The use of a Delphi consultation to explore the curriculum for sustainable development in engineering

Developing a curriculum for sustainable development for engineers, even on a small scale, is a complex task. The University of Manchester has been undertaking a pilot project for an experiential, student-centred approach across engineering and science disciplines, described elsewhere. But that pilot also provided a springboard for the study described in this article. Group techniques for resolving complex issues have been around for half a century but mostly applied to questions of forecasting. Of these, the Delphi technique seemed to best fit the curriculum issues that we wished to explore. This article sets out some of the background to the choice of the Delphi approach, the questions that we sought to answer, the responses that we obtained and some discussion of the appropriateness of the approach to other issues of sustainable development and curriculum design.     

Mixed methodology to analyze the relationship between maturity of environmental management and the adoption of green supply chain management in Brazil

The aim of this research is to verify the relationship between the maturity levels of environmental management and the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices by electro-electronic companies in Brazil. In this work a two-phase research was conducted, with one quantitative and the other qualitative. The quantitative phase aimed to test whether a relationship between the maturity levels of environmental management and GSCM exists, while the qualitative phase tried to detail the characteristics of this relationship. The quantitative phase was conducted through a survey with 100 Brazilian electro-electronic companies and the collected data were processed using Structural Equation Modeling. For the qualitative phase, a multiple case study was conducted with three companies located in Brazil. The results indicate that: (1) The main hypothesis was confirmed and considered statistically valid, indicating that, indeed, the maturity level of environmental management influences the adoption of GSCM practices; (2) a coevolution tends to occur between the environmental maturity and the GSCM practices; that is, the more developed is the company's environmental management, more complex GSCM practices are adopted; and (3) the GSCM internal practices tend to present a greater relative adoption than the external practices; these external practices of GSCM tend to be adopted when the company is inserted in a higher environmental stage and/or operates under a scenario of stronger normative environmental pressure. By the way, this is the first research mixing survey and case studies on GSCM in Brazil.     

特种污染物排放源强反演及可视化分析工具研发及Hg2+分析示例

研发了特种污染物排放源强反演及可视化分析工具,集成利用了WRF气象预报结果及HYSPLIT前向轨迹规划外场监测点,调用CALPUFF模型基于监测数据和对应气象条件快速反算源强并模拟得到排放影响范围,并使用开源GIS平台进行可视化分析.同时,选取大气背景浓度极低的活性气态汞(Hg~(2+))为目标,以李坑垃圾焚烧厂不稳定Hg~(2+)排放为监测主体.结果表明,基于下风向监测数据反演的源强与实测的烟气Hg~(2+)含量有着较好的一致性(R~2=0.801).该工具可作为特种大气污染事故应急辅助决策新手段,提供包含非稳态排放源强、污染扩散影响范围等信息在内的关键依据.     

典型规模化养猪场废水中兽用抗生素污染特征与去除效率研究

采用固相萃取结合高效液相色谱/串联质谱方法,对苕溪流域某规模化养猪场排放的典型废水进行兽用抗生素污染检测.结果表明,废水中四环素、土霉素、金霉素和强力霉素等4种四环素类抗生素污染最为严重,最高单体污染浓度可达13.65×103ng·L-1.磺胺嘧啶、磺胺甲唑和磺胺二甲嘧啶等3种磺胺类物质也有一定的检出量,但以磺胺二甲嘧啶较为突出,最高检出量为675.4ng·L-1.氧氟沙星以及红霉素和罗红霉素等喹诺酮和大环内酯类抗生素除了原水有较低的检出量,其它废水均未检出.厌氧消化废水处理系统对废水中高浓度的抗生素具有明显的去除效果,但对低浓度的抗生素去除率较低.与欧盟水环境抗生素阈值(10ng·L-1)相比,排放水中的抗生素污染浓度对周边地表水环境的污染风险仍需要引起重视.通过饲料摄入途径估算养猪场排泄物抗生素含量,并与实测值比较,结果表明,饲料摄入并不是该养猪场兽用抗生素利用的主要方式,可能存在其它用药途径,需要在今后的畜禽养殖兽用抗生素的污染调查、风险估算和消减工艺研发中引起重视.     

广东省畜牧粪便中喹诺酮类和磺胺类抗生素的含量与分布特征研究

利用超声提取-高效液相色谱技术分析广东省20个规模化猪牛养殖场粪便中4种喹诺酮类(QNs)和4种磺胺类(SAs)抗生素的含量与分布特征.结果表明,猪粪中喹诺酮类和磺胺类化合物均全部被检出,前者总含量(QNs,鲜重,下同)在24.5～1516.2 μg/kg之间,平均为581.0 μg/kg,以恩诺沙星和环丙沙星为主;后者总含量(SAs)在1925.9～13399.5 μg/kg之间,平均为4403.9 μg/kg,以磺胺甲基嘧啶和磺胺甲唑为主.牛粪中喹诺酮类化合物也全部被检出,磺胺类化合物检出率在90%以上,QNs在73.2～ 1328.0 μg/kg之间,平均为572.9 μg/kg,以诺氟沙星和环丙沙星为主;SAs在1039.4～15930.3 μg/kg之间,平均为3787.7 μg/kg,以磺胺甲唑和磺胺甲基嘧啶为主.不同地区畜牧粪便中喹诺酮类和磺胺类化合物的含量与组成特征有明显差异,广州市猪粪和牛粪中两类抗生素的含量均较高,而佛山市、深圳市牛粪中磺胺-5-甲氧嘧啶和磺胺二甲嘧啶均低于检测限.     

洪灾风险评估在规划环评中的应用

在规划环评中开展洪灾风险评价,应统筹考虑社会、经济的综合影响。就经济损失方面,需要根据洪灾风险评价的基本理论,结合规划区的实际情况,并基于AcView和MapInfo地理信息系统,合理确定洪水风险区、洪水淹没范围、损失率,进行风险损失和风险值计算,选择洪灾风险值较小的防洪规划方案。案例研究结果表明,博鳌规划区50 a一遇的防洪规划方案比20 a一遇的防洪规划方案的风险值要小近50%。因此,在博鳌规划区洪水设防上应按50 a一遇的标准设防为宜。     

Phosphorus accumulation by bacteria isolated from a ontinuous-flow two-sludge system

In this article, polyphosphate-accumulating organisms （PAOs） from a lab-scale continuous-flow two-sludge system was isolated and identified, the different phosphorus accumulation characteristics of the isolates under anoxic and aerobic conditions were investigated. Two kinds of PAOs were both found in the anoxic zones of the two-sludge system, one of them utilized only oxygen as electron aeceptor, and the other one utilized either nitrate or oxygen as electron aeceptor. Of the total eight isolates, five isolates were capable of utilizing both nitrate and oxygen as electron acceptors to uptake phosphorus to some extent. And three of the five isolates showed good phosphorus accumulative capacities both under anoxic or aerobic conditions, two identified as Alcaligenes and one identified as Pseudomonas. Streptococcus was observed weak anoxic phosphorus accumulation because of its weak denitrification capacity, but it showed good phosphorus accumulation capacity under aerobic conditions. One isolates identified as Enterobacteriaceae was proved to be a special species of PAOs, which could only uptake small amounts of phosphorus under anoxic conditions, although its denitrification capacity and aerobic phosphorus accumulation capacity were excellent.     

Sudden-onset disaster resilience considering functionality improvement planning: An upstream oil and gas company

The present paper presents a quantitative approach to evaluate organizational resilience in sudden-onset disasters considering preparedness actions (PAs). The resilience triangle concept is extended and gradual improvement of the level of functionality (LF) strategy is examined as PAs. Robustness and rapidity measures are considered as loss of LF and recovery time to indicate the overall disaster resilience. Besides, the resourcefulness and redundancy measures are considered pre-determined response plans and PAs aimed to improve disaster resilience. Two mathematical models are developed by applying these measures. Thereafter, graphical analytics are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of PAs and provide a better outlook for decision-makers. Then, mathematical analyses are conducted to show how the PAs affect resilience measures. It is mathematically proved that PAs exert considerable impacts on recovery time, loss of LF, and robustness. To illustrate the application of the proposed approach, it is applied to an upstream oil and gas company in the field of exploration and production. The results suggest that the approach is significantly effective in disaster response, planning, and mitigation.