“Science is Everywhere,but No One Knows It”: Assessing the Cultural Distance to Science of Rural South African Publics

ABSTRACT

In science communication, a prerequisite for reaching different parts of a society is to find out how these publics experience and interpret science. Since rural South African publics are perceived to exhibit a large cultural distance to science, the present exploratory study aimed to know in more detail how rural South Africans perceive and understand science in their local and social contexts. Theoretical notions on cultural distance and the methodological approach of segmentation studies were considered. Semi-structured interviews with rural South Africans were carried out in four towns (n?=?52) that differ with respect to having a large scientific installation in their vicinity, or not. Sensitively comparing local and social contexts helped identifying three different publics who differed regarding their perceptions of science; however, the large scientific installations only made a difference in perceptions for those publics who were generally less exposed to and less knowledgeable about science.     

Technological innovation paths toward green industry in China

With the environmental carrying capacity reaching its limits and the decreasing margin benefits of traditional production factors, the green transformation and green development through technological innovations has been a major direction for the future development of Chinese industries. However, the characteristics and heterogeneities of various types of industries call for different approaches regarding technological innovations. How to choose the most effective mode of technological innovation according to the characteristics of a certain industry has been a key issue. This paper measures the green total factor productivity of 32 industrial trades using the Slacks Based Measure(SBM)-DDF method. The effects of three innovation modes in the green transformation of industrial industry, including the independent innovation(Ⅱ), the technology introduction(TI), and the government support(GS), are empirically analyzed based on industry heterogeneity. Results indicate that the green total factor productivities of different industries show significant differences if taking into account the energy input and the undesirable output of pollutant emissions. The green total factor productivities of traditional high input,high pollution, and high energy consumption industrial trades were significantly lower than those with obvious green features. The year of 2009 is a leap year for the industrial green transformation in China. For resource-intensive industries, the II and the GS are the important ways to achieve green transformation. For labor-intensive industries, the TI is the best path to achieve green transformation, while for technology-intensive industries, the II is the primary driving force for the promotion of green developments. In addition, the innovation-compensating effect of the current Chinese environmental regulations to the resource-intensive industries has been revealed. Improving the overall scale and the industrial concentration of the industries is also beneficial for the green transformation of the industries.     

Food for Thought: Audience Engagement with Sustainability Messages in Branded Content

Branded platforms are a growing “gray-zone” of marketing and media messages, in which corporations and news journalists partner to create content that supports strategic corporate goals while aligning with a publication’s scope of editorial coverage. As corporations are key influencers of and contributors to environmental communication, this trend has the potential to change environmental dialogue. In this article, we closely examine messages about food and sustainability, created in partnership by Chipotle Mexican Grill and the Huffington Post news site. We illustrate how use of a branded platform expanded the scope of environmental topics, issues, and frames that Chipotle addresses, how frames identified here connect to frames in coverage of science-related issues, as identified by other scholars, and discuss how branded platforms allow corporations to draw attention to polarizing environmental issues while protecting stakeholder relationships and brand reputation.     

巢湖表层沉积物重金属生物有效性与生态风险评价

以巢湖表层沉积物为对象,对重金属(Cd、Cr、Cu、Zn、Ni和Pb)总量及形态进行分析并运用潜在风险指数法和风险评价编码两种方法对巢湖表层沉积物重金属的生态风险进行了评价.结果表明,巢湖表层沉积物中的重金属含量表现为西部湖区高,东部湖区低的特征,其中南淝河入湖区重金属含量是全湖的1.09~1.21倍.BCR形态分析表明,巢湖表层沉积物中Cr、Ni和Cu以残渣态为主(分别占总量82.99%、63.63%和54.25%),Cd和Zn以弱酸提取态为主(分别占总量55.96%和35.84%),Pb以可还原态和可氧化态为主(分别占总量39.66%和24.56%).潜在生态风险危害指数(RI)表明,南淝河入湖河口区域具有较大生态风险(RI值范围为351.54~381.17).风险评价编码方法(RAC) 的结果显示,Cd处于极高风险水平,Zn基本处于高风险水平,Cu 和Ni处于中低风险,Pb处于低风险水平,Cr各采样点均处于无风险.因此, 对需着重考虑对南淝河入湖湖区的Cd和Zn元素的重点治理.     

贵阳市道路灰尘和土壤重金属来源识别比较

通过对89个城市土壤样和78个道路灰尘样中重金属含量的对比,利用多元统计方法识别研究区的元素来源.结果显示道路灰尘元素含量一般高于土壤.就均值而言,灰尘中Hg、Cd、Pb、Cu、Cr含量超过土壤中相应元素含量,灰尘中Zn含量与土壤中Zn含量相当,只有灰尘中As含量略低于土壤.灰尘中元素含量都高于中国和贵州表层土壤背景值,土壤中元素含量除Pb外都高于中国和贵州表层土壤背景值.Cd,Cr,Pb,Hg,Cu和Zn含量较高主要是受人为因素的影响.贵阳市道路灰尘和土壤中8种元素有着不同的来源.相关分析、主成分分析表明交通排放等人为因素是重金属主要来源,外来客土也是重金属重要来源;灰尘Pb主要来源于交通排放和钢铁厂;而土壤Cr具有复合污染的特征,主要来源于外来客土.     

华北地区冬半年空气污染天气客观分型研究

利用2013—2016年冬半年ERA-interim再分析资料,以及同期空气污染资料、地面常规气象观测资料和探空资料,采用PCT (Principal Component Analysis in T-mode)客观分型方法对华北地区冬半年海平面气压场进行天气分型,并探究不同月份不同天气型对应的空气污染状况及污染气象参数分布特征,进而从污染气象学的角度揭示重污染潜势天气型的气候特征.结果表明:冬半年海平面气压场共对应9种天气类型,其中,5型(均压场型)、6型(高压内部型)和8型(高压后部型)为3种重污染潜势天气型,冬半年对应的PM_(2.5)均值浓度分别为144.11、136.99和148.26μg·m~(-3),而1型(T型高压前部型)和3型(低压底部型)为两种清洁天气型,冬半年对应的PM_(2.5)均值浓度分别为97.12和80.83μg·m~(-3);重污染潜势天气型对应的边界层结构呈现出稳定能量大、混合层厚度和通风系数小的大气层结稳定的静稳天气特征,其能够反映大气污染潜势;研究还发现,即使是同一天气型,其在不同月份对污染物的扩散影响也存在差异,因此,建议在今后的污染潜势天气型研究中分月份进行.本研究可为华北地区空气污染潜势预报及大气重污染预报预警的客观化、自动化提供科学依据和技术支持.     

A transportation network assessment tool for hazardous material cargo routing: Weighing exposure health risks,proximity to vulnerable areas,delay costs and trucking expenses

The inherent risks associated with accidental releases of hazardous materials during transport have drawn attention and concerns in the recent decades. The aim of this study is to propose a tool for evaluation and comparison of the transportation networks which can be used to assess the routing options between origins and destinations of the cargos for their suitability for transporting hazardous material cargos by tanker trucks and to identify routes which provide lower accidental release risks, lower public exposure risks, and offer economical benefits. Each route segment of transportation networks were evaluated using specific criteria which included health risk and cost of delay in case of an accidental release of materials, trucking cost and proximity to vulnerable areas. Since, the health impact of hazardous materials differ depending on the characteristics of the material being transported as well as release quantities and atmospheric conditions; this paper aimed in providing a tool that can be used to estimate the impact radius (for health risks) after accidental release of hazardous materials by taking into account different atmospheric conditions based on the meteorological data and solar elevation angle. The Gaussian air dispersion model paired with ArcGIS using Python programming were employed to estimate the health risk impact zones by considering the meteorological data, and accordingly to analyze road segments for cost impacts (delay and trucking costs), and the proximity to vulnerable areas. The route assessment tool was demonstrated with a case study. The results of this study can efficiently aid decision makers for transportation of hazardous materials.     

Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects

Conservation decision makers commonly use project‐scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high—up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted‐additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real‐world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30–50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics.     

Credibility and advocacy in conservation science

Conservation policy sits at the nexus of natural science and politics. On the one hand, conservation scientists strive to maintain scientific credibility by emphasizing that their research findings are the result of disinterested observations of reality. On the other hand, conservation scientists are committed to conservation even if they do not advocate a particular policy. The professional conservation literature offers guidance on negotiating the relationship between scientific objectivity and political advocacy without damaging conservation science's credibility. The value of this guidance, however, may be restricted by limited recognition of credibility's multidimensionality and emergent nature: it emerges through perceptions of expertise, goodwill, and trustworthiness. We used content analysis of the literature to determine how credibility is framed in conservation science as it relates to apparent contradictions between science and advocacy. Credibility typically was framed as a static entity lacking dimensionality. Authors identified expertise or trustworthiness as important, but rarely mentioned goodwill. They usually did not identify expertise, goodwill, or trustworthiness as dimensions of credibility or recognize interactions among these 3 dimensions of credibility. This oversimplification may limit the ability of conservation scientists to contribute to biodiversity conservation. Accounting for the emergent quality and multidimensionality of credibility should enable conservation scientists to advance biodiversity conservation more effectively.     

氨法脱硫生产氨肥的清洁生产研究

我国因燃煤导致的SO2污染危害十分严重。从清洁生产角度出发,通过比较锅炉烟气脱硫各种方法的优缺点,确定氨法脱硫作为化工企业处理锅炉烟气的工艺。介绍了氨法脱硫机理,工艺各系统结构组成,进行了经济及社会效益分析。氨法脱硫工艺可以去除93％的SO2,处理后的烟气达到了国家排放标准,脱硫副产品硫酸铵可以转交给同区域的企业,深加工为优质化肥。说明发展清洁生产和循环经济是企业预防和控制污染的有效途径,是实现可持续发展战略的必然选择,有利于企业技术进步,提高管理水平,增强综合竞争能力。