Conservation by Design

Abstract: Conservation researchers are increasingly aware of the need to conduct interdisciplinary research and to engage nonscientists in practical applications of conservation biology. But so far, industrial designers have been left out of such collaboration and outreach efforts. Conservation of wildlife often depends on products such as nest boxes, feeders, barriers, and corridors, all of which have a designed component that is frequently overlooked. Furthermore, many products are adopted without testing on short or long time scales. We argue that the design of products for conservation, and hence their functionality, effectiveness, and value, can be improved through collaboration with industrial designers. We see four key benefits that can arise from interactions with industrial designers: improvement of product quality and value, innovation and improvement in functionality of products, harmonization of conservation products with local values, and development of a psychological biomimesis approach to design. The role of industrial designers in conservation projects would be to improve factors such as product durability, affordability, functionality, and aesthetic appeal to local people. Designers can also help to create multiple product options whose success can be tested in the field. We propose that collaborations with industrial designers can contribute to the development of improvements to existing products and innovations in the practice of animal conservation.     

A Question of Boundaries: The Importance of “Revenuesheds” for Watershed Protection1

Patterson, Lauren A., Jeffrey Hughes, Glenn Barnes, and Stacey I. Berahzer, 2012. A Question of Boundaries: The Importance of “Revenuesheds” for Watershed Protection. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(4): 838‐848. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00655.x Abstract: Watersheds transcend jurisdictional boundaries; raising important questions of who should pay for watershed protection, and how can watershed governance be funded? The responsibility and cost for watershed protection has progressively devolved to local governments, resulting in additional negative externalities and financing challenges. Watershed governance structures have formed at the scale of the watershed, but they often lack the financing mechanisms needed to achieve policy goals. Financing mechanisms via local governments provide a reliable source of revenue and the flexibility to address watershed specific issues. We develop a “revenueshed” approach to access the initial challenges local governments face when seeking to finance trans‐jurisdictional watershed governance. The revenueshed approach engages local governments into discussion and implementation of financial strategies for collaborative watershed governance. Legislation places water quality regulations primarily on local governments inside the watershed. The revenueshed approach extends the financial and stewardship discussion to include local governments outside the watershed that benefit from the watershed. We applied the revenueshed approach to the Mills River and Upper Neuse watersheds in North Carolina. Mills River had a partnership governance seeking revenue for specific projects, whereas the Upper Neuse sought long‐term financial stability to meet new water quality legislation.     

Exposure to radiation from global system for mobile communications at 1,800 MHz significantly changes gene expression in rat hippocampus and cortex

We have earlier shown that radio frequency electromagnetic fields can cause significant leakage of albumin through the blood–brain barrier of exposed rats as compared to non-exposed rats, and also significant neuronal damage in rat brains several weeks after a 2 h exposure to a mobile phone, at 915 MHz with a global system for mobile communications (GSM) frequency modulation, at whole-body specific absorption rate values (SAR) of 200, 20, 2, and 0.2 mW/kg. We have now studied whether 6 h of exposure to the radiation from a GSM mobile test phone at 1,800 MHz (at a whole-body SAR-value of 13 mW/kg, corresponding to a brain SAR-value of 30 mW/kg) has an effect upon the gene expression pattern in rat brain cortex and hippocampus—areas where we have observed albumin leakage from capillaries into neurons and neuronal damage. Microarray analysis of 31,099 rat genes, including splicing variants, was performed in cortex and hippocampus of 8 Fischer 344 rats, 4 animals exposed to global system for mobile communications electromagnetic fields for 6 h in an anechoic chamber, one rat at a time, and 4 controls kept as long in the same anechoic chamber without exposure, also in this case one rat at a time. Gene ontology analysis (using the gene ontology categories biological processes, molecular functions, and cell components) of the differentially expressed genes of the exposed animals versus the control group revealed the following highly significant altered gene categories in both cortex and hippocampus: extracellular region, signal transducer activity, intrinsic to membrane, and integral to membrane. The fact that most of these categories are connected with membrane functions may have a relation to our earlier observation of albumin transport through brain capillaries.     

Enhanced retention of linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl in sandy soil columns intercalated with wood barriers

A study has been made of the effect a reactive barrier made of pine (softwood) or oak (hardwood) wood intercalated in a sandy soil column has on the retention of linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl (pesticides with contrasting physicochemical characteristics). The leaching of pesticides has been carried out under a saturated flow regime and breakthrough curves (BTCs) have been obtained at flow rates of 1 mL min⁻¹ (all pesticides) and 3 mL min⁻¹ (linuron). The cumulative curves in the unmodified soil indicate a leaching of pesticides >80% of the total amount of compound added. After barrier intercalation, linuron leaching decreases significantly and a modification of the leaching kinetics of alachlor and metalaxyl has been observed. The theoretical R factors increased ∼2.6-3.3, 1.2-1.6-fold, and 1.4-1.7-fold and the concentration of the maximum peak decreased ∼6-12-fold, 2-4-fold and 1.2-2-fold for linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl, respectively. When considering the three pesticides, significant correlations have been found between the theoretical retardation factor (R) and the pore volume corresponding to the maximum peaks of the BTCs (r = 0.77; p < 0.05) or the total volume leached (r = −0.78; p < 0.05). The results reveal the efficacy of reactive wood barriers to decrease the leaching of pesticides from point sources of pollution depends on the type of wood, the hydrophobicity of the pesticide and the adopted water flow rate. Pine was more effective than oak in decreasing the leaching of hydrophobic pesticide linuron or in decreasing the maximum peak concentration of the less hydrophobic pesticides in soils. Efficacy of these wood barriers was limited for the least hydrophobic pesticide metalaxyl.     

中欧节能减排政策比较

欧盟国家开展节能减排较早,并积累了丰富的经验。比较了在金融危机影响下欧盟与中国在节能减排法律框架、管理方式、经济政策、产业政策和技术创新方面的异同,提出中国应该借鉴欧盟国家的先进经验,完善现有的节能减排政策体系,实现经济和社会的可持续发展。     

沪杭高速公路嘉善段道路声屏障的设计及降噪效果

在详细调查沪杭高速公路喜善张家浜中桥路段（试验路段）未建道路声屏障噪声情况的基础上，介绍了试验路段工程概况及道路声屏障的设计，并分析了声屏障的现场降噪效果，试验路段声屏障的声学指标达到预期目标，具有良好的环境效益。     

常温酸性腐蚀对热障涂层性能的影响

采用酸性盐雾腐蚀试验对物理气相沉积法制备的热障涂层进行了常温腐蚀,研究了常温酸性盐雾腐蚀对热障涂层的微观形貌以及高温性能的影响.试验结果表明：常温酸性腐蚀使热障涂层表面变得粗糙不平,产生了较大的裂纹.经过150次高温循环氧化后,顶层氧化锆晶粒排列疏松,裂纹进一步扩展,中间层--粘结层氧化速度加快,生成了疏松的TGO层.TGO的体积膨胀效应使得陶瓷/粘结层界面结合力降低,缩短了涂层的使用寿命.     

商丘至开封高速公路声屏障效果分析

随着高速公路的快速发展和车流量的日益增加，环境噪声给沿线居民带来一定影响。为了解商丘至开封堂速公路沿线声屏障的效果选取一所村办小学和一座村庄，监测了声屏障设施的效果，得出了该段起到噪声保护敏感点和降噪作用的结论，随后提出设置声屏障的若干建议。     

介质材料在可渗透反应墙中的应用进展

可渗透反应墙正发展成为修复污染地下水技术的新方向,其中介质材料是可渗透反应墙成功修复污染地下水的关键。可渗透反应墙介质材料可以细分为还原型、吸附型、沉淀型和降解型介质材料等四类,并分别从不同类型的介质材料的反应机理、应用情况以及存在的问题等方面加以阐述。可渗透反应墙介质材料的选择应在其反应机理的基础上,结合实际的地下水环境条件、污染源、人类活动和经济费用等加以综合考虑,以保证可渗透反应墙长期有效经济安全地运行。     

国外道路声屏障结构形式的研究进展

介绍了不同结构形式新型屏障的降噪基本原理、性能特征及发展动态，并对它们降噪性能进行了比较。