Importance of information on tillage practices in the modelling of environmental processes and in the use of environmental indicators

Tillage has been and will always be integral to crop production. Tillage can result in the degradation of soil, water, and air quality. Of all farm management practices, tillage may have the greatest impact on the environment. A wide variety of tillage equipment, practices and systems are available to farmers, providing opportunities to enhance environmental performance. These opportunities have made tillage a popular focus of environmental policies and programs such as environmental indicators for agriculture. This paper provides a very brief examination of the role of tillage in crop production, its effect on biophysical processes and, therefore, its impact on the environment. Models of biophysical processes are briefly examined to demonstrate the importance of tillage relative to other farm management practices and to demonstrate the detail of tillage data that these models can demand. The focus of this paper is an examination of the use of information on tillage in Canada's agri-environmental indicators initiative, National Agri-environmental Health Analysis and Reporting Program (NAHARP). Information on tillage is required for several of the indicators in NAHARP. The type of data used, its source, and its quality are discussed. Recommendations regarding the collection of tillage data and use of tillage information are presented.     

Principles and processes for effecting change in environmental management in New Zealand

In New Zealand environmental management is essentially the responsibility of land managers. Management decisions affect both production/productivity and the environment. However, responsibility for ensuring positive environmental outcomes falls on both local (Regional) and Central Government, and both they and international agencies such as the OECD would wish to monitor and report on changes. In terms of policy, strong links have been established via Central and Regional Government to land managers. Consumers in the market place are also, increasingly, requiring responsibility for positive environmental outcomes of those who purchase and process primary products. Strong links for responsibility have been established between our international markets and processing businesses and there is a noticeable strengthening of the links from the processors to the land manager/producer. In New Zealand a range of initiatives has been developed and implemented over recent times, whereby land managers are taking increasing responsibility for accounting for the environmental outcomes of their production activities. The range covers the spectrum from voluntary to compulsory (e.g., in order to meet market requirements) and from those initiated by customers to processor and/or producer initiatives. This paper follows the evolution of the principles that drove the predominant activities of the period and the processes that initiated the changes in environmental management. As the focus of agriculturalists changed from pioneering in a new world, to establishing a production base, to economic reality, and finally to environmental responsibility, the processes of extension adapted to meet the new challenge.     

Conceptual Models as Hypotheses in Monitoring Urban Landscapes

Many problems and challenges of ecosystem management currently are driven by the rapid pace and spatial extent of landscape change. Parks and reserves within areas of high human population density are especially challenged to meet the recreational needs of local populations and to preserve valued environmental resources. The complex problem of managing multiple objectives and multiple resources requires an enormous quantity of information, and conceptual models have been proposed as tools for organizing and interpreting this information. Academics generally prefer a bottom-up approach to model construction that emphasizes ecologic theory and process, whereas managers often use a top-down approach that takes advantage of existing information to address more pragmatic objectives. The authors propose a formal process for developing, applying, and testing conceptual models to be used in landscape monitoring that reconciles these seemingly opposing perspectives. The four-step process embraces the role of hypothesis testing in the development of models and evaluation of their utility. An example application of the process to a network of national parks in and around Washington, DC illustrates the ability of the approach to systematically identify monitoring data that would both advance ecologic theory and inform management decisions.     

乡镇街道尺度国土“三生”空间功能评价及协调关系

乡镇街道尺度国土“三生”空间功能评价及协调关系研究更面向国土空间优化过程中的人本需求导向和基层精细化治理。研究提出“分维功能评价—协调水平测算—作用方向判别”的整套思路框架。其中,兼顾空间隶属和空间质量双重属性构建“三生”空间功能综合评价指标体系,运用耦合协调模型和双变量空间自相关模型探究功能间协调水平及各自对整体协调的作用方向,并以苏州市为例进行实证分析。结果表明：（1）所构建分析框架、指标体系及技术方法路径具有科学性和普适性特点,能够在乡镇街道尺度有效识别“三生”空间功能分布格局和空间协调关系。（2）在乡镇街道尺度的较高标准约束下,苏州市“三生”空间功能具有较显著城乡差异和区域差异,且“三生”空间功能协调整体水平呈现“大分散、小集聚”的分布特征,协调水平主要受生产、生活空间功能同向作用,生态空间功能的协同作用不足、多呈现反向关系。（3）从城区、乡镇、生态单元等不同空间类型提升“三生”空间综合功能,完善基层国土空间治理的精细化,在更大尺度上实现“三生”空间的整体协调,构建功能复合、风貌相宜、协调共进的国土空间格局。     

单兵信息系统装备可靠性评估方法研究

首先介绍了士兵系统在环境适应性、信息安全、作战适应性、使用寿命等方面的需求,提出了一种可靠性设计方法,可有效解决单兵多模块信息系统可靠性评估问题,大幅提升士兵信息系统的设计效率。同时以典型士兵信息系统为例,进行了士兵结构可靠性、电气可靠性设计。     

流域水污染综合防治的生态效益分析

将模糊综合评价和pead生长曲线法引入到流域水污染防治的效益分析当中，建立了流域水污染防治的生态效益分析方法。以云南省寻甸县牛栏江小流域水污染综合防治规划为例，采用模糊数学法对水污染造成的水资源价值损失进行了估算，采用曲线法对水污染综合防治的生态价值进行分析，得刭水资源价值和生态价值分别为2730．3万元／年和491．45万元／年。最后将所有经济效益和费用贴现，计算效费比为3．68。分析结果可知，牛栏江小流域水污染综合防治具有良好的环境效益、经济效益和社会效益。     

基于内容分析法的河流健康内涵及表征

运用内容分析法对近10~15年中外文献中有影响力的36个河流健康概念进行分析,经过样本选取、指标提取、量化处理等过程提炼出最频繁出现的能代表其内涵的6个标准,即：维持结构完整性、自然生态功能发挥、满足人类社会合理需求、处于良好状态、河流管理工具和目标、建立河流基准状态。基于此,对河流健康概念进行了重新架构：河流健康是指河流生态系统特定的良好状况,可以作为河流基准状态以及河流管理的目标,在这一状态下,河流生态系统能够维持其生态系统结构完整性,充分发挥其自然生态功能,并满足人类社会合理需求,提供相应的社会服务功能。通过对30个有关河流健康表征指标及评价方法的文献进行分析,识别生物指标、水质参数、形态结构、河床底质、水文条件以及河岸带状况等是目前使用最广泛的6个指标,指出河流健康的表征指标及评价标准应根据区域特征、人类活动影响以及功能定位而有所差异。     

The effectiveness of forecast-based humanitarian assistance in anticipation of extreme winters: a case study of vulnerable herders in Mongolia

This paper presents evidence relating to a forecast-based cash and non-food item distribution among vulnerable herder households during the 2017–18 dzud (extreme winter) season in Mongolia, and analyses the results of a quasi-experimental study evaluating its impacts. An innovative approach in disaster risk reduction, forecast-based financing (FbF) can have short- and long-term benefits to vulnerable households but remains understudied. The paper contributes information on a multimodal FbF programme offering one-off cash grants and in-kind veterinary kits. The data found significant effects of reduced mortality and increased offspring survival in some types of livestock, and that the timing of FbF assistance is crucial, as reported early assistance correlated to positive outcomes in terms of reduced animal mortality. These findings can be used to design more effective FbF interventions, to understand better the appropriateness of FbF designs, and to use early warnings and early actions to help people prepare and withstand disasters such as dzuds.     

生态城市评价指标体系构建及实证研究

构建了针对秦皇岛市的生态城市评价指标体系,采用多指标综合评价法,对2011年秦皇岛市城市生态化程度进行了评价。结果表明:秦皇岛市城市生态化综合指数为0.687,生态化程度为2级水平,经济持续发展子系统和资源能源节约子系统较为薄弱。根据评价结果,提出了大力发展循环经济、加强水污染治理、提高资源能源利用效率、加大生态建设力度等建议。     

高职院校思想政治理论课实践教学探究

2011年教育部一号文件明确规定要把思想政治理论课（以下简称＂思政课＂）实践教学纳入正式教学环节。只有对思政课实践教学进行科学定义,厘清思政课实践教学与其他教学的区别和联系,找准当前存在的问题和不足,提炼出思政课实践教学的特点,进而建立科学规范的教学内容、教学方法、教学形式和考评机制,才能使其落到实处。