What explains public support for climate policies? A review of empirical and experimental studies

The lack of broad public support prevents the implementation of effective climate policies. This article aims to examine why citizens support or reject climate policies. For this purpose, we provide a cross-disciplinary overview of empirical and experimental research on public attitudes and preferences that has emerged in the last few years. The various factors influencing policy support are divided into three general categories: (1) social-psychological factors and climate change perception, such as the positive influences of left-wing political orientation, egalitarian worldviews, environmental and self-transcendent values, climate change knowledge, risk perception, or emotions like interest and hope; (2) the perception of climate policy and its design, which includes, among others, the preference of pull over push measures, the positive role of perceived policy effectiveness, the level of policy costs, as well as the positive effect of perceived policy fairness and the recycling of potential policy revenues; (3) contextual factors, such as the positive influence of social trust, norms and participation, wider economic, political and geographical aspects, or the different effects of specific media events and communications. Finally, we discuss the findings and provide suggestions for future research.

Policy relevance

Public opinion is a significant determinant of policy change in democratic countries. Policy makers may be reluctant to implement climate policies if they expect public opposition. This article seeks to provide a better understanding of the various factors influencing public responses to climate policy proposals. Most of the studied factors include perceptions about climate change, policy and its attributes, all of which are amenable to intervention. The acquired insights can thus assist in improving policy design and communication with the overarching objective to garner more public support for effective climate policy.     

关于编制用海项目竣工验收测量技术规程的探讨

文章针对当前填海竣工验收管理工作有管理办法但缺乏验收规范的情况,从科学意义和应用管理角度,提出编制用海项目竣工海域使用验收测量技术规程的迫切性和必要性,提出不仅需要对填海项目竣工验收制定验收技术规程,还应该对构筑物用海、海底管线用海等不同用海类型和方式特点,采用有针对性的竣工测量边界界定原则和竣工验收测量方法,分析误差限值建议说明,以期为沿海各省、市、自治区海域行政管理人员和竣工测量单位提供参考。     

天然沉积中间土的力学特性研究

长江口北岸天然沉积土主要由粉粒和细砂粒组成,其渗透系数介于10-7～10-3 cm/s之间,既不属于完全排水的砂性土,也不属于完全不排水的粘性土,针对这样的天然沉积中间土的我国研究并不多见。通过大量的物理力学试验,探讨了天然沉积中间土的物理力学性状,结果表明天然沉积中间土具有类似于软粘土的物理性质,但原位静力触探试验显示其天然沉积中间土的原位强度却与天然含水量分布在塑限附近的硬粘土差不多。研究结果亦表明颗粒分布对天然沉积中间土的原位强度有较大的影响。同时采用灰理论中的关联度分析,对这类中间土物理状态指标与力学特征指标间相关性进行了分析,认为孔隙比用于亚砂土稠度划分,含水比用于亚粘土、粘土稠度划分更加合理     

Validation of (not‐historical) large‐event near‐fault ground‐motion simulations for use in civil engineering applications

Ground‐motion simulations generated from physics‐based wave propagation models are gaining increasing interest in the engineering community for their potential to inform the performance‐based design and assessment of infrastructure residing in active seismic areas. A key prerequisite before the ground‐motion simulations can be used with confidence for application in engineering domains is their comprehensive and rigorous investigation and validation. This article provides a four‐step methodology and acceptance criteria to assess the reliability of simulated ground motions of not historical events, which includes (1) the selection of a population of real records consistent with the simulated scenarios, (2) the comparison of the distribution of Intensity Measures (IMs) from the simulated records, real records, and Ground‐Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs), (3) the comparison of the distribution of simple proxies for building response, and (4) the comparison of the distribution of Engineering Demand Parameters (EDPs) for a realistic model of a structure. Specific focus is laid on near‐field ground motions (<10km) from large earthquakes (M_w7), for which the database of real records for potential use in engineering applications is severely limited. The methodology is demonstrated through comparison of (2490) near‐field synthetic records with 5 Hz resolution generated from the Pitarka et al (2019) kinematic rupture model with a population of (38) pulse‐like near‐field real records from multiple events and, when applicable, with NGA‐W2 GMPEs. The proposed procedure provides an effective method for informing and advancing the science needed to generate realistic ground‐motion simulations, and for building confidence in their use in engineering domains.     

Measuring good governance for complex ecosystems: Perceptions of coral reef-dependent communities in the Caribbean

Good governance is widely seen as a prerequisite for effective natural resources management in the context of environmental decline and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Few studies quantitatively examine governance principles, or explore links between perceptions of community members and the governance that shapes their behaviour. Comparative work, spanning multiple sites and contexts, is rare. This paper measures community members’ perceptions of governance in twelve coral reef-dependent communities across four countries in the Wider Caribbean Region. In relation to established principles of ‘good governance’, multiple correspondence analysis indicates that perceptions can be reliably described using two themes, institutional acceptance and engagement. These explain over 50% of variation in individual perceptions. These measurable themes provide an indication of the social fit of governance arrangements, and have implications for expected outcomes, including support for management and compliance with regulations. Cluster analysis provides unique empirical evidence linking structural characteristics of governance to community perceptions; four of five good governance indicators were present in communities with positive perceptions. Results suggest a combination of supportive structures and processes are necessary to achieve governance systems positively perceived by community members. Findings are relevant to those seeking to design management systems and governance structures that are appropriate to local circumstances and will engender stakeholder support.     

Acceptance limits for performance‐based seismic design of RC walls for low‐rise housing

Acceptance limits of the structural response of walls for low‐rise concrete housing were developed. Proposed values are applicable within a performance‐based seismic design framework. Acceptance limits are based on performance indicators of structural response–allowable story drift ratios, width of residual cracks and residual damage index, and expected damage of walls. Cracking limits were defined from parameters obtained at the unloading stage of walls (i.e., residual cracking stage). The residual cracking stage may be used for structural damage evaluation and cost estimation of structural rehabilitation after an earthquake has occurred. The performance indicators proposed herein were derived from test observations and measured response of 39 RC walls' specimens during shaking table and quasistatic testing, as well as from limiting values and results of previous studies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Persisting challenges for performance-based building assessment

Intense research and refinement of the tools used in performance-based seismic engineering have been made,but the maturity and accuracy of these methods have not been adequately confirmed with actual data from the field. The gap between the assumed characteristics of actual building systems and their idealized counterparts used for analysis is wide. When the randomly distributed flaws in buildings as they exist in urban areas and the extreme variability of ground motion patterns combine,the conventional procedures used for pushover or dynamic response history analyses seem to fall short of reconciling the differences between calculated and observed damage. For emergency planning and loss modeling purposes,such discrepancies are factors that must be borne in mind. Two relevant examples are provided herein. These examples demonstrate that consensus-based analytical guidelines also require well-idealized building models that do not lend themselves to reasonably manageable representations from field data. As a corollary,loss modeling techniques,e.g.,used for insurance purposes,must undergo further development and improvement.     

周期反复荷载作用下高轴压比框架柱抗震性能的试验研究

本文是关于框架柱在低周反复荷载作用下抗震性能的试验研究。根据16个“上”形试件在固定轴向荷载和水平周期反复荷载作用下的试验结果,首先讨论了影响框架柱开裂荷载的因素,接着深入分析了混凝土强度等级、轴压比、长细比、纵筋配筋率、箍筋形式及配箍特征值等因素对框架柱的延性和位移转角的影响。最后,根据本次试验结果,分析和讨论了框架柱轴压比超限问题和轴压比超限时配箍特征值的取值问题。     

强渗透性地层旋挖钻施工混凝土灌注桩质量通病分析

对强渗透性地层旋挖钻进成孔混凝土灌注桩质量通病进行了分析,总结此类地层必须重视泥浆护壁质量对混凝土灌注桩施工质量的重大影响,必须重视钻斗的活塞抽吸对孔壁的破坏性,建议其验收标准中增加泥浆护壁质量验收,重视清孔后的孔径验收,不可完全沿用与旋挖钻孔泥浆护壁效果有着天壤区别的回转钻、潜水钻成孔混凝土灌注桩的质量验收标准。     

Multiscale sources of spatial variation in soil. III. Improved methods for fitting the nested model to one-dimensional semivariograms

The previous paper in this series presented a one-dimensional stochastic nested model to account for superimposed sources of soil variation at various scales. This paper shows how the nested model can be fitted to experimental data using weighted or generalized least-squares methods that account for correlations between consecutive terms that had previously been neglected. This paper also presents a method of estimating effective degrees of freedom for each sampling interval and thus for estimating 90% confidence limits for the semivariogram of the nested model.