The terms of trade debate and the policy implications for primary product producers

The terms of trade debate initiated by Raul Prebisch and Hans Singer over 60 years ago continues to this day and is unlikely to be resolved soon. However, even if Prebisch and Singer are right and the terms of trade of countries exporting primary products are falling, to suggest that these countries should diversify away from the production of mineral commodities and other primary products, as many have done, may be poor policy advice, encouraging countries to abandon a promising source of wealth with which to foster economic development.     

Adding virtual measuring stations to a network for urban air pollution mapping

Maps of pollutants concentration are usually generated by means of interpolation and extrapolation methods. The quality of the results depends mainly of the number of permanent or temporary measuring stations. This paper deals with a method for the virtual densification of the network of stations. The method creates "virtual measuring stations". It aims at improving the quality of interpolation by increasing the number of data on pollutant concentration. The virtual stations are determined by the means of a classification method applied to each pixel of the area under concern. Discriminating elements are pollutants emission classes, land cover types, urban morphological indicators created to this purpose and distance to major roads. A first implementation was made for particulate matter (PM) for the city of Strasbourg (France) using thin-plates spline interpolation method in Arcview 9 GIS. The relative Root Mean Square Error decreases from 49% for five input stations down to 15% for the virtual stations.     

Effects of climate and exurban development on nest predation and predator presence in the southern Appalachian Mountains (USA)

In the eastern United States, land-use and climate change have likely contributed to declines in the abundance of Neotropical migrant birds that occupy forest interiors, but the mechanisms are not well understood. We conducted a nest-predation experiment in southern Appalachian Mountain forests (North Carolina, U.S.A.) during the 2009 and 2010 breeding seasons to determine the effects of exurban development and temperature on predator presence and the average number of days until eggs in an artificial nest were disturbed by predators. We baited artificial nests with quail (Excalfactoria chinensi) eggs and monitored them for 18 days. We used clay eggs, track plates, and motion-triggered cameras to detect and identify nest predators. The average number of days a nest was undisturbed decreased as mean temperature increased and, to a lesser extent, as the density of buildings increased. Nests on the ground were more often depredated than those in trees, likely due to increased predation by opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and other carnivores. Raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums, corvids (Corvus brachyrhynchos and Cyanocitta cristata), chipmunks (Tamias striatus), black bears (Ursus americanus), and domestic cats (Felis catus) were the most commonly detected predators. Presence of these predators did not vary as a function of mean temperature. Domestic cats and corvids were detected more frequently in plots with high rather than low densities of buildings. Forest-interior specialists and Neotropical migrants often nest in cool, high-elevation areas with low housing density. These bird species, especially those that nest on the ground, may be most vulnerable to increased nest predation if temperature and exurban development increase at higher elevations as anticipated.     

Carbon leakage and capacity-based allocations: Is the EU right?

Competitiveness and carbon leakage are major concerns for the design of CO₂ emissions permits markets. In the absence of a global carbon tax and of border carbon adjustments, output-based allocation is a third-best solution and is actually implemented (Australia, California, New Zealand). The EU has followed a different route; free allowances are allocated to existing or new capacities in proportion to a benchmark, independent of actual production. This paper compares these two schemes in a formal setting and shows that the optimal one is in fact a combination of both schemes, or output-based allocation alone if uncertainty is limited. A key assumption of our analysis is that the short-term import pressure depends both on the existing capacities and the level of demand, which is typical in capital intensive and internationally traded sectors. A calibration of the model is used to discuss the EU scheme for the cement sector in the third phase of the EU-ETS (2013–2020). This allows for a quantification of various policies in terms of welfare, investment, production, company profits, public revenues and leakage.     

事故致因“2-4”模型中“事件”与“动作”的关系探讨

为进一步完善和简化事故致因"2-4"模型,对模型中的"事件"和"动作"之间的关系进行探讨。首先,通过文献分析,确定了事件、动作和状态的定义及属性,提出了动作是事件的观点并加以图示说明。然后,以北京交通大学"12. 26"较大实验室爆炸事故为案例,对图示进行解释,详细分析了上述观点的合理性。结果表明:动作和状态是人和物都具备的,并且状态包含在动作过程中;动作、状态、事故都是事件,事件是人或物的动作,或者动作过程中的某一瞬时状态,故"2-4"模型中动作和事件是等价的,可以相互替代或混用。     

16Mnq钢板对接焊接工艺评定

通过试验,对16Mnq钢板对接焊接工艺进行评定。     

通过日记温度湿度数据统计年润湿时间--4次、24次数据法对比研究

与常规方法不同,根据全国58个基准气象台站10年的日记温度湿度数据采用每天2点、8点、14点、20点的4次数据统计了各台站3种临界相对湿度(80%、70%、60%)时的年润湿时间,并对比分析了24次(每天整点)数据的统计结果.研究表明从这两种数据所统计的相应有效年润湿时间非常接近,而且随着临界相对湿度值的降低,这种趋势更为明显,证实了采用4次数据统计年润湿时间是可行的.这样可以充分利用全国550多个基本气象台站所上报的4次温度湿度数据来研究全国润湿时间分布规律,为评估我国各地的大气腐蚀等级奠定了基础.     

LPG leakage and explosion accident analysis based on a new SAA method

The petrochemical industry has inherently high safety risks. On 5^th June 2017, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker in the storage and transportation department of Linyi Jinyu Petrochemical Co., Ltd. leaked during unloading, causing a major explosion and fire. Ten people were killed and nine were injured. To prevent the recurrence of similar accidents, a retrospective accident analysis was conducted using the system accident analysis method known as ‘24Model’. This analysis proved the coupling relationship between accident causes involving multiple organisations and multiple factors. The analysis results show that the five modules of maintenance and design, that is, loading and unloading valves, emergency training, management of subsidiaries and contractors, multi-level supervision, and task arrangement need to be checked from top to bottom by relevant organisations.In order to verify the reliability of 24Model analysis results, three SAA methods, namely STAMP, FRAM, AcciMap, were used to analyse the accident, and results obtained by the four methods were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. The results show that the output of 24Model is reliable and has a more understandable framework, which can be used as reference for the development of other linear accident cause models and application of system accident analysis methods to real applications.     

新毒性试验生物萼花臂尾轮虫的特性试验

研究了萼花臂尾轮虫Ｂｒａｃｈｉｏｎｕｓ ｃａｌｙｃｉｆｌｏｒｕｓ ２４ｈ标准化急性毒性试验的可行性和优越性。应用轮虫休眠卵，在２５℃、３０００ｌｘ的强光照下进行孵化，吸取孵化后３ｈ内的幼体，进行２４ｈ（暗相）急性毒性试验。研究表明，Ｃｕ、Ｈｇ、ＮａＰＣＰ、ＳＤＳ、Ｃｄ、Ｚｎ、Ｎｉ、ＮＨ３对Ｂ．ｃａｌｙｃｉｆｌｏｒｕｓ的２４ｈ ＬＣ５０值分别为０．０２２、０．０４３、１．３０、１．４７、１．７７、１     

公路工程施工安全事故致因模型构建

为了探究公路施工安全事故诱因及其影响关系,基于"4M"理论和事故致因"2-4"模型,识别公路工程施工安全事故致因因素并确定模型框架,运用SPSS Modeler软件对2007~2017年426起事故进行关联规则挖掘,采取路径分析与重要度分析,构建出公路工程施工安全事故致因模型。结果表明:施工单位内外部原因共同引发公路工程施工安全事故,外部原因来源于建设单位、监理单位和勘察设计单位的安全管理缺失,而施工单位内部影响因素中,人的不安全动作、物的不安全因素、不良的生产环境和自然环境是事故发生的直接原因,无效的安全监管和作业层安全素质及能力不强是间接原因,根本原因是施工程序和技术方案存在缺陷,根源原因是决策层和管理层的安全素质及能力有待提高。该模型系统展现了工程施工项目安全事故致因因素的影响关系和重要程度,为公路工程施工安全事故预防提供指导。