INTRODUCTION

This is the introduction to the content of the jounrnal\u27s special issue (vol. 4 no. 1 / January 2013) celebrating the tenth anniversary of the International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (ISCWP), which includes five peer-reviewed articles by ISCWP members

Spatio-temporal co-occurrence of alien and native molluscs : a modelling approach using physical-chemical predictors

The invasion of alien species can have serious economic and ecological impacts. Ecologically, invasions often lead to an increased rate of native species replacement and decreased biodiversity. A critical step in the dominance of alien species is their successful co-occurrence with native species. In this study, we assessed the occurrence of alien molluscs and their co-occurrence with native molluscs and identified the determining physical-chemical variables. We expected that a combination of some key variables of water quality could provide suitable conditions promoting alien molluscs to occur and to co-occur with native molluscs. The analyses were based on 20-year data, collected from river systems across Flanders (Belgium). Classification Trees (CTs) were used to perform the analyses and to develop the predictive models. Based on CT models, the co-occurrence of alien and native molluscs could be reliably predicted based on physical-chemical variables. However, there was insufficient data to determine the environmental conditions in which alien taxa dominate. From the past to the present, spatial co-occurrence significantly increased. Sinuosity, ammonium and nitrate concentrations, chemical oxygen demand, pH and conductivity were the key determining variables. Our findings suggest that the co-occurrence of alien and native molluscs mainly occurs in straight rivers with good chemical water quality. These results provide insights into the ecology and behaviour of alien species which could support management practices and priority setting for conservation planning in surface waters of Flanders and Europe

Management Reflections in Relation to Enterprise Wide Systems

The use of enterprise wide system (EWS) packages is growing rapidly, as is the list of questions being raised about these packages. This paper looks at the issues raised in some of these questions and suggests that they are really special examples of management issues discussed by theorists from at least the early 1960s. The broader implication drawn is that it would be profitable to see the use of EWS technology as a management strategy

Fertility or Unemployment - Should You Have to Choose

This article will address the legal issues involved in establishing an equitable balance between women\u27s rights to equal employment opportunities and the right of future generations to be free from disease caused by parental exposures to hazardous chemical work environments. In the author\u27s opinion the present regulatory framework provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is inadequate to provide the requisite degree of protection to employees and, particularly, to their offspring. Part II of the article will examine some of the available scientific and medical data regarding the reproductive effects of a few of the most commonly used industrial chemicals. In Part III the statutory scheme provided by the OSHAct, TSCA and Title VII will be analyzed. As stated above, the discussion will reveal that these statutes do not adequately answer the thorny problem of reproductive fetal health protection from the damaging effects of toxic substances. The primary reason for this inadequacy is that the statutes were never designed nor intended to deal with the health problems facing future generations of American workers, but rather, specifically focus on the present generation of employees. Part IV of the article presents a statutory proposal in the form of an amendment to the OSHAct aimed at accommodating the societal needs for fetal protection, without weakening the mandate of equal employment rights legislation. The proposed statute is designed to address the scientific reality that both women\u27s and men\u27s reproductive systems might be adversely affected by certain toxic chemicals. Therefore, both classes of employees should be legally protected from exposure to hazardous work environment by designating nondiscriminatory standards designed to best achieve this goal. Additionally, guidelines will be recommended for use by the courts to scrutinize employer\u27s defenses regarding the establishment of exclusionary policies

Fertility or Unemployment - Should You Have to Choose

This article will address the legal issues involved in establishing an equitable balance between women\u27s rights to equal employment opportunities and the right of future generations to be free from disease caused by parental exposures to hazardous chemical work environments. In the author\u27s opinion the present regulatory framework provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is inadequate to provide the requisite degree of protection to employees and, particularly, to their offspring. Part II of the article will examine some of the available scientific and medical data regarding the reproductive effects of a few of the most commonly used industrial chemicals. In Part III the statutory scheme provided by the OSHAct, TSCA and Title VII will be analyzed. As stated above, the discussion will reveal that these statutes do not adequately answer the thorny problem of reproductive fetal health protection from the damaging effects of toxic substances. The primary reason for this inadequacy is that the statutes were never designed nor intended to deal with the health problems facing future generations of American workers, but rather, specifically focus on the present generation of employees. Part IV of the article presents a statutory proposal in the form of an amendment to the OSHAct aimed at accommodating the societal needs for fetal protection, without weakening the mandate of equal employment rights legislation. The proposed statute is designed to address the scientific reality that both women\u27s and men\u27s reproductive systems might be adversely affected by certain toxic chemicals. Therefore, both classes of employees should be legally protected from exposure to hazardous work environment by designating nondiscriminatory standards designed to best achieve this goal. Additionally, guidelines will be recommended for use by the courts to scrutinize employer\u27s defenses regarding the establishment of exclusionary policies

Approach of a technology of clean production for gold beneficiation process without mercury

Se plantea el uso de una tecnología limpia en el proceso de beneficio de oro con la correspondiente reducción o eliminación de mercurio, la cual consiste en intervenir eficazmente los procesos de separación, trituración, molienda, lavado y/o concentración, cianuración, fundición y otras operaciones a que se somete el material extraído, para reducir principalmente el alto consumo de sustancias tóxicas como el mercurio.It is set out the use of a clean technology in the gold beneficiation process with its own mercury reduction or elimination, through making the different stages (separation, crushing, grinding, washing and or concentration, cyaniding and melting) more efficient to reduce the high intake of toxic substances such as mercury