运用绩效管理推动地方政府抓紧抓实生态环境建设

绩效管理作为推动地方政府建设生态环境的有效手段和方式,能够把生态环境建设纳入地方政府的绩效管理,从而推动地方政府实施生态环境建设。在此过程中应侧重于如下几个问题：提高环境保护在政府绩效评价体系中的地位与比重;探索建立生态文明建设动态评价系统,对环境质量和生态发展进行区域性监控与跟踪;将国家环境功能区划纳入到地方经济社会发展规划中,成为地方政府绩效考核的基本依据和内容;坚持绩效管理理念,推进环境风险全过程管理;强化目标责任制,构建科学发展的长效机制;从以内部考核为主向内外考核兼顾转变。     

关于加强餐饮业的环境管理

通过对建华区餐饮业现状及存在问题的调查,从对餐饮业的监督管理、实施行政干预、加强排污收费力度、提高业主的环保意识、提高管理效力、强化执法力度、加强污染治理等方面提出了加强餐饮业环境管理的建议,指出加强城区餐饮业的环境监督管理已成为城市建设的重要组成部分。     

基于投入产出与生命周期评价的集成电路产业环境影响分析

我国集成电路产业正蓬勃发展,在国家经济与高科技产业中占据重要地位。基于投入产出与生命周期评价,分别使用生命周期评价软件SimaPro7.0中的Eco-indicator 98与IMPACT 2002+2种评价模式作为量化影响评价方法,分析了我国集成电路产业的生产制造过程对环境的影响。根据Eco-indicator98分析结果,集成电路产业的各项环境影响中,重金属污染最高,其次为能源消耗、夏季烟雾、温室效应等;而IMPACT 2002+的损害评价结果显示,人体健康危害为集成电路产业最显著的环境损害,其次为生态系统质量、资源消耗及气候变化。在评估能源消耗与气候变化影响时,2种模式的结果一致。     

Dynamic probability assessment of urban natural gas pipeline accidents considering integrated external activities

Urban gas pipelines usually have high structural vulnerability due to long service time. The locations across urban areas with high population density make the gas pipelines easily exposed to external activities. Recently, urban pipelines may also have been the target of terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, the intentional damage, i.e. terrorist attack, was seldom considered in previous risk analysis of urban gas pipelines. This work presents a dynamic risk analysis of external activities to urban gas pipelines, which integrates unintentional and intentional damage to pipelines in a unified framework. A Bayesian network mapping from the Bow-tie model is used to represent the evolution process of pipeline accidents initiating from intentional and unintentional hazards. The probabilities of basic events and safety barriers are estimated by adopting the Fuzzy set theory and hierarchical Bayesian analysis (HBA). The developed model enables assessment of the dynamic probabilities of consequences and identifies the most credible contributing factors to the risk, given observed evidence. It also captures both data and model uncertainties. Eventually, an industrial case is presented to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the developed methodology. It is observed that the proposed methodology helps to more accurately conduct risk assessment and management of urban natural gas pipelines.     

Identifying management practices that drive production-line workers’ engagement through qualitative analysis

Introduction: Engagement research - most often defined by a worker’s psychological state of vigor, dedication, and absorption - pays little attention to production-line workers. This study therefore explores factors that drive workers’ engagement with health and safety (H&S) in a production-line context as well as their perception of managerial influence Furthermore, the study adds to the body of research by exploring H&S engagement concepts through the use of qualitative research methods. Method: 38 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through template analysis to identify themes that promote and hinder engagement. Results: The main engagement drivers were found to be: (a) the displayed safety focus of the company in organizational and social aspects; (b) the quality of the communication approach with respect to quality, consistency and direction; and (c) the environment encompassing the relationship between workers and supervisors and peers as well as the psychological environment. Notably, a trusting relationship between supervisors and workers appeared to be the most influential driver in determining engaged H&S behavior. Discussion and impact in industry: The study highlights factors that could be adapted to improve engagement and consequently enhance H&S approaches. Originality: The study reported in this paper offers a unique insight into individual production workers’ perceived drivers of H&S engagement using Qualitative Analysis. Practical applications: The study identified the important role that supervisors play in workers’ H&S engagement levels and what skills they need to employ to enhance workers’ engagement in general and in the context of H&S behavior and performance. Furthermore, the importance of psychological and sociological factors in safety approaches are highlighted and were found to be key for creating safer workplaces.     

Lethal and sublethal effects of four essential oils on the egg parasitoids Trissolcus basalis

The essential oils from leaves of Schinus molle var. areira, Aloysia citriodora, Origanum vulgare and Thymus vulgaris have showed potential as phytoinsecticides against the green stink bug, Nezara viridula. In this work were evaluated their toxicological and behavioral effects on the parasitoid Trissolcus basalis, a biological control agent of this pest insect. Essential oils were obtained via hydrodestillation from fresh leaves. Insecticide activity in T. basalis females was evaluated in direct contact and fumigation bioassays. Behavioral effects were evaluated in olfactometer bioassays. To evaluate the residual toxicity, females of the parasitoids were exposed to oil residues; in these insects, the sublethal effects were evaluated (potential parasitism and survivorship of immature stages). The essential oils from O. vulgare and T. vulgaris proved to be highly selective when used as fumigant and did not change parasitoid behavior. After one week, the residues of these oils were harmless and did not show sublethal effects against T. basalis. According with these results, essential oils have potential applications for the integrated management of N. viridula.     

Framework and Tools for Agricultural Landscape Assessment Relating to Water Quality Protection

While many scientific studies show the influence of agricultural landscape patterns on water cycle and water quality, only a few of these have proposed scientifically based and operational methods to improve water management. Territ’eau is a framework developed to adapt agricultural landscapes to water quality protection, using components such as farmers’ fields, seminatural areas, and human infrastructures, which can act as sources, sinks, or buffers on water quality. This framework allows us to delimit active areas contributing to water quality, defined by the following three characteristics: (i) the dominant hydrological processes and their flow pathways, (ii) the characteristics of each considered pollutant, and (iii) the main landscape features. These areas are delineated by analyzing the flow connectivity from the stream to the croplands, by assessing the buffer functions of seminatural areas according to their flow pathways. Hence, this framework allows us to identify functional seminatural areas in terms of water quality and assess their limits and functions; it helps in proposing different approaches for changing agricultural landscape, acting on agricultural practices or systems, and/or conserving or rebuilding seminatural areas in controversial landscapes. Finally, it allows us to objectivize the functions of the landscape components, for adapting these components to new environmental constraints.     

To kill or not to kill—Practitioners’ opinions on invasive alien species management as a step towards enhancing control of biological invasions

The spread of invasive alien species (IAS) has become an increasingly important environmental, social and economic issue in almost all regions of the world. To have the capacity to effectively counter the effects of invasions, besides basic research on invasion processes and the ecological impacts of IAS, there is a need to get an information and better understanding of the effectiveness of biological control and its social acceptability. Conservation practitioners are a particular group of stakeholders as they act in the first line to undertake control actions again IAS spread. Yet, not many research was done to deliver quantitative, comprehensive information on practitioners’ knowledge and attitudes towards IAS. In this paper, we present a study from Poland—a country with relatively well preserved nature, yet currently facing the problem of biological invasions in the terrestrial and aquatic environments. We investigated nature conservation practitioners’ knowledge of biological invasions, their views on the principles and methods of IAS control, and their degree of acceptance of control methods. We conducted a survey among people professionally involved in nature conservation in Poland and collected 916 questionnaires (out of 3330 sent). Overall, we find that conservation practitioners in Poland accept the use of radical methods of control, yet they differ about the use of various types of control method, and about the various control methods application to various systematic groups. Also, the level of practitioners’ knowledge is rather limited—both in relation to correct identification of IAS, as well as to knowledge on legal regulations. We also highlight significant differences between decision-makers and professionals not perceiving themselves as decisive over IAS management. We show examples suggesting that nature conservation practitioners may not hold well-formed opinions on the principles and methods of dealing with alien species. This is surely an important deficit to overcome to enhance the effectiveness of IAS control.     

IFRP: a hybrid interval-parameter fuzzy robust programming approach for waste management planning under uncertainty

In this study, an interval-parameter fuzzy-robust programming (IFRP) model is developed and applied to the planning of solid waste management systems under uncertainty. As an extension of the existing fuzzy-robust programming and interval-parameter linear programming methods, the IFRP can explicitly address system uncertainties with complex presentations. Parameters in the IFRP model can be represented as interval numbers and/or fuzzy membership functions, such that the uncertainties can be directly communicated into the optimization process and resulting solution. Furthermore, highly uncertain information for the lower and upper bounds of interval parameters that exist due to the complexity of the real world can be effectively handled through introducing the concept of fuzzy boundary interval. Consequently, robustness of the optimization process and solution can be enhanced. Results of the case study indicate that useful solutions for planning municipal solid waste management practices can be generated. They reflect a compromise between optimality and stability of the study system. Willingness to pay higher costs will guarantee the system stability; however, a desire to reduce the costs will run the risk of potential instability of the system. The results also suggest that the proposed hybrid methodology is applicable to practical problems that are associated with highly complex and uncertain information.