Biochar: maximising the benefits

There have been many studies on the benefits of producing biochar (black carbon) from organic wastes. Incorporating biochar into soils provides numerous environmental and financial benefits, which this paper examines. Nevertheless, there is no policy yet to apply biochar at farm level in Australia. This article discusses nine critical factors that need to be considered for maximising the environmental and financial farm benefits from the use of biochar.     

Development of maize cob‐based biochar filter for water purification

The study aimed at biochar production from maize cob and its performance in improving water physiochemical attributes. Three feedstock masses (2, 2.5, 3 kg) were used for biochar production. Nine treatment combinations of T1L1, T1L2, T1L3, T2L1, T2L2, T2L3, T3L1, T3L2 and T3L3 in triplicate were used for biochar performance. Biochar yield of 50% was averagely achieved at slow pyrolysis conditions (300 to 600°C) and 120 min residence time. Biochar had 4.13% moisture content, 6.86% ash, 17.70% volatile matter, 71.28% fixed carbon, and a pH of 10.27. Odour, colour, and total hardness of the wastewater improved after filtration using biochar to acceptable levels for potable water use. Total hardness reduced by 51.9% in T2L2 and 44.4% in T3L2. Findings front maize cob biochar as a purification technology for domestic potable water use. There is need for maize cob biochar performance on heavy metals and when it is sandwiched with other materials.     

The rhetoric of community participation in urban South African water governance

The persistence of the water insecurity challenge has manifested in weak government financial systems, insufficient technical capacity, and ineffective water governance systems in the global arena. This paper is a contextual analysis of community participation in water governance in urban South Africa since 1994. Limited community participation in urban water governance results in persistent inequality in access to water and sanitation services. New strategies and effective mechanisms are needed to include communities in water governance and pricing.     

生物炭混凝土生命周期CO2排放评价

为评价生物炭混凝土的CO₂排放量,采用生命周期评价技术构建了生物质热解生产生物炭过程的碳排放计算模型、生物炭混凝土从原材料生产到混凝土拆除废弃阶段CO₂排放量化模型和生物炭混凝土服役期碳化-吸收模型,同时研究了生物炭按质量比例取代水泥对混凝土力学性能的影响。在此基础上,计算了1 m³C30生物炭混凝土的CO₂排放量,并与普通C30混凝土CO₂排放量进行对比。结果表明:生物炭作为一种碳负性材料,其碳元素含量越高,CO₂减排效果越好; 当生物炭取代率小于5.0%时,研磨后的超细炭颗粒可以充分发挥填充和内固化效应,有效地提高混凝土的力学性能; 生物炭混凝土生命周期CO₂排放量随生物炭取代率的提高而降低,5%取代率的1 m³木屑生物炭混凝土相比普通C30混凝土,可减排CO₂66.5 kg,减排率为20.7%; 生物炭混凝土在服役期内因碳化吸收CO₂占总碳排放量的1.8%～2.5%,而拆除废弃阶段由于混凝土的比表面积呈指数增长,碳化吸收量需要进一步研究。     

Social media: A new vehicle for city marketing in China

Following global trends, cities, like companies, across the world are under fierce competitive pressure. To compete and promote city brands, various levels of Chinese governments have begun to integrate multiple marketing tactics to promote cities. Social media has gained global popularity since 2008. Utilizing social media for city marketing is being applied in the Chinese cities. This paper introduces the application of social media for city marketing in Chinese cities. Based on several cases of social media use for city marketing in major Chinese cities (e.g., Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing), this paper suggests that using social media is an appropriate tactic to promote cities because of the participative, interactive, open and transparent nature of social media.     

Global warming and hepatotoxin production by cyanobacteria: what can we learn from experiments?

Global temperature is expected to rise throughout this century, and blooms of cyanobacteria in lakes and estuaries are predicted to increase with the current level of global warming. The potential environmental, economic and sanitation repercussions of these blooms have attracted considerable attention among the world’s scientific communities, water management agencies and general public. Of particular concern is the worldwide occurrence of hepatotoxic cyanobacteria posing a serious threat to global public health. Here, we highlight plausible effects of global warming on physiological and molecular changes in these cyanobacteria and resulting effects on hepatotoxin production. We also emphasize the importance of understanding the natural biological function(s) of hepatotoxins, various mechanisms governing their synthesis, and climate-driven changes in food-web interactions, if we are to predict consequences of the current and projected levels of global warming for production and accumulation of hepatotoxins in aquatic ecosystems.     

Influence of soil density on gas permeability and water retention in soils amended with in-house produced biochar

Biochar has been used as an environment-friendly enhancer to improve the hydraulic properties(e.g.suction and water retention) of soil.However,variations in densities alter the properties of the soil-biochar mix.Such density variations are observed in agriculture(loosely compacted) and engineering(densely compacted) applications.The influence of biochar amendment on gas permeability of soil has been barely investigated,especially for soil with diffe rent densities.The maj or obj ective of this study is to investigate the water retention capacity,and gas permeability of biochar-amended soil(BAS) with different biochar contents under varying degree of compaction(DOC) conditions.In-house produced novel biochar was mixed with the soil at different amendment rates(i.e.biochar contents of 0%,5% and 10%).All BAS samples were compacted at three DOCs(65%,80% and 95%) in polyvinyl chloride(PVC)tubes.Each soil column was subjected to drying-wetting cycles,during which soil suction,water content,and gas permeability were measured.A simplified theoretical framework for estimating the void ratio of BAS was proposed.The experimental results reveal that the addition of biochar significantly decreased gas permeability k_g as compared with that of bare soil(BS).However,the addition of 5%biochar is found to be optimum in decreasing kg with an increase of DOC(i.e.k_(g,65%) k_(g,80%) k_(g,95%)) at a relatively low suction range(200 kPa) because both biochar and compaction treatment reduce the connected pores.     

金融危机下的企业成本管理

金融危机加快了企业高成本时代的来临,通过金融危机对企业成本的影响分析,提出企业应对金融危机的挑战,加强成本管理。提高经济效益的途径和方法。     

玻璃企业绿色供应链管理初探

在全球环境日益恶化的今天,绿色供应链管理也必然成为现代企业实现可持续发展优先选择的模式。文章从绿色设计、绿色材料供应、绿色生产、绿色销售、运输、使用、回收与再利用等方面对影响供应链管理过程的环境因素加以分析,构想了一个比较完整的绿色供应链的运作模型;同时,在分析了绿色供应链管理的具体内涵后,提出了促进玻璃企业绿色供应链管理的一些对策。     

AFFORDABIUTY OF HOUSEHOLD WATER SERVICES IN GREAT BRITAIN

This paper analyses the Issue of water and sewerage service charge affordability in Great Britain, focusing exclusively on the domestic or household sector. It discusses the meaning of affordability, outlining ways in which it might be measured, before presenting empirical data to calibrate the phenomenon. A discussion of affordability benchmarking for household water and sewerage services is followed by a brief critique of the various financial support mechanisms currently available to low Income households.     

The Long Road to Housing Sector Reform: Lessons from the Chilean Housing Experience

The Chilean housing policy, which anticipated the enabling approach widely advocated by international institutions in the 1990s, has succeeded in improving housing conditions in the country. The analysis of this experience indicates that this success only partially comes from reforms in the housing sector, and that its financial mechanisms are the result of reforms in capital markets and a stable macroeconomic environment. Lessons from this experience include the need for an integrated approach to reform including housing production and financing mechanisms and the full consideration and prevention of the urban impacts of housing policies that succeed in increasing housing production.     

工程机械融资租赁的风险及防范 对话融资租赁专家沙泉先生

沙泉——融资租赁从业经历26年。曾在金融租赁公司和行业协会工作,现任《现代租赁网》CEO,北京易利升租赁技术服务有限公司的首席策划师。2003年参与北京市租赁协会举办的首届中国租赁展的筹备、策划工作,在那次展会上将融资租赁的概念向工程机械领域推广。后在工程机械行业专业杂志上连续两年举办工程机械融资租赁专题讲座。网站举办的多次培训会中招收了许多工程机械领域的学员。还为龙工、临工、北汽福田、汇众等工程机械类企业进行过企业内部培训。与中联重科融资租赁公司的张巨光先生合著《工程机械融资租赁实务和风险管理》一书。     

营销之变——抢占工程机械行业营销变革先机

在以市场为导向的竞争中,营销与创新已经越来越受到企业的重视,因为营销和创新能够产生经济效果,而其他所有的活动都是成本。     

全球城市区域及其发展策略

全球城市区域构建了全球化背景下城市/区域空间形态的新图景,许多城市密集地区正由区域性的空间演化为全球性的战略地域。面对全球化营造的激烈竞争环境,全球城市区域实施了积极应对的发展策略,主要包括区域复兴与营销、城市增长联盟、区域创新系统培育等等。本文将对这些重要方面做简要的评述。     

Pleasure,Politics, and the “Public Interest”: Melbourne's Riverscape Revitalization

As global forces have reshaped urban landscapes over the past 2 decades, cities have typically responded with a range of “spectacular” developments, the most common of which have been waterfront projects. In this article we describe the transformation of Melbourne's urban riverscape from an industrial junkyard into a postindustrial “landscape of desire.” A primary concern is identifying winners and losers in this restructuring. To this end, we resurrect and redefine the concept of the public interest. In Melbourne, the production of signature projects geared to global place marketing coincided with a collapse of democratic public planning. Urban development became design driven, more seductive, and more secretive. Urban planning practice was restructured along with the urban landscape.     

Awareness development for an energy management program for social housing in Canada

Social housing organizations compete with other social causes for limited public and private sector funding. While the environmental impact is important, it must be recognized that for most social housing organizations the most appealing aspect of an energy management program is the reduction in operating costs through reduced energy consumption. In order to secure financial resources for an energy management program, organizations will need to identify and address stakeholder perspectives in the formulation of ‘marketing’ strategies. The ‘marketing’ of an energy management program would be aimed at illustrating the substantial financial savings that can be achieved by increasing energy efficiency in social housing units. The bonus of an energy management program is the contribution towards environmental conservation and initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol, as increased efficiency in energy usage and the subsequent reduction in overall energy consumption in social housing units contributes to reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.     

Eight Policy Lessons from the US Housing Meltdown

The global financial crisis has generated many lessons for policy makers in the housing sphere, as well as in financial regulation. This paper discusses eight lessons drawn specifically from the United States housing meltdown that triggered the crisis. The housing sector is important for monetary policy and financial stability, highly interconnected with the financial system, and dependent on institutional details that vary widely across countries and through time. Easier and cheaper access to finance does not improve long-run housing affordability; but if credit conditions ease too much and the credit assessment process breaks down, strategic default becomes more likely. That defaults rose so far in the US shows how unusual its housing system is—a fact not revealed in simple aggregate statistics. One element of the US exceptionalism is that housing supply is quite flexible there, and that helped produce the bust.     

Designing for profit

Product design and development is a key element of the product creation process which embraces design, engineering, marketing, manufacturing and financial skills. While the principles discussed are intended to be universal in their application, the author focuses on recommended practice for the small-to-medium size enterprise (SME) with up to 500 employees. The content draws from the experience of both independent businesses and the subsidiaries of public companies     

Application of system dynamics for developing financially self-sustaining management policies for water and wastewater systems

Recently enacted regulations in Canada and elsewhere require water utilities to be financially self-sustaining over the long-term. This implies full cost recovery for providing water and wastewater services to users. This study proposes a new approach to help water utilities plan to meet the requirements of the new regulations. A causal loop diagram is developed for a financially self-sustaining water utility which frames water and wastewater network management as a complex system with multiple interconnections and feedback loops. The novel System Dynamics approach is used to develop a demonstration model for water and wastewater network management. This is the first known application of System Dynamics to water and wastewater network management. The network simulated is that of a typical Canadian water utility that has under invested in maintenance. Model results show that with no proactive rehabilitation strategy the utility will need to substantially increase its user fees to achieve financial sustainability. This increase is further exacerbated when price elasticity of water demand is considered. When the utility pursues proactive rehabilitation, financial sustainability is achieved with lower user fees. Having demonstrated the significance of feedback loops for financial management of water and wastewater networks, the paper makes the case for a more complete utility model that considers the complexity of the system by incorporating all feedback loops.     

交互式教学方法的理论意义及其国际市场营销课程实践

随着全球经济一体化及国际化的不断深入,中国企业海外经营活动的激增,对于通晓当代国际市场运行规律,熟悉国际营销知识和技能的人才需求强烈。国际市场营销课程帮助学生了解、掌握国际营销的知识和技能,是一门重要的市场营销专业核心课程。交互式教学方法是一种以学生为中心的教学方法,得到了教育界的广泛关注和研究,并在教学实践中收到了良好效果。基于笔者教学心得,探讨了交互式教学方法的理论意义,以及在国际市场营销课程中的实践。