农户对农业农村信息化认知的影响因素分析——基于甘肃地区农户的样本调查

当代农业信息在推动农村经济发展、增加农民收入方面发挥着越来越重要的作用.农户是农业信息消费与需求的重要主体之一,他们对信息化的认知对农业农村信息化建设工作具有重要影响.在对甘肃地区农户样本调查数据进行多重线性回归分析的基础上,得出农户人均收入水平、耕地面积、农田水利条件等因素对农户认知农业农村信息化有重要的促进作用,提出了相关对策和建议.     

农村劳动力转移对经济增长真实贡献研究基于机会成本视角下甘肃省的分析

农村劳动力转移对区域经济的贡献毋庸置疑,但劳动力转移带来的机会成本往往被忽视,因此在农村劳动力转移的机会成本视角下探究其对经济增长的真实贡献是十分必要的。分析了2003—2012年甘肃省农村劳动力资源及其转移变化状况。通过回归分析表明,农村劳动力转移机会成本每增加1%,对甘肃省GDP和农业总产值的贡献率分别为0.668%、-0.323%,得到真实贡献率为0.345%,农村转移劳动力收入实际变化不大。基于分析结果,提出了有利于甘肃省农村劳动力增收的对策建议。     

中国农村劳动力转移对经济增长的真实贡献研究——基于机会成本视角下分析

农村劳动力转移是城市化发展的必然趋势,也是促进我国经济增长的推动力之一。农民在放弃农业生产转移至城市务工的同时,必然使农村劳动力转移产生机会成本,导致农村劳动力转移的实际收入较少、城乡居民收入差距扩大。因此,在农村劳动力转移的机会成本视角下,探究农村劳动力转移对经济增长的真实贡献是十分必要的。分析了我国农村劳动力资源及转移状况,在机会成本下通过农村劳动力转移的机会成本对第二、三产业总产值和第一产业总产值进行回归分析,得到机会成本每增加1%,其贡献率分别为0.716%、0.870%。在考虑三大产业对GDP贡献率的前提下,得出劳动力转移对我国GDP的真实贡献率为0.638%。在农村劳动力转移背景下,城乡收入差距在进一步扩大。基于此,提出了农村劳动力转移有利于城市和农村经济共同发展的对策建议。     

川中丘陵地区农业经济增长影响因素分析

选取川中丘陵地区6市41个县(市、区)的农林牧渔业总产值、乡村从业人员、年末实有耕地面积、农业机械总动力、化肥施用量和农村用电量6个统计指标,利用柯布—道格拉斯生产函数模型,运用计量分析软件Eviews 6.0对模型进行计算,分析影响该农业经济增长的主要因素。结果表明,该地区农业经济增长的影响因素主要来自土地投入、固定资本投入和流动资本投入。针对研究结果,提出了促进川中丘陵地区农业经济增长的对策。     

工业化与信息化互动对经济增长的影响——基于吉林省的实证分析

采用主成分分析方法测度工业化、信息化发展水平指数,运用线性滞后分布回归模型和多变量协整模型分析工业化与信息化的互动关系以及工业化、信息化对经济增长的影响.以吉林省为例,选取该省1984-2011年的相关数据整理分析后得出以下结论:吉林省工业化、信息化水平呈上升趋势,但工业化、信息化协调发展不够;工业化和信息化联系密切,工业化对信息化的促进作用大于信息化对工业化的促进作用.从长期看,工业化、信息化发展对经济发展有促进作用,且工业化对经济发展的促进作用远远大于信息化的作用.     

双创视角下数字普惠金融对农业经济韧性的影响研究——兼议传统金融竞争的门槛效应

数字普惠金融为农业经济韧性水平提升指明新的方向,对保障农业现代化、实现乡村振兴具有重要意义。基于2011—2021年中国31个省份面板数据,构建农业经济韧性综合水平指数,利用面板回归模型,探究数字普惠金融对农业经济韧性的影响及作用机制。结果表明:数字普惠金融能显著增强农业经济韧性;分维度看,覆盖广度对农业经济韧性的促进作用最大,使用深度次之,数字化程度最小;分区域看,数字普惠金融对东部地区农业经济韧性的推动作用优于中西部地区;数字普惠金融能通过促进农村创新、创业提升农业经济韧性水平;传统金融竞争在数字普惠金融促进农业经济韧性水平提升中存在门槛作用,传统金融竞争越激烈,对农业经济韧性水平的提升作用越强。未来应大力发展数字普惠金融,因地制宜协调数字普惠金融发展,提高农村地区创新、创业活力,引导传统金融良性竞争。     

云南省农业产业结构变动对农业经济增长的影响分析

运用灰色关联法对云南省1994—2014年农业产业结构的变化和趋势做了定量分析,测算了云南省农业产业结构变动对农业经济增长的贡献。研究结果表明:产业结构调整对农业经济增长有重要影响;种植业是推动云南省农业经济增长的主导力量,在农业经济发展中拉动率较大,起支柱作用;牧业拉动率仅次于种植业;林业、渔业对农业经济增长相对较小;云南省农业产业结构的优化水平在很大程度上依赖于种植业的发展;农业结构调整形成由种植业中粮食作物的持续稳定生产为主,经济作物和其他作物协调发展为辅的态势,云南省农业产业结构的变动与优化对农业经济发展起到助推作用。     

农业污染对土壤的危害及防治措施

伴随着我国经济的高速增长,环境问题也日益突出,特别是环境污染和生态破坏日益严重。城市环境问题日益得到重视,而农村的环境保护与治理相对来说是一个薄弱环节,农村环境也正日趋恶化。农村环境污染的加剧和农业生态环境的破坏,已成为制约我国农村经济健康发展的因素之一,农业减排势在必行。结合农村实际情况,本文从环境保护的角度阐述了农业生产过程中几种典型(农药、化肥、农作物秸秆)的污染及其对农田土壤造成的危害,同时针对化肥污染和农业污染提出了防治措施。     

湛江市农村居民点用地面积变化及驱动力分析

利用湛江市1996—2005年农村居民点用地面积数据及相关社会经济数据,在分析农村居民点用地面积变化的基础上,采用主成分分析法对其进行了驱动力分析。结果表明,近十年来湛江市农村居民点用地总面积呈逐年上升的趋势,而农村居民点人均用地面积总体呈减少趋势。湛江市农村居民点用地面积增加主要集中在徐闻、吴川和市区。湛江市农村居民点用地面积变化主要受农村人口增长、农村经济发展、农业结构调整、农村交通发展和乡镇企业发展等因素的影响。     

人力和物质资本对农业经济增长的空间差异

为探索人力、物质两大资本对我国农业经济增长的作用差异,采用我国31个省份2001—2019年的数据实证分析了我国农业经济增长对两大资本的产出弹性。结果表明:人力、物质两大资本对农业经济的增长均具有显著促进作用,且人力资本作用更大。在差异性方面,东部地区、农业经济发展中等水平的地区受物质资本影响显著;中部地区、农业经济高水平的地区两大资本对农业经济均有显著促进作用,且人力资本作用更强;西部地区、农业发展低水平的地区两大资本对农业经济作用不显著,农业经济增长由物质资本驱动向人力资本驱动转变。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

MANGANESE CYCLE IN IMPOUNDMENT WATER

Manganese entering impounded water will undergo a cyclic transformation. Oxidation precipitates manganese from top waters. At the bottom of the lake, biological activity will render manganese soluble by both intracellular as well as extracellular activity. The study was made to demonstrate that biological reduction and transformation, organometallic complexation, together with the presence of carbon dioxide and the lowering of pH all have some effect on the solubility of manganese. Dissolved manganese may be brought back to top waters during the lake overturn and therefore deteriorates the water quality.     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.