Organizing for sustainable procurement: theories, institutions and practice

That construction procurement needs to be re-organized to make it more sustainable implies that there is a problem with the current situation. Starting from this assumption, an overview of construction procurement sets the scene for a discussion of some recent developments relating to organizational frameworks for sustainable construction procurement. Emergent theories dealing with sustainable procurement are considered. There is a plethora of standards and guidance documents for organizing sustainable procurement, originating from a variety of organizations involved. These considerations form the context for approaches being used in practice to achieve sustainable procurement. The Chapter concludes with reflections on why current approaches are insufficient. It seems difficult to persuade clients to spend less money over the life cycle of their buildings. Future directions needed to translate sustainable procurement from rhetoric to reality include the development of suitable incentives and appropriate organizational structures.

O programa de capacita����o Cana Limpa: uma avalia����o sob a ��tica dos cortadores de cana

Coordena����o de Aperfei��oamento de Pessoal de N��vel Superior (CAPES)

Sustainable Planning And Land Valuation, New Forms Of Suburban Growth In Areas Of The Spanish Mediterranean Coast

The present study analyzes residential models in coastal areas with large influxes of tourism, the sustainability of their planning and its repercussion on urban values. The project seeks to establish a methodology for territorial valuation through the analysis of externalities that have influenced urban growth and its impact on the formation of residential real estate values. This will make it possible to create a map for qualitative land valuation, resulting from a combination of environmental, landscape, social and productive valuations. This in turn will establish a reference value for each of the areas in question, as well as their spatial interrelations. These values become guidelines for the study of different territorial scenarios, which help improve the sustainable territorial planning process. This is a rating scale for urban planning. The results allow us to establish how the specific characteristics of the coast are valued and how they can be incorporated into sustainable development policies.

Food assistance : readmitting private nonprofit sponsors into the Summer Food Service Program : report to Congressional requestors /

Cover title.

The relationship between a retention program and the persistence and graduation rates of first-generation low-income students at an urban, public university

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in a retention program designed to promote academic and social integration and the persistence rates of first generation, low-income college students at an urban, public multiethnic university. Archival data were collected from the university���s Office of Institutional Research and the retention program office and included SAT/ACT scores, GPA, gender, ethnicity, and program participation data. A total of 292 first-generation, low-income students who were admitted to the university in the summer of 1999 were identified for the study. A group of 166 students were selected for the comparison group because they had not participated in the retention program; 126 students had participated in the retention program. ^ Three major research questions guided this study: (a) Are there differences in persistence rates and other academic characteristics of underprepared, low-income, first generation college students who participate and do not participate in the retention program?; (b) Does involvement in the retention program predict student persistence of first generation low-income, underprepared students?, and (c) Can predictors of GPA be identified for students in the retention program using program and descriptive variables? ^ A series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between various retention services and the persistence and graduation rates of participants. The results showed that there were statistically significant relationships between participation and non-participation in the retention program and having higher GPAs and higher graduation and persistence rates. Of the four program features, participation in tutoring, workshops, and social events were found to be predictors of graduation. College GPA was also found to be a predictor of graduation for all students. The results also showed that women were more likely to graduate than men.^

Programa ciclovida como pol��tica de mobilidade urbana sustent��vel: estudo emp��rico na Universidade Federal do Paran��

The urban mobility has in the bicycle its symbol of the most environmentally sustainable modal of transportation of the planet, title conferred by the United Nations Organization (ONU). Nevertheless, the cities suffer with the traffic jam caused by the automobile fleet growth, what implies in a larger displacement time, injuries to the environment, to financials and to the quality of life. In order to build in a sustainable way the urban mobility, public policies are necessary to encourage the preferential usage, by the society, of the mass transit or the non-motorized type of transportation. Objecting cooperate with the public power and the civil society, this study intents to, through an analysis about the UFPR Extension Program - CICLOVIDA, propose a sustainable urban mobility public policy development, with emphasis in the bicycle��s usage. eferentially, it is discussed concepts such as Society, State and Government as well as public policies, which go in cycles to the State��s and Government��s responsibilities; and are presented the Sustainable Urban Mobility Public Policies (PPMUS) in Brazil. Also, it is debated about the transport by bicycle as an option to the sustainable mobility. Methodologically, the study is of an empiric-social nature, with the application of both qualitative and observational methods, what characterizes as an exploratory level of research, with the researcher��s involvement in the participant form, due to her acting on the Program. Regarding the research lineation, it was used the bibliographic and documental form as well as case study, by means of the nonparametric sampling by accessibility or convenience. Related to the data collection technique, it was used structured interviews with self-applied questionnaires and natural participant observation. Aligned with the research��s objective and matter, the outcome confirmed that the Extension Program CICLOVIDA of the Federal University of Paran�� (UFPR) may effectively contribute in the development of a PPMUS proposal with emphasis in the bicycle usage. Thus, it was built a political proposal with a free form writing, objecting subsidize policies both institutional as public MUS through the bicycle usage and therefore, support the mobility, also contributing to the sustainability and to the public development planning.

Effects of an in-service training program using the routines-based interview

The focus of this study is an in-service training program rooted in routines-based early intervention and designed to improve the quality of goals and objectives on individualized plans. Participants were local intervention team members and other professionals who worked closely with each team. This training program involved a small number of trainees per group, providing multiple learning experiences across time and various opportunities for self-assessment and monitoring. We investigated (a) the perceptions of the participants about the strengths and weaknesses of the training program, (b) medium-term outcomes of the training with a comparison group, (c) and variables associated with the quality of goals and objectives. This study involved training more than 200 professionals, and results support the effectiveness of the program in improving the quality of goals and objectives, showing the importance of the routines-based interview in producing that improvement.

Conceptual model for decomposing the value for the customer

Value has been defined in different theoretical contexts as need, desire, interest, standard /criteria, beliefs, attitudes, and preferences. The creation of value is key to any business, and any business activity is about exchanging some tangible and/or intangible good or service and having its value accepted and rewarded by customers or clients, either inside the enterprise or collaborative network or outside. ���Perhaps surprising then is that firms often do not know how to define value, or how to measure it��� (Anderson and Narus, 1998 cited by [1]). Woodruff echoed that we need ���richer customer value theory��� for providing an ���important tool for locking onto the critical things that managers need to know���. In addition, he emphasized, ���we need customer value theory that delves deeply into customer���s world of product use in their situations��� [2]. In this sense, we proposed and validated a novel ���Conceptual Model for Decomposing the Value for the Customer���. To this end, we were aware that time has a direct impact on customer perceived value, and the suppliers��� and customers��� perceptions change from the pre-purchase to the post-purchase phases, causing some uncertainty and doubts.We wanted to break down value into all its components, as well as every built and used assets (both endogenous and/or exogenous perspectives). This component analysis was then transposed into a mathematical formulation using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), so that the uncertainty and vagueness of value perceptions could be embedded in this model that relates used and built assets in the tangible and intangible deliverable exchange among the involved parties, with their actual value perceptions.

An��lise da disponibilidade de investimento em projetos de reabilita����o portugueses

The importance of implementing sustainable practices in buildings is duly proved and understood by the majority of the population. However, its implementation is not yet a reality. Some studies have been performed with the goal of understand this lack of use of sustainable solutions, among building sector stakeholders. The conclusion is that one of the main factors contributing to this is related with economic constraints. Several studies have proven that many sustainable practices correspond to minor costs than traditional practices in a life cycle perspective. However, the building sector stakeholders are not aware of this and do not implement sustainable practices commonly. In this paper a cost�� benefit methodology willing to cross this barrier and promote the sustainable practices implementation is presented.

Cost optimal strategies for the renovation of residential neighbourhoods towards energy and emissions neutrality ��� Rainha Dona Leonor case study

Buildings are one of the major consumers of energy in Europe. This makes them an important target when aiming to reduce the energy consumptions and carbon emissions. The majority of the European building stock has already some decades and so it needs renovation in order to keep its functionality. Taking advantage of these interventions, the energy performance of the buildings may also be improved. In Portugal the renovation techniques, both regarding energy efficiency measures as well as measures for the use of renewable energy sources, are normally planned at the building scale. It is important to explore the possibility of having large scale interventions, has it has been done in other countries, namely at neighbourhood scale with district energy system in order to optimize the results in terms of costs and environmental impact.

Promoting sustainability as a strategy to mitigate the effects of economic downturn on the construction industry

During the recent years followed by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), most of business and industries around the globe have been hardly hit to the limit that it still struggling to survive, suffering from the crisis financial consequences. For instance, in the construction industry; many construction projects have been suspended or totally cancelled. Nevertheless, among this dilemma, a call has been raised to use the sustainable practices to mitigate the effects of the GFC on construction industry. For the first look, it seems that there is contradiction since the sustainable solutions are often associated with an increase in the initial cost, undoubtedly, the sustainable practices have many advantages in both economic and environment aspects, however, the question which needs to be addressed here is, to what extent using such sustainable practices can mitigate the negative effects of the economic downturn on construction industry. Therefore, it is a challenging argument for using such sustainable construction from its economic perspective, however, this paper is aiming to present the economical benefits of sustainable practices in construction industry, and trying to clear the doubt of the high initial costs of the sustainable construction through studying the life cycle benefit of green building.

Active magneto-optical control of spontaneous emission in graphene

We investigate the spontaneous emission rate of a two-level quantum emitter near a graphene-coated substrate under the influence of an external magnetic field or strain induced pseudo-magnetic field. We demonstrate that the application of the magnetic field can substantially increase or decrease the decay rate. We show that a suppression as large as 99$\%$ in the Purcell factor is achieved even for moderate magnetic fields. The emitter's lifetime is a discontinuous function of $|{\bf B}|$, which is a direct consequence of the occurrence of discrete Landau levels in graphene. We demonstrate that, in the near-field regime, the magnetic field enables an unprecedented control of the decay pathways into which the photon/polariton can be emitted. Our findings strongly suggest that a magnetic field could act as an efficient agent for on-demand, active control of light-matter interactions in graphene at the quantum level.

Assessment of the effects of the expansion of the city of Estarreja on the rational land use

The management of urban environment, together with the preservation of the natural environment and the creation of a sustainable built environment, is a complex challenge for contemporary societies. In the name of progress, cities are contributing for the degradation of all surrounding ecosystems. Therefore there is an arising demand for developing new strategies and a new urban development paradigm settled in the search for the equilibrium between natural and built environments and efficient use of resources. The objective of this paper is to analyse how the urban expansion of the city of Estarreja took place in relation to the land use, based on the land capability classification maps of the area. Based in the results some sustainable development strategies that might be applied to the city are discussed. The obtained results demonstrate that the city has been growing faster then its population, consuming vast portions of land, since its growth as been occurring in a linear form. Despite this fact, results show that most of this expansion took place towards a territory of lower agricultural potential, when comparing to the location of its original settlement.

Sustainability assessment of envelope wall solutions using MAXergy methodology

Projeto de investiga����o integrado de International Master in Sustainable Built Environment

Kest��v��n kehityksen toimintasuunnitelman laatiminen Lappeenrannan teknilliselle yliopistolle

Ty��n tavoitteena oli tuottaa kest��v��n kehityksen toimintasuunnitelman rakentamiseen ja seuraamiseen viitekehys, josta Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston yksik��t saavat tarvittavan tiedon kest��v��n kehityksen indikaattorien valitsemiseen ja yksikk��kohtaisten hallintaohjelmien rakentamiseen. Ty��ss�� on selvitetty mitk�� ovat yliopiston yksik��iden kest��v��n kehityksen n��k��kohdat ja niiden seuraamisessa tarvittavat yksikk��kohtaiset indikaattorit sek�� miten indikaattoreita ja opetusministeri��iden hyv��ksym���� Baltic 21E ���ohjelmaa voitaisiin k��yt��nn��ss�� hy��dynt����. Kest��v��n kehityksen toimintasuunnitelma perustuu Global Reporting Initiativen (GRI:n) vuonna 2002 julkaisemaan yhteiskuntavastuun raportointiohjeeseen. Toimintasuunnitelma perustuu osittain my��s ymp��rist��j��rjestelm��standardi ISO 14001:een ja ty��ss�� on huomioitu opetusministeri��n ohjeen mukaisesti Baltic 21E ���raportti ja erityisesti opetusministeri��n asettaman ty��ryhm��n ehdotus Baltic 21E ���ohjelman k��ynnistyssuunnitelmaksi. Ty��ss�� teoriaosuuden ja raportointiperusteiden j��lkeen on kuvattu GRI:n ohjeiden mukaisesti yliopiston organisaatio, visio, strategia ja hallintaj��rjestelm��t. P����asiassa haastatteluin tehdyll�� kest��v��n kehityksen katselmuksella on selvitetty Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston yksik��iden kest��v��n kehityksen n��k��kohdat. N��k��kohdat on jaoteltu ymp��rist��hallintaj��rjestelm��n mukaisesti toimintoihin, tuotteisiin ja palveluihin. N��k��kohdissa on huomioitu Baltic 21E ���raportti ja sen tavoite- ja toimenpide-ehdotukset. Kest��v��n kehityksen n��k��kohtien ja vaikutusten seuraamiseksi on jokaiselle yksik��lle tunnistettu indikaattorit, jotka on muotoiltu GRI:n Sustainability Reporting Guideliness ���julkaisun indikaattorien pohjalta. Ty��ss�� on selvitetty indikaattorien k��ytt��tarkoitusta ja esimerkein havainnollistettu indikaattorien ja Baltic 21E ���ohjelman k��ytt����nottomahdollisuuksia ISO 14001 ���j��rjestelm��n mukaisesti. Haastattelujen ja Baltic 21E ���toimintaohjelman perusteella yliopiston kest��v��n kehityksen n��k��kohdat liittyv��t opetukseen, tutkimukseen, t��ydennyskoulutukseen ja julkaisutoimintaan sek�� yliopistoyhteis��n omaan kest��v��n kehityksen tietoisuuteen ja toimintaperiaatteiden noudattamiseen. Yliopistotoiminnassa kest��v�� kehitys on my��s mukana alueellisessa vuorovaikutuksessa sidosryhm��suhteiden ja uuden tiedon tuottamisen kautta. Yliopiston yksik��iden kest��v���� kehityst�� mittaavia indikaattoreita tunnistettiin suuri joukko. Eniten tunnistettiin yhteiskunnalliseen vaikutusluokkaan kuuluvia indikaattoreita. Jaoteltaessa indikaattorit k��ytt��tarkoituksittain tarkasteltavien indikaattorien m����r�� hieman v��henee. T��m��n ty��n j��lkeen tulisi GRI:n ohjeiden mukaisesti k��yd�� sidosryhmien v��list�� vuoropuhelua yksikk��kohtaisten merkitt��vimpien indikaattorien tunnistamiseksi ja kest��v��n kehityksen p����m����rien ja tavoitteiden asettamiseksi. T��m��n ty��n indikaattorien p����-asialliset k��ytt��kohteet olisivat yksik��iden sis��isess�� kehitt��misess�� ja viestinn��ss��, v��hemm��ss�� m����rin tuloskeskusteluissa.