Effectiveness of a cooling jacket with reference to physiological responses in iron foundry workers

Personal cooling garments (PCGs) have gained increased attention in recent years due to heat stress and strain in the working environment. The present study was conducted in hot environments of an iron foundry to evaluate the efficacy of a battery-operated PCG. Twenty-four workers were exposed to climatic conditions of 35.89?±?1.25?°C, 35% relative humidity during 90-min work with PCG and habitual clothing (HC). Mean weighted skin temperature was significantly lower by 4.84?±?1.05?°C compared with HC 0.38?±?1.02?°C (p?p?相似文献   

Sense and Influence: Environmental Monitoring Tools and the Power of Citizen Science

Automated monitoring devices are useful technologies for communities seeking to document and solve environmental problems. However, without deeper scrutiny of their design and deployment, there is a risk that they will fail to have the impact that many of their promoters intend. We develop a rubric for analysing how different kinds of monitoring devices help environmental advocates influence public debates. We apply this rubric in a study of environmental organizations in Pennsylvania that are choosing between recruiting volunteer citizen scientists and using automated sensor-based devices to gather water quality data in streams threatened by hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Many organizations rely on volunteers using simple monitoring tools because they are affordable and produce easily managed data sets. An argument for this method of monitoring is that volunteering in the field also fosters citizen engagement in environmental debates. By comparison, we find the increased use of automated devices tends to reinforce hierarchies of expertise and constrains the agendas of nonprofessionals who participate in monitoring projects. We argue that these findings suggest that automated technologies, however effective they may be in gathering data on environmental quality, are not well designed to support broad public participation in environmental science and politics.     

Citizen Participation in Collaborative Watershed Partnerships

Collaborative efforts are increasingly being used to address complex environmental problems, both in the United States and abroad. This is especially true in the growing field of collaborative watershed management, where diverse stakeholders work together to develop and advance water-quality goals. Active citizen participation is viewed as a key component, yet groups often struggle to attract and maintain citizen engagement. This study examined citizen participation behavior in collaborative watershed partnerships by way of a written survey administered to citizen members of 12 collaborative watershed groups in Ohio. Results for the determination of who joins such groups were consistent with the dominant-status model of participation because group members were not demographically representative of the broader community. The dominant-status model, however, does not explain which members are more likely to actively participate in group activities. Instead, individual characteristics, including political activity, knowledge, and comfort in sharing opinions with others, were positively correlated with active participation. In addition, group characteristics, including government-based membership, rural location, perceptions of open communication, perceptions that the group has enough technical support to accomplish its goals, and perceived homogeneity of participant opinions, were positively correlated with active participation. Overall, many group members did not actively participate in group activities.     

Sustainability research and practices in enforced residential institutions: collaborations of ecologists and prisoners

Enforced institutional settings such as penitentiaries provide environments to raise awareness, carry out research, and implement and assess practices for sustainable living. Institutions where residence is enforced due to health, recreational, military, or legal reasons (e.g., assisted living centers, summer camps, army bases, prisons) house people who may lack scientific training but have time and need for intellectual stimulation that can be filled by supervised research. These institutions have stable populations, structured social organization, and measurable inputs and outputs of materials and energy to carry out sustainable practices in tasks that affect regional resources such as groundwater quality and landfill use. We report on three examples at a corrections center resulting from partnerships among visiting academic ecology researchers, sustainability practitioners, corrections administrators, and prisoners: (1) research on how to sustainably “farm” moss for the horticulture trade to reduce harvesting pressure on wild moss populations; (2) a vermiculture and thermophilic composting system to reduce the kitchen waste; and (3) a monthly seminar series at the prison. Over 26 months: (1) participants developed methods to optimize moss growth; (2) landfill-bound waste and particulate flow rate destined for wastewater treatment decreased by 50%, to less than 50% of permit limits; (3) resulting compost (ca. 5000 kg) fertilized institutional vegetable gardens; (4) water quality improved so that the prison could return funds allocated to upgrade the prison’s water quality. The lectures encouraged intellectual exchange among researchers, convicts, and guards. Researchers derived new perspectives and broader impacts for their work. This can be a model for other correctional facilities and other enforced residential institutions (ERIs). Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

全身正压生物防护服防护性能研究

为研究动力送风全身式正压生物防护服对人员的防护性能,采用标准方法检测正压生物防护服气密性和液体喷溅防护性能,连续监测穿着正压生物防护服活动时的内部正压值变化。采用微环境气溶胶密闭舱室平台,研究正压生物防护服对黏质沙雷氏菌(ATCC 8039)和phi-x174噬菌体气溶胶的整体防护性能。结果表明,正压生物防护服气密性和液体喷溅防护性能均达到气密型防护服和喷射液密防护服水平。对2种生物气溶胶的防护效率均在99.97%以上,且与送风量与环境湿度无关。正压生物防护服被人员穿着进行作业时,其内部能始终能保持大于16 Pa的正压。对该防护服防护性能的系统分析能全面评估类似防护服的整体防护性能,也为未来各类正压式防护服研发和防护性能研究提供技术参考。     

生态文明视阈下公民环境教育的文化价值思考

生态文明建设要有坚实的公民环境教育作支撑。公民环境教育的文化价值是环境教育价值的内在表现形式之一。作为生态文明建设的重要组成部分,环境教育与生态文明建设有着不可断裂的天然的关系。生态文明建设需要环境教育的文化价值体现。环境教育的文化价值能够促进生态文化的生成与人文资源的开发,能够发挥环境教育的文化选择与批判功能,促进价值观念转型,能够发挥环境教育的文化传播功能,促进人文理性精神的活化。     

Creating and using objectives for ecological risk assessment and management

This paper provides guidance for ecological risk assessors and managers about how to structure objectives for these efforts. It first outlines why objectives are crucial for ecological risk assessment and management. Then, it draws on the writing within applied decision analysis to outline a process for structuring objectives for ecological risk-management efforts involving one or several decision-makers. The characteristics of a good set of objectives are outlined, and the various uses for a set of objectives within ecological risk-management efforts are summarized. The paper concludes with practical advice for managers and facilitators charged with developing objectives to guide these complex processes.     

Enhanced removal of I− on hierarchically structured layered double hydroxides by in suit growth of Cu/Cu2O

To further improve the removal ability of layered double hydroxide(LDH) for iodide(I~-) anions from wastewater, we prepared hierarchically porous Cu_5Mg_(10)Al_5-LDH and used as a matrix for in suit growth of Cu/Cu_2O on its surface, forming Cu/Cu_2O-LDH, which was characterized and applied as an adsorbent.Results displayed high I~-saturation uptake capability(137.8 mg/g) of Cu/Cu_2O-LDH compared with Cu_5Mg_(10)Al_5-LDH(26.4 mg/g) even thermal activated LDH(76.1 mg/g).Thermodynamic analysis showed that the reaction between I~-anions and Cu/Cu_2O-LDH is a spontaneous and exothermic.Uptake kinetics analysis exhibited that adsorption equilibrium can be reached after 265 min.Additionally, the adsorbent showed satisfactory selectivity in the presence of competitive anions(e.g., SO_4~(2-)), and could achieve good adsorption performance in a wide pH range of 3–8.A cooperative adsorption mechanism was proposed on the basis of the following two aspects:(1) ion exchange between iodide and interlayer anions;(2) the adsorption performance of Cu, Cu(Ⅱ) and Cu_2O for I~-.Meanwhile, the difference between the adsorption mechanism of Cu/Cu_2O-LDH, Cu_5Mg_(10)Al_5-LDH and Cu_5Mg_(10)Al_5-CLDH adsorbents was also elaborated and verified.     

‘The biggest challenge is that we have to tell people how to sort.’ Waste management and the processes of negotiation of environmental citizenship in Slovenia

ABSTRACT

This article departs from the concept of environmental citizenship. Focus is on the experiences of representatives for Slovenian municipal waste management companies and business sector service companies engaged in the collection and recycling of electronic waste, and their attempts to increase the amount of separately collected municipal waste. They do so by engaging the Slovenian citizens to undertake separate sorting. Theoretically, the focus is on the processes of negotiating citizen engagement and, more specifically, attempts to incentivise the separate sorting of municipal waste which, it is argued, also helps foster the image of a particular kind of citizen. This article understands the informants’ experiences as being intimately linked to, and constitutive of, contemporary waste management discourses where attention is increasingly paid to the activities and behaviours of individual citizens. Noteworthy, while the concept of environmental citizenship can be said to allow citizens to practise sustainability (a concept that is otherwise seemingly quite abstract), the waste management policies of today seem to be increasingly relying on this active citizenship. It is at the intersection of these phenomenon that the negotiation practices of Slovenian waste management authorities happen.     

中美公民环境诉讼比较研究

公民环境诉讼是维护公民环境权的重要制度保障，从公民环境诉讼的法律依据、性质作用、诉讼资格、受案范围以及费用承担等方面，对中美两国的环境诉讼制度进行了比较分析，旨在为完善我国的公民环境诉讼制度提供参考。