SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVE MODEL

The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process. Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions. However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding. Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis. However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference.     

The concept of intrinsic value and transgenic animals

The creation of transgenic animals by means of modern techniques of genetic manipulation is evaluated in the light of different interpretations of the concept of intrinsic value. The zoocentric interpretation, emphasizing the suffering of individual, sentient animals, is described as an extension of the anthropocentric interpretation. In a biocentric or ecocentric approach the concept of intrinsic value first of all denotes independence of humans and a non-instrumental relation to animals. In the zoocentric approach of Bernard Rollin, genetic engineering is seen as a morally neutral tool, as long as the animal does not suffer as a result of it. Robert Colwell who defends an ecocentric ethic, makes a sharp distinction between wild animals and domesticated animals. Genetic manipulation of wild species is a serious moral issue, in contrast to genetic manipulation of domesticated species which is no problem at all for Colwell. Both authors do not take the species-specific nature (or telos) of domesticated animals seriously. When domestication is seen as a process between the two poles of the wild animal and the human construct (which can be patented), the technique of genetic manipulation can only be seen as a further encroachment upon the intrinsic value of animals. At the level of molecular biology, the concept of an animal's telos loses its meaning.     

乙烯装置的本质安全设计与操作

为保证乙烯装置的长期稳定运行,通过本质安全的设计和合理化操作,主要从高压脱丙烷塔、碳二前加氢、前冷系统、脱乙烷塔、甲烷化、乙烯精馏塔、丙烯精馏塔、脱丁烷塔等方面对乙烯装置可能出现的偏离正常操作情况做了详细的阐述,具有一定的指导意义。     

工伤保险费率机制设计的探析

目前我国工伤保险覆盖面窄的主要原因是现有的工伤保险费率机制存在问题,缺乏激励作用.本文以传统的激励理论为依据,分析指出要达到扩大工伤保险覆盖面的目的,应该是设计科学、合理的工伤保险费率机制去激励企业主动参加工伤保险和加强工伤预防.     

Humanitarians' ethics: the role of face-to-face experiences in humanitarian aid workers' motivation

This paper analyses the significance of specific ethical experiences for humanitarian aid workers' motivation. Following Emmanuel Levinas's understanding of ethics as arising from intersubjective face-to-face encounters, the study illuminates the experiential origins of the humanitarian commitment by analysing James Orbinski's memoir entitled An Imperfect Offering: Dispatches from the Medical Frontline. Orbinski, a former International Council President at Médecins Sans Frontières, was directly involved in humanitarian responses to several major crises during the 1990s, including those in Somalia, Afghanistan, Rwanda, and what was then Zaire. This paper explores three formative experiences from Orbinski's childhood and teenage years to analyse the personal ethics of humanitarian aid workers and to illuminate the intersection of the personal and professional level of humanitarian aid work. Illustrating that Orbinski's humanitarian commitment is a surrendering to the other's call, the paper argues for stronger inclusion of aid workers' lives and experiences to achieve a comprehensive understanding of humanitarian work.     

Climate change,risk perception,and protection motivation among high-altitude residents of the Mt. Everest region in Nepal

Mountain ecosystems are considered vulnerable to early impacts of climate change. Whether and how local residents of these areas perceive these changes, however, remain under-studied questions. By conducting a household survey in the Khumbu region of Nepal, this study assessed local residents’ experience-based perception of changes in climate trends and patterns, perceived risk, and attitudes towards climate issues. Multivariate cluster analysis based on residents’ climate change beliefs revealed three segments: “Cautious,” “Disengaged,” and “Alarmed.” A comparison of these segments along key psychosocial constructs of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) revealed significant inter-segment differences in residents’ perception of severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and response cost associated with engaging in mitigating behavior. Results shed light on how residents of high elevation areas that are considered to be exposed to early impacts of climate change perceive the risk and intend to respond. These findings could also assist stakeholders working in other similar mountain ecosystems in understanding vulnerability and in working towards climate readiness.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01369-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

For the sake of my family: Understanding unethical pro-family behavior in the workplace

Unethical behaviors are prevalent and costly in organizations, and much recent research attention has been paid to different forms of workplace unethical behaviors. We contend that the extant research has overlooked an important form of workplace-related unethical behaviors: unethical behaviors that are conducted to benefit one's family but which violate societal and organizational moral rules, a construct we label as “unethical pro-family behavior” (UPFB). Our paper systematically conceptualizes UPFB and develops a scale for it. Drawing upon social cognitive theory, we argue that employees with stronger family financial pressure are more likely to employ moral disengagement mechanisms to deactivate moral self-regulation, resulting in higher levels of UPFB. Additionally, we argue that the proposed relationship is more pronounced when employees have high family motivation but is mitigated when employees have high organizational identification. Two studies are conducted for this paper. In Study 1 (N = 328 for Sample 1; N = 243 for Sample 2; N = 279 for Sample 3; N = 267 for Sample 4), we demonstrate that our UPFB scale has good construct validity and that our construct is differentiable from relevant constructs. In two time-lagged survey samples in Study 2 (N = 255 for Sample 1; N = 233 for Sample 2), we find support for our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.     

拟合水工设计反应谱的人工地震波的生成与Huang变换校正

根据非平稳输入下建立的功率谱与均值反应谱之间的关系,合成基于水工设计反应谱的人工地震波,并对其幅值进行修正,降低了高频区误差作用;为了解决加速度时程积分后的速度、位移时程的零线漂移现象,利用Huang变换得到加速度时程的固有模态函数,由Huang变换方法得到的最低频率固有模态函数分量通常情况下代表原始信号的趋势或均值,对去掉均值后的加速度时程进行积分得到的速度、位移时程不存在零线漂移问题。     

人口学特征和动机偏好双重视角的入境游客市场细分研究——西安市的实证研究

基于SPSS16.0社会科学统计软件,采用单因素方差分析法和均值比较法,从9项内驱力指标和9项吸引力指标入手,对游客性别、年龄、学历水平等人口学特征与旅游动机之间的差异关系进行了定量分析。作为实证研究,以国家自然科学基金项目组在西安市开展市场调查获取的第一手数据为依据,从人口学特征和旅游动机双重视角,细分了西安市的入境客源市场,并据此提出针对性的客源市场开发方案,旨在为入境旅游市场的开发拓展提供理论借鉴和技术支持。     

Bromination of selected pharmaceuticals in water matrices

The bromination of five selected pharmaceuticals (metoprolol, naproxen, amoxicillin, phenacetin, and hydrochlorothiazide) was studied with these compounds individually dissolved in ultra-pure water. The apparent rate constants for the bromination reaction were determined as a function of the pH, obtaining the sequence amoxicillin > naproxen ? hydrochlorothiazide ≈ phenacetin ≈ metoprolol. A kinetic mechanism specifying the dissociation reactions and the species formed for each compound according to its pK_a value and the pH allowed the intrinsic rate constants to be determined for each elementary reaction. There was fairly good agreement between the experimental and calculated values of the apparent rate constants, confirming the goodness of the proposed reaction mechanism.In a second stage, the bromination of the selected pharmaceuticals simultaneously dissolved in three water matrices (a groundwater, a surface water from a public reservoir, and a secondary effluent from a WWTP) was investigated. The pharmaceutical elimination trend agreed with the previously determined rate constants. The influence of the main operating conditions (pH, initial bromine dose, and characteristics of the water matrix) on the degradation of the pharmaceuticals was established. An elimination concentration profile for each pharmaceutical in the water matrices was proposed based on the use of the previously evaluated apparent rate constants, and the theoretical results agreed satisfactorily with experiment. Finally, chlorination experiments performed in the presence of bromide showed that low bromide concentrations slightly accelerate the oxidation of the selected pharmaceuticals during chlorine disinfection.