Agricultural work related injury and Ill-health and the economic cost

This paper contains a literature review of the occupational injuries and ill-health in agriculture world-wide and a survey of the attempts that have been made to estimate the resulting economic and social costs. Agricultural workers suffer a wide variety of disorders as a result of their occupation. These range from minor (cuts, bruises) to more severe (deep wounds, fractures), permanent (amputation, spinal cord injury) and fatal injury. Ill-health as a result of contact with animals, micro-organisms, plant material dusts or chemicals are associated with certain types of agriculture. There is an underlying but unquantified incidence of pain, stress and injury as a result of ergonomic problems due to poor working procedures and conditions. Statistics from many countries or regions show that agriculture consistently has one of the highest accident and injury rates of the industrial sectors. There are many causes for the work related injury and ill-health in agricultural workers. In developed countries, tractors and other machinery cause a significant proportion of the accidents and are a major cause of occupational deaths. In less developed countries, accidents due to hand tools such as hoes, sickles and cutting instruments are most prevalent. Animals are a significant cause of injury and ill-health in many countries. Debilitating allergic reactions in the respiratory tract or the skin are caused by exposures to organic dusts, or by contact with allergenic plants in the field respectively. Where comparative data are available, occupational pesticide poisoning in agriculture is a small proportion (< 1–4%) of the total work related disorders. Because of the wide variety of occupational risks to agricultural workers, it is emphasised that if one type of agricultural practice is replaced by another then the risks from the alternative procedure need to be considered. If, for example, agrochemical pest control practices are replaced by methods involving the increased use of machinery, draught animals or manual operations, then an assessment of the resulting risks should be taken into account. Some of the economic costs of occupational injury and ill-health in agriculture can be quantified directly, such as medical costs, the cost of rehabilitation and loss of earnings. Other costs are more difficult to estimate such as loss of opportunity and income foregone for permanent and fatal injury and for the effect on a victim’s family. The estimation of the overall economic costs to farming communities and national agriculture requires further development. When one agricultural practice is replaced wholly or partly by another, for example agrochemical pest control by alternative control methods, then it is necessary to take into account the occupational health costs of the alternative procedure for realistic comparative assessment. There are a number of issues which require continued or increased attention by the relevant national and international authorities and by the agricultural industry. These include the improved collection and collation of occupational health statistics, a better understanding of the extent of ergonomic problems in agriculture, more realistic assessments of the cost of occupational injury and ill-health and the continued need to reduce occupational health disorders by appropriate training and education in agricultural practices and the use of agricultural equipment.     

无费低费方案的实施是清洁生产成功的关键

叙述了我国目前清洁生产审核试点阶段出现的问题，认为根源在于未能有效地执行清洁生产审核中提出的无费低费方案，并提出了解决这些问题的方法。     

Development and valuation of adaptation pathways for storm water management infrastructure

Policymakers today are faced with a difficult task of planning for large scale infrastructure that can cater to the climatic and socio-economic changes that the future will bring. To address the deeply uncertain nature resulting from long-term changes, it is becoming necessary to develop strategies that support flexibility and react more strategically than traditional planning approaches. This paper applies the concept of adaptation tipping points and adaptation pathways to a case study in Singapore for the planning of long-term urban drainage infrastructure. Using conventional grey and sustainable green solutions in isolation and in combination, adaptation pathway maps are developed and compared across outlined climatic and landuse scenarios. To understand and justify if the imparted flexibility is worth its cost, economic assessments are performed. This is a valuable extension of the existing framework, helps to identify the preferred configuration of land use and sub-select adaptation actions that should be implemented at the current time frame. The main finding of this study is that the adaptation pathways map for the sustainable grey landuse scenario economically outperforms those of the other outlined land uses. This provides a valuable insight for policy makers, as it implies that if carefully planned development is undertaken, the requirements of storm water management can be met in a sustainable manner, while simultaneously freeing up land for other purposes. This is especially important in the context of highly dense urban areas such as Singapore, where land is a scare resource.     

Determining distribution coefficients for low cost adsorbents

As with other construction materials, coal fly ash contains trace metals that can leach into the natural environment. As part of a broader effort to encourage appropriate coal combustion product use in infrastructure applications (e.g., road construction, stabilization, and structural fill), this study evaluated traditional and low‐cost adsorbent alternatives for their capacity to attenuate trace metals. Batch sorption tests were used as a preliminary screen for a wide variety of low cost (e.g., steel byproducts, rubber dust, and compost) and innovative materials (e.g., kudzu, biofilm, and pond weed) as well as conventional materials (activated carbon, alumina, and zeolites). The removal rates were demonstrated in this study by observing the calculated distribution coefficient (K_d) which were determined using a program called MATLAB. Limestone and steel byproducts were found to be particularly effective with large K_d values of 15,740, 1,520, and 540 L kg^?1 for cadmium, chromium, and selenium and, for ladle refractory and mill scale, K_d values of 3,910, 670, and 1,760 L kg^?1 were observed. Among the three metals tested for this study, it was observed that most low cost and innovative materials removed cadmium quite efficiently; however, the removal of selenium and chromium depended on the substrate and prevailing pH. In general, these results suggest that alternative materials may have relevance in niche applications where leaching is a concern that can be addressed through enhanced attenuation capacity via blending or layering of adsorbents.     

成本倒逼:政府机构节能管理新思路

从政府机构节能的紧迫性出发。基于“企业化政府”理论和政府机构节能管理工作存在的问题。分析了将“成本倒逼法”引入政府机构节能管理工作的理论依据和现实基础。论证“成本倒遇法”在政府机构节能管理工作中的实际应用。     

施工承包企业安全成本及其核算的研究

依据施工承包企业安全管理的目标、特点和程序,提出安全成本的概念和构成以及保证性安全成本对损失性安全成本的直接影响.同时,借助施工安全成本与安全度的关系、提高安全技术工作的经济合理性、加速构建施工承包企业安全成本核算制度,优化施工承包企业的安全管理工作,并为提高企业经济效益及社会经济运行的安全度奠定基础.     

旅游资源的旅游价值评估——以敦煌为例

论文对新近发展起来的旅行费用法进行了介绍,并设计出敦煌旅游资源的旅游价值评估技术路线,提出了确定多目的地旅游权重和闲暇时间的机会成本的方法。根据实际调查资料,利用费用支出法、旅行费用法及机会成本法对敦煌旅游资源2001年的国内旅游价值进行了评估,结果表明,其国内旅游价值为7.8961×108元,它会因旅游业的发展而变化。     

基于能值分析法的绿色GDP核算研究——以陕西省商洛市为例

论文基于Odum创立的生态经济系统能值理论和方法,对2003-2012年商洛市绿色GDP进行定量核算。核算结果如下：① 2003-2012年商洛市传统GDP分别在1.12×10⁹ ~ 6.72×10⁹美元之间,绿色GDP分别在9.80×10⁸~ 3.35×10⁹美元之间,各年度绿色GDP占GDP比重在49.85%~ 87.50%之间;② 自2003年以来,商洛市经济增长对自然资源（包括不可更新环境资源与不可更新资源产品）及环境资源价值消耗的持续增长,造成10 a间绿色GDP发生了很大程度的变化,各年度对自然资源价值消耗占GDP的比重处于6.55%~31.77%之间,各年度环境资源价值损耗占GDP的比重处于5.18%~24.39%之间,其中2008、2009年环境资源价值损耗对绿色GDP核算的影响大于自然资源损耗对绿色GDP核算的影响,其余年份均是自然资源的损耗大于环境资源的损耗;③ 输入资源包括从外部输入的汽油、柴油、化肥、农药等,对绿色GDP核算的影响较小,各年度占GDP比重保持在0.83%~1.30%之间。绿色GDP核算结果表明：近年来商洛市的经济发展存在两个方面的问题,第一是经济增长严重依赖于对资源（包括自然资源和输入资源）的消耗,第二是商洛市经济增长造成了对环境的严重污染。因此商洛市经济发展的模式是不可持续的,如果继续延续这种依赖资源和环境的发展模式,就会使当地经济陷入恶性循环的怪圈。     

Pilot study for the treatment of sodium and fluoride-contaminated groundwater by using high-pressure membrane systems

High-pressure membrane process is one of the cost-effective technologies for the treatment of groundwater containing excessive dissolved solids. This paper reports a pilot study in treating a typical groundwater in Huaibei Plain containing excessive sodium, sulfate and fluoride ions. Three membrane systems were set up and two brands of reverse osmosis (RO), four low-pressure RO (LPRO) and one tight nanofiltration (NF) membranes were tested under this pilot study. An apparent recovery rate at about 75% was adopted. Cartridge filtration, in combination with dosing antiscalent, was not sufficient to reduce the fouling potential of the raw water. All RO and LPRO systems (except for the two severely affected by membrane fouling) demonstrated similar rejection ratios of the conductivity (~98.5%), sodium (~98.5%) and fluoride (~99%). Membrane fouling substantially reduced the rejection performance of the fouled membranes. The tight NF membrane also had a good rejection on conductivity (95%), sodium (94%) and fluoride (95%). All membranes rejected sulfate ion almost completely (more than 99%). The electricity consumptions for the RO, LPRO and NF systems were 1.74, 1.10 and 0.72 kWh?m^-3 treated water, respectively. The estimated treatment costs by using typical RO, LPRO and tight NF membrane systems were 1.21, 0.98 and 0.96 CNY?m^-3 finished water, respectively. A treatment process consisting of either LPRO or tight NF facilities following multi-media filtration was suggested.     

我国煤炭环境外部成本的经济核算

基于产品生命周期理论,构建煤炭环境外部成本核算框架,采用环境价值评估方法,对煤炭生产、运输及利用环节环境成本实物量及价值量进行核算,最后得到煤炭的环境外部成本,以2010年为核算基准年,得到煤炭在生产、运输和使用环节中产生的环境外部成本分别为2185.95亿元、631.18亿元及2655.37亿元,吨煤成本为67.78,44.68,85.04,总环境外部成本为5472.50亿元,吨煤成本为197.40元.