The Organizational and Operational Boundaries of Triple Bottom Line Reporting: A Survey

This article responds to Gray’s (2002) call for normative research on social and environmental accounting (SEA) and Parker’s (2005) call for active engagement in the process of designing SEA systems. More specifically, our investigation focuses on the study of boundary setting for triple bottom line (TBL) reporting, an issue that has been given more attention by practitioners than by researchers. The study reviews the consequences of boundary setting for the discharge of organizational accountability, from which it develops a framework to investigate TBL reporting boundaries and then reports on an empirical survey of best practice. It concludes that organizations are strategically setting and disclosing their boundaries instead of discharging their accountability and argues that such strategies have far-reaching consequences, because reporting boundaries are not only reflective of organizations but also have a constitutive role in their definition. A further consequence is that it calls into question the use of voluntary labeling, such as “in accordance” with Global Reporting Initiative; one implication being that further research into technical developments in TBL reporting could contribute to the discharge of organizational accountability.     

Seventy‐One Important Questions for the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity

The ocean provides food, economic activity, and cultural value for a large proportion of humanity. Our knowledge of marine ecosystems lags behind that of terrestrial ecosystems, limiting effective protection of marine resources. We describe the outcome of 2 workshops in 2011 and 2012 to establish a list of important questions, which, if answered, would substantially improve our ability to conserve and manage the world's marine resources. Participants included individuals from academia, government, and nongovernment organizations with broad experience across disciplines, marine ecosystems, and countries that vary in levels of development. Contributors from the fields of science, conservation, industry, and government submitted questions to our workshops, which we distilled into a list of priority research questions. Through this process, we identified 71 key questions. We grouped these into 8 subject categories, each pertaining to a broad component of marine conservation: fisheries, climate change, other anthropogenic threats, ecosystems, marine citizenship, policy, societal and cultural considerations, and scientific enterprise. Our questions address many issues that are specific to marine conservation, and will serve as a road map to funders and researchers to develop programs that can greatly benefit marine conservation. Setenta y Un Preguntas Importantes para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad Marina     

Representation of critical natural capital in China

Traditional means of assessing representativeness of conservation value in protected areas depend on measures of structural biodiversity. The effectiveness of priority conservation areas at representing critical natural capital (CNC) (i.e., an essential and renewable subset of natural capital) remains largely unknown. We analyzed the representativeness of CNC‐conservation priority areas in national nature reserves (i.e., nature reserves under jurisdiction of the central government with large spatial distribution across the provinces) in China with a new biophysical‐based composite indicator approach. With this approach, we integrated the net primary production of vegetation, topography, soil, and climate variables to map and rank terrestrial ecosystems capacities to generate CNC. National nature reserves accounted for 6.7% of CNC‐conservation priority areas across China. Considerable gaps (35.2%) existed between overall (or potential) CNC representativeness nationally and CNC representation in national reserves, and there was significant spatial heterogeneity of representativeness in CNC‐conservation priority areas at the regional and provincial levels. For example, the best and worst representations were, respectively, 13.0% and 1.6% regionally and 28.9% and 0.0% provincially. Policy in China is transitioning toward the goal of an ecologically sustainable civilization. We identified CNC‐conservation priority areas and conservation gaps and thus contribute to the policy goals of optimization of the national nature reserve network and the demarcation of areas critical to improving the representativeness and conservation of highly functioning areas of natural capital. Moreover, our method for assessing representation of CNC can be easily adapted to other large‐scale networks of conservation areas because few data are needed, and our model is relatively simple.     

Fort McMurray and the Canadian Oil Sands: Local Coverage of National Importance

Understanding resource-based communities (RBCs) as potential casualties of Canada's economic proclivity towards resource extraction projects may help us to generate political support for these communities at both local and national scales. The media has a critical role to play in promoting the development of this type of political discourse. This study examines how traditional print media coverage affects Canadians' perceptions of the Athabasca oil sands. A quantitative media analysis examines scope and thematic content of articles appearing in major Canadian newspapers between 2003 and 2013. We find that most coverage concerning the Athabasca oil sands over this period appears predominantly in western Canadian newspapers, with coverage primarily focusing on specific events. We argue that this geographic disparity in coverage does not provide Canadians with the adequate coverage necessary to develop an informed opinion on what the implications of ongoing oil sands development are at both a local and a national scale.     

Rapid field testing of mercury pollution by designed fluorescent biosensor and its cells-alginate hydrogel-based paper assay

With increasing industrial activities, mercury has been largely discharged into environment and caused serious environmental problems. The growing level of mercury pollution has become a huge threat to human health due to its significant biotoxicity. Therefore, the simple and fast means for on-site monitoring discharged mercury pollution are highly necessary to protect human beings from its pernicious effects in time. Herein, a “turn off” fluorescent biosensor (mCherry L199C) for sensing Hg²⁺ was successfully designed based on direct modification of the chromophore environment of fluorescent protein mCherry. For rapid screening and characterization, the designed variant of mCherry (mCherry L199C) was directly expressed on outer-membrane of  Escherichia coli cells by cell surface display technique. The fluorescent biosensor was characterized to have favorable response to Hg²⁺ at micromole level among other metal ions and over a broad pH range. Further, the cells of the fluorescent biosensor were encapsulated in alginate hydrogel to develop the cells-alginate hydrogel-based paper. The cells-alginate hydrogel-based paper could detect mercury pollution in 5 min with simple operation process and inexpensive equipment, and it could keep fluorescence and activity stable at 4?°C for 24 hr, which would be a high-throughput screening tool in preliminarily reporting the presence of mercury pollution in natural setting.     

内蒙古锡林浩特Ⅰ型花岗岩的时代及构造意义

在内蒙古锡林浩特水库地区出露的花岗岩确定为I型花岗岩,具有较高的Cr、Co、Ni丰度。Ca、Al含量和N2O/K2O比值较高,Fe、Mg含量较低。微量元素蛛网图中显示出明显的Nb、Ta、P、Ti负异常。在SiO2-K2O及AFM图中,花岗质岩石投在钙碱性系列区;在构造环境判别图中,花岗质岩石样品都投在火山弧+同碰撞花岗岩区。锆石测年结果显示平均年龄为317.0±4.0Ma,属晚石炭世。这套晚石炭世岛弧花岗岩的存在,表明加里东期古亚洲洋并未完全关闭,晚石炭世时仍然存在洋壳的俯冲消减事件。从区域上看,是北侧的贺根山洋盆向南俯冲的结果。     

皖南新元古代花岗闪长岩地球化学特征及构造环境

皖南新元古代花岗闪长岩沿祁门-歙县-三阳深断裂呈串珠状出露。本文在对其岩石学、地球化学细致分析的基础上,探讨了岩体的岩石成因和产出环境。皖南新元古代花岗闪长岩主要由石英、钾长石和斜长石组成,普遍含富铝矿物黑云母和堇青石,副矿物包括锆石、磷灰石、钛铁矿、独居石、磷钇矿、极少的磁铁矿等。地球化学分析数据显示,岩石总体具高硅、高钾、高铝和低钠、低镁、低钙的特征;岩石富碱(ALK=6.63%),高K2O/Na2O比值(1.33)。里特曼指数σ为0.8～2.91,碱度率AR为1.56～3.14,属高钾钙碱性系列。岩石铝饱和指数(A/CNK=1.31)大于1.1,具强过铝质S型花岗岩的特征。岩石稀土元素呈轻稀土富集、重稀土亏损的特征,ΣLREE/ΣHREE比值为5.36～8.36,具较强的负铕异常(δEu=0.39～0.7),配分模式为右倾"V"字形态;微量元素明显富集Rb、Th而亏损Ba、Nb、Ta、Sr等,为低Sr高Yb型花岗岩。地球化学特征显示其岩浆源于围岩-中元古代牛屋组浅变质千枚岩的部分熔融,反映陆-陆碰撞挤压造山环境,为晋宁运动晚期华夏板块向北俯冲与扬子板块碰撞造山的火山弧产物。     

社会体育指导与管理本科专业课程设置探析简

通过文献资料法,对2013年8月申报社会体育指导与管理专业的9所高校本科课程设置现状与问题进行分析,以期提高本专业的人才培养质量。结果表明,各院校的人才培养方案专业必修课和选修课能够满足教育部对本专业课程的规定,但部分院校选修方向与职业联系不密切;选修方向课程学分均不超过总学分比例的10%,不能满足就业需求;课程开设时期普遍偏晚,不利于专业职业技能的形成。建议专业方向课程应与职业教育密切相连,并满足职业教育的需求。     

China's endemic vertebrates sheltering under the protective umbrella of the giant panda

The giant panda attracts disproportionate conservation resources. How well does this emphasis protect other endemic species? Detailed data on geographical ranges are not available for plants or invertebrates, so we restrict our analyses to 3 vertebrate taxa: birds, mammals, and amphibians. There are gaps in their protection, and we recommend practical actions to fill them. We identified patterns of species richness, then identified which species are endemic to China, and then which, like the panda, live in forests. After refining each species' range by its known elevational range and remaining forest habitats as determined from remote sensing, we identified the top 5% richest areas as the centers of endemism. Southern mountains, especially the eastern Hengduan Mountains, were centers for all 3 taxa. Over 96% of the panda habitat overlapped the endemic centers. Thus, investing in almost any panda habitat will benefit many other endemics. Existing panda national nature reserves cover all but one of the endemic species that overlap with the panda's distribution. Of particular interest are 14 mammal, 20 bird, and 82 amphibian species that are inadequately protected. Most of these species the International Union for Conservation of Nature currently deems threatened. But 7 mammal, 3 bird, and 20 amphibian species are currently nonthreatened, yet their geographical ranges are <20,000 km² after accounting for elevational restriction and remaining habitats. These species concentrate mainly in Sichuan, Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. There is a high concentration in the east Daxiang and Xiaoxiang Mountains of Sichuan, where pandas are absent and where there are no national nature reserves. The others concentrate in Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. Here, 10 prefectures might establish new protected areas or upgrade local nature reserves to national status.     

粉煤灰-煤矸石基胶结充填材料制备与性能研究

为了解决我国煤矿采空区地表沉陷以及"三下"压煤资源浪费的问题,提出以粉煤灰-水泥熟料-脱硫石膏复合胶凝材料为胶结材,原状粉煤灰为细骨料,破碎后的煤矸石为粗骨料制备新型煤矿开采胶结充填材料。依据正交试验结果和各因素影响规律趋势图,确定充填材料的优化配合比。研究结果表明,适当增大水泥熟料掺量可缩短材料初凝时间,减小水胶比能使材料强度显著提高,而材料坍落度可通过选取适宜的浆体中的固体质量分数和灰矸比来有效调节,当胶凝材料中水泥含量为15%,脱硫石膏含量为8%,水胶比为2,灰矸比为2∶3,浆体中的固体质量分数为70%时,充填材料性能可达到最佳。通过试验优选材料各项参数,工业废弃物可以用来制备高质量的胶结充填材料。