Understanding the Development and Perception of Global Health for More Effective Student Education

The concept of “global health” that led to the establishment of the World Health Organization in the 1940s is still promoting a global health movement 70 years later. Today’s global health acts first as a guiding principle for our effort to improve people’s health across the globe. Furthermore, global health has become a branch of science, “global health science,” supporting institutionalized education. Lastly, as a discipline, global health should focus on medical and health issues that: 1) are determined primarily by factors with a cross-cultural, cross-national, cross-regional, or global scope; 2) are local but have global significance if not appropriately managed; and 3) can only be efficiently managed through international or global efforts. Therefore, effective global health education must train students 1) to understand global health status; 2) to investigate both global and local health issues with a global perspective; and 3) to devise interventions to deal with these issues.     

IS GLOBAL ETHICS MORAL NEO‐COLONIALISM? AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ISSUE IN THE CONTEXT OF BIOETHICS

This paper considers the possibility and desirability of global ethics in light of the claim that ‘global ethics’ in any form is not global, but simply the imposition of one form of local ethics – Western ethics – and, as such, a form of moral neo‐colonialism. The claim that any form of global ethics is moral neo‐colonialism is outlined using the work of a group of ‘developing world bioethicists’ who are sceptical of the possibility of global ethics. The work of virtue ethicists is then introduced and compared to the position of the developing world bioethicists in order to show that the divide between ‘Western’ and ‘non‐Western’ ethics is exaggerated. The final section of the paper turns to the practical arena and considers the question of global ethics in light of practical issues in bioethics. The paper concludes that practical necessity is driving the creation of global ethics and thus the pertinent question is no longer ‘Whether global ethics?’, but ‘Why global ethics?’.     

全球变化背景下的现代生态学——第六届现代生态学讲座纪要

"现代生态学讲座"是由著名生态学家李博院士创导,国内外华人生态学家联合发起,旨在促进中国现代生态学与世界同步发展,加强国内外生态学界交流与合作的国际会议。2011年8月1-4日在南京大学举行的第六届现代生态学讲座围绕"全球背景下现代生态学热点问题及其研究进展"主题,进行了23场特邀专家学术讲座,从全球变化背景下:现代生态学方法论、全球变化与陆地生态系统的响应与反馈、全球变化背景下的生物入侵、全球变化背景下的森林生态、全球变化背景下的植物生理生态、全球变化背景下退化生态系统恢复与重建、全球变化背景下的生态水文、全球变化背景下的区域生态管理等八个方面进行分类总结,从不同时空尺度、不同学科角度探讨全球变化与生态系统的响应以及人类为实现可持续发展而采取的适应性管理对策。最后,对会议的进一步完善提出几点建议。     

Integrating Global Environmental Concerns into Urban Management: The Scale and Readiness Arguments

Due to the growing numbers of cities and urban residents, cities have increasingly contributed to global environmental issues. Many studies have pointed out that the city administrative level is a crucial level at which to address global issues. Nevertheless, integrating global concerns into local management remains a difficult task for the majority of cities. Building on existing theoretical and empirical studies, this article explores the obstacles that impede cities from addressing global environmental concerns, the opportunities for removing the obstacles, and strategies for bringing global issues onto the local level. Many of the obstacles are reflections of contradictory perceptions, concerns, interests, and priorities, which are presented in the form of two arguments, namely the scale argument and the readiness argument, in this article. The close linkages between global and local environmental issues and the potential economic benefits arising from addressing global concerns at the local level may provide opportunities and incentives for cities to take action earlier. The author further argues that although empirical studies in developed cities suggest that the most effective way to get municipal governments to address global concerns is by not talking about the "global," an overly localized policy might not always result in a net gain in a developing city setting.     

Local–global overlap in diversity informs mechanisms of bacterial biogeography

Spatial variation in environmental conditions and barriers to organism movement are thought to be important factors for generating endemic species, thus enhancing global diversity. Recent microbial ecology research suggested that the entire diversity of bacteria in the global oceans could be recovered at a single site, thus inferring a lack of bacterial endemism. We argue this is not the case in the global ocean, but might be in other bacterial ecosystems with higher dispersal rates and lower global diversity, like the human gut. We quantified the degree to which local and global bacterial diversity overlap in a diverse set of ecosystems. Upon comparison of observed local–global diversity overlap with predictions from a neutral biogeography model, human-associated microbiomes (gut, skin, mouth) behaved much closer to neutral expectations whereas soil, lake and marine communities deviated strongly from the neutral expectations. This is likely a result of differences in dispersal rate among ‘patches'', global diversity of these systems, and local densities of bacterial cells. It appears that overlap of local and global bacterial diversity is surprisingly large (but likely not one-hundred percent), and most importantly this overlap appears to be predictable based upon traditional biogeographic parameters like community size, global diversity, inter-patch environmental heterogeneity and patch connectivity.     

Global versus Local Conservation Focus of U.S. State Agency Endangered Bird Species Lists

The development of species priorities for conservation at local or regional scales (for example, within a state or province) poses an interesting paradox. One the one hand, locally or regionally-derived species priorities may lead to greater interest in and resources directed to biodiversity conservation by local or regional institutions. On the other hand, locally or regionally-derived species priorities could overlook national or global priorities. We assessed U.S. state government agency endangered-threatened bird lists to determine the comparative representation of species of global versus local conservation significance on them. State lists tended to be represented primarily by species of low global risk-low global responsibility (range: 15–100%; mean 51%) and high global risk-high global responsibility (range: 0–73%; mean 35%). In 25 states, more than half of the species on the state lists were in the low global risk-low global responsibility category. Most U.S. state agency lists represent a combined strategy of highlighting species of both local and global conservation significance. Even with this combined local-global strategy, most state lists were predominated by species that represent local but not global conservation significance. Such a strategy could have profound negative consequences for many species that are not formally recognized under national endangered species protections but that are also left off of state-level endangered species lists.     

Responses of freshwater ecosystems to global change: research progress and outlook

全球变化已经通过提高水温、改变降水格局和水流状况、促进物种入侵、增加极端事件, 对不同的淡水生态系统造成严重的威胁。该文将全球变化背景下淡水生态学的主要研究内容归纳为: (1)全球变化各要素对个体、种群、群落及至生态系统水平的影响; (2)全球变化过程中生态系统生物地球化学循环的改变; (3)淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应对策。最近10-15年淡水生态系统与全球变化研究快速发展, 取得的重要突破有: (1)阐明淡水生态系统结构与功能对全球气候变化尤其是水温升高的响应过程与机制; (2)揭示淡水生态系统(湿地、湖泊、河流等)是全球碳循环的重要组成部分, 在全球变化因素的影响下呈现有机碳埋藏减少和矿化速率提高。今后的研究中, 需要进一步加强对淡水生态系统全要素的系统观测与整合; 开展以“河流”为介质耦合多系统的碳输运和转化过程研究; 强化基础理论研究揭示淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应机制。     

全球变化影响下的生态系统风险的相关理论及联系

全球变化深刻影响着全球生态系统,全球变化胁迫超过一定程度则会导致生态系统恢复力下降,极端事件频发,从而使生态系统服务功能退化甚至丧失.量化全球变化的风险,进而制定恰当的人为适应策略是目前应对全球变化的重要途径.全球变化可能降低生态系统的恢复力,从而导致生态系统脆弱性升高,引发生态系统退化风险.目前,相关研究多依托基于星...     

全球变化与生态系统研究现状与展望

全球变化与生态系统研究是一个宏观与微观相互交叉、多学科相互渗透的前沿科学领域, 重点研究生态系统结构和功能对全球变化的响应及反馈作用, 其目标是实现人类对生态系统服务的可持续利用。《植物生态学报》的《全球变化与生态系统》专辑在对国内外全球变化研究进行历史回顾和综合分析的基础上, 总结了全球变化与生态系统研究的阶段性重大进展及存在的主要问题, 并对全球变化研究的前沿方向进行展望和建议。根据研究内容和对象, 该专辑系统地综述了不同全球变化因子, 包括CO₂和O₃浓度升高、气候变暖、降水格局改变、氮沉降增加、土地利用变化等对陆地植物生理生态、群落结构及生态系统功能等的影响以及全球变化对海洋生态系统的影响; 探讨生态系统关键过程以及生物多样性的变化; 在明确全球变化生态效应的基础上, 阐明这些影响对气候和环境变化的反馈机制, 为构筑全球变化的适应对策提供生态学理论基础。     

Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence

The international industrial ecology (IE) research community and United Nations (UN) Environment have, for the first time, agreed on an authoritative and comprehensive data set for global material extraction and trade covering 40 years of global economic activity and natural resource use. This new data set is becoming the standard information source for decision making at the UN in the context of the post‐2015 development agenda, which acknowledges the strong links between sustainable natural resource management, economic prosperity, and human well‐being. Only if economic growth and human development can become substantially decoupled from accelerating material use, waste, and emissions can the tensions inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals be resolved and inclusive human development be achieved. In this paper, we summarize the key findings of the assessment study to make the IE research community aware of this new global research resource. The global results show a massive increase in materials extraction from 22 billion tonnes (Bt) in 1970 to 70 Bt in 2010, and an acceleration in material extraction since 2000. This acceleration has occurred at a time when global population growth has slowed and global economic growth has stalled. The global surge in material extraction has been driven by growing wealth and consumption and accelerating trade. A material footprint perspective shows that demand for materials has grown even in the wealthiest parts of the world. Low‐income countries have benefited least from growing global resource availability and have continued to deliver primary materials to high‐income countries while experiencing few improvements in their domestic material living standards. Material efficiency, the amount of primary materials required per unit of economic activity, has declined since around 2000 because of a shift of global production from very material‐efficient economies to less‐efficient ones. This global trend of recoupling economic activity with material use, driven by industrialization and urbanization in the global South, most notably Asia, has negative impacts on a suite of environmental and social issues, including natural resource depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and uneven economic development. This research is a good example of the IE research community providing information for evidence‐based policy making on the global stage and testament to the growing importance of IE research in achieving global sustainable development.     

整体表象与局部表象的产生及其性别差异

目的:探索整体表象和局部表象的产生及其性别差异。方法:被试在足够的时间内习得20幅动物图片,主试根据每幅图片提出一个整体表象问题和一个局部表象问题并以文字形式呈现在电脑屏幕上,通过被试自主按键反应记录整体表象和局部表象产生的时间。46名大学生参加了该实验,男女各半,平均年龄为23.5(男24,女23)。结果:(1)整体表象与局部表象产生之间存在显著差异,产生整体表象明显快于局部表象;(2)在表象产生上存在显著的性别差异,女性产生表象的速度显著快于男性。(3)产生的表象类型与性别之间存在明显的交互作用,女生与男生对整体表象的产生无显著性差异,而对于局部表象的产生,则女生明显快于男生。结论:整体与局部表象的产生是由不同的加工过程完成并因性别不同表现出显著的差异。     

视觉大细胞通路对汉字识别的影响

我们研究的目的是探查视觉大细胞系统在汉字识别中的作用.研究以24名大学生正常阅读者作为被试,通过调控汉字材料的空间频率和时间频率区分出大细胞通路敏感刺激和正常视觉刺激两种条件,并采用整体/部件字形判断任务来比较在不同视觉条件下,被试加工汉字整体和部件信息的过程,记录反应时和错误率.结果表明,在大细胞条件下,被试对整字信息的判断要显著快于对部件的判断,即出现整体优先效应.而在正常视觉条件下,整体和部件判断的反应时无显著差异.同时,在大细胞条件下,被试进行部件判断的错误率显著高于整体判断,在正常视觉条件下两者差异不显著.研究结果表明视觉大细胞通路促进了汉字整体信息的加工.     

苔藓植物对全球变化的响应及其生物指示意义

苔藓植物由于其结构相对简单,对大气成分浓度和全球气候等各方面的环境变化非常敏感,因此苔藓植物可以作为全球变化、环境污染、养分状况、森林整体性有生态系统健康等方面的生物指示材料,国内应深入开展苔藓植物对全球变化的响应与适应及其生物指示作用等研究。     

Information processing specialization during interference between global and local aspects of visual hierarchical stimuli in men and women

Sex-related differences in global/local hemispheric selective processing were examined by hierarchically presented letters in conditions of their perception and comparison. Fifty-six right-handed men and 68 women (aged 17–22 years) participated in the experiment. During the interference between global and local aspects of stimuli, the mean reaction time for correct global responses was shorter than for local responses, and the right hemisphere dominated during global selective processing independently of sex. Sex-related differences in perception of visual hierarchical stimuli were more pronounced than during their comparison: men preferred the right-hemispheric global strategy of information processing, and women, the left-hemispheric local one. The dominance of the global strategy in men and local strategy in women during visual hierarchical stimuli perception, together with the absence of sex-related differences in correct responses indicates the possibility of obtaining the same efficiency of cognitive activity in different ways.     

Governing synthetic biology for global health through responsible research and innovation

Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a global endeavour with research and development programs in many countries, and due (in part) to its multi-use characteristics it has potential to improve global health in the area of vaccine development, diagnostics, drug synthesis, and the detection and remediation of environmental toxins. However, SynBio will also concurrently require global governance. Here we present what we have learnt from the articles in this Special Issue, and the workshop we hosted in The Hague in February of 2012 on SynBio, global health, and global governance that generated many of the papers appearing here. Importantly we take the notion of ‘responsible research and innovation’ as a guiding perspective. In doing so our understanding of governance is one that shifts its focus from preventing risks and other potential negative implications, and instead is concerned with institutions and practices involved in the inclusive steering of science and technology towards socially desirable outcomes. We first provide a brief overview of the notion of global health, and SynBio’s relation to global health issues. The core of the paper explores some of the dynamics involved in fostering SynBio’s global health pursuits; paying particular attention to of intellectual property, incentives, and commercialization regimes. We then examines how DIYbio, Interactive Learning and Action, and road-mapping activities can be seen as positive and productive forms of governance that can lead to more inclusive SynBio global health research programs.     

Global change and ecosystems research progress and prospect

全球变化与生态系统研究是一个宏观与微观相互交叉、多学科相互渗透的前沿科学领域, 重点研究生态系统结构和功能对全球变化的响应及反馈作用, 其目标是实现人类对生态系统服务的可持续利用。《植物生态学报》的《全球变化与生态系统》专辑在对国内外全球变化研究进行历史回顾和综合分析的基础上, 总结了全球变化与生态系统研究的阶段性重大进展及存在的主要问题, 并对全球变化研究的前沿方向进行展望和建议。根据研究内容和对象, 该专辑系统地综述了不同全球变化因子, 包括CO₂和O₃浓度升高、气候变暖、降水格局改变、氮沉降增加、土地利用变化等对陆地植物生理生态、群落结构及生态系统功能等的影响以及全球变化对海洋生态系统的影响; 探讨生态系统关键过程以及生物多样性的变化; 在明确全球变化生态效应的基础上, 阐明这些影响对气候和环境变化的反馈机制, 为构筑全球变化的适应对策提供生态学理论基础。     

The Development of the Mental Representations of the Magnitude of Fractions

We investigated the development of the mental representation of the magnitude of fractions during the initial stages of fraction learning in grade 5, 6 and 7 children as well as in adults. We examined the activation of global fraction magnitude in a numerical comparison task and a matching task. There were global distance effects in the comparison task, but not in the matching task. This suggests that the activation of the global magnitude representation of fractions is not automatic in all tasks involving magnitude judgments. The slope of the global distance effect increased during early fraction learning and declined by adulthood, demonstrating that the development of the fraction global distance effect differs from that of the integer distance effect.     

A niche for ecosystem multifunctionality in global change research

Concern about human modification of Earth's ecosystems has recently motivated ecologists to address how global change drivers will impact the simultaneous provisioning of multiple functions, termed ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). However, metrics of EMF have often been applied in global change studies with little consideration of the information they provide beyond single functions, or how and why EMF may respond to global change drivers. Here, we critically review the current state of this rapidly expanding field and provide a conceptual framework to guide the effective incorporation of EMF in global change research. In particular, we emphasize the need for a priori identification and explicit testing of the biotic and abiotic mechanisms through which global change drivers impact EMF, as well as assessing correlations among multiple single functions because these patterns underlie shifts in EMF. While the role of biodiversity in mediating global change effects on EMF has justifiably received much attention, empirical support for effects via other biotic and physicochemical mechanisms are also needed. Studies also frequently stated the importance of measuring EMF responses to global change drivers to understand the potential consequences for multiple ecosystem services, but explicit links between measured functions and ecosystem services were missing from many such studies. While there is clear potential for EMF to provide novel insights to global change research, predictive understanding will be greatly improved by insuring future research is strongly hypothesis‐driven, is designed to explicitly test multiple abiotic and biotic mechanisms, and assesses how single functions and their covariation drive emergent EMF responses to global change drivers.     

森林土壤呼吸及其对全球变化的响应

森林土壤呼吸是全球碳循环的重要流通途径之一 ,其动态变化将直接影响全球 C平衡。森林土壤呼吸由自养呼吸和异养呼吸组成 ,不同森林类型、测定季节和测定方法等直接影响其所占比例。土壤温度和湿度是影响森林土壤呼吸的最主要因素 ,共同解释了森林土壤呼吸变化的大部分。因树种组成、生产力和枯落物数量等不同而使不同森林类型土壤呼吸速率表现出明显差异。采伐对森林土壤呼吸的影响结果有增加、降低或无影响 ,因采伐方式、森林类型、采伐迹地上植被恢复进程和气候条件等而异。火烧一般导致土壤呼吸速率降低。因肥料种类、施用剂量和立地条件不同 ,施肥对森林土壤呼吸的影响出现增加、降低或无影响等不同结果。大气 CO2 浓度升高和升温均可促进森林土壤呼吸。 N沉降有可能刺激了土壤呼吸 ,而酸沉降则可能降低了土壤呼吸。臭氧浓度和 UV-B辐射强度亦会在一定程度上影响森林土壤呼吸。但目前全球变化对森林土壤呼吸的综合影响尚不清楚 ,深入探讨森林土壤呼吸的调控因素及其对全球变化和营林措施的响应等仍是今后努力的主要方向。