Evaluating impacts of fish stock enhancement and biodiversity conservation actions on the livelihoods of small‐scale fishers on the Beijiang River,China

Inappropriate development and overexploitation have seriously degraded aquatic resources in China. Stakeholders identified three fish stock enhancement and biodiversity conservation scenarios for the Beijiang River: S1, increased fish restocking; S2, no fishing season and habitat conservation; and S3, strict pollution control. Potential impacts of these actions on the livelihoods of fishers were evaluated using applied economic modeling. Baseline costs and benefits came from logbooks from 30 fishers and a survey of 90 households in three villages. The financial net benefit for a household was US$1583 (￥11,160) annually, representing a 142% and 387% return on capital and operating costs, respectively. Larger catches associated with S1 and S2 generated a net benefit of US$1651 and US$1822, respectively. Strict pollution control resulting in higher catches (+20%) and lower operating costs (?20%) would increase the net benefit by 15.9% to US$1835 annually. Pollution control would benefit other resource users and is a prerequisite for ecological restoration. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• Stringent pollution control measures are essential to conserve aquatic biodiversity and enhance the livelihoods of fishers but will require considerable public and private sector investment.
• Enhanced fish stocks in the Beijiang River could benefit poor livelihoods but may not be sufficient to lift households out of poverty, aged fishers require government assistance to diversify their livelihoods, access alternative urban employment, and survive with dignity.
• Adopting the economic modeling approach presented here could enable responsible authorities to simultaneously evaluate fish stock enhancement and biodiversity conservation options.
• Broader application of the approach presented here could help ensure small‐scale inland fisheries are managed sustainably and aquatic ecosystems are restored and protected by 2020, in line with Target 6 of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity Strategic Plan for Biodiversity.

     

The impact of environmental regulations on forest product trade in China

Forest product trade plays an important role in the development of the Chinese forest industry. The trading value of forest product has shown a yearly growth rate of 12% during the last five recent years. Stringent environmental regulations in China have a profound impact on raw material supplies and industrial production in the forest sector; however, their impact on the forest product trade is still unclear. This study applies fixed and random effects models as well as a seemingly unrelated regression model to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on the trade of forest product from 2002 to 2015. The results indicate that the stringent environmental regulations promoted the import but restricted the export of forest product in general. Specifically, the stringent environmental regulations stimulated the import but had an ambiguous impact on the export of the paper product. The stringent environmental regulations had also stimulated the import of wood product but inhibited the export. In contrast, wooden furniture had been affected minimally; only export got slightly negatively affected by environmental regulations. Recommendations for resource managers:

• Trade‐offs between economic growth and environmental regulations are needed to smoothly promote the forest product trade in China.
• Paper and wooden furniture product sectors are less likely to be affected by stringent environmental regulations, because high value‐added products could compensate for environmental costs.
• The wood product sector is more likely to be negatively affected by stringent environmental regulations because environmental costs could severely impact the competitiveness of low value‐added products.

     

上海市力学学会60年

上海市力学学会成立于1959年9月20日，到今年正好是一个甲子．60个春秋真实写照了上海市力学学会的建立、成长、发展与壮大的过程．60年来，在上海市科协的领导和中国力学学会的指导下，在各团体成员单位的大力支持下，上海市力学学会一代代力学工作者薪火相传、开拓耕耘，历届理事会及下属工作委员会和专业委员会团结奋进、不断创新，广大会员踊跃参与，为上海力学大力发展、力学人才精心培养、力学知识科学普及、力学服务国家发展战略和区域经济建设中做出了重要贡献，学会持续发展壮大．在庆祝力学学会成立六十周年之际，让我们共同抒怀上海力学六十年薪火相传、回顾近10年重要发展，展望上海力学新时代．     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL ZHOU PEIYUAN COMPETITION ON MECHANICS

全国周培源大学生力学竞赛为《力学与实践》编委会发起并承办的一项大学生科技赛事,经过三十多年的发展,已经成功举办了12届,也成为展示高校力学教学水平的一个窗口。在《力学与实践》创刊40周之际,本文对全国周培源大学生力学竞赛的发展历程和组织模式进行了较为系统的回顾和梳理;对各届的组织规模和创新形式进行归纳与汇总;并通过案例说明力学竞赛对力学教学和人才培养所发挥的作用。     

考虑塑性变形发展程度系数的RC梁开裂弯矩改进计算公式

针对RC梁开裂荷载计算方法尚未统一的现状，首先，结合18根RC梁试验数据对比了已有的6种RC梁开裂弯矩计算公式，发现开裂弯矩理论计算值与试验值的偏差大小和混凝土强度有关；然后，通过提出塑性变形发展程度系数k，推导新的RC梁开裂弯矩计算公式，并进一步基于k值和塑性影响系数计算值γ_k进行改进；最后，选取12根RC试验梁验证改进公式的准确性，证明改进公式的计算值与试验值吻合更好且偏于安全。     

不可压粘性流体浸入边界直接力法及软件实现

浸入边界法通过在N-S方程中施加体积力模拟不可滑移固壁边界及动边界，避免生成复杂贴体网格及动网格，极大地节省了网格建模时间及动网格计算消耗。本文提出一种新型附加体积力简化计算方法，将简化附加体积力以源项形式嵌入动量方程迭代中，通过用户自定义函数对CFD软件FLUENT二次开发，实现了浸入边界法和通用流体力学求解器的耦合计算。通过静止圆柱和动圆柱绕流数值模拟进行了验证，并探讨了插值函数对计算精度的影响。研究表明，通过引入浸入边界模型，能够提高计算效率，并实现结构网格背景下复杂边界和动边界的高效建模。     

The Cambridge Structural Database in Retrospect and Prospect

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) was established in 1965 to record numerical, chemical and bibliographic data relating to published organic and metal–organic crystal structures. The Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) now stores data for nearly 700 000 structures and is a comprehensive and fully retrospective historical archive of small‐molecule crystallography. Nearly 40 000 new structures are added each year. As X‐ray crystallography celebrates its centenary as a subject, and the CCDC approaches its own 50th year, this article traces the origins of the CCDC as a publicly funded organization and its onward development into a self‐financing charitable institution. Principally, however, we describe the growth of the CSD and its extensive associated software system, and summarize its impact and value as a basis for research in structural chemistry, materials science and the life sciences, including drug discovery and drug development. Finally, the article considers the CCDC’s funding model in relation to open access and open data paradigms.     

Vibrational spectroscopy in the development of surface hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL)

An illustrative example is given to show how various vibrational spectroscopy techniques coupled with two-dimensional (2D) correlation analysis can be effectively utilized in the development of a novel and functional material. Surface-hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL) is a material exhibiting rather unusual permanently water-wettable surface feature despite having a soft and rubbery bulk property, which can be successfully analyzed with vibrational spectroscopy. 2D photoacoustic (PAS) IR spectra of a SHEL film indicate the localized surface segregation of long-chain ethoxylate moiety of the oligomeric surfactant used in the preparation of this material. The accumulation of the hydrophilic long-chain ethoxylate produces the high energy polar surface over the hydrophobic bulk phase of SBR copolymer. The persistence of very low water contact angle, even after repeated washing of a SHEL film with an excess amount of water, indicates permanent covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate group to the SBR copolymer. 2D Raman spectra generated from the process monitoring of the emulsion copolymerization of SHEL reveal the mechanism of the covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate. The reaction involves a separate step of oleyl moiety of the block surfactant reacting with 1,3-butadiene prior to the onset of copolymerization to produce the SBR latex product.     

Neural network modeling of hydrological systems: A review of implementation techniques

This paper presents a review of procedural steps and implementation techniques used in the development of artificial intelligence models, generally referred to as artificial neural networks (ANNs), within the water resources domain. It focusses on identifying different areas wherein ANNs have found application thereby elucidating its advantages and disadvantages as well as various challenges encountered in its use. Results from this review provide useful insights into how the performance of ANNs can be improved and potential areas of application that are yet to be explored in hydrological modeling. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• Development of integrated and hybrid artificial intelligent tools is critical to achieving improved forecasts in hydrological modeling studies.

• Further research into comprehending the internal mechanisms of neural networks is required to obtain a practical meaning of each network component deployed to solve real‐world problems.

• More robust optimization techniques and tools like differential evolution, particle swarm optimization and deep neural nets, are yet to be fully explored in the water resources analysis, and should be given more attention to enhance neural networks aptitude for modeling complex and nonlinear hydrological processes.