The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: the THAW project

Whilst the education of young people is often seen as a part of the solution to current environmental problems seeking urgent attention, it is often forgotten that their parents and other household members can also be educated/influenced via home-based educational activities. This paper explores the theory of intergenerational influence in relation to school based waste education. Waste Watch, a UK-based environmental charity (www.wastewatch.org.uk), has pioneered a model that uses practical activities and whole school involvement to promote school based action on waste. This methodology has been adopted nationally. This paper outlines and evaluates how effective school based waste education is in promoting action at a household level. The paper outlines Waste Watch's 'Taking Home Action on Waste (THAW)' project carried out for two and half years in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England. The project worked with 6705 primary age children in 39 schools (44% of primary schools in the project area) to enable them to take the "reduce, reuse and recycle message" home to their families and to engage these (i.e. families) in sustainable waste management practices. As well as substantial increases in students' knowledge and understanding of waste reduction, measurement of the impact of the project in areas around 12 carefully chosen sample schools showed evidence of increased participation in recycling and recycling tonnages as well as declining levels of residual waste. Following delivery of the project in these areas, an average increase of 8.6% was recorded in recycling set out rates which led to a 4.3% increase in paper recycling tonnages and an 8.7% increase in tonnages of cans, glass and textiles collected for recycling. Correspondingly, there was a 4.5% fall in tonnages of residual waste. Waste Watch's THAW project was the first serious attempt to measure the intergenerational influence of an education programme on behaviour at home (i.e. other than schools' own waste). It clearly shows that household recycling behaviour can be positively impacted by intergenerational influence via a practical school-based waste education model. However, although the model could potentially have a big impact if rolled out nationally, it will require seed funding and the long-term durability of the model has not yet been fully quantified.     

Toxic effects of Hydrilla verticillata exposed to toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene and safety assessment for protecting aquatic macrophytes

Little information is available about the toxicity of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene acting on macrophytes, and their toxicity data are rarely used in regulation and criteria decisions. The results extended the knowledge on toxic effects of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene on aquatic plants. The responses of Hydrilla verticillata to these pollutants were investigated. Chlorophyll levels, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and guaiacol peroxidase) showed diverse responses at different concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. The linear regression analyses were performed respectively, suggesting the concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene expected to protect aquatic macrophytes were 7.30 mg L⁻¹, 1.15 mg L⁻¹ and 2.36 mg L⁻¹, respectively. This study emphasized that aquatic plants are also sensitive to organic pollutants as fishes and zooplanktons, indicating that macrophytes could be helpful in predicting the toxicity of these pollutants and should be considered in regulation and criteria decisions for aquatic environment protection.     

浅议创新教育

创新教育是培养人具有创新能力的教育。创新教育是社会发展的必然选择;创新教育是教育发展的必然选择;创新教育是人类的发展的必然选择。创新教育以创新精神的培养为基础,以创新思维的培养为核心,以创新能力的培养为最终目标。     

提高“项目教学”实效性的实践研究

"项目教学法"是实施探究式教学模式的一种教学方法,适用于各类实践性和操作性较强的专业知识、技能的学习,可以帮助学习者提高学习效率,加强职业角色的塑造与职业能力的培养。"项目教学"被普遍认为是能将专业学科体系与职业行业体系紧密结合的教学模式,"项目捆绑教学模式"是实现高等职业教育"四个合作"的有效途径。研究影响这种教学模式开展的教师、学生、工程项目、教学管理等方面因素,以及总结该种模式在教学运行过程中的实效性手段,有利于提高高等职业教育的教学质量。     

容检规中非圆形缺陷可接受准则的安全裕度

文章以国内典型压力容器用材245R为例，采用GB／T19624~断裂力学评价方法对于《压力容器定期检验规程》表5、表6中的超标非圆形缺陷可接受准则的安全裕度进行评价，评价结果表明其中可接受准则的部分规定不够保守，就此作者给出相关的修改建议。     

The role of toxicology in the evaluation of new agrochemicals

Abstract

The use of agrochemicals like crop protecting agents, veterinary disinfectants, and wood preservatives may result in (un)intentional exposure of the environment, animals and man. This paper deals with current testing strategies to assess the potential health risks for humans exposed to these chemicals during production or application or via consumption of foods containing pesticide residues.

Principles and procedures for safety assessment of pesticide residues in food as developed by WHO/FAO are described. Different types of toxicity studies in mammalian test animal species are discussed and a strategy is outlined in order to characterize the toxicity profile of a compound and the relationship between applied doses and adverse effects. Safety testing of agrochemicals should be carried out in relation to its intended use, and in particular attention will be paid to toxicity testing of residues of pesticides in food. Extrapolation of results from animal studies to humans and the use of safety factors is discussed.

Besides the use of animal protocol studies for safety testing of agrochemicals, the potential use of in‐vitro models derived from organs and tissues of animals is discussed. Data on the in‐vitro metabolism of thiabendazole, aldicarb and alachlor are discussed in order to demonstrate that such data may complement or partly substitute whole animal experimentation.

Principles and procedures for safety testing of residues of agrochemicals in food as applied during the last three decades, constitute a ‘safety‐first’ approach, providing sufficient safety margins for the consumer of foods which may contain low levels of residues of agrochemicals.     

Safety testing of pesticides and methods of evaluating human exposure in the field

Abstract

The importance of field surveys to provide data on acute pesticide hazards is discussed. The types of questions which small field surveys of pesticide exposure should answer are presented. In addition to protective clothing, the value of distance, time, and personal hygiene in reducing exposure are considered. Finally, the importance of an adequate data base for the development of protocols and guidelines for public protection is discussed.     

Ecotoxicological effects assessment in the Netherlands: Recent developments

In a recently published annex to the National Environmental Policy Plan of the Netherlands (1989), attention was paid to ecotoxicological effects assessment. The proposed procedure was based on the advice of the Health Council of the Netherlands (1989) on risk assessment of toxic chemicals for ecosystems. The various extrapolation methods described by the Health Council are critically discussed in this paper. The extrapolation method of Van Straalen and Denneman (1989) is evaluated for eight chemicals and 11 aquatic species. Conclusions are drawn about the quality and quantity of the ecotoxicological data needed for aquatic effects assessment. For the soil—a compartment that is often at risk—ecotoxicological effects assessment is not possible because suitable ecotoxicological test methods still have to be developed.     

关于安全经济学的探讨

本文主要论述了如下基本概念问题: 1、安全的主要经济功能是保障社会经济的增值和有效地减少事故的经济损失。本文试图构造增值函数I(S)和损失函数L(S)来描述其功能。 2、安全经济学的基本任务是研究安全的经济效益和安全的经济利益规律,使其有效地调整和协调安全与经济的关系,指导安全经济决策。 3、本文试提出发展安全经济学应遵循的三个基本原理。 4、为综合揭示安全经济规律,本文还探讨了安全经济的功能函数F(S)、成本函数C(S)、负担函数B(S)和效益函数E(S)。 5、针对实际应用,本文还提出了一种安全投资的评价方法及其优化理论。     

试用“三论”探索我国安全生产宏观管理模式

本文试用系统论、控制论和信息论的观点探索我国安全生产宏管理模式。文中主要分析了生产安全系统的内涵;行业生产安全系统的内涵;以及生产安全系统的宏观控制的内涵。并指出了行业生产安全系统是生产安全系统的主体控制系统,劳动安全监察系统是生产安全系统的强化控制系统。