Information on the origin of pollution constitutes an essential step of air quality management as it helps identifying measures to control air pollution. In this work, we review the most widely used ...source-apportionment methods for air quality management. Using theoretical and real-case datasets we study the differences among these methods and explain why they result in very different conclusions to support air quality planning. These differences are a consequence of the intrinsic assumptions that underpin the different methodologies and determine/limit their range of applicability. We show that ignoring their underlying assumptions is a risk for efficient/successful air quality management as these methods are sometimes used beyond their scope and range of applicability. The simplest approach based on increments (incremental approach) is often not suitable to support air quality planning. Contributions obtained through mass-transfer methods (receptor models or tagging approaches built in air quality models) are appropriate to support planning but only for specific pollutants. Impacts obtained via “brute-force” methods are the best suited but it is important to assess carefully their application range to make sure they reproduce correctly the prevailing chemical regimes.
•Different source-apportionment approaches may lead to different conclusions to support air quality planning.•The incremental approach is generally not suited to support air quality planning.•Receptor models or tagging approaches are appropriate to support planning but only for specific pollutants.•“Brute-force” methods are the best suited but their application range must be assessed.
•For moderate reductions, emission and PM concentration changes are linearly linked.•Reducing SO2 emissions where abundant is always efficient.•Reducing NH3 emissions is more efficient where it is ...less abundant.•Reducing NOx emissions where NOx are abundant can be counter-productive.•Both NOx and NH3 regimes occur in some regions, calling for combined reductions
Given the remaining air quality issues in many European regions, smart air quality strategies are necessary to reduce the burden of poor air quality. While designing effective strategies for non-reactive primary pollutants is straightforward, this is not the case for secondary pollutants for which the relationship between emission changes and the resulting concentration changes can be nonlinear. Under such conditions, strategies targeting the largest emitting sources might not be the most effective. In this work, we provide elements to better understand the role of the main emission precursors (SO2, NOx, NH3) on the formation of secondary inorganic aerosols. By quantifying the PM2.5 sensitivity to emission reductions for each of these three precursors, we define and quantify the intensity of PM2.5 formation chemical regimes across Europe. We find that for emission reductions limited to 25%, the relation between emission and PM concentration changes remain mostly linear, with the exception of the Po Valley where non-linearities reach more than 30% in winter. When emission reductions increase to 50%, non-linearity reaches more than 60% in the Po Valley but stay below 30% in the rest of Europe. In terms of implications on abatement strategies, our findings can be summarized in the following key messages: (1) reducing SO2 emissions where abundant is always efficient (e.g. eastern Europe and Balkans); (2) reducing NH3 emissions is more efficient where it is less abundant (e.g. the Po basin) than where it is abundant, given the limiting role of NH3 in the PM formation; (3) reducing NOx emissions where NOx are abundant can be counter-productive with potential increases of PM due to the increased oxidant capacity of the atmosphere (e.g. Po valley); (4) because regions with both NH3 and NOx sensitive chemical regimes are mixed within countries, both need to be reduced together, as pollution reduction policies need at least to be defined at a country level; (6) while for NH3 the focus is clearly on wintertime, it is the whole year for NOx. The simulations proposed in this work could be used as benchmark for other models as they constitute the type of scenarios required to support air quality strategies. In addition, the straight and systematic emission reductions imposed for the scenarios in this work are well suited for a better understanding of the behavior of the model, in terms of responses to emission reductions.
•The outcome of the APPRAISAL project are summarized with respect to the review of current integrated assessment modeling practices.•The APPRAISAL project database populated with 59 contributions out ...of 13 countries is used as basis for the review.•Differences between state of the art and current practices remain important in all fields, calling for an increased harmonization of modelling practices in the EU.
The 2008 European Air Quality Directive (AQD) (2008/50/EC) encourages the use of models in combination with monitoring in a range of applications. It also requires Member States to design appropriate air quality plans for zones where the air quality does not comply with the AQD limit values. In order to cope with these various elements, a wide range of different modeling methods have been developed and applied by EU Member States in the last decade to assess the effects of local and regional emission abatement policy options on air quality and human health. However, an overall review of the methodologies that are used in different countries to compile local and regional air quality plans has not been performed so far. Such a review has been the objective of the APPRAISAL EU FP7 project with the main goal to identify methodologies and their limitations and to propose possible key areas to be addressed by research and innovation on the basis of this review. To fulfill these objectives, a structured online database of methodologies has been developed in collaboration with experts involved in the design of air quality plans (AQP). The current work relies on the APPRAISAL database which currently totals 59 contributions from 13 Member States. In this paper we summarize the outcome of the APPRAISAL project with respect to the review of current Integrated Assessment Modeling practices.
Integration of robotics into construction companies could alter the field of innovation and productivity. This research examines the connection between Eskom's organisational culture, quality ...management practices, and robotics technology. This research aims to determine how much robotics technology mediates the connection between organisational culture and quality planning, quality control, and quality assurance practices. The rationale stems from the growing significance of robotics within the construction sector and the need to understand how it interacts with operational and cultural elements. Quantitative research was performed, and data was collected from the Eskom employees. ANOVA was employed to investigate the relationships among considered variables. Furthermore, the one-way ANOVA chart shows a positive relationship with organisational culture, quality planning, and quality assurance (p < 0.05) and a negative relationship with quality control (p > 0.05). This depicts that robotics mediates the relationship of organisational culture with quality assurance and quality planning but not with quality control. The use of a cross-sectional design and the unique arrangement of the sample both constitute limitations. Considering the potential future implications, it is essential to conduct longitudinal studies along with comprehensive cross-industry analyses.
This paper aims to present a concept of “Design Review” process, developed and implemented based on research conducted in a manufacturing company in the automotive industry, as one of the quality ...planning instruments. The analyses define in a structured way who and in what phase of the project is reviewing the project documentation and for which documents compliance with the client’s requirements should be checked. The process output is a structured description of the identified nonconformities used to develop and implement corrective actions as a part of the continuous improvement process.
In this paper, we develop a framework and metrics for estimating the impact of emission sources on regulatory compliance and human health for applications in air quality planning and life cycle ...impact assessment (LCIA). Our framework is based on a pollutant's characterization factor (CF) and three new metrics: Available Regulatory Capacity for Incremental Emissions (ARCIE), Source CF Ratio, and Activity Health Impact (AHI) Ratio. ARCIE can be used to assess whether a receptor location has capacity to accommodate additional source emissions while complying with regulatory limits. We present CF as a midpoint indicator of health impacts per unit mass of emitted pollutant. Source CF Ratio enables comparison of potential new-source locations based on human health impacts. The AHI Ratio estimates the health impacts of a pollutant in relation to the utilization of the source for each unit of product or service. These metrics can be applied to any pollutant, energy source sector (e.g., agriculture, electricity), source type (point, line, area), and spatial modeling domain (nation, state, city, region). We demonstrate these metrics through a case study of fine particulate (PM2.5) emissions from U.S. corn stover harvesting and local processing at various scales, representing steps in the biofuel production process. We model PM2.5 formation in the atmosphere using a novel reduced-complexity chemical transport model called the Intervention Model for Air Pollution (InMAP). Through this case study, we present the first area-source PM2.5 CFs that address the recommendations of several LCIA studies to establish spatially explicit CFs specific to an energy source sector or type. Overall, the framework developed in this work provides multiple new ways to consider the potential impacts of air emissions through spatially differentiated metrics.
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•Framework and metrics for air quality planning process and LCIA•Metrics demonstrated to a life cycle stage of biofuel production•Application of a high-resolution, spatially-explicit air quality model – InMAP•First area-source PM2.5 characterization factors
A country is called developed when the capacity and progress of science and technology have created products that always meet the requirements and increasing needs of people, ensuring stability and ...development of the nation in particular and the movement of the world in general. In Vietnam, the quality of goods is still modest. This exists not only from a macro perspective but also from a micro perspective and the transition from macro to micro because of a lack of orientation, or can be called the lack of "Product quality planning" in terms of space. This paper will discuss the concepts of quality, expand the concept of quality with the aim of achieving good quality, meeting increasing requirements, need to perform the "quality planning" work under the space degree. The paper uses a mathematical tool based on the Cartesian coordinate system to determine the optimal value of product quality in order to demonstrate quantitatively according to the spatial frameworks when the quality is desired to achieve the required perfection through the magnitude of the "quality demand." In a similar way, in order to get the construction project achieve the maximum quality, there must be adjustment solutions in 3 aspects. However, at present, in Vietnam in particular and the world in general, there have not been many in-depth studies on the formation of quality and the factors affecting the quality, especially the industrial construction projects. Through the success or failure of investment projects in the form of public private partnerships (PPP) of countries around the world, including developed countries, the author thinks that in order for the project to be successful, it is necessary to apply construction product quality planning.
Chemistry-transport models are increasingly used in Europe for estimating air quality or forecasting changes in pollution levels. But with this increased use of modeling arises the need of ...harmonizing the methodologies to determine the quality of air quality model applications. This is complex for planning applications, i.e. when models are used to assess the impact of realistic or virtual emission scenarios. In this work, the methodology based on the calculation of potencies proposed by Thunis and Clappier (2014) to analyze the model responses to emission reductions is applied on three different domains in Europe (Po valley, Southern Poland and Flanders). This methodology is further elaborated to facilitate the inter-comparison process and bring in a single diagram the possibility of differentiating long-term from short-term effects. This methodology is designed for model users to interpret their model results but also for policy-makers to help them defining intervention priorities. The methodology is applied to both daily PM10 and 8 h daily maximum ozone.
•Air quality model responses to emission reduction scenarios are presented.•Maximum potential for local emission abatement is identified.•Relative importance of the various precursor emissions is assessed.•Degree of non-linearity of the model responses is estimated.•Three case studies in Europe are considered.
PurposeConsumer expectations of quality have grown in recent years, forcing organisations, both service and manufacturing, to adopt total quality management (TQM) principles to satisfy customer ...demands efficiently. However, previous studies on the performance impacts of total quality management practices have mainly focused on the financial performance of firms in the manufacturing sector. This study focusses on the research questions: (1) What is the effect of TQM practices on operational performance? and (2) How do TQM practices combine to influence the operational performance of healthcare facilities?Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 154 health facilities (i.e. private hospitals, pharmacies, maternity clinics, and diagnostic centres), the authors applied symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) data analysis approaches to examine how TQM practices influence the operational performance of health facilities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.FindingsThe PLS-SEM results revealed that five out of the seven TQM practices investigated influenced operational performance. However, the fsQCA results identify five different complex combinations of TQM practices that lead to operational performance.Research limitations/implicationsLongitudinal studies can be conducted in the future to assess changes in the variables over time. A control variable, such as firm size, should be considered to assess the level of implementation of TQM practices based on firm size. A different performance measure, for instance, sustainability indicators or the balance score card, could be used to examine performance.Practical implicationsA proper and coordinated integration of the TQM practices is required for firms to be able to achieve operational performance. TQM practices vary in their sufficiency for operational outcomes; therefore, management needs to carefully consider their implementation as part of the organisation's strategy.Originality/valueThis research, by focussing on TQM practices from both symmetrical and asymmetrical perspectives, contributes to the understanding of the literature on TQM, thereby providing actionable insight on how to invest in the various TQM practices for improved operational performance.
•Air Quality Decision making can be supported by a clear overall framework and by computer tools that integrate the most relevant aspects of the problem.•The proposed decision framework represents a ...general methodology to design Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) systems aimed at the implementation of effective Air Quality Plans (AQP).•It integrates the most recent scientific developments in impact evaluation and social acceptance.•An extensive survey across European countries shows that the degree of adoption of these approaches needs to be fostered.
Decision making in the field of air quality and greenhouses gases reductions can nowadays be supported by a clear overall framework and by computer tools that integrate the most relevant aspects of the problem. This approach is particularly important at local scale since new general rules on emission abatement at European level can only marginally modify the most critical hotspots and may be very costly. This paper adapts the general Drivers, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses (DPSIR) scheme proposed by the European Environment Agency to the specific case of local air quality policies and shows how the most recent scientific developments in impact evaluation and social acceptance can be integrated. The proposed decision framework represents a general methodology to design Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) systems aimed at the implementation of effective Air Quality Plans (AQP). An extensive survey across European countries shows the current degree of adoption of these approaches.
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