Study and Application of Evaluation Method for Weather Impact of Traffic Accident on Zhejiang Freeway

Occurrence degree of the accident on Zhejiang freeway is graded. Evaluation indicator system of weather impact on freeway is established. We use principal component analysis to extract meteorological indicators,and use Logistic regression to establish evaluation model of meteorological indicator,thereby determining evaluation grade of traffic weather impact. Via application test,it is proved that the evaluation on traffic weather condition by the model corresponds with actual situation,which can provide certain decision-making basis for traffic department and the public.

Impact of Electronic Wastes Recycling on Environmental Quality

Objective To evaluate the environmental quality of Guiyu, Guangdong impacted by the electronic waste recycling industry. Methods The surface water, ground water and sediment samples taken separately from two sites that recycle E-wastes and other rubbish relevant to the E-waste recycling, and an agricultural area, were analyzed, and the data were used to evaluate the impact of E-waste recycling on the environmental quality of Guiyu based on environmental quality standards in China. Results The concentrations of lead and iron in the surface water samples significantly different in the three locations. The maximum value of lead in the first site was 8 times higher than the threshold of environmental quality standards for surface water. The concentration of iron in polluted sample was 22 times that of the background sample. Manganese and iron also showed a significant difference in ground water samples between the three sites. The amount of iron was 22 times that of the threshold of the quality standard for ground water, and 120 times that of the background sample. Moreover, the results of all the eight heavy metals showed significant differences among the sediment samples. The concentrations of copper, cadmium, nickel, and lead in the polluted samples were above the median benchmarks of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration （NOAA）. The copper concentration of 2670 mg/kg was 10 times that of the median benchmark. Conclusion E-waste recycling has led to the severe pollution Guiyu.

Google Scholar University Ranking Algorithm to Evaluate the Quality of Institutional Research

Education quality has undoubtedly become an important local and international benchmark for education,and an institute’s ranking is assessed based on the quality of education,research projects,theses,and dissertations,which has always been controversial.Hence,this research paper is influenced by the institutes ranking all over the world.The data of institutes are obtained through Google Scholar(GS),as input to investigate the United Kingdom’s Research Excellence Framework(UK-REF)process.For this purpose,the current research used a Bespoke Program to evaluate the institutes’ranking based on their source.The bespoke program requires changes to improve the results by addressing these methodological issues:Firstly,Redundant profiles,which increased their citation and rank to produce false results.Secondly,the exclusion of theses and dissertation documents to retrieve the actual publications to count for citations.Thirdly,the elimination of falsely owned articles from scholars’profiles.To accomplish this task,the experimental design referred to collecting data from 120 UK-REF institutes and GS for the present year to enhance its correlation analysis in this new evaluation.The data extracted from GS is processed into structured data,and afterward,it is utilized to generate statistical computations of citations’analysis that contribute to the ranking based on their citations.The research promoted the predictive approach of correlational research.Furthermore,experimental evaluation reported encouraging results in comparison to the previous modi-fication made by the proposed taxonomy.This paper discussed the limitations of the current evaluation and suggested the potential paths to improve the research impact algorithm.

An Interrupted Time Series Analysis of COVID-19 Positivity before, during and after Lockdown in Four States of India

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of large scale non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used interrupted time series analysis (ITS), a quasi-experimental model to evaluate the effect of interventions in four states of India by comparing the COVID-19 positivity before lockdown, during lockdown and opening-up period. Results: The positivity in all the four states declined during lockdown and the trends reversed soon after the lockdown measures were relaxed as the states opened-up. The rate of reduction of positivity was significantly different between states. Between the lockdown and opening-up period, an increase in positivity was recorded in all the states with significant variation between states. Conclusion: The analysis provides conclusive evidence that the lockdown measures had a positive effect in reducing the burden of COVID-19 and establishes a causal relationship.

Impacts of internal R&D on firms’performance and energy consumption:Evidence from Ethiopian firms

In recent decades,with the rapid development of the knowledge economy and science,countries have embraced technical innovation and have gradually increased investment in research and development(R&D).A vast literature indicates that the relationship between R&D and firm performance is highly complex.The evidence suggests that R&D positively influences firm performance,yet findings on the process by which this happens are mixed.Rigorous analyses are required on how R&D investments affect energy consumption.This study explores the impact of R&D investment on the performance and energy consumption of 476 firms in Ethiopia by employing a combination of fixed-effect,propensity score matching,and endogenous treatment effect estimation methods.The empirical results reveal that investment in R&D positively influences both innovation and long-term financial performance but negatively impacts short-term financial performance and energy consumption.The results also show that the impacts of R&D activities vary significantly across different categories of firms,confirming that heterogeneity may be an issue among the firms considered.The results also indicate that the availability of credit is a more important moderating factor in the relationship between R&D investment and firm performance than the legal system is.These results have important implications for firms with growing R&D operations,especially those in developing countries such as Ethiopia.Ethiopian firms should invest more in R&D activities,such as in fundamental and applied research,to improve performance and enhance competitiveness.

National Environmental Policy Act of the United States and Its Application in Climate Litigation——Evaluating Litigation Case by Friends of the Earth on Export-Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Because that American government and congress hold a negative attitude on responding to climate change issue, people transfer the battle stage of climate change to the court,and hope to promote government and large energy companies actively responding to climate change issue via litigation form. A large amount of related litigation appears,and a kind of special litigation type is gradually formed, namely climate change litigation. National Environmental Policy Act of the United States is one of important legal weapons used by prosecutor in climate change litigation. In National Environmental Policy Act, it stipulates environmental impact evaluation system which has close relationship with climate change litigation. The system requires that federal agency ＂ should compile detailed environmental impact report （EIS） on major federal action which significantly affects human survival environment quality＂. Litigation case of Export - Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation by Fdends of the Earth, Green Peace, Boulder City, etc. is typical one related to the act. We try to evaluate and analyze text and case of the act.

Evaluation of urban redevelopment impact on non-motorized traffic

As an important component of city evolution, urban land redevelopment has an impact on transportation system. The current traffic impact analysis （TIA） is lack of a comprehensive component for non-motorized transportation under redevelopment. For a better guidance of land redevelopment and non-motorized transportation planning, it is necessary to evaluate the negative impact of redevelopment on non-motorized traffic in the TIA. In this paper, an evaluation framework for the impact analysis is built up. We organized the pro- cedures and components of impact evaluation, and proposed the corresponding qualitative and quantitative evaluation indicators for non-motorized traffic under redevelopment. Level of service （LOS） and its criterion are employed for external impact evaluation, and level of safety, convenience, independence, and comfort which are four aspects of quality of service （QOS） are proposed to analyze the internal impact. The framework is applied to a redevelopment study in Shanghai, China. The case study results indicate that the rede- velopment from a residential area to a mixed commercial area has a significant impact on non-motorized traffic. The potential negative impact from both external and internal traffic can be minimized by reasonable improvements in the internal land use design.

Integrated evaluation of payments for ecosystem services programs in China:a systematic review

Introduction:During the past two decades,payments for ecosystem services(PES)program has become a popular conservation paradigm for realigning socioeconomic costs and benefits among different stakeholders.As billions of investment flows into the natural capital pool,there is growing interest to understand the ecological,economic,and social outcomes of PES programs.China is one of the countries that extensively implements PES programs.Although there is a growing interest to perform impact evaluation of China’s massive PES programs,it is unclear that what existing literature has done,has not done,and should do in the future.Therefore,to guide further research and practices,we conduct a systematic review of studies on China’s PES programs.Results:Our review shows that there are growing impact evaluation studies of PES programs in China.However,the spatial and ecosystem distributions of existing studies are quite uneven.Most case studies were poorly designed,rarely quantified,and evaluated without sophisticated methods.Among the three dimensions of ecological effectiveness,economic efficiency,and social equity,economic efficiency is the least studied.Discussion and Conclusion:We further discuss the challenges and opportunities and provide insights for future research.To improve the understanding and management of natural capital,we call for mainstreaming impact evaluation of ecosystem service policies in China and beyond following the state-of-art procedures.

Evaluating the energy impact potential of energy efficiency measures for retrofit applications:A case study with U.S.medium office buildings

Quantifying the energy savings of various energy efficiency measures(EEMs)for an energy retrofit project often necessitates an energy audit and detailed whole building energy modeling to evaluate the EEMs;however,this is often cost-prohibitive for small and medium buildings.In order to provide a defined guideline for projects with assumed common baseline characteristics,this paper applies a sensitivity analysis method to evaluate the impact of individual EEMs and groups these into packages to produce deep energy savings for a sample prototype medium office building across 15 climate zones in the United States.We start with one baseline model for each climate zone and nine candidate EEMs with a range of efficiency levels for each EEM.Three energy performance indicators(EPIs)are defined,which are annual electricity use intensity,annual natural gas use intensity,and annual energy cost.Then,a Standard Regression Coefficient(SRC)sensitivity analysis method is applied to determine the sensitivity of each EEM with respect to the three EPIs,and the relative sensitivity of all EEMs are calculated to evaluate their energy impacts.For the selected range of efficiency levels,the results indicate that the EEMs with higher energy impacts(i.e.,higher sensitivity)in most climate zones are high-performance windows,reduced interior lighting power,and reduced interior plug and process loads.However,the sensitivity of the EEMs also vary by climate zone and EPI;for example,improved opaque envelope insulation and efficiency of cooling and heating systems are found to have a high energy impact in cold and hot climates.

Impact Analysis of Green Procurement Policy for Forest Products in France and Its Reference

In order to combat illegal logging and associated trade and promote sustainable forest management, major developed countries, including France, have implemented green procurement policy for forest products. This paper described the background of why France implements green procurement policy for forest products, analyzed the basic content of the policy, and made a comprehensive assessment of the impact of green procurement policy on suppliers, processors, eco-environment and competitiveness of forest products. Finally, with the experiences from French implementation of the green procurement policy for forest products, the paper put forward policy recommendations for China to implement green procurement policy for forest products.

A new academic impact metric for evaluating geographic simulation models

Geographic simulation models can be used to explore and better understand the geographical environment. Recent advances in geographic and socio-environmental research have led to a dramatic increase in the number of models used for this purpose. Some model repositories provide opportunities for users to explore and apply models,but few provide a general evaluation method for assessing the applicability and recognition of models. In this study,an academic impact evaluation method for models is proposed. Five indices are designed based on their pertinence. The analytical hierarchy process is used to calculate the index weights,and the academic impacts of models are quantified with the weighted sum method. The time range is controlled to evaluate the life-term and annual academic impacts of the models. Some models that met the evaluation criteria from different domains are then evaluated. The results show that the academic impact of a model can be quantified with the proposed method,and the major research areas that models impact are identified.

A water quality analysis system to evaluate the impact of agricultural activities on N outflow in river basins in Japan

We have developed a personal-computer-based water quality analysis system for river basins. The system estimates potential N outflow by model and calculates actual N outflow from monitoring data. For the former it uses the potential load factor method to estimate annual nitrogen load from various sources and runoff potential from each area of land in a basin. For the latter it analyzes water quality monitoring data in relation to meteorological data. We used the system to analyze N outflow in basins around Lake Kasumigaura and the Yahagi River in central Honshu, Japan. The land around Lake Kasumigaura is rather flat, and about 25% is periodically flooded for rice and lotus cultivation. The land around the Yahagi River is mountainous, and much less land is flooded. In the Yahagi River basin the actual N outflow agreed closely with the potential. However, the actual N outflow in the basin around Lake Kasumigaura was much less than the potential, suggesting that a large part of the N load is denitrified in flooded soils. This further indicates that a sequence of different land uses including flooded rice fields is an important factor determining N outflow in basins in Japan. On the basis of the above analyses, we incorporated a denitrification model into the system that enables us to estimate N balance in a designated basin;this system may be helpful in the formulation of scenarios of land use andsoil management for improving water quality.

Are Confucius Institutes Building Blocks or Stumbling Blocks for Foreign Students in China: An Empirical Study of 190 Countries (1999–2015)

Purpose:This study investigates the impact of Confucius Institutes on China’s international education initiatives.First,it examines whether the establishment of Confucius Institutes has a gravitational effect on the scale of foreign students coming to China.Second,it discerns whether there are any association between the establishment of Confucius Institutes and the attributes of foreign students based on the type of program they select.Third,it identifies whether there are any differences in the impact of Confucius Institutes based on constraints such as the number of foreign students,income levels,cultural distance,and geographical endowment.Design/Approach/Methods:Based on the trade gravity model and the push–pull theory,we estimated a two-way fixed-effects model using panel data of all source countries from 1999 to 2015.Findings:Results show that Confucius Institutes have helped China attract more foreign students on Chinese government scholarships,with each Institute increasing such enrolment by 1.3%.However,Confucius Institutes have resulted in a drop in the total number of foreign students studying in China,especially nondegree students.This substitution effect means that the Institutes actually help China improve the composition of its foreign students.Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the substitution effect is primarily driven by the main source countries.Accordingly,this study suggests that China should establish more Confucius Institutes in Africa and Eastern Europe to maximize the catalyzing effect of Confucius Institutes.Originality/Value:In contrast to previous studies on foreign scholarship in China,this study examines all 190 source countries from 1999 to 2015.This comprehensive study also explores the heterogeneous effects of foreign students on trade across economic,cultural,and geographical domains.

Separation of Revenue and Expenditure increases first contact care in community health centers among community residents

Objective:To evaluate the impact of Separation of Revenue and Expenditure(SRE)on the first contact care in community health centers(CHCs)among community residents.Methods:Data was obtained through questionnaire survey before and after the pilot.Residents who visited CHCs within two weeks before the conduction of the surveys were included in this study.This study employed a pre-post quasi-experiment design and multiple regression models were specified based on the Andersen theoretical framework.Results:Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the rate of first contact care in CHCs increased by 28.3%(P=0.000).Conclusions:SRE has increased the first contact care in CHCs among the community residents.