Project feasibility study: the key to successful implementation of sustainable and socially responsible construction management practice

This paper introduces a new approach for conducting project feasibility study by embracing the principles of sustainable development. Construction projects, in particular, infrastructures have major influence on the attainment of sustainable development, thus project sustainability needs to be considered. This becomes a pressing issue particularly in those developing countries or regions, such as China where a huge amount of construction works are currently performed and remain to happen in the future. Previous study has addressed little on the relevance of project feasibility study to project sustainability performance. The importance of incorporating sustainable development principles in conducting project feasibility study is not effectively understood by project stakeholders. This paper addresses major challenges of undertaking project feasibility study in line with sustainable construction practice with reference to the Chinese construction industry. A case study approach is the major research method in this study. The research team collected 87 feasibility study reports from various projects. Attributes are used for measuring project performance, including 18 economic performance attributes, nine social performance attributes, and eight environmental performance attributes. Research results show that economic performance is given the most concern in the current practice of project feasibility study, whilst less attention is given to the social and environmental performance. The study reveals the insufficiency of examining the performance of implementing a construction project from the perspective of sustainable development. The results also suggest the need for shifting the traditional approach of project feasibility study to a new approach that embraces the principles of sustainable development.     

Comparative study on indoor air quality in Japan and China: Characteristics of residential indoor and outdoor VOCs

We conducted a comparative study on the indoor air quality for Japan and China to investigate aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor microenvironments (living room, bedroom, and kitchen) and outdoors in summer and winter during 2006–2007. Samples were taken from Shizuoka in Japan and Hangzhou in China, which are urban cities with similar latitudes. Throughout the samplings, the indoor and outdoor concentrations of many of the targeted VOCs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and trimethylbenzenes) in China were significantly higher than those in Japan. The indoor concentrations of VOCs in Japan were somewhat consistent with those outdoors, whereas those in China tended to be higher than those outdoors. Here, we investigated the differences in VOC concentrations between Japan and China. Compositional analysis of indoor and outdoor VOCs showed bilateral differences; the contribution of benzene in China was remarkably higher than that in Japan. Significant correlations (p < 0.05) for benzene were observed among the concentrations in indoor microenvironments and between the outdoors and living rooms or kitchens in Japan. In China, however, significant correlations were observed only between living rooms and bedrooms. These findings suggest differences in strengths of indoor VOC emissions between Japan and China. The source characterizations were also investigated using principal component analysis/absolute principal component scores. It was found that outdoor sources including vehicle emission and industrial sources, and human activity could be significant sources of indoor VOC pollution in Japan and China respectively. In addition, the lifetime cancer risks estimated from unit risks and geometric mean indoor concentrations of carcinogenic VOCs were 2.3 × 10^?5 in Japan and 21 × 10^?5 in China, indicating that the exposure risks in China were approximately 10 times higher than those in Japan.     

Enantioselectivity in toxicity and degradation of dichlorprop-methyl in algal cultures

Enantioselectivity in the toxicity and degradation of the herbicide dichlorprop-methyl (2,4-DCPPM) in algal cultures was studied. Enantioselectivity was clearly observed in the toxicity of racemic 2,4-DCPPM and its two enantiomers. R-2,4-DCPPM showed low toxicity to Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Chlorella vulgaris, but higher toxicity to Scenedesmus obliquus. The observed toxicity was ranked: R-2,4-DCPPM > S-2,4-DCPPM ? Rac-2,4-DCPPM; the toxicity of R-2,4-DCPPM was about 8-fold higher than that of Rac-2,4-DCPPM. Additionally, 2,4-DCPPM was quickly degraded, in the initial 12 h, and different algae cultures had different enantioselectivity for the 2,4-DCPPM enantiomers. There was no significant enantioselectivity for 2,4-DCPPM in Chlorella vulgaris in the initial 7 h. However, racemic 2,4-DCPPM was degraded by Scenedesmus obliquus quickly, in the initial 4 h, much quicker, in fact, than the S- or R-enantiomers (racemate > R- > S-), indicating that the herbicide 2,4-DCPPM was absorbed enantioselectively by Scenedesmus obliquus. The rapid formation of 2,4-DCPP suggested that 2,4-DCPPM adsorbed by algal cells was catalytically hydrolyzed to the free acid, a toxic metabolite. The production rates of 2,4-DCPP were as follows: Scenedesmus obliquus > Chlorella pyrenoidosa > Chlorella vulgaris, consistent with the degradability of 2,4-DCPPM. Scenedesmus obliquus had quick, but different, degradative and uptake abilities for R-, S-, and Rac-2,4-DCPPM. The R- and S- enantiomers were not hydrolyzed in the first 12 h, while both enantiomers were hydrolyzed slowly after that. These results indicate that some physical and chemical properties of compounds are of importance in determining their enantioselective toxicity and degradation. The ester and its metabolite likely played an important role in enantioselective toxicity to the three algae.     

Insight into fluorescence properties of 14 selected toxic single-ring aromatic compounds in water: Experimental and DFT study

• The fluorescence peak location of 14 compounds interpreted at protein-like region. • The p-electron system inside aromatic ring contributes to the fluorophore region. • Functional group variation effects the emission spectra. • Decrease in quantum yield and increase in DE is due to atomic weight F>Cl>Br>I. • Theoretically results are in line with experimental ones. Various single-ring aromatic compounds in water sources are of great concern due to its hazardous impact on the environment and human health. The fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEMs) spectrophotometry is a useful method to identify organic pollutants in water. This study provides a detailed insight into the fluorescence properties of the 14 selected toxic single-ring aromatic compounds by experimental and theoretical analysis. The theoretical analysis were done with Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) and B3LYP/6-31G (d,p) basis set, whereas, Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM) was used to consider water as solvent. The selected compounds displayed their own specific excitation-emission (Ex/Em) wavelengths region, at Ex<280 nm and Em<340 nm, respectively. Whereas the theoretical Ex/Em was observed as, Ex at 240 nm–260 nm and Em at 255 nm–300 nm. Aniline as a strong aromatic base has longer Em (340 nm) than alkyl, carbonyl, and halogens substituted benzenes. The lone pair of electrons at amide substituent serves as a p-electron contributor into the aromatic ring, hence increasing the stability and transition energy, which results in longer emission and low quantum yield for the aniline. The fluorescence of halogenated benzenes illustrates an increase in the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and a decrease in quantum yield associated with atomic size (F>Cl>Br>I). In this study the theoretical results are in line with experimental ones. The understanding of fluorescence and photophysical properties are of great importance in the identification of these compounds in the water.     

建筑废物再循环利用研究

针对国外建筑废物再循环利用的经验以及国内建筑废物处理的现状,指出实施建筑废物再循环利用策略是解决我国建筑废物问题的有效途径,应当建立有效的建筑废物再循环体系来实现建筑废物处理的环境效益。     

阳离子絮凝剂P(AM-DMC)的合成及其对活性染料废水的絮凝脱色

以K2S2O8-脲为引发剂,通过自由基聚合法合成了丙烯酰胺-2-甲基丙烯酰氧乙基三甲基氯化铵P（AM—DMC）絮凝剂,并研究了其对4种活性染料模拟废水的脱色效果,考察了P（AM—DMC）加入量、阳离子度、特性粘数、染料溶液pH等因素对脱色效果的影响。实验结果表明：最佳P（AM—DMC）加入量随染料分子中磺酸基数目的增加而增加,随絮凝剂阳离子度的增大而减少;阳离子度大于52％时,最高脱色率基本相同;特性粘数对脱色效果影响很小;在染料溶液为弱酸性及中性条件下,P（AM—DMC）的脱色效果较好。P（AM—DMC）对活性染料废水的脱色机理是,P（AM—DMC）中的-N^＋（CH3）3与染料分子中的-SO3^-结合,生成-N^＋（CH3）3SO3^-,同时也形成了分子间氢键,通过键合作用使染料分子聚集沉降。     

定电位电解二氧化硫传感器特性研究

选用了3SF定电位电解型传感器作为二氧化硫连续在线监测探头。通过对该传感器各项特性指标的研究表明：该传感器在0～2500mg／m^3测量范围内,输出信号线性相关系数为0．9989,零点漂移为0．64％F．S．,相对准确度最大偏差为28mg／m^3,响应时间为30s,以上特性符合国家HJ／T76—2001标准中对二氧化硫传感器的各项指标要求,试验研究表明该传感器可用于二氧化硫连续在线监测。     

矿井通风系统风流控制的改进算法

介绍了矿井通风系统风流控制的基本数学模型和计算方法,指出了常规计算方法的不足,提出了一种能够避免大量矩阵运算、适用于实际通风网络的新算法,程序简单,计算时间省,并结合实例阐述了算法原理。     

安全管理体系的计算机辅助审核技术研究

关于海运公司安全管理体系 (SMS)的现行审核方法 ,难以保证其文件全面符合国际和国内的强制性规定 ,制约了《国际安全管理 (ISM)规则》效能的发挥。为此 ,课题组基于网络环境开发了对 SMS文件的计算机辅助审核技术 ,其主要成果包括 :建立了法规条款与 SMS文件的映射规则 ,使两者迅速匹配 ,以供审核 ;提出了 SMS文件符合法规程度的数学评价方法 ;设计了计算机辅助审核方案。经试审核 ,表明该技术能协助审核员迅速全面地发现 SMS文件对法规的不符合项 ,给出的符合程度定量合理 ,该技术有利于全面提高 SMS文件对法规条款的符合程度 ,从而方便了公司的全面履约。该技术还可用于类似的管理体系。