An empirical analysis of economic strategies for controlling air pollution

In evaluating current environmental protection policy, economists often note that current regulations are more costly than necessary to meet environmental quality standards. While the a priori case is strong that current regulatory approaches are resulting in higher-than-necessary costs to attain environmental standards, there is relatively little empirical evidence to support this claim. The purpose of this paper is to supply some of the missing evidence by presenting the results of one study that assesses some of the potential savings associated with implementing economic, rather than command-and-control, regulatory approaches to abate one type of air pollution in one region of the country. Specifically, the paper examines the costs of meeting a prospective short-term standard for nitrogen dioxide under a range of alternative emissions control strategies for stationary sources of nitrogen oxide emissions in the Chicago Air Quality Control Region. The alternative strategies that are considered range from those that might result under current regulatory policy to those that economic policy approaches (such as emissions charges or marketable permits) are designed to implement. The analysis shows that the most efficient program of emissions controls may be more than an order of magnitude less costly than current regulatory strategies, and that economic approaches have additional advantages over more conventional regulatory approaches.     

Future Trends of Land-Use Emissions of Major Greenhouse Gases

Land-use emissions of greenhouse gases make up over one-third of current total anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and about three-quarters of the total anthropogenic emissions of CH4 and N2O. Considering their contribution to global emissions, it is important to understand their future trends in order to anticipate and mitigate climate change. This paper reviews published scenarios of major categories of these emissions with the aim to provide background information for the development of new scenarios. These categories include CO2 from deforestation, CH4 from rice cultivation, CH4 from enteric fermentation of cattle, and N2O from fertilizer application. Base year estimates of all these categories varied greatly from reference to reference, and hence emissions of all scenarios were normalized relative to their 1990 value before being compared to one another. The range of published scenarios of CO2 emissions from deforestation is widest around the middle of the 21st century and then all scenarios converge to low values towards 2100. By contrast, the different scenarios of CH4 and N2O diverge with time, showing their widest range in 2100. Global emissions of CH4 from rice cultivation vary by a factor of three in 2100 and N2O from fertilized soils by a factor of 2.3. Emissions of CH4 from enteric fermentation of animals have the smallest range (factor of 2.0). The typical long-range trends of land-use emission scenarios vary greatly from region to region - they stabilize in industrialized regions after a few decades, but tend to stabilize later in developing regions or continue to grow throughout the 21st century. To improve the realism of the estimates of future trends of land-use emissions, it is especially important to improve the estimation of the future extent of agricultural land and the rate of deforestation, while taking into account significant driving forces such as the demand for agricultural commodities and crop yields.     

Prenatal diagnosis of the derivative chromosome 22 associated with cat eye syndrome by fluorescence in situ hybridization

Cytogenetic studies of cultured amniocytes demonstrated a karyotype of 46, XX/47, XX,+mar. A bisatellited, dicentric, distamycin-DAPI negative, NOR-positive marker was present in 76 per cent of the metaphases examined. Similar markers have been associated with cat eye syndrome (CES). We report on the utilization of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a 14/22 a-satellite probe and a chromosome 22-specific cosmid for locus D22S9 to determine the origin of the prenatally detected supernumerary marker chromosome. FISH studies demonstrated that the marker is a derivative of chromosome 22 and enabled us to provide the family with additional prognostic information.     

PREP-PAC: a nutrient replenishment product designed for smallholders in western Kenya

Continuous cropping in the absence of external nutrient inputs to soils has led to the expression of poorly productive patches in farmers’ fields of western Kenya. Farmers attempting to correct these conditions are often confused by the spatial and symptomatic irregularity of affected plants and, until recently, no soil management product was commercially available that is specifically formulated to restore soil fertility to these patches. PREP-PAC consists of 2.0 kg of Minjingu rock phosphate (RP), 200 g of urea, seeds of various symbiotic nitrogen-fixing food legumes, rhizobial inoculant, gum arabic seed adhesive, lime for seed pelleting, and instructions for the use of these materials. It is intended for addition to 25 m² and produced at a cost of $ 0.56 per unit. The general principle is to apply slowly available RP sufficient for several cropping seasons with readily available nitrogenous fertilizer and to intercrop farmer’s maize (Zea mays) with a legume that provides residual fixed-nitrogen and organic inputs to the soil. This approach was tested in on-farm experiments conducted in collaboration with several grassroots rural development organizations. An experiment examined interactions between PREP-PAC components in a maize–soybean (Glycine max) intercrop in nutrient-depleted soils with sandy and clayey surface horizons. The treatments included ±RP, ±urea, and ±inoculants arranged as a 2³ factorial with four replicates at each location. Total value of the intercrops ranged between $ 0.83 in the unamended plots and $ 2.44 in plots treated with PREP-PAC. Significant positive effects were observed with the addition of RP (P<0.001), urea (P=0.04), and inoculant (P=0.01) and in interactions between RP and urea (P=0.02) or inoculant (P=0.07). The return ratio to PREP-PAC investment was 2.6 in the sandy soil and 3.7 in the clay. PREP-PACs were tested on-farm in 52 symptomatic patches containing maize–bean intercrops with and without an improved variety of climbing Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Flora. Unamended patches (25 m²=0.0025 ha) produced 1.6 kg maize and 0.08 kg bean. With addition of PREP-PAC containing Flora, yields increased to 4.1 kg maize and 1.1 kg bean (P<0.001 for both crops). Improvement in bean yield during the first cropping season nearly offset PREP-PAC’s investment costs. PREP-PAC is a strategic approach because all of its ingredients, except for urea, originate from East Africa, and are relatively inexpensive; the product is intended for distribution through existing retail and development networks.     

Mosaicism of autosomes and sex chromosomes in morphologically normal,monospermic preimplantation human embryos

We have previously detected chromosome abnormalities in human embryos whilst identifying the sex for preimplantation diagnosis of X-linked disease. In this study we assess the incidence of these abnormalities, both for sex chromosomes and autosomes 1 and 17, using dual fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Sixty-nine normally fertilized embryos of good morphology at the 6–10 cell stage (day 3 post-insemination) were examined. The embryos were spread whole using HCl and Tween 20 to dissolve the cytoplasm. Thirty-four embryos were analysed for the sex chromosomes and 35 for autosomes 1 and 17. All probes were directly labelled with fluorochromes allowing analysis in 2 h. Control lymphocytes demonstrated that the probes were of high specificity. For the sex chromosomes, five embryos were mosaic (15 per cent) with the remaining 29 being uniformly XX or XY. In no case was an XX nucleus found in an otherwise XY embryo, indicating that even though mosaicism for the sex chromosomes is present, such abnormalities would not lead to a misdiagnosis of sex. For the autosomes, 16 embryos were abnormal (46 per cent); one embryo was triploid, one was monosomic for chromosome 1, and ten others were diploid mosaics (three diploid/aneuploid, three diploid/polyploid, and four diploid/haploid). A further four embryos had variable chromosome numbers in the majority of nuclei which appeared to be the result of uncontrolled mitotic division. The presence of haploidy or double monosomy, which occurred in 15 per cent of nuclei, has important implications for the diagnosis of trisomies and dominant disorders.     

Antenatal sonographic diagnosis of arthrogryposis multiplex Congenita

Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC) was suspected on ultrasound examination of a fetus at 30·5 weeks of gestation. The criteria for establishing this prenatal diagnosis as well as the importance of establishing the diagnosis at any gestational age are discussed. The diagnosis of AMC was confirmed at birth in this case.     

The accumulation of a chemical cue: nest-entrance trail in the German yellowjacket, Vespula germanica

Vespine wasps have been shown to deposit an attractive chemical in the nest entrance. Foragers use this to help locate the nest when returning to it. We determined how many individuals need to track (pass through) the entrance before the chemical is recognized. We found a logistic response as the number of tracks increased. At 200 tracks and above there was a 75–90% positive response rate to the chemical. We found no evidence of trail-marking behavior performed by foragers inside the nest entrance. We conclude that the trail is not an evolved signal, but is a cue composed of an accumulation of hydrocarbons deposited from the legs or feet of workers as they walk on a substrate. This is the first quantitative measurement of the attractiveness of the nest-entrance chemical in a social wasp.     

环境危机管理经验研究

环境危机通常通过推动采用预防危机反复出现,并提高社会对危机事件迅速有效反应能力的措施,而成为改善环境管理的催化剂.回顾了美国、欧洲与日本的几个环境危机事例以及国家调整性政策的改变.总结出进行环境危机管理工作应该考虑:①紧急准备要求国家与地方权力机构应该通过仔细监测工业用有害化学品的使用情况、使用结果与运输情况,以及可能带来的环境影响,了解其潜在的环境灾难.要求从事可能会带来环境危机活动的责任方证明其已经制定了综合有效的应急反应计划.②排放有害物质的责任方要负责承担补救环境与人类健康损失所花费的全额成本.建立有效的责任计划可以推动对预防环境危机措施方面的投资.③发生环境危机时,采取的最基本措施是及时将有关危机性质与范围等情况通告应急反应权力机构及公众.以提高应急反应能力,保持公众的信任.④吸取经验预防环境危机事件再发生.独立调查委员会要探索发生环境事故的原因,并为预防工作提供意见或建议.⑤政府与行业有责任采取措施保护公众免受与有害物质排放和其他有害活动相关的潜在危害;在事故发生时能及时反应并使损害达到最低;对人类健康与环境造的成损害提供赔偿.     

Mesoscale meteorological modelling for Hong Kong-application of the MC2 model

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