Beyond the numbers: Understanding the value of vegetation to rural livelihoods in Africa

Different types of vegetation found in local environments are of value to rural livelihoods of many African households. However, the dominant way of expressing this value, which is mainly through economic valuation studies, is potentially limiting this knowledge’s usefulness in policy and research, due to the inability to present full picture. Using literature review and insights from field work, the paper argues that realized and notional values of vegetation to rural livelihoods are socially constructed and contested, and - in addition to understanding local livelihood context, which include social difference, and ecological dynamics - a focus on social institutions as terrains of negotiation is crucial. This means that resource value in rural livelihoods can be realized through contested and negotiated access arrangements that are mediated by complex institutions at local and external levels.     

基于RS和GIS的青藏高原草地生态系统土壤水分保持功能及其经济价值评估——以生长季为例

根据生态系统服务功能理论,利用RS和G IS技术,以土壤含水量为基础因子,对青藏高原区草地生态系统的土壤水分保持功能及其价值的动态变化过程进行有效评价,以直接的货币形式反映出青藏高原主要草地类型的土壤水分保持功能的大小。通过计算和分析发现:(1)由于草地类型分布面积、单位面积保持量的影响,各种类型草地提供的土壤水分保持功能及其价值贡献率有较大差异,按照大小依次为:高寒草原类、高寒草甸类,高寒荒漠类、高寒草甸草原类和温性山地草甸类;(2)草地对土壤水分保持量及其价值呈现出较强的阶段性变化过程;(3)由于各种草地类型所处地理区域不同、草地本身各种自然特点和整体生态功能的不同,青藏高原草地生态系统提供的土壤水分保持功能及其经济价值呈现出明显的地域分布规律:自西北至东南逐渐降低。应该说,由于青藏高原地域、地理和独特气候等原因所致,本文计算得出的青藏高原草地生态系统土壤水分保持功能及其价值的具体数值不一定十分准确,但是能在一定程度上反映出土壤水分保持功能的强大及其在生长季中随时间变化的动态过程和基本规律(这种规律性结论与前人研究结论一致),这是一种在区域尺度上揭示草地生态系统土壤水分保持功能及其价值动态变化过程的方法尝试,这也是对动态评估生态服务功能的一种有益尝试。     

矢量数字地图数据质量的综合评估

研究和确定了矢量数字地图数据的质量评估因子和评估标准,介绍了利用模糊综合评估方法进行质量评估的过程和做法,并给出了实例.     

模拟退火算法在动态建立基准地价模型中的应用

阐述了传统基准地价评估模型建立流程将地价样本检验与模型建立分离的不足，引入了模拟退火算法思想，对目标函数、初始状态、新状态产生、新状态接受、初温、温度更新函数以及抽样准则、算法终止准则等关键问题进行设计，将地价样本检验、优化组合与模型建立有机结合，并设计了基于模拟退火算法的动态建立基准地价模型的流程，最后应用实例验证了方法的可行性。     

河北省崇礼县水晶屯金矿床成因矿物学标志在找矿评价中的应用

本文首次应用自然金、黄铁矿、石英、钾长石等矿物的成因矿物学标志，对水晶屯金矿床的含金性、矿体的剥蚀程度和延伸范围进行了初步的定量评价，为今后在矿床深部及外围的找矿工作提供了一种简便有效的成矿预测方法。     

大坂山隧道地下水动态分析及对隧道作用评估

Base on the groundwater yield, water temperature and hydrochemistry change of the groundwater, we can analyze that the summer water content is obviously greater than winter water content where the in and-out wall rock of the Daban Mountain tunnel. The groundwater supply has the extensity and the seasonality. The groundwater content of the middle tunnel wall rock changes relatively steady, mainly supply through horizontal direction. And the total groundwater content is relatively little and steady in winter. The water pressure of the wall rock cranny is little. It has the fluent drainage system to dredge groundwater, which cannot constitute a threat to the tunnel lining. And the cold-proof sluice hole can normally work to drain water.     

Economic valuation of policies for managing acidity in remote mountain lakes: Examining validity through scope sensitivity testing

No Abstract. .The following two amendments concern the above mentioned article that appeared electronically Online First on June13, 2005 (this issue, pp. 274–291).1. the first name of the author Cooper is Philip (and not Phillip).2. the correct grant reference number is EVK1-CT-1999-00032 (instead of: EVK1-CT-2002-00121).     

Representing and communicating deep uncertainty in climate-change assessments

IPCC reports provide a synthesis of the state of the science in order to inform the international policy process. This task is made difficult by the presence of deep uncertainty in the climate problem that results from long time scales and complexity. This paper focuses on how deep uncertainty can be effectively communicated. We argue that existing schemes do an inadequate job of communicating deep uncertainty and propose a simple approach that distinguishes between various levels of subjective understanding in a systematic manner. We illustrate our approach with two examples. To cite this article: M. Kandlikar et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Mill-leach-waste cutoff grades for sulphidic copper ore

Summary Recent mining literature on cutoff grade theory has come to reflect some viewpoints and analyses expressed earlier in the economic literature. Agreement is best when the cutoff grade policy is established by analysis in stages, starting from the limits of the deposit, and using the maximum net present value objective. In the derivation of the optimal cutoff grade policy a dynamic programming approach is then applied to solve the overall problem as a series of linked, nonlinear, stage optimization problems. A wholly satisfactory use of a dynamic programming methodology requires that two conditions be satisfied: the separability and optimality conditions. The former is, strictly, violated by a heap-leaching or dump-leaching process, the latter by possible forms of resource rent taxation. This paper considers the problem of including such a leaching process in a cutoff grade policy analysis along aforementioned lines. It concludes that a workable method of doing so may be found which, in particular, may be quite satisfactory in arid climates where, in addition, some practical leaching experience already exists.     

Uncertainty in Coal Property Valuation in West Virginia: A Case Study

Interpolated grids of coal bed thickness are being considered for use in a proposed method for taxation of coal in the state of West Virginia (United States). To assess the origin and magnitude of possible inaccuracies in calculated coal tonnage, we used conditional simulation to generate equiprobable realizations of net coal thickness for two coals on a 7 min topographic quadrangle, and a third coal in a second quadrangle. Coals differed in average thickness and proportion of original coal that had been removed by erosion; all three coals crop out in the study area. Coal tonnage was calculated for each realization and for each interpolated grid for actual and artificial property parcels, and differences were summarized as graphs of percent difference between tonnage calculated from the grid and average tonnage from simulations. Coal in individual parcels was considered minable for valuation purposes if average thickness in each parcel exceeded 30 inches. Results of this study show that over 75% of the parcels are classified correctly as minable or unminable based on interpolation grids of coal bed thickness. Although between 80 and 90% of the tonnages differ by less than 20% between interpolated values and simulated values, a nonlinear conditional bias might exist in estimation of coal tonnage from interpolated thickness, such that tonnage is underestimated where coal is thin, and overestimated where coal is thick. The largest percent differences occur for parcels that are small in area, although because of the small quantities of coal in question, bias is small on an absolute scale for these parcels. For a given parcel size, maximum apparent overestimation of coal tonnage occurs in parcels with an average coal bed thickness near the minable cutoff of 30 in. Conditional bias in tonnage for parcels having a coal thickness exceeding the cutoff by 10 in. or more is constant for two of the three coals studied, and increases slightly with average thickness for the third coal.