Communicating risk for issues that involve ‘uncertainty bias’: what can the Israeli case of water fluoridation teach us?

Water fluoridation is a controversial issue in public health. Despite the uncertainty regarding its efficacy and safety, health officials continue to communicate it as ‘unequivocally’ safe and effective. Our focus is on how health officials and policy-makers in Israel frame the issue of water fluoridation in terms of certainty while promoting a mandatory fluoridation policy. According to van Asselt and Vos, the uncertainty paradox describes situations in which uncertainty is acknowledged, but the role of science is framed as providing certainty. Our study is an analysis of documents and media articles emphasizing the paradoxical language used by official representatives on the controversial topic of fluoridation. A central contribution of this study is that we coin the term ‘uncertainty bias,’ in which policy-makers do exactly what they accuse laypeople of doing, framing uncertainty in biased terms. We found that in order to establish mandatory regulation, health ministry officials expressed information in an unbalanced format, promoting the topic of fluoridation by framing it in exclusively positive terms. This study does not focus on the practice of water fluoridation per se, and is not intended to decide for or against it, but rather, to explore how the debate regarding it is communicated. Understanding this particular case can shed light on how other controversial topics are transformed into health policy that is characterized in equivocal terms.     

离子色谱法应用于生活饮用水检测的研究进展

离子色谱是高效液相色谱法当中的一类,又被称之为现代离子色谱。作为一种高效科学的检测方法,离子色谱发展迅速,被广泛用于大气、土壤和水质检测中。本文主要综述了离子色谱法应用于生活饮用水检测的研究进展。     

A game of give and take: The introduction of multi-layer (water) safety in the Netherlands and Flanders

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Netherlands and Flanders introduced a risk-based approach to flood risk management (FRM), labelled as multi-layer (water) safety. In contrast to a flood defence approach, risk-based management stresses the need to manage both the consequences and probability of a flood. The concept has developed differently in the two countries, as we conclude from a discursive-institutionalist research perspective. The Netherlands is characterised by a high institutionalization of the traditional flood defence discourse and a more closed policy arrangement, whereas in Flanders, the flood defence discourse is less institutionalized and the arrangement is more open. In both countries we see an opening of the arrangement preceding the establishment of multi-layer (water) safety, but at the same time, actors stress different aspects of the concept in order to increase its compatibility with the existing policy arrangement. In the Netherlands, the focus is on probability management, in Flanders on consequence management. In the Netherlands, multi-layer (water) safety as a concept could be established because it stabilises the system in the short-term by reinforcing the importance of flood defence, whereas in Flanders, policymakers were receptive to the concept because it supports a shift of responsibility towards actors outside traditional water management.     

水资源资产量核算研究综述

为了完善水资源资产负债表的编制以及提高水资源资产化管理水平,从水资源资产概念界定及其分类、水资源循环对水资源资产的影响、水资源资产账户与资产量核算方法 3个方面概述了国内外对水资源资产的研究进展、成果和方法。认为目前水资源资产的研究仍处于起步阶段,以概念探讨和定性分析为主;对水资源循环理论研究较多,对水资源资产的循环过程研究较少;对水资源资产量核算的研究主要集中在水资产账户方面,且系统性的研究较少。未来对水资源资产核算的研究应重点关注:水资源资产循环理论研究、潜在水资源资产量核算方法研究、区域水资源资产量核算方法研究等领域。     

Natural and anthropogenic influences on the year-round temperature dynamics of air and water in Postojna show cave,Slovenia

Air and groundwater temperatures were measured in a rimstone pool in Postojna Cave, to advise evaluation of the impact of natural and anthropogenic influences related to heat being initially transmitted into cave air by visitors. Such heat can accumulate both in the rock mass and in water. Results show that attention must be paid to temperature changes of rimstone pool water rather than those of cave air, especially during the winter. Thanks to good ventilation deep inside the cave, short-term air temperature increases related to higher visitor numbers have not influenced flowstone precipitation or the cave fauna. However, this situation might change if winter visitor numbers increased greatly. This study does not support a suggested increase in winter visits (currently the tourism low-season) and reduction of summer visits (currently the tourism high-season).     

干旱区绿洲全要素农业水资源利用效率时空分异研究——以新疆为例

选取2004—2014年新疆14个地州市际面板数据,基于投入导向的超效率DEA模型,依托共同前沿理论方法,采用全要素水资源效率测度思路,对新疆地州市以及分区域农业水资源利用效率进行测度,并对其开展时空分异研究。研究结果表明,新疆地州市农业水资源利用效率呈现不断增长趋势,三大区域农业水资源利用效率呈现出北疆、东疆及南疆依次递减规律;南疆主要地区、乌鲁木齐市与阿勒泰地区农业用水处于无效率状态,伊犁州直属县(市)、博尔塔拉自治州农业用水处于低效率状态,克拉玛依市、昌吉回族自治州、塔城地区、巴音郭勒自治州、和田地区、吐鲁番地区等农业用水处于高效率状态。     

水资源会计制度在秦巴山区的实现研究

自然资产负债表是自然资源管理研究的一个新方向,水资源会计是自然资产负债表的一个重要范围,水资源会计是从资产负债表的角度来分析和统计水资源。研究对水资源会计在国内外研究发展进行了回顾,分析了在中国开展水资源会计理论与应用研究的必要性。研究进一步对水资源会计的理论构架从会计目标、会计主题和会计理论等进行了探讨,明确了水资源会计容易混淆的概念。结合秦巴山区的情况,提出在秦巴山区实现水资源会计的具体步骤。     

巷道快速掘进技术在贵州省煤与瓦斯突出煤层中的探讨与应用

巷道快速掘进技术是一项系统工程。为了实现矿井高产高效,必须以巷道快速掘进技术为前提和保障。本文以贵州省为例,探讨了巷道快速掘进技术的研究现状及影响因素。针对贵州某矿突出综合检测指标经常超限、掘进速度慢等问题,采用了高压水射流割缝与瓦斯抽放边抽边掘相结合技术。研究表明:该项技术能有效削弱煤层突出危险性,大幅度提高瓦斯抽放量且巷道掘进速度提高了2~3倍。同时根据贵州省的本土情况,提出了针对性地建议和措施,能为巷道快速掘进技术的推广与应用提供一定的指导。     

水锁作用对煤体瓦斯涌出影响的研究与发展

矿井工作面瓦斯超限严重影响着矿井安全生产和生产效率,现用解决该问题的方法存在局限性,不能广泛适用于所有矿井。针对该问题,采用水及含添加剂水阻碍和延缓煤体内瓦斯解吸速度,以达到降低工作面瓦斯涌出量的目的。本文通过对其抑制原理相关研究的介绍,为同类工作面瓦斯超限治理提供基础理论依据。