The Seveso Directive: An Italian Pilot Study in Enabling Communication

In 1982 the Council of the European Communities issued a Directive on the Major Accident Hazards of Certain Industrial Activities, commonly known as the Seveso Directive. Besides other requirements, the Directive specifies that members of the public liable to be affected by a major accident from certain industrial activities must be informed of safety measures and how they should behave in the event of an accident. The Directive was subsequently amended in an extensive way. Upon the transposition of the Seveso Directive and its amendments into national legislations, the 12 European Member States are faced with the task of "appropriately and effectively" informing the public about major accident hazards. Delays are observed throughout the community, both in transposing the Directives and implementing public information. A pilot study on "Risk Information Needs" was commissioned and carried out at two Seveso sites in Italy in order to begin to resolve some of the problems involved in the provision of public information and to suggest appropriate guidelines. One hundred subjects answered an experimental protocol designed to assess their "information needs." This article presents the theoretical background, the pragmatic aims, and the design of the study. It also summarizes its most relevant findings and suggests some recommendations for the provision of information to the public.     

图书馆与非正式交流过程信息资源建设

在网络环境下,将非正式交流渠道信息纳入图书馆馆藏建设体系对科学交流和图书馆而言是一个双赢的过程。图书馆应将会议相关信息与预印本服务系统等非正式交流过程信息资源纳入其资源建设范畴。     

Communicating future water needs to an at-risk population: lessons learned following defeat of the Applewhite Dam and Reservoir Project in San Antonio,Texas

San Antonio, Texas, the seventh largest city in the United States, has experienced steady population growth, since the “boom” of the 1960s. Projected water shortages due to this growth were realized as early as the 1970s by city leaders and south-central Texas regional development decision makers. To reduce dependence on the already over-taxed, Edwards aquifer, a solution, the Applewhite Dam and Reservoir Project, was developed with wide acceptance by federal, state, and city leaders who regarded the project as a necessary measure for regional growth and development. However, opposition by taxpayer and environmental groups led to referendums of 1991 and 1994 in which voters blocked construction of the dam and reservoir leaving the city with limited options for water provision. This case study investigated the factors which led to a clear mismatch in communication between decision makers—those who were aware of the actual and quantifiable risk to the region in terms of reduced water supplies—and the general public, a population that did not have complete and/or adequate knowledge of their actual risk regarding future water shortages, nor, of solutions being developed, such as the Applewhite project. The findings from this case study indicate that when municipal leadership fails to adequately communicate risk regarding resource shortage to an affected public, as well as, openly planned solutions, that voters are likely to underestimate future impacts of water shortages, heed last-minute opposition, and reject long-standing, publicly proposed projects. The intent of this research is not to support either side in the Applewhite controversy, but to shed perspective on the process of adequately and effectively communicating future water needs to an at-risk population. Decision makers in cities across the United States who are faced with solving problems of limited resources needed by a large populace may be informed by the results of this research.     

南京市自主创新能力的现状分析

运用企业自主创新能力的评价指标体系,对南京市自主创新能力水平进行纵向和横向比较,可以比较好地把握其自主创新能力的现状。通过对南京市近四年自主创新能力指标的纵向比较,不难发现除了自主创新环境之外,南京市的自主创新资源、自主创新活动以及自主创新产出能力均有较大幅度的增长;通过将南京市与三大科技竞争力较强的城市自主创新能力指标进行横向比较,指出了南京市在自主创新能力上存在的突出问题。一是工业增加值率过低,二是研发经费过低。并在此基础上提出一系列对策和建议。对于提高南京自主创新能力水平,无疑具有重大的理论意义和现实意义。     

网络动态海报《随传随到》的多模态话语分析

作为数字传播时代的新兴产物,动态海报具有画面表现力强、传递信息量大、受众参与度高等特征,已广泛应用于网络广告领域。研究基于多模态话语分析综合理论框架,辅之以视觉语法理论,解析网络动态海报《随传随到》运用多模态符号资源实现的积极广告传播效果。研究发现：文化层面,意识形态是理解动态海报和实现广告传播效果的必要前提;语境层面,语境因素是动态海报产生特征和积极广告传播效果的动因;内容层面,广告传播效果取决于多模态资源在意义构建中的运用;表达层面,GIF格式文件为动态海报达到积极广告传播效果提供了技术支持。研究结合广告学知识探索了多模态话语分析在网络动态海报中的应用,旨在为动态海报的广告传播效果提供语言学解释。     

加强民办高校大学生抗挫折能力的培养

本文分析民办高校大学生挫折感产生的原因,探寻提高民办高校大学生抗挫折能力培养的有效途径。     

新课程标准下的音乐教师从教能力结构探析

本文以新的课程标准为基础,并以全新的理念、全新的思维、全新的方式对音乐教师的从教能力进行全新的解读。     

Palliative care patients' experiences of healthcare treatment

Kennett C, Payne M. Palliative care patients' experiences of healthcare treatment Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 262–271 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article reports on a thematic analysis of the opinions of 34 palliative care patients about medical and healthcare treatment expressed in comments, narratives and discussions during a series of facilitated group discussions undertaken as part of training events for medical students. Palliative care patients often have long healthcare careers, which enables them to compare different professionals and services, thus offering a more powerful and complex analysis of patient experience than that obtainable from analysis of complaints or satisfaction surveys, and permits some understanding to be obtained of the attitudes that condition evaluations of services. The patients balanced negative views with positive experiences. They appreciated open, listening, equal and friendly relationships with professionals in which careful explanation fostered their confidence in the overall service. They criticised inflexible services that did not consider their broad needs, and in which relationships with professionals were characterised by busy‐ness and professional distance.     

适应新形势，实现新要求——合肥工业大学非英语专业博士生英语教改与实践

针对合肥工业大学非英语专业博士生教学时数大幅度减少的现状,提出博士生英语教学应以国际学术交流英语为中心,并展开博士生英语教学改革尝试及实效性研究,以期促进博士生使用英语进行国际学术交流,从而实现其科研创新能力不断提升的教学基本目标。     

北宋书序作者所选择的传播因素分析

书序具有重要的传播作用,以北宋诗文集序为对象考察,书序作者在选择推动传播的因素时,对作品艺术性、知识性等文本因素的关注不如对作家身份、生平轶事等非文本因素普遍。其中原因,从书序作者的操作层面来看,是因为在书序中进行文艺批评是很难把握的;从面对读者的传播效果层面来分析,是因为非文本因素较之文本相关的评论因素可以产生显著的传播效果。于是,非文本因素在文学传播中变成了一位无形的操纵者,虽然它不是长远的传播之道,但却常常起着奇妙的传播作用,从而给书序这一文体增加活力。