The influence of caste,class and gender in surviving multiple disasters: A case study from Orissa,India

Sociological and anthropological studies in India reveal that caste, class and gender in everyday life are both rigid and dynamic, but little is known about how they influence the survival mechanisms of women during ‘multiple disasters’, nor about how women negotiate with these structural mores to meet their cultural and biological needs. This is explored through the experiences of 12 women-headed households from different social castes in Orissa, India. Multiple disasters or disasters that occur in ‘one specific place’ (such as floods, cyclone and drought) are regular events in coastal parts of the state of Orissa. The super-cyclone of 1999, two floods of 2001 and 2003 and drought of 2000 and 2002 form the case study. Participant observation, in-depth interviews and documentary evidence complement the fieldwork. The findings suggest a complex interplay of caste, class and gender in surviving the multiple disasters including structural mutability under the purview of social organization. In doing so, women demonstrated their individual and collective agencies in order to meet their cultural and biological needs under severe crisis. This research stresses that gender and disaster studies must include a consideration of caste and class for effective disaster management and social vulnerability reduction.     

Linking the stressors and stressing the linkages: Human—environment vulnerability and brownfield redevelopment in New York City

This paper suggests that the mitigation of one hazard—soil contamination—can unintentionally affect vulnerabilities and perceived vulnerabilities to additional stressors in the local human—environment system through a study of brownfield redevelopment in New York City. This study employs a Vulnerability Scoping Diagram (VSD) approach to identify components that contribute to vulnerabilities and perceived vulnerabilities in the local community, based on the thematic analysis of 55 interviews with residents from four neighbourhoods with brownfield redevelopment activities in New York City. This analysis of resident observations and perceptions of post-redevelopment hazard conditions indicates how mitigating vulnerability to one urban hazard—soil contamination—has the potential to affect vulnerabilities and perceived vulnerabilities to additional hazards like flooding and air pollution because of the complex linkages among multiple stressors. A causal model of vulnerability to the unintended impacts of brownfield redevelopment is subsequently developed to further demonstrate the interactive linkages among exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to multiple stressors. This study also provides measures that stakeholders can monitor and evaluate over time to track the socio-spatial and environmental implications of brownfield redevelopment and subsequent changes in the local human—environment system.     

Inferring extinction of mammals from sighting records, threats, and biological traits

For species with five or more sightings, quantitative techniques exist to test whether a species is extinct on the basis of distribution of sightings. However, 70% of purportedly extinct mammals are known from fewer than five sightings, and such models do not include some important indicators of the likelihood of extinction such as threats, biological traits, search effort, and demography. Previously, we developed a quantitative method that we based on species' traits in which we used Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate the probability of rediscovery of species regarded as extinct. Here, we used two versions of the Cox regression model to determine the probability of extinction in purportedly extinct mammals and compared the results of these two models with those of stationary Poisson, nonparametric, and Weibull sighting-distribution models. For mammals with five or more sightings, the stationary Poisson model categorized all but two critically endangered (flagged as possibly extinct) species in our data set as extinct, and results with this model were consistent with current categories of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The scores of probability of rediscovery for individual species in one version of our Cox regression model were correlated with scores assigned by the stationary Poisson model. Thus, we used this Cox regression model to determine the probability of extinction of mammals with sparse records. On the basis of the Cox regression model, the most likely mammals to be rediscovered were the Montane monkey-faced bat (Pteralopex pulchra), Armenian myotis (Myotis hajastanicus), Alcorn's pocket gopher (Pappogeomys alcorni), and Wimmer's shrew (Crocidura wimmeri). The Cox model categorized two species that have recently disappeared as extinct: the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) and the Christmas Island pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi). Our new method can be used to test whether species with few records or recent last-sighting dates are likely to be extinct.     

低剂量丙烯酰胺多世代持续暴露对秀丽隐杆线虫的损伤作用

论文研究了丙烯酰胺(acrylamide,AA)低剂量多代持续暴露对模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫(Caenorhabditis elegans,C.elegans)的发育、生殖、寿命和捕食行为能力的影响。将线虫暴露于不同剂量水平的AA中,检测对当代线虫的发育周期、后代数量、寿命和捕食行为的影响,结果显示,1.0 mmol·L~(-1)AA水平可诱发当代线虫发育周期延长和后代数量减少(P 0.05),0.05mmol·L~(-1)和0.001 mmol·L~(-1)水平可分别诱发捕食行为能力下降和寿命缩短(P0.05)。进一步选取对当代线虫不产生明显损伤效应的AA剂量,将线虫进行多代持续暴露处理,结果显示,0.01 mmol·L~(-1)AA分别可在第2代g1和第3代g2诱发发育周期延长和后代数量减少(P0.05),0.005 mmol·L~(-1)AA可在第2代g1引起摄食行为能力下降,0.0001 mmol·L~(-1)(约7μg·L~(-1),低于推测人的平均AA暴露水平)的AA在第2代g1即可诱发寿命缩短(P0.05)。以上结果表明AA生物学毒性可以在后代间积累,极低剂量AA多代持续暴露仍可诱发生物学损伤。     

基于Box Behnken设计的煤导热系数分析与预测

为研究分析水分、固定碳及密度3个因素对煤导热系数的影响,选取多个矿井不同煤质的煤作为实验煤样,使用NETZSCH LFA457型激光导热系数测试仪进行测定,并引入二次响应曲面试验设计思想,采用Design Expert软件进行煤质指标的Box Behnken试验设计,按设计表筛选实验数据,构建了导热系数多因素、多水平影响下二次回归响应曲面模型,并对不同采样地点的煤导热系数进行了分析与预测。结果表明:二次回归方程P值小于0.000 1,极显著,失拟项为0.072 4,不显著,回归方程具有统计学意义;当水分在0.9%~10.9%,固定碳在49.3%~83.6%,密度在1.2~1.92 g·cm³之间,对煤的导热系数一次项影响程度为密度>固定碳>水分;二次项影响程度为固定碳和密度>水分和密度>水分和固定碳,且固定碳和密度之间存在交互作用,水分和密度、水分和固定碳之间无交互作用;应用响应曲面模型预测的煤导热系数误差为4.3%,满足精度要求。     

千河下游水体-沉积物重金属空间分布、风险及影响因素

为了研究千河下游水体-沉积物重金属污染特征、风险程度及其影响因素,采集千河下游表层沉积物19份及水样20份,使用电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）测定8种重金属（As、Cd、Cr、Cu、Mn、Ni、Pb和Zn）含量,分析了水体中重金属含量和健康风险,对沉积物重金属空间分布及污染特征进行探析,以DEM、气温和降水等11种因子为自变量,结合地理探测器和地理加权回归模型对沉积物重金属污染影响因素进行空间分异探究.结果表明,千河下游8种水体重金属浓度均未超过地表水环境质量标准Ⅱ类水体标准,其中Pb元素变异系数为3.11,浓度高值区主要集中于东岭冶炼公司和凤翔火车站周围.水体成人致癌物R^c均值为7.72E-06,呈较轻风险程度,儿童致癌物R^c均值为1.17E-04,呈强风险程度,成人与儿童非致癌物风险均为可承受风险程度,儿童R_总的高值主要集中在凤翔火车站周边,呈较强风险程度;千河下游沉积物重金属除As和Mn外,其余6种元素均超过陕西省土壤背景值,其中Cd元素含量均值为1.12 mg ·kg^-1,是陕西省土壤背景值的12倍,Cd、Zn和Pb污染较严重,主要分布在长青村、南湾村地区、牛家滩村、高庄和东岭冶炼公司周围;研究区沉积物重金属PLI_zone为1.71,属于轻度污染;DEM、温度和降水是沉积物重金属PLI空间格局的主要自然影响因素,其交互作用均为非线性增强,对沉积物重金属空间污染扩散起到一定驱动作用.     

A heuristic approach to predicting water beetle diversity in temporary and fluctuating waters

An understanding of the causal mechanisms and processes that shape macroinvertebrate communities at a local scale has important implications for the management and conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Here we compare the performance of linear and non-linear statistics to explore diversity-environment relationships using data from 76 temporary and fluctuating ponds in two regions of southern England. We focus on aquatic beetle assemblages, which have been shown to be excellent surrogates of wider freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity. Ponds in the region contained a rich coleopteran fauna, totaling 68 species, which provided an excellent model system with which to compare the performance of two non-linear procedures (artificial neural networks—ANNs and generalised additive models—GAMs) and one more traditional linear approach (Multiple linear regression—MLR) to modelling diversity-environment relationships. Of all approaches employed, the best fit was obtained using an ANN model with only four input variables (conductivity, turbidity, magnesium concentration and depth). This model accounted for 82% of the observed variability in Shannon diversity index across ponds. In contrast, the best GAM and MLR models only explained 50% and 14% of this variation, respectively. Contribution profile analysis of conductivity, turbidity, magnesium concentration and depth, obtained from the best fit ANN through a hierarchical cluster analysis, allowed the identification of direct and proxy effects in relation to the environmental variables measured in this study. In each case, distinct clusters of ponds were identified in contribution profile analysis, suggesting that ponds across the two regions fall into a number of discrete groups, whose beetle faunas respond in subtly yet significantly different ways to key environmental variables. Aquatic coleopteran diversity in ponds in the two regions appears to be driven at a local scale by changes in relatively few physicochemical gradients, which are related to diversity in a clearly non-linear manner.     

基于GIS的矿井瓦斯赋存规律多影响因素智能分析技术

为了提高矿井瓦斯赋存规律分析的准确性和智能化程度,提出了多因素共同作用下瓦斯原始数据筛选和瓦斯赋存规律分析的一种智能化技术。介绍了如何利用地理信息（GIS）技术建立瓦斯地质空间数据模型,结合计算机编程实现了对大量复杂的原始数据的智能分析、处理和筛选。并实现了瓦斯赋存规律多种主控因素情况下多元回归的自动智能化分析,进而使得瓦斯赋存规律模型可以在取得新的原始数据后进行动态、智能的更新。为煤矿工作人员快速、准确的掌握地矿井瓦斯赋存规律提供了先进的手段和工具。     

基于累积Logistic回归模型对化工园区人群认知风险的研究

随着化工园区重大危险源集中监管的深化,政府和企业在安全生产活动中扮演着比以往更重要的角色.如何降低园区内人群对危险源的敏感性,以便在有谣言时不会伴随更大的混乱;什么样的因素对园区内人群认知风险具有显著相关性,以便政府和企业在安全生产活动中更好地发挥职能.针对上述问题,通过对江西省某化工园区进行问卷调查,所得的数据采用累积logistic模型进行分析,得出对风险认知具有显著性差异的因素.有助于政府及企业管理人员对园区内人群认知风险的了解,建议化工园区以及政府需要进一步宣传安全知识,配套安全设备等,最终降低谣言对生产活动的影响、冲击,稳定社会秩序.     

提高循环水浓缩倍数节水减排方案探讨

针对川西北某轻烃厂循环冷却水水质的特点,拟采用无磷药剂配方将循环水浓缩倍数从3．0提高到5．0,并新增软水处理系统作为循环水补水,从而达到优化水质、节水减排的目的。针对浓缩倍数提高引起得的水质稳定难题提出相应的技术方案,最终达到改善水质,保护水环境,节水减排的效果。