Ecological risk as a tool for evaluating the effects of offshore wind farm construction in the North Sea

Offshore wind power generation represents a chance to supply energy in a more sustainable way; however, the ecological risks associated with the construction and operation of offshore wind farms are still largely unknown. This paper uses the concept of ecological risk for analysing ecological changes during construction of offshore wind farms. “Ecological risk” is defined as the potentially reduced ability of providing ecosystem services. The ERSEM ecosystem model allows assessing ecological risk based on a number of selected variables (integrity indicators) and under the assumption that increased suspended matter concentration during construction of wind farms affects ecosystem functioning. We conclude that ecological risk is adequate to describe the effects of wind farm constructions, although the computation procedure still needs to be refined and the choice of indicators further optimised. In this context, the choice of indicators available in modelling as well as in monitoring time-series may offer the way forward.     

Issues in reverse supply chains,part II: reverse distribution issues – an overview

In recent years, due to growing environmental concern, there has been an increasing attention to product take‐back, product recovery and the re‐distribution of end‐of‐life products. Reverse logistics (RL), which refers to the distribution activities involved in product returns, has recently received much attention because many companies are using it as a strategic tool to serve their customers; and can generate good revenue. The management of return flow usually requires a specialised infrastructure with special information systems for tracking and dedicated equipment for the processing of returns. An efficient reverse distribution structure may lead to a significant return on investment as well as a significantly increased competitiveness in the market. Therefore, the time seems to be right for a systematic overview of various issues that are arising in the context of reverse distribution. The main purpose of this paper is to review the literature on RL and suggest a classification based on reverse distribution issues. The result of this research provides a better understanding of the RL concept and outlines some future directions of research on modelling and analysis.     

四川省人口增长与主要生态资源承载力研究

本文以个体生活资源基本需求为计算单位,探讨四川省主要生态资源能承载多少人口,预测四川省人口发展与生态资源的关系.根据本文给出的计算结果,四川省耕地费源已经饱和,其复耕事较高尚能满足人口需求;牧草场资源超载,面临荒漠化威胁;森林资源较为丰富,能够满足人口发展需求;水资源与人口关系富足有余,但工业污水排放和上游水源保护仍需给予关注.面对这一现实,四川省要进一步推行控制人口增长的生育政策;保护现有耕地资源,发展生态农业;合理规划草场资源,科学发展畜牧业;合理开发森林蕴藏资源,坚持合理采伐;加强水利设施建设,防治水污染,确保水资源可持续利用.     

我国《土壤环境质量标准》中重金属污染相关问题探讨

我国《土壤环境质量标准》（GB 15168—1995）的颁布促进了土壤资源的保护、管理与监督,但由于时间跨度过长社会发展较快,已经不能满足目前实际应用的需要。本文概述了发达国家关于土壤重金属污染的相关指导值/筛选值,并总结了我国现行土壤环境质量标准实施以来存在的问题及近年来的研究进展,对我国《土壤环境质量标准》的修订进行了探讨。     

From unknown problem to an acknowledged local environmental problem – a case of polluted soil in the city of Helsinki

The article focuses on the administrative processes and factors that have been constructing polluted soil as an environmental problem on the local level. The main questions are how polluted soil was constructed as an environmental problem and by whom? The research material consists of documents from the municipality's administration, and the method of analysis is qualitative content analysis. Finally, it is argued that the definition of the problem radically changed in 20 years. However, there was a noticeable institutional delay between the national- and local-level decision-making and some randomness seemed to be involved in the process of understanding and defining the environmental problem.     

From pioneering to organised business: the development of ecological farming in China

ABSTRACT

Small-scale ecological farming and their associated alternative food networks, are increasingly important in China, as a response to poor farm incomes and as a contribution to widespread concerns about environmental degradation and food safety. However, despite the enormous market potential and the notable success of some ventures, this type of farming remains at the margins, with many businesses struggling to develop beyond their start-up phase and consumers struggling to build confidence in the new produce and routes to market. Many of these farms display the classic elements of pioneer businesses, including high reliance on charismatic individuals, insecure land rights, high transaction and monitoring costs and fragile routes to market. Empirically, many of these businesses fail because they cannot grow out of the pioneer phase before the pioneer grows tired of the business. While this is a problem for all small businesses, it is particularly acute in business sectors like ecological farming in China, where there is little evidence of suitable and sustainable developmental models. Using Bernardus Lievegoed's work on organisational development applied to two case study farms, we suggest that there are Western developmental models that are applicable to small-scale ecological farming and that have the potential to offer insights into how this might be achieved with Chinese characteristics. We conclude by arguing that, Chinese ecological farms have to plan explicitly for a form of development that allows them to remain committed to their ideals while moving them away from dependence on charismatic people, family labour and volatile customer bases.     

人工湿地水处理技术研究进展存在问题与改进

论述了人工湿地技术的除污机理和影响因素,并介绍了目前该技术所存在的问题,同时针对问题提出了相应的解决方法。     

我国消防工程专业学历教育前景和亟待解决的问题

随着社会对公共安全的重视,对消防工程人才提出了更高的要求,培养高素质消防工程专业人才已成为保障社会经济发展的重要课题之一。消防工程专业学历教育是培养专业消防人才的主要途径。笔者回顾了国内外消防工程专业学历教育的发展历程,分析其现状,展望了我国消防工程专业学历教育的发展前景,研讨和总结了目前我国消防工程专业学历教育中在培养目标、课程建设、实验建设、教材建设、招生就业等方面存在的问题,结合中南大学消防工程专业学历教育的实践,针对学历教育中存在问题,提出建设性的意见。     

Upscaling heterogeneity in aquifer reactivity via the exposure-time concept: inverse model

A novel inverse technique is proposed to quantitatively characterize macroscopic variability in aquifer reactivity in a Lagrangian representation. Reactivity heterogeneity is expressed in terms of distributions of flux over cumulative time of exposure of the solution to reactive surface area, termed here 'cumulative reactivity'. In cases involving single aqueous species the combined effects of physical and reactivity heterogeneity on reactive solute transport can often be established and further investigated through joint distributions of flux over travel time and cumulative reactivity. The inverse technique requires the breakthrough curve of a passive tracer to determine the distribution of flux over travel time, and additional breakthrough curves of reactive tracers provide additional moments of the distribution of flux over cumulative reactivity given travel time. Thus breakthroughs of one passive and two reactive tracers can provide the mean and variance of the distribution of flux over cumulative reactivity. This Lagrangian characterization is achieved with knowledge of the types of reactive surfaces present, but not their spatial locations. The distributions can subsequently be applied via forward modeling using the same technique to predict breakthrough curves of other solutes undergoing first-order reactions in similar physically and chemically heterogeneous configurations.     

Predictive modeling of effects under global change

The status of computer simulation models from around the world for evaluating the possible ecological, environmental, and societal consequences of global change is presented in this paper. In addition, a brief synopsis of the state of the science of these impacts is included. Issues considered include future changes in climate and patterns of land use for societal needs. Models discussed relate to vegetation (e.g. crop), soil, bio-geochemistry, water, and wildlife responses to conventional, forecasted changes in temperature and precipitation. Also described are models of these responses, alone and interactively, to increased CO(2), other air pollutants and UV-B radiation, as the state of the science allows. Further, models of land-use change are included. Additionally, global multiple sector models of environment, natural resources, human population dynamics, economics, energy, and political relations are reviewed for integrated impact assessment. To the extent available, information on computer software and hardware requirements is presented for the various models. The paper concludes with comments about using these technologies as they relate to ecological risk assessment for policy decision analysis. Such an effort is hampered by considerable uncertainties with the output of existing models, because of the uncertainties associated with input data and the definitions of their dose-response relationships. The concluding suggestions point the direction for new developments in modeling and analyses that are needed for the 21st century.