Why social values cannot be changed for the sake of conservation

The hope for creating widespread change in social values has endured among conservation professionals since early calls by Aldo Leopold for a “land ethic.” However, there has been little serious attention in conservation to the fields of investigation that address values, how they are formed, and how they change. We introduce a social–ecological systems conceptual approach in which values are seen not only as motivational goals people hold but also as ideas that are deeply embedded in society's material culture, collective behaviors, traditions, and institutions. Values define and bind groups, organizations, and societies; serve an adaptive role; and are typically stable across generations. When abrupt value changes occur, they are in response to substantial alterations in the social–ecological context. Such changes build on prior value structures and do not result in complete replacement. Given this understanding of values, we conclude that deliberate efforts to orchestrate value shifts for conservation are unlikely to be effective. Instead, there is an urgent need for research on values with a multilevel and dynamic view that can inform innovative conservation strategies for working within existing value structures. New directions facilitated by a systems approach will enhance understanding of the role values play in shaping conservation challenges and improve management of the human component of conservation.     

基于实时控制的智能控制在废水处理中的应用

针对废水处理系统具有时变性、非线性、复杂性和不确定性等特点,提出采用智能控制对其进行实时有效控制从而提高处理效率、降低能耗,对智能控制的主要分支模糊控制、神经网络控制和专家系统进行讨论,介绍总结了国内外专家学者应用智能控制技术实现水处理中实时控制的最新动态。结果表明,废水处理系统采用智能控制可以有效地实现实时控制,提高处理效率、降低能耗和成本。     

A pilot project to detect and forecast harmful algal blooms in the northern Gulf of Mexico

More timely access to data and information on the initiation, evolution and effects of harmful algal blooms can reduce adverse impacts on valued natural resources and human health. To achieve this in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a pilot project was initiated to develop a user-driven, end-to-end (measurements to applications) observing system. A key strategy of the project is to coordinate existing state, federal and academic programs at an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership. Resource managers charged with protection of public health and aquatic resources require immediate notice of algal events and a forecast of when, where and what adverse effects will likely occur. Further, managers require integrated analyses and interpretations, rather than raw data, to make effective decisions. Consequently, a functional observing system must collect and transform diverse measurements into usable forecasts. Data needed to support development of forecasts will include such properties as sea surface temperature, winds, currents and waves; precipitation and freshwater flows with related discharges of sediment and nutrients; salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll concentrations (in vivo fluorescence); and remotely-sensed spatial images of sea surface chlorophyll concentrations. These data will be provided via a mixture of discrete and autonomous in situ sensing with near real-time data telemetry, and remote sensing from space (SeaWiFS), aircraft (hyperspectral imagery) or land (high-frequency radar). With calibration across these platforms, the project will ultimately provide a 4-dimensional visualization of harmful algae events in a time frame suitable to resource managers.     

具有危险源性质的复杂系统安全行为演化研究

为解决具有危险源性质的复杂社会技术系统安全行为演化动力机制问题,针对系统生命周期长、影响因素多的特点,以日本福岛核泄漏事故为例,创建扩展型功能共振模型,用于描述系统内安全事故影响因素的作用过程。而后将系统相关主体分为实施方、业主方和第三方共3类,运用演化博弈方法深入研究发现,三方所承担的安全执行成本、安全处罚成本及事故成本之间的数量关系变化是系统安全行为演化发展的动力,3类成本失衡引发的监管机制失效是导致此次核泄漏事故的根源,并据此提出保持政府独立性和权威性、限制业主行为、建立项目责任主体终生追溯机制和采用立体处罚方式的建议。     

基于CBR和RBR的环境污染事故应急辅助决策专家系统

随着我国经济的高速发展,环境事故呈现多发态势,给人民的生命和财产安全带来了一定的隐患,辅助决策专家系统为用户提供一种使用简便、结果可靠的环境应急决策手段,可以提高环境事故应急处置的成功率。目前辅助决策专家系统多基于CBR或RBR推理模式,介绍了两种推理模式的优缺点,研究了如何将二者联合使用构建环境污染事故应急辅助决策专家系统。利用CBR推理模式得到与用户输入条件相近的案例,用户可参考案例中应急处置部分内容指导应急处置,同时利用RBR推理模式得到与用户输入条件相近的化学品MSDS信息以及相应的应急处理步骤以供用户参考,上述三部分内容共同构成了环境污染事故应急指南以供用户参考,提高环境污染事故的应急处理成功率。     

A Thermodynamic Geography: Night-Time Satellite Imagery as a Proxy Measure of Emergy

Night-time satellite imagery enables the measurement, visualization, and mapping of energy consumption in an area. In this paper, an index of the “sum of lights” as observed by night-time satellite imagery within national boundaries is compared with the emergy of the nations. Emergy is a measure of the solar energy equivalent used, directly or indirectly, to support the processes that characterize the economic activity in a country. Emergy has renewable and non-renewable components. Our results show that the non-renewable component of national emergy use is positively correlated with night-time satellite imagery. This relationship can be used to produce emergy density maps which enable the incorporation of spatially explicit representations of emergy in geographic information systems. The region of Abruzzo (Italy) is used to demonstrate this relationship as a spatially disaggregate case.     

循环水养殖系统中流化床水处理性能及硝化动力学分析

为综合评价流化床生物滤器的水处理性能,选用玻璃珠和石英砂为生物填料,将两滤器应用于罗非鱼循环水养殖系统,探讨了其对养殖水体中营养盐和有机物的去除效果.结果表明,两滤器经过4周的流水挂膜后,生物膜稳定成熟,通过扫描电镜观察填料表面,发现挂膜前后载体表面发生了显著的变化.在优化工况下,以玻璃珠为填料的滤器对TAN的平均去除负荷达到了(346.8±150.5)g/(m3·d),显著高于以石英砂为填料的滤器,但两滤器对COD、BOD5和PO43--P的去除率无显著差别,去除率稳定于20%~21.4%、50.1%~58.4%和7.9%~31.9%之间,显示出较好的水处理性能,出水水质符合罗非鱼生长要求.最后,基于Monod方程,拟合了实际工况下以玻璃珠为填料流化床生物滤器的硝化动力学方程,为该滤器在循环水养殖系统中的高效运行和应用提供一定的技术支撑.     

Water Appropriation Systems for Adapting to Water Shortages in Iraq

Climate variability and population growth have intensified the search internationally for measures to adapt to fluctuations in water supplies. An example can be found in the lower part of the transboundary Tigris‐Euphrates Basin where water shortages in 2008‐2009 resulted in high economic costs to irrigation farmers. Losses to irrigators in the lower basin have made a compelling case to identify flexible methods to adapt to water shortage. Few published studies have systematically examined ways to enhance the flexibility of water appropriation systems to adapt to water shortage. This article addresses an ongoing challenge in water governance by examining how profitability at both the farm and basin levels is affected by various water appropriation systems. Four water appropriation systems are compared for impacts on farm income under each of three water supply scenarios. Results show that a (1) proportional sharing of water shortages among provinces and (2) unrestricted water trading rank as the top two appropriation systems. The shadow price of water for irrigation rises from zero at a full water supply level to US$93/1,000 m³ when supply falls to 20% of full levels. Similar methods could be used to analyze challenges facing the design or implementation of water appropriation systems in the world's irrigated regions.     

Development of a risk-based index for source water protection planning, which supports the reduction of pathogens from agricultural activity entering water resources

Source water protection planning (SWPP) is an approach to prevent contamination of ground and surface water in watersheds where these resources may be abstracted for drinking or used for recreation. For SWPP the hazards within a watershed that could contribute to water contamination are identified together with the pathways that link them to the water resource. In rural areas, farms are significant potential sources of pathogens. A risk-based index can be used to support the assessment of the potential for contamination following guidelines on safety and operational efficacy of processes and practices developed as beneficial approaches to agricultural land management. Evaluation of the health risk for a target population requires knowledge of the strength of the hazard with respect to the pathogen load (massxconcentration). Manure handling and on-site wastewater treatment systems form the most important hazards, and both can comprise confined and unconfined source elements. There is also a need to understand the modification of pathogen numbers (attenuation) together with characteristics of the established pathways (surface or subsurface), which allow the movement of the contaminant species from a source to a receptor (water source). Many practices for manure management have not been fully evaluated for their impact on pathogen survival and transport in the environment. A key component is the identification of potential pathways of contaminant transport. This requires the development of a suitable digital elevation model of the watershed for surface movement and information on local groundwater aquifer systems for subsurface flows. Both require detailed soils and geological information. The pathways to surface and groundwater resources can then be identified. Details of land management, farm management practices (including animal and manure management) and agronomic practices have to be obtained, possibly from questionnaires completed by each producer within the watershed. To confirm that potential pathways are active requires some microbial source tracking. One possibility is to identify the molecular types of Escherichia coli present in each hazard on a farm. An essential part of any such index is the identification of mitigation strategies and practices that can reduce the magnitude of the hazard or block open pathways.