Incorporation of environmental issues in South Africa’s municipal Integrated Development Plans

The transition to full democracy in South Africa in 1994 saw local government becoming the focal point for dealing with socio-economic development needs of communities. The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) has been used as the tool for guiding local development objectives, balanced against environmental demands within a sustainable development paradigm. Here we examine the extent to which this is being achieved through an analysis of IDPs from 35 different municipalities at three scales. We test the hypothesis that the metropolitan municipalities are better at mainstreaming environmental issues into their IDPs than local and district municipalities. Results indicate that mainstreaming environmental issues in IDPs is still low. The hypothesis that metropoles are better at mainstreaming environmental issues than district and local municipalities was not accepted since there were no significant differences between municipalities. There was low relative budget allocations and inclusion of vision and mission statements that mainstream environmental issues in all municipalities. For mainstreaming of environmental issues to be effective in IDPs, both proactive approaches and multi-faceted bottom-up and top-down approaches are suggested.     

The real effect of legal institutions: Environmental courts and firm environmental protection expenditure

This paper evaluates the real effects of environmental justice reform on environmental governance at the firm level. Using the establishment of environmental courts in China as a quasi-natural experiment, our difference-in-differences estimation shows that: (1) environmental courts significantly enhance environmental investment by firms, and this relationship is robust to different specifications and alternative measures; (2) three possible channels are the improved levels of justice and enforcement of environmental protection, and the mitigation of local government intervention; (3) our findings are particularly pronounced in subsamples with severe local protectionism, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and non-SOEs with political connections; (4) at the city-level, environmental courts significantly increase air quality and promote cities to cross the inflection point of the environmental Kuznets curve earlier. Overall, this paper reveals the micro-mechanisms behind the real effects of environmental justice on firm environmental investment, thus providing timely implications for regulators concerned with environmental protection.     

局部火灾条件下某钢结构屋架的抗火保护研究

本文针对局部火灾条件下钢结构屋架的防火保护问题,结合典型案例提出了一种基于性能计算分析的抗火保护设计评估分析方法.首先通过火灾场景分析及烟气运动模拟计算,得到钢结构屋架所处的热环境,再计算各构件在不同保护条件下的温升及应力分布,并判断构件及结构在不同的保护方式下是否失效,最后得到经济合理的保护区域和防火涂层厚度.该方法可以为类似的局部火灾条件下钢结构抗火保护提供参考.     

Local Cultural Knowledge and Water Resource Management: The Wind River Indian Reservation

Ecology and culture comprise interacting components of landscapes. Understanding the integrative nature of the landscape is essential to establish methods for sustainable management. This research takes as a unifying theme the idea that ecological and cultural issues can be incorporated through management. As a first step in developing integrative management strategies, information must be collected that compares and contrasts ecological and cultural issues to identify their areas of intersection. Specifically how can local cultural knowledge enable water resource management that reflects cultural and ecological values? This research examines Native American cultural knowledge for setting water resource management priorities in the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming. A cross-cultural approach is adopted to assess the relationship between indigenous cultural knowledge and Euro-American perspectives through a comparative examination of the Wind River Water Code and Wyoming Water Law. This research indicates that cultural perspectives provide a rich arena in which to examine management issues. Understanding and identifying cultural practices may be an important first step in collaborative resource management between different cultural groups to prevent conflict and lengthy resolution in court.     

Experimental tests of the information-center hypothesis with black vultures (Coragypsatratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartesaura)

In field tests of the information-center hypothesis (ICH) in south Texas with black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), large carcasses were provided and kept under continuous observation. The use vultures made of these bait sites and their patterns of arrival were recorded to evaluate predictions derived from the ICH. Turkey vultures discovered most bait sites (30 of 31) first, but frequently were displaced from the food by later-arriving black vultures. This competitive exclusion by black vultures limited subsequent feeding opportunities for turkey vultures sufficiently that few (27%) returned on subsequent days to bait sites they had previously visited. I found no evidence that those turkey vultures that did return to bait sites acted as leaders for groups of naive birds and led them to bait sites – knowledgeable and naive turkey vultures did not arrive at bait sites together, and groups arriving at bait sites were not larger on subsequent days than on the first days carcasses were available. In contrast, a significantly larger percentage (47%) of knowledgeable black vultures returned to bait sites they had visited on previous days, and the first groups of black vultures arriving at bait sites on subsequent days were significantly larger than the equivalent groups on first days. Nine flocks of black vultures that arrived on subsequent days at bait sites before sunrise (which suggests the birds had commuted directly from a roost) contained knowledgeable birds, and two of these flocks contained both knowledgeable and naive individuals. Overall, 10 of 54 naive tagged black vultures (18.5%) arrived at bait sites under circumstances that suggested they had followed conspecifics to the food from a roost. However, most black vultures apparently found carcasses through independent search or by using local enhancement. Therefore, I conclude that while following from roosts to food sites is a strategy used by black vultures, at this study site it is one they use relatively infrequently. Received: 20 February 1997 / Accepted after revision: 28 June 1997     

Coping with Change: The Small Experiment as a Strategic Approach to Environmental Sustainability

The patterns of living, planning, and resource utilization as practiced in Western countries for decades are not sustainable; change of some sort is essential. But what changes are appropriate, and, perhaps more important, will people accept them? The small experiment framework provides a strategy for meeting the challenge of change. By encouraging participation, limiting the scale of initial change, and incorporating some aspects of the familiar, many of the difficulties that make change so problematic can be mitigated or even eliminated. An exploration, from a psychological perspective, of the characteristic difficulties surrounding potential change provides the context for a discussion of the components of the small experiment and an analysis of how these elements address these characteristic challenges. A comparison to adaptive management is drawn, and several concrete examples illustrate how the strategy has been used successfully to address a variety of environmental problems.     

居民旅游影响感知态度及其动力因子研究——以周庄为例

旅游发展对旅游地居民生活产生经济、社会文化、环境等方面的影响。首先分析了居民对旅游影响和旅游发展的感知态度,发现居民对旅游影响的正面感知较强烈,对旅游发展也持理性支持的态度,其中居民对环境影响的正面感知最为强烈。结合居民态度随旅游发展而发生相应变化的相关理论与周庄现阶段旅游发展特征,对居民感知态度的动力因子进行了探讨。     

环境类激素物质对农村水体的污染及处理措施

目前在农村环境中大量的类激素物质不断以各种途径进入地表和地下水体,对环境造成了极大的危害。严重威胁着居民的身体健康。我们应该密切关注这个问题,严加控制类激素物质的用量,选择合适的处理方法如物理吸附、光化学或电化学催化氧化、生物处理等,有效去除进入农村环境的类激素物质。并对农村饮用水进行严格的处理,采取集中供水方式,保障农村的饮用水安全,促进新农村建设。     

太原市城市和农村居民尿液中羟基多环芳烃的浓度比较

尿液中的羟基多环芳烃（OH-PAHs）可作为多环芳烃内暴露剂量的指示剂.基于此,分别在采暖期（2009年12月）和非采暖期（2009年9月）采集和分析了我国北方城市——太原市60名城市居民和60名农村居民（男女人数比为1：1,年龄：30～60岁）尿样中6种OH-PAHs的浓度水平.结果表明：太原市城市居民和农村居民尿液...     

中小城市居民垃圾分类行为影响因素——以张家港市为例

为识别中小城市居民分类行为的影响因素和决策机制,本文构建了中小城市居民垃圾分类行为决策模型,并以江苏省张家港市为例,运用结构方程拟合与修正,分析了主客观因素对居民分类行为的影响,并与大城市相关研究进行了比较.结果表明：张家港市垃圾分类参与率达95%,高于一、二线大城市.对于张家港市居民而言,“行为意愿”是影响其分类行为最显著的因素,其次是“环保意识”和“社会影响”;“经济回报”和“法规影响”的显著性较低,尚未发挥应有的激励作用;“分类知识掌握程度”和“时间花费”的影响不显著.总体来看,主观意识（敏感性系数：0.629）仍是影响中小城市居民分类行为的主导因素,但在强制垃圾分类背景下,随着分类设施的建设完善、法律法规的颁布和社区管制加强,其影响作用趋于减弱,而客观环境对应的显著观测变量更多,对居民分类行为的影响逐渐增强,将是政府制定管理政策的有效发力点.