Determination of Q1, an unknown organochlorine contaminant, in human milk, Antarctic air, and further environmental samples

Q1, an organochlorine component with the molecular formula C(9)H(3)Cl(7)N(2) and of unknown origin was recently identified in seal blubber samples from the Namibian coast (southwest of Africa) and the Antarctic. In these samples, Q1 was more abundant than PCBs and on the level of DDT residues. Furthermore, Q1 was more abundant in seals from the Antarctic than the Arctic. To prove this assumption, gas chromatography-electron-capture negative ion mass spectrometry (GC/ECNI-MS), which is sensitive and selective for Q1, allowed for screening of traces of Q1 even in samples with particularly high levels of other organochlorine contaminants. Q1 was isolated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) from a skua liver sample. A 1:1 mixture with trans-nonachlor in electron-capture detectors (ECDs) was used to determine the relative response factor with ECNI-MS. The ECNI-MS response of Q1 turned out to be 4.5 times higher than that of trans-nonachlor in an ECD. With GC/ECNI-MS in the selected ion-monitoring mode, four Antarctic and four Arctic air samples were investigated for the presence of Q1. In the Antarctic air samples, Q1 levels ranged from 0.7 to 0.9 fg/m(3). In Arctic air samples, however, Q1 was below the detection limit (<0.06 fg/m(3) or 60 ag/m(3)). We also report on high Q1 levels in selected human milk samples (12-230 microg/kg lipid) and, therefore, suggested that the unknown Q1 is an environmental compound whose origin and distribution should be investigated in detail. Our data confirm that Q1 is a bioaccumulative natural organochlorine product. Detection of a highly chlorinated natural organochlorine compound in air and human milk is novel.     

Linkages in Ghana's gold mining industry: Challenging the enclave thesis

By 2009, Ghana was the second-ranked African producer after South Africa, and had become the world's ninth largest producer of gold, at some 3.8% of global production, up from 2.6% five years earlier. Gold production volumes and revenues rose significantly over the decade from 2000. Yet gold mining tends to be perceived negatively in Ghana, and is seen as providing far less than it should in terms of public revenue, employment, skills development and spillovers, and localised economic development. Gold mining is often depicted as having an enclave status, disconnected and isolated from the rest of the economy. In contrast, the research findings here demonstrate that after a period of strong investment and growth, gold mining can no longer be viewed as an enclave activity: it is in fact more deeply linked into the Ghanaian economy than hitherto understood, through a set of as yet under-researched but promising economic linkages, notably backward linkages, which can potentially be strengthened by policy and support measures.     

Resource exploitation and cross-region growth trajectories: nonparametric estimates for Chile

As a sector of primary concern for national development strategies, mining keeps stimulating an intensive debate in Chile, regarding its role for long-term growth. Partly drawn on theoretical contributions to growth and mineral resource accounting, this analysis assesses patterns of economic growth across Chilean regions. The theoretical and methodological rationale for focusing on weak sustainability, by testing convergence across regions in a distribution dynamics perspective, is first discussed. This is followed by a brief review of policy issues and previous empirical findings of concern to Chile's mining and regional growth. Panel data over the period 1960-2001 are analysed, with growth measured in terms of both income per capita as such, and sustainable measures of this variable. Kernel density and quantile regression estimates indicate persistent bimodal (if not possibly trimodal) distribution of nationally standardised regional incomes per capita, whereby conditions for cross-region convergence are matched only within the inner range of this distribution.     

The affordability of sustainable entrepreneurship certification for SMEs

Sustainable entrepreneurship is a spin-off concept from sustainable development that can be defined as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce, their families, local communities, society and the world at large, as well as future generations. This is an approach that is applied mostly by large, often industrial companies. In their wake, a whole range of sustainability certificates have come about. Because of the proliferation of complex and costly procedures to obtain them, SMEs have almost unanimously ignored and repudiated the idea of sustainable entrepreneurship. Although the gains can be substantial in terms of risk control, business relationships with large companies and positive reputation, the question is raised whether SMEs can actually afford to do business in a sustainable manner.

The case study provides the preconditions for implementation of sustainable business practices by SMEs. First, the smaller financial resources of SMEs are not a prohibitive determinant. Lack of time, however, is. When preconditions are solved, SMEs should select a simple, pragmatic and effective format that is tailored to their needs. The case study offers some convincing examples. Finally, SMEs should look at the return and the opportunity costs of a sustainability strategy rather than simply examining the financial costs.     

循环热处理对高速钢超塑性的影响

此文研究了循环热处理工艺对W6Mo5Cr4V2钢超塑性的影响.结果表明:该钢在1040℃两次循环淬火是实现其超塑性的最佳热处理工艺;按此工艺进行预处理后,在810℃、初始应变速率为5.56×10~(-1)s~(-1)的条件下,该钢的超塑延伸率可达187%.     

Ecosystems and human health: The local benefits of forest cover in Indonesia

This paper documents the effect of primary forest cover loss on increased incidence of malaria. The evidence is consistent with an ecological response. I show that land use change, anti-malarial programs or migration cannot explain the effect of primary forest cover loss on increased malarial incidence. Falsification tests reveal that the effect is specific to malaria, with forest cover having no discernible effect on other diseases with a disease ecology different from that of malaria. Back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that the morbidity-related malaria-reducing local benefits of primary forests are at least $1-$2 per hectare.     

The ecological insurance trap

Common pool resources often insure individual livelihoods against the collapse of private endeavors. When endeavors based on private and common pool resources are interconnected, investment in one can put the other at risk. We model Senegalese pastoralists who choose whether to grow crops, a private activity, or raise livestock on common pool pastureland. Livestock can increase the likelihood of locust outbreaks via ecological processes related to grassland degradation. Locust outbreaks damage crops, but not livestock, which are used for savings and insurance. We show the incentive to self-protect (reduce grazing pressure) or self-insure (increase livestock levels) changes with various property rights schemes and levels of ecological detail. If the common pool nature of insurance exacerbates the ecological externality even fully-informed individuals may make risk management decisions that increase the probability of catastrophe, creating an “insurance trap.”     

Emission reduction and profit-neutral permit allocations

The present paper addresses two policy objectives: to implement a market for pollution permits and to make regulation acceptable for businesses. Profit-neutral permit allocations are defined as the number of permits that the regulator should give for free so that post-regulation profits (i.e. a firm's profits in the products market plus the value of the allowances granted for free) are equal to pre-regulation profits. The proposed model is developed by assuming that firms use polluting technologies and compete “à la Cournot”. The paper demonstrates that a low number of free allowances is sufficient to meet these two goals. Moreover, the regulator can fully offset losses, even when the reduction in emissions is high, provided that the sectors concerned are not monopolies, both for isoelastic and linear demand functions.