An assessment of the economic and environmental potential of biomass production in an agricultural region

The establishment of deep-rooted perennial species and their processing for biomass-based products such as renewable energy can have benefits for both local and global scale environmental objectives. In this study, we assess the potential economic viability of biomass production in the South Australian River Murray Corridor and quantify the resultant benefits for local and global scale environmental objectives. We model the spatial distribution of economically viable biomass production in a Geographic Information System and quantify the model sensitivity and uncertainty using Monte Carlo analysis. The total potentially viable area for biomass production under the Most Likely Scenario is 360,728 ha (57.7% of the dryland agricultural area), producing over 3 million tonnes of green biomass per annum, with a total Net Present Value over 100 years of A$ 88 million. The salinity in the River Murray could be reduced by 2.65 EC (μS/cm) over a 100-year timeframe, and over 96,000 ha of land with high wind erosion potential could be stabilised over a much shorter period. With sufficient generating capacity, our Most Likely Scenario suggests that economically viable biomass production could reduce carbon emissions by over 1.7 million tonnes per annum through the production of renewable energy and a reduced reliance on coal-based electricity generation. Our analyses suggest that biomass production is a potentially viable alternative agricultural system that can have substantial local scale environmental benefits with complimentary global scale benefits for climate change mitigation.     

美国生态修复政策及其对我国林业重点工程的借鉴

美国自20世纪30年代以来,为遏制由于大规模土地开发导致的土壤表层侵蚀等生态退化,实施了一系列政策保护生态,防止水土流失,其中影响较大的包括土地休耕保护计划(CRP)、环境质量激励计划(EQIP)和保护支持计划(CSP)。通过分析三个计划的具体运作和实施成效,并结合我国林业重点工程的实施现状,提出一些政策建议。     

The dynamics of tourism discourses and policy in Brazil

This article employs a Foucauldian inspired discourse analysis in order to unveil hidden aspects of the tourism development policy-making process in the UNESCO Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve, Brazil. It identifies the emergence of different representations of tourism development and demonstrates the process of social construction of sustainable tourism as an overarching discourse, which incorporates different—sometimes opposing—representations of tourism development to gather the support of people with different backgrounds and interests. However, this research demonstrates that this flexibility caused the sustainable tourism narrative to become a vague and imprecise discourse in the context of the case study, which has been used by the regional elites to conserve the status quo, but disguised as a critical alternative perspective.     

天然抗氧化剂茶多酚在食品贮藏保鲜中的应用

茶多酚主要由茶叶中提取而来,可用作食物贮藏和保鲜的天然抗氧化剂。由于其具有抗氧化、防癌、减脂和除臭等多项优点而受到越来越多的关注,目前,该物质已在医疗、食品和冷藏等多个领域得到广泛应用。本文主要针对茶多酚的抗氧化原理进行分析,并简单介绍其在食物保鲜方面的应用,希望为我国关于茶多酚的研究工作提供帮助。     

A regression discontinuity approach to measuring the effectiveness of oil and natural gas regulation to address the common-pool externality

Oil and natural gas reservoirs typically span multiple productive leases so that no owner has rights to the entire stock of resource, resulting in production externalities. Previous literature has examined the effectiveness of government regulation in Texas and Oklahoma in abating these externalities, finding Oklahoma to be more successful in unifying common pools and securing property rights. Using regression discontinuity design, we quantify the impact of regulatory difference between the two states. We find that Oklahoma produces an average of 3361 more barrels of oil over the life of a well, relative to Texas. Given the maturity of the fields in question, the result underscores the continuing importance of addressing common pool externalities even after the primary phase of recovery has largely been completed.     

Recreation and Tourism in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Key Influences on the Policymaking Process

This paper reports on a study completed in 2000 into the policymaking process for recreation and tourism in AONBs across England and Wales, with particular focus on the key influencing role of communication within this process. A number of practical measures, which might aid AONB communication and collaboration for policy development and implementation in the future, are derived from the research. In addition, the findings of the study lend weight to calls (current at the time of the research) for enhanced powers and funding for AONBs, particularly in respect of recreation and tourism provision.     

地方本科高校申报国家自然科学基金项目之思考——以福建地方本科高校为例

地方本科高校申报国家自然科学基金的获准率普遍偏低，究其原因既包括高校本身的“软硬件”条件的欠缺，更重要的是申请人在选题及申请书撰写过程中存在的问题所致。地方本科高校如何根据学校实际情况，在基金委“二十四字方针”的指导下，充分发挥地方优势学科和特色等有利条件，摸索行之有效的申报策略，以求在基金项目获批资助上有所突破，文章以福建地方本科高校的申报经验为例，从科研管理工作的角度出发，在总结基金申报中常见的落选原因的基础上，提出高校应加大基础条件的建设力度，科研人员应进行创新型、特色型选题并认真撰写申请书等建议。     

Efficient local IV estimation of an empirical auction model

In this paper we examine semiparametric efficiency bounds and efficient estimators for the case of a linear local instrument variable (LIV) model under the assumptions studied in Abadie et al. (2002). We apply the semiparametrically efficient estimation method to analyze the relation between bid dispersion and early bidding in an online auction dataset, which is collected from a natural experiment conducted in Nekipelov (2007). The results confirm the theoretical findings developed in Nekipelov (2007). The semiparametric efficient estimation procedure substantially improves the statistical significance of the effect of jump bidding on bid dispersion.     

The evolution of U.S. monetary policy: 2000–2007

A vector autoregression with time-varying parameters is used to characterize changes in Federal Reserve policy that occurred from 2000 through 2007 and describe how they affected the performance of the U.S. economy. Declining coefficients in the model׳s estimated policy rule point to a shift in the Fed׳s emphasis away from stabilizing inflation over this period. More importantly, however, the Fed held the federal funds rate persistently below the values prescribed by this rule. Under this more discretionary policy, inflation overshot its target and the funds rate followed a path reminiscent of the “stop-go” pattern that characterized Fed behavior prior to 1979.     

推进天保工程建设 构建林区和谐社会

本文针对2008年初我国南方出现的雪凝灾害对我县自然林区的破坏,现就如何继续推进天保工程建设,弥补我县林区损失,构建林区和谐社会作如下探讨。