Public-Private Partnerships: Water and Wastewater Services in France

ABSTRACT

In France, responsibility for potable water supply and wastewater services has been allocated to the municipal level of government. Water supply and wastewater services can be managed and operated under the authority of municipal governments (la régie) or can be delegated to the private sector through turnkey or full service contracts (concession), leasing arrangements (affermage), or management contracts (prestations de service). About 80 per cent of French people receive their water supply under public-private contracts, and about half the sewage treatment plants in France are operated by private firms.

Relatively few private companies dominate the water supply and wastewater industry. Three are examined here. The Compagnie Générale des Eaux, founded in 1853, is the largest. By the late 1980.7, it employed 138,000 people and supplied water to 22 million people in France and another eight million people through its operations in Europe, North America, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also has diversified its activities, and is involved in waste management, energy management, construction, transportation, real estate development. health clinics, and leisure facilities. The Société Lyonnaise des Eaux-DUMEZ, established in 1880, provides water to 10 million people in France and to another 11 million people worldwide. It also is a diversified company and is the largest mortuary company in France. The Société de Distributions d'Eau Intercommunales, created in 1928, is much smaller, distributing water to about 2.4 million people in the South of France. These companies illustrate some alternative ways in which public-private contracts for water supply and wastewater services have been developed in France.     

Cloud federation in a layered service model

We show how a layered Cloud service model of software (SaaS), platform (PaaS), and infrastructure (IaaS) leverages multiple independent Clouds by creating a federation among the providers. The layered architecture leads naturally to a design in which inter-Cloud federation takes place at each service layer, mediated by a broker specific to the concerns of the parties at that layer. Federation increases consumer value for and facilitates providing IT services as a commodity. This business model for the Cloud is consistent with broker mediated supply and service delivery chains in other commodity sectors such as finance and manufacturing. Concreteness is added to the federated Cloud model by considering how it works in delivering the Weather Research and Forecasting service (WRF) as SaaS using PaaS and IaaS support. WRF is used to illustrate the concepts of delegation and federation, the translation of service requirements between service layers, and inter-Cloud broker functions needed to achieve federation.     

Synthesis of poly(lactic acid) by heterogeneous acid catalysis from <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">d</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-lactic acid

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is an important polymer because of its significant biocompatibility and biodegradability. Supported H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ (H₃PW) on activated carbon was utilized for the catalytic polymerization of D,L-lactic acid, resulting in blends of PLA. The stability of the polymer was monitored by thermogravimetry (TGA), and the decomposition temperature (T_d) was used to determine the optimal production conditions (i.e., temperature of 180 °C for 15 h; 0.1 wt. % catalyst; 20 wt. % H₃PW/carbon calcined at 400 °C). The best catalyst was reused three times with good activity and recovery (95 %) and was analyzed to confirm the consistency of its Keggin structure, dispersion, and acidity, which are important parameters that affect the catalyst’s activity. The obtained polymer was characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ¹H/¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, specific optical rotation ([α]_D ²⁵), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The average molar mass of the polymer was 17,400 g mol^?1. Blends of poly(lactic acid) with 85 % poly(L-lactic acid) stereospecific isomer were obtained.

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Graphical Abstract Stereoselective synthesis of 85 % PLLA from polymerization of d,l-lactic acid using 12-tungstophosphoric acid supported on carbon as a catalyst

     

The digital transformation of management consulting companies: a qualitative comparative analysis of Romanian industry

Information Systems and e-Business Management - Digital transformation affects all industries. This study targets how management consulting companies address this phenomenon. Based on a survey of...     

初始晶粒尺寸和预先回复对激光加热下Cu再结晶织构的影响

分别对不同初始晶粒尺寸的冷轧及冷轧后经回复的纯Ｃｕ进行了激光超快速加热再结晶处理。发现细晶冷轧样品完全再结晶时其织构由立方与冷轧织构组分构成,而粗晶样品为单一的立方织构;经低温回复的样品再结晶后的立方织构强度明显高于未经回复的样品。冷轧样品经短时（≤１１．２５ｍｓ）激光加热。金相组织仍呈冷轧状态,而冷轧织构强度显著降低,未发现立方强构增强。分析认为,在激光加热条件下,再结晶初期各取向晶粒形核机会都     

Application of immersion vacuum cooling to water-cooked beef joints - Quality and safety assessment

Immersion vacuum cooling (IVC) was compared against air blast cooling (AB) and vacuum cooling (VC), to establish its applicability to cool water-cooked beef joints. Process parameters (cooling time and cooling loss) and quality parameters (proximate; physical; sensory and microbial analysis) were compared. Results showed IVC samples have lower cooling losses and improved quality properties compared to VC, while generally comparable to AB samples. IVC cooling times were slower then VC, but faster than AB. Sensory results showed no preference between samples (P > 0.05), even though differences in tenderness and juiciness were detected. Cooling methods had no significant effect on thermoduric spore survival or heat activation in the case of Bacillus atrophaeus and Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores. Results confirmed IVC is capable of combining rapid process times and lower mass losses producing microbiologically safe beef joints of overall high quality in terms of sensory, physical and composition characteristics.     

Low-Energy Laser-Driven Ultrashort Pulsed Electron Beam Irradiation-Induced Immune Response in Rats

The development of new laser-driven electron linear accelerators, providing unique ultrashort pulsed electron beams (UPEBs) with low repetition rates, opens new opportunities for radiotherapy and new fronts for radiobiological research in general. Considering the growing interest in the application of UPEBs in radiation biology and medicine, the aim of this study was to reveal the changes in immune system in response to low-energy laser-driven UPEB whole-body irradiation in rodents. Forty male albino Wistar rats were exposed to laser-driven UPEB irradiation, after which different immunological parameters were studied on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 28th day after irradiation. According to the results, this type of irradiation induces alterations in the rat immune system, particularly by increasing the production of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and elevating the DNA damage rate. Moreover, such an immune response reaches its maximal levels on the third day after laser-driven UPEB whole-body irradiation, showing partial recovery on subsequent days with a total recovery on the 28th day. The results of this study provide valuable insight into the effect of laser-driven UPEB whole-body irradiation on the immune system of the animals and support further animal experiments on the role of this novel type of irradiation.     

Effects on speed and safety of point-to-point speed enforcement systems: Evaluation on the urban motorway A56 Tangenziale di Napoli

In this paper, we evaluated the effects on speed and safety of the point-to-point (P2P) speed enforcement system activated on the urban motorway A56 in Italy. The P2P speed enforcement is a relatively new approach to traffic law enforcement that involves the calculation of the average speed over a section. To evaluate the speed effects, we performed a before–after analysis of speed data investigating also effects on non-compliance to speed limits. To evaluate the safety effects, we carried out an empirical Bayes observational before-and-after study.     

Antioxidant Activity of Different Extracts of Red Pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) Seed

Antioxidant activity of three different extracts (ethanolic, chloroformic, and hexanic) of red flesh pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) seed using free radical scavenging assay, linoleic acid model system, and ferric thiocyanate (FTC) method was determined. Ethanolic extract inhibit 74.76% of free radicals at 1000 μg/mL, while chloroformic extract gave the highest inhibition using linoleic acid model system (98.90% at 100 μg/mL) and FTC (96.34%) method. Total phenolic and ascorbic acid contents of the seed were 13.56 ± 2.04 and 0.36 ± 0.01 mg/g, respectively, while catechin was the major flavonoid detected. In conclusion, the study showed that both polar and non-polar compounds contribute to the antioxidative activity measured.