Advancing voluntary chemical governance? The case of the Swedish textile industry dialogue

Voluntary environmental governance is a widely used policy approach that has been criticized for its lack of effectiveness. This raises fundamental questions about how to design processes that can advance voluntary programmes in a way that makes them more successful. In this paper, we analyse a government-initiated dialogue process to phase out hazardous chemicals through voluntary action by the Swedish textile industry. The analysis shows that information transfer primarily motivated business participation, while consumer pressure, regulatory threats and traditions of government–business cooperation played minor roles. The institutional design of the dialogue ensured close interaction within a homogeneous group, but collective actions were limited by disagreement about the problems to be addressed, prior unilateral environmental commitments by leading companies, and ambivalent engagement. This case provides valuable insights into the effect of institutional design on the actual interplay between business and government and its effects on voluntary governance.     

Design and cognitive evaluation of 6 dynamic lane departure warning symbols

Objective: Lane departure, caused by inattention, distraction, drowsiness, or any unusual driver behavior, is a typical risk threatening the driver as well as other road users. Accurate perception of such situations through effective warnings would help drivers to avoid serious consequences. With regard to critical functions of warning symbols for risk communication, the present study focused on providing effective and easily perceivable symbols, compatible with human cognitive capabilities. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to design and cognitively appraise 6 newly designed dynamic symbols, candidates for a new type of lane departure warning system.

Methods: Simplicity, familiarity, concreteness, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness were the major assessment criteria, defining cognitive features by the earlier researchers in the field. A total number of 187 driving license applicants, with a mean age of 20.58 years (SD = 3.20), participated in the present survey. The participants rated cognitive features of the 6 dynamic symbols along a 0–100 scale.

Results: Significant main effect of the element factor type of the designed symbols on rating cognitive features revealed that the existence of car element was the best predictor for illustrating lane departure. The interaction of both element factor and location of element factor significantly affected the ratings. However, the location of element factor did not solely have any strong effect on the ratings. The results also demonstrated that semantic closeness received the highest overall mean score across symbols (M = 61.80), especially within the symbols that include the car element (M = 75.67). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the average ratings of the cognitive features, despite the fact that a significant correlation was found between cognitive features.

Conclusion: The most considerable result of the current study was the match between the symbol with the highest ratings and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-related icon in appearance. Because previous studies demonstrated a strong correlation between comprehension scores of the symbol and both semantic closeness and meaningfulness, high-level comprehensibility of the best ranked symbol is expected.     

Assumptions beyond the science: encouraging cautious conclusions about functional magnetic resonance imaging research on organizational behavior

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is likely to become the major tool for studying the neural underpinnings of organizational behavior. It is a technique for brain imaging that, according to advocates, provides information about which areas of the brain are activated during organizational processes (e.g., leadership and decision‐making). In this article, we take a critical look at this tool from a technical perspective. In particular, we take the reader through the assumptions that must be made at the three main steps of the research process (study design, data capture, and interpretation of results) in order to draw conclusions about organizational phenomena from fMRI research. Applying this analysis to three case studies demonstrates the gap between what fMRI can actually tell us and the claims often made about the contribution of fMRI to understanding and improving organizational behavior. Our discussion provides researchers with a series of recommendations oriented toward optimizing the use of fMRI to help it live up to its potential in the field of organizational behavior and consumers with a means of evaluating fMRI research in order to draw appropriate and warranted conclusions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

济宁市生态文明建设的战略构想与对策

推进生态文明建设、建设美丽中国成为社会主旋律.文章从生态资源、生态空间、生态产业、转型发展等方面分析了济宁生态文明建设的优势,从战略顶层设计角度出发,研究提出了生态文明建设的总体要求、生态功能分区定位和实施步骤,针对近期济宁市生态文明建设存在的问题,从体制创新、制度体系、转型升级、考核监督、大气治理、水污染防治、城乡绿化等方面提出了具体的对策建议.     

陈腐生活垃圾处理处置工程设计实例

介绍了河北省秦皇岛市某生活垃圾填埋场陈腐生活垃圾处置工程设计实例。工程建设规模为500 t/d,采用分选+建筑垃圾破碎制砖+塑料清洗制颗粒+可燃垃圾气化制备+可燃气体发电的循环经济工艺。该工程的实施可解决非正规垃圾填埋场占地及由陈腐垃圾带来的一系列环境问题,使占用的土地资源得到释放,同时使垃圾各组分得到综合利用,为非正规垃圾填埋场的处理处置和垃圾的减量化、无害化、资源化提供参考和借鉴。     

结构可靠性的概率设计法综述

摘 要：【目的】概率设计法是结构可靠性设计法的核心。【方法】结构可靠性设计法按其提出时基于的表述方式可以分为非概率设计法,概率设计法。【结果】概率设计法具备可靠高效地满足工程实际需求的能力,因而倍受研究人员青睐。【结论】综述了目前国际上结构可靠性设计法领域现有的概率设计法,讨论了具有代表性的概率设计法的形式、优缺点和适用范围,展望了概率设计法的发展趋势。     

基于均匀设计的边坡敏感性灰色关联分析

在边坡敏感性分析中,试验方法的选择对试验次数和试验效果起着至关重要的作用.与正交设计相比,均匀设计不仅能减少试验次数,而且能够获得较好的试验效果.本文以一土质边坡为例,选取容重、内聚力、内摩擦角、坡角及坡高5个因素进行均匀试验设计,并对其敏感性进行了灰色关联分析,结果表明:坡体的抗剪强度指标是影响土质边坡稳定性的最重要...     

海上平台设计中几个安全问题的探讨

本文针对海上平台设计中直接关系到海上平台安全的几个问题,如参考风向选取、挡风墙设置、消防水喷淋设置等进行了研究,并针对其存在的问题提出了具体的改进建议,即:在海上平台总体布置设计中,采用"最小频率风向"作为参考风向;设置挡风墙应尽量避免采用全墙体的固定式挡风墙,建议采用推拉式、开窗式等类型;在消防水喷淋的设计中,应遵循...     

航天产品环境适应性问题研究

全面论述了产品研制中提高环境适应性的途径,从产品设计的角度阐释了产品环境适应性基础原理、产品环境分析、环境适应性设计、环境适应性试验、环境适应性管理等内容,并总结了相关环境分析、试验、设计、管理的风险因素,提出了环境适应性工作管理的3个覆盖和适应性技术的发展趋势,认为对当前传统认识——环境适应性工作就是制定环境条件和进...     

深圳龙岗多媒体环境信息管理系统的总体设计及其技术特点

比较详细地介绍了深圳龙岗多媒体环境信息管理系统的设计思想,设计方法及其研制内容与主要功能,剖析了该系统的技术特点。