Inequalities in exposure and awareness of flood risk in England and Wales

This paper explores the environmental inequalities of living in the floodplains of England and Wales and the differences in flood awareness of those 'at risk'. An area comparison is made between an etic, objective flood risk exposure, and an emic, subjective perception of that risk by social class. In all areas except the Midlands, the working classes were more likely to reside in the floodplains; the greatest exposure inequality is seen in the North East and Anglian regions. Flood awareness in the Anglian regions was much lower than average, but there were no significant class differences. In the Thames region, despite equal flood risk exposure between classes, the most deprived displayed the least awareness of flood risk. In the North East, inequalities in the distribution of flood risk exposure accompanied inequalities in perception, resulting in the least aware and most deprived experiencing the greatest flood risk.     

关于职工情境意识的研究综述

对情境意识的定义、活动机制、测量方法及强化方法等进行了述评。分析了关于情境意识研究的问题及趋势。     

SOIL EROSION AWARENESS AND USE OF CONSERVATION TILLAGE FOR WATER QUALITY CONTROL1

Water pollution through loss of topsoil from farmland continues to be a major problem, despite nearly 50 years of providing farmers technical and financial assistance for soil and water conservation. The technology for controlling erosion and water pollution is available, but farmers have been slow in implementing control practices. Past research has shown that farmers tend to be unaware of the seriousness of the erosion problem on their own operations. Using a random sample of farmers from central Iowa, the relationship is examined between awareness of a soil erosion problem and the use of conservation tillage. Results indicate that awareness of a soil erosion problem effects the use of conservation tillage, and that awareness can be enhanced by experiential educational strategies such as the development and implementation of a soil and water conservation plan.     

首都大学生的自然灾害认知调查与减灾教育建议

2006年国际减灾日的主题是"减灾始于学校",了解学生的灾害认知水平有助于减灾教育工作的有效开展。以北京5所高校的大学生为调查对象,通过问卷方式调查大学生对自然灾害的关注程度、防灾意识、灾害理论知识、应急行为知识以及对减灾教育的看法。问卷统计结果表明:大学生总体的灾害认知水平较低,现行减灾教育方式和内容与学生的期望有较大偏差。在此基础上,提出了减灾教育内容要将学生"该知道的"与"想知道的"相结合,通过演练演习等方式提高学生的防灾应急实际技能等减灾教育建议。     

环境保护中政府和公众的博弈

发展经济和保护环境是现代政府治理的主要课题。环境问题越来越严峻,对公众的影响越来越深,政府和公众的环保意识不断增强,他们不断地参与到环境保护运动中。政府和公众都是理性的经济人,他们有不同的利益诉求。由于信息交流的不顺畅,政府和公众在环境保护参与中进行着博弈。在博弈的过程中,博弈的情景不断变化,政府和公众对环境问题的认知在不断地变化,他们采取的策略也不断发生变化,他们之间的博弈从合作博弈到非合作博弈再到合作博弈,不断循环,从而达到发展经济和保护环境的双重目的。     

A guide for assessing control room operator performance using speed and accuracy,perceived workload,situation awareness,and eye tracking

In the petrochemical industry, control room operators must address safety-critical alarms and other tasks using complex interfaces. This study developed a guide for assessing human performance using standard human factors measurement tools, and tested the sensitivity of those tools with two interface designs (i.e., gray and black) at three levels of workload (i.e., easy, medium, and difficult). The guide measures human performance through speed and accuracy, perceived workload using two standard instruments (i.e., NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT)), situation awareness through the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT), and gaze through eye tracking coordinates. Twelve engineering student participants completed one simulation session at each of the three workload levels using one of two interface designs. Workload was manipulated through the number of simulated events (failures) in each session. Overall, the speed and accuracy measures, workload ratings, and eye tracking showed sensitivity to differences in workload level, and situation awareness showed sensitivity to the interaction between workload level and interface type. None of the tools were sensitive to interface type alone. Accuracy was highest under easy workload. Time per failure decreased at higher workload levels. Perceived workload ratings from the SWAT increased as workload increased, but workload ratings from the NASA-TLX were not different across workload levels. When workload increased, situation awareness remained steady for the gray interface but decreased sharply for the black interface, illustrating an interaction effect. Finally, the percentage of time spent looking at different areas of the screen during steady-state periods differed among workload levels. The tools in this guide can be used in the petrochemical industry to make design decisions for control room interfaces when workload levels are a concern.     

Study of urban population attitudes towards various wastewater reuse options: Israel as a case study

This paper summarizes the findings of a survey (256 participants) conducted to determine the attitude of the Israeli urban public towards various urban water reuse options. Israel is known for its long and successful agricultural water reuse scheme, but to date no large-scale urban reuse projects have been implemented. The survey included 21 reuse options, which were clustered into three reuse categories, namely: low, medium, and high contact levels. Results show that a high proportion of the participants supported medium contact reuse options such as sidewalk landscaping (95%), domestic WC flushing (85%) and firefighting (96%). Higher contact reuse options such as domestic laundry (38%), preserved food (13%), and potable aquifer recharge (11%) found much lesser support. Less than expected support was found for low contact reuse options with 86% for field crop irrigation, 62% for aquifer recharge for agricultural irrigation, and as low as 49% for orchard irrigation. This low support is surprising, since all three options have been practiced on a large scale for over three decades in Israel without any adverse effects to the public. No correlation was found between any biographical characteristic examined (education, gender, income, marital status, having young children, and age) and support for medium contact options. For the medium contact options, the results suggest that perceived financial gain (individual and/or communal) and positive public opinion enhances support, while perceived health effects negatively affects the degree of support. Technology, trust in authorities and awareness of water and environmental issues were found to not have a significant effect on support for medium contact reuse options. Analyzing the four possible reasons for support given by participants who identified themselves as supporters of wastewater reuse revealed that the most important reason for support was "water saving", followed by "minimization of importing water from abroad". These were followed by "infrastructure cost saving" together with "environmental improvement".     

Impact of training programs on decision-making and situation awareness of trainee watch officers

This paper examines the impact of training programs on the ability of trainee watch officers to make decisions in collision avoidance situations.It draws on previous studies which have shown that experts are able to manage complex situations in an acceptable way. However, observations of students on simulators have revealed that many of them are unable to manage such situations or even to recall their main features. It is therefore necessary to identify new training tools that will give trainees the capacity to assess a situation quickly and accurately, and to perform satisfactory actions. These would be in addition to formal regulations.Exercises were designed to evaluate the impact of such tools on the decision-making process of trainees. The impact of the type of navigation experienced by trainees during their on-the-job training was also evaluated.Results showed that decision-making exercises did tend to improve the trainees’ capacity to analyse a complex situation; however, they did not have a clear impact on the manoeuvre performed. On the contrary, there was an obvious difference between the trainees who experienced complex avoidance situations during their on-the-job training period and those who did not.At a time where ship-owners are looking to reduce the length of the “on-the-job” training period, these results point to its vital importance.     

南充市城郊农村居民的环境法律意识调查与分析

本文通过采用问卷调查和走访调查的方法,对南充市两县三区的城郊农村居民进行了抽样调查。调查结果发现,当地城郊农村居民环境法律“知”的水平中等、个体差异较大,环境法律“行”的水平偏低,“知”与“行”之间存在脱节现象。这与当地城郊农村居民的文化程度和所处地域有关。为此,提出了从“知”和“行”上加强当地城郊农村居民的环境法律知识教育和环境维权意识教育的建议,这也是提高城郊农村居民环境法律意识的途径所在。     

精品意识在教学过程中的实施

以教师、课程与教材、课堂、科研等要素为出发点,提出了精品意识在教学过程中的实施方法。