Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: a value-of-information study from Iraq, 2003-04

Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision-making.(1) The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes unforeseeably. An unusual data constellation from two concurrent recent (2003-04) rapid assessments in northern Iraq permits us to model part of the actual assessment behaviour in terms of geographical, community and prior substantive information attributes. The model correctly predicts the decisions, in 79 per cent of the 2,425 local communities in focus, that data collector teams in the Emergency Mine Action Survey made to visit or not to visit. The analysis demonstrates variably rational behaviour under conditions of insecurity, repeated regrouping and incomplete sampling frames. A pronounced bias towards very small rural settlements is irrational for the overall results, but may be a rational strategy of individual survey workers seeking to prolong their employment. Implications for future assessments are sketched in the areas of tools for urban surveys, greater adaptability, including early feedback from users, and sensibility to value-of-information concepts.     

Critical review of Integrated Water Resources Management: Moving beyond polarised discourse

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emerged as a popular concept in the water sector in the 20th century. From a highly techno-centric approach in the past, it has taken a new turn embracing Habermasian communicative rationality as a place-based nexus for multiple actors to consensually and communicatively integrate decisions in a hydrological unit. The 'how to integrate' approach had remarkable appeal worldwide in promoting authentic participation of all stakeholders. However, critics argue that the domain of water resource management is a political process of contestation and negotiation; the emphasis is on complexities, contextuality, power dynamics and the importance of analysing real world situations. They demonstrate 'how integration cannot be achieved' given the power dynamics in social interactions. These apparently contradictory discourses draw on different theoretical paradigms and polarise the discourse on IWRM, without offering constructive alternatives. To this end, this paper offers an option to complement this polarised discourse by examining 'how integration actually does take place' in a strategic context thereby facilitating consensual decisions to integrate water management for a sustainable future.     

建设项目环境影响评价中污染物排放总量控制评价方法

本文提出了在建设项目环境影响评价中关于污染物排放总量控制评价所应包含的内容,介绍了清洁生产纳入环评中的方法,确定了在技术经济合理,污染物排放满足环境质量与排放标准前提下的排放总量,并对其合理性论证方法做了介绍,提出总量控制目标实现的对策。     

国家生态文明建设试点示范区指标合理性探讨

环保部于2013年5月23日颁布的《国家生态文明建设试点示范区指标（试行）》（以下简称《指标（试行）》）已实施有9个月。到目前为止,全国已有6批生态文明建设试点地区参照《指标》要求确定生态文明建设目标,编制生态文明规划。然而,实际工作中发现指标体系中部分指标的合理性有待商榷。本文通过对问题指标进行分类探讨,将指标存在的问题分为四大类：指标定义亟待完善、指标标准设定偏高、指标数据获取性差和参考标准有待更新。根据不同类型指标问题的特点,分别对指标进行分析并提出合理的改进和解决方案,为环保部对《指标（试行）》的进一步完善和改进提供了理论依据和思路,对我国生态文明建设工作持续健康发展起到了促进作用。     

我国各级城市用地规模合理性的比较研究

本文在反思国内外对城市用地规模研究的基础上,通过数量分析研究了我国各等级城市用地规模的合理性,比较说明了具体城市现状用地规模的合理与否,最后指出我国在大力提高城市化水平的过程中应特别重视土地的可持续利用问题。     

关于汽车内饰塑料件气候交变试验的分析

通过对高温条件、低温条件、温湿条件的试验机理进行分析,对气候交变试验标准的合理性提出了质疑,并给出一种对比验证的方法进行验证,以期规范和有机统一不同的气候交变试验标准。另外还探讨了气候交变试验在验证产品生命周期上的意义以及气候交变试验与功能试验结合的必要性。     

Decision Making in a Human Population Living Sustainably

Abstract: The Tiwi people of northern Australia have managed natural resources continuously for 6000–8000 years. Tiwi management objectives and outcomes may reflect how they gather information about the environment. We qualitatively analyzed Tiwi documents and management techniques to examine the relation between the social and physical environment of decision makers and their decision‐making strategies. We hypothesized that principles of bounded rationality, namely, the use of efficient rules to navigate complex decision problems, explain how Tiwi managers use simple decision strategies (i.e., heuristics) to make robust decisions. Tiwi natural resource managers reduced complexity in decision making through a process that gathers incomplete and uncertain information to quickly guide decisions toward effective outcomes. They used management feedback to validate decisions through an information loop that resulted in long‐term sustainability of environmental use. We examined the Tiwi decision‐making processes relative to management of barramundi (Lates calcarifer) fisheries and contrasted their management with the state government's management of barramundi. Decisions that enhanced the status of individual people and their attainment of aspiration levels resulted in reliable resource availability for Tiwi consumers. Different decision processes adopted by the state for management of barramundi may not secure similarly sustainable outcomes.     

建设项目水资源论证实例分析

本文以北京市某商业金融项目取水水资源论证为例,从建设项目区域水资源现状、取用水量合理性分析、取用水可靠性可行性分析及退水影响等几个方面对商业建设项目水资源利用情况进行详细论述,对比分析业主提出的取水方案,本次按定额计算所得水量分别较业主所提用水方案减少了29．68％和42．03％。达到了较高的节水水平。最终总结归纳出城市市政自来水项目水资源论证的特点及工作中需要注意的问题,对城市市政自来水取用水水资源论证工作具有一定的指导意义。     

What’s missing from Ostrom? Combining design principles with the theory of sociocultural viability

Since 1990, Elinor Ostrom’s design principles for common property resource (CPR) institutions have been highly influential, offering a counter to pessimistic arguments about resource users’ prospects of cooperating to manage CPRs sustainably. However, the theoretical underpinnings of Ostrom’s theory have been criticised: as unfairly negative towards macro-level interventions; as utilising an overly narrow conceptualisation of rationality; and under appreciative of the role of power. These criticisms are examined using insights drawn from the theory of sociocultural viability (cultural theory, for short), a theory of plural rationality related to context. Utilising the case of Faroese whaling, the research aim is to assess the extent that cultural theory ameliorates criticisms laid at Ostrom’s design principles. It finds that Ostrom’s research trajectory was reaching the limits of methodological individualism’s ability to grasp rational behaviour and suggests the design principles may in effect be integrated with cultural theory.     

通信铁塔影响建筑物防雷安全计算公式之合理性探讨

以一个发生过严重雷灾事故的屋顶通信铁塔为例,分别利用国际电信联盟ITU-K56《无线通讯基站的雷电防护》和国际电报电话咨询委员会CCITT《防雷手册》中的公式计算出建筑物安装了通信铁塔后的年预计雷击次数,并将之与未安装通信铁塔时的年预计雷击次数进行对比,两者的计算结果存在显著差异。基于雷击条件相似原则,参照移动公司通信铁塔每年遭受雷击次数的实际统计数据,对这两个计算公式的合理性问题进行了探讨。研究结果表明,CCITT《防雷手册》中的计算公式更具合理性,计算结果更加接近实际值,计算方法更能准确地评估铁塔对所在区域的建筑物及电子电气设备的防雷安全所造成的影响。