Estimating the Economic Value of National Parks with Count Data Models Using On-Site,Secondary Data: The Case of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

We estimate an individual travel cost model for Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GSD) in Colorado using on-site, secondary data. The purpose of the on-site survey was to help the National Park Service better understand the visitors of GSD; it was not intended for a travel cost model. Variables such as travel cost and income were estimated based on respondents’ Zip Codes. Following approaches found in the literature, a negative binomial model corrected for truncation and endogenous stratification fit the data the best. We estimate a recreational benefit of U.S. $89/visitor/year or U.S. $54/visitor/24-h recreational day (in 2002 U.S. $). Based on the approach presented here, there are other data sets for national parks, preserves, and battlefields where travel cost models could be estimated and used to support National Park Service management decisions.     

A Comparison of Sampling Designs for Monitoring Recreational Trail Impacts in Rocky Mountain National Park

The dual goals of the Organic Act of 1916 and Wilderness Act of 1964 are to protect natural resources and provide quality visitor experiences. Park managers need metrics of trail conditions to protect park resources and quality of visitor experiences. A few methods of sampling design for trails have been developed. Here, we describe a relatively new method, spatially balanced sampling, and compare it to systematic sampling. We evaluated the efficiency of sampling designs to measure recreation-related impacts in Rocky Mountain National Park. This study addressed two objectives: first, it compared estimates of trail conditions from data collected from systematic versus spatially balanced sampling data; second, it examined the relationship between sampling precision and sampling efficiency. No statistically significant differences in trail condition were found between the 100-m interval and the spatially balanced datasets. The spatially balanced probability-based dataset was found to be a good estimate of trail conditions when analyses were conducted with fewer sample points. Moreover, spatially balanced probability-based sampling is flexible and allows additional sample points to be added to a sample.     

基坑工程安全控制探讨

从基坑安全主要影响因素的分析入手,把握保证基坑安全的主要条件。重点论述了借助现场监测和信息化施工,建立施工控制安全预警系统,实现风险管理,来保证工程安全的思想,并给出具体工程实例。     

Atmospheric Volatile Organic Compound Monitoring. Ozone Induced Artefact Formation

Assessment of population exposure to VOC in ambient atmospheres is receiving heightened interest as the adverse health effects of chronic exposure to certain of these compounds are identified. Active (pumped) and passive samplers are the most commonly used devices for this type of monitoring. It has been shown, however, that these devices, along with all other preconcentration techniques, are susceptible to ozone interference. It is demonstrated that this interference occurs even at low ozone concentrations and that it may result in the under-estimation of population exposure. A convenient and effective ozone scrubbing method is identified and successfully applied and validated for both active and passive samplers for a range of VOC.     

Global Grids from Recursive Diamond Subdivisions of the Surface of an Octahedron or Icosahedron

In recent years a number of methods have been developed for subdividing the surface of the earth to meet the needs of applications in dynamic modeling, survey sampling, and information storage and display. One set of methods uses the surfaces of Platonic solids, or regular polyhedra, as approximations to the surface of the earth. Diamond partitions are similar to recursive subdivisions of the triangular faces of either the octahedron or icosahedron. This method views the surface as either four (octahedron) or ten (icosahedron) tessellated diamonds, where each diamond is composed of two adjacent triangular faces of the figure. The method allows for a recursive partition on each diamond, creating nested sub-dimaonds, that is implementable as a quadtree, including the provision for a Peano or Morton type coding system for addressing the hierarchical pattern of diamonds and their neighborhoods, and for linearizing storage. Furthermore, diamond partitions, in an aperture-4 hierarchy, provide direct access through the addressing system to the aperture-4 hierarchy of hexagons developed on the figure. Diamond partitions provide a nested hierarchy of grid cells for applications that require nesting and diamond cells have radial symmetry for those that require this property. Finally, diamond partitions can be cross-referenced with hierarchical triangle partitions used in other methods.     

Temporal moments analysis of preferential solute transport in soils

Temporal moments analysis of solute breakthrough curves is used to investigate the preferential leaching of chloride, nitrate and phosphate through an Australian soil. Recent studies have shown that current models and methods do not adequately describe the leaching of nutrients through soil, often underestimating the risk of groundwater contamination by surface-applied chemicals, and overestimating the concentration of resident solutes. This inaccuracy results primarily from ignoring soil structure and non-equilibrium between soil constituents, water and solutes. Therefore simple models are required to accurately characterise solute transport in natural and agricultural soils under non-equilibrium conditions. A multiple sample percolation system, consisting of 25 individual collection wells was constructed to study the effects of localised soil heterogeneities on the transport of nutrients (NO₃ ^–, Cl^–, PO₄ ^{3 –}) in the vadose zone of an agricultural soil predominantly dominated by clay. Using data collected from the multiple sample percolation experiments, this paper compares and contrasts the performance of temporal moments analysis with two mathematical models for predicting solute transport, the advective-dispersion model with a reaction term (ADR) and a two-region preferential flow model (TRM) suitable for modelling preferential transport. The values for solute transport parameters predicted by temporal moments analysis were in excellent agreement with experimental data and results from ADR and TRM. It is concluded that temporal moments analysis when applied with other physical models such as the ADR and TRM, provide an excellent means of obtaining values for important solute transport parameters and gaining insight of preferential flow. These results have significant ramifications for modelling solute transport and predicting nutrient loadings.     

Ecological quality boundary-setting procedures: the Gulf of Riga case study

Two approaches for setting ecological class boundaries, response curves and a simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol, were tested for coastal, transitional and open waters in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea. The simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol defines acceptable ecological status based on expert judgment by a uniform relative deviation from reference conditions. In contrast, response curves derive class boundary definitions from observed changes in biological quality elements along environmental pressure gradients for class boundary definitions. Identification of relevant environmental pressures for the construction of response curves was based on a conceptual model of eutrophication in the Gulf of Riga. Response curves were successfully established for summer chlorophyll a and transparency, as well as for macrozoobenthos abundance in the Central Gulf, macrozoobenthos biotic coefficient in the Southern Gulf, and maximum depth of phytobenthos in the Northern Gulf. In the Gulf of Riga response curves almost always permitted a larger deviation from reference conditions than the 50% deviation applied for the simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol. The case study clearly demonstrated that class boundary definitions should take into account the sensitivity of the target water body. Also, the class boundaries for different ecological quality elements were internally more consistent than those derived by the simplified mathematical boundary-setting protocol.     

三峡库区复合农业生态系统及其建设途径

通过田间试验研究了长江三峡库区主要的复合农业生态系统类型及其特点。应用生态学原理和间套作技术,在三峡地区建立了“小麦－玉米－红薯、小麦－蔬菜、柑桔－小麦、稻田复合系统”等多种复合农业生态系统。田间试验结果表明,旱地采用“小麦－蔬菜”方式比传统的“小麦－玉米－红薯”方式提高经济效益４０％￣４７％,“中稻鸭鱼”模式的水稻产量达到了９５４０ｋｇ／ｈｍ＾２,比对照提高１２．５％。中稻－鱼、中稻－鸭鱼、中稻     

两种土壤质量变化的定量评价方法比较

土地利用和管理在时空尺度上影响着土壤质量变化的方向和幅度，土壤质量评价方法的选择和应用对了解土壤的变化非常重要，不同方法的比较分析可以了解方法本身的差异和优缺点。选取卧龙自然保护区6种典型的土地利用类型，以空间代替时间序列的方式，研究森林次生演替，人工林种植及农业土地利用方式对土壤质量的影响。采用了综合土壤质量指数法(QI)与土壤退化指数法(DI)两种定量研究方法。结果皆揭示灌丛有着较高的土壤质量值。依次为灌丛→自然林，次生林→撂荒地→人工林→坡耕地，坡耕地土壤质量值较低。为更好的比较两种方法的差异，提出了QI的相对指数值(QI')，结果显示QI'和DI有着非常好的线性相关，退化指数法的方法简单，比较易用．而综合质量指数法有着较好的生态学意义。