Exploiting Abstract Possibilities: A Critique of the Concept and Practice of Product Patenting

Developments in biotechnology and genomics have moved the issue of patenting scientific and technological inventions toward the center of interest. In particular, the patentability of genes of plants, animals, or humans and of genetically modified (parts of) living organisms has been discussed, and questioned, from various normative perspectives. This paper aims to contribute to this debate. For this purpose, it first explains a number of relevant aspects of the theory and practice of patenting. The focus is on a special and increasingly significant type of patents, namely product patents. The paper provides three general arguments against the concept and practice of product patenting. The first argument briefly considers the claim that patents are legitimate because they promote socially useful innovation. Against this claim, it is argued that product patents may hamper rather than promote such innovation. The second and main argument concludes that product patents are not adequately based on actual technological inventions, as they should be according to the usual criteria of patentability. The principal moral issue is that product patents tend to reward patentees for inventions they have not really made available. The final argument proposes a method for patenting the heat of the sun. Assuming that granting this patent will be generally considered absurd, the argument exposes a further, fundamental problem of the concept and practice of product patenting.     

基于CAN总线的分布式安全报警系统

CAN总线是一种多主站局部网络 ,支持分布式控制系统或实时控制系统的通信功能 ,具有检错功能强 ,抗干扰 ,传输速率高等优点 ,广泛应用于工业控制领域。笔者以CAN总线技术为基础 ,用单片机和个人计算机组成分布式安全报警系统 ,该系统具有开放性、全分散体系结构、安装维护简单等特点。笔者介绍了该系统的总体构成及其软件和硬件设计。试验结果表明 ,该系统实现了事故现场、住户与住宅小区三者联系的安全报警功能。系统稳定性好 ,实时性强 ,报警准确。     

综合安全评价(FSA)方法

为提高国际海运安全管理的决策水平,国际海事组织(IMO)接受并倡导由英国海运界提出的综合安全评价(FSA)方法,笔者对FSA方法作了本质性分析和应用性研究。阐述了FSA的由来,5个组成步骤及相互关系和流程,揭示了FSA与风险管理和安全系统工程的渊源;介绍了危险识别的7种工具;对步骤二“风险评估”重点引入了半定量分析方法和定量分析方法,并用集合论观点讨论了事故频率和后果严重度的计算方法;介绍了风险控制方案的“成本与效益评估”的数学模型;归纳了FSA方法的优缺点。指出FSA是一种集风险评价和成本/效益评估于一体,兼顾技术性与经济性,可广泛兼容具体评价方法和普遍适用各类风险评价的框架性方法,但具体应用需要有效整合适用的定性和定量方法。     

实施OSHMS对企业职业安全健康管理状况影响分析

为了研究实施职业安全健康管理体系(OSHMS)对企业职业安全健康管理状况的影响,对百余家已实施与未实施OSHMS的企业进行了调研,在对调研结果分析研究的基础上,采用双对照分析的方法,对已通过OSHMS认证的企业在建立OSHMS前后的职业安全健康管理状况进行对照比较,以及已建立OSHMS与未建立OSHMS的企业的职业安全健康管理状况进行对照比较,研究结果表明,实施OSHMS有利于提高企业职业安全健康管理的整体水平,改善企业的职业安全健康管理状况,使职业安全健康管理更加科学化和规范化。     

可变情报板对交通安全的影响分析

目前,可变情报板作为最基础、最常用的诱导信息发布平台被大量安装在道路两侧。一方面,它在一定程度上分散了车辆的聚集,减少了车辆的巡游;而另一方面,由于对可变情报板的设置、显示等方面的研究不足,它对交通安全带来了一定的影响,或者诱导效果并不理想。笔者主要围绕北京市西直门桥周边的可变情报板进行调研,从多个方面分析了可变情报板对交通安全的影响,列出了主要的影响因素,如刷新频率、视认性等,并给出了一定的量化指标。     

基于ArcIMS的旅游安全管理系统

结合旅游业的特点,即综合性、敏感性、涉外性或国际性,提出旅游安全管理系统应该包括:灾前的防范系统、灾时的抗灾系统以及灾后的评估善后系统3大部分的设计思路。将相应的旅游重大危险源监控系统的功能定为:以行政监察、社会监督、行业自律和应急救援体系为主的宏观管理系统。阐述了Web GIS的优点并推荐了一种构建Web GIS的新技术———ArcIMS,利用ArcIMS的系统构建的旅游安全管理系统具有功能健全、管理方便、系统成熟和安全可靠的诸多优点;同时整个系统的构建相对于其他Web GIS系统的开发而言,技术难度比较低、开发速度比较快,而且系统运行相对稳定,减轻了系统维护的负担。最后,结合旅游安全信息流的特点,具体阐述了运用ArcIMS作为旅游安全管理系统的平台的合理性和可行性。     

气浮+生物接触氧化工艺处理食品加工废水

通过气浮 生物接触氧化工艺处理速冻食品加工废水的实验、设计和工程运行,结果表明:废水COD去除率能达到97%以上,使得最终出水的COD＜100mg/l.该工艺对冲击负荷有较强的适应性.     

Integrating fisheries into the national development plans of Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Ten years on from Barbados

The development and effective introduction of strategies designed to ensure the ecologically and economically sustainable utilization of coastal and marine resources is perhaps the major challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In response, the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) called upon the SIDS to implement appropriate coastal and marine strategies and, crucially, ensure that such strategies were integrated into sustainable national development plans (NDPs). This article examines the extent to which contemporary NDPs and donor support programmes have incorporated the fisheries sector — arguably the most important coastal/marine resource for many SIDS — into such documents. Applying an assessment methodology, originally developed to identify levels of environmental mainstreaming within World Bank country assistance strategies to NDPs and donor support programmes, we are able to identify those SIDS who have most effectively integrated the fisheries sector into such documents. Comparison with data indicating the importance of the sector to the national economy (in terms of generating foreign exchange, employment generation and/or supporting domestic protein consumption levels) enables us to pinpoint those countries with substantial fisheries sectors, but a correspondingly lower than expected degree of sectoral mainstreaming. We suggest that the January 2005 review of the BPoA offers an opportune moment for such countries to redress these omissions.     

Knowledge, values, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people: A basis for collaborative natural resource management in southern Chile

One of the most important endemic tree species of Chile and at the same time one of the most endangered ones is Araucaria araucana (Mol.) C. Koch, the monkey‐puzzle tree. It grows in the Andes Mountains, homeland of the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people who depend on this tree. This paper is based on field research that investigated the ecological knowledge, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people based on the socio‐cultural, spiritual and ecological relationships they have with the Araucaria forest, to find out how indigenous people and their knowledge could contribute to sustainable Araucaria forest management. A Mapuche Pewenche community located in the IX region of Chile contributed to this study. Based on the analyses this paper illustrates the nature of indigenous ecological knowledge of Araucaria araucana on the one hand, and its utility in native forest management on the other. The research shows that the Mapuche Pewenche hold ecological knowledge and conduct practices to manage their Araucaria forest in a balanced way. They conserve and use forest biodiversity at one and the same time. This paper provides recommendations for sustainable Araucaria forest management and conservation strategies ex‐situ and in‐situ incorporating indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge and for promoting a collaborative natural resources management.     

Assessing effects of non-native crayfish on mosquito survival

Introductions of non-native predators often reduce biodiversity and affect natural predator–prey relationships and may increase the abundance of potential disease vectors (e.g., mosquitoes) indirectly through competition or predation cascades. The Santa Monica Mountains (California, U.S.A.), situated in a global biodiversity hotspot, is an area of conservation concern due to climate change, urbanization, and the introduction of non-native species. We examined the effect of non-native crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) on an existing native predator, dragonfly nymphs (Aeshna sp.), and their mosquito larvae (Anopheles sp.) prey. We used laboratory experiments to compare the predation efficiency of both predators, separately and together, and field data on counts of dragonfly nymphs and mosquito larvae sampled from 13 local streams. We predicted a lower predation efficiency of crayfish compared with native dragonfly nymphs and a reduced predation efficiency of dragonfly nymphs in the presence of crayfish. Dragonfly nymphs were an order of magnitude more efficient predators than crayfish, and dragonfly nymph predation efficiency was reduced in the presence of crayfish. Field count data showed that populations of dragonfly nymphs and mosquito larvae were strongly correlated with crayfish presence in streams, such that sites with crayfish tended to have fewer dragonfly nymphs and more mosquito larvae. Under natural conditions, it is likely that crayfish reduce the abundance of dragonfly nymphs and their predation efficiency and thereby, directly and indirectly, lead to higher mosquito populations and a loss of ecosystem services related to disease vector control.