A review of climate change and the implementation of marine biodiversity legislation in the United Kingdom

1. Marine legislation, the key means by which the conservation of marine biodiversity is achieved, has been developing since the 1960s. In recent decades, an increasing focus on ‘holistic’ policy development is evident, compared with earlier ‘piecemeal’ sectoral approaches. Important marine legislative tools being used in the United Kingdom, and internationally, include the designation of marine protected areas and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with its aim of meeting ‘Good Environmental Status’ (GES) for European seas by 2020. 2. There is growing evidence of climate change impacts on marine biodiversity, which may compromise the effectiveness of any legislation intended to promote sustainable marine resource management. 3. A review of key marine biodiversity legislation relevant to the UK shows climate change was not considered in the drafting of much early legislation. Despite the huge increase in knowledge of climate change impacts in recent decades, legislation is still limited in how it takes these impacts into account. There is scope, however, to account for climate change in implementing much of the legislation through (a) existing references to environmental variability; (b) review cycles; and (c) secondary legislation and complementary policy development. 4. For legislation relating to marine protected areas (e.g. the EC Habitats and Birds Directives), climate change has generally not been considered in the site-designation process, or for ongoing management, with the exception of the Marine (Scotland) Act. Given that changing environmental conditions (e.g. rising temperatures and ocean acidification) directly affect the habitats and species that sites are designated for, how this legislation is used to protect marine biodiversity in a changing climate requires further consideration. 5. Accounting for climate change impacts on marine biodiversity in the development and implementation of legislation is vital to enable timely, adaptive management responses. Marine modelling can play an important role in informing management decisions.

The role of economics in ecosystem based management: The case of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, First lessons learnt and way forward

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) sets out a plan of action relating to marine environmental policy and in particular to achieving ‘good environmental status’ (GES) in European marine waters by 2020. Article 8.1 (c) of the Directive calls for ‘an economic and social analysis of the use of those waters and of the cost of degradation of the marine environment’. The MSFD is ‘informed’ by the Ecosystem Approach to management, with GES interpreted in terms of ecosystem functioning and services provision. Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach is expected to be by adaptive management policy and practice. The initial socio-economic assessment was made by maritime EU Member States between 2011 and 2012, with future updates to be made on a regular basis. For the majority of Member States, this assessment has led to an exercise combining an analysis of maritime activities both at national and coastal zone scales, and an analysis of the non-market value of marine waters. In this paper we examine the approaches taken in more detail, outline the main challenges facing the Member States in assessing the economic value of achieving GES as outlined in the Directive and make recommendations for the theoretically sound and practically useful completion of the required follow-up economic assessments specified in the MSFD.

The role of economics in ecosystem based management: The case of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, First lessons learnt and way forward

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) sets out a plan of action relating to marine environmental policy and in particular to achieving ‘good environmental status’ (GES) in European marine waters by 2020. Article 8.1 (c) of the Directive calls for ‘an economic and social analysis of the use of those waters and of the cost of degradation of the marine environment’. The MSFD is ‘informed’ by the Ecosystem Approach to management, with GES interpreted in terms of ecosystem functioning and services provision. Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach is expected to be by adaptive management policy and practice. The initial socio-economic assessment was made by maritime EU Member States between 2011 and 2012, with future updates to be made on a regular basis. For the majority of Member States, this assessment has led to an exercise combining an analysis of maritime activities both at national and coastal zone scales, and an analysis of the non-market value of marine waters. In this paper we examine the approaches taken in more detail, outline the main challenges facing the Member States in assessing the economic value of achieving GES as outlined in the Directive and make recommendations for the theoretically sound and practically useful completion of the required follow-up economic assessments specified in the MSFD.

A model for developing, implementing and evaluating a strategy to improve nursing and midwifery care

Background: Health care organizations world wide are faced with the need to develop and implement strategic organizational plans to meet the challenges of modern health care. There is a need for models for developing, implementing and evaluating strategic plans that engage practitioners, and make a measurable difference to the patients that they serve. This article describes the development of such a model to underpin a strategy for nursing and midwifery in an acute hospital trust. An integrated model: The processes for strategy development (values clarification, critical companionship and focus groups) are discussed, together with the development of processes for implementation, based upon a modification of the PARIHS (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) conceptual framework. Finally, the methods for evaluating the strategy (a pre-test/post-test approach measuring the quality of nursing care, the degree to which the organization supports professional nursing care, the leadership styles of ward managers, and patient satisfaction with care) are described. Conclusion: The model is offered as one that may be of use to others who wish to develop an integrated approach to strategic change; an approach in which the development, implementation and evaluation of strategic plans are informed by the core values of nurses and midwives.

De la cooperativa agroalimentaria a la "learning netchain". Hacia un planteamiento teorico interorganizativo e interpersonal

Se propone un planteamiento teórico/conceptual para determinar si las relaciones interorganizativas e interpersonales de la netchain de las cooperativas agroalimentarias evolucionan hacia una learning netchain. Las propuestas del trabajo muestran que el mayor grado de asociacionismo y la mayor cooperación/colaboración vertical a lo largo de la cadena están positivamente relacionados con la posición horizontal de la empresa focal más cercana del consumidor final. Esto requiere una planificación y una resolución de problemas de manera conjunta, lo que está positivamente relacionado con el mayor flujo y diversidad de la información/conocimiento obtenido y diseminado a lo largo de la netchain. Al mismo tiempo se necesita desarrollar un contexto social en el que fluya la información/conocimiento y las nuevas ideas de manera informal y esto se logra con redes personales y, principalmente, profesionales y con redes internas y, principalmente, externas. Todo esto permitirá una mayor satisfacción de los socios de la cooperativa agroalimentaria y de sus distribuidores y una mayor intensidad en I+D, convirtiéndose la netchain de la cooperativa agroalimentaria, así, en una learning netchain.

The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard. Linking Sustainability Management to Business Strategy.

The Balanced Scorecard of Kaplan and Norton is a management tool that supports the successful implementation of corporate strategies. It has been discussed and considered widely in both practice and research. By linking operational and non-financial corporate activities with causal chains to the firm's long-term strategy, the Balanced Scorecard supports the alignment and management of all corporate activities according to their strategic relevance. The Balanced Scorecard makes it possible to take into account non-monetary strategic success factors that significantly impact the economic success of a business. The Balanced Scorecard is thus a promising starting-point to also incorporate environmental and social aspects into the main management system of a firm. Sustainability management with the Balanced Scorecard helps to overcome the shortcomings of conventional approaches to environmental and social management systems by integrating the three pillars of sustainability into a single and overarching strategic management tool. After a brief discussion of the different possible forms of a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard the article takes a closer look at the process and steps of formulating a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard for a business unit. Before doing so, the basic conventional approach of the Balanced Scorecard and its suitability for sustainability management will be outlined in brief.

Differential power analysis resistance of Camellia and countermeasure strategy on FPGAs

Security devices are vulnerable to Differential Power Analysis (DPA) that reveals the key by monitoring the power consumption of the circuits. In this paper, we present the first DPA attack against an FPGA implementation of the Camellia encryption algorithm with all key sizes and evaluate the DPA resistance of the algorithm. The Camellia cryptographic algorithm involves several different key-dependent intermediate operations including S-Box operations. In previous research, it was believed that the Camellia is stronger than AES due to the additional Whitening phase protecting the S-Box operation. However, we propose an attack that bypasses the Whitening phase and targets the S-Box. In this paper, we also discuss a lowcost countermeasure strategy to protect the Pre-whitening / Post-whitening and FL function of Camellia using Dual-rail Precharged Logic and to protect against attacks of the S-Box using Random Delay Insertion. © 2009 IEEE.

Testing a model for developing, implementing and evaluating a strategy to improve the quality of nursing and midwifery care in an acute hospital trust.

Abstract:
Background: Health care organisations
worldwide are faced with the need to develop
and implement strategic organisational plans
to meet the challenges of modern health care.
There is a need for models for developing, implementing and evaluating strategic plans that engage practitioners, and make a measurable difference to the patients that they serve. These presentations describe the development, implementation and evaluation of such a model by a team of senior nurses and practice developers, to underpin a strategy for nursing and midwifery in an acute hospital trust. Developing a Strategy The PARIHS (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) conceptual framework (Kitson et al, 1998) proposes that successful implementation of change in practice is a function of the interplay of three core elements: the level of evidence supporting the proposed change; the context or environment in which the change takes place, and the way in which change is facilitated. We chose to draw on this framework to develop our strategy and implementation plan (O’Halloran, Martin and Connolly, 2005). At the centre of the plan are ward managers. These professionals provide leadership for the majority of staff in the trust and so were seen to be a key group in the implementation process.

Voltage and power quality improvement strategy for a DFIG wind turbine during variable wind conditions

This paper presents a voltage and power quality enhancement scheme for a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind farm during variable wind conditions. The wind profiles were derived considering the measured data at a DFIG wind farm located in Northern Ireland (NI). The aggregated DFIG wind farm model was validated using measured data at a wind farm during variable generation. The voltage control strategy was developed considering the X/R ratio of the wind farm feeder which connects the wind farm and the grid. The performance of the proposed strategy was evaluated for different X/R ratios, and wind profiles with different characteristics. The impact of flicker propagation along the wind farm feeder and effectiveness of the proposed strategy is also evaluated with consumer loads connected to the wind farm feeder. It is shown that voltage variability and short-term flicker severity is significantly reduced following implementation of the novel strategy described.

Early Implementation of Building Information Modeling into a Cold-Formed Steel Company: Providing Novel Project Management Techniques and Solutions to Industry

The ability of building information modeling (BIM) to positively impact projects in the AEC through greater collaboration and integration is widely acknowledged. This paper aims to examine the development of BIM and how it can contribute to the cold-formed steel (CFS) building industry. This is achieved through the adoption of a qualitative methodology encompassing a literature review, exploratory interviews with industry experts, culminating in the development of e-learning material for the sector. In doing so, the research team have collaborated with one of the United Kingdom’s largest cold-formed steel designer/fabricators. By demonstrating the capabilities of BIM software and providing technical and informative videos in its creation, this project has found two key outcomes. Firstly, to provide invaluable assistance in the transition from traditional processes to a fully collaborative 3D BIM as required by the UK Government under the “Government Construction Strategy” by 2016 in all public sector projects. Secondly, to demonstrate BIM’s potential not only within CFS companies, but also within the AEC sector as a whole. As the flexibility, adaptability and interoperability of BIM software is alluded to, the results indicate that the introduction and development of BIM and the underlying ethos suggests that it is a key tool in the development of the industry as a whole.