Animal agency in wildlife conservation and management

Wildlife conservation and management (WCM) practices have been historically drawn from a wide variety of academic fields, yet practitioners have been slow to engage with emerging conversations about animals as complex beings, whose individuality and sociality influence their relationships with humans. We propose an explicit acknowledgement of wild, nonhuman animals as active participants in WCM. We examined 190 studies of WCM interventions and outcomes to highlight 3 common assumptions that underpin many present approaches to WCM: animal behaviors are rigid and homogeneous; wildlife exhibit idealized wild behavior and prefer pristine habitats; and human–wildlife relationships are of marginal or secondary importance relative to nonhuman interactions. We found that these management interventions insufficiently considered animal learning, decision-making, individuality, sociality, and relationships with humans and led to unanticipated detrimental outcomes. To address these shortcomings, we synthesized theoretical advances in animal behavioral sciences, animal geographies, and animal legal theory that may help conservation professionals reconceptualize animals and their relationships with humans. Based on advances in these fields, we constructed the concept of animal agency, which we define as the ability of animals to actively influence conservation and management outcomes through their adaptive, context-specific, and complex behaviors that are predicated on their sentience, individuality, lived experiences, cognition, sociality, and cultures in ways that shape and reshape shared human–wildlife cultures, spaces, and histories. Conservation practices, such as compassionate conservation, convivial conservation, and ecological justice, incorporate facets of animal agency. Animal agency can be incorporated in conservation problem-solving by assessing the ways in which agency contributes to species’ survival and by encouraging more adaptive and collaborative decision-making among human and nonhuman stakeholders.     

一种便携式荧光测油仪在海上溢油应急监测中的适用性研究

研究了一种便携式荧光测油仪在海上溢油应急监测中的适用性,并与现行仲裁标准方法进行比较分析。研究表明:该便携式荧光测油仪测定海水中油类样品仅需100 mL水样,平均每个样品所需的前处理时间约340 s,方法检出限为0.003 mg/L,测定下限为0.012 mg/L。测定用标准物质配制的不同浓度海水样品,相对标准偏差为0.08%~0.87%,测定标准样品的相对误差为0.49%~4.50%,实际样品加标回收率为90%~107%。对标准物质配制的海水样品进行检测,与现行仲裁标准方法在0.05水平下无显著性差异。在渤海中部海上监测中,连续6 d测定不同标准样品的相对标准偏差为0.26%~0.83%。研究结果表明,该便携式荧光测油仪适用于现场对油类的定量分析和水质评价。     

国外快速测定化学消油剂消油效果的几种方法

化学消油剂消油效果的现场评定方法必须满足适合现场操作、材料价廉易得、结果可靠准确等条件。对国外现有的现场快速测定消油剂效果的5种方法进行比较,结果表明,英国的佩内特鉴别法、挪威的菲勒溢出油检测装置和加拿大的梅蒂现场测定法存在一定的缺陷,不推荐使用。美国环保局的现场测定法(EPA FDET)简单、快速、准确。加拿大渥太华一家环境研究机构研制出的现场试验法比EPA FDET法耗时多,但原材料价格低廉,操作简单,结果可靠,值得推广应用。     

南海区平台石油的特征荧光光谱分析

通过对南海区平台石油进行普通荧光光谱、同步扫描荧光光谱、导数荧光技术和三维荧光技术扫描,立体地了解各原 油样品荧光光谱特征,为科学鉴别濒发的海上溢油来源提供科学的依据。实验中综合分析了6个平台原油样品,并与标准原油 进行光谱对比,找出了这些样品的光谱数字化特征。     

TiO2@palygorskite composite for the efficient remediation of oil spills via a dispersion-photodegradation synergy

• A novel and multi-functional clay-based oil spill remediation system was constructed. • TiO₂@PAL functions as a particulate dispersant to break oil slick into tiny droplets. • Effective dispersion leads to the direct contact of TiO₂ with oil pollutes directly. • TiO₂ loaded on PAL exhibits efficient photodegradation for oil pollutants. • TiO₂@PAL shows a typical dispersion-photocatalysis synergistic remediation. Removing spilled oil from the water surface is critically important given that oil spill accidents are a common occurrence. In this study, TiO₂@Palygorskite composite prepared by a simple coprecipitation method was used for oil spill remediation via a dispersion-photodegradation synergy. Diesel could be efficiently dispersed into small oil droplets by TiO₂@Palygorskite. These dispersed droplets had an average diameter of 20–30 mm and exhibited good time stability. The tight adsorption of TiO₂@Palygorskite on the surface of the droplets was observed in fluorescence and SEM images. As a particulate dispersant, the direct contact of TiO₂@Palygorskite with oil pollutants effectively enhanced the photodegradation efficiency of TiO₂ for oil. During the photodegradation process, •O₂⁻and •OH were detected by ESR and radical trapping experiments. The photodegradation efficiency of diesel by TiO₂@Palygorskite was enhanced by about 5 times compared with pure TiO₂ under simulated sunlight irradiation. The establishment of this new dispersion-photodegradation synergistic remediation system provides a new direction for the development of marine oil spill remediation.     

基于模糊Bow-tie模型的油轮靠港装卸作业溢油风险分析

为了全面分析油轮靠港装卸作业溢油事故风险,在风险定量分析中引入了模糊Bow-tie模型,基于事故树方法分析油轮靠港装卸作业发生溢油事故的原因,采用事件树方法分析溢油事故可能导致的后果,利用模糊集理论与专家评价相结合的方法分析油轮靠港装卸作业溢油的模糊可能值,采用层次分析法确定作业溢油后果因素的权重值,采用矩阵乘法计算溢油后果风险值。分析结果表明:油轮靠港装卸作业过程中一旦发生溢油,发生火灾+污染、爆炸+污染的概率较高。基于以上风险分析提出了油轮靠港装卸作业风险的防控措施,可为油轮靠港装卸作业安全风险管理提供参考。     

Preconcentration of cadmium and copper ions on magnetic core–shell nanoparticles for determination by flame atomic absorption

Magnetic core–shell nanoparticles modified by (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxy silane were prepared and used as adsorbent for the extraction and preconcentration of cadmium and copper ions. The ions were desorbed with nitric acid followed by determination with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The extraction conditions were investigated systematically. The method was applied for the determination of Cd(II) and Cu(II) ions in different water samples. The accuracy was also evaluated through analysis of certified reference material.     

Exploration of spatial morphometry and socioeconomic variables in modelling urban land use change

The incorporation of land use (LU) data with socioeconomic data is a main issue in modelling. This is as a result of difference in data model and scale. This study proposed and tested the change–pattern approach, which allows the incorporation of these data sets in modelling LU change. Focusing on LU dynamics for a selected part of the Thames Gateway within the City of London, the approach tested two different methods of input selection for the modelling operations. Variables selected from these two methods serve as inputs into several neural networks tested in order to identify the direction of change for each of the LU types within the study area. The result shows that direction of LU change across the study area could be identified when spatial morphology of the area and socioeconomic variables are considered. Some classes of change could be identified fairly accurately using landscape metrics indicating level of fragmentation, extent of LU patches, shape complexity of LU patches in combination with some socioeconomic variables.     

Limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures related to the practical operational case

This paper presents data on the limiting (minimum) concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen, in the presence of added helium, at elevated temperature and pressure related to the practical operational case. A 5 L explosion vessel, an ignition sub-system and a transient pressure measurement sub-system were used. Through a series of experiments carried out using this system, the limiting concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at different initial pressures and temperatures for the practical operational case were studied, and the influence of ignition energy and initial temperature on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium was analyzed and discussed. The variation of ignition energy within the studied range is found to have a significant effect on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at lower initial temperature. However, when the ignition energy is higher than 32 mJ, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless as the initial temperature increases from 21 °C to 90 °C. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixture decreases as the ignition energy increases when the initial temperature is lower. When the initial temperature is higher, the ignition energy has little effect on the limiting hydrogen concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures. When the initial temperature reaches 90 °C, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless with an increase in ignition energy. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen in the mixtures, at the initial temperature of 21 °C and the ignition energy of 0.5 mJ, is 8.5% and that of oxygen is 11.25%.