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.     

Revisiting the national corporate social responsibility index

This paper relies on Gjølberg’s national corporate social responsibility (CSR) index while its purpose is twofold. First, it seeks to extend the methodological instrument for assessing national CSR and, second, it applies the new approach to a much larger pool of countries (n = 86) in an attempt to provide a global CSR outlook. The emergent picture from the study is one of deficient CSR penetration and wide variation among countries where most of the assessed countries are still lagging in the endorsement of international CSR initiatives and schemes. Findings offer fertile ground to theorists and researchers for a deeper investigation of the national specificity of CSR and to further identify institutional determinants that shape the social responsiveness and self-regulation of business entities. The study has also implications for managers and top executives to consider as it infers that the national background can be influential in the development of a CSR agenda and can condition the level of CSR penetration.     

Implications of human value shift and persistence for biodiversity conservation

Large‐scale change in human values and associated behavior change is believed by some to be the ultimate solution to achieve global biodiversity conservation. Yet little is known about the dynamics of values. We contribute to this area of inquiry by examining the trajectory of values affecting views of wildlife in North America. Using data from a 19‐state study in the United States and global data from the Schwartz Value Survey, we explored questions of value persistence and change and the nature of attitudinal responses regarding wildlife conservation issues. We found support, based on subjects’ ancestry, for the supposition that domination is a prevalent American value orientation toward wildlife that has origins in European Judeo‐Christian traditions. Independent of that effect, we also found indications of change. Modernization is contributing to a shift from domination to mutualism value orientations, which is fostering attitudes less centered on human interests and seemingly more consistent with a biocentric philosophy. Our findings suggest that if value shift could be achieved in a purposeful way, then significant and widespread behavior change believed necessary for long‐term conservation success may indeed be possible. In particular, greater emphasis on mutualism values may help provide the context for more collaborative approaches to support future conservation efforts. However, given the societal forces at play, it is not at all clear that human‐engineered value shift is tenable. Instead of developing strategies aimed at altering values, it may be more productive to create strategies that recognize and work within the boundaries of existing values. Whereas values appear to be in a period of flux, it will be difficult to predict future trends without a better understanding of value formation and shift, particularly under conditions of rapid social‐ecological change.     

低中放处置场环境评价参数灵敏度分析

选取90Sr、239Pu和14C为代表核素,采用单参数变分法对某低中水平放射性固体废物处置场环境影响评价中与核素迁移相关的主要评价参数开展了参数灵敏度分析.分析结果表明:对于低中放处置场而言,环境影响评价模式中主要评价参数的选择对最终评价结果的影响很大,因此在环境影响评价中开展不确定度及敏感度分析是必要的.     

单光子/光电子在线质谱实时分析聚氯乙烯热分解/燃烧产物

实验室研制了低能光电子磁场增强电离(MEPEI)和单光子电离(SPI)复合电离源,该电离源具有电离化合物范围宽、碎片离子少、质谱图简单等优点,结合飞行时间质谱(TOF-MS)实现了聚氯乙烯(PVC)热分解/燃烧产物的在线分析.针对不同的目标化合物,MEPEI/SPI复合电离源通过调节电离区电场强度,可以快速在SPI和SPI-MEPEI之间切换.PVC热分解/燃烧产物中电离能大于光子能量(10.60 eV)的HCl和CO2(12.74 eV、13.77 eV)利用MEPEI模式电离;而烯烃、二氯乙烯、苯系物、氯苯、苯乙烯、茚满及萘系物等可通过SPI-MEPEI复合模式电离.通过实时监测PVC主要燃烧产物的信号强度随温度的变化趋势可推断出,PVC燃烧产物主要是通过两种机制生成:①250～370℃时,PVC发生脱氯及分子内环化反应,产生大量的HCl、苯和萘;②380～510℃时,PVC发生分子间交联反应,生成烷基芳烃,如甲苯和二甲苯/乙苯等.实验结果表明,SPI/SPI-MEPEI复合离子源TOF-MS分析速度快,应用范围广,在在线分析中具有广泛的应用前景.     

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。     

中水回用与效益分析

当前我国水资源供需矛盾日益加剧,实现中水利用是节约水资源的一条有效途径.通过分析中水水源、MBR处理技术及中水用途,结合一个高校实例,进行经济效益分析,并对建设中水回用系统的可行性进行论证.经计算可得效益费用比达到2.38,经济效益是非常明显的,具有实际的参考价值.中水回用不仅节约了水资源而且也产生了明显的经济效益,是城市发展的趋势.     

pH值对凯氏蒸馏法氨氮检出量的影响分析研究

土壤、肥料中的氨氮测定常用2mol·L^-1KC浸提一蒸馏法一酸滴定的方法进行测定,其中蒸馏是最关键和最重要的一个环节。以污泥堆肥样品为例,利用统计学原理,研究了汽提蒸馏过程中pH对氨氮检出量的影响。结果显示：pH值在6．5—11．0范围内与氨氮的检出系数是显著的正相关关系（相关系数r=0．9891）;回归方程在0．05的水平下是非常显著的,拟合度很好。进一步做残差和预测分析可以得出：pH值在6．5～10．0范围内,预测值和测定值的符合度更好。