Urban agriculture,civil interfaces and moving beyond difference: the experiences of plot holders in Dublin and Belfast

Recent literature suggests that a “shared politics of place” attained through joint activities fosters social integration and provides people with a means to practise co-operation [Baumann, G., 1996. Contesting culture: discourses of identity in multi-ethnic London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Sanjek, R., 1998. The future of us all: race & neighbourhood policies in New York City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Sennett, R., 2012. Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation. UK: Penguin]. Such a “shared politics of place” is most likely to occur in the context of public space conceptualised broadly as “the setting for everyday spatial behaviour of individuals and communities, emphasizing ordinary activities of citizens” [Lownsbrough, H. and Beunderman, J., 2007. Equally spaced? Public space and interaction between diverse communities. London: Demos, p. 8]. Here we explore one element of such public space – urban agriculture sites – with a view to identifying the extent to which a “shared politics of place” can be created and nurtured among the cultivating citizenry. The paper draws on data collected on allotment gardening sites in two urban contexts: Dublin (Ireland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland) over the period 2009–2013. We demonstrate the centrality of allotment cultivation to the generation of solidarity, mutuality and trust among participating citizens. Individuals engaging in allotment gardening in both Dublin and Belfast create and sustain civil interfaces – dismantling barriers, exchanging knowledge, challenging stereotypes, generating empathy and getting on with the business of simply getting on with their lives. The modus operandi of allotment gardening is predicated on a willingness to disregard social and ethno-national categorisations while on site. This is not to deny that such differences exist and persist, but allotments offer a “space of potential” where those differences are, at least for a time, rendered less salient.     

基于改进社会力模型的地铁大客流疏散能力研究*

为有效应对大客流情景下人群拥挤对地铁站正常运行带来的影响,采用社会力模型和Anylogic仿真软件,对地铁站大客流疏散能力进行建模和分析,从客观、主观、管理视角分析影响客流疏散能力的因素,基于改进社会力模型刻画行人行为,分析影响地铁车站疏散能力的3个关键因素,并以南宁地铁1号线朝阳广场站为背景进行研究。研究结果表明:行人密度是影响地铁站疏散能力的关键因素,出入口选择策略和行人亲属关系比例对疏散能力影响显著,研究结果可为地铁客流疏散提出针对性建议。     

员工-组织社会交换与安全绩效的关系:基于广东企业的实证研究

为了探索员工-组织社会交换与安全绩效的作用关系,以广东省5家制造业企业员工为调查对象,基于社会交换理论,运用Mplus建立结构方程模型对74个团队468份有效问卷进行实证研究。研究结果表明:员工-组织社会交换对安全促进心理所有权和安全绩效均具有显著正向影响,员工-组织社会交换可以通过安全促进心理所有权的中介效应最终影响安全绩效。服务型领导跨层调节员工-组织社会交换与安全促进心理所有权之间的关系,并可进一步调节安全促进心理所有权的中介作用。     

Genetic relatedness and space use in a behaviorally flexible species of marmot, the woodchuck (Marmota monax)

Solitary species show several patterns of space use and relatedness. Individuals may associate randomly or may live near female or male kin, often as a result of natal philopatry or dispersal patterns. Although usually described as solitary or asocial, woodchucks (Marmota monax) are behaviorally flexible marmots that exhibit greater sociality in some populations than others. I examined relationships between kinship, geographic distance, and home range overlap, as well as dispersal and philopatry, to determine the extent to which kin associated spatially. I used a combination of microsatellite DNA analysis, long-term behavioral observations, and radiotelemetry to test predictions that females, but not males, would associate with kin. Indeed, woodchucks lived closer and shared a greater proportion of their home range with more closely related animals. Overlap of females' and males' home ranges was positively correlated with kinship, and male–female dyads shared more area with closer kin. Most juveniles delayed dispersal beyond their first summer. Females often remained philopatric and settled near their natal range. Although males often dispersed as yearlings, some males also established territories within or immediately adjacent to their natal home ranges. A combination of factors can explain these spatial patterns, including high population density associated with the study site's location within a suburban environment, high dispersal costs, and abundant food. Thus, despite their asocial and solitary reputation, woodchucks displayed spatial patterns seen in other, more social species of ground-dwelling sciurids.     

Forging New Directions in Science and Environmental Politics and Policy: How Can Co-operation, Deliberation and Decision be Brought Together?

Science, politics and environmental policy have for several years been encountering social and institutional as well as scientific challenges, national and international. The normative basis of all sciences is pressurised from three sides: by awareness of the public, who claims more transparency and sensibility from the scientific institutions regarding factual or possible impacts of science-based industrial progress; by the industries, which try to speed up and intensify the industrialisation of knowledge; and by the public policies, which want to see the sciences engaged in ways to mitigate unintended consequences of economic, ecological and social developments. At the same time, environmental policy is undergoing a tremendous sea change both in conceptual and practical matters. Since the Brundtland Report in 1987 and accelerated after UNCED 1992, environmental policy has been struggling to become a groundbreaking new paradigm for the capacity of resolving social and political issues as well. Any successful attempt to alter traditional institutional and mental structures in policy-making toward sustainability presupposes a renewed association of co-operation, deliberation and decision making. Results from theory of democracy, studies in science and technology, and evaluation studies in environmental policy and politics can be utilised for this context.     

INTEGRATING DEMOGRAPHIC AND LANDSAT (TM) DATA AT A WATERSHED SCALE1

ABSTRACT: Recurrent calls for integrated resource management urge that an understanding of human activities and populations be incorporated into natural resource research, management, and protection efforts. In this paper, we hypothesize that watersheds can be a valuable geography for organizing an inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment, and we present a framework for conducting such efforts. The framework is grounded in the emerging field of landscape ecology and incorporates demographic theory and data. Demography has been advanced by technological capabilities associated with the 1990 Census. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, we couple Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) land cover data with census‐derived housing density data to demonstrate the operation of our framework and its utility for better understanding human‐landscape interactions. In our investigation of the Kickapoo Watershed and two sub‐ watersheds, located in southwestern Wisconsin, we identify relationships between landscape composition and the distribution and social structure of human populations. Our findings offer insight into the interplay between people and biophysical systems.     

The Economic Consequences of Alien Plant Invasions: Examples of Impacts and Approaches to Sustainable Management in South Africa

The invasion of natural ecosystems by alien plants is a serious environmental problem that threatens the sustainable use of benefits derived from such ecosytems. Most past studies in this field have focussed on the history, ecology and management of invasive alien species, and little work has been done on the economic aspects and consequences of invasions. This paper reviews what is known of the economic consequences of alien plant invasions in South Africa. These economic arguments have been used to successfully launch the largest environmental management programme in Africa.Ten million hectares of South Africa has been invaded by 180 alien species, but their impacts are not fully understood, although they are undoubtedly significant. The indications are that the total costs of these impacts are substantial. Selected studies show that invasions have reduced the value of fynbos ecosystems by over US$ 11.75 billion; that the total cost of invasion would be about US$ 3.2 billion on the Agulhas Plain alone; that the net present cost of invasion by black wattles amounts to US$ 1.4 billion; that invasions by red water fern have cost US$ 58 million; and that the cost to clear the alien plant invasions in South Africa is around US$ 1.2 billion. These few examples indicate that the economic consequences of invasions are huge.One of the unique aspects of invasive plant control programmes in South Africa has been the ability to leverage further benefits (mainly through employment) for the expensive control programmes from the government's poverty relief budget. This has made it possible to allocate substantial funding to a programme that would otherwise have struggled to obtain significant support. Biological control of invasive species also offers considerable benefits, but is often the subject of debate. We believe that, at least in the case of many invasive alien plant species in South Africa, biological control offers one of the best, and most cost-effective, interventions for addressing the problem.     

二龙山流域生态环境整治与可持续发展管理机制研究

指出了二龙山水库流域经济社会发展与生态环境保护的矛盾,针对具体矛盾,建立了生态环境管理与可持续发展管理机制,提出了相应的社会对策,进而拟定了可行的法律法规体系.      

石油化工企业定量风险评价程序探讨

介绍了定量风险评价的风险可接受准则和石油化工企业定量风险评价的一般程序。基本程序主要包括准备、资料数据收集、危险辨识、失效频率分析、失效后果分析、风险计算、风险评价及建议和风险评价报告和结论。此外,提出了评价过程中应注意的事项。     

用于组织和产品碳足迹的中国电力温室气体排放因子

讨论了组织和产品碳足迹与清洁发展机制(CDM)在计算电力温室气体排放因子方法上的区别,在发改委电力排放因子的基础上进行了多项修正与补充,分别得到用于组织和产品碳足迹的中国电力温室气体排放因子.结果表明,发改委发布的电力基准线排放因子与本文得出的组织和产品碳足迹的排放因子有显著差距,不应混用.本文计算的排放因子可为国内组织及产品碳足迹研究提供更恰当的数据来源.