Urban planning at the turn of the 21st century

Contemporary urban planning is characterised by the following: (a) a large amount of specific research gives a large quantity of facts, but like stones of the mosaic do hot make an entire picture; (b) in the basis of these researches no one finds entire creative conceptions; (c) the theories lose touch with practical design matter; (d) in contradiction to the classical architectural epoch, urban planning loses touch with the construction of buildings; (e) the practice of urban planning and the construction of buildings lose touch with historical traditions. The corollary of these academic and unnatural specialisations is a break not only from “the tie of times” but also from the ties inside the profession. This situation has an effect on the practice of urban planning and architecture; society returns to destructive criticism. It is impossible to get away from this fact. The author makes an attempt to change this situation for the better — at least in some measures. On the basis of many years study of the results of research this paper presents a concept of contemporary urban planning. This concept is not in the form of hard recommendations, but expedient methods for the solution of problems. It is proved by the author's projects.     

Life Cycle Assessment for biodiesel production under Greek climate conditions

The aim of this paper is to understand and to model the environmental performance of biodiesel produced by various Greek raw materials under current conditions. Three energy crops (rapeseed, sunflower and soybean) have been studied, with regard to their levels of biodiesel productivity. Throughout the entire process, current Greek climatic conditions and cultivation parameters have been taken into account. At the stage of assessment, we conclude that the environmental impacts per crop area indicate that soybean has the lowest environmental impacts. However, by assessing the results per quantity of produced biodiesel, the crop with the minimum environmental impacts is sunflower. This paper shows that environmental benefits from biodiesel have better results, compared to conventional diesel, thus leading to the conclusion that it is feasible to succeed improved environmental performance.     

货物集装箱扫描技术的发展

恐怖分子利用货物集装箱走私核武器或用于放射性频散装置(RDD)的放射性材料,美国和其他国家目前都在面临这一严重威胁.     

Towards a governance of sustainable consumption transitions: how institutional factors influence emerging local food systems in Belgium

System innovations and transitions in the realm of sustainable consumption policies will seldom emerge automatically from the present socio-political and socio-technical contexts. This paper explores a set of perspectives related to the governance of transitions and develops their application to the relatively unexplored governance of sustainable consumption transitions. Empirical material stems from an extensive case study which analyses a food consumption niche in the form of collectively organised local food systems (LFS) in Belgium. More specifically, we analyse and discuss the institutional contexts and socio-political configurations within which the investigated system innovation cases are embedded. The results explore the role of governmental interplay in fostering innovative consumption practices for a transition towards a more sustainable, autonomous, citizen-based, LFS.     

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Biofilm formation, one of the primary causes of biofouling, results in reduced membrane flux or increased transmembrane pressure and thus represents a major impediment to the wider implementation of membrane bioreactor(MBR) technologies for water purification. Most studies have focused on the role of bacteria in membrane fouling as they are the most dominant and best studied organisms present in the MBR. In contrast, there is limited information on the role of the archaeal community in biofilm formation in MBRs. This study investigated the composition of the archaeal community during the process of biofouling in an MBR. The archaeal community was observed to have lower richness and diversity in the biofilm than the sludge during the establishment of biofilms at low transmembrane pressure(TMP). Clustering of the communities based on the Bray–Curtis similarity matrix indicated that a subset of the sludge archaeal community formed the initial biofilms. The archaeal community in the biofilm was mainly composed of Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata,Thermococci, Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia and Halobacteria. Among them, the Thermoprotei and Thermoplasmata were present at higher relative proportions in the biofilms than they were in the sludge. Additionally, the Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata and Thermococci were the dominant organisms detected in the initial biofilms at low TMP, while as the TMP increased, the Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia, Aciduliprofundum and Halobacteria were present at higher abundances in the biofilms at high TMP.