SOUND POLICY OR SMOKE AND MIRRORS: DOES ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT MAKE SENSE?1

ABSTRACT: Protection of ecosystems as entities on the landscape has attracted a wide range of support. Ecosystem-based public policies are claimed to be more effective, efficient, and scientifically sound than other approaches to environmental and natural resource policy. The ecosystem concept was never intended to serve as a public policy guide or to determine landscape units for land management purposes. This paper critically examines the use of the ecosystem concept in public policy and land use management and analyzes the proposed rule to manage the National Forest System according to ecosystem management principles. The concept is found to be unsuitable as a basis for guiding environmental and natural resource public policies in general while the proposed rule to manage the national forests according to ecosystem management principles is shown to be incoherent.     

TOPHAZOP: a knowledge-based software tool for conducting HAZOP in a rapid, efficient yet inexpensive manner

Hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies constitute an essential step in the risk analysis of any chemical process industry and involve systematic identification of every conceivable abnormal process deviation, its causes and abnormal consequences. These authors have recently proposed optHAZOP as an alternative procedure for conducting HAZOP studies in a shorter span of time than taken by conventional HAZOP procedure, with greater accuracy and effectiveness [Khan, F. I. and Abassi, S. A., optHAZOP. An effective and efficient technique for hazard identification and assessment Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 1997, 10, 191–204]. optHAZOP consists of several steps, the most crucial one requires use of a knowledge-based software tool which would significantly reduce the requirement of expert man-hours and speed up the work of the study team. TOPHAZOP (Tool for OPTmizing HAZOP) has been developed to fulfil this need.

The TOPHAZOP knowledge-base consists of two main branches: process-specific and general. The TOPHAZOP framework allows these two branches to interact during the analysis to address the process-specific aspects of HAZOP analysis while maintaining the generality of the system. The system is open-ended and modular in structure to make easy implementation and/or expansion of knowledge. The important features of TOPHAZOP and its performance on an industrial case study are described.     

建筑物火灾危险性评估的一种工程方法

提出了建筑物火灾危险性评估的一种工程方法。该方法基于建筑火灾的区域模拟理论和人员疏散的最新研究成果，分别计算出火灾中达到危险状态的时间和整个疏散过程所需的时间，通过对比这两个时间，来确定火灾危险性的大小。这种方法概念清晰，简单易行，能在一定程度上对实际建筑物的火灾危险性进行评估，也可用于对火灾的安全工程设计评价和安全咨询。     

城市可持续发展政策的取向与反思

本文对城市可持续发展进行了概述，从物理环境、经济环境和社会环境的相互作用的角度分析了城市可持续发展的政策取向，对当今的可持续发展的政策进行反思，提出了建立环境公平促进可持续发展的政策思路。     

电力工业发展与环境保护

从我国电力工业发展历程、面临的主要环境问题、污染控制等方面全面简述我国电力工业环境保护取得的发展与成就；展望“十一五”电力发展目标及电力环保指标；分析了为实现环境目标需要实施的污染控制措施。     

累积影响评价研究进展

本文详细介绍了国内外累积影响评价理论、实践研究情况，指出当前取得的成果及存在的问题，并针对这些问题，提出今后我国累积影响评价研究的一些建议。     

落实科学发展观,推进莆田市污染治理进程

通过对近年来莆田市环境污染现状的调查分析，对莆田市环境发展趋势作出预测，提出环境污染治理对策措施，以推进莆田市环境污染治理进程。     

对替代方案编写中应考虑环境风险因素的几点建议

提出替代方案对于环境影响评价工作是非常重要的工作内容,但目前环评中的替代方案往往未考虑环境风险因素,对此本文论述了在替代方案编写过程中应考虑环境风险因素的必要性,并对如何将环境风险因素纳入替代方案的编写过程提出了相关建议.     

回转窑煅烧石油焦清洁生产方案研究

在回转窑煅烧石油焦的过程中,大量的高温烟气和比较严重的粉尘是污染环境的主要因素。文章以清洁生产理论为依据,综合论述了回转窑煅烧石油焦全过程,并对污染处理和资源、能源综合利用等方案进行了研究。在我国,比较成熟的清洁生产技术是采用余热回收蒸汽和袋式除尘技术。回转窑产能大,机械化程度较高,投资少,建设速度快,所产生的污染物易控制,维修费用低,换料容易,是大规模煅烧焦厂家应优先采用的石油焦煅烧设备。     

含油污泥固化处理后油的迁移研究

利用紫外分光光度计和索氏抽提器,研究了温度、土壤含水率以及水泥与污泥的不同比例等因素在不同时间对含油污泥固化后油迁移的影响。试验结果表明:对于强度为3.84MPa的污泥固化块,油的迁移量从240h迁移6.8mg变为480h迁移178mg,之后变化较小。在20℃～30℃时,随着温度的增加,迁移量从6.8mg增加到20.6mg,超过30℃以后迁移量的增幅变小。水泥与污泥的比例从1∶0.8增加到1∶1.4,油的迁移量从256mg降到27.2mg,之后未检测到。960h后,迁移量达到348mg,此时土壤中油含量为1.16%,在环境的自净作用下,土壤能完全容纳;强度大于9.56MPa时未检测到油。这表明用固化法处理油田含油污泥是安全可靠的。