Garnering input for recycling communication strategies at a Big Ten University

With increasing environmental challenges confronting our planet, colleges and universities are trying different approaches for minimizing their adverse environmental impacts. Among the approaches being used to revitalize campus sustainability efforts, new waste management strategies have included attempts to improve campus-recycling programs. This paper presents select findings from a comprehensive study at a large, Tier I university aimed at, among other things, informing university administration and decision makers working on the planning and implementation of a new campus-wide recycling facility and program. The researchers used a mixed-method approach to help them develop an understanding of the campus community's (1) perceived barriers to recycling, (2) recycling knowledge, (3) program preferences, and (4) environmental attitudes. The results from a web-based survey (n = 3896, RR1 = 24.9%) suggest, communication efforts for recycling programming should focus more on messages concerning what, how, and where to recycle rather than messages on why to recycle. Furthermore, the results suggest recycling-related publicity approaches should differentiate their mode and content for different segments of the community.     

Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Scenarios in Europe’s Mountain Areas: Lessons from Six Study Areas

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a holistic and long-range strategic instrument capable of assisting policy-making in electing, and deciding upon, future development priorities. The outcomes of an SA process become more relevant and strengthened when conducted with multi-stakeholder engagement, which provides for multiple dialogues and perspectives. This was the object of research of the SA team in the context of BioScene (Scenarios for Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation with Declining Agriculture Use in Mountain Areas in Europe), a three-year project (2002–2005) funded by the European Union 5th Framework Program, which aimed to investigate the implications of agricultural restructuring and decline for biodiversity conservation in the mountain areas of Europe, using three distinct methodological streams: the ecological, the socio-economic, and the SA approaches. The SA approach drew on the previous two to assess the importance for biodiversity management of different scenarios of agri-environmental change and rural policy in six countries (France, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), develop causal chains, include stakeholder views, and identify potential contributions for, or conflicts with, sustainability. This article tells how SA was used, what sustainability meant in each study area through different objectives of sustainability considered, discusses the methods used in SA, and the benefits arising. The SA was conducted by a team independent of any study area, who developed and oversaw the application of the SA methodology, assisting national teams, and developing a cross-country understanding of the sustainability of proposed scenarios in the different geographical and social contexts, and their implications for policy-making. Finally, it reflects on the persistent challenges of interdisciplinary research, compounded by multi-cultural teams, and concludes on the BioScene’s lessons for the further development and application of SA.

Environmental Exposure of Aquatic and Terrestrial Biota to Triclosan and Triclocarban1

Abstract: The synthetic biocides triclosan (5‐chloro‐2‐(2,4‐dichlorophenoxy)phenol) and triclocarban (3,4,4′‐trichlorocarbanilide) are routinely added to a wide array of antimicrobial personal care products and consumer articles. Both compounds can persist in the environment and exhibit toxicity toward a number of biological receptors. Recent reports of toxicological effects in wildlife, human cell cultures, and laboratory animals have heightened the interest in the occurrence of these biocide and related toxic effects. The present study aimed to summarize published environmental concentrations of biocides and contrast them with toxicity threshold values of susceptible organisms. Environmental occurrences and toxicity threshold values span more than six orders of magnitude in concentration. The highest biocide levels, measured in the mid parts‐per‐million range, were determined to occur in aquatic sediments and in municipal biosolids destined for land application. Crustacea and algae were identified as the most sensitive species, susceptible to adverse effects from biocide exposures in the parts‐per‐trillion range. An overlap of environmental concentrations and toxicity threshold values was noted for these more sensitive organisms, suggesting potential adverse ecological effects in aquatic environments. Affirmative evidence for this is lacking, however, since studies examining environmental occurrences of biocides vis‐à‐vis the health and diversity of aquatic species have not yet been conducted.     

基于模糊层次分析法的应急能力评估方法探讨

对危险行业的安全生产事故应急能力进行安全评估,可以持续改进应急管理工作,提高事故应急能力的总体水平。作为综合性的安全评估方法,层次分析法在安全研究的多个领域中得到了应用。通过介绍安全生产事故应急管理能力及其评估要求,分析国内外应急能力评估的现状,提出了应急能力评估体系建立的总体思路。论述了事故应急能力评估指标集的建立方法和基于模糊层次综合评价法的评估模型构建方案,初步建立起事故应急管理能力评估方法。     

层次分析法的改进及在安全决策中应用的研究

本文根据化工行业的特点及调研资料,建立了影响安全的层次结构模型即安全指标体系。并利用改进式层次分析法（IAHP）对该体系进行分析,得出了各个因素对安全的影响系数（权重）。     

Reinventing the bicycle: how calculative practices shape urban environmental governance

The concept of sustainability transitions has become increasingly prominent in academic and policy discourses during recent decades, but the importance of the link between knowledge-producing epistemic practices and urban governance has been underappreciated in this discourse. Based on a case study of cycling in Copenhagen between 1900 and 2015, and drawing upon a governmentality-inspired analytical framework, this research demonstrates that transformative governance may be initiated by epistemic practices that render urban systems visible in other ways. Urban cycling has been reconstructed over time in Copenhagen as a traffic safety ‘problem’, a component of the experiential and liveable city, and a health-producing (and hence economically valuable) regional transport mode. The research findings emphasise that epistemic practices can provide a powerful stimulus for creating changes in urban governance. The results also provide support for initiatives to broaden the terms of academic debate on sustainability transitions.     

The Tea Party versus Agenda 21: local groups and sustainability policies in U.S. cities

As local governments have moved toward adopting sustainability policies, there have been some cases where local Tea Parties have emerged as aggressive and strident opponents of such changes. Looking broadly at the Tea Party movement across the United States and systematically measuring its influence in urban America, we assess each Tea Party chapter’s capacity – its ability to convert resources into meaningful political advocacy. Data is derived from surveys of political elites in 50 cities as well as from determining the level of sustainability programming in each of these same cities. Evidence demonstrates that the Tea Party has not had a significant impact on city policymaking in the area of sustainability. Rather, the typical Tea Party chapter appears to be at best a modest presence in local politics.     

阿维菌素对中华绒螯蟹肝胰腺氧化胁迫效应和组织结构的影响

采用半静态染毒法,研究不同浓度(1.6、8.0、16.0μg·L-1)阿维菌素在胁迫中华绒螯蟹12、24、48、96 h时肝胰腺超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性和丙二醛(MDA)积累量等氧化胁迫相关指标的变化;并在胁迫60 d时,记录各实验组和对照组中华绒螯蟹肝胰腺颜色的变化并进行组织病理观察。3个阿维菌素浓度组为实验组,空白组和溶剂组为对照组。结果表明在整个实验过程中空白组和溶剂组各个时间点各项指标之间无显著差异(P>0.05);低浓度(1.6μg·L-1)组SOD和CAT活力变化不显著(P>0.05);中浓度(8.0μg·L-1)组SOD和CAT活力变化趋势一致,持续被诱导,SOD活力在24 h以后显著高于空白组(P<0.01),CAT活力在48 h以后显著高于空白组(P<0.01);高浓度(16.0μg·L-1)组SOD和CAT活力在12 h~24 h之间变化趋势一致,表现为显著升高(P<0.05),但是在48 h之后,SOD活力显著下降(P<0.05);96 h时,高浓度组SOD活力显著低于空白组(P<0.01),而CAT活力显著高于空白组(P<0.01);在整个实验过程中各实验组MDA积累量逐渐增加,高浓度组氧化胁迫指标的变化幅度大于低浓度组。胁迫60 d时,取样观察可见对照组中华绒螯蟹肝胰腺正常,各实验组中华绒螯蟹肝胰腺发生了不同程度的病变,肝胰腺颜色由最开始的橘黄色变成了淡黄色、黄白色甚至白色,高、中、低各浓度组肝胰腺白化所占的比例分别是66.6%、57.1%和25.0%。组织病理分析显示,淡黄色肝胰腺的病理变化主要是B细胞数量减少,肝胰腺上皮细胞部分肿大并出现空泡;黄白肝病理观察可见肝胰腺上皮细胞中空泡数量增多,体积增大,且空泡内出现内容物,细胞核固缩;白肝的病理表现主要是基膜增厚,上皮细胞大量脱落,散落在管腔中,空泡数量进一步增多,肝胰腺的生理功能受损。由此得出,阿维菌素会对中华绒螯蟹肝胰腺造成氧化胁迫和组织损伤,且阿维菌素和对肝胰腺的氧化胁迫效应和组织结构损伤程度有一定的剂量-效应关系。