基于微观尺度的城市建设用地集约利用评价——以西宁市为例

以西宁市市区2008年建设用地数据为依据,选择居住用地、商业用地和工业用地的典型宗地,运用综合评价法测算出各类型宗地的土地利用集约度.从整体上看,西宁市工业用地集约利用水平最高,居住用地次之,商业用地集约利用水平最低.     

西宁市开发区土地集约利用水平的评价与对比

开发区作为城市经济发展的核心地区,其对土地的利用效率直接影响着城市经济可持续发展,通过提高开发区土地集约利用水平,可以有效改善开发区用地结构,从而缓解城市土地供需矛盾,促进地区经济社会发展。文章就西宁市辖区内四个开发区为研究对象,采用层次分析法,从土地利用状况、用地效益和管理绩效三个方面构建评价指标体系,对四个开发区土地集约利用水平进行评价和横向对比分析。通过对比分析发现,西宁市辖区四个开发区在土地利用中存在不同程度的问题,针对这些问题,提出了改善土地集约利用水平的政策建议。     

彭州市建设用地集约利用评价

采用主成分分析法,从彭州市土地利用现状出发,对彭州市2004—2007年的建设用地进行了集约利用评价,包括定量分析与集约度水平变化分析,得出了彭州市建设用地集约度较高,集约利用程度从2004年的较适度利用变为2007年的集约利用的结论,并提出相关建议。     

重庆市都市区城市土地集约利用评价

从土地投入强度、土地利用效益、土地利用强度和土地利用可持续性方面构建了城市土地集约利用宏观评价指标体系.采用多因素综合评价法对重庆市都市区建设用地集约利用水平进行了评价,并根据土地利用集约度差异对其进行了聚类分析,指出土地利用投入强度、产出效益水平仍需进一步提高,揭示了城市土地集约利用程度与经济发展之间存在明显的相关性,针对性地提出了相关对策.     

淮北市土地集约利用研究

随着"中部崛起"战略的实施,淮北市必然加快发展的步伐,占用土地是不可避免的事实,土地供需矛盾更加突出.在对淮北市土地集约水平和土地集约利用潜力及影响土地集约利用因素分析的基础上,提出了集约用地的对策措施.通过这些对策措施,以期实现淮北市土地资源的合理有效配置,提高土地利用效率,使有限的土地资源供给能够满足经济社会持续发展的需要.     

建设用地集约利用空间差异研究

土地的集约利用对社会发展具有重要的意义，研究土地集约利用空间差异可以更有效地提高土地利用水平。根据新一轮土地利用规划大纲要求和各区域土地利用实际，建立土地集约利用评价指标体系，确定土地集约利用评价的计算方法，包括数据的量化、标准化及综合计算模型，最后得出各地区土地集约利用程度。运用上述方法对孝感市建设用地集约利用空间差异进行分析，找出了其土地利用方面的问题和优势，为下一步改造提供依据和方向。     

城市土地集约利用潜力的分类与分阶

研究城市土地集约利用潜力的类别与阶次细分,为城市土地集约利用挖潜的具体步骤提供宏观导向。研究结果表明,按照潜力的属性,应将城市土地集约利用潜力分为面积潜力、经济潜力;在时间尺度上,按挖潜程度的难易,城市土地集约利用潜力可分为一阶、二阶、三阶、四阶。城市土地集约利用潜力评价应将潜力测算的结果进行分类分阶,这样才能使城市土地集约挖潜工作落到实处,可操作性更强。     

基于GIS的泗县开发区土地集约利用评价研究

以安徽省泗县开发区为例,从土地利用状况、用地效益、管理绩效和可持续发展状况4个方面构建开发区土地集约利用评价指标体系,运用GIS技术、特尔斐法,选择评价模型确定权重后对泗县开发区进行土地集约利用评价,研究泗县开发区土地集约利用状况.结果显示,泗县开发区土地集约利用总体水平为中等集约利用,土地利用状况和用地效益度方面存在着一定问题.基于反映的问题,提出相应的措施.     

开发区土地集约利用评价——以辽宁炮台经济开发区为例

综合调查分析大连市炮台开发区土地集约利用现状，建立土地集约利用评价指标体系，利用特尔斐法确定指标权重，进而计算土地集约利用度，并分别从扩展潜力、结构潜力、强度潜力、管理潜力四个方面计算土地集约利用强度。综合分析土地集约利用度与土地集约利用潜力强度计算结果表明，炮台开发区土地集约度分值达到86．16％，土地集约利用水平较高，土地利用强度潜力较小。未来土地利用潜力主要为扩展潜力，不存在管理潜力，从而对炮台开发区未来发展土地集约利用提出相应建议与措施。     

城市土地集约利用与土地供需关系研究

用地供需矛盾在我国社会经济快速发展时代是一个突出的问题。伴随土地集约利用概念的提出,城市土地的节约集约利用成为化解建设用地供需矛盾的主要手段。但是由于土地的供给与需求影响因素较多,而且相互之间交错关联,有必要将土地供需与土地集约利用作为一个系统来考虑。在充分考虑各要素之间的局部关系与系统整体功能关系的基础上,构建了土地供需与集约用地的模拟系统。分析发现,城市建设用地的供给量由城市土地储备量、城市建设用地供需差、城市总体节约度共同决定。建设用地供给量在土地储备足够的情况下是由建设用地供需差决定的,并与城市总体集约度呈现抛物线关系。通过分析验证,该结果可为土地主管部门制定供地计划提供科学依据。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

A DISTRIBUTED DYNAMIC WATERSHED MODEL1

ABSTRACT: A distributed watershed model was developed to mathematically simulate overland and channel flow for a single-event storm. The modeled watersheds in the study were subdivided into rectangular grid elements. All hydrologically significant parameters, such as land slope, rainfall and precipitation excess, were assumed to be uniform within each element. The Green-Ampt method was adopted to generate precipitation excess for each element during the simulation period. A two-dimensional diffusion wave model was used for overland flow routing and an iterative Alternative Direction Implicit scheme was used to solve the simultaneous overland flow equations. Once the overland flow became inflow to the channel, a one-dimensional dynamic wave flood routing technique, based on a four-point, implicit, non-linear finite difference solution of the St. Venant equation of unsteady flow, was applied. A limited number of comparisons were made between simulated and observed hydrographs for areas of about one square mile. Given the appropriate parameters, the model was able to accurately simulate runoff for single-event storms. This paper describes a distributed watershed model developed to simulate overland and channel flow. Comparisons were made between simulated and observed hydrographs for three watersheds. The model was able to accurately simulate the runoff for single-event storms using 61-m by 61-m (200 ft by 200 ft) watershed grid elements.     

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.     

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT WHO SHOULD LEAD,WHO SHOULD PAY?1

ABSTRACT: Improving water management to meet future global needs will certainly require technical advances, but the main challenge is to integrate the viewpoints of diverse societal interests into decisions about allocation of water resources. The integration cannot be done solely by the market because it requires a balancing among interests which do not respond well to market forces, nor by the state alone because of institutional problems. The concept of “integrated water resources management” has been developed to provide the framework for the required balancing of interests, and, like similar concepts in industries other than water, it has a dual purpose - to link stakeholders and apply best practices to management actions. To clarify the process of integrated water management, the paper focuses on two questions: who should lead integrated water resources management and who should pay for it? Several examples are given to illustrate a range of situations. The paper concludes with a call to improve paradigms of integrated water management, a proposition that water organizations should accept and budget for their external responsibilities as well as their direct missions, affirmation of the need for state and federal agencies to be involved with local interests, a call for better scientific and public information, and identification of the need for continued work to improve the process of integrated water management.