人与非洲猎豹相处的日子

我从路华汽车里小心翼翼地滑出来，带着大型摄影机以及各式各样的器材，这可不是件容易的事。     

Prenatal diagnosis of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency in a family with a previous fatal case of sudden unexpected death in childhood

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency is a potentially fatal inherited disease with a carrier frequency of approximately 1:100 in most Caucasian populations. The disease is implicated in sudden unexpected death in childhood. A prevalent disease-causing point mutation (A985G) in the MCAD gene has been characterized, thus rendering diagnosis easy in the majority of cases. Since the clinical spectrum of MCAD deficiency ranges from death in the first days of life to an asymptomatic life, there are probably other genetic factors—in addition to MCAD mutations—involved in the expression of the disease. Thus, families who have experienced the death of a child from MCAD deficiency might have an increased risk of a seriously affected subsequent child. In such a family we have therefore performed a prenatal diagnosis on a chorionic villus sample by a highly specific and sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the G985 mutation. The analysis was positive and resulted in abortion. We verified the diagnosis by direct analysis on blood spots and other tissue material from the aborted fetus and from family members.     

Emerging market patterns in the recycled paper trade

The international recovered paper trade serves two important functions: increasing raw material availability in the paper and board industry and providing economic incentives to recycle. The purpose of this paper is to shed further light on emerging patterns in this trade by empirically analysing the changes in the bilateral trade flows of recycled paper between 1992 and 2008. According to our estimations, two important changes occurred in the 1990s and 2000s. First, the growing importance of developing economies in global recycled paper trade plays a significant role in import demand as a determinant of trade flows. Second, the changes in global trade patterns necessitate investigating the transportation cost measures used in applied research.     

NGO与地方政府合作参与灾后重建的综合集成模式——以汶川大地震为例

对汶川大地震国外非政府组织NGO的援建工作进行了深入调研;针对国外NGO—国内NGO—当地政府综合集成模式进行了分析。统筹优选三者之间的关系,综合外部、集成内部、统筹环境、优选效益最大化模式,构建了国外NGO与当地政府综合集成模式框架。通过互反馈结构说明灾后重建工程是开放的复杂的巨系统网络结构;并提出运行模式与实践框架;运用统筹优选的方法,分析了国外NGO、国内NGO、当地政府的关系及统筹优选图。     

Ammonia stripping of biologically treated liquid manure

A prerequisite for efficient ammonia removal in air stripping is that the pH of the liquid to be stripped is sufficiently high. Swine manure pH is usually around 7. At pH 7 (at 20°C), only 0.4% of ammonium is in ammonia form, and it is necessary to raise the pH of swine slurry to achieve efficient ammonia removal. Because manure has a very high buffering capacity, large amounts of chemicals are needed to change the slurry pH. The present study showed that efficient air stripping of manure can be achieved with a small amount of chemicals and without strong bases like NaOH. Slurry was subjected to aerobic biological treatment to raise pH before stripping. This facilitated 8 to 32% ammonia removal without chemical treatment. The slurry was further subjected to repeated cycles of stripping with MgO and Ca(OH)(2) additions after the first and second strippings, respectively, to raise slurry pH in between the stripping cycles. After three consecutive stripping cycles, 59 to 86% of the original ammonium had been removed. It was shown that the reduction in buffer capacity of the slurry was due to ammonia and carbonate removal during the stripping cycles.     

在碳中和愿景下缩小贫富差距：协同理论、机制与路径

在向着全面建成社会主义现代化强国的第二个百年目标迈进的征程中,我国同时面临碳中和与缩小贫富差距等多项战略任务。尽管这些战略任务都属于可持续发展的内在要求,实现路径互联互通,政策效果相互影响,但由于分属不同的子系统,容易陷入管理实践各自为政、政策实施互为掣肘的僵局。收入提高的中低收入群体可能因为消费升级产生更多的碳排放,增加实现碳中和的挑战;碳中和实现路径也可能通过影响居民就业或家庭收支促进或阻碍迈向共同富裕的步伐。充分认识碳中和与缩小贫富差距之间的协同与权衡关系,通过整体协调和系统谋划下好"全国一盘棋",减少政策冲突和实践失误,是全方位落实可持续发展、处理好减排与发展关系的前提条件。通过对碳中和与缩小贫富差距协同治理的理论逻辑、影响机制和实践路径进行系统剖析与深入诠释,力求回答"是什么""为什么""怎么做"的问题,为促进碳中和与经济平等的路径选择及方案制定提供决策支持,对社会经济复杂系统下多个可持续发展目标之间的协同合作提供参考借鉴。     

The Effectiveness of Contrasting Protected Areas in Preventing Deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru

Accurate monitoring of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in decreasing deforestation is increasingly important given the vital role of forest protection in climate change mitigation. Recent studies on PA effectiveness have used remote-sensing imagery to compare deforestation rates within PAs to surrounding areas. However, remote-sensing data used in isolation provides limited information on the factors contributing to effectiveness. We used landscape-modelling techniques to estimate the effectiveness of ten PAs in Madre de Dios, Peru. Factors influencing PA effectiveness were investigated using in situ key-informant interviews. Although all of the PAs studied had positive effectiveness scores, those with the highest scores were ecotourism and conservation concessions, where monitoring and surveillance activities and good relations with surrounding communities were reported as possible factors in decreasing deforestation rates. Native community areas had the lowest scores, with deforestation mainly driven by internal resource use and population growth. Weak local governance and immigration were identified as underlying factors decreasing the effectiveness of protection, whereas good relations with surrounding communities and monitoring activity increased effectiveness. The results highlight the need to combine remote sensing with in situ information on PA management because identification of drivers and deterrents of deforestation is vital for improving the effectiveness of protection.     

Fighting behaviour as a correlate of male mating success in black grouse Tetrao tetrix

Fighting is a fundamental determinant of male fitness in species where females prefer socially dominant males as mates or where dominants can prevent subordinates from mating. This in turn can lead to the evolution of honest inter- and intra-sexual cues of male dominance. Fighting as a behaviour comprises both fighting rate (number of fights per unit of time) and fighting performance (success in winning fights), but it is not always clear which of these components are important for female choice and how they link to signals of male quality. To quantify the relative importance of fighting as a cue for females, we recorded detailed behavioural data from male black grouse Tetrao tetrix at leks. We explored the relationship between phenotypic traits (body mass, eye comb size, tail (lyre) length and blue chroma colouration) and fighting performance and rates and how these were related to male mating success. In older males' pairwise fights, winners had lower blue chroma than losers, but there were no differences in other morphological traits. In yearlings, no morphological trait predicted success in pairwise contests. Both fighting rate and performance were positively related to the number of copulations acquired by a male; however, when controlled for lek centrality, fighting performance and not fighting rate was significantly related to mating success. Our results indicate that females may be using components of fighting behaviour as cues for mate choice.