Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practice for Edible Wild Plants: Biodiversity Use by the Rarámuri,in the Sirerra Tarahumara,Mexico

The Rarámuri who live in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua State, Mexico have developed local knowledge and harvesting strategies for edible wild plants that have the effect of conserving the biodiversity of their forest ecosystem. This paper presents the results of ethnobotanical research undertaken in the community of Basìhuare in the Sierra Tarahumara, to provide details on some practical aspects of the Raráamuri worldview regarding interconnections between people and their environment. This traditional philosophy forms the basis for the use of edible wild plants and the harvesting strategies practiced in Basìhuare, such as selective harvesting, environmental modification and domestication. These activities provide the opportunity for harvesters to monitor the landscape and the plant resources that occur on the land, as well as present a setting for the communication and exchange of traditional ecological knowledge. However, Rarámuri harvesting practices are under stress because of increased external pressures from commercial timber extraction and other development. We discuss the state of traditional ecological knowledge and its transmission in the context of development activities in the region. The key to sustainability in the Sierra Tarahumara may be the maintenance of traditional management practices for edible wild plants, and other nontimber forest products, that lead to the conservation of biodiversity by creating patchiness and renewing the plant cover on the land.     

Electrochemical hydride generation of tin(II) and its determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with in situ trapping in the graphite tube atomizer

An electrolytic hydride generation system for the determination of tin(II) by means of batch electrochemical hydride generation-electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (EcHG-ETAAS) with in situ trapping in a graphite tube atomizer is described. The effects of four permanent chemical modifiers – palladium, tungsten, iridium, and platinum – for graphite tube treatment on analyte absorbance and the effects of four cathode materials, i.e., Pb, Sn, Pb–Sn alloy, and glassy carbon, are checked. Three electrolytes, i.e., nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, are examined as catholyte solutions. The influence of several parameters on EcHG is investigated using multivariate and univariate methods. Interferences of some concomitant ions are evaluated. The calibration curve is linear from 1 to 200?µg?L^?1, with a detection limit of 0.8?µg?L^?1 and a relative standard deviation of 6.2% (n?=?3) for 100?µg?L^?1 Sn(II). The proposed method was successfully applied in the analysis of real environmental water samples and reference materials, and good spiked recoveries over the range of 93.1–115% were obtained. The proposed technique provides a means for developing hydride generation of other elements.     

Sharing and preparing: cross-institutional,food security-based knowledge in Canada

This study proposes a framework for the collection and management of knowledge related to food security in Canada. This paper has several goals. First, the paper summarizes the current state of food security knowledge in Canada. Second, the paper presents data from an experiment where food security issues were discussed by stakeholders at two fora, the first of which was held in western Canada and the second held in eastern Canada. Finally, based on the notes taken during and feedback received after the fora, this paper suggests a framework for organizing and managing the multiple perspectives and complex types of knowledge about food security and sustainable development from a Canadian context. Two fora were held in Canada where food security issues were presented and discussed by multiple stakeholders. Most provinces in Canada were represented in at least one of the two sessions. Sessions were designed to be informative and interactive; agenda were designed to take advantage of the needs and experiences of multiple stakeholders in both western and eastern regions of Canada. To develop the framework, the sessions were also designed to assess the types of issues and knowledge about food security in Canada. Evidence presented from this experiment supports arguments that food security work must be approached in a collaborative manner, no matter the approach or discipline. Data from fora held in western and eastern regions of Canada indicate a number of specific ways in which those along the food continuum have the desire to share knowledge and enter into partnerships to work toward secure and sustainable food systems. Data also indicate how academia and institutions of higher learning might play a key role in sharing food security-based knowledge. The data from this study suggest that academia could play a leadership role in collecting and sharing information about food security-based knowledge from all disciplinary approaches that could help collaborative in addressing the complexity of food security challenges. The framework developed in this paper could provide the guide for organizing knowledge about food security and sustainable development. The framework could be used as a map to guide understanding about the different ways in which food security can be approached and understood; this could help reduce tensions among partners in projects where a wide variety of experiences are attempting to work collaboratively. The two food security fora brought together stakeholders with specialized knowledge about food security in a Canadian context. The analysis of data arising from the fora permitted unique insights to arise about the nature of knowledge by region. The data in this study also allowed us to build a framework for food security knowledge from these regional knowledge bases. This paper suggests that academia actively take a leadership role and openly share knowledge about food security. Open sharing of knowledge will help collaborates in dealing with complex food security issues understand in-depth other approaches; this sharing may help to make explicit the tensions that arise during collaborative work.     

Utility optimization strategy of safety management capability of coal mine - A case study of JCIA

This article describes optimization strategy of SMCCM from perspective of utility of coal miner with the method of empirical research. Four elements of SMCCM are put forward which consist of “employee safety knowledge”, “equipment safety knowledge”, “environment safety knowledge” and “rule safety knowledge”. Eight elements of utility are put forward which consist of “benefit satisfaction”, “promotion satisfaction”, “job satisfaction”, “enterprise satisfaction”, “management satisfaction”, “colleague satisfaction”, “relationship satisfaction” and “communication satisfaction”. Then hypotheses of influence path between SMCCM and utility are proposed. JCIA is chosen as the sample to carry out survey, which questionnaire is designed based on the likert six-point scale to avoid the middle tendency of the test samples. Data analysis is done from following angles: analysis of the structure and utility of test samples, variables analysis of SMCCM and utility, model analysis of interaction between SMCCM and utility. And then results are obtained from the analysis of elements of SMCCM and elements of utility. Conclusions: first, “rule safety knowledge” should be strengthened above all; second, “job satisfaction” should be paid more attention to; third, coal miner’s benefit should be concerned specially.     

Masters of the long haul: Pursuing long‐term work goals

We investigate work motivation in the unstudied domain of individuals who pursue very long‐term goals. We highlight the fact that the preponderance of research findings on the psychology of work motivation is based on short‐term studies and discuss the potential relevance to long‐term motivation of literatures including long‐term thinking and time horizons, long‐term goals and goal pursuit, and self‐regulation. We adopt the qualitative research strategy of theory elaboration, with a specific intention of elaborating goal‐setting theory. Analysis of interview data from a unique sample of scientists and others pursuing goals spanning decades or more yielded a structure of psychological factors that can enhance, support, and sustain motivation for the long term. Reconciling our findings with existing goal theories, we develop an integrative model of motivating factors and self‐regulation processes underlying long‐term goal pursuit. We discuss the implications, including an expanded focus for our field on motivating people for the long run. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Handling and updating uncertain information in bow-tie analysis

Bow-tie analysis is a fairly new concept in risk assessment that can describe the relationships among different risk control parameters, such as causes, hazards and consequences to mitigate the likelihood of occurrence of unwanted events in an industrial system. It also facilitates the performance of quantitative risk analysis for an unwanted event providing a detailed investigation starting from basic causes to final consequences. The credibility of quantitative evaluation of the bow-tie is still a major concern since uncertainty, due to limited or missing data, often restricts the performance of analysis. The utilization of expert knowledge often provides an alternative for such a situation. However, it comes at the cost of possible uncertainties related to incompleteness (partial ignorance), imprecision (subjectivity), and lack of consensus (if multiple expert judgments are used). Further, if the bow-tie analysis is not flexible enough to incorporate new knowledge or evidence, it may undermine the purpose of risk assessment.Fuzzy set and evidence theory are capable of characterizing the uncertainty associated with expert knowledge. To minimize the overall uncertainty, fusing the knowledge of multiple experts and updating prior knowledge with new evidence are equally important in addition to addressing the uncertainties in the knowledge. This paper proposes a methodology to characterize the uncertainties, aggregate knowledge and update prior knowledge or evidence, if new data become available for the bow-tie analysis. A case study comprising a bow-tie for a typical offshore process facility has also been developed to describe the utility of this methodology in an industrial environment.     

浅议加强安全生产执法队伍建设

为了充分发挥安全生产执法队伍的作用,规范执法行为,依法履职,端正执法形象,必须加强安全生产执法队伍建设,维护国家法律的尊严,保障执法的公平、正义,提高安全生产执法队伍管理水平。本文对安全生产执法队伍把好人员进入关、完善机构、建章立制等加强基础建设,探索和转变执法方式等方面进行探讨,论述加强安全生产执法队伍建设的重要性和具体作法。     

国内外产排污系数开发现状及其启示

通过对国外产排污系数开发应用现状的系统分析,重点研究了美国产排污系数的基本特征、开发方法和途径以及遇到的障碍,结合我国产排污系数的开发现状和存在的问题,得出了对我国该领域研究的启示:建立产排污系数开发和管理的官方常设机构,定期发布最新数据;构建国家产排污系数信息管理平台;细化行业污染源分类,完善污染物种类;深入对产排污系数开发的理论体系和技术方法的研究,建立产排污系数核算方法学.指出了产排污系数不确定性评估研究将是未来重要的研究内容.      

Prevalence-adjusted optimisation of fuzzy models for species distribution

Most performance criteria which have been applied to train ecological models focus on the accuracy of the model predictions. However, these criteria depend on the prevalence of the training set and often do not take into account ecological issues such as the distinction between omission and commission errors. Moreover, a previous study indicated that model training based on different performance criteria results in different optimised models. Therefore, model developers should train models based on different performance criteria and select the most appropriate model depending on the modelling objective. This paper presents a new approach to train fuzzy models based on an adjustable performance criterion, called the adjusted average deviation (aAD). This criterion was applied to develop a species distribution model for spawning grayling in the Aare River near Thun, Switzerland. To analyse the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, it was compared to model training based on other performance criteria. The results suggest that model training based on accuracy-based performance criteria may produce unrealistic models at extreme prevalences of the training set, whereas the aAD allows for the identification of more accurate and more reliable models. Moreover, the adjustable parameter in this criterion enables modellers to situate the optimised models in the search space and thus provides an indication of the ecological model relevance. Consequently, it may support modellers and river managers in the decision making process by improving model reliability and insight into the modelling process. Due to the universality and the flexibility of the approach, it could be applied to any other ecosystem or species, and may therefore be valuable to ecological modelling and ecosystem management in general.     

Modelling the outcrossing between genetically modified and conventional maize with equation discovery

Many studies explore the feasibility of co-existence between genetically modified (GM) and conventional (non-GM) crops. An important research topic in these studies is the process of outcrossing, i.e., the process of gene flow via pollen flow from GM to non-GM crops. In this paper, we address a new modelling approach to define the environmentally driven processes of outcrossing for maize from existing empirical datasets. In particular, we use equation discovery methodology that combines background knowledge and empirical data from several studies. We induce models that predict the degree of outcrossing rate between the donor (GM) and the recipient (non-GM) maize field from the distance between the fields and the local wind characteristics (speed, direction and duration). This results in highly accurate models, for which both variables (distance and wind) are essential and of roughly equal importance.