基于社会嵌入视角的农户减施化肥意愿影响因素分析

化肥是中国农业生产中最基础的物质投入要素,而化肥的过施滥施则是造成和加重农业面源污染的重要原因。农户作为化肥施用行为的主体,引导其科学施肥对农业可持续发展具有重要意义。本文基于洞庭湖区农业面源污染综合治理试点项目区353份农户问卷调查数据,依托社会嵌入理论,运用二元Logistic模型分析农业面源污染治理中农户减施化肥意愿及其影响因素。结果表明:研究区域农户减施化肥意愿不强;农户减施化肥意愿不仅受到经济利益因素的驱动,还受到社会背景特征、农户自身特征等因素的影响;政府支持、农户认知及社会关系等社会嵌入因素对农户减施化肥意愿存在显著正向影响。基于此,政府应加强对科学施肥行为的支持力度,因地制宜构建科学施肥的社会嵌入环境,提高农户关于减施化肥方面的认知水平,充分发挥社会关系在科学施肥中的引导和示范作用。     

区域大气污染的城市网络关联分析--基于粤港澳大湾区的研究

选取2013—2016年粤港澳大湾区11市大气主要污染物数据,采用社会网络分析法(SNA)对粤港澳大湾区大气污染的空间关联性进行实证研究。结果发现:①大湾区城际大气主要污染物的空间关联均呈现出较典型的网络结构特征。②城际大气污染存在明显的空间关联和空间溢出,各城市空间联系越来越密切。③大湾区大气污染空间网络具有稳定性特征,PM2.5和SO2的空间溢出得到有效控制,而PM10和NO2的空间溢出具有长期稳定性。④珠海、佛山、惠州、中山在大湾区城际大气污染空间关联网络中处于中心地位。⑤各城市在大气污染空间网络中存在明显的非均衡地位。     

安全氛围对矿工生活的外溢效应比较研究

围绕社会影响理论、煤矿安全氛围、外溢效应的内涵,通过资料分析和计量统计方法,甄别出社会影响动机主要包含3种动机、煤矿安全氛围主要包含7大因素、外溢效应主要包含3种方式,经分析制定社会影响动机下煤矿安全氛围对矿工生活的外溢效应调研问卷,对4个煤矿260名矿工展开调研。运用SPSS17.0和AMOS7.0,从以下2个方面进行比较研究:未考虑社会动机下煤矿安全氛围对矿工生活外溢效应进行潜变量路径分析;加入社会影响动机后煤矿安全氛围对矿工生活外溢效应进行回归分析。     

Home buyouts and household recovery: neighborhood differences three years after Hurricane Sandy

Home buyout programs facilitate the permanent relocation of residents away from areas considered to be at risk from future hazards, though few studies have examined the impacts of home buyout programs on affected households and communities beyond the program implementation period. In this paper, we examine between-neighborhood variation in key recovery indicators for three neighborhoods that followed different paths to recovery after Hurricane Sandy: one that rebuilt in situ, one that participated in a buyout and relocated, and one located immediately adjacent to the buyout zone. Three years post-disaster, buyout participants are faring worse in terms of place attachment and social capital compared to residents in the other two neighborhoods, while the neighborhood adjacent to the buyout zone is also showing signs of decline. These findings suggest that the social costs of buyouts extend well into the recovery period, and that the place-based ties and social networks that would typically help individuals cope with disaster impacts and persevere through adversity may be diminished for buyout participants, ultimately hindering their recovery. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of buyouts on participating and affected communities, as well as implications for research and policy.     

Motivating landowners to recruit neighbors for private land conservation

Encouraging motivated landowners to not only engage in conservation action on their own property but also to recruit others may enhance effectiveness of conservation on private lands. Landowners may only engage in such recruitment if they believe their neighbors care about the conservation issue, will positively respond to their conservation efforts, and are likely to take action for the conservation cause. We designed a series of microinterventions that can be added to community meetings to change these beliefs to encourage landowner engagement in recruitment of others. The microinterventions included neighbor discussion, public commitment making, collective goal setting, and increased observability of contributions to the conservation cause. In a field experiment, we tested whether adding microinterventions to traditional knowledge-transfer outreach meetings changed those beliefs so as to encourage landowners in Hawaii to recruit their neighbors for private lands conservation. We delivered a traditional outreach meeting about managing the invasive little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) to 5 communities and a traditional outreach approach with added microinterventions to 5 other communities. Analysis of pre- and post-surveys of residents showed that compared with the traditional conservation outreach approach, the microinterventions altered a subset of beliefs that landowners had about others. These microinterventions motivated reputationally minded landowners to recruit and coordinate with other residents to control the invasive fire ant across property boundaries. Our results suggest integration of these microinterventions into existing outreach approaches will encourage some landowners to facilitate collective conservation action across property boundaries.     

Is software sustainability considered in the CSR of software industry?

Software is a key factor in the functioning of today’s world. Software is supposed to have some characteristics such as: reliability, security, etc., but it is not at all easy to find energy efficiency considered as being one of software’s most important features. Aspects related to Green Software have begun to be considered vital and basic, due to pressure from a society which is becoming more and more aware of environmental problems. In this paper we want to explore whether software companies, responsible for developing software, are aligning their strategies with environmental concerns. To do so, we have checked the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies of the ten most important software companies and looked at these documents with reference to the UN’s sustainable development goals. A well-defined method for carrying out the analysis of the CSR policies led the authors to identify which of the sustainability actions proposed can be classified within any of the software sustainability dimensions. The analysis of these actions shows that sustainability is considered in most of the companies; nonetheless, most attention is currently devoted to hardware-based initiatives intended to reduce the carbon footprint of the hardware resources of the companies. In addition, green software initiatives are still not the priority, despite the influence of software on energy consumption, and in spite of its impact on the environment. Using the set of actions selected, a set of specific actions for software sustainability, to be included in the CSR of software companies, has been defined.     

FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN THE LOWER INCOMATI RIVER BASIN,MOZAMBIQUE: TWO ALTERNATIVES1

ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to compare two views of flood management and thus add to the present thinking of living with floods as opposed to the traditional approach of flood control. The traditional pathway has widely been adopted in developed countries and aims to control floodwaters by means of dams and dikes. The alternative pathway tends towards a policy whereby society lives with the floods by being prepared and having the right damage reduction measures in place. In this paper two pathways are tentatively compared for the Lower Incomati Basin, Mozambique. In the design cultural theory is considered, as is how the design of each path may look according to different management perspectives. The Lower Incomati Basin provides an interesting case study as it is in a relatively undeveloped state. Hence, it is an ideal area for conducting research into the application of alternative flood management strategies. The preliminary results suggest that both pathways are feasible. However, considering recent hydrological extremes such as the 2000 floods, the resilient pathway may ultimately be a more appealing flood management strategy.     

RESPONDING TO DROUGHT: COMMON THREADS FROM THE PAST,VISIONS FOR THE FUTURE1

ABSTRACT: A number of studies conducted since the late 1970s have evaluated state and federal responses to drought in the United States. Each of these studies identified a number of key issues and impediments that needed to be addressed to improve the nation's ability to cope with and prepare for future episodes of drought. A content analysis of these studies was performed to identify common threads in their recommendations. The premise of this analysis was that the series of drought years that occurred between 1986 and 1992 and recurred between 1994 and 1996 increased awareness of our nation's continuing and apparent growing vulnerability to drought. This awareness has led to greater consensus among principal constituents and stakeholders, and also a greater sense of urgency to implement actions now to lessen vulnerability. The results of this analysis revealed that several themes recur: create an integrated national drought policy and plan; develop an integrated national climate monitoring (drought watch) system; incorporate drought in FEMA's National Mitigation Strategy; conduct post-drought audits of response efforts; establish regional drought forums; and encourage development of state drought mitigation plans.     

CONTROLLING NONPOINT EXTERNALITIES WITH INPUT RESTRICTIONS IN AN IRRIGATED RIVER BASIN1

ABSTRACT: Irrigated agriculture is a major nonpoint source of surface water quality degradation. Nonpoint source discharges can be controlled by either output taxes or restrictions, or input taxes or restrictions. The economic theory of externality control with taxes or restrictions on input use is developed. The effectiveness of alternative input control policies in improving surface water quality is demonstrated with a mathematical model of the agriculture and water quality in Washington State's Yakima River Basin. Water quality parameters considered were river nitrogen concentration, water temperature, and cropland soil losses. Producer and social abatement costs were the most important measures of policy effectiveness.     

INTEGRATING SOCIAL ANALYSIS INTO WATER RESOURCES PLANNING: SOME EMERGING TRENDS IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS1

ABSTRACT: While federal water resources laws and regulations require social analysis, no one workable formula exists for integrating it into water resources planning. Two primary problems in integrating social analysis into planning are examined; making trade-offs between policy acceptability and theoretical competence, and managing social analysis in planning. For illustration, the article builds on emerging trends within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It concludes by observing that creative application of social theory to policy problems along with innovative data gathering techniques are the primary routes to managing these problems.