Quality Science in the Courtroom: U.S. EPA Data Quality and Peer Review Policies and Procedures Compared to the Daubert Factors

Protection of the environment is critically dependent on the quality of data used in decision making. Whether the decisions are part of the scientific process or relate to application of the laws governing people and their living conditions, good quality data are required/needed by two disciplines with distinct differences. This paper examines some differences between science and the law, provides a brief history of science in law, discusses the effects of law on science, compares United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) guidance and U.S. Supreme Court credible science criteria. This paper further speculates on the future use of science data by the courts.     

Fluid bed gasification – Plasma converter process generating energy from solid waste: Experimental assessment of sulphur species

Often perceived as a Cinderella material, there is growing appreciation for solid waste as a renewable content thermal process feed. Nonetheless, research on solid waste gasification and sulphur mechanisms in particular is lacking. This paper presents results from two related experiments on a novel two stage gasification process, at demonstration scale, using a sulphur-enriched wood pellet feed.Notable SO₂ and relatively low COS levels (before gas cleaning) were interesting features of the trials, and not normally expected under reducing gasification conditions. Analysis suggests that localised oxygen rich regions within the fluid bed played a role in SO₂’s generation. The response of COS to sulphur in the feed was quite prompt, whereas SO₂ was more delayed. It is proposed that the bed material sequestered sulphur from the feed, later aiding SO₂ generation. The more reducing gas phase regions above the bed would have facilitated COS – hence its faster response. These results provide a useful insight, with further analysis on a suite of performed experiments underway, along with thermodynamic modelling.     

Vehicle routing for the eco-efficient collection of household plastic waste

Plastic waste is a special category of municipal solid waste. Plastic waste collection is featured with various alternatives of collection methods (curbside/drop-off) and separation methods (source-/post-separation). In the Netherlands, the collection routes of plastic waste are the same as those of other waste, although plastic is different than other waste in terms of volume to weight ratio. This paper aims for redesigning the collection routes and compares the collection options of plastic waste using eco-efficiency as performance indicator. Eco-efficiency concerns the trade-off between environmental impacts, social issues and costs. The collection problem is modeled as a vehicle routing problem. A tabu search heuristic is used to improve the routes. Collection alternatives are compared by a scenario study approach. Real distances between locations are calculated with MapPoint. The scenario study is conducted based on real case data of the Dutch municipality Wageningen. Scenarios are designed according to the collection alternatives with different assumptions in collection method, vehicle type, collection frequency and collection points, etc. Results show that the current collection routes can be improved in terms of eco-efficiency performance by using our method. The source-separation drop-off collection scenario has the best performance for plastic collection assuming householders take the waste to the drop-off points in a sustainable manner. The model also shows to be an efficient decision support tool to investigate the impacts of future changes such as alternative vehicle type and different response rates.     

Fog as a Fresh-Water Resource: Overview and Perspectives

The collection of fog water is a simple and sustainable technology to obtain fresh water for afforestation, gardening, and as a drinking water source for human and animal consumption. In regions where fresh water is sparse and fog frequently occurs, it is feasible to set up a passive mesh system for fog water collection. The mesh is directly exposed to the atmosphere, and the foggy air is pushed through the mesh by the wind. Fog droplets are deposited on the mesh, combine to form larger droplets, and run down passing into a storage tank. Fog water collection rates vary dramatically from site to site but yearly averages from 3 to 10 l m⁻² of mesh per day are typical of operational projects. The scope of this article is to review fog collection projects worldwide, to analyze factors of success, and to evaluate the prospects of this technology.     

浅谈3000t/d水泥生产线窑尾收尘系统改造

介绍了南阳航天水泥厂3000t/d水泥生产线窑尾收尘系统的改造背景、技术方案、施工方案和工程造价。改造采用了在原窑尾反吹风高温玻纤袋收尘器旁并联一台同类型单排袋式收尘器的方案,以增大窑尾袋收尘器过滤面积和降低过滤风速。该窑尾收尘系统的改造取得了明显的成效。     

乌鲁木齐城市小区雨水收集回用系统设计建议——以晨光-佳苑为例

运用城市小区雨水资源收集回用系统成为了城市节约水资源新的途径。分析了乌鲁木齐晨光-佳苑住宅小区原有雨水收集回用状况,建议采用雨水入渗技术,对原有设计系统进行改造,增加新的雨水收集回用系统,探讨改造小区雨水收集回用系统的可行性,提出完善新增雨水收集回用系统的建议。     

Performance of data acceptance criteria over 50 months from an automatic real-time environmental radiation surveillance network

The automatic real-time environmental radiation surveillance network of Catalonia (Spain) comprises two subnetworks; one with 9 aerosol monitors and the other with 8 Geiger monitors together with 2 water monitors located in the Ebre river. Since September 2006, several improvements were implemented in order to get better quality and quantity of data, allowing a more accurate data analysis. However, several causes (natural causes, equipment failure, artificial external causes and incidents in nuclear power plants) may produce radiological measured values mismatched with the own station background, whether spurious without significance or true radiological values. Thus, data analysis for a 50-month period was made and allowed to establish an easily implementable statistical criterion to find those values that require special attention. This criterion proved a very useful tool for creating a properly debugged database and to give a quick response to equipment failures or possible radiological incidents. This paper presents the results obtained from the criterion application, including the figures for the expected, raw and debugged data, percentages of missing data grouped by causes and radiological measurements from the networks. Finally, based on the discussed information, recommendations for the improvement of the network are identified to obtain better radiological information and analysis capabilities.     

Waste collection multi objective model with real time traceability data

Waste collection is a highly visible municipal service that involves large expenditures and difficult operational problems, plus it is expensive to operate in terms of investment costs (i.e. vehicles fleet), operational costs (i.e. fuel, maintenances) and environmental costs (i.e. emissions, noise and traffic congestions). Modern traceability devices, like volumetric sensors, identification RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, permit to obtain data in real time, which is fundamental to implement an efficient and innovative waste collection routing model. The basic idea is that knowing the real time data of each vehicle and the real time replenishment level at each bin makes it possible to decide, in function of the waste generation pattern, what bin should be emptied and what should not, optimizing different aspects like the total covered distance, the necessary number of vehicles and the environmental impact. This paper describes a framework about the traceability technology available in the optimization of solid waste collection, and introduces an innovative vehicle routing model integrated with the real time traceability data, starting the application in an Italian city of about 100,000 inhabitants. The model is tested and validated using simulation and an economical feasibility study is reported at the end of the paper.     

北京市城市生活垃圾收运系统研究

对北京市城市生活垃圾收运系统现状进行了全面的分析,对北京城八区生活垃圾收集、分类收集、转运、生活垃圾处理设施和垃圾物流现状进行了分析,同时对北京市城市生活垃圾收运系统进行了分析,指出了北京市城市生活垃圾收运系统存在的主要问题和今后改进的建议及处理处置设施的规划,为北京城市生活垃圾收运系统的建设和完善起到了积极地推动作用。     

欠发达地区农户生产效率研究——以西藏自治区为例

以西藏自治区为例,在2009年农户抽样调查数据基础上,利用数据包络法(DEA)探讨西藏不同区域农户生产效率,认为西藏农户生产效率差异与农业生产中自用价值的计算有关,若考虑自用价值,在固定生产规模报酬(CRS)假设下,平均生产效率为0.653,其中拉萨市最高(0.784),日喀则市最低(0.277);若不计入自用价值,山南与那曲地区呈现最高生产效率。表明西藏农户收入中自用价值占了较大比例,扣除自用价值,收入大幅减少,影响生产效率。因此,提高农牧户生产商品率是增加农牧民收入的有效途径。