Applying integrated assessment methodologies to air quality plans: Two European cases

Air pollution Integrated Assessment Models (IAM) can be used for determining how emissions should be reduced to improve air quality and to protect human health in a cost-efficient way. The application of IAM is also useful to spread information to the general public and to explain the effectiveness of proposed Air Quality Plans. In this paper, the application of the RIAT+ system to determine suitable abatement measures to improve the air quality at a regional/local level is presented for two European cases: the Brussels Capital Region (Belgium) and the Porto Urban Area (Portugal). Both regions are affected with PM10 or NO₂ concentrations that exceed the limit values specified by the European Union legislation. To properly assess air quality abatement measures a surrogate model was used, allowing the implementation of an efficient optimization procedure. This model is derived in both cases through a set of simulations performed using a Chemistry Transport Model fed with different emission reduction scenarios. In addition, internal costs (due to the implementation of emission reduction measures) and external costs (due to population exposure to air pollutant concentrations) of policy options were considered. The application of this integrated assessment modelling system in scenario (Brussels case) and optimization (Porto) modes contributes to identifying some advantages and limitations of these two approaches and also provides some guidance when urban air quality has to be assessed.     

Feasibility Assessment of Basin Solar Stills

The present study assesses the feasibility of exploiting single- and double-basin solar stills in our daily lives. An investigation is carried out to determine the thermal performance and economic viability of making use of solar stills in water desalination. The climatic conditions of Tehran (35°44?N, 51°30?E) are considered to assess the feasibility of the basins. Transient energy and mass balance equations are utilized for modeling the thermal performance. The equations are solved by using fourth-order Runge–Kutta method in FORTRAN. The daily productivities of single- and double-basin solar stills are found to be 5.22 kg/m² and 7.73 kg/m², respectively, while the effect of different water masses (20–100 kg) on the productivity of each system was found to be optimum at 20 kg/m². The results are compared with experimental work performed under different climatic conditions to examine the validity of the feasibility of basins in general. A life cycle cost analysis performed for Tehran, yields that single- and double-basin solar stills have savings-to-investment ratios of 4.2 and 4.8, respectively, indicating that they are economically feasible.     

基于百度指数的长江中游城市群城市网络特征研究

随着地理研究迈入大数据时代,运用互联网展开城市网络结构研究逐渐成为经理地理研究的新思路。以长江中游城市群为研究对象,借助百度指数,获取2011年~2014年百度用户关注度,构建百度指数城市信息流网络,从大城市群视角和所辖三大子城市群视角,分别探讨城市网络格局的时空变化。研究发现:长江中游城市群在一体化进程中城市等级日益明晰,差距拉大。三大子城市群表现出极化效应与扩散效应并存,区域非均衡性突显;互联网的普及在一定程度上重塑和改造着城市群,但非完全颠覆传统城市网络格局,地理区位对城市网络格局和城市影响力的影响仍不容忽视。     

长江经济带开发构想与发展态势

长江经济带是我国国土开发和经济建设中极其重要的开发轴线,近年来已经上升为新一轮的国家战略,肩负着参与国际竞争、协调东中西3大区域、推进双向开放、建设生态文明的使命。在国际国内经济社会发展新形势下,长江经济带发展机遇与挑战并存。以流域经济发展为视角,从长江经济带提出的背景出发,回顾了长江经济带战略构想及20世纪80年代以来开发历程,从经济地位、产业集聚、航运建设、岸线开发、沿江交通等5个方面分析了长江经济带发展态势,并重点分析了长江经济带重化工业发展与布局、生态环境影响、港口建设与发展、城市群培育等方面面临的主要问题,最后从改革考核机制、破除行政壁垒、强化流域协调机构与建立流域管理法律法规等方面提出了对策思路,以期为新时期长江经济带开发建设提供参考借鉴。     

长江经济带产业分工合作现状、问题及发展对策

在梳理长江经济带产业分工与合作现状及问题的基础上,认为长江经济带区际产业发展的互补特征鲜明,下游地区服务业发展较为完善,中上游地区特色产业突出;但也存在市场化程度发育偏低、要素流动不畅、行政区经济严重制约、中心城市产业高度偏低、区域创新能力不足等问题。还根据未来长江经济带产业分工合作的基本思路,提出应发挥下游优势产业的引领带动作用、打造行业龙头骨干企业的辐射结盟作用、加强产业园区的创新示范作用等若干对策建议。     

长江经济带研究文献分析

长江经济带是我国国土空间开发最重要的东西轴线,近年来推动长江经济带发展逐步上升为新一轮的国家战略。而自长江经济带初步构想于20世纪80年代提出以来,我国学者对长江经济带进行了诸多方面的研究。通过相关研究的文献分析,了解分析文献来源规律,梳理总结文献研究内容,有利于相关学术研究的推进。在查阅了大量相关文献的基础上,首先对文献来源进行分析,接着对长江经济带的概念与范围进行了辨析,再从发展战略、产业发展、交通建设、区域经济差异、区域空间结构、区域协调与合作、地区与长江经济带关系与生态环境等8个方面的对文献内容进行归纳总结与探讨,最后从加强交流合作、宏观微观结合、经典理论应用、关注交通研究、流域联动机制及视野动态开阔等方面对新时期长江经济带研究进行展望。     

Cybersecurity and dynamic operation in practice: Equipment impacts and safety guarantees

Though dynamic operation of chemical processes has been extensively explored theoretically in contexts such as economic model predictive control or even considering the potential for cyberattacks on control systems creating non-standard operating policies, important practical questions remain regarding dynamic operation. In this work, we look at two of these with particular relevance to process safety: (1) evaluating dynamic operating policies with respect to process equipment fidelity and (2) evaluating procedures for determining the parameters of an advanced control law that can promote both dynamic operation as well as safety if appropriately designed. Regarding the first topic, we utilize computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis simulations to analyze how cyberattacks on control systems could impact a metric for stress in equipment (maximum Von Mises stress) over time. Subsequently, we develop reduced-order models showing how both a process variable and maximum Von Mises stress vary over time in response to temperature variations at the boundary of the equipment, to use in evaluating how advanced control frameworks might impact and consider the stress. We close by investigating options for obtaining parameters of an economic model predictive control design that would need to meet a variety of theoretical requirements for safety guarantees to hold. This provides insights on practical safety aspects of control theory, and also indicates relationships between control and design from a safety perspective that highlight further relationships between design and control under dynamic operation to deepen perspectives from the computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis discussions.     

Assessing the economic impact of invasive species: the case of yellow starthistle (Centaurea solsitialis L.) in the rangelands of Idaho, USA

Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solsitialis L.) is an invasive weed that creates problems for the management of Idaho's rangelands. A bioeconomic approach combined with an input-output economic model is used to estimate direct and secondary economic costs of the weed in relation to its interference with agricultural and non-agricultural benefits that rangelands provide. Direct economic costs of the infestations were estimated to be of 8.2 million '05 dollars per year, and secondary costs of 4.5 million '05 dollars per year, for a total of 12.7 million '05 dollars; agricultural related economic impacts accounted for 79% of this total cost, and non-agricultural for 21%.     

Predicting Opportunities for Greening and Patterns of Vegetation on Private Urban Lands

This paper examines predictors of vegetative cover on private lands in Baltimore, Maryland. Using high-resolution spatial data, we generated two measures: “possible stewardship,” which is the proportion of private land that does not have built structures on it and hence has the possibility of supporting vegetation, and “realized stewardship,” which is the proportion of possible stewardship land upon which vegetation is growing. These measures were calculated at the parcel level and averaged by US Census block group. Realized stewardship was further defined by proportion of tree canopy and grass. Expenditures on yard supplies and services, available by block group, were used to help understand where vegetation condition appears to be the result of current activity, past legacies, or abandonment. PRIZM™ market segmentation data were tested as categorical predictors of possible and realized stewardship and yard expenditures. PRIZM™ segmentations are hierarchically clustered into 5, 15, and 62 categories, which correspond to population density, social stratification (income and education), and lifestyle clusters, respectively. We found that PRIZM 15 best predicted variation in possible stewardship and PRIZM 62 best predicted variation in realized stewardship. These results were further analyzed by regressing each dependent variable against a set of continuous variables reflective of each of the three PRIZM groupings. Housing age, vacancy, and population density were found to be critical determinants of both stewardship metrics. A number of lifestyle factors, such as average family size, marriage rates, and percentage of single-family detached homes, were strongly related to realized stewardship. The percentage of African Americans by block group was positively related to realized stewardship but negatively related to yard expenditures.     

Is Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Economically Efficient?

It has traditionally been argued that recycling municipal solid waste (MSW) is usually not economically viable and that only when externalities, long-term dynamic considerations, and/or the entire product life cycle are taken into account, recycling becomes worthwhile from a social point of view. This article explores the results of a wide study conducted in Israel in the years 2000–2004. Our results reveal that recycling is optimal more often than usually claimed, even when externality considerations are ignored. The study is unique in the tools it uses to explore the efficiency of recycling: a computer-based simulation applied to an extensive database. We developed a simulation for assessing the costs of handling and treating MSW under different waste-management systems and used this simulation to explore possible cost reductions obtained by designating some of the waste (otherwise sent to landfill) to recycling. We ran the simulation on data from 79 municipalities in Israel that produce over 60% of MSW in Israel. For each municipality, we were able to arrive at an optimal method of waste management and compare the costs associated with 100% landfilling to the costs born by the municipality when some of the waste is recycled. Our results indicate that for 51% of the municipalities, it would be efficient to adopt recycling, even without accounting for externality costs. We found that by adopting recycling, municipalities would be able to reduce direct costs by an average of 11%. Through interviews conducted with representatives of municipalities, we were also able to identify obstacles to the utilization of recycling, answering in part the question of why actual recycling levels in Israel are lower than our model predicts they should be.