Human-wildlife conflicts influence attitudes but not necessarily behaviors: Factors driving the poaching of bears in China

Human-wildlife conflicts often spur retaliatory killing, which may be a major threat to some wildlife species. Asiatic black bears depredate crops and livestock and also attack humans. We investigated whether human–bear conflicts in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, resulted in increased bear poaching. We conducted semi-structured interviews within 429 15 × 15-km cells across the province, asking villagers about bear occurrence, population trends, attitudes toward bears, human–bear conflicts, responses to bear damage, and bear poaching. Bears raided crops (n = 174 cells), killed livestock (n = 114 cells), and attacked people (n = 49 cells). Fifty percent and 43% of villagers held negative and neutral attitudes toward bears, respectively; attitudes were more negative among people who had previous interactions with bears or lived where bear encounters were more likely. Although killing bears was illegal, villagers in 117 cells (38%) indicated that bear poaching occurred around their villages. However, killing bears was not significantly linked to damage: indeed, killing was more common in areas without human–bear conflicts. Poachers killed bears mainly for trade of their valuable parts (gall bladder and paws, 78.5%). Tibetan people experienced bear damage and also had negative attitudes toward bears, but reported less poaching than Han or Yi people, due to their religious beliefs. Our study indicated that human-wildlife conflicts shaped people’s attitudes toward bears, but strong economic incentives, not attitudes, prompted illegal killing. Whereas mitigation of human–bear conflicts could help foster more positive attitudes toward bears and the nature reserves that protect bears, this strategy will not remove the primary threat against this species.     

地方农林院校植保本科应用型人才培养问题探究

针对现代农业大发展背景下植保本科应用型人才培养存在的问题及原因,对福建省各市县农业局以及农业类企事业单位开展深入访谈调研,提出根据农业发展趋势制定人才培养方案、加强实践教学与生产实际的联系、改进课程教学等对策,以期探究植物保护专业本科应用型人才培养与农业行业的发展存在的差距.     

Brown hyaenas on roads: Estimating carnivore occupancy and abundance using spatially auto-correlated sign survey replicates

Carnivore survey protocols that properly address spatial sampling and detectability issues are seldom feasible at a landscape-scale. This limits knowledge of large-scale patterns in distribution, abundance and their underlying determinants, hindering conservation of globally threatened carnivore populations. Occupancy analysis of data from logistically efficient sign surveys along consecutive road segments (spatially auto-correlated replicates) offers a potential solution. We adapted and applied this newly-developed method over 62,979 km² of human-modified land in South Africa. Our aims were to (1) generate unbiased estimates of brown hyaena occupancy and abundance (2) investigate two suspected determinants of occupancy using a combination of biological and socio-economic sampling techniques, and (3) use simulations to evaluate the effort required for abundance and occupancy estimates with acceptable bias, precision and power. Brown hyaena occupancy was estimated at 0.748 (±SE 0.1), and estimated overall density in agricultural land (0.15/100 km², ±SE 0.08) was an order of magnitude lower than in protected areas. Positive attitudes to carnivores and presence of wildlife farms exerted strong positive effects on occupancy, so changes in these factors may well exert monotonic impacts on local metapopulation status. Producing reliable occupancy and abundance estimates would require ?6 replicates and ?12 replicates per site respectively. Detecting 50% and 30% declines in brown hyaena occupancy with adequate power would require five annual surveys at ?65 sites and ?125 sites respectively. Our results suggest that protocols based on spatially auto-correlated sign survey replicates could be used to monitor carnivore populations at large, and possibly even country-wide spatial scales.     

Culture and climate change: Japanese cherry blossom festivals and stakeholders’ knowledge and attitudes about global climate change

Most global climate change models predict serious ecological and social problems. In Japan, biologists have found climate change is affecting species and ecosystems, including the earlier flowering time of cherry trees which are an important cultural symbol in Japan. Cherry blossom festivals are also important to local economies. This study explored the perceptions of Japanese residents regarding climate change impacts on culturally significant events such as flower timing of cherry trees. We conducted interviews of stakeholders of three cherry blossom festivals, including sixteen organizers of festivals and 26 managers of festival-dependent businesses, to understand their awareness, attitudes and behaviors toward global climate change and impacts on cherry blossom festivals. Most organizers of the festival in Kakunodate were concerned about global warming and its impact on cherry blossom times while organizers of festivals in Nakano and Komoro felt it was unimportant if flower timing affected the festival schedule. Most (92%) managers of festival-dependent businesses mentioned that global warming is occurring and affecting the flower timing of cherry trees, but there were diverse perceptions of global warming impacts on their business. Managers more dependent on income from cherry blossom festivals indicated greater concern for the effects of climate change.     

Test-retest repeatability of the National Animal Health monitoring system dairy heifer health report in New York and Pennsylvania, USA

We did a test-retest study on 21 farms to assess the repeatability of the Dairy Heifer Health Report of the National Dairy Heifer Evaluation Project. The median retest interval was 42 days (range 14–63 days), retest interviewers were blinded as to responses on the first visits, and all date-specific questions were anchored to the dates of the first tests. The overall discrepancy percentage was 8.5% (95% CI 8.0–9.0). Individual farms had discrepancy percentages of 3.0–15.2%; 240 out of the 539 questions had no discrepancies at all, but 81 questions had more than four (out of 21 possible) discrepancies (lowest percentages among the 81: 24%; 95% lower confidence limit on 24%: 6%). Combining ‘no’ and ‘not applicable’ responses for six similarly worded questions in the Biosecurity section would reduce the overall questionnaire discrepancy percentage to 7.8% and would bring that section's discrepancy percentage down to 8.6%. The other discrepancy percentages by section were: Maternity Hygiene, 14.1 %; Preweaning Hygiene, 4.8%; Disease Agents, 3.6%; Vaccination Practices, 12.1%; Preventive Practices, 16.8%. Discrepancy percentages did not differ importantly by type of question (independent, filter, or subordinate) or by type of response required (categorical, count, or measurement). Discrepancy percentages were independent of retest interviewer, test-retest interval and order of test within state (a proxy for time since training of the interviewers) but were correlated with herd size (r_sp = 0.59).     

浅谈新形势下,高校图书馆如何提高采访满意度

读者满意度不仅是图书馆服务质量的衡量标准也是衡量图书馆采访工作质量的标准之一。简单分析了现代高职高专学院图书采访工作所面临的新形势,提出了新形势下提高采访工作读者满意度的诸多措施。     

数字参考咨询服务中的参考接谈

通过介绍数字参考咨询的类型与形式,分析其参考接谈的特点,对数字化参考接谈提出了几点思考。     

稻农低碳生产行为的双路径干预策略研究——基于50余万字深度访谈资料的扎根分析

农业绿色低碳发展是中国构建现代化经济体系的重要组成部分。本文以湖北省102户稻农50余万字深度访谈资料为基础,运用扎根理论方法进行开放式编码、主轴式编码和选择式编码分析,探究稻农低碳生产行为的有效干预策略。研究结果显示,“宣传推广教育+低碳情境变革”双路径通过影响稻农低碳生产态度、行为效能感知、生产实施成本和社会环境因素,实现对其低碳生产行为的有效干预。前者属于信息型干预策略,能够提供低碳生产信息、教育和榜样示范等内容,旨在改变稻农低碳生产认知和规范;后者属于结构型干预策略,能够提供经济激励、土地流转、低碳标识和市场监管等内容,旨在改变稻农低碳生产行为决策的情境。因此,应重视低碳农业宣传教育,培育低碳农业经营主体,完善低碳农业补贴机制,加快建立低碳产品标识,进而实现农业低碳化转型。     

成年患者手术前抗焦虑干预治疗50例临床分析

目的研究观察麻醉前访谈对手术患者手术前焦虑的影响.方法所有患者随机分为2组,在访谈组（26例）中,患者接受健康信息;对照组（24例）中,患者接受常规护理.在访谈前后及进入手术室后对患者的焦虑程度进行评估.结果访谈后访谈组患者的焦虑程度明显低于对照组（P=0.008）.此外,进入手术室后,访谈组患者的焦虑程度下降了56%,而对照组的焦虑程度上升了47%（P=0.001）.结论麻醉前访谈可显著减轻患者手术前焦虑.     

谈行为事件访谈法在胜任素质模型构建中的应用

行为事件访谈法作为构建胜任力模型的重要工具之一,是目前得到公认的最有效的信息采集方法。与其他胜任素质模型研究方法相比,行为事件访谈法具有客观性、真实性、有效性等优势,但在其实际操作中存在耗时长、具有主观偏差、需受访者配合等问题。