Articles

A new tool for assessment and monitoring of community and ecosystem change based on multivariate abundance data integration from different taxonomic groups

The integrative assessment of responses to environmental disturbance simultaneously considering multiple taxonomic groups or guilds has become increasingly important in ecological monitoring. The most common s...

Authors: Melanie Mueller, Joachim Pander and Juergen Geist

Watershed modeling using arc hydro based on DEMs: a case study in Jackpine watershed

Raster-based digital elevation models (DEMs) play an important role in distributed hydrologic modeling supported by geographic information systems (GIS). In this study, DEMs and stream network data were used t...

Authors: Zhong Li

Policy analysis of China inland nuclear power plants’ plan changes: from suspension to expansion

China's inland nuclear power plants plan has been suspended until 2015 since Fukushima disaster. The policy on inland nuclear power plants becomes uncertain. This paper provides an overview of inland nuclear p...

Authors: Jinxin Zhu and Gail Krantzberg

Uncertainty analysis for flood inundation modelling with a random floodplain roughness field

This study tested a first-order perturbation method based on Karhunen-Loevè expansion (FP-KLE), to analyze flood inundation modeling under uncertainty. The floodplain roughness over a 2-dimensional domain was ...

Authors: Ying Huang and Xiaosheng Qin

Application of GIS in downscaling regional climate model results over the province of Ontario

Climate change is a significant and long-term change in the weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. The impacts of climate change have been drawn more and more worldwide attent...

Authors: Yang Zhou and Jinyu Zhang

Thickness, porosity, and permeability prediction: comparative studies and application of the geostatistical modeling in an Oil field

In this study, we applied the geostatistical modeling to analyze an oil field. The reservoir properties, thickness, porosity and permeability, were studied. Data analysis tools, such as histogram, scatter plot...

Authors: Shan Zhao, Yang Zhou, Mengyuan Wang, Xiaying Xin and Fang Chen

Effects of soil properties and biosurfactant on the behavior of PAHs in soil-water systems

The interactions among biosurfactant, soil components and PAHs govern the efficiency of biosurfactant enhanced remediation, which was still poorly studied. In this study, we investigated effects of biosurfacta...

Authors: Hui Yu, Huining Xiao and Dunling Wang

A simulation-optimization approach for assessing optimal wastewater load allocation schemes in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

The Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) has been facing deteriorated water quality issues since the construction of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in 1994. However, no previous studies have used a simulation-optimization...

Authors: Zheng Wang, Shuiyuan Cheng, Lei Liu, Xiurui Guo, Yuan Chen, Cuihong Qin, Ruixia Hao, Jin Lu and Jijun Gao

A hybrid MCDA-LCA approach for assessing carbon foot-prints and environmental impacts of China’s paper producing industry and printing services

Labeling of carbon foot-prints (CFPs) for products and services is regarded as a convenient and effective method for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a useful tool for exam...

Authors: Wencong Yue, Yanpeng Cai, Qiangqiang Rong, Lei Cao and Xumei Wang

Risk assessment of heavy metal soil pollution through principal components analysis and false color composition in Hamadan Province, Iran

In the process of decision making to combat heavy metals pollution, it is essential to have accurate quantitative information about heavy metals and their pollution hot-spots. The main purpose of this study wa...

Authors: Alireza Soffianian, Elham Sadat Madani and Mahnaz Arabi

Variation in ecosystem service values in response to land use changes in Zhifanggou watershed of Loess plateau: a comparative study

Anthropological activities could lead to various land use changes. This subsequently exerts impacts on the Ecological status as the land is the carrier of Ecosystems and their services. Ecosystem Services Valu...

Authors: Jin Si, Fuzhan Nasiri, Peng Han and Tianhong Li

Trends of water quantity and water quality of the Yellow River from 1956 to 2009: implications for the effect of climate change

Based on the monthly data of river runoff and major ion contents of the mainstream of the Yellow River during the period of 1956–2009, the effects of climate change on the trends of water quantity and major io...

Authors: Qiong Wu and Xinghui Xia

Spatial distribution of non-point source nitrogen in urban area of Beijing City, China

Non-point source (NPS) pollution, has been dominant in many urban areas, causing nutrient loss, water body pollution and aqueous systems damaging. Among the pollutants, nitrogen is a key nutrient which can cau...

Authors: Xiaowen Ding, Yongwei Gong, Chunjiang An and Ming Lin

A 2-D Barakat-Clark finite difference numerical method and its comparison for water quality simulation modeling

This paper provides an advance numerical algorithm to solve both ordinary and partial differential equations of surface water quality models. It uses finite difference methods and structures explicit or implic...

Authors: Lei Jin, Aili Yang, Li Wang and Haiyan Fu

A hybrid fuzzy stochastic analytical hierarchy process (FSAHP) approach for evaluating ballast water treatment technologies

Environmental decisions can be complex because of the inherent trade-offs among environmental, social, ecological, and economic factors. This paper presents a novel hybrid fuzzy stochastic analytical hierarchy...

Authors: Liang Jing, Bing Chen, Baiyu Zhang and Hongxuan Peng

Water quality analysis using an inexpensive device and a mobile phone

Water transparency is one indicator of water quality. High water transparency is an indication of clean water. A common method for measuring water transparency is Secchi depth. In this paper, we present an app...

Authors: Timo Toivanen, Sampsa Koponen, Ville Kotovirta, Matthieu Molinier and Peng Chengyuan

Emission trading or proportional carbon tax: a quest for more efficacious emission control

Two alternative procedures currently exist for efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions control: carbon emission trading and proportional carbon tax. This article explores which of the two is more desirable and e...

Authors: Masayuki Otaki

Large-strain consolidation modeling of mine waste tailings

Sustainable management of mine waste tailings during operation, closure, and reclamation requires a clear understanding of modeling the large-strain consolidation behaviour of these loose and toxic slurries. A...

Authors: Maki Ito and Shahid Azam

Groundwater remediation design using physics-based flow, transport, and optimization technologies

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate an approach to groundwater remedial design that is automated, cost-effective, and broadly applicable to contaminated aquifers in different geologic settings. The app...

Authors: Larry M Deschaine, Theodore P Lillys and János D Pintér

Analyzing the impact of environmental variables on the repayment time for solar farms under feed-in tariff

Environmental concerns have promoted the rise of low emissions “green” power technologies such as solar power. In part to make these technologies of economic interest to investors, many green energy policies h...

Authors: Bin Lu and Matt Davison

Use of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) for salinity assessment of Vaal-Harts irrigation scheme, South Africa

Soil salinity is a critical environmental problem in many countries around the world especially the arid and semi-arid countries like South Africa. The problem has great impact on soil fertility which in turns...

Authors: George M Ochieng, Olumuyiwa I Ojo, Fredrick AO Otieno and Beason Mwaka

A systematic approach for modelling quantitative lake ecosystem data to facilitate proactive urban lake management

The management of the health of urban lake systems is often reactive and is instigated in response to poor aesthetic quality or physicochemical measurements, rather than from an overall assessment of ecosystem...

Authors: Aaron N Wiegand, Christopher Walker, Peter F Duncan, Anne Roiko and Neil Tindale

Public warning systems for forecasting ambient ozone pollution in Kuwait

In this paper, the performances of different forecasting systems are compared using the daily maximum ozone levels across three locations in Kuwait. The two analytical tools used in this study to forecast dail...

Authors: Eiman Tamah Al-Shammari

Endogenous social discount rate, proportional carbon tax, and sustainability: Do we have the right to discount future generations' utility?

This paper examines a serious issue - whether future generations of utility should be discounted. The issue is of vital importance because future generations will never have the opportunity to reveal their pre...

Authors: Masayuki Otaki

The Ontario nuclear power dispute: a strategic analysis

The Graph Model for Conflict Resolution methodology is used to formally investigate the nuclear power dispute that took place in the Canadian province of Ontario in order to obtain strategic insights into its ...

Authors: Motahareh Armin, Keith W Hipel and Mitali De

View: implementing low cost air quality monitoring solution for urban areas

Air pollution represents non uniform trends particularly in dense urban areas which arises the necessity for pollution monitoring at finer resolution. Since recent advancements in electrochemical technology ha...

Authors: Jahangir Ikram, Amer Tahir, Hasanat Kazmi, Zonia Khan, Rabi Javed and Usama Masood

Good practice for the usage of climate model simulation results - a discussion paper

This paper presents guidelines and examples of good practice for the usage of climate model simulation results and some rationale for their application. These guidelines are relevant to climate modellers as we...

Authors: Frank Kreienkamp, Heike Huebener, Carsten Linke and Arne Spekat

Goodness-of-fit testing for the inverse Gaussian distribution based on new entropy estimation using ranked set sampling and double ranked set sampling

Entropy is a measure of uncertainty and dispersion associated with a random variable. Several goodness-of-fit tests based on entropy are available in literature and the entropy been widely used in many applica...

Authors: Amer Ibrahim Al-Omari and Abdul Haq

Robust interval quadratic programming and its application to waste management under uncertainty

No country has ever experienced as large or as fast an increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) quantities that China is now facing. The MSW generation rate in the City of Changchun continues to increase since ...

Authors: Yongping Li and Guohe Huang

Confidence modeling with reliability: a systems approach to sustainable energy planning

Energy systems planning has played a strong role in setting up the framework for developing long-term policies of energy activities to help guide the future of a local, regional or national energy system. Howe...

Authors: Xiaosheng Qin, Ye Xu and Jianjun Yu

A decision support system for benchmarking the energy and waste performance of schools in Toronto

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) oversees the largest school district in Canada and has been spent more than one third of its annual maintenance budget on energy and waste. This has directed attention ...

Authors: Julian Scott Yeomans

Factors affecting the value of environmental predictions to the energy sector

Energy extraction, production, and transmission systems are highly sensitive to states of the natural environment such as temperature, wind speed, and even ice cover. Forecasts of such state variables are term...

Authors: Matt Davison, Ozgur Gurtuna, Claude Masse and Brian Mills

Editorial: Informatics for sustainable energy development and environmental management

Authors: Yanpeng Cai

Climate change impacts on Ontario wind power resource

The availability and reliability of wind power depend largely on current and future climate conditions, which may vary in the context of climate change. A high resolution regional climate model (PRECIS) was us...

Authors: Yao Yao, Gordon H Huang and Qianguo Lin

An interval mixed-integer non-linear programming model to support regional electric power systems planning with CO₂ capture and storage under uncertainty

Electric generating capacity expansion has been always an essential way to handle the electricity shortage, meanwhile, greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission, especially CO₂, from electric power systems becomes crucial co...

Authors: XQ Wang, GH Huang and QG Lin