How Does Land Urbanization Promote CO2 Emissions Reduction? Evidence From Chinese Prefectural-Level Cities

The process of land urbanization may result in a great change in land use structure, land use intensity, and efficiency, which could further lead to an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Despite rich literature on the link between urbanization and CO2 emissions, the mechanism through which land urbanization promotes CO2 emissions reductions has not been fully investigated. To address this gap, this study theoretically and empirically explores the mechanism of land urbanization’s influence on CO2 emissions by integrating land use optimization and high-quality industrial development into a unified framework. Firstly, the theoretical mechanism analysis indicates that low-level industrial development and land use management promote the increase of CO2 emissions per unit of land at the extensive land use stage; however, high-quality industrial development and land use optimization lower CO2 emissions per unit of land at the intensive land use stage. Subsequently, a STIRPAT model and a spatial adaptive semi-parametric model are employed to verify the relationship between the land urbanization rate and total CO2 emissions. The results indicate that the land urbanization rate and total CO2 emissions present an inverted U-shaped relationship. In addition, the mediating mechanism of the advanced industrial structure, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP, and CO2 emissions per unit of land, are studied using the mediating effect model. Results indicate that CO2 emissions reduction can be achieved by promoting the advanced industrial structure, reducing CO2 emissions per unit of GDP or reducing CO2 emissions per unit of land. Ultimately, this study showed that the Chinese government may reduce CO2 emissions by promoting land use structure optimization, land use intensity regulation, land use efficiency improvement, and adjusting energy consumption structure, upgrading industrial structure, and promoting emission efficiency technologies.

Life Cycle Assessment of Coated and Thermally Modified Wood Façades

Façades—their design, aesthetics, performance, type of cladding material, and understructure—determine architectural expression and form unique appearances of individual buildings. In connection to the sustainable development idea, wood façades provide one of the alternatives of a contemporary building exterior look. Façade cladding made of coated and thermally modified wood can be successfully used for these buildings. In addition, thermally modified wood allows the use of local European wood species, while keeping cladding elements relatively thin. On the other hand, wood has certain structural limitations and disadvantages due to the properties of wood. The main weakness is caused by the surface durability of wood and its related need for maintenance over time. The scope of the study was a comprehensive assessment of coated non-heat-treated and thermally modified wood façades, performed in terms of life cycle assessment. The aim was to identify which type of wooden façade had the lowest environmental impact. According to the EN 15804 + A2 standard, the principle of evaluation of environmental parameters “cradle-to-gate-with options” was used to evaluate wooden façades and coatings and surface preservation methods. Simulations with the SimaPro program showed that the thermal modification of wood has a significant impact on the environment at the product stage. Nonetheless the thermally modified façade without any surface coating showed the lowest environmental impact in a 30 year time-horizon of the “use stage”. It was showed that surface maintenance methods applied, the coatings used, and the frequency of their application play an important role in the environmental impact of the investigated wooden façades.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS IMPLEMENTATION IN PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE PROJECT IN MALAYSIA

PFI involved a project with long-term relationships at various stages from pre-contract stage to contractual stage and in use stage which also include maintenance stage. KM process is one of the elements to ensure the success of the KM system. In the PFI project, the KM process also needs to be checked whether it is applied in the various stage of the pre-contract stages. Questionnaires had been distributed to the parties involved at the pre-contract stage. The results are then analyse using the Relative Important Index (RII) to identify the ranking of KM usage in various stages of the pre-contract stage. According to the analysis, some of the stages in the pre-contract process of the PFI are not fully implemented in the KM process. For knowledge acquisition and storage practise, the high usage of the process is at the conduct of value management, submission to cabinet and access, evaluation, and approval. The next KM process which is capturing and storing, the process evaluation, negotiation and recommend are the activities at the higher level practising these KM processes. At next KM process which is re-using and sharing are Access and approval by the ministry, evaluation, negotiate and recommend practise more on this KM process.

Identification and life cycle based allocation of building emissions based on a systematic literature review

Even though it is scientifically well known that there are various building emissions with harmful impacts on human health and the environment, existing evaluating approaches only refer to selected emissions and life cycle phases. Especially in today’s building sector harmful emissions are mainly evaluated in the use stage and the target is to minimize rather than avoid them. However, in order to avoid subsequent negative impacts, implementation strategies have to be developed and applied during early planning phases. This research presents an overview of relevant building emissions as well as a life cycle based approach to allocate these emissions and to show possibilities of influence towards zero emission buildings.

Research Towards Sustainable Parking Solutions

The aim of the article is to identify problems and public expectations regarding parking and the application of different parking solutions. Based on the results of a CAWI questionnaire survey, an evaluation of selected parking solutions is presented. Among others, vertical parking has been taken into account, the use of which is associated with a reduction in the area required for parking and an improvement in environmental performance characteristics at the use stage. This study is part of the search for sustainable solutions in city logistics. The results of the study serve as an initial insight into the opinions of one group of users in the life cycle of a car park. They can be used as an introduction to the eco-design of parking solutions and to compare different parking systems. The study was carried out as part of a project entitled: “Analysis of the environmental impact of a vertical parking solution using life cycle assessment at the design stage” carried out at the Silesian University of Technology.

Identifying Online Advice-Seekers for Recovering from Opioid Use Disorder

BackgroundOnline communities can provide social support for those recovering from opioid use disorder. However, advice-seekers on these platforms risk exposure to uncurated medical advice, potentially harming their health or recovery efforts. The objective of this analysis is to combine text annotation, social network analysis, and statistical modeling to identify advice-seekers on online social media for buprenorphine-naloxone use and study their characteristics.MethodsWe collected 5,258 posts and their comments from Reddit between 2014 and 2019. Among 202 posts which met our inclusion criteria, we annotated each post to determine which were advice-seeking (n=137) and not advice-seeking (n=65). We also annotated each posting user’s medication use stage and quantified their connectedness using social network analysis. In order to analyze the relationship between advice-seeking with a user’s social connectivity and medication use stage, we constructed four models which varied in explanatory variables.ResultsThe stepwise model (containing “total degree” (P=0.002), “using: inducting/tapering” (P<0.001), and “using: other” (P=0.01) as significant explanatory variables) outperformed all other models. We found that users with fewer connections and who are currently using buprenorphine-naloxone are more likely to seek advice than users who are well-connected and no longer using the medication, respectively. Importantly, advice-seeking behavior is most accurately predicted using a combination of network characteristics and medication use status, rather than either factor alone.ConclusionsOur findings provide insights for the clinical care of people recovering from opioid use disorder and the nature of online medical advice-seeking overall. Clinicians should be especially attentive (e.g., through frequent follow-up) to patients who are inducting or tapering buprenorphine-naloxone or signal limited social support.

Transitions Between Electronic and Combustible Cigarettes: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Peer Interactions in an Online Community for Tobacco Cessation

The growing popularity of e-cigarettes is a public health concern. There is an emerging need to understand the pathways between electronic and combustible modes due to the specialized nature of risks associated with each transition. Online social media has become the most dominant knowledge space for these evolving behaviors, and as such, can provide unique opportunities for modeling switching patterns. In this paper, we describe the utility of online peer interactions using qualitative inquiry and network visualizations using 500 messages to characterize (a) transition pathways and (b) psychosocial attributes as individuals contemplate and act on such transitions. Our results indicate that the E2A pathway is the most prevalent in e-cigarette-related transitions, where most of the individuals are in the “active e-cig use” stage. Perceived benefits and barriers are the most commonly held health beliefs, while counterconditioning and stimulus control behavior change processes are frequently manifested. Such insights can help in the design of personalized pathway-specific behavior change interventions.

A Study on Major Issues in Litigation on Fire Door Performance

In this study, we attempted to analyze the predominant issues that have emerged from the fire door litigation process that has been conducted until recently, and to suggest alternatives. The results of analyzing the contents and outcomes of fire door litigation were confirmed by the issue of the durability period of the fire doors’ fire protection performance. Further, they were supported by the confirmation of the fire protection performance of fire doors that have already been installed, and the extent of the defect repair when the fire door performance is not confirmed. To solve these issues, performance verification must be executed at the manufacturing, delivery, and construction stages of fire doors. In the use stage, after completion, the user (Resident) should be the subject of performance maintenance. To this end, it is necessary to introduce the duty of maintenance and management of fire doors at the stage of use and the introduction of a professional inspection system that carries out inspections. Additionally, since the soundness of the fire door frame was confirmed through simulation and test results, the fire protection performance of the fire door in use can be confirmed by only separating the door. This can be achieved by excluding the door frame and conducting a test. It is considered that performance can be sufficiently secured despite the performance of the fire door being confirmed to be inferior, even if performance is improved by limiting the repair range to fire door pairs.

Life Cycle Assessment of Residential Air Conditioners Considering the Benefits of Their Use: A Case Study in Indonesia

The global demand for air conditioners (ACs) has more than tripled since 1990, with 1.6 billion units currently in use. With the rapid economic and population growth of countries located in the hottest parts in the world, this trend is likely to continue in the future. The aim of this study was to show the benefits of introducing air conditioners with different materials or different technologies such as inverters with high energy-saving performance on the environment and human health in Indonesia. To evaluate the environmental impacts of the different technologies, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of air conditioners was conducted using the life-cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling (LIME3). As expected, the use stage has the largest global warming potential (GWP), representing more than 90% of the impact, whereas copper and nickel have the most important impact in terms of resource consumption (about 50%). We found that the impacts are heavily dependent on the country’s energy mix, but reduction can be achieved by introducing better technologies. The integration factors from LIME3 were then applied to estimate the external cost of each model; the results showed that the use stage also has the most influence. Even though the impact of climate change is important, air pollution impact must be seriously considered as its impact was found to be the highest (about 60% of the total impact). The external cost was finally compared to the possible benefits produced by the introduction of air conditioning technologies during their 10-year life cycle. We found that the impacts are twice that of the benefit for the best model (USD 2003 vs. 1064); however, the novelty of this study is that the benefit was also considered. In the future, developing countries should promote AC models with inverters, refrigerants with low global warming impact such as natural refrigerants, and encourage the recycling of units as soon as possible. The energy mix for electricity production is also a key parameter to consider.

A Well-to-Wheel Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Between Full Electric and Traditional Petrol Engines in the European Context

Automotive sector is crucial for the economic and social system. Conversely, it also plays an important role in the global emissions balance with strong consequences on the environment. Currently the Research world is engaged in the reduction of the emissions, especially in order to contrast the Climate Change and reduce toxicity on humans and the ecosystem. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment, Well-to-Wheel, between the most common technology used in the automotive sector, i.e. the traditional petrol Internal Combustion Engine and the full Battery Electric Vehicle. The different configurations have been analysed within 17 different impact categories in terms of climate change, human health, resourced depletion and ecosystems. The Well-to-Wheel approach allows to focus the attention on the use stage of the vehicle, considering the local effects due to the direct emissions in high density urban zones and it mitigates the dependence of usage hypotheses, different scenarios and intrinsic differences between the various models of cars in circulation.