Voice,power, and history: ensuring social justice for all stakeholders in water decision-making

Public participation in water decision-making is an accepted and expected practice. It is expected to lead to better decisions and ensure fairness by satisfying peoples' understanding of democracy and their “right” to participate in decisions that affect them. However, despite years of experience and “best practices”, governing bodies at all levels struggle to implement successful, genuine participation that leads to fair decisions. Ultimately, decision-making about natural resources such as water is a process that takes place in a wider power context where some groups have greater access to sources of power and entitlements. This research applies a “Social Justice Framework” (SJF) to examine the experiences of different stakeholder groups in making their voices heard during water reform processes in the Murray–Darling Basin in Australia. The experiences of croppers and graziers in two different floodplains show how historical advantages and disadvantages affect the power balance between different stakeholder groups and their ability to participate in and influence water decision-making. Applying the three components of the SJF, distributive, procedural and interactive justice, in water decision-making should lead to greater equity in distribution and underline the importance of good governance in decision-making processes.     

Experimental investigations on regeneration energy and energy management strategy in series hydraulic/electric synergy system

This research work draws an insight into the experimental investigations on a series hydraulic/electric synergy system—a green transportation system. An experimental test rig of the system with all necessary sensors and instrumentation has been developed to study the energy saving through hydraulic regenerative braking. The effect of various system parameters, such as braking time, maximum accumulator pressure, pre-charge pressure of hydro-pneumatic accumulator, volumetric displacement of the hydraulic master pump, and hydraulic regeneration pump on the quantum of regeneration energy, was analyzed. In addition, an AMESim model of the real-time experimental test rig has been developed and validated with experimental results. A set of five different experimental designs (parameter variations) of the system is defined with the available standard component sizes. The best design is selected of the available experimental designs based on the maximum hydraulic regeneration energy and regeneration efficiency. It was observed that the selected design has an energy efficiency of 13.3% and a regeneration efficiency of 43.8%. An accumulator-centric control strategy for energy management is developed and implemented on the experimental test rig configured with the selected design. The effectiveness of the control strategy is tested through experiments and simulation on the developed test rig.     

Conservation implications of anthropogenic impacts on visual communication and camouflage

Anthropogenic environmental impacts can disrupt the sensory environment of animals and affect important processes from mate choice to predator avoidance. Currently, these effects are best understood for auditory and chemosensory modalities, and recent reviews highlight their importance for conservation. We examined how anthropogenic changes to the visual environment (ambient light, transmission, and backgrounds) affect visual communication and camouflage and considered the implications of these effects for conservation. Human changes to the visual environment can increase predation risk by affecting camouflage effectiveness, lead to maladaptive patterns of mate choice, and disrupt mutualistic interactions between pollinators and plants. Implications for conservation are particularly evident for disrupted camouflage due to its tight links with survival. The conservation importance of impaired visual communication is less documented. The effects of anthropogenic changes on visual communication and camouflage may be severe when they affect critical processes such as pollination or species recognition. However, when impaired mate choice does not lead to hybridization, the conservation consequences are less clear. We suggest that the demographic effects of human impacts on visual communication and camouflage will be particularly strong when human‐induced modifications to the visual environment are evolutionarily novel (i.e., very different from natural variation); affected species and populations have low levels of intraspecific (genotypic and phenotypic) variation and behavioral, sensory, or physiological plasticity; and the processes affected are directly related to survival (camouflage), species recognition, or number of offspring produced, rather than offspring quality or attractiveness. Our findings suggest that anthropogenic effects on the visual environment may be of similar importance relative to conservation as anthropogenic effects on other sensory modalities.     

典型湖泊水华特征及相关影响因素分析

通过2011-2015年对太湖、巢湖和滇池水华高发季节的连续监测，以藻类密度和水华面积为判据评价了3个湖体的水华情况及变化趋势，探讨了水华发生的主要影响因素。结果表明：太湖水华程度以"轻度水华"为主，巢湖水华程度以"轻微水华"为主，滇池水华程度以"中度水华"为主；太湖、巢湖和滇池水华规模均以"零星性水华"为主；太湖和巢湖藻类密度与水温、pH、溶解氧、总氮、总磷和高锰酸盐指数均呈显著正相关，与透明度呈显著负相关，与氨氮无显著相关性；滇池藻类密度与水温、总磷和高锰酸盐指数均呈显著正相关，与透明度和氨氮呈显著负相关，与pH、溶解氧和总氮无显著相关性。     

基于机器视觉的鱼类行为特征提取与分析

近年来,水污染问题备受关注。生物式水质监测成为目前国家环境保护工作的重要任务之一。为准确监测水质污染情况,本文以青鳉鱼(Oryzias latipes)为研究对象,采用非接触式的机器视觉监测技术,提取青鳉鱼的生理特征(呼吸频率)和运动特征(胸鳍和尾鳍的摆动频率),并分析这些特征与水质之间的关系。本文采用支持向量机(Support Vector Machine,SVM)准确提取鱼鳃,并根据鱼鳃呼吸面积大小变化计算出鱼的呼吸频率。基于形态学细化算法提取青鳉鱼骨架,求出胸鳍和尾鳍的摆动频率。结果显示:不同浓度铜离子暴露实验测得的青鳉鱼生理特征和运动特征与实际情况一致;通过对不同铜离子浓度下的毒性实验数据对比,发现了青鳉鱼的生理特征和运动特征会随不同的铜离子浓度发生相应变化,可以作为水质监测的评价标准。     

Flow‐Biology Relationships Based on Fish Habitat Guilds in North Carolina

The health of freshwater biota is dependent on streamflow, yet identification of the flow regimes required to maintain ecological integrity remains challenging to states in the United States seeking to establish ecological flows. We tested the relationship between decreases in streamflow and Shannon‐Weaver diversity index of fish species for four flow‐based habitat guilds: riffle, riffle‐run, pool‐run, and pool in North Carolina. We found species that prefer shallow habitats, such as riffles and riffle‐runs were the most sensitive to decreases in streamflow; whereas no significant relationships were found for pool or pool‐run species. The sensitivity to decreases in streamflow was greatest during summer and fall, when streams are naturally lower. When all fish habitat guilds were included in the assessment of flow‐biology relationships, there were no significant relationships to decreases in streamflow. As the sensitivity of fish to reductions in streamflow is not constant across habitat guilds, combining all fish species together for flow‐biology analyses may greatly underestimate the response of fish species to decreases in flow and should be acknowledged when establishing ecological flows.     

高氯低COD值水样的无汞快速测定法

以硝酸银和硫酸铬钾代替硫酸汞来消除 COD 测定中的氯离子干扰，同时将重铬酸钾溶液的浓度降低为0.100 mol／L，并用硫磷混酸代替硫酸，该方法经过对标准样品和实际样品的测定，表现出对于测定氯离子含量低于25000 mg／L的高氯低 COD 值水样具有较好的准确度和精密度，同时可以实现银盐的回收再利用。     

The impact of ISO 14001 on corporate environmental performance: a study of Swedish manufacturing firms

The debate concerning the environmental effectiveness of environmental management systems (EMS) based on ISO 14001 is still open and scholars have called for further studies that can explain the contrasting evidence in previous research. As a response, this study aims to contribute knowledge about the effects of ISO 14001-based EMS by presenting fact-based environmental data. The study focuses on changes in performance over a period of 12 years and includes both firms with an EMS (66 firms) and firms without one (50 firms). Consideration is given to the improvement efforts in the firms before EMS adoption making it possible to neutralize any selection effects where better environmental performance precedes ISO 14001 adoption. Analysis has been carried out using statistical methods for six different environmental areas. No statistically significant differences between certified and non-certified firms concerning the change in the rate of improvement could be found in any of the six areas. However, it can be suspected that EMS adoption has positive effects on energy use and waste production whereas the non-adopting firms seem to perform better concerning air emissions. These mixed results mirrors previous research, which is rather worrying considering the worldwide popularity of EMS based on ISO 14001 in industry.     

地表水环境质量综合评价方法研究与应用进展

水质评价是目前水环境质量管理的重要支撑,水质综合评价方法已经逐渐由断面评价向流域综合评价进行转变与突破。该文对目前的断面水质评价方法进行了归类综述,并且对流域水质综合评价方法及其在各个国家流域的应用进行了重点评述。分析认为中国在流域评价中所使用的"断面比例法"不够准确,缺乏污染物时空分析以及生物评价等问题,并据此提出了未来的研究方向,为未来地表水质评价方法的提升以及水环境管理的完善提供科学的参考依据和建议。     

鄱阳湖湿地现状问题与未来趋势

近年来鄱阳湖秋冬季水文呈干枯态势,湿地生态系统及其关键因子也发生了变化。如何合理保护和利用鄱阳湖湿地引起各方关注。系统综述了鄱阳湖湿地生态系统在水文、江湖关系、水质、水鸟栖息地、渔业资源等方面存在的问题,梳理了引起这些问题的外部和内部因素。针对"一切照常"和"水位调控"两种情景,预测了湿地未来的变化趋势,并指出了当前研究中的不确定性问题。研究认为:鄱阳湖秋冬季的低枯水位,对水质、湿地植被、水鸟栖息地以及鱼类食物资源和"三场"(即:产卵场、洄游通道、索饵场)产生了一定不利影响。建议通过模型模拟和情景预测来分析不同调控方案的影响效果,优化调控方案、将生态系统的负面影响降到最低。