VTOL aircraft in emergency planning and management: a model for a helipad network

The scientific literature regarding HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) planning lacks a method for defining optimal sites for helipads that takes into account risk distribution and hospital location. Such a method could minimise overall rescue time in emergency situations. In this paper a method that supports the decisions taken by disaster planners and managers is developed, focusing on the quantification of necessary air resources for the management of some probable calamities. Given a region characterised by a natural and non-natural disaster risk map, along with a comprehensive transport system (also characterised by a risk map), a set of emergency destinations (hospitals), a set of heliports/helipads dislocated on the territory and a number of available HEMS rotorcraft, the aim of the paper is to assess the adequacy of the VTOL/FATO (Vertical Take-Off and Landing/Final Take-Off and Landing Area) system in order to deal with a set of possible emergencies.     

The Contribution of Acadia PRIMENet Research to Science and Resource Management in the National Park Service

Acadia National Park was one of the 14 sites included in the Park Research and Intensive Monitoring of Ecosystems network (PRIMENet). For eight years the EPA monitored ultraviolet (UV) radiation at this site, with the National Park Service (NPS) sponsoring a total climate and air monitoring station. Under the auspices of PRIMENet, research projects were initiated that investigated the effects of UV on amphibians, determined watershed mass balances, and developed a model of deposition along an elevational gradient. The monitoring data and research results have been used by park management to protect vegetation and water resources from ozone and deposition. These data are now being used to develop a “vital signs” monitoring program under the NPS’ Inventory and Monitoring Program. These data sets have been used in regional, national and international programs to protect human health and resources from air pollution. Public outreach has been accomplished through web site resources and via the Schoodic Education and Research Center.     

我国政府购买环境公共服务的监督机制研究

近年来,环境类服务购买在政府购买公共服务中的比重不断增多,作为政府购买公共服务的下属概念,其监督不仅存在政府购买公共服务监督的一般性问题,还存在环境领域的专门问题,概括后主要表现为监督主体缺位、被监督对象比例设置不科学、监督内容过于宽泛、监督制度构建有限等。推动全国性专门立法、定位不同监督主体的功能、明确以"合同"为核心的监督内容、拓展配套制度是完善我国政府购买环境公共服务监督机制的必由之路。     

煤矿区土地修复的生态系统服务功能改善研究

采用3S技术,对我国典型的煤炭资源枯竭型城市石嘴山市煤炭开采区的生态修复前后的生态系统服务进行了分析。采用2001年与2011年两期LandsatETM和TM遥感影像图的人工解译与变化监测,分析了煤矿区的土地利用覆盖变化。并通过建立响应的评价指标体系,对其成功的治理煤矸石山,改造塌陷区,建立煤矿地质公园,将塌陷区改善为生态湿地等活动的生态系统服务功能变化进行了全面定量化评价。研究表明,通过10年的土地修复,采矿迹地的生态恢复能够提高其生态系统服务功能10倍左右,尤其是环境美学功能受到社会广泛认同。     

Assessing the impact of the U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery planning guidelines on managing threats for listed species

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of the United States was enacted in 1973 to prevent the extinction of species. Recovery plans, required by 1988 amendments to the ESA, play an important role in organizing these efforts to protect and recover species. To improve the use of science in the recovery planning process, the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) commissioned an independent review of endangered species recovery planning in 1999. From these findings, the SCB made key recommendations for how management agencies could improve the recovery planning process, after which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service redrafted their recovery planning guidelines. One important recommendation called for recovery plans to make threats a primary focus, including organizing and prioritizing recovery tasks for threat abatement. We sought to determine the extent to which results from the SCB study were incorporated into these new guidelines and whether the SCB recommendations regarding threats manifested in recovery plans written under the new guidelines. Recovery planning guidelines generally incorporated the SCB recommendations, including those for managing threats. However, although recent recovery plans have improved in their treatment of threats, many fail to adequately incorporate threat monitoring. This failure suggests that developing clear guidelines for monitoring should be an important priority in improving ESA recovery planning.     

京津风沙源治理工程生态效益评估——以翁牛特旗为例

通过以实地调查和京津风沙源治理工程建设任务及投资数据为基础,以县域土地利用及社会经济相关数据作为参考,对内蒙古翁牛特旗京津风沙源治理工程生态效益进行了全面评估。结果表明,内蒙古翁牛特旗森林生态系统服务主要是水源涵养、保护生物多样性和固碳释氧,占总服务价值的86.1%。京津风沙源建设工程在遏制沙化土地蔓延和改善周边区域环境质量等方面效果显著。京津风沙源治理工程在生态、经济、社会方面的贡献巨大,工程建设取得了较好的成效。     

高职《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的构建

三元模式是高等职业教育改革的一条重要途径。通过把三元模式与《会展服务与管理》课程相结合,具体细化三元模式的实践应用,深化《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的内涵,重点对高等职业教育《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的实现途径进行了探讨,包括整合教育资源、独创性的课程设计、采用“双导师”制授课、研究教学活动特点等方面。     

Documenting the sustainability of a mature Click It or Ticket program: the North Carolina experience

North Carolina was the first United States jurisdiction to implement a statewide program (called Click It or Ticket) coupling concentrated enforcement with massive publicity to increase seat belt use. After a successful pilot program in three very different North Carolina communities, the statewide program was launched in October 1993, and has been most active and productive as well as imitated by many other states over the past decade. This paper explores the combination of ingredients that have been employed and sustained over that period of time. These include: (a) a basic coalition of critical public-private agencies (central to the planning, execution, and publicity of the many Click It or Ticket programs); (b) critical top-down commitments (starting with the governor); (c) pervasive and innovative media events/press releases/ PSAs/ web site information; (d) vigorous and well-publicized law enforcement; (e) feedback on results with solid, updated data; (f) related statewide and local programs/activities; and last but not least (g) continuous funding.     

Decision Support for Road System Analysis and Modification on the Tahoe National Forest

The United States Forest Service is required to analyze road systems on each of the national forests for potential environmental impacts. We have developed a novel and inexpensive way to do this using the Ecosystem Management Decision Support program (EMDS). We used EMDS to integrate a user-developed fuzzy logic knowledge base with a grid-based geographic information system to evaluate the degree of truth for assertions about a roads environmental impact. Using spatial data for natural and human processes in the Tahoc National Forest (TNF, California, USA), we evaluated the assertion the road has a high potential for impacting the environment. We found a high level of agreement between the products of this evaluation and ground observations of a TNF transportation engineer, as well as occurrences of road failures. We used the modeled potential environmental impact to negatively weight roads for a least-cost path network analysis to 1573 points of interest in the forest. The network analysis showed that out of 8233 km of road analyzed in the forest, 3483 km (42%) must be kept in a modified road network to ensure access to these points. We found that the modified network had improved patch characteristics, such as significantly fewer cherry stem roads intruding into patches, an improved area-weighted mean shape index, and larger mean patch sizes, as compared to the original network. This analysis system could be used by any public agency to analyze infrastructure for environmental or other risk and included in other mandated analyses such as risks to watersheds.