Unregulated urban sprawl and spatial distribution of fire events: evidence from Greece

Fire events are an annual phenomenon in Greece with damages and even casualties, making their understanding and management important. In this paper, we present fire events provided by NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System and place them along a number of spatial types defined by relief and land cover classes. Results demonstrate that the occurrence of fire events is related more to some land cover classes than others. The most important in terms of overall frequency in all types of terrain is ‘Agricultural Areas’, as a result of farming practices that involve fire. The second more important type of areas is ‘Artificial Surfaces’, especially in low lying areas. These events are related to urban growth and sprawl and are very often a direct outcome of speculation practices with land properties, encouraged by the absence or poor implementation of spatial planning.     

突发事件下安全舆情的传播与演变——以江苏响水天嘉宜化工有限公司“3.21”特别重大爆炸事故为例

为明确突发事件安全舆情传播与演变路径，提高企业防控突发事件安全舆情传播风险能力，降低衍生灾害发生概率，在文献分析及事故致因理论基础上，构建突发事件安全舆情传播与演变过程的系统动力学（SD）模型，并运用Vensim软件对以江苏响水天嘉宜化工有限公司“3.21”特别重大爆炸事故为例进行仿真实验，模拟安全舆情传播与演变动态过程。结果表明:突发事件安全舆情传播与演变主要受事件自身、媒体、相关企业监管层、相关企业执行层4个主体的共同影响，其中事件自身因素起效时间最早，相关企业监管层影响作用最大、维持时间最持久，相关企业执行层影响最直接。     

浑河主要污染指标特征性分析

利用1995年至2010年浑河干流7个常规监测断面的历年监测数据,通过统计分析确定浑河水质的主要污染指标为氨氮、总磷（TP）、化学需氧量（COD）和生化需氧量（BOD）。并指出1995～2000年间,浑河有机污染突出,2000年以后,浑河水质氮、磷污染更为突出,有机污染有所改善。并详细分析了这四项主要污染指标的时间及水期间分布规律,为浑河流域水污染治理及编制流域规划提供技术支撑。     

我国重点行业环境保护与节能减排宏观要求及政策建议

从我国目前节能减排的形势出发,结合几大高污染、高能耗行业的环保现状,给出了能够实现环保与节能减排的总体原则并重点提出了相应的宏观政策建议。     

2006年3-4月国内环境事件

简要统计了2006年3-4月国内发生的各种环境事件125起,包括沙尘天气13起,污染事件64起,地震13起,山体滑坡和泥石流7起,虫害3起,以及其他自然灾害25起.对沙尘和污染进行了讨论.     

灾变性事件引起的消费品产业链价格波及效应研究

为了研究地震等灾变性事件对于消费品产业链内价格传递和市场的影响,本文利用从2008年2月至2009年3月四川省江油市畜产业链进行实证研究,使用向量纠错模型（VECM）和历史分解图（HDG）分析了价格调整的动态效果和沿产业链的因果关系。结果表明,价格的调整关于速度和大小都是不对称的,外生震荡对于该产业链的不同层面产生不同影响,导致价格差益的扩大和价格不完全传递。该方法能够有效地分析灾变事件条件下消费品产业链内价格波及效应问题。     

中国第四纪黄土古环境研究若干进展

随着技术进步和多方位研究进展,第四纪古环境研究向着多元古环境替代指标、高分辨率古气候研究、气候变化的多种驱动因素等方面发展。文章总结了中国黄土古环境研究中的主要替代性指标,包括黄土磁化率、黄土粒度、植物硅酸体、孢粉组合、蜗牛化石、碳氧同位素和^10Be、黄土与古土壤。概述了当前对黄土—古土壤的时间标尺、末次冰期的短尺度气候事件以及东亚古季风变化机制的认识。     

A Bayesian network-based approach for the assessment and management of ageing in major hazard establishments

Currently, there is an increasing attention towards ageing of industrial equipment, as the phenomenon has been recognised as a cause of severe accidents, recorded in the last years in many process establishments. Recent studies described ageing through a number of key-factors affecting the phenomenon by accelerating or slowing it down. The Italian Competent Authority for the prevention of chemical accidents (Seveso III Directive) adopted a short-cut method, accounting for the assessment of these factors, to evaluate the adequateness of ageing management during inspections at Seveso sites. In this paper, a Bayesian Network was developed, by using the data gathered during the first application of the short-cut method, with the aim to verify the robustness of the approach for ageing assessment and the validity of the a priori assumptions used in assessing the key-factors. The structure of the Bayesian network was established by using experts’ knowledge, whereas the Counting Learning algorithm was adopted to execute the parameter learning by means of the software Netica. The results showed that this network could effectively explore the complex logical and uncertain relationships amongst factors affecting equipment ageing. Results of the present study were exploited to improve the short-cut method.     

Uncertainties in a risk management context in early phases of offshore petroleum field development

The current risk management approach for the Norwegian offshore petroleum industry came into effect in 2001 and has been stable with minor changes for 15 years. Relatively few new installations were slated for development until quite recently, and several new projects have been started in the last few years. The paper considers the risk management approach in the pre-FEED phase and builds on two case studies selected from the most recent cases. These case studies have been evaluated with respect to how uncertainties are considered in the early phase, based on the submission of the Plan for Development and Operation, their evaluations by authorities and the supporting documents. Both case studies involve new concepts for which there is no experience from similar environments and/or water depths. In spite of what could have been expected, the case studies conclude that uncertainties have not been in focus at all during concept development. This appears to be definitely the case for the licensees, but also to be the case for the authorities. Some suggestions are presented for what could have been considered by the licensees and authorities.     

Major accident management in the process industry: An expert tool called CESMA for intelligent allocation of prevention investments

A tool (called CESMA) was developed to carry out cost–benefit analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses of prevention investments for avoiding major accidents. A wide variety of parameters necessary to calculate both the costs of the considered preventive measures and the benefits related with the avoidance of accidents were identified in the research. The benefits are determined by estimating the difference in (hypothetical) major accident costs without and with the implementation of a preventive measure. As many relevant costs and benefits as possible were included into the tool, based on literature and expert opinion, in order to be able to deliver an all-embracing cost–benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis to assist in the investment decision process. Because major accidents are related to extremely low frequencies, the tool takes the uncertainty of the unwanted occurrence of a major accident into account through the usage of a so-called ‘disproportion factor’. Compared with existing software, the CESMA tool is innovative by striving for an as-accurate-as-possible picture of costs and benefits of major accident prevention, and taking the uncertainties accompanying disastrous events into consideration. Furthermore, an illustrative example of CESMA is presented in the paper.