The Ethical Contract as a Tool in Organic Animal Husbandry

This article explores what an ethicfor organic animal husbandry might look like,departing from the assumption that organicfarming is substantially based in ecocentricethics. We argue that farm animals arenecessary functional partners in sustainableagroecosystems. This opens up additional waysto argue for their moral standing. We suggestan ethical contract to be used as acomplementary to the ecocentric framework. Weexpound the content of the contract and end bysuggesting how to apply this contract inpractice. The contract enjoins us to share thewealth created in the agroecosystem (by ourjoint contributions) by enjoining us to carefor the welfare and needs of the individualanimal, and to protect them from exploitation(just as human co-workers should not beexploited). The contract makes promoting goodanimal welfare a necessary condition forbenefiting farm animals. Animals for their partare guaranteed coverage under the contract solong as they continue to contribute to thesystem with products and services.     

Assessing Spatial, Temporal, and Analytical Variation of Groundwater Chemistry in a Large Nuclear Complex, USA

Statistical analyses were applied at the Hanford Site, USA, to assess groundwater contamination problems that included (1) determining local backgrounds to ascertain whether a facility is affecting the groundwater quality and (2) determining a ‘pre-Hanford' groundwater background to allow formulation of background-based cleanup standards. The primary purpose of this paper is to extend the random effects models for (1) assessing the spatial, temporal, and analytical variability of groundwater background measurements; (2) demonstrating that the usual variance estimate s ², which ignores the variance components, is a biased estimator; (3) providing formulas for calculating the amount of bias; and (4) recommending monitoring strategies to reduce the uncertainty in estimating the average background concentrations. A case study is provided. Results indicate that (1) without considering spatial and temporal variability, there is a high probability of false positives, resulting in unnecessary remediation and/or monitoring expenses; (2) the most effective way to reduce the uncertainty in estimating the average background, and enhance the power of the statistical tests in general, is to increase the number of background wells; and (3) background for a specific constituent should be considered as a statistical distribution, not as a single value or threshold. The methods and the related analysis of variance tables discussed in this paper can be used as diagnostic tools in documenting the extent of inherent spatial and/or temporal variation and to help select an appropriate statistical method for testing purposes.     

工业水环境监管契约研究

对工业污水排放的有效监管是水环境保护的重要环节。分析了我国目前监管主体所处的困境,考虑中央监察与公众参与的监督约束作用,构建了水环境监管体系。并设计出具有激励约束惩罚效力的水环境监管契约,建立委托 代理模型,通过求解得出监管契约中污水排放标准、监管频率、补偿额度以及罚款数额的最优值。在此基础上,以太湖流域两个成本类型差异较大的印染企业为例,定量设计两级水环境监管契约,分析公众参与程度和地方政府庇护企业程度对契约取值的影响。结果表明：提高公众参与程度可以有效降低罚款额度,削减政企矛盾;当公众参与程度和惩罚额度一定时,通过环境问责等制度降低地方政府庇护企业的程度,能够减小监管频率,从而削减监管执行成本     

Factors influencing the acceptance of nature conservation measures--a qualitative study in Switzerland

Landscapes fulfil a multitude of ecological and social functions. Due to the fact that both traditional and everyday landscapes today face many different threats, regulatory measures have been undertaken in many countries to protect and further sustainable landscape development. They include legislation as well as economic incentives. In recent years, however, it has become clear that just to have a few laws and to spend money on subsidies is not enough. Factors other than legislation are also essential to further the sustainable development of landscapes. One of the basic factors affecting the success or failure of landscape conservation measures is public acceptance of these measures. Our project took this as its starting point. The objective was to determine which conditions and factors influence acceptance positively or negatively. To this end 22 Swiss who are directly affected by nature conservation measures, in particular by mire landscape and dry meadow conservation measures, were interviewed using qualitative interview techniques. It is shown that perception, communication, and possibilities to participate are the most decisive driving factors influencing the formation of a long-lasting acceptance. Furthermore, acceptance may be based mainly on economic criteria, on usefulness, on ecological or even aesthetic aspects. It can be shown that not all of these motivations lead to a long-lasting acceptance. Ecologically based acceptance seems the most promising because it is founded on general convictions. Economic incentives--though important--seem to generate only superficial acceptance and do not seem to be as important as is usually assumed.     

发展型心理契约视角下情感性组织安全文化对员工安全风险作用机理研究——基于国有煤炭企业的调研数据

为了探索情感性组织安全文化对员工安全风险的作用机理,从发展型心理契约视角出发,设计情感性组织安全文化、发展型心理契约及员工安全风险测度量表,采用结构方程方法分别构建了情感性组织安全文化对员工安全风险直接作用、间接作用和两种作用耦合情形下的作用模型。结果表明:"情感性组织安全文化"对"员工安全风险"有正向影响,"情感性组织安全文化"对"发展型心理契约"有显著正向影响,同时"发展型心理契约"对"员工安全风险"有显著正向影响;在以上直接作用和间接作用耦合情形下,"情感性组织安全文化"对"员工安全风险"不存在直接的正向作用,但"情感性组织安全文化"通过"发展型心理契约"对"员工安全风险"产生正向影响的效果更加显著。研究表明,通过情感性组织安全文化建设降低员工安全风险,融入促进员工发展型心理契约均衡因素,能起到事半功倍的效果。     

A new look at the psychological contract during organizational socialization: The role of newcomers' obligations at entry

Previous studies have demonstrated that the psychological contract is largely shaped during socialization. This study adopts a complementary perspective and analyzes how the psychological contract at the start of employment shapes the subsequent socialization process. Drawing upon social exchange theory, we propose that newcomers with a higher sense of their personal obligations at entry will perceive orientation training as more useful and develop better relationships with their supervisors and peers, which in turn will facilitate their work adjustment. Results of a longitudinal survey on a sample of 144 recruits from a European Army show that newcomers with a higher initial sense of their employee obligations toward their employer report higher perceived training utility, higher leader–member exchange (LMX) with their instructors, and higher team–member exchange (TMX) with their platoon peers. Moreover, perceived training utility and LMX predict the fulfillment of employers' obligations; and training utility predicts the level of newcomers' employee obligations. Finally, training utility, LMX, and TMX predict some of three indicators of newcomers' adjustment, namely, role clarity (training utility and LMX), group integration (TMX), and organizational values understanding (training utility). These results highlight how newcomers' obligations at the start of employment contribute to the social exchange dynamic underlying organizational socialization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于嵌套模型的地下水侧向径流边界刻画方法研究——以湖北碾盘山冲积平原地下水数值模拟为例

侧向径流边界的刻画方法是地下水数值模拟中的关键问题。以湖北碾盘山汉江水利水电枢纽工程为例,基于有限单元法和嵌套模型的水量转换方法,分别建立包括完整水文地质单元的区域模型和仅包含汉水Ⅰ级阶地的平原区模型;通过区域模型的分区水均衡运算,计算平原区侧向径流边界的径流量,并以区域模型水均衡为框架,分别采用二类流量边界和一类水头边界刻画侧向径流边界,建立了平原区模型;深入分析区域模型和平原区模型间参数和水量的转换关系,并对比了两类边界条件刻画方法的优缺点和适用条件。结果表明:采用嵌套模型能够得到较为准确的地下水侧向径流量;在平原区模型中采用二类流量边界刻画侧向径流边界有利于提高平原区模型的精度和稳定性;边界条件除具有双重含义外还具有双重特征,在模型建立过程中应充分认识边界条件的位置特征和数量特征,并合理概化。     

青藏高原不同草地利用方式产生的原因及其对社会-生态系统的影响研究进展

20世纪90年代,青藏高原地区开始推行草地承包到户制度,但因种种原因,草地承包落实并不彻底,出现了单户利用和联户利用共存的局面。两种利用方式产生的原因及各自对社会-生态系统的影响引起了学术界的高度关注,已有众多研究人员对此问题进行了深入研究。论文通过对国内外相关文献的分析和总结,对这一研究领域中所取得的主要进展进行了回顾,并凝练出其中存在的主要问题,如对单户利用正面影响和对联户利用负面影响的认识不足等。在此基础上,有针对性地指出了未来研究应予以加强的几个方面,尤其需加强单户和联户利用的实证对比研究。     

矿地复垦执行保证金的法治化问题研究

矿地复垦的市场调控失灵导致负外部性经济效果,政府命令与控制型因信息和寻租而同样失灵;保证金是弥补两个失灵时基于市场的政策工具,但要与矿地复垦协议共同使用。保证金的功能是担保矿地复垦合同的履行。复垦合同属行政管理中相对人自愿诺成行为,具有行政与民事的双重属性。行政机关的优益权和矿地验收决定等引起的争议属行政纠纷,救济要平衡合同主体双方,矿山利益和公共利益都要保护。这一切都要依靠理论研究、体制改革、培育中介机构等系列基础工程。     

Suitability of short or long conservation contracts under ecological and socio-economic uncertainty

Acquisition of land rights has become a primary tool used to protect terrestrial biodiversity. Fixed length contracts are often used when trying to secure conservation benefits on private land in agri-environment schemes and payment for environmental services schemes, but the duration of the conservation contracts used in different programmes varies. To date, very little research has been undertaken to determine the situations in which contracts of differing lengths are optimal or when conservation agencies or groups should use a portfolio of different contract lengths rather than relying on a single type. Using stochastic dynamic programming and related heuristic methods, we investigate how the choice between short or long conservation contracts is affected by uncertainty regarding the future availability of sites and their ecological condition. We also examine the benefits offered by using a portfolio of different contract lengths. Conservation agencies must pay private landowners a premium to secure longer agreements and because of this, shorter contracts are advantageous if sites are likely to remain available for conservation in the future. Long contracts are preferred when future site availability becomes more unlikely. In contrast to uncertainty over site availability, uncertainty over future ecological conditions has little effect on contract selection and only markedly influences the choice between short and long contracts when there is heterogeneity across sites in expected conservation outcomes and future availability of sites is also uncertain. Finally, when future site availability is unlikely, the use of a portfolio of short and long contracts would offer greater conservation gains than using either type in isolation, even though this option is not yet one that is commonly found in conservation practice.