Conjoint analysis for environmental evaluation

BACKGROUND, AIM AND SCOPE: Conjoint analysis and the related choice-modelling methods have been used for many years in marketing research to evaluate consumer behaviour and preferences for different kinds of product attributes. Recently, the number of applications in environmental science and management has started to grow. Conjoint analysis is found in many different forms, and the environmental studies evaluated in this review display the same range of methods as in other fields. The key characteristic of all these methods is that trade-offs are evaluated by jointly considering a number of important attributes. MAIN FEATURES: This paper is a review of the literature on environmental applications of conjoint analysis and assesses in which environmental area conjoint analysis has been most successful. The method and the design of the studies are reviewed as well. RESULTS: A total of 84 studies were found, dealing with environmental issues that were evaluated by conjoint analysis. The studies concern agriculture, ecosystem management, energy, environmental evaluation, forestry, land management, pollution, products, recreation, environmental risk analysis and waste management. DISCUSSION: Choice experiments seem to have a comparatively stronger position in environmental studies than elsewhere. Most of the environmental applications are related to natural resource management. This is somewhat surprising, but a number of reports have appeared also on product evaluation, which could be a key application area in the future. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to marketing and transportation, the number of environmental conjoint studies is rather small but increasing, and the method has proven to work effectively in eliciting preferences on environmental issues. In environmental issues, experimenters often use choice experiments, especially concerning ecosystem management and environmental evaluations. When it comes to evaluating preferences concerning agriculture, forestry, energy and products, a more traditional approach of conjoint analysis is favoured. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Two new areas of application are identified in this review--environmental communication and expert elicitation. Conjoint analysis can thus be developed into a useful instrument for environmental risk analysis and communication, both of which are necessary for an efficient approach to risk governance.     

试论生态文明建设中的环境保护

随着经济的发展,人们越来越清醒地认识到,以污染环境和破坏生态来换取一时经济繁荣的危害日益突出。正是这种清醒,推动人类文明进行着一场深刻的反思和变革,把追求人与自然的和谐相处,推上当今社会发展主旋律的位置,它预示着人类进入一个生态文明的新时代。生态文明是协调发展物质文明的保障者,是与时俱进的精神文明的塑造者,是日益完善的政治文明的体现者。因此,建设生态文明既是实现全面建设小康社会奋斗目标的内在需要,又是深入贯彻落实科学发展观的重要内容;建设生态文明,必须强化政策支撑,增加生态文明建设的内生动力;必须强化执法监督,增加生态文明建设的环保执行力;必须强化生态补偿能力,构建最具活力的绿色发展模式。     

三峡库区沙坝沟滑坡影响因素分析与稳定性评价

在不同工况下,通过采取不同的岩土体物理力学参数来计算沙坝沟滑坡的稳定系数并分析影响因素,得到影响该滑坡稳定性的主要因素为降雨、地下水作用及人类工程活动,在一定条件下可能成为滑坡失稳破坏的诱导因素。最后为滑坡防治提出一些建议,对滑坡的预测和防护提供依据。     

Transport of Sr2+ and SrEDTA2- in partially-saturated and heterogeneous sediments

Strontium-90 has migrated deep into the unsaturated subsurface beneath leaking storage tanks in the Waste Management Areas (WMA) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Reservation. Faster than expected transport of contaminants in the vadose zone is typically attributed to either physical hydrologic processes such as development of preferential flow pathways, or to geochemical processes such as the formation of stable, anionic complexes with organic chelates, e.g., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The goal of this paper is to determine whether hydrological processes in the Hanford sediments can influence the geochemistry of the system and hence control transport of Sr(2+) and SrEDTA(2-). The study used batch isotherms, saturated packed column experiments, and an unsaturated transport experiment in an undisturbed core. Isotherms and repacked column experiments suggested that the SrEDTA(2-) complex was unstable in the presence of Hanford sediments, resulting in dissociation and transport of Sr(2+) as a divalent cation. A decrease in sorption with increasing solid:solution ratio for Sr(2+) and SrEDTA(2-) suggested mineral dissolution resulted in competition for sorption sites and the formation of stable aqueous complexes. This was confirmed by detection of MgEDTA(2-), MnEDTA(2-), PbEDTA(2-), and unidentified Sr and Ca complexes. Displacement of Sr(2+) through a partially-saturated undisturbed core resulted in less retardation and more irreversible sorption than was observed in the saturated repacked columns, and model results suggested a significant reservoir (49%) of immobile water was present during transport through the heterogeneous layered sediments. The undisturbed core was subsequently disassembled along distinct bedding planes and subjected to sequential extractions. Strontium was unequally distributed between carbonates (49%), ion exchange sites (37%), and the oxide (14%) fraction. An inverse relationship between mass wetness and Sr suggested that sandy sediments of low water content constituted the immobile flow regime. Our results suggested that the sequestration of Sr(2+) in partially-saturated, heterogeneous sediments was most likely due to the formation of immobile water in drier regions having low hydraulic conductivities.     

芳香酸稀溶液的络合萃取研究

络合萃取法分离极性有机物稀溶液具有高效性和高选择性。本文利用三辛胺或磷酸三丁酯为络合剂,四氯化碳、三氯甲烷、正辛醇或煤油为稀释剂,实验测定了苯甲酸、邻硝基苯甲酸稀溶液的萃取相平衡分配系数,讨论了影响因素。     

‘A powerful alternative to Williams’ test with application to toxicological dose-response relationships of normally distributed data

The comparison of increasing doses of a treatment to a negative control is frequently part of toxicological studies. For normally distributed data Williams (1971, 1972) introduced a maximum likelihood test under total order restriction. But until now there seems to have been no solution for the arbitrary unbalanced case. According to the idea proposed by Robertson et al. (1988) we will apply in this article the basic concept of Williams on the class of multiple contrast tests for the general unbalanced parametric set-up. Simulation results for size and power and two examples for estimating the minimal toxic dose (MTD) are given.     

耕作改制对土壤肥力的影响

在长期定位监测的基础上,研究了耕作改制对土壤肥力的影响,结果表明,耕作改制后,肥料投入明显增加,养分平衡朝着有利于提高肥力的方向发展;因土、因作物进行配方施肥,并实行秸秆还田,则改制后土壤肥力能得到提高;合理耕作轮作,有利于解决地力矛盾和季节矛盾,实现高产、稳产、低成本。     

Are national biodiversity strategies and action plans appropriate for building responsibilities for mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors? The case of Finland

The Convention on Biological Diversity's national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) are major mechanisms for mainstreaming biodiversity into national policies. This article examines whether and how the NBSAPs contribute to mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors in Finland in order to halt biodiversity loss. We have developed an innovative analytical framework where the concept of responsibility addresses how motivations for mainstreaming can be built, and the concept of social learning outcomes addresses the extent of institutional changes for biodiversity. The Finnish NBSAP processes have been able to build diverse forms of responsibility (liability, accountability, responsiveness and care) in different policy sectors by providing new knowledge, careful process design and developing institutional linkages. Despite pro-biodiversity outcomes in the targeted policy sectors, the responsibilities do not diffuse from the environmental administration to other policy sectors to a sufficient extent. Closing this ‘responsibility gap’ is a key challenge for building effective environmental policies.     

土压平衡矩形顶管施工引起的地表沉降规律研究

为了分析与掌握矩形顶管施工引起的地表沉降变形规律,提出基于MIDAS-GTS有限元软件的分析方法,首先,通过工程实例验证MIDAS-GTS有限元软件在分析顶管施工引起地表沉降变形的有效性;其次,通过影响因素的敏感性分析确定不同影响因素作用下的地表沉降变形特性,这些影响因素主要包括开挖面支护压力、侧摩阻力、地层结构特性等;最后,通过地表沉降变形特性分析得出矩形顶管的适用范围。研究结果表明:基于MIDAS-GTS有限元软件的地表沉降规律分析方法和结果,可为矩形顶管施工过程提供相关参考和借鉴。     

混合重金属对硝化颗粒污泥毒性作用的析因实验研究

分别测定了Cu2 、Zn2 和Cd2 对硝化颗粒污泥的单一毒性,采用析因实验研究了二元和三元重金属混合体系对硝化颗粒污泥的联合毒性.结果表明,Cu2 、Zn2 和Cd2 的2 h半抑制浓度EC50分别为95.23、62.11和12.48 mg/L,由析因实验所得的响应曲面模型具有较好的优度(其R2＞0.95),能够对混合体系的联合毒性很好地进行预测,析因实验可以用于环境领域混合体系联合毒性的研究.