Impact of drought‐related vaccination on livestock mortality in pastoralist areas of Ethiopia

Under a national Livestock Policy Forum in Ethiopia the impact of livestock vaccination during drought was assessed in order to inform the development of a best‐practice guideline. For each of the different types of vaccine used during drought years there was no significant difference in livestock mortality, for any species, in vaccinated compared with non‐vaccinated herds. The limited impact of vaccination on livestock mortality was attributed to weaknesses in the design and implementation of vaccination programmes, including use of inappropriate vaccines, low vaccination coverage, problems with vaccine dosing, incorrect timing of vaccination and problems with vaccine storage. If these weaknesses could be overcome vaccination could be a useful means to protect livestock assets, with considerable benefit‐cost ratios. Vaccination should be conducted as a standard preventive measure during normal years, and programme design should be informed by participatory epidemiological studies.     

Economic Valuation of Health Impact of PM10 Pollution in Beijing from 2001 to 2006

In light of the practical need for research to inform policy in Beijing,this study evaluates the economic cost of the impact of PM10 pollution in Beijing from 2001 to 2006,taking health as the main impact,and mortality as the main outcome.Based on the literature review,this study adopts relatively conservative parameters as the basis for calculating the health impacts.It concludes that nearly 30% of mortality among registered residents above age 30 in Beijing can be attributed to PM10 pollution,and that the economic cost equals 0.8%-1.2% of the city's GDP over the same period.This is lower than the results of previous studies,but still high enough to warrant a commitment to solve the city's air pollution problem.     

灾害生命价值评估理论研究

以生命价值定义为基础,给出了人力资本法的计算方法及其优缺点;认为支付意愿方法为生命价值评估的主流方法。基于单期的选择理论,以状态依赖的期望效用函数为基础,论述不存在遗赠意愿、存在遗赠意愿条件下降低死亡概率的边际支付意愿,揭示了改变死亡概率的边际支付意愿取决于初始的生存状态,即初始财富和初始死亡概率。个人可以通过交易重新安排消费和生存状态,达到效用最大化的目的,其条件是边际支付意愿等于提高生存概率的价格。影响生命的风险有多种,当外生风险、工作风险和消费影响死亡风险商品等风险共存条件下,风险水平高低是决定边际支付意愿的重要因素,风险越大,边际支付意愿越大。     

我国社会可接受地震人员死亡率的研究

在分析地震的特点及我国目前抗震设防中存在问题的基础上,提出了社会可接受地震人员死亡率的概念,介绍了确定可接受地震人员死亡率的方法及需要考虑的因素。同时通过对其它自然灾害和人为灾害死亡率的统计,以问卷调查的形式咨询了熟悉防震减灾工作的有关专家和政府管理部门等业内人士的意见,在此基础上,给出了较合理的社会可接受地震人员死亡率的建议值,为在抗震设防标准研究中定量考虑和控制地震人员伤亡提供了依据。     

Bioremediation of aerobically treated distillery sludge mixed with cow dung by using an epigeic earthworm Eisenia fetida

The potential of the epigeic earthworm Eisenia fetida to stabilize sludge␣(generated from a distillation unit of the sugar industry) mixed with cow dung, in different proportions i.e. 20% (T₁), 40% (T₂), 60% (T₃) and 80% (T₄) has been studied under laboratory conditions for 90 days. The␣ready vermicompost was evaluated for its’ different physico-chemical parameters using standard methods. At the end of experiment, all vermibeds expressed a significant decrease in pH (7.8–19.2%) organic C (8.5–25.8%) content, and an increase in total N (130.4–170.7%), available P (22.2–120.8%), exchangeable K (104.9–159.5%), exchangeable Ca (49.1–118.1%), and exchangeable Mg (13.6–51.2%) content. Overall, earthworms could maximize decomposition and mineralization efficiency in bedding with lower proportions of distillery sludge. DTPA extractable metal reduction in substrate was recorded between the ranges of 12.5–38.8% for Zn, 5.9–30.4% for Fe, 4.7–38.2% for Mn and 4.5–42.1% for Cu. Maximum values for the mean individual live weight (809.69 ± 20.09 mg) and maximum individual growth rate (mg wt. worm⁻¹ day⁻¹) (5.81 ± 0.18) of earthworms was noted in T₁ treatment, whereas cocoon numbers (69.0 ± 7.94) and individual reproduction rate (cocoon worm⁻¹ day⁻¹) (0.046 ± 0.002) was highest in T₂ treatment. Earthworm mortality tended to increase with increasing proportion of distillery sludge, and maximum mortality in E. fetida was recorded for the T₄ (45.0 ± 5.0) treatment. Results indicate that vermicomposting might be useful for managing the energy and nutrient rich distillery sludge on a low-input basis. Products of this process can be used for sustainable land restoration practices. The feasibility of worms to mitigate the toxicity of metals also reduces the possibility of soil contamination, which has been reported in earlier studies during direct field application of industrial wastes.