Trace elements in tissues of sperm whales stranded along the Italian coast

Five sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) stranded along the Italian coast between 2007 and 2009 were analysed for concentrations of trace elements in the muscle, liver, kidney, lung, heart and skin. Essential elements (Zn, Cu, Fe, Cr, As, V and Se) show ranges of variability comparable with the limited data reported in the literature on this species and a homeostatic physiological control. Very low concentrations of nonessential elements (Hg, Cd and Pb) were detected in all tissues, suggesting a minor impact of these pollutants on the sperm whale populations of the Mediterranean Sea. This finding possibly reflects the pelagic lifestyle and deep-sea cephalopod diet of this group of giant cetaceans. In addition, this finding contrasts with the high levels of nonessential elements measured in many other species of cetaceans (e.g. Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus) stranded along Mediterranean coasts and which reflects significant coastal anthropogenic effects. The main result of this work is the compiled dataset which provides a preliminary target for conceptual understanding of the potential effects of open marine pollution on the Mediterranean sperm whale population.     

A GC method to determine o‐chloroacetophenone residual in soil and vegetable substrates

o‐Chloroacetophenone (CAF) is a peripheral sensory irritant used in open air situations giving rise to human and environmental exposure. An analytical GC method has been developed to determine CAF residual in soil and vegetable substrates at low ppm levels.     

Environmental regulation and competitive performance: new evidence from a sectoral study

Economic theory provides different perspectives on the relationship between environmental regulation and company environmental and competitive performance. A frequently analysed issue refers to the impact of environmental regulation on company performance. Using qualitative data collected within the recently completed Environmental regulation and Market forces Providing Incentives for Resource Efficiency (EMPIRE) project, we analysed the relationship between environmental regulation and company competitiveness, operating in the building and construction (B&C) sector. Empirical evidence from the correlation analysis emphasises that environmental regulation can be an important driver of competitive performance improvements in relevant segments of the European B&C sector.     

Incorporating temporally dynamic baselines in isotopic mixing models

Stable isotopes (particularly C and N) are widely used to make inferences regarding food web structure and the phenology of consumer diet shifts, applications that require accurate isotopic characterization of trophic resources to avoid biased inferences of feeding relationships. For example, most isotope mixing models require that endmembers be adequately represented by a single probability distribution; yet, there is mounting evidence that the isotopic composition of aquatic organisms often used as mixing model endmembers can change over periods of weeks to months. A review of the literature indicated that the delta13C values of five aquatic primary consumer taxa, commonly used as proxies of carbon production sources (i.e., trophic baselines), express seasonally dynamic cycles characterized by an oscillation between summer maxima and winter minima. Based on these results, we built a dynamic baseline mixing model that allows a growing consumer to track temporal gradients in the isotopic baselines of a food web. Simulations showed that the ability of a consumer to maintain or approach isotopic equilibrium with its diet over a realistic growth season was strongly affected by both the rate of change of the isotopic baseline and equilibration rate of the consumer. In an empirical application, mixing models of varying complexity were used to estimate the relative contribution of benthic vs. pelagic carbon sources to nine species of juvenile fish in a fluvial lake of the St. Lawrence River system (Québec, Canada). Estimates of p (proportion of carbon derived from benthic sources) derived from a static mixing model indicated broad interspecific variation in trophic niche, ranging from complete benthivory to > 95% reliance on pelagic food webs. Output from the more realistic dynamic baseline mixing model increased estimated benthivory by an average of 36% among species. Taken together, our results demonstrate that failing to identify dynamic baselines when present, and (or) matching consumers with baseline taxa that possess substantially different equilibration rates can seriously bias interpretation of stable isotope data. Additionally, by providing a formalized framework that allows both resources and consumers to shift their isotopic value through time, our model demonstrates a feasible approach for incorporating temporally dynamic isotope conditions in trophic studies of higher consumers.     

Foraging grounds, movement patterns and habitat connectivity of juvenile loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) tracked from the Adriatic Sea

Knowledge about migratory routes and highly frequented areas is a priority for sea turtle conservation, but the movement patterns of juveniles frequenting the Adriatic have not been investigated yet, although juveniles represent the bulk of populations. We tracked by satellite six juvenile and one adult female loggerhead from the north Adriatic. The results indicated that loggerhead juveniles (1) can either show a residential behaviour remaining in the Adriatic throughout the year or perform seasonal migrations to other areas, (2) can remain even in the coldest, northernmost area during winter, (3) can frequent relatively small foraging areas, (4) mostly frequent the eastern part of the Adriatic, and (5) follow preferred migratory routes along the western and eastern Adriatic coasts. The movements of the adult turtle also revealed (6) a behavioural polymorphism in Mediterranean adults, which included a lack of area fidelity and connection between distant neritic foraging grounds.     

航空危险品运输作业风险管理

由于危险品的危害特性,运输操作上涉及多环节因素以及航空运输装载的特殊要求,在航空运输作业环节中易造成安全事故,因此需要对危险品航空运输作业进行风险管理。根据人-机-环-管分析方法,从航空危险品运输中的收运、卸载、储存、装载环节进行危险源识别,并构建指标体系。用三角模糊数和ANP相结合的方法对风险发生的严重度进行分析。对安全影响较大的前几位因素:人员违规,规章制度,监督检查,员工教育、培训,应急预案,防护装置使用率,提出了安全管理体系的建立及实施,加强从业人员的管理,对危险品运输环节的设备进行管理风险控制措施。     

码头油品泄漏扩散事故危险危害评价

运用“泄漏扩散”模型对某码头油品泄漏扩散事故危险危害程度进行了评价,得到了爆炸危险区域和中毒危害区域的面积,为码头制定应急救援预案提供了依据.     

超临界CO2气爆致裂规律实验研究

针对我国低渗透性煤层增透困难的现状,研发了可控超临界二氧化碳气爆发生装 置,对不同强度的模拟煤体进行了不同温压条件下的超临界CO2气爆实验,结合孔内窥 镜观测和外观测量手段,对爆后宏观裂隙数目和长度等爆破响应信息进行统计分析。结 果表明:气爆裂纹起裂所需的最小爆破压力与介质的抗拉强度呈指数式增长的关系,主 要是固体材料在动力载荷作用下强度增大引起的;超临界二氧化碳气爆后产生宏观裂隙 的数目和累计长度与爆破压力满足Logistic函数关系,是裂隙面积超线性增加所消耗能 量也超线性增加的结果;超临界CO2对温压条件敏感,爆破有降温作用,是良好的物理 爆破原料,使用超临界二氧化碳作为爆破原料的爆破效果优于空气爆破效果。     

Adaptive cluster sampling with clusters selected without replacement and stopping rule

Adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) has received much attention in recent years since it yields more precise estimates than conventional sampling designs when applied to rare and clustered populations. These results, however, are impacted by the availability of some prior knowledge about the spatial distribution and the absolute abundance of the population under study. This prior information helps the researcher to select a suitable critical value that triggers the adaptive search, the neighborhood definition and the initial sample size. A bad setting of the ACS design would worsen the performance of the adaptive estimators. In particular, one of the greatest weaknesses in ACS is the inability to control the final sampling effort if, for example, the critical value is set too low. To overcome this drawback one can introduce ACS with clusters selected without replacement where one can fix in advance the number of distinct clusters to be selected or ACS with a stopping rule which stops the adaptive sampling when a predetermined sample size limit is reached or when a given stopping rule is verified. However, the stopping rule breaks down the theoretical basis for the unbiasedness of the ACS estimators introducing an unknown amount of bias in the estimates. The current study improves the performance of ACS when applied to patchy and clustered but not rare populations and/or less clustered populations. This is done by combining the stopping rule with ACS without replacement of clusters so as to further limit the sampling effort in form of traveling expenses by avoiding repeat observations and by reducing the final sample size. The performance of the proposed design is investigated using simulated and real data.