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.     

Hydrochemistry of drinking water sources and water purifiers in relation to epidemiological study in Hisar,North-West India

The concern related to the drinking of reverse osmosis (RO) water containing low levels of minerals is growing day by day. This study involves the analysis of water samples from various drinking water sources in a rural site, Mirchpur village, an Indus Valley civilization site (grid location: 29° 18′ 42.3″ N, 76° 10′ 33.0″ E) of Hisar, India, along with the health survey of human subjects. The hydrochemistry of water collected from hand pumps, river canals, tube wells, submersibles, and the RO systems installed in various homes was explored for pH, EC, TH, TDS, turbidity, cations (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), anions (CO₃²⁻, HCO₃⁻, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻, F⁻), and elements (Fe, Pb, Se) employing the ion chromatography, flame photometry, and ICP-AES techniques. Lead (Pb) and Selenium (Se) were detected in trace amounts (0.30–2.6 μg L⁻¹; 0.10–4.1 μg L⁻¹, respectively) in all the samples, including the samples collected from RO purifiers, but Iron (Fe) was not detected in RO samples even in trace amounts. The F-levels in hand pump water (HPW) and submersible water (SW) (1.9  and 1.7 mg L⁻¹, respectively) and TDS levels in SW (3048 mg L⁻¹) were found to be above WHO and BIS safe limits. TDS levels in the river canal (900 mg L⁻¹), tube well (1104 mg L⁻¹), hand pump (1170 mg L⁻¹), and submersible samples (3048 mg L⁻¹) were found significantly higher as compared to the RO personal water (ROPW; 216 mg L⁻¹) and RO supply water (ROSW; 90 mg L⁻¹). The collected epidemiological data reveals that 21%, 19%, 13%, and 12% of natives reported skin, kidney, hair fall, liver, and stomach issues, respectively, suspecting the crucial role of high TDS and fluoride levels in the area. This study also provides a comparison between the quality of RO and the direct supply water, along with correlation matrices for different parameters, which gives a rationale for the limitations of drinking direct supply water without any purification and RO water containing low mineral content.     

沼泽湿地水生无脊椎动物完整性指数构建与健康评价

依据2017年5、7、9月对三江平原19处沼泽湿地(参照湿地6处,受损湿地13处)的水生无脊椎动物采样结果,应用生物完整性理论和方法,构建水生无脊椎动物完整性指数,评价三江平原沼泽湿地健康状况。通过对27个候选指标的分布范围、判别能力和相关性分析,筛选出总分类单元数、扁卷螺科百分比、龙虱科百分比、刮食者百分比4个指标构成水生无脊椎动物完整性指数核心指标。采用比值法计算各指标参数值,将各参数值加和得到水生无脊椎动物完整性指数值。根据参照湿地水生无脊椎动物完整性指数值的25%分位数值确定评价标准,对小于25%分位数的值进行三等分,确定三江平原沼泽湿地健康评价标准:≥2.58,无干扰;1.72～2.58,轻度干扰;0.86～1.72,中度干扰;0～0.86,重度干扰。结果表明:所调查的三江平原沼泽湿地有78.95%受到不同程度的干扰(其中47.37%受到了中重度干扰),21.05%属于无干扰。     

水中总氮测定方法存在问题的研究及改进

碱性过硫酸钾消解紫外分光光度法测定水中总氮采用的消解器皿是玻璃比色管,易造成空白偏高、结果偏低等问题。采用双圆柱状的消解杯对水样进行消解。结果表明,消解杯消解水中总氮,线性相关系数均大于0.999,检出限为0.05 mg/L,相对标准偏差小于5%,相对误差为0.88%~1.00%;改进后的消解器皿具有较好的精密度和准确度,能够更加准确测定水中总氮的含量。     

渤海湾入海溶解无机氮总量控制研究

基于渤海湾近岸海域的实际调查结果,采取生态物理耦合模型,对渤海湾的主要污染物-溶解无机氮(DIN)的基准环境容量和极小剩余海洋环境容量进行了计算。结果表明,渤海湾DIN的极小剩余海洋环境容量在Ⅰ类和Ⅱ类水质标准下均为负值,渤海湾的DIN已经超标。结合实际的海水功能区水质管理目标,应重点控制非点源的排放,加强上游携带入境污染物的处理,从总量上控制DIN入海污染通量,改善渤海湾水质。     

淮河支流污染物综合降解系数动态测算

确定河流污染物综合降解系数动态变化规律对提高水环境容量测算精度和水环境管理具有重要意义。通过现场模拟法,采用一维稳态模型测算了淮河支流洪河五沟营-塔桥乡河段COD、氨氮和总磷在枯水期、平水期和丰水期的综合降解系数,COD、氨氮和总磷降解系数在各水期的关系为枯水期平水期丰水期,提出了建议值并利用实测浓度对计算结果进行了检验,结果表明,不同水期综合降解系数吻合情况较好。     

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。     

H∞ loop-shaping controller design for a grid-connected single-phase photovoltaic system

This paper presents a H_∞ loop-shaping controller for controlling dc-link voltage by regulating the switching signal of the inverter associated with a grid-connected single-phase photovoltaic system. To facilitate a robust control design, state-space realisation of the system model is made with uncertainties represented by linear fractional transformation. The controller is achieved through H_∞ synthesis followed by obtaining desired loop shapes through the choice of the proper weighting functions. The controller order is reduced by Henkel-norm method for facilitating its practical implementation. Controller performance is evaluated through carrying out simulations on MATLAB/Simulink platform under standard and changing atmospheric conditions, and fault condition.     

面向区域二次污染风险控制的臭氧及其前体物卫星遥感监测

日益突出的臭氧(O_3)污染已成为继PM2. 5之后我国大气污染防治的又一艰巨任务。由于氮氧化物(NO_x)、挥发性有机物(VOCs)这2种前体物的减排难度较大,且与O_3浓度存在复杂的非线性关系,准确获取O_3及NO_x、VOCs的时空分布对制定有效的防控措施至关重要。基于卫星遥感可定量反演O_3及2种前体物的代表性物种——二氧化氮(NO_2)、甲醛(HCHO)及乙二醛(C_2H_2O_2)的时空分布信息。面向区域O_3污染分析和防控应用,综述了卫星遥感对O_3及NO_2、HCHO、C_2H_2O_2的探测能力,以及利用遥感手段分析区域O_3及其前体物的传输。进而从O_3与NO_x、VOCs关系的角度,分析了利用卫星反演的前体物表征O_3生成风险的可行性。最后对卫星在区域O_3及其前体物监测方面的前景趋势提出了思考。     

A multi-path routing-inventory problem for a closed-loop supply chain considering the heterogeneous fleet of vehicles

In this paper, the inventory-routing problem is studied for a closed-loop supply chain. This closed-loop supply chain considers suppliers, manufacturers, whole-sellers, and disposal centers. To formulate this problem, a mixed integer linear programming model is proposed. This mathematical model minimizes the total costs of the supply chain, including the fixed and variable costs of vehicles, and holding inventory costs of final products and scraps. The proposed model considers the road roughness degree, multi-path setting and the heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, which increases its flexibility and the quality of solutions. Then, two symmetry-breaking constraints are proposed to reduce the complexity of the mathematical model. In order to evaluate the integrity of the proposed model, 20 instances of different sizes are randomly generated and solved. Finally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is conducted with respect to five key features of the problem, such as the impact of the symmetry-breaking constraints on the CPU time, multi-path setting, fixed cost of vehicles, heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, and lost sales. The results indicate that the consideration of multi-path setting and the heterogeneous fleet of vehicles improves the quality of solutions significantly.