Air Quality Monitoring and Management in Lisbon

The environmental decision-making process is related with the interpretation of data both in spatial and temporal dimensions. This paper presents a methodology that integrates the time-space framework of air quality data to infer the temporal pattern and spatial variability that could be interpreted for environmental decision purposes. Variograms that accommodate time and space lags were used for the analysis and proved to be effective. Its environmental meaning, in particular its relationship with traffic patterns is discussed. Data from air quality monitoring stations located in the central part of Lisbon were used in this study. It describes a strategy to identify the type of vehicles responsible for certain pollutant levels, particularly for nitrogen oxides, and discusses the application of new air quality European legislation to the city of Lisbon, Portugal.     

A critical review of building environmental assessment tools

Since the field of environmental assessment tools for buildings is vast, the aim of this study is to clarify that field by analysing and categorising existing tools. The differences between the tools are discussed and the current situation within the tools is critically analysed. However, the comparison of the tools is difficult, if not impossible. For example, the tools are designed for assessing different types of buildings, and they emphasise different phases of the life cycle. In addition to environmental aspects, sustainable building includes economic and social aspects. The shift from green building to sustainable building and the future requirements are challenging for building environmental assessment tools. Furthermore, the benefits of using the tools should be analysed — how the tools and their results have affected decision making?     

Multi-Criteria and Multi-Perspective Analysis of Contaminated Land Management Methods

Errors in environmental resource management over the years have created pollution problems in some areas which are difficult to handle, regardless of the development of knowledge and technologies. This is particularly true in the case of soil pollution. The negative effects of persistent pollutants have been observed for a long time. For instance, lead and cadmium remain in the soil for centuries, during which time they are absorbed by plants and simultaneously cause secondary air pollution. The authors made an attempt to describe and assess the possible options of dealing with the problem of contaminated land in Katowice District. Considering the necessity of a multilateral approach, a pairwise comparison technique has been chosen as the most suitable to show the complexity of the problem. The different variants of actions aimed at preventing the pollutants from getting into the food chain were analyzed against a set of criteria, consisting of the following issues: time, cost, effectiveness, social acceptance, feasibility. The relative importance of actions were judged by the team of experts using the Saaty method. Also, a two-perspective assessment (the two different stakeholders), which involves considering the perspective of an owner of a piece of contaminated land and an ecologist has been performed. The results of comparative, multicriteria and multi-perspective assessment indicate the following:- the best method for contaminated agricultural land management is willful and controlled cultivation,- other recommended actions are deep ploughing and phytoremediation,- there is not much acceptance for the other methods.     

Development and Use of Integrated Air Quality Management Tools in Urban Areas with the Aid of Environmental Telematics

Contemporary urban air quality management requires the use of appropriate systems which include air quality models, a Geographical Information System (GIS) and a combination of expert systems and decision support tools, while at the same time possessing the capability to receive information from in situ measurements. Until recently, the relation between Information Technology capabilities and the system's design and architecture were poorly addressed, mainly due to technological limitations posed. Moreover, air quality management scenario design issues were partially considered, because of the difficulty in aggregating complex, air quality related issues, in a comprehensive and effective manner, from the end users point of view. In the present paper the use of Environmental Telematics is discussed as a framework for the development of urban air quality management systems, while a comprehensive approach for the application and evaluation of relevant scenarios is presented.     

IFTCIP: An Integrated Optimization Model for Environmental Management under Uncertainty

In this study, an interval-fuzzy two-stage chance-constrained integer programming (IFTCIP) method is developed for supporting environmental management under uncertainty. The IFTCIP improves upon the existing interval, fuzzy, and two-stage programming approaches by allowing uncertainties expressed as probability distributions, fuzzy sets, and discrete intervals to be directly incorporated within a general mixed integer linear programming framework. It has advantages in uncertainty reflection, policy investigation, risk assessment, and capacity-expansion analysis in comparison to the other optimization methods. Moreover, it can help examine the risk of violating system constraints and the associated consequences. The developed method is applied to the planning for facility expansion and waste-flow allocation within a municipal solid waste management system. Violations of capacity constraints are allowed under a range of significance levels, which reflects tradeoffs between the system cost and the constraint-violation risk. The results indicate that reasonable solutions for both binary and continuous variables have been generated under different risk levels. They are useful for generating desired decision alternatives with minimized system cost and constraint-violation risk under various environmental, economic, and system-reliability conditions. Generally, willingness to take a higher risk of constraint violation will guarantee a lower system cost; a strong desire to acquire a lower risk will run into a higher system cost.     

Integrity of Tailings Infrastructure and Information Management: A GIS-Based Conceptual Model

Managing the integrity of tailings infrastructure is an important aspect of handling mine tailings. Unfortunately, little research is directed towards its efficient modeling. This paper presents salient aspects of tailings management. It proposes an integrated geographic information systems (GIS)-based conceptual model for efficient handling of these aspects. The paper also discusses the various integrated modules and comments on the systematic implementation of the model to achieve desired results. The modules include: structural integrity management (SIM), release impact assessment (RIA), and hazardous risk assessment and control (HRAC).     

新疆矿区煤矿瓦斯排放现状与趋势分析

为获得新疆矿区当前生产规模对应的瓦斯排放基量,调查了研究矿区生产矿井的瓦斯排放现状.根据各矿区2004-2006年生产矿井的开采煤层、生产水平、生产规模和瓦斯排放等参数,对不同矿区和煤田进行了统计分析,计算了新疆矿区当前生产规模对应的瓦斯排放总量,同时对重点瓦斯防治矿区和一般瓦斯防治矿区进行了分类.调查结果表明,新疆矿区煤矿平均吨煤相对瓦斯涌出量由2004年的2.82m3/t增加到2006年的3.09 m3/t,呈逐年递增趋势; 新疆矿区2004-2006年的年平均瓦斯(CH4)排放量为1.05×108 m3/a;准南煤田(I)和塔北煤田(VI)的平均绝对瓦斯涌出量分别占全疆绝对瓦斯涌出总量的64.82%和15.19%,为相对瓦斯富集区,也是当前瓦斯防治的重点区域.按照矿区3年平均绝对瓦斯涌出量(大于1.00m3/min)或平均相对瓦斯涌出量(大于5m3/t)将新疆矿区分为重点瓦斯防治矿区和一般瓦斯防治矿区,并提出了瓦斯分类治理的具体建议.应用灰色系统理论,结合调查数据分别求解了新疆矿区原煤产量与绝对瓦斯涌出量的GM[1,1]预测模型.本研究为新疆煤炭资源后续规模开发过程中的相关环境决策和节能减排政策的实施提供了依据.     

水安全及城市水安全研究进展与趋势

归纳和总结国内外水安全及城市水安全相关研究实践及其所用的评价指标体系,并对几种常用模型与方法的应用情况及其各自的特点进行分析,针对目前水安全及城市水安全研究中存在的主要问题,指出水安全及城市水安全进一步研究的方向:从自然、生态环境、社会经济、人文4个基本方向,以系统性、持续性、动态性和层次性4个特征为基础,分析水安全及城市水安全的概念与内涵;根据研究区域特征及其主要水安全问题建立评价指标体系;以研究者对各个模型的理解程度及驾驭能力为准则选用或改造现有模型与方法;针对加强城市应急水源地建设、突发性水安全事件应急预案、湿润地区水安全等问题开展研究。     

冲压机械伤害风险评价信息系统研究

研究冲压机械伤害风险评价信息系统,无论对企业内部事故预防还是对职工健康安全,还是节省国家因事故造成的经济损失,都十分必要。应用计算机编程语言和数据库软件,对冲压作业进行综合管理评价、设备设施的固有危险性评价及劳动卫生与作业环境评价,进而对冲压作业风险进行评价分级,建立动态的冲压机械伤害风险评价数据库管理信息系统。该系统可保存所有评价的项目资料,供应用和参考,实现了对冲压机械伤害风险评价的数据库动态管理,使风险评价分析工作组织化、条理化、系统化。     

职业安全绩效指标研究

为了建立企业安全生产长效机制,提高安全管理水平,预防事故的发生,笔者在研究国内外企业安全绩效要素及分类方法的基础上,提出了包含10个一级要素及50个二级要素的企业安全绩效指标体系,并就指标的设立原则、定义、权重的确定和应用进行了阐述示例。同时,也为政府安全监管部门提供了科学决策的依据。