Experimental evidence for a dual pathway model analysis of coping with the climate crisis

Two experiments examined the psychological power of fear and group efficacy beliefs to increase environmental action intentions against the climate crisis. Extending a dual pathway model of coping with collective disadvantage, results showed evidence for emotion-focused approach coping: Environmental action intentions were increased by individuals' manipulated fear of the negative future consequences of the climate crisis (Experiments 1–2). Additionally, results showed evidence for problem-focused approach coping: Individuals' measured (Experiment 1) and manipulated group efficacy beliefs (Experiment 2) increased environmental action intentions. The results thus suggest that the dual pathway model can be successfully applied to a psychological analysis of emotion- and problem-focused approach coping with the climate crisis. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.     

Collective guilt mediates the effect of beliefs about global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behavior

The present research examines whether collective guilt for an ingroup's collective greenhouse gas emissions mediates the effects of beliefs about the causes and effects of global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behavior. In Study 1, we manipulate the causes and effects of global warming and then measure collective guilt. Results demonstrate that collective guilt for Americans' greenhouse gas emissions is stronger when participants believe that global warming is caused by humans and will have minor effects. Study 2 employs the same manipulations and then measures collective guilt and collective anxiety, as well as willingness to conserve energy and pay green taxes. This study replicates the effect from Study 1 and rules out collective anxiety as a plausible alternative mediator. Collective guilt for Americans' greenhouse emissions was the only reliable mediator of the effect of beliefs about global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behaviors. The importance of collective guilt as a tool for promoting global warming mitigation is discussed.     

Ordering phenomena in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors

Low-dimensional organic conductors could establish themselves as model systems for the investigation of the physics in reduced dimensions. In the metallic state of a one-dimensional solid, Fermi liquid theory breaks down and spin and charge degrees of freedom become separated. But the metallic phase is not stable in one dimension: as the temperature is reduced, the electronic charge and spin tend to arrange themselves in an ordered fashion due to strong correlations. The competition of the different interactions is responsible for which broken-symmetry ground state is eventually realized in a specific compound and which drives the system toward an insulating state. Here, we review the various ordering phenomena and how they can be identified by optic and magnetic measurements. While the final results might look very similar in the case of a charge density wave and a charge-ordered metal, for instance, the physical cause is completely different. When density waves form, a gap opens in the density of states at the Fermi energy due to nesting of the one-dimension Fermi surface sheets. When a one-dimensional metal becomes a charge-ordered Mott insulator, on the other hand, the short-range Coulomb repulsion localizes the charge on the lattice sites and even causes certain charge patterns. We try to point out the similarities and conceptional differences of these phenomena and give an example for each of them. Particular emphasis will be put on collective phenomena that are inherently present as soon as ordering breaks the symmetry of the system.     

风窗对井下通风系统的影响及其调节与定位优化

利用回路阻力平衡关系分析了井下风窗安装前后通风系统中各分支间风流流动关系,提出了某些分支安装风窗后,通风系统各分支的风量对此变化作出反应的分析模型,给出了度量风量和阻力反应敏感性强弱的方法;假定通风系统中某些分支同时安装风窗,在保留风窗的使用对通风系统所带来的正面作用,但要抑制其负面作用的条件下,基于尽可能使所有参与调节的分支的风阻增、减值最小化的原则,提出了指定分支实施调节的调阻调节法和优选分支实施调节的调阻调节法,并建立了相关最优调节模型及其求解方法。结果表明:两种模型可以在风窗安装之前进行解算,解算结果可预知风窗安装后通风系统各分支的风流的分布情况,并确定出相应的调控策略;优选分支调阻调节模型可以用于选择最优的风窗安装位置、数量及风窗阻力,后者可以用于确定风窗窗口面积。     

Factors driving deforestation in common-pool resources in northern Mexico

The theory of collective action has been extensively used to explain the relationship between common-based property regimes and the conservation of natural resources. However, there are two key components of the theory that literature reports as puzzles in which no consensus exists about their effect on the performance of common-pool resources. These are group size and heterogeneity. This study analyzes the effects of these two key components on the effectiveness of community-based forestry, called ejidos, to protect their forest resources in northern Mexico. We used a multinomial logit model to determine the contribution of 16 explanatory variables to the dependent variable, a measure of success of ejidos defined by the presence of deforested, degraded, or forested conditions. The results show that corn yield, marginality, percent of forest area, total population, a forest value index, distance to markets, roads and towns, were all statistically significant in driving deforested conditions. Deforestation becomes more attractive for poor communities and as corn yield and distance to towns, roads, and markets decrease. In general, group size and heterogeneity had no significant effects on the presence of deforested conditions. Deforestation is driven by resource-specific characteristics, such as location and soil productivity, not by ejidos' attributes, such as total area or number of members. We argue that current institutional policies focusing on the structure of property right arrangements should be shifted (1) to provide better technology for land cultivation; (2) to reduce the marginality problem in poor communities; and (3) to strengthen local institutions.     

Forest Health,Collective Behaviors,and Management

This study compares community-based managed forests under different purposes of management, namely, state-driven conservation or community-designed utilization in two villages located in the Sopsai watershed, Nan Province, northern Thailand. The forest health under different intensity of uses is assessed in association with the collective behaviors and long-term purposes embedded in village social–cultural context. The study found no significant differences in forest succession and proportion in diameter at 1.3 m (dbh) class and height-class distribution of the forest under different use intensity. The forest for utilization also showed higher density and basal area of the local preferred species than the conservation forest. In the utilization forest, we also found a higher number of multipurpose and preferred species than in the conservation forest, which actually responded to the needs of the community in the long term to have more wood products (both firewood and timbers). The community-based forest management (CBFM) for utilization can also lead to natural regeneration and biodiversity similar to conservation forests. Through CBFM, forest resources can be managed to maintain the healthy condition under different intensities and respond to both community needs and external expectation. The findings also emphasize the importance of recognizing community needs and management objectives in watershed restoration and improving the productivity of forests under collective management.     

What makes institutional crafting successful? Applying the SES to case studies from India and the greater Mekong Region

Using two very different empirical settings, this paper emphasizes the required conditions for the successful crafting of sustainable institutions. In the first setting, different farmer groups in Cambodia and Vietnam try to establish a collective approach for small-scale community-based aquaculture and fail. In the second setting, the collective initiatives of urban women in India are analysed. The Indian women succeed in their objective of a fuel transition from firewood to gas cookers using a cooperative approach. Ostrom's variables identified in the “Multitier Framework for Analyzing Social–Ecological Systems (SES)” (Ostrom, 2007) are applied to local collective action initiatives in both settings to understand which factors make some of the groups succeed in their objectives and others fail. This research highlights the complexity as well as the uniqueness of different SESs. At the same time, the paper contributes to demonstrating the usability of the SES and certain variables to estimate the likelihood of success of self-organisation and crafting of rules. It highlights the relevance of certain conceptual variables for sustainable or unsustainable outcomes for different cases.     

人工智能助力臭氧催化剂SrFexZr1-xO3的开发

将人工智能应用于催化臭氧氧化催化剂SrFe_xZr_1-xO₃的开发过程,采用共沉淀法制备了50种不同配方的催化剂,考察聚乙二醇（PEG）投加量、煅烧时间、老化时间、氨水投加量和铁掺杂量对SrFe_xZr_1-xO₃催化剂催化臭氧降解间甲酚反应活性的影响.同时,利用人工神经网络（ANN）和响应面（RSM）对催化剂合成条件与TOC去除率和间甲酚转化率的关系进行拟合,训练集中ANN的R²值分别为0.91和0.97,高于RSM的R²值0.35和0.41;在4组测试集上ANN的均方误差（MSE）分别为9.87和17.67,远小于RSM的23.89和28.87.结果表明,ANN模型对催化剂制备过程的复杂体系具有更好的拟合和泛化能力.在ANN训练好的模型中通过枚举法寻找最优合成条件为：PEG投加量为19.00%,煅烧时间为1.25 h,老化时间为26.50 h,氨水投加量为6.21 mL,铁掺杂量为3.37%,所得催化剂为SrFe_0.13Zr_0.87O₃-B.最佳反应条件下,间甲酚转化率和TOC去除率分别达到98.52%和17.21%,优于空白组的73.46%和1.86%.