Linking Water Science to Policy: Results from a Series of National Workshops on Water

To ensure science better informs the decision-making process, researchers and policy/program managers need to understand and respect each other's way of working, culture and operational timelines. However, there is little practical guidance on how this should be done and even less documented experience with specific mechanisms that better link these two groups. The published literature on information transfer has largely emphasized the dissemination of standard packages of information to ill-defined constituencies whose needs for scientific information are not well understood. Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute, on behalf of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, led a series of “Linking Water Science to Policy Workshops” as one such mechanism by which recent science could be delivered to practitioners, and practitioners could identify their research needs to scientists and research managers. There is a pressing need to explore and share experiences using creative mechanisms for sustained dialogue and networking between scientists and policy and program managers. The lessons learned from the workshop series and the need for science to continually inform the decision-making process has particular relevance for Canada's Ecosystem Initiatives given their integrated, place-based focus on long-term restoration and protection, and the challenge of continually changing ecosystems.The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

Increasing collaboration between China and India in the environmental sciences to foster global sustainability

As the two largest countries by population, China and India have pervasive effects on the ecosphere. Because of their human population size and long international boundary, they share biodiversity and the threats to it, as well as crops, pests and diseases. We ranked the two countries on a variety of environmental challenges and solutions, illustrating quantitatively their environmental footprint and the parallels between them regarding the threats to their human populations and biodiversity. Yet we show that China and India continue to have few co-authorships in environmental publications, even as their major funding for scientific research has expanded. An agenda for collaboration between China and India can start with the shared Himalaya, linking the countries’ scientists and institutions. A broader agenda can then be framed around environmental challenges that have regional patterns. Coordinated and collaborative research has the potential to improve the two countries’ environmental performance, with implications for global sustainability.     

La2O3-CeO2/γ-Al2O3催化剂还原脱硫耐氧特性及其反应机理研究

用浸渍法制备了一系列稀土催化剂,研究了其催化CO还原SO2为单质硫的耐氧特性及影响其耐氧性能的主要因素,运用XRD技术分析了催化剂物相的变化及脱硫产物成分.结果表明,12% La2O3-8% CeO2/γ-Al2O3复组分催化剂比其他La2O3-CeO2/γ-Al2O3催化剂具有更好的耐氧性能;脱硫温度、催化剂用量、SO2与CO的摩尔比等对催化剂的耐氧性能均有明显的影响.最后,探讨了稀土催化剂脱硫机理,并分析在有O2条件下,引起脱硫率下降的原因是反应过程中O2与CO、S发生了竞争性反应.     

微波辅助法合成纳米ReFeO3光催化剂

以稀土金属硝酸盐La（NO3）3、Sm（NO3）3、Eu（NO3）3、Gd（NO3）3和Fe（NO3）3.9H2O为原材料,以活性炭为模板剂,聚乙烯醇（PVA）和尿素分别用作阻聚剂和均相沉淀剂,在微波辐照下制得纳米钙钛矿型化合物ReFeO3（Re：La,Sm,Eu,Gd）。用X射线粉末衍射仪（XRD）、UV-vis漫反射仪（DRS）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）对产物组成、结构、颗粒大小、形貌等进行了表征,结果表明产物均为单一钙钛矿结构的纳米颗粒。以产物为光催化剂,在可见光照射下对罗丹明B水溶液进行光催化降解实验,发现该类化合物均具有较好的光催化活性,180 min内对罗丹明B的脱色率均达到85%以上。     

Gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs in a satellite town in Eastern China

Gas/particle partitioning of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in ambient air was investigated in a satellite town in Eastern China from April 2007 to January 2008 comprehending large temperature variations (from 3 to 34 °C, daily average). Molecular weight, molecular structure and ambient temperatures are the three major factors that govern the gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs throughout the year. Generally, good agreements were obtained (except for winter) between measured particulate fractions and theoretical estimates of both the Junge–Pankow adsorption model and Harner Bidleman absorption model using different sets of subcooled liquid vapor pressure and octanol–air partition coefficient (K_oa), respectively. Models utilizing estimates, derived from gas chromatographic retention indices (GC-RIs), are more accurate than that of entropy-based. Moreover, during winter, the K_oa-based model using the GC-RIs approach performs better on lower chlorinated PCDD/Fs than that of -based. Furthermore, possible sources of mismatch between measured and predicted values in winter (3–7 °C) were discussed. Gas adsorption artifact was demonstrated to be of minor importance for the phenomena observed. On the other hand, large deviations of slopes (m_r) and intercepts (b_r) in logK_p vs. plots from theoretical values are observed in the literature data and these are found to be linearly correlated with ambient temperatures (P<0.001) in this study. This indicates that the non-equilibrium partitioning of PCDD/Fs in winter may be significantly influenced by the colder temperatures that may have slowed down the exchange between gaseous and particulate fractions.     

From land cover change to land function dynamics: a major challenge to improve land characterization

Land cover change has always had a central role in land change science. This central role is largely the result of the possibilities to map and characterize land cover based on observations and remote sensing. This paper argues that more attention should be given to land use and land functions and linkages between these. Consideration of land functions that provide a wide range of goods and services makes more integrated assessments of land change possible. The increasing attention to multifunctional land use is another incentive to develop methods to assess changes in land functions. A number of methods to quantify and map the spatial extent of land use and land functions are discussed and the implications for modeling are identified based on recent model approaches in land change science. The mixed use of land cover, land use and land function in maps and models leads to inconsistencies in land change assessments. Explicit attention to the non-linear relations between land cover, land use and land function is essential to consistently address land change. New methods to map and quantify land function dynamics will enhance our ability to understand and model land system change and adequately inform policies and planning.     

论“安全”及“安全性”的概念

对当前有关安全概念的多种定义均存在内涵或外延不准确的问题进行研讨;将与安全问题相关的客观事物区分为"可遭受损害事物"和"可导致损害事物",并分别对应于"安全"概念和"安全性"概念;在明确所涉及对象事物的基础上,对安全概念与安全性概念准确把握各自的内涵和外延,分别给出用"属加种差"方式描述的定义。笔者认为:安全是"具有特定功能或属性的事物,在内部和外部因素及其相互作用下,足以保持其正常的、完好的状态,而免遭非期望损害的现象";安全性是"某事物在一定的条件下和一定的时间内,导致其他事物或其自身发生非期望损害的能力"。     

吴淞工业区大气降尘变化规律及趋势

吴淞工业区是重工业聚集区,烟(粉)尘的排放量非常大,造成该地区空气污染严重.为了解降尘的污染特征、变化规律及趋势,以近10 a监测数据为依据,运用方差分析等数理统计方法对工业区降尘量进行分析,检验不同季节降尘的差异并简要分析原因,使用秩相关系数法对其进行趋势分析.结果表明,工业区降尘量较混合区与清洁区明显不同; 工业区与混合区的降尘受本地源的影响较大,4季的降尘量没有明显差异,相反清洁区的4季降尘呈显著差异.10 a来工业区及其周边地区的降尘量下降了56%,说明环境综合整治取得了显著效果,使区域环境空气质量得到改善.     

飞行安全的针对性评估

根据飞行员执行新的或特殊任务的需要,在研制飞行安全评估系统时,设置了针对性评估模块.运用层析分析法(AHP)确定了针对性评估模块与一般性评估模块的权重关系.根据飞行安全理论确定了一般性评估简捷方法的因素、要素及量化数据;根据层析分析法、基元事件分析法确定了针对性评估模块的结构和因素的权重,采用基元事件分析法、飞行法规分析和调查研究相结合的方法,对针对性评估的要素进行了量化.最后针对具体事例做了评估计算.研究表明,当针对性评估的安全度小于90%时,应引起足够的警觉,采取必要的措施.