Air quality research: perspective from climate change modelling research

A major component of climate change is a manifestation of changes in air quality. This paper explores the question of air quality from the climate change modelling perspective. It reviews recent research advances on the cause-effect relationships between atmospheric air composition and climate change, primarily based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of climate change over the past decade. There is a growing degree of confidence that the warming world over the past century was caused by human-related changes in the composition of air. Reliability of projections of future climate change is highly dependent on future emission scenarios that have been identified that in turn depend on a multitude of complicated interacting social-economic factors. Anticipated improvements in the performance of climate models is a major source of optimism for better climate projections in the future, but the real benefits of its contribution will be closely coupled with other sources of uncertainty, and in particular emission projections.     

地域系统研究进展与展望

在述评国内外地域系统研究的基础上．分析了目前在“生态”框架下进行综合地域系统研究中存在的问题。①生态区是一个开放系统。任何尺度下的生态区都是由不同的生态系统组成。因此生态区的同质性是相对的，导致区划单元界线划定存在分歧。②受基础数据资料精度的限制．指标选取较多考虑是否能够满足数理统计需要而在一定程度上忽视了生态学上的意义和作用。③人类活动在生态区中既受到自然因子的制约．也对自然因子产生偏移，区域社会经济发展模式是自然、人文因子综合作用的结果．因而生态区包含自然因子和人文因子的信息。文中指出掌握自然-人文因子相互作用机制实现自然-人文因子的拟合是综合地域系统研究的核心．运用自然-人文因子空间化技术进行多源数据的融合是划分综合地域系统必须解决的关键技术．同时对将自然-人文空间化技术手段应用于综合地域系统划分中需要解决的问题进行了探讨。     

Transdisciplinary research in support of land and water management in China and Southeast Asia: evaluation of four research projects

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) aims at identifying implementable solutions to difficult sustainability problems and at fostering social learning. It requires a well-managed collaboration among multidisciplinary scientists and multisectoral stakeholders. Performing TDR is challenging, particularly for foreign researchers working in countries with different institutional and socio-cultural conditions. There is a need to synthesize and share experience among researchers as well as practitioners regarding how TDR can be conducted under specific contexts. In this paper, we aim to evaluate and synthesize our unique experience in conducting TDR projects in Asia. We applied guiding principles of TDR to conduct a formative evaluation of four consortium projects on sustainable land and water management in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In all projects, local political conditions restricted the set of stakeholders that could be involved in the research processes. The set of involved stakeholders was also affected by the fact that stakeholders in most cases only participate if they belong to the personal network of the project leaders. Language barriers hampered effective communication between foreign researchers and stakeholders in all projects and thus knowledge integration. The TDR approach and its specific methods were adapted to respond to the specific cultural, social, and political conditions in the research areas, also with the aim to promote trust and interest of the stakeholders throughout the project. Additionally, various measures were implemented to promote collaboration among disciplinary scientists. Based on lessons learned, we provide specific recommendations for the design and implementation of TDR projects in particular in Asia.     

Future directions of meteorology related to air-quality research

Meteorology is one of the major factors contributing to air-pollution episodes. More accurate representation of meteorological fields has been possible in recent years through the use of remote sensing systems, high-speed computers and fine-mesh meteorological models. Over the next 5-20 years, better meteorological inputs for air quality studies will depend on making better use of a wealth of new remotely sensed observations in more advanced data assimilation systems. However, for fine mesh models to be successful, parameterizations used to represent physical processes must be redesigned to be more precise and better adapted for the scales at which they will be applied. Candidates for significant overhaul include schemes to represent turbulence, deep convection, shallow clouds, and land-surface processes. Improvements in the meteorological observing systems, data assimilation and modeling, coupled with advancements in air-chemistry modeling, will soon lead to operational forecasting of air quality in the US. Predictive capabilities can be expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. This will open the way for a number of valuable new services and strategies, including better warnings of unhealthy atmospheric conditions, event-dependent emissions restrictions, and now casting support for homeland security in the event of toxic releases into the atmosphere.     

The research of market structures for remanufactured products

The rapid development of technology has made it easier to distribute products directly, and many enterprises excel at executing a multi-channel strategy to distribute products. The introduction of direct channel adds a new competition dimension to the enterprises. This paper considers three market channel structures: R-Channel, D-Channel and H-Channel. In R-Channel, both new products and remanufactured products are sold through a retailer. In D-Channel, new products are sold through retailers and remanufactured products are sold directly to consumers. In H-Channel, new products are sold through retailers, while remanufactured products through dual channel. Using the game theory, we obtain and analyse the equilibrium prices, market demands and the profits gain under these three settings. At the same time, the influence of consumers’ willingness to pay on the environment performance is researched. Our results show that the manufacturer prefers H-Channel. By introducing the direct channel the manufacturer is always economically better off, but it is not for the retailer. The numerical simulation also confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that H-Channel has advantages of economic benefit and environmental performance. It is feasible for practical application.     

自愿型环境规制:研究进展及未来展望

环境规制工具的选择决定了生态环境保护的成效,环境规制研究也是当前资源环境领域的研究热点之一。根据政府赋予被规制对象自由裁量权空间从小到大,可以将规制工具分为纯粹政府规制、元规制、自我规制、无约束的自由四种类型。既有研究对传统的纯粹政府规制工具给予了大量的关注,相比而言,对元规制和自我规制等自愿型环境规制工具的关注相对较少。已有的自愿型环境规制的研究主要从俱乐部物品理论、制度主义理论、利益相关者理论等视角出发,探讨自愿型环境规制的供给和需求问题。自愿型环境规制工具作为一种俱乐部物品,实践中面临的最大挑战在于如何克服企业的“搭便车”行为。现有的实证研究分别将自愿型环境规制作为自变量和因变量,分别探究①自愿型环境规制对企业环境绩效和经济创新绩效的影响,以及②企业参与自愿型环境规制的内外部动因。对比国内外文献我们发现,目前基于中国的社会经济背景下的自愿型环境规制的研究非常欠缺,这主要是因为中国在环境规制领域具有长期使用纯粹政府规制工具的传统,自愿型环境规制的实践较为欠缺,目前在中国实践较为广泛的自愿型环境规制工具仅有ISO14001环境管理体系以及化工行业的“责任关怀”体系。最后,本文基于现有对于中国自愿型环境规制研究的不足,展望了未来研究可能的方向。我们认为既有对于自愿型环境规制的研究更多关注对企业绩效的因果效应,而对其如何影响企业绩效的因果机制识别不足;此外,现有文献很少将中国特色的政治、经济、社会因素纳入自愿型环境规制的研究领域,未来的研究应当多从这两个方面着手深入。     

The development of reference materials for acid rain research

The Center for Analytical Chemistry of the National Bureau of Standards is actively engaged in research to provide the basis for quality assurance in chemical measurements of rain water. Several types of SRMs are currently available which have direct applicability to atmospheric deposition programs. In addition, research is proceeding to develope and SRM specifically for rain-water analyses. Initial attempts, using a single solution containing all the components of rain and stored in glass ampoules, were unsuccessful due to the chemical instability of the solution. Current efforts are directed to improving the stability by using polyethylene bottles to store the solutions, and by preparing two separate solutions, one for the major components of rain (sulfate, nitrate, chloride, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, ammonium, and hydrogen ions), and the other for the trace metals. Preliminary results on the stability of a pilot set of simulated rainwater solutions are encouraging.     

Epidemiological research on non-auditory effects of occupational noise exposure

Epidemiological studies about non-auditory effects of noise have been reviewed. For methodological reasons, only occupational studies are compared with each other. Most studies were directed, as before, to the relation between noise and arterial blood pressure. In about half of the studies, a positive relation could be demonstrated, in the other studies, however, no relation was found. Methodological comments are given. Definite conclusions are still not possible. In three investigations the effects of noise on pregnancy were studied. A negative effect on birth weight is presented in one of these studies. More research is needed. Task components probably interact with noise exposure producing annoyance and stress symptoms. The use of epidemiological methods in research of non-auditory effects of noise is still very limited.     

An applied methodology for stakeholder identification in transdisciplinary research

In this paper we present a novel methodology for identifying stakeholders for the purpose of engaging with them in transdisciplinary, sustainability research projects. In transdisciplinary research, it is important to identify a range of stakeholders prior to the problem-focussed stages of research. Early engagement with diverse stakeholders creates space for them to influence the research process, including problem definition, from the start. However, current stakeholder analysis approaches ignore this initial identification process, or position it within the subsequent content-focussed stages of research. Our methodology was designed as part of a research project into a range of soil threats in seventeen case study locations throughout Europe. Our methodology was designed to be systematic across all sites. It is based on a snowball sampling approach that can be implemented by researchers with no prior experience of stakeholder research, and without requiring significant financial or time resources. It therefore fosters transdisciplinarity by empowering physical scientists to identify stakeholders and understand their roles. We describe the design process and outcomes, and consider their applicability to other research projects. Our methodology therefore consists of a two-phase process of design and implementation of an identification questionnaire. By explicitly including a design phase into the process, it is possible to tailor our methodology to other research projects.     

The advantages of accelerator-based radiocarbon measurements in geophysical research

This paper reviews methods for carbon-14 dating using accelerators. ¹⁴C is accelerated to high energies. Subsequently ¹⁴C is separated from ¹⁴N by passing it through a xenon gas cell or electrostatic separator. Advantages, limits and applications of the techniques are discussed.     

Future directions in air quality research: economic issues

Our challenge was to address future directions in air quality research that involve economic issues. The paper outlines the role of economics in the evaluation of air pollution impacts on environmental systems and describes existing research. We identify studies that address economic effects in the agricultural sector, in the commercial forest sector, and in unmanaged natural systems. Effects related to ozone exposure are highlighted. The summary of available research is followed by a discussion of research recommendations. Several short-term recommendations are identified that can augment some of the new research being considered by scientists. A more ambitious, long-term research project is outlined for valuing air pollution impacts in unmanaged natural environments. Specifically, the paper describes possible advantages of an 'integrated assessment' framework that more formally brings together the complex relationships that exist in both ecological and economic systems. A final section contains thoughts on the importance of education (i.e., information transfer) in the research process, especially in relation to policy. It is further noted that education should be inclusive of all members of the research team, throughout all stages of the research process.     

Sustainability science: the changing landscape of sustainability research

Sustainability science is a rapidly expanding field, particularly given the current ecological crises facing many parts of the globe today. To generate a snapshot of the state of sustainability science, we analyzed the current status of sustainability research using citation and text analysis. By reflecting social needs on sustainability science and the increasing number of publications in this field, the landscape is expected to change during the last decade. Our results indicate that previously separated research clusters investigating discipline-focused issues are becoming integrated into those studying coupled systems. We also found the existence of hub clusters bridging different clusters like socio-ecological systems and transition management. We also observed a variety of other emerging research clusters, especially in energy issues, technologies, and systems. Overall, our analysis suggests that sustainability science is a rapidly expanding and diversifying field, which has affected many disparate scientific disciplines and has the potential to feed scientific understanding on socio-ecological systems and to drive society toward transition for sustainability.     

Constructing sustainability science: emerging perspectives and research trajectories

Over the last decade, sustainability science has emerged as an interdisciplinary and innovative field attempting to conduct problem-driven research that links knowledge to action. As the institutional dimensions of sustainability science continue to gain momentum, this article provides an analysis of emerging research agendas in sustainability science and an opportunity for reflection on future pathways for the field. Based on in-depth interviews with leading researchers in the field and a content analysis of the relevant literature, this article examines how sustainability scientists bound the social, political and normative dimensions of sustainability as they construct research agendas and look to link knowledge to social action. Many scientists position sustainability science as serving universal values related to sustainability and providing knowledge that is crucial to societal decision-making. The implications of these findings are discussed with an eye towards creating a space for a more democratic and reflexive research agenda for sustainability.     

Sustainable outsourcing: a practice survey and research opportunities

This paper addresses the issue of the sustainability imperative and its influence on outsourcing practice. The research initially finds that there is currently little or no work that explores sustainable or green outsourcing, other than in an information technology context. This lack of research on sustainable outsourcing practice in the industrial organisation sector led to the development of this research study. This exploratory study used a qualitative survey tool to investigate current industrial practice. Manufacturing managers in 57 organisations formed the survey sample. The data were analysed by comparison and clustering of responses of survey participants. This study contributes five key findings that demonstrate current industrial practice which includes: 32% of respondents state that sustainability is not a factor in their outsourcing decision making and 65% of small- and medium-sized enterprises had never heard of the ‘triple bottom line’ concept. Future research needs are identified and proposed highlighting that urgent development of research is required in outsourcing performance measurement and also in considering sustainability as a new manufacturing competitive priority.     

Vanadium,recent advancements and research prospects: A review

Metal pollution is an important issue worldwide, with various documented cases of metal toxicity in mining areas, industries, coal power plants and agriculture sector. Heavy metal polluted soils pose severe problems to plants, water resources, environment and nutrition. Among all non-essential metals, vanadium (V) is becoming a serious matter of discussion for the scientists who deals with heavy metals. Due to its mobility from soil to plants, it causes adverse effects to human beings. This review article illustrates briefly about V, its role and shows the progress about V research so far done globally in the light of the previous work which may assist in inter-disciplinary studies to evaluate the ecological importance of V toxicity.