RESEARCH: Optimizing the Mix of Strategies for Control of Vehicular Emissions

/ A number of strategies for the control of vehicular emissions are being considered by the Philippine government to address Metropolitan Manila's air quality problem. An analytical tool is needed for optimizing criteria pollutant reductions given the budgetary constraints. The simplest approach is to take costs and pollutant removals to be linear with each strategy's scale of activity, and this is readily solved as a linear programming problem. Another approach is to use a dynamic system of weights which shift with progressive improvements in pollutant emissions. The two approaches yield somewhat different results, suggesting the sensitivity of the solution to the assumed weights. The study also illustrates the importance of a sound methodology for evaluating priorities given to different air quality goals. One such methodology may involve a polling of expert panels and the public to gain insight into the relative importance given to competing emissions reduction goals. An informal polling of resource agency staff was conducted and discussed in this paper. The authors take the position that proper planning involves tracing intermediate steps to the final outcome and not just focusing on the latter.KEY WORDS: Vehicular emissions; Urban air quality; Emissions control; Optimization; Manila; Environmental systems analysis     

基于生态安全的快速城市化地区空间冲突测度 ——以长株潭城市群为例

空间冲突是城市化过程中各种矛盾形成与激化的直接原因,是影响区域可持续发展的关键因素,合理测度快速城市化地区的空间冲突水平,对于优化区域发展模式、 避免区域生态风险具有重要意义。在利用遥感与GIS技术分析长株潭近年来空间格局变化的基础上,量化影响区域生态安全的空间外部压力值、 生态风险暴露值、 生态风险效应值3个因子,构建基于生态安全的空间冲突测度模型,对长株潭地区的空间冲突水平进行评估。研究表明:近年来长株潭地区的空间冲突作用强度总体呈现上升趋势,1993—2008年其冲突指数均值由0.264增长到0.323,且严重失控级别空间冲突的区域面积比例增幅最大,达1.07倍;不同空间类型的空间冲突强度不同,林地、 耕地的空间冲突水平相对较低,建设用地的空间冲突水平较高;城乡过渡地带是空间格局变化最为频繁、 空间冲突最为激烈的区域,其次是城市内部,农村地区的空间冲突强度远远低于城市。     

城市轨道交通浮置式减振措施的减振降噪效果

从分析轨道交通地下隧道振动传播特征出发,说明了地下振动的传播规律,并给出了不同埋深条件下地下振动影响范围的经验公式;结合地下振动激发频率特征的分析,对减振措施的减振效果的合理评价量进行了分析,指出采用Z计权减振效果评价量将获得与实际应用效果一致的降噪效果。结合两种浮置式减振措施减振降噪效果的实测,指出浮置板道床的减振效果应采用安装减振垫浮置板道床前后桥面的Z振级差来评价,而不宜采用轨面与桥梁直接的振级落差来评价。对橡胶减振垫以及钢弹簧浮置板的实测减振降噪效果进行了介绍。     

闽三角城市群自然资本损失评估

在快速城镇化进程中,城市群发展在促进区域经济竞争与合作的同时,也在一定程度上造成人地关系矛盾的加剧,生态系统服务水平下降。为了量化城镇化对自然资本产生的变动,揭示人类资源消耗过程对区域生态系统服务的影响机制,以快速城镇化的典型区域——闽三角城市群为例,运用能值分析方法与GIS技术,分析了2000-2015年闽三角城市群可更新资源时空演变特征,城镇化进程中生态环境价值演变规律以及土地转化过程中的自然资本损失。研究结果表明：（1）闽三角城市群可更新资源在时间上呈波动减小趋势,空间上自沿海区域向内陆区域逐渐升高;（2）高环境质量等级中城镇用地面积占比呈显著增加趋势,由0增加到10.63%,人类活动导致区域生态环境价值的损失逐渐上升;（3）城镇化过程中由于城市空间扩张,使部分自然用地与农业用地转化为城镇用地,转化过程造成的自然资本损失总量为1.27×10²² seJ,货币价值超过6.30×10⁹元。研究有助于完善城镇化影响下的生态环境效应研究,为城市群或区域生态环境管理与修复提供决策参考。     

Quality of roof runoff waters from an urban region (Gda sk, Poland)

The paper presents the results of testing of roof runoff waters from buildings in the city of Gda sk (Poland), carried out as a part of a broader research project aimed at the determination of pollutant levels in precipitation. The analytes determined included volatile organohalogen compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, Na⁺, K⁺, NH₄⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, F⁻, Cl⁻, NO₂⁻, NO₃⁻, PO₄³⁻, SO₄²⁻ ions, as well as organonitrogen, organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides. In addition, the toxicity and pH of the samples were examined. The samples were collected over a period of six months, during or immediately following precipitation events. More than half of the samples (25) were found to be toxic, with inhibition exceeding 20%. The toxicity was weakly correlated to the levels of organonitrogen and organophosphorus pesticides in runoff waters. It was established that at least in some cases the roofing material affected the levels of the pollutants found in the samples.     

The brief as an instrument of policy

A review of the use of planning and design briefs by local authorities in the United Kingdom was carried out in 1982–83 to test whether the role of the brief as an instrument of local policy and as a promotional tool in the development process was being fully exploited. The paper provides a state of the art review, presents a summary of the findings and offers some comments on the results. It concludes that most authorities now use briefs as part of their normal planning procedures, but that there is potential which is not yet being exploited.     

公交柴油车道路排放特征的实测研究初探

利用GPS和SEMTECH-D车载排放测试仪测量了上海市公交车行驶工况和公交柴油车在市区道路上的排放状况.该研究共获得193400组公交车行驶工况数据,累计测量里程820 km,排放数据75420个.测量结果显示,上海市公交车平均车行速度14 km·h-1,最高车速为60 km·h-1;市区公交车平均车行速度14 km·h-1,最高车速小于60 km·h-1,市区公交车的怠速时间比在25%以上.被测公交柴油车的CO、THC和NOx平均里程排放因子为(3.41±0.86)、(1.95±0.47)和(4.56±0.99) g·km-1,与陈长虹等人2005年提供的卡车3和卡车5的排放状况相近.测量结果还显示,被测车辆进出站时单位里程排放量是正常行驶条件下的10倍.此外,在交通高峰期或拥堵期,车行速度降低至0～5 km·h-1时,被测公交柴油车的CO、THC和NOx平均里程排放因子升高至17.49、6.68和15.85 g·km-1,是平均车速时候的5.13倍、3.4倍和3.48倍,车辆排放污染将明显加剧.测量结果说明,加强城市交通管理,减少车辆拥堵,不仅可以提高公交车运行效率,而且也是降低公交车污染的有效措施.     

关于生态补偿机制基本法律问题研究--以三江源国家级自然保护区生物多样性保护为例

本文以现代生态法文化观念为理论导引,在对传统生态法理论进行检视和对三江源区的生物多样性保护与生态裣机制进行尝试考评的基础上,以理论分析与实证调研相结合的方法,提出了具有建设性和可行性的法律对策。     

Perceived changes in well-being and happiness with gardening in urban organic allotments in Portugal

Urban allotment gardens (AG) in Portugal have increased in recent years, as in many other European countries and worldwide. The contribution of these gardens to the happiness and well-being of urban populations has been recognized, but evaluations of their benefits are still very scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate this contribution, based on the urban organic AG of the Devesa Park in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. The sample included 65 gardeners who completed the self-administered questionnaires of Bem-Estar Pessoal (personal well-being scale), Felicidade Subjetiva (subjective happiness scale) and sociodemographic characteristics. Respondents were mainly adults under 65 years, married and academically well qualified and about half of them had a professional activity, with nearly one third being retired. They considered themselves happy with their life (Personal Well-being Index = 74.5%) and revealed an optimistic and positive attitude towards life, regardless of economic or social difficulties. The increased frequency of visits for gardening was positively related to a greater perception of subjective happiness. The gardeners who visited the AG more frequently considered themselves happier from a self-perspective and in comparison with peers. It can be suggested that urban organic AG represent a means for enhancing citizen well-being, contributing positively to their feelings of happiness and life satisfaction, changing behaviours and developing personal capacities. Beyond economic measures, urban AG can be recommended to capture the well-being of societies.     

Spatio-temporal use of the urban habitat by feral pigeons (Columba livia )

Feral pigeons are descendants of wild rock pigeons that have adapted to the urban habitat. They have partially conserved the foraging behaviour of their wild ancestors (flights to agricultural areas) but have also developed new habits. Previous studies on the foraging strategies of feral pigeons have given various results, e.g. maximum distances reached by the pigeons (measured in a straight line from the resting places) differed between 0.3–0.5 km and 18–25 km. This study focuses on the spatio-temporal activity of feral pigeons in the urban habitat. We equipped 80 free-living feral pigeons from Basel, Switzerland with GPS receivers. We found three different foraging strategies for pigeons in Basel: (1) in the streets, squares and parks near the home loft, (2) in agricultural areas surrounding the city, (3) on docks and railway lines in harbours. The maximum distance reached by a pigeon was 5.29 km. More than 32% of the pigeons remained within 0.3 km of the home lofts and only 7.5% flew distances of more than 2 km. Females covered significantly longer distances than males, preferring to fly to more abundant and predictable food sources. Temporal activity patterns showed to be influenced by sex, breeding state and season. In contrast to wild rock pigeons and to feral pigeons in other cities, pigeons in Basel showed a clear bimodal activity pattern for breeding birds only. The differences between our results and those of other studies seem to be partly method-dependent, as the GPS-technique allows to record the pigeons’ localisations continuously in contrast to other methods. Other differences might be due to different kinds of food supply in the various cities. Our study shows that feral pigeons have individual foraging strategies and are flexible enough to adapt to different urban environments.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at