Is animal welfare a central issue for consumers of luxury goods?

The compatibility between luxury and sustainable development has been increasingly examined in recent literature, but a number of ethical issues remain unexplored. One such concern is animal welfare, a recurrent question in the luxury goods sector. This is one of the first research articles to shed light on this subject, utilising two studies, one qualitative and the other quantitative with conjoint analysis, conducted among 12 and 253 French consumers, respectively. The results reveal that consumers are sensitive to the challenge of animal welfare in luxury, but fall into two different groups. Some have a preference for animal‐based raw materials sourced from livestock farms that respect animal welfare, whilst others are more favourable to the use of synthetic raw materials. In particular, the results show that the use of synthetic raw materials is accepted by some consumers but can lead to a reduction in the perceived value of luxury products.     

Metals in the indoor environment

There is a growing recognition that individual exposures to a broad spectrum of metal, inorganic and organic pollutants exceed those from ambient and in some cases from the vicinity of industry environments. The agents often found in indoor environments are mostly known to be hazardous in high concentrations, but the lower limit of their dose response relationships are poorly defined.

The major sources of metals in indoor environments are cigarette smoke (mainstream and side stream), fuel combustion, house dust and consumer products with arsenic, cadmium, lead and nickel being of primary toxicological potential (i.e. carcinogenic, genotoxic and reproductive development). Aspects of levels and duration of human exposure to these elements in relation to existing body burdens and subsequent bioavailability and interactions are generally poorly known from inhalation sources.

Although the magnitude of indoor health hazards to metallic constituents is not now known, mounting evidence suggests that both identification of agents and the measurement of indoor exposures are critical for a more realistic assessment of the effect of this aspect of air pollution on human health.     

Electronic labelling in recycling of manufactured articles

The concept of a recycling system aiming at the recovery of resources from manufactured articles is proposed. The system integrates electronic labels for product identification and internet for global data exchange. A prototype for the recycling of electric motors has been developed, which implements a condition-based recycling decision system to automatically select the environmentally and economically appropriate recycling strategy, thereby opening a potential market for second-hand motors and creating a profitable recycling process itself. The project has been designed to evaluate the feasibility of electronic identification applied on a large number of motors and to validate the system in real field conditions.     

基于层级分析法的航海人员驾驶疲劳因子分析

笔者从环境不同的基本要素切入,分析个人生理、心理和技术对航海人员驾驶疲劳因子之影响,提出以全面性的环境差别建构航海人员驾驶疲劳因子指标体系,应用层级分析法对该体系进行评价,该评价方法简单、实用,且有清晰的架构,能完整呈现专家的意见。“工作疲劳靠休息;心理压力靠抒解”,建议以正面激励的安全驾驶管理,建立航海驾驶人员疏解疲劳之途径,且鼓励船员相互砥砺并适度给予奖励,以消除船员驾驶疲劳因子产生的根源。     

Optimum autonomous photovoltaic solution for the Greek islands on the basisof energy pay-back analysis

Although autonomous photovoltaic (PV) systems are identified as renewable energy technologies able to satisfy the electrification needs of remote consumers, they are strongly accused of their life-cycle energy requirements. To support the specific systems' sustainable character one should be able to ensure minimum period of energy pay-back. In this context, an optimum sizing methodology is developed for stand-alone PV-battery systems in order to obtain configurations of minimum energy content. The proposed methodology is applied to three representative islands across the Greek territory and the results obtained are favourably compared with the up to now – commonly used – diesel-electric generator solution.     

中国绿色发展中的环境治理：成效评价与趋势展望

“十一五”时期,中国环境治理工作在绿色发展中的作用更加明显,环境治理成效显著增强,基本建立健全了与中国基本国情相适应的环境治理宏观战略体系、全防全控的防范体系、法规政策标准体系以及全民参与体系。但东、中、西、东北四大区域的环境治理成效存在明显差异。面对中国绿色发展的需要和日趋强化的资源环境约束,以解决影响可持续发展的突出环境问题为重点,健全完善多元主体环境治理模式,全面加强环境法律体系建设,积极探索环境治理新工具,不断推进环境治理协同联动机制,将是中国环境治理的主要方向。     

足球比赛结果与预期差异较大时观众疏散行为调查研究

基于比赛结果与预期差异较大的假设,对足球比赛现场观众进行问卷调查,考察观众对比赛结果很满意和很失望两种情形下,观众的情绪、应对疏散指挥的态度、赛后现场滞留的倾向、与他人发生冲突和破坏现场公共物品等与疏散相关的心理和行为,以及上述心理和行为与观众性别和年龄的关联性。结果表明足球比赛结果会影响观众疏散心理和行为,且这种影响还会因性别和年龄的差异而有所不同。调查初步分析了我国足球比赛观众疏散心理和行为特点,可以为比赛的组织和管理提供决策参考,为疏散仿真研究提供基础数据。     

Using Visual Impact Metaphors to Stimulate Environmentally Friendly Behavior: The Roles of Response Efficacy and Evaluative Persuasion Knowledge

ABSTRACT

Although people often are aware of the importance of adopting environmentally friendly lifestyles, they might be reluctant to do so as they believe that their actions do not make a difference (i.e. low response efficacy). Furthermore, they might experience reactance (e.g. negative attitudes) towards environmental messages that encourage them to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Therefore we experimentally tested whether it is possible to stimulate people to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle (i.e. recycle more clothing) by using visual impact metaphors that convey the message that old clothes deserve a new life. The findings show that a message in the form of a visual impact metaphor (vs. no visual impact metaphor) results in more positive attitudes towards recycling and stronger recycling intentions. This effect was mediated by two different underlying mechanisms: Response efficacy and more positive attitudes towards the persuasive attempt (i.e. positive evaluative persuasion knowledge).     

Putting consumers first in design for sustainable behaviour: a case study of reducing environmental impacts of cold appliance use

To slow down the increasing environmental degradation, design for sustainable behaviour (DfSB) has emerged in sustainable design aiming to promote behavioural change through design innovations to reduce environmental and social impacts from the demand side or consumer side. This paper presents a practice-based journey to investigate the process and results of the application of social-psychological theories into sustainable design. Focusing on the behaviour-related impacts of products and services during the use stage, a Design Behaviour Intervention Model (DBIM) is developed through the analysis and synthesis of the social-psychological theories and behaviour-changing strategies. The DBIM indicates that an in-depth study of consumer behaviour is the preliminary step in DfSB, which determines the application of design strategies and potentially the effectiveness of design interventions. A case study is presented to demonstrate the application of the model. The results show that consumer behaviour insights offer rich resources to assist designers in sustainable design innovation. Product-based design suggestions and a proposed solution highlight that the application of DBIM coupled with consumer involvement throughout the design process could produce desirable and sustainable patterns of household fridge use. Finally, the structured consideration of behavioural change and their possible application in DfSB are discussed.     

人口迁移视角下城镇化对典型领域碳排放驱动效应研究——以辽宁省为例

城镇化的快速发展为我国带来了日新月异的变化,但城镇化进程中伴随着能源消费快速增长,使我国面临能源供应、节能减排等方面更加严峻的挑战.现有研究主要是从宏观角度研究城镇化对能源消费及碳排放的影响,较少探究人口从农村向城镇迁移过程中对典型领域产生的驱动效应.基于此,本研究以辽宁省为例,应用弹性系数模型,选取居民消费、住宅建筑、道路交通3个典型领域探讨城镇化对碳排放的驱动效应,并提出针对性的碳减排政策.结果表明,2006—2015年,城镇化对居民生活直接消费碳排放的驱动效应最为显著,弹性系数为9.91;对居民生活间接消费碳排放和道路交通领域的驱动效应次之,弹性系数分别为6.94和5.38;对住宅建筑等驱动效应最弱,弹性系数为2.71.研究表明,城乡生活方式差异导致居民直接生活消费碳排放显著增加,相较而言,城乡产品市场差异较小;辽宁省现阶段城镇住宅建筑存量与城镇新增人口的需求基本匹配,但人口城镇化带来的城市边界外扩、人口密度提高,导致道路交通碳排放增长.