Key considerations and challenges in the application of social-network research for environmental decision making

Attempts to better understand the social context in which conservation and environmental decisions are made has led to increased interest in human social networks. To improve the use of social-network analysis in conservation, we reviewed recent studies in the literature in which such methods were applied. In our review, we looked for problems in research design and analysis that limit the utility of network analysis. Nineteen of 55 articles published from January 2016 to June 2019 exhibited at least 1 of the following problems: application of analytical methods inadequate or sensitive to incomplete network data; application of statistical approaches that ignore dependency in the network; or lack of connection between the theoretical base, research question, and choice of analytical techniques. By drawing attention to these specific areas of concern and highlighting research frontiers and challenges, including causality, network dynamics, and new approaches, we responded to calls for increasing the rigorous application of social science in conservation.     

14个有价值的城市安全系统学理论基础问题

安全系统学是安全科学的核心基础理论,很适用于研究城市系统安全问题。本文从认识论和本体论出发阐述系统发生事故的本质原因,归纳了城市安全需要研究全生命周期与全球视野问题、微系统—中系统—宏系统耦合匹配问题、可持续—智慧—公共服务—多系统—生活生产安全—公共安全协同问题、输入与输入平衡关系、应急与涌现关系、信息与安全情报关系、安全管理与自组织关系、复杂城市与复杂科学关系,简述本质安全并非基础设施安全、风险管理需要精准安全、韧性并非物理性问题,认为使命—人—机—物—管—环—信—文的体系,以及工程—教育—管理—文化等对策应赋予新的安全内涵。上述内容是城市系统安全学的重要理论基础问题。     

How can process safety and a risk management approach guide pandemic risk management?

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brought the world to a halt in March 2020. Various prediction and risk management approaches are being explored worldwide for decision making. This work adopts an advanced mechanistic model and utilizes tools for process safety to propose a framework for risk management for the current pandemic. A parameter tweaking and an artificial neural network-based parameter learning model have been developed for effective forecasting of the dynamic risk. Monte Carlo simulation was used to capture the randomness of the model parameters. A comparative analysis of the proposed methodologies has been carried out by using the susceptible, exposed, infected, quarantined, recovered, deceased (SEIQRD) model. A SEIQRD model was developed for four distinct locations: Italy, Germany, Ontario, and British Columbia. The learning-based approach resulted in better outcomes among the models tested in the present study. The layer of protection analysis is a useful framework to analyze the effect of different safety measures. This framework is used in this work to study the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions on pandemic risk. The risk profiles suggest that a stage-wise releasing scenario is the most suitable approach with negligible resurgence. The case study provides valuable insights to practitioners in both the health sector and the process industries to implement advanced strategies for risk assessment and management. Both sectors can benefit from each other by using the mathematical models and the management tools used in each, and, more importantly, the lessons learned from crises.     

Urban wild meat consumption and trade in central Amazonia

The switch from hunting wild meat for home consumption to supplying more lucrative city markets in Amazonia can adversely affect some game species. Despite this, information on the amounts of wild meat eaten in Amazonian cities is still limited. We estimated wild meat consumption rates in 5 cities in the State of Amazonas in Brazil through 1046 door-to-door household interviews conducted from 2004 to 2012. With these data, we modeled the relationship between wild meat use and a selection of socioeconomic indices. We then scaled up our model to determine the amounts of wild meat likely to be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers in central Amazonia. A total of 80.3% of all interviewees reported consuming wild meat during an average of 29.3 (CI 11.6) days per year. Most wild meat was reported as bought in local markets (80.1%) or hunted by a family member (14.9%). Twenty-one taxa were cited as consumed, mostly mammals (71.6%), followed by reptiles (23.2%) and then birds (5.2%). The declared frequency of wild meat consumption was positively correlated with the proportion of rural population as well as with the per capita gross domestic product of the municipality (administrative divisions) where the cities were seated. We estimated that as much as 10,691 t of wild meat might be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers within central Amazonia, the equivalent of 6.49 kg per person per year. In monetary terms, this amounts to US$21.72 per person per year or US$35.1 million overall, the latter figure is comparable to fish and timber production in the region. Given this magnitude of wild meat trade in central Amazonia, it is fundamental to integrate this activity into the formal economy and actively develop policies that allow the trade of more resilient taxa and restrict trade in species sensitive to hunting.     

RBF神经网络可靠度分析方法在边坡稳定性研究中的应用

针对边坡稳定性可靠度分析,当状态函数无法显式表达且传统计算方法求解复杂问题困难时,提出一种基于ABAQUS和粒子群优化径向基函数神经网络的可靠度分析方法。基于ABAQUS的强度折减方法计算所选随机变量对应的安全系数,利用径向基函数神经网络的数据拟合功能,建立模型并映射出安全系数和随机变量之间的关系,构造响应面功能函数;利用蒙特卡罗生成的大量随机样本代入功能函数得到相应的安全系数,进而计算边坡的失稳概率和可靠度指标来反映边坡稳定性。研究结果表明:相对于传统方法,本文方法计算效率更高、误差更小,适合实际工程应用。     

基于模糊贝叶斯网络的煤气化职业健康风险分析

针对煤气化行业职业健康风险影响因素不确定及模糊的特点,建立了职业健康风险计算模型。该模型将模糊数学与贝叶斯网络相耦合,模拟事件概率,找出导致风险的主要因素。通过分析煤气化行业中存在的多种风险因素,应用问卷调查法和模糊集理论模拟了根节点的发生概率,得出职业健康风险概率的预测值;应用贝叶斯网络反向推理的功能计算根节点后验概率并排序,确定了薄弱环节。该模型不仅能解决概率缺失情况下的风险量化推算问题,定量进行职业健康风险评估,还可以实现关键因素的识别,并能有针对性地提出改进措施,为职业健康风险预防提供决策依据。     

基于动态元网络的地铁施工安全事故致因分析

为有效避免地铁施工安全事故的发生,将动态元网络的分析方法应用于地铁施工安全事故致因分析,建立地铁施工安全事故网络节点体系,提出重点控制因素。以杭州地铁一号线施工安全事故为例,在充分考虑人的主观能动性后,建立以人员、行为、事件和组织为节点的节点体系,确定节点的数量及节点之间的相互关系,建立施工安全事故网络模型并进行分析,对打击效果进行对比分析,找到比较理想的打击策略,确立节点的重要度排序,研究结果表明:应重点控制有效的监督相关节点,即可有效地避免或者减少此类事故的发生。得出的结论与事故通报结果基本相符,这为避免地铁施工安全事故提供了新的研究思路。     

Teams as boundaries: How intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage influence network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks

What role does an ego's brokerage location—within a team (intra‐team) or outside the team (inter‐team)—play in the evolution of an instrumental knowledge‐seeking network in terms of both proximal (i.e., within the team) and distal (i.e., outside the team) tie formation and tie decay? We address this question by drawing on literature about social networks, brokerage, and teams. We use temporally separated data from 302 students embedded in 97 teams to test our hypotheses about the impacts of intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage on proximal and distal network evolution, specifically on four network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks: proximal tie formation, proximal tie decay, distal tie formation, and distal tie decay. We find that these four changes depend on individual network brokerage location even after controlling for personality and task characteristics. Specifically, inter‐team brokers change their networks both within and outside their teams, whereas intra‐team brokers curtail their network changes. We argue that these opposite effects occur because inter‐team brokers have greater autonomy than intra‐team brokers. This study adds to the ongoing dialog about network evolution in social network literature and to the conversations about brokerage and its location in the context of team‐based work.     

基于BP神经网络算法的密云水库水质参数反演研究

密云水库是北京市重要的地表饮用水源地,在保障首都水源安全方面起着重要作用,而密云水库水质参数的区域监测已成为当前亟待解决的问题。为了实现密云水库水质参数大范围、实时获取,该文基于遥感和GIS技术,采用BP神经网络算法,结合地面监测数据和Landsat 8遥感影像,分别建立了反演总磷、总氮、氨氮和COD(化学需氧量)4个水质参数的BP神经网络模型,并反演了密云水库2013-2018年非结冰期主要水质参数,分析了密云水库主要水质参数的年际变化特征、季节变化特征和空间分异特征。结果表明,(1)水质参数的Landsat 8敏感波段分别为:总氮为1、4波段,氨氮为1-7波段,总磷为1、3-7波段,COD为2-5波段。(2)密云水库主要水质参数在2013-2018年总体呈下降趋势,氨氮和COD为Ⅰ类水质,总磷为Ⅱ类水质,总氮为Ⅲ类水质。(3)4个水质参数指标春季最高、秋季次之、夏季最低,总氮、总磷、氨氮和COD的春季值分别是夏季值的1.08、1.36、1.6、1.45倍。(4)密云水库不同水质参数的空间差异性较大,总体来看,水库北部和东部的4个水质参数含量相对较高,这种分布与北部和东部村庄密集以及密云水库两大入库河流有关。综上所述,基于BP神经网络算法的密云水库水质反演研究是可行的,且得到了较为可信的研究结果,该研究可为密云水库水质管理与政策制定提供重要的科学依据。     

Artificial neural network modeling of caste odor discrimination based on cuticular hydrocarbons in termites

Summary. Individuals in an insect colony need to identify one another according to caste. Nothing is known about the sensory process allowing nestmates to discriminate minute variations in the cuticular hydrocarbon mixture. The purpose of this study was to attempt to model caste odors discrimination in four species of Reticulitermes termites for the first time by a non-linear mathematical approach using an "artificial neural network" (ANN). Several rounds of testing were carried out using 1 – the whole hydrocarbon mixtures 2 – mixtures containing the hydrocarbons selected by principal component analysis (PCA) as the most implicated in caste discrimination. Discrimination between worker and soldier castes was tested in all four species. For two species we tested discrimination of four castes (workers, soldiers, nymphs, neotenics). To test cuticular pattern similarity in two sibling species (R. santonensis and R. flavipes), we performed two experiments using one species for training and the other for query. Using whole hydrocarbons mixtures, worker/soldier discrimination was always successful in all species. Network performance decreased with the number of hydrocarbons used as inputs. Four-caste discrimination was less successful. In the experiment with the sibling species, the ANN was able to distinguish soldiers but not workers. The results of this study suggest that non-linear mathematical analysis is a good tool for classification of castes based on cuticular hydrocarbon mixture. In addition this study confirms that hydrocarbon mixtures observed are real chemical entities and constitute a true chemical signature or odor. Whole mixtures are not always necessary for discrimination. Received 23 July 1998; accepted 9 October 1998.