森林火灾的自组织临界行为及其在中国林火数据中的体现

森林火灾元胞自动机模型是研究自组织临界行为的一个经典模型。本文从该模型出发,讨论了它的自组织临界行为,考虑到环境和人为因素对森林火灾的影响,对经典的森林火灾模型进行了改进,加入了降雨、人工烧除等森林火灾模型的演化规则。将经典模型和改进模型的演化计算结果与中国近40年来的森林火灾数据以及美国的有关数据进行了比较。结果表明,改进模型克服了经典森林火灾模型的不足,与真实森林火灾的演化符合得较好。     

A demonstration of how virtual meetings can enhance sustainability in a corporate context

Video conferencing (VC) offers benefits to businesses and organizations. A three‐month trial was undertaken across a telecommunications company in Australia to evaluate the use of VC benefits monitoring software to capture data and calculate utilization and business travel savings from air and car travel for individual VC end points across the company. The results from the trial were used by the finance and administration department of the company to promote VC usage and, at the same time, to introduce a nonessential air travel ban, which led to annualized cost savings of up to 40% on business as usual.     

Ten years of contested enforcement of the Forest Law in Salta,Argentina. The role of land-change science and political ecology

ABSTRACT

In this study, we present a critical account of the enforcement of the Forest Law in the Province of Salta, Argentina. We discuss whether the objectives of this law were accomplished and we analyze the role that some technical tools, coupled with specific theoretical approaches, could play in its future enforcement. We illustrate our analysis with data from a case study in the Chaco region of this Province. We identified, mapped and analyzed land claims by indigenous communities and small-scale agricultural producers, and large-scale land acquisitions, and we discuss how these two variables could be used to improve the technical accuracy and the social legitimacy of the zoning map required by the Forest Law. We conclude that a balanced combination of land-change science methods and political ecology can be useful to improve the fairness of decision-making processes and the sustainability of social-environmental governance in agricultural frontiers.     

A protocol for eliciting nonmaterial values through a cultural ecosystem services frame

Stakeholders’ nonmaterial desires, needs, and values often critically influence the success of conservation projects. These considerations are challenging to articulate and characterize, resulting in their limited uptake in management and policy. We devised an interview protocol designed to enhance understanding of cultural ecosystem services (CES). The protocol begins with discussion of ecosystem‐related activities (e.g., recreation, hunting) and management and then addresses CES, prompting for values encompassing concepts identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and explored in other CES research. We piloted the protocol in Hawaii and British Columbia. In each location, we interviewed 30 individuals from diverse backgrounds. We analyzed results from the 2 locations to determine the effectiveness of the interview protocol in elucidating nonmaterial values. The qualitative and spatial components of the protocol helped characterize cultural, social, and ethical values associated with ecosystems in multiple ways. Maps and situational, or vignette‐like, questions helped respondents articulate difficult‐to‐discuss values. Open‐ended prompts allowed respondents to express a diversity of ecosystem‐related values and proved sufficiently flexible for interviewees to communicate values for which the protocol did not explicitly probe. Finally, the results suggest that certain values, those mentioned frequently throughout the interview, are particularly salient for particular populations. The protocol can provide efficient, contextual, and place‐based data on the importance of particular ecosystem attributes for human well‐being. Qualitative data are complementary to quantitative and spatial assessments in the comprehensive representation of people's values pertaining to ecosystems, and this protocol may assist in incorporating values frequently overlooked in decision making processes.     

Mechanistic understanding of human–wildlife conflict through a novel application of dynamic occupancy models

Crop and livestock depredation by wildlife is a primary driver of human–wildlife conflict, a problem that threatens the coexistence of people and wildlife globally. Understanding mechanisms that underlie depredation patterns holds the key to mitigating conflicts across time and space. However, most studies do not consider imperfect detection and reporting of conflicts, which may lead to incorrect inference regarding its spatiotemporal drivers. We applied dynamic occupancy models to elephant crop depredation data from India between 2005 and 2011 to estimate crop depredation occurrence and model its underlying dynamics as a function of spatiotemporal covariates while accounting for imperfect detection of conflicts. The probability of detecting conflicts was consistently <1.0 and was negatively influenced by distance to roads and elevation gradient, averaging 0.08–0.56 across primary periods (distinct agricultural seasons within each year). The probability of crop depredation occurrence ranged from 0.29 (SE 0.09) to 0.96 (SE 0.04). The probability that sites raided by elephants in primary period t would not be raided in primary period t + 1 varied with elevation gradient in different seasons and was influenced negatively by mean rainfall and village density and positively by distance to forests. Negative effects of rainfall variation and distance to forests best explained variation in the probability that sites not raided by elephants in primary period t would be raided in primary period t + 1. With our novel application of occupancy models, we teased apart the spatiotemporal drivers of conflicts from factors that influence how they are observed, thereby allowing more reliable inference on mechanisms underlying observed conflict patterns. We found that factors associated with increased crop accessibility and availability (e.g., distance to forests and rainfall patterns) were key drivers of elephant crop depredation dynamics. Such an understanding is essential for rigorous prediction of future conflicts, a critical requirement for effective conflict management in the context of increasing human–wildlife interactions.     

相关关系和因果关系在事故分析中的应用——研究综述与启示

从事故中吸取教训是安全科学的主要任务,回顾拆解曾经的研究成果,从理论基础研究和应用实践研究两个方面进行了文献综述,以期达到总结前期成果和启示后续研究的目的。结果表明,在横向研究中,一方面在全学科的宏观层面,相关和因果的研究在经济与管理科学和社会科学中的开展较为成熟,而在安全科学与灾害防治领域还处于发展阶段。同时自2003年至2012年,是相关关系和因果关系研究成果的快速发展时期;另一方面在生产安全事故范围的微观层面,相关和因果的研究相对集中于事故控制阶段的相关关系的研究;在纵向研究中,对于生产安全事故分析时需要进行的描述、解释、预测和控制4个阶段中在选取相关关系和因果关系时有所侧重,在事故描述阶段偏重使用相关关系;在事故解释阶段,如果是解释事故发生的可能性主要偏重使用因果关系。如果是解释事故发生的损失程度主要偏重使用相关关系;在事故预测阶段,偏重相关关系;在事故控制阶段偏重因果关系。     

Improving credibility and transparency of conservation impact evaluations through the partial identification approach

The fundamental challenge of evaluating the impact of conservation interventions is that researchers must estimate the difference between the outcome after an intervention occurred and what the outcome would have been without it (counterfactual). Because the counterfactual is unobservable, researchers must make an untestable assumption that some units (e.g., organisms or sites) that were not exposed to the intervention can be used as a surrogate for the counterfactual (control). The conventional approach is to make a point estimate (i.e., single number along with a confidence interval) of impact, using, for example, regression. Point estimates provide powerful conclusions, but in nonexperimental contexts they depend on strong assumptions about the counterfactual that often lack transparency and credibility. An alternative approach, called partial identification (PI), is to first estimate what the counterfactual bounds would be if the weakest possible assumptions were made. Then, one narrows the bounds by using stronger but credible assumptions based on an understanding of why units were selected for the intervention and how they might respond to it. We applied this approach and compared it with conventional approaches by estimating the impact of a conservation program that removed invasive trees in part of the Cape Floristic Region. Even when we used our largest PI impact estimate, the program's control costs were 1.4 times higher than previously estimated. PI holds promise for applications in conservation science because it encourages researchers to better understand and account for treatment selection biases; can offer insights into the plausibility of conventional point‐estimate approaches; could reduce the problem of advocacy in science; might be easier for stakeholders to agree on a bounded estimate than a point estimate where impacts are contentious; and requires only basic arithmetic skills.     

Using perceptions as evidence to improve conservation and environmental management

The conservation community is increasingly focusing on the monitoring and evaluation of management, governance, ecological, and social considerations as part of a broader move toward adaptive management and evidence‐based conservation. Evidence is any information that can be used to come to a conclusion and support a judgment or, in this case, to make decisions that will improve conservation policies, actions, and outcomes. Perceptions are one type of information that is often dismissed as anecdotal by those arguing for evidence‐based conservation. In this paper, I clarify the contributions of research on perceptions of conservation to improving adaptive and evidence‐based conservation. Studies of the perceptions of local people can provide important insights into observations, understandings and interpretations of the social impacts, and ecological outcomes of conservation; the legitimacy of conservation governance; and the social acceptability of environmental management. Perceptions of these factors contribute to positive or negative local evaluations of conservation initiatives. It is positive perceptions, not just objective scientific evidence of effectiveness, that ultimately ensure the support of local constituents thus enabling the long‐term success of conservation. Research on perceptions can inform courses of action to improve conservation and governance at scales ranging from individual initiatives to national and international policies. Better incorporation of evidence from across the social and natural sciences and integration of a plurality of methods into monitoring and evaluation will provide a more complete picture on which to base conservation decisions and environmental management.     

Defining and operationalizing theory

Over the last 50 years, the organizational sciences have gone from being largely atheoretical to relying heavily on theory. For various reasons, our approach to theory building has strayed from the principles of scientific acceptability. In this paper, I explore the problems with our approach to theory, the systemic causes of these problems, and the changes that are needed to get us back on track. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

试论研究生文检课教学改革

研究生文献检索课教学的重点应放在培养学生的独立思维能力和自主创新能力上。从信息资源评价、竞争情报、科技查新、信息伦理等方面对研究生文检课教学内容进行了探讨,目的在于提高教学质量和教学效果,为多出科技成果、多出创新型人才服务。