The role of social norms in climate adaptation: Mediating risk perception and flood insurance purchase

Flood insurance plays an important role in climate adaptation by recovering insured losses in the event of catastrophic flooding. Voluntary adoption of flood insurance has been seen as a function of risk perception that is shaped by social norms. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship between these factors. It is based on a household survey conducted in the eastern cities of Australia and involving a total of 501 randomly selected residents. Results of a path analysis show that the likelihood of having flood insurance cover was associated with perceived social norms, but not perceived flood risk. In addition, perceived norms and risk were statistically related to each other. It is concluded that social norms played a mediating role between insuring decision and risk perception. Risk perception might influence the insuring decision indirectly through shaping perception of social norms. This implies that adaptive behaviour is not necessarily a function of risk perception, but an outcome of its impacts upon the ways in which the individuals situate themselves in their social circles or the society. There is a feedback process in which individual perceptions of risk manifest as both a cause and effect, shaping and being shaped by the socio-cultural context.     

Preliminary Study on Applicability of Microsatellite DNA Primers from Parasite Protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi in Free-living Protozoa

1　Introduction　Generallyknownasacodominantgeneticmarker ,microsatellitehasbeenwidelyusedinstudiesonpopu lationgenetics,high resolutiongenotyping ,genemap ping ,evolution ,linkageanalysis ,conservationbiology ,behaviouralecology ,relationsbetweenparasite…     

Prediction of the dynamic response of a slender marine structure under an irregular ocean wave using the NARX-based quadratic Volterra series

The time series of the dynamic response of a slender marine structure was predicted in approximate sense using a truncated quadratic Volterra series. The wave-structure interaction system was identified using the NARX (Nonlinear Autoregressive with Exogenous Input) technique, and the network parameters were determined through supervised training using prepared datasets. The dataset used for network training was obtained by nonlinear finite element analysis of the slender marine structure under random ocean waves of white noise. The nonlinearities involved in the analysis were both large deformation of the structure under consideration and the quadratic term of the relative velocity between the water particle and structure in the Morison formula. The linear and quadratic frequency response functions of the given system were extracted using the multi-tone harmonic probing method and the time series of the response of the structure was predicted using the quadratic Volterra series. To check the applicability of the method, the response of a slender marine structure under a realistic ocean wave environment with a given significant wave height and modal period was predicted and compared with the nonlinear time domain simulation results. The predicted time series of the response of structure with quadratic Volterra series successfully captured the slowly varying response with reasonably good accuracy. This method can be used to predict the response of the slender offshore structure exposed to a Morison type load without relying on the computationally expensive time domain analysis, especially for screening purposes.     

在Zebiak-Cane模式中观测MJO强迫对ENSO可预报性的影响, 第1部分:对最大预报误差的影响

With the observational wind data and the Zebiak-Cane model, the impact of Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) as external forcing on El Ni(n)o–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predictability is studied. The obs...     

中国对虾选育群体“黄海1号”和野生群体不同组织基因组DNA甲基化的MSAP分析

DNA甲基化在调节动物生长发育和组织分化中发挥了重要作用。本研究主要从酶切、预扩和选扩等方面优化了中国对虾DNA甲基化分析的MSAP技术,给出了适合中国对虾MSAP分析的最近反应程序和体系,并采用该技术分别对中国对虾选育群体"黄海1号"和野生群体的肌肉、鳃和血细胞三种组织基因组DNA的CCGG甲基化水平进行分析。研究结果表明,中国对虾野生群体肌肉、鳃和血细胞的DNA甲基化比例分别为23.1%、22.3%和19.7%,选育群体"黄海1号"肌肉、鳃和血液的甲基化比例分别为21.4%、19.6%和18.9%。鳃组织的DNA甲基化水平在两群体中差异极显著(P <0.01),肌肉间的甲基化水平差异显著(P <0.05),而血细胞中甲基化水平差异不显著(P >0.05)。中国对虾野生群体和"黄海1号"同一组织间的甲基化水平不同(P ≤ 0.05),而不同组织间的甲基化水平也各不相同(P ≤ 0.05)。DNA甲基化多态性分析表明,野生群体和选育群体"黄海1号"的鳃和血细胞组织的甲基化多态性比例变化明显,而肌肉组织甲基化水平较稳定,这些变化趋势与CCGG位点的甲基化和去甲基化有关。     

马氏珠母贝(Pinctada fucata)组织蛋白酶L基因的克隆与表达分析

根据已构建的溶藻弧菌(Vibro alginolyticus)诱导的马氏珠母贝(Pinctada fucata)血淋巴cDNA差减文库得到的ESTs序列, 应用cDNA末端快速扩增(RACE)技术成功克隆了其组织蛋白酶L基因(PFCatL), 并对其进行了生物信息学分析; 应用实时荧光定量PCR (Real-time PCR)技术, 研究了PFCatL基因在溶藻弧菌刺激前后马氏珠母贝足、外套膜、鳃、闭壳肌等8个组织中的表达变化。结果表明, PFCatL基因cDNA全长2004bp, 其中5′非编码区(5′-UTR)50bp, 3′非编码区(3′-UTR)865bp, 开放阅读框(ORF)1089bp, 编码362个氨基酸, 其分子量计算值(MW)为40.52kDa, 理论等电点(IP)为5.20; 生物信息学分析表明, PFCatL含有16个氨基酸残基组成的信号肽序列以及组织蛋白酶前体抑制功能域I29; Clustalw2多重比对发现PFCatL氨基酸序列在催化三联体Cys-His-Asn、底物结合位点以及二硫键形成相关的半胱氨酸残基位点高度保守; Real-time PCR研究发现, PFCatL在马氏珠母贝各组织中均有表达, 但各组织间的表达量存在差异, 其中以肾和闭壳肌中的表达量最高; 溶藻弧菌感染4h后, 外套膜、鳃以及血淋巴中PFCatL基因的表达较感染前显著上调。     

人工诱导栉孔扇贝雌核发育胚胎的SNP标记分析

利用紫外线照射灭活的同源精子,激活栉孔扇贝(Chlamys farreri)卵子分裂,获得雌核发育胚胎,流式细胞仪检测胚胎细胞平均单倍体率为82.5%。对获得的胚胎进行全基因组扩增,获得足量的基因分型模板,利用高分辨率溶解曲线(HRM)技术对其进行96个单核苷酸多态性(SNP)位点分型。结果显示,诱导雌核发育胚胎的位点检出率为96.27%,其中99.06%的位点分型结果与相应雌性亲本相符;单个胚胎中只表现一种等位形式的位点占91.67%~96.88%,平均为94.81%,较雌性亲本的纯合位点比例(64.25%)明显提高。本研究利用灭活同源精子诱导获得栉孔扇贝雌核发育胚胎,并利用单个胚胎的全基因组扩增产物进行基因位点分析,为扇贝人工诱导雌核发育个体的早期多基因位点检测和评价提供参考。     

一种程控宽频带多波形信号发生器的研制

针对目前专门的函数信号发生器IC功能简单、精度不高、调节方式不灵活等缺点和DDS芯片外围电路设计复杂、成本较高等问题,设计研制了一种程控宽频带多波形信号发生器。该信号发生器采用单片机STC89C52控制专用函数发生器MAX038实现,通过键盘设置输出波形类型、频率、占空比和幅度等各种参数,采用闭环控制方法对输出频率自动反馈控制以提高频率精度,并由八位LED显示器实时显示状态信息。实际运行结果表明:该系统可以产生频率范围在1Hz~20MHz、幅度在2~10V(VPP)连续可调、占空比在10%~90%变化的三角波、锯齿波、方波、正弦波和PWM波,输出频率精度小于0.01%。该仪器具有电路结构简单、性能优良、成本低廉、功能多样、使用方便等优点,在生产实践和科技研究领域中具有广泛的应用前景。     

Coupled analysis of nonlinear sloshing and ship motions

A coupled numerical model considering nonlinear sloshing flows and the linear ship motions has been developed based on a boundary element method. Hydrodynamic performances of a tank containing internal fluid under regular wave excitations in sway are investigated by the present time-domain simulation model and comparative model tests. The numerical model features well the hydrodynamic performance of a tank and its internal sloshing flows obtained from the experiments. In particular, the numerical simulations of the strong nonlinear sloshing flows at the natural frequency have been validated. The influence of the excitation wave height and wave frequency on ship motions and internal sloshing has been investigated. The magnitude of the internal sloshing increases nonlinearly as the wave excitation increases. It is observed that the asymmetry of the internal sloshing relative to still water surface becomes more pronounced at higher wave excitation. The internal sloshing-induced wave elevation is found to be amplitude-modulated. The frequency of the amplitude modulation envelope is determined by the difference between the incident wave frequency and the natural frequency of the internal sloshing. Furthermore, the coupling mechanism between ship motions and internal sloshing is discussed.