Predicting impacts of major projects on housing prices in resource based towns with a case study application to Gladstone,Australia

The resources sector in Australia makes a major contribution to the national economy, and underpins employment and population in the mining and mineral processing towns. For those towns, rapid growth in employment can generate particular pressures in local housing markets because of the relatively large size of the industry and the small housing stocks involved. Through a case study of Gladstone, the study provides a dynamic five-step population and housing model, to estimate short to medium term mining impacts of major resource developments. The model includes both the direct and indirect labour force generated by new resource sector developments and their flow-on effects on population increases. Sensitivity testing has allowed for different levels of resource development, employment multipliers and labour inflows. Three different approaches have then been applied to predict the housing price impacts of the expected population growth.     

Imperfect chemical female mimicry in males of the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior

Winged and wingless males coexist in the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior. Wingless (“ergatoid”) males never leave their maternal colony and fight remorselessly among each other for the access to emerging females. The peaceful winged males disperse after about 10 days, but beforehand also mate in the nest. In the first 5 days of their life, winged males perform a chemical female mimicry that protects them against attack and even makes them sexually attractive to ergatoid males. When older, the chemical profile of winged males no longer matches that of virgin females; nevertheless, they are still tolerated, which so far has been puzzling. Contrasting this general pattern, we have identified a single aberrant colony in which all winged males were attacked and killed by the ergatoid males. A comparative analysis of the morphology and chemical profile of these untypical attacked winged males and the tolerated males from several normal colonies revealed that normal old males are still performing some chemical mimicry to the virgin queens, though less perfect than in their young ages. The anomalous attacked winged males, on the other hand, had a very different odour to the females. Our study thus exemplifies that the analysis of rare malfunctioning can add valuable insight on functioning under normal conditions and allows the conclusion that older winged males from normal colonies of the ant C. obscurior are guarded through an imperfect chemical female mimicry, still close enough to protect against attacks by the wingless fighters yet dissimilar enough not to elicit their sexual interest.     

中国自由贸易试验区是否抑制了环境污染——来自中国281个城市的实证研究

加快建设贸易强国,提高对外开放水平,是推进高水平对外开放进而实现高质量发展的重大课题。然而,贸易引致而来的环境问题不容忽视,如何有效防治环境污染,推动绿色发展,成为高质量发展中亟须解决的问题之一。本文以自由贸易试验区作为“准自然实验”,利用2005—2019年中国城市的面板数据,通过双重差分法探究贸易与环境的关系。研究发现：自贸区能够显著抑制片区所在城市的环境污染,该结论在考虑内生性问题以及多种稳健性检验后依然成立;自贸区通过优化地区产业结构、提高地区绿色创新能力以及促进地区经济集聚三个作用渠道来抑制地区环境污染;自贸区对地区环境污染的抑制作用存在地理、行政异质性,中西部城市和副省级以上城市的抑制环境污染效应更显著;自贸区在抑制环境污染方面具有空间溢出效应,能够对邻近地区的环境污染起到显著的遏制作用;在抑制环境污染方面,自贸区与“一带一路”倡议之间存在联动作用。本文为丰富自贸区的政策内涵、实现贸易与环境双赢发展提供了新思路。     

抚仙湖缓冲带污染负荷分析及治理方案

对云南高原湖泊抚仙湖及其缓冲带进行了概述,对缓冲带内污染负荷的产生量、排放量、入湖量进行了计算、分析,总结了主要环境问题,并提出治理方案。结果表明:农村生活污水和农田面源成为缓冲带内主要污染源,污染物入湖量COD为578.89t/a、TN为120.61t/a、TP为13.04t/a、NH3-N为43.64t/a。在缓冲带村落污染得到有效控制的基础上,进行自然修复为主、人工为辅的自然缓冲带生态建设,实施环湖低污染水净化工程建设,强调污染截蓄、水质净化等方面的环境效益的最大体现,并提出当地旅游在限制中有序开发的管理方案。     

Evaluation of alternative water sources for commercial buildings: A case study in Brisbane,Australia

Commercial buildings are central to cities and contribute significantly to the urban demand for natural resources, including freshwater. Green building benchmarking tools include more efficient water use as key indicator of sustainability. This paper explores options for substituting mains drinking water with an alternative, non-potable water source on a fit for purpose basis. The research findings are based on a monitoring study of a commercial building in Brisbane, Australia that is harvesting rainwater for meeting non-potable water demand. The results demonstrated that the system is only achieving moderate reliability in meeting demand due to operational problems. The case study analysis has highlighted the need to include validation and monitoring to ensure the system is operating as per design intent. The paper also investigates the potential of other local, non-potable water sources for high-rise commercial buildings, in particular air conditioning condensate and groundwater inflow to a basement wet well. The paper concludes by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of different local water sources which highlights the need to undertake a site specific investigation to identify a suitable alternative water source, which considers O&M complexity and the capacity of facilities management.