The desirability of views of city skylines after dark

Three studies used digital color photographs to compare responses to natural scenes, skylines after dark, and skylines during the day (seven of each). Study 1 had 59 respondents rate the pleasantness of each scene. They gave similar ratings to Night Skylines and Natural Scenes, and rated each as more pleasant than the Day Skylines. Study 2 had 56 other participants choose from each of seven sets of each kind of scene the one they would most like to have as a framed print in their home or office, and to report the reasons. Participants chose Night Skylines most often, followed by Natural Scenes and then Day Skylines. While participants most often picked attractive as a reason for their choice, those who chose Night Skylines also picked exciting as the reason, and those who picked Natural Scenes also picked relaxing or peaceful as a reason. Study 3 obtained ratings of selected formal features of each scene. The 23 judges rated the Natural scenes as more natural, orderly, open, and curvilinear, less complex, and as having smoother transitions than either Day or Night Skylines; and they judged the Night Skylines as higher in complexity but lower in order than Day Skylines. The results suggest that preferences in relation to the scene categories may well depend on a mix of their formal characteristics and their content.     

上海河岸带公众偏好及生态系统服务价值评估

针对上海地区河岸带的环境质量提升情况,基于条件价值法(CVM)研究上海市居民对河岸带的偏好、支付意愿及生态系统服务价值,并通过SPSS软件考察影响受访者支付意愿率的主要因素。得到以下结论:①受访者对上海地区河岸带满意度与其使用河岸带频率呈显著相关性(p=0.001),表明受访者与河岸带的亲疏关系主要取决于其利用河岸带的实际频率。②使用五点评价法对河岸带状况进行分析,亲水性指标得分2.94,水质指标得分3.51,分别为受访者对河岸带最满意与最不满意要素。③针对河岸带10项评价要素进行因子分析,可将受访者对河岸带的满意度因子归纳为河岸带的自然属性和社会属性,且后者的影响权重更大。④受访者对树草结合、人行道位于绿化间且护岸保留湿地的河岸带布局的评价结果得分1 199,为最高得分,表明受访者偏好该类河岸带布局。⑤投标金额在一系列影响支付意愿率因子中,显著性p=0.000,影响最为剧烈。⑥受访者的支付意愿为537.6元/(年.户),整个生态系统的估算价值为2.74亿元/年。     

Source profiles of particulate organic matters emitted from cereal straw burnings

Cereal straw is one of the most abundant biomass burned in China but its contribution to fine particulates is not adequately understood. In this study, three main kinds of cereal straws were collected from five grain producing areas in China. Fine particulate matters （PMzs） from the cereal straws subjected to control burnings, both under smoldering and flaming status, were sampled by using a custom made dilution chamber and sampling system in the laboratory. Element carbon （EC） and organic carbon （OC） was analyzed. 141 compounds of organic matters were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrum （GC-MS）. Source profiles of particulate organic matters emitted from cereal straw burnings were obtained. The results indicated that organic matters contribute a large fraction in fine particulate matters. Levoglucosan had the highest contributions with averagely 4.5% in mass of fine particulates and can be considered as the tracer of biomass burnings. Methyloxylated phenols from lignin degradation also had high concentrations in PM2.5, and contained approximately equal amounts of guaiacyl and syringyl compounds. 13-Sitostrol also made up relatively a large fraction of PMz5 compared with the other sterols （0.18%-0.63% of the total fine particle mass）. Normal alkanes, PAHs, fatty acids, as well as normal alkanols had relatively lower concentrations compared with the compounds mentioned above. Carbon preference index （CPI） of normal alkanes and alkanoic acids showed characteristics of biogenic fuel burnings. Burning status significantly influenced the formations of EC and PAHs. The differences between the emission profiles of straw and wood combustions were displayed by the fingerprint compounds, which may be used to identify the contributions between wood and straw burnings in source apportionment researches.     

Fuzzy相似优先比鉴别海面溢油

建立了海南溢油鉴别的Ｆｕｚｚｙ相似优先比模式,提出了油种鉴别的Ｆｕｚｚｙ相似优先比置信水平λ↑－的模糊区概念。海面溢油鉴别主要受油种、实验误差和风化的影响。任丘原油风化１个月同其它１３种油可鉴别的Ｆｕｚｚｙ相似优先比置信水平的范围为０．００５８１９≤λ↑－≤０．０４６４１,大庆原油在海面上风化２８ｄ同其它５种油可鉴别的范围为０．１１０１≤λ↑－≤０．２５１０。海面溢油鉴别结果表明,本法较指纹谱图辨     

Indicators of perceived naturalness as drivers of landscape preference

The concept of naturalness is one of the more studied concepts in landscape preference research and describes how close a landscape is to a perceived natural state. In this study we explored the relationship between landscape preference and three landscape indicators of naturalness (level of succession, number of woodland patches and shape index of edges). We used computer-generated visualisations of a hypothetical landscape containing pasture and broadleaved woodland. In the landscape simulations we altered the values of the naturalness indicators between the levels of low, medium and high, creating 27 different visualisations. The survey was distributed as an on-line survey in seven different languages and obtained 703 respondents. The study showed a strong relationship with preference for both the level of succession and number of woodland patches, and a weaker relationship with shape index of edges. The two demographic factors which were shown to contribute most to the formation of preference were gender and having a landscape related profession. The results suggest that the selected indicators are more important drivers of preference than demographic factors.     

Effects of preference heterogeneity among landowners on spatial conservation prioritization

The participation of private landowners in conservation is crucial to efficient biodiversity conservation. This is especially the case in settings where the share of private ownership is large and the economic costs associated with land acquisition are high. We used probit regression analysis and historical participation data to examine the likelihood of participation of Danish forest owners in a voluntary conservation program. We used the results to spatially predict the likelihood of participation of all forest owners in Denmark. We merged spatial data on the presence of forest, cadastral information on participation contracts, and individual‐level socioeconomic information about the forest owners and their households. We included predicted participation in a probability model for species survival. Uninformed and informed (included land owner characteristics) models were then incorporated into a spatial prioritization for conservation of unmanaged forests. The choice models are based on sociodemographic data on the entire population of Danish forest owners and historical data on their participation in conservation schemes. Inclusion in the model of information on private landowners’ willingness to supply land for conservation yielded at intermediate budget levels up to 30% more expected species coverage than the uninformed prioritization scheme. Our landowner‐choice model provides an example of moving toward more implementable conservation planning.     

Evidence of variable discount rates and non-standard discounting in mortality risk valuation

Time discounting is central to the valuation of future health and mortality risks in public sector allocative decision-making, particularly for environmental policies with delayed health impacts. Using a Risk-Risk trade-off survey, we elicit discount rates for fatality risks and establish discounting functional forms on both a sample and an individual level. We find wide variation in implicit discount rates for fatality risk between individuals, as well as between-individual heterogeneity in discounting functional forms. In aggregate, the sample is best characterised by subadditive discounting. Our work has implications for the academic investigation of intertemporal choice involving mortality risks, and potentially for the evaluation of policy options with delayed mortality risk outcomes. A thought experiment cautions against the standard practice of assuming that exponential discounting characterises society's time preferences.     

Optimized quantity-within-distance models of spatial welfare heterogeneity

Spatial welfare heterogeneity is frequently modeled within stated preference analysis as a function of discrete or continuous distance between households and affected resources. A common example is distance-decay analysis. Although distance-based models such as these are easily estimated, the ubiquity of this paradigm can lead to analyses that overlook other forms of analysis with equal or greater relevance. This paper develops an alternative approach to spatial heterogeneity in stated preference willingness to pay (WTP) based on the quantity or area of an affected resource surrounding each respondent at an optimized distance band or radius, with distance bands optimized using a grid-search algorithm that maximizes model likelihood. Methods and results are illustrated using a choice experiment on riparian land restoration in Maine, USA. The resulting quantity-within-distance model identifies systematic spatial patterns that are undetectable using distance-based analysis and directly relevant for welfare analysis.     

成都入境旅游客源市场时空演变规律研究

入境旅游客源市场时空演变规律的研究是入境旅游市场研究的一个热点.依据成都市2000-2008年入境旅游市场的相关统计数据,通过分析亲景度和竞争态在时间和空间上的演变,揭示了成都入境旅游客源市场的时空演变规律.研究发现,泰国是成都最重要的入境客源市场,但自从2004年以来亲蓉度有所下降.面对入境客源市场空间分布比较均匀的状况,市场关注的重点应放在市场竞争态有所衰退的市场,以确保整体市场的稳步攀升.     

The Optimal Depletion of Exhaustible Resource under Different Commitment

Abstract

There are few papers in the literature focusing on the issue of the optimal depletion of exhaustible resources in the framework of variable time preference. This paper attempts to analyze the pure consumption of exhaustible resource under hyperbolic time preference, and to discuss the optimal depletion rate and the effect of the protection of the exhaustible resource under different commitment abilities. The results of model show that the case of the hyperbolic discount with the full commitment of the government is equivalent to the case of constant discount of the social planner problem. In that case, the optimal depletion rate and the initial consumption of exhaustible resource are the slowest. On the contrary, they are the highest and the myopic behaviors lead to excessive consumption of exhaustible resources inevitably without commitment. Otherwise, in the case of partial commitment, the results are between the cases of full commitment and of no commitment. Therefore, with the hyperbolic time preference, the optimal depletion rate of resource depends on the commitment ability. Higher commitment ability leads to lower effective rate of time preference, and consequently, lower depletion rate and lower initial depletion value. The improvement of commitment ability can decrease the impatience and myopia behaviors, and contribute to the protection of the exhaustible resources.