Governance innovations for climate change adaptation in urban Denmark

Urban areas worldwide are challenged by climate change and urban flooding. Within the academic literature, adaptive measures that can be integrated into other issues such as recreation, nature reserves, and social issues are considered the way forward. Adaptation has recently become a mandatory planning theme for Danish municipalities, which in the absence of established practices are struggling to find the best institutional set-up to address adaptation as an integrated issue. Based on a case study of an integrated project organised as a partnership, this article identifies and discusses governance challenges that must be addressed if municipalities are to benefit from synergies through integrated projects. The municipality in question has established a partnership with housing organisations, foundations, and a utility company as well as facilitated a dialogue with citizens and institutions to address flooding threats and social issues at the neighbourhood scale. Because of strong political and leadership support, funding from partners, and good project facilitation both partners and politicians are enthusiastic about the project and its potential. Several challenges, however, needed to be addressed, particularly in relation to clashing norms from different governance paradigms. This is an issue requiring more attention both in research and practice.     

非对称HALO掺杂栅交叠轻掺杂漏围栅MOSFET的解析模型

为抑制短沟道效应和热载流子效应,提出了一种非对称HALO掺杂栅交叠轻掺杂漏围栅MOSFET新结构.通过在圆柱坐标系中精确求解三段连续的泊松方程,推导出新结构的沟道静电势、阈值电压以及亚阈值电流的解析模型.结果表明,新结构可有效抑制短沟道效应和热载流子效应,并具有较小的关态电流.此外,分析还表明栅交叠区的掺杂浓度对器件的亚阈值电流几乎没有影响,而栅电极功函数对亚阈值电流的影响较大.解析模型结果和三维数值仿真工具ISE所得结果高度符合.     

The role of spatial scale in sustainable development

The role of spatial scale in sustainable development is assessed by dividing the world into multiple spatial units at different levels on a socio-political spatial scale. The basic patterns of sustainable development do not appear to be evident at all spatial levels, owing to the absence of some capital stocks and the conversion processes linking them, but environmental economics theory can be generalized to explain phenomena at various levels. Capital conversion processes influencing the sustainability of development of spatial units are constrained by processes at different levels, e.g. those imposing environmental conditions on development or affecting availability of investment capital. The autonomy of individual spatial units is also compromised by capital transfers to and from other units at the same level, so it is proposed that the sustainability of development of a particular unit should be estimated using net, rather than gross capital trends. Because of uneven development the same degree of sustainability should not be expected at the same time for all spatial units at the same spatial level.     

中国耕地变化模式的资源经济学分析

本研究旨在引入灰色系统关联分析法和高等计量经济学建模思想,结合经济学和土地学等相关学科知识,从资源经济学的角度揭示我国耕地动态变化过程,促进我国耕地可持续利用理论的完善与发展。结果表明:①在中、短时间尺度内社会经济发展因子对耕地变化起着重要的影响作用,主驱动因子有GDP、人均GDP、城市化水平和国家宏观政策;②耕地面积与GDP、城市化水平呈负相关,与人均GDP呈正相关;③我国耕地制度安排存在缺陷,是造成我国城市化蔓延占耕地的最直接原因;④我国应不断完善土地制度安排,同时,应不断促进社会经济发展技术水平的提高和加强政府导向,转变经济发展方式,从而减少社会经济发展对耕地的非科学侵占。     

Intelligent Databases Assist Transparent and Sound Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services

Assessment and economic valuation of services provided by ecosystems to humans has become a crucial phase in environmental management and policy-making. As primary valuation studies are out of the reach of many institutions, secondary valuation or benefit transfer, where the results of previous studies are transferred to the geographical, environmental, social, and economic context of interest, is becoming increasingly common. This has brought to light the importance of environmental valuation databases, which provide reliable valuation data to inform secondary valuation with enough detail to enable the transfer of values across contexts. This paper describes the role of next-generation, intelligent databases (IDBs) in assisting the activity of valuation. Such databases employ artificial intelligence to inform the transfer of values across contexts, enforcing comparability of values and allowing users to generate custom valuation portfolios that synthesize previous studies and provide aggregated value estimates to use as a base for secondary valuation. After a general introduction, we introduce the Ecosystem Services Database, the first IDB for environmental valuation to be made available to the public, describe its functionalities and the lessons learned from its usage, and outline the remaining needs and expected future developments in the field.     

中国自然资源管理体制与制度：现状、问题及展望

自然资源在国家发展中扮演着重要角色。十九大以来,党和国家对自然资源管理保持高度重视,我国自然资源管理的体制、制度以及理念方法不断变革创新,逐步形成了较为符合我国国情的管理体系和模式。然而,管理实践中仍然存在诸多不足和矛盾。从我国自然资源管理体制和制度建设的现状着手,从管理对象、管理主体和管理保障三个方面,阐明自然资源管理体制和制度建设的发展困因,总结凝练当前制约管理实践发展的突出现实问题,并从构建国家安全视角下的多维自然资源管理体系和建立健全自然资源管理制度体系两个方面,为我国自然资源管理体制改革和制度建设的未来发展提供思考和建议,这将有助于我国可持续发展和生态文明建设的更进一步推进。     

灾害与经济增长关系的定量分析

本文以哈罗德－多马经济增长模型为基础，初步估计了灾害直接损失对经济增长率的影响。并由此导出了一个计算灾害间接经济损失的方法，为从宏观的角度分析灾害损失与经济增长的关系提供了一种思路。     

MODELING WATER UTILITY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE1

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to present a theory and model for assessing the financial health of public water systems. Using financial information from 25 water utilities in Georgia, the paper seeks to identify the causal relationships between the financial performance of a water utility and its fiscal position. The need for a theoretical understanding of water utility financial health is the result of the increasingly stringent performance requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The issue has become particularly important for small water systems that will be exposed to significant financial demands. A set of financial ratios were developed and tested in a model that was based on liquid asset theory. The model contained five variables designed to account for the size of liquid assets, current debt, cash-flow, and the level of expenses. The variables fit the need of water utilities: to provide an adequate level of operation and maintenance to meet current and future system needs as well as SDWA standards.     

Some of the Nineteenth Century Origins of the Sustainability Concept

Interpreting and applying the concept of sustainable development is increasingly viewed as being the way to promulgate just and practicable economic, environmental and social policy. It is thus important that there be increased public and political awareness concerning the origins of economic theory, and its early relationship to sustainability concepts. While the term 'sustainable development' was popularised by the World Commission on Environment and Development report Our Common Future in 1987, it is generally recognised that notions of sustainability were promoted in `limits to growth' and 'green' discourses in the early 1970s (Meadows et al.: 1974, The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome, Potomac Associates and Pan Books, London and Sydney). However, there is little acknowledgement of the way in which nineteenth century intellectuals, from a range of disciplines, conceptualised the importance of balancing economic, social and environmental sustainability in their quest for justice and the conservation of nature.There was a considerable exchange of ideas on `political economy' and nature across Europe, and later the Americas, from the middle of the eighteenth century. This discourse reached its intellectual peak in the nineteenth century. During that era there was a proliferation of literature that was aimed at improving the human condition and recognising humanity's dependence upon nature. In Europe and the USA the participants in the debate included Cantillon, Quesnay, Condorcet, Galiani, Von Hayek, Marx and George. Due to the breadth of this influential body of work, we focus here on the British Victorian thinkers such as Darwin, Malthus, Martineau and Mill. These thinkers influenced each other in developing their theories and ideas in science, politics, economics and philosophy, and were influenced in turn by an earlier generation of intellectuals, such as Adam Smith. For the Victorian thinkers, conserving nature while trying to improve the distribution of wealth was a not a paradox, but a moral duty, and for them Smith's `rational' pursuit of self-interest could only be followed if it did not interfere with 'the rules of justice'. We argue that the manner in which these thinkers conceptualised their theories and ideas represents the nineteenth century origins of sustainability concepts.     

东平湖库区可持续发展综合分析

东平湖库区人口、资源及环境的矛盾非常突出，贫困与生态环境恶化的双重压力严重制约了库区的可持续发展。本文用可持续发展的观点及理论分析了库区可持续发展的客观因素，并对库区可持续发展的措施进行了探讨。