The effect of legislation on the contractor's attitudes on solid waste reduction

It has been a difficult task to reduce and handle solid wastes generated from construction and demolition (C&D) activities in a number of countries. In Hong Kong, the C&D soHd wastes of which many of them are suitable for recycling land reclamation were typically disposed to landfills. Regarding this, in December 2005, a main piece of legislation regarding the C&D solid waste minimization namely the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme (CWDCS) was enacted in Hong Kong. Since then disposal of C&D solid waste to public landfill sites has no longer been a 'free meal' for the contractors. While the government statistics indicate that the average quantity of C&D solid waste disposed to the public landfill has been tremendously decreased, disgraceful news about the illegal disposal of C&D waste by contractors have begun to mount. Some criticized that the illegal disposal was indeed driven by the legislation. It is because the legislation itself basically cannot solve the problems encountered by the contractors i.e. an effective solid waste reduction and management. As such, a behavioral change of solid waste disposal by the contractors has yet been noted. This study uses the enactment of the CWCS as a benchmark, and seeks to investigate [I] whether the Scheme has prompted the construction contractors to adopt C&D solid wastes reduction strategies in the construction projects; and [2] the effect of the strategy applied by the contractors on C&D solid waste reduction in their projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted. The analysed results based on the Pearson correlation analysis show that the enactment of the CWCS merely led the main contractors reorient their operational practices. Collaboration among project team members in C&D solid waste reduction remains inadequate. Recommendation in response to the research findings was suggested

A Bayesian LSTM model to evaluate the effects of air pollution control regulations in Beijing, China

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Rapid socio-economic development and urbanization have resulted in serious deterioration in air-quality in many world cities, including Beijing, China. This study attempts to examine the effectiveness of air pollution control regulations implemented in Beijing during 2008–2019 through a data-driven regulatory intervention analysis. Our proposed Bayesian deep learning model utilizes proxy data including Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and meteorology as well as socio-economic data, while accounting for confounding effects via propensity score estimation. Our results show that air pollution control regulatory measures implemented in China and Beijing during 2008–2019 reduced PM2.5 pollution in Beijing by 11 % on average. After the introduction of Action Plan for Clean Air in China and Beijing in late 2013, as compared to the hypothetical PM2.5 concentration (without any regulatory interventions), the estimated PM2.5 reduction increased dramatically from 15 % in 2015 to 44 % in 2018. Our results suggest that Beijing's air quality has improved gradually over the past decade, though the annual PM2.5 pollution still exceeds the WHO threshold. In this regard, the air pollution control regulations introduced in Beijing and China tend to become more effective after 2015, suggesting a 2-year time lag before the stringent air pollution control regulations starting from 2013 takes any strong positive effects. Moreover, as compared to the air pollution control regulations introduced before 2013, newly introduced policy-making governance, which couples the policy-makings of the local jurisdictions with that of the central government, and the new policy measures that tackle the vested interests of the local stakeholders in Beijing and its nearby cities, alongside with the stringent local and national air pollution control regulations and plans, should help reduce air pollution and promote healthy living in Beijing over the longer term.This research is supported in part by the General Research Fund of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, under Grant No. 17620920

China’s Response to Nuclear Safety Post-Fukushima: Genuine or Rhetoric?

The Fukushima crisis has brought the nuclear safety problem to the world’s attention. China is the most ambitious country in the world in nuclear power development. How China perceives and responds to nuclear safety issues carries significant implications on its citizens’ safety and security. This paper examines the Chinese government’s promised and actual response to nuclear safety following the Fukushima crisis, based on (1) statistical analysis of newspaper coverage on nuclear energy, and (2) review of nuclear safety performance and safety governance. Our analysis shows that (i) the Chinese government’s concern over nuclear accidents and safety has surged significantly after Fukushima, (ii) China has displayed strengths in reactor technology design and safety operation, and (iii) China’s safety governance has been continuously challenged by institutional fragmentation, inadequate transparency, inadequate safety professionals, weak safety culture, and ambition to increase nuclear capacity by three-fold by 2050. We suggest that China should improve its nuclear safety standards, as well as safety management and monitoring, reform institutional arrangements to reduce fragmentation, improve information transparency, and public trust and participation, strengthen the safety culture, introduce process-based safety regulations, and promote international collaboration to ensure that China’s response to nuclear safety can be fully implemented in real-life

Trust in Government and Effective Nuclear Safety Governance in Great Britain

Nuclear power can play a role in reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy security. Public attitudes to nuclear safety governance will be critical in whether a large-scale rollout of nuclear power will be successful, so we commissioned a survey of 1,007 members of the British public to understand the determinants of such views. In particular, we focus on the role of trust in government, which has been largely neglected as a subject of study. We find that higher risk perceptions of new nuclear power technologies is associated with lower overall government trustworthiness, while higher engagement levels, being male and intentions to vote Conservative increase trustworthiness. Risk perceptions towards old and the new nuclear technologies do not differ significantly, which raises questions about the view that newer defence-in-depth nuclear technologies can reduce public fear of nuclear power. To build public trust, the UK government must demonstrate its trustworthiness in nuclear safety governance, especially along the dimensions of integrity, reliability and openness. Further, improving stakeholder engagement and thus increasing the levels of public satisfaction towards the government are necessary. Our novel research methodology of determining government trustworthiness in relation to public risk perceptions, technical knowledge, and stakeholder engagement is more broadly applicable and can be transferred to other subject areas and to countries where public concerns over nuclear safety and energy security are significant

Catalyst-free spontaneous polymerization with 100% atom economy: facile synthesis of photoresponsive polysulfonates with multifunctionalities

Photoresponsive polymers have attracted extensive attention due to their tunable functionalities and advanced applications; thus, it is significant to develop facile in situ synthesis strategies, extend polymers family, and establish various applications for photoresponsive polymers. Herein, we develop a catalyst-free spontaneous polymerization of dihaloalkynes and disulfonic acids without photosensitive monomers for the in situ synthesis of photoresponsive polysulfonates at room temperature in air with 100% atom economy in high yields. The resulting polysulfonates could undergo visible photodegradation with strong photoacid generation, leading to various applications including dual-emissive or 3D photopatterning, and practical broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. The halogen-rich polysulfonates also exhibit a high and photoswitched refractive index and could undergo efficient postfunctionalizations to further expand the variety and functionality of photoresponsive heteroatom-containing polyesters

Influenza Virus-Induced Lung Inflammation Was Modulated by Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Mice

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Flight control design using extended state observer and non-smooth feedback

This paper proposes a novel nonlinear approach for high performance flight control design. The dynamic linearization is accomplished via a kind of unknown input observer, called Extended State Observer. A non-smooth feedback law is employed to achieve the desirable dynamic performances. A Lyapunov function is constructed for the proposed method.published_or_final_versio

How BLUE is the Sky? Estimating the Air Quality Data in Beijing During the Blue Sky Day Period (2008-2012) by the Bayesian LSTM Approach

Over the last three decades, air pollution has become a major environmental challenge in many of the fast growing cities in China, including Beijing. Given that any long-term exposure to high-levels of air pollution has devastating health consequences, accurately monitoring and reporting air pollution information to the public is critical for ensuring public health and safety and facilitating rigorous air pollution and health-related scientific research. Recent statistical research examining China’s air quality data has posed questions regarding data accuracy, especially data reported during the Blue Sky Day (BSD) period (2000 – 2012), though the accuracy of publicly available air quality data in China has improved gradually over the recent years (2013 – 2017). To the best of our understanding, no attempt has been made to re-estimate the air quality data during the BSD period. In this paper, we put forward a machine-learning model to re-estimate the official air quality data during the BSD period of 2008 – 2012, based on the PM2.5 data of the Beijing US Embassy, and the proxy data covering Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and meteorology. Results have shown that the average re-estimated daily air quality values are respectively 64% and 61% higher than the official values, for air quality index (AQI) and AQI equivalent PM2.5, during the BSD period of 2008 to 2012. Moreover, the re-estimated BSD air quality data exhibit reduced statistical discontinuity and irregularity, based on our validation tests. The results suggest that the proposed data re-estimation methodology has the potential to provide more justifiable historical air quality data for evidence-based environmental decision-making in China

What Predicts Government Trustworthiness in Cross-border HK-Guangdong Nuclear Safety Emergency Governance?

China has drawn up ambitious plans in nuclear power development. After the Fukushima crisis, the HK public has expressed serious concerns about the nuclear power plants in the cross-border Guangdong region. We conducted a randomized survey of 1032 HK respondents to identify the key factors that predict HK Government’s trustworthiness (GT), with regard to nuclear safety emergency governance in a cross-border context. Our result shows that the perceived benefit of nuclear power is positively associated with GT, while risk perception about nuclear power technologies, expected engagement in emergency planning, and average monthly income are negatively associated with GT. We also find that knowledge about nuclear technology and safety has no effect on GT. This contradicts the common view that educating the public about nuclear safety and technology will increase public trust. Further, we find that HK respondents prefer engaging with local experts than international/Guangdong authorities. To build trust in NSEG, HK Government should direct attentions towards improving public understanding on the significance and contribution of nuclear power in overall electricity generation in HK, reducing public fears of nuclear power technologies, and ensuring appropriate level of engagement with HK stakeholders. Our proposed methodology can be transferrable to other domains and countries