BSE in the UK: Why the Risk Communication Strategy Failed

The 2000 BSE Inquiry report points out that the most serious failure of the UK Government was one of risk communication. This paper argues that the government's failure to communicate the risks BSE posed to humans to a large degree can be traced back to a lack of transparency in the first risk assessment by the Southwood Working Party. This lack of transparency ensured that the working party's risk characterization and recommendations were ambiguous and thus hard to interpret. It also meant that uncertainties were not addressed in a satisfactory way. In the recommendations, the attitude to uncertainty was implicit rather than explicit.The risk communication based on the report amplified these flaws. Most importantly, it did not address the uncertainty at all. Apparently, the reason for this was fear of overreaction by the public. However, the result was counter-productive, because the risk communication did not then appear trustworthy. Later risk assessments and risk communication omitted to correct these flaws. Indeed, the fact that, following receipt of new information, advisory experts and policy makers had changed their views of the risk to humans was never clearly communicated to the public. There seemed to be little faith in the public's ability to reach a balanced judgment regarding the uncertainties.In the concluding section of the paper, this analysis is compared with the food standards agency's (FSA's) approach to BSE. The intervention of this agency was seen as one of the more important efforts to restore consumer confidence in British beef. And the agency certainly appears to be committed to openness and to addressing scientific uncertainty. However, using the risk of BSE in sheep as a case study, the paper shows that transparency – i.e., the clear presentation of factual and normative claims and assumptions underlying advice, and openness about the reasoning based on these claims and assumptions – is less than fully achieved in the FSA's work.     

Assessing local planning capacity to promote environmentally sustainable residential development

Smart growth and sustainability planning have, in recent years, become central issues in planning discourse. Scholars have argued that planning capacity at the local government level is critical for smart growth planning, and that planners have a fundamental role to play in advancing local and regional sustainability. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which local planning capacity enables communities to promote more sustainable, smart growth residential development. Based on a 2013 survey of 38 county and 53 municipal governments in the state of Wisconsin, USA, this study finds that the majority of the sample communities have permitted residential developments characterized as transit-oriented, New Urbanist, mixed use, infill developments, or conservation subdivisions as alternatives to low-density, automobile-dependent conventional developments. The study also finds that jurisdictions with higher planning capacities are more likely to overcome significant barriers to more sustainable residential development.     

智能家电的低待机功耗研究

从智能家电待机工作状态入手,分析电器产品中参与待机工作的各部分电路原理,提出降低潜在功耗设计思路和计算方法,从家电设计研发阶段对待机功耗进行控制,同时对待机功耗精确测量方法关键点进行解读以控制低功耗测试不确定度,有助于低待机功耗设计和测量的标准化和规范化。     

Automated energy management in distributed electricity systems: An EEPOS approach

The increasing capacity of distributed electricity generation brings new challenges in maintaining a high security and quality of electricity supply. New techniques are required for grid support and power balance. The highest potential for these techniques is to be found on the part of the electricity distribution grid.

This article addresses this potential and presents the EEPOS project’s approach to the automated management of flexible electrical loads in neighborhoods. The management goals are (i) maximum utilization of distributed generation in the local grid, (ii) peak load shaving/congestion management, and (iii) reduction of electricity distribution losses. Contribution to the power balance is considered by applying two-tariff pricing for electricity.

The presented approach to energy management is tested in a hypothetical sensitivity analysis of a distribution feeder with 10 households and 10 photovoltaic (PV) plants with an average daily consumption of electricity of 4.54 kWh per household and a peak PV panel output of 0.38 kW per plant. Energy management shows efficient performance at relatively low capacities of flexible load. At a flexible load capacity of 2.5% (of the average daily electricity consumption), PV generation surplus is compensated by 34–100% depending on solar irradiance. Peak load is reduced by 30% on average. The article also presents the load shifting effect on electricity distribution losses and electricity costs for the grid user.     

高速公路跨线桥地震反应的智能磁流变控制

探讨了高速公路跨线桥智能磁流变控制的效果，并与主动控制、磁流变（MR）阻尼器的passive-off控制及passive-on控制时的减震控制效果进行了系统的比较分析。研究中MR阻尼器的半主动控制算法选用限幅最优控制算法，其主控制器采用H2／LQG方法来设计，并基于原系统的降阶模型来设计MR阻尼器的最优控制力。仿真分析结果表明，采用MR阻尼器对高速公路跨线桥进行控制，可以有效地减小结构的动力反应，明显改善其抗震安全性。MR阻尼器在passive-off控制及passive-on控制时等效为被动摩擦阻尼器，其控制效果与适用范围均有限；MR阻尼器的半主动控制力可以出色地追踪主动控制力时程，其控制效果与主动控制时非常接近，因此可以作为主动控制的替代方案。     

智能电能表功耗测量系统软件设计

智能电能表功耗测量是一项重要的试验项目,介绍了电能表功耗测量仪和连接,着重分析了功耗测量系统软件的设计。该软件用于功耗测量数据采集,分析了其中的关键技术,给出了Lab VIEW设计框图。该软件实现了智能电能表功耗数据的自动化测量。     

MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF URBANIZATION ON LONG TERM RUNOFF1

Increasing concern about the problems caused by urban sprawl has encouraged development and implementation of smart growth approaches to land use management. One of the goals of smart growth is water resources protection, in particular minimizing the runoff impact of urbanization. To investigate the magnitude of the potential benefits of land use planning for water resources protection, possible runoff impacts of historical and projected urbanization were estimated for two watersheds in Indiana and Michigan using a long term hydrological impact analysis model. An optimization component allowed selection of land use change placements that minimize runoff increase. Optimizing land use change placement would have reduced runoff increase by as much as 4.9 percent from 1973 to 1997 in the Indiana study watershed. For nonsprawl and sprawl scenarios in the Michigan watershed for 1978 to 2040, optimizing land use change placement would have reduced runoff increase by 12.3 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively. The work presented here illustrates both an approach to assessing the magnitude of the impact of smart growth and the significant potential scale of smart growth in moderating runoff changes that result from urbanization. The results of this study have significant implications for urban planning.     

从信息化赋能到综合赋能：智慧国土空间规划思路探索

党的十九大报告明确的“智慧社会”建设目标,对当前国土空间规划工作的开展提出了新的要求。如今,以互联网、大数据、云计算等为主的信息化技术赋能是当前国土空间规划智慧化的主要动力与发展重点,而如何理解并推进智慧社会发展则是智慧编制与实施国土空间规划的重要基础。人地关系和地域生命有机体理论是智慧社会下国土空间规划与治理的理论与方法基础,需要从信息化赋能向包含技术赋能与创新赋能的综合赋能理念转变,探讨智慧国土空间规划的总体思路,进而构建以生态文明为基础、以人为本为核心、技术集成应用和制度创新为支撑的智慧国土空间规划框架（EPTI）,并探讨规划编制的智慧化以及规划实施的智慧化。     

智慧城市固体废物管理系统的构建方法研究

针对目前城市固体废物管理中存在的主要问题,利用"智慧城市"概念构建了智慧城市固体废物管理系统。阐述了智慧城市固体废物管理的概念,分析了智慧城市固体废物管理系统的需求,并运用物联网等技术构建了智慧城市固体废物管理系统的体系框架。对系统的主要服务功能进行了设计,并以城市固体废物运输路线设计决策为例,介绍了智慧城市固体废物管理系统的应用方法。     

智慧环保建设评价指标体系研究

随着信息技术在政务、环保等领域的广泛应用,智慧环保成为环境保护及环保信息化建设的重要方面。本研究以促进环境保护部及地方环境保护单位智慧环保建设为目标,在对比之前智慧环保定义的基础上,提出新一代智慧环保的定义,更加强调互联互通、业务协同、公众服务等方面,并且明确了智慧环保的三个应用目标。基于对智慧环保总体架构和目标内涵的解析,遵循指标具有代表性、可理解性、可采集性、可扩展性的原则,参考国家智慧环保建设相关政策文件要求以及智慧城市、电子政务绩效评价指标体系等相关文献,经过多次专家咨询建议,形成一套智慧环保建设评价指标体系,共包含4个维度、12个要素、42个指标。评价指标的提出对引导智慧环保建设有序发展、促进环保信息化发展具有重要意义。