User:Mohammad Shahidehnia

Homework 1:

• What is shared understanding?

In open policy practices for decision making, Shared understanding is the situation when all participants can understand what decision options are considered, what outcomes are of interest, what objectives are pursued, what facts, opinions and disagreements are exist and why they are existing and finally why a particular decision option was selected. Shared understanding does not mean that everyone is agreed with the selected option, but it means that everyone understands the whole picture. So the idea of shared understanding is to make all the participants understand the problem to come up with an integrated selected solution and inform everybody about this solution.

• What are co-creation skills?

Co-creation skills and facilitation which is sometimes also called interactional expertise are the capabilities that are needed in an open policy practice. Co-creation skills are needed to manage the decision making process to produce good, informed decision and ultimately good outcome. Co- creation skills and facilitation is not a method of its own but rather a collection of skills that are needed to execute and manage an open decision process in practice. Some of these skills are: encouragement, synthesis, open data and modelling.

• What is open assessment?

Open assessment is a method for making impact assessments where anyone can participate and contribute. Most open assessments have been made in Opasnet which is a wiki based web workspace specially designed for this purpose. The open assessment method has been developed in the national institute for health and welfare in Finland originally for proving guidance in complex environmental health problems. It has been applied on air pollution and pollutants in fish until now. format User:Mohammad Shahidehnia

----#: . If you make a link to the same page, it will be shown as bold instead of a link (because the link would go to where you already are). --Jouni (talk) 11:07, 22 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

----#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 09:47, 30 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

----#: . Also use external links. --Jouni (talk) 09:23, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Homework2 :

Table caption

Warrfarin 0.5	Warrfarin 0.3
Does1 10/mg	Dose2 15/mg
1 Tablet	0.5 Tablet

The table's caption

Drug	Warrfarin	Warrfarin
Dose	10 mg	5 mg
Tablet	1 tablet/day	2 tablet/day

User:Mohammad Shahidehnia(nro)

Obs	Drug	Warrfarin	Warrfarin
1	Dose	10 mg	5 mg
2	Tablet	1 Tablet/day	2 Tablet/day

⇤--#: . Your table is technically correct but it does not make sense. Based on what I see, you want to have two indices: one is called Drug, and the second index is a common name for Tablet and Dose. I would suggest Observation, as that is what we use when we have several different observations listed in a table format. Second, there are two different drugs, so there are two locations of the index Drug, namely Drug 1 and Drug 2. Third, the unit could be mg or tablet/day, or actually both: "mg, tablet/d". If you think of the structure of the table, it would make more sense to have different drugs on rows and different things observed (Tablet, Dose) as columns. The general idea is that when different things are observed, each type of observation is on its own column. Each row has new observations of those same things. Can you update your table based on these instructions? --Jouni (talk) 09:23, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

←--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 10:21, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: defence)

⇤--#: . This was not what I meant. See my example table below. I use prettytable format, but you should use t2b format. --Jouni (talk) 13:55, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)←--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 07:09, 22 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: defence)

Recommended drug dosages (mg/tablet, tablets/d)

Drug	Strength	Dose
Warfarin	10	1.5
Digoxin	0.1	1

Recommended drug dosages (mg/tablet, tablets/d)

Drug	Strength	Dose
Warfarin	10 mg	2 tablets/day
Digoxin	5 mg	1tablet/day

In this case, Drug is an index that separates the two observations (doses of warfarin and digoxin) from each other. I also renamed the two columns to be more explicit: dose here means the amount of tablets per patient per day. In your table it was not clear whether dose means mg/tablet or mg/person/d.

R code

The example code below prints out the user selected values for variables a,b,c and d. Press the 'Run code'-button to execute.

a: b: 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031.123456789101112.203420332032203120302029202820272026202520242023202220212020201920182017201620152014 Fruit: Banana Orange Kiwi Cars: Ferrari Porsche Lamborghini Slaider: + Show code- Hide code # Print out the variable values a b c d e

• file upload:

Capture 2

Homework 3:

• Question 1: When we are editing and something goes wrong, How is it possible to undo ?
• Question 2: When we respond to the teachers comments, Do we need to clean them or leave them for cheking ?

Homework 4:

Dust storm in south of Iran causes lots of environmental impacts and health problems for the country:

----#: . Add categories and moderator above. --Jouni (talk) 13:52, 30 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

⇤--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 09:27, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

⇤--#: . What I mean is that you should replace the above texts "ADD A CATEGORY" and "ADD YOUR USERNAME" with correct information. --Jouni (talk) 14:07, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)←--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 10:23, 7 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: defence)

Scope

Question

Is this right that citizens of Ahvaz city are more at risk of having respiratory problems such as allergic reactions, asthma, chronic obstractive pulmonary diseases, coronary arterial disease or even different kind of cancers because of having one of the most polluted air in the world?

----#: . OK, now question is more precise. But do you mean risk in general or risk caused by dust storms? --Jouni (talk) 14:07, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) ----#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 10:25, 7 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

----#: . Is this a moral question? Or are you addressing the degree of the risk itself? --Anni Hartikainen (talk) 13:32, 14 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Intended use and users

Ahvaz city inhabitants. Results of this assessment will be available for decision makers to visit and they will be informed by the municipality of Ahvaz city. The results are used in DARM course as an experimental exercise.

----#: . HOW do you expect the inhabitants to use your assessment? Do they actually read your report? Or is there a public education campaign or similar? If there is, the person who organises the campaign is actually your main user. --Jouni (talk) 14:07, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) ←--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 10:29, 7 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: defence)

----#: . How will the information be used? --Anni Hartikainen (talk) 13:49, 14 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Participants

Paula Maatela / Mohammad Shahidehnia, Citizens, assessors and decision makers of Ahvaz, open participation

----#: . Would some extra hands help your work? From whom? --Jouni (talk) 13:52, 30 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)←--#: . No, this will be done based on the web information that we can collect --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 09:55, 31 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: defence) ----#: . corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 09:55, 31 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Boundaries

----#: . Here you should explain temporal, geographical etc boundaries of the assessment. Also, what health impacts are looked at in the assessment? Are other impacts (money, CO2,...) looked at? --Jouni (talk) 19:25, 14 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) {{comment|# |Corrected|--Paula Maatela (talk)

• Temporal boundaries: from present to 2030
• Sand storms originated from Iraq site, success of bilateral problem solving
• Health impact of particular matter (PM₁₀, PM_2,5 and PM₁), morbidity (allergic reactions, asthma, chronic obstractive pulmonary diseases, coronary arterial disease), mortality.
• Impacts on the economy of the city (The governor of province have announced to stop working during dust storm, only police, fire brigade and health care (hospitals) function during dust storms. .
• Impacts on the contentment of citizens
• Impacts on the value of properties

Scenarios

• Preventing the formation of dust storms by planting or wooding the ground, or by other way to bind the dust to ground.
• and/or equip houses with high efficiency air filters
• and/or citizens stay at home during dust storms
• Continue as usual

Decisions

Options recognised to mitigate or eliminate the adversal effect of dust storms:

• Preventing the formation of dust storms by planting or wooding the ground, or by other way to bind the dust to ground
• and/or equip houses with high efficiency air filters
• and/or citizens stay at home during dust storms

The most important activities Planning and Development Assistance in Ahvaz has planned to do for solving this problem:

• Regulation and a municipal council in Ahvaz and track bills take its decisions Ahvaz municipal planning and monitoring of IT projects and supervision of Plan, implement and evaluate the sustainable development of Ahvaz.
• The preparation of the municipal budget and supervising its implementation.
• Implementation and deployment of Municipal Information Systems.
• Design and implementation of quality management systems.
• Improving municipal financial system in Ahvaz.
• Study, design and implementation of budgeting.
• Conducting qualitative research projects and studies.
• Review and reform of municipal Staff training.
• Conducting a precise statistics in the city of Ahvaz to have the precise information about the health effects of the dust storm.
• Publishing a think room in the level of management and decision making .

To solve the problem, International meetings are required between Iran and Iraq to stabilize the dust in Iraq side and stop them from flying. This may happen by forest production or using stabilizers on the land to prevent dust storm. Unfortunately both two countries have some political internal problems which makes the team working on this case almost impossible.

The governor of province have announced to stop working during dust storm, only police, fire brigade and health care (hospitals) function during dust storms. Practical recommendation to mitigate effects of outdoor air on indoor air quality is installing air conditioning which is equipped with HEPA or ULPA filter in such places.

----#: . Here, you should explain what decision options are considered. Typically, the assessment results are used to recommend some of the options to the decision maker. --Jouni (talk) 19:25, 14 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) {{comment|# |Corrected|--Paula Maatela (talk)

Timing

Timing of the assessment: From present to 2030.

----#: . You should describe the timing of your assessment. --Jouni (talk) 19:25, 14 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) {{comment|# |Corrected|--Paula Maatela (talk)

Answer

Results

Origin and characterization of particles:

Sowlat et al.,2012, have found possible sources of total suspended particles (TSP) in Ahvaz as follows: crustal dust/soil (56%), road dust (7%), motor vehicles (8%), marine aerosols (9%), secondary aerosols (7%), metallurgical plants (4.5%) and petrochemical plants and fossil fuel combustion (8.5%). Crustal dust has higher relative contributions during spring and summer, and motor vehicles during fall and winter. Mean concentration of TSP and PM₁₀ and PM₁₀ concentrations during dust and non-dust days, and the overall mean values for PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM₁ are presented in table below . During Middle Eastern Dust storm the particle concentrations observed were generally higher than those observed during the Asian dust storms. This implies the importance of Middle Eastern Dust impact on the air quality of the Ahvaz region

Concentrations of different particle sizes in dust in Ahvaz during Middle East dust storm(µg /m3)

Obs	Particle size	Year	Result	Description
1	TSP	2010	1481.5	Mean concentration
2	PM10	2010	1072.9	Mean concentration
3	PM10	2010	1353.6	During dust days
4	PM10	2010	371.3	During non-dust days
5	PM10	2010	319.6 - 407.07
6	PM2.5	2010	69.5 - 83.2
7	PM1	2010	37.02 - 34.9

----#: . Briefly explaining the pollutants would make them more understandable to e.g. citizens of Ahvaz --Anni Hartikainen (talk) 14:05, 14 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Conclusions

The air quality in Ahvaz, Iran, is over five times as bad as the air the typical person breathes. These particulate matters are causes of respiratory illnesses, asthma, even cancer. Citizens of Ahvaz should be protected from the dust.

Rationale

Characterization of particles

Dust storms can pick and transport bacteria, pollen spores, fungi and viruses, as well as anthropogenic material as a result of particulate/pollutant aerolization and they can also adsorb material such as heavy metals and pesticides .

Dust storm frequencies were 29, 33, 55, 45 and 17 in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. In some cases, it has lasted for 48–72 h .

Health problems associated with particular matter:

Ahvaz has the world's worst air pollution according to a survey by the World Health Organization in 2011. One of the crucial measures of dangerous air pollution is the amount and number of small particles in the air. These particles are with size of 10 μm or less.

WH0: 350 000 premature deaths are caused by PM _2.5.

Increased diseases in Ahvaz city in compare with other cities of the country:

• Inflammation: respiratory tract, blood circulation, heart, brain (PM, O₃)
• Increased blood coagulation: arterial thrombosis, worsening of coronary arterial disease (PM)
• Influences on autonomic nervous system: respiratory symptoms and reduced lung functions (PM, O₃, SO₂, NO₂, VOC), disturbance of cardiac rhythm (PM)
• DNA-damage in respiratory epithelial cells: increased risk of lung cancer (e.g. PAHs, As, Ni, Cr and Cd in PM)

Who are susceptible to air pollution?

• Fetus, newborns and young children (5 years of age, whose lungs and airways haven’t yet developed fully).
• Asthmatic subjects at all ages (inhaled glucocortico-steroids have greatly reduced mortality).
• Subjects affected by chronic cardiopulmonary disorders
• Elderly (>65-year-old) subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or coronary arterial disease.
• Diabetes, genetic factors, poor nutritional status, poorly treated chronic disease etc. can increase individual susceptibility.

Background information for analyses:

WHO air quality guidelines 2000 - 1

• Recommendations for the management of outdoor and indoor pollutant-induced health risks given as guidelines:
• The highest ”low-risk” pollutant concentrations for non-carcinogenic substances at selected, critical averaging times (e.g. 1-h, 8-h, 24-h, one year) to prevent short-term peak exposures and long-term exposures, and their health outcomes (18 pollutants in WHO 2000 & WHO 2005)
• Guidelines for 30-min average concentration of pollutants causing acute sensory effects or annoyance reactions (6 pollutants in WHO 2000)

WHO air quality guidelines 2000 - 2

Linear unit risk assessment for a lifetime exposure to a theoretical equal mass concentration (1 μg/m³) of airborne carcinogenic substances to prevent cancer, most often in the respiratory tract but with some substances also in other target organs:

• A unit risk of 10^-4 for a toxic substance means 100 extra cancer cases in a population of 1 million people exposed to a lifetime pollutant concentration of 1 μg/m³.
• If in a real-life situation the annual concentration of this toxic substance is 10 ng/m³, the estimated risk is only 1 extra cancer case per 1 million people exposed to this concentration for a lifetime.
• Similarly, the estimated risk is only 1 extra cancer case at the toxic substance concentration of 1 μg/m³, if the exposed population is only 10000 people.

The WHO has suggested that the number of respiratory deaths attributed to PM₁₀ has a 1.2% increase as the default for a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ . Health effects of PM to human health according to WHO, EU and EPA are listed in table below.

Health effects of PM to human health according to WHO*, EU** and EPA***(µg /m3)

Obs	Exposure agent	Exposure	Result	Description
1	PM10	1 year	20	acceptable mean value*
2	PM10	24 h	50	acceptable mean value*
3	PM10	1 year	40	acceptable mean value**
4	PM2.5	1 year	25	acceptable mean value**
5	PM2.5	24 h	35.5 – 55.4	unhealthy for sensitive groups***
6	PM2.5	24 h	55.5 – 150.4	unhealthy***
7	PM2.5	24 h	150.5 – 250.4	very unhealthy***
8	PM2.5	24 h	250.4 – 500	hazardous to human***

,

Coarse thoracic particles (PM_10-2.5; diameter 2.5-10μm):
Mainly road dust containing soil minerals, biological material (pollens, plant debris) and microbial material (bacteria, spores, endotoxins); deposit mainly to trachea and larger bronchi; quick removal by mucociliary clearance (hours-days).

Stakeholders

Over 1,432,965 inhabitants, in 796,239 families are living in Ahvaz .

Dependencies

• Buildings in Ahvaz
• Exposure to particulate matter in in Ahvaz
• Health impact assessment
• Disease risk
• Climate and health policies in Ahvaz
• Political decisions between Iraq and Iran

Analyses

The best outcome for the problem is achieved by solving how to prevent the dust storms development. The worst outcome is when nothing is done.

⇤--#: . See my corrections to your lists (use View history). --Jouni (talk) 14:07, 1 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

Keywords

Ahvaz, Ahvaz pollution, Dust storm

Calculations

Not available

References

Here is an example of a reference: you put the ref-tag within the text, and the reference information will show up where the references-tag is located. Note: nowiki-tag is used to show the wiki code on the page, it is not used when making references!

⇤--#: . Using references in HW2 means that you know how to use the ref-tag. --Jouni (talk) 13:52, 30 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

⇤--#: . Corrected --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 10:04, 31 March 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

⇤--#: . See my example above about using ref-tag. --Jouni (talk) 19:22, 6 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

Homework 5:

adaptation to climate change in Switzerland

Here is the document about Switzerland which we looked at: Cover+Adaptation+to+climate+change+in+Switzerland The homework is done based on the adaptation to climate change in Switzerland goals, challenges and fields of action document. This is the first part of federal council strategy in Switzerland which is adapted on 2 March 2012. Editor team: Roland Hohmann (head), Pamela Köllner-Heck, Thomas Probst.

Project team for HW5: Mohammad Shahidehnia, Paula Maatela.

Questions:

*What are the aims/goals of the strategy/program, i.e. what are the desired impacts and outcomes striven for?

Adaptation strategy against climate changes. The adaptation strategy is divided into two parts. The first part, describes the goals, challenges and fields of action in adapting to climate change. The second part, due to be available by the end of 2013, will build on this, presenting a plan of action which brings together specific adaptation measures. The first part of the strategy considers how we can adapt in a range of areas, from water management, natural hazard management, agriculture and forestry to energy, tourism, biodiversity management, health and spatial development. Fields of action for adapting in these sectors are defined, adaptation goals formulated and possible ways of achieving these goals outlined. The interfaces between ways of adapting to climate change in the different sectors are also described. These should allow us to use existing synergies in adapting to climate change to the full, and avoid and resolve conflicting objectives .

*What are the actions that are needed/intended to take in order to progress towards the aims/goals?

In water management need for actions is considered to be particularly high in following areas:

• Supply of drinking water,
• Comprehensive management of water reservoirs,
• Maintaining cooling efficiency in watercooled thermal power plants,
• Irrigation

There are also a moderate needs for action in the following water management fields:

• Use of groundwater which is adversely affected by low-quality surface water
• Effect of leached harmful substances to the quality of ground and surface water
• Effect of soil erosion to farming practices
• Effects of discharge pattern changes to power plants turbines performance
• Changes in fish species and its impact on recreational fishing
• Effects of discharge pattern changes and droughts to Rhine’s transport capacity

Fields of action requiring adaptation in natural hazards management are:

• Floods in alpine region particularly in early summer causing also accelerated erosion on steep slopes
• Floods in Mittelland and the Jura
• Torrential processes in Alpine region leading to increasingly frequent sudden landslides and risk of mudslides and debris avalanches
• Gravitational processes in Alpine region leading to increased rockfall activity in many areas
• Protection of forest from temperature rise, increasing drought and frequent storms

Fields of action requiring adaptation in agriculture:

• Site suitability for agricultural production (effects of climate change to landscape)
• Heavy rainfall (increases the risk of soil erosion and leaching, particularly during periods of low vegetation)
• Drought
• Heat stress in plants and animals
• Pests and diseases due to spread of new harmful organisms in crops and among farm animals
• Price volatility caused by fluctuations in crop yields due to climate variability

Fields of action requiring adaptation in forestry:

• Critical protection forests
• Conifer-rich forests in low-lying areas
• Climate-sensitive forest sites
• Other forest sites

Fields of action requiring adaptation in the energy sector:

• Energy demand for air conditioning and cooling of buildings
• Generation of electricity from hydropower
• Generation of electricity from thermal power plants
• Maintenance and safety of transport infrastructure due to bedrock destabilisation and increased mass wasting

Fields of action requiring adaptation in tourism

• Development of tourism supply
• Hazard minimization due to weather extremes
• Communication among the actors in the tourism industry in individual destinations to join forces

Fields of action requiring adaptation in biodiversity management

• Gene pool for the long-term survival of species with a low capacity for adaptation and small populations.
• Habitats and species with both a positive and a negative impact on species , and development of new habitats and communities.
• Spread of invasive alien species
• Biotope network /connectivity
• Ecosystem services

Fields of action requiring adaptation in the health sector

• Vector-borne diseases (humans and animals)
• Effects of heat (humans and animals) to cardiovascular conditions, dehydration, overheating and impaired performance.
• Food- and water-borne diseases (humans)

Fields of action requiring adaptation in spatial development:

• Quality of life in cities and agglomerations
• Tourism
• Natural hazards

*Who are those that benefit if the aims/goals of the strategy/program are reached?

The whole society, citizens in Switzerland, its economy, tourism (also tourists), industry etc.

*Who are those that actually realize these actions?

The FOEN is responsible both for drafting the first part of the adaptation strategy and for coordinating the drafting of the action plan. The adaptation strategy forms the basis for the federal offices’ coordinated course of action for adapting to climate change. This is a long-term task. List of the federal offices that are primarily responsible for dealing as interfaces between the fields of action:

• Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE)
• Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP)
• Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)
• Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH)
• Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)
• Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG)
• Federal Veterinary Office (FVO)
• Federal Finance Administration (FFA)
• Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss)
• State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)

What are the decisions that are needed to make in order to enable/promote the actions?

First decisions needed to enable the actions is to prioritise actions (identification of most important sector and action) to start. The action plan for adapting to climate change is implemented. The action plan will be reviewed at regular intervals for verifying compliance with the goals and principles. The effects achieved by each individual measures will be assessed as part of the ordinary effectiveness and performance audits in the federal offices. In addition, progress with implementing the action plan (implementation audit) as well as the overall contribution of the action plan to reducing climate-related risks will be subject to a regular and comprehensive assessment.

Who are the decision makers?

The Federal Council’s strategy, Adaptation to climate change in Switzerland – Goals, challenges and fields of action. First part of the Federal Council’s strategy, is the legally binding document. Federal offices (cantons)

*What direct or indirect health impacts, positive or negative, these decisions and actions (may) have?

Comparing to the situation where no action were done against climate change. The decisions may declines mortality caused by heat stress and cardiovascular and respiratory complaints. They will also decrease asthma and other acute and chronic respiratory conditions due to higher ozone and pollen concentrations brought by higher temperature. On the other hand, highly allergic species like ambrosia species give an additional burden to people who suffer from pollen allergy, and some indigenous disease vectors and occurrence of new vectors like tiger mosquitoes may spread. Diseases originated from food deteriorating will be decreased.

Awareness of risk of spread of harmful organisms and diseases and possible contamination of drinking water may lead to better hygiene, and development of new vaccines and medicines.

*Where and how do these impacts take place, who are those that face these health impacts in practice?

Impacts take place in everyday life in the whole society. Those who are most vulnerable (elderly people and young children) would benefit most.

*Are the health impacts big or small in relation to other impacts (e.g. economical, social, climate, other environmental, ...)?

Health impacts are considered to be small in relation to other environmental effects (sudden landslides and risk of mudslides and debris avalanches, rockfall in Alpine region, drought and frequent storms).

*Do the intended policies result in win-win, win-lose, lose-win, or lose-lose situations with regard to health and other impacts?

The intended policies results in lose-win situation with regards to health and other impacts. If described actions were not implemented increase of temperature in Switzerland would be approximately 2-3 times higher than with the implemented actions, temperature is risen more slowly, and the consequences could be more manageable.

*Formulate a plausible and meaningful specific assessment question that takes account of (some of) the aspects considered in above questions.

What was the basis for prioritisation (DALY, disability adjusted life year, cost-effectiveness)?

*Extra question: In what ways your answers do or do not represent "shared understanding"? (The climate program/strategy can be considered a compilation of contributions by many experts and attempting to reflect the views and needs of different decision makers and stakeholders)

Our answers represent shared understanding in a way that we are able to correctly explain what was written in assessment and it correctly contains our thinking about the topic. It does not represent shared understanding, because the others can’t read our comments, and can’t agree/approve that our comments are included in the assessment.

Homework 6:

Write your answers on either group member's user page (other member adds a link to the answers on his/her user page).

Questions:

Part A: Questions about identifying roles and participation:

Who are the relevant participants of the assessment?

Adapting to the effects of climate change involves the whole of society. It also ivolves following federal agencies:

• Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE)
• Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP)
• Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)
• Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH)
• Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)
• Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG)
• Federal Veterinary Office (FVO)
• Federal Finance Administration (FFA)
• Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss)
• State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)

Federal, confederations and federal councils are all involved in the assessment.

What roles the different participants (may) take in the assessment?

The adaptation strategy makes it possible to coordinate action at federal level and provides a basis for the Confederation, cantons, communes and private individuals to work in partnership, taking account of existing responsibilities and competences. At federal level, measures will be implemented as part of existing sector policies and budget priorities should be set in each policy area so that the task of adapting to climate change can begin. Confederation provides additional financial and staff requirements should be assessed and funding proposals made by the offices responsible for the measures. The Federal Council’s strategy envisages implementing the measures by means of regulations and standards which help to mitigate the effects of climate change, as well as by creating incentives which encourage innovative adaptation processes. New promotional measures at federal level can be implemented additionally, if required. Account should be taken of the division of responsibilities between Confederation and cantons and the costs-by-cause principle appropriately applied. Federal Council has adopted the first part of its adaptation strategy on 2 March 2012.

What kind of relevant knowledge they (may) have regarding the assessment?

In water management there are needs to have scientific-technical knowledge as well as safety, economical and jurisdical knowledge. Scientific-technical knowledge comprises for example meteorological information for weather forecasts and modelling purposes, knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, health care and veterinary to understand all impacts of climate change to the ecosystem, power production (hydroelectricity 56% and nuclear power 39%), (drinking) water production, construction (dam construction, houses construction regarding to energy consumption for example) and infrastructure planning.

What needs and aims do they represent in the assessment?

For example water management is connected with natural management, agriculture, forestry, energy, biodiversity management, health and spatial development, which means that they represent needs and aims of the whole society for proper function as well as needs coming from the environment. Aims and needs come from above mentioned fields, but also cultural and political needs and aims and values will be represented.

Part B: Consider also the following questions about facilitating collaboration:

How could the relevant participants be involved in the assessment in an effective way?

In order to adapt to climate change effectively, it is essential for the Confederation, cantons, communes, associations and private individuals to cooperate. In order to raise awareness of the necessity of adapting to climate change among decision-makers in all sectors and at all institutional levels, these key players must receive targeted information about the effects of climate change and the existing ways in which these can be addressed. Improving communication between players in research, administration and practice means that the information available from observation, early detection and national and international research can be used in the adaptation process. At the same time, it will encourage the flow of information on successes and failures experienced in adaptation projects. In working together in a coordinated manner, all players can ensure that adapting to climate change occurs efficiently. Of utmost importance is the crossborder exchange of information on the impact of climate change on the Alpine region and regarding adaptation strategies and measures and how they are implemented.

How can the quality of an assessment be assured if anyone can participate?

In working together in a coordinated manner, all players can ensure that adapting to climate change occurs efficiently.

How can you prevent malevolent contributions where the purpose is to vandalise the process?

Malevolent contributions could be avoided by openness, transparency and close cooperation with different stakeholders and public, in that way malevolent contributions are revealed in all probability.

How can you make the outcome converge to a conclusion, because all issues are uncertain and controversial?

Assessment contains always uncertainty in some degree. While having a discussion based assessment, the conclusion forms from the hypothesis which can’t be disproved, and which gain most support.

How can you ensure that the outcomes are useful for the users?

The assessment should be evaluated and audited in regularly basis, and to have close cooperation with the users. There should be a feedback system where the users can express their opinions, and that can be easily done in the internet having user friendly feedback site (easy access and very simply to operate for ensuring that low computational skills do not hinder anyone to attend), possibility to give feedback anonymously.

Homework 8:

• My statement:

City level climate change mitigation is useless because success depends on international treaties. ⇤--#: . I think Europe union's decisions has pretty affect on the city and member states decision making, but that does not mean that the city level climate changes are useless. --Mohammad Shahidehnia (talk) 12:04, 22 April 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

Homework 9:

Climate change policies in Helsinki <- new("ovariable", name = "Climate change policies in Helsinki", data = data)

Answer

Enegry consumption rate shows that people are using more enrgy than years before or it's about the same in Finland:

Most of the electricity is consumed in service sectors and homes and Moreover, the electricity produced by heating is used mostly in stakeholders and a little amount in service sector:

==

Wood fuel stile is the biggest source of enrgy in Finland:

The efficiency of using energy shows soaring increase in recent years:

Homework 10:

Evalution of Climate changes in Ahvaz city (HW4 Mohammad Shahidehnia & Paula Maatela)

This assessment concerned the storm dust in Ahvaz city, South of Iran with regards to the decision wich are made by the Iranian government.

Characterization of assessment

Category		Characterization
Impacts		Negative impacts on civilian health. Negative impact on The environment causing soil erosion and dust storm. Impacts on costs and finance. Impacts on other countries than Iran
Causes		flying dust from Iraq
Problem owner		In general all citizens of Ahvaz city are struggling with health problems. The city is recognized as the second polluted city in the world.
Target		The target are policy makers and the government of Iran to solve the problem and to brain storming and bringing new ideas up for solving the problem of Ahvaz city.
Interaction		Financial problem and the coordination between Iran and Iraq are the most important interactions. ----#: . Interaction is about interaction between experts, decision makers, and stakeholders. --Jouni (talk) 08:39, 20 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)
Dimensions of openness	Scope of participation	Whole society, from citizen to government and businesses.
	Access to information	All parties probably do not have equal access to all information. Especially when the information are not openly shared with the citizens.
	Timing of openness	This is a non stoping process until the time of optimal air quality achievment.
	Scope of contribution	Participants were not invited to involve.
	Impact of contribution	Participants are poorly cotributing in to the decision making. ----#: . Do stakeholders' comments make a difference to the conclusions? --Jouni (talk) 08:39, 20 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment)

Evaluation of the assessment

Category		Evaluation (on scale 1 to 5)	Reasoning
Quality of content - Specificity, exactness and correctness of information. Correspondence between questions and answers.		1	Loss of information about this City.
Applicability	Relevance: Correspondence between output and its intended use.	2	Output can be used in the Protection of citizens and theri environment.
	Availability: Accessibility of the output to users in terms of e.g. time, location, extent of information, extent of users.	1	Participants have very poor accessibility to the output.
	Usability:Potential of the information in the output to generate understanding among its user about the topic of assessment.	3	This sort of assessment in its best can be very useful for at least opening the discussion.
	Acceptability: Potential of the output being accepted by its users. Fundamentally a matter of its making and delivery, not its information content.	5	It would be accepted easily by the people who are in danger if they are aware of this danger.
Efficiency		5	Lot of effort would be needed to make a thorough assessment. ----#: . If a lot of effort is needed, then efficiency is low. --Jouni (talk) 08:39, 20 May 2015 (UTC) (type: truth; paradigms: science: comment) The continuous meetings and scientific seminars should be organized to integrate the ideas of two countries about this problem and its importance for both countries. Education and development of social protection should be improved.

Suggestions to improve the draft

The assessment should be more classified and priorities should be more intended.