居民对垃圾焚烧发电态度的实证研究——以泰安市垃圾焚烧电厂为例

基于对山东省泰安市垃圾焚烧发电厂周边居民的调查数据,运用SPSS20.0统计软件对数据进行二元Logistic回归分析,探讨垃圾焚烧发电厂周边居民对电厂态度的影响因素。实证结果表明,受教育年限、是否被征求意见、是否接受物质补偿3个变量对周边居民的态度有显著的正向影响;而是否知道二噁英、居住地与电厂距离与周边居民态度呈显著负相关关系。结合相关研究,发现本研究中影响电厂周边居民态度的因素既有普遍性,也有其特殊性。     

考虑人群拥堵的疏散出口选择行为研究及建模

出口选择是疏散过程中最重要和复杂的决策行为之一,受到空间结构、人群分布和行人认知等多方面因素的影响,为了使疏散仿真能够合理地模拟出行人的寻路和逃生过程,提出了考虑人群拥堵的出口选择模型。该模型基于多元Logit离散选择模型,考虑到影响个体疏散时间的因素以及对不同出口类型的偏好。研究发现个体的疏散时间随着拥堵人群位置的不同而有所差异,从而以决策者而不是出口的角度定义了一个计数区域来估计影响决策者排队时间的人数。并且研究出口重新选择的触发条件和程序。将出口选择模型和程序引入BuildingEXODUS软件进行疏散仿真,通过对比显示,仿真结果更符合真实情况,特别是在具有障碍物和人群分布不均匀的场景中更显优势。     

全氟辛烷磺酸盐(PFOS)对土壤跳虫的生态毒性

将两种跳虫(Folsomia candida和Folsomia fimetaria)暴露在全氟辛烷磺酸盐(perfluorooctane sulfonate,PFOS)污染的人工土壤中,利用跳虫存活数量、繁殖数量与回避行为来评价PFOS对跳虫的生态毒性。结果表明,PFOS对F.candida和F.fimetaria急性毒性的LC50(7d)分别为4777和2219mg·kg-1,慢性毒性的EC50(28d)分别为0.13和0.05mg·kg-1。此外,PFOS对两种跳虫回避行为影响的EC50(48h)分别为0.51mg·kg-1(F.candida)和0.31mg·kg-1(F.fimetaria)。分析比较发现,PFOS对跳虫急性死亡率影响很小,但对跳虫的回避行为和繁殖率有显著影响,可用来表征土壤中PFOS的生态毒性,且选用有性生殖的F.fimetaria及其慢性毒性实验来评价土壤中PFOS的毒性相对最灵敏。     

洞庭湖垸外灾害风险区湖洲高效生态农业模式研究

为了协调好防灾减灾与湖洲农业综合开发的关系,运用灾害学和循环经济学以及农业、林业、牧业、水产、生态、系统工程等科学交叉的理论与方法,将灾害防控技术体系、农业生产方式与高效生态农业结构的优化机理融为一体,设计了湖草洲畜、禽、鱼一体化开发的灭螺治鼠防洪技术集成模式,荻芦洲荻、芦、林、牧、农一体化开发的灭螺治鼠抗洪技术集成模式。并分别在典型区域进行了示范,试验表明：与传统农业生方式相比,生态、经济、社会三大效益十分显著。同时致力于湖洲农业产业化,认为在建设好优势农产品生产基地的基础上,大力发展与之相配套的产品加工等商品服务体系和市场体系,促进荻、芦、林、牧等产品精、深加工,延伸产业链,提高产品附加值,从整体上提高湖洲高效生态农业模式的综合效益,使之成为湖区农业经济的新增长点。     

Valuing floodplain protection and avoidance in a coastal watershed

Flood‐related losses in the United States are increasing despite large‐scale mitigation efforts. To offset the rising cost of floods, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 that will augment insurance premiums to make the National Flood Insurance Program more actuarially sound. Consequently, there is interest in lowering flood‐related costs to the homeowner, both in terms of premiums and damage. This study addresses the issue by integrating premium savings and damages avoided based on several mitigation scenarios. Specifically, it examines how much policyholders within a watershed near Houston, Texas, could have saved between 1999 and 2009 had their communities introduced specific avoidance‐based mitigation activities. The results indicate that homeowners and communities can offset premium rises and a majority of the damage suffered through marginal expansions of such initiatives. However, the costs associated with their implementation could counter some of these savings, and hence they need to be considered in future work.     

真实世界和虚拟场景下行人绕障的实验研究

为了研究利用虚拟现实开展行人疏散实验的有效性以及虚拟场景里不同控制方式的优劣,开展了真实世界与三种不同控制方式(头显-鼠标(HM)、鼠标-鼠标(MM)、键盘-鼠标(KM))下虚拟场景的绕障实验。分析并比较了平均轨迹、绕障距离、绕障起始时间以及归一化时间下的横向距离。实验结果表明,当横向坐标小于1 m时,虚拟场景与真实世界实验平均轨迹的差值在10 cm之内。平均轨迹、绕障距离、绕障起始时间方面,HM更接近真实世界实验;归一化时间下的横向距离方面,MM更接近真实世界实验。     

Potential for Electropositive Metal to Reduce the Interactions of Atlantic Sturgeon with Fishing Gear

Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus) populations have been declared either endangered or threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Effective measures to repel sturgeon from fishing gear would be beneficial to both fish and fishers because they could reduce both fishery‐associated mortality and the need for seasonal and area closures of specific fisheries. Some chondrostean fishes (e.g., sturgeons and paddlefishes) can detect weak electric field gradients (possibly as low as 5 Μv/cm) due to arrays of electroreceptors (ampullae of Lorenzini) on their snout and gill covers. Weak electric fields, such as those produced by electropositive metals (typically mixtures of the lanthanide elements), could therefore potentially be used as a deterrent. To test this idea, we recorded the behavioral responses of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon (31–43 cm fork length) to electropositive metal (primarily a mixture of the lanthanide elements neodymium and praseodymium) both in the presence and absence of food stimuli. Trials were conducted in an approximately 2.5 m diameter × 0.3 m deep tank, and fish behaviors were recorded with an overhead digital video camera. Video records were subsequently digitized (x, y coordinate system), the distance between the fish and the electropositive metal calculated, and data summarized by compiling frequency distributions with 5‐cm bins. Juvenile sturgeon showed clear avoidance of electropositive metal but only when food was present. On the basis of our results, we conclude that the electropositive metals, or other sources of weak electric fields, may eventually be used to reduce the interactions of Atlantic sturgeon with fishing gear, but further investigation is needed. El Potencial del Metal Electropositivo para Reducir las Interacciones del Esturión Atlántico con Instrumentos de Pesca Bouyoucos, Bushnell & Brill 13–003     

THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF TIME AND AVERTING EXPENDITURES FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER1

ABSTRACT: A survey of individuals during a Giardia contamination incident provided data to calculate the cost of boiling, hauling, or purchasing water to avoid infection. Three different approaches to the valuation of time were used to assess the implications of the opportunity cost of time for the measurement of averting costs. Mean monthly household averting costs were $33.47 using family income to value time, $13.07 using the minimum wage to value time, and $5.60 using zero opportunity cost of time. Comparisons of the mean costs for different sources and household characteristics indicated the value of time from family income was too high and that the other methods of valuing time were superior.     

The dynamic nature of antipredator behavior: prey fish integrate threat-sensitive antipredator responses within background levels of predation risk

Prey animals often have to face a dynamic tradeoff between the costs of antipredator behavior and the benefits of other fitness-related activities such as foraging and reproduction. According to the threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis, prey animals should match the intensity of their antipredator behavior to the degree of immediate threat posed by the predator. Moreover, longer-term temporal variability in predation risk (over days to weeks) can shape the intensity of antipredator behavior. According to the risk allocation hypothesis, changing the background level of risk for several days is often enough to change the response intensity of the prey to a given stimulus. As the background level of risk increases, the response intensity of the prey decreases. In this study, we tested for possible interactions between immediate threat-sensitive responses to varying levels of current perceived risk and temporal variability in background risk experienced over the past 3 days. Juvenile convict cichlids were preexposed to either low or high frequencies of predation risk (using conspecific chemical alarm cues) for 3 days and were then tested for a response to one of five concentrations (100, 50, 25, 12.5%, or a distilled water control). According to the threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis, we found greater intensity responses to greater concentrations of alarm cues. Moreover, in accordance with the risk allocation hypothesis, we found that cichlids previously exposed to the high background level of risk exhibited a lower overall intensity response to each alarm cue concentration than those exposed to the low background level of risk. It is interesting to note that we found that the background level of risk over the past 3 days influenced the threshold level of response to varying concentrations of alarm cues. Indeed, the minimum stimulus concentration that evoked a behavioral response was lower for fish exposed to high background levels of predation than those exposed to low background levels of predation. These results illustrate a remarkable interplay between immediate (current) risk and background risk in shaping the intensity of antipredator responses.     

Development of a method to rate the primary safety of vehicles using linked New Zealand crash and vehicle licensing data

Objective: Vehicle safety rating systems aim firstly to inform consumers about safe vehicle choices and, secondly, to encourage vehicle manufacturers to aspire to safer levels of vehicle performance. Primary rating systems (that measure the ability of a vehicle to assist the driver in avoiding crashes) have not been developed for a variety of reasons, mainly associated with the difficult task of disassociating driver behavior and vehicle exposure characteristics from the estimation of crash involvement risk specific to a given vehicle. The aim of the current study was to explore different approaches to primary safety estimation, identifying which approaches (if any) may be most valid and most practical, given typical data that may be available for producing ratings.

Methods: Data analyzed consisted of crash data and motor vehicle registration data for the period 2003 to 2012: 21,643,864 observations (representing vehicle-years) and 135,578 crashed vehicles. Various logistic models were tested as a means to estimate primary safety: Conditional models (conditioning on the vehicle owner over all vehicles owned); full models not conditioned on the owner, with all available owner and vehicle data; reduced models with few variables; induced exposure models; and models that synthesised elements from the latter two models.

Results: It was found that excluding young drivers (aged 25 and under) from all primary safety estimates attenuated some high risks estimated for make/model combinations favored by young people. The conditional model had clear biases that made it unsuitable. Estimates from a reduced model based just on crash rates per year (but including an owner location variable) produced estimates that were generally similar to the full model, although there was more spread in the estimates. The best replication of the full model estimates was generated by a synthesis of the reduced model and an induced exposure model.

Conclusions: This study compared approaches to estimating primary safety that could mimic an analysis based on a very rich data set, using variables that are commonly available when registered fleet data are linked to crash data. This exploratory study has highlighted promising avenues for developing primary safety rating systems for vehicle makes and models.