Impact of regional human capital and urban sprawl on forest——based on a forest conservation model

Metropolitan cities in China have become a major economic hubs with an unprecedented increase of land use and decline of environmental resources. Based on a simple and abstract forest conservation model, this paper attempts to explain changes of forest resources caused by urban sprawl. Through the research, it is found that high level of regional human capital is beneficial to curb urban sprawl. In this vein the model presents the urban forest conservation cost strategy at the Nash equilibrium of varied discount factor and parameter control.

Improving Sustainability by Privatizing Wildlife Conservation

The purpose of this study is to improve environmental sustainability by identifying the most sustainable/least fragile of the three major wildlife conservation access models—open, government, and private—under varying environmental and socioeconomic conditions. The private access model is the most sustainable of the three major conservation models because it provides the best information and incentives to balance the needs of humans and wildlife, maintain general wildlife habitat, and adapt quickly to changing environmental and/or socioeconomic conditions. Government-controlled access, however, can be employed as a model of last resort if the private access model shows signs of failing to protect specific species from local extirpation or extinction, which it is most likely to do for migratory species, species with close commercial substitutes, and species with no direct commercial value. Government regulators may also be needed to enforce property rights arrangements like catch shares and to monitor resources that remain open access in case socioeconomic or environmental conditions change sufficiently to trigger the tragedy of the commons. Most treatments of wildlife regulation default to various iterations of the government access model and fail even to consider the costs and benefits of private and open access models. The analysis here instead shows the conditions in which each conservation access model is most appropriate: open when a resource is in high supply and low demand, private most of the time, and government when the others fail to slow resource depopulation/depletion.

Study on Soil and Water Conservation Benefit Models of Grassland Ecosystem──A Case Study on Jianou Mountain Grasslan Ecosystem

This paper studies the mechanism of grassland ecosystem's soil and water conservation function on the basis of two years experiment and inspection in Jianou mountain grassland ecosystem experiment station, Fujian province. After anaIysis on the data of soil erosion and runoff coefficient, relations between eroded soil, runoff and slope gradient. we establish soil and water conservation benefit models. According to the mode1s, experiment and inspection results, some proposals have been made to decrease the area of soil erosion in Fujian mountainous areas, e. g., optimizing land use structure in mountainous areas, taking suitable measures for local condition, closing hills for grassland development, accelerating restoration and raising quality of mountain grassland ecosystem, strengthening scientific and technological input, breeding the grass species that are suitable to local physical geographic condition.

Morphological Diversity and Nomenclature of Swertia chirayita (Gentianaceae)—Recovery of Endangered Medicinal Plant Population in North Eastern Himalaya

Swertia chirayita is a highly endangered and very well known medicinal plant enlisted in the IUCN list of endangered plants in the world. The plant is currently having a very low population in eastern Himalayan region due to its very low germinability in its own natural habitat. The plant population was found to have a range of diversity in morphological observations and some of the morphovariants were found to be very low among the variant populations which created a concern due to its diminishing range of genetic base in this region. A basic group of 5 morphovariants and 24 sub variants were identified and separately maintained. It is a pluriannual plant and reproductive or flowering stage was observed after completion of two years of vegetative stage from the time of seed germination. A range of morphovariant diversity was observed in the populations of Neora Valley and Lava region of eastern Himalaya in our investigation. Diversity was critically observed in some of the parameters of different morphovariants in the population. Conservation practices were generally done by not making groups or sub groups of this endangered plant while we proposed the way of conservation by making groups for proper conservation of this vulnerable plant.

Reflections on Architectural Heritage Conservation in Shanghai

Research on the last 30 years of architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai would highlight the establishment of both a preliminary system for heritage classification and gradation,as well as an authorised heritage institution framework.During the course of this process,different conservation methodologies and models(restorations,additions,relocations,extensions and reconstructions)have been put into practice according to the actual situation of the historic architecture of Shanghai.An overall view shows how architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai has undergone three different phases-initial;experimental;and the deepening conservation phase,on which a fundamental step was given in 2002,when the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the‘Legislation for the Conservation of Historical Areas and Heritage Architecture in Shanghai’,creating a conservation system that is participated by the authorities,academic institutions,design institutions and construction companies.The article also stresses the need to provide for a special system of architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai,acknowledging the specificity of its cultural heritage,administrative system,legislation,codes,building technologies and materials;as well as its particular historical situation.

Circularity-based decision-making framework for the integrated conservation of built heritage:the case of the Medina of Tunis

Several factors overlap in making urban heritage conservation vulnerable in terms of long-term sustainability.The purpose of this study is to offer insights into the dynamic role that heritage governance plays in the current sustainability debate.This purpose is achieved by investigating the shift from a‘governing for culture’approach to a‘governing through culture’approach in heritage conservation.Subsequently,a case is built for a circularity-based conservation strategy applicable to the governance of historic cities.Different indicators of the circular governance approach are considered,and useful data are collected in comparative form.The cross-matching relationship between the factors is then evaluated by employing the analytic hierarchy process(AHP)on the collected data.As a test case,the conservation strategy of the Medina of Tunis is presented.For a more general conservation model,case-specific data are acquired.Finally,the same framework is applied to compare the case-dependent and case-independent data to define an integrated conservation framework.The obtained results show that the knowledge and data exchange factor,carries the highest significance.This result translates into heritage-led urban regeneration through knowledge sharing and the effective redistribution of cultural activities in historic city centres.

Work-family conflict and organizational citizenship behavior： the role of job satisfaction and decision authority

Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory （Hobfoll, Am Psychol 44：513- 524, 1989）, social exchange theory （Blau, Exchange and power in social life, 1964） and the job demand-control model （Karasek, Adm Sci Q 24：285-308, 1979）, this study uncovers the theoretical mechanism that explains the relationship between work- family conflict and organizational citizenship behavior （OCB）. First, this study focuses on how employee job satisfaction mediates the relationship. Then, we investigate the moderating role of decision authority in, the mediated relationsip. We employ three-wave data collected from 324 employees in 102 teams to test our hypotheses. Aesults of hierarchical linear modeling （HLM） first shows that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between work interference with family （WIF） and OCB. In addition, employees＇ decision authority moderates the direct effect of WlF on OCB. Specifically, the negative relationship between WlF and OCB is stronger when employees＇ decision authority is high. Moreover, decision authority moderates the indirect effect of WIF on OCB via job satisfaction. Specifically, the negative relationship between WlE and job satisfaction is weaker when employees＇ decision authority is high. The results suggest that organizations should give employees enough decision authority over their work, as a high level of decision authority may act as a double-edged sword regarding critical organizational outcomes.