Social Contract and Deterring Famine: First Thoughts

The links between certain kinds of political systems and protection against famine are investigated in this paper. The starting-point is a critique of Amartya Sen's observation that famines are unknown in countries with a free press and competitive elections. This holds true only in India because of a unique political history in which freedom from famine became a right, upon which political legitimacy was founded: an anti-famine 'social contract'.
The rise and decline of anti-famine systems in Africa is charted. Major reasons for decay include neo-liberalism and the international humanitarian system, both of which undermine relationships of domestic political accountability that underpin effective famine prevention. A number of politically regressive tendencies in 'actually existing humanitarianism' are identified that work against any nascent anti-famine social contracts in Africa. This is possible because famine prevention has not been established as a right in Africa.     

A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Animal Experiments with Guidelines for Reporting

To maximize the findings of animal experiments to inform likely health effects in humans, a thorough review and evaluation of the animal evidence is required. Systematic reviews and, where appropriate, meta-analyses have great potential in facilitating such an evaluation, making efficient use of the animal evidence while minimizing possible sources of bias. The extent to which systematic review and meta-analysis methods have been applied to evaluate animal experiments to inform human health is unknown. Using systematic review methods, we examine the extent and quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of in vivo animal experiments carried out to inform human health. We identified 103 articles meeting the inclusion criteria: 57 reported a systematic review, 29 a systematic review and a meta-analysis, and 17 reported a meta-analysis only. The use of these methods to evaluate animal evidence has increased over time. Although the reporting of systematic reviews is of adequate quality, the reporting of meta-analyses is poor. The inadequate reporting of meta-analyses observed here leads to questions on whether the most appropriate methods were used to maximize the use of the animal evidence to inform policy or decision-making. We recommend that guidelines proposed here be used to help improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of animal experiments. Further consideration of the use and methodological quality and reporting of such studies is needed.     

The Sensitivity of Population Viability Analysis to Uncertainty about Habitat Requirements: Implications for the Management of the Endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot

Abstract:  Whenever population viability analysis (PVA) models are built to help guide decisions about the management of rare and threatened species, an important component of model building is the specification of a habitat model describing how a species is related to landscape or bioclimatic variables. Model-selection uncertainty may arise because there is often a great deal of ambiguity about which habitat model structure best approximates the true underlying biological processes. The standard approach to incorporate habitat models into PVA is to assume the best habitat model is correct, ignoring habitat-model uncertainty and alternative model structures that may lead to quantitatively different conclusions and management recommendations. Here we provide the first detailed examination of the influence of habitat-model uncertainty on the ranking of management scenarios from a PVA model. We evaluated and ranked 6 management scenarios for the endangered southern brown bandicoot ( Isoodon obesulus ) with PVA models, each derived from plausible competing habitat models developed with logistic regression. The ranking of management scenarios was sensitive to the choice of the habitat model used in PVA predictions. Our results demonstrate the need to incorporate methods into PVA that better account for model uncertainty and highlight the sensitivity of PVA to decisions made during model building. We recommend that researchers search for and consider a range of habitat models when undertaking model-based decision making and suggest that routine sensitivity analyses should be expanded to include an analysis of the impact of habitat-model uncertainty and assumptions.     

基于集合卡尔曼滤波的区域臭氧资料同化试验

基于集合卡尔曼滤波方法和嵌套网格空气质量模式系统建立了一个区域空气质量资料同化系统(RAQDAS),并利用该系统开展了京津冀地区2008年北京奥运会期间的地面臭氧观测资料同化试验,分析了同化系统订正臭氧初始场对24 h臭氧预报的影响.试验结果表明采用50个集合样本的集合卡尔曼滤波同化不仅改进了观测站点的臭氧预报,也提高了观测以外区域的臭氧预报技巧,使得臭氧预报的均方根误差平均下降了15％,并且当集合样本数减小到20时也可达到相近的预报改进效果.为了解决滤波发散问题,分别采用了放大集合离散度和扰动模式误差源两种方法.其中放大集合离散度能避免滤波发散,但没有提高臭氧预报技巧,反而导致预报误差的增加;扰动模式误差源不仅解决了滤波发散问题,也使同化导致的臭氧预报均方根误差下降比例从15％进一步提高到20％.     

兰得洛案例与环境公民诉讼

目前在中国，为环境保护目的建立“公益诉讼”制度的提法正吸引着人们极大的兴趣。特别是在2005年12月。国务院作出“关于落实科学发展观加强环境保护的决定”之后。“决定”中把推动环境公益诉讼作为长期改善中国环境保护体制的主要措施之一。就中国的公益诉讼应该采取哪种形式的问题。政府官员、学者、律师和NGO对此争论颇多。美国环境诉讼中采取的“公民诉讼（citizen suit）”制度作为诸多途径中的一种受到了特别关注。