Dynamics and Causation of Environmental Equity, Locally Unwanted Land Uses, and Neighborhood Changes

/ Why are some environmental risks distributed disproportionately in the neighborhoods of the minorities and the poor? A hypothesis was proposed in a recent study that market dynamics contributed to the current environmental inequity. That is, locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) make the host communities home to more poor people and people of color. This hypothesis was allegedly supported by a Houston case study, whereby its author analyzed the postsiting changes of the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods surrounding solid waste facilities. I argue that such an analysis of postsiting changes alone is insufficient to test the causation hypothesis. Instead, I propose a conceptual framework for analysis of environmental equity dynamics and causation. I suggest that the presiting neighborhood dynamics and the characteristics of control neighborhoods be analyzed as the first test for the causation hypothesis. Furthermore, I present theories of neighborhood change and then examine alternative hypotheses that these theories offer for explaining neighborhood changes and for the roles of LULUs in neighborhood changes. These alternative hypotheses should be examined when analyzing the relationship between LULUs and neighborhood changes in a metropolitan area. Using this framework of analysis, I revisited the Houston case. First, I found no evidence that provided support for the hypothesis that the presence of LULUs made the neighborhoods home to more blacks and poor people, contrary to the conclusion made by the previous study. Second, I examined alternative hypotheses for explaining neighborhood changes-invasion-succession, other push forces, and neighborhood life-cycle; the former two might offer better explanation.KEY WORDS: Environmental equity and justice; Locally unwanted lane uses; Siting; Market dynamics; Invasion-succession; Neighborhood changes     

Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

基于短时傅里叶变换的干扰信号识别方法

目的提高无线电引信识别欺骗式干扰的能力。方法根据炮弹弹体自旋的特点,使得采用连续波线极化天线的无线电引信所收到的干扰信号呈现出有别于地面回波的周期性幅度调制特征,通过对此特征进行短时傅里叶变换后进行识别,可以作为无线电引信是否受到欺骗式干扰的判断依据。结果通过仿真和试验对方法的可行性进行了验证,表明该识别方法可以很好地提高连续波无线电引信的识别欺骗式干扰的能力。结论基于短时傅里叶变换检测旋转调制的对地旋转弹无线电引信欺骗干扰识别的方法可以对干扰信号特征进行识别,算法处理时间短,能够作为引信是否受到干扰的一种判断依据。     

黔中地区二级阶地堆积物边坡稳定性对工程建设的影响

结合在建工程清水河大花水电站实例,本文对黔中地区二级阶地堆积物边坡成因、堆积物物质成份、结构与其物理力学特性作了分析、总结,初步探讨了贵州省二级阶地堆积物边坡稳定性对工程建设的影响,望能给正在进行工程建设的同行以一定的参考,并对工程建设区的二级地堆积物边坡稳定性引起重视。     

城市大气污染物浓度预测模糊识别理论与模型

根据大气污染物的浓度具有模糊性且与多种指标相关的特点，提出对其进行预测的模糊识别理论与模型，并以二氧化硫为例，由２５个预测点大气中ＳＯ２浓度和相关指标的实测资料，利用上述理论与模型得出最优模糊预测参数，并对其它５个观测点的ＳＯ２浓度进行了预测检验。     

The superseded female's dilemma: ultimate and proximate factors that influence guarding behaviour of the carpenter bee Xylocopa pubescens

Both solitary and primitively social nests of the facultatively social carpenter bee Xylocopa pubescens can be found throughout most of the breeding season. In social nests there is reproductive division of labour between a dominant forager and a guarding female. Two types of guarding females can be discerned: the young pre-reproductive guards, and older, formerly reproductive guards. The latter type of guard is found when, after a take-over of reproductive dominance either by a nestmate (mostly a daughter) or an intruder, the defeated female stays in the nest instead of leaving to try and found or usurp another nest. She is then manipulated into the role of a guard. The dominant female profits from the presence of the guard since she protects the nest against pollen robbery by conspecifics (Hogendoorn and Velthuis 1993). We have studied why superseded females might prefer to remain as a guard, rather than try their luck somewhere else. The hypotheses investigated pertain to (1) the difficulty for the defeated female of finding a new nest and of restarting reproductive activities due to (a) ecological constraints (nest and pollen shortage) and (b) the effect of age and wear on the defeated female; (2) the effects of guarding in terms of inclusive fitness. We found that superseded females remained as guards significantly more often when a nestmate (not necessarily close kin) took over reproductive dominance than when an intruder did so. Other factors associated with the decision of the defeated female to stay or leave were her age and the number of her own young still present after the supersedure. The probability of finding or constructing a new nest was lower for old than for young females. After finding a nest, old females produced less brood than young foundresses. As a result of these two factors old superseded females gained, in terms of inclusive fitness, by staying as guards, whereas young females profited from leaving the nest. We interpret these results as an indication that guarding behaviour has evolved due to kin selection. However, kin discrimination apparently did not occur. Therefore we conclude that in this species kin selection is not, in the proximate frame of reference, based on kin recognition and preference for helping kin. Correspondence to: K. Hogendoorn     

灾害发生时影响居民心理承受能力的社会心理因素分析

目的：探讨影响个体面对自然灾害时心理承受能力的社会心理因素．方法，采用问卷调查的方式，运用因素分析法和相关分析法对1000余名居民进行测评．结果。①个体面对灾害时的心理承受能力的影响因素为。灾害意识、灾时行为、灾害认知、社会支持，②通过相关分析，灾时行为对心理承受能力的影响最大。     

森林火灾扑救风险管理问题的探讨与研究

森林火灾不可避免,与之相应的森林灭火救灾行动及其风险也不容回避。笔者将风险和风险管理理论引入森林火灾扑救之中,提出林火扑救风险及风险管理的概念和内涵;阐明了风险判识与分析、风险评估与预测、风险控制与处理的内容与方法;运用数学分析、模糊数学和现代高新技术等方法探讨林火扑救风险管理的有关问题;林火扑救属于高风险作业,提出的做好林火扑救风险管理,特别是风险控制的对策与措施,有较强的操作性、针对性和借鉴性,是防止和减少林火扑救中伤害事故的重要手段。     

基于模糊模式识别的模糊综合评价在高层建筑火灾危险评价中的应用

针对高层建筑火灾危险的特点,建立了高层建筑火灾危险评价的指标体系,并应用层次分析法确定了其权重。根据高层建筑火灾危险评价系统具有多因素、多层次的特点,采用模糊综合评价方法;针对模糊综合评价的不足之处,提出把权广义距离之和最小模糊模式识别运用到模糊综合评价当中,建立了基于模糊模式识别的模糊综合评价模型;该评价模型避免了单因素矩阵的确定和模糊算子的选择问题,用安全状态特征值来表征最终的评价结果,能使评价结果更加准确,可操作性强。通过对陕西某高层建筑火灾危险评价实例证明,该模型具有较好的应用价值,为日常的安全管理和性能化防火设计提供了有用依据。     

Food justice youth development: using Photovoice to study urban school food systems*

How do youth learn through participation in efforts to study and change the school food system? Through our participatory youth action research (YPAR) project, we move beyond the “youth as consumer” frame to a food justice youth development (FJYD) approach. We track how a group of youth learned about food and the public policy process through their efforts to transform their own school food systems by conducting a participatory evaluation of farm-to-school efforts in collaboration with university and community partners. We used the Photovoice research method, placing cameras in the hands of young people so that they themselves could document and discuss their concerns and perspectives. The research was designed to gain insight about youths’ knowledge of food, health, and community food systems. Drawing upon the youth group’s insights, we build a framework for building critical consciousness through FJYD.