Local sustainability initiatives in English National Parks: What role for adaptive governance?

Adaptive governance has assumed growing importance in natural resource management literatures, emphasising learning and adaptation among actors at different political administrative levels and geographic scales as a precondition for the emergence of sustainable development. Here we assess this claim by examining five case studies of ‘good practice’ in sustainability, drawn from a national survey conducted in English National Parks. Specifically, we evaluate whether (1) adaptive governance characteristics are present in these ‘good practice’ initiatives, and (2) what governance role, if any, National Park Authorities have played in mediating individual and collective activities and behaviours within these projects at different levels and scales. We conclude with a critical assessment of the capacity of the adaptive governance approach to furnish new understandings of sustainable development initiatives in English NPs.     

Catching Growth Determinants with the Adaptive Lasso

Abstract. This paper uses the adaptive Lasso estimator to determine variables important for economic growth. The adaptive Lasso estimator is a computationally very efficient procedure that simultaneously performs model selection and parameter estimation. The computational cost of this method is negligibly small compared with standard approaches in the growth regressions literature. We apply this method for a regional dataset for the European Union covering the 255 NUTS2 regions in the 27 member states over the period 1995–2005. The results suggest that initial GDP per capita (with an implied convergence speed of about 1.5% per annum), human capital (proxied by the shares of highly and medium educated in the working age population), structural labor market characteristics (the initial unemployment rate and the initial activity rate of the low educated) as well as being a capital region are important for economic growth.     

Toward a gatekeeping perspective of insider–outsider relationship development in China

The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the development of relationships between out-group members and in-group members in an intercultural business environment, and to bring to the surface the inter-cultural and inter-networked nuances of guanxi. Based on interviews with managers from China and New Zealand, the workings of Chinese–Western business relationships and the roles of relational gatekeepers are explored. Empirical findings reveal three key gatekeeping roles, namely reciprocal, adaptive and symbolic, used for enabling the development of intercultural business relationships. We offer a structural hole explanation of intercultural gatekeeping in a seemingly contradictory and irreconcilable inter-networked environment. Our study also provides strategic implications of intercultural gatekeeping for foreign outsiders and recommends practical approaches for reaching the decision makers and resource integrators in jealously protected local business networks.     

蓝牙跳频算法仿真和系统容量分析

本文讨论了Bluetooth（蓝牙）无线系统的跳频算法，并对其进行了计算机仿真；根据仿真结果，分析了Bluetooth的系统容量，并提出了提高系统容量的建议。     

A novel heuristic approach for solving aircraft landing problem with single runway

Nowadays, airlines administrations are more willing to utilize optimization tools to control air traffic due to considerable increases in volume of air transports. A challenging problem in the field of air traffic is how to optimally schedule landing time of aircrafts and assign them to different runways such that early and late landing costs are minimized. This problem is called aircraft landing problem (ALP). This paper proposes a novel decomposition based heuristic by solving two sub-problems for the ALP with single runway. In the first sub-problem, we apply the adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) algorithm to find a sequence of aircrafts. The solution found in the first sub-problem will be sent to the second sub-problem, to check for the feasibility of the solution using CPLEX solver. A set of benchmark problem are taken from the OR library for the purpose of comparison with other existing approaches. The computational results exhibit that the proposed algorithm is capable of finding the best known optimal solution for all the instances.     

Learnability of an equilibrium with private information

This paper investigates the learnability of an equilibrium with private information. Agents of each type have their own private information about an exogenous variable and conduct adaptive learning with a heterogeneously misspecified perceived laws of motion (PLM) that includes only this variable. The paper shows that the existence of private information has a nonnegative impact on the learnability of the equilibrium; that is, the condition for learnability is unaffected or relaxed by heterogeneity and/or misspecification in PLMs caused by private information. In a New Keynesian model with private information about fundamental shocks, the learnability of the equilibrium is ensured by the Taylor principle of monetary policy. The paper also confirms that these results hold true not only in the presence of private information, but also in a variety of informational structures.     

TD-SCDMA系统中智能天线的重复迭代自适应算法

提出一种用于TD-SCDMA系统的重复迭代自适应智能天线算法。通过在自适应算法中把阵列输入信号和作为参考信号的训练序列重复使用,可以在短训练序列情况下实现较好的收敛,提高通信系统的传输效率。对LMS算法中全训练序列重复迭代和滑动窗口重复迭代算法进行了仿真,结果表明,在有限训练序列时本算法比传统LMS算法更好地逼近最佳解。     

How does adaptive co-management relate to specified and general resilience? An approach from Isla Mayor,Andalusia, Spain

Resilience provides a framework to study the dynamics of social-ecological systems (SESs). The inherent complexity and uncertainty of SESs reveals the necessity for new approaches in management, such as adaptive co-management (ACM). The objective of the present research is to analyse the link between ACM and specified/general resilience debate. For the empirical analysis, a qualitative case-study approach is conducted in Isla Mayor, a southern municipality of Spain with an intensive rice cultivation tradition and a few limited secondary activities such as fishing and tourism. First, we explore five different faces of ACM in Isla Mayor’s rice farming: (1) institution building, (2) power sharing, (3) governance, (4) problem solving, and (5) knowledge co-production, social learning and adaptation. Secondly, we analyse specified and general resilience from two perspectives: (1) stakeholders’ perceptions, (2) adaptive capacity and self-organization. The results highlight the existence of a task-oriented process aimed at solving problems related to the rice activity. This process has contributed to shape a new multi-level governance system and sharing of power between public authorities and local rice farmers, seemingly contributing to an improved rice cultivation specified resilience. However, the lack of collective power and vertical/horizontal links in the governance framework of the remaining socio-economic activities in the region have given rise to some difficulties in their management and interactions with the rice sector, thereby raising barriers to diversify activities and enhance general resilience. The case shows that ACM can provide the opportunity to navigate the trade-offs between specified and general resilience.     

Uncertain monitoring and modeling in a watershed nonpoint pollution program

Performance-based programs governing land use rely on environmental measurement, prediction, and assessment. Yet complex, nonlinear social and environmental change can lead to uncertainties in quantification and forecasting and create challenges for operationalizing programs. This research examines the roles that environmental monitoring and modeling uncertainty play in experimental land and water governance through an analysis of a regulatory water quality program in Wisconsin, USA. The case demonstrates how uncertainties in measurement and prediction of pollution runoff shape program design and participant perceptions. We draw on interviews, a survey, participant observation, and policy document analysis to illustrate how regulators and participants (including municipalities, sewerage treatment plants, farmers and nonprofit organizations) perceive and react to uncertainty. Because current and future water quality data are based largely on model estimates, but regulatory compliance will likely be based on measured in-stream outcomes, participants must evaluate potential risks of involvement. Stakeholders have relied on partnership building and legal modifications such as extended compliance timelines to reduce the risks associated with uncertainty. Experimentation under uncertainty led to sustained stakeholder dialogue, and an iterative process of deciding how monitoring and modeling should be used to track and prove program progress.     

Learning by trial and error

A person learns by trial and error if he occasionally tries out new strategies, rejecting choices that are erroneous in the sense that they do not lead to higher payoffs. In a game, however, strategies can become erroneous due to a change of behavior by someone else. We introduce a learning rule in which behavior is conditional on whether a player experiences an error of the first or second type. This rule, called interactive trial and error learning, implements Nash equilibrium behavior in any game with generic payoffs and at least one pure Nash equilibrium.