Better environmental future in Europe through environmental auditing?

environmental auditing must be rejected if the aim is to make companies introduce a specific management concept. Rather, it is preferable to leave the search for effective environmental protection strategies to the competitive system, especially since the criteria for environment-oriented management in the European Community audit proposal are without substance. Environmental auditing can, however, assume a complementary function in the framework of an overall environmental policy if it is designed as an information tool with which companies provide information on the development of environmental problems deriving from their manufacturing processes and products. However, the model required to establish a framework of quantity and evaluation criteria is not available. Further, auditing does not cover products. Similarly, there are no proposals defining the evaluation procedure for ecological resource scarcity. Thus, the attempt of the Commission of the European Communities to create the elementary prerequisites for consistent and verifiable environmental auditing in the corporate sector has failed.     

Persistence and dissipation of synthetic pyrethroid pesticides in red soils from the Yangtze River Delta area

Laboratory incubation trials were conducted to investigate the effects of several factors on the persistence as well as the dissipation of three synthetic pyrethroid pesticides in red soils obtained from the Yangtze River Delta region in China. The pyrethroids selected for investigation were cypermethrin, fenvalerate, and deltamethrin, which continue to be used extensively to control pests on farmland in the region despite the concern that they are highly toxic to certain vertebrate and mammalian species. Data from this exploratory study showed that the dissipation half-lives (T _1/2) tended to correlate with soil pH and soil organic matter contents, but not with soil cation-exchange capacity. The T _1/2 values were seen to be shorter in soil samples fertilized with glucose than without. The rates of pyrethroid dissipation also tended to increase with increasing initial soil concentration, but were largely unaffected by whether the pesticides were present in the soil separately or as a mixture. Another noteworthy observation is that microbial activity appeared to dominate the degradation process. Findings of this type could offer valuable clues for future research directions in reducing pesticide persistence in soil, which in turn could lead to the ultimate reduction of environmental pollution caused by pyrethroid application to farmland in the region. Project supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (Project No. KSCX2-YW-N-038) and the National Key Basic Research Support Foundation (973), China (No. 2002CB4108010).     

Natural radioactivity levels in topsoil from the Pearl River Delta Zone, Guangdong, China

Concentrations of the natural radionuclides ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K have been measured by γ-ray spectrometry in 796 topsoil samples from the Pearl River Delta Zone (PRDZ) of Guangdong, China. The mean concentrations for ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were found to be 140 ± 37 Bq kg⁻¹, 134 ± 41 Bq kg⁻¹, 187 ± 80 Bq kg⁻¹ and 680 ± 203 Bq kg⁻¹ dry mass, respectively. These values were all higher than the mean values in soil for China and the world. Outdoor air-absorbed dose rates, calculated from activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K, ranged from 86 to 237 nGy h⁻¹, with a mean value of 165 ± 46 nGy h⁻¹. The corresponding annual outdoor effective dose rate per person was estimated to be between 0.11 and 0.29 mSv y⁻¹, with a mean value of 0.20 ± 0.06 mSv y⁻¹, which was also higher than the world mean value of 0.07 mSv y⁻¹. The radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq) and the external hazard index (I_r) resulted from the natural radionuclides in soil, were also calculated and found to vary from 230 to 676 Bq kg⁻¹ and from 0.6 to 1.8, respectively. The Ra_eq and the I_r in all the investigated regions were up to 75% higher than the set limits of 370 Bq kg⁻¹ and 1.0, respectively.     

试样放置角度与外加辐射强度对可碳化固体表面火蔓延的影响

选取了尺寸为400mm×90mm×3mm质地较为均匀的白木作为研究对象,对不同试样放置角度和不同外加辐射强度作用下的火焰高度、火蔓延速率和失重速率等火蔓延参数进行了测量,以研究试样放置角度和辐射强度对可炭化固体表面火蔓延的作用规律。研究发现,试样表面的火蔓延速率随辐射强度的增加而增加。当角度在负角度范围内时,角度的变化对火蔓延速率的影响不大,当角度在正角度范围内时,火蔓延速率随着角度的增加而迅速上升。试样失重速率随着辐射强度以及试样放置角度的增加而增加。火焰高度会随着外加辐射强度的增加而增加,并与试样失重速率的0.4次方呈正比关系。     

Endogenous vs. exogenous regulations in the commons

It is widely believed that there is strong experimental evidence to support the idea that exogenously imposed regulations crowd out the intrinsic motivations of common pool resource (CPR) users to refrain from over-harvesting. We introduce a novel experimental design that attempts to disentangle potential confounds in previous experiments. A key feature of our experimental design is to have the exact same regulations chosen endogenously as those that are imposed exogenously. When we compare the same regulations chosen endogenously to those externally imposed, we observe no differences in extraction levels among CPR users in a laboratory experiment. We also observe no differences between weak external regulations and no regulations, after controlling for a potential confound. However, when we add communication to our endogenous treatment, we observe significant behavioral differences between endogenous regulations with communication and exogenous regulations without communication. Our results suggest that externally imposed regulations do not crowd out intrinsic motivations in the lab and they confirm that communication facilitates cooperation to reduce extraction.     

Does ‘Manna from Heaven’ help? The role of cash transfers in disaster recovery—lessons from Fiji after Tropical Cyclone Winston

This paper contributes to the evidence on the effectiveness of shock-responsive social protection systems in helping affected households recover from the negative consequences of disasters. It evaluates the influence of the top-up cash transfers provided by the Government of Fiji to poor households in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Winston, which struck the Pacific Island country on 20 February 2016. The impact evaluation strategy incorporates a sharp regression discontinuity design to define treatment and control groups, based on the eligibility threshold of the poverty benefit scheme. The results indicate that treatment households—that is, those that received cash transfers—are significantly more likely to report quicker recovery from various shocks. Female-headed households are more likely to recover from the ramifications, whereas households with older heads are less likely to do so. The presence of a functioning market appears to be a major factor aiding the speed of recovery. Finally, the evidence points towards strong district effects on recovery.     

旅游环境问题的经济学透视

旅游环境问题已成为旅游业能否可持续发展的关键，本文运用经济学理论，通过旅游环境容量和经济行为分析，指出了旅游环境问题的实质是外部不经济性，为了实现在资源不被破坏的前提下旅游经济效益最大化，需主动进行环境治理并采取适当的经济手段。     

治理套外返污水的油井、水井

由于固井质量不合格或是套管破裂、错断引起的油井和水井套返污水，造成了吉林油田老油区普遍的环境污染。从１９９０年开始，通过反复的摸索和试验，提出并逐渐完善了两种切实可行的治理方法，即封堵剂法和封隔器法。实践证明，效果良好。     

IC反应器的启动研究进展

针对IC反应器存在的启动时间较长的问题,对有关IC反应器的启动研究做一综述,为IC反应器的研究提供一定的参考和借鉴。     

Modeling of the EMRAS urban working group hypothetical scenario using the RESRAD-RDD methodology

The RESRAD-RDD methodology was applied to model the short- and long-term radiation exposures after a hypothetical radiological dispersal device (RDD) event in an urban environment. It was assumed that an RDD event would result in outside surface contamination of the exterior walls and roofs of surrounding buildings, as well as associated paved areas and lawns. The contaminants also might move inside the buildings and deposit on floors and interior walls. Some important input parameters include occupancy factors, building characteristics, and weathering of surface contamination. The modeling results include predicted external dose rates, relative contributions from important surfaces, annual and cumulative doses, and radionuclide concentrations. Potential countermeasures evaluated include grass removal, soil removal, and washing of paved areas.