Utilitarian killing,replacement, and rights

The ethical theory underlying much of our treatment of animals in agriculture and research is the moral agency view. It is assumed that only moral agents, or persons, are worthy of maximal moral significance, and that farm and laboratory animals are not moral agents. However, this view also excludes human non-persons from the moral community. Utilitarianism, which bids us maximize the amount of good (utility) in the world, is an alternative ethical theory. Although it has many merits, including impartiality and the extension of moral concern to all sentient beings, it also appears to have many morally unacceptable implications. In particular, it appears to sanction the killing of innocents when utility would be maximized, including cases in which we would deliberately kill and replace a being, as we typically do to animals on farms and in laboratories. I consider a number of ingenious recent attempts by utilitarians to defeat the killing and replaceability arguments, including the attempt to make a place for genuine moral rights within a utilitarian framework. I conclude that utilitarians cannot escape the killing and replaceability objections. Those who reject the restrictive moral agency view and find they cannot accept utilitarianism's unsavory implications must look to a different ethical theory to guide their treatment of humans and non-humans.     

关于现代中国安全生产管理体系研究：管理、法规、文化

对我国安全生产管理的宏观及微观形势分析，论证了安全生产与国民经济的关系。特别指出从根本上遏制新的事故高峰，关键应强化“大安全观”的安全生产管理体系建设与实践。研究向市场经济转换过程中的中国安全减灾业的发展及管理思路，重点探索了体系化管理、安全文化及安全生产法的主题。     

《中国现代化报告2007——生态现代化研究》述评

《中国现代化报告2007——生态现代化研究》回顾了世界生态现代化的历程，总结了经验，介绍了世界生态现代化的基本原理，分析并评价世界各国生态现代化的水平，进而提出中国生态现代化的战略思考。这个研究报告指出了人类社会发展的方向一一生态现代化，为此我国必须进一步落实科学发展观，加快实施可持续发展战略，充分发挥后发优势，努力实现跨越式发展，走综合生态现代化的道路。     

Risk assessment and binding mechanisms of potentially toxic metals in sediments from different water levels in a coastal wetland

The excessive accumulation of potentially toxic metals (Pb and Cd) in coastal wetlands is among the main factors threatening wetland ecosystems. However, the effects of water table depth (WTD) on the risk and binding mechanisms of potentially toxic metals in sediments remain unclear. Here, sediments from different WTD obtained from a typical coastal wetland were evaluated using a newly developed strategy based on chemical extraction methods coupled with high-resolution spectroscopy. Our findings indicated that the WTD of the coastal wetland fluctuates frequently and the average enrichment factor for Pb was categorized as minor, whereas Cd enrichment was categorized as moderate. High-resolution spectroscopy techniques also demonstrated that organic functional groups and partly inorganic compounds (e.g., Fe-O/Si-O) played a vital role in the binding of Pb and Cd to surface sediments. Additionally, mineral components rather than organic groups were mainly bound to these metals in the bottom sediments. Collectively, our findings provide key insights into the potential health effects and binding characteristics of potentially toxic metals in sediments, as well as their dynamic behavior under varying sediment depths at a microscale.     

Carbonate-induced enhancement of phenols degradation in CuS/peroxymonosulfate system: A clear correlation between this enhancement and electronic effects of phenols substituents

This study investigated the enhancement effects of dissolved carbonates on the peroxymonosulfate-based advanced oxidation process with CuS as a catalyst. It was found that the added CO₃²⁻ increased both the catalytic activity and the stability of the catalyst. Under optimized reaction conditions in the presence of CO₃²⁻, the degradation removal of 4-methylphenol (4-MP) within 2 min reached 100%, and this was maintained in consecutive multi-cycle experiments. The degradation rate constant of 4-MP was 2.159 min⁻¹, being 685% greater than that in the absence of CO₃²⁻ (0.315 min⁻¹). The comparison of dominated active species and 4-MP degradation pathways in both CO₃²⁻-free and CO₃²⁻-containing systems suggested that more CO₃•⁻/¹O₂ was produced in the case of CO₃²⁻deducing an electron transfer medium, which tending to react with electron-rich moieties. Meanwhile, Characterization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetry measurement verified CO₃²⁻ enabled the effective reduction of Cu²⁺ to Cu⁺. By investigating the degradation of 11 phenolics with different substituents, the dependence of degradation kinetic rate constant of the phenolics on their chemical structures indicated that there was a good linear relationship between the Hammett constants σ_p of the aromatic phenolics and the logarithm of k in the CO₃²⁻-containing system. This work provides a new strategy for efficient removal of electron-rich moieties under the driving of carbonate being widely present in actual water bodies.     

A novel approach to estimate and control denitrification performance in activated sludge systems with respirogram technology

Respirogram technology has been widely applied for aerobic process, however, the response of respirogram to anoxic denitrification is still unclear. To reveal such response may help to design a new method for the evaluation of the performance of denitrification. The size distribution of flocs measured at different denitrification moments demonstrated a clear expansion of flocs triggered by denitrification, during which higher specific endogenous and quasi-endogenous respiration rates (SOUR_e and SOUR_q) were also observed. Furthermore, SOUR_q increases exponentially with the specific denitrification rate (SDNR), suggesting that there should be a maximum SDNR in conventional activated sludge systems. Based on these findings, an index R_q/t, defined as the ratio of quasi-endogenous (OUR_q) to maximum respiration rate (OUR_t), is proposed to estimate the denitrification capacity that higher R_q/t indicates higher denitrification potential, which can be readily obtained without complex measurement or analysis, and it offers a novel and promising respirogram-based approach for denitrification estimation and control by taking measures to extend anoxic time to maintain its value at a high level within a certain range.