ENSO: EXTREME CLIMATE EVENTS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON ASIAN DELTAS1

ABSTRACT: Proxy climate data for the last 500 years collected from the archives of counties in the Yangtze River Delta, China, were analyzed to identify the occurrence of extreme climate events, the pattern of such occurrences and their relationships to El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study identified the cycle periods of 3.5, 5.5 and 8.6 years for floods and 18.5 years for droughts in the Yangtze River Delta during the last 500 year period and noted 16 regional (delta wide) extreme events during this period. All regional (delta wide) extreme climate events during the last 500 years (since 1500 A.D.) occurred either during or immediately after ENSO (5–6 year) activities. Hydrological impacts of extreme climate events, such as major floods and droughts, on human systems have long been among the foremost concerns of the Pacific Rim countries. Management of systems increasingly dominated by humans, such as Asian delta regions, should, therefore, include consideration of major climate variability, ENSO events and the extent of climate changes, as well as consideration of the trends associated with human growth and institutional changes.     

Amenity Values of Public and Private Forests: Examining the Value–Attitude Relationship

Public values toward forests have changed since the late 1980s, from a commodity-oriented perspective toward a more inclusive (commodity and non-commodity) orientation. This study examines the influence of four indicators of population diversity (age, ethnic background, place of residence, and gender) on amenity values of forests, environmental attitudes, and forest value—attitude correspondence. Four values of public and private forests were assessed, wood production (utilitarian value), clean air (a life support value), scenic beauty (an aesthetic value), and heritage (a spiritual value). Environmental attitudes were measured using a modified version of the New Environmental Paradigm scale. Five hundred and forty-eight randomly selected residents of households in 13 states of the Southern United States participated in a telephone interview. Age and ethnic background were found to moderate the value—attitude relationship, with the strength of the association being dependent upon the type of forest (i.e., public or private) and the forest value (i.e., utilitarian, life support, spiritual, and aesthetic). Females, younger persons (less than 43 years old), and whites reported lower utilitarian values of forests than their respective counterparts. Results are interpreted within the context of an emerging post-material society, in which a biocentric orientation to forests and the natural environment may be favored more by a younger (versus older) generation and increasingly racially diverse U.S. population. Implications for managing forests using a multiple-values (versus multiple-uses) approach are discussed.     

环境价值评估方法

环境价值评估是环境管理科学化的基础。本文就迄今为止的国内外定价技术进行了综述并筛选出一套适合我国国情的价值评估体系、方法。     

Serum lipid,apolipoprotein and lipoparticle levels in the human fetus

Blood collected from 62 fetuses aged 20–38 weeks of gestation was studied. The values of ten lipid parameters were determined: cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), apolipoprotein Al (apo A1), apolipoprotein B (apo B), apolipoprotein E (apo E), total apolipoprotein CIII (apo CIII), apolipoprotein CIII present in particles containing apo B (apo CIII LpB) or not (apo CIII Lp non-B), lipoparticles A1 (LpA1), and lipoprotein a (Lp(a)). The results show that, except for apo E, all the studied parameters were present in lower concentrations than in adults and newborns, and that Lp(a) is not detectable at that stage in life.     

红壤中质子化及铝的溶解与质子缓冲之间的关系

 用平衡实验及动力学实验研究了我国南方4种红壤的表面质子化及铝的溶解与质子缓冲之间的关系.结果表明,由于游离氧化铁的含量、活性及对铝溶解反应位的掩盖程度等与质子化密切相关因素的不同影响,4种红壤的总H⁺消耗量和铝溶解量不同,宁海红壤和嵊县红壤的质子化程度及H⁺的总消耗量大于永春红壤和屯溪红壤;屯溪红壤铝的溶解量最大,宁海红壤铝的溶解量最小.尽管屯溪红壤铝的溶解量最大,但H⁺的总消耗量却最小.当红壤中氧化铁含量较高时,铝的溶解在H⁺消耗中只起次要作用,质子化过程是H⁺消耗的主要途径.     

A Method for Constructing a Social Vulnerability Index: An Application to Hurricane Storm Surges in a Developed Country

An important goal of vulnerability assessment is to create an index of overall vulnerability from a suite of indicators. Constructing a vulnerability index raises several problems in the aggregation of these indicators, including the decision of assigning weights to them. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method of aggregating vulnerability indicators that results in a composite index of vulnerability, but that avoids the problems associated with assigning weights. The investigators apply a technique based on Pareto ranking to a complex, developed socioeconomic landscape exposed to storm surges associated with hurricanes. Indicators of social vulnerability to this hazard are developed and a principal components analysis is performed on proxies for these indicators. Overall social vulnerability is calculated by applying Pareto ranking to these principal components. The paper concludes that it is possible to construct an effective index of vulnerability without weighting the individual vulnerability indicators.     

煤飞灰多环芳烃环境标准参考物的研制与定值

研制了一种煤飞灰多环芳烃（ＰＡＨｓ）环境标准参考物，用高效液相色谱ＨＰＬＣ（ＵＶＤ／ＦＬＤ）作为分析方法，对其均匀性和稳定性进行了检验，对几种有代表性的ＰＡＨｓ的分析统计结果表明，其均匀性是合格的，在－２５℃保存时，稳定性在两年以上，采用两种独立可靠的方法（提取－直接进样ＨＰＬＣ和提取－硅胶柱预分离－ＨＲＧＣ），给出了煤飞灰参考物质中几种ＰＡＨ的定值结果：菲（ＰＨ）７．１±２．６μｇ／ｇ，蒽（ＡＮ     

Identification of the largest individual sample value using composite sample data and certain modifications of the sweep-out method

Cost-effective hotspot identification is an important issue in hazardous waste site characterization and evaluation. Composite sampling techniques are known to be cost effective when the cost of measurement is substantially higher than the cost of sampling. Although compositing incurs no loss of information on the means, information on individual sample values is lost due to compositing. In particular, if the interest is in identifying the largest individual sample value, the composite sampling techniques are not able to do so. Under certain assumptions, it may be possible to satisfactorily predict individual sample values using the composite sample data, but it is not generally possible to identify the largest individual sample value. In this paper, we propose two methods of identifying the largest individual sample value with some additional measurement effort. Both methods are modifications of the simple sweep-out method proposed earlier. Since analytical results do not seem to be feasible, performance of the proposed methods is assessed via simulation. The simulation results show that both the proposed methods, namely the locally sequential sweep-out and the globally sequential sweep-out, are better than the simple sweep-out method.Prepared with partial support from the Statistical Analysis and Computing Branch, Environmental Statistics and Information Division, Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC under a Cooperative Agreement Number CR-821531. The contents have not been subjected to Agency review and therefore do not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

工作价值观、调节焦点与安全绩效的关系研究——基于煤矿企业新生代员工的实证分析

为了从价值观和调节焦点的双重视角给煤矿企业新生代员工的安全管理提供科学依据,在文献研究和问卷调查的基础上,对 244 个有效样本进行分析,揭示煤矿企业新生代员工工作价值观的具体内容,结合动机理论和调节焦点理论,构建煤矿企业新生代员工工作价值观、调节焦点和安全绩效的结构方程模型。研究结果表明:煤矿企业新生代员工的工作价值观包含发展导向、自我导向、关系认同、独立自主、利益导向和创造导向6个因子结构;煤矿企业新生代员工的工作价值观、调节焦点和安全绩效两两之间均显著相关;煤矿企业新生代员工的工作价值观不仅可以直接预测安全绩效,还可以通过调节焦点的中介作用间接影响煤矿员工的安全绩效。     

200 years of sustainability in forestry: Lessons from history

Since the end of the 1980s the concept of sustainable development has gained general acceptance, but much uncertainty still exists on how to operationalize this concept. In forestry the concept of sustainability has been an accepted principle since the 18th century. The experiences with its application in forestry may contribute towards obtaining a better insight into the implications and operational significance of the concept of sustainability. This article describes the history of sustainability in forestry, including the various social values on which its interpretation has been based. The original principle of sustained yield has gradually been broadened to a more inclusive principle of sustainable forest management. The dynamics in social valuation of forest resources resulted in various attempts at practical operationalization of the principle. Notwithstanding 200 years of efforts to operationalize the concept of sustainability, its exact application in forestry remains troublesome. Three lessons are drawn: (1) the need to recognize the different nature of ecological limits and social dynamics, (2) the role of dynamic social values with respect to forest resources, and (3) the significance of operational experiences in trying to attain sustainability within a concrete context.