Pasture degradation is a concern, especially in susceptible sandy soils for which strategies to recover them must be developed. Microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators are useful in the guindace of soil management practices and sustainable soil use. We assessed the success of three Panicum maximum Jacq. cultivars in the reclamation of a pasture in a sandy Typic Acrudox in the northwest of the state of Paraná, Brazil, based on soil health indicators. On a formerly degraded pasture with Urochloa brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) R.D. Webster, a trial with three P. maximum (cv. Massai, Tanzânia, or Mombaça) was conducted. Lime and phosphate were applied at set-up, and mineral N and K as topdressing. A remnant of degraded pasture adjacent to the trial was used as control. Twenty-three chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical attributes were assessed for the 0-10 cm topsoil. The procedures for reclamation improved most of the indicators of soil health in relation to the degraded pasture, such as soil P, mineral N, microbial biomass C, ammonification rate, dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase. CO2 evolution decreased, whereas microbial biomass C increased in the pasture under reclamation, resulting in a lower metabolic quotient (qCO2) that points to a decrease in metabolic stress of the microbial community. The reclamation of the pasture with P. maximum, especially cv. Mombaça, were evidenced by improvements in the microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators, showing a recovery of processes related to C, N and P cycling in the soil.

Pasture degradation is a concern, especially in susceptible sandy soils for which strategies to recover them must be developed. Microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators are useful in the guindace of soil management practices and sustainable soil use. We assessed the success of threePanicum maximum Jacq. cultivars in the reclamation of a pasture in a sandy Typic Acrudox in the northwest of the state of Paraná, Brazil, based on soil health indicators. On a formerly degraded pasture withUrochloa brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) R.D. Webster, a trial with threeP. maximum (cv. Massai, Tanzânia, or Mombaça) was conducted. Lime and phosphate were applied at set-up, and mineral N and K as topdressing. A remnant of degraded pasture adjacent to the trial was used as control. Twenty-three chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical attributes were assessed for the 0-10 cm topsoil. The procedures for reclamation improved most of the indicators of soil health in relation to the degraded pasture, such as soil P, mineral N, microbial biomass C, ammonification rate, dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase. CO2 evolution decreased, whereas microbial biomass C increased in the pasture under reclamation, resulting in a lower metabolic quotient (qCO2) that points to a decrease in metabolic stress of the microbial community. The reclamation of the pasture withP. maximum, especially cv. Mombaça, were evidenced by improvements in the microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators, showing a recovery of processes related to C, N and P cycling in the soil.

Pasture degradation is a concern, especially in susceptible sandy soils for which strategies to recover them must be developed. Microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators are useful in the guindace of soil management practices and sustainable soil use. We assessed the success of threePanicum maximum Jacq. cultivars in the reclamation of a pasture in a sandy Typic Acrudox in the northwest of the state of Paraná, Brazil, based on soil health indicators. On a formerly degraded pasture withUrochloa brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) R.D. Webster, a trial with threeP. maximum (cv. Massai, Tanzânia, or Mombaça) was conducted. Lime and phosphate were applied at set-up, and mineral N and K as topdressing. A remnant of degraded pasture adjacent to the trial was used as control. Twenty-three chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical attributes were assessed for the 0-10 cm topsoil. The procedures for reclamation improved most of the indicators of soil health in relation to the degraded pasture, such as soil P, mineral N, microbial biomass C, ammonification rate, dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase. CO2 evolution decreased, whereas microbial biomass C increased in the pasture under reclamation, resulting in a lower metabolic quotient (qCO2) that points to a decrease in metabolic stress of the microbial community. The reclamation of the pasture withP. maximum, especially cv. Mombaça, were evidenced by improvements in the microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators, showing a recovery of processes related to C, N and P cycling in the soil.

Sweetness is a traditional sensory indicator used to evaluate the quality of the popular Chinese herb Radix Astragali (RA). RA roots with strong sweetness are considered to be of good quality. However, neither a thorough analysis of the component(s) contributing to RA sweetness, nor a scientific investigation of the reliability of this indicator has been conducted to date. In this study, seven kinds of sweetness components were identified in RA and a quality evaluation method based on these components was established and used to characterize the quality of 48 RA samples. The sweetness evaluation method of RA was first built based on the sweetness components, and a comprehensive evaluation index commonly used in quality control of RA was also derived, which was based on the contents of four indicators (astragaloside IV, calycosin glucoside, polysaccharides and extracts). After evaluating the correlation of these indexes the results showed that the level of sweetness exhibited a strong positive correlation with the proposed comprehensive index. Our results indicate that sweetness is one of the most important quality attributes of RA and thus provide a scientific basis for the utility of the sweetness indicator in quality assessment of this Chinese herb.

We propose the computation of different wind energy production indicators and financial profitability of potential wind power sites. The computation is performed by modeling the wind speed process as an indexed semi-Markov chain to predict and simulate the wind speed dynamics.We demonstrate that the indexed semi-Markov chain approach enables reproducing the indicators calculated on real data. Two different time horizons of 15 and 30years are analyzed. In the first case we consider the government incentives on the energy price now present in Italy, while in the second case the incentives have not been taken into account.

Waste information is necessary for proper management planning. However, data on waste generation and management are sometimes not reliable enough, do not exist or are not useful for the sector. This is due to the high number of waste types and flows, and actors (producers, managers and administrations), which make data collection and treatment difficult. Furthermore, data loss occurs because some waste flows have economic value and return to the second-hand markets without monitoring. The development of a waste information system for a region is more than just about establishing a routine data collection on waste. It is a way to support the challenges of decision-making on waste management. These challenges range from strategic issues of waste management in the national government to the basic challenges of running local governments. In the Cantabrian region, three indicator sets were defined to constitute the waste information system: (a) a Basic Indicator Set, which provides an overview of the status of the generation and management of the main waste streams, giving a national and international comparative analysis of the situation; (b) a Specific Indicator Set, which monitors the objectives of the different waste policies, and (c) a Transverse Indicator Set, which analyses the influence of different economic and social variables on the generation of specific waste streams. The Waste Information System of the Cantabrian Region has been created using a specific methodology for developing indicator sets with multiple objectives. This methodology consists of seven steps: (i) the synthesis, selection of the indicators sets; (ii) analysis of the system under study and data sources; (iii) evaluation of the indicators proposed; (iv) application and interpretation; (v) public review, dissemination and updating protocol; (vi) improvement of indicators sets using SWOT analysis; and (vii) aggregation of all indicators in an aggregated index. These indicator sets with a total of 27 indicators allow tracking the evolution of generation and management of waste streams and the achievement of the policy objectives, establishing a data record, evaluating the data and sources of data, monitoring proposed action and its effectiveness summarizing large amounts of data on waste in order to spread it to the public and finally, aggregate all information in a single index that allows the evaluation of the evolution of all waste sectors in time.

Climate variability influences the availability of water resources throughout Canada, and projected climate change is anticipated to affect future water availability. This is the first paper of a three-part analysis of water availability indicators in Canada (Parts II and III, this issue). The concept of water availability has been described in different ways in the literature. In Part I, the various approaches for estimating water availability are reviewed and compared, with a focus on Canadian studies. Global examples are used when necessary. The approaches to estimate water availability are organized into three categories: (1) climate-based indicators, (2) hydrology-based indicators and (3) water demand/supply-based indicators. Climate-based indicators use variables such as precipitation, and potential or actual evapotranspiration to calculate water budgets. Widely used meteorological drought indices that calculate moisture surpluses and deficits are also examined. Hydrology-based indicators focus on variables such as observed or modeled streamflow, or runoff. Water demand/supply-based indicators tend to focus on comparing the volume of available water with the amount of water used. Some conclusions on the status of water availability estimates in Canada are provided.

Urban ecological indicators allow the objective and quantitative characterisation of ecological conditions in a spatially continuous way by evaluating the influence of urban surface types with respect to ecological functions and ecosystem services. Although the concept had already been developed in the 1980s, the variety of existing indicators had not been widely applied yet in urban planning practice, because of the high manual mapping effort that is required for spatially differentiated urban surface mapping. This paper presents a new automated remote sensing and GIS-based system for the flexible and user-defined derivation of urban ecological indicators. The system is based on automated surface material mapping using airborne hyperspectral image data and height information. Because the material classes obtained from remote sensing analysis differ in part from the surface types needed for the calculation of urban ecological indicators, they have been transformed into so-called linking categories representing the basis for the automated GIS-based derivation of urban ecological indicators. For this purpose, a computer-based system for flexible indicator derivation has been developed, allowing the user-defined integration of indicators based on the variable determination of mapping units, linking categories and respective weighting factors. Based on a comprehensive review of existing ecological indicators, 14 indicators have been selected and implemented in the system. To demonstrate the potential of the new system, a variety of indicators has been derived for two test sites situated in the German cities of Dresden and Potsdam, using city blocks defined by the municipal authorities as spatial mapping units. The initial mapping of surface materials was automatically performed on the basis of airborne hyperspectral image data acquired by the HyMAP system. The results of subsequent GIS-based indicator calculation were validated using results from field-based reference mapping that had been carried out for selected city blocks situated in both cities. An accuracy assessment for these reference city blocks has revealed mean errors of approximately 4%, confirming the suitability of the developed automated GIS-based system for flexible and efficient indicator calculation.

Previous researches mainly focused on the runoff responses to landuse change based on annual, seasonal or monthly time scales, there are few studies based on daily scale. We conducted a comprehensive investigation into runoff responses on the daily scale as well as annual and monthly time scales using SWAT, and compared the impacts of time scales with different time indicators quantitatively. Jinjiang, a coastal catchment of southeast China with a humid sub-tropical climate, was used for simulations. A calibrated SWAT model produced satisfactory reproduction of annual, monthly and daily runoff processes over a nine-year (2002–2010) period at three gauging stations. Runoff was then simulated and compared using the same meteorological input but two different landuse scenarios (1985 and 2006, with reduced forest and increased cropland and urbanized area). The results showed varying change in runoff among three time scales and three catchments. The annual runoff had the smallest increase between two scenarios, monthly runoffs had medium rates (increasing in all months except October–November), and daily runoff had the largest rates with the increase in flood peaks but decrease in drought flows, because of the variable influence on interception/evapotranspiration loss, percolation and antecedent soil water storage. Indicators of different time scales (annual runoff, monthly runoff, maximum 1-day and 5-day flood runoff, minimum 1-day and 7-day runoff) proved appropriate for analysing landuse change impacts.