Can Labor Out-Migration Reduce Rrewood Consumption by Rural House- holds in Western Mountainous China

The relationship between out-migration of labor in the Qinling mountain area and households＇ firewood consumption is explored. Migration and remittances reduce households＇ firewood consumption due to i...     

Targeting vulnerability after the 2005 earthquake: Pakistan's Livelihood Support Cash Grants programme

The 7.6 magnitude (Richter scale) earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on 8 October 2005 was devastating. This paper gauges success in targeting vulnerable families during the transition from relief to reconstruction through cash assistance provided by the Livelihood Support Cash Grants (LSCG) programme. Families without a male member, with a disabled male member aged between 18 and 60 years or with more than five children, defined as vulnerable, were provided with USD 50 per month for six months via a bank transfer. The LSCG scheme enrolled around 750,000 families and selected 267,402 vulnerable families to whom it disbursed a total of USD 86.95 million. Using a community‐based survey, this paper assesses leakage and under‐coverage (exclusion). Approximately 30 per cent of families received the cash grant. However, only one in two was eligible for the benefit, and one in two deserving families was excluded. This is a matter of grave concern.     

Shifting Baselines and The Extinction of The Caribbean Monk Seal

The recent extnction of the Caribbean monk seal Monachus tropicalis has been considered an example of a human‐caused extinction in the marine environment, and this species was considered a driver of the changes that have occurred in the structure of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems since colonial times. I searched archaeological records, historical data, and geographic names (used as a proxy of the presence of seals) and evaluated the use and quality of these data to conclude that since prehistoric times the Caribbean monk seal was always rare and vulnerable to human predation. This finding supports the hypothesis that in AD 1500, the Caribbean monk seal persisted as a small fragmented population in which individuals were confined to small keys, banks, or isolated islands in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This hypothesis is contrary to the assumption that the species was widespread and abundant historically. The theory that the main driver of monk seal extinction was harvesting for its oil for use in the sugar cane industry of Jamaica during the 18th century is based primarily on anecdotal information and is overemphasized in the literature. An analysis of reported human encounters with this species indicates monk seal harvest was an occasional activity, rather than an ongoing enterprise. Nevertheless, given the rarity of this species and its restricted distribution, even small levels of hunting or specimen collecting must have contributed to its extinction, which was confirmed in the mid‐20th century. Some sources had been overlooked or only partially reviewed, others misinterpreted, and a considerable amount of anecdotal information had been uncritically used. Critical examination of archaeological and historical records is required to infer accurate estimations of the historical abundance of a species. In reconstructing the past to address the shifting baseline syndrome, it is important to avoid selecting evidence to confirm modern prejudices. Puntos de Referencia Cambiantes y la Extinción de la Foca Monje Caribeña     

Disaster risk from a macroeconomic perspective: a metric for fiscal vulnerability evaluation

The Disaster Deficit Index (DDI) measures macroeconomic and financial risk in a country according to possible catastrophic scenario events. Extreme disasters can generate financial deficit due to sudden and elevated need of resources to restore affected inventories. The DDI captures the relationship between the economic loss that a country could experience when a catastrophic event occurs and the availability of funds to address the situation. The proposed model utilises the procedures of the insurance industry in establishing probable losses, based on critical impacts during a given period of exposure; for economic resilience, the model allows one to calculate the country's financial ability to cope with a critical impact. There are limitations and costs associated with access to resources that one must consider as feasible values according to the country's macroeconomic and financial conditions. This paper presents the DDI model and the results of its application to 19 countries of the Americas and aims to guide governmental decision‐making in disaster risk reduction.     

Bumblebee Vulnerability: Common Correlates of Winners and Losers across Three Continents

Abstract:  It is widely agreed that in many parts of the world some bumblebee ( Bombus ) species have declined, and that this has often been driven by land-use changes that cause reductions in the abundance of food plants. There is much less agreement about how changes in food plants affect some bumblebee species more than others. We sought to identify which species' characteristics are generally associated with the relative winners and losers by comparing the 3 independent bumblebee faunas from parts of Britain, Canada, and China. Using available survey data, we assessed species characteristics, including competition with congeners, climatic specialization, proximity to climatic range edge, food specialization, phenology, body size, and range size. Results of our meta-analysis of correlations showed support for the hypotheses that decline susceptibility is generally greater for species that have greater climatic specialization, for species in areas where they occur closest to the edges of their climatic ranges, and for species that have queens that become active later in the year. The latter characteristic may render a species at a particular disadvantage when they have long colony cycles if there are losses of food plants in mid to late colony development.     

The relationship between diversity profiles,evenness and species richness based on partial ordering

Problems with the notion of evenness, such as ambiguity, proliferation of indices, choice of indices, etc. can be overcome by a more fundamental, mathematical approach. We show that the Lorenz curve is an adequate representation of evenness. The corresponding Lorenz order induces a partial order in the set of equivalent abundance vectors. Also diversity can adequately be studied through a partial order and represented by a curve derived from the classical Lorenz curve. This curve is known as the intrinsic diversity profile (or k-dominance curve) and was introduced by Patil and Taillie (1979) and Lambshead et al. (1981).     

城市建筑物抗震能力评估方法

由于建筑物震害预测方法只能估计建筑物的破坏而不能评定建筑物的抗震能力,基于对城市建筑物潜在破坏的估计,提出了城市建筑物抗震能力的评估方法。影响城市建筑物抗震能力的因素包括城市所处的地震危险性环境和城市建筑物的易损性。为了考虑地震危险性因素,进行了以地面峰值加速度(PGA)为参数的地震危险性分析,提出了我国不同地震危险性特征分区的PGA概率密度函数;为了考虑建筑物的易损性因素,采用HAZUS-MH中的静力弹塑性分析(push-over anal-ysis)方法研究群体建筑物易损性。通过对这两个因素的研究,建立了城市建筑物抗震能力评估方法,提出的相对全概率抗震能力指数可以反映城市建筑物在其所在的地震危险性环境下所具有的抗震能力,而采用绝对全概率抗震能力指数能够比较不同建筑抗震能力的差异,再结合建筑物抗震能力评估标准,可确定抗震能力水平。以晋江市抽样建筑物抗震能力评估为例,结合震害经验,论证了该方法的有效性。     

基于RS与GIS的长江三角洲生态环境脆弱性综合评价

使用空间主成分分析法构建评价指标体系,采用层次分析法确定指标权重,结合遥感数据与地理信息系统软件,对长江三角洲生态环境脆弱性进行了综合评价,并对脆弱性成因进行了分析. 结果表明,长江三角洲生态环境极度和重度脆弱区主要分布在其中部的太湖流域和浙江中西部,占整个研究区的20.10%;轻度和中度脆弱区遍布于整个研究区,占55.25%;微度脆弱区主要分布在江苏北部和浙江东部,占24.65%. 总体来看,长江三角洲大部分区域的生态环境属轻度和中度脆弱. 影响长江三角洲生态环境脆弱性的自然因素有≥35 ℃日数、旱涝分布、海拔高度、归一化植被指数（NDVI）年累加值、景观多样性指数和土壤侵蚀强度;人为因素有人均耕地面积、人均水资源、人均废水排放量、人均废气排放量、化肥施用强度、土地利用变化、“三废”综合利用产品产值、人口密度和GDP. 极度和重度脆弱区生态环境的主要特征是自然灾害发生频率大、资源匮乏、污染强度大、土壤侵蚀严重和生物多样性低.      

NO在分子筛ZSM-5催化剂上催化氧化动力学研究

研究了常温下NO在疏水型高硅分子筛ZSM-5上的氧化反应. 结果发现,NO在分子筛ZSM-5表面氧化的同时,伴随着明显的吸附过程,待吸附饱和后释放出NO2.相比于活性炭,高硅分子筛ZSM-5上NO氧化受水汽影响较小,303K饱和湿气下,NO稳态转化率只比干气下降低6%.在排除内、外扩散影响的条件下,于等温积分反应器中研究了稳定阶段NO氧化的本征动力学,根据不同温度下X~W/FA0及NO分压数据,计算了反应速率,建立简化的动力学模型并获得了反应速率方程,结果表明其拟合复相关系数较高.     

环境风险全过程评估与管理模式研究及应用

基于环境风险“全过程管理”与“优先管理”的理念,提出了环境风险全过程评估与管理的概念框架和理论体系,涵盖了风险源识别、受体易损性评估、环境风险表征、风险应急控制决策以及风险事故损失后评估等关键步骤.并以某化工园区企业为例,以硝基苯储罐塌陷为初始事件,采用蝴蝶结方法进行风险源识别,得到硝基苯储罐泄漏事件蝴蝶结,通过GIS空间分析方法揭示居民对地表水水源污染易损性的空间分异,分析结果不仅为事故安全防范与应急控制提供关键节点,而且有助于在日常风险管理中增强受体抗风险能力.