应急避难场所建设进度优化模型研究

以规划效率评价为基础,定义了应急避难场所的公益收益,体现在服务性、可达性和安全性3个方面。以全部应急避难场所在整个建设规划期的总公益收益最大化为目标,建立了无偏好和有偏好两类建设进度优化模型,对应急避难场所在规划期内各年的投资额度、建设对象和建设数量进行优化。案例研究结果表明,无偏好模型能最大限度地获得公益收益,但不能很好地表达公众的真实需求;有偏好模型,不可避免会造成一定公益收益损失,但能更多地考虑实际存在的各方面影响因素,更接近真实的决策。实际应用中对模型的选择应根据具体情况确定。     

关于Ramsey模型及其改进的研究和启示

缺水已经成为我国经济发展和社会进步的重要制约因素之一．而对水价的制定到对水资源的利用效率起科十分关键的作用。本文通过对Ramsey模型及其改进的研究．得出如下启示．即实行阶梯水价既有利于实现杜会福利的优化，也可以起到节约水资源的效果。由于阶梯水价机制的设计可以为制度安排、资本进入和市场运行提供更大的弹性空间．因此．本文的政策含义是：在实施阶梯水价的背景下．政府只需对基量水价按边际成本的定价原则来严格规制．从而有效提升水务市场的运行效率。上述举措的优点在于：由于基量水价被严格规制．消费者的基本用水福利可以得到满足；超过基本用水量的水价和再生水价的相对放松规制会鼓励社会资本进入水务行业．使行业运营效率得到提高；国有资本退出水务行业使得政府财政负担减轻，同时．由于放松规制．政府的规制成本也得以降低。最终城市水务行业可以真正做到可持续的发展。     

Can natural behavior be cultivated? The farm as local human/animal culture

Although the notion of natural behavior occurs in many policy-making and legal documents on animal welfare, no consensus has been reached concerning its definition. This paper argues that one reason why the notion resists unanimously accepted definition is that natural behavior is not properly a biological concept, although it aspires to be one, but rather a philosophical tendency to perceive animal behavior in accordance with certain dichotomies between nature and culture, animal and human, original orders and invented artifacts. The paper scrutinizes the philosophy of natural behavior as it developed in the organic movement in response to a perceived contrast between industrialized and traditional agriculture. There are two reasons for focusing on the organic movement: (i) the emphasis on “the natural” is most accentuated there and has a long history, (ii) everyday life on organic farms presupposes human/animal interplay, which conflicts with the philosophical tendency to separate nature from culture. This mismatch between theory and practice helps us see why, and how, the philosophy of natural behavior needs to be reconsidered. The paper proposes that we understand farms as local human/animal cultures, and asks what we can mean my natural behavior in such contexts. Since domestic animals adapt to agricultural environments via interaction with caretakers, such interplay is analyzed as “hub” in these animals’ natural behavior.     

Economic Modelling in Sustainability Science: Issues,Methodology, and Implications

Sustainability science is a new branch of human knowledge. It is necessary to model sustainability science based on a framework consisting of the interactions of society, ecology, the environment and the economy. This paper develops such a model, the SEEOSG model, containing the essential structural relationships that incorporate the environmental and economic conditions required for sustainability. The model is solved as a dynamic optimisation problem. This optimal growth model of ecology and economic growth enables us also to analyse the issues which are specific to sustainability science such as the ecologically sustainability and inter-generational equity implications of economic activities and policies. In the model results growth maximisation goals appear to be fraught with difficulties such as infeasibility and non-sustainability. The results also suggest also that an equilibrium ecological and economic system does not sustain over a very long period of time unless appropriate actions are taken. Readers should send thier comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

A Simple Value-Distinction Approach Aids Transparency in Farm Animal Welfare Debate

Public debate on acceptable farm animal husbandry suffers from a confusion of tongues. To clarify positions of various stakeholder groups in their joint search for acceptable solutions, the concept of animal welfare was split up into three notions: no suffering, respect for intrinsic value, and non-appalling appearance of animals. This strategy was based on the hypothesis that multi-stakeholder solutions should be based on shared values rather than on compromises. The usefulness of such an artificial value distinction strategy was tested in a small series of experiments. The results demonstrate that the chosen concept to distinguish between values is effective in a stakeholder context. Farmers’ views on doing good to animals appeared to be largely based on their value to prevent suffering and predominantly focused on the provision of regular care. Their priority for this value is clearly shared with other stakeholders, providing a basis for joint solutions. The concept of intrinsic value does not play a discernable role in farmers’ considerations. Based on the varying views on welfare, it can be inferred that there is a gradual rather than a principal difference between government legislation and farmers’ values, whereas public perception and acceptance of farm practices remains complicated. Distinction between value groups and focusing on a selected notion (such as no suffering) proved to be effective in bringing representatives of stakeholder groups together, but is unlikely to bridge the emotional gap between commercial farm practices and public ideals.     

Ethical Challenges for Livestock Production:Meeting Consumer Concerns about Meat Safety and AnimalWelfare

Livestock production today faces thedifficult task of effectively meeting emergingconsumer concerns while remaining competitive on majortarget markets. Meeting consumer concerns aboutproduct safety and animal welfare are identified askey attention points for future livestock production.The relevance of these issues pertains to productionefficiency and economic benefits and tore-establishing meat sector image and consumer trust.The current paper analyses consumer concerns about theethical issues of meat safety and animal welfare fromcurrent livestock production. The research methodologyis based on literature review, secondary data sources,and primary research through focus group discussionsand a survey of 320 meat consumers in Belgium.Objectives were to assess importance attached byconsumers to product safety and animal welfare asethical issues in commercial livestock production, andto evaluate consumer perception of these issues forbeef, pork, and poultry. Significant differences inissue importance and perception are identified amongconsumer groups based on socio-demographic andbehavioral characteristics. From the analysis, meatsafety emerges as an absolute but minimum requirementfor future success of livestock and meat production.Additionally, animal welfare can be expected to becomea critical theme especially for pork and poultryacceptance.     

Classification of the Substances on the Basis of the Acute-Toxic-Class Method (ATC)

The acute-toxic-class method (ATC) is an alternative to the classical LD₅₀ test. Four substances were tested with an ATC testing procedure. The results were compared with LD₅₀ data obtained from the literature. Great importance was attached to the observations of toxic signs following administration. The results of this study have shown that the ATC method allows allocation to toxicity classes in the same manner as on the basis of the classical LD₅₀ tests. The ATC method uses fewer animals and yields the same information on toxic signs. Introducing the ATC method into the quality system allows estimating the acute oral toxicity of chemicals according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD; OECD, 1992, 1996).     

The Wild Animal as a Research Animal

Most discussions on animal experimentation refer to domesticated animals and regulations are tailored to this class of animals. However, wild animals are also used for research, e.g., in biological field research that is often directed to fundamental ecological-evolutionary questions or to conservation goals. There are several differences between domesticated and wild animals that are relevant for evaluation of the acceptability of animal experiments. Biological features of wild animals are often more critical as compared with domesticated animals because of their survival effects. An important issue is what is called here “natural suffering”: the suffering from natural circumstances. Should this type of suffering be taken into account when suffering from experimentation is evaluated? As an answer, it is suggested that ``natural functioning'' should be considered as an additional standard in the evaluation of wild animal experimentation. Finally, two topics related to the ecological context are considered. Firstly, the often inevitable involvement of non-research animals in wild animal experimentation, and secondly, the eco-centric approach to nature conservation. According to the latter position, animals are subordinated to ecosystems. All these aspects make the evaluation of wild animal experiments much more complex than experiments with domesticated animals. Preliminary scores are proposed to deal with these aspects. It is argued that this should not lead to a more complex governmental regulation, since an effective maintenance and control are hard to realize and one may loose the cooperation of researchers themselves. In addition, non-governmental professional organizations such as research societies and funding organizations play a pivotal role.     

Economic growth,public welfare and sustainability: an empirical system analysis

SUMMARY

This paper explores the relationships between economic activity and sustainability, growth, and welfare. The issues regarding the nature of the relationships were framed by Ekins in questions which are addressed empirically across countries and the states of the US. The sustainability issue is addressed by comparing nonrenewable energy throughput, a surrogate for impacts, to the renewable energy throughput in the associated ecosystem. The effect of a changing energy intensity, in developing and developed countries, on socioeconomic variables provides clues to social welfare. In developing countries a rising energy throughput (economic growth) and energy intensity is positively related to public welfare while impacts are generally moderate. The reverse appears to be true in developed countries, i.e. as energy throughput and intensity rise in developed countries and the US states, pollution and impacts also rise while socioeconomic variables worsen, so public welfare begins to decline. Economic development appears to pass through three phases which can be characterized by the nature and extent of its energy use. Each phase exhibits characteristic energy, pollution, structural and socioeconomic trends.     

资源可持续利用评价——基于资源福利指数的实证分析

资源可持续利用是可持续发展的核心和重要组成部分,论文将资源可持续利用置于 "自然-经济-社会" 三位一体的复杂系统中进行研究,以资源的综合利用效率为视角,结合人类发展指数(HDI)和生态足迹指数(EFI),提出资源福利指数(RWI),即单位资源投入所产出的福利水平,目的是全面反映在利用资源发展经济的同时反馈给社会的综合效率水平。论文以包括G20 国在内的24 个国家作为研究样本,分析1996-2008 年间各国的HDI、EFI 和RWI的变化情况,以此为依据来评价资源的可持续利用状况,24 个国家资源的可持续利用大致分为三类。第一类,良性发展:RWI增长率>0,社会福利提高,资源消耗减少;第二类,次良性正向发展:RWI增长率>0,社会福利水平和资源消耗都增长,但前者增长的速度高于后者;第三类,次恶性正向发展:RWI增长率<0,社会福利水平和资源消耗都增加,但前者增长的速度低于后者。