基于微观模拟的企业排污强度差异及区域特征

同一工业行业内的企业存在排污强度个体差异,从数量有限的企业环境统计数据得出行业平均排污强度,并用其代表该行业在区域层面的经济-环境水平,会带来一定偏差.因此以嵌入环境消耗投入的生产函数为基础,建立了企业运营决策的微观模拟模型,从机制上描述企业排污强度的差异.以2005年德阳市机械制造行业为案例,对模型的相关参数进行了率定,使其较好地描述了2005年环境统计口径内各企业的COD排放强度.模型的计算结果表明,由环境统计口径内企业计算的区域平均COD排放强度(万元固定资产排放0.002 6 t,万元工业产值排放0.001 5 t)小于由区域内全部企业计算的区域平均COD排放强度(万元固定资产排放0.003 0 t,万元工业产值排放0.002 3 t),市域内6个县级行政区的排污强度也体现出了明显差异.以上的排污强度区域特征主要源自行业内部结构(企业的规模分布,技术分布),及其空间差异.     

Investigating the effectiveness of safety countermeasures at highway-rail at-grade crossings using a competing risk model

Introduction: Highway-rail at-grade crossings (HRGCs) are critical locations where a railway and a roadway intersect with one another. Crashes at those locations often result in fatalities and economic and social damages due to the impacts on both road and rail users. The main purpose of countermeasures at HRGCs is to permit safe and efficient rail and highway operations. Method: Countermeasures at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs) considered in this study include all traffic control devices and other warning and barrier devices at or on approaches to crossings. In general, active devices are commonly accepted as more effective countermeasures than passive devices. However, many of the previous effectiveness studies are either at the project level or were conducted without considering the before-improvement condition. This study focuses on the network-level marginal effectiveness of countermeasures on crash rate and severity levels during the 29-year study period from 1990 to 2018 by fully considering before-improvement control levels. A competing risk model (CRM) is able to accommodate the competing nature of crash severities as multiple outcomes from the same event of interest, which is crash occurrence in this study. Subsequently, CRM is used in this study as an integrated one-step estimation approach that investigates both crash frequency and severity likelihood over time. Results: The study findings indicate that adding audible devices to crossings already equipped with gates will result in a considerable annual decline in crash occurrence likelihood (0.25%). The same device installed at crossings already controlled by gates and flashing lights results in less reduction in crash occurrence likelihood of 0.14%. Moreover, adding a stop sign to the active crossing controls of gates, standard flashing lights, and audible devices will lead to a decrease in the probability of crash occurrence and severe crashes (injury and fatal). However, adding stop signs to crossings equipped only with crossbucks will increase the crash occurrence.     

Investigative consequence analysis: A case study research of beirut explosion accident

Around 15:00 GMT on August 4th, an explosion occurred in the warehouse facility storing Ammonium Nitrate (AN) at Beirut port, Lebanon. The explosion resulted in more than 178 fatalities and injured more than 6500 people, and also left an estimated 300,000 people homeless and registered as an equivalent to a 3.3 magnitude earth quake. The accident was considered to be the largest of its kind and the most severe anthropological disaster of the decade, the financial loss the nation was subjected to post the explosion was estimated to be around $ 15 billion as informed by the governor. The storage conditions of ammonium nitrate at Beirut port is not definitively known to anyone, and there is no documentation provided so far from the authorities regarding the same. This work focuses on the investigation & consequence analysis of the explosion using TNT equivalent approach. The overpressure and the impulse obtained from TNT calculations are used in probit models to assess the damages caused on human beings and structures. The results obtained in this investigative approach are then utilized to provide an analytical inference relative to the damage proxy map reported by the advance rapid imaging analysis team from NASA. Also, this work examines the existing standards, fire safety measures and legal regulations for ammonium nitrate facilities in the region. AN explosion during storage like other fire and explosion accidents are definitely preventable owing to the technological advancements and developments to prevent or extinguish controllable fires. The significance of this work relates to the methods for calculation of consequences of explosion that are happening due to the storage of highly hazardous explosive materials in excessive quantities and insists the necessity of incorporating adequate safety measures while storing such reactive and hazardous materials.     

Maximizing Returns from Payments for Water‐Based Ecosystem Services: Incorporating Externality Effects of Land Management

Given the expansion of payments for water‐based ecosystem services (PWES) worldwide, two relevant issues are as follows: (1) determination of efficient allocations of payments among land managers, and (2) how this might change when paying one manager to implement a best management practice (BMP) to enhance an ecosystem service impacts the cost‐effectiveness of BMPs considered by other land managers not currently involved in PWES. Such externalities may be negative if diminishing returns dominate, or positive if mechanisms such as “social diffusion” dominate. We analyze how a planner should optimally allocate payments, depending on whether the expected externalities are negligible, negative, or positive. We employ (1) an optimal control model to gain insights on the problem’s dynamics, and (2) stochastic dynamic programming to determine optimal funding strategies using a specific application. The study contributes to the literature by identifying dynamically optimal PWES payment patterns, and illustrates how they should change when one accounts for externalities induced by the program. Because such impacts have not been addressed previously in a rigorous way, this treatment provides useful value added for PWES design and implementation.     

Efficient Delineation of Nested Depression Hierarchy in Digital Elevation Models for Hydrological Analysis Using Level‐Set Method

In terrain analysis and hydrological modeling, surface depressions (or sinks) in a digital elevation model (DEM) are commonly treated as artifacts and thus filled and removed to create a depressionless DEM. Various algorithms have been developed to identify and fill depressions in DEMs during the past decades. However, few studies have attempted to delineate and quantify the nested hierarchy of actual depressions, which can provide crucial information for characterizing surface hydrologic connectivity and simulating the fill‐merge‐spill hydrological process. In this paper, we present an innovative and efficient algorithm for delineating and quantifying nested depressions in DEMs using the level‐set method based on graph theory. The proposed level‐set method emulates water level decreasing from the spill point along the depression boundary to the lowest point at the bottom of a depression. By tracing the dynamic topological changes (i.e., depression splitting/merging) within a compound depression, the level‐set method can construct topological graphs and derive geometric properties of the nested depressions. The experimental results of two fine‐resolution Light Detection and Ranging‐derived DEMs show that the raster‐based level‐set algorithm is much more efficient (~150 times faster) than the vector‐based contour tree method. The proposed level‐set algorithm has great potential for being applied to large‐scale ecohydrological analysis and watershed modeling.     

Importance of awareness in improving performance of emergency medical services (EMS) systems in enhancing traffic safety: A lesson from India

Objective: India has been slow in implementing a central emergency medical services (EMS) system across the country. “108 services” is one of the most popular services that is functional under the public–private partnership model. Limited available literature shows that despite access to services, many traffic crash victims are transported using private vehicles. The objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of 108 services from a traffic safety perspective.

Method: A questionnaire survey is conducted to understand the awareness of EMS and their function. Using traffic-related fatalities as the dependent variable, a fixed effect panel data model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the 108 services in improving the traffic safety.

Results: The results from the survey show that, in general, people are not aware of the 108 services. A majority of the population prefers taking victims to the hospital using their personal vehicles or any other vehicles available compared to calling an ambulance. Results from panel data analysis show that despite having an efficient system, these services failed to make significant improvement in the safety of road users in the states in which their services were subscribed.

Discussion: The lack of awareness of an important safety service is alarming. This could be a major reason for lower utilization of 108 services for transporting victims of traffic crashes. This article shows the importance of having efficient awareness campaigns to improve the efficiency of any similar programs that are aimed to enhance the safety of a region.     

伊犁河谷典型区域土壤重金属含量状况及评价研究

"十二五"期间自治区加大了对伊犁河谷境内典型生态环境区域集中式饮用水源地土壤、农田、果园、菜地以及昭苏、特克斯和新源三大天然草场土壤汞(Hg)、镉(Cd)、铅(Pb)、砷(As)、铜(Cu)、铬(Cr)、镍(Ni)、锌(Zn)八种重金属元素的监测,通过对上述监测数据的统计分析和评价表明:伊犁河谷典型区域土壤重金属含量均低于《土壤环境质量标准》(GB 15618-1995)(二级、旱地)限值,整体处于清洁安全水平,尚未受到人为显著影响.     

中国碳排放强度影响因素对区域差异的作用分析

根据IPCC方法计算得到1995—2012年中国各省市碳排放数据,表明从1995年开始,我国各省市的碳排放强度整体上呈现南低北高,东低西高的分布格局,并有逐渐下降的趋势.区域间碳排放强度的基尼系数、Theil系数、对数离差均值的计算结果表明碳排放强度在各省市自治区间存在明显差异,并且差异随着时间逐渐增大.为了进一步分析碳排放强度差异的影响因素,我们建立了碳排放强度的回归方程,并采用夏普里值分解法进行影响因素的分解分析.整体上可以看出经济发展水平对碳排放强度差异的贡献值最大,而且随着时间推移其对碳排放强度差异的作用逐渐加强.其次是产业结构和能源结构,贡献值分别为18.91%和26.76%,对碳排放强度差异的贡献值随着时间逐渐减少,作用也逐渐弱化.最后是城市化水平(贡献值为~(-1).65%),仅在一定程度上能够降低碳排放强度的差异.进一步采用第三产业占比表示产业结构,石油占比表示能源结构进行分析,发现它们与碳排放强度变为反向关系.即一个地区的第三产业比重高,在能源结构中油的比重大,煤炭比重小,碳排放强度相比于其他地区则低.由此可见,石油比重的区域差异是影响碳强度差异的一个主要原因.因此,提升碳排放强度高的地区的石油以及低碳能源可以缩减区域间的碳排放差异.本文的研究对合理、公平的碳减排政策的制定,鼓励各省市自治区积极参加碳减排活动有着积极的意义.     

Crossing conceptual boundaries: re-envisioning coordination and collaboration among women for sustainable livelihoods in Ghana

This paper explores the complexities, degree of organisation and embedded potentials in selected informal worlds of work involving women in Agbogbloshie, a site that has achieved both national and international notoriety for its ostensible environmental and social unrest challenges. The analysis provides empirical evidence to show how informality remains a persistent, substantial and the defining feature of Ghana’s economy in terms of its fostering growth and creating jobs, although its overall role in the national development discourse is largely ignored or seldom considered. Drawing on participant observation and qualitative field-based survey data, the paper presents the multi-dimensional ways migrant women from northern Ghana adopt to innovate, network and “graduate” from e-waste-related activities to engage in long-distance trade, which, in turn, serves as a catalyst for spin-off activities that manifest differently between the south and the north of the country. It also sheds light on how these women, with little prospect of formal employment, negotiate contemporary economic shifts and create an occupational continuum that defies strict compartmentalisation. The paper adds to the expanding corpus of writings on informalisation as a growing, noteworthy and integral feature of Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy.