Effects of repeated exposure to malathion on growth, food consumption, and locomotor performance of the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

Effects of repeated pollutant exposure on growth, locomotor performance, and behavior have rarely been evaluated in reptiles. We administered three doses of malathion (2.0, 20, or 100mg/kg body weight) to western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) over an 81day period. Eight and 23% mortality occurred at 20 and 100mg/kg (p=0.079) and 85% of lizards in the 100mg/kg group exhibited clinical symptoms of poisoning. Growth, food consumption, body condition index, and terrestrial locomotor performance were not significantly influenced by malathion. However, arboreal sprint velocity was significantly reduced in lizards receiving 100mg/kg. Fifty percent of lizards in the 100mg/kg group also refused to sprint in the arboreal setting (p=0.085). Based on these results, arboreal locomotor performance was the most sensitive metric of exposure we evaluated. Further study of compounds such as malathion is warranted due to highly variable application rates and exposure scenarios.     

职业安全绩效指标研究

为了建立企业安全生产长效机制,提高安全管理水平,预防事故的发生,笔者在研究国内外企业安全绩效要素及分类方法的基础上,提出了包含10个一级要素及50个二级要素的企业安全绩效指标体系,并就指标的设立原则、定义、权重的确定和应用进行了阐述示例。同时,也为政府安全监管部门提供了科学决策的依据。     

Individual adaptive performance in organizations: A review

Modern work is frequently characterized by jobs where adaptive performance (AP) is crucial for employees to succeed in light of new or altered task demands. This recognition has fueled growing interest in AP as a dimension of workplace performance. To this point, however, research on AP has evolved from disparate perspectives and methods, resulting in fragmentation and a less than coherent knowledge base. This paper presents a comprehensive review of research studies regarding the nomological network of individual AP. In doing so, we synthesize the current knowledge base surrounding correlates of AP, elucidate current ambiguities, and suggest directions for future research efforts. We conclude that although the extant AP literature has amassed a critical body of studies linking various predictors to successful AP outcomes, much remains unknown, most critically regarding the implications of different methods of assessing AP, the effects of different types of changes in the task environment, the process of AP, and the steps organizations can take to foster AP among their employees. We hope that our synthesis and analysis paves the way for efforts to address these important questions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Framing an independent,integrated and evidence-based evaluation of the state of Australia's biophysical and human environments

A new approach was developed for Australia's 2011 national State of the Environment (SoE) report to integrate the assessment of biophysical and human elements of the environment. A Common Assessment and Reporting Framework (CARF) guided design and implementation, responding to jurisdictional complexity, outstanding natural diversity and ecosystem values, high levels of cultural and heritage diversity, and a paucity of national-scale data. The CARF provided a transparent response to the need for an independent, robust and evidence-based national SoE report. We conclude that this framework will be effective for subsequent national SoE assessments and other integrated national-scale assessments in data-poor regions.     

Modelling and Prediction of Diesel Engine Performance using Relevance Vector Machine

Diesel engines are being increasingly adopted by many car manufacturers today, yet no exact mathematical diesel engine model exists due to its highly nonlinear nature. In the current literature, black-box identification has been widely used for diesel engine modelling and many artificial neural network (ANN) based models have been developed. However, ANN has many drawbacks such as multiple local minima, user burden on selection of optimal network structure, large training data size, and over-fitting risk. To overcome these drawbacks, this article proposes to apply an emerging machine learning technique, relevance vector machine (RVM), to model and predict the diesel engine performance. The property of global optimal solution of RVM allows the model to be trained using only a few experimental data sets. In this study, the inputs of the model are engine speed, load, and cooling water temperature, while the output parameters are the brake-specific fuel consumption and the amount of exhaust emissions like nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. Experimental results show that the model accuracy is satisfactory even the training data is scarce. Moreover, the model accuracy is compared with that using typical ANN. Evaluation results also show that RVM is superior to typical ANN approach.     

Investigation of Nanoparticle Additives to Biodiesel for Improvement of the Performance and Exhaust Emissions in a Compression Ignition Engine

Worldwide energy demand has been growing steadily during the past five decades and most experts believe that this trend will continue to rise. The amount of emitted harmful emission gases increases in parallel with increasing energy consumption. This increase has forced many countries to take various precautions, and various restrictions on emitted emissions have been carried. In this study, effects of addition of oxygen containing nanoparticle additives to biodiesel on fuel properties and effects on diesel engine performance and exhaust emissions were investigated. Two different nanoparticle additives, namely MgO and SiO₂, were added to biodiesel at the addition dosage of 25 and 50 ppm. Fuel properties, engine performance, and exhaust emission characteristics of obtained modified fuels were examined. As a result of this study, engine emission values NO_x and CO were decreased and engine performance values slightly increased with the addition of nanoparticle additives.     

滇池流域水污染防治财政投资政策绩效评估

滇池流域水污染防治巨额的治理投资尚未带来根本性的水质改善,因此,开展滇池流域水污染防治财政投资政策绩效评估研究,对提高投资资金的效益和效率具有重要意义.为此,本文利用数据包络分析(DEA)的方法,应用数据包络C2R模型和BC2模型,对2001—2012年滇池流域水污染防治财政投资政策绩效进行了评估.结果表明,2001—2012年滇池流域水污染防治投资综合效率值均值为0.708,总体效率水平不是很高,且只有2001年、2006年和2010年DEA有效,DEA无效年份中2011年效率值最低为0.441;影响滇池流域水污染防治投资综合效率的主要因素为城镇污水处理率和滇池综合营养状态指数(外海),同时,工程治理投资和面源污染治理投资存在较多冗余.因此,未来滇池治理可适当调整工程治理和面源污染投资金额,进一步提高城市污水的收集和处理率,以减少污水的排放和降低入湖污染负荷.     

用水协会运行绩效及其影响因素分析——基于江西省3949个用水协会的实证研究

近年来我国用水协会的数量呈爆炸式增长,但学者对其运行绩效及影响因素的研究不够全面和深入。论文使用江西省11个市3 949个用水协会数据,对用水协会的运行绩效及其影响因素进行实证研究。研究表明,是否注册、参与农户数、组建边界、协会主要领导人产生方式、是否有工程产权证、灌溉设施完好率、灌区规模对用水协会运行绩效有显著正影响;而租用和借用办公场所、协会工作人员数、协会起源、协会主要领导人身份则有显著负影响。要使用水协会运行良好,应重视协会的注册工作,完善协会主要领导人产生方式,控制协会工作人员规模,深化小型农田水利工程设施产权制度改革。     

Promoting effect of vanadium on catalytic activity of Pt/Ce–Zr–O diesel oxidation catalysts

A series of Pt–V/Ce–Zr–O diesel oxidation catalysts was prepared using the impregnation method. The catalytic activity and sulfur resistance of Pt–V/Ce–Zr–O were investigated in the presence of simulated diesel exhaust. The effect of vanadium on the structure and redox properties of the catalysts was also investigated using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method,X-ray diffraction, H2temperature-programmed reduction, CO temperature-programmed desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. Results showed that the Pt particles were well dispersed on the Ce–Zr–O carrier through the vanadium isolation effect, which significantly improved the oxidation activity toward CO and hydrocarbons. An electron-withdrawing phenomenon occurred from V to Pt, resulting in an increase in the metallic nature of platinum, which was beneficial to hydrocarbon molecular activation.     

Analysis of trace dicyandiamide in stream water using solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography UV spectrometry

An improved method for trace level quantification of dicyandiamide in stream water has been developed. This method includes sample pretreatment using solid phase extraction. The extraction procedure (including loading, washing, and eluting) used a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and dicyandiamide was eluted with 20 mL of a methanol/acetonitrile mixture (V/V = 2:3), followed by pre-concentration using nitrogen evaporation and analysis with high performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet spectroscopy (HPLC–UV). Sample extraction was carried out using a Waters Sep-Pak AC-2 Cartridge (with activated carbon). Separation was achieved on a ZIC^®-Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (ZIC-HILIC) (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 3.5 μm) chromatography column and quantification was accomplished based on UV absorbance. A reliable linear relationship was obtained for the calibration curve using standard solutions (R² > 0.999). Recoveries for dicyandiamide ranged from 84.6% to 96.8%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 3) were below 6.1% with a detection limit of 5.0 ng/mL for stream water samples.