Environmental Risks of Pesticides Versus Genetic Engineering for Agricultural Pest Control

Despite the application of 2.5 million tons ofpesticides worldwide, more than 40% of all potentialfood production is lost to insect, weed, and plantpathogen pests prior to harvest. After harvest, anadditional 20% of food is lost to another group ofpests. The use of pesticides for pest control resultsin an estimated 26 million human poisonings, with220,000 fatalities, annually worldwide. In the UnitedStates, the environmental and public health costs forthe recommended use of pesticides total approximately$9 billion/yr. Thus, there is a need for alternativenon-chemical pest controls, and genetic engineering(biotechnology) might help with this need. Diseaseand insect pest resistance to various pests has beenslowly bred into crops for the past 12,000 years;current techniques in biotechnology now offeropportunities to further and more rapidly improve thenon-chemical control of disease and insect pests ofcrops. However, relying on a single factor, like theBacillus thuringiensis toxin that has beeninserted into corn and a few other crops for insectcontrol, leads to various environmental problems,including insect resistance and, in some cases, athreat to beneficial biological control insects andendangered insect species. A major environmental andeconomic cost associated with genetic engineeringapplications in agriculture relates to the use ofherbicide resistant crops (HRC). In general, HRCtechnology results in increased herbicide use but noincrease in crop yields. The heavy use of herbicidesin HRC technology pollutes the environment and canlead to weed control costs for farmers that may be2-fold greater than standard weed control costs. Therefore, pest control with both pesticides andbiotechnology can be improved for effective, safe,economical pest control.     

浅谈剧毒品使用企业危险源的控制

依据GB/T28001:2001职业健康安全管理体系的要求,结合剧毒品使用企业的实际情况,畅述了危险源控制的必要性和建立危险源控制的实施程序的具体方法;以期对剧毒品使用企业预防、降低或消除风险,对减少安全事故的发生及推进GB/T28001:2001职业健康安全管理体系的实施等方面起到一定的引导作用.     

Whom to Trust? Public Concerns, Late Modern Risks, and Expert Trustworthiness

This article discusses the conditions under which the use of expert knowledge may provide an adequate response to public concerns about high-tech, late modern risks. Scientific risk estimation has more than once led to expert controversies. When these controversies occur, the public at large – as a media audience – faces a paradoxical situation: on the one hand it must rely on the expertise of scientists as represented in the mass media, but on the other it is confused by competing expert claims in the absence of any clear-cut standard to judge these claims. The question then arises, what expertise can the public trust? I argue that expert controversies cannot be settled by appealing to neutral, impartial expertise, because each use of expert knowledge in applied contexts is inextricably bound up with normative and evaluative assumptions. This value-laden nature of expert contributions, however, does not necessarily force us to adopt a relativist conception of expert knowledge. Nor does it imply active involvement of ordinary citizens in scientific risk estimation – as some authors seem to suggest. The value-laden, or partisan, nature of expert statements rather requires an unbiased process of expert dispute in which experts and counter-experts can participate. Moreover, instead of being a reason for discrediting expert contributions, experts' commitment may enhance public trustworthiness because it enlarges the scope of perspectives taken into account, to include public concerns. Experts who share the same worries as (some of) the public could be expected to voice these worries at the level of expert dispute. Thus, a broadly shaped expert dispute, that is accessible to both proponents and opponents, is a prerequisite for public trust.     

上海地区台风灾害损失评估

台风是一种生成于热带或副热带洋面上的破坏性很强的天气系统。历史上台风对上海曾造成较大的影响和经济损失。利用上海气象站风、雨观测资料、上海基础地理信息数据、上海社会和经济数据以及台风灾情资料,利用逐步回归方法建立了上海台风灾害损失评估模型,并开展了上海台风灾损的年际变化和地区分布差异评价。结果表明建立的台风灾害损失评估模型可以用来进行台风灾损评估。近50 a来上海台风灾损度的变化趋势不明显,上海地区因台风影响造成的损失以沿海的崇明、南汇最严重,其次是地势低洼的青浦、金山和松江,中心城区和闵行台风灾损最低。由于历史台风灾情资料记载的不完整性和本评估未充分考虑上海社会经济发展及自然灾害防御能力的提高对台风灾损的影响,评估结果还具有一定的不确定性。深入综合考虑台风灾害致灾性和当地社会经济发展变化,建立更科学的台风灾害损失评估模型,是今后的研究方向     

Risk evaluation of natural disasters based on connection function

There are many uncertain factors,such as stochastic,fuzzy and gray information in the risk analysis on natural hazard.The set pair analysis(SPA)deals effectively with the various uncertain factors contributing to evaluation of the risk level of natural disasters.The evaluation indicators and standards of natural disasters risk are analyzed by identity-discrepancycontrary(IDC).The result,the connection numbers,still has uncertainty information.Thus,yielding the risk evaluation model of natural disasters based on connection function,which construct a set pair relation between the indicators of connection numbers and comprehensive evaluation standards,and describe uncertainty of the connection numbers by using connection function.The study showed that the proposed model takes into account only the uncertainty of risk evaluation indicator identification on natural disasters,also the uncertainty of result connection numbers.This approach gives full consideration to the uncertainty of systematic evaluation process along with the actual meaning of comprehensive evaluation functions.Therefore,this means it is able to reduce the uncertainty of final evaluation results and improve the accuracy and reasonability of evaluation results.This model is capable of reflecting actual situation of the risk evaluation on natural disaster affected by various uncertain factors and has a promotional value in the natural disaster risk assessment.     

Environmental Risks in Newspaper Coverage: A Framing Analysis of Investigative Reports on Environmental Problems in 10 Chinese Newspapers

Economic modernization has been China's national priority since the establishment of the People's Republic. Since the authorities retain control over the media, which is also now subject to commercial influences, it might be expected that the Chinese news media would construct a discourse of assurance, endorsing economic modernization. A framing analysis of newspaper investigative reports on environmental problems in this article, however, shows that these reports have portrayed environmental problems in a manner that opposes rather than supports the national priority for economic growth. It challenges rather than reinforces the current institutional discourse of development and criticizes rather than contributes to the present structure of the capitalist mode of production in China. In this case, the prominence of the critical reflective discourse demonstrates the critical role investigative journalism potentially plays in arousing the public's awareness of risks in order to create a society in which such risks can be minimized. Factors in the wider social context contribute to our understanding of the critical discourse of environmental problems.     

An “Asymmetric Threat” That Should Have Been Anticipated: Political Discourse on 2007 Wildfires in Greece

This paper examines the pre-election interpretative repertoires employed by the two main political parties in Greece regarding the 2007 summer wildfires, which have been recorded as the worst natural disaster in contemporary Greek history. This involved a discourse analysis of press releases, interviews, and press conference statements. While the New Democracy governing party initially followed a “business-as-usual” scenario, comparing the situation with past wildfires under the administration of PASOK (the biggest opposition party), the increasing number of deaths over time rendered any such comparison invalid. In order to regain momentum, the government launched the interpretative repertoire of “asymmetric threat”, which proved instrumental in helping the government to get re-elected. This political discourse lacked any consideration of broad socioeconomic changes in rural areas in Greece which might have contributed substantially to the severity of the disaster. Implications for wildfire policy are discussed.     

洪灾综合风险的结构特征分析

洪灾风险研究从单一风险转向综合风险,将是防洪减灾理论发展的必然趋势,而结构特征分析则是洪灾综合风险研究的首要任务。首先,应用灾害学的研究理论探讨洪水灾害的风险性,建立由致灾因子的危险性、孕灾环境的脆弱绝对性、承灾体易损相对性及用于洪灾风险宏观评价的灾情损失评估所组成的洪灾风险分析的宏观结构,并给出了相应的量化途径;其次,从模型分析的角度,分析了由洪水风险、防洪工程风险、防洪投资风险、洪泛区风险、洪水生态环境风险和防洪决策风险6个方面组成的洪灾综合风险特征,构建以洪水为中心的洪灾风险链的微观结构,并应用概率论方法,给出了相应的量化概念模型;最后,对洪灾综合风险的结构进行了系统分析。     

基于遥感的洪水灾害承灾体神经网络的提取方法探讨

洪水灾害承文体信息的快速获取是洪水灾害评估的基础．卫星遥感所获得的遥感图象包含了有关该承灾体的空间分布信息．常规目视解译难以快速并准确地从遥感图象中提取这些信息．神经网络技术的发展为解决这一问题提供了新的工具．本文阐这了将神经网络用于从遥感图象中自动提取洪水灾害承文体的空间分布信息的基本原理和方法,并结合实例说明了这种方法的有效性     

基于遗传算法的洪水灾情评估神经网络模型探讨

洪水灾情评估实际上是一种模式识别问题,而人工神经网络模型具有逼近有界闭子集上任意非线性映射的特性,且模型更新方便。本文邮基于遗传算法的洪水灾情评估神经网络模型,阐述了其基本原理和算法,实例研究表明其实用性、客观性和通用性。