Others

Environment providing on criterion of, order of, procedures for recognition of environmentally friendly - nylon bags

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:04:05 GMT

This Circular providing criterion of, order of, procedures for recognition of environmentally
friendly-nylon bags which are imported, manufactured and used in Vietnam.

Thủ tướng Chính phủ vừa ban hành Nghị định số 69/2012/NĐ-CP về việc sửa đổi, bổ sung Khoản 3 Điều 2 Nghị định số 67/2011/NĐ-CP ngày 8/8/2011 của Chính phủ quy định chi tiết và hướng dẫn thi hành một số điều của Luật Thuế bảo vệ môi trường.

Nghị định nêu rõ đối với túi nylon thuộc diện chịu thuế (túi nhựa) quy định tại Khoản 4 Điều 3 của Luật Thuế bảo vệ môi trường là loại túi, bao bì nhựa mỏng có hình dạng túi (có miệng túi, có đáy túi, có thành túi và có thể đựng sản phẩm trong đó) được làm từ nhựa đơn HDPE, LDPE hoặc LLDPE, trừ bao bì đóng gói sẵn hàng hóa và túi nylon đáp ứng tiêu chí thân thiện với môi trường theo quy định của Bộ Tài nguyên và Môi trường.

Ngoài ra, nghị định cũng nêu rõ, bao bì đóng gói sẵn hàng hóa (kể cả có hình dạng túi và không có hình dạng túi), bao gồm bao bì đóng gói sẵn hàng hóa nhập khẩu; bao bì mà tổ chức, hộ gia đình, cá nhân tự sản xuất hoặc nhập khẩu để đóng gói sản phẩm do tổ chức, hộ gia đình, cá nhân đó sản xuất, gia công ra hoặc mua sản phẩm về đóng gói hoặc làm dịch vụ đóng gói; bao bì mà tổ chức, hộ gia đình, cá nhân mua trực tiếp của người sản xuất hoặc người nhập khẩu để đóng gói sản phẩm do tổ chức, hộ gia đình, cá nhân đó sản xuất, gia công ra hoặc mua sản phẩm về đóng gói hoặc làm dịch vụ đóng gói.

Nghị định có hiệu lực từ ngày 15/11

(TTXVN)

How to use local culture and know-how for innovation and job creation in Hanoi

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:27:56 GMT

Community is a typical characteristic of Vietnamese culture. Local culture and traditions have strong influence on daily life and business activities. However, in current context, as the country has been experiencing global integration and approaching advanced technology, what will happen with those customs? Will they be combined into development process or will they be blown by modern wind?

Local culture and know-how and can be clearly seen in products made by farmers or in craft villages. And Vietnam is known as a home of traditional products. But there are still plenty of young people drifting to other areas for job hunting due to the fact that making special products and working in craft villages are not enough to ensure their lives? What should be done to encourage innovation and generate jobs?

Beside the keynote speech delivered by Ms. Rebecca Reubens – Managing Director of RHIZOME Bamboo Canopy, we also invited national experts and company representatives to share their experience in applying cultural value into business. With the participation of multi-stakeholders, we hope the results from the forum will meet your expectations.

(Thanh tra) - “Trân trọng văn hóa địa phương - Thúc đẩy sáng tạo - Cải thiện kinh doanh” là nội dung được nhấn mạnh tại Diễn đàn “Sử dụng văn hóa địa phương và yếu tố truyền thống nhằm đổi mới sáng tạo và tạo việc làm" được tổ chức ngày 19/11 tại Hà Nội. Văn hóa bản địa có đồng hành được với quá trình phát triển?

Xưa nay, văn hóa Việt luôn mang nặng tính cộng đồng. Văn hóa và truyền thống địa phương có ảnh hưởng sâu đậm tới cuộc sống thường nhật và hoạt động kinh doanh của người Việt. Nhiều cộng đồng đã đem những yếu tố văn hóa thể hiện trong sản phẩm địa phương như: Gốm sứ Bát Tràng, tơ lụa Vạn Phúc, đồng Ngũ Xã, gỗ Sơn Đồng… Tuy nhiên, trong bối cảnh hiện nay, khi Việt Nam đang hội nhập kinh tế và tiếp cận với công nghệ hiện đại, vấn đề đặt ra là liệu văn hóa bản địa có đồng hành được với quá trình phát triển hay sẽ bị chính sự phát triển làm lu mờ.

Bàn về văn hóa doanh nghiệp (DN) và truyền thống địa phương ở các nước phát triển và ở Việt Nam, TS Nguyễn Thị Tòng, nguyên Tổng Thư ký Hiệp hội Da giày Việt Nam nhấn mạnh, bên cạnh các ưu điểm như đa dạng, phong phú, được quan tâm xây dựng, thúc đẩy nâng cao và tôn vinh, quảng bá rộng rãi, văn hóa DN và truyền thống địa phương ở nước ta còn có những hạn chế nhất định. Nền văn hóa được xây dựng trên nền tảng dân trí thấp, phức tạp, chịu ảnh hưởng của nhiều yếu tố khác nhau, tầm nhìn ngắn hạn, chưa có quan điểm đúng đắn về cạnh tranh và hợp tác, hạn chế trong giải pháp đột phá…

Văn hóa địa phương và bí quyết sản xuất truyền thống được thể hiện rõ nét trong những sản phẩm được làm ra bởi những người nông dân hay thợ thủ công trong các làng nghề. Việt Nam vốn nổi tiếng là vùng đất của những sản phẩm địa phương đặc sắc. Vậy mà rất nhiều thanh niên vẫn rời bỏ quê hương đi tìm việc ở nơi khác do việc sản xuất sản phẩm truyền thống và làm việc trong các làng nghề không đủ nuôi dưỡng cuộc sống của họ.

Bên cạnh đó, với đà phát triển hiện nay, văn hóa địa phương cùng với những bí quyết sản xuất truyền thống đang dần bị mai một. Việc sản xuất và kinh doanh sản phẩm chứa đựng văn hóa địa phương gây ra nhiều vấn đề tiêu cực với xã hội như ô nhiễm môi trường, trà trộn hàng hóa…

“Văn hóa DN là tài sản vô hình của mỗi DN. Muốn có được văn hóa với bản sắc riêng thì DN phải tìm tòi, nghiên cứu, học hỏi… và tạo ra nhiều sự khác biệt. Đặc biệt, sản phẩm truyền thống phải có yếu tố hòa đồng với quốc tế”, TS Nguyễn Thị Tòng nhấn mạnh.

Quang cảnh diễn đàn. Ảnh: Dương Ngọc

Sử dụng văn hóa địa phương như thế nào?

Vấn đề đặt ra cho các làng nghề, các DN là cần phải có biện pháp để thúc đẩy sáng tạo và tạo việc làm. Tại Diễn đàn, những quan điểm khác nhau về việc sử dụng văn hóa địa phương trong hoạt động kinh doanh cũng đã được chia sẻ bởi chuyên gia và đại diện doanh nghiệp.

Ông Florian Beranek, Cố vấn Trưởng Dự án Trách nhiệm xã hội DN nhấn mạnh: Bàn về vấn đề này, chúng tôi không thể mang thêm tiền, mang khách hàng đến cho các DN, nhưng có thể giúp mang lại những giá trị cộng thêm, từ đó giúp DN phát triển bền vững trong tương lai.

Cũng theo ông Florian Beranek, một DN nhỏ và vừa, không có bộ phận nghiên cứu phát triển, cần tin và dựa vào nhiều yếu tố bên ngoài, đặc biệt là cộng đồng, dân tộc… Từ đó, tìm những yếu tố kỹ thuật, ý tưởng, tiềm năng cho thị trường nội địa và xuất khẩu, đặc biệt là thị trường nội địa - thị trường cho tương lai.

Với các DN sản xuất hàng xuất khẩu, hiện nay, lợi thế lớn nhất của các DN này (chủ yếu từ chi phí lao động thấp) đang ngày càng trở nên mờ nhạt và tan vỡ dần. Nếu dựa vào cộng đồng sẽ tìm được giải pháp, tìm được những người có kỹ năng… để hỗ trợ phát triển năng lực của họ, từ đó đưa họ tham gia chuỗi sản xuất, không chỉ với các công việc thủ công mà cả các công việc mang tính truyền thống.

“Việt Nam có truyền thống lịch sử đáng tự hào. Nếu dùng thương hiệu của Việt Nam và có những câu chuyện lịch sử phía sau nó, các DN sẽ có bước tiến dài hơn trong tương lai, đưa lại những sản phẩm bền vững. Khi chúng ta có văn hóa, truyền thống đứng sau sản phẩm, chúng ta có thể có 1 thương hiệu rất mạnh” - ông Florian Beranek nhấn mạnh.

Đồng tình với ý kiến này, nhiều đại biểu cũng thống nhất, văn hóa địa phương, yếu tố truyền thống là yếu tố quan trọng để tiếp cận thị trường. Cần sử dụng yếu tố văn hóa địa phương để vươn ra thị trường quốc tế.

Theo bà Rebecca Reubens - Giám đốc RHIZOME, chuyên gia quốc tế về phát triển sản phẩm bền vững, tốc độ phát triển kinh tế của Việt Nam nhanh nhưng chủ yếu dựa vào khai thác tài nguyên tự nhiên. Bền vững phải được xem là vấn đề ưu tiên của Việt Nam trong tương lai.

Ở các quốc gia châu Á, sản phẩm truyền thống sử dụng các nguyên liệu truyền thống địa phương vẫn có vị trí trong thị trường nội địa. Các sản phẩm truyền thống lồng ghép kỹ năng truyền thống cộng đồng, bảo đảm bền vững trong cộng đồng về nguyên liệu, lao động, phục vụ tốt cho thị trường trong nước và quốc tế. “Tuy nhiên, các sản phẩm truyền thống sử dụng nguồn nguyên liệu có từ địa phương cần có những thiết kế đổi mới, đưa ra những sản phẩm mang tính hiện đại, tiện dụng”, bà Rebecca Reubens lưu ý.

Dương Ngọc

Vietnam approves green growth strategy

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:08:38 GMT

(20 December 2012) Viet Nam has outlined its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions with the implementation of the Green Growth strategy, approved by the Prime Minister last week.

The document sets a number of targets for improving the environmental situation in the country between now and 2020, with a vision reaching even further ahead. It is hoped that GHG emissions will decrease by between 8 and 10 per cent in that time, compared to levels recorded in 2010.

The Director of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Van Tai, said although GHG emissions in Viet Nam have increased rapidly over the last few decades, they still remain low compared with other developed countries.

"Technically, Viet Nam has not been subject to any international mandatory obligations to cut down its emission level. However, Viet Nam has formulated its Green Growth strategy on its own initiative to make use of international assistance on this issue," Tai said.

The total GHG emissions per capita in Viet Nam is estimated to be about 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per year, compared to 0.3 tonnes in 1990. It is forecast to reach 5 tonnes by 2030.

As energy-related activities are a major source of GHG emissions, a target has been set decreasing the amount coming from this source by 10 to 20 per cent before 2020.

The strategy outlines a number of key measures to achieve this target. The main plan is for energy use to become more efficient, with the reduction of energy consumption in industrial activities, transport and commerce. This is hoped to be achieved via technology renovation, adoption of advanced operation process and development of a modern infrastructure.

The strategy is also targeting an end to the dependence on fossil fuels, while increasing the use of renewable energies by using market tools. A plan has been implemented to gradually remove subsidies for fossil fuels, which have been widely used up to now.

Another mission is to promote environmentally friendly green production that uses natural resources more efficiently. This is a radical part of the green growth model because rapid economic development over the past decades has resulted in serious environmental degradation.

The economy will be restructured to see investment increase in ‘green' sectors such as high technology, recycling and environmental services. Resource-intense sectors will be required to adopt new ways of production to make better use of natural resources and assume greater control of waste management.

By 2020, the value of products from high-technology and green technology industries will account 42 to 45 per cent of the GDP while 80 per cent of manufacturing and trading establishments must meet environmental standards. Half of the manufacturing sites in the country are expected to adopt clean technologies for production.

Agriculture, known for being the largest GHG emitter in the economy, is going to adopt a more sustainable development model, with farmers being introduced to new procedures and technologies that enable a more efficient use of agricultural supplies, resources and technologies to process and reuse agricultural waste.

Forest plantation and conservation projects will be given a boost so that by 2020 forest coverage will be 45 per cent, allowing an increase in carbon dioxide absorption.

Another important goal is to foster a green lifestyle and sustainable consumption pattern. This will begin with the implementation of labelling informing the public about eco-friendly products. From now until 2020, a number of products including construction material, hospital equipment, transport vehicles and computers will become more green.

In the first ten years of this strategy, awareness-raising activities will be prioritised along with capacity-building for human resources and institutional frameworks. A database will be built alongside management tools and index sets relating to green growth models.

Viet Nam is the first developing country in the Asia-Pacific region to independently formulate its own Green Growth strategy with an aim to switch to a low-carbon economy.

Source: VNEEC

Engineering Cells for More Efficient Biofuel Production

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:14:15 GMT

In the search for renewable alternatives to gasoline, heavy alcohols such as isobutanol are promising candidates. Not only do they contain more energy than ethanol, but they are also more compatible with existing gasoline-based infrastructure. For isobutanol to become practical, however, scientists need a way to reliably produce huge quantities of it from renewable sources.

MIT chemical engineers and biologists have now devised a way to dramatically boost isobutanol production in yeast, which naturally make it in small amounts. They engineered yeast so that isobutanol synthesis takes place entirely within mitochondria, cell structures that generate energy and also host many biosynthetic pathways. Using this approach, they were able to boost isobutanol production by about 260 percent.

Though still short of the scale needed for industrial production, the advance suggests that this is a promising approach to engineering not only isobutanol but other useful chemicals as well, says Gregory Stephanopoulos, an MIT professor of chemical engineering and one of the senior authors of a paper describing the work in the Feb. 17 online edition of Nature Biotechnology.

"It's not specific to isobutanol," Stephanopoulos says. "It's opening up the opportunity to make a lot of biochemicals inside an organelle that may be much better suited for this purpose compared to the cytosol of the yeast cells."

Stephanopoulos collaborated with Gerald Fink, an MIT professor of biology and member of the Whitehead Institute, on this research. The lead author of the paper is Jose Avalos, a postdoc at the Whitehead Institute and MIT.

Historically, researchers have tried to decrease isobutanol production in yeast, because it can ruin the flavor of wine and beer. However, "now there's been a push to try to make it for fuel and other chemical purposes," says Avalos, the paper's lead author.

Yeast typically produce isobutanol in a series of reactions that take place in two different cell locations. The synthesis begins with pyruvate, a plentiful molecule generated by the breakdown of sugars such as glucose. Pyruvate is transported into the mitochondria, where it can enter many different metabolic pathways, including one that results in production of valine, an amino acid. Alpha-ketoisovalerate (alpha-KIV), a precursor in the valine and isobutanol biosynthetic pathways, is made in the mitochondria in the first phase of isobutanol production.

Valine and alpha-KIV can be transported out to the cytoplasm, where they are converted by a set of enzymes into isobutanol. Other researchers have tried to express all the enzymes needed for isobutanol biosynthesis in the cytoplasm. However, it's difficult to get some of those enzymes to function in the cytoplasm as well as they do in the mitochondria.

The MIT researchers took the opposite approach: They moved the second phase, which naturally occurs in the cytoplasm, into the mitochondria. They achieved this by engineering the metabolic pathway's enzymes to express a tag normally found on a mitochondrial protein, directing the cell to send them into the mitochondria.

This enzyme relocation boosted the production of isobutanol by 260 percent, and yields of two related alcohols, isopentanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol, went up even more -- 370 and 500 percent, respectively.

There are likely several explanations for the dramatic increase, the researchers say. One strong possibility, though difficult to prove experimentally, is that clustering the enzymes together makes it more likely that the reactions will occur, Avalos says.

Another possible explanation is that moving the second half of the pathway into the mitochondria makes it easier for the enzymes to snatch up the limited supply of precursors before they can enter another metabolic pathway.

"Enzymes from the second phase, which are naturally out here in the cytoplasm, have to wait to see what comes out of the mitochondria and try to transform that. But when you bring them into the mitochondria, they're better at competing with the pathways in there," Avalos says.

The findings could have many applications in metabolic engineering. There are many situations where it could be advantageous to confine all of the steps of a reaction in a small space, which may not only boost efficiency but also prevent harmful intermediates from drifting away and damaging the cell.

The researchers are now trying to further boost isobutanol yields and reduce production of ethanol, which is still the major product of sugar breakdown in yeast.

"Knocking out the ethanol pathway is an important step in making this yeast suitable for production of isobutanol," Stephanopoulos says. "Then we need to introduce isobutanol synthesis, replacing one with the other, to maintain everything balanced within the cell."

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Shell Global Solutions

Using Free DEM for Coverage Prediction in Atoll

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:54:37 GMT

Some of us might be familiar with Forsk Atoll, one of the popular RF Simulation software. Creating the sitelist is easy. Creating the cell list easy. Importing the antenna data also easy. But what about the digital map?

Yes, digital map can be hard to obtain. In some case, it cost us at very high price. What if we just need some simple elevation map? Or we just a bunch of students need to do some simulation? Well, in this post I would like to share how to get the elevation map/DEM by the help of USGS Earth Explorer.

We need some tools, such as:

USGS Earth Explorer : http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov

```
Global Mapper
```
```
Forsk Atoll itself  
```

Let’s say we have a new BTS located in Oksibil. Oksibil is a district in Papua, Indonesia. Located close to the border of Papua New Guinea.

The coordinates is Long=140.627113 Lat=-4.907210. Antenna used is GSM 11 dBi at height 36 meter above the ground.

Okay let start the session!

GETTING ASTER GLOBAL DEM DATA

Go to http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov using your browser. Register first before you continue the steps.

To make it easier when selecting the area, first you need to put where is the BTS location. Click anywhere on the map screen. You will find one placemark indicated with “1″.

Then on the left screen choose Decimal and Edit to change the coordinates as the BTS coordinate.

Change the coordinate and click Save. The placemark will move to the BTS coordinate.

After that, click 2 or 3 times at the zoom control [+] to zoom the area closer. Create a rectangle by clicking the map 4 times. So that you have something like this:

Look at the left pane, and delete the first item in the Coordinates. So you’re going to have 4 points as a Rectangle.

Look at the left corner of the screen, you will see Datasets. Click it.

Choose Digital Elevation -> ASTER GLOBAL DEM. Just choose OK if a pop up shown.

After checked at ASTER GLOBAL DEM, click on Results.

Earth Explorer will process the request. After the process finished, you will see the result. Click on the image icon to check which item should be downloaded.

For example in this result, we use the second result that match with the selection.

Then,just click the Download button.

Check the Agree box and DOWNLOAD.

One ASTER rectangle is around 18MB, it has 30 m resolution.

USING GLOBAL MAPPER

Open your Global Mapper software and locate the exctracted data.

Choose the xxx_dem. Global Mapper will load the map.

Go to menu Tools -> Configure…

Make sure you choose:

Projection = UTM
Zone = will be automatically assigned by Global Mapper,remember this setting (in this example = WGS84 54 S)
Datum = WGS 84
Planar unit = meters

Now we need to export this map so we can use it in Atoll.

Go to File -> Export Raster and Elevation Data -> Export Vertical Mapper Grid file.

Click on Click Here to Calculate Spacing in Other Units…

Fill 30 in Long/Lat spacing then OK.

Then OK again. Locate where you want to save the GRD file. Globalmapper will process your file.

Finish.

OPEN THE DTM IN ATOLL

Open your Forsk Atoll software. Create a new file : File ->New -> From a Document Template…

Choose Tools -> Options…

Projection = same projection assigned by Globalmapper (in this example WGS84 / UTM Zone 54S

Display = WGS 84 (Long/Lat)

Degree Format = -xx.xxxxx

Go to File -> Import…

Locate the exported data(*.GRD).Then click Open.

The map will be opened in Atoll. Now you can do the job as usual. This is the result example:

Give it a try, just let me know if you face any problem at email.

New material harvests energy from water vapor

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:31:04 GMT

MIT engineers have created a new polymer film that can generate electricity by drawing on a ubiquitous source: water vapor.

The new material changes its shape after absorbing tiny amounts of evaporated water, allowing it to repeatedly curl up and down. Harnessing this continuous motion could drive robotic limbs or generate enough electricity to power micro- and nanoelectronic devices, such as environmental sensors.

“With a sensor powered by a battery, you have to replace it periodically. If you have this device, you can harvest energy from the environment so you don't have to replace it very often,” says Mingming Ma, a postdoc at MIT’s David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and lead author of a paper describing the new material in the Jan. 11 issue of Science.

“We are very excited about this new material, and we expect as we achieve higher efficiency in converting mechanical energy into electricity, this material will find even broader applications,” says Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and senior author of the paper. Those potential applications include large-scale, water-vapor-powered generators, or smaller generators to power wearable electronics.

Other authors of the Science paper are Koch Institute postdoc Liang Guo and Daniel Anderson, the Samuel A. Goldblith Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and a member of the Koch Institute and MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science.

Harvesting energy

The new film is made from an interlocking network of two different polymers. One of the polymers, polypyrrole, forms a hard but flexible matrix that provides structural support. The other polymer, polyol-borate, is a soft gel that swells when it absorbs water.

Previous efforts to make water-responsive films have used only polypyrrole, which shows a much weaker response on its own. “By incorporating the two different kinds of polymers, you can generate a much bigger displacement, as well as a stronger force,” Guo says.

The film harvests energy found in the water gradient between dry and water-rich environments. When the 20-micrometer-thick film lies on a surface that contains even a small amount of moisture, the bottom layer absorbs evaporated water, forcing the film to curl away from the surface. Once the bottom of the film is exposed to air, it quickly releases the moisture, somersaults forward, and starts to curl up again. As this cycle is repeated, the continuous motion converts the chemical energy of the water gradient into mechanical energy.

Such films could act as either actuators (a type of motor) or generators. As an actuator, the material can be surprisingly powerful: The researchers demonstrated that a 25-milligram film can lift a load of glass slides 380 times its own weight, or transport a load of silver wires 10 times its own weight, by working as a potent water-powered “mini tractor.” Using only water as an energy source, this film could replace the electricity-powered actuators now used to control small robotic limbs.

“It doesn't need a lot of water,” Ma says. “A very small amount of moisture would be enough.”

A key advantage of the new film is that it doesn’t require manipulation of environmental conditions, as do actuators that respond to changes in temperature or acidity, says Ryan Hayward, an associate professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

“What’s really impressive about this work is that they were able to figure out a scheme where a gradient in humidity would cause the polymer to cyclically roll up, flip over and roll in the other direction, and were able to harness that energy to do work,” says Hayward, who was not part of the research team.

Generating electricity

The mechanical energy generated by the material can also be converted into electricity by coupling the polymer film with a piezoelectric material, which converts mechanical stress to an electric charge. This system can generate an average power of 5.6 nanowatts, which can be stored in capacitors to power ultra-low-power microelectronic devices, such as temperature and humidity sensors.

If used to generate electricity on a larger scale, the film could harvest energy from the environment — for example, while placed above a lake or river. Or, it could be attached to clothing, where the mere evaporation of sweat could fuel devices such as physiological monitoring sensors. “You could be running or exercising and generating power,” Guo says.

On a smaller scale, the film could power microelectricalmechanical systems (MEMS), including environmental sensors, or even smaller devices, such as nanoelectronics. The researchers are now working to improve the efficiency of the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy, which could allow smaller films to power larger devices.

The research was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology, the National Cancer Institute, and the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine.