Are rapid population estimates accurate? A field trial of two different assessment methods

Emergencies resulting in large-scale displacement often lead to populations resettling in areas where basic health services and sanitation are unavailable. To plan relief-related activities quickly, rapid population size estimates are needed. The currently recommended Quadrat method estimates total population by extrapolating the average population size living in square blocks of known area to the total site surface. An alternative approach, the T-Square, provides a population estimate based on analysis of the spatial distribution of housing units taken throughout a site. We field tested both methods and validated the results against a census in Esturro Bairro, Beira, Mozambique. Compared to the census (population: 9,479), the T-Square yielded a better population estimate (9,523) than the Quadrat method (7,681; 95% confidence interval: 6,160-9,201), but was more difficult for field survey teams to implement. Although applicable only to similar sites, several general conclusions can be drawn for emergency planning.     

How to Discredit a Social Movement: Negative Framing of “Idle No More” in Canadian Print Media

The Idle No More (INM) movement entered public view in November 2012 as a grassroots response to Canadian federal legislation Bill C-45, an omnibus bill that reduced environmental protection of lands and waters. Backed by new media technologies, Indigenous activists and their Settler Canadian allies took a series of online and offline actions to bring public attention to Bill C-45’s devastating implications and the socio-economic sufferings of Indigenous people across Canada. This explorative study examines how INM was reported by nine Canadian print media during its initial upsurge from December 2012 to January 2013. A mixed-methods content analysis reveals that although there were numerous supportive voices discussing INM’s contributions to Indigenous self-determination and environmental protection, they were overwhelmed by anti-INM rhetoric advanced by Postmedia Network and its affiliated titles. The study thus highlights the importance of promoting communication and media alternatives for future struggles against capitalism’s appropriation of nature.     

Covid-19 lockdown and physical distancing policies are elitist: towards an indigenous (Afro-centred) approach to containing the pandemic in sub-urban slums in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study explores the experience of the sub-urban slum residents in Okpoko (Anambra State), Ngwa-road Aba (Abia State), Ajegunle (Lagos State) and Gwagwalada (Abuja), to underscore the elitist and western contexts of Covid-19 lockdown and physical distancing policies. The study apprehends these policies as being counter-productive due to Nigeria’s peculiar socio-economic circumstances, and brainstorms on the need and prospects for adaption and institutionalisation of an indigenous Afro-centred approach towards the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic. The use of herbal mixtures or local concoctions such as parboiled garlic cloves, lemon and ginger juice in the treatment and/or prevention of Covid-19 pandemic is a popular home-grown indigenous approach/practice which is generally believed to have inhibitory effects against Covid-19 by majority of the local people. These herbal remedies should be formally investigated, validated and encouraged in Nigeria as an alternative indigenous approach for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 pandemic.     

Local Responses to Inundation and De-Farming in the Reservoir Region of the Three Gorges Project (China)

Large-scale infrastructural developments in rural areas often impose significant direct and indirect impacts on environment and people. The Three Gorges Project to dam the Yangtze River in China will create a huge reservoir, inundate farmlands and villages, and incur large-scale resettlement. The concurrent de-farming program to reforest marginal farmlands on steep slopes imposes additional stresses on local people. This study evaluates the ecological and economic adjustments in rural areas affected by both projects, and explores villagers’ knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and expectations vis-à-vis the drastic changes. Eleven villages in Yunyang County in Sichuan Province, stratified into three zones based on topography and agriculture, were assessed by field studies, questionnaire surveys, maps, satellite imagery, and census and government reports. Multiple regressions identified predictors for 17 dependent variables. Spatial variations in the difficult terrain imposed zone-differentiated agricultural constraints, ecological impacts, and human responses. The dominant farming population—mainly young adults working as migrant laborers in cities—has adopted some nonagricultural work to supplement incomes. Expected per-capita standardized farmland (SF) exceeded threshold SF, which surpasses existing SF. Motivations to reclaim more farmlands, de-farm marginal lands, and become migrant laborers were explained by different multiple-regression predictors. Reduction in farmland stock by inundation and de-farming, aggravated by unwillingness towards nonlocal resettlement, would impose ecological pressures and stimulate demands for nonfarming incomes. Common anticipation of better future income and occupation has been subdued by unfavorable feedbacks from early relocatees. Future environmental and landscape changes are hinged upon changing human responses. Government policies could be informed by research findings to match economic, ecological, and social realities.     

企业自创商誉的确认与计量

按照传统的会计处理模式和惯例,无形资产中可以辨认的专利权、商标权已予确认和计量,而对于商誉,国内会计准则规定,只有在企业并购时,才作为一项无形资产确认入账,即只对外购商誉进行确认和计量,而不确认和计量自创商誉．在新的经济形势下,对于自创商誉应该有新的认识,就对自创商誉的确认和计量问题做出一些论述．参5．     

Influence of environmental street characteristics on walking route choice of elderly people

Walking is an important source of outdoor physical activity among elderly people. In order to devise measures aimed at encouraging walking among the elderly it is important to understand how the local environment influences the walking behaviour of elderly people. Here, a model describing the influence of environmental street characteristics on the walking route choice of elderly people is presented. Techniques adapted from the field of transportation research were employed within the model. Data concerning the walking route choice to specific destinations reported by 364 independently living elderly residents (55–80 years) from three Dutch urban districts were collected. Route choice was modelled within a ‘Geographic Information System’ (GIS) database by using ‘resistance factors’ to describe the resistance to walking of street sections (i.e. links) within the street network. These factors were optimized by minimizing the difference between the estimated and the reported number of trips along each link. This is, to the authors' knowledge the first time that this technique has been applied within this context. The influence of link characteristics on link resistance was investigated by multivariate linear regression. The first results of the route choice model and the influence of street characteristics on route choice are reported and discussed.     

湖南古村落的物质安全防御研究

基于湖南现存的一些古村落,从物质安全防御角度出发,对古村落在基地选址、整体布局、空间形态等方面所采用的安全防御进行研究。通过分析湖南当地居民的主要物质防御手段即利用山水作为村落的自然屏障、团结所有村民进行集群防御与在村落内部层层设防等方法,指出湖南古村落物质防御的有效性和科学性对当今社会安居工程建设具有借鉴意义。     

“改善”在军品全面质量管理和质量改进中作用的探讨

质量改进是武器装备研制过程的重要质量过程之一。根据全面质量管理的理念,结合个人的实际工作经验以及实际案例,对"改善"这一活动进行定义,并对如何开展改善活动进行了阐述和说明,从而促进质量持续改进。     

Diffusion of Policy Discourse into Rural Spheres Through Co-Management of State Forestlands: Two Cases from West Java,Indonesia

In the context of state forestland management in tropical regions, the implementation of a co-management approach has been widely advocated in order to include the voices of local people and accommodate their interests in management decision-making. Most co-management literatures, however, underestimate the significance of statutory authority held by state to control forestlands and resources. By clarifying the implications of state ownership of forestland, this article aims to critically examine co-management processes with reference to Foucault's notion of power and subject. Case studies were conducted at two co-management pilot sites in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, West Java, Indonesia. Findings demonstrate that co-management processes actually materialize shared decision-making arrangements between state forest bureaucracy and rural people through the application of equity approaches, such as deliberation, negotiation, and experimentation. At the same time, these processes can also function to diffuse state policy discourse in rural spheres, which makes rural subjects who accept and practice the policy discourse. The research also reveals that the diffusion process is complex and does not necessarily make a durable subject unless they are pertinently organized. The results of this research indicate that co-management of state forestlands is a double-edged process for local people who risk becoming a proxy of state bureaucracy in the implementation of state policy. Proponents of co-management should, therefore, critically examine whether new institutional arrangements, which are developed through co-management, truly reflect values and needs of local people and assist them to develop a pertinent subject to deal with it.     

环境健康风险评价中我国居民暴露参数探讨

暴露参数是人体暴露和健康风险评价中的关键性参数,根据我国居民人群的基本体征参数和相关调查统计数据,在借鉴和参考了美国环境保护署(US EPA)建立暴露参数的方法学基础上,探讨了我国居民呼吸、饮食、皮肤等的暴露参数. 结果表明:我国居民呼吸速率为5.71～19.02 m3/d,18岁以下人群各种活动强度下男性和女性的呼吸速率几乎一样,而18～60岁的男性呼吸速率明显大于女性;我国成年人饮食量为1 176.3 g/d,主要食用米、面及其制品,分别占总饮食量的23%和13%;我国成年男性的皮肤表面积为1.697 m2,成年女性为1.531 m2;我国成年男性平均体质量为62.70 kg,成年女性平均体质量为54.40 kg;我国居民的各种暴露参数与美国相差2.5%～33.3%,若在同等条件下参考国外暴露参数开展暴露和健康风险评价可能带来较大的偏差,开展全国范围内系统的暴露参数调查研究工作迫在眉睫.