Measuring sustainability is an integral part of decision-making processes in order to promote sustainable development. The present paper focuses on sustainability indicators as these are measured on local level and explores two main issues: firstly, the subjective measurement of indicators focusing especially on social dimensions of sustainability, secondly, the incorporation of local perceptions in sustainability assessments. These two issues are explored in the Asopos River basin in Greece, an area where significant environmental degradation has been observed in the past decades and is also under financial pressure due to the ongoing national recession. A large-scale research study was conducted measuring environmental, economic and social indicators while, at a second stage, a model was developed, estimating new indicators that incorporate local communities’ perceptions on what they considered as important for their area. The results of the study reveal that the most important indicators for the sustainable development of the area, according to locals’ perceptions, are environmental quality as well as quality of life. By contrast, trust in local and central institutions and also local enterprises were not considered as important by locals. These results illustrate the importance of combining global and national scale assessment with locally focused social measurements of sustainability in order to better understand what is important for local communities prior to embarking on public policy planning. 相似文献
Pilot-scale combustion is required to treat arsenic-enriched biomass in China.CaO addition to arsenic-enriched biomass reduces arsenic emission.CaO captures arsenic via chemical adsorption to form Ca3(AsO4)2. Large quantities of contaminated biomass due to phytoremediation were disposed through combustion in low-income rural regions of China. This process provided a solution to reduce waste volume and disposal cost. Pilot-scale combustion trials were conducted for in site disposal at phytoremediation sites. The reaction mechanism of arsenic capture during pilot-scale combustion should be determined to control the arsenic emission in flue gas. This study investigated three Pteris vittata L. biomass with a disposal capacity of 600 kg/d and different arsenic concentrations from three sites in China. The arsenic concentration in flue gas was greater than that of the national standard in the trial with no emission control, and the arsenic concentration in biomass was 486 mg/kg. CaO addition notably reduced arsenic emission in flue gas, and absorption was efficient when CaO was mixed with biomass at 10% of the total weight. For the trial with 10% CaO addition, arsenic recovery from ash reached 76%, which is an ~8-fold increase compared with the control. Synchrotron radiation analysis confirmed that calcium arsenate is the dominant reaction product. 相似文献
UV can induce damages on mRNA consistently among different genes.SOS response was more active after UV treatment.Programmed cell death was not found to be more active after UV treatment. The efficacy of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection has been analyzed and validated by numerous studies using culture-based methods, yet the discovery of the viable but nonculturable state necessitates the investigation of UV disinfection based on viability parameters. Paired regulators of the SOS response system, recA-lexA, and the programmed cell death system, mazEF, in Escherichia coli were chosen as the target genes, and the effect of UV irradiation on the mRNAs of the four genes was studied. This research showed that, after UV irradiation, the responses of the mRNAs were highly consistent, with reduction percentages of approximately 60% at 20 mJ/cm2, 70% at 40 mJ/cm2, and 90% at 80 mJ/cm2, and these reductions were believed to be the result of direct UV damage to nucleic acids. After 24 h of dark incubation, recA and lexA were both upregulated but to a lesser extent for repressor lexA; and mazE and mazF were both downregulated. This result implies that UV irradiation induces the dark repair system more actively, and the cells will proceed to death at a rate similar to that associated with natural decay. 相似文献
Solar energy application in a large spectrum has the potential for high-efficiency energy conversion. Though, solar cells can only absorb photon energy of the solar spectrum near their band-gap energy, and the remaining energy will be converted into thermal energy. The use of the thermoelectric generator becomes a necessity for convert this thermal energy dissipated so as to increase efficiency conversion.
This paper analyses the feasibility of photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid system and reviews their performance in order to optimize harvested energy. Regarding the thermoelectric effect, a new method of the ambient energy harvesting is presented. This method combines thermoelectric generators and the effects of heat sensitive materials associated to photovoltaic cells in phase change for generating both energy day and night. Experimental measures have been conducted primarily in laboratory conditions for a greater understanding of hybridization phenomena under real conditions and to test the actual performance of devices made. Results show that the hybrid system can generate more power than the simple PV and TEG in environmental conditions. This hybrid technology will highlight the use of renewable energies in the service of the energy production. 相似文献
In Asembagus (East Java, Indonesia) irrigation water is contaminated with effluent from the hyperacid Ijen Crater Lake resulting
in a low pH and high levels of various elements. As a first step towards a risk assessment, locally produced food items (rice,
maize, cassava leaf, cassava root, peanuts) were collected and concentrations of As, B, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni,
Pb, V, Zn were compared to samples from a reference area and with literature values. Further, concentrations in rice were
compared to total soil concentrations in paddy fields. Compared to the reference area, food items produced in the contaminated
area had increased levels of Cd, Co, Ni and Mn in particular, while levels of Mo were lower. In contrast, total soil concentrations
of Cd and Mn in particular have decreased whereas especially Mo was increased. In combination with the observed soil acidification,
it is likely that the bioavailable concentration of most elements in the contaminated soil is higher (except for Mo) due to
an increased weathering rate and/or input via the contaminated irrigation water. In terms of human health, concentrations in foods were generally within normal literature
values. However, it was observed that essential elements (in particular Fe) known for their inhibitory effects on e.g. Cd
and Mn toxicity did not accumulate in crops whereas Cd and Mn did. 相似文献
To investigate the dispersion patterns and the characteristics of heavy metal contamination due to urbanisation and industrialisation, soils and dusts collected from the Seoul area were analysed for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd. The metal concentrations in most soils and dusts are higher than the world averages. The pollution index (( Metal concentrations in soils/Permissible level for metal)÷(Number of metals)) of soils and dusts is > 1 in most of the Seoul area, a result that concurs with the industrialisation and urbanisation index of the Seoul area. The soils are contaminated with Cu, Zn, Cd and particularly Pb. This suggests that the contamination of the soils in the Seoul area are mainly caused by vehicular emissions. The pollution index of soil is the highest in the Kuro area where Cu and Zn contamination in soils are due to the indigenous brass and bronze factories. From the discriminant analysis, the Seoul area may be partitioned into control, traffic and industrialized areas by the metal concentrations in the order of Zn > Cu > Pb. 相似文献