From material flow analysis to material flow management Part II: the role of structural agent analysis

This paper presents a heuristic for supporting the transition from material flow analysis to material flow management. The heuristic combines material flow analysis with a newly developed method, structural agent analysis (SAA). The latter is based on Giddens structuration theory and provides a basis for understanding the social structures restricting or enabling strategies for managing material flows. We consider the specific advantages of SAA to be that it does the following: (i) it considers the interaction and dynamics of social structure and human agency and, thus, allows for including the role of structural factors such as culture in the analysis; (ii) it provides a cross-level approach allowing the study of interferences among agent groups; and (iii) it considers the different time scales of change of social structures constraining the implementation of options for improving material flows.     

建设现代职业教育为特征的绿色学校

广州市电子信息学校（原广州市电子职业高级中学）创建于1980年,1996年首评被确认为国家级重点职业高中,1999年通过复评被认定为国家级重点中等职业学校;2003年再次通过国家级重点中等职业学校的复评。2000年以来,学校结合实际,努力建设以现代职业教育为特征的绿色学校,于2003年被评为广州市绿色学校。     

Structural phase transitions and the catalytic role of RNA in proton transfer events

Conversations with Manfred Eigen proved useful.     

World Stress Map of the Earth: a key to tectonic processes and technological applications

Modern civilisation explores and penetrates the interior of the Earth's crust, recovers from it and stores into it solids, fluids and gases to a hitherto unprecedented degree. Management of underground structures such as boreholes or reservoirs take into account the existing stress either to take advantage of it or at least to minimise the effects of man-made stress. This paper presents the World Map of Tectonic Stresses (in short: World Stress Map or WSM) as a fundamental geophysical data-base. The impact of the WSM is pointed out: in the context of global tectonics, in seismic hazard quantification and in a wide range of technological problems in industrial applications such as oil reservoir management and stability of underground openings (tunnels, boreholes and waste disposal sites).     

再生资源产业发展中市场机制的缺陷和对策

再生资源市场发展是再生资源产业发展的关键,但再生资源市场机制存在着一些缺陷,这些缺陷制约着再生资源市场的发展。政府应当针对再生资源市场的缺陷采取一定的对策,发挥杠杆作用,提高市场效率,但不应当支配市场主体的行为。政策的影响往往不会与政策设计的预期完全一致,在干预市场时依据一定的原则可以最大程度地减少不利影响,提高政策的积极作用。     

从定性评价到定量评价:学术评价的再度异化及其对学术出版的影响

市场经济的发展,社会选人用人机制的需要,将学术评价推到了一个前所未有的高度,并从定性评价发展到定量评价,进而演变为数量迷信,导致学术评价的再度异化与学术出版质量的不断下滑。要消除学术评价中的异化现象,不断提高学术出版的质量,就必须坚持定性评价与定量评价相结合;实行小同行基础上的大众化评价;建立学术评价的元评价机制,以及学术评价信息公开制度,为公正、合理的学术评价机制的建立和学术出版质量的不断提高提供良好的基础和宽松的社会文化环境。     

从理念到行动:日本建设循环型社会的主要做法

20世纪90年代末,日本政府面对21世纪的环境和资源压力．针对严峻的资源与环境问题,提出了建立循环经济的构想,2000年还把建立循环型社会提升为基本国策,将该年定为“循环型社会元年”,并颁布和实施了《循环型社会形成推动基本法》等6部法律,采职了一系列行动措施,标志着日本进入了推进循环经济,建立循环型社会的全面发展阶段。日本在推进建设循环型社会进程中,理念先进,措施具体,效果明显。其中．完备的立法和严格的执法是根本保障;必要的经济支持和鼓励优惠政策是重要条件;建立生态工业园区,发展静脉产业是典型示范;以政府绿色采购来启动和引导市场需求是有效手段;政府相关部门管理职能强化和职责明晰是组织保证;加强科学研究,发挥公众和中介组织作用是重要措施。     

Review on the applications of Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer to air-quality research: Perspectives for China

The Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer (TES) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Aura satellite launched in July 2004 is the first satellite instrument to provide simultaneous retrievals of ozone (O₃) and carbon monoxide (CO) throughout the Earth’s lower atmosphere. This paper briefly reviews the TES instrument, the retrieval of O₃ and CO profiles, and the validation of the retrievals. The applications of TES O₃ and CO products include mapping the vertical and horizontal distribution of tropospheric O₃ and CO and their correlations, examining the regional and continental outflow, and analyzing the variability of the two species associated with certain weather and climatic conditions, such as El Ni?o and the Asian monsoon. TES retrievals of O₃ and CO offer an important new source of satellite data over China with good spatial and temporal coverage that can provide evaluation and constraints on the performance of chemical transport models in simulating the general features of ozone pollution over China. Special observations have been conducted and requests may be submitted to the TES team to make geographically focused observations of O₃ and CO over China.     

From large-scale to micromachining: A review of force prediction models

In this paper, a review of work performed in the area of force modelling in metal cutting processes is presented. Past and present trends are described and criticised to compare their relevance with current requirements. Several approaches are reviewed, such as empirical, mechanistic and analytical models. The models’ ability to predict forces, from rough machining to finish machining, is analysed.     

The Development of Animal Behavior: From Lorenz to Neural Nets

In the study of behavioral development both causal and functional approaches have been used, and they often overlap. The concept of ontogenetic adaptations suggests that each developmental phase involves unique adaptations to the environment of the developing animal. The functional concept of optimal outbreeding has led to further experimental evidence and theoretical models concerning the role of sexual imprinting in the evolutionary process of sexual selection. From a causal perspective it has been proposed that behavioral ontogeny involves the development of various kinds of perceptual, motor, and central mechanisms and the formation of connections among them. This framework has been tested for a number of complex behavior systems such as hunger and dustbathing. Imprinting is often seen as a model system for behavioral development in general. Recent advances in imprinting research have been the result of an interdisciplinary effort involving ethology, neuroscience, and experimental psychology, with a continual interplay between these approaches. The imprinting results are consistent with Lorenz' early intuitive suggestions and are also reflected in the architecture of recent neural net models.     

Local knowledge and adaptation to climate change in natural resource-based societies of the Asia-Pacific

This paper reviewed 42 studies of how local knowledge contributes to adaptation to climate and climate change in the Asia-Pacific Region. Most studies focused on traditional ecological or indigenous knowledge. Three simple questions were addressed: (1) How are changes in climate recognized? (2) What is known about how to adapt to changes in climate? (3) How do people learn about how to adapt? Awareness of change is an important element of local knowledge. Changes in climate are recognized at multiple time scales from observations that warn of imminent extreme weather through expectations for the next season to identification of multi-year historical trends. Observations are made of climate, its impact on physical resources, and bio-indicators. Local knowledge about how to adapt can be divided into four major classes: land and water management, physical infrastructure, livelihood strategies, and social institutions. Adaptation actions vary with time scale of interest from dealing with risks of disaster from extreme weather events, through slow onset changes such as seasonal droughts, to dealing with long-term multi-year shifts in climate. Local knowledge systems differ in the capacities and ways in which they support learning. Many are dynamic and draw on information from other places, whereas others are more conservative and tightly institutionalized. Past experience of events and ways of learning may be insufficient for dealing with a novel climate. Once the strengths and limitations of local knowledge (like those of science) are grasped the opportunities for meaningful hybridization of scientific and local knowledge for adaptation expand.     

湛江市实验中学:创建绿色学校推进素质教育

湛江市实验中学是湛江市教育局直属高级中学,其前身是广东省雷州师范学校,办学始于1935年。学校坐落于国家历史文化名城雷城的中心,地处美丽的雷州西湖畔。     

From green product definitions and classifications to the Green Option Matrix

Hybrid cars, recycled products, photovoltaic cells, bioplastics: why so different products can be called ‘green’? Which practices companies willing to develop green products should implement? How companies can easily and effectively communicate to stakeholders the environmental features of their green products? This paper tries to answer these questions, by developing a Green Option Matrix (GOM), which characterizes green products and practices along different dimensions. This matrix is then used to analyze the different features of green products as well as related green practices developed by a sample of companies belonging to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSWI). Relevant data are collected by means of content analysis of companies’ websites and sustainability reports. Green products and practices developed by each company in the sample are positioned in the matrix and results are presented and discussed for each industrial sector. Then, different sectors’ behaviors are compared. The proposed matrix can be used by companies as a market tool to analyze competitors’ green products and practices and as a communication tool to effectively communicate to stakeholders the specific green features of their products and practices.     

Energy service company and financial market development: experiences of the Global Environment Facility

Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and the energy market for ESCO financing have been developing since 1976 when oil prices increased dramatically. ESCOs’ services cover projects in many energy areas, including energy extraction, power generation, energy conversion, transportation, power transmission, energy consumption, project financing, energy project audits, monitoring, and energy savings verification. In developing countries, there are many barriers in the energy market that are preventing ESCOs from developing. These barriers include lack of appropriate policy, financial mechanisms, and local capacities for ESCO development and management. Over the past 20 years, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) financed 39 ESCO projects in 25 countries and regions to remove these barriers. The results of these projects show that some countries, such as China, are very successful in ESCO development, but others are not. Different models of ESCOs in different financial markets in various countries are analyzed; and case studies are undertaken for China, India, Ukraine, and Brazil. This article concludes that, while developing financial markets for ESCOs, countries need to consider (1) initiating national government policy to stop energy subsidies and to reform energy pricing, (2) establishing a real, market based financial mechanism for ESCOs, (3) involving the private sector in project co-financing, (4) creating incentives to ESCOs in the market by investing part of government revenue from energy tax, and (5) incentivizing ESCOs by government corporate tax exemption.     

Human Neuroblastoma: From Basic Science to Clinical Debut of Cellular Oncogenes

MYCN  , which identifies a group of patients who have a particularly dire prognosis. Amplified MYCN is used today as a prognostic marker on which therapy design is based to a large extent. An unusual aspect of neuroblastoma is the high rate at which tumors regress spontaneously, even in infants with extensive liver involvement and numerous subcutaneous nodules. Identifying the molecular and cellular basis of spontaneous regression could result in improved therapeutic approaches. Neuroblastoma is a model tumor with many fascinating aspects but has remained a challenge to the pediatric oncologist     

Understanding the North–South knowledge divide and its implications for policy: a quantitative analysis of the generation of scientific knowledge in the environmental sciences

The paper investigates the scientific knowledge divide in the environmental sciences between developed and developing countries and explores the implications and impacts on both science and policymaking. Quantitative data analysis of more than 6400 scientific papers published in 1993–2003 yield evidence for a growing divide in authorship, publication rates, and location of scientific research in nine environmental journals with high impact factor ratings. In addition to this severe imbalance in publication rates between developed and developing countries, we also find a research bias toward certain eco-climatic zones. More than 80% of papers are published in and about temperate and cold eco-climatic zones. Only 13% of the papers in our study are based on research in the dry sub-tropical and tropical zones, although these eco-climatic zones account for more than 52% of the world's land area. Based on these results, we discuss how the limited empirical source and focus of environmental research undermine the claims of universality of environmental science and what consequences this may have on policymaking processes at different levels. Finally, we briefly explore some short- and long-term strategies to address the knowledge divide.     

Plug-in electric vehicles in China and the USA: a technology and market comparison

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - As the top two plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) markets in the world, China and the United States of  America (USA) have developed...     

The role of knowledge and research in facilitating social learning among stakeholders in natural resources management in the French Atlantic coastal wetlands

Environmental policy development increasingly refers to procedural approaches where local organisational structures are set up to initiate social interactions, to establish common working methods and to formulate collective agreements. In a context of complexity and uncertainty regarding environmental issues at stake, deliberations are mostly about managing interdependencies, i.e., building agreements and implementing changes so as to reconstruct the links between natural, technical and social phenomena. We see these deliberations as situations where social learning occurs; as an iterative process of knowledge co-production (i.e., of ‘knowing’) among stakeholders brought into interaction. Our research aims at better understanding these processes in the context of French Atlantic coastal wetlands where multi-stakeholder platforms for decision-making have become the dominant process for implementing natural resources management policies. Our studies focus on the challenge of managing the production and application of knowledge in social settings, in which scientists themselves come to play a role. They show how scientific knowledge can acquire heuristic value when used in the context of intervention research, as well as revealing some of the ethical dilemmas this may pose for the role of researcher.     

中国碳排放权交易市场发展历程 ——从试点到全国

碳排放权交易作为控制温室气体排放的一种市场化手段,相对于行政手段具有全社会减排成本较低、能够为企业减排提供灵活选择等优势。2011年以来,我国在北京、天津、上海、重庆、湖北、广东、深圳7个地方开展了碳排放权交易试点工作,为全国碳市场建设积累了宝贵经验。2017年年底,以发电行业为突破口的全国碳市场启动。2018年4月,国务院碳交易主管部门由国家发展和改革委转隶至生态环境部,生态环境部从推动碳交易立法、建立健全制度体系、加快基础设施建设、强化基础能力建设等方面稳步推进全国碳市场建设。本文梳理了我国碳市场的发展历程,并对全国碳市场的进一步完善提出建议。