Corporate Ethics in the Era of Globalization: The Promise and Peril of International Environmental Standards

The growing assumption thattransnational corporations (TNCs) will apply``best practice' and ``international standards'in their operations in developing countries hasseldom been checked against close observationof corporate behavior. In this article, Ipresent a case study, based on field research,of one voluntary initiative to useinternational standards and best practice forenvironmental protection in the AmazonRainforest, by a US-based oil company,Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) in Ecuador. The moststriking finding is that the company refuses todisclose the precise standards that apply toits operations. This, and the refusal todisclose other important environmentalinformation, make it impossible to verifyindependently Oxy's claims of environmentalexcellence, or assess the effectiveness of theinitiative. At the same time, Oxy uses theinvocation of international standards to wrapitself in a veneer of corporate responsibility;reassure government officials and localresidents; cultivate confusion about standardsand practices that apply to the operations;deflect meaningful oversight and transparency;and arbitrarily legitimize norms that have beendefined by special interests. In short,international standards offer great promise forneeded environmental improvements; but can alsobe used to impede, rather than advance,corporate responsibility and the development ofeffective environmental law at the nationallevel. These findings suggest that for theapplication of international standards to bemeaningful, the international community needsto move beyond statements of principle anddevelop mechanisms that can be used toevaluate, verify, and monitor independentlyenvironmental claims by TNCs.     

论新人口革命：－未来我国人口发展战略及其理论思考

在经济和社会转型时期,我国正面临的一次新的人口革命,它呼吸观念的突破和理论上的创新,呼唤对人口发展战略、人口与计划生育工作的运行机制做出新的调整和改革。     

溶剂调控Pd/C催化多氯联苯高效加氢脱氯

采用沉积沉淀法制备了5% Pd/C催化剂,研究了溶剂体系对其催化4-氯联苯（4-CBP）加氢脱氯的影响,建立了正丁醇-水两相溶剂体系,实现了高浓度电容器油（主要为多氯联苯（PCBs））的高效加氢脱氯降解.结果表明,相对比非质子溶剂,醇类等质子溶剂对加氢脱氯反应更加有利.水的加入对异丙醇-水均相溶剂和有机-水两相溶剂中Pd/C催化4-CBP加氢脱氯均有明显的促进作用,而且在正丁醇-水（1：3,V/V）两相溶剂体系中可以在90min内实现4-CBP加氢脱氯的完全转化,而且催化剂可以重复使用8次以上.在该溶剂体系中,10g/L的含PCBs电容器油在Pd/C催化下可以在360min内完全加氢脱氯生成联苯.     

Accuracy of Short‐Term Demographic Data in Projecting Long‐Term Fate of Populations

Short‐term surveys are useful in conservation of species if they can be used to reliably predict the long‐term fate of populations. However, statistical evaluations of reliability are rare. We studied how well short‐term demographic data (1999–2002) of tartar catchfly (Silene tatarica), a perennial riparian plant, projected the fate and growth of 23 populations of this species up to the year 2010. Surveyed populations occurred along a river with natural flood dynamics and along a regulated river. Riparian plant populations are affected by flooding, which maintains unvegetated shores, while forest succession proceeds in areas with little flooding. Flooding is less severe along the regulated river, and vegetation overgrowth reduces abundance of tartar catchfly on unvegetated shores. We built matrix models to calculate population growth rates and estimated times to population extinction in natural and in regulated rivers, 13 and 10 populations, respectively. Models predicted population survival well (model predictions matched observed survival in 91% of populations) and accurately predicted abundance increases and decreases in 65% of populations. The observed and projected population growth rates differed significantly in all but 3 populations. In most cases, the model overestimated population growth. Model predictions did not improve when data from more years were used (1999–2006). In the regulated river, the poorest model predictions occurred in areas where cover of other plant species changed the fastest. Although vegetation cover increased in most populations, it decreased in 4 populations along the natural river. Our results highlight the need to combine disturbance and succession dynamics in demographic models and the importance of habitat management for species survival along regulated rivers. Precisión de Datos Demográficos de Corto Plazo en la Proyección del Destino de Poblaciones a Largo Plazo     

ADAPTING THE LAW OF WATER MANAGEMENT TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHER HYDROPOLITICAL STRESSES1

ABSTRACT: Existing legal regimes for the management of water resources are already stressed by changing technologies and growing populations. There is little reason for doubt that today the planet is undergoing significant and even alarming climate change. In the past such global climatic changes had dramatic effects on water resource availability with disastrous consequences for many human communities. Today's climate changes can be managed without such disastrous consequences for present day communities only if there are major reforms to existing water law regimes at the local, national, and international levels. In particular, at the local and national levels, water resources must be treated as public property rather than as common or private property. At the international level, water must be managed at the drainage basin level rather than according to national boundaries that largely ignore rational water management criteria. At all levels, care must be given to decentralizing decision making and to use economic incentives insofar as possible, without, however, mistaking economic incentives for markets. The public nature of water resources precludes true markets as a significant management tool.     

Effects of continuously regenerating diesel particulate filters on regulated emissions and number-size distribution of particles emitted from a diesel engine

The effects of continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) systems on regulated gaseous emissions, and number-size distribution and mass of particles emanated from a diesel engine have been investigated in this study. Two CRDPF units (CRDPF-1 and CRDPF-2) with di erent specifications were separately retrofitted to the engine running with European steady-state cycle (ESC). An electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) was used for particle number-size distribution measurement and mass estimation. The conversion/reduction rate (RCR) of hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) across CRDPF-1 was 83% and 96.3%, respectively. Similarly, the RCR of HC and CO and across CRDPF-2 was 91.8% and 99.1%, respectively. The number concentration of particles and their concentration peaks; nuclei mode, accumulation mode and total particles; and particle mass were highly reduced with the CRDPF units. The nuclei mode particles at downstream of CRDPF-1 and CRDPF-2 decreased by 99.9% to 100% and 97.8% to 99.8% respectively; and the particle mass reduced by 73% to 92.2% and 35.3% to 72.4%, respectively, depending on the engine conditions. In addition, nuclei mode particles increased with the increasing of engine speed due to the heterogeneous nucleation initiated by the higher exhaust temperature, while accumulation mode particles were higher at higher loads due to the decrease in the air-to-fuel ratio (A/F) at higher loads.     

民航飞行员工作自主性研究

为探讨民航飞行员工作自主性的现状,分析影响民航飞行员工作自主性的因素,进而提出有针对性的管理措施,以期达到提高飞行安全与效益的目的。采用自编的民航飞行员工作自主性问卷对中国民航253名飞行员进行测试,并对取得数据进行T检验和多因素方差分析以研究影响工作自主性的因素。结果发现,民航飞行员的工作自主性主要受到3个因素的影响,即婚姻状况、现在职位和工作年限。可采用合理引导、完善考核方式、加强教育培训、构建良好的职业认同感与成就感来提高民航飞行员的工作自主性。     

The role of self-regulation in the context of driver distraction: A simulator study

Objective: There is considerable evidence for the negative effects of driver distraction on road safety. In many experimental studies, drivers have been primarily viewed as passive receivers of distraction. Thus, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of their self-regulatory behavior. The aim of the current study was to compare drivers' performance when engaged in a system-paced secondary task with a self-paced version of this task and how both differed from baseline driving performance without distraction.

Methods: Thirty-nine participants drove in a simulator while performing a secondary visual–manual task. One group of drivers had to work on this task in predefined situations under time pressure, whereas the other group was free to decide when to work on the secondary task (self-regulation group). Drivers' performance (e.g., lateral and longitudinal control, brake reaction times) was also compared with a baseline condition without any secondary task.

Results: For the system-paced secondary task, distraction was associated with high decrements in driving performance (especially in keeping the lateral position). No effects were found for the number of collisions, probably because of the lower driving speeds while distracted (compensatory behavior). For the self-regulation group, only small impairments in driving performance were found. Drivers engaged less in the secondary task during foreseeable demanding or critical driving situations.

Conclusions: Overall, drivers in the self-regulation group were able to anticipate the demands of different traffic situations and to adapt their engagement in the secondary task, so that only small impairments in driving performance occurred. Because in real traffic drivers are mostly free to decide when to engage in secondary tasks, it can be concluded that self-regulation should be considered in driver distraction research to ensure ecological validity.     

电拌热在污水处理系统中的应用

由于北方冬季气温较低，因冬季防冻及工艺需加装拌热装置，如果在污水处理系统中安装电拌热装置。不仅能有效的解决系统设备及管道的防冻问题，而且电拌热的运行成本较蒸汽拌热低、使用年限长，维护简单，有很好的使用及推广价值。