Drinking and driving and perceptions of arrest risk among California drivers: Relationships with DUI arrests in their city of residence

Objective: Addressing drinking and driving remains a challenge in the United States. The present study aims to provide feedback on driving under the influence (DUI) in California by assessing whether drinking and driving behavior is associated with the DUI arrest rates in the city in which the driver lives; whether this is due to perceptions that one can get arrested for this behavior; and whether this differed by those drivers who would be most affected by deterrence efforts (those most likely to drink outside the home).

Methods: This study consisted of a 2012 roadside survey of 1,147 weekend nighttime drivers in California. City DUI arrest rates for 2009–2011 were used as an indicator of local enforcement efforts. Population average logistic modeling was conducted modeling the odds of perceived high arrest likelihood for DUI and drinking and driving behavior within the past year.

Results: As the DUI arrest rates for the city in which the driver lives increased, perceived high risk of DUI arrest increased. There was no significant relationship between either city DUI arrest rates or perceived high risk of DUI arrest with self-reported drinking and driving behavior in the full sample. Among a much smaller sample of those most likely to drink outside the home, self-reported drinking and driving behavior was negatively associated with DUI arrests rates in their city of residence but this was not mediated by perceptions.

Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that perceptions are correlated with one aspect of DUI efforts in one's community. Those who were more likely to drink outside the home could be behaviorally influenced by these efforts.     

浅谈乌克兰生态鉴定制度中的公众参与—兼谈对我国的启示

乌克兰实行的是与环境影响评价制度相类似的生态鉴定制度，该制度在制度设计的完备性、科学性、合理性，特别是保障公众参与环境管理和直接参与生态鉴定活动方面具有十分显著的特点。在简要介绍乌克兰生态鉴定制度的基础上，探讨其确保公众参与的几种途径，以期对我国相关的立法与实践有所启示。     

Local perception of infrequent,extreme upland flash flooding: prisoners of experience?

The United Kingdom has experienced several exceptional summer flash floods in recent years and there is growing concern about the frequency of such events and the preparedness of the population. This paper uses a case study of the upper Ryedale flash flood (2005) and questionnaire and interview data to assess local perceptions of upland flash flooding. Experience of a major flash flood may not be associated with increased flood risk perception. Despite local residents’ awareness of a trend towards wetter summers and more frequent heavy rainfall, the poor maintenance of rivers was more frequently thought to be a more significant factor influencing local flood risk than climate change. Such findings have important implications for the potential success of contemporary national flood policies, which have put greater emphasis on public responsibility for responding to flooding. This study recommends, therefore, the use of fresh participatory approaches to redistribute and raise awareness of locally‐held flood knowledge.     

Adolescents’ attitudes towards nature and environment: Quantifying the 2-MEV model

This study identifies clearly the need for refinement of instrumentation in this area of environmental studies. A questionnaire battery designed to measure the factors Utilization (U) and Preservation (P) in the field of adolescent environmental perception was administered to 467 German secondary school pupils. Maximum likelihood factor analysis yielded the two hypothesized orthogonal factors U and P; we labelled this scale the 2-MEV model, i.e. the 2 factor Model of Environmental Values (sets of related attitudes). These analyses provide a basis for the construction of a questionnaire specifically designed to measure U and P. Confirmation of this factor structure was examined by comparing the factors extracted from two independent pseudorandom subsamples selected from the original sample.     

Improving public information about large hydroelectric dams: Case studies in France and West Africa

It is becoming more common for public authorities in charge of dam construction and management to inform the population living in the area soon to be submerged by a proposed dam. However, populations living further downstream along a river to be dammed, have often been left to find out by chance, despite the fact that the changes to the river flow regime will have an important impact on their lives, sometimes serious negative impacts. This article makes a comparison between two dams, one at Bort-les-Orgues across the upper Dordogne River in southern France, the other the Bagré Dam over the Nakambé (or White Volta) River in south-eastern Burkina Faso. The article discusses dam construction and operation from the point of view of the concerned populations living in the reservoir and downstream areas.
In 2000, a study was carried out in the Dordogne Valley to ascertain downstream impacts of dam operations and information needs of the population. Suggestions from local river users related mostly to improving public information about predicted and actual flow rates and actual flow in real time along the 300 km course of the Dordogne between the dams and the estuary. Such information should be disseminated as widely as possible through available media, including the Internet, and also displayed visibly in key locations along the length of the river.     

空气质量的公众感知偏差

已有研究表明公众对空气质量的感知存在偏差,即公众感知与客观数据不一致或不相符。公众感知空气质量的特点包括直观性、适应性和经验性,并受到人口学变量、社会经济因素和地区差异的影响。针对这一偏差在我国的表现,文章提出了3点启示:注重社会舆论导向,倡导理性公众感知;倡导全民参与,积极回应公众关切;将公众感知纳入空气质量指标。     

Artisan fishers’ perception of climate change and disasters in coastal Bangladesh

Climate change is affecting fishing communities across Bangladesh. While work has been undertaken to investigate the nature of these impacts, understanding how fishers perceive climate change at a local level, especially within developing countries, is crucial. This paper presents the results of a three-year study of the contextual determinants and dimensions of artisanal fishing community perceptions about climate change in coastal Bangladesh. Results of this study indicate that geographic characteristics, socio-economic status, worldviews, tradition, observations and disaster experiences are important determinants for shaping fishers’ perceptions about climate change. Fishers also demonstrate a long-standing tradition of risk adaptation strategies, but do not link them to climate change. We argue that these perceptions provide ideas for how to form appropriate climate responses at local levels not only in Bangladesh but other developing countries.     

Revealing climate change opinions through investment behavior: Evidence from Fukushima

In this study we present a novel research approach to obtaining behavior-based evidence of regional climate change attitudes, using the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant incident as a natural experiment. Our approach allows us to produce the first non-survey-based empirical evidence of a trans-Atlantic divide in public opinion on the environment and climate change that investors assign to fossil-based and renewable energy. This value is based on the perceived potential of these fuel types to substitute for nuclear generation in the aftermath of the Fukushima crisis. We carry out an event study to examine differences in abnormal returns of global coal and renewable energy companies on European and American stock exchanges. We find that investors trading on U.S. markets exhibit a significantly more favorable perception of coal stock profitability, while investors trading on European exchanges display a more favorable perception about profitability of renewable energy stocks.