国内特种作业培训考核管理工作机制现状研究

特种作业培训考核管理工作是安全生产的一项十分重要的基础工作,是国家为加强危险岗位管理而制定的一项强制性政策。2011年,北京市安监局将研究改进特种作业培训考核管理工作机制调研列为市局重点研究课题,调研工作分为现场调研、函件调研及电话咨询三种形式。本文在对北京市、其他直辖市,以及四川、江苏、辽宁、吉林、安徽、浙江和山西等九个主要省市特种作业培训考核管理工作机制调研基础上,阐述了目前我国主要省市特种作业培训考核管理工作机制现状,分析了国内主要的特种作业培训考核管理模式、特点、基本状况及主要优缺点。按照各部门之间的职能划分,全国各主要省市主要采取"一条龙"、"1+1"和"2+1"三种特种作业培训考核管理模式。     

通用航空安全体系自组织演化动力学机制与模式研究

建立符合通用航空发展规律的通用航空安全管理理论体系,是通用航空发展的前提.本文以通用航空发展特点为基础,应用自组织理论对通用航空发展的组织特性进行了分析,研究了通用航空安全体系自组织生成模式的前提条件和动因,剖析了通用航空安全体系自组织演化的内外部动力因素,以及其相互作用方式和过程,从而解构出通用航空安全体系自组织演化的动力学机制—涨落机制、创新机制、选择机制和学习机制,在此基础上,构建了通用航空安全体系自组织演化动力学模型.最后,结合实际对我国通用航空安全管理体系建设提出了相应的建议.     

加强安全生产基层基础工作的调查与思考

本文从安全生产基层基础工作入手,以湖北省为例,从安全监管机构设置不规范不健全、基层安全监管力量十分薄弱、安全投入和监管装备严重不足、基层安全监管队伍不稳定、安全生产政策法规体系不完善、安全生产工作机制不健全等六个方面分析了安全生产基层基础建设存在的突出问题。在此基础上,提出了实施"三三五五四"工程的建议,即:全面落实三个责任(企业主体责任、党委政府组织领导责任、相关部门职责);大力加强三项基本建设(基层安全监管机构建设、安全监管执法人员能力建设、安全监管基础设施及基本装备建设);进一步夯实五个基础(安全生产源头监管、企业安全生产标准化建设、安全生产隐患排查治理、职业病危害防治、基层安全生产网格化管理工程);建立健全五项激励约束机制(企业安全生产信用挂钩联动机制、安全生产激励机制、安全监管执法岗位特殊津贴制度、企业安全生产绩效工资制度、安全生产行政问责制);建立健全四个保障体系(投入保障体系、法制保障体系、宣教保障体系、科技支撑体系)。     

Ambivalence towards discourse of disaster resilience

This paper investigates empirically how the international aid community (IAC)—donors and practitioners—considers and implements disaster resilience in a specific country setting, Nepal, and throughout the rest of the world. A key finding is that there is ambivalence about a concept that has become a discourse. On a global level, the IAC utilises the discourse of resilience in a cautiously positive manner as a bridging concept. On a national level, it is being used to influence the Government of Nepal, as well as serving as an operational tool of donors. The mythical resilient urban community is fashioned in the IAC's imaginary; understanding how people create communities and what type of linkages with government urban residents desire to develop their resilience strategies is missing, though, from the discussion. Disaster resilience can be viewed as another grand plan to enhance the lives of people. Yet, regrettably, an explicit focus on individuals and their communities is lost in the process.     

Long-run dynamics of renewable energy consumption on carbon emissions and economic growth in the European union

This paper examines long-run and short-run dynamics of renewable energy consumption on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and economic growth in the European Union. This study employs cointegration tests, Granger causality tests and vector error correction estimates to examine the direction of Granger causality, the long-run dynamics of economic growth and energy variables on carbon emissions. This study analyses time series data from the World Development Indicators over the period from1961 to 2012. The results of this study support a link between renewable energy consumption, economic growth, industrialization, exports and CO₂ emissions in the long-run and short-run. The results support that the sign of the long-run dynamics from the endogenous variables to the CO₂ emissions variable is negative and significant, which implies that the energy and environmental policies of the European Union aimed at curbing CO₂ emissions must have been effective in the long-term. Furthermore, renewable energy consumption and exports have significant negative impact on CO₂ emissions in the short-run. However, industrialization and economic growth have positive impact on CO₂ emissions in the short-run. The results suggest that both economic growth and industrialization must have been achieved at the cost of harming the environment. The finding suggests that the increasing consumption of renewable energy tends to play an important role in curbing carbon emissions in the region.     

Perceived importance of sustainability dimensions in the Portuguese metal industry

The growing interest of stakeholders regarding the contribution of organizations to Sustainable Development is influencing organizational behavior and strategic planning. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perception of the importance of organizational sustainability dimensions in a relevant economic sector: the metal industry. Survey data was collected from a sample of 211 Portuguese industries, and non-parametric statistical tests were used to validate five research hypotheses regarding the importance of the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability. The results obtained demonstrate awareness of the sampled industries regarding all sustainability dimensions, recognizing that their importance has been increasing over the years, and prospecting that this importance will continue to increase in the future. The industries in this sample revealed different degrees of perceived importance for the different sustainability dimensions: the highest importance was given to the economic dimension, and culture was considered the least important sustainability dimension. However, the perception of the respondents is that these differences will be less relevant in the future. The results also show that companies with certified management systems reveal a higher perceived importance regarding sustainability dimensions. Also, industries with higher values of annual turnover, number of employees and export sales tend to give higher degrees of importance to sustainability dimensions. Considering the economic, environmental and social impacts of metal industries at an international level, the awareness of this industrial sector regarding the importance of sustainability is a relevant step to the commitment towards Sustainable Development.     

Tell the truth or not? The montero mechanism for emissions control at work

We experimentally test the truth-telling mechanism proposed by Montero (2008) for eliciting firms' abatement costs. We compare this mechanism with two well-known alternative allocation mechanisms, free and costly allocation of permits at the Pigouvian price. Controlling for the number of firms and the firms' maximal emissions, we find that, in line with the theoretical predictions, firms over-report their maximal emissions under free allocation of permits and under-report these under costly allocation of permits. Under Montero's mechanism, by contrast, firms almost always report their maximal emissions truthfully. However, in terms of efficiency, the difference between Montero's mechanism and costly allocation disappears with industries including more than one firm.     

Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence

This paper analyzes the energy price-employment nexus and contributes to the literature by showing that it is important to decompose the regulatory effect into demand, cost, and factor-shift effects. This is done by means of a cross-country multi-sectoral dataset. The results show that both rising energy prices and shadow prices of energy have no significant effect on net employment when the manufacturing sectors only are analyzed. While finding significant variations across countries, the average employment effects become significantly positive once jobs in the economy as a whole are considered. This change is driven mainly by larger positive cost effects, which more than offset the negative demand effects and reductions in the positive factor-shift effects. Moreover, the paper reveals that the often implemented approach of using a simple regulation regressor, instead of decomposing the employment effect, can result in biased estimates.     

Countering resistance to protected‐area extension

The establishment of protected areas is a critical strategy for conserving biodiversity. Key policy directives like the Aichi targets seek to expand protected areas to 17% of Earth's land surface, with calls by some conservation biologists for much more. However, in places such as the United States, Germany, and Australia, attempts to increase protected areas are meeting strong resistance from communities, industry groups, and governments. We examined case studies of such resistance in Victoria, Australia, Bavaria, Germany, and Florida, United States. We considered 4 ways to tackle this problem. First, broaden the case for protected areas beyond nature conservation to include economic, human health, and other benefits, and translate these into a persuasive business case for protected areas. Second, better communicate the conservation values of protected areas. This should include highlighting how many species, communities, and ecosystems have been conserved by protected areas and the counterfactual (i.e., what would have been lost without protected area establishment). Third, consider zoning of activities to ensure the maintenance of effective management. Finally, remind citizens to think about conservation when they vote, including holding politicians accountable for their environmental promises. Without tackling resistance to expanding the protected estate, it will be impossible to reach conservation targets, and this will undermine attempts to stem the global extinction crisis.     

A strategy for wildlife management in depopulating rural areas of Japan

Former ranges of wild animals have been reestablished in many developed countries. However, this reestablishment has led to increasing human–wildlife conflict in agroforest ecosystems. In Japan, human–wildlife conflict, such as crop raiding by and ecological impacts of wild ungulates and primates, is a serious problem in depopulated rural areas due to these animal range expansions and increased abundances. Japan's human population is predicted to decline by 24% by 2050, and approximately 20% of agricultural settlements will become completely depopulated. In this scenario, anthropogenic pressures on wildlife (e.g., hunting and habitat alteration) will continue to decrease and human–wildlife conflict will increase due to increasing wildlife recovery. Japan's local governments plan to slow range recovery, prevent species reestablishment, or remove recolonizing large mammals through lethal control. This strategy, however, is not cost-effective, and workforce shortages in depopulated communities make it infeasible. Moreover, the suppression of wildlife prevents the recovery of ecological functions and thus would degrade regional biodiversity. The declining pressure on wildlife that accompanies human depopulation will prevent the restoration of any past states of human–wildlife interaction. We suggest human-used areas in rural landscapes be aggregated in compact cities and that in transition zones between human settlements and depopulated lands that land-sharing approaches be applied. Concentrating management efforts in compact cities may effectively decrease human–wildlife conflict, rather than intensifying human pressures. Reforestation of depopulated lands may lead to recovery of wildlife habitats, their ecosystem functions, and regional biodiversity due to minimization of negative anthropogenic effects (land-sparing approach). Balancing resolution of human–wildlife conflict and ecological rewilding could become a new, challenging task for regional wildlife managers.