A data mining approach to simulating farmers' crop choices for integrated water resources management

Water and land resources in Thailand are increasingly under pressure from development. In particular, there are many resource conflicts associated with agricultural production in northern Thailand. Communities in these areas are significantly constrained in the land and water management decisions they are able to make. This paper describes the application of a data mining approach to describing and simulating farmers' decision rules in a catchment in northern Thailand. This approach is being applied to simulate social, economic and biophysical constraints on farmers' decisions in these areas as part of an integrated water management model.     

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR MANAGING GROUND WATER RESOURCES IN THE CHOUSHUI RIVER ALLUVIAL IN TAIWAN1

ABSTRACT: Ground water is a vital water resource in the Choushui River alluvial fan in Taiwan. A significantly increased demand for water, resulting from rapid economic development, has led to large scale ground water extraction. Overdraft of ground water has considerably lowered the ground water level, and caused seawater intrusion, land subsidence, and other environmental damage. Sound ground water management thus is essential. This study presents a decision support system (DSS) for managing ground water resources in the Choushui River alluvial fan. This DSS integrates geographic information, ground water simulation, and expert systems. The geographic information system effectively analyzes and displays the spatially varied data and interfaces with the ground water simulation system to compute the dynamic behavior of ground water flow and solute transport in the aquifer. Meanwhile, a ground water model, MODFLOW‐96, is used to determine the permissible yield in the Choushui River alluvial fan. Additionally, an expert system of DSS employs the determined aquifer permissible yield to assist local government agencies in issuing water rights permits and managing ground water resources in the Choushui River alluvial fan.     

沿空窄煤柱锚网带支护的巷道稳定性研究

锚杆支护是煤矿采准巷道的重要支护方式 ,沿空留巷技术是回采巷道支护技术改革的主要方面。笔者将两种技术相结合 ,用于保证回采巷道的稳定。在现场矿压观测的基础上 ,讨论了支承压力分布规律和窄煤柱护巷机理 ,运用极限平衡理论计算出护巷煤柱宽度 ,同时结合数值分析和现场巷道变形以观测结果 ,实践证明 ,只要设计参数合理 ,施工质量满足要求 ,沿空窄煤柱锚网带支护技术就可以保证回采巷道的稳定     

Comparing theoretical and actual feasibility of transferring management of river lift irrigation systems in Sudan

This article focuses on agricultural production in lift irrigation schemes along the White Nile in the Sudan. A comparison is drawn between the theoretical forecast and actual practical experience regarding the feasibility of transferring management from government-run parastatal organizations to private farmer organizations. Although the theoretical model indicates that farmers should be able to cover the cost of managing the river lift irrigation systems, field data show, however, that farmers growing wheat are barely able to break even. Even assuming a doubling of the present wheat yields, the cash surplus earned would only suffice for fuel to operate the pumps. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that, contrary to government expectations, the private sector has been unenthusiastic about taking over management of White Nile river lift schemes. The lessons that emerge from this study indicate that unplanned and rapid withdrawal of state management can lead to negative results. The transfer of management responsibility for the river pumps does not appear to influence economic performance considerably, which depends on the wider context of the country's economic, political and institutional environment, within which the agricultural sector functions.     

WATERSHEDSS: A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR WATERSHED-SCALE NONPOINT SOURCE WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS1

ABSTRACT: A significant portion of all pollutants entering surface waters (streams, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands) derives from non-point source (NPS) pollution and, in particular, agricultural activities. The first step in restoring a water resource is to focus on the primary water quality problem in the watershed. The most appropriate NPS control measures, which include best management practices (BMPs) and landscape features, such as wetlands and riparian areas, can then be selected and positioned to minimize or mitigate the identified pollutant(s). A computer-based decision sup. port and educational software system, WATERSHEDSS (WATER, Soil, and Hydro-Environmental Decision Support System), has been developed to aid managers in defining their water quality problems and selecting appropriate NPS control measures. The three primary objectives of WATERSHEDSS are (1) to transfer water quality and land treatment information to watershed managers in order to assist them with appropriate land management/land treatment decisions; (2) to assess NPS pollution in a watershed based on user-supplied information and decisions; and (3) to evaluate, through geographical information systems-assisted modeling, the water quality effects of alternative land treatment scenarios. WATERSHEDSS is available on the World Wide Web (Web) at http://h2osparc.wq.ncsu.edu .     

阳极溶出伏安法测定ppb级Cu,pb,Cd的实验条件的选择

本文介绍了在环境监测中，经试验研究，确定的用阳极溶出伏安法，连续分析环境样品中重金属Ｃｕ，Ｐｂ，Ｃｄ的最佳条件，即用悬汞电极做工作电极，用０．１Ｍ离氯酸做支持电解质，纯氮除氧。当ＰＨ值取２－７，富集电位数－１．１～－１．２Ｖ时，不但可连续测定一定浓度范围的重金属Ｃｄ，Ｐｂ，ＣＵ；而且方法灵敏度高，精密良好，线性相关关系可达０．９９９０，回收率达８５－１１５％，获得了良好的分析效果。     

Environmental management in an international consumer goods company

Many management processes and tools can provide companies with information to support their environmental decision making. Risk assessment, environmental auditing, life cycle assessment and environmental reporting are but a few examples. Each of these has typically evolved independently as the need for it has arisen. Today, however, this abundance of tools can lead to confusion: What is the exact objective of each tool? How do they differ? Are some ‘better’ than others? Should they be used in parallel, sequentially or in place of each other? More importantly, how do they fit together into a coherent environmental management framework that will ensure sound environmental and economic decision making in a company? This paper seeks to answer these questions. It describes the overall environmental framework that has been developed internally within Procter & Gamble and which allows the company to make coherent economically and environmentally sound decisions, in both the short- and long-term.     

Making decisions about environmental management when conventional economic analysis cannot be used

A process is described for making comparative valuations of a wide range of environmental management activities when the combined social, economic, managerial, and political benefits of some (but not all) of these activities cannot be adequately described in economic terms and when budgetary constraints do not permit funding of all activities under consideration. The process accounts for subjective judgment and contains a formal rigorous decision strategy that takes the place of intuition when quantitative and qualitative values of environmental activities need to be evaluated.     

The residential lakeshore access allocation problem: Minimizing barrier effects on shoreline habitat buffers

Residential lakeshore development is causing increasing pressure on the lacustrine environment. Traditional landscaping patterns produce lakes ringed with lawns at the expense of the naturally occurring shoreline habitat. In this work, we present a mathematical model to select path locations to minimize impacts on the lakeshore environment, while providing convenient access to the landowners.     

An integrated modelling approach to assess the risk of wind-borne spread of foot-and-mouth disease virus from infected premises

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of livestock that has serious consequences on livestock production and trade. In Australia, preparedness and planning includes the development of decision-support tools that would assist priority setting and resource management in the event of an incursion. In this paper we describe an integrated modelling approach using geographic information system (GIS) technology to assess the risk of wind-borne spread of FMD virus. The approach involves linking an intra-farm virus production model, a wind transport and dispersal model, and an exposure-risk model to identify and rank farms at risk of wind-borne infection of FMD. This will assist authorities by enabling resources for activities like surveillance and vaccination to be allocated on the basis of risk.