EIA and EMS integration: not wasting the opportunity

Environmental tools such as environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management systems (EMS) can be applied to ensure that major projects are constructed and operated using an approach that enables effective environmental protection. Previous research has shown that these tools are frequently applied in isolation at different stages of the project life cycle. The extent of EIA/EMS integration amongst nine of the biggest UK waste management companies was investigated through semi-structured interviews with environmental staff and thematic analysis of their responses. The research found that partial integration of EIA and EMS is widespread. Companies recognised a range of potential benefits to more closely integrating their processes such as system efficiencies, data availability and recognition from the regulator. However, significant barriers to further integration were identified in the form of cost, company structure and the size of the organisation. In a context where the regulation of the waste industry is increasingly aligned towards a risk-based approach, there is a new opportunity to use EIA outputs in an enhanced EMS. More generally, companies should seek to maintain continuity of personnel across the project life cycle and structure their environmental functions so that EIA and EMS staff can work more closely. This would help ensure that the greatest benefit is derived from both tools.     

Evaluation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of Chinese EIA in Myanmar: Myitsone Dam,the Lappadaung Copper Mine and the Sino-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines

The economic relationship between China and Myanmar is regarded as a win–win cooperation. However, Chinese investments, especially in extractive and natural resource sectors, are associated with a number of unwanted environmental consequences. Moreover, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) quality of Chinese enterprises has often been criticized. EIA identifies adverse impacts to the environment through evidence-based decision making. On this basis, this paper provides an evaluation of Chinese EIA performance within the natural resources sector through a structured review of 15 environmental impact statements (EISs). This research also evaluates the EISs of the three largest and most controversial projects, the Myitsone Hydropower Dam, Lappadaung Copper Mine and Sino-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines. The findings reveal several omissions, inadequacies and deficiencies in all the projects with a significant number of EISs falling short of satisfactory quality. Through the analysis, the paper summarizes the factors affecting the EIA performance and proposes feasible recommendations to improve EIA practices in Chinese development projects in Myanmar.     

A review of the use of environmental offset as a policy mechanism in the environmental impact assessment process (EIA) in Western Australia

This paper reviews the use of offsets in the Western Australian (WA) environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. First, an overview and analysis of offsets as a policy tool in EIA is provided, noting that it has its origins in the practice of ecological restoration and uses the principle of the no net loss (NNL). Second, the implementation of WA offset policy is discussed noting the emergence of two new types of offsets in response to the uncertainty associated with some major resource projects. The first type is a ‘residual risk’ offset, which is provided in recognition of the uncertain risks associated with the proposal. The second type is a ‘banked’ offset, which is called upon only in the event that negative environmental impacts occur. Finally, it is proposed that these ‘offsets for uncertainty’ could be used more broadly in EIA where there is significant uncertainty of impacts provided the residual risk is considered acceptable.     

Measuring transport injuries in a developing country: an application of the capture-recapture method

The purposes of this study are to provide an estimation of the incidence of transport injuries in a defined local community in Nicaragua by using the capture-recapture method, and to compare results using this method when data at different levels of severity are utilized.Two sources of injury data were used to monitor injuries: hospital data (inpatient and outpatient) and traffic police records. Characteristics available for matching included name, age, sex, and date of occurrence. The methodology of capture-recapture was used to estimate the ascertainment degree of both sources of data and the estimate mortality and incidence rates. Estimates were calculated both when all hospital data were taken into account (inpatient and outpatient combined) and when only inpatient records were matched against police records.First, including police records and all hospital data, the mortality and morbidity estimates were 35.5/100000 and 43.7/1000 per year, respectively. Second, when outpatients were excluded from the analysis, the corresponding estimates were 28.6/100000 and 7.5/1000, respectively. In non-fatal cases, the ascertainment-corrected coverage through police records was 2.6% and through hospital surveillance 19.0% when both inpatients and outpatients were included. In fatal cases, the corresponding rates were 56.1 and 22.8%, respectively. The combined data set pointed out pedestrians and cyclists as the main risk groups. Most fatalities were due to head injuries.Our results show that neither police records nor hospital records nor the aggregate database provided acceptable coverage of transport-related injuries. Combining police and hospital data by means of capture-recapture analysis produces more valid estimates, but caution must be given to the issue of severity heterogeneity between the two sources.     

The importance of cultural aspects in impact assessment and project development: reflections from a case study of a hydroelectric dam in Brazil

Abstract

Failure to consider the cultural and social factors of projects can lead to situations where mitigation does not effectively address the impacts they were intended to alleviate, and can even create other impacts. We critically analyse the processes of designing and implementing a social and environmental compensation program for the Lajeado Hydroelectric Dam in the Amazon region of central-northern Brazil. This mitigation program caused a wide range of social and environmental impacts on the Xerente Indigenous people, such as intra-group conflict, and changes in agricultural practices and food regime. Based on qualitative fieldwork and an extensive document analysis, we present a contextualization of the region, the project, the Xerente people, and their cosmological understandings. We consider the perspectives of a broad range of stakeholders about the compensation program and its outcomes, and demonstrate how traditional cultural practices and values played a role in the unfolding of the program. Better comprehension of sociocultural aspects through the use of ethnography, ongoing consultation, and meaningful community participation in the planning and implementation of mitigation measures are recommended.     

Factors that determine a Patient's willingness to physician selection in online healthcare communities: A trust theory perspective

Health care users and patients are increasingly using online health communities to seek medical service, especially during the COVID-19 epidemic. The factors that determine the online trust between physicians and patients perplex the stakeholders for a long time. Based on the trust theory, this study explored the influence of physicians' personal quality and online reputation on patients' selection. A longitudinal panel data collection exercise, covering 11905 physicians on haodf. com, was conducted on May 20, 2018, May 22, 2019 and May 25, 2020. The random effect models are used to test our hypothesis. Results show that physicians' quality (competence, benevolence, and integrity) and online reputation (online reviews and online rating) can significantly affect patients' selection. Moreover, the physician's gender can enhance the influence of online reputation on patients' selection. As online healthcare community becomes an increasingly appealing channel for health, the frequency of the physician's quality information updating and the quality of online service are equally important to online physician-patient trust.     

Test of independence and randomness based on the empirical copula process

Deheuvels (1981a) described a decomposition of the empirical copula process into a finite number of asymptotically mutually independent sub-processes whose joint limiting distribution is tractable under the hypothesis that a multivariate distribution is equal to the product of its margins. It is proved here that this result can be extended to the serial case and that the limiting processes have the same joint distribution as in the non-serial setting. As a consequences, linear rank statistics have the same asymptotic distribution in both contexts. It is also shown how these facts can be exploited to construct simple statistics for detecting dependence graphically and testing it formally. Simulation are used to explore the finite-sample behavior of these statistics, which are found to be powerful against varions types of alternatives.     

Value of a statistical life in road safety: A benefit-transfer function with risk-analysis guidance based on developing country data

We model a value of statistical life (VSL) transfer function for application to road-safety engineering in developing countries through an income-disaggregated meta-analysis of scope-sensitive stated preference VSL data. The income-disaggregated meta-analysis treats developing country and high-income country data separately. Previous transfer functions are based on aggregated datasets that are composed largely of data from high-income countries. Recent evidence, particularly with respect to the income elasticity of VSL, suggests that the aggregate approach is deficient because it does not account for a possible change in income elasticity across income levels. Our dataset (a minor update of the OECD database published in 2012) includes 123 scope-sensitive VSL estimates from developing countries and 185 scope-sensitive estimates from high-income countries. The transfer function for developing countries gives VSL = 1.3732E−4 × (GDP per capita)^∧2.478, with VSL and GDP per capita expressed in 2005 international dollars (an international dollar being a notional currency with the same purchasing power as the U.S. dollar). The function can be applied for low- and middle-income countries with GDPs per capita above $1268 (with a data gap for very low-income countries), whereas it is not useful above a GDP per capita of about $20,000. The corresponding function built using high-income country data is VSL = 8.2474E+3 × (GDP per capita)^∧.6932; it is valid for high-income countries but over-estimates VSL for low- and middle-income countries. The research finds two principal significant differences between the transfer functions modeled using developing-country and high-income-country data, supporting the disaggregated approach. The first of these differences relates to between-country VSL income elasticity, which is 2.478 for the developing country function and .693 for the high-income function; the difference is significant at p < 0.001. This difference was recently postulated but not analyzed by other researchers. The second difference is that the traffic-risk context affects VSL negatively in developing countries and positively in high-income countries. The research quantifies uncertainty in the transfer function using parameters of the non-absolute distribution of relative transfer errors. The low- and middle-income function is unbiased, with a median relative transfer error of −.05 (95% CI: −.15 to .03), a 25th percentile error of −.22 (95% CI: −.29 to −.19), and a 75th percentile error of .20 (95% CI: .14 to .30). The quantified uncertainty characteristics support evidence-based approaches to sensitivity analysis and probabilistic risk analysis of economic performance measures for road-safety investments.     

Interactive knowledge exchanges under complex social relations: A simulation model of a developing country cluster

This is a model of knowledge exchange by informal interaction among agents in a low technology cluster. The paper studies these knowledge exchanges in an environment of complex social relations. This study tests whether the small-world network structure is the most favorable for knowledge exchanges in these environments, and explores the influence of social relations and network distance on magnitude and equity of knowledge diffused. The results show that, when knowledge exchanges are undertaken in environments of complex social relations, a small-world network structure may still be the best network structure facilitating the highest performance, but it is not the best in terms of the most equitable knowledge distribution. The results also confirms that the highest and most equitable knowledge distribution is achieved when there is perfect affinity among the agents. These results contribute to the existing series of studies on efficient network structures for knowledge diffusion, and on the broader literature on the social forces shaping learning and knowledge diffusion.     

试论人因工程学应用于核电建设全过程

国内外已公布了许多用于核电厂的人因工程学标准或导则，但用于核电建设项目全过程的导则则尚未见到。经过全面调研，作者草拟了《人因工程学用于核电厂建设项目的实施导则（初稿）》。文章扼要论述了该导则的主要思想和内容，强调应将人因工程学渗透进核电建设全过程，阐明编制并实施“人因工程学应用大纲”的方法及各阶段实施要点，说明应当在各级工作组织中设置人因工程学专业小组或人因工程师负责有关具体工作等     

Comparative analysis of public participation in the EIA process for Thai overseas investment projects: Krabi coal terminal,Hongsa coal power plant,and Dawei special economic zone

While Thai overseas investment projects (TOIPs) have become a key form of development in the region, their environmental impact assessment (EIA) quality has been criticized. This research sought to analyze the differences in EIA practices in terms of public participation (PP) in two TOIPs – the Hongsa coal-fired power plant (Lao PDR) and the Dawei special economic zone (Myanmar) – versus a national-level project, the Krabi coal terminal. For Laos and Myanmar, which did not previously require PP, the Thai consultants did not apply the Thai PP framework, leading to poor public participation index (PPI) scores = 0.02, indicating a negligible PP process. However, the consultant on the Krabi coal terminal claimed to abide by the Thai regulations, yet the PPI scores claimed = 0.81 (substantive rationale), were quite different from those indicated by the affected villagers = 0.39 (instrumental rationale). These villagers’ concerns resulted in conflict between the affected villagers and project owners. Our findings have revealed the true necessity of PP regulation and systems to monitor consultant performance to ensure sustainability of TOIPs in neighboring countries.     

Integrating TTF and UTAUT2 theories to investigate the adoption of augmented reality technology in education: Perspective from a developing country

Augmented reality (AR) has gained increased recognition in varying fields, in particular educational contexts. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, home-based learning becomes a reality and is already in place across the globe, and learning via augmented reality technology will help learners comprehend learning content in a more creative frame of mind than ever before. Very little research has examined the adoption behavior of augmented reality in developing country perspectives. Therefore, there is a pressing necessity to understand the dynamics of augmented reality adoption for the benefit of motivating and inspiring students to adopt this highly innovative and impactful type of technology in the learning process. Against this background, the authors proposed and tested a model based on integrating Task-Technology Fit (TTF) and UTUAT2 theories. The results reveal the positive effect of task technology fit, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, and hedonic motivation on behavioral intention (BI) in the adoption process of augmented reality in educational settings, where price value is found to exert little influence on behavioral intention. This model explains 49% of the variance in intentional behavior to adopt AR technology in the educational context. The conclusions of this study will add to the literature more informative knowledge leading to increased awareness of the dynamics and behaviors of AR adoption in a developing country perspective. We present and discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of our findings.     

Performance measurement and management: a system of systems perspective

Despite changes in tools and practices, the conceptual foundations of performance measurement and management (PMM) are still predominantly rooted in control systems research. While PMM approaches have delivered significant organisational benefits, including creating alignment, supporting monitoring and control, and enabling prediction and optimisation of resource allocation, this paper argues that this paradigm is not capable of responding to increasingly complex and highly uncertain organisational environments. Drawing on ideas emerging in the literature on systems engineering and complex systems, we propose a novel perspective that considers PMM from a ‘system of systems’ (SoS) point of view, whose essential characteristics are autonomy, belonging, connectivity, diversity and emergence. After identifying the assumptions underpinning existing PMM approaches, we outline a SoS-based paradigm to PMM and conclude by articulating the main implications for the practice of PMM and setting out a research agenda.     

网络主权保障问题研究

随着网络空间承载国家公共和私人利益的日益广泛,网络主权及其保障问题已引起了国际社会的高度重视。本文结合当前我国网络主权的现状,从网络独立权、网络平等权、网络自卫权和网络管辖权的角度分析了我国网络主权保障目前应当关注的主要问题,并给出了相应的对策建议,力求推动网络主权观的确立,增强我国在国际网络空间治理规则制定方面的话语权,提升维护国家网络空间安全利益的能力。     

The impact of supply chain relationships and integration on innovative capabilities and manufacturing performance: the perspective of rapidly developing countries

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships between supply chain relationships/integration, innovative capabilities and manufacturing performance. The study adopts Institutional Theory and Resource-Based View Theory to assess relationships in 171 organisations drawn from three rapidly developing countries – Brazil, India and China. Data were collected using the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI) and analysed using structural equation modelling. The study found that supply chain relationships and integration relate positively to both product and process innovative capabilities. The study also found that both product and process innovative capabilities relate positively to manufacturing performance. Furthermore, there was a positive relationship between product innovative capabilities and process innovative capabilities. The findings provide new insights into manufacturers in the three countries and show that the relationships they build with their customers have encouraged them to develop new innovative capabilities. These new capabilities, in turn, have enabled them to reap benefits of improved manufacturing performance.     

The social structuring of the digital gap in a developing country. The impact of computer and internet access opportunities on internet use in Thailand

We examine the first digital divide in a developing country, Thailand, exploring how resources and appropriation theory concepts explain internet use diversity. We find that computer and internet access opportunities are the primary drivers of internet use and also that their effect depends on individuals’ resources and social categories (particularly gender, age, and education), resulting in mobile and traditional user classes (younger, better educated, urban women, and older, less well-educated, married, non-urban individuals, respectively). Drivers behind internet use diversity may be generational, suggesting a need to switch the research focus from households to individuals, even in less developed countries.     

The mechanics and energetics of human walking and running: a joint level perspective

Humans walk and run at a range of speeds. While steady locomotion at a given speed requires no net mechanical work, moving faster does demand both more positive and negative mechanical work per stride. Is this increased demand met by increasing power output at all lower limb joints or just some of them? Does running rely on different joints for power output than walking? How does this contribute to the metabolic cost of locomotion? This study examined the effects of walking and running speed on lower limb joint mechanics and metabolic cost of transport in humans. Kinematic and kinetic data for 10 participants were collected for a range of walking (0.75, 1.25, 1.75, 2.0 m s⁻¹) and running (2.0, 2.25, 2.75, 3.25 m s⁻¹) speeds. Net metabolic power was measured by indirect calorimetry. Within each gait, there was no difference in the proportion of power contributed by each joint (hip, knee, ankle) to total power across speeds. Changing from walking to running resulted in a significant (p = 0.02) shift in power production from the hip to the ankle which may explain the higher efficiency of running at speeds above 2.0 m s⁻¹ and shed light on a potential mechanism behind the walk–run transition.     

Civilian-military pooling of health care resources in Haiti: a theory of complementarities perspective

The 2010 Haiti earthquake brought attention to the global need for rapid deployment of disaster relief health care services. In such large-scale disasters, a variety of international organisations provide temporary services until the damaged local health care system recovers. However, the disaster environment can pose operational and temporal challenges that may impede the effectiveness of relief services, and research is needed to provide both theory and methods for improving coordination and collaboration among relief organisations. This study investigates opportunities and barriers for relief organisations to pool complementary resources originating from multiple countries, by examining five case studies that represent the breadth of organizational types, including charter (civilian, military, university-affiliated and public/private), facility type (primary, secondary, and tertiary care), and duration of stay. The study yields a set of research propositions that chart avenues for future studies in this emerging field of research at the intersection of health care humanitarian operations and organisation theory.