The Question of Charisma

Charismatic fauna can play a critical role in how we navigate the challenges of natural resource preservation and conservation. Their highly relatable appeal makes them ideal candidates for conservation campaigns, branding, and marketing, while their easy identification is valuable for ecotourist experiences. The revenue generated from both ecotourism and conservation campaigns (donations indicate a willingness to pay) can help assign a recognized value to our natural world and all its natural capital, making conservation rather than development our economic choice. For many people, the plight of highly recognizable charismatic species embodies the biodiversity crisis, as relying on their appealing faces as proxies for habitat protection makes sense. Their presence has the potential to generate ecotourist dollars that can be used to preserve and protect ecosystems and habitats beyond their own terrains, creating an umbrella effect. The benefit of utilizing charismatic fauna as surrogates for larger ecological issues is how effectively these animals can be used to protect the landscapes and biodiversity of entire ecosystems.

Evaluation of water resource preservation areas in the Hydrographical Basin of Andreas Stream, RS, Brazil, using environmental monitoring programs

This research evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of water resource preservation areas in the Hydrographical Basin of Andreas Stream, county of Vera Cruz, RS, Brazil, established through Payment for Environmental Services (PES), using an environmental monitoring program to assess physical, chemical and microbiological variables. The PES is linked to the "Water Guardian" project, which aims to ensure the preservation of water resources by paying farmers for providing the environmental services to protect the springs and riparian areas that lie within their properties. Twenty sampling stations were selected for collecting water samples monthly during the period July 2012 to June 2014 (460 samples) to evaluate the following variables: water temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, total dissolved solids and thermotolerant coliforms. The evaluation was made based on decree 357/2005 of the National Environmental Council (CONAMA) and by applying the Water Quality Index (WQI). The results indicated a significant improvement in the water quality when comparisons were made between the periods before and after the installation of the preservation areas. The sampling points classified as “good” (CONAMA and WQI), which indicates water of good quality that is appropriate for multiple uses, increased from 52.0% to 72.0%. In this sense, promoting the preservation of headwaters and riparian zones becomes of fundamental importance and highlights the role of PES as an operational tool for water resource preservation.

Lithosphere preservation in geoconstruction on the base of geoecochemical reactions

The paper deals with modern geosystem problems and suggests ways of solving them. The main aim of the study is to develop new methods of geosystem preservation on the base of geoecochemistry through geoecochemical reactions. Both theoretical, namely thermodynamic, method and experimental one are used in the research. Three new geoecochemical techniques such as energy economy, soil restoration and alternative technologies are introduced for natural resource preservation. Every technique is estimated with relation to negative changes of Gibb’s free energy. These changes take place as a result of geoecochemical reactions and determine a level of geosystem preservation. Using the first technique it is possible to save energy, a few hundreds of kilojoules per mol, due to formation silicates, phosphates, etc. Other techniques of geosystem restoration are heavy metal ion detoxication and alternative technologies, e.g. lithosynthesis, for natural resource preservation. Geoecochemical techniques of lithosphere preservation can be useful for any geoconstruction technology like soil strengthening, highway and railway construction and other earthwork operations.

Healthcare Operation Improvement Based on Simulation of Cooperative Resource Preservation Nets for None-Consumable Resources

Healthcare systems are growing very fast, especially emergency departments (EDs) which constitute the major bottleneck of these complex concurrent systems. Emergency departments, where patients arrive without any prior notice, are considered real-time complex dynamic systems. Enhancing these systems requires tailored modeling techniques and a process optimization approach. A new mathematical approach is proposed in order to help multiple emergency units cooperate and share none-consumable resources to achieve the required flow. To achieve the cooperation, the process is modeled by a new subclass of Petri nets. The new Petri net model was proposed in a previous work and is used in this study in order to tackle the problem of modeling and managing these emergency units. The proposed Petri net is named Resource Preservation Net (RPN). Few theorems and lemmas are proposed to support the proposed Petri net model and to prove the correctness of cooperation and resource sharing. In this contribution, a model of cooperative healthcare units is proposed to achieve sound resource sharing and collaboration. The objective function of the proposed model is to improve the key performance indicators: patients length of stay (LoS), resource utilization rates, and patients waiting time. The cooperation among multiple EDs is then proposed through the study of merging two or more units. The cooperative and noncooperative behavior are also studied through theorems of soundness, separability and serializability, and a proof of scalability.

The Tragedy of the Uncommons

We develop and discuss a new institutional concept, “the tragedy of the uncommons,” to describe the inefficient use of resources that are both non-substitutable and transitory. This situation is not captured by the tragedy of the commons/anti-commons literature or other theories. We highlight the crucial and under-appreciated assumptions about value over time of the tragedy of the commons and anticommons. We also introduce the concepts of “under” and “over-ownership” to the bundle of rights theory of property clarifying weaknesses in the literature to help better understand how institutions can yield efficient resource preservation.