习惯及价值导向的购买行为

个人行为必须对环境有利,这是现代社会日益增长的需求.在这场变革中,旨在改变人们态度的信息宣传是它的必备前提.信息宣传虽然可能是必不可少的,但是它本身并不足以完成促进变革的任务.我们认为,首先,许多影响环境的日常行为,都是习惯成自然的行为.可是,几乎没有人关注这个特点,并通过信息导向来改变这些习惯行为.另外一些情况下,行为更主要是由价值导向的.不过,除了可能的环境后果之外,还有其它信息更可能吸引行为人的注意,影响其行为选择.为了研究消费者行为,我们进行了调查和实验,研究什么样的信息条件更容易影响对环境关注水平不同的人们.基于这些研究,讨论对行为改变的含义.     

Biomass and number of fish impinged at a nuclear power plant by the Baltic Sea

The main aim of this study was to investigate the number and biomass of impinged fish at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Of particular interest was the number of impinged individuals of the critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) which is regularly caught in the cooling system. Another aim was to determine the comparability of the results from Forsmark and results from impingement studies in other types of waters. Cross-systems studies make it possible to (1) estimate fish loss at plants where fish is not counted, and (2) to predict changes in fish loss from changes in electricity production or cooling water use. In 2010, 31,300,000 fish with a total biomass of 62,600 kg were impinged at Forsmark. In 2011, 27,300,000 fish weighing 38,500 kg were impinged. The maximum peak in total fish number and biomass occurred in spring. The most critical period for herring was in late summer and early autumn. Regarding eel, the largest impingement losses were recorded in November. The number of fish agreed with earlier established quantities of impinged fish in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. The study also estimated that 1,300 critically endangered eels could survive at Forsmark each year if a fish return system would be constructed to allow the passage of fish from the plant back to the Baltic Sea.     

Gas production, composition and emission at a modern disposal site receiving waste with a low-organic content

AV Miljø is a modern waste disposal site receiving non-combustible waste with a low-organic content. The objective of the current project was to determine the gas generation, composition, emission, and oxidation in top covers on selected waste cells as well as the total methane (CH₄) emission from the disposal site. The investigations focused particularly on three waste disposal cells containing shredder waste (cell 1.5.1), mixed industrial waste (cell 2.2.2), and mixed combustible waste (cell 1.3). Laboratory waste incubation experiments as well as gas modeling showed that significant gas generation was occurring in all three cells. Field analysis showed that the gas generated in the cell with mixed combustible waste consisted of mainly CH₄ (70%) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) (29%) whereas the gas generated within the shredder waste, primarily consisted of CH₄ (27%) and nitrogen (N₂) (71%), containing no CO₂. The results indicated that the gas composition in the shredder waste was governed by chemical reactions as well as microbial reactions. CH₄ mass balances from three individual waste cells showed that a significant part (between 15% and 67%) of the CH₄ generated in cell 1.3 and 2.2.2 was emitted through leachate collection wells, as a result of the relatively impermeable covers in place at these two cells preventing vertical migration of the gas. At cell 1.5.1, which is un-covered, the CH₄ emission through the leachate system was low due to the high gas permeability of the shredder waste. Instead the gas was emitted through the waste resulting in some hotspot observations on the shredder surface with higher emission rates. The remaining gas that was not emitted through surfaces or the leachate collection system could potentially be oxidized as the measured oxidation capacity exceeded the potential emission rate. The whole CH₄ emission from the disposal site was found to be 820 ± 202 kg CH₄ d⁻¹. The total emission rate through the leachate collection system at AV Miljø was found to be 211 kg CH₄ d⁻¹. This showed that approximately ¼ of the emitted gas was emitted through the leachate collections system making the leachate collection system an important source controlling the overall gas migration from the site. The emission pathway for the remaining part of the gas was more uncertain, but emission from open cells where waste is being disposed of or being excavated for incineration, or from horizontal leachate drainage pipes placed in permeable gravel layers in the bottom of empty cells was likely.     

PFAS profiles in three North Sea top predators: metabolic differences among species?

Profiles of seven compounds of perfluoro-alkyl substances (PFASs) were compared among three species of top predators from the Danish North Sea: the white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris), the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), and the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). The seals had higher total burdens (757.8 ng g^?1 ww) than the dolphins (439.9 ng g^?1 ww) and the porpoises (355.8 ng g^?1 ww), probably a reflection of feeding closer to the shore and thus contamination sources. The most striking difference among the species was the relative contribution of perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) to the profiles; the seals (0.1 %) had much lower levels than porpoises (8.3 %) and dolphins (26.0 %). In combination with the values obtained from the literature, this result indicates that Carnivora species including Pinnipedia have a much higher capacity of transforming PFOSA to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) than cetacean species. Another notable difference among the species was that the two smaller species (seals and porpoises) with supposedly higher metabolic rates had lower concentrations of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids, which are generally more easily excreted than perfluorinated sulfonamides. Species-specific characteristics should be recognized when PFAS contamination in marine mammals is investigated, for example, several previous studies of PFASs in cetaceans have not quantified PFOSA.     

Investigation of amine amino acid salts for carbon dioxide absorption

The carbon dioxide capture potential of amine amino acid salts (AAAS), formed by mixing equinormal amounts of amino acids; e.g. glycine, β-alanine and sarcosine, with an organic base; 3-(methylamino)propylamine (MAPA), was assessed by comparison with monoethanolamine (MEA), and with amino acid salt (AAS) from amino acid neutralized with an inorganic base; potassium hydroxide (KOH). Carbon dioxide absorption and desorption experiments were carried out on the solvent systems at 40 °C and 80 °C respectively. Experimental results showed that amine amino acid salts have similar CO₂ absorption properties to MEA of the same concentration. They also showed good signs of stability during the experiments. Amino acid salt from an inorganic base, KOH, showed lower performance in CO₂ absorption than the amine amino acid salts (AAAS) mainly due to a lower equilibrium temperature sensitivity. AAAS showed better performance than MEA of same concentration. AAAS from neutralization of sarcosine with MAPA showed the best performance and the performance could be further enhanced when promoted with excess MAPA. The solvent comparison is semi-quantitative since the bubble structure, and thus gas–liquid interfacial area may not be the same for all experiments, however superficial gas velocities were kept constant.     

Modelling Dissolved Organic Carbon Turnover in Humic Lake Örträsket, Sweden

The organic carbon balance of a lake with high input of allochthonous organic carbon is modelled integrating physical, chemical and biological processes. The physical model captures the behaviour of real thermal stratification in the lake for different flow situations during the period 1993–1997. The dissolved organic carbon model is based on simulated trajectories of water parcels. By tracking parcels, account is kept of environmental factors such as temperature and radiation as well as DOC quality for each parcel. The DOC concentration shows seasonal variations primarily dependent on inflow. The organic matter degradation (bacterial- and photodegradation) in the lake amounts to 1.5–2.5 mg C l^–1 yr^–1, where photooxidation is responsible for approximately 10%. The estimated DIC production in the lake is large compared to sediment mineralisation and primary production. The main conclusion is that the model with the selected parameterisations of the degradation processes reasonably well describes the DOC dynamics in a forest lake.     

Investigation of NiO/NiAl2O4 oxygen carriers for chemical-looping combustion produced by spray-drying

Chemical-looping combustion is a novel combustion technology with inherent separation of the greenhouse gas CO₂. The technology uses circulating oxygen carriers to transfer oxygen from the combustion air to the fuel. In this paper, oxygen carriers based on commercially available NiO and α-Al₂O₃ were prepared using the industrial spray-drying method, and compared with particles prepared by freeze-granulation. The materials were investigated under alternating oxidizing and reducing conditions in a laboratory fluidized bed, thus simulating the cyclic conditions of a chemical-looping combustion system. The particles produced by spray-drying displayed a remarkable similarity to the freeze-granulated oxygen carriers, with high reactivity when the bed was fluidized and similar physical properties when sintered at the same temperature. This is an important result as it shows that the scaling-up from a laboratory production method, i.e. freeze-granulation, to a commercial method suitable for large-scale production, i.e. spray-drying, did not involve any unexpected difficulties. A difference noticed between the spray-dried and freeze-granulated particles was the sphericity. Whereas the freeze-granulated particles showed near perfect sphericity, a large portion of the spray-dried particles had hollow interiors. Defluidization was most likely to occur for highly reduced particles, at low gas velocities. The apparent density and crushing strength of the oxygen carriers could be increased either by increasing the sintering temperature or by increasing the sintering time. However, the fuel conversion was fairly unchanged when the sintering temperature was increased but was clearly improved when the sintering time was increased.     

The influence on the radioxenon background during the temporary suspension of operations of three major medical isotope production facilities in the Northern Hemisphere and during the start-up of another facility in the Southern Hemisphere

Medical isotope production facilities (MIPF) have recently been identified to emit the major part of the environmental radioxenon measured at many globally distributed monitoring sites deployed to strengthen the radionuclide component of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) verification regime. Efforts to raise a global radioxenon emission inventory revealed that the yearly global total emission from MIPF’s is around 15 times higher than the total radioxenon emission from nuclear power plants (NPP's).Given that situation, from mid 2008 until early 2009 two out of the ordinary hemisphere-specific events occured:1) In the Northern hemisphere, a joint temporary suspension of operations of the three largest MIPF's made it possible to quantify the effects of the emissions related to NPP’s. The average activity concentrations of ¹³³Xe measured at a monitoring station close to Freiburg, Germany, went down significantly from 4.5 ± 0.5 mBq/m³ to 1.1 ± 0.1 mBq/m³ and in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2.0 ± 0.4 mBq/m³ to 1.05 ± 0.15 mBq/m³.2) In the Southern hemisphere the only radioxenon-emitting MIPF in Australia started up test production in late November 2008. During eight test runs, up to 6.2 ± 0.2 mBq/m³ of ¹³³Xe was measured at the station in Melbourne, 700 km south-west from the facility, where no radioxenon had been observed before, originating from the isotopic production process.This paper clearly confirms the hypothesis that medical isotope production facility are at present the major emitters of radioxenon to the atmosphere. Suspension of operations of these facilities indicates the scale of their normal contribution to the European radioxenon background, which decreased two to four fold. This also gives a unique opportunity to detect and investigate the influence of other local and long distance sources on the radioxenon background. Finally the opposing effect was studied: the contribution of the start-up of a renewed radiopharmaceutical facility to the build up of a radioxenon background across Australia and the Southern hemisphere.     

Changes in serum concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydroxylated PCB metabolites and pentachlorophenol during pregnancy

We studied pregnancy-related changes in serum concentrations of five polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, CB 118, CB 138, CB 153, CB 156, CB 180), three hydroxylated PCB metabolites (4-OH-CB107, 4-OH-CB146, 4-OH-CB187), and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Median serum lipid content increased 2-fold between early (weeks 9-13) and late pregnancy (weeks 35-36) (N = 10), whereas median PCB levels in serum lipids decreased 20-46%, suggesting a dilution of PCB concentrations in serum lipids. Nevertheless, strong positive intra-individual correlations (Spearman’s r = 0.61-0.99) were seen for PCBs during the whole study period. Thus, if samples have been collected within the same relative narrow time window during pregnancy, PCB results from one single sampling occasion can be used in assessment of relative differences in body burdens during the whole pregnancy period. Concentrations of OH-PCBs in blood serum tended to decline as pregnancy progressed, although among some women the concentrations increased at the end of pregnancy. Positive intra-individual correlations (r = 0.66-0.99) between OH-PCB concentrations were observed during the first and second trimester, whereas correlations with third trimester concentrations were more diverging (r = −0.70-0.85). No decline in PCP concentrations was observed during pregnancy and no significant correlations were found between concentrations at different sampling periods. Our results suggest that for both OH-PCBs and PCP, sampling has to be more specifically timed depending on the time period during pregnancy that is of interest. The differences in patterns of intra- and inter-individual variability of the studied compounds may be due to a combination of factors, including lipid solubility, persistence of the compounds, distribution in blood, metabolic formation, and pregnancy-related changes in body composition and physiological processes.     

Deriving field-based sediment quality guidelines from the relationship between species density and contaminant level using a novel nonparametric empirical Bayesian approach

This paper describes a novel statistical approach to derive ecologically relevant sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) from field data using a nonparametric empirical Bayesian method (NEBM). We made use of the Norwegian Oil Industrial Association database and extracted concurrently obtained data on species density and contaminant levels in sediment samples collected between 1996 and 2001. In brief, effect concentrations (ECs) of each installation (i.e., oil platform) at a given reduction in species density were firstly derived by fitting a logistic-type regression function to the relationship between the species density and the corresponding concentration of a chemical of concern. The estimated ECs were further improved by the NEBM which incorporated information from other installations. The distribution of these improved ECs from all installations was determined nonparametrically by the kernel method, and then used to determine the hazardous concentration (HC) which can be directly linked to the species loss (or the species being protected) in the sediment. This method also enables an accurate estimation of the lower confidence limit of the HC, even when the number of observations was small. To illustrate the effectiveness of this novel technique, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, lead, tetrahydrocannabinol, and zinc were chosen as example contaminants. This novel approach can generate ecologically sound SQGs for environmental risk assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis in sediment remediation or mud disposal projects, since sediment quality is closely linked to species density.