FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT: SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS' ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES1

ABSTRACT: Methods of floodplain management are changing in the United States. There has been a gradual shift in emphasis from “flood control” to “management” of the floodplain. The complexities of multilevel governmental involvement in floodplain management demand an analysis of a new means to coordinate these efforts. It is the intent of this paper to discuss the role of the Corps of Engineers in this area and the problems the Corps has encountered in its endeavors. The occurrence of these problems indicates that there is a need to strengthen the federal role to ensure a comprehensive view of floodplain management.     

Building resilience to climate change – the role of cooperation in alpine tourism networks

While there is ample – though partially contradictory – evidence regarding the effects climate change will have on various regions of the world, there is only very limited work dedicated to the analysis of different governance structures, and how these structures are likely to influence the resilience of alpine tourism systems in the face of climate change. We present an analytical framework based on network theory, and apply this to the Swiss case study destination of Engelberg, in order to deduct a number of insights for the future assessment of resilience based on the cooperation of local actors. The main aim of the paper is to come up with comparable resilience metrics based on social network analysis in order to assess the structural strengths and weaknesses of a geographically delimited tourism system in the face of climate change. Together with the action potential of the individual actors these structural properties influence the adaptive capacity of both individual actors, and the tourism system as a whole. In line with comparable studies, we identify structural strengths and weaknesses around the core-periphery distribution (centrality), subgroups (modularity) and information flows (path length). We find that the Engelberg network follows an almost ideal-typical scale-free structure and the overall cooperation rate (density) is comparable to other tourism networks. The main weaknesses of the network with regard to climate change resilience are the lacking integration of public sector actors and the relatively high number of actors in the periphery of the network.     

长江经济带产业分工合作现状、问题及发展对策

在梳理长江经济带产业分工与合作现状及问题的基础上,认为长江经济带区际产业发展的互补特征鲜明,下游地区服务业发展较为完善,中上游地区特色产业突出;但也存在市场化程度发育偏低、要素流动不畅、行政区经济严重制约、中心城市产业高度偏低、区域创新能力不足等问题。还根据未来长江经济带产业分工合作的基本思路,提出应发挥下游优势产业的引领带动作用、打造行业龙头骨干企业的辐射结盟作用、加强产业园区的创新示范作用等若干对策建议。     

长三角区域一体化高质量发展：问题与出路

长三角一体化高质量发展对于中国经济行稳致远有着不言而喻的重要意义。为了科学全面认识新时代长三角一体化高质量发展中存在的问题,厘清未来的发展出路,邀请来自不同领域的相关专家就长三角一体化高质量发展中的区域协调、产业协同、交通组织、城镇体系演变、跨区合作、要素配置、流域统筹、一体化路径、绿色低碳发展等研究前沿进行访谈。访谈结果表明：长三角作为我国经济发展最活跃、开放程度最高、创新能力最强的区域,其发展中仍然存在内部发展不平衡、区间交通割裂、行政壁垒尚存、流域生态协作不健全、产业协同发展不足、绿色经济体系较弱等突出问题。长三角在中国乃至世界发展格局中的战略地位,需要综合各学科各专业的理论知识,从不同视角持续关注长三角一体化高质量发展的重大科学命题。紧扣“一体化”和“高质量”,长三角一体化首先要创新机制缩小区域内部发展差异,强化综合交通一体化的基础支撑,更要突破行政边界的制约;其次要创新机制体制来保障生产要素的有效流动与配置,通过价值链、产业链、创新链的融合发展来夯实一体化;再次要促进土地要素向长三角集中使用,提高长三角地区土地承载能力,为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供充足的土地要素保证;然后要优化人口就业空间结构,加强城际间环境污染联防联治,强化大江大河等重大流域的省际统筹与合作,共同提升长三角的生态系统服务功能,推动绿色一体化发展;最后更要贯彻五大新发展理念,通过科研突破与市场机制来实现低碳发展,在创新驱动引领下打造流空间世界级枢纽,以实现长三角区域一体化高质量发展的新局面。以上观点为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供科学可行的理论和决策支持。     

全球可持续发展与国际合作

本文认为环境生态是全球可持续发展的重要组成部分,必须在全球范围内,通过有效的国际合作和国际协调来加以解决。作者认为:国际合作应在国际性河流流域管理方面发挥重要作用。对全球温室效应问题,国际组织应重视科学研究,协调各国政府在能源税收、补贴和开发再生能源方面取得进展。此外,在保护地球生物多样性方面,国际组织可调试债务与自然环境互换机制。     

浅谈如何提高海外突发事件应急能力

本文根据近期国际安全局势变化,海外工程项目社会安全风险不断加大,结合公司应急处置经验,从提高海外突发事件应急能力入手,从五个方面进行了分析:一是提高应急预案针对性、操作性和实用性;二是加强出国人员安全培训;三是加强中国"走出去"企业间交流合作;四是加强同驻外领事馆联系;五是加强同当地政府、部落、居民的联系取得多方帮助。     

跨区域应急协作视角下化工园区空间布局的失衡与应对策略分析

随着工业化进程加快,我国化工园区呈现出数量逐年递增且集中分布的态势,增加了跨区域重大突发事件的风险,如何实现跨区域的应急协作成为化工园区安全规划所面临的重点与难点问题之一。基于此,搜集近15 a全国化工园区的安全事故,采用自组织特征映射神经网络分类方法与多元回归模型研究全国范围内化工园区安全事故的空间分布规律及影响因素,进而从风险分布与应急协作需求的匹配性角度讨论我国现有应急协作机制存在的潜在问题。研究结果表明:我国化工园区整体空间布局呈现出以区域优势为导向的趋势,其选址大多忽略了化工园区集中区域的高风险与应急能力不足的问题,这种布局的失衡使得政府无法形成高效的跨区域应急协作体制;化工园区数量上的增加并非是导致危机事故的主要原因,强调了化工园区自身特征与危机事故严重程度的相关性,区域间应急联动协作在化工园区危机应对过程中的重要作用;最后,从空间布局、跨区域协作角度提出化工园区区域应急协作的相应政策建议。     

Are female boat-tailed grackle colonies neutral assemblages?

Female boat-tailed grackles (Quiscalus major) nest in colonies, and apparently settle independently of male activities. Associations between colony females may be mutually beneficial (cooperative hypothesis) or females may be penalized by associating (competitive hypothesis). Contrary to predictions based on either cooperative or competitive behavior, (1) reproductive success was not related to colony size nor to internest distance; (2) intracolony nesting synchronies were the same as those of the whole population, and within colonies, there was no relationship between the timing and spacing of nearest-neighbor nests; and (3) already established females were only occasionally aggressive toward females attempting to settle near them, and their aggressive response was independent of their stage of nesting. The results suggest that females act independently of each other and do not affect each other's fitness (neutral female hypothesis). Colonies may be neutral aggregations in sites secure from ground predators. Although females benefit by co-occupying predator-free sites, advantages and disadvantages of colomality do not appear to be related to intrasexual association.     

Inter-colonial selection for the maintenance of cooperative breeding in the ant Pristomyrmex pungens: a laboratory experiment

The queenless ant Pristomyrmex pungens has an unusual social structure, in which all workers reproduce parthenogenetically and help others. Laboratory experiments manipulating the proportion of post-reproductive foragers in the colony at various rates suggested that colonies with 5–10% forager ratios had the maximum efficiency per-worker. This result suggests that the cooperative colonies may be maintained by colony-level natural selection. Non-cooperative mutants that oviposit but do not forage should increase in relative frequency in the colony in the short term. However, decreased colony productivity and the resulting competition among colonies might eliminate colonies dominated by such mutants in the long term. P. pungens has a viscous population without migration between colonies, which may facilitate this process.     

Upstream-downstream cooperation approach in Guanting Reservoir watershed

A case study is introduced and discussed concerning water dispute of misuse and pollution between up- and down-stream parts. The relations between water usage and local industrial structures are analyzed. Results show it is important to change industrial structures of the target region along with controlling water pollution by technical and engineering methods. Three manners of upstream-downstream cooperation are presented and discussed based on the actual conditions of Guangting Reservoir watershed. Two typical scenarios are supposed and studied along with the local plan on water resources development. The best solution for this cooperation presents a good way to help the upstream developing in a new pattern of eco-economy.