Corporate sustainability for architecture engineering and construction (AEC) organizations: Framework,transition and implication strategies

This research aims to propose a regenerative sustainability framework for AEC organizations, not only to focus on delivering green certified projects, but to encourage a revitalized approach to systematically drive their sustainability initiative. To achieve this aim, the study conducts an extensive global review of sustainable assessment systems in various industries and organizations, such as corporate sustainable reports, green company competitions, and green-renowned stocks. After learning the best practices from other industries, a sustainable development framework for the AEC organizations is developed. The proposed framework constitutes 110 key indicators covering three-dimensions of sustainability—social, environmental, and economic, respectively—and four-elements of corporate development essentials—projects, operations, governance, and stakeholders. By comparing the proposed framework to existing AEC practices, the study identifies the skewed development of corporate sustainability in the AEC industry where much awareness have been given to project-level environmental matters, but the social dimension, such as social stakeholders and social governance, are seriously lacking and need to be prioritized. A case study of a multi-millions construction company in China was investigated to validate this framework in practice. The case analysis justifies the practical value of the proposed framework, and elaborates the future need of regenerative sustainable initiatives for AEC organizations. The study contributes to the development of corporate sustainability theory in the AEC industry, and also provides industrial practitioners and policy makers with a better understanding of the next generation of corporate sustainable performance and implementation strategies.     

Coming Full Circle: a Brief History of the Domestic Synthetic Dye and Biological Stain Industries

The synthetic dye industry is traced from its inception in England in 1856 to the European Continent and finally to the United States. The primitive state of this industry in America prior to World War I is described as is the desperate effort to develop the neglected technology once imports were difficult to obtain. Topics include biological stains, formation of the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), pioneers in the industry, dye shortages after World War II, formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the decline of the domestic dye industry after the EPA was instituted, and the present state of the domestic dye industry.     

城市近郊型乡镇农业生态经济系统生态潜力及产业空间布局——以延安市河庄坪镇为例

生态脆弱区抗干扰能力弱，明确其系统的生态潜力，在潜力的基础上开发利用资源对区域的可持续发展具有重要的意义。研究基于生态系统服务价值视角，尝试测度农业生态经济系统生态潜力，同时以三产融合典型代表乡镇为研究对象，对其农业生态经济系统生态潜力和主导产业进行时空分析，最后对生态系统加以功能分区。结果显示：（1）气体调节、气候调节、水源涵养和土壤形成与保护是生态系统提供的主要服务功能。随退耕还林工程实施，林地面积的增加使生态系统服务价值量随之上升，在空间上呈现"中间低两翼高"的格局。（2）农业生态经济系统生态潜力受服务价值与资源开发过程影响，与生态系统服务价值在空间上相对一致，呈现出"两翼高中间低，北高南低"的分布格局，其中，退耕还林工程的推进直接导致林地的生态潜力增加，耕地的生态潜力减少。（3）研究区在退耕过程中形成以大棚种植为主的设施农业、以农林特色销售为主的商品型种植农业，以山地苹果为主的林果产业以及以酒店商贸为主的服务行业。并随城镇一体化的推进，主导产业呈现出由传统粗放型大田种植向集约型设施农业方向发展。在空间上形成了以镇区分布为主的第三产业、依托拐沟坡地的林果产业和沿川道展开的设施农业的产业布局。（4）基于生态系统服务价值，研究区农业生态经济系统功能区划分为城镇生态环境维护区（第Ⅰ类型区）、农业生态保护区（第Ⅱ类型区）、生态安全屏障区（第Ⅲ类区）3个区域。     

Biochemical characterization of a lichenase from Penicillium occitanis Pol6 and its potential application in the brewing industry

The purification and characterization of an extracellular lichenase from the fungus Penicillium occitanis Pol6 were studied. The strain produced the maximum level of extracellular lichenase (45 ± 5 U ml⁻¹) when grown in a medium containing oat flour (2%, w/v) at 30 °C for 7 days. The purified enzyme EG_L showed as a single protein band on SDS–PAGE with a molecular mass of 20 kDa. Its N-terminal sequence of 10 amino acid residues was determined as LDNGAPLLNV. The purified enzyme showed an optimum activity at pH 3.0 and 50–60 °C. The half-lives of EG_L at 60 °C and 70 °C were 80 min and 21 min, respectively. Substrate specificity studies revealed that the enzyme is a true β-1,3-1,4-d-glucanase. The enzyme hydrolyzed lichenan to yield trisaccharide, and tetrasaccharide as the main products. Under simulated mashing conditions, addition of EG_L (20 U/ml) or a commercial β-glucanase (20 U/ml) reduced the filtration time (25% and 21.3%, respectively) and viscosity (10% and 8.18%, respectively). These characteristics indicate that EG_L is a good candidate in the malting and brewing industry.     

Trust and risk in a German chemical town

This article examines the relationship between trust and risk in one of the centres of the global chemical industry, Ludwigshafen in Germany. A single industry town associated for 150 years with BASF, the dominant outlook among those living or working there has been one of trust, confidence and pride in the corporation which has ‘put the town on the map’. Yet beneath the surface, subtle shifts in public assumptions and expectations about BASF and the town's chemical industry are now occurring. We describe the parameters of public reflection about trust and risk, analyse how characterizations of BASF are changing, and consider how far recent writing on trust helps in understanding its salience in this particular industrial town.     

Information and Communication Technology‐Enabled Low Carbon Technologies

This article outlines the subsector of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry concerned with reducing the economy's environmental impact, dubbed ICT‐enabled low carbon technologies (ICTeLCTs). The article is based on a study funded by United Kingdom (UK) Trade and Investment, a division of the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. ICTeLCTs can be segmented into specialist and generalist operators. Specialists focus on one or two ICT applications to monitor or reduce environmental issues, while generalists supply products and services enabling a firm or a private household to reduce the environmental impact of its activities. The subsector can be further segmented into green ICT, energy management, building management, carbon accounting, waste management, intelligent transport systems (ITSs), and water management. The main factors driving ICTeLCTs include legislation, voluntary environmental standards, corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, customer demand, and competitive market factors. Policy makers should continue to drive the growth of ICTeLCTs with the introduction and refinement of environmental legislation regulating energy use and markets.     

Site du Paléolithique inférieur de Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka dans la péninsule de Taman,Kraï de Krasnodar,Russie

The paper aims to present new multidisciplinary results obtained from the study of the Lower Palaeolithic Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka site (the Taman peninsula), organized after 2010. The particular attention is given to the estimation of the age of the site and to the unique way of adaptation of the Homo erectus to the special environmental conditions of the Taman peninsula.     

Life Cycle Assessment of a Personal Computer and its Effective Recycling Rate (7 pp)

Background, Aims and Scope Telecommunication and information technology, dramatically emerged during the last decade, has generated environmental problems by accelerating mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal of personal computers (PCs) in Korea. In addition, it has led the Korean new economy. The Korean government has encouraged researchers and industry to study the environmental impact, adequate disposal treatment, and the reasonable recycling rate of an end-of-life personal computer. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the life cycle environmental impact of PCs and to determine the desirable or feasible recycle rate of an end-of-life PC. An LCA on a PC was performed based on different recycling scenario. Target audiences are new product developers, designers, product recovery managers and environmental policy makers who are interested in the environmental impact of PCs and recycling of end-of-life products. Methods A target product is a Pentium IV personal computer made in Korea in 2001, excluding the monitor and peripheral equipment. The procedure of the LCA followed the ISO14040 series. System boundary includes the entire life cycle of the product, including pre-manufacturing (the electrical parts and components manufacturing), manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal. The LCI and impact assessment database for a PC was constructed using SIMAPRO version 4.0 software and LCI information was compiled by site-specific data and the Korean national database. The LCA was performed on different recycling scenarios: one being that of the current recycling rate of 46%, and the other being the ideal condition of a 100% recycling rate. Results and Discussion Abiotic depletion, global warming, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, acidification, ozone layer depletion, photo-oxidant formation, and eutrophication are adopted as the impact categories. The pre-manufacturing stage was a significant stage for all of the environmental parameters, besides human toxicity potential. PC manufacturing consists of rather simple processes such as assembly and packaging. For improving the environmental performance of PCs, environmental management approaches of design for the environment and green procurement are recommended. The use stage had a significant potential due to the electricity consumption produced by burning fossil fuel. The disposal stage's contribution to environmental impact was largest in human toxicity, and second largest in ozone layer depletion potential. The PC recycling was shown to inhibit all environmental impacts with the exception of the ozone depletion and ecotoxicity potential. The increase of light oil, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and deoxidating agent consumption during the recycling process contributes to the environmental impact of ozone and ecotoxicity parameters. Current recovery and recycling technologies should be taken into account for enhancing the benefits of recycling. Anyway, the effectiveness of recycling was highlighted by this study. PC recycling reduces the total environmental impact of the product. The PC recycling is recommended to be raised up to at least 63% in order to reduce the environmental burdens of a PC in other life cycle stages. Conclusion and Recommendation This study implies that design for the environment (DfE) in the product design stage and green procurement are recommended for improving the entire environmental performance of electronic equipment such as PCs. The recycling of waste PCs clearly reduces the environmental burden. There are, however, trade-offs among environmental parameters according to the PC recycling rate. Current recycling methods are not effective in reducing ozone depletion and ecotoxicity environmental impact. The product recovery is another key for efficient recycling. Efficient reverse logistics to collect and transport end-of-life PCs should be taken into account to enhance recycling effects. There were several electrical parts not included in this assessment, due to the unavailability of adequate data. Further studies with more detail and reliable inventories for electrical parts and sub-components are recommended. Furthermore, costs of recycling should also be treated in further research.