Multiple-criteria decision-aiding framework to analyze and assess the governance of sustainability

Past and present disasters and scandals, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the Servier Mediator (Benfluorex) scandal in 2009 and the Enron collapse in 2001, have uncovered weaknesses in governance issues. The authors argue that there is a need to develop methods and tools to diagnose and assess the governance of organizations with respect to Sustainable Development (SD). However, this task remains difficult due to the fact that it is difficult to appraise the quality of governance. The authors propose a protocol to diagnose and analyze the governance of SD and explore the use of multiple-criteria decision-aiding methods to achieve this task. Two aggregation methods to assess the global governance are proposed: (1) The identification of a final governance index for an Organization. This method helps in establishing a global diagnosis of the quality of the governance of an Organization with respect to SD challenges. The governance index is based on the calculation of three indexes: the partial opportunity index, the partial risk index and the partial equilibrium index. (2) The ranking of a set of Organizations according to their governance of SD. This method aims at assessing a set of Organizations based on a pairwise comparison according to a set of criteria that represents the seven domains of the ISO 26000 norm (ISO 26000—Guidance on social responsibility, 2010). This method is based on the outranking aggregation approach ELECTRE III. A practical example is used to illustrate two methods of governance assessment.     

气-固耦合作用下煤层气注热开采热量迁移规律数值模拟

为获取气固耦合作用下煤层气注热开采过程热量分布规律,探究煤层内气-固体系吸热量的影响因素,采用自行研制的三轴煤层气解吸热量测试验装置,在实验室中对柱状原煤进行了不同轴、围压条件下煤体甲烷解吸过程温度及热量变化测定,利用温度补偿原理获取了解吸热与解吸量关系理论模型,利用COMSOL Multiphysics软件进行了煤层气注热开采过程热量迁移规律数值模拟.结果表明:解吸热随解吸量呈指数增长趋势;模拟结果显示井间距为60 m时相较于40 m时煤层吸热量更快达到稳定,吸附气体吸热量升高持续时间为井间距40 m时的1.9倍;解吸热量在注热温度为593 K时较注热温度为493 K时增加15.97％,且达到最终解吸热量稳定时间减少21.4％.对比分析得到,在单井注热开采条件下,增大井间距和提高注热温度均可以不同程度影响热量在煤层中迁移、增大解吸热量并促进解吸作用,进而大幅度提升煤层气井筒累计产量.研究结果可为低渗透储层煤层气高效安全开采及煤层气注热开采工艺方案优化提供理论支撑.     

污泥厌氧消化技术的研究与进展

厌氧消化是目前国际上应用最为广泛的污泥稳定化和资源化的方法,随着全球性的能源危机以及各国可持续发展和环保法规的相继出台,该技术将有更加广阔的发展前景。阐述了厌氧消化的基本原理和应用情况,讨论了近年国外针对厌氧消化预处理技术和不同运行条件对厌氧消化反应效果的影响以及不同污泥处理工艺产能效果等方面研究成果及最新进展。     

纯锌在水环境中腐蚀行为

在淡水和海水环境中对纯锌进行实际曝露试验。结果表明,在淡水环境中,锌腐蚀率较小,腐蚀速率随时间延长而减小,生成的腐蚀产物具有一定的保护性能;在海洋环境,锌腐蚀严重,在全浸区1年试样就已腐蚀穿孔,其腐蚀速率随时间延长而减小,但在飞溅区却相反,腐蚀速率随时间延长而增加。     

悬浮种衣剂生产中对环境影响的研究

通过对悬浮种衣剂不同程度毒性的原药和各种助剂的筛选、生产中废水处理和周围土壤有效保护等方面的研究,提出采用物理、化学和生物等方法,进行预防和消除悬浮种衣剂生产中存在对环境不利的安全隐患和危害人们生活和健康的因素。但操作不当和预防意识弱,会给接触者带来身体健康的危害,采取相应的预防措施,能消除危害隐患,使接触者的身体健康得到保障。指出有效助剂不仅能稳定悬浮种衣剂的悬浮度,还能起到增加剂型药效和环境保护的作用,研究表明悬浮种衣剂是环境友好型农药制剂。     

城市绿地结构与鸟类栖息生境的营造

城市化对城市鸟类多样性产生了诸多不利影响。城市绿地结构是鸟类栖息生境选择的重要因素之一。在分析公园面积、连通性、岛屿化等影响城市鸟类多样性的城市绿地结构特征基础上,提出通过优化绿地结构营造鸟类栖息生境的原则,探讨了保护城市自然保留地、建设环城绿化带、构建河岸带与道路绿色廊道、复层植物群落配置、特殊空间绿化等途径作为鸟类生境营造的方法。     

Nationwide survey on the natural radionuclides in industrial raw minerals in South Korea

A Nationwide survey on the natural radioactivity in industrial raw mineral commodities (17 kinds of domestic and 18 kinds of imported) that are representative minerals used in production and consumption in South Korea was conducted. The target industrial minerals can be categorized into two groups. The first group covers non-metallic and metallic raw minerals with low levels of radioactivity such as clay, silica sand, carbonates, bituminous and anthracite coal, iron ores, ilmenite, rutile, and phosphate ore. The other group comprises minerals with high levels of radioactivity including zircon and monazite. One hundred and sixty-four domestic and imported samples were analysed by gamma-ray spectroscopy using an HPGe detector. The (40)K content ranges from <0.00131 to 2.69Bq g(-1), and (226)Ra and (232)Th range over <0.0006 to 0.630 and <0.0008 to 0.474Bq g(-1), respectively. There was no anthropogenic radioactive signal in any of the samples.     

土地利用方式对土壤团聚体稳定性和有机碳含量的影响

探究不同土地利用方式下土壤团聚体的粒径分布、稳定性及有机碳在各粒径团聚体中的分布规律,以期为重庆地区土壤结构的改善及土壤有机碳库的维持及提高提供依据.以重庆市北碚区6种土地利用方式(针阔叶混交林、竹林、果园、旱地、水田和荒草地)为研究对象,采用湿筛法对土壤进行粒径分组,对比分析了6种土地利用方式处理下土壤团聚体和团聚体有机碳在0～20、20～40、40～60和60～100 cm土壤剖面中的分布规律.结果表明,不同土地利用方式下,土壤的结构和肥力水平存在显著的差异.在0～100 cm土层土壤的各粒径团聚体中,6种土地利用方式的团聚体粒径均以 0. 25 mm为主;其中,竹林 0. 25 mm团聚体含量最高,其次是荒草地,旱地与果园含量最低.不同土地利用方式下0. 25～2 mm的粒径团聚体主要分布在0～20 cm土层(28. 78%～50. 08%),而0. 053～0. 25 mm和0. 053 mm的粒径团聚体主要集中在40～60cm土层.在整个土壤深度内,竹林和荒草地的土壤团聚体MWD和GMD均高于其他土地利用方式,即二者的土壤团聚体稳定性较强.土壤团聚体稳定性与土壤团聚体有机碳呈极显著正相关(r=0. 569,P 0. 01),在0～100 cm土层中,土壤0. 25～2 mm和0. 053 mm粒径的有机碳含量较高,其中0. 25～2 mm的最高,平均含量为56. 54 g·kg~(-1).除旱地土壤各粒径团聚体有机碳含量在20～40 cm土层内最高,其他土地利用方式下土壤各粒径团聚体内有机碳含量均随土壤深度的增加而降低,表现出显著的表层富集现象.总体上,6种土地利用方式下,竹林和荒草地在各土层中的土壤团聚体稳定性较好,且在各土层中,竹林土壤各粒径团聚体有机碳含量最高.     

System dynamics modeling for municipal water demand estimation in an urban region under uncertain economic impacts

Accurate prediction of municipal water demand is critically important to water utilities in fast-growing urban regions for drinking water system planning, design, and water utility asset management. Achieving the desired prediction accuracy is challenging, however, because the forecasting model must simultaneously consider a variety of factors associated with climate changes, economic development, population growth and migration, and even consumer behavioral patterns. Traditional forecasting models such as multivariate regression and time series analysis, as well as advanced modeling techniques (e.g., expert systems and artificial neural networks), are often applied for either short- or long-term water demand projections, yet few can adequately manage the dynamics of a water supply system because of the limitations in modeling structures. Potential challenges also arise from a lack of long and continuous historical records of water demand and its dependent variables. The objectives of this study were to (1) thoroughly review water demand forecasting models over the past five decades, and (2) propose a new system dynamics model to reflect the intrinsic relationship between water demand and macroeconomic environment using out-of-sample estimation for long-term municipal water demand forecasts in a fast-growing urban region. This system dynamics model is based on a coupled modeling structure that takes into account the interactions among economic and social dimensions, offering a realistic platform for practical use. Practical implementation of this water demand forecasting tool was assessed by using a case study under the most recent alternate fluctuations of economic boom and downturn environments.