Public Investment and Environmental Sustainability of Agricultural Production in China

The excessive application of fertilizer and pesticides in grain production in China has posed a threat to the environmental sustainability of agricultural production. One of the major reasons of the increasing usage of chemical inputs by farmers is their trying to reach higher yields, especially in absence of adequate public inputs, such as development and extension of appropriate technology and necessary production infrastructure, etc. Based on the crop specific data of the past 20 years, this paper examines how the public investments in agricultural researches could impact on the reduction of farmers' private material inputs of major grain crops in China. It manifests that the increased investments in public sector, especially in agricultural researches, is a favorable and effective way to reduce farmers' private material inputs and should be given a priority consideration in the policy emendation to increase yields and improve production sustainability.     

某熔模铸造企业职业病危害因素调查及检测结果分析

通过开展现场卫生学调查、职业病危害因素检测和职业健康体检的方法,对熔模铸造企业职业病危害因素分布及其健康影响进行了研究。调查结果表明：该企业作业场所存在粉尘、噪声、高温、石蜡烟等多种职业病危害因素,并已对作业人员健康造成损害。其中矽尘、高温等职业病危害因素超标严重;制壳、熔炼、浇铸等岗位的职业病危害严重,需重点加以治理。     

Mining investment and regional development: A scenario-based assessment for Northern Sweden

The way in which mineral development contributes to economic development in the region where it takes place is important for the mining industry’s relations to the local community. The purpose of this paper is to provide an assessment of the regional-economic impacts of a large-scale contemporary iron ore project in Northern Sweden (including two new mines, two processing plants, and one pellet plant). The regional input-output model rAps, provided by the Swedish government agency NUTEK is used, and it explicitly addresses the linkages between demographic development, the labour market, industrial production and the municipal finances in a consistent modelling framework. The simulation results suggest an average employment multiplier of about 2-2.5 during the maximum production phase, indicating that for every 100 jobs in mining about 100-150 jobs are supported elsewhere in the local economy. The positive impacts in this case are made possible in large because of the existing mining cluster and local suppliers in northern Sweden. Still, these results are perhaps best viewed as an indication of the potential for local economic development as they neglect, for instance, potential supply constraints (e.g., attracting the necessary labour force, road infrastructure, etc.). Specific policies to further strengthen the regional linkage effects may therefore be necessary in order for this potential to be realized in practice, and attention would preferably be paid to policy measures that have positive external spillover effects on the surrounding geographical area.     

Calculation of the unit emergy value of water in an Italian watershed

Emergy is a thermodynamics-based entity that enables the implementation of a holistic environmental accounting system. It contributes to identify and measure all the inputs (energy and matter) supporting a given system, expressed in a common unit, namely solar emergy joule (sej). The emergy per unit product (called unit emergy value, UEV), is a measure of the environmental cost of a given resource. It is specific of the system/process and gives information on the dynamics, components and functioning of it. This paper presents the emergy evaluation of water resources within the watershed of the river Sieve, located in the Province of Florence (Italy). Along the river, an artificial basin has been created by means of a dam to preserve water quantity and quality, and to protect the Florentine area from dangerous floods and inundations. Different UEVs of water can be identified along the course of the river, especially upstream and downstream of the dam. These values quantify both the environmental and human efforts made to ensure and regulate the presence of water at different points of the river. The UEV of water flowing in the river increases from 1.35 × 10⁵ sej/g upstream, to 5.80 × 10⁵ sej/g downstream of the dam, depending mainly on man-made infrastructure. Along the watershed, three different systems of extraction, purification and distribution of water have been chosen on the basis of their dimension, type and location. UEVs of water distributed and the emergy investment necessary to implement different water management strategies are presented. The value of water purified and distributed decreases from 2.00 × 10⁶ sej/g for the smallest plant in the mountainous area, to 1.72 × 10⁶ sej/g for the largest plant, in the city of Florence, depending on production efficiency.     

有色金属企业环保投资对企业竞争力的影响研究——基于环境规制的调节效应与门槛效应分析

基于2014—2020年我国有色金属上市公司的数据,通过构建基准模型、调节效应模型、门槛效应模型,实证检验了企业环保投资对企业竞争力的影响。结果表明:①环保投资对企业竞争力具有显著的促进作用,引入环境规制变量后,发现其对环保投资与企业竞争力之间的关系产生了正向调节作用。②相比于我国非国有企业和西部地区,环境规制对有色金属企业环保投资与企业竞争力之间的正向调节效应在国有企业和中、东部地区企业中更加明显。③以环境规制为门槛变量进行深入分析,发现环境规制存在双重门槛效应,当环境规制大于或等于2.203这一门槛值时,环保投资对企业竞争力的促进作用才会显著。     

Public Investment and Environrnental Sustainability of Agricultural Production in China

The excessive application of fertilizer and pesticides in grain production in China has posed a threat to the environrnental sustainability of agricultural production. One of the major reasons of the increasing usage of chemical inputs by farmers is their trying to reach higher yields, especially in absence of adequate public inputs, such as development and extension of appropriate technology and necessary production infrastructure, etc. Based on the cropspecific data of the past 20 years, this paper examines how the public investments in agricultural researches could impact on the reduction of farmers' private material inputs of major grain crops in China. It manifests that the increased investments in public sector, especially in agricultural researches, is a favorable and effective way to reduce farmers' private material inputs and should be given a priority consideration in the policy emendation to increase yields and improve production sustainability.     

Emigration mechanisms in feral house mice – a laboratory investigation of the influence of social structure,population density,and aggression

Emigration in small mammals may be strongly related to social factors, but direct observations of emigrants are rare. Feral house mice (Mus domesticus) were studied using a population cage system that allowed continuous observation of individually marked animals. Mice that left their natal cage and took up residence in cages that could only be reached by crossing a water barrier were defined as emigrants. Six pairs of house mice with their litters were placed in the system, and data on aggressive interactions, body weight, reproduction, mortality and emigration were collected daily. Both sexes emigrated, but males did so twice as often as females. Population density was not correlated with the frequency of aggression, and had no effect on the weight of emigrating individuals. Male emigrants suffered more aggression before emigration than their non-emigrant brothers of the same age; they were aggressively driven out by other males, predominantly by the father. Female emigration depended on the female’s chances of reproduction. The probability of a female reproducing decreased with increasing birth order. Females born in a late litter, who therefore had only a low chance of reproduction, dispersed earlier than those of early litters. Resident males were reproductively suppressed. Male offspring had two different strategies for attaining top rank. They could develop rapidly and reach sexual maturity early on, but face competition with the father, risking being forced to emigrate. Alternatively, they could develop slowly, stay within their family and wait for a chance to take over the dominant position. It is concluded that emigration in male and female feral house mice is caused by intrasexual competition. Received: 13 July 1995/Accepted after revision: 8 June 1996     

Integrating Concepts and Models from Development Econoimcs with Land use Change in the Tropics

In this paper I undertake a preliminary assessment for the tropics of the relation of economic development, meaning in general increases in economic activity as measured by e.g. GDP, and its normal biophysical corollaries of increased resource use and land use change. I also examine each in relation to the intellectual concepts that underlie and guide what is commonly called economic development. Because most of the development literature is derived from economics or other social sciences, and focuses almost entirely on lifting people’s standards of living as measured in monetary units, very little examines the per unit biophysical requirements of that development, including energy or other resource use requirements, land use change or other environmental consequences of development plans. In addition there seems to be insufficient connection between those who create economic development plans and those who undertake empirical biophysical assessments to determine whether the development plan has worked or can possibly work. The problem is deeper: there exists a series of models used in the development literature that have been used to encourage and guide development. These models have received very little scrutiny as to either their efficacy or their societal or environmental impacts until quite recently. When this has been done the models have been shown to fail miserably. It is time to develop a new model of development that synthesizes conventional economic, biophysical economic and social aspects, and that is based on the scientific method rather than on perceived wisdom. This model must also take into account population growth, issues of who wins and who looses from economic development, and the implications of the incipient peak in global oil production.     

Egg mimicry and allopaternal care: two mate-attracting tactics by which nesting striped darter (Etheostoma virgatum) males enhance reproductive success

In a variety of fish species with paternal care of offspring, females prefer to spawn in nests that already contain eggs. This female preference has been hypothesized to explain egg thievery in male sticklebacks, allopaternal care of eggs in minnows, and the evolution of egg-mimicking body features in male cichlids and darters. Here we employ microsatellite-based parentage analyses to evaluate the reproductive success of striped darter (Etheostoma virgatum) males that appear to utilize two of these functionally related tactics to entice females to spawn in their nests. In an isolated population (Clear Creek, Ky.), we observed that breeding males develop conspicuous white spots on their pectoral fins. If these spots are egg mimics, as we suspect, then this represents the fourth independent evolutionary origin of egg mimicry documented to date in darters, the first based on pigmentation (as opposed to physical structures), and the first in which the egg mimics vary greatly in number among males. From direct counts of microsatellite genotypes in clutches of embryos, at least 3.8 females contributed to the progeny within a typical nest, and females tended to spawn preferentially with males that were larger and displayed more egg-mimic spots. In another population (Hurricane Creek, Tenn.) without egg mimics, the multi-locus genetic data document that allopaternal care is common, especially among the smallest males who sometimes tend nests containing their own as well as an earlier sire's offspring. Thus, these foster males had adopted egg-containing nests and then successfully spawned with subsequent females. Overall, the genetic data on paternity and maternity, in conjunction with field observations, suggest that egg mimicry and allopaternal care are two mate-attracting reproductive tactics employed by striped darter males to exploit female preferences for spawning in nests with 'eggs'. Electronic Publication     

“十一五”时期环保投入的宏观经济影响

我国环保投入的逐年增加为强化污染治理、改善环境质量提供了重要基础保障,但环保投入如何影响宏观经济的作用机理值得深入研究。在2007年国家42部门投入产出表基础上,编制了环境-经济投入产出表,并构建了环保投入对宏观经济的影响分析模型,将环保运行费和环保投资作为研究对象,测算其对宏观经济各指标各行业的经济影响,并分解到省级层面。结果显示:1"十一五"期间环保投入在一定程度上起到了拉动经济发展、增加居民收入、促进社会就业等经济社会贡献作用,五年期间对国民经济总产出、GDP、居民收入、就业等方面影响分别为102 043亿元、29 457亿元、12 563亿元、1 324万人次,且以间接影响和诱发影响占较大比重,表明环保投入具有较强产业波及效应。2经济影响存在明显行业差异,通用专用设备制造业、农林牧渔业、环境服务业、建筑业等与环保投入直接相关的行业受益较大。但与此同时,也一定程度上拉动了金属冶炼压延加工业、化学工业、非金属矿物制品业等高污染高能耗行业,表明环保治理活动自身带来的资源环境负担在中国现有产业结构情况下仍不可避免。在优化产业结构、提高资源使用效率的同时需要寻求更加清洁的治理技术。3经济影响区域差异明显,受益较大的省份主要集中于广东、山东、江苏、河北、辽宁等东部沿海及中部发展较好地区,而受益较小的省份大多位于西部及边远地区。总体来看,鉴于当前我国环境治理投入仍不能满足日益突出的环境问题,适当加大环保投入不但能够取得环境效应,同时也可带来一定的社会经济效应。