Monsanto’s Biotechnology Politics: Discourses of Legitimation

Since the first product became commercially available in 1995, biotechnology has become the fastest growing crop technology, dominating large shares of the global agricultural market. The development of biotechnology, however, has given rise to questions regarding human and ecological safety, culminating in local and global political battles. While researchers interested in biotech politics have focused on areas such as media framing, social movements, and campaign work, less attention has been paid to how the industry has historically promoted and legitimized this swift proliferation. In this study, we conduct a discourse analysis of documents available on live and archived websites to discern the legitimation strategies employed by one important corporate actor, Monsanto. Findings show that for nearly two decades, Monsanto consistently employed discursive resources that concealed details about actors and action, reflected trends among experts in global sustainability discourse, and reshaped narratives to promote itself, products, and biotechnology in general.     

城市电力供应系统公共安全风险评估体系及应用

城市电力供应系统与城市公共安全关系紧密，文章分析了导致城市电力供应系统故障或事故的主要风险因素、事故类型及其风险程度，建立了城市电力供应系统公共安全风险评估体系。利用建立的风险评估体系，对某市电力供应系统的安全性进行了风险评估，同时验证了该体系在城市电力供应系统风险评估中的良好适用性。     

An investigation on the fuel savings potential of hybrid hydraulic refuse collection vehicles

Refuse trucks play an important role in the waste collection process. Due to their typical driving cycle, these vehicles are characterized by large fuel consumption, which strongly affects the overall waste disposal costs. Hybrid hydraulic refuse vehicles offer an interesting alternative to conventional diesel trucks, because they are able to recuperate, store and reuse braking energy. However, the expected fuel savings can vary strongly depending on the driving cycle and the operational mode. Therefore, in order to assess the possible fuel savings, a typical driving cycle was measured in a conventional vehicle run by the waste authority of the City of Stuttgart, and a dynamical model of the considered vehicle was built up. Based on the measured driving cycle and the vehicle model including the hybrid powertrain components, simulations for both the conventional and the hybrid vehicle were performed. Fuel consumption results that indicate savings of about 20% are presented and analyzed in order to evaluate the benefit of hybrid hydraulic vehicles used for refuse collection.     

京津冀区域燃煤发电行业大气污染物排放时空变化特征研究

为了科学评估京津冀区域燃煤发电行业特别排放限值和超低排放相关要求实施后的大气污染物减排效果,以行业调查数据为基础,建立了2013年和2015年京津冀区域燃煤发电行业大气污染物排放清单,分析了装机容量与SO_2、NO_x和烟尘排放量的时空耦合关系,讨论了国家相关政策和标准的实施效果。结果显示:区域内2015年燃煤机组装机容量与2013年相比略有下降,SO_2、NO_x和烟尘排放量分别下降75.95%、83.09%和71.20%,减排效果明显。2015年100 MW以下等级机组3种污染物排放总量位居各机组首位,建议通过多种合理方式压减小型燃煤发电机组数量和排放浓度。     

Predicting vehicle fuel consumption patterns using floating vehicle data

The status of energy consumption and air pollution in China is serious. It is important to analyze and predict the different fuel consumption of various types of vehicles under different influence factors. In order to fully describe the relationship between fuel consumption and the impact factors, massive amounts of floating vehicle data were used. The fuel consumption pattern and congestion pattern based on large samples of historical floating vehicle data were explored, drivers'' information and vehicles'' parameters from different group classification were probed, and the average velocity and average fuel consumption in the temporal dimension and spatial dimension were analyzed respectively. The fuel consumption forecasting model was established by using a Back Propagation Neural Network. Part of the sample set was used to train the forecasting model and the remaining part of the sample set was used as input to the forecasting model.     

基于ES-VSP分布的交通状态对公交车动态排放的影响

为评估不同交通状态下公交车运行特征和排放水平的差异,现场采集广州市B9、226线路公交车的逐秒GPS数据,以ES-VSP（发动机负荷-机动车比功率）分布表征畅通、轻度拥堵和中度拥堵下的公交车运行特征,结合IVE（international vehicle emission）模型求得公交车平均排放因子并分析其差异.结果表明:①所测公交车的发动机低负荷区中bin11（-1.6 < ES ≤ 3.1,-2.9 kW/t ≤ VSP < 1.2 kW/t）频率范围为50.55%~83.39%,中度拥堵时bin 11频率是畅通时的1.1~1.3倍;② 3种交通状态下公交车的CO、VOC（运行产生的挥发性有机物）、VOC_evap（蒸发产生的挥发性有机物）、NO_x（氮氧化物）和PM（颗粒物）平均排放因子范围分别为7.63~11.40、0.26~0.46、0.68~1.56、0.32~0.51和0.72×10-2~1.28×10-2 g/km;③同种交通状态下,主干路公交车专用道和BRT车道的公交车的大部分污染物平均排放因子低于次干路混行车道、主干路混行车道,中度拥堵时主干路BRT车道的CO、VOC、VOC_evap、NO_x和PM平均排放因子相对其他道路最低,分别为7.66、0.27、0.87、0.32和0.75×10-2 g/km;④次干路混行车道、主干路混行车道的公交车污染物平均排放因子随交通状态愈加拥堵而增大,但畅通时主干路BRT车道的公交车行驶速度、加速度较高,导致CO平均排放因子较高,对应3种交通状态其比例为1.0:0.9:0.8.研究显示,交通状态对公交车运行和排放具有显著影响.      

数显型电热板加热法在河流高锰酸盐指数应急监测中的应用研究

高锰酸盐指数常被作为地表水体受有机污染物和还原性无机物质污染程度的综合指标.采用数显型电热板加热法测定水中高锰酸盐指数,通过实验确定了加热时间和加热温度.并分别采用水浴法和电热板加热法对应急样品进行了高锰酸盐指数的测定,两种测定方法的比对研究结果表明,应急监测时采用数显型电热板加热法测定耗时更短,检测结果与国标法测定没有显著差异,是可行且有效的应急监测替代方法.     

中国经济发展产生的能源和环境效应研究

为揭示中国经济持续增长对能源依靠程度、能源利用效率提高程度及环境污染改善水平,统计了2006年-2014年GDP、工业增加值、能耗、SO2和NOx排放量数据,计算得到单位能耗GDP和单位能耗污染物排放量,对比分析单位能耗GDP和单位能耗污染物排放量,前者持续增长,后者呈波动时下降,表明能源利用效率逐步提高,污染物排放得到有效控制.主要城市NOx和PM10浓度出现升高趋势,SO2浓度明显下降.NOx和PM10成为中国未来大气主要污染物,应采取措施控制,同时应注重对非工业源的控制.     

基于多区域投入产出(MRIO)的中国区域居民消费碳足迹分析

近年来,居民消费活动和环境的关系逐渐受到关注,而与温室气体排放相关的研究更是其中的热点.因此,本文采用“居民消费碳足迹”概念来定义特定居民消费活动所导致的直接和间接温室气体排放的总和,主要包括CO2、CH4、N2O3种温室气体;构建了基于环境扩展的多区域投入产出(Multiregional input-output,MRIO)模型的碳足迹核算方法,并以2007年中国8个区域为例对其居民消费碳足迹的数量、构成、分布及转移进行了分析.结果显示,2007年全国居民消费碳足迹总量达到31.74亿t(以CO2当量计).此外,碳足迹还呈现出区域差异明显、间接排放大于直接排放、城乡差距过大等特征.人均碳足迹方面,发展水平较高的京津、东部沿海地区明显高于相对滞后的西北、西南区域.研究还对碳足迹的区域分布和转移进行了深入探讨.结果发现,东北、京津、西北和西南区域转移收支为负,表示这些区域为其他区域承担的排放大于其他区域为其承担的排放;剩余的北部沿海、东部沿海、南部沿海和中部区域情况则正好相反.这些结果对现阶段中国制定具体区域消费政策或分配碳减排责任等具有参考价值;本研究的方法论也适用于研究其他环境因子及足迹因子与居民消费的关系.     

基于能源-环境情景模拟的北京市大气污染对居民健康风险评价研究

保护居民健康是北京市能源系统优化管理和大气污染治理的重要目标.本研究基于北京市的社会经济发展目标并结合相关节能减排和环保要求,针对全市2010-2020年间的能源消费分别设计了高、中、低3种约束情景,通过LEAP模型预测了全市至2020年的能源消费量与S02、NOx、PM10和PM2.5等4种主要大气污染物的排放强度,并采用泊松回归模型对3种情景下主城区居民受环境空气中这4种大气污染物的暴露危害所导致的健康风险进行了评估.结果显示:相对低约束情景,高约束情景至2020年可避免与S02、NOx、PM10和PM2.5污染相关的死亡危害分别为2663、6359、4720和4104人·a-1,而且在高约束情景下煤炭消费比重每下降1％,可相应地避免约1400人·a-1的污染急性死亡.由此建议北京市实施更加严格的节能和减排措施,严控煤炭消费总量,进一步优化能源结构,最大程度地降低能源消费导致的大气污染所产生的居民健康风险.