The information content of rules and rule sets and its application

The information content of rules is categorized into inner mutual information content and outer impartation information content. Actually, the conventional objective interestingness measures based on information theory are all inner mutual information, which represent the confidence of rules and the mutual information between the antecedent and consequent. Moreover, almost all of these measures lose sight of the outer impartation information, which is conveyed to the user and help the user to make decisions. We put forward the viewpoint that the outer impartation information content of rules and rule sets can be represented by the relations from input universe to output universe. By binary relations, the interaction of rules in a rule set can be easily represented by operators： union and intersection. Based on the entropy of relations, the outer impartation information content of rules and rule sets are well measured. Then, the conditional information content of rules and rule sets, the independence of rules and rule sets and the inconsistent knowledge of rule sets are defined and measured. The properties of these new measures are discussed and some interesting results are proven, such as the information content of a rule set may be bigger than the sum of the information content of rules in the rule set, and the conditional information content of rules may be negative. At last, the applications of these new measures are discussed. The new method for the appraisement of rule mining algorithm, and two rule pruning algorithms, λ-choice and RPClC, are put forward. These new methods and algorithms have predominance in satisfying the need of more efficient decision information.

Local perceptions of ecosystem services and protection of culturally protected forests in southeast China

Introduction:Culturally protected forests(CPFs),preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs,have social and ecological functions.Local residents’perceptions were investigated in three types of CPFs(community forests,ancestral temple forests,and cemetery forests)in five villages in southeast China.In semi-structured interviews(232 questionnaires),residents were asked about their perceptions concerning ecosystem services and protection of CPFs.Outcomes:The survey results showed that resource utilizationwasnot high inCPFs than inforests without culturally protected.Important ecosystem services provided by CPFs included air quality improvement,water retention,recreation,and aesthetic value.Respondents were satisfied with different cultural services provided by CPFs,including aesthetic value of community forests,ecotourism of ancestral temple forests,and cultural heritage of cemetery forests.Informal rules and traditional customswere used as themainmeasures to govern forests in daily life;however,the most effective measures,in order of importance,were setting fines or punishment by laws,using informal rules and village regulations,or protection by government agencies.Only half of the respondents were willing to pay for maintaining ecosystem services of CPFs,but 77.8%respondents were willing to spend time on protection.From apolicy perspective,educational programs were as important as traditions,and they are crucial to explain the ecological importance of CPFs.Conclusion:The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services of CPFs will benefit if government agencies consider incorporating CPFs into policy and legislative frameworks,maintain CPFs as collectively owned forests,and introduce ecological compensation mechanisms.

Disinfection byproducts in drinking water and regulatory compliance： A critical review

Disinfection by-products （DBPs） are regulated in drinking water in a number of countries. This critical review focuses on the issues associated with DBP regulatory compliance, including methods for DBP analysis, occurrence levels, the regulation comparison among various countries, DBP compliance strategies, and emerging DBPs. The regulation comparison between China and the United States （US） indicated that the DBP regulations in China are more stringent based on the number of regulated compounds and maximum levels. The comparison assessment using the Information Collection Rule （ICR） database indicated that the compliance rate of 500 large US water plants under the China regulations is much lower than that under the US regulations （e.g. 62.2% versus 89.6% for total trihalomethanes）. Precursor removal and alternative disinfectants are common practices for DBP regulatory compliance. DBP removal after formation, including air stripping for trihalomethane removal and biodegradation for haloacetic acid removal, have gained more acceptance in DBP control. Formation of emerging DBPs, including iodinated DBPs and nitrogenous DBPs, is one of unintended consequences of precursor removal and alternative disinfection. At much lower levels than carbonaceous DBPs, however, emerging DBPs have posed higher health risks.

Evaluate HAA removal in biologically active carbon filters using the ICR database

The effects of biologically active carbon(BAC)filtration on haloacetic acid(HAA)levels in plant effluents and distribution systems were investigated using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Information Collection Rule(ICR)database.The results showed that average HAA5 concentrations in all locations were 20.4μg·L^(-1)and 29.6μg·L^(-1)in ICR plants with granular activated carbon(GAC)and ICR plants without GAC process,respectively.For plants without GAC,the highest HAA levels were observed in the quarters of April to June and July to September.However,for plants with GAC,the highest HAA levels were observed in the quarters of April to June and January to March.This HAA level profile inversely correlated well with water temperature,or biologic activity.For GAC plants,simulated distribution samples matched well with distribution system equivalent samples for Cl3AA and THMs.For plants with and without GAC,simulated distribution samples overestimated readily biodegradable HAAs in distribution systems.The study indicated that through HAA biodegradation,GAC process plays an important role in lowering HAA levels in finished drinking water.