This study examined variation in the welfare of extensively managed ewes and potential welfare risks. A total of 100 Merino ewes (aged 2–4 years) were individually identified and examined at three key stages: pregnancy, lactation and weaning. Eight animal-based welfare measures were used to assess welfare: flight distance, body condition score (BCS), fleece condition, skin lesions, tail length, dag score, lameness and mastitis. Data were analysed by ANOVA and McNemar’s statistics. Overall, the average BCS of the group was in agreement with industry recommendations. However, a number of animals were classified with inadequate condition (either too thin or too fat) across the three observation periods. The presence of heavy dags was greatest at mid-lactation (87%, P < 0.0001), lameness was greatest at weaning (14%, P = 0.01), clinical mastitis was 1% annually, and five ewes were lost from the study. Ewes had better health at mid-pregnancy compared to mid-lactation and weaning. The main welfare issues identified were under and over feeding, ewe mortality, lameness, ecto-parasites (flystrike) and mastitis, all of which have the potential to be reduced with improved management practices. Future welfare assessment programs must consider that significant variation in on-farm welfare will occur in extensively managed systems and this needs to be accounted for when evaluating farms.

This study was conducted within the context of the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project and the underlying scientific motivation for the development of the study was the scarcity of data regarding inter-observer reliability (IOR) of welfare indicators, particularly given the importance of reliability as a further step for developing on-farm welfare assessment protocols. The objective of this study is therefore to evaluate IOR of animal-based indicators (at group and individual-level) of the AWIN welfare assessment protocol (prototype) for dairy goats. In the design of the study, two pairs of observers, one in Portugal and another in Italy, visited 10 farms each and applied the AWIN prototype protocol. Farms in both countries were visited between January and March 2014, and all the observers received the same training before the farm visits were initiated. Data collected during farm visits, and analysed in this study, include group-level and individual-level observations. The results of our study allow us to conclude that most of the group-level indicators presented the highest IOR level (‘substantial’, 0.85 to 0.99) in both field studies, pointing to a usable set of animal-based welfare indicators that were therefore included in the first level of the final AWIN welfare assessment protocol for dairy goats. Inter-observer reliability of individual-level indicators was lower, but the majority of them still reached ‘fair to good’ (0.41 to 0.75) and ‘excellent’ (0.76 to 1) levels. In the paper we explore reasons for the differences found in IOR between the group and individual-level indicators, including how the number of individual-level indicators to be assessed on each animal and the restraining method may have affected the results. Furthermore, we discuss the differences found in the IOR of individual-level indicators in both countries: the Portuguese pair of observers reached a higher level of IOR, when compared with the Italian observers. We argue how the reasons behind these differences may stem from the restraining method applied, or the different background and experience of the observers. Finally, the discussion of the results emphasizes the importance of considering that reliability is not an absolute attribute of an indicator, but derives from an interaction between the indicators, the observers and the situation in which the assessment is taking place. This highlights the importance of further considering the indicators’ reliability while developing welfare assessment protocols.

Eco-efficiency is of great significance in facilitating a region’s sustainable development. However, there are some inconsistencies among the concepts and also relationships of eco-efficiency and its relevant efficiencies in recent studies. This paper integrates eco-efficiency and three related-efficiencies (economic efficiency, energy efficiency, and environmental efficiencies) into a total-factor analysis framework, regarding them as composite eco-efficiency indicators. Employing a new data envelopment analysis approach, named Meta-US-SBM, which considers meta-frontier, undesirable outputs, super efficiency, and slacks simultaneously, the measure system of these four efficiencies is established. An empirical study is conducted using Chinese provincial data from 2001 to 2014. Results indicate that, overall, the regional economic efficiency is better than other related efficiency indicators. Furthermore, different provinces are adopting different development modes, as denoted by significant heterogeneity among eco-efficiency indicators.

A new river discriminant system is presented based on resistance law. A parameter characterizing river morphology and indicators reflecting activity of bed and bank are derived. They are defined as river morphology parameter and river activity indicators respectively. By relating river morphology to river activity through a comprehensive resistance factor, the discriminant curves characterizing river patterns, namely resistance thresholds, were derived, which make it possible to calculate the activity of bed and bank by just a few easy-obtaining hydraulic variables. In addition, the effect of riparian vegetation on riverbank strength is incorporated into this study. The discriminant method proposed in this paper has proved to be applicable in distinguishing river patterns by selected data sets of the model and natural rivers and in improving the understanding of patterning process.

Käesolev magistritöö tegeleb maastikuarhitektuuri eriala maastikukarakteristkute leidmise,nende hindamisel keskkonna omadustena inimese tervenemise protsessis Kadrioru parginäitel. Töös on käsitletud erinevate keskkonnapsühholoogiliste teooriate töövahendeidhindamaks maastiku roheruumi omadusi. Andmeid koguti küsimustikuga. Küsimustik viidiläbi ajaperioodil 26.02.2018 – 15.03.2018, www. Esurveycreator.com keskkonnas.Küsimustik oli avatud kõigile vastajatele.Tulemused lisasid eelnevatele uuringutele eestlaste potentsaalseid näemusi, midamaastikukarakteristikud Eesti kultuuriruumis tekitavad. Uus vaatenurk käsitleb inimesteisiklike suhteid roheruumiga, tajutavaid elemente, tegevuste olemust ehk mis annab. | The thesis given is a discussion on landscape architecture, finding landscape characteristics,assessing landscape characteristics as healing environments for people in the cultural spaceof Estonia based on the example of the Kadrioru Park. The thesis uses a variety of tools ofdifferent theories on landscape psychology to evaluate the characteristics of green spaces.Data was collected with online public survey on the period 26.02.2018 – 15.03.2018.The results added new potential viewpoints to existing research on how landscapecharacteristics are perceived in the cultural space of Estonia.

The thesis given is a discussion on landscape architecture, finding landscape characteristics, assessing landscape characteristics as healing environments for people in the cultural space of Estonia based on the example of the Kadrioru Park. The thesis uses a variety of tools of different theories on landscape psychology to evaluate the characteristics of green spaces. Data was collected with online public survey on the period 26.02.2018 – 15.03.2018. The results added new potential viewpoints to existing research on how landscape characteristics are perceived in the cultural space of Estonia. | Käesolev magistritöö tegeleb maastikuarhitektuuri eriala maastikukarakteristkute leidmise, nende hindamisel keskkonna omadustena inimese tervenemise protsessis Kadrioru pargi näitel. Töös on käsitletud erinevate keskkonnapsühholoogiliste teooriate töövahendeid hindamaks maastiku roheruumi omadusi. Andmeid koguti küsimustikuga. Küsimustik viidi läbi ajaperioodil 26.02.2018 – 15.03.2018, www. Esurveycreator.com keskkonnas. Küsimustik oli avatud kõigile vastajatele. Tulemused lisasid eelnevatele uuringutele eestlaste potentsaalseid näemusi, mida maastikukarakteristikud Eesti kultuuriruumis tekitavad. Uus vaatenurk käsitleb inimeste isiklike suhteid roheruumiga, tajutavaid elemente, tegevuste olemust ehk mis annab.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) requires sustainable production and consumption. One indicator named in the SDG for resource use is the (national) material footprint. A method and disaggregated data basis that differentiates the material footprint for production and consumption according to, e.g., sectors, fields of consumption as well as socioeconomic criteria does not yet exist. We present two methods and its results for analyzing resource the consumption of private households based on microdata: (1) an indicator based on representative expenditure data in Germany and (2) an indicator based on survey data from a web tool. By these means, we aim to contribute to monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. Indicators based on microdata ensure that indicators can be disaggregated by socioeconomic characteristics like age, sex, income, or geographic location. Results from both methods show a right-skewed distribution of the Material Footprint in Germany and, for instance, an increasing Material Footprint with increasing household income. The methods enable researchers and policymakers to evaluate trends in resource use and to differentiate between lifestyles and along socioeconomic characteristics. This, in turn, would allow us to tailor sustainable consumption policies to household needs and restrictions.

In this article, the author will try to apply the simplest comparative methods, one of which is the rating method, based on performance indicators based on both financial performance indicators and profitability indicators from the results obtained in six entities of different genres of operational activities.

The contribution deals with the assessment of the performance of agriculture from the perspective of productivity and efficiency of agricultural primary production in relation to two types of subsidies using specific indicators. We focused on the relationship between subsidies to disadvantaged areas and subsidies for agri-environmental measures and the economic performance of agricultural enterprises. Through selected indicators, we try to point out to some aspects of the economic and social situation in Slovakia in terms of agricultural enterprises. The outcomes are based on the indicators focused in particular on productivity and profitability as well as other specific additional indicators. The indicators are based on the field of business economics and their selection was part of the solution. The indicators comprise also financial subsidies.

In the past decade, sustainable practices have been adopted in transportation infrastructure projects to reduce adverse environmental effects. To evaluate the sustainability levels of engineering projects holistically, rating systems have been developed to assess and reward points based on various sustainable best practices (indicators). This study aimed to establish a systematic methodology to weight indicators related to materials and resources most commonly used by various transportation infrastructure rating systems based on their contributions to sustainability. A multi-criteria approach for assessing the indicators based on three criteria, indicator performance, environment, and cost, was designed. The criteria were then used to evaluate the indicators and assessed points based on their contributions toward sustainability. Results revealed that state-of-the-art engineering practices could differentiate weighting of points from the typical linear point increase that is traditionally used. In addition, a maximum cap is crucial to ensure that some indicators do not end up being weighted disproportionately.