The world agricultural system and ethical considerations relating to the rural environment: Some perspectives on cause and effect in underdeveloped countries

Food is a basic human need and therefore a basic human right. While food output has increased to a level where there is enough food produced to feed the world, still millions starve. Using the concept of capitalist world economy as a framework, this paper provides a structural analysis of the food production and distribution system within monopoly capitalism and its implications for countries of the underdeveloped world. Focusing on the impact of a dominant world food supply system on indigenous systems (particularly through the rise of science, technology, and monopoly capital), considerations relating to environmental use and food production and distribution are raised. Finally a call is made for a new agricultural ethic.     

COMPARISON OF REGRESSION AND TIME-SERIES METHODS FOR SYNTHESIZING MISSING STREAMFLOW RECORDS1

ABSTRACT: Regression and time-series techniques have been used to synthesize and predict the stream flow at the Foresta Bridge gage from information at the upstream Pohono Bridge gage on the Merced River near Yosemite National Park. Using the available data from two time periods (calendar year 1979 and water year 1986), we evaluated the two techniques in their ability to model the variation in the observed flows and in their ability to predict stream flow at the Foresta Bridge gage for the 1979 time period with data from the 1986 time period. Both techniques produced reasonably good estimates and forecasts of the flow at the downstream gage. However, the regression model was found to have a significant amount of autocorrelation in the residuals, which the time-series model was able to eliminate. The time-series technique presented can be of great assistance in arriving at reasonable estimates of flow in data sets that have large missing portions of data.     

Environmental protection in Hong Kong amidst transition: Is Hong Kong ready to manage its environment by law?

Within the context of political democratization, this article explores environmental protection in Hong Kong since the government lauched a ten-year program to “save the environment” in 1989. Examining environmental management by law from a social-choice perspective, it argues that the government has yet to reach an integrative policy orocess. Hence the preconditions for an integrative set of environmental legislation are absent. Institutionally, without a comprehensive green policy, the current arrangements lack a vision as an integrative force to promote effective coordination among various sectoral environmental coordination among various sectoral environmental programs. The dominant approach of policy and law enforcement through consultation has rendered impossible strict enforcement of environmental rules and regulations as local economic growth enjoys a priority over environmental protection. At a time of environmental awakening, the people of Hong Kong are not yet prepared awakening, the people of Hong Kong are not yet prepared to participate in environmental management in a strict legal manner. The overall observation is that Hong Kong has yet to see more mature political, legal, administrative, and social conditions for managing its environment within a legal framework.     

HYDROLOGIC MODELING OF A BIOINFILTRATION BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE1

ABSTRACT: The goal of this research was to develop a methodology for modeling a bioinfiltration best management practice (BMP) built in a dormitory area on the campus of Villanova University in Pennsylvania. The objectives were to quantify the behavior of the BMP through the different seasons and rainfall events; better understand the physical processes governing the system's behavior; and develop design criteria. The BMP was constructed in 2001 by excavating within an existing traffic island, backfilling with a sand/soil mixture, and planting with salt tolerant grasses and shrubs native to the Atlantic shore. It receives runoff from the asphalt (0.26 hectare) and turf (0.27 hectare) surfaces of the watershed. Monitoring supported by the hydrologic model shows that the facility infiltrates a significant fraction of the annual precipitation, substantially reducing the delivery of nonpoint source pollution and erosive surges downstream. A hydrologic model was developed using HEC‐HMS to represent the site and the BMP using Green‐Ampt and kinematic wave methods. Instruments allow comparison of the modeled and measured water budget parameters. The model, incorporating seasonally variable parameters, predicts the volumes infiltrated and bypassed by the BMP, confirming the applicability of the selected methods for the analysis of bioinfiltration BMPs.     

Synthesis of hydrogarnet from molten slag and its hydrogen chloride fixation performance at high temperature

Hydrogarnet was synthesized hydrothermally below 200°C using molten slag obtained from municipal solid waste. For comparison, it was also synthesized using pure-phase CaO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O, as reported previously. The structural and textural properties of this material were investigated using various analytical and spectroscopic techniques such as X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The Cl⁻ fixation ability of hydrogarnet was investigated in the temperature range 500–800°C in a fixed-bed flow reactor using a HCl concentration (1000 p.p.m.v.) similar to that of incinerator exhaust gas. Under these experimental conditions, the hydrogarnet was capable of reducing the HCl gas level to less than 1 p.p.m.v. Analysis of the spent catalyst revealed that the hydrogarnet was being transformed into wadalite and CaCl₂ at high temperatures. The elution test for chromium ions in hydrogarnet obtained from slag was also used, and it was found that chromium ions were not eluted from hydrogarnet. Received: January 27, 2001 / Accepted: October 11, 2001     

我国可持续发展中的绿色技术体系

本文在剖析绿色技术的概念内涵与特征的基础上,构建了由清洁生产技术、资源化技术、末端治理技术、生态农业技术、绿色食品技术、清洁消费技术与生态恢复技术等为主要内容的我国绿色技术体系,并从行政、经济、法律、教育及科研等五个方面阐述了促进我国可持续发展的绿色技术实施策略。     

Microwave-Assisted Solvent-Free or Aqueous-Based Synthesis of Biodegradable Polymers

Microwave radiation was used as the energy source for various types of chemical derivatizations of polysaccharides and for the synthesis of biodegradable polyesters in solvent-free or aqueous-based reaction systems. A medium to high degree of substitution was obtained for starch acetates, starch succinates, carboxymethyl konjac, aminated starch, and aminated chitosan. Ring-opening polymerization of lactide and -caprolactone proceeded rapidly even at low power output in the presence of tin octanoate catalyst. Complete monomer conversion and high molecular weight were achieved in less than 6 minutes under nonisothermal conditions. The yield rapidly increased with increasing power output and showed no significant change in a wide range of batch sizes. Polycaprolactone was successfully grafted from starch and konjac acetate in 3 minutes, yielding as high as 24% grafting efficiency and 25% grafting degree.     

Fuzzy multiple-criteria decision-making approach for industrial green engineering

This paper describes a fuzzy hierarchical analytic approach to determine the weighting of subjective judgments. In addition, it presents a nonadditive fuzzy integral technique to evaluate a green engineering industry case as a fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (FMCDM) problem. When the investment strategies are evaluated from various aspects, such as economic effectiveness, technical feasibility, and environmental regulation, it can be regarded as an FMCDM problem. Since stakeholders cannot clearly estimate each considered criterion in terms of numerical values for the anticipated alternatives/strategies, fuzziness is considered to be applicable. Consequently, this paper uses triangular fuzzy numbers to establish weights and anticipated achievement values. By ranking fuzzy weights and fuzzy synthetic utility values, we can determine the relative importance of criteria and decide the best strategies. This paper applies what is called a λ fuzzy measure and nonadditive fuzzy integral technique to evaluate the synthetic performance of green engineering strategies for aquatic products processors in Taiwan. In addition, we demonstrate that the nonadditive fuzzy integral is an effective evaluation and appears to be appropriate, especially when the criteria are not independent.     

基于风险的检验(RBI)在国内合成氨装置中的应用

利用API581基于风险的检验原理,采用RISKWISE分析软件对九江石化合成氨装置中的设备和管道进行了风险评估;并在装置采用的工艺、不同装置的设备和管道的失效机理和计算出的风险分布这3方面,将其风险评估结果与国内兄弟单位完成的其他合成氨装置的风险评估结果进行了比对;其结果体现了我国目前合成氨装置的设备和管道风险的大致分布,可供我国其他合成氨装置的风险评估参考,也为制定我国合成氨装置基于风险检验的法规标准提供了相关数据;同时,对国内采用针对装置的基于风险的检验的新模式进行了探讨。     

Weed manipulation for insect pest management in corn

Populations of insect pests and associated predaceous arthropods were sampled by direct observation and other relative methods in simple and diversified corn habitats at two sites in north Florida during 1978 and 1979. Through various cultural manipulations, characteristic weed communities were established selectively in alternate rows within corn plots.Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith) incidence was consistently higher in the weed-free habitats than in the corn habitats containing natural weed complexes or selected weed associations. Corn earworm (Heliothis zea Boddie) damage was similar in all weed-free and weedy treatments, suggesting that this insect is not affected greatly by weed diversity. Only the diversification of corn with a strip of soybean significantly reduced corn earworm damage.In one site, distance between plots was reduced. Because predators moved freely between habitats, it was difficult to identify between-treatment differences in the composition of predator communities. In the other site, increased distances between plots minimized such migrations, resulting in greater population densities and diversity of common foliage insect predators in the weed-manipulated corn systems than in the weed-free plots. Trophic relationships in the weedy habitats were more complex than food webs in monocultures.Predator diversity (measured as mean number of species per area) and predator density was higher in com plots surrounded by mature, complex vegetation than at those surrounded by annual crops. This suggests that diverse adjacent areas to crops provide refuge for predators, thus acting as colonization sources.