The role of environmental activity integration into the R&D department to obtain competitive advantage

The objective of this work is to examine to what degree the integration between R&D and environmental departments facilitates the achievement of an environmental practice-derived competitive advantage. With this aim, we surveyed 110 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certified factories. The results reveal that the integration of environmental action into the R&D department enhances a company's reputation through the product quality and image. Moreover, the said integration positively influences the company's overall innovative capability and, hence, its ability to penetrate international markets.     

D201树脂对双组分萘系化合物的吸附分离

用D201强碱性阴离子交换树脂自双组分水溶液中选择吸附分离1-氨基-2-萘酚-4-磺酸(1,2,4-酸)和2-萘酚,考察了溶液pH值、浓度、温度、树脂床高及流速等因素对吸附和分离系数的影响.结果表明,在pH 3—6时,树脂对1,2,4-酸有较高的吸附量及吸附选择性,利于1,2,4-酸与2-萘酚的选择性吸附分离.温度对吸附的影响较小,等温吸附规律符合Freundlich模型.动态吸附表明,至1,2,4-酸的泄漏点时,吸附流出液中几乎只含2-萘酚,1,2,4-酸被吸附于树脂上.随着树脂床层的增长或初始浓度和流速的减小,都使泄漏点推迟及分离系数提高.载酚酸的树脂柱可用15%质量比的NH4Cl和20%体积比的乙醇混合液定量洗脱1,2,4-酸.     

高位巷瓦斯抽采下采空区自燃危险性数值分析及应用

针对大流量高位巷瓦斯抽采可能诱发采空区自燃问题,以南山矿18层5分段综放面为研究背景,构建采空区气体渗流分析模型。利用变渗透系数和Forchheimer方程,求解非线性流与层流并存下采空区三维氧气分布。结果表明:高位巷瓦斯抽采使工作面氧气更易沿漏风方向采空区纵深发展,氧化带总体宽度会随抽放流量的提高而增加。在进风侧氧气分布后移程度较小,而回风侧受抽放负压显著影响,出现明显氧气富集区。上下隅角封堵配合注氮,会降低抽放对氧气渗入的诱导影响。依据研究结论,利用综合防火措施消除了高位巷附近潜在的自燃危险。     

基于X3D技术的化学灾害事故处置在线培训系统

从消防部门处置化学灾害事故训练需求出发,采用基于Web的虚拟现实和智能组卷技术,设计并实现了一种化学灾害事故处置在线培训系统。按照化学危险品在储存、运输、生产环节中发生泄漏、燃烧和爆炸等事故类型进行分类,提供了危险源理化性质、事故特点及危害性分析、灭火救援行动措施等知识的在线学习和考试功能。在技术实现方面,采用互联网Web3D标准X3D技术,以三维方式模拟事故场景和表现知识内容,为用户提供了一个网络化、沉浸式的三维互动学习模式和环境。系统的设计和实现为化学灾害事故处置培训工作网络化、培训内容系统化、表现形式多样化提供了一种新的思路。     

饱和-非饱和介质热-水-应力耦合二维有限元分析

从建立应力平衡方程、水连续性方程、能量守恒方程和弹塑性矩阵开始,使用Galerkin方法,将各控制方程分别在空间域和时间域进行离散,初步开发出了一个用于分析饱和-非饱和介质热-水-应力耦合弹塑性问题的二维有限元程序.通过对一个假定的核废料地下处置的热-水-应力耦合问题进行数值计算,在定性上验证了本程序的正确性.     

Characteristics of Important Stopover Locations for Migrating Birds: Remote Sensing with Radar in the Great Lakes Basin

Abstract:  A preliminary stage in developing comprehensive conservation plans involves identifying areas used by the organisms of interest. The areas used by migratory land birds during temporal breaks in migration (stopover periods) have received relatively little research and conservation attention. Methodologies for identifying stopover sites across large geographic areas have been, until recently, unavailable. Advances in weather-radar technology now allow for evaluation of bird migration patterns at large spatial scales. We analyzed radar data (WSR-88D) recorded during spring migration in 2000 and 2001 at 6 sites in the Great Lakes basin (U.S.A.). Our goal was to link areas of high migrant activity with the land-cover types and landscape contexts corresponding to those areas. To characterize the landscapes surrounding stopover locations, we integrated radar and land-cover data within a geographic information system. We compared landscape metrics within 5 km of areas that consistently hosted large numbers of migrants with landscapes surrounding randomly selected areas that were used by relatively few birds during migration. Concentration areas were characterized by 1.2 times more forest cover and 9.3 times more water cover than areas with little migrant activity. We detected a strong negative relationship between activity of migratory birds and agricultural land uses. Examination of individual migration events confirmed the importance of fragments of forested habitat in highly altered landscapes and highlighted large concentrations of birds departing from near-shore terrestrial areas in the Great Lakes basin. We conclude that conservation efforts can be more effectively targeted through intensive analysis of radar imagery.     

Application of proteomics in environmental science

Proteomics involves the separation of proteins, identification of the amino acid sequence of the interested or target proteins, study of the function of the proteins, modification, structure and ultimate assignments to functional pathways in the cell. The proteomic investigations have contributed greatly to human diseases studies, new drugs discovery researches, and environmental science in recent years. This article provides a review on the development of the main proteomic technologies, including both the gel based and non-gel based technologies, and their applications in environmental science. Proteomic technologies have been utilized in the environmental stresses studies to analyze the induction or reduction of proteins at expression level and identify the target proteins to investigate their function in response to environmental stresses, such as high or low pH, oxidation stress, and toxic chemicals. Such protein responses are also helpful to understand the mechanisms of some cellular activities and the functions of some proteins.     

A new meta-analysis on the WTP/WTA disparity

This study reports a new meta-analysis of papers that elicit willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-accept compensation (WTA) measures of value for the same good. We investigate the effects of type of good and several survey-design features on the WTP/WTA disparity, measured as the logarithm of the ratio of mean WTA to mean WTP. Confirming Horowitz and McConnell?s (2002) pioneering meta-analysis, we find the disparity is smaller for ordinary private goods than for public and non-market goods, that it is not solely an artifact of using hypothetical transactions or other weak experimental or survey methods, and that it is smaller for studies using student subjects. In addition, we find that the disparity is smaller when subjects have experience valuing the good in real markets or through repeated experimental trials. In contrast to Horowitz and McConnell, we find the disparity is significantly smaller in studies using incentive-compatible elicitation mechanisms. The disparity is smaller in more recent studies, an effect that is attributable only in part to changes in study characteristics.     

Carbon leakage and capacity-based allocations: Is the EU right?

Competitiveness and carbon leakage are major concerns for the design of CO₂ emissions permits markets. In the absence of a global carbon tax and of border carbon adjustments, output-based allocation is a third-best solution and is actually implemented (Australia, California, New Zealand). The EU has followed a different route; free allowances are allocated to existing or new capacities in proportion to a benchmark, independent of actual production. This paper compares these two schemes in a formal setting and shows that the optimal one is in fact a combination of both schemes, or output-based allocation alone if uncertainty is limited. A key assumption of our analysis is that the short-term import pressure depends both on the existing capacities and the level of demand, which is typical in capital intensive and internationally traded sectors. A calibration of the model is used to discuss the EU scheme for the cement sector in the third phase of the EU-ETS (2013–2020). This allows for a quantification of various policies in terms of welfare, investment, production, company profits, public revenues and leakage.     

The social cost of carbon revisited

An estimate of the social cost of carbon (SCC) is crucial to climate policy. But how should we estimate the SCC? A common approach uses an integrated assessment model (IAM) to simulate time paths for the atmospheric CO₂ concentration, its impact on temperature, and resulting reductions in GDP. I have argued that IAMs have deficiencies that make them poorly suited for this job, but what is the alternative? I present an approach to estimating an average SCC, which I argue can be a useful guide for policy. I rely on a survey of experts to elicit opinions regarding (1) probabilities of alternative economic outcomes of climate change, but not the causes of those outcomes; and (2) the reduction in emissions required to avert an extreme outcome, i.e., a large climate-induced reduction in GDP. The average SCC is the ratio of the present value of lost GDP from an extreme outcome to the total emission reduction needed to avert that outcome. I discuss the survey instrument, explain how experts were identified, and present results. I obtain SCC estimates of $200/mt or higher, but the variation across experts is large. Trimming outliers and focusing on experts who expressed a high degree of confidence in their answers yields lower SCCs, $80 to $100/mt, but still well above the IAM-based estimates used by the U.S. government.