the expression of the HoxC8 gene in the development of the embryo of chicken or a mouse which means the chicken makes thoracic vertebrae in a different part of the body than the mouse. In the python, HoxC8 is expressed right from the head and goes on being expressed for most of the body and hence they have one long thorax and ribs all down the body.The expression of a gene can be altered by adjusting the sequence of a promoter or adding a new one and to make changes in the body plan of animals, all you need do is switch the same ones on and off in different patterns.
The genome is not a blueprint for constructing a body. It is a recipe for baking a body. You could say the chicken embryo is marinated for a shorter time in the HoxC8 sauce than the mouse embryo is. Likewise, the development of a certain human behavior takes a certain time and occurs in a certain order, just as the cooking of a perfect souffle requires not just the right ingredients but also the right amount of cooking and the right order of events. As the hox story illustrates, DNA promoters express themselves in the fourth dimension: their timing is all.
The ASPM gene provides instructions for making a protein that is involved in cell division. This protein is found in cells and tissues throughout the body; however, it appears to be particularly important for the division of cells in the developing brain. Studies suggest that the ASPM protein helps maintain the orderly division of early brain cells called neural progenitor cells, which ultimately give rise to mature nerve cells (neurons). By promoting the division of neural progenitor cells during early brain development, the ASPM protein helps determine the total number of neurons and the overall size of the brain.
Geoffrey Woods discovered that 16th to 25th exons of this gene contains a characteristic motif which is usually 75 letters long and repeated over and over again. This sequence codes for amino acids isoleucine (abbreviation for I)and glutamine (abbreviation for Q). The repeats seem to be in proportion to the number of neurons. ASPM seems to be working by regulating the number of times the neuronal stem cells divide and there by decide the number of neurons.
If we follow a particular recipe, word for word, in a cookery book, what finally emerges from the oven is a cake. We cannot now break the cake into its component crumbs and say: this crumb corresponds to the first word in the recipe; this crumb corresponds to the second one in recipe.- Richard Dawkins.
The processes involved in behavioral and psychological development have certain metaphorical similarities to cooking. Both the raw ingredients and the manner in which they are combined are important. Timing also matters. In the cooking analogy, the raw ingredients represent the many genetic and environmental influences, while cooking represents the biological and psychological process of development. This metaphor however does not capture the alchemy of development in which two ingredients lead automatically to the production of a third and so on. The development of a certain human behavior takes a certain time and occurs in a certain order, just as cooking a perfect souffle requires not just the right ingredients, but also the right amount of cooking and the right order of events.
The interaction of both genes and environment affects the development of a person right from the time we are in the womb as genes interact with hormones in the environment to signal the start of a new developmental phase. Similarly, even if a person has inherited genes for taller than average height, the person may not grow to be as tall as is genetically possible if proper nutrition is not provided. It has been suggested that the key to understanding complex human behavior and diseases is to study genes, the environment, and the interactions between the two equally.
Donald Hebb is said to have answered a journalist's question of "which contributes more to personality-nature or nurture?" by asking in response, "Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width?". The area of a rectangle is the product of its length and width and hence depends on both of them.. Researchers on all sides of the nature vs nurture debate agree that the link between a gene and a behavior is not the same as cause and effect. While a gene may increase the likelihood that you'll behave in a particular way, your free will and your personal experiences influence who you will be when you grow up.
Environment influences the gene expression which is a long and circuitous path with many feedback loops before the code in genes is translated into physical features or behavioral traits. We are really asking ourselves the wrong question when we wonder if nature or nurture has a more powerful influence on who we are, as both of them play an important role. Our cells carry instructions for all the essential characteristics of humanity, but the process of developing from embryo to adult takes place in a physical and social environment that influences how these genes are expressed.
According to neuroscientist Walter. J. Freeman, circular causality is an alternative to linear causality as linear causal chain cannot reconcile free will against universal determinism. Neurons in the brain get feedback from their recipients even before they finished sending messages and the response alters the message they send which in turn alters the response and so on. When thousands of neurons are involved in this process you will get sudden transitions from one pattern to another.
Consider a flock of birds twisting and turning in unison as they fly along and it is impossible to find a linear sequence of cause and effect. The cause itself (one of the birds turning to say left) seem to be influenced by the effect(the neighbor turning) as they move forward in time while influencing themselves. Similarly, if we take the example of getting up from bed, you will find it difficult to find the first cause of the actual moment of rising from bed, as it is buried in the circular process in which thoughts (like "I must get up"; "Let me sleep for some more time")and experiences (say alarm from the clock ) fed off each other.
CREB genes that run learning and memory are the cause of behavior and they are also the consequence. Their promoters are designed to be switched on and off by events leading to transcription factors which are devices for switching on the promoters of other genes and those genes alter the synaptic connections between neurons; which in turn alters the neural circuitry, which in turn alters the expression of CREB genes by absorbing outside experience and so on round the circle. This is memory but other systems in the brain are also similarly circular as sense, memory and action influence each other through genetic mechanisms while translating experience into action. Free will is nothing but the sum and product of circular influences with varying network of neurons, immanent in a circular relationship between genes.
In Walter. J. Freeman's words "Each of us is a source of meaning, a wellspring for the flow of fresh constructions within our brains and bodies". There is no "me" inside my brain: there is only an ever changing set of brain states, a distillation of history, emotion, instinct, experience and the influence of other people and even chance. The more you discover genes that influence behavior, the more you find that they work through nurture and the more you find that we learn, the more you discover that learning works through genes. Genes extract information from the environment and they express themselves in response to the environment, though each of them individually has a well defined, predicable and deterministic messages to be carried out with due diligence. | https://www.simply.science/nature-vs-nurture |
The Influence of the Nervous System on Human Behavior
Professional and Adj. Professor in I/O Psychology & Technology. Passion in Research of Data Applications and Human Technology Integration.
Basic Human Nervous System
Introduction
The Nervous System and Human Behavior
The human nervous system is can be viewed in two parts, which include the CNS (central nervous system) and the PNS (peripheral nervous system). The brain and the spinal chord comprise the CNS, whereas the PNS connects the rest of the body, such as vital organs to the spinal chord and the brain.
The neuroanatomical construction is distinctly important, as the architecture of the brain assists in understanding how parts of the brain interact with the rest of the nervous system and influence functional expressions, behavior, and emotions. Although much of the human nervous system is based on biological, chemical, and physiological foundations that most scientists and researchers agree upon, the influence of the brain and its anatomical architecture on function and behavior is highly controversial.
Regardless of the consensus surrounding areas such as the physiology, biology, and chemical reactions, there is a major debate regarding genetics and the role of the nervous system in the development and change of personality. By starting with the construction and general functions of the nervous system, it will provide a foundation to dive deeper into the controversy surrounding the nervous system, specifically the brain and its role in personality and behavior.
Early Development of Nervous System
Construction of the Nervous System
The construction of the nervous system begins in the embryo at about 2 weeks of age. Kalat (2013) suggests during the construction of the central nervous system after 2 weeks, the dorsal begins to thicken, which eventually separates and forms the:
- hindbrain,
- mid-brain,
- fore-brain and
- ultimately the spinal cord.
Through the construction of the human nervous system in early development, 5 stages occur in developing neurons in the brain. These 5 stages or processes include:
- proliferation
- migration
- differentiation
- myelination
- synaptogenesis.
Ultimately, this is the process of producing cells/neurons, the movement and formation of neurons and glia, development of the axon and dendrite, through to the formation of the synapses between neurons (Kalat, 2013). Upon maturation of the nervous system, several perspectives begin to diverge in the scientific community, as this is the point where the nervous system sustains itself and affects cognitive functioning, learning, and behavior.
It is understood that genetics play a role in the construction and development of the human nervous system. As humans develop, there is an overproduction of neurons and apoptosis is a mechanism to systematically cause cell death to ensure an exact match of incoming axons to receiving cell (Kalat, 2013). Thus, the early stages of construction and development are vital in the normal maturation of humans, as genetic mutations can cause defects and the distortion of chemicals can cause issues such as impairment and learning disabilities. Therefore, as humans develop through adulthood, the nervous system can have profound impacts on their ability to see, hear, learn, and express emotion, among other things.
Interesting Fact
From birth to 1 year, the weight of the human brain is increased from about 350 grams to 1,000 grams, reaching roughly 1,200-1,400 grams as an adult.
— (Kalat, 2013)
Animated Video of Nervous System Development
Human Behavior Genetics Research
According to Vukasović & Bratko (2015), human behavior genetics research offers insight into the vast and complex connections between the nervous system and human personality. There are three main research designs within this field that assist in providing a deeper understanding of this topic and the controversies that have been debated for many of years. The three types of research that Vukasović & Bratko (2015) refer to within human behavior behavior genetics include twin studies, adoption studies, and family studies. This is the foundation of identifying the influence of the nervous system as genetically designed and environmentally modified.
Read More From Owlcation
Over the course of many studies on genetically related human personality, utilizing the three broad research designs, Vukasović & Bratko (2015) synthesized the findings of 45 prior studies, offering a meta-analytical analysis and insight into the controversy. As noted in their study, the findings suggest that 40% of an individual’s personality is hereditary and contributed by genetics. This is in line with prior studies, such as Johnson, Vernon & Feiler (2008), where 50 years of genetic research on human personality was analyzed and found similar results among a statistical analysis of these studies.
The findings suggest that 40% of an individual’s personality is hereditary and contributed by genetics.
— Vukasović & Bratko (2015)
Gene Mapping of the Brain
The Environment
The environment also plays a role, but it is still much harder to identify the environment's specific influences on personality variations, with the exception of early development issues including the affects of alcohol, drugs, and other substances consumed by the mother while pregnant. These can cause chemical distortions and lead to issues such as fetal alcohol syndrome, known as FAS.
Going back to the construction and development of the nervous system, apoptosis is a method of killing unneeded cells, based on the match of cells and axons. When a pregnant mother consumes alcohol, it can inhibit the excitation of neurons which would normally be matched to avoid apoptosis, causing behavioral and learning disorders.
Although the evidence from genetically related studies indicate about 40% of human personality is genetically inherited, environmental exposure to various chemicals in-vitro can mutate the normal process of development.
FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)
Conclusion
It is difficult to identify environmental influences in normally developed individuals. There may not be a clearly defined answer as to the environmental affects on human behavior and personality. Genetically related research does provide enough evidence to state that genetics does play a significant role in the development of human personality and behavior.
Within the confines of various cultures, life experiences, and expectations, it appears that environmental influence on human personality past the early development stage is still unclear. There is a long way to go to establish the environmental affects on individuals and separate these from established genetic factors.
The neuro-anatomical construction is still a vital and important influence on human behavior. The architecture of the brain acts as a road map to assist in understanding how parts of the brain interact with the rest of the nervous system and influence functional expressions, behavior, and emotions. With genetic and environmental factors still being researched, it is difficult to separate these factors and clinical studies will require more intensive technology, resources, and dedicated scientists to solve this mystery. But since we know that the nervous system does play a role in human behavior and that the environment can disrupt the normal development of the nervous system, perhaps 'cracking the code' may not be too far in the future.
References
Johnson, A. M., Vernon, P. A., & Feiler, A. R. (2008). Behavioral genetic studies of personality: An introduction and review of the results of 50+ years of research. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The Sage handbook of personality theory and assessment. Vol. 1: Personality theories and models (pp. 145–173). London, England: Sage.
Kalat, J. W. (2013). Biological psychology (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Vukasović, T., & Bratko, D. (2015). Heritability of personality: A meta-analysis of behavior genetic studies. Psychological Bulletin, 141(4), 769-785. doi:10.1037/bul0000017
Comments
mimi on June 26, 2019:
question. what are the concept of nervous system, and the characteristics of how to link them to psychology.
melisa on April 15, 2019:
what is the role of the peripheral nervous system in exhibiting human behaviour
farial on January 20, 2019:
Beautiful
Amazing
Adams on May 22, 2018:
Question..what is the connection between behaviour and the nervous system topic?
melisa on March 27, 2018:
what is the influence of one biological process in human behavior, relating that with the nervous and endocrine system?
Fidel on March 08, 2018:
Question :how does this physiological processes affects behavior
lily on July 18, 2017:
What are your opinion/perspective/viewpoint? What perspective are you writing from. Ethical issues. | https://owlcation.com/stem/Human-Behavior-and-the-Influence-of-the-Nervous-System |
Objective: Primarily responsible for matters pertaining to Board member induction, orientation, training, and evaluation, in accordance with the NESA requirements. This committee will oversee Risk Management and WHS policies and other compliance policies.
- Dost Khan (Chair)
- Sirtaj Hussain
Attendee: Principal, Chairman
Development
Objective: Its purpose is to advise the GIVC Board of Directors on future directions and strategies for advancing learning in the community within a framework that reflects the Islamic character of learning institutions and propose capital works to support the desired strategies.
- Imam Ali (Chair)
- Faizal Ajmat
Attendees: Principal, Business Manager, Chairman
Finance & Audit Committee
Objective: Ensuring there are appropriate budgeting processes in place and to monitor the financial position and performance of the GVIC. Responsible for monthly financial reporting to the Board and annual financial reporting with auditors. This committee will also ensure managing audit relationship and compliance relating to finance.
- Faizal Ajmat (Chair)
- Sirtaj Hussain
Attendees: Principal and Business Manager, Chairman, Vice Chairman
Technology Committee
Objective: Its purpose is to evaluate technology needs for the GVIC as well as their usage. The committee tracks technology progress and prioritizes initiatives, in addition to identifying training needs, budgeting and overall IT forecasting, It will review and approve plans for major IT projects, decisions and will assess online capabilities and digital platform of GVIC. This includes web page re-design, social media, online teaching & learning capabilities, BCP plans, IT governance, etc.
- Mohammed Faheem Shah (Chair)
- Shayum Rahim
Attendees: Principal, IT manager, Chairman, Treasurer
School Head Support and Evaluation Committee
Objective: To evaluate the structure of systems in school, new curriculum, oversight of recruitment process, evaluation and setting up KPIs and performance management of the executive team, industrial relation, staff wellbeing and strengthen partnership and coordination with Principal and staff.
- Sirtaj Hussein
- Dost Khan
Attendee: Principal, Chairman, Vice Chairman
Parent Advisory, Academic Excellence and Communication Committee
Objective: Its role is to ensure the board builds strong and strategic relationships with parents and the community through the integration of the GVIC’s education, public relations, and public policy activities. It will endeavour to enhance parental engagement with staff and executives and build a good rapport with the community.
Ensuring nothing short of academic excellence for every child. It will measure outcomes against stated goals for metrics such as performance on state tests HSC, National Standardized Tests NAPLAN, interim assessments, or internal assessments. This committee ensures that the board and school share the same vision of academic excellence, that all directors understand the school’s academic promises, and leads the board in conducting proper oversight of the academic program. It will also look at metrics such as attendance, student and staff retention, and parents and staff satisfaction surveys.
The committee is to develop and implement communications strategy for GVIC. This includes promoting GVIC mission, values, and vision; share important news, publications, and events. It will also conduct strategy, impact analysis, reporting requirements to ASIC, NESA, Department of Education and broaden external relations. Additionally, it will incorporate relationship management with the sole member of GVIC Ltd.
- Shayum Rahim (Chair)
- Mohammed Fahim Shah
Attendees: Principal, Chairman, All directors in functions and events. | http://minarah.nsw.edu.au/2319-2/ |
The mission of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences is to educate health professionals who promote behaviors and practices to achieve optimal health, deliver safe, quality care, and assume leadership roles in their respective disciplines. The College aims to promote innovation in clinical practice, programs and technology through undergraduate and graduate teaching excellence, research and service.
Goals
Research
-
Develop an infrastructure to support and mentor faculty in the area of research
- Create a process in which junior faculty with a research focus or research agenda are able to be mentored by senior faculty internally and/or in other areas of the university related to preparing research proposals and grants.
- Provide research-focused seminars and training on a minimum of an annual basis to faculty interested in conducting research.
-
Develop interdisciplinary research initiatives within and outside of the college to foster a culture of collaboration on healthcare initiatives and research.
- Identify "healthcare communities of interest" in which interdisciplinary research would be successful.
Faculty
-
Provide opportunities each semester for faculty training in pedagogical and instructional techniques and technologies
- Create a Faculty Forum Program to provide development opportunities, which would include 4-6 sessions per semester related to targeted areas of faculty development (i.e. clinical evaluation, test construction, classroom management)
- Amend the College bylaws to create a Faculty Development Committee for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences
- Convene faculty and student representatives from each of the academic programs within the college to develop a plan to integrate cross-disciplinary course offerings in all curricula in the college.
Governance
-
Provide faculty, staff, and administrators in the college access to data analytics that include a wide array of transparent performance metrics to monitor, analyze, and report trends related to:.
-
Acceptance Rates:
- Monitor and report percentage of students accepted into undergraduate nursing clinical (each semester).
-
Articulation:
- Increase rate of eligible RN to BSN students accepted into the college’s graduate nursing program annually.
-
Certification Rates:
- Monitor and report pass rates on various certification examinations. Benchmark for Nursing, Health Information Management, and Dietetics (95% and above)
-
Job Placement/Employer Satisfaction/Enrollment in Graduate Programs:
- Monitor and report percentage of graduates who obtain employment within 6 months of graduation among all Nursing and Allied Health graduates.
-
Student Satisfaction:
- Increase participation in surveys regarding satisfaction with educational preparation for his or her career.
- Monitor and report college’s overall performance on SEIs and through focus groups, BSN and Allied Health Dean’s Advisory Councils, EBIs, etc. Instructor performance should consistently remain at or above university averages.
-
Faculty Retention:
- Monitor and report full-time faculty retention rates (including retirement, resignation, and termination) which should remain at or above 90% annually
-
Student Retention:
- Monitor and report first-time freshman to second semester freshmen progression rates.
- Monitor and report graduation rates for all programs.
- Acceptance Rates:
Students
- Establish a mechanism of research mentoring to engage undergraduate and graduate students and increase student productivity in research.
-
Establish a program of co-curricular activities to enhance student engagement, community involvement and the educational experience
- Provide seminars at least annually to foster involvement in professional activities and to provide opportunities for faculty/student engagement outside of classroom. | https://nursinghealthsciences.louisiana.edu/about-us/our-mission-goals |
Laura Gutierrez Vite
Student engagement has been regarded as a vehicle for success in higher education. Extensive research in the field has revealed the unequivocal effect of student engagement in academic outcomes and persistence (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, & Kinzie, 2008), because “the more actively engaged students are — with college faculty and staff, with other students, and with the subject matter they study — the more likely they are to learn, to stick with their studies, and to attain their academic goals” (McClenney, Marti, & Adkins, n.d., p.1).
In Mexico, the lack of success evidenced by high dropout rates or grade repetition in public universities, depends on both institutional factors (teaching quality, administration issues, etc.) and personal characteristics of students (socioeconomic situation, motivation, etc.) (De Vries, León-Arenas, Romero-Muñoz, & Hernández-Saldaña, 2011). Accordingly, international literature suggests that an effective higher education system depends on a successful link between universities and individual students. Such relationship is precisely conceived as ‘student engagement’ (Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006).
The present study is conducted at the Faculty of Chemistry of a Mexican public university (named as Mexican University). In such unit, three main issues have been identified in terms of student engagement. First, a large body of student engagement practices have been implemented aiming at increasing persistence and retention, as well as improving the student experience. The list of practices ranges from first-year interventions, remedial courses, financial strategies to counselling and well-being events. Unfortunately, little is known the extent of success of such academic and non-academic practices from the student’s perspective.
Second, a weak students’ voice on university matters prevails at this institution. De Garay-Sánchez (2013) believes that undergraduates in Mexico remain ‘an unexplored territory”. According to the author (2004), Mexican institutions will successfully integrate students to the university system as long as institutions deeply understand students’ social, cultural and academic practices. Consequently, the student engagement initiatives offered at this university appear to be underdeveloped or disconnected from students’ factual needs.
Third, a strong orientation towards non-regular students or first-year students neglects the attention to the rest of the student body, throughout the whole academic program. On this matter, Cinobau (2013) argues that “supporting and enhancing the student experience (academic, social, welfare and support) from first contact through to becoming alumni is critical to success in higher education today for both the student and the institution” (p.169).
Therefore, as an area worthy to study, the overall purpose of this research is to advance student’s perspectives concerning the impact of engagement practices on the undergraduate experience, with a view to identifying successful practices and recommendations for improvement.
Based on the research problems and gaps discussed above, this study attempts to answer the following central research question:
From the student’s perspective, to what extent are the student engagement practices successful at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Mexican University?
In order to answer the central research question, four research sub-questions have been formulated:
A wide variety of conceptions of student engagement have emerged across the world. Back in time, the conception is rooted in the importance of social and academic integration of students into universities (Tinto 1975; 2009). Today, one of the most influential definitions, originated in the United Sates, defines student engagement as the time and effort devoted by students to educationally effective practices and what institutions do to induce students to participate in these activities (Kuh, 2009). Therefore, student engagement involves both student’s behaviours and institutional conditions in order to produce multiple and desirable university outcomes, such as retention, attainment, learning and satisfaction (Kuh, G.D., Kinzie, J., Buckley, J.A., Bridges, B.C., & Hayek, J.C., 2006).
Given the multidimensional nature of student engagement, Zepke & Leach (2010) have proposed a ‘holistic’ conceptual organizer based on a synthesis of 93 studies on student engagement from ten countries: USA (38), Australia (29), UK (11), New Zealand (7), South Africa (2), China (2), Spain (1), South Korea (1), Israel (1) and France (1).
Furthermore, the conceptual organizer has been refined through student interviews in the same context (Leach, & Zepke, 2011), which has been identified as the most suitable reference to elaborate a conceptual framework for this dissertation. Accordingly, the adapted conceptual framework for the Mexican context consists of four lenses of engagement (Fig. 1):
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework (Created by the Author, 2016)
In order to answer the research questions, two main research paths are undertaken: an in-depth literature review and a data collection allowed by the development of a measurement instrument of student engagement practices. The following elements are considered for the construction of such instrument.
Literature review:
The measurement instrument comprises a quantitative section which collects student’s views through a 5-point Likert scale, followed by three qualitative open-ended questions which explore more in-depth on student experiences. In this respect, data collection involves a transformative mixed methods approach, meaning “those in which the researcher uses a theoretical lens as an overarching perspective within a design that contains both qualitative and quantitative data” (Creswell, 2009, p. 15) in a single study or a program of interest. This combination allows a comprehensive analysis of the unit from different perspectives rather than using separately either quantitative or qualitative and helps reduce gaps on findings (Bulsara, n.d.).
Data is collected by using a web-based tool provided by Fountain Park Oy from Finland. Such instrument allows a participatory method where students express their experiences in their own words through a virtual brainstorming. Furthermore, respondents can read and evaluate other participant’s responses over a virtual dartboard. It is noteworthy to mention that such tool has been successfully applied for strategic development of higher education in Finland (Fountain Park Oy, 2015).
Concerning the sample selection, a random sampling has been applied. The target population are students from all academic years (1st to 9th semester). The survey has been administered to 683 undergraduates in Spanish language by the Student Affair’s Office.
Since the research design, variables, methods and measurement procedures are developed by the author, validity and reliability tests are performed, using the statistics package IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. Similarly, Likert-scale data is analysed by using descriptive statistics with SPSS, and summarized by comparing the frequency of responses, as suggested by Hall (n.d.).
In addition, qualitative data is analysed through a Text Miner application. The frequency of themes mentioned by students are enumerated and classified. For the last open-ended question, the web-based tool categorizes the evaluations provided by students on a virtual dartboard; the correspondent results are displayed by the web-based tool comparing responses in terms of relevance vs disagreement.
Finally, quantitative and qualitative data are merged and discussed. One advantage of this approach is that qualitative data might be useful to interpret quantitative responses (Driscoll, Appiah-Yeboah, Salib, & Rupert, 2007), as well as to identify signals not anticipated in the survey design.
The following figure synthetizes the research methods.
Fig. 2. Research methods (Created by the Author, 2016)
This study has revealed the impact of a wide range of engagement practices on the undergraduate experience. From the students’ perspective, successful engagement practices take place both inside and beyond the classroom, in line with engagement literature. Tinto (1997) emphasizes the importance of classrooms or labs as gateways to engage students in curriculum. Moreover, out-of-class practices are purposeful educational experiences (Kuh, et al, 2006). Both aspects foster interactions among students and faculty and provide meaningful learning experiences.
The closed-ended questions have been responded by 213 undergraduates: 55.9% are female and 44.1% male undergraduates, from all academic semesters. Reliability and validity tests have proved to be favourable allowing the quantitative data analysis. The following section summarizes the most relevant findings based on the conceptual framework.
Motivation towards studies is another key element for engagement in universities. To the statement “I feel motivated towards my studies” almost 30% of Chemistry students strongly agree, plus 44.1% who agree with the statement. The rest of the sample population indicates a neutral perspective (15.0%); a smaller percentage disagree (6.1%) or strongly disagree (5.2%).
77.5% students indicate that family help them continue with their university studies. To the question: What is your main financial support that allows you studying at the university level? 62.7% says family, 18.8% of support comes from scholarships, 9.6% from a job, 8.3% are savings and 0.6% mentioned partners as main financial support.
High levels of satisfaction are reported: 21% students are very satisfied and 60% are satisfied; only 11% students are neutral, 7% are dissatisfied and 1% very dissatisfied with the overall student experience at the Faculty of Chemistry. This study also asked students to evaluate a set of engagement aspects which have provide them with a meaningful experience: the two most important elements determining a meaningful educational experience are quality of teachers and experimental work in laboratories. Interestingly, the less popular factor is the first-year experiences (tutoring program, academic advising and remedial mathematics).
Within the lens of institutional support, academic conferences (extracurricular activity) delivered by eminent scholars is one of the most successful engagement practices organized at the Faculty of Chemistry. Students value academic conferences as learning spaces to discover current scientific research and real-life applications of Chemistry “[...] because in class, such specific applications are not taught”. In addition, conferences act as orientation mechanisms to decide the course of student’s careers and future orientations. As a matter of fact, students are learning crucial aspects of the field mainly out of the classroom.
Likewise, mentored research is another successful engagement practice in the sense that undergraduates can collaborate in faculty-initiated research during break periods, gain experimental skills in the laboratory, define career paths and develop motivation towards graduation.
Regarding first-year experiences, personal tutoring shows a weak impact among first and second year students. International literature points out tutoring programs as solid supporters of transition, engagement and academic performance in universities, particularly for first-year students (Rhoden & Dowling, 2006).
On other hand, from student’s views, academic advising offered by professors and advanced students inside and out of class, is prominent to their experience, not only during the first year but throughout their whole study program.
In terms of transactional engagement, both quantitative and qualitative data has proved that quality of teachers and teaching practices are fundamental factors for students. Indeed, such aspects has been ranked as factors for a meaningful educational experience. The research has also revealed important deficiencies pedagogy and teacher evaluation.
In addition, the empirical part evidences a low peer interaction, especially with student representatives. In this regard, students claim for “closer interaction with teachers, administration staff and student representatives.” Regrettably, the Mexican education system is characterized by a poor student involvement in university development, at least compared to other higher education systems in the world.
As a matter of fact, this study has provided an overview of the impact of student engagement practices at a Mexican university. Despite a vast number of recommendations can be drawn from this research, four practical recommendations are formulated. Primarily, the unit should focus on the revealed strengths: prioritize support and visibility of both academic conferences and mentored research program. Concerning the areas for improvement, the main priorities should be: a strategic focus on teacher professional development as well as strengthening first-year experiences, particularly the personal tutoring program which has been promoted by the rectorate at institutional level.
In summary, this dissertation has added value to the field of Mexican higher education in multiple ways. First, it has provided a holistic perspective of the student engagement as a strategic focus for university development. Second, it has produced evidence-based information for decision-making and improvement of the undergraduate experience, and third, it emphasizes the value of students’ views.
As final words, as long as higher education institutions shift their focus towards strengthening engagement, assessing its impact and understanding deeply the whole undergraduate experience from the student’s perspective, it will be possible to focus on those areas worth to invest, enhance or innovate.
This investigation provides various insights for further research. First, the Faculty of Chemistry should measure the impact of student engagement practices over time with a more representative sample population. Second, involvement of other key stakeholders is highly recommended; particularly, collecting academic managers’ and teaching staff’s perspectives on the findings of this research is indispensable, through qualitative interviews or the use of innovative IT tools (such as Fountain Park’s tool). Lastly, the impact of student engagement practices on specific outcomes such as dropout, persistence and graduation rates should be investigated.
Special thanks to all individuals that anyhow contributed to this dissertation, especially to my main supervisor, Profr. Dr. Frank Ziegele, my second supervisor Mr. Bastian Thiebach, to Fountain Park Oy in Finland, to all members of the MARIHE consortium, and last but not least to the principals and students in Mexico who collaborated in this research.
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Rhoden, C., & Dowling, N. (2006). Why tutors matter: realities of their role in transition. Proceedings of the 9th Pacific Rim First Year in Higher Education Conference, Griffith University, Australia;
Tinto, V. (2009). How to Help Students Stay and Succeed. Chronicle of Higher Education. 55(22), 1/4p;
Tinto, V. (1997) Classrooms as Communities: Exploring the Educational Character of Student Persistence. Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 68, Issue 6, pp.599-623;
Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research. Review of Educational Research. 45, 89-125;
Zepke,N., & Leach, L. (2010). Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(3) 167–177;
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NCCC is committed to continuous improvement. This is why we maintain a robust culture of assessment. Whether we are thinking about course learning, cocurricular activities, student services, or any other aspect of our college, we are constantly collecting and using data as part of our effort to make things better. For a detailed explanation of our assessment processes, please see the Institutional Assessment Plan.
NCCC’s assessment efforts are coordinated by the Office for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, located in Stoltz Hall on the Chanute campus. This office serves as a clearinghouse for course assessments, student surveys, and more. The Assessment Office is managed by the Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness:
Mr. Steve Dowell
Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness
[email protected]
Office 620-432-0446
Assessment Data
An important part of good assessment practice is sharing relevant data with stakeholders. Selected information is provided below, and further resources are located on these related pages: Academic Program Review and General Education Assessment.
The Institutional Effectiveness Dashboard (IED)
The Institutional Effectiveness Dashboard is an annual project of NCCC’s Executive Committee. It captures data related to the college’s mission and purposes. The IED uses a metadata approach to evaluate the college’s effectiveness in achieving its four purposes. Over three hundred pieces of data are collected for the project, and each is evaluated and scored using established criteria. The resulting calculations help inform strategic planning.
Course Survey Results
NCCC students have an opportunity to share their feedback at the end of every course. Among other things, we ask them to rate the course and the instructor.
Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE)
In the spring of 2022, NCCC joined a cohort of over 400 institutions to administer the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. The CCSSE collects over 160 responses about the student experience, including topics like academics, student services, work-life pressures, overall perceptions about the college, and more. NCCC student responses were compiled and compared to the full cohort as well as to the other institutions in our size category. Results have been grouped into five major categories as shown below:
National Community College Benchmark Project (NCCBP)
NCCC participates in the National Community College Benchmark Project, which gathers data from more than 150 institutions. This information is then compared and ranked, allowing participants to see how their own institution measures up to peer colleges. Below are some of NCCC's rankings from the NCCBP Report released in Spring 2022:
Student Satisfaction Survey
At least every other year, NCCC students respond to a satisfaction survey that has been developed by a leading company in higher education enrollment management, Ruffalo Noel Levitz. Students respond to the survey’s items in two ways. First, students rate the importance of the item. Then they rate their satisfaction with that item at NCCC. All ratings are based on a 7-point scale, with seven being “very important” or “very satisfied.” Gaps between the importance and satisfaction ratings can help identify areas that may need attention. Ruffalo Noel Levitz also provides comparison data to help interpret and contextualize the results.
The Scale Report below sums up the results of the 2021 Student Satisfaction survey at NCCC. This report clusters the survey’s forty items into eight major categories. The table shows the overall importance ratings, satisfaction ratings, and gaps. Data from a peer group of Midwestern colleges is provided for comparison.
Student Success Report
The Student Success Report summarizes information about student retention and graduation. Please click Student Success Report to view the latest report. | https://www.neosho.edu/Academics-and-Services/Assessment-of-Student-Learning/Office-for-Assessment-and-Institutional-Effectiveness |
Student AchievementThe Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) requires that institutions publish student achievement information. In SACSCOC’s Policy on Institutional Obligations for Public Disclosure, student achievement information may include “reliable information in retention, graduation, course completion, licensure examinations, and job placement rates and other measures of student success appropriate to institutional mission.”
The College of Coastal Georgia (CCGA) evaluates success concerning student achievement consistent with its mission to provide degrees that support the intellectual, economic and cultural needs of the community and region while promoting student progression and timely graduation. CCGA's commitment to student achievement is specifically evident in one section of its mission statement:
“…Advocating excellence in scholarship and community engagement, the College promotes student progression and timely graduation through student-centered programs that offer a rich and diverse student experience. Students are prepared for meaningful careers, advanced study, lifelong learning, and participation in a global and technological society. …"
CCGA has identified several metrics for measuring student achievement effectiveness of its work toward mission fulfillment; furthermore, these indicators support CCGA’s strategic plan, Coastal Vision 2021, and in the process establish significant but realistic outcomes and determine a time frame for results. These institutional measures and students’ achievement on these measures are presented below:
Job Placement/Continuing EducationThe Office of Career Development utilizes the National Association of Colleges and Employers' (NACE) First Destination Survey to capture information regarding new CCGA graduates' employment and continuing education within six months of graduation (industry standard). According to the NACE, 81% of bachelor's degree graduates in the Class of 2016 were employed or continuing their education six months following graduation.
|Criterion||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|Spring 2017||Spring 2021|
|Job Placement / Continuing Education||78%||82%|
Retention & Graduation
The retention and graduation rates presented below are based on data provided to the Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a system of "interrelated surveys conducted annually" by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, which defines overall graduation rate for colleges and universities as the progress of associate and baccalaureate students who began their studies as a first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshman cohort to see if they complete a degree within 150% of "normal time" for the program in which they are enrolled. This definition does not account for all entering students, regardless of their prior college experience or educational pathway – only a select subset of students.
Likewise, according to IPEDS, retention is "a measure of the rate at which students persist in their educational program, expressed as a percentage." This is the percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen who are again enrolled in their second fall term.
It should be noted that any first-time, full-time freshmen who transfer to another post-secondary education institution that provides a degree program that CCGA does not offer will be counted as "non-completers" and consequently lower graduation rates. If such students transfer before enrolling for a second fall term, they will lower retention rates as well.
|Criterion||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|2014 cohort||2018 cohort|
|Associate three-year graduation rate||9%||13%|
|2011 cohort||2015 cohort|
|Bachelor's six-year graduation rate||23%||27%|
|2016 cohort||2020 cohort|
|Associate retention rate (fall-to-fall)||49%||57%|
|Bachelor's retention rate (fall-to-fall)||58%||66%|
Course Completion
The rate at which students successfully complete required coursework for a degree is a direct indication of progression, and has immediate impact in retention and cost of education. Research has suggested the longer it takes a student to complete their educational goal, the less likely they are to do so. The College has effectively restructured how it supports students who arrive on campus with a gap in academic preparation. This recent shift involved moving from traditional remedial education as a standalone enterprise to concentrating on supporting students in the credit-bearing collegiate level courses that align well with each individual program of study – promoting gateway course success via co-requisite academic support.
|Criteria||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|AY 2016-17||AY 2020-21|
|Gateway course completion rate for remedial students||68% (English)
|
50% (Mathematics)
|71% (English)
|
56% (Mathematics)
Student engagement relates to students’ involvement in High-Impact Practices (HIPs), namely, co-curricular activities that help foster student development, encourage teamwork and collaboration, promote synergistic student-faculty connections, provide real-world applications, and demand reflection and integrated learning. The College utilizes the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to collect and assess select high-impact practices involving freshmen and seniors.
Student Engagement
|Criteria||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|Freshmen||Spring 2017||Spring 2020|
|Study Abroad||0%||1%|
|Service-Learning||46%||50%|
|Undergraduate Research||2%||5%|
|Seniors|
|Study Abroad||6%||10%|
|Service-Learning||80%||85%|
|Undergraduate Research||35%||40%|
STUDENT SATISFACTION
Coastal georgia uses the Graduating Student Survey (GSS), administered at the end of spring term, to assess student satisfaction with their college experience at the institution. Student satisfaction continues to be a key component of academic success, especially the student support services offered.
|Criteria||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|Spring 2017||Spring 2021|
|Overall college experience ('very satisified' or ''satisfied')||79%||83%|
|Overall student life experience ('excellent' or 'good')||74%||78%|
|Degree requirements completed on time ('yes')||75%||80%|
|Made satisfactory academic progress while employed ('yes')||90%||95%|
|Recommend CCGA to prospective students ('definitely' or 'probably')||85%||89%|
Professional Licensure / CertificationThe success of graduates in many professional fields, especially in healthcare and teacher education, require licensure or certification to practice or enter the workforce; therefore, measuring the success of students in passing licensure and certification exams is an important success indicator in developing a qualified workforce.
|Criteria||Recent Performance||Target Value (Goal)|
|AY 2016-17||AY 2020-21|
|American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT)||100%||100%|
|Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE)||100%||100%|
|National Council Licensure Examination (AS Nursing)||100%||100%|
|National Council Licensure Examination (BS Nursing)||100%||100%|
Degrees AwardedCCGA’s success as an institution is measured by degrees awarded to meet workforce demands, address affordability and increase access to educational opportunities. | http://ccga.finalsite.com/page.cfm?p=2342 |
Assistant Professor in Interactive Digital Media, Monmouth University
The Department of Communication at Monmouth University is seeking applications from an outstanding interactive technology and digital media practitioner and scholar for the position of Assistant Professor of Digital Media to serve its new Interactive Digital Media graduate concentration and Media Studies and Production undergraduate cluster. This opening is for the 2019-2020 academic year and is a tenure-track appointment.
The successful candidate should be able to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in digital media, creative coding, programming for emerging technologies, and should have experience in project-based learning to create potential new classes in the areas of visual communication, computer-mediated communication, and emerging media production. The preferred candidate has a wide-range of expertise, including experience in three or more of the following emerging technologies areas: critical studies of digital technology, immersive media, new media research methods, physical digital integration, game design, data visualization, sonification, ambient computing, virtual/augmented reality, interactive narrative, physical computing, user experience design, and mobile development.
For additional information about the department, please go to: https://www.monmouth.edu/department-of-communication/
Terminal degree to include PhD, MFA, MPS, other master’s level degrees will be considered depending on experience and foci in Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Game Design, Interactive Media, Digital Media, Interactive Media Performance, or related field. In progress degrees will be considered, if degree will be in hand by the start of the position in Fall 2019.
The ideal applicant will provide evidence of successful college teaching experience and a record of scholarly/creative productivity. The candidate will submit a digital portfolio demonstrating their media production experience.
Transcripts and three letters of recommendation can be directed to: Digital Media Search Chair, Communication, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ 07764.
About Monmouth University: Located along New Jersey’s northern coastline, Monmouth University offers a welcoming and dynamic setting for student development. Innovative academic programs, individual faculty attention and nationally ranked Division I athletics make our private university a great place to find your future.
Monmouth’s beautiful coastal campus sits at the heart of a vibrant culture rich in history, the arts, technology and entrepreneurship. Just one hour from New York and Philadelphia, we take pride in preparing students to succeed in life after Monmouth. Our renowned faculty are actively involved in advancing academic research nationwide while encouraging meaningful community involvement and critical thinking for self-fulfillment.
The Department of Communication at Monmouth University is a dynamic department that serves 400 undergraduate majors in three clusters — Media Studies & Production, Journalism/Public Relations, and Communication Studies — and 40 graduate students in its Master’s program in Communication.
The department is home to the Future Media Lab, a leading-edge studio and lab for research engagement with emerging technology and communication in the context of cultural production. Tools in the lab support interactive exhibition design, game design, mixed reality, ambient computing, media engineering, robotics, virtual/augmented reality, and experiential design. | https://www.newmediacaucus.org/assistant-professor-in-interactive-digital-media-monmouth-university/ |
The conversation around mental health and wellbeing has never been more active than it is today.
There’s no denying that emotional health has an impact on your teenager’s academic performance. When they’re in such a crucial stage of development, it’s important to understand how you can help your child’s educational journey. Let’s talk about emotional health, academic performance, and how a student’s grades could be affected by their teachers’ emotional wellbeing.
Emotional Health
Students need to be mindful of their emotional health, and this can be achieved with the help of their parents. Emotional wellbeing is the ability to recognise emotions and to process them when they appear. For instance, a student might be disappointed about a mark they received for an internal. Good emotional health would look like:
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- The student recognises that the disappointment is because of the mark they received, and;
- The student is able to process this emotion either by setting goals to avoid the low mark in the future or to reflect on why they feel disappointed with their mark.
Parents can help this function by allowing students to approach them without fear of judgement. Research states that teens, especially if they’re 17 or 18, have more positive social behaviour when they have secure attachments to their parents or caregivers. This means that parents should:
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- Provide open spaces for communication.
- Encourage kids to talk about their emotions without shame.
- Teach kids how to process their emotions.
- Help their kids understand how to empathise with others.
When parents incorporate these strategies in their adolescent’s upbringing, it can help students understand where their positive and negative reactions stem from. This can make a world of difference for students who are navigating their schooling careers at a young age, setting them up for future success in the workplace.
When students understand how to process emotions that stem from academic performance, it means that they:
-
- Have more clarity or awareness of how their academic performance affects them.
- Know how to regulate reactions to disappointments, in particular, that they might have in response to their academic performance.
Negative emotional health can actually have adverse effects on children. Sometimes, negative emotional health can lead to physical illness or can aggravate mental health issues. For example, the effects of COVID-19 worsened emotional wellbeing in China by about 74%. People who had more information about how to tackle COVID-19 were more likely to have more control over their emotional wellbeing.
Academic Performance
One of the biggest pressures on students is their ability to do well at school. Academic performance (or academic achievement) is a measured ability to do well in schooling environments. This is measured by tests, exams, and assessments that take place throughout the year. The result of academic achievement is often, if not always, graduating high school and/or university, achieving a certificate, or passing a level.
Here’s how academic performance and emotional health come into play, and why it’s important to link the two concepts together.
Attributional Styles
An “explanatory” or “attributional” style is a term used in psychology to describe how people process events that happen to them, regardless of whether or not the outcome or effect was good or bad. People often fall into two categories here:
-
- Optimistic attributional style: people are more inclined to process events with a more positive slant. This means that they’re more likely to attribute bad experiences to bad luck or extrinsic influences, or consider that negative experiences are only temporary and won’t overly influence their lives (which helps them overcome challenges).
-
- Pessimistic attributional style: people are more inclined to process events with a more negative outlook. People with this explanatory style may think that bad experiences are due to personal faults or intrinsic influences (feeling like they’re the reason why bad things happen to them), or may even think that events with negative outcomes will never end.
This study found that students with optimistic attributional styles were more likely to do well at school and maintain good grades. Students with pessimistic attributional styles were more likely to approach their studies with hostility or fear of failing.
School Engagement and Results
There’s no doubt that results, at any time of the year, can have adverse impacts on a student’s academic performance. One of the best predicting factors of high-achieving results is school engagement, or how involved a student is in school-related activities.
This study found that university students, in particular, were “more emotionally engaged” when they were achieving high grades. Likewise, secondary school students tended to do better if they attended school regularly, participated in class more often, and had an emotional investment in their work.
The study also found that the biggest shift in grades happened just after Year 7 — usually smack bang during the onset of puberty. This change was attributed to the shift in academic expectations for students on the verge of going to high school. They also found that students were more likely to work towards better results if they thought their classmates were working towards higher grades, too.
So How Can We Foster Emotional Wellbeing to Improve Academic Performance?
-
- Encourage positive attributional styles in students: When students maintain positive attitudes towards schooling, their attitudes become more like a self-fulfilling prophecy. When they believe they can do well, their mentalities will shift to allow them to extend their goals.
- Keep them engaged in their work: Help them link their studies to something tangible in the real world. Skills in Maths could help them budget their money in the future; skills in English could help them improve their critical thinking.
- Help them understand that extrinsic influences might affect their grades, but doesn’t determine their worth: Sometimes, bad experiences can affect grades and results, which will throw their emotional wellbeing into turmoil. The point to emphasise here is that the bad grades aren’t an indication of their failure; rather, it’s an opportunity to flex those emotional reflective skills.
Teaching Performance
Over the past few years, researchers have also been trying to evaluate emotional wellbeing from a teacher’s perspective. The issue has gotten so big that there’s a term specifically for teachers under work duress: “teacher burnout”. Unsurprisingly, this can have detrimental effects on multiple people, including students.
What is “Teacher Burnout”?
This relates to the term “burnout”, meaning that people who suffer from “burnout syndrome” face higher levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and less personal achievement. Symptoms of burnout include chronic headaches and stomach aches, fatigue, a disrupted sleep pattern, and even chronic irritability, anxiety or depression.
In teachers, this can result in lower job satisfaction, higher incentives to leave the teaching profession, and poor physical health. It can also affect the relationship the teacher has with their classes, and the way they interact with students on a daily basis.
How Does This Affect a Student’s Grades?
Teachers with low job satisfaction, or with symptoms of burnout, may have low emotional wellbeing. As a result, this study found that teachers tend to mark with more bias depending on their emotional state. That meant that if teachers were in a more negative emotional state, they tended to grade harsher than usual, which impacted their students’ overall grades.
Burnout can also affect a teacher’s classroom management abilities. “Classroom management” is a term that describes how teachers are able to keep their teaching on track while managing the behaviours and attitudes of their students during class. This study found that emotional exhaustion, for example, made teachers less adept at classroom management, and affected their motivation to teach work. Because of this, students were more rowdy and disruptive during class, impacting everyone’s ability to learn during class.
How Can I Tackle Teaching Performance Issues?
It’s important to note that teaching performance is only a piece of the puzzle, not the solution in its entirety. If you think a student’s academic performance is impacted by the quality of teaching in the classroom, it’s important to:
-
- Talk to the student to understand what the day-to-day classroom environment is like.
- Try to get in contact with the teacher in question.
- Monitor the student’s results over time to see if there is a change.
- Ask the teacher in question if they have any feedback or comments to offer about the student’s academic performance or behaviour in class.
- Listen to the student if they are complaining about the same teacher consistently.
The answers to the abovementioned steps may help you deduce if a student’s academic performance may have been affected by teaching performance in particular. In general, it’s a good idea to establish a relationship with a student’s teachers to gain a better understanding of how they’re doing at school, both academically and emotionally.
Happy Lives, Happy Results
A lot of students fall into the trap that they have to get good grades or punish themselves for bad grades to do well at school. In reality, the secret to academic success often lies in spheres outside of school. Success really depends on a student’s ability to:
-
- Regulate their emotional wellbeing with adult support structures.
- Process emotional responses to academics.
- Monitor their classroom environment and involvement.
This process is always fluid and dynamic, depending on the student’s progress through school. With these skills in their classroom toolkit, they’ll be more than prepared to tackle the challenges the classroom throws at them. | https://inspirationeducation.co.nz/ncea/how-do-grades-affect-our-emotions/ |
An assessment is a tool used to measure a student’s progress and provide evidence of learning. It is also used to monitor and improve teaching and learning. These tools are also helpful in evaluating the quality of a program. This article discusses some of the different types of assessment and explains how they are used.
Assessments measure student progress.
The purpose of assessments is to measure student progress toward educational goals. In addition, these measures hold students, schools, educators, and jurisdictions accountable for their efforts. According to the, Every Student Succeeds Act; these measures can focus on student engagement, school climate safety, postsecondary readiness, and access to advanced coursework.
Educators can leverage motivation beyond letter grades by using a holistic assessment model. Self-efficacy, a positive environment, and the value of work are critical factors in goal-directed behavior. Students are motivated to work harder and longer when these forces are present. They also tend to be happier and more satisfied with their work. The results of a comprehensive assessment approach are positive for all of the elements of a system.
Assessments help teachers understand student progress and determine instructional priorities. For example, entry-level assessments assess students’ prior knowledge and help teachers plan instruction accordingly. Meanwhile, progress monitoring assessments measure student progress daily or weekly and provide specific information about Standards achieved. These data are gathered and analyzed by the school or district.
They are designed to monitor and improve teaching and learning
Assessments can be used to measure student performance on a range of topics. They can be summative or formative and help teachers determine whether their teaching methods are effective. Formative assessments may include quizzes, projects, and presentations, while summative tests evaluate whether students have learned the required knowledge and skills.
However, these assessments can only be practical if they follow up with helpful corrective instruction. The teacher must then give the student another chance to demonstrate a new level of competency. This will allow teachers to determine how effective their corrective actions are and give students a second chance to experience success in learning.
To assess learning, teachers need to understand the purpose of assessment. Most state and school systems use large-scale, standardized tests designed to rank students and schools. While large-scale assessments are often used, they are impractical for improving instruction. They are often taken at the end of the school year, and teachers don’t receive results until several months later. Moreover, large-scale tests often lack the details teachers need to target improvements.
They are used to evaluate program quality.
Several types of assessments are used to evaluate the quality of a program. For example, a balanced scorecard measures the quality of a program and its outcomes. The Kar is a performance indicator linked to a specific action in health promotion. Assessments are used to measure performance in health care programs and to measure the quality of services.
Assessments can be done from various perspectives, including the perspective of the people served. They can involve family members, community residents, neighborhood organizations, academic institutions, and elected officials. Some assessments may even include a diverse group of people, such as people with a disability or other social issues.
They are designed to promote active student involvement
Active student involvement can be achieved in a variety of ways. This includes incorporating response cards, guided notes, and choral responses. These methods increase the number of student responses and increase opportunities for students to receive reinforcement. They are often easy to implement, and students report that they find them fun.
These activities help teachers to determine students’ understanding of a particular topic and help tailor assessments to suit this understanding. They also help teachers assess whether information needs to be collected in a different format to encourage students to express themselves in new ways. These methods are instrumental when students come from varying backgrounds and have previously studied certain aspects of a topic. | https://udyamoldisgold.com/what-is-assessment/ |
This IRIS Star Legacy Module, the second in a series on intensive intervention, offers information on making data-based instructional decisions. Specifically, the resource discusses collecting and analyzing progress monitoring and diagnostic assessment data. Developed in collaboration with the IRIS Center and the CEEDAR Center, this resource is designed for individuals who will be implementing intensive interventions (e.g., special education teachers, reading specialists, interventionists).
Search
Resource Type
DBI Process
Subject
Implementation Guidance and Considerations
Student Population
Audience
Search
The pandemic has disrupted and, in many cases hindered, learning for all students – most particularly for our most vulnerable populations. Data literacy is key to understanding and tailoring instructional decisions to address students’ varying needs. In this webinar panelists discuss strategies and frameworks to ensure educators are data literate and understand how data literacy can help districts and schools address learning opportunity gaps.
This Innovation Configuration can serve as a foundation for strengthening existing preparation programs so that educators exit with the ability to use various forms of assessment to make data-based educational and instructional decisions within an MTSS. The expectation is that these skills can be further honed and supported through inservice as practicing teachers.
This guide was developed by Melanie Kowalick an MTSS Curriculum Specialist in Wichita Falls Independent School District. This planning guide may be used for planning short intervention activities, review and practice activities, or progress monitoring checks. During school closures, we learned that virtual intervention does not look the same as face-to-face intervention. Parent support and planning are going to be the key to helping our students who have difficulties with reading and mathematics. For educators or parents, part of this support includes simple ways to monitor student progress.
This tool was developed by Krystal Uricchio a special education teacher at Narragansett High School in Rhode Island. Choice making is a common goal for students with significant disabilities. However, conducting activities that involve choice making and collecting subsequent data about choice can be difficult, especially in a virtual or at-home setting. This challenge can be compounded when students are nonverbal or have areas of need related to expressive communication. This tool provides a method for collecting data about choice making using a Google Form or a Word Document. For each opportunity, the educator or family member will record the two choices provided and the level of support the student needed to identify the correct choice. A video example is provided to support parents in the successful implementation of the tool.
NCII partnered with Project STAIR (Supporting Teaching of Algebra: Individual Readiness) to host a series of three webinars focused on implementing data-based individualization (DBI) with a focus on mathematics during COVID-19 restrictions.
Returning to School: Considerations for Students with the Most Intensive Behavioral Needs. A Guide to Supporting Students With Disabilities, Their Families, and Educators
This guide is a set of strategies and key practices with the ultimate goal of supporting students with the most intensive behavioral needs, their families, and educators in their transitions back to school during and following the global pandemic in a manner that prioritizes their health and safety, social and emotional needs, and behavioral and academic growth.
This presentation was delivered by Dr. Tessie Rose Bailey as part of the Colorado Multi-Tiered System of Support Virtual Summit 2020. In the presentation, Dr. Bailey focused on considerations for providing virtual intervention and progress monitoring and highlights resources developed by the National Center on Intensive Intervention. Related Resources Find additional resources for educators and families support students at home Supporting Students With Intensive Needs During COVID-19
This resource developed by Sarah Thorud, Elementary Reading Specialist from Clatskanie School District in Oregon focuses on implementing screening and progress monitoring virtually. It includes guiding questions and considerations for implementation, video examples, and a sample sign-up sheet for screening and progress monitoring students virtually.
Successful implementation of a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) and, specifically, intensive intervention through the data-based individualization (DBI) process, demands the collection and analysis of data. As teams consider data collection, challenges may occur with assessment administration, scoring, and data entry (Taylor, 2009). This resource reviews three data collection and entry challenges and strategies to ensure data about risk status and responsiveness accurately represent student performance and minimize measurement errors. | https://intensiveintervention.org/search?keywords=&f%5B0%5D=dbi_process%3A9 |
,
A. Tate
University of Edinburgh (UNITED KINGDOM)
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are widely used in both distance learning and for on-campus learning providing supporting tools which allow students to access learning materials, activities and assignments. This study is part of the author’s PhD research on an intelligent learning environment that investigates current uses and issues of learning environments, and information technologies that students use in their learning activities.
This study aims:
- To understand student behaviour and classroom style.
- To capture any issue or problems such as student engagement, performance, motivation and learning activities, etc.
- To capture current uses of an online learning environments that students use in their learning.
- To evaluate the satisfaction of the current use of an online learning environments.
- To be able to use these data as a base to establish background studies of student experiences with learning environments and IT support in learning activities, requirements, and issues of the project.
This paper discusses the results of an empirical study in which data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 227 computer science undergraduates and 11 lecturers in the University in Thailand. They currently use Moodle as their virtual learning environment called “ICT eLearning System” as a supplement to classrooms. Survey results suggest that there are some potential improvements to the current system. As this is the first phase of the PhD research, the next phase includes using these results as orientation data for the design and implementation of an improved intelligent virtual learning environment.
keywords:
vle
,
moodle
,
educational technology
,
perception
. | https://library.iated.org/view/BORWARNGINN2014ANI |
Muskegon Community College unveiled its 2017-2022 Strategic Plan at a special luncheon on July 21 in Collegiate Hall on campus.
“Our Successful Students, Successful Communities five-year plan reflects the input from our partners in business and industry, education, nonprofits, government, as well as the greater community,” noted MCC President Dale K. Nesbary. “More than 180 representatives from our campus and 52 organizations joined to help identify a vision to meet student and community needs. Our progress will be shared with the campus and community throughout the five-year implementation process.”
The Strategic Plan has five priority areas: (1) Student Support, (2) Academic Programs (3) Facilities and Infrastructure (4) Community Engagement, and (5) Culture. Each goal has measurable objectives and key performance indicators. (see the full list below)
“The Implementation Team will monitor progress on a monthly basis and provide updates to the campus each quarter,” said Tina Dee, Director of Strategic Initiatives at MCC. “In addition, there will be an annual report to the community.” For more information, visit www.muskegoncc.edu/strategicplanning.
At the luncheon, current MCC students Robbie Berg and Derek Jakielek lauded the merits of the new plan, while MCC Instructor Christopher VanOosterhout, representing the MCC Faculty Association, praised its emphasis on student success.
“It’s not a document to be stored away and then dusted off in five years so we can make excuses why we didn’t accomplish what was in here,” he said. “It’s our GPS. It’s a road map for the future success of the college, our community and our region as a whole.”
MCC Orientation Specialist Ashley Battle, in representing the MCC staff, added, “We take student success to heart. We see our students day to day and get to know them personally. They share their stories with us and sometimes we get to know their families and children. We hear about their goals and about their hardships. We want them to overcome those obstacles so they can be successful. We believe the Strategic Plan will help our students become successful in their educational journey, which in turn will lead them to be successful in obtaining the bigger goals they have set for themselves.”
“On behalf of the West Michigan K-12 community, I would like to congratulate Muskegon Community College for its recent successes, including a collegiate presence in downtown Muskegon and, of course, for the Muskegon Promise,” said Robert Szymoniak, superintendent of the Fruitport Community Schools who served on the MCC Strategic Planning Committee. “This positive trajectory that MCC is on will be enhanced through the guidance provided by the Strategic Plan.”
“The demand to improve college completion rates is at the center of the call for change in higher education today,” said MCC Vice President for Academic Affairs Kelley Conrad. “Several years ago Muskegon Community College, like many institutions, adopted and developed a Student Success and Completion Agenda and began a body of work with a “laser-like” focus on getting students to complete college. The new strategic plan will guide and support our Success and Completion Agenda work over the next five years.
“At MCC we want significantly more students to achieve their primary goal of transferring to a four-year university with junior standing in their major and no credit loss, or entering the workforce with credentials or degrees that ensure a living wage and a viable career path.
“We know that individuals realize the greatest benefits of higher education when they earn a credential, not just attend college. Completion matters to individual students and their families as well as our society. Educated citizens contribute in a positive way to the cultural, political, and economic viability of our communities. MCC’s commitment to equity and closing achievement gaps, especially for low income, minority and under-prepared students, ensures that the completion focus is on all students.”
MCC 2017-2022 Strategic Plan’s Goals and Objectives
- The Student Support objectives are:
- Continue improving outstanding service initiatives to further enhance the student experience from awareness, application, and enrollment, through graduation and lifelong engagement
- Increase awareness of and improve systems related to financial aid, scholarships, and other funding sources
- Improve collaborations and outreach with K-12 partners and prospective students to provide clear pathways to higher education opportunities
- Continue to improve student learning as evidenced by pass rates, persistence and retention, GPA, and goal attainment, and
- Strengthen collaborations with higher education partners to increase the percentage of students who transfer to and succeed at four-year institutions
Key Performance Indicators for this priority include: student goal attainment, graduation rates, and student satisfaction survey results
- The Academic Programs objectives are:
- Provide viable courses and programs that address the changing needs of a diverse community
- Meet current needs by offering new courses and programs in the areas of health care, science, and technology, as identified by the 2016-2017 Needs Assessment Survey
- Develop and implement a system of ongoing regional market analysis that informs what programs, delivery methods, and locations are needed to meet community/business needs in Muskegon, Ottawa, and Newaygo Counties
- Evaluate our effectiveness for student learning through multiple processes, consistent with the Higher Learning Commission and other accrediting bodies, and designed to promote continuous improvement
- Develop a new Academic Master Plan
Key Performance Indicators for this priority include: pass rates on occupational exams, HLC Accreditation Reports, and results of an Employer and Graduate Satisfaction.
- The Facilities and Infrastructure objectives are:
- Complete the 2010 Facility Master Plan, including construction of health and wellness center, arts facility, and downtown center
- Improve room numbering system and establish wayfinding consistency at all locations
- Improve access of our facilities, technology, and media to expand equal opportunities for persons with various abilities
- Demonstrate environmental stewardship by implementing a comprehensive institutional sustainability plan
- Provide high quality technology wherever and however programs and services are offered to students, employees, and community members
- Commission a new Facility Master Plan by 2020 to assess future facility needs in Muskegon, Ottawa, and Newaygo Counties
Key Performance Indicators for this priority include: student satisfaction survey results, energy consumption, and recycling rates.
- The Community Engagement objectives are:
- Ensure communications with prospective students, community partners, donors, and alumni clearly differentiate MCC
- Continue to improve marketing and communication efforts to increase enrollment while increasing awareness of mission, programs, and services
- Cultivate strategic partnerships with business, industry, and other key organizations to meet needs and support student success
- Promote philanthropic support of students, scholarships, programs, and endowments
- Increase pride and involvement among alumni and retirees
Key Performance Indicators for this priority include: dollars raised by FMCC, alumni event participation, and community perceptions survey results.
- The Culture objectives are:
- Develop and implement programs for students and employees to further promote inclusion and equity, creating a welcoming environment for all
- Promote a culture of accountability by establishing key performance indicators for all departments and expand the institutional dashboard to report our progress to the community
- Continue to monitor and enhance safety and security at all MCC locations and online environments
- Establish student and employee wellness programs
Key Performance Indicators for this priority include: Pell Grant eligibility, wellness participation, and Achieving the Dream Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool. | https://www.muskegoncc.edu/news-and-events/mcc-unveils-its-2017-2022-strategic-plan/ |
The results of this survey will be shared with members of the county school boards, so please answer as truthfully as possible. The survey will be open from February 3 to March 6, 2020. Guidelines for examiners administering the School Climate Survey (SCS), the Teacher Satisfaction Survey (TSS), the Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS), and the Parent Satisfaction Survey (PSS) of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) are provided. The information from the survey will help us improve student relationships, learning conditions, and the school’s overall environment. The surveys are brief, reliable, and valid for assessing perceived school climate among students in Grades 3-12. This expert-certified survey template was created by the Harvard Graduate School of Education to help you gauge the overall attitudes that govern your school’s atmosphere. Each survey … School Climate Survey . Each year, we conduct school climate surveys. This page provides sample surveys for schools to assess race and injustice within the school environment. Resources for Educators Working with Families, Virtual Crisis Response Webinar and Resources, Behavioral Consultation & Intervention Planning with Families Webinar, Using MTSS to Keep SEL a Priority When Reopening Schools Webinar, Technical Manual for School Climate Surveys, Delaware School Climate Surveys 2019-2020, Create a Behavior Matrix for Return to School Webinar, Upcoming Webinar Announcement: Behavioral Consultation with Families. school climate as a means for school administrators to use to improve outcomes (Smith, Connolly, & Pryseski, 2014). Measuring school climate is critical for improving school climate because high quality school climate data allow you to understand the perceptions of the students, staff, and parents in your school or district; monitor progress; make data-driven decisions; involve stakeholders; and adapt to shifting needs related to school climate. The surveys are brief: Completion of the School Climate Scale takes 10-15 minutes, and each of the other four scales take about 5 minutes. Fax: (360) 596-7601. The survey will be taken by students in grades 6-12 the week of October 19-23. School Climate Survey . The surveys are free to the public (note that scoring services, however, are available only School Climate Measurement Tool and Web-Based Platform - EDSCLS A paper-based administration will entail the manual printing, distribution, collection, and data entering of paper surveys. School Climate Survey. The School Climate Survey for Staff provides valuable insight into both staff members’ overall rating of the success of their schools and the reasons behind this sentiment. Your answers will be combined with those of other school staff. The School Climate Survey Suite is a set of four multidimensional surveys to measure student, teacher, administrator, faculty, and family perceptions of school climate: elementary, middle/high, school personnel, and family. This website was developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, #H326S180001. Contact Us. In addition to providing copies of these two surveys, this manual also offers information regarding the purpose of these surveys, Throughout the survey, "This school" means activities happening in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses, and at places that hold school-sponsored events or activities. School Climate Survey U.S. Department of Education (ED) provides survey with reports to guide initiatives designed to measure and strengthen a positive school climate. Delaware Positive Behavior Support (DE-PBS) and School Climate Transformation Projects. Project Officer, Renee Bradley. These four surveys are the initial result of research/development efforts by the NASSP's Task Force on Effective School Climate. At Pride, we offer a variety of surveys specifically designed to measure school environment and culture not only from the perspective of the students but also from teachers, […] Reno, NV 89512. School Climate #8: “Students are frequently recognized for their good behavior” School Climate #9: “I feel my school counselor would be helpful if I needed assistance” School Climate #10: “I get along with other students and adults” ** School Climate #11: “School is a place at which I feel safe” ** 8/2/2013 16 Collecting feedback from families, students, and teachers and staff through a school climate survey is essential to building the strong, welcoming relationships that are for integral school and district success. We want to know what YOU think about your school. Because a school's climate is an aggregate of its students' and teachers' perceptions, surveys because they can easily gather and quantify answers and comments to specific questions. 3939 20th Avenue NW. It is voluntary and only aggregate information, not individual answers, will be shared with staff and used to inform efforts to improve the school climate. Use Panorama's valid and reliable student survey to collect feedback from elementary school, middle school, and high school students. as the School Climate Survey: Elementary and School Climate Survey: Middle/High, respectively. The GLSEN National School Climate Survey* is our flagship report on the school experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ students’ well-being. Your answers will be combined with those of other school staff. The district surveys families every year for their opinion on issues such as safety and feelings of connectedness to school. The School Climate Surveys of parents, students, and staff have been administered annually in the Miami-Dade County Public School district since the early 1990s. There are many different types of school surveys available today, measuring a wide variety of factors from mental health and bullying to drug and alcohol use and more. Attendance:(360) 596-7603. View the full list of dimensions measured by the CSCI. In response to the compelling body of research that underscores the importance of school climate, Georgia is the first state in the nation to include school climate as an early indicator in its academic accountability system, the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). A team in place to utilize the … Sonoma County Schools Racial Climate Survey Created by members of the Sonoma County Junior Commission on Human Rights, this anonymous survey is geared towards assessing the racial climate in our school system. Moreover, the platform can process real-time data and provide user-friendly reports. School climate and culture surveys offer a wealth of in-depth information that schools can use to assess environments, measure attitudes and perceptions, evaluate programs, and much more. | https://fehereger.hu/e2bidqkx/24zil9.php?id=school-climate-survey-manual-4ff972 |
Coordinator for Student Engagement and Programming, Thompson Scholarship Programs
Position Summary The Coordinator for Student Engagement and Programming for the Thompson Scholarship Programs assists in managing the day-to-day operations of the Thompson...
Job Views ( 15 )
Bowling Green, OhioHancock County
6/9/2022
Job Description
Position Summary
The Coordinator for Student Engagement and Programming for the Thompson Scholarship Programs assists in managing the day-to-day operations of the Thompson Working Families Scholarship. This includes meeting with students to monitor their academic progress and completion of scholarship requirements, as well as the development and coordination of student programming to enhance the experience of Thompson Family Scholars and support them in their persistence to graduation at BGSU.
Essential Duties, Tasks and Responsibilities
- Advising/Coaching
- Monitor scholars’ academic progress and performance through one-on-one meetings (May conduct group advising/coaching sessions, as appropriate)
- Monitor and communicate with students regarding their completion of scholarship requirements
- Serve as an advocate for each scholar and address issues in a timely fashion
- Refer students to appropriate BGSU and non-BGSU support offices and/or organizations as needed to support student success
- Ensure that students are working with an assigned college/academic advisor on course planning, major selection, degree requirements, university policies and procedures, and career planning related to students’ academic goals and registration procedures
- Serve as an advising resource for immediate help with students’ questions in person, over the phone, or through email
- Maintain and update student files and records in accordance with federal, state and university regulations
- Communicate with Financial Aid, Marvin Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement, and other areas to support students as they work towards meeting the scholarship requirements
- Programming
- Develop and lead initiatives and programs which contribute to student engagement, learning, development, and successful degree completion
- Support efforts for group community service opportunities, including organizing and attending select service outings
- Help plan and present scholarship orientation(s) for new cohorts each year
- Assist in creation, development, and implementation of emerging best practices (including TFS Summer Link Program, Thompson Family Scholar seminar, etc.)
- Administration
- Maintain/manage scholarship recipient caseload and work-lists
- Utilize current and emerging technology and available data to monitor individual student, cohort, and overall performance, engagement, risk and to communicate with students to support and foster success, persistence, retention, and graduation
- Cultivate relationships with faculty, staff, administration, and community partners as needed to support goals/initiatives of the scholarship program and support student success
- Assist in creating reports for university administration and Thompson Foundation
- Represent department/division on university wide committees and at official functions
- Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned
Salary
Full-time, Administrative staff position available. Administrative Grade Level 354. Salary is commensurate with education and experience. Full benefit package available.
Benefits
Bowling Green State University provides a comprehensive benefit program as part of a total compensation package. This includes medical, prescription, dental, vision, health accounts (medical & dependent), life & disability insurance, retirement plans, employee assistance program and tuition fee waivers for employees and their eligible dependents as well as paid time off, holidays and parental leave. For more information please visit Benefits-at-a-Glance.pdf (bgsu.edu)
Deadline to apply: The search committee will review applications until the position is filled; however, for best consideration, applications should be provided by June 23, 2022.
To Apply
For a complete job description & to apply for this position visit https://bgsu.hiretouch.com/ or contact the Office of Human Resources at (419) 372-8421. BGSU. AA/EEO/Disabilities/Veterans. In compliance with the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position with Bowling Green State University, please call 419-372-8421.
Job Requirements
Knowledge, Skills or Abilities
- Understanding of the functions of an institution of higher education, including academic and student affairs
- Knowledge of degree programs offered at BGSU (can be learned on job)
- Knowledge of University academic policies and procedures as well as support services
- An understanding of student learning outcomes associated with the completion of general education curriculum and baccalaureate/liberal arts degree
- Knowledge of computer applications including but not limited to: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, People Soft/CSS and SSC, an ability to learn and adopt other technologies, and comfort level to use computer database, word processing, spreadsheet programs and web-based applications
- Effective written and oral communication skills
- Active listening skills
- Strong organizational skills
- Ability to interact well with students, parents, faculty, administrators and other members of the campus and community
- Knowledge of or ability to learn student development theories and career development theory
- Compassionate and caring attitude toward working with students
- Effective in working with diverse populations
- Event Planning/Programming Experience
Minimum Qualifications:
Master’s degree required. Master’s degree in college student personnel, higher education, guidance, counseling, or related area preferred. Degree must be conferred at the time of application.
Experience Required
- 1-2 years’ experience in direct advising or student activities/programming experience. 2 years graduate assistant experience will be accepted as one year of professional experience.
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3/6/2017
OhioMeansJobs and Economic Development Partner Develop Resources to Help Employers Find Skilled Workers
OhioMeansJobs Hancock is partnering with Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development to help employers find skilled workers for their job openings. | https://www.omjhancock.com/jobs/coordinator-for-student-engagement-and-programming-thompson-scholarship-programs/ |
The College engages in an active schedule of survey research. Feedback from these surveys helps both academic and administrative areas to better understand our students' needs and patterns of development. They help us to identify areas where we are achieving our goals, and where we might focus attention for improvement. Surveys themselves are imperfect measures, but combined with other information such as observations, College data, conversations, etc., they are an important part of our self-reflection process. They inform many of our decisions, and we are very grateful to our students, alumni, faculty, and staff who contribute to the College's success by providing their feedback.
Survey of New Students 2018 | Alumni Survey 2017 | Parent Survey 2016
Enrolled Students Survey 2015 | Enrolled Student Survey 2013
Senior Survey 2012 | CIRP Survey 2011
Survey of New Students 2018
The Survey of New Students presents a snapshot of Fall 2018 incoming students. This summary highlights selected topics from the survey, including preparation for college, interests, high school activities and experiences, concern about paying for college, citizenship and language, demographics, and thoughts about the future.
Alumni Survey 2017
Though the College collects information about our alumni from a range of sources for our Alumni Records database, we also routinely ask about current activities on our COFHE Alumni Survey (managed by the IR office). The most recent survey was conducted in 2017. A brief overview as well as a more thorough summary of the findings are available.
Parent Survey 2016
The 2016 Parent Survey asked parents about general impressions of the college and experiences as a parent of a college student. The Parent Survey, 2016 summary document highlights…
- …parents' general sense of satisfaction and personal connection with the College.
- …parents' feelings about the culture and environment at the College.
- …parents' feelings about the goals and areas of focus at the College.
- …areas where parents would like to be more informed.
- …levels of parental concern for the well-being of their children.
- …parental reaction to the process and impacts of financing a Swarthmore education.
Enrolled Student Survey 2015
The 2015 Enrolled Student Survey asked students a variety of questions to better understand student academic, institutional, and social engagement, to provide a snapshot of learning development, and to garner feedback about the institutional environment and resources. The Enrolled Student Survey, 2015 summary document highlights…
- …students’ responses to questions on health and well-being.
- …student participation in various programs, groups, and activities.
- …student satisfaction with academic and non-academic aspects of student life by class year.
- …Seniors’ reflections on the college’s contribution to knowledge, skills, & personal development.
Enrolled Student Survey 2013
Every two to four years Swarthmore conducts a survey of all enrolled students, which focuses on day-to-day student activities, modes of student-student and student-faculty interactions, student use of institutional resources, and environmental factors that relate to engagement in the educational process. It includes questions about gains in learning that provide a snapshot of student learning development. A chart reflecting the Spring 2013 students' self-reported learning gains is provided on the College's Assessment website under "Institutional Measures and Activities," and may be linked directly from here.
Senior Survey 2012
Swarthmore conducts a biennial survey of graduating seniors, along with a group of several dozen peer institutions. The survey invites seniors to evaluate the College in detail, evaluate their own progress, and report on their plans for the future. Charts reflecting responses by 2012 seniors to the questions:
- "Overall, how satisfied are you with your undergraduate education?" and
- "Would you encourage a current high school senior who resembles you when you were a high school senior (similar background, ability, interests, and temperament) to attend your undergraduate institution?"
are also presented on the College's Assessment website, and may be linked to directly from here. | https://www.swarthmore.edu/institutional-research/survey-findings |
Using GEARSET to Promote Student Awareness of Learning ObjectivesIn fall 2009, several new grade reporting modules were added to GEO (General EngineeringOnline), a web based class management tool developed at _______ University for use with largeenrollment freshman engineering courses. The dynamic grade report module provided a liverecord of attendance and course grades for students and instructors, capabilities for extensivefeedback on assignments from instructors to students, and performance predictions to givestudents perspective on the grades necessary to earn a particular final grade in the course. Theimplementation of this module led to significant improvements on student evaluation of allinstructors using GEO, specifically on questions regarding student satisfaction with beinginformed of their progress throughout the course. These observations lead to our desire toimplement new modules in GEO to further improve student satisfaction and engagement inacademic material.Some of the most troubling comments on our instructor evaluations are related to students’perception of a disconnect between the learning activities and the learning objectives. One of themany purposes of writing learning objectives is to establish expectations of content andperformance between students and instructors. To address this, we developed a new modulecalled GEARSET (General Engineering Assessment Record Self Evaluation Tool) that intends tobridge the gap between learning activities and the course learning objectives. Functionally,GEARSET allows students to track their own progress of the required and recommendedelements of study for a course. In addition, GEARSET displays daily, unit and overall courselearning objectives in an interface that allows the student to self-evaluate their understanding by“checking off” their progress. For the instructor, GEARSET allows tracking of assignmentcompletion and self-evaluation of learning objectives. This paper intends to give an overview ofGEARSET, discuss the integration within first year engineering courses, address how it can beused by students as a tool for self-evaluation, and how use of GEARSET by instructors providesgreater insight into student progress. | https://peer.asee.org/using-gearset-to-promote-student-awareness-of-learning-objectives |
FAITH INTEGRATION: To develop Christian thinkers and leaders through the integration of faith.
Enhance the faith integration training for staff, coaches, and faculty.
Enhance four training seminars each semester for staff and coaches by enlisting different people to share in the equipping process. These seminars will begin in August 2017.
Enhance faculty study groups for the Faculty Reading Plan by continuing to choose a book on faith integration and provide an interdisciplinary study group for discussing the book beginning August 2017.
Provide a bi-annual Scripture reading plan for staff, coaches, faculty, and administration at the beginning of each academic semester (August-September and January-February) beginning in 2017-18.
Survey Monkey will collect data from staff and coaches on the effectiveness of their training. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5—This assessment tool is being developed and will be used after both groups have received their training on the Evangelism Initiative, which is being introduced.
Survey Monkey will aid in checking the effectiveness of the faculty study groups by collecting data from individuals involved in the study groups. The goal for the study groups to be considered effective will be a composite score of 5 on a Likert scale of 1-10—This assessment tool is being developed in the Spring semester and will be used at the conclusion of the book study for this academic year.
In the fall semester, faculty and staff read an assortment of Bible passages that related to being a holy follower of Christ. In the spring semester, faculty and staff will read from 1 Peter to help promote once more the idea of holiness and servant leadership.
These action steps and assessment will help enhance the faith integration training of coaches, faculty, staff, and administration. The end result is to strengthen the integration of faith into the equipping process of each individual.
To provide engaging chapel and worship services that promotes an atmosphere for transformation to take place.
Enlist at least fifteen different Christian speakers or pastors to encourage and challenge our students, faculty, staff, and coaches per academic year beginning in Fall 2017.
Enlist two student leaders to speak in chapel each semester during an academic year beginning in Fall 2017.
Enlist a combination of twenty students, faculty, staff, pastors, and other Christian speakers to speak at BCM services per academic year beginning in Fall 2017.
Enhance a chapel survey for faculty and staff along with one for students to measure the effectiveness of speakers and the worship dynamic. The assessment goal is to average a 3 on a Likert scale from 1-5. The chapel survey for the Fall semester has been completed. Twenty seven students participated in the survey, which is up from last year. However, we need more involvement for the Spring semester. Administration will discuss ways to get better involvement. Analyses of this survey is being compiled now. Faculty also completed the survey. A total of forty one faculty and staff participated in the survey. Analyses of this survey is being compiled as well.
Students were a part of the chapel services as planned. In the first student chapel a student preached and the last chapel service, our Dean of Students interviewed three students.
Our BCM Director chooses BCM speakers for weekly services. Due to the advancement of the BCM attendance has increased. BCM attendance has increased from around the usual 50 students to as high as 250 students, but this number lowered to around 125 as the semester concluded. (We need to develop a survey for the BCM to determine effectiveness).
Collect and evaluate data to help determine the effectiveness of BCM events. The goal is to achieve a 20 % increase in effectiveness from the previous year.
These action steps and assessments will enhance the chapel programming, providing and promoting an atmosphere for spiritual transformation to take place.
Distribute discipleship materials for new Christians and ensure that new believers locate a local church to attend.
Vice President for the Integration of Faith and Learning, Vice President for Student Life, BCM Director, and the Dean of Students.
The VPIFL, BCM Director, and Dean of Students will select two books per year with the approval of the President that will enhance spiritual growth for a new believer beginning in Fall 2017. The books will include topics on the following: Discipleship, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Disciplines, Evangelism, and Missions.
The VPIFL, BCM Director, and Dean of Students will provide a list of local churches for students to consider attending during their tenure at LC beginning in Fall 2017.
The VPIFL will ask Mrs. Melinda Draper to track chapel attendance. The average chapel attendance for students for the Fall semester was 287 on Tuesday and 319 for Thursday. This data will be a starting point for being able to do comparative analysis on chapel attendance for effectiveness in the future. (We will pull these statistics together at the end of the Spring semester for both academic semesters).
The Dean of Students and the VPIFL will track the number of public decisions for Christ and make discipleship materials and church list available to each student. We know that at least 40 students made public decisions for Christ in the Fall semester. Each student was given the book Life Change. Due to cost, the College did not buy the second book.
The Chapel survey will have questions within it to collect data on the spiritual advancements of all students to measure effectiveness in meeting chapel objectives. The chapel survey has been completed with 27 students providing data. The data is being compiled at this time, but will be placed in Compliance Assist early in the Spring academic year.
The BCM Director and Dean of Students provided students a list of 12 churches to attend to fulfill the other strategic action plan as possibilities for places to worship if the student did not have a church home.
Administration will use this assessment to determine the effectiveness of LC connecting students with local churches and to enhance spiritual development of the student body.
Enhance mission opportunities for students, staff, coaches, and faculty through BCM and local church opportunities.
Work through the BCM Director to partner with local churches and Baptist associational offices to connect students, staff, coaches, faculty, and administration with mission opportunities on the state, national, and global scene. The BCM Director will provide three different missional avenues each year: a state, national, and a global effort beginning Fall 2017. The goal for student involvement is as follows: (a) State—25% of the resident student body (b) National—15% of the resident student body, and Globally—5% of the resident student body.
Collect data on the number of mission trips along with the number of projects completed through Survey Monkey beginning Fall 2017. The Disaster Relief mission trip had to be cancelled. This mission trip was cancelled due to a lack of student involvement. Two major problems that emerged from the student perspective was a time conflict and a lack of money. The BCM Director plans to work harder on selecting a strategic time for the next state mission trip taking into consideration the campus calendar of other student related activities. The National mission trip is planned for the Spring semester to Alpine, TX, and the global mission trip is being planned for the summer to Israel. More work is pending on this trip. Additionally, track the number of students who participate from both the larger College campus but more specifically from the School of Missions and Ministries. A comparative database will be established to determine and track effectiveness. This data will enhance the planning process for future mission projects. To complete this assessment aspect, the VPIFL and the BCM Director will develop an Excel spreadsheet to track the number of students involved in missional endeavors once students return from a mission trip. Comparative analyses will be done to determine effectiveness of this objective.
These results will help determine budgeting needs for the BCM Ministry and determine the depth of involvement of LC students with the transformation of the cities of Alexandria/Pineville and the larger state, nation, and world.
Provide training opportunities for church, business, and community leaders to enhance faith integration within the community and across the LC campus.
Develop, promote, and implement a bi-annual Great Commission Seminar, which would occur each Fall and Spring Semester at Louisiana College beginning Fall 2017.
Develop, promote, implement, and assess an annual Values and Ethics Conference beginning in October 2017.
Develop, promote, implement, and assess an annual Joseph Willis Symposium beginning February 2017.
Develop, promote, implement, and assess an annual God in the Workplace Conference beginning March 2018.
Develop, promote, implement, and assess certificate, bachelor, and master level programs within the Louisiana College School of Missions and Ministries. The certificate program began in 2016. The BA in Missions and Ministries will begin in Fall 2017, and the MA in Missions and Ministries will begin in Fall 2018.
Develop and provide the C. S. Lewis Scholarship Program in conjunction with the Honor’s Program at Louisiana College beginning Fall 2017.
Develop and provide the Fred Lowery Missions and Ministries Scholarship Program to enhance enrollment in the Louisiana College School of Missions and Ministries beginning Fall 2017.
Develop and provide the G. Earl Guinn Scholarship for students who major in Missions and Ministries beginning Fall 2017.
The Great Commission Seminar along with the other conferences will be assessed through Survey Monkey. A Likert Scale will be used ranging from 1-5 with effectiveness being assumed if the event scores an average of a 3 from the responses collected. The Values and Ethic series was a very successful event. However, data was not collected through Survey Monkey for this event. The VPIFL will need to follow up closer to ensure that attendees have an opportunity to submit their responses to this important event. The Joseph Willis Symposium was not planned for February due to lack of student involvement over the last three years. Instead, an Evening with C. S. Lewis will be planned for Feb. 22 for C.S. Lewis Scholars, the larger LC campus family, and the community. The VPIFL will develop a survey to measure the effectiveness of this event for integrating faith and learning into the LC family and larger community. God in the Workplace will be March 19-20 at which time this event will be evaluated.
The certificate, bachelor, and master programs will be assessed through data compilation in Compliance Assist. The recruitment goals for the 2017-18 academic year are as follows: certificate—10 new students, bachelor—20 new students, and masters—20 new students. Enrollment into the Missions and Ministries program saw 19 new students for the Fall, which was a record number of students. Sixteen of these students received the Lowery Scholarship. With 19 new students, we were 1 student short of our enrollment number.
We also enrolled 13 new certificate students into the pastoral ministry and missiology programs, which means that we met our recruitment goal with the aid of our scholarship initiatives. The MA degree will be started in the Fall 2018-19 academic year.
Scholarship effectiveness will be assessed upon the number of scholarships accepted, which leads to students attending Louisiana College each academic year. The goal for 2017-18 will be at least 40 students being added to the Louisiana College School of Missions and Ministries. The scholarship initiative number of 40 will need to be reassessed due to several of the scholarships affecting the larger college population of students other than the School of Missions and Ministries. The Financial Aid office will provide a report showing this data.
VPAA: C. S. Lewis Honors Program started Fall 2017 with 16 students. Will include budget requests for 2018-2019 to help with some activities for the students.
Assessment results will be used to refine institutional effectiveness in all of the areas noted previously. Results will vary but benchmarks should be made and measured.
Nurture relationships for Louisiana College with the LBC, SBC, and Louisiana Baptists Associations.
President, VP of Institutional Advancement, Director of External Relationships, VPIFL, Alumni Director, and VP for Enrollment Management and Student Life.
Provide information on worldview materials for youth pastors within Louisiana to enhance student developing, understanding, and embracing a Christian worldview beginning Spring 2017.
For students who complete this program, they will be eligible for the Francis A. Schaeffer Scholarship. This program will offer students a $2,500 per year tuition assistance while they attend LC. The goal for the first year will be to get 40 students to complete the program beginning Fall 2017.
Assist the Institutional Advancement team in contacting and attending the LBC and the SBC when called upon by the President beginning May 2017.
Attend local Baptists associational meetings to build relationships for the College beginning Fall 2017.
Partner with Student Development to identify, implement, and assess spiritual formation among LC students beginning Fall 2017 semester.
To assess the understanding of a Christian worldview at LC, students will be required to take the Worldview Survey in CC100 in Fall 2017 and again when they take PI/RL300. One question on this survey will be developed to learn how many students coming into the College took advantage of the Schaeffer Scholarship for RL300. This data will show the progress of the student in understanding a Christian worldview beginning in Fall 2017 and the effectiveness of the worldview course being offered in the local church. This assessment will not be able to be done for RL300 until the Fall of 2019 due to the Schaeffer students not taking the course until then.
The Dean of Students, President, and the VPIFL are studying the advantages of using the Spiritual Transformation Inventory (STI) Assessment tool to measure a cohort of incoming students. This data can be used to compare LC students with other students across the United States. At this time, due to cost this test is not being offered. Administration is looking for ways to afford this test for the future due to the importance of tracking this data.
The President, VP for Institutional Advancement, VP for Enrollment Management, and the VPIFL have attended numerous Associational meetings for the college. However, we need to track better the number of meetings that are attended. Therefore, the President has requested that the VPIFL contact every Associational Director and plan which meetings will be attended strategically. The planning for this event will begin in March 2018.
The College will use the worldview class results to compare our students with other students across the US to determine where our students are in comparison both at entry level and after taking eight different courses at the college. The eight courses include: HI101, HI102, EN101, EN102, EN200 or EN201, RL101, RL102, EN104, and RL300.
The College will use the strategic planning of associational events to nurture relationships between the College and the local churches within strategic Baptists associations.
and servants in the 21st century.
Recruit academically qualified faculty who are committed to integrating faith and learning.
1. Develop a comprehensive strategy and process to recruit and retain faculty by 2020. ??
2. Focus ongoing leadership training and development throughout each academic year.
3. Conduct a faculty salaries study by Fall 2019.
4. Provide at least 15 spiritual enrichment opportunities for the faculty during each academic year. ??
by 2020 and 75% of full-time faculty will hold terminal degrees by 2020).
6. Revise faculty bios on faculty webpages each semester to reflect most recent faculty accomplishments/scholarships.
7. Provide improved access to research materials for faculty by Spring 2018. ??
limited to research and publication by 2020.
Evaluate current policy for recruiting prospective faculty and make necessary adjustments. All academic divisions will identify potential adjunct faculty. Various venues will be used to advertise for potential faculty.
Faculty Workshops and The Center for Excellence in Teaching will provide semester long leadership training and development through a variety of venues. Each division will sponsor or attend at least one training event designed to enhance faculty development every two years. Faculty will share information from conferences and workshops at division and faculty meetings.
Charleston Southern University, will share the relevant background on poverty and the brain and then target the unique needs of first generation college students. Break-out groups will meet to consider the 4 attributes of the LEAP model as they apply to the college audience: Language, Experiential Learning, Attitudes, and Performances.
Calendar training to assist faculty with scheduling meetings and Turnitin tutorials.
Establish a task force including the Director of Human Resources, Vice President for Business Affairs, and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The task force will research comparable faculty salaries and develop a strategy to implement results found through their study.
Fall 2017: Created a Faculty/Staff Welfare Committee to begin a comparative study of faculty salaries.
Provide chapel services and additional events/conferences which will address the spiritual needs of the faculty. Opportunities will be provided to publish their faith and academic statements in Faith Matters and share their testimonies through various venues on and off campus. Faculty will be encouraged to meet with students for times of prayer and spiritual encouragement.
Current faculty will be encouraged to pursue their terminal degrees and faculty who have received their terminal degrees will be encouraged to pursue post-doctorate studies.
Divisions will keep updated information on their website pages and will submit accomplishments/scholarship activities to the VPAA office for promotional opportunities in various venues.
Fall 2017: Envoc in process of updating the website and should be completed in the spring.
Faculty accomplishments/scholarships will be shared in Faculty Meetings and Trustee Meetings and will be recommended for publication in the Columns magazine.
The faculty will work with the Director of Library to identify appropriate research materials and will provide appropriate research materials to students in their classes.
Individual faculty members will work with their Division Chairs when research or publication opportunities are available to them and Chairs will study adjustments needed to address courses which need to be taught. Opportunities will be provided for faculty to share these activities in appropriate venues.
Recruiting academically qualified faculty who are committed to integrating faith and learning will enhance the effectiveness of classroom teaching and research and help support the mission of the college.
Academic Excellence: To provide academic excellence for preparing graduates as learners, leaders, and servants in the 21st century.
Improve student learning outcomes to better prepare students for their chosen careers.
1. Develop procedures to ensure compliance and to demonstrate student outcomes by Spring 2018.
2. Train academic divisions, throughout the academic year, with the necessary skills which will help them meet their student learning outcomes.
3. Evaluate and develop a comprehensive experiential learning strategy (Internships) and service learning opportunities designed to provide students with practical onsite training, experience, and service by Spring 2018.
4. Expand traditional degree programs to increase student enrollment by 10% over the next 5 years, which will provide students for the 21st century job market.
5. Establish a C. S. Lewis Honors Scholars Program which will recruit and train academically qualified students who will excel in their chosen degree by Fall 2017.
6. The mission and purpose of the PASS Office will be incorporated and become a part of The Student Success Center by Spring 2018.
7. Establish the Summer Bridge Program with the goal of helping students successfully complete (75% pass rate for the Summer) English 091 and/or Math 095, and a Study Skills class to gain acceptance in one of our baccalaureate programs, and develop skills and resources necessary to complete a degree at Louisiana College by Summer 2017.
More standardized assessments will be developed in academic programs including a standard assessment tool for General Education courses. A place for centralized data for compliance reports will be established. Each division will review program objectives annually, and revise as necessary, to meet the mission of LC and the division mission statement. All programs will be congruent with national and state standards. Each division will work on establishing a scholarship to award to an incoming freshman. As a result of the $54,436 grant from the Rapides Foundation which provided remediation, the Nursing Program will receive full approval by Spring 2018.
Fall 2017: Central Curriculum Committee created to work on standardized assessment for general education courses. Working on common rubrics for general education SLOs: Critical thinking, cultural, writing, problem solving, communication skills.
Faculty will develop the skills needed through faculty development events, book studies, The Center for Excellence in Teaching, Faculty Workshops, Division Meetings, Professional Accreditation Events, Chapel, and the Values/Ethics Conference to meet their student learning outcomes.
Every academic program will provide an Internship experience for each student and a service learning class or an assignment in at least one class in a community service setting.
All divisions will evaluate potential new degrees and prepare feasibility studies for these degrees.
A C.S. Lewis Honors Scholars Program task force will study the feasibility and purpose of an honor programs and make specific recommendations for the establishment of such a program.
Created policy for Retention Strategies concerning early alert for attendance, referrals to the SCS, and to encourage tutoring and group study groups.
Hired adult tutors for Math Lab and the Writing Center.
Hired a Director for ESL to provide instruction for international students. Developing an ESL Program to submit to SEVIS for an approved English Language Institute Program.
The Summer Bridge Program will be established to students gain acceptance in one of our baccalaureate programs, and develop skills and resources necessary to complete a degree at LC.
Summer 2017: Launched the Summer Bridge Program with 27 students. 25 successfully completed the program and were enrolled as students fall 2017. Placed in a cohort in EN 101.
Student learning outcomes will be improved and will help better prepare students for their chosen careers. Students will experience practical hands on experience through an Internship and be involved in a service learning activity in the community. Faculty will experience continual training and additional degrees will be established which will attract more students to LC and equip them achieve academic success.
Expand undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs to provide learning opportunities for the nontraditional student.
Reorganize existing academic structures to accommodate an expanding graduate adult education market that will be named the College of Adult & Professional Studies (CAPS) by Fall 2018. Degrees currently being reviewed include a BS in Project Management, a MA in Health Communications, a MS in Criminal Justice, and a MA in Mission and Ministries. A feasibility study will be conducted for a Certificate in Leadership, a MBA, and a MA in Counseling Psychology.
Identify new degree programs that will be offered each year and throughout the next three years. These degrees include a BA in Missions and Ministries (Fall 2017); an online BS in Criminal Justice (Fall 2017), a MSW (Fall 2017), a MSN (Fall 2017), a MEd in Leadership (Fall 2017), and a MA in Leadership (Fall 2018). An online degree in Business and an MA in Missions will begin in Fall 2018. An online nursing degree will be evaluated during Fall 2017.
Provide faculty and staff to support expanding programs in the undergraduate, graduate, and certificate areas each year and throughout the next five years. Divisions will work with Admissions in establishing annual Division recruiting goals and strategies which will increase the nontraditional market by 20% each year.
4. Provide the necessary resources to support new programs each year.
5. Promote existing and newly developed graduate programs though recruiting strategies developed each year.
The Graduate Council membership will be identified; a Graduate Catalog will reflect accurate policies, and monthly Graduate Faculty meetings will be conducted. The College of Adult & Professional Studies (CAPS) will be established and a Dean of CAPS will be identified. The following degrees will be reviewed: BS in Project Management; MA in Health Communications; MS in Criminal Justice; and a MA in Mission and Ministries. Feasibility studies will be conducted on the following degrees: Certificate in Leadership, MBA, and MA in Counseling Psychology.
A BA in Missions and Ministries, an online BS in Criminal Justice, a MSW, a MSN, and a MEd in Leadership will begin in Fall 2017. A MA in Missions, a MA in Leadership, and a MA in Counseling Psychology will be explored. A Certificate program will be developed. Online degrees will be identified. Increase course offerings in the Maymester and Summer Terms, as well as weekend and night classes will accommodate adult learners.
Additional faculty will be hired to teach graduate courses. Additional staff will be hired in the Registrar’s Office, Admissions’ Office, and the Library. Each division will work with Admissions in establishing annual division recruiting goals and strategies.
Graduate office space and classrooms will be identified to accommodate each graduate program. Student services and library (virtual in nature) needs will support the graduate programs.
Fall 2017: Office space identified in the Human Behavior Suite to accommodate new graduate faculty for the MSW program.
Divisions will work with Admissions to market and promote new degrees. Work back grants in the amount of $6,000 per academic year for participating qualified MSW and MSN students will be secured from appropriate agencies will help attract and retain students in both masters’ programs. Effective student recruitment strategies will be developed for all academic divisions.
Fall 2017: Envoc employed to market graduate degrees through social media: Facebook and Google ads.
Undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs will provide learning opportunities for the adult population. A Graduate Council, CAPS, and a certificate program will guide the development of new degrees and broaden the academic influence of LC in central Louisiana, across the state, and beyond.
Additional Faculty/Staff Salaries ($500,000) The Rapides Foundation Grant of $500,000 will provide three positions for the MSW for the years 2018-2020.
Improve advising procedures to increase student retention.
Work with an advising task force and Academic Council to evaluate current advising procedures during the Spring semester of each year.
Implement best practices for advising students beginning the Spring semester of each year.
Redesign the CC100 course in Spring 2017 which will serve to better connect incoming Freshmen students to the mission of the College and increase retention by 25%.
The advising task force will make recommendations to the Academic Council who will communicate procedures with appropriate academic entities. Faculty will implement the advising components in Jenzabar. The faculty will further reinforce their significant role in the retention process.
Fall 2017: Faculty required to advise students and enter their schedules into Jenzabar.
All divisions will implement best practices in their divisions to share with the advising task force and Academic Council. Faculty will learn specific advising and retention practices which have proven to be successful throughout academic programs.
Freshmen students taking CC100 will reflect positive comments on the class evaluations and demonstrate a greater return rate for their Sophomore year. In addition, the students’ positive experience in their first semester will enhance their college involvement and lead to successful matriculations.
The advising task force and Academic Council will evaluate and make advising recommendations which will help faculty improve the advising process and increase student retention. The CC100 class will guide incoming Freshmen students to a positive experience during their first semester and increase the return rate for their Sophomore year.
Enhance Distance Learning Education (online) to expand undergraduate and graduate opportunities.
The college will seek to provide the technology needed to advance its Vision 2020 plan.
Prioritize and implement the most critical elements of the three-year plan by FYE 2019 and 2020.
Develop and maintain technology policies and procedures and cyber security policies and procedures by FYE 2018.
Develop a working Disaster Recovery Plan by 2018.
Add a Database Programmer/Report Writer position to help with application programming and report writing by FYE 2019.
Evaluate and improve classrooms and labs by each Spring semester which will provide for maximum student learning.
The IT Department will provide appropriate and timely training to faculty on utilizing the advising components in Jenzabar each semester.
Develop a comprehensive IT resource proposal capable of servicing all online and classroom courses by Spring 2018.
The IT Department will continue each semester to implement strategies identified in the Spring 2017 IT audit.
Review annually the degree to which projects listed in the three-year plan will be completed.
All systems will be monitored and analyzed looking at trends to plan for growth.
A working Disaster Recovery Plan will be developed.
The Database Programmer/Report Writer will be identified and hired.
Inspection of all classrooms and labs will be performed prior to the beginning of each semester documenting state of room equipment and ensuring functionality for existing semester. The IT Department will meet at least once during each semester with Department or Division Chairs about classroom and computer lab needs and plans for keeping classrooms and labs current. More meetings will be held as needed upon request of Department and Division Chairs.
The IT Department will help faculty and staff implement an effective advising strategy through Jenzabar during the Spring semester of each year in to maximize the use of Jenzabar during advising periods. The IT Department will identify a tracking process in Jenzabar and will guide the faculty in utilizing the tracking process. The IT Department will conduct training dates with Jenzabar to have trainer onsite for configuration, implementation, and training of faculty and registrar on this new module. The advising trees in the Portal will be utilized by all faculty during the advising process.
A change management system and necessary internet components will be purchased.
Improvements will be made in the IT Department which reflects strategies identified in the IT audit.
Technology will provide the necessary resources to advance the college’s Vision 2020 plan. The IT Department will continue improving services to the college community which will advance the Vision 2020 plan.
Estimated annual funding requirements to be determined once the three year plan has been developed.
An entry level Database Programmer/Report Writer would cost approximately $55,000 plus benefits.
enrollment for advancing the mission and vision of the college.
Increase student enrollment incrementally each year by a minimum of 9% full-time traditional undergraduate and graduate students. This will be accomplished by establishing data-driven enrollment goals, securing sufficient resources to meet enrollment objectives, developing and tracking strategic marketing, recruitment and retention activities, including effective communication and advising plans for new and returning students, and by expanding academic program offerings.
Undergraduate traditional headcount enrollment (full- and part-time), number of students in residence halls each semester, graduate enrollment and enrollment in on-line degree programs. Weekly Recruitment Report (new traditional students), Weekly Enrollment Report (all students) including registration data, retention data, financial data, Withdrawal Reports, JRM to monitor new student yield rates, projected student outcomes, and net revenue.
By creative recruitment strategies, targeted investment and continuous assessment Louisiana College Enrollment Management can meet and exceed the projected headcount goals.
STUDENT DEVELOPMENT, ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT, and ATHLETICS: to maximize student enrollment for advancing the mission and vision of the college.
Build a recruitment database and inquiry pool each year of students who meet the College overall enrollment plan; implement predictive modeling strategies; monitor conversion and yield rates; implement a strategic communication flow utilizing print, e-mail, Web and social media; and, develop financial aid awarding strategies that meet student enrollment needs.
Increase the number of new full-time transfer students each fall semester.
Increase budgeted transfer headcount by 3% annually. Current budgeted headcount is 65. By 2020 it will be 75.
Request graduation list from Community Colleges and hire a transfer counselor ($35,000 plus benefits).
Increase international headcount by 15 students annually in order to have 100 international student by 2020. Current three-year average for total international student body headcount is 39.
Increase annual budget by $40,000.00 to cover print, media and travel for international student recruitment.
Increase budget by $50,000 to hire an international student coordinator for recruitment and retention purposes.
Increase the number of Christian high school students.
Minimum of 7 Elevate/Dr. Brewer events annually in Christian Schools.
Send Faith Matters articles annually.
Provide marketing material for counselors (i.e. posters).
Offer online Dual Enrollment classes to qualified students.
Create continuing education opportunities for faculty and administration.
Increase budget $15,000.00 for the purchase of sound equipment for Elevate Band and $5000.00 to market and facilitate Christian School marketing.
Increase the number of new full-time out-of-state students.
The three average for total enrollment of out of state students is 81. We will increase this average by 5% annually to reach a mark of 100 out of state students enrolled by 2020.
Increase travel budget in order to attend more out of state fairs.
Increase the number of new full-time home school students.
Current average recruitment headcount is 10. Increase by 30% annually to grow to an annual homeschool recruitment class of 20 by 2020.
Increase budget to by $35,000 plus benefits to hire a dedicated homeschool counselor.
Increase the number of traditional undergraduate students.
Hire two additional counselor and split the state into four quadrants ($70,000.00 plus benefits).
Hire a graduate admissions counselor ($35,000.00 plus benefits).
Assistant Director of Admissions to remain on campus.
Implement the JRM Recruiting Manager and utilize the online application.
Purchase the College Raptor Net Price Calculator ($5,000.00 plus annual maintenance).
Implement the Net Revenue Model.
Select a tuition price point 1.5 years in advance in order to properly implement.
Increase budget by $38,000 to continue our relationship with Christian College Solutions in order to continue to grow towards a NRM culture of more science than art based recruiting.
Purchase 2 iPads and stands ($1500.00 for purchase).
Increase Regional Reception to 5 ($20,000.00 additional).
The three year average for total graduate enrollment is 214. The goal is to grow graduate student enrollment by 5% annually for eclipse a total graduate headcount of 250 by 2020.
Work with Christian College Solutions to set our discount rate and awarding matrix.
Engage an outside review firm to assess Title IV to assist with compliance and also to calibrate PowerFaids and Jenzabar as it relates to Financial Aid.
Monitor undergraduate traditional headcount in each targeted recruitment market, annually. Weekly Recruitment Reports for each of the six targeted recruitment markets to include number of inquiries, applications, acceptances, deposits and enrolled students. Conversion rates and yield rates will also be reported. Recruitment and Marketing Plans will be evaluated on an ongoing basis and revised, as needed.
To increase student enrollment (recruitment and retention) in these recruitment markets.
Increase student engagement and satisfaction.
Improve the number of students who participate in student organizations by 25% by 2020 .
Strengthen organizations by providing leadership training for officers each year ($5,000).
Create a student organization page on the website listing the purpose, vision, and goals of each organization and contact information if students would like to get involved.
Improve the student activities fair in the fall semester to help garner student interest in organizations.
Include an information page about student organizations in the freshmen orientation book.
Student attendance, event creation, survey creation, social media usage, website update.
Combined, these strategies and investment will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Increase student participation in student activities to an average of 100 students per event.
Conduct student surveys on social media to gauge interest in events and seek their suggestion for event ideas.
Leverage social media avenues to promote every events.
Update the student activities page of the school website.
Keep an accurate head count of participants at each event.
Facilitate annual leadership training, webpage creation, a survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of the activities fair. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Involvement in student organizations leads to higher retention rates. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Conduct a survey of students to measure their perception of safety and concerns.
Implementation of safety week to commence Fall of 2017. A survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction and perception of safety week. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Continued safety training is vital to student safety and retention. The survey will assist in determining where Campus Police can do a stronger job and work to correct perceived weaknesses. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
Review the process throughout to make adjustments to make more effective.
Continued safety training is vital to student safety and retention. An active shooter drill is an effective way to prepare students for such an event. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
Increase the number of student organizations available to students by 10% by Fall 2020.
Create a survey to gauge student interest in new areas.
Create a survey to gauge faculty interest in sponsoring new organizations in their skill set.
Add a minimum of one new organization each academic year.
Increase of student organizations. Survey creation and utilization. Review surveys to determine if each event is an effective use of monetary resources based on satisfaction level and participation.
Student feedback for future event planning is vital to student satisfaction and growth. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Provide official records that confirm students complete required Spiritual and Cultural (SCE) events as part of their Core Curriculum.
Develop a list of approved spiritual and cultural events.
Maintain an up-to-date student database.
Implement Jenzabar and the OneCard system to validate and record students’ attendance at events. Cost $10,000.00 - continuing education conferences/courses for Jenzabar & OneCard; OneCard system upgrades and upgraded module additions.
Establish a team of volunteers to assist in taking attendance at events.
Identify students that do not earn the required number of spiritual and/or cultural credit events.
Monitor student appeals for deficient SCE credits.
Review appeals with the Student Appeals Committee and convey Committee’s decisions to students.
Student attendance information is collected via ID scanners and sign-in sheets.
Regular review of students’ attendance to SCE events.
The SCE Coordinator will supervise and record the number of SCE credits earned by each student annually.
Student involvement in Spiritual and cultural enrichment experiences is vital to the liberal arts model. To confirm each student has completed the Spiritual and Cultural credit requirements of LC’s Core Curriculum. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student engagement.
Provide a high quality support system for international students to ensure they thrive and feel welcome in the student community of Louisiana College.
Provide a welcome pack or guide specifically designed for international students. Cost: $1,250.00 per year ($25.00 x 50 students by 2018).
Establish a student-mentoring program similar to the International Mentoring Program at Brown University. Future international students will be matched up with upper classmen, who will then communicate, via email or text, in the weeks leading up to the start of the semester and commit to peer mentoring for one year. Cost: $3,750 per semester by 2018; ($75 X50 students) – campus life and academic workshops, social gatherings.
Fall 2017: Hired Director of ESL to develop an ESL program.
Continued growth in international students is vital not only to the enrollment goals but also the mission emphasis of the college. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster international student engagement.
Expand programs, resources, awareness and satisfaction of international students on campus to maximize opportunities for internationals to experience American cultures and become involved on campus.
Develop or host a minimum of one event each semester devoted to activities or topics related to the interests of international students. Cost: $200 per semester – promotion and preparation of semester events by 2018.
Continue to develop the International Student Organization (ISO) Cost: $500.00 yearly – meeting supplies; ISO sponsored activities, gas and van transportation for ISO.
Build awareness of the International Student Organization’s programs and events by utilizing the weekly Wildcat Weekly emailed to all faculty, staff, coaches, and students, and the LC website.
Develop an online presence similar to the “Meet our Internationals” page on the ETBU website including streaming or podcasting events, blogs, and social media that enhances awareness of the ISO. Cost: $250 per year – creating social media venues.
Develop a list of local SBC churches with the capacity to provide mentorships, resources, and holiday home stays for international students.
Provide salary compensation to current International Student Advisor beginning in August 2017. Cost: $9,800 yearly.
Provide transportation to and from the College from local airport. Cost: $125.00 per year – gas and van usage.
Post-event evaluations will be utilized to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of each event, and the number of international participants for each event will be monitored. A survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from international students on the satisfaction of the event. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Awareness of the ISO throughout the College will be measured through student involvement, and by use of targeted questions on student evaluations.
Additional international cultural events will be hosted on campus, open to the public and logged for the use of record keeping.
Mentoring SBC churches will be catalogued with available resources online for ease of access.
Where available, software will be utilized to monitor online engagement.
To empower Matthew 20:28 scholarship recipients to volunteer and engage with communities to create positive leadership skills and fulfill the service requirements of the scholarship through various volunteer leadership opportunities.
Research innovative volunteer leadership opportunities available in the community.
Continue to develop volunteer opportunities for service and enrichment with the community. Cost: $500.00 per semester - office supplies, color copier supplies, transportation to volunteer projects; project supplies.
Work with scholarship students and the community to supervise volunteer leadership opportunities.
Consistent review of scholarship recipient participation in volunteer leadership opportunities.
Assess progress of student volunteer hours completion rates of Matthew 20:28 service component.
Oversee implementation of volunteer leadership opportunities by offering at least 15 events.
Continued opportunities for volunteerism is vital not only to the SCE goals but also the mission emphasis of the college. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster Matthew 20:28 student engagement.
Increase campus campus-wide career related initiatives and job fair attendance to an average of 75 student registrants by Fall 2020 that contribute to career and professional development of students.
This will be accomplished by hosting career workshops and career fairs once a semester that also promote the fair. Workshops will focus on resume, interview, cover letters, reference page, and work related skills. Cost of each workshop not to exceed $500 and cost of each career fair not to exceed $1500.
Strengthen & increase existing prospective employers. Develop list of organizations/companies with the capacity to provide employment for LC students.
Facilitation of events, use of services, career assessments, and a survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of career services. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Job readiness is a hallmark of a relevant institution and is vital for growth and engagement. Continued growth in career readiness is vital in order to place our graduates in high demand positions. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster career planning opportunities.
In support of the mission of Louisiana College, Career Counseling seeks to educate and serve the students in the career exploring and selection process. The Career Counseling office functions as a vital component of the students' educational experience by preparing them for a meaningful professional career.
Conduct health fair/seminar every Spring semester beginning in Fall of 2017. Fair/seminar will focus on exercise programs, nutrition, and weight and stress management. Cost of fair/seminar not to exceed $1500/ semester.
Collaborate with LifeShare Blood Center to conduct blood drives twice yearly and increase their presence as student population increases beginning Fall 2017.
Continue to attend seminars to keep CPR Instructor certification to be able to train RA’s and Nursing Students.
Continue professional development through attending conferences, workshops or CEU opportunities. Cost not to exceed $500.00 annually.
Facilitation of fairs and blood drives each semester and a survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of health services. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
A healthy student population is vital to student success. Health care afforded to students in such close proximity combined with access to a physician on a weekly basis. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster health service opportunities.
Add additional PRN (as needed) staff (RN). This coverage will allow the current RN to take sick days, emergency off days, and provide continuity of care as the student population increases. Cost not to exceed $5,000.00 annually.
Increase in budget to cover expenses for over the counter medications, vaccinations, urine drug screens, and lab supplies for current student population and as student population increases. Current budget is $4700.00 annually. I would like request an increase to $6700.00 annually.
Addition of staff by Fall 2018 and addition of resources by Fall 2017.
A healthy student population is vital to student success. Health care afforded to students in such close proximity combined with access to a physician on a weekly basis. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster health service opportunities and increase student satisfaction and retention.
Increase student satisfaction in student activities to 3 on a Likert scale by Spring 2018.
Create a survey for each event to send to a minimum of 20 students who did not participate in the event to find out the reason for not attending.
Conduct a semester survey of overall satisfaction with student events.
A survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of the event. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
A survey on Survey Monkey will assess the overall satisfaction level of the student body concerning all events the goal will be to reach a composite score of 7 on a scale of 1-10 on a Likert Scale.
Proper and consistent assessment is vital to continued growth. Combined, these strategies and investment will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Evaluate hours of operation for maximum use of the space and efficient use of work student hours.
Improve the lighting in the game room.
Purchase of equipment and quarterly hours of operation evaluations. A survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of the event. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Proper care and replacement of equipment is vital to student satisfaction. Combined, these strategies and investment will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Increase student satisfaction in the freshmen orientation experience by 20% by Fall 2020 (Wildcat Welcome Week).
Include a promotional piece in each acceptance letter package sent from Enrollment Management.
Send a save the date card to each accepted student in June of each year.
Provide a save the date card at the Front of Line event.
Have the welcome week staff contact each member of their group the week before welcome week.
Ensure all welcome week information on the college website is up to date.
Work closely with the athletic department to ensure athlete participation.
Conduct a student survey for feedback on what was beneficial during their orientation week.
Host a freshmen think group at the end of the fall semester for feedback after they have successfully completed a semester of college.
Continue meeting with orientation groups through the fall semester for follow up.
Debrief and evaluation student orientation with the leaders immediately following the week and again at the end of the semester.
Brainstorm with faculty members to ensure that all key areas of need are being addressed during orientation.
Create a checklist to assess whether or not these initiatives were enacted. A survey through Survey Monkey will collect data from students on the satisfaction of orientation. The goal to reach is a 3 on a Likert Scale between 1-5.
Consistent and multifaceted communication mediums are vital to student satisfaction and participation. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student engagement and satisfaction.
Improve student facilities to include residence halls, meeting spaces, etc.
A comprehensive analysis of the schools ResHalls reveals the school needs upgrades in aggregate of 5 million dollars which include deferred maintenance and cosmetic improvements in Tudor, Church, English Village and Cottingham Hall.
The new Laptop Computer for the ResLife Office ($2000).
Residence Hall renovations completed by 2020.
Continued facilities improvement is vital to student retention. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
Full-time RDs can be working on their Master’s at reduced rate while they are fulfilling their responsibilities as an RD.
Enact this initiative by hiring a full staff. Currently, among our peer institutions, LC is the only institution that do not have full-time adult age RD’s.
Better oversight and matured leadership is vital to student retention. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
Proper surveillance leads to a sense of safety among the student population, which is vital for retention. This will help address theft issues that have occurred in the residence halls and parking lots in the past. Not only will it minimize theft issues, but we will also be able to see who is responsible for vandalism, thefts, etc, and address each incident through the Deans office. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
Continued safety training is vital to student safety and retention. Strengthening relations with community and bolster campus safety will aid in this effort. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster student retention.
This product will allow Student Development to create a predictive model for at risk students based off of certain behavioral and socioeconomic criteria.
Purchase of Jenzabar Retention Manager by Fall of 2018.
Fall 2017: Faculty used to Attendance Early Alert to send notifications of absences to the Registrar’s Office, advisors, students, and coaches.
A scientific and more robust evaluation of student risk factors is vital to proper response and resourcing. This strategy and investment will work to bolster student retention.
The SCC will enable students to get tutoring for multiple subjects but primarily mathematics and English courses.
The SCC will hire student workers (15 @ minimum wage $45,000) and be managed by a person with a background in Education and student success. A master’s in education would be preferred ($45,000).
Fall 2017: Created the Student Success Center in the library. Relocated the Writing Center, the Math Lab, and the PASS Office to one location. Created retention strategies through an alert notification about attendance/absence and created a referral process to send students to the SCC for tutoring.
Academic resourcing is vital to student retention. At risk students are better served when they have a central location to request and receive assistance with their course work. This strategy and investment will work to bolster student retention.
Lead campus-wide mental health related initiatives that contribute to the students’ academic progress, psychological and emotional welfare, and campus security.
This will be accomplished by hosting workshops once a semester beginning Fall 2017. Workshops will focus on common college student mental health concerns. Cost of each workshop not to exceed $500.
Expand the online resources to include mental health assessments and resources. Assessments will help counselor identify mental disorder and determine best plan of action.
Increase wellness (psychological) wellness education campus wide. Identify trends and provide education via classroom presentations, media, and social media.
Continue & strengthen professional development and knowledge enhancement. Counselor will continue professional development through attending conferences, workshops, or conventions relevant to student population. Cost not to exceed $500 annually.
Tracking will be done by use of services, mental health assessments, and student satisfaction survey results.
Strengthening academics while enhancing student mental health is a staple of a relational institution and is vital for growth, engagement and retention. Continued growth in counseling services is vital in order to meet the emotional, relational and stress rigors of the college experience. Combined, these strategies and investments will work to bolster counseling service opportunities.
Maintain NCAA membership by sponsoring a competitive Division 3 sports program to strengthen student experience.
Create a staff position with a focus on student-athlete academic success leading to graduation. The staff position will be housed in the Student Success Center.
Mid-term and final grades and attendance reports from the Registrar’s Office.
Conducting exit interviews evaluating academic support programs for seniors and any student-athlete leaving Louisiana College.
Weekly reporting and evaluation of student-athlete attendance and progress from the Student Success Center, the Writing Lab, the Math Lab, and study hall.
Establish a program of outreach to local FCAs with a benchmark of 4 FCA per year starting Fall 2017.
Reporting of student-athlete attendance and participation in SAAC events, FCA events, BCM events, and other events sponsored by LC Athletics.
These strategies and action plans will improve campus morale, and increase visibility of student-athlete involvement in the community.
Documentation of delivered emails, newsletters, and attendance of coaching staff at respective meetings.
These strategies and action plans will aid in increasing enrollment, recruiting, retention, and revenue.
Survey evaluating student satisfaction of athletic events.
These strategies and action plans will aid in increasing enrollment, recruiting, retention, and revenue. Sports operation budgets can be increased and facilities can be upgraded and renovated.
Expand and Strengthen LC Wildcat Club to 200 members by 2020.
Establish and grow Board of Directors membership (dues, contact information, benefits) to 100 members by 2020.
These strategies and action plans will aid in increasing enrollment, recruiting, retention, and revenue. Sports operation budgets can be increased by 5% annually and facilities can be upgraded and renovated as funds are available.
Review listing of corporate partners and outlets that sale LC paraphernalia.
Coaches’ calendar of dates for mentoring & community opportunities, athletic department meetings, and orientation.
The President along with the Vice President for Institutional Advancement will set the strategies for each of these areas. The Cavanaugh Campaign is an example of raising funds for Cavanaugh Hall. The Vision Campaign will be announced in the Spring of 2019.
Meeting these goals will motivate other donors to participate in supporting LC. Will also help attract students to the school.
$5,000 per year for marketing, materials, travel, meals and banquets.
Focus on the key outlying cities of the state, while utilizing our alumni, trustees and churches. Continue to grow our numbers in the central Louisiana area. Review growth monthly. Set quarterly goals. Meet with current BOV members and current Trustees to solicit names of potential new members.
We will access the results each year.
More scholarship dollars to recruit and maintain student body.
Increase travel budget by $5,000 per year in order to meet and build relationships with potential Board of Visitor members.
Increase giving from key internal and external stakeholders of the college.
Maintain a list of 300 viable donor prospects at all time, which include alumni, friends and businesses.
This list would be people that believe in the mission of LC and Christian Higher Education.
Make 100 donor visits each year.
Have several options for potential donors including but not limited to; endowed scholarships, endowed academic programs, Board of Visitors, Legacy Society and unrestricted gifts.
Identify 125 new donor prospects each year.
Utilize trustees, alumni, pastors and other leaders to secure names of potential donors.
Implement our Moves strategy for donor development.
Have quarterly review of giving to determine strategies for the future.
The more money generated by donors will increase the overall operating budget for the college. This will allow the college the best opportunity to grow the enrollment and the school as a whole.
Additional $7,000 per year for travel, meals, marketing and materials.
Increase alumni giving to 5% for 2017-2018, 10% for 2018-2019 and 20% for 2019-2020.
Develop and distribute an annual calendar of events in which alumni are encouraged to attend and give.
*16-17 = 2, 17-18 = 2, 18-19 = 2, 19-20 = 1. Total of 7 new Chapters.
Continue to increase the number of alumni BOV members. Actively add 10 per year.
Establish a young alumni group that would encourage both meeting and giving.
Work with the office of Enrollment Management in hosting 3 Admissions receptions per year throughout the state.
Work with the office of Institutional Advancement to add 25 new Legacy Society members each year through 2020.
Review the results each year.
More alumni involvement should result in more revenue for the operation of the college.
Increase travel budget for Alumni by $5,000 per year for travel, meals and banquets. Increase the marketing budget for Alumni by $5,000 per marketing and printing materials as needed.
Expand the Legacy Society to at least 100 members by 2020.
Grow the membership of the Legacy Society at 25 per year through 2020.
Use annual events on campus such as Homecoming, the Columns magazine, the LC website, personal visits and special mail out to promote the Legacy Society.
Number of memberships each year as well as deferred giving gifts.
Growing the Legacy Society with deferred gifts will help secure the future for the College.
Increase travel budget by $2,000 per year, to meet and build relationships with potential Legacy Society members.
Increase the number of new Grants for the College by 3 per year through 2020.
Document the number of grants we have applied for.
Document the award amounts of the successful grants received.
With the awarding of extramural funding, Louisiana College will be able to better classroom experiences through technology upgrades, instructor resources and the implementation of new programs. Additionally, some grants may be able to pay for physical enhancement as well as financial incentives for our student population.
The cost of incurring a successful grant writing office should include at a minimum of $3000 for continuing education, $2,000 for registering to grant search engines like Foundation Search, $1,500 every 3 years for a new laptop, and office supplies. Additional costs should include stipends and/or release time for additional manuscript reviewers that would aid the grant writer in manuscript preparation. The last cost items for the office would the salary for the grant writer and an assigned Administrative Assistant.
COMMUNICATION/MARKETING:To secure the necessary resources for advancing the Mission and Vision of the College.
Utilize news media to publish news and feature stories about Louisiana College; elevate the profile and presence of LC among media outlets by 2018.
Publish an article every quarter in regional newspapers across Louisiana: Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, New Orleans.
Email stories written in Associated Press style.
Maintain records of stories written and disseminated.
Use Google Alerts to track articles published online.
These action steps will ensure LC has provided media outlets with content that, if published, would help increase the general public’s awareness of LC.
To secure the necessary resources for advancing the Mission and Vision of the College.
Enhance the web presence of Louisiana College. Utilize www.lacollege.edu to elevate LC’s website effectiveness.
Executive Assistant to the President for Communications and Marketing.
Utilize social media such as Twitter and Facebook to push traffic to the website.
Craft short phrases peculiar to higher education for use under website banners that reflect common search terms, thus employing search engine optimization.
Create attractive, inviting web banners.
Ask ISP for monthly reports of how LC website visitors are utilizing the site.
These action steps are part of a larger integrated digital effort (social media) to bring more visitors to LC’s website.
Optimize Louisiana College’s use of social media. Increase the number of followers of LC’s Twitter account.
Require that all Twitter accounts associated with LC follow LC’s main Twitter account.
Discover LC offices that do not have Twitter accounts and require their establishment.
Require that all LC Twitter accounts follow each other.
Require that all LC Twitter accounts retweet each other.
Provide training for those not familiar with Twitter.
Utilize Twitter metrics to track responses to LC’s main Twitter account.
LC’s social media presence will be augmented through Twitter as new followers join and retweets increase.
Optimize Louisiana College’s use of social media. Increase traffic to LC’s Facebook page.
Add at least 5 posts per week to the LC Facebook page.
Discover other LC-associated FB pages and “like” them.
Use Twitter to invite others to view and “like” LC’s FB page.
Use email contact lists to invite others to visit the LC FB page.
Utilize Facebook metrics to track responses to posts.
These actions steps provide a greater potential for more traffic to LC’s FB page.
Leverage College publications to increase stakeholder’s awareness of LC’s activities and successes.
Include news and features about alumni in Columns magazine.
Promote Faith Matters to demonstrate faculty’s commitment to Faith Integration.
Utilize Alumni e-blast to engender interest and increase good will toward the College.
Distribute “President’s Report” to celebrate school accomplishments and demonstrate accountability to LC’s Vision of Preparing Graduates & transforming Lives.
Track the implementation of the above action steps.
LC’s messaging and graphical designs will become consistent.
Standardize Louisiana College branding. Create a branding and style guide.
Survey branding and style guides of like organizations.
Draft branding and style guide specific to LC.
Vet branding and style guide with President and Administrative Council.
LC’s branding and style guide will help ensure consistent messaging and graphical look to all of LC’s publications, both print and digital.
Standardize Louisiana College branding. Ensure/enforce consistent branding and messaging for LC.
Digitize Branding and Style Guide.
Publicize via internal email web link to the Branding and Style Guide.
Require that all publications, posters, T-shirts, flyers, videos, digital renderings, etc., bearing the LC name and/or logo be vetted by the Office of the President and/or his designee.
Employ an assistant director of communications and marketing.
Advertise for position on LC website per LC policy.
Interview applicants, ensuring the finalist is astute in print, social media, photography, and videography, and has a working knowledge in communications and marketing.
LC will become more relevant in its overall media efforts by providing information for a society becoming increasingly visual.
STEWARDSHIP: To secure the necessary resources for advancing the Mission and Vision of the College.
Project annual registration revenue after the drop/add day of each semester to determine if budget adjustments are required.
Monitor budget analysis to ensure revenue is on target and that expenditures are not exceeding allocations.
Calculate the U.S. Department of Education Financial Responsibility Composite Score each year using audited financial statements.
The operating fund completes each year with revenues in excess of expenditures.
The Financial Responsibility Composite Score is within an acceptable level.
Ensure compliance with applicable federal and state employment laws and regulations.
Does not include faculty pay for honors courses during the year. | https://www.lacollege.edu/about/meet-lc/vision-2020/ |
Student engagement and experience encapsulate students’ engagement and experience during orientation and subsequent activities related to learning and teaching. Students are provided with support to transition to their selected course(s) of study. These support arrangements create equivalent opportunities for academic success regardless of the students’ backgrounds, are sensitive to the needs of particular cohorts and individual students (including international students and students with special needs). In addition to academic support, students are provided with personal and professional support when needed and have access to mechanisms to effectively resolve grievances.
In an effort to provide a holistic experience to students, on and off campus events and activities are offered in addition to students’ learning and teaching experiences. These activities and experiences (including cultural events, sports and student-focused workshops and seminars) enrich the students’ professional and personal growth and support the achievement of high levels of student satisfaction. The safety and wellbeing of students is promoted at all times.
By 2025, IIBT will be a leader in providing education and training courses with a strong focus on excellent student engagement, experience and achieving positive student success and satisfaction levels.
Strategic Goals
- Develop programs to support students’ transition into their selected course(s), including orientation and study support.
- Assess student progress, early detection of students at risk of poor progress and monitor high risk students to support student success through tailored intervention strategies.
- Develop and implement individualised academic support programs when required to enhance maximum outcomes for each in each individual student.
- Extend and offer a range of on and off campus activities and events to enhance, enrich and strengthen student engagement experiences.
- Recommend appropriate referral options for students regarding personal support services to manage non-academic issues. | http://www.iibt.edu.au/student-engagement-and-experience/ |
This study examines the relationship between student goal orientation and student satisfaction, academic engagement, and achievement. A variety of studies has shown that the type of goal orientation determines students’ cognitive and behavioral reactions as well as their educational performance. Using data on 2309 college students from the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), this study analyzes the relationship between different types of goal orientations and student behavior and academic outcomes. Three questions are addressed in this paper: First, it explores how students can be classified according to their goal orientation. Second, the study examines how multiple achievement goals relate to different socio-demographic characteristics. Third, the relative influence of goal orientation on indices of satisfaction, achievement, and academic engagement among undergraduate students is assessed. The results support the notion that students pursuing both mastery and performance goals are more satisfied with their academic experience, show a higher degree of academic engagement, and achieve better grades than students who pursue a mastery orientation alone or a work-avoidance/performance orientation. One practical implication of the study of goal orientation is that student applicants could be screened on the basis of both a high mastery as well as a high performance orientation.
Abstract:
Publication date:
February 8, 2007
Publication type:
Research and Occasional Papers Series (ROPS)
Citation:
Roebken, H. (2007). Multiple Goals, Satisfaction, and Achievement in University Undergraduate Education: A Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Project Research Paper. UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education. | https://cshe.berkeley.edu/publications/multiple-goals-satisfaction-and-achievement-university-undergraduate-education-student |
Jobs posted 60 days ago are considered expired.
- Liaise with superior to make decisions for operational activities and set strategic goals
- Plan and monitor the day-to-day running of business to ensure smooth progress
- Supervise staff from different departments and provide constructive feedback
- Evaluate regularly the efficiency of business procedures according to organizational objectives and apply improvements
- Oversee customer support processes and organize them to enhance customer satisfaction
- Revise and/or formulate policies and promote their implementation
- Manage relationships/agreements with external partners
- Evaluate overall performance by gathering, analyzing and interpreting data and metrics
- Ensure that the company runs with legality and conformity to established regulations
Requirements:
- Excellent organizational and leadership abilities
- Outstanding communication and people skills
- In depth knowledge of diverse business functions and principles (e.g. finance, customer service etc.)
- Working knowledge of data analysis and performance/operation metrics
- Familiarity with MS Office and various business software
Interested? Kindly fill out the form https://forms.gle/FE693R9T1p22S9y99 and proceed to https://bit.ly/32Onakq to complete the application process.
Sorry, online application isn't available for expired job post.
Jobs posted 60 days ago are considered expired.
Thank you! | https://www.hireme.ph/job/219956/operations-backer-urgent-cyberbacker-at-cyberbacker/ |
Academic and Student Success Advisor
General Summary:
As part of a broad initiative to support highly talented and motivated first-generation, limited-income (FLI) students, Johns Hopkins University has created a new Success Coaching Program within Academic Advising. Staff in the program have a hybrid role of academic advising and success coaching. As academic advisors, they assist students with course registration, academic strategies, selecting majors and minors, and developing post-graduation plans. They troubleshoot academic problems, monitor academic progress and academic standing, and advise on policies and procedures. As success coaches, they use an appreciative, strengths-based advising model in order to increase retention, completion, engagement, satisfaction, and social mobility among FLI students.
Academic Advisors/Success Coaches report to the Director of the Advising/Coaching program. The program itself is a partnership among Homewood Student Affairs and the offices of academic advising in our two undergraduate schools on the Homewood Campus. In this second phase of the program build-out, we intend to hire four advisors/coaches simultaneously. Two advisors/coaches will be embedded in the Academic Advising office in the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences; two advisors/coaches will be embedded in the Academic Advising office in the Whiting School of Engineering.
Review of applications begins February 17, 2020.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
Academic Advising:
- Help students navigate their academic experience by assisting with proactive academic planning, creative problem solving, and connection to academic resources.
- Assist undergraduates with course registration, academic strategies, selecting majors and minors, and developing post-graduation plans.
- Conduct group advising sessions, advising workshops, and/or co-sponsor events with faculty and other support offices.
- With the purpose of facilitating student success and retention, track student progress by running
- reports, analyzing student data, and communicating with students regarding registration, grades, and graduation.
- Troubleshoot problems with registration and refer students to support services to facilitate success.
- Advise undergraduates on academic opportunities and requirements, policies and procedures.
- Provide early interventions identifying and communicating with at-risk students identified by faculty in each academic term.
- Meet with academic probation students and reinstated suspension students to conduct a self-assessment and academic success plan.
- Monitor students’ academic progress to advise them of their academic standing.
- Communicate to students the process and deadlines for graduation processing.
- Create and maintain accurate academic records through the use of degree audit software and SIS, document student meetings and notes in the student information database.
Success Coaching:
- Support the success of first-generation, low-income students, and/or academically underprepared students by providing year-round proactive coaching and guidance throughout their undergraduate careers that address self-care, socio-emotional well-being, career-related issues including major choice, internships, full-time employment, graduate school opportunities, and other post-baccalaureate positions.
- Proactively monitor student progress and performance, analyze problem areas, forecast solutions and conduct intervention strategies.
- Possesses current-state knowledge of assigned students’ experiences through high-contact methods that mirror year in school and/or current students’ needs.
- Track advisees’ progress via the university’s comprehensive intervention system, including tracking advisee use of academic support services.
- Make timely referrals for personal or academic issues as appropriate, and engage on-going contact with faculty as needed.
- Operate for advisees as a steadfast “hub” for all relevant “spokes” (other student services) by working in a prompt and coordinated fashion with other staff (e.g. health/wellness, residential life, financial aid and career advisors, pre-professional advising, etc.) to support students facing personal or academic challenges.
- Serve as constant and immediate source of support for advisees; be present as a highly visible, extremely accessible resource for advisees. Be available for parent/family inquiries as appropriate.
- Assist advisees with establishing, reviewing and revising academic and co-curricular goals.
Programming & Collaboration:
- Collaborate with faculty, staff and students to develop programs, services or opportunities to support the success of FLI students.
- Work closely with key campus partners (Life Design, Financial Aid, Student Life, Residential Life) to ensure that this role functions effectively in connecting advisees to campus resources.
- Participate on University and Homewood Student Affairs committees.
- Work with the Life Design, Alumni Relations, and other stakeholders to enhance student participation in high-impact learning experiences, such as undergraduate research, internships, and service learning.
- Collaborate with students, faculty and/or staff to develop and facilitate out-of-classroom educational experiences that increase the capacity for critical thought about and understanding of issues of first- generation students and low-income students.
Metrics and Accountability:
- Student satisfaction
- Accuracy of academic information delivery
- Completes academic data tasks and analysis in an accurate and timely manner
- Academic integrity and degree compliance
- Current-state knowledge of student experience and frequency of contact
- Student learning outcomes
- Retention & completion rates
- Social mobility
- Student engagement
Education:
- Master’s degree in student affairs, higher education, counseling or related fields including social science is required.
Experience:
- Three years of relevant advising experience required.
- Demonstrated success working with underrepresented racial minorities (African-American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Native-American), first- generation students, and students from low-income families required.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Passion for working with highly talented, socially and culturally diverse student populations, including first-generation and low-income students.
- Demonstrated capacity to work effectively with persons from diverse backgrounds and to foster sensitivity to diversity and an inclusive campus and community culture.
- Knowledge of student development theory and intersectional identities.
- Ability to use appropriate judgment when dealing with sensitive issues.
- Extensive knowledge and experiences managing holistic advising, assessment, academic and student affairs collaborations, diversity, identity, and inclusion.
- Exceptional interpersonal, oral, public speaking, writing, and listening skills.
- Excellent ability to work collaboratively with students, faculty members and staff at all levels.
- Proven ability to cultivate trust and credibility with colleagues and to build positive and effective relationships.
- Proven track record of establishing strategic relationships to strengthen program and service delivery.
- Experience in communications and utilizing social media an asset.
Classified Title: Student Success Advisor
Working Title: Academic and Student Success Advisor
Role/Level/Range: ACRP/04/MD
Starting Salary Range: Commensurate with Experience
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: M-F, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Exempt Status: Exempt
Location: 01-MD:Homewood Campus
Department name: 60006501-Center for Student Success
Personnel area: Homewood Student Affairs
The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.
If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at [email protected]. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.
The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work. Your recruiter will advise accordingly.
During the Influenza ("the flu") season, as a condition of employment, The Johns Hopkins Institutions require all employees who provide ongoing services to patients or work in patient care or clinical care areas to have an annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved medical or religious exception. Failure to meet this requirement may result in termination of employment.
The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Note: Job Postings are updated daily and remain online until filled.
EEO is the Law
Learn more: | https://jobs.jhu.edu/job/Baltimore-Academic-and-Student-Success-Advisor-MD-21218/625210100/?from=email&refid=10396803400&utm_source=J2WEmail&source=2&eid=99600-202005271105-18705360500&locale=en_US&fbclid=IwAR3HtI1ZEAqKCrTU73XY1HjS7eruNiFr_3id_f2Ru6J0CHJC47F4M-vv8j8 |
The primary purpose of outcome assessment at Post University is to assess and evaluate the quality and value of academic content and services to continuously improve the overall value and experience for students.
Assessment Approach
Post University has developed a comprehensive system to assess our academic goals and outcomes. The figure below shows the variety and frequency of tools and perspectives (external and internal) we use in our assessment process. This system enables analysis of program performance and student satisfaction data which informs improvements in programs, curriculum, and instructional practices.
Outcome Results
The outcome results below represent examples of performance data from some of the major tools in the assessment system described previously.
Student Learning Outcomes
Each program at Post University encompasses student learning outcomes aligned with industry expectations and are assessed at appropriate points in the student’s learning journey. Each student learning outcome represents learning that students gain from throughout their entire program. The following table lists the programs and outcome assessment results through April 2021. Assessment of student learning outcomes is an ongoing process, and the results below represent a point in time in the assessment cycle. Students are assessed on a 4-point scale (1=Below Expectations, 2=Approaches Expectations, 3=Meets Expectations, 4=Exceeds Expectations). The goal is for students to achieve the Meets or Exceeds Expectations level of learning for all student learning outcomes.
External Surveys of Student Satisfaction >>
Student End of Course Survey Results:
Alumni Satisfaction
2017-2018 Post Alumni Survey
- 57% of alumni are employed with position in which they use their degree; only 7% are unemployed.
- 82% of alumni strongly agreed or agreed that the time and money spent working towards their degree at Post were valuable.
- 93% of alumni thought that the value of their degree from Post either remained or increased over time.
- 80% of alumni would strongly agreed or agreed to recommend and refer students to Post.
NOTE: The next Alumni Survey is scheduled to launch in Summer/Fall of 2021.
Past results can be found below: | https://post.edu/about/student-satisfaction-and-performance/student-and-program-performance/ |
"The built environment needs to be assessed and made resilient as applicable, informed by risk identified in essential 2."
Not all hazards are expected to cause disasters. A disaster occurs when a hazard results in devastation that leaves communities unable to cope unaided. Preemptive measures therefore can help build better resilience capacity, avoid and/or minimize the disruption and destruction of networks, grids and infrastructure, which can cause severe social and economic consequences. Integrating resilience into socio-economic development planning and infrastructure will safeguard development investments.
- Perform land-zoning and management of urban growth to avoid or exacerbating resilience issues – identification of suitable land for future development taking into consideration of how low-income groups can access suitable land;
- Execute risk-aware planning, design and implementation of new buildings, neighbourhoods and infrastructure, using innovative or existing/traditional techniques as applicable.
- Address the needs of informal settlements including basic infrastructure deficits such as water, drainage and sanitation;
- Improve infrastructure for resiliency to potential hazards, incorporating appropriate retro-fitting of prevention measures;
- Develop and implement appropriate building codes and guidelines for heritage structures.
- Raise awareness and actively educate about hazard-resistant building practices across all construction sector actors;
- Integrate protection of the city’s natural and cultural heritage;
- Maximize use of urban design solutions (impermeable surfaces, green areas, shadowing, water retention areas, ventilation corridors etc.) that can cope with risks and also reduce the dependency on technical infrastructure (sewage systems, dikes etc.);
- Incorporate exemplary sustainable design principles into new development and link to other existing standards where appropriate (BREEAM, LEED, Greenstar, etc);
- Updating building regulations and standards regularly (or periodically) to take account of changing data and evidence on risks;
- Engage affected stakeholders in appropriate and proportional participatory decision-making processes when making urban development decisions.
Pune, India, has been affected by severe periodic flooding for decades. Anticipating that the impact of climate change may increase the frequency, the city has put programmes in place to build capacity, assess hazards and vulnerability, and implement a city-wide action plan, which contains structural and planning measures for restoring natural drainage, widening streams, extending bridges and applying natural soil infiltration methodologies. Watershed conservation techniques, such as afforestation and building small earthen check dams, were undertaken in the hill zone. Property tax incentives were provided to encourage households to recycle wastewater or to store run-off rainwater for domestic use. These efforts were complemented by improvements in flood monitoring and warning systems and social protection for affected families. The initiative was driven jointly by the elected municipal government, the municipal commissioner and Alert (active citizen groups), and involves many different city departments.
Consult Briefing Note 02: Adaptation to climate change by reducing disaster risks: Country practices and lessons (UNISDR 2010) at http://tinyurl.com/6nmww8t.
Locating infrastructure out of harm’s way is one way to ensure that new infrastructure does not introduce new risk. Where that may not be possible, another way is to execute multipurpose infrastructure projects, such as Kuala Lumpur’s Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART). Floods from heavy rains are a hazard, and the 9.7 km. long, $514 million tunnel has three levels, the lowest for drainage and the upper two for road traffic. The drain allows large volumes of flood water to be diverted from the city’s financial district to a storage reservoir, holding pond, and bypass tunnel. Combining the drain with the road has two advantages: it ensures that this ‘critical infrastructure’ is subject to higher than usual margins of safety (the extra strength that engineers build into designs). In 2010, local government officials commented that “the RM 2 billion provided by the government to construct the SMART Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur is a significant investment. But in the three years since its launch in 2007, the SMART operations have successfully averted at least seven flash floods and have saved hundreds of millions of RM in potential losses. Together with the revenue from toll fees, we are very close to recovering the investment cost,” said Datuk Hj Salleh Bin Yusup, Director General of City Hall. A local newspaper reported in 2010 that since SMART operations began in 2007, it was used 114 times to divert excess water and prevented seven potentially disastrous flash floods, which far exceeded the original target of diverting floodwaters only two or three times a year.
In addition to the SMART Tunnel, another RM 140 million was spent on maintaining flood retention ponds and main drains; RM 40 million is provided for maintenance and cleansing of rivers and main drains; and 300 million has been allocated for river cleansing and beautification. “These substantial investments, both from Federal Government and City Hall, are the results of efforts to mainstream disaster risk reduction in all policies, development and land use plans such as the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020, the Kuala Lumpur City Plan and the Flood Mitigation Plan,” said the Lord Mayor.
For more information about the smart tunnel, consult pages 6-7 of the publication: Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention (World Bank- United Nations, GFDRR, 2010) pages 6-7. http://tinyurl.com/7aalwlj
- Urban Flooding and its Management: Case Study of Delhi – National Institute of Disaster Management
An overview of how to manage floods in the context of India.
- Adapting Urban Water Systems to Climate Change – ICLEI, IWA, SWITCH, UNESCO (2011)
A handbook for decision makers at the local level on the key areas of vulnerability of urban water systems to climate change.
- Handbook on Good Building Design and Construction – UNDP, UNISDR (2007)
Tips for homeowners/builders on the principles of good design in areas prone to natural hazards. | https://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/home/index/Essential%20Four:%20Pursue%20Resilient%20Urban%20Development%20and%20Design/?id=4 |
‘This article originally appeared on Autodesk’s Redshift, a site dedicated to inspiring designers, engineers, builders, and makers.’
What will cities of the future look like by the year 2050? Will they be like those in South Korea centered on a digitally connected retrofit of existing society; will they parallel the shiny new cities of Dubai or Singapore; or could they possibly move underground or under the oceans?
Today, innovative cities such as Curitiba, Brazil, are rethinking entire mass-transportation strategies while debating visions of autonomous cars and drones. The most basic infrastructure needs have always been about how people want to live and move around.
It’s also about how things move around. FedEx sees e-commerce increasing by 26 percent from 2016 to $2.4 trillion worldwide by 2018, which adds pressure to upgrade roads, highways, and port/airport infrastructure for vehicle use—autonomous or otherwise.
Add to this mix myriad technology disruptions such as sensors, Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT), which can help adjacent cities work together like cogs in a bigger machine.
But why is that important? Planners have been considering urbanization pressures, often in areas with little room to increase building or infrastructure capacity. One alternative is analyzing collected data to determine how to densify corridors of population between neighboring cities, with mass transit creating megaregions that could easily become home to millions more.
The challenge for cities around the world is, how do they grow? How do they perform and transform simultaneously?
Data and the Megacities of the Future
Neighboring cities are coalescing in their shared infrastructure and mutual impact of their economies. Power lines, roads, transit, water systems, and safety don’t stop at city limits, and municipalities are facing transformation at unprecedented rates. As a result, there’s a lot of debate about who decides the way forward and what that looks like.
When it comes to designing infrastructure, one thing is for sure: Big Data collected through the IoT will play a key role in growing the megacities of 2050. “Big Data is all the information around us that is being collected in various streams,” says Steph Stoppenhagen, smart cities business development director for Black & Veatch. “If you use a metrocard to get on a subway, then the system knows when you entered, where you went, and the route you took. How is this helpful? By recognizing if the subway service worked. Was it successful? If so, you will do it again and again. That is one example of using data to watch people’s movements—creating smarter mobility.”
Not all data easily translates into useful or actionable information, though. To address the changing urban landscape, information itself should be seen as a form of infrastructure—one that can be used for better planning to connect cities within a bigger system.
The starting point is people, not technology. Planning, design, and investment decisions—along with supportive policymaking—can be informed and expedited via infrastructure visualization, simulation, and analysis. The rise of Big Data and advanced modeling technology make it possible to plan and prioritize infrastructure investment with greater foresight, better communicate potential outcomes, and yield measurably better results.
Creating the smart cities of the future means more than using the IoT to optimize services or communicate information to residents: It should be a construct used to frame local government decision making around city transformation. While 2050 seems far off, for existing cities that must perform, transform, and compete with brand-new cities, it’s pretty close at hand. Cities need to evolve to develop sustainably; improve resilience; meet citizens’ rising expectations; and attract investment, new businesses, and talent. The good news is that data and technology will make work and life better by creating a well-connected community.
But smart investment and policy decisions are crucial to planning, and moving to long-term investment (versus grant funding) is key. To achieve that, megacities of the future must connect:
- Projects: Developments that build toward the unified city vision and meet broader economic objectives such as accessibility, jobs, affordable housing, and healthy environments.
- Teams: Collaborative efforts functioning across all levels of government to unlock public and private infrastructure investment, leveraging Big Data to track the performance of infrastructure.
- Insights: New technologies that revolutionize how cities are planned, function, and grow the economy by connecting everyone at the beginning of project planning.
- Outcomes: Projects that meet planning/business-case measures and use cost-benefit analyses to meet economic objectives.
The Future of City Planning Is 3D
Building Information Modeling (BIM) gives meaning to the vast information available to architects and engineers, urban citizens, and decision makers. Advanced 3D modeling allows people to analyze complex information, including risks and problems at a system-versus-asset level. What that means is thinking about what the whole infrastructure system is trying to accomplish versus goals of its individual components. That information helps architects and engineers enhance designs so individuals, firms, and cities can meet their “smart” connected goals, bringing neighboring cities together.
Consistent use of 3D in-context models coupled with simulation software can create a hypothetical but realistic scenario of the physical infrastructure’s performance. It establishes a concrete vision in 3D, setting the context for discussing goals and performance measures that everyone can understand.
Using 3D BIM processes will be a critical skill set to build the right infrastructure for a megacities-of-the-future vision.
Technology lets people see with both eyes open—gaining perspective and depth—rather than with one eye closed, which gives perspective but no depth. The depth comes from information streaming through technology: Information-rich models can help stretch infrastructure investment dollars throughout the design and construction phases.
Going forward, using 2D designs in an ever-changing 3D world won’t work. Using 3D BIM processes will be a critical skill set to build the right infrastructure for a megacities-of-the-future vision.
Creating Smart Foundations Together
Cities are often overwhelmed by Big Data and lack the ability to make the information actionable. A benefit of BIM is that it can manage connections among all the data useful for complex city design projects—from the micro to macro level.
Through an immersive collaboration, the general public will better understand the future of infrastructure design. This way of stepping into, around, and through infrastructure virtually is becoming the norm. It aids in faster design-concept creation, vetting, and approval, and it reduces stakeholder pushback.
In this era of connected BIM—where information forms the infrastructure for planning, designing, and maintaining manmade and natural systems—the objective is to create integrated and resilient infrastructure. Then, cities will be able to withstand and recover more quickly from natural and human-caused disasters—and grow to support their future.
By collecting and analyzing more information, civil engineers will better predict what’s needed to manage bridges, roads, and other infrastructure assets, prolonging their lifecycles. As populations increase and demand for infrastructure rises, future-proofing assets must take into account true lifecycle costs.
Smart infrastructure connections at a personal, community, metropolitan, or even national level—underpinned by technology—provide the capability for monitoring and measuring. Then the analysis of data feedback can yield positive steps to address issues (whether through human or machine actions).
This changes the vision of future cities and provides the foundation for more holistic planning. In connected 2050 cities, all kinds of infrastructure—energy, water, transportation, buildings, and governance—will “talk” to each other to prioritize needs, optimize performance, minimize energy use, and make life more enjoyable and productive for the people who live in and travel between cities.
This is part of content-sharing series with Redshift to introduce global technology trends, information, and innovation to a Southeast Asian audience.
For more article like this, check out the section Voices. | https://techcollectivesea.com/2017/11/28/megacities-of-the-future/ |
Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organization or ARLnow.com.
Arlington has long been known for mastering smart infrastructure investments that have boosted the local economy, made Arlington an attractive place to live, and led to high levels of satisfaction in surveys of County residents.
Now, County leaders face a public that is cool to ambitious approaches to transportation, planning and infrastructure other than, perhaps, new and expanded schools.
For many, Arlington’s 2014 decision to cancel streetcars in Crystal City and Columbia Pike dealt not only a blow to transportation, but to community pride as well. What if, however, this gives us a timely, useful pause to consider improvements that are less capital-intensive? While I do not believe they can be the only solutions, it is important that we explore such alternatives.
Several fast-changing trends are converging to change how we live, work, shop, play – and get around. This is happening all over the world, but has special relevance for Arlington as we expand a planning focus from Metro station areas to other ways of delivering services, opportunity and quality of life.
These trends – technology, demographics, and shifts in work and workplaces – require new types of planning.
For transportation, Uber and Lyft are mainly known for disrupting the taxi industry, but it is really the smart phone platform that is transforming everything from biking to parking to travel.
So what are the opportunities in Arlington and what does it mean for planning?
Ride and Van Share – New companies like Bridj and Split are building new “microtransit” services that range from $2-$7 per trip. They fit a service level somewhere between solo driving and ART bus lines. They work by using algorithms to assign passenger pick-ups based on the most efficient origin-destination routes among several shuttle buses.
For example, residents living near the intersection of Columbia Pike and George Mason Drive can hail shuttles going to Seven Corners, Ashburn and other job centers not served by Metro (or that require multiple transit connections). These new transit companies are eager to work with localities to share data, incorporate services into formal transportation planning, and optimize public transit routes.
Paratransit – Arlington Transit offers on-demand rides for travelers with limited mobility. While costs have decreased (28% over the past three years to $27 per trip), these new services could reduce the costs of transportation further. As Arlington develops aging-in-place strategies throughout the County, these rides are incredibly important.
Car Owners – Yes, we have the Car-Free Diet, but what about support for drivers? Let’s face it, many Arlingtonians live in areas where a car is really the only practical travel option. However, many drivers want to reduce the hassles of driving, finding a parking space and car ownership. Fortunately, there are apps for all of these. The availability of these resources means that we should expand our transit programs to find ways to use our roads and parking resources in ways that help drivers — since reduced driving through efficiencies and easier route and parking navigation can result in less congestion for us all.
Locally Grown Transportation Companies – Arlington and DC are home to transportation companies like TransitScreen. Mobility Lab tracks new trends at the intersection of transportation, cities and technology. Arlington’s Economic Development chief Victor Hoskins wants to focus on tech for security, health and education. Given Arlington’s leadership in land use and transportation, and with the addition of 1776 to Crystal City, it makes sense to add smart cities to the list.
But there are also questions. How do public agencies incorporate private companies into transportation and infrastructure programs? For land use, what is Transit Oriented Development (TOD) when the transit comes to you through more individualized services? How do people without smart phones access broader mobility services? And finally, how will self-driving cars and transit ultimately disrupt the current disruptors?
Certainly tech-enabled ride sharing apps won’t exactly replicate the performance of a streetcar line. But they can provide immediate, cost-effective mobility options and supply the data needed to support the right kind of larger transportation and other infrastructure investments in the future.
In times such as these, the winning bet may not always be the big bet, but a series of strategic, iterative bets can help continue moving us forward.
Lisa Nisenson is a long-time civic advocate in Arlington and is founder of GreaterPlaces, a startup and member of the tech incubator 1776. | https://www.arlnow.com/2015/08/06/progressive-voice-new-transportation-options-for-arlington/ |
Currently on Kyle's Planning and Zoning Commission board, Kyle City Council Place 1 candidate Dex Ellison said he wants to promote “smart growth” planning and implementation, working to bring higher skilled, higher wage jobs to Kyle, and keeping taxes and fees as low as possible for current residents while having future development pay for itself while leading Kyle.
Answers have been edited for clarity.
Q: How do you think Kyle should adapt to keep current residents and attract new residents and visitors to stay and explore what Kyle has to offer?
A: Investing and promoting an attractive and safe city. From talking with residents that both live here and recently moved here, if we continue to upgrade our roads, water/wastewater, public parks, policies for a higher standard for residential neighborhoods, and so forth we will encourage those that have already built their lives here to want to stay here and raise future generations. With the population growth projections, we are obviously an attractive county, and if we focus on a higher standard regarding “quality of life” here in Kyle people will naturally be attracted to what we have planned and will build here. Planning and developing a municipality that promotes quality living, employment, and recreation within will naturally keep and attract residents.
Q: With a rapidly increasing housing market, how do you think housing affordability should be addressed in the upcoming years?
A: Diversity in housing options is one way. Kyle basically has single-family residential houses and apartments. We need to look at locations in the city and plan accordingly through our comprehensive plan for areas and ways to offer different home options for current and future residents. Building plenty of housing and different options of housing can lead to affordability in ways that rent control strategies and inclusionary zoning can’t achieve on their own.
Q: With Kyle going through immense growing pains, which infrastructure issues do you believe need to be addressed first?
A: Infrastructure will be key to stay ahead of over the next few years in anticipation of the rapid growth. Properly constructed roads and repair of existing ones that aren’t will be essential to both quality of life and mobility now and into the future of Kyle. It will be imperative that if bonds are voted on as well by the electorate to make these upgrades or new construction that those items be addressed immediately, and not put off where they will be more costly down the line. Water and wastewater also need to be addressed and monitored for both residents benefit and helping attract job creators, however this coming budget does have [Capital Improvement Projects] to begin to address that.
Q: What solutions do you have for the city to lessen the effects of flooding in the future?
A: Strategic planning and innovative designs can help lessen the effects of flooding in the future. In the planning process we can ensure developers demonstrate that water exceedance is designed for and managed in planning applications and we can incorporate that into local flooding risk management strategies. Swale design and green infrastructure practices are just a couple of examples of what we can study and potentially utilize. It’s all about innovative and strategic planning along with collaboration amongst governmental jurisdictions with data and strategies to help reduce these risks.
Q: There has been vocal output from residents about a lack of government transparency and accountability in Kyle. Do you see this as a problem that needs to be addressed? Please explain your answer?
A: There’s always room for improvement, and in government that is especially the case. I would work with my fellow council members to make sure we have the highest level of transparency and accountability for our decisions and actions as elected officials along with that standard from our hired staff. The city has improved over the last year or so with innovative ways for residents to view council and [planning and zoning commission] meetings as well as fiscal transparency. In areas of traditional finances, contracts and procurements, economic development, public pensions, and debt obligations, through the Transparency Stars Program (which recognizes local governments for their transparency efforts), the state comptroller has awarded the city of Kyle the Leadership Circle award at the highest level over the past four years.
Q: What is the biggest issue you think Kyle has faced this year, and how would you address this issue?
A: Working to stay ahead of the rapid growth this city is taking on is and will continue to be one of the biggest issues Kyle has faced this year and will continue to into the future. There are many issues that are a result of this growth and we must address those early in the process. Investing in quality infrastructure, economic development through employment within the city that people can support their families on, and new development that mostly pays for itself and not burdening existing homeowners and taxpayers are just a few things we need to be cognizant of going forward. Forecasting impact fees can help with that last one. | https://communityimpact.com/guides/austin/san-marcos-buda-kyle/news/2017/10/17/kyle-city-council-place-1-candidate-dex-ellison-talks-bettering-kyles-quality-life-qa/ |
Coastal communities face tough decisions on how to reduce the impacts of encroaching seawater caused by climate change. As oceans rise shores will transform, leaving residents of many low-lying areas struggling to adapt.
To meet the challenges brought by a changing climate, the city of New London is working with UConn’s Community Research and Design Collaborative (CRDC) to re-envision part of their historic waterfront district. The city wants to mitigate the negative consequences of sea level rise and flooding while finding opportunities to promote economic growth and improve urban form.
The CRDC is the umbrella organization for the outreach work of the landscape architecture faculty and students in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. They offer sustainable planning and design services to assist a variety of clients, including citizens, landowners and public officials, with creating affordable, equitable and ecologically healthy environments.
Associate Professor Peter Miniutti of the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture is director of the CRDC and leads a transdisciplinary team on the New London project. The group is working with city officials, business owners and stakeholders on ways to improve coastal resilience and encourage economic development along Bank Street, a business route that runs through the heart of downtown.
“The CRDC is a bridge between the academic world and the real world,” says Miniutti. “We provide our clients with specific land use plans to help guide their future development. We bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff from other UConn departments and units as well as personnel from state organizations, depending on project needs. For this waterfront project, a major partner is UConn’s Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA).”
Miniutti says collaborating with CIRCA is essential for accurate data on projected sea level rise and flood risk mapping. CIRCA has updated mapping on Connecticut’s shoreline and inland waterways that incorporate the latest climate science. The New London site sits at the mouth of the Thames River, which empties into Long Island Sound.
“CIRCA was founded to engage the capacity of UConn’s faculty, staff and students with state agencies to help towns figure out how to adapt to the impending consequences of changes in climate,” says James O’Donnell, CIRCA executive director and professor of marine sciences at UConn. “New London faces challenges from flooding like many of Connecticut’s cities and Peter’s work to provide the city leadership with imaginative and climate science informed options are exactly what we had in mind.”
CIRCA’s maps of the New London area indicate that by 2050, sea level rise will cause flood events to reach twelve feet. The data also indicates a higher probability of 100-year flood events, estimating they are more likely to occur once every twenty years. A 100-year flood event means the probability of serious flooding in a given year is one percent. CIRCA projects this risk has climbed to five percent. The next step for the CRDC team was discussing these findings with stakeholders.
Miniutti used the CIRCA data to produce graphics illustrating how sea level rise and flooding have already affected, and will continue to affect, the New London waterfront. Along with aerial and ground photographs and historical documentation of previous flood damage, he presents the opportunities and constraints in potential planning and design scenarios.
“We employ an inclusive and community-based approach to design,” says Miniutti. “It’s important for everyone to have a voice.”
After studying the waterfront and receiving input from stakeholders, the CRDC team began proposing a variety of solutions for two general areas of unimproved city land, public land and the Bank Street building owners’ properties.
The CRDC designs recommended a raised berm and floodgate system combined with natural elements, which would protect inland areas from regular flooding. They also proposed raising a street and transforming it into a pedestrian-friendly area where businesses could introduce inviting spaces for their properties that face the water. This would convert what is now essentially a service road into an area with outdoor seating and recreation. Three-dimensional models of the most popular designs were constructed using paper materials cut using laser printing.
“People have a hard time visualizing, so this helps everyone better understand what we’re proposing,” says Miniutti. “We create these models with interchangeable parts so we can propose many different options and refine them as we get feedback.”
The designs will not prevent all potential flood scenarios, such as from storm surge, but proposals offer subsurface draining solutions to minimize damage and increase resiliency from flood events.
After several meetings with stakeholders for feedback, Miniutti says they have built strong consensus and are close to selecting a final design plan.
“Peter and his team have been great partners on this important initiative,” says New London Mayor Michael Passero. “This effort is helping our city design and fund the infrastructure we will need in the years ahead to preserve the historic business district along our waterfront. We appreciate their hard work and continued commitment to bringing this project to fruition. We thank UConn for their assistance in helping New London plan for the future.”
Once the final design receives approval through a vote, the CRDC team will meet with public works and city engineers for their input and then submit a final report that details the process, recommendations and schematics. Part of the CRDC’s role is to position and support New London to attain grant funding to complete the project.
“We consider this project a kind of prototype for ways other coastal communities might be able to work on coastal resiliency and confront the challenges rising seawater will bring in the coming years,” says Miniutti. | https://naturally.uconn.edu/2018/11/06/landscape-architecture-team-develops-models-for-coastal-resilience-along-historic-waterfront/ |
As part of the Blue Cities Initiative, CRWA utilizes our expertise in watershed science and extensive knowledge of stormwater management systems to conduct technical analyses at a subwatershed level. These kinds of analyses explore both opportunities and challenges of working at a subwatershed scale, and are useful as CRWA assists municipalities in conceptualizing strategies for stormwater management beyond site-specific levels.
CRWA worked with the City of Cambridge to incorporate green infrastructure into dense urban streets. In the first phase of this project, CRWA developed conceptual Green Street designs for three Cambridge streets: Webster Avenue, Park Avenue, and Chestnut Street. By incorporating street trees, plant based treatment systems, and alternative roadway designs, Green Streets slow car traffic, enhance the neighborhood aesthetic, and improve local rivers and streams.
In the second phase, CRWA made recommendations for designing Green Streets city-wide. The Cambridge Green Streets project demonstrates how cities and towns across the region can include green infrastructure techniques as a routine component of roadway improvement projects, and as a way to improve the quality of life in our urban communities.
Beginning in 2015, CRWA partnered with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to develop a restoration plan for a sub-watershed in the North Allston neighborhood in an effort to integrate this plan with ongoing public realm improvement efforts and development projects in the area.
The project team evaluated Green Infrastructure design options for feasibility and benefits in order to develop a sub-watershed scale restoration plan that will enable the City of Boston to meet regulatory requirements at the least cost and with maximum environmental benefit. CRWA and Nitsch Engineering, Inc. studied the existing conditions of the area and developed retrofit strategies for specific sites. View the Concept Plan & Design Strategies presentation.
In 2009, CRWA and the Town of Franklin partnered to create a stormwater management plan for the Spruce Pond Brook Subwatershed. The goal of the plan is to enable the municipality to meet the requirements of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Nutrients in the Upper/Middle Charles River, with minimum cost and maximum environmental benefit.
CRWA developed design options which incorporated stormwater treatment practices in a way that enhanced public areas and improved access to open space. These design options were evaluated based on stormwater treatment efficacy, costs, and overall impacts and benefits.
Given the success of the Franklin project, the Town of Bellingham received a grant by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to partner with CRWA on a similar planning and assessment project. Like the Franklin project, the goal of this project was to help Bellingham identify opportunities for both on-site and regional stormwater management approaches, particular techniques that use green infrastructure to comply with the TMDL at a subwatershed scale.
Through the Bellingham Subwatershed Management Plan, CRWA provided recommendations for Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management techniques and practices throughout the subwatershed, on both public and private properties. Additionally, CRWA used a stormwater model to estimate effects of various designs and their relative costs.
In 2009, the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) began an internal planning effort to reexamine and update roadway standards for all streets in Boston. Their goal was to build on existing guidelines and projects and introduce new dimensions for building streets such as sustainability principles, appropriate storm water drainage, a more proactive accommodation of bicycles, integration of ‘smart’ technologies, and responsiveness to Boston’s unique urban context.
Our work with BTD on the Peabody Square project was instrumental in involving CRWA with the City’s Complete Street Initiative. In 2009, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino appointed CRWA’s Kate Bowditch, to serve on a technical advisory committee to inform the development of these city wide guidelines. The Complete Streets Guidelines were finally released in 2013, after three years of CRWA working in close coordination with the project team on its “green” section.
In 2010, CRWA launched a partnership with River Network, a national river advocacy organization based in Portland, Oregon, to expand Blue Cities work to other regions of the United States. This initiative includes efforts to design subwatershed-scale restoration plans; examine green infrastructure opportunities at various scales; explore opportunities to repurpose existing infrastructure; and integrate new approaches to water resources into policy and regulations.
River Network selected “opportunity watersheds,” based on the organization’s experience working with watershed groups and clean water advocates around the country. To date, CRWA has worked successfully in Louisville, Kentucky and the Clinton River Watershed in Michigan. In these watersheds, CRWA has identified potential areas for restoring natural hydrologic function, and is providing the technical skills for data assessment, planning and design. | https://www.crwa.org/blue-cities/science-and-technical-analysis |
By Kevin Vogel, P.E., CFM
When planning a new development, it is vital to understand and plan for the flow of water. When creating pavement and street designs, the proper placement of storm drains, sewers, and the lasting impact poor design can have on the community, environment, and economy comes into play. Master drainage plans and detention basins are necessary tools for existing communities to limit the adverse effects of new development and can add benefit and value through increased recreation area and park space.
Master drainage plans for communities identify potential problems and provide a road map for future drainage-related activities within new or existing developments. Similar to water supply future demands assessments, the drainage planning effort involves identification of future projects to be implemented based upon development phases or current flood-related issues, with the goal being to incorporate this information into development plans to protect the community and its infrastructure. Master drainage plans help eliminate or reduce flood risks for property owners and businesses and maintain safe emergency evacuation routes. In reducing risks for the target community, master drainage planning establishes safe pathways and buffer zones for floodwaters while preventing adverse impacts to downstream or neighboring communities.
Detention basins are usually an integral part of an overall master drainage plan. In most communities, detention volume is required for all new development in order to attenuate increased rainfall runoff rates (primarily due to impervious cover) down to pre-development levels. Regional detention basins — large basins that serve several neighborhoods or communities — are usually constructed as part of a master drainage plan and are used as a flood control or a flood risk reduction tool. In all cases, the purpose of these basins is to help prevent localized flooding, reduce streambank erosion, and often provide some water quality benefits.
Depending on their location and design, detention basins can often provide the added “dual-use” benefit of recreational areas for trails, parks, ball fields, water features, or a combination of these. An example of a dual-use regional detention basin is the proposed Country Creek Basin in Houston, Texas. This basin will provide detention volume to offset future City of Houston capital improvement projects and also provide much-needed park area for an underserved community. The park will feature a wet-bottom amenity pond with a wetland shelf, paved and unpaved pedestrian trails, picnic areas, playground, and a parking area.
Proper drainage can prevent serious erosion, flooding, and other property damage. If a city or property is not drained properly, water can seep into the core foundation of buildings or structures causing damage and even landslides. Ultimately, master drainage plans and detention basins are tools for both community protection and enhancement. | http://www.thegraphictouch.com/stewardship-water/master-drainage-planning-for-community-enhancement/?toggle=sidebar-menu |
The Algorithmic Governance of Smart Mobility: Regulatory Mechanisms for Driverless Vehicle Technologies and Networked Automated Transport SystemsDermot Putnam et al.
ABSTRACT. Despite the relevance of the algorithmic governance of smart mobility, only limited research has been conducted on this topic. Using and replicating data from AUVSI, Capgemini Research Institute, Ipsos, McKinsey & Co., Perkins Coie, Pew Research Center, and Statista, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding the biggest obstacle to the growth of autonomous vehicles in the next five years (safety concerns/price of investment/cybersecurity or data privacy concerns/consumer readiness to adopt/lack of a regulatory framework/infrastructure issues/creating and implementing digital city mapping platforms with easy-to-update features) and city infrastructure requirements that need immediate attention so that autonomous vehicle technology testing/implementation can be facilitated further (upgrade highways and thoroughfares with smart technology for road signs, traffic lights, and merge lanes/ensure lane markings on city streets are visible and consistent/optimize intersections and streetscapes/upgrade pedestrian accommodations/upgrade parking areas). The results of a study based on data collected from 4,800 respondents provide support for our research model. Using the structural equation modeling and employing the probability sampling technique, we gathered and analyzed data through a self-administrated questionnaire. | https://www.addletonacademicpublishers.com/search-in-crlsj/1661-volume-11-1-2019/3568-the-algorithmic-governance-of-smart-mobility-regulatory-mechanisms-for-driverless-vehicle-technologies-and-networked-automated-transport-systems-2 |
This project analyzed and classified viewsheds in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, taking into consideration the cultural, historical, and natural features that influence public perceptions of visual quality. The study applied a modified version of the Bureau of Land Management’s Visual Resource Management (VRM) tool to assess the unique island landscapes. Data and pictures were gathered from seven different trips around the National Park Area. Visual assessment was done through a quantitative analytical process in which each viewshed was given a numerical rating based on the VRM method and calibrated with an expert panel of stakeholders. The study resulted in recommendations to help the National Park Service increase visitor’s access to underused areas, increase ferry routes around the scenic areas, and to incorporate landscape management plans to maintain the scenic viewsheds.
This graduate studio focused on transforming the elevated McGrath Highway, which crosses through Somerville, MA into a green infrastructure corridor that provides multiple benefits for local residents. Currently, the highway cuts East Somerville from the rest of the city, creates congested intersections and is a source of concentrated air pollution through some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the state. Student teams analyzed the area and mapped out important challenges such as brownfields, environmental justice neighborhoods, and water pollution, as well as potential connections to other city-wide green corridors. After completing the analysis, a number of preliminary designs were presented to the City of Somerville. Three different design alternatives were proposed based on the amount of green infrastructure being implemented – the gray, green, and super green scenarios. The Gray scenario focuses on short term feasible solutions, such as reducing the number of drive lanes for cars and replacing them with trees. The green scenario focuses more on the long term goals, not only for social and environmental issues, but also to promote economic development. This scenario proposed lowering the elevated portion of the McGrath Highway and creating a boulevard. The super green scenario is the more extreme design, proposing transforming the elevated portion of the highway into a green pedestrian corridor. The three scenarios create opportunities for phased implementation along the McGrath Corridor that will provide safer pedestrian and bike connections, while providing valuable needed green space and tree cover for the residents of Sommerville.
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This project focuses on the Ipswich River Watershed in the suburbanizing North Shore region of metropolitan Boston. The Ipswich River is one of the most threatened rivers in the United States due to increased development and drinking water withdrawals from neighboring towns that impact the water quality and quantity. In order to address these environmental issues, this studio developed a green infrastructure plan for the watershed that proposes protecting open space within water resource areas, preserving wildlife habitat areas, and creating recreational linkages. Each student in the course developed a focus area at the local scale to illustrate implementing green infrastructure planning. These projects include retrofitting existing neighborhoods with rain gardens and other green infrastructure devices to gather and treat urban stormwater, as well as increase ecological connectivity. Other projects include creating ecological corridors and retrofits for an industrial park, high school, and commercial area. This project shows creative solutions to address the environmental and recreational needs of this urbanizing watershed
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This senior undergraduate landscape architecture capstone studio focused on designing greenways for the historic industrial city of Lawrence, MA that interprets the rich culture of the City, transforms brownfields into parks, and provides access to the Merrimac River and historic canals. The project involved a partnership with Groundworks Lawrence, a local non-profit organization, which is engaged in urban design initiatives throughout the city. The five studio teams focused on creating alternative plans that differed geographically and by topic. The first team focused on the Legacy Greenway, a project that aims to create connections between important assets in Lawrence like; parks, open space, schools, etc. The second team looked at Lawrence at a regional level, proposing alternative regional bus routes as well as connections to regional trails, like the Bay Circuit Trail. The third team focused on the river, creating greenway loops that connect to the three rivers. The fourth team focused most of their design on two major proposed corridors that follow a proposed rail-trail and the Merrimac River. The final team focused on the Spicket River corridor, connecting people back to the river by engaging them in history. These five alternatives were compiled into one greenway plan with focused area designs, as well as individual team reports.
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This graduate studio focused on the creating green infrastructure networks in Worcester, Massachusetts which is the second most populated city in Massachusetts. The studio worked in conjunction with the EcoTarium, an innovative science museum in Worcester in order to link the City’s rich cultural, historic, and academic resources across a densely populated urban region; and expand opportunities for local residents to learn about urban ecology in their own neighborhoods. The studio project builds on the City’s open space plan goals by planning improved access to water resources, increased connectivity between existing parks and open space, and safer bicycle and pedestrian connections. The project also strives to improve water quality in the Blackstone River and reduce stormwater runoff by a series of green infrastructure improvements throughout the City. Finally, the project addresses the existing wayfinding challenges in Worcester to help visitors and local residents alike access the City’s historical, cultural, and natural resources.
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The senior undergraduate, Bachelors of Landscape Architecture studio at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst developed a town-wide greenway plan for the Town of Framingham’s Department of Community and Economic Development. This conceptual plan connects the town’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources through a network of pedestrian and bike trails. This plan also seeks to connect the diverse neighborhoods within the Town to these resources and provide alternative means of local residents to access jobs, schools, and retail centers. The greenway plan builds on Framingham’s Open Space and Recreation Plan (2013), which identified the need for a regional greenway system to link the town to the many local and regional recreational, cultural, ecological, and economic resources. This capstone planning and design studio began with an analysis and assessment of the Town of Framingham’s natural, recreational, cultural, and transportation/land use resources. Teams of students developed alternative greenway plans for the town and region, respectively. These plans were synthesized to produce the composite greenway plan. The students also developed site specific designs for key linkages within the greenway network including the industrial village of Saxonville, historic Framingham Center, the Tech Park, and downtown Framingham.
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This report describes a proposed multi-modal greenway network that links dinosaur-related sites in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The study conducted by the fall 2015 MLA studio at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst included assessment and design work at regional, sub-regional, and site scales. The proposed Dinosaur Trail Project greenway network was designed to incorporate the goals of the client, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, a historical and cultural organization based in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The project will help preserve, interpret, and highlight the rich history of dinosaur track discovery in the region for future generations. | http://www.resilientmetro.org/planning--design.html |
In the Northwest Hills region, infrastructure consists of: dams, road networks, electrical and communications networks, dams, bridges, railroad, water supply systems, sanitary and storm sewer networks, recreational trails, etc. The owners/operators of each particular piece of infrastructure are responsible for the maintenance of the structure. This may be the municipality, state, or private land owner. The maintenance may be the responsibility of the owner or operator but the loss of use may negatively impact a much larger segment of the population. This can make maintenance of the structure with respect to climate change when there is limited technical capacity or funding access. For example, private landowners may maintain dams on their property but do not have the awareness or capacity to analyze and modify the dam to meet climate change impacts from solar radiation, sedimentation, or debris from storm events.
Designs for future infrastructure should incorporate climate change impacts to the highest standards. Municipalities should take care to review the standards with the appropriate experts to protect their long-term investments.
Vulnerability Overview
- Vulnerable populations have limited access to transportation.
- Limited transportation available to transport vulnerable residents to shelters.
- Tree-trimming has altered roadsides to accommodate overhead infrastructure.
- Confusion around possibilities for residential solar.
- High heat may limit speed on passenger rails.
- Increased water needs for irrigation and individual consumption.
- Existing culvert sizes may be inappropriate for flood events and habitat requirements.
- Bridge heights, especially on private driveways and local roads, may not be sufficient height.
- Many railroad lines, wastewater treatment, and water supply/treatment are located in potential flood areas.
- Leaching from active and inactive landfills could increase with significant storm events.
- Flooding is a significant vulnerability in many of the Northwest Hills municipalities. At this point in time, flooding locations are identified by local knowledge and review of FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). Identifying vulnerable flooding areas should improve at the completion of FEMA’s RiskMAP evaluation and digitization of the FIRM maps. Both are expected to be completed in 2022. Below is a list of some areas susceptible to flooding through the region according to the applicable Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans.
Flooding Areas Noted in Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans
|Barkhamsted||The long bridge at Pleasant Valley has a history of ice jams. Saville Dam lacks a dam failure study, making the risk from the dam unknown. (LHNHMP)|
|Burlington||Digital Firm maps have made it “easier to demonstrate floodplain boundaries to property owners.” Floodprone areas include: Upson road, Foote Road, Covey & Hotchkiss Roads, Main Street in Whigville, Prospect STreet in Whigville, Scoville Road, Vineyard Road, Westside Boulevard, Monce Road, and Route 4.|
|Canaan||Significant floodplains especially in Falls Village between Route 126 and Route 7. Beaver dams along Cobble Road. Chronic flooding along Music Mountain.|
|Colebrook||The lower end of Sandy Brook near Riverton Road commonly floods, sending water into people’s basements. The town is home to numerous dams that could fail during a flood event. (LHNHMP)|
|Cornwall||Historical flooding at West Cornwall bridge, beaver dams, flooding and erosion along River Road. Mill Brook washed out at Lower River Road during Tropical Storm Irene.|
|Goshen||The drainage area at Woodridge Lake is particularly of concern according to the town road supervisor due to the increased density of development in this area. Road flooding has occurred in this area in ecent years and there is a need for a comprehensive stormwater drainage study of this part of town to better define drainage improvement needs. (LHNHMP)|
|Hartland||No specific spots mentioned.|
|Harwinton||The area of greatest concern locally is Leadmine Brook, which continues to flood periodically resulting in the closing of Lead Mine Brook Road. Lake Harwinton Dam is the facility of greatest concern to local officials, and this dam is scheduled to be improved in the near future. (LHNHMP)|
|Kent||Flooding along Route 7 on east side and Schaghticoke Road on west side from Housatonic River. Ice jams along Housatonic River. Flooding along Kent Hollow Road from West Aspetuck River.|
|Litchfield||Beavers plug culverts on local streets such as Brooks Road, which require routine maintenance by town forces to remove. (LHNHMP)|
|Morris||Flooding caused by beavers remains a problem. The East Shore Road area experiences periodic flooding due to poor drainage.(LHNHMP)|
|New Hartford||Several critical facilities noted in potential floodplain. Public Works Department proposed for relocation. Beavers have caused problems in culverts. Culvert at Carpenter Road is undersized.|
|Norfolk||Flooding on Parker Hill Road at Hall Meadow Brook and along Blackberry River. (LHNHMP)|
|North Canaan||No specific spots mentioned.|
|Roxbury||Flooding near Judds Bridge, Hodge Park, Wellers Bridge, Route 67, Squire Road at Route 67, and Botsford Hill Road at Route 67. Small private dams are significant concern.|
|Salisbury||Flooding near Salmon Kill Road, Housatonic River Road, Dugqay Road, Old Asylum Road, Lincoln City Road, and Riga Road.|
|Sharon||Beaver dams especially along West Cornwall Road and Surdan Mountain Road. Flooding at main business area near supermarket (Low Road, Murtagh Road, and Route 41).|
|Torrington||Drainage problems cause seasonal flooding at Oak Avenue and Albert Street, and at Vista Drive. Flooding along the Naugatuck River remains a concern despite flood control dams installed after the flood of 1955. The city has a large number of properties requiring flood Insurance from FEMA. These properties will become increasingly difficult to maintain if flood insurance premiums increase. (LHNHMP) .|
|Warren||Sucker Brook Corridor of concern. College Farms Road, Reed Road, and Curtiss Road were washed out or toppled during Tropical Storm Irene.|
|Washington||Significant flooding along Shepaug River.|
|Winchester||Pratt Street, where periodic flooding damages yards and the local road on a regular basis needs upgrades to its drainage systems. Inadequate storm drains on Gay Street, Case Avenue and Center Street result in periodic flooding. Flood control gates at the Highland Lake outlet control structure need to be replaced. Beaver dams frequently result in plugged culverts on local streets such as along the Old Waterbury Turnpike near Rugg Brook Reservoir. The town has actually needed to close a section of this road due to a recurring problem with water ponding and road washout. (LHNHMP)|
|Litchfield Hills Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan 2016 Update includes: Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Litchfield, Morris, New Hartford, Norfolk, Torrington and Winchester. Towns served by individual plans created in 2014: Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Roxbury, Warren, and Washington. The multi-jurisdictional plan for the former Central Connecticut region 2016 includes Burlington.|
Potential Partners & Funding Streams
Please send any suggested partners, grants, or resources to info [at] joannaw1.sg-host.com.
Potential Partners
- CT DOT
- US DOT
- Federal Highway Administration
- NHCOG Road Supervisors Committee
- Water and electric utilities
- Municipal potable water, sanitary sewer, and storm-sewer operators
- Local Public Works Departments
- USDA Rural Development
- Northwest ConneCT
- COGs
- Transit Districts
- CT DEEP
- CT NEMO
Potential Funding Streams
- USDA Rural Development (assistance with municipal water systems, well replacement for elderly, etc.)
- CT OPM LOTCIP, STEAP grants
- CT Department of Administrative Services
- DEHMS/FEMA Flood Mitigation, Pre-disaster Mitigation, and Hazard Mitigation Grants
- US FHWA
- EPA
- FEMA
- US HUD
General Tools
CT DEEP Climate Adaptation and the Built Environment and Infrastructure
NWF Green Works for Climate Resilience This guide discusses sea-level rise, coastal flooding, and erosion (includes marine as well as freshwater coasts in the Great Lakes region); drought and increasing aridity; extreme heat and the urban heat island effect; inland flooding and stormwater management; and changes to the natural landscape. It has a number of example case-studies for different infrastructure adaptations.
Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Case Studies, FHWA
National Climate Assessment Highlight on Infrastructure
US Resiliency Council While the information is primarily about seismic hazards (December 2018), the USRC is currently developing ratings for other hazards, including wind, wildfire and flood.
VTrans Climate Change Adaptation White Paper 2012– This report is an overview of climate related adaptation and resilience oriented efforts both underway and under consideration by the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
DHS’s Incorporating Resilience into Critical Infrastructure Projects: This guide provides those working on critical infrastructure programs with information and steps to take that can enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure systems. It will help decision makers prioritize projects that advance resilient infrastructure through design and investment choices.
Lessons Learned from Irene Severe flooding was particularly devastating for transportation infrastructure, requiring the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) to take a leading role in the recovery. The extent of the damage, however, proved too much for a single agency to manage alone. VTrans’ leadership sought help from the state’s 11 regional planning commissions (RPCs) to assume responsibility for assessing needed local road repairs.
NIST’s Community Resilience Planning Guides: Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems provides communities with an approach to improve their resiliency by prioritizing resources and incorporating resiliency into zoning, codes, policies, and economic development activities, in order to manage risks from hazards to buildings and infrastructure. NIST’s Economic Decision Guide accompanies the Community Resilience Planning Guide to help communities evaluate decisions for resiliency-focused capital investment projects.
Adaptation Assessment Guidebook: New York City Panel on Climate Change (2010) Annex A has several very useful questionnaires for reviewing vulnerabilities of communications, energy, transportation, water and waste, and policy infrastructure
Case Study SECCOG Critical Facilities
Case Study Town of Morris LID Manual
Connecticut River Flow Viewer This map tool displays the return interval of flow rates for points along CT river networks. A google map interface is used to display locations where flow rate data exists. Users can zoom to a location of interest and click on a specific point to view a graph displaying flow rates over different return intervals. These graphs show the upper and lower boundary for return intervals of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 years at specific river locations. To view the data, click on a point of interest to activate a graph of river flow rates for different storm events.
Actions
The section is divided into the following major categories:
A tabular version of the actions is also available.
Energy
1In Purchase or install Class I clean energy sources to power municipal buildings (including Board of Education).
Partners: CT PURA, local/regional school districts, Public Works/Building Manager
Tools: 2014 Integrated Resources Plan For Connecticut, CT DEEP
2In Inventory the existing fleet and complete and adopt a Municipal Fleet Improvement Strategy. Conduct a study of opportunities to provide electric vehicle charging stations throughout the region.
Partners: CEOs, CT DEEP, NHCOG
Tools: Ridgefield CT Municipal Fleet
3In Review status of generators for critical facilities, gas stations (especially if long distance between closer station), schools, town halls, etc.
Partners: EMDs, CEOs
4In Consider creating a Microgrid program for critical facilities in your community. Develop municipal-wide renewable energy incentive program.
Partners: CEOs, local conservation organization, Conservation Commission, CT DEEP, PURA
Tools: CT Green Bank (Solarize Connecticut, C-Pace municipalities, Lead by Example)
CT Microgrid Program
NY Climate Smart Webinar "Building Clean and Resilient Local Power: NY Prize Update & Microgrid Case Studies"
5In Direct mid and large scale commercial solar installations away from farm fields and core forests and toward brownfields and industrial sites.
Partners: land use commissions, Utilities, NorthwestConneCT, CT PURA, CT DOT, Public Works
Land Use
6In Consider climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation for siting and design of new and redesigned/ reconstructed facilities. Avoid flood prone or erosion prone areas for infrastructure, especially if underground or underwater transmission and pipe lines are a preferred alternative. Where practicable, relocate infrastructure outside of coastal and inland flooding zones. Where practicable, relocate cultural resources outside of coastal and inland flood zones; where relocation is infeasible, protect areas around cultural resources from coastal and inland flooding, as allowed by law, using methods that minimize adverse environmental impacts.
Tools: EPA WEPPCAT Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Model
7In Assess energy and communications infrastructure operations and maintenance plans with respect to changing climate conditions including electricity conduits, electric grid and communication infrastructure (towers, lines, etc.), and communication lines to water, salt intrusion, and more frequent and stronger storm events. Communicate with power/communications/sewer/water utilities about enhancing resiliency of systems prior to significant construction in downtown areas. Require the location of utilities underground in new developments or during redevelopment whenever possible. Discuss alternative management strategies for trees with the utilities esp. along scenic character or town entryways.
Partners: Utilities, NorthwestConneCT, CT PURA, CT DOT, Public Works
Tools: Tree management - Uconn Stormwise Program, Tom Wordsley
Facilities & Buildings
Partners: CT DEEP, local land trusts, municipal departments
Tools: California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research “Fire Hazard Planning” report
11In Develop vulnerability assessments for the community including public properties, cultural resources, critical facilities, etc. to identify vulnerabilities and prioritize actions. Implement a Tree Hazard Management Program to encourage responsible planting practices and minimize future storm damage to buildings, utilities, and streets.
Partners: Public Works, Tree Warden, local conservation groups, land use commissions
Tools: SECCOG Critical Facilities Vulnerability Assessment
CT NRCS Conservation Technical Assistance
Nature Conservancy Climate Wizard
Conservation Commissions & Climate Change
US National Phenology Network
Resilient Rural Webmap
Partners: Public Works
Tools: Heat Island Effects in Northwest Region
14In Change property tax structure to provide incentives for setbacks, rolling easements, and covenants to preclude building and reconstruction in vulnerable areas.
15In Provide support to vulnerable populations (i.e., environmental justice communities, the elderly and disabled) to ensure residence resilience to climate change, including incentives for relocation if re-engineering is not feasible.
Tools: Connecticut’s Weatherization Assistance Program from CT DEEP
Weatherization Assistance Program for low-income and elderly from US DOE
17In Modify zoning regulations and Plans of Conservation and Development to minimize risks from development of coastal and inland flood zones. Retrofit critical structures to comply with current building codes and develop a reinforced “safe room”. Create incentives for individuals and businesses to reduce risk of losses due to climate through building design codes. Ensure that shelters have appropriate wind protections. Modify buildings to reduce impact on, and vulnerability to climate change including passive cooling and rain water controls such as rain gardens.
Partners: EMDs, Public Works, CEOs, building department
Tools: CT Building Code
Solid Waste Management
18In New and reconstructed infrastructure, including landfills and transfer stations, should be located in areas less vulnerable to climate change. Evaluate ability and need to armor or relocate transfer station and related solid waste infrastructure located within sea level rise or inland flooding areas. Harden solid waste storage areas against extreme precipitation, wind events, flooding, etc.
19In Devise alternative routes or collection locations to service those areas that will be isolated by flooding.
20In Update aging solid waste infrastructure considering green practices that may be more resilient to climate change impacts, especially precipitation and stormwater effects.
Transportation
21In Investigate the impacts of developments on the whole watershed and downstream effects on transportation infrastructure to evaluate effects and determine design criteria, e.g., culvert and drainage system sizing.
Partners: FAA, CT DOT, local airports
23In Identify portions of railroad at-risk to flooding and erosion. Identify frequently flooded and/or washed out roads. Consider abandonment of roads and bridges when re-engineering would be too costly to adapt to climate change, or when better environmental and resiliency options or alternative routes exist. Adjust road maintenance schedules for changing seasons. Identify at risk areas along roadways that may be at risk of erosion or prone to drifting snow & high winds.
Partners: Public Works, CT DOT, railroad owners, land trusts
Tools: Fact sheet on municipality's ability to abandon a road continually threatened by flooding is forthcoming from AdaptCT.
USDA Climate Hubs' “The Future of Winter Roads”
EPA WEPPCAT Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Model
24In Coordinate emergency evacuation and supply transportation routes with emergency preparedness systems to ensure capacity and resilience of escape routes compromised by natural disasters related to climate change.
Partners: Public Works, CEOs
Tools: Community Walk Score
Partners: local land trusts, Parks & Rec, NHCOG, CT DOT, Public Works
Tools: NHCOG Regional Trails Assessment
27In Request design standards for infrastructure projects that incorporate climate projects like maximum temperatures.
28In Consider the level of watershed development, and potential LID and green practices that may affect engineering designs and level of development from transportation infrastructure like planned road improvements. Increase communication, collaboration and planning among watershed authorities and the public to decrease stormwater by promoting LID and green BMPs. Promote and require preservation of natural features that treat and infiltrate runoff such as buffers, wetlands and related landscape conditions to reduce runoff by infiltration or detention in biologically active conditions and reduce primary pollutants including organic matter/nutrients. Remove or modify impediments to natural treatment and storage (e.g., impervious cover, culverts, dams) to accommodate LID techniques.
Partners: Public Works, municipal departments, land use commissions, CT DOT, NWCD, and Lake Waramaug Task Force
Tools: Town of Morris LID Manual
Stormwater Calculator with Climate Assessment Tool, EPA
EPA Green Infrastructure website
Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure Municipal Handbook
Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure: A Guide to Help Communities Better Manage Stormwater While Achieving Other Environmental, Public Health, Social, and Economic Benefits (2014), EPA
Green Infrastructure Tools, NOAA
29In Develop joint transportation strategies with adjacent communities, regions and states to accommodate changing conditions and transportation system use. Balance needs of natural resources and human safety for determining which transportation infrastructure to reconstruct or relocate. Communicate regional transit assets and options. Encourage transit-oriented development with residential/commercial areas along bus routes and/or train/bus stations.
Partners: REPT ESF Transportation, Public Works, CT DOT, NWCTD, NHCOG, local land use commissions, Councils of Government, local economic development commissions
Tools: Climate Change Adaptation Guide for Transportation Systems Management, Operations, and Maintenance
30In During bids for infrastructure projects, request materials designed for higher incidences of heat stress and intense flooding to prevent or reduce buckling or softening. Consider use of "cool pavement" to reduce heat island affect and protect surface water.
Partners: CEOs, Public Works, CT DOT
Tools: Hartford’s Green Infrastructure Handbook
Pavement Interactive—Cool Pavement
31In Create an Inventory of all road-stream crossing structures (i.e., bridges and culverts) in town and prioritize for replacement, based on conservation benefits, minimizing flood risk, and maintenance need. Re-establish connectivity and more natural flows along our rivers and streams by removing or modifying existing structural impediments, such as dams, and culverts. Work with CT DOT on context dependent adaptation strategies and other tools to expand the adaptive capacity of an at-risk structure. Develop and implement a municipal sediment control plan to prevent clogged drainage systems such as routine street sweeping, curb and gutter cleaning, paving dirt roads, and planting vegetation on bare ground (from Litchfield Hills NHMP)
Partners: local/regional conservation organizations, Public Works, CT DOT
Tools: HVA Culvert Assessment Program
North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative Database search page
US DOT Vulnerability Assessment Scoring Tool
32In Communicate with USGS to maintain stream gages to monitor peak flow, water volume, temperature, etc.
Partners: local/regional conservation organizations, Public Works, CT DOT
33In Many small communities have limited road access. Communities’ access should be reviewed and, where needed, upgraded to ensure resilient ingress and egress. Assess viable options to improve access to these areas and integrate into building, land use, and public works planning documents.
Partners: Public Works, CT DOT
Water
34In Consider dams in or up-stream from your municipality. Discuss with the management and with CT DEEP about the dams safety and plans for long-term resiliency. Confirm its ability to handle increasingly intense storms. Don't forget smaller (especially earthen) dams throughout your community. Check municipal records for the required Emergency Action Plans for Class B and C dams as they should be submitted to the town every two years. Include dam failure inundation areas in the CT Alert emergency contact database. For privately owned dams, encourage each dam owner regardless of Class to have a maintenance plan and an Emergency Operations Plan/Emergency Action Plan. Also encourage them to implement recommendations resulting from state inspections (from Litchfield Hills NHMP).
Partners: CT DEEP, hydropower facilities, private property owners, EMDs
Tools: local or multi-jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans
35In Determine new levels of terrestrial stormwater and nonpoint source pollution (e.g., through comprehensive watershed-based planning) related to climate change and determine standards required to address quantity and quality issues.
Partners: Public Works, CT DOT, local conservation organizations
Tools: Stormwater Calculator with Climate Assessment Tool, EPA
Storm Water Management Model with Climate Adjustment Tool
36In Update aging stormwater and nonpoint infrastructure with consideration to sizing and retrofitting LID techniques to accommodate climate change adaptation and minimize runoff and flooding damage. Rehabilitate sewer systems to minimize groundwater infiltration and inflow of stormwater and snowmelt into the sanitary sewer system. Where warranted as the only solution, increase stormwater storage and treatment infrastructure, especially in highly urbanized areas. Implement municipal stormwater maintenance program to clear debris from drainage facilities (Litchfield Hills NHMP). Consider zero net growth in impervious surfaces in the municipality.
Partners: Public Works, CT DOT, local conservation organizations
Tools: Antioch University New England Webinar "Where to Put the Water: Assessing the Vulnerability of Urban Stormwater Systems to a Changing Climate"
37In Include climate change into local emergency operation plans, state Hazard Mitigation Plans, and similar response programs.
Partners: EMDs, REPT, COGs
Tools: Worksheet—Plan Cross References
38In Develop a long-term beaver management plan that includes: control measures to mitigate localized flooding created by beavers; consideration of the use of beaver deterrent devices such as beaver stops or beaver bafflers and consideration replacing culverts frequently impacted by beavers with free span bridges (from Litchfield Hills NHMP).
39In Implement Ice Jam Observer Training. Conduct geo-morphic assessment to identify potential causative mechanisms for ice jam formation where ice jams had not historically formed.
Partners: EMDs, local conservation organizations, REPT, River conservation organizations, CT DOT, CT DEEP
Tools: Shane Csiki, NH DES— Ice Jam Training
40In Evaluate your community for flood resiliency. Identify critical facilities in flood zones. Ensure adequate barricades are available to block flooded areas in flood prone areas of the town.
Partners: EMDs, CEOs
Tools: local or multi-jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans
SECCOG Critical Facilities Vulnerability Assessment
Fall 2019 “New Hampshire Flood Response Toolkit”
EPA Flood Resilience Checklist
Maine Flood Resilience Checklist (2017)
41In Coordinate with emergency management to identify sites that store hazardous materials and develop risk management plans for power failures, flooding, heat fluctuations, etc. Create inventory and map of Brownfields sites and identify sites at risk of flooding.
Partners: Fire department, EPA, local health department, local businesses
Tools: My RainReady
Federal Insurance: Moonshot Starter Kit
43In Evaluate and improve emergency power provisions to assure uninterrupted pump station service during heavy storms with associated power outages. Evaluate and improve, where necessary, the capacity of pump stations that are subject to infiltration and inflow.
Tools: Waterford Municipal Infrastructure Resilience Project Sewer Pump Station Assessment & Adaptation
44In Implement a training program for wastewater treatment facility operators to educate them on how to prepare for climate change, e.g., extreme storms, high temperatures.
Tools: New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission website
45In Educate municipal inland wetland commissions and water pollution control authorities about emergency permit requirements for temporary equipment needed to protect wastewater treatment facilities located near regulated inland or coastal wetlands. Investigate protection strategies (e.g., berms, dikes) to protect treatment infrastructure after consideration of non-structural, less hardening alternatives and/or or relocation of infrastructure subject to sea level rise and inland flooding.
46In Reduce policies or regulations that limit use of greywater for non-potable uses like irrigation. Implement wastewater reuse for non-potable uses, such as golf course irrigation, to decrease potable water treatment needs and address water shortages.
Partners: local land use commissions, health departments
Tools: "Requiring new homes to reuse water (Residential Gray Water Stub-out Building Code), 2013, Chula Vista, CA"
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2012). Water Recycling and Reuse: The Environmental Benefits.
47In Assess existing on-site (subsurface disposal) systems for effects related to climate change and, where necessary, consider alternative on-site technologies or abandonment in favor of public/community wastewater treatment systems.
Partners: Utilities, Public Works
48In Consider the potential higher groundwater levels in design standards for separation distances and other relevant standards.
Partners: Utilities, Public Works
49In Consider a Water Use Restriction Ordinance to implement conservation during periods of water shortage. Encourage water conservation best management practices for snow making for ski destinations in Connecticut. Provide an incentive to encourage water conservation of public water supply and/or develop local drought ordinances. Develop a drought communications plan to inform residents about voluntary and mandatory drought restrictions and Develop an early warning system to notify the general public about water shortages.
Partners: CEOs, CT Water Planning Council, local land use commissions, TAHD, local health districts
Tools: Greenwich Drought Ordinance
2018 CT Drought Preparedness and Response Plan
Northeast Drought Early Warning Center
US Drought Portal
CT Water Status Site
50In Participate in the Water Utilities Coordinating Committees to assist in developing regional and statewide solutions to water shortages and emergencies including strengthening coordination of regional water supplies to encourage water conservation.
Partners: CEOs, Utilities, Public Works, COGs
51In Incorporate potable water management concerns into local POCDs (e.g. water conservation, water Exclusive Service Areas, water management through zoning regulations, etc. )
Partners: local land use commissions and departments
52In Review regulations for common sense use of rain barrels. Ensure regulations encourage collection strategies that reduce access by mosquitoes.
Partners: TAHD, health districts, Conservation Commission, building department
Tools: King County, WA program to incentivize or give away rain barrels
Partners: Water utilities, WUCCs, conservation organizations, land trusts
54In Water supply plans pursuant to CGS section 25-32d should include climate change vulnerability analyses and risk assessments for surface supply, including future drinking water availability, competing needs and options for adaptation and mitigation. Incorporate climate resiliency or other green planning practices into waste supply treatment design manuals for water reuse to lessen demand on potable water.
Partners: WUCCs, utilities
55In Increase public water supply hook-ups for private wells subject to salt intrusion. Use "smart" applications for road treatments during winter storms.
Partners: TAHD, CT DPH, CT DOH, Public Works, CT DOT
Tools: Dr. Gary Robbins, UConn
Minnesota Stormwater Manual Road salt, smart salting and winter maintenance
56In Increase effluent quality of wastewater treatment to allow for water reuse for non- potable uses.
Partners: Water Utility Coordinating Committees (WUCC); CT DPH; health departments, CT DEEP
57In Identify small community water systems struggling with supply, quality, and management issues. Water systems, especially small systems, should increase technical capacity to anticipate and mitigate impacts from droughts. They should also coordinate water use restrictions with town/state ordinances. Update and repair antiquated and leaking distribution infrastructure.
Partners: WUCCs; CT DPH; health departments
Tools: EPA CREAT
2018 CT Drought Preparedness and Response Plan
USDA Rural Development
58In Community water systems, besides having a backup emergency generator, should plan for extended power outages with redundant fuel systems or larger fuel capacities. Water systems should coordinate with the utilities and EMDs to ensure the systems are on the priority electrical restoration list even with standby power.
Tools: local and multi-jurisdictional natural hazard mitigation plans
Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU), EPA
Table 5-1, Theme 1-A recommendations on generator usage in Drinking Water Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Plan
59In Decrease pharmaceutical and other emerging toxic chemical concentration in water supply that might be further spread by climate change effects by strengthening federal rules, and educating homeowners about safer disposal practices.
Communications
60In Map locations of communications infrastructure vulnerable to floods, storm surges, extreme thermal or precipitation events, wildfire, etc.
61In Identify redundancies and re-routing potential in communication infrastructure for emergency switching should primary systems fail. Adequately insure communications infrastructure to ensure that reconstruction can occur in the event of a climate related disaster.
Partners: Utilities, Public Works, REPT, Amateur Radio Network
Partners: EMDs, REPT, COGs
63In Develop sustainability checklists for planning, zoning, building, health department permit applications to incorporate sustainable design elements. Compile a checklist that cross-references the bylaws, regulations, and codes related to flood damage prevention that may be applicable to a proposed project and make this list available to potential applicants. | https://resilientrural.com/toolkit/infrastructure/ |
2-Year Audit Update: Streets Improvement Projects - Bureau of Transportation has made significant progress on improving the assessment of neighborhood impact - 10/1/2020
The Portland Bureau of Transportation designs and constructs projects to improve streets for pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles. We audited two projects in 2018 to assess the Bureau’s planning and evaluation process. We found the Bureau met expectations for the planning phase, but its evaluation of project effectiveness needed improvement.
The Transportation Bureau had made progress with project evaluation when we checked the status of the recommendations one year after the audit. Progress continued in 2020 with the completion of a project checklist to ensure project goals are met and development of a performance management framework, but work is ongoing.
2018 Recommendation
Develop and fund a consistent evaluation process that includes livability and neighborhood impact assessments.
2020 Auditor’s Status Update: Recommendation in process
Transportation completed a Project Development Checklist for capital projects to provide consistent steps for ensuring goals are met through each stage of a project. The checklist includes standard transportation measures and qualitative measures of neighborhood impact.
Transportation is also developing a Performance Management Framework to guide new measure development and provide a consistent approach to annual project evaluation, performance data gathering, and data analysis. The framework outlines a number of areas to measure, including economic and livability indicators. When this framework is finalized and applied, we will consider this recommendation implemented.
Transportation’s plan to develop a methodology for anticipating and evaluating racial equity and displacement impacts of transportation projects stalled because of COVID-19 restrictions on hiring. Staff continue to work on defining thresholds for when the City should include community stabilization and anti-displacement strategies in transportation project delivery.
2018 Recommendation
Use the results from project evaluations to inform the City’s future transportation plans and priorities.
2020 Auditor’s Status Update: Recommendation in process
The City’s Transportation System Plan guides overall investment priorities. Projects included in the plan are scored against criteria, such as climate impact, economic benefits, equity, and neighborhood access. The Bureau plans to update the scoring methodology in the next Transportation System Plan to include the measures and findings resulting from the project evaluation and community stabilization work described above. Work on that plan is scheduled for Fiscal Year 2021-22.
In the interim, Transportation continues to work on project scoring methodologies and incorporate them into ongoing funding decisions, including the allocation of Transportation System Development Charge funds, the application of regional infrastructure grants, and the development of the second Fixing Our Streets project list.
Visit our website to view the 2018 audit report.
Contact: | https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditservices/article/766441 |
Plans are underway to establish a cooperative vehicle and infrastructure test-bed in Ipswich.
The Cooperative and Automated Vehicle Initiative (CAVI) has been developed by the department to prepare for the emergence of advanced vehicle technologies onto Queensland roads.
The Initiative will incorporate two projects – a large-scale pilot of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) in Ipswich, and the other involving a small number of cooperative and highly automated vehicles driving on selected roads across South East Queensland roads.
C-ITS improves the quality and accuracy of information available to drivers about the road environment and other vehicles, such as a pedestrian crossing at a signalised intersection, a red light runner or a queue ahead safety warnings.
These rapidly developing technologies have the potential to significantly reduce crashes and crash-related gridlock, as well as reduce vehicle emissions and fuel use.
Ipswich has been chosen for the C-ITS pilot due to its support for technical innovation and the presence of major employers, an active CBD and its location to an existing managed motorway – all requirements for the project.
The planning phase of the pilot is currently underway, and once completed will see around 500 public and fleet vehicles retrofitted with C-ITS technologies, interacting within the infrastructure test-bed as part of the four-year project.
The department will work with wide range of industry sectors to adapt existing local systems, infrastructure and data as part of the C-ITS pilot project.
The department is finalising an agreement to secure the cooperative and highly automated vehicles that will be used to test the readiness of Queensland infrastructure, assess driver behaviour and vehicle performance on selected roads across South East Queensland.
Whilst industry is leading the development of advanced vehicle technologies, the success of these will also rely upon connecting to existing traffic systems. It is important to understand any risks with these new technologies and validate the potential impacts and benefits in advance of wide-scale deployment.
The CAVI project is co-funded by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission, and will be delivered with the support of a number of organisations including Ipswich City Council, Bosch Australia and QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q). | http://ipswichinvestor.com.au/cooperative-cars-a-step-closer-with-new-ipswich-based-trial/ |
City Digital today announced the successful deployment of a new solution that combines sensors and cloud-based analytics to evaluate the performance of sustainable stormwater management techniques. Using data collected from green infrastructure sites in Chicago, the platform helps to reduce urban flooding and prevent millions of dollars in property damage.
CITY DIGITAL ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE NEW UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE MAPPING PLATFORM
September 27, 2016
City Digital, a Chicago-based UI LABS collaboration, announced it has developed the underlying technology components to create a new underground infrastructure mapping (UIM) platform. The platform will generate, organize, visualize, and store 3-D underground infrastructure data, saving cities and utilities millions of dollars in construction and planning processes. | https://www.uilabs.org/news-blog/press-releases/?yr=2016&ct=20 |
Developer of deep learning platform designed to offer video analytics for core industry verticals. The company's platform are deployed to provide analytics for road infrastructure planning, improve safety, detect possible malicious threats, prevent overcrowding, optimize law enforcement and ease traffic congestion and can aid facility managers in areas of security, maintenance and beyond, enabling industries to ensure city security and safety, building maintenance and early detection of suspicious activities.
Contact Information
- 201 Henderson Road
- Number 08-23/24
- Singapore, 159545
- Singapore
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Want to dig into this profile? | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/118743-76 |
Use these articles for the Literature Review, and I want the literature review to be 5 pages, and it will be about the impact and role of Abu Dhabi Municipality and the positive effects on Abu Dhabi City (include these articles as 13 of the 20 sources I requested for the project):
These are the articles:
1. http://www.thenational.ae/abu-dhabi-municipality-to-clamp-down-on-illegal-bachelor-accommodation
2. http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/200-abu-dhabi-buildings-demolished-since-2011
3. http://adm.gov.ae/En/News/print.aspx?News_ID=676&MenuID=62&CatID=85&mnu=Cat&div=Cat
4. http://www.halvorsonandpartners.com/cn/newssheets/iabse-presentation-2008-central-market.pdf
5. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a333859.pdf
6. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.127.5039&rep=rep1&type=pdf
7. http://eclsun.uaeu.ac.ae/ejer/issues/v11/pdf_iss2_11/4.%20Abdellatif.pdf
8. https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/9854/
9. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc/2001/00002001/00000013/art00033
10. https://ead.ae/TacSoft/FileManager/Publications/reports/TERC/Inception%20%20Report%20Western%20Region.pdf
11. http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/20226/Grosskopf_Road(2012).pdf?sequence=1
12. http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/arablq4&div=12&id=&page=
13. http://www.iccidc.ecu.edu/openconf/modules/request.php?module=oc_program&action=view.php&id=113
________________________________________________________
These are the sectors of Abu Dhabi Municipality (this information is collected from Abu Dhabi Municipality’s website http://www.adm.gov.ae/en/home/index.aspx)
Please arrange it accordingly, while summarising and paraphrasing this information to specify the organisational chart of Abu Dhabi Municipality clearly:
Municipal Infrastructure & Asset Sector
Functions of the Municipal Infrastructure & Assets Sector:
• Ensure preparation of plans to contribute towards the development of the City of Abu Dhabi into one of the top five capitals in the world by providing quality services of the highest standard.
• Maintain service levels and operation of road networks and maintain safety levels to make sure that at least 85% of the road network in the emirate, meet the international standards set for scale service roads.
• Strike a balance between greenery and infrastructure so as to cope with an increasing population density by enhancing the rate of green area per capita.
• Preparation of programs and controls to identify and develop operations and maintenance management projects.
• Development and training of national staff in the field of design, implementation, operation and maintenance.
• Using latest scientific techniques in agriculture and irrigation to reduce operating and maintenance costs, as well as optimize water use so as to impose less pressure on the environment.
• Establish a road asset management database in order to predict the need for future services and requirements of maintenance, leading to reduced public expenditure.
The Municipal Infrastructure & Assets Sector consists of the following divisions:
1. Parks and Recreation Facilities Division
2. ******Municipal Roads and Infrastructure Division
3. Infrastructure and Services Coordination Division
Functions of the Municipal Roads and Infrastructure Division:
• Prepares the master plan and consolidated budget of roads and infrastructure projects.
• Maintains the level of local roads network to meet the highest quality levels at world-class standards.
• Ensures highest traffic safety levels for users of roads network.
• Proposes new projects to improve the performance of roads & bridges network, carries out primary studies as well as technical & economic feasibility study, and follows up development & improvement works of projects undertaken by service providers.
• Prequalifies contractors and consultants to verify their competence in carrying out various projects, and endorses the technical staff of supervisory personnel at site.
• Prepares the terms of reference in order to invite consultants to take part in the new projects, obtains the required approvals, and compiles the list of consultants to be invited.
• Reviews and audits design reports and plans submitted by consultants in the successive phases of the design (initial, primary, final) from all engineering perspectives: (traffic, materials, construction, roads, lighting, sewage, and conflicting services among others.
• Follows up with contractors and consultants at construction and maintenance phase to ensure the projects are carried in conformity with contracts, and prepares periodical reports on the projects under study, design and construction phases along with the statistics required by senior bodies.
• Manages operation and maintenance contracts of light signals and traffic systems in the city of Abu Dhabi.
• Supervises demolition works and removal of visible aspects disfiguring the general appearance.
Support Services Sector
• Developing strategies to provide the municipality with all the required services.
• Supervise the performance and quality across the sector’s multiple divisions.
1. Accounting Division
2. Human Resources Division
3. Technical Planning Division
4. Legal Affairs Division
5. Facility & Security Division
6. Procurement Division
Functions of the Procurement Division:
• Conduct tender contracting and limited procurement methods along with other municipal projects.
• Organization of procurement processes for all Municipal affairs.
• Coordination of procurement activities with the concerned division.
• Check the specifications of the purchased items.
• Gather information on items, maintain a list of suppliers and build strong relationships with them in order to seek appropriate quotations.
• Negotiating with Contractors and Suppliers after approval by the Committee.
• Analysis and study of items purchased in terms of quality, price and delivery terms in coordination with the concerned division.
• Receive all applications from various division, study the same and provide them with all the data and information regarding materials and suppliers.
• Issuance of purchase orders and contracts.
• Supervision and updating of the list of suppliers and contractors.
• Setting up the annual procurement plan.
Services provided by division:
• Supplier Registration with ADM
• Rice Distribution Cards
• Rice Purchase from ADM
• Tenders – selling disposable material
• Tenders Participation
Functions of the General Manager offices include but are not limited to:
• Directing the development of short term and long term objectives, plans, and policies.
• Ensuring the effective implementation of our vision and mission.
• Ensuring alignment of work of our Sectors with set goals, objectives, and policies.
• Monitoring our strategic and financial performance relative to the established objectives and ensuring that corrective action plans are identified and implemented where necessary.
• Ensuring proper Direction to achieve results and output from our operating budget.
• Overseeing the planning and delivery of municipal services to all citizens.
• Ensuring the proper development and maintenance of the Municipality’s infrastructure, assets, and town planning.
• Representing us in all executive level meetings at Municipal Council meetings and external departments and organizations.
• General Manager offices are as follows:
1. Investment Office
2. The Marketing and Corporate Communication Office
3. Project Management Office
4. Internal Audit Office
5. Advisors Office
6. General Manager Office
Functions of the Municipal Services Sector
• Supervise the management of land and property including registration and allocation.
• Supervise the activation of a high service level for successful community services.
• Lead the process of establishing comprehensive Service Centres, through the provision of integrated municipal government services.
• Supervise provision of services through indirect service channels.
• Supervise quality control programs in services.
The Municipal Services sector consists of the following divisions:
1. Community Services Division
2. External Service Centers Division
3. Customer Services Division
4. Lands & Real Estate Division
5. Public Health Division
Functions of the Strategic Planning and Performance Management Sector:
• To develop strategic objectives of the Municipality.
• Overseeing development of the Municipality’s five year strategic plan and detailed annual plan.
• Overseeing the formulation and development of plans and financial projections of the Municipality.
• Supervision to improve implementation mechanisms, policies and procedures, as well as Municipal Development frameworks.
• Supervision of the Municipality’s Public Relations and Communications plans.
The Strategic Planning and Performance Management sector consists of the following divisions:
1. Corporate Excellence Division
2. Financial Planning Division
3. Strategic Planning Division
4. Performance Management Division
Functions of the Town Planning Sector:
• Managing the processes, detailed planning and the division of urban uses and the issuance of policies and relevant rules.
• Manage the establishment, distribution, updating and maintenance of spatial data.
• Issuance of building permits.
• Management of paths and segments of different service lines.
The Town Planning sector consists of the following divisions:
1. Spatial Data Division
2. Urban Planning Division
3. Construction Permits Division
________________________________________________________
These are the responsibilities of Abu Dhabi Municipality towards Abu Dhabi City:
Overall Responsibilities of Abu Dhabi Municipality (This information is collected from them directly):
(Please summarise and organise them reasonably):
• Roads
• Construction Permits
• Distributions of provisions
• Drainage
• Lighting
• City Appearance
• Maintenance
• Parks and Recreations
• Agriculture
• Animal Care Facilities
• Disposal and Garbage
• Land covered and Distribution of lands
• Land and real estate
• Land identified
Abu Dhabi Municipality Responsibilities in detail:
• Recording and documenting the territory allocated public housing after the adoption of their
• Recording and documenting residential land allocated after the adoption of their
• Recording and documenting commercial land allocated after the adoption of their
• Recording and documenting industrial land allocated after the adoption of their
• Recording and documenting public utility land allocated after the adoption of their
• Recording and documenting agricultural land allocated after the adoption of their
Land identification: | https://nursingdons.com/impact-of-abu-dhabi-municipality-on-abu-dhabi-city/ |
SEC has had the opportunity to complete a variety of projects for local municipalities, counties, state and federal agencies. Government work includes a wide variety of projects from large, county-wide wildfire protection plans to street reconstruction and utility line extensions. These projects call for specialties in forestry and natural resource management, GIS, engineering, surveying, public participation coordination and master-planning.
Government Project Examples
12th Street Improvements: The Twelfth Street neighborhood is an older area located within the City of Cottonwood. The current street needed to be improved to adequately provide access to the existing homes on either side of the street. This project redesigned a 3,000 foot stretch of Twelfth Street, incorporating drainage and street design requirements while maintaining appropriate consideration of the surrounding neighbors and existing conditions. The City of Cottonwood retained SEC to lead and complete this project which is funded by a Community Development Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As a requirement of this grant, the design and construction were required to be completed on an accelerated timeframe. SEC took this project as an opportunity to fine tune internal project management in addition to the engineering design and community involvement requirements.
Jordan Road Sedona: This project included work on the historical trail and road in Uptown Sedona. The road needs to support local and tourist traffic on the minor collector classification. The street section of the project was revised to include area drainage and the addition of a sidewalk, curb and gutter. The sidewalk design had to incorporate ADA requirements as well as event pedestrian traffic. Multiple designs were required along with extensive public input and coordination which included conflict resolution and design compromise for driveway location, parking opportunities and signage. SEC was also able to incorporate landscape areas within the design. SEC also incorporated bid documents and coordination with the City for contract clarification, request for information and contractor selection.
Taos County CWPP: The Taos County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) was developed collaboratively by local and state government representatives using periodic core team meetings to provide input and to review plan preparation progress. General public meetings were conducted throughout the county to determine community values. Utilizing data from a variety of sources, the process of identifying the at risk areas was achieved through a series of maps, which displayed different intensity levels for the components that constitute wildfire hazard and risk. The different intensity levels were assigned a numerical value and resulted in a threat level ranking from extreme to low. The extreme and high threat levels when combined with community values produced a risk assessment that identified the wildland urban interface surrounding the county communities. Communications and education are essential to community involvement and adopting defensible space concepts, regulations and codes. The New Mexico Forestry Division and local fire districts were key organizations in implementing the resulting recommendations.
Rio Arriba CWPP: Working collaboratively with local and state government representatives, fire districts, Federal agencies and interested parties, this landscape scale Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) was developed to produce a risk assessment for community protection. The process of identifying the areas at risk was accomplished through the development of a series of maps, which displayed different intensity levels for the components that constitute hazard and risk. The extreme and high threat levels then were combined with community values determined from local participation to produce a risk assessment that identified the wildland-urban interface surrounding the communities. Communication and education were the key to community involvement. This kind of community wildfire protection planning relies heavily on the use of defensible space concepts to reduce the risk of losing structures to fire. Effective use of limited resources required coordination between land management agencies, community interests and local plan administrators. The results of such coordination among agencies and communities allowed the CWPP to become a dynamic document to guide the needed action steps to achieve community protection.
Rio Arriba County Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): The Rio Arriba County WUI plan was developed by the multi-disciplinary SEC team to provide the county with a program-based method of meeting the goals of community wildfire protection over a 10-year planning horizon. Goals included the management of forest fuels to protect life and property and promote forest restoration along with securing the funding to “jump start” management implementation. Other major goals included marketing resultant wood products to sustain landscape scale treatments and adopting an emergency evacuation plan. Community values were also factored into the planning process. The action steps presented as a result of this planning process included community outreach and education, innovative structural and policy approaches, formation of collaborative groups and relationships to create opportunities for project implementation and economic development. Forests needed to be treated using restoration techniques and financial resources/funding needs were identified, Restoration by-product utilization strategies were developed on the local and regional level.
Dry Beaver Creek Floodplain Study: The purpose of this project was to restudy the final 5 miles of the Dry Beaver Creek watershed before its confluence with Wet Beaver Creek. The intent of the analysis was to provide a hydraulic analysis of sufficient detail to allow revision of the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map. Dry Beaver Creek was modeled using the Army Corps of Engineers HEC-RAS and HEC-HMS software and attempted to accommodate the increased development in the area. After the completion and approval of the detailed study, SEC was retained by Yavapai County to make the necessary submittals to amend the FEMA Flood Insurance Maps. Detailed field reconnaissance was conducted for data collection, as well as coordination, communication and research to comply with FEMA standards. Tasks included project scheduling, meeting coordination, field surveys, hydrologic analyses, hydraulic analysis, floodplain mapping, and preparation of a technical data notebook in accordance with state and federal standards. Extensive public participation was required in order to collect local resident flood experience data. | http://www.sec-landmgt.com/government-old.html |
Please continue scrolling or click the navigation links at the top of the screen to:
- Learn more about Nebraska's 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan
- View and download informational materials
- Provide feedback
In light of circumstances related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) is offering a virtual open house to review progress on the development of the 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan (2040 STP), Nebraska’s long-range transportation plan.
You will have an opportunity to give feedback during this open house by providing comments at various points in the following sections. If you would like to be notified when the complete draft plan is available for review and comment, please click here to provide your contact information.
The following sections will guide you through different components of the planning process and the development of the 2040 STP. The 2040 STP focuses on policies to help NDOT provide a transportation system that meets the needs of Nebraskans over the next 20 years. The emphasis of this plan is on potential transportation policies rather than specific projects across the state.
Another feature of this transformation is growth in data related to just about every aspect of transportation. By turning data into knowledge, NDOT can maintain and improve the alignment of its investment decisions with system users’ changing priorities and needs in an anticipated era of aging infrastructure, hard-to-predict resiliency challenges, more vehicles on the road, shifting freight patterns, rising demand for transit and active transportation solutions, and emerging technologies.
NDOT uses data to drive decisions and forecast performance with bridge and pavement asset management tools through the NDOT Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP). NDOT should continue to examine historically observed data and develop strategies to use predictive, performance data-based tools and techniques in transportation decisions.
all Nebraskans can benefit from emerging and often technology-enabled multimodal transportation choices that support the evolving mobility needs of communities where they live and work.
“Complete streets” policies provide roadway design guidelines that prioritize safe, comfortable transportation by relevant users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. A “complete street” is designed to balance safety and convenience for everyone using the road. NDOT should develop and adopt its own ‘complete streets’ policy and produce a “complete streets” manual. “Complete streets” policies help planners and engineers design roads that improve safety and mobility for all relevant users, depending on the need and the physical context of the project.
and NDOT should take actions to ensure the resiliency of the transportation network not only against natural threats like extreme weather, but also against human-caused threats like cyber-attacks.
NDOT is in the early stages of a vulnerability assessment to analyze the risk of flooding along NDOT roadways and bridges.NDOT should incorporate the findings of the ongoing flood vulnerability assessment into planning and design activities to reduce the flood risks of the assets included in the assessment.
Taking advantage of technology advances can help NDOT be the best steward for a Nebraska transportation network that keeps its users safer, improves their mobility, and better supports economic and community quality of life concerns shared by all Nebraskans, whether they live in cities or in rural areas of the state.
CAVs promise more mobility choices, improved safety, and congestion relief, but could mean more vehicles on Nebraska’s roads and require infrastructure improvements to accommodate them safely. To prepare for CAVs, NDOT should consider setting up a committee that can guide NDOT’s efforts to examine CAV-related challenges in areas such as law enforcement, wireless data connectivity, infrastructure gaps, or outreach and education needs. This may help create new partnerships around CAV adoption in Nebraska.
“Smart corridors” use a range of technologies to help overcome challenges like congestion, incident management, or severe weather. By continuously monitoring traffic and road conditions, for example, “smart corridors” can use automated tools like variable speed limit signs, electronic message signs, queue detection and warnings, dynamic junction and lane use controls, real-time truck parking information, adaptive ramp metering, or traffic signal management to improve traffic flow. NDOT should identify and prepare for the deployment of “smart corridors” across Nebraska in partnership with neighboring states as well as local and regional governments. With these partners, NDOT should leverage findings from the Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment multi-state pilot project along I-80, which offers lessons for other important transportation corridors in the state.
who help create a more seamless transportation network across Nebraska that bridges governmental divisions to better serve customers’ mobility needs.
The private telecommunication sector has experience in providing and expanding access to broadband for Nebraska’s businesses and residents. NDOT can benefit from sharing knowledge with the private sector telecommunication industry through coordination with the private telecommunication providers and other governmental entities to increase access to broadband across Nebraska. NDOT should participate in statewide plans and initiatives to increase access to broadband or other forms of digital connectivity like 5G.
While improvements in vehicle equipment like seat belts, air bags, or brake assist technology have helped reduce the danger of crashes, driver distraction caused by digital devices in vehicles is a fast-growing problem on Nebraska’s roads that poses a rising threat to vehicle occupants, as well as to pedestrians and bicyclists who share the roads. NDOT should continue to partner with stakeholders through the Drive Smart NebraskaCoalition to continue to provide, update and expand upon education to the public about the dangers of distracted driving.
NDOT’s project designs are increasingly shaped by ‘practical design’ approaches that evaluate whether strictly uniform standards can sometimes be replaced by design elements tailored to better achieve project-level goals and objectives. NDOT should seek to further expand the use of practical design approaches where applicable via updates to its road design manual.
Click the link below for assistance navigating this Virtual Open House
User Guide
Paper copies of the information presented in this Virtual Open House can be found here
Contact information: | https://www.2040ndotvoh.com/ |
IEP Chandigarh, September 22
Haryana Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal said that Haryana is using live map technology to identify accident-prone areas in the state. Using this technology, a grid is automatically generated for such places on the live map and the police gets information about such places immediately. He directed that the data of live map technology should be shared with all the stakeholder Departments like Police, Public Works, Health, Transport and Urban Local Bodies Departments so that special focus can be given on such accident prone areas to overcome the road accidents across the state.
While presiding over the meeting of Road Safety Fund Management Committee here today, Sh. Kaushal said that changing lane frequently by heavy vehicles is one of the major cause of accidents on highways. Therefore, sign boards should be installed on the left sides of roads for the movement of passengers and heavy vehicles and this rule should also be strictly followed. He further said that adequate lighting arrangements, sign boards and beautification work should be done on all the highways. Apart from this, reflective tapes and sign boards should also be set up to reduce the chances of accidents at blind spots and crossings during night time.
In the meeting, a budget of about Rs 36 crore has been approved for the road safety activities and to improve infrastructure this year. The Chief Secretary said that the budget should be allocated to the District Road Safety Committees in a planned manner. He directed that the District committees should prepare a chart of the various activities to be carried out for road safety during this year and ensure the proper utilization of the funds allocated to them.
In the meeting, a budget of Rs. 30 lakh has been allocated to the District Road Safety Committees in the state. Besides this, an amount of more than Rs. 3 crore has been allocated for various development works for Driving Training and Research Institute (IDTR) to be set up at Yamunanagar, Palwal and Sonepat.
It was informed in the meeting that a road safety awareness campaign is being run by the Higher Education Department to make college students aware about road safety measures. For organizing various awareness activities and wide publicity of road safety rules, Rs 1.20 crore was allocated to the Higher Education Department for this campaign. Similarly, Rs 1.74 crore was allocated to the School Education Department for road safety awareness campaign. Apart from this, budget has also been allocated for other programmes under road safety activities.
In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sh. T.V.S.N Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works (Building and Roads), Sh. Ankur Gupta, Director-General of Police, Sh. P.K Agrawal, Principal Secretary, Transport, Sh. Navdeep Virk and other senior officers were present. | https://indiaepost.com/index.php/2022/09/22/haryana-is-using-live-map-technology-to-identify-accident-prone-areas-in-the-state/ |
Older pedestrians are overrepresented in road fatalities, with a recent report from Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission finding people aged 70 and over account for 32 per cent of the state’s pedestrian deaths, despite representing only ten per cent of the population.
Research suggests road intersection design, crossing widths, location and timing of traffic lights, and density and type of traffic, all play a part in the overrepresentation of older people in road accidents.
While urban planners strive to consider all these dimensions when designing pedestrian areas, it is often very difficult to accurately predict the interaction of so many elements until they come together in a real-world scenario.
A new research project from the University of South Australia will deliver a novel solution to this design challenge, simulating upgrades to roads, crossings and footpaths using virtual reality (VR) technology in order to improve safety for elderly pedestrians.
Expert researchers team up
Researchers from UniSA’s Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments and Brain-Behaviour-Body Research Concentration will develop a walkable VR environment suitable for use by older people, which will help planners and engineers design and test better roads and footpaths.
Supported through funding from the Road Safety Innovation Fund (RSIF), the interdisciplinary project draws upon the expertise of three UniSA researchers from diverse fields – construction management expert Dr Jun Ahn, VR technologist Dr Gun Lee, and cognitive psychologist Dr Ancret Szpak.
“Having access to a wide range of data from both virtual and real environments means we can overcome the limitations of previous ways of assessing pedestrian safety,” Dr Ahn said.
“Through this project we will create a virtual environment to simulate the road environment. “We can easily change that virtual model to test the impact that a range of factors, such as intersection designs, crossing widths and traffic signals, have on road safety.
“The project will focus on the needs of older people, who may, for example, have impaired vision or hearing, need a walking aid, or require longer to cross the road than young people.”
The interdisciplinary nature of the project reflects the diverse challenges faced by the research team, which must not only precisely evaluate the real-world challenges encountered by older pedestrians, but also accurately recreate those challenges in an adaptable virtual environment.
“Our research combines areas of human-computer interaction, psychology, neuroscience and safety science,” Dr Szpak said. “Each team member adds a unique perspective which has led us to develop an innovative methodology for measuring pedestrian safety factors for vulnerable road users.”
Vr locomotion techniques
The research will draw data from multiple user experience methods including eye-tracking, ThinkAloud techniques (asking participants to verbalise their thoughts), and wearable biosensors to track physiological indicators of stress such as heart rate, skin conductance response and movement.
Many of these techniques have already been successfully trialled through a pilot study at Glenelg in Adelaide.
“In the pilot study, we used eye-tracking and biosensors to identify stressors and challenges older pedestrians faced when navigating a busy Adelaide area,” Dr Szpak said.
“This new project will extend this pilot study by including a virtual reality user experience to gain further insights into pedestrian behaviour.”
The development of the VR environment will begin with testing a range of different ‘VR locomotion techniques’ – essentially the means through which participants interact with the testing platform – in order to make a VR environment suitable to older people’s particular walking characteristics.
“Recreating the physical environment in VR is time consuming and challenging,” Dr Lee said. “As we cannot model every detail, we have to decide the right level of detail, so that VR simulation will reflect the reality enough for assessing and testing the new design of the road.
“We are working hard to explore various technical alternatives to find the right tools to achieve the goal.”
Expanding to other infrastructure planning scenarios
Over the course of the three-year study, researchers will compare vulnerable pedestrians’ experiences in real environments with experiences captured in the virtual environment they develop, refining the VR experience until it accurately reflects real life.
“Our ultimate ambition is for councils to be able to use this technology to test road designs virtually with vulnerable pedestrians while still in the planning stages,” Dr Ahn said.
“This means city planners can get an idea of how safe and usable the built environment will be and address any road safety issues well before construction begins.”
The researchers also believe the method they will develop could be adapted to a range of other infrastructure scenarios, allowing planners to ‘test drive’ designs and iron out any issues before committing to the costly construction phase.
“If we can demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodology, there are many other areas of urban planning that could benefit, such as construction sites, shared spaces with pedestrians and vehicles, and new urban development projects across Australia,” Dr Szpak said. | https://infrastructuremagazine.com.au/2021/02/09/virtual-reality-enabling-test-drives-of-road-planning/ |
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdown to contain the virus has had unprecedented impact on the economy. With disrupted supply chains, fluctuations in workforce requirements, cash liquidity crunch and an urgent need to adopt contactless ways of working, the pandemic has forced us to adopt and reinvent businesses keeping in mind the #NewNormal. We are now on the road to recovery and opening up the economy. The pandemic has made us realise that country’s data assets and technology are critical for surviving the crisis and thriving in the long term.
Image source: Asia Times
NASSCOM’s recent report on Unlocking value from Data and AI: The India Opportunity highlights that data and AI could address dual goals of economic and social value creation and recovery. My previous article on Data and AI – The two centrepieces critical for realizing India’s 2025 vision sets the context and focuses on the $500 bn. economic value that data and AI can add to India’s GDP by 2025. The focus of this article is to highlight that utilization of data and AI could play a crucial role in realizing India’s vision of inclusive development especially in the following three areas:
Contributing to effective COVID-19 response and economic recovery
Data and AI could support governments and businesses with effective COVID-19 response, catalysing economic recovery across key focus areas, the below graphic lists some of these areas:
For more details, download NASSCOM’s full report on Unlocking value from Data and AI
Photo sources used in the graphic: COE, Venture Beat, Digital Authority, Forbes, Ignite Tech
Supporting social initiatives and equitable growth
There are several problems at hand requiring data-backed and AI-powered solutions for a sustainable and equitable growth. This section focuses on how data and AI can support some of these initiatives:
- Water Management – support Jal Shakti Abhiyan via demand forecasting, storage network planning, early warning system for disasters, land use improvement, integrated water management systems for AI-powered water level and quality management
- Pollution and Air Quality control – Enabling timely and location-based policies for pollution control through data-backed and AI-powered pollution source and spike period identification
- Reduced road fatalities and traffic management – identification of accident-prone zones to reduce road fatalities, traffic and road quality management. Supporting Gram Swaraj by suggesting construction based on usage and road efficiency
- Doubling farmer income – Credit risk assessment for increasing farmer lending, food supply planning and subsidy calculation basis predictions of crop failures to optimise public expenditure and e-marketplaces for real-time pricing and volume management
- Financial sustainability and health of MSMEs – Creation of a nation-wide platform for SMEs for product listing and selling along with digitization of procurement process to help drive efficiency
Enhancing talent and capabilities to position India as the global hub for data & AI services
Increased data and AI services adoption in India is imperative to accelerate investments in capability building. Let us look at the India advantage and how can we leverage it to position India as the global hub for data and AI services.
India is a leading global IT services industry
- Data and analytics – fasting growing areas for IT services providers
- 2nd largest exporter of ICT services
- 4 million people employed by the industry and over 500,000 in AI/ML and analytics
Rising demand for AI and big data CoEs
- Several BD-AI CoEs already established by leading global organizations
- They are leveraging the growing talent and start-up ecosystem
- COVID-led distancing and digitization is a catalyst in rising demand
India an opportunity to develop itself as a leading global hub for Data and AI services
- Data and AI could create ~20 million jobs in technical roles alone
- Potential to create more jobs in peripheral roles
Watch out for my next article on the essential building blocks to promote data utilisation and AI. Read the full report “Unlocking Value from Data and AI – The India Opportunity” for more details.
The post #AIForIndia: Realising Vision 2025 – Inclusive development through Data and AI appeared first on NASSCOM Community |The Official Community of Indian IT Industry.
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Well, there is! Through algebra linear equations!
First! You count out the molecules and stick them in their own linear equations. ‘
For instance, let’s look at the original unbalanced equation:
CO2+H2O -> C6H12O6+O2
Now, put coefficients in front of each of the molecules.
aCO2+bH2O -> cC6H12O6+dO2
According to the equation, there is “a” number of carbon atoms to start with, and there is “c” number of C6 (or “c” number multiplied by your six carbon atoms). So! That becomes:
Carbon atoms: a = 6c
Do that with all of the atoms, O and H, and you’ll get the starting equations which are shown in green.
Carbon atoms: a = 6c
Oxygen atoms: 2a+b= 6c+2d
Hydrogen atoms: 2b=12c
Then! You’ll be able to do substitution solving a system of linear equations. You know, through solving for b, that b = 6c (solving for Hydrogen), and you know that a = 6c as well (solving for Carbon). So, thus a = b, and a = b= 6c.
So… what is d?
Plug in what you know in the equation you have for Oxygen:
Oxygen atoms: 2a+b=6c+2d
Substitute a in everything:
2a+a=a+2d
2a=2d
a=d
So, a=b=6c=d
Now, all we need to do is solve for c [a=6c => c=(1/6)a] and we have all our coefficients!
We can assume that a=1 and write:
CO2+H2O -> (1/6)C6H12O6+O2
Or, we can assume that a=6, so that it looks nice and even:
6CO2+6H2O -> C6H12O6+6O2
And that’s how you balance equations using linear systems of equations.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment and ask! | http://mothandmyth.com/?comic=balancing-chemical-equations |
Which values of a and b make the following equation true? a = 11, b = 7a = 11, b = 10a = 28, b = 7a = 28, b = 10.
Answer: B) a = 3, b = 3. Step-by-step explanation: Given : =. To find : Which values of a and b make the equation true. Solution : We have given that =. By. The value of a = 4 and b = 3 make the
Find values of the constants A, B, C, and D that make the following equation an identity (i.e., true for all values of x). C 3x³+4x² 6x (x² + 2x + 2)(x² - 1) - = Ax + B x² + 2x + 2 + + D x+1 [Hint: Obtain
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A "tenuous" plasma consists of free electric charges of mass m and charge -qe (where qe is positive). There are n charges per unit volume. Assume that the density is uniform and that the interactions between the charges may be neglected. Also assume that the charges can be treated classically.
A linearly-polarized electromagnetic wave of frequency ω is incident on the plasma.
Let the electric field component of the plane wave be E = E0exp(i(kx - ωt)).
(a) Solve the equation of motion for a single charge and find the current density j and the conductivity σ of the plasma as a function of ω.
(b) Assume a plane wave of the form E = E0exp(i(kx - ωt)) propagate in the plasma with conductivity σ. Find the dispersion relation (the relation between k and ω) for the electromagnetic wave in the plasma and the index of refraction as a function of ω.
The "tenuous" plasma is a conducting medium. We can find its conductivity by solving for the motion of the free charges using Newton's second law.
(a) Equation of motion for a single charge: md2r/dt2 = -qeE = -qeE0exp(i(kx - ωt)).
r(t) = (qeE0/(mω2))exp(i(kx - ωt)). v(t) = (qeE0/(imω))exp(i(kx - ωt)) = (qe/(imω))E.
j(t) = -nqev(t) = -(nqe2/(imω))E(t). j = σE. σ = (inqe2/(mω)).
(b) ∇×B = μ0σE + μ0ε0∂E/∂t.
∇×(∇×B) = ∇(∇∙B) - ∇2B = μ0σ(∇×E) + μ0ε0∂(∇×E)/∂t.
∇2B - μ0σ∂B/∂t - μ0ε0∂2B/∂t2 = 0.
Similarly: ∇2E - μ0σ∂E/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t2 = 0.
where ωp = μ0nqe2c2/m = nqe2/(ε0m).
c/n = ω/k. n = ck/ω = (1 - ωp2/ω2)½. For ωp > ω the index of refraction n is imaginary, the field decreases exponentially.
In a medium with conductivity σ but no net charge, write down Maxwell's equations, and derive the wave equation for the electric field, E, in this medium.
In regions with ρf = 0 and jf = σcE Maxwell's equations can be used to show that both E and B satisfy the damped wave equation.
∇∙E = 0, ∇×E = -∂B/∂t, ∇∙B = 0, ∇×B = μ0σE + μ0ε0∂E/∂t.
∇×(∇×E) = ∇(∇∙E) - ∇2E = -∂(∇×B)/∂t = -μ0∂j/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t2.
∇2E - μ0σc∂E/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t2 = 0.
This is the damped wave equation for E.
This is the damped wave equation for B.
Starting from Maxwell's equations, prove that a plane EM wave propagates in a good conductor such that the electric and magnetic fields are out of phase by 45o.
∇∙E = ρ/ε0, ∇×E = -∂B/∂t, ∇∙B = 0, ∇×B = μ0j + (1/c2)∂E/∂t.
∇×B = μ0σcE + μ0ε0∂E/∂t.
∇×(∇×B) = ∇(∇∙B) - ∇2B = μ0σc(∇×E) + μ0ε0∂(∇×E)/∂t.
∇2B - μ0σc∂B/∂t - μ0ε0∂2B/∂t2 = 0.
Similarly: ∇2E - μ0σc∂E/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t2 = 0.
Both E and B satisfy the damped wave equation.
Try solutions of the form E(r,t) = E0 exp(i(k∙r - ωt)).
Then k2 = iμ0σcω + μ0ε0ω2 = μ0ε0ω2(1 + iσc/(ε0ω)).
k2 = μ0ε0ω2(1 + σc2/(ε0ω)2)½ eiφ. tanφ = σc/(ε0ω).
k = (μ0ε0)½ω(1 + σc2/(ε0ω)2)¼ eiφ/2 = |k|eiφ/2.
∇×E = ik×E = -∂B/∂t.
B(r,t) = B(r) exp(-iωt). Therefore ik×E = iωB. ik(z/z)×E = iωB.
Choose the coordinate system so that E = E(x/x), then B(r) = (y/y)(k/ω)ε0exp(ikz).
where B0 = (|k|/ω)ε0. B0 = (y/y)B0.
E(r,t) = E0 exp(i(k∙r - ωt)). B(r,t) = B0 exp(i(k∙r - ωt + φ/2)).
For a good conductor σc/(ε0ω) >> 1. tanφ --> ∞. φ -- > 90o. φ/2 --> 45o.
An electromagnetic wave with frequency of 106 Hz "travels" along the z-axis in an aluminum medium located at z ≥ 0. The conductivity of aluminum is 38.2∙ 106 (Ωm)-1 and its relative permeability is km = 1. Just inside the conductor at z = +0, the electric field amplitude is E0 i.
(a) Write down an expression for the electric field inside the conductor.
(b) Find the skin depth, wave velocity, and wavelength of the wave in aluminum.
(c) Determine the corresponding magnetic field.
(d) Find the phase difference between the electric and magnetic fields at each fixed location in aluminum.
Maxwell's equations, plane waves in conductors.
Plane wave solutions are of the form E(r,t) = E0 exp(i(k∙r - ωt)).
k2 = iμ0σcω + μ0ε0ω2 = μ0ε0ω2(1 + iσc/(ε0ω)) = μ0ε0ω2(1 + σc2/(ε0ω)2)½ eiφ. tanφ = σc/(ε0ω).
k is a complex number, k = β + iα/2.
To find the real and imaginary parts we have to find cos(φ/2) and sin(φ/2) in terms of tanφ.
cos(φ/2) = ((1 + cosφ)/2)½. sin(φ/2) = ((1 - cosφ)/2)½. cosφ = (1 + tan2φ)-½ in the first quadrant.
Therefore cos(φ/2) = 2-½(1 + (1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)-½)½.
sin(φ/2) = 2-½(1 - (1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)-½)½.
k = (μ0ε0/2)½ω[(1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)½ + 1]½ + i(μ0ε0/2)½ω[(1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)-½ - 1]½.
β = (μ0ε0/2)½ω[(1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)½ + 1]½. α/2 = (μ0ε0/2)½ω[(1 + (σc/(ε0ω))2)½ - 1]½.
(b) The skin depth δ is the distance it takes to reduce the amplitude by a factor of 1/e.
δ = 2/α. σc/(ε0ω) = (38.2*106 /Ωm)/(8.85*10-12 C2/(Nm2))/(2π*106/s) = 6.87*1011.
δ = (2/(μ0σcω))½ = (2/(4π*10-7)/(38.2*106)/(2π*106))½m = 8.14*10-5m.
β ≈ α/2 ≈ (μ0σcω/2)½ = 1/δ.
Wave velocity = ω/β = ω*δ = (2π*106)(8.14*10-5) m/s = 5.1*102 m/s.
Wavelength = 2π/β = 2π*δ = 5.1*10-4 m.
All numbers are for aluminum.
(c) Assume the plane wave is propagating into the z-direction.
where B0 = (|k|/ω)E0. |k| = (μ0ε0)½ω(1 + σc2/(ε0ω)2)¼ ≈ (μ0σcω)½ = 2½/δ.
E(r,t) = E0 exp(i(kz - ωt)) = E0 e-αz/2exp(i(βz - ωt)).
B(r,t) = B0 exp(i(kz - ωt + φ/2)) = B0 e-αz/2exp(i(βz - ωt + φ/2)).
(d) For aluminum σc/(ε0ω) >> 1. tanφ --> ∞. φ -- > 90o. φ/2 --> 45o.
B0 e-αz/2exp(i(βz - (ωt - π/4))).
"B lags behind E" by φ/2 = π/4.
An electric field E = i E0exp(-iωt)is applied at the interface of a vacuum (z < 0) and a conductor (z > 0) of real average conductivity σc. Assume ε = ε0, μ = μ0, in the conductor.
(a) For σc >> ε0ω, calculate how deeply the electric field penetrates into the conductor, i.e. calculate the depth at which the electric field amplitude has decreased to 1/e of its value at the surface.
(b) Calculate dW/dt = j∙EdV, the rate at which work is done by the field on the charges in a volume dV, as a function of z.
∇×(∇×E) = ∇(∇∙E) - ∇2E = -∂(∇×B)/∂t. = -μ0σc∂E/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t.
Therefore ∇2E - μ0σc∂E/∂t - μ0ε0∂2E/∂t2 = 0.
The tangential component of E is continuous across the boundary, therefore E(z = 0) = i E0exp(-iωt) just inside the conductor.
∂2Ex/∂z2 + iμ0ωσcEx + μ0ε0ω2Ex = 0 inside the conductor.
Since σc >> ε0ω, we can write ∂2Ex/∂z2 + iμ0ω∂Ex = 0.
Try a solutions of the form Ex(z,t) = E0 exp(i(kz - ωt)).
Then k2 = iμ0ωσc, k = (μ0ωσc)½exp(iπ/4) = 2-½(1 + i)(μ0ωσc)½.
Im(k) = Re(k) = (μ0ωσc/2)½.
Ex(z,t) = E0 exp(-Im(k)z) exp(i(Re(k)z - ωt)).
Skin depth: E0 exp(-Im(k)d) = 1/e. d = (2/(μ0ωσc))½.
(b) dW/dt = j∙EdV = rate at which work is done by the field on the charges in dV.
When evaluating products, use the real parts of the complex expressions.
j∙E = σcE02 exp(-2Im(k)z) cos2(Re(k)z - ωt). <j∙E> = σc½E02 exp(-2Im(k)z).
dW/dt = σcE02 exp(-2Im(k)z) cos2(Re(k)z - ωt)dV. | http://electron6.phys.utk.edu/PhysicsProblems/E&M/7-EM%20waves/Dielectric-conductor.html |
The linear equations Are polynomial equations with in one or several unknowns. In this case, the unknowns are not raised to powers, nor are they multiplied with each other (in this case the equation is said to be grade 1 or first degree).
An equation is a mathematical equality where there is one or more of an element that we do not know which we will call incognito or unknown if there is more than one. To solve this equation it is necessary to find out the value of the unknowns.
A linear equation has the following structure:
to · 1 + a 1 · X 1 A 2 · X 2 +... + a N · X N = B
Where to , to 1 , to 2 ,…,to N Are real numbers of which we know their value and are called coefficients, b is also a known real number that is called independent term. And finally there are X 1 , X 2, X N Which are known as unknowns. These are the variables whose value is unknown.
A system of linear equations is a set of linear equations where the value of the unknowns is the mime in each equation.
Logically, the way to solve a system of linear equations is to assign values to the unknowns, so that equality can be verified. That is, you must calculate the unknowns so that all the equations of the system are fulfilled simultaneously. We represent a system of linear equations as follows
to · 1 + a 1 · X 1 A 2 · X 2 +... + a N · X N A N + 1
B · 1 + b 1 · X 1 + B 2 · X 2 +... + b N · X N = B N + 1
C · 1 + c 1 · X 1 + C 2 · X 2 +... + c N · X N = C N + 1
....
D · 1 + d 1 · X 1 + D 2 · X 2 +... + d N · X N = D N + 1
where to 0, to 1 ,…, to N B B 1 B N , C , C 1 A N Etc in real numbers and the unknowns to solve are X ,..., X N , X N + 1 .
Each linear equation represents a straight line and therefore a system of equations of N linear equations represents N straight drawn in space.
Depending on the number of unknowns that each linear equation has, the line representing that equation will be represented in a different dimension, that is, an equation with two unknowns (for example, 2 · X 1 + X 2 = 0) represents a line in a two-dimensional space, an equation with three unknowns (for example 2 · X 1 + X 2 - 5 · X 3 = 10) would be represented in a three-dimensional space and so on.
When solving a system of equations, the values of X ,..., X N , X N + 1 Turn out to be the cut-off points between the lines.
When solving a system of equations we can arrive at different conclusions. Depending on the type of result we can distinguish between 3 types of systems of linear equations:
1- Unsupported compatibility
Although it may sound like a joke, it is possible that when we try to solve the system of equations, we arrive at a style 0 = 0 obviousness.
This type of situation happens when there are infinite solutions for the system of equations, and this happens when it turns out that in our system of equations the equations represent the same line. We can see it graphically:
As a system of equations we take:
Having 2 equations with 2 unknowns to solve can represent the lines in a two-dimensional plane
As we can see the lines with the same therefore all points of the first equation coincide with those of the second equation, therefore it has as many cut points as points have the line, that is, infinites.
2- Incompatible
By reading the name we can imagine that our next set of equations will have no solution.
If we try to solve, for example, this system of equations
Graphically it would be:
If we multiply all the terms of the second equation we obtain that X + Y = 1 equals 2 · X + 2 · Y = 2. And if this last expression we subtract it to the first equation we obtain
2 · X-2 · X + 2 · Y -2 · Y = 3-2
Or what is the same
0 = 1
When we find ourselves in this situation it means that the lines that are represented in the system of equations are parallel, which means that by definition they are never cut and there is no cut-off point. When a system is presented this way it is said to be inconsistent independent.
3- Determined Compatible
Finally we come to the case where our system of equations has a single solution, the case where we have lines that intersect and generate a point of intersection. Let's look at an example:
To solve it we can sum the two equations so that we obtain
(3 · X-4 · Y) + (2 · X + 4 · Y) = -6 + 16
If we simplify, we have
5 · X + 0 · Y = 5 · X = 10
From where we easily deduce that X = 2 and substituting or X = 2 in any of the original equations we get Y = 3.
Visually it would be:
Methods of solving systems of linear equations
As we have seen in the previous section, for systems with 2 unknowns and 2 equations, based on simple operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and substitution we can solve them in a matter of minutes. But if we try to apply this methodology to systems with more equations and more unknown calculations become tedious and we can easily go wrong.
To simplify the calculations there are several methods of resolution, but without doubt the most widespread methods are the Rule of Cramer and the Elimination of Gauss-Jordan.
Cramer Method
In order to explain how this method is applied it is essential to know what its matrix is and to know its determinant, let's make a parenthesis to be able to define these two concepts.
A matrix Is nothing more than a set of algebraic numbers or symbols placed in horizontal and vertical lines and arranged in the shape of a rectangle. For our theme we will use the matrix as a more simplified way of expressing our system of equations.
Let's look at an example:
It will be the system of linear equations
This simple system of equations we can summarize is the operation of two 2 × 2 matrices which results in a 2 × 1 matrix.
The first matrix corresponds to all the coefficients, the second matrix is the unknowns to solve and the matrix located after the equality is identified with the independent terms of the equations
He determinant Is an operation that is applied to a matrix whose result is a real number.
In the case of the matrix that we have found in our previous example, its determinant would be:
Once the concepts of matrix and determinant are defined we can explain what Cramer's method consists of.
By this method, we can easily solve a system of linear equations as long as the system does not exceed the three equations with three unknowns since the calculation of the determinants of a matrix is very difficult for matrices of 4 × 4 or higher. In the case of having a system with more than three linear equations the Gauss-Jordan elimination method is recommended.
Following the example above, using Cramer we simply have to calculate two determinants and with it we will find the value of our two unknowns.
We have our system:
And we have a system represented by matrices:
The value of X is:
Simply in the calculation of the determinant located in the denominator of the division, we have replaced the first commune by the matrix of independent terms. And in the denominator of division we have the determinant of our original matrix.
Carrying the same calculations to find the Y we obtain:
Elimination of Gauss-Jordan
We define Extended matrix To the matrix that results from a system of equations where we add at the end of the matrix the independent terms.
If we continue with our example
Our expanded matrix would be:
The method by eliminating Gauss-Jordan consists of, through operations between rows of the matrix, transform our enlarged matrix into a much simpler matrix where I have zeros in all fields except the diagonal, where I must obtain some. In the following way:
Where X and Y would be real numbers that correspond with our unknowns.
Let us solve this system by eliminating Gauss-Jordan:
We multiply by 2 the first row and by 3 the second row
If we subtract the second row we get the first
We have already managed to get a zero in the lower left of our array, the next step is to get a 0 in the upper right side of it.
Divide the first row between 2 and the second row between 10 to simplify the numbers Multiplied the second row by 2
I add to the first row the second
We have achieved a 0 in the upper left of the matrix, now we just have to convert the diagonal into some and we have solved our system by Gauss-Jordan.
I divide the first row by 3 and the second divide by 4
Therefore, we conclude that:
References
- Vitutor.com
- Algebra.us.es
- Systems of linear equations (undated). Recovered from uco.es.
- Systems of linear equations. Chapter 7. (undated). Recovered from sauce.pntic.mec.es.
- Linear Algebra and Geometry (2010/2011). Systems of linear equations. Chapter 1. Department of Algebra. Sevilla University. Spain. Retrieved from algebra.us.es. | https://www.lifepersona.com/3-systems-of-linear-equations-and-how-to-solve-them |
How do you solve a square equation?
Completing the squarePut the equation into the form ax 2 + bx = – c.Make sure that a = 1 (if a ≠ 1, multiply through the equation by. before proceeding).Using the value of b from this new equation, add. Find the square root of both sides of the equation.Solve the resulting equation.
What are the 4 ways to solve a quadratic equation?
The four methods of solving a quadratic equation are factoring, using the square roots, completing the square and the quadratic formula.
Who invented quadratic equation?
Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi, often known by the Latin name Savasorda, is famed for his book Liber embadorum Ⓣ published in 1145 which is the first book published in Europe to give the complete solution of the quadratic equation.
Is 2x squared 4x squared?
2x squared, denoted (2x)2, is equal to 4×2.
What is the square root of square?
The term (or number) whose square root is being considered is known as the radicand. The radicand is the number or expression underneath the radical sign, in this case 9. (see ± shorthand).As periodic continued fractions.
|√2||= [1; 2, 2, ]|
|√20||= [4; 2, 8, 2, 8, ]|
Why do you solve quadratic equations?
We also owe the Babylonians for the rather less pleasant invention of the (dreaded) taxman. And this was one of the reasons that the Babylonians needed to solve quadratic equations. Finding square roots by using a calculator is easy for us, but was more of a problem for the Babylonians.
What is the best method for solving quadratic equations?
Try first to solve the equation by factoring. Next, look at the side of the equation containing the variable. Next, if the coefficient of the squared term is 1 and the coefficient of the linear (middle) term is even, completing the square is a good method to use.
Why do we complete the square?
Completing the Square is a technique which can be used to find maximum or minimum values of quadratic functions. We can also use this technique to change or simplify the form of algebraic expressions. We can use it for solving quadratic equations.
Who is the father of quadratic equations?
Al-Khwarizmi
Who uses quadratic equations in real life?
Quadratic equations are actually used in everyday life, as when calculating areas, determining a product’s profit or formulating the speed of an object. Quadratic equations refer to equations with at least one squared variable, with the most standard form being ax² + bx + c = 0.
What is an equation in math?
An equation says that two things are equal. It will have an equals sign “=” like this: 7 + 2 = 10 − 1. That equation says: what is on the left (7 + 2) is equal to what is on the right (10 − 1) So an equation is like a statement “this equals that”
What are the three types of quadratic equations?
Here are the three forms a quadratic equation should be written in:1) Standard form: y = ax2 + bx + c where the a,b, and c are just numbers.2) Factored form: y = (ax + c)(bx + d) again the a,b,c, and d are just numbers.3) Vertex form: y = a(x + b)2 + c again the a, b, and c are just numbers.
Which is not a quadratic equation?
Examples of NON-quadratic Equations bx − 6 = 0 is NOT a quadratic equation because there is no x2 term. x3 − x2 − 5 = 0 is NOT a quadratic equation because there is an x3 term (not allowed in quadratic equations). | https://estebantorreshighschool.com/interesting-about-equations/square-equation.html |
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GCF
LCM
Enter expression, e.g. (x^2-y^2)/(x-y)
Sample Problem
Simplify
Enter expression, e.g. x^2+5x+6
Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
Sample Problem
Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter equation to graph, e.g. y=3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter inequality to graph, e.g. y<3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Dependent Variable
Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
Ineq. #2:
Ineq. #3:
Ineq. #4:
Ineq. #5:
Ineq. #6:
Ineq. #7:
Ineq. #8:
Ineq. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
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to have this math solver on your website,
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changing decimals to radicals
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Author
Message
ruvbelsaun
Registered: 02.04.2003
From:
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 09:21
Hello math wiz. I am facing some difficulty. I simply don’t know whom to approach. You know, I am stuck with my math and need immediate assistance with changing decimals to radicals. Anyone you know whom I can go to with conversion of units, linear equations and parallel lines? I tried hard to get a tutor, but failed . They are hard to find and also are not cheap. It’s also difficult to find someone fast enough and I have this quiz coming up. Any advice on what I should do? I would very much appreciate a quick response.
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Jahm Xjardx
Registered: 07.08.2005
From: Odense, Denmark, EU
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 09:17
Hi! I guess I can give you ideas on how to solve your homework. But for that I need more guidelines. Can you elaborate about what exactly is the changing decimals to radicals assignment that you have to solve. I am quite good at solving these kind of things. Plus I have this great software Algebrator that I got from a friend which is soooo good at solving math assignment. Give me the details and perhaps we can work something out...
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Mov
Registered: 15.05.2002
From:
Posted: Tuesday 02nd of Jan 08:07
I agree, websites on the internet are no better than the college books. Algebrator is a good way to start your math career.
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Koem
Registered: 22.10.2001
From: Sweden
Posted: Wednesday 03rd of Jan 13:14
conversion of units, algebra formulas and 3x3 system of equations were a nightmare for me until I found Algebrator, which is really the best algebra program that I have ever come across. I have used it frequently through several math classes – Algebra 2, Algebra 2 and Pre Algebra. Simply typing in the algebra problem and clicking on Solve, Algebrator generates step-by-step solution to the problem, and my algebra homework would be ready. I truly recommend the program.
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davessy
Registered: 10.06.2002
From: 52n31, 6e06
Posted: Friday 05th of Jan 08:33
I just hope this thing isn’t very complex . I am not so good with the technical stuff. Can I get the product description, so I know what it has to offer?
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molbheus2matlih
Registered: 10.04.2002
From: France
Posted: Sunday 07th of Jan 07:00
Take a look at
https://mathisradical.com/solving-systems-of-equations-by-graphing.html
. You can find out more information about it and buy it as well . | https://mathisradical.com/how-to-simplify-radical-expressions/powers/changing-decimals-to-radicals.html |
Tutorials!
Monday 12th of April
Home
Solving Linear Equations
Systems of Linear Equations
Solving Linear Equations Graphically
Algebra Expressions
Evaluating Expressions and Solving Equations
Fraction rules
Factoring Quadratic Trinomials
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions
Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers
Adding and Subtracting Radicals
Subtracting Fractions
Factoring Polynomials by Grouping
Slopes of Perpendicular Lines
Linear Equations
Roots - Radicals 1
Graph of a Line
Sum of the Roots of a Quadratic
Writing Linear Equations Using Slope and Point
Factoring Trinomials with Leading Coefficient 1
Writing Linear Equations Using Slope and Point
Simplifying Expressions with Negative Exponents
Solving Equations 3
Solving Quadratic Equations
Parent and Family Graphs
Collecting Like Terms
nth Roots
Power of a Quotient Property of Exponents
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Percents
Solving Linear Systems of Equations by Elimination
The Quadratic Formula
Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Solving Rational Equations
Multiplying Special Binomials
Rounding Numbers
Factoring by Grouping
Polar Form of a Complex Number
Solving Quadratic Equations
Simplifying Complex Fractions
Algebra
Common Logs
Operations on Signed Numbers
Multiplying Fractions in General
Dividing Polynomials
Polynomials
Higher Degrees and Variable Exponents
Solving Quadratic Inequalities with a Sign Graph
Writing a Rational Expression in Lowest Terms
Solving Quadratic Inequalities with a Sign Graph
Solving Linear Equations
The Square of a Binomial
Properties of Negative Exponents
Inverse Functions
fractions
Rotating an Ellipse
Multiplying Numbers
Linear Equations
Solving Equations with One Log Term
Combining Operations
The Ellipse
Straight Lines
Graphing Inequalities in Two Variables
Solving Trigonometric Equations
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Simple Trinomials as Products of Binomials
Ratios and Proportions
Solving Equations
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 2
Rational Numbers
Difference of Two Squares
Factoring Polynomials by Grouping
Solving Equations That Contain Rational Expressions
Solving Quadratic Equations
Dividing and Subtracting Rational Expressions
Square Roots and Real Numbers
Order of Operations
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Substitution
The Distance and Midpoint Formulas
Linear Equations
Graphing Using x- and y- Intercepts
Properties of Exponents
Solving Quadratic Equations
Solving One-Step Equations Using Algebra
Relatively Prime Numbers
Solving a Quadratic Inequality with Two Solutions
Quadratics
Operations on Radicals
Factoring a Difference of Two Squares
Straight Lines
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
Graphing Logarithmic Functions
Simplifying Expressions Involving Variables
Adding Integers
Decimals
Factoring Completely General Quadratic Trinomials
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions With Unlike Denominators
Rational Exponents
Horizontal and Vertical Lines
Try the Free Math Solver or Scroll down to Tutorials!
Expression
Equation
Inequality
Contact us
Simplify
Factor
Expand
GCF
LCM
Enter expression, e.g. (x^2-y^2)/(x-y)
Sample Problem
Simplify
Enter expression, e.g. x^2+5x+6
Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
Sample Problem
Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter equation to graph, e.g. y=3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter inequality to graph, e.g. y<3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Dependent Variable
Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
Ineq. #2:
Ineq. #3:
Ineq. #4:
Ineq. #5:
Ineq. #6:
Ineq. #7:
Ineq. #8:
Ineq. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Math solver on your site
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to have this math solver on your website,
free of charge.
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study notes permutations and combinations
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Author
Message
medaxonan
Registered: 24.08.2003
From:
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 15:15
Hello there, I am a high-school student and at the end of the term I will have my exams in math . I was never a math genius , but now I am really afraid that I won't be able to finish this course. I came across study notes permutations and combinations and some other math problems that I can’t figure out. These topics really made me panic : cramer’s rule and parallel lines . paying for a a teacher is not possible for me, because I don't have any money. Please help me!!
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nxu
Registered: 25.10.2006
From: Siberia, Russian Federation
Posted: Saturday 30th of Dec 08:27
Hi, I think that I can to help you out. Have you ever used a program to help you with your math assignments? Some time ago I was also stuck on a similar problems like you, but then I came across Algebrator. It helped me so much with study notes permutations and combinations and other math problems, so since then I always count on its help! My math grades got better because of Algebrator.
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Momepi
Registered: 22.07.2004
From: Ireland
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 18:06
Oh wow! Nice to see that people use Algebrator here as well. I can assure the usefulness of this program. It is simply superb.
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ZaleviL
Registered: 14.07.2002
From: floating in the light, never forgotten
Posted: Tuesday 02nd of Jan 14:46
I remember having difficulties with factoring, exponent rules and proportions. Algebrator is a really great piece of math software. I have used it through several algebra classes - Remedial Algebra, Intermediate algebra and Pre Algebra. I would simply type in the problem and by clicking on Solve, step by step solution would appear. The program is highly recommended.
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ChefiMajinFegeta
Registered: 19.11.2002
From: Kent/Albany
Posted: Wednesday 03rd of Jan 07:09
You mean it’s that trouble-free ? Marvelous. Looks like just the one to end my search for a solution to my troubles. Where can I locate this program? Please do let me know.
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Majnatto
Registered: 17.10.2003
From: Ontario
Posted: Friday 05th of Jan 08:31
Here it is:
https://polymathlove.com/multiplying-numbers.html
. Just a few clicks and algebra won't be an issue a difficulty at all. All the best and enjoy the software! | https://polymathlove.com/polymonials/leading-coefficient/study-notes-permutations-and.html |
Tutorials!
Home
Point
Arithmetic Operations with Numerical Fractions
Multiplying a Polynomial by a Monomial
Solving Linear Equation
Solving Linear Equations
Solving Inequalities
Solving Compound Inequalities
Solving Systems of Equations Using Substitution
Simplifying Fractions 3
Factoring quadratics
Special Products
Writing Fractions as Percents
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Solving Linear Inequalities
Adding Fractions
Solving Systems of Equations -
Exponential Functions
Integer Exponents
Example 6
Dividing Monomials
Multiplication can Increase or Decrease a Number
Graphing Horizontal Lines
Simplification of Expressions Containing only Monomials
Decimal Numbers
Negative Numbers
Factoring
Subtracting Polynomials
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Powers of i
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions
Simplifying Complex Fractions
Finding the Coordinates of a Point
Fractions and Decimals
Rational Expressions
Solving Equations by Factoring
Slope of a Line
Percent Introduced
Reducing Rational Expressions to Lowest Terms
The Hyperbola
Standard Form for the Equation of a Line
Multiplication by 75
Solving Quadratic Equations Using the Quadratic Formula
Raising a Product to a Power
Solving Equations with Log Terms on Each Side
Monomial Factors
Solving Inequalities with Fractions and Parentheses
Division Property of Square and Cube Roots
Multiplying Two Numbers Close to but less than 100
Solving Absolute Value Inequalities
Equations of Circles
Percents and Decimals
Integral Exponents
Linear Equations - Positive and Negative Slopes
Multiplying Radicals
Factoring Special Quadratic Polynomials
Simplifying Rational Expressions
Adding and Subtracting Unlike Fractions
Graphuing Linear Inequalities
Linear Functions
Solving Quadratic Equations by Using the Quadratic Formula
Adding and Subtracting Polynomials
Adding and Subtracting Functions
Basic Algebraic Operations and Simplification
Simplifying Complex Fractions
Axis of Symmetry and Vertices
Factoring Polynomials with Four Terms
Evaluation of Simple Formulas
Graphing Systems of Equations
Scientific Notation
Lines and Equations
Horizontal and Vertical Lines
Solving Equations by Factoring
Solving Systems of Linear Inequalities
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions with Different Denominators
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Solving Linear Equations
Simple Trinomials as Products of Binomials
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Factoring
Solving System of Equations
Exponential Functions
Computing the Area of Circles
The Standard Form of a Quadratic Equation
The Discriminant
Dividing Monomials Using the Quotient Rule
Squaring a Difference
Changing the Sign of an Exponent
Adding Fractions
Powers of Radical Expressions
Steps for Solving Linear Equations
Quadratic Expressions Complete Squares
Fractions 1
Properties of Negative Exponents
Factoring Perfect Square Trinomials
Algebra
Solving Quadratic Equations Using the Square Root Property
Dividing Rational Expressions
Quadratic Equations with Imaginary Solutions
Factoring Trinomials Using Patterns
Try the Free Math Solver or Scroll down to Tutorials!
Expression
Equation
Inequality
Contact us
Simplify
Factor
Expand
GCF
LCM
Enter expression, e.g. (x^2-y^2)/(x-y)
Sample Problem
Simplify
Enter expression, e.g. x^2+5x+6
Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
Sample Problem
Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter equation to graph, e.g. y=3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter inequality to graph, e.g. y<3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Dependent Variable
Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
Ineq. #2:
Ineq. #3:
Ineq. #4:
Ineq. #5:
Ineq. #6:
Ineq. #7:
Ineq. #8:
Ineq. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Math solver on your site
Please use this form if you would like
to have this math solver on your website,
free of charge.
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Email:
Your Website:
Msg:
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intermediate algebra problems
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Author
Message
nmb13
Registered: 06.01.2006
From:
Posted: Wednesday 27th of Dec 18:24
I need some help friends ! I find intermediate algebra problems really difficult . I have tried finding a teacher for the subject, but couldn’t find any in my locality . The ones available are far and expensive.
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Vofj Timidrov
Registered: 06.07.2001
From: Bulgaria
Posted: Wednesday 27th of Dec 20:40
Can you please be more elaborate as to what sort of aid you are expecting to get. Do you want to learn the fundamentals and solve your math questions on your own or do you require a instrument that would give you a line by line answer for your math problems?
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DVH
Registered: 20.12.2001
From:
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 13:43
Algebrator is the perfect algebra tool to help you with homeworks . It covers everything you need to know about absolute values in an easy and comprehensive manner . algebra had never been easy for me to grasp but this product made it very easy to learn. The logical and step-by–step method to problem solving is really an advantage and soon you will find that you love solving problems.
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LifiIcPoin
Registered: 01.10.2002
From: Way Way Behind
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 20:14
I remember having often faced problems with converting fractions, lcf and x-intercept. A really great piece of math program is Algebrator software. By simply typing in a problem from workbook a step by step solution would appear by a click on Solve. I have used it through many math classes – Pre Algebra, Algebra 2 and Algebra 2. I greatly recommend the program. | https://algebra1help.com/www-algebra1-com/binomials/intermediate-algebra-problems.html |
Tutorials!
Thursday 27th of January
Home
Calculations with Negative Numbers
Solving Linear Equations
Systems of Linear Equations
Solving Linear Equations Graphically
Algebra Expressions
Evaluating Expressions and Solving Equations
Fraction rules
Factoring Quadratic Trinomials
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions
Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers
Adding and Subtracting Radicals
Subtracting Fractions
Factoring Polynomials by Grouping
Slopes of Perpendicular Lines
Linear Equations
Roots - Radicals 1
Graph of a Line
Sum of the Roots of a Quadratic
Writing Linear Equations Using Slope and Point
Factoring Trinomials with Leading Coefficient 1
Writing Linear Equations Using Slope and Point
Simplifying Expressions with Negative Exponents
Solving Equations 3
Solving Quadratic Equations
Parent and Family Graphs
Collecting Like Terms
nth Roots
Power of a Quotient Property of Exponents
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Percents
Solving Linear Systems of Equations by Elimination
The Quadratic Formula
Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Solving Rational Equations
Multiplying Special Binomials
Rounding Numbers
Factoring by Grouping
Polar Form of a Complex Number
Solving Quadratic Equations
Simplifying Complex Fractions
Algebra
Common Logs
Operations on Signed Numbers
Multiplying Fractions in General
Dividing Polynomials
Polynomials
Higher Degrees and Variable Exponents
Solving Quadratic Inequalities with a Sign Graph
Writing a Rational Expression in Lowest Terms
Solving Quadratic Inequalities with a Sign Graph
Solving Linear Equations
The Square of a Binomial
Properties of Negative Exponents
Inverse Functions
fractions
Rotating an Ellipse
Multiplying Numbers
Linear Equations
Solving Equations with One Log Term
Combining Operations
The Ellipse
Straight Lines
Graphing Inequalities in Two Variables
Solving Trigonometric Equations
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Simple Trinomials as Products of Binomials
Ratios and Proportions
Solving Equations
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 2
Rational Numbers
Difference of Two Squares
Factoring Polynomials by Grouping
Solving Equations That Contain Rational Expressions
Solving Quadratic Equations
Dividing and Subtracting Rational Expressions
Square Roots and Real Numbers
Order of Operations
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Substitution
The Distance and Midpoint Formulas
Linear Equations
Graphing Using x- and y- Intercepts
Properties of Exponents
Solving Quadratic Equations
Solving One-Step Equations Using Algebra
Relatively Prime Numbers
Solving a Quadratic Inequality with Two Solutions
Quadratics
Operations on Radicals
Factoring a Difference of Two Squares
Straight Lines
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
Graphing Logarithmic Functions
Simplifying Expressions Involving Variables
Adding Integers
Decimals
Factoring Completely General Quadratic Trinomials
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions With Unlike Denominators
Rational Exponents
Horizontal and Vertical Lines
Try the Free Math Solver or Scroll down to Tutorials!
Expression
Equation
Inequality
Contact us
Simplify
Factor
Expand
GCF
LCM
Enter expression, e.g. (x^2-y^2)/(x-y)
Sample Problem
Simplify
Enter expression, e.g. x^2+5x+6
Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
Sample Problem
Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter equation to graph, e.g. y=3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter inequality to graph, e.g. y<3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Dependent Variable
Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
Ineq. #2:
Ineq. #3:
Ineq. #4:
Ineq. #5:
Ineq. #6:
Ineq. #7:
Ineq. #8:
Ineq. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Math solver on your site
Please use this form if you would like
to have this math solver on your website,
free of charge.
Name:
Email:
Your Website:
Msg:
Send
free sample algebra 2 final test questions for 8th grade
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Author
Message
Liepecheep
Registered: 18.01.2006
From:
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 17:07
Hi Fellows ! I have a severe problem about math and I was hoping that someone might have the ability to help me out a little . I have a math test in a short while and even though I have been studying math seriously, there are still a few parts that cause a lot of stress, such as free sample algebra 2 final test questions for 8th grade and adding matrices especially. Last week I had a class with a math teacher, but many things still remain vague to me. Can you suggest a good method of studying or a good private teacher that you know already?
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IlbendF
Registered: 11.03.2004
From: Netherlands
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 12:06
This is a common problem; don’t let it get to you. You will get adjusted with free sample algebra 2 final test questions for 8th grade in a couple of days . Till then you can use Algebrator to help you with your homework .
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Mibxrus
Registered: 19.10.2002
From: Vancouver, Canada
Posted: Saturday 30th of Dec 12:34
I would just add a note to what has been said above. Algebrator no doubt is the most useful tool one could have. Always use it as a reference and a means to learn and never to cheat.
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Glinch
Registered: 22.04.2002
From: Toronto, Canada
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 10:45
Now I would definitely want to try this thing myself. Where can I get my copy? Can someone please help me in buying this software?
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MoonBuggy
Registered: 23.11.2001
From: Leeds, UK
Posted: Monday 01st of Jan 08:21
You can buy it from
https://polymathlove.com/evaluating-expressions-and-solving-equations.html
. I don’t think there are too many specific software requirements; you can just download and start using it.
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SjberAliem
Registered: 06.03.2002
From: Macintosh HD
Posted: Tuesday 02nd of Jan 15:30
Algebrator is the program that I have used through several algebra classes - Remedial Algebra, Intermediate algebra and Basic Math. It is a truly a great piece of algebra software. I remember of going through problems with difference of cubes, multiplying fractions and greatest common factor. I would simply type in a problem from the workbook , click on Solve – and step by step solution to my math homework. I highly recommend the program. | https://polymathlove.com/polymonials/trigonometric-functions/free-sample-algebra-2-final.html |
Reduce the following matrixto Echelon form and hence finds its rank:
2. (a) Write down the condition under which the system of equationspossesses a unique solution. 1
(b) Show that a characteristic vector of a matrix cannot correspond to more than one characteristic value of. 2
(c) Show that the only real value offor which the following equations have non-zero solution is 6: 3
(d) Show that the following system of equations is consistent and solve them completely: 2+4=6
State Cayley-Hamilton theorem. Show that the matrix
Satisfies Cayley-Hamilton theorem. 1+5=6
(B) Ordinary Differential Equations
(Marks: 30)
3. (a) Write True or False:
“The singular solution of a differential equation in Clairaut’s from contains only one arbitrary constant.” 1
(b) Find the integrating factor of the differential equation. 2
(c) Solve any one: 3
- , where
(d) Use Wronskian to show that the functionsare linearly independent. Determine the differential equation with these as independent solutions. 4
Or
Show that the Wronskian of the functionsand is non-zero. Can these functions be independent solutions of an ordinary differential equation? If so, determine this differential equation.
4. (a) What is the auxiliary equation of the differential equation. 1
Whereand are constant?
(b) Define linear homogeneous equation. 1
(c) Solve any two: 4x2=8
(d) Solve any two: 5x2=10
(By removing 1st order derivative)
(By changing the independent variable)
(By the method of variation of parameters)
(C) Numerical Analysis
(Marks: 30)
5. (a) State True or False: The bisection method always converges. 1
(b) Write the basic difference between the bisection method and method of false position. 1
(c) Explain the geometrical interpretation of the Newton-Raphson method for solving an algebraic equation. 3
(d) Answer any two: 5x2=10
- Describe the regula-falsi method for obtaining a real root of an algebraic equation.
- By using Newton-Raphson method, find the root of, which is nearer to, correct to three decimal places by performing at least 3 iterative.
- Solve the following equations by Gauss elimination method:
6. (a) State True or False: Simpson’s one-third rule is better than the trapezoidal rule. 1
(b) Evaluate the interval of differencing being. 2
(c) Show that, where the symbols have their usual meanings. 2
(d) Answer any two of the following: 5x2=10
- Deduce Lagrange interpolation formula.
- Estimate the missing term in the following table:
:
0
1
2
3
4
:
1
3
9
?
81
- Show that by dividing the range into 10 equal parts. | https://www.dynamictutorialsandservices.org/2019/01/dibrugarh-university-arts-question_867.html |
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Saturday 8th of August
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dividing cubed rational expressions
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Author
Message
mctomielmc89
Registered: 06.02.2007
From: Missouri
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 09:31
Hi everybody out there, I am caught up here with a set of math questions that I find really hard to solve . I am taking Remedial Algebra course and need help with dividing cubed rational expressions. Do you know of any useful math help software ? To be frank, I am a little skeptical about how useful these software programs can be but I really don’t know how to solve these questions and felt it is worth a try.
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ameich
Registered: 21.03.2005
From: Prague, Czech Republic
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 13:48
Can you give more details about the problem? I might be able to help you if you clarify what exactly you are looking for. Recently I came across a very useful software program that helps in solving math problems quickly . You can get help on any topic related to dividing cubed rational expressions and more, so I recommend trying it out.
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TihBoasten
Registered: 14.10.2002
From:
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 09:04
Algebrator really is a great piece of math software. I remember having problems with exponent rules, 3x3 system of equations and trigonometric functions. By typing in the problem from homework and merely clicking Solve would give step by step solution to the algebra problem. It has been of great help through several Pre Algebra, College Algebra and Algebra 2. I seriously recommend the program.
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Hiinidam
Registered: 06.07.2001
From: Greeley, CO, US
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 20:04
I remember having difficulties with logarithms, scientific notation and proportions. Algebrator is a really great piece of algebra software. I have used it through several algebra classes - Intermediate algebra, Remedial Algebra and Pre Algebra. I would simply type in the problem from a workbook and by clicking on Solve, step by step solution would appear. The program is highly recommended. | https://polymathlove.com/polymonials/midpoint-of-a-line/dividing-cubed-rational.html |
Tutorials!
Monday 26th of September
Home
Exponential Decay
Negative Exponents
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 4
Evaluating Expressions Involving Fractions
The Cartesian Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators
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Multiplying Special Polynomials
FOIL Method
Inequalities
Solving Systems of Equations by Graphing
Graphing Compound Inequalities
Solving Quadratic Equations by Completing the Square
Addition Property of Equality
Square Roots
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
The Distance Formula
Graphing Logarithmic Functions
Fractions
Dividing Mixed Numbers
Evaluating Polynomials
Power of a Product Property of Exponents
Terminology of Algebraic Expressions
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions with Identical Denominators
Solving Exponential Equations
Factoring The Difference of 2 Squares
Changing Fractions to Decimals
Solving Linear Equations
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Completing the Square
Roots of Complex Numbers
Methods for Solving Quadratic Equations
Conics in Standard Form
Solving Quadratic Equations by Using the Quadratic Formula
Simplifying Fractions 2
Exponential Notation
Exponential Growth
The Cartesian Plane
Graphing Linear Functions
The Slope of a Line
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Rotating Axes
Common Mistakes With Percents
Solving an Equation That Contains a Square Root
Rational Equations
Properties of Common Logs
Composition of Functions
Using Percent Equations
Solving Inequalities
Properties of Exponents
Graphing Quadratic Functions
Factoring a Polynomial by Finding the GCF
The Rectangular Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Multiplying and Dividing Rational Expressions
Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Properties of Exponents
Complex Solutions of Quadratic Equations
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Factoring
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
Least Common Multiples
http:
Solving Exponential Equations
Solving Linear Equations
Multiplication Property of Equality
Multiplying Mixed Numbers
Multiplying Fractions
Reducing a Rational Expression to Lowest Terms
Literal Numbers
Factoring Trinomials
Logarithmic Functions
Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators
Simplifying Square Roots
Adding Fractions
Equations Quadratic in Form
Dividing Rational Expressions
Slopes of Parallel Lines
Simplifying Cube Roots That Contain Variables
Functions and Graphs
Complex Numbers
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 1
Composition of Functions
Intercepts of a Line
Powers
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Exponents and Polynomials
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key to learning algebra two
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Author
Message
dx3soni
Registered: 04.01.2005
From:
Posted: Wednesday 27th of Dec 19:53
I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a few tips here so that I can understand the basics of key to learning algebra two. I find solving equations really tough . I work in the evening and thus have no time left to take extra tutoring . Can you guys suggest any online tool that can help me with this subject?
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Vofj Timidrov
Registered: 06.07.2001
From: Bulgaria
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 21:40
Hello Friend What’s up. Well I’ve been reading your post and believe me : I had the same problem . Some time ago I was in the same problem, but before you get a tutor , I will like to recommend you one software that’s really helpful: Algebrator. I really tried a lot of other ways but that one it’s definitely the the one ! The best luck with that! Tell me what you think!.
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Dnexiam
Registered: 25.01.2003
From: City 17
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 08:41
I totally agree, Algebrator is awesome ! I am really good in algebra now , and I have the best grades in the class! It helped me even with the most difficult math problems, like those on multiplying matrices or mixed numbers. I really think you should give it a try .
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Vnode
Registered: 27.09.2001
From: Germany
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 13:40
Algebrator is the program that I have used through several algebra classes - Algebra 2, Pre Algebra and Pre Algebra. It is a truly a great piece of math software. I remember of going through problems with graphing lines, powers and perpendicular lines. I would simply type in a problem from the workbook , click on Solve – and step by step solution to my math homework. I highly recommend the program. | https://mathisradical.com/how-to-simplify-radical-expressions/graphing-equations/key-to-learning-algebra-two.html |
Tutorials!
Monday 26th of September
Home
Exponential Decay
Negative Exponents
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 4
Evaluating Expressions Involving Fractions
The Cartesian Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators
Solving Absolute Value Inequalities
Multiplying Special Polynomials
FOIL Method
Inequalities
Solving Systems of Equations by Graphing
Graphing Compound Inequalities
Solving Quadratic Equations by Completing the Square
Addition Property of Equality
Square Roots
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
The Distance Formula
Graphing Logarithmic Functions
Fractions
Dividing Mixed Numbers
Evaluating Polynomials
Power of a Product Property of Exponents
Terminology of Algebraic Expressions
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions with Identical Denominators
Solving Exponential Equations
Factoring The Difference of 2 Squares
Changing Fractions to Decimals
Solving Linear Equations
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Completing the Square
Roots of Complex Numbers
Methods for Solving Quadratic Equations
Conics in Standard Form
Solving Quadratic Equations by Using the Quadratic Formula
Simplifying Fractions 2
Exponential Notation
Exponential Growth
The Cartesian Plane
Graphing Linear Functions
The Slope of a Line
Finding Cube Roots of Large Numbers
Rotating Axes
Common Mistakes With Percents
Solving an Equation That Contains a Square Root
Rational Equations
Properties of Common Logs
Composition of Functions
Using Percent Equations
Solving Inequalities
Properties of Exponents
Graphing Quadratic Functions
Factoring a Polynomial by Finding the GCF
The Rectangular Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Multiplying and Dividing Rational Expressions
Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Properties of Exponents
Complex Solutions of Quadratic Equations
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Factoring
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
Least Common Multiples
http:
Solving Exponential Equations
Solving Linear Equations
Multiplication Property of Equality
Multiplying Mixed Numbers
Multiplying Fractions
Reducing a Rational Expression to Lowest Terms
Literal Numbers
Factoring Trinomials
Logarithmic Functions
Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators
Simplifying Square Roots
Adding Fractions
Equations Quadratic in Form
Dividing Rational Expressions
Slopes of Parallel Lines
Simplifying Cube Roots That Contain Variables
Functions and Graphs
Complex Numbers
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 1
Composition of Functions
Intercepts of a Line
Powers
http:
Multiplying Two Numbers with the same Tens Digit and whose Ones Digits add up to 10
Factoring Trinomials
Exponents and Polynomials
Decimals and their Equivalent Fractions
Negative Integer Exponents
Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers
Solving Quadratic Equations
Theorem of Pythagoras
Equations 1
Subtracting Fractions
Solving Quadratic Equations by Graphing
Evaluating Polynomials
Slope
Angles and Degree Measure
Try the Free Math Solver or Scroll down to Tutorials!
Expression
Equation
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Sample Problem
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Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
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Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
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Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
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Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
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Sample Problem
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Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
Ineq. #2:
Ineq. #3:
Ineq. #4:
Ineq. #5:
Ineq. #6:
Ineq. #7:
Ineq. #8:
Ineq. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
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roots of equation
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Author
Message
blajerfl
Registered: 18.07.2003
From: France - Paris
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 09:06
Guys , I need some help with my algebra assignment . It’s a really long one having almost 30 questions and consisting of topics such as roots of equation, roots of equation and roots of equation. I’ve been working on it since the past 4 days now and still haven’t been able to solve even a single one of them. Our instructor gave us this homework and went on a vacation, so basically we are all on our own now. Can anyone help me get started ? Can anyone solve some sample questions for me based on those topics; such solutions could help me solve my own questions as well.
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oc_rana
Registered: 08.03.2007
From: egypt,alexandria
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 12:14
Algebrator is a real gem that can serve you with Algebra 1. Since I was imperfect in Algebra 2, one of my class instructors recommended me to try the Algebrator and based on his advice, I searched for it online, purchased it and started using it. It was just exceptional . If you sincerely follow each and every lesson offered there on Algebra 1, you would surely master the fundamentals of greatest common factor and graphing circles within hours.
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Hiinidam
Registered: 06.07.2001
From: Greeley, CO, US
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 07:53
Even I got help from Algebrator to learn the basic principles of College Algebra a year back. It is worth investing in the purchase of Algebrator since it offers powerful tutoring in Remedial Algebra and is available at a nominal rate.
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Momepi
Registered: 22.07.2004
From: Ireland
Posted: Monday 01st of Jan 09:16
I remember having problems with quadratic equations, factoring and adding functions. Algebrator is a really great piece of algebra software. I have used it through several math classes - Pre Algebra, Algebra 2 and Pre Algebra. I would simply type in the problem and by clicking on Solve, step by step solution would appear. The program is highly recommended.
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viacd14
Registered: 25.05.2003
From:
Posted: Monday 01st of Jan 12:00
This sounds almost incredible. Can you tell me where I can purchase the program?
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TC
Registered: 25.09.2001
From: Kµlt °ƒ Ø, working on my time machine
Posted: Wednesday 03rd of Jan 07:56
Life can be tough when one has to work along with their studies. Visit
https://mathisradical.com/the-cartesian-coordinate-system.html
, I am sure it will be of use to you. | https://mathisradical.com/how-to-simplify-radical-expressions/powers/roots-of-equation.html |
Tutorials!
Tuesday 22nd of June
Home
Exponential Decay
Negative Exponents
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 4
Evaluating Expressions Involving Fractions
The Cartesian Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Like Denominators
Solving Absolute Value Inequalities
Multiplying Special Polynomials
FOIL Method
Inequalities
Solving Systems of Equations by Graphing
Graphing Compound Inequalities
Solving Quadratic Equations by Completing the Square
Addition Property of Equality
Square Roots
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
The Distance Formula
Graphing Logarithmic Functions
Fractions
Dividing Mixed Numbers
Evaluating Polynomials
Power of a Product Property of Exponents
Terminology of Algebraic Expressions
Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions with Identical Denominators
Solving Exponential Equations
Factoring The Difference of 2 Squares
Changing Fractions to Decimals
Solving Linear Equations
Using Patterns to Multiply Two Binomials
Completing the Square
Roots of Complex Numbers
Methods for Solving Quadratic Equations
Conics in Standard Form
Solving Quadratic Equations by Using the Quadratic Formula
Simplifying Fractions 2
Exponential Notation
Exponential Growth
The Cartesian Plane
Graphing Linear Functions
The Slope of a Line
Finding Cube Roots of Large Numbers
Rotating Axes
Common Mistakes With Percents
Solving an Equation That Contains a Square Root
Rational Equations
Properties of Common Logs
Composition of Functions
Using Percent Equations
Solving Inequalities
Properties of Exponents
Graphing Quadratic Functions
Factoring a Polynomial by Finding the GCF
The Rectangular Coordinate System
Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Multiplying and Dividing Rational Expressions
Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Properties of Exponents
Complex Solutions of Quadratic Equations
Solving Nonlinear Equations by Factoring
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
Least Common Multiples
http:
Solving Exponential Equations
Solving Linear Equations
Multiplication Property of Equality
Multiplying Mixed Numbers
Multiplying Fractions
Reducing a Rational Expression to Lowest Terms
Literal Numbers
Factoring Trinomials
Logarithmic Functions
Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators
Simplifying Square Roots
Adding Fractions
Equations Quadratic in Form
Dividing Rational Expressions
Slopes of Parallel Lines
Simplifying Cube Roots That Contain Variables
Functions and Graphs
Complex Numbers
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 1
Composition of Functions
Intercepts of a Line
Powers
http:
Multiplying Two Numbers with the same Tens Digit and whose Ones Digits add up to 10
Factoring Trinomials
Exponents and Polynomials
Decimals and their Equivalent Fractions
Negative Integer Exponents
Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers
Solving Quadratic Equations
Theorem of Pythagoras
Equations 1
Subtracting Fractions
Solving Quadratic Equations by Graphing
Evaluating Polynomials
Slope
Angles and Degree Measure
Try the Free Math Solver or Scroll down to Tutorials!
Expression
Equation
Inequality
Contact us
Simplify
Factor
Expand
GCF
LCM
Enter expression, e.g. (x^2-y^2)/(x-y)
Sample Problem
Simplify
Enter expression, e.g. x^2+5x+6
Sample Problem
Factor
Enter expression, e.g. (x+1)^3
Sample Problem
Expand
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find GCF
Enter a set of expressions, e.g. ab^2,a^2b
Sample Problem
Find LCM
Solve
Graph
System
Enter equation to solve, e.g. 2x+3=4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter equation to graph, e.g. y=3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Depdendent Variable
Draw
Number of equations to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Equ. #1:
Equ. #2:
Equ. #3:
Equ. #4:
Equ. #5:
Equ. #6:
Equ. #7:
Equ. #8:
Equ. #9:
Solve for:
Auto Fill
Solve
Solve
Graph
System
Enter inequality to solve, e.g. 2x+3>4
Sample Problem
Solve
Enter inequality to graph, e.g. y<3x^2-1
Sample Problem
Dependent Variable
Draw
Number of inequalities to solve:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Sample Problem
Ineq. #1:
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EvenettB
Registered: 01.08.2003
From: North America
Posted: Thursday 28th of Dec 07:12
Hello math wizards, I need some urgent help. I have a set of math problems that I need to answer and I am hopelessly lost. I don’t know where to begin or how to go about and this paper is due next week. Kindly let me know if you are good in gcf or if there is a good site which can assist me.
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espinxh
Registered: 17.03.2002
From: Norway
Posted: Friday 29th of Dec 09:55
Student can’t seem to think of anything beyond extra classes . Why don’t you try something yourself? There are numerous resources for matlab cubed write which are a lot better than tutoring. Try Algebrator, and you will never need a tuition .
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Jrahan
Registered: 19.03.2002
From: UK
Posted: Saturday 30th of Dec 07:42
I am a student turned professor ; I give classes to junior school children. Along with the traditional mode of explanation, I use Algebrator to solve questions practically in front of the students.
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juliehati
Registered: 05.05.2002
From: Philadelphia
Posted: Saturday 30th of Dec 18:29
Thank you, I would be very relieved to all of you if this software can help me. I really am very upset about my grades. Can someone give me the link to it?
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molbheus2matlih
Registered: 10.04.2002
From: France
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 13:45
I think you will get the details here:
https://mathisradical.com/composition-of-functions-1.html
. They also claim to provide an unrestricted money back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. Try this and Good Luck!
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Ashe
Registered: 08.07.2001
From:
Posted: Sunday 31st of Dec 21:34
I remember having often faced difficulties with trigonometric functions, equivalent fractions and lcf. A truly great piece of math program is Algebrator software. By simply typing in a problem from workbook a step by step solution would appear by a click on Solve. I have used it through many algebra classes – Remedial Algebra, Remedial Algebra and Intermediate algebra. I greatly recommend the program. | https://mathisradical.com/how-to-simplify-radical-expressions/powers/matlab-cubed-write.html |
Groundwater pollution occurs as a result of the release of pollutants into the ground into natural underground water reservoirs known as aquifers. Once the pollutants released find their way into groundwater, they cause contamination. It is a type of water pollution that is mainly caused by the release of substances either intentionally or accidentally through anthropogenic activities or natural causes.
The pollutants usually move within aquifers depending on biological, physical, and chemical properties. Processes such as diffusion, dispersion, adsorption, and the speed of moving water often facilitate the movement. But in general, the movement of the contaminants within an aquifer is usually slow and, as such, their concentration tends to be high and in a form called a plume.
As the plume spreads, it might connect with springs and ground wells, making them unsafe for human consumption. Hence, this article discusses the causes, effects, and various solutions to underground water pollution.
Contents
- Causes of Groundwater Pollution
- Effects of Groundwater Pollution
- Solutions of Groundwater Pollution
- What is groundwater pollution?
- How can soil pollution lead to underground water pollution?
Causes of Groundwater Pollution
1. Natural Sources
Naturally occurring substances found in the soil and rocks can be dissolved in water, causing contamination. These substances are sulfates, iron, radionuclides, fluorides, manganese, chlorides, and arsenic. Others, such as the decaying materials in the soil, may seep into underground water and move with it as particles.
Reports by WHO indicate that the most common pollutants are fluoride and arsenic. The natural causes of pollution can be tested using the Groundwater Assessment Platform (GAP). GAP estimates contamination levels using environmental, geological, and topographical data.
2. Septic Systems
Across the world, septic systems are the main cause of pollution of underground water. The pollutants are outflow from privies, septic tanks, and cesspools. 25% of households in the USA, for instance, heavily depend on septic systems to dispose of their waste. This huge number of users relying on the system makes it one of the main pollutants.
Additionally, improperly designed and leaking septic systems release contaminants such as nitrates, oils, bacteria, chemicals, detergents, and viruses into underground water.
Commercial septic tanks pose an even bigger threat because they release organic chemicals such as trichloroethane. Laws in most countries require the septic tank to be constructed far from the water sources to prevent contamination but at times this is not usually the case.
3. Hazardous Waste Disposal
Hazardous wastes such as photographic chemicals, motor oil, cooking oil, paint thinners, medicines, swimming pool chemicals, paints, and garden chemicals should not be disposed of into septic tanks or directly into the environment as they cause serious contamination. These chemicals should be disposed of with the help of a licensed hazardous waste handler.
4. Petroleum Products
Petroleum storage tanks are either located underground or above ground. Also, the transportation of petroleum products is mainly done underground using pipelines. Leakages from these substances can lead to contamination of water.
In the USA, it is estimated that 16,000 chemical spills each year are from trucks, storage containers, and train spillages, especially when transferring oil. The chemicals spilled become diluted with water and seep into the ground where they may cause groundwater contamination.
5. Solid Waste
The Palmer Developmental Group estimated that in developing countries, approximately 0.3 to 0.6 kg/person/day of waste is released into the ground. On the other hand, in developed countries, 0.7 to 1.8 kg/person/day is released. The chemicals from these substances are leached into the groundwater through precipitation and surface runoff.
The waste can also be collected and taken to landfills. If the landfills lack a clay liner and leachate, the chemicals from the wastes will leach and pose a threat to the groundwater.
6. Surface impoundments
These are shallow lagoons used to store liquid waste. The USA, for example, has over 180,000 surface impoundments which can pose a threat to groundwater. Therefore, the impoundments are required to have clay liners or leachates to prevent leaching. In some cases, the leachates may be defective and leakages may occur, leading to contamination of water.
7. Agricultural Chemicals
Millions of tons of agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides are used worldwide to increase crop production. Other institutions, such as the Golf Courses, also use these chemicals.
Excessive use of these chemicals can lead to contamination of groundwater. Chemicals such as pesticides are known to remain in the ground for years, and when diluted with the rainwater they seep deeper into the groundwater.
8. Injection wells
They have various uses, ranging from collection of stormwater to disposal of industrial and commercial effluents. When not properly regulated, hazardous chemicals can be disposed of in injection wells. For this reason, if they are not properly located, regulated, and designed; they can cause contamination of groundwater.
9. Other causes
Other causes of ground pollution are abandoned wells, which can act as a pathway for contaminants to reach the aquifers. Also, poorly constructed wells that may lack proper casing and covers may cause groundwater contamination when pollutants find their way into such wells.
Another cause of pollution is mining activities, where, through precipitation, the soluble minerals can be leached from the sites into the groundwater.
Effects of Groundwater Pollution
1. Health Issues
Contaminated groundwater has detrimental effects on human health. In areas where septic tank installation is not set up correctly, human waste may contaminate the water source. The waste may contain hepatitis-causing bacteria that may lead to irreversible damage to the liver.
Also, it may cause dysentery, which leads to severe diarrhea, dehydration, and, in some cases, death. Additional health problems include poisoning that may be a result of the use of excessive pesticides and fertilizers or natural chemicals. The chemicals leach into water sources and poison them. Drinking water from such a source may lead to serious health effects.
2. Affects economic growth
Contamination of groundwater sources renders the area incapable of sustaining plant, human, and animal life. The population in the area reduces and the land value depreciates. Another effect is that it leads to less stability in industries relying on groundwater to produce their goods.
Therefore, the industries in the affected areas will have to outsource water from other regions, which may turn out to be expensive. In addition, they may be forced to close down due to the poor quality of water.
3. Can lead to damaging impacts on the environment such as aquatic systems and the overall ecosystem
Groundwater pollution can lead to devastating environmental changes. One such alteration is the loss of certain nutrients that are essential for the self-sustenance of the ecosystem. Also, when the pollutants mix with water bodies, alteration of the aquatic ecosystem may also occur. Aquatic animals such as fish may die off quickly as a result of too many contaminants in the bodies of water.
Animals and plants using contaminated water may also be affected. Toxic substances accumulate with time in the aquifers and once the prime spreads, it may render the groundwater unsuitable for human and animal consumption. The effects are serious, especially for people who rely on groundwater during drought periods.
Solutions of Groundwater Pollution
1. Legislation
There are federal laws in most countries that help protect the quality of groundwater. Safe Drinking and Clean Water regulations should ensure the protection of drinking water by establishing measures for it to meet health standards.
2. The use of water cleaning systems
Point-of-use treatment systems should be installed in outlets that dispense water for human consumption. The techniques used include chemical disinfection, boiling, solar distillation, filtration, ozone water disinfection, activated charcoal absorption, and ultraviolet disinfection.
Arsenic Removal Filters (ARFs) are usually installed to remove arsenic compounds present. Maintaining these filters is essential to ensure that the drinking water is always safe.
Groundwater Remediation is also another management technique. The biological treatment techniques employed are bioaugmentation, bioslurping, bioventing, phytoremediation, and biosparging. Chemical techniques such as ion exchange, ozone gas injection, membrane separation, and chemical precipitation can also be used.
3. Proper management of the sources of pollution
The landfills should be designed with proper clay and leachate. The maintenance should be done regularly. The location of the landfill should also be far from groundwater areas. Further, any hazardous waste should not be dumped in the landfill unless it is designed for that purpose.
In constructing and managing underground storage tanks, it is important to comply with the set regulations and policies to avoid contamination or even lawsuits. A containment device that acts as a leak back-up should be put in place and any unused underground tanks should be removed.
Underground pipeline installation should be designed professionally. Inspections should be done regularly and any causes of corrosion or leakage noted should be resolved immediately.
4. Recycling
Most landfills in various countries have a recycling plant nearby. Therefore, used petroleum products should be taken to such places. Apart from oil, other recyclable materials such as plastic, bottles, and paper waste can also be taken to recycling plants. The state should provide designated recycling pick-up areas in places that they are not yet established.
Together with other environmental organizations, the state can mobilize people to participate in the recycling initiative. They can do this by holding awareness campaigns and educating communities on the importance of recycling.
What is groundwater pollution?
Groundwater is one of the sources of clean water that humans use. This source is being polluted once man-made products such as oil, gasoline, road salt, and other chemicals are mixed with it. If the groundwater is already polluted by such products, it is no longer fit to be consumed by humans and animals as it is already unsafe and contaminated.
Other than those products, groundwater pollution also occurs when the chemicals from the land’s surface move down to the groundwater through the soil. An example of this is when liquid industrial waste is poured onto the land and find its way into the groundwater supplies.
Another example is when farmers use pesticides and fertilizers, some of the chemicals move from the soil into the groundwater supply. Furthermore, toxic substances from mining sites, underground storage tanks, and septic tanks can also cause groundwater pollution once the landfills are leaky, which could lead to groundwater contamination.
How can soil pollution lead to underground water pollution?
Soil pollution usually leads to underground water pollution as the chemicals that are destroying the soil are moving down to the groundwater supplies. The chemicals that are being poured or inhaled by the soil are causing the soil pollution.
As time passes by, the toxic substances continues to move from the soil surface and go deeper until they reach the groundwater. Once the groundwater is reached, groundwater pollution will be caused, which could lead to groundwater contamination.
For example, large industrial plants dump their chemical waste on top of the soil, assuming that it will not pollute the soil. Once they do such action, the chemicals will be absorbed by the soil, destroying its habitable properties for plants and underground animals.
As the chemicals continue to travel from the soil surface, they will eventually reach the groundwater, causing groundwater pollution and contamination.
Another example of this is in agriculture. As the pesticides, fertilizers, and animal waste are mixed and spread out on land, pollutants such as nitrates and bacteria may be developed and continue to seep through the soil. These pollutants will continue to move down until they reach the groundwater supplies.
The pollution and contamination of the groundwater could cause serious adverse effects on plants, animals, and humans who are using the contaminated groundwater as their main supply of the said basic needs.
Furthermore, the soil pollution from untreated waste tanks, landfills, and mining and quarrying sites could also cause groundwater pollution through the same process as the others.
References: | https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-groundwater-pollution.php |
Electronic Waste. Electronic waste is a growing problem worldwide. In fact, nearly 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste was generated in 2019. While e-waste accounts for 70% of toxic waste in the United States, it only accounts for 2% of trash found in landfills. Toxic materials from electronic waste can significantly harm both the environment ...
· Water is a vital tool for all nuclear power stations: it''s used to cool their heat-generating radioactive cores. During the cooling process, the water becomes contaminated with radionuclides ...
· Burning waste produces dioxins and furans which cause cancer. Fire can spread and result in extensive damage to the environment and property. Sustainable waste management. The proper way of handling solid waste is to reduce, reuse, recycle and as a last resort, disposal into a properly lined landfill by the Local Authority.
· The Effects of Landfill Gas Emissions. In the U.S., municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest contributor to human-related methane emissions. After just a year, methane-producing bacteria begin to decompose the waste and generate the gas.
• Residual road structure material • Dangerous waste, oil from machines, etc. Waste is also classified on how it can affect the environment: • Inactive waste, i.e. material that will not be modified by any physical, chemical or biological reaction in a normal landfill site. • Active waste, i.e. the opposite of an inactive waste.
Commenting on the effects of material resource use on the environment, the heads of major research institutes in the United States, Germany, Japan, Austria, and the Netherlands have noted that "unless economic growth can be dramatically decoupled from resource use and waste generation, environmental pressures will increase rapidly.1"
· Dumped medical waste also poses serious health concerns. Says the WHO "Poor management of health care waste potentially exposes health care workers, waste handlers, patients and the community at large to infection, toxic effects and injuries, and risks polluting the environment.
Considering that the annual e-waste production approxi-mates 20Mt, the total quantities of the several pollutants contained in the e-waste flow result, to a great extent, in landfills or recycling centres affecting the environment and/or public health. Therefore, despite significant recycling, e-waste is liable for 5000 t …
greater economic stimulation effect than if all the waste went to disposal. The one exception is the Eastern California region, which does not have much infrastructure that supports diversion-
· Home » Biohazard Waste Disposal » The Effects of Biohazard Waste on the Environment Posted on September 27th, 2017 by Ben Brenner Biohazardous waste, also known as infectious or biomedical waste, is any waste that contains infectious materials or potentially infectious substances such as blood.
Our environment is precious and as such it is very important that we all do our bit for the environment. We understand that as a waste management company, our actions can negatively impact the environment and as such, we take steps in order to reduce or minimise the negative effects that our actions may have on the planet.. The Importance Of Tackling Climate Change And Global Warming
· How does biomedical waste impact the environment? Improper segregation of biomedical waste and different medical waste streams from the point of origin can trigger a domino-like effect on the environment that incurs dangers to people, animals, or soil and water sources.. Improper segregation and disposal of biomedical waste has the potential to contaminate groundwater sources, …
Consider Your Raw Materials. Our first tip on how you can reduce industrial waste output is to consider the raw materials that you use. Many companies use recycled raw materials in order to keep the cycle going and manufacture their product for a lower price. If you think that your business could benefit from recycling raw materials, make sure ...
The research aimed to reduce the higher waste material in the future and the impact to the environment, the waste material found was 2.4% to 26.5% of the material purchased. ... .00. Budiadi (2008) also conducted the research that aimed to evaluate the causing factors, quantity, and the effect and follow up of the waste materials in the housing ...
0510650 - Developing Specifications for Waste Glass and Waste-to-Energy Bottom Ash as Highway Fill Materials, Phase 1, 2 Volumes Developing Re-Use Applications and Improving the Economic Benefits of Florida''s Waste Materials. Cosentino and Heck. January 2010. Prepared for Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management.
N2 - Recycled aggregates (RA) are obtained from construction and demolished waste, laboratory crushed concrete and concrete waste at RMC plants. The concrete made from recycled aggregate is known as recycled aggregate concrete. The use of recycled aggregate is very beneficial to the environment in civil works.
The mismanagement of solid waste also affects the productivity and other infrastructure. The major risks associated with poor management of solid waste include the spread of diseases, overall environment pollution (air, water, soil) including emission of greenhouse gases, effects on other infrastructure, and physical, chemical, and fire and explosion hazards.
· Founded in 1998, RMC Water and Environment provides clients with environmental engineering services such as modeling, design, and construction. The team at RMC Water and Environment has helped many municipalities in California develop recycled water and potable reuse solutions that can help combat the effects of drought in the state.
· From being an eyesore to releasing toxins, improper waste disposal on any scale can create environmental problems, health problems and even economic concerns. This is also true for older landfill sites, which are often unlined. The lining of landfills prevents toxic substances from being released into the ground water. Littering causes an eyesore, which devalues […]
· The knowledge of the two forms of materials will significantly ensure that the environmental risks associated with waste disposal are averted. Additionally, with the heightened ecological conservation awareness, it is quite crucial to understand the difference between non-biodegradable and biodegradable material.
· Today, recycling is used as a method of keeping the environment clean for people and wildlife, reducing waste sent to landfills, reducing energy usage and minimising the environmental impact of producing new products by incorporating existing materials that …
potential effects of raw material efficiency improvements in production against a climate mitigation ... of resource use determines the magnitude of final waste and emissions released to the environment, ... Our results are therefore covering scenario implications for both RMC and RMI. 1.1. International Environmental Policy—Unified in ...
· Environmental precautions Environmental precautions See Section 12 for additional ecological information. Methods and material for containment and cleaning up Methods for containment Prevent further leakage or spillage if safe to do so. Methods for cleaning up WARNING: KEEP SPILLS AND CLEAN-UP RESIDUALS OUT OF MUNICIPAL SEWERS AND OPEN BODIES ...
· The volume of wasted concrete causes environmental (increase in material demand and waste generation) and financial impacts, which need to be mitigated. Data from the SNIC (2013) indicate that, approximately 11 million tons of cement are destined for Brazilian RMC plants per year. Assuming that concrete contains 11% cement on average, it is ...
· The effects associated with waste vary widely and are influenced by the substances or chemicals found in waste and how they are managed. Although data do not exist to directly link trends in waste with effects on human health and the environment, the management of waste may result in waste and chemicals in waste entering the environment.
· Not only does recycling keep waste out of landfills, it also lets much of the waste they produce get reused or repurposed. Proper electronics disposal: Many electronic devices – even something as small as batteries and cell phones – are made from harmful materials that can cause damage to the environment. Businesses should make sure to ...
Environmental precautions Environmental precautions See Section 12 for additional ecological information. Methods and material for containment and cleaning up Methods for containment Dike to contain. Pick up with absorbant material. Put in suitable container for disposal. Methods for cleaning up Pick up and transfer to properly labeled ...
· November 27, 2019. Call2Recycle Canada, Inc. and Raw Materials Company commit to smooth transition to new regulatory environment. November 26, 2019, Toronto, Ontario – Call2Recycle®, Canada''s first and largest consumer battery collection and recycling program, and Raw Materials Company (RMC), an industry leading battery-recycling company, will work together to …
· Scientists are developing computer models that show how radioactive waste interacts with soil and sediments, shedding light on waste disposal and …
· Poor waste disposal also causes the release of harmful substances such as carbon monoxides which inhibits the function of haemoglobin in the body of a human. 5. Animal and Marine Life Damage. This is one of the major negative effects of improper waste management because it directly affects animals and marine life.
· RMC is the next widely used construction material when compared with conventional SMC. World-wide there is a huge concern on reducing the environmental pollution viz. greenhouse gases and the contribution of the construction sector in this …
There is a need today for an effective waste management since inaccurate waste disposal is a huge threat to the health of people and also to the environment. A lot of experts have been proven over the years that inappropriate waste disposal has a lot of detrimental effect to the lives of …
· The article presents a time series of raw material consumption (RMC) and total material consumption (TMC) indicators for the Czech Republic for 1990–2017 calculated with the use of hybrid input-output life cycle assessment approach (hybrid IO-LCA). While the RMC indicator has already been calculated with the use of various alternatives of input-output or hybrid approaches for some other ...
potential negative effects on health and the environment. These steps ensure compliance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) shall be treated separately using the national collection framework available to customers for the return, recycling, and treatment of WEEE.
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adding materials that will ensure that the hazardous constituents are maintained in their least mobile or toxic form. The addition of lime or sutfide to a metal hydroxide waste to precipitate the metal Ions or the addition of a sorbent to an organic waste are examples of stabilization techniques.
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The purpose of this plan is to provide important hazardous waste information for Rocky Mountain College (RMC). Proper hazardous waste management is important in order to provide healthy and safe working conditions for faculty, staff, and students, to protect the environment, and to ensure compliance with applicable federal, state,
· With an estimated 8.4 million tonnes of plastic waste entering the oceans per year, the global problem of plastic waste is a significant environmental concern for governments and the public.To combat the damage from plastic waste, government and non- government organisations invest in numerous waste abatement infrastructure, policies and outreach programs ().
Alum sludge, Construction, Materials, Brick, Disposal INTRODUCTION Aluminum sulfate ( Al 2 SO 4. 18H 2 O) is the most commonly used coagulant in drinking water treatment plants and as a result, tons of aluminum hydroxide –containing sludge is unsafely disposed to the open environment daily. Alum sludge as waste materials are mostly sent to ...
· Leaching toxicity test was conducted to study the environmental impact of using red mud waste, as subgrade material, on the surrounding vegetation and groundwater. The extracting agent was prepared by mixing concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid in a mass ratio of 2:1 as per the Chinese standard of HJ/T299-2007. | https://awaryjneotwieraniewarszawa.pl/1059_08_2007.html |
1 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
2 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Abstract
Keywords
Main Subjects
1. Introduction
Healthcare waste is the total waste stream that, regardless of its volume, characteristics, and composition, is produced from health centers, health research centers, and laboratories, hospitals, clinics, medical research centers, drug factories, pharmacies, etc. . These wastes account for around 1%–2% of urban wastes. Still, they are significant in terms of health issues. Because of the increase in population and healthcare facilities, the per capita health waste production has been increased and become a serious threat to the environment and people . Waste management in hospitals is done according to the law on waste disposal . Patwary et al. reported that a significant risk factor for disease transmission could be mismanagement of medical waste in developing countries . In these countries, insufficient attention is paid to the management and disposal of medical and health waste. So that hospital waste may be mixed with household waste, which in addition to increasing the volume of hazardous waste, endangers people’s health . Hospital waste is very toxic compared to other wastes. Although 75% to 90% of the healthcare waste generated is non-toxic, the remaining 10%-25% is considered “hazardous” [6, 7]. The results of a cross-sectional study in selected Addis Ababa hospitals showed that the average waste production rate varies between 0.361 and 0.669 kg/patient/d and consists of 58.69% and 41.31% of non-hazardous and hazardous waste, respectively .
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the goal of biomedical waste management is to eliminate and treat it with confidence in health, environment, and economy through safe methods at all stages . Since handling biomedical waste is a hazardous activity that requires high training and skills, the waste generated in healthcare centers must be properly managed before disposal. This process includes all activities related to waste generation, segregation, transportation, storage, treatment, and final disposal . The production of healthcare waste depends on local laws, structure, location, the capacity of health facilities, medical waste segregation system, the number of patients being treated, and so on . Garbage must be collected and transported in a harmless way to human and the environment. At the hospital, waste transportation routes must be determined. Wheeled containers or carts must be used to transport waste to the storage site . If hospital wastes are not properly disposed of, infectious diseases such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria can spread and affect human health and the environment . Also, the environment might be polluted by releasing toxic pollutants into the air by medical waste incinerators and scattering toxic ash residues to landfills for disposal that may infiltrate groundwater .
Principled management of health care waste emphasizes continuous control over the production, storage, collection, transportation, decontamination, and disposal of this waste. Reducing waste generation is also one of the management measures and a key factor in minimizing hazardous waste. In Iran, several studies have been conducted on hospital waste management . Al-Khatib et al. reported that hospital waste management plays an important role in reducing the volume of waste generated and the pollution of this waste . In a case study of Farzadkia et al. in five selected hospitals in Tehran in 2018, the average production waste was 4.72 kg/bed.d, of which 2.3 kg/bed.d was related to infectious waste . According to the study of Khosravipour and Nejati in public hospitals in Urmia City, Iran, the average total production of waste was 7430.11 kg/d and 2712 ton/y, which consisted of 65% general waste and 35% hazardous waste . Also, Zazouli et al., in the study of hospital waste in Gorgan City, Iran, reported that the average total rates of production waste and hazardous waste were 2.63 kg/bed.d and 1.03 kg/bed.d, respectively .
The medical waste generated by healthcare activities is more likely to transmit infectious diseases. Regulations of infectious waste management recommend using technologies, such as incineration, microwave, and hydroclave, which are expensive treatment options for less economically developed countries . Incineration is the most widely-used technology and expensive treatment for medical waste management in developing countries. Still, because of the different types of pollutants released from the incineration of medical waste, such as dioxins, eruptions, etc., it poses a great risk to health and the environment . Tiwari and Kadu studied the classification, legislation, and management practices related to biomedical waste in India. They concluded that incineration of biomedical waste is one of the most common treatment methods in India, which has adverse effects on the environment . Saeb et al. reported that 46% and 36% of infectious wastes have been destroyed by incineration and safe methods, respectively. Biological monitoring showed that the function of most safety devices was at an acceptable level in hospitals. They eliminate the waste with an average of 80% of microorganisms . Also, Gupta showed that autoclave and hydroclave as biomedical waste treatment technologies were economically, technologically appropriate, and environmentally friendly, and therefore are cost-effective technologies .
On the other hand, medical waste is considered a source of soil and water contamination if not rendered harmless before landfilling . Chung and Meltzer estimated the total US carbon footprint. Their study showed that healthcare contributes to about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions in the nation . Also, Karthikeyan et al. reported that greenhouse gases and particulate emissions are an important issue for municipal solid waste disposal sites. Incineration of hospital waste at these sites releases harmful pollutants such as dust, carbon black, ammonia, sulfate, and nitrate into the air, which cause various types of respiratory problems in nearby residents . The choice of medical waste disposal should be made in accordance with today’s climate change environment and the spread of infections. Because of the spread of various diseases, proper disposal of biomedical waste is a necessary process . At present, in Iran, according to the Law on Medical Waste Management, in hospitals and other production centers of such wastes, collection and decontamination are done by producers, and municipalities bury decontaminated wastes. One of the most critical problems in the safe management of such wastes is related to decentralized centers such as offices, clinics, and small healthcare centers. Various methods in different countries are used to treat waste generated in decentralized centers. Based on the research background, many studies have been conducted on waste management and decontamination in centralized centers (hospitals, health care centers). Still, no study has been conducted on waste management in decentralized centers. This issue has many health, economic and technical aspects, which created disagreement among different experts to introduce a suitable method for decontaminating the affected infectious waste. Comparison of different aspects of infectious waste decontamination methods and experts’ opinions are useful in decision-making processes and educational issues. This study aimed to compare and prioritize different methods of collection and decontamination of healthcare waste in decentralized healthcare centers in Iran.
2. Materials and Methods
Study tools
In this descriptive-statistical study, a questionnaire was used to obtain the views of environmental health experts on various methods of collecting and decontaminating waste in decentralized treatment centers.
Study population
The study population was environmental health experts. A total of 49 experts with a PhD, MSc, or BSc in Environmental Health were invited to complete the questionnaire voluntarily.
Questionnaire questions
The questionnaire included questions to examine the various aspects of each waste disposal method, including economic, health, social acceptability, political, legal acceptance, impact on water, soil, and living resources. The questionnaire’s disposal methods included incinerator, landfill, on-site decontamination, concentrated decontamination, autoclave decontamination, chemical disinfection decontamination, and microwave decontamination. For this study, a 28-question questionnaire was prepared, and experts’ opinions on five decontamination methods and the final disposal of decentralized health care centers were collected and analyzed. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire used were assessed using the Cronbach α test.
Data analysis
Descriptive statistics (mean, mode) were used to analyze the data. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed in Excel software.
3. Results and Discussion
Demographic characteristics of the respondents
According to , among environmental health experts in terms of age, 53% were between 20 and 30 years old, 25% between 30 and 40 years, 18% between 40 and 50 years, and 4% between 50 and 60 years. Of these 49 experts, 63% had a bachelor’s degree, 27% had a master’s degree, and 10% had a doctorate. Also, in terms of the type of employment, 45% were students, 6% were environmental health experts, 39% were environmental health engineers, 4% were university professors, and 6% were others.
Experts’ views on waste collection and decontamination
According to Figure 1, 33% of the environmental health experts said that collecting waste from offices and clinics and their decontamination in the hospital in a centralized method is the most practical method for collecting and disposing of decentralized health waste.
In comparison, 18% of them considered the centralized collection of waste from offices and clinics and their decontamination in the same office as the most impractical method. Also, according to 41% of experts, collecting waste from offices and clinics and decontaminating them in a centralized method is the most economically-acceptable method.
According to experts’ comments, the method of centralized collection of waste from several offices and clinics that are close to each other and their decontamination in a centralized manner has the least environmental risk. In contrast, collecting waste and its decontamination in a centralized manner produces the highest risk in the environment. They also chose the same method of decontamination as the best method for disposing of the waste of several centers in separate places.
According to Figure 2, decontamination by autoclave (56%) and then the use of incinerators (20%) had the highest degree of desirability from the perspective of environmental health professionals.
However, the desirability of safe landfill and disinfection with chemicals was the least, with 6%.
According to the findings, environmental health experts described the autoclave/hydroclave method as the most desirable method and landfilling as the most undesirable method from a health and economic point of view. On the other hand, they believed that among the final decontamination methods, first the autoclave/hydroclave method (33%) and then the landfilling method (27%) requires more hygienic measures, including regular monitoring. Also, they are among the appropriate methods of waste decontamination, according to the current situation in our country.
Figure 3 shows that most people believed that all decontamination methods required specialized personnel to monitor the process directly.
According to Figure 4, health issues with 54% and impact on water and soil with 0% had the highest and lowest priority for health professionals to decontaminate the waste of decentralized health centers.
The experts believed that the landfill method had the most and the autoclave/hydroclave method had the least harm to the climate and soil.
The use of different decontamination methods for healthcare waste has been reported in various parts of the world and Iran. Jonidi et al. on the performance of sterilization equipment in hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences reported that all but four psychiatry hospitals were equipped with safe waste equipment (autoclave, hydroclave, chemiclave, and dry heat). Autoclave is also used in 42.42% of private hospitals, 60% of public hospitals, and 80% of other hospitals. As a result, among the four types of devices mentioned, it has the most commonly used in the studied hospitals . Also, Dastpak et al. reported that disinfection methods of infectious waste in Iran were autoclaving and hydroclaving in more than 70% of cases . In South Korea, the final disposal method is incineration (52.7% of hospital waste), steam sterilization (46.4% of hospital waste), and other methods such as microwave and chemical disinfection (less than 0.2% of hospital waste) . Kalhor et al. reported that health waste in Qazvin City, Iran, was disinfected with autoclave, hydroclave, and chemicals . Also, Nangbe’s study at Private Clinics in Cotonou Town shows that private clinics use three methods to treat their waste: incineration, Secure landfill, dumping and burning in the open air . Tiwari and Kadu studied biomedical waste in India. They reported that incineration of biomedical waste was one of the most common treatment methods in India because, despite the adverse effects on the environment, it is cheap. In addition to incineration, methods such as autoclave and microwave treatment are used . In Japan, 82% of the infectious waste generated per year is eventually incinerated . In different countries of the world such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Libya, and Egypt, incineration method and in countries such as Mongolia, Bahrain, Korea, Palestine, and South Africa, in addition to the above methods, sanitary landfill, autoclave, and thermal disinfection are used . Comparison of these reports with the results of this study shows that incineration is one of the most widely-used methods for decontaminating medical waste in the world. Experts chose the autoclave method because health and environmental issues are their most important priority.
According to previous studies, about 49%-60% of medical waste is treated by incineration, 20%-37% by autoclave sterilization, and 4%-5% by other methods . Burning is known as the best disposal method, and internationally, it is the most common treatment method used worldwide, including Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh . However, this method emits toxic air pollutants and ash residues and is the primary source of dioxins in the environment. Dioxins have been linked to cancer, immune system disorders, diabetes, birth defects, and sexual dysfunction. Incineration of hospital waste also not only releases toxic acid gases (CO, CO2, NO2, SO2, etc.) into the environment but also leaves ash solids as residues, which increase the level of heavy metals, inorganic and organic compounds in the environment [28, 29, 30]. Studies show that non-incineration technologies are better for the environment and more cost-effective [31, 32]. Ferdowsi et al. reported that incineration has more depreciation than autoclave and is less energy efficient than in autoclaves . Concerns about flue gases and water and soil contamination in the landfill method have led environmental health experts to recommend the use of autoclave as the best option for decontaminating healthcare waste. Sanitary landfilling is one of the final methods of disposing of medical waste due to concerns about groundwater and soil contamination . The use of sanitary landfilling is less acceptable. According to the results of Figure 4, the greatest concern of environmental health experts in choosing a method for decontamination and final disposal of waste was the health aspect (54%), and attention to issues such as economics (6%) was of lower importance. It seems that this issue has made waste decontamination by autoclave the most important for decontamination of health care centers, which is consistent with the results of Torkashvand et al. . Also, according to Figure 5 and environmental health experts, ordinary waste (45%) and then infectious waste (35%) constitute the highest amount. In contrast, radioactive waste (0%) includes the lowest waste from health centers, clinics, and offices.
4. Conclusion
This study was conducted to obtain the opinions of environmental health experts on various methods of collection and decontamination of waste from decentralized healthcare centers. In recent years, due to population growth and the expansion of hospitals to improve the quality and quantity of community health, the amount of hospital waste, especially infectious waste, has increased. Because of the health and environmental hazards of hospital waste, environmentally friendly, economical, and high-efficiency methods should be used to eliminate these wastes. According to the environmental health specialist, the health aspect was the most important priority in waste management of decentralized healthcare centers. Therefore, autoclaving is the most appropriate way to decontaminate this type of waste. Collection by special vehicles with the help of the private sector and transfer to centralized disinfection centers is the best collection method.
Also, according to the results and the current situation of healthcare waste management in our country, it is recommended to reduce the amount of waste produced using appropriate methods. This reduction will eventually lower the cost of waste collection and decontamination. Further studies should also be conducted on modern collection and decontamination systems and their localization and determination of workplace health policies.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran (Code: IR.MAZUMS.REC.1399.950).
Funding
This study was supported by the Deputy of Research at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari.
Authors' contributions
The manuscript was designed, prepared, and revised by all authors as well as the final manuscript was read and accepted
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their appreciation to the Deputy of Research of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences for the financial support. | http://jaehr.muk.ac.ir/article_137299.html |
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Prelims bits
Relevance
- GS 3 || Environment || Environment & Ecology || Pollution
Why in news?
- Kerala is the only state to have ensured zero COVID-19 vaccine wastage, with Andhra Pradesh being a close second at just 1 percent slippage, according to the data released by the central government.
What is vaccine wastage?
- Vaccine wastage is an expected component of any large vaccination drive, and a vaccine is procured from the maker with an estimated wastage. For each vaccine type, the wastage has to be within recommended limits.
- High vaccine wastage inflates vaccine demand and increases vaccine procurement and supply chain costs.
- It is directly linked to vaccine usage, which is the proportion of vaccines administered against vaccines issued to a vaccination site.
Directions from NGT regarding Bio-medical Wastage
- Recently, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has observed that the segregation of Covid-19 biomedical waste from general garbage is a must to avoid further contamination adversely affecting public health.
- The directions came on a suo motu matter about scientific disposal of Covid-19 waste.
- It was observed that segregation of Covid-19 from general waste is a must to avoid additional load on Common Biomedical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities (CBWTFs) incinerators and also to avoid further contamination.
- In India, Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 deal with waste generated in infectious diseases like Covid-19.
What is Medical waste/Bio-Medical Waste?
- Medical waste is a subset of wastes generated at health care facilities, such as hospitals, physicians’ offices, dental practices, blood banks, and veterinary hospitals/clinics, as well as medical research facilities and laboratories. Generally, medical waste is healthcare waste that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids, or other potentially infectious materials and is often referred to as regulated medical waste.
- Biomedical waste comprises human & animal anatomical waste, treatment apparatus like needles, syringes, and other materials used in health care facilities in the process of treatment and research.
- This waste is generated during diagnosis, treatment, or immunization in hospitals, nursing homes, pathological laboratories, blood banks, etc.
Management of Medical waste/Bio-Medical Waste
- Biomedical waste must be properly managed and disposed of to protect the environment, general public, and workers, especially healthcare and sanitation workers who are at risk of exposure to biomedical waste as an occupational hazard.
- Steps in the management of biomedical waste include generation, accumulation, handling, storage, treatment, transport, and disposal.
- National waste management policy
- The development and implementation of a national waste management policy can improve biomedical waste management in health facilities in a country.
- Disposal of this waste is an environmental concern, as many medical wastes are classified as infectious or bio-hazardous and could potentially lead to the spread of infectious disease.
- The most common danger for humans is an infection which also affects other living organisms in the region. Daily exposure to the wastes (landfills) leads to the accumulation of harmful substances or microbes in the person’s body.
- A 1990 report by the United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded
- that the general public is not likely to be adversely affected by biomedical waste generated in the traditional healthcare setting.
- They found, however, that biomedical waste from those settings may pose injury and exposure risks via occupational contact with medical waste for doctors, nurses, and janitorial, laundry, and refuse workers.
- Further, there are opportunities for the general public to come into contact with medical waste, such as needles used illicitly outside healthcare settings, or biomedical waste generated via home health care.
Effects of medical waste
- Impact on earth
- Improper management of health care waste can have both direct and indirect health consequences for health personnel, community members, and the environment.
- Toxic emissions
- Indirect consequences in the form of toxic emissions from inadequate burning of medical waste, or the production of millions of used syringes in a period of three to four weeks from an insufficiently well-planned mass immunization campaign.
- Water contamination
- The most serious effect that biomedical waste has on our seas is the discharge of poisons into the waters that could then be consumed by ocean life creatures.
- Biomedical waste is not limited to medical instruments; it includes medicine, waste stored in red biohazard bags, and materials used for patient care, such as cotton and band-aids.
- Birth defects
- Toxins would interject into the food chain and eventually reach humans who consume sea creatures.
- Human exposure to such toxins can stunt human growth development and cause birth defects.
- Impact on Environment
- The high volume of plastic use in the medical field also poses a dangerous threat to the environment.
- According to North and Halden, 85% of disposable plastic materials make up all medical equipment.
- Our current reliance on plastic materials is rooted in their unique capabilities to be lightweight, cost-effective, and durable while preserving the sterility of medical equipment.
- In addition to the serious health implications of releasing harmful toxins in the environment from medical waste deposits, introducing this volume of single-use plastics can catalyze the compounding health detriments caused by macro and micro-plastics.
Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016
- Objective:The objective of the rules is to properly manage the per-day bio-medical waste from Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) across the country.
- Ambit: The ambit of the rules has been expanded to include vaccination camps, blood donation camps, surgical camps, or any other healthcare activity.
- Phase Out: Chlorinated plastic bags, gloves, and blood bags have been phased out within two years starting from March 2016.
- Pre-treatment: Pre-treatment of the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) or by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
- Categorization: Bio-medical waste has been classified into 4 categories instead of the earlier 10 categories to improve the segregation of waste at source.
- Stringent Standards for Pollutants: The rules prescribe more stringent standards for incinerators to reduce the emission of pollutants in the environment.
- Role of State Government: The State Government provides the land for setting up common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facilities.
Challenges and Concerns
- The pandemic has posed a challenge in terms of scientifically disposing of produced waste, as well as a challenge for civic authorities in charge of collection and disposal.
- The CPCB recommendations on Covid-19-related waste are not being followed by states.
- Covid-19 facilities and quarantine homes have been accused of excessive waste segregation in several states.
- Non-segregation of waste leads to the incineration of contaminated plastics, which emits poisonous gases and pollutes the air.
- A spike in caseload may be triggered by an increase in residential biomedical waste and its processing without following safety protocols.
- Without proper scientific management of such waste, it has the potential to harm patients as well as the staff and professionals involved.
- Thousands of sanitation workers are at risk due to discarded masks and gloves, since they frequently work without safety or training to handle such hazardous material.
Technology options for ‘treatment’
- Chemical processes-In these processes chemicals act as disinfectants. Sodium hypochlorite, dissolved chlorine dioxide, peracetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, dry inorganic chemical, and ozone are examples of such chemicals. Most chemical processes are water-intensive and require neutralizing agents.
- Thermal processes-These processes utilize heat to disinfect and they operate depending on the temperature.
- Mechanical processes-These processes are used to change the physical form or characteristics of the waste to facilitate waste handling or to process the waste in conjunction with other treatment steps.
- Irradiation processes-In these processes, wastes are exposed to ultraviolet or ionizing radiation in an enclosed chamber. These systems require post shredding to render the waste unrecognizable.
- Biological processes-Biological enzymes are used for treating medical waste.
- It is claimed that biological reactions decontaminate the waste and cause the destruction of all the organic constituents so that only plastics, glass, and other inert will remain in the residues.
Conventions related to Hazardous wastes
Basel Convention
- The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was created to protect people and the environment from the negative effects of the inappropriate management of hazardous wastes worldwide.
- It is the most comprehensive global treaty dealing with hazardous waste materials throughout their lifecycles, from production and transport to final use and disposal.
Rotterdam Convention
- The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in international trade provides Parties with a first line of defence against hazardous chemicals.
- It promotes international efforts to protect human health and the environment as well as enabling countries to decide if they want to import hazardous chemicals and pesticides listed in the Convention.
Stockholm Convention
- The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from highly dangerous, long-lasting chemicals by restricting and ultimately eliminating their production, use, trade, release and storage.
Solutions
- An initiative from corporations and hospitals is essential to creating a healthier environment, however, there are various methods in which involve action from the general population and would contribute to a clean air environment.
- Creating surveillance groups within hospitals- Everyone would be held accountable for misconduct and improper disposal of waste.
- Consequences could be implemented where individuals would be required to pay a fine, or face unpaid suspension from work.
- PPP model
- Companies and governmental organizations should also initiate non-routine checkups and searches; this would place pressure on hospitals to ensure that waste is properly disposed of all year round.
- Voluntary clean-ups would involve hospital staff in assuring that medical waste is not littered around the hospital or thrown into regular garbage bins.
- Awareness campaign
- CPCB should take further initiatives like conducting an appropriate programme on Doordarshan. All India Radio and other media platforms to create mass awareness about the correct disposal of Covid-19 biomedical waste.
- There should be constant and regular monitoring by the central and state PCBs, Health Departments in the states/UTs, and by the high-level task team at the Central level with further coordination by CPCB. | https://www.upsciq.com/magazine_months/may-2021/?shaarSlug=covid-19-vaccine-wastage&lang=english |
One of the most common forms of pollution control in the United States is wastewater treatment. The basic function of wastewater treatment is to speed up the natural processes by which water is purified.
Every community needs to treat its wastewater because of the serious health problems untreated or inadequately treated wastewater can cause. Although this may seem obvious, untreated wastewater is still the root cause of much environmental damage and human illness, misery, and death around the world.
Sometimes it is useful to reexamine basic ideas like why wastewater treatment is important, especially today when so many communities need to save money and reprioritize their needs and funding for public projects.
What is in wastewater?
Sources of wastewater include homes, farms, hospitals, businesses, and industries. Some older communities have combined sewers that collect both wastewater and storm water runoff from streets, lawns, farms, and other land areas. Wastewater can include debris from streets, pesticides, fertilizers, and wastes from humans and animals. Wastewater from a typical household might include toilet wastes and used water from sinks, baths, showers, washing machines, and dishwashers.
What makes wastewater so dangerous?
Feces and urine from both humans and animals carry many disease-causing organisms. Wastewater from commercial or industrial sources may also contain harmful chemicals and heavy metals known to cause a variety of environmental and health problems. Disease-causing organisms (pathogens) can enter a community’s wastewater system from patients at hospitals or from anyone who is sick or a carrier of a disease. Carriers may not have symptoms or even know they have an illness or disease.
Much of our wastewater, treated or untreated, eventually ends up in our rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans—sometimes via groundwater, the underground water source many citizens access by well to provide drinking water. We often assume that groundwater is pure—and it usually is—but unfortunately, well water contaminated by sewage is a common cause of outbreaks of wastewater-related diseases.
When untreated wastewater reaches water used as a drinking water source for a community, there can be significant health risks. The effectiveness of drinking water treatment can be reduced when water is heavily contaminated. To ensure safe drinking water for their citizens, communities need both effective drinking water and wastewater treatment.
What is wastewater treatment?
Wastewater treatment consists of a combination of processes used in steps to remove, kill, or “inactivate” a large portion of the pollutants and disease-causing organisms that may exist in the wastewater. Most treatment methods include a preliminary step in which the solid materials are filtered out or allowed to settle and separate from the rest of the wastewater. Helpful bacteria grow naturally in the solids or “sludge,” which provide some initial treatment for the sludge and the wastewater that encounters it. The sludge is then treated further by applying lime or chemicals, air drying, heat drying, or composting. For final disposal, it is burned, buried in landfills, used as commercial fertilizer, or may be spread on forested land.
The wastewater receives further treatment often through a combination of filtration and biological and chemical processes. The wastewater is often stored for a period of time to allow further settling and bacterial treatment. If conditions are right, the treated liquid waste stream can be applied to soil, where most of the pollutants are either removed or inactivated by naturally-occurring bacteria present in the soil, adhered to certain materials in the soil, or filtered out before reaching the groundwater.
Otherwise, the wastewater (liquid waste stream) is disinfected and discharged to a nearby body of water. Disinfection is normally the final treatment step for wastewater being discharged near or directly into surface water or for direct groundwater recharge. Chlorine, ozone, ultraviolet light, or other chemical agents inactivate remaining pathogens that manage to survive previous treatment processes. Many states require the removal of excess chlorine before discharge to surface waters by a process called de-chlorination. Alternatives to chlorine disinfection, such as ultraviolet light or ozone, are used in situations where chlorine and chlorine by-products in treated wastewater may be harmful to fish and other aquatic life.
Pollutants, such as heavy metals, chemical compounds, and toxic substances, are more difficult to remove from water and have placed additional burdens on wastewater treatment systems. Rising demands on the water supply only aggravate the problem. The increasing need to reuse water calls for better wastewater treatment. These challenges are being met through better methods of removing pollutants at treatment plants, or through prevention of pollution at the source. Pretreatment of industrial waste, for example, removes many troublesome pollutants at the beginning, not the end, of the pipeline.
However, while wastewater treatment is essential for protecting water quality, it is only one barrier against disease. Additional treatment is usually needed to ensure the water we drink is safe to consume.
Who is responsible for wastewater treatment?
Citizens often don’t realize that ultimate responsibility for protecting their communities from wastewater-related illnesses lies with local governments and community residents. Even though state and federal laws set minimum environmental and health standards, it is usually up to local officials and individual homeowners to ensure that these standards are being met.
Urban areas and communities across the country rely upon a system of collection sewers, pumping stations, and treatment plants. Sewers collect the wastewater from homes, businesses, and industries, and deliver it to wastewater plants for treatment. Most treatment plants are built to clean wastewater for discharge into streams or other receiving waters, some for reuse.
For many small communities, rural areas, or sparsely populated areas, a decentralized approach to the collection, treatment, and dispersal of the wastewater is commonly used and just as effective as large-scale systems at treating wastewater. These types of small-scale or individual systems are often referred to as onsite systems, septic systems, cluster systems, or decentralized systems.
Community Wastewater Treatment
Communities that rely on a network of sewers and a centralized treatment plant to collect, treat, and discharge their wastewater need to make sure that these facilities are being properly operated and maintained. Local governments must make it a priority to monitor treatment plants, be aware of any deficiencies, and ensure that needed improvements are made.
Monitoring may also be done by health departments or state departments of natural resources, environmental protection, or other government agencies. But compliance at inspection time does not guarantee consistent treatment—it is up to communities to protect the health of their residents by making certain that water and wastewater treatment plants stay in compliance.
Another concern for many communities is aging infrastructure and treatment facilities that need to be repaired, replaced, or upgraded. Old sewer collection systems and drinking water distribution lines with cracks or leaks in them can be an additional source of pollution and drinking water contamination.
Some older communities that use the same pipes for sewers and street storm water drains may have problems with flooding and overflows when it rains or when snow melts. Often, untreated wastewater is dumped into nearby lakes, rivers, or oceans. Communities must monitor and control these overflows, or they may need to separate the lines.
Onsite Wastewater Treatment
Many households in small and rural communities use individual onsite treatment systems (i.e., septic systems), to collect, treat, and disperse of their wastewater. These individual systems also need to be monitored and maintained and that responsibility lies with the owner of the system. Onsite systems that are improperly sited, constructed, operated, or maintained can fail and cause several environmental and health problems.
Failing onsite systems can cause untreated sewage to pond on the surface of the ground where it can pose a risk to neighborhood children and animals and provide a breeding place for flies, mosquitoes, and other disease carriers. Groundwater can be polluted by failing onsite wastewater systems, which can contaminate nearby drinking water sources and wells.
It is also extremely important for homeowners to have their well water tested. Outbreaks of waterborne illnesses are frequently traced to contaminated well water. Even well water that looks and tastes fine may contain harmful microorganisms and contaminants from chemical spills, fertilizers, pesticides, and failing wastewater treatment systems. A qualified laboratory can test well water for both bacteria and chemicals.
One way that communities have been working to help ensure that the health of the public is protected is by forming management programs for onsite wastewater treatment systems. The idea behind these programs is to help homeowners by centrally monitoring and managing onsite systems to make sure they always function correctly, and that the health of the community is never at risk. These programs can vary in scope and be organized to fit the needs of individual communities. | https://www.nesc.wvu.edu/wastewater |
The common practice for household refuse disposal in rural areas is to dump solid wastes openly in backyard gardens or in an open space. Such indiscriminate disposal is an environmental hazard and can threaten human health and safety. Solid waste that is improperly disposed of can result in a number of problems. It can create a breeding ground for pathogenic microorganisms and vectors of disease, and cause a public nuisance due to unsightliness and bad smell. It can cause contamination of surrounding soil, groundwater and surface water, and it can also create fire hazards, physical hazards and have poisoning effects (from pesticides and insecticides). However, these problems can be avoided by using appropriate management techniques. For all waste management issues, your role should be to engage community members and families in awareness of the solid waste problems in their area and try to change their behaviour. In doing so, it should be possible to have a clean, attractive and sustainable environment.
In this study session, you will learn about the different types of solid waste and their common sources. You will also learn about the stages in solid waste management and appropriate disposal methods. Proper management of solid waste will help your community prevent communicable diseases and safeguard the environment in a sustainable manner.
Solid wastes include household refuse, agricultural remnants, food leftovers, plastic bags, tin cans, ash and packaging, such as cartons and used jonya sacks. They become waste once they have been discarded because they are no longer needed in their present form. Refuse, garbage, litter and street sweepings are all terms used to describe solid wastes in various situations.
In rural parts of Ethiopia, the type of solid waste generated will vary depending on the particular location and the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the area.
In general, rural households produce wastes that are mostly organic in nature and result from agricultural production and processing activities. They include crop residues, food remnants, leaves and grass from clearing of sites, animal manures and dung, ashes, dead animal carcasses, etc. Other solid wastes could include glass, plastic containers, metal scraps, tin cans, plastic bags, condoms and obsolete agricultural pesticides and insecticides. These solid wastes need to be managed properly in a way that avoids the potential risks to the environment and to human health.
The type of waste will determine the choice of possible disposal methods. Therefore, it is important to be able to classify solid waste according to its characteristics (Table 22.1).
As you may remember from Study Session 18, solid waste can be classified based on its source as residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, institutional or healthcare waste. You were also introduced to the classification of waste as hazardous or non-hazardous and also as biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Another word used in the context of biodegradable solid waste is putrescible, which means the waste decomposes (rots down) quite quickly. Waste can also be described as combustible or non-combustible depending on whether it will burn or not. Table 22.1 classifies waste using these different properties.
Table 22.1 Classification of solid waste.
Hazardous waste Solid or semi-solid Substances that are either ignitable, corrosive, reactive, infectious or explosive Some obsolete pesticides such as DDT, dieldrin, etc.
Non-putrescible Non-biodegradable solid waste, it includes combustible and non-combustible waste Plastic bags, bottled water containers, tin cans, etc.
Putrescible wastes are generated by growing, handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food. These kinds of wastes tend to be more abundant during the summer (rainy) seasons. Non-putrescible wastes do not decompose easily; they may or may not be combustible. Because they do not break down, they persist in the environment and are often the cause of nuisance and aesthetic problems.
Can you think of any non-putrescible wastes that cause environmental problems in your community?
We don’t know exactly what the waste problems are in your area but a probable answer is plastic bags because they are a widespread problem in Ethiopia.
Plastic bags are commonly known as festal. They are widely used to carry goods from market to home in all areas because they are convenient, cheap and easy to use. Plastic bags are usually non-biodegradable and persist in the environment for a very long time. Moreover, when discarded indiscriminately, they pollute the land surface of your community, prevent rainwater from percolating into the soil, can easily be blown all over the place by wind, and create unsightly and nuisance conditions. The bags can also be easily swallowed by animals, which may block their digestive system and kill them (Figure 22.1). In malaria-prone areas, there is also a potential to create breeding places for mosquitoes because the bags may trap small pools of water.
Hazardous wastes are treated as a separate category of waste because special management and disposal methods are required. The main sources of hazardous substances are agricultural offices/stores, health offices/stores and possibly also private firms, homes and retail shops. The toxic, corrosive, ignitable, explosive and/or infectious characteristics of these wastes require careful and stringently controlled methods of handling, storing and transportation. Hazardous wastes, because of their particular environmental health hazard, should be identified, quantified and reported to a higher level for further action.
An environmental health hazard is any environmental factor or situation that can cause injury, disease or death.
In Study Session 2 you learned about the causes and types of environmental health hazards. The immediate health effects from hazardous wastes range from bad smells and simple irritation of eyes, skin, throat and breathing (lungs), to serious health conditions that affect the nervous system and could cause paralysis of the functional body parts. Some hazardous solid wastes have teratogenic (birth defects) and carcinogenic (cancer causing) effects.
The long-term effects of hazardous wastes can be devastating to community health and wellbeing. However, it is difficult to quantify the exposure level and predict the health consequences as a result of exposure because the types of hazardous waste are so variable. If you observe or get reports from others about the presence of any hazardous waste, you should report this to the environmental health office and/or the agricultural development agent in your locality.
The complete set of functional elements will apply in urban centres managed by municipal authorities but not all of them will be relevant in rural areas.
Onsite means these functions are concerned with solid waste at the place where the waste is generated. For residential waste this means at home in the household. Onsite handling is the very first step in waste management. It involves individual family members, households and communities, all of whom need to know how to handle waste properly at this level. ‘Handling’ means the separation of wastes into their different types so they can be dealt with in the most appropriate way, for example, separating putrescible waste for composting. The benefits of appropriate onsite handling include reducing the volume of waste for final disposal and recovering usable materials.
Onsite storage means the temporary collection of waste at the household level. It is important that waste is stored in proper containers. These could be baskets, preferably made from locally available materials, plastic buckets or metal containers (Figure 22.2). Larger containers or dustbins, especially those used for food waste, should be leakproof, have tight lids and be long-lasting. The size of the container should be sufficient to hold at least the amount of solid waste that is generated per day at household level. Institutions and businesses should consider having onsite storage facilities with greater capacity. The proper location of storage containers and the frequency and time of emptying are important factors to be considered for efficient onsite storage.
Some wastes will need some sort of onsite processing before the next steps, for example, in areas where false banana (enset) is used as a staple crop, the byproducts should be chopped into pieces before composting to speed up the rate of decomposition.
In urban centres, collection is a function that has its own process and services. Waste is collected and held at central transfer stations where waste is stored before it is transported to a final disposal site. In rural areas, waste is not normally collected in this way and disposal is limited to onsite processing options, although sometimes there may be communal collection of solid waste using animal carts.
Resource recovery means finding a way to use the waste so it becomes a valuable resource, rather than just a disposal problem. This is a very important part of waste management. Resource recovery includes a range of processes for recycling materials or recovering resources from the waste, including composting and energy recovery. Converting the waste into a new product may require energy and equipment; therefore, there needs to be a careful assessment of inputs and outputs in case it is not economically sensible to do it. Resource recovery options are discussed further in the following sections of this study session.
Even after recycling and resource recovery there will almost certainly be some residual waste that needs final disposal. Methods of disposal can be sanitary or unsanitary. Open field dumping is the most unsanitary method of refuse disposal and is most likely to cause a health hazard. Sanitary methods – including controlled tipping or controlled burial, incineration and sanitary landfill – are discussed later in this study session.
Figure 22.3 The waste hierarchy. Waste management options are listed in order of desirability from most desirable at the top to least desirable at the bottom.
The concept of integrated solid waste management (ISWM) mostly applies to municipal solid waste management in urban centres. The principles can, however, be applied to some extent in rural and peri-urban solid waste management.
In Study Session 18, it was explained that an ISWM approach means considering not only the appropriate disposal of solid waste but integrating this with other management options such as minimising waste production, recycling, composting and other waste recovery options. These different options can be ranked in order of their desirability as management options. This is often represented in a diagram known as the waste management hierarchy (Figure 22.3) that you first met in Study Session 2.
At the top of the hierarchy is reduction, which means keeping the production of waste to a minimum. Next comes reuse, which simply means using something more than once. The third option in the hierarchy is recovery, which includes several separate processes that enable material or energy resources to be recovered from the waste. These include recycling, composting and energy from waste. Finally, the least desirable waste management option is disposal, which includes landfill, tipping and incineration (burning) without energy recovery.
We will now look at the options for waste management in the hierarchy in a little more detail.
Reduction strategies are the ways that a household or community may use to try to reduce or minimise the amount of solid waste they produce. This approach is generally more relevant in affluent homes and societies with a wasteful lifestyle. For example, people with more money may not worry about throwing household items away when they can afford to buy replacements. In a business context, using two-sided photocopying of a document reduces the paper used and also therefore the waste produced.
Reuse refers to the act of using an item more than once, either for the same or similar purpose. Figure 22.4 shows used plastic bottles and other containers for sale to be reused. Unlike recycling and other recovery options, reuse does not require reprocessing and therefore requires less energy.
What sort of materials or products are reused for the same or different purposes in your community?
Using plastic bottles or glass containers for water, oil or gasoline are possible answers though there are a number of others from household utensils to personal uses.
Recycling is a process by which waste is processed in some way to be reformed into new or similar products. The principle is to make a usable product from the waste. Plastic bottles, newspapers, cardboard and tin cans can all be reprocessed and made into new items. Plastic bags can also be recycled and used to make mats, carpets and other products. Waste metal has a number of possible uses because it is relatively easy to reshape (Figure 22.5). Careful separation of the waste into its different types is important for the efficiency of recycling processes. Recycling not only reduces the quantity of waste but also saves money, so there is an economic, as well as an environmental, incentive to recycle.
Non-hazardous, putrescible solid wastes such as crop residues, leaves, grass and animal manures can be managed onsite by composting. Composting is a controlled process in which this type of waste is collected in an open pit or heap and is decomposed by natural biological processes. The waste is broken down by the action of a variety of microscopic and other small organisms. The waste is converted into a stabilised material that can be used as fertiliser. Composting is an environmentally friendly way of recovering value from organic waste.
As we discussed in previous sessions, both human waste and organic household waste can be composted. However, the process is different. Human waste can be composted in alternating double pit latrines and in ecological sanitation systems. This process of composting is anaerobic. In the case of organic household waste composting, it is an aerobic process.
Aerobic processes require oxygen or air to be present. Anaerobic processes take place without oxygen.
The pit for composting should be dug about 50 m away from a dwelling. The pit needs to be about 1 m deep and at least 1 m breadth and 1 m length. However, the size can vary with the amount of waste generated. The pit depth should be slightly less on one side, about 90 cm, to make a slope so that water does not collect at the bottom. To make the compost, organic matter such as grass, leaves and kitchen/food waste should be thrown into the pit in a shallow layer. It is very important that only biodegradable material is added, so care is needed to sort the waste beforehand. No plastic should be included and bones should be avoided. The waste should then be covered with a thin layer of soil. Covering with soil encourages the composting process and prevents the breeding of flies and other vermin. Air must be allowed to mix with the compost so the contents of the pit need to be turned frequently by digging. The compost needs a small amount of water to keep it moist. The time for the compost to be ready will vary depending on the temperature and the mix of waste among other factors but it should be ready within a few months.
Composting is mostly practised in rural communities. In Ethiopia, it is becoming customary for households to prepare compost from their household organic wastes and you should encourage this practice.
To incinerate something is to burn it. In waste management terms, however, incineration means burning in a controlled and managed process – usually at high temperature. Incineration cannot be implemented at household level; it is mostly used for institutional waste management purposes.
Different types of incinerator are used for burning waste. They differ by the temperature at which they operate, the cost of construction, the method of operation and the maintenance requirement. Incinerators can be used for disposal of wastes in health institutions/Health Posts and government and private institutions/offices/industries. Incineration can reduce the volume of refuse by up to 90%; the only remaining residual waste is ash. This significantly reduces the volume of material needing final disposal. Incineration is only classed as ‘recovery’ in waste management if the energy (heat) that is produced is used in some way.
Sanitary landfill means the controlled filling of compacted layers of solid waste and soil into pre-prepared land. Large-scale landfill sites for municipal waste need to be designed to protect surface and groundwater from contamination by leachate, the liquid waste that may seep out into the ground underneath the layers of waste. Sanitary landfill sites are not just rubbish dumps for open field dumping. To be classed as sanitary the site must be managed to minimise any negative environmental impact.
Controlled tipping or controlled burial is similar in principle to sanitary landfill but at a smaller scale that is appropriate in rural areas. In controlled tipping/burial, solid waste is disposed of into a dug pit and is regularly covered with soil to avoid attracting disease vectors such as flies and rodents. Covering the waste also stops it from being blown by the wind and avoids bad smells – hence ‘controlled’.
Note that various similar terms may be used to describe different types of waste disposal pit. A refuse pit is a simple pit used to dispose of household refuse, which may or may not be used for controlled tipping (with soil). Some wastes will need to be buried under soil as soon as they are disposed of, in which case the pit may be referred to as a burial pit.
When there is a need for preparing a refuse pit for households, you should advise them that sites for controlled tipping should be 10 m away from the house (preferably at the back of the house), at least 15 m and preferably 30–50 m away from water wells and at a lower ground level. At community level, a communal refuse pit should be 100 m away from houses and they will also need to consider the direction of wind. The site should be easily accessible, with adequate space, and should be fenced so that it is not accessible to children and domestic animals (Figure 22.6).
Care must be taken to avoid creating places that could harbour rats or encourage the breeding of flies and other insects. Waste from individual households should be taken to the site in suitable containers such as sacks, plastic bags or buckets. For a community waste disposal pit, it should be a collective responsibility to keep communal areas clean.
Animal carcasses need to be disposed of carefully because they can encourage the breeding of flies and rodents, and attract scavenger animals. They can be disposed of in a common burial pit for the community.
Burning of waste is another possible, though less desirable, method of final disposal. A burning site should be sited downwind and well away from houses. Non-combustible materials such as broken bottles, bones, etc. should be separated and buried at a safe location, not used by farming. Ashes that remain after burning can be used as fertiliser or, if mixed with mud, can be used for plastering of earth walls or floors.
The management of solid waste can have a significant impact on human and environmental health. You need to be able to survey the ways that solid waste is managed in your area so that you can assess the situation and identify possible areas for improvement. The list of questions below indicates some of the issues that should be covered in your survey; you may think of other questions to include.
How many of the households in your kebele have a compost pit?
Do households without compost pits have adequate space to make one?
Are there other opportunities for recycling or reuse of waste material?
Does the community have a communal refuse disposal pit?
How many people use each refuse pit?
Is there a need for another communal pit?
Are the refuse pits fenced and properly managed?
Is there adequate equipment in your kebele for managing solid waste?
Is there any open dumping of waste in your kebele?
Answering these questions will provide you with the baseline data you will need for planning improvements to the solid waste disposal facilities. If households do not manage their waste properly you may want to try to find out the reasons for this. It may be lack of resources such as money, space or labour, or there may be behavioural reasons that make people unwilling to use compost pits, for example. Understanding the reasons for the behaviour will help you to give advice to the family and indicate the most effective ways to promote good waste management practices.
After analysing your survey results, you may want to prepare an action plan. There are several possible measures that you could consider including in your plan to lessen the problems. You may want to promote general good practice by ensuring all households have adequate waste containers at home. You may need to ensure all pits are fenced and properly managed. You may need to mobilise the community to dig a new refuse pit, if your survey suggests that one is needed. You may want to focus on a specific problem like plastic bags. You could advise people to collect their plastic bags in one place for recycling and it may also be possible to encourage individuals and enterprises to undertake this profitable activity. You could encourage more reuse of plastic bags by suggesting that people take bags with them to the market or shop to be used again. You could promote other types of bag such as paper bags because they are made of biodegradable materials or permanent bags like cloth bags. You could get the local school involved and initiate a campaign among the children to collect waste bags to clean up the local environment.
Keep in mind that any action plan should be drawn up with the involvement of your community because it will not succeed without their full cooperation. You should include regular monitoring in your plan so you can assess if progress is being made.
In rural communities of Ethiopia, the type of waste produced is mainly agricultural and household waste, which is organic and compostable in nature.
There are several different ways of classifying waste, including putrescible or non-putrescible, hazardous or non-hazardous, and combustible or non-combustible.
Hazardous chemicals such as obsolete pesticides are concerns in rural communities.
The functional elements of solid waste management are onsite storage, processing and handling, collection, transfer and transport, resource recovery, and final disposal.
Landfill as a means of disposal of solid waste is used in urban situations but may not apply in rural settings. Controlled tipping/burial and composting methods are preferred.
Disposal of plastic bag wastes (festal) is a cause of concern and needs special attention to be managed sustainably.
Care should be given in selection of disposal sites at residential or communal level.
Surveying and community involvement is needed in order to prepare viable action plans to improve solid waste management practices.
A Recycling is the best approach to solid waste management.
B Composting is an aerobic decomposition process for converting organic solid waste into useful compost.
C Reusing plastic water bottles is an example of waste recovery.
D Controlled tipping is so called because only a limited quantity of waste can be tipped at any one time.
A is false. Recycling is a good method of waste management but reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place or reusing the waste without reprocessing is preferred.
B is true. Composting of solid waste is an aerobic decomposition process that produces compost.
C is false. Waste recovery means that something useful is recovered from the waste; reuse of waste simply means using the item again in the same way it was used in the first place.
D is false. Controlled tipping is called ‘controlled’ because the waste is regularly covered with soil rather than just left in the open.
Categorise the different kinds of waste listed below as hazardous or non-hazardous, and as compostable or non-compostable.
Tin cans, manure, grass, obsolete herbicides, paper bags, plastic festal, expired drugs, potato peelings.
List the functional elements of solid waste management. Which of these are relevant to rural settings? Explain why these are relevant but the others are not.
The functional elements of waste management are: onsite handling, storage and processing; collection; transfer and transport; resource recovery and processing; and disposal. In rural areas, waste is not normally collected or transported, so the second and third elements are not relevant. Most waste in rural areas is organic and there is plenty of space. Onsite handling, resource recovery in the form of recycling or composting and final disposal are found in rural areas.
Briefly describe the preparation of compost.
Compost can be made from household kitchen food waste, leaves, grass, kitchen waste, and any other organic biodegradable material. The compostable waste must be separated out so it contains no plastic or metal. The waste is put in a pit or heap at least 1 m x 1 m x 1 m. It needs a little water and it should be turned over regularly to provide air for the composting organisms. The resulting compost should be like soil and have a good earthy smell.
Identify two important indicators used to monitor solid waste management in a community. Describe how you would assess them.
There are several possible indicators that can be used to assess waste management practices. These include the number of households with a compost pit, whether there is a communal refuse pit, the number of people using a communal pit, if there is one, whether the refuse pits are fenced and managed, and others. You would assess these indicators by visiting the community, observing people’s practice and discussing with them what they did with their solid waste. | http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=209&printable=1 |
Abstract:The notion of viewing ICT as merely support for the business process has shifted towards viewing ICT as a critical business enabler. As such, the need for ICT devices has increased, contributing to high electronic equipment acquisition and disposal. Hence, its use and disposal must be seen in light of environmental sustainability, i.e., in terms of green use and disposal. However, there are limited studies on green Use and Disposal framework to be used as guiding lens by organizations in developing countries. And this study endeavors to address that need taking one of the largest multinational ICT intensive company in the country. The design and development of this framework passed through several stages, initially factors affecting green use and disposal were identified after quantitative and qualitative data analysis then there were multiple brainstorming sessions for the design enhancement as participative modelling was employed. Given the difference in scope and magnitude of the challenges identified, the proposed framework approaches green use and disposal in four imperatives; strategically, tactically, operationally and through continuous improvement.
Keywords: energy efficiency, green disposal, green ICT, green use, green use and disposal framework, sustainabilityProcedia PDF Downloads 27
434 Industrial Wastewater Sludge Treatment in Chongqing, China
Authors: Victor Emery David Jr., Jiang Wenchao, Yasinta John, Md. Sahadat Hossain
Abstract:Sludge originates from the process of treatment of wastewater. It is the byproduct of wastewater treatment containing concentrated heavy metals and poorly biodegradable trace organic compounds, as well as potentially pathogenic organisms (viruses, bacteria, etc.) which are usually difficult to treat or dispose of. China, like other countries, is no stranger to the challenges posed by an increase of wastewater. Treatment and disposal of sludge have been a problem for most cities in China. However, this problem has been exacerbated by other issues such as lack of technology, funding, and other factors. Suitable methods for such climatic conditions are still unavailable for modern cities in China. Against this background, this paper seeks to describe the methods used for treatment and disposal of sludge from industries and suggest a suitable method for treatment and disposal in Chongqing/China. From the research conducted, it was discovered that the highest treatment rate of sludge in Chongqing was 10.08%. The industrial waste piping system is not separated from the domestic system. Considering the proliferation of industry and urbanization, there is a likelihood that the production of sludge in Chongqing will increase. If the sludge produced is not properly managed, this may lead to adverse health and environmental effects. Disposal costs and methods for Chongqing were also included in this paper’s analysis. Research showed that incineration is the most expensive method of sludge disposal in China/Chongqing. Subsequent research, therefore, considered optional alternatives such as composting. Composting represents a relatively cheap waste disposal method considering the vast population, current technology and economic conditions of Chongqing, as well as China at large.
Keywords: Chongqing/China, disposal, industrial, sludge, treatmentProcedia PDF Downloads 219
433 Assessment of Solid Waste Management in General Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Housing Estate, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
Authors: Garba Inuwa Kuta, Mohammed, Adamu, Mohammed Ahmed Emigilati, Ibrahim Ishiaku, Kudu Dangana
Abstract:The study sought to identify the problems of solid waste management in General Mohammed InuwaWushishi Housing Estate. The two broad types of data, the secondary and primary data were used in the study. Questionnaires and personal observations were also used to collect some of the data. Factors impeding the effective and efficient solid waste management were identified. The study revealed that sacks disposal method and open dumping are the most commonly used method of disposal, about 30.0% of the respondent use sacks disposal method in the estate while 24.9% dump their refuse on the floor. Wrong attitudes and perceptions of the people about sanitation issues contributed to solid waste management problems of General Mohammed InuwaWushishi Housing Estate. Majority of the households did not educate their members on the need to clean their surroundings and refuse to buy drum for waste disposal from Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) on the basis that the drums are expensive. Virtually, all the people depended on Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) facilities for the disposal of their household refuse. Solid waste management problems were partly the results of NISEPA’s inability to cope with the situation because of lack of equipment. It was recommended that there should be an increase in enlightenment to the people on domestic waste disposal to keep the surroundings clean.
Keywords: housing estate, assessment, solid waste, disposal, managementProcedia PDF Downloads 366
432 Application of Thermal Dimensioning Tools to Consider Different Strategies for the Disposal of High-Heat-Generating Waste
Authors: David Holton, Michelle Dickinson, Giovanni Carta
Abstract:The principle of geological disposal is to isolate higher-activity radioactive wastes deep inside a suitable rock formation to ensure that no harmful quantities of radioactivity reach the surface environment. To achieve this, wastes will be placed in an engineered underground containment facility – the geological disposal facility (GDF) – which will be designed so that natural and man-made barriers work together to minimise the escape of radioactivity. Internationally, various multi-barrier concepts have been developed for the disposal of higher-activity radioactive wastes. High-heat-generating wastes (HLW, spent fuel and Pu) provide a number of different technical challenges to those associated with the disposal of low-heat-generating waste. Thermal management of the disposal system must be taken into consideration in GDF design; temperature constraints might apply to the wasteform, container, buffer and host rock. Of these, the temperature limit placed on the buffer component of the engineered barrier system (EBS) can be the most constraining factor. The heat must therefore be managed such that the properties of the buffer are not compromised to the extent that it cannot deliver the required level of safety. The maximum temperature of a buffer surrounding a container at the centre of a fixed array of heat-generating sources, arises due to heat diffusing from neighbouring heat-generating wastes, incrementally contributing to the temperature of the EBS. A range of strategies can be employed for managing heat in a GDF, including the spatial arrangements or patterns of those containers; different geometrical configurations can influence the overall thermal density in a disposal facility (or area within a facility) and therefore the maximum buffer temperature. A semi-analytical thermal dimensioning tool and methodology have been applied at a generic stage to explore a range of strategies to manage the disposal of high-heat-generating waste. A number of examples, including different geometrical layouts and chequer-boarding, have been illustrated to demonstrate how these tools can be used to consider safety margins and inform strategic disposal options when faced with uncertainty, at a generic stage of the development of a GDF.
Keywords: buffer, geological disposal facility, high-heat-generating waste, spent fuelProcedia PDF Downloads 140
431 Solid Waste Disposal Site Selection in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Area by Data Analysis Using GIS and Remote Sensing Tools
Authors: C. Asha Poorna, P. G. Vinod, A. R. R. Menon
Abstract:Currently increasing population and their activities like urbanization and industrialization generating the greatest environmental, issue called Waste. And the major problem in waste management is selection of an appropriate site for waste disposal. The selection of suitable site have constrains like environmental, economical and political considerations. In this paper we discuss the strategies to be followed while selecting a site for decentralized system for solid waste disposal, using Geographic Information System (GIS), the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the remote sensing method for Thiruvananthapuram corporation area. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. It lies on the shores of Killiyar and Karamana River. Being on the basin the waste managements must be regulated with the water body. The different criteria considered for waste disposal site selection are lithology, surface water, aquifer, groundwater, land use, contours, aspect, elevation, slope, and distance to road, distance from settlement are examined in relation to land fill site selection. Each criterion was identified and weighted by AHP score and mapped using GIS technique and suitable map is prepared by overlay analysis.
Keywords: waste disposal, solid waste management, Geographic Information System (GIS), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)Procedia PDF Downloads 266
430 Catalytic Depolymerisation of Waste Plastic Material into Hydrocarbon Liquid
Authors: Y. C. Bhattacharyulu, Amit J. Agrawal, Vikram S. Chatake, Ketan S. Desai
Abstract:In recent years, the improper disposal of waste polymeric materials like plastics, rubber, liquid containers, daily household materials, etc. is posing a grave problem by polluting the environment. On the other hand fluctuations in the oil market and limited stocks of fossil fuels have diverted the interest of researchers to study the production of fuels and hydrocarbons from alternative sources. Hence, to study the production of fuels from waste plastic is the need of hour at present. Effect of alkali solutions of different concentrations with copper comprising catalyst on depolymerisation reactions was studied here. The present study may become a preliminary method for obtaining valuable hydrocarbons from waste plastics and an effective way for depolymerising or degrading waste plastics for their safe disposal without causing any environmental problems.
Keywords: catalyst, depolymerisation, disposal, hydrocarbon liquids, waste plasticProcedia PDF Downloads 141
429 Medical Waste Management in Nigeria: A Case Study
Authors: Y. Y. Babanyara, D. B. Ibrahim, T. Garba
Abstract:Proper management of medical waste is a crucial issue for maintaining human health and the environment. The waste generated in the hospitals has the potential for spreading infections and causing diseases. The study is aimed at assessing the medical waste management practices in Nigeria. Three instruments, questionnaire administration, in-depth interview and observation method for data collection were adopted in the study. The results revealed that the hospital does not quantify medical waste. Segregation of medical wastes is not conducted according to definite rules and standards. Wheeled trolleys are used for on-site transportation of waste from the points of production to the temporary storage area. Offsite transportation of the hospital waste is undertaken by a private waste management company. Small pickups are mainly used to transport waste daily to an off-site area for treatment and disposal. The main treatment method used in the final disposal of infectious waste is incineration. Non-infectious waste is disposed off using land disposal method. The study showed that the hospital does not have a policy and plan in place for managing medical waste. The study revealed number of problems the hospital faces in terms of medical waste management, including; lack of necessary rules, regulations and instructions on the different aspects of collections and disposal of waste, failure to quantify the waste generated in reliable records, lack of use of coloured bags by limiting the bags to only one colour for all waste, the absence of a dedicated waste manager, and no committee responsible for monitoring the management of medical waste. Recommendations are given with the aim of improving medical waste management in the hospital.
Keywords: medical waste, treatment, disposal, public healthProcedia PDF Downloads 194
428 Deorbiting Performance of Electrodynamic Tethers to Mitigate Space Debris
Authors: Giulia Sarego, Lorenzo Olivieri, Andrea Valmorbida, Carlo Bettanini, Giacomo Colombatti, Marco Pertile, Enrico C. Lorenzini
Abstract:International guidelines recommend removing any artificial body in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) within 25 years from mission completion. Among disposal strategies, electrodynamic tethers appear to be a promising option for LEO, thanks to the limited storage mass and the minimum interface requirements to the host spacecraft. In particular, recent technological advances make it feasible to deorbit large objects with tether lengths of a few kilometers or less. To further investigate such an innovative passive system, the European Union is currently funding the project E.T.PACK – Electrodynamic Tether Technology for Passive Consumable-less Deorbit Kit in the framework of the H2020 Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Open program. The project focuses on the design of an end of life disposal kit for LEO satellites. This kit aims to deploy a taped tether that can be activated at the spacecraft end of life to perform autonomous deorbit within the international guidelines. In this paper, the orbital performance of the E.T.PACK deorbiting kit is compared to other disposal methods. Besides, the orbital decay prediction is parametrized as a function of spacecraft mass and tether system performance. Different values of length, width, and thickness of the tether will be evaluated for various scenarios (i.e., different initial orbital parameters). The results will be compared to other end-of-life disposal methods with similar allocated resources. The analysis of the more innovative system’s performance with the tape coated with a thermionic material, which has a low work-function (LWT), for which no active component for the cathode is required, will also be briefly discussed. The results show that the electrodynamic tether option can be a competitive and performant solution for satellite disposal compared to other deorbit technologies.
Keywords: deorbiting performance, H2020, spacecraft disposal, space electrodynamic tethersProcedia PDF Downloads 26
427 The Legal Framework for Solid Waste Disposal and Management in Kwara State, Nigeria
Authors: Alabi Odunayo Mayowa, Ajayi Oluwasola Felix
Abstract:Solid waste such as “garbage” “trash” “refuse” “slug” and “rubbish” is disposed off or is required to be disposed off in accordance with national law. The study relies on primary and secondary sources of information. The primary sources include the Constitution, statutes and subsidiary legislation. The secondary sources of information include books, journals, conference proceedings, newspapers, magazines and internet materials. The information obtained from these sources is subjected to content and contextual analysis. The study examines the Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency Law, 1992 and other laws on waste disposal and management in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study also examines the regulations and the agency i.e. the Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency created by the law with a view to determine the inadequacies in the law.
Keywords: solid waste, waste disposal, waste management, domestic wasteProcedia PDF Downloads 271
426 Health Care Waste Management Practices in Liberia: An Investigative Case Study
Authors: V. Emery David Jr., J. Wenchao, D. Mmereki, Y. John, F. Heriniaina
Abstract:Healthcare waste management continues to present an array of challenges for developing countries, and Liberia is of no exception. There is insufficient information available regarding the generation, handling, and disposal of health care waste. This face serves as an impediment to healthcare management schemes. The specific objective of this study is to present an evaluation of the current health care management practices in Liberia. It also presented procedures, techniques used, methods of handling, transportation, and disposal methods of wastes as well as the quantity and composition of health care waste. This study was conducted as an investigative case study, covering three different health care facilities; a hospital, a health center, and a clinic in Monrovia, Montserrado County. The average waste generation was found to be 0-7kg per day at the clinic and health center and 8-15kg per/day at the hospital. The composition of the waste includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste i.e. plastic, papers, sharps, and pathological elements etc. Nevertheless, the investigation showed that the healthcare waste generated by the surveyed healthcare facilities were not properly handled because of insufficient guidelines for separate collection, and classification, and adequate methods for storage and proper disposal of generated wastes. This therefore indicates that there is a need for improvement within the healthcare waste management system to improve the existing situation.
Keywords: disposal, healthcare waste, management, Montserrado County, MonroviaProcedia PDF Downloads 190
425 Solid Waste Landfilling Practices, Related Problems and Sustainable Solutions in Turkey
Authors: Nükhet Konuk, N. Gamze Turan, Yüksel Ardalı
Abstract:Solid waste management is the most environmental problem in Turkey as a result of the rapid increase in solid waste generation caused by the rapid population growth, urbanization, rapid industrialization and economic development. The large quantity of waste generated necessitates system of collection, transportation and disposal. The landfill method for the ultimate disposal of solid waste continues to be widely accepted and used due to its economic advantages. In Turkey, most of the disposal sites open dump areas. Open dump sites may result in serious urban, sanitary and environmental problems such as an unpleasant odor and the risk of explosion as well as groundwater contamination because of leachate percolation. Unsuitable management practices also result in the loss of resources and energy, which could be recycled and produced from a large part of the solid waste. Therefore, over the past few decades, particular attention has been drawn to the sustainable solid waste management as a response to the increase in environmental problems related to the disposal of waste. The objective of this paper is to assess the situation of landfilling practices in Turkey as a developing country and to identify any gaps in the system as currently applied. The results show that approximately 25 million tons of MSW are generated annually in Turkey. The percentage of MSW disposed to sanitary landfill is only 45% whereas more than 50% of MSW is disposed without any control.
Keywords: developing countries, open dumping, solid waste management, sustainable landfilling, sustainable solid waste managementProcedia PDF Downloads 187
424 LCA of Waste Disposal from Olive Oil Production: Anaerobic Digestion and Conventional Disposal on Soil
Authors: T. Tommasi, E. Batuecas, G. Mancini, G. Saracco, D. Fino
Abstract:Extra virgin olive-oil (EVO) production is an important economic activity for several countries, especially in the Mediterranean area such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Tunisia. The two major by-products from olive oil production, solid-liquid Olive Pomace (OP) and the Olive Mill Waste Waters (OMWW), are still mainly disposed on soil, in spite of the existence of legislation which already limits this practice. The present study compares the environmental impacts associated with two different scenarios for the management of waste from olive oil production through a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The two alternative scenarios are: (I) Anaerobic Digestion and (II) current Disposal on soil. The analysis was performed through SimaPro software and the assessment of the impact categories was based on International Life Cycle Data and Cumulative Energy Demand methods. Both the scenarios are mostly related to the cultivation and harvesting phase and are highly dependent on the irrigation practice and related energy demand. Results from the present study clearly show that as the waste disposal on soil causes the worst environmental performance of all the impact categories here considered. Important environmental benefits have been identified when anaerobic digestion is instead chosen as the final treatment. It was consequently demonstrated that anaerobic digestion should be considered a feasible alternative for olive mills, to produce biogas from common olive oil residues, reducing the environmental burden and adding value to the olive oil production chain.
Keywords: anaerobic digestion, waste management, agro-food waste, biogasProcedia PDF Downloads 26
423 Geospatial Assessment of Waste Disposal System in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
Authors: Babawale Akin Adeyemi, Esan Temitayo, Adeyemi Olabisi Omowumi
Abstract:The paper analyzed waste disposal system in Akure, Ondo State using GIS techniques. Specifically, the study identified the spatial distribution of collection points and existing dumpsite; evaluated the accessibility of waste collection points and their proximity to each other with the view of enhancing better performance of the waste disposal system. Data for the study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were obtained through the administration of questionnaire. From field survey, 35 collection points were identified in the study area. 10 questionnaires were administered around each collection point making a total of 350 questionnaires for the study. Also, co-ordinates of each collection point were captured using a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver which was used to analyze the spatial distribution of collection points. Secondary data used include administrative map collected from Akure South Local Government Secretariat. Data collected was analyzed using the GIS analytical tools which is neighborhood function. The result revealed that collection points were found in all parts of Akure with the highest concentration around the central business district. The study also showed that 80% of the collection points enjoyed efficient waste service while the remaining 20% does not. The study further revealed that most collection points in the core of the city were in close proximity to each other. In conclusion, the paper revealed the capability of Geographic Information System (GIS) as a technique in management of waste collection and disposal technique. The application of Geographic Information System (GIS) in the evaluation of the solid waste management in Akure is highly invaluable for the state waste management board which could also be beneficial to other states in developing a modern day solid waste management system. Further study on solid waste management is also recommended especially for updating of information on both spatial and non-spatial data.
Keywords: assessment, geospatial, system, waste disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 124
422 Impact of Sociocultural Factors on Management and Utilization of Solid Waste in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria
Authors: Olufunmilayo Folaranmi
Abstract:This research was carried out to examine the impact of socio-cultural factors on the management and utilization of solid waste in Ibadan Metropolis. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study while a systematic and stratified random sampling technique was used to select 300 respondents which were categorized into high, middle and low-density areas. Four hypothesis were tested using chi-square test on variables of unavailability of waste disposal facilities and waste management, negligence of contractors to liaise with community members, lack of adequate environmental education and waste management and utilization, low level of motivation of sanitation workers with solid wastes management, lack of community full participation with solid waste management and utilization. Results showed that significant effect of waste disposal facilities on solid waste management and utilization (X2 +16.6, P < .05). Also, there is a significant relationship between negligence of the contractors to liaise with community elites with improper disposal (X2 = 87.5, P < .05). The motivation of sanitation workers is significantly related to solid waste management (X2 = 70.4, P < .05). Adequate environmental education and awareness influenced solid waste management. There was also a significant relationship between lack of community participation with waste management disposal and improper waste disposal. Based on the findings from the study it was recommended that the quality of life in urban centers should be improved, social welfare of the populace enhanced and environment should be adequately attended to. Poverty alleviation programmes should be intensified and made to live beyond the life of a particular administration, micro-credit facilities should be available to community members to promote their welfare. Lastly, sustained environmental education programmes for citizens at all levels of education, formal and informal through the use of agencies like Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission (EARCOM) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Keywords: management, social welfare, socio-cultural factors, solid wasteProcedia PDF Downloads 98
421 Co-Disposal of Coal Ash with Mine Tailings in Surface Paste Disposal Practices: A Gold Mining Case Study
Authors: M. L. Dinis, M. C. Vila, A. Fiúza, A. Futuro, C. Nunes
Abstract:The present paper describes the study of paste tailings prepared in laboratory using gold tailings, produced in a Finnish gold mine with the incorporation of coal ash. Natural leaching tests were conducted with the original materials (tailings, fly and bottom ashes) and also with paste mixtures that were prepared with different percentages of tailings and ashes. After leaching, the solid wastes were physically and chemically characterized and the results were compared to those selected as blank – the unleached samples. The tailings and the coal ash, as well as the prepared mixtures, were characterized, in addition to the textural parameters, by the following measurements: grain size distribution, chemical composition and pH. Mixtures were also tested in order to characterize their mechanical behavior by measuring the flexural strength, the compressive strength and the consistency. The original tailing samples presented an alkaline pH because during their processing they were previously submitted to pressure oxidation with destruction of the sulfides. Therefore, it was not possible to ascertain the effect of the coal ashes in the acid mine drainage. However, it was possible to verify that the paste reactivity was affected mostly by the bottom ash and that the tailings blended with bottom ash present lower mechanical strength than when blended with a combination of fly and bottom ash. Surface paste disposal offer an attractive alternative to traditional methods in addition to the environmental benefits of incorporating large-volume wastes (e.g. bottom ash). However, a comprehensive characterization of the paste mixtures is crucial to optimize paste design in order to enhance engineer and environmental properties.
Keywords: coal ash, mine tailings, paste blends, surface disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 189
420 Challenges for Municipal Solid Waste Management in India: A Case Study of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh
Authors: V. V. Prasada Rao P., K. Venkata Subbaiah, J. Sudhir Kumar
Abstract:Most Indian cities or townships are facing greater challenges in proper disposal of their municipal solid wastes, which are growing exponentially with the rising urban population and improvement in the living standards. As per the provisional figures, 377 million people live in the urban areas accounting for 31.16 % of the Country’s total population, and expected to grow by 3.74% every year. In India, the municipal authority is liable for the safe management & disposal of Municipal Solid Wastes. However, even with the current levels of MSW generation, a majority of the local governments are unable to comply with their constitutional responsibility due to reasons ranging from cultural aspects to technological and financial constraints. In contrast, it is expected that the MSW generation in India is likely to increase from 68.8 MTD in 2011 to 160.5 MTD by 2041. Thus, the immediate challenge before the urban local bodies in India is to evolve suitable strategies not only to cope up with the current levels, but also to address the anticipated generation levels of MSW. This paper discusses the reasons for the low levels of enforcement of MSW Rules and suggests effective management strategies for the safe disposal of MSW.
Keywords: biodegradable waste, dumping sites, management strategy, municipal solid waste (MSW), MSW rules, vermicompostProcedia PDF Downloads 196
419 Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project, India
Authors: Indrani Gupta, Leena Vachasiddha, Rakesh Kumar
Abstract:Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai intends to undertake Mumbai Sewage Disposal (MSDP) for improvement of environment in and around Mumbai city. Sewage generated from the city currently gets partly into the inadequate collection system for treatment and the rest into nearby marine water body through drains. This paper addresses the cost benefit analysis of MSDP works for better compliance of sewage treatment and disposal. Cost benefit analysis indicates that the investment in sewage treatment is economically beneficial and will provide immense social, environmental, health and economic benefits. Monetary values of positive benefits such as avoided health costs, enhanced fish catches and improved tourism have been quantified. The total capital cost of the project is estimated to be about INR 51,510 million and operation and maintenance cost is about INR 2240.6 million per year. The cost benefit analysis indicates that a benefit of about 25,882 million per year can be achieved due to the implementation of this project. Other than these benefits, better marine ecosystem quality; higher property cost; improved recreational opportunities were not included because of lack of information.
Keywords: waste water treatment, cost-benefit analysis, health, tourism, fisheriesProcedia PDF Downloads 221
418 Highway Waste Management in Zambia Policy Preparedness and Remedies: The Case of Great East Road
Authors: Floyd Misheck Mwanza, Paul Boniface Majura
Abstract:The paper looked at highways/ roadside waste generation, disposal and the consequent environmental impacts. The dramatic increase in vehicular and paved roads in the recent past in Zambia, has given rise to the indiscriminate disposal of litter that now poses a threat to health and the environment. Primary data was generated by carrying out oral interviews and field observations for holistic and in–depth assessment of the environment and the secondary data was obtained from desk review method, information on effects of roadside wastes on environment were obtained from relevant literatures. The interviews were semi structured and a purposive sampling method was adopted and analyzed descriptively. The results of the findings showed that population growth and unplanned road expansion has exceeded the expected limit in recent time with resultant poor system of roadside wastes disposal. Roadside wastes which contain both biodegradable and non-biodegradable roadside wastes are disposed at the shoulders of major highways in temporary dumpsites and are never collected by a road development agency (RDA). There is no organized highway to highway or street to street collection of the wastes in Zambia by the key organization the RDA. The study revealed that roadside disposal of roadside wastes has serious impacts on the environment. Some of these impacts include physical nuisance of the wastes to the environment, the waste dumps also serve as hideouts for rodents and snakes which are dangerous. Waste are blown around by wind making the environment filthy, most of the wastes are also been washed by overland flow during heavy downpour to block drainage channels and subsequently lead to flooding of the environment. Most of the non- biodegradable wastes contain toxic chemicals which have serious implications on the environmental sustainability and human health. The paper therefore recommends that Government/ RDA should come up with proper orientation and environmental laws should be put in place for the general public and also to provide necessary facilities and arrange for better methods of collection of wastes.
Keywords: biodegradable, disposal, environment, impactsProcedia PDF Downloads 230
417 Alternatives to the Disposal of Sludge from Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants
Authors: Lima Priscila, Gianotto Raiza, Arruda Leonan, Magalhães Filho Fernando
Abstract:Industrialization and especially the accentuated population growth in developing countries and the lack of drainage, public cleaning, water and sanitation services has caused concern about the need for expansion of water treatment units and sewage. However, these units have been generating by-products, such as the sludge. This paper aims to investigate aspects of operation and maintenance of sludge from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP - 90 L.s-1) and two water treatment plants (WTPs; 1.4 m3.s-1 and 0.5 m3.s-1) for the purpose of proper disposal and reuse, evaluating their qualitative and quantitative characteristics, the Brazilian legislation and standards. It was concluded that the sludge from the water treatment plants is directly related to the quality of raw water collected, and it becomes feasible for use in construction materials, and to dispose it in the sewage system, improving the efficiency of the WWTP regarding precipitation of phosphorus (35% of removal). The WTP Lageado had 55,726 kg/month of sludge production, more than WTP Guariroba (29,336 kg/month), even though the flow of WTP Guariroba is 1,400 L.s-1 and the WTP Lagedo 500 L.s-1, being explained by the quality that influences more than the flow. The WWTP sludge have higher concentrations of organic materials due to their origin and could be used to improve the fertility of the soil, crop production and recovery of degraded areas. The volume of sludge generated at the WWTP was 1,760 ton/month, with 5.6% of solid content in the raw sludge and in the dewatered sludge it increased its content to 23%.
Keywords: disposal, sludge, water treatment, wastewater treatmentProcedia PDF Downloads 160
416 Disposal Behavior of Extreme Poor People Living in Guatemala at the Base of the Pyramid
Authors: Katharina Raab, Ralf Wagner
Abstract:With the decrease of poverty, the focus on the solid waste challenge shifts away from affluent, mostly Westernized consumers to the base of the pyramid. The relevance of considering the disposal behavior of impoverished people arises from improved welfare, leading to an increase in consumption opportunities and, consequently, of waste production. In combination with the world’s growing population the relevance of the topic increases, because solid waste management has global impacts on consumers’ welfare. The current annual municipal solid waste generation is estimated to 1.9 billion tonnes, 30% remains uncollected. As for the collected 70% is landfilling and dumping, 19% is recycled or recovered, 11% is led to energy recovery facilities. Therefore, aim is to contribute by adding first insights about poor people's disposal behaviors, including the framing of their rationalities, emotions and cognitions. The study provides novel empirical results obtained from qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews near Guatemala City. In the study’s framework consumers have to choose from three options when deciding what to do with their obsolete possessions: Keeping the product: The main reason for this is the respondent´s emotional attachment to a product. Further, there is a willingness to use the same product under a different scope when it loses its functionality–they recycle their belongings in a customized and sustainable way. Permanently disposing of the product: The study reveals two dominant disposal methods: burning in front of their homes and throwing away in the physical environment. Respondents clearly recognized the disadvantages of burning toxic durables, like electronics. Giving a product away as a gift supports the integration of individuals in their peer networks of family and friends. Temporarily disposing of the product: Was not mentioned–to be specific, rent or lend a product to someone else was out of question. Contrasting the background to which extend poor people are aware of the consequences of their disposal decisions and how they feel about and rationalize their actions were quite unexpected. Respondents reported that they are worried about future consequences with impacts they cannot anticipate now–they are aware that their behaviors harm their health and the environment. Additionally, they expressed concern about the impact this disposal behavior would have on others’ well-being and are therefore sensitive to the waste that surrounds them. Concluding, the BoP-framed life and Westernized consumption, both fit in a circular economy pattern, but the nature of how to recycle and dispose separates these two societal groups. Both systems own a solid waste management system, but people living in slum-type districts and rural areas of poor countries are less interested in connecting to the system–they are primarily afraid of the costs. Further, it can be said that a consumer’s perceived effectiveness is distinct from environmental concerns, but contributes to forecasting certain pro-ecological behaviors. Considering the rationales underlying disposal decisions, thoughtfulness is a well-established determinant of disposition behavior. The precipitating events, emotions and decisions associated with the act of disposing of products are important because these decisions can trigger different results for the disposal process.
Keywords: base of the pyramid, disposal behavior, poor consumers, solid wasteProcedia PDF Downloads 65
415 Methane Production from Biomedical Waste (Blood)
Authors: Fatima M. Kabbashi, Abdalla M. Abdalla, Hussam K. Hamad, Elias S. Hassan
Abstract:This study investigates the production of renewable energy (biogas) from biomedical hazard waste (blood) and eco-friendly disposal. Biogas is produced by the bacterial anaerobic digestion of biomaterial (blood). During digestion process bacterial feeding result in breaking down chemical bonds of the biomaterial and changing its features, by the end of the digestion (biogas production) the remains become manure as known. That has led to the economic and eco-friendly disposal of hazard biomedical waste (blood). The samples (Whole blood, Red blood cells 'RBCs', Blood platelet and Fresh Frozen Plasma ‘FFP’) are collected and measured in terms of carbon to nitrogen C/N ratio and total solid, then filled in connected flasks (three flasks) using water displacement method. The results of trails showed that the platelet and FFP failed to produce flammable gas, but via a gas analyzer, it showed the presence of the following gases: CO, HC, CO₂, and NOX. Otherwise, the blood and RBCs produced flammable gases: Methane-nitrous CH₃NO (99.45%), which has a blue color flame and carbon dioxide CO₂ (0.55%), which has red/yellow color flame. Methane-nitrous is sometimes used as fuel for rockets, some aircraft and racing cars.
Keywords: renewable energy, biogas, biomedical waste, blood, anaerobic digestion, eco-friendly disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 189
414 Soil-Cement Floor Produced with Alum Water Treatment Residues
Authors: Flavio Araujo, Paulo Scalize, Julio Lima, Natalia Vieira, Antonio Albuquerque, Isabela Santos
Abstract:From a concern regarding the environmental impacts caused by the disposal of residues generated in Water Treatment Plants (WTP's), alternatives ways have been studied to use these residues as raw material for manufacture of building materials, avoiding their discharge on water streams, disposal on sanitary landfills or incineration. This paper aims to present the results of a research work, which is using WTR for replacing the soil content in the manufacturing of soil-cement floor with proportions of 0, 5, 10 and 15%. The samples tests showed a reduction mechanical strength in so far as has increased the amount of waste. The water absorption was below the maximum of 6% required by the standard. The application of WTR contributes to the reduction of the environmental damage in the water treatment industry.
Keywords: residue, soil-cement floor, sustainable, WTPProcedia PDF Downloads 419
413 Modelling Affordable Waste Management Solutions for India
Authors: Pradip Baishya, D. K. Mahanta
Abstract:Rapid and unplanned urbanisation in most cities of India has progressively increased the problem of managing municipal waste in the past few years. With insufficient infrastructure and funds, Municipalities in most cities are struggling to cope with the pace of waste generated. Open dumping is widely in practice as a cheaper option. Scientific disposal of waste in such a large scale with the elements of segregation, recycling, landfill, and incineration involves sophisticated and expensive plants. In an effort to finding affordable and simple solutions to address this burning issue of waste disposal, a semi-mechanized plant has been designed underlying the concept of a zero waste community. The fabrication work of the waste management unit is carried out by local skills from locally available materials. A resident colony in the city of Guwahati has been chosen, which is seen as a typical representative of most cities in India in terms of size and key issues surrounding waste management. Scientific management and disposal of waste on site is carried out on the principle of reduce, reuse and recycle from segregation to compositing. It is a local community participatory model, which involves all stakeholders in the process namely rag pickers, residents, municipality and local industry. Studies were conducted to testify the plant as revenue earning self-sustaining model in the long term. Current working efficiency of plant for segregation was found to be 1kg per minute. Identifying bottlenecks in the success of the model, data on efficiency of the plant, economics of its fabrication were part of the study. Similar satellite waste management plants could potentially be a solution to supplement the waste management system of municipalities of similar sized cities in India or South East Asia with similar issues surrounding waste disposal.
Keywords: affordable, rag pickers, recycle, reduce, reuse, segregation, zero wasteProcedia PDF Downloads 207
412 Industrial-Waste Management in Developing Countries: The Case of Algeria
Authors: L. Sefouhi, M. Djebabra
Abstract:Industrial operations have been accompanied by a problem: industrial waste which may be toxic, ignitable, corrosive or reactive. If improperly managed, this waste can pose dangerous health and environmental consequences. The industrial waste management becomes a real problem for them. The oil industry is an important sector in Algeria, from exploration to development and marketing of hydrocarbons. For this sector, industrial wastes pose a big problem. The aim of the present study is to present in a systematic way the subject of industrial waste from the point-of-view of definitions in engineering and legislation. This analysis is necessary, as many different approaches and we will attempt to diagnose the current management of industrial waste, namely an inventory of deposits and methods of sorting, packing, storage, and a description of the different disposal routes. Thus, a proposal for a reasoned and responsible management of waste by avoiding a shift towards future expenses related to the disposal of such waste, and prevents pollution they cause to the environment.
Keywords: industrial waste, environment, management, pollution, risksProcedia PDF Downloads 234
411 Bioremediation of Disposed X-Ray Film for Nanoparticles Production
Authors: Essam A. Makky, Siti H. Mohd Rasdi, J. B. Al-Dabbagh, G. F. Najmuldeen
Abstract:The synthesis of silver nano particles (SNPs) extensively studied by using chemical and physical methods. Here, the biological methods were used and give benefits in research field in the aspect of very low cost (from waste to wealth) and safe time as well. The study aims to isolate and exploit the microbial power in the production of industrially important by-products in nano-size with high economic value, to extract highly valuable materials from hazardous waste, to quantify nano particle size, and characterization of SNPs by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Disposal X-ray films were used as substrate because it consumes about 1000 tons of total silver chemically produced worldwide annually. This silver is being wasted when these films are used and disposed. Different bacterial isolates were obtained from various sources. Silver was extracted as nano particles by microbial power degradation from disposal X-ray film as the sole carbon source for ten days incubation period in darkness. The protein content was done and all the samples were analyzed using XRD, to characterize of silver (Ag) nano particles size in the form of silver nitrite. Bacterial isolates CL4C showed the average size of SNPs about 19.53 nm, GL7 showed average size about 52.35 nm and JF Outer 2A (PDA) showed 13.52 nm. All bacterial isolates partially identified using Gram’s reaction and the results obtained exhibited that belonging to Bacillus sp.
Keywords: nanotechnology, bioremediation, disposal X-ray film, nanoparticle, waste, XRDProcedia PDF Downloads 387
410 Gis Database Creation for Impacts of Domestic Wastewater Disposal on BIDA Town, Niger State Nigeria
Authors: Ejiobih Hyginus Chidozie
Abstract:Geographic Information System (GIS) is a configuration of computer hardware and software specifically designed to effectively capture, store, update, manipulate, analyse and display and display all forms of spatially referenced information. GIS database is referred to as the heart of GIS. It has location data, attribute data and spatial relationship between the objects and their attributes. Sewage and wastewater management have assumed increased importance lately as a result of general concern expressed worldwide about the problems of pollution of the environment contamination of the atmosphere, rivers, lakes, oceans and ground water. In this research GIS database was created to study the impacts of domestic wastewater disposal methods on Bida town, Niger State as a model for investigating similar impacts on other cities in Nigeria. Results from GIS database are very useful to decision makers and researchers. Bida Town was subdivided into four regions, eight zones, and 24 sectors based on the prevailing natural morphology of the town. GIS receiver and structured questionnaire were used to collect information and attribute data from 240 households of the study area. Domestic wastewater samples were collected from twenty four sectors of the study area for laboratory analysis. ArcView 3.2a GIS software, was used to create the GIS databases for ecological, health and socioeconomic impacts of domestic wastewater disposal methods in Bida town.
Keywords: environment, GIS, pollution, software, wastewaterProcedia PDF Downloads 298
409 Municipal Solid Waste Management Characteristics and Management Challenges in Bauchi Metropolitan Area, Nigeria
Authors: Haruna Abdu Usman, Bashir Usman Mohammed, Mohammed Umar Jamil
Abstract:Municipal solid waste management constitutes a serious problem bedeviling environmental protection agencies in many cities of developing countries. Most agencies do not collect the totality of the waste generated in their cities. This study presents the current solid waste management practices and problems in Bauchi metropolis, Bauchi state Nigeria. The general feature is characterized by inefficient, insufficient and irrational collection and improper disposal alternatives. The consequent environmental effects of these problems depict clogged city drains, uncollected heap of waste on road sides of residential areas, vacant plots and uncompleted buildings and highways. This contributes immensely to flooding in the city. The major challenges facing the state environmental protection agency includes; lack of collection and disposal points, technical and institutional arrangements, financial resources and general attitude of the serving public among others. The study suggested a comprehensive and integrated approach to the solid waste management which recognizes and incorporates the interventionist role of the state government, the private formal and informal waste management operators and the serving public.
Keywords: municipal solid waste, bauchi metropolitan area, environmental protection agency, solid waste management, waste disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 437
408 The Use of Geographic Information System for Selecting Landfill Sites in Osogbo
Authors: Nureni Amoo, Sunday Aroge, Oluranti Akintola, Hakeem Olujide, Ibrahim Alabi
Abstract:This study investigated the optimum landfill site in Osogbo so as to identify suitable solid waste dumpsite for proper waste management in the capital city. Despite an increase in alternative techniques for disposing of waste, landfilling remains the primary means of waste disposal. These changes in attitudes in many parts of the world have been supported by changes in laws and policies regarding the environment and waste disposal. Selecting the most suitable site for landfill can avoid any ecological and socio-economic effects. The increase in industrial and economic development, along with the increase of population growth in Osogbo town, generates a tremendous amount of solid waste within the region. Factors such as the scarcity of land, the lifespan of the landfill, and environmental considerations warrant that the scientific and fundamental studies are carried out in determining the suitability of a landfill site. The analysis of spatial data and consideration of regulations and accepted criteria are part of the important elements in the site selection. This paper presents a multi-criteria decision-making method using geographic information system (GIS) with the integration of the fuzzy logic multi-criteria decision making (FMCDM) technique for landfill suitability site evaluation. By using the fuzzy logic method (classification of suitable areas in the range of 0 to 1 scale), the superposing of the information layers related to drainage, soil, land use/land cover, slope, land use, and geology maps were performed in the study. Based on the result obtained in this study, five (5) potential sites are suitable for the construction of a landfill are proposed, two of which belong to the most suitable zone, and the existing waste disposal site belonged to the unsuitable zone.
Keywords: fuzzy logic multi-criteria decision making, geographic information system, landfill, suitable site, waste disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 26
407 Impact of Disposed Drinking Water Sachets in Damaturu Town, Yobe State, Nigeria
Authors: Meeta Ratawa Tiwary
Abstract:Damaturu is the capital of Yobe State in northeastern Nigeria where civic amenities and facilities are not adequate even after 24 years of its existence. The volatile security and political situations are most significant causes for the same. The basic facility for the citizens in terms of drinking water and electricity are not available. For the drinking water, they have to rely on personal bore holes or the filtered borehole waters available in packaged sachets in the market. The present study is concerned with the environmental impact of indiscriminate disposal of drinking synthetic polythene water sachets in Damaturu. The sachet water is popularly called as ‘pure water’, but its purity is questionable. Increased production and consumption of sachet water has led to indiscriminate dumping and disposal of empty sachets leading to a serious environmental threat. The evidence of this is seen in the amount of disposed sachets littering the streets and also the drainages blocked by ‘blocks’ of water sachet waste. Sachet water gained much popularity in Nigeria because the product is convenient for use, affordable and economically viable. The present study aims to find out the solution to this environmental problem. The field-based study has found some significant factors that cause environmental and socio-economic effect due to this. Some recommendations have been made based on research findings regarding sustainable waste management, recycling and re-use of the non-biodegradable products in society.
Keywords: civic amenities, non-biodegradable, pure water, sustainable environment, waste disposalProcedia PDF Downloads 321
406 Utilization of Fly Ash as Backfilling Material in Indian Coal Mines
Authors: P. Venkata Karthik, B. Kranthi Kumar
Abstract:Fly ash is a solid waste product of coal based electric power generating plants. Fly ash is the finest of coal ash particles and it is transported from the combustion chamber by exhaust gases. Fly ash is removed by particulate emission control devices such as electrostatic precipitators or filter fabric bag-houses. It is a fine material with spherical particles. Large quantities of fly ash discharged from coal-fired power stations are a major problem not only in terms of scarcity of land available for its disposal, but also in environmental aspects. Fly ash can be one of the alternatives and can be a viable option to use as a filling material. This paper contains the problems associated with fly ash generation, need for its management and the efficacy of fly ash composite as a backfilling material. By conducting suitable geotechnical investigations and numerical modelling techniques, the fly ash composite material was tested. It also contains case studies of typical Indian opencast and underground coal mines. | https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=disposal |
Modern Environmental Management
Read this chapter. From what you've read so far, can you link any changes in environmental management with major events which have shaped our attitudes towards the environment?
Introduction
The chapter, The Evolution of Environmental Policy in the United States, presents and discusses how our current environmental policy evolved. Although the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provided lofty goals for environmental policy, and a legal basis for action, human actions produce large quantities of waste which are harmful to people and our ecosystem health if not managed properly.
This chapter is about how we manage these wastes (Systems of Waste Management), the laws and regulations that define our system of waste management (Government and Laws on the Environment), and how we determine the consequences, i.e. risks, associated with chemicals released into the environment (Risk Assessment Methodology for Conventional and Alternative Sustainability Options). Of course, environmental policies continue to evolve, and although we may not know the exact pathway or form they will take, future environmental policy will most certainly build upon the laws and regulations we use to manage human interaction with the environment. Consequently, it is important to understand our current system, its legal and philosophical underpinnings, and the quantitative basis for setting risk-based priorities.
In April 2007, the case Massachusetts vs. the Environmental Protection Agency exemplified how we have adapted our system of environmental management to meet modern global challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had misinterpreted the Clean Air Act by not classifying and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant (the plaintiffs involved 12 states and several cities).
Until that time, several administrations claimed the Act did not give the EPA legal authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At the time the Clean Air Act was passed, "clean air" was believed to mean visibly clean air that is free of pollutants that could harm humans. Although there was concern about global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions, the gases themselves were not considered "pollutants".
This ruling set the stage for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases through a series of findings, hearings, rulings, and regulations, in accordance with terms set out in the Clean Air Act.
In addition to helping mitigate global climate change, this case illustrates how we can adapt the environmental management systems we have put in place to address future challenges. Laws that are forward-thinking, not overly proscriptive, and administratively flexible, may accommodate unforeseen problems and needs. Of course, this does not preclude the passage of new laws or amendments or imply we can adapt our environmental laws to future problems.
Systems of Waste Management
Summary
In this module, we cover the following topics: 1. environmental regulations governing the management of solid and hazardous wastes, radioactive waste, and medical waste, 2. environmental concerns with growing quantities and improper management of waste, and 3. integrated waste management strategies.
Learning Objectives
After reading this module, students should be able to:
- Recognize various environmental regulations governing the management of solid and hazardous wastes, radioactive waste, and medical waste;
- Understand the environmental concerns with the growing quantities and improper management of waste;
- Recognize integrated waste management strategies that promote prevention, minimization, recycling and reuse, biological treatment, incineration, and landfill disposal.
Introduction
Waste is an inevitable by-product of human life. Virtually every human activity generates some type of material side effect or by-product. When the materials that constitute these by-products are not useful, or have been degraded so they no longer fulfill their original or other useful purpose, they are classified as a waste material.
Practically speaking, wastes are generated from a wide range of sources and are usually classified by their respective sources. Common generative activities include those associated with residences, commercial businesses and enterprises, institutions, construction and demolition activities, municipal services, and water/wastewater and air treatment plants, and municipal incinerator facilities. Further, wastes are generated from many industrial processes, including industrial construction and demolition, fabrication, manufacturing, refineries, chemical synthesis, and nuclear power/nuclear defense sources (often generating low- to high-level radioactive wastes).
Population growth and urbanization (with increased industrial, commercial and institutional establishments) contribute to increased waste production, as do the rapid economic growth and industrialization throughout the developing world.
These social and economic changes have led to an ever-expanding consumption of raw materials, processed goods, and services. While these trends have, in many ways, improved the quality of life for millions of people, they come with drastic costs to the environment. Proper management of a range of wastes is necessary to protect public health and the environment and ensure sustained economic growth.
Many believe incineration and landfill disposal are preferred options for dealing with waste products; however, we can recycle or re-use many wastes. We can reclaim or re-generate waste materials to use them again for their original or similar purpose, or we can physically or chemically change them for alternative uses.
As natural resources continue to be depleted, and as incineration and landfill disposal options become more costly and unsustainable, government agencies have promoted many economic and social incentives to prevent or reduce waste generation and develop new methods and technologies for recycling and reusing wastes. These efforts can have broader implications for energy conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, and foster sustainable waste management practices.
This section provides an overview of the existing regulatory framework mandating waste management, environmental concerns associated with waste generation and management, and alternatives for the proper waste management. It also highlights recent developments in sustainable waste management systems. Although the content reflects the regulatory framework and practices in the United States, similar developments and actions have occurred in other developed countries and are increasingly being initiated in developing countries.
Regulatory Framework
During the 20th century, especially following World War II, the United States experienced unprecedented economic growth. Much of the growth was fueled by rapid and increasingly complex industrialization. With advances in manufacturing and chemical applications also came increases in the volume, and in many cases the toxicity, of generated wastes.
Few if any controls or regulations were in place to handle toxic materials or waste disposal. Continued industrial activity led to several high-profile examples of detrimental consequences to the environment. Finally, several forms of intervention, in the form of government regulation and citizen action, occurred in the early 1970s.
Ultimately, state and federal governments promulgated several regulations to ensure the public health safety and the environment (Government and Laws on the Environment). With respect to waste materials, the United States Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), in 1976 and amended in 1984, a comprehensive framework to manage hazardous and non-hazardous solid wastes in the United States.
RCRA stipulates broad and general legal objectives and mandates the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop specific regulations to implement and enforce the law. The RCRA regulations are contained in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Parts 239 to 299. States and local governments can adopt the federal regulations, or develop and enforce more stringent regulations than those specified in RCRA. Similar regulations were developed worldwide to manage waste in other countries.
The broad goals of RCRA include: (1) to protect public health and the environment from the hazards of waste disposal; (2) to conserve energy and natural resources; (3) to reduce or eliminate waste; and (4) to make sure that wastes are managed in an environmentally-sound manner (e.g. the remediation of waste which may have spilled, leaked, or been improperly disposed). The RCRA only focuses on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites, which are managed under a different regulatory framework, known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or more commonly known as "Superfund".
Solid Waste Regulations
RCRA defines solid waste as any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. In general, we categorize solid waste as non-hazardous or hazardous waste.
Non-hazardous solid waste can be trash or garbage households, offices, and other sources generate. Generally, these materials are classified as municipal solid waste (MSW). Alternatively, non-hazardous materials, that result from the production of goods and products by various industries (e.g. coal combustion residues, mining wastes, cement kiln dust), are collectively known as industrial solid waste.
The regulations pertaining to non-hazardous solid waste are contained in 40 CFR Parts 239 to 259 (known as RCRA Subtitle D regulations). These regulations prohibit the open dumping of solid waste, mandates the development of comprehensive plans to manage municipal solid waste (MSW) and non-hazardous industrial waste, and establishes criteria for MSW landfills and other solid waste disposal facilities. Because they are classified as non-hazardous material, many components of MSW and industrial waste have potential for recycling and re-use. Significant efforts are underway by both government agencies and industry to advance these objectives.
Hazardous waste, generated by industries and businesses (e.g. dry cleaners and auto repair shops), is constituted of materials that are dangerous or potentially harmful to human health and the environment. The regulatory framework with respect to hazardous waste, specifically hazardous waste identification, classification, generation, management, and disposal, is described in 40 CFR Parts 260 through 279 (collectively known as RCRA Subtitle C regulations). These regulations control hazardous waste from the time they are generated until their ultimate disposal (a timeline often referred to as "cradle to grave").
According to the RCRA Subtitle C regulations, solid waste is defined as hazardous if it appears in one of the four hazardous waste classifications:
- F-List (non-specific source wastes as specified in 40 CFR 261.31), which includes wastes from common manufacturing and industrial processes, such as solvents used in cleaning and degreasing operations.
- K-list (source-specific waste as specified in 40 CFR 261.32), which includes certain wastes from specific industries such as petroleum or pesticide manufacturing.
- P-list and U-list (discarded commercial chemical products as specified in 40 CFR 261.33), which include commercial chemicals products in their unused form.
Additionally, a waste is classified as hazardous if it exhibits at least one of these four characteristics:
- Ignitability (as defined in 40 CFR 261.21), which refers to creation of fires under certain conditions; including materials that are spontaneously combustible or those that have a flash point less than 140 0F.
- Corrosivity (as defined in 40 CFR 261.22), which refers to capability to corrode metal containers; including materials with a pH less than or equal to 2 or greater than or equal to 12.5.
- Reactivity (as defined in 40 CFR 261.23), which refers to materials susceptible to unstable conditions such as explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when heated, compressed, or mixed with water under normal conditions.
- Toxicity (as defined in 40 CFR 261.24), which refers to substances that can induce harmful or fatal effects when ingested or absorbed, or inhaled.
Radioactive Waste Regulations
Although non-hazardous waste (municipal solid waste and industrial non-hazardous waste) and hazardous waste are regulated by RCRA, nuclear or radioactive waste is regulated in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the United States.
Radioactive wastes are characterized according to four categories: (1) High-level waste (HLW), (2) Transuranic waste (TRU), (3) Low-level waste (LLW), and (4) Mill tailings. Various radioactive wastes decay at different rates, but health and environmental dangers due to radiation may persist for hundreds or thousands of years.
High-level waste (HLW) is typically liquid or solid waste that results from government defense related activities or from nuclear power plants and spent fuel assemblies. These wastes are extremely dangerous due to their heavy concentrations of radionuclides, and humans must not come into contact with them.
Transuranic waste (TRU) mainly results from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels and from the fabrication of nuclear weapons for defense projects. They are characterized by moderately penetrating radiation and a decay time of approximately twenty years until safe radionuclide levels are achieved. Following the passage of a reprocessing ban in 1977, most of this waste generation ended. Even though the ban was lifted in 1981, TRU continues to be rare because reprocessing of nuclear fuel is expensive. Further, because the extracted plutonium may be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, political and social pressures minimize these activities.
Low-level wastes (LLW) include much of the remainder of radioactive waste materials. They constitute over 80 percent of the volume of all nuclear wastes, but only about two percent of total radioactivity. Sources of LLW include all of the previously cited sources of HLW and TRU, plus wastes generated by hospitals, industrial plants, universities, and commercial laboratories. LLW is much less dangerous than HLW, and NRC regulations allow some low-level wastes to be released to the environment. LLW may also be stored or buried until the isotopes decay to levels low enough such that it may be disposed of as non-hazardous waste. LLW disposal is managed at the state level, but requirements for operation and disposal are established by the EPA and NRC.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is the agency in charge of setting the standards for workers that are exposed to radioactive materials.
Mill tailings generally consist of residues from the mining and extraction of uranium from its ore. There are more than 200 million tons of radioactive mill-tailings in the United States, and all of it is stored in sparsely populated areas within the western states, such as Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. These wastes emit low-level radiation, and much of it is buried to reduce dangerous emissions.
Medical Waste Regulations
Another type of waste that is of environmental concern is medical waste. Medical waste is regulated by several federal agencies, including the USEPA, OSHA, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. During 1987-88, medical wastes and raw garbage washed up on beaches along the New Jersey Shore of the United States on several occasions (called, "Syringe Tide") which required closure of beaches. The U.S. Congress subsequently enacted the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) to evaluate management issues and potential risks related to medical waste disposal.
The seven types of wastes listed under the Medical Waste Tracking Act include:
- Microbiological wastes, including cultures and stocks of infectious wastes and associated biological media that can cause disease in humans);
- Human blood and blood products, including serum, plasma, and other blood components;
- Pathological wastes of human origin, including tissues, organs, and other body masses removed during surgeries or autopsies);
- Contaminated animal wastes, including animal carcasses, body masses, and bedding exposed to infectious agents during medical research, pharmaceutical testing, or production of biological media;
- Isolation wastes, including wastes associated with animals or humans known to be infected with highly communicable diseases;
- Contaminated sharps, including hypodermic needles, scalpels, and broken glass; and
- Uncontaminated sharps.
- In addition, the USEPA considered including any other wastes that had been in contact with infectious agents or blood, such as sponges, soiled dressings, drapes, surgical gloves, laboratory coats, slides.
Low-level nuclear wastes are produced in hospitals by pharmaceutical laboratories and in performing nuclear medicine procedures (e.g. medical imaging to detect cancers and heart disease); however, the danger posed by these wastes is relatively low. A variety of hazardous substances have also been identified in medical wastes, including metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, and mercury; and toxic organics such as dioxins and furans. All medical wastes represent a small fraction of total waste stream, estimated to constitute a maximum of approximately two percent.
Medical wastes are commonly disposed of through incineration: as with most wastes, the resulting volume is greatly reduced, and it assures the destruction and sterilization of infectious pathogens. Disadvantages include the potential of air pollution risks from dioxins and furans as well as the necessary disposal of potentially hazardous ash wastes. New options for disposal of medical wastes (including infectious wastes) are still being explored. Some other technologies include irradiation, microwaving, autoclaving, mechanical alternatives, and chemical disinfection, among others.
Environmental Concerns with Wastes
Managing Growing Waste Generation
An enormous quantity of wastes are generated and disposed of annually. Alarmingly, this quantity continues to increase on an annual basis. Industries generate and dispose over 7.6 billion tons of industrial solid wastes each year, and it is estimated that more than 40 million tons of this waste is hazardous. Nuclear wastes and medical wastes are also increasing in quantity every year.
Generally speaking, developed nations generate more waste than developing nations due to higher rates of consumption. Not surprisingly, the United States generates more waste per capita than any other country. High waste per capita rates are also very common throughout Europe and developed nations in Asia and Oceania.
In the United States, about 243 million tons (243 trillion kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated per year, which is equal to about 4.3 pounds (1.95 kg) of waste per person per day. Nearly 34 percent of MSW is recovered and recycled or composted, approximately 12 percent is burned a combustion facilities, and the remaining 54 percent is disposed of in landfills. Waste stream percentages also vary widely by region. As an example, San Francisco, California captures and recycles nearly 75 percent of its waste material, whereas Houston, Texas recycles less than three percent.
With respect to waste mitigation options, landfilling is quickly evolving into a less desirable or feasible option. Landfill capacity in the United States has been declining primarily due to (a) older existing landfills that are increasingly reaching their authorized capacity, (b) the promulgation of stricter environmental regulations has made the permitting and siting of new landfills increasingly difficult, (c) public opposition (a sentiment described as "not In my backyard" or NIMBYism) delays or, in many cases, prevents the approval of new landfills or expansion of existing facilities. Ironically, much of this public opposition arises from misconceptions about landfilling and waste disposal practices that are derived from environmentally detrimental historic activities and practices that are no longer in existence. Regardless of the degree or extent of justification, NIMBYism is a potent opposition phenomenon, whether it is associated with landfills or other land use activities, such as airports, prisons, and wastewater treatment facilities.
Effects of Improper Waste Disposal and Unauthorized Releases
Prior to the passage of environmental regulations, wastes were disposed improperly without due consideration of potential effects on the public health and the environment. This practice has led to many contaminated sites where soils and groundwater have been contaminated and pose risk to the public safety. Of more than 36,000 environmentally impacted candidate sites, there are more than 1,400 sites listed under the Superfund program National Priority List (NPL) which require immediate cleanup resulting from acute, imminent threats to environmental and human health.
The USEPA identified about 2,500 additional contaminated sites that eventually require remediation. The United States Department of Defense maintains 19,000 sites, many of which have been extensively contaminated from a variety of uses and disposal practices. Further, approximately 400,000 underground storage tanks have been confirmed or are suspected to be leaking, contaminating underlying soils and groundwater.
More than $10 billion (more than $25 billion in current dollars) were specifically allocated by CERCLA and subsequent amendments to mitigate impacted sites. However, the USEPA has estimated that the value of environmental remediation exceeds $100 billion. Alarmingly, if past expenditures on NPL sites are extrapolated across remaining and proposed NPL sites, this total may be significantly higher – well into the trillions of dollars.
It is estimated that more than 4,700 facilities in the United States currently treat, store or dispose of hazardous wastes. Of these, about 3,700 facilities that house approximately 64,000 solid waste management units (SWMUs) may require corrective action. Accidental spillage of hazardous wastes and nuclear materials due to anthropogenic operations or natural disasters has also caused enormous environmental damage as evidenced by the events such as the facility failure in Chernobyl, Ukraine (formerly USSR) in 1986, the effects of Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan.
Adverse Impacts on Public Health
A wide variety of chemicals are present within waste materials, many of which pose a significant environmental concern. Though the leachate generated from the wastes may contain toxic chemicals, the concentrations and variety of toxic chemicals are quite small compared to hazardous waste sites.
For example, explosives and radioactive wastes are primarily located at Department of Energy (DOE) sites because many of these facilities have been historically used for weapons research, fabrication, testing, and training. Organic contaminants are largely found at oil refineries, or petroleum storage sites, and inorganic and pesticide contamination usually is the result of a variety of industrial activities as well as agricultural activities. Yet, soil and groundwater contamination are not the only direct adverse effects of improper waste management activities – recent studies have also shown that greenhouse gas emissions from the wastes are significant, exacerbating global climate change.
A wide range of toxic chemicals, with an equally wide distribution of respective concentrations, is found in waste streams. These compounds may be present in concentrations that alone may pose a threat to human health or may have a synergistic/cumulative effect due to the presence of other compounds. Exposure to hazardous wastes has been linked to many types of cancer, chronic illnesses, and abnormal reproductive outcomes such as birth defects, low birth weights, and spontaneous abortions. Many studies have been performed on major toxic chemicals found at hazardous waste sites incorporating epidemiological or animal tests to determine their toxic effects.
As an example, the effects of radioactive materials are classified as somatic or genetic. The somatic effects may be immediate or occur over a long period of time. Immediate effects from large radiation doses often produce nausea and vomiting, and may be followed by severe blood changes, hemorrhage, infection, and death. Delayed effects include leukemia, and many types of cancer including bone, lung, and breast cancer.
Genetic effects have been observed in which gene mutations or chromosome abnormalities result in measurable harmful effects, such as decreases in life expectancy, increased susceptibility to sickness or disease, infertility, or even death during embryonic stages of life. Because of these studies, occupational dosage limits have been recommended by the National Council on Radiation Protection.
Similar studies have been completed for a wide range of potentially hazardous materials. These studies have, in turn, been used to determine safe exposure levels for several exposure scenarios, including those that consider occupational safety and remediation standards for a variety of land use scenarios, including residential, commercial, and industrial land uses.
Adverse Impacts on the Environment
The chemicals found in wastes not only pose a threat to human health, but they also have profound effects on entire eco-systems. Contaminants may change the chemistry of waters and destroy aquatic life and underwater eco-systems that are depended upon by more complex species. Contaminants may also enter the food chain through plants or microbiological organisms, and higher, more evolved organisms bioaccumulate the wastes through subsequent ingestion.
As the contaminants move farther up the food chain, the continued bioaccumulation results in increased contaminant mass and concentration. In many cases, toxic concentrations are reached, resulting in increased mortality of one or more species. As the populations of these species decrease, the natural inter-species balance is affected. With decreased numbers of predators or food sources, other species may be drastically affected, leading to a chain reaction that can affect a wide range of flora and fauna within a specific eco-system. As the eco-system continues to deviate from equilibrium, disastrous consequences may occur. Examples include the near extinction of the bald eagle due to persistent ingestion of DDT-impacted fish, and the depletion of oysters, crabs, and fish in Chesapeake Bay due to excessive quantities of fertilizers, toxic chemicals, farm manure wastes, and power plant emissions.
Waste Management Strategies
The long-recognized hierarchy of management of wastes, in order of preference consists of prevention, minimization, recycling and reuse, biological treatment, incineration, and landfill disposal (see Figure Hierarchy of Waste Management).
Waste Prevention
The ideal waste management alternative is to prevent waste generation in the first place. Hence, waste prevention is a basic goal of all the waste management strategies. We can employ many technologies throughout the manufacturing, use, and post-use portions of product life cycles to eliminate waste and reduce or prevent pollution. Some representative strategies include environmentally-conscious manufacturing methods that incorporate less hazardous or harmful materials, modern leakage detection systems for material storage, innovative chemical neutralization techniques to reduce reactivity, and water saving technologies that reduce the need for fresh water inputs.
Waste Minimization
In many cases, we cannot eliminate wastes from our processes. However, we can implement strategies to reduce or minimize waste generation. Waste minimization, or source reduction, refers to the collective strategies to design and make products and services that minimize the amount of generated waste and reduce the toxicity of the resultant waste.
Often these efforts come from identifying trends and specific products that may cause problems in the waste stream and taking steps to halt these problems. In industry, we can reduce waste by reusing materials, using less hazardous substitute materials, and by modifying components of design and processing. We can realize many benefits from minimizing waste and reducing our use of sources, such as natural resources and waste toxicity.
Waste minimization strategies are common in manufacturing applications; saving material use preserves resources and saves significant manufacturing-related costs. Advancements in streamlined packaging reduces material use, increased distribution efficiency reduces fuel consumption and air emissions. Furthermore, we can engineer building materials with specific favorable properties that, when accounted for in the structural design, can reduce the overall mass and weight of material needed. This reduces the need for excess material and reduces waste associated with component fabrication.
The dry cleaning industry offers an excellent example of product substitution to reduce toxic waste generation. For decades, dry cleaners used tetrachloroethylene, or "perc" as a dry cleaning solvent. Although effective, tetrachloroethylene is a relatively toxic compound. Additionally, it is easily introduced into the environment, where it is highly recalcitrant due to its physical properties. Furthermore, when its degradation occurs, the intermediate daughter products generated are more toxic to human health and the environment.
Because of its toxicity and impact on the environment, the dry cleaning industry has adopted new practices and increasingly utilizes less toxic replacement products, including petroleum-based compounds. Further, new emerging technologies are incorporating carbon dioxide and other relatively harmless compounds. While these substitute products have in many cases been mandated by government regulation, they have also been adopted in response to consumer demands and other market-based forces.
Recycling and Reuse
Recycling refers to recovering useful materials, such as glass, paper, plastics, wood, and metals from the waste stream so we can use them to make new products. By incorporating recycled materials, we reduce the amount of raw materials needed. Recycling reduces the need to exploit natural resources for raw materials, and allows us to recover and use waste materials as valuable resource materials.
Recycling wastes conserves natural resources, reduces energy consumption, reduces emissions generated from extracting virgin materials and their subsequent manufacture into finished products, reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, and reduces the incineration or landfilling of the materials that have been recycled. Moreover, recycling creates several economic benefits, including the potential to create job markets and drive growth.
Common recycled materials include paper, plastics, glass, aluminum, steel, and wood. We can also reuse many construction materials, such as concrete, asphalt materials, masonry, and reinforced steel. We can recover and reuuse "green" plant-based wastes mulch and fertilizer applications. Many industries also recover various by-products and/or refine and "re-generate" solvents for reuse.
Examples include copper and nickel recovery from metal finishing processes; the recovery of oils, fats, and plasticizers by solvent extraction from filter media such as activated carbon and clays; and acid recovery by spray roasting, ion exchange, or crystallization. Furthermore, we can recover a range of used food-based oils to use in "biodiesel" applications.
We encounter many examples of successful recycling and reuse efforts every day. In some cases, the recycled materials are used as input materials and are heavily processed into end products. Common examples include the use of scrap paper for new paper manufacturing, or the processing of old aluminum cans into new aluminum products.
In other cases, reclaimed materials undergo little or no processing prior to their re-use. Some common examples include the use of tree waste as wood chips, or the use of brick and other fixtures into new structural construction. In any case, the success of recycling depends on effective collection and processing of recyclables, markets for reuse (e.g. manufacturing and/or applications that utilize recycled materials), and public acceptance and promotion of recycled products and applications utilizing recycled materials.
Biological Treatment
Landfill disposal of wastes containing significant organic fractions is increasingly discouraged in many countries, including the United States. Such disposal practices are even prohibited in several European countries. Since landfilling does not provide an attractive management option, other techniques have been identified. One option is to treat waste so that biodegradable materials are degraded and the remaining inorganic waste fraction (known as residuals) can be subsequently disposed or used for a beneficial purpose.
Biodegradation of wastes can be accomplished by using aerobic composting, anaerobicdigestion, or mechanical biological treatment (MBT) methods. If the organic fraction can be separated from inorganic material, aerobic composting or anaerobic digestion can be used to degrade the waste and convert it into usable compost. For example, organic wastes such as food waste, yard waste, and animal manure that consist of naturally degrading bacteria can be converted under controlled conditions into compost, which can then be utilized as natural fertilizer.
Aerobic composting is accomplished by placing selected proportions of organic waste into piles, rows or vessels, either in open conditions or within closed buildings fitted with gas collection and treatment systems. During the process, bulking agents such as wood chips are added to the waste material to enhance the aerobic degradation of organic materials. Finally, the material is allowed to stabilize and mature during a curing process where pathogens are concurrently destroyed. The end-products of the composting process include carbon dioxide, water, and the usable compost material.
We can use compost material in a variety of applications, such as adding it to soil for plant cultivation, and remediating soils, groundwater, and stormwater. Composting can be labor-intensive, and the quality of the compost is heavily dependent on proper control of the composting process. Inadequate control of the operating conditions can result in compost that is unsuitable for beneficial applications.
Nevertheless, composting is increasingly popular; composting diverted 82 million tons of waste material away the landfill waste stream in 2009, increased from 15 million tons in 1980. This diversion also prevented the release of approximately 178 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2009 – an amount equivalent to the yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 33 million automobiles.
In some cases, aerobic processes are not feasible. As an alternative, anaerobic processes may be utilized. Anaerobic digestion consists of degrading mixed or sorted organic wastes in vessels under anaerobic conditions. The anaerobic degradation process produces a combination of methane and carbon dioxide (biogas) and residuals (biosolids).
Biogas can be used for heating and electricity production, while residuals can be used as fertilizers and soil amendments. Anaerobic digestion is a preferred degradation for wet wastes as compared to the preference of composting for dry wastes. The advantage of anaerobic digestion is biogas collection; this collection and subsequent beneficial utilization makes it a preferred alternative to landfill disposal of wastes. Also, waste is degraded faster through anaerobic digestion as compared to landfill disposal.
Another waste treatment alternative, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), is not common in the United States. However, this alternative is widely used in Europe. During implementation of this method, waste material is subjected to a combination of mechanical and biological operations that reduce volume through the degradation of organic fractions in the waste. Mechanical operations such as sorting, shredding, and crushing prepare the waste for subsequent biological treatment, consisting of either aerobic composting or anaerobic digestion. Following the biological processes, the reduced waste mass may be subjected to incineration.
Incineration
Waste degradation not only produces useful solid end-products (such as compost), degradation by-products can also be used as a beneficial energy source. As discussed above, anaerobic digestion of waste can generate biogas, which can be captured and incorporated into electricity generation. Alternatively, waste can be directly incinerated to produce energy. Incineration consists of waste combustion at very high temperatures to produce electrical energy. The byproduct of incineration is ash, which requires proper characterization prior to disposal, or in some cases, beneficial re-use.
While public perception of incineration can be negative, this is often based reactions to older, less efficient technologies. New incinerators are cleaner, more flexible and efficient, and are an excellent means to convert waste to energy while reducing the volume of waste. Incineration can also offset fossil fuel use and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Bogner et al., 2007). It is widely used in developed countries due to landfill space limitations. It is estimated that about 130 million tons of waste are annually combusted in more than 600 plants in 35 countries. Further, incineration is often used to effectively mitigate hazardous wastes such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, oils, solvents, medical wastes, and pesticides.
Despite all these advantages, incineration is often viewed negatively because of the resulting air emissions, the creation of daughter chemical compounds, and production of ash, which is commonly toxic. Currently, many 'next generation" systems are being researched and developed, and the USEPA is developing new regulations to carefully monitor incinerator air emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Landfill Disposal
Despite advances in reuse and recycling, landfill disposal remains the primary waste disposal method in the United States. As previously mentioned, the rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation continues to increase, but overall landfill capacity is decreasing. New regulations concerning proper waste disposal and the use of innovative liner systems to minimize the potential of groundwater contamination from leachate infiltration and migration have resulted in a substantial increase in the costs of landfill disposal.
Also, public opposition to landfills continues to grow, partially inspired by memories of historic uncontrolled dumping practices the resulting undesirable side effects of uncontrolled vectors, contaminated groundwater, unmitigated odors, and subsequent diminished property values.
Landfills can be designed and permitted to accept hazardous wastes in accordance with RCRA Subtitle C regulations, or they may be designed and permitted to accept municipal solid waste in accordance with RCRA Subtitle D regulations. Regardless of their waste designation, landfills are engineered structures consisting of bottom and side liner systems, leachate collection and removal systems, final cover systems, gas collection and removal systems, and groundwater monitoring systems ( Sharma and Reddy, 2004).
An extensive permitting process is required for siting, designing and operating landfills. Post-closure monitoring of landfills is also typically required for at least 30 years. Because of their design, wastes within landfills are degraded anaerobically. During degradation, biogas is produced and collected. The collection systems prevent uncontrolled subsurface gas migration and reduce the potential for an explosive condition. The captured gas is often used in cogeneration facilities for heating or electricity generation. Further, upon closure, many landfills undergo "land recycling" and redeveloped as golf courses, recreational parks, and other beneficial uses.
Wastes commonly exist in a dry condition within landfills, and as a result, the rate of waste degradation is commonly very slow. These slow degradation rates are coupled with slow rates of degradation-induced settlement, which can in turn complicate or reduce the potential for beneficial land re-use at the surface. Recently, the concept of bioreactor landfills has emerged, which involves recirculation of leachate and/or injection of selected liquids to increase the moisture in the waste, which in turn induces rapid degradation. The increased rates of degradation increase the rate of biogas production, which increases the potential of beneficial energy production from biogas capture and utilization.
Summary
Many wastes, such as high-level radioactive wastes, will remain dangerous for thousands of years, and even municipal solid waste (MSW) can produce dangerous leachate that could devastate an entire eco-system if allowed infiltrate into and migrate within groundwater. In order to protect human health and the environment, environmental professionals must deal with problems associated with increased generation of waste materials. The solution must focus on both reducing the sources of wastes as well as the safe disposal of wastes. It is, therefore, extremely important to know the sources, classifications, chemical compositions, and physical characteristics of wastes, and to understand the strategies for managing them.
Waste management practices vary not only from country to country, but they also vary based on the type and composition of waste. Regardless of the geographical setting of the type of waste that needs to be managed, the governing principle in the development of any waste management plan is resource conservation. Natural resource and energy conservation is achieved by managing materials more efficiently.
Reduction, reuse, and recycling are primary strategies for effective reduction of waste quantities. Further, proper waste management decisions have increasing importance, as the consequences of these decisions have broader implications with respect to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. As a result, several public and private partnership programs are under development with the goal of waste reduction through the adoption of new and innovative waste management technologies. Because waste is an inevitable by-product of civilization, the successful implementation of these initiatives will have a direct effect on the enhanced quality of life for societies worldwide.
Review Questions
- How is hazardous waste defined according to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)? In your opinion, is this definition appropriate? Explain.
- Explain specific characteristics of radioactive and medical wastes that make their management more problematic than municipal solid waste (MSW).
- Compare and contrast environmental concerns with wastes in a rural versus urban setting.
- What are the pros and cons of various waste management strategies? Do you agree or disagree with the general waste management hierarchy?
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of biological treatment and incineration of wastes.
Glossary
- Aerobic
- Living systems or processes that require, or are not destroyed by, the presence of oxygen.
- Anaerobic
- A living system or process that occurs in, or is not destroyed by, the absence of oxygen.
- Bioaccumulation
- The increase in concentration of a substance in an organism over time.
- Biological treatment
- A treatment technology that uses bacteria to consume organic fraction of municipal solid waste/wastewater.
- Compost
- The stable, decomposed organic material resulting from the composting process.
- Corrosivity
- The ability to corrode metal. Corrosive wastes are wastes that are acidic and capable of corroding metal such as tanks, containers, drums, and barrels.
- Digestion
- The biochemical decomposition of organic matter of MSW, resulting in its partial gasification, liquefaction, and mineralization.
- Genetic effects
- Effects from some agent, like radiation that are seen in the offspring of the individual who received the agent. The agent must be encountered pre-conception.
- High level radioactive waste (HLW)
- The radioactive waste material that results from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly from reprocessing and any solid waste derived from the liquid that contains a combination of transuranic and fission product nuclides in quantities that require permanent isolation.
- Ignitability
- Ability to create fire under certain conditions. Ignitable wastes can create fires under these certain conditions.
- Incineration
- A thermal process of combusting MSW.
- Integrated waste management
- A practice of using several alternative waste management techniques to manage and dispose of MSW.
- Landfills
- Designed, controlled and managed disposal sites for MSW spread in layers, compacted to the smallest practical volume, and covered by material applied at the end of each operating day.
- Leachate
- Wastewater that collects contaminants as it trickles through MSW disposed in a landfill.
- Low-level radioactive waste (LLW)
- Radioactive waste material that is not high-level radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, or byproduct material (see HLW).
- Mechanical biological treatment (MBT)
- The process that combines sorting with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion.
- Medical waste
- Any municipal solid waste generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunisation of human beings or animals.
- Mill tailings
- Waste material from a conventional uranium recovery facility.
- Municipal solid waste (MSW)
- Includes non-hazardous waste generated in households, commercial and business establishments, institutions, and non-hazardous industrial process wastes, agricultural wastes and sewage sludge. Specific definition is given in regulations.
- Pollution prevention
- The active process of identifying areas, processes, and activities which generate excessive waste for the purpose of substitution, alteration, or elimination of the process to prevent waste generation in the first place.
- Radioactive waste
- Any waste that emits energy as rays, waves, or streams of energetic particles.
- Reactivity
- Materials susceptible to unstable conditions. Reactive wastes are unstable under normal conditions and can create explosions and or toxic fumes, gases, and vapors when mixed with water.
- Recycling
- Separation physical/mechanical process by which secondary raw materials (such as paper, metals, glass, and plastics.) are obtained from MSW.
- Reuse
- Using a component of MSW in its original form more than once.
- Solid waste
- According to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), solid waste is: garbage; refuse; sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility; and other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities.
- Somatic effects
- Effects from some agent, like radiation that are seen in the individual who receives the agent.
- Toxicity
- The degree to which a chemical substance (or physical agent) elicits a deleterious or adverse effect upon the biological system of an organism exposed to the substance over a designated time period.
- Transuranic radioactive waste (TRU)
- TRU waste contains more than 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes, with half-lives greater than twenty years, per gram of waste.
- Waste to energy
- Combustion of MSW to generate electrical energy or heat
- Waste minimization
- Measures or techniques that reduce the amount of wastes generated during industrial production processes; the term is also applied to recycling and other efforts to reduce the amount of waste going into the waste management system.
- Waste prevention
- The design, manufacture, purchase or use of materials or products to reduce their amount or toxicity before they enter the municipal solid waste stream. Because it is intended to reduce pollution and conserve resources, waste prevention should not increase the net amount or toxicity of wastes generated throughout the life of a product.
Case Study: Electronic Waste and Extended Producer Responsibility
Summary
In this module, a case study about electronic waste and extended producer responsibility is presented.
Electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, refers to discarded electronic products such as televisions, computers and computer peripherals (e.g. monitors, keyboards, disk drives, and printers), telephones and cellular phones, audio and video equipment, video cameras, fax and copy machines, video game consoles, and others (see Figure Electronic Waste).
In the United States, it is estimated that about 3 million tons of e-waste are generated each year. This waste quantity includes approximately 27 million units of televisions, 205 million units of computer products, and 140 million units of cell phones. Less than 15 to 20 percent of the e-waste is recycled or refurbished; the remaining percentage is commonly disposed of in landfills and/or incinerated. It should be noted that e-waste constitutes less than 4 percent of total solid waste generated in the United States. However, with tremendous growth in technological advancements in the electronics industry, many electronic products are becoming obsolete quickly, thus increasing the production of e-waste at a very rapid rate. The quantities of e-waste generated are also increasing rapidly in other countries such as India and China due to high demand for computers and cell phones.
In addition to the growing quantity of e-waste, the hazardous content of e-waste is a major environmental concern and poses risks to the environment if these wastes are improperly managed once they have reached the end of their useful life.
Many e-waste components consist of toxic substances, including heavy metals such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, and mercury as well as organic contaminants, such as flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenylethers). The release of these substances into the environment and subsequent human exposure can lead to serious health and pollution issues. Concerns have also been raised with regards to the release of toxic constituents of e-waste into the environment if landfilling and/or incineration options are used to manage the e-waste.
Various regulatory and voluntary programs have been instituted to promote reuse, recycling and safe disposal of bulk e-waste. Reuse and refurbishing has been promoted to reduce raw material use energy consumption, and water consumption associated with the manufacture of new products.
Recycling and recovery of elements such as lead, copper, gold, silver and platinum can yield valuable resources which otherwise may cause pollution if improperly released into the environment. The recycling and recovery operations have to be conducted with extreme care, as the exposure of e-waste components can result in adverse health impacts to the workers performing these operations. For economic reasons, recycled e-waste is often exported to other countries for recovery operations. However, lax regulatory environments in many of these countries can lead to unsafe practices or improper disposal of bulk residual e-waste, which in turn can adversely affect vulnerable populations.
In the United States, there are no specific federal laws dealing with e-waste, but many states have recently developed e-waste regulations that promote environmentally sound management.
For example, the State of California passed the Electronic Waste Recycling Act in 2003 to foster recycling, reuse, and environmentally sound disposal of residual bulk e-waste. Yet, in spite of recent regulations and advances in reuse, recycling and proper disposal practices, additional sustainable strategies to manage e-waste are urgently needed.
One sustainable strategy used to manage e-waste is extended producer responsibility (EPR), also known as product stewardship. This concept holds manufacturers liable for the entire life-cycle costs associated with the electronic products, including disposal costs, and encourages the use of environmental-friendly manufacturing processes and products. Manufacturers can pursue EPR in multiple ways, including reuse/refurbishing, buy-back, recycling, and energy production or beneficial reuse applications.
Life-cycle assessment and life-cycle cost methodologies may be used to compare the environmental impacts of these different waste management options. Incentives or financial support is also provided by some government and/or regulatory agencies to promote EPR. The use of non-toxic and easily recyclable materials in product fabrication is a major component of any EPR strategy. A growing number of companies (e.g. Dell, Sony, HP) are embracing EPR with various initiatives towards achieving sustainable e-waste management.
EPR is a preferred strategy because the manufacturer bears a financial and legal responsibility for their products; hence, they have an incentive to incorporate green design and manufacturing practices that incorporate easily recyclable and less toxic material components while producing electronics with longer product lives. One obvious disadvantage of EPR is the higher manufacturing cost, which leads to increased cost of electronics to consumers.
There is no specific federal law requiring EPR for electronics, but the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) undertook several initiatives to promote EPR to achieve the following goals: (1) foster environmentally conscious design and manufacturing, (2) increase purchasing and use of more environmentally sustainable electronics, and (3) increase safe, environmentally sound reuse and recycling of used electronics.
To achieve these goals, USEPA has been engaged in various activities, including the promotion of environmental considerations in product design, the development of evaluation tools for environmental attributes of electronic products, the encouragement of recycling (or e-cycling), and the support of programs to reduce e-waste, among others.
More than 20 states in the United States and various organizations worldwide have already developed laws and/or policies requiring EPR in some form when dealing with electronic products. For instance, the New York State Wireless Recycling Act emphasizes that authorized retailers and service providers should be compelled to participate in take-back programs, thus allowing increased recycling and reuse of e-waste. Similarly, Maine is the first U.S. state to adopt a household e-waste law with EPR.
In Illinois, Electronic Products Recycling & Reuse Act requires the electronic manufacturers to participate in the management of discarded and unwanted electronic products from residences. The Illinois EPA has also compiled e-waste collection site locations where the residents can give away their discarded electronic products at no charge. Furthermore, USEPA compiled a list of local programs and manufacturers/retailers that can help consumers to properly donate or recycle e-waste.
Overall, the growing quantities and environmental hazards associated with electronic waste are of major concern to waste management professionals worldwide. Current management strategies, including recycling and refurbishing, have not been successful. As a result, EPR regulations are rapidly evolving throughout the world to promote sustainable management of e-waste. However, neither a consistent framework nor assessment tools to evaluate EPR have been fully developed.
Source: Tom Theis, Jonathan Thomkin and Krishna Reddy, https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:HdWd2hN5@2/Foreword
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. | https://learn.saylor.org/mod/page/view.php?id=8511 |
What Is Meant By A Landfill Site?
What Is Meant By A Landfill Site?
A landfill site is an area of land or an excavation where waste materials, such as rubbish and other discarded items, are buried in the ground. This method of disposing of waste materials into the environment is known as landfill disposal.
The process involves burying a large quantity of waste material in a designated area, usually lined with a layer of impermeable material to help prevent groundwater contamination and air pollution.
Landfill sites may also include systems for treating liquid, gas or solid wastes that are produced from decomposing organic matter. Landfills are commonly used by municipal authorities to dispose of domestic and industrial wastes, although they may also be used to dispose of bio-solids from wastewater treatment plants.
Generally, Landfill sites are areas designated for the disposal of solid waste such as rubbish and garbage. They have traditionally been used to bury or pile waste and are a common sight around the world due to the increasing amount of waste produced by homes, schools, offices, hospitals and markets.
While some landfills are well-managed and form part of a comprehensive waste management plan, others are left unattended and can cause land pollution and the accumulation of waste materials.
Landfills are necessary for disposing of waste that cannot be reused or recycled, but new technologies like Energy Recovery Facilities (ERFs) and composting are being developed to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.
The issues surrounding landfills, including their causes, effects, and potential solutions, will be discussed in further detail.
Causes of Landfills
Solid Waste
The majority of solid waste produced by homes, schools, restaurants, public places, markets, offices and other locations ends up in landfills. This waste includes materials such as wood, paper, plastic, broken furniture, glass, old cars, outdated electronic products, and hospital and market waste.
Most of this waste is non-biodegradable, meaning it does not break down naturally in the environment. As a result, it accumulates in landfills and can remain there for years. Poorly managed waste disposal systems can lead to even greater environmental damage, as the waste can have negative impacts on the land and surrounding area.
Agricultural Waste
Agricultural wastes arise from waste materials generated from animal manure, crop, and farm remains. The solid wastes like the animal manure and other agricultural by products are collected and dumped in the landfills.
These agricultural remnants are highly toxic and can contaminate the land and water resources. Once in the landfills, the wastes remain there for years impacting on soil quality and polluting the land.
Industry, Manufacturing And Construction Waste
A variety of solid waste materials are produced as a result of industrial processes, construction activities, and power plants, including byproducts from oil refineries, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural product producers.
Some examples of these waste products include petroleum hydrocarbons from oil refining processes and wood, plastic and metal waste from construction sites. While these industries are regulated, it is not uncommon for their byproducts and residues to end up in landfills.
Urbanization And Population Growth
The growth of cities and the increase in population have contributed significantly to the rising number of landfills worldwide. As cities grow and populations increase, there is a higher demand for manufactured products and materials, which in turn leads to an increase in solid waste.
Plastic pollution, in particular, has risen sharply in the past decade due to urbanization and population growth, and most of this used plastic ends up in landfills. In many urban areas, plastic makes up the majority of landfill waste, comprising about 80% of all municipal waste.
Benefits Of Landfill Sites
Landfill sites are essential for the safe disposal of waste. Not only do they help create a cleaner environment, but they also come with plenty of other advantages. Landfill sites are designed to reduce pollution and protect ground and surface water from contaminates.
Additionally, they can provide jobs and new sources of energy like methane gas to be used as fuel. They also enable us to recycle materials that can later be re-purposed in various industries.
Furthermore, landfill sites act as a form of carbon sequestration which helps reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby helping to combat climate change. In summary, landfill sites provide great environmental benefits that should not be taken for granted!
What Is Remediation Of A Landfill Site?
Remediation of a landfill site involves multiple activities to clean up and reclaim the area for beneficial use. These activities include: waste excavation, leachate collection and treatment, water management systems, soil stabilization, landfill gas control systems, groundwater monitoring and containment of pollutants.
Remediation typically requires the removal of contaminated materials, which are then disposed at other sites or treated on-site using various technologies such as air sparging, bioremediation or thermal desorption.
The final step is to manage any residual contamination left in the soil or groundwater that may remain after all remedial activities have been completed.
Risks Associated With Landfill Sites
Landfills are often seen as a necessary evil to deal with our growing amount of waste, however they come with risks both to the environment and those living nearby. Chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxins could be found in the landfill site, contaminating air and water around the landfill site.
Leachate, a hazardous liquid produced by decaying waste matter can also leak out into the surrounding environment and pose serious risks for human health and wildlife.
Other issues include increased methane emissions from landfills which are major contributors to global warming or an increased risk of disease from pests attracted to landfills.
It is essential that these potential risks are constantly monitored and managed by professionals in order to keep everyone safe.
Why Are Landfill Sites Bad For The Environment?
Landfill sites are bad for the environment because they limit the amount of space available to live and create landfills, as well as polluting the air with toxic chemicals from decomposing waste materials that can seep into the ground.
Additionally, methane gas is created during decomposition, which contributes to global warming.
Landfills also attract flies and other pests that can spread disease, and can cause water contamination if not properly managed. Overall, landfill sites take up precious land resources while releasing pollutants into the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a landfill site is an area of land carefully chosen and designed to safely contain hazardous waste material, such as toxic chemicals and waste. When these materials are buried beneath the earth, they can create dangerous environmental hazards and affect local water sources.
Landfill sites are essential for protecting our environment by preventing contamination of the soil, air, and water with hazardous materials. | https://www.hpdconsult.com/what-is-meant-by-a-landfill-site/ |
*Energy and Wetlands Group, Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Published by : Envis Journal of Human Settlements, March 2004.
|CONTENTS||Abstract|
|Introduction|
|Effects on the Environment and Human health|
|Basel Convention|
|Management of E-Waste|
|The Indian Scenario|
|Management Options|
|Acknowledgement|
|Reference|
|ABSTRACT|
"E-waste" is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life. "E-wastes are considered dangerous, as certain components of some electronic products contain materials that are hazardous, depending on their condition and density. The hazardous content of these materials pose a threat to human health and environment. Discarded computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, fax machines, electric lamps, cell phones, audio equipment and batteries if improperly disposed can leach lead and other substances into soil and groundwater. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled in an environmentally sound manner so that they are less harmful to the ecosystem. This paper highlights the hazards of e-wastes, the need for its appropriate management and options that can be implemented.
|INTRODUCTION|
Industrial revolution followed by the advances in information technology during the last century has radically changed people's lifestyle. Although this development has helped the human race, mismanagement has led to new problems of contamination and pollution. The technical prowess acquired during the last century has posed a new challenge in the management of wastes. For example, personal computers (PCs) contain certain components, which are highly toxic, such as chlorinated and brominated substances, toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. The hazardous content of these materials pose an environmental and health threat. Thus proper management is necessary while disposing or recycling ewastes.
These days computer has become most common and widely used gadget in all kinds of activities ranging from schools, residences, offices to manufacturing industries. E-toxic components in computers could be summarized as circuit boards containing heavy metals like lead & cadmium; batteries containing cadmium; cathode ray tubes with lead oxide & barium; brominated flameretardants used on printed circuit boards, cables and plastic casing; poly vinyl chloride (PVC) coated copper cables and plastic computer casings that release highly toxic dioxins & furans when burnt to recover valuable metals; mercury switches; mercury in flat screens; poly chlorinated biphenyl's (PCB's) present in older capacitors; transformers; etc. Basel Action Network (BAN) estimates that the 500 million computers in the world contain 2.87 billion kgs of plastics, 716.7 million kgs of lead and 286,700 kgs of mercury. The average 14-inch monitor uses a tube that contains an estimated 2.5 to 4 kgs of lead. The lead can seep into the ground water from landfills thereby contaminating it. If the tube is crushed and burned, it emits toxic fumes into the air.
|EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH|
Disposal of e-wastes is a particular problem faced in many regions across the globe. Computer wastes that are landfilled produces contaminated leachates which eventually pollute the groundwater. Acids and sludge obtained from melting computer chips, if disposed on the ground causes acidification of soil. For example, Guiyu, Hong Kong a thriving area of illegal e-waste recycling is facing acute water shortages due to the contamination of water resources.
This is due to disposal of recycling wastes such as acids, sludges etc. in rivers. Now water is being transported from faraway towns to cater to the demands of the population. Incineration of e-wastes can emit toxic fumes and gases, thereby polluting the surrounding air. Improperly monitored landfills can cause environmental hazards. Mercury will leach when certain electronic devices, such as circuit breakers are destroyed. The same is true for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from condensers. When brominated flame retardant plastic or cadmium containing plastics are landfilled, both polybrominated dlphenyl ethers (PBDE) and cadmium may leach into the soil and groundwater. It has been found that significant amounts of lead ion are dissolved from broken lead containing glass, such as the cone glass of cathode ray tubes, gets mixed with acid waters and are a common occurrence in landfills.
Not only does the leaching of mercury poses specific problems, the vaporization of metallic mercury and dimethylene mercury, both part of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is also of concern. In addition, uncontrolled fires may arise at landfills and this could be a frequent occurrence in many countries. When exposed to fire, metals and other chemical substances, such as the extremely toxic dioxins and furans (TCDD tetrachloro dibenzo-dioxin, PCDDs-polychlorinated dibenzodioxins. PBDDs-polybrominated dibenzo-dioxin and PCDFspoly chlorinated dibenzo furans) from halogenated flame retardant products and PCB containing condensers can be emitted. The most dangerous form of burning e-waste is the open-air burning of plastics in order to recover copper and other metals. The toxic fall-out from open air burning affects both the local environment and broader global air currents, depositing highly toxic by products in many places throughout the world.
Table I summarizes the health effects of certain constituents in e-wastes. If these electronic items are discarded with other household garbage, the toxics pose a threat to both health and vital components of the ecosystem. In view of the ill-effects of hazardous wastes to both environment and health, several countries exhorted the need for a global agreement to address the problems and challenges posed by hazardous waste. Also, in the late 1980s, a tightening of environmental regulations in industrialized countries led to a dramatic rise in the cost of hazardous waste disposal. Searching for cheaper ways to get rid of the wastes, "toxic traders" began shipping hazardous waste to developing countries. International outrage following these irresponsible activities led to the drafting and adoption of strategic plans and regulations at the Basel Convention. The Convention secretariat, in Geneva, Switzerland, facilitates and implementation of the Convention and related agreements. It also provides assistance and guidelines on legal and technical issues, gathers statistical data, and conducts training on the proper management of hazardous waste.
|BASEL CONVENTION|
The fundamental aims of the Basel Convention are the control and reduction of transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes including the prevention and minimization of their generation, the environmentally sound management of such wastes and the active promotion of the transfer and use of technologies.
A Draft Strategic Plan has been proposed for the implementation of the Basel Convention. The Draft Strategic Plan takes into account existing regional plans, programmes or strategies, the decisions of the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies, ongoing project activities and process of international environmental governance and sustainable development. The Draft requires action at all levels of society: training, information, communication, methodological tools, capacity building with financial support, transfer of know-how, knowledge and sound, proven cleaner technologies and processes to assist in the concrete implementation of the Basel Declaration. It also calls for the effective involvement and coordination by all concerned stakeholders as essential for achieving the aims of the Basel Declaration within the approach of common but differentiated responsibility.
Table I: Effects of E-Waste constituent on health
|
|
Source of e-wastes
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|
Constituent
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|
Health effects
|
|
Solder in printed circuit boards, glass panels and gaskets in computer monitors
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|
Lead (PB)
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|
|
|
Chip resistors and semiconductors
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Cadmium (CD)
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|
|
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Relays and switches, printed circuit boards
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|
Mercury (Hg)
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|
|
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Corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel plates, decorator or hardner for steel housings
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|
Hexavalent chromium (Cr) VI
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|
|
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Cabling and computer housing
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|
Plastics including PVC
|
|
Burning produces dioxin. It causes
|
|
Plastic housing of electronic equipments and circuit boards.
|
|
Brominated flame retardants (BFR)
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|
|
|
Front panel of CRTs
|
|
Barium (Ba)
|
|
Short term exposure causes:
|
|
Motherboard
|
|
Beryllium (Be)
|
|
A set. of interrelated and mutually supportive strategies are proposed to support the concrete implementation of the activities as indicated in the website (www.basel.int/DraftstrateKJcpian4Seot.pdf) is described below:
The Basel Convention brought about a respite to the transboundary movement of hazardous waste. India and other countries have ratified the convention. However United States (US) is not a party to the ban and is responsible for disposing hazardous waste, such as, e-waste to Asian countries even today. Developed countries such as US should enforce stricter legislations in their own country for the prevention of this horrifying act.
In the European Union where the annual quantity of electronic waste is likely to double in the next 12 years, the European Parliament recently passed legislation that will require manufacturers to take back their electronic products when consumers discard them. This is called Extended Producer Responsibility. It also mandates a timetable for phasing out most toxic substances in electronic products.
|
|
MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTES
It is estimated that 75% of electronic items are stored due to uncertainty of how to manage it. These electronic junks lie unattended in houses, offices, warehouses etc. and normally mixed with household wastes, which are finally disposed off at landfills. This necessitates implementable management measures.
In industries management of e-waste should begin at the point of generation. This can be done by waste minimization techniques and by sustainable product design. Waste minimization in industries involves adopting:
Proper control over the materials used in the manufacturing process is an important way to reduce waste generation (Freeman, 1989). By reducing both the quantity of hazardous materials used in the process and the amount of excess raw materials in stock, the quantity of waste generated can be reduced. This can be done in two ways i.e. establishing material-purchase review and control procedures and inventory tracking system.
Developing review procedures for all material purchased is the first step in establishing an inventory management program. Procedures should require that all materials be approved prior to purchase. In the approval process all production materials are evaluated to examine if they contain hazardous constituents and whether alternative non-hazardous materials are available.
Another inventory management procedure for waste reduction is to ensure that only the needed quantity of a material is ordered. This will require the establishment of a strict inventory tracking system. Purchase procedures must be implemented which ensure that materials are ordered only on an as-needed basis and that only the amount needed for a specific period of time is ordered.
Changes can be made in the production process, which will reduce waste generation. This reduction can be accomplished by changing the materials used to make the product or by the more efficient use of input materials in the production process or both. Potential waste minimization techniques can be broken down into three categories:
i) Improved operating and maintenance procedures,
ii) Material change and
iii)Process-equipment modification.
Improvements in the operation and maintenance of process equipment can result in significant waste reduction. This can be accomplished by reviewing current operational procedures or lack of procedures and examination of the production process for ways to improve its efficiency. Instituting standard operation procedures can optimise the use of raw materials in the production process and reduce the potential for materials to be lost through leaks and spills. A strict maintenance program, which stresses corrective maintenance, can reduce waste generation caused by equipment failure. An employee-training program is a key element of any waste reduction program. Training should include correct operating and handling procedures, proper equipment use, recommended maintenance and inspection schedules, correct process control specifications and proper management of waste materials.
Hazardous materials used in either a product formulation or a production process may be replaced with a less hazardous or non-hazardous material. This is a very widely used technique and is applicable to most manufacturing processes. Implementation of this waste reduction technique may require only some minor process adjustments or it may require extensive new process equipment. For example, a circuit board manufacturer can replace solvent-based product with water-based flux and simultaneously replace solventvapor degreaser with detergent parts washer.
Installing more efficient process equipment or modifying existing equipment to take advantage of better production techniques can significantly reduce waste generation. New or updated equipment can use process materials more efficiently producing less waste. Additionally such efficiency reduces the number of rejected or off-specification products, thereby reducing the amount of material which has to be reworked or disposed of. Modifying existing process equipment can be a very cost-effective method of reducing waste generation. In many cases the modification can just be relatively simple changes in the way the materials are handled within the process to ensure that they are not wasted. For example, in many electronic manufacturing operations, which involve coating a product, such as electroplating or painting, chemicals are used to strip off coating from rejected products so that they can be recoated. These chemicals, which can include acids, caustics, cyanides etc are often a hazardous waste and must be properly managed. By reducing the number of parts that have to be reworked, the quantity of waste can be significantly reduced.
Volume reduction includes those techniques that remove the hazardous portion of a waste from a non-hazardous portion. These techniques are usually to reduce the volume, and thus the cost of disposing of a waste material. The techniques that can be used to reduce waste-stream volume can be divided into 2 general categories: source segregation and waste concentration. Segregation of wastes is in many cases a simple and economical technique for waste reduction. Wastes containing different types of metals can be treated separately so that the metal value in the sludge can be recovered. Concentration of a waste stream may increase the likelihood that the material can be recycled or reused. Methods include gravity and vacuum filtration, ultra filtration, reverse osmosis, freeze vaporization etc.
For example, an electronic component manufacturer can use compaction equipments to reduce volume of waste cathode ray-tube.
This technique could eliminate waste disposal costs, reduce raw material costs and provide income from a salable waste. Waste can be recovered on-site, or at an off-site recovery facility, or through inter industry exchange. A number of physical and chemical techniques are available to reclaim a waste material such as reverse osmosis, electrolysis, condensation, electrolytic recovery, filtration, centrifugation etc. For example, a printed-circuit board manufacturer can use electrolytic recovery to reclaim metals from copper and tin-lead plating bath.
However recycling of hazardous products has little environmental benefit if it simply moves the hazards into secondary products that eventually have to be disposed of. Unless the goal is to redesign the product to use nonhazardous materials, such recycling is a false solution.
Minimization of hazardous wastes should be at product design stage itself keeping in mind the following factors*
|THE INDIAN SCENARIO|
While the world is marveling at the technological revolution, countries like India are facing an imminent danger. E-waste of developed countries, such as the US, dispose their wastes to India and other Asian countries. A recent investigation revealed that much of the electronics turned over for recycling in the United States ends up in Asia, where they are either disposed of or recycled with little or no regard for environmental or worker health and safety. Major reasons for exports are cheap labour and lack of environmental and occupational standards in Asia and in this way the toxic effluent of the developed nations 'would flood towards the world's poorest nations. The magnitude of these problems is yet to be documented. However, groups like Toxic Links India are already working on collating data that could be a step towards controlling this hazardous trade.
It is imperative that developing countries and India in particular wake up to the monopoly of the developed countries and set up appropriate management measures to prevent the hazards and mishaps due to mismanagement of e-wastes.
|MANAGEMENT OPTIONS|
Considering the severity of the problem, it is imperative that certain management options be adopted to handle the bulk e-wastes. Following are some of the management options suggested for the government, industries and the public.
(i) Governments should set up regulatory agencies in each district, which are vested with the responsibility of co-ordinating and consolidating the regulatory functions of the various government authorities regarding hazardous substances.
(ii) Governments should be responsible for providing an adequate system of laws, controls and administrative procedures for hazardous waste management (Third World Network. 1991). Existing laws concerning e-waste disposal be reviewed and revamped. A comprehensive law that provides e-waste regulation and management and proper disposal of hazardous wastes is required. Such a law should empower the agency to control, supervise and regulate the relevant activities of government departments.
Under this law, the agency concerned should
(iii) Governments must encourage research into the development and standard of hazardous waste management, environmental monitoring and the regulation of hazardous waste-disposal.
(iv) Governments should enforce strict regulations against dumping e-waste in the country by outsiders. Where the laws are flouted, stringent penalties must be imposed. In particular, custodial sentences should be preferred to paltry fines, which these outsiders / foreign nationals can pay.
(v) Governments should enforce strict regulations and heavy fines levied on industries, which do not practice waste prevention and recovery in the production facilities.
(vi) Polluter pays principle and extended producer responsibility should be adopted.
(vii) Governments should encourage and support NGOs and other organizations to involve actively in solving the nation's e-waste problems.
(viii) Uncontrolled dumping is an unsatisfactory method for disposal of hazardous waste and should be phased out.
(viii) Governments should explore opportunities to partner with manufacturers and retailers to provide recycling services.
1. Generators of wastes should take responsibility to determine the output characteristics of wastes and if hazardous, should provide management options.
2. All personnel involved in handling e-waste in industries including those at the policy, management, control and operational levels, should be properly qualified and trained. Companies can adopt their own policies while handling
e-wastes. Some are given below:
3. Companies can and should adopt waste minimization techniques, which will make a significant reduction in the quantity of e-waste generated and thereby lessening the impact on the environment. It is a "reverse production" system that designs infrastructure to recover and reuse every material contained within e-wastes metals such as lead, copper, aluminum and gold, and various plastics, glass and wire. Such a "closed loop" manufacturing and recovery system offers a win-win situation for everyone, less of the Earth will be mined for raw materials, and groundwater will be protected, researchers explain.
4. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers should undertake the responsibility of recycling/disposal of their own products.
5. Manufacturers of computer monitors, television sets and other electronic devices containing hazardous materials must be responsible for educating consumers and the general public regarding the potential threat to public health and the environment posed by their products. At minimum, all computer monitors, television sets and other electronic devices containing hazardous materials must be clearly labeled to identify environmental hazards and proper materials management.
Waste prevention is perhaps more preferred to any other waste management option including recycling. Donating electronics for reuse extends the lives of valuable products and keeps them out of the waste management system for a longer time. But care should be taken while donating such items i.e. the items should be in working condition.
Reuse, in addition to being an environmentally preferable alternative, also benefits society. By donating used electronics, schools, non-profit organizations, and lower-income families can afford to use equipment that they otherwise could not afford.
E-wastes should never be disposed with garbage and other household wastes. This should be segregated at the site and sold or donated to various organizations.
While buying electronic products opt for those that:
NGOs should adopt a participatory approach in management of e-wastes.
|ACKNOWLEDGEMENT|
We thank the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and Indian Institute of Science for sustained support in our research endeavor.
|REFERENCES:|
-Freeman M. H. 1989. Standard Handbook of Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal, McGraw-Hill Company, USA.
-Third World Network. 1991. Toxic Terror: Dumping of Hazardous Wastes in the Third World, Third World Network, Malaysia. | http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/paper/ewaste/ewaste.html |
What is the purpose of this legislation?
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) brings together the system of integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) for raw material usage, waste avoidance (or minimisation), energy efficiency and the disposal of wastes to land, water and air.
Pollution of the environment, as defined by the EPA, is the release of any substances into air, water or land as a result of any process which causes harm to people or damage to any property; The term ‘process’ is defined as any activity that is capable of causing pollution.
There are regional differences between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and different enforcing authorities, for example, the Environment Agency (EA) in England, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
Some activities and offences are also regulated by the relevant local authority.
The EPA is divided into the following sections:
- I. Prescribed process for the IPPC and the necessary powers for enforcing authorities.
- II. Controlled waste disposal on land
- IIa. Contaminated land
- III. Statutory nuisances
- IV. Litter
- V. Amendment of the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 (replaced by later legislation)
- VI. Genetically modified organisms
Who is responsible for compliance and what needs to be done?
All businesses are obliged to work within a framework of Acts and Regulations for environmental issues some of which may be sector or process specific. Business owners and managers need to be aware of these environmental duties and responsibilities and determine which environmental laws apply to their activities and to take the appropriate actions, such as approaching the relevant authority for licences and permits.
The main parts of the Act that businesses should take heed of are as follows:
Any industrial process or substance can be prescribed and limits are set on emissions into the environment so it’s always worth checking if a process is prescribed. A prescribed process can then only be carried out in accordance with an authorisation from the enforcing authority. Failure to comply may result in criminal sanctions.
Industrial processes are divided into the following categories, in a descending scale of polluting:
- Category “A(1)” – large scale chemical production, mining or waste disposal concerns (i.e. the more polluting industries) governed by the IPPC and only permitted when carried out under and in accordance with the authorisation.
- Category “A(2)” – medium scale processes.
- Category “B” – smaller scale processes that are less energy intensive; governed by local air pollution controls.
If your business is sited next to a designated protected area there may be some restrictions imposed on your activities.
You should ensure that:
- a risk assessment of your environmental impact has been undertaken;
- the appropriate permits are obtained, depending upon the process(es) undertaken; and
- an environmental management system (EMS) is established and independently verified for ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System certification or the EU Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) to demonstrate commitment to environmental policy.
This section sets out the regime for regulating and licencing the acceptable disposal of controlled waste on land. Controlled waste is classed as any household, industrial or commercial waste. Unauthorised or harmful depositing and the treatment or disposal of controlled waste is prohibited and criminal sanctions can be imposed.
Furthermore, there is a broad duty of care on importers, carriers, producers, etc. to prevent unauthorised or harmful activities involving controlled waste.
Therefore businesses must:
- keep waste to a minimum by doing everything possible to prevent, reuse, recycle or recover waste and have controls in place to sort and safely store waste;
- ensure that waste that leaves the premises has a completed waste transfer note and that the waste carrier used is registered to dispose of waste;
- report any waste carrier (or other business or individual) that illegally disposes of waste; and
- retain waste control notes for a minimum of two years and make them readily available.
Under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations, manufacturers and importers of hazardous substances typically need to register with the European Chemicals and Health Agency and comply with any restrictions imposed by their regulator and to provide users with instructions on how to use their products safely.
Refer to the REACH Enforcement Regulations on legislation.gov.uk
When land is in such a condition that substantial harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused to the environment it is classed as ‘contaminated’. Harm is assessed by the lands current use, therefore the mere presence of contaminates on site doesn’t necessarily mean it is contaminated land. Land also qualifies as contaminated if it’s causing or likely to cause significant water pollution.
Operators of non-domestic premises must take all practicable steps to prevent environmental damage or if the harm has already occurred take all practicable steps to prevent further damage.
The appropriate person responsible for remedial work is any person(s) who caused or knowingly permitted the substances to be in or under the affected land (aka ‘giving rise to the designation’). If no such person can be identified (after reasonable enquires) then the present owner or becomes the appropriate person and responsible for the remediation works.
The local authority or the EA or SEPA can perform the remedial work themselves if the appropriate person cannot be found, defaults or requests that they do so, although they can still be held responsible for the costs involved.
Local authorities have a duty to periodically survey their locality and to designate contaminated land as a ‘special site’ and notify the relevant enforcing authorities.
A statutory nuisance is defined as premises which are deemed to be harmful to health, or otherwise a nuisance, due to emissions of dust, steam, smells, vapours or noise.
Every local authority has to inspect the area it covers to check for statutory nuisances and if a complaint is made then it must investigate.
If a statutory nuisance is deemed to exist, a notice will be served ordering steps to be taken to reduce the nuisance listed.
Litter:
It is a criminal offence to leave litter. Local authorities have the power to issue a litter abatement order and litter clearing notices and offenders can be fined for non-compliance.
GMOs:
All appropriate measures have to be taken to avoid damage to the environment that may arise from the escape or release from human control of GMOs. There are also limits imposed on the import, acquisition, keeping, release and marketing of GMOs. | https://www.allianz.co.uk/risk-management/support/legislation/environmental-protection-act.html |
Guidance: With the expansion of city scale and the increase of population, the production of domestic waste is also growing rapidly. Landfill, composting, incineration and other methods of domestic waste treatment, will produce landfill leachate, if not treated and directly discharged into the environment, will cause serious environmental pollution.
Source: Tuhai Bridge
Taking the landfill leachate produced by a waste incineration power plant as an example, this paper analyzed the advanced treatment technology of landfill leachate.
Analysis of Leachate Characteristics in Waste Incineration Plant
Water volume characteristics of 1.1 leachate
Landfill leachate mainly comes from the infiltration of rainwater and surface water during storage and transportation, the water produced by fermentation and decomposition of garbage, and the water contained in garbage itself. It is generally considered that the yield of landfill leachate is 10%-20% of the garbage disposal capacity. The amount of leachate varies obviously with the seasons. In winter, it is 8%-10% of the amount of domestic waste, in summer, it is 12%-15% of the amount of domestic waste, and in rainstorm, it is as high as 20%-25% of the amount of domestic waste.
The different incineration processes also have certain effects on the amount of leachate. Using the circulating fluidized bed process, garbage is directly incinerated into the boiler after pretreatment, and there is no need to compost and store garbage, so the amount of leachate produced is relatively small.
Water quality characteristics of 1.2 leachate
Through the analysis of the leachate water quality characteristics of refuse incineration plant, it can be seen that the leachate of incineration plant has the following characteristics:
(1) Landfill leachate contains not only organic matter, but also oil, ammonia nitrogen, heavy metals and other pollutants. Water quality and water content are complex, and the concentration changes greatly.
(2) Landfill leachate from incineration plant is mostly produced on the day, without anaerobic fermentation, hydrolysis, acidification process, containing a variety of refractory organic matter, which has the characteristics of high concentration of COD and BOD5, high toxicity and difficult treatment.
(3) The proportion of microbial nutrients in landfill leachate is out of balance. When the system is debugged and started, a certain amount of potassium dihydrogen phosphate should be added to supplement phosphorus nutrients.
(4) The ammonia nitrogen value of leachate from refuse incineration plant is above 1.2g/L.
1552977357227018312.jpg
(Pictures from the Internet)
2 Project Profile
The total recovery rate of the advanced treatment system is not less than 70%. The effluent water quality shall comply with the water quality standard of open circulating cooling water in the Water Quality of Industrial Water for Recycling and Utilization of Municipal Sewage (GB/T19923-2005). The concentrated water shall be treated by spray incineration without considering the separate treatment scheme of the concentrated water.
The project design adopts the technology of "mechanical filtration+regulating tank+mixed reaction sedimentation tank+anaerobic system+A/O system+membrane bioreactor(TMBR)+nanofiltration system(NF)+reverse osmosis system(RO)" to meet the problems of large variation of landfill leachate water volume, strong shock load resistance, high load treatment capacity, high ammonia nitrogen treatment capacity, high content of heavy metal ions and salt.
Technological design of 3-film
3.1 Membrane Bioreactor
A large number of microorganisms (activated sludge) are in full contact with the matrix (degradable organic matter in leachate, etc.) in the membrane bioreactor. They metabolize by oxidation and decomposition to maintain their growth, reproduction and degradation of organic pollutants. Membrane module is used to separate the mixture of leachate and sludge. The sludge is concentrated and returned to the bioreactor, thus avoiding the loss of microorganisms. Membrane module is equivalent to traditional secondary clarifier, but it overcomes many shortcomings of traditional secondary clarifier.
Membrane bioreactor (MBR) mainly consists of two parts: membrane module and bioreactor. According to the combination mode, MBR can be divided into external type and internal type (submerged type). For landfill leachate treatment, the use of built-in membrane bioreactor will cause many problems. Therefore, the design of this project uses external membrane bioreactor.
The tubular ultrafiltration membrane feed pump pumps the leachate from the aerobic tank to the tubular ultrafiltration membrane system for solid-liquid separation and concentration. The concentrated liquid is returned to the anaerobic tank, and the surplus part is flowed to the sludge storage tank. There are two loops in the tubular ultrafiltration membrane system. Each loop has four tubular ultrafiltration membranes with 8 mm diameter and PVDF inner surface. Each loop has a separate circulating pump, which provides a required flow rate along the inner wall of the membrane tube, thus forming turbulence, generating larger filtration flux and avoiding blockage of the membrane tube. Water treated by tubular ultrafiltration membrane enters the nanofiltration system after passing the test.
3.2 nanofiltration system
The total denitrification rate of external membrane bioreactor is over 99%. The effluent ammonia nitrogen and total nitrogen have reached the discharge standard. However, the COD and chroma of refractory organic matter are still beyond the standard. Because the effluent of tubular ultrafiltration membrane does not contain suspended substances and biodegradable organic substances, nanofiltration membrane was designed to treat the effluent of tubular ultrafiltration membrane in order to remove biodegradable organic substances and chroma.
Nanofiltration membrane is a new pressure-driven membrane separation technology between reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. It has two characteristics: the separation of small organic molecules with hundreds of molecular weight in water and the Doonan effect for anions with different valences. The nanofiltration membrane does not intercept the valence ions, so the nanofiltration membrane can intercept the non-degradable macromolecule organic matter in the concentrated solution and discharge with the concentrated water.
The actual operating pressure of the nanofiltration membrane is about 7 bar, and the energy consumption is low, so the energy consumption of the nanofiltration membrane is low.
(Pictures from the Internet)
3.3 Reverse Osmosis System
Reverse osmosis system is the most important desalination device in this process. It has very high desalination capacity and can block all soluble salts and salts. | http://www.iaafbeijing2015.com/en/displaynews.html?id=3147305732490176&mdId=com_109 |
One of the ways we can get connected to nature is through clean and healthy environment. A clean and healthy environment attracts humans as it helps to improves health and aesthetics. It refreshes and even generates income through tourism.
But when the environment is continuously polluted and abused and with waste indiscriminately disposed off, it encourages spread of diseases, destabilizes the ecosystem and repels people.
The world environmental day is here again. It should be a time to reflect on our activities on the environment for the past one year. Has your activities promoted environmental protection and safety or polluted it? How have you be disposing your waste? Do you have a place in mind this period to visit that we make you feel connected to NATURE?
Pollution of the environment is one of the biggest problems of the world today. It involves the release of any substances to the environment in quantities that is capable of making the environment unfit for habitation. Pollution degrades the environment and reduces its quality including the quality of life in it.
According to joint group of expert on the scientific aspect of marine pollution (GESAMP), Pollution is the introduction by man, directly or indirectly of substances or energy into an environment resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resource, hazard to human health, hindrances, to marine activities including fishing, impairing of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities.(GESAMP,1980).
These substances release to the environment that causes pollution are known as pollutants. Examples of pollutants can be crude oil, gases, chemicals, particulate, garbage/ wastes etc.
In the Niger Delta region and the nation at large, environmental degradation as a result of increased rate of indiscriminate waste disposal and its detrimental consequences to the environment and human health is a great concern that call for all government and private organization’s immediate attention especially in this present health challenges in some part of the country as a result of Lassa fever, a rat borne disease and other diseases resulting from environmental pollution.
Unregulated growth of urban areas and inadequate infrastructural facilities for collection, transporting, treating and disposal of waste have all contributed to increase in pollution and ecological degradation in the region.
Indiscriminate waste disposal are known to block water drainages thereby leading to flooding a situation that can cause damages to house and property, ill health and even death. Waste flushed to the stream affect the color, odour and the general water quality of the stream where most of the people get their water from and thereby exposing them to health hazard by water borne disease and others.
The problem of growing domestic waste disposal in most developing countries is getting to a threatening level. According to Abdullahi et al., (2014), the domestic waste disposal problems in Nigeria is typified by overflowing dustbins, mountains of open refuse dumps at virtually every street corners with their attendant problems (especially where burning also occurs) and the existence of improperly operated open landfill which are often rodent infested with potentials for surface and ground water pollution.
In most designated waste dump, there are always over flow of waste, some becoming mountains. When you go through some if not most of the city of this country Nigeria; the markets places, the streets, roads, the drains, schools etc you will see waste littered around, some are heaped while others are now mountains and many indiscriminately disposed due to lack of quick response on the part of the government agency concerned to get rid of them as at when due.
Waste is mostly a product of man’s activities resulting from industrial and domestic consumption of resources. It could be an unofficial measure of prosperity because it is only those that have enough that have left over or waste. Generally waste can be referred to as anything which has no immediate value to the generator but requiring disposal. It is any unavoidable materials resulting from activities, which has no immediate economic demand and which must be dispose of.
We have three (3) basic forms of waste: Solid, liquid and gaseous
Solid waste includes most of the waste you generate from homes (kitchens) and markets e.g: paper, plantain skin, vegetable peels etc, broken brick, wood, pure water bags/sachets, casings, broken glass and bottles, metals can, plastics, broken electronics, agricultural, special (health waste), hazardous.
Liquid waste includes waste dissolves in water coming out from industrial processed (known as industrial effluent they can contains trace /heavy metals), domestic liquid, salon chemical liquid you drain out to the gutter, acids waste, waste from oil workshop etc.
Gaseous wasting e.g. Co2, Cox, Nox, CH4, they include waste from gas flaring, combustion engines, vents, emissions from Batteries, particulate dust, waste gases from stack, stone crushy, excavations activities, cement factory line, asbestos dust, acid fumes, cigarette fumes, vents vehicular emissions, generating plant etc.
These various forms of waste are further classified into three namely Domestic or municipal waste, Industrial and Hazardous
1. Domestic waste include kitchen waste, garden waste, office waste, paper, food, wood, waste water from the toilet and bathroom, laundry house hold waste, used cartridges, toners etc.
2. Industrial waste are waste generated during industrial activities e.g. scrap metals, cardboard packaging, plastic, organic acid, chemical waste, oil waste or gaseous emission (smoke fumes, particulate dust) worn out tyres etc.
3. Hazardous waste these are any liquid, solid or gaseous waste which because of its quantities, physical, chemical or infections characteristics, can result in hazards to human health or the environment when it is not properly treated, stored, transported or disposed off. Hazardous waste are potential hazards to human and their environment, they are usually Toxic, Corrosive, Ignitable/explosive and they can be infections
As a result, they need further treatment before disposal. The law requires that they are monitored from cradle to grave. Example of hazardous waste includes medical waste (infectors waste) radioactive/nuclear waste (dangerous) e.g. inflammable liquid waste, chemical waste, hospital waste, tank bottom waste, sludge, pesticides, Batteries, contaminated soil, spent lubricating oil, oil filter, oil plant etc.
When these wastes are dump in an unregulated manner, reckless manner, ignorantly or presumptuously in the environment without any regard to the particular area of the environment, it is term indiscriminate waste disposal. Waste disposal could be term indiscriminate when such waste are dispose of at location that are unlawful and where it could result in or trigger environmental or health hazards to people and animals.
Indiscriminate waste disposal can also be referred to as the disposal of solid and liquid waste without taking necessary measures. Wastes are supposed to be inventoried, characterized, segregated, minimized, treated and disposed off in a designated area and not any place you feel it is convenience for you.
Dumping of waste into the rivers, streams, ponds, gutters/drainages, on the streets in the market places is wrong and unlawful. The waste you indiscriminately disposed can come back to haunt you in form of flooding, sicknesses and diseases.
IMPLICATIONS OF INDISCRIMINATE WASTE DISPOSAL
There are lots of implications when wastes are not properly handled and indiscriminately disposed of. The effects are negative and could be detrimental. It poses risk to our Environment, Health, Social and psychological life, Infrastructure and Aesthetic.
When wastes disposed of indiscriminately are not collected, it gives rise to unsanitary condition which poses environmental and health hazard risk. The condition create a breeding ground for diseases causing agent to thrives and outbreak of diseases like cholera, diarrhea, Malaria, Tetanus, Lassa fever, Typhoid and Yellow fever, Hookworm and other parasite infestation. Indiscriminate waste disposal promotes fecal contamination of the hands, food and water that can result to fecal-oral transmission diseases. Waste disposed of indiscriminately can also result to water pollution, land pollution, drainage blockage, flooding and infrastructural degradation.
Open dump site in developing urban cities are uncontrolled and therefore pose major health threat which affect the land scape of urban cities. UNEPA (united nation environmental protection Agency) informal solid waste management 2006, stated that waste that are not properly managed, especially solid waste from households and the community are a serious health hazard and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. The report further stated that unattended waste lying around attract flies, rats, and other creatures that, in turn, spread diseases.
Normally, it is the wet waste that decomposes and releases bad odor. The bad odor affects the people settled next to the dumpsite, which shows that the dumpsite have serious effects to people settled around or next to them. The group at risk from this unscientific disposal of solid waste includes the population in areas where there is no proper waste disposal method especially the pre-school children, waste workers and workers in facilities producing toxic and infectious materials. Other high-risk group includes population living close to the waste dump Atamila et al., (2010).
Organic domestic waste in particular according to Nwanta and Ezenduka (2010), poses a serious threat, since they ferment, creating conditions favorable to the survival and growth of microbial pathogens. Direct handling of solid waste can result in various types of infectious and chronic diseases with the waste workers and rag pickers being the most vulnerable.
Research have also revealed that exposure to hazardous waste in dumpsite can affect human health, children being the most vulnerable to these pollutants. Direct exposure can lead to disease through chemical exposure as the release of chemical waste into the environment leads to chemical poisoning.
Waste from agriculture and industries can also cause serious health risks. Co-disposal of industrial waste with municipal waste can expose people to chemical and radioactive hazards. Health care waste and other medical waste disposed in dumpsite, mixed with domestic waste, increases the risk of infection with Hepatitis B and HIV, and other related diseases.
Open dumpsites are a major problem to the environment especially to the air that we inhale. Dumpsites emit obnoxious odors and smoke that cause illness to people living in, around, or closer to them. Pollutant deposited on land can enter the body through contaminated crops, fruits, food products, animals and water.
Dumpsite closer to residential areas can be a feeding place for dogs and cat apart from rat. These pet with rodents can bring diseases with them to nearby homes. Respiratory diseases, irritation of the eyes, nose and skin, gastrointestinal problems, allergies and psychological disorder have also been traced to unregulated dumpsite and indiscriminate waste disposal. Culled from Nigerian Observers.
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