Towards more integrated and participatory coastal management : insights from Victoria’s Estuary Entrance Management Support System.

Participation and integration are core elements of coastal management. A key argument is that involving stakeholders from the broader community in collaborative coastal management allows for a more reflexive approach to consideration of ecological science outputs. However the role of stakeholder participation is still problematic especially when the involvement is short term and limited in its knowledge co-production. We argue for the development of a participatory logic that includes five key elements: the institutionalization of the processes that derive from stakeholder co-production and co-management; the ability and capacity to make meaningful decisions about issues of importance in an on-going way; the inclusion of all stakeholders in the process; the flexibility of central policies that enable participation by stakeholders at local level; the allowance for pathways for the uptake of all knowledge systems. Using this approach we report in this paper on the Estuary Entrance Management Support System (EEMSS) and ask whether this is a model system for answering the following questions as part of participatory logic: What types of collaborative activities can be used to improve the management of coastal zones? Are these activities a sufficient pathway for integrating different knowledge forms including science into coastal management? How important is stakeholder participation to science uptake? How can stakeholder participation be institutionalized in coastal management?

Stakeholder participation in estuary management: the development of Victoria's Estuary Entrance Management Support System

Stakeholder involvement in the management of estuaries is a necessary element of good environmental governance. In Victoria, Australia, a key challenge for estuary managers is whether or not estuaries should be artificially opened since many river mouths close ‘naturally’ from time to time. Estuary closure resulting in raised estuarine water levels leads to economic and social impacts on local communities. In the past these effects have been addressed by artificial river mouth openings, often without reference to associated environmental impacts. This article discusses the development and features of an Estuary Entrance Management Support System and considers its performance against principles of effective environmental management. It concludes that, in bringing together technical information with stakeholder input through a structured process, such a system makes a useful contribution to improving estuary entrance management.

Thermoluminescence measurements of entrance surface skin dose in exams of dog's chest in veterinary radiology

This study aims to determine the entrance surface skin doses in dogs (with suspected pulmonary metastasis) submitted to chest X-rays using the technique of thermoluminescence (TL) dosimetry. Twenty seven radiologic exams of dogs of different breed and sizes were performed. The radiation doses were assessed using thermoluminescent dosimeters of calcium sulphate doped with dysprosium (CaSO(4):Dy) produced at Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN). The entrance surface skin dose range evaluated in this type of procedure was between 0.43 mGy to small size dogs and 4.22 mGy to big size dogs with repeated exams. The obtained results indicate that is extremely important the assessment of radiation doses involved in veterinary diagnostic radiology procedures, to evaluate the delivered doses to the animals, to be used as a parameter in the individual monitoring of pet's owners, who assist the animal positioning, and to protect occupationally exposed workers at the Veterinary Radiology Clinics. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Power law distribution in education: Effect of economical, teaching, and study conditions in university entrance examination

We studied the statistical distribution of student's performance, which is measured through their marks, in university entrance examination (Vestibular) of UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) with respect to (i) period of study - day versus night period (ii) teaching conditions - private versus public school (iii) economical conditions - high versus low family income. We observed long ubiquitous power law tails in physical and biological sciences in all cases. The mean value increases with better study conditions followed by better teaching and economical conditions. In humanities, the distribution is close to normal distribution with very small tail. This indicates that these power law tails in science subjects axe due to the nature of the subjects themselves. Further and better study, teaching and economical conditions axe more important for physical and biological sciences in comparison to humanities at this level of study. We explain these statistical distributions through Gradually Truncated Power law distributions. We discuss the possible reason for this peculiar behavior.

Power law distribution in education: University entrance examination

We studied the statistical distribution of candidate's performance which is measured through their marks in university entrance examination (Vestibular) of UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) for years 1998, 1999, and 2000. All students are divided in three groups: Physical, Biological and Humanities. We paid special attention to the examination of Portuguese language which is common for all and examinations for the particular area. We observed long ubiquitous power law tails in Physical and Biological sciences. This indicate the presence of strong positive feedback in sciences. We are able to explain completely these statistical distributions through Gradually Truncated Power law distributions which we developed recently to explain statistical behavior of financial market. The statistical distribution in case of Portuguese language and humanities is close to normal distribution. We discuss the possible reason for this peculiar behavior.

Study of entrance surface skin dose in veterinary radiology

This study aims the evaluation of the radiation dose levels involved in veterinary radiology and to contribute to review the procedures for performing radiographic exams in animals in the Department of Veterinary Radiology of Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia of Universidade Estadual Paulista (FMVZ-UNESP/Brazil). The obtained results has shown to be extremely important the assessment of doses involved in veterinary diagnostic radiology procedures both to protect the occupationally exposed workers and to optimize the delivered doses to the animals. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.

Re-Entrance-Phasenbildung und elektronische Eigenschaften epitaxialer Schichten des Kondo-Halbmetalls CeSb

Durch das Anlegen eines elektrischen Feldes an eine Feldeffektanordung kann die Anzahl der freien Ladungstraeger im Kanalmaterial direkt moduliert und der Einfluá auf die Transporteigenschaften und den damit zusammenhaengenden typischen Energieskalen untersucht werden. Mit der Konzeption und dem Aufbau einer Praeparationsapparatur, sowie der Etablierung eines Praeparationsprozesses zur Herstellung duenner epitaktischer Schichten des Kondo-Halbmetalls CeSb sollte im Rahmen dieser Arbeit der Grundstein fuer die Realisierung einer dazu notwendigen Feldeffektanordnung gelegt werden. Mit dem Verfahren der Molekularstrahlepitaxie konnten sowohl (100)- als auch (111)-orientierte phasenreine CeSb-Schichten hergestellt werden. In Abhaengigkeit der Sb-Verdampfertemperatur wurden fuer das Schichtwachstum auf Saphir (1120) zwei voneinander getrennte Bereiche der Phasenbildung gefunden, in denen jeweils die (111)- respektive die (100)-Wachstumsrichtung dominiert. Das beobachtete Re-Entrance-Verhalten beruht auf dem Einfluss der Sb-Tiegeltemperatur auf Verdampfungsrate und Strahlzusammensetzung. Durch die Verwendung von Saphir (0001)-Substraten konnte das Wachstum (111)-orientierter Schichten massgeblich verbessert werden. Die Untersuchung der elektronischen Eigenschaften mittels Magnetotransportmessungen ergab eine weitreichende šbereinstimmung mit den bekannten Einkristallergebnissen. In Uebereinstimmung mit den Ergebnissen der an der ETH Zuerich durchgefuehrten MOKE-Untersuchungen laesst sich aus den Hallmessungen auf eine Reduktion der freien Ladungstraeger in den duennen Schichten schliessen.