Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

The following sections are included:

• Preface
• Committee
• Contents

In this research, multivariate statistical analysis was employed for heavy metals sources identification of 89 samples of urban surface soil. Results indicated that concentrations of surface soil heavy metals were generally higher than environmental background values of soil elements. The concentration of Pb on surface soil in Guiyang city was lower than those in other cities for the short time usage of Pb gasoline. The concentrations of Cu, Ni and Zn on surface soil in Guiyang city were higher than those in more parts of cities for the size and production skill of steel plant, automobile emissions and external soil. The major sources of surface soil elements were the vehicle emissions, steel plant, geo-chemical genesis and external source. It was limited to identify heavy metals sources by using CA and PCA. We must analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of elements by the GIS technique and ambient environmental conditions.

High risk of dust explosion exists in the dust removal system during industrial production process, which results in occurrence of dust explosion. Though summing up numerous accidents, the cases study clarifies that dust explosion in the dust removal system is prone to be multiple and continuous, which has serious consequences. By distinguishing different ignition resources which induce dust explosion, the accidents are classified into four models respectively triggered by fire, auto-ignition of combustive dust, static electricity and impact-friction. Otherwise, the protective countermeasures about technology and management are proposed.

Research includes description of digital manufacturing, main methods of digital manufacturing creation and modeling of influence of digital technologies to environmental friendliness and safeness. Realization of the principles of digital production consists in organic connection of breakthrough information and production technologies for ensuring essentially new values of indicators of efficiency of the enterprises. Introduction of ideology of digital production in activity of the enterprises has to lead to emergence of so-called virtual productions. Virtual production is a form of merger of the enterprises and organizations participating in creation of a product at various stages of its life cycle. Digital production has to increase the level of competitiveness of production as well as environmental safety of the factory.

Population explosion, rapid industrialization, consumerism and technological advancement have led to manifold increase in the generation of solid wastes comprising both organic as well as inorganic solids in varying proportions. In absence of proper waste disposal system, these materials, especially, the non-biodegradable substances, such as plastics cause serious environmental problems. Plastics have the unique capability to be manufactured to meet very specific functional needs for consumers in both rural and urban areas, making it one of the most common household items worldwide. This has resulted in high content of plastics in solid wastes. The non-biodegradability of plastics causes disposal problems and environmental pollution. Stone dust generated from a large number of stone crushing units is also having a major disposal problem. This study discusses an eco-friendly method of disposal of plastic waste and stone dust by utilizing these materials in road construction. The results of the tests indicate that utilization of plastic wastes along with stone dust improves the quality of pavement and reduce disposal problems in an environment-friendly manner.

Outdoor air pollution can be serious enough to cause human illness. Because of this, protection of the public health has been the driving force behind the laws and regulations put in place to clean up the air in and around our cities. While these efforts have been generally successful in reducing emissions from stationary sources, they have had less effect on reducing emissions from mobile sources such as automobiles. The health effects of motor vehicle exhaust are well documented and most indoor environments offer only moderate protection for those with increased sensitivities. As cities become more crowded and vehicular traffic increases, the number of IAQ complaints and the number of people affected by this type of air pollution will increase as well. Past research has shown that an air cleaning system using a single gas-phase (or dry-scrubbing) air filtration media is not adequate for the control of the major chemical components found in automobile exhaust. Recent testing has shown that at least three different media are required and two promising new chemical filter technologies have been developed and evaluated with respect to their application for the control of one of the primary components of motor vehicle exhaust – nitrogen oxides. One is an adsorbent-loaded nonwoven fiber medium which provides for flexible filter design with removal efficiencies and service life comparable to many granular media systems. The second is a gas-phase air filtration medium in the form of an extruded monolithic block composed of essentially 100% adsorbent materials which allows the entire composite structure to function as a chemical filter. Both of these chemical filters can be produced with integral particulate filtration that can effectively address all of the air cleaning requirements – both chemical and particulate – for motor vehicle exhaust. This paper will present information and comparative test data on these new air cleaning technologies, how they may be integrated into existing HVAC systems, and the relative effectiveness of each against motor vehicle exhaust.

The absorption and accumulation characteristics of 6 heavy metals of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn by 8 indigenous weeds Miscanthus floridulu, Amaranthus spinosus, Conyza canadensis, Bidens pilosa, Opuntia stricta, Buddleja lindleyana, Mllrdannia triguetra, Gynura crepidioides, growing naturally in the wasteland of Mingshan Coalmine in Eastern Guangdong, were investigated. Results indicated that enrichment degree of heavy metals in plants varied with plant species, as well as heavy metals, and there were differences between the aerial part and underground part. Mn, Zn and Cu were the three highest-content metals in all the 8 weeds. Seven of the 8 plants except Amaranthus spinosus lad larger than 1 transfer factor for at least one heavy metal. Notably Conyza Canadensis had larger than 1 transfer factor for 4 heavy metal of Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn. The enrichment coefficients of the ground part and underground part of the 8 weeds were over 1 in most cases, especially in the roots. The 8 weeds were not typical hyper-accumulators, but all had certain enrichment ability. Conyza Canadensis, Bidens pilosa and Gynura crepidioides were assessed to be potent candidates for phytoremediation of heavy metals in waste coalmine.

New approach for neutralization of flue gases of chemical factories by means of use of fiberglass-fabric catalytic cartridges has been described. A solution combustion synthesis (SHS) is proposed as a method for deposition of an active layer over the fiberglass fabrics. It is shown that CuO-CeO₂ system doped with NiO can be considered as alternative to the existing systems of neutralization.

In this paper, the dependence of total dissolved solids (TDS) and turbidity of influent and effluent streams on the system properties in a submerged membrane bioprocess reactor hybridized with electrokinetic phenomenon for raw municipal wastewater reclamation was investigated. The fresh activated sludge and unscreened variable-feed raw municipal wastewater samples were collected from Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was observed that soluble phosphorus, pH, and carbon oxygen demand (COD) were mostly correlated with the TDS of the feed while the effluent TDS was more sensitive to total nitrogen (TN), pH, ammonia as ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) and soluble fraction of COD. The turbidity of the influent and effluent correlated well with the nitrogen species. This study provides a basis for measurement costs reduction in wastewater treatment.

In this study, an applicability of thermal pre-treatment for waste activated sludge in various total solid concentration, which are generated in a sewage treatment plant, was evaluated. The efficiency and characteristic was investigated with each sludge in various concentration after pre-treatment under the condition of 80~200℃ for 30 minutes. As the result, it was found that SCOD, NH₄⁺, VFA concentrations increased as the pre-treatment temperature increased. For COD solubilization, it was also higher dependent on increase of temperature resulting in acceleration on hydrolysis and acid fermentation. In the BMP (Biochemical Methane Potential) experiment, it showed the highest biogas production in the range of 160~180℃. In addition, the methane yield was increased around 62~85% in all concentration of sludge, and this means that thermal solubilization process applicability was appeared to be outstanding regardless of sludge concentration.

In this study, the experiment was carried out to produce methane by applying liquid recirculation system for anaerobic digestion with source sorted food waste. There were two systems and each system consisted of a bioreactor and leachate tank. Each bioreactor had a screen near the bottom of the reactor. 2.5L of separated liquid was transferred to the leachate tank for 30min each day and the liquid from the leachate tank was pumped to the bioreactor as soon as the transfer was ended. At the beginning of the experiment, food waste/inoculum anaerobic sludge volume ratio was 2:8. Feeding was conducted every two weeks. Two different food waste loading were studied. Experimental results showed that the average organic loading rates were 3.51g VS/d for System A and 3.86g VS/d for System B, respectively. The average produced methane based on food waste fed to bioreactor were observed as 6.30m3CH4/kgVS·d for system A and 4.94m3CH4/kgVS·d for System B, respectively.

Biomasses such as woody waste and sewage sludge can be converted to renewable energy source by using carbonization process. Carbonization process is carried out to obtain energy characteristics of carbonization residue from the mixture of woody waste and sewage sludge. The effects of temperature, time, and sewage sludge content on carbonization process are estimated by energy characteristics of the residue such as heating, yield, and fuel ratio. From the results of energy characteristics of residue, the optimum content of sewage sludge in carbonization process can be decided by 30%. At the optimum content of sewage sludge in carbonization process, the carbonization residue of mixture of woody waste and sewage sludge can be deserved to use one of renewable energy sources from the results of fuel ratio and total heating value.

In this research, palladium silver alloy was chosen as the hydrogen sensitive material. By using RF sputtering, Ta₂O₅ transition layer was coated on the ceramic substrate, and then palladium silver alloy film was prepared by using the DC magnetron sputtering. The performance of palladium silver alloy membranes was characterized by experiment. The results show that hydrogen sensor has good response time and repeat response characteristics in 5% hydrogen concentration at room temperature.

In this research, computational fluid dynamic analysis software (CFX) is used to calculate torque and power for a new design wind turbine. The blade angle in the wind turbine will be changed from 0 degree to 15 degrees and increase 5 degrees each time. From the results of TSR/Cp curves, the efficiency of blades can be observed. The rotating speed of wind turbine can be derived from the TSR values. The torques and power from different angle of blades can be obtained.

This paper discusses a conceptual model for integrated waste management based on an improved ‘spatial’ understanding of Kathmandu's waste management system. The proposed system is based on a transfer of technology and waste management strategies between Regional Victoria, Australia, and Nepal, and aims to determine if the waste management strategies employed in Regional Victoria can be scaled up to address the waste management concerns of a large metropolitan city such as Kathmandu. The waste management challenges in Kathmandu and Regional Victoria are similar, local landfills nearing capacity and a rapidly expanding population, though the approaches to combating these challenges differ significantly. The proposed model could be implemented in a developing country such as Nepal, while still having direct relevance to a developed country such as Australia.

The vegetation index mainly reflects the difference between the visible and near-infrared reflectance and soil background, quantitative description of vegetation growth conditions. Data was preprocessed, 6 vegetation index was extracted, vegetation index trend was analysis in time scales based on 2013 year 5-10 month MODIS09QA image of northern Tibet grassland growth intervals. Based on the main factors of grassland growth, we described a partition of the grassland, Overlay statistics MSAVI mean information of each suitability partition , explored the weight of major influence factors on the spatial scale. It showed that: In temporal dimension, MSAVI vegetation index accord with normal distribution, R2 is 0.885, the grass growth during the changing process of vegetation coverage was consistent. In spatial scale Relative weight of impact factors: orographic influence weight was the largest, followed by water, human activities influences least.

Satellite remote sensing now allows for the collection of various physical and biological parameters at regional and global scales and at different temporal resolutions which are not accessible to other sampling methods. The first objective of the GlobCoast project (www.foresea.fr/globcoast/) is to assess and analyze the seasonal, inter-annual, and decadal evolution of the global coastal waters in terms of biogeochemical composition as revealed from satellite ocean colour observations. The present study focuses on the suspended particulate matter, SPM, over the global coastal ocean. A new global SPM algorithm, combined with a new atmospheric correction algorithm, have been developed, evaluated, and applied to the MERIS (2002-2012) archive. This unique data set, characterized by a great spatio-temporal coverage, thanks to the applied atmospheric correction algorithm, can then be used for many kind of research activities. Examples of global and regional patterns are then provided.

For studying the risk assessment on storm flood disasters in Huai river basin, the Information Integration Model are used in this paper. The new method is to integrate with other 11 kinds of complex indicators with quantification. Among all the indicators, the maximum daily precipitation values of different return periods are regarded as the important part to from indicator system. The study shows the high-risk areas of flood disaster of four kinds of return periods are located in the Mengwa flood basin of Wangjiaba in Funan County. The spatial distribution of the whole basin presents the pattern that major disasters have reduced but small disasters occurred constantly in the eastern basin; the high-risk areas of western basin are vulnerable to flood, and the middle north and middle south areas of basin are relatively safe.

Rapid development of industry in the world results in increase of nitrogen deposition and phosphorus fertilizer application. With an Acacia mangium stand as study object, the authors studied soil characteristics after N and P addition treatments in Yunyong forest farm of Guangdong province, in order to provide reference for soil management of Acacia stands. The results showed that N addition treatment significantly increased contents of soil organic matter, total N, available N and available P; P and N+P addition treatments significantly increased contents of soil organic matter, total N, available N, available P and available K. The three treatments had not significantly increased total K content, but significantly increased the activities of soil urease, acid phosphatase and catalase.

With one-year-old Tephrosia candida trees as experimental material, influence of stand density on soil nutrient content and enzyme activity was studied. The results showed that density had little influenced on pH value in 2, 4 and 8 trees m² stands. The contents of soil organic matter, effective nitrogen and effective phosphorus significantly increased in 2 trees m² stands. The contents of soil organic matter and effective nitrogen significantly increased, whereas total N, total P, total K, effective N, effective P and effective K significantly decreased in 4 trees/m² stand. Soil organic matter and nutrients except for total P significantly decreased in 8 trees m² stand. Among the three density stands, the activities of urease, catalase and phosphatase were the lowest in 8 trees m² stand.

Wastewater disposal is currently a very serious problem with respect to quality of environment and sustainable development of the built-up area. This article deals with the processing possibilities of rain water and sewage wastewater in the area without public sewer system and central wastewater treatment plant. Absence of this system often leads to the provisory solutions of liquidation of water containing chemical substances, which then leads to the pollution of groundwater and bathing water. Evaluation was based on data from studies of waste water disposal for the territory of municipalities situated on the basin of significant watercourses.

The pollution issue of PAHs in the soil of cities and outskirts gets more and more attention. The research is based on the sixteen kind of target compounds of PAHs controlled preferentially by EPA in the ten soil sampling points of fields in five towns of Yong Qing area in Lang Fang city, Hebei province. It applys PCA to recognize main sources of PAHs in the soil. The results show that the region has four primary sources, civilian combustion and traffic pollution sources, industrial coal and oil pollution sources, gasoline engine pollution sources and coking of oil pollution sources. The pollution of Langfang area mainly stems from the compound PAHs pollution of oil sources and coal tar. The levels of pollution of PAHs in the soil is: Bie Guzhuang town > Hou Yi town > Yong Qing town > Han Cun town > Li Lancheng town.

In today's world of global warming, hole in ozone layer, deforestation, drying of river, ecological crisis, two main problems brought by science and civilization appear very catastrophic: the damages of pollution done to human health and environment and the high carbon emissions which leads to global warming. The raise of biological washing may provide a contribution to solve these global problems. Environmental superiority of biological detergent may become a main competitive advantage in future development of detergent industry. The development strategy of biological washing industry, pioneered by a Shanghai company, challenges the first generation petrochemical cleaners and the second generation plant detergents, and as such constitutes a disruptive technology. This paper explores detergent development strategy new trend in today's world of more stringent environment requirements and increasingly tense resources, environmental protection, health, low-carbon, green and sustainable development.

Environmental performance evaluation is a method used to assess companies, the goals of which are based on the principles of environmental protection, and measure how they employ resources and management to control environmental factors and evaluate benefits. In this study, we used importance–performance analysis to examine the environmental performance of a natural-gas power company and explore the strengths and weaknesses of the company. The results can serve as a reference for company improvements.

The article deals with the measurement of maximum explosion pressure and maximum rate of exposure pressure rise of coal dust cloud. The measurements were carried out according to STN EN 14034-1+A1:2011 Determination of explosion characteristics of dust clouds. Part 1: Determination of the maximum explosion pressure p_max of dust clouds and the maximum rate of explosion pressure rise according to STN EN 14034-2+A1:2012 Determination of explosion characteristics of dust clouds - Part 2: Determination of the maximum rate of explosion pressure rise (dp/dt)_max of dust clouds. The coal dust cloud in the chamber is achieved mechanically. The testing of explosions of coal dust clouds showed that the maximum value of the pressure was reached at concentrations of 300 g / m3 and its value is 6,50 bar.

According to the present situation of Chinese and international coastal zone management, the research of multi-functional coastal zone is briefly introduced. By a comprehensive method of combining Principle Component Analysis, the multi-function coastal zone evaluation system is initially described. This provides a basis for future evaluation of multi-functional coastal zone planning, design and management. At the same time, it adds new connotation for in-depth development of marine environmental impacts assessment and sea area utilization demonstration processes.

Private water tanks inside buildings are common in developing countries, due to intermittent water supply. They are also used in multi-storey buildings which are too tall to be supplied throughout by the normal pressure in the public water mains. Their hydraulic and water mixing behavior has not been studied. This paper outlines results of a study of residence time and disinfectant mixing in roof tanks, based on physical and numerical models. A real scale transparent wall laboratory model of a roof tank was constructed and equipped with high resolution water meters, continuous chlorine monitor, and tracer test instruments. Tracer and disinfectant decay tests were carried out. A computational fluid mechanics model of the tank was implemented, and an equation for the loss of disinfectant in water tanks with stagnation space and bypassing was obtained. Methodology and results can be extrapolated to large municipal water tanks as well.

In recent years, the impacts of climate change and human activities generate the change of hydrological conditions, leading that the hydrological frequency calculation data don't satisfy the premise of consistency. For the hydrological frequency calculation about inconsistency series, this paper proposed the inconsistency of hydrological frequency calculation method called TFPW-MK-Pettitt and EEMD. First, texting the hydrological series inconsistency used trend-off pre-whitening Mann Kendall-Pettitt methods; Second, the EEMD method was applied to revise uniformity hydrological series; Finally, calculating the hydrological frequency of correcting series. The following conclusions 1) the TFPW-MK-Pettitt method is suitable for our country hydrological series by statistical experiment; 2) the year of 1956 to 2012, runoff series of the Yichang station have downward trend by using the proposed method; 3) the design value of frequency calculation results is smaller 10% than before correction by using the EEMD method.

The optimum condition and the specific energy consumption of ozone generation in a coaxial cylindrical ozonizer under dielectric barrier discharge were studied. In addition, we investigated the efficiency and the specific energy consumption of organic compound degradation in ZnO photocatalytic ozonation system. We have found that the optimum conditions in pilot ozone generator for the synthesis of ozone correspond to voltage of 6.2 kV and pressure of 0.5 psi. The specific energy consumptions of ozone generation and dye degradation are decreases to less than 100 kWh/kg and 0.1 kWh/ppm for high dye concentrations, respectively.

Nannochloropsis oculata, a unicellular green microalgae has become a new prospective for biofuel feedstock which offers a long term of sustainability and energy security. N. oculata accumulate high oil content which is about 28.7-29% oil by biomass weight with the daily oil production of 25.8 mg/day. To enhance the economic feasibility of microalgal-based biofuel production, it is necessary to improve both biomass productivity and lipid content. This paper reviews previous works on microalgae undergo mixotrophic conditions and nitrogen deficient conditions in order to observe the biomass productivity and lipid content for biofuel production. Many microalgae are capable of using many types of metabolism, such as photoautotrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic. In heterotrophic condition, microalgae growth in the absence of sunlight derives energy completely from outsource organic carbon. While in mixotrophic condition, microalgae obtain energy from both photosynthesis reaction in the presence of sunlight and outsource organic carbon. Two stage culture system, is proposed where N. oculata will be grown in various carbon sources such as glucose, glycerol and starch in the first stage and nitrogen deficient condition in the second stage for lipid accumulation.

The aim of this study was to assess the environmental impact of power generation from solar energy in Thailand, by using the 'Life Cycle Assessment' tool at each stage of the process. Solar energy power generation is composed of five main processes: the solar cell array, inverter stations, transformer stations, a control center and substations. The functional unit used for this study was the amount of power used to generate 1 kWh of electricity. Two of the largest and most powerful solar cell power plants in Thailand were studied, one in the Northern Thailand (which generates 90 MW of power) and another in the Central Thailand (which generates 55 MW of solar cell power). The Eco – indicator 99 method was used in the analysis. This study examines the impact upon Human Health, Ecosystem Quality and Resource Depletion. After analyzing the results, it can be shown that the greatest impact was caused by the inverter stations, particularly upon Human Health and Ecosystem Quality. With regards to Human Health, inverter stations were found to have both the negative effect on the respiration of organic and inorganic substances, and were a causal effect of climate change. The Ecosystem Quality impact was an increased exposure to acidification and eutrophication, caused by using electricity to invert the direct current from the solar cells to become alternating current. In contrast to this, the solar cell array was found to have the least impact because this process used water for cleaning solar cells. With regards to Resource Depletion, none of the processes of solar power generation were found to be detrimental.

Lately, studies on the solar dish technology have been consistently carried out. Many of them are conducted around a reflector in the curvature form. This paper makes a study on solar heat collecting with the flat-type reflector, rather than the curvature-type one. The flat-type reflector has advantages of high economic feasibility and machinability. Also, in terms of its material, a reflector of an acrylic mirror is applied to the system, not the conventional mirror-coated reflector. Its Fresnel system is designed and produced employing the flat-type reflector. The experiments are carried out using a temperature sensor and a pyrheliometer. As a result, collected heat of about 753K can be acquired. It will be able to be used as research data for a further study on generation through stirling engine.

In recent years, the warnings inferred from climate change have caused governments worldwide to consider methods for conserving energy resources, reducing carbon emissions and environmental pollution caused by fossil fuel energy, decreasing dependence on imported energy, and developing renewable energy. To comprehensively analyze the competitive advantages and strategies of solar energy enterprises in Taiwan, this study adopted an importance–performance analysis model to examine one case company's competitive strengths and weaknesses, providing a reference for the company's improvement based on the results.

The characteristics of biomass air-steam gasification in a fluidized bed for hydrogen-rich gas production are studied through a series of experiments. Coconut shell had been taken as a representative biomass and air-steam had been used as the fluidizing and gasifying media. The effects of reactor temperature, steam-to-biomass ratio (S/B), Equivalence ratio (ER) on gas composition and gas yield are investigated. From the experimental results, it can be seen that the higher reactor temperature, the proper ER, proper steam-to-biomass ratio (S/B), and smaller biomass particle size will contribute to more hydrogen production. The goal is to investigate the effects of temperatures in the range between 600 to 900 °C, steam to biomass ratios in the range of 0 to 2.6 on gas composition of the product gas. Gasification temperature was found to be the most influential factor. Increasing the temperature resulted in increases in hydrogen and methane contents. Compared with biomass air gasification, the introduction of steam improved gas quality. However, excessive steam would lower gasification temperature and so degrade fuel gas quality.

This study uses anodic oxidation method for preparation of TiO₂ nanotube for utilization of photocatalyst, and through this seeks to verify creation of TiO₂ nanotube and growth behavior based on the composition of voltage and electrolyte using ethylene glycol as electrolyte. Using commercial titanium (99.9%, 1mm), the contents of NH₄F and H₂O was varied in the course of generating applied voltage, electrolyte, to find out the optimal condition for production. To generate TiO₂ nanotube, ethylene glycol solution with NH₄F and H₂O addition is used as electrolyte. In this experiment, it was confirmed that the electrolyte condition of ethylene glycol + 0.2 wt% NH₄F + 2 vol% H₂O is the optimal condition for generation and growth of TiO₂ nanotube, and that the applied voltage is the important factor for generating nanotube.

DSA electrodes may be produced by adjusting mixing ratio between X% IrO₂ + X% TaO₅/Ti, and the surface characteristics of electrode and difference in electrochemical properties are analyzed according to such ratios. According to the surface characteristics of electrode, as the quantity of Iridium as the main catalyst increases, the gap in mud crack widened, and it is confirmed that amorphous substances are generated so that the oxide layer becomes even firmer. The cyclic voltammetry experiment result shows the highest current of 72mA/cm² at 90% IrO₂ + 10% TaO₅/Ti electrode. According to impedance experiment result, the lowest R_ct value was measured as 0.5940Ω at 90% IrO₂ + 10% TaO₅/Ti electrode where high currents were generated.

This study aims to identify the feasibility to use food waste as fuel by torrefaction of food waste and comparing the influence upon the characteristics of torrefied products and temperature, heat carrier. According to the experiment result with reaction temperature 180℃~270℃ in nitrogen gas heat carrier and oil media heat carrier, the lower is the reaction temperature, water reduction was more effective by oil media heat carrier. But it was confirmed that, as the temperature is heightened, the difference was minimal. The caloric value rose from initial 660kcal/kg to 6,800Kcal/kg. As reaction temperature is heightened, Van krevelen Diagram moved to the range of Lignite range. It was confirmed that food waste can be converted to solid fuel through torrefaction reaction, and the higher is the reaction temperature, the closer to the low grade coal.

In this paper, we propose an improved self-adaptive GA PID and compare it with traditional GA PID in simulation. This research indicates that improved self-adaptive GA PID can reduce system's overshoot and regulation time and perform effectively.

The object of this research was to evaluate biodegradability of various organic waste in anaerobic digestion(AD). Slaughterhouse by-production and sludge, sewage sludge, animal manure and food waste has been used in this study. C/N ratio was used to estimate and to enhance the efficiency of AD. The highest biodegradability was appeared from food waste as 92.14%, and the lowest was shown from animal manure as 15.34%. Cattle rumen content showed highest C/N ratio (19.2), however, biodegradability was low as 34.02%.

In 2009, Korea has adopted London Protocol to prevent marine pollution by dumping of wastes and other matter. Therefore, dumping the organic waste such as sewage sludge and livestock manure, and food waste water into the waters has been prohibited since 2012 and Korean government planned to increase organic waste-to-energy facilities. This study attempts to measure the external benefits of expanding organic waste-to-energy facilities using the contingent valuation (CV) method. To this end, a CV survey of 1,000 randomly selected households over the whole country was rigorously designed to comply with the guidelines for best-practice CV studies using person-to-person interviews. We employed one-and-one-half-bound dichotomous choice question format to reduce the potential for response bias in multiple-bound formats while maintaining much of the efficiency when eliciting the respondents' willingness to pay responses. Moreover, we applied the mixture model to deal with zero WTP responses. The results show that the annual mean WTP was computed to be KRW 3,598 (USD 3.43) per household, which is statistically significant at the 1% level. The national value amounts to KRW 67.3 billion (USD 64.1 million). This quantitative information can be utilized as a useful data for organizing information about expanding organic waste-to-energy facilities.

The Korean government has planned to expand the organic waste-to-energy (OWtE) facilities in order to mitigate greenhouse gases emissions. One response to this concern is to measure the external benefits of increasing OWtE plants. To this end, this study attempts to apply a choice experiment (CE) to three attributes or types of benefits such as the improvement of energy security, extension of landfill life expectancy, and job creation. A survey of 1,000 households was undertaken in whole country. The trade-offs between price and the three attributes for selecting a preferred alternative are considered in the CE survey and a marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) estimate for each attribute is derived. A nested logit (NL) model is employed in this study, rather than a multi-nomial logit (MNL) model since two specification tests indicate that the NL model outperforms the MNL model. The estimation results for the NL model show that the MWTPs for a 1% increase in energy security, the doubling of landfill life expectancy, and a 1 person increase in job creation as a result of expanding OWtE facilities are estimated to be KRW 237 (USD 0.2), 148 (0.13), 15 (0.01) per household per year, respectively. The findings can provide policy-makers with useful information for evaluating and planning OWtE policies and projects.

Impacts of the utilization of fossil fuels, such as global climate change, world energy conflicts, greenhouse gas and energy source shortages, have increasingly threatened world stability. For this reason, organic waste-to-energy (OWtE) has been attracting recognition because it could replace the existing resources. The OWtE means the transformation of organic waste into useful energy. In this paper, we attempts to look into the economic effects of expanding the OWtE facilities by applying an input-output (I-O) analysis using the 2013 I-O table. The OWtE sector is defined as the sectors that directly utilize the energy produced from organic waste. In Korea, this sector includes renewable energy sector, manufactured gas supply sector, and steam and hot water supply sector. To investigate economic effects of expanding OWtE facilities, the author analyzes three parts. First, production-inducing effect, value-added creation effect, and employment-inducing effect are quantified based on demand-driven model. Furthermore forward linkage effects, and backward linkage effects of the OWtE. Second, supply shortage effect is analyzed employed supply-driven model. Last, price pervasive effects are analyzed employed Leontief price model. The results are presented: First, the production or investment of 1.0 won in the OWtE sector induces 1.0801 won production it occurs 0.1741 won added value. Moreover 1 billon won employment-inducing effect of OWtE is estimated 0.8947 people. Second, production shortage costs from 1.0 won supply shortage of OWtE are measured 1.7146 won and are not small. Third, the impact of the 10% increase in OWtE rate on the general price level is estimated to be 0.2276% and is small. Theses information can be utilized in forecasting the economic effect of expanding OWtE facilities.

In this study, catalytic filter with controlled pore size and structure was fabricated with nano sized particles and used in CO₂ methanation reaction. The catalytic filter was made by using press and thermal treatment of the mixed powder. Ni/Fe-YSZ catalytic filter showed a shrinkage phenomenon because of sintering effect, on the contrary, Ni-YSZ and Ni/Ce-YSZ catalytic filter has not been observed sintering effect. From mercury porosimeter analysis, there was no difference in Ni/Ce-YSZ catalytic filter, however, due to effect of Fe, Ni/Fe-YSZ catalytic filter showed slighty decreased. Also, it observed 70 % of CO₂ conversions at 400°C.

The sustainability of 151 countries is assessed by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Cluster Analysis. To measure the level of sustainability, three aspects (social, environmental and economic) are taken into consideration in which 10 indicators are involved. To achieve the premise of the DEA process, Cluster Analysis is utilized to classify all the countries and regions into three clusters. For each cluster, DEA is applied to assess the sustainability of the countries, marking the sustainable ones at 100% efficiency or lower efficiency (relatively). Noticeably, in one particular cluster, countries are underdeveloped and mostly located in Africa and South America. This study contributes to the decision making of governments by providing evidence to sustainable development. It can also serve to inform the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on those countries that need the most support and intervention. This study can be extended to any interested countries and regions.

The lack of appropriate and timely maintenance produces increase in the cost of future treatments and vehicle operating costs with negative impact on environment in terms of use of natural resources, GHG emission and energy consumption. There is a need to provide recommendations for Road Asset Management leading identify and prioritize measures that effectively address Mobility, Safety and Environmental sustainability. The paper object is to augment environmental sustainability and resource efficiency issues in Road Asset Management with particular emphasis on pavement maintenance. The pavement issues which have the greatest potentialities for an environmental sustainable and resource efficient Road Asset Management, are presented in the paper.

Territorial planning is therefore of great importance when putting forward relevant proposals and coordinating activities that affect the environment, the cultural-historic values of a territory, territorial development and the creation of a landscape in accordance with the principles of permanently sustainable development. The implementation of risk management, with an emphasis on the objective assessment of identified risks, combined with the use of quantitative methods of mathematical statistics – analysis of variance and the characteristics of the variability of risk assessment – in the process of preparing and creating a land plan for incorporation into strategic area management documents, can substantially increase the security of a territory as a whole. Through the generalization of the results of a case study, appropriate preventive measures are put forward in the conclusion for incorporation into the land planning documentation of a municipality.

This dissertation takes the flexible employment policy and implementation effect in Beijing as the research subject, and analyzes the current status and problems of the implementation of flexible employment policy. Analysis of the unemployment and reemployment condition of personnel of flexible employment. Flexible employment is an important policy for effectively promoting the employment in the period of economic and social transition of China, and the development of flexible employment relies on the guarantee of necessary systems and policies.

This study investigates the factors affecting consumers' choice for electric motorcycles in Macau. The results indicate that 65% of respondents have purchase intention. Further empirical research analysis found that cognitive level, environmental consciousness, charge cost, license number, and income have significant positive effects on the purchase intention, while fuel price and family size have significant negative effects. These findings will contribute to the policy decision-makers and relative manufacturers.

The present work is concerned with the enhancement of the rate of hexavalent chromium reduction from synthetic wastewater by scrap bearing iron spheres using a batch rotating fixed bed reactor. The kinetics of hexavalent chromium reduction were studied under various parameters such as initial concentration of hexavalent chromium, rotational speed(rpm), fixed bed height, scrap iron sphere diameter, temperature of solution and the effect of the presence of surfactant. The rate of hexavalent chromium reduction was expressed in terms of mass transfer coefficient. The results revealed that the mass transfer coefficient increases with the increase of rpm and temperature of solution, while it decreases with the increase of the initial concentration of hexavalent chromium, fixed bed height and the scrap iron sphere diameter. Activation energy calculations revealed a value of 4.6 kcal/mole which indicates the diffusion controlled nature of the reduction reaction. It has been found that the addition of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) enhances the rate of hexavalent chromium reduction with range, from 4 to 82%. The present mass transfer data were correlated using dimensionless analysis according to the following equation:

This is applicable within the following conditions:

1064 <Sc< 1177, 5988 < Re < 59882,

0.1 < d_s/d < 0.5 and 0.2 < H/d < 1.5

The importance of the present correlation in the design and operation of rotating fixed bed reactors used to conduct liquid solid diffusion controlled reactions was highlighted.

This paper proposes an introducing a feedback control into the dc–dc PWM boost converter with feedforward control, the integrated control circuit can adjust the duty ratio of the converter following the variation of the input voltage and the output load current to get high power conversion efficiency and stabilize the output voltage. The circuit structure of the voltage-mode is relatively simple and only requires a voltage sensing circuit. The converter requires a maximum voltage selector circuit to convert the potential Bulk terminal of the power PMOS and is designed and implemented by using the TSMC 0.18μm 1P6M CMOS Process. Simulation results show that, the boost converter having 1.055×1.077mm² chip size with power efficiency about 93%. This chip can operate with input supply voltage from1.2 V to 1.6 V, and its output voltage can stable at 3.3V and less than 37 mV ripple voltage at maximum loading current 100 mA for micro sensor power module or energy harvesting applications.

Foundation stability is a key issue of mat jack-up platform analysis, which directly affects the working performances and structure safety. Based on the classical soil mechanics theories, computation and analysis have been done in this paper for interactions between mat and foundation, including foundation settlement, foundation bearing capacity, spudcan uplift resistance and anti-sliding stability. Besides visualizing computing software has been programmed, which is capable for interactive computation of foundation stability. In terms of anti-sliding stability computation, one innovative method of combining Rankine earth pressure and punching shear theory is proposed in this paper, which is more specific, comprehensive and suitable for this special mat jack-up platform compared with regular rules computation.

In order to study the pyrolysis behavior of different monosaccharides, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) technique was used to determine the pyrolysates of seven monosaccharides, including ribose, xylose, fructose, sorbose, galactose, mannose and glucose. The results showed that: 1) Different monosaccharides had similar pyrolysates which could be classified into: furans, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters, organic acids, etc. 2) Furfural, 5-methylfurfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, 1,6-anhydro-β-D-glucopyranose, 2,5 - furandicarboxaldehyde and levoglucosenone occupied a higher percentage in pyrolysates of most monosaccharides. 3) Accompanied by aroma compounds, small quantities of harmful compounds were also generated during the pyrolysis of sugars, such as phenol, toluene, etc. 4) Moreover, the reasonable pyrolysis mechanisms of the important pyrolysates of different monosaccharides were discussed according to the classifications of aldopentose, aldohexose and ketohexose respectively.

To understand the physicochemical properties difference of phorophyte canopy humus, as well as to investigate its relationships with epiphytes diversity, pH value, organic content, cation exchange capacity, base exchange capacity and enzyme activity of 10 species phorophyte canopy humus of epiphyte ferns were determined in the mid-mountain humid evergreen broad-leaved forest in Ailaoshan Mts. The result shows that the organic content, total cation exchange capacity, base, enzyme activity of the 10 species phorophyte canopy humus are higher than the earth surface humus. Especially the contents of organic matter of epiphytic matrix are as high as 43.15% and 42.10%, PH values are obviously acidity. The measured parameters of 10 species phorophyte canopy humus except pH value increased, the others showed a decline in a sequence. Humus activity of the 10 classes of phorophyte canopy is positively correlated with the epiphytic ferns diversity growth on phorophyte. Compared to the existing research results, the physicochemical properties of canopy humus in the mid-mountain humid evergreen broad-leaved forest in Ailaoshan Mts. shows similarity and consistency, but it have significant differences with Mossy dwarf forest canopy humus.

Five strain of desulfurizing bacteria were isolated using DBT as a sulfur source. Among these strains, R. gordoniae R3 was able to endure a high concentration of substrate due to its ability to transform the toxic substance into non-toxic form. This strain also shows a high DBT desulfurization rate as compared to the well characterized strain, R. erythropolis IGTS8. The disadvantage of this strain is the breaking of the ring structure of DBT during desulfurization process. This strain was selected for cloning of sulfurspecific desulfurization gene. Even though the sulfur-specific pathway of the recombinant R. gordoniae R3 was not achieved after tested by Gibb's assay test, the difference of protein synthesis could be observed by SDS-PAGE. Its ability to transform DBT into non-toxic form was also reveal by GC-MS analysis of fatty acids.

The paper started from the premise that semantic structures can be identified in natural language at the neural level and investigated the possibility of implementing such a structure using self-organizing maps (SOMs). The phonemes are the fundamental units that contribute according to an underlying dynamic process to the formation of meaning as a whole. The dynamic process of the formation of words was simulated by the enfoldment of the SOMs of the component phonemes. The resultant SOM serves as the meaning carrying structure at the word level.

The aims of this study was to develop photoreactive surface coating film with extended antibacterial efficiency using λ=405 nm LED-light sources. Visible light active Cu and Ag (co-)functionalized photocatalyst particles with a broad visible absorption band (λ>410 nm) were prepared and immobilized in thin polyacrylate film. The photodegradation efficiencies of the prepared samples were measured by photooxidaton of ethanol as test molecule. The prepared photoreactive hybrid surfaces are able to inactivate clinically relevant pathogen strains (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in 120 min. The surface inactivation of the E. coli bacteria was also confirmed by fluorescence microscopic measurements. According to the results an effective sterilizing system and prevention strategy can be developed and carried out against dangerous microorganisms in the health care.

This paper presents the application of adaptive neural networks to the trajectory tracking between plant, referent and adaptive neural networks. The proposed new control scheme is applied via simulations to control a Two-Link Robot Manipulator. The main methodologies, on which the approach is based, are recurrent adaptive neural networks and the Lyapunov functions metodology for nonlinear systems. The proposed controller structure is composed of a neural identifier and a control law defined by using Lyapunov approach. The proposed new control scheme is applied via simulations to control a trajectory. Experimental results on a trajectory tracking shown the usefulness of the proposed approach. To verify the analytical results, an example of dynamical network is simulated and a theorem is proposed to ensure the tracking of the nonlinear system. The tracking error is globally asymptotically stabilized by a control law derived on the basis of a Lyapunov functional.

The purpose of the study was to measure the insecticidal activity of crude extract of the seeds of M. pachycarpa. The methods for extracting of crude extract of seeds of M. pachycarpa was conventional extract approach with three kinds of organic solvents: methanol, ethanol, and acetone. The methods of measuring of contact activity was the leaf immersion method in a petri dish. The methods of control effect was the field measurement method in a cabbage field This experiment resulted in an average mortality rate of 91.3 percent for cabbage aphid, indicating that contacting activity against cabbage aphid of crude extract of seeds of M. pachycarpa extracted with methanol, ethanol, and acetone was strong. After the crude extract was sprayed for 2 days, the proofread control effect of 1000 μg / mL ethanol crude extract against cabbage aphid was 85.0 percent. After 7 days of spraying, this number increased to 92.2 percent. The study concluded that crude extract of the seeds of M. pachyarpa extracted with methanol, ethanol, acetone had demonstrable contact activity against cabbage aphid and 1000 μg / mL ethanol crude extract had significant control effect against the larvae of cabbage aphid.

Endophytic bacteria lived in rice plant have the potential of antagonistic activity against to rice sheath blight Caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn. The goal of the research outlined in this paper was to explore the potential uses of rice endophytic bacteria in control of rice sheath blight. The methods for screening of endophytic bacteria antagonistic against rice sheath blight was confrontation culture method in a petri dish. This experiment resulted the antagonistic activity of different bacterial strains were significantly different. The number of endophytic bacteria with relative inhibition ratio (RIR) more than 50 % in first screening was 25 of total 45 strains, in which there was 16 strains with RIR more than 100 % in first screening. 11 strains with RIR more than 100% in second screening. RIR of the primary extracellular product of 9 strains was more than 150%. The study concluded that total 45 strains of endophytic bacteria isolated from rice plant had antagonist against R. solani.

Endophytic bacteria strain REB01 was isolated from the seeds of rice and antagonized against Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn caused rice sheath blight. The purpose of the research outlined in this paper was to investigate if strain REB01 can induce resistance of rice sheath blight. The methods for measuring the induced resistance of strain REB01 to rice sheath blight was by measuring the change of the activities of defense enzymes, peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and the contents of pathogenesisrelated biochemicals, malondialdehyde (MDA) in rice leaves inoculation with REB01, R. solan and the control in pot tests. This experiment results indicated the activity of POD and PPO and the Content of MDA in rice leaves was very significantly affected by endophytic bacteria strain REB01 inoculation. The study concluded that systemic resistance in rice against to R. solan could be induced by the strain REB01.

With Elaeocarpus Sylvestris seedlings as the experimental materials, the density effect on nutrient distribution of the seedlings was studied. The results showed that nitrogen concentration decreased in the order of leaves > branches > roots > stem, phosphorus concentration varied without regular patterns, whereas potassium concentration was leaves > branches > stem > roots in E. Sylvestris seedlings. Accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium increased with increasing density. Generally, the nutrient accumulation was great in roots and small in branches.

Fluorescence characteristics of seedlings of Carallia brachiata, Ficus microcarpa and Phoebe zhennan were studied at 6℃ low temperature stress using Artificial Climate Box. After continuous treatments of 0 d, 2 d, 4 d and 6 d and 2 d after low-temperature release, the fluorescence indexes of the seedlings were determined, and their cold-resistance ability was evaluated using principal component analysis. The results showed that with increasing low temperature time, the minimum initial fluorescence of C. brachiata and F. microcarpa seedlings decreased, whereas that of P. zhennan fluctuated; the biggest fluorescent, the largest PSII photochemical efficiency, the PSII actual light quantum yield, the photosynthetic electron transport rate and the non-photochemical quenching of the seedlings of three tree species continuously decreased. Two days after low-temperature release, the minimum initial fluorescence of the seedlings decreased, whereas their biggest fluorescent, the largest PSII photochemical efficiency, the PSII actual light quantum yield, the photosynthetic electron transport rate and the non-photochemical quenching of the seedlings increased. The comprehensive cold-resistance ability of fluorescence indexes of the seedlings of three tree species was evaluated with principal component analysis, which decreased in the order of C. brachiata>P. zhennan>F. microcarpa.

The recognition and measurement of uncertain accounting matters needs to use the accounting professional judgment to identify. The results directly affect the quality of accounting information. The bounded rationality of accountants in cognition and behavior is the key ingredient affecting the behavior of professional judgment, it may easily cause the consequences of misjudgment or intentional abuse. The treatment of bounded rationality must be based on their root causes, improving the quality of accounting personnel, and strengthening internal and external oversight in company, thus contributing to the accounting professional judgment behavior rationalization.

Bend and torsion rigidness test of some body-in-white car was proposed in this paper, based on self-development static rigidness measurement system, to study the influence of the loading position and preload on bend rigidness. The results showed that, 200 N was the perfect preload in the experiment, and bend rigidness of the car under concentrated condition was 20882 N⋅mm, which was 68.5% of distributed condition. The torsion rigidness curve of clockwise condition changed slightly, compared with anticlockwise condition. The torsion rigidness of the car was 5460.5 N·m/°.

Capacity control is a classical revenue management problem. Researchers and practitioners have proposed many mathematical models including dynamic programs for solving the capacity control problem. In this paper, we present an equivalent reformulation for the dynamic programming model for the capacity control problem in the single-leg flight setting.

The following sections is included:

• Author Index