Planning for cooler cities: a plan quality evaluation for Urban Heat Island consideration

ABSTRACT

City strategic plans and enabling policies provide a framework for and inform future development across multiple scales. An exemplar city strategic plan will be one based on evidence, enabled by complementary policy outcomes, and built on the knowledge of the existing landscape. This study evaluated the plan quality of eighteen metropolitan strategic plans for city members in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative. A protocol was developed containing thirty-two indicators to assess plans capacity to act as a strategic planning tool to develop, analyse and implement strategies for the Urban Heat Island (UHI) and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The evaluation indicated that strategies addressing the UHI are rarely included in metropolitan plans. Strategic plans showed a lack of evidence-base to inform the potential actions. Urban warming is often linked to extreme weather events anticipated under climate change, not the UHI as a systemic and increasing phenomenon. We recommend that the pathway to addressing UHI mitigation and adaptation may lie in its nexus to aspects of climate change that concurrently can serve to support liveable and resilient cities.     

Preferred surface microscopic geometric features on floors as potential interventions for slip and fall accidents on liquid contaminated surfaces

PROBLEM: Surface roughness affects friction, so selection of floor surfaces with certain roughness characteristics could potentially reduce slip and fall accidents. This article summarizes the preferred surface microscopic geometric features that could increase friction on surfaces covered with liquid contaminants. METHOD: Three types of surface features, represented by the average of the maximum height above the mean line in each cut-off length (R(pm)), the arithmetical average of surface slope (Delta(a)), and the kernel roughness depth (R(k)), are identified as preferred surface microscopic geometric features for a higher friction. The proper settings on the profilometers (instruments used to measure surface roughness) for optimizing these surface parameters are specified. The friction mechanisms involved reveal why these features are more desirable. RESULTS: Although surface roughness is important in determining slipperiness, there is still insufficient information to establish a safety criterion based on roughness; however, the method presented in this paper can readily provide a relative comparison. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The summary presented will help safety professionals properly select new floor surfaces or assess existing floors to reduce slip and fall accidents.     

Utilization of Photographs for Determining Impact Indicators for Trail Management

Indicators are a key component of resource management, but selecting them can be difficult and controversial. This study explores different methods for selecting impact indicators for management of trail conditions by comparing photo survey methods (PSM) with written survey methods (WSM). A total of 661 subjects participated in interviews conducted within Mudeung- Mountain Provincial Park in Kwang-ju, Korea. PSM explained variation in acceptability better than WSM. Six major photo components (in order of importance: area of large rocks on trail, area of wood steps, area of bare roots, area of bare soil, area of small stones, and area of stone steps) explained 84.7% of the variation in acceptability of trail management conditions. This study suggests that PSM can be a useful tool for selecting impact indicators. Supported by the grant of Post-Doctoral Program, Chonbuk National University (2001)     

Removal of copper ions and dissolved phenol from water using micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration with mixed surfactants

A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the effects of composition and concentration of mixed anionic/nonionic surfactants on the efficiency of a micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) operation in removing metal ions/organic solutes from aqueous solutions. Based on the analysis of surface tensions and micelle sizes, it was found that for mixed sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS)/Triton X-100 surfactants, the critical micelle concentration (cmc) was significantly lower than that of SDS and mixed micelles formed. The mixed surfactant system was then applied in a cross-flow mode of MEUF, in which the concentration polarization can be neglected, to remove Cu2+ from aqueous solutions. With a surfactant concentration of 10 mM, the Cu2+ rejection was negligible by using pure Triton X-100 and increased with increasing SDS mole fraction with a value as high as 85%, which suggests that the rejection of Cu2+ was due to the electrostatic attraction between Cu2+ and SDS. Furthermore, pronounced Cu2+ rejection was obtained for a 5 mM SDS solution, which was attributable to a decrease in the cmc of SDS by the existence of Cu2+. When the MEUF technique was applied to remove Cu2+ and phenol simultaneously from aqueous solutions, the Cu2+ rejection was slightly enhanced in the presence of phenol. However, the rejection of phenol was comparatively low, approximately 27%, which may be caused by its relatively hydrophilic characteristic.     

废钻井液固化实验研究

利用经实验筛选的固化剂配方对废钻井液进行了固化处理的室内配方研究。结果表明,经该固化剂配方处理后的固结材料在水中浸泡5d后的浸出液在色度、化学需氧量、pH值、石油类、悬浮物含量和重金属含量等指标方面可达到国家《污水综合排放标准》(GB8978-1996)中的二级标准。     

Relictual Amphibians and Old-Growth Forests

Abstract: Terrestrial and aquatic herpetofauna were sampled by pitfall traps, time-constrained searches, and area-constrained searches (stream sites only) over a three-year period to examine the importance of forest age to amphibians and reptiles. Fifty-four terrestrial and 39 aquatic sites in Douglas-fir—dominated, mixed evergreen forests were located in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California Mean age of trees on sites ranged in age from 30 to 560 years. Thirty-one species of amphibians and reptiles were detected from the 93 localities. Only three species were found primarily on older forest sites: the Del Norte salamander (Plethodon elongatus), the Olympic salamander (Rhyacotriton olympicus), and the tailed frog (Ascaphus truei). Paleoeco-logic evidence indicates an historical association between these three amphibians and the extant elements of ancient primeval coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. The life histories and habitat requirements of these species suggest that these forms are scarce in younger forests because the microclimatic and microhabitat conditions they require generally exist only in older forests. The long-term viability of these species in northern California and southern Oregon may depend upon developing forestry practices that protect these mitical microclimates and microhabitats.