40 CFR 430.58 - Best management practices (BMPs).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 29 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Best management practices (BMPs). 430.58 Section 430.58 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT... § 430.58 Best management practices (BMPs). The definitions and requirements set forth in 40 CFR 430.03...

Social media best practices in emergency management.

PubMed

Siskey, Ashley; Islam, Tanveer

2016-01-01

Social media platforms have become popular as means of communications in emergency management. Many people use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis including during disaster events. Emergency management agencies (EMAs) need to recognize the value of not only having a presence on social media but also actively engaging stakeholders and the public on these sites. However, identifying best practices for the use of social media in emergency management is still in its infancy. The objective of this article is to begin to create or further define best practices for emergency managers to use social media sites particularly Facebook and Twitter in four key areas: 1) implementation, 2) education, 3) collaboration, and 4) communication. A list of recommendations of best practices is formulated for each key area and results from a nationwide survey on the use of social media by county EMAs are discussed in this article.

Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kreitz, Patricia A.; /SLAC

2007-05-18

? What role should human resource specialists play in creating and managing diverse organizations? What are the best practices they should apply? The purpose of this review is to define workplace diversity, to identify best practices, and to identify how diversity management best practices can be applied in academic libraries. Finally, this review will provide a resource list for HR managers and leaders to learn more about those best practices with the goal of optimizing their organization's approach to diversity.« less

Performance Testing of Best Management Practices

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lacks robust data documenting the performance of best Management practices (BMPs) regarding stormwater management, and a clear understanding of the performance changes associated with conditions. By generating these data, The Nation...

Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kreitz, Patricia A.

2008-01-01

Organizations with increasingly diverse workforces and customer populations face challenges in reaping diversity's benefits while managing its potentially disruptive effects. This article defines workplace diversity and identifies best practices supporting planned and positive diversity management. It explores how academic libraries can apply…

Testing the Runoff Tool in Sicilian vineyards: adopting best management practices to prevent agricultural surface runoff

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Manpriet; Dyson, Jeremy; Capri, Ettore

2016-04-01

Over the last decades rainfall has become more intense in Sicily, making large proportions of steeply sloping agricultural land more vulnerable to soil erosion, mainly orchards and vineyards (Diodato and Bellocchi 2010). The prevention of soil degradation is indirectly addressed in the European Union's Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and Sustainable Use Directive (2009/128/EC). As a consequence, new EU compliance conditions for food producers requires them to have tools and solutions for on-farm implementation of sustainable practices (Singh et al. 2014). The Agricultural Runoff and Best Management Practice Tool has been developed by Syngenta to help farm advisers and managers diagnose the runoff potential from fields with visible signs of soil erosion. The tool consists of 4 steps including the assessment of three key landscape factors (slope, topsoil permeability and depth to restrictive horizon) and 9 mainly soil and crop management factors influencing the runoff potential. Based on the runoff potential score (ranging from 0 to 10), which is linked to a runoff potential class, the Runoff Tool uses in-field and edge-of-the-field Best Management Practices (BMPs) to mitigate runoff (aligned with advice from ECPA's TOPPS-prowadis project). The Runoff tool needs testing in different regions and crops to create a number of use scenarios with regional/crop specific advice on BMPs. For this purpose the Tool has been tested in vineyards of the Tasca d'Almerita and Planeta wineries, which are large family-owned estates with long-standing tradition in viticulture in Sicily. In addition to runoff potential scores, Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) scores have been calculated to allow for a comparison between different diagnostic tools. VSA allows for immediate diagnosis of soil quality (a higher score means a better soil quality) including many indicators of runoff (Shepherd 2008). Runoff potentials were moderate to high in all tested fields. Slopes were classified as

A review on effectiveness of best management practices in improving hydrology and water quality: Needs and opportunities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Best management practices (BMPs) have been widely used to address hydrology and water quality issues in both agricultural and urban areas. Increasing numbers of BMPs have been studied in research projects and implemented in watershed management projects, but a gap remains in quantifying their effect...

Spatial Dependence and Determinants of Dairy Farmers' Adoption of Best Management Practices for Water Protection in New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wei; Sharp, Basil

2017-04-01

This paper analyses spatial dependence and determinants of the New Zealand dairy farmers' adoption of best management practices to protect water quality. A Bayesian spatial durbin probit model is used to survey data collected from farmers in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The results show that farmers located near each other exhibit similar choice behaviour, indicating the importance of farmer interactions in adoption decisions. The results also address that information acquisition is the most important determinant of farmers' adoption of best management practices. Financial problems are considered a significant barrier to adopting best management practices. Overall, the existence of distance decay effect and spatial dependence in farmers' adoption decisions highlights the importance of accounting for spatial effects in farmers' decision-making, which emerges as crucial to the formulation of sustainable agriculture policy.

Spatial Dependence and Determinants of Dairy Farmers' Adoption of Best Management Practices for Water Protection in New Zealand.

PubMed

Yang, Wei; Sharp, Basil

2017-04-01

This paper analyses spatial dependence and determinants of the New Zealand dairy farmers' adoption of best management practices to protect water quality. A Bayesian spatial durbin probit model is used to survey data collected from farmers in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The results show that farmers located near each other exhibit similar choice behaviour, indicating the importance of farmer interactions in adoption decisions. The results also address that information acquisition is the most important determinant of farmers' adoption of best management practices. Financial problems are considered a significant barrier to adopting best management practices. Overall, the existence of distance decay effect and spatial dependence in farmers' adoption decisions highlights the importance of accounting for spatial effects in farmers' decision-making, which emerges as crucial to the formulation of sustainable agriculture policy.

Improving and ensuring best practice continence management in residential aged care.

PubMed

Heckenberg, Gayle

2008-06-01

Background  Continence Management within residential aged care is an every day component of care that requires assessment, implementation of strategies, resource allocation and evaluation. At times the management of incontinence of aged residents can be challenging and unsuccessful. The project chosen through the Clinical Fellowship program was Continence Management with the aim of raising awareness of best practice to assist in improving and providing person-centred resident care. Aims/objectives •  Review the literature on best practice management of incontinence •  Evaluate current practice in continence management for elderly residents within residential aged care services •  Improve adherence to best practice strategies of care for incontinence •  Raise awareness within the nursing home of the best practice management of incontinence •  Promote appropriate and effective use of resources for continence management •  Deliver individualised person-centred care to residents. •  Ensure best practice in continence management Methods  The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System clinical audit tool was utilised to measure current practice against best practice. The results identify gaps that require improvement. The Getting Research into Practice process then allowed analysis of the level of compliance with each of the audit criteria, which would identify any barriers in implementing a selected course of action and aim to improve compliance. The project team was consulted with additional stakeholder consultation to form an action plan and implement strategies to improve practice. Results  Although 100% compliance with all audit criteria in audit 1 and 2 was not achieved, there was improvement in the criteria concerning the documented fluid intake for residents. Further strategies have been identified and implemented and this continues to be a 'work in progress'. Staff now have an acute awareness

Evaluation of agricultural best-management practices in the Conestoga River headwaters, Pennsylvania; effects of nutrient management on water quality in the Little Conestoga Creek headwaters, 1983-89

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koerkle, E.H.; Fishel, D.K.; Brown, M.J.; Kostelnik, K.M.

1996-01-01

Water quality in the headwaters of the Little Conestoga Creek, Lancaster County, Pa., was investigated from April 1986 through September 1989 to determine possible effects of agricultural nutrient management on water quality. Nutrient management, an agricultural Best-Management Practice, was promoted in the 5.8-square-mile watershed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Clean Water Program. Nonpoint-source- agricultural contamination was evident in surface water and ground water in the watershed; the greatest contamination was in areas underlain by carbonate rock and with intensive row-crop and animal production. Initial implementation of nutrient management covered about 30 percent of applicable land and was concentrated in the Nutrient-Management Subbasin. By 1989, nutrient management covered about 45 percent of the entire Small Watershed, about 85 percent of the Nutrient- Management Subbasin, and less than 10 percent of the Nonnutrient-Management Subbasin. The number of farms implementing nutrient management increased from 14 in 1986 to 25 by 1989. Nutrient applications to cropland in the Nutrient- Management Subbasin decreased by an average of 35 percent after implementation. Comparison of base- flow surface-water quality from before and after implementation suggests that nutrient management was effective in slowing or reversing increases in concentrations of dissolved nitrate plus nitrite in the Nutrient-Management Subbasin. Although not statistically significant, the Mann-Whitney step-trend coefficient for the Nutrient-Management Subbasin was 0.8 milligram per liter, whereas trend coefficients for the Nonnutrient-Management Subbasin and the Small Watershed were 0.4 and 1.4 milligrams per liter, respectively, for the period of study. Analysis of covariance comparison of concurrent concentrations from the two sub- basins showed a significant decrease in concen- trations from the Nutrient-Management Subbasin compared to the Nonnutrient-Management Subbasin

The nursing human resource planning best practice toolkit: creating a best practice resource for nursing managers.

PubMed

Vincent, Leslie; Beduz, Mary Agnes

2010-05-01

Evidence of acute nursing shortages in urban hospitals has been surfacing since 2000. Further, new graduate nurses account for more than 50% of total nurse turnover in some hospitals and between 35% and 60% of new graduates change workplace during the first year. Critical to organizational success, first line nurse managers must have the knowledge and skills to ensure the accurate projection of nursing resource requirements and to develop proactive recruitment and retention programs that are effective, promote positive nursing socialization, and provide early exposure to the clinical setting. The Nursing Human Resource Planning Best Practice Toolkit project supported the creation of a network of teaching and community hospitals to develop a best practice toolkit in nursing human resource planning targeted at first line nursing managers. The toolkit includes the development of a framework including the conceptual building blocks of planning tools, manager interventions, retention and recruitment and professional practice models. The development of the toolkit involved conducting a review of the literature for best practices in nursing human resource planning, using a mixed method approach to data collection including a survey and extensive interviews of managers and completing a comprehensive scan of human resource practices in the participating organizations. This paper will provide an overview of the process used to develop the toolkit, a description of the toolkit contents and a reflection on the outcomes of the project.

Best practices in nursing homes. Clinical supervision, management, and human resource practices.

PubMed

Dellefield, Mary Ellen

2008-07-01

Human resource practices including supervision and management are associated with organizational performance. Evidence supportive of such an association in nursing homes is found in the results of numerous research studies conducted during the past 17 years. In this article, best practices related to this topic have been culled from descriptive, explanatory, and intervention studies in a range of interdisciplinary research journals published between 1990 and 2007. Identified best practices include implementation of training programs on supervision and management for licensed nurses, certified nursing assistant job enrichment programs, implementation of consistent nursing assignments, and the use of electronic documentation. Organizational barriers and facilitators of these best practices are described. Copyright 2009, SLACK Incorporated.

MONITORING OF A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE POND

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA's Urban Watershed Management Branch has monitored stormwater drainage and best management practices (BMP) as part of its research program. One BMP currently being monitored, a retention pond with wetland plantings, is in the Richmond Creek (RC) watershed part of New Yor...

MONITORING OF A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE POND

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA's Urban Stormwater Management Branch has monitored stormwater drainage and best management practices (BMP) as part of its research program. One BMP being monitored, a wetland/retention pond, is in the Richmond Creek (RC) watershed in the New York City Department of Envi...

Green Remediation Best Management Practices: Mining Sites

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This fact sheet describes best management practices (BMPs) that can be used to reduce the environmental footprint of cleanup activities associated with common project components, cleanup phases, and implementation of remediation technologies.

Testing of ultra-urban stormwater best management practices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

Ultra urban areas where conventional best management practices (BMPs) are neither feasible nor cost-effective present a challenge to stormwater management. Although new BMPs have been developed for such space limited environments, the field performan...

URBAN STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMP) RESEARCH

EPA Science Inventory

Presentation on urban best management practice research conducted by the Urban Watershed Research Branch. The presentation to Region 3 started with Branch history, discussed results of recent projects, identified mechanisms for collaboration between ORD and Regions and discussed ...

COST ESTIMATING EQUATIONS FOR BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

EPA Science Inventory

This paper describes the development of an interactive internet-based cost-estimating tool for commonly used urban storm runoff best management practices (BMP), including: retention and detention ponds, grassed swales, and constructed wetlands. The paper presents the cost data, c...

Assessing the impacts of Best Management Practices on nitrate pollution in an agricultural dominated lowland catchment considering environmental protection versus economic development.

PubMed

Haas, Marcelo B; Guse, Björn; Fohrer, Nicola

2017-07-01

Water quality is strongly affected by nitrate inputs in agricultural catchments. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are alternative practices aiming to mitigate the impacts derived from agricultural activities and to improve water quality. Management activities are influenced by different governmental policies like the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Their distinct goals can be contrasting and hamper an integrated sustainable development. Both need to be addressed in the actual conjuncture in rural areas. Ecohydrological models like the SWAT model are important tools for land cover and land use changes investigation and the assessment of BMPs implementation effects on water quality. Thus, in this study, buffer strip, fertilization reduction and alternative crops were considered as BMPs and were implemented in the SWAT model for the Treene catchment. Their efficiency in terms of nitrate loads reduction related to implementation costs at the catchment scale was investigated. The practices correspond to the catchment conditions and are based on small and mid areal changes. Furthermore, the BMPs were evaluated from the perspective of ecologic and economic policies. The results evidenced different responses of the BMPs. The critical periods in winter were addressed by most of the BMPs. However, some practices like pasture land increase need to be implemented in greater area for better results in comparison to current activities. Furthermore, there is a greater nitrate reduction potential by combining BMPs containing fertilization reduction, buffer strips and soil coverage in winter. The discussion about efficiency showed the complexity of costs stipulation and the relation with arable land and yield losses. Furthermore, as the government policies can be divergent an integrated approach considering all the involved actors is important and seeks a sustainable development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TEST FACILITY - SWALES

EPA Science Inventory

The NRMRL swale evaluation is part of a larger collection of long-term research projects that evaluates many Best Management Practices. EPA has ongoing research examining the performance of constructed wet lands, and detention and retention ponds. Other projects will evaluate ra...

Engineered Hyporheic Zones as Novel Water Quality Best Management Practice: Flow and Contaminant Attenuation in Constructed Stream Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzog, S.; McCray, J. E.; Higgins, C. P.

2015-12-01

The hyporheic zone is a hotspot for biogeochemical processing that can attenuate a variety of nonpoint source contaminants in streamwater. However, hyporheic zones in urban and agricultural streams are often degraded and poorly connected with surface water. In order to increase hyporheic exchange and improve water quality, we introduced engineered streambeds as a stormwater and restoration best management practice. Modifications to streambed hydraulic conductivity and reactivity are termed Biohydrochemical Enhancement structures for Streamwater Treatment (BEST). BEST are subsurface modules that utilize low- and high-permeability sediments to drive efficient hyporheic exchange, and reactive geomedia to increase reaction rates within the hyporheic zone. This work presents the first physical performance data of BEST modules at the pilot scale. BEST modules were installed in a constructed stream facility at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. This facility features two 15m artificial streams, which included an all sand control condition alongside the BEST test condition. Streams were continuously operated at a discharge of 1 L/s using recycled water. Time-lapse electrical resistivity surveys demonstrated that BEST modules provided substantially greater hyporheic exchange than the control condition. Water quality samples at the hyporheic and reach scales also revealed greater attenuation of nitrogen, coliforms, and select metals and trace organics by BEST modules relative to the control condition. These experimental results were also compared to previous numerical model simulations to evaluate model accuracy. Together, these results show that BEST may be an effective best management practice for improving streamwater quality in urban and agricultural settings.

Nitrate removal from agricultural drainage ditch sediments with amendments of organic carbon: Potential for an innovative best management practice

USGS Publications Warehouse

Faust, Derek R.; Kröger, Robert; Miranda, Leandro E.; Rush, Scott A.

2016-01-01

Agricultural fertilizer applications have resulted in loading of nutrients to agricultural drainage ditches in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. The purpose of this study was to determine effects of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) amendments on nitrate-nitrogen (NO3−-N) removal from overlying water, pore water, and sediment of an agricultural drainage ditch. Two experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, control (i.e., no amendment), DOC, and POC treatments were applied in laboratory microcosms for time intervals of 3, 7, 14, and 28 days. In experiment 2, control, DOC, and POC treatments were applied in microcosms at C/N ratios of 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, and 20:1. There were statistically significant effects of organic carbon amendments in experiment 1 (F2,71 = 27.1, P < 0.001) and experiment 2 (F2,53 = 39.1, P < 0.001), time (F1,71 = 14.5, P < 0.001) in experiment 1, and C/N ratio (F1,53 = 36.5, P < 0.001) in experiment 2. NO3−-N removal varied from 60 to 100 % in overlying water among all treatments. The lowest NO3−-N removals in experiment 1 were observed in the control at 14 and 28 days, which were significantly less than in DOC and POC 14- and 28-day treatments. In experiment 2, significantly less NO3−-N was removed in overlying water of the control compared to DOC and POC treatments at all C/N ratios. Amendments of DOC and POC made to drainage ditch sediment: (1) increased NO3−-N removal, especially over longer time intervals (14 to 28 days); (2) increased NO3−-N removal, regardless of C/N ratio; and (3) NO3−-N removal was best at a 5:1 C/N ratio. This study provides support for continued investigation on the use of organic carbon amendments as a best management practice for NO3−-N removal in agricultural drainage ditches.

Simulating and evaluating best management practices for integrated landscape management scenarios in biofuel feedstock production: Evaluating Best Management Practices for Biofuel Feedstock Production

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ha, Miae; Wu, May

Sound crop and land management strategies can maintain land productivity and improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural crop and feedstock production. This study evaluates the improvement of water sustainability through an integrated landscaping management strategy, where landscaping design, land management operations, crop systems, and agricultural best management practices (BMPs) play equal roles. The strategy was applied to the watershed of the South Fork Iowa River in Iowa, with a focus on implementing riparian buffers and converting low productivity land to provide cellulosic biomass while benefiting soil and water quality. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was employed to simulatemore » the impact of integrated landscape design on nutrients, suspended sediments, and flow on the watershed and subbasin scales. First, the study evaluated the representation of buffer strip as a vegetative barrier and as a riparian buffer using trapping efficiency and area ratio methods in SWAT. For the riparian buffer, the area ratio method tends to be more conservative, especially in nitrate loadings, while the trapping efficiency method generates more optimistic results. The differences between the two methods increase with buffer width. The two methods may not be comparable for the field-scale vegetative barrier simulation because of limitations in model spatial resolution. Landscape scenarios were developed to quantify water quality under (1) current land use, (2) partial land conversion to switchgrass, and (3) riparian buffer implementation. Results show that when low productivity land (15.2% of total watershed land area) is converted to grow switchgrass, suspended sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and nitrate loadings are reduced by 69.3%, 55.5%, 46.1%, and 13.4%, respectively, in the watershed surface streams. The reduction was less extensive when riparian buffer strips (30 m or 50 m) were applied to the stream network at 1.4% of total

Capturing Creative Program Management Best Practices

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

Maryland Bottleneck Analysis on the DoD Pre-Milestone B Acquisition Processes Danielle Worger and Teresa Wu, Arizona State University Eugene Rex Jalao...Creative Program Management Best Practices Brandon Keller and J. Robert Wirthlin Air Force Institute of Technology The RITE Approach to Agile ...Mechanism for Adaptive Change Kathryn Aten and John T . Dillard Naval Postgraduate School A Comparative Assessment of the Navy’s Future Naval Capabilities

STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDE VOLUME 2 - VEGETATIVE BIOFILTERS

EPA Science Inventory

This document is Volume 2 of a three volume document that provides guidance on the selection and design of stormwater management Best Management Practices (BMPs). This second volume provides specific design guidance for a group of onsite BMP control practices that are referred t...

Developing an Oregon access management best practices manual.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-02-01

This Report reviews an Oregon research effort to develop an Oregon Access Management Best Practices Manual. In particular, this research effort develops a resource to help transportation professionals quantify safety and operational effects of variou...

Mississippi's New Forestry Best Management Practices Video

Treesearch

Andrew James Londo; John Benkert Auel

2004-01-01

Mississippi's latest version of forestry best management practices (BMPs) for water quality was released in 2000. In conjunction with this release, funds were obtained through a Section 319H grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to create a new BMPs video. Additional assistance was obtained from Georgia Pacific, PlumCreek, Weyerhaeuser,...

Best practices in specialty pharmacy management.

PubMed

Patterson, Courtney J

2013-01-01

Specialty pharmacy is a growing area of research, utilization, and cost. Because of the unique nature of the diseases treated by specialty pharmaceuticals, such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, novel management approaches are needed. Advocate Physician Partners (APP) is an entity within the Advocate Health Care Health System in the Chicago and the central Illinois area. It coordinates the care management and managed care contracting between the Advocate Health Care System and more than 4,000 physicians on the medical staffs of Advocate hospitals. APP has experienced a per-member-per-month (PMPM) increase of less than  3% in oncology intravenous medications spend in 2012. This spend refers to the intravenous medications covered under the medical benefits for APP's health maintenance organization (HMO) population. The spend has consistently been less than national projections, and we believe this is tied to the adoption of several key best practices. Prior to instituting the best practices, the yearly percentage increases for oncology spending were 5.52% (2007 to 2008), 9.39% (2008 to 2009), and 5.29% (2009 to 2010). After instituting best practices during the first quarter of 2011, the increases in PMPM were 3.11% (2010 to 2011) and 2.11% (2011 to 2012), which were below previous years. To describe the best practices of specialty pharmacy management adopted by APP, specifically (a) establishing a content expert and governing bodies, (b) ensuring compliance with policies, and (c) providing educational resources. APP has several key result areas (KRAs). One KRA was compliance with appropriate utilization of intravenous oncology protocols for its HMO population. The protocols for each medication outline the appropriate indication and patient population. These protocols were developed and reviewed by the APP Pharmacy and Technology (PT) committee. The PT-approved indications reflect FDA indications and indications found in national guidelines. The APP KRA target

Managing the Right Projects: Best Practices to Align Project and Corporate Strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watkins, Bobby

2012-01-01

If there's a human endeavor that exemplifies teamwork, it is space exploration. And that teamwork absolutely cannot happen effectively if the boots on the ground the people doing the work - don't understand how their work aligns with the larger goal. This presentation will discuss some best management practices from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center that have succeeded in helping employees become informed, engaged and committed to the space agency's important missions. Specific topics include: Alignment Criteria: Linking Projects To Corporate Strategy. Resource Management: Best Practices For Resource Management. Strategic Analysis: Supporting Decision Making In A Changing Environment. Communication Strategies: Best Practices To Communicate Change. Benefits Achieved And Lessons Learned.

A study of the effects of implementing agricultural best management practices and in-stream restoration on suspended sediment, stream habitat, and benthic macroinvertebrates at three stream sites in Surry County, North Carolina, 2004-2007-Lessons learned

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Douglas G.; Ferrell, G.M.; Harned, Douglas A.; Cuffney, Thomas F.

2011-01-01

The effects of agricultural best management practices and in-stream restoration on suspended-sediment concentrations, stream habitat, and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages were examined in a comparative study of three small, rural stream basins in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces of North Carolina and Virginia between 2004 and 2007. The study was designed to assess changes in stream quality associated with stream-improvement efforts at two sites in comparison to a control site (Hogan Creek), for which no improvements were planned. In the drainage basin of one of the stream-improvement sites (Bull Creek), several agricultural best management practices, primarily designed to limit cattle access to streams, were implemented during this study. In the drainage basin of the second stream-improvement site (Pauls Creek), a 1,600-foot reach of the stream channel was restored and several agricultural best management practices were implemented. Streamflow conditions in the vicinity of the study area were similar to or less than the long-term annual mean streamflows during the study. Precipitation during the study period also was less than normal, and the geographic distribution of precipitation indicated drier conditions in the southern part of the study area than in the northern part. Dry conditions during much of the study limited opportunities for acquiring high-flow sediment samples and streamflow measurements. Suspended-sediment yields for the three basins were compared to yield estimates for streams in the southeastern United States. Concentrations of suspended sediment and nutrients in samples from Bull Creek, the site where best management practices were implemented, were high compared to the other two sites. No statistically significant change in suspended-sediment concentrations occurred at the Bull Creek site following implementation of best management practices. However, data collected before and after channel stabilization at the Pauls

COST ESTIMATING EQUATIONS FOR BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMP)

EPA Science Inventory

This paper describes the development of an interactive internet-based cost-estimating tool for commonly used urban storm runoff best management practices (BMP), including: retention and detention ponds, grassed swales, and constructed wetlands. The paper presents the cost data, c...

Applying Best Business Practices from Corporate Performance Management to DoD

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

leading or governing large, complex corporations and are experienced in creating reliable solutions to complex management issues guided by best business ...recommendations and effective solutions aimed at improving DoD. Defense Business Board Corporate Performance Management REPORT FY13-03 Task...Group 1 Applying Best Business Practices from Corporate Performance Management to DoD TASK The Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF

Native vegetation establishment for IDOT erosion control best management practices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-05-01

The objective of this report was to develop native roadside vegetation best management practices for : the Illinois Department of Transportation. A review of current practices was undertaken, along with a : review of those of other state departments ...

Sustaining Higher Education Using Wal-Mart's Best Supply Chain Management Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comm, Clare L.; Mathaisel, Dennis F. X.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The costs in higher education are increasing and need to be controlled. This paper aims to demonstrate what lessons higher education could learn from Wal-Mart's reasons for its financial success with its focus on efficient and effective supply chain management (SCM) best practices. Design/methodology/approach: Wal-Mart's best practices in…

Preliminary study on enhancing waste management best practice model in Malaysia construction industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamaludin, Amril Hadri; Karim, Nurulzatushima Abdul; Noor, Raja Nor Husna Raja Mohd; Othman, Nurulhidayah; Malik, Sulaiman Abdul

2017-08-01

Construction waste management (CWM) is the practice of minimizing and diverting construction waste, demolition debris, and land-clearing debris from disposal and redirecting recyclable resources back into the construction process. Best practice model means best choice from the collection of other practices that was built for purpose of construction waste management. The practice model can help the contractors in minimizing waste before the construction activities will be started. The importance of minimizing wastage will have direct impact on time, cost and quality of a construction project. This paper is focusing on the preliminary study to determine the factors of waste generation in the construction sites and identify the effectiveness of existing construction waste management practice conducted in Malaysia. The paper will also include the preliminary works of planned research location, data collection method, and analysis to be done by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to help in developing suitable waste management best practice model that can be used in the country.

Evidence-Based Best Practices for Outpatient Management of Warfarin.

PubMed

Rose, Adam J; Vaiana, Mary

2018-06-01

Many best practices have been described for organizing a clinic to manage warfarin. Although these practices may have face validity, they may not be based on empirical analysis. Here, we describe our decade-long effort to apply the Structure-Process-Outcome model of quality measurement as a basis for measuring and improving outpatient warfarin management in the Veterans Health Administration. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of this body of work with pharmacists who could potentially incorporate the findings of this work into their own practice settings. We conclude with concrete suggestions for immediate implementation in clinical settings.

STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDE VOLUME 1 - GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

This document is Volume 1 of a three volume series that provides guidance on the selection and design of stormwater management Best Management Practices (BMPs). This first volume provides general considerations associated with the selection and design of BMPs.
Volume I provi...

Testing of best management practices for controlling highway runoff.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-01-01

In order to obtain the necessary detailed design guidelines for storm water best management practices (BMPs) included in the Virginia Department of Transportation's storm water manual, a field program was initiated in 1991 for testing the pollutant r...

Field Scale Optimization for Long-Term Sustainability of Best Management Practices in Watersheds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samuels, A.; Babbar-Sebens, M.

2012-12-01

Agricultural and urban land use changes have led to disruption of natural hydrologic processes and impairment of streams and rivers. Multiple previous studies have evaluated Best Management Practices (BMPs) as means for restoring existing hydrologic conditions and reducing impairment of water resources. However, planning of these practices have relied on watershed scale hydrologic models for identifying locations and types of practices at scales much coarser than the actual field scale, where landowners have to plan, design and implement the practices. Field scale hydrologic modeling provides means for identifying relationships between BMP type, spatial location, and the interaction between BMPs at a finer farm/field scale that is usually more relevant to the decision maker (i.e. the landowner). This study focuses on development of a simulation-optimization approach for field-scale planning of BMPs in the School Branch stream system of Eagle Creek Watershed, Indiana, USA. The Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX) tool is used as the field scale hydrologic model, and a multi-objective optimization algorithm is used to search for optimal alternatives. Multiple climate scenarios downscaled to the watershed-scale are used to test the long term performance of these alternatives and under extreme weather conditions. The effectiveness of these BMPs under multiple weather conditions are included within the simulation-optimization approach as a criteria/goal to assist landowners in identifying sustainable design of practices. The results from these scenarios will further enable efficient BMP planning for current and future usage.

STORM WATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: CAPACITIES, CAPABILITIES, AND SOME LIMITATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will cover the basics of what a storm water best management practices and focus on infiltration-type practices using the example of rain gardens. I will demonstrate how water moves through rain gardens with a simple hydrologic model and discuss ancillary benefit...

Using Civilian Supply Chain Management Best Practices to Improve Army Supply Chain Management Procedures

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

USING CIVILIAN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES TO IMPROVE ARMY SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES A thesis presented to......Army Supply Chain Management Procedures 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Chief Warrant

Testing of best management practices for controlling highway runoff, Phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-01-01

In order to obtain the detailed information necessary to develop design guidelines for the stormwater best management practices (BMPs) included in the Virginia Department of Transportation's Stormwater Management Manual, a field program was initiated...

Talent management best practices: how exemplary health care organizations create value in a down economy.

PubMed

Groves, Kevin S

2011-01-01

: Difficult economic conditions and powerful workforce trends pose significant challenges to managing talent in health care organizations. Although robust research evidence supports the many benefits of maintaining a strong commitment to talent management practices despite these challenges, many organizations compound the problem by resorting to workforce reductions and limiting or eliminating investments in talent management. : This study examines how nationwide health care systems address these challenges through best practice talent management systems. Addressing important gaps in talent management theory and practice, this study develops a best practice model of talent management that is grounded in the contextual challenges facing health care practitioners. : Utilizing a qualitative case study that examined 15 nationwide health care systems, data were collected through semistructured interviews with 30 executives and document analysis of talent management program materials submitted by each organization. : Exemplary health care organizations employ a multiphased talent management system composed of six sequential phases and associated success factors that drive effective implementation. Based on these findings, a model of talent management best practices in health care organizations is presented. : Health care practitioners may utilize the best practice model to assess and enhance their respective talent management systems by establishing the business case for talent management, defining, identifying, and developing high-potential leaders, carefully communicating high-potential designations, and evaluating talent management outcomes.

Effects of Best Management Practice on Ecological Condition: Does Location Matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Roger; Armanini, David G.; Yates, Adam G.

2016-05-01

Best management practices (BMPs) are increasingly being promoted as a solution to the potentially adverse effects agriculture can have on aquatic systems. However, the ability of BMPs to improve riverine systems continues to be questioned due to equivocal empirical evidence linking BMP use with improved stream conditions, particularly in regard to ecological conditions. Explicitly viewing BMP location in relation to hydrological pathways may, however, assist in establishing stronger ecological linkages. The goal of this study was to assess the association between water chemistry, benthic macroinvertebrate community structure, and the number and location of agricultural BMPs in a catchment. Macroinvertebrate and water samples were collected in 30 small (<12 km2) catchments exhibiting gradients of BMP use and location in the Grand River Watershed, Southern Ontario, Canada. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that concentrations of most stream nutrients declined in association with greater numbers of BMPs and particularly when BMPs were located in hydrologically connected areas. However, BMPs were significantly associated with only one metric (%EPT) describing macroinvertebrate community structure. Furthermore, variance partitioning analysis indicated that less than 5 % of the among site variation in the macroinvertebrate community could be attributed to BMPs. Overall, the implemented BMPs appear to be achieving water quality improvement goals but spatial targeting of specific BMP types may allow management agencies to attain further water quality improvements more efficiently. Mitigation and rehabilitation measures beyond the BMPs assessed in this study may be required to meet goals of enhanced ecological condition.

Optimizing best management practices to control anthropogenic sources of atmospheric phosphorus deposition to inland lakes.

PubMed

Weiss, Lee; Thé, Jesse; Winter, Jennifer; Gharabaghi, Bahram

2018-04-18

Excessive phosphorus loading to inland freshwater lakes around the globe has resulted in nuisance plant growth along the waterfronts, degraded habitat for cold water fisheries, and impaired beaches, marinas and waterfront property. The direct atmospheric deposition of phosphorus can be a significant contributing source to inland lakes. The atmospheric deposition monitoring program for Lake Simcoe, Ontario indicates roughly 20% of the annual total phosphorus load (2010-2014 period) is due to direct atmospheric deposition (both wet and dry deposition) on the lake. This novel study presents a first-time application of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) methodology to optimize the application of best management practices (BMPs) related to agriculture and mobile sources to achieve atmospheric phosphorus reduction targets and restore the ecological health of the lake. The novel methodology takes into account the spatial distribution of the emission sources in the airshed, the complex atmospheric long-range transport and deposition processes, cost and efficiency of the popular management practices and social constraints related to the adoption of BMPs. The optimization scenarios suggest that the optimal overall capital investment of approximately $2M, $4M, and $10M annually can achieve roughly 3, 4 and 5 tonnes reduction in atmospheric P load to the lake, respectively. The exponential trend indicates diminishing returns for the investment beyond roughly $3M per year and that focussing much of this investment in the upwind, nearshore area will significantly impact deposition to the lake. The optimization is based on a combination of the lowest-cost, most-beneficial and socially-acceptable management practices that develops a science-informed promotion of implementation/BMP adoption strategy. The geospatial aspect to the optimization (i.e. proximity and location with respect to the lake) will help land managers to encourage the use of these targeted best practices in areas that

Best management practices for creating a community wildfire protection plan

Treesearch

Pamela J. Jakes; Christine Esposito; Sam Burns; Antony S. Cheng; Kristen C. Nelson; Victoria E. Sturtevant; Daniel R. Williams

2012-01-01

A community wildfire protection plan (CWPP) is a means of bringing local solutions to wildland fire management. In developing and implementing CWPPs, communities assume a leadership role in reducing wildfi re risk on federal and nonfederal land. In this publication, we identify best management practices for CWPP development and implementation based on the experiences...

Green Remediation: Best Management Practices for Excavation and Surface Restoration

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This fact sheet is one of a series describing best management practices (BMPs) for green remediation, which holistically addresses a cleanup project's energy requirements, air emissions, impacts on water, impacts on land and ecosystems, material consumpt..

Monitoring of a Best Management Practice Wetland Before and After Maintenance

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA’s Urban Watershed Management Branch has monitored stormwater drainage and best management practices (BMP) as part of its overall research program. One such project monitored a retention pond with wetland plantings in the Richmond Creek (RC) watershed; one of several in...

Explanation for Anomalous Readings during Monitoring of a Best Management Practice

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA's Urban Watershed Management Branch (UWMB) has monitored storm-water drainage and best management practices (BMPs) as part of its overall research program. As part of this effort, continuous monitoring equipment was deployed to measure both storm events and periods bet...

From Best Practice to Best Fit: A Framework for Designing and Analyzing Pluralistic Agricultural Advisory Services Worldwide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birner, Regina; Davis, Kristin; Pender, John; Nkonya, Ephraim; Anandajayasekeram, Ponniah; Ekboir, Javier; Mbabu, Adiel; Spielman, David J.; Horna, Daniela; Benin, Samuel; Cohen, Marc

2009-01-01

The article provides a conceptual framework and discusses research methods for analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services. The framework can also assist policy-makers in identifying reform options. It addresses the following question: Which forms of providing and financing agricultural advisory services work best in which situation? The…

Effective Best Management Practices for Nitrogen Removal in Aquatic Ecosystems

EPA Science Inventory

Elevated nitrate levels in streams and groundwater are detrimental to human and ecosystem health. The Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Division (GWERD) of the USEPA investigates best management practices (BMP’s) that enhance nitrogen removal in aquatic ecosystems througho...

"Green-friendly" best management practices (BMPs) for interstate rest areas.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-06-01

This report presents the findings of a research project to study and develop a list of green friendly Best : Management Practices (BMPs) for Illinois interstate rest areas. The objectives of this project are to (1) develop : energy and cost bas...

ISSUES OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE DESIGN TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY

EPA Science Inventory

Today, many municipalities are implementing low-cost best management practices (BMPs). Structural control BMPs involve building a structure of some kind to store stormwater until it can be discharged into a nearby receiving water. Commonly used structural treatment BMPs include...

Best management practices to exchange information between the TOC and district offices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-06-01

The objective of this study was to develop best management practices for exchange information between the Transportation Operation Center (TOC) and the district offices and regional traffic management centers. Data collected for this study included: ...

Best practices in selecting performance measures and standards for effective asset management.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-06-01

"This report assesses and provides guidance on best practices in performance measurement, management and standards : setting for effective Transportation Asset Management (TAM). The study is conducted through a literature review, a : survey of the 50...

The Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) Initiative: Developing methods and best practices for global agricultural monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Champagne, C.; Jarvis, I.; Defourny, P.; Davidson, A.

2014-12-01

Agricultural systems differ significantly throughout the world, making a 'one size fits all' approach to remote sensing and monitoring of agricultural landscapes problematic. The Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) was established in 2009 to bring together the global scientific community to work towards a set of best practices and recommendations for using earth observation data to map, monitor and report on agricultural productivity globally across an array of diverse agricultural systems. These methods form the research and development component of the Group on Earth Observation Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) initiative to harmonize global monitoring efforts and increase market transparency. The JECAM initiative brings together researchers from a large number of globally distributed, well monitored agricultural test sites that cover a range of crop types, cropping systems and climate regimes. Each test site works independently as well as together across multiple sites to test methods, sensors and field data collection techniques to derive key agricultural parameters, including crop type, crop condition, crop yield and soil moisture. The outcome of this project will be a set of best practices that cover the range of remote sensing monitoring and reporting needs, including satellite data acquisition, pre-processing techniques, information retrieval and ground data validation. These outcomes provide the research and development foundation for GEOGLAM and will help to inform the development of the GEOGLAM "system of systems" for global agricultural monitoring. The outcomes of the 2014 JECAM science meeting will be discussed as well as examples of methods being developed by JECAM scientists.

Idaho forestry best management practices: Compilation of research on their effectiveness

Treesearch

Kathleen A. Seyedbagheri

1996-01-01

A search was conducted for quantitative Idaho research results on the effectiveness of the Idaho Forest Practices Act rules and regulations pertaining to timber harvest and forest road construction and maintenance. These rules and regulations are designated as the "best management practices" for the prevention of nonpoint source pollution from silviculture...

Simulating and evaluating best management practices for integrated landscape management scenarios in biofuel feedstock production

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ha, Miae; Wu, May

Sound crop and land management strategies can maintain land productivity and improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural crop and feedstock production. With this study, it evaluates a strategy of incorporating landscape design and management concepts into bioenergy feedstock production. It examines the effect of land conversion and agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on water quality (nutrients and suspended sediments) and hydrology. The strategy was applied to the watershed of the South Fork Iowa River in Iowa, where the focus was on converting low-productivity land to provide cellulosic biomass and implementing riparian buffers. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) wasmore » employed to simulate the impact at watershed and sub-basin scales. The study compared the representation of buffers by using trapping efficiency and area ratio methods in SWAT. Landscape design and management scenarios were developed to quantify water quality under (i) current land use, (ii) partial land conversion to switchgrass, and (iii) riparian buffer implementation. Results show that implementation of vegetative barriers and riparian buffer can trap the loss of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and sediment significantly. The effect increases with the increase of buffer area coverage. Implementing riparian buffer at 30 m width is able to produce 4 million liters of biofuels. When low-productivity land (15.2% of total watershed land area) is converted to grow switchgrass, suspended sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and nitrate loadings are reduced by 69.3%, 55.5%, 46.1%, and 13.4%, respectively. The results highlight the significant role of lower-productivity land and buffers in cellulosic biomass and provide insights into the design of an integrated landscape with a conservation buffer for future bioenergy feedstock production.« less

Simulating and evaluating best management practices for integrated landscape management scenarios in biofuel feedstock production

DOE PAGES

Ha, Miae; Wu, May

2015-09-08

Sound crop and land management strategies can maintain land productivity and improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural crop and feedstock production. With this study, it evaluates a strategy of incorporating landscape design and management concepts into bioenergy feedstock production. It examines the effect of land conversion and agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on water quality (nutrients and suspended sediments) and hydrology. The strategy was applied to the watershed of the South Fork Iowa River in Iowa, where the focus was on converting low-productivity land to provide cellulosic biomass and implementing riparian buffers. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) wasmore » employed to simulate the impact at watershed and sub-basin scales. The study compared the representation of buffers by using trapping efficiency and area ratio methods in SWAT. Landscape design and management scenarios were developed to quantify water quality under (i) current land use, (ii) partial land conversion to switchgrass, and (iii) riparian buffer implementation. Results show that implementation of vegetative barriers and riparian buffer can trap the loss of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and sediment significantly. The effect increases with the increase of buffer area coverage. Implementing riparian buffer at 30 m width is able to produce 4 million liters of biofuels. When low-productivity land (15.2% of total watershed land area) is converted to grow switchgrass, suspended sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and nitrate loadings are reduced by 69.3%, 55.5%, 46.1%, and 13.4%, respectively. The results highlight the significant role of lower-productivity land and buffers in cellulosic biomass and provide insights into the design of an integrated landscape with a conservation buffer for future bioenergy feedstock production.« less

Best Management Practices for Silvicultural Chemicals and the Science Behind Them

Treesearch

Jerry L. Michael

2004-01-01

Silvicultural chemicals include fertilizers and pesticides applied for forest management. All states east of the Rockies have at least some form of silvicultural chemical best management practices (SCBMPs) and it is widely accepted that SCBMPs effect someprotection of water quality. All SCBMPs recommend handling and application precautions and a minimum width...

Adoption and farmer perception of best management practices in Southern Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzmán, Gema; Portero, Ángela; Vanwallenghem, Tom; Laguna, Ana; Vanderlinden, Karl; Giráldez, Juan Vicente; Bijttebier, Jo; ten Berge, Hein

2015-04-01

Soil resources in many parts of Europe are being degraded due to non-sustainable land and soil management practices. During the past decennia, best management practices (BMPs) have been developed in order to maintain or restore soil health. However, the adoption rate in practice is rather low. Amongst other reasons, these practices might lack on-farm compatibility, or farmers may lack confidence in the proposed measures. In order to assess the adoption of management practices (MPs) and obtain information on farmer perception a study was performed in the Southern region of Spain (Andalusia), within three predefined farm type zones (FTZs) corresponding to arable, permanent crop and mixed farms. In order to identify main drivers and barriers for the adoption of different tillage practices, a sequential mixed method was applied, by combining qualitative and quantitative research techniques at different stages in time. First, a qualitative data-collection though semi-structured interviews were conducted in each FTZ to identify behavioral outcomes, normative referents and control factors for each unique MP in that specific FTZ context. Secondly, the quantitative stage of the mixed method approach encompassed a large scale survey based on the final list of control factors, outcomes and referents of each BMP which resulted from the first stage. As a final qualitative step, focus groups were conducted in each FTZ to elaborate on possible solutions towards the barriers on one or more MPs For this particular region of Spain, we observed that the adoption rates of a certain MP differed among subregions within each FTZ. In general barriers and drivers were found to vary in their nature and across the different subregions, although some of them were common across all subregions. It is noteworthy that the Common Agricultural Policy is the main influential agent for farmers' decisions and their perception of drivers (financial support) and limitations (rigidity of the measures

Best ITS management practices and technologies for Ohio : research implementation plan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-07-01

In developing its intelligent transportation systems (ITS) program, the Ohio Department of Transportation sought to : determine the best management practices and technologies being deployed by other departments of transportation : across the country....

Evaluation of agricultural best-management practices in the Conestoga River headwaters, Pennsylvania; effects of nutrient management on quality of surface runoff at a small carbonate-rock site near Ephrate, Pennsylvania, 1984-90

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hall, D.W.; Lietman, P.L.; Koerkle, E.J.

1997-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection conducted a study from 1984 to 1990 to determine theeffects of the implementation and practice of nutrient management [an agricultural best-management practice (BMP)] on the quality of surface runoff and ground water at a 55-acre crop and livestock farm in carbonate terrain nearEphrata, Pa. Implementation of nutrient management at Field-Site 2 resulted in application decreases of 33 percent for nitrogen and 29 percent for phosphorus. There wereno significant changes in nitrogen or phosphorusloads for a given amount of runoff from the pre-BMP to the post-BMP periods. However, less than 2 percent of the applied nutrients weredischarged with runoff throughout the study period.After the implementation of nutrient management, statistically significant decreases in concentrations of nitrate in ground-water samples occurred at threeof the four wells monitored throughout the pre- and post-BMP periods. The largest decreases in nitrate concentrations occurred at wells where samples hadthe largest nitrate concentrations prior to nutrient management. Changes in nitrogen applications to the contributing areas of five wells were correlated with nitrate concentrations of the well water. The correlations between the timing and amount of applied nitrogen and changes in ground-water quality met the four conditions that are characteristic of a cause-effect relation: an association, consistency, responsiveness, and a mechanism. Changes in ground-water nitrate concentrations lagged behind changes in loading of nitrogen fertilizers (primarily manure) by approximately 4 to 19 months.

Efficient phosphorus management practices in the Everglades Agricultural Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhadha, J. H.; Lang, T. A.; Daroub, S. H.; Alvarez, O.; Tootoonchi, M.; Capasso, J.

2016-12-01

In the 450,000 acres of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) of South Florida, farming practices have long been mindful of phosphorus (P) management as it relates to sufficiency and efficiency of P utilization. Over two decades of P best management practices have resulted in 3001 metric-ton of P load reduction from the EAA to downstream ecosystems. During the summer, more than 50,000 acres of fallow sugarcane land is available for rice production. The net value of growing flooded rice in the EAA as a rotational crop with sugarcane far exceeds its monetary return. Soil conservation, improvement in tilth and P load reduction are only some of the benefits. With no P fertilizer applied, a two-year field trial on flooded rice showed improved outflow P concentrations by up to 40% as a result of particulate setting and plant P uptake. Harvested whole grain rice can effectively remove a significant amount of P from a rice field per growing season. In parts of the EAA where soils are sandy, the application of using locally derived organic amendments as potential P fertilizer has gained interest over the past few years. The use of local agricultural and urban organic residues as amendments in sandy soils of South Florida provide options to enhance soil properties and improve sugarcane yields, while reducing waste and harmful effects of agricultural production on the environment. A lysimeter study conducted to determine the effect of mill ash and three types of biochar (rice hulls, yard waste, horse bedding) on sugarcane yields, soil properties, and drainage water quality in sandy soils showed that mill ash and rice hull biochar increased soil TP, Mehlich 3-P (M3-P), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) compared to the control. TP and M3-P content remained constant after 9 months, CEC showed a significant increase over time with rich hull biochar addition. Future projects include the utilization of aquatic vegetation, such as chara and southern naiad as bio-filters in farm

MONITORING OF A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE POND IN THE STATEN ISLAND BLUEBELT

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA’s Urban Watershed Management Branch has monitored stormwater drainage and best management practices (BMP) as part of its research program. One BMP being monitored is a retention pond with wetland plantings in the Richmond Creek (RC) watershed. This BMP, designated RC-...

MONITORING OF A BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE POND IN THE STATEN ISLAND BLUEBELL

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA's Urban Stormwater Management Branch has monitored stormwater drainage and best management practices (BMP) as part of its research program. One BMP being monitored, a wetland/retention pond, is in the Richmond Creek (RC) watershed in the New York City Department of Envi...

Best Practices & Outstanding Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Training, 2012

2012-01-01

In this article, "Training" editors recognize innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices submitted in the 2012 Training Top 125 application. Best practices: (1) Edward Jones: Practice Makes Perfect (sales training); (2) Grant Thornton LLP: Senior Manager Development Program (SMDP); (3) MetLife, Inc.: Top Advisor…

Routine road maintenance water quality and habitat guide : best management practices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

Since June 9, 1999 the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has implemented the Routine Road Maintenance: Water Quality and Habitat Guide Best Management Practices (the Guide), and is considered the cornerstone of the ODOT'd Office of Maintenan...

Economic analysis of best management practices to reduce watershed phosphorus losses.

PubMed

Rao, Nalini S; Easton, Zachary M; Lee, David R; Steenhuis, Tammo S

2012-01-01

In phosphorus-limited freshwater systems, small increases in phosphorus (P) concentrations can lead to eutrophication. To reduce P inputs to these systems, various environmental and agricultural agencies provide producers with incentives to implement best management practices (BMPs). In this study, we examine both the water quality and economic consequences of systematically protecting saturated, runoff-generating areas from active agriculture with selected BMPs. We also examine the joint water quality/economic impacts of these BMPs-specifically BMPs focusing on barnyards and buffer areas. Using the Variable Source Loading Function model (a modified Generalized Watershed Loading Function model) and net present value analysis (NPV), the results indicate that converting runoff-prone agricultural land to buffers and installing barnyard BMPs are both highly effective in decreasing dissolved P loss from a single-farm watershed, but are also costly for the producer. On average, including barnyard BMPs decreases the nutrient loading by about 5.5% compared with only implementing buffers. The annualized NPV for installing both buffers on only the wettest areas of the landscape and implementing barnyard BMPs becomes positive only if the BMPs lifetime exceeds 15 yr. The spatial location of the BMPs in relation to runoff producing areas, the time frame over which the BMPs are implemented, and the marginal costs of increasing buffer size were found to be the most critical considerations for water quality and profitability. The framework presented here incorporates estimations of nutrient loading reductions in the economic analysis, and is applicable to farms facing BMP adoption decisions. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Best practices in peri-operative management of patients with skeletal dysplasias.

PubMed

White, Klane K; Bompadre, Viviana; Goldberg, Michael J; Bober, Michael B; Cho, Tae-Joon; Hoover-Fong, Julie E; Irving, Melita; Mackenzie, William G; Kamps, Shawn E; Raggio, Cathleen; Redding, Gregory J; Spencer, Samantha S; Savarirayan, Ravi; Theroux, Mary C

2017-10-01

Patients with skeletal dysplasia frequently require surgery. This patient population has an increased risk for peri-operative complications related to the anatomy of their upper airway, abnormalities of tracheal-bronchial morphology and function; deformity of their chest wall; abnormal mobility of their upper cervical spine; and associated issues with general health and body habitus. Utilizing evidence analysis and expert opinion, this study aims to describe best practices regarding the peri-operative management of patients with skeletal dysplasia. A panel of 13 multidisciplinary international experts participated in a Delphi process that included a thorough literature review; a list of 22 possible care recommendations; two rounds of anonymous voting; and a face to face meeting. Those recommendations with more than 80% agreement were considered as consensual. Consensus was reached to support 19 recommendations for best pre-operative management of patients with skeletal dysplasia. These recommendations include pre-operative pulmonary, polysomnography; cardiac, and neurological evaluations; imaging of the cervical spine; and anesthetic management of patients with a difficult airway for intubation and extubation. The goals of this consensus based best practice guideline are to provide a minimum of standardized care, reduce perioperative complications, and improve clinical outcomes for patients with skeletal dysplasia. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Management Practices Used in Agricultural Drainage Ditches to Reduce Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia.

PubMed

Faust, Derek R; Kröger, Robert; Moore, Matthew T; Rush, Scott A

2018-01-01

Agricultural non-point sources of nutrients and sediments have caused eutrophication and other water quality issues in aquatic and marine ecosystems, such as the annual occurrence of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Management practices have been implemented adjacent to and in agricultural drainage ditches to promote their wetland characteristics and functions, including reduction of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment losses downstream. This review: (1) summarized studies examining changes in nutrient and total suspended solid concentrations and loads associated with management practices in drainage ditches (i.e., riser and slotted pipes, two-stage ditches, vegetated ditches, low-grade weirs, and organic carbon amendments) with emphasis on the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, (2) quantified management system effects on nutrient and total suspended solid concentrations and loads and, (3) identified information gaps regarding water quality associated with these management practices and research needs in this area. In general, management practices used in drainage ditches at times reduced losses of total suspended solids, N, and P. However, management practices were often ineffective during storm events that were uncommon and intense in duration and volume, although these types of events could increase in frequency and intensity with climate change. Studies on combined effects of management practices on drainage ditch water quality, along with research towards improved nutrient and sediment reduction efficiency during intense storm events are urgently needed.

Managing the clinical setting for best nursing practice: a brief overview of contemporary initiatives.

PubMed

Henderson, Amanda; Winch, Sarah

2008-01-01

Leadership strategies are important in facilitating the nursing profession to reach their optimum standards in the practice environment. To compare and contrast the central tenets of contemporary quality initiatives that are commensurate with enabling the environment so that best practice can occur. Democratic leadership, accessible and relevant education and professional development, the incorporation of evidence into practice and the ability of facilities to be responsive to change are core considerations for the successful maintenance of practice standards that are consistent with best nursing practice. While different concerns of management drive the adoption of contemporary approaches, there are many similarities in the how these approaches are translated into action in the clinical setting. Managers should focus on core principles of professional nursing that add value to practice rather than business processes.

Effectiveness of barnyard best management practices in Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuntebeck, Todd D.; Bannerman, Roger T.

1998-01-01

In 1978, the Wisconsin Legislature committed to protecting water quality by enacting the Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program. Through this program, cost-share money is provided within priority watersheds to control sources of nonpoint pollution. Most of the cost-share dollars for rural watersheds have been used to implement barnyard Best Management Practices (BMPs) because barnyards are believed to be a major source of pollutants, most notably phosphorus. Reductions in phosphorus loads of as much as 95 percent have been predicted for the barnyard BMPs recommended for priority watersheds.

Relating management practices and nutrient export in agricultural watersheds of the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sprague, Lori A.; Gronberg, Jo Ann M.

2012-01-01

Relations between riverine export (load) of total nitrogen (N) and total phosphorus (P) from 133 large agricultural watersheds in the United States and factors affecting nutrient transport were evaluated using empirical regression models. After controlling for anthropogenic inputs and other landscape factors affecting nutrient transport-such as runoff, precipitation, slope, number of reservoirs, irrigated area, and area with subsurface tile drains-the relations between export and the area in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) (N) and conservation tillage (P) were positive. Additional interaction terms indicated that the relations between export and the area in conservation tillage (N) and the CRP (P) progressed from being clearly positive when soil erodibility was low or moderate, to being close to zero when soil erodibility was higher, to possibly being slightly negative only at the 90th to 95th percentile of soil erodibility values. Possible explanations for the increase in nutrient export with increased area in management practices include greater transport of soluble nutrients from areas in conservation tillage; lagged response of stream quality to implementation of management practices because of nitrogen transport in groundwater, time for vegetative cover to mature, and/or prior accumulation of P in soils; or limitations in the management practice and stream monitoring data sets. If lags are occurring, current nutrient export from agricultural watersheds may still be reflecting the influence of agricultural land-use practices that were in place before the implementation of these management practices.

The impact of Best Management Practices on simulated streamflow and sediment load in a Central Brazilian catchment.

PubMed

Strauch, Michael; Lima, Jorge E F W; Volk, Martin; Lorz, Carsten; Makeschin, Franz

2013-09-01

The intense use of water for both public supply and agricultural production causes societal conflicts and environmental problems in the Brazilian Federal District. A serious consequence of this is nonpoint source pollution which leads to increasing water treatment costs. Hence, this study investigates in how far agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) might contribute to sustainable water resources management and soil protection in the region. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to study the impact of those practices on streamflow and sediment load in the intensively cropped catchment of the Pipiripau River. The model was calibrated and validated against measured streamflow and turbidity-derived sediment loads. By means of scenario simulations, it was found that structural BMPs such as parallel terraces and small sediment basins ('Barraginhas') can lead to sediment load reductions of up to 40%. The implementation of these measures did not adversely affect the water yield. In contrast, multi-diverse crop rotations including irrigated dry season crops were found to be disadvantageous in terms of water availability by significantly reducing streamflow during low flow periods. The study considers rainfall uncertainty by using a precipitation data ensemble, but nevertheless highlights the importance of well established monitoring systems due to related shortcomings in model calibration. Despite the existing uncertainties, the model results are useful for water resource managers to develop water and soil protection strategies for the Pipiripau River Basin and for watersheds with similar characteristics. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Best practices in bus dispatch.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

In 2007, the National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) sponsored a study to examine best practices in : extraboard operator management. In most transit agencies, extraboard manpower is managed by the : dispatch function, but extraboard management i...

Management practices used in agricultural drainage ditches to reduce Gulf of Mexico hypoxia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural non-point sources of nutrients and sediments have caused eutrophication and other water quality issues in aquatic and marine ecosystems, such as the annual occurrence of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Management practices have been implemented adjacent to and in agricultural drainage di...

Effects of agricultural best-management practices on the Brush Run Creek headwaters, Adams County, Pennsylvania, prior to and during nutrient management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Langland, M.J.; Fishel, D.K.

1996-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, investigated the effects of agricultural best-management practices on surface-water quality as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program. This report characterizes a 0.63-square- mile agricultural watershed underlain by shale, mudstone, and red arkosic sandstone in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin. The water quality of the Brush Run Creek site was studied from October 1985 through September 1991, prior to and during the implementation of nutrient management designed to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges into Conewago Creek, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. The original study area was 0.38 square mile and included an area immediately upstream from a manure lagoon. The study area was increased to 0.63 square mile in the fall of 1987 after an extensive tile-drain network was discovered upstream and downstream from the established streamflow gage, and the farm owner made plans to spray irrigate manure to the downstream fields. Land use for about 64 percent of the 0.63 square mile watershed is cropland, 14 percent is pasture, 7 percent is forest, and the remaining 15 percent is yards, buildings, water, or gardens. About 73 percent of the cropland was used to produce corn during the study. The average annual animal population consisted of 57,000 chickens, 1,530 hogs, and 15 sheep during the study. About 59,340 pounds of nitrogen and 13,710 pounds of phosphorus were applied as manure and commercial fertilizer to fields within the subbasin during the 3-year period prior to implementation of nutrient management. During nutrient management, about 14 percent less nitrogen and 57 percent less phosphorus were applied as commercial and manure fertilizer. Precipitation totaled 209 inches, or 13 percent less than the long-term normal, during the 6-year study. Concentrations of total ammonia in

Translating knowledge into best practice care bundles: a pragmatic strategy for EBP implementation via moving postprocedural pain management nursing guidelines into clinical practice.

PubMed

Saunders, Hannele

2015-07-01

To describe quantitative and qualitative best evidence as sources for practical interventions usable in daily care delivery in order to integrate best evidence into clinical decision-making at local practice settings. To illustrate the development, implementation and evaluation of a pain management nursing care bundle based on a clinical practice guideline via a real-world clinical exemplar. Successful implementation of evidence-based practice requires consistent integration of best evidence into daily clinical decision-making. Best evidence comprises high-quality knowledge summarised in systematic reviews and translated into guidelines. However, consistent integration of guidelines into care delivery remains challenging, partly due to guidelines not being in a usable form for daily practice or relevant for the local context. A position paper with a clinical exemplar of a nurse-led, evidence-based quality improvement project to design, implement and evaluate a pain management care bundle translated from a national nursing guideline. A pragmatic approach to integrating guidelines into daily practice is presented. Best evidence from a national nursing guideline was translated into a pain management care bundle and integrated into daily practice in 15 medical-surgical (med-surg) units of nine hospitals of a large university hospital system in Finland. Translation of best evidence from guidelines into usable form as care bundles adapted to the local setting may increase implementation and uptake of guidelines and improve quality and consistency of care delivery. A pragmatic approach to translating a nursing guideline into a pain management care bundle to incorporate best evidence into daily practice may help achieve more consistent and equitable integration of guidelines into care delivery, and better quality of pain management and patient outcomes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Influence of management practices on microbial nitrogen cyclers in agricultural soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Orenes, Fuensanta; Morugán-Coronado, Alicia; McMillan, Mary; Pereg, Lily

2016-04-01

Agricultural land management has great influences on soil properties, in particular on microbial communities, due to their sensitivity to the perturbations of the soils. This is even more relevant in Mediterranean agricultural areas under semi-arid conditions. The Mediterranean belt is suffering from an intense degradation of its soils due to the millennia of intense land use and due to unsustainable management practices. As a consequence this area is suffering from a depletion of N content. In this work we investigated the effect of several traditional agricultural management practices on specific functional groups related to the nitrogen cycle in the soil. A field experiment was performed with orchard orange trees (citrus sinesis) in Eastern Spain to assess the long-term effects of ploughing with inorganic fertilization (PI) and ecological practices (EP) (chipped pruned branches and weeds as well as manure from sheep and goats) on microbes that can undertake nitrogen fixation and denitrification. Nine samples of soil were taken from every treatment, near the drip irrigation point and in a zone without the influence of drip irrigation (between trees row), and total DNA extracted. DNA samples were stored at minus-20°C to be analysed by qPCR. Microbial populations involved in the N biochemical cycle were analysed by targeted amplification of key functional biomarker genes: the abundance of nifH (nitrogen fixation), nirS, nirK and nosZ (denitrification) detected by quantitative PCR (qPCR) has shown significant differences between treatments with higher abundance of all four genes in soils from ecological agricultural treatments. This may indicate that the ecological treatment created conditions that are more suitable for N cyclers in the soil and a better fertility and quality status of these soils.

Stormwater best management practices in an ultra-urban setting : selection and monitoring.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-05-01

This report builds on recent FHWA manuals by expanding and presenting additional data, design criteria, and monitoring study results on stormwater best management practices (BMPs) implemented in ultra-urban areas. An extensive literature search was p...

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Iimplementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Alger Creek, Tributary to Saginaw River, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Merriman, Katherine R.

2015-11-19

The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly point to phosphorus (P) runoff from agricultural lands as the cause of these HABs. In 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched to revitalize the Great Lakes. The GLRI aims to address the challenges facing the Great Lakes and provide a framework for restoration and protection. As part of this effort, the Priority Watersheds Work Group (PWWG), cochaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA–NRCS), is targeting Priority Watersheds (PWs) to reduce the amount of P reaching the Great Lakes. Within the PWs, USDA–NRCS identifies small-scale subbasins with high concentrations of agriculture for coordinated nutrient reduction efforts and enhanced monitoring and modeling. The USDA–NRCS supplies financial and/or technical assistance to producers to install or implement best management practices (BMPs) to lessen the negative effects of agriculture to water quality; additional funding is provided by the GLRI through USDA–NRCS to saturate the small-scale subbasins with BMPs. The watershed modeling component, introduced in this fact sheet, assesses the effectiveness of USDA–NRCS funded BMPs, and nutrient reductions because of GLRI or other funding programs are differentiated. Modeling scenarios consider BMPs that have already been applied and those planned to be implemented across the small-scale subbasins.

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Eagle Creek, Tributary to Maumee River, Ohio

USGS Publications Warehouse

Merriman, Katherine R.

2015-11-19

The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly point to phosphorus (P) runoff from agricultural lands as the cause of these HABs. In 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched to revitalize the Great Lakes. The GLRI aims to address the challenges facing the Great Lakes and provide a framework for restoration and protection. As part of this effort, the Priority Watersheds Work Group (PWWG), cochaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA–NRCS), is targeting Priority Watersheds (PWs) to reduce the amount of P reaching the Great Lakes. Within the PWs, USDA–NRCS identifies small-scale subbasins with high concentrations of agriculture for coordinated nutrient reduction efforts and enhanced monitoring and modeling. The USDA–NRCS supplies financial and/or technical assistance to producers to install or implement best management practices (BMPs) to lessen the negative effects of agriculture to water quality; additional funding is provided by the GLRI through USDA–NRCS to saturate the small-scale subbasins with BMPs. The watershed modeling component, introduced in this fact sheet, assesses the effectiveness of USDA–NRCS funded BMPs, and nutrient reductions because of GLRI or other funding programs are differentiated. Modeling scenarios consider BMPs that have already been applied and those planned to be implemented across the small-scale subbasins.

Changes in soil microbial community structure influenced by agricultural management practices in a mediterranean agro-ecosystem.

PubMed

García-Orenes, Fuensanta; Morugán-Coronado, Alicia; Zornoza, Raul; Cerdà, Artemi; Scow, Kate

2013-01-01

Agricultural practices have proven to be unsuitable in many cases, causing considerable reductions in soil quality. Land management practices can provide solutions to this problem and contribute to get a sustainable agriculture model. The main objective of this work was to assess the effect of different agricultural management practices on soil microbial community structure (evaluated as abundance of phospholipid fatty acids, PLFA). Five different treatments were selected, based on the most common practices used by farmers in the study area (eastern Spain): residual herbicides, tillage, tillage with oats and oats straw mulching; these agricultural practices were evaluated against an abandoned land after farming and an adjacent long term wild forest coverage. The results showed a substantial level of differentiation in the microbial community structure, in terms of management practices, which was highly associated with soil organic matter content. Addition of oats straw led to a microbial community structure closer to wild forest coverage soil, associated with increases in organic carbon, microbial biomass and fungal abundances. The microbial community composition of the abandoned agricultural soil was characterised by increases in both fungal abundances and the metabolic quotient (soil respiration per unit of microbial biomass), suggesting an increase in the stability of organic carbon. The ratio of bacteria:fungi was higher in wild forest coverage and land abandoned systems, as well as in the soil treated with oat straw. The most intensively managed soils showed higher abundances of bacteria and actinobacteria. Thus, the application of organic matter, such as oats straw, appears to be a sustainable management practice that enhances organic carbon, microbial biomass and activity and fungal abundances, thereby changing the microbial community structure to one more similar to those observed in soils under wild forest coverage.

Why farmers adopt best management practice in the United States: A meta-analysis of the adoption literature

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baumgart-Getz, Adam; Stalker Prokopy, Linda; Floress, Kristin

2012-01-01

This meta-analysis of both published and unpublished studies assesses factors believed to influence adoption of agricultural Best Management Practices in the United States. Using an established statistical technique to summarize the adoption literature in the United States, we identified the following variables as having the largest impact on adoption: access to and quality of information, financial capacity, and being connected to agency or local networks of farmers or watershed groups. This study shows that various approaches to data collection affect the results and comparability of adoption studies. In particular, environmental awareness and farmer attitudes have been inconsistently used and measured across the literature. This meta-analysis concludes with suggestions regarding the future direction of adoption studies, along with guidelines for how data should be presented to enhance the adoption of conservation practices and guide research.

Managing water with better institutions: Building flexibility, innovation and lessons of best practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Msangi, S.

2014-12-01

Changing socio-economic conditions and global environmental change continue to put pressure on critical natural resources necessary for sustaining ecosystems and human well-being - including water. Increasing variability in water availability, deepening droughts and continuing demands and consumptive use have posed problems for resource managers and policy makers in many regions. While in some regions it is still possible to enhance supply, such as in under-exploited water basins in Africa - the majority of the world's heaviest water users are facing situations that call for more demand-side adjustments. This necessitates a change from engineering-focused solutions to more economic ones, especially where the costs of increasing supply (such as through de-salinization) are prohibitively expensive, or have unacceptable consequences for environmental sustainability. Despite many years and decades of studying water resource management problems, there is still too little guidance as to what institutional best-practices should be followed. Water resources tend to touch on a number of areas managed by different government departments and ministries (agriculture, aquaculture & fisheries, industry, natural resources, etc) - but there is still no common understanding of what the best governance arrangements are that lead to improved sectoral performance (however that is measured). Given the continuing efforts to invest in water resources management and development by major multi-lateral organizations such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank - this kind of institutional guidance is critical, if countries are to make the most of these investments. In this presentation, we review a number of cases in which previously supply-side oriented approaches have to be dealt with from the demand side, and why institutional flexibility and innovation is so important. We draw from examples of community-based groundwater management in India, groundwater overdraft management

Identifying best management practices to minimize P loss in a tile drained landscape

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Phosphorus losses from agriculture have been identified as a primary contributor to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. The objectives of this presentation will be to provide estimates of cropping systems management and other conservation practices that can be used to minimize P losses from this land...

Forestry best management practices and sediment control at skidder stream crossings

Treesearch

Laura R. Wear; W. Michael Aust; M. Chad Bolding; Brian D. Strahm; Andrew C. Dolloff

2015-01-01

Stream crossings for skid trails have high sediment delivery ratios. Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) have proven to be effective for erosion control, but few studies have quantified the impact of various levels of BMPs on sedimentation. In this study, three skid-trail stream-crossing BMP treatments were installed on nine operational stream crossings (three...

Modeling the Connectedness Between best Management Practices and Vulnerability Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anandhi, A.; Bailey, N.; Thomas, M.; Bartnick, B.

2015-12-01

The overall goal of this study is to better understand the connectedness between Best management practices (BMPs) and vulnerability assessments (VA) in a changing landuse. Developing this connectedness will help understand key vulnerabilities and improve adaptive capacity important for ecosystem sustainability. BMPs are practical management practices or systems designed and installed in watersheds to provide a wide range of effects to protect or restore the physical, chemical, and biological condition of waterbodies (e.g. changing hydrology; improving vegetative habitat; mitigate adverse environmental change). VAs can be defined as "the degree to which the system is susceptible to and is unable to cope with adverse effects of change" and are often characterized as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. There are many variables and factors used in calculating the impact of BMPs and VAs. The event mean concentration or load (e.g. nutrient, sediment,) associated with the specific landuse is an important variable. There is much data that predicts the loads associated with the major landuses (urban, agricultural). Loads greatly vary with region; rainfall characteristics (e.g. rainfall intensity, rainfall frequency); soil characteristics (e.g. soil type, hydrologic soil groups); hydrologic characteristics (e.g. runoff potential). A concern also exists that possibly all of the variables associated with changes in an individual land use have not been identified and distinguished for their impact on land use. For example, the loads associated with a high density residential with much green space may be more similar to medium density than loads associated with high rise apartment buildings. Other factors may include age of construction, % of families with children, % of families with pets, level of transiency, and construction activity The objective of our study is to develop an initial framework using multiple variables and factors to represent the

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR THE CONTROL OF NUTRIENTS FROM URBAN NONPOINT SOURCES

EPA Science Inventory

While the costs and benefits associated with the point source control of nutrients are relatively well defined, considerable uncertainties remain in the efficiency and long-term costs associated with the best management practices (BMPs) used to redcuce loads from nonpoint and dif...

Best management practices for soft engineering of shoreline

USGS Publications Warehouse

Caulk, Andrew D.; Gannon, John E.; Shaw, John R.; Hartig, John H.

2000-01-01

Historically, many river shorelines were stabilized and hardened with concrete and steel to protect developments from flooding and erosion, or to accommodate commercial navigation or industry. Typically shorelines were developed for a single purpose. Today, there is growing interest in developing shorelines for multiple purposes so that additional benefits can be accrued. Soft engineering is the use of ecological principles and practices to reduce erosion and achieve the stabilization and safety of shorelines, while enhancing habitat, improving aesthetics, and saving money. The purpose of this best management practices manual is to provide insights and technical advice to local governments, developers, planners, consultants, and industries on when, where, why, and how to incorporate soft engineering of shorelines into shoreline redevelopment projects and reap subsequent benefits. More specific technical advice and contact information can be found in the soft engineering case studies presented in this manual.

Fever management in the emergency department of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Hu, Fei; Zhang, Jiayan; Shi, Shupeng; Zhou, Zhang

2016-09-01

Febrile illness in young children usually indicates an underlying infection and is a cause of concern for parents and carers. It is very important that healthcare professionals know how to recognize fever, assess children with fever, treat children with fever and role of nurses and parents. This paper outlines a best practice implementation project on the management of fever in children in an emergency department. To audit current practice of fever management for children in an emergency department and to implement strategies to standardize pediatric fever management based on evidence-based practice guidelines. We used the Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice to examine compliance with fever management criteria based on the best available evidence before and after the implementation of strategies to spread the use of evidence-based practice protocols. We found significant improvements in pediatric fever management as measured by the knowledge scores of parents (54.5-83.7) and nurses (67.6-90.3). This suggested a need for continuous education. We found a noticeable improvement in compliance across all the five criteria; using correct methods to measure temperature (86-98%), staff education (0-100%), parents education (0-100%), using assessment tools (0-100%) and observed management (0-98%). This best practice implementation project demonstrated the use of effective strategies to standardize the protocol for fever management, implement assessment tool, develop multimedia materials, deliver continuous staff education and update nursing documentation and patient education pamphlets to ensure best practice is delivered by nurses to improve patient outcomes.

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Upper East River, Tributary to Green Bay, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Merriman, Katherine R.

2015-11-19

The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly point to phosphorus (P) runoff from agricultural lands as the cause of these HABs. In 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched to revitalize the Great Lakes. The GLRI aims to address the challenges facing the Great Lakes and provide a framework for restoration and protection. As part of this effort, the Priority Watersheds Work Group (PWWG), cochaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA–NRCS), is targeting Priority Watersheds (PWs) to reduce the amount of P reaching the Great Lakes. Within the PWs, USDA–NRCS identifies small-scale subbasins with high concentrations of agriculture for coordinated nutrient reduction efforts and enhanced monitoring and modeling. The USDA–NRCS supplies financial and/or technical assistance to producers to install or implement best management practices (BMPs) to lessen the negative effects of agriculture to water quality; additional funding is provided by the GLRI through USDA–NRCS to saturate the small-scale subbasins with BMPs. The watershed modeling component, introduced in this fact sheet, assesses the effectiveness of USDA–NRCS funded BMPs, and nutrient reductions because of GLRI or other funding programs are differentiated. Modeling scenarios consider BMPs that have already been applied and those planned to be implemented across the small-scale subbasins.

Effects of different management practices on fungal biodiversity in agricultural soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borriello, R.; Lumini, E.; Bonfante, P.; Bianciotto, V.

2009-04-01

Symbiotic associations between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant roots are widespread in natural environments and provide a range of benefits to the host plant. These include improved nutrition, enhanced resistance to soil-borne pests, diseases, and drought, as well as tolerance to heavy metals. In addition, the presence of a well developed AMF hyphal network improve the soil structure. As obligate mutualistic symbionts these fungi colonize the roots of many agricultural crops and it is often claimed that agricultural practices (use of fertilizers and biocides, tillage, dominance of monocultures and the growing of non-mycorrhizal crops) are detrimental to AMF. As a result, agro ecosystems impoverished in AMF may not get the fully expected range of benefits from these fungi. Using molecular markers on DNA extracted directly from soil and roots we studied the effects of different management practices (tillage and nitrogen fertilization) on the AMF populations colonizing an experimental agro ecosystem in Central Italy. Fungi in roots and soil were identified by cloning and sequencing a region of ~550bp of the 18S rDNA and ~600bp of the 28S rDNA. In symbiosis with the maize roots we detected only members of Glomeraceae group A that showed decrement in number under nitrogen fertilization. Instead in soil were mainly present members of two AMF groups, respectively Gigasporaceae and Glomeraceae group A. In addition only the low input management practices preserve also members of Diversisporaceae and Glomeraceae group B. From our study we can conclude that agricultural practices can directly or indirectly influence AMF biodiversity. The result of this study highlight the importance and significant effects of the long term nitrogen fertilization and tillage practices on specific groups of fungi playing a key role in arable soils. The research was founded by Biodiversity Project (IPP-CNR) and by SOILSINK (FISR-MIUR)

On the choice of farm management practices after the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2003.

PubMed

Schmid, Erwin; Sinabell, Franz

2007-02-01

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was fundamentally reformed in 2003. From 2005, farmers will receive decoupled income support payments instead of production premiums if basic standards for environment, food safety, animal health and welfare are met. Farmers are likely to adjust production and management practices to the new policy framework. We describe how this reform fits into the EU strategy of making agricultural production more environmentally friendly by concentrating on the financial aspects of the reforms. Using an agricultural sector model for Austria, we show that the reform will further decrease agricultural outputs, reduce farm inputs, lessen nitrogen surpluses and make environmentally friendly management practices more attractive for farmers.

Development of a stormwater best management practice placement strategy for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

Since the implementation of the federal and state stormwater management regulations, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has constructed hundreds of best management practices (BMPs) for controlling stormwater runoff from highways and its...

Development and evaluation of best management practices (BMPS) for highway runoff pollution control.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-01

Polluted storm water runoff is commonly transported through Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s). Currently, : sufficient information is not available on development and evaluation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) within an MS4 : boundary...

Defense Inventory Management: Expanding Use of Best Practices for Hardware Items Can Reduce Logistics Costs.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-01-01

This report is the 11th in a series of reports comparing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) logistics practices with those of the private sector . We...leading private sector practices. This report focuses on DOD’S progress in adopting best inventory management practices for hardware items such as bearings...valves, and bolts. The objectives of this review were to determine (1) DOD and private sector practices for managing hardware items, (2) whether DOD

Forestry best management practices relationships with aquatic and riparian fauna: A review

Treesearch

Brooke M. Warrington; W. Michael Aust; Scott M. Barrett; W. Mark Ford; C. Andrew Dolloff; Erik B. Schilling; T. Bently Wigley; M. Chad Bolding

2017-01-01

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) were developed to minimize water pollution from forestry operations by primarily addressing sediment and sediment transport, which is the leading source of pollution from silviculture. Implementation of water quality BMPs may also benefit riparian and aquatic wildlife, although wildlife benefits were not driving forces...

Peer Review of Best Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearlman, J.; Buttigieg, P. L.; Simpson, P.; Munoz, C.; Dufois, F.; Heslop, E. E.

2017-12-01

To ensure the quality of oceanographic data, there is a clear need to employ best practices (BPs) for ocean observation and information management. However, effectively discovering these BPs is a challenge, hindering harmonized quality assurance across projects and programmes. To remedy this, we are prototyping a resource for the stable archiving and efficient discovery of BPs through a granular, semantically indexed, and consistently formatted web resource. While these technical advances have value, they cannot ensure improved oceanographic data quality without effective and inclusive peer review processes. Peer review of digitized best practices can take a number of forms from traditional (blind) peer review as practiced by journal publishers through to the evolving "open" approach where community reviews have both the authors and reviewers identified. This presentation will discuss the options for peer review mechanisms for best practices, including a hybrid approach where both expert panels and open community review are used to improve methodologies and thus downstream data quality. It is not yet clear if the ocean community prefers open versus blind reviews for best practices. It is also unclear the extent to which innovation versus solid technical base should have a higher priority in the reviews. Further, it is not clear whether the reviews should use an internal expert panel of the IODE OceanBestPractices Repository (http://www.oceanbestpractices.net/) or should be done as part of a journal publications process or both, as mentioned above. Thus, we will also describe our future approach to `field test' these review models on a multi-stakeholder compendium of digitized best practice documents.

Perceptions of stakeholders regarding wilderness and best management practices in an Alaska recreation area

Treesearch

Emily F. Pomeranz; Mark D. Needham; Linda E. Kruger

2015-01-01

This article focuses on the collaborative and voluntary Wilderness Best Management Practices (WBMP) for managing recreation in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness in Alaska. Stakeholder definitions of wilderness, opinions about the WBMP, and whether these opinions are reflective of their perceptions of wilderness are examined. Interviews with tour operators, agency...

Best practices in bus dispatch [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

In 2007, the National Center for Transit Research : sponsored a study of best practices in extraboard : operator management, finding that in most transit : agencies, extraboard manpower is managed by : dispatchers as one of their many functions. This...

Best Practices for Managing Medical Equipment and Supplies Stored in a Vehicle.

PubMed

McGoldrick, Mary

2015-01-01

Home care clinicians often have to transport supplies to patients' homes, and remove and transport items from the home after care is provided. This article will provide guidelines and best practices for the proper methods of managing and storing infection prevention and control supplies and regulated medical waste in a home care clinician's personal vehicle.

Emergency management of renal and genitourinary trauma: best practices update [digest].

PubMed

Bryant, Whitney K; Shewakramani, Sanjay; Zaurova, Milana

2017-08-22

In up to 10% of patients who experience abdominal trauma, renal and urogenital systems will be involved. In polytrauma patients with other potentially life-threatening injuries, renal and genitourinary trauma may be overlooked initially, but a delayed or missed diagnosis of these injuries may result in preventable complications. This review provides a best-practice approach to the diagnosis and management of renal and genitourinary injuries, with an emphasis on the systematic approach needed to identify subtle injuries and avoid long-term urinary sequelae such as hypertension, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, chronic kidney disease, and nephrectomy. [Points & Pearls is a digest of Emergency Medicine Practice.].

Health and productivity management: establishing key performance measures, benchmarks, and best practices.

PubMed

Goetzel, R Z; Guindon, A M; Turshen, I J; Ozminkowski, R J

2001-01-01

Major areas considered under the rubric of health and productivity management (HPM) in American business include absenteeism, employee turnover, and the use of medical, disability, and workers' compensation programs. Until recently, few normative data existed for most HPM areas. To meet the need for normative information in HPM, a series of Consortium Benchmarking Studies were conducted. In the most recent application of the study, 1998 HPM costs, incidence, duration, and other program data were collected from 43 employers on almost one million workers. The median HPM costs for these organizations were $9992 per employee, which were distributed among group health (47%), turnover (37%), unscheduled absence (8%), nonoccupational disability (5%), and workers' compensation programs (3%). Achieving "best-practice" levels of performance (operationally defined as the 25th percentile for program expenditures in each HPM area) would realize savings of $2562 per employee (a 26% reduction). The results indicate substantial opportunities for improvement through effective coordination and management of HPM programs. Examples of best-practice activities collated from on-site visits to "benchmark" organizations are also reviewed.

Implementation of retrofit best management practices in a suburban watershed (Cincinnati OH) via economic incentives

EPA Science Inventory

There is great potential for managing stormwater runoff quantity; however, implementation in already-developed areas remains a challenge. We assess the viability of economic incentives to place best management practices (BMPs) on parcels in a 1.8 km2 suburban watershed near Cinci...

Best Practices and Innovations for Managing Codeine Misuse and Dependence.

PubMed

Norman, Ian J; Bergin, Michael; Parry, Charles D; Van Hout, Marie Claire

Promoting and ensuring safe use of codeine containing medicines remains a public health issue given the rise in reporting of misuse and dependence particularly in countries where available over-the-counter (OTC). The aim of this unique study was to identify best practices in management of opioid abuse and dependence, particularly codeine, and innovations to meet challenges surrounding safe and compliant use, patient awareness-raising, reducing health harms and enhancing successful treatment of dependence. A mixed methods approach using three data points was used that included : (1) analysis of data from existing scoping reviews to identify potential areas for innovation (2) interviews with key national stakeholders from public health, pharmaceutical, regulatory, primary care and addiction practice in three distinct regulatory regimes (Ireland, United Kingdom and South Africa); and (3) a circular email request for information on potential innovations to members of the European Medicine's Agency European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCEPP). Data from these three sources were analysed to identify best practices and opportunities for innovation. Best practices and potential innovations were identified under the nine headings: (1) manufacture; (2) product information and public education; (3) responsible prescribing; (4) monitoring and surveillance; (5) dispensing, screening and brief interventions in community pharmacies; (6) safety in the workplace and on the road; (7) internet supply of codeine and online support; (8) treatment of codeine dependence; and (9) learning resources and training for health professionals. Challenges ensuring availability of codeine containing medicines for legitimate therapeutic use, while minimising misuse, dependence and related health harms warrant consideration of new innovations. Most promising innovative potential lies across the products' retail lifecycle from manufacture to prescriber and

Selection and placement of best management practices used to reduce water quality degradation in Lincoln Lake watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Hector German; Popp, Jennie; Maringanti, Chetan; Chaubey, Indrajeet

2011-01-01

An increased loss of agricultural nutrients is a growing concern for water quality in Arkansas. Several studies have shown that best management practices (BMPs) are effective in controlling water pollution. However, those affected with water quality issues need water management plans that take into consideration BMPs selection, placement, and affordability. This study used a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). This multiobjective algorithm selects and locates BMPs that minimize nutrients pollution cost-effectively by providing trade-off curves (optimal fronts) between pollutant reduction and total net cost increase. The usefulness of this optimization framework was evaluated in the Lincoln Lake watershed. The final NSGA-II optimization model generated a number of near-optimal solutions by selecting from 35 BMPs (combinations of pasture management, buffer zones, and poultry litter application practices). Selection and placement of BMPs were analyzed under various cost solutions. The NSGA-II provides multiple solutions that could fit the water management plan for the watershed. For instance, by implementing all the BMP combinations recommended in the lowest-cost solution, total phosphorous (TP) could be reduced by at least 76% while increasing cost by less than 2% in the entire watershed. This value represents an increase in cost of 5.49 ha-1 when compared to the baseline. Implementing all the BMP combinations proposed with the medium- and the highest-cost solutions could decrease TP drastically but will increase cost by 24,282 (7%) and $82,306 (25%), respectively.

Effectiveness of best management practices for sediment reduction at operation forest stream crossings

Treesearch

Laura R. Wear; Michael W. Aust; M. Chad Bolding; Brian D. Strahm; C. Andrew Dolloff

2013-01-01

Temporary skid trail stream crossings have repeatedly been identified as having considerable potential to introduce sediment to streams. Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) have proven to be effective for controlling erosion and subsequent sedimentation, yet few studies have quantified sedimentation associated with various levels of BMPs for skidder stream...

STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE MONITORING

EPA Science Inventory

Implementation of an effective BMP monitoring program is not a straight-forward task. BMPs by definition are devices, practices, or methods used to manage stormwater runoff. This umbrella term lumps widely varying techniques into a single category. Also, with the existence of ...

Development of the Land-use and Agricultural Management Practice web-Service (LAMPS) for generating crop rotations in space and time

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agroecosystem models and conservation planning tools require spatially and temporally explicit input data about agricultural management operations. The Land-use and Agricultural Management Practices web-Service (LAMPS) provides crop rotation and management information for user-specified areas within...

WEPP Model applications for evaluations of best management practices

Treesearch

D. C. Flanagan; W. J. Elliott; J. R. Frankenberger; C. Huang

2010-01-01

The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model is a process-based erosion prediction technology for application to small watersheds and hillslope profiles, under agricultural, forested, rangeland, and other land management conditions. Developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the past 25 years, WEPP simulates many of the physical processes...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi diversity influenced by different agricultural management practices in a semi-arid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Mar Alguacil, Maria; Torrecillas, Emma; Garcia-Orenes, Fuensanta; Torres, Maria Pilar; Roldan, Antonio

2013-04-01

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a key, integral component of the stability, sustainability and functioning of ecosystems. In this study a field experiment was performed at the El Teularet-Sierra de Enguera Experimental Station (eastern Spain) to assess the influence during a 6-yr period of different agricultural practices on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The management practices included residual herbicide use, ploughing, ploughing + oats, addition of oat straw mulch and a control (land abandonment). Adjacent soil under natural vegetation was used as a reference for local, high-quality soil and as a control for comparison with the agricultural soils under different management practices. The AM fungal small-subunit (SSU) rRNA genes were subjected to PCR, cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic analyses. Thirty-six different phylotypes were identified, which were grouped in four families: Glomeraceae, Paraglomeraceae, Ambisporaceae and Claroideoglomeraceae. The first results showed significant differences in the distribution of the AMF phylotypes as consequence of the difference between agricultural management practices. Thus, the lowest diversity was observed for the plot that was treated with herbicide. The management practices including ploughing and ploughing + oats had similar AMF diversity. Oat straw mulching yielded the highest number of different AMF sequence types and showed the highest diversity index. Thus, this treatment could be more suitable in sustainable soil use and therefore protection of biodiversity.

Current best practice in the management of Turner syndrome

PubMed Central

Shankar, Roopa Kanakatti; Backeljauw, Philippe F.

2017-01-01

Turner syndrome (TS) is characterized by partial or complete loss of the second X-chromosome in phenotypic females resulting in a constellation of clinical findings that may include lymphedema, cardiac anomalies, short stature, primary ovarian failure and neurocognitive difficulties. Optimizing health care delivery is important to enable these individuals achieve their full potential. We review the current best practice management recommendations for individuals with TS focusing on the latest consensus opinion in regard to genetic diagnosis, treatment of short stature, estrogen supplementation, addressing psychosocial issues, as well screening for other comorbidities. A multidisciplinary approach and a well-planned transition to adult follow-up care will improve health care delivery significantly for this population. PMID:29344338

Use of Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season to Assess Effectiveness of Agricultural and Environmental Best Management Practices in California and Nevada, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domagalski, J. L.; Schlegel, B.; Hutchins, J.

2014-12-01

Long-term data sets on stream-water quality and discharge can be used to assess whether best management practices (BMPs) are restoring beneficial uses of impaired water as required under the Clean Water Act. In this study, we evaluated a greater than 20-year record of water quality from selected streams in the Central Valley (CV) of California and Lake Tahoe (California and Nevada, USA). The CV contains a mix of agricultural and urbanized land, while the Lake Tahoe area is mostly forested, with seasonal residents and tourism. Because nutrients and fine sediments cause a reduction in water clarity that impair Lake Tahoe, BMPs were implemented in the early 1990's, to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loads. The CV does not have a current nutrient management plan, but numerous BMPs exist to reduce pesticide loads, and it was hypothesized that these programs could also reduce nutrient levels. In the CV and Lake Tahoe areas, nutrient concentrations, loads, and trends were estimated by using the recently developed Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) model. Sufficient data were available to compare trends during a voluntary and enforcement period for seven CV sites within the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin Basins. For six of the seven sites, flow-normalized mean annual concentrations of total phosphorus and nitrate decreased at a faster rate during the enforcement period than during the earlier voluntary period. Concentration changes during similar years and ranges of flow conditions suggest that BMPs designed for pesticides also reduced nutrient loads in the CV. A trend analysis using WRTDS was completed for six streams that enter Lake Tahoe during the late 1980's through 2008. The results of the model confirm that nutrient loading is influenced strongly by season, such as by spring runoff from snowmelt. The highest nutrient concentrations in the late 1980's and early 1990's correlate with high flows, followed by statistically significant decreases

Status of state forestry best management practices for the southeastern United States

Treesearch

R. Cristan; W.M. Aust; M.C. Bolding; S.M. Barrett; J.F. Munsell

2016-01-01

Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) are important measures for protecting the waters of the U.S., but few studies have compared monitoring strategies and implementation success of forestry BMPs across states. In order to assess the status of state forestry BMPs, a survey was sent to the state forestry agency in each U.S. state regarding their forestry BMP program...

Best Practices for Operations of Satellite Constellations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howard, Joseph; Oza, Dipak; Smith, Danford S.

2006-01-01

This paper presents the best practices used by several commercial and government operators of satellite constellations. These best practices were identified through a series of seminars and discussions held at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The best practices are arrived through many years of experience and improvements made in the operations procedures and the operational systems with the primary drivers as mission safety and cost effectiveness. This paper discusses the operational aspects associated with how different organizations manage complexities of constellation operations. For the purposes of this paper, satellite constellations are groups of similar spacecraft with more than one spacecraft needed to fully accomplish the constellation's mission

Organic matter composition of soil macropore surfaces under different agricultural management practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glæsner, Nadia; Leue, Marin; Magid, Jacob; Gerke, Horst H.

2016-04-01

Understanding the heterogeneous nature of soil, i.e. properties and processes occurring specifically at local scales is essential for best managing our soil resources for agricultural production. Examination of intact soil structures in order to obtain an increased understanding of how soil systems operate from small to large scale represents a large gap within soil science research. Dissolved chemicals, nutrients and particles are transported through the disturbed plow layer of agricultural soil, where after flow through the lower soil layers occur by preferential flow via macropores. Rapid movement of water through macropores limit the contact between the preferentially moving water and the surrounding soil matrix, therefore contact and exchange of solutes in the water is largely restricted to the surface area of the macropores. Organomineral complex coated surfaces control sorption and exchange properties of solutes, as well as availability of essential nutrients to plant roots and to the preferentially flowing water. DRIFT (Diffuse Reflectance infrared Fourier Transform) Mapping has been developed to examine composition of organic matter coated macropores. In this study macropore surfaces structures will be determined for organic matter composition using DRIFT from a long-term field experiment on waste application to agricultural soil (CRUCIAL, close to Copenhagen, Denmark). Parcels with 5 treatments; accelerated household waste, accelerated sewage sludge, accelerated cattle manure, NPK and unfertilized, will be examined in order to study whether agricultural management have an impact on the organic matter composition of intact structures.

The Influence of Time Management Practices on Job Stress Level among Beginning Secondary Agriculture Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Misty D.; Torres, Robert M.; Tummons, John D.

2012-01-01

Monitoring the stress of teachers continues to be important--particularly stress levels of beginning agriculture teachers. The study sought to describe the relationship between beginning teachers' perceived ability to manage their time and their level of stress. The Time Management Practices Inventory and the Job Stress Survey were used to measure…

A whole community approach to emergency management: Strategies and best practices of seven community programs.

PubMed

Sobelson, Robyn K; Wigington, Corinne J; Harp, Victoria; Bronson, Bernice B

2015-01-01

In 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published the Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action, outlining the need for increased individual preparedness and more widespread community engagement to enhance the overall resiliency and security of communities. However, there is limited evidence of how to build a whole community approach to emergency management that provides real-world, practical examples and applications. This article reports on the strategies and best practices gleaned from seven community programs fostering a whole community approach to emergency management. The project team engaged in informal conversations with community stakeholders to learn about their programs during routine monitoring activities, site visits, and during an in-person, facilitated workshop. A total of 88 community members associated with the programs examples contributed. Qualitative analysis was conducted. The findings highlighted best practices gleaned from the seven programs that other communities can leverage to build and maintain their own whole community programs. The findings from the programs also support and validate the three principles and six strategic themes outlined by FEMA. The findings, like the whole community document, highlight the importance of understanding the community, building relationships, empowering action, and fostering social capital to build a whole community approach.

Application of risk-based multiple criteria decision analysis for selection of the best agricultural scenario for effective watershed management.

PubMed

Javidi Sabbaghian, Reza; Zarghami, Mahdi; Nejadhashemi, A Pouyan; Sharifi, Mohammad Bagher; Herman, Matthew R; Daneshvar, Fariborz

2016-03-01

Effective watershed management requires the evaluation of agricultural best management practice (BMP) scenarios which carefully consider the relevant environmental, economic, and social criteria involved. In the Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) process, scenarios are first evaluated and then ranked to determine the most desirable outcome for the particular watershed. The main challenge of this process is the accurate identification of the best solution for the watershed in question, despite the various risk attitudes presented by the associated decision-makers (DMs). This paper introduces a novel approach for implementation of the MCDM process based on a comparative neutral risk/risk-based decision analysis, which results in the selection of the most desirable scenario for use in the entire watershed. At the sub-basin level, each scenario includes multiple BMPs with scores that have been calculated using the criteria derived from two cases of neutral risk and risk-based decision-making. The simple additive weighting (SAW) operator is applied for use in neutral risk decision-making, while the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) and induced OWA (IOWA) operators are effective for risk-based decision-making. At the watershed level, the BMP scores of the sub-basins are aggregated to calculate each scenarios' combined goodness measurements; the most desirable scenario for the entire watershed is then selected based on the combined goodness measurements. Our final results illustrate the type of operator and risk attitudes needed to satisfy the relevant criteria within the number of sub-basins, and how they ultimately affect the final ranking of the given scenarios. The methodology proposed here has been successfully applied to the Honeyoey Creek-Pine Creek watershed in Michigan, USA to evaluate various BMP scenarios and determine the best solution for both the stakeholders and the overall stream health. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Best practice in the management of clinical coding services: Insights from a project in the Republic of Ireland, Part 2.

PubMed

Reid, Beth A; Ridoutt, Lee; O'Connor, Paul; Murphy, Deirdre

2017-09-01

This is the second of two articles about best practice in the management of coding services. The best practice project was part of a year-long project conducted in the Republic of Ireland to review the quality of the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry data for its use in activity-based funding. The four methods used to address the best practice aspect of the project were described in detail in Part 1. The results included in this article are those relating to the coding manager's background, preparation and style, clinical coder (CC) workforce adequacy, the CC workforce structure and career pathway, and the physical and psychological work environment for the clinical coding service. Examples of best practice were found in the study hospitals but there were also areas for improvement. Coding managers would benefit from greater support in the form of increased opportunities for management training and a better method for calculating CC workforce numbers. A career pathway is needed for CCs to progress from entry to expert CC, mentor, manager and quality controller. Most hospitals could benefit from investment in infrastructure that places CCs in a physical environment that tells them they are an important part of the hospital and their work is valued.

Extravasation management in the pediatric oncology ward of Children's Hospital of Fudan University: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Wang, Yingwen; Kong, Meijing; Ge, Youhong

2016-12-01

Extravasation in a pediatric patient can cause a serious adverse event, but many nurses have insufficient experience to deal with it during intravenous administration. Our division implemented a best practice project, which included extravasation kit instruction preparation, staff education and an update of institutional policy and procedures. The project focused on auditing the extent to which the protocol was implemented and promoting its implementation. The objective of the project was to establish an evidence-based policy and procedure for extravasation management, improve knowledge regarding best practice of extravasation management among staff and formalize the documentation template for extravasation events. The Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice were used to examine compliance with criteria based on the best available evidence before and after the implementation of strategies to promote the use of the evidence-based practice protocol. Four criteria showed a noticeable improvement in compliance: increased use of extravasation kit (0-100%), updated policies and procedure (0-94%), staff education (19-94%) and documented outcomes (13-88%). The project successfully established effective strategies for establishing an extravasation kit instruction sheet, updating policies and procedures, continuous staff education and nursing documentation to ensure best practice and improve patient outcomes.

Understanding Predictors of Nutrient Management Practice Diversity in Midwestern Agriculture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bates, Hanna; Arbuckle, J. Gordon, Jr.

2017-01-01

Agriculture's negative effect on water quality has become increasingly well documented. Farmers have a range of conservation practices available, yet rate of adoption is not optimal. Extension and other agricultural stakeholders play a key role in promotion of conservation practice adoption. We used survey data to examine relationships between…

Stormwater Management Decision Support System for Using Low Impact Development Best Management Practices in Industrial Areas

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-30

particulates can be trapped in the inlet then washed into the drainage system in a large storm event...and P. Matin. 2005. Performance and Whole-Life Costs of Best Management Practices and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems . Report #01CTS21TA. Water...subsurface drainage system consisting of a parallel perforated PVC pipe system in a stone bed that connects to the third chamber, which is the discharge

Innovative Soil Management Practices (SMP) Assessment in Europe and China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barão, Lúcia

2017-04-01

The growing world population poses a major challenge to global agricultural food and feed production through the pressure to increase agricultural outputs either by increasing the land area dedicated to agriculture or by productivity increases. Whether in developed or developing regions, agricultural intensification based on conventional approaches has resulted in severe environmental impacts and innovative soil management practices are needed to halter ongoing soil degradation and promote sustainable land management capable to produce more from less. The iSQAPER project - Interactive Soil Quality Assessment in Europe and China for Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Resilience - aims to develop a Soil Quality app (SQAPP) linking soil and agricultural management practices to soil quality indicators. This easy friendly tool will provide a direct and convenient way to advise farmers and other suitable actors in this area, regarding the best management practices to be adopted in very specific and local conditions. In this particular study from iSQAPER, we aimed to identify the most promising innovative soil management practices (SMP) currently used and its geographical distribution along different pedo-climatic regions in Europe (Boreal, Atlantic, Mediterranean Temperate, Mediterranean Semi-Arid, Southern Sub-Continental and Northern Sub-Continental) and China (Middle Temperate, Warm temperate and Central Asia Tropical). So far we have identified 155 farms where innovative SMP's are used, distributed along 4 study site regions located in China (Qiyang, Suining, Zhifanggou and Gongzhuling) and 10 study site regions located in Europe (The Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Estonia) and covering the major pedo-climatic regions. From this identification we concluded that the most used innovative SMP's in the study site regions in Europe are Manuring & Composting (14%), Min-till (14%), Crop rotation (12

International benchmarking and best practice management: in search of health care and hospital excellence.

PubMed

von Eiff, Wilfried

2015-01-01

Hospitals worldwide are facing the same opportunities and threats: the demographics of an aging population; steady increases in chronic diseases and severe illnesses; and a steadily increasing demand for medical services with more intensive treatment for multi-morbid patients. Additionally, patients are becoming more demanding. They expect high quality medicine within a dignity-driven and painless healing environment. The severe financial pressures that these developments entail oblige care providers to more and more cost-containment and to apply process reengineering, as well as continuous performance improvement measures, so as to achieve future financial sustainability. At the same time, regulators are calling for improved patient outcomes. Benchmarking and best practice management are successfully proven performance improvement tools for enabling hospitals to achieve a higher level of clinical output quality, enhanced patient satisfaction, and care delivery capability, while simultaneously containing and reducing costs. This chapter aims to clarify what benchmarking is and what it is not. Furthermore, it is stated that benchmarking is a powerful managerial tool for improving decision-making processes that can contribute to the above-mentioned improvement measures in health care delivery. The benchmarking approach described in this chapter is oriented toward the philosophy of an input-output model and is explained based on practical international examples from different industries in various countries. Benchmarking is not a project with a defined start and end point, but a continuous initiative of comparing key performance indicators, process structures, and best practices from best-in-class companies inside and outside industry. Benchmarking is an ongoing process of measuring and searching for best-in-class performance: Measure yourself with yourself over time against key performance indicators. Measure yourself against others. Identify best practices. Equal or

Evaluating the Effect of Green Infrastructure Stormwater Best Management Practices on New England Stream Habitat

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. EPA is evaluating the effectiveness of green infrastructure (GI) stormwater best management practices (BMPs) on stream habitat at the small watershed (< HUC12) scale in New England. Predictive models for thermal regime and substrate characteristics (substrate size, % em...

Effectiveness of best management practices that have application to forest roads: a literature synthesis

Treesearch

Pamela J. Edwards; Frederica Wood; Robin L. Quinlivan

2016-01-01

Literature describing the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) applicable to forest roads is reviewed and synthesized. Effectiveness is considered from the perspective of protecting water quality and water resources. Both paved and unpaved forest roads are considered, but BMPs that involve substantial engineering are not considered. Some of the BMPs...

Best management practices for reducing nutrient loads in a sub-watershed of Chesapeake Bay

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Water quality improvement in the Chesapeake Bay is a grave concern. An initiative to reduce the nutrient loads to stream has been undertaken to attain a target total maximum daily load (TMDL) at Chesapeake Bay. A general guideline with a set of best management practices (BMPs) has been in place for ...

An Assessment of Mississippi's Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners' Knowledge of Forest Best Management Practices

Treesearch

Andrew James Londo; John Benkert Auel

2004-01-01

This study examined the knowledge levels of Mississippi nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners relative to best management practices (BMPs) for water quality. Data were collected through surveys of participants in BMP programs held in conjunction with County Forestry Association (CFA) meetings throughout Mississippi during 2001-02. Ten CFAs participated in this...

Best Practices for Reliable and Robust Spacecraft Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raju, Ivatury S.; Murthy, P. L. N.; Patel, Naresh R.; Bonacuse, Peter J.; Elliott, Kenny B.; Gordon, S. A.; Gyekenyesi, J. P.; Daso, E. O.; Aggarwal, P.; Tillman, R. F.

2007-01-01

A study was undertaken to capture the best practices for the development of reliable and robust spacecraft structures for NASA s next generation cargo and crewed launch vehicles. In this study, the NASA heritage programs such as Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle program were examined. A series of lessons learned during the NASA and DoD heritage programs are captured. The processes that "make the right structural system" are examined along with the processes to "make the structural system right". The impact of technology advancements in materials and analysis and testing methods on reliability and robustness of spacecraft structures is studied. The best practices and lessons learned are extracted from these studies. Since the first human space flight, the best practices for reliable and robust spacecraft structures appear to be well established, understood, and articulated by each generation of designers and engineers. However, these best practices apparently have not always been followed. When the best practices are ignored or short cuts are taken, risks accumulate, and reliability suffers. Thus program managers need to be vigilant of circumstances and situations that tend to violate best practices. Adherence to the best practices may help develop spacecraft systems with high reliability and robustness against certain anomalies and unforeseen events.

Best Practices for Use of Blended Learning

PubMed Central

Porter, Andrea L.; Pitterle, Michael E.

2017-01-01

Objective. To determine instructional best practice recommendations for use of blended learning from the students’ perspective. Methods. Three focus groups were created, one for each of the first three years at a school of pharmacy. The focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed for content analysis. Results. Ten instructional best practices were identified from the focus groups: setting the stage, consistency when team teaching, timeliness in posting materials, time on task, accountability for online activities, use of structured active learning, instructor use of feedback on student preparation, incorporation of student feedback into the course, short reviews of online material during class, and ensuring technologies are user friendly. Conclusion. Instructors using blended learning should consider incorporating these best practices into their course design and management. More evaluation is needed to see if implementation of these practices affects student performance. PMID:28496269

Best Practices for Use of Blended Learning.

PubMed

Margolis, Amanda R; Porter, Andrea L; Pitterle, Michael E

2017-04-01

Objective. To determine instructional best practice recommendations for use of blended learning from the students' perspective. Methods. Three focus groups were created, one for each of the first three years at a school of pharmacy. The focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed for content analysis. Results. Ten instructional best practices were identified from the focus groups: setting the stage, consistency when team teaching, timeliness in posting materials, time on task, accountability for online activities, use of structured active learning, instructor use of feedback on student preparation, incorporation of student feedback into the course, short reviews of online material during class, and ensuring technologies are user friendly. Conclusion. Instructors using blended learning should consider incorporating these best practices into their course design and management. More evaluation is needed to see if implementation of these practices affects student performance.

Best Practices for Robotic Surgery Programs

PubMed Central

Goldenberg, David; Winder, Joshua S.; Juza, Ryan M.; Lyn-Sue, Jerome R.

2017-01-01

Background and Objectives: Robotic surgical programs are increasing in number. Efficient methods by which to monitor and evaluate robotic surgery teams are needed. Methods: Best practices for an academic university medical center were created and instituted in 2009 and continue to the present. These practices have led to programmatic development that has resulted in a process that effectively monitors leadership team members; attending, resident, fellow, and staff training; credentialing; safety metrics; efficiency; and case volume recommendations. Results: Guidelines for hospitals and robotic directors that can be applied to one's own robotic surgical services are included with examples of management of all aspects of a multispecialty robotic surgery program. Conclusion: The use of these best practices will ensure a robotic surgery program that is successful and well positioned for a safe and productive environment for current clinical practice. PMID:28729780

Green Remediation Best Management Practices: Overview of EPA's Methodology to Address the Environmental Footprint of Site Cleanup

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Contaminated site cleanups involving complex activities may benefit from a detailed environmental footprint analysis to inform decision-making about application of suitable best management practices for greener cleanups.

Assessment and management of burn pain at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Bayuo, Jonathan; Munn, Zachary; Campbell, Jared

2017-09-01

Pain management is a significant issue in health facilities in Ghana. For burn patients, this is even more challenging as burn pain has varied facets. Despite the existence of pharmacological agents for pain management, complaints of pain still persist. The aim of this project was to identify pain management practices in the burns units of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, compare these approaches to best practice, and implement strategies to enhance compliance to standards. Ten evidence-based audit criteria were developed from evidence summaries. Using the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence Software (PACES), a baseline audit was undertaken on a convenience sample of ten patients from the day of admission to the seventh day. Thereafter, the Getting Research into Practice (GRiP) component of PACES was used to identify barriers, strategies, resources and outcomes. After implementation of the strategies, a follow-up audit was undertaken using the same sample size and audit criteria. The baseline results showed poor adherence to best practice. However, following implementation of strategies, including ongoing professional education and provision of assessment tools and protocols, compliance rates improved significantly. Atlhough the success of this project was almost disrupted by an industrial action, collaboration with external bodies enabled the successful completion of the project. Pain management practices in the burns unit improved at the end of the project which reflects the importance of an audit process, education, providing feedback, group efforts and effective collaboration.

Soil management: The key to soil quality and sustainable agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basch, Gottlieb; Barão, Lúcia; Soares, Miguel

2017-04-01

close as possible natural soil conditions while producing food, feed, fibre and fuel. This means to establish and manage crops while disturbing the soil as least as possible, to maintain the soil permanently covered with plants or their residues and to allow for a diversity of plants either in rotation or in association. These principles also known as Conservation Agriculture have shown to be the most promising approach for a sustainable production intensification and proven to work in a wide range of agro-ecological conditions. Although adopted already on more than 150 Mha worldwide, in Europe it still can be considered a novel soil management practice as it is applied on only around 2% of the annual cropland. A paradigm shift and innovative approaches are needed both to recognise the principles of Conservation Agriculture as the only cost-effective, and thus overall sustainable soil management practices capable to deliver the soil-mediated ecosystem services and to make Conservation Agriculture systems work and accepted as the best compromise to attain better soil quality. Keywords: Soil threats, Soil conservation, GAEC, Conservation Agriculture, Resource efficiency

Recommended industry best management practices for the prevention of Phytophthora ramorum introduction in nursery operations

Treesearch

Karen Suslow

2008-01-01

The following industry recommended best management practices (BMPs), designed for growers and/or interstate shippers of host and associated host plants of Phytophthora ramorum, consists of biosecurity guidelines created by and for nursery growers in order to reduce the risks associated with P. ramorum. The control of P....

Assessing the effectiveness of green infrastructure stormwater best management practices in New England at the small watershed scale.

EPA Science Inventory

Methods are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Low Impact Development and to predict the relative effectiveness of proposed stormwater management plans in maintaining the habitat and biotic integrity of streams in New ...

The stakeholder preference for best management practices in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.

PubMed

Qiu, Jiali; Shen, Zhenyao; Chen, Lei; Xie, Hui; Sun, Chengchun; Huang, Qin

2014-11-01

A qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 92 farmers and 42 policy managers in Wuxi County, the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, was conducted to identify stakeholder preferences for alternative best management practices (BMPs) and to determine the factors that affect their acceptance. Policy manager support for most of the practices was relatively stronger than support by farmers, except for the grade stabilization structure (GSS), hillside ditch (HD) and constructed wetland alternative, owing to their perceptions of soil benefits, economic advantages and environmental advantages. Farmers opposed those practices that occupied cultivated lands or changed the conventional planting methods, such as field border, conservation tillage (CT) and contour buffer strips. They tended to accept the BMPs with off-farm pollution reduction, such as GSS, riparian forest buffer and HD, and the BMPs associated with soil benefits, such as nutrient management and Terrace. The result that almost all respondents did not accept CT differed from reports in the existing literature. There is a significant correlation between the acceptance of some BMPs and the townships where the farmers lived (P ≤ 0.05). The environmental conditions and social factors would affect farmer support for BMPs, including local soil conditions, farming methods, economic income, education level and age. The economic advantages of the BMPs were the main motivation for farmers to accept the practices. Furthermore, intensive education efforts, financial incentives or economic subsidies may promote the adoption of the BMPs in our study area.

The Stakeholder Preference for Best Management Practices in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, Jiali; Shen, Zhenyao; Chen, Lei; Xie, Hui; Sun, Chengchun; Huang, Qin

2014-11-01

A qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 92 farmers and 42 policy managers in Wuxi County, the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, was conducted to identify stakeholder preferences for alternative best management practices (BMPs) and to determine the factors that affect their acceptance. Policy manager support for most of the practices was relatively stronger than support by farmers, except for the grade stabilization structure (GSS), hillside ditch (HD) and constructed wetland alternative, owing to their perceptions of soil benefits, economic advantages and environmental advantages. Farmers opposed those practices that occupied cultivated lands or changed the conventional planting methods, such as field border, conservation tillage (CT) and contour buffer strips. They tended to accept the BMPs with off-farm pollution reduction, such as GSS, riparian forest buffer and HD, and the BMPs associated with soil benefits, such as nutrient management and Terrace. The result that almost all respondents did not accept CT differed from reports in the existing literature. There is a significant correlation between the acceptance of some BMPs and the townships where the farmers lived ( P ≤ 0.05). The environmental conditions and social factors would affect farmer support for BMPs, including local soil conditions, farming methods, economic income, education level and age. The economic advantages of the BMPs were the main motivation for farmers to accept the practices. Furthermore, intensive education efforts, financial incentives or economic subsidies may promote the adoption of the BMPs in our study area.

A review on effectiveness of best management practices in improving hydrology and water quality: Needs and opportunities.

PubMed

Liu, Yaoze; Engel, Bernard A; Flanagan, Dennis C; Gitau, Margaret W; McMillan, Sara K; Chaubey, Indrajeet

2017-12-01

Best management practices (BMPs) have been widely used to address hydrology and water quality issues in both agricultural and urban areas. Increasing numbers of BMPs have been studied in research projects and implemented in watershed management projects, but a gap remains in quantifying their effectiveness through time. In this paper, we review the current knowledge about BMP efficiencies, which indicates that most empirical studies have focused on short-term efficiencies, while few have explored long-term efficiencies. Most simulation efforts that consider BMPs assume constant performance irrespective of ages of the practices, generally based on anticipated maintenance activities or the expected performance over the life of the BMP(s). However, efficiencies of BMPs likely change over time irrespective of maintenance due to factors such as degradation of structures and accumulation of pollutants. Generally, the impacts of BMPs implemented in water quality protection programs at watershed levels have not been as rapid or large as expected, possibly due to overly high expectations for practice long-term efficiency, with BMPs even being sources of pollutants under some conditions and during some time periods. The review of available datasets reveals that current data are limited regarding both short-term and long-term BMP efficiency. Based on this review, this paper provides suggestions regarding needs and opportunities. Existing practice efficiency data need to be compiled. New data on BMP efficiencies that consider important factors, such as maintenance activities, also need to be collected. Then, the existing and new data need to be analyzed. Further research is needed to create a framework, as well as modeling approaches built on the framework, to simulate changes in BMP efficiencies with time. The research community needs to work together in addressing these needs and opportunities, which will assist decision makers in formulating better decisions regarding BMP

Best management practices for reducing nutrient loads in a sub-watershed of Chesapeake Bay area

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Water quality improvement in the Chesapeake Bay is a grave concern. An initiative to reduce the nutrient loads to stream has been undertaken to attain a target total maximum daily load (TMDL) at Chesapeake Bay. A general guideline with a set of best management practices (BMPs) has been in place for ...

Gypsum as a best management practice for reducing P loss from agricultural fields

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Phosphorus loss from agricultural fields fertilized with poultry litter (PL) may contribute to eutrophication of nearby rivers, lakes, and streams. It has been suggested that gypsum can be used as a soil amendment to reduce P loss from these fields. Also, a new USDA-NRCS National Conservation Practi...

Change for the Right Reasons: What Is a Best Practice?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todaro, Julie Beth

2002-01-01

Explores the concept and definition of best practice and how it relates to organizational concepts such as benchmarking, leadership, innovation, and managing change. Describes the six steps of best practice: (1) identifying areas of need; (2) assessing the need areas; (3) establishing profiles; (4) looking beyond the organization; (5) establishing…

Modelling the effect of agricultural management practices on soil organic carbon stocks: does soil erosion matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadeu, Elisabet; Van Wesemael, Bas; Van Oost, Kristof

2014-05-01

Over the last decades, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to assess the effect of soil management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. At regional scales, biogeochemical models such as CENTURY or Roth-C have been commonly applied. These models simulate SOC dynamics at the profile level (point basis) over long temporal scales but do not consider the continuous lateral transfer of sediment that takes place along geomorphic toposequences. As a consequence, the impact of soil redistribution on carbon fluxes is very seldom taken into account when evaluating changes in SOC stocks due to agricultural management practices on the short and long-term. To address this gap, we assessed the role of soil erosion by water and tillage on SOC stocks under different agricultural management practices in the Walloon region of Belgium. The SPEROS-C model was run for a 100-year period combining three typical crop rotations (using winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet and maize) with three tillage scenarios (conventional tillage, reduced tillage and reduced tillage in combination with additional crop residues). The results showed that including soil erosion by water in the simulations led to a general decrease in SOC stocks relative to a baseline scenario (where no erosion took place). The SOC lost from these arable soils was mainly exported to adjacent sites and to the river system by lateral fluxes, with magnitudes differing between crop rotations and in all cases lower under conservation tillage practices than under conventional tillage. Although tillage erosion plays an important role in carbon redistribution within fields, lateral fluxes induced by water erosion led to a higher spatial and in-depth heterogeneity of SOC stocks with potential effects on the soil water holding capacity and crop yields. This indicates that studies assessing the effect of agricultural management practices on SOC stocks and other soil properties over the landscape should

Ambulatory surgery centers best practices for the 90s.

PubMed

Hoover, J A

1994-05-01

Outpatient surgery will be the driving force in the continued growth of ambulatory care in the 1990s. Providing efficient, high-quality ambulatory surgical services should therefore be a priority among healthcare providers. Arthur Andersen conducted a survey to discover best practices in ambulatory surgical service. General success characteristics of best performers were business-focused relationships with physicians, the use of clinical protocols, patient convenience, cost management, strong leadership, teamwork, streamlined processes and efficient design. Other important factors included scheduling to maximize OR room use; achieving surgical efficiencies through reduced case pack assembly errors and equipment availability; a focus on cost capture rather than charge capture; sound materiel management practices, such as standardization and vendor teaming; and the appropriate use of automated systems. It is important to evaluate whether the best practices are applicable to your environment and what specific changes to your current processes would be necessary to adopt them.

Web-based classroom data collection in ADHD: a best practices case study.

PubMed

Bhatara, Vinod; Vogt, H Bruce; Ellis, Roland; Alshari, Ghyath; Patrick, Sarah

2003-09-01

Best practices research identifies and disseminates effective clinical strategies developed and refined by clinicians for their practices. As opposed to the content of health care, medical students and residents are typically not trained in the process of its provision. This paper illustrates a best practices approach to development of a Web-based classroom data collection method to improve medication management in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 1) To increase Primary Care Physician (PCP) awareness of the process of best practices research, and; 2) to highlight the use of the World Wide Web as a tool for integration of care of children with ADHD. Based on the review of a large national study in ADHD, the key ingredients for the best pharmacotherapy practices were identified. The lessons from the literature were adapted for local practice using the framework and steps for best practices outlined by Mold and Gregory. A conceptual model of managing information provided by parents/caregivers and teachers to PCPs was developed. Several steps were identified, including Web-based classroom behavioral data collection by a care manager and feedback reports to PCPs from a child psychiatrist based on the data collected. This model is currently being tested. Our preliminary experience suggests that a best practices approach has potential applications to a variety of primary care settings in South Dakota. We encourage PCPs to consider best practice strategies for their own practices. The practice-based research network (Rush Net) being developed by the Center for Rural Health Improvement of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine can be helpful in this regard.

Determining the barriers and facilitators to adopting best practices in the management of poststroke unilateral spatial neglect: results of a qualitative study.

PubMed

Petzold, Anita; Korner-Bitensky, Nicol; Salbach, Nancy M; Ahmed, Sara; Menon, Anita; Ogourtsova, Tatiana

2014-01-01

A gap exists between best and actual management of poststroke unilateral spatial neglect (USN). Given the negative impact of USN on poststroke recovery, knowledge translation efforts are needed to optimize USN management. To date, no study has investigated the specific barriers and facilitators affecting USN management during the acute care process. To identify the facilitators and barriers that affect evidence-based practice use by occupational therapists (the primary discipline managing USN) when treating individuals with acute poststroke USN. Focus group methodology elicited information from 9 acute care occupational therapists. Key barriers identified included lack of basic evidence-based practice skills specific to USN treatment and personal motivation to change current practices and engrained habits. Key facilitators included the presence of a multidisciplinary stroke team, recent graduation, and an environment with access to learning time and resources. Synthesized Web-based learning was also seen as important to uptake of best practices. It is estimated that upwards of 40% of patients experience poststroke USN in the acute phase, and we have evidence of poor early management. This study identified several modifiable factors that prepare the ground for the creation and testing of a multimodal knowledge translation intervention aimed at improving clinicians' best practice management of poststroke USN.

Evaluating sustainable water quality management in the U.S.: Urban, Agricultural, and Environmental Protection Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Oel, P. R.; Alfredo, K. A.; Russo, T. A.

2015-12-01

Sustainable water management typically emphasizes water resource quantity, with focus directed at availability and use practices. When attention is placed on sustainable water quality management, the holistic, cross-sector perspective inherent to sustainability is often lost. Proper water quality management is a critical component of sustainable development practices. However, sustainable development definitions and metrics related to water quality resilience and management are often not well defined; water quality is often buried in large indicator sets used for analysis, and the policy regulating management practices create sector specific burdens for ensuring adequate water quality. In this research, we investigated the methods by which water quality is evaluated through internationally applied indicators and incorporated into the larger idea of "sustainability." We also dissect policy's role in the distribution of responsibility with regard to water quality management in the United States through evaluation of three broad sectors: urban, agriculture, and environmental water quality. Our research concludes that despite a growing intention to use a single system approach for urban, agricultural, and environmental water quality management, one does not yet exist and is even hindered by our current policies and regulations. As policy continues to lead in determining water quality and defining contamination limits, new regulation must reconcile the disparity in requirements for the contaminators and those performing end-of-pipe treatment. Just as the sustainable development indicators we researched tried to integrate environmental, economic, and social aspects without skewing focus to one of these three categories, policy cannot continue to regulate a single sector of society without considering impacts to the entire watershed and/or region. Unequal distribution of the water pollution burden creates disjointed economic growth, infrastructure development, and policy

What can we learn from field experiments about the development of SOC and GHG emissions under different management practices?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spiegel, Heide; Lehtinen, Taru; Schlatter, Norman; Haslmayr, Hans-Peter; Baumgarten, Andreas; ten Berge, Hein

2015-04-01

Successful agricultural management practices are required to maintain or enhance soil quality; at the same time climate change mitigation is becoming increasingly important. Within the EU project CATCH-C we analysed the effects of different agricultural practices not only on crop productivity, but also on soil quality indicators (e.g. soil organic carbon (SOC)) and climate change (CC) mitigation indicators (e.g. CO2, CH4, N2O emissions). European data sets and associated literature, mainly from long-term experiments were evaluated. This evaluation of agricultural management practices was carried out comparing a set of improved ("best") and often applied ("current") management practices. Positive and negative effects occurred when best management practices are adopted. As expected, none of the investigated practices could comply with all objectives simultaneously, i.e. maintaining high yields, mitigating climate change and improving chemical, physical and biological soil quality. The studied soil management practices "non-inversion tillage", "organic fertilisation" (application of farm yard manure, slurry, compost) and "incorporation of crop residues" represent important management practices for farmers to increase SOC, thus improving soil quality. However, CO2 and, especially, N2O emissions may rise as well. The evaluation of CC mitigation is often limited by the lack of data from - preferably - continuous GHG emission measurements. Thus, more long-term field studies are needed to better assess the CO2, CH4 and, especially, N2O emissions following the above mentioned favorably rated MPs. Only if SOC and GHG emissions are measured in the same field experiments, it will be possible to compute overall balances of necessary CO2-C equivalent emissions. CATCH-C is funded within the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, Theme 2 - Biotechnologies, Agriculture & Food. (Grant Agreement N° 289782).

Development of a Repeatable Regional Protocol for Performance-Based Monitoring of Forestry Best Management Practices

Treesearch

Roger Ryder; Pamela J. Edwards; Pamela J. Edwards

2005-01-01

There has been a long-standing interest in improving Best Management Practice (BMP) monitoring within and among states. States monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of BMPs for forest operations take a variety of approaches. This creates inconsistencies in data collection and how results are reported. Since 1990 attempts have been made to develop a consistent...

Clinical Practice Informs Secure Messaging Benefits and Best Practices.

PubMed

Haun, Jolie N; Hathaway, Wendy; Chavez, Margeaux; Antinori, Nicole; Vetter, Brian; Miller, Brian K; Martin, Tracey L; Kendziora, Lisa; Nazi, Kim M; Melillo, Christine

2017-10-01

Background Clinical care team members in Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) facilities nationwide are working to integrate the use of Secure Messaging (SM) into care delivery and identify innovative uses. Identifying best practices for proactive use of SM is a key factor in its successful implementation and sustained use by VA clinical care team members and veterans. Objectives A collaborative project solicited input from VA clinical care teams about their local practices using SM to provide access to proactive patient-centered care for veterans and enhance workflow. Methods This project implemented a single-item cross-sectional qualitative electronic survey via internal e-mail to local coordinators in all 23 Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs). Content analysis was used to manage descriptive data responses. Descriptive statistics described sample characteristics. Results VA clinical care team members across 15 of 23 VISNs responded to the questionnaire. Content analysis of 171 responses produced two global domains: (1) benefits of SM and (2) SM best practices. Benefits of SM use emphasize enhanced and efficient communication and increased access to care. Care team members incorporate SM into their daily clinical practices, using it to provide services before, during, and after clinical encounters as a best practice. SM users suggest improvements in veteran care, clinical team workflow, and efficient use of health resources. Clinical team members invested in the successful implementation of SM integrate SM into their daily practices to provide meaningful and useful veteran-centered care and improve workflow. Conclusion VA clinical care team members can use SM proactively to create an integrated SM culture. With adequate knowledge and motivation to proactively use this technology, all clinical team members within the VA system can replicate best practices shared by other clinical care teams to generate meaningful and useful interactions with SM

Best Practices for Emergency Rerouting : Technical Report Documentation Page

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-09-30

MOOT has identified the need for a single statewide approach to documentation for emergency : rerouting practices. This research effort documents some of the best practices in incident : management and emergency rerouting that have been implemented a...

Modeling best practices in chronic disease management: the Arthritis Program at Southlake Regional Health Centre.

PubMed

Bain, Lorna; Mierdel, Sandra; Thorne, Carter

2012-01-01

Researchers, hospital administrators and governments are striving to define competencies in interprofessional care and education, as well as to identify effective models in chronic disease management. For more than 25 years The Arthritis Program (TAP) at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, has actively practiced within these two interrelated priorities, which are now at the top of the healthcare agenda in Ontario and Canada. The approximately 135 different rheumatic conditions are the primary cause of long-term disability in Canada, affecting those from youth to the senior years, with an economic burden estimated at $4.4 billion (CAD$) annually, and growing. For the benefit of healthcare managers and their clients with chronic conditions, this article discusses TAP's history and demonstrable success, predicated on an educational model of patient self-management and self-efficacy. Also outlined are TAP's contributions in supporting evidence-based best practices in interprofessional collaboration and chronic disease management; approaches that are arguably understudied and under-practiced. Next steps for TAP include a larger role in empirical research in chronic-disease management and integration of a formal training program to benefit health professionals launching or expanding their interprofessional programs using TAP as the dynamic clinical example.

Defining perennial, intermittent and ephemeral channels in eastern Kentucky: application to forestry best management practices

Treesearch

J. R. Svec; R. K. Kolka; J. W. Stringer

2003-01-01

In Kentucky stream classification is used to determine which forestry best management practice (BMP) to apply in riparian zones. Kentucky defines stream classes as follows (Stringer and others 1998): a) perennial streams that hold water throughout the year, b) intermittent streams that hold water during wet portions of the year, and c) ephemeral channels that hold...

Soil health: an emergent set of soil properties that result from synergy among agricultural management practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The responses of a selected soil microbial property to a single agricultural management practice are often inconsistent among field studies, possibly reflecting the site-specific nature of field studies. An equally compelling explanation is that in complex systems where outcomes are the result of n...

Best Practices for the Security of Radioactive Materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coulter, D.T.; Musolino, S.

2009-05-01

This work is funded under a grant provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) awarded a contract to Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to develop best practices guidance for Office of Radiological Health (ORH) licensees to increase on-site security to deter and prevent theft of radioactive materials (RAM). The purpose of this document is to describe best practices available to manage the security of radioactive materials in medical centers, hospitals, and research facilities. There are thousands of such facilities in the United States, and recent studiesmore » suggest that these materials may be vulnerable to theft or sabotage. Their malevolent use in a radiological-dispersion device (RDD), viz., a dirty bomb, can have severe environmental- and economic- impacts, the associated area denial, and potentially large cleanup costs, as well as other effects on the licensees and the public. These issues are important to all Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Agreement State licensees, and to the general public. This document outlines approaches for the licensees possessing these materials to undertake security audits to identify vulnerabilities in how these materials are stored or used, and to describe best practices to upgrade or enhance their security. Best practices can be described as the most efficient (least amount of effort/cost) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task and meeting an objective, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for many people and circumstances. Best practices within the security industry include information security, personnel security, administrative security, and physical security. Each discipline within the security industry has its own 'best practices' that have evolved over time into common ones. With respect to radiological devices and radioactive-materials security, industry best practices

Risk-informed Management of Water Infrastructure in the United States: History, Development, and Best Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolfhope, J.

2017-12-01

This presentation will focus on the history, development, and best practices for evaluating the risks associated with the portfolio of water infrastructure in the United States. These practices have evolved from the early development of the Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety and the establishment of the National Dam Safety Program, to the most recent update of the Best Practices for Dam and Levee Risk Analysis jointly published by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since President Obama signed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN) Act, on December 16, 2016, adding a new grant program under FEMA's National Dam Safety Program, the focus has been on establishing a risk-based priority system for use in identifying eligible high hazard potential dams for which grants may be made. Finally, the presentation provides thoughts on the future direction and priorities for managing the risk of dams and levees in the United States.

SUSTAIN – A Framework for Placement of Best Management Practices in Urban Watersheds to Protect Water Quality

EPA Science Inventory

SUSTAIN (System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis INtegration) is a decision support system to facilitate selection and placement of best management practices (BMPs) and low impact development (LID) techniques at strategic locations in urban watersheds. It was develope...

Satellite Mission Operations Best Practices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galal, Ken; Hogan, Roger P. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The effort of compiling a collection of Best Practices for use in Space Mission Operations was initiated within a subcommittee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Operations and Support Technical Committee (SOSTC). The idea was to eventually post a collection of Best Practices on a website so as to make them available to the general Space Operations community. The effort of searching for available Best Practices began in the fall of 1999. As the search progressed, it became apparent that there were not many Best Practices developed that were available to the general community. Therefore, the subcommittee decided to use the SOSTC Annual Workshop on Reducing Space Mission Costs as a forum for developing Best Practices for our purpose of sharing them with a larger audience. A dedicated track at the April 2000 workshop was designed to stimulate discussions on developing such Best Practices and forming working groups made up of experienced people from various organizations to perform the development. These groups were solicited to help outside the workshop to bring this effort to fruition. Since that time, biweekly teleconferences have been held to discuss the development of the Best Practices and their posting.

A Spatial Data Model Desing For The Management Of Agricultural Data (Farmer, Agricultural Land And Agricultural Production)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taşkanat, Talha; İbrahim İnan, Halil

2016-04-01

Since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been conducted many projects such as Agricultural Sector Integrated Management Information System, Agriculture Information System, Agricultural Production Registry System and Farmer Registry System by the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and the Turkish Statistical Institute in order to establish and manage better agricultural policy and produce better agricultural statistics in Turkey. Yet, it has not been carried out any study for the structuring of a system which can meet the requirements of different institutions and organizations that need similar agricultural data. It has been tried to meet required data only within the frame of the legal regulations from present systems. Whereas the developments in GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and standardization, and Turkey National GIS enterprise in this context necessitate to meet the demands of organizations that use the similar data commonly and to act in terms of a data model logic. In this study, 38 institutions or organization which produce and use agricultural data were detected, that and thanks to survey and interviews undertaken, their needs were tried to be determined. In this study which is financially supported by TUBITAK, it was worked out relationship between farmer, agricultural land and agricultural production data and all of the institutions and organizations in Turkey and in this context, it was worked upon the best detailed and effective possible data model. In the model design, UML which provides object-oriented design was used. In the data model, for the management of spatial data, sub-parcel data model was used. Thanks to this data model, declared and undeclared areas can be detected spatially, and thus declarations can be associated to sub-parcels. Within this framework, it will be able to developed agricultural policies as a result of acquiring more extensive, accurate, spatially manageable and easily updatable farmer and

Investigating the Environmental Effects of Agriculture Practices on Natural Resources: Scientific Contributions of the U.S. Geological Survey to Enhance the Management of Agricultural Landscapes

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2007-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) enhances and protects the quality of life in the United States by advancing scientific knowledge to facilitate effective management of hydrologic, biologic, and geologic resources. Results of selected USGS research and monitoring projects in agricultural landscapes are presented in this Fact Sheet. Significant environmental and social issues associated with agricultural production include changes in the hydrologic cycle; introduction of toxic chemicals, nutrients, and pathogens; reduction and alteration of wildlife habitats; and invasive species. Understanding environmental consequences of agricultural production is critical to minimize unintended environmental consequences. The preservation and enhancement of our natural resources can be achieved by measuring the success of improved management practices and by adjusting conservation policies as needed to ensure long-term protection.

THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF PONDS AND WETLANDS AS "BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPS)" FOR STREAMS IN DEVELOPING LANDSCAPES

EPA Science Inventory

Ponds and constructed wetlands, also referred to as detention/retention basins, have a long history as best management practices (BMPs) used to mitigate the impacts of stormwater runoff from developed lands on receiving waters. Initially designed for flood control by peak flow at...

RECONCILING ON-SITE STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMP) EFFECTIVENESS AND PERFORMANCE WITH CURRENT HYDROLOGIC AND ECONOMIC PERCEPTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

There is currently a dearth of data characterizing best management practice impacts on runoff production at the parcel-level. This data is of critical importance insofar as judging the effectiveness and reliability of on-site stormwater BMPs, with significant implications for bot...

Effects of different agricultural managements in soil microbial community structure in a semi-arid Mediterranean region.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Orenes, Fuensanta; Morugan, Alicia; Mataix-Solera, Jorge; Scow, Kate

2013-04-01

Agriculture has been practiced in semi-arid Mediterranean regions for 10.000 years and in many cases these practices have been unsuitable causing land degradation for millennium and an important loss of soil quality. The land management can provide solutions to find the best agricultural practices in order to maintain the soil quality and get a sustainable agriculture model. Microbiological properties are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of soil perturbations and land use managements. The study of microbial community and diversity has an important interest as indicators of changes in soil quality. The main objective of this work was to asses the effect of different agricultural management practices in soil microbial community (evaluated as abundance of phospholipid fatty acids, PLFA). Four different treatments were selected, based on the most commonly practices applied by farmers in the study area, "El Teularet Experimental Station", located at the Enguera Range in the southern part of the Valencia province (eastern Spain). These treatments were: a) ploughing, b) herbicides c) mulch, using the types applied by organic farmers to develop a sustainable agriculture, such as oat straw and d) control that was established as plot where the treatment was abandonment after farming. An adjacent area with the same type of soil, but with natural vegetation was used as a standard or reference high quality soil. Soil samples were taken to evaluate the changes in microbial soil structure, analysing the abundance of PLFA. The results showed a major content of total PLFA in soils treated with oats straw, being these results similar to the content of PLFA in the soil with natural vegetation, also these soils were similar in the distribution of abundance of different PLFA studied. However, the herbicide and tillage treatments showed great differences regarding the soil used as reference (soil under natural vegetation).

Challenges for Sustainable Land Management through Climate-Smart Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dougill, Andrew; Stringer, Lindsay

2017-04-01

There are increasing pushes for agricultural land management to be both sustainable and climate-smart (in terms of increasing productivity, building resilience to climate change and enhancing carbon storage). Climate-smart agriculture initiatives include conservation agriculture, based on minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation, and agroforestry. Such efforts address key international goals of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but as yet have not seen widespread uptake. Based on analyses of different project interventions from across a range of southern African countries, we outline the inter-related challenges that are preventing adoption of climate-smart agriculture initiatives. We then identify routes to building multi-stakeholder partnerships and empowering communities through participatory monitoring with the aim of increasing uptake of such sustainable land management practices. Good practice examples remain largely restricted to local-level project interventions with significant donor (or private-sector) support, aligned to short-term community priorities relating to access to inputs or reduced labour requirements. Scaling-up to district- and national-level initiatives is yet to be widely successful due to problems of: limited policy coherence; a lack of communication between stakeholders at different levels; and limited understanding of long-term benefits associated with changes in agricultural practices. We outline opportunities associated with improved communication of climate information, empowerment of district-level adaptation planning and diversification of agricultural livelihood strategies as key routes to guide farmers towards more sustainable, and climate-smart, land management practices. Recent experiences in Malawi, which has experienced significant floods and an El Niño drought year in the last two years, are used to

Identifying best practices for audit committees.

PubMed

Burke, J V; Luecke, R W; Meeting, D

1996-06-01

Most healthcare organizations have an audit committee of the governing board, or a finance committee, that fulfills the audit oversight function. Financial managers play a key role in shaping the content, agency, and operation of the audit committee. The findings of a recent research study conducted by Arthur Anderson & Co., SC, into the best practices of audit committees have implications for healthcare organizations.

Evaluation of agricultural best-management practices in the Conestoga River headwaters, Pennsylvania; hydrology of a small carbonate site near Ephrata, Pennsylvania, prior to implementation of nutrient management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koerkle, E.H.; Hall, D.W.; Risser, D.W.; Lietman, P.L.; Chichester, D.C.

1997-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, investigated the effects of agricultural best-management practices on water quality in the Conestoga River headwaters watershed. This report describes environmental factors and the surface-water and ground-water quality of one 47.5-acre field site, Field-Site 2, from October 1984 through September 1986, prior to implementation of nutrient management. The site is partially terraced agricultural cropland underlain by carbonate rock. Twenty-seven acres are terraced, pipe-drained, and are under no-till cultivation. The remaining acreage is under minimum-till cultivation. Corn is the primary crop. The average annual rate of fertilization at the site was 480 pounds per acre of nitrogen and 110 pounds per acre of phosphorus. An unconfined limestone and dolomitic aquifer underlies the site, Depth to bedrock ranges from 5 to 30 feet below land surface. Estimated specific yields range from 0.05 to 0.10, specific capacities of wells range from less than 1 to about 20 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown, and estimates of transmissivities range from 10 to 10,000 square feet per day. Average ground-water recharge was estimated to be about 23 inches per year. The specific capacity and transmissivity data indicate that two aquifer regimes are present at the site. Wells drilled into dolomites in the eastern part of the site have larger specific capacities (averaging 20 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown) relative to specific capacities (averaging less than 1 gallon per minute per foot of drawdown) of wells drilled into limestones in the western part of the site. Median concentrations of soil-soluble nitrate and soluble phosphorus in the top 4 feet of silt- or silty-clay-loam soil ranged from 177 to 329 and 8.5 to 35 pounds per acre, respectively. Measured runoff from the pipe-drained terraces ranged from 10 to 48,000 cubic feet and was

Assessment of forestry best management practices II: patterns in stream biological endpoints in terms of natural variability and fertilization

Treesearch

Camille Flinders; Daniel L. McLaughlin; Larry Korhnak; William J. Arthurs; Joan Ikoma; Matthew J. Cohen; Erik B. Schilling

2016-01-01

Watersheds dominated by forest cover typically have high quality water. In managed forests, fertilizers may be periodically applied during the growing period. The Florida Forest Service has developed Best Management Practices (BMPs) for managed forests to minimize the potential impacts of forestry operations, including fertilization, to forest streams and maintain ...

Best Practices. Premiere PD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Ryan; Ernst, Jeremy; Clark, Aaron; DeLuca, Bill; Kelly, Daniel

2017-01-01

Educators who engage in best practices utilize a variety of instructional delivery methods to assist all learners in achieving success in concept mastery. Best practices help educators set expectations for completing activities/lessons/projects/units, differentiate instruction, integrate curricula, and provide active learning opportunities for…

Impacts of agricultural management practices on soil quality in Europe and China - an assessment within the framework of the EU iSQAPER project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alaoui, Abdallah; Schwilch, Gudrun; Barão, Lúcia; Basch, Gottlieb; Sukkel, Wijnand; Lemesle, Julie; Ferreira, Carla; Garcia-Orenes, Fuensanta; Morugan, Alicia; Mataix, Jorge; Kosmas, Costas; Glavan, Matjaž; Tóth, Brigitta; Petrutza Gate, Olga; Lipiec, Jerzy; Reintam, Endla; Xu, Minggang; Di, Jiaying; Fan, Hongzhu; Geissen, Violette

2017-04-01

Agricultural soils are under a wide variety of pressures, including from increasing global demand for food associated with population growth, changing diets, land degradation, and associated productivity reductions potentially exacerbated by climate change. To manage the use of agricultural soils well, decision-makers need science-based, easily applicable, and cost-effective tools for assessing soil quality and soil functions. Since a practical assessment of soil quality requires the integrated consideration of key soil properties and their variations in space and time, providing such tools remains a challenging task. This study aims to assess the impact of innovative agricultural management practices on soil quality in 14 study sites across Europe (10) and China (4), covering the major pedo-climatic zones. The study is part of the European H2020 project iSQAPER, which involves 25 partners across Europe and China and is coordinated by Wageningen University, The Netherlands. iSQAPER is aimed at interactive soil quality assessment in Europe and China for agricultural productivity and environmental resilience. The study began with a thorough literature analysis to inform the selection of indicators for the assessment of soil structure and soil functions. A manual was then developed in order to standardize and facilitate the task of inventorying soil quality and management practices at the case study sites. The manual provides clear and precise instructions on how to assess the 11 selected soil quality indicators based on a visual soil assessment methodology. A newly developed infiltrometer was used to easily assess the soil infiltration capacity in the field and investigate hydrodynamic flow processes. Based on consistent calibration, the infiltrometer enables reliable prediction of key soil hydraulic properties. The main aim of this inventory is to link agricultural management practices to the soil quality status at the case study sites, and to identify innovative

Depression screening and management among adolescents in primary care: factors associated with best practice.

PubMed

Taliaferro, Lindsay A; Hetler, Joel; Edwall, Glenace; Wright, Catherine; Edwards, Anne R; Borowsky, Iris W

2013-06-01

To compare depression identification and management perceptions and practices between professions and disciplines in primary care and examine factors that increase the likelihood of administering a standardized depression screening instrument, asking about patients' depressive symptoms, and using best practice when managing depressed adolescents. Data came from an online survey of clinicians in Minnesota (20% response rate). Analyses involved bivariate tests and linear regressions. The analytic sample comprised 260 family medicine physicians, 127 pediatricians, 96 family nurse practitioners, and 54 pediatric nurse practitioners. Overall, few differences emerged between physicians and nurse practitioners or family and pediatric clinicians regarding addressing depression among adolescents. Two factors associated with administering a standardized instrument included having clear protocols for follow-up after depression screening and feeling better prepared to address depression among adolescents. Enhancing clinicians' competence to address depression and developing postscreening protocols could help providers implement universal screening in primary care.

Spatio-temporal optimization of agricultural practices to achieve a sustainable development at basin level; framework of a case study in Colombia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uribe, Natalia; corzo, Gerald; Solomatine, Dimitri

2016-04-01

The flood events present during the last years in different basins of the Colombian territory have raised questions on the sensitivity of the regions and if this regions have common features. From previous studies it seems important features in the sensitivity of the flood process were: land cover change, precipitation anomalies and these related to impacts of agriculture management and water management deficiencies, among others. A significant government investment in the outreach activities for adopting and promoting the Colombia National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is being carried out in different sectors and regions, having as a priority the agriculture sector. However, more information is still needed in the local environment in order to assess were the regions have this sensitivity. Also the continuous change in one region with seasonal agricultural practices have been pointed out as a critical information for optimal sustainable development. This combined spatio-temporal dynamics of crops cycle in relation to climate change (or variations) has an important impact on flooding events at basin areas. This research will develop on the assessment and optimization of the aggregated impact of flood events due to determinate the spatio-temporal dynamic of changes in agricultural management practices. A number of common best agricultural practices have been identified to explore their effect in a spatial hydrological model that will evaluate overall changes. The optimization process consists on the evaluation of best performance in the agricultural production, without having to change crops activities or move to other regions. To achieve this objectives a deep analysis of different models combined with current and future climate scenarios have been planned. An algorithm have been formulated to cover the parametric updates such that the optimal temporal identification will be evaluated in different region on the case study area. Different hydroinformatics

REVERSE AUCTION RESULTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF DECENTRALIZED RETROFIT BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN A SMALL URBAN WATERSHED (CINCINNATI OH)

EPA Science Inventory

Although urban stormwater is typically conveyed to centralized infrastructure, there is great potential for reducing stormwater runoff quantity through decentralization. In this case we hypothesize that smaller-scale retrofit best management practices (BMPs) such as rain gardens ...

Public Progress, Data Management and the Land Grant Mission: A Survey of Agriculture Researchers' Practices and Attitudes at Two Land-Grant Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernandez, Peter; Eaker, Christopher; Swauger, Shea; Davis, Miriam L. E. Steiner

2016-01-01

This article reports results from a survey about data management practices and attitudes sent to agriculture researchers and extension personnel at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. Results confirm agriculture…

Watershed-scale evaluation of Humboldt Redwood Company’s Habitat Conservation Plan timber harvest best management practices, Railroad Gulch, Elk River, California

Treesearch

Andrew Stubblefield; Shane Beach; Nicolas M. Harrison; Michelle Haskins

2017-01-01

The objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of California Forest Practice Rules and additional best management practices implemented as part of Humboldt Redwood Company’s Habitat Conservation Plan and Watershed Analysis prescriptions, in limiting the delivery of management-derived sediment. A paired watershed study format is being utilized to...

CSW Best Practices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newman, Doug; Mitchell, Andrew

2016-01-01

During the development of the CMR (Common Metadata Repository) (CMR) for the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), CSW (Catalog Service for the Web) a number of best practices came to light. Given that the ESIP (Earth Science Information Partners) Discovery Cluster is committed to interoperability and standards in earth data discovery this seemed like a convenient moment to provide Best Practices to the organization in the same way we did for OpenSearch for this widely-used standard.

Water quality effects and placement of pasture best management practices in the Spring Creek Watershed (Centre County, PA)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pasture-based best management practices (BMPs), including stream bank fencing, stream crossings, and bank stabilization, improved water quality ten years after installation by reducing sediment, but did not affect nitrogen concentration. Abundance and diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates increas...

Managing the Diabetic Foot Ulcer: How Best Practices Fit the Real 2018 United States.

PubMed

Ilonzo, Nicole; Patel, Munir; Lantis, John C

2018-06-01

Diabetes Mellitus is a serious systemic illness that has an epidemic-like increasing prevalence in the United States, as well as the rest of the world. With the increasing number of people with diabetes comes the higher incidence of diabetes-related complications. One of these known complications, diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), has an estimated lifetime incidence of 15% in diabetics. Having a DFU increases the risk of infection, amputation, and even death, which is why prompt treatment and surveillance of such ulcers is imperative. Multiple organizations and journals have recently published best practices to heal and close DFU. Despite these guidelines, it is estimated that only 50% of all diabetic foot ulcers close within one year in the United States. To further confuse this picture, many trials include postoperative wounds that behave in a very different way than chronic wounds. The management of diabetic ulcers requires an understanding of not only the pathophysiology along with a multi-modal approach involving local wound care, pressure prevention, infection control, and, in some, revascularization, but also how care is delivered in the United States presently. In this review, we hope to elucidate the current knowledge and modalities used in ulcer management and to focus on key areas and best practices to inform the clinician, both in what they should do and what they can do.

ASSESSING EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON WILDLIFE HABITAT IN IOWA, USA

EPA Science Inventory

A habitat-change model was used to compare past, present, and future land cover and management practices to assess potential impacts of alternative agricultural practices on wildlife in two agricultural watersheds, Walnut Creek and Buck Creek, in central Iowa, USA. This approach ...

Impact of environmental policies on the adoption of manure management practices in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

PubMed

Savage, Jeff A; Ribaudo, Marc O

2013-11-15

Pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is a problem and has been a focus of federal and state initiatives to reduce nutrient pollution from agriculture and other sources since 1983. In 2010 EPA established a TMDL for the watershed. Producers may voluntarily respond to intense and focused policy scrutiny by adopting best management practices. A detailed analysis of water quality best management practices by animal feeding operations inside and outside the watershed yield insight into this relationship. Our findings support the hypothesis that farmers will adopt water quality measures if links are made clear and there is an expectation of future regulations. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The use of surrogates for an optimal management of coupled groundwater-agriculture hydrosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grundmann, J.; Schütze, N.; Brettschneider, M.; Schmitz, G. H.; Lennartz, F.

2012-04-01

For ensuring an optimal sustainable water resources management in arid coastal environments, we develop a new simulation based integrated water management system. It aims at achieving best possible solutions for groundwater withdrawals for agricultural and municipal water use including saline water management together with a substantial increase of the water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture. To achieve a robust and fast operation of the management system regarding water quality and water quantity we develop appropriate surrogate models by combining physically based process modelling with methods of artificial intelligence. Thereby we use an artificial neural network for modelling the aquifer response, inclusive the seawater interface, which was trained on a scenario database generated by a numerical density depended groundwater flow model. For simulating the behaviour of high productive agricultural farms crop water production functions are generated by means of soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transport (SVAT)-models, adapted to the regional climate conditions, and a novel evolutionary optimisation algorithm for optimal irrigation scheduling and control. We apply both surrogates exemplarily within a simulation based optimisation environment using the characteristics of the south Batinah region in the Sultanate of Oman which is affected by saltwater intrusion into the coastal aquifer due to excessive groundwater withdrawal for irrigated agriculture. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodology for the evaluation and optimisation of different irrigation practices, cropping pattern and resulting abstraction scenarios. Due to contradicting objectives like profit-oriented agriculture vs. aquifer sustainability a multi-criterial optimisation is performed.

Evaluating barnyard Best Management Practices in Wisconsin using upstream-downstream monitoring

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuntebeck, Todd D.

1995-01-01

The Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program was created in 1978 by the Wisconsin Legislature. The goal of the program is to improve and protect the water quality of lakes, streams, wetlands, and ground water within selected priority watersheds by controlling sources of nonpoint pollution. For each selected watershed, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources drafts a management plan that guides the implementation of pollution-control strategies known as Best Management Practices (BMP's). This plan summarizes resource and land-use inventories, describes the results of pollution-source modeling, and suggests pollution reduction goals. The U.S. Geological Survey, through a cooperative effort with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is monitoring water-quality improvements that result from the implementation of BMP's. The data collected are then compared to the watershed plans to assess progress and determine whether goals are being realized. This fact sheet describes the data-collection efforts, preliminary results, and planned data-analysis techniques of monitoring projects for pre-BMP conditions at two barnyards, one each on Otter Creek and Halfway Prairie Creek.

Exploring the Best HRM Practices-Performance Relationship: An Empirical Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theriou, George N.; Chatzoglou, Prodromos D.

2009-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to empirically examine the linkages between best human resource (HRM) practices, knowledge management, organisational learning, organisational capabilities and organisational performance. The proposed framework and findings intend to add to the understanding of the specific processes that mediate between best HRM practices…

Best practices: applying management analysis of excellence to immunization.

PubMed

Wishner, Amy; Aronson, Jerold; Kohrt, Alan; Norton, Gary

2005-01-01

The authors applied business management tools to analyze and promote excellence and to evaluate differences between average and above-average immunization peformers in private practices. The authors conducted a pilot study of 10 private practices in Pennsylvania using tools common in management to assess practices' organizational climate and managerial style. Authoritative and coaching styles of physician leaders were common to both groups. Managerial styles that emphasized higher levels of clarity and responsibility managerial styles were evident in the large practices; and rewards and flexibility styles were higher in the small above-average practices. The findings of this pilot study match results seen in high performers in other industries. It concludes that the authoritative style appears to have the most impact on performance. It has interesting implications for training/behavior change to improve immunization rates, along with traditional medical interventions.

Best Practices, 1999-2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Carolina Community Coll. System, Raleigh.

This report contains descriptions of 34 best practices of North Carolina high school/community college Tech Prep (TP) consortia from a 2000 review. All consortia were allowed to choose their best effort or accomplishment completed or in operation at the end of 1999-2000. Among the practices described were: a comprehensive career development…

7 CFR 205.271 - Facility pest management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Facility pest management practice standard. 205.271... MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED... Requirements § 205.271 Facility pest management practice standard. (a) The producer or handler of an organic...

Agricultural Energy Practices. Agriculture Energy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crank, Ron

This instructional unit is one of 10 developed by students on various energy-related areas that deals specifically with agricultural energy practices. Its objective is for the student to be able to discuss energy use and conservation of resources in the production of agricultural products. Some topics covered are basic uses of direct energy in…

Evaluating Best Management Practices for ephemeral channel protection following forest harvest in the Cumberland Plateau - preliminary findings

Treesearch

Emma L. Witt; Christopher D. Barton; Jeffrey W. Stringer; Daniel W. Bowker; Randall K. Kolka

2011-01-01

Most states in the United States have established forestry best management practices to protect water quality and maintain aquatic habitat in streams. However, guidelines are generally focused on minimizing impacts to perennial streams. Ephemeral channels (or streams), which function as important delivery systems for carbon, nutrients, and sediment to perennial streams...

Evaluating the impacts on runoff of landscape-based Best Management Practices in a rain-fed agroecosystem of the US Midwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papanicolaou, T.; Elhakeem, M.; Wilson, C. G.; Dermisis, D. C.; Abaci, O.

2010-12-01

Conversion of the natural prairie-forested landscape in US Midwestern states to a corn-soybean crop rotation has altered the runoff condition and stream hydrology throughout the region by creating more dynamic surface water flow regimes and increasing the likelihood of severe floods. Flooding and the associated water quality issues in the region adversely affect crop yields, downstream ecosystem health, and water availability. In response to these concerns, Midwestern agricultural producers have adopted Best Management Practices (BMPs) to increase runoff retention and reduce sediment delivery. Common BMPs in the region are Grassed WaterWays (GWWs), which have been found to effectively reduce runoff/sediment conveyance by slowing water flow and increasing infiltration rates. This study examined the storm-event based efficiency of GWWs at reducing runoff within an agricultural watershed of the US Midwest using the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). Reductions in runoff volume in a representative field increased by 9 times as the length of the GWW increased. GWW efficiency was governed by the hydrology, expressed as Qpeak. The GWWs were more efficient during events with smaller Qpeak values, while the efficiency decreased during larger events. Building on these simulations for a single hillslope, a standardized hydrologic analysis was conducted in the watershed using established hydrologic modeling techniques (i.e., WIN TR-20) to quantify and mitigate potential flooding impacts for the entire watershed. The outcome of this study was to identify and quantify the management practices (e.g., conversion to grass or no-till) and detention structures needed to mitigate large flood events in the watershed. The results suggested that detention structures located along the stream channel corridor were most effective with the landscape changes as a secondary effort. A high level of land use conversion was needed to produce significant runoff reductions. Average reductions

Continuing professional development: best practices.

PubMed

Filipe, Helena P; Silva, Eduardo D; Stulting, Andries A; Golnik, Karl C

2014-01-01

Continuing professional development (CPD) involves not only educational activities to enhance medical competence in medical knowledge and skills, but also in management, team building, professionalism, interpersonal communication, technology, teaching, and accountability. This paper aims at reviewing best practices to promote effective CPD. Principles and guidelines, as already defined by some professional societies and world organizations, are emphasized as core actions to best enhance an effective lifelong learning after residency. The personal learning plan (PLP) is discussed as the core of a well-structured CPD and we describe how it should be created. Fundamental CPD principles and how they are integrated in the framework of every physician's professional life will be described. The value of systematic and comprehensive CPD documentation and assessment is emphasized. Accreditation requirements and professional relationships with commercial sponsors are discussed.

Agriculture and stream water quality: A biological evaluation of erosion control practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenat, David R.

1984-07-01

Agricultural runoff affects many streams in North Carolina. However, there is is little information about either its effect on stream biota or any potential mitigation by erosion control practices. In this study, benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled in three different geographic areas of North Carolina, comparing control watersheds with well-managed and poorly managed watersheds. Agricultural streams were characterized by lower taxa richness (especially for intolerant groups) and low stability. These effects were most evident at the poorly managed sites. Sedimentation was the apparent major problem, but some changes at agricultural sites implied water quality problems. The groups most intolerant of agricultural runoff were Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera. Tolerant species were usually filter-feeders or algal grazers, suggesting a modification of the food web by addition of particulate organic matter and nutrients. This study clearly indicates that agricultural runoff can severely impact stream biota. However, this impact can be greatly mitigated by currently recommended erosion control practices.

Management of non-adherence to fluid intake restrictions in hemodialysis patients in a tertiary hospital: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Jia, Shoumei; Huang, Bihong; Chu, Yuanqian; Lu, Yuhua; McArthur, Alexa

2016-08-01

Non-adherence to fluid-intake restrictions is one of the most common problems for hemodialysis (HD) patients. A combined approach that involves patients, healthcare professionals and caregiver inputs based on best practice is important for enhancing adherence within a busy health system. The aim of this project was to promote evidence-based practice in the management of fluid-intake restrictions among HD patients in a HD center. Six evidence-based criteria developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute were used as a basis for audits undertaken in the Hemodialysis Center of Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, mainly focusing on nurse education, fluid-intake management by patients and the role of caregivers in assisting with fluid-intake management by patients. The project included three phases and was conducted over 5 months. The Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice audit tools for promoting change in health practice were used to examine compliance with the criteria before and after the implementation of best practice. Results from pre- and post implementation audits indicated that the compliance rates of four criteria reached 100% after the implementation of various strategies. One criterion (patients' self-monitoring) resulted in a compliance rate of 73.33%. One other criterion (patients' medical documentation) was maintained at 100% compliance. Patients' adherence to fluid intake, knowledge and attitude to self-management also improved significantly in the post implementation audit. This project achieved a significant improvement in evidence-based practice for the management of non-adherence to fluid-intake restrictions in HD patients. An increase in the number of HD patients found to be adherent to fluid-intake restrictions was reported during this process.

Best Practices for Port Operations

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This page provides links to best practice resources for port authorities, terminal operators and fleet owners, drayage truckers, and rail and locomotives as well as a link to case studies on best practice.

DESIGN OF THE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PLACEMENT AND SELECTION OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPS) FOR STORMWATER CONTROL IN URBAN WATERSHEDS

EPA Science Inventory

A decision support system for selection and placement of best management practices (BMPs) at strategic locations in urban watersheds is being developed. The primary objective of the system is to assist stormwater management practioners and decision makers in developing effective...

Efficiencies of forestry best management practices for reducing sediment and nutrient losses in the eastern United States

Treesearch

Pamela Edwards; Karl W.J. Williard

2010-01-01

Quantifying the effects of forestry best management practices (BMPs) on sediment and nutrient loads is a critical need. Through an exhaustive literature search, three paired forested watershed studies in the eastern United States were found that permitted the calculation of BMP efficiencies--the percent reduction in sediment or nutrients achieved by BMPs. For sediment...

A regional protocol for evaluating the effectiveness of forestry best management practices at controlling erosion and sedimentation

Treesearch

Roger Ryder; Pamela Edwards; Pamela Edwards

2006-01-01

Forestry operations do not have permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act because there is a ccsilvicultural exemption" given in that law, as long as best management practices (BMPs) are used to help control non-point source pollution. However, states' monitoring of BMP effectiveness often has been sporadic and anecdotal, and the procedures used have...

Simulating Sustainable P Management Practices in Tile-Drained Landscapes of Central Ohio Using the Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ford, W. I., III; King, K.; Williams, M.

2014-12-01

Despite extensive application of conservation practices to minimize sediment P delivery to streams, hypoxic conditions and harmful algal blooms persist in receiving water bodies. Tile-drainage networks are a focal point for reducing soluble P in the food-producing Midwestern United States in that they promote higher connectivity between upland soils and stream channels which decreases soil contact time, and biogeochemical alterations. A critical next step to reduce the environmental impact and maintain sustainable agriculture is to implement best management practices (BMPs) under a holistic framework that considers adverse effects to water resources and crop production, while maintaining economic feasibility. The objective of this study was to apply a robust numerical model, the Agricultural Policy Environmental Extender (APEX), in a tile-drained landscape in Central Ohio in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a suite of BMPs on soluble and particulate P delivery to stream channels. The model was applied and evaluated at two adjacent edge-of-field sites with similar soil, topographic and management characteristics (except for tillage and tile installation on the south field in 2012, preceded by more than 20 years of no-till operations). Three years of daily discharge, total suspended solids, soluble P, soluble N (NO3 and NH4), total P, total N, and crop yields were utilized to verify the model performance. Prevalent BMPs simulated within the modeling framework included drainage water management, tillage and crop rotations, the 4Rs framework (right fertilizer source, rate, time, and placement), and bioreactors. Results of the study quantify the ability of the numerical model to simulate hydrology and P transport for surface runoff and subsurface tile drainage and highlight modifications that improve model performance. Further, results highlight BMPs that effectively reduce P loads to streams while maintaining crop yields, which can later be used to inform BMPs

Riverine threat indices to assess watershed condition and identify primary management capacity of agriculture natural resource management agencies.

PubMed

Fore, Jeffrey D; Sowa, Scott P; Galat, David L; Annis, Gust M; Diamond, David D; Rewa, Charles

2014-03-01

Managers can improve conservation of lotic systems over large geographies if they have tools to assess total watershed conditions for individual stream segments and can identify segments where conservation practices are most likely to be successful (i.e., primary management capacity). The goal of this research was to develop a suite of threat indices to help agriculture resource management agencies select and prioritize watersheds across Missouri River basin in which to implement agriculture conservation practices. We quantified watershed percentages or densities of 17 threat metrics that represent major sources of ecological stress to stream communities into five threat indices: agriculture, urban, point-source pollution, infrastructure, and all non-agriculture threats. We identified stream segments where agriculture management agencies had primary management capacity. Agriculture watershed condition differed by ecoregion and considerable local variation was observed among stream segments in ecoregions of high agriculture threats. Stream segments with high non-agriculture threats were most concentrated near urban areas, but showed high local variability. 60 % of stream segments in the basin were classified as under U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) primary management capacity and most segments were in regions of high agricultural threats. NRCS primary management capacity was locally variable which highlights the importance of assessing total watershed condition for multiple threats. Our threat indices can be used by agriculture resource management agencies to prioritize conservation actions and investments based on: (a) relative severity of all threats, (b) relative severity of agricultural threats, and (c) and degree of primary management capacity.

Mobile retroreflectivity best practices handbook.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-07-01

This handbook documents best practices related to proper use of the mobile retroreflectometer, sampling of : sites for data collection, and handling of mobile retroreflectivity data. The best practices described in this : handbook are derived from th...

Mining Environmental Data from a Coupled Modelling System to Examine the Impact of Agricultural Management Practices on Groundwater and Air Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, V.; Cooter, E. J.; Hayes, B.; Murphy, M. S.; Bash, J. O.

2014-12-01

Excess nitrogen (N) resulting from current agricultural management practices can leach into sources of drinking water as nitrate, increasing human health risks of 'blue baby syndrome', hypertension, and some cancers and birth defects. Nitrogen also enters the atmosphere from land surfaces forming air pollution increasing human health risks of pulmonary and cardio-vascular disease. Characterizing and attributing nitrogen from agricultural management practices is difficult due to the complex and inter-related chemical and biological reactions associated with the nitrogen cascade. Coupled physical process-based models, however, present new opportunities to investigate relationships among environmental variables on new scales; particularly because they link emission sources with meteorology and the pollutant concentration ultimately found in the environment. In this study, we applied a coupled meteorology (NOAA-WRF), agricultural (USDA-EPIC) and air quality modelling system (EPA-CMAQ) to examine the impact of nitrogen inputs from corn production on ecosystem and human health and wellbeing. The coupled system accounts for the nitrogen flux between the land surface and air, and the soil surface and groundwater, providing a unique opportunity to examine the effect of management practices such as type and timing of fertilization, tilling and irrigation on both groundwater and air quality across the conterminous US. In conducting the study, we first determined expected relationships based on literature searches and then identified model variables as direct or surrogate variables. We performed extensive and methodical multi-variate regression modelling and variable selection to examine associations between agricultural management practices and environmental condition. We then applied the regression model to predict and contrast pollution levels between two corn production scenarios (Figure 1). Finally, we applied published health functions (e.g., spina bifida and cardio

Rural transit ITS best practices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-03-01

The overall objective of this Best Practices in Rural Transit ITS project was to identify operational best practices and related technology for applying ITS to rural transit. The project team assembled information gathered through case studies to pro...

Enhancement of silage sorghum and corn production using best management practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and Silage Corn (Zea mays) production is not sufficient in irrigated eastern areas of Jordan and so families cannot afford sufficient animal feeds. This is due to two main reasons: the first is lower crop productivity related to poor agricultural practices including no use...

ECUANET--European Corporate Academies Transnational Best Practice Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dealtry, Richard

2004-01-01

This article describes the formation and forward planning of an important and independent transnational best practice networking development project, i.e. ECUANET. ECUANET's aims are to track and disseminate the evolutions and revolutions that are taking place in the creative management of corporate universities and small and medium enterprise…

Management of Early- and Late-Stage Rheumatoid Arthritis: Are Physiotherapy Students' Intended Behaviours Consistent with Canadian Best Practice Guidelines?

PubMed Central

Lineker, Sydney C.; Hallett, Christina; Tumber, Jake; Fernando, Nalin; Hul, Magdalena

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study examined whether physiotherapy students in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum intend to implement best practices for management of clients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Method: Physiotherapy students (n=49) completed a subsection of the ACREU Primary Care Survey to evaluate the concordance between intended behaviours and Canadian best practices for early- and late-stage RA, before and after completing the relevant PBL content. Changes in scores were assessed using McNemar's test for dependent proportions. Results: Most students indicated that they would recommend treatments or referrals for physiotherapy/exercise, education, and occupational therapy or joint protection pre- and post-PBL (>83% and >95%, respectively). Post-PBL, more students recommended referral to a rheumatologist and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for both early and late RA; however, the increase was significant only for early RA (p=0.013 and 0.031 for referral to rheumatologist and DMARDs, respectively). More students recommended psychosocial support at both stages of RA post-PBL (early RA: p<0.001; late RA: p=0.031). Although more students recommended DMARDs post-PBL, only 8 students in total made this recommendation (16%), and fewer students considered use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Most students (94%) did not recommend referral to a surgeon for early or late RA. Conclusion: Intended behaviour of physiotherapy students was more consistent with Canadian best practice guidelines for managing clients with early- and late-stage RA following the PBL curriculum. Further study is required to determine whether the students were less aware of best practices related to pharmacologic interventions and timely referral to appropriate specialists, or whether they considered these issues to be outside their scope of practice. PMID:23729962

Assessing the mitigation potential of agricultural systems by optimization of the agricultural management: A modeling study on 8 agricultural observation sites across Europe with the process based model LandscapeDNDC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina Herrera, Saul; Haas, Edwin; Klatt, Steffen; Kraus, David; Kiese, Ralf; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus

2014-05-01

The use of mineral nitrogen (N) fertilizers increase crop yields but cause the biggest anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and strongly contribute to surface water eutrophication (e.g. nitrate leaching). The necessity to identify affordable strategies that improve crop production while improving ecosystem services are in continuous debate between policy decision makers and farmers. In this line, a lack commitment from farmers to enforce laws might result in the reduction of benefits. For this reason, farmers should aim to increase crop production and to reduce environmental harm by the adoption of precision climate smart agriculture tools applied to management practices for instance. In this study we present optimized strategies for 8 sites (agricultural and grassland ecosystems) with long term field observation across Europe to show the mitigation potential to reduce reactive nitrogen losses under the constrain of keeping yields at observed levels. LandscapeDNDC simulations of crop yields and associated nitrogen losses (N2O emissions and NO3 leaching) were evaluated against long term field measurements. The sites presented different management regimes including the main commodity crops (maize, wheat, barley, rape seeds, etc) and fertilization amendments (synthetic and organic fertilizers) in Europe. The simulations reproduced the observed yields, captured N2O emissions and NO3 leaching losses with high statistical presicion (r2), acurrency (ME) and agreement (RMSPEn). The mitigation potentials to reduce N losses while keeping yields at observed levels for all 8 sites were assesed by Monte Carlo optimizations of the individual underlying multi year agricultural management options (timings of planting and harvest, fertilization & manure applications and rates, residues management). In this study we present for all 8 agricultural observations sites their individual mitigation potentials to reduce N losses for multi year rotations. The conclusions

5 CFR 724.402 - Best practices study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Best practices study. 724.402 Section 724... RETALIATION ACT OF 2002 Best Practices § 724.402 Best practices study. (a) OPM will conduct a comprehensive study in the executive branch to identify best practices for taking appropriate disciplinary actions...

5 CFR 724.402 - Best practices study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Best practices study. 724.402 Section 724... RETALIATION ACT OF 2002 Best Practices § 724.402 Best practices study. (a) OPM will conduct a comprehensive study in the executive branch to identify best practices for taking appropriate disciplinary actions...

Identification and Prioritization of Management Practices to Reduce Methylmercury Exports from Wetlands and Irrigated Agricultural Lands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCord, Stephen A.; Heim, Wesley A.

2015-03-01

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's (Delta) beneficial uses for humans and wildlife are impaired by elevated methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in fish. MeHg is a neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in aquatic food webs. The total maximum daily load (TMDL) implementation plan aimed at reducing MeHg in Delta fish obligates dischargers to conduct MeHg control studies. Over 150 stakeholders collaborated to identify 24 management practices (MPs) addressing MeHg nonpoint sources (NPS) in three categories: biogeochemistry (6), hydrology (14), and soil/vegetation (4). Land uses were divided into six categories: permanently and seasonally flooded wetlands, flooded and irrigated agricultural lands, floodplains, and brackish-fresh tidal marshes. Stakeholders scored MPs based on seven criteria: scientific certainty, costs, MeHg reduction potential, spatial applicability, technical capacity to implement, negative impacts to beneficial uses, and conflicting requirements. Semi-quantitative scoring for MPs applicable to each land use (totaling >400 individual scores) led to consensus-based prioritization. This process relied on practical experience from diverse and accomplished NPS stakeholders and synthesis of 17 previous studies. Results provide a comprehensive, stakeholder-driven prioritization of MPs for wetland and irrigated agricultural land managers. Final prioritization highlights the most promising MPs for practical application and control study, and a secondary set of MPs warranting further evaluation. MPs that address hydrology and soil/vegetation were prioritized because experiences were positive and implementation appeared more feasible. MeHg control studies will need to address the TMDL conundrum that MPs effective at reducing MeHg exports could both exacerbate MeHg exposure and contend with other management objectives on site.

How best practices are copied, transferred, or translated between health care facilities: A conceptual framework.

PubMed

Guzman, Gustavo; Fitzgerald, Janna Anneke; Fulop, Liz; Hayes, Kathryn; Poropat, Arthur; Avery, Mark; Campbell, Steve; Fisher, Ron; Gapp, Rod; Herington, Carmel; McPhail, Ruth; Vecchio, Nerina

2015-01-01

In spite of significant investment in quality programs and activities, there is a persistent struggle to achieve quality outcomes and performance improvements within the constraints and support of sociopolitical parsimonies. Equally, such constraints have intensified the need to better understand the best practice methods for achieving quality improvements in health care organizations over time.This study proposes a conceptual framework to assist with strategies for the copying, transferring, and/or translation of best practice between different health care facilities. Applying a deductive logic, the conceptual framework was developed by blending selected theoretical lenses drawn from the knowledge management and organizational learning literatures. The proposed framework highlighted that (a) major constraints need to be addressed to turn best practices into everyday practices and (b) double-loop learning is an adequate learning mode to copy and to transfer best practices and deuteron learning mode is a more suitable learning mode for translating best practice. We also found that, in complex organizations, copying, transferring, and translating new knowledge is more difficult than in smaller, less complex organizations. We also posit that knowledge translation cannot happen without transfer and copy, and transfer cannot happen without copy of best practices. Hence, an integration of all three learning processes is required for knowledge translation (copy best practice-transfer knowledge about best practice-translation of best practice into new context). In addition, the higher the level of complexity of the organization, the more best practice is tacit oriented and, in this case, the higher the level of K&L capabilities are required to successfully copy, transfer, and/or translate best practices between organizations. The approach provides a framework for assessing organizational context and capabilities to guide copy/transfer/translation of best practices. A

Succession Planning for Community Colleges: A Study of Best Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMaster, Susan Marie

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to apply best practices for succession planning to community colleges. Succession planning is relevant to management practices in community colleges because there is a surge in retirements in higher education from the "baby boomer" generation. Community colleges need to implement a succession plan to ensure…

The assessment and management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting among cancer patients in a chemotherapy ward: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Gu, Lingli; Li, Jing

2016-03-01

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) are considered to be two of the most distressing side-effects of chemotherapy. They have a negative impact on a patient's quality of life and can influence the continuance of treatment. Owing to the lack of effective management of CINV, regular assessment and management of CINV is recommended for patients undergoing chemotherapy. The aim of this project was to integrate the available evidence on the assessment and management of CINV into practice, and implement strategies to improve compliance with evidence-based practice. The project carried out a pre- and post-implementation audit procedure using the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice programs. Five audit criteria were established according to the best available evidence on the assessment and management of CINV. The program was divided into three phases and conducted over four months in the chemotherapy ward, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China. Sixty patients and 14 oncology nurses were involved in this project. The results of the follow-up cycle showed that the compliance rates regarding patient education, risk factors evaluation and non-pharmacologic managements were 100%, 100% and 80%, respectively. The rate of validated tools being used by patients and nurses improved by 93% and 97%, respectively. This project demonstrated that the use of pre- and post-best practice audits is an effective method for incorporating evidence into practice in a chemotherapy ward. The practice of assessing and managing CINV was significantly improved. The next step is to develop strategies for sustaining the new procedures of CINV assessment and management.

Evaluating the impacts of agricultural land management practices on water resources: A probabilistic hydrologic modeling approach.

PubMed

Prada, A F; Chu, M L; Guzman, J A; Moriasi, D N

2017-05-15

Evaluating the effectiveness of agricultural land management practices in minimizing environmental impacts using models is challenged by the presence of inherent uncertainties during the model development stage. One issue faced during the model development stage is the uncertainty involved in model parameterization. Using a single optimized set of parameters (one snapshot) to represent baseline conditions of the system limits the applicability and robustness of the model to properly represent future or alternative scenarios. The objective of this study was to develop a framework that facilitates model parameter selection while evaluating uncertainty to assess the impacts of land management practices at the watershed scale. The model framework was applied to the Lake Creek watershed located in southwestern Oklahoma, USA. A two-step probabilistic approach was implemented to parameterize the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model using global uncertainty and sensitivity analysis to estimate the full spectrum of total monthly water yield (WYLD) and total monthly Nitrogen loads (N) in the watershed under different land management practices. Twenty-seven models were found to represent the baseline scenario in which uncertainty of up to 29% and 400% in WYLD and N, respectively, is plausible. Changing the land cover to pasture manifested the highest decrease in N to up to 30% for a full pasture coverage while changing to full winter wheat cover can increase the N up to 11%. The methodology developed in this study was able to quantify the full spectrum of system responses, the uncertainty associated with them, and the most important parameters that drive their variability. Results from this study can be used to develop strategic decisions on the risks and tradeoffs associated with different management alternatives that aim to increase productivity while also minimizing their environmental impacts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ERP Software Implementation Best Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frantz, Pollyanne S.; Southerland, Arthur R.; Johnson, James T.

2002-01-01

Studied the perceptions of chief financial and information officers of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software implementation best practices. Usable responses from 159 respondents show consensus for the most part between the perceptions of the two groups and describe some best practices that represent common ground. (SLD)

Best Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Food and Nutrition Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

The 1992 "Best Practices" award winners for exemplary accomplishments in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs are recognized and described in this booklet. The information provided can be used as a tool to implement the dietary guidelines and achieve the Year 2000 nutrition objectives. The programs are listed under the…

MEMORANDUM: Application of Best Management Practices to Mechanical Silvicultural Site Preparation Activities for the Establishment of Pine Plantations in the Southeast

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Memorandum to the Field, November 28, 1995, clarifying the applicability of forested wetlands best management practices to mechanical silvicultural site preparation activities for the establishment of pine plantations in the Southeast.

Effects of climatic conditions and management practices on agricultural carbon and water budgets in the Inland Pacific Northwest USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cropland is an important land cover influencing global carbon and water cycles. Variability of agricultural carbon and water fluxes depends on crop species, management practices, soil characteristics, and climatic conditions. In the context of climate change, it is critical to quantify the long-term...

Best Practice in Middle-School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Wilcox, Kristen C.; Angelis, Janet; Applebee, Arthur N.; Amodeo, Vincent; Snyder, Michele A.

2013-01-01

Using socio-ecological theory, this study explores best practice (educational practices correlated with higher student performance) in middle-school science. Seven schools with consistently higher student performance were compared with three demographically similar, average-performing schools. Best practice included instructional approaches…

A review of best management practices and the mitigation of stream-breeding salamanders in the eastern deciduous forest

Treesearch

Thomas A. Maigret; John J. Cox

2014-01-01

Timber harvest has been implicated as a causative factor in the decline of amphibian populations and diversity in many areas of the world. The adoption of best management practices (BMPs) is intended to minimize the impacts of timber harvest on the biotic community, including amphibians and their habitat requirements. Herein, we synthesize the current scientific...

Lake Nutrient Responses to Integrated Conservation Practices in an Agricultural Watershed.

PubMed

Lizotte, Richard E; Yasarer, Lindsey M W; Locke, Martin A; Bingner, Ronald L; Knight, Scott S

2017-03-01

Watershed-scale management efforts to reduce nutrient loads and improve the conservation of lakes in agricultural watersheds require effective integration of a variety of agricultural conservation best management practices (BMPs). This paper documents watershed-scale assessments of the influence of multiple integrated BMPs on oxbow lake nutrient concentrations in a 625-ha watershed of intensive row-crop agricultural activity during a 14-yr monitoring period (1996-2009). A suite of BMPs within fields and at field edges throughout the watershed and enrollment of 87 ha into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) were implemented from 1995 to 2006. Total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), ammonium, and nitrate were measured approximately biweekly from 1996 to 2009, and total nitrogen (TN) was measured from 2001 to 2009. Decreases in several lake nutrient concentrations occurred after BMP implementation. Reductions in TP lake concentrations were associated with vegetative buffers and rainfall. No consistent patterns of changes in TN or SRP lake concentrations were observed. Reductions in ammonium lake concentrations were associated with conservation tillage and CRP. Reductions in nitrate lake concentrations were associated with vegetative buffers. Watershed simulations conducted with the AnnAGNPS (Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source) model with and without BMPs also show a clear reduction in TN and TP loads to the lake after the implementation of BMPs. These results provide direct evidence of how watershed-wide BMPs assist in reducing nutrient loading in aquatic ecosystems and promote a more viable and sustainable lake ecosystem. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

The Climate-Agriculture-Modeling and Decision Tool (CAMDT) for Climate Risk Management in Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ines, A. V. M.; Han, E.; Baethgen, W.

2017-12-01

Advances in seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) during the past decades have brought great potential to improve agricultural climate risk managements associated with inter-annual climate variability. In spite of popular uses of crop simulation models in addressing climate risk problems, the models cannot readily take seasonal climate predictions issued in the format of tercile probabilities of most likely rainfall categories (i.e, below-, near- and above-normal). When a skillful SCF is linked with the crop simulation models, the informative climate information can be further translated into actionable agronomic terms and thus better support strategic and tactical decisions. In other words, crop modeling connected with a given SCF allows to simulate "what-if" scenarios with different crop choices or management practices and better inform the decision makers. In this paper, we present a decision support tool, called CAMDT (Climate Agriculture Modeling and Decision Tool), which seamlessly integrates probabilistic SCFs to DSSAT-CSM-Rice model to guide decision-makers in adopting appropriate crop and agricultural water management practices for given climatic conditions. The CAMDT has a functionality to disaggregate a probabilistic SCF into daily weather realizations (either a parametric or non-parametric disaggregation method) and to run DSSAT-CSM-Rice with the disaggregated weather realizations. The convenient graphical user-interface allows easy implementation of several "what-if" scenarios for non-technical users and visualize the results of the scenario runs. In addition, the CAMDT also translates crop model outputs to economic terms once the user provides expected crop price and cost. The CAMDT is a practical tool for real-world applications, specifically for agricultural climate risk management in the Bicol region, Philippines, having a great flexibility for being adapted to other crops or regions in the world. CAMDT GitHub: https://github.com/Agro-Climate/CAMDT

Expanding CERC beyond public health: sharing best practices with healthcare managers via virtual learning.

PubMed

Hewitt, Anne M; Spencer, Susan S; Ramloll, Rameshsharma; Trotta, Heidi

2008-10-01

Developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002, the Crisis Emergency and Risk Communication (CERC) training module is a nationally and internationally recognized communication model. With the looming threat of a pandemic and the potential for a protracted ongoing siege, a valuable opportunity exists to introduce crisis and emergency preparedness communication best practices to a new population--health care managers and administrators. The CERC toolkit and resources, provide an easy, turn-key solution and a validated template for educators who are not directly involved in public health education but desire to share this content. In this example, graduate students enrolled in an Master of Health Administration program, used a Play2Train scenario, located in the virtual learning environment of SecondLife (2007), to incorporate concepts from the CERC model. By applying the CERC best practices in a real-time virtual learning scenario, students learned collaboration and the leadership competencies necessary to help implement Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations emergency communication protocols and community collaboration requirements. By expanding the impact of the CERC model and developing unified risk communication responses and information sharing, all health professionals can enhance the effectiveness of their emergency preparedness plans so that the public can be better served.

A new framework proposal, towards a common EU agricultural policy, with the best sustainable practices for the re-use of olive mill wastewater.

PubMed

Koutsos, T M; Chatzistathis, T; Balampekou, E I

2018-05-01

The disposal of olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a serious environmental issue for the Mediterranean countries. However, there is still no common European legislation on the management and the re-use of OMW in agriculture, in the frame of sustainable crop management and the standards for the safe OMW disposal and re-use are left to be set by each EU country, individually. This review paper presents the most effective and sustainable practices for OMW, (treatment, application and management), which can maximize the benefits of OMW on crops and soils, while minimizing the potential hazards for public health, thus promoting environmental sustainability. The findings of this synthetic work suggest that there is enough information and proven sustainable practices to go ahead with the initial formulation of a new consensual framework, environmentally acceptable, socially bearable and economically viable, that could hopefully help to set the standards for the re-use of olive mil wastewater and can lead to a common EU policy on the management and re-use of OMW. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implementing Best Practices and Validation of Cryopreservation Techniques for Microorganisms

PubMed Central

Smith, David; Ryan, Matthew

2012-01-01

Authentic, well preserved living organisms are basic elements for research in the life sciences and biotechnology. They are grown and utilized in laboratories around the world and are key to many research programmes, industrial processes and training courses. They are vouchers for publications and must be available for confirmation of results, further study or reinvestigation when new technologies become available. These biological resources must be maintained without change in biological resource collections. In order to achieve best practice in the maintenance and provision of biological materials for industry, research and education the appropriate standards must be followed. Cryopreservation is often the best preservation method available to achieve these aims, allowing long term, stable storage of important microorganisms. To promulgate best practice the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD published the best practice guidelines for BRCs. The OECD best practice consolidated the efforts of the UK National Culture Collections, the European Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI) project consortium and the World Federation for Culture Collections. The paper discusses quality management options and reviews cryopreservation of fungi, describing how the reproducibility and quality of the technique is maintained in order to retain the full potential of fungi. PMID:22629202

Utilizing on-farm best management practices: Managing Nitrate Leaching Using Evapotranspiration Based Irrigation Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaragosa, I.; Melton, F. S.; Dexter, J.; Post, K.; Haffa, A.; Kortman, S.; Spellenberg, R.; Cahn, M.

2017-12-01

In efforts to provide tools to allow farmers to optimize and quantify water usage and fertilizer applications, University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) developed the CropManage irrigation and nitrogen scheduling tool that provides real time evapotranspiration (ETc) based irrigation recommendations and fertilizer recommendations on a per field basis. CropManage incorporates satellite based estimates of fractional cover from web data services from the Satellite Irrigation Management Information Support (SIMS) system developed by NASA Ames Research Center in collaboration with California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). In this study, we conducted field trials to quantify the benefits of using these tools to support best management practices (BMPs) for irrigation and nutrient management in strawberries and lettuce in the Salinas Valley, California. We applied two different irrigation treatments based on full replacement (100%) of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), and irrigation at 130% of ETc replacement to approximate irrigation under business as usual irrigation management. Both field studies used a randomized block design with four replicates each. We used CropManage to calculate the 100% and 130% ETc replacement requirements prior to each irrigation event. We collected drainage volume and samples and analyzed them for 8500 to nitrate as (NO3-) concentrations. Experimental results for both strawberries and lettuce showed a significant decrease in the percentage of applied nitrogen leached for the 100% ETc replacement treatment against the 130% ETc replacement treatment. For strawberries, we observed that 24% of applied nitrogen was leached under the 100% ETc replacement treatment, versus 51% of applied nitrogen that was leached under the 130% ETc replacement treatment. For lettuce, we observe that 2% of the applied nitrogen leached bellow the soil profile, versus 6% of the applied nitrogen for the 130%ETc replacement treatment. In both experiments

Best Practices in Business Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briggs, Dianna, Ed.

This document is intended to give business teachers a few best practice ideas. Section 1 presents an overview of best practice and a chart detailing the instructional levels, curricular areas, and main competencies addressed in the 26 papers in Section 2. The titles and authors of the papers included in Section 2 are as follows: "A Software…

Sustainable management of agriculture activity on areas with soil vulnerability to compaction trough a developed decision support system (DSS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moretto, Johnny; Fantinato, Luciano; Rasera, Roberto

2017-04-01

One of the main environmental effects of agriculture is the negative impacts on areas with soil vulnerability to compaction and undersurface water derived from inputs and treatment distributions. A solution may represented from the "Precision Farming". Precision Farming refers to a management concept focusing on (near-real time) observation, measurement and responses to inter- and intra-variability in crops, fields and animals. Potential benefits may include increasing crop yields and animal performance, cost and labour reduction and optimisation of process inputs, all of which would increase profitability. At the same time, Precision Farming should increase work safety and reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture and farming practices, thus contributing to the sustainability of agricultural production. The concept has been made possible by the rapid development of ICT-based sensor technologies and procedures along with dedicated software that, in the case of arable farming, provides the link between spatially-distributed variables and appropriate farming practices such as tillage, seeding, fertilisation, herbicide and pesticide application, and harvesting. Much progress has been made in terms of technical solutions, but major steps are still required for the introduction of this approach over the common agricultural practices. There are currently a large number of sensors capable of collecting data for various applications (e.g. Index of vegetation vigor, soil moisture, Digital Elevation Models, meteorology, etc.). The resulting large volumes of data need to be standardised, processed and integrated using metadata analysis of spatial information, to generate useful input for decision-support systems. In this context, a user-friendly IT applications has been developed, for organizing and processing large volumes of data from different types of remote sensing and meteorological sensors, and for integrating these data into user-friendly farm management support

Effects of urban best management practices on streamflow and phosphorus and suspended-sediment transport on Englesby Brook in Burlington, Vermont, 2000-2010

USGS Publications Warehouse

Medalie, Laura

2012-01-01

An assessment of the effectiveness of several urban best management practice structures, including a wet extended detention facility and a shallow marsh wetland (together the "wet extended detention ponds"), was made using data collected from 2000 through 2010 at Englesby Brook in Burlington, Vermont. The purpose of the best management practices was to reduce high streamflows and phosphorus and suspended-sediment loads and concentrations and to increase low streamflows. Englesby Brook was monitored for streamflow, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment concentrations at a streamgage downstream of the best management practice structures for 5 years before the wet extended detention ponds were constructed in 2005 and for 4 years (phosphorus and suspended-sediment concentrations) or 5 years (streamflow) after they were constructed. The period after construction of the best management practice structures was wetter and had higher discharges than the period before construction. Despite the wetter conditions, streamflow duration curves provided evidence that the streamflow regime appeared to have shifted so that the percentages of low streamflows have increased and those of high streamflows may have slightly decreased. Two other hydrologic measures showed improvements in the years following construction of the best management practices: the percentage of annual discharge transported during the 3 days with highest discharges and the number of days with zero streamflow have both decreased. Evidence was mixed for the effectiveness of the best management practices in reducing phosphorus and suspended-sediment concentrations and loads. Annual phosphorus and suspended-sediment loads, monthly loads, low-streamflow concentrations, storm-averaged streamflow-adjusted concentrations, and total storm loads either did not change significantly or increased in the period after construction. These results likely were because of the wetter conditions in the period after construction. For

The Impact of Reason for Training on the Relationship between "Best Practices" and Sexual Harassment Training Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Elissa L.; Kulik, Carol T.; Bustamante, Jennifer; Golom, Frank D.

2010-01-01

The current study explored the use of best training practices on human resources managers' perceptions of sexual harassment training success and frequency of sexual harassment complaints. Results revealed no main effects of best training practices on sexual harassment training success. However, effects of best training practices on sexual…

The Nitrate App: Enhancing nutrient best management practice adoption and targeting via instantaneous, on-farm nitrate data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozemeijer, J.; De Geus, D.; Ekkelenkamp, R.

2016-12-01

Sociological surveys suggest that farmers understand that agriculture contributes to nutrient pollution but the same surveys also indicate that in the absence of on-farm nitrate data, farmers assume someone else is causing the problem. This tendency to overestimate our own abilities is common to all of us and often described as "Lake Wobegon Syndrome" after the mythical town where "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." We developed the Nitrate App for smartphones to enable farmers and citizens to collect and share nitrate concentration measurements. The app accurately reads and interprets nitrate test strips, directly displays the measured concentration, and gives the option to share the result. The shared results are immediately visualised in the online Delta Data Viewer. Within this viewer, user group specific combinations of background maps, monitoring data, and study area characteristics can be configured. Through the Nitrate App's mapping function project managers can more accurately target conservation practices to areas with the highest nitrate concentrations and loads. Furthermore, we expect that the actual on-farm data helps to overcome the "Lake Wobegon Effect" and will encourage farmers to talk to specialists about the right nutrient best management practices (BMP's) for their farm. After implementing these BMP's, the farmers can keep monitoring to evaluate the reduction in nitrate losses. In this presentation, we explain the Nitrate App technology and present the results of the first field applications in The Netherlands. We expect this free to download app to have wide transferability across watershed projects worldwide focusing on nitrate contamination of groundwater or surface water. Its simple design requires no special equipment outside of the nitrate test strips, a reference card, and a smartphone. The technology is also transferable to other relevant solutes for which test strips

Communication Technologies and Knowledge Building in Agriculture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Segrave, Robin

2004-01-01

The concept of knowledge building communities has not traditionally been associated with agricultural extension, but is one which has the potential to increase the rate of adoption of best management practices by the industry. A potentially important mechanism to facilitate knowledge building is information and communication technology (ICT);…

Agricultural Management Practices Explain Variation in Global Yield Gaps of Major Crops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, N. D.; Gerber, J. S.; Ray, D. K.; Ramankutty, N.; Foley, J. A.

2010-12-01

The continued expansion and intensification of agriculture are key drivers of global environmental change. Meeting a doubling of food demand in the next half-century will further induce environmental change, requiring either large cropland expansion into carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical forests or increasing yields on existing croplands. Closing the “yield gaps” between the most and least productive farmers on current agricultural lands is a necessary and major step towards preserving natural ecosystems and meeting future food demand. Here we use global climate, soils, and cropland datasets to quantify yield gaps for major crops using equal-area climate analogs. Consistent with previous studies, we find large yield gaps for many crops in Eastern Europe, tropical Africa, and parts of Mexico. To analyze the drivers of yield gaps, we collected sub-national agricultural management data and built a global dataset of fertilizer application rates for over 160 crops. We constructed empirical crop yield models for each climate analog using the global management information for 17 major crops. We find that our climate-specific models explain a substantial amount of the global variation in yields. These models could be widely applied to identify management changes needed to close yield gaps, analyze the environmental impacts of agricultural intensification, and identify climate change adaptation techniques.

Agriculture Business and Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seperich, George; And Others

This curriculum guide is intended for vocational agriculture teachers who deliver agricultural business and management programs at the secondary or postsecondary level. It is based on the Arizona validated occupational competencies and tasks for management and supervisory positions in agricultural business. The competency/skill and task list…

Best practice in clinical audit document.

PubMed

2016-12-01

A guide to best practice in clinical audit has been published by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. It outlines updated criteria for best practice to support clinicians and clinical audit staff with planning, designing and carrying out audits.

Best Practice in Middle-School Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Wilcox, Kristen C.; Angelis, Janet; Applebee, Arthur N.; Amodeo, Vincent; Snyder, Michele A.

2013-03-01

Using socio-ecological theory, this study explores best practice (educational practices correlated with higher student performance) in middle-school science. Seven schools with consistently higher student performance were compared with three demographically similar, average-performing schools. Best practice included instructional approaches (relevance and engagement, inquiry, differentiated instruction, collaborative work, moderate amounts of homework, and integration of language literacy and science) and administrative practices (nurturing a climate of opportunity to succeed in science, offering professional development based on data and dialogue, engaging teachers in standards-based curriculum revision and alignment, and recruiting the right fit of teacher). It is argued that best practice entails multiple levels of teaching and administrative praxis that together form a school-wide socio-ecological system conducive to higher performance.

Investigation of denitrifying microbe communities within an agricultural drainage system fitted with low-grade weirs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Enhancing wetland characteristics in agricultural drainage ditches with the use of low-grade weirs, has been identified as a potential best management practice (BMP) to mitigate nutrient runoff from agriculture landscapes. This study examined microbe community abundance and diversity involved in den...

Mapping for the management of diffuse pollution risks related to agricultural plant protection practices: case of the Etang de l'Or catchment area in France.

PubMed

Mghirbi, Oussama; Bord, Jean-Paul; Le Grusse, Philippe; Mandart, Elisabeth; Fabre, Jacques

2018-03-08

Faced with health, environmental, and socio-economic issues related to the heavy use of pesticides, diffuse phytosanitary pollution becomes a major concern shared by all the field actors. These actors, namely the farmers and territorial managers, have expressed the need to implement decision support tools for the territorial management of diffuse pollution resulting from the plant protection practices and their impacts. To meet these steadily increasing requests, a cartographic analysis approach was implemented based on GIS which allows the spatialization of the diffuse pollution impacts related to plant protection practices on the Etang de l'Or catchment area in the South of France. Risk mapping represents a support-decision tool that enables the different field actors to identify and locate vulnerable areas, so as to determine action plans and agri-environmental measures depending on the context of the natural environment. This work shows that mapping is helpful for managing risks related to the use of pesticides in agriculture by employing indicators of pressure (TFI) and risk on the applicator's health (IRSA) and on the environment (IRTE). These indicators were designed to assess the impact of plant protection practices at various spatial scales (field, farm, etc.). The cartographic analysis of risks related to plant protection practices shows that diffuse pollution is unequally located in the North (known for its abundant garrigues and vineyards) and in the South of the Etang de l'Or catchment area (the Mauguio-Lunel agricultural plain known for its diversified cropping systems). This spatial inequity is essentially related to land use and agricultural production system. Indeed, the agricultural lands cover about 60% of the total catchment area. Consequently, this cartographic analysis helps the territorial actors with the implementation of strategies for managing risks of diffuse pollution related to pesticides use in agriculture, based on environmental and

Operations & Maintenance Best Practices - A Guide to Achieving Operational Efficiency Release 3.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

This Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Best Practices Guide was developed under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). The mission of FEMP is to facilitate the Federal Government’s implementation of sound, cost effective energy management and investment practices to enhance the nation’s energy security and environmental stewardship.

Mining Information form a Coupled Air Quality Model to Examine the Impacts of Agricultural Management Practices on Air and Groundwater Quality

EPA Science Inventory

Attributing nitrogen (N) in the environment to emissions from agricultural management practices is difficult because of the complex and inter-related chemical and biological reactions associated with N and its cascading effects across land, air and water. Such analyses are criti...

Best Practices & Outstanding Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Training, 2011

2011-01-01

In this article, "Training" editors recognize innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices. They share best practices from Automatic Data Processing, Inc., Farmers Insurance Group, FedEx Express, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Oakwood Temporary Housing. They also present the outstanding initiatives of EMD Serono,…

Best practices for fungal germplasm repositories and perspectives on their implementation.

PubMed

Wiest, Aric; Schnittker, Robert; Plamann, Mike; McCluskey, Kevin

2012-02-01

In over 50 years, the Fungal Genetics Stock Center has grown to become a world-recognized biological resource center. Along with this growth comes the development and implementation of myriad practices for the management and curation of a diverse collection of filamentous fungi, yeast, and molecular genetic tools for working with the fungi. These practices include techniques for the testing, manipulation, and preservation of individual fungal isolates as well as for processing of thousands of isolates in parallel. In addition to providing accurate record keeping, an electronic managements system allows the observation of trends in strain distribution and in sample characteristics. Because many ex situ fungal germplasm repositories around the world share similar objectives, best-practice guidelines have been developed by a number of organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories. These best-practice guidelines provide a framework for the successful operation of collections and promote the development and interactions of biological resource centers around the world.

Reduction of suspended solid and nutrient loss from agricultural lands by tailwater recovery systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Best management practices are being implemented throughout the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley with the aim of alleviating pressures placed on downstream aquatic systems by sediment and nutrient losses from agricultural land; however, research evaluating the performance of one practice, tail...

Lighting Control Best Practice Guide: Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2002

This publication offers design, specification, and installation guidance for lighting control appropriate for K-12 educational facilities. It features applications that illustrate the best control practices for a variety of spaces, facilitating lighting control design and application. Each best practice meets the provisions of relevant energy…

Evaluating Effectiveness of Green Infrastructure Application of Stormwater Best Management Practices in Protecting Stream Habitat and Biotic Condition in New England

EPA Science Inventory

The US EPA is developing assessment tools to evaluate the effectiveness of green infrastructure (GI) applied in stormwater best management practices (BMPs) at the small watershed (HUC12 or finer) scale. Based on analysis of historical monitoring data using boosted regression tre...

Systems for implementing best practice for a chronic disease: management of osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.

PubMed

Brand, C; Cox, S

2006-03-01

Effective implementation of evidence-based care has been associated with better health outcomes; however, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines have been used with varying success. This study aimed to develop integrative tools to support implementation of best practice recommendations for nonsurgical management of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee and to identify barriers to effective implementation. Published, peer reviewed clinical practice guidelines were updated and translated into an OA care pathway. Key decision nodes in the pathway were identified by a Multidisciplinary Working Group. Qualitative research methods were used to inform pathway development and to identify barriers and enablers for pathway implementation. Qualitative components included purposively selected stakeholder focus groups, key informant interviews and patient process mapping of 10 patient journeys in different settings over a 3-month period. All interviews, facilitated by a trained project officer, were semistructured, recorded, then thematically analysed and summarized. An OA care pathway, clinician and patient toolkits were developed that met the needs of multidisciplinary end-users. Several system- and setting-specific barriers to pathway implementation were identified. Opportunities to improve patient access, interprofessional communication, patient information and education and continuity of care processes were identified. Integrative tools for implementation of best evidence care for patients with OA of the hip and knee were tailored to end-user needs and preferences. Multiple barriers exist that potentially limit effective implementation of best evidence. Comprehensive assessment of barriers and enablers to effective guideline or pathway implementation is recommended before implementation and evaluation.

Best Practices in Pulic Outreach Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, Whitney; Buxner, Sanlyn; Shipp, Stephanie

2015-11-01

IntroductionEach year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsors public outreach events designed to increase student, educator, and general public engagement in its missions and goals. NASA SMD Education’s review of large-scale events, “Best Practices in Outreach Events,” highlighted planning and implementation best practices, which were used by the Dawn mission to strategize and implement its Ceres arrival celebration event, i C Ceres.BackgroundThe literature review focused on best identifying practices rising from evaluations of large-scale public outreach events. The following criteria guided the study:* Public, science-related events open to adults and children* Events that occurred during the last 5 years* Evaluations that included information on data collected from visitors and/or volunteers* Evaluations that specified the type of data collected, methodology, and associated resultsBest Practices: Planning and ImplementationThe literature review revealed key considerations for planning implement large-scale events. Best practices included can be pertinent for all event organizers and evaluators regardless of event size. A summary of related best practices is presented below.1) Advertise the event2) Use and advertise access to scientists* Attendees who reported an interaction with a science professional were 15% to 19% more likely to report positive learning impacts, (SFA, 2012, p. 24).3) Recruit scientists using findings such as:* High percentages of scientists (85% to 96%) from most events were interested in participating again (SFA, 2012).4) Ensure that the event is group and, particularly, child friendly5) Target specific event outcomesBest Practices Informing Real-world Planning, Implementation and EvaluationDawn mission’s collaborative design of a series of events, i C Ceres, including in-person, interactive events geared to families and live presentations, will be shared, with focus on the family event, and the evidence

Forestry best management practices relationships with aquatic and riparian fauna: A review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Warrington, Brooke M.; Aust, W. Michael; Barrett, Scott M.; Ford, W. Mark; Dolloff, C. Andrew; Schilling, Erik B.; Wigley, T. Bently; Bolding, M. Chad

2017-01-01

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) were developed to minimize water pollution from forestry operations by primarily addressing sediment and sediment transport, which is the leading source of pollution from silviculture. Implementation of water quality BMPs may also benefit riparian and aquatic wildlife, although wildlife benefits were not driving forces for BMP development. Therefore, we reviewed literature regarding potential contributions of sediment-reducing BMPs to conservation of riparian and aquatic wildlife, while realizing that BMPs also minimize thermal, nutrient, and chemical pollution. We reached five important conclusions: (1) a significant body of research confirms that forestry BMPs contribute to the protection of water quality and riparian forest structure; (2) data-specific relationships between forestry BMPs and reviewed species are limited; (3) forestry BMPs for forest road construction and maintenance, skid trails, stream crossings, and streamside management zones (SMZs) are important particularly for protection of water quality and aquatic species; (4) stream crossings should be carefully selected and installed to minimize sediment inputs and stream channel alterations; and (5) SMZs promote retention of older-age riparian habitat with benefits extending from water bodies to surrounding uplands. Overall, BMPs developed for protection of water quality should benefit a variety of riparian and aquatic species that are sensitive to changes in water quality or forest structure.

Use of drinking water treatment residuals as a potential best management practice to reduce phosphorus risk index scores.

PubMed

Dayton, E A; Basta, N T

2005-01-01

The P risk index system has been developed to identify agricultural fields vulnerable to P loss as a step toward protecting surface water. Because of their high Langmuir phosphorus adsorption maxima (P(max)), use of drinking water treatment residuals (WTRs) should be considered as a best management practice (BMP) to lower P risk index scores. This work discusses three WTR application methods that can be used to reduce P risk scores: (i) enhanced buffer strip, (ii) incorporation into a high soil test phosphorus (STP) soil, and (iii) co-blending with manure or biosolids. The relationship between WTR P(max) and reduction in P extractability and runoff P was investigated. In a simulated rainfall experiment, using a buffer strip enhanced with 20 Mg WTR ha(-1), runoff P was reduced by from 66.8 to 86.2% and reductions were related to the WTR P(max). When 25 g kg(-1) WTR was incorporated into a high STP soil of 315 mg kg(-1) determined using Mehlich-3 extraction, 0.01 M calcium chloride-extractable phosphorus (CaCl(2)-P) reductions ranged from 60.9 to 96.0% and were strongly (P < 0.01) related to WTR P(max). At a 100 g kg(-1) WTR addition, Mehlich 3-extractable P reductions ranged from 41.1 to 86.7% and were strongly (P < 0.01) related to WTR P(max). Co-blending WTR at 250 g kg(-1) to manure or biosolids reduced CaCl(2)-P by >75%. The WTR P(max) normalized across WTR application rates (P(max) x WTR application) was significantly related to reductions in CaCl(2)-P or STP. Using WTR as a P risk index modifying factor will promote effective use of WTR as a BMP to reduce P loss from agricultural land.

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: STORMWATER SOURCE AREA TREATMENT DEVICE; PRACTICAL BEST MANAGEMENT OF GEORGIA, INC., CRYSTALSTREAM� WATER QUALITY VAULT MODEL 1056

EPA Science Inventory

Verification testing of the Practical Best Management, Inc., CrystalStream™ stormwater treatment system was conducted over a 15-month period starting in March, 2003. The system was installed in a test site in Griffin, Georgia, and served a drainage basin of approximately 4 ...

Simulation of conservation practices using the APEX model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Information on agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) and their effectiveness in controlling agricultural non-point source pollution is crucial in developing Clean Water Act programs such as the Total Maximum Daily Loads for impaired watersheds. A modeling study was conducted to evaluate var...

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Agricultural Management Practices under Climate Change for Water Quality Improvement in a Rural Agricultural Watershed of Oklahoma, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasoulzadeh Gharibdousti, S.; Kharel, G.; Stoecker, A.; Storm, D.

2016-12-01

One of the main causes of water quality impairment in the United States is human induced Non-Point Source (NPS) pollution through intensive agriculture. Fort Cobb Reservoir (FCR) watershed located in west-central Oklahoma, United States is a rural agricultural catchment with known issues of NPS pollution including suspended solids, siltation, nutrients, and pesticides. The FCR watershed with an area of 813 km2 includes one major lake fed by four tributaries. Recently, several Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been implemented in the watershed (such as no-tillage and cropland to grassland conversion) to improve water quality. In this study we aim to estimate the effectiveness of different BMPs in improving watershed health under future climate projections. We employed the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to develop the hydrological model of the FCR watershed. The watershed was delineated using the 10 m USGS Digital Elevation Model and divided into 43 sub-basins with an average area of 8 km2 (min. 0.2 km2 - max. 28 km2). Through a combination of Soil Survey Geographic Database- SSURGO soil data, the US Department of Agriculture crop layer and the slope information, the watershed was further divided into 1,217 hydrologic response units. The historical climate pattern in the watershed was represented by two different weather stations. The model was calibrated (1991 - 2000) and validated (2001 - 2010) against the monthly USGS observations of streamflow recorded at the watershed outlet using three statistical matrices: coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NS) and percentage bias (PB). Model parametrization resulted into satisfactory values of R2 (0.56) and NS (0.56) in calibration period and an excellent model performance (R2 = 0.75; NS = 0.75; PB = <1) in validation period. We have selected 19 BMPs to estimate their efficacy in terms of water and sediment yields under a combination of three Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-5 Global

Rainwater harvesting and management in rainfed agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa - A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biazin, Birhanu; Sterk, Geert; Temesgen, Melesse; Abdulkedir, Abdu; Stroosnijder, Leo

Agricultural water scarcity in the predominantly rainfed agricultural system of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is more related to the variability of rainfall and excessive non-productive losses, than the total annual precipitation in the growing season. Less than 15% of the terrestrial precipitation takes the form of productive ‘green’ transpiration. Hence, rainwater harvesting and management (RWHM) technologies hold a significant potential for improving rainwater-use efficiency and sustaining rainfed agriculture in the region. This paper outlines the various RWHM techniques being practiced in SSA, and reviews recent research results on the performance of selected practices. So far, micro-catchment and in situ rainwater harvesting techniques are more common than rainwater irrigation techniques from macro-catchment systems. Depending on rainfall patterns and local soil characteristics, appropriate application of in situ and micro-catchment techniques could improve the soil water content of the rooting zone by up to 30%. Up to sixfold crop yields have been obtained through combinations of rainwater harvesting and fertiliser use, as compared to traditional practices. Supplemental irrigation of rainfed agriculture through rainwater harvesting not only reduces the risk of total crop failure due to dry spells, but also substantially improves water and crop productivity. Depending on the type of crop and the seasonal rainfall pattern, the application of RWHM techniques makes net profits more possible, compared to the meagre profit or net loss of existing systems. Implementation of rainwater harvesting may allow cereal-based smallholder farmers to shift to diversified crops, hence improving household food security, dietary status, and economic return. The much needed green revolution and adaptations to climate change in SSA should blend rainwater harvesting ideals with agronomic principles. More efforts are needed to improve the indigenous practices, and to disseminate best

Drayage Truckers Best Practices

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Drayage truckers best practices include: replacing older trucks with newer cleaner trucks, avoiding idling, maintaining engines, retrofitting trucks with verified technologies, and operating during off-peak hours.

Best Practices in Student Recruitment: A Case Study of Eleven Practitioners at Seven Alternative Graduate Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Sheri S. L.

2012-01-01

This research addresses best practices for recruiting students at small graduate schools. Best practice is a management term defined as the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task. While popular techniques can promote student enrollment, the actual practices and how they are carried out can be varied and unique at each school. For…

Management of Patients With Venous Leg Ulcers: Challenges and Current Best Practice.

PubMed

Franks, Peter J; Barker, Judith; Collier, Mark; Gethin, Georgina; Haesler, Emily; Jawien, Arkadiusz; Laeuchli, Severin; Mosti, Giovanni; Probst, Sebastian; Weller, Carolina

2016-06-01

Introduction It is well documented that the prevalence of venous leg ulcers (VLUs) is increasing, coinciding with an ageing population. Accurate global prevalence of VLUs is difficult to estimate due to the range of methodologies used in studies and accuracy of reporting. (1) Venous ulceration is the most common type of leg ulceration and a significant clinical problem, affecting approximately 1% of the population and 3% of people over 80 years of age (2) in westernised countries. Moreover, the global prevalence of VLUs is predicted to escalate dramatically, as people are living longer, often with multiple comorbidities. Recent figures on the prevalence of VLUs are based on a small number of studies, conducted in Western countries, and the evidence is weak. However, it is estimated that 93% of VLUs will heal in 12 months, and 7% remain unhealed after five years. (3) Furthermore, the recurrence rate within 3 months after wound closure is as high as 70%. (4) (-6) Thus, cost-effective adjunct evidence-based treatment strategies and services are needed to help prevent these ulcers, facilitate healing when they occur and prevent recurrence. The impact of a VLU represents social, personal, financial and psychological costs on the individual and further economic drain on the health-care system. This brings the challenge of providing a standardised leg ulcer service which delivers evidence-based treatment for the patient and their ulcer. It is recognised there are variations in practice and barriers preventing the implementation of best practice. There are patients not receiving appropriate and timely treatment in the initial development of VLUs, effective management of their VLU and preventing recurrence once the VLU has healed. Health-care professionals (HCPs) and organisations must have confidence in the development process of clinical practice guidelines and have ownership of these guidelines to ensure those of the highest quality guide their practice. These systematic

Effect of an obesity best practice alert on physician documentation and referral practices.

PubMed

Fitzpatrick, Stephanie L; Dickins, Kirsten; Avery, Elizabeth; Ventrelle, Jennifer; Shultz, Aaron; Kishen, Ekta; Rothschild, Steven

2017-12-01

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Electronic Health Record Meaningful Use Incentive Program requires physicians to document body mass index (BMI) and a follow-up treatment plan for adult patients with BMI ≥ 25. To examine the effect of a best practice alert on physician documentation of obesity-related care and referrals to weight management treatment, in a cluster-randomized design, 14 primary care clinics at an academic medical center were randomized to best practice alert intervention (n = 7) or comparator (n = 7). The alert was triggered when both height and weight were entered and BMI was ≥30. Both intervention and comparator clinics could document meaningful use by selecting a nutrition education handout within the alert. Intervention clinics could also select a referral option from the list of clinic and community-based weight management programs embedded in the alert. Main outcomes were proportion of eligible patients with (1) obesity-related documentation and (2) referral. There were 26,471 total primary care encounters with 12,981 unique adult patients with BMI ≥ 30 during the 6-month study period. Documentation doubled (17 to 33%) with implementation of the alert. However, intervention clinics were not significantly more likely to refer patients to weight management than comparator clinics (2.8 vs. 1.3%, p = 0.07). Although the alert was associated with increased physician meaningful use compliance, it was not an effective strategy for improving patient access to weight management services. Further research is needed to understand system-level characteristics that influence obesity management in primary care.

Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aneja, Viney P.; Blunden, Jessica; Roelle, Paul A.; Schlesinger, William H.; Knighton, Raymond; Niyogi, Dev; Gilliam, Wendell; Jennings, Greg; Duke, Clifford S.

The first Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science was held at the Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland from 4 to 8 June 2006. This international conference assembled approximately 350 people representing 25 nations from 5 continents, with disciplines ranging from atmospheric chemistry to soil science. The workshop was designed as an open forum in which participants could openly exchange the most current knowledge and learn about numerous international perspectives regarding agricultural air quality. Participants represented many stakeholder groups concerned with the growing need to assess agricultural impacts on the atmosphere and to develop beneficial policies to improve air quality. The workshop focused on identifying methods to improve emissions inventories and best management practices for agriculture. Workshop participants also made recommendations for technological and methodological improvements in current emissions measurement and modeling practices. The workshop commenced with a session on agricultural emissions and was followed by international perspectives from the United States, Europe, Australia, India, and South America. This paper summarizes the findings and issues of the workshop and articulates future research needs. These needs were identified in three general areas: (1) improvement of emissions measurement; (2) development of appropriate emission factors; and (3) implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to minimize negative environmental impacts. Improvements in the appropriate measurements will inform decisions regarding US farming practices. A need was demonstrated for a national/international network to monitor atmospheric emissions from agriculture and their subsequent depositions to surrounding areas. Information collected through such a program may be used to assess model performance and could be critical for evaluating any future regulatory policies or BMPs. The workshop concluded that efforts to maximize

75 FR 53639 - Best Practices for Transit, Transshipment, and Reexport of Items Subject to the Export...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-01

... principles and best practices that complement those already identified by BIS in its Web guidance ( http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/emcp.htm ), and industry outreach regarding export management... application to the EAR. Principles These best practices are based on the following four principles: Industry...

Transforming Effective Army Units: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

Unlimited 106 Dorothy Young 703-545-2316 ii iii Technical Report 1326 Effective Army Units: Best Practices and Lessons Learned...SBCT units at Joint Base Lewis -McChord (JBLM), and two civilian subject matter experts on transformation from the Program Manager (PM) Stryker and...ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance JBLM Joint Base Lewis -McChord JRTC Joint Readiness Training Center A-2 LNO Liaison

Documentation of polio eradication initiative best practices: Experience from WHO African Region.

PubMed

Okeibunor, Joseph; Nshimirimana, Deo; Nsubuga, Peter; Mutabaruka, Evariste; Tapsoba, Leonard; Ghali, Emmanuel; Kabir, Shaikh Humayun; Gassasira, Alex; Mihigo, Richard; Mkanda, Pascal

2016-10-10

The African Region is set to achieving polio eradication. During the years of operations, the Polio Eradication Initiative [PEI] in the Region mobilized and trained tremendous amount of manpower with specializations in surveillance, social mobilization, supplementary immunization activities [SIAs], data management and laboratory staff. Systems were put in place to accelerate the eradication of polio in the Region. Standardized, real-time surveillance and response capacity were established. Many innovations were developed and applied to reaching people in difficult and security challenged terrains. All of these resulted in accumulation of lessons and best practices, which can be used in other priority public health intervention if documented. The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa [WHO/AFRO] developed a process for the documentation of these best practices, which was pretested in Uganda. The process entailed assessment of three critical elements [effectiveness, efficiency and relevance] five aspects [ethical soundness, sustainability, involvement of partners, community involvement, and political commitment] of best practices. A scored card which graded the elements and aspects on a scale of 0-10 was developed and a true best practice should score >50 points. Independent public health experts documented polio best practices in eight countries in the Region, using this process. The documentation adopted the cross-sectional design in the generation of data, which combined three analytical designs, namely surveys, qualitative inquiry and case studies. For the selection of countries, country responses to earlier questionnaire on best practices were screened for potential best practices. Another criterion used was the level of PEI investment in the countries. A total of 82 best practices grouped into ten thematic areas were documented. There was a correlation between the health system performances with DPT3 as proxy, level of PEI investment in countries

Management of unregulated agricultural nonpoint sources through water quality trading market.

PubMed

Mahjoobi, Emad; Sarang, Amin; Ardestani, Mojtaba

2016-11-01

Water quality trading (WQT) could be an innovative policy to incentivize farmers to implement best management practices (BMPs) for their activities. This study focused on assessment of involving unregulated agricultural nonpoint sources (NPS) into the WQT market in Gharesoo watershed in the west of Iran. It also proposes a methodology to determine location-based trading ratios as well as environmental penalty cost to achieve a more well-designed market structure. Trading activities in different scenarios were described by trading volume (TV), participation rate (PR), total exchanged value (TEV), and other market parameters in order to achieve a better comparison of market performance. Results showed that, by applying NPS to the Gharesoo watershed, total phosphorous (TP) trading market could increase TV, PR, and TEV up to 11, 1.7 and 7.5 times, respectively, depending on which level of BMPs are implemented by them. Additionally, it could save 29% of the total cost of implementing a TP total maximum daily load in this watershed compared to the 'command and control' approach. Furthermore, the agricultural sector could profit by $5.49 million (or $75/ha) by choosing solutions such as terrace systems and filter strips to register into the market. This profit can be allocated to the development of new agricultural technologies.

Modeling framework for representing long-term effectiveness of best management practices in addressing hydrology and water quality problems: Framework development and demonstration using a Bayesian method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yaoze; Engel, Bernard A.; Flanagan, Dennis C.; Gitau, Margaret W.; McMillan, Sara K.; Chaubey, Indrajeet; Singh, Shweta

2018-05-01

Best management practices (BMPs) are popular approaches used to improve hydrology and water quality. Uncertainties in BMP effectiveness over time may result in overestimating long-term efficiency in watershed planning strategies. To represent varying long-term BMP effectiveness in hydrologic/water quality models, a high level and forward-looking modeling framework was developed. The components in the framework consist of establishment period efficiency, starting efficiency, efficiency for each storm event, efficiency between maintenance, and efficiency over the life cycle. Combined, they represent long-term efficiency for a specific type of practice and specific environmental concern (runoff/pollutant). An approach for possible implementation of the framework was discussed. The long-term impacts of grass buffer strips (agricultural BMP) and bioretention systems (urban BMP) in reducing total phosphorus were simulated to demonstrate the framework. Data gaps were captured in estimating the long-term performance of the BMPs. A Bayesian method was used to match the simulated distribution of long-term BMP efficiencies with the observed distribution with the assumption that the observed data represented long-term BMP efficiencies. The simulated distribution matched the observed distribution well with only small total predictive uncertainties. With additional data, the same method can be used to further improve the simulation results. The modeling framework and results of this study, which can be adopted in hydrologic/water quality models to better represent long-term BMP effectiveness, can help improve decision support systems for creating long-term stormwater management strategies for watershed management projects.

Ergonomic best practices in masonry: regional differences, benefits, barriers, and recommendations for dissemination.

PubMed

Hess, Jennifer; Weinstein, Marc; Welch, Laura

2010-08-01

Within construction the masonry trade has particularly high rates of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). A NIOSH-sponsored meeting of masonry stakeholders explored current and potential "Best Practices" for reducing MSDs in masonry and identified potential regional differences in use of practices. To verify and better understand the regional effects and other factors associated with differences in practice use, a national telephone survey of masonry contractors was conducted. The United States was divided into four regions for evaluation: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and West Coast. Nine practices with the potential to reduce MSDs in masonry workers were evaluated. Masonry contractors, owners, and foremen completed 183 surveys. The results verify regional differences in use of best practices in masonry. Half-weight cement bags and autoclave aerated concrete were rarely used anywhere, while lightweight block and mortar silos appear to be diffusing across the country. The Northeast uses significantly fewer best practices than other regions. This article examines reasons for regional differences in masonry best practice, and findings provide insight into use and barriers to adoption that can be used by safety managers, researchers, and other safety advocates to more effectively disseminate ergonomic solutions across the masonry industry.

Best practice eye care models

PubMed Central

Qureshi, Babar M; Mansur, Rabiu; Al-Rajhi, Abdulaziz; Lansingh, Van; Eckert, Kristen; Hassan, Kunle; Ravilla, Thulasiraj; Muhit, Mohammad; Khanna, Rohit C; Ismat, Chaudhry

2012-01-01

Since the launching of Global Initiative, VISION 2020 “the Right to Sight” many innovative, practical and unique comprehensive eye care services provision models have evolved targeting the underserved populations in different parts of the World. At places the rapid assessment of the burden of eye diseases in confined areas or utilizing the key informants for identification of eye diseases in the communities are promoted for better planning and evidence based advocacy for getting / allocation of resources for eye care. Similarly for detection and management of diabetes related blindness, retinopathy of prematurity and avoidable blindness at primary level, the major obstacles are confronted in reaching to them in a cost effective manner and then management of the identified patients accordingly. In this regard, the concept of tele-ophthalmology model sounds to be the best solution. Whereas other models on comprehensive eye care services provision have been emphasizing on surgical output through innovative scales of economy that generate income for the program and ensure its sustainability, while guaranteeing treatment of the poorest of the poor. PMID:22944741

25 CFR 162.201 - Must agricultural land be managed in accordance with a tribe's agricultural resource management...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... identify holistic management objectives; and (5) Identify actions to be taken to reach established... tribe's agricultural resource management plan? 162.201 Section 162.201 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS... Must agricultural land be managed in accordance with a tribe's agricultural resource management plan...

Managing the drinking water catchment areas: the French agricultural cooperatives feed back.

PubMed

Charrière, Séverine; Aumond, Claire

2016-06-01

The quality of raw water is problematic in France, largely polluted by nitrates and pesticides (Mueller and Helsel, Nutrients in the nation's waters-too much of a good thing? Geological Survey (U.S.), 1996; European Environment Agency, European waters-assessment of status and pressures, 2012).This type of pollution, even though not always due to agriculture (example of the catchment of Ambleville, county 95, France where the nitrate pollution is mainly due to sewers (2012)), has been largely related to the agricultural practices (Sci Total Environ 407:6034-6043, 2009).Taking note of this observation, and instead of letting it paralyze their actions, the agricultural cooperatives decided with Agrosolutions to act directly on the field with their subscribers to change the agricultural practices impacting the water and the environment.This article shows how the French agricultural cooperatives transformed the awareness of the raw water quality problem into an opportunity for the development and implementation of more precise and responsible practices, to protect their environment. They measure in order to pilot, co-construct and build the best action plans possible according to the three pillars of environment, economy and agronomy.

Mass balance and swath displacement evaluations from agricultural application field trials

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Spray drift is on an ongoing concern for any agricultural application and continues to be the focus for new developments and research efforts dealing with drift reduction technologies, best management application practices and the development of new decision support systems for applicators. Typical...

Port Authority Best Practices

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Best practices for port authorities include near-port community collaboration, anti-idling policies, expanding off-peak hours, development of EMS, developing an emissions inventory, education, electric power and substituting trucking for rail or barge.

Cardiovascular Complications of Cancer Therapy: Best Practices in Diagnosis, Prevention, and Management: Part 1.

PubMed

Chang, Hui-Ming; Moudgil, Rohit; Scarabelli, Tiziano; Okwuosa, Tochukwu M; Yeh, Edward T H

2017-11-14

Modern cancer therapy has successfully cured many cancers and converted a terminal illness into a chronic disease. Because cancer patients often have coexisting heart diseases, expert advice from cardiologists will improve clinical outcome. In addition, cancer therapy can also cause myocardial damage, induce endothelial dysfunction, and alter cardiac conduction. Thus, it is important for practicing cardiologists to be knowledgeable about the diagnosis, prevention, and management of the cardiovascular complications of cancer therapy. In this first part of a 2-part review, we will review cancer therapy-induced cardiomyopathy and ischemia. This review is based on a MEDLINE search of published data, published clinical guidelines, and best practices in major cancer centers. With the number of cancer survivors expanding quickly, the time has come for cardiologists to work closely with cancer specialists to prevent and treat cancer therapy-induced cardiovascular complications. Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Agricultural employers' hiring and safety practices for adolescent workers.

PubMed

Lee, B C; Westaby, J D; Chyou, P H; Purschwitz, M A

2007-01-01

The goal of the "Safety Training for Employers and Supervisors of Adolescent Farmworkers" initiative is to improve the occupational health and safety knowledge and practices of agricultural employers and supervisors responsible for employees, ages 14 to 17 years. Surveys were sent to members of the National Council of Agricultural Employers and the Washington Growers League to measure attitudes regarding adolescent employees, current hiring and training practices, and future intentions. More than half of the respondents hire adolescents. Two-thirds were male, nearly three-quarters of the respondents had college or post-graduate degrees, and more than half were 50 years or older. The majority of respondents had positive perceptions of adolescents in terms of dependability, helpfulness, and work ethic. Among those who currently hire young workers, the most common reasons were to provide a job for children of friends and family and because they can work part-time to fill a labor demand. Among those not hiring adolescents, the most common reason was concern about child labor regulations and associated tasks (e.g., paperwork, monitoring hours). Respondents use a variety of safety training resources, especially posters and safety meetings. For the future, they expect to need more handout materials and training videos. Study results provide insights into barriers to the employment of young workers and suggest methods by which agricultural safety specialists can best assist those employers and producers who are willing to hire adolescents into agricultural work settings.

Exploring the cost-utility of stratified primary care management for low back pain compared with current best practice within risk-defined subgroups.

PubMed

Whitehurst, David G T; Bryan, Stirling; Lewis, Martyn; Hill, Jonathan; Hay, Elaine M

2012-11-01

Stratified management for low back pain according to patients' prognosis and matched care pathways has been shown to be an effective treatment approach in primary care. The aim of this within-trial study was to determine the economic implications of providing such an intervention, compared with non-stratified current best practice, within specific risk-defined subgroups (low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk). Within a cost-utility framework, the base-case analysis estimated the incremental healthcare cost per additional quality-adjusted life year (QALY), using the EQ-5D to generate QALYs, for each risk-defined subgroup. Uncertainty was explored with cost-utility planes and acceptability curves. Sensitivity analyses were performed to consider alternative costing methodologies, including the assessment of societal loss relating to work absence and the incorporation of generic (ie, non-back pain) healthcare utilisation. The stratified management approach was a cost-effective treatment strategy compared with current best practice within each risk-defined subgroup, exhibiting dominance (greater benefit and lower costs) for medium-risk patients and acceptable incremental cost to utility ratios for low-risk and high-risk patients. The likelihood that stratified care provides a cost-effective use of resources exceeds 90% at willingness-to-pay thresholds of £4000 (≈ 4500; $6500) per additional QALY for the medium-risk and high-risk groups. Patients receiving stratified care also reported fewer back pain-related days off work in all three subgroups. Compared with current best practice, stratified primary care management for low back pain provides a highly cost-effective use of resources across all risk-defined subgroups.

Namibia specific climate smart agricultural land use practices: Challenges and opportunities for enhancing ecosystem services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuhn, Nikolaus J.; Talamondjila Naanda, Martha; Bloemertz, Lena

2015-04-01

Agriculture is a backbone for many African economies, with an estimated 70% of Africans active in agricultural production. The sector often does not only directly contribute to, but sustains food security and poverty reduction efforts. Sustaining this productivity poses many challenges, particularly to small scale subsistence farmers (SSF) in dry land areas and semi-arid countries like Namibia. SSF in northern central Namibia mix crop and livestock production on degraded semi-arid lands and nutrient-poor sandy soils. They are fully dependent on agricultural production with limited alternative sources of income. Mostly, their agricultural harvests and outputs are low, not meeting their livelihood needs. At the same time, the land use is often not sustainable, leading to degradation. The Namibia case reveals that addressing underlying economic, social and environmental challenges requires a combination of farm level-soil management practices with a shift towards integrated landscape management. This forms the basis for SSF to adopt sustainable land management practices while building institutional foundations, like establishing SSF cooperatives. One way in which this has been tested is through the concept of incentive-based motivation, i.e. payment for ecosystem services (PES), in which some of the beneficiaries pay, for instance for farmers or land users, who provide the services. The farmers provide these services by substituting their unsustainable land and soil management and adopting new (climate smart agricultural) land use practices. Climate Smart Agricultural land use practices (CSA-LUP) are one way of providing ecosystem services, which could be fundamental to long-term sustainable soil and land management solutions in Africa. There are few PES cases which have been systematically studied from an institutional development structure perspective. This study presents lessons evolving from the notion that direct participation and involvement of local people

Exploring Best Practices for Research Data Management in Earth Science through Collaborating with University Libraries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, T.; Branch, B. D.

2013-12-01

Earth Science research data, its data management, informatics processing and its data curation are valuable in allowing earth scientists to make new discoveries. But how to actively manage these research assets to ensure them safe and secure, accessible and reusable for long term is a big challenge. Nowadays, the data deluge makes this challenge become even more difficult. To address the growing demand for managing earth science data, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) partners with the Library and Technology Services (LTS) of Lehigh University and Purdue University Libraries (PUL) on hosting postdoctoral fellows in data curation activity. This inter-disciplinary fellowship program funded by the SLOAN Foundation innovatively connects university libraries and earth science departments and provides earth science Ph.D.'s opportunities to use their research experiences in earth science and data curation trainings received during their fellowship to explore best practices for research data management in earth science. In the process of exploring best practices for data curation in earth science, the CLIR Data Curation Fellows have accumulated rich experiences and insights on the data management behaviors and needs of earth scientists. Specifically, Ting Wang, the postdoctoral fellow at Lehigh University has worked together with the LTS support team for the College of Arts and Sciences, Web Specialists and the High Performance Computing Team, to assess and meet the data management needs of researchers at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES). By interviewing the faculty members and graduate students at EES, the fellow has identified a variety of data-related challenges at different research fields of earth science, such as climate, ecology, geochemistry, geomorphology, etc. The investigation findings of the fellow also support the LTS for developing campus infrastructure for long-term data management in the sciences. Likewise

A review of best work-absence management and return-to-work practices for workers with musculoskeletal or common mental disorders.

PubMed

Durand, Marie-José; Corbière, Marc; Coutu, Marie-France; Reinharz, Daniel; Albert, Valérie

2014-01-01

Workplace absenteeism is still a curse for developed countries, and more systematic practices need to be adopted to address this issue. To review the literature on best practices for managing work absences related to musculoskeletal or common mental disorders. A review was conducted by performing a search in bibliographic databases and on work-disability research institute websites. Recommendations regarding work-absence management and return-to-work practices were extracted from all the retained documents and organized within a chronological framework. In total, 17 documents were analyzed, leading to identification of common work-absence management and return-to-work practices, the importance of a worker support approach, and recommended roles and responsibilities for stakeholders. These practices were then integrated into a six-step process: (1) time off and recovery period; (2) initial contact with the worker; (3) evaluation of the worker and his job tasks; (4) development of a return-to-work plan with accommodations; (5) work resumption, and (6) follow-up of the return-to-work process. Based on this review, we constructed a comprehensive work-absence management and return-to-work process designed to assist organizations. Our results indicate that such a process must be included within a broader policy of health promotion and job retention. Adaptations will be required for implementation in the workplace.

Water dynamics and nitrogen balance under different agricultural management practices in the low-lying plain of north-east Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camarotto, Carlo; Dal Ferro, Nicola; Piccoli, Ilaria; Polese, Riccardo; Furlan, Lorenzo; Chiarini, Francesca; Berti, Antonio; Morari, Francesco

2017-04-01

In the last decades the adoption of sustainable land management practices (e.g. conservation agriculture, use of cover crops) has been largely subsidized by the EU policy in an attempt to combine competitive agricultural production with environmental protection, e.g. reduce nitrogen losses and optimize water management. However, the real environmental benefits of these practices is still questioned since strongly dependent on local pedo-climatic variability. This study aimed to evaluate water and nitrogen balances in sustainable land management systems including conservation agriculture (CA) practices or use of cover crops (CC). The experimental fields, established in 2010, are localized in the low-lying plain of the Veneto Region (NE Italy), characterized by a shallow water table and identified as Nitrate Vulnerable Zone. In March 2016, a total of nine soil-water monitoring stations have been installed in CA, CC and conventional fields. The stations (three per each field) were set up with multi-sensors probes (10 cm, 30 cm and 60 cm depth) for the continuous monitoring of soil electrical conductivity (EC, dS m-1), soil temperature (T, °C) and volumetric water content (WC, m3 m-3). A wireless system in ISM band has been designed to connect the soil-water monitoring stations to a unique access point, where the data were sent to a cloud platform via GSM. Water samples at each station were collected every two weeks using a suction cups (installed at 60 cm depth) and a phreatic wells, which were also used to record the water table level. Climatic data, collected from a weather station located in the experimental field, were combined with soil-water data to estimate water and nitrogen fluxes in the root zone. During the first year, relevant differences in water and nitrogen dynamics were observed between the treatments. It can be hypothesized that the combined effect of undisturbed soil conditions and continuous soil cover were major factors to affect water

Carbon dynamics of contrasting agricultural practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghee, Claire; Hallett, Paul; Neilson, Roy; Robinson, David; Paterson, Eric

2013-04-01

Application of organic amendments can improve soil quality and provide crop nutrients. To optimise these agricultural benefits from organic applications, the capacity of microbe-driven nutrient and carbon cycling must be understood and exploited. Consideration is therefore required of the complex interactions between the rhizosphere, microbial biomass and organic amendment. We hypothesise that the labile C present in root exudates of plants increases the mineralisation of organic matter in soil, constituting a mechanism to promote nutrient acquisition. This mechanism is known as the 'priming effect', but is poorly understood in the context of agricultural carbon and nutrient management. Field data from the Centre of Sustainable Cropping (CSC) research platform (Dundee, Scotland, UK) are utilised to build an understanding of soil C and N fluxes between contrasting agricultural practices. The field site uses a split-plot design to compare (i) compost amended soils with reduced tillage and chemical inputs and (ii) conventionally managed soils, reflective of current UK commercial arable practice. Significant differences (p= <0.001) were identified between compost amended and conventionally managed soils at field-scale with respect to soil microbial biomass (SMB), total organic carbon (TOC) and mineral nitrogen. Investigation into the priming effect within compost amended soils was subsequently undertaken under laboratory conditions. Stable isotope analysis and measurements of soil biotic parameters were used to quantify priming resulting from Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Optic) cultivation for (i) unamended and (ii) municipal compost incorporated soils. Compost treatments comprised amendments of 25, 50 and 150 t/Ha and planted soils were compared with unplanted controls. Soil mesocosms were maintained under controlled environmental conditions within labelling chambers supplied continuously with 13C-depleted CO2. Throughout a 41-day incubation period, soil CO2

Mechanistic modeling of reactive soil nitrogen emissions across agricultural management practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasool, Q. Z.; Miller, D. J.; Bash, J. O.; Venterea, R. T.; Cooter, E. J.; Hastings, M. G.; Cohan, D. S.

2017-12-01

The global reactive nitrogen (N) budget has increased by a factor of 2-3 from pre-industrial levels. This increase is especially pronounced in highly N fertilized agricultural regions in summer. The reactive N emissions from soil to atmosphere can be in reduced (NH3) or oxidized (NO, HONO, N2O) forms, depending on complex biogeochemical transformations of soil N reservoirs. Air quality models like CMAQ typically neglect soil emissions of HONO and N2O. Previously, soil NO emissions estimated by models like CMAQ remained parametric and inconsistent with soil NH3 emissions. Thus, there is a need to more mechanistically and consistently represent the soil N processes that lead to reactive N emissions to the atmosphere. Our updated approach estimates soil NO, HONO and N2O emissions by incorporating detailed agricultural fertilizer inputs from EPIC, and CMAQ-modeled N deposition, into the soil N pool. EPIC addresses the nitrification, denitrification and volatilization rates along with soil N pools for agricultural soils. Suitable updates to account for factors like nitrite (NO2-) accumulation not addressed in EPIC, will also be made. The NO and N2O emissions from nitrification and denitrification are computed mechanistically using the N sub-model of DAYCENT. These mechanistic definitions use soil water content, temperature, NH4+ and NO3- concentrations, gas diffusivity and labile C availability as dependent parameters at various soil layers. Soil HONO emissions found to be most probable under high NO2- availability will be based on observed ratios of HONO to NO emissions under different soil moistures, pH and soil types. The updated scheme will utilize field-specific soil properties and N inputs across differing manure management practices such as tillage. Comparison of the modeled soil NO emission rates from the new mechanistic and existing schemes against field measurements will be discussed. Our updated framework will help to predict the diurnal and daily variability

Obsolescence Risk Assessment Process Best Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romero Rojo, F. J.; Roy, R.; Kelly, S.

2012-05-01

A component becomes obsolete when it is no longer available from the original manufacturer to the original specification. In long-lifecycle projects, obsolescence has become a major problem as it prevents the maintenance of the system. This is the reason why obsolescence management is now an essential part of the product support activities in sectors such as defence, aerospace, nuclear and railway; where systems need to be supported for several decades. The obsolescence risk assessment for the bill of materials (BoM) is a paramount activity in order to manage obsolescence proactively and cost-effectively. This is the reason why it was necessary to undertake a benchmarking study to develop best practice in this process. A total of 22 obsolescence experts from 13 different organisations/projects from across UK and USA have participated in this study. Their current processes and experience have been taken into account in the development of the best practice process for obsolescence risk assessment. The key factors that have to be analysed in the risk assessment process for each component in the BoM are: number of manufacturers, years to end of life, stock available, consumption rate and operational impact criticality. For the very high risk components, a more detailed analysis is required to inform the decisions regarding the most suitable mitigation strategies. On the contrary, for the low risk components, a fully proactive approach is neither appropriate nor cost effective. Therefore, it is advised for these components that obsolescence issues are dealt with reactively. This process has been validated using case studies with several experts from industry and is currently being implemented by the UK Ministry of Defence as technical guidance within the JSP 886 Volume 7 Part 8.13 standards.

Calibration of a field-scale Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model with field placement of best management practices in Alger Creek, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Merriman-Hoehne, Katherine R.; Russell, Amy M.; Rachol, Cynthia M.; Daggupati, Prasad; Srinivasan, Raghavan; Hayhurst, Brett A.; Stuntebeck, Todd D.

2018-01-01

Subwatersheds within the Great Lakes “Priority Watersheds” were targeted by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to determine the effectiveness of the various best management practices (BMPs) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service National Conservation Planning (NCP) Database. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is created for Alger Creek, a 50 km2 tributary watershed to the Saginaw River in Michigan. Monthly calibration yielded very good Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) ratings for flow, sediment, total phosphorus (TP), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), and total nitrogen (TN) (0.90, 0.79, 0.87, 0.88, and 0.77, respectively), and satisfactory NSE rating for nitrate (0.51). Two-year validation results in at least satisfactory NSE ratings for flow, sediment, TP, DRP, and TN (0.83, 0.54, 0.73, 0.53, and 0.60, respectively), and unsatisfactory NSE rating for nitrate (0.28). The model estimates the effect of BMPs at the field and watershed scales. At the field-scale, the most effective single practice at reducing sediment, TP, and DRP is no-tillage followed by cover crops (CC); CC are the most effective single practice at reducing nitrate. The most effective BMP combinations include filter strips, which can have a sizable effect on reducing sediment and phosphorus loads. At the watershed scale, model results indicate current NCP BMPs result in minimal sediment and nutrient reductions (<10%).

Trends in surface-water quality during implementation of best-management practices in Mill Creek and Muddy Run Basins, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koerkle, Edward H.

2000-01-01

Analyses of water samples collected over a 5-year period (1993-98) in the Mill Creek and Muddy Run Basins during implementation of agricultural best-management practices (BMP’s) indicate statistically significant trends in the concentrations of several nutrient species and in nonfilterable residue (suspended solids). The strongest trends identified were those indicated by a more than 50- percent decrease in the flow-adjusted concentrations of total and dissolved phosphorus and total residue in base flow in the two streams. Analyses of stormflow samples showed a 31-percent decrease in the flow-adjusted concentration of total phosphorus in Mill Creek and a 54-percent decrease in total nonfilterable residue in Muddy Run. A 58-percent increase in the flow-adjusted concentration of total ammonia nitrogen in stormflow was found at Muddy Run.Although the effects of a specific BMP on the indicated trends is uncertain, results of statistical trend tests of the data suggest that stream fencing, possibly in concert with other practices, such as stream crossings for livestock, barnyard runoff control, manure-storage facilities, and rotational grazing, was effective in improving water quality during base flow and probably low to moderate stormflow conditions. Additional improvements in water quality in the Mill Creek and Muddy Run Basins seems likely as the implementation of BMP’s is expected to continue. Thus, the full effect of BMP implementation in the two basins may not be observed for some time.

Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Web Academy Webinar: Let’s WRAP (Wrap Recycling Action Program): Best Practices to Boost Plastic Film Recycling in Your Community

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This is a webinar page for the Sustainable Management of Materials (SMM) Web Academy webinar titled Let’s WRAP (Wrap Recycling Action Program): Best Practices to Boost Plastic Film Recycling in Your Community

A systematic review of clinical practice guidelines and best practice statements for the diagnosis and management of varicocele in children and adolescents.

PubMed

Roque, Matheus; Esteves, Sandro C

2016-01-01

A systematic review was conducted to identify and qualitatively analyze the methods as well as recommendations of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) and Best Practice Statements (BPS) concerning varicocele in the pediatric and adolescent population. An electronic search was performed with the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Direct, and Scielo databases, as well as guidelines' Web sites until September 2015. Four guidelines were included in the qualitative synthesis. In general, the recommendations provided by the CPG/BPS were consistent despite the existence of some gaps across the studies. The guidelines issued by the American Urological Association (AUA) and American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) did not provide evidence-based levels for the recommendations given. Most of the recommendations given by the European Association of Urology (EAU) and European Society of Pediatric Urology (ESPU) were derived from nonrandomized clinical trials, retrospective studies, and expert opinion. Among all CPG/BPS, only one was specifically designed for the pediatric population. The studied guidelines did not undertake independent cost-effectiveness and risk-benefit analysis. The main objectives of these guidelines were to translate the best evidence into practice and provide a framework of standardized care while maintaining clinical autonomy and physician judgment. However, the limitations identified in the CPG/BPS for the diagnosis and management of varicocele in children and adolescents indicate ample opportunities for research and future incorporation of higher quality standards in patient care.

Ranking agricultural practices on soil water improvements: a meta-analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basche, A.; DeLonge, M. S.; Gonzalez, J.

2016-12-01

-analysis improves understanding of how alternative management, notably the use of continuous cover in agricultural systems, improves water dynamics. Policies should be designed in a way that allows agricultural producers to prioritize and implement practices that offer greater water conservation while maintaining crop productivity.

Between worst and best: developing criteria to identify promising practices in health promotion and disease prevention for the Canadian Best Practices Portal.

PubMed

Fazal, Nadia; Jackson, Suzanne F; Wong, Katy; Yessis, Jennifer; Jetha, Nina

2017-11-01

In health promotion and chronic disease prevention, both best and promising practices can provide critical insights into what works for enhancing the healthrelated outcomes of individuals and communities, and how/why these practices work in different situations and contexts. The promising practices criteria were developed using the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC's) existing best practices criteria as the foundation. They were modified and pilot tested (three rounds) using published interventions. Theoretical and methodological issues and challenges were resolved via consultation and in-depth discussions with a working group. The team established a set of promising practices criteria, which differentiated from the best practices criteria via six specific measures. While a number of complex challenges emerged in the development of these criteria, they were thoroughly discussed, debated and resolved. The Canadian Best Practices Portal's screening criteria allow one to screen for both best and promising practices in the fields of public health, health promotion, chronic disease prevention, and potentially beyond.

Reverse auction results for implementation of decentralized retrofit best management practices in a small urban watershed (Cincinnati OH)Participatory storm water management and sustainability – what are the connections?

EPA Science Inventory

Urban stormwater is typically conveyed to centralized infrastructure, and there is great potential for reducing stormwater runoff quantity through decentralization. In this case we hypothesize that smaller-scale retrofit best management practices (BMPs) such as rain gardens and r...

Effect of forest harvesting best management practices on coarse woody debris distribution in stream and riparian zones in three Appalachian watersheds

Treesearch

J. M. McClure; R. K. Kolka; A. White

2004-01-01

The distribution of coarse woody debris (CWD) was analyzed in three Appalachian watersheds in eastern Kentucky, eighteen years after harvest. The three watersheds included an unharvested control (Control), a second watershed with best management practices (BMPs) applied that included a 15.2 m unharvested zone near the stream (BMP watershed), and a third watershed that...

An empirical identification and categorisation of training best practices for ERP implementation projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esteves, Jose Manuel

2014-11-01

Although training is one of the most cited critical success factors in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems implementations, few empirical studies have attempted to examine the characteristics of management of the training process within ERP implementation projects. Based on the data gathered from a sample of 158 respondents across four stakeholder groups involved in ERP implementation projects, and using a mixed method design, we have assembled a derived set of training best practices. Results suggest that the categorised list of ERP training best practices can be used to better understand training activities in ERP implementation projects. Furthermore, the results reveal that the company size and location have an impact on the relevance of training best practices. This empirical study also highlights the need to investigate the role of informal workplace trainers in ERP training activities.

Pathogen reduction co-benefits of nutrient best management practices.

PubMed

Richkus, Jennifer; Wainger, Lisa A; Barber, Mary C

2016-01-01

Many of the practices currently underway to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads entering the Chesapeake Bay have also been observed to support reduction of disease-causing pathogen loadings. We quantify how implementation of these practices, proposed to meet the nutrient and sediment caps prescribed by the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), could reduce pathogen loadings and provide public health co-benefits within the Chesapeake Bay system. We used published data on the pathogen reduction potential of management practices and baseline fecal coliform loadings estimated as part of prior modeling to estimate the reduction in pathogen loadings to the mainstem Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay attributable to practices implemented as part of the TMDL. We then compare the estimates with the baseline loadings of fecal coliform loadings to estimate the total pathogen reduction potential of the TMDL. We estimate that the TMDL practices have the potential to decrease disease-causing pathogen loads from all point and non-point sources to the mainstem Potomac River and the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed by 19% and 27%, respectively. These numbers are likely to be underestimates due to data limitations that forced us to omit some practices from analysis. Based on known impairments and disease incidence rates, we conclude that efforts to reduce nutrients may create substantial health co-benefits by improving the safety of water-contact recreation and seafood consumption.

Alcohol withdrawal management in adult patients in a high acuity medical surgical transitional care unit: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Sukhenko, Olga

2016-01-15

Excessive alcohol consumption, a major health problem worldwide, affects about 6% of the United States population. Caring for patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome in a hospital ward presents complex physiologic and psycho-social challenges which are best met with evidence-based practices. An academic medical center in the United States has been experiencing an increase in patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. However, gaps in clinician knowledge and infrastructure supporting the management of these patients still existed. The aim of this project was to improve the continuity of care of patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal in a medical surgical high acuity transitional care unit by incorporating evidence-based practices, and thereby to positively impact on patient outcomes. Specific objectives were related to standardized assessments and pharmacologic management strategies. The project used the Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice audit tool for promoting change in health practice. A baseline clinical audit was conducted to assess compliance with best practices for managing alcohol withdrawal syndrome, which was followed by several interventions targeted at nurses and providers. A follow-up audit was conducted to assess compliance with the implemented strategies. The follow-up audit used the same evidence-based audit criteria as those used for the baseline audit. A non-probabilistic, convenience sampling approach was used. A sample size of 15 patients was used for both the baseline and follow-up audits. The baseline audit revealed a high compliance rate for four of the five audit criteria concerning risk assessment and pharmacologic strategies. There was sub-optimal compliance (53%) with the criterion regarding use of the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale (revised) (CIWA-Ar) scale to assess patients with alcohol withdrawal. After the interventions were

Combining the Power of Statistical Analyses and Community Interviews to Identify Adoption Barriers for Stormwater Best-Management Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoover, F. A.; Bowling, L. C.; Prokopy, L. S.

2015-12-01

Urban stormwater is an on-going management concern in municipalities of all sizes. In both combined or separated sewer systems, pollutants from stormwater runoff enter the natural waterway system during heavy rain events. Urban flooding during frequent and more intense storms are also a growing concern. Therefore, stormwater best-management practices (BMPs) are being implemented in efforts to reduce and manage stormwater pollution and overflow. The majority of BMP water quality studies focus on the small-scale, individual effects of the BMP, and the change in water quality directly from the runoff of these infrastructures. At the watershed scale, it is difficult to establish statistically whether or not these BMPs are making a difference in water quality, given that watershed scale monitoring is often costly and time consuming, relying on significant sources of funds, which a city may not have. Hence, there is a need to quantify the level of sampling needed to detect the water quality impact of BMPs at the watershed scale. In this study, a power analysis was performed on data from an urban watershed in Lafayette, Indiana, to determine the frequency of sampling required to detect a significant change in water quality measurements. Using the R platform, results indicate that detecting a significant change in watershed level water quality would require hundreds of weekly measurements, even when improvement is present. The second part of this study investigates whether the difficulty in demonstrating water quality change represents a barrier to adoption of stormwater BMPs. Semi-structured interviews of community residents and organizations in Chicago, IL are being used to investigate residents understanding of water quality and best management practices and identify their attitudes and perceptions towards stormwater BMPs. Second round interviews will examine how information on uncertainty in water quality improvements influences their BMP attitudes and perceptions.

Best practice wound care.

PubMed

O'Brien, Melissa L; Lawton, Joanna E; Conn, Chris R; Ganley, Helen E

2011-04-01

This article describes the barriers, changes and achievements related to implementing one element of a wound care programme being best practice care. With the absence of a coordinated approach to wound care, clinical practice within our Area Health Service (AHS) was diverse, inconsistent and sometimes outdated. This was costly and harmful, leading to overuse of unhelpful care, underuse of effective care and errors in execution. The major aim was to improve the outcomes and quality of life for patients with wound care problems within our community. A collaborative across ten sites/services developed, implemented and evaluated policies and guidelines based on evidence-based bundles of care. Key barriers were local resistance and lack of experience in implementing structural and cultural changes. This was addressed by appointing a wound care programme manager, commissioning of a strategic oversight committee and local wound care committees. The techniques of spread and adoption were used, with early adopters making changes observable and allowing local adaption of guidelines, where appropriate. Deployment and improvement results varied across the sites, ranging from activity but no changes in practice to modest improvement in practice. Evaluating implementation of the leg ulcer guideline as an exemplar, it was demonstrated that there was a statistically significant improvement in overall compliance from 26% to 84%. However, only 7·7% of patients received all interventions to which they were entitled. Compliance with the eight individual interventions of the bundle ranged from 26% to 84%. Generic performance was evaluated against the wound assessment, treatment and evaluation plan with an average compliance of 70%. Early results identified that 20% of wounds were healed within the target of 10 days. As more standardised process are implemented, clinical outcomes should continue to improve and costs decrease. © 2011 The Authors. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and

Best management practices for nutrient and sediment retention in urban stormwater runoff.

PubMed

Hogan, Dianna M; Walbridge, Mark R

2007-01-01

Stormwater management infrastructure is utilized in urban areas to alleviate flooding caused by decreased landscape permeability from increased impervious surface cover (ISC) construction. In this study, we examined two types of stormwater detention basins, SDB-BMPs (stormwater detention basin-best management practice), and SDB-FCs (stormwater detention basin-flood control). Both are constructed to retain peak stormwater flows for flood mitigation. However, the SDB-BMPs are also designed using basin topography and wetland vegetation to provide water quality improvement (nutrient and sediment removal and retention). The objective of this study was to compare SDB (both SDB-BMP and SDB-FC) surface soil P concentrations, P saturation, and Fe chemistry with natural riparian wetlands (RWs), using sites in Fairfax County, Virginia as a model system. The SDB-BMPs had significantly greater surface soil total P (P(t)) concentrations than the RWs and SDB-FCs (831.9 +/- 32.5 kg ha(-1), 643.3 +/- 19.1 kg ha(-1), and 652.1 +/- 18.8 kg ha(-1), respectively). The soil P sorption capacities of SDB-BMPs were similar to the RWs, and were greater than those of SDB-FCs, appearing to result in greater soil P removal and retention in SDB-BMPs compared with SDB-FCs. Increased Fe concentrations and relatively greater amounts of more crystalline forms of Fe in SDB-BMP soils suggested increased sediment deposition compared with RW and SDB-FC soils. Data suggest that SDB nutrient and sediment retention is facilitated in SDB-BMPs. When stormwater management is necessary, use of SDB-BMPs instead of SDB-FCs could foster more responsible urban development and be an appropriate mitigation action for receiving aquatic ecosystems.

Best management practices for nutrient and sediment retention in urban stormwater runoff

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hogan, D.M.; Walbridge, M.R.

2007-01-01

Stormwater management infrastructure is utilized in urban areas to alleviate flooding caused by decreased landscape permeability from increased impervious surface cover (ISC) construction. In this study, we examined two types of stormwater detention basins, SDB-BMPs (stormwater detention basin-best management practice), and SDB-FCs (stormwater detention basin-flood control). Both are constructed to retain peak stormwater flows for flood mitigation. However, the SDB-BMPs are also designed using basin topography and wetland vegetation to provide water quality improvement (nutrient and sediment removal and retention). The objective of this study was to compare SDB (both SDB-BMP and SDB-FC) surface soil P concentrations, P saturation, and Fe chemistry with natural riparian wetlands (RWs), using sites in Fairfax County, Virginia as a model system. The SDB-BMPs had significantly greater surface soil total P (Pt) concentrations than the RWs and SDB-FCs (831.9 ?? 32.5 kg ha-1, 643.3 ?? 19.1 kg ha-1, and 652.1 ?? 18.8 kg ha-1, respectively). The soil P sorption capacities of SDB-BMPs were similar to the RWs, and were greater than those of SDB-FCs, appearing to result in greater soil P removal and retention in SDB-BMPs compared with SDB-FCs. Increased Fe concentrations and relatively greater amounts of more crystalline forms of Fe in SDB-BMP soils suggested increased sediment deposition compared with RW and SDB-FC soils. Data suggest that SDB nutrient and sediment retention is facilitated in SDB-BMPs. When stormwater management is necessary, use of SDB-BMPs instead of SDB-FCs could foster more responsible urban development and be an appropriate mitigation action for receiving aquatic ecosystems. ?? ASA, CSSA, SSSA.

Evaluating Best Practices for Video Tutorials: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeks, Thomas; Putnam Davis, Jennifer

2017-01-01

This article will explore one library's experience creating best practices for the creation of video tutorials. First, a literature review establishes the best practices other creators have used. Then, the authors apply these best practices to the creation of their first video tutorial. Finally, they evaluate the usefulness of each practice in…

Estimation of phosphorous loss from agricultural land in the Heartland region of the U.S.A. using the APEX model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Accurate phosphorus (P) loss estimation from agricultural land is important for development of best management practices and protection of water quality. The Agricultural Policy/Environmental Extender (APEX) model is a powerful simulation model designed to simulate edge-of-field water, sediment, an...

Effects of conservation practices on fisheries management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Beasley Lake watershed was subjected to a series of conservation management practices with the goal of reducing sediment and nutrients entering the lake via agricultural runoff. Concurrent with the application of conservation practices, the lake was renovated and restocked to produce a sports fishe...

Assessing Sediment Yield and the Effect of Best Management Practices on Sediment Yield Reduction for Tutuila Island, American Samoa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leta, O. T.; Dulai, H.; El-Kadi, A. I.

2017-12-01

Upland soil erosion and sedimentation are the main threats for riparian and coastal reef ecosystems in Pacific islands. Here, due to small size of the watersheds and steep slope, the residence time of rainfall runoff and its suspended load is short. Fagaalu bay, located on the island of Tutuila (American Samoa) has been identified as a priority watershed, due to degraded coral reef condition and reduction of stream water quality from heavy anthropogenic activity yielding high nutrients and sediment loads to the receiving water bodies. This study aimed to estimate the sediment yield to the Fagaalu stream and assess the impact of Best Management Practices (BMP) on sediment yield reduction. For this, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied, calibrated, and validated for both daily streamflow and sediment load simulation. The model also estimated the sediment yield contributions from existing land use types of Fagaalu and identified soil erosion prone areas for introducing BMP scenarios in the watershed. Then, three BMP scenarios, such as stone bund, retention pond, and filter strip were treated on bare (quarry area), agricultural, and shrub land use types. It was found that the bare land with quarry activity yielded the highest annual average sediment yield of 133 ton per hectare (t ha-1) followed by agriculture (26.1 t ha-1) while the lowest sediment yield of 0.2 t ha-1 was estimated for the forested part of the watershed. Additionally, the bare land area (2 ha) contributed approximately 65% (207 ha) of the watershed's sediment yield, which is 4.0 t ha-1. The latter signifies the high impact as well as contribution of anthropogenic activity on sediment yield. The use of different BMP scenarios generally reduced the sediment yield to the coastal reef of Fagaalu watershed. However, treating the quarry activity area with stone bund showed the highest sediment yield reduction as compared to the other two BMP scenarios. This study provides an estimate

Towards port best practices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-03-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore what can be done to improve the efficiency of ports in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region to world best practice standards, and to reduce costs, thereby removing local inhibitors to international trade....

Time-lagged response of carabid species richness and composition to past management practices and landscape context of semi-natural field margins.

PubMed

Alignier, Audrey; Aviron, Stéphanie

2017-12-15

Field margins are key features for the maintenance of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Little is known about the effects of management practices of old semi-natural field margins, and their historical dimension regarding past management practices and landscape context is rarely considered. In this paper, the relative influence of recent and past management practices and landscape context (during the last five years) were assessed on the local biodiversity (species richness and composition) of carabid assemblages of field margins in agricultural landscapes of northwestern France. The results showed that recent patterns of carabid species richness and composition were best explained by management practices and landscape context measured four or five years ago. It suggests the existence of a time lag in the response of carabid assemblages to past environmental conditions of field margins. The relative contribution of past management practices and past landscape context varied depending on the spatial scale at which landscape context was taken into account. Carabid species richness was higher in grazed or sprayed field margins probably due to increased heterogeneity in habitat conditions. Field margins surrounded by grasslands and crops harbored species associated with open habitats whilst forest species dominated field margins surrounded by woodland. Landscape effect was higher at fine spatial scale, within 50 m around field margins. The present study highlights the importance of considering time-lagged responses of biodiversity when managing environment. It also suggests that old semi-natural field margins should not be considered as undisturbed habitats but more as management units being part of farming activities in agricultural landscapes, as for arable fields. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

USDA Snack Policy Implementation: Best Practices From the Front Lines, United States, 2013-2014.

PubMed

Asada, Yuka; Chriqui, Jamie; Chavez, Noel; Odoms-Young, Angela; Handler, Arden

2016-06-16

The Smart Snacks in Schools interim final rule was promulgated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as authorized by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (PL 111-296) and implementation commenced beginning July 1, 2014; however, in the years leading up to this deadline, national studies suggested that most schools were far from meeting the USDA standards. Evidence to guide successful implementation of the standards is needed. This study examined snack policy implementation in exemplary high schools to learn best practices for implementation. Guided by a multiple case study approach, school professionals (n = 37) from 9 high schools across 8 states were recruited to be interviewed about perceptions of school snack implementation; schools were selected using criterion sampling on the basis of the HealthierUS Schools Challenge: Smarter Lunchrooms (HUSSC: SL) database. Interview transcripts and internal documents were organized and coded in ATLAS.Ti v7; 2 researchers coded and analyzed data using a constant comparative analysis method to identify best practice themes. Best practices for snack policy implementation included incorporating the HUSSC: SL award's comprehensive wellness approach; leveraging state laws or district policies to reinforce snack reform initiatives; creating strong internal and external partnerships; and crafting positive and strategic communications. Implementation of snack policies requires evidence of successful experiences from those on the front lines. As federal, state, and local technical assistance entities work to ensure implementation of the Smart Snacks standards, these best practices provide strategies to facilitate the process.

Pathogen reduction co-benefits of nutrient best management practices

PubMed Central

Wainger, Lisa A.; Barber, Mary C.

2016-01-01

Background Many of the practices currently underway to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads entering the Chesapeake Bay have also been observed to support reduction of disease-causing pathogen loadings. We quantify how implementation of these practices, proposed to meet the nutrient and sediment caps prescribed by the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), could reduce pathogen loadings and provide public health co-benefits within the Chesapeake Bay system. Methods We used published data on the pathogen reduction potential of management practices and baseline fecal coliform loadings estimated as part of prior modeling to estimate the reduction in pathogen loadings to the mainstem Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay attributable to practices implemented as part of the TMDL. We then compare the estimates with the baseline loadings of fecal coliform loadings to estimate the total pathogen reduction potential of the TMDL. Results We estimate that the TMDL practices have the potential to decrease disease-causing pathogen loads from all point and non-point sources to the mainstem Potomac River and the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed by 19% and 27%, respectively. These numbers are likely to be underestimates due to data limitations that forced us to omit some practices from analysis. Discussion Based on known impairments and disease incidence rates, we conclude that efforts to reduce nutrients may create substantial health co-benefits by improving the safety of water-contact recreation and seafood consumption. PMID:27904807

Monitoring changes in soil organic carbon pools, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur under different agricultural management practices in the tropics.

PubMed

Verma, Bibhash C; Datta, Siba Prasad; Rattan, Raj K; Singh, Anil K

2010-12-01

Soil organic matter not only affects sustainability of agricultural ecosystems, but also extremely important in maintaining overall quality of environment as soil contains a significant part of global carbon stock. Hence, we attempted to assess the influence of different tillage and nutrient management practices on various stabilized and active soil organic carbon pools, and their contribution to the extractable nitrogen phosphorus and sulfur. Our study confined to the assessment of impact of agricultural management practices on the soil organic carbon pools and extractable nutrients under three important cropping systems, viz. soybean-wheat, maize-wheat, and rice-wheat. Results indicated that there was marginal improvement in Walkley and Black content in soil under integrated and organic nutrient management treatments in soybean-wheat, maize-wheat, and rice-wheat after completion of four cropping cycles. Improvement in stabilized pools of soil organic carbon (SOC) was not proportional to the applied amount of organic manures. While, labile pools of SOC were increased with the increase in amount of added manures. Apparently, green manure (Sesbania) was more effective in enhancing the lability of SOC as compared to farmyard manure and crop residues. The KMnO(4)-oxidizable SOC proved to be more sensitive and consistent as an index of labile pool of SOC compared to microbial biomass carbon. Under different cropping sequences, labile fractions of soil organic carbon exerted consistent positive effect on the extractable nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in soil.

Leadership Coaching: Coaching Competencies and Best Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Donald; Hammack, Marc

2011-01-01

Leadership coaching is now seen as a valuable tool to assist school leaders. Through a survey of school principals, this study identified specific coaching competencies used by leadership coaches that were perceived by principals to influence key best practices for schools. These best practices have in turn been correlated to increased student…

Agricultural Mechanics Laboratory Management Professional Development Needs of Wyoming Secondary Agriculture Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKim, Billy R.; Saucier, P. Ryan

2011-01-01

Accidents happen; however, the likelihood of accidents occurring in the agricultural mechanics laboratory is greatly reduced when agricultural mechanics laboratory facilities are managed by secondary agriculture teachers who are competent and knowledgeable. This study investigated the agricultural mechanics laboratory management in-service needs…

Toward optimal soil organic carbon sequestration with effects of agricultural management practices and climate change in Tai-Lake paddy soils of China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Liming; Zhuang, Qianlai; He, Yujie

Understanding the impacts of climate change and agricultural management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics is critical for implementing optimal farming practices and maintaining agricultural productivity. This study examines the influence of climate and agricultural management on carbon sequestration potentials in Tai-Lake Paddy soils of China using the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model, with a high-resolution soil database (1:50,000). Model simulations considered the effects of no tillage, increasing manure application, increasing/decreasing of N-fertilizer application and crop residues, water management, and climatic shifts in temperature and precipitation. We found that the carbon sequestration potential for the 2.32 Mha paddy soils of themore » Tai-Lake region varied from 4.71 to 44.31 Tg C during the period 2001-2019, with an annual average SOC changes ranged from 107 to 1005 kg C ha -1 yr -1. The sequestration potential significantly increased with increasing application of N-fertilizer, manure, conservation tillage, and crop residues. To increase soil C sequestration in this region, no-tillage and increasing of crop residue return to soils and manure application are recommended. Our analysis of climate impacts on SOC sequestration suggests that the rice paddies in this region will continue to be a carbon sink under future warming conditions. In addition, because the region’s annual precipitation (>1200 mm) is high, we also recommend reducing irrigation water use for these rice paddies to conserve freshwater in the Tai-Lake region.« less

Cyber Intelligence: Challenges and Best Practices

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-15

2015 2 . REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Cyber Intelligence Challenges and Best Practices 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b...ANSI Std Z39-18 2 Cyber Intel – Challenges and Best Practices January 2015 © 2015 Carnegie Mellon University Copyright 2015 Carnegie Mellon University...University Reporting timelines Gov’t Agency 1 Gov’t Agency 2 Gov’t Agency 3 Gov’t Agency 4 Urgent Normal Strategic 2 -4 Hours 1 Day 1 Month 1 Day 2

"Best Practice"--The Enemy of Better Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ermeling, Bradley A.; Hiebert, James; Gallimore, Ronald

2015-01-01

The term "best practice" is widely used throughout education despite lack of evidence or consensus concerning which practices are "best." The pervasive use of this term creates three problems. First, it promotes a plug-and-play approach, in which teachers are encouraged to adopt new methods and use them as much as possible but…

Improving agricultural knowledge management: The AgTrials experience

PubMed Central

Hyman, Glenn; Espinosa, Herlin; Camargo, Paola; Abreu, David; Devare, Medha; Arnaud, Elizabeth; Porter, Cheryl; Mwanzia, Leroy; Sonder, Kai; Traore, Sibiry

2017-01-01

Background: Opportunities to use data and information to address challenges in international agricultural research and development are expanding rapidly. The use of agricultural trial and evaluation data has enormous potential to improve crops and management practices. However, for a number of reasons, this potential has yet to be realized. This paper reports on the experience of the AgTrials initiative, an effort to build an online database of agricultural trials applying principles of interoperability and open access. Methods: Our analysis evaluates what worked and what did not work in the development of the AgTrials information resource. We analyzed data on our users and their interaction with the platform. We also surveyed our users to gauge their perceptions of the utility of the online database. Results: The study revealed barriers to participation and impediments to interaction, opportunities for improving agricultural knowledge management and a large potential for the use of trial and evaluation data.  Conclusions: Technical and logistical mechanisms for developing interoperable online databases are well advanced.  More effort will be needed to advance organizational and institutional work for these types of databases to realize their potential. PMID:28580127

Aligning Best Practices to Develop Targeted Critical Thinking Skills and Habits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heft, Ilea E.; Scharff, Lauren F. V.

2017-01-01

This project evaluated the effectiveness of a course design within an upper-level biology course that incorporated what prior scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) research has suggested to be best practices for developing critical thinking skills while also managing the grading load on the instructor. These efforts centered on the…

Variability of Total Below Ground Carbon Allocation amongst Common Agricultural Land Management Practices: a Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wacha, K. M.; Papanicolaou, T.; Wilson, C. G.

2010-12-01

Field measurements and numerical models are currently being used to estimate quantities of Total Belowground Carbon Allocation (TBCA) for three representative land uses, viz. corn, soybeans, and prairie bromegrass for CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) of an agricultural Iowa sub-watershed, located within the Clear Creek Watershed (CCW). Since it is difficult to measure TBCA directly, a mass balance approach has been implemented to estimate TBCA as follows: TBCA = FS + FE+ Δ(CS + CR + CL) - FA , where the term Fs denotes soil respiration; FE is the carbon content of the eroded/deposited soil; ΔCS, ΔCR, ΔCL denote the changes in carbon content of the mineral soil, plant roots, and litter layer, respectively; and FA is the above ground litter fall of dead plant material to the soil. The terms are hypothesized to have a huge impact on TBCA within agricultural settings due to intensive tillage practices, water-driven soil erosion/deposition, and high usage of fertilizer. To test our hypothesis, field measurements are being performed at the plot scale, replicating common agricultural land management practices. Soil respiration (FS) is being measured with an EGM-4 CO2 Gas Analyzer and SRC-1 Soil Respiration Chamber (PP Systems), soil moisture and temperature are recorded in the top 20 cm for each respective soil respiration measurement, and litter fall rates (FA) are acquired by collecting the residue in a calibrated pan. The change in carbon content of the soil (ΔCS), roots (ΔCR) and litter layer (ΔCL) are being analyzed by collecting soil samples throughout the life cycle of the plant. To determine the term FE for the three representative land management practices, a funnel collection system located at the plot outlet was used for collecting the eroded material after natural rainfall events. Field measurements of TBCA at the plot scale via the mass balance approach are used to calibrate the numerical agronomic process model DAYCENT, which simulates the daily

Understanding perceptions of stakeholder groups about Forestry Best Management Practices in Georgia.

PubMed

Tumpach, Chantal; Dwivedi, Puneet; Izlar, Robert; Cook, Chase

2018-05-01

Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) are critical in ensuring sustainable forest management in the United States because of their effectiveness in protecting water quality, reducing soil erosion, maintaining riparian habitat, and sustaining site productivity. The success of forestry BMPs depends heavily on coordination among primary stakeholder groups. It is important to understand perceptions of such groups for a successful forest policy formulation. We used the SWOT-AHP (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis with the Analytical Hierarchy Process) framework to assess perceptions of three stakeholder groups (loggers, landowners, agency foresters) about forestry BMPs in Georgia, the largest roundwood producing state in the United States. The agency and logger stakeholder groups gave the highest priority to improved reputation under the strength category, whereas the landowner stakeholder group perceived sustainable forestry as the highest priority under the same category. Lack of landowner education was the highest priority under the weakness category for landowner and agency stakeholder groups, whereas the logger stakeholder group selected lack of trained personnel as the highest priority under the same category. Agency and landowner stakeholder groups gave the highest priority to training and education while loggers indicated maintenance of forest-based environmental benefits as their highest priority under the opportunity category. Finally, landowners and agency stakeholder groups perceived more regulations and restrictions as most significant in the threat category whereas the logger stakeholder group was most concerned about the insufficient accounting of cost sharing under the same category. Overall, selected stakeholder groups recognize the importance of forestry BMPs and had positive perceptions about them. A collaborative approach based on continuous feedback can streamline expectations of stakeholder groups about forestry BMPs in

Estrogenicity and Nutrient Concentration of Surface Waters Surrounding a Large Confinement Dairy Operation Using Best Management Practices for Land Application of Animal Wastes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The impact of a confinement dairy operation (> 2,000 head) using best management practices for land application of animal wastes, on estrogenic activity (E-Screen), estrogens, and nutrients of associated surface waters and tile drain runoff were evaluated. Farm tile drain and creek samples were col...

Landuse and agricultural management practice web-service (LAMPS) for agroecosystem modeling and conservation planning

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agroecosystem models and conservation planning tools require spatially and temporally explicit input data about agricultural management operations. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is developing a Land Management and Operation Database (LMOD) which contains potential model input, howe...

Soil pollution at outdoor shooting ranges: Health effects, bioavailability and best management practices.

PubMed

Fayiga, A O; Saha, U K

2016-09-01

The total lead (Pb) concentrations of the surface soil, sub surface soil, vegetation and surface waters of outdoor shooting ranges are extremely high and above regulatory limits. Lead is dangerous at high concentrations and can cause a variety of serious health problems. Shooters and range workers are exposed to lead dust and can even take Pb dust home to their families while some animals around the shooting range can ingest the Pb bullets. The toxicity of Pb depends on its bioavailability which has been determined to be influenced greatly by the geochemical properties of each site. The bioavailability of Pb in shooting ranges has been found to be higher than other metal contaminated soils probably because of its very low residual Pb (<1%). Despite being an immobile element in the soil, migration of Pb within shooting ranges and offsite has been reported in literature. Best management practices to reduce mobility of Pb in shooting ranges involve an integrated Pb management program which has been described in the paper. The adoption of the non-toxic "green bullet" which has been developed to replace Pb bullets may reduce or prevent environmental pollution at shooting ranges. However, the contaminated soil resulting from decades of operation of several shooting ranges still needs to be restored to its natural state. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forecasting biodiversity in breeding birds using best practices

PubMed Central

Taylor, Shawn D.; White, Ethan P.

2018-01-01

Biodiversity forecasts are important for conservation, management, and evaluating how well current models characterize natural systems. While the number of forecasts for biodiversity is increasing, there is little information available on how well these forecasts work. Most biodiversity forecasts are not evaluated to determine how well they predict future diversity, fail to account for uncertainty, and do not use time-series data that captures the actual dynamics being studied. We addressed these limitations by using best practices to explore our ability to forecast the species richness of breeding birds in North America. We used hindcasting to evaluate six different modeling approaches for predicting richness. Hindcasts for each method were evaluated annually for a decade at 1,237 sites distributed throughout the continental United States. All models explained more than 50% of the variance in richness, but none of them consistently outperformed a baseline model that predicted constant richness at each site. The best practices implemented in this study directly influenced the forecasts and evaluations. Stacked species distribution models and “naive” forecasts produced poor estimates of uncertainty and accounting for this resulted in these models dropping in the relative performance compared to other models. Accounting for observer effects improved model performance overall, but also changed the rank ordering of models because it did not improve the accuracy of the “naive” model. Considering the forecast horizon revealed that the prediction accuracy decreased across all models as the time horizon of the forecast increased. To facilitate the rapid improvement of biodiversity forecasts, we emphasize the value of specific best practices in making forecasts and evaluating forecasting methods. PMID:29441230

Hydrology and the hypothetical effects of reducing nutrient applications of water quality in the Bald Eagle Creek Headwaters, southeastern Pennsylvania prior to implementation of agricultural best-management practices

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fishel, D.K.; Langland, M.J.; Truhlar, M.V.

1991-01-01

The report characterizes a 0.43-square-mile agricultural watershed in York County, underlain by albite-chlorite and oligoclase-mica schist in the Lower Susquehanna River basin, that is being studied as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program. The water quality of Bald Eagle Creek was studied from October 1985 through September 1987 prior to the implementation of Best-Management Practices to reduce nutrient and sediment discharge into Muddy Creek, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. About 88 percent of the watershed is cropland and pasture, and nearly 33 percent of the cropland is used for corn. The animal population is entirely dairy cattle. About 85,640 pounds of nitrogen (460 pounds per acre) and 21,800 pounds of phosphorus (117 pounds per acre) were applied to fields; 52 percent of the nitrogen and 69 percent of the phosphorus was from commercial fertilizer. Prior to fertilization, nitrate nitrogen in the soil ranged from 36 to 136 pounds per acre and phosphorus ranged from 0.89 to 5.7 pounds per acre in the top 4 feet of soil. Precipitation was about 18 percent below normal and streamflow about 35 percent below normal during the 2-year study. Eighty-four percent of the 20.44 inches of runoff was base flow. Median concentrations of total nitrogen and dissolved phosphorous in base flow were 0.05 and 0.04 milligrams per liter as phosphorus, respectively. Concentrations of dissolved nitrate in base flow increased following wet periods after crops were harvested and manure was applied. During the growing season, concentrations decreased similarly to those observed in carbonate-rock areas as nutrient uptake and evapotranspiration by corn increased. About 4,550 pounds of suspended sediment, 5,250 pounds of nitrogen, and 66.6 pounds of phosphorus discharged in base flow during the 2-year period. The suspended sediment load was about 232,000 pounds in stormflow from 26 storms that contributed 51 percent of the total stormflow. The

Consensus best practice pathway of the UK Scleroderma Study Group: digital vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis.

PubMed

Hughes, Michael; Ong, Voon H; Anderson, Marina E; Hall, Frances; Moinzadeh, Pia; Griffiths, Bridget; Baildam, Eileen; Denton, Christopher P; Herrick, Ariane L

2015-11-01

Digital vasculopathy (comprising RP, digital ulceration and critical digital ischaemia) is responsible for much of the pain and disability experienced by patients with SSc. However, there is a limited evidence base to guide clinicians in the management of SSc-related digital vasculopathy. Our aim was to produce recommendations that would be helpful for clinicians, especially for those managing patients outside specialist centres. The UK Scleroderma Study Group set up several working groups to develop a number of consensus best practice pathways for the management of SSc-specific complications, including digital vasculopathy. This overview presents the background and best practice consensus pathways for SSc-related RP, digital ulceration and critical ischaemia. Examples of drug therapies, including doses, are suggested in order to inform prescribing practice. A number of treatment algorithms are provided that are intended to provide the clinician with accessible reference tools for use in daily management. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Best Practices in Mentoring in NOAA Scholarship Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, M.; Sarvis, S.; Dancy, V.

2015-12-01

Through established scholarship programs, NOAA hosts 125 - 175 undergraduate students each summer to participate in internship opportunities at agency facilities. In order to host a scholar, NOAA labs and offices must designate a mentor who develops a project and oversees activities of the student throughout the summer. NOAA implements best practices in mentoring in the following ways: mentor and intern responsibilities are clearly defined in a manual; mentors are required to take an online mentor training class; mentors and scholars are matched through an online system and scholars conduct a site visit prior to beginning the internship; proposed internship projects are reviewed by scholarship program managers to assure they are sufficiently analytical and will advance the student in their future academic and career goals; and mentors are surveyed at the midpoint, allowing scholarship program managers to identify problems and intervene if possible. These practices have resulted in strong results. Students identify the mentor relationship, hands-on experience and networking with professionals as the three most important outcomes of the internship experience.

Interactive effects of agricultural management and topography on soil carbon sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ladoni, M.; Kravchenko, S.; Munoz, J.; Erickson, M.

2012-12-01

Proper agricultural management scenarios such as no-tillage, cover cropping, agroforestry, have demonstrated potential to increase the amount of carbon sequestered in soil and to mitigate atmospheric carbon levels. The knowledge about positive effects of cover cropping comes mostly from small uniform experimental plots, but whether these positive effects will exists in large scale fields with diverse topography and what would be the magnitude of these effects on a field scale remains to be seen. Our objective is to compare performance of different agricultural managements including those with cover crops in their influences on SOC across diverse topographical landscape in large agricultural fields. The three studied agricultural practices are Conventionally tilled and fertilized management without cover crops (T1), Low-input management with reduced chemical inputs (T3) and Organic (T4) management, the latter two have rye and red clover cover crops as part of their rotations. Within each field 1- 4 transects with three topographical positions of "depression", "slope" and "summit" were identified. The first soil sampling was done in spring 2010 and the second set of soil samples were collected from topographical positions during growing season of 2011. Samples were analyzed for total SOC and also particulate organic carbon (POC) content to show the changes in active pools of SOC. The results showed that topography has a significant influence in performance of cover crops. Agricultural managements with cover crops increased the POC in soil and the magnitude of this increase was different across space. Cover crops built the highest POC in depressions followed by summit and then slope. The conventional agricultural management increased POC in depression but decreased it on slopes. Low-input agricultural management when coupled with cover cropping has a potential to produce the highest increase in active pools of SOC across topographically diverse fields. The ratio of

Assessment and Monitoring of Nutrient Management in Irrigated Agriculture for Groundwater Quality Protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harter, T.; Davis, R.; Smart, D. R.; Brown, P. H.; Dzurella, K.; Bell, A.; Kourakos, G.

2017-12-01

Nutrient fluxes to groundwater have been subject to regulatory assessment and control only in a limited number of countries, including those in the European Union, where the Water Framework Directive requires member countries to manage groundwater basis toward achieving "good status", and California, where irrigated lands will be subject to permitting, stringent nutrient monitoring requirements, and development of practices that are protective of groundwater. However, research activities to rigorously assess agricultural practices for their impact on groundwater have been limited and instead focused on surface water protection. For groundwater-related assessment of agricultural practices, a wide range of modeling tools has been employed: vulnerability studies, nitrogen mass balance assessments, crop-soil-system models, and various statistical tools. These tools are predominantly used to identify high risk regions, practices, or crops. Here we present the development of a field site for rigorous in-situ evaluation of water and nutrient management practices in an irrigated agricultural setting. Integrating groundwater monitoring into agricultural practice assessment requires large research plots (on the order of 10s to 100s of hectares) and multi-year research time-frames - much larger than typical agricultural field research plots. Almonds are among the most common crops in California with intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer and were selected for their high water quality improvement potential. Availability of an orchard site with relatively vulnerable groundwater conditions (sandy soils, water table depth less than 10 m) was also important in site selection. Initial results show that shallow groundwater concentrations are commensurate with nitrogen leaching estimates obtained by considering historical, long-term field nitrogen mass balance and groundwater dynamics.

Best practice principles for management of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): results of a scoping review.

PubMed

Camden, C; Wilson, B; Kirby, A; Sugden, D; Missiuna, C

2015-01-01

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent health condition that is frequently unrecognized despite the substantial evidence that has accumulated regarding how it affects children's health, education and skills. Most literature focuses on measurement of impairment and description of intervention approaches for individual children; little is known about the principles that should guide best practice and service delivery for children with DCD as a population. The purpose of this study was to identify these principles. A scoping review was used to 'map' the information available to inform intervention and service delivery. Scholarly and grey literature written in English was identified in six databases, using a combination of keywords (e.g. guidelines, management, models and DCD); a 'snow-balling' technique was also used in Canada and the UK to access clinical protocols used in publicly funded health care systems. Over 500 documents were screened: 31 met inclusion criteria as they outlined practice principles for children with DCD as a population. Data regarding best practices were independently extracted by two reviewers and then compared with achieve consistency and consensus. Two over-arching themes emerged, with five principles: (1) Organizing services to efficiently meet the comprehensive needs of children (e.g. Increasing awareness of DCD and coordination; Implementing clearly defined pathways; Using a graduated/staged approach); (2) Working collaboratively to offer evidence-based services (e.g. Integration of child and family views; Evidence-based interventions fostering function, participation and prevention). Numerous documents support each of the principles, reflecting agreement across studies about recommended organization of services. While these principles may apply to many populations of children with disabilities, this review highlights how essential these principles are in DCD. Researchers, managers, clinicians, community partners and

Sustainable agricultural water management across climates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeVincentis, A.

2016-12-01

Fresh water scarcity is a global problem with local solutions. Agriculture is one of many human systems threatened by water deficits, and faces unique supply, demand, quality, and management challenges as the global climate changes and population grows. Sustainable agricultural water management is paramount to protecting global economies and ecosystems, but requires different approaches based on environmental conditions, social structures, and resource availability. This research compares water used by conservation agriculture in temperate and tropical agroecosystems through data collected from operations growing strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, and pistachios in California and corn and soybeans in Colombia. The highly manipulated hydrologic regime in California has depleted water resources and incited various adaptive management strategies, varying based on crop type and location throughout the state. Operations have to use less water more efficiently, and sometimes that means fallowing land in select groundwater basins. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the largely untouched landscape in the eastern plains of Colombia are rapidly being converted into commercial agricultural operations, with a unique opportunity to manage and plan for agricultural development with sustainability in mind. Although influenced by entirely different climates and economies, there are some similarities in agricultural water management strategies that could be applicable worldwide. Cover crops are a successful management strategy for both agricultural regimes, and moving forward it appears that farmers who work in coordination with their neighbors to plan for optimal production will be most successful in both locations. This research points to the required coordination of agricultural extension services as a critical component to sustainable water use, successful economies, and protected environments.

Management of dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia in patients undergoing chemotherapy in an outpatient setting: a best practice implementation project.

PubMed

Sinaga, Gery; de Koeijer, Elizabeth

2018-04-01

The objective of this project was to implement best practice in an outpatient clinical setting in order to increase both nursing staff and patients' knowledge and awareness on the importance of blood sugar management during chemotherapy and to show that through compliance with best practice, the incidence of dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia during chemotherapy can be minimized. Steroid-induced hyperglycemia is a commonly neglected symptom in cancer treatment, contributing to poor patient prognosis and extended hospital stay. Evidence shows that controlled blood sugar during chemotherapy is associated with improved patient outcomes and better tolerance to cancer treatment. For the purpose of this paper steroid-induced hyperglycemia will be referred to as dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia. This project utilized the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System (JBI-PACES) and Getting Research into Practice (GRiP) audit tools to promote compliance in the clinical setting. Thirty patients participated in the audit, which was executed by nursing staff in the Medical Oncology Outpatient Unit at the Cancer Ambulatory and Community Health Support Department at the Canberra Hospital. The baseline audit revealed large gaps between best practice and current practice. This underlined the need for more education for both nursing staff and patients. Other barriers such as the absence of assessment and documentation by the clinicians and the minimum number of potential referrals to the diabetes educator were addressed by encouraging patients to speak about their diabetes, and also in the development of a simplified referral process in order to have patients reviewed by the Diabetes Educator in a timely manner. There were significant improvements after more information sessions were held and more resources made available to both nursing staff and patients, but there were also minimal to zero compliance drop on parts of the follow-up audit. In an

Reducing accounts receivable through benchmarking and best practices identification.

PubMed

Berkey, T

1998-01-01

As HIM professionals look for ways to become more competitive and achieve the best results, the importance of discovering best practices becomes more apparent. Here's how one team used a benchmarking project to provide specific best practices that reduced accounts receivable days.

'Best practice' development and transfer in the NHS: the importance of process as well as product knowledge.

PubMed

Newell, Sue; Edelman, Linda; Scarbrough, Harry; Swan, Jacky; Bresnen, Mike

2003-02-01

A core prescription from the knowledge management movement is that the successful management of organizational knowledge will prevent firms from 'reinventing the wheel', in particular through the transfer of 'best practices'. Our findings challenge this logic. They suggest instead that knowledge is emergent and enacted in practice, and that normally those involved in a given practice have only a partial understanding of the overall practice. Generating knowledge about current practice is therefore a precursor to changing that practice. In this sense, knowledge transfer does not occur independently of or in sequence to knowledge generation, but instead the process of knowledge generation and its transfer are inexorably intertwined. Thus, rather than transferring 'product' knowledge about the new 'best practice' per se, our analysis suggests that it is more useful to transfer 'process' knowledge about effective ways to generate the knowledge of existing practice, which is the essential starting point for attempts to change that practice.

An Infrastructure for Indexing and Organizing Best Practices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Liming; Staples, Mark; Gorton, Ian

Industry best practices are widely held but not necessarily empirically verified software engineering beliefs. Best practices can be documented in distributed web-based public repositories as pattern catalogues or practice libraries. There is a need to systematically index and organize these practices to enable their better practical use and scientific evaluation. In this paper, we propose a semi-automatic approach to index and organise best practices. A central repository acts as an information overlay on top of other pre-existing resources to facilitate organization, navigation, annotation and meta-analysis while maintaining synchronization with those resources. An initial population of the central repository is automatedmore » using Yahoo! contextual search services. The collected data is organized using semantic web technologies so that the data can be more easily shared and used for innovative analyses. A prototype has demonstrated the capability of the approach.« less

Groundwater pumping effects on contaminant loading management in agricultural regions.

PubMed

Park, Dong Kyu; Bae, Gwang-Ok; Kim, Seong-Kyun; Lee, Kang-Kun

2014-06-15

Groundwater pumping changes the behavior of subsurface water, including the location of the water table and characteristics of the flow system, and eventually affects the fate of contaminants, such as nitrate from agricultural fertilizers. The objectives of this study were to demonstrate the importance of considering the existing pumping conditions for contaminant loading management and to develop a management model to obtain a contaminant loading design more appropriate and practical for agricultural regions where groundwater pumping is common. Results from this study found that optimal designs for contaminant loading could be determined differently when the existing pumping conditions were considered. This study also showed that prediction of contamination and contaminant loading management without considering pumping activities might be unrealistic. Motivated by these results, a management model optimizing the permissible on-ground contaminant loading mass together with pumping rates was developed and applied to field investigation and monitoring data from Icheon, Korea. The analytical solution for 1-D unsaturated solute transport was integrated with the 3-D saturated solute transport model in order to approximate the fate of contaminants loaded periodically from on-ground sources. This model was further expanded to manage agricultural contaminant loading in regions where groundwater extraction tends to be concentrated in a specific period of time, such as during the rice-growing season, using a method that approximates contaminant leaching to a fluctuating water table. The results illustrated that the simultaneous management of groundwater quantity and quality was effective and appropriate to the agricultural contaminant loading management and the model developed in this study, which can consider time-variant pumping, could be used to accurately estimate and to reasonably manage contaminant loading in agricultural areas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All

Best practices in philanthropy in medical schools.

PubMed

Schiele, Michele

2014-08-01

This paper is for academic leaders and administrators who are interested in growing their philanthropic revenue stream. Growing the philanthropic revenue stream will be especially meaningful to leaders and administrators who have seen their other revenue streams decline or stagnate in the last few years. This paper focuses on four best practices for a high-performing development program and gives examples about how to execute on these best practices.

The Joanna Briggs Institute Best Practice Information Sheet: music as an intervention in hospitals.

PubMed

2011-03-01

This Best Practice Information Sheet aims to synthesize the best-available evidence on music as a therapeutic intervention for the management of anxiety or pain related to procedural or operative interventions. The information that is contained in this sheet has been derived from studies that were included in a systematic review that was conducted by The Joanna Briggs Institute. The original references can be sourced from the systematic review. Music as a therapeutic intervention is a development largely of the mid-20th century; however, it has existed in various forms in most cultures for many centuries. The Best Practice Information Sheet includes music-listening before a procedure or operation, during a procedure or operation, and after a procedure or operation. It excludes other forms of music therapy. Several recommendations for practice are made. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Managing Artificially Drained Low-Gradient Agricultural Headwaters for Enhanced Ecosystem Functions

PubMed Central

Pierce, Samuel C.; Kröger, Robert; Pezeshki, Reza

2012-01-01

Large tracts of lowlands have been drained to expand extensive agriculture into areas that were historically categorized as wasteland. This expansion in agriculture necessarily coincided with changes in ecosystem structure, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling. These changes have impacted not only the landscapes in which they occurred, but also larger water bodies receiving runoff from drained land. New approaches must append current efforts toward land conservation and restoration, as the continuing impacts to receiving waters is an issue of major environmental concern. One of these approaches is agricultural drainage management. This article reviews how this approach differs from traditional conservation efforts, the specific practices of drainage management and the current state of knowledge on the ecology of drainage ditches. A bottom-up approach is utilized, examining the effects of stochastic hydrology and anthropogenic disturbance on primary production and diversity of primary producers, with special regard given to how management can affect establishment of macrophytes and how macrophytes in agricultural landscapes alter their environment in ways that can serve to mitigate non-point source pollution and promote biodiversity in receiving waters. PMID:24832519

Narrative writing: Effective ways and best practices

PubMed Central

Ledade, Samir D.; Jain, Shishir N.; Darji, Ankit A.; Gupta, Vinodkumar H.

2017-01-01

A narrative is a brief summary of specific events experienced by patients, during the course of a clinical trial. Narrative writing involves multiple activities such as generation of patient profiles, review of data sources, and identification of events for which narratives are required. A sponsor outsources narrative writing activities to leverage the expertise of service providers which in turn requires effective management of resources, cost, time, quality, and overall project management. Narratives are included as an appendix to the clinical study report and are submitted to the regulatory authorities as a part of dossier. Narratives aid in the evaluation of the safety profile of the investigational drug under study. To deliver high-quality narratives within the specified timeframe to the sponsor can be achieved by standardizing processes, increasing efficiency, optimizing working capacity, implementing automation, and reducing cost. This paper focuses on effective ways to design narrative writing process and suggested best practices, which enable timely delivery of high-quality narratives to fulfill the regulatory requirement. PMID:28447014

Narrative writing: Effective ways and best practices.

PubMed

Ledade, Samir D; Jain, Shishir N; Darji, Ankit A; Gupta, Vinodkumar H

2017-01-01

A narrative is a brief summary of specific events experienced by patients, during the course of a clinical trial. Narrative writing involves multiple activities such as generation of patient profiles, review of data sources, and identification of events for which narratives are required. A sponsor outsources narrative writing activities to leverage the expertise of service providers which in turn requires effective management of resources, cost, time, quality, and overall project management. Narratives are included as an appendix to the clinical study report and are submitted to the regulatory authorities as a part of dossier. Narratives aid in the evaluation of the safety profile of the investigational drug under study. To deliver high-quality narratives within the specified timeframe to the sponsor can be achieved by standardizing processes, increasing efficiency, optimizing working capacity, implementing automation, and reducing cost. This paper focuses on effective ways to design narrative writing process and suggested best practices, which enable timely delivery of high-quality narratives to fulfill the regulatory requirement.

Phosphorous Attenuation in Urban Best Management (BMP) and Low Impact Development (LID) Practices

EPA Science Inventory

While all living organisms require phosphorous (P) to live and grow, adding too much P to the environment can cause unintended and undesirable effects, such as eutrophication of surface waters and harmful algal blooms. Urban best management (BMP) and low impact development (LI...

Evaluation of Soil Media for Stormwater Infiltration Best Management Practices (BMPs)

EPA Science Inventory

This project will improve the performance of structural management practices, and provide guidance that will allow designers to balance infiltration rates with sorption capacity. This project will also perform a standard column test procedure for evaluating candidate soil media.

Effects of agricultural land-management practices on water quality in northeastern Guilford County, North Carolina, 1985-90

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harned, Douglas A.

1995-01-01

The effects of selected agricultural land-management practices on water quality were assessed in a comparative study of four small basins in the Piedmont province of North Carolina. Agricultural practices, such as tillage and applications of fertilizer and pesticides, are major sources of sediment, nutrients, and pesticides in surface water, and of nutrients and pesticides in ground water. The four study basins included two adjacent row-crop fields, a mixed land-use basin, and a forested basin. One of the row-crop fields (7.4 acres) was farmed by using conservation land-management (CLM) practices, which included strip cropping, contour plowing, field borders, and grassed waterways. The other row-crop field (4.8 acres) was farmed by using standard land-management (SLM) practices, which included continuous cropping, straight-row plowing without regard to land topography, and poorly maintained waterways. The mixed land-use basin (665 acres) was monitored to compare water quality in surface water as SLM practices were converted to CLM practices during the project. The forested basin (44 acres) provided background surface-water hydrologic and chemical-quality conditions. Surface-water flow was reduced by 18 percent by CLM practices compared to surface-water flow from the SLM practices basin. The thickness of the unsaturated zone in the row-crop basins ranged from a few feet to 25 feet. Areas with thick unsaturated zones have a greater capacity to intercept and store nutrients and pesticides than do areas with thinner zones. Sediment concentrations and yields for the SLM practices basin were considerably higher than those for the other basins. The median sediment concentration in surface water for the SLM basin was 3.4 times that of the CLM basin, 8.2 times that of the mixed land-use basin, and 38.4 times that of the forested basin. The total sediment yield for the SLM basin was 2.3 times that observed for the CLM basin, 14.1 times that observed for the mixed land

An Analysis of Agricultural Mechanics Safety Practices in Agricultural Science Laboratories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Michael K.

North Dakota secondary agricultural mechanics instructors were surveyed regarding instructional methods and materials, safety practices, and equipment used in the agricultural mechanics laboratory. Usable responses were received from 69 of 89 instructors via self-administered mailed questionnaires. Findings were consistent with results of similar…

The Heartland Region P-Index Conservation Innovation Grant: protecting water quality through improved phosphorus management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Reducing phosphorus loss from agricultural land is important for improvement and protection of surface water quality. Agricultural models can be used to determine management impacts on P loss and therefore serve as a guide for recommending best management practices. However, the models must be comp...

Research for the development of best management practices for minimizing horse trail impacts on the Hoosier National Forest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Aust, M.W.; Marion, J.L.; Kyle, K.

2005-01-01

This research investigates horse trail impacts to gain an improved understanding of the relationship between various levels of horse use, horse trail management alternatives, and subsequent horse trail degradation. A survey of existing horse trails on the Hoosier National Forest was used to collect data on use-related, environmental and management factors to model horse trail impacts. Results are analyzed to identify which factors are most easily manipulated by managers to effectively avoid and minimize horse trail impacts. A specific focus includes evaluating the relative effect of trail use level, surfacing, grade, and water control on indices of erosion and trafficability such as trail cross sectional area, estimated erosion, muddiness, and incision. Overall, the Hoosier National Forest horse trails could be significantly improved by relocating or closing inherited trails that directly ascend slope or are excessively steep, reducing the distance between water control structures, and by applying gravel to harden trail surfaces and reduce soil erosion. A set of Best Management Practices for trails are included as a product of this work, with recommendations based on this research.

Department of Defense Best Management Practices for Munitions Constituents on Operational Ranges

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

website for updates on currently funded plant-based mitigation projects. Key Resources: Best EPH, Smith JC, Ringelberg DB. 2009. Phytoremediation of...Bruce N. 2012. Sustainable Range Management of RDX and TNT by Phytoremediation with Engineered Plants. SERDP Project ER-1498 Fact Sheet. Schnoor...J. 2011. Phytoremediation for the Containment and Treatment of Energetic and Propellant Material Releases on Testing and Training Ranges. SERDP

Insights from agriculture for the management of insecticide resistance in disease vectors.

PubMed

Sternberg, Eleanore D; Thomas, Matthew B

2018-04-01

Key to contemporary management of diseases such as malaria, dengue, and filariasis is control of the insect vectors responsible for transmission. Insecticide-based interventions have contributed to declines in disease burdens in many areas, but this progress could be threatened by the emergence of insecticide resistance in vector populations. Insecticide resistance is likewise a major concern in agriculture, where insect pests can cause substantial yield losses. Here, we explore overlaps between understanding and managing insecticide resistance in agriculture and in public health. We have used the Global Plan for Insecticide Resistance Management in malaria vectors, developed under the auspices of the World Health Organization Global Malaria Program, as a framework for this exploration because it serves as one of the few cohesive documents for managing a global insecticide resistance crisis. Generally, this comparison highlights some fundamental differences between insect control in agriculture and in public health. Moreover, we emphasize that the success of insecticide resistance management strategies is strongly dependent on the biological specifics of each system. We suggest that the biological, operational, and regulatory differences between agriculture and public health limit the wholesale transfer of knowledge and practices from one system to the other. Nonetheless, there are some valuable insights from agriculture that could assist in advancing the existing Global Plan for Insecticide Resistance Management framework.

Understanding levels of best practice: An empirical validation.

PubMed

Phan, Huy P; Ngu, Bing H; Wang, Hui-Wen; Shih, Jen-Hwa; Shi, Sheng-Ying; Lin, Ruey-Yih

2018-01-01

Recent research has explored the nature of the theoretical concept of optimal best practice, which emphasizes the importance of personal resolve, inner strength, and the maximization of a person's development, whether it is mental, cognitive, social, or physical. In the context of academia, the study of optimal functioning places emphasis on a student's effort expenditure, positive outlook, and determination to strive for educational success and enriched subjective well-being. One major inquiry closely associated with optimal functioning is the process of optimization. Optimization, in brief, delves into the enactment of different psychological variables that could improve a person's internal state of functioning (e.g., cognitive functioning). From a social sciences point of view, very little empirical evidence exists to affirm and explain a person's achievement of optimal best practice. Over the past five years, we have made extensive progress in the area of optimal best practice by developing different quantitative measures to assess and evaluate the importance of this theoretical concept. The present study, which we collaborated with colleagues in Taiwan, involved the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze a cohort of Taiwanese university students' (N = 1010) responses to a series of Likert-scale measures that focused on three major entities: (i) the importance of optimal best practice, (ii) three major psychological variables (i.e., effective functioning, personal resolve, and emotional functioning) that could optimize student' optimal best levels in academic learning, and (iii) three comparable educational outcomes (i.e., motivation towards academic learning, interest in academic learning, and academic liking experience) that could positively associate with optimal best practice and the three mentioned psychological variables. Findings that we obtained, overall, fully supported our initial a priori model. This evidence, in its totality, has made

Unwitnessed lithium ion disc battery ingestion: case report and review of best practice management of an increasing clinical concern.

PubMed

Dawe, N; Puvanendran, M; Flood, L

2013-01-01

To describe a case of unwitnessed lithium ion disc battery ingestion, with a review of radiology findings and current best practice management. A three-year-old girl presented following ingestion of a foreign body, which her four-year-old brother claimed was a one pound coin. The patient was managed non-urgently and transferred for specialist ENT assessment 6 hours following the initial ingestion, with no evidence of airway compromise. A corroded battery was removed from the level of the cricopharyngeus after 8 hours, with an associated circumferential mucosal burn. There is increasing concern regarding the acknowledged rising incidence of lithium ion disc battery ingestion. The lack of a high index of suspicion and the inability to recognise subtleties on imaging may lead to suboptimal management with a higher degree of unnecessary immediate and delayed morbidity. The recently published American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines may guide the approach to managing battery ingestions.

SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville: Selected Financial Management Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Office of the Comptroller, Albany. Div. of Management Audit.

This audit report of the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville addresses the question of whether the college management has established an effective system of internal control over its revenue, equipment, and student work-study payroll. The audit makes a number of observations and conclusions.…

Best Practices Inquiry: A Multidimensional, Value-Critical Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petr, Christopher G.; Walter, Uta M.

2005-01-01

This article offers a multidimensional framework that broadens current approaches to "best practices" inquiry to include (1) the perspectives of both the consumers of services and professional practitioners and (2) a value-based critique. The predominant empirical approach to best practices inquiry is a necessary, but not sufficient, component of…

DT&E Forum for Best Practices and Lessons Learned

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

E A N A L Y S E S IDA Paper P-4975 DT&E Forum for Best Practices and Lessons Learned L. B. Scheiber, Project Leader...and accessing from the DT&E Forum website. A. Collection of Lessons Learned and Best Practices We began the effort by reviewing approximately 30...Forum’s Home Page 1. Searching for BPLL Documents The DT&E Forum website contains DT&E Best Practice and Lessons Learned (BPLL) documents along with the

Practice Management: The Game Changer

PubMed Central

Pessis, Paul

2016-01-01

The reimbursement landscape is undergoing significant changes. Practice management, which encompasses reimbursement, is becoming increasingly more important in securing business success. Each practitioner within a facility is responsible for fortifying the practice through thoughtful business protocols. Knowing legislation that impacts health care along with understanding the foundational components of reimbursement is key for keeping a practice financially healthy. Change is good, but making the changes is what counts! Legislation such as the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act defines the new payment models. Correcting current business practices might seem difficult on the surface, but implementing change is rewarding and an obligation of the practitioners within a facility to their patients. Financial stability for a practice occurs when sound business practices are routine. Today's audiologist must not only be proficient at performing his or her scope of practice, but must also accept that performing best business practices is part of the job. In the end, the patients seeking the services of the audiologist benefit most when a practice has the financial stability to be best in its class. PMID:28028326

Downstream approaches to phosphorus management in agricultural landscapes: regional applicability and use.

PubMed

Kröger, R; Dunne, E J; Novak, J; King, K W; McLellan, E; Smith, D R; Strock, J; Boomer, K; Tomer, M; Noe, G B

2013-01-01

This review provides a critical overview of conservation practices that are aimed at improving water quality by retaining phosphorus (P) downstream of runoff genesis. The review is structured around specific downstream practices that are prevalent in various parts of the United States. Specific practices that we discuss include the use of controlled drainage, chemical treatment of waters and soils, receiving ditch management, and wetlands. The review also focuses on the specific hydrology and biogeochemistry associated with each of those practices. The practices are structured sequentially along flowpaths as you move through the landscape, from the edge-of-field, to adjacent aquatic systems, and ultimately to downstream P retention. Often practices are region specific based on geology, cropping practices, and specific P related problems and thus require a right practice, and right place mentality to management. Each practice has fundamental P transport and retention processes by systems that can be optimized by management with the goal of reducing downstream P loading after P has left agricultural fields. The management of P requires a system-wide assessment of the stability of P in different biogeochemical forms (particulate vs. dissolved, organic vs. inorganic), in different storage pools (soil, sediment, streams etc.), and under varying biogeochemical and hydrological conditions that act to convert P from one form to another and promote its retention in or transport out of different landscape components. There is significant potential of hierarchically placing practices in the agricultural landscape and enhancing the associated P mitigation. But an understanding is needed of short- and long-term P retention mechanisms within a certain practice and incorporating maintenance schedules if necessary to improve P retention times and minimize exceeding retention capacity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a multiobjective optimization tool for the selection and placement of best management practices for nonpoint source pollution control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maringanti, Chetan; Chaubey, Indrajeet; Popp, Jennie

2009-06-01

Best management practices (BMPs) are effective in reducing the transport of agricultural nonpoint source pollutants to receiving water bodies. However, selection of BMPs for placement in a watershed requires optimization of the available resources to obtain maximum possible pollution reduction. In this study, an optimization methodology is developed to select and place BMPs in a watershed to provide solutions that are both economically and ecologically effective. This novel approach develops and utilizes a BMP tool, a database that stores the pollution reduction and cost information of different BMPs under consideration. The BMP tool replaces the dynamic linkage of the distributed parameter watershed model during optimization and therefore reduces the computation time considerably. Total pollutant load from the watershed, and net cost increase from the baseline, were the two objective functions minimized during the optimization process. The optimization model, consisting of a multiobjective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) in combination with a watershed simulation tool (Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT)), was developed and tested for nonpoint source pollution control in the L'Anguille River watershed located in eastern Arkansas. The optimized solutions provided a trade-off between the two objective functions for sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen reduction. The results indicated that buffer strips were very effective in controlling the nonpoint source pollutants from leaving the croplands. The optimized BMP plans resulted in potential reductions of 33%, 32%, and 13% in sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen loads, respectively, from the watershed.

Best practice guidelines for stroke in Cameroon: An innovative and participatory knowledge translation project.

PubMed

Cockburn, Lynn; Fanfon, Timothy N; Bramall, Alexa; Ngole, Eta M; Kuwoh, Pius; Anjonga, Emmanuel; Difang, Brenda M E; Kiani, Shirin; Muso, Petra S; Trivedi, Navjyot; Sama, Julius; Teboh, Sylvian

2014-01-01

Although the adherence to stroke guidelines in high-income countries has been shown to be associated with improved patient outcomes, the research, development and implementation of rehabilitation related guidelines in African countries is lacking. The purpose of this article is to describe how a group of front-line practitioners collaborated with academics and students to develop best practice guidelines (BPG) for the management and rehabilitation of stroke in adult patients in Cameroon. A working group was established and adapted internationally recognised processes for the development of best practice guidelines. The group determined the scope of the guidelines, documented current practices, and critically appraised evidence to develop guidelines relevant to the Cameroon context. The primary result of this project is best practice guidelines which provided an overview of the provision of stroke rehabilitation services in the region, and made 83 practice recommendations to improve these services. We also report on the successes and challenges encountered during the process, and the working group's recommendations aimed at encouraging others to consider similar projects. This project demonstrated that there is interest and capacity for improving stroke rehabilitation practices and for stroke guideline development in Africa.

Best practices : bus signage for persons with visual impairments : light-emitting diode (LED) signs

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

This best-practices report provides key information regarding the use of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) sign technologies to present destination and route information on transit vehicles. It will assist managers and engineers in the acquisition and use o...

Telephone Counseling to Implement Best Parenting Practices to Prevent Adolescent Problem Behaviors

PubMed Central

Pierce, John P.; James, Lisa E.; Messer, Karen; Myers, Mark G.; Williams, Rebecca E.; Trinidad, Dennis R.

2008-01-01

There is considerable suggestive evidence that parents can protect their adolescents from developing problem behaviors if they implement recommended best parenting practices. These include providing appropriate limits on adolescent free time, maintaining a close personal relationship with the adolescent, and negotiating and providing incentives for positive behavior patterns. However, retention of the study samples has limited conclusions that can be drawn from published studies. This randomized controlled trial recruited and randomized a national population sample of 1036 families to an intensive parenting intervention using telephone counseling or to a no-contact control group. At enrollment, eligible families had an eldest child between the ages of 10–13 years. The intervention included an initial training program using a self-help manual with telephone counselor support. Implementation of best parenting practices was encouraged using quarterly telephone contacts and a family management check-up questionnaire. A computer-assisted structured counseling protocol was used to aid parents who needed additional assistance to implement best practices. This, along with a centralized service, enabled implementation of quality control procedures. Assessment of problem behavior is undertaken with repeated telephone interviews of the target adolescents. The study is powered to test whether the intervention encouraging parents to maintain best parenting practices is associated with a reduction of 25% in the incidence of problem behaviors prior to age 18 years and will be tested through a maximum likelihood framework. PMID:17964223

Implementing and Sustaining Data Lifecycle best Practices: a Framework for Researchers and Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stall, S.

2016-02-01

Emerging data management mandates in conjunction with cross-domain international interoperability are posing new challenges for researchers and repositories. Domain repositories are serving in this critical, growing role monitoring and leading data management standards and capability within their own repository and working on mappings between repositories internationally. Leading research institutions and companies will also be important as they develop and expand data curation efforts. This landscape poses a number of challenges for developing and ensuring the use of best practices in curating research data, enabling discovery, elevating quality across diverse repositories, and helping researchers collect and organize it through the full data life cycle. This multidimensional challenge will continue to grow in complexity. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is developing two programs to help researchers and data repositories develop and elevate best practices and address these challenges. The goal is to provide tools for the researchers and repositories, whether domain, institutional, or other, that improve performance throughout the data lifecycle across the Earth and space science community. For scientists and researchers, AGU is developing courses around handling data that can lead toward a certification in geoscience data management. Course materials will cover metadata management and collection, data analysis, integration of data, and data presentation. The course topics are being finalized by the advisory board with the first one planned to be available later this year. AGU is also developing a program aimed at helping data repositories, large and small, domain-specific to general, assess and improve data management practices. AGU has partnered with the CMMI® Institute to adapt their Data Management Maturity (DMM)SM framework within the Earth and space sciences. A data management assessment using the DMMSM involves identifying accomplishments and

Effects of best-management practices in Bower Creek in the East River priority watershed, Wisconsin, 1991-2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Corsi, Steven R.; Horwatich, Judy A.; Rutter, Troy D.; Bannerman, Roger T.

2013-01-01

Hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at Bower Creek during the periods before best-management practices (BMPs), and after BMPs were installed for evaluation of water-quality improvements. The monitoring was done between 1990 and 2009 with the pre-BMP period ending in July 1994 and the post-BMP period beginning in October 2006. BMPs installed in this basin included streambank protection and fencing, stream crossings, grade stabilization, buffer strips, various barnyard-runoff controls, nutrient management, and a low degree of upland BMPs. Water-quality evaluations included base-flow concentrations and storm loads for total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and ammonia nitrogen. The only reductions detected between the base-flow samples of the pre- and post-BMP periods were in median concentrations of total phosphorus from base-flow samples, but not for total suspended solids or dissolved ammonia nitrogen. Differences in storm loads for the three water-quality constituents monitored were not observed during the study period.

Management of agricultural soils for greenhouse gas mitigation: Learning from a case study in NE Spain.

PubMed

Sánchez, B; Iglesias, A; McVittie, A; Álvaro-Fuentes, J; Ingram, J; Mills, J; Lesschen, J P; Kuikman, P J

2016-04-01

A portfolio of agricultural practices is now available that can contribute to reaching European mitigation targets. Among them, the management of agricultural soils has a large potential for reducing GHG emissions or sequestering carbon. Many of the practices are based on well tested agronomic and technical know-how, with proven benefits for farmers and the environment. A suite of practices has to be used since none of the practices can provide a unique solution. However, there are limitations in the process of policy development: (a) agricultural activities are based on biological processes and thus, these practices are location specific and climate, soils and crops determine their agronomic potential; (b) since agriculture sustains rural communities, the costs and potential for implementation have also to be regionally evaluated and (c) the aggregated regional potential of the combination of practices has to be defined in order to inform abatement targets. We believe that, when implementing mitigation practices, three questions are important: Are they cost-effective for farmers? Do they reduce GHG emissions? What policies favour their implementation? This study addressed these questions in three sequential steps. First, mapping the use of representative soil management practices in the European regions to provide a spatial context to upscale the local results. Second, using a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) in a Mediterranean case study (NE Spain) for ranking soil management practices in terms of their cost-effectiveness. Finally, using a wedge approach of the practices as a complementary tool to link science to mitigation policy. A set of soil management practices was found to be financially attractive for Mediterranean farmers, which in turn could achieve significant abatements (e.g., 1.34 MtCO2e in the case study region). The quantitative analysis was completed by a discussion of potential farming and policy choices to shape realistic mitigation policy at

Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: a Publisher's Perspective

PubMed Central

Graf, Chris; Wager, Elizabeth; Bowman, Alyson; Fiack, Suzan; Scott-Lichter, Diane; Robinson, Andrew

2007-01-01

These Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics describe Blackwell Publishing's position on the major ethical principles of academic publishing and review factors that may foster ethical behavior or create problems. The aims are to encourage discussion, to initiate changes where they are needed, and to provide practical guidance, in the form of Best Practice statements, to inform these changes. Blackwell Publishing recommends that editors adapt and adopt the suggestions outlined to best fit the needs of their own particular publishing environment. PMID:17206953

Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: a publisher's perspective.

PubMed

Graf, Chris; Wager, Elizabeth; Bowman, Alyson; Fiack, Suzan; Scott-Lichter, Diane; Robinson, Andrew

2007-01-01

These Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics describe Blackwell Publishing's position on the major ethical principles of academic publishing and review factors that may foster ethical behavior or create problems. The aims are to encourage discussion, to initiate changes where they are needed, and to provide practical guidance, in the form of Best Practice statements, to inform these changes. Blackwell Publishing recommends that editors adapt and adopt the suggestions outlined to best fit the needs of their own particular publishing environment.

USDA Snack Policy Implementation: Best Practices From the Front Lines, United States, 2013–2014

PubMed Central

Chriqui, Jamie; Chavez, Noel; Odoms-Young, Angela; Handler, Arden

2016-01-01

Introduction The Smart Snacks in Schools interim final rule was promulgated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as authorized by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (PL 111–296) and implementation commenced beginning July 1, 2014; however, in the years leading up to this deadline, national studies suggested that most schools were far from meeting the USDA standards. Evidence to guide successful implementation of the standards is needed. This study examined snack policy implementation in exemplary high schools to learn best practices for implementation. Methods Guided by a multiple case study approach, school professionals (n = 37) from 9 high schools across 8 states were recruited to be interviewed about perceptions of school snack implementation; schools were selected using criterion sampling on the basis of the HealthierUS Schools Challenge: Smarter Lunchrooms (HUSSC: SL) database. Interview transcripts and internal documents were organized and coded in ATLAS.Ti v7; 2 researchers coded and analyzed data using a constant comparative analysis method to identify best practice themes. Results Best practices for snack policy implementation included incorporating the HUSSC: SL award’s comprehensive wellness approach; leveraging state laws or district policies to reinforce snack reform initiatives; creating strong internal and external partnerships; and crafting positive and strategic communications. Conclusion Implementation of snack policies requires evidence of successful experiences from those on the front lines. As federal, state, and local technical assistance entities work to ensure implementation of the Smart Snacks standards, these best practices provide strategies to facilitate the process. PMID:27309416

7 CFR 205.203 - Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice... Requirements § 205.203 Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard. (a) The producer must..., and biological condition of soil and minimize soil erosion. (b) The producer must manage crop...

7 CFR 205.203 - Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice... Requirements § 205.203 Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard. (a) The producer must..., and biological condition of soil and minimize soil erosion. (b) The producer must manage crop...

7 CFR 205.203 - Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice... Requirements § 205.203 Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard. (a) The producer must..., and biological condition of soil and minimize soil erosion. (b) The producer must manage crop...