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AbstractThe main purpose of this study is to assess the urban lake water quality along the coastal region of Miri City, Sarawak, East Malaysia. This study concentrates on the hydrochemical characteristics and the mechanisms controlling the suitability of the lakes for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes. A total of 15 lake water samples were collected and analysed for physical parameters, major ions, nutrients, BOD, COD, and heavy metals. The results show that Lakes 6, 7, and 8 commonly exceeded the National Drinking Water Quality Standards (NDWQS) limits, particularly in physical parameters and major ions. The cation dominance was Na+  > Mg2+  > K+  > Ca2+, while the anion dominance was Cl−  > HCO3−  > SO42−. It is inferred that lake 8 was affected by the seawater intrusion through the inlet flow, resulting in an excess concentration of ions present in that lake. The concentrations of heavy metals in these lakes were considerably low, indicating that most of them were from the geogenic source. Most of the lakes were NaCl water type and the main controlling mechanism were weathering and ionic exchange processes, with anthropogenic impacts. Based on the calculated Water Quality Index (WQI) according to the National Water Quality Standards (NWQS), all lakes were suitable for irrigation use (class IV), while most of these lakes fell under the "polluted" index. Apart from that, based on the National Lake Water Quality Standards (NLWQS), all lakes were classified under category D, indicating that the lakes must be kept in good condition. According to the irrigation quality indices, lakes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were the most suitable for irrigation purposes. As for metal pollution indices (HPI and HEI), lakes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 15 were considered safe with low pollution status. From the multivariate statistical analysis, it is deduced that both anthropogenic and geogenic impacts mostly influenced the quality of these lake waters. The outcome of this study will help the policymakers under the national water department in sustainable management of water resources in this region.

AbstractDiffuse pollution is recognised as a major challenge in achieving EU Water Framework Directive compliance, with urban runoff being a key pathway connecting various sources to receiving waters. Gully pots, as one of the ubiquitous urban drainage infrastructures, are placed at the inlets of piped drainage pipe network and actively drain runoff from urban catchment with suspended solids proportionally retained. The physiochemical properties of these retained solids reflect the activities within the catchment during the accumulation period. In this work, seven gully pots in two catchment types (highway and housing) in Luleå, Sweden were fully emptied and sediments analysed for total mass, particle size distribution and selected metal concentrations by six size fractions. The results of this sampling campaign are compared with the results of a 2005 study of the same gully pots to identify changes in the physicochemical properties of sediments over time and examine whether changes identified can be linked to changes in wider catchment management practices. The results highlight the potential impacts of winter road maintenance operations (e.g. up to a 15-fold higher solids loading rate in road catchment gully pots), reaching a normalised solids accumulation rate of 0.176–0.819 kg m2 year−1. An increase in tyre and road wear associated with winter road maintenance operations is also understood to contribute to the temporal increase of several metals including Cu, Zn, Co, Cr and V in the < 63-µm solids fraction in the road catchment gully pots. The concentrations of As and Pb decrease in all size fractions in both catchments, with the implementation of unleaded fuels (for Pb in housing catchment only), End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (Directive 2000/53/EC) (for Pb in both catchments), and strengthened industrial emission reduction measures suggested as possible drivers. The high contamination load for Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb in < 63-µm sediments from low-traffic housing catchment also emphasised the necessity of tracing and restricting non-traffic-related metal sources. Further seasonal monitoring of gully pot sediments is recommended to fully follow up the development of metals loading in both catchments.

AbstractConstruction industry, though is the backbone of any economy, still add a significant portion of emissions, utilising energy supplies, and reasoning in bulk of waste production. The sustainable construction practices are the only solution considering the global climatic challenges. Owing its enormous benefits, a lot of sustainable constructions projects are built around the world, both in developed and developing countries. However, considering the innovative material and technological involvement, and lack of knowledge and expertise, such sustainable construction projects are not always successful. This research aims to investigate the barriers and factors impacting sustainability in the construction projects. More specifically, its primary purpose is to have the perspective of managers on the actors and barriers of sustainable construction in the UK. A mixed method was used to collect the data, one in the mean of questionnaire survey, and the second through the case study. To acquire quantitative data, a snowball sampling was applied to collect the questionnaire survey based data from 128 UK construction managerial positions, such as system managers, sustainability managers, project managers and construction managers, etc. The quantitative acquired data was analysed using mean analysis, relevant importance index (RII), correlation and multiple hierarchical regression. The RII analysis discovered that sustainable construction designs is a top drivers of sustainable construction practices, whereas excessive concentration on price is found as the top impediment of sustainable construction practices. It was also shown by the hierarchical regression analysis that stakeholders factors, project management factors and technological factors significantly impact to sustainable construction practice. However, surprisingly the role of barriers was not observed in the sustainable construction practices of the UK. The same findings were also confirmed with the case study analysis of the Kier Group plc, which believes in the sustainable construction practices. Hence, it is needful for the positive sides of these factors be considered and duly exploited. The research findings provide interesting industrial insights towards sustainable construction projects, while providing useful directions to the industrialists, policymakers and construction professionals, not only by reducing the unfavourable effects, but also by proposing the intention of restoring factors of the environment, economic and social sustainability.

AbstractDue to the fact that strontium (Sr) is not involved in the scope of supervision of drinking water in China, the Sr concentration in public drinking water and its related health risks have been neglected for a long time. In this research, public drinking water samples were collected from 314 cities across the country to reveal the concentration and spatial distribution of Sr in public drinking water. In addition, the Monte Carlo method (a statistical simulation method) was applied to evaluate the Sr intake from drinking water and human health risks among different age groups and different regions. As shown in the results, the Sr was in the concentration range of 0.005–3.11 mg/L with a mean value of 0.360 mg/L. There were significant differences in the Sr concentration in different regions; in general, it was high in the north and low in the south. The Sr intakes of infants, children, teens, and adults from drinking water were 0.273, 0.503, 0.633, and 0.784 mg/day, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between Sr concentration in drinking water and bone mineral density (BMD) in the elderly. Especially, the correlation coefficients (r) between Sr concentration and the BMD of the elderly whose age fell in the range of 60–70 years were 0.692 (male) and 0.483 (female). In addition, the Sr concentration in drinking water was positively correlated with the incidence of children's rickets (r = 0.411), while the Ca/Br ratio was negatively correlated with the incidence of children's rickets (r = − 0.410). According to the health risk assessment, among people of different ages, infants' hazard index (HI) value was the highest. The mean value and 95th percentile value were 0.066 and 0.247. Non-carcinogenic risk of Sr through drinking water among different people in different regions was less than 1, which meant no significant damage to human health. This study is the first time to systematically investigate Sr in public drinking water across the whole country. More importantly, the conclusions can be applied to risk control and management of public drinking water.

The problem of the interrelationship between the political and military elite is very complex, multidimensional, multi-hierarchical and relatively protected from the scientific and professional public and, as such, more difficult to understand. It is particularly relevant in war, where ties are looser and where the self-initiative of individuals and social groups comes to full expression, which is precisely the subject of this analysis. However, the subject is not considered in its totality, but is limited only to the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in the period from the 1980s onwards. The events out of that time were used as an empirical basis for illustrating and arguing one's own views. The subject of this paper is structured in five separate parts. In the first part, the epistemological and logic bases of the relationship between politics and the military in war are presented, with the focus on the noticed weaknesses in the theoretical and normative sphere and their consequences for real practice. In the second part, a comparative analysis of the goals of politics and the military has been done, with an emphasis on the necessary need for them to coincide at the state level and be conducted by joint efforts. The third part explains the relationship between the military and politics at the most general level. It has been proven that politics is more general and that it directs the entire activities of the society including the deployment of the military in war. The fourth part presents the models of the relationship between the military and politics at strategic level. It has been unequivocally proven that politics is superior to the military, which does not exclude the possibility of intensive negotiations before making definite decisions on the deployment in combat operations. Finally, the fifth part explains the relationship between local government representatives and units at tactical level. The links between management and cooperation between these entities with the focus on communication difficulties and consequences are explained.

The legal system of workers' self-management in Yugoslavia provides to all of the employees of each enterprise ultimate authority over basic policy, personnel, and technical issues of the firm. This study explores the "actual" and the "ideal" distribution of control in Yugoslav industrial organizations as reported by members during a five-year period, from 1969 through 1973. The data are based on questions administered at yearly intervals (excepting one year) to a probability sample of more than 3,000 persons in 100 organizations. Because important legal changes in the direction of greater participation in the governance of Yugoslav organizations were introduced immediately prior to and during this period, we expected to find some change in the distribution of control during the five years of the study. The data fit a pattern that has been found in other countries, thus illustrating principles that may transcend culture and political system. The data also differ in degree from those of other places thus also illustrating the impact of the unique legal system or organizational control in Yugoslavia. Furthermore, the data seem to be characterized more by stability than by change during the five years of the study. If change has occurred it appears to have occurred more with respect to the expectations or "ideals" of respondents than with regard to their perception of the realities of control in their organization. We none-theless assume, partly on the basis of these data and of those from studies in other countries, that substantial change in distribution of control has occurred since before the Yugoslav revolution and that a process of evolution in the distribution of control is continuing. We offer a hypothesis about this process. In addition, because we rely on the judgment of organization members for our measure of control, we present data that may shed some light on the meaning of the concept of control to these persons and therefore on the degree of correspondence between their implicit definition of control and our own.

This article discusses social inclusion policies for youth from vulnerable socioeconomic contexts, based on the ethnographic monitoring of an associative experience promoted by the Choices Programme ("Programa Escolhas") on the outskirts of Lisbon. Considered the main public policy directed at poor, racialised, and peripheral youth in Portugal, the Choices Programme is driven by strategies of empowerment and protagonism with a view to engaging youngsters in resolving the problems faced in the neighbourhoods in which they live. Both strategies call for citizen participation but restrict the youth's field of political action to the rules drawn up by the state, discouraging emancipatory and subversive discourse. The result is biopolitical control and management of marginalised youth, masking a domination that has domesticated their collective action. By recreating the meetings and activities that sought to inspire in these youngsters the virtues of associativism, I discuss how the discourses of empowerment and protagonism are incorporated as new devices of agency and community governmentality. In particular, I question the limits of citizen participation as a means to stimulate the political engagement of youth when this is tied to individualist ideologies distant from a grammar of rights.

Has productive diversification allowed
peasant families of Los Altos de Chiapas
to consolidate their strategies of social
reproduction? To answer this question, this
article analyzes peasant family agriculture
to understand its level of economic consolidation. The research methodology
is a case study on a regional and local scale,
including a statistical review to describe
the problem, conducting a survey in two
municipalities in the region, participatory
observation of traditional agriculture work
in demonstration plots for native corn
improvement, and observation of organic
production processes of vegetables, honey
and coffee. The result is a profile of the
regional agricultural economy that makes it
possible to analize productive diversification
strategies, highlighting the processes
of agroecological management of corn, coffee and honey. These results permit a
discussion of the typology of Peasant Family
Agriculture (CFA) proposed by the FAO
for describing the level of consolidation of
peasant family agriculture. The conclusions
contribute to an understanding of the stage
of economic consolidation stage of peasant
strategies. The study provides guidelines to
improve the processes of organization of the
peasant family economy.

Land-use changes have transformed tropical landscapes throughout the past decades dramatically. We describe here an ecologicaleconomicland-use change model to provide an integrated, exploratory tool to analyze how tropical land use and land-use change affect ecological and socio-conomic functions. The guiding question of the model is what kind of landscape mosaic can improve the ensemble of ecosystem functioning, biodiversity and economic benefit based on the synergies and trade-offs that we have to account for. The economic submodel simulates smallholder land-use management decisions based on a profit maximization assumption and a Leontief production function. Each household determines factor inputs for all household fields and decides about land-use change based on available wealth. The ecological submodel includes a simple account of carbon sequestration in above- and belowground vegetation. Initialized with realistic or artificial land use maps, the ecological-economic model will advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the trade-offs and synergies of ecological and economic functions in tropical landscapes.

Closed-End Funds, Exchange-Traded Funds, and Hedge Funds: Origins, Functions, and Literature is a concise and valuable book that will be of interest to individual investors, financial professionals, and academic researchers, alike. It provides a brief history and institutional discussion of these investment companies and also presents a summary of the research on these funds. Investment practitioners will find the book useful as a reference and as a quick refresher on the current state of knowledge regarding each fund type. Equally important, it provides academic researchers with an accurate institutional framework within which to cast their theoretical models, and a point of departure for expanding the empirical analysis for improving our understanding of these funds. All-in-all, this is a very valuable book; I highly recommend it. John J. Jackson Professor of Economics Auburn University Professors Anderson, Born, and Schnusenberg provide a valuable service in this monograph. The practical significance of closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, and hedge funds has increased dramatically in recent years, but all too many academics and investors know little about them. This text presents a carefully-focused and understandable description of these investment vehicles, highlighting the big, unresolved questions, while also including careful and fair accounts of the state of the literature. Nothing extraneous clutters the presentation, but, more importantly, nothing necessary is left out. Highly recommended. T. Randolph Beard Professor of Economics and Public Policy Auburn University This book is both useful as a reference book and as an additive, educational overview of ETFs and hedge funds, as well as CEFs. In today's tumultuous markets, much reference is made to these subjects without a clear understanding of the vehicles, their structure and their history. This is a very timely publication and should be viewed as an important read. The book contains definitive explanations and also includes an excellent summary of past works in this area. Readable, informative and highly useful as a reference source. Kathleen A. Wayner President and CEO Bowling Portfolio Management.