Integrating nature-based tourism and forestry in private lands under heterogeneous visitor preferences for forest attributes

Developing nature-based tourism in private lands calls for new mechanisms to consolidate the interests of the tourism industry, visitors, and landowners. This choice experiment study elaborates on the heterogeneity of visitors’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for enhanced forest amenities and ecosystem services. The survey, targeting domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Ruka-Kuusamo area in Finland, considered four attributes: landscape quality, outdoor routes, forest biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. For observed heterogeneity, the visitors were grouped by their attitudes towards forest management. Unobserved heterogeneity in visitors’ choice behaviour and WTP was examined with the latent class model. While most visitors had environmentally friendly attitudes and were willing to pay, especially for enhanced landscape quality and biodiversity, considerable heterogeneity was revealed in terms of three segments with distinctive attitudes, choice behaviour and WTP. The variation in WTP has important implications for the design of a scheme of payments for environmental management.     

Research on the prediction of dangerous goods accidents during highway transportation based on the ARMA model

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused a lack of data on highway transportation accidents involving dangerous goods in China in the first quarter of 2020, and this lack of data has seriously affected research on highway transportation accidents involving dangerous goods. This study strives to compensate for this lack to a certain extent and reduce the impact of missing data on research of dangerous goods transportation accidents. Data pertaining to 2340 dangerous goods accidents in the process of highway transportation in China from 2013 to 2019 are obtained with webpage crawling software. In this paper, the number of monthly highway transportation accidents involving dangerous goods from 2013 to 2019 is determined, and the time series of transportation accidents and an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) prediction model are established. The prediction accuracy of the model is evaluated based on the actual number of dangerous goods highway transportation accidents in China from 2017 to 2019. The results indicate that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) between the actual and predicted values of dangerous goods highway transportation accidents from 2017 to 2019 is 0.147, 0.315 and 0.29. Therefore, the model meets the prediction accuracy requirements. Then, the prediction model is applied to predict the number of dangerous goods transportation accidents in the first quarter of 2020 in China. Twenty-two accidents are predicted in January, 23 accidents in February and 27 accidents in March. The results provide a reference for the study of dangerous goods transportation accidents and the formulation of accident prevention and emergency measures.     

基于AHP-TOPSIS法综合评判的保护层开采选择*

为优选首采层作为保护层开采,选取5个一级指标和19个二级指标,建立以AHP（层次分析法）和TOPSIS（逼近理想解排序法）为基础的煤层突出危险性评价模型,通过层次分析法确定各指标的权重,结合逼近理想解排序法分析贴近度并预测出煤层突出危险可能性,并进行现场工业性实验。结果表明:AHP-TOPSIS综合评判法预测优选8号煤层作为保护层开采,并经现场工业性实验验证,瓦斯解放效果较好。该方法结合主观因素和客观因素,避免单一地从主观出发或从客观出发带来的决策失误,并选取大量评价指标,使预测结果更贴合实际情况,可作为优选保护层的理论依据。     

Alternative Non-market Value-Elicitation Methods: Are the Underlying Preferences the Same?

We advocate a more formal structural approach for comparing WTP for non-market or pre-test-market goods conveyed by fundamentally different preference elicitation mechanisms. Seven independent samples of respondents were asked to value the identical good. Elicitation methods include one actual purchase and six widely used hypothetical choice formats. Using a common underlying indirect utility function (and stochastic structure) allows data for different elicitation methods to be used independently, compared pair-wise (as in much of the earlier literature) or pooled across all samples in one unified model with heteroscedasticity across elicitation methods. Our differences in estimated WTP for the individual models are typical of earlier findings. However, pooled-data models that allow for heteroscedasticity reveal that while there are substantial differences in the amount of noise in the different samples, a common underlying systematic component of the preference structure cannot be rejected for at least four (and possibly five) of these seven elicitation methods.     

Removal of boron by electrocoagulation

Boron compounds are used in many manufacturing products and may be introduced into the environment in the form of hazardous materials. Here the feasibility of removal of boron from aqueous solutions by electrocoagulation was investigated. The process was examined under various factors in order to assess optimal operating conditions. The results showed that electrocoagulation for boron removal depends on current density, initial concentration and time. Under a current density of 30 mA/cm² the percentage of boron removal from aqueous solutions is in the range of 92–96%.     

Relationship between recreation demand and some natural landscape elements in Turkey: A case study

The study consists of two parts. One part deals with recreation and vacation demands; the other investigates the relationship between recreation demand and some natural landscape elements preferred in the eastern Black Sea coastal zone of Turkey, which has traditionally a rich recreational culture. Home interview surveys were conducted during the summer of 1992. The recreation demand of the study area has been found to be 89.3% including potential demand. The landscape element "sea and seaside" preferred for recreation has been rated the highest in all groups of each of the five variables, namely, age, education, income, occupation, and marital status. The research reported here represents an empirical contribution to the field of landscape preference studies for recreation, especially in the developing countries.     

城市第三产业发展对环境的污染影响

本文通过对城市第三产业污水、废气、噪声污染的特点、规律及对策论述，为科学、有效解决城市第三产业污染问题提供了一定实践经验。     

Impacts of meteorology and precursor emission change on O3 variation in Tianjin, China from 2015 to 2021

Deterioration of surface ozone (O₃) pollution in Northern China over the past few years received much attention. For many cities, it is still under debate whether the trend of surface O₃ variation is driven by meteorology or the change in precursors emissions. In this work, a time series decomposition method (Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL)) and random forest (RF) algorithm were utilized to quantify the meteorological impacts on the recorded O₃ trend and identify the key meteorological factors affecting O₃ pollution in Tianjin, the biggest coastal port city in Northern China. After “removing” the meteorological fluctuations from the observed O₃ time series, we found that variation of O₃ in Tianjin was largely driven by the changes in precursors emissions. The meteorology was unfavorable for O₃ pollution in period of 2015-2016, and turned out to be favorable during 2017-2021. Specifically, meteorology contributed 9.3 µg/m³ O₃ (13%) in 2019, together with the increase in precursors emissions, making 2019 to be the worst year of O₃ pollution since 2015. Since then, the favorable effects of meteorology on O₃ pollution tended to be weaker. Temperature was the most important factor affecting O₃ level, followed by air humidity in O₃ pollution season. In the midday of summer days, O₃ pollution frequently exceeded the standard level (>160 µg/m³) at a combined condition with relative humidity in 40%-50% and temperature > 31°C. Both the temperature and the dryness of the atmosphere need to be subtly considered for summer O₃ forecasting.     

建设项目环境影响的时间分布

建设项目对生态与环境影响的时间分布是不均匀的。在建设项目建设和运行的不同时段受影响的环境因子不同,数量不等,强弱不均。环境影响时间分布的类型可大致分为:(1)离散不连续分布,包括一次性突发影响,周期性影响、随机影响;(2)连续分布,包括短期影响、长期均匀影响,长期累积影响;(3)永久性不可逆影响。     

背景噪声的测量和用于修正计算的问题分析及建议

在诸多有关噪声排放的标准中，背景噪声的定义在时间和空间位置方面的规定不够完备；相关的测量的规范方法也未对背景噪声的测量作了规定。实际操作上的“非同时性”给背景噪声的测量结果及用于修正均带来一些失准问题。文中分析了这些问题并提出了初步建议。