Quality and sustainability in the production process: A study of bakeries using an integrated multi-criteria method based on fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS

The objective of the present study is to evaluate, determine, and apply alternatives for improving the quality of the process and the product, with an emphasis on sustainable practices, using an integrated multi-criteria method. For this purpose, an analysis was conducted at a chain of bakeries, aiming to highlight bottlenecks in the production process and in the product. With the support of a literature review, four criteria and seven alternatives were defined to overcome these bottlenecks and, at the same time, contribute to the sustainability of the organization. For data analysis, six decision makers were interviewed and, following their evaluations, an integrated method based on fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS was created. The fuzzy AHP was adopted to establish the importance of the criteria, while the fuzzy TOPSIS was used to evaluate and classify the alternatives developed to bypass the bottlenecks. The results revealed that of the criteria, Criterion “Cr1 – Quality” was prioritized. On the other hand, the alternative with the best performance was “A3 – Physical Layout Reorganization”. Applying this alternative, the study demonstrates the results achieved such as reduction of errors and accident risks, as well as greater fluidity in the productive space. the present study also makes theoretical and managerial contributions to the field, bringing the theory closer to the reality of companies that operate in the food sector.     

城市公园降温指标与地表热场耦合关系

城市热岛效应是生态环境问题之一,城市公园自身的冷环境能够对热岛效应产生一定的降温作用。基于Landsat 8遥感数据,利用辐射传输方程算法反演天津市的地表温度。以天津市9个公园为例,通过在公园周围建立多环缓冲区,研究公园的降温效应。为了考察空间连续性对公园降温效应的影响,选取公园的冷却强度和冷却梯度2个指标,结合冷却区域和冷却效率,分析城市公园的降温效果。研究结果表明：9个公园的降温距离差异明显,降温距离最大的是水西公园,最小的是人民公园;公园的周长、面积、绿量面积与公园的冷却区域呈显著正相关;形状指数与公园的冷却效率呈显著负相关;绿量面积和水体面积比与冷却强度、冷却梯度呈正相关。     

Characterizing the trophy hunting debate on Twitter

Social media is an arena of debate for contentious political and social topics. One conservation topic debated online is the acceptability of trophy hunting, a debate that has implications for national and international policy. We used a mixed-methods approach (grounded theory and quantitative clustering) to identify themes in the trophy hunting debate on Twitter. We examined commonly co-occurring categories that describe people's stances on trophy hunting. We identified 12 categories and 4 preliminary archetypes opposing trophy hunting—activism, scientific, condemning, and objecting—whose opposition derived from different moral reasoning. Few tweets (22) in our sample of 500 supported trophy hunting, whereas 350 opposed it. The debate was hostile; 7% of tweets in our sample were categorized as abusive. Online debates can be unproductive, and our findings may be important for stakeholders wishing to effectively engage in the trophy hunting debate on Twitter. More generally, we contend that because social media is increasingly influential, it is important to formally contextualize public responses to contentious conservation topics in order to aid communication of conservation evidence and to integrate diverse public perspectives in conservation practice.     

A guide to qualitative attribution methods for evaluation in conservation

Knowledge of what conservation interventions improve biodiversity outcomes, and in which circumstances, is imperative. Experimental and quasi-experimental methods are increasingly used to establish causal inference and build the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions, but their ability to provide insight into how and under what conditions an intervention should be implemented to improve biodiversity outcomes faces limitations. A suite of attribution methods that leverage qualitative methods for causal inference is available but underutilized in conversation impact evaluation. This article provides a guide to 5 such qualitative attribution methods: contribution analysis, process tracing, realist evaluation, qualitative comparative analysis, and most significant change. It defines and introduces each method and then illustrates how they could be applied through a case study of community conservancies in Namibia. This guide provides examples of how qualitative attribution methods can advance knowledge of what works, in which contexts, and why in biodiversity conservation.     

CAERvest® – a novel endothermic hypothermic device for core temperature cooling: safety and efficacy testing

Introduction. Cooling of the body is used to treat hyperthermic individuals with heatstroke or to depress core temperature below normal for neuroprotection. A novel, chemically activated, unpowered cooling device, CAERvest®, was investigated for safety and efficacy. Methods. Eight healthy male participants (body mass 79.9?±?1.9?kg and body fat percentage 16.1?±?3.8%) visited the laboratory (20 °C, 40% relative humidity) on four occasions. Following 30-min rest, physiological and perceptual measures were recorded. Participants were then fitted with the CAERvest® proof of concept (PoC) or prototype 1 (P1), 2 (P2) or 3 (P3) for 60 min. Temperature, cardiovascular and perceptual measures were recorded every 5 min. After cooling, the CAERvest® was removed and the torso checked for cold-related injuries. Results. Temperature measures significantly (p?Conclusion. This study demonstrates that the CAERvest® is an effective device for reducing body temperature in healthy normothermic individuals without presence of cold injury. Further research in healthy and clinical populations is warranted.     

关于化肥对土壤的污染及有效治理举措阐述

化肥是现在农业之中常被用来提高农产品产量和质量的重要物资。但是长期使用化肥,会对土壤造成较大危害。严重的话可能影响到当地的粮食产量。化肥的大量使用还可能会使当地的水体受到一定的影响,如水体污染、富营养化等,不利于水中生物的生存。本文从对于化肥使用控制的意义,化肥对土壤产生的影响以及对于肥害的防治措施等三个方面简要叙述关于化肥对土壤的污染及治理措施。     

VOCs快速检测在某化工企业搬迁遗留污染场地调查中的应用

以天津市某化工企业搬迁遗留污染场地为例,采用VOCs快速检测法辅助现场钻孔取样,以初步判断土壤污染深度,同时将现场样品送实验室检测。试验表明,VOCs快速检测法与实验室检测法结果基本一致。将452个样品测定结果做比对,结果表明实验室检测数据VOCs加和值与快速检测法现场检测数据存在显著相关,R2为0.803 7。污染物主要集中于场地5 m~9 m的粉土层中。其中,13种VOCs检出,4种VOCs超过《场地土壤环境风险评价筛选值》(DB11/T 811—2011)商业用地筛选值。     

On-chip waste heat-driven absorption cooling system for sustainable data center environment: simulation

Development of waste heat-driven absorption-based cooling system is inspired for the need of removing high heat flux from the sustainable data centre environment. This paper presents a simulation study of single-stage Lithium Bromide–Water (LiBr–H₂O) vapour absorption heat pump for chip cooling. In the present work, a complete thermodynamic analysis of the single-stage LiBr–H₂O vapour absorption-based heat pump for chip cooling without a solution heat exchanger is performed and a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) package including visual components is developed by using MATlab (2008b). The effect of chip heat flux on COP (Coefficient of Performance), flow rates and conductance is examined using the developed package. The model is verified using the data available in the literature which indicates that there is a greater reduction in the absorber load. The influence of chip heat flux on the performance and thermal loads of individual components are studied, and it is concluded that COP decreases from 0.7121 to 0.68924 with increase in chip heat flux.     

土壤中全氮分析方法的研究进展

土壤中的氮是衡量土壤肥力的主要指标之一。基于对国内外文献的调研,系统地归纳了现阶段土壤中全氮分析方法(凯氏法、红外光谱技术、杜马斯燃烧法)的原理和应用。对不同的测定方法进行比较,总结不同分析方法的优缺点。提出自动化分析、高灵敏度、高准确度、低成本、便捷的检测技术是土壤中全氮分析的重要发展方向。     

An integrated ecosystem service assessment in an artificial desert oasis of northwestern China

Spatially explicit integrated assessment of ecosystem services is a new and important research field in landscape ecology. The objective of this paper was to develop an integrated process-based modeling method to simulate changes in multiple ecosystem services in 2000–2009 at pixel and regional scales in the Zhangye oasis of northwestern China. Six ecosystem service indicators were selected and quantified using process-based models, including net primary production (NPP), grain production, net oxygen production (NOP), carbon sequestration (CS), water conservation, and soil conservation. Analytical results were as follows: (1) At the oasis scale, NPP, NOP, CS, water conservation, and soil conservation decreased from 2000 to 2009, whereas grain production increased. (2) At the pixel scale, the spatial changes in NPP were similar to those in NOP and CS, but changes in grain production showed the opposite pattern. Water conservation and soil conservation showed somewhat unintuitive spatial patterns. (3) The impact of land-use forms on ecosystem services showed that grazing and township construction both had negative impacts on all services, but that nature conservation and wetland development had positive impacts on all services. This research showed that the integrated modeling can be proposed as an environmental decision-making tool in similar case studies.