Evaluation of a population mobility,mortality, and birth surveillance system in South Kivu,Democratic Republic of the Congo

Prospective, community-based surveillance systems for measuring birth, death, and population movement rates may have advantages over the ‘gold-standard’ retrospective household survey in humanitarian contexts. A community-based, monthly surveillance system was established in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in partnership with a local implementing partner and the national ministry of health. Data were collected on the occurrence of births, deaths, arrivals, and departures over the course of one year, and a retrospective survey was conducted at the end of the period to validate the information. Discrepancies between the two approaches were resolved by a third visit to the households with discordant records. The study found that the surveillance system was superior in terms of its specificity and sensitivity in measuring crude mortality and birth rates as compared to the survey, demonstrating the method's potential to measure accurately important population-level health metrics in an insecure setting in a timely, community-acceptable manner.     

Between Active Seekers and Non-Users: Segments of Science-related Media Usage in Switzerland and Germany

ABSTRACT

Citizens’ attitudes toward science are related to their use of science-related information from various sources. Evidence is scarce regarding citizens’ individual media repertoires for staying informed about science as segmentation studies so far have primarily focused on scientific attitudes. In this paper, we explore audience segments regarding their science-related information behavior and whether such segments are comparable or vary between two countries with similar information environments. Based on two surveys in Switzerland and Germany, we identify national audience segments that differ in their science-related information repertoires, and analyze their sociodemographic characteristics and science-related attitudes. In both countries, we find very comparable information user segments ranging from those who inform themselves frequently about science (“Active Seekers”/“Science Consumers”) to those who hardly get in contact with any information about science and research (“Non-Users”). Those segments which get in contact with information about science frequently show generally more positive attitudes.     

南京市污染源普查的质控工作探讨

对南京市在污染源普查过程中采取的质控措施进行了探讨,分析出普查质控工作的不足,并提出了几点建议。为提高以后普查的质量拓宽思路。     

乡村人居环境:人居环境科学研究的新领域

乡村人居环境是人居环境科学的重要构成部分,随着城市化的快速推进,乡村人居环境日益恶化.人居环境科学研究存在明显缺陷,即人居环境研究的"城市主义"倾向明显,忽视了乡村人居环境研究.分析了开展乡村人居环境研究的重要性和紧迫性,评述了国内外的相关研究成果,提出了乡村人居环境研究的多维视角,即基于农户空间行为的乡村人居环境研究、乡村人居环境的地域文化与发展模式研究、乡村人居环境与空间规划研究、基于"3S"技术的乡村人居环境研究、乡村人居环境的系统理论与发展战略研究.     

不同类型农户农地投入的影响因素

农户作为农业生产投入的微观主体,其农地投入行为对农业和农村经济发展影响重大.本文以湖北省江汉平原和鄂北岗地6个县(市、区)的473个农户抽样调查数据,构建逐步回归模型,分析不同类型的农户农地投入行为的影响因素.结果表明:①近年来,农户耕地的投入水平处于上升趋势,国家实施的惠农政策取得了积极成效;②相对于消费型农户而言,利润型农户的总投入水平较离;③目前农户农地投入主要是流动资本投入,固定资本投入较少,农业污染较为严重,农业机械化水平有较大的提升空间;④农户农业生产目标决定其农地投入行为:消费型农户与市场联系不太紧密,依据家庭消费需求进行生产投入决策;利润型农户与市场联系非常紧密,追求利润最大化,按照市场行情进行生产投入决策.⑤不同类型农户农地投入的影响因素存在差异:家庭特征和家庭资源禀赋是影响消费型农户农地投入的主要因素;农业生产要素市场、农产品市场和农业政策是影响利润型农户农地投入的主要因素.     

城镇居民生活能耗与碳排放动态特征分析

居民家庭生活能源消费与碳排放越来越不容忽视,开展这方面研究对于促进居民可持续消费、寻找新的节能减排途径都具有十分重要的意义.本文在考察量化1999-2007年中国城镇居民生活直接、间接能源消费及其碳排放连续变化的基础上,探究了这段时期生活能耗与碳排放的动态变化特征,并分析其潜在的影响因素.研究主要结论包括:1999-2007年,中国城镇居民人均生活总能耗和碳排总量都呈现出逐年增加趋势,其中间接能耗与碳排始终大于直接能耗与碳排,但二者的差异正在逐年缩小;对于人均直接能耗与碳排来说,二者总量都呈逐年增加趋势,其中电力和煤炭是最主要的直接能源消费品种,也是最主要的碳排来源;对于人均间接能耗与碳排来说,虽然居民生活消费开支逐年递增,但由于各类消费项的单位产值能源强度在逐年下降,因此总的间接能耗与碳排并没呈现出一定的递增或递减趋势,而是出现波动性变化.其中"食品"、"教育文化娱乐服务"和"居住"3项是居民生活间接能耗与碳排的主要来源;人均住宅建筑面积是居民生活碳排变化的主要影晌因子.研究结论为引导可持续的家庭消费模式和节能减排措施的制定提供管理启示与科学依据.     

Cognitive attributes and aesthetic preferences in assessment and differentiation of landscapes

The increasing pace and scale of landscape changes involve objective measurements in order to estimate the effects of changes on people's landscape preferences in a meaningful way. In the literature, some attempts have been made to provide a more conceptual base related to landscape preferences. These concepts and their indicators need to be tested empirically in different contexts and landscape types. In the present study, different items related to theoretical concepts of both aesthetic preference and cognitive rating were examined. They were combined in an in situ questionnaire, which was conducted among undergraduate students in geography during two different field excursions. Stimuli consisted of 11 landscape vistas selected during the excursions. All vistas represent rather rural landscapes but they vary with regard to relief, degree of urbanisation, and degree of agricultural land use. Statistical analysis of all data yielded significant correlations between aesthetic and cognitive ratings. However, these correlations did not appear to be very strong. When considering landscape vistas separately, the relations between all cognitive ratings seemed to vary. Further, not all cognitive aspects had an equal predicting value for aesthetic preference. Moreover, this predicting value appeared to vary between different landscape vistas. The groups of interrelated cognitive aspects could not be associated consistently with theoretical concepts. The results demonstrated the inconsistencies existing between the contents of the theoretical concepts and the indicators found within the landscape. The findings argued for the necessity to distinguish between different ratings and landscape types instead of using unitary preference measures and generalized data when studying landscape preference.     

公众灾害风险可接受性与避灾意愿的初探——以川渝地区旱灾风险为例

在综述前人研究的基础上,以川渝地区旱灾为例,通过实地调查与访谈,从公众可接受的旱灾损失与频率、假定旱灾风险情景下的避险意愿等角度,对公众旱灾风险可接受性进行了初步探讨。结果表明,公众合理可接受的旱灾损失与频率分别在26.5%~52.8%与32.0%~64.3%区间范围内;并以一般旱灾、严重旱灾风险情景为限制线,确定了公众合理可接受风险区域;随着灾害损失风险增加,公众规避风险投资意愿呈现出中间高两头低的趋势,当灾害损失达到约50%~70%时,公众避险投资意愿达到最高,意愿避险投资占可能损失的比重约为62%。鉴于川渝地区的旱灾形势,今后旱灾风险管理的关键,一是加强对旱灾的监测与预警预报;二是完善旱灾风险的常规化管理,发展高效灌溉农业,充分利用客水资源,完善提高现有农田水网建设;三是积极探索公众-企业-政府多方共同参与的高效风险管理模式。     

CO_2 Emission Induced by Urban Household Consumption in China

Household consumption is one of the important factors that induce COL emission. Based on input-output model, this article calculated the intensity of CO2 emission of different income groups and seven provinces in China, and then estimated total CO2 emission induced by urban household consumption from 1995 to 2004 in China based on statistic data of household living expenditure. The results show that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption had increased from 1583 to 2498 kg CO2 during 1995-2004. The ratio of consumption-induced CO2 emission to total CO2 emission had risen from 19% to 30% in the past decade. Indirect CO2 emission accounted for an important part of the consumption-induced emission, the ratio of indirect emission to consumption-induced emission had risen from 69% to 79% during the same period. A significant difference in consumption-induced CO2 emission across different income groups and different regions has been observed. COs emission per capita of higher income groups and developed regions increased faster than that of lower income groups and developing regions. Changing lifestyle has driven significant increase in CO2 emission. Especially, increases in private transport expenditure （for example, vehicle expenditure） and house building expenditure are key driving factors of growth in consumption-induced COL emission. There are big differences in the amount of CO2 emission induced by change in lifestyle across different income groups and provinces. It can be expected that lower income households and developing regions will increase consumption to improve their livings with income growth in the future, which may induce much more CO2 emission. A reasonable level of CO2 emission is necessary to satisfy human needs and to improve living standard, but a noticeable fact is that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption in developed areas of China had reached a quite high level. Adjustment in lifestyle towards a low-carbon society is in urgent need.     

社会减灾能力信任及水灾风险感知的区域对比——基于江西九江和宜春公众的调查

研究公众对社会减灾能力及灾害风险的认识,有助于从公众视角揭示风险潜在因素,不仅是进行风险沟通的必备环节,还可以为开展有效的减灾宣传教育、提高公众减灾意识提供决策依据。通过社会调查（221份样本）和统计分析方法,比较了江西九江、宜春公众对于社会减灾能力的信任及水灾风险感知。结果表明,公众对于社会减灾能力基本持信任态度,信任度高低排序为：灾害监测预报>政府应急>防灾工程>预警传播,其中宜春公众的信任度较高;公众对于水灾的风险感知较弱,尤其是宜春公众认为水灾发生、受灾的可能性很小;公众的信任与对区域减灾能力的了解无关,主要是受到受灾经历（受灾次数、灾情损失、灾后救援）的影响,即区域本底灾害风险的高低导致公众认知的差异,风险较高区域（九江）的公众具有更为明确的降低风险的行为倾向及意愿。