Analyzing the global human appropriation of net primary production — processes, trajectories, implications. An introduction

Humanity's role in shaping patterns and processes in the terrestrial biosphere is large and growing. Most of the earth's fertile land is used more or less intensively by humans for resource extraction, production, transport, consumption and waste deposition or as living space. Biomass production on cropland, grazing areas and in managed forests dominates area requirements, but other processes such as soil degradation, human-induced fires and expansion of settlements and infrastructure play an increasingly important role as well. The growing human domination of terrestrial ecosystems contributes to biodiversity loss as well as to a reduced capability of ecosystems to deliver vital services such as buffering capacity, soil conservation or self-regulation. This special section is devoted to the presentation of recent research into the patterns, determinants and implications of the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), an integrated socio-ecological indicator of land use intensity. By measuring the combined effect of land conversion and biomass harvest on the availability of trophic energy (biomass) in ecosystems, HANPP explicitly links natural with socioeconomic processes and allows for integrated analyses of land systems. This introductory article explains the rationale that links current HANPP research to Ecological Economics and discusses issues of definition and methods shared by all articles included in the special section. Finally, it gives an overview of the individual papers, provides some general conclusions and presents an outlook for future research: a better understanding of long-term trajectories of HANPP, of the significance of trade patterns as well as of the future role of bioenergy are highlighted as important issues to be addressed in the coming years.     

Constitutive Effects of Performance Indicators: Getting beyond unintended consequences

The idea that performance indicators in public management have unintended consequences is almost as old as performance measurement itself. But, is ‘unintended consequences’ an appropriate and insightful idea? The very term rests on an identification of intentions and assumptions about validity that are demonstrably problematic. Based on a distinction between trivial and advanced measure fixation, an argument is made for constitutive effects that are based on less problematic assumptions. Through this conceptual move, the political dimension of performance indicators is appreciated. The conceptual dimensions of constitutive effects are carved out, empirical illustrations of their applicability are offered and implications discussed.     

物流产业评价指标与方法的探讨

本文首先对物流产业的概念进行界定,提出物流产业的判断基准;然后根据物流产业的内涵进行评价指标的设计,主要包括物流产业规模、效益、结构、资源、市场潜力等五个大类指标;最后运用主成分分析法建立物流产业的评价模型.     

经济增加值(EVA)在国有企业绩效评价中的再思考

EVA指标是以企业价值为核心,基于价值管理和价值驱动的企业运营模型,是税后经营利润减去债权资本和股权资本的综合成本后的余额,经济学家称之为剩余收入(所有成本被扣除后的剩余收入)。2010初国资委将经济增加值纳入央属企业绩效考核指标,将对企业的战略管理、绩效评价产生了深远的影响。本文将着力分析我国引进EVA在国有企业绩效评价应用中的局限性,并尝试提出国有企业在绩效评价中运用EVA的新思路。     

以平衡计分卡为基础构建商业银行业绩评价的非财务指标

随着国内商业银行之间以及与外资银行的竞争日益加剧,我国商业银行原有的业绩评价体系已经不适应新的形势.平衡计分卡认为,业绩评价应以顾客、内部经营及学习与创新等非财务指标来补充财务指标,并针对各个方面的业绩目标,设计出相应的计量指标,以便系统、全面、迅速地反映企业的整体运营情况,为企业管理服务.本文以平衡计分卡为基础,分析了我国商业银行业绩评价体系的发展沿革及现状,指出了我国商业银行业绩评价注重财务评价而忽视非财务评价的问题,借鉴西方商业银行使用平衡计分卡的先进经验,从顾客、员工、组织、内部经营、创新等方面构建了商业银行业绩评价的非财务指标体系.     

Are they telling the truth? Revealing hidden traits of satisfaction with a public bike-sharing service

Public bike-sharing systems (BSSs) are an emerging mode of transportation introduced by municipalities to solve congestion problems in metropolitan areas, especially when integrated with other types of transportation. In the last years, the number of public bike-sharing services has been constantly on the rise all over the world, and generally the overall satisfaction with them is high. However, satisfaction with public services is driven by mechanisms that can differ from those in the private sector. It is important to establish to what extent a high satisfaction is genuine or simply ephemeral. Even “old” public services (like public transportation) become “gold” when accompanied by the introduction of new technologies. In this paper we analyze this phenomenon using data from a satisfaction web-survey conducted among customers of the public BSS “BikeMi” in Milan, Italy, in a period when mobile technologies have been introduced to speed up the service. On analyzing the responses to satisfaction questions using simple summary statistics, the level of satisfaction resulted very high. However, our aim was to look for potential “darker” sides of the service by detecting possible hidden satisfaction components. For this purpose, we used the Nonlinear Principal Components Analysis, which is particularly powerful in this context. A simple textual analysis was also performed as a validating test. Results from our analysis indicated that satisfaction is flawed by a set of factors like the mechanics of the bikes, the picking and dropping system, and the apps used to organize the service. Less concern was detected for more general aspects of the service.     

Nutrition and GNP: A comparison of problems in Thailand and the Philippines

The relationship between GNP and nutritional status between countries shows a high correlation. This study of two countries with the same GNP (Thailand and Philippines) investigated their use of equal resources and the impact on nutritional status. Malnutrition is more prevalent in the Philippines than Thailand despite an extensive national nutrition programme in the Philippines, better medical and educational services and safer water supplies. The most important underlying economic factor is not income distribution but rather the cost of living, particularly for basic needs. Finally, it is concluded that although GNP is closely related to nutritional status between countries, the longitudinal correlations within a country are much weaker.     

土地利用图中面状要素缩编的质量评价

研究目的:为保证土地利用图缩编质量,建立土地利用图面状要素缩编的质量评价模型。研究方法:应用模糊综合评判的方法,针对土地利用图中面状要素全覆盖、无重叠、无缝隙等特性,选取曲折度变化率、质心偏移量、土地利用语义、地类面积比例结构以及地图载负量等评价指标,确定各个指标的评价等级和相对权重,建立质量评价模型。研究结果:通过该质量评价模型,比较采用迭代算法和蚁群优化算法缩编的同一个地区,结果显示利用蚁群优化算法进行缩编的效果更好,从而验证了模型的有效性。研究结论:该质量评价模型有助于改进综合算法,改善整个综合过程,保证土地利用图的缩编质量。     

大同黄花质量标准的建立

本文通过大量的文献调研,结合大同市综合检验检测中心《基于地方保护品种大同黄花质量标准的研究》课题进展成果,提出地方保护品种大同黄花产品质量标准制定内容和制定方向等方面的建议,为大同黄花质量标准的建立提供参考.     

上市公司财务参数与其股价波动性关系探究

本文探究了上市公司年度股价波动性与其上一年公开财务指标的相关关系。公开财务指标主要包括六项,从不同维度反映了公司规模、资本结构、偿债能力、盈利状况、管理状况和股东情况。通过分析结果发现,若干财务指标与上市公司的股价波动性都有显著的相关关系,大部分符合预期及常识。有一些财务指标与上市公司的股价波动性长时期内表现出稳定、显著的关系。文中尝试探讨了造成这种相关性的因素。