野生动物肇事公众责任保险发展困境与优化路径

野生动物肇事公众责任保险自开展以来, 存在着保险实施效果较差、承保机构参与不积极、保险范围难以扩大等问题, 在有效缓解人兽矛盾方面表现欠佳, 阻碍了生物多样性保护的落实与执行。本文以现阶段实施该保险的云南、西藏、浙江、四川为例梳理其应用模式, 并对具体地区的保险模式进行比较分析。研究表明, 野生动物肇事公众责任保险陷入发展困境的主要原因是产品设计不科学、财政经费不充足、政策制度不健全和保险体系不完善。建议优化保险要素设计、扩展经费来源渠道、健全配套政策法规, 建立政府主导、多方参与的中央财政补贴野生动物肇事公众责任保险体系, 该保险体系对于解决人兽冲突、支持生物多样性的保护、建立地球生命共同体具有重要的价值与意义。     

The research on the mechanism and spatial–temporal differentiation of the coupling coordination development based on industrial cluster agglomeration

With 31 provinces and cities in Mainland China selected as the research objects, the paper explores the acting mechanism of industrial cluster, urbanization and population cluster, builds a measurement index system for the spatial–temporal coupling characteristics of industrial cluster, urbanization and population agglomeration, and then measures the coupling coordination degrees of industrial agglomeration, urbanization and population agglomeration in provinces since 2000 and researches the spatial–temporal evolution and spatial differentiation characteristics of coupling coordination degree. Research results show: ① industrial agglomeration, urbanization and population agglomeration have formed a dynamically coordinated relationship with mutual influences, mutual promotion and joint development; ② the comprehensive development levels of industrial agglomeration, urbanization and population agglomeration in China are rising year by year, but the overall coupling degree and coordination degree of the three are low, but the coupling coordination relationship will improve continuously with time, still showing obvious differences in provinces and the spatial tendency of being “high in the east and low in the west”; ③ the coupling coordination presents a continuous spatial agglomeration state, and the agglomeration intensity is “high on two ends and low in the middle”, thus forming the outstanding hot-spot in areas eastern coastal regions and the outstanding cold-spot areas in western regions; ④ the government should promote industrial agglomeration, industrial structure optimization and upgrading and urbanization, and make reasonable planning for population agglomeration degree practically and effectively, to ensure the matching and coordinated development of industrial agglomeration, population agglomeration and urban bearing capacity.     

松花江流域沿江重点监控企业水环境潜在污染风险分析

为防控松花江流域水污染风险、优化流域内沿江产业带布局,分析了松花江流域沿江企业潜在污染风险的大小和分布,并揭示导致不同区域间水环境潜在污染风险空间差异的原因。基于《2012年废水国家重点监控企业名单》,本研究将沿松花江(到三级支流)1 km范围内的45家重点废水产生企业识别为松花江流域水环境潜在污染风险源。以沿江企业和重点区域的废水产生量与对应河段的水质状况表征水环境潜在污染风险源强弱与流域水体对潜在污染风险的缓冲能力,并以区域总人口数、第二产业产值及珍稀濒危物种分布情况反映流域社会-经济-自然复合生态系统对潜在污染风险的敏感程度开展评价。结果表明:牡丹江市辖区(牡丹江中游河段)因潜在污染风险源强、水体对潜在污染风险的缓冲能力低且自然生态系统对潜在污染风险的敏感程度高,是松花江流域受沿江企业产生的水环境潜在污染风险最严重的地区;长春市辖区(饮马河、伊通河部分河段)、伊春市辖区(汤旺河全部河段)与敦化市(海浪河全部河段、牡丹江部分河段)由于较低的水体缓冲能力和较高的生态系统敏感程度,应加强水环境潜在污染风险的防治;污染风险源强的吉林市辖区(西流松花江部分河段)与七台河市辖区(倭肯河部分河段),须提高本区域对潜在污染的风险管理能力以降低污染事故发生的可能性。最后,针对不同行业类型、区域潜在污染特点与水污染风险特征,从加快污水处理研究、评估污染治理经济手段、建立产业准入机制及完善污染防治立法等多方面提出流域水环境污染风险管控的相关建议。     

Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment of Industrial Accidents: The Case of Oil Ship Transportation in the Coastal Tropical Area of Northeastern Brazil

Accidents such as toxic spills can cause massive damage to local ecosystems and hamper the sustainable development of hazardous industries. Models that only consider regularly occurring pollution are unable to truly quantify ecological risks (ecorisks) from these industries. This work presents a methodology capable of quantifying ecorisks related to rare and extreme events such as industrial accidents. We developed a procedure that integrates information from different studies that contributes to characterize ecorisks from industrial accidents: (1) reliability analysis, (2) fate and transport modeling, (3) individual-level toxicological assessment, and (4) population modeling. The methodology is exemplified by an application to oil ship transportation to supply Brazil's Suape industrial complex. A fish population was strategically chosen to represent the ecosystem's health of Suape beach. For the critical accidental scenarios, their frequencies of occurrence were estimated and the space–time evolution of oil simulated. The ecorisks were quantified in terms of time and population probability of fish extinction, categorized and compared against a no-accident scenario. The total ecorisks from all scenarios were presented as a FN curve, where N is the average number of deaths in the population and F the cumulative frequency of accidents with potential to cause N or more deaths.     

Conservation genetics of cattle, sheep, and goats

Cattle, sheep and goats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago, spread out of the domestication centers in Europe, Asia, and Africa during the next few thousands years, and gave many populations locally adapted. After a very long period of soft selection, the situation changed dramatically 200 years ago with the emergence of the breed concept. The selection pressure strongly increased, and the reproduction among breeds was seriously reduced, leading to the fragmentation of the initial gene pool. More recently, the selection pressure was increased again via the use of artificial insemination, leading to a few industrial breeds with very high performances, but with low effective population sizes. Beside this performance improvement of industrial breeds, genetic resources are being lost, because of the replacement of traditional breeds by high performance industrial breeds at the worldwide level, and because of the loss of genetic diversity in these industrial breeds. Many breeds are already extinct, and genetic resources in cattle, sheep, and goats are thus highly endangered, particularly in developed countries. The recent development of next generation sequencing technologies opens new avenues for properly characterizing the genetic resources, not only in the very diverse domestic breeds, but also in their wild relatives. Based on sound genetic characterization, urgent conservation measures must be taken to avoid an irremediable loss of farm animal genetic resources, integrating economical, sociological, and political parameters.     

Island Waste Management Systems

Island waste management professionals are faced with limited land resources, high energy costs, large seasonal fluctuations in waste volumes, and complex social and political dynamics that stem from their often closely knit societies. These and other factors can discourage typical waste management practices, but they also provide opportunities for island governments and businesses to explore alternative technologies and policies that suit their particular circumstances and that might be environmentally preferable. This critical review discusses the waste management literature on islands to date, including several industrial ecology (IE) studies. Common advantages and disadvantages faced by island waste management challenges are presented from the perspectives of business and municipal management. Waste generation data are presented from more than 40 islands around the world and tested for correlation with economic and geographic parameters and using cluster analysis, with the aim of identifying trends among island types. Poor data quality and comparability are ongoing challenges that underscore the potential benefits of a consistent program of island waste management data collection. Finally, the review explores opportunities for applying IE research to generate useful insights and policies in the areas of material flow analysis, industrial symbiosis, life cycle assessment, and social ecology.     

Risk Acceptance in the Furniture Sector: Analysis of Acceptance Level and Relevant Influence Factors

ABSTRACT

Risk acceptance has been broadly discussed in relation to hazardous risk activities and/or technologies. A better understanding of risk acceptance in occupational settings is also important; however, studies on this topic are scarce. It seems important to understand the level of risk that stakeholders consider sufficiently low, how stakeholders form their opinion about risk, and why they adopt a certain attitude toward risk. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine risk acceptance in regard to occupational accidents in furniture industries. The safety climate analysis was conducted through the application of the Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire. Judgments about risk acceptance, trust, risk perception, benefit perception, emotions, and moral values were measured. Several models were tested to explain occupational risk acceptance. The results showed that the level of risk acceptance decreased as the risk level increased. High-risk and death scenarios were assessed as unacceptable. Risk perception, emotions, and trust had an important influence on risk acceptance. Safety climate was correlated with risk acceptance and other variables that influence risk acceptance. These results are important for the risk assessment process in terms of defining risk acceptance criteria and strategies to reduce risks.     

Temporal Patterns of Reported Single-Vehicle Car and Truck Accidents in Texas, U.S.A. During 1980-1983

Reported single car and truck accidents due specifically to driver 'fatigue' for the 4-year span of 1980-1983 were analyzed for 24-hr, 7-d and 1-yr patterns. Three types of data were examined: (1) accidents in rural Texas, (2) accidents only in San Antonio, the fourth largest city in Texas and (3) accident ratio (number of accidents per time interval divided by traffic volume for the interval) in this city.

A statistically significant seasonal variation of relatively low amplitude with peaks in May and July was detected only for accidents in rural areas. High-amplitude periodicities of 7 d were evident in all the data sets, with a peak on the weekend. A very prominent 24-hr pattern was detected as well, with the acrophase determined by single cosinor around 0300. A slight secondary peak in accidents, around 1500, was evident in the data from the rural areas. This secondary peak represented a 12-hr rhythm in addition to the 24-hr. Overall, features of the temporal patterns in accidents over 24 hr and over the year in urban and rural areas differed only slightly. Accident ratios yielded results similar to accident frequencies. However, with regard to the rural data, the shape of the 24-hr temporal pattern varied with driver age; older drivers exhibited a flatter curve with a more pronounced afternoon rather than early morning (around 0300) peak.     

A combined DEMATEL and grey system theory approach for analyzing occupational risks: A case study in Turkish shipbuilding industry

The shipbuilding industry is known as heavy industry because of its high-risk work activities. Therefore, in order to prevent fatal occupational accidents in the shipbuilding industry, the processes of defining hazards, evaluating risks, taking action to eliminate or reduce risks are important issues in risk assessment. This article presents a novel occupational risk-assessment approach, which can help managers of shipbuilding make proper precautions strategies for accidents, to evaluate shipyard Critical Risk Factors and risky shipyard processes/work units. Thus, DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and Grey system theory approaches are integrated to develop a systematic risk-assessment framework for the shipbuilding industry. This approach was applied to a real case study in a Turkish shipyard. The performance evaluation results have indicated that the combined approach can provide satisfactory risk assessment for occupational risk causes and relevant improvement strategies to prevent accidents. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted on the results to ensure the reliability of solutions. Even though a novel decision support and evaluation approach on risk implementation is introduced for shipbuilding, limitations and concerns are areas for further research opportunities. Further, a sensitivity analysis of results, managerial implications, conclusions, limitations and future research opportunities are provided.     

中国丝绸之路经济带沿线省份生态足迹时空差异及公平性分析

评价区域自然资源的公平分配程度是权衡社会经济系统与生态系统可持续发展之间关系的基础。在测算2005—2016年我国丝绸之路经济带沿线省份生态足迹的基础上,分析生态承载力、生态压力指数及足迹深度、足迹广度的时空差异特征,采用基尼系数、经济贡献系数与生态承载系数构建生态足迹的公平性评价模型。结果表明,沿线省份人均生态足迹增长趋势存在较大差异,新疆、宁夏、青海等省份增长较为显著,甘肃、陕西、广西、云南、重庆、四川等省份增长相对较小。结果显示,西北省份较西南省份生态足迹增长较快,但人均生态承载力未发生显著变化。沿线省份生态压力指数均呈缓慢上升的趋势,但差异性正逐步扩大。足迹深度呈缓慢增长的趋势,均大于1,足迹广度变化平缓。经济贡献基尼系数和生态承载基尼系数分别置于[0.15,0.23]和[0.23,0.30]区间,均低于"0.4的警戒线"。其中,陕西、四川和重庆属于"高经济贡献、低生态承载贡献"的省份,青海、云南和甘肃属于"低经济贡献、高生态承载贡献"的省份,新疆、广西和宁夏属于"低经济贡献、低生态承载贡献"的省份。为此,提出对不同经济贡献与生态承载贡献的省份制定适宜的生态建设与环境保护政策,加强空间管控能力,推动重点开发区的区域一体化和合作协同发展,促进省际间产业协作,利用双(多)边合作机制,提高区域自然资源的配置水平。     

Microalgae wastewater treatment: Biological and technological approaches

Current global environmental issues raise unavoidable challenges for our use of natural resources. Supplying the human population with clean water is becoming a global problem. Numerous organic and inorganic impurities in municipal, industrial, and agricultural waters, ranging from microplastics to high nutrient loads and heavy metals, endanger our nutrition and health. The development of efficient wastewater treatment technologies and circular economic approaches is thus becoming increasingly important. The biomass production of microalgae using industrial wastewater offers the possibility of recycling industrial residues to create new sources of raw materials for energy and material use. This review discusses algae‐based wastewater treatment technologies with a special focus on industrial wastewater sources, the potential of non‐conventional extremophilic (thermophilic, acidophilic, and psychrophilic) microalgae, and industrial algae‐wastewater treatment concepts that have already been put into practice.     

A theoretical approach for zone-based management of the deer population on Yakushima Island

The biological balance of Yakushima Island is currently being compromised by overpopulation of sika deer (Cervus nippon yakushimae). We predicted that the island's deer population would continue to grow unless control efforts are raised threefold from their 2012 levels. To identify the best management practice for future implementation, we evaluated and compared the performances of three different zone-based management strategies. Under the current management scenario, the median population size of the sika deer on the island would temporarily decrease, but it would subsequently rebound. Under a scenario that allows management zones to be prioritized according to the occurrence of threatened plant species and deer population size, model simulations suggested that the scenario focusing on the central zone would show the best performance based on the probability of achievement of the management goal (assuming that there is no dispersal between zones). This course of action would lead to a decrease in the median deer population size and would further ensure a high probability of achieving the 2022 target population size across most zones (up to 85 %), even if catch levels were not increased. In a future study, we would need to conduct a more detailed analysis of plants and deer density distributions.     

Focus: Preventive Medicine: Variation in Non-external and External Causes of Death in Peru in Relation to the COVID-19 Lockdown

Introduction: Lockdowns are designed to slow COVID-19 transmission, but they may have unanticipated relationships with other aspects of public health. Assessing the overall pattern in population health as a country implements and relaxes a lockdown is relevant, as these patterns may not necessarily be symmetric. We aimed to estimate the changing trends in cause-specific mortality in relation to the 2020 COVID-19 related lockdowns in Peru. Methods: Based on data from the Peruvian National Death Information System (SINADEF), we calculated death rates per 10 million population to assess the trends in mortality rates for non-external and external causes of death (suicides, traffic accidents, and homicides). We compared these trends to 2018-2019, before, during, and after the lockdown, stratified by sex, and adjusted by Peruvian macro-region (Lima & Callao (capital region), Coast, Highland, and Jungle). Results: Non-external deaths presented a distinctive pattern among macro-regions, with an early surge in the Jungle and a later increase in the Highland. External deaths dropped during the lockdown, however, suicides and homicides returned to previous levels in the post-lockdown period. Deaths due to traffic accidents dropped during the lockdown and returned to pre-pandemic levels by December 2020. Conclusions: We found a sudden drop in external causes of death, with suicides and homicides returning to previous levels after the lifting of the lockdown. Non-external deaths showed a differential pattern by macro-region. A close monitoring of these trends could help identify early spikes among these causes of death and take action to prevent a further increase in mortality indirectly affected by the pandemic.     

Vermicomposting: A management tool to mitigate solid waste

Solid waste management is a serious ecological problem in Saudi Arabia due to rapid industrialization, population growth and urbanization. Recycling and sorting are in their infancy in Saudi Arabia and huge amounts of mixed household and industrial wastes are still dumped without any pre-treatment. Solid waste management techniques such as incineration, pyrolysis and gasification have high investment costs. Composting and vermicomposting of solid organic waste have been considered as an economically viable and sustainable waste management technologies. However, wastes often contain pollutants, such as heavy metals that are toxic to decomposer micro-organisms. Thus, heavy metals are a challenge for the successful biological treatments. Waste may also contain a mixture of organic pollutants that certain microbes, such as micro-algae are known to degrade. The present review paper focuses on understanding the role of vermicomposting as a management tool in mitigating solid organic wastes. It is noteworthy to mention that the microbes also play a pivotal role in the degradation process, wherein the enzymes secreted during the process aid in decomposition of complex molecules into simpler compounds. Also, the extracellular polymeric substance secreted by the earthworm under metal stress serves a source of nutrient for the bacteria to flourish. Henceforth the goal of discussion in present review shows the way forward in using vermicomposting as a novel approach in dealing with solid organic waste.     

Effect of impurities in biodiesel-derived waste glycerol on the performance and feasibility of biotechnological processes

The rapid development of biodiesel production technology has led to the generation of tremendous quantities of glycerol wastes, as the main by-product of the process. Stoichiometrically, it has been calculated that for every 100 kg of biodiesel, 10 kg of glycerol are produced. Based on the technology imposed by various biodiesel plants, glycerol wastes may contain numerous kinds of impurities such as methanol, salts, soaps, heavy metals, and residual fatty acids. This fact often renders biodiesel-derived glycerol unprofitable for further purification. Therefore, the utilization of crude glycerol though biotechnological means represents a promising alternative for the effective management of this industrial waste. This review summarizes the effect of various impurities-contaminants that are found in biodiesel-derived crude glycerol upon its conversion by microbial strains in biotechnological processes. Insights are given concerning the technologies that are currently applied in biodiesel production, with emphasis to the impurities that are added in the composition of crude glycerol, through each step of the production process. Moreover, extensive discussion is made in relation with the impact of the nature of impurities upon the performances of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, during crude glycerol bioconversions into a variety of high added-value metabolic products. Finally, aspects concerning ways of crude glycerol treatment for the removal of inhibitory contaminants as reported in the literature are given and comprehensively discussed.     

The assessment of occupational safety and health in Turkey by applying a decision-making method; MULTIMOORA

Abstract

This article presents an application of multi-objective decision-making approach by using multi-objective optimization plus the full multiplicative form (MULTIMOORA) method on the assessment procedure of occupational safety and health based on the counts of occupational accidents and diseases. The method determines the ranks of the years which are decision-making units and designed as time-series analysis. The aim is to determine the occupational safety and health status in Turkey based on the recorded data. The data used in this study indicate an increasing number of worker and occupational safety experts versus a fluctuating trend of the case count of the occupational accidents and diseases. The final ranks obtained from MULTIMOORA show that the last three years assessed in this study have a higher efficiency compared to the previous five years. MULTIMOORA is a simple and quite easy to use method with less computational time.     

省级尺度工业碳排放影响因素及碳转移格局

随着全球气候变暖以及区域间产业关联程度加深,产业转型升级和产业转移所引起的碳排放空间重塑成为低碳研究的主要领域之一。利用碳排放清单法及环境效应分解模型,估算中国工业碳排放量变化及其影响因素,同时分析产业转移背景下省际间碳排放的转移格局,以探讨区域节能减排与发展平衡的有效策略。研究表明：2005-2019年期间,中国的工业碳排放量格局一直是以环渤海地区为单核心,邻近的山东、浙江、内蒙古逐渐增加;省级尺度层面,产业规模对工业产业发展引起的环境效应强度最大,产业结构的作用相对较弱;工业碳排放的空间转移主要呈现由沿海区域向内地转移,转出高耗能产业碳排放量最多的省份是山西、山东、辽宁、上海,而高耗能产业碳排放量转入最多的省份是新疆、安徽、山东;碳排放的转入、转出并不与各省经济发展水平的位置完全等同,经济发达省份也会因能源需求或国家战略政策的影响,呈现某段时间内工业碳排放的转入。结论有助于为全局视角下区域间横向联合碳减排政策的制定提供决策依据。     

CoryneBase: Corynebacterium Genomic Resources and Analysis Tools at Your Fingertips

Corynebacteria are used for a wide variety of industrial purposes but some species are associated with human diseases. With increasing number of corynebacterial genomes having been sequenced, comparative analysis of these strains may provide better understanding of their biology, phylogeny, virulence and taxonomy that may lead to the discoveries of beneficial industrial strains or contribute to better management of diseases. To facilitate the ongoing research of corynebacteria, a specialized central repository and analysis platform for the corynebacterial research community is needed to host the fast-growing amount of genomic data and facilitate the analysis of these data. Here we present CoryneBase, a genomic database for Corynebacterium with diverse functionality for the analysis of genomes aimed to provide: (1) annotated genome sequences of Corynebacterium where 165,918 coding sequences and 4,180 RNAs can be found in 27 species; (2) access to comprehensive Corynebacterium data through the use of advanced web technologies for interactive web interfaces; and (3) advanced bioinformatic analysis tools consisting of standard BLAST for homology search, VFDB BLAST for sequence homology search against the Virulence Factor Database (VFDB), Pairwise Genome Comparison (PGC) tool for comparative genomic analysis, and a newly designed Pathogenomics Profiling Tool (PathoProT) for comparative pathogenomic analysis. CoryneBase offers the access of a range of Corynebacterium genomic resources as well as analysis tools for comparative genomics and pathogenomics. It is publicly available at http://corynebacterium.um.edu.my/.     

Children Domestic Accidents Profile in Jazan Region,a call for new policies to improve safety of home environment

High-frequency home accidents draw more attention to the protection of our home environment. WHO has reported that home deaths were among the first 20 causes of death in the 0–14 age group worldwide in 2012. This innovative research was designed to examine children under 15 years of age at home, in 2018 in the Jazan area of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected retrospectively from 19 hospitals in the Jazan area of southern Saudi Arabia during the period from September to December 2019. Data showed that, for the first time, the incidence rate of child home incidents in the Jazan area was 7.4 per 100 children in 2018. Falling, burning, swallowing foreign bodies, and domestic violence were among the most common types of injuries recorded. Home safety continued to be one of the main public health issues in the area with 29,812 home injuries in 1 year, 36.8% bone fractures, 31.6% body distortions, 9.2% distortion fractures and 5.3% child impairment. This study is a crucial step towards addressing the severity of home accidents in Saudi Arabia; troubling figures need further analysis, regular registry, informed policies and well-planned action to avoid these types of accidents.     

未来食品的低碳生物制造

受到人口增长过快、社会经济发展水平不平衡、人口老龄化和不健康饮食方式等影响,人类面临着食品和营养缺乏、部分人群中营养相关疾病高发等问题。同时,社会低碳发展的需求呼唤一种可持续的食物供给模式。因此,既能满足消费者口感和营养需求,又是绿色可持续食物供给模式的技术,例如功能糖、人造肉等未来食品技术,受到了广泛的关注。近年,新兴的生物制造技术及产品得到了迅猛发展,将会支撑形成绿色、低碳的未来食品产业,引发传统生产模式的深刻变革,是新兴生物经济的重大战略发展方向。本文聚焦于未来食品——功能糖、微生物蛋白及人造肉等关键辅配料的生物制造技术研究,追踪其在细胞工厂构建、工业环境下菌种测试与过程优化和衍生产品开发等研究的最新进展,展望未来的发展趋势,旨在为微生物制造未来食品的产业发展提供指导。