Supply Crisis Research Articles

Water supply crisis in Ankara: Review and comparison of the "1995 master plan report on Ankara water supply project"

The purpose of this study was to compare technical recommendations for water supply projects for the city of Ankara, Turkey with institutional decisions that led to a water supply crisis during a drought in August, 2007. The authors provide an evaluation of government institutions responsible for planning and provision of Ankara’s water supply and treatment, and an analysis and comparison of the “1995 Master Plan Report on Ankara Water Supply Project” commissioned by Turkey’s General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) and assigned to Japan’s Pacific Consultants International Group. The comparison reveals that Ankara’s water authorities did not heed to the advice of technical recommendations. Such planning failures led to a delay in necessary project implementation to prevent water shortages in the case of drought, uneconomical and unsustainable water pipeline transmission routes, and a loss of public trust in the authorities. Moreover, concerns and criticisms of civil society organizations were not taken into account by the water authorities in a constructive manner. Lack of dialogue and consultation among the stakeholders exacerbated the crisis and prevented opportunities to reach participative and democratic management and use of limited water resource in the city. As Ankara’s urban population is rapidly increasing so will the potable and industrial water needs. Streamlining the way in which the city manages water will be necessary to ensure a sustainable water future. Key words: Water crisis, Ankara water, drought preparedness, Mediterranean water management, urban water.

Effect of phytase supplementation on growing pigs performance

Dietary concentrations of phytate are crucial for its anti-nutritive properties and its negative impact on P availability. The increase of dietary phytate level is shown to increase endogenous losses of amino acids and minerals in pigs. The partial availability of the P component of phytate to simple-stomached species attains importance as the world's rock phosphate reserves are not renewable, which could lead to a P supply crisis in the future. Supplementing phytase is becoming increasingly common as a method to improve the availability of P in plant ingredients containing high levels of phytate P. Fourty-eight pigs (Swedish Landrace boars × Dutch landrace sows) weaned at day 35 with an initial BW of 8.72±0.28 kg were used for a 40-day weaner performance study. The study was structured as a complete randomized design to evaluate the response of weaner pigs to four concentrations of microbial phytase produced by Aspergillus niger: (T1) basal diet; (T2) basal diet + 1000 FTU/kg; (T3) diet with decreased dicalcium phosphate + 1000 FTU/kg; and (T4) diet with no dicalcium phosphate + 1000 FTU/kg. Control group of piglets (T1) has achieved standard body mass while addition of phytase in meal increased body mass by 6.59% in T2 and 7.52% in T3. Phytase supplementation prevented decreased body weight gain diets where available phosphorous level was reduced by 50. The amount of consumed feed per day was not significantly different. Feed efficiency of T2 and T3 groups was by 3.23% better and of T4 for 11.29% lower compared to the control group of piglets (T1). Lower production results achieved by the use of low phosphorous diets can be avoided to a certain level by the use of microbial phytase. The use of phytase in pig diet significantly improved phosphorous availability, as well as of other mineral substances from the phytate complex. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III46002]

加强淮安白马湖综合保护，建设淮安第二饮用水源地

水是生命之源、生产之要、生态之基。水利是经济社会发展的重要基础和支撑，为有效保障供水安全，应对和预防水污染事故和其它突发事件引发的供水危机，提高淮安市供水可靠性，本文在充分研究白马湖特点、存在问题及相关规划等的基础上，结合新时期治水思路，通过科学规划，采取水利工程、水生态修复等有效措施，加强淮安白马湖综合保护，建设淮安第二饮用水源地。 Water is the source of life, the most primary factor of production and the foundation of the ecosystem. It is also important base and support strength of national economy, so we should effectively protect the water supply security, response and prevention of sudden water pollution accidents, the crisis of urban water supply caused by other sudden accident. Research on the characters, problems and the relevant planning of the White Horse Lake of Huai’an, with new era of water management ideas and scientific planning, we take water conservancy measures, water ecological recovery and other measures to strengthen the White Horse Lake in Huai’an comprehensive protection and construct the second drinking water source of Huai’an.

Production of Biodiesel from Vegetable Oil Using Microware Irradiation

The petroleum oil supply crisis, the increase in demand and the price eruption have led to a search for an alternative fuel of bio-origin in India. Among the alternative fuels, biodiesel is considered as a sustainable renewable alternative fuel to fossil diesel. Non-edible jatropha oil has considerable potential for the production of biodiesel in India. The production of biodiesel from jatropha oil using a conventional heating method takes more than 1h. In this work, microwave irradiation has been used as a source of heat for the transesterification reaction. A domestic microwave oven was modified and used for microwave heating of the reactants. The time taken for biodiesel production using microwave irradiation was 1 min. The fuel property analysis shows that the properties of jatropha oil biodiesel satisfy the biodiesel standards, and are close to the fossil diesel standards. From this work, it is concluded that biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oil using microwave irradiation, with a significant reduction in production time.

Workforce and Affordable Housing: Local Government Inclusionary Housing Programs and the Courts

The current surplus of housing should not disguise the fact that there is a chronic national affordable housing supply crisis. Aside from building public housing with decidedly mixed success, local governments have addressed the problem by means of mandatory affordable housing set-asides for new construction or the application of affordable housing fees to private developments during the land use entitlement process. However, measures meant to address the dearth of affordable housing have struggled in the courts, which have repeatedly pointed to three flaws in these programs: a lack of local authority, a lack of nexus between the proposed development and the need for affordable housing, and affordable housing requirements disproportionate to the need created by the development project.

Global Oil Supplies: The Impact of Resource Nationalism and Political Instability

This paper looks at resource nationalism and political instability as potential causes of disruption to global oil supplies. It points to depletion preferences and strategies as one form of resource nationalism. In most cases, resource nationalism appears to be motivated by rent maximization. Hence, we see the adoption of more restrictive policies when prices rise. Conversely, when oil prices are low, increasing export volumes becomes more important. Restrictions on exports are common, especially for natural gas, which is sometimes reserved for national consumption. Export taxes are a tool used by some countries to extract revenue from oil producers. Domestic prices of gas and petroleum products are frequently much lower than international prices, also in some sense reducing availability for export. Political instability has a much more elusive impact on oil and gas exports, and historical experience points to contradictory potential outcomes. This paper concludes that political instability and resource nationalism are rarely associated with acute supply crises or shortfalls. Their effect is rather gradual and normally compensated by action in other parts of the system.

GEMFLOW: A time dependent model to assess responses to natural gas supply crises

The January 2009 gas dispute, followed by the biggest gas supply crisis ever, called for significant changes at the community level. In line with other measures (e.g. a new regulation to ensure security of gas supply), a new tool is needed that will help decision-makers react properly in such a situation. Based on Monte-Carlo modeling principles, this new tool is being developed to take the first step towards a comprehensive model. This model could be of great support to common European efforts in order to assess the possible outcomes of a supply disruption beforehand and minimize losses during an emergency by finding the optimal distribution of flows. Naturally, the described model cannot serve at present as hydraulic software that is currently used by the national system operators, but it is able to draw significant conclusions from the European gas system's capabilities.

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF URBAN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM CRISIS

Purpose – The chaotic growth of cities results in numerous problems related to public health and urban environment. One of these problems is the crisis in urban water supply systems. The objective of this paper is to develop a mathematical model for the water supply system crisis in urban environment (WSC) able to tackle with the ambiguity of the real available data.Design/methodology/approach – The applied methodology comprises the following steps: (1) identification of the influencing factors in WSC; (2) proposal of a conceptual model for WSC description; (3) gathering and simulation of the necessary and available data; (4) optimization of the conceptual model parameters; and (5) verification of the proposed model performance.Findings – The results indicated that there is a great amount of influencing factors in WSC (showed in the complete text); the conceptual model that was developed is composed by two others partial models ( ). The first partial model explained the water consumption ( ),and the second partial model explained the water availability ( ), in which functions are related to influencing factors in water consumption (i.e. temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, revenues collected, unemployment indicator), and functions are related to the influencing factors in water availability (i.e. total water-loss, intermittence in water supply system). The proposed conceptual model has showed good agreement to the simulated data.Originality/value – The paper is among the first works to describe a WSC model and to analyze the possibility of applying fuzzy logic to deal with the ambiguity of the real data. The water supply crisis in urban environments was adequately modelled.

Privatizing water: governance failure and the world's urban water crisis

Introduction: Privatization and the Urban Water CrisisPart I. Development, Urbanization, and the Governance of Thirst 1. Governance Failure: Reframing the Urban Water Supply Crisis 2. Material Emblems of Citizenship: Creating Public Water 3. Watering the Thirsty Poor: The Water Privatization Debate 4. Citizens without a City: The Techno-Politics of Urban Water GovernancePart II. Beyond Privatization: Debating Alternatives 5. Protesting Privatization: Transnational Struggles over the Human Right to Water 6. Commons versus Commodities: The Ambiguous Merits of Community Water-Supply Management 7 Politics and Biopolitics: Debating Ecological GovernanceConclusion: Beyond PrivatizationNotes References Index -- Cornell University Press

Limitations of Environmental Success Without Successful Environmental Policy

Abstract After the Second World War, Helsinki experienced decades of modernization and rising living standards, but also the adverse consequences of modern urban life. Air pollution from energy generation, industries, waste incineration and traffic became increasingly obvious from the late 1950s onward. Scientific uncertainty about the nature and severity of the problem, together with a lack of appropriate legal tools to combat air pollution, resulted in the failure of city officials’ attempts to deal effectively with polluters. Hegemonic attitudes concerning the nation’s economic future led to reluctance to demand costly air-protection measures – pollution was partly accepted as the price to pay for higher living standards. Paradoxically, in spite of this, the air quality in Helsinki eventually improved remarkably, after having been at its worst in the late 1960s. The main causes of this development– the transition to district heating and the relocation of polluting industries away from Helsinki – were a consequence of economic calculations in the context of an energy supply crisis and the specific geographic limitations of the city. The city’s improved air quality was a result of partial problem displacement combined with economically motivated structural changes. This paper examines the reasons for this environmentally advantageous outcome, which was achieved in the absence of a particularly successful environmental policy.

No Accounting For Water: Conflicting Business And Science Viewpoints

The growing crisis of inadequate global water supply is documented using desert Australia as an exemplar. Policy solutions are advanced advocating improved transparency, clearer communication and better measurement techniques for the physical and monetary attributes of water resources.

No crisis in supply of peer reviewers

No crisis in supply of peer reviewers

Food politics: what everyone needs to know

One of the most persistent and startling news stories of the past year has been the global crisis in the world's food supply. Reduced stockpiles have led to panic buying and hoarding, a sharp rise in prices, food riots, the virtual collapse of portions of the food industry, and dire warnings about food and water shortages. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast prices to remain high for the foreseeable future, and the World Bank has predicted that this rise will push an additional 100 million people into poverty around the world. Theories about the roots of the crisis are many, diverse and contradictory: from increased production of biofuels, to rising populations, climate change, and environmentally harmful and inefficient farming practices. In Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know, Robert Paarlberg, one of the most prominent scholars writing on agricultural issues, maps out and demystifies the phenomena that newspapers and magazines have variously labelled as causes of the food crisis, often in highly alarmist tones. Over the course of the book, Paarlberg addresses, in straightforward terms, questions about global food trade policy, agricultural subsidies, the factors contributing to famine and malnutrition, the green revolution, the effects of climate change on farming, the pros and cons of biofuels, food safety and regulation, pesticide use, organic farming, and genetically modified crops. Focusing on the world's most vulnerable populations and couched within a firm historical understanding of farming practices, nutritional standards, and food movements, what he uncovers will surely be surprising to many readers and stand as a corrective to reactionary takes on the state of global agriculture. Paarlberg concludes with a revealing chapter on common assumptions about the food crisis and the future of food, pointing the way toward socially and environmentally sustainable--and attainable--practices in agriculture and the wider food industry.

DETERMINATION OF THRESHOLD REGIME OF SOIL MOISTURE TENSION FOR SCHEDULING IRRIGATION IN TROPICAL AEROBIC RICE FOR OPTIMUM CROP AND WATER PRODUCTIVITY

SUMMARYAerobic rice is considered a viable agro-technology to cope with the looming crisis of water supply that threatens the sustainability of irrigated rice production systems. Rice adapted to aerobic conditions requires less water than that grown under conventional irrigation management. A field study was conducted at Cuttack, India, during the dry season (January–May) in 2005 and 2006 to determine the critical soil moisture regime at the root-zone depth (30 cm) for sustaining optimum growth and grain yield of aerobic rice variety ‘Apo’ (IR 55423-01). Irrigation at 0, 20 and 40 kPa soil moisture tension resulted in similar grain yields (4.90–5.25 t ha−1 in 2005 and 4.35–4.50 t ha−1 in 2006). The seasonal water requirement in treatments receiving irrigation at 20, 40 and 60 kPa soil moisture tensions was 28.4, 42.8 and 60.7% lower than that at 0 kPa soil moisture tension, but the yield declined significantly at 60 kPa, i.e. by 42.8% in 2005 and 36.7% in 2006. Irrigation at 40 kPa soil moisture tension ensured maximum water productivity of 0.90, 0.47 and 0.53 g grain kg−1 water with respect to evapotranspiration, irrigation plus rainfall and irrigation alone, respectively. Thus, irrigation at 40 kPa soil moisture tension may be considered critical for optimum grain yield and maximum water productivity of aerobic rice in Indian cultivation conditions.

CASCADE, neutron detectors for highest count rates in combination with ASIC/FPGA based readout electronics

The CASCADE detector system described herein is designed for high intensity neutron applications with high demands on the dynamical range, contrast as well as background. The detector front-end is a hybrid, solid converter gas detector using several gas electron multiplier (GEM) foils as charge transparent substrates to carry solid 10B layers. These coated GEMs are then stacked (“cascaded”) one behind the other to cumulate the detection efficiency of every layer without loosing position information. The use of GEM foils allows high count rates up to 10 7 n/cm 2 s. The well-defined neutron absorption locus inside the thin boron layer provides sub-microsecond absolute time resolution, which opens the door towards new TOF applications. Because 96% isotopically enriched boron is available in large quantities in contrast to 3He, 10B-converter based neutron detector technology is one of the very few technological alternatives to 3He in view of the imminent crisis in world-wide supply of 3He. Using GEM foils, the neutron detection bottleneck shifts to data read-out electronics and its bandwidth. The CASCADE detector uses an ASIC electronic front-end paired with an adaptable integrated FPGA data processing unit to provide high rate capacity and realtime event reconstruction.

The EU’s Green Energy Strategy

본 연구는 신재생에너지와 기후변화를 중심으로 한 EU의 그린 에너지 정책을 고찰한다. EU는 현재 신재생에너지와 기후변화 대응 측면에서 가장 선도적인 정책을 도입하고 있으며 이 분야의 글로벌 표준을 설정하고자 노력하고 있다. 이러한 조치들은 EU가 빠른 속도로 성장하고 있는 그린 산업에 있어서 국제적인 리더십을 유지하고자 하는 노력과도 상통한다. EU의 정책기조는 여타 국가 및 국제기구들에도 여러 형태의 시사점을 주고 있다. 특히 EU의 신재생에너지와 기후변화 정책은 기술개발을 통한 에너지 수급 안보의 강화라는 측면에서 충분한 화석연료를 보유하고 있지 못한 여러 국가들에 좋은 참고가 될 수 있다. 그러나 동 정책기조의 역사적 전개 및 주요 이슈들에 있어서는 여러 문제점과 도전요인들도 나타나고 있다. EU 차원의 모멘텀과 회원국들의 정책적 필요성에 대한 공감에 기반하여 신재생에너지와 기후변화 정책은 분명 EU에게 있어서 에너지 안보를 강화하고 정치적 가시성과 국제사회에 있어서의 영향력 확대라는 측면에서 기회를 제공하고 있지만, 개별국가 차원에서 상이한 정책적 대응방식과 공동체의 목표 간의 정책적 일관성을 유지하는 것은 쉽지 않은 일이다. 개별 회원국들에 있어서 불균등한 에너지 사용 구조와 여러 상이한 국내적 상황은 EU의 공동의 목표와 국내 정책의 우선순위 간의 갈등을 내포하고 있다.

A MonteCarlo approach for assessing the adequacy of the European gas transmission system under supply crisis conditions

Europe’s dependency on non-EU countries’ energy supply is sharply increasing. Recently, sudden supply disruption caused by international disputes outside the EU have created serious problems for some EU countries and raised concern in many others. In these situations, it is highly desirable to have a tool to assess possible outcomes of supply disruptions. This paper presents a newly developed model, MC-GENERCIS, aimed to assess the robustness of the EU transnational gas transmission system during both normal and special operating conditions, including high-demand situations and/or a supply shortage. The model has a country-by-country resolution and examines all possible dispatching choices of national TSOs on the basis of a probabilistic MonteCarlo approach. The preliminary validation of the model through its application to the “normal” conditions for the winter 2008–2009 and to the recent supply disruption involving Ukrainian gas transit is also described.

Management of blood supplies during an influenza pandemic

Blood supplies are delicate resources, particularly vulnerable to incidents affecting the health of donors. The critical impact of a pandemic on the availability of red blood cells (RBCs) has been demonstrated in previous research; however, a detailed estimate of the expected deficit is missing. This has become a priority issue in the face of the current influenza pandemic. Data from several major blood donation services were used to analyze management of blood supplies in Germany. Routine management of RBCs was extrapolated to epidemic and pandemic situations using computer simulations with a mathematical model that allows for analysis of deficits in blood supplies. Routine management and distribution of RBCs are driven by supply, which has marked fluctuations but does not appear to have seasonality. There seems to be a remarkable elasticity in the demand for RBCs that helps to mitigate minor crises in supply, but this is likely to be overstretched during a severe pandemic. The supply-driven management of RBCs in Germany implies that assessment of severity of shortages due to a pandemic depends on detailed knowledge about the fraction of transfusions that do not allow for postponement. Pandemic preparedness should include criteria for prioritization of transfusions.

Some Legal Aspects of Energy Security in the Relations between EU and Russia

The need for a sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply has long been recognized within the Community, and has been addressed on numerous occasions, notably in the Green Papers elaborated by the Commission in 2000 and 2006. Recent supply crises and rapidly escalating fuel prices have focused the minds of leaders across the European Union, as well as those of businesses and individual energy consumers. Energy policy transcends a range of different policy areas, including competition, transport, environment and energy itself. Decisions relating to energy policy in Europe are primarily within the remit of individual Member State governments, with the European Commission’s powers limited to two specific areas (creation of the European single market and matters relating to nuclear safety and security under the EURATOM Treaty). The extent of the transfer of powers towards Europe is clearly a critical decision point and in practice a sensitive balance is likely to be required between those matters for which the Commission should have responsibility and those where Member State governments retain sole authority. European officials are putting into evidence their belief that Europe’s energy predicament is acute and mention energy security as a priority issue for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Policy commitments say that energy strategy must move beyond the internal sphere and become systematically a part of EU external relations. The Commission’s 2006 Energy Green Paper promised “a better integration of energy objectives into broader relations with third countries”.

The Accounting Doctoral Shortage: Time for a New Model

ABSTRACT: The crisis in supply versus demand for doctorally qualified faculty members in accounting is well documented (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB] 2003a, 2003b; Plumlee et al. 2005; Leslie 2008). Little progress has been made in addressing this serious challenge facing the accounting academic community and the accounting profession. Faculty time, institutional incentives, the doctoral model itself, and research diversity are noted as major challenges to making progress on this issue. The authors propose six recommendations, including a new, extramurally funded research program aimed at supporting doctoral students that functions similar to research programs supported by such organizations as the National Science Foundation and other science-based funding sources. The goal is to create capacity, improve structures for doctoral programs, and provide incentives to enhance doctoral enrollments. This should lead to an increased supply of graduates while also enhancing and supporting broad-based research outcomes across the accounting landscape, including auditing and tax.