Policy design,spatial planning and climate change adaptation: a case study from Australia

There are gaps in the existing climate change adaptation literature concerning the design of spatial planning instruments and the relationship between policy instruments and the sociopolitical barriers to adaptation reform. To help address this gap, this article presents a typology of spatial planning instruments for adaptation and analyses the pattern of instrument choice in Australian planning processes in order to shed light on contextual factors that can impede adaptation. The analysis highlights how policy design can amplify the barriers to adaptation by arranging policy actors in ways inimical to reform and stripping decision makers of the instruments necessary to make and sustain desired policy changes.     

套箍加固RC轴压中长柱的承载力理论研究∗

为研究套箍加固RC轴压中长柱的承载力理论计算分析方法,采用切线模量理论,根据材料本构关系和内外力平衡条件,推导了套箍加固RC轴压中长柱的弹塑性稳定承载力计算方法。将理论计算结果与试验结果进行了对比分析,结果表明:理论计算值均低于实测值,且二者的偏差在15%以内。根据所推导的计算分析方法,研究了核心柱初始荷载水平β、柱子长细比l0/b、套箍层混凝土强度、套箍层配筋量四种参数对加固柱承载力Nu的影响规律,结果表明:Nu总体上随β增大而减小,当β<0.7时,减小趋势不够明显,β>0.7后,减小趋势变得明显;l0/b对Nu有明显影响,Nu随l0/b的增大而减小,但二者不是线性关系;Nu随套箍层混凝土强度提高而增大,随套箍层配筋量增大而增大。     

流域生态补偿标准的确定——以渭干河流域为例

生态补偿标准的确定是流域生态补偿机制构建的关键问题之一。文章构建了流域生态补偿标准的测算内容与流程,并以渭干河流域为例,计算了流域上下游生态损益、 居民支付意愿和综合成本,分别作为补偿的最高、 最低和参考标准。结果表明:2007年上游应获得的最高补偿标准为24.83×10⁸元,最低标准为2 443.46×10⁴元,参考标准为6.7×10⁸元。下游各县作为受益者,应支付的补偿额为:库车为818.51×10⁴~28 096.3×10⁴元,补偿参考标准19 927.61×10⁴元;沙雅466.7×10⁴~64 179.1×10⁴元,补偿参考标准17 204.17×10⁴元;新和341.17×10⁴~155 988.7×10⁴元,补偿参考标准为29 998.71×10⁴元。不同补偿标准对流域农牧民福祉产生较大影响,按照参考标准的8.67%进行补偿,就可使上游居民尤其是水源涵养区的农牧民收入水平可有较大程度的提高,达到流域的平均收入水平。在讨论部分对流域生态补偿标准测算中面临的难题进行了分析。     

悬浮填料生物流化床在城镇污水厂的应用

采用悬浮填料生物流化床对城镇生活污水进行处理,通过调试掌握该工艺的技术控制要点,并对该工艺去除污染物的效果进行分析。实践应用表明,该装置能有效去除生活污水中的BOD、COD、NH3-N、TP、SS等污染物成分,出水水质达到《生活杂用水标准》的相关排放标准,并取得了良好的经济和环境效益。     

Evaluation of guardrail systems for preventing falls through roof and floor holes

Introduction

Fall-related occupational injuries and fatalities are serious problems in the U.S. construction industry, especially incidents related to unguarded holes. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Safety Research, Morgantown, WV conducted a project to evaluate the effectiveness of guardrail systems to prevent falls through roof and floor holes.

Methods

Two commercial edge-protection products were evaluated when used as perimeter guarding around a roof hole. Installations of the commercial products were compared to job-built guardrails constructed of 2^″ × 4^″ construction-grade lumber. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations require that “a force of at least 200 pounds” must be supported by the top rail of a guardrail system “in any outward or downward direction at any point along the top edge.” A laboratory testing system was developed to evaluate this requirement. A dynamic 200-lb force was generated against the top rail using a weighted manikin mounted on a hinged steel frame. Nine construction workers, who served as test subjects, each built five different guardrail configurations.

Results

All 45 configurations met the 200-lb OSHA requirement. Installation time for one commercial product was 32% quicker than the job-built configuration (25.6 min vs. 37.9 min).

Impact on Industry

This study: (a) indicates that the two edge-protection products can be used as perimeter guarding; (b) highlights the importance of using proper materials and fasteners to construct guardrails to protect workers from falling into unguarded roof and floor holes; and (c) discusses an overall-strength-testing methodology that can be used by fall-protection researchers.     

The NIOSH Construction Program: Research to practice, impact, and developing a National Construction Agenda

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts research to improve and protect the health and safety of workers. This paper describes the experience of the NIOSH Construction Program with two recent program planning initiatives intended to improve the program: (a) an independent external review of work over the past decade and (b) the development of strategic goals organized into a “National Construction Agenda” to guide a decade of future work. These goals, developed with input from construction industry stakeholders and researchers, are a part of the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) initiative. The NORA goals are intended to provide an ambitious set of goals for all construction stakeholders to work together on. Both efforts relate to insuring the relevance and impact of research, reflecting an emerging policy perspective that research programs should be judged not just by the quality and quantity of science produced, but by the industry impact and tangible benefit resulting from the research. This paper describes how views on research planning have evolved to incorporate lessons learned about how research leads to improved safety and health for workers. It also describes the process used to develop the goals and the resulting strategic and intermediate goals that comprise the National Construction Agenda.     

Preparedness for anthrax attack: the effect of knowledge on the willingness to treat patients

Little is known about the factors that may impact on the willingness of physicians and nurses to treat patients during a bioterrorism attack. This survey was conducted among 76 randomly selected nurses and physicians in the emergency rooms of three public hospitals in order to analyse the relationship between knowledge, profession and the willingness to treat anthrax. The study finds that the willingness of physicians and nurses to come to work is 50% greater among the group with the highest knowledge about anthrax (P < 0.0001). Within that group, the willingness to treat patients suspected of being infected with anthrax was 37% greater (P < 0.0001) and the willingness to treat patients diagnosed with anthrax was 28% greater (P = 0.004) than in the other groups. These results imply that enhancement of knowledge among health care workers may improve their willingness to come to work and treat patients infected with anthrax during a bioterrorism attack.     

洪涝灾害经济易损性模糊评价——以安徽沿长江地区为例

洪水灾害是洪水危险性对承灾体易损性综合作用的结果,由于降水量、人口密度、产值等因子在洪水易损性中的作用具有模糊性,因此运用模糊模型进行评价有一定意义。以安徽沿长江地区为例,在GIS和模糊数学法的支持下,建立了基于GIS的模糊综合评价模型,对洪水灾害经济易损性风险进行了评价与分析,将安徽沿长江地区洪涝的易损性程度划分为5个等级:高度易损性、较高度易损性、中度易损性、较低度易损性、低度易损性。研究结果表明:沿江洪水灾害易损性总体水平较高,特别是在马鞍山、芜湖市、铜陵市等经济发达、人口密集、耕地面积广阔的滨江下游平原区。这些地区应积极兴修水利,大力发展避洪产业。     

京津唐地区地震灾害区域宏观脆弱性变化研究

研究灾害脆弱性的变化有助于深入理解灾害及灾害风险的形成机制。在重新审视承灾体系统灾害脆弱性的分析层次和描述角度之后,深化了对地震灾害区域宏观脆弱性的影响因素和描述指标的再认识,完善了以主成分分析为核心技术的分析该类脆弱性时空变化的数理方法。以此为基础,以1985、1995、2000和2004年为代表时期,对京津唐地区20多年来的地震灾害区域宏观脆弱性的变化做了进一步的分析和总结。主要结论是:研究区地震灾害区域宏观脆弱性20多年来的时空变化可分解为少数几种脆弱性模式的变化;1985年以来,该类脆弱性的空间分异格局整体稳定;但是,各地自身脆弱与否的程度20多年来的变化却很显著——各大中城市市区的脆弱程度显著增强,其他地区整体减弱,且变化幅度前者显著大于后者;研究区地震灾害区域宏观脆弱性的时空变化主要受该地区的人口和经济特别是工商业经济的增长、城市化发展和产业结构的调整等3方面因素所驱动。