An evaluation of occupational accidents in the wooden furniture industry - A regional study in South East Asia

Studies on the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry is sparse, although the industry is deemed to be highly accident prone. Therefore, the rate of occupational accidents among workers in the wooden furniture industry in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam were studied, in 240 furniture manufacturing factories, using a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that contract workers are less prone to occupational accidents compared to their permanent counterparts, and hence, are more productive. Further, the results also revealed that the contract workers have a more positive attitude towards the work, and hence, pick up the essentials of safe working practices quickly. It must therefore be recognized that the “production oriented mentality” prevalent in the wooden furniture industry, which has been argued to compromise occupational safety and health standards in the industry may be debatable. In this context, it is essential for the policy makers to re-examine the employment of contract workers for the furniture manufacturing industry, as changing the psycho-economic parameters of the industry may be warranted before the industry is deemed attractive to a permanent workforce.     

中亚地区气候生产潜力时空变化特征

根据中亚5 国100 个气象站1901-2000 年月平均温度和降水资料,运用Miami、Thornthwaite Memorial 模型对中亚地区气候生产潜力进行了计算,用气候倾向率、Mann-Kendall 法、并结合ArcGIS 和SPSS 对其时空变化特征及驱动力进行了分析。结果表明：①中亚地区100 a 降水气候生产潜力（Yr）和蒸散气候生产潜力（Ye）均呈逐渐增加的趋势,温度气候生产潜力（Yt）趋势相反,Yr 和Ye 均发生了4 次突变,Yt 没有发生突变;②气候生产潜力区域差异明显,其中,Yt 呈从西南向东北减少的趋势,Yr 和Ye 变化比较复杂,大致具有东部大于西部的规律;③增温增湿的气候变化趋势有利于中亚气候生产潜力的提高,中亚气候生产潜力对增湿的响应更敏感。     

重庆近48年来高温天气气候特征及其环流形势

利用重庆23个气象观测站1960~2007年逐日最高气温观测资料，NCEP/NCAR再分析数据集中的高度场格点资料，运用EOF、REOF等方法，探讨重庆高温日数的空间分布特征，并对多高温天气的2006年和少高温天气年7~8月的环流特征进行了分析。结果表明：重庆高温天气主要出现在7~8月份，高温日数具有显著的年代际和区域性差异，20世纪70年代最多，80年代最少，沿长江、乌江为高温多发带。一致性异常分布是重庆高温日数的最主要空间模态；高温日数的异常空间分布可分为以下3个关键区：重庆中西部、重庆东南部、重庆东北部。乌拉尔山至鄂霍次克海地区阻塞高压偏弱，东亚大槽偏浅；100 hPa 高空南亚高压偏东,500 hPa 高空副高偏北偏西，形成一种上高下高的叠加形势是重庆7~8月出现多高温天气的主要原因。     

Animal Consciousness and Ethics in Asia and the Pacific

The interactions between humans, animals and the environment have shaped human values and ethics, not only the genes that we are made of. The animal rights movement challenges human beings to reconsider interactions between humans and other animals, and maybe connected to the environmental movement that begs us to recognize the fact that there are symbiotic relationships between humans and all other organisms. The first part of this paper looks at types of bioethics, the implications of autonomy and the value of being alive. Then the level of consciousness of these relationships are explored in survey results from Asia and the Pacific, especially in the 1993 International Bioethics Survey conducted in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. Very few mentioned animal consciousness in the survey, but there were more biocentric comments in Australia and Japan; and more comments with the idea of harmony including humans in Thailand. Comparisons between questions and surveys will also be made, in an attempt to describe what people imagine animal consciousness to be, and whether this relates to human ethics of the relationships. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于BEPS生态模型对亚洲东部地区蒸散量的模拟

气候变化和人类活动的加剧导致亚洲东部地区陆地生态系统的碳水循环过程发生显著的变化,成为全球变化研究最关注的对象之一。实际蒸散(ET)是陆地生态系统碳水循环的重要组成部分,但对该地区ET特征的研究尚不够深入。论文利用遥感、气象和土壤等资料驱动生态过程模型BEPS对亚洲东部地区1982—2006年间的ET进行了模拟分析。利用6个站的通量实测数据验证表明,BEPS模型能够解释ET的81.23%的年变化和86.4%的10 d变化。模拟结果表明:亚洲东部的ET呈现出从东南向西北和西南沙漠地区逐渐减少的分布特征,最小值位于中国的西北沙漠地区;ET与降水量之比从东南和东北地区向西北内陆和西南沙漠地区逐渐增加,其中在中国长江以南的亚洲东部地区,平均值为0.4,而在沙漠地区接近1.0。在1982至2006年期间,研究区年ET总量的平均值为12 045×109m3/a,其中,中国、泛东南亚和印度的ET总量占整个研究区的62.4%;研究区的单位面积ET均值为401 mm/a,在泛东南亚地区最大(1100 mm/a),在蒙古最小(134 mm/a)。在所有的地表覆盖类型中,常绿阔叶林的ET总量和平均值都为最大,城镇地区的ET总量和平均值都为最小。研究区的ET总量呈增加趋势,草地、稀树草原、裸地和城镇的ET明显上升,其它地表覆盖类型的ET变化不明显。     

1975—2005年中亚土地利用/覆被变化对森林生态系统碳储量的影响

土地利用/覆被变化(LUCC)对碳循环的影响研究已覆盖全球绝大多数地区,但中亚LUCC对森林生态系统碳库的影响仍属未知。论文以人工林面积、森林产品收获产量及林地转移面积为基础数据,应用Bookkeeping模型,分析了1975—2005年期间三种LUCC方式对中亚森林碳库的影响。近30 a LUCC对其碳库的影响总体表现为碳汇,固碳量为3.07 Tg。植树造林表现出强烈的碳汇功能,总固碳量为12.97 Tg。森林采伐是最主要的碳释放来源,共释放碳5.80 Tg。林地转移呈现较强的碳释放特征,共排放为4.10 Tg。结果表明1975—2005年该区域LUCC对森林碳库具有明显的增汇效应。研究结果将有利于减少LUCC对全球碳收支影响的不确定性。     

树轮氢同位素气候学:现状与方向

树木年轮硝化纤维素的氢同位素组成被广泛地用于重建过去气候变化。文章介绍了树轮氢同位素气候学在技术、理论以及应用于重建气候变化等方面的进展以及存在的问题,着重阐述了用树木年轮硝化纤维素氢同位素组成来研究东亚季风的进展和今后需要解决的问题。     

The 2004 tsunami and mental health in Thailand: a longitudinal analysis of one‐and two‐year post‐disaster data

Some 280,000 people died in the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004. This cohort study examined its impact on mental health one and two years later. It did so by investigating the association between six consequent variables (personal injury, loss of home, loss of business, death of a family member, injury to a family member, or loss of a family member's business) and mental health, as measured by the 36‐item Short Form Health Survey (SF‐36), among residents in four provinces of Thailand. One year later, participants who suffered a personal injury, the loss of a business, or the loss of a family member reported poorer mental health than those who were unaffected. Two years later, participants who experienced the loss of a family member reported poorer mental health than those who were unaffected. This research shows that such a disaster may have long‐lasting ramifications for mental health, and that diverse losses may influence mental health differently.     

Salt-induced land and water degradation in the Aral Sea basin: A challenge to sustainable agriculture in Central Asia

Expansion of irrigated agriculture in the Aral Sea Basin in the second half of the twentieth century led to the conversion of vast tracks of virgin land into productive agricultural systems resulting in significant increases in employment opportunities and income generation. The positive effects of the development of irrigated agriculture were replete with serious environmental implications. Excessive use of irrigation water coupled with inadequate drainage systems has caused large‐scale land degradation and water quality deterioration in downstream parts of the basin, which is fed by two main rivers, the Amu‐Darya and Syr‐Darya. Recent estimates suggest that more than 50% of irrigated soils are salt‐affected and/or waterlogged in Central Asia. Considering the availability of natural and human resources in the Aral Sea Basin as well as the recent research addressing soil and water management, there is cause for cautious optimism. Research‐based interventions that have shown significant promise in addressing this impasse include: (1) rehabilitation of abandoned salt‐affected lands through halophytic plant species; (2) introduction of 35‐day‐old early maturing rice varieties to withstand ambient soil and irrigation water salinity; (3) productivity enhancement of high‐magnesium soils and water resources through calcium‐based soil amendments; (4) use of certain tree species as biological pumps to lower elevated groundwater levels in waterlogged areas; (5) optimal use of fertilizers, particularly those supplying nitrogen, to mitigate the adverse effects of soil and irrigation water salinity; (6) mulching of furrows under saline conditions to reduce evaporation and salinity buildup in the root zone; and (7) establishment of multipurpose tree and shrub species for biomass and renewable energy production. Because of water withdrawals for agriculture from two main transboundary rivers in the Aral Sea Basin, there would be a need for policy level interventions conducive for enhancing interstate cooperation to transform salt‐affected soil and saline water resources from an environmental and productivity constraint into an economic asset.     

Long-range transport of acidifying substances in East Asia—Part II: Source–receptor relationships

Region-to-grid source–receptor (S/R) relationships are established for sulfur and reactive nitrogen deposition in East Asia, using the Eulerian-type Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with emission and meteorology data for 2001. We proposed a source region attribution methodology by analyzing the non-linear responses of the CMAQ model to emission changes. Sensitivity simulations were conducted where emissions of SO₂, NO_x, and primary particles from a source region were reduced by 25%. The difference between the base and sensitivity simulations was multiplied by a factor of four, and then defined as the contribution from that source region. The transboundary influence exhibits strong seasonal variation and generally peaks during the dry seasons. Long-range transport from eastern China contributes a significant percentage (>20%) of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen as well as sulfur deposition in East Asia. At the same time, northwestern China receives approximately 35% of its sulfur load and 45% of its nitrogen load from foreign emissions. Sulfur emissions from Miyakejima and other volcanoes contribute approximately 50% of the sulfur load in Japan in 2001. Sulfur inflows from regions outside the study domain, which is attributed by using boundary conditions derived from the MOZART global atmospheric chemistry model, are pronounced (10–40%) over most parts of Asia. Compared with previous studies using simple Lagrangian models, our results indicate higher influence from long-range transport. The estimated S/R relationships are believed to be more realistic since they include global influence as well as internal interactions among different parts of China.