Game theory and environmental disputes

The courts have provided the traditional battleground for conflicts between environmental interest groups and those whose actions in some way have an adverse impact on the environment The judicial process is a time-consuming one in which all sides usually must concede to some points. Environmental disputes involve complex scientific issues which the court system is not set up to comprehend, so that the process gives the parties to a dispute the sense of having lost control of their own destinies. An increasing number of parties to environmental disputes are turning to negotiation, or mediation, as an alternative in which they can be active parties in the settlement-making process rather than the victims of a court-imposed solution When do the parties to a dispute choose a negotiated settlement over a court battle? To what extent does each party make the concessions necessary to reach an agreement? These questions can be answered by the game theory that provides a model for analyzing the negotiation process. This paper will apply game theory to two environmental conflict cases A series of questions pertinent to the analysis of all environmental disputes will be raised     

COMPLEMENTING OBJECTIVE PROCEDURES WITH SUBJECTIVE PRIORS IN WATER RESOURCE PLANNING1

A procedure is outlined which allows consideration of both objective and subjective indicators to establish priorities in plan implementation of water resource development. The objective procedure utilizes stepwise multiple discriminant analysis to predict community performance regarding planned project implementation, based on previous project implementation in the Northeast. The subjective procedure incorporates prior probabilities developed by the planner, based on observation and experience gained through the planning process. The proposed analysis could eliminate waste through better allocation of planning funds to implementation studies exhibiting higher probability of early implementation.     

Effective application of monitoring information: the case of San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco Estuary Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) for Trace Substances is an innovative partnership among a regulatory agency, more than 70 regulated entities, and an independent scientific organization. The institutional arrangement behind the RMP has made the regulatory system increasingly responsive to emerging management needs, particularly with regard to the development of total maximum daily loads and ecosystem impairment assessment. Through multi-agency partnerships within and outside the RMP institutional structure, major information gaps for several pollutants of concern have been narrowed, resulting in a successful consensus-based regulatory approach to managing copper and nickel mass inputs into the Estuary. Short-term research efforts, based upon monitoring results, helped identify the most cost-effective control and remediation options for various bioaccumulative substances. Additionally, adaptive changes to the monitoring program documented the existence of widespread aquatic toxicity in the Estuary that is apparently due to pesticide runoff from agricultural and urban areas. One of the most important contributions of this collaborative monitoring program is the deliberate and systematic adjustment of management and research questions that serve to influence and add relevance to the overall research agenda related to San Francisco Estuary ecosystem assessment.     

业务性防雹作业实时决策指挥系统的设计

本文论述了西北地区人工防雹业务性决策指挥的现状和面对的重要问题;探讨了目前无法识别的20%左右雹云在业务性防雹中的处理思路;以三级判别思路提出了业务性决策指挥系统的设计.     

Watershed Management and Organizational Dynamics: Nationwide Findings and Regional Variation

Recent attention has focused on resource management initiatives at the watershed scale with emphasis on collaborative, locally driven, and decentralized institutional arrangements. Existing literature on limited selections of well-established watershed-based organizations has provided valuable insights. The current research extends this focus by including a broad survey of watershed organizations from across the United States as a means to estimate a national portrait. Organizational characteristics include year of formation, membership size and composition, budget, guiding principles, and mechanisms of decision-making. These characteristics and the issue concerns of organizations are expected to vary with respect to location. Because this research focuses on organizations that are place based and stakeholder driven, the forces driving them are expected to differ across regions of the country. On this basis of location, we suggest basic elements for a regional assessment of watershed organizations to channel future research and to better approximate the organizational dynamics, issue concerns, and information needs unique to organizations across the country. At the broadest level, the identification of regional patterns or organizational similarities may facilitate the linkage among organizations to coordinate their actions at the much broader river basin or ecosystem scale.     

江苏省地震应急指挥决策演示系统介绍

江苏省地震应急指挥决策演示系统是江苏省地震局 “九五” 重点课题──江苏省地震应急指挥系统的一个组成部分。 它主要集成了测震数据库及测震学预报软件(CAPSEIS)、 前兆数据库及前兆学预报软件(JSOMEN)、 强震中短期预报动态图像系统、 台站基础信息数据库、 地震烈度分布计算等软件系统，一旦出现震情时可以为地震研究人员提供常用的基础资料，震情分析判断工具和震害快速预测等。 本文重点介绍笔者对基础图件和基础资料信息等系统数据库整理所做的工作，同时介绍该系统的功能及其使用。     

Ethical Tools to Support Systematic Public Deliberations about the Ethical Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnologies

This special issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics presents so-called ethical tools that are developed to support systematic public deliberations about the ethical aspects of agricultural biotechnologies. This paper firstly clarifies the intended connotations of the term “ethical tools” and argues that such tools can support liberal democracies to cope with the issues that are raised by the application of genetic modification and other modern biotechnologies in agriculture and food production. The paper secondly characterizes the societal discussion on agricultural biotechnology and defends the thesis that normative perspectives fuel this discussion, so one cannot come to grips with this discussion if one neglects these perspectives. The paper thirdly agrues that no such thing exists as “one” societal debate in which these issues should be discussed. There are several interwined debates, and different actors participate in different discourses. Some practical instruments are necessary in order to include the right issues in these debates. These instruments will be coined as “ethical tools,” since they are practical instruments that can be used (tools) in order to support debates and deliberative structures for a systematic engagement with ethical issues (hence, ethical tools). Finally, the paper clarifies the ethics of these ethical tools and presents the tools as discussed in the remainder of this special issue: 1) tools to include ethical issues in public consulation and involvement; 2) tools to support systematic reflection upon ethical issues in decision-making; and 3) tools to support explicit communication about values in the food chain.     

甘肃省冬春季人工增雨雪作业指挥系统

为了提高甘肃省人工增雨雪的水平和效果，准确、及时地把握作业气象条件，使人工增雨雪在抗旱减灾中取得更好的社会、经济效益，研制建立了“甘肃省冬春季人工增雨雪作业指挥系统”。该系统包括作业信息系统、作业指挥系统和效果检查系统共3个分系统。详细介绍了各分系统的组成和功能。