Evaluating betterment projects

In the past decade Australia has experienced a series of large‐scale, severe natural disasters including catastrophic bushfires, widespread and repeated flooding, and intense storms and cyclones. There appears to be a prima facie case for rebuilding damaged infrastructure to a more disaster resilient (that is, to ‘betterment’) standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate a consistent and readily applied method for advancing proposals for the betterment of essential public assets, which can be used by governments at all levels to determine the net benefits of such proposals. Case study results demonstrate that betterment investments have the potential to deliver a positive economic return across a range of asset types and regions. Results, however, are highly sensitive to underlying assumptions; in particular the probability of the natural disaster affecting the infrastructure in the absence of betterment.     

Exploring full cost accounting approach to evaluate cost of MSW services in India

Municipal solid waste (MSW) services of developing countries often suffer due to the lack of financial and operational autonomy, scientific approach, and adequate levels of resources. The solid waste management (SWM) practices of developed countries are benefited in cost and efficiency due to the participation of private players and sound financial management. However, developing economies depend on local municipalities to own and operate SWM services amidst structural and financial inefficiency. With the demands of augmenting efficient and cost-effective SWM services to the expanding population of cities and towns of newly industrialized nations on the rise, the municipalities in these countries are under pressure to adopt ways and means that can support efficient utilization of resources and improved decision-making capabilities. This research article reflects the current state of the MSW services in India and explores full cost accounting (FCA) framework in its ability to generate information on cost-related aspects and sustainable deployment of resources. Lastly, the extensibility of FCA is tested by integrating externalities of MSW services.     

The long and winding road to resource efficiency – An interdisciplinary perspective on extended producer responsibility

Extended producer responsibility is advocated for its capacity to spur resource efficiency through green innovation and closing loops downstream of consumption. Its rationale is the extension of the polluter-pays principle to the post-consumption phase. This paper analyze the underlying mechanisms that are supposed to work under the EPR approach, and proposes an alternative view. The main purpose of EPR is seen as the creation of the bases for legitimizing the involvement if industry taking over the task of diverting waste from landfill. Its success rests on the superior managerial capacity of industry and the need to organize post-consumption markets that transcend the local scale and have access to the economies of scale and scope. The emphasis on producers does not add anything special, but may reinforce the bases for legitimizing the implicit delegation of power to industry. Primary and above all, we have witnessed in the last 20 years a gigantic effort of market design, and this is the main demonstration of EPR's success.     

100% recycled hot mix asphalt: A review and analysis

A holistic evaluation of the feasibility of producing 100% recycled mixtures is presented. Eleven technologies readily available for producing 100% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) hot asphalt mixtures are described in the article and the complementary video (http://youtu.be/coj-e5mhHEQ). The recorded performance of 100% RAP mixtures is analyzed along with identification of typical high RAP distresses. Recommended mix design procedures and the best RAP management strategies are described. A cradle-to-gate analysis of environmental effects indicated 18 kg or 35% CO₂eq savings per t of produced 100% RAP asphalt mixture compared to virgin mix, while cost analysis showed at least 50% savings in material related expenses.     

基于GB/T 29309标准的HALT测试技术分析

本文以标准GB/T 29309-2012为基础,以某款开关电源为例,对HALT试验设备、工作极限与破坏极限、试验步骤及设备运行中注意点等方面展开介绍,为电子产品可靠性测试提供相关探讨。     

航空安全文化运行模式研究

依据安全文化基本原理,对航空安全文化模式进行系统化设计。将安全精神文化、制度文化、行为文化和物态文化4个子系统置于安全文化模式的大系统中,综合分析各子系统之间的互动关系及其对管理模式变革的影响。结合航空安全管理的特点,设计安全文化运行机制的结构框架。通过分析安全文化模式的运行过程和运行功能模块,实现航空安全文化模式的动态管理,使零散的安全文化模式得以系统化。航空安全文化模式的构建为航空运输企业建立了一个程序化、系统化、动态循环的管理过程,并以持续改进的思想指导企业系统地实现其安全目标。     

Effect of Monitoring Technique on Quality of Conservation Science

Monitoring free‐ranging animals in their natural habitat is a keystone of ecosystem conservation and increasingly important in the context of current rates of loss of biological diversity. Data collected from individuals of endangered species inform conservation policies. Conservation professionals assume that these data are reliable—that the animals from whom data are collected are representative of the species in their physiology, ecology, and behavior and of the populations from which they are drawn. In the last few decades, there has been an enthusiastic adoption of invasive techniques for gathering ecological and conservation data. Although these can provide impressive quantities of data, and apparent insights into animal ranges and distributions, there is increasing evidence that these techniques can result in animal welfare problems, through the wide‐ranging physiological effects of acute and chronic stress and through direct or indirect injuries or compromised movement. Much less commonly, however, do conservation scientists consider the issue of how these effects may alter the behavior of individuals to the extent that the data they collect could be unreliable. The emerging literature on the immediate and longer‐term effects of capture and handling indicate it can no longer be assumed that a wild animal's survival of the process implies the safety of the procedure, that the procedure is ethical, or the scientific validity of the resulting data. I argue that conservation professionals should routinely assess study populations for negative effects of their monitoring techniques and adopt noninvasive approaches for best outcomes not only for the animals, but also for conservation science. Efecto de la Técnica de Monitoreo en la Calidad de la Ciencia de la Conservación     

Comparison of a two-stage sampling design and its composite sample alternative: An application to soil studies

The objective of a long-term soil survey is to determine the mean concentrations of several chemical parameters for the pre-defined soil layers and to compare them with the corresponding values in the past. A two-stage random sampling procedure is used to achieve this goal. In the first step, n subplots are selected from N subplots by simple random sampling without replacement; in the second step, m sampling sites are chosen within each of the n selected subplots. Thus n · m soil samples are collected for each soil layer. The idea of the composite sample design comes from the challenge of reducing very expensive laboratory analyses: m laboratory samples from one subplot and one soil layer are physically mixed to form a composite sample. From each of the n selected subplots, one composite sample per soil layer is analyzed in the laboratory, thus n per soil layer in total. In this paper we show that the cost is reduced by the factor m — 1 when instead of the two-stage sampling its composite sample alternative is used; however, the variance of the composite sample mean is increased. In the case of positive intraclass correlation the increase is less than 12.5%; in the case of negative intraclass correlation the increase depends on the properties of the variable as well. For the univariate case we derive the optimal number of subplots and sampling sites. A case study is discussed at the end.     

Biodiesel production from vegetable oil and waste animal fats in a pilot plant

In this study, corn oil as vegetable oil, chicken fat and fleshing oil as animal fats were used to produce methyl ester in a biodiesel pilot plant. The FFA level of the corn oil was below 1% while those of animal fats were too high to produce biodiesel via base catalyst. Therefore, it was needed to perform pretreatment reaction for the animal fats. For this aim, sulfuric acid was used as catalyst and methanol was used as alcohol in the pretreatment reactions. After reducing the FFA level of the animal fats to less than 1%, the transesterification reaction was completed with alkaline catalyst. Due to low FFA content of corn oil, it was directly subjected to transesterification. Potassium hydroxide was used as catalyst and methanol was used as alcohol for transesterification reactions. The fuel properties of methyl esters produced in the biodiesel pilot plant were characterized and compared to EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 biodiesel standards. According to the results, ester yield values of animal fat methyl esters were slightly lower than that of the corn oil methyl ester (COME). The production cost of COME was higher than those of animal fat methyl esters due to being high cost biodiesel feedstock. The fuel properties of produced methyl esters were close to each other. Especially, the sulfur content and cold flow properties of the COME were lower than those of animal fat methyl esters. The measured fuel properties of all produced methyl esters met ASTM D6751 (S500) biodiesel fuel standards.     

基于边际机会成本理论的农地价格矫正研究——以江都市为例

当前我国农地非农化进程的加快使农地资源价值显化问题凸现出来，但在现行的政策与制度框架内，农地价格严重扭曲，不能完全表达农地的真正价值。社会经济的不断发展要求农地资源能合理配置并达到可持续利用，因此要实现这一目标，就必须建立一套完整的农地价值核算体系与农地价格体系，并对现行扭曲的农地价格进行矫正。本文通过理论与实证分析，利用边际成本定价的方法探讨体现农地真正价值的农地完全价格，并通过这一价格将农地的资源价值纳入整个绿色GDP核算体系中，这也是本文提出的政策性建议之一。