Resource frontiers and agglomeration economies: The varied logics of transnational land-based investing in Southern and Eastern Africa

Actor-level data on large-scale commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are scarce. The peculiar choice of transnational investing in African land has, therefore, been subject to conjecture. Addressing this gap, we reconstructed the underlying logics of investment location choices in a Bayesian network, using firm- and actor-level interview and spatial data from 37 transnational agriculture and forestry investments across 121 sites in Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We distinguish four investment locations across gradients of resource frontiers and agglomeration economies to derive the preferred locations of different investors with varied skillsets and market reach (i.e., track record). In contrast to newcomers, investors with extensive track records are more likely to expand the land use frontier, but they are also likely to survive the high transaction costs of the pre-commercial frontier. We highlight key comparative advantages of Southern and Eastern African frontiers and map the most probable categories of investment locations.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01682-z.     

多源信息融合技术在内陆湖库水华预警中的研究进展与展望

面对水体富营养化愈来愈严重，水华爆发越来越频繁的严峻形式；为减少水华发生频率及由此造成的损失，开展水华预警已成当务之急。水华爆发是水体中营养盐的累积、气候条件与水力条件等众多因素非线性共同作用的产物；为此，有必要在众多水华影响因素的动态监测信息的融合基础上，寻求水华爆发与这些影响因素间的影射关系，这就需要信息融合技术。通过归纳总结多源信息融合技术在内陆湖库水华预警中应用的研究进展，结合目前我国水华预警的具体需求，提出建立基于多源信息融合技术的水华预警决策支持系统的研究前景与初步设想。信息融合技术为水华预警提供了一个良好的平台，它将与水华相关的不同信息源（水文、气象、水环境质量与环境遥感）所提供的局部不完整的观测信息加以集成与互补，消除多源信息之间存在的冗余和矛盾，形成对水华爆发环境相对完整的感知与描述；从而提高水华预警与应急响应决策的效率，提高预警信息的时间与空间分辨率，扩展信息的时空监测范围。     

关于我国农村城市化路径的选择与金融支持

农村城市化作为农村现代化的重要组成部分。成为解决我国“三农”问题的根本途径。在我国经济政治发展极不平衡的二元社会结构形态下。就地城市化是适合国情的合理选择。需要通过以政策性金融机构长期信贷支持为主体、农村信用合作社以及其他金融机构长期性资金投入为辅助的机制。建立政府政策扶植、市场资金支持的政府主导型的混合型金融支持体系,探索我国农村城市化的新路径。     

基于支持向量机的高速公路事件检测

针对交通领域中的事件检测(无事件模式和事件模式)模式识别问题,描述了支持向量机(SVM)支持的基本方法,建立了基于线性(linear function)、多项式(polynomial function)和径向基(radial basis function)3种核函数的事件检测SVM模型。采用高速公路路段I-880线圈数据集和事件数据集验证模型,结果发现:无论对于向北、向南或混合方向的事件检测,在3个SVM模型中,SVM(P)检测效果最好,SVM(L)最差。SVM算法具有避免局部最小,实现全局最优化,更好的泛化效果的优点,是高速公路事件检测的一种很有潜力的算法。     

某矿区典型井巷支护体检测及数值模拟分析

为了评估某矿区井下不良地质环境对井巷支护体混凝土强度的影响,了解现役井巷支护结构的实际性能,有针对性地选择了11个典型单体项目,采用非破损检测方法——钻芯取样法,对其支护体混凝土强度进行了取样、检测及评定工作。检测结果表明,支护体混凝土实际强度普遍低于设计强度等级。在检测结果的基础上,进一步采用大型通用有限元分析软件ANSYS,对其中的一立井主井井筒和一井底车场平巷支护结构的实际性能分别进行初步的数值模拟分析。数值模拟结果表明,所检测的单体项目井巷支护体混凝土强度可基本满足矿山生产要求。     

金川公司二矿区矿井火灾救灾决策支持系统研究

井下属于受限空间,一旦发生火灾,避灾和救护都比较困难。发生矿井火灾时,火灾参数不易测定,但在制定火灾应急救援预案时,则是必须考虑的问题,因此,数值模拟就成为一种分析矿井火灾的有力工具。笔者利用地下工程火灾理论,从流体网络的角度给出了污染范围的确定及最佳避灾路线的数学模型;从实用的角度出发,根据金川公司二矿区的具体情况,构建了金川公司二矿区矿井火灾救灾决策支持系统;可为火灾时期火情预测、避灾、救灾及制定火灾应急救援预案提供支持。     

Factors associated with financial support in old age for young and middle-aged rural residents in China

This study examined the factors associated with financial support in old age from three primary mechanisms-personal savings,family support,and social insurance-to explore the implications for the future development of China’s rural social welfare system.Cross-sectional surveys of 1392 young and middle-aged rural residents were conducted in July and August2012.The results showed that while social insurance was increasingly acceptable,personal savings and family support still had fundamental value.Combining the three mechanisms,the rural old-age welfare system presented nontraditional features.China’s new rural endowment insurance is discussed as a means to address the need for financial support among the rural aging population.     

On the uncertainty and confidence in decision support tools (DSTs) with insights from the Baltic Sea ecosystem

Ecosystems around the world are increasingly exposed to multiple, often interacting human activities, leading to pressures and possibly environmental state changes. Decision support tools (DSTs) can assist environmental managers and policy makers to evaluate the current status of ecosystems (i.e. assessment tools) and the consequences of alternative policies or management scenarios (i.e. planning tools) to make the best possible decision based on prevailing knowledge and uncertainties. However, to be confident in DST outcomes it is imperative that known sources of uncertainty such as sampling and measurement error, model structure, and parameter use are quantified, documented, and addressed throughout the DST set-up, calibration, and validation processes. Here we provide a brief overview of the main sources of uncertainty and methods currently available to quantify uncertainty in DST input and output. We then review 42 existing DSTs that were designed to manage anthropogenic pressures in the Baltic Sea to summarise how and what sources of uncertainties were addressed within planning and assessment tools. Based on our findings, we recommend future DST development to adhere to good modelling practise principles, and to better document and communicate uncertainty among stakeholders.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-020-01385-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

碳负载富氧空位的NiCo2O4用于电催化还原硝酸盐

水体中硝酸盐是一种广泛存在的污染物,因此,开发用于水中硝酸盐还原的高效电催化剂受到广泛关注.采用溶胶-凝胶法耦合硼氢化钠还原法制备了碳负载富氧空位的NiCo₂O_4-x/C电催化剂,并研究其去除硝酸盐的性能.结果发现,在该体系中,耦合导电碳载体可改善半导体型电催化剂导电性,构建氧空位可促使原子H^*生成,最终实现硝酸盐高效还原.NiCo₂O_4-x/C阴极在电流密度为20 mA·cm^-2、pH=7的条件下,可于3 h内去除水中94.8%的NO₃^--N,相较于NiCo₂O₄及NiCo₂O₄/C阴极,NO₃^--N去除率分别提高了36.6%和12.2%.此外,NiCo₂O_4-x/C阴极在连续5次还原硝酸盐过程中性能并未有明显变化.结合掩蔽实验和电子顺磁共振波谱分析证实,NiCo₂O_4-x/C阴极除了可通过直接电子还原硝酸盐外,还可以通过生成原子H^*间接还原硝酸盐.通过对实际废水处理进一步验证其转化硝酸盐的性能,研究表明,NiCo₂O_4-x/C阴极可有效去除焦化废水生物出水中硝酸盐.     

融合时空特征的PCA-PSO-SVM臭氧(O3)预测方法研究

针对目前臭氧预测方法未能考虑臭氧污染的区域性和在时间周期内的强自相关性的问题,提出一种融合时空特征的PCA-PSO-SVM臭氧组合预测模型.利用小波分析和系统聚类提取臭氧时间序列波动特征和站点空间分布相似性特征,并通过主成分分析和粒子群算法优化的支持向量机组合模型（PCA-PSO-SVM）对臭氧日最大8h平均浓度进行预测,以2016~2018年杭州市大气污染物观测数据和气象数据进行实验验证.结果表明：融合时空特征的PCA-PSO-SVM模型预测精度有较大提升,与未融合时空特征的PCA-PSO-SVM模型相比,精度提升19%.气象因素中温度对臭氧预测效果影响最大,在气象预报数据存在一定误差的情况下,提出的模型仍得到较高精度的预测效果,具备较好的鲁棒性.