土地利用与可持续建筑:巴西南部的设计与建造

最近几年,位于马西南部的里奥格兰德联合大学的研究生土木工程项目开展了一些与建筑环境的可持续性有关的活动.其中一些活动与教育有关,一些活动与设计和建造有关.本文介绍了应用可持续性原则的项目的总体概念框架及其主要总体目标.新近的一个项目(对一所技术学校的提议)说明了如休在一个具体的项目处理框架及其目标问题1.文章也简要介绍了其他研究和设计活动.并简单讨论了把可持续性问题纳入发发中国家的土地利用规划以及项目设计的障碍.     

Technological behaviour and leaching tests in ceramic tile bodies obtained by recycling of copper slag and MSW fly ash wastes

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The substitution of standard clays to residues, in this case copper smelter slag and fly ashes coming from the incineration process of MSW in...     

Biogeochemical characterization of surface waters in the Aljustrel mining area (South Portugal)

Aljustrel mining area (South Portugal) is a part of the Iberian Pyrite Belt and encloses six sulfide mineral masses. This mine is classified of high environmental risk due to the large tailings’ volume and acid mine drainage (AMD)-affected waters generated by sulfides’ oxidation. The use of biological indicators (e.g., diatoms) revealed to be an important tool to address the degree of AMD contamination in waters. Multivariate analysis has been used as a relevant approach for the characterization of AMD processes. Cluster analysis was used to integrate the significant amount and diversity of variables (physicochemical and biological), discriminating the different types of waters, characterized by the high complexity occurring in this region. The distinction of two main marked phenomena was achieved: (1) the circumneutral-Na-Cl water type (sites DA, PF, BX, BF, RO, CB), expressing the geological contributions of the Cenozoic sediments of Sado river basin, with high diatom diversity (predominating brackish diatoms as Entomoneis alata); and (2) the acid–metal-sulfated water type (sites BM, JU, RJ, AA, MR, BE, PC, AF), reflecting both the AMD contamination and the dissolution of minerals (e.g., silicates) from the hosting rocks, potentiated by the extremely low pH. This last group of sites showed lower diatom diversity but with typical diatoms from acid- and metal-contaminated waters (e.g., Pinnularia aljustrelica). In addition to these two water types, this hierarchical classification method also allowed to distinguish individual cases in subclusters, for example, treated dams (DC, DD), with alkaline substances (lime/limestone), that changed the physicochemical dynamics of the contaminated waters.

     

From the traditional concept of safety management to safety integrated with quality

This editorial reviews the evolution of the concepts of safety and quality that have been used in the traditional workplace. The traditional programs of safety are explored showing strengths and weaknesses. The concept of quality management is also viewed. Safety management and quality management principles, stages, and measurement are highlighted. The concepts of quality and safety guarantee are assessed. Total Quality Management concepts are reviewed and applied to safety quality. Total safety management principles are discussed. Finally, an analysis of the relationship between quality and safety from data collected from a company in Spain is presented.     

SELECTION OF WASTE DISPOSAL SITES USING GIS1

ABSTRACT: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is used to identify candidate sites for a solid waste disposal facility in the Gölbasi region of Turkey that has suffered from the negative impact of a current but poorly-located open-dump site on the environment. The municipality of Gölbasi has noticed its deleterious effect on the environment, and has thus decided to dismiss this open-dump site and search for new landfill sites. In this study, the procedure followed under a GIS framework rejects the unacceptable sites considering environmental factors exclusively, other than economic and political issues, contained in the form of multiple layers of attribute information to select the candidate sites for landfilling wastes through an overlay analysis performed by GIS software, ARC/INFO V 7.1. For the spatial data requirements of GIS, a number of thematic map layers (ground water, wetlands and swamp areas, surface water, roads, topographic contours, ecological features, settlements, erosion susceptibility zones, and soil type) are prepared in digital form. In this application, GIS is considered as a screening tool in a site selection process to narrow the number of candidate sites, subsequently leading to one or more sites for detailed investigation. Preliminary ranking for a group of potential sites is done on the basis of simple calculations coupled with on-site field studies.     

Groundwater and pollution of water resources

The drafters of water legislation in the developing countries are faced with two major challenges: first, to make the law a suitable instrument for promoting social investment in the development of water resources; and second, to devise machinery which will protect those resources in all their different forms. This paper addresses those challenges. It also discusses the ways in which the law deals with the problems of water and the pollution of water resources. The concept of economic externalities is of basic importance in any consideration of both of these questions. The goal is to handle them with legal instruments designed to prevent individuals from taking action which affects the welfare of other users or which impedes the conservation of water resources for the purposes of their development and long-term utilization.     

ON THE CAPACITY-EXPANSION OF DESALINATION PLANTS AND STORAGE TANKS1

ABSTRACT A mathematical programming model is structured to find the optimal time and capacity expansion path of desalination plants and storage tanks for a hypothetical community which depends on desalination as its sole, or major, water supply source. The objective is to determine the least costly combination of sues and times of installation (of both desalting plants and storage tanks) which can meet a rising water demand over a finite planning horizon. The optimality criterion used in the model is based on two major economic elements: the economies of scale inherent in such facilities and the time-value of money represented by the interest rate, the former favoring large capacities and the latter small capacities. The model is applied using three population growth patterns and two interest rates. The water demand components for every year in the planning period are computed using empirical formulas which are based on population and other basic data. The model is solved for each of the above cases with the aid of a computer program based on the method of feasible conjugate directions. The results clearly reflect the balance between the economies of scale and the time-value of money under every demand growth function.     

NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS OF DISPERSION IN A FINITE,ADSORBING POROUS MEDIUM1

ABSTRACT Numerical and analytical solutions are developed for the distribution of a contaminant within an adsorbing porous medium in a unidirectional flow field subject to a step function for input concentration. The medium is considered to be homogeneous, isotropic, and areally finite. As a by-product, solutions are also obtained for the case of a non-absorbing porous medium. An example that demonstrates the applicability of the solutions is presented.     

Ozonisation coupled with biological degradation for treatment of phenolic pollutants: a mechanistically based study

Phenolic acids constitute an important group of pollutants which are reluctant to biological treatment. Solutions containing a mixture of cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid were submitted to ozonisation. Then, the changes in biodegradability along the process were studied by means of respirometry. There is an optimum ozone dosage in the interval 3-5 min of treatment which allows to achieve the maximum increase in biodegradability (more than 10 times) and a high efficiency of the ozonisation process (COD decreases to a half of its initial value). Further ozonisation does not help to increase biodegradability and is clearly disadvantageous. Similar results are obtained with actual samples of olive oil wastewaters. This behaviour is explained based on the formation of highly biodegradable benzaldehydes as key ozonisation intermediates, in the early reaction stages.     

The European union as first mover in the market for greenhouse gas emissions permits

This study aims to analyse the potential market for emissions permits that the European Union (EU) established in 2005, in a first-mover attitude with regard to the frame of the Kyoto Protocol. To this end the integrated assessment Regional Integrated Climate and the Economy (RICE) model is employed, adapted to the specific objectives intended. A referential paretian-optimum price of US$25.63 tCO₂ is obtained around the year 2007, which duplicates the hypothetical harmonized carbon tax. The ratio between the willingness to pay and the net environmental damages as a result of adverse climate change point to the high degree of commitment and the leadership initiative that seem to be assumed by the EU-15, the extended EU including Eastern European countries and the European OECD as a whole, with the hinterland geo-strategic referent represented by Russia and the Ukraine.