A review of the contributions of Albert Einstein to Earth Sciences—in commemoration of the World Year of Physics

The World Year of Physics (2005) is an international celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s “Annus Mirabilis.” The United Nations has officially declared 2005 as the International Year of Physics. However, the impact of Einstein’s ideas was not restricted to physics. Among numerous other disciplines, Einstein also made significant and specific contributions to Earth Sciences. His geosciences-related letters, comments, and scientific articles are dispersed, not easily accessible, and are poorly known. The present review attempts to integrate them as a tribute to Einstein in commemoration of this centenary. These contributions can be classified into three basic areas: geodynamics, geological (planetary) catastrophism, and fluvial geomorphology. Regarding geodynamics, Einstein essentially supported Hapgood’s very controversial theory called Earth Crust Displacement. With respect to geological (planetary) catastrophism, it is shown how the ideas of Einstein about Velikovsky’s proposals evolved from 1946 to 1955. Finally, in relation to fluvial geodynamics, the review incorporates the elegant work in which Einstein explains the formation of meandering rivers. A general analysis of his contributions is also carried out from today’s perspective. Given the interdisciplinarity and implications of Einstein’s achievements to multiple fields of knowledge, we propose that the year 2005 serve, rather than to confine his universal figure within a specific scientific area, to broaden it for a better appreciation of this brilliant scientist in all of his dimensions.     

我国大气污染源排放清单发展历程和对策建议

为进一步推动我国大气污染源排放清单的发展,详细回顾了我国大气污染源排放清单的发展历程及面临的挑战.我国大气污染源排放清单起步于20世纪80年代,2000年之后尤其是2014年,原环境保护部发布了一系列大气污染源排放清单编制技术指南,使我国大气污染源排放清单工作得到了迅速发展.30多年来基本形成了结合我国实际情况的大气污染源分类、大气污染物排放系数、大气污染物排放量确定方法等大气污染源排放清单相关技术方法.但目前我国尚未建立起排放清单编制的规范化工作程序,国家、省级和城市级环保部门在大气污染源排放清单工作中的分工尚不明晰,清单编制没有融入日常环境管理工作中,现有排放清单工作和研究成果相对分散、缺乏系统性,排放清单对环境管理的支撑作用尚未得到充分发挥.在综合分析了我国大气污染源排放清单取得的进展和面临挑战的基础上,提出如下建议:进一步完善我国大气污染源排放清单技术体系,使排放清单工作制度化、程序化、规范化,明确国家、省级和城市级环保部门在大气污染源排放清单工作中发挥的作用,使大气污染源排放清单成为各级环保部门每年必须完成的工作;进一步推广结合网格化管理、基于区县和乡镇调研的城市大气污染源排放清单编制技术;加强排放清单校核和不确定性分析研究等.      

The structure and measurement of intelligence

One of psychology's outstanding successes has been the measurement of intelligence, and the demonstration that differences in intelligence, so measured, were due in large part to genetic factors. In recent years much work has been done to clarify the problem of the biological basis of these inherited differences, and work on the evoked potential in the EEG has generated important new findings in this field. We now know far more about intelligence, its inheritance, and its biological basis than we did even a few years ago.     

新中国成立70年来我国大气污染防治历程、成就与经验

自20世纪70年代以来,我国在经济持续增长、能源消耗不断增加的同时,及时缓解了各类主要的大气环境问题,有效避免了欧美发达国家曾经出现的严重大气污染灾害.然而,目前我国仍然面临着大气污染尤其是二次污染的严峻挑战.为此,非常有必要全面梳理与分析新中国成立70年以来,特别是自20世纪70年代至今,我国大气污染防治的历程、成就与经验.结果表明:我国在各阶段的大气污染防治过程中均取得了较为明显的环境空气质量改善成就与较为丰富的污染防控经验,并在此过程中形成了具有中国特色的大气污染防治理论与管理模式,构建了系统科学的大气污染综合防控体系.今后我国大气污染治理工作应进一步明确各级政府主体责任,强化重点污染源治理,继续调整优化四大结构,统筹兼顾,强化区域联防联控,强化科技能力建设,注重大气环境问题预测,加强环境科学与技术研究,共同推进大气污染防治,打赢蓝天保卫战.      

Charles Darwin, beetles and phylogenetics

Here, we review Charles Darwin’s relation to beetles and developments in coleopteran systematics in the last two centuries. Darwin was an enthusiastic beetle collector. He used beetles to illustrate different evolutionary phenomena in his major works, and astonishingly, an entire sub-chapter is dedicated to beetles in “The Descent of Man”. During his voyage on the Beagle, Darwin was impressed by the high diversity of beetles in the tropics, and he remarked that, to his surprise, the majority of species were small and inconspicuous. However, despite his obvious interest in the group, he did not get involved in beetle taxonomy, and his theoretical work had little immediate impact on beetle classification. The development of taxonomy and classification in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth century was mainly characterised by the exploration of new character systems (e.g. larval features and wing venation). In the mid-twentieth century, Hennig’s new methodology to group lineages by derived characters revolutionised systematics of Coleoptera and other organisms. As envisioned by Darwin and Ernst Haeckel, the new Hennigian approach enabled systematists to establish classifications truly reflecting evolution. Roy A. Crowson and Howard E. Hinton, who both made tremendous contributions to coleopterology, had an ambivalent attitude towards the Hennigian ideas. The Mickoleit school combined detailed anatomical work with a classical Hennigian character evaluation, with stepwise tree building, comparatively few characters and a priori polarity assessment without explicit use of the outgroup comparison method. The rise of cladistic methods in the 1970s had a strong impact on beetle systematics. Cladistic computer programs facilitated parsimony analyses of large data matrices, mostly morphological characters not requiring detailed anatomical investigations. Molecular studies on beetle phylogeny started in the 1990s with modest taxon sampling and limited DNA data. This has changed dramatically. With very large data sets and high throughput sampling, phylogenetic questions can be addressed without prior knowledge of morphological characters. Nevertheless, molecular studies have not lead to the great breakthrough in beetle systematics—yet. Especially the phylogeny of the extremely species rich suborder Polyphaga remains incompletely resolved. Coordinated efforts of molecular workers and of morphologists using innovative techniques may lead to more profound insights in the near future. The final aim is to develop a well-founded phylogeny, which truly reflects the evolution of this immensely species rich group of organisms.     

The Toshka mirage in the Egyptian desert – River diversion as political diversion

Egypt's geography renders it vulnerable to water scarcity, but also enables it to control its inflow. After a run of high influx years from the Nile, Egypt embarked on a project to utilise the surplus water by planning a gigantic desert development project, Toshka, in the late 1990s. The present contribution argues that the project, even only as a dream, is instrumental to the control of the Egyptian population as well as Egypt's co-riparians on the river Nile.Rather than abandon the project, the post-revolutionary Egyptian government decided to push harder to make Toshka work. Three myths underlying the scheme (contribution to food security, solution to overpopulation and unlimited availability of water) however almost guarantee the scheme ending up another ‘white elephant’. Given the continuing disconnect between Egypt's government and population and Toshka's claim to boosting national greatness, I argue that, more than a river diversion plan, Toshka has turned out to be a political diversion plan from an enduring legitimacy deficit. The legitimacy base commanded by the newly elected president may obviate the need for such diversion in future.     

Can infantile hereditary agranulocytosis be diagnosed prenatally?

Fetoscopy and fetal blood sampling were performed in an attempt at prenatal monitoring of a pregnancy at risk for infantile hereditary agranulocytosis (Kostmann's disease). In smears of fetal blood three segmented neutrophils were found out of 200 nucleated cells (1 2/ per cent). Their presence, although in a lower percentage than in six age-matched controls, was considered to indicate that the fetus was not affected. The newborn infant has developed normally and at the age of four months has a normal number of segmented neutrophils in his peripheral blood. Feasibility of prenatal diagnosis of infantile hereditary agranulocytosis is discussed.     

网络传播中的环境保护宣传

随着电脑、互联网和多媒体在人们生活中的不断应用,网络传播成为了一种重要的信息传播方式,学会利用网络传播的优势,开展环境保护宣传,必将为未来的环保工作打开一个新的局面。     

The role of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific,Technical and Technological Advice to the Convention on Biological Diversity as science–policy interface

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has become the centre of heated debates concerning its function as the science–policy interface of the Convention. Based on explorations of the role, nature, and organisation of scientific advice mechanisms for multilateral environmental agreements in general, we give reasons for SBSTTA's inherently political role in the current governance process of the CBD, and then explore ways to enhance SBSTTA's effectiveness as a science–policy interface, going beyond the usual view that it should merely be “more scientific”. As the quality of SBSTTA's work depends primarily on the processes that guide the discussions during its meetings and on the material on which these discussions are based, we suggest that SBSTTA (a) improves its scientific foundation by systematically strengthening its relations to more scientific institutions outside the formal CBD regime, and (b) focuses on providing for a more substantive political debate to resolve alternative policy choices during its meetings. For this approach to succeed there is a need for a mechanism that provides SBSTTA with timely, salient, legitimate, and credible advice—a role that an International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB) could well provide.     

Explorations on the University's role in society for sustainable development through a systems transition approach. Case-study of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)

Focusing on the sustainability challenge, a growing number of Universities are redefining their core strategies in order to adapt to the real social needs and expectations of their stakeholders. Beyond integrating sustainability into the University's internal activities (curriculum, research, operations, etc.), the challenge seems to be integrating the University with the sustainable development paths of society. For the last 10 years the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) has tackled this challenge through an overarching strategic plan. The latest strategy, UPC Sustainable Plan 2015 has adopted a different focus, which was designed through a participatory approach, involving many internal and external stakeholders.This work aims to use a conceptual framework based on systems transitions to assess the systems change potential of a University strategy, in this case, the sustainability strategy of UPC. The main objectives of this paper are: to present the sustainability strategy participatory design process and its outcomes at UPC; to analyse the strategy change potential through a new transition/systems renewal method that is proposed; and to compare it with the UPCs previous environmental strategy; The work concludes that the systems transition potential is currently higher with the new strategy and discusses the elements that explain this finding.     

The Awareness,Action and Advancement (AAA) Environmental Management and Reporting System: moving from the household to small and medium-size enterprises

Households have many similarities to small and medium-sized enterprises. They have inputs and outputs, produce services and wastes, have cash flows and related budgeting issues and incorporate a range of management functions. Households also cover the full suite of Triple Bottom Line aspects, i.e., social, environmental and economic. For tertiary education purposes the household has been a focus at Lincoln University for environmental management students to study environmental management systems and sustainability reporting. This paper outlines the educational aims and context for the course of study and demonstrates, through the examination of one student's course work, how there are similarities between SMEs and households and the sort of initiative designed for a household that also might work in SMEs. As part of this demonstration the paper introduces the Awareness, Action and Advancement (AAA) Environmental Management and Reporting System. The AAA system is cyclic, straightforward, marketable and appears to work. As such the principles from this educational exercise might have relevance in SMEs.     

船舶微生物腐蚀与防护研究进展

近年来,随着腐蚀研究的不断深入,船舶上一些异常快速的腐蚀问题引起了人们的注意,由此发现微生物腐蚀在船舶上的大量存在。与其他工业体系相比,我国船舶系统微生物腐蚀的研究起步较晚,与国外相比,在重视程度和机理研究层面存在一定差距,亟待加强机理和防护技术领域研究。针对这个问题,文中系统分析了船舶微生物腐蚀的发生位点与危害、腐蚀微生物群落结构、船舶材料的微生物腐蚀以及防护措施等四个方面的最新研究进展,并在此基础上,提出了对船舶微生物腐蚀研究工作的建议,希望能够引起学术界和工业界的重视,以期在相关领域取得突破性进展。     

Translating soil science into environmental policy: A case study on implementing the EU soil protection strategy in The Netherlands

The EU Commission has proposed a way forward towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection based on the distinction of seven soil functions and eight threats. A Technical Working Group on Research defined some 200 general priority research areas in the context of the dynamic DPSIR approach considering drivers, pressures, states, impacts and responses. Though quite valuable as a source document, this may be too generic and academic to be a starting point for new, effective soil research in different regions of the EU. A six-step storyline procedure is therefore proposed aimed at deriving effective operational procedures for a water management unit in a given region, using available soil expertise and defining new research only where needed. The procedure, that was illustrated for a Dutch case study, consists of defining: (i) water management units (wmu's) in a landscape context; (ii) land-use, area hydrology and soil functions (iii) soil threats and relevant soil qualities; (iv) drivers of land-use change and their future impact; (v) improvement of relevant soil qualities; (vi) possibilities to institutionalize soil quality improvement as part of the EU soil protection strategy. A focus on regional wmu's is likely to result in a strong commitment of local stakeholders and governmental officials, allowing a more specific DPSIR approach. But this will only work if local officials also receive legal powers to develop and enforce codified ‘good practices’, to be developed in the context of communities of practice. Innovative research topics can be derived from a combined analysis of experiences within different communities of practice in different wmu's and should not be left to researchers to define.     

Evolutionary developmental biology: its concepts and history with a focus on Russian and German contributions

Evolutionary theory has been likened to a “universal acid” (Dennett 1995) that eats its way into more and more areas of science. Recently, developmental biology has been infused by evolutionary concepts and perspectives, and a new field of research—evolutionary developmental biology—has been created and is often called EvoDevo for short. However, this is not the first attempt to make a synthesis between these two areas of biology. In contrast, beginning right after the publication of Darwin’s Origin in 1859, Ernst Haeckel formulated his biogenetic law in 1872, famously stating that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Haeckel was in his turn influenced by pre-Darwinian thinkers such as Karl Ernst von Baer, who had noted that earlier developmental stages show similarities not seen in the adults. In this review, written for an audience of non-specialists, we first give an overview of the history of EvoDevo, especially the tradition emanating from Haeckel and other comparative embryologists and morphologists, which has often been neglected in discussions about the history of EvoDevo and evolutionary biology. Here we emphasize contributions from Russian and German scientists to compensate for the Anglo-American bias in the literature. In Germany, the direct influence of Ernst Haeckel was felt particularly in Jena, where he spent his entire career as a professor, and we give an overview of the “Jena school” of evolutionary morphology, with protagonists such as Oscar Hertwig, Ludwig Plate, and Victor Franz, who all developed ideas that we would nowadays think of as belonging to EvoDevo. Franz ideas about “biometabolic modi” are similar to those of a Russian comparative morphologist that visited Jena repeatedly, A. N. Sewertzoff, who made important contributions to what we now call heterochrony research—heterochrony meaning changes in the relative timing of developmental events. His student I. I. Schmalhausen became an important contributor to the synthetic theory of evolution in Russia and is only partly known outside of the Russian-reading world because only one of his many books was translated into English early on. He made many important contributions to evolutionary theory and we point out the important parallels between Schmalhausen’s ideas (stabilizing selection, autonomization) and C. H. Waddington’s (canalization, genetic assimilation). This is one of the many parallels that have contributed to an increased appreciation of the internationality of progress in evolutionary thinking in the first half of the twentieth century. A direct link between German and Russian evolutionary biology is provided by N. V. Timoféeff-Ressovsky, whose work on, e.g., fly genetics in Berlin is a crucial part of the history of evo-devo. To emphasize the international nature of heterochrony research as predecessor to the modern era of EvoDevo, we include Sir G. R. de Beer’s work in the UK. This historical part is followed by a short review of the discovery and importance of homeobox genes and of some of the major concepts that form the core of modern EvoDevo, such as modularity, constraints, and evolutionary novelties. Major trends in contemporary EvoDevo are then outlined, such as increased use of genomics and molecular genetics, computational and bioinformatics approaches, ecological developmental biology (eco-devo), and phylogenetically informed comparative embryology. Based on our survey, we end the review with an outlook on future trends and important issues in EvoDevo.     

University engagement and regional sustainability initiatives: some Danish experiences

With an outset in ‘sustainability’ defined as a continuous process requiring balance between (the emergence of) problems and our ability and capability to solve them using four distinct capitals available, i.e. natural, production, human and intellectual, and social capital, a model of universities as factories is used. The model suggests that the most notable products of a university being graduates, and knowledge in the form of books, journal articles etc., i.e. human and intellectual capital. As a consequence, these are also the most important impacts from a university. Using the case of Aalborg University, Denmark, the linkages (actual, potential and missing) between academic work in research and education and sustainability initiatives are explored. The focus is both on the university's core activities as a provider of research and education and on the university's activities as an organisation, i.e. its own operation and its accounting for this. It is suggested that systematic engagement activities could benefit both the university's ability to manage internal university processes (by learning from its peers) and its ability to produce the right graduates and knowledge. As a consequence, the main societal benefit would be the ability to better cope with emerging problems endangering the sustainable development of our societies. It is concluded that Aalborg University with its long tradition for project-based and problem-oriented learning in fact has every opportunity to be able to lead by example and become the link to sustainability.     

Four years of experience with Erasmus University's “International Off-Campus PhD programme on cleaner production,cleaner products,industrial ecology and sustainability”

This paper describes the first four years' experiences with Erasmus University's “International Off-Campus PhD Programme on Cleaner Production, Cleaner Products, Industrial Ecology and Sustainability.” The proposal for this innovative, off-campus programme was made in 1992, in response to expanding needs for providing environmental professionals the opportunity to continue their employment and to simultaneously work toward fulfilling the requirements of a PhD.After receiving approval and initial financial support from the Board of Deans of Erasmus University, the first INTENSIVE (INTENSIVE is the term used to describe the annual, two-week long training programme within which the new PhD candidates, as well as those who have been in the programme for a year or more, meet to learn more about the rapidly evolving areas addressed by the programme and to report on progress made in each candidate's PhD thesis research. The Erasmus faculty and invited supportive co-advisors and other visiting scholars contribute to the scholarly input and candidate guidance.) of the new International PhD Programme was held in October 1995. Since then the programme has expanded and progressed. As of the academic year 1998/1999, twenty-one PhD candidates from eleven countries in five continents were actively pursuing their PhD research and thesis development within the Programme. Six new candidates were admitted during the November 1999 INTENSIVE.     

Allocating carbon dioxide emissions from cogeneration systems: descriptions of selected output-based methods

Many companies, government agencies and researchers have struggled with the question of how to allocate emissions for cogeneration systems. Some work has been performed, but the results obtained thus far, are not universally accepted, and are often inconsistent, overly complex and difficult to use, and are not based on sound reasoning. In this article, selected methods for allocating emissions for cogeneration systems are described and compared. In addition, exergy values for typical commodities encountered in cogeneration are presented. The reasoning behind this author's view is that the exergy-based method is the most meaningful and accurate of the methods.     

Environmental improvements in the metal finishing industry in Australasia

Metal finishing, as an industry, has had a vexed history with the environment and regulatory authorities over many decades throughout the world. Over the past 20 years, this situation has been vastly improved in some developed countries. This paper will examine the industry's recent progress in Australasia and highlight specific issues including new technologies adopted, research projects undertaken, responses to Government legislation and education. Many toxic chemicals have been replaced, recycled in closed loop scenarios and prevented from entering the environment via the atmosphere, water ways or landfilling. This paper is written as a qualitative industry summary rather than an academic study. It is meant to highlight the major changes that have occurred and the reasons why, rather than present documented and detailed evidence. The author has drawn on his 35 years experience in the industry as well as many experienced colleagues from around the world. Although the geographic scope is Australasia, many comments emanate from the state of Victoria because it is still the manufacturing base, especially in relation to the auto industry that has affected the changes to a large degree.