Tracking the evolution of waste recycling research using overlay maps of science

Tracking the evolution of research in waste recycling science (WRS) can be valuable for environmental agencies, as well as for recycling businesses. Maps of science are visual, easily readable representations of the cognitive structure of a branch of science, a particular area of research or the global spectrum of scientific production. They are generally built upon evidence collected from reliable sources of information, such as patent and scientific publication databases. This study uses the methodology developed by Rafols et al. (2010) to make a “double overlay map” of WRS upon a basemap reflecting the cognitive structure of all journal-published science, for the years 2005 and 2010. The analysis has taken into account the cognitive areas where WRS articles are published and the areas from where it takes its intellectual nourishing, paying special attention to the growing trends of the key areas. Interpretation of results lead to the conclusion that extraction of energy from waste will probably be an important research topic in the future, along with developments in general chemistry and chemical engineering oriented to the recovery of valuable materials from waste. Agricultural and material sciences, together with the combined economics, politics and geography field, are areas with which WRS shows a relevant and ever increasing cognitive relationship.

Data analysis advances in marine science for fisheries management : supervised classification application

169 p. : il. col.

Towards a participatory integrated assessment approach for planning and managing Natura 2000 network sites

Managing protected areas implies dealing with complex social-ecological systems where multiple dimensions (social, institutional, economic and ecological) interact over time for the delivery of ecosystem services. Uni-dimensional and top-down management approaches have been unable to capture this complexity. Instead, new integrated approaches that acknowledge the diversity of social actors in the decision making process are required. In this paper we put forward a novel participatory assessment approach which integrates multiple methodologies to reflect different value articulating institutions in the case of a Natura 2000 network site in the Basque Country. It integrates within a social multi-criteria evaluation framework, both the economic values of ecosystem services through a choice experiment model and ecological values by means of a spatial bio-geographic assessment. By capturing confronting social and institutional conflicts in protected areas the participatory integrated assessment approach presented here can help decision makers for better planning and managing Natura 2000 sites.

Evaluating governance and participatory processes in Natura 2000: lessons learned and guidance for future prospects

In recent years, participatory approaches have been incorporated in decision-making processes as a way to strengthen the bonds between diverse areas of knowledge and social actors in natural resources management and environmental governance. Despite the favourable context, this paradigm shift is still in an early stage within the development of the Natura 2000 in the European Union, the largest network of protected areas in the world. To enhance the full scope of participatory approaches in this context, this article: (i) briefly reviews the role of participatory approaches in environmental governance, (ii) develops a common framework to evaluate such participatory processes in protected area management, (iii) applies this framework to a real case study, and (iv) based on the lessons learned, provides guidance to improve the future governance of Natura 2000 sites.

Weighting social preferences in participatory multi-criteria evaluations: a case study on sustainable natural resource management

28 p.

Evaluating Governance and Participatory Processes in Natura 2000: Lessons Learned and Guidance for Future Prospects

23 p.

Towards a Participatory Integrated Assessment Approach for Planning and Managing Natura 2000 Network Sites

36 p.

Treewidth: theory and applications to computer science

This report is an introduction to the concept of treewidth, a property of graphs that has important implications in algorithms. Some basic concepts of graph theory are presented in the first chapter for those readers that are not familiar with the notation. In Chapter 2, the definition of treewidth and some different ways of characterizing it are explained. The last two chapters focus on the algorithmic implications of treewidth, which are very relevant in Computer Science. An algorithm to compute the treewidth of a graph is presented and its result can be later applied to many other problems in graph theory, like those introduced in the last chapter.