Corrigendum to "Geographic network effects to engage people in the energy transition: The case of PV in Switzerland" [Heliyon 9(7) (July 2023) e17800].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17800.].

Geographic network effects to engage people in the energy transition: The case of PV in Switzerland.

With the energy transition and CO2 emissions reduction as a priority on the international policy agenda, governments worldwide are trying to engage the population in investing in renewable energies. In this paper, we study the role of information access and peer effects in the photovoltaics sector in the case of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Based on a representative survey of the population of two districts, Nyon and Jura-Nord Vaudois, we show that being a homeowner and knowing someone who has installed PV cells in your social group significantly increase the probability of putting up PV cells. A direct neighbourhood effect was found, meaning that if a neighbour has installed a PV cell, the probability of the inhabitants in the two case study regions installing one themselves increases significantly. Our results show that spatial proximity is an important factor in the transmission of information between peers. Besides pure geographical distance, additional aspects such as administrative boundaries, shared language or degree of urbanisation play a role in the way the information network is presented. These insights indicate that professional experts and neighbours are important points of reference in the decision to invest in PV, and that regional networks are key for the active spreading of information on renewable technologies. Thus, we recommend using these connections to actively promote PV.

Obstacles and opportunities for reducing dwelling size to shrink the environmental footprint of housing: tenants' residential preferences and housing choice.

The environmental footprint of housing is greatly influenced by the size of a dwelling. Housing size is the result of households' dwelling selections; accordingly, it is critical to consider residential preferences and choices to inform efforts towards housing sustainability. This study aimed to understand tenants' preferences for and choices of housing size as one amongst several dwelling characteristics and identify obstacles and opportunities for reducing size in the light of promoting sustainable housing. We employed logistic regression models to analyse a survey with 878 Swiss tenants, and our results identify preference for large dwellings as a major obstacle for reducing dwelling size among affluent tenants. Conversely, tenants with lower income might be forced to move to a smaller dwelling due to financial constraints or attribute higher importance to the financial benefit of lower rents. However, financial disincentives along with substantial non-monetary costs of moving, such as the disruption of local bonds and the difficulty of finding a satisfactory dwelling, can outweigh the benefits of moving to a smaller dwelling. To overcome such obstacles, we suggest offering incentives and other facilitating measures for downsizing moves as well as ensuring an adequate supply of smaller dwellings capable of providing high living quality. We highlight the potential of studying housing functions to conceptualize dwellings fulfilling these requirements.

High spatial resolution dataset of La Mobilière insurance customers.

We present the La Mobilière insurance customers dataset: a 12-year-long longitudinal collection of data on policies of customers of the Swiss insurance company La Mobilière. To preserve the privacy of La Mobilière customers, we propose the data aggregated at two geographical levels, based on the place of residence of the customer: postal areas and municipalities. For each geographical area, the data provides summary statistics on: (i) the demographic characteristics of the customer base, (ii) characteristics of vehicles insurance policies and (iii) characteristics of housing and building insurance policies. To assess the validity of the data, we investigate the temporal consistency of the data and the representativeness of La Mobilière customer base along several dimensions (total population, percentage of foreigners, etc.). We also show how the insurance data can reliably model the spatial patterns of socio-economic indicators at a high geographical resolution. We believe that the reuse of this data provides an opportunity for researchers to broaden the socio-economic characterization of Swiss areas beyond the use of official data sources.

Towards circular phosphorus: The need of inter- and transdisciplinary research to close the broken cycle.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element to all living beings but also a finite resource. P-related problems center around broken P cycles from local to global scales. This paper presents outcomes from the 9th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW9) held 2019 on how to move towards a sustainable P management. It is based on two sequential discussion rounds with all participants. Important progress was reported regarding the awareness of P as finite mineable resource, technologies to recycle P, and legislation towards a circular P economy. Yet, critical deficits were identified such as how to handle legacy P, how climate change may affect ecosystem P cycling, or working business models to up-scale existing recycling models. Workshop participants argued for more transdisciplinary networks to narrow a perceived science-practice/policy gap. While this gap may be smaller in reality as illustrated with a Swiss example, we formulate recommendations how to bridge this gap more effectively.

Tenants' residential mobility in Switzerland: the role of housing functions.

The interaction between residential preferences and dwellings is a complex system whose function thus far remains insufficiently explored. In this paper, we investigate housing functions as orchestrators of households' residential mobility in the context of Swiss rental housing. We propose a theoretical multi-step model and use survey data from 878 Swiss tenants to inspect the model's linkages. From the statistical analysis, we firstly observe that tenants' residential satisfaction is more likely to increase when the gap between ideal housing functions and those actually fulfilled by the current dwelling decreases. Secondly, results show that the effectiveness of an event (e.g. a job opportunity) in triggering the move is significantly related to both residential satisfaction and the functions the dwelling fulfils prior to the trigger. Thirdly, findings show that these trigger events can be grouped into three types: radical change, problem-solving and opportunity. With a medium effect size, a radical change was found to bring about the strongest change in housing functions between past and current dwellings. Lastly, in line with the hypothesis that residential preferences vary over the life course, socio-demographic characteristics and tenancy types are found to be significant explanatory variables for households' ideal housing functions. By disentangling the complexity of the housing system, the proposed multi-step model can be used to integrate households' preferences with supply-side constraints in agent-based model simulations, thereby contributing to fostering the provision of quality housing, i.e. dwellings able to meet the needs of current and future occupants.

Activities, Housing Situation and Other Factors Influencing Psychological Strain Experienced During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Switzerland.

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis and the corresponding first nationwide lockdown from mid-March to 10 May 2020 engendered considerable psychological strain among people in Switzerland. This study analyzes determinants of changes in subjective levels of psychological strain experienced during the lockdown. Methods: An online survey conducted as part of a larger mixed methods study examined the material and emotional aspects of individual reactions to the lockdown from a socio-ecological perspective. Participants (N = 5932) were asked about their personal and employment status, housing features, changes in various activities (e.g., physical activity, watching TV, social media use) and aspects of mental distress and well-being. Results: A substantial share of participants reported to feel depressed (33%) and anxious (43%) more often during the COVID-19 lockdown than before, whereas significantly (p < 0.001) less persons reported a decrease of these negative feelings (depressed 17%; anxious 14%). Women, single people, students and people who lost their jobs or were temporally unemployed due to the lockdown experienced a particularly strong increase of subjective psychological strain. Important residential factors reducing subjective psychological strain were the general comfort of the housing situation and having a private garden or multiple types of outdoor space. Considering leisure activities, the strongest positive psychological effect resulted from increased physical activities, followed by reading and cooking. However, 45% of the participants reported a decreased frequency of physical activity during the lockdown compared to before, whereas significantly less persons (26%) reported a corresponding increase (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Consistent with other studies, the results indicate a substantial reduction of subjective psychological well-being of the population during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Switzerland. The psychological burdens which the participants experienced differ depending on personal characteristics and situational factors. Negative psychological and economic consequences and gender inequalities should accordingly be carefully considered and actively prevented when designing COVID-19 measures. Supportive economic and social, cognitive and behavioral psychological interventions need to be designed and implemented to maintain the well-being of residents during lockdown.

Leveraging insurance customer data to characterize socioeconomic indicators of Swiss municipalities.

The availability of reliable socioeconomic data is critical for the design of urban policies and the implementation of location-based services; however, often, their temporal and geographical coverage remain scarce. We explore the potential for insurance customers data to predict socioeconomic indicators of Swiss municipalities. First, we define a features space by aggregating at city-level individual customer data along several behavioral and user profile dimensions. Second, we collect official statistics shared by the Swiss authorities on a wide spectrum of categories: Population, Transportation, Work, Space and Territory, Housing, and Economy. Third, we adopt two spatial regression models exploring both global and local geographical dependencies to investigate their predictability. Results show consistently a correlation between insurance customer characteristics and official socioeconomic indexes. Performance fluctuates depending on the category, with values of R2 > 0.6 for several target variables using a 5-fold cross validation. As a case study, we focus on predicting the percentage of the population using public transportation and we discuss the implications on a regional scope. We believe that this methodology can support official statistical offices and it could open up new opportunities for the characterization of socioeconomic traits at highly-granular spatial and temporal scales.

GeoFarmer: A monitoring and feedback system for agricultural development projects.

Farmers can manage their crops and farms better if they can communicate their experiences, both positive and negative, with each other and with experts. Digital agriculture using internet communication technology (ICT) may facilitate the sharing of experiences between farmers themselves and with experts and others interested in agriculture. ICT approaches in agriculture are, however, still out of the reach of many farmers. The reasons are lack of connectivity, missing capacity building and poor usability of ICT applications. We decided to tackle this problem through cost-effective, easy to use ICT approaches, based on infrastructure and services currently available to small-scale producers in developing areas. Working through a participatory design approach, we developed and tested a novel technology. GeoFarmer provides near real-time, two-way data flows that support processes of co-innovation in agricultural development projects. It can be used as a cost-effective ICT-based platform to monitor agricultural production systems with interactive feedback between the users, within pre-defined geographical domains. We tested GeoFarmer in four geographic domains associated with ongoing agricultural development projects in East and West Africa and Latin America. We demonstrate that GeoFarmer is a cost-effective means of providing and sharing opportune indicators of on-farm performance. It is a potentially useful tool that farmers and agricultural practitioners can use to manage their crops and farms better, reduce risk, increase productivity and improve their livelihoods.

Simulating Human and Environmental Exposure from Hand-Held Knapsack Pesticide Application: Be-WetSpa-Pest, an Integrative, Spatially Explicit Modeling Approach.

This paper presents an integrative and spatially explicit modeling approach for analyzing human and environmental exposure from pesticide application of smallholders in the potato-producing Andean region in Colombia. The modeling approach fulfills the following criteria: (i) it includes environmental and human compartments; (ii) it contains a behavioral decision-making model for estimating the effect of policies on pesticide flows to humans and the environment; (iii) it is spatially explicit; and (iv) it is modular and easily expandable to include additional modules, crops, or technologies. The model was calibrated and validated for the Vereda La Hoya and was used to explore the effect of different policy measures in the region. The model has moderate data requirements and can be adapted relatively easily to other regions in developing countries with similar conditions.

Dermal exposure assessment to pesticides in farming systems in developing countries: comparison of models.

In the field of occupational hygiene, researchers have been working on developing appropriate methods to estimate human exposure to pesticides in order to assess the risk and therefore to take the due decisions to improve the pesticide management process and reduce the health risks. This paper evaluates dermal exposure models to find the most appropriate. Eight models (i.e., COSHH, DERM, DREAM, EASE, PHED, RISKOFDERM, STOFFENMANAGER and PFAM) were evaluated according to a multi-criteria analysis and from these results five models (i.e., DERM, DREAM, PHED, RISKOFDERM and PFAM) were selected for the assessment of dermal exposure in the case study of the potato farming system in the Andean highlands of Vereda La Hoya, Colombia. The results show that the models provide different dermal exposure estimations which are not comparable. However, because of the simplicity of the algorithm and the specificity of the determinants, the DERM, DREAM and PFAM models were found to be the most appropriate although their estimations might be more accurate if specific determinants are included for the case studies in developing countries.

The reality of transdisciplinarity: a framework-based self-reflection from science and practice leaders.

This paper provided results of a framework-based self-reflection process conducted by the science and the practice leaders of two transdisciplinary projects realized in co-leadership from 2011 until 2014. It analyzes from the perspectives of the science and practice leaders for the whole research process including preparation, research, and follow-up phase, the (1) transdisciplinarity component of each module (in %); (2) outputs generated (tangible and intangible); (3) relevance of output for science and practice (qualitative ranking); (4) impacts emerging from the outputs (tangible and intangible); and (5) outcomes emerging from the impacts (tangible and intangible). Furthermore, the research process was reflected by practice and science project leaders and critical aspects identified. We found that first, a transdisciplinary research process might contribute to regional demands if it is carried out "timely." Timeliness includes (1) the need from the perspective of the practice partners and the scientific community, (2) the willingness of the co-leaders to develop the project together, and (3) the fundamental organizational support. This was the case in our project where the results directly impacted the further development of the project. Second, a truly lived co-leadership consisting of clearly defined and lived roles and responsibilities, common definition and alignment of the goals, and acceptance of the differences in needs by practice and science leads to a trustful cooperation. Third, a good communication structure within the teams and between the practice and science teams allows to anticipating and overcoming problems at the practice-science interface leading to mutual learning and experience building.

Application of the analytic hierarchy process to the analysis of wastewater nutrient recycling options: a case based on a group study of residents in the city of Zurich.

The recycling of anthropogenic nutrients derived from the wastewater management systems is often characterized by a complex and uncertain scenario, due not only to the nature of the process but also to the involvement of different stakeholder groups. Over the past 10 years in Switzerland, policies regarding the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer have gradually shifted to a ban on use in agriculture. As a result, alternative methods for the recycling of anthropogenic nutrients may play a relevant role in the near future. This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to examine more closely the nutrient-recycling dilemma by analysing the preferences of a group of German-speaking residents in the city of Zurich for various management scenarios. Nutrient recycling by the use of urine separation toilets and the BioCon treatment process are presented as possible management alternatives in addition to current practice. The study shows that AHP can incorporate the respondents' preferences and multiple objectives when evaluating alternatives with different attributes.

Pesticide flow analysis to assess human exposure in greenhouse flower production in Colombia.

Human exposure assessment tools represent a means for understanding human exposure to pesticides in agricultural activities and managing possible health risks. This paper presents a pesticide flow analysis modeling approach developed to assess human exposure to pesticide use in greenhouse flower crops in Colombia, focusing on dermal and inhalation exposure. This approach is based on the material flow analysis methodology. The transfer coefficients were obtained using the whole body dosimetry method for dermal exposure and the button personal inhalable aerosol sampler for inhalation exposure, using the tracer uranine as a pesticide surrogate. The case study was a greenhouse rose farm in the Bogota Plateau in Colombia. The approach was applied to estimate the exposure to pesticides such as mancozeb, carbendazim, propamocarb hydrochloride, fosetyl, carboxin, thiram, dimethomorph and mandipropamide. We found dermal absorption estimations close to the AOEL reference values for the pesticides carbendazim, mancozeb, thiram and mandipropamide during the study period. In addition, high values of dermal exposure were found on the forearms, hands, chest and legs of study participants, indicating weaknesses in the overlapping areas of the personal protective equipment parts. These results show how the material flow analysis methodology can be applied in the field of human exposure for early recognition of the dispersion of pesticides and support the development of measures to improve operational safety during pesticide management. Furthermore, the model makes it possible to identify the status quo of the health risk faced by workers in the study area.

Dermal exposure assessment of pesticide use: the case of sprayers in potato farms in the Colombian highlands.

Quantifying dermal exposure to pesticides in farming systems in developing countries is of special interest for the estimation of potential health risks, especially when there is a lack of occupational hygiene regulations. In this paper we present the results of a dermal exposure assessment for the potato farming system in the highlands of Colombia, where farmers apply pesticides with hand pressure sprayers without any personal protective equipment. The fractioning of the pesticide, in terms of potential and actual dermal exposure, was determined via the whole-body dosimetry methodology, using the tracer uranine as pesticide surrogate, and luminescence spectrometry as analytical method. We assessed the three activities involved in pesticide management: preparation, application, and cleaning; analyzed three types of nozzles: one with a standard discharge and two modified by farmers to increase the discharge; and derived the protection factor given by work clothing. Our results suggest that to reduce the health risk, three aspects have to be considered: (i) avoiding the modification of nozzles, which affects the droplet size spectrum and increases the level of dermal exposure; (ii) using adequate work clothing made of thick fabrics, especially on the upper body parts; and (iii) cleaning properly the tank sprayer before the application activity.

Nuclear energy in Europe: uranium flow modeling and fuel cycle scenario trade-offs from a sustainability perspective.

The European nuclear fuel cycle (covering the EU-27, Switzerland and Ukraine) was modeled using material flow analysis (MFA).The analysis was based on publicly available data from nuclear energy agencies and industries, national trade offices, and nongovernmental organizations. Military uranium was not considered due to lack of accessible data. Nuclear fuel cycle scenarios varying spent fuel reprocessing, depleted uranium re-enrichment, enrichment assays, and use of fast neutron reactors, were established. They were then assessed according to environmental, economic and social criteria such as resource depletion, waste production, chemical and radiation emissions, costs, and proliferation risks. The most preferable scenario in the short term is a combination of reduced tails assay and enrichment grade, allowing a 17.9% reduction of uranium demand without significantly increasing environmental, economic, or social risks. In the long term, fast reactors could theoretically achieve a 99.4% decrease in uranium demand and nuclear waste production. However, this involves important costs and proliferation risks. Increasing material efficiency is not systematically correlated with the reduction of other risks. This suggests that an overall optimization of the nuclear fuel cycle is difficult to obtain. Therefore, criteria must be weighted according to stakeholder interests in order to determine the most sustainable solution. This paper models the flows of uranium and associated materials in Europe, and provides a decision support tool for identifying the trade-offs of the alternative nuclear fuel cycles considered.

The weight method: a new screening method for estimating pesticide deposition from knapsack sprayers in developing countries.

Investigations of occupational and environmental risk caused by the use of agrochemicals have received considerable interest over the last decades. And yet, in developing countries, the lack of staff and analytical equipment as well the costs of chemical analyses make it difficult, if not impossible, to monitor pesticide contamination and residues in humans, air, water, and soils. A new and simple method is presented here for estimation of pesticide deposition in humans and soil after application. The estimate is derived on the basis of water mass balance measured in a given number of high absorbent papers under low evaporative conditions and unsaturated atmosphere. The method is presented as a suitable, rapid, low cost screening tool, complementary to toxicological tests, to assess occupational and environmental exposure caused by knapsack sprayers, where there is a lack of analytical instruments. This new method, called the "weight method", was tested to obtain drift deposition on the neighbouring field and the clothes of the applicator after spraying water with a knapsack sprayer in one of the largest areas of potato production in Colombia. The results were confirmed by experimental data using a tracer and the same set up used for the weight method. The weight method was able to explain 86% of the airborne drift and deposition variance.

Pesticide uptake in potatoes: model and field experiments.

A dynamic model for uptake of pesticides in potatoes is presented and evaluated with measurements performed within a field trial in the region of Boyacá, Colombia. The model takes into account the time between pesticide applications and harvest, the time between harvest and consumption, the amount of spray deposition on soil surface, mobility and degradation of pesticide in soil, diffusive uptake and persistence due to crop growth and metabolism in plant material, and loss due to food processing. Food processing steps included were cleaning, washing, storing, and cooking. Pesticide concentrations were measured periodically in soil and potato samples from the beginning of tuber formation until harvest. The model was able to predict the magnitude and temporal profile of the experimentally derived pesticide concentrations well, with all measurements falling within the 90% confidence interval. The fraction of chlorpyrifos applied on the field during plant cultivation that eventually is ingested by the consumer is on average 10(-4)-10(-7), depending on the time between pesticide application and ingestion and the processing step considered.

Why don't pesticide applicators protect themselves? Exploring the use of personal protective equipment among Colombian smallholders.

The misuse of personal protective equipment (PPE) during pesticide application was investigated among smallholders in Colombia. The integrative agent-centered (IAC) framework and a logistic regression approach were adopted. The results suggest that the descriptive social norm was significantly influencing PPE use. The following were also important: (1) having experienced pesticide-related health problems; (2) age; (3) the share of pesticide application carried out; and (4) the perception of PPE hindering work. Interestingly, the influence of these factors differed for different pieces of PPE. Since conformity to the social norm is a source of rigidity in the system, behavioral change may take the form of a discontinuous transition. In conclusion, five suggestions for triggering a transition towards more sustainable PPE use are formulated: (1) diversifying targets/tools; (2) addressing structural aspects; (3) sustaining interventions in the long-term; (4) targeting farmers' learning-by-experience; and (5) targeting PPE use on a collective level.

Spatial modeling of personalized exposure dynamics: the case of pesticide use in small-scale agricultural production landscapes of the developing world.

BACKGROUND: Pesticide poisoning is a global health issue with the largest impacts in the developing countries where residential and small-scale agricultural areas are often integrated and pesticides sprayed manually. To reduce health risks from pesticide exposure approaches for personalized exposure assessment (PEA) are needed. We present a conceptual framework to develop a spatial individual-based model (IBM) prototype for assessing potential exposure of farm-workers conducting small-scale agricultural production, which accounts for a considerable portion of global food crop production. Our approach accounts for dynamics in the contaminant distributions in the environment, as well as patterns of movement and activities performed on an individual level under different safety scenarios. We demonstrate a first prototype using data from a study area in a rural part of Colombia, South America. RESULTS: Different safety scenarios of PEA were run by including weighting schemes for activities performed under different safety conditions. We examined the sensitivity of individual exposure estimates to varying patterns of pesticide application and varying individual patterns of movement. This resulted in a considerable variation in estimates of magnitude, frequency and duration of exposure over the model runs for each individual as well as between individuals. These findings indicate the influence of patterns of pesticide application, individual spatial patterns of movement as well as safety conditions on personalized exposure in the agricultural production landscape that is the focus of our research. CONCLUSION: This approach represents a conceptual framework for developing individual based models to carry out PEA in small-scale agricultural settings in the developing world based on individual patterns of movement, safety conditions, and dynamic contaminant distributions. The results of our analysis indicate our prototype model is sufficiently sensitive to differentiate and quantify the influence of individual patterns of movement and decision-based pesticide management activities on potential exposure. This approach represents a framework for further understanding the contribution of agricultural pesticide use to exposure in the small-scale agricultural production landscape of many developing countries, and could be useful to evaluate public health intervention strategies to reduce risks to farm-workers and their families. Further research is needed to fully develop an operational version of the model.