1. 1. The writers present the general theory of evaluation that is being developed by their group.
2. 2. The evaluation of a human environment is a complex mental process.
3. 3. In an effort to express numerically the quality of an environment, one tends to oversimplify the complex aspects of it and the entailing problems in relation to its inhabitants.
4. 4. In this paper, some examples are taken in the evaluation of thermal environments, wherein much has been said and done in setting up numerical scales to express human comfort, and yet neither clear-cut explanations nor convincing logic seem to exist to terminate the argument over the widely scattered and sometimes seemingly contradicting experimental data.
5. 5. The writers suggest that many of the reasons for this confusion may be traced back to the oversimplified notion of evaluation.
6. 6. It is shown that there are various possibilities when looking at the scales of evaluation.
7. 7.|The nominal scale, least studied of all the four traditional scales, may be given a prominent place in evaluating a thermal environment. The pseudo-interval order scale is another example.
Author Keywords: evaluation; scales; thermal environment; classification; pseudo-interval order 相似文献
ABSTRACT. The recently established protozoan phylum Opalozoa Cavalier-Smith 1991 includes all those zooflagellates with tubular mitochondrial cristae that never have cortical alveoli or rigid tubular ciliary hairs (retronemes), and also the opalinids, proteomyxids sensu stricto, and plasmodiophorids. Opalozoa totally lack plastids but usually (though not invariably) have peroxisomes. They always have well-developed Golgi dictyosomes. The trophic phase is a unicellular ciliated phagotroph except in the only intracellular parasites, the plasmodiophorids, where it is a non-phagotrophic and non-ciliated microplasmodium, and in the proteomyxids where it is an amoeboflagellate (which may sometimes be nonciliated) or a multicellular meroplasmodium. Unlike the phagotrophic Mycetozoa, opalozoans do not form aerial fruiting bodies, but encystation is common. The first detailed classification of the phylum is presented here. It is divided into four subphyla (three new), eight classes (four new, one emended), three subclasses (all new), three superorders (all new) and 22 orders of which 12 are new and one is emended. Diagnoses of these taxa are given, as well as lists of the 31 families (11 new) and 62 genera included within them. Opalozoa, which include Cercomonas and Heterornita , the commonest soil flagellates, are ecologically and evolutionarily important. 相似文献
The relationships within theAsteraceae-Asteroideae are scrutinized by means of cladistic analyses of morphological and chemical data. New data are presented, and novel interpretations of features previously used in cladistic analyses are made. Examples are insertion of anther filaments in the corolla, and morphology of disc floret styles, respectively. The results include a polyphyletic or paraphyleticInuleae s. l., and a paraphyleticHeliantheae s.l. in which theEupatorieae constantly form a subclade. Comparisons are made with previous cladistic analyses of morphological data, and those acquired from molecular data. Speculations about the evolution of certain organs are presented. 相似文献
The topography of the Sado estuary, the second largest of Portugal, comprises the outer estuary inside the entrance channel
and the inner estuary, on the inward side of which begins the tidal mudflats. The outer estuary subtidal area covers approximately
70 km2 and presents a series of longitudinal intertidal sandbanks, separating a northern and a southern channel.
A benthic survey was undertaken in the outer estuary during June 1986, in which superficial sediments and macrofauna were
sampled at 133 locations. The environmental variables measured in the superficial sediments were the temperature, the granulometric
structure, the silt, sand and the gravel content, and the total organic matter content. The primary macrofauna biological
variables studied were the species composition, abundance and biomass, calculated on wet, dry and ash-free dry weight.
The granulometry and the organic content of superficial sediments agreed with the transient and the residual currents velocity
field, simulated in a 2-D hydrodynamic model previously elaborated for the outer estuary. The northern channel superficial
sediments showed higher silt and total organic matter content, while the model also suggested lower transient and residual
velocities, water flow and shear stress in this channel.
The distribution patterns of the subtidal macrofauna were separated into two main groups of species, one comprising taxa essentially
settled near the estuarine mouth and the other inwards. Biological primary variables also showed consistent patterns, comparable
to other Portuguese estuaries. The major subtidal benthic biotopes were obtained through classification analysis and related
to the prevailing hydrophysical and sedimentary conditions in the outer estuary. 相似文献
The paper describes the regulatory functions of a new body set up in England and Wales for the management of water pollution, the National Rivers Authority. It outlines proposals for a new water quality classification scheme incorporating biological monitoring as an integral part, and describes other areas of pollution control where biology could be used with advantage. The derivation of statutory water quality objectives as a new concept in the management of natural waters is described, together with an indication of some of the legal mechanisms available to the NRA to ensure that the objectives are met. 相似文献
A classification is presented of doubly wound α/β nucleotide binding topologies, whose binding sites are located in the cleft formed by a topological switch point. In particular, the switch point loop nearest the N-terminus is used to identify specific structural classes of binding protein. This yields seven structurally distinct loop conformations, which are subsequently used as motifs for scanning the Protein Data Bank. The searches, which are effective at identifying functional relationships within a large database of structures, reveal a remarkable and previously unnoticed similarity between the coenzyme binding sites of flavodoxin and tryptophan synthetase, even though there is no sequence or topological similarity between them. 相似文献
A new method has been developed to compute the probability that each amino acid in a protein sequence is in a particular secondary structural element. Each of these probabilities is computed using the entire sequence and a set of predefined structural class models. This set of structural classes is patterned after Jane Richardson''s taxonomy for the domains of globular proteins. For each structural class considered, a mathematical model is constructed to represent constraints on the pattern of secondary structural elements characteristic of that class. These are stochastic models having discrete state spaces (referred to as hidden Markov models by researchers in signal processing and automatic speech recognition). Each model is a mathematical generator of amino acid sequences; the sequence under consideration is modeled as having been generated by one model in the set of candidates. The probability that each model generated the given sequence is computed using a filtering algorithm. The protein is then classified as belonging to the structural class having the most probable model. The secondary structure of the sequence is then analyzed using a "smoothing" algorithm that is optimal for that structural class model. For each residue position in the sequence, the smoother computes the probability that the residue is contained within each of the defined secondary structural elements of the model. This method has two important advantages: (1) the probability of each residue being in each of the modeled secondary structural elements is computed using the totality of the amino acid sequence, and (2) these probabilities are consistent with prior knowledge of realizable domain folds as encoded in each model. As an example of the method''s utility, we present its application to flavodoxin, a prototypical alpha/beta protein having a central beta-sheet, and to thioredoxin, which belongs to a similar structural class but shares no significant sequence similarity. 相似文献
Although mires are sometimes regarded as a single, specific and even esoteric habitat-type, in their full range of development-calcareous fens to acidic bogs, lowland swamps to upland flushes, woodlands, sedgelands and mosslands-they occupy a wide range of environmental conditions and sustain a rich botanical resource. Here an outline is given of the types of mires that are widespread in Britain and their botanical resource. It is discussed with reference to some of the environmental variables and management conditions that have been shown to influence the species composition and diversity of their vegetation. Some implications that this has for the classification of mires are outlined. 相似文献