The ecological traces of growth: economic growth,liberalization, increased consumption—and sustainable urban development?

Using the development of the building stock and physical infrastructure as an example, this article highlights the difficulties in combining continuous economic growth in wealthy countries with the requirements of environmentally sustainable development. There are clear limits as to how far we can get by means of ‘eco-efficiency’, and the effect of a transition to less environmentally harmful types of consumption is not sufficient if the consumption volume keeps on increasing. This is particularly evident for societal processes such as the construction of buildings and the development of physical infrastructure. Increased consumption is both a result of and a precondition for economic growth. The development of the building stock and physical infrastructure in cities is a case showing that economic growth—at any rate, in the longer term—can hardly be consistent with the preservation of species, ecosystems and food-production resources. The growth in the building stock also makes it increasingly difficult to limit energy use and reduce carbon–dioxide emissions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consequence analysis by means of characteristic curves to determine the damage to buildings from bursting spherical vessels

Since the damage suffered by buildings as a consequence of explosions usually affect the people inside them, it is important to take it into account when performing consequence analysis. The aim of this paper is to provide a methodology to estimate consequences to buildings from pressure waves produced by spherical vessel burst. This is done by combining characteristic overpressure–impulse–distance curves [González Ferradás, E., Diaz Alonso, F., Sanchez Perez, J.F., Miñana Aznar, A., Ruiz Gimeno, J. and Martinez Alonso, J., 2006, Characteristic overpressure–impulse–distance curves for vessel burst, Process Safety Progress, 25(3): 250–254] with PROBIT equations. The main advantage of this methodology is that it allows an overview of all the magnitudes involved, as damage is shown in the same graph as the overpressure, impulse and distance. In this paper diagrams and equations are presented to determine minor damage to buildings (broken windows, displacement of doors and window frames, tile displacement, etc.), major structural damage (cracks in walls, collapse of some walls) and collapse (the damage is so extensive that the building is partially or totally demolished).     

工业厂房自然通风的数值模拟及结构改进

采用计算流体动力学(CFD)技术(方法)对某钢铁厂房的自然通风过程进行数值模拟研究。采用Realizable k-ε湍流模型及DO辐射模型对该工业厂房的流场和温度场进行了数值计算,其计算结果与文献中实验值的对比吻合很好。在该基础上,进一步对热源分布和进风口、天窗排风口结构对自然通风效果的影响做了计算,结果表明:适当的减小排风口高度以及缩短生产线热源的间距等能够在一定程度上改善自然通风的效果。研究成果为工业厂房自然通风系统的设计提供了理论参考依据。     

公共建筑火灾风险评价方法研究

建筑物的火灾危险度包括火灾对建筑物本身的破坏以及对建筑物内部人员伤害两个方面.本文在古斯塔夫火灾危险度法和层次分析法的基础上,采用模糊数学中的一些方法对火灾危险源进行处理.将火灾风险定义若干因子,每个因子对应火灾危险源的不同特性.通过评价得出建筑物所属的安全等级以及一定区域内建筑火灾风险的排序.在评价过程中考虑控制风险的力量,特别是消防队控制风险的力量对建筑物火灾风险的影响,使评估结果更加合理准确.该方法可以使消防部队快捷迅速的了解辖区内重要公共建筑的安全情况,以及如何合理的布置消防站点,降低城市区域风险.     

Vulnerability of schools to floods in Nyando River catchment,Kenya

This paper assesses the vulnerability of schools to floods in the Nyando River catchment (3,600 km²) in western Kenya and identifies measures needed to reduce this vulnerability. It surveys 130 schools in the lower reaches, where flooding is a recurrent phenomenon. Of the primary schools assessed, 40% were vulnerable, 48% were marginally vulnerable and 12% were not vulnerable. Of the secondary schools, 8% were vulnerable, 73% were marginally vulnerable and 19% were not vulnerable. Vulnerability to floods is due to a lack of funds, poor building standards, local topography, soil types and inadequate drainage. The Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), established in 2003, provides financial support to cover school construction and reconstruction costs; CDF Committees are expected to adopt school building standards. In an effort to promote safe and resilient construction and retrofitting to withstand floods, this paper presents vulnerability reduction strategies and recommendations for incorporating minimum standards in the on‐going Primary School Infrastructure Programme Design.     

Mass,energy and material balances of SRF production process. Part 1: SRF produced from commercial and industrial waste

This paper presents the mass, energy and material balances of a solid recovered fuel (SRF) production process. The SRF is produced from commercial and industrial waste (C&IW) through mechanical treatment (MT). In this work various streams of material produced in SRF production process are analyzed for their proximate and ultimate analysis. Based on this analysis and composition of process streams their mass, energy and material balances are established for SRF production process. Here mass balance describes the overall mass flow of input waste material in the various output streams, whereas material balance describes the mass flow of components of input waste stream (such as paper and cardboard, wood, plastic (soft), plastic (hard), textile and rubber) in the various output streams of SRF production process. A commercial scale experimental campaign was conducted on an MT waste sorting plant to produce SRF from C&IW. All the process streams (input and output) produced in this MT plant were sampled and treated according to the CEN standard methods for SRF: EN 15442, EN 15443. The results from the mass balance of SRF production process showed that of the total input C&IW material to MT waste sorting plant, 62% was recovered in the form of SRF, 4% as ferrous metal, 1% as non-ferrous metal and 21% was sorted out as reject material, 11.6% as fine fraction, and 0.4% as heavy fraction. The energy flow balance in various process streams of this SRF production process showed that of the total input energy content of C&IW to MT plant, 75% energy was recovered in the form of SRF, 20% belonged to the reject material stream and rest 5% belonged with the streams of fine fraction and heavy fraction. In the material balances, mass fractions of plastic (soft), plastic (hard), paper and cardboard and wood recovered in the SRF stream were 88%, 70%, 72% and 60% respectively of their input masses to MT plant. A high mass fraction of plastic (PVC), rubber material and non-combustibles (such as stone/rock and glass particles), was found in the reject material stream.     

填充墙对底框结构地震反应的影响

为研究填充墙对底层框架多层砌体房屋地震反应的影响,以典型的填充墙-底层框架多层砌体房屋为基础,建立有限元计算模型并进行了弹塑性动力时程分析。根据不同模型的计算结果以及填充墙的刚度和强度,分析了填充墙对底层框架多层砌体房屋自振周期、地震作用下房屋整体变形、底层框架的损伤以及填充墙与底层框架相互作用的影响。计算结果表明:填充墙对房屋整体地震反应产生明显影响,其影响不能忽略。在上部砌体结构质量和刚度不变的情况下,结构自振周期随着填充墙刚度的增加而降低;随着填充墙与底层框架之间连接作用的增强,结构整体的变形减小,底层框架的损伤增大。当填充墙与底层框架之间采用弱连接时,采用强度较高的填充墙可以提高结构整体的变形能力,从而提高结构整体的抗震能力。     

The lay system in commercial fisheries: Origin and implications

In most commercial fisheries, the crew is remunerated via some form of the lay system. Under the lay system, the crew is paid with a share of revenues or a share of revenues less costs. Naturally, the presence and the functioning of the lay system are well known and accepted as one of fishery's important institutions. Compared with share contracts in agriculture, however, the lay in fisheries has garnered relatively little research. This article has two goals. First, we provide an explanation for the existence of the lay system as an incentive mechanism to alleviate a potential team agency problem. This explanation of the lay system explains anomalies, such as the presence of wages in some fisheries, that are odds with the theory of pure risk sharing. Second we show the implications of the lay system for econometric modeling of fisheries and for understanding firm behavior. In general we conclude that models that fail to account explicitly for the incentive properties of shares are likely to provide poor representations of fishing firm behavior. The thrust of the paper is that the formation and working of the lay system are a fundamental force in fisheries influencing firm behavior and research results in a way that has been largely ignored.     

Thermal rehabilitation of Romanian housing: a low cost assessment tool

The numerous buildings that currently require thermal rehabilitation in Romania means that substantial resources and a large number of competent people are required to carry out surveys and energy audits. However, commercial energy balance software is mostly unaffordable for those organisations involved in this process. This paper describes an energy balance programme – ENEFControl – developed to be a rapid, low cost, local tool able to assist in the choice of energy efficient solutions for buildings. To test the software, thermal and energy analyses were carried out on a 1970s built apartment block in Transylvania. Based on these analyses, three constructive scenarios were proposed for thermal rehabilitation. Compared to the performance of the analysed building, the thermal and energy performance of the retrofitted building in all three scenarios significantly improved. Since European Union accession in 2007, rapidly rising energy costs have affected the Romanian population. ENEFControl offers Romanian engineers and architects an opportunity to speed up the rehabilitation programme of buildings without the need for more expensive expertise and tools.