Ecocultural Attributes: Evaluating Ecological Degradation in Terms of Ecological Goods and Services Versus Subsistence and Tribal Values

It is becoming increasingly clear that scientists, managers, lawyers, public policymakers, and the public must decide how to value what is provided by, and is a consequence of, natural resources. While “Western” scientists have clear definitions for the goods and services that ecosystems provide, we contend that these categories do not encompass the full totality of the values provided by natural resources. Partly the confusion results from a limited view of natural resources derived from the need to monetize the value of ecosystems and their component parts. Partly it derives from the “Western” way of separating natural resources from cultural resources or values, and partly it derives from the false dichotomy of assuming that ecosystems are natural, and anything constructed by man is not natural. In this article, we explore the previous assumptions, and suggest that because cultural resources often derive from, and indeed require, intact and unspoiled natural ecosystems or settings, that these values are rightly part of natural resources. The distinction is not trivial because of the current emphasis on cleaning up chemically and radiologically contaminated sites, on restoration of damaged ecosystems, on natural resource damage assessments, and on long‐term stewardship goals. All of these processes depend upon defining natural resources appropriately. Several laws, regulations, and protocols depend upon natural resource trustees to protect natural resources on trust lands, which could lead to the circular definition that natural resources are those resources that the trustees feel they are responsible for. Where subsistence or tribal peoples are involved, the definition of natural resources should be broadened to include those ecocultural attributes that are dependent upon, and have incorporated, natural resources. For example, a traditional hunting and fishing ground is less valued by subsistence peoples if it is despoiled by contamination or physical ecosystem degradation; an Indian sacred ground is tarnished if the surrounding natural environment is degraded; a traditional homeland is less valued if the land itself is contaminated. Our argument is that intact natural resources are essential elements of many cultural resources, and this aspect requires and demands adequate consideration (and may therefore require compensation).     

我国绿色基础设施的经济价值预算与分析

绿色基础设施是自然的生态基础设施和半自然的市政绿色空间的结合,它遵循自然发展的规律,在改善生态环境和保护生物多样性的同时,也蕴藏着新的经济增长点.本研究尝试构建绿色基础设施经济价值评价指标,测算全国各省的绿色基础设施经济价值(2004-2015),探究其区域分布状况,并进一步运用灰色模型预测2016年、2020年和2025年我国绿色基础设施的经济价值,以期提升人们对绿色基础设施的认识,为在城市规划中建设和完善绿色基础设施提供参考,促进生态环境与经济的良性循环,推动城市可持续发展.     

农户兼业、生产性服务与水稻种植面积决策——基于11省1646户农户的实证研究

本文基于全国11省1646户农户调研数据,构建实证模型分析了农户兼业、生产性服务与水稻种植面积之间的关系。结果表明,在兼业农户比重和平均兼业水平都很高的背景下,兼业导致的“劳动力流失效应”在纯农户和兼业农户的种植面积决策中均有所体现,并且在一兼农户中表现最为显著,而“投资效应”仅体现在纯农户的种植面积决策上。接受生产性服务有助于提高各类农户的种植面积,能够缓解种稻劳动力流失对种植面积造成的负面影响,同时能够缓解一兼农户农业收入比重下降对种植面积造成的负面影响。由此,加强粮食产业生产性服务体系建设、加大纯农户粮食生产补贴力度等是稳定我国水稻生产的重要举措。     

Staff rostering in call centers providing employee transportation

We address the staff rostering problem in call centers with the goal of balancing operational cost, agent satisfaction and customer service objectives. In metropolitan cities such as Istanbul and Mumbai, call centers provide the transportation of their staff so that shuttle costs constitute a significant part of the operational costs. We develop a mixed integer programming model that incorporates the shuttle requirements at the beginning and end of the shifts into the agent-shift assignment decisions, while considering the skill sets of the agents, and other constraints due to workforce regulations and agent preferences. We analyze model solutions for a banking call center under various management priorities to understand the interactions among the conflicting objectives. We show that considering transportation costs as well as agent preferences in agent-shift assignments provides significant benefits in terms of both cost savings and employee satisfaction.     

财务共享服务与企业竞争力的关系——基于双重差分模型的实证检验

从分析财务共享服务效果的视角出发，以市场结构、基础资源和新能力理论为依据，建立了评价企业竞争力的财务指标体系。研究结果显示：在市场地位方面，实施财务共享服务增强了企业资金管控效果，使营业收入质量提高，但是营业收入增长率却呈现负增长，说明财务共享服务对市场拓展能力的影响具有延迟效应；在资金资源方面，财务共享服务提高了企业的资金筹措能力和偿债能力，风险控制能力增强，使企业获得资金资源竞争优势；在企业能力方面，财务共享服务能够降低成本、增加绩效，更好地服务企业战略，提升企业的盈利能力和创新能力。总之，实施财务共享服务能够促使企业财务管理转型升级，为未来发展赢得先机，可增强企业竞争力。     

Mitigating Harm: Considering Harm Reduction Principles in Work with Sexually Exploited Young People

A growing awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the United Kingdom and throughout the world has prompted human service and legal/policy professionals to seek ways of engaging young people experiencing sexual exploitation, although much remains unknown regarding effective practice, and whether or not current knowledge regarding best practices with young people can be expanded to address CSE. This paper considers how principles of harm reduction, a public health approach widely used to engage adults and young people in help‐seeking behaviours, can be considered as part of a children's rights‐centred approach to policy and practice with young people experiencing CSE.     

Appropriating Care and Hijacking Desire: Thought and Praxis in Human Services Under 21st Century Capitalism

In this article, we trace the rise of neoliberalism and its impacts on the historical role of human services within the academy and the community. We ask whether we can re-think and re-envision a 21st century academy rooted in the material actualities of daily living and connected in very real ways to the struggles of those Human Services was designed to serve. Finally, we propose that Human Services could have a significant role to play in developing new modes of value that could lead to new modes of thought and new avenues of praxis.     

Children and global social policy: Exploring the impact of international governmental organisations

Axford N. Children and global social policy: exploring the impact of international governmental organisations International governmental organisations (IGOs) seek to influence child welfare policy and practice in individual sovereign states. But do they succeed and, if so, in what way? This article outlines the nature of selected IGOs' work, explores the nature of their impact and seeks to explain the pattern that emerges. It also notes areas for further research.     

Whither practice-near research in the modernization programme? Policy blunders in children's services

In this article, we lament the effects of practice-distant research and associated policy initiatives on contemporary children's services in England. In the last decade, as a result of high profile inquiries into non-accidental child deaths, statutory children's social care services in the UK have been subject to a wide-reaching ‘modernization’ programme. We studied decision-making in the high blame environment of local authority children's services. Our research sought to examine the relationship between performance management and the impact of anticipated blame within the decision-making practices of those providing, supervising and managing these services. We show that systems and technologies can be developed which both assist the users in their daily work and achieve desired organizational goals, but without an ethnographically informed, practice-near approach, unsafe work regimes and practices can ensue.     

The bumpy road to ‘becoming’: capturing the stories that teenage mothers told about their journey into motherhood

Understanding the experience of women who become mothers during their teenage years is central to ensuring that the support that is offered is appropriate to meet their needs. This paper reports on a small part of a larger ethnographic study that captured the lived experience of young mothers who were between the ages of 16 and 19 years that potentially typifies and illuminates the experiences of young women who become mothers in their teenage years. By collecting data from narrative interviews as well as participant and non‐participant observations over an extended period of time it was possible to identify how the young women experienced a range of difficulties as they made their transition into motherhood. Drawing on the findings, this paper argues that this transition for teenage mothers can be significantly different from the experience of older mothers, and it identifies the importance of appropriate support to mediate the challenges that they face. Understanding the young women's journey to ‘becoming’ is critical when planning services because if their experience of support is negative, it can lead to increased levels of maternal stress and reluctance to engage with support services.