Trends in motor-vehicle related air pollutants in central London

Results of intermittent monitoring of six aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, m-xylene, p-xylene and o-xylene), carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen over a thirteen year period at a site in central London (Exhibition Road) are presented. Four monitoring regimes were undertaken; namely, 1979, 1982/83, 1986/87 and 1991/92. The summertime daytime mean ambient concentrations of the measured parameters at this site are presented. The reported concentrations show a reduction from 1979 to 1992 by approximately a factor of two, despite national increases in motor fuel consumption and the volume of traffic. Relevant European Community legislation covering emissions from motor-vehicles are outlined and comparisons are made with emissions from motor vehicles predicted from the UK national inventory. The importance of the frequency of measurements was also noted.     

以中国为鉴--为什么西方的经济模式在全世界都将行不通

中国的美国梦会变成世界的恶梦吗？对于中国13亿人口，美国梦正在变成中国梦。数百万的中国人已经过上美国式的生活：食用更多肉类，开私家车，出国旅游，像美国人那样把迅速增加的收入用于其他开销。尽管这些美国生活方式的消费者还只是中国人口的一小部分，但中国对世界资源的需求已经变得相当可观。     

养活九十亿人

本世纪期间,技术进展已经使农作物生产率发生了革命,但农作物产率的提高已经开始放慢,而世界人口却继续增长.土地退化和水资源的压力是对非常需要的土地生产率提高的严重障碍.满足21世纪全球食品需要将要求一致的人口控制政策,推进可持续消费,和大大提高我们对土地、水及其它自然资源的使用效率.本文提供了对这些问题的前瞻性分析和解决这些问题的建议.     

Containing spectacle in the transnational public sphere

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the discursive struggle over the reach and containment of spectacle in environmental politics to provide (a) case study-based evidence of how, on one hand, transnationally shared environmental awareness and concern, emerging in part through spectacle, is translating into expectations of participation and demands for accountability, and (b) how this is already impacting the ways in which environmental politics is being understood and enacted locally, regionally and transnationally. Drawing on recent mediated debate over the Great Barrier Reef, it finds that while the transnational is clearly an ambition for environmental campaigners, and the perception that transnational publics are emerging is already impacting environmental politics, the potency of these publics and their capacity to meaningfully negotiate accountability is yet to be empirically confirmed. Nevertheless, measures to contain spectacle are providing a potency for a transnational public sphere, even if in reality it is still little more than a specter.     

Distance and flow effects on microsphere transport in a large gravel column

Consumption of microbially contaminated ground water can cause adverse health effects and the processes involved in pathogen transport in aquifers need to be understood. The influences of distance, flow velocity, and colloid size on colloid transport were examined in homogenous pea-gravel media using an 8-m column and three sizes (1, 5, and 10 microm) of microspheres. Experiments were conducted at three flow rates by simultaneously injecting microspheres with a conservative tracer, bromide. Observed concentrations were simulated with CXTFIT and analyzed with filtration theory. The results demonstrate that colloid concentration is strongly log-linearly related to transport distance (as suggested by filtration theory) in coarse gravels, similar to our previous field studies. In contrast, the log-linear relationship is often reported to be invalid in fine porous media. The observed log-linear relationship is possibly because straining is negligible in the coarse gravels investigated. This has implications in predicting setback distances for land disposal of effluent, and suggests that setback distances in gravel aquifers can be estimated using constant spatial removal rates (f). There was an inverse relationship between transport distance and colloidal concentration, but not with temporal attachment rate (katt) and collision coefficient (alpha). Increases in flow velocity result in increasing colloidal recovery, katt and alpha but decreasing f. Increases in sphere size result in decreasing colloidal recovery with increasing katt, f, alpha, and velocity enhancement. Diffusion is the dominant collision mechanism for 1-microm spheres (81-88%), while settling dominates for 5- and 10-microm spheres (> 87%), and interception is very small for all spheres investigated.     

Rotary Kiln Incineration III. An Indepth Study—Kiln Exit/Afterburner/Stack Train and Kiln Exit Pattern Factor Measurements During Liquid CCl4 Processing

Temperature and stable species concentration data are presented from various locations within a full-scale rotary kiln incinerator firing natural gas/carbon tetrachloride/air. The data are being collected as part of a cooperative program involving university, industry and government participation. The overall goal of the program is to develop a more sophisticated understanding of and a predictive capability for rotary kiln and afterburner performance as influenced by basic design and operational parameters. Non-uniformities in stable species and temperature exist for this particular kiln, at the kiln exit, under certain operating conditions. Flow perturbations from within the kiln were found to persist into the afterburner, but not into the stack. High destruction and removal efficiencies (DRE’s) were achieved under the operating conditions of these tests through adequate secondary combustion processing.     

Rotary Kiln Incineration IV. An Indepth Study— Kiln Exit,Transition and Afterburner Sampling During Liquid CCl4 Processing

Detailed temperature and stable species concentration data are presented from the kiln exit, transition section and afterburner of a full-scale incinerator facility firing natural gas/carbon tetrachloride/air. The data are collected as part of a cooperative program involving university, industry and government participation. The overall goal of the program is to develop an understanding and predictive capability for rotary kiln and afterburner performance as influenced by basic design and operational parameters. The data demonstrate that nonuniformities in stable species and temperature exist, under certain operating conditions, at the kiln exit in the vertical direction only. Measurements from the transition section indicate that non-uniformities may exist within this region under certain operating conditions. Flow perturbations from within the kiln can persist into the afterburner, although the degree of nonuniformity is substantially reduced compared to either the kiln or transition sections. High destruction and removal efficiencies were achieved under all operating conditions of these tests through a combination of kiln and secondary combustion processing.     

Shock Wave Cleaning of Air Filters

The trends in and relationships between ambient air concentrations of sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols at 48 urban sites and 27 nonurban sites throughout the U.S. between 1963 and 1972 have been analyzed. The substantial decreases in ambient SO₂ concentrations measured at urban sites in the eastern and midwestern U.S. are consistent with the corresponding reductions in local SO₂ emissions, but these decreases have been accompanied by only modest decreases in ambient sulfate concentrations. Large differences in the amounts of SO₂ emitted within individual air quality control regions are associated with much smaller differences in the corresponding ambient sulfate concentrations. Substantial changes in the patterns of SO₂ emissions between air quality regions result in essentially no differences between ambient sulfate concentrations in those air quality regions. Comparisons of several air quality regions in the eastern and western U.S. with similar SO₂ emission levels and patterns of emissions clearly demonstrates the higher ambient sulfate concentration levels in eastern air quality control regions. Relationships between SO₂, sulfates, and vanadium concentrations at eastern nonurban U.S. sites cannot be explained by local emission sources. These various observed results can be best explained by long distance sulfur oxide transport with chemical conversion of SO₂ to sulfates occurring over ranges of hundreds of kilometers. This conclusion has been suggested earlier and the present analysis strongly supports previous discussions. An impact of long range transport of sulfates is to emphasize the need for Consistent strategies for reduction of sulfur oxides throughout large geographical regions. Additions of large capacities involving elevated sources in mid-continental or western regions could result in significant increases in sulfate concentrations well downwind of such sources. Some of the types of research activities required to quantitate crucial experimental parameters are discussed.     

The role of other orientation in organizational citizenship behavior

This article draws on social exchange theory and the theory of other orientation to examine how job satisfaction and individual differences are related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Previous research specifying a direct effect for individual differences on OCB has yielded disappointing results. In contrast, this study examines the moderating role of individual differences in the relationship between job satisfaction and OCB. As hypothesized, results show a weaker relationship between job satisfaction and OCB for persons who are higher in other orientation. We discuss the theoretical implications of this finding and directions for future research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.