Browsing by Author "King, Helen"
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Item Open Access Contact cleaning of polymer film solar reflectors(AIP Publishing, 2016-01-31) Sansom, Christopher L.; Fernández-García, Aránzazu; Sutter, Florian; Almond, Heather; King, HelenThis paper describes the accelerated ageing of polymer film reflecting surfaces under the conditions to be found during contact cleaning of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors in the presence of dust and sand particles. In these situations, contact cleaning using brushes and water is required to clean the reflecting surfaces. Whilst suitable for glass reflectors, this paper discusses the effects of existing cleaning processes on the optical and visual properties of polymer film surfaces, and then describes the development of a more benign but effective contact cleaning process for cleaning polymer reflectors. The effects of a range of cleaning brushes are discussed, with and without the presence of water, in the presence of sand and dust particles from selected representative locations. Reflectance measurements and visual inspection shows that a soft cleaning brush with a small amount of water can clean polymer film reflecting surfaces without inflicting surface damage or reducing specular reflectance.Item Open Access The importance of landscape characteristics for the delivery of cultural ecosystem services(Elsevier, 2017-12-09) Ridding, Lucy E.; Redhead, John W.; Oliver, Tom H.; Schmucki, Reto; McGinlay, James; Graves, Anil R.; Morris, Joe; Bradbury, Richard B.; King, Helen; Bullock, James M.The importance of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) to human wellbeing is widely recognised. However, quantifying these non-material benefits is challenging and consequently they are often not assessed. Mapping approaches are increasingly being used to understand the spatial distribution of different CES and how this relates to landscape characteristics. This study uses an online Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) to elicit information on outdoor locations important to respondents in Wiltshire, a dynamic lowland landscape in southern England. We analysed these locations in a GIS with spatial datasets representing potential influential factors, including protected areas, land use, landform, and accessibility. We assess these characteristics at different spatial and visual scales for different types of cultural engagement. We find that areas that are accessible, near to urban centres, with larger views, and a high diversity of protected habitats, are important for the delivery of CES. Other characteristics including a larger area of woodland and the presence of sites of historic interest in the surrounding landscape were also influential. These findings have implications for land-use planning and the management of ecosystems, by demonstrating the benefits of high quality ecological sites near to towns. The importance of maintaining and restoring landscape features, such as woodlands, to enhance the delivery of CES were also highlighted.Item Open Access Introducing an ecosystem services approach to quarry restoration(Cranfield University, 2013-08-08) King, HelenThe ecosystem services approach is an emerging trend in policy, academia and land management, as seen by its inclusion in the National Planning Policy Framework, Natural Environmental White Paper, and the UK Sustainability Development Strategy. Minerals quarrying can impact significantly on natural and social environments, and subsequently extraction is highly regulated. The Mineral Products Association (‘MPA'; a trade organisation for the minerals industry) recognises that the industry would benefit from a better understanding of its relationship with ecosystem services. The MPA works with the RSPB and Natural England on the ‘Nature After Minerals' programme, to help minerals companies take a biodiversity-led approach to quarry restoration. Increasing the effectiveness of this programme, and awareness amongst landowners, policymakers, and the general public is seen as key to increasing high-quality land restoration which benefits local communities and wildlife. This report shows how an ecosystem services approach could offer a systematic framework to enhance, structure, and communicate the benefits which restored land provides to society. It provides information to enable the minerals products industry to evaluate and begin to develop an ecosystem services approach to quarry restoration. Subsequently the report i) outlines the ecosystem services approach, ii) identifies its relevance to the minerals industry, iii) identifies how an ecosystem services approach may be applied to quarry restoration, and iv) provides recommendations for the minerals industry which support the introduction of an ecosystem services into quarry restoration. Findings include the types of ecosystem services that restored quarries can (potentially) generate and associated public benefits specifically for four common habitat types: heathlands, grasslands, wetlands and farmland. The report gives examples of how ecosystem services from these habitats may be valued. A number of business opportunities and threats are considered in relation to ecosystem service trends. A key issue for the minerals industry to address is the lack of formal reporting and centralised recording of habitats created through restoration. Recommendations for the mineral industry to consider include: 1. Developing a ‘habitat creation' database to enable transfer studies of the value of ecosystem services 2. Developing an ecosystem services classification and appraisal guide to allow rapid assessment of such services in minerals contexts 3. Integrating ecosystem services into planning applications in order to identify local priorities, enhance stakeholder engagement, and where appropriate pave the way for Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes 4. Undertaking a full assessment of potential market opportunities and risks Developing links to other programmes and databases using an ecosystem service approach such as RESTORE, the UK NEA, BESS, TESSA, AIRES, and InVESTItem Open Access People in nature and nature in people: a constructivist exploration of ecosystem cultural services(Cranfield University, 2012) King, Helen; Burgess, Paul J.The ecosystem services approach is a set of institutional practices which aim to improve natural resource management and policy making, by highlighting the relationship between well-functioning ecosystems and human wellbeing. Within the approach, cultural services (CS) signify the psycho-social aspects of people-nature interrelations. This concept is an understudied area, and is recognised to exhibit high levels of complexity which make it difficult to evaluate. This thesis deconstructs, explores, clarifies and enhances the CS concept. A flexible, phased research design explores cultural services in relation to a specific case-study site, 'Aspley Woods and Heaths' (England). Cultural services are examined through a series of lenses: as an interdisciplinary construct, as an experience of place, as context, as a resource regime, as a discursive resource and as a personal discourse. Mixed qualitative methods identify how CS is constructed through action, speech and text; via an in depth analysis of primary data from semi-structured visitor and expert interviews, unstructured key informant interviews, and marginal participant observation. Additional data informs the enquiry, from a discourse analysis of key study site documents, and a review of site-related historic, ecological, land management, and policy documents. Results from this thesis subsequently challenge the current published definition and subcategorisation of cultural services. The notion that cultural services are nonmaterial is disputed due to the centrality of physical activities, physical sensations, and access management regimes which require material inputs. The benefits premise is challenged since CS experiences included references to anxiety, injury and conflict. The notion that CS are obtained is disputed due to the reciprocal nature of information exchange between people and features of the environment. The idea that CS are solely from ecosystems is challenged due to the part played by interpretative socio-cultural contexts, and natural and social processes which occur outside site boundaries and specified time frames. Instead, this thesis recommends that cultural services be redefined as the ways that humans use discourse to construct and communicate perceptions of nature. CS arise from processes of interaction (activities) and reciprocal information exchange (information functions) with ecosystems. CS subcategories are hence a series of cognitive, retrospective, intuitive, creative, communicative and regenerative interpretative repertoires, which form the basis of social practices such as designation, restoration and policy. The propensity of environments to embody discourse is concluded to be crucial in defining what is valuable about natural ecosystems, and how these contribute to wellbeing.