How have reforms fuelled the expansion of artisanal mining? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates whether and how World Bank mining sector reforms have fuelled the expansion of illegal artisanal mining activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, the analysis examines three issues. First, the emerging correlation between reforms and poverty, mainly a result of increased unemployment caused by Structural Adjustment Programmes and concurrent privatisation of state-owned enterprises, is explored. Second, the possibility that reform of large-scale mining has decreased available land for peasant farming as well as legalised small-scale mining activity is discussed. Finally, the notion that the regularisation of informal mining activities has been an exceedingly bureaucratic procedure in Africa, therefore providing individuals with little incentive to operate within the legal domain, is examined. Faced with few employment prospects, a growing number of Africans are pursuing employment in the artisanal mining sector, a worrying prospect given its intimate association with environmental degradation and HIV/AIDS.     

Inactivation effect of pressurized carbon dioxide on bacteriophage Qβ and ΦX174 as a novel disinfectant for water treatment

The inactivation effects of pressurized CO2 against bacteriophage Qβ and ΦX174 were investigated under the pressure of 0.3–0.9 MPa, initial concentration of 107–109PFU/mL, and temperature of17.8°C–27.2°C. The optimum conditions were found to be 0.7 MPa and an exposure time of 25 min. Under identical treatment conditions, a greater than 3.3-log reduction in bacteriophage Qβ was achieved by CO2, while a nearly 3.0 log reduction was observed for phage ΦX174. The viricidal effects of N2O(an inactivation gas with similar characteristics to CO2), normal acid(HCl), and CO2 treatment with phosphate buffered saline affirmed the chemical nature of CO2 treatment. The pumping cycle, depressurization rate, and release of intracellular substances caused by CO2 were its viricidal mechanisms. The results indicate that CO2 has the potential for use as a disinfectant without forming disinfection by-products.     

New mercantilism: A perspective on how politics is shaping world metal supply

The major countries consuming metals tended historically to be also the major countries producing them. It was in their interest to promote mine development to provide low cost raw materials. Over the past fifty years, the share of global production accounted for by consuming countries has declined and producers and consumers of metals have been slowly moving into separate camps having distinct and differing interests. As a consequence of this, governments of producing countries have become more focused on how to maximise the benefit of metal extraction to their economies rather than on how to supply cheap raw materials; a tendency which has found expression in resource nationalism. Governments of consuming countries have in response become increasingly concerned about the implications of this tendency to their economic development and some countries, most notably China, have adopted robust policies to secure their supplies. Through their actions to influence capital flows within the mining industry and to force metals trade into channels which better serve their national interests (a process characterised here as ‘new mercantilism’), metal producing and metal consuming countries are reshaping global supply.     

Is there a Dutch disease in Botswana?

The Dutch disease is regularly evoked in the resource curse literature and remains a frequent explanation for the poor economic performance found in many resource-rich countries. Given Botswana's high rate of per capita GDP growth, it might seem superfluous at first glance to ask whether or not there is a Dutch disease in Botswana. Yet, Botswana merits study here both as a significant potential exception to any posited inevitability of the Dutch disease and also because the debate on whether or not Botswana has avoided the Dutch disease is far less settled than is indicated by its economic growth record. Botswana currently suffers from many of the symptoms of the Dutch disease but not for the causal reasons posited in the Dutch disease model. Indeed, many of the explanations for the lack of diversification found in Botswana's mineral-dependent economy have nothing to do with either diamond revenues or the Dutch disease. Botswana has done about as well managing its resource wealth as could realistically be expected but it is unlikely to succeed in diversifying its economy away from diamonds anytime soon.     

How to evaluate raw material supply risks—an overview

Some strategic raw materials do have an extremely unsecure supply situation. Several working groups around the world have made criticality assessments for metallic raw materials to analyze the driving impact factors for this instability. However, the influences on raw material availability are manifold and therefore criticality assessment methods are very heterogeneous. Here we give an overview about the differences and similarities of supply risk evaluation in 15 criticality assessment methods. We take the example of Indium, which has been rated in 60% of these criticality studies, and show which data base is used for supply risk evaluation. Our results show a lack of consensus about which indicators give reliable information for raw material supply risk and how these indicators should be aggregated. We anticipate our essay to be a starting point for more justified indicator selection and weighting in criticality assessments.     

酸性环境下Q2黄土压缩特性试验研究∗

针对酸性污染土物理力学性质恶化的现象,采用室内人工模拟受酸液污染土样的方法,开展土常规试验、压缩试验探究Q2黄土在酸液浸泡时间和酸液浓度双因素作用下,试样孔隙比、含水率等基本物理及压缩系数、压缩模量等指标和压缩e—p曲线的变化规律,以及水-酸耦合作用对黄土压缩性的影响规律。结果表明:浸泡时间一定时,随酸液浓度增大,含水率、孔隙比、压缩系数在逐渐增大,压缩模量在减小。浸泡12 d时,酸液浓度0.1 mol/L增加至3 mol/L,压缩系数a1-2由0.355 MPa-1增大到1.275 MPa-1,压缩模量Es1-2由5.580 MPa减小至1.855 MPa;酸液浓度一定时,随浸泡时间延长,含水率、孔隙比、压缩系数在逐渐增大,压缩模量在减小。酸液浓度3 mol/L时,浸泡时间从1 d至12 d,压缩系数a1-2由0.308 MPa-1增大到1.275 MPa-1,压缩模量Es1-2由6.301 MPa减小至1.855MPa;水-酸耦合作用提高了黄土压缩性,且在充分浸泡条件下,酸液对黄土压缩性的影响远大于水的影响。研究结果可为酸蚀黄土区工程建设提供相关参考。     

Biofidelity assessment of the 6-year-old ATDs in lateral impact

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess and compare the current lateral impact biofidelity of the shoulder, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis of the Q6, Q6s, and Hybrid III (HIII) 6-year-old anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) through lateral impact testing.

Methods: A series of lateral impact pendulum tests, vertical drop tests, and Wayne State University (WSU) sled tests was performed, based on the procedures detailed in ISO/TR 9790 (1999) and scaling to the 6-year-old using Irwin et al. (2002 Irwin AL, Mertz HJ, Elhagediab AM, Moss S. Guidelines for assessing the biofidelity of side impact dummies of various sizes and ages. Stapp Car Crash J. 2002;46:297–319.[PubMed] , [Google Scholar]). The HIII used in this study was tested with the Ford-designed abdomen described in Rouhana (2006 Rouhana SW. Abdominal impact injury research—a review. J Biomech. 2006;39(Suppl 1):S157–S158. [Google Scholar]) and Elhagediab et al. (2006 Elhagediab AM, Hardy WN, Rouhana SW. Advancements in the rate-sensitive abdomen for the Hybrid III family of dummies. J Biomech. 2006;39(Suppl 1):S158.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The data collected from the 3 different ATDs were filtered using SAE J211 (SAE International 2003 SAE International. Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice. Instrumentation for Impact Test—Part 1—Electronic Instrumentation. Warrendale, PA: SAE International; 2003. SAE Standard J211-1. [Google Scholar]), aligned using the methodology described by Donnelly and Moorhouse (2012 Donnelly BR, Moorhouse K. Optimized phasing of PMHS response curves for biofidelity targets. Paper presented at: IRCOBI Conference; 2012. [Google Scholar]), and compared for each body region tested (shoulder, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis). The biofidelity performance in lateral impact for the 3 ATDs was assessed against the scaled biofidelity targets published in Irwin et al. (2002 Irwin AL, Mertz HJ, Elhagediab AM, Moss S. Guidelines for assessing the biofidelity of side impact dummies of various sizes and ages. Stapp Car Crash J. 2002;46:297–319.[PubMed] , [Google Scholar]), the abdominal biofidelity target suggested in van Ratingen et al. (1997 van Ratingen M, Twisk D, Schrooten M, Beusenberg M. Biomechanically based design and performance targets for a 3-year-old child crash dummy for frontal and side impact. Paper presented at: 41st Stapp Car Crash Conference; 1997. [Google Scholar]), and the biofidelity targets published in Rhule et al. (2013 Rhule H, Donnelly B, Moorhouse K, Kang YS. A methodology for generating objective targets for quantitatively assessing the biofidelity of crash test dummies. Paper presented at: 23rd Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference; 2013. [Google Scholar]). Regional and overall biofidelity rankings for each of the 3 ATDs were performed using both the ISO 9790 biofidelity rating system (ISO/TR 9790 1999) and the NHTSA's external biofidelity ranking system (BRS; Rhule et al. 2013 Rhule H, Donnelly B, Moorhouse K, Kang YS. A methodology for generating objective targets for quantitatively assessing the biofidelity of crash test dummies. Paper presented at: 23rd Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference; 2013. [Google Scholar]).

Results: All 3 6-year-old ATD's pelvises were rated as least biofidelic of the 4 body regions tested, based on both the ISO and BRS biofidelity rating systems, followed by the shoulder and abdomen, respectively. The thorax of all 3 ATDs was rated as the most biofidelic body region using the aforementioned biofidelity rating systems. The HIII 6-year-old ATD was rated last in overall biofidelity of the 3 tested ATDs, based on both rating systems. The Q6s ATD was rated as having the best overall biofidelity using both rating systems.

Conclusions: All 3 ATDs are more biofidelic in the thorax and abdomen than the shoulder and pelvis, with the pelvis being the least biofidelic of all 4 tested body regions. None of the 3 tested 6-year-old ATDs had an overall ranking of 2.0 or less, based on the BRS ranking. Therefore, it is expected that none of the 3 ATDs would mechanically respond like a postmortem human subject (PMHS) in a lateral impact crash test based on this ranking system. With respect to the ISO biofidelity rating, the HIII dummy would be considered unsuitable and the Q-series dummies would be considered marginal for assessing side impact occupant protection.     

Q4 Safety在海洋石油安全管理中的应用

简要介绍了安全生产管理软件Q4 Safety在曹妃甸油田的应用背景;着重从危险辨识和风险评估、隔离的管理和控制、工作许可的管理和控制、测试单的管理和控制以及相关负责人五个方面,结合工作流程,对该软件在海上油田的应用情况进行了介绍和分析,并提出了建议.     

疏棉状嗜热丝孢菌Thermomyces lanuginosus YNUCC4154耐碱热稳定木聚糖酶的特性及其产生菌的系统发育分析

从云南洱源县热泉中分离到一株产木聚糖酶嗜热真菌Thermomyces lanuginosus YNUCC4154．对其28S rDNA的5‘端约900bp的片段进行了扩增和测序，并与GenBank中最相似的12个分类单位进行了比较，邻近接合法构建的系统发育树显示T.lanuginosus YNUCC4154与几个产木聚糖酶的嗜热真菌关系较近．在30L全自动发酵罐中55℃发酵50h后，木聚糖酶酶活达1032 U mL^-1．该木聚糖酶最适反应温度为73℃，最适pH为6，5，在10-67℃和pH3～12时比较稳定，表明这是一种热稳定耐碱木聚糖酶，在造纸工业中具有良好的应用前景．图7表1参24     

乌鲁木齐市大气TSP中28种元素的测定与变化规律的研究

报道了乌鲁木齐市一年的内大气ＴＳＰ中２８种元素含量的监测结果，污染程度及变化规律，为进一步加强环境管理和大气污染治理，改善环境质量提供科学依据。