The influence of street level bureaucracy on the implementation of Strategic Environmental Assessment

A number of factors are critical to the implementation of measures identified through Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) processes. This paper addresses the challenge of implementation from a street level perspective and studies the role of planners and their use of discretion in the SEA implementation process: in which way might planners hinder or facilitate the implementation of SEA? Which coping mechanisms and discretions are deliberately or unconsciously developed and used by the planners? The paper reviews the literature on street level bureaucracy (SLB) in order to identify both factors influencing the implementation behaviour of street level bureaucrats and their coping mechanism when confronted with these factors. Based upon the SLB theory, a case study explores the SLB behaviour involved in the implementation of the SEA of the Copenhagen spatial plan. The analysis shows a surprisingly high level of implementation of measures put forward in the SEA report, and underlines the role of planners at the front line of implementation, functioning as ‘innovators’ during the SEA process and the following implementation of measures. The paper documents the importance of examining planners’ role in SEA and their potential as levers for SEA implementation.     

The power of reflection for would-be leaders: Investigating individual work reflection and its impact on leadership in teams

This paper examines the key role that individual work reflection plays in facilitating individuals' leadership in teams. Consistent with the functional perspective on leadership, we argue that individual work reflection allows individuals to better understand their team's needs, and therefore enact higher levels of task-, relational-, and change-oriented leadership behaviors and be more effective leaders in their teams. We first conducted a series of measure development studies to validate a measure of individual work reflection comprising four dimensions of reflection at work: goals-, methods-, relationships-, and self-focused reflection. Then, across two independent studies assessing individuals in self-managing teams over time, we found support for our theoretical model linking individual work reflection to peer-rated leadership behaviors (Main Studies 1 and 2) and leadership effectiveness (Main Study 2). In further support of our theorizing, Main Study 2 also indicates that individual work reflection shapes leadership behaviors and effectiveness via understanding the team's needs, beyond a wide range of related constructs (e.g., feedback seeking, mindfulness, and rumination), as well as commonly studied predictors of leadership behaviors (i.e., the Big Five). Our theory and empirical findings help advance insights on the role of individual work reflection in improving leadership outcomes in organizations.     

基于盲数理论的水体沉积物重金属污染评价模型

针对污染风险评价系统多种不确定信息共存的特点,将盲数理论引入污染评价领域,建立基于盲数理论的地累积指数评价模型.用盲数表示沉积物污染物浓度和地球化学背景值,并通过盲数可靠性分析BM模型和隶属度加权计算得出重金属污染程度等级.将该模型应用于洞庭湖水系沉积物重金属污染的评价,结果表明,这些重金属的富集程度由高至低排列的顺序为:Cd>Cr=Cu=Zn=Hg=As>Pb,Cd是洞庭湖沉积物污染的主要环境污染因子.该模型算出了重金属地累积指数的可能值区间,并且得出与其相对应的可信度水平,进而定量计算出重金属隶属于各污染程度的可能性,它弥补了传统确定性方法的不足,更真实、更客观地表征了评价区域沉积物重金属的富集污染程度.     

我国农产品主产区土地可持续利用评价

农产品主产区土地利用的可持续性状况直接关乎国家的粮食安全。综合资源环境、经济和社会要素,构建了以县域为单元的土地可持续利用评价指标体系,基于变权理论,评价分析了我国8个农产品主产区土地可持续利用现状及其动态。结果表明:各农产品主产区的土地资源环境、经济和社会可持续性的空间分布呈现明显差异。资源环境优良、人均GDP较高的四川盆地、黄淮海平原和长江中游及江淮地区的土地资源环境和经济可持续性均明显高于其他地区,尤其是生态脆弱的新疆和内蒙古东部地区;黄淮海平原、长江中游及江淮地区和松嫩平原90%以上的县域土地利用社会可持续性达到较高度及以上水平。2000-2008年间,各农产品主产区的土地经济和社会可持续性变幅要高于资源环境可持续性的变幅。四川盆地、松嫩平原、三江平原和黄淮海平原土地资源环境可持续性增强,其较高度及以上水平的县域个数比例增加10个百分点以上,华南蔗果区、新疆和内蒙古东部区则减弱,而各农产品主产区土地经济可持续性均有不同程度的提高。同时,黄淮海平原的水资源负载指数增加,四川盆地和长江中游及江淮地区进一步激化的人地矛盾和华南蔗果区城乡收入差距增大等现象值得关注。     

月径流时间序列的混沌特性分析

研究根据混沌理论,分别采用功率谱分析方法、G-P关联维识别合水水库月径流量的混沌特性,并且得出主要的混沌特性指标.以Tanks嵌入定理为理论基础,进行短期预测,能够取得精度较高的预测结果.研究表明:月径流序列存在一定的混沌特性,其最小嵌入维数在m=8对应的吸引子维数D=-0.95,最大李雅谱诺夫指数σ=0.325,采用加权一阶权域方法预测时,预测最大时限为4个月,其预测精度均在5%以内.     

“Stop Blaming the Cows!”: How Livestock Production is Legitimized in Everyday Discourse on Facebook

In 2016, Swedish climate reporting declined in quantity and shifted focus somewhat from climate change as such to the harmful climate impacts of meat consumption. The latter prompted discussions in social media—an increasingly important forum for public debate but infrequently studied in environmental communication research. Despite strong evidence that a meat and dairy-based diet is harmful for the environment, meat consumption is increasing, and this qualitative study aims to—through the lens of social representation theory—contribute knowledge about how livestock production is legitimized in everyday discourse on Facebook. The article identifies representations that legitimize livestock production through polarization between (1) livestock production and other (environmental) issues, (2) environmentally “good” and “bad” countries, and (3) “reliable” and “unreliable” information. It concludes by discussing the influence of national ideology on the legitimization of livestock production and the potential of social media to counter the post-politicization of environmental issues.     

相对地位变化对中国省际能源消耗的影响机制

由于在现有政治晋升体制中,各省在经济增长和节能降耗过程中对竞争地位的追求,导致各省的相对地位在能源消耗决策过程中起到十分重要的作用。本文基于中国省际政府官员考核和晋升机制现实背景,从相对身份效应理论的角度构建了省际能源消耗的理论模型,探讨了相对地位、地位变化对省际能源消耗的影响机制,具体表现为各省能源消耗的当期和上一期相对地位对能源强度具有行为理论上决策作用机制,当期人均GDP增速与上一期人均GDP绝对水平对能源强度具有行为意义上的理论解释机制,省际能源消耗具有的动态自适应机制。在理论分析基础上,进一步实证检验了省际能源消耗的相对身份效应理论,实证结果表明:(1)各省在当期能耗排名上竞争对节能具有积极作用,上一期能耗排名越靠后的省份在当期节能降耗的动机比排名靠前的省份更强烈,从而使得当期能耗下降。此外,在不同的考核时期和不同节能任务要求下,能耗排序对节能的影响存在差异,该影响也因各省所处相对位置高、低而不同。(2)当期经济增长与当期能源消耗呈现出同向变化的互补机制,上期经济增长与当期能源消耗呈现出反向变化的替代机制。(3)上一期能源强度下降会降低当期能源强度,省际能源强度存在着逐渐下降的动态自适应机制。基于此,我国对地方政府节能降耗的政策设计应当实施多节能目标、多奖惩措施的差异化模式,从而实现不同类别省份的有效节能和粗放型经济增长方式的快速转型。     

Knowledge for environmental governance: probing science–policy theory in the cases of eutrophication and fisheries in the Baltic Sea

How science and policy interact has been a major research focus in the International Relations (IR) tradition, using the epistemic community (EC) concept, as well as in the alternative perspective of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Should science be autonomous and as apolitical as possible in order to ‘speak truth to power’, as suggested by EC or should the inevitable entanglement of science and politics be accepted and embraced so as to make advice more conducive to negotiating the explicit travails of political decision-making as suggested by STS? With this point of departure, we compare similarities and differences between science–policy interactions in the issue areas of eutrophication and fisheries management of the Baltic Sea. To examine how knowledge is mobilised, the concepts of ‘uncertainty’ and ‘coherence’ are developed, drawing on both EC and STS thinking. We then reflect on the explanatory value of these approaches in both cases and discuss how a separation of science and policy-making in the pursuit of achieving scientific consensus leads to ineffectual policies. Drawing on STS thinking, we urge for a re-conceptualisation of coherence in order to accommodate a more reflexive practice of science–policy interactions.     

Examining the agricultural producer identity: utilising the collective occupational identity construct to create a typology and profile of rural landholders in Victoria,Australia

Multifunctional rural landscapes are often characterised by contrasting values, land uses and land management practices of rural property owners. It seems these trends are, in part, an expression of rural landholder's identification as farmers. Existing typologies of rural landholders seldom take into account occupational identity. Research discussed in this paper addresses that gap. The objective was to apply the collective occupational identity construct to address the challenges of profiling rural landholders and test its effectiveness at distinguishing between different types of landholders. A 12-item scale was used to explore the extent rural landholders in south-eastern Australia held an agricultural producer identity. Cluster analysis resulted in the creation of four clusters of rural landholders with distinctive characteristics, suggesting the approach can provide researchers with a theoretically sound construct and practitioners with a useful tool as they attempt to better understand and engage rural landholders in sustainable agriculture.     

An inexact optimization approach for river water-quality management

A previously developed fuzzy waste load allocation model (FWLAM) for a river system is extended to address uncertainty involved in fixing the membership functions for the fuzzy goals of the pollution control agency (PCA) and the dischargers using the concept of grey systems. The model provides flexibility for the PCA and the dischargers to specify their goals independently, as the parameters for membership functions are considered as interval grey numbers instead of deterministic real numbers. An inexact or a grey fuzzy optimization model is developed in a multiobjective framework, to maximize the width of the interval valued fractional removal levels for providing latitude in decision-making and to minimize the width of the goal fulfillment level for reducing the system uncertainty. The concept of an acceptability index for order relation between two partially or fully overlapping intervals is used to get a deterministic equivalent of the grey fuzzy optimization model developed. The improvement of the optimal solutions over a previously developed grey fuzzy waste load allocation model (GFWLAM) is shown through an application to a hypothetical river system. The fuzzy multiobjective optimization and fuzzy goal programming techniques are used to solve the deterministic equivalent of the GFWLAM.