7 CFR 610.24 - Responsibilities of State Technical Committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... programs under Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 including, but not limited to, the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Security Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Grassland Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives...

7 CFR 610.24 - Responsibilities of State Technical Committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... programs under Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 including, but not limited to, the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Security Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Grassland Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives...

7 CFR 610.24 - Responsibilities of State Technical Committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... programs under Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 including, but not limited to, the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Security Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Grassland Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives...

Community Involvement Training Program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

Meet our PESP Partners

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program is a voluntary membership program that promotes the adoption of innovative, alternative pest control practices such as Integrated Pest Management. PESP has three membership tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold.

What Difference Does It Make? Assessing Outcomes from Participation in a Residential Environmental Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stern, Marc J.; Powell, Robert B.; Ardoin, Nicole M.

2008-01-01

The authors explored the influences of 3- and 5-day residential environmental education programs at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (TN) on participants' connections with nature, environmental stewardship, interest in learning and discovery, and awareness of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and biodiversity. The authors found…

About PESP Membership

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) is a voluntary membership program that promotes the adoption of innovative, alternative pest control practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Learn about membership benefits and how to join.

Which Factors Contribute to Environmental Behaviour of Landowners in Southwestern Ontario, Canada?

PubMed

Nebel, Silke; Brick, Jeff; Lantz, Van A; Trenholm, Ryan

2017-09-01

Loss of natural heritage is a problem that is particularly prevalent in areas of high population density. We used a survey to understand the factors that drive environmental behavior of landowners in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The survey, which contained questions about environmental attitude, pro-environmental behavior and demographics, was mailed to 18,090 rural route addresses, and we received 3256 completed surveys (18% response rate). Two types of environmental behavior, namely voluntarily increasing the area of land set aside for conservation, and enrollment in a conservation stewardship program, were significantly correlated with a positive attitude towards conservation. Financial considerations also played a role. We showed that the biggest motivator to enroll in a wetland enhancement program was access to 'more information on how the decline in wetland area affects them personally', while 'public recognition' was the least motivating factor. We suggest that enrollment in voluntary land stewardship programs might be increased by providing information about the effects of ecosystem loss, and by providing financial incentives for participation. In a larger social context, outreach programs by government agencies could focus on improving pro-environmental attitudes, which in turn is likely to result in more pro-environmental behavior of landowners.

Which Factors Contribute to Environmental Behaviour of Landowners in Southwestern Ontario, Canada?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nebel, Silke; Brick, Jeff; Lantz, Van A.; Trenholm, Ryan

2017-09-01

Loss of natural heritage is a problem that is particularly prevalent in areas of high population density. We used a survey to understand the factors that drive environmental behavior of landowners in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The survey, which contained questions about environmental attitude, pro-environmental behavior and demographics, was mailed to 18,090 rural route addresses, and we received 3256 completed surveys (18% response rate). Two types of environmental behavior, namely voluntarily increasing the area of land set aside for conservation, and enrollment in a conservation stewardship program, were significantly correlated with a positive attitude towards conservation. Financial considerations also played a role. We showed that the biggest motivator to enroll in a wetland enhancement program was access to `more information on how the decline in wetland area affects them personally', while `public recognition' was the least motivating factor. We suggest that enrollment in voluntary land stewardship programs might be increased by providing information about the effects of ecosystem loss, and by providing financial incentives for participation. In a larger social context, outreach programs by government agencies could focus on improving pro-environmental attitudes, which in turn is likely to result in more pro-environmental behavior of landowners.

Contacts in the Office of Pesticide Programs, Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Contact the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division (BPPD) about regulatory activities associated with biologically-based pesticides, implementation of integrated pest management and the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program.

Assessing Environmental Stewardship Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bramston, Paul; Pretty, Grace; Zammit, Charlie

2011-01-01

Environmental stewardship networks flourish across Australia. Although the environment benefits, this article looks to identify what volunteers draw from their stewardship. The authors adapted 16 questions that purportedly tap environmental stewardship motivation and administered them to a convenience sample of 318 university students and then to…

From Cleanup to Stewardship. A companion report to Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure and background information to support the scoping process required for the 1998 PEIS Settlement Study

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

None, None

1999-10-01

Long-term stewardship is expected to be needed at more than 100 DOE sites after DOE's Environmental Management program completes disposal, stabilization, and restoration operations to address waste and contamination resulting from nuclear research and nuclear weapons production conducted over the past 50 years. From Cleanup to stewardship provides background information on the Department of Energy (DOE) long-term stewardship obligations and activities. This document begins to examine the transition from cleanup to long-term stewardship, and it fulfills the Secretary's commitment to the President in the 1999 Performance Agreement to provide a companion report to the Department's Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closuremore » report. It also provides background information to support the scoping process required for a study on long-term stewardship required by a 1998 Settlement Agreement.« less

75 FR 20991 - NACEPT Subcommittee on Promoting Environmental Stewardship

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-22

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9141-2] NACEPT Subcommittee on Promoting Environmental Stewardship AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: Under the... (NACEPT) is to advise the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on how to promote environmental stewardship...

77 FR 33239 - Prairie Stewardship Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, San Juan Island National Historical Park

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-05

... Stewardship Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, San Juan Island National Historical Park AGENCY: National... Prairie Stewardship Plan, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington. SUMMARY: Pursuant to the... initiating the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a Prairie Stewardship Plan, as...

Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

PESP is an EPA partnership program that works with the nation's pesticide-user community to promote IPM practices. Pesticide users can reduce the risks from pests and pesticides. Members include organizations and companies in the pesticide-user community.

The organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship

Treesearch

Dana R. Fisher; Lindsay Campbell; Erika S. Svendsen

2012-01-01

How is the organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship groups related to the diverse ways that civic stewardship is taking place in urban settings? The findings of the limited number of studies that have explored the organisational structure of civic environmentalism are combined with the research on civic stewardship to answer this question. By...

Environmental Impact from Outdoor/Environmental Education Programs: Effects of Frequent Stream Classes on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bossley, Jon P.

2016-01-01

Environmental stewardship is an underlying theme in outdoor education (OE) and environmental education (EE), but maintaining natural areas in a sustainable balance between conservation and preservation requires knowledge about how natural areas respond to anthropogenic disturbance. My five-part study investigated the effects of disturbance on…

Goals and Objectives

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The five goals related to the Border 2020 program: reducing air pollution, access to clean and safe water, promoting clean waste management, emergency preparedness and response, compliance assurance.and environmental stewardship

Mapping educational opportunities for healthcare workers on antimicrobial resistance and stewardship around the world.

PubMed

Rogers Van Katwyk, Susan; Jones, Sara L; Hoffman, Steven J

2018-02-05

Antimicrobial resistance is an important global issue facing society. Healthcare workers need to be engaged in solving this problem, as advocates for rational antimicrobial use, stewards of sustainable effectiveness, and educators of their patients. To fulfill this role, healthcare workers need access to training and educational resources on antimicrobial resistance. To better understand the resources available to healthcare workers, we undertook a global environmental scan of educational programs and resources targeting healthcare workers on the topic of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. Programs were identified through contact with key experts, web searching, and academic literature searching. We summarized programs in tabular form, including participating organizations, region, and intended audience. We developed a coding system to classify programs by program type and participating organization type, assigning multiple codes as necessary and creating summary charts for program types, organization types, and intended audience to illustrate the breadth of available resources. We identified 94 educational initiatives related to antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship, which represent a diverse array of programs including courses, workshops, conferences, guidelines, public outreach materials, and online-resource websites. These resources were developed by a combination of government bodies, professional societies, universities, non-profit and community organizations, hospitals and healthcare centers, and insurance companies and industry. Most programs either targeted healthcare workers collectively or specifically targeted physicians. A smaller number of programs were aimed at other healthcare worker groups including pharmacists, nurses, midwives, and healthcare students. Our environmental scan shows that there are many organizations working to develop and share educational resources for healthcare workers on antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. Governments, hospitals, and professional societies appear to be driving action on this front, sometimes working with other types of organizations. A broad range of resources have been made freely available; however, we have noted several opportunities for action, including increased engagement with students, improvements to pre-service education, recognition of antimicrobial resistance courses as continuing medical education, and better platforms for resource-sharing online.

The CORALS Connection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plankis, Brian; Klein, Carolyn

2010-01-01

The Ocean, Reefs, Aquariums, Literacy, and Stewardship (CORALS) research program helps students connect global environmental issues to local concerns and personal choices. During the 18-week program, students strengthen their understanding of coral reef decline through a classroom aquarium activity, communicate with science experts, and create…

Measuring the Efficacy of an Energy and Environmental Awareness Campaign to Effectively Reduce Water Consumption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Laura Little

2010-01-01

Increased energy costs and a move toward environmental stewardship are driving many organizations, including universities, to engage in awareness efforts to reduce both energy consumption and their carbon footprint. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether organizational programs aimed at energy and environmental awareness have a…

Effects of Fishing Education Programs on Antecedents of Responsible Environmental Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siemer, William F.; Knuth, Barbara A.

2001-01-01

Investigates fishing and aquatic stewardship outcomes associated with different levels of program exposure among n=619 participants in a national fishing education program (Hooked on Fishing-Not on Drugs) designed for youth in Grades 6-8. Supports the assumption that such programs are more likely to influence antecedents to environmentally…

Achieving environmental excellence through a multidisciplinary grassroots movement.

PubMed

Herechuk, Bryan; Gosse, Carolyn; Woods, John N

2010-01-01

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) supports a grassroots green team, called Environmental Vision and Action (EVA). Since the creation of EVA, a healthy balance between corporate projects led by corporate leaders and grassroots initiatives led by informal leaders has resulted in many successful environmental initiatives. Over a relatively short period of time, environmental successes at SJHH have included waste diversion programs, energy efficiency and reduction initiatives, alternative commuting programs, green purchasing practices, clinical and pharmacy greening and increased staff engagement and awareness. Knowledge of social movements theory helped EVA leaders to understand the internal processes of a grassroots movement and helped to guide it. Social movements theory may also have broader applicability in health care by understanding the passionate engagement that people bring to a common cause and how to evolve sources of opposition into engines for positive change. After early successes, as the limitations of a grassroots movement began to surface, the EVA team revived the concept of evolving the grassroots green program into a corporate program for environmental stewardship. It is hard to quantify the importance of allowing our staff, physicians, volunteers and patients to engage in changes that they feel passionately about. However, at SJHH, the transformation of a group of people unsatisfied with the organization's environmental performance into an 'engine for change' has led to a rapid improvement in environmental stewardship at SJHH that is now regarded as a success.

2009 Community Involvement Training Conference

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

2011 Community Involvement Training Conference

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

2006 Community Involvement Training Conference

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

2013 Community Involvement Training Conference

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

2007 Community Involvement Training Conference

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A dynamic training conference that brings together more than 450 people from EPA and the Agency’s partners and stakeholders who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.

Service-Learning in the Environmental Sciences for Teaching Sustainability Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Truebe, S.; Strong, A. L.

2016-12-01

Understanding and developing effective strategies for the use of community-engaged learning (service-learning) approaches in the environmental geosciences is an important research need in curricular and pedagogical innovation for sustainability. In 2015, we designed and implemented a new community-engaged learning practicum course through the Earth Systems Program in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University focused on regional open space management and land stewardship. Undergraduate and graduate students partnered with three different regional land trust and environmental stewardship organizations to conduct quarter-long research projects ranging from remote sensing studies of historical land use, to fire ecology, to ranchland management, to volunteer retention strategies. Throughout the course, students reflected on the decision-making processes and stewardship actions of the organizations. Two iterations of the course were run in Winter and Fall 2015. Using coded and analyzed pre- and post-course student surveys from the two course iterations, we evaluate undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes and changes in perceptions and understanding of sustainability science. We find that engagement with community partners to conduct research projects on a wide variety of aspects of open space management, land management, and environmental stewardship (1) increased an understanding of trade-offs inherent in sustainability and resource management and (2) altered student perceptions of the role of scientific information and research in environmental management and decision-making. Furthermore, students initially conceived of open space as purely ecological/biophysical, but by the end of the course, (3) their understanding was of open space as a coupled human/ecological system. This shift is crucial for student development as sustainability scientists.

Seed Balls and the Circle of Courage: A Decolonization Model of Youth Development in an Environmental Stewardship Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wenger-Schulman, A. R. S.; Hoffman, Lauren

2018-01-01

Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, New York serves a community of students often considered at high risk for dropping out of high school and other socially undesirable behaviors. In this high-need setting, the authors designed and implemented an environmental education program designed to meet the needs of urban youth of color. The approach they used,…

Organizing urban ecosystem services through environmental stewardship governance in New York City

Treesearch

James J. Connolly; Erika S. Svendsen; Dana R. Fisher; Lindsay K. Campbell

2013-01-01

How do stewardship groups contribute to the management of urban ecosystem services? In this paper, we integrate the research on environmental stewardship with the social-ecological systems literature to explain how stewardship groups serve as bridge organizations between public agencies and civic organizations, working across scales and sectors to build the flexible...

F Reactor Inspection

ScienceCinema

Grindstaff, Keith; Hathaway, Boyd; Wilson, Mike

2018-01-16

Workers from Mission Support Alliance, LLC., removed the welds around the steel door of the F Reactor before stepping inside the reactor to complete its periodic inspection. This is the first time the Department of Energy (DOE) has had the reactor open since 2008. The F Reactor is one of nine reactors along the Columbia River at the Department's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, where environmental cleanup has been ongoing since 1989. As part of the Tri-Party Agreement, the Department completes surveillance and maintenance activities of cocooned reactors periodically to evaluate the structural integrity of the safe storage enclosure and to ensure confinement of any remaining hazardous materials. "This entry marks a transition of sorts because the Hanford Long-Term Stewardship Program, for the first time, was responsible for conducting the entry and surveillance and maintenance activities," said Keith Grindstaff, Energy Department Long-Term Stewardship Program Manager. "As the River Corridor cleanup work is completed and transitioned to long-term stewardship, our program will manage any on-going requirements."

F Reactor Inspection

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

Grindstaff, Keith; Hathaway, Boyd; Wilson, Mike

2014-10-29

Workers from Mission Support Alliance, LLC., removed the welds around the steel door of the F Reactor before stepping inside the reactor to complete its periodic inspection. This is the first time the Department of Energy (DOE) has had the reactor open since 2008. The F Reactor is one of nine reactors along the Columbia River at the Department's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, where environmental cleanup has been ongoing since 1989. As part of the Tri-Party Agreement, the Department completes surveillance and maintenance activities of cocooned reactors periodically to evaluate the structural integrity of the safe storage enclosuremore » and to ensure confinement of any remaining hazardous materials. "This entry marks a transition of sorts because the Hanford Long-Term Stewardship Program, for the first time, was responsible for conducting the entry and surveillance and maintenance activities," said Keith Grindstaff, Energy Department Long-Term Stewardship Program Manager. "As the River Corridor cleanup work is completed and transitioned to long-term stewardship, our program will manage any on-going requirements."« less

Energy Service Companies as a Component of a Comprehensive University Sustainability Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearce, Joshua M.; Miller, Laura L.

2006-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to quantify and critically analyze the best practices of a comprehensive environmental stewardship strategy (ESS), which included a guaranteed energy savings program (GESP) that utilized an energy service company (ESCO). Design/methodology/approach: The environmental and economic benefits and limitations of an approach…

Making a Difference College Guide. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein, Miriam

This book profiles those unique institutions or departments that are committed to public service, social change and environmental stewardship. Colleges in this guide engage in the major issues of today, especially environmental, women's, peace and ethnic studies. The programs are varied, such as marine biology, social work, outdoor education,…

A National Strategic Plan for Natural Resources and Environmental Management Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fridgen, Cynthia

1995-01-01

The Natural Resources and Environmental Management Program is designed to help people understand their relationship to the environment, practice stewardship, make informed decisions, and appreciate biodiversity. Areas of emphasis include air, land, and water quality; citizen responsibility; conflict management; approaches to land use and species…

Intergenerational equity and environmental restoration cleanup levels.

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

Hocking, E. K.; Environmental Assessment

2001-01-01

The United States Department of Energy environmental restoration program faces difficult decisions about the levels of cleanup to be achieved at its many contaminated sites and has acknowledged the need for considering intergenerational equity in its decision making. Intergenerational equity refers to the fairness of access to resources across generations. Environmental restoration cleanup levels can have unintended and unfair consequences for future generations access to resources. The potentially higher costs associated with using low, non-risk-based cleanup levels for remediation may divert funding from other activities that could have a greater beneficial impact on future generations. Low, non-risk-based cleanup levels couldmore » also result in more damage to the nation's resources than would occur if a higher cleanup level were used. The loss or impairment of these resources could have an inequitable effect on future generations. However, intergenerational inequity could arise if sites are not completely restored and if access to and use of natural and cultural resources are unfairly limited as a result of residual contamination. In addition to concerns about creating possible intergenerational inequities related to selected cleanup levels, the tremendous uncertainties associated with sites and their restoration can lead site planners to rely on stewardship by default. An ill-conceived stewardship program can contribute to intergenerational inequity by limiting access to resources while passing on risks to future generations and not preparing them for those risks. This paper presents a basic model and process for designing stewardship programs that can achieve equity among generations.« less

Environmental stewardship: Pathways to community cohesion and cultivating meaningful engagement

Treesearch

Sachi Arakawa; Sonya Sachdeva; Vivek Shandas

2018-01-01

What pathways do people take on the journey to stewardship and what rewards do they reap? Numerous studies emphasize the underlying values, whether moral, spiritual, or religious, which provide the foundation for engaging in environmental behavior. Yet, many cases of stewardship are founded not on lofty environmental ideals but on pragmatic, localized ambitions. As...

A human-centered framework for innovation in conservation incentive programs.

PubMed

Sorice, Michael G; Donlan, C Josh

2015-12-01

The promise of environmental conservation incentive programs that provide direct payments in exchange for conservation outcomes is that they enhance the value of engaging in stewardship behaviors. An insidious but important concern is that a narrow focus on optimizing payment levels can ultimately suppress program participation and subvert participants' internal motivation to engage in long-term conservation behaviors. Increasing participation and engendering stewardship can be achieved by recognizing that participation is not simply a function of the payment; it is a function of the overall structure and administration of the program. Key to creating innovative and more sustainable programs is fitting them within the existing needs and values of target participants. By focusing on empathy for participants, co-designing program approaches, and learning from the rapid prototyping of program concepts, a human-centered approach to conservation incentive program design enhances the propensity for discovery of novel and innovative solutions to pressing conservation issues.

Gardening with Children: My Summers at Beanstalk Children's Garden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoecklin, Vicki L.

2009-01-01

There has been increased interest in recent years on gardening with children and a variety of programs have been started to support different types of programmatic goals. Goals of gardening programs include environmental stewardship, personal growth/social skills, an integrated learning environment, nutrition/health, science education, practical…

QuikSCience: Effective Linkage of Competitive, Cooperative, and Service Learning in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemus, Judith D.; Bishop, Kristina; Walters, Howard

2010-01-01

The QuikSCience Challenge science education program combines a cooperative team project emphasizing community service with an academic competition for middle and high school students. The program aims to develop leadership abilities, motivate interest in ocean sciences, engage students in community service and environmental stewardship, and…

The Right Tools for the Job: How Can Aquatic Resource Education Succeed in the Classroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fortner, Rosanne W.

Because of its bases in science and stewardship, aquatic resource education may be seen as a type of environmental education. The range of environmental education (EE) programs includes a huge variety designed for different groups and settings. This chapter takes the perspective of environmental education as it is done in the formal K-12 classroom…

Cradle-to-cradle stewardship of drugs for minimizing their environmental disposition while promoting human health. II. Drug disposal, waste reduction, and future directions.

PubMed Central

Daughton, Christian G

2003-01-01

Since the 1980s, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) as trace environmental pollutants, originating primarily from consumer use and actions rather than manufacturer effluents, continues to become more firmly established. The growing, worldwide importance of freshwater resources underscores the need for ensuring that any aggregate or cumulative impacts on (or from) water supplies are minimized. Despite a paucity of effects data from long-term, simultaneous exposure at low doses to multiple xenobiotics (particularly non-target-organism exposure to PPCPs), a wide range of proactive actions could be implemented for reducing or minimizing the introduction of PPCPs to the environment. Most of these actions fall under what could be envisioned as a holistic stewardship program--overseen by the health care industry and consumers alike. Significantly, such a stewardship program would benefit not just the environment--additional, collateral benefits could automatically accrue, including the lessening of medication expense for the consumer and improving patient health and consumer safety. In this article (the second of two parts describing the "green pharmacy") I focus on those actions and activities tied more closely to the end user (e.g., the patient) and issues associated with drug disposal/recycling that could prove useful in minimizing the environmental disposition of PPCPs. I also outline some recommendations and suggestions for further research and pose some considerations regarding the future. In this mini-monograph I attempt to capture cohesively for the first time the wide spectrum of actions available for minimizing the release of PPCPs to the environment. A major objective is to generate an active dialog or debate across the many disciplines that must become actively involved to design and implement a successful approach to life-cycle stewardship of PPCPs. PMID:12727607

Cultivating Positive Youth Development, Critical Consciousness, and Authentic Care in Urban Environmental Education.

PubMed

Delia, Jesse; Krasny, Marianne E

2017-01-01

This paper addresses the issue of how to provide affordances for youth development in the context of environmental stewardship in cities. Urban environmental education encompasses place-based and action-oriented stewardship practices, including community gardening and vegetable production, often with the dual goals of developing youth and community assets. Yet in-depth understanding of how these goals are achieved is lacking. Using narrative inquiry, we explored participant experiences in a multi-year agriculture internship program conducted by the food justice organization East New York Farms! (ENYF) in Brooklyn, NY. Emerging from our conversations with youth were five themes defining their intern experience: ENYF as somewhere to belong, to be pushed, to grapple with complexity, to practice leadership, and to become yourself. We propose a theory of change that emphasizes politicized notions of caring as a foundation for cultivating developmental assets, including competence, contribution, and critical consciousness, among youth who participate in ENYF programs multiple years. This paper extends the literature on socio-environmental affordances to encompass urban environmental education programs, which incorporate physical and social features that act as affordances. Further, this paper describes a feedback loop in which youth afforded opportunities to develop assets through contributing to their community in turn create affordances for additional youth and adults.

Cultivating Positive Youth Development, Critical Consciousness, and Authentic Care in Urban Environmental Education

PubMed Central

Delia, Jesse; Krasny, Marianne E.

2018-01-01

This paper addresses the issue of how to provide affordances for youth development in the context of environmental stewardship in cities. Urban environmental education encompasses place-based and action-oriented stewardship practices, including community gardening and vegetable production, often with the dual goals of developing youth and community assets. Yet in-depth understanding of how these goals are achieved is lacking. Using narrative inquiry, we explored participant experiences in a multi-year agriculture internship program conducted by the food justice organization East New York Farms! (ENYF) in Brooklyn, NY. Emerging from our conversations with youth were five themes defining their intern experience: ENYF as somewhere to belong, to be pushed, to grapple with complexity, to practice leadership, and to become yourself. We propose a theory of change that emphasizes politicized notions of caring as a foundation for cultivating developmental assets, including competence, contribution, and critical consciousness, among youth who participate in ENYF programs multiple years. This paper extends the literature on socio-environmental affordances to encompass urban environmental education programs, which incorporate physical and social features that act as affordances. Further, this paper describes a feedback loop in which youth afforded opportunities to develop assets through contributing to their community in turn create affordances for additional youth and adults. PMID:29379456

Stewardship mapping and assessment project: a framework for understanding community-based environmental stewardship

Treesearch

Erika S. Svendsen; Lindsay K. Campbell; Dana R. Fisher; James J.T. Connolly; Michelle L. Johnson; Nancy Falxa Sonti; Dexter H. Locke; Lynne M. Westphal; Cherie LeBlanc Fisher; Morgan Grove; Michele Romolini; Dale J. Blahna; Kathleen L. Wolf

2016-01-01

The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) is designed to answer who, where, why and how environmental stewardship groups are caring for our urbanized landscapes. This report is intended to be a guide for those who wish to start STEW-MAP in their own city. It contains step-by-step directions for how to plan and implement a STEW-MAP project. STEW-MAP is...

THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING IN TRANSGENIC CROP MONITORING PROGRAMS

EPA Science Inventory

Sustainable agriculture combines efficient production with wise stewardship of the earth's resources. Development of environmentally benign production techniques is one focus of sustainable agriculture. The new transgenic crops producing toxic proteins that target specific crop p...

Cradle-to-cradle stewardship of drugs for minimizing their environmental disposition while promoting human health. I. Rationale for and avenues toward a green pharmacy.

PubMed Central

Daughton, Christian G

2003-01-01

Since the 1980s, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) as trace environmental pollutants, originating primarily from consumer use and actions rather than manufacturer effluents, continues to become more firmly established. Although PPCPs typically have been identified in surface and ground waters, some are also undoubtedly associated with solid phases such as suspended particulates, sediments, and sewage sludges, despite their relatively high affinity for water. Often amenable to degradation, their continual introduction to waste-receiving waters results from their widespread, continuous, combined use by individuals and domestic animals, giving PPCPs a "pseudo-persistence" in the environment. Little is known about the environmental or human health hazards that might be posed by chronic, subtherapeutic levels of these bioactive substances or their transformation products. The continually growing, worldwide importance of freshwater resources, however, underscores the need for ensuring that any aggregate or cumulative impacts on (or from) water supplies are minimized. Despite the paucity of effects data from long-term, simultaneous exposure at low doses to multiple xenobiotics (particularly non-target-organism exposure to PPCPs), a wide range of proactive actions could be implemented to reduce or minimize the introduction of PPCPs to the environment. Most of these actions fall under what could be envisioned as a holistic stewardship program--overseen by the health care industry and consumers alike. Significantly, such a stewardship program would benefit not just the environment; additional, collateral benefits could automatically accrue, including reducing consumers' medication expenses and improving patient health and consumer safety. In this article, the first of a two-part mini-monograph describing the "green pharmacy," I focus initially on the background behind the imperative for an ecologically oriented stewardship program for PPCPs. I then present a broad spectrum of possible source control/reduction actions, controlled largely by the health care industry, that could minimize the disposition of PPCPs to the environment. This two-part mini-monograph attempts to capture cohesively for the first time the wide spectrum of actions available for minimizing the release of PPCPs to the environment. A major objective is to generate an active dialog or debate across the many disciplines that must become actively involved to design and implement a successful approach to life-cycle stewardship of PPCPs. PMID:12727606

``Just Another Hoop to Jump Through?'' Using Environmental Laws and Processes to Protect Indigenous Rights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Middleton, Beth Rose

2013-11-01

Protection of culturally important indigenous landscapes has become an increasingly important component of environmental management processes, for both companies and individuals striving to comply with environmental regulations, and for indigenous groups seeking stronger laws to support site protection and cultural/human rights. Given that indigenous stewardship of culturally important sites, species, and practices continues to be threatened or prohibited on lands out of indigenous ownership, this paper examines whether or not indigenous people can meaningfully apply mainstream environmental management laws and processes to achieve protection of traditional sites and associated stewardship activities. While environmental laws can provide a “back door” to protect traditional sites and practices, they are not made for this purpose, and, as such, require specific amendments to become more useful for indigenous practitioners. Acknowledging thoughtful critiques of the cultural incommensurability of environmental law with indigenous environmental stewardship of sacred sites, I interrogate the ability of four specific environmental laws and processes—the Uniform Conservation Easement Act; the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act; the Pacific Stewardship Council land divestiture process; and Senate Bill 18 (CA-2004)—to protect culturally important landscapes and practices. I offer suggestions for improving these laws and processes to make them more applicable to indigenous stewardship of traditional landscapes.

"Just another hoop to jump through?" using environmental laws and processes to protect indigenous rights.

PubMed

Middleton, Beth Rose

2013-11-01

Protection of culturally important indigenous landscapes has become an increasingly important component of environmental management processes, for both companies and individuals striving to comply with environmental regulations, and for indigenous groups seeking stronger laws to support site protection and cultural/human rights. Given that indigenous stewardship of culturally important sites, species, and practices continues to be threatened or prohibited on lands out of indigenous ownership, this paper examines whether or not indigenous people can meaningfully apply mainstream environmental management laws and processes to achieve protection of traditional sites and associated stewardship activities. While environmental laws can provide a "back door" to protect traditional sites and practices, they are not made for this purpose, and, as such, require specific amendments to become more useful for indigenous practitioners. Acknowledging thoughtful critiques of the cultural incommensurability of environmental law with indigenous environmental stewardship of sacred sites, I interrogate the ability of four specific environmental laws and processes-the Uniform Conservation Easement Act; the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act; the Pacific Stewardship Council land divestiture process; and Senate Bill 18 (CA-2004)-to protect culturally important landscapes and practices. I offer suggestions for improving these laws and processes to make them more applicable to indigenous stewardship of traditional landscapes.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: Comparison of a Program with Infectious Diseases Pharmacist Support to a Program with a Geographic Pharmacist Staffing Model

PubMed Central

Ma, Andrew; Clegg, Daniel; Fugit, Randolph V.; Pepe, Anthony; Goetz, Matthew Bidwell; Graber, Christopher J.

2015-01-01

Background: Stewardship of antimicrobial agents is an essential function of hospital pharmacies. The ideal pharmacist staffing model for antimicrobial stewardship programs is not known. Objective: To inform staffing decisions for antimicrobial stewardship teams, we aimed to compare an antimicrobial stewardship program with a dedicated Infectious Diseases (ID) pharmacist (Dedicated ID Pharmacist Hospital) to a program relying on ward pharmacists for stewardship activities (Geographic Model Hospital). Methods: We reviewed a randomly selected sample of 290 cases of inpatient parenteral antibiotic use. The electronic medical record was reviewed for compliance with indicators of appropriate antimicrobial stewardship. Results: At the hospital staffed by a dedicated ID pharmacist, 96.8% of patients received initial antimicrobial therapy that adhered to local treatment guidelines compared to 87% of patients at the hospital that assigned antimicrobial stewardship duties to ward pharmacists (P < .002). Therapy was modified within 24 hours of availability of laboratory data in 86.7% of cases at the Dedicated ID Pharmacist Hospital versus 72.6% of cases at the Geographic Model Hospital (P < .03). When a patient’s illness was determined not to be caused by a bacterial infection, antibiotics were discontinued in 78.0% of cases at the Dedicated ID Pharmacist Hospital and in 33.3% of cases at the Geographic Model Hospital (P < .0002). Conclusion: An antimicrobial stewardship program with a dedicated ID pharmacist was associated with greater adherence to recommended antimicrobial therapy practices when compared to a stewardship program that relied on ward pharmacists. PMID:26405339

77 FR 67394 - Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Western Planning Area (WPA) Lease Sale 233...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-09

... baseline conditions and potential environmental effects of oil and natural gas leasing, exploration...://www.boem.gov/Environmental-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx . Several.../Environmental-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx . Comments: Federal, state, and local...

Idaho National Laboratory Site Pollution Prevention Plan

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

E. D. Sellers

2007-03-01

It is the policy of the Department of Energy (DOE) that pollution prevention and sustainable environmental stewardship will be integrated into DOE operations as a good business practice to reduce environmental hazards, protect environmental resources, avoid pollution control costs, and improve operational efficiency and mission sustainability. In furtherance of this policy, DOE established five strategic, performance-based Pollution Prevention (P2) and Sustainable Environmental Stewardship goals and included them as an attachment to DOE O 450.1, Environmental Protection Program. These goals and accompanying strategies are to be implemented by DOE sites through the integration of Pollution Prevention into each site's Environmental Managementmore » System (EMS). This document presents a P2 and Sustainability Program and corresponding plan pursuant to DOE Order 450.1 and DOE O 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management. This plan is also required by the state of Idaho, pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) partial permit. The objective of this document is to describe the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site P2 and Sustainability Program. The purpose of the program is to decrease the environmental footprint of the INL Site while providing enhanced support of its mission. The success of the program is dependent on financial and management support. The signatures on the previous page indicate INL, ICP, and AMWTP Contractor management support and dedication to the program. P2 requirements have been integrated into working procedures to ensure an effective EMS as part of an Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS). This plan focuses on programmatic functions which include environmentally preferable procurement, sustainable design, P2 and Sustainability awareness, waste generation and reduction, source reduction and recycling, energy management, and pollution prevention opportunity assessments. The INL Site P2 and Sustainability Program is administratively managed by the INL Site P2 Coordinator. Development and maintenance of this overall INL Site plan is ultimately the responsibility of DOE-ID. This plan is applicable to all INL Site contractors except those at the Naval Reactors Facility.« less

Setting Your Sites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benz, Stephen

2006-01-01

Schools and universities recognize that many of the people and neighborhoods they serve expect education institutions to embrace environmental stewardship and sustainable design. Standards such as the LEED-registered facility program, managed by the U.S. Green Building Council, are receiving more attention. Schools can demonstrate their commitment…

U1A Complex

ScienceCinema

None

2018-01-16

Some of the most sophisticated experiments in the stockpile stewardship program are conducted in an environmentally safe manner, nearly 1000 feet below the ground at the site. The U1a complex a sprawling underground laboratory and tunnel complex is home to a number of unique capabilities.

Mixed methods analysis of urban environmental stewardship networks

Treesearch

James J.T. Connolly; Erika S. Svendsen; Dana R. Fisher; Lindsay K. Campbell

2015-01-01

While mixed methods approaches to research have been accepted practice within the social sciences for several decades (Tashakkori and Teddlie 2003), the rising demand for cross-disciplinary analyses of socio-environmental processes has necessitated a renewed examination of this approach within environmental studies. Urban environmental stewardship is one area where it...

75 FR 18567 - Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Omnibus Household Survey Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-12

...'s strategic goals (safety, reduced congestion, global connectivity, environmental stewardship and..., as well as other governmental agencies, to survey the public about current transportation issues, and... transit (subway, streetcar, or light rail) Commuter rail Water transportation (taxis, ferries, ships...

Blind inlets: Conservation practices to reduce herbicide losses from closed depressional areas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pesticides are designed to benefit agricultural production and may inadvertently affect water quality if environmental stewardship programs are not implemented. Closed depressional areas (potholes) are typical in the US Midwest and are usually drained with tile risers, however sediment and contamina...

Scientific Data Stewardship in the 21'st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mabie, J. J.; Redmon, R.; Bullett, T.; Kihn, E. A.; Conkright, R.; Manley, J.; Horan, K.

2008-12-01

The Ionosonde Program at the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) serves as a case study for how to approach data stewardship in the 21'st century. As the number and sophistication of scientific instruments increase, along with the volumes and complexity of data that need to be preserved for future generations, the old approach of simply storing data in a library, physical or electronic, is no longer sufficient to ensure the long term preservation of our important environmental data. To ensure the data can be accessed, understood, and used by future generations, the data stewards must be familiar with the observation process before the data reach the archive and the scientific applications to which the data may be called to serve. This familiarity is best obtained by active participation. In the NGDC Ionosonde Program team, we strive to have activity and expertise in ionosonde field operations and scientific data analysis in addition to our core mission of preservation and distribution of data and metadata. We believe this approach produces superior data quality, proper documentation and evaluation tools for data customers as part of the archive process. We are presenting the Ionosonde Program as an example of modern scientific data stewardship.

Gasoline toxicology: overview of regulatory and product stewardship programs.

PubMed

Swick, Derek; Jaques, Andrew; Walker, J C; Estreicher, Herb

2014-11-01

Significant efforts have been made to characterize the toxicological properties of gasoline. There have been both mandatory and voluntary toxicology testing programs to generate hazard characterization data for gasoline, the refinery process streams used to blend gasoline, and individual chemical constituents found in gasoline. The Clean Air Act (CAA) (Clean Air Act, 2012: § 7401, et seq.) is the primary tool for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate gasoline and this supplement presents the results of the Section 211(b) Alternative Tier 2 studies required for CAA Fuel and Fuel Additive registration. Gasoline blending streams have also been evaluated by EPA under the voluntary High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program through which the petroleum industry provide data on over 80 refinery streams used in gasoline. Product stewardship efforts by companies and associations such as the American Petroleum Institute (API), Conservation of Clean Air and Water Europe (CONCAWE), and the Petroleum Product Stewardship Council (PPSC) have contributed a significant amount of hazard characterization data on gasoline and related substances. The hazard of gasoline and anticipated exposure to gasoline vapor has been well characterized for risk assessment purposes. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Empowering Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miner, Jennifer; Elshof, Leo; Redden, Anna; Terry, John

2004-01-01

The Gulf of Maine Institute (GOMI) is striving to empower youth to take on stewardship roles in their communities. Through its Community Based Initiative (CBI) program, GOMI addresses environmental degradation by working with teams of students, teachers, and community members from around the Gulf of Maine to inspire youth to be stewards of the…

Socially Responsible Investing: It's Time for Schools to Get on Board

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armoza, Natalia

2011-01-01

Whether it is in their professional development programs, admissions materials, or curricula, independent schools have a lot to say about environmental stewardship, equity, community service, and justice. When they send their students to rebuild post-Katrina New Orleans or construct LEED-certified structures, the schools and their constituents…

Ecosystem Matters: Activity and Resource Guide for Environmental Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Mary; And Others

An ecological approach involved making conscious decisions which result in actions that responsibly contribute to the long-term stewardship of natural resources. This activity and resource guide was designed for use by both educators and resource managers to supplement existing courses and programs concerning ecological matters. These…

Evaluating environmental education, citizen science, and stewardship through naturalist programs.

PubMed

Merenlender, Adina M; Crall, Alycia W; Drill, Sabrina; Prysby, Michelle; Ballard, Heidi

2016-12-01

Amateur naturalists have played an important role in the study and conservation of nature since the 17th century. Today, naturalist groups make important contributions to bridge the gap between conservation science and practice around the world. We examined data from 2 regional naturalist programs to understand participant motivations, barriers, and perspectives as well as the actions they take to advance science, stewardship, and community engagement. These programs provide certification-based natural history and conservation science training for adults that is followed by volunteer service in citizen science, education, and stewardship. Studies in California and Virginia include quantitative and qualitative evaluation data collected through pre- and postcourse surveys, interviews, and long-term tracking of volunteer hours. Motivations of participants focused on learning about the local environment and plants and animals, connecting with nature, becoming certified, and spending time with people who have similar interests. Over half the participants surveyed were over 50 years old, two-thirds were women, and a majority reported household incomes of over $50,000 (60% in California, 85% in Virginia), and <20% of those surveyed in both states described themselves as nonwhite. Thus, these programs need to improve participation by a wider spectrum of the public. We interviewed younger and underrepresented adults to examine barriers to participation in citizen science. The primary barrier was lack of time due to the need to work and focus on career advancement. Survey data revealed that participants' ecological knowledge, scientific skills, and belief in their ability to address environmental issues increased after training. Documented conservation actions taken by the participants include invasive plant management, habitat restoration, and cleanups of natural areas and streams. Long-term data from Virginia on volunteer hours dedicated to environmental citizen science show an increase from 14% in 2007 to 32% in 2014. In general, participants in the naturalist programs we examined increased their content knowledge about ecosystems, had greater confidence in conserving them, and continued to engage as citizen scientists after completing the program. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Strategic Plan for Sustainable Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship for Los Angeles Unified School District

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

Walker, A.; Beattie, D.; Thomas, K.

2007-11-01

This Strategic Plan for Sustainable Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship states goals, measures progress toward goals and how actions are monitored to achieve continuous improvement for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

GIS for environmental stewardship and streamlining: an overview of state DOT practices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-01-31

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) supports the adoption and development of Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies to promote environmental streamlining and stewardship (referred to as GIS4EST). While several States have already appl...

A Partnership Model for Training Episodic Environmental Stewardship 4-H Volunteers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Jane Chin; Alexander, Janice; Smith, Martin H.

2013-01-01

The Marin Environmental Stewardship pilot project demonstrates the potential for a partnership model that brings together external and internal collaborators to recruit and train episodic 4-H volunteers to meet environmental education needs within a community. The clientele served by the volunteers trained through the project was at-risk, urban…

75 FR 12231 - NACEPT Subcommittee on Promoting Environmental Stewardship

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-15

... the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, EPA gives notice of a conference call of the... sectors, as appropriate, in order to enhance human health and environmental protection. A copy of the... Environmental Stewardship will hold a public teleconference on Thursday, April 1, 2010 (1 p.m.-3 p.m. Eastern...

Feasibility and applicability of antimicrobial stewardship in immunocompromised patients.

PubMed

Robilotti, Elizabeth; Holubar, Marisa; Seo, Susan K; Deresinski, Stan

2017-08-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is the primary intervention in the battle against antimicrobial resistance, but clinicians do not always apply many key antimicrobial stewardship principles to patients with significant immune defects due to lack of data and fear of bad outcomes. We review evidence regarding the application of stewardship principles to immunocompromised patients, with a focus on solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs), targeting immunocompromised patient populations such as oncology and transplant, are gaining traction. Emerging literature suggests that several stewardship interventions can be adapted to immunocompromised hosts and improve antimicrobial utilization, but data supporting improved outcomes is very limited. The application of antimicrobial stewardship principles to immunocompromised patients is feasible, necessary, and urgent. As antimicrobial stewardship programs gain momentum across a diverse range of healthcare settings more immunocompromised patients will fall under their purview. It is imperative that centers applying antimicrobial stewardship principles share their experience and establish collaborative research efforts to advance our knowledge base in applying antimicrobial stewardship initiatives to immunocompromised host populations, both in terms of programmatic success and patient outcomes.

Assessment of Undergraduate Students' Environmental Stewardship Reasoning and Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartman, Christie-Joy Brodrick; DeMars, Christine E.; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Butner, Harold Martin

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a public university's design and implementation of an assessment approach that measures the change in undergraduate students' environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge abilities over time. Design/methodology/approach: In support of a university's strategic emphasis on environmental…

Predicting volunteer commitment in environmental stewardship programmes

Treesearch

Robert L. Ryan; Rachel Kaplan; Robert E. Grese

2001-01-01

The natural environment benefits greatly from the work of volunteers in environmental stewardship programmes. However, little is known about volunteers' motivations for continued participation in these programmes. This study looked at the relationship between volunteer commitment and motivation, as well as the effect that volunteering has on participants'...

Antimicrobial Stewardship: How the Microbiology Laboratory Can Right the Ship

PubMed Central

Schwartz, David N.; Weinstein, Robert A.

2016-01-01

SUMMARY Antimicrobial stewardship is a bundle of integrated interventions employed to optimize the use of antimicrobials in health care settings. While infectious-disease-trained physicians, with clinical pharmacists, are considered the main leaders of antimicrobial stewardship programs, clinical microbiologists can play a key role in these programs. This review is intended to provide a comprehensive discussion of the different components of antimicrobial stewardship in which microbiology laboratories and clinical microbiologists can make significant contributions, including cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility reports, enhanced culture and susceptibility reports, guidance in the preanalytic phase, rapid diagnostic test availability, provider education, and alert and surveillance systems. In reviewing this material, we emphasize how the rapid, and especially the recent, evolution of clinical microbiology has reinforced the importance of clinical microbiologists' collaboration with antimicrobial stewardship programs. PMID:27974411

Advancing antimicrobial stewardship: Summary of the 2015 CIDSC Report.

PubMed

Khan, F; Arthur, J; Maidment, L; Blue, D

2016-11-03

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognized as an important global public health concern that has a cross-cutting impact on human health, animal health, food and agriculture and the environment. The Communicable and Infectious Disease Steering Committee (CIDSC) of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network (PHN) created a Task Group on Antimicrobial Stewardship to look at this issue from a Canadian perspective. To summarize the key findings of the Task Group Report that identified core components of antimicrobial stewardship programs, best practices, key challenges, gaps and recommendations to advance stewardship across jurisdictions. Search strategies were developed to identify scientific literature, grey literature and relevant websites on antimicrobial stewardship. The information was reviewed and based on this evidence, expert opinion and consensus-building, the Task Group identified core components, best practices, key challenges and gaps and developed recommendations to advance stewardship in Canada. The four components of a promising antimicrobial stewardship initiative were: leadership, interventions, monitoring/evaluation and future research. Best practices include a multi-sectoral/multipronged approach involving a wide range of stakeholders at the national, provincial/territorial, local and health care organizational levels. Key challenges and gaps identified were: the success and sustainability of stewardship undertakings require appropriate and sustained resourcing and expertise; there is limited evidence about how to effectively implement treatment guidance; and there is a challenge in ensuring accessibility, standardization and consistency of use among professionals. ​: Recommendations to the CIDSC about how to advance stewardship across jurisdictions included the following: institute a national infrastructure; develop best practices to implement stewardship programs; develop education and promote awareness; establish consistent evidence-based guidance, resources, tools and training; mandate the incorporation of stewardship education; develop audit and feedback tools; establish benchmarks and performance targets for stewardship; and conduct timely evaluation of stewardship programs. Findings of this report will inform a more systematic approach to addressing antimicrobial stewardship Canada-wide.

A cost-effectiveness analysis of two different antimicrobial stewardship programs.

PubMed

Okumura, Lucas Miyake; Riveros, Bruno Salgado; Gomes-da-Silva, Monica Maria; Veroneze, Izelandia

2016-01-01

There is a lack of formal economic analysis to assess the efficiency of antimicrobial stewardship programs. Herein, we conducted a cost-effectiveness study to assess two different strategies of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs. A 30-day Markov model was developed to analyze how cost-effective was a Bundled Antimicrobial Stewardship implemented in a university hospital in Brazil. Clinical data derived from a historical cohort that compared two different strategies of antimicrobial stewardship programs and had 30-day mortality as main outcome. Selected costs included: workload, cost of defined daily doses, length of stay, laboratory and imaging resources used to diagnose infections. Data were analyzed by deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis to assess model's robustness, tornado diagram and Cost-Effectiveness Acceptability Curve. Bundled Strategy was more expensive (Cost difference US$ 2119.70), however, it was more efficient (US$ 27,549.15 vs 29,011.46). Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis suggested that critical variables did not alter final Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio. Bundled Strategy had higher probabilities of being cost-effective, which was endorsed by cost-effectiveness acceptability curve. As health systems claim for efficient technologies, this study conclude that Bundled Antimicrobial Stewardship Program was more cost-effective, which means that stewardship strategies with such characteristics would be of special interest in a societal and clinical perspective. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

The cost-benefit of federal investment in preventing Clostridium difficile infections through the use of a multifaceted infection control and antimicrobial stewardship program.

PubMed

Slayton, Rachel B; Scott, R Douglas; Baggs, James; Lessa, Fernanda C; McDonald, L Clifford; Jernigan, John A

2015-06-01

To determine the potential epidemiologic and economic value of the implementation of a multifaceted Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) control program at US acute care hospitals Markov model with a 5-year time horizon Patients whose data were used in our simulations were limited to hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 years old. CDI is an important public health problem with substantial associated morbidity, mortality, and cost. Multifaceted national prevention efforts in the United Kingdom, including antimicrobial stewardship, patient isolation, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and disinfection, and audit, resulted in a 59% reduction in CDI cases reported from 2008 to 2012. Our analysis was conducted from the federal perspective. The intervention we modeled included the following components: antimicrobial stewardship utilizing the Antimicrobial Use and Resistance module of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), use of contact precautions, and enhanced environmental cleaning. We parameterized our model using data from CDC surveillance systems, the AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, and literature reviews. To address uncertainty in our parameter estimates, we conducted sensitivity analyses for intervention effectiveness and cost, expenditures by other federal partners, and discount rate. Each simulation represented a cohort of 1,000 hospitalized patients over 1,000 trials. RESULTS In our base case scenario with 50% intervention effectiveness, we estimated that 509,000 CDI cases and 82,000 CDI-attributable deaths would be prevented over a 5-year time horizon. Nationally, the cost savings across all hospitalizations would be $2.5 billion (95% credible interval: $1.2 billion to $4.0 billion). The potential benefits of a multifaceted national CDI prevention program are sizeable from the federal perspective.

How can Multi-Professional Education Support Better Stewardship?

PubMed Central

Pereira, Nuno Rocha; Castro-Sanchez, Enrique; Nathwani, Dilip

2017-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is widely accepted as an efficient strategy to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Education is one of the cornerstones of successful antimicrobial stewardship programs. There is also general agreement that antimicrobial stewardship is a team effort that must involve the whole continuum of healthcare workers. Providing adequate education for all different professionals although challenging is deemed crucial to achieve good results. This paper reviews the different strategies available to educate the multiple healthcare workers, discusses how education can improve antimicrobial stewardship programs and outlines some of the challenges faced and research gaps that need to be addressed in order to improve education in this field. PMID:28458801

Development of an antimicrobial stewardship-based infectious diseases elective that incorporates human patient simulation technology.

PubMed

Falcione, Bonnie A; Meyer, Susan M

2014-10-15

To design an elective for pharmacy students that facilitates antimicrobial stewardship awareness, knowledge, and skill development by solving clinical cases, using human patient simulation technology. The elective was designed for PharmD students to describe principles and functions of stewardship programs, select, evaluate, refine, or redesign patient-specific plans for infectious diseases in the context of antimicrobial stewardship, and propose criteria and stewardship management strategies for an antimicrobial class at a health care institution. Teaching methods included active learning and lectures. Cases of bacterial endocarditis and cryptococcal meningitis were developed that incorporated human patient simulation technology. Forty-five pharmacy students completed an antimicrobial stewardship elective between 2010 and 2013. Outcomes were assessed using student perceptions of and performance on rubric-graded assignments. A PharmD elective using active learning, including novel cases conducted with human patient simulation technology, enabled outcomes consistent with those desired of pharmacists assisting in antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Antimicrobial stewardship in long term care facilities: what is effective?

PubMed

Nicolle, Lindsay E

2014-02-12

Intense antimicrobial use in long term care facilities promotes the emergence and persistence of antimicrobial resistant organisms and leads to adverse effects such as C. difficile colitis. Guidelines recommend development of antimicrobial stewardship programs for these facilities to promote optimal antimicrobial use. However, the effectiveness of these programs or the contribution of any specific program component is not known. For this review, publications describing evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship programs for long term care facilities were identified through a systematic literature search. Interventions included education, guidelines development, feedback to practitioners, and infectious disease consultation. The studies reviewed varied in types of facilities, interventions used, implementation, and evaluation. Comprehensive programs addressing all infections were reported to have improved antimicrobial use for at least some outcomes. Targeted programs for treatment of pneumonia were minimally effective, and only for indicators of uncertain relevance for stewardship. Programs focusing on specific aspects of treatment of urinary infection - limiting treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria or prophylaxis of urinary infection - were reported to be effective. There were no reports of cost-effectiveness, and the sustainability of most of the programs is unclear. There is a need for further evaluation to characterize effective antimicrobial stewardship for long term care facilities.

The Nature Conservancy's Student Stewardship Program, Student Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Mary, Ed.

Five schools in northeastern Ohio were chosen to participate in this environmental education project. Students were assigned a natural area in their community to study in detail. This workbook is designed for recording data collected during the year long project. The topics to be studied are organized according to the month that they will be done,…

Fostering "Connectedness to Nature" through U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Education and Outreach Programming: A Qualitative Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theimer, Stefan; Ernst, Julie

2012-01-01

Despite a recent increased emphasis on emotional connections to nature and their relationship to stewardship and health outcomes in the environmental education and other literature, there is a lack of understanding of what qualities of nature experiences actually influence emotional connections to nature, otherwise known as environmental…

Post-Closure Strategy for Use-Restricted Sites on the Nevada National Security Site, Nevada Test and Training Range, and Tonopah Test Range, Nevada

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

Silvas, A. J.

The purpose of this Post-Closure Strategy is to provide a consistent methodology for continual evaluation of post-closure requirements for use-restricted areas on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), and Tonopah Test Range (TTR) to consolidate, modify, or streamline the program. In addition, this document stipulates the creation of a single consolidated Post-Closure Plan that will detail the current post-closure requirements for all active use restrictions (URs) and outlines its implementation and subsequent revision. This strategy will ensure effective management and control of the post-closure sites. There are currently over 200 URs located on themore » NNSS, NTTR, and TTR. Post-closure requirements were initially established in the Closure Report for each site. In some cases, changes to the post-closure requirements have been implemented through addenda, errata sheets, records of technical change, or letters. Post-closure requirements have been collected from these multiple sources and consolidated into several formats, such as summaries and databases. This structure increases the possibility of inconsistencies and uncertainty. As more URs are established and the post-closure program is expanded, the need for a comprehensive approach for managing the program will increase. Not only should the current requirements be obtainable from a single source that supersedes all previous requirements, but the strategy for modifying the requirements should be standardized. This will enable more effective management of the program into the future. This strategy document and the subsequent comprehensive plan are to be implemented under the assumption that the NNSS and outlying sites will be under the purview of the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration for the foreseeable future. This strategy was also developed assuming that regulatory control of the sites remains static. The comprehensive plan is not intended to be a permanent long-term stewardship plan. However, it is intended to clarify requirements and identify components to effectively manage the sites until regulatory requirements are met or management of the site changes. The Environmental Management Program is required to manage these sites until the NNSS Environmental Restoration program is completed, currently planned for 2030. Prior to completion of the Environmental Restoration program, additional planning will be conducted to ensure that long-term stewardship of the sites is maintained. A comprehensive post-closure plan can be transitioned effectively into any future site-wide long-term stewardship program that may be developed. Therefore, the post-closure plan will include current aspects of the post-closure program that are also important aspects of long-term stewardship, including the following: • Management of physical and engineering controls such as fences, signs, and soil covers • Management of institutional and administrative controls such as use restrictions and real estate systems • Management of monitoring and maintenance programs • Management of information related to the sites such as geographic information system data and related documentation The strategy will also allow for periodic review and modification of any aspect of the program to ensure continued effectiveness.« less

7 CFR 1469.23 - Program payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM Contracts and Payments § 1469.23 Program payments. (a) Stewardship component of CSP payments. (1) The conservation stewardship plan... Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) land rental data, and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) rental rates...

Antimicrobial Stewardship: How the Microbiology Laboratory Can Right the Ship.

PubMed

Morency-Potvin, Philippe; Schwartz, David N; Weinstein, Robert A

2017-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is a bundle of integrated interventions employed to optimize the use of antimicrobials in health care settings. While infectious-disease-trained physicians, with clinical pharmacists, are considered the main leaders of antimicrobial stewardship programs, clinical microbiologists can play a key role in these programs. This review is intended to provide a comprehensive discussion of the different components of antimicrobial stewardship in which microbiology laboratories and clinical microbiologists can make significant contributions, including cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility reports, enhanced culture and susceptibility reports, guidance in the preanalytic phase, rapid diagnostic test availability, provider education, and alert and surveillance systems. In reviewing this material, we emphasize how the rapid, and especially the recent, evolution of clinical microbiology has reinforced the importance of clinical microbiologists' collaboration with antimicrobial stewardship programs. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Microbiology.

GeoEthics from the Ground Up: A Carbon-Neutral Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, A.; Derry, L. A.

2014-12-01

Discussion with students about the science of global warming and the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions - while emitting greenhouse gasses in the process - is a focal point for geoethics in the Cornell University Earth and Environmental Systems (EES) Field Program. If we seek to educate students in the fundamentals of environmental stewardship we must also put stewardship into practice as part of that education. The EES program is a semester length earth systems field program held on Hawai`i Island. In Hawai`i students gain first-hand experience with the interconnected solid earth, living earth, ocean and atmosphere. They also gain first-hand experience with the consequences of unsustainable resource use: marine resource depletion, deforestation and species loss, development v. conservation, fossil fuel v. alternative energy options. Yet as a travel-based field program the pursuit of these goals carries a clear environmental cost. Thus a core element of EES education is to run a carbon-neutral program. To achieve this, students quantify every aspect of the program's carbon footprint. They decide which actions they must include as part of that footprint and learn how to monitor and calculate the resulting CO2 emissions. Students learn how to reduce emissions where possible, and offset emissions that cannot be eliminated. Working in partnership with island-based conservation organizations students engage in reforestation of degraded native forest landscapes. They model the carbon sequestration capacity of restored forest biomass and soil reservoirs. The outcome of this process has triple-bottom-line benefits: (1) native forest and endangered species habitat is restored, (2) carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and sequestered, and (3) students gain hands-on, minds-on experience with carbon-cycle science, ecosystem science, and with the ethical imperative of putting one's knowledge into action.

Local Government Implementation of Long-Term Stewardship at Two DOE Facilities

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

John Pendergrass; Roman Czebiniak; Kelly Mott

2003-08-13

The Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for cleaning up the radioactive and chemical contamination that resulted from the production of nuclear weapons. At more than one hundred sites throughout the country DOE will leave some contamination in place after the cleanup is complete. In order to protect human health and the environment from the remaining contamination DOE, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state environmental regulatory agencies, local governments, citizens and other entities will need to undertake long-term stewardship of such sites. Long-term stewardship includes a wide range of actions needed to protect human health in the environment for asmore » long as the risk from the contamination remains above acceptable levels, such as barriers, caps, and other engineering controls and land use controls, signs, notices, records, and other institutional controls. In this report the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) examine how local governments, state environmental agencies, and real property professionals implement long-term stewardship at two DOE facilities, Losa Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge Reservation.« less

2015 Stewardship Science Academic Programs Annual

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

Stone, Terri; Mischo, Millicent

The Stockpile Stewardship Academic Programs (SSAP) are essential to maintaining a pipeline of professionals to support the technical capabilities that reside at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) national laboratories, sites, and plants. Since 1992, the United States has observed the moratorium on nuclear testing while significantly decreasing the nuclear arsenal. To accomplish this without nuclear testing, NNSA and its laboratories developed a science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain and enhance the experimental and computational tools required to ensure the continued safety, security, and reliability of the stockpile. NNSA launched its academic program portfolio more than a decade ago tomore » engage students skilled in specific technical areas of relevance to stockpile stewardship. The success of this program is reflected by the large number of SSAP students choosing to begin their careers at NNSA national laboratories.« less

Environmental stewardship practices of veterinary professionals and educators related to use and disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

PubMed

Lam, Jennifer; Chan, Samuel S; Conway, Flaxen D L; Stone, David

2018-03-01

OBJECTIVE To document the environmental stewardship practices (decisions and actions regarding use and disposal) of pet and human pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) among pet-owning veterinary-care professionals (practicing veterinarians, veterinary students, and veterinary technicians and trainees) and environmental educators. DESIGN Internet-based cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE 191 pet owners (103 veterinary-care professionals and 88 environmental educators). PROCEDURES Study participants were recruited by means of a 2-part internet survey distributed to veterinary-care professional and environmental educator networks of individuals residing in Washington state, Oregon, and southern California. Survey questions addressed motivators for environmental stewardship practices (ie, decisions and actions regarding use and disposal of pet and human PPCPs). RESULTS Data were collected from 191 respondents; the response rate for individuals who self-selected to opt in was 78% (191/246). Of the 191 respondents, 42 (22%) stored pet pharmaceuticals indefinitely. The most common disposal method was the garbage (88/191 [46%]). Veterinary-care professionals counseled clients infrequently regarding environmental stewardship practices for PPCPs. Fifty-five percent (105/191) of all respondents preferred more environmentally friendly and clinically effective PPCPs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results of the present survey emphasized the urgent need for improved educational resources to minimize environmental contamination from improper disposal of PPCPs. Environmental and economic motivations among pet owners in the veterinary-care and education professions indicate further opportunities for outreach and institutional support.

Urban ecological stewardship: understanding the structure, function and network of community-based urban land management

Treesearch

Erika s. Svendsen; Lindsay K. Campbell

2008-01-01

Urban environmental stewardship activities are on the rise in cities throughout the Northeast. Groups participating in stewardship activities range in age, size, and geography and represent an increasingly complex and dynamic arrangement of civil society, government and business sectors. To better understand the structure, function and network of these community-based...

Development of an Antimicrobial Stewardship-based Infectious Diseases Elective that Incorporates Human Patient Simulation Technology

PubMed Central

Meyer, Susan M.

2014-01-01

Objective. To design an elective for pharmacy students that facilitates antimicrobial stewardship awareness, knowledge, and skill development by solving clinical cases, using human patient simulation technology. Design. The elective was designed for PharmD students to describe principles and functions of stewardship programs, select, evaluate, refine, or redesign patient-specific plans for infectious diseases in the context of antimicrobial stewardship, and propose criteria and stewardship management strategies for an antimicrobial class at a health care institution. Teaching methods included active learning and lectures. Cases of bacterial endocarditis and cryptococcal meningitis were developed that incorporated human patient simulation technology. Assessment. Forty-five pharmacy students completed an antimicrobial stewardship elective between 2010 and 2013. Outcomes were assessed using student perceptions of and performance on rubric-graded assignments. Conclusion. A PharmD elective using active learning, including novel cases conducted with human patient simulation technology, enabled outcomes consistent with those desired of pharmacists assisting in antimicrobial stewardship programs. PMID:25386016

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

Garland, Sid; Brown, Sally; Sims, Lynn

Long-term stewardship is the set of activities necessary to return contaminated land to safe and beneficial use. The activities include physical and legal controls to prevent inappropriate exposure to contamination left in place at a site. It is the longest phase of the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program and ensures the protection of human health and the environment for varied end uses. At the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation an automated program has been developed and implemented that tracks the multitude of long-term stewardship activities. The Oak Ridge Reservation is a large site that currently has over 50more » actions requiring long-term stewardship activities. The Oak Ridge Reservation consists primarily of three plant sites, and long-term stewardship will enable these sites to be leased to private entities (East Tennessee Technology Park), modernized for an evolving national security mission (Y-12 National Security Complex), and revitalized to continue multi-disciplinary research (Oak Ridge National Laboratory). The varied site end uses of the individual plant sites coupled with the multitude of controls required by leaving waste in place presents challenges. A single remedial action may include surveillance and maintenance activities, media monitoring, property record notices as well as physical controls such as fences and signs. Thus, the array of long-term stewardship activities is complex and intermingled (over 200 inspections each year at various frequencies are required currently) and requires an effective tracking program, termed the Land Use Manager. The Land Use Manager is a web-based data management application for use by personnel responsible for implementing, maintaining, and verifying engineering and land use controls on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The program is a data entry and tracking tool, as well as a notification tool. The status and performance of engineering and land use controls are checked annually for evaluation in the required Remediation Effectiveness Report, and the automated Land Use Manager collects, maintains, tracks, notifies, monitors, and manages the information necessary to perform this evaluation. Land Use Manager tracks site information including type of contamination, regulatory requirements, locates land use controls; provides information on inspections, certification, and reporting; and provides reports. Most data access features, e.g., view, print, query, and download, are available to all users; however, data input, updating, and editing are restricted to the personnel directly responsible for monitoring and inspection. The Land Use Manager application was developed for the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office by URS - CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, Restoration Services Incorporated, and MIJARA Corporation to meet the specific needs of long-term stewardship tracking on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The successful implementation of long-term stewardship enables the future government and private activities being planned on the Oak Ridge Reservation to proceed. (authors)« less

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.

Closing the Loop: Integrated Waste Management Activities for School & Home. K-12 Edition. A School-Based Waste Minimization and Education Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Environmental Education, Chagrin Falls, OH.

Increased human population has led to more frequent interactions with the environment. The results of those interactions have affected the Earth's ecosystem. This manual contains hands-on, problem-centered activities to help students develop an environmental ethic and stewardship regarding waste management. The activities are grouped under three…

Nanotechnology and Environmental, Health, and Safety: Issues for Consideration

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-06

be required. J. Clarence Davies, senior advisor to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Policy...and the applications become more diverse. CRS-25 54 Davies, J. Clarence . Managing the Effects of Nanotechnology, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies...August 2, 2007. 67 Davies, J. Clarence , testimony, EPA Public Meeting on Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, August 2, 2007. [http

Science and society: the role of long-term studies in environmental stewardship

Treesearch

Charles T. Driscoll; Kathleen F. Lambert; F. Stuart Chapin; David J. Nowak; Thomas A. Spies; Frederick J. Swanson; David B. Kittredge; Clarisse M. Hart

2012-01-01

Long-term research should play a crucial role in addressing grand challenges in environmental stewardship. We examine the efforts of five Long Term Ecological Research Network sites to enhance policy, management, and conservation decisions for forest ecosystems. In these case studies, we explore the approaches used to inform policy on atmospheric deposition, public...

Assessing the distribution of environmental stewardship organizations and their relationship to the demographics of Los Angeles County

Treesearch

Krystle M. Golly

2017-01-01

An equal distribution of environmental stewardship organizations across the urban landscape provides an environment that facilitates community empowerment. The systemic issues found in Los Angeles County play an important role in the social development of the area. Through the utilization of modern technology and geographical mapping software, spatial distribution of...

Influence of financial incentive programs in sustaining wildlife values

Treesearch

Thomas J. Straka; Michael A. Kilgore; Michael G. Jacobson; John L. Greene; Steven E. Daniels

2007-01-01

Conservation incentive programs have substantial impacts on the nation’s forests and wildlife habitat. There are eight major conservation incentive programs. The Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) provides forest landowner assistance by focusing on resource management plans embodying multi-resource stewardship principles. The Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP) is the...

Potential SSP Perfluorooctanoic Acid Related Fluoropolymer Materials Obsolescence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Segars, Matt G.

2006-01-01

The Shuttle Environmental Assurance Initiative (SEA) has identified a potential for the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) to incur materials obsolescence issues due to agreements between the fluoro-chemical industry and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to participate in a Global Stewardship Program for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This presentation will include discussions of the chemistry, regulatory drivers, affected types of fluoropolymer and fluoroelastomer products, timeline for reformulations, and methodology for addressing the issue. It will cover the coordination of assessment efforts with the International Space Station and Head Quarters Air Force Space Command, along with some examples of impacted materials. The presentation is directed at all members of the international aerospace community concerned with identifying potential environmentally driven materials obsolescence issues.

Watershed Stewardship Education Program--A Multidisciplinary Extension Education Program for Oregon's Watershed Councils.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Flaxen D. L.; Godwin, Derek; Cloughesy, Mike; Nierenberg, Tara

2003-01-01

The Watershed Stewardship Education Program (WSEP) is a multidisciplinary Oregon Extension designed to help watershed councils, landowners, and others work effectively together on water management. Components include practical, easy-to-use educational materials, training in effective collaboration, a Master Watershed Stewards program, and advanced…

Urban non-timber forest products stewardship practices among foragers in Seattle, Washington (USA)

Treesearch

R.J. McLain; Melissa R. Poe; Lauren S. Urgenson; Dale J. Blahna; Lita P. Buttolph

2017-01-01

Our research seeks to expand the concept of urban environmental stewardship to include the everyday stewardship practices of urban nontimber forest products foragers. Ethnographic data from 58 urban foragers and 18 land stewards in the city of Seattle (USA) revealed that foragers reported using a variety of practices to enhance and minimize negative desirable species...

Integrating human and natural systems in community psychology: an ecological model of stewardship behavior.

PubMed

Moskell, Christine; Allred, Shorna Broussard

2013-03-01

Community psychology (CP) research on the natural environment lacks a theoretical framework for analyzing the complex relationship between human systems and the natural world. We introduce other academic fields concerned with the interactions between humans and the natural environment, including environmental sociology and coupled human and natural systems. To demonstrate how the natural environment can be included within CP's ecological framework, we propose an ecological model of urban forest stewardship action. Although ecological models of behavior in CP have previously modeled health behaviors, we argue that these frameworks are also applicable to actions that positively influence the natural environment. We chose the environmental action of urban forest stewardship because cities across the United States are planting millions of trees and increased citizen participation in urban tree planting and stewardship will be needed to sustain the benefits provided by urban trees. We used the framework of an ecological model of behavior to illustrate multiple levels of factors that may promote or hinder involvement in urban forest stewardship actions. The implications of our model for the development of multi-level ecological interventions to foster stewardship actions are discussed, as well as directions for future research to further test and refine the model.

Effective antibiotic stewardship in spinal cord injury: Challenges and a way forward.

PubMed

Skelton, Felicia; Suda, Katie; Evans, Charlesnika; Trautner, Barbara

2018-01-11

Context Antibiotic stewardship, defined as a multidisciplinary program to reduce the misuse of antibiotics, and in turn, antibiotic resistance, is a high priority. Persons with spinal cord injury/disorder (SCI/D) are vulnerable to receiving multiple courses of antibiotics over their lifetime given frequent healthcare exposure, and have high rates of bacterial infection with multi-drug resistant organisms. Additional challenges to evaluating appropriate use of antibiotics in this population include bacterial colonization in the urine and the differences in the presenting signs and symptoms of infection. Therefore, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities with SCI/D centers need effective antibiotic stewardship programs. Results We analyzed the results of a 2012 VHA-wide survey evaluating available antibiotic stewardship resources, and compared the resources present at facilities with SCI/D (n=23) versus non-SCI/D facilities (n=107). VHA facilities with SCI/D centers are more likely to have components of an antibiotic stewardship program that have led to reduced antibiotic use in previous studies. They are also more likely to have personnel with infectious diseases training. Conclusion VHA facilities with SCI/D centers have the resources needed for antibiotic stewardship. The next step will be to determine how to implement effective antibiotic stewardship tailored for this patient care setting.

Environmental Management System Plan

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

Fox, Robert; Thorson, Patrick; Horst, Blair

2009-03-24

Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management establishes the policy that Federal agencies conduct their environmental, transportation, and energy-related activities in a manner that is environmentally, economically and fiscally sound, integrated, continually improving, efficient, and sustainable. The Department of Energy (DOE) has approved DOE Order 450.1A, Environmental Protection Program and DOE Order 430.2B, Departmental Energy, Renewable Energy and Transportation Management as the means of achieving the provisions of this Executive Order. DOE Order 450.1A mandates the development of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) to implement sustainable environmental stewardship practices that: (1) Protect the air, water, land, and othermore » natural and cultural resources potentially impacted by facility operations; (2) Meet or exceed applicable environmental, public health, and resource protection laws and regulations; and (3) Implement cost-effective business practices. In addition, the DOE Order 450.1A mandates that the EMS must be integrated with a facility's Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) established pursuant to DOE P 450.4, 'Safety Management System Policy'. DOE Order 430.2B mandates an energy management program that considers energy use and renewable energy, water, new and renovated buildings, and vehicle fleet activities. The Order incorporates the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Order also includes the DOE's Transformational Energy Action Management initiative, which assures compliance is achieved through an Executable Plan that is prepared and updated annually by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab, or the Laboratory) and then approved by the DOE Berkeley Site Office. At the time of this revision to the EMS plan, the 'FY2009 LBNL Sustainability Executable Plan' represented the most current Executable Plan. These DOE Orders and associated policies establish goals and sustainable stewardship practices that are protective of environmental, natural, and cultural resources, and take a life cycle approach that considers aspects such as: (1) Acquisition and use of environmentally preferable products; (2) Electronics stewardship; (3) Energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy; (4) Pollution prevention, with emphasis on toxic and hazardous chemical and material reduction; (5) Procurement of efficient energy and water consuming materials and equipment; (6) Recycling and reuse; (7) Sustainable and high-performance building design; (8) Transportation and fleet management; and (9) Water conservation. LBNL's approach to sustainable environmental stewardship required under Order 450.1A poses the challenge of implementing its EMS in a compliance-based, performance-based, and cost-effective manner. In other words, the EMS must deliver real and tangible business value at a minimal cost. The purpose of this plan is to describe Berkeley Lab's approach for achieving such an EMS, including an overview of the roles and responsibilities of key Laboratory parties. This approach begins with a broad-based environmental policy consistent with that stated in Chapter 11 of the LBNL Health and Safety Manual (PUB-3000). This policy states that Berkeley Lab is committed to the following: (1) Complying with applicable environmental, public health, and resource conservation laws and regulations. (2) Preventing pollution, minimizing waste, and conserving natural resources. (3) Correcting environmental hazards and cleaning up existing environmental problems, and (4) Continually improving the Laboratory's environmental performance while maintaining operational capability and sustaining the overall mission of the Laboratory. A continual cycle of planning, implementing, evaluating, and improving processes will be performed to achieve goals, objectives, and targets that will help LBNL carry out this policy. Each year, environmental aspects will be identified and their impacts to the environment will be evaluated. Objectives and targets will be developed (or updated) for each aspect that is determined to have a significant impact. Environmental Management Programs (EMPs) will be prepared (or updated) to document actions necessary for reducing certain environmental impacts. Each EMP will identify responsible parties and associated target deadlines for each action. Quarterly, environmental programs will be reviewed for compliance issues and effectiveness. Annually, an internal assessment will be performed to evaluate the progress of the EMS, and LBNL senior management will review the results. In addition, at least once every 3 years a third-party audit will be performed to validate that the EMS is being implemented according to plan.« less

NOAA's Scientific Data Stewardship Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, J. J.

2004-12-01

The NOAA mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet the Nation's economic, social and environmental needs. NOAA has responsibility for long-term archiving of the United States environmental data and has recently integrated several data management functions into a concept called Scientific Data Stewardship. Scientific Data Stewardship a new paradigm in data management consisting of an integrated suite of functions to preserve and exploit the full scientific value of NOAA's, and the world's, environmental data These functions include careful monitoring of observing system performance for long-term applications, the generation of authoritative long-term climate records from multiple observing platforms, and the proper archival of and timely access to data and metadata. NOAA has developed a conceptual framework to implement the functions of scientific data stewardship. This framework has five objectives: 1) develop real-time monitoring of all satellite observing systems for climate applications, 2) process large volumes of satellite data extending up to decades in length to account for systematic errors and to eliminate artifacts in the raw data (referred to as fundamental climate data records, FCDRs), 3) generate retrieved geophysical parameters from the FCDRs (referred to as thematic climate data records TCDRs) including combining observations from all sources, 4) conduct monitoring and research by analyzing data sets to uncover climate trends and to provide evaluation and feedback for steps 2) and 3), and 5) provide archives of metadata, FCDRs, and TCDRs, and facilitate distribution of these data to the user community. The term `climate data record' and related terms, such as climate data set, have been used for some time, but the climate community has yet to settle on a concensus definition. A recent United States National Academy of Sciences report recommends using the following definition: a climate data record (CDR) is a time series of measurements of sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to determine climate variability and change.

Final Scientific/Technical Report Carbon Capture and Storage Training Northwest - CCSTNW

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

Workman, James

This report details the activities of the Carbon Capture and Storage Training Northwest (CCSTNW) program 2009 to 2013. The CCSTNW created, implemented, and provided Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) training over the period of the program. With the assistance of an expert advisory board, CCSTNW created curriculum and conducted three short courses, more than three lectures, two symposiums, and a final conference. The program was conducted in five phases; 1) organization, gap analysis, and form advisory board; 2) develop list serves, website, and tech alerts; 3) training needs survey; 4) conduct lectures, courses, symposiums, and a conference; 5) evaluation surveysmore » and course evaluations. This program was conducted jointly by Environmental Outreach and Stewardship Alliance (dba. Northwest Environmental Training Center – NWETC) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL).« less

Urban environmental stewardship and changes in vegetative cover and building footprint in New York City neighborhoods (2000-2010)

Treesearch

Dexter H. Locke; Kristen L. King; Erika S. Svendsen; Lindsay K. Campbell; Christopher Small; Nancy F. Sonti; Dana R. Fisher; Jacqueline W.T. Lu

2014-01-01

This study explores the connections between vegetation cover change, environmental stewardship, and building footprint change in New York City neighborhoods from the years 2000 to 2010. We use a mixed-methods multidisciplinary approach to analyze spatially explicit social and ecological data. Most neighborhoods lost vegetation during the study period. Neighborhoods...

A Survey of U.S. Army Public Affairs Officers’ Views on Environmental Stewardship Training

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-10-01

Department of Environmental Studies, 3 Victoria College, and Bruce Crawshaw , lecturer at the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, caution about the problems of...side a series of 3 subjects which the ’teachers’ know to be useful subjects such as ecology, economics, law, management, etc. (Stokes & Crawshaw 36...8217environment’" (Stokes & Crawshaw 36). The Army has apparently taken this approach to its new I environmental stewardship training for public affairs 3

Holding onto the Green Zone: A Youth Program for the Study and Stewardship of Community Riparian Areas. Leader Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reilly, Kate; Wooster, Betsy

2008-01-01

Riparian ecosystems are an exciting and dynamic subject for study. These areas are valuable lands and important wildlife habitats, and they contribute greatly to the environmental health of an area. Definitions for the term "riparian" vary, but in this curriculum, the land called the "Green Zone" lies between flowing water and upland ecosystems.…

Use of PNA FISH for blood cultures growing Gram-positive cocci in chains without a concomitant antibiotic stewardship intervention does not improve time to appropriate antibiotic therapy.

PubMed

Cosgrove, Sara E; Li, David X; Tamma, Pranita D; Avdic, Edina; Hadhazy, Eric; Wakefield, Teresa; Gherna, Michael; Carroll, Karen C

2016-09-01

Peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA FISH) is a rapid diagnostic assay that can identify certain organisms growing in blood cultures 30-90 min from the time of positive Gram-stain. Existing studies have demonstrated a clinical utility with this assay when antibiotic stewardship programs assist clinicians with interpreting the results. However, the benefit of these rapid assays in the absence of concomitant antibiotic stewardship involvement is unclear. In this randomized study of 220 patients with enterococcal or streptococcal bacteremia, we found that PNA FISH, in the absence of concomitant input from an antibiotic stewardship program, had no impact on time to effective or optimal therapy, length of hospital stay, or in-hospital mortality. Our results suggest that in the absence of guidance from an antibiotic stewardship program, the clinical benefits of rapid diagnostic microbiological tools may be reduced. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs: interventions and associated outcomes.

PubMed

Patel, Dimple; Lawson, Wendy; Guglielmo, B Joseph

2008-04-01

Guidelines regarding antimicrobial stewardship programs recommend an infectious diseases-trained physician and an infectious diseases-trained pharmacist as core members. Inclusion of clinical microbiologists, infection-control practitioners, information systems experts and hospital epidemiologists is considered optimal. Recommended stewardship interventions include prospective audit and intervention, formulary restriction, education, guideline development, clinical pathway development, antimicrobial order forms and the de-escalation of therapy. The primary outcome associated with these interventions has been the associated cost savings; however, few published investigations have taken into account the overall cost of the intervention. Over the past 5 years, there has been an increased focus upon interventions intended to decrease bacterial resistance or reduce superinfection, including infections associated with Clostridium difficile colitis. Few programs have been associated with a reduction in antimicrobial drug adverse events. Antimicrobial stewardship programs are becoming increasingly associated with clear benefits and will be integral in the in-patient healthcare setting.

The Role of NOAA's National Data Centers in the Earth and Space Science Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, C. G.

2008-12-01

NOAA's National Data Centers (NNDC) provide access to long-term archives of environmental data from NOAA and other sources. The NNDCs face significant challenges in the volume and complexity of modern data sets. Data volume challenges are being addressed using more capable data archive systems such as the Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System (CLASS). Challenges in assuring data quality and stewardship are in many ways more challenging. In the past, scientists at the Data Centers could provide reasonable stewardship of data sets in their area of expertise. As staff levels have decreased and data complexity has increased, Data Centers depend on their data providers and user communities to provide high-quality metadata, feedback on data problems and improvements. This relationship requires strong partnerships between the NNDCs and academic, commercial, and international partners, as well as advanced data management and access tools that conform to established international standards when available. The NNDCs are looking to geospatial databases, interactive mapping, web services, and other Application Program Interface approaches to help preserve NNDC data and information and to make it easily available to the scientific community.

Networked governance and the management of ecosystem services: The case of urban environmental stewardship in New York City

Treesearch

James J.T. Connolly; Erika S. Svendsen; Dana R. Fisher; Lindsay K. Campbell

2014-01-01

Urban environmental stewardship groups have become an essential component of the governance structure that regulates ecosystem services in cities. New York City is one example where these groups have grown rapidly in number, size, and visibility since the 1970s. In this article, we combine quantitative survey data with qualitative interview data to examine the...

A Report of the Efforts of the Veterans Health Administration National Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative.

PubMed

Kelly, Allison A; Jones, Makoto M; Echevarria, Kelly L; Kralovic, Stephen M; Samore, Matthew H; Goetz, Matthew B; Madaras-Kelly, Karl J; Simbartl, Loretta A; Morreale, Anthony P; Neuhauser, Melinda M; Roselle, Gary A

2017-05-01

OBJECTIVE To detail the activities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative and evaluate outcomes of the program. DESIGN Observational analysis. SETTING The VHA is a large integrated healthcare system serving approximately 6 million individuals annually at more than 140 medical facilities. METHODS Utilization of nationally developed resources, proportional distribution of antibiotics, changes in stewardship practices and patient safety measures were reported. In addition, inpatient antimicrobial use was evaluated before and after implementation of national stewardship activities. RESULTS Nationally developed stewardship resources were well utilized, and many stewardship practices significantly increased, including development of written stewardship policies at 92% of facilities by 2015 (P<.05). While the proportional distribution of antibiotics did not change, inpatient antibiotic use significantly decreased after VHA Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative activities began (P<.0001). A 12% decrease in antibiotic use was noted overall. The VHA has also noted significantly declining use of antimicrobials prescribed for resistant Gram-negative organisms, including carbapenems, as well as declining hospital readmission and mortality rates. Concurrently, the VHA reported decreasing rates of Clostridium difficile infection. CONCLUSIONS The VHA National Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative includes continuing education, disease-specific guidelines, and development of example policies in addition to other highly utilized resources. While no specific ideal level of antimicrobial utilization has been established, the VHA has shown that improving antimicrobial usage in a large healthcare system may be achieved through national guidance and resources with local implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:513-520.

Changes in historical Iowa land cover as context for assessing the environmental benefits of current and future conservation efforts on agricultural lands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gallant, Alisa L.; Sadinski, Walt; Roth, Mark F.; Rewa, Charles A.

2011-01-01

Conservationists and agriculturists face unprecedented challenges trying to minimize tradeoffs between increasing demands for food, fiber, feed, and biofuels and the resulting loss or reduced values of other ecosystem services, such as those derived from wetlands and biodiversity (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005a, 2005c; Maresch et al. 2008). The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-234, Stat. 923, HR 2419, also known as the 2008 Farm Bill) reauthorized the USDA to provide financial incentives for agricultural producers to reduce environmental impacts via multiple conservation programs. Two prominent programs, the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide incentives for producers to retire environmentally sensitive croplands, minimize erosion, improve water quality, restore wetlands, and provide wildlife habitat (USDA FSA 2008a, 2008b; USDA NRCS 2002). Other conservation programs (e.g., Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program) provide incentives to implement structural and cultural conservation practices to improve the environmental performance of working agricultural lands. Through its Conservation Effects Assessment Project, USDA is supporting evaluation of the environmental benefits obtained from the public investment in conservation programs and practices to inform decisions on where further investments are warranted (Duriancik et al. 2008; Zinn 1997).

K-4 Keepers Collection: A Service Learning Teacher Professional Development Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwerin, T. G.; Blaney, L.; Myers, R. J.

2011-12-01

This poster focuses on the K-4 Keepers Collection, a service-learning program developed for the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA). ESSEA is a NOAA-, NASA- and NSF-supported program of teacher professional development that increases teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of climate-related Earth system science. The ESSEA program -- whether used in formal higher education courses or frequented by individual teachers who look for classroom activities in the environmental sciences -- provides a full suite of activities, lessons and units for teachers' use. The ESSEA network consists of 45 universities and education centers addressing climate and environment issues. K-4 Keepers Collection - ESSEA K-4 module collections focus on five specific themes of content development: spheres, Polar Regions, oceans, climate and service learning. The K-4 Keepers collection provides the opportunity for teachers to explore topics and learning projects promoting stewardship of the Earth's land, water, air and living things. Examination of the impacts of usage and pollution on water, air, land and living things through service-learning projects allows students to become informed stewards. All of the modules include short-term sample projects that either educate or initiate action involving caring for the environment. The K-4 Keepers course requires teachers to develop similar short or long-term projects for implementation in their classrooms. Objectives include: 1. Increase elementary teachers' environmental literacy addressing ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, stewardship, weather and climate science standards and using NOAA and NASA resources. 2. Develop elementary teachers' efficacy in employing service learning projects focused on conserving and preserving Earth's land, air, water and living things. 3. Prepare college faculty to incorporate service learning and environmental literacy into their courses through professional development and modules on the ESSEA website.

Stockpile Stewardship's 20th Anniversary

ScienceCinema

Hecker, Siegfried; Gottemoeller, Rose; Reis, Victor H.; McMillan, Charles; Rohlfing, Joan; Hurricane, Omar; Hagengruber, Roger; Taylor, John

2018-06-22

A short oral history of the NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program, produced in association with the 20th anniversary of the program. It features Siegfried Hecker, Rose Gottemoeller, Victor Reis, Charles McMillan, Joan Rohlfing, Omar Hurricane, Roger Hagengruber, and John Taylor.

Using Watershed Stewardship to Build Sustainability and Resilience

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation is designed to help build understanding of how stewardship of water resources can help local communities develop sustainably and become more resilient; discuss how monitoring can engage communities and increase environmental awareness; and explore how monitoring...

What should we call instruments commonly known as payments for environmental services? A review of the literature and a proposal.

PubMed

Shelley, Barry G

2011-02-01

Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have used various terms to describe instruments that reward the stewardship of ecosystem services that benefit "external" actors. Payments for environmental services, or PES, has been the predominant name. However, critics have challenged both the payments and environmental components of this nomenclature, most commonly proposing markets, compensation, or rewards as alternatives for the former, and ecosystem for the latter. Additional questions arise regarding what to call the agents directly involved in the transaction: sellers and buyers, or stewards and beneficiaries? For some, concerns about this terminology have emerged from so-called "pro-poor PES" debates that ask if actors could and should incorporate poverty alleviation goals into PES instruments. This review of the modulating use of terms and the arguments about which best fit theory and experience points to the key policy and ethical issues at stake as PES programs face critical and timely questions about the direction they will head. The author contends that the choices of terms will influence that direction and proposes a new alternative-rewards for ecosystem service stewardship (RESS)-that better encompasses pro-poor options. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

Characteristics of Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: Current Status of the Sharing Antimicrobial Reports for Pediatric Stewardship (SHARPS) Collaborative

PubMed Central

McPherson, Christopher; Lee, Brian R.; Terrill, Cindy; Hersh, Adam L.; Gerber, Jeffrey S.; Kronman, Matthew P.; Newland, Jason G.

2018-01-01

In response to the growing epidemic of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) have been rapidly implemented in the United States (US). This study examines the prevalence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) seven core elements of a successful ASP within a large subset of US Children’s Hospitals. In 2016, a survey was conducted of 52 pediatric hospitals assessing the presence of the seven core elements: leadership commitment, accountability, drug expertise, action, tracking, reporting, and education. Forty-nine hospitals (94%) had established ASPs and 41 hospitals (79%) included all seven core elements. Physician accountability (87%) and a dedicated ASP pharmacist or drug expert (88%) were present in the vast majority of hospitals. However, substantial variability existed in the financial support allotted to these positions. This variability did not predict program actions, tracking, reporting, and education. When compared with previous surveys, these results document a dramatic increase in the prevalence and resources of pediatric stewardship programs, although continued expansion is warranted. Further research is required to understand the feasibility of various core stewardship activities and the impact on patient outcomes in the setting of finite resources. PMID:29370071

Characteristics of Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: Current Status of the Sharing Antimicrobial Reports for Pediatric Stewardship (SHARPS) Collaborative.

PubMed

McPherson, Christopher; Lee, Brian R; Terrill, Cindy; Hersh, Adam L; Gerber, Jeffrey S; Kronman, Matthew P; Newland, Jason G

2018-01-25

In response to the growing epidemic of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) have been rapidly implemented in the United States (US). This study examines the prevalence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) seven core elements of a successful ASP within a large subset of US Children's Hospitals. In 2016, a survey was conducted of 52 pediatric hospitals assessing the presence of the seven core elements: leadership commitment, accountability, drug expertise, action, tracking, reporting, and education. Forty-nine hospitals (94%) had established ASPs and 41 hospitals (79%) included all seven core elements. Physician accountability (87%) and a dedicated ASP pharmacist or drug expert (88%) were present in the vast majority of hospitals. However, substantial variability existed in the financial support allotted to these positions. This variability did not predict program actions, tracking, reporting, and education. When compared with previous surveys, these results document a dramatic increase in the prevalence and resources of pediatric stewardship programs, although continued expansion is warranted. Further research is required to understand the feasibility of various core stewardship activities and the impact on patient outcomes in the setting of finite resources.

Portsmouth annual environmental report for 2003, Piketon, Ohio

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

none, none

2004-11-30

The Portsmouth & Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) is located on a 5.8-square-mile site in a rural area of Pike County, Ohio. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) activities at PORTS include environmental restoration, waste 'management, and long-term'stewardship of nonleased facilities: Production facilities for the separation of uranium isotopes are leased to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), but most activities associated with the uranium enrichment process ceased in 2001. USEC activities are not covered by this document, with the exception of some environmental compliance information provided in Chap. 2 and radiological and non-radiological environmental monitoring program information discussed in Chaps. 4more » and 5.« less

Branching Out: The North Carolina Forest Stewardship Activity Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chesson, Gail

Stewardship is the responsibility of individuals to maintain and improve their natural resources and surroundings. The Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) in North Carolina aims at enhancing the management of all forest resources on private lands. This activity guide is designed to help youth appreciate and understand forests and natural…

Stockpile Stewardship: Los Alamos

ScienceCinema

McMillan, Charlie; Morgan, Nathanial; Goorley, Tom; Merrill, Frank; Funk, Dave; Korzekwa, Deniece; Laintz, Ken

2018-01-16

"Heritage of Science" is a short video that highlights the Stockpile Stewardship program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Stockpile Stewardship was conceived in the early 1990s as a national science-based program that could assure the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without the need for full-scale underground nuclear testing. This video was produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory for screening at the Lab's Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, NM and is narrated by science correspondent Miles O'Brien.

Memorandum of Understanding on Long-Term Stewardship at Federal Facilities in the United States

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is to provide a common understanding and basis for discussion and coordination between the Environmental Council of the States and relevant federal agencies regarding Long-Term Stewardship.

PFOA Stewardship Program Baseline Year Summary Report

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2006, EPA and the eight major companies in the industry launched the 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program, in which companies committed to reduce global facility emissions and product content of PFOA and related chemicals by 95 percent by 2010, and to work

Core elements of hospital antibiotic stewardship programs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PubMed

Pollack, Loria A; Srinivasan, Arjun

2014-10-15

The proven benefits of antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) for optimizing antibiotic use and minimizing adverse events, such as Clostridium difficile and antibiotic resistance, have prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to recommend that all hospitals have an ASP. This article summarizes Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs, a recently released CDC document focused on defining the infrastructure and practices of coordinated multidisciplinary programs to improve antibiotic use and patient care in US hospitals. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

Engaging Pharmacy Students, Residents, and Fellows in Antimicrobial Stewardship.

PubMed

Chahine, Elias B; El-Lababidi, Rania M; Sourial, Mariette

2015-12-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs are mainly established by infectious diseases physicians and infectious diseases-trained clinical pharmacists with the goal of optimizing patients' outcomes while halting antimicrobial resistance, decreasing adverse events, and controlling health care cost. The role of the infectious diseases-trained clinical pharmacist in antimicrobial stewardship is well established; however, there are not enough formally trained pharmacists to assume the challenging responsibilities of the steward coordinator. The purpose of this article was to review the available literature and resources and propose a model to engage introductory pharmacy practice experience students, advanced pharmacy practice experience students, postgraduate year (PGY) 1 pharmacy residents, PGY2 infectious diseases pharmacy residents, and PGY2 or PGY3 infectious diseases pharmacy fellows in antimicrobial stewardship. Further studies are needed to assess and document the impact of pharmacy students and postgraduate trainees on antimicrobial stewardship programs. © The Author(s) 2013.

Antimicrobial stewardship

PubMed Central

Chung, Gladys W.; Wu, Jia En; Yeo, Chay Leng; Chan, Douglas; Hsu, Li Yang

2013-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is an emerging field currently defined by a series of strategies and interventions aimed toward improving appropriate prescription of antibiotics in humans in all healthcare settings. The ultimate goal is the preservation of current and future antibiotics against the threat of antimicrobial resistance, although improving patient safety and reducing healthcare costs are important concurrent aims. Prospective audit and feedback interventions are probably the most widely practiced of all antimicrobial stewardship strategies. Although labor-intensive, they are more easily accepted by physicians compared with formulary restriction and preauthorization strategies and have a higher potential for educational opportunities. Objective evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship is critical for determining the success of such programs. Nonetheless, there is controversy over which outcomes to measure and there is a pressing need for novel study designs that can objectively assess antimicrobial stewardship interventions despite the limitations inherent in the structure of most such programs. PMID:23302793

Antimicrobial stewardship: a review of prospective audit and feedback systems and an objective evaluation of outcomes.

PubMed

Chung, Gladys W; Wu, Jia En; Yeo, Chay Leng; Chan, Douglas; Hsu, Li Yang

2013-02-15

Antimicrobial stewardship is an emerging field currently defined by a series of strategies and interventions aimed toward improving appropriate prescription of antibiotics in humans in all healthcare settings. The ultimate goal is the preservation of current and future antibiotics against the threat of antimicrobial resistance, although improving patient safety and reducing healthcare costs are important concurrent aims. Prospective audit and feedback interventions are probably the most widely practiced of all antimicrobial stewardship strategies. Although labor-intensive, they are more easily accepted by physicians compared with formulary restriction and preauthorization strategies and have a higher potential for educational opportunities. Objective evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship is critical for determining the success of such programs. Nonetheless, there is controversy over which outcomes to measure and there is a pressing need for novel study designs that can objectively assess antimicrobial stewardship interventions despite the limitations inherent in the structure of most such programs.

Pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship in intensive care units in East China: A multicenter prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Li, Zhongwang; Cheng, Baoli; Zhang, Kai; Xie, Guohao; Wang, Yan; Hou, Jinchao; Chu, Lihua; Zhao, Jialian; Xu, Zhijun; Lu, Zhongqiu; Sun, Huaqin; Zhang, Jian; Wang, Zhiyi; Wu, Haiya; Fang, Xiangming

2017-09-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs, particularly pharmacist-driven programs, help reduce the unnecessary use of antimicrobial agents. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship on antimicrobial use, multidrug resistance, and patient outcomes in adult intensive care units in China. We conducted a multicenter prospective cohort study with a sample of 577 patients. A total of 353 patients were included under a pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship program, whereas the remaining 224 patients served as controls. The primary outcome was all-cause hospital mortality. The pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship program had a lower hospital mortality rate compared with the nonpharmacist program (19.3% vs 29.0%; P = .007). Furthermore, logistic regression analysis indicated that the pharmacist-driven program independently predicted hospital mortality (odds ratio, 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-0.91; P = .017) after adjustment. Meanwhile, this strategy had a lower rate of multidrug resistance (23.8% vs 31.7%; P = .037). Moreover, the strategy optimized antimicrobial use, such as having a shorter duration of empirical antimicrobial therapy (2.7 days; interquartile range [IQR], 1.7-4.6 vs 3.0; IQR, 1.9-6.2; P = .002) and accumulated duration of antimicrobial treatment (4.0; IQR, 2.0-7.0 vs 5.0; IQR, 3.0-9.5; P = .030). Pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship in an intensive care unit decreased patient mortality and the emergence of multidrug resistance, and optimized antimicrobial agent use. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program - 2014 Annual Progress Reports

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2006, EPA and the eight major companies in the industry launched the 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program, in which companies committed to reduce global facility emissions and product content of PFOA and related chemicals by 95 percent by 2010, and to work

Effectiveness of landowner assistance activities: an examination of the USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program

Treesearch

Brett J. Butler; Marla Markowski-Lindsay; Stephanie Snyder; Paul Catanzaro; David B. Kittredge; Kyle Andrejczyk; Brenton J. Dickinson; Derya Eryilmaz; Jaketon H. Hewes; Paula Randler; Donna Tadle; Michael A. Kilgore

2014-01-01

The USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) is the nation's most prominent private forestry assistance program. We examined the FSP using a multiple analytic approach: analysis of annual FSP accomplishments, survey of state FSP coordinators, analytic comparison of family forest owners receiving and not receiving forestry practice assistance,...

Highlights of the national evaluation of the Forest Stewardship Planning Program

Treesearch

R.J. Moulton; J.D. Esseks

2001-01-01

In 1998 and 1999, a nationwide random sample of 1238 nonindustrial private (NIPF) landowners with approved multiple resource Forest Stewardship Plans were interviewed to determine if this program is meeting its Congressional mandate of promoting sustainable management of forest resources on NIPF ownerships. It was found that two-thirds of program participants had never...

A Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) stewardship initiative improves adherence to practice guidelines for management of CDI.

PubMed

Jury, Lucy A; Tomas, Myreen; Kundrapu, Sirisha; Sitzlar, Brett; Donskey, Curtis J

2013-11-01

A Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) stewardship initiative reduced inappropriate prescription of empirical CDI therapy and improved timeliness of treatment and adherence to clinical practice guidelines for management of CDI. The initiative required minimal resources and could easily be incorporated into traditional antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Institutional plan FY 1999--FY 2004

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

NONE

1998-10-01

Los Alamos has a well-defined and nationally important mission: to reduce the global nuclear danger. This central national security mission consists of four main elements: stockpile stewardship, nuclear materials management, nonproliferation and arms control, and cleanup of the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons activities. The Laboratory provides support for and ensures confidence in the nation`s nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. This challenge requires the Laboratory to continually hone its scientific acumen and technological capabilities to perform this task reliably using an interdisciplinary approach and advanced experimental and modeling techniques. In the last two National Defense Authorization Acts, Congress identified themore » need to protect the nation from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which includes nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and their potential use by terrorists. Los Alamos is applying multidisciplinary science and engineering skills to address these problems. In addition, the Laboratory`s critical programmatic roles in stockpile stewardship and threat reduction are complemented by its waste management operations and environmental restoration work. Information on specific programs is available in Section 2 of this document.« less

QuEST: Qualifying Environmentally Sustainable Technologies. Vol. 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, Pattie (Editor)

2008-01-01

This is an exciting new chapter for the NASA Technology Evaluation for Environmental Risk Mitigation Principal Center (TEERM). The Principal Center's past successes have created new opportunities for partnership and technology implementation. TEERM is continuing to support the current NASA Programs while reaching out and offering our assistance and experience to Constellation. NASA has also assumed Chairmanship responsibility of the Joint Group on Pollution Prevention (JG-PP) and Chairmanship of the JG-PP Working Group (WG). Both JG-PP and TEERM strive to improve mission readiness and reduce risk to personnel and assets by solving joint problems through cooperation. JG-PP and TEERM not only show our commitment to environmental stewardship, but also our commitment to fiscal responsibility.

Place-Based Stewardship Education: Nurturing Aspirations to Protect the Rural Commons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallay, Erin; Marckini-Polk, Lisa; Schroeder, Brandon; Flanagan, Constance

2016-01-01

In this mixed-methods study, we examine the potential of place-based stewardship education (PBSE) for nurturing rural students' community attachment and aspirations to contribute to the preservation of the environmental "commons." Analyzing pre- and post-experience surveys (n = 240) and open-ended responses (n = 275) collected from…

Recommendations for Best Professional Practices in Fishing, Boating and Stewardship Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedler, Anthony J.; Matthews, Bruce E.

2001-01-01

To implement its mission of increasing participation in fishing and boating and the stewardship of related resources, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation solicited input from 11 experts in related fields. They identified 10 principles for education programs and recommended best practices in four educational areas: program planning,…

[Measurement of antimicrobial consumption using DDD per 100 bed-days versus DDD per 100 discharges after the implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program].

PubMed

Collado, Roberto; Losa, Juan Emilio; Álvaro, Elena Alba; Toro, Piedad; Moreno, Leonor; Pérez, Montserrat

2015-12-01

Monitoring antimicrobial consumption in hospitals is a necessary measure. The indicators commonly employed do not clearly reflect the antibiotic selection pressure. The objective of this study is to evaluate two different methods that analyze antimicrobial consumption based on DDD, per stay and per discharge, before and after the implementation an antimicrobial stewardship program. Comparative pre-post study of antimicrobial consumption with the implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program using DDD per 100 bed-days and DDD per 100 discharges as indicators. Hospital bed days remained stable and discharges increased slightly along the period of study Antibiotic consumption in DDD per 100 bed-days decreased by 2.5% versus 3.8% when expressed as DDD per 100 discharges. Antifungal consumption decreased by more than 50%. When average hospital stay decreases, reductions in the consumption of antimicrobials with an antimicrobial stewardship program system occur at the expense of reducing the number of patients receiving treatment, while increases occur due to longer durations of treatment.

US DOE Perspectives on Advisory Board Effectiveness - 13539

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

Adler, David

2013-07-01

Federal missions on the Oak Ridge Reservation began with the Manhattan Project, and continues today with major facilities supporting the Nation's Science and National Security missions. While most of the land area on the Oak Ridge Reservation is free of environmental impacts from these activities, significant legacy contamination is associated with specific facilities and past waste management areas. In 1989, the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) was placed on National Priorities List, and DOE established its Office of Environmental Management that same year. Three years later, in 1992, the Federal Facility Agreement for the reservation was signed. Three years afterward, themore » Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board was established to augment ongoing public involvement activities related to Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup activities. One of the early and most impactful decisions the board made was to organize the End Use Working Group. This broad-based group of board members, DOE representatives, and members of the public was formed in 1997 to study future uses for contaminated areas of the reservation. The group was instrumental in building consensus in the Oak Ridge community regarding the long-term end state of reservation lands. The group's recommendations were a fundamental input into Record's of Decision subsequently developed to establish cleanup requirements across the ORR, and they continue to influence decisions being made today. In developing its recommendations on end states, the End Use Working Group came to the realization that long-term stewardship of contaminated areas of the reservation would be necessary, in some cases in perpetuity. It was from this concept that the Oak Ridge SSAB's 15-year involvement in stewardship would begin. A stewardship committee formed by the End Use Working Group wrote Volume 1 of the Stakeholder Report on Stewardship. This document-and its companion Volume 2, which was written a year later-form a crucial foundation for stewardship planning in Oak Ridge and have been referenced around the DOE complex as other sites consider stewardship planning. From these two broad-based initiatives, the board's focus has evolved to increasingly hone in on more specific, project-based recommendations and initiatives. The Oak Ridge Reservation Site Specific Advisory Board has been a highly effective forum for soliciting community input on Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup. Experience in Oak Ridge indicates that the utility of Board recommendations is far higher when the Board is asked to focus on broad programmatic issues, and less useful when the Board attempts to provide advice and recommendations on matters related to technical or project management issues. In Oak Ridge the Board has helped shape the program on many levels including definition of end-state cleanup objectives, budget development, program sequencing, waste management, and decisions concerning preservation of history related to missions implemented on the Oak Ridge Reservation. (authors)« less

Development of Antimicrobial Competencies and Training for Staff Hospital Pharmacists

PubMed Central

Crader, Marsha F.

2014-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is an important component in health care outcomes of all patients. Many institutions are seeking the best methods to incorporate antimicrobial stewardship strategies into their hospitals including pharmacy services. Multiple factors should be considered when beginning or expanding an antimicrobial stewardship program. The purpose of this article is to discuss the development of basic antibiotic competencies and training for staff pharmacists in a community hospital. The article includes an assessment of pharmacists’ knowledge pre education and post education, perception of benefits from an antibiotic education program, and learning needs and preferences. PMID:24421561

Implementing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

PubMed Central

Barlam, Tamar F.; Cosgrove, Sara E.; Abbo, Lilian M.; MacDougall, Conan; Schuetz, Audrey N.; Septimus, Edward J.; Srinivasan, Arjun; Dellit, Timothy H.; Falck-Ytter, Yngve T.; Fishman, Neil O.; Hamilton, Cindy W.; Jenkins, Timothy C.; Lipsett, Pamela A.; Malani, Preeti N.; May, Larissa S.; Moran, Gregory J.; Neuhauser, Melinda M.; Newland, Jason G.; Ohl, Christopher A.; Samore, Matthew H.; Seo, Susan K.; Trivedi, Kavita K.

2016-01-01

Evidence-based guidelines for implementation and measurement of antibiotic stewardship interventions in inpatient populations including long-term care were prepared by a multidisciplinary expert panel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The panel included clinicians and investigators representing internal medicine, emergency medicine, microbiology, critical care, surgery, epidemiology, pharmacy, and adult and pediatric infectious diseases specialties. These recommendations address the best approaches for antibiotic stewardship programs to influence the optimal use of antibiotics. PMID:27080992

The Red Road to Green: Tribal Peoples' Worldviews Preceded "Green" Trend

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pember, Mary Annette

2008-01-01

Green is definitely "in." Green refers not to fashion but the philosophy of environmental protection, stewardship, and social justice. There is nothing new about the green philosophy for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and the Native communities they serve. Responsible stewardship of Mother Earth is a natural outgrowth of TCU's missions…

78 FR 12352 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Wilderness Stewardship Plan...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-22

... Park, Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason County, WA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior... Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190) Olympic National Park is initiating the conservation planning and... Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum, Olympic National Park, Attn: Wilderness Stewardship Plan, 600 East Park Ave...

Keepers of Our Digital Future: An Assessment of the National Digital Stewardship Residencies, 2013-2016

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mink, Meridith Beck

2016-01-01

In September 2015, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) a grant to investigate the early impacts of the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) programs, in order to inform subsequent development of similar programs by others with a vested interest in building…

Teacher Candidates' Perceptions of the Emphasis on Stewardship in Their Initial Teacher Licensure Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yontz, Brian David

2010-01-01

The stewardship of schools is central to the renewal and preservation of that which is precious in our nation's schools. This study examined perceptions of future teachers as to the degree to which their teacher preparation program emphasized the idea of stewarding schools. With a theoretical foundation that initial teacher preparation provides…

Evaluating the forest stewardship program through a national survey of participants

Treesearch

J.D. Esseks; R.J. Moulton

2000-01-01

This paper reports findings from a national survey of 1,231 participants in the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) of USDA's Forest Service. Launched in 1991, the FSP provides technical assistance through state forestry agencies to help landowners develop management plans for their non-industrial forestland. The survey allowed us to address five main evaluative...

Stockpile Stewardship: How We Ensure the Nuclear Deterrent Without Testing

ScienceCinema

None

2018-01-16

In the 1990s, the U.S. nuclear weapons program shifted emphasis from developing new designs to dismantling thousands of existing weapons and maintaining a much smaller enduring stockpile. The United States ceased underground nuclear testing, and the Department of Energy created the Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without full-scale testing. This video gives a behind the scenes look at a set of unique capabilities at Lawrence Livermore that are indispensable to the Stockpile Stewardship Program: high performance computing, the Superblock category II nuclear facility, the JASPER a two stage gas gun, the High Explosive Applications Facility (HEAF), the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and the Site 300 contained firing facility.

Point-of-Prescription Interventions to Improve Antimicrobial Stewardship

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Keith W.; Gerber, Jeffrey S.; Moehring, Rebekah; Anderson, Deverick J.; Calderwood, Michael S.; Han, Jennifer H.; Mehta, Jimish M.; Pollack, Lori A.; Zaoutis, Theoklis; Srinivasan, Arjun; Camins, Bernard C.; Schwartz, David N.; Lautenbach, Ebbing

2015-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship is pivotal to improving patient outcomes, reducing adverse events, decreasing healthcare costs, and preventing further emergence of antimicrobial resistance. In an era in which antimicrobial resistance is increasing, judicious antimicrobial use is the responsibility of every healthcare provider. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have made headway in improving antimicrobial prescribing using such “top-down” methods as formulary restriction and prospective audit with feedback; however, engagement of prescribers has not been fully explored. Strategies that include frontline prescribers and other unit-based healthcare providers have the potential to expand stewardship, both to augment existing centralized ASPs and to provide alternative approaches to perform stewardship at healthcare facilities with limited resources. This review discusses interventions focusing on antimicrobial prescribing at the point of prescription as well as a pilot project to engage unit-based healthcare providers in antimicrobial stewardship. PMID:25595748

Agriculture

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA Agriculture Resource Directory offers comprehensive, easy-to-understand information about environmental stewardship on farms and ranches; commonsense, flexible approaches that are both environmentally protective and agriculturally sound.

Control for NO(x) Emissions from Combustion Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

PozodeFernandez, Maria E.

2001-01-01

The Environmental Program Office at the Kennedy Space Center is interested in finding solutions and to promote R&D that could contribute to solve the problems of air, soil and groundwater contamination. This study is undertaken as part of NASA's environmental stewardship program. The objective of this study involves the removal of nitrogen oxides from the flue gases of the boilers at KSC using hydrogen peroxide. Phases 1 and 2 of this study have shown the potential of this process to be used as an alternative to the current methods of treatment used in the power industry. This report summarizes the research done during the 10-week summer program. During this period, support has been given to implement the modifications suggested for Phase 3 of the project, which focus on oxidation reactions carried at lower to medium temperatures using UV lights as a source for the hydrogen peroxide dissociation and the effect on the NO conversion.

Control for NOx Emissions from Combustion Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

PozodeFernandez, Maria E.; Collins, Michelle M.

2000-01-01

The Environmental Program Office at the Kennedy Space Center is interested in finding solutions and to promote research and development (R&D) that could contribute to solve the problems of air, soil, and groundwater contamination. This study is undertaken as part of NASA's environmental stewardship program. The objective of this study involves the removal of nitrogen oxides from the flue gases of the boilers at KSC using hydrogen peroxide. Phase 1 of this study have shown the potential of this process to be used as an alternative to the current methods of treatment used in the power industry. This report summarizes the research done during the ten-week summer program. During this period, support has been given to implement the modifications suggested for Phase 2 of the project, which focus on oxidation reactions carried at lower temperatures using an ultraviolet source. The redesign and assembly of the modifications for the scrubbing system was the main objective of this research.

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

Nelson, Jody K.

Land stewardship is one of nine sustainability programs in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management System. Land stewardship includes maintaining and improving ecosystem health. At the Rocky Flats Site near Westminster, Colorado, land stewardship is an integral component of the Office of Legacy Management's post-closure monitoring and management at the site. Nearly 263 hectares (650 acres) were disturbed and re-vegetated during site cleanup and closure operations. Proactive management of revegetation areas is critical to the successful reestablishment of native grasslands, wetlands, and riparian communities. The undisturbed native plant communities that occur at the site also require active management tomore » maintain the high-quality wetlands and other habitats that are home to numerous species of birds and other wildlife such as elk and deer, rare plant communities, and the federally listed threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Over the past several decades, an increase of Noxious weeds has impacted much of Colorado's Front Range. As a result, weed control is a key component of the land stewardship program at Rocky Flats. Thirty-three species of state-listed Noxious weeds are known to occur in the Central and Peripheral Operable Units at Rocky Flats, along with another five species that are considered invasive at the site. Early detection and rapid response to control new invasive species is crucial to the program. An integrated weed control/vegetation management approach is key to maintaining healthy, sustainable plant communities that are able to resist Noxious weed invasions. Weed mapping, field surveys, and field-staff training sessions (to learn how to identify new potential problem species) are conducted to help detect and prevent new weed problems. The integrated approach at Rocky Flats includes administrative and cultural techniques (prevention), mechanical controls, biological controls, and chemical controls. Several species of biocontrol insects have been released to assist with control of different target weed species. Monitoring is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of control efforts and to provide information for future control efforts. The effective implementation of this integrated approach has reduced the infestation levels of many species and has kept several newly discovered invasive species from spreading and becoming larger problems at the site. (authors)« less

A survey to optimize the design of an antimicrobial stewardship smartphone app at an academic medical center.

PubMed

Markley, J Daniel; Pakyz, Amy; Bernard, Shaina; Lee, Kimberly; Appelbaum, Nital; Bearman, Gonzalo; Stevens, Michael P

2017-03-01

Mobile medical apps are commonly used by health care professionals and could be used by antimicrobial stewardship programs to enhance adherence to local recommendations. We conducted a survey of health care workers to inform the design of an antimicrobial stewardship smartphone app. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Results of a Veterans Affairs employee education program on antimicrobial stewardship for older adults.

PubMed

Heath, Barbara; Bernhardt, Jaime; Michalski, Thomas J; Crnich, Christopher J; Moehring, Rebekah; Schmader, Kenneth E; Olds, Danielle; Higgins, Patricia A; Jump, Robin L P

2016-03-01

We describe a course in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Employee Education System designed to engage nursing staff working in VA long-term care facilities as partners in antimicrobial stewardship. We found that the course addressed an important knowledge gap. Our outcomes suggest opportunities to engage nursing staff in advancing antimicrobial stewardship, particularly in the long-term care setting. Published by Elsevier Inc.

NASA's Agricultural Program: A USDA/Grower Partnership

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McKellip, Rodney; Thomas, Michael

2002-01-01

Ag20/20 is a partnership between USDA, NASA, and four national commodity associations. It is driven by the information needs of U.S. farmers. Ag20/20 is focused on utilization of earth science and remote sensing for decision-making and oriented toward economically viable operational solutions. Its purpose is to accelerate the use of remote sensing and other geospatial technologies on the farm to: 1) Increase the production efficiency of the American farmer; 2) Reduce crop production risks; 3) Improve environmental stewardship tools for agricultural production.

What does it take to get family forest owners to enroll in a forest stewardship-type program?

Treesearch

Michael A. Kilgore; Stephanie A. Snyder; Joseph Schertz; Steven J. Taff

2008-01-01

We estimated the probability of enrollment and factors influencing participation in a forest stewardship-type program, Minnesota's Sustainable Forest Incentives Act, using data from a mail survey of over 1000 randomly-selected Minnesota family forest owners. Of the 15 variables tested, only five were significant predictors of a landowner's interest in...

Roadmap to MaRIE January 2015

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

Barnes, Cris William

After the decision to end nuclear testing and the inception of the Stockpile Stewardship program, the condition of the stockpile was the primary mission driver. During the first two decades of stewardship, the primary program goal could be described as underwriting the Stockpile-to-Target Sequence (STS), the military requirements on the conditions the nuclear warheads needed to survive and still operate.

Right Size Determining the Staff Necessary to Sustain Simulation and Computing Capabilities for Nuclear Security

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

Nikkel, Daniel J.; Meisner, Robert

The Advanced Simulation and Computing Campaign, herein referred to as the ASC Program, is a core element of the science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP), which enables assessment, certification, and maintenance of the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without the need to resume nuclear testing. The use of advanced parallel computing has transitioned from proof-of-principle to become a critical element for assessing and certifying the stockpile. As the initiative phase of the ASC Program came to an end in the mid-2000s, the National Nuclear Security Administration redirected resources to other urgent priorities, and resulting staff reductions inmore » ASC occurred without the benefit of analysis of the impact on modern stockpile stewardship that is dependent on these new simulation capabilities. Consequently, in mid-2008 the ASC Program management commissioned a study to estimate the essential size and balance needed to sustain advanced simulation as a core component of stockpile stewardship. The ASC Program requires a minimum base staff size of 930 (which includes the number of staff necessary to maintain critical technical disciplines as well as to execute required programmatic tasks) to sustain its essential ongoing role in stockpile stewardship.« less

Improving patient care through implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program.

PubMed

Palmer, Hannah R; Weston, Jaye; Gentry, Layne; Salazar, Miguel; Putney, Kimberly; Frost, Craig; Tipton, Joyce A; Cottreau, Jessica; Tam, Vincent H; Garey, Kevin W

2011-11-15

The implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program at a health system is described. In 2008, the Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Epidemiology (CASE) was formed at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) to improve the quality of care for patients as it related to antimicrobial therapy. The charter of CASE contained specific aims for improving patient care, furthering clinical research, and training the next generation of clinical infectious diseases pharmacists. The CASE team consists of at least two infectious diseases pharmacists and one physician (the medical director) who provide direct oversight for antimicrobial utilization within the hospital. The CASE medical director, an infectious diseases physician, is responsible for overseeing the activities of the center. With the oversight of the CASE advisory board, the medical director develops and implements the antimicrobial stewardship and management policies for SLEH. Another key innovative feature of CASE is its extensive involvement in training new infectious diseases pharmacists and conducting research. CASE uses a model in which a clinical scenario or problem is identified, a research project is undertaken to further elucidate the problem, and policy changes are made to improve patient outcomes. The CASE team is supported by a CASE advisory board, a CASE research collaborative including university faculty, and a dedicated training program for pharmacy fellows, residents, and students. Implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program at a health system helped decrease the inappropriate use of antibiotics, improve patient care and outcomes, further clinical research, and increase training opportunities for future clinical infectious diseases pharmacists.

Integration of Cloud Technologies for Data Stewardship at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, K. S.; Hausman, S. A.

2016-02-01

In the last year, the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and its siblings, the National Climatic Data Center and National Geophysical Data Center, were merged into one organization, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Combining its expertise under one management has helped NCEI accelerate its efforts to embrace and integrate private, public, and hybrid cloud environments into its range of data stewardship services. These services span a range of tiers, from basic, long-term preservation and access, through enhanced access and scientific quality control, to authoritative product development and international-level services. Throughout these tiers of stewardship, partnerships and pilot projects have been launched to identify technological and policy-oriented challenges, to establish solutions to these problems, and to highlight success stories for emulation during operational integration of the cloud into NCEI's data stewardship activities. Some of these pilot activities including data storage, access, and reprocessing in Amazon Web Services, the OneStop data discovery and access framework project, and a set of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements under the Big Data Project with Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and the Open Cloud Consortium. Progress in these efforts will be highlighted along with a future vision of how NCEI could leverage hybrid cloud deployments and federated systems across NOAA to enable effective data stewardship for its oceanographic, atmospheric, climatic, and geophysical Big Data.

Initiatives and resources to promote antimicrobial stewardship.

PubMed

Paño-Pardo, José Ramón; Campos, José; Natera Kindelán, Clara; Ramos, Antonio

2013-09-01

The development of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) requires institutional support. However, obtaining sufficient institutional support is often a complex task that requires convincing the hospital's managers of the benefits of these programs. Additionally, in the design and implementation of an ASP, antimicrobial stewardship (AS) leaders need tools for diverse purposes, such as measuring antimicrobial consumption, education and training and designing protocols. In this review we provide useful information for AS promoters to facilitate the task of designing and implementing an ASP. First, we summarize information about various institutions that promote AS and include evidence that supports the need for and benefits of these programs. Then, several campaigns promoting AS are described. Finally, online resources for professionals dealing with AS are briefly summarized. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Stockpile Stewardship: How We Ensure the Nuclear Deterrent Without Testing

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

None

2014-09-04

In the 1990s, the U.S. nuclear weapons program shifted emphasis from developing new designs to dismantling thousands of existing weapons and maintaining a much smaller enduring stockpile. The United States ceased underground nuclear testing, and the Department of Energy created the Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without full-scale testing. This video gives a behind the scenes look at a set of unique capabilities at Lawrence Livermore that are indispensable to the Stockpile Stewardship Program: high performance computing, the Superblock category II nuclear facility, the JASPER a two stage gas gun,more » the High Explosive Applications Facility (HEAF), the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and the Site 300 contained firing facility.« less

Antibiotic stewardship through the EU project "ABS International".

PubMed

Allerberger, Franz; Frank, Annegret; Gareis, Roland

2008-01-01

The increasing problem of antimicrobial resistance requires implementation of antibiotic stewardship (ABS) programs. The project "ABS International--implementing antibiotic strategies for appropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals in member states of the European Union" was started in September 2006 in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. A training program for national ABS trainers was prepared and standard templates for ABS tools (antibiotic list, guides for antibiotic treatment and surgical prophylaxis, antibiotic-related organization) and valid process measures, as well as quality indicators for antibiotic use were developed. Specific ABS tools are being implemented in up to five healthcare facilities in each country. Although ABS International clearly focuses on healthcare institutions, future antimicrobial stewardship programs must also cover public education and antibiotic prescribing in primary care.

Characteristics of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs at Veterans Affairs Hospitals: Results of a Nationwide Survey.

PubMed

Chou, Ann F; Graber, Christopher J; Jones, Makoto; Zhang, Yue; Goetz, Matthew Bidwell; Madaras-Kelly, Karl; Samore, Matthew; Kelly, Allison; Glassman, Peter A

2016-06-01

BACKGROUND Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are variably implemented. OBJECTIVE To characterize variations of antimicrobial stewardship structure and practices across all inpatient Veterans Affairs facilities in 2012 and correlate key characteristics with antimicrobial usage. DESIGN A web-based survey regarding stewardship activities was administered to each facility's designated contact. Bivariate associations between facility characteristics and inpatient antimicrobial use during 2012 were determined. SETTING Total of 130 Veterans Affairs facilities with inpatient services. RESULTS Of 130 responding facilities, 29 (22%) had a formal policy establishing an ASP, and 12 (9%) had an approved ASP business plan. Antimicrobial stewardship teams were present in 49 facilities (38%); 34 teams included a clinical pharmacist with formal infectious diseases (ID) training. Stewardship activities varied across facilities, including development of yearly antibiograms (122 [94%]), formulary restrictions (120 [92%]), stop orders for antimicrobial duration (98 [75%]), and written clinical pathways for specific conditions (96 [74%]). Decreased antimicrobial usage was associated with having at least 1 full-time ID physician (P=.03), an ID fellowship program (P=.003), and a clinical pharmacist with formal ID training (P=.006) as well as frequency of systematic patient-level reviews of antimicrobial use (P=.01) and having a policy to address antimicrobial use in the context of Clostridium difficile infection (P=.01). Stop orders for antimicrobial duration were associated with increased use (P=.03). CONCLUSIONS ASP-related activities varied considerably. Decreased antibiotic use appeared related to ID presence and certain select practices. Further statistical assessments may help optimize antimicrobial practices. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:647-654.

CDC, TJC Urge Providers To Up Their Game on Antibiotic Stewardship.

PubMed

Srinivasan, Arjun; Vento, Todd

2017-03-01

With data showing continued increases in the use of antibiotics, even in cases in which such prescribing is unnecessary and ill-advised, both the CDC and TJC are pushing initiatives aimed at improving antibiotic stewardship. The initiatives stress the importance of patient and provider education, the tracking of antibiotic use and resistance, and the need for top-level support. Although smaller hospitals face challenges in meeting the new standards, some health systems are getting around the problem through the use of telemedicine. The CDC is pushing hospitals to implement seven core elements that the agency maintains are critical to an effective antibiotic stewardship program. TJC has established a new standard requiring all hospitals to create antibiotic stewardship programs that are steered by a multidisciplinary team. Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City is helping smaller hospitals in its network meet these new TJC and CDC directives by supplying support and expertise via telemedicine. The telehealth program also enables both emergency and inpatient providers to access infectious disease expertise when patients present with issues of concern.

From Environmental Awareness to Environmental Responsibility: Towards a Stewardship Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omoogun, Ajayi C.; Egbonyi, Etuki E.; Onnoghen, Usang N.

2016-01-01

The period of environmentalism heightened environmental concern and subsequently the emergence of Environmental Education (EE) that is anchored on awareness. It is thought that an increase in environmental awareness will reverse the misuse of the environment and its resources. Four decades after the international call for Environmental Education,…

Toward an Understanding of Citywide Urban Environmental Governance: An Examination of Stewardship Networks in Baltimore and Seattle.

PubMed

Romolini, Michele; Morgan Grove, J; Ventriss, Curtis L; Koliba, Christopher J; Krymkowski, Daniel H

2016-08-01

Efforts to create more sustainable cities are evident in the proliferation of sustainability policies in cities worldwide. It has become widely proposed that the success of these urban sustainability initiatives will require city agencies to partner with, and even cede authority to, organizations from other sectors and levels of government. Yet the resulting collaborative networks are often poorly understood, and the study of large whole networks has been a challenge for researchers. We believe that a better understanding of citywide environmental governance networks can inform evaluations of their effectiveness, thus contributing to improved environmental management. Through two citywide surveys in Baltimore and Seattle, we collected data on the attributes of environmental stewardship organizations and their network relationships. We applied missing data treatment approaches and conducted social network and comparative analyses to examine (a) the organizational composition of the network, and (b) how information and knowledge are shared throughout the network. Findings revealed similarities in the number of actors and their distribution across sectors, but considerable variation in the types and locations of environmental stewardship activities, and in the number and distribution of network ties in the networks of each city. We discuss the results and potential implications of network research for urban sustainability governance.

Perceptions and Practices of Community Pharmacists towards Antimicrobial Stewardship in the State of Selangor, Malaysia.

PubMed

Khan, Muhammad Umair; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi Ahmad; Ahmad, Akram; Elkalmi, Ramadan Mohamed; Zaidi, Syed Tabish Razi; Dhingra, Sameer

2016-01-01

Increasing antimicrobial resistance is one of the pressing concerns globally. Injudicious use of antibiotics is one of the modifiable factors responsible for antimicrobial resistance. Given the widespread use of antimicrobials in community settings, pharmacists have an important role in ensuring appropriate use of antibiotics. The objective of this study was to assess the perception and self-reported practices of community pharmacists towards antimicrobial stewardship. A cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacists between March-April, 2015, using a self-administered, pre-tested questionnaire in the State of Selangor, Malaysia. A simple random sampling approach was used to select pharmacy sites. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyse the data. A total of 188 pharmacists responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 83.5%. The majority of participants (n = 182, 96.8%) believed that antimicrobial stewardship program helps healthcare professionals to improve the quality of patient care. However, more than half of pharmacists were neutral in their opinion about the incorporation of antimicrobial stewardship programs in community pharmacies (n = 102, 54.2%). Though collaboration was often done by pharmacists with other health professionals over the use of antibiotics (n = 104, 55.3%), a significant proportion of participants (n = 102, 54.2%) rarely/occasionally participate in antimicrobial awareness campaigns. Pharmacists having postgraduate qualification were more likely to held positive perceptions of, and were engaged in, antimicrobial stewardship than their non-postgraduate counterpart (p<0.05). Similarly, more experienced pharmacists (> 10 years) held positive perceptions towards antimicrobial stewardship (p<0.05). The study highlighted some gaps in the perception and practices of community pharmacist towards antimicrobial stewardship. Development of customized interventions would be critical to bridging these gaps and improve their perception and practices towards antimicrobial stewardship.

Perceptions and Practices of Community Pharmacists towards Antimicrobial Stewardship in the State of Selangor, Malaysia

PubMed Central

Khan, Muhammad Umair; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi Ahmad; Ahmad, Akram; Elkalmi, Ramadan Mohamed; Zaidi, Syed Tabish Razi; Dhingra, Sameer

2016-01-01

Background Increasing antimicrobial resistance is one of the pressing concerns globally. Injudicious use of antibiotics is one of the modifiable factors responsible for antimicrobial resistance. Given the widespread use of antimicrobials in community settings, pharmacists have an important role in ensuring appropriate use of antibiotics. The objective of this study was to assess the perception and self-reported practices of community pharmacists towards antimicrobial stewardship. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacists between March–April, 2015, using a self-administered, pre-tested questionnaire in the State of Selangor, Malaysia. A simple random sampling approach was used to select pharmacy sites. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyse the data. Results A total of 188 pharmacists responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 83.5%. The majority of participants (n = 182, 96.8%) believed that antimicrobial stewardship program helps healthcare professionals to improve the quality of patient care. However, more than half of pharmacists were neutral in their opinion about the incorporation of antimicrobial stewardship programs in community pharmacies (n = 102, 54.2%). Though collaboration was often done by pharmacists with other health professionals over the use of antibiotics (n = 104, 55.3%), a significant proportion of participants (n = 102, 54.2%) rarely/occasionally participate in antimicrobial awareness campaigns. Pharmacists having postgraduate qualification were more likely to held positive perceptions of, and were engaged in, antimicrobial stewardship than their non-postgraduate counterpart (p<0.05). Similarly, more experienced pharmacists (> 10 years) held positive perceptions towards antimicrobial stewardship (p<0.05). Conclusion The study highlighted some gaps in the perception and practices of community pharmacist towards antimicrobial stewardship. Development of customized interventions would be critical to bridging these gaps and improve their perception and practices towards antimicrobial stewardship. PMID:26901404

7 CFR 1470.22 - Conservation stewardship plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Contracts... process as outlined in the National Planning Procedures Handbook to encourage participants to address... the participant's decisions that describes the schedule of conservation activities to be implemented...

Innovation Awards

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA promotes environmental stewardship by recognizing innovators in schools, communities and businesses in categories such as environmental education, green chemistry, smart growth, green power, and reducing air pollution and climate change impacts.

Planning the Transition to Long-Term Stewardship for the River Corridor

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

Cearlock, C.S.; Lerch, J.A.; Sands, J.P.

2007-07-01

Long-term stewardship refers to all activities necessary to ensure protection of human health and the environment following completion of remediation, disposal, or stabilization of a site or a portion of a site. Efforts to establish the proposed approach and criteria to be met for long-term stewardship in the river corridor of the Hanford Site in Richland, Washington, are currently being established and a draft plan is expected to be completed in mid-2007 to facilitate planning for a smooth and seamless transition to long-term stewardship. Once the initial criteria have been established, supporting information will be gathered as the work proceeds.more » Near the end of cleanup actions under the River Corridor Closure Contract, these criteria will be finalized in a long-term stewardship plan that documents how the criteria have been met. In addition, the final long-term stewardship plan will also contain a proposed Finding of Suitability to Transfer in accordance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 Section 120(h) [1]. This final long-term stewardship plan will provide the foundation for post-River Corridor Closure Contract and management activities in the river corridor pending actual property transfer from the U.S. Department of Energy. (authors)« less

77 FR 22772 - Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-17

... and environmental restoration; waste management and disposition; stabilization and disposition of non-stockpile nuclear materials; excess facilities; future land use and long-term stewardship; risk assessment...

Application of the “4R” nutrient stewardship concept to horticultural crops: getting nutrients in the “right” place

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The 4R nutrient stewardship concept was introduced in 2009 by International Plant Nutrition Institute to define the right source, rate, time, and place to apply fertilizers to produce not only the most economical outcome in any given crop but to also to provide desirable social and environmental ben...

Recognizing Stewardship Practices as Indicators of Social Resilience: In Living Memorials and in a Community Garden

Treesearch

Heather McMillen; Lindsay Campbell; Erika Svendsen; Renae Reynolds

2016-01-01

Resilience theory has received increased attention from researchers across a range of disciplines who have developed frameworks and articulated categories of indicators; however, there has been less discussion of how to recognize, and therefore support, social resilience at the community level, especially in urban areas. The value of urban environmental stewardship for...

Association of Inpatient Antimicrobial Utilization Measures with Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities and Facility Characteristics of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

PubMed

Graber, Christopher J; Jones, Makoto M; Chou, Ann F; Zhang, Yue; Goetz, Matthew Bidwell; Madaras-Kelly, Karl; Samore, Matthew H; Glassman, Peter A

2017-05-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have been advocated to improve antimicrobial utilization, but program implementation is variable. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have been advocated to improve antimicrobial utilization, but program implementation is variable. To determine associations between ASPs and facility characteristics, and inpatient antimicrobial utilization measures in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system in 2012. In 2012, VA administered a survey on antimicrobial stewardship practices to designated ASP contacts at VA acute care hospitals. From the survey, we identified 34 variables across 3 domains (evidence, organizational context, and facilitation) that were assessed using multivariable least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression against 4 antimicrobial utilization measures from 2012: aggregate acute care antimicrobial use, antimicrobial use in patients with non-infectious primary discharge diagnoses, missed opportunities to convert from parenteral to oral antimicrobial therapy, and double anaerobic coverage. All 130 VA facilities with acute care services. Variables associated with at least 3 favorable changes in antimicrobial utilization included presence of postgraduate physician/pharmacy training programs, number of antimicrobial-specific order sets, frequency of systematic de-escalation review, presence of pharmacists and/or infectious diseases (ID) attendings on acute care ward teams, and formal ID training of the lead ASP pharmacist. Variables associated with 2 unfavorable measures included bed size, the level of engagement with VA Antimicrobial Stewardship Task Force online resources, and utilization of antimicrobial stop orders. Formalization of ASP processes and presence of pharmacy and ID expertise are associated with favorable utilization. Systematic de-escalation review and order set establishment may be high-yield interventions. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2017;12:301-309. © 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine

Impact of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program on Antibiotic Use at a Nonfreestanding Children's Hospital.

PubMed

Turner, R Brigg; Valcarlos, Elena; Loeffler, Ann M; Gilbert, Michael; Chan, Dominic

2017-09-01

Pediatric stewardship programs have been successful at reducing unnecessary antibiotic use. Data from nonfreestanding children's hospitals are currently limited. This study is an analysis of antibiotic use after implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program at a community nonfreestanding children's hospital. In April 2013, an antimicrobial stewardship program that consisted of physician-group engagement and pharmacist prospective auditing and feedback was initiated. We compared antibiotic use in the preintervention period (April 2012 to March 2013) with that in the postintervention period (April 2013 to March 2015) in all units except the neonatal intensive care unit and the emergency department. In addition, drug-acquisition costs, antibiotic-specific use, death, length of stay, and case-mix index were examined. Antibiotic use decreased by 16.8% (95% confidence interval, 18.0% to -9.2%; P < .001) in the postintervention period. Vancomycin use decreased by 38% (P = .001), whereas antipseudomonal β-lactam use was unaltered. Drug-acquisition cost savings were estimated to be $67 000/year over the 2-year postintervention period. Lengths of stay and mortality rates were unchanged in the postintervention period after adjusting for case-mix index. Implementation of a simple stewardship initiative with limited resources at a community nonfreestanding children's hospital effectively reduced antibiotic use without an overt negative impact on overall clinical outcomes. The results of this study suggest that nonfreestanding children's hospitals can achieve substantial reductions in antibiotic use despite limited resources. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The scope and value of an anticoagulation stewardship program at a community teaching hospital.

PubMed

Wychowski, Maura K; Ruscio, Christina I; Kouides, Peter A; Sham, Ronald L

2017-04-01

To report the impact of an inpatient anticoagulation stewardship program at a community hospital to promote optimal anticoagulant use. The anticoagulation team (ACT) stewardship program consists of two clinical pharmacists and hematologists to provide oversight of anticoagulants, high cost reversal agents including prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC, Kcentra™), and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) management. Intervention data and number of charts reviewed were collected. Average cost avoidance data was applied to ACT interventions to estimate cost savings. The PCC analysis was conducted via retrospective chart review during the pre-intervention period. Prospective monitoring continued in the post-intervention period to determine the percentage of PCC use within the institution's guidelines or approved by ACT or hematology. A total of 19,445 patient charts were reviewed, and 1930 (10%) contained stewardship opportunity. Of the interventions, 71% were provided to the medical service and 22% to surgical services with acceptance rates of 91 and 83%, respectively. Intervention cost-avoidance calculated to be $694,217. Regarding HIT interventions, 52% of interventions involved pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics optimization in 18 patients with suspected or confirmed HIT. Regarding PCC use, 55.8% of PCC orders were considered inappropriate in the pre-invention period versus 2.6% post-intervention. Appropriate PCC doses per month post-intervention were consistent with pre-intervention doses (7.67 vs. 6.73, respectively). The projected annual PCC cost savings is $385,473. The overall estimated financial impact of ACT is $799,690 saved. Implementation of an anticoagulation stewardship program reduced costs and improved clinical outcomes. It is also expected that anticoagulant optimization and provider education improved overall safety.

7 CFR 1469.7 - Benchmark condition inventory and conservation stewardship plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Benchmark condition inventory and conservation...) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM General Provisions § 1469.7 Benchmark condition inventory and conservation stewardship...

The Federal Forest Stewardship Program and its implications for sustainable forestry on private forest ownerships in the United States

Treesearch

Robert J. Moulton; J. Dixon Esseks

2002-01-01

A 72 percent response rate was achieved in 1998 and 1999 national survey of 1,238 participants in the USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program, under which 130,000 individual multiple resource plans encompassing 16.5 million acres (6.5 million ha) of privately owned forest lands in the United States had been completed. Objectives were to determine if the...

Merging Environmental Health and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guth, Douglas J.

2016-01-01

Community colleges nationwide are retrofitting their campuses to meet best environmental principles, creating comprehensive "living laboratories" where participants have a direct impact on reducing an institution's carbon footprint. Environmental stewardship is a growing priority among millennials, observers say. Sixty-six percent of…

2013 SRNL LDRD Annual Report

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

McWhorter, S.

2014-03-07

This report demonstrates the execution of our LDRD program within the objectives and guidelines outlined by the Department of Energy (DOE) through the DOE Order 413.2b. The projects described within the report align purposefully with SRNL’s strategic vision and provide great value to the DOE. The diversity exhibited in the research and development projects underscores the DOE Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) mission and enhances that mission by developing the technical capabilities and human capital necessary to support future DOE-EM national needs. As a multiprogram national laboratory, SRNL is applying those capabilities to achieve tangible results for the nation inmore » National Security, Environmental Stewardship, Clean Energy and Nuclear Materials Management.« less

A cost analysis of introducing an infectious disease specialist-guided antimicrobial stewardship in an area with relatively low prevalence of antimicrobial resistance.

PubMed

Lanbeck, Peter; Ragnarson Tennvall, Gunnel; Resman, Fredrik

2016-07-27

Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been widely introduced in hospitals as a response to increasing antimicrobial resistance. Although such programs are commonly used, the long-term effects on antimicrobial resistance as well as societal economics are uncertain. We performed a cost analysis of an antimicrobial stewardship program introduced in Malmö, Sweden in 20 weeks 2013 compared with a corresponding control period in 2012. All direct costs and opportunity costs related to the stewardship intervention were calculated for both periods. Costs during the stewardship period were directly compared to costs in the control period and extrapolated to a yearly cost. Two main analyses were performed, one including only comparable direct costs (analysis one) and one including comparable direct and opportunity costs (analysis two). An extra analysis including all comparable direct costs including costs related to length of hospital stay (analysis three) was performed, but deemed as unrepresentative. According to analysis one, the cost per year was SEK 161 990 and in analysis two the cost per year was SEK 5 113. Since the two cohorts were skewed in terms of size and of infection severity as a consequence of the program, and since short-term patient outcomes have been demonstrated to be unchanged by the intervention, the costs pertaining to patient outcomes were not included in the analysis, and we suggest that analysis two provides the most correct cost calculation. In this analysis, the main cost drivers were the physician time and nursing time. A sensitivity analysis of analysis two suggested relatively modest variation under changing assumptions. The total yearly cost of introducing an infectious disease specialist-guided, audit-based antimicrobial stewardship in a department of internal medicine, including direct costs and opportunity costs, was calculated to be as low as SEK 5 113.

Stockpile Stewardship at Los Alamos(U)

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

Webster, Robert B.

2012-06-29

Stockpile stewardship is the retention of nuclear weapons in the stockpile beyond their original design life. These older weapons have potential changes inconsistent with the original design intent and military specifications. The Stockpile Stewardship Program requires us to develop high-fidelity, physics-based capabilities to predict, assess, certify and design nuclear weapons without conducting a nuclear test. Each year, the Lab Directors are required to provide an assessment of the safety, security, and reliability our stockpile to the President of the United States. This includes assessing whether a need to return to testing exists. This is a talk to provide an overviewmore » of Stockpile Stewardship's scientific requirements and how stewardship has changed in the absence of nuclear testing. The talk is adapted from an HQ talk to the War college, and historical unclassified talks on weapon's physics.« less

The Development of NOAA Education Common Outcome Performance Measures (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baek, J.

2013-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Education Council has embarked on an ambitious Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) project that will allow it to assess education program outcomes and impacts across the agency, line offices, and programs. The purpose of this internal effort is to link outcome measures to program efforts and to evaluate the success of the agency's education programs in meeting the strategic goals. Using an outcome-based evaluation approach, the NOAA Education Council is developing two sets of common outcome performance measures, environmental stewardship and professional development. This presentation will examine the benefits and tradeoffs of common outcome performance measures that collect program results across a portfolio of education programs focused on common outcomes. Common outcome performance measures have a few benefits to our agency and to the climate education field at large. The primary benefit is shared understanding, which comes from our process for writing common outcome performance measures. Without a shared and agreed upon set of definitions for the measure of an outcome, the reported results may not be measuring the same things and would incorrectly indicate levels of performance. Therefore, our writing process relies on a commitment to developing a shared set of definitions based on consensus. We hope that by taking the time to debate and coming to agreement across a diverse set of programs, the strength of our common measures can indicate real progress towards outcomes we care about. An additional benefit is that these common measures can be adopted and adapted by other agencies and organizations that share similar theories of change. The measures are not without their drawbacks, and we do make tradeoffs as part of our process in order to continue making progress. We know that any measure is necessarily a narrow slice of performance. A slice that may not best represent the unique and remarkable contribution of an individual program, but does reflect a variety of contributions along a single dimension across a large portfolio of programs. The process has ended up pushing our working group to call for even more measures, to capture an increasing number of dimensions that reflect the nature of the portfolio of programs. This past year we have been working on developing two sets of common outcome performance measures for professional development (PD) and stewardship education programs. The outcome we chose for PD programs was the use of what was learned in the educator's practice. The outcome we chose for stewardship programs was the stewardship behaviors that participants learn and practice. The measurement of these outcomes will inform whether our strategies are having their intended impact. By knowing how and how much these outcomes are occurring as a result of our program, we can improve program performance over time. The common outcome performance measures help demonstrate how these programs engage audiences in supporting NOAA's mission. As AGU climate literacy community continues to grow, it is important to consider an approach to demonstrate the community's contribution to the Nation's climate literacy. Development of common outcome performance measures is one approach that could help focus the community in meeting its goals.

7 CFR 1470.22 - Conservation stewardship plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., and (iii) Documenting the participant's conservation objectives to reach and exceed stewardship thresholds; (2) A plan map delineating enrolled land with associated acreage amounts; (3) In the case where a... participant's transition to or participation in the National Organic Program; (4) In the case where a...

Tribal Ecosystem Research Program (TERP) Workshop ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

USEPA is developing alternative approaches to quantify improvements to impaired waterbodies (USEPA 303(d)/TMDL Draft Guidance). Tribal environmental programs are leading the way in the paradigm shift towards sustainability of natural resources. Resources such as wildlife, aquatic habitat are dependent on the development of a riparian and upland management strategy, which considers and adapts to certain ecological relationships. Tribal traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) is a central concept in the cultural and resource stewardship practices of Native Americans. Native American populations have been accumulating knowledge of these ecosystem relationships, and have relied on them for basic survival for thousands of years. As such, TEK is the accumulated understanding of ecosystem function. As North America’s first environmental stewards, Native American populations have developed a unique relationship with the land and its resources. Objective of this workshop is to fuse TEK with environmental science to create an ecosystem, or landscape, research program oriented toward land management practices. This is essentially translating and combining TEK with an ecosystem function approach to provide a comprehensive basis for identifying and evaluating current and historical land use practices. Tribal and USEPA cooperative stream and wetland research focuses on making the connections between upland and riparian ecosystems. Analyzing spatial relationships and short

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA shares information about environmental protection with ISEF participants and visitors and recognizes one student whose work demonstrates a commitment to environmental sustainability and stewardship with the EPA Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability Award.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Implementation of a Quality Improvement Intervention Using Real-Time Feedback and an Electronic Order Set for the Management of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia.

PubMed

Rosa, Rossana; Zavala, Bruno; Cain, Natalie; Anjan, Shweta; Aragon, Laura; Abbo, Lilian M

2018-03-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs can optimize the management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia by integrating information technology and microbiology laboratory resources. This study describes our experience implementing an intervention consisting of real-time feedback and the use of an electronic order set for the management of S. aureus bacteremia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:346-349.

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2018

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Since 2009, EPA has exhibited and shared information about environmental protection with the ISEF participants and visitors. recognizes one student whose work demonstrates a commitment to environmental sustainability and stewardship with an award.

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

ENGEL-COX,J.; ZIMMERMAN,E.; LEE,R.

Throughout the scientific community, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is renowned for its leading-edge research in physics, medicine, chemistry, biology, materials, and the environment. BNL is committed to supporting its world-class scientific research with an internationally recognized environmental protection program. The 1999 Site Environmental Report (SER) summarizes the status of the Laboratory's environmental programs and performance, including the steady progress towards cleaning up the site and fully integrating environmental stewardship into all facets of the Laboratory's mission. BNL is located on 5,265 acres of pine barrens in Suffolk County in the center of Long Island, New York. The Laboratory is situatedmore » above a sole source aquifer at the headwaters of the Peconic River; therefore, protecting ground and surface water quality is a special concern. Approximately 3,600 acres of the site are undeveloped and serve as habitat for a wide variety of animals and plants, including one New York State endangered species, the tiger salamander, and two New York State threatened species, the banded sunfish and the stiff goldenrod. Monitoring, preserving, and restoring these ecological resources is a high priority for the Laboratory.« less

77 FR 11516 - Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-27

... materials; excess facilities; future land use and long-term stewardship; risk assessment and management; and... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah AGENCY... Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act...

How Green Is Camping? Environmental Stewardship in North Carolina Camps.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Roger; Bingham, Cindy

1994-01-01

A survey of 47 residential camps in North Carolina revealed that most camps had written environmental objectives, practiced recycling, attempted to reduce water use and energy consumption, practiced low-impact camping, included environmental issues in staff training, and provided environmental education to campers. Includes survey questions. (LP)

Recreation, values and stewardship: Rethinking why people engage in environmental behaviors in parks and protected areas: Chapter 19

USGS Publications Warehouse

van Riper, Carena J.; Sharp, Ryan; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Vagias, Wade M.; Kwenye, Jane; Depper, Gina; Freimund, Wayne

2016-01-01

Successfully promoting and encouraging the adoption of environmental stewardship behavior is an important responsibility for public land management agencies. Although people increasingly report high levels of concern about environmental issues, widespread patterns of stewardship behavior have not followed suit (Moore 2002). One concept that can be applied in social science research to explain behavior change is that of values. More specifically, held and assigned values lie at the heart of understanding why people around the world continue to live in unsustainable ways that impact parks and protected areas. A held value is an individual psychological orientation defined by Rokeach as “an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or endstate of existence is personally and socially preferable” (1973, 550). Held values are at the core of human cognition, and as such, influence attitudes and behavior. Assigned values on the other hand, according to Brown (1984), are the perceived qualities of an environment that are based on and deduced from held values. In other words, assigned values are considered the material and nonmaterial benefits that people believe they obtain from ecosystems. Held and assigned values predict stewardship behaviors (Figure 1). During the 2013 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites, we organized a session to improve our understanding of why individuals and groups choose to engage in stewardship behaviors that benefit the environment. We used held and assigned values as vehicles to explore what people cared about in diverse landscapes, review select case studies from across the globe, and question how best to incorporate visitor perspectives into protected area management decisions and policymaking. In addition to sharing project results, we also discussed the importance of accounting for multiple and often competing value perspectives, potential ways to integrate disciplinary perspectives on valuing nature, and future directions for social science research and practice. In this paper, we present the results from our session to provide fodder for further contemplation about the timely question of how park and protected area managers can foster values that lead to environmental protection.

Control For NO(x) Emissions From Combustion Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

PozodeFernandez, Marie E.

2001-01-01

The Environmental Program Office at the Kennedy Space Center is interested in finding solutions and to promote R&D that could contribute to solve the problems of air, soil and groundwater contamination. This study is undertaken as part of NASA's environmental stewardship program. The objective of this study involves the removal of nitrogen oxides from the flue gases of the boilers at KSC using hydrogen peroxide. Phases 1 and 2 of this study have shown the potential of this process to be used as an alternative to the current methods of treatment used in the power industry. This report summarizes the research done during the 10-week summer program. During this period, support has been given to implement the modifications suggested for Phase 3 of the project, which focus on oxidation reactions carried at lower temperatures using a microwave source. The redesign of the flue gas inlet and optimization for the scrubbing system was the main objective of this research.

Guiding concepts for park and wilderness stewardship in an era of global environmental change

Treesearch

Richard J. Hobbs; David N. Cole; Laurie Yung; Erika S. Zavaleta; Gregory H. Aplet; F. Stuart Chapin; Peter B. Landres; David J. Parsons; Nathan L. Stephenson; Peter S. White; David M. Graber; Eric S. Higgs; Connie Millar; John M. Randall; Kathy A. Tonnessen; Stephen Woodley

2010-01-01

The major challenge to stewardship of protected areas is to decide where, when, and how to intervene in physical and biological processes, to conserve what we value in these places. To make such decisions, planners and managers must articulate more clearly the purposes of parks, what is valued, and what needs to be sustained. A key aim for conservation today is the...

Defense Experimentation and Stockpile Stewardship

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

None

2014-10-28

A primary mission of the site is to help ensure that the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile remains safe, secure and reliable. The stockpile stewardship program, working with the national weapons laboratories conducts a wide range of experiments using advanced diagnostic technologies, many of which were developed right here at the NNSS.

Defense Experimentation and Stockpile Stewardship

ScienceCinema

None

2018-01-16

A primary mission of the site is to help ensure that the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile remains safe, secure and reliable. The stockpile stewardship program, working with the national weapons laboratories conducts a wide range of experiments using advanced diagnostic technologies, many of which were developed right here at the NNSS.

Estimating Landholders’ Probability of Participating in a Stewardship Program, and the Implications for Spatial Conservation Priorities

PubMed Central

Adams, Vanessa M.; Pressey, Robert L.; Stoeckl, Natalie

2014-01-01

The need to integrate social and economic factors into conservation planning has become a focus of academic discussions and has important practical implications for the implementation of conservation areas, both private and public. We conducted a survey in the Daly Catchment, Northern Territory, to inform the design and implementation of a stewardship payment program. We used a choice model to estimate the likely level of participation in two legal arrangements - conservation covenants and management agreements - based on payment level and proportion of properties required to be managed. We then spatially predicted landholders’ probability of participating at the resolution of individual properties and incorporated these predictions into conservation planning software to examine the potential for the stewardship program to meet conservation objectives. We found that the properties that were least costly, per unit area, to manage were also the least likely to participate. This highlights a tension between planning for a cost-effective program and planning for a program that targets properties with the highest probability of participation. PMID:24892520

Field Testing of Environmentally Friendly Drilling System

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

David Burnett

2009-05-31

The Environmentally Friendly Drilling (EFD) program addresses new low-impact technology that reduces the footprint of drilling activities, integrates light weight drilling rigs with reduced emission engine packages, addresses on-site waste management, optimizes the systems to fit the needs of a specific development sites and provides stewardship of the environment. In addition, the program includes industry, the public, environmental organizations, and elected officials in a collaboration that addresses concerns on development of unconventional natural gas resources in environmentally sensitive areas. The EFD program provides the fundamentals to result in greater access, reasonable regulatory controls, lower development cost and reduction of themore » environmental footprint associated with operations for unconventional natural gas. Industry Sponsors have supported the program with significant financial and technical support. This final report compendium is organized into segments corresponding directly with the DOE approved scope of work for the term 2005-2009 (10 Sections). Each specific project is defined by (a) its goals, (b) its deliverable, and (c) its future direction. A web site has been established that contains all of these detailed engineering reports produced with their efforts. The goals of the project are to (1) identify critical enabling technologies for a prototype low-impact drilling system, (2) test the prototype systems in field laboratories, and (3) demonstrate the advanced technology to show how these practices would benefit the environment.« less

Traditional Knowledge Strengthens NOAA's Environmental Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stovall, W. K.; McBride, M. A.; Lewinski, S.; Bennett, S.

2010-12-01

Environmental education efforts are increasingly recognizing the value of traditional knowledge, or indigenous science, as a basis to teach the importance of stewardship. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Services Center incorporates Polynesian indigenous science into formal and informal education components of its environmental literacy program. By presenting indigenous science side by side with NOAA science, it becomes clear that the scientific results are the same, although the methods may differ. The platforms for these tools span a vast spectrum, utilizing media from 3-D visualizations to storytelling and lecture. Navigating the Pacific Islands is a Second Life project in which users navigate a virtual Polynesian voyaging canoe between two islands, one featuring native Hawaiian practices and the other where users learn about NOAA research and ships. In partnership with the University of Hawai‘i Waikiki Aquarium, the Nana I Ke Kai (Look to the Sea) series focuses on connecting culture and science during cross-discipline, publicly held discussions between cultural practitioners and research scientists. The Indigenous Science Video Series is a multi-use, animated collection of short films that showcase the efforts of NOAA fisheries management and ship navigation in combination with the accompanying Polynesian perspectives. Formal education resources and lesson plans for grades 3-5 focusing on marine science have also been developed and incorporate indigenous science practices as examples of conservation success. By merging traditional knowledge and stewardship practices with NOAA science in educational tools and resources, NOAA's Pacific Services Center is helping to build and increase environmental literacy through the development of educational tools and resources that are applicable to place-based understanding and approaches.

Biomedical research leaders: report on needs, opportunities, difficulties, education and training, and evaluation.

PubMed Central

Wilson, S H; Merkle, S; Brown, D; Moskowitz, J; Hurley, D; Brown, D; Bailey, B J; McClain, M; Misenhimer, M; Buckalew, J; Burks, T

2000-01-01

The National Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE) has assumed a leadership role in protecting environmental health in recent years. The Committee of Biomedical Research Leaders was convened at the recent NAPE Leadership Conference: Biomedical Research and the Environment held on 1--2 November 1999, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes the discussion of the committee and its recommendations. The charge to the committee was to raise and address issues that will promote and sustain environmental health, safety, and energy efficiency within the biomedical community. Leaders from every important research sector (industry laboratories, academic health centers and institutes, hospitals and care facilities, Federal laboratories, and community-based research facilities) were gathered in this committee to discuss issues relevant to promoting environmental health. The conference and this report focus on the themes of environmental stewardship, sustainable development and "best greening practices." Environmental stewardship, an emerging theme within and outside the biomedical community, symbolizes the effort to provide an integrated, synthesized, and concerted effort to protect the health of the environment in both the present and the future. The primary goal established by the committee is to promote environmentally responsible leadership in the biomedical research community. Key outcomes of the committee's discussion and deliberation were a) the need for a central organization to evaluate, promote, and oversee efforts in environmental stewardship; and b) immediate need to facilitate efficient information transfer relevant to protecting the global environment through a database/clearinghouse. Means to fulfill these needs are discussed in this report. PMID:11121363

Biomedical research leaders: report on needs, opportunities, difficulties, education and training, and evaluation.

PubMed

Wilson, S H; Merkle, S; Brown, D; Moskowitz, J; Hurley, D; Brown, D; Bailey, B J; McClain, M; Misenhimer, M; Buckalew, J; Burks, T

2000-12-01

The National Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE) has assumed a leadership role in protecting environmental health in recent years. The Committee of Biomedical Research Leaders was convened at the recent NAPE Leadership Conference: Biomedical Research and the Environment held on 1--2 November 1999, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes the discussion of the committee and its recommendations. The charge to the committee was to raise and address issues that will promote and sustain environmental health, safety, and energy efficiency within the biomedical community. Leaders from every important research sector (industry laboratories, academic health centers and institutes, hospitals and care facilities, Federal laboratories, and community-based research facilities) were gathered in this committee to discuss issues relevant to promoting environmental health. The conference and this report focus on the themes of environmental stewardship, sustainable development and "best greening practices." Environmental stewardship, an emerging theme within and outside the biomedical community, symbolizes the effort to provide an integrated, synthesized, and concerted effort to protect the health of the environment in both the present and the future. The primary goal established by the committee is to promote environmentally responsible leadership in the biomedical research community. Key outcomes of the committee's discussion and deliberation were a) the need for a central organization to evaluate, promote, and oversee efforts in environmental stewardship; and b) immediate need to facilitate efficient information transfer relevant to protecting the global environment through a database/clearinghouse. Means to fulfill these needs are discussed in this report.

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

BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

The 2002 Site Environmental Report (SER) is prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1, ''Environment, Safety and Health Reporting'', and summarizes the status of Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) environmental programs and performance and restoration efforts, as well as any impacts, both past and present, that Laboratory operations have had on the environment. The document is intended to be technical in nature. A summary of the report is also prepared as a separate document to provide a general overview and includes a CD version of the full report. Operated by Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) for the Department of Energy (DOE), BNLmore » manages its world-class scientific research with particular sensitivity to environmental and community issues. BNL's motto, ''Exploring Life's Mysteries...Protecting its Future'', reflects BNL's management philosophy to fully integrate environmental stewardship into all facets of its missions, with a health balance between science and the environment.« less

Intergenerational equity and long-term stewardship plans.

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

Hocking, E. K.

2002-02-05

For an untold number of contaminated sites throughout the world, stewardship will be inevitable. For many such sites, stewardship will be a reasonable approach because of the uncertainties associated with present and future site conditions and site contaminants, the limited performance of available technologies, the nonavailability of technologies, and the risk and cost associated with complete cleanup. Regardless of whether stewardship is a realistic approach to site situations or simply a convenient default, it could be required at most contaminated sites for multiple generations. Because the stewardship plan is required to protect the release of hazardous contaminants to the environment,more » some use restrictions will be put in place to provide that protection. These use restrictions will limit access to resources for as long as the protection is required. The intergenerational quality of long-term stewardship plans and their inherent limitations on resource use require that they be designed to achieve equity among the affected generations. Intergenerational equity, defined here as the fairness of access to resources across generations, could be achieved through a well-developed stewardship plan that provides future generations with the information they need to make wise decisions about resource use. Developing and implementing such a plan would take into account the failure mechanisms of the plan's components, feature short stewardship time blocks that would allow for periodic reassessments of the site and of the stewardship program's performance, and provide present and future generations with necessary site information.« less

Sustainability Research Under EPA/NRMRL

EPA Science Inventory

Sustainability means different things to different people, but most can agree that maintaining and supporting critical ecosystems over the long term is important for environmental and human health. Achieving sustainability involves a broad view of environmental stewardship. When ...

Case studies in geographic information systems for environmental streamlining

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-05-31

This 2012 summary report addresses the current use of geographic information systems (GIS) and related technologies by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) for environmental streamlining and stewardship, particularly in relation to the National...

"Nuestra Tierra Dinamica" Global Climate Change STEM Education Fostering Environmental Stewardship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Grave, M.; de Valenzuela, M.; Russell, R.

2012-12-01

CLUB ECO LÓGICO is a democratic and participatory program that provides active citizenship in schools and community, placing climate change into context for the Latino Community. The program's objectives focus on: 1. The Environment. Reducing the school and community impact on the environment through environmental footprint through stewardship actions. 2. Empowerment. Engaging participants through project and service learning and make decisions about how to improve their schools, their homes and their community's environment. 3. Community and Research Partnerships. Fostering collaborations with local community, stakeholders, government, universities, research organizations, and businesses that have expertise in environmental research, management, education and climate change. 4. Awareness. Increasing environmental and climate science knowledge of participants through STEM activities and hands-on access to technology. 5. Research and evaluation. Assessing the relevance of program activities through the engagement of the Latino community in planning and the effectiveness and impact of STEM activities through formative and summative evaluation. To address these objectives, the program has several inter related components in an after school setting: SUN EARTH Connections: Elementary (grades K to 2) students learn the basic climate change concepts through inquiry and hands on STEM activities. Bilingual 8 facilitators adapt relevant NASA educational resources for use in inquiry based, hands on activities. Drama and the arts provide unique experiences as well as play a key role in learning, participation and facilitation. GREEN LABS: Elementary students (grades 3 to 5) participate in stations where each Lab is staffed by at least two professionals: a College level fully bilingual Latin American Professional and a stakeholder representing either a research organization or other relevant environmental organization. Our current Green Lab themes include: Air, Soils, Water, Energy, Health, Waste and Communicating Science. Parental and Community Engagement: Family or Community Nights and community events showcasing student products, videos, and service learning projects in a bilingual format; and presentations by research scientists on climate and environmental science topics of interest to the Latino community. Our events have been highlighted on Univision television evening news, reaching Latinos across the state. Digital Story Telling: Our Video Lab involves Latino high school students who are trained as mentors, encouraged to research climate change topics, meet scientists and learn about video technology. By fall 2013, our HS Video Lab will mentor local middle school students. Throughout the year students take field trips to film and interview key scientists and educators. The project will share lessons learned concerning several issues: 1. What environmental and climate science issues are most relevant for Latinos; 2. What strategies are effective in engaging the Latino community in program planning and in engaging participation; 3. What approaches are effective in developing or adapting environmental and climate science education activities for Latino students and families; 4. How to develop effective partnerships with research and other environmental organizations; 5. How to develop culturally sensitive evaluation strategies.

USER-CUSTOMIZED ENVIRONMENTAL MAPPING AND DECISION SUPPORT USING NASA WORLD WIND AND DOE GENIE PRO SOFTWARE

EPA Science Inventory

Effective environmental stewardship requires timely geospatial information about ecology and

environment for informed environmental decision support. Unprecedented public access to high resolution

imagery from earth-looking sensors via online virtual earth browsers ...

A Report to Congress on Long-Term Stewardship. Volume II, Site Summaries

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

None, None

2001-01-01

During World War II and the Cold War, the Federal government developed and operated a vast network of industrial facilities for the research, production, and testing of nuclear weapons, as well as for other scientific and engineering research. These processes left a legacy of radioactive and chemical waste, environmental contamination, and hazardous facilities and materials at well over a 100 sites in 30 States and one U.S. Territory. Hundreds of thousand of acres of residually contaminated soils, contaminated groundwater, surface water and sediment contamination, and contaminated buildings are present at many sites across the country. These sites range in sizemore » from less than one acre, containing only a single facility, to large sites spanning over 100,000 acres with huge uranium enrichment plants and plutonium processing canyons. Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program has made significant progress in addressing this environmental legacy. Millions of cubic meters of waste have been removed, stabilized, or disposed of, resulting in significant risk and cost reduction. In addition, DOE began disposing of transuranic (i.e., plutonium-contaminated) waste in the nation’s first deep geologic repository – the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. DOE is now carrying out its long-term stewardship obligations at dozens of sites, including smaller sites where DOE has completed cleanup work for the entire site and many larger sites where DOE has remediated portions of the site.« less

Environmental education: Ensuring a sustainable future

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

Rogers, D.P.; Lee, J.C.

1997-12-31

It is important to remember that personal actions and decisions have a significant impact on the environment. Although they may sometimes forget, today`s school children are the policy and decision makers of tomorrow. Today`s students must be exposed to factual information about the environment so they will be able to make responsible and informed ecological decisions. Since the National Environmental Education Act was signed into law in 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken an active role in ensuring a sustainable future through environmental education. Through its education programs, the EPA strives to increase environmental literacy throughout the countrymore » and encourages young people to pursue careers in math, science, engineering, communications, and other fields essential to a sustainable environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency`s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS), located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is an international center for air quality research and information. One of the ways OAQPS invests in the environmental preservation of the Nation is through unique environmental education programs that target teachers and students of all ages. To be sure that environmental education programs incorporate a complete look at the environment, including issues associated with air quality, the EPA works with North Carolina teachers and students through the Education and Outreach Group`s Environmental Education Program. The EPA recognizes that the key to a sustainable future is engaging teachers and others in significant environmental education experiences. They will in turn instill a sense of environmental stewardship in America`s young people. There is hope that by the year 2000, every citizen will be fluent in the principles of ecology.« less

The Interaction of Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum, Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and Environmental Action Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alvarado, Angelita P.

2010-01-01

One of the main goals of Environmental Education (EE) is to develop people's environmental stewardship, which includes people's capacity to take environmental action--their action competence (AC). The purposes of my study were to characterize the interactions found in an EE curriculum, science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and…

Earth Stewardship: An initiative by the Ecological Society of America to foster engagement to sustain Planet Earth

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chapin, F. Stuart; Pickett, S.T.A.; Power, Mary E.; Collins, Scott L.; Baron, Jill S.; Inouye, David W.; Turner, Monica G.

2017-01-01

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) has responded to the growing commitment among ecologists to make their science relevant to society through a series of concerted efforts, including the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (1991), scientific assessment of ecosystem management (1996), ESA’s vision for the future (2003), Rapid Response Teams that respond to environmental crises (2005), and the Earth Stewardship Initiative (2009). During the past 25 years, ESA launched five new journals, largely reflecting the expansion of scholarship linking ecology with broader societal issues. The goal of the Earth Stewardship Initiative is to raise awareness and to explore ways for ecologists and other scientists to contribute more effectively to the sustainability of our planet. This has occurred through four approaches: (1) articulation of the stewardship concept in ESA publications and Website, (2) selection of meeting themes and symposia, (3) engagement of ESA sections in implementing the initiative, and (4) outreach beyond ecology through collaborations and demonstration projects. Collaborations include societies and groups of Earth and social scientists, practitioners and policy makers, religious and business leaders, federal agencies, and artists and writers. The Earth Stewardship Initiative is a work in progress, so next steps likely include continued nurturing of these emerging collaborations, advancing the development of sustainability and stewardship theory, improving communication of stewardship science, and identifying opportunities for scientists and civil society to take actions that move the Earth toward a more sustainable trajectory.

Urban Environmental Education and Sense of Place

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kudryavtsev, Alexey

2013-01-01

Urban environmental educators are trying to connect students to the urban environment and nature, and thus develop a certain sense of place. To do so, educators involve students in environmental stewardship, monitoring, activism, and outdoor recreation in cities. At the same time, sense of place has been linked to pro-environmental behaviors and…

Citizen monitoring and restoration: Volunteers and community involvement in wilderness stewardship

Treesearch

Laurie Yung

2007-01-01

Citizen monitoring and restoration is increasingly viewed as a means to involve local communities in wilderness stewardship. This paper examines research on volunteers participating in five monitoring and restoration programs in Western Montana. Volunteers reported that they gained valuable skills, felt more connected with local wilderness areas, and made an important...

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy Scripts

PubMed Central

Goo, Roy Alan SH; Chu, Cherie HL; Yoneda, Melissa K; Ma, Carolyn SJ

2016-01-01

In recent years the misuse of antimicrobials has contributed to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP) decrease the misuse of antimicrobials by supporting a rational, systematic approach. ASP strategies vary from broad-ranging policies and other decision support tools to prospective audit review of patients on antimicrobials. Many healthcare facilities, however, have been slow to adopt stewardship attributable to the fact that early ASP models required individuals with specialized training, and a significant amount of time and infrastructural investment from facilities. In response to the increasing need for ASPs in Hawai‘i, the Hawai‘i Department of Health (HDOH) partnered with the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) to develop the Hawai‘i Antimicrobial Stewardship Collaborative (HASC), a voluntary collaboration whose main objective is to assist hospital institutions in the implementation of a simplified model of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Core Elements of Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs. The work of HASC places Hawai‘i's health care institutions in an advantageous position to be able to comply with impending accreditation standards relating to antibiotics and infections. PMID:27437167

Sandia National Laboratories, California Environmental Management System program manual.

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

Larsen, Barbara L.

2012-03-01

The Sandia National Laboratories, California (SNL/CA) Environmental Management System (EMS) Program Manual documents the elements of the site EMS Program. The SNL/CA EMS Program conforms to the International Standard on Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001:2004and Department of Energy (DOE) Order 436.1. Sandia National Laboratories, California (SNL/CA) has maintained functional environmental programs to assist with regulatory compliance for more than 30 years. During 2005, these existing programs were rolled into a formal environmental management system (EMS) that expands beyond the traditional compliance focus to managing and improving environmental performance and stewardship practices for all site activities. An EMS is a setmore » of inter-related elements that represent a continuing cycle of planning, implementing, evaluating, and improving processes and actions undertaken to achieve environmental policy and goals. The SNL/CA EMS Program conforms to the International Standard for Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001:2004 (ISO 2004). The site first received ISO 14001 certification in September 2006 and recertification in 2009. SNL/CA's EMS Program is applicable to the Sandia, Livermore site only. Although SNL/CA operates as one organizational division of the overall Sandia National Laboratories, the EMS Program is site-specific, with site-specific objectives and targets. SNL/CA (Division 8000) benefits from the organizational structure as it provides corporate level policies, procedures, and standards, and established processes that connect to and support elements of the SNL/CA EMS Program. Additionally, SNL/CA's EMS Program benefits from two corporate functional programs (Facilities Energy and Water Resource Management and Fleet Services programs) that maintain responsibility for energy management and fleet services for all Sandia locations. Each EMS element is further enhanced with site-specific processes and standards. Division 8000 has several groups operating at Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico (SNL/NM). Although these groups, from an organizational perspective, are part of Division 8000, they are managed locally and fall under the environmental requirements specific to their New Mexico location. The New Mexico groups in Division 8000 follow the corporate EMS Program for New Mexico operations.« less

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP OF PHARMACEUTICALS - THE GREEN PHARMACY

EPA Science Inventory

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) as environmental pollutants is a multifaceted issue whose scope continues to become better delineated since the escalation of conceited attention beginning in the 1980s. PPCPs typically occur as trace environme...

Monitoring environmental quality at the landscape scale

Treesearch

Robert V. O' Neill; Carolyn T. Hunsaker; K. Bruce Jones; Kurt H. Riitters; James D. Wickham; Paul M. Schwartz; Iris A. Goodman; Barbara L. Jackson; William S. Baillargeon

1997-01-01

Over the past century, technological advances have greatly improved the standard of living in the United States. But these same advances have caused sweeping environmental changes, often unforeseen and potentially irreparable. Ethical stewardship of the environment requires that society monitor and assess environmental changes at the national scale with a view toward...

The Mediation Effect of Outdoor Recreation Participation on Environmental Attitude-Behavior Correspondence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thapa, Brijesh

2010-01-01

Outdoor recreation participation has increased over the past decades and is projected for further growth. Given the increase, it is important to assess recreationists' environmental values, activity style, general, and site-specific attitudes and behaviors to promote environmental stewardship, and to develop effective strategies in natural…

Undergraduates as Environmental Educators: The Pedal and Paddle Pollution Tour Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cronje, Ruth Johnson; Neff, Paula Kleintjes; Mowry, Donald; Running, Garry L.

2016-01-01

Undergraduates can become effective agents of environmental outreach when challenged to produce evidence-based messages to inform the public about local environmental issues. We recount our experience partnering our undergraduate students with community organizations dedicated to water stewardship to create a "Pedal and Paddle Pollution…

Nuclear materials stewardship: Our enduring mission

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

Isaacs, T.H.

1998-12-31

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors have handled a remarkably wide variety of nuclear materials over the past 50 yr. Two fundamental changes have occurred that shape the current landscape regarding nuclear materials. If one recognizes the implications and opportunities, one sees that the stewardship of nuclear materials will be a fundamental and important job of the DOE for the foreseeable future. The first change--the breakup of the Soviet Union and the resulting end to the nuclear arms race--altered US objectives. Previously, the focus was on materials production, weapon design, nuclear testing, and stockpile enhancements. Now themore » attention is on dismantlement of weapons, excess special nuclear material inventories, accompanying increased concern over the protection afforded to such materials; new arms control measures; and importantly, maintenance of the safety and reliability of the remaining arsenal without testing. The second change was the raised consciousness and sense of responsibility for dealing with the environmental legacies of past nuclear arms programs. Recognition of the need to clean up radioactive contamination, manage the wastes, conduct current operations responsibly, and restore the environment have led to the establishment of what is now the largest program in the DOE. Two additional features add to the challenge and drive the need for recognition of nuclear materials stewardship as a fundamental, enduring, and compelling mission of the DOE. The first is the extraordinary time frames. No matter what the future of nuclear weapons and no matter what the future of nuclear power, the DOE will be responsible for most of the country`s nuclear materials and wastes for generations. Even if the Yucca Mountain program is successful and on schedule, it will last more than 100 yr. Second, the use, management, and disposition of nuclear materials and wastes affect a variety of nationally important and diverse objectives, from national security to the future of nuclear power in this country and abroad, to the care of the environment. Sometimes these objectives are in concert, but often they are seen as competing or being in conflict. By recognizing the corporate responsibility for these materials and the accompanying programs, national decision making will be improved.« less

Antibiotic Stewardship in Small Hospitals: Barriers and Potential Solutions.

PubMed

Stenehjem, Edward; Hyun, David Y; Septimus, Ed; Yu, Kalvin C; Meyer, Marc; Raj, Deepa; Srinivasan, Arjun

2017-08-15

Antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) improve antibiotic prescribing. Seventy-three percent of US hospitals have <200 beds. Small hospitals (<200 beds) have similar rates of antibiotic prescribing compared to large hospitals, but the majority of small hospitals lack ASPs that satisfy the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's core elements. All hospitals, regardless of size, are now required to have ASPs by The Joint Commission, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a similar requirement. Very few studies have described the successful implementation of ASPs in small hospitals. We describe barriers commonly encountered in small hospitals when constructing an antibiotic stewardship team, obtaining appropriate metrics of antibiotic prescribing, implementing antibiotic stewardship interventions, obtaining financial resources, and utilizing the microbiology laboratory. We propose potential solutions that tailor stewardship activities to the needs of the facility and the resources typically available. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

USGS Publications Warehouse

2011-01-01

Extreme storms, sea-level rise, and the health of marine communities are some of the major societal and environmental issues impacting our Nation's marine and coastal realm. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in St. Petersburg, Fla., investigates processes related to these ecosystems and the societal implications of natural hazards and resource sustainability. As one of three centers nationwide conducting research within the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, the center is integral towards developing an understanding of physical processes that will contribute to rational decisions regarding the use and stewardship of national coastal and marine environments.

4-H and Forestry Afterschool Clubs: A Collaboration to Foster Stewardship Attitudes and Behaviors in Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Angela S.; Grant, Samantha; Strauss, Andrea Lorek

2012-01-01

The University of Minnesota Extension's 4-H and Forestry Afterschool program combined the 4-H structure and various forestry curricula to foster positive attitudes towards the environment and stewardship-related behaviors as these may serve as precursors to later choices that benefit the environment. Evaluation of third through fifth grade club…

Organizational ethics in Catholic health care: honoring stewardship and the work environment.

PubMed

Magill, G

2001-04-01

Organizational ethics refers to the integration of values into decision making, policies, and behavior throughout the multi-disciplinary environment of a health care organization. Based upon Catholic social ethics, stewardship is at the heart of organizational ethics in health care in this sense: stewardship provides the hermeneutic filter that enables basic ethical principles to be realized practically, within the context of the Catholic theology of work, to concerns in health care. This general argument can shed light on the specific topic of non-executive compensation programs as an illustration of organizational ethics in health care.

Impact of Environmental Education on the Knowledge and Attitude of Students towards the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erhabor, Norris I.; Don, Juliet U.

2016-01-01

Environmentally aware and empowered youths are potentially the greatest agent of change for the long term protection and stewardship of the environment. Thus environmental education which promotes such change will enable these youths to have a greater voice on environmental issue if effectively implemented in Nigeria. Hence, this study was…

PERSONAL-PRACTICES POLLUTANTS: UBIETY, UBIQUITY, SIGNIFICANCE, SOLUTIONS, STEWARDSHIP

EPA Science Inventory

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) as environmental pollutants is a multifaceted issue whose scope continues to become better delineated with the escalation of attention that began in the 1980s. PPCPs typically occur as trace environmental pollut...

A comprehensive review of Farm Bill contributions to wildlife conservation, 1985-2000

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heard, P.L.; Allen, A.W.; Best, Louis B.; Brady, S.J.; Burger, W.; Esser, A.J.; Hackett, E.; Johnson, D.H.; Pederson, R.L.; Reynolds, R.E.; Rewa, C.; Ryan, M.R.; Molleur, R.T.; Buck, P.

2000-01-01

A comprehensive review of the scientific literature was undertaken to determine wildlife responses to programs established under the conservation title of the 1985 Food Security Act as amended in 1990 and 1996 (Farm Bill). Literature was annotated and summaries of wildlife responses were provided for the Conservation Reserve Program CRP, Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The report recognized that Farm Bill conservation programs were created to serve many purposes. Foremost among these purposes was to enable Americaa??s farmers and ranchers to be better stewards of their lands. In general, wildlife responded positively to improvements in land stewardship, particularly when the needs of wildlife were considered in conservation planning and implementation. Whereas authors acknowledged that their understanding of wildlife responses to Farm Bill conservation programs was still incomplete, they concluded that these programs were making significant contributions toward conservation of the nationa??s fish and wildlife resources.

Remote Antimicrobial Stewardship in Community Hospitals

PubMed Central

Wood, Zachary H.; Nicolsen, Nicole C.; Allen, Nichole; Cook, Paul P.

2015-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship has become standard practice at university medical centers, but the practice is more difficult to implement in remote community hospitals that lack infectious diseases trained practitioners. Starting in 2011, six community hospitals within the Vidant Health system began an antimicrobial stewardship program utilizing pharmacists who reviewed charts remotely from Vidant Medical Center. Pharmacists made recommendations within the electronic medical record (EMR) to streamline, discontinue, or switch antimicrobial agents. Totals of charts reviewed, recommendations made, recommendations accepted, and categories of intervention were recorded. Linear regression was utilized to measure changes in antimicrobial use over time. For the four larger hospitals, recommendations for changes were made in an average of 45 charts per month per hospital and physician acceptance of the pharmacists’ recommendations varied between 83% and 88%. There was no significant decrease in total antimicrobial use, but much of the use was outside of the stewardship program’s review. Quinolone use decreased by more than 50% in two of the four larger hospitals. Remote antimicrobial stewardship utilizing an EMR is feasible in community hospitals and is generally received favorably by physicians. As more community hospitals adopt EMRs, there is an opportunity to expand antimicrobial stewardship beyond the academic medical center. PMID:27025642

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: Appropriate Measures and Metrics to Study their Impact.

PubMed

Morris, Andrew M

Antimicrobial stewardship is a new field that struggles to find the right balance between meaningful and useful metrics to study the impact of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). ASP metrics primarily measure antimicrobial use, although microbiological resistance and clinical outcomes are also important measures of the impact an ASP has on a hospital and its patient population. Antimicrobial measures looking at consumption are the most commonly used measures, and are focused on defined daily doses, days of therapy, and costs, usually standardized per 1,000 patient-days. Each measure provides slightly different information, with their own upsides and downfalls. Point prevalence measurement of antimicrobial use is an increasingly used approach to understanding consumption that does not entirely rely on sophisticated electronic information systems, and is also replicable. Appropriateness measures hold appeal and promise, but have not been developed to the degree that makes them useful and widely applicable. The primary reason why antimicrobial stewardship is necessary is the growth of antimicrobial resistance. Accordingly, antimicrobial resistance is an important metric of the impact of an ASP. The most common approach to measuring resistance for ASP purposes is to report rates of common or important community- or nosocomial-acquired antimicrobial-resistant organisms, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. Such an approach is dependent on detection methods, community rates of resistance, and co-interventions, and therefore may not be the most accurate or reflective measure of antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Development of an index to reflect the net burden of resistance holds theoretical promise, but has yet to be realized. Finally, programs must consider patient outcome measures. Mortality is the most objective and reliable method, but has several drawbacks. Disease- or organism-specific mortality, or cure, are increasingly used metrics.

75 FR 30898 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-02

... collection supports the U.S. DOT's Environmental Stewardship Strategic Goal. U.S. DOT will be better able to evaluate how SAFETEA-LU Section 6009 may improve environmental decision-making and expedite environmental... jurisdiction over park, recreation areas, or wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and citizen/advocacy groups will...

78 FR 62660 - Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Oil and Gas Lease Sales Eastern Planning...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-22

.../Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx . Several libraries along the Gulf Coast have been sent copies of...-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on the Final EIS, you may contact Mr. Gary D. Goeke, Chief, Environmental Assessment Section...

Coupling landscape water storage and supplemental irrigation to increase productivity and improve environmental stewardship in the US Midwest

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agriculture must expand production for a growing population while simultaneously reducing its environmental impacts. These goals need not be in tension with one another. Here we outline a vision for improving both the productivity and environmental performance of agriculture in the US Corn Belt. Mea...

Promoting knowledge integration of scientific principles and environmental stewardship: Assessing an issue-based approach to teaching evolution and marine conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmerman, Timothy David

2005-11-01

Students and citizens need to apply science to important issues every day. Yet the design of science curricula that foster integration of science and everyday decisions is not well understood. For example, can curricula be designed that help learners apply scientific reasons for choosing only environmentally sustainable seafood for dinner? Learners must develop integrated understandings of scientific principles, prior experiences, and current decisions in order to comprehend how everyday decisions impact environmental resources. In order to investigate how such integrated understandings can be promoted within school science classes, research was conducted with an inquiry-oriented curriculum that utilizes technology and a visit to an informal learning environment (aquarium) to promote the integration of scientific principles (adaptation) with environmental stewardship. This research used a knowledge integration approach to teaching and learning that provided a framework for promoting the application of science to environmental issues. Marine biology, often forsaken in classrooms for terrestrial biology, served as the scientific context for the curriculum. The curriculum design incorporated a three-phase pedagogical strategy and new technology tools to help students integrate knowledge and experiences across the classroom and aquarium learning environments. The research design and assessment protocols included comparisons among and within student populations using two versions of the curriculum: an issue-based version and a principle-based version. These inquiry curricula were tested with sophomore biology students attending a marine-focused academy within a coastal California high school. Pretest-posttest outcomes were compared between and within the curricular treatments. Additionally, comparisons were made between the inquiry groups and seniors in an Advanced Placement biology course who attend the same high school. Results indicate that the inquiry curricula enabled students to integrate and apply knowledge of evolutionary biology to real-world environmental stewardship issues. Over the course of the curriculum, students' ideas became more scientifically normative and tended to focus around concepts of natural selection. Students using the inquiry curricula outperformed the Advanced Placement biology students on several measures, including knowledge of evolutionary biology. These results have implications for designing science curricula that seek to promote the application of science to environmental stewardship and integrate formal and informal learning environments.

75 FR 31609 - Conservation Stewardship Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-03

...Section 2301 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act) amended the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). On July 29, 2009, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) published an interim final rule for CSP with a 60-day public comment period. On September 21, 2009, the public comment period was extended 30 days. NRCS is publishing a final rule that addresses the comments received on the interim final rule and makes other minor adjustments to improve clarity of the rule.

Pacific Northwest Environmental Executive Directors: Science SessionSeattle, WA Presentation

EPA Science Inventory

Science is one of many important factors that inform natural resource policy decisions. I will discuss past and current experiences on integrating science into environmental governance and stewardship, how some approaches have been more effective than others, how forecasted budg...

Savvy Schools Are Going Green

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Gerard, Vanessa

2008-01-01

This article describes how the green phenomenon is spreading, especially among schools, which have found that not only are they being environmentally friendly, they are also saving big money. Green buildings focus on efficiency and renewable energy, water stewardship, environmentally preferable building materials and specifications, waste…

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURE FINDER: A REMOTE SENSING DECISION SUPPORT TOOL

EPA Science Inventory

Land cover maps are essential to sound environmental stewardship and EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, but existing maps are not always sufficiently current, detailed, or appropriate for a given application. Consequently, we are developing a decision sup...

Informing rangeland stewardship with research: lessons learned from Yolo County, California

Treesearch

Vance Russell; Chris Rose; Miles DaPrato

2008-01-01

Approximately 70 percent of the contiguous United States is in private lands with half of this total in row crop or rangelands. Audubon California’s Landowner Stewardship Program engages with farmers and ranchers on conservation and restoration projects in a manner compatible with existing agricultural operations. To assess the success of these efforts, Audubon,...

Expert Consensus on Metrics to Assess the Impact of Patient-Level Antimicrobial Stewardship Interventions in Acute-Care Settings

PubMed Central

Anderson, Deverick J.; Cochran, Ronda L.; Hicks, Lauri A.; Srinivasan, Arjun; Dodds Ashley, Elizabeth S.

2017-01-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) positively impact patient care, but metrics to assess ASP impact are poorly defined. We used a modified Delphi approach to select relevant metrics for assessing patient-level interventions in acute-care settings for the purposes of internal program decision making. An expert panel rated 90 candidate metrics on a 9-point Likert scale for association with 4 criteria: improved antimicrobial prescribing, improved patient care, utility in targeting stewardship efforts, and feasibility in hospitals with electronic health records. Experts further refined, added, or removed metrics during structured teleconferences and re-rated the retained metrics. Six metrics were rated >6 in all criteria: 2 measures of Clostridium difficile incidence, incidence of drug-resistant pathogens, days of therapy over admissions, days of therapy over patient days, and redundant therapy events. Fourteen metrics rated >6 in all criteria except feasibility were identified as targets for future development. PMID:27927866

Factors Influencing Adults' Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors and the Role of Environmental Schools in Influencing Their Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilam, Efrat; Trop, Tamar

2014-01-01

The present study revisits a subfield of environmental education: significant life experiences, which studies the influences that shape the development of environmental stewardship. In the present study, we examine the effect of various formative experiences on a group of adults and analyze the role of school, as a formative influence on the…

76 FR 19683 - Conservation Program Recipient Reporting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-08

... regulation that has application or plan due dates after October 1, 2010. The Watershed Operations and Flood Prevention Program, Emergency Watersheds Protection Program, Healthy Forests Reserve Program, Agricultural Management Assistance Program, and the Conservation Stewardship Program have application or plan due dates...

Monitoring, documenting and reporting the quality of antibiotic use in the Netherlands: a pilot study to establish a national antimicrobial stewardship registry.

PubMed

Berrevoets, Marvin Ah; Ten Oever, Jaap; Sprong, Tom; van Hest, Reinier M; Groothuis, Ingeborg; van Heijl, Inger; Schouten, Jeroen A; Hulscher, Marlies E; Kullberg, Bart-Jan

2017-08-15

The Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy is developing a national antimicrobial stewardship registry. This registry will report both the quality of antibiotic use in hospitals in the Netherlands and the stewardship activities employed. It is currently unclear which aspects of the quality of antibiotic use are monitored by antimicrobial stewardship teams (A-teams) and can be used as indicators for the stewardship registry. In this pilot study we aimed to determine which stewardship objectives are eligible for the envisioned registry. We performed an observational pilot study among five Dutch hospitals. We assessed which of the 14 validated stewardship objectives (11 process of care recommendations and 3 structure of care recommendations) the A-teams monitored and documented in individual patients. They provided, where possible, data to compute quality indicator (QI) performance scores in line with recently developed QIs to measure appropriate antibiotic use in hospitalized adults for the period of January 2015 through December 2015 RESULTS: All hospitals had a local antibiotic guideline describing recommended antimicrobial use. All A-teams monitored the performance of bedside consultations in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and the prescription of restricted antimicrobials. Documentation and reporting were the best for the use of restricted antimicrobials: 80% of the A-teams could report data. Lack of time and the absence of an electronic medical record system enabling documentation during the daily work flow were the main barriers hindering documentation and reporting. Five out of 11 stewardship objectives were actively monitored by A-teams. Without extra effort, 4 A-teams could report on the quality of use of restricted antibiotics. Therefore, this aspect of antibiotic use should be the starting point of the national antimicrobial stewardship registry. Our registry is expected to become a powerful tool to evaluate progress and impact of antimicrobial stewardship programs in hospitals.

Defining and Responding to Issues of Canada's Coastal Zones.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diamond, Lawrence

1984-01-01

Defines and discusses critical issues for each of Canada's coastal regions (Pacific, Arctic, Atlantic, and Great Lakes) in environmental, technological, social, and political contexts; reviews recent efforts to obtain and use environmental information; and highlights alternative ways of achieving better stewardship. (Author/DH)

Evaluating strategies for sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture through the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sustainable intensification is an emerging model for agriculture designed to reconcile accelerating global demand for agricultural products with long-term environmental stewardship. Defined here as increasing agricultural production while maintaining or improving environmental quality, sustainable i...

Fact Sheet: 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's existing chemicals programs address pollution prevention, risk assessment, hazard and exposure assessment and/or characterization, and risk management for chemicals substances in commercial use.

A national survey of pediatric dentists on antibiotic use in children.

PubMed

Sivaraman, Sujatha S; Hassan, Mohamed; Pearson, Julie M

2013-01-01

The purposes of this study were to: (1) examine the antibiotic prescribing practices of pediatric dentists and adherence to professional guidelines; and (2) assess their knowledge of and attitudes toward antibiotic resistance. A cross-sectional survey regarding antibiotic use, resistance, and knowledge of antibiotic stewardship programs was emailed to 4,636 members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). 987 surveys (21 percent) were completed; 984 were analyzed. Lack of adherence to AAPD antibiotic guidelines was noted. There was a trend toward overuse of antibiotics for the following conditions: irreversible pulpitis with (32 percent) and without vital pulp (42 percent); localized dentoalveolar abscess with (68 percent) and without draining fistula (39 percent); mitral valve relapse with regurgitation (43 percent); intrusion (15 percent); extrusion (13 percent); and rheumatoid arthritis (12 percent). Determinants of antibiotic use were: facial swelling (88 percent); pain relief (15 percent); unavailable appointment for several weeks (six percent); and parental satisfaction (four percent). Although 98 percent of respondents believed that antibiotic resistance is of growing concern, only 15 percent were aware of antibiotic stewardship programs. AAPD members overprescribe antibiotics. Educational programs to increase knowledge of antibiotic resistance and stewardship programs should be implemented to increase adherence to professional guidelines.

Antimicrobial Stewardship in a Community Hospital: Attacking the More Difficult Problems

PubMed Central

Philmon, Carla L.; Johnson, Gregory D.; Ward, William S.; Rivers, LaToya L.; Williamson, Sharon A.; Goodman, Edward L.

2014-01-01

Background: Antibiotic stewardship has been proposed as an important way to reduce or prevent antibiotic resistance. In 2001, a community hospital implemented an antimicrobial management program. It was successful in reducing antimicrobial utilization and expenditure. In 2011, with the implementation of a data-mining tool, the program was expanded and its focus transitioned from control of antimicrobial use to guiding judicious antimicrobial prescribing. Objective: To test the hypothesis that adding a data-mining tool to an existing antimicrobial stewardship program will further increase appropriate use of antimicrobials. Design: Interventional study with historical comparison. Methods: Rules and alerts were built into the data-mining tool to aid in identifying inappropriate antibiotic utilization. Decentralized pharmacists acted on alerts for intravenous (IV) to oral conversion, perioperative antibiotic duration, and restricted antimicrobials. An Infectious Diseases (ID) Pharmacist and ID Physician/Hospital Epidemiologist focused on all other identified alert types such as antibiotic de-escalation, bug-drug mismatch, and double coverage. Electronic chart notes and phone calls to physicians were utilized to make recommendations. Results: During 2012, 2,003 antimicrobial interventions were made with a 90% acceptance rate. Targeted broad-spectrum antimicrobial use decreased by 15% in 2012 compared to 2010, which represented cost savings of $1,621,730. There were no statistically significant changes in antimicrobial resistance, and no adverse patient outcomes were noted. Conclusions: The addition of a data-mining tool to an antimicrobial stewardship program can further decrease inappropriate use of antimicrobials, provide a greater reduction in overall antimicrobial use, and provide increased cost savings without negatively affecting patient outcomes. PMID:25477615

Toward Better Pain Management: The Development of a "Pain Stewardship Program" in a Tertiary Children's Hospital.

PubMed

Brenn, B Randall; Choudhry, Dinesh K; Sacks, Karen; Como-Fluehr, Sandra; Strain, Robert

2016-09-01

Despite increased focus on pediatric pain, uncontrolled pain is still a problem for hospitalized pediatric inpatients. A program was designed to find patients with uncontrolled pain and develop a framework to oversee their pain management. This report details the development of a pain stewardship program with data from the first year of its activity. Hospitalized inpatients in a tertiary care pediatric center in the mid-Atlantic region were included in the study. Pain scores are recorded every 4 hours in the hospital electronic health record. A report was constructed to find all patients with an average pain score ≥7 in the preceding 12 hours. The charts of these patients were reviewed by our anesthesia pain service, and all patients were grouped into 1 of the following action categories: (1) no action required; (2) telephone call to the patient's attending physician; (3) one-time consultation; (4) consultation with ongoing management; or (5) patient was already on the anesthesia pain service. Demographic data, pain regimens, and outcomes were recorded in a prospectively collected database. There were 843 records on 441 unique patients. Only 22% required action to be taken by the anesthesia pain service. The pain stewardship database revealed that patients with sickle cell disease or abdominal pain required more frequent attention. An electronic health record-based pain stewardship program is an important step in identifying all children in the hospital with undermanaged pain, and it provides a warning system that may improve patient care, outcomes, and satisfaction. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Impact of Implementing Antibiotic Stewardship Programs in 15 Small Hospitals: A Cluster-Randomized Intervention.

PubMed

Stenehjem, Edward; Hersh, Adam L; Buckel, Whitney R; Jones, Peter; Sheng, Xiaoming; Evans, R Scott; Burke, John P; Lopansri, Bert K; Srivastava, Rajendu; Greene, Tom; Pavia, Andrew T

2018-02-23

Studies on the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) in small hospitals are limited. Accreditation organizations now require all hospitals to have ASPs. The objective of this cluster-randomized intervention was to assess the effectiveness of implementing ASPs in Intermountain Healthcare's 15 small hospitals. Each hospital was randomized to 1 of 3 ASPs of escalating intensity. Program 1 hospitals were provided basic antibiotic stewardship education and tools, access to an infectious disease hotline, and antibiotic utilization data. Program 2 hospitals received those interventions plus advanced education, audit and feedback for select antibiotics, and locally controlled antibiotic restrictions. Program 3 hospitals received program 2 interventions plus audit and feedback on the majority of antibiotics, and an infectious diseases-trained clinician approved restricted antibiotics and reviewed microbiology results. Changes in total and broad-spectrum antibiotic use within programs (intervention versus baseline) and the difference between programs in the magnitude of change in antibiotic use (eg, program 3 vs 1) were evaluated with mixed models. Program 3 hospitals showed reductions in total (rate ratio, 0.89; confidence interval, .80-.99) and broad-spectrum (0.76; .63-.91) antibiotic use when the intervention period was compared with the baseline period. Program 1 and 2 hospitals did not experience a reduction in antibiotic use. Comparison of the magnitude of effects between programs showed a similar trend favoring program 3, but this was not statistically significant. Only the most intensive ASP intervention was associated with reduction in total and broad-spectrum antibiotic use when compared with baseline. NCT03245879.

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

BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORTORY; PROJECT MANAGER BARBARA COX

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) strives for excellence in both its science research and its facility operations. BNL manages its world-class scientific research with particular sensitivity to environmental and community issues through its internationally recognized Environmental Management System (EMS) and award-winning community relations program. The Site Environmental Report 2000 (SER) summarizes the status of the Laboratory's environmental programs and performance, including the steady progress towards cleaning up the Laboratory site and fully integrating environmental stewardship into all facets of BNL's mission. BNL's motto, ''Exploring Earth's Mysteries... Protecting its Future,'' describes how the Laboratory approaches its work, with balance between science andmore » the environment. One of the newest initiatives at the Laboratory, the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve, will permanently preserve 530 acres (212 hectares) of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens, a unique ecosystem of forests and wetlands. The Reserve sets aside 10% of BNL property for conservation and ecological research through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Reserve provides habitat for approximately 27 endangered, threatened, or species of special concern, including the state-endangered eastern tiger salamander, state-threatened banded sunfish, and swamp darter, along with a number of other species found onsite, such as the wild turkey and red-tailed hawk.« less

Rapid issue tracking: A method for taking the pulse of the public discussion of environmental policy

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; David P. Fan; Patrick Reed; Ashley Goldhor-Wilcock

2009-01-01

Environmental communication professionals and other decision makers need to understand public sentiment toward environmental issues to effectively carry out their stewardship responsibilities. However, it is often difficult to obtain timely and reliable information about public discussion and debate regarding these issues. This paper describes an approach designed to...

Listening to your audience: developing an educational tool to assist with recreation planning on private lands

Treesearch

J. Daniel van Dijk; Gary T. Green; Craig A. Miller

2009-01-01

The Georgia Forestry Commission in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service instituted the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) in 1991. A growing component of the FSP is recreation, which is the component least understood by stewardship planners. A survey was developed to better understand the needs of planners with regard to developing forest recreation plans, and the...

Framework for Springs Stewardship Program and proposed action development: Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Treesearch

Marc Coles-Ritchie; Stephen J. Solem; Abraham E. Springer; Burton Pendleton

2014-01-01

In the desert Southwest, springs are an important ecological feature and serve as a focal point for both biological and human interactions on the landscape. As a result, attention has been placed on the stewardship and protection of these important resources. Management has traditionally focused on the more accessible and heavily used eastern canyons within the Spring...

Deconstruction Rapid Assessment Tool

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Deconstruction Rapid Assessment Tool (EPA 905-F-15-001) instructions, form and spreadsheet for assessing and triaging structures being considered for deconstruction. Promote environmental stewardship and economic revitalization through deconstruction.

Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship for Tobacco Product Waste

PubMed Central

Curtis, Clifton; Collins, Susan; Cunningham, Shea; Stigler, Paula; Novotny, Thomas E

2015-01-01

This paper reviews several environmental principles, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Product Stewardship (PS), the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP), and the Precautionary Principle, as they may apply to tobacco product waste (TPW). The review addresses specific criteria that apply in deciding whether a particular toxic product should adhere to these principles; presents three case studies of similar approaches to other toxic and/or environmentally harmful products; and describes 10 possible interventions or policy actions that may help prevent, reduce, and mitigate the effects of TPW. EPR promotes total lifecycle environmental improvements, placing economic, physical, and informational responsibilities onto the tobacco industry, while PS complements EPR, but with responsibility shared by all parties involved in the tobacco product lifecycle. Both principles focus on toxic source reduction, post-consumer take-back, and final disposal of consumer products. These principles when applied to TPW have the potential to substantially decrease the environmental and public health harms of cigarette butts and other TPW throughout the world. TPW is the most commonly littered item picked up during environmental, urban, and coastal cleanups globally. PMID:26457262

Worldwide Emerging Environmental Issues Affecting the U.S. Military. June 2005 Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-06-01

Trade and Environment issues that help promote environmental protection and improve enforcement of environmental law; and Expand Partnerships for...in view of the Army’s Strategy for the Environment and the CEC’s Partnerships for Environmental Stewardship strategies. Source: CEC Ministerial...reducing mercury use, emissions, wastes and surplus stockpiles, and participating in partnerships with organizations and countries requesting assistance. If

Data governance and stewardship: designing data stewardship entities and advancing data access.

PubMed

Rosenbaum, Sara

2010-10-01

U.S. health policy is engaged in a struggle over access to health information, in particular, the conditions under which information should be accessible for research when appropriate privacy protections and security safeguards are in place. The expanded use of health information-an inevitable step in an information age-is widely considered be essential to health system reform. Models exist for the creation of data-sharing arrangements that promote proper use of information in a safe and secure environment and with attention to ethical standards. Data stewardship is a concept with deep roots in the science and practice of data collection, sharing, and analysis. Reflecting the values of fair information practice, data stewardship denotes an approach to the management of data, particularly data that can identify individuals. The concept of a data steward is intended to convey a fiduciary (or trust) level of responsibility toward the data. Data governance is the process by which responsibilities of stewardship are conceptualized and carried out. As the concept of health information data stewardship advances in a technology-enabled environment, the question is whether legal barriers to data access and use will begin to give way. One possible answer may lie in defining the public interest in certain data uses, tying provider participation in federal health programs to the release of all-payer data to recognized data stewardship entities for aggregation and management, and enabling such entities to foster and enable the creation of knowledge through research. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Data Governance and Stewardship: Designing Data Stewardship Entities and Advancing Data Access

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, Sara

2010-01-01

U.S. health policy is engaged in a struggle over access to health information, in particular, the conditions under which information should be accessible for research when appropriate privacy protections and security safeguards are in place. The expanded use of health information—an inevitable step in an information age—is widely considered be essential to health system reform. Models exist for the creation of data-sharing arrangements that promote proper use of information in a safe and secure environment and with attention to ethical standards. Data stewardship is a concept with deep roots in the science and practice of data collection, sharing, and analysis. Reflecting the values of fair information practice, data stewardship denotes an approach to the management of data, particularly data that can identify individuals. The concept of a data steward is intended to convey a fiduciary (or trust) level of responsibility toward the data. Data governance is the process by which responsibilities of stewardship are conceptualized and carried out. As the concept of health information data stewardship advances in a technology-enabled environment, the question is whether legal barriers to data access and use will begin to give way. One possible answer may lie in defining the public interest in certain data uses, tying provider participation in federal health programs to the release of all-payer data to recognized data stewardship entities for aggregation and management, and enabling such entities to foster and enable the creation of knowledge through research. PMID:21054365

Associations between antimicrobial stewardship program elements and Clostridium difficile infection performance.

PubMed

Barlow, Giulia; Patterson, Julie; Stultz, Jeremy; Pakyz, Amy L

2017-12-01

Hospitals are categorized as better, no different, or worse at a national level based on their Clostridium difficile infection performance. Institutional antimicrobial stewardship programs seek to decrease the occurrence of C difficile by implementing strategies to address antibiotic usage; however, optimal structure and strategies for accomplishing this remain largely unknown. We found that a higher proportion of hospitals with either a worse or no different rank used a postprescription audit and feedback strategy than hospitals with a better rank. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transportation statistics annual report 2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

Chapter 1 highlights environmental stewardship and transportation security, and : contains a summary of the 2007 Commodity Flow Survey. Chapter 2 explores : transportation infrastructure, safety, congestion, and global connectivity. These : groupings...

Spatial data available on the web at http://mrdata.usgs.gov/

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Bruce

2002-01-01

Earth science information is important to decisionmakers who formulate public policy related to mineral resource sustainability, land stewardship, environmental hazards, the economy, and public health. To meet the growing demand for easily accessible data, the Mineral Resources Program has developed, in cooperation with other Federal and State agencies, an Internet-based, data-delivery system that allows interested customers worldwide to download accurate, up-to-date mineral resource-related data at any time. All data in the system are spatially located and customers with Internet access and a modern Web browser can easily produce maps having user-defined overlays for any region of interest.

Examining the effects of technology-infused issue investigations on high school students' environmental and ocean literacies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plankis, Brian J.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of technology-infused issue investigations on high school students' environmental and ocean literacies. This study explored the effects of a new educational enrichment program termed Connecting the Ocean, Reefs, Aquariums, Literacy, and Stewardship (CORALS) on high school science students. The study utilized a mixed methods approach combining a quantitative quasi-experimental pre-post test design with qualitative case studies. The CORALS program is a new educational program that combines materials based on the Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Actions (IEEIA) curriculum program with the digital storytelling process. Over an 18-week period four high school science teachers and their approximately 169 students investigated environmental issues impacting coral reefs through the IEEIA framework. An additional approximately 224 students, taught by the same teachers, were the control group exposed to standard curriculum. Students' environmental literacy was measured through the Secondary School Environmental Literacy Instrument (SSELI) and students' ocean literacy was measured through the Students' Ocean Literacy Viewpoints and Engagement (SOLVE) instrument. Two classrooms were selected as case studies and examined through classroom observations and student and teacher interviews. The results indicated the CORALS program increased the knowledge of ecological principles, knowledge of environmental problems/issues, and environmental attitudes components of environmental literacy for the experimental group students. For ocean literacy, the experimental group students' scores increased for knowledge of ocean literacy principles, ability to identify oceanic environmental problems, and attitudes concerning the ocean. The SSELI measure of Responsible Environmental Behaviors (REB) was found to be significant for the interaction of teacher and class type (experimental or control). The students for Teachers A and B reported a statistically significant increase in the self-reported REB subscales of ecomanagement and consumer/economic action. This indicates the students reported an increase in the REBs they could change within their lifestyles. This study provides baseline data in an area where few quality studies exist to date. Recommendations for practice and administration of the research study instruments are explored. Recommendations for further research include CORALS program modifications, revising the instruments utilized, and what areas of students' environmental and ocean literacies warrant further exploration.

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

Zygarlicke, C J; Schmidt, D D; Olson, E S

Biomass utilization is one solution to our nation’s addiction to oil and fossil fuels. What is needed now is applied fundamental research that will cause economic technology development for the utilization of the diverse biomass resources in the United States. This Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) applied fundamental research project contributes to the development of economical biomass utilization for energy, transportation fuels, and marketable chemicals using biorefinery methods that include thermochemical and fermentation processes. The fundamental and basic applied research supports the broad scientific objectives of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program, especially in the area ofmore » developing alternative renewable biofuels, sustainable bioenergy, technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental remediation. Its deliverables include 1) identifying and understanding environmental consequences of energy production from biomass, including the impacts on greenhouse gas production, carbon emission abatement, and utilization of waste biomass residues and 2) developing biology-based solutions that address DOE and national needs related to waste cleanup, hydrogen production from renewable biomass, biological and chemical processes for energy and fuel production, and environmental stewardship. This project serves the public purpose of encouraging good environmental stewardship by developing biomass-refining technologies that can dramatically increase domestic energy production to counter current trends of rising dependence upon petroleum imports. Decreasing the nation’s reliance on foreign oil and energy will enhance national security, the economy of rural communities, and future competitiveness. Although renewable energy has many forms, such as wind and solar, biomass is the only renewable energy source that can be governed through agricultural methods and that has an energy density that can realistically compete with, or even replace, petroleum and other fossil fuels in the near future. It is a primary domestic, sustainable, renewable energy resource that can supply liquid transportation fuels, chemicals, and energy that are currently produced from fossil sources, and it is a sustainable resource for a hydrogen-based economy in the future.« less

The Global Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance: Insights from Economic Analysis

PubMed Central

Eggleston, Karen; Zhang, Ruifang; Zeckhauser, Richard J.

2010-01-01

The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AR) limits the therapeutic options for treatment of infections, and increases the social benefit from disease prevention. Like an environmental resource, antimicrobials require stewardship. The effectiveness of an antimicrobial agent is a global public good. We argue for greater use of economic analysis as an input to policy discussion about AR, including for understanding the incentives underlying health behaviors that spawn AR, and to supplement other methods of tracing the evolution of AR internationally. We also discuss integrating antimicrobial stewardship into global health governance. PMID:20948953

Environmental Stewardship through Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaye, Cathryn Berger

2011-01-01

New school buildings often grab headlines that highlight their green features and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, yet nearly 90% of schools in the United States were built before 1985, with the largest portion built from 1950-69 to accommodate the baby boom generation (National Clearinghouse for Educational…

76 FR 23335 - Wilderness Stewardship Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-26

... planning and environmental impact analysis process required to inform consideration of alternative... 5, 1996. Based on an analysis of the numerous scoping comments received, and with consideration of a... proper food storage; party size; camping and campsites; human waste management; stock use; meadow...

Policy options to reduce consumer waste to zero: comparing product stewardship and extended producer responsibility for refrigerator waste.

PubMed

Nicol, Scott; Thompson, Shirley

2007-06-01

Today, over-consumption, pollution and resource depletion threaten sustainability. Waste management policies frequently fail to reduce consumption, prevent pollution, conserve resources and foster sustainable products. However, waste policies are changing to focus on lifecycle impacts of products from the cradle to the grave by extending the responsibilities of stakeholders to post-consumer management. Product stewardship and extended producer responsibility are two policies in use, with radically different results when compared for one consumer product, refrigerators. North America has enacted product stewardship policies that fail to require producers to take physical or financial responsibility for recycling or for environmentally sound disposal, so that releases of ozone depleting substances routinely occur, which contribute to the expanding the ozone hole. Conversely, Europe's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive requires extended producer responsibility, whereby producers collect and manage their own post-consumer waste products. WEEE has resulted in high recycling rates of greater than 85%, reduced emissions of ozone-depleting substances and other toxins, greener production methods, such as replacing greenhouse gas refrigerants with environmentally friendly hydrocarbons and more reuse of refrigerators in the EU in comparison with North America.

75 FR 2859 - Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-19

.... ADDRESSES: Red Lion Hotel, 1101 North Columbia Center Boulevard, Kennewick, WA 99336. FOR FURTHER... Committee; Public Involvement Committee; and Budgets and Contracts Committee Long-term Stewardship...

When Antimicrobial Stewardship Isn′t Watching: The Educational Impact of Critical Care Prospective Audit and Feedback

PubMed Central

Fleming, Dimitra; Ali, Karim F.; Matelski, John; D'Sa, Ryan; Powis, Jeff

2016-01-01

Prospective audit and feedback (PAF) is an effective strategy to optimize antimicrobial use in the critical care setting, yet whether skills gained during PAF influence future antimicrobial prescribing is uncertain. This multisite study demonstrates that knowledge learned during PAF is translated and incorporated into the practice of critical care physicians even when not supported by an antimicrobial stewardship program. PMID:27382599

The Gateway Paper--stewardship and governance in the health sector in Pakistan.

PubMed

Nishtar, Sania

2006-12-01

As an opening for a dialogue on health reforms in the country, the Gateway Paper places emphasis on strengthening the stewardship function of mandated State agencies in Pakistan with particular attention to two key areas. Firstly, greater emphasis on a stewardship role for the Ministry and departments of health in the context of inter-sectoral scope of health and secondly, a stronger role for the State agencies as regulators of healthcare within the country. The Gateway Paper envisages that the role of State agencies will become more critical as new models of financing health and delivering services are structured given that these entail regulation of private sector providers, providing oversight for ensuring a system for ongoing education and implementation of frameworks for public-private partnerships. The Gateway Paper refers to stewardship with reference to analysis and overview of health policies within the country, their relationship with evidence, their follow-up into planning and finally their implementation. The Paper also provides an insight into policies from a process-related as well as content and program related perspectives. In doing so a number of questions relating to the evidence and policy disconnect; issues at strategic and operational levels of planning, and governance-related impediments to program implementation have been discussed and a viewpoint articulated on an approach to addressing these challenges.

IARC - Illinois Accelerator Research Center | Pilot Program

Science.gov Websites

Toggle navigation Pilot Program Agenda Directions Registration Illinois Accelerator Research Center National Laboratory present Accelerator Stewardship Test Facility Pilot Program Use accelerator technology , energy and environment. With this pilot program, the DOE Office of Science National Laboratories are

78 FR 4844 - Defense Programs Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-23

... Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Defense Programs... Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs on the stewardship and maintenance of the Nation's nuclear... DP management issues, including facility operations and fiscal matters. e. Where appropriate...

Evaluation of pharmacy generalists performing antimicrobial stewardship services.

PubMed

Carreno, Joseph J; Kenney, Rachel M; Bloome, Mary; McDonnell, Jane; Rodriguez, Jennifer; Weinmann, Allison; Kilgore, Paul E; Davis, Susan L

2015-08-01

Improvements in medication use achieved by pharmacy generalists using a care bundle approach to antimicrobial stewardship are reported. A six-month prospective, repeated-treatment, quasi-experimental study involving three month-long intervention periods and three month-long control periods was conducted in the setting of an existing antimicrobial stewardship program at a large hospital. The intervention involved prospective audit and feedback conducted by pharmacy generalists who were trained in an antimicrobial stewardship care bundle approach. During control months, a pharmacy generalist who was not trained in antimicrobial stewardship rounded with the multidisciplinary team and provided standard-of-care pharmacy services. The primary endpoint was compliance with a care bundle of four antimicrobial stewardship metrics: documentation of indication for therapy in the medical record, selection of empirical therapy according to institutional guidelines, documented performance of indicated culture testing, and deescalation of therapy when indicated. Two-hundred eighty-six patients were enrolled in the study: 124 in the intervention group and 162 in the control group. The cumulative rate of full compliance with all care bundle components during the six-month study was significantly greater during intervention months than during control months (68.5% versus 45.7%, p < 0.001). After adjusting for infection type, antimicrobial stewardship provided by an intervention-group pharmacist was associated with improved care bundle compliance (adjusted odds ratio, 2.70; p < 0.001). No significant differences in patient outcomes during intervention and control months were detected. Pharmacy generalists trained to comply with a systematic care bundle approach enhanced the quality of antimicrobial management. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Accounting for results: how conservation organizations report performance information.

PubMed

Rissman, Adena R; Smail, Robert

2015-04-01

Environmental program performance information is in high demand, but little research suggests why conservation organizations differ in reporting performance information. We compared performance measurement and reporting by four private-land conservation organizations: Partners for Fish and Wildlife in the US Fish and Wildlife Service (national government), Forest Stewardship Council-US (national nonprofit organization), Land and Water Conservation Departments (local government), and land trusts (local nonprofit organization). We asked: (1) How did the pattern of performance reporting relationships vary across organizations? (2) Was political conflict among organizations' principals associated with greater performance information? and (3) Did performance information provide evidence of program effectiveness? Based on our typology of performance information, we found that most organizations reported output measures such as land area or number of contracts, some reported outcome indicators such as adherence to performance standards, but few modeled or measured environmental effects. Local government Land and Water Conservation Departments reported the most types of performance information, while local land trusts reported the fewest. The case studies suggest that governance networks influence the pattern and type of performance reporting, that goal conflict among principles is associated with greater performance information, and that performance information provides unreliable causal evidence of program effectiveness. Challenging simple prescriptions to generate more data as evidence, this analysis suggests (1) complex institutional and political contexts for environmental program performance and (2) the need to supplement performance measures with in-depth evaluations that can provide causal inferences about program effectiveness.

Accounting for Results: How Conservation Organizations Report Performance Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rissman, Adena R.; Smail, Robert

2015-04-01

Environmental program performance information is in high demand, but little research suggests why conservation organizations differ in reporting performance information. We compared performance measurement and reporting by four private-land conservation organizations: Partners for Fish and Wildlife in the US Fish and Wildlife Service (national government), Forest Stewardship Council—US (national nonprofit organization), Land and Water Conservation Departments (local government), and land trusts (local nonprofit organization). We asked: (1) How did the pattern of performance reporting relationships vary across organizations? (2) Was political conflict among organizations' principals associated with greater performance information? and (3) Did performance information provide evidence of program effectiveness? Based on our typology of performance information, we found that most organizations reported output measures such as land area or number of contracts, some reported outcome indicators such as adherence to performance standards, but few modeled or measured environmental effects. Local government Land and Water Conservation Departments reported the most types of performance information, while local land trusts reported the fewest. The case studies suggest that governance networks influence the pattern and type of performance reporting, that goal conflict among principles is associated with greater performance information, and that performance information provides unreliable causal evidence of program effectiveness. Challenging simple prescriptions to generate more data as evidence, this analysis suggests (1) complex institutional and political contexts for environmental program performance and (2) the need to supplement performance measures with in-depth evaluations that can provide causal inferences about program effectiveness.

Bioregionalism in the Heartland: Exploring Broad-Scale, Bioregional Dynamics of Place and Landscapes in the Western Great Lakes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eanes, Francis R.

2016-01-01

How can researchers and practitioners meaningfully engage the public in matters of environmental stewardship and landscape conservation? Traditional approaches to answering this question have erroneously relied upon the assumption that the simple combination of knowledge and awareness of environmental challenges will motivate desirable behavior…

INCORPORATING RESILIENCE INTO LAW AND POLICY: A case for preserving a natural resource legacy and promoting a sustainable future

EPA Science Inventory

The concept of sustainability has been widely embraced by society and in environmental law and policy as a measure to ensure a heritage of economic viability, social equity, and environmental stewardship. In a large number of statutes, Congress and many state legislatures have be...

Testing tools for outdoor recreation, environmental education, and stewardship: Allowing children to choose the rules

Treesearch

Laura E. Baird; Logan O. Park

2014-01-01

Engaging children in natural settings enhances learning, promotes early childhood development, and makes use of protected natural areas. Unfortunately, many schoolchildren, especially from economically disadvantaged areas, lack support for environmental education (EE) to develop skills and attitudes that increase rates of appropriate outdoor behaviors. Improved access...

78 FR 64242 - Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Oil and Gas Lease Sales, Western Planning...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-28

...-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx . Comments: Federal, State, and local government... Assessment Section, Office of Environment (GM 623E), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS... (NOA) of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Public Meetings. SUMMARY: BOEM...

Moulding Urban Children towards Environmental Stewardship: The Table Mountain National Park Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferreira, Sanette

2012-01-01

The environmental integrity of many urban protected areas in developing countries is at risk and the important mission to reach out to people living close to them provides a special opportunity to spread the conservation message. Guided visitation to urban national parks with the necessary and appropriate interpretation can contribute towards…

Aboriginal Environmental Wisdom, Stewardship, and Sustainability: Lessons from the Walpole Island First Nations, Ontario, Canada

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckford, Clinton L.; Jacobs, Clint; Williams, Naomi; Nahdee, Russell

2010-01-01

Generally speaking, environmental education teaching, research, and practice have been informed by the traditions of western, Euro-centric culture. In this context indigenous perspectives are often marginalized, maligned, and perceived to be unscientific and therefore inferior. This essay adds to the growing body of literature exploring aboriginal…

Fostering Science Literacy, Environmental Stewardship, and Collaboration: Assessing a Garden-Based Approach to Teaching Life Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher-Maltese, Carley B.

2013-01-01

Recently, schools nationwide have expressed a renewed interest in school gardens (California School Garden Network, 2010), viewing them as innovative educational tools. Most of the scant studies on these settings investigate the health/nutritional impacts, environmental attitudes, or emotional dispositions of students. However, few studies examine…

Assessing and comparing relationships between urban environmental stewardship networks and land cover in Baltimore and Seattle

Treesearch

Michele Romolini; J. Morgan Grove; Dexter H. Locke

2013-01-01

Implementation of urban sustainability policies often requires collaborations between organizations across sectors. Indeed, it is commonly agreed that governance by environmental networks is preferred to individual organizations acting alone. Yet research shows that network structures vary widely, and that these variations can impact network effectiveness. However,...

WATER: Water Activities Teaching Environmental Responsibility: Teacher Resource, Environmental Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kramer, Ed, Ed.; And Others

This activity book was developed as part of an effort to protect water quality of the Stillwater River, Ohio, through a Watershed Protection Project. It is designed to raise teachers' and students' awareness and trigger a sense of stewardship towards the preservation of water resources. The activities are generally appropriate for elementary age…

Environmental Stewardship: It's Only Natural. Kerr Lake State Recreation Area: An Environmental Education Learning Experience Designed for Grades 3-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayers, Scott; Speed, John

This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared to Kerr Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 3, 4, and 5 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities are…

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

Hecker, Siegfried; Gottemoeller, Rose; Reis, Victor H.

A short oral history of the NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program, produced in association with the 20th anniversary of the program. It features Siegfried Hecker, Rose Gottemoeller, Victor Reis, Charles McMillan, Joan Rohlfing, Omar Hurricane, Roger Hagengruber, and John Taylor.

2014 SRNL LDRD Annual Report, Rev. 0

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

Mcwhorter, S.

2015-03-15

Laboratory Directed Research and Development is a congressionally authorized program that provides the ‘innovation inspiration’ from which many of the Laboratory’s multi-discipline advancements are made in both science and engineering technology. The program is the backbone for insuring that scientific, technical and engineering capabilities can meet current and future needs. It is an important tool in reducing the probability of technological surprise by allowing laboratory technical staff room to innovate and keep abreast of scientific breakthroughs. Drawing from the synergism among the EM and NNSA missions, and work from other federal agencies ensures that LDRD is the key element inmore » maintaining the vitality of SRNL’s technical programs. The LDRD program aims to position the Laboratory for new business in clean energy, national security, nuclear materials management and environmental stewardship by leveraging the unique capabilities of the Laboratory to yield foundational scientific research in core business areas, while aligning with SRS strategic initiatives and maintaining a vision for ultimate DOE applications.« less

Small Business Environmental Stewardship Assistance Act of 2010

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR

2010-04-29

Senate - 04/29/2010 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Risk perception, future land use and stewardship: comparison of attitudes about Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

PubMed

Burger, J; Sanchez, J; Roush, D; Gochfeld, M

2001-04-01

With the ending of the Cold War, the Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating mission, future land use and stewardship of departmental facilities. This paper compares the environmental concerns and future use preferences of 351 people interviewed at Lewiston, Idaho, about the Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), two of DOE's largest sites. Although most subjects lived closer to Hanford than INEEL, most resided in the same state as INEEL. Therefore their economic interests might be more closely allied with INEEL, while their health concerns might be more related to Hanford. Few lived close enough to either site to be directly affected economically. We test the null hypotheses that there are no differences in environmental concerns and future land-use preferences as a function of DOE site, sex, age and education. When asked to list their major concerns about the sites, more people listed human health and safety, and environmental concerns about Hanford compared to INEEL. When asked to list their preferred future land uses, 49% of subjects did not have any for INEEL, whereas only 35% did not know for Hanford. The highest preferred land uses for both sites were as a National Environmental Research Park (NERP), and for camping, hunting, hiking, and fishing. Except for returning the land to the tribes and increased nuclear storage, subjects rated all future uses as more preferred at INEEL than Hanford. Taken together, these data suggest that the people interviewed know more about Hanford, are more concerned about Hanford, rate recreational uses and NERP as their highest preferred land use, and feel that INEEL is more suited for most land uses than Handford. Overall rankings for future land uses were remarkably similar between the sites, indicating that for these stakeholders, DOE lands should be preserved for research and recreation. These preferences should be taken into account when planning for long-term stewardship at these two DOE sites.

Environmental surveillance at Los Alamos during 2009

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

Fuehne, David; Poff, Ben; Hjeresen, Denny

2010-09-30

Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos reports are prepared annually by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (the Laboratory) environmental organization, as required by US Department of Energy Order 5400.1, General Environmental Protection Program, and US Department of Energy Order 231.1A, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting. These annual reports summarize environmental data that are used to determine compliance with applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, executive orders, and departmental policies. Additional data, beyond the minimum required, are also gathered and reported as part of the Laboratory’s efforts to ensure public safety and to monitor environmental quality at and nearmore » the Laboratory. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Laboratory’s major environmental programs and explains the risks and the actions taken to reduce risks at the Laboratory from environmental legacies and waste management operations. Chapter 2 reports the Laboratory’s compliance status for 2009. Chapter 3 provides a summary of the maximum radiological dose the public and biota populations could have potentially received from Laboratory operations and discusses chemical exposures. The environmental surveillance and monitoring data are organized by environmental media (air in Chapter 4; water and sediments in Chapters 5 and 6; soils in Chapter 7; and foodstuffs and biota in Chapter 8) in a format to meet the needs of a general and scientific audience. Chapter 9 provides a summary of the status of environmental restoration work around LANL. The new Chapter 10 describes the Laboratory’s environmental stewardship efforts and provides an overview of the health of the Rio Grande. A glossary and a list of acronyms and abbreviations are in the back of the report. Appendix A explains the standards for environmental contaminants, Appendix B explains the units of measurements used in this report, Appendix C describes the Laboratory’s technical areas and their associated programs, and Appendix D provides web links to more information.« less

Enabling sustainable pastoralism: policies and investments that optimise livestock production and rangeland stewardship.

PubMed

Ouedraogo, R; Davies, J

2016-11-01

Pastoralism is a system of dynamically managing livestock and land for economic, social and environmental benefit. To a large extent, pastoralism is an adaptation to ecological and climatic variability and is not simply a livestock production system but provides significant environmental services to humanity. Evidence from a range of national contexts shows that sustainable pastoralist development requires an understanding of the dual environmental and economic roles of pastoralism and an adaptation of policies and investments to support both. The current paper examines three cornerstones that have proven to be crucial for sustainable pastoralist development and for maximising the links between livestock production and environmental stewardship: strengthening pastoral capabilities and institutions, securing land tenure and natural resource governance, and ensuring equitable markets for pastoral diversity. To effectively support the dual economic-environmental roles of pastoralism requires not only optimisation of the production of ecosystem services through extensive livestock production, but also a major overhaul of the way we approach pastoralist development, and major investment in the people who are central to the system. As long as pastoralists remain marginalised, with weak rights and little access to services, their future will remain uncertain.

Risk based requirements for long term stewardship: A proof-of-principle analysis of an analytic method tested on selected Hanford locations

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

Jarvis, T.T.; Andrews, W.B.; Buck, J.W.

1998-03-01

Since 1989, the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Program has managed the environmental legacy of US nuclear weapons production, research and testing at 137 facilities in 31 states and one US territory. The EM program has conducted several studies on the public risks posed by contaminated sites at these facilities. In Risks and the Risk Debate [DOE, 1995a], the Department analyzed the risks at sites before, during, and after remediation work by the EM program. The results indicated that aside from a few urgent risks, most hazards present little inherent risk because physical and active site management controlsmore » limit both the releases of site contaminants, and public access to these hazards. Without these controls, these sites would pose greater risks to the public. Past risk reports, however, provided little information about post-cleanup risk, primarily because of uncertainty about future site uses and site characteristics at the end of planned cleanup activities. This is of concern because in many cases current cleanup technologies, and remedies, will last a shorter period of time than the waste itself and the resulting contamination will remain hazardous.« less

Long-Term Outcomes of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Implemented in a Hospital with Low Baseline Antibiotic Use

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Timothy C.; Knepper, Bryan C.; Shihadeh, Katherine; Haas, Michelle K.; Sabel, Allison L.; Steele, Andrew W.; Wilson, Michael L.; Price, Connie S.; Burman, William J.; Mehler, Philip S.

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate the long-term outcomes of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) implemented in a hospital with low baseline antibiotic use Design Quasi-experimental, interrupted-time series study Setting 525-bed public safety-net hospital Intervention Implementation of a formal ASP in July 2008 Methods We conducted a time-series analysis to evaluate the impact of the ASP over a 6.25-year period (July 1, 2008 – September 30, 2014) while controlling for trends during a 3-year preintervention period (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2008). The primary outcome measures were total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use in days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 patient-days (PD). Secondary outcomes included antimicrobial costs and resistance, hospital-onset C. difficile infection, and other patient-centered measures. Results During the preintervention period, total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use were declining (−9.2 and −5.5 DOT/1000 PD per quarter, respectively). During the stewardship period, both continued to decline, although at lower rates (−3.7 and −2.2 DOT/1000 PD, respectively), resulting in a slope change of 5.5 DOT/1000 PD per quarter for total antibacterial use (P = .10) and 3.3 DOT/100 PD per quarter for antipseudomonal use (P = .01). Antibiotic expenditures declined markedly during the stewardship period (−$295.42/1000PD per quarter, p=.002). There were variable changes in antimicrobial resistance and few apparent changes in C. difficile infection and other patient-centered outcomes. Conclusion In a hospital with low baseline antibiotic use, implementation of an ASP was associated with sustained reductions in total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use and declining antibiotic expenditures; however, this study highlights limitations of commonly used stewardship outcome measures. PMID:25740560

Impact of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Care Bundle to Improve the Management of Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Urinary Tract Infection.

PubMed

Collins, Curtis D; Kabara, Jared J; Michienzi, Sarah M; Malani, Anurag N

2016-12-01

Implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program bundle for urinary tract infections among 92 patients led to a higher rate of discontinuation of therapy for asymptomatic bacteriuria (52.4% vs 12.5%; P =.004), more appropriate durations of therapy (88.7% vs 63.6%; P =.001), and significantly higher overall bundle compliance (75% vs 38.2%; P < .001). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;1499-1501.

A Synthetic Circuit for Mercury Bioremediation Using Self-Assembling Functional Amyloids.

PubMed

Tay, Pei Kun R; Nguyen, Peter Q; Joshi, Neel S

2017-10-20

Synthetic biology approaches to bioremediation are a key sustainable strategy to leverage the self-replicating and programmable aspects of biology for environmental stewardship. The increasing spread of anthropogenic mercury pollution into our habitats and food chains is a pressing concern. Here, we explore the use of programmed bacterial biofilms to aid in the sequestration of mercury. We demonstrate that by integrating a mercury-responsive promoter and an operon encoding a mercury-absorbing self-assembling extracellular protein nanofiber, we can engineer bacteria that can detect and sequester toxic Hg 2+ ions from the environment. This work paves the way for the development of on-demand biofilm living materials that can operate autonomously as heavy-metal absorbents.

Embedding Data Stewardship in Geoscience Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastrakova, I.; Fyfe, S.

2013-12-01

Ten years of technological innovation now enable vast amounts of data to be collected, managed, processed and shared. At the same time, organisations have witnessed government legislative and policy requirements for open access to public sector data, and a demand for flexibility in access to data by both machine-to-machine and human consumption. Geoscience Australia (GA) has adopted Data Stewardship as an organisation-wide initiative to improve the way we manage and share our data. The benefits to GA including: - Consolidated understanding of GA's data assets and their value to the Agency; - Recognition of the significant role of data custodianship and data management; - Well-defined governance, policies, standards, practices and accountabilities that promote the accessibility, quality and interoperability of GA's data; - Integration of disparate data sets into cohesive information products available online in real time and equally accessible to researchers, government, industry and the public. Although the theory behind data stewardship is well-defined and accepted and the benefits are generally well-understood, practical implementation requires an organisation to prepare for a long-term commitment of resources, both financial and human. Fundamentally this involves: 1. Raising awareness in the organisation of the need for data stewardship and the challenges this entails; 2. Establishing a data stewardship framework including a data governance office to set policy and drive organisational change; and 3. Embedding the functions and a culture of data stewardship into business as usual operations. GA holds a vast amount of data ranging from petabytes of Big Data to significant quantities of relatively small ';long tail' geoscientific observations and measurements. Over the past four years, GA has undertaken strategic activities that prepare us for Data Stewardship: - Organisation-wide audits of GA's data holdings and identification of custodians for each dataset; - Developing guiding Principles on how the Agency undertakes Science, Data Management and Cataloguing; - Developing a Data Classification Schema that aligns scientific requirements and business workflows with data architecture; - Creating the Scientific Data Stewardship Steering Committee, comprising champions from across the Agency to guide development and support implementation of Data Stewardship in GA; - Forming Scientific Data Communities of Practice of leading scientific experts to identify tandards and practices across their domain, and integrate data stewardship practices into scientific workflows; - Establishing the Data Governance and Services Section to provide ongoing capacity for the development, communication, coordination and governance of data stewardship policies, strategies, standards and practices. GA is now moving towards Data Stewardship as an operational capability and culture within the Agency. The challenges we face into the future include: - Maintaining continuous and enthusiastic engagement from the Agency executive; - Implementing long term cultural change at all levels within the organisation; - Formal recognition that data stewardship is a continuous operational BAU activity; - Incorporation of data custodianship and management activities in work programs and budgets; and - Cultivation and support of the data stewardship champions.

Centered On The Pole: NCEI Interdisciplinary Arctic Data Stewardship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zweng, M.

2016-02-01

In 2014, NOAA's data centers (National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanographic Data Center, National Geophysical Data Center and its affiliated program within the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and the National Coastal Data Development Center) merged to form NCEI, the National Centers for Environmental Information- the largest repository of publicly accessible earth system science data in the world. The merger has forced a reconciling of different workflows, data types, and cultures. However, the Arctic has emerged as a common area where the different centers can integrate their expertise, data assets, and services, and use this information to better align the entire organization. The centers face a unique challenge as they move forward: how to archive, steward and provide access to environmental data to fulfil their mission of providing the best information to help protect life and property. A pressing national need for information that supports policy decisions drives our work.

U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program - Science Supporting Mineral Resource Stewardship

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kropschot, S.J.

2007-01-01

The United States is the world's largest user of mineral resources. We use them to build our homes and cities, fertilize our food crops, and create wealth that allows us to buy goods and services. Individuals rarely use nonfuel mineral resources in their natural state - we buy light bulbs, not the silica, soda ash, lime, coal, salt, tungsten, copper, nickel, molybdenum, iron, manganese, aluminum, and zinc used to convert electricity into light. The USGS Mineral Resources Program (MRP) is the sole Federal source of scientific information and unbiased research on nonfuel mineral potential, production, and consumption, as well as on the environmental effects of minerals. The MRP also provides baseline geochemical, geophysical, and mineral-deposit data used to understand environmental issues related to extraction and use of mineral resources. Understanding how minerals, water, plants, and organisms interact contributes to our understanding of the environment, which is essential for maintaining human and ecosystem health. To support creation of economic and national security policies in a global context, MRP collects and analyzes data on essential mineral commodities from around the world.

BPA Facts Pocket Edition

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

None

BPA will be an engine of the Northwest’s economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. BPA’s actions advance a Northwest power system that is a national leader in providing: • high reliability; • low rates consistent with sound business principles; • responsible environmental stewardship; and • accountability to the region. We deliver on these public responsibilities through a commercially successful business.

Sustainability at BPA 2012

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

None

BPA’s Sustainability Action Plan is grounded in our commitment to environmental stewardship and Executive Order 13514 that calls on the federal agencies to “lead by example” by setting a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions target, increasing energy efficiency; reducing fleet petroleum consumption; conserving water; reducing waste; supporting sustainable communities; and leveraging federal purchasing power to promoting environmentally responsible products and technologies.

Fostering sustainable operations in a natural resource management agency: insights from the field

Treesearch

Patricia L. Winter; Shawn M. Burn

2010-01-01

Sustainable operations (SO; operating in an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable manner) is consistent with the environmental stewardship mission of natural resource management organizations. This study sought to examine SO practices in the daily work lives of US Forest Service employees, including those primarily stationed in the office and in the...

Sociomaterial Movement Learning in Evangelical Student Activism: A Case Study in Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steiner, Sherrie

2016-01-01

What began as a professor's classroom illustration to encourage students to take climate change seriously sparked a student movement that transformed Eastern University into a leader in environmental stewardship and social responsibility. How did this happen at an evangelical university in a conservative coal state that, at the time, was producing…

Testing the Use of Natural Schoolyards to Develop Stewardship Attitudes in Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Nicole; Shaw, Bret R.

2013-01-01

The study reported here measured the impact of natural schoolyards, within the science curriculum, on middle school students' environmental attitudes. It was expected that students engaged in such a curriculum would show increased pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Participants were 7th-grade students in Madison, WI. A modified form of the…

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Moves toward Net-Zero Buildings

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

None

First they had a vision: welcome people into a building embracing environmental stewardship on land that is steeped in history. The designers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took this vision and designed a new energy-efficient and environmentally friendly visitor center for the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge located in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Stewplan: software for creating forest stewardship plans (Version 1.3)

Treesearch

Peter D. Knopp; Mark J. Twery

2003-01-01

Describes the purpose and function of the Stewplan computer program. Provides instructions for loading Stewplan, a tutorial for getting started, and instructions for use. A copy of the program is included. [User's manual; CD-ROM].

Impact of formulary restriction with prior authorization by an antimicrobial stewardship program

PubMed Central

Reed, Erica E.; Stevenson, Kurt B.; West, Jessica E.; Bauer, Karri A.; Goff, Debra A.

2013-01-01

In an era of increasing antimicrobial resistance and few antimicrobials in the developmental pipeline, many institutions have developed antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) to help implement evidence-based (EB) strategies for ensuring appropriate utilization of these agents. EB strategies for accomplishing this include formulary restriction with prior authorization. Potential limitations to this particular strategy include delays in therapy, prescriber pushback, and unintended increases in use of un-restricted antimicrobials; however, our ASP found that implementing prior authorization for select antimicrobials along with making a significant effort to educate clinicians on criteria for use ensured more appropriate prescribing of these agents, hopefully helping to preserve their utility for years to come. PMID:23154323

Impact of formulary restriction with prior authorization by an antimicrobial stewardship program.

PubMed

Reed, Erica E; Stevenson, Kurt B; West, Jessica E; Bauer, Karri A; Goff, Debra A

2013-02-15

In an era of increasing antimicrobial resistance and few antimicrobials in the developmental pipeline, many institutions have developed antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) to help implement evidence-based (EB) strategies for ensuring appropriate utilization of these agents. EB strategies for accomplishing this include formulary restriction with prior authorization. Potential limitations to this particular strategy include delays in therapy, prescriber pushback, and unintended increases in use of un-restricted antimicrobials; however, our ASP found that implementing prior authorization for select antimicrobials along with making a significant effort to educate clinicians on criteria for use ensured more appropriate prescribing of these agents, hopefully helping to preserve their utility for years to come.

The antimicrobial stewardship program in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states: insights from a regional survey.

PubMed

Enani, Mushira A

2016-01-01

The purpose of the current study is to describe the prevalence and characteristics of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to explore opportunities and overcome barriers to effective ASP implementation. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the current status of ASP: major stewardship components, barriers of implementation and program impact in acute care hospitals of GCC states. Forty-seven healthcare professionals responded from four GCC states, the majority from Saudi Arabia (81%). Twenty-nine (62%) participating hospitals had ASP in place. Of these established programs, 35 (75%) reported lack of funding and personnel as major barriers to program implementation. The top three objectives cited for the hospital ASP were to reduce resistance (72.3%), improve clinical outcomes (70.2%) and reduce costs (44.7%). The reported impact of existing ASP was reduction of inappropriate prescribing (68%), reduction of broad spectrum antibiotic use (63.8%), reduction of healthcare-associated infections (61.7%), reduction of length of stay or mortality metrics (59.6%), reduction in direct antibiotic cost (57.4%) and reduction of reported antibiotic resistance (55.3%). Survey participants from GCC states who have implemented ASP report significant impacts in the reduction of broad spectrum antibiotic use, hospital-acquired infection, inappropriate prescribing and antimicrobial resistance. These findings suggest a promising opportunity to enhance existing ASP through sharing of best practices and support the development of regional guidelines across GCC states.

The antimicrobial stewardship program in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states: insights from a regional survey

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of the current study is to describe the prevalence and characteristics of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to explore opportunities and overcome barriers to effective ASP implementation. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the current status of ASP: major stewardship components, barriers of implementation and program impact in acute care hospitals of GCC states. Results: Forty-seven healthcare professionals responded from four GCC states, the majority from Saudi Arabia (81%). Twenty-nine (62%) participating hospitals had ASP in place. Of these established programs, 35 (75%) reported lack of funding and personnel as major barriers to program implementation. The top three objectives cited for the hospital ASP were to reduce resistance (72.3%), improve clinical outcomes (70.2%) and reduce costs (44.7%). The reported impact of existing ASP was reduction of inappropriate prescribing (68%), reduction of broad spectrum antibiotic use (63.8%), reduction of healthcare-associated infections (61.7%), reduction of length of stay or mortality metrics (59.6%), reduction in direct antibiotic cost (57.4%) and reduction of reported antibiotic resistance (55.3%). Conclusion: Survey participants from GCC states who have implemented ASP report significant impacts in the reduction of broad spectrum antibiotic use, hospital-acquired infection, inappropriate prescribing and antimicrobial resistance. These findings suggest a promising opportunity to enhance existing ASP through sharing of best practices and support the development of regional guidelines across GCC states. PMID:28989448

Scientific evidence and research in antimicrobial stewardship.

PubMed

Almirante, Benito; Garnacho-Montero, José; Pachón, Jerónimo; Pascual, Álvaro; Rodríguez-Baño, Jesús

2013-09-01

Evaluating the impact of antibiotic stewardship programs is challenging. There is evidence that they are effective in terms of reducing the consumption and cost of antibiotics, although establishing their impact on antimicrobial resistance (beyond restrictive policies in outbreaks caused by specific antimicrobial resistant organisms) and clinical outcomes is more difficult. Proper definitions of exposure and outcome variables, the use of advanced and appropriate statistical analyses and well-designed quasi-experimental studies would more accurately support the conclusions. Cluster randomized trials should be used whenever possible and appropriate, although the limitations of this approach should also be acknowledged. These issues are reviewed in this paper. We conclude that there are good research opportunities in the field of antibiotic stewardship. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Stockpile stewardship past, present, and future

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

Adams, Marvin L., E-mail: mladams@tamu.edu

2014-05-09

The U.S. National Academies released a report in 2012 on technical issues related to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. One important question addressed therein is whether the U.S. could maintain a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear-weapons stockpile in the absence of nuclear-explosion testing. Here we discuss two main conclusions from the 2012 Academies report, which we paraphrase as follows: 1) Provided that sufficient resources and a national commitment to stockpile stewardship are in place, the U.S. has the technical capabilities to maintain a safe, secure, and reliable stockpile of nuclear weapons into the foreseeable future without nuclear-explosion testing. 2) Doingmore » this would require: a) a strong weapons science and engineering program that addresses gaps in understanding; b) an outstanding workforce that applies deep and broad weapons expertise to deliver solutions to stockpile problems; c) a vigorous, stable surveillance program that delivers the requisite data; d) production facilities that meet stewardship needs. We emphasize that these conclusions are independent of CTBT ratification-they apply provided only that the U.S. continues its nuclear-explosion moratorium.« less

Challenges for a Sustainable Financial Foundation for Antimicrobial Stewardship.

PubMed

Dik, Jan-Willem H; Sinha, Bhanu

2017-03-30

Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide threat and a problem with large clinical and economic impact. Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs are a solution to curb resistance development. A problem of resistance is a separation of actions and consequences, financial and clinical. Such a separation makes it difficult to create support among stakeholders leading to a lack of sense of responsibility. To counteract the resistance development it is important to perform diagnostics and know how to interpret the results. One should see diagnostics, therapy and resistance as one single process. Within this process all involved stakeholders need to work together on a more institutional level. We suggest therefore a solution: combining diagnostics and therapy into one single financial product . Such a product should act as an incentive to perform correct diagnostics. It also makes it easier to cover the costs of an antimicrobial stewardship program, which is often overlooked. Finally, such a product involves all stakeholders in the process and does not lay the costs at one stakeholder and the benefits somewhere else, solving the misbalance that is present nowadays.

Salt effects on cranberry soils, plant growth, and productivity

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-06-30

The Massachusetts Highway Department (MassHighway) engages in Environmental Stewardship as part of its mission "To support the construction and maintenance activities that provide the Commonwealth with safe roads and bridges and to protect and where ...

Implementation of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

PubMed

Nzegwu, Nneka I; Rychalsky, Michelle R; Nallu, Loren A; Song, Xuemei; Deng, Yanhong; Natusch, Amber M; Baltimore, Robert S; Paci, George R; Bizzarro, Matthew J

2017-10-01

OBJECTIVE To evaluate antimicrobial utilization and prescription practices in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). DESIGN Quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series study. SETTING A 54-bed, level IV NICU in a regional academic and tertiary referral center. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS All neonates prescribed antimicrobials from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2016, were eligible for inclusion. INTERVENTION Implementation of a NICU-specific ASP beginning July 2012. METHODS We convened a multidisciplinary team and developed guidelines for common infections, with a focus on prescriber audit and feedback. We conducted an interrupted time-series analysis to evaluate the effects of our ASP. Our primary outcome measure was days of antibiotic therapy (DOT) per 1,000 patient days for all and for select antimicrobials. Secondary outcomes included provider-specific antimicrobial prescription events for suspected late-onset sepsis (blood or cerebrospinal fluid infection at >72 hours of life) and guideline compliance. RESULTS Antibiotic utilization decreased by 14.7 DOT per 1,000 patient days during the stewardship period, although this decrease was not statistically significant (P=.669). Use of ampicillin, the most commonly antimicrobial prescribed in our NICU, decreased significantly, declining by 22.5 DOT per 1,000 patient days (P=.037). Late-onset sepsis evaluation and prescription events per 100 NICU days of clinical service decreased significantly (P<.0001), with an average reduction of 2.65 evaluations per year per provider. Clinical guidelines were adhered to 98.75% of the time. CONCLUSIONS Implementation of a NICU-specific antimicrobial stewardship program is feasible and can improve antibiotic prescribing practices. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1137-1143.

The Girls on Ice program: Improving perceptions of climate change and environmental stewardship by exploring a glacier landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, J. C.; Conner, L.; Pettit, E. C.

2017-12-01

Girls on Ice is a unique, free, science and mountaineering experience for underserved girls aged 16 to 18. Each year, two teams of nine girls spend eight days on a remote Alaska or Washington glacier to learn about glaciology, climate change, and alpine ecology (as well as mountaineering, art and leadership). During the program, the girls live on, explore and study a glacier and the visibly climate change-altered landscape that surrounds it, through both instructor-led modules and scientific field studies the girls design themselves. Time spent on the glacier means witnessing rivers of meltwater running off the surface, climbing 300 m uphill to where the glacier last sat 150 years ago, and learning how scientists monitor the glacier's retreat. Previous studies have shown that pro-environmental behavior in youth is strongly influenced by having significant life experiences outdoors, and that engagement of citizens in a climate change-impacted landscape is emerging as a powerful way to connect people to environment and to motivate environmental action. Given the significant life experience provided by our unique wilderness format, and the interactions with a rapidly changing glacier landscape, this study examines how participation in Girls on Ice impacts the 16 to 18 year-old participants' perceptions of climate change, as well as their sense of environmental identity. We use mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, including pre- and post-program questionnaires, an in-program focus group discussion, end-of-program interviews, and early and late in-program concept (node-link) mapping exercises. Preliminary results from qualitative data show a shift in many girls' perceptions of climate change towards being motivated to act to combat it, with particular reference to glaciers as a key component prompting that shift. Ultimately, this study aims to demonstrate the value of tenets of environmental and outdoor education theory, namely significant life experiences and interactions with climate change-impacted landscapes, for motivating greater climate change awareness and mitigation behavior in youth.

Communicating with Facility Leadership; Metrics for Successful Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (Asp) in Acute Care and Long-Term Care Facilities.

PubMed

Beganovic, Maya; LaPlante, Kerry L

2018-06-01

Up to 50% of hospital-administered and 70% of nursing home-administered antimicrobials are inappropriately prescribed. There is a great need to focus local, national and global efforts on appropriate antibiotic use. Formal programs dedicated to appropriate antibiotic use have been established in most US hospitals. These antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) exist to ensure that the correct drug, dose and duration of an antimicrobial is given, and only when there is a true bacterial infection (as opposed to bacterial colonization or a viral infection). These programs increase patient safety and reduce unintended consequences including Clostridium difficile infections, medication-related adverse effects, and antimicrobial resistance. Most of these programs are co-lead by an interdisciplinary team consisting of an infectious diseases (ID) pharmacist and an ID physician. However, consistent and meaningful metrics to study the impact of ASPs have not been elucidated. With the Joint Commission Standards for Acute Care facilities, and Centers for Medicare and Medicare (CMS) for long-term care facilities making antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) a condition of participation, both facilities will be scrambling to create appropriate quality care indicators to measure program success. One major theme across all healthcare settings is that ASPs must collaborate with facility leadership and key stakeholders at each institution in order to have an impactful benefit on patient quality of care, and safety. It is the purpose of this review to offer several economic, process, and patient-outcome measurements for ASP to optimally communicate with facility leadership. [Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2018-06.asp].

Antimicrobial Stewardship: A Call to Action for Surgeons

PubMed Central

Duane, Therese M.; Catena, Fausto; Tessier, Jeffrey M.; Coccolini, Federico; Kao, Lillian S.; De Simone, Belinda; Labricciosa, Francesco M.; May, Addison K.; Ansaloni, Luca; Mazuski, John E.

2016-01-01

Abstract Despite current antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) being advocated by infectious disease specialists and discussed by national and international policy makers, ASPs coverage remains limited to only certain hospitals as well as specific service lines within hospitals. The ASPs incorporate a variety of strategies to optimize antimicrobial agent use in the hospital, yet the exact set of interventions essential to ASP success remains unknown. Promotion of ASPs across clinical practice is crucial to their success to ensure standardization of antimicrobial agent use within an institution. To effectively accomplish this standardization, providers who actively engage in antimicrobial agent prescribing should participate in the establishment and support of these programs. Hence, surgeons need to play a major role in these collaborations. Surgeons must be aware that judicious antibiotic utilization is an integral part of any stewardship program and necessary to maximize clinical cure and minimize emergence of antimicrobial resistance. The battle against antibiotic resistance should be fought by all healthcare professionals. If surgeons around the world participate in this global fight and demonstrate awareness of the major problem of antimicrobial resistance, they will be pivotal leaders. If surgeons fail to actively engage and use antibiotics judiciously, they will find themselves deprived of the autonomy to treat their patients. PMID:27828764

Assessment and Evaluation of the Utah Master Naturalist Program: Implications for Targeting Audiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larese-Casanova, Mark

2011-01-01

The Utah Master Naturalist Program trains citizens who provide education, outreach, and service to promote citizen stewardship of natural resources within their communities. In 2007-2008, the Watersheds module of the program was evaluated for program success, and participant knowledge was assessed. Assessment and evaluation results indicated that…

Using Implementation and Program Theory to Examine Communication Strategies in National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Dain; Dann, Shari L.

2004-01-01

Our evaluative approach used implementation theory and program theory, adapted from Weiss (1998) to examine communication processes and results for a national wildlife habitat stewardship education program. Using a mail survey of 1427 participants certified in National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) Backyard Wildlife Habitat (BWH) program and a study…

Florida's salt-marsh management issues: 1991-98.

PubMed

Carlson, D B; O'Bryan, P D; Rey, J R

1999-06-01

During the 1990s, Florida has continued to make important strides in managing salt marshes for both mosquito control and natural resource enhancement. The political mechanism for this progress continues to be interagency cooperation through the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control and its Subcommittee on Managed Marshes (SOMM). Continuing management experience and research has helped refine the most environmentally acceptable source reduction methods, which typically are Rotational Impoundment Management or Open Marsh Water Management. The development of regional marsh management plans for salt marshes within the Indian River Lagoon by the SOMM has helped direct the implementation of the best management practices for these marshes. Controversy occasionally occurs concerning what management technique is most appropriate for individual marshes. The most common disagreement is over the benefits of maintaining an impoundment in an "open" vs. "closed" condition, with the "closed" condition, allowing for summer mosquito control flooding or winter waterfowl management. New federal initiatives influencing salt-marsh management have included the Indian River Lagoon-National Estuary Program and the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program. A new Florida initiative is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Eco-system Management Program with continuing involvement by the Surface Water Improvement and Management program. A developing mitigation banking program has the potential to benefit marsh management but mosquito control interests may suffer if not handled properly. Larvicides remain as an important salt-marsh integrated pest management tool with the greatest acreage being treated with temephos, followed by Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and methoprene. However, over the past 14 years, use of biorational larvicides has increased greatly.

ER Consolidated Qtrly Rpt_April thru June 2015_October 2015

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

Cochran, John

2015-10-01

This Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico Environmental Restoration Operations (ER) Consolidated Quarterly Report (ER Quarterly Report) fulfills all quarterly reporting requirements set forth in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Facility Operating Permit, and the Compliance Order on Consent. The 13 sites in the Corrective Action process are listed in Table I-1. Because the status of any Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) activity is detailed in other reports, Section I.3.0 (titled Long-Term Stewardship Work Completed) will not be presented in future ER Quarterly Reports. Section I.3.0 of this ER Quarterly Report identifies the other reports that detail LTS activities.

Analysis of S.139, the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003

EIA Publications

2003-01-01

On January 9, 2003, Senators John McCain and Joseph I. Lieberman introduced Senate Bill 139 (S.139), the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, in the U.S. Senate. S.139 would require the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions. On January 28, 2003, Senator James M. Inhofe requested that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) perform a comprehensive analysis of S.139. On April 2, 2003, Senators McCain and Lieberman, cosponsors of S.139, made a further request for analyses of their bill. This Service Report responds to both requests.

Mud, Muck and Other Wonderful Things: An Environmental Curriculum for Five-to Eight-year Olds. Environmental Stewardship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kroll, Mary

This ecology curriculum for young children is arranged into seven chapters of activities. The chapters are preceded by an activity matrix that provides information on outcomes, location of activity, and time of year. Each chapter begins with a background section that provides a basic understanding of the topic. It also explains how much young…

Occupational safety and health, green chemistry, and sustainability: a review of areas of convergence

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

With increasing numbers and quantities of chemicals in commerce and use, scientific attention continues to focus on the environmental and public health consequences of chemical production processes and exposures. Concerns about environmental stewardship have been gaining broader traction through emphases on sustainability and “green chemistry” principles. Occupational safety and health has not been fully promoted as a component of environmental sustainability. However, there is a natural convergence of green chemistry/sustainability and occupational safety and health efforts. Addressing both together can have a synergistic effect. Failure to promote this convergence could lead to increasing worker hazards and lack of support for sustainability efforts. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has made a concerted effort involving multiple stakeholders to anticipate and identify potential hazards associated with sustainable practices and green jobs for workers. Examples of potential hazards are presented in case studies with suggested solutions such as implementing the hierarchy of controls and prevention through design principles in green chemistry and green building practices. Practical considerations and strategies for green chemistry, and environmental stewardship could benefit from the incorporation of occupational safety and health concepts which in turn protect affected workers. PMID:23587312

Occupational safety and health, green chemistry, and sustainability: a review of areas of convergence.

PubMed

Schulte, Paul A; McKernan, Lauralynn T; Heidel, Donna S; Okun, Andrea H; Dotson, Gary Scott; Lentz, Thomas J; Geraci, Charles L; Heckel, Pamela E; Branche, Christine M

2013-04-15

With increasing numbers and quantities of chemicals in commerce and use, scientific attention continues to focus on the environmental and public health consequences of chemical production processes and exposures. Concerns about environmental stewardship have been gaining broader traction through emphases on sustainability and "green chemistry" principles. Occupational safety and health has not been fully promoted as a component of environmental sustainability. However, there is a natural convergence of green chemistry/sustainability and occupational safety and health efforts. Addressing both together can have a synergistic effect. Failure to promote this convergence could lead to increasing worker hazards and lack of support for sustainability efforts. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has made a concerted effort involving multiple stakeholders to anticipate and identify potential hazards associated with sustainable practices and green jobs for workers. Examples of potential hazards are presented in case studies with suggested solutions such as implementing the hierarchy of controls and prevention through design principles in green chemistry and green building practices. Practical considerations and strategies for green chemistry, and environmental stewardship could benefit from the incorporation of occupational safety and health concepts which in turn protect affected workers.

Advanced Technology System Scheduling Governance Model

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

Ang, Jim; Carnes, Brian; Hoang, Thuc

In the fall of 2005, the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program appointed a team to formulate a governance model for allocating resources and scheduling the stockpile stewardship workload on ASC capability systems. This update to the original document takes into account the new technical challenges and roles for advanced technology (AT) systems and the new ASC Program workload categories that must be supported. The goal of this updated model is to effectively allocate and schedule AT computing resources among all three National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories for weapons deliverables that merit priority on this class of resource. Themore » process outlined below describes how proposed work can be evaluated and approved for resource allocations while preserving high effective utilization of the systems. This approach will provide the broadest possible benefit to the Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP).« less

Heterotrophic denitrification of aquaculture effluent using fluidized sand biofilters

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The ability to consistently and cost-effectively reduce nitrate-nitrogen loads in effluent from recirculating aquaculture systems would enhance the industry's environmental stewardship and allow improved facility proximity to large markets in sensitive watersheds. Heterotrophic denitrification techn...

40 CFR 59.107 - Addresses of EPA Regional Offices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont), Director, Office of Environmental Stewardship, Mailcode: OES04..., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Director, Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, 290 Broadway... (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee), Director...

40 CFR 59.107 - Addresses of EPA Regional Offices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont), Director, Office of Environmental Stewardship, Mailcode: OES04..., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Director, Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, 290 Broadway... (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee), Director...

40 CFR 59.107 - Addresses of EPA Regional Offices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont), Director, Office of Environmental Stewardship, Mailcode: OES04..., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Director, Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, 290 Broadway... (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee), Director...

A World Wide Web-based antimicrobial stewardship program improves efficiency, communication, and user satisfaction and reduces cost in a tertiary care pediatric medical center.

PubMed

Agwu, Allison L; Lee, Carlton K K; Jain, Sanjay K; Murray, Kara L; Topolski, Jason; Miller, Robert E; Townsend, Timothy; Lehmann, Christoph U

2008-09-15

Antimicrobial stewardship programs aim to reduce inappropriate hospital antimicrobial use. At the Johns Hopkins Children's Medical and Surgical Center (Baltimore, MD), we implemented a World Wide Web-based antimicrobial restriction program to address problems with the existing restriction program. A user survey identified opportunities for improvement of an existing antimicrobial restriction program and resulted in subsequent design, implementation, and evaluation of a World Wide Web-based antimicrobial restriction program at a 175-bed, tertiary care pediatric teaching hospital. The program provided automated clinical decision support, facilitated approval, and enhanced real-time communication among prescribers, pharmacists, and pediatric infectious diseases fellows. Approval status, duration, and rationale; missing request notifications; and expiring approvals were stored in a database that is accessible via a secure Intranet site. Before and after implementation of the program, user satisfaction, reports of missed and/or delayed doses, antimicrobial dispensing times, and cost were evaluated. After implementation of the program, there was a $370,069 reduction in projected annual cost associated with restricted antimicrobial use and an 11.6% reduction in the number of dispensed doses. User satisfaction increased from 22% to 68% and from 13% to 69% among prescribers and pharmacists, respectively. There were 21% and 32% reductions in the number of prescriber reports of missed and delayed doses, respectively, and there was a 37% reduction in the number of pharmacist reports of delayed approvals; measured dispensing times were unchanged (P = .24). In addition, 40% fewer restricted antimicrobial-related phone calls were noted by the pharmacy. The World Wide Web-based antimicrobial approval program led to improved communication, more-efficient antimicrobial administration, increased user satisfaction, and significant cost savings. Integrated tools, such as this World Wide Web-based antimicrobial approval program, will effectively enhance antimicrobial stewardship programs.

76 FR 56214 - 60-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance for Information Collection: Opportunity for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-12

... youth program participants. Since many of the YouthGo information collections ask similar questions to..., interviews, youth program observations, and pre-post youth program surveys. The information collections will... stewardship and the next generation of conservationists. By conducting focus groups, interviews, identical pre...

Choosing Wisely Canada Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) campaign: a descriptive evaluation

PubMed Central

Cardone, Franco; Cheung, Daphne; Han, Angela; Born, Karen B.; Alexander, Lisa; Levinson, Wendy; Wong, Brian M.

2017-01-01

Background: Resource stewardship is being increasingly recognized as an essential competency for physicians, but medical schools are just beginning to integrate this into education. We describe the evaluation of Choosing Wisely Canada's Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) campaign, a student-led campaign to advance resource stewardship education in medical schools across Canada. Methods: We evaluated the campaign 6 months after its launch, in November 2015. STARS students were administered a telephone survey eliciting a description of the initiatives that they had implemented or planned to implement at their schools to promote resource stewardship, and exploring their perceptions of facilitators of and barriers to successful implementation of their initiatives. We used a mixed-methods approach to analyze and summarize the data. Results: Twenty-seven (82%) of the 33 eligible students representing all 17 medical schools responded. In 14 schools (82%), students led various local activities (e.g., interest groups, campaign weeks) to raise awareness about resource stewardship among medical students and faculty. Students contributed to curriculum change (both planned and implemented) at 10 schools (59%). Thematic analysis revealed key program characteristics that facilitated success (e.g., pan-Canadian student network, local faculty champion) as well as barriers to implementing change (e.g., complex processes to change curriculum, hierarchical nature of medical school). Interpretation: This student-led campaign, with support from local faculty and Choosing Wisely Canada staff, led to awareness-building activities and early curricula change at medical schools across Canada. Future plans will build on the initial momentum created by the STARS campaign to sustain and spread local initiatives. PMID:29263153

Stewardship to tackle global phosphorus inefficiency: The case of Europe.

PubMed

Withers, Paul J A; van Dijk, Kimo C; Neset, Tina-Simone S; Nesme, Thomas; Oenema, Oene; Rubæk, Gitte H; Schoumans, Oscar F; Smit, Bert; Pellerin, Sylvain

2015-03-01

The inefficient use of phosphorus (P) in the food chain is a threat to the global aquatic environment and the health and well-being of citizens, and it is depleting an essential finite natural resource critical for future food security and ecosystem function. We outline a strategic framework of 5R stewardship (Re-align P inputs, Reduce P losses, Recycle P in bioresources, Recover P in wastes, and Redefine P in food systems) to help identify and deliver a range of integrated, cost-effective, and feasible technological innovations to improve P use efficiency in society and reduce Europe's dependence on P imports. Their combined adoption facilitated by interactive policies, co-operation between upstream and downstream stakeholders (researchers, investors, producers, distributors, and consumers), and more harmonized approaches to P accounting would maximize the resource and environmental benefits and help deliver a more competitive, circular, and sustainable European economy. The case of Europe provides a blueprint for global P stewardship.

The U.S.Geological Survey Energy Resources Program

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2010-01-01

Energy resources are an essential component of modern society. Adequate, reliable, and affordable energy supplies obtained using environmentally sustainable practices underpin economic prosperity, environmental quality and human health, and political stability. National and global demands for all forms of energy are forecast to increase significantly over the next several decades. Throughout its history, our Nation has faced important, often controversial, decisions regarding the competing uses of public lands, the supply of energy to sustain development and enable growth, and environmental stewardship. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resources Program (ERP) provides information to address these challenges by supporting scientific investigations of energy resources, such as research on the geology, geochemistry, and geophysics of oil, gas, coal, heavy oil and natural bitumen, oil shale, uranium, and geothermal resources, emerging resources such as gas hydrates, and research on the effects associated with energy resource occurrence, production, and (or) utilization. The results from these investigations provide impartial, robust scientific information about energy resources and support the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) mission of protecting and responsibly managing the Nation's natural resources. Primary consumers of ERP information and products include the DOI land- and resource-management Bureaus; other Federal, State, and local agencies; the U.S. Congress and the Administration; nongovernmental organizations; the energy industry; academia; international organizations; and the general public.

SOUTHWEST REGIONAL GAP LAND COVER

EPA Science Inventory

The Gap Analysis Program is a national inter-agency program that maps the distribution

of plant communities and selected animal species and compares these distributions with land

stewardship to identify gaps in biodiversity protection. GAP uses remote satellite imag...

SAVANNAH RIVER SITE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT FOR 2010

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

Mamatey, A.; Dunaway-Ackerman, J.

2011-08-16

This report was prepared in accordance with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 231.1A, 'Environment, Safety and Health Reporting,' to present summary environmental data for the purpose of: (a) characterizing site's environmental management performance; (b) summarizing environmental occurrences and responses reported during the calendar year; (c) describing compliance status with respect to environmental standards and requirements; and (d) highlighting significant site programs and efforts. This report is the principal document that demonstrates compliance with the requirements of DOE Order 5400.5, 'Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment,' and is a key component of DOE's effort to keep the publicmore » informed of environmental conditions at Savannah River Site (SRS). SRS has four primary missions: (1) Environmental Management - Cleaning up the legacy of the Cold War efforts and preparing decommissioned facilities and areas for long-term stewardship; (2) Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Support - Meeting the needs of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile through the tritium programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); (3) Nuclear Nonproliferation Support - Meeting the needs of the NNSA's nuclear nonproliferation programs by safely storing and dispositioning excess special nuclear materials; and (4) Research and Development - Supporting the application of science by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to meet the needs of SRS, the DOE complex, and other federal agencies During 2010, SRS worked to fulfill these missions and position the site for future operations. SRS continued to work with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to find and implement solutions and schedules for waste management and disposition. As part of its mission to clean up the Cold War legacy, SRS will continue to address the highest-risk waste management issues by safely storing and preparing liquid waste and nuclear materials for disposition, and by safely stabilizing any tank waste residues that remain on site.« less

Penetrating radiation: applications at Los Alamos National Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watson, Scott; Hunter, James; Morris, Christopher

2013-09-01

Los Alamos has used penetrating radiography extensively throughout its history dating back to the Manhattan Project where imaging dense, imploding objects was the subject of intense interest. This interest continues today as major facilities like DARHT1 have become the mainstay of the US Stockpile Stewardship Program2 and the cornerstone of nuclear weapons certification. Meanwhile, emerging threats to national security from cargo containers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have invigorated inspection efforts using muon tomography, and compact x-ray radiography. Additionally, unusual environmental threats, like those from underwater oil spills and nuclear power plant accidents, have caused renewed interest in fielding radiography in severe operating conditions. We review the history of penetrating radiography at Los Alamos and survey technologies as presently applied to these important problems.

Risk Assessment and Stewardship of Bt Crops

EPA Science Inventory

Registration of Bt crops as part of the FIFRA requirements involves the assessment of environmental risk associated with the new crop variety. The assessment analysis stipulates that the seed producer provide clear and unambiguous information relating to certain risk categories a...

78 FR 27419 - Final Safety Culture Policy Statement

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-10

.... The BSEE appreciates this suggestion and is currently working to develop information sessions and... industries (e.g., Federal Aviation Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Petroleum Safety Authority... environmental stewardship to a vigorous and respected offshore energy industry. Each and every person involved...

Comparing Life-Cycle Impacts of Solid Waste Management Strategies

EPA Science Inventory

The presentation is for a webinar by the Prodct Stewardship Institute (PSI)which is a national non-profit membership-based organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. PSI works with state and local government agencies to partner with manufacturers, retailers, environmental gr...

GEOINFORMATION AND REGIONAL VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT (REVA)

EPA Science Inventory

Since its inception in 1970, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has monitored air, water, land and human health. Currently, EPA's mission is centered on a set five goals: Clean Air, Clean Water, Land Preservation, Healthy Communities, and Stewardship. As pa...

Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care Leading the Evolution of Green.

PubMed

Waddington, Kent; Varangu, Linda

2016-01-01

Since 2000, a growing contingent of healthcare organizations, individuals and companies have embraced principles and practices of environmental stewardship with a focus on making health service delivery more environmentally sustainable. This article provides an overview of the sector's many successes, drawing upon both Coalition-sponsored initiatives and those initiated by its most engaged and forward-thinking stakeholders, many of whom are original signatories to Canada's Joint Position Statement: Toward an Environmentally Responsible Canadian Health Sector .

Antimicrobial stewardship programs: how to start and steer a successful program.

PubMed

Drew, Richard H

2009-03-01

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) promote the appropriate use of antimicrobials by selecting the appropriate dose, duration, and route of administration. The appropriate use of antimicrobials has the potential to improve efficacy, reduce treatment-related costs, minimize drug-related adverse events, and limit the potential for emergence of antimicrobial resistance. To summarize ASP tactics that can improve the appropriate use of antimicrobials in the hospital setting. Several measures can be used to implement such programs and gain multidisciplinary support while addressing common barriers. Implementation of an ASP requires a multidisciplinary approach with an infectious diseases physician and a clinical pharmacist with infectious diseases training as its core team members. As identified by recently published guidelines, 2 proactive strategies for promoting antimicrobial stewardship include: (1) formulary restriction and pre-authorization, and (2) prospective audit with intervention and feedback. Other supplemental strategies involve education, guidelines and clinical pathways, antimicrobial order forms, de-escalation of therapy, intravenous-to-oral (IV-to-PO) switch therapy, and dose optimization. Several barriers exist to successful implementation of ASPs. These include obtaining adequate administrative support and compensation for team members. Gaining physician acceptance can also be challenging if there is a perceived loss of autonomy in clinical decision making. ASPs have the potential to reduce antimicrobial resistance, health care costs, and drug-related adverse events while improving clinical outcomes. The efforts and expense required to implement and maintain ASPs are more than justified given their potential benefits to both the hospital and the patient.

7 CFR 1470.31 - Appeals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM General Administration § 1470.31 Appeals. A participant may obtain administrative review of an adverse decision under this part...

7 CFR 1470.7 - Enhancements and conservation practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM General Provisions § 1470.7 Enhancements and conservation practices. (a) Participant decisions describing...

36 CFR 230.4 - State program administration.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false State program administration. 230.4 Section 230.4 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... the State Forester, shall establish a State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee whose...

OVERVIEW OF VOLUNTARY STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS TO ADDRESS PHARMACEUTICAL DISPOSAL

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will provide an overview of current federal regulatory guidance for pharmaceutical disposal, currently funded pilot programs for take-back pilot studies, and state programs. The EPA Office of Water's role is to protect our Nation's watersheds and drinking water ...

Environmental considerations related to mining of nonfuel minerals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Seal, Robert R.; Piatak, Nadine M.; Kimball, Bryn E.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Schulz, Klaus J.; DeYoung,, John H.; Seal, Robert R.; Bradley, Dwight C.

2017-12-19

Throughout most of human history, environmental stewardship during mining has not been a priority partly because of the lack of applicable laws and regulations and partly because of ignorance about the effects that mining can have on the environment. In the United States, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, in conjunction with related laws, codified a more modern approach to mining, including the responsibility for environmental stewardship, and provided a framework for incorporating environmental protection into mine planning. Today, similar frameworks are in place in the other developed countries of the world, and international mining companies generally follow similar procedures wherever they work in the world. The regulatory guidance has fostered an international effort among all stakeholders to identify best practices for environmental stewardship.The modern approach to mining using best practices involves the following: (a) establishment of a pre-mining baseline from which to monitor environmental effects during mining and help establish geologically reasonable closure goals; (b) identification of environmental risks related to mining through standardized approaches; and (c) formulation of an environmental closure plan before the start of mining. A key aspect of identifying the environmental risks and mitigating those risks is understanding how the risks vary from one deposit type to another—a concept that forms the basis for geoenvironmental mineral-deposit models.Accompanying the quest for best practices is the goal of making mining sustainable into the future. Sustainable mine development is generally considered to be development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept extends beyond the availability of nonrenewable mineral commodities and includes the environmental and social effects of mine development.Global population growth, meanwhile, has decreased the percentage of inhabitable land available to support society’s material needs. Presently, the land area available to supply the mineral resources, energy resources, water, food, shelter, and waste disposal needs of all Earth’s inhabitants is estimated to be 135 square meters per person. Continued global population growth will only increase the challenges of sustainable mining.Current trends in mining are also expected to lead to new environmental challenges in the future, among which are mine-waste management issues related to mining larger deposits for lower ore grade; water-management issues related to both the mining of larger deposits and the changes in precipitation brought about by climate change; and greenhouse gas issues related to reducing the carbon footprint of larger, more energy-intensive mining operations.

Optimizing Antibiotic Use in Nursing Homes Through Antibiotic Stewardship.

PubMed

Sloane, Philip D; Huslage, Kirk; Kistler, Christine E; Zimmerman, Sheryl

2016-01-01

Antibiotic stewardship is becoming a requirement for nursing homes. Programs should be interdisciplinary and multifaceted; should have support from nursing home administrators; and should aim to promote antibiotics only when needed, not just in case. Recommended components include use of evidence-based guidelines; ongoing monitoring of antibiotic prescriptions, cultures, and study results; monitoring of health outcomes; use of nursing home-specific antibiograms; regular reporting and feedback to medical providers and nurses; and education of residents and families. ©2016 by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Efficacy of Outdoor Education on Campers' Perceptions of Environmental Stewardship, Civic Engagement, and College and Career Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frame, Amy

2017-01-01

Given global threats to the continued functioning of ecosystem services that sustain us all, educators would be wise to embrace the task of redefining our individual and collective orientations to the natural world. Since the inception of the modern environmental education movement in the 1970's, outdoor education at residential camps has…

Inappropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals: the complex relationship between antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance.

PubMed

Cantón, Rafael; Horcajada, Juan Pablo; Oliver, Antonio; Garbajosa, Patricia Ruiz; Vila, Jordi

2013-09-01

Hospitals are considered an excellent compartment for the selection of resistant and multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. The overuse and misuse of antimicrobial agents are considered key points fuelling this situation. Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been designed for better use of these compounds to prevent the emergence of resistant microorganisms and to diminish the upward trend in resistance. Nevertheless, the relationship between antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance is complex, and the desired objectives are difficult to reach. Various factors affecting this relationship have been advocated including, among others, antibiotic exposure and mutant selection windows, antimicrobial pharmacodynamics, the nature of the resistance (natural or acquired, including mutational and that associated with horizontal gene transfer) and the definition of resistance. Moreover, antimicrobial policies to promote better use of these drugs should be implemented not only in the hospital setting coupled with infection control programs, but also in the community, which should also include animal and environmental compartments. Within hospitals, the restriction of antimicrobials, cycling and mixing strategies and the use of combination therapies have been used to avoid resistance. Nevertheless, the results have not always been favorable and resistant bacteria have persisted despite the theoretical benefits of these strategies. Mathematical models as well as microbiological knowledge can explain this failure, which is mainly related to the current scenario involving MDR bacteria and overcoming the fitness associated with resistance. New antimicrobials, rapid diagnostic and antimicrobial susceptibility testing and biomarkers will be useful for future antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Eco-label conveys reliable information on fish stock health to seafood consumers.

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Nicolás L; Valencia, Sarah R; Branch, Trevor A; Agnew, David J; Baum, Julia K; Bianchi, Patricia L; Cornejo-Donoso, Jorge; Costello, Christopher; Defeo, Omar; Essington, Timothy E; Hilborn, Ray; Hoggarth, Daniel D; Larsen, Ashley E; Ninnes, Chris; Sainsbury, Keith; Selden, Rebecca L; Sistla, Seeta; Smith, Anthony D M; Stern-Pirlot, Amanda; Teck, Sarah J; Thorson, James T; Williams, Nicholas E

2012-01-01

Concerns over fishing impacts on marine populations and ecosystems have intensified the need to improve ocean management. One increasingly popular market-based instrument for ecological stewardship is the use of certification and eco-labeling programs to highlight sustainable fisheries with low environmental impacts. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the most prominent of these programs. Despite widespread discussions about the rigor of the MSC standards, no comprehensive analysis of the performance of MSC-certified fish stocks has yet been conducted. We compared status and abundance trends of 45 certified stocks with those of 179 uncertified stocks, finding that 74% of certified fisheries were above biomass levels that would produce maximum sustainable yield, compared with only 44% of uncertified fisheries. On average, the biomass of certified stocks increased by 46% over the past 10 years, whereas uncertified fisheries increased by just 9%. As part of the MSC process, fisheries initially go through a confidential pre-assessment process. When certified fisheries are compared with those that decline to pursue full certification after pre-assessment, certified stocks had much lower mean exploitation rates (67% of the rate producing maximum sustainable yield vs. 92% for those declining to pursue certification), allowing for more sustainable harvesting and in many cases biomass rebuilding. From a consumer's point of view this means that MSC-certified seafood is 3-5 times less likely to be subject to harmful fishing than uncertified seafood. Thus, MSC-certification accurately identifies healthy fish stocks and conveys reliable information on stock status to seafood consumers.

Eco-Label Conveys Reliable Information on Fish Stock Health to Seafood Consumers

PubMed Central

Gutiérrez, Nicolás L.; Valencia, Sarah R.; Branch, Trevor A.; Agnew, David J.; Baum, Julia K.; Bianchi, Patricia L.; Cornejo-Donoso, Jorge; Costello, Christopher; Defeo, Omar; Essington, Timothy E.; Hilborn, Ray; Hoggarth, Daniel D.; Larsen, Ashley E.; Ninnes, Chris; Sainsbury, Keith; Selden, Rebecca L.; Sistla, Seeta; Smith, Anthony D. M.; Stern-Pirlot, Amanda; Teck, Sarah J.; Thorson, James T.; Williams, Nicholas E.

2012-01-01

Concerns over fishing impacts on marine populations and ecosystems have intensified the need to improve ocean management. One increasingly popular market-based instrument for ecological stewardship is the use of certification and eco-labeling programs to highlight sustainable fisheries with low environmental impacts. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the most prominent of these programs. Despite widespread discussions about the rigor of the MSC standards, no comprehensive analysis of the performance of MSC-certified fish stocks has yet been conducted. We compared status and abundance trends of 45 certified stocks with those of 179 uncertified stocks, finding that 74% of certified fisheries were above biomass levels that would produce maximum sustainable yield, compared with only 44% of uncertified fisheries. On average, the biomass of certified stocks increased by 46% over the past 10 years, whereas uncertified fisheries increased by just 9%. As part of the MSC process, fisheries initially go through a confidential pre-assessment process. When certified fisheries are compared with those that decline to pursue full certification after pre-assessment, certified stocks had much lower mean exploitation rates (67% of the rate producing maximum sustainable yield vs. 92% for those declining to pursue certification), allowing for more sustainable harvesting and in many cases biomass rebuilding. From a consumer’s point of view this means that MSC-certified seafood is 3–5 times less likely to be subject to harmful fishing than uncertified seafood. Thus, MSC-certification accurately identifies healthy fish stocks and conveys reliable information on stock status to seafood consumers. PMID:22928029

Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos during 2007

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

None

Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos reports are prepared annually by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (the Laboratory) Environmental Directorate, as required by US Department of Energy Order 450.1, General Environmental Protection Program, and US Department of Energy Order 231.1A, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting. These annual reports summarize environmental data that are used to determine compliance with applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, executive orders, and departmental policies. Additional data, beyond the minimum required, are also gathered and reported as part of the Laboratory’s efforts to ensure public safety and to monitor environmental quality at and nearmore » the Laboratory. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Laboratory’s major environmental programs and explains the risks and the actions taken to reduce risks at the Laboratory from environmental legacies and waste management operations. Chapter 2 reports the Laboratory’s compliance status for 2007. Chapter 3 provides a summary of the maximum radiological dose the public and biota populations could have potentially received from Laboratory operations and discusses chemical exposures. The environmental surveillance and monitoring data are organized by environmental media (Chapter 4, air; Chapters 5 and 6, water and sediments; Chapter 7, soils; and Chapter 8, foodstuffs and biota) in a format to meet the needs of a general and scientific audience. Chapter 9 provides a summary of the status of environmental restoration work around LANL. A glossary and a list of acronyms and abbreviations are in the back of the report. Appendix A explains the standards for environmental contaminants, Appendix B explains the units of measurements used in this report, Appendix C describes the laboratory’s technical areas and their associated programs, and Appendix D provides web links to more information. In printed copies of this report or Executive Summary, we have also enclosed a compact disc with a copy of the full report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) form and detailed supplemental tables of data from 2007 in Microsoft Excel format. These files are also available for download from the web (http://www.lanl.gov/community-environment/environmental- stewardship/environmental-report.php).« less

Tapping into the Forest Management Assistance Programs

Treesearch

John L. Greene; Terry K. Haines

1998-01-01

Use of federal and state forest management assistance programs can enable nonindustial private forest owners to reduce their management expenses and practice better stewardship. This paper summarizes six federal and twelve state assistance programs available to owners in the North Central states. It also describes how to calculate the amount of a government...

Interoperability Across the Stewardship Spectrum in the DataONE Repository Federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M. B.; Vieglais, D.; Wilson, B. E.

2016-12-01

Thousands of earth and environmental science repositories serve many researchers and communities, each with their own community and legal mandates, sustainability models, and historical infrastructure. These repositories span the stewardship spectrum from highly curated collections that employ large numbers of staff members to review and improve data, to small, minimal budget repositories that accept data caveat emptor and where all responsibility for quality lies with the submitter. Each repository fills a niche, providing services that meet the stewardship tradeoffs of one or more communities. We have reviewed these stewardship tradeoffs for several DataONE member repositories ranging from minimally (KNB) to highly curated (Arctic Data Center), as well as general purpose (Dryad) to highly discipline or project specific (NEON). The rationale behind different levels of stewardship reflect resolution of these tradeoffs. Some repositories aim to encourage extensive uptake by keeping processes simple and minimizing the amount of information collected, but this limits the long-term utility of the data and the search, discovery, and integration systems that are possible. Other repositories require extensive metadata input, review, and assessment, allowing for excellent preservation, discovery, and integration but at the cost of significant time for submitters and expense for curatorial staff. DataONE recognizes these different levels of curation, and attempts to embrace them to create a federation that is useful across the stewardship spectrum. DataONE provides a tiered model for repositories with growing utility of DataONE services at higher tiers of curation. The lowest tier supports read-only access to data and requires little more than title and contact metadata. Repositories can gradually phase in support for higher levels of metadata and services as needed. These tiered capabilities are possible through flexible support for multiple metadata standards and services, where repositories can incrementally increase their requirements as they want to satisfy more use cases. Within DataONE, metadata search services support minimal metadata models, but significantly expanded precision and recall become possible when repositories provide more extensively curated metadata.

UBIQUITOUS POLLUTANTS FROM CUMULATIVE PERSONAL PRACTICES - STEWARDSHIP OF THE WATER CYCLE

EPA Science Inventory

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) as environmental pollutants is a multifaceted issue whose scope continues to become better delineated since the escalation of concerted attention beginning in the 1980s. PPCPs typically occur as trace environmen...

Waste water compliance: staying on the offense

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cattlemen and regulators are interested in safe and effective environmental stewardship of beef production. Recent interest has focused on better management of runoff storage. Typically, storage ponds hold feedlot surface runoff until it can be applied to crops. While stored, the nutrient laden w...

Research for Environmental Stewardship and Conservation at the APTRU

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Research methods for mitigation of off-target spray drift, remote sensing for precision crop management, and irrigation and tillage methods are presented. Research for mitigation of off target spray drift includes development of sophisticated weather apparatus to determine weather conditions unfavor...

A WORKABLE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

EPA Science Inventory

The most desirable definition of success from the point of view of environmental stewardship is to treat the entire plume to MCLs. Technically, has proven impossible to attain at many sites. A less desirable definition of success is to contain the source of contamination and tr...

Triticale for dairy forage systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Triticale forages have become increasingly important components of dairy-cropping systems. In part, this trend has occurred in response to environmental pressures, specifically a desire to capture N and other nutrients from land-applied manure, and/or to improve stewardship of the land by providing ...

Hospitality as an Environmental Metaphor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horwood, Bert

1991-01-01

Compares stewardship and hospitality as they relate to the biosphere. Traces the origin of the word "hospitality," discusses cultural traditions of hospitality, and applies the concept of hospitality to the natural world. Considers forms of symbiosis in nature: commensals, mutualism, and parasitism. Hospitality promotes respect,…

Proposed Strategy for San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A Proposed Strategy for San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment was published in 2010, and a Strawman Proposal was developed in 2012 by the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship, California Water Resources Board, EPA.

Infection prevention and control practices related to Clostridium difficile infection in Canadian acute and long-term care institutions.

PubMed

Wilkinson, Krista; Gravel, Denise; Taylor, Geoffrey; McGeer, Allison; Simor, Andrew; Suh, Kathryn; Moore, Dorothy; Kelly, Sharon; Boyd, David; Mulvey, Michael; Mounchili, Aboubakar; Miller, Mark

2011-04-01

Clostridium difficile is an important pathogen in Canadian health care facilities, and infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are crucial to reducing C difficile infections (CDIs). We performed a cross-sectional study to identify CDI-related IPC practices in Canadian health care facilities. A survey assessing facility characteristics, CDI testing strategies, CDI contact precautions, and antimicrobial stewardship programs was sent to Canadian health care facilities in February 2005. Responses were received from 943 (33%) facilities. Acute care facilities were more likely than long-term care (P < .001) and mixed care facilities (P = .03) to submit liquid stools from all patients for CDI testing. Physician orders were required before testing for CDI in 394 long-term care facilities (66%)-significantly higher than the proportions in acute care (41%; P < .001) and mixed care sites (49%; P < .001). A total of 841 sites (93%) had an infection control manual, 639 (76%) of which contained CDI-specific guidelines. Antimicrobial stewardship programs were reported by 40 (29%) acute care facilities; 19 (54%) of these sites reported full enforcement of the program. Canadian health care facilities have widely varying C difficile IPC practices. Opportunities exist for facilities to take a more active role in IPC policy development and implementation, as well as antimicrobial stewardship. Copyright © 2011 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Watershed Report Card.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Allyson

1996-01-01

Outlines the history and development of the Watershed Report Card, an integrated program that educates Ontario participants about the holistic nature of a watershed and fosters community stewardship of the local ecosystem. The program consists of the inventory level, assessment and monitoring level, and remediation level. Emphasizes partnerships…

Aquaculture and environmental stewardship: Milford shellfish biology seminar—1991

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blogoslawski, Walter J.

1992-07-01

For the past 11 years the annual Shellfish Biology Seminar at Milford CT has provided a unique forum for aquaculture scientists and industry officials to exchange information about estuaries facing increased pollution problems, especially Long Island Sound and the Great South Bay. Because these two areas are so rich in productivity and diversity, fish and shellfish farmers utilize their waters, shellfish beds, and shore land for hatcheries and grow-out facilities. These individuals seek better management of the coastal estuarine environment and its resources, providing a working example of environmental stewardship. In aquaculture, good science is required to understand the complex variables and interaction of estuarine currents, tides, temperature, and cycles of reproduction. Aquaculturists are beginning to understand the need for specific nutrients and how the wastes of one species can be utilized for enhanced production of another species. Over the years, this meeting has formed an amalgam of both the aquaculture industry and research scientists where both groups foster mutual environmental concern. Science is able to focus on the theoretical aspects of pollutant damage. while the aquaculture industry is able to define the problem and need for assistance to eliminate pollutants from their crops—shellfish and finfish. Overfishing is not an issue at these meetings, as the group accepts the damage already done to wild resources and seeks new technologies to grow food sources under controlled and stable market conditions. Therefore, it could be said that the seminar serves as a meeting ground where the theoretical knowledge of scientific study finds practical application in the industry and is fueled by the needs of that industry. This ideal blend of the two groups produces better management of the resource and a safer environment—the goal of stewardship.

The Intersection Between Colonization Resistance, Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Clostridium difficile.

PubMed

Rosa, Rossana; Donskey, Curtis J; Munoz-Price, L Silvia

2018-06-07

Colonization resistance refers to the innate defense provided by the indigenous microbiota against colonization by pathogenic organisms. We aim to describe how this line of defense is deployed against Clostridium difficile and what the implications are for interventions directed by Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs. The indigenous microbiota provides colonization resistance through depletion of nutrients, prevention of access to adherence sites within the gut mucosa, production of inhibitory substances, and stimulation of the host's immune system. The ability to quantify colonization resistance could provide information regarding periods of maximal vulnerability to colonization with pathogens and also allow the identification of mechanisms of restoration of colonization resistance. Methods utilized to determine the composition of the gut microbiota include sequencing technologies and measurement of concentration of specific bacterial metabolites. Use of innovations in the quantification of colonization resistance can expand the role of Antimicrobial Stewardship from prevention of disruption of the indigenous microbiota to restoration of colonization resistance.

Antifungal stewardship considerations for adults and pediatrics.

PubMed

Hamdy, Rana F; Zaoutis, Theoklis E; Seo, Susan K

2017-08-18

Antifungal stewardship refers to coordinated interventions to monitor and direct the appropriate use of antifungal agents in order to achieve the best clinical outcomes and minimize selective pressure and adverse events. Antifungal utilization has steadily risen over time in concert with the increase in number of immunocompromised adults and children at risk for invasive fungal infections (IFI). Challenges in diagnosing IFI often lead to delays in treatment and poorer outcomes. There are also emerging data linking prior antifungal exposure and suboptimal dosing to the emergence of antifungal resistance, particularly for Candida. Antimicrobial stewardship programs can take a multi-pronged bundle approach to ensure suitable prescribing of antifungals via post-prescription review and feedback and/or prior authorization. Institutional guidelines can also be developed to guide diagnostic testing in at-risk populations; appropriate choice, dose, and duration of antifungal agent; therapeutic drug monitoring; and opportunities for de-escalation and intravenous-to-oral conversion.

Science and technology in the stockpile stewardship program, S & TR reprints

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

Storm, E

This document reports on these topics: Computer Simulations in Support of National Security; Enhanced Surveillance of Aging Weapons; A New Precision Cutting Tool: The Femtosecond Laser; Superlasers as a Tool of Stockpile Stewardship; Nova Laser Experiments and Stockpile Stewardship; Transforming Explosive Art into Science; Better Flash Radiography Using the FXR; Preserving Nuclear Weapons Information; Site 300Õs New Contained Firing Facility; The Linear Electric Motor: Instability at 1,000 gÕs; A Powerful New Tool to Detect Clandestine Nuclear Tests; High Explosives in Stockpile Surveillance Indicate Constancy; Addressing a Cold War Legacy with a New Way to Produce TATB; JumpinÕ Jupiter! Metallic Hydrogen;more » Keeping the Nuclear Stockpile Safe, Secure, and Reliable; The Multibeam FabryÐPerot Velocimeter: Efficient Measurements of High Velocities; Theory and Modeling in Material Science; The Diamond Anvil Cell; Gamma-Ray Imaging Spectrometry; X-Ray Lasers and High-Density Plasma« less

Calendar Year 2016 Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report.

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

Copland, John R.; Jackson, Timmie Okchumpulla; Li, Jun

Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico (SNL/NM) is a government-owned/contractoroperated laboratory. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., manages and operates SNL/NM for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The DOE/NNSA Sandia Field Office administers the contract and oversees contractor operations at the site. Two types of groundwater surveillance monitoring are conducted at SNL/NM: (1) on a site-wide basis as part of the SNL/NM Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) Program’s Groundwater Monitoring Program (GMP) Groundwater Surveillance Task and (2) on a site-specific groundwater monitoring at LTS/Environmental Restoration (ER) Operationsmore » sites with ongoing groundwater investigations. This Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report summarizes data collected during groundwater monitoring events conducted at GMP locations and at the following SNL/NM sites through December 31, 2016: Burn Site Groundwater Area of Concern (AOC); Chemical Waste Landfill; Mixed Waste Landfill; Technical Area-V Groundwater AOC; and the Tijeras Arroyo Groundwater AOC. Environmental monitoring and surveillance programs are required by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and DOE Order 436.1, Departmental Sustainability, and DOE Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting.« less

DEVELOPMENT OF A RECYCLABLE HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST FOR BIODIESEL SYNTHESIS UTILIZING WASTE GREASE AS FEEDSTOCK

EPA Science Inventory

As fuel consumption continues depleting nonrenewable energy sources and environmental health concerns heighten due to its use, a movement toward sustainable alternatives is necessary for the stewardship of future generations. Biodiesel (BD) is one renewable resource being deve...

Environment, Health, and Safety | NREL

Science.gov Websites

property, and the environment. View the Environmental Stewardship, Health, Safety, and Quality Management (OHSAS) 18001 certification demonstrates NREL's commitment to a health and safety management system that into all activities. NREL's staff and management are committed to managing health and safety risk

Turning manure into biochar through thermochemical conversion has the potential to become an exciting new way to handle waste

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The livestock sector remains vigilant to address effective manure treatment that also safeguards natural resources. Livestock operations must balance business concerns, efficient energy management and environmental stewardship. Fortunately, thermochemical conversion technologies for converting lives...

The Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition: A Deep Design of Eco-Democratic Reform That Is Situational, Local, and in Support of Living Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lupinacci, John J.

2013-01-01

Education can have a tremendous impact on how we, as humans, understand and relate to each other and the larger environmental systems to which we belong. In efforts to address the role of education in alleviating and eliminating social suffering and environmental degradation in many of the worlds' diverse communities, the purpose of this critical…

New Chemicals Program Review of Alternatives for PFOA and Related Chemicals

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2006, EPA and the eight major companies in the industry launched the 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program, in which companies committed to reduce global facility emissions and product content of PFOA and related chemicals by 95 percent by 2010, and to work

A review of antimicrobial stewardship training in medical education

PubMed Central

Silverberg, Sarah L.; Zannella, Vanessa E.; Countryman, Drew; Ayala, Ana Patricia; Lenton, Erica; Friesen, Farah

2017-01-01

Objectives We reviewed the published literature on antimicrobial stewardship training in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education to determine which interventions have been implemented, the extent to which they have been evaluated, and to understand which are most effective. Methods We searched Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE from inception to December 2016. Four thousand three hundred eighty-five (4385) articles were identified and underwent title and abstract review. Only those articles that addressed antimicrobial stewardship interventions for medical trainees were included in the final review. We employed Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation (reaction, learning, behaviour, results) to categorize intervention evaluations. Results Our review included 48 articles. The types of intervention varied widely amongst studies worldwide. Didactic teaching was used heavily in all settings, while student-specific feedback was used primarily in the postgraduate setting. The high-level evaluation was sparse, with 22.9% reporting a Kirkpatrick Level 3 evaluation; seventeen reported no evaluation. All but one article reported positive results from the intervention. No articles evaluated the impact of an intervention on undergraduate trainees’ prescribing behaviour after graduation. Conclusions This study enhances our understanding of the extent of antimicrobial stewardship in the context of medical education. While our study demonstrates that medical schools are implementing antimicrobial stewardship interventions, rigorous evaluation of programs to determine whether such efforts are effective is lacking. We encourage more robust evaluation to establish effective, evidence-based approaches to training prescribers in light of the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance.  PMID:29035872

Open source hardware solutions for low-cost, do-it-yourself environmental monitoring, citizen science, and STEM education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hicks, S. D.; Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Arscott, D. B.; Muenz, T.; Bressler, D. W.

2016-12-01

The explosion in DIY open-source hardware and software has resulted in the development of affordable and accessible technologies, like drones and weather stations, that can greatly assist the general public in monitoring environmental health and its degradation. It is widely recognized that education and support of audiences in pursuit of STEM literacy and the application of emerging technologies is a challenge for the future of citizen science and for preparing high school graduates to be actively engaged in environmental stewardship. It is also clear that detecting environmental change/degradation over time and space will be greatly enhanced with expanded use of networked, remote monitoring technologies by watershed organizations and citizen scientists if data collection and reporting are properly carried out and curated. However, there are few focused efforts to link citizen scientists and school programs with these emerging tools. We have started a multi-year program to develop hardware and teaching materials for training students and citizen scientists about the use of open source hardware in environmental monitoring. Scientists and educators around the world have started building their own dataloggers and devices using a variety of boards based on open source electronics. This new hardware is now providing researchers with an inexpensive alternative to commercial data logging and transmission hardware. We will present a variety of hardware solutions using the Arduino-compatible EnviroDIY Mayfly board (http://envirodiy.org/mayfly) that can be used to build and deploy a rugged environmental monitoring station using a wide variety of sensors and options, giving the users a fully customizable device for making measurements almost anywhere. A database and visualization system is being developed that will allow the users to view and manage the data their devices are collecting. We will also present our plan for developing curricula and leading workshops to various school programs and citizen scientist groups to teach them how to build, deploy, and maintain their own environmental monitoring stations.

Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Emergency Department and Guidelines for Development

PubMed Central

May, Larissa; Cosgrove, Sara; L’Archeveque, Michelle; Talan, David A.; Payne, Perry; Rothman, Richard E.

2013-01-01

Antimicrobial resistance is a mounting public health concern. Emergency departments (EDs) represent a particularly important setting for addressing inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing practices, given the frequent use of antibiotics in this setting that sits at the interface of the community and the hospital. This article outlines the importance of antimicrobial stewardship in the ED setting and provides practical recommendations drawn from existing evidence for the application of various strategies and tools that could be implemented in the ED including advancement of clinical guidelines, clinical decision support systems, rapid diagnostics, and expansion of ED pharmacist programs. PMID:23122955

Nanotechnology, voluntary oversight, and corporate social performance: does company size matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuzma, Jennifer; Kuzhabekova, Aliya

2011-04-01

In this article, we examine voluntary oversight programs for nanotechnology in the context of corporate social performance (CSP) in order to better understand the drivers, barriers, and forms of company participation in such programs. At the theoretical level, we use the management framework of CSP to understand the voluntary behavior of companies. At the empirical level, we investigate nanotech industry participation in the Environmental Protection Agency's Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP) as an example of CSP, in order to examine the effects of company characteristics on CSP outcomes. The analysis demonstrates that, on the average, older and larger companies for which nanotech is one of the many business activities demonstrate greater CSP as judged by company actions, declarations, and self-evaluations. Such companies tended to submit more of the requested information to the NMSP, including specific information about health and safety, and to claim fewer of the submitted items as confidential business information. They were also more likely to have on-line statements of generic and nano-specific corporate social responsibility principles, policies, and achievements. The article suggests a need to encourage smaller and younger companies to participate in voluntary oversight programs for nanotechnology and presents options for better design of these programs.

Stewardship matters: Case studies in establishment success of urban trees

Treesearch

Lara A. Roman; Lindsey A. Walker; Catherine M. Martineau; David J. Muffly; Susan A. MacQueen; Winnie Harris

2015-01-01

Urban tree planting initiatives aim to provide ecosystem services that materialize decades after planting, therefore understanding tree survival and growth is essential to evaluating planting program performance. Tree mortality is relatively high during the establishment phase, the first few years after planting. Qualitative assessments of programs with particularly...

THE SOUTHWEST REGIONAL GAP PROJECT: A DATABASE MODEL FOR REGIONAL LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT, RESOURCE PLANNING, AND VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS

EPA Science Inventory

The Gap Analysis Program (GAP) is a national interagency program that maps the distribution of plant communities and selected animal species and compares these distributions with land stewardship to identify biotic elements at potential risk of endangerment. Acquisition of primar...

Wilderness education: The ultimate commitment to quality wilderness stewardship

Treesearch

Gregory F. Hansen; Tom Carlson

2007-01-01

The effective planning, implementation, and monitoring of a wilderness education program will ultimately produce measurable results that can be instrumental in achieving wilderness management goals and objectives. This paper will provide a simple step-by-step overview of how to develop and maintain a successful wilderness education program through planning,...

Keepers of the Seals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Momatiuk, Yva; Eastcott, John

1998-01-01

The Pribilof Islands Stewardship Program aims to preserve the rich species diversity of the islands and recover the sense of connectedness that once linked local Aleuts and their environment. The summer program draws on both science and traditional knowledge, offering Aleut youth the chance to assist scientists, protect the seals, and participate…

A Perspective on Carnegie Corporation's Program, 1983-1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamburg, David A.

The Carnegie Corporation's mission is to continue Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic preoccupations with promoting education and world peace. In this essay, retiring Carnegie Corporation President David A. Hamburg provides a detailed accounting of his stewardship of the foundation since 1983, when he set forth new program directions in the context of…

Understanding Barriers to Participation in Cost-Share Programs For Pollinator Conservation by Wisconsin (USA) Cranberry Growers.

PubMed

Gaines-Day, Hannah R; Gratton, Claudio

2017-08-01

The expansion of modern agriculture has led to the loss and fragmentation of natural habitat, resulting in a global decline in biodiversity, including bees. In many countries, farmers can participate in cost-share programs to create natural habitat on their farms for the conservation of beneficial insects, such as bees. Despite their dependence on bee pollinators and the demonstrated commitment to environmental stewardship, participation in such programs by Wisconsin cranberry growers has been low. The objective of this study was to understand the barriers that prevent participation by Wisconsin cranberry growers in cost-share programs for on-farm conservation of native bees. We conducted a survey of cranberry growers (n = 250) regarding farming practices, pollinators, and conservation. Although only 10% of growers were aware of federal pollinator cost-share programs, one third of them were managing habitat for pollinators without federal aid. Once informed of the programs, 50% of growers expressed interest in participating. Fifty-seven percent of growers manage habitat for other wildlife, although none receive cost-share funding to do so. Participation in cost-share programs could benefit from outreach activities that promote the programs, a reduction of bureaucratic hurdles to participate, and technical support for growers on how to manage habitat for wild bees.

Understanding Barriers to Participation in Cost-Share Programs For Pollinator Conservation by Wisconsin (USA) Cranberry Growers

PubMed Central

Gratton, Claudio

2017-01-01

The expansion of modern agriculture has led to the loss and fragmentation of natural habitat, resulting in a global decline in biodiversity, including bees. In many countries, farmers can participate in cost-share programs to create natural habitat on their farms for the conservation of beneficial insects, such as bees. Despite their dependence on bee pollinators and the demonstrated commitment to environmental stewardship, participation in such programs by Wisconsin cranberry growers has been low. The objective of this study was to understand the barriers that prevent participation by Wisconsin cranberry growers in cost-share programs for on-farm conservation of native bees. We conducted a survey of cranberry growers (n = 250) regarding farming practices, pollinators, and conservation. Although only 10% of growers were aware of federal pollinator cost-share programs, one third of them were managing habitat for pollinators without federal aid. Once informed of the programs, 50% of growers expressed interest in participating. Fifty-seven percent of growers manage habitat for other wildlife, although none receive cost-share funding to do so. Participation in cost-share programs could benefit from outreach activities that promote the programs, a reduction of bureaucratic hurdles to participate, and technical support for growers on how to manage habitat for wild bees. PMID:28763038

Tall fescue forage mass in a grass-legume mixture: predicted efficiency of indirect selection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

High fertilizer prices and improved environmental stewardship have increased interest in grass-legume mixed pastures. It has been hypothesized, but not validated, that the ecological combining ability between grasses and legumes can be improved by breeding specifically for mixture performance. Thi...

Wetlands Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Messina, Linda; Blanchard, Pamela Borne

2004-01-01

This article describes how a biology teacher's search for a cross-curricular project in science, math, history, and environmental science, that would help her students connect what they were learning in the classroom to their everyday life, resulted in an ongoing stewardship project. Working together with the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program…

77 FR 58438 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-20

... Excellence Awards to recognize partners, projects and processes that use FHWA funding sources to go beyond...-366-2052, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Project Development... that goes beyond traditional transportation projects and that encourages environmental stewardship and...

Conventionalization, Civic Engagement, and the Sustainability of Organic Agriculture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberger, Jessica R.

2011-01-01

It is often assumed that organic farming is synonymous with sustainable agriculture. The broad goals of sustainable agriculture include economic profitability, environmental stewardship, and community vitality. However, the "question of sustainability" (Ikerd, 2008) can be asked of any type of farming, including organic production. One…

Y-12 Sustainability and Stewardship

ScienceCinema

John Krueger

2017-12-09

The Y-12 National Security Complex recently won a White House award for its leadership among Government installations for pollution prevention. This video tells the story of the many actions taken by this NNSA National Security Enterprise site towards being a responsible environmental citizen while protecting the national interest.

Y-12 Sustainability and Stewardship

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

John Krueger

2009-10-06

The Y-12 National Security Complex recently won a White House award for its leadership among Government installations for pollution prevention. This video tells the story of the many actions taken by this NNSA National Security Enterprise site towards being a responsible environmental citizen while protecting the national interest.

5 Steps to Responsible E-Waste Management at Your School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawless, Caprice

2008-01-01

Demand for environmentally responsible stewardship is increasing, and the education technology sector is responding. Former L&L Senior Editor Caprice Lawless offers an overview of local and national e-waste legislation and resources for related classroom projects. (Contains 3 resources and 13 online resources.)

Environmental Education: Back to Basics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warpinski, Robert

1984-01-01

Describes an instructional framework based on concepts of energy, ecosystems, carrying capacity, change, and stewardship. Stresses the importance of determining what is really important (basic) for each student to experience or learn in relation to each concept and grade level. Student-centered learning activities and sample lesson on energy…

36 CFR 230.36 - State priority plan-purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...—purpose and scope. (a) The State priority plan shall be used to guide FLEP implementation in each... describe the various roles and responsibilities of the State Forester, State Forest Stewardship... private forest and agroforestry resources; (3) Identification of the desired objectives and environmental...

New Developments in NOAA's Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritchey, N. A.; Morris, J. S.; Carter, D. J.

2012-12-01

The Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) is part of the NOAA strategic goal of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation that gives focus to the building and sustaining of key observational assets and data archives critical to maintaining the global climate record. Since 2002, CLASS has been NOAA's enterprise solution for ingesting, storing and providing access to a host of near real-time remote sensing streams such as the Polar and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (POES and GOES) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Since October, 2011 CLASS has also been the dedicated Archive Data Segment (ADS) of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). As the ADS, CLASS receives raw and processed S-NPP records for archival and distribution to the broad user community. Moving beyond just remote sensing and model data, NOAA has endorsed a plan to migrate all archive holdings from NOAA's National Data Centers into CLASS while retiring various disparate legacy data storage systems residing at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). In parallel to this data migration, CLASS is evolving to a service-oriented architecture utilizing cloud technologies for dissemination in addition to clearly defined interfaces that allow better collaboration with partners. This evolution will require implementation of standard access protocols and metadata which will lead to cost effective data and information preservation.

Integrated dynamic landscape analysis and modeling system (IDLAMS) : installation manual.

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

Li, Z.; Majerus, K. A.; Sundell, R. C.

The Integrated Dynamic Landscape Analysis and Modeling System (IDLAMS) is a prototype, integrated land management technology developed through a joint effort between Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USACERL). Dr. Ronald C. Sundell, Ms. Pamela J. Sydelko, and Ms. Kimberly A. Majerus were the principal investigators (PIs) for this project. Dr. Zhian Li was the primary software developer. Dr. Jeffrey M. Keisler, Mr. Christopher M. Klaus, and Mr. Michael C. Vogt developed the decision analysis component of this project. It was developed with funding support from the Strategic Environmental Research andmore » Development Program (SERDP), a land/environmental stewardship research program with participation from the US Department of Defense (DoD), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). IDLAMS predicts land conditions (e.g., vegetation, wildlife habitats, and erosion status) by simulating changes in military land ecosystems for given training intensities and land management practices. It can be used by military land managers to help predict the future ecological condition for a given land use based on land management scenarios of various levels of training intensity. It also can be used as a tool to help land managers compare different land management practices and further determine a set of land management activities and prescriptions that best suit the needs of a specific military installation.« less

A novel and cost-effective monitoring approach for outcomes in an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive program.

PubMed

Lindenmayer, David B; Zammit, Charles; Attwood, Simon J; Burns, Emma; Shepherd, Claire L; Kay, Geoff; Wood, Jeff

2012-01-01

We report on the design and implementation of ecological monitoring for an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive scheme - the Environmental Stewardship Program. The Program uses competitive auctions to contract individual land managers for up to 15 years to conserve matters of National Environmental Significance (with an initial priority on nationally threatened ecological communities). The ecological monitoring was explicitly aligned with the Program's policy objective and desired outcomes and was applied to the Program's initial Project which targeted the critically endangered White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland ecological community in south eastern Australia. These woodlands have been reduced to <3% of their original extent and persist mostly as small remnants of variable condition on private farmland. We established monitoring sites on 153 farms located over 172,232 sq km. On each farm we established a monitoring site within the woodland patch funded for management and, wherever possible, a matched control site. The monitoring has entailed gathering data on vegetation condition, reptiles and birds. We also gathered data on the costs of experimental design, site establishment, field survey, and data analysis. The costs of monitoring are approximately 8.5% of the Program's investment in the first four years and hence are in broad accord with the general rule of thumb that 5-10% of a program's funding should be invested in monitoring. Once initial monitoring and site benchmarking are completed we propose to implement a novel rotating sampling approach that will maintain scientific integrity while achieving an annual cost-efficiency of up to 23%. We discuss useful lessons relevant to other monitoring programs where there is a need to provide managers with reliable early evidence of program effectiveness and to demonstrate opportunities for cost-efficiencies.

76 FR 65121 - Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-20

... broad range of citizens in forest conservation, stewardship, and governance. Where situated near Federal... conservation of a tract but does not have the capacity to effectively oversee management and governance issues...

75 FR 34924 - Conservation Stewardship Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-21

... the words of ``issuance'' at the end of the preamble. DATES: Effective Date: The rule is effective...: Words of Issuance [Corrected] (1) On page 31653, in the second column, the Words of Issuance that read...

Considering a new domain for antimicrobial stewardship: Topical antibiotics in the open surgical wound.

PubMed

Edmiston, Charles E; Leaper, David; Spencer, Maureen; Truitt, Karen; Litz Fauerbach, Loretta; Graham, Denise; Johnson, Helen Boehm

2017-11-01

The global push to combat the problem of antimicrobial resistance has led to the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs), which were recently mandated by The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However, the use of topical antibiotics in the open surgical wound is often not monitored by these programs nor is it subject to any evidence-based standardization of care. Survey results indicate that the practice of using topical antibiotics intraoperatively, in both irrigation fluids and powders, is widespread. Given the risks inherent in their use and the lack of evidence supporting it, the practice should be monitored as a core part of ASPs, and alternative agents, such as antiseptics, should be considered. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of Designer Diamond Technology for High Pressure High Temperature Experiments in Support of Stockpile Stewardship Program

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

Vohra, Yogesh, K.

The role of nitrogen in the fabrication of designer diamond was systematically investigated by adding controlled amount of nitrogen in hydrogen/methane/oxygen plasma. This has led to a successful recipe for reproducible fabrication of designer diamond anvils for high-pressure high-temperature research in support of stockpile stewardship program. In the three-year support period, several designer diamonds fabricated with this new growth chemistry were utilized in high-pressure experiments at UAB and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The designer diamond anvils were utilized in high-pressure studies on heavy rare earth metals, high pressure melting studies on metals, and electrical resistance measurements on iron-based layered superconductorsmore » under high pressures. The growth chemistry developed under NNSA support can be adapted for commercial production of designer diamonds.« less

An overview of a free-market approach to climate change and conservation.

PubMed

Sandor, Richard L; Bettelheim, Eric C; Swingland, Ian R

2002-08-15

This paper describes the convergence of environmental and financial markets, reviews the evolution of market-based environmental programmes as an example of the seven-stage evolutionary process witnessed in a variety of markets and summarizes the emergence of greenhouse-gas-mitigation markets and their potential role in advancing land stewardship, biodiversity and other environmental services. Emissions trading has been developed to meet the demand to reduce pollution while avoiding economic disruption. Consistent with the seven-stage pattern of market evolution, the US programme to reduce the damage from acid rain established a standardized environmental commodity, developed 'evidence of ownership' necessary for financial instruments and provided the infrastructure to efficiently transfer title. The success of the system in reducing pollution at low cost has provided a model for other market-based environmental protection initiatives. The demand for cost-effective action to reduce the threat of climate change has initiated the same evolutionary process for markets to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Many of the land- and forest-management practices that can capture and store atmospheric CO(2) can also provide other environmental benefits, such as biodiversity preservation and enhanced water quality. The presence of a carbon-trading market will introduce a clear financial value for capture and mitigation of CO(2) emissions, thus introducing a new source of funding for land stewardship and forest rehabilitation. The market is now emerging through a variety of 'bottom-up' developments being undertaken through governmental, multilateral, private-sector and non-governmental-organization initiatives. The extension of markets to other emerging environmental issues is now underway, and the linkages between environmental sustainability and capital markets are being more deeply understood. The early evidence indicates that environmental sustainability can be compatible with maximization of shareholder value.

Impact of an antimicrobial stewardship program with multidisciplinary cooperation in a community public teaching hospital in Taiwan.

PubMed

Lin, Yu-Shiuan; Lin, I-Fen; Yen, Yung-Feng; Lin, Pei-Ching; Shiu, Yu-Chih; Hu, Hsing-Yi; Yang, Ying-Pi

2013-11-01

Reports of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) in community hospitals are limited, with the major focus on specific agents, small settings, or short time periods. Here we present the outcomes of cost control, consumption restraint, and quality of care after a 3-year multidisciplinary ASP in a 415-bed community public teaching hospital. Three strategies for improving antimicrobial stewardship were implemented: education, clinical pharmacists-based intervention, and regular outcome announcement. The steering panel of the program was a committee composed of infection specialists, attending physicians, clinical pharmacists, nurses, and medical laboratorists. Semiannual data from July 2009 to June 2012 was analyzed. Antibiotic costs declined from $21,464 to $12,146 per 1,000 patient-days (-43.4%). Approximately $2.5 million was saved in 3 years, and estimated labor cost was $3,935 per month. Defined daily dose per 1,000 patient-days were diminished from 906.7 to 717.5 (-20.9%). Significant reductions were found in the consumption of aminoglycosides, first-generation cephalosporins, and aminopenicillins. However, through comprehensive auditing, increasing consumption of fourth-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones was noticed. No significant difference in the quality of care (ie, length of stay, incidence of health care associated infections, and mortality) was observed. The multidisciplinary ASP was beneficial to reduce antibiotic cost and consumption. The strategies were practical and worthy to be recommended to community health care settings. Copyright © 2013 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Antibiotic Consumption During a 4-year Period in a Community Hospital with an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program

PubMed Central

Garcell, Humberto Guanche; Arias, Ariadna Villanueva; Fernandez, Eliezer Alemán; Guerrero, Yaquelín Batista; Serrano, Ramon N. Alfonso

2016-01-01

Objectives We sought to evaluate the trend of antibiotic consumption in patients admitted to a community hospital in Qatar with an antimicrobial stewardship program. Methods This observational study was carried out in a 75-bed facility in Western Qatar over a 4-year period (2012–2015). The monitoring of antimicrobial consumption from inpatient wards was performed from the pharmacy records and presented as defined daily dose (DDD) divided by the patient days and expressed as 100 bed-days (DBD). Results The consumption of antimicrobials in 2012 was 171.3 DBD, and increased to 252.7 DBD in 2013, 229.1 DBD in 2014, and 184.7 DBD in 2015. Cephalosporins use reduced from 98.2 DBD in 2013 to 51.5 DBD in 2015 while the consumption of penicillins increased during the beginning of 2014 with a slight decrease in 2015. Carbapenems consumption during 2014–2015 was lower than previous years, and vice-versa for aminoglycosides. Fluoroquinolones had a sustained increase with 37.1% increased consumption in 2015 compared to the two previous years. There was an increase in the use of intravenous (IV) (108.5%) and oral azithromycin (55.1%) and the use of oral (152.8%) and IV moxifloxacin (22.9%). Conclusions We observed a decrease in antibiotic use in patients admitted to a community hospital with an antimicrobial stewardship program, but the increase in fluoroquinolones consumption is a concern that requires focused strategies. PMID:27602189

Harmful algal bloom smart device application: using image analysis and machine learning techniques for early classification of harmful algal blooms

EPA Science Inventory

The Ecological Stewardship Institute at Northern Kentucky University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are collaborating to optimize a harmful algal bloom detection algorithm that estimates the presence and count of cyanobacteria in freshwater systems by image analysis...

77 FR 42679 - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-20

.... SUMMARY: On October 21, 2011, the EPA proposed a rulemaking to improve and restore water quality by... comments on improving water quality by promoting environmental stewardship and compliance rather than... from CAFOs to support the EPA in meeting its water quality protection responsibilities under the CWA...

Calibration of the soil conditioning index (SCI) to soil organic carbon in the southeastern USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Prediction of soil organic C sequestration with adoption of various conservation agricultural management approaches is needed to meet the emerging market for environmental services provided by agricultural land stewardship. The soil conditioning index (SCI) is a relatively simple model used by the ...

For Earth's Sake: Lessons in Population and the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brouse, Deborah E.; Wasserman, Pamela B.

Intended to introduce young people to the remarkable interconnectedness of people and the environment, this middle school teaching kit is designed to give students an understanding of important population and environmental concepts while promoting a sense of individual responsibility for stewardship of the earth. The teaching modules in the kit…

Opportunities for improving milk production efficiency in dairy cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increasing feed costs and the desire to improve environmental stewardship have stimulated renewed interest in improving feed efficiency of livestock, including that of U.S. dairy herds. For instance, USDA cost projections for corn and soybean meal suggest a 20% increase over 2010 pricing for a 16% p...

Opportunities for improving milk production efficiency in dairy cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increasing feed costs and the desire to improve environmental stewardship have stimulated interest in improving feed efficiency of livestock, including that of U.S. dairy herds. For instance, USDA cost projections for corn and soybean meal suggest a 20% increase over 2010 pricing for a 16% protein ...

Going beyond Green: The "Why and How" of Integrating Sustainability into the Marketing Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridges, Claudia M.; Wilhelm, Wendy Bryce

2008-01-01

Teaching sustainable marketing practices requires that curricula advocate a "triple bottom line" approach to personal and marketing decision making, emphasizing requirements for a sustainable lifestyle, company, economy, and society. These requirements include environmental/ecological stewardship (maintenance and renewal of "natural capital"),…

Degradation of the Herbicide Metolachlor in Drummer Soil Under Different Redox Conditions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Understanding the role of microorganisms and effect of soil environmental conditions on herbicide fate is critical for stewardship of herbicide use in cropping systems. As compared to the modernized perceptions of soil redox status, diminutive progress has been made in characterizing the impact of a...

Disequilibrium in Arts and Arts Education: Sustainability as Loss through Giving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slivka, Kevin

2012-01-01

Sustainability defined as ecological restoration and stewardship (Blandy, Congdon & Krug, 1998; Garoian, 1998), environmental justice (Hicks & King, 2007), and politicizing arts and arts education practices (jagodzinski, 2007) is expanded in this article by articulating the consumption and production dialectic and the resulting forms of waste as…

Enterprise.SRS = Business for Success at SRS

ScienceCinema

Wilson, Dwayne; Moody, David; Michalske, Terry; Bush, Byron; Sprague, Leslie; Worrell, Timothy

2017-12-09

Goals and accomplishments of SRS. The debut of enterprise.srs, a strategic vision that will refocus site talents and efforts on developing future missions by broadening its impact in existing and new areas of national service. An expansion of people and facility in 3 areas: National Security, Clean Energy, and Environmental Stewardship.

The Educational Facilities Professional's Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hignite, Karla

2009-01-01

As more institutions respond to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, or are otherwise responsible for campus environmental stewardship, this implementation guide gives educational facilities professionals a practical framework for moving forward in their unique role within this process. The intent is to help facilities…

Environmental Stewardship

Science.gov Websites

. Protecting the present through resource management The Laboratory actively manages and protects resources on shared land. Through biological monitoring, the Laboratory strives to minimize operational impacts to plants and animals. Through collaboration with its stakeholders and local tribal governments, the

Influence of cover crops on arthropods, free-living nematodes, and yield in a succeeding no-till soybean crop

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Production practices that incorporate fall-planted cover crops into no-till agronomic crop rotations have become increasingly popular across the Northeastern United States for weed suppression and enhancing environmental stewardship. Field experiments were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to investigate e...

Effective use patterns for HPPD herbicides in non-transgenic conservation tillage sweet corn.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Weed control is still a challenge in non-transgenic sweet corn due to the suite of weeds present (including wild proso millet and triazine resistant species) and conservation tillage systems that are evolving to meet challenges of environmental stewardship and increasing input costs, mainly the risi...

75 FR 81210 - Wrangell Ranger District; Alaska; Wrangell Island Project Environmental Impact Statement

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-27

... opportunity involving a variety of timber harvest, road construction, and forest restoration and enhancement... authorize forest restoration and enhancement activities, timber harvest, and associated road construction on... Forest Service is proposing a multi-year stewardship project involving a variety of timber harvest, road...

Beyond Stewardship: Common World Pedagogies for the Anthropocene

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Affrica

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary Anthropocene debates are prompting calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about what it means to be human and about our place and agency in the world. Within environmental education, sustainability remains centre stage and oddly disconnected from these Anthropocene debates. Framed by humanist principles, most sustainability…

An Information Theory-Based Approach to Assessing the Sustainability and Stability of an Island System

EPA Science Inventory

It is well-documented that a sustainable system is based on environmental stewardship, economic viability and social equity. What is often overlooked is the need for continuity such that desirable system behavior is maintained with mechanisms in place that facilitate the ability ...

DRUG USAGE AND DISPOSAL: OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND POLLUTION PREVENTION (WITH AN EMPHASIS ON ACTIVITIES IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT)

EPA Science Inventory

This article provides the background for understanding the many complex variables that combine to cause pollution of the environment with the active ingredients from pharmaceuticals. It also summarizes the many approaches that could potentially reduce this pollution. Significan...

Antimicrobial Stewardship: The Need to Cover All Bases

PubMed Central

Friedman, N. Deborah

2013-01-01

Increasing antimicrobial resistance has necessitated an approach to guide the use of antibiotics. The necessity to guide antimicrobial use via stewardship has never been more urgent. The decline in anti-infective innovation and the failure of currently available antimicrobials to treat some serious infections forces clinicians to change those behaviors that drive antimicrobial resistance. The majority of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs function in acute-care hospitals, however, hospitals are only one setting where antibiotics are prescribed. Antimicrobial use is also high in residential aged care facilities and in the community. Prescribing in aged care is influenced by the fact that elderly residents have lowered immunity, are susceptible to infection and are frequently colonized with multi-resistant organisms. While in the community, prescribers are faced with public misconceptions about the effectiveness of antibiotics for many upper respiratory tract illnesses. AMS programs in all of these locations must be sustainable over a long period of time in order to be effective. A future with effective antimicrobials to treat bacterial infection will depend on AMS covering all of these bases. This review discusses AMS in acute care hospitals, aged care and the community and emphasizes that AMS is critical to patient safety and relies on government, clinician and community engagement. PMID:27029310

[The interplay of diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship for the management of septic patients: the Tuscan model.

PubMed

Forni, Silvia; Toccafondi, Giulio; Viaggi, Bruno; Grazzini, Maddalena; D'Arienzo, Sara; Gemmi, Fabrizio; Vannucci, Andrea; Tulli, Giorgio

2018-02-01

Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat caused by the rapid spread of multiresistant microorganisms. Antimicrobial stewardship (AS) is a coordinated intervention designed to improve the appropriate use of antimicrobials by promoting the selection of the optimal drug regimen, dose, duration of therapy and route of administration. AS programs have proved effective in reducing antimicrobial resistance, inappropriate antimicrobial use and in improving patient outcomes. Recently developed rapid diagnostic technologies in microbiology (RDTM) allows a faster and etiological diagnosis of infection and a reduction in the use of unnecessary empirical therapies. This may result in important advancement in time-critical care pathways for septic patients. Nevertheless, RDTM are costly and if not rationally positioned may consume resources and hinder the efficacy of AS programs. In this regard, Tuscany Region is engaged in designing, through a systemic approach, an effective high-quality clinical microbiological service grid. In order to develop a sustainable and equitable model for integrating diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship we conducted a survey in the regional network of 14 microbiological laboratories. The results shows that in order to develop a sustainable service we need to improve the communication at the interface between laboratories and care unit, harmonize the time windows for processing samples and to devise a robust score for stratifying patient with suspected sepsis.

Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Emergency Department: Challenges, Opportunities, and a Call to Action for Pharmacists.

PubMed

Bishop, Bryan M

2016-12-01

Antimicrobial resistance is a national public health concern. Misuse of antimicrobials for conditions such as upper respiratory infection, urinary tract infections, and cellulitis has led to increased resistance to antimicrobials commonly utilized to treat those infections, such as sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and flouroquinolones. The emergency department (ED) is a site where these infections are commonly encountered both in ambulatory patients and in patients requiring admission to a hospital. The ED is uniquely positioned to affect the antimicrobial use and resistance patterns in both ambulatory settings and inpatient settings. However, implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs in the ED is fraught with challenges including diagnostic uncertainty, distractions secondary to patient or clinician turnover, and concerns with patient satisfaction to name just a few. However, this review article highlights successful interventions that have stemmed inappropriate antimicrobial use in the ED setting and warrant further study. This article also proposes other, yet to be validated proposals. Finally, this article serves as a call to action for pharmacists working in antimicrobial stewardship programs and in emergency medicine settings. There needs to be further research on the implementation of these and other interventions to reduce inappropriate antimicrobial use to prevent patient harm and curb the development of antimicrobial resistance. © The Author(s) 2015.

Long-term outcomes of an antimicrobial stewardship program implemented in a hospital with low baseline antibiotic use.

PubMed

Jenkins, Timothy C; Knepper, Bryan C; Shihadeh, Katherine; Haas, Michelle K; Sabel, Allison L; Steele, Andrew W; Wilson, Michael L; Price, Connie S; Burman, William J; Mehler, Philip S

2015-06-01

To evaluate the long-term outcomes of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) implemented in a hospital with low baseline antibiotic use. Quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series study. Public safety net hospital with 525 beds. Implementation of a formal ASP in July 2008. We conducted a time-series analysis to evaluate the impact of the ASP over a 6.25-year period (July 1, 2008-September 30, 2014) while controlling for trends during a 3-year preintervention period (July 1, 2005-June 30, 2008). The primary outcome measures were total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use in days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 patient-days (PD). Secondary outcomes included antimicrobial costs and resistance, hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection, and other patient-centered measures. During the preintervention period, total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use were declining (-9.2 and -5.5 DOT/1,000 PD per quarter, respectively). During the stewardship period, both continued to decline, although at lower rates (-3.7 and -2.2 DOT/1,000 PD, respectively), resulting in a slope change of 5.5 DOT/1,000 PD per quarter for total antibacterial use (P=.10) and 3.3 DOT/1,000 PD per quarter for antipseudomonal use (P=.01). Antibiotic expenditures declined markedly during the stewardship period (-$295.42/1,000 PD per quarter, P=.002). There were variable changes in antimicrobial resistance and few apparent changes in C. difficile infection and other patient-centered outcomes. In a hospital with low baseline antibiotic use, implementation of an ASP was associated with sustained reductions in total antibacterial and antipseudomonal use and declining antibiotic expenditures. Common ASP outcome measures have limitations.

Overview of Sensors and Needs for Environmental Monitoring

PubMed Central

Ho, Clifford K.; Robinson, Alex; Miller, David R.; Davis, Mary J.

2005-01-01

This paper surveys the needs associated with environmental monitoring and long-term environmental stewardship. Emerging sensor technologies are reviewed to identify compatible technologies for various environmental monitoring applications. The contaminants that are considered in this report are grouped into the following categories: (1) metals, (2) radioisotopes, (3) volatile organic compounds, and (4) biological contaminants. United States regulatory drivers are evaluated for different applications (e.g., drinking water, storm water, pretreatment, and air emissions), and sensor requirements are derived from these regulatory metrics. Sensor capabilities are then summarized according to contaminant type, and the applicability of the different sensors to various environmental monitoring applications is discussed.

The School Malaise Trap Program: Coupling educational outreach with scientific discovery

PubMed Central

Breton, Vanessa; Berzitis, Emily; Hebert, Paul D. N.

2017-01-01

The School Malaise Trap Program (SMTP) provides a technologically sophisticated and scientifically relevant educational experience that exposes students to the diversity of life, enhancing their understanding of biodiversity while promoting environmental stewardship. Since 2013, the SMTP has allowed 15,000 students at 350 primary and secondary schools to explore insect diversity in Canadian schoolyards. Students at each school collected hundreds of insects for an analysis of DNA sequence variation that enabled their rapid identification to a species. Through this hands-on approach, they participated in a learning exercise that conveys a real sense of scientific discovery. As well, the students contributed valuable data to the largest biodiversity genomics initiative ever undertaken: the International Barcode of Life project. To date, the SMTP has sequenced over 80,000 insect specimens, which includes representatives of 7,990 different species, nearly a tenth of the Canadian fauna. Both surprisingly and importantly, the collections generated the first DNA barcode records for 1,288 Canadian species. PMID:28437475

Influence of a 5-year serial infection control and antibiotic stewardship intervention on cardiac surgical site infections.

PubMed

Frenette, Charles; Sperlea, David; Tesolin, Joey; Patterson, Connie; Thirion, Daniel J G

2016-09-01

Surgical site infections (SSIs) complicate surgery, resulting in higher morbidity and mortality. Infection control bundles and antibiotic stewardship can be effective at reducing SSIs. The influence of long-term serial interventions is unclear. The goal of this retrospective quasiexperimental study was to assess the influence of a 5-year serial infection control and antibiotic stewardship intervention on SSIs. The multidisciplinary program actively implemented pre-, intra-, and postoperative strategies over a 5-year period from 2009-2014 for all patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valve replacement, or both at a tertiary care public institution. Outcomes are compared with a 2-year preinterventions period (2007-2009) and 1-year postinterventions period (2014-2015). A total of 6,518 procedures were included. After interventions, the overall combined infection rate for CABG, CABG and valve, and valve procedures decreased by 66.3%, from 11.9%-4.0% (odds ratio, 0.34; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.49; P < .001). A significant decrease of >50% (P < .001) relative rate was observed in overall, sternum, leg, CABG, and combined CABG and valve infection rates when comparing pre- and postinterventions groups. The antibiotic stewardship intervention increased overall conformity to the internal surgical prophylaxis protocol by 46.8%, from 39.8%-86.6% (95% confidence interval, 41.0-52.4; P < .001). Long-term, serial comprehensive infection control and antibiotic stewardship interventions decrease overall SSIs in patients undergoing CABG and valve replacement procedures. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ACHP | News | ACHP Considers Program Comment for Select GSA Repairs and

Science.gov Websites

) legislation has provided GSA with significant stewardship opportunities for its historic public buildings . However, the rigid spending deadline associated with the legislation has prompted the need for this

7 CFR 1470.24 - Payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... associated waste transport or transfer devices for animal feeding operations; or (3) Conservation activities... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Contracts and Payments... additional conservation activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities...

7 CFR 1470.24 - Payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... associated waste transport or transfer devices for animal feeding operations; or (3) Conservation activities... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Contracts and Payments... additional conservation activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities...

7 CFR 1470.24 - Payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... associated waste transport or transfer devices for animal feeding operations; or (3) Conservation activities... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Contracts and Payments... additional conservation activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities...

7 CFR 1470.24 - Payments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... associated waste transport or transfer devices for animal feeding operations; or (3) Conservation activities... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Contracts and Payments... additional conservation activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities...

Science-based stockpile stewardship at Los Alamos National Laboratory

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

Immele, J.

1995-10-01

I would like to start by working from Vic Reis`s total quality management diagram in which he began with the strategy and then worked through the customer requirements-what the Department of Defense (DoD) is hoping for from the science-based stockpile stewardship program. Maybe our customer`s requirements will help guide some of the issues that we should be working on. ONe quick answer to {open_quotes}why have we adopted a science-based strategy{close_quotes} is that nuclear weapons are a 50-year responsibility, not just a 5-year responsibility, and stewardship without testing is a grand challenge. While we can do engineering maintenance and turn overmore » and remake a few things on the short time scale, without nuclear testing, without new weapons development, and without much of the manufacturing base that we had in the past, we need to learn better just how these weapons are actually working.« less

Penicillin skin testing: potential implications for antimicrobial stewardship.

PubMed

Unger, Nathan R; Gauthier, Timothy P; Cheung, Linda W

2013-08-01

As the progression of multidrug-resistant organisms and lack of novel antibiotics move us closer toward a potential postantibiotic era, it is paramount to preserve the longevity of current therapeutic agents. Moreover, novel interventions for antimicrobial stewardship programs are integral to combating antimicrobial resistance worldwide. One unique method that may decrease the use of second-line antibiotics (e.g., fluoroquinolones, vancomycin) while facilitating access to a preferred β-lactam regimen in numerous health care settings is a penicillin skin test. Provided that up to 10% of patients have a reported penicillin allergy, of whom ~10% have true IgE-mediated hypersensitivity, significant potential exists to utilize a penicillin skin test to safely identify those who may receive penicillin or a β-lactam antibiotic. In this article, we provide information on the background, associated costs, currently available literature, pharmacists' role, antimicrobial stewardship implications, potential barriers, and misconceptions, as well as future directions associated with the penicillin skin test. © 2013 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Monitored Natural Attenuation as a Remediation Strategy for Nuclear Power Plant Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, K.; Bushart, S.

2009-12-01

A NRC Information Notice (IN 2006-13) was produced to inform holders of nuclear operating licenses “of the occurrence of radioactive contamination of ground water at multiple facilities due to undetected leakage from facility structures, systems, or components (SSCs) that contain or transport radioactive fluids” so that they could consider actions, as appropriate, to avoid similar problems. To reinforce their commitment to environmental stewardship the nuclear energy industry has committed to improving management of situations that have the potential to lead to the inadvertent release of radioactive fluids. This Industry Groundwater Protection Initiative, finalized in June 2007 as [NEI 07-07], calls for implementation and improvement of on-site groundwater monitoring programs and enhanced communications with stakeholders and regulators about situations related to inadvertent releases. EPRI developed its Groundwater Protection Program to provide the nuclear energy industry with the technical support needed to implement the Industry Groundwater Initiative. An objective of the EPRI Groundwater Protection Program is to provide the nuclear industry with technically sound guidance for implementing and enhancing on-site groundwater monitoring programs. EPRI, in collaboration with the EPRI Groundwater Protection Committee of utility members, developed the EPRI Groundwater Protection Guidelines for Nuclear Power Plants (EPRI Report 1015118, November 2007), which provides site-specific guidance for implementing a technically sound groundwater monitoring program. The guidance applies a graded approach for nuclear plants to tailor a technically effective and cost efficient groundwater monitoring program to the site’s hydrogeology and risk for groundwater contamination. As part of the Groundwater Protection Program, EPRI is also investigating innovative remediation technologies for addressing low-level radioactive contamination in soils and groundwater at nuclear power plant sites. One of these remediation technologies is monitored natural attenuation (MNA), which has been widely used in other industries for the remediation of contaminants in soil and groundwater. Monitored natural attenuation (MNA) is a non-intervention, but not a no-action, groundwater and soil remediation approach that involves monitoring the dilution, dispersion, and decay of contaminants to meet remediation objectives. MNA has been commonly applied at sites where soil and groundwater have been contaminated by volatile organic compounds. This method has also been applied to remediation of radiological contamination at U.S. DOE facilities and decommissioning nuclear power plant sites. The EPRI published report (1016764) provides guidance for implementing MNA at nuclear power plants for remediation of radiological contaminants in groundwater and soil. The goal of the EPRI Groundwater Protection program is to bring together experience and technologies - both from within the nuclear industry and other industries - to support the industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship. Results from the program are being published in an extensive series of reports and software, and are being communicated to members in an annual EPRI Groundwater Protection technical exchange workshop.

Long-Term Monitoring Research Needs: A DOE Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, B.; Davis, C. B.

2002-05-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management is responsible for dealing with the nation's legacy of Cold War radioactive and hazardous waste and contamination. Major efforts are underway to deal with this legacy; these are expected to last up to decades and cost up to billions of dollars at some sites. At all sites, however, active remediation must eventually cease; if hazards then remain, the site must enter into a long-term stewardship mode. In this talk we discuss aspects of long-term monitoring pertinent to DOE sites, focusing on challenges to be faced, specific goals or targets to be met, and research needs to be addressed in order to enable DOE to meet its long-term stewardship obligations. DOE LTM research needs fall into three major categories: doing what we can do now much more efficiently; doing things we cannot do now; and proving the validity of our monitoring programs. Given the enormity of the DOE obligations, it will be highly desirable to develop much more efficient monitoring paradigms. Doing so will demand developing autonomous, remote monitoring networks of in situ sensors capable of replacing (or at least supplementing to a large extent) conventional groundwater and soil gas sampling and analysis programs. The challenges involved range from basic science (e.g., inventing in situ sensors for TCE that do not demand routine maintenance) to engineering (attaining superior reliability in data reporting in remote networks) to ergonomics (developing decent ways of selecting and presenting the "right" information from the monitoring network) to regulatory affairs (presenting convincing evidence that the more efficient systems actually provide superior monitoring). We explore these challenges in some detail, focusing on the "long" in long-term monitoring as it applies to DOE sites. Monitoring system performance validation and, ultimately, regulator and stakeholder acceptance of site closure and long-term stewardship plans depend critically on the validity and uncertainty in models used to predict contaminant fate and transport. This is an area of active research at the present time. We survey joint research initiatives in this area involving DOE along with USGS, U.S. EPA, U.S. NRC, and U.S. DOA and non-Federal collaborators, and explore their potential for furthering DOE long-term monitoring needs and objectives.

Total On-line Access Data System (TOADS): Phase II Final Report for the Period August 2002 - August 2004

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

Yuracko, K. L.; Parang, M.; Landguth, D. C.

2004-09-13

TOADS (Total On-line Access Data System) is a new generation of real-time monitoring and information management system developed to support unattended environmental monitoring and long-term stewardship of U.S. Department of Energy facilities and sites. TOADS enables project managers, regulators, and stakeholders to view environmental monitoring information in realtime over the Internet. Deployment of TOADS at government facilities and sites will reduce the cost of monitoring while increasing confidence and trust in cleanup and long term stewardship activities. TOADS: Reliably interfaces with and acquires data from a wide variety of external databases, remote systems, and sensors such as contaminant monitors, areamore » monitors, atmospheric condition monitors, visual surveillance systems, intrusion devices, motion detectors, fire/heat detection devices, and gas/vapor detectors; Provides notification and triggers alarms as appropriate; Performs QA/QC on data inputs and logs the status of instruments/devices; Provides a fully functional data management system capable of storing, analyzing, and reporting on data; Provides an easy-to-use Internet-based user interface that provides visualization of the site, data, and events; and Enables the community to monitor local environmental conditions in real time. During this Phase II STTR project, TOADS has been developed and successfully deployed for unattended facility, environmental, and radiological monitoring at a Department of Energy facility.« less

Programmatic Perspectives on Using `Rapid Prototyping Capability' for Water Management Applications Using NASA Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toll, D.; Friedl, L.; Entin, J.; Engman, E.

2006-12-01

The NASA Water Management Program addresses concerns and decision making related to water availability, water forecast and water quality. The goal of the Water Management Program Element is to encourage water management organizations to use NASA Earth science data, models products, technology and other capabilities in their decision support tools (DSTs) for problem solving. The goal of the NASA Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC) is to speed the evaluation of these NASA products and technologies to improve current and future DSTs by reducing the time to access, configure, and assess the effectiveness of NASA products and technologies. The NASA Water Management Program Element partners with Federal agencies, academia, private firms, and may include international organizations. Currently, the NASA Water Management Program oversees eight application projects. However, water management is a very broad descriptor of a much larger number of activities that are carried out to insure safe and plentiful water supply for humans, industry and agriculture, promote environmental stewardship, and mitigate disaster such as floods and droughts. The goal of this presentation is to summarize how the RPC may further enhance the effectiveness of using NASA products for water management applications.

Strategies for improving antibiotic use in Qatar: a survey of pharmacists' perceptions and experiences.

PubMed

Pawluk, Shane; Black, Emily; El-Awaisi, Alla

2015-02-01

The objectives of this study were to identify antimicrobial stewardship activities in Qatar, identify pharmacist involvement in activities and summarize perceived barriers for implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). A cross-sectional survey was developed based on study objectives and completed by pharmacists in Qatar. Most hospital settings have implemented components of ASP. Lack of infectious disease specialists and training of healthcare providers was the most common barrier to implementation or expansion of ASP identified in the hospital and community settings respectively. Pharmacists report some components of ASP have been implemented; however, barriers must be overcome to further expand ASPs. © 2014 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Antimicrobial Therapy for Legionnaire's Disease: Antibiotic Stewardship Implications.

PubMed

Cunha, Cheston B; Cunha, Burke A

2017-03-01

Legionnaire's disease is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Although no single clinical feature is diagnostic, if characteristic extrapulmonary findings are present a presumptive clinical syndromic diagnosis is possible. Depending on geographic location, season, and physician awareness, Legionnaire's disease may be included in the differential diagnosis of CAP. Some antibiotics effective against Legionella sp are also effective in treating the typical bacterial causes of CAP. From an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) perspective, monotherapy is preferred to double-drug therapy. From an ASP and pharmacoeconomic standpoint, monotherapy with doxycycline or a respiratory quinolone provides optimal cost effective therapy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pharmacist-driven antimicrobial stewardship program in an institution without infectious diseases physician support.

PubMed

Waters, C Dustin

2015-03-15

Improved drug-utilization and cost outcomes achieved by a pharmacist-led antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) are described. Pharmacists may be tasked to lead ASP development and implementation with little or no support from an infectious diseases (ID) physician and other hospital personnel whose involvement on ASP teams is recommended (e.g., clinical microbiologists, infection control specialists, hospital epidemiologists). Several years ago, Intermountain Healthcare's 325-bed McKay-Dee Hospital in Utah implemented an ASP led by an antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist. In addition to reviewing patient profiles and meeting with physicians to discuss cases daily (Monday-Friday), the pharmacist was available to provide afterhours phone consultations; support was provided by an infection prevention nurse, two physician ASP champions, the pharmacy leadership, pharmacy informatics and hospital laboratory personnel, and the chief medical officer. In the program's first 33 months, the pharmacist made a total of 2,457 interventions or recommendations, with an acceptance rate of 91.8%. Comparison of selected outcomes during one-year periods before and after ASP implementation indicated substantial decreases in the utilization of four commonly used antimicrobial agents and classes (carbapenems, daptomycin, echinocandins, and levofloxacin) in the postimplementation period, with a significant decline in the average length of stay for community-acquired pneumonia (mean ± S.D., 2.69 ± 0.10 days versus 3.40 ± 0.23 days; p = 0.03). Two years after ASP implementation, annual cost savings attributed to the program were estimated at $355,000. In the absence of ID physician support and oversight, the pharmacist-led ASP achieved substantial reductions in antimicrobial utilization and associated expenditures. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social and Environmental Impacts of Forest Management Certification in Indonesia

PubMed Central

Miteva, Daniela A.; Loucks, Colby J.; Pattanayak, Subhrendu K.

2015-01-01

In response to unsustainable timber production in tropical forest concessions, voluntary forest management certification programs such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have been introduced to improve environmental, social, and economic performance over existing management practices. However, despite the proliferation of forest certification over the past two decades, few studies have evaluated its effectiveness. Using temporally and spatially explicit village-level data on environmental and socio-economic indicators in Kalimantan (Indonesia), we evaluate the performance of the FSC-certified timber concessions compared to non-certified logging concessions. Employing triple difference matching estimators, we find that between 2000 and 2008 FSC reduced aggregate deforestation by 5 percentage points and the incidence of air pollution by 31%. It had no statistically significant impacts on fire incidence or core areas, but increased forest perforation by 4 km2 on average. In addition, we find that FSC reduced firewood dependence (by 33%), respiratory infections (by 32%) and malnutrition (by 1 person) on average. By conducting a rigorous statistical evaluation of FSC certification in a biodiversity hotspot such as Indonesia, we provide a reference point and offer methodological and data lessons that could aid the design of ongoing and future evaluations of a potentially critical conservation policy. PMID:26132491

4th Annual DOE-ERSP PI Meeting: Abstracts

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

Hazen, Terry C.

2009-03-01

This contains abstracts from the 2009 Annual Environmental Remediation Sciences Program (ERSP) Principal Investigators (PI) Meeting. The ERSP seeks to advance fundamental science to understand, predict, and mitigate the impacts of environmental contamination from past nuclear weapons production and provide a scientific basis for the long-term stewardship of nuclear waste disposal. These ambitious goals cannot be achieved by any one project alone. Therefore, ERSP funds a combination of research programs at the DOE national laboratories, individual projects at universities and federal agencies, and large long(er)-term field site research. Integration of these activities to advance the ERSP goals is a constantmore » challenge, but made significantly simpler by bringing together all funded ERSP researchers once a year to discuss the very latest research results. It is at these meetings where new ideas and/or scientific advancements in support of ERSP goals can be discussed and openly debated among all PIs in the program. The ERSP thrives, in part, on the new ideas, concepts, scientific connections, and collaborations generated as a result of these meetings. The annual PI Meeting is very much a working meeting with three major goals: (1) to provide opportunities for scientific interaction among the ERSP scientists, a critical element for the program; (2) to provide the ERSP program staff with an opportunity to evaluate the progress of each program and project; and (3) to showcase the ERSP to interested parties within DOE and within other federal agencies In addition to program managers from within OBER, there will be representatives from other offices within DOE and other federal agencies in attandance at the meeting.« less

LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP AT DOE HANFORD SITE - 12575

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

MOREN RJ; GRINDSTAFF KD

2012-01-11

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site is located in southeast Washington and consists of 1,518 square kilometers (586 square miles) of land. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, Hanford workers produced plutonium for our nation's nuclear defense program until the mid 1980's. Since then, the site has been in cleanup mode that is being accomplished in phases. As we achieve remedial objectives and complete active cleanup, DOE will manage Hanford land under the Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) Program until completion of cleanup and the site becomes ready for transfer to the post cleanup landlord - currentlymore » planned for DOE's Office of Legacy Management (LM). We define Hanford's LTS Program in the ''Hanford Long-Term Stewardship Program Plan,'' (DOE/RL-201 0-35)[1], which describes the scope including the relationship between the cleanup projects and the LTS Program. DOE designed the LTS Program to manage and provide surveillance and maintenance (S&M) of institutional controls and associated monitoring of closed waste sites to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. DOE's Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) and Hanford cleanup and operations contractors collaboratively developed this program over several years. The program's scope also includes 15 key activities that are identified in the DOE Program Plan (DOE/RL-2010-35). The LTS Program will transition 14 land segments through 2016. The combined land mass is approximately 570 square kilometers (220 square miles), with over 1,300 active and inactive waste sites and 3,363 wells. Land segments vary from buffer zone property with no known contamination to cocooned reactor buildings, demolished support facilities, and remediated cribs and trenches. DOE-RL will transition land management responsibilities from cleanup contractors to the Mission Support Contract (MSC), who will then administer the LTS Program for DOE-RL. This process requires an environment of cooperation between the contractors and DOE-RL. Information Management (IM) is a key part of the LTS program. The IM Program identifies, locates, stores, protects and makes accessible Hanford LTS records and data to support the transfer of property ultimately to LM. As such, DOE-RL manages the Hanford LTS Program in a manner consistent with LM's goals, policies, and procedures.« less

Preliminary Assessment of the Flow of Used Electronics, In Selected States: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin

EPA Science Inventory

Electronic waste (e-waste) is the largest growing municipal waste stream in the United States. The improper disposal of e-waste has environmental, economic, and social impacts, thus there is a need for sustainable stewardship of electronics. EPA/ORD has been working to improve ...

Marine Debris Clean-Ups as Meaningful Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stepath, Carl M.; Bacon, Joseph Scott

2010-01-01

This seven to eight week hands-on Marine Debris Clean-up Project used a service project to provide an introduction of marine science ecology, watershed interrelationships, the scientific method, and environmental stewardship to 8th grade middle school students. It utilized inquiry based learning to introduce marine debris sources and impacts to…

Microwave-assisted synthesis of sucrose polyurethanes and their semi-interpenetrating polymer networks with polycaprolactane and soybean oil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Because of the current interest in sustainability, environmental stewardship, and green chemistry, there has been a lot of interest in using agrobased raw materials for the design of polymeric materials. One of the promising biorenewable materials is sucrose, which is inexpensive and widely availabl...

Agroforestry: Enhancing resiliency in U.S. agricultural landscapes under changing conditions

Treesearch

Michele M. Schoeneberger; Gary Bentrup; Toral Patel-Weynand

2017-01-01

Agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal production systems, is being deployed to enhance productivity, profitability, and environmental stewardship of agricultural operations and lands across the United States. This assessment provides a science-based synthesis on the use of agroforestry for mitigation and adaptation services...

Agroforestry: Enhancing resiliency in U.S. agricultural landscapes under changing conditions - executive summary

Treesearch

Toral Patel-Weynand; Gary Bentrup; Michele M. Schoeneberger

2017-01-01

Agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal production systems, is being deployed to enhance productivity, profitability, and environmental stewardship of agricultural operations and lands across the United States. The full assessment at https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-96...

The Early Years: Fostering Environmental Stewardship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashbrook, Peggy

2016-01-01

For young children, a found acorn, stone, or lichen-covered branch can be a touchstone of an experience in nature. Children, however, should also be taught to "leave no trace." As the National Park Service advocates, visitors to natural areas should "Preserve the sense of discovery for others by leaving all natural and cultural…

Discovery Curriculum: For Use with Middle Grade Students in or out of the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wickless, Mimi

This teaching guide contains the Discovery Curriculum which was extensively field tested at The National Arbor Day Foundation's Discovery Camp. The Discovery Curriculum is designed to promote wise environmental stewardship through relevant, active learning opportunities. Goals for each participant include: (1) be aware of and able to cite examples…

77 FR 53908 - Winter Use Plan, Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Yellowstone National Park

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-04

... whether to use their daily allocation of transportation events for snowmobiles or snowcoaches, but no more than 50 daily transportation events could come from snowmobiles. OSV use would continue to be 100..., Associate Director, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science National Park Service. [FR Doc. 2012-21829...

Sustainability in outdoor recreation and tourism

Treesearch

Patricia L. Winter; Kelly Bricker; Jeremy Schultz

2013-01-01

Outdoor recreation and tourism represents a major service by which the public identifies with and better understands natural resources, even to the extent that it can foster environmental stewardship (for example, see Winter and Chavez 2008). Yet, myriad threats to recreation and tourism exist which need to be addressed. Addressing these threats can be...

Cycling Back to Nature with Biodegradable Polymers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Robert L.; And Others

This sourcebook, for use with groups of up to 25 young people ages 10 and up, is designed to stimulate a sense of environmental stewardship for the planet through group discussion, role playing, experimentation, demonstration, and simulation. Lessons that stand alone or can be used in sequence require common materials and little preparation,…

Saving Spaceship Earth: Teaching the Ethics of Environmental Stewardship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beairsto, Bruce

2009-01-01

Mankind's capacity to consume the earth's resources has overwhelmed nature's capacity to replenish itself, and people are polluting at a rate that nature cannot repair. This road leads inevitably to serious, and potentially fatal consequences. In this article, the author suggests that educators need to go beyond merely enabling students to…

A Special Issue of the Journal of Forestry—Tribal Forest Management: Innovations for Sustainable Forest Management

Treesearch

Michael J. Dockry; Serra J. Hoagland

2017-01-01

Native American forests and tribal forest management practices have sustained indigenous communities, economies, and resources for millennia. These systems provide a wealth of knowledge and successful applications of long-term environmental stewardship and integrated, sustainable forest management. Tribal forestry has received an increasing amount of attention from...

Teaching with Play: An Introduction to Environmental Stewardship for Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Melissa

2017-01-01

This article describes how one preschool teacher turned a luau celebrating moving on to elementary school as a springboard for a lesson on pollution. Over the course of one hour, this teacher introduced and provided a whole group lesson on pollution, and the responsibilities people share to protect the environment.

Forest road erosion control using multiobjective optimization

Treesearch

Matthew Thompson; John Sessions; Kevin Boston; Arne Skaugset; David Tomberlin

2010-01-01

Forest roads are associated with accelerated erosion and can be a major source of sediment delivery to streams, which can degrade aquatic habitat. Controlling road-related erosion therefore remains an important issue for forest stewardship. Managers are faced with the task to develop efficient road management strategies to achieve conflicting environmental and economic...

Biogeochemical Cycling and Environmental Stability of Pu Relevant to Long-Term Stewardship of DOE Sites

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

Santschi, Peter H.

2006-06-01

The overall objective of this proposed research is to understand the biogeochemical cycling of Pu in environments of interest to long-term DOE stewardship issues. Central to Pu cycling (transport initiation to immobilization) is the role of microorganisms. The hypothesis underlying this proposal is that microbial activity is the causative agent in initiating the mobilization of Pu in near-surface environments: through the transformation of Pu associated with solid phases, production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) carrier phases, and the creation of microenvironments. Also, microbial processes are central to the immobilization of Pu species, through the metabolism of organically complexed Pu speciesmore » and Pu associated with extracellular carrier phases and the creation of environments favorable for Pu transport retardation.« less

75 FR 43199 - Notice of Public Meeting; Central Montana Resource Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-23

... sage grouse study project; A presentation about the Undaunted Stewardship Program; A field visit to an... details (next meeting date, location, travel vouchers, etc.). All RAC meetings are open to the public. The...

Y-12 Site Sustainability Plan

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

Spencer, Charles G

2012-12-01

The accomplishments to date and the long-range planning of the Y-12 Energy Management and Sustainability and Stewardship programs support the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) vision for a commitment to energy effi ciency and sustainability and to achievement of the Guiding Principles. Specifi cally, the Y-12 vision is to support the Environment, Safety and Health Policy and the DOE Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan, while promoting overall sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The mission of the Y-12 Energy Management program is to incorporate energy-effi cient technologies site-wide and to position Y-12 tomore » meet NNSA energy requirement needs through 2025 and beyond. The plan addresses greenhouse gases, buildings, fleet management, water use, pollution prevention, waste reduction, sustainable acquisition, electronic stewardship and data centers, site innovation and government-wide support.« less

Aldo Leopold's land health from a resilience point of view: self-renewal capacity of social-ecological systems.

PubMed

Berkes, Fikret; Doubleday, Nancy C; Cumming, Graeme S

2012-09-01

Health approaches to ecology have a strong basis in Aldo Leopold's thinking, and contemporary ecohealth in turn has a strong philosophical basis in Leopold. To commemorate the 125th anniversary of Leopold's birth (1887-1948), we revisit his ideas, specifically the notions of stewardship (land ethic), productive use of ecosystems (land), and ecosystem renewal. We focus on Leopold's perspective on the self-renewal capacity of the land, as understood in terms of integrity and land health, from the contemporary perspective of resilience theory and ecological theory more generally. Using a broad range of literature, we explore insights and implications of Leopold's work for today's human-environment relationships (integrated social-ecological systems), concerns for biodiversity, the development of agency with respect to stewardship, and key challenges of his time and of ours. Leopold's seminal concept of land health can be seen as a triangulation of productive use, self-renewal, and stewardship, and it can be reinterpreted through the resilience lens as the health of social-ecological systems. In contemporary language, this involves the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the ability to exercise agency both for conservation and for environmental justice.

Carrots and Sticks: New Brunswick and Maine Forest Landowner Perceptions Toward Incentives and Regulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quartuch, Michael R.; Beckley, Thomas M.

2014-01-01

The governments of countries that allow private land ownership have two main tools to motivate landowner behavior: regulations and incentives. This research examines landowner preferences toward these policy tools and asks specifically: Do private forest landowners in New Brunswick and Maine believe that regulations and/or incentives are effective means to motivate responsible stewardship? Can landowners identify explicit regulations and policies that restrict property rights? Also, we were interested to see if any discernible differences existed between these adjacent jurisdictions from different countries, but that share similar forests and a similar settlement history. We identified and interviewed diverse landowners, recorded and transcribed our discussions, and analyzed the results using a grounded theory approach. Findings suggest that both New Brunswick and Maine participants are fairly comfortable with most regulations and many agreed that a combination of incentives and regulations are in fact useful. Furthermore, landowners in New Brunswick discussed non-monetary incentives as a mechanism to reward "good" stewardship; while Maine respondents articulated a degree of responsible stewardship that transcends a need to incentivize landowners. This study demonstrates that diverse landowners may be more comfortable with environmental regulations than previously understood and may be interested in non-monetary incentives.

AN INTER-AGENCY APPROACH FOR DETERMINING REGIONAL LAND COVER AND SPECIES HABITAT CONSERVATION STATUS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: THE SOUTHWEST REGIONAL GAP ANALYSIS PROJECT

EPA Science Inventory

The Gap Analysis Program (GAP) is a national inter-agency program that maps the distribution of plant communities and selected animal species and compares these distributions with land stewardship to identify biotic elements at potential risk of endangerment. GAP uses remote sens...

Environmental Stewardship at the Savannah River Site: Generations of Success - 13212

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

Looney, Brian B.; Bergren, Christopher L.; Gaughan, Thomas F.

2013-07-01

Approximately sixty years ago, the Savannah River Site (SRS) was built to produce nuclear materials. SRS production operations impacted air, soil, groundwater, ecology, and the local environment. Throughout its history, SRS has addressed these contamination issues directly and has maintained a commitment to environmental stewardship. The Site boasts many environmental firsts. Notably, SRS was the first major Department of Energy (DOE) facility to perform a baseline ecological assessment. This pioneering effort, by Ruth Patrick and the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, was performed during SRS planning and construction in the early 1950's. This unique early generation of work set the stagemore » for subsequent efforts. Since that time, the scientists and engineers at SRS pro-actively identified environmental problems and developed and implemented effective and efficient environmental management and remediation solutions. This second generation, spanning the 1980's through the 2000's, is exemplified by numerous large and small cleanup actions to address metals and radionuclides, solvents and hydrocarbons, facility and area decommissioning, and ecological restoration. Recently, a third generation of environmental management was initiated as part of Enterprise SRS. This initiative to 'Develop and Deploy Next Generation Cleanup Technologies' formalizes and organizes the major technology matching, development, and implementation processes associated with historical SRS cleanup success as a resource to support future environmental management missions throughout DOE. The four elements of the current, third generation, effort relate to: 1) transition from active to passive cleanup, 2) in situ decommissioning of large nuclear facilities, 3) new long term monitoring paradigms, and 4) a major case study related to support for recovery and restoration of the Japanese Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant and surrounding environment. (authors)« less

How to Get Data from NOAA Environmental Satellites: An Overview of Operations, Products, Access and Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donoho, N.; Graumann, A.; McNamara, D. P.

2015-12-01

In this presentation we will highlight access and availability of NOAA satellite data for near real time (NRT) and retrospective product users. The presentation includes an overview of the current fleet of NOAA satellites and methods of data distribution and access to hundreds of imagery and products offered by the Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC) and the Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS). In particular, emphasis on the various levels of services for current and past observations will be presented. The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is dedicated to providing timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources. In special cases, users are authorized direct access to NESDIS data distribution systems for environmental satellite data and products. Other means of access include publicly available distribution services such as the Global Telecommunication System (GTS), NOAA satellite direct broadcast services and various NOAA websites and ftp servers, including CLASS. CLASS is NOAA's information technology system designed to support long-term, secure preservation and standards-based access to environmental data collections and information. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for the ingest, quality control, stewardship, archival and access to data and science information. This work will also show the latest technology improvements, enterprise approach and future plans for distribution of exponentially increasing data volumes from future NOAA missions. A primer on access to NOAA operational satellite products and services is available at http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Organization/About/access.html. Access to post-operational satellite data and assorted products is available at http://www.class.noaa.gov

Environmental, Safety, and Health Considerations: Composite Materials in the Aerospace Industry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Huai-Pu (Compiler)

1994-01-01

The Aerospace Industries Association, Suppliers of Advanced Composite Materials Association, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration co-sponsored a conference on 'Environmental, Safety, and Health Considerations--Composite Materials in the Aerospace Industry.' The conference was held in Mesa, Arizona, on October 20-21, 1994. Seventeen papers were presented in four sessions including general information, safety, waste, and emissions from composites. Topics range from product stewardship, best work practice, biotransformation of uncured composite materials, to hazardous waste determination and offgassing of composite materials.

Environmental contaminant exposure data and monitoring priorities for wild terrestrial vertebrates at national parks in coastal and estuarine habitat

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rattner, B.A.; Ackerson, B.K.; Eisenreich, K.M.; McKernan, M.A.; Harmon, David

2006-01-01

The Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Project of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assesses the exposure and effects of environmental contaminants on select species and habitats in the United States. One of the many BEST Project activities entails the development of decision-support tools to assist in the identification of chemical threats to species and lands under the stewardship of the Department of the Interior. Although there are many ecotoxicological monitoring programs that focus on aquatic species and habitats, there are currently no large-scale efforts that are focused on terrestrial vertebrates in the United States. Nonetheless, organochlorine contaminants, metals, and new pollutants continue to pose hazards to terrestrial vertebrates at many spatial scales (ranging from small hazardous-waste-site point sources to entire watersheds). To evaluate and prioritize pollutant hazards for terrestrial vertebrates, a ?Contaminant Exposure and EffectsTerrestrial Vertebrates? (CEE-TV) database (www.pwrc.usgs.gov/contaminants-online) was developed. The CEE-TV database has been used to conduct simple searches for exposure and biological effects information for a given species or location, identification of temporal contaminant exposure trends, information gap analyses for national wildlife refuge and national park units, and ranking of terrestrial vertebrate ecotoxicological information needs based on data density and water quality problems. Despite widespread concerns about environmental contamination, during the past decade only about one-half of the coastal National Park units appear to have terrestrial vertebrate ecotoxicological data. Based upon known environmental contaminant hazards, it is recommended that regionalized monitoring programs or efforts focused on lands managed by the Department of the Interior should be undertaken to prevent serious natural resource problems.

Implementation of Rapid Molecular Infectious Disease Diagnostics: the Role of Diagnostic and Antimicrobial Stewardship.

PubMed

Messacar, Kevin; Parker, Sarah K; Todd, James K; Dominguez, Samuel R

2017-03-01

New rapid molecular diagnostic technologies for infectious diseases enable expedited accurate microbiological diagnoses. However, diagnostic stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship are necessary to ensure that these technologies conserve, rather than consume, additional health care resources and optimally affect patient care. Diagnostic stewardship is needed to implement appropriate tests for the clinical setting and to direct testing toward appropriate patients. Antimicrobial stewardship is needed to ensure prompt appropriate clinical action to translate faster diagnostic test results in the laboratory into improved outcomes at the bedside. This minireview outlines the roles of diagnostic stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship in the implementation of rapid molecular infectious disease diagnostics. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Making WaterSense in Charlottesville

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

From a 5K race to $100 toilet rebates to an “Imagine a Day without Water” campaign, the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, is a leader in working with EPA’s WaterSense program to promote water conservation and resource stewardship.

7 CFR 1469.5 - Eligibility requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM General...) Land must meet the definition of eligible land; and (3) The application must meet the conservation...-up. Producers who are participants in an existing conservation stewardship contract are not eligible...

7 CFR 1469.5 - Eligibility requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM General...) Land must meet the definition of eligible land; and (3) The application must meet the conservation...-up. Producers who are participants in an existing conservation stewardship contract are not eligible...

7 CFR 1469.5 - Eligibility requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM General...) Land must meet the definition of eligible land; and (3) The application must meet the conservation...-up. Producers who are participants in an existing conservation stewardship contract are not eligible...

Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Science.gov Websites

and Commissions Board of Agriculture Board of Forestry Community Forest Council Forest Stewardship Development Advisory Board Media Releases Public Notices Divisions/Offices Divisions Agriculture Forestry Programs and Services Agriculture Forestry Geological & Geophysical Surveys Mining, Land & Water