Oil windfalls in Brazil and their long-run social impacts

In 1997, Brazil changed the regulatory framework of its oil and gas sector. After this change, a restrict subset of localities started to receive large amounts of oil rents. The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether such rents distributed under this law contributed to improving some social indicators relative to the national average in the eligible municipalities. We used a “difference-in-differences” measurement to compare changes in selected social indicators within affected Municipalities in the last two decades, taking the unaffected districts as control group. The Municipal data on social indicators were collected from three National Censuses, conducted in 1991, 2000 and 2010. Results show that royalties had a positive and statistically significant impact on household’s access to electric wiring, piped water and waste collection, as well as in the decrease of illiteracy rate. This means the eligible districts were able to improve some of their social indicators in the long-run.     

Mixed surfactant washing of petroleum contaminants from the soils and sediments in the unsaturated zone

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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.     

在大鼠哮喘发生中SO2致凋亡相关基因及蛋白质表达的改变

为了研究SO2对哮喘大鼠肺细胞凋亡相关基因mRNA和蛋白表达的影响.对健康雄性Wistar大鼠随机分为正常组、SO2暴露组、卵蛋白(OVA)致敏哮喘组、SO2和OVA联合作用组,采用荧光实时定量RT-PCR和Westem Blot方法研究吸入SO2对哮喘大鼠肺细胞p53、box、bcl-2三种细胞凋亡相关基因mRNA和蛋白表达的影响.结果表明,SO2暴露组肺中p53和box mRNA和蛋白水平降低,bcl-2表达和bcl-2/bax比值均有升高,但与对照组相比无显著性差异.与对照组相比,哮喘组肺中p53和bax mRNA和蛋白的表达水平呈现不同程度的降低;bcl-2的表达和bcl-2/bax比值显著升高.SO2和OVA联合作用后,与哮喘组相比,肺中p53和bax蛋白表达显著下降,而bcl-2蛋白表达显著升高.结论:SO2可加剧哮喘大鼠的哮喘症状,其机制可能是通过影响哮喘大鼠肺组织凋亡相关基因(p53、bax、bcl-2)的表达水平,抑制气道炎性细胞的凋亡来实现的.这些机制的阐明有助于对SO2毒作用机制的理解和所致疾病的治疗.     

全氟辛烷磺化物(PFOS)诱导斑马鱼胚胎p53基因的点突变

将斑马鱼胚胎于0μg·1-1(空白对照),5μg·l-1,16μg·l-1和50μg·l-1全氟辛烷磺化物(PFOS)溶液中暴露染毒5h,采用变性高效液相色谱方法对PCR扩增的含斑马鱼胚胎p53基因外显子7的173 bp的目标片段进行突变分析.结果显示,16μg·l-1和50μg·l-1两个处理组与对照组相比均有显著性差异,表明PFOS可以诱导斑马鱼胚胎p53基因外显子7的点突变.     

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants,companies and communities in processes of engagements

Over the last fifteen years, large-scale mining companies have started engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with the aim of contributing to developing local communities affected by their operations. Large-scale mining companies, together with the World Bank, have formulated voluntary principles and benchmarks to guide these company–community relations. Recently, it has been argued that CSR is also crucial in the early stages of exploration. Nowadays, mining consultants propagate a process approach to company–community relations, from early exploration to post-mining planning.     

Corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: Perspectives from stakeholder groups in Argentina

Since the liberalisation of its investment regime in the 1990s, Argentina has seen a rise in foreign direct investment into large-scale exploration and exploitation of mineral resources. However, many social groups (local communities, grassroots movement and the church) often strongly oppose new mining projects on the grounds of environmental, ethical and economic concerns. In a situation marked by widespread conflict, mining companies continue operating and develop Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives which are often promoted as a means of contributing to the sustainability and development of the nation. The paper develops a framework to highlight how the principles of stakeholder theory could be used as conceptual and practical guidance for conflict-resolution oriented CSR policies. The framework is further used to analyse two case studies of conflictive mining projects in Argentina. The paper explores how key stakeholders perceive contribution of CSR to welfare and the socio-economic development of mining communities and sustainable development of the nation. It demonstrates that institutional and social stakeholder networks often strongly oppose the idea of voluntary self-regulation implied by CSR in situations characterised by weak governance. Even though the CSR of companies could be improved in areas of corporate communication, transparency, stakeholder engagement and dialogue, it is not seen as a panacea for the social conflicts in the sector.     

Investor demand and spot commodity prices: Reply 2

This, our second reply to Östensson, supplements our earlier more technical analysis with a simple intuitive explanation of how investor demand can be driving commodity prices higher even when investor stocks are falling.     

Exploring the origins of ‘social license to operate’ in the mining sector: Perspectives from governance and sustainability theories

In the mining sector, local communities have emerged as particularly important governance actors. Conventional approaches to mineral development no longer suffice for these communities, which have demanded a greater share of benefits and increased involvement in decision making. These trends have been spurred by the growth of the sustainable development paradigm and governance shifts that have increasingly transferred governing authority towards non-state actors. Accordingly, there is now widespread recognition that mineral developers need to gain a ‘social license to operate’ (SLO) from local communities in order to avoid potentially costly conflict and exposure to social risks. A social license can be considered to exist when a mining project is seen as having the ongoing approval and broad acceptance of society to conduct its activities. Due to the concept's relatively recent emergence, however, only a limited body of scholarship has developed around SLO. Drawing on examples from northern Canada, this paper uses governance and sustainability theories to conceptualize the origins of SLO in the mining sector and describe some of the associated implications. Further research is needed to determine governance arrangements which help facilitate establishment of SLO in different mineral development contexts.