Modeling Solid Waste Minimization Performance at Source in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Municipal solid waste generation is strongly linked to rising human population and expanding urban areas, with significant implications on urban metabolism as well as space and place values redefinition. Effective management performance of municipal solid waste management underscores the interdisciplinarity strategies. Such knowledge and skills are paramount to uncover the sources of waste generation as well as means of waste storage, collection, recycling, transportation, handling/treatment, disposal, and monitoring. This study was conducted in Dar es Salaam city. Driven by the curiosity model of the solid waste minimization performance at source, study data was collected using focus group discussion techniques to ward-level local government officers, which was triangulated with literature and documentary review. The main themes of the FGD were situational factors (SFA) and local government by-laws (LGBY). In the FGD session, sub-themes of SFA tricked to understand how MSW minimization is related to the presence and effect of services such as land use planning, availability of landfills, solid waste transfer stations, material recovery facilities, incinerators, solid waste collection bins, solid waste trucks, solid waste management budget and solid waste collection agents. Similarly, FGD on LGBY was extended by sub-themes such as contents of the by-law, community awareness of the by-law, and by-law enforcement mechanisms. While data preparation applied an analytical hierarchy process, data analysis applied an ordinary least square (OLS) regression model for sub-criteria that explain SFA and LGBY;and OLS standard residues as variables into geographically weighted regression with a resolution of 241 × 241 meter in ArcMap v10.5. Results showed that situational factors and local government by-laws have a strong relationship with the rate of minimizing solid waste dumping in water bodies (local R square = 0.94).

Preserving environmental quality of ecotourism sites through community participation in Purulia District of West Bengal,India

The importance of valuing environmental resources,especially in ecotourism sites,has become increasingly important over the last two decades.Ecotourism is now considered as an important source of livelihood of local stakeholders in backward regions.Therefore,the preservation of ecotourism sites through community participation seems very important to maintain continued flow of tourists.This study aimed at recognizing the importance of community participation for the preservation of ecotourism sites.For this,this study executed a survey based on non-probability sampling in two ecotourism sites(Garpanchkot and Baranti)covering 100 respondents in Purulia District,West Bengal of India.The central issue of this study was to assess the tendency of community participation for the conservation of ecotourism sites and find the optimum condition for offering participatory labour time.This study showed that the participation of young people is high,and the majority of respondents are aware of the importance in protecting ecotourism sites.Because respondents were too poor to offer money,the contingent valuation method(CVM)was used to elicit their willingness to pay(WTP)participatory labour time for the conservation of ecotourism sites.Respondents’age,income,education level,caste,and their perceived environmental quality had significant relationship with their WTP participatory labour time by applying the ordinary least square(OLS)model.It was found that the mean WTP participatory labour time of each respondent in a month is approximately 3.64 h.The significance of this study is that community participation can improve the sense of belonging,trust,and credibility of ecotourism sites,making them more appreciative of the value and protection of these sites.

Prediction and Protection of Cultivated Land in China

[Objectives]To protect cultivated land and ensure national food security and to forecast the cultivated land area of China and the provinces(cities)in 2030,2035 and 2050.[Methods]Based on the cultivated land area data of the whole country and provinces(autonomous regions and municipalities)from 2009 to 2017,the OLS model is used to forecast the cultivated land area of China and the provinces(cities)in 2030,2035 and 2050.[Results]The results show that the predicted area of cultivated land in 2030,2035 and 2050 is 134.0886,133.7856 and 132.8764 million ha,respectively,showing an obvious decreasing trend.The national cultivated land scale predicted in this paper can meet the requirements of the 2030 national cultivated land retention target set in the National Land Planning Outline(2016-2030).However,in the total area of existing cultivated land,there is still a certain area of sloping cultivated land(accounting for about 4%of the total cultivated land area,it is appropriate to gradually return farmland to forest).At the same time,nearly 20%of the cultivated land has been polluted,and the low-quality cultivated land accounts for about 22%of the total cultivated land.[Conclusions]The situation of cultivated land protection in the whole country is not rosy.For this reason,some measures and suggestions are put forward:strengthening land consolidation,striving to improve the quality of cultivated land,and appropriately increasing new cultivated land;strengthening the protection of cultivated land resources and strictly controlling the reduction of cultivated land.

限制线性模型和转换线性模型参数估计的等价性

线性模型是统计分析中非常重要的模型,在现代统计学中应用较为广泛.目前,针对线性模型的研究主要集中在它的应用和参数估计的研究上,其中最小二乘估计(Best Linear Unbiased Estimator,OLSE),最佳线性无偏估计(Ordinary Least Squares Estimator,BLUE)是线性模型下关于参数函数Kβ最常用的两个估计.本文主要研究在限制线性模型M_(r)=y,Xβ|Aβ=b,∑和转换线性模型M_(t)=By,BXβ,B∑下,参数函数Kβ的OLSE和BLUE之间的关系,即给出OLSE_(M_(r))(Kβ)=OLSE_(M_(t))(Kβ),BLUE_(M_(r))(Kβ)=BLUE_(M_(t))(Kβ)成立的等价条件.