打造中国绿色建筑推广的合力

本文基于对5个城市的政府官员、学者、建筑师、房地产开发商和物业经理等不同对象的访谈,以及13个省/直辖市的121位资深建筑师的调查,结合定性和定量方法探讨了中国绿色建筑的现状。本文集中分析了影响技术选择的原因,指出有效的绿建推广机制必须建立在公众教育的基础上,形成针对开发商的地方化弹性激励,强化建筑业专业人士中绿建知识网络的培育,并完善覆盖建筑生命周期的多样化服务。

An arthropod community beyond the dry limit of plant life

Water availability,which enables plant growth and animal activity,regulates dryland ecosystem function.In hyper-arid ecosystems,rain cannot support vascular plant growth.Therefore,hyper-arid vegetation is restricted to the lower topography,where runoff accumulates.Typically,food resources originating from areas of dense vegetation are dispersed across the desert floor,enabling animal life in areas lacking vascular plant growth.However,certain regions,such as the hyper-arid upper topography,may be devoid of plant-derived food resources.The present study examined arthropod activity in the upper topography of a hyper-arid desert,in comparison with arthropod activity in the lower topography.Pitfall traps were utilized to compare arthropod activity along unvegetated ridges with activity in parallel,vegetated riverbeds.Surprisingly,the study revealed dense arthropod communities in the barren upper topography.Arthropods collected in the upper topography represented 26%of total arthropod abundance.In addition,the overlap between arthropod identity in the ridges and wadis(i.e.,riverbeds)was low,and certain arthropods were strongly affiliated with the ridges.The upper topographic communities included high numbers of silverfish(Zygentoma:Lepismatidae),malachite beetles(Psiloderes),and predatory mites(Acari:Anystidae),and these arthropods were present at various life stages.It remains unclear how arthropod communities can persist in the unvegetated upper topography of the hyper-arid study area.These results raise the possibility that other food sources,independent from vascular plants,may play a significant role in the life history of hyper-arid arthropods.

Analysis of Freely Swimming C. elegans Using Laser Diffraction

Soil and aquatic multicellular microorganisms play a critical role in the nutrient-cycling and organismal ecology of soil and aquatic ecosystems. These organisms live and behave in a complex three-dimensional environment. Most studies of microorganismal behavior, in contrast, have been conducted using microscope-based approaches, which limit the movement and behavior to a narrow, nearly two-dimensional focal field. We report on a novel analytical approach that provides real-time analysis of freely swimming C elegans without dependence on microscope-based equipment. This approach consists of tracking the temporal periodicity of diffraction patterns generated by directing laser light onto nematodes in a cuvette. We measured oscillation frequencies for freely swimming nematodes in cuvettes of different sizes to provide different physical constraints on their swimming. We compared these frequencies with those obtained for nematodes swimming within a small droplet of water on a microscope slide, a strategy used by microscope-based locomotion analysis systems. We collected data from diffraction patterns using two methods: video analysis and real time data acquisition using a fast photodiode. Swimming frequencies of nematodes in a droplet of ionic solution on a microscope slide was confirmed to be 2.00 Hz with a variance of 0.05 Hz for the video analysis method and 0.03 Hz for the real time data acquisition using a photodiode;this result agrees with previously published estimates using microscope-based analytical techniques. We find the swimming frequency of unconstrained worms within larger cuvettes to be 2.37 Hz with a variance of 0.02 Hz. As the cuvette size decreased, so did the oscillation frequency, indicating a change in locomotion when physical constraints are introduced.

Live <i>C. elegans</i>Diffraction at a Single Point

Using coherent light, we analyze the temporal diffraction at a single point from real-time living C. elegans locomotion in three-dimensional space. We describe the frequency spectrum of single swimming nematodes in an optical cuvette at a single sampling point in the far-field diffraction pattern. An analytical expression of the double slit is used to model the frequency spectra of nematodes as oscillating segments. The frequency spectrum in the diffraction pattern expands discretely and linearly as a multiple of the fundamental frequency with increasing distance from the central maximum. The frequency spectrum of a worm at a single point in the frequency spectrum contains all the frequencies involved in the locomotion and is used to characterize and compare nematodes. The occurrence of resonant frequencies in the dynamic diffraction pattern increases with the distance from the central maximum. The regular spacing of the resonant frequencies is used to identify characteristic swimming frequencies.

Costs of glucosinolates in <i>Brassica rapa</i>: Are they context dependent?

Models predicting optimal levels of plant defense against herbivores typically include two assumptions: 1) defense is both beneficial and costly;and 2) the relationship between costs and benefits of a defense is consistent across environments. However, the expression of costs and benefits of defense may be environmentally dependent. We examined lines of Brassica rapa, previously divergently selected for the defensive trait foliar glucosinolate content. In one set of experiments (Experiment #1), plants were grown in herbivore-free and herbivore-present environments to investigate the costs and benefits of this defense. In a second set of experiments (Experiment #2), plants were grown at two nutrient levels and two temperatures to examine the environmental context of costs of defense. In Experiment #1, increased levels of damage resulted in decreased flower production and plants from high glucosinolate lines received less damage than those from low glucosinolate lines, suggesting a benefit of this defense. In this experiment no cost of defense was detected. In Experiment #2, nutrients had a significant positive effect on flower production at 23°C, but not at 32°C. No significant effects of glucosinolate line nor interaction between nutrient environment and glucosinolate line were detected at 23°C, suggesting that no cost of defense occurred at this lower temperature. Similarly, no significant nutrient environment by glucosenolate line interaction was detected at 32°C. However, a significant effect of glucosinolate line was observed suggesting that at 32°C costs were incurred, but nutrient environment had no mitigating effect. While results from Experiment #1 suggested that defense was beneficial, but not costly, results from Experiment #2 suggested that costs of defense were temperature dependent. For species occupying broad geographic ranges, these findings of temperature-dependent costs are especially insightful with regard to the evolution of defense because differing geographic populations are likely to experience differing temperature environments.

Local Officials' Incentives and China's Economic Growth:Tournament Thesis Reexamined and Alternative Explanatory Framework

To explain China＇s dramatic economic growth, researchers have proposed a ＂tournament thesis. ＂＂ According to this thesis, the central government＇s ability to set growth targets has played a crucial role in growth since political promotion is largely based on local economic growth. We use provincial officials＂ career mobility data to test this thesis. For both time periods （1979-1995 and 1979-2002）, economic performance, measured in annual, average and relative terms, did not affect these officials＇ career advancement. We then sketch an alternative analytical framework to explain Chinese local officials＇ strong urge for developmentalism and, finally, draw policy implications from this explanatory framework.

Spatio-temporal Changes in Wildlife Habitat Quality in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River from 1980 to 2100 based on the InVEST Model

The Yangtze River(YZR) regions have experienced rapid changes after opening up to economic reforms, and human activities have changed the land cover, ecology, and wildlife habitat quality. However, the specific ways in which those influencing factors changed the habitat quality during different periods remain unknown. This study assessed the wildlife habitat quality of the middle and lower YZR in the past(1980–2018) and in future scenarios(2050, 2100). We analyzed the relationships between habitat quality and various topological social-economic factors, and then mapped and evaluated the changes in habitat quality by using the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST) model. The results show that the slope(R = 0.502, P < 0.01, in 2015), elevation(R = 0.003, P < 0.05, in 2015), population density(R = –0.299, P < 0.01, in 2015), and NDVI(R = 0.366, P < 0.01, in 2015) in the study area were significantly correlated with habitat quality from 2000 to 2015. During the period of 1980–2018, 61.93% of the study area experienced habitat degradation and 38.07% of the study area had improved habitat quality. In the future, the habitat quality of the study area will decline under either the A2 scenario(high level of population density, low environmental technology input, and high traditional energy cost) or the B2 scenario(medium level of population density, medium green technology and lack of cooperation of regional governments). The results also showed that habitat in the lower reaches or north of the YZR had degraded more than in the middle reaches or the south of YZR. Therefore, regional development should put more effort into environmental protection, curb population growth, and encourage green technology innovation. Inter-province cooperation is necessary when dealing with ecological problems. This study can serve as a scientific reference for regional wildlife protection and similar investigations in different areas.

State Fragmentation and Rights Contestation:Rural Land Development Rights in China

The functionalist reasoning of institutional changes builds on individual rationality and explains institutional changes from the demand side. While insightful, a comprehensive understanding also needs to take into account the supply side, The state, as the ultimate supplier of institutional changes, plays the pivotal role of agency; therefore, its willingness and ability decide how such regime change occurs and what partieular form the new regime takes. Since the mid-1990s, the Chinese economy has embarked on a path of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The contestation over rural land development rights in China offers an excellent case to illuminate the importance of state agency in institutional changes. Drawing on case studies in China＇s three major urbanizing regions, this article analyzes how villages brought their own land directly to the land market and reaped handsome profits. We argue that the three successful cases, Nanhai in Guangdong, Kunshan in Jiangsu and Zhenggezhuang in Beijing, all represent a product of active agency on the supply side. The Chinese state＇s fragmented authority provides a favorable institutional environment for such changes.

China and Natural Resource Curse in Developing Countries： Empirical Evidence from a Cross-country Study

China＇s rising demand for natural resources and its growing presence in many poor and resource-rich countries have been criticized for promoting neo-colonialism in the 21st century. Using panel data for 135 developing countries from 1995 to 2007, the present paper empirically evaluates the validity of such claims. Our findings do not support the resource curse thesis in the areas of industrialization and economic growth. Moreover, the effect of resources is conditional on the initial quality of political institutions in a country.