Bearing Witness? Polar Bears as Icons for Climate Change Communication in National Geographic

This article investigates how polar bears were established as icons of climate change in the popular science magazine National Geographic. In a multistep process, anthropomorphized depictions first established polar bears as subjects of identification. Then, polar bears were visually connected to the endangered Arctic. Finally, they emerged as ambassadors of a threatened ecosystem and icons of climate change. I highlight the wider political contexts of this process of iconization and the semiotic and cultural resources on which it draws, showing what kind of climate change communication the polar bear icon enables or inhibits. The icon lends itself to being deployed in visual communication strategies creating personal concern and public awareness for climate change. At the same time, the icon fosters an individualized, emotionalized, and localized account of climate change but does not make its wider causes visible.     

Advanced driver assistance systems for teen drivers: A national survey of teen and parent perceptions

Abstract

Objective: Recently developed advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have the potential to compensate for teen driving errors and reduce overall crash risk. To date, very limited research has been conducted on the suitability of ADAS for teen drivers—the population most likely to benefit from such systems. The opportunity for ADAS to reduce the frequency and severity of crashes involving teen drivers is hindered when there is a lack of trust, acceptance, and use of those technologies. Therefore, there is a need to study teen and parent perceptions of ADAS to help identify and overcome any potential barriers to ADAS use.

Methods: A U.S. national survey was developed based on themes from previously conducted teen and parent ADAS focus groups. Survey topics included trust in ADAS, effect of ADAS on teen driver safety and driving behavior, effect of ADAS on skill development, data privacy, and cybersecurity. Responses included 5-point Likert scales and open-ended questions. The survey was managed through an online respondent panel by ResearchNow. Eligibility criteria included licensed teens (16–19 years) and parents of licensed teens. Teen and parent responses were compared using chi-square statistics in SAS 9.4.

Results: Two thousand and three (teens?=?1,000; parents?=?1,003) respondents qualified for and completed the survey between September 1 and September 20, 2017. Overall, teens (72%) and parents (61%) felt that ADAS would have a positive impact on transportation. However, teens were more likely to exhibit a positive outlook on ADAS, whereas parents were more likely to have a negative outlook (P?<?.01). Teens felt that ADAS would be useful during bad weather or drowsy driving but were less concerned than parents about ADAS intervention during their own risky driving (P?<?.01). The majority of teens (65%) and parents (71%) agreed that teens should learn to drive on vehicles without ADAS, with parents being more likely to agree than teens (P?<?.01). Parents (55%) were more likely than teens (47%) to be concerned about insurance companies keeping track of teen driving data (P?<?.01). Most respondents exhibited some concern of ADAS being susceptible to hacking (57%).

Conclusions: This study represents the first effort to quantify ADAS perceptions among teen drivers and their parents at the U.S. national level. These data highlight potential barriers to ADAS use among teen drivers, including a relative disinterest among teens for ADAS intervention during risky driving as well as concerns among both teens and parents that ADAS will inhibit skill development. These survey findings will help inform educational programs to accelerate fleet turnover and provide the foundation for ADAS optimization and evaluation studies among sociodemographic groups.     

国家公园领域财政事权划分改革研究

随着自然保护地的整合优化和财政体制改革的深入推进,对国家公园领域财政事权和支出责任进行明确划分、界定,对于建立健全国家公园领域资金保障机制具有重要意义,有助于建立政府间权责明晰、协同有序的国家公园治理体系。本文在梳理我国国家公园领域财政事权清单、分析财政支出责任划分现状及存在问题的基础上,根据中央有关国家公园事权的文件以及部门机构职责、中央和地方财政关系的制度特点,提出我国国家公园领域政府间财政事权和支出责任划分的总体思路与政策建议,为建立以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系提供决策参考。     

Planning for environmental justice in an urban national park

Urban national parks were designed in the 1970s to bring nature and recreational opportunities to socio-economically disadvantaged communities in the USA. Using the theoretical frame of environmental justice, this paper discusses findings of a recent survey of visitors to Los Angeles' Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area – the United States' largest urban national park. Findings show park visitors were predominantly white, affluent, and lived nearby. People of colour travelled further, were significantly less likely to be return visitors, and were less inclined to use the park for active recreation. Seemingly, this park fails to meet the needs of the disadvantaged urban communities for whom it was created, a problem that may also affect other parks in the United States and potentially parks in other countries. Park planners and managers can take practical steps to increase accessibility to this park for people of colour and low-income earners, and should monitor other parks for patterns of ethno-racially differentiated access and utilisation.     

旅游发展价值取向与制度变革：美国国家公园体系的启示

通过对旅游发展的价值取向与管理体制分析发现,美国国家公园体系让国民享受到保护较好的遗产资源和舒适生态的游憩环境,国家公园提供的国民精神教育与实在的公益性服务提高了国民的凝聚力。相比而言,我国国家级保护区体系缺乏统一协调的发展理念、管理部门职能交叉、法律基础薄弱、管理及维护经费无稳定保障、公共服务意识缺失。因而,我国必须改变保护区内以经济利益为核心的旅游发展价值取向,建议对现有制度作如下调整：严格规范准入机制,重新梳理国家级保护区名录;完善现有立法,切实保护各类具有国家意义的遗产资源;逐步推进大部门体制改革,形成统一化管理的国家级保护区体系;启动淘汰机制限制保护区的数量扩张,将中央财政集中到确需保护的保护地;推出原住民资助计划,推进文化保护与社会公平;提高保护区体系从业人员素质,为各保护区建立具有科学性和教育性的解说系统,发挥国家级保护区体系对国民精神教育的重大作用.     

我国安全生产基本特征规律研究

从经济社会发展视角,分析安全生产基本特征规律,指出安全生产随产业结构呈现不均衡分布特点,劳动力结构制约安全生产,城市化进程增加安全生产不稳定因素.安全生产与GDP对比分析表明,党和国家采取的一系列重大措施有效抑制了经济快速增长给安全生产带来的负面作用,我国安全生产提前进入事故波动期.通过研究区域经济与安全生产关系,得出我国4大经济区域社会经济发展水平与安全生产之间存在规律性分布特征.该研究的成果为建立安全生产长效机制,实现我国经济社会与生产安全协调发展探讨新的途径.     

UNCCD与《中华人民共和国防沙治沙法》比较研究

文章选取了《联合国防治荒漠化公约》和《中华人民共和国防沙治沙法》作为比较对象,从立法背景、性质、基本结构、基本内容等角度对二者进行了比较,并指出了二者的特有之处。从而分析国内法律和国际法律的不同,并提供了我国防治沙漠化中如何借鉴好的做法,并结合自身的实际情况加以吸收的途径。     

中国世界遗产地与国家级风景名胜区门票价格定位研究

世界遗产地和国家级风景名胜区是一种保护性资源而不是开发性资源，其经营目标应该是增进社会福利。这种性质决定了它的经营目标和主体，而门票价格的高低最能体现出该类产品是否具有公益性特征。本文根据世界遗产和国家级风景区的性质。应用资源经济学与旅游经济学的原理，构建理论模型，结合具体案例进行实证研究来说明门票价格定位的依据、条件和目标。并希望通过合理的价格定位来实现消费者剩余最大化和提高社会整体经济福利。     

基于国家经济安全视角的知识产权审查机制研究

结合知识产权现有的实践活动,结合中国的行政程序,提出了知识产权审查机制的基本框架,实现了知识产权审议的基本程序和开展重大经济活动的一般程序的有机融合。在该基础上,对重大经济活动知识产权审查机制的管理模式进行了概念设计,为构建和完善知识产权审查机制提供了有益的参考。     

Safety-culture in a Norwegian shipping company

Problem: Although there has been considerable interest in safety culture and safety climate in many industries, little attention has been given to safety culture in one of the world's riskiest industries, shipping. Method: Using both self developed items and items from published research on safety culture, safety climate, and quality and management style, a 40-item safety culture questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was distributed in a self-administered form to sailors onboard 20 vessels and to officers attending a seminar in Manila. A total of 349 questionnaires were collected (total response rate, 60%). Results, discussion and impact on industry: Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed 11 factors when the Kaiser eigenvalue rule was used and four factors when the scree test criterion was used. The factor structure in the material confirmed structures found in other industries. The relative importance of the factors from the factor analysis on “level of safety” measures was tested by canonical correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results confirmed previous research and showed that the most important factors were influential across industries. To determine weather differences existed between nationalities, occupations, and vessels the factors from the PCA was subjected to Multiple Discriminant Analysis. Significant differences between occupations, nations, and vessels were found on one or more of the factors from the PCA.