Costs and benefits of improving wild salmon passage in a regulated river

This paper presents a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of a trade-off between salmon and hydropower production in the Ume/Vindel River, northern Sweden. A distinctive element of this analysis is that estimated changes in resource conditions are based on detailed river-specific data. A salmon population model was used to develop the scenario and a novel willingness to pay (WTP) question, which caters for uncertainty in a different manner, provided an interval estimate. Non-use values are the major contributors to the benefit (96–517 millions of Swedish kronor (MSEK)) of increasing the stock of wild salmon. Sensitivity analysis suggests that the opportunity costs in terms of lost electricity are typically higher than the estimated benefits.     

Proximity economics and environment: assessment and prospects

The use of the theoretical tools provided by proximity economics to address environmental questions, and the emergence of analyses revitalising the role of the spatial dimension in environmental problems, date from the late 1990s. This paper first aims to provide a review of the research conducted in this field and second to suggest some future research directions concerning the respective roles of geographical proximity and organised proximity in the production and management of environmental problems. First, it deals with the topic of ‘geographical proximity and land-use conflicts’, a topic that is currently the most researched in this field. This is followed by a discussion of the role of organised proximity in the regulation of environmental problems. The paper then explores the relation between the uncertainty associated with environmental issues and relations of organised proximity. Next it outlines a few possible research directions, focusing more particularly on the roles of geographical proximity as a mode of regulation of environmental problems, and on the possible role of organised proximity in their production. The concluding section draws an overview of the departures and extensions that have resulted from taking into account environmental issues in the paradigm of proximity economics.     

海油陆采HSE管理初探＊

文章阐述了国内外海油陆采HSE管理现状,通过分析总结滩海油气生产设施从设计到投入使用全过程HSE管理经验,归纳整理出可借鉴的HSE管理技术,为中国石油海油陆采油田HSE文化的培育提供了有益的建议。     

尾气循环技术在国内顺酐装置的应用

顺酐生产过程排放的废气中含有大量未反应原料、副产物CO和挥发性有机物(VOC)等,对其进行处理使之达标排放,回收其中可利用的物质或能量有重要意义。吐哈石化厂顺酐装置采用CONSER公司工艺技术,新增部分尾气回收生产工艺路线,回收40%的尾气中的正丁烷,实现了蒸汽分阶利用,排放的废气中SO2、NOx、颗粒物等达到GB16297-1996《大气污染物综合排放标准》中二级标准。     

Survivor needs or logistical convenience? Factors shaping decisions to deliver relief to earthquake‐affected communities,Pakistan 2005–06

In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan , Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo shipment database. The response, known as 'Operation Winter Race', was hampered by extreme logistical challenges, but ultimately succeeded in averting a second disaster resulting from cold and starvation. We use statistical models to probe whether survivor needs significantly guided decisions to deliver relief to affected communities. Needs assessments remained incomplete and incoherent. We measure needs through proxy indicators and integrate them, on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, with logistics and relief delivery data. We find that, despite strong logistics effects, needs orientations were significant. However, the strength of decision factors varies between commodity types (food versus clothing and shelter versus reconstruction materials) as well as over the different phases of the response. This study confirms Thomas's observation that logistics databases are rich 'repositories of data that can be analyzed to provide post-event learning' (Thomas, 2003, p. 4). This article is an invitation for others to engage in creative humanitarian data management.     

The 2006 war and its inter-temporal economic impact on agriculture in Lebanon

The July 2006 war waged by Israel on Lebanon caused an estimated USD 1 billion of direct (financial) damage to infrastructure. However, it generated also significant indirect (economic/inter-temporal) costs. One sector that suffered considerably in this respect was agriculture, the main source of income for 30–40 per cent of Lebanese. This paper's main objective is to develop a methodology to estimate the total—direct and indirect—cost of the war to agricultural crop production, using an area of south Lebanon as a focal point. The indirect loss assessment viewed inter-temporal reductions in crop production values as the opportunity cost of not working fields due to the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Various crops were evaluated for two scenarios (50 and 100 per cent damage due to UXO) over UXO-clearance periods of five and 10 years. The results indicate that any damage estimates that include only direct losses will under-estimate total losses by 80 and 87 per cent for the five- and 10-year periods, respectively.     

Seasonal and spatial variability of Po,U and Pu levels in the river catchment area assessed by application of neural-network based classification

The present study deals with the application of self-organizing maps (SOM) in order to model, classify and interpret seasonal and spatial variability of ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U and ^239+240Pu levels in the Vistula river basin. The data set represents concentration values for 3 alpha emitters (²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U and ^239+240Pu) measured in surface water samples collected at 19 different sampling locations (8 in major Vistula stream while 11 in right or left Vistula tributaries) during four seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn) in the framework of a one-year quality monitoring study. The advantages of an SOM algorithm, its classification and visualization ability for environmental data sets, are stressed. The neural-network based classification made it possible to reveal specific patterns related to both seasonal and spatial variability. In the middle and upper part of Vistula catchment as well as in the right-shore tributaries, concentrations of ²¹⁰Po and ²³⁸U during summer and winter are the lowest. Concentrations of ²¹⁰Po and ²³⁸U increase significantly during spring and autumn in the Vistula river catchment, especially in the delta of Vistula river. High concentration of anthropogenic originated ^239+240Pu indicates “site-specific” character of pollution in two large left-shore tributaries located in the middle part of the Vistula drainage area. Efficient classification of sampling locations could lead to an optimization of river radiochemical sampling networks and to a better tracing of natural and anthropogenic changes along Vistula river stream.     

基于面板数据的土地投入对经济增长的影响-以浙江省为例

采用生产函数与面板数据回归模型相结合的研究手段,以地处经济发达地区的浙江省为实证研究区域对土地要素投入对经济增长的影响进行了定量的研究。研究结果表明：(1)就规模效应而言,浙江省的经济增长处于规模报酬不变的发展阶段;(2)浙江省经济增长对劳动力要素的投入最为敏感,其中土地要素、劳动力要素和资本要素增加1个单位的投入量对经济增长的推动为 0.247 3、0.538 5 和 0.321 6;（3）固定资产投入在研究期间是浙江省经济增长的主要推动力,其贡献率达到6823%,而劳动力要素与土地要素则分别为2346%和625%;(4)浙江省土地利用不够集约,在研究期间土地要素对经济增长的影响能被资本要素与劳动力要素有效替代,而劳动力要素则难以被资本投入与土地投入有效替代,劳动集约型产业应该成为浙江省未来发展方向之一。