Conducting conservation social science surveys online

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the environment and conservation research in fundamental ways. Many conservation social scientists are now administering survey questionnaires online, but they must do so while ensuring rigor in data collection. Further, they must address a suite of unique challenges, such as the increasing use of mobile devices by participants and avoiding bots or other survey fraud. We reviewed recent literature on online survey methods to examine the state of the field related to online data collection and dissemination. We illustrate the review with examples of key methodological decisions made during a recent national study of people who feed wild birds, in which survey respondents were recruited through an online panel and a sample generated via a project participant list. Conducting surveys online affords new opportunities for participant recruitment, design, and pilot testing. For instance, online survey panels can provide quick access to large and diverse samples of people. Based on the literature review and our own experiences, we suggest that to ensure high-quality online surveys one should account for potential sampling and nonresponse error, design survey instruments for use on multiple devices, test the instrument, and use multiple protocols to identify data quality problems. We also suggest that research funders, journal editors, and policy makers can all play a role in ensuring high-quality survey data are used to inform effective conservation programs and policies.     

采空区不同瓦斯抽采方法与自燃合理平衡的数值模拟

为了研究和解决西铭矿在生产中由于瓦斯抽采方法的不同可能引起采空区自燃以及瓦斯爆炸等重大安全隐患问题,构建了高位巷、埋管和高低位钻孔瓦斯抽采方法下的非均质多孔介质三维模型。利用非线性渗流定律、通用控制方程和自定义的函数进行解算,结果表明:高位巷、高低位钻孔抽采流量与抽采氧气浓度近似呈正比函数关系,埋管抽采流量与氧化带宽度呈指数函数关系;高位巷、高低位钻孔随着抽采流量的增加抽采效率反而降低,抽采总量增加,埋管抽采位置在距工作面35m处、抽采流量为20m3/min能很好解决上隅角瓦斯超限问题。根据模拟结论:采用立体联合瓦斯抽采方法既能满足抽采要求又能有效控制采空区自燃现象。     

Dustiness in workplace safety and explosion protection – Review and outlook

Behavior of dust/air mixtures is very complex and difficult to predict since it depends on material properties as well as boundary conditions. Without other influences airborne particles deposit due to gravity but the time it takes for total deposition as well as easiness of resurrection depends very much on the specific dust sample and the boundary conditions. It still lacks a complete understanding of all interacting reasons and one approach is using experimentally determined characteristics, one is named dustiness.Dustiness is the tendency of dust to form clouds and to stay airborne. Dustiness is determined with two basic principles, which are light attenuation and ratio of filled-in and measured mass. Assessment of dustiness of industrial powders has been done for a long time regarding work place safety. Dustiness is used there to determine inhalable fraction and to evaluate health risks. Lately it became interesting in dust explosion protection as well. Dustiness could be used to optimize determination of zones, adaption of venting area and/or for positioning of suppression systems.Dustiness can be useful in many ways but is not a physical property of dusts, therefore it depends on material properties such as density, particle size distribution, shape and water content as well as boundary conditions or determination method. This makes it very difficult to compare dustiness for different techniques and apparatuses and determination method as well as results should be considered carefully. This work gives an overview of existing standards, recent research and suggests improvements to the new dustiness as proposed for dust explosion protection.     

森林资源价值及人力成本对森林火灾扑救方式的影响

介绍了我国现行的一些林火扑救的基本方式,应用经济分析的方法,根据我国未来经济政治变化趋势,分析森林资源价值及人力成本变化对我国林火扑救方式的影响,并对我国未来的森林火灾扑救方式选择进行定性的讨论和预测。     

水厂污泥浓缩试验研究

通过对水厂污泥进行沉降性能及各种因素对其沉降性能的影响的研究,以期得到关于水厂污泥处理的数据资料。试验结果表明：在污泥进入浓缩池前投加高分子絮凝剂聚丙烯酰胺能改善污泥浓缩性能;在池中减小斜板间距能一定程度的改善浓缩池的浓缩效果。     

基于系统动力学—投入产出分析整合方法的江苏省产业用水综合效用分析

产业用水结构的欠合理一定程度上制约着社会的发展,如何科学评价产业用水情况,取得在经济效益、水资源和环境资源约束下的协调发展已成为目前区域社会经济发展面临与亟待解答的科学问题。以江苏省为例,提出了系统动力学—投入产出分析整合方法,在构建反映产业结构、用水结构和排污结构的互动反馈的水资源综合利用系统动力学模型基础上,通过敏感性分析确定对系统影响较大的关键变量,运用投入产出分析技术,对江苏省各部门用水特性、排污特性和经济效益特性进行计算测度,由此构建了3种产业发展模拟方案。依据系统动力学模型输出结果,对2025年3种方案下的重点产业部门用水综合效用情况进行对比分析,进而优选出"节水治污型"方案,并最后提出保障方案实施的对策建议,为江苏省产业和用水结构调整提供决策依据。     

On Seeing “Places” for What They Are,and Not What We Want Them to Be

For more than 40 years, scholars have been investigating psychological and communicative implications for the concept of place. During that time, a variety of methods have been employed, yet often without an obvious concern for the extent to which investigative conclusions match perceptions held by respondents who originally generate data the analyses rely upon. Although this distinction between actors’ and informants’ meanings for place is a subject most in the field of environmental communication encounter in their formative education, the actual practice of place-based research sometimes fails to adequately address the issue. Thus, the following commentary explores various threats to representational validity and suggests a number of areas we researchers should consider when conducting our place-based studies. In urging ourselves to rise to the challenge of self-skepticism, I hope my analysis provides a modestly novel take on empiricism regarding what places mean to those we study.     

A qualitative examination of factors shaping high and low exposures to hazardous air pollutants among Hispanic households in Miami

Hispanic residents suffer disproportionately from exposure to toxic pollution hazards, but little is known about why some Hispanic residents live in high-risk neighbourhoods while others are protected from similar risks. This study uses comparative interview-based methods to further understanding of Hispanic people’s residential decision-making and their associated exposures to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area (Florida), which is home to one of the most diverse Hispanic populations in the U.S. We use 22 in-depth interviews conducted with Hispanic householders living at high and low risk to HAPs, selected from a larger representative phone survey of 650 local residents. For Hispanic households at high risk, economic constraints, family ties, desiring a central location, a sense of community, and comfort in a shared culture contributed to their residences in high risk locations. In contrast, protective factors for Hispanic households living at low risk included the desire to live in an ethnically diverse setting, the ease of finding service work, and preferring environmental amenities and exclusivity. Findings demonstrate that there are considerable differences in factors shaping residential decision-making of low- and high-risk Hispanic residents, but that all were influenced by economic, socio-cultural, and environmental considerations to varying degrees.     

Recent changes in Red Lake (Romania) sedimentation rate determined from depth profiles of Pb and Cs radioisotopes

This work presents a first estimation of the sedimentation rate for the Red Lake (Romania). The sediment accumulation rates were determined by two well-known methods for recent sediment dating: ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs methods. Both techniques implied used the gamma emission of the above-mentioned radionuclides. The ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in the sediment were measured using a gamma spectrometer with a HpGe detector, Gamma-X type. Activities ranging from 41 ± 7 to 135 ± 34 Bq/kg were found for ²¹⁰Pb and from 3 ± 0.5 to 1054 ± 150 Bq/kg for ¹³⁷Cs. The sediment profile indicates acceleration in sedimentation rate in the last 18 years. Thus, the sedimentation process for the Red Lake can be divided in two periods, the last 18 years, and respectively, the period before that. Using the Constant Rate of ²¹⁰Pb Supply method values between 0.18 ± 0.04 and 1.85 ± 0.5 g/cm² year (0.32 ± 0.08 and 2.83 ± 0.7 cm/year) were obtained. Considering both periods, an average sedimentation rate of 0.87 ± 0.17 g/cm² year (1.17 cm/year) was calculated. Considering an average depth of 5.41 m for the lake and the sedimentation rate estimated for the last 18 years, it could be estimated that the lake will disappear in 195 years.