US Government Natural Disaster Assistance: Historical Analysis and a Proposal for the Future

Governments often provide grants or low-interest loans to disaster victims. Yet these programmes have proven to be quite costly. In addition, questions have been raised about associated behavioural incentives. Conceptually, government disaster insurance programmes should be more efficient, consistent and equitable than ex post facto disaster relief in the form of grants and loans. Yet the performance of government disaster insurance programmes has been mixed, at best. This article reviews the history of US federal natural disaster assistance to individuals and concludes with a recommendation for a new government role in the provision of disaster insurance.     

Cracking the Achilles’ heel of energy performance contracting projects: the credit risk identification method for clients

ABSTRACT

A credit risk identification model is established to examine the credit status of Energy performance contracting (EPC) project clients (i.e., energy-using companies) in China based on rough set theory. The model is verified with data from 120 listed companies at different times. Study shows that lack of credit is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of EPC projects, and information asymmetry is the main reason for this lack of credit among potential clients in China. The credit risk identification method based on rough set theory can make up for the shortcomings of existing EPC projects in terms of credit risk identification, including redundant information and indicators, and unclear decision rules. Credit risk identification indicators of clients are dynamic. The research results can help energy service companies (ESCOs) determine the credit status of clients, facilitate cooperation between ESCOs and clients, and help explain the various dynamics of clients’ credit risk identification indicators over time.     

长江流域的鱼类资源及其保护对策

长江水系的鱼类约有300种,其中鲤科鱼类占半数以上,主要的经济鱼类多数属于鲤科。对不同江段的鱼类资源作了简介,并提出了相应的保护措施。上游江段以维护生物多样性,保护特有种为主,需要建立鱼类自然保护区;中游应保证主要经济鱼类的自然繁殖条件,加强珍稀鱼类的人工繁殖放流工作,同时对湖泊幼鱼资源进行保护;下游应注意保持江水质量,严格遵守工业废水排放标准;河口江段应规定幼鲟保护期,建议每年6月15日至7月31日停止一切损害幼鲟资源的渔捞作业。     

战略导弹核武器系统人因工程应用研究

以战略导弹核武器系统的设计、生产、使用与维修为背景，分析了人为失误的定义、原因及分类，并根据模糊图理论，提出了一种评估人员可靠性的双向模糊图模型，并对人因工程学在战略导弹核武器系统的应用，提出了一些看法和建议。     

Rough Set Rule Induction for Suitability Assessment

The data that characterize an environmental system are a fundamental part of an environmental decision-support system. However, obtaining complete and consistent data sets for regional studies can be difficult. Data sets are often available only for small study areas within the region, whereas the data themselves contain uncertainty because of system complexity, differences in methodology, or data collection errors. This paper presents rough-set rule induction as one way to deal with data uncertainty while creating predictive if–then rules that generalize data values to the entire region. The approach is illustrated by determining the crop suitability of 14 crops for the agricultural soils of the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, USA. To implement this method, environmental and crop yield data were spatially related to individual soil units, forming the examples needed for the rule induction process. Next, four learning algorithms were defined by using different subsets of environmental attributes. ROSETTA, a software system for rough set analysis, was then used to generate rules using each algorithm. Cross-validation analysis showed that all crops had at least one algorithm with an accuracy rate greater than 68%. After selecting a preferred algorithm, the induced classifier was used to predict the crop suitability of each crop for the unclassified soils. The results suggest that rough set rule induction is a useful method for data generalization and suitability analysis.     

火灾后钢筋混凝土损伤程度的灰关联分析

由于火灾对钢筋混凝土结构的影响存在不确定性,使得人们不能准确地确定火灾后钢筋混凝土结构的损伤程度,给评估和加固修复带来很大困难。本文运用灰色系统理论中灰关联分析数学模型定量分析了高温下钢筋混凝土梁的3种影响因素,并确定了各因素间的主次关系,为高温后钢筋混凝土结构的安全评估及修复加固提供了理论依据。     

黄河口治理与“三约束”理论

黄河口治理是黄河治理的重要问题之一,黄河口治理观点有河口提动论、河口相对稳定论、固住河口论。本文分析了固住河口的必要性和可行性,提出了“三约束”理论,认为黄河口治理关键是固住河口。     

Rendering the world unsafe: 'vulnerability' as western discourse

Disasters seem destined to be major issues of academic enquiry in the new century if for no other reason than that they are inseparably linked to questions of environmental conservation, resource depletion and migration patterns in an increasingly globalised world. Unfortunately, inadequate attention has been directed at considering the historical roots of the discursive framework within which hazard is generally presented, and how that might reflect particular cultural values to do with the way in which certain regions or zones of the world are usually imagined. This paper argues that tropicality, development and vulnerability form part of one and the same essentialising and generalising cultural discourse that denigrates large regions of world as disease-ridden, poverty-stricken and disaster-prone.     

典型区耕地变化与GDP值变化的脱钩研究

研究目的：为了深入分析耕地占用与GDP值增长之间的关系，研究不同区域之间耕地数量变化与GDP值变化的差异性与相似性，有利于平衡耕地占用与GDP值增长之间的矛盾，同时有利于“状态-压力-响应”体系的研究。研究方法：主要是应用脱钩理论，引入了脱钩指数来分析不同区域各时点耕地数量变化与GDP值变化之间的关系，同时运用相关分析与回归分析的方法，确立了不同研究区耕地数量与社会经济指标之间的相关性，建立了耕地面积与GDP值的回归曲线。研究结论：耕地数量的变化与GDP值之间的关系因地域差异而表现不同，但是也存在一些相似点，即各个区域相对脱钩与绝对脱钩的年份基本一样；此外脱钩理论有利于进一步深化土地利用的研究。