An exploration of firms’ awareness and behavior of developing circular economy: An empirical research in China

Despite the wealth of information concerning environmental awareness and the behavior of firms, there is little empirical research on the awareness and behavior of firms in developing the circular economy. The study employed a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with 157 firms from manufacturing clusters in China. Results indicated that the firms had a relatively good understanding about the circular economy and its values and had a strong willingness to operate a circular economy, but this was not indicative of enthusiastic behavior. A striking “gap” existed between a firm's awareness and its actual behavior in developing a circular economy. Reasons for the gap are explored mainly based on the results of interviews. Finally, recommendations for overcoming the gap between the awareness and behavior are suggested.     

农业生产性服务对农户耕地质量保护行为的影响——来自江汉平原水稻主产区的证据

利用江汉平原水稻种植农户调查数据,建立Ordered Probit模型,讨论农业生产性服务对农户耕地质量保护行为的影响,揭示服务规模经营促进农户耕地质量保护行为的理论机制和现实逻辑。研究表明：（1）目前农户对修整农田水渠、施用农家肥、测土配方施肥、秸秆还田四类典型耕地质量保护措施的采纳比例分别为17.79%、17.31%、7.89%和90.69%;（2）控制其他条件不变,农业生产性服务能显著促进农户耕地质量保护行为,经检验后该结论依然稳健;（3）排除秸秆还田这一强制性措施后,生活型农户偏向采纳资本投入型技术,生产型农户则更偏好劳动投入型技术;（4）较之于生产型农户,农业生产性服务对生活型农户采纳耕地质量保护措施的促进作用更强。     

农户黑土地保护性耕作行为决策：价值感知抑或政策驱动?

在黑土耕地质量退化问题日益严重的现实背景下,利用吉林省黑土区680户农户调查数据,分析价值感知和政策工具对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为的影响,并分析其作用机理及内在逻辑。研究表明：价值感知对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为决策具有显著影响,而政策工具对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为决策的驱动作用有限,但政策工具通过其调节作用能够增强利益感知对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为的促进作用,同时弱化风险感知对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为的抑制作用,显著增加了价值感知对农户黑土地保护性耕作行为决策的正向影响。因此在推进农户黑土地保护性耕作行为的过程中,充分发挥农户价值感知的内在激励作用,强化政策工具的外在驱动力,把握政策工具对价值感知的调节作用对推进农户参与黑土地保护性耕作行为具有重要意义。     

碳化温度对牛粪铜和锌形态及生态毒性的影响

通过设置不同的热解温度(350,550和750℃)对牛粪废弃物进行碳化处理,并使用光谱技术手段对牛粪炭的微观特点及Cu、Zn赋存形态进行了分析表征,同时结合淋溶和毒性实验探究了热解温度对牛粪炭生态毒性的影响.结果表明,高温碳化明显改善牛粪孔隙结构,使其比表面积从牛粪原料的1.15m²/g提高至牛粪炭的5.51(350℃)~195.90m²/g(750℃).随着热解温度的提高,牛粪炭pH值从8.18(350℃)提高到了10.14(750℃);牛粪炭中Cu、Zn含量则从牛粪原料中的1.22和1.23mg/g分别升高至18.29~35.11和18.58~31.24mg/g.透射电镜-选区衍射以及X射线能谱分析表明,热解处理可使牛粪中Cu、Zn离子分别转化为副黑铜矿(Cu₄O₃)和红锌矿(ZnO)等金属氧化物,从而明显降低了牛粪炭中水溶态、DTPA提取态以及HNO₃-H₂SO₄提取态的Cu、Zn离子浓度;此外,FTIR分析及混合有机酸浸提实验结果也表明,350℃牛粪炭中酚羟基、烷烃基、羧基、酰胺类等有机官能团通过吸附和络合作用固定未完全转化的Cu离子,而升高热解温度会使得这些官能团显著减少、促进Cu离子的完全转化以及无机物与Cu、Zn离子之间稳定金属氧化物化合键的形成.淋溶和生态毒性实验表明,高于550℃的热解温度能够显著降低牛粪炭中Cu、Zn的溶出率以及生态毒性,是高Cu、Zn含量牛粪废弃物无害化处理的一种推荐优选技术.     

Driver licensing,motor-vehicle crashes,and moving violations among older adults

IntroductionDriving is important for well-being among older adults, but age-related conditions are associated with driving reduction or cessation and increased crash risk for older drivers. Our objectives were to describe population-based rates of older drivers’ licensing and per-driver rates of crashes and moving violations.Methods: We examined individual-level statewide driver licensing, crash, and traffic citation data among all New Jersey drivers aged ≥ 65 and a 35- to 54-year-old comparison group during 2010–2014. Rate ratios (RR) of crashes and moving violations were estimated using Poisson regression.Results: Overall, 86% of males and 71% of females aged ≥ 65 held a valid driver’s license. Older drivers had 27% lower per-driver crash rates than middle-aged drivers (RR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.74)—with appreciable differences by sex—but 40% higher fatal crash rates (RR: 1.40 [1.24, 1.58]). Moving violation rates among older drivers were 72% lower than middle-aged drivers (RR: 0.28 [0.28, 0.28]).Conclusion: The majority of older adults are licensed, with substantial variation by age and sex. Older drivers have higher rates of fatal crashes but lower rates of moving violations compared with middle-aged drivers.Practical applications: Future research is needed to understand the extent to which older adults drive and to identify opportunities to further reduce risk of crashes and resultant injuries among older adults.     

Predicting pool safety habits and intentions of Australian parents and carers for their young children

Introduction: Children under five years are most at risk of experiencing fatal and nonfatal drowning. The highest proportion of drowning incidents occur in private swimming pools. Lapses in adult supervision and failures in pool barriers are leading contributory factors for pool drowning in this age group. Methods: We investigated the role of the theory of planned behavior social cognitions (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) as well as perceived barriers, planning, role construction, and anticipated regret on parents’ and carers’ intentions and habits toward two pool safety behaviors: restricting access and supervising children around private swimming pools. The study adopted a cross-sectional correlational design. Participants (N = 509) comprised Australian parents or caregivers with children aged under five years and access to a swimming pool at their residence. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures of social cognitive variables with respect to the swimming pool safety behaviors for their children. Results: Path analytic models controlling for past behavior indicated that subjective norm, planning, anticipated regret, and role construction were important predictors of habit, and subjective norm was a consistent predictor of intentions, for both behaviors. Planning predicted intentions in the restricting access sample, while attitudes, barriers, and role construction also predicted intentions in the supervising sample. Both models controlled for past behavior. Conclusion: Current findings indicate the importance of psychological factors for restricting access and supervising behaviors, with normative factors prominent for both reasoned (intentions) and non-conscious (habits) behavioral antecedents. It seems factors guiding restricting access, which likely require regular enactment of routine behaviors (e.g., ensuring gate is not propped open, pool fence meets standards), may be governed by more habitual than intentional processes.     

Impact of perceptual countermeasures on driving behavior at curves using driving simulator

Objective: The probability of crash occurrence on horizontal curves is 1.5 to 4 times higher than that on tangent sections. A majority of these crashes are associated with human errors. Therefore, human behavior in curves needs to be corrected.

Methodology: In this study, 2 different road marking treatments, optical circles and herringbone patterns, were used to influence driver behavior while entering a curve on a 2-lane rural road section. A driving simulator was used to perform the experiment. The simulated road sections are replicas of 2 real road sections in Flanders.

Results: Both treatments were found to reduce speed before entering the curve. However, speed reduction was more gradual when optical circles were used. A herringbone pattern had more influence on lateral position than optical circles by forcing drivers to maintain a safe distance from opposing traffic in the adjacent lane.

Conclusion: The study concluded that among other low-cost speed reduction methods, optical circles are effective tools to reduce speed and increase drivers’ attention. Moreover, a herringbone pattern can be used to reduce crashes on curves, mainly for head-on crashes where the main problem is inappropriate lateral position.     

Pedestrian crossing behavior at midblock crosswalks

IntroductionThis study investigated the pedestrian crossing behavior at midblock crosswalks, in Istanbul. Method: Data were compiled from field studies at four selected crosswalks that were on one-way streets. Three of the crosswalks were located on three-lane streets while the other one was on a two-lane street. By using two-hour video recordings at each crosswalk, information was collected about pedestrian crossing preferences, pedestrian platoons both at curbside and during the crossing, traffic characteristics including volume, crosswalk occupancy and illegal parking, and pedestrian characteristics comprising age, gender and distraction status. These data were stratified with respect to the number of lanes and two multinomial logit models for platooning and individual crossing behavior was estimated for each stratum. Results: The results showed that the likelihood of platooning increases as the traffic volume and platoon size increase. Moreover, pedestrians who waited for little or no at the curbside and started to cross when one or more lanes were occupied generally lost time during the crossing. In terms of policy, the formation of platoons should be prevented by enforcement or demand-responsive traffic signals with push-to-walk buttons, etc. Overall, the study revealed that the presence of midblock crosswalks is questionable.     

Quantifying driver cell phone use at signalized intersections using software-defined radio

Objective: This article outlines a data collection process that quantifies driver cell phone use using a software-defined radio (SDR) at a signalized intersection. Cell phone use while driving has been shown to be factor that increases the risk of a crash incident. Both operational and enforcement strategies can be applied at locations where high driver cell phone use is identified.

Methods: A baseline driver cell phone use observation was made at the intersection, where 9,699 vehicles were observed at the intersection of Carlton Road and State Route 31 (Pennington Road) in Ewing, New Jersey. An SDR cell phone detection device created as part of this study was then deployed at the same intersection to determine whether the SDR device could detect an active cell phone signal. The identification of vehicle cell phone activity using the SDR was conducted a sample of 4,000 vehicles. A visual observation, along with a motion detection camera, was made alongside the SDR to visually confirm cell phones use.

Results: Of the 4,000 vehicles sampled using the SDR cell phone detection device, 6.1% of the a.m. peak travel time and 7.6% of the p.m. peak travel time had an active cellular device. A concurrent visual field verification of driver cell phone use showed that approximately 57% (a.m. peak) and 67% (p.m. peak) of the SDR-detected cell phones were visually confirmed to be associated with distracted cell phone use.

Conclusions: Once characterized, the frequency of driver cell phone use can be used to justify changes to signal timing protocols. These adjustments could include extending the signal’s “all-red time” or holding “yellow time” longer in order to properly clear the intersection. These data can also be used to identify locations that may require more enforcement measures to dissuade driver cell phone use. Furthermore, the impact of anti–cell phone campaigns or new laws can be quantified by measuring before and after cell phone use in the near term rather than waiting for crash studies at intersections to be completed and analyzed.     

企业安全生产组织行为的长效机制探讨

为探求企业安全生产组织行为长效机制的形成,基于企业“经济人”的假设,通过建立认知不完全条件下企业安全生产组织行为的基本效用模型,分别在有效贯彻执行安全生产法规和严格遵循沿袭企业内在安全文化的条件下,分析了企业安全生产组织行为效用模型的变化.结果表明,强制性地贯彻和执行安全法规,能够有限内化企业安全生产组织行为的持续;强化企业的安全智识素质和责任素质,能够激发和促进企业安全生产组织行为的持续形成,并沉淀为企业内在的安全文化;但只有外在有效强制规控安全法规、内在内导强化企业安全文化共同作用下,企业安全生产组织行为的长效机制才能得到持续确立.