Animal agency in wildlife conservation and management

Wildlife conservation and management (WCM) practices have been historically drawn from a wide variety of academic fields, yet practitioners have been slow to engage with emerging conversations about animals as complex beings, whose individuality and sociality influence their relationships with humans. We propose an explicit acknowledgement of wild, nonhuman animals as active participants in WCM. We examined 190 studies of WCM interventions and outcomes to highlight 3 common assumptions that underpin many present approaches to WCM: animal behaviors are rigid and homogeneous; wildlife exhibit idealized wild behavior and prefer pristine habitats; and human–wildlife relationships are of marginal or secondary importance relative to nonhuman interactions. We found that these management interventions insufficiently considered animal learning, decision-making, individuality, sociality, and relationships with humans and led to unanticipated detrimental outcomes. To address these shortcomings, we synthesized theoretical advances in animal behavioral sciences, animal geographies, and animal legal theory that may help conservation professionals reconceptualize animals and their relationships with humans. Based on advances in these fields, we constructed the concept of animal agency, which we define as the ability of animals to actively influence conservation and management outcomes through their adaptive, context-specific, and complex behaviors that are predicated on their sentience, individuality, lived experiences, cognition, sociality, and cultures in ways that shape and reshape shared human–wildlife cultures, spaces, and histories. Conservation practices, such as compassionate conservation, convivial conservation, and ecological justice, incorporate facets of animal agency. Animal agency can be incorporated in conservation problem-solving by assessing the ways in which agency contributes to species’ survival and by encouraging more adaptive and collaborative decision-making among human and nonhuman stakeholders.     

“Science is Everywhere,but No One Knows It”: Assessing the Cultural Distance to Science of Rural South African Publics

ABSTRACT

In science communication, a prerequisite for reaching different parts of a society is to find out how these publics experience and interpret science. Since rural South African publics are perceived to exhibit a large cultural distance to science, the present exploratory study aimed to know in more detail how rural South Africans perceive and understand science in their local and social contexts. Theoretical notions on cultural distance and the methodological approach of segmentation studies were considered. Semi-structured interviews with rural South Africans were carried out in four towns (n?=?52) that differ with respect to having a large scientific installation in their vicinity, or not. Sensitively comparing local and social contexts helped identifying three different publics who differed regarding their perceptions of science; however, the large scientific installations only made a difference in perceptions for those publics who were generally less exposed to and less knowledgeable about science.     

薄膜扩散梯度技术在重金属生物有效态监测中的应用

重金属生物有效性是评估重金属元素迁移性、生物可利用性和生态影响的关键参数。薄膜扩散梯度技术(DGT)是一种原位被动采样技术,因其具有原位富集性、形态选择性,可提供被监测物质在监测时间段内的平均浓度等优点,可作为生物对重金属摄取的模拟替代物对环境介质中重金属的生物可利用度进行预测,已被广泛应用于环境介质中重金属生物有效性的测定。研究主要介绍了DGT技术的原理、组成和特点,评述了其近年来在水体、土壤、沉积物中重金属生物有效态应用方面的新进展,提出了DGT技术未来要提高抗生物污染能力及寻找可与DGT技术联用的相关技术的观点。     

隧道与横通道交叉角对火灾烟气蔓延影响机制研究

为探索隧道与横通道交叉角对火灾烟气蔓延的影响机制，采用FDS数值模拟，研究横通道与隧道不同交叉角情况下火灾烟气温度、浓度、烟气层高度等的变化规律，建立开启火源下风向横通道时隧道内烟气最高温度修正公式，提出烟气纵向蔓延恢复长度的概念，并探讨其影响规律。 结果表明:隧道和横通道交叉角越小，隧道内同一位置烟气层高度越高，当交叉角由90°降低到30°时，烟气层高度最大增加32%；烟气纵向蔓延恢复长度与交叉角及通风速率呈正相关，而与火源功率几乎无关。研究结果对隧道通风排烟系统设计及相关标准的制定具有参考意义。     

汽车道路试验安全管理体系建设研究

为了保障汽车道路试验安全、提高安全管理水平,设计提出汽车道路试验安全管理体系(SMS)总方案。根据OHSAS 18001和安全标准化规范的特点分析,论证了融合两种体系建立道路试验SMS的适用性。并从政策与目标、风险管理、安全保证和安全促进四个模块阐述了该体系的搭建思路、框架内容和搭建步骤。最后,以某自主品牌车企研发中心道路试验的应用情况为例进行效果评估,结果表明:汽车道路试验SMS能有效防控风险、提升试验安全管理水平。     

基于稳健统计方法对实验室比对中土壤汞的质量控制指标研究

利用稳健四分位间距法和迭代法2种稳健统计方法,通过对全国31个省、自治区、直辖市范围内共334家环境监测单位开展土壤中汞的实验室间比对,对比对测定结果和质控数据进行统计分析,系统性地研究了土壤中汞的质量控制指标。建议实际监测工作中土壤汞的实验室间相对标准偏差范围为7%～19%,相对误差控制指标为±8%,低浓度水平下可适当放宽至±10%,加标回收率控制范围为81%～109%,为日常监测开展土壤汞的质量控制工作提供了评价依据,具有广泛的应用价值和较好的指导作用。     

超前支架迈步过程稳定控制方法研究

为提高巷道超前支架迈步前移过程的稳定性和安全性,建立一种基于液压油液体积平均释放原则的迈步稳定控制方法。用软件仿真及样机实测的方法,检验所提出控制方法的控制效果。结果表明,与传统的直线、对数曲线、指数曲线的阀芯位移控制方法相比,应用所建立的方法,设备迈步过程支撑力波动最小,稳定过程耗时最短,为2.2 s,顶板变形量最小,最大值约为4.74 mm。而采用对数曲线控制方式效果最差,稳定过程耗时3.8 s,顶板变形量最大值达到9.48 mm。     

基于FDS的加油站便利店火灾模拟

为了研究加油站便利店火灾的发展规律，选择合理的疏散路线，使用 FDS软件对某加油站便利店进行火灾数值模拟。通过观察烟气扩散和动态升温过程，分析便利店的烟气扩散和升温规律，对比分析不同疏散路线上温度、烟气层高度和能见度的数据变化规律，分析选择不同疏散路线对人员安全疏散的影响。结果表明:在无火灾报警设备的情况下，卫生间等有隔断的设施会延迟设施内人员获得火灾信息的时间,不利于安全疏散；同等高度下靠墙区域受高温烟气影响较中央开阔区域更大；疏散时选择合理的疏散路线可以显著延长安全疏散时间。     

复杂气井套管力学分析与可靠度评价

为建立考虑地层和套管参数随机性的套管可靠度评价理论方法，以便得到复杂井况下套管传统设计安全系数与可靠指标之间的关系，提出了非均匀地应力和内压联合作用下，沿套管最大外挤力方向管壁任意位置发生屈服失效时外壁等效均匀外挤力的计算方法；建立了套管抗挤和抗内压三轴强度计算公式以及有效内压计算方法；根据套管载荷和强度影响因素统计参数以及评价过程中参数测试标准值，利用蒙特卡洛法（MC）建立了完整的套管可靠度计算和评价方法；通过实例对传统安全系数与可靠指标的对应关系进行了研究。研究结果表明:指定条件下，套管安全系数与可靠指标之间存在对应关系；利用建立的方法编制计算程序可以为传统设计法中安全系数代表的安全程度进行量化；可靠度评价方法能够为安全系数的选取提供指导。     

Diffusive gradients in thin films using molecularly imprinted polymer binding gels for in situ measurements of antibiotics in urban wastewaters

• Selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) binding gel was prepared. • MIP-DGT showed excellent uptake performance for antibiotics. • In situ measurement of antibiotics in wastewaters via MIP-DGT was developed. • The MIP-DGT method was robust, reliable, and highly sensitive. Urban wastewater is one of main sources for the introduction of antibiotics into the environment. Monitoring the concentrations of antibiotics in wastewater is necessary for estimating the amount of antibiotics discharged into the environment through urban wastewater treatment systems. In this study, we report a novel diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) method based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for in situ measurement of two typical antibiotics, fluoroquinolones (FQs) and sulfonamides (SAs) in urban wastewater. MIPs show specific adsorption toward their templates and their structural analogs, resulting in the selective uptake of the two target antibiotics during MIP-DGT deployment. The uptake performance of the MIP-DGTs was evaluated in the laboratory and was relatively independent of solution pH (4.0–9.0), ionic strength (1–750 mmol/L), and dissolved organic matter (DOM, 0–20 mg/L). MIP-DGT samplers were tested in the effluent of an urban wastewater treatment plant for field trials, where three SA (sulfamethoxazole, sulfapyridine, and trimethoprim) and one FQ (ofloxacin) antibiotics were detected, with concentrations ranging from 25.50 to 117.58 ng/L, which are consistent with the results measured by grab sampling. The total removal efficiency of the antibiotics was 80.1% by the treatment plant. This study demonstrates that MIP-DGT is an effective tool for in situ monitoring of trace antibiotics in complex urban wastewaters.