Practice report: the role of environmental factors in industrial site selection activities: a case of limestone quarry expansion in Barbados, West Indies

Site selection is a key activity for quarry expansion to support cement production, and is governed by factors such as resource availability, logistics, costs, and socio-environmental factors. Adequate consideration of all factors facilitates both industrial productivity and sustainable economic growth. This study illustrates the site selection process that was undertaken for the expansion of limestone quarry operations to support cement production in Barbados. First, alternate sites with adequate resources to support a 25-year development horizon were identified. Second, socio-environmental conditions were described and potential impacts identified. Third, a comparative matrix was constructed to evaluate relative site characteristics with respect to physical, ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors. The study shows that environmental factors were essential to the final site recommendation.

Environmental quality in residential areas : a social survey approach to improvement priorities

The research is concerned with the measurement of residents' evaluations of the environmental quality of residential areas. The research reflects the increased attention being given to residents' values in planning decisions affecting the residential environment. The work was undertaken in co-operation with a local authority which was in the process of revising its housing strategy, and in particular the priorities for improvement action. The study critically examines the existing evidence on environmental values and their relationship to the environment and points to a number of methodological and conceptual deficiencies. The research strategy developed on the basis of the research review was constrained by the need to keep any survey methods simple so that they could easily be repeated, when necessary, by the sponsoring authority. A basic perception model was assumed, and a social survey carried out to measure residents' responses to different environmental conditions. The data was only assumed to have ordinal properties, necessitating the extensive use of non-parametric statistics. Residents' expressions of satisfaction with the component elements of the environment (ranging from convenience to upkeep and privacy) were successfully related to 'objective' measures of the environment. However the survey evidence did not justify the use of the 'objective' variables as environmental standards. A method of using the social survey data directly as an aid to decision-making is discussed. Alternative models of the derivation of overall satisfaction with the environment are tested, and the values implied by the additive model compared with residents' preferences as measured directly in the survey. Residents' overall satisfactions with the residential environment were most closely related to their satisfactions with the "Appearance" and the "Reputation" of their areas. By contrast the most important directly measured preference was "Friendliness of area". The differences point to the need to define concepts used in social research clearly in operational terms, and to take care in the use of values 'measured' by different methods.

A goal-based modeling approach to develop requirements of an adaptive system with environmental uncertainty

Dynamically adaptive systems (DASs) are intended to monitor the execution environment and then dynamically adapt their behavior in response to changing environmental conditions. The uncertainty of the execution environment is a major motivation for dynamic adaptation; it is impossible to know at development time all of the possible combinations of environmental conditions that will be encountered. To date, the work performed in requirements engineering for a DAS includes requirements monitoring and reasoning about the correctness of adaptations, where the DAS requirements are assumed to exist. This paper introduces a goal-based modeling approach to develop the requirements for a DAS, while explicitly factoring uncertainty into the process and resulting requirements. We introduce a variation of threat modeling to identify sources of uncertainty and demonstrate how the RELAX specification language can be used to specify more flexible requirements within a goal model to handle the uncertainty. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

The role of environmental factors in industrial site selection activities:a case of limestone quarry expansion in Barbados, West Indies

Site selection is a key activity for quarry expansion to support cement production, and is governed by factors such as resource availability, logistics, costs, and socio-environmental factors. Adequate consideration of all factors facilitates both industrial productivity and sustainable economic growth. This study illustrates the site selection process that was undertaken for the expansion of limestone quarry operations to support cement production in Barbados. First, alternate sites with adequate resources to support a 25-year development horizon were identified. Second, socio-environmental conditions were described and potential impacts identified. Third, a comparative matrix was constructed to evaluate relative site characteristics with respect to physical, ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors. The study shows that environmental factors were essential to the final site recommendation.