Conjoint analysis for environmental evaluation

BACKGROUND, AIM AND SCOPE: Conjoint analysis and the related choice-modelling methods have been used for many years in marketing research to evaluate consumer behaviour and preferences for different kinds of product attributes. Recently, the number of applications in environmental science and management has started to grow. Conjoint analysis is found in many different forms, and the environmental studies evaluated in this review display the same range of methods as in other fields. The key characteristic of all these methods is that trade-offs are evaluated by jointly considering a number of important attributes. MAIN FEATURES: This paper is a review of the literature on environmental applications of conjoint analysis and assesses in which environmental area conjoint analysis has been most successful. The method and the design of the studies are reviewed as well. RESULTS: A total of 84 studies were found, dealing with environmental issues that were evaluated by conjoint analysis. The studies concern agriculture, ecosystem management, energy, environmental evaluation, forestry, land management, pollution, products, recreation, environmental risk analysis and waste management. DISCUSSION: Choice experiments seem to have a comparatively stronger position in environmental studies than elsewhere. Most of the environmental applications are related to natural resource management. This is somewhat surprising, but a number of reports have appeared also on product evaluation, which could be a key application area in the future. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to marketing and transportation, the number of environmental conjoint studies is rather small but increasing, and the method has proven to work effectively in eliciting preferences on environmental issues. In environmental issues, experimenters often use choice experiments, especially concerning ecosystem management and environmental evaluations. When it comes to evaluating preferences concerning agriculture, forestry, energy and products, a more traditional approach of conjoint analysis is favoured. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Two new areas of application are identified in this review--environmental communication and expert elicitation. Conjoint analysis can thus be developed into a useful instrument for environmental risk analysis and communication, both of which are necessary for an efficient approach to risk governance.     

Ammonia large scale atmospheric dispersion experiments in industrial configurations

A programme of large-scale experiments for atmospheric dispersion was carried out by INERIS over a period extending from December 1996 to April 1997. The objectives of the test campaign were to measure anhydrous ammonia concentrations in a range of few meters to 2 km from the release, in order to generate data to be used to improve 2-phase discharge and dispersion modelling.

The discharges were released from a 6-tonne storage tank of pressurised liquid ammonia and through a discharge device with an outlet diameter of 2 in. Fifteen trials were carried out with various release configurations corresponding to industrial situations (impinging jets on the ground and on a wall at various distances, release through a flange without seal…). The quantity of ammonia discharged from the liquid phase varied according to the tests, from 1.4 to 3.5 tons for durations between 7 and 14 min and, therefore, at flow rates between 2 and 4.5 kg/s. Approximately 200 sensors were settled downwind to measure ammonia concentrations and temperature in the plume. These tests showed that for discharges with identical flow rates the distances corresponding to the same concentration vary a lot according to the configurations. These distances tend to be reduced by the presence of obstacles or retention dikes that collected liquid ammonia. In the paper, the main experimental results are presented. In order to enable the comparisons with numerical predictions, more detailed information are given in [Bouet R. (1999). Ammoniac—Essais de dispersion atmosphérique à grande échelle. INERIS rapport, ref INERIS-DRA-RBo-1999-20410 (available at http://www.ineris.fr/recherches/recherches.htm).     

Robustness testing of a free-fall triboelectric separation process for plastic waste recovery

Among the separation techniques used in industries, the triboelectric separation of insulating particles using a rotary tube is an effective way employed in the waste recovery of plastic and mineral products. This process, also called free-fall triboelectric separation, is widely used for the sorting of granular mixtures resulting from industrial plastic wastes. Given that the robustness of such a separation process is an important issue, a standard procedure is used for determining the set point and for minimising the process sensitivity of sorting mixed particles of different polymers to changes in the values of some critical factors. The aim of this paper was to analyse the efficiency of the triboelectric separation process of polymers with respect to any slight variation in the values of the most significant factors. Experiments with a sample of high-density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride plastic granules were carried out on a laboratory experimental bench. Several one-factor-at-a-time experiments, followed by two factorial designs (one composite and the other fractional), were performed based on the following experimental procedure: (1) determination of the variation limits of the input variables; (2) identification of the set point and (3) robustness testing of the process, i.e. testing whether the performance of the system remains high even when the factors vary slightly around the set point.     

套种条件下混合螯合剂对污染土壤Cd淋滤行为的影响

为了研究螯合剂对污染土壤Cd向下迁移的影响,对采自广东省乐昌市和清远市的2种铅锌矿废水污染水稻土（分别为中性和酸性土壤）进行100 cm土柱室外淋溶试验,研究在玉米与东南景天套种系统中,在5 mmol.kg-1土的混合螯合剂[MC∶柠檬酸∶味精废液∶EDTA∶KCl（摩尔比）=10∶1∶2∶3]的强化作用下对2种污染土壤中Cd的淋滤行为的影响.结果表明,施加混合螯合剂后第2 d,混合螯合剂能明显提高2种土壤各土层淋滤液Cd浓度;施后第8 d混合螯合剂仍能继续提高中性土壤20 cm以下土层和酸性土壤60 cm以下土层淋滤液Cd的浓度,但其活化作用均已迅速下降.施后第2 d和第8 d,2种土壤各土层的套种＋MC处理的淋滤液Cd浓度均超过国家地下水质量标准（GB/T 14848-93）.施加混合螯合剂可降低中性土壤表层全Cd量.不同处理的土壤Cd均有向下层迁移的趋势,尤其是酸性土壤,在20 cm和40 cm处不同处理的全Cd量与起始值比较分别下降了40%～58%和39%～49%,经过100 d的修复即可达到土壤环境质量标准（GB 15618-1995）.上述结果表明,施用混合螯合剂对Cd污染土壤的地下水水质存在一定的潜在污染风险.     

山区和平原连接处SF6试验及扩散规律研究

为更好了解污染物在复杂地形条件下的湍流扩散规律,2010年9月开展了一系列SF6示踪扩散试验,获取了SF6浓度数据,以此实验数据为基础,计算出SF6浓度分布在水平和垂直方向的扩散标准差、地面峰值浓度等参数,并与P-T-C扩散参数进行对比,总结得出了污染物在山区和平原连接处中性、稳定、强稳定等气象条件下湍流扩散规律。     

Residual dynamics of thiacloprid in medical herbs marjoram, thyme, and camomile and in soil

Thiacloprid is a new insecticide of the chloronicotinyl family. To assess its risk after application, residual characteristics of thiacloprid in marjoram, thyme, and camomile and in soil were studied under field conditions. The active ingredient was extracted from the plant material using a mixture of acetone-water. After filtration, the extract was concentrated to the aqueous phase, diluted with water, and portioned against ethyl acetate on a matrix solid phase dispersion column. Thiacloprid was extracted from soil using a mixture of methanol-water, filtered, and re.extracted （clean up） with dichloromethane. The residues were quantified using HPLC-MS-MS. The methods were validated by recovery experiments. Thiacloprid residues in marjoram, thyme, and camomile and in soil persisted beyond 10, 14, 14, and 21 d but no residues were detected after 14, 21, 21, and 28 d, respectively. The data obtained in this study indicated that the biexponential model is more suitable than the first-order function to describe the decline of thiacloprid in fresh marjoram, fresh thyme, and dried camomile flowers with half-life （t1/2） of 1.1, 0.7, and 1.2 d, respectively. However, both the first-order function and biexponential model were found to be applicable for dissipation of thiacloprid in soil with almost the same t1/2 values of 3.5 and 3.6 d. The results indicated that thiacloprid dissipates rapidly and does not accumulate in the tested herbs and in soil.     

Effect of sulfate on the methanogenic activity of a bacterial culture from a brewery wastewater during glucose degradation

The maximum specific methanogenic activity （SMA） of a sludge originating from a brewery wastewater treatment plant on the degradation of glucose was investigated at various levels of sulfate on a specific loading basis. Batch experiments were conducted in serum bottles at pH 7 and 35℃. A comparison of the values indicates that the SMA of this mixed culture was increased and reached its highest level of 0.128 g CH4 gas COD/（g VSS.d） when biomass was in contact with sulfate at a ratio of 1：0.114 by weight.     

Characterization of extracellular polymeric substances in the biofilms of typical bacteria by the sulfur K-edge XANES spectroscopy

A combined approach of physicochemical extraction and sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure（XANES） spectroscopy was applied to characterize the extracellular polymeric substances（EPS） of typical bacterial biofilms in this study. Physicochemical analysis showed variation of the contents of DNA,polysaccharide and protein in different fractions of EPS in different mediums. The sulfur K-edge XANES analysis yielded a variety of spectra.Spectral fitting of the XANES spectra utilizing a large set of model compounds showed that there was more reduced sulfur in both LB-EPS（loosely bound EPS） and TB-EPS（tightly bound EPS） of all the biofilms in LB medium than in R2 A medium. More oxidized sulfur was identified in LB-EPS than that in TB-EPS,suggesting different niches and physiological heterogeneity in the biofilms. Our results suggested that the sulfur K-edge XANES can be a useful tool to analyze the sulfur speciation in EPS of biofilms.     

天然黄铁矿的除磷性能

除磷是控制水体富营养化的重要手段。为了考察黄铁矿的除磷特征，采用序批实验，分别研究了反应时间、初始磷浓度和干扰离子（NH4＋、NO3- 和SO24-）对黄铁矿除磷的影响。动力学表明，黄铁矿的除磷过程符合伪二级动力学模型。pH=6．5时，磷的平衡去除量为6．82mg／kg。Langmuir方程能较好描述黄铁矿除磷的吸附等温过程，其磷的饱和吸附量为11．01mg／kg。NH4＋、NO3-和SO24- 对黄铁矿除磷基本没有影响。磷的去除主要是通过铁磷沉淀和铁氧化物及氢氧化物的吸附，去除的磷主要以可被生物利用的Fe、Al-P形态存在。黄铁矿的这些除磷性能和机制对选取黄铁矿作为人工湿地填料实现同步脱氮除磷具有重要指导作用。     

Petrophysical analysis to investigate the effects of carbon dioxide storage in a subsurface saline aquifer at Ketzin, Germany (CO2SINK)

To test the injection behaviour of CO₂ into brine-saturated rock and to evaluate the dependence of geophysical properties on CO₂ injection, flow and exposure experiments with brine and CO₂ were performed on sandstone samples of the Stuttgart Formation representing potential reservoir rocks for CO₂ storage. The sandstone samples studied are generally fine-grained with porosities between 17 and 32% and permeabilities between 1 and 100 mD.Additional batch experiments were performed to predict the long-term behaviour of geological CO₂ storage. Reservoir rock samples were exposed over a period of several months to CO₂-saturated reservoir fluid in high-pressure vessels under in situ temperature and pressure conditions. Petrophysical parameters, porosity and the pore radius distribution were investigated before and after the experiments by NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) relaxation and mercury injection. Most of the NMR measurements of the tested samples showed a slight increase of porosity and a higher proportion of large pores.