欠发达地区县域经济可持续发展障碍与对策--以云南省凤庆县为例

通过对区位优势不明显,社会、经济和文化落后,但资源丰富的典型的欠发达县域凤庆县的实证研究,从思想观念、所有制结构、产业结构、基础建设、社会文化和经济,以及生态环境和农业基础等方面剖析了凤庆县经济不可持续发展的主要症结及原因,提出了该县经济可持续发展的总体思路,并作了对策探讨.     

县域经济发展失衡预警指标体系设计及预警评判标准界定

改革开放以来,中国县域经济取得了举世瞩目的成就,但各县域之间经济发展差距较大,落后县与先进县的差距有进一步拉大的趋势,县域经济发展存在很大的不平衡性,而发展失衡容易引发地区性社会风险.从经济规模、经济结构、社会民生和资源环境4个方面构建了由23个具体指标构成的县域经济发展失衡预警指标体系,在进行预警指标设计时重点关注了那些具有较强警戒作用的敏感性指标.此外,采用世界通行标准法和国内外文献综述法等多种方法界定了各预警指标的预警评判标准,为县域经济发展失衡程度的评判和预警提供了依据.     

山西省县域经济发展影响因素的空间异质性研究——基于地理加权回归(GWR)模型

县域经济是国民经济的基石,在整个国民经济体系中占有重要地位。山西省作为我国重要的能源重化工基地,分析其县域经济发展影响因素具有重要意义,然而不同县域经济发展影响因素存在较大的空间异质性。采用地理加权回归(GWR)模型,对山西省107个县域单元进行分析,结果表明山西省不同县域经济发展影响因素存在较大差别,为山西省县域经济发展提出针对性的政策建议提供依据,对其县域经济统筹发展具有重要意义。     

重庆市县域经济差异时空格局演化研究CSSCI

通过空间数据探索分析和传统统计分析相结合的方法,以县域为研究单元,探索分析了2004—2013年重庆市县域经济差异的时空格局演化。结果表明:1重庆市县域经济差异总体呈"抛物线"型变化,其中"1小时经济圈"的县域间经济差异和三大区域间的经济差异较大,渝东北翼、渝东南翼县域间经济差异较小;2县域经济发展水平的空间极化趋势明显,经济水平相似县域在空间上集聚,"1小时经济圈"的主城县域始终是经济发展高值聚类和热点区的核心地域,经济发展低值聚类和冷点区的县域在渝东北翼及渝东南翼集聚;3县域经济增长呈明显的空间极化现象,经济增长高值聚类和热点区县域在重庆主城区集聚,三大区域间经济增长不均衡。针对重庆市县域经济差异时空格局演化的结论及重庆城乡统筹区域一体化发展的要求提出了发展建议。     

重庆市县域经济差异时空格局演化研究

通过空间数据探索分析和传统统计分析相结合的方法,以县域为研究单元,探索分析了2004—2013年重庆市县域经济差异的时空格局演化。结果表明:1重庆市县域经济差异总体呈"抛物线"型变化,其中"1小时经济圈"的县域间经济差异和三大区域间的经济差异较大,渝东北翼、渝东南翼县域间经济差异较小;2县域经济发展水平的空间极化趋势明显,经济水平相似县域在空间上集聚,"1小时经济圈"的主城县域始终是经济发展高值聚类和热点区的核心地域,经济发展低值聚类和冷点区的县域在渝东北翼及渝东南翼集聚;3县域经济增长呈明显的空间极化现象,经济增长高值聚类和热点区县域在重庆主城区集聚,三大区域间经济增长不均衡。针对重庆市县域经济差异时空格局演化的结论及重庆城乡统筹区域一体化发展的要求提出了发展建议。     

陕西旅游资源富集县县域经济发展模式研究——以华阴市为例

陕西省作为我国的旅游资源大省,通过着力发展比较优势明显的旅游产业来促进县域经济发展本是大势所趋,但目前旅游业与工农业发展的孤立性又是约束县域经济发展的一道"紧箍咒",如何在旅游大发展的背景下实现旅游产业与县域经济的互动发展具有极为重要的理论与实证意义.通过分析华阴市2002--2009年旅游产业对县域经济的贡献能力,切实考虑当前该市县域经济发展中存在的主要问题,从旅游产业的视角出发,归纳出陕西旅游资源丰富地区县域经济发展的模式,以期为陕西省县域经济的发展提供对策和建议.     

县域经济在城市化中的作用及发展思路--以山东省为例

论述了县域经济与中国城市化进程之间的关联性以及加快发展县域经济以促进城市化进程的重要性.以山东省为案例,论证了中国今后要加速城市化进程,其关键之举是着力发展县域经济.     

中国县域人口就业与经济增长动态关系的实证研究——基于面板VAR模型的估计

就业问题在我国国民经济中占有非常重要的位置,是各级政府关注的焦点之一,也是维护社会和谐与稳定的关键措施之一。西方经济学者普遍认为经济增长是解决失业问题的最有效途径之一,而中国高速经济增长的同时还伴随着失业率的上升。基于2001—2011年中国1988个县的县域GDP和就业劳动力数量的面板数据构建了PVAR模型,并在此基础上进行了脉冲响应函数和方差分解分析,以考察县域经济与就业两者之间的动态关系。实证结果表明,县域经济增长并不能带动县域就业的增加;相反,县域经济增长对劳动力就业有微弱的抑制作用。从要素贡献角度看,就业劳动力是经济增长的因素之一,但对县域经济增长的作用较微弱。     

关于推进广西县域生态环境保护工作的思考

县域经济是国民经济的基本单元,推进县域生态环境保护工作是发展县域经济的战略要点之一,是落实“五位一体”总体布局的具体体现。从生态产业发展、生态系统修复、生态环境治理以及生态文化培育等方面,分析广西在推进县域生态环境保护工作过程中面临的困难,提出发展生态产业、助力县域经济,重视生态系统修复、保持生态功能,坚持污染防治、改善生态环境,创新生态文化、促进传承与发展等相关举措,为县域经济社会高质量发展闯出新路子提供生态环境保障。     

烟台地区县域经济发展与城乡统筹

县域经济是烟台地区经济的主体,对增加农民收入、缩小城乡差距、推进城乡社会经济的统筹与协调发展发挥了重要作用.从分析烟台地区城乡收入差距现状及其变化特点入手,利用SPSS11.0统计分析软件,通过多元回归分析,探讨了城乡差异与县域经济发展、城市化水平、工业化程度等诸因素间的关系.结果表明,在影响城乡差距的诸多因素中,县域经济的作用是最为直接和明显的.最后,就发展县域经济、缩小城乡差别,实现城乡统筹、协调发展的对策进行了深入探讨.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.     

Bioremediation of Soils by Plant–Microbe Systems

Abstract

Sustainable ecosystems can be designed to eliminate environmental toxins and reduce pathogen loads through the direct and indirect consequences of plant and microbial activities. We present an approach to the bioremediation of disturbed environments, focusing on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminants. Treatment consists of incorporating a plant-based amendment to enhance ecosystem productivity and physiochemical degradation followed by the establishment of plants to serve as oxidizers and foundations for microbial communities. Promising amendments for widespread use are entire plants of the water fern Azolla and seed meal of Brassica napus (rapeseed). An inexpensive byproduct from the manufacture of biodiesel and lubricants, rapeseed meal is high in nitrogen (6% wt/wt), stimulates >100-fold increases in populations of resident Streptomyces species, and suppresses fungal infection of roots subsequently cultivated in the amended soil. Synergistic enzymatic and chemical activities of plant and microbial metabolism in root zones transform and degrade soil contaminants. Emphasis is given to mechanisms that enable PHC functionalization via reactive molecular species.     

National minerals policies and stakeholder participation for broad-based development in the southern African development community (SADC)

This paper explains how the well-accepted concept of improved stakeholder participation during mineral policy development leads to a national mineral policy that accommodates the diverging views and interests that allows wide acceptance of decisions, enhancing the success of implementation and, ultimately, national benefits. This process is based on lessons learnt during the South African experience and has been successfully applied in the development of the Namibian and Malawian national minerals policies. An effective policy in the SADC will engineer the delicate balance between poverty reduction and an internationally competitive minerals sector. This balance enhances the possibility of long-term economic growth and development in the SADC region. The overriding advantage of this strategy is that it generates ‘home-grown’ policy instruments and implementation of mineral law with which stakeholders can identify. This process presents a new challenge to traditional policy formulation strategies in emerging economies and the bottom-up approach, linked to wide political support, allows the potential realisation of national objectives.     

Energetics and environmental costs of agriculture in a dry tropical region of India

The present article, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Agronomic yield is insufficient to meet the food requirement of the human population, hence 11.5%–49.7% of the required amount of food grains are imported from the market. Energy requirements of five studied agroecosystems are subsidized considerably by the surrounding forest in the form of fodder and firewood. Natural ecosystems supply about 80%–95% of fodder needs and 81%–100% of fuelwood needs. The output-input ratio of agriculture indicated that, on average, 4.1 units of energy are expended to obtain one unit of agronomic energy. Of this, 3.9 units are supplied by the natural ecosystem. In addition, 38% of the extracted firewood is marketed. The illegal felling and lopping of trees result in ever-increasing concentric circles of forest destruction around the villages and together with excessive grazing results in savannization. The forests can be conserved by encouraging fuelwood plantations (0.7 ha/ha cultivated land) and developing village pastures (1.6 ha/ha cultivated land) and reducing the livestock numbers. Agricultural production in the region can be stabilized by introducing improved dry farming techniques such as intercropping, planned rainwater management, and adequate use of fertilizers.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.