Fisheries management: integrating societal preference, decision analysis, and ecological risk assessment

Fisheries management is the practice of analyzing and selecting options to maintain or alter the structure, dynamics, and interaction of habitat, aquatic biota, and man to achieve human goals and objectives. The theory of fisheries management is: managers or decision makers attempt to maximize renewable `output' from an aquatic resource by choosing from among a set of decision options and applying a set of actions that generate an array of outputs. Outputs may be defined as a tangible catch, a fishing experience, an existence value, or anything else produced or supported by renewable aquatic resources. Overall output is always a mix of tangible and intangible elements. However defined, management goals and objectives are essential components of fisheries management or any other field of renewable natural resource management. Reaching consensus on management goals and objectives has never been a simple task. Beyond the broad and often conflicting goals of an agency, managers must decide who should set specific management objectives — agency personnel, the public, or a combination of the two. Historically, rhetoric aside, fisheries managers in North America nearly always have consulted with professionals in governmental roles to set management objectives. In a strongly pluralistic society, this often resulted in protracted political and legal conflict. Increasingly, there are calls for use of risk assessment to help solve such ecological policy and management problems commonly encountered in fisheries management. The basic concepts of ecological risk assessment may be simple, but the jargon and details are not. Risk assessment (and similar analytical tools) is a concept that has evoked strong reactions whenever it has been used. In spite of the difficulties of defining problems and setting management objectives for complex ecological policy questions, use of risk assessment to help solve ecological problems is widely supported. Ecological risk assessment will be most useful (and objective) in political deliberations when the policy debate revolves around largely technical concerns. To the extent that risk assessment forces policy debate and disagreement toward fundamental differences rather than superficial ones, it will be useful in decision making.     

Improving invasive species management by integrating priorities and contributions of scientists and decision makers

Managing invasive species is a major challenge for society. In the case of newly established invaders, rapid action is key for a successful management. Here, we develop, describe and recommend a three-step transdisciplinary process (the “butterfly model”) to rapidly initiate action for invasion management. In the framing of a case study, we present results from the first of these steps: assessing priorities and contributions of both scientists and decision makers. Both scientists and decision makers prioritise research on prevention. The available scientific knowledge contributions, however, are publications on impacts rather than prevention of the invasive species. The contribution of scientific knowledge does thus not reflect scientists’ perception of what is essentially needed. We argue that a more objective assessment and transparent communication of not only decision makers’ but also scientists’ priorities is an essential basis for a successful cooperation. Our three-step model can help achieve objectivity via transdisciplinary communication.     

考虑含水率影响的花岗岩残积土边坡地震响应分析∗

基于室内直剪试验,得到不同含水率下花岗岩残积土的强度参数,并采用有限差分软件研究了花岗岩残积土边坡在不同含水率(13%、17%、21%、25%)和地震加速度峰值(0.05g、0.1g、0.2g、0.4g)下的位移场、加速度场和锚杆轴力变化规律。结果表明:在EL波作用下,边坡水平位移主要集中在残积土层内。含水率越高、地震峰值加速度越大,同一位置处坡体水平位移越大;PGA放大系数随着坡高的增加而增大,且表现为趋表放大效应。含水率越高、地震峰值加速度越小,同一位置处PGA放大系数越大;预应力锚杆最大轴力位于锚头处,且轴力沿自由段变化较小,而在内锚段由始端向末端逐渐减小。含水率越高、地震峰值加速度越大,同一位置处锚杆轴力越大。当地震加速度峰值较小时(PGA=0.05g),坡脚处锚杆轴力最大,当地震加速度峰值较大时(PGA=0.4g),坡顶处锚杆轴力最大。     

Use of decision analysis interviews to support the sustainable use of the forests in Finnish Upper Lapland

Controversy between alternative uses of forests in Finnish Upper Lapland has been going on for decades, and in recent years it has been escalated to a serious conflict. The core of the conflict is the adverse impacts of forestry on old forests which are important grazing areas for reindeer and which are regarded as intact nature and wilderness areas. This paper describes the experiences of applying multi-criteria decision analysis interview approach on this conflict. The approach provides tools for structuring the problem and preferences of the stakeholders as well as for analyzing the effects of different alternatives in a common framework. We focus on the practical experiences gained from the application of this approach in this context. Multi-criteria decision analysis was found to be a useful approach to evaluate the economic, ecological and cultural aspects of this intense conflict. The obtained experiences also support the view that the approach works best when tightly integrated into the planning process.     

The role of situation awareness in accidents of large-scale technological systems

In the last two decades, several serious accidents at large-scale technological systems that have had grave consequences, such as that at Bhopal, have primarily been attributed to human error. However, further investigations have revealed that humans are not the primary cause of these accidents, but have inherited the problems and difficulties of working with complex systems created by engineers. The operators have to comprehend malfunctions in real time, respond quickly, and make rapid decisions to return operational units to normal conditions, but under these circumstances, the mental workload of operators rises sharply, and a mental workload that is too high increases the rate of error. Therefore, cognivitive human features such as situation awareness (SA)—one of the most important prerequisite for decision-making—should be considered and analyzed appropriately. This paper applys the SA Error Taxonomy methodology to analyze the role of SA in three different accidents: (1) A runaway chemical reaction at Institute, West Virginia killing two employees, injuring eight people, and requiring the evacuation of more than 40,000 residents adjacent to the facility, (2) The ignition of a vapor cloud at Bellwood, Illinois that killed one person, injured two employees, and caused significant business interruption, and (3) An explosion at Ontario, California injuring four workers and caused extensive damage to the facility. In addition, the paper presents certain requirements for cognitive operator support system development and operator training under abnormal situations to promote operators’ SA in the process industry.     

我国环境污染导致健康损害的赔偿保障体系思考

本文就我国现有法律法规体系、技术现状及组织体系进行剖析。结果表明,我国环境污染导致健康损害赔偿的法律支撑体系严重不足,亟需出台适合我国国情的《环境损害赔偿法》,从法律层面对整个健康损害的赔偿保障体系进行明确指导。针对现有健康损害赔偿的技术支撑体系严重缺乏、认定机构的人员队伍建设薄弱等现状,本文提出应加大相关组织队伍建设,以提高环境损害的技术支撑能力。此外,还需要建立一个更高级别的专业的环境健康污染损害、赔偿与协调机构。该机构应是由国家多部门(环境保护部、保监会、财政部、卫生部、司法部等)共同认可的第三方仲裁机构,且具备独立的性质,负责污染导致的损失评估、责任认定、事故处理、资金赔付等各项仲裁工作。     

蒙脱土原位生长MoS2复合材料光催化降解罗丹明B的机理研究

通过在Na⁺-MMT表面生长MoS₂来提高窄带隙半导体光生电子分离速率及稳定性.利用阳离子填充法及水热法成功制备了复合光催化剂Na⁺-MMT/MoS₂,并通过FT-IR、SEM、TEM、Raman、XRD、TG、XPS、UV-DRS和ESR等表征进一步证明了材料的成功负载及光、电化学性能. 同时,以有机染料罗丹明B为待降解染料来评价光催化剂的催化性能,发现其在80 min可有效降解罗丹明B,降解率达96%.经过5次循环使用后,Na⁺-MMT/MoS₂复合光催化剂仍具有较好的光催化性能.因此,利用MMT的表面电负性及稳定的片层结构负载MoS₂,可形成光生电子迁移通道进一步提高电荷迁移速率及光催化剂的稳定性.本研究可为黏土材料调控窄带隙半导体制备环境友好型光催化剂提供新思路.     

负载型纳米Fe-Pd降解水溶性偶氮染料

采用阳离子交换树脂表面为载体,合成了负载型纳米Fe-Pd二元复合金属材料,采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和能谱分析对该材料进行表征,研究了其对一些水溶性偶氮染料的降解效果.实验表明,该材料对0.05 gL-1甲基橙、日落黄、酸性橙8、金橙G和活性红2等偶氮染料有较好的降解效果,纳米双金属中Pd含量的增加有利于染料的降解;反应体系初始pH值对染料的降解率影响较大,本研究中,pH 4酸性条件下降解效果最佳;制备的材料在第10次活化后,仍有较好的降解效果;为环境中偶氮染料的降解提供了一种有效的方法.     

生命线工程网络抗震可靠性分析方法的比较研究

生命线工程网络抗震可靠性分析是进行生命线工程系统规划、设计、改造与优化的基础。因此 ,寻找一种高效的适应性强的系统可靠性分析方法对实际工程应用具有重要的意义。本文主要介绍两种高效的网络系统两终端连通可靠性分析方法———递推分解算法和有序二分决策图算法。首先 ,分别对两种算法的原理及实现过程进行了详细的论述和说明 ,并且用c语言编制了二分决策图算法的计算程序。然后 ,利用这两种方法及随机模拟算法对 2 0个以往研究中的经典算例和两个实际工程网络———河南省电力网和上海市浦西供水管网 ,进行了网络系统抗震连通可靠性分析。通过对实例分析结果的比较研究 ,得到了一些经验性的结论 ,以期为优化设计工程网络时选择系统可靠性的分析工具提供参考。研究表明 ,由于递推分解算法具有适应性强和能够求得问题近似解的优点 ,因此有良好的实际工程应用前景。     

纳米TiO2-Al2O3负载CuMnOx对甲苯的催化燃烧

研究采用改进的溶胶-凝胶法制备了TiO2-Al2O3复合载体,并用浸渍法制备CuMnOX/TiO2-Al2O3催化剂,通过对甲苯废气催化燃烧的实验,分别考察了Cu-Mn负载量、Cu/Mn摩尔比、焙烧温度及载体对催化剂制备过程及催化剂活性的影响。实验结果表明:活性组分负载量25%,铜锰活性组分的配比Cu:Mn=1:2,焙烧温度500℃是浸渍法制备CuMnOX/TiO2-Al2O3催化剂较佳的工艺条件;XRD衍射图谱表明,500℃下铜锰尖晶石的存在是催化剂催化活性优良的主要原因;由复合载体制备的CuMnOX/TiO2-Al2O3催化剂比单一载体制备的CuMnOX/Al2O3催化剂具有更高的甲苯转化率,其T99比单一载体要低20℃以上。