Institutional quality,financial development and sustainable economic growth among lower income countries

This article postulates strong endogenous relationships in lower income countries between institutional quality, financial development and sustained economic growth. These associations were investigated using the vector-error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality method for a sample of 79 countries from 2005 to 2022. The findings show that (1) these variables reinforce each other in the short run. (2) In the long run, both institutional quality and financial development can fuel economic growth. (3) The positive effect of institutional quality on economic growth is greater than that of financial development. Policy implications of these findings are that careful attention should be paid to co-development policies to enhance the institutional quality and the financial system in these economies. Policies should also consider economic growth strategies to enable sustainable economic growth rates.     

Trauma demography and clinical epidemiology of motorcycle crash–related head injury in a neurosurgery practice in an African developing country

Objective: Though motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) were the main cause of head trauma from road traffic injuries (RTIs), motorcycle crashes (MCCs) are now a major cause of RTI-related head injury (HI) in many developing countries.

Methods: Using a prospective database of HIs from a neurosurgical practice in a sub-Saharan African developing country, a cross-sectional survey was conducted for the trauma demography and clinical epidemiology of this MCC-related HI.

Results: Motorcycle crashes accounted for 57% (473/833) of all RTI-related HIs in this registry. The victims, with a mean age of 33.1 years (SD = 18.3), consisted mainly of males (83.1%), those of low socioeconomic status (>90%), and those aged between 20 and 40 years old (56%). MCCs involved only riders in 114 cases (114/473, 32.1%), of which 69% were motorcycle–motorcycle crashes. The HI was moderate–severe in 50.8%; clinical symptomatology of significant HI included loss of consciousness (92%), anisocoria (35%), Abbreviated Injury Scale head (AIS–head) score > 3 (28%), and CT-Rotterdam score > 3 (30%). Extracranial systemic injury involved the limbs most frequently, with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) >25 in 49%. The fatality rate was 24%.

MCC-related HI among pedestrian victims involved more vulnerable age groups (the young and elderly) but have lower mean ISS compared to motorcycle passengers (mean ISS = 23.5 [11.6] vs. 27.4 [13.0]; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27–6.49; P = .004). In addition, compared to a contemporary cohort of MVC-related HIs in our registry, MCC victims were older (mean age 34.8 years [18.0] vs. 30.8 [18.4]; P = .002); had higher proportions of certain extracranial trauma like long bone fractures (71 vs. 29%; P = .02); and suffered fewer surgical brain lesions (25.5 vs. 17.2%; P = .004).

Conclusions: Motorcycle crashes are now a significant threat to the heads, limbs, and lives of vulnerable road users in developing countries.     

生态经济学视角下的循环农业：理论、实践与发展方向

农业经历了生态农业、化学农业到生态农业的变迁,生态农业是起点也是终点。发达国家饱尝了发展化学农业的苦果,随后转轨到生态农业的道路上,最后认识到只有发展循环农业才能够做到农业可持续发展。发达国家的循环农业特别强调生态内涵和变废为宝理念,政府的财政投入和科研投入力度很大。相比之下,我国虽然已经开始发展循环农业,但目前还并不普遍,化学农业还占有很大比例。学习吸收发达国家的经验,会让我国尽早走上循环农业的发展道路。循环农业是我国农业的发展方向,为了做到这一点,需要强化农业产业化力度、加大财政补贴力度和科研投入力度。     

Mainstreaming risk reduction in urban planning and housing: a challenge for international aid organisations

The effects of 'natural' disasters in cities can be worse than in other environments, with poor and marginalised urban communities in the developing world being most at risk. To avoid post-disaster destruction and the forced eviction of these communities, proactive and preventive urban planning, including housing, is required. This paper examines current perceptions and practices within international aid organisations regarding the existing and potential roles of urban planning as a tool for reducing disaster risk. It reveals that urban planning confronts many of the generic challenges to mainstreaming risk reduction in development planning. However, it faces additional barriers. The main reasons for the identified lack of integration of urban planning and risk reduction are, first, the marginal position of both fields within international aid organisations, and second, an incompatibility between the respective professional disciplines. To achieve better integration, a conceptual shift from conventional to non-traditional urban planning is proposed. This paper suggests related operative measures and initiatives to achieve this change.     

Increasing collaboration between China and India in the environmental sciences to foster global sustainability

As the two largest countries by population, China and India have pervasive effects on the ecosphere. Because of their human population size and long international boundary, they share biodiversity and the threats to it, as well as crops, pests and diseases. We ranked the two countries on a variety of environmental challenges and solutions, illustrating quantitatively their environmental footprint and the parallels between them regarding the threats to their human populations and biodiversity. Yet we show that China and India continue to have few co-authorships in environmental publications, even as their major funding for scientific research has expanded. An agenda for collaboration between China and India can start with the shared Himalaya, linking the countries’ scientists and institutions. A broader agenda can then be framed around environmental challenges that have regional patterns. Coordinated and collaborative research has the potential to improve the two countries’ environmental performance, with implications for global sustainability.     

沿海发达地区土地利用研究新进展与方向

土地资源的短缺、质量退化与低效利用．已成为影响沿海发达地区生态安全与可持续发展的重要制约因素，也是土地利用管理与规划决策所面临的现实难题。我国沿海经济发达地区作为人地矛盾激化和经济快速转型背景下特殊的人文生态脆弱区，受到了包括地理学、生态学、经济学和社会学等多学科学者的密切关注，尤其是近10多年来在沿海土地利用变化及其效应研究方面取得了丰硕成果。主要以土地科学研究新方向和沿海地区经济社会发展态势为基本背景．从土地利用类型及其转换格局、驱动力因素辨识与驱动机制、土地利用转换的效应、区域土地可持续利用．以及土地利用优化配置与调控等方面，对沿海地区土地利用研究进行了初步梳理和评述，并指出今后应重视深化沿海发达地区土地利用研究的9个重点问题。     

Lessons from Integrating Fishers of Arapaima in Small-Scale Fisheries Management at the Mamirauá Reserve,Amazon

Fishers and small-scale fisheries worldwide have been marginalized historically. Now it is clear that integrating fishers in management processes is key to resource conservation, but it is less clear how to do it. Here, based on a literature review and new information, we present and analyze a case in which the participation of fishers in the management process was crucial in recovering an overexploited small-scale fishery for the pirarucu (Arapaima spp.) in the Amazon Basin, Brazil. In 8 years of experimental management, from 1999 to 2006, the population of pirarucu increased 9-fold (from about 2200 to 20,650 individuals), harvest quotas increased 10-fold (from 120 to 1249 individuals), and fishers’ participation in the management process increased and they benefited from increased monetary returns. Additionally, the number of communities conducting the management scheme increased from 4 in 1999 to 108 in 2006, following the demands of fishers and regional government agencies. Based on our analysis, we suggest that the participation of fishers in the management of other small-scale fisheries in the world can be improved by focusing on (1) applying the knowledge and skills of fishers in resource monitoring and management, (2) bridging knowledge systems among all involved stakeholders, (3) collaborating with fishers that are interested in, and capable of conducting, resource conservation schemes, and (4) conducting management under conditions of uncertainty.     

石墨炉法测定铅的基体改进剂的选择

通过一系列实验,选择了石墨炉法测定铅的最佳基体改进剂,并确定了使用该基体改进剂的最佳灰化温度和原子化温度。     

An approach to optimise nutrient management in environmental sanitation systems despite limited data

The material flow analysis method can be used to assess the impact of environmental sanitation systems on resource consumption and environmental pollution. However, given the limited access to reliable data, application of this data-intensive method in developing countries may be difficult. This paper presents an approach allowing to develop material flow models despite limited data availability. Application of an iterative procedure is of key importance: model parameter values should first be assessed on the basis of a literature review and by eliciting expert judgement. If model outputs are not plausible, sensitive input parameters should be reassessed more accurately. Moreover, model parameters can be expressed as probability distributions and variable uncertainty estimated by using Monte Carlo simulation. The impact of environmental sanitation systems on the phosphorus load discharged into surface water in Hanoi, Vietnam, is simulated by applying the proposed approach.