Engineering for problem solving in future: eco-social market economy and eco-social tech.

The paper differentiates approaches in technology (end-of-pipe, cleaner production, industrial ecology, zero emission and eco-social-tech) and compares them in respect to the problem solving capacity on the ecological as well as social dimension by showing the eco-impact reduction and job creation. Eco-social-tech represents the approach with highest problem solution as it is based on "eco-social market economy", which will the replace free market economy. The deep background of these innovations is "ecosophy", the wisdom of nature, which serves as guideline for eco-restructuring the world.     

European environmental assistance to the region of Pskov in northwest Russia: sustainability,effectiveness and implications for environmental governance

The paper explores the impact and sustainability of environmental assistance coming to Russia from EU-based public and private foundations, and its implications for environmental governance. Geographically, the study ’encompassed all the assistance projects awarded in 1991–2016 involving beneficiaries from Pskovskaya Oblast’. This region is potentially an important target for EU investments in environmental infrastructure, due to its location by the EU border and high value of natural capital. The study demonstrates how the assumptions offered by the international aid literature (mostly derived from the global South) apply to Russia. We found major limitations to the assumption that co-financing provided by recipients ensures project effectiveness (demonstrating the acceptance of the donor's agenda) or sustainability (providing interest to the maintenance of outputs). Tangible assets are normally co-financed only if the investment was in agenda anyway (and therefore the donor gets only time gains, although this can be a valid purpose too); soft outputs (plans, surveys, policies, etc.) are usually co-financed in-kind, and therefore cannot secure any additional commitment. Likewise, physical infrastructure often ends up mismanaged due to low or no maintenance budgets available, while maintenance of soft outputs is too much dependent on contextual factors beyond the co-finance paradigm.     

Viskosität und Teilchenform

The Science of Nature -     

Impact of heavy metal pollution on plants and leaf-miners

Large-scale effects of diffuse heavy metals pollution on terrestrial ecosystems are still underestimated. We studied the relation between the biodiversity of vascular plants and the feeding Lepidoptera, in our case leaf-miners and pollinating adult butterflies, in a Dutch nature reserve over a period of five years. We found that 5% of the 56 plants species which provide food and habitat to Microlepidoptera during their larval stage were affected by heavy metal pollution. Furthermore, the numerical abundance of leaf-mining larvae remained rather constant, despite of significant increases of the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn pollutants in leaves and litter.     

Biodegradability of blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) with cellulose acetate esters in activated sludge

Blends of the bacterially produced polyester poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) with cellulose acetate esters (CAE) further substituted with propionyl or butyryl groups (degree of substitution: 2.60 propionyl and 0.36 acetyl or 2.59 butyryl and 0.36 acetyl, respectively) were exposed for 4 months to activated sludge to determine their biodegradability. Samples of such blends made by solution-mixing and solvent-casting had complex morphologies in which both individual components as well as a miscible blend phase were present. Additionally, the two opposite surfaces of solvent-cast films showed both physical and chemical differences. After 2 months, samples of pure PHBV had degraded by more than 98% (15 mg/cm² of surface area), whereas a pure CAE sample had degraded less than 1% (<0.2 mg/cm²). Samples containing 25% CAE lost less than 40% of their initial weights (6 mg/cm²) over the total 4-month period. Samples with 50% CAE lost up to 16% weight (2 mg/cm²), whereas those containing 75% CAE lost only slightly more weight than corresponding sterile control samples (1 mg/cm²). NMR results confirm that weight loss from samples containing 25% CAE resulted only from degradation of PHBV and that the surface of samples became enriched in CAE. Solvent-cast film samples containing equal amounts of PHBV and CAE degraded preferentially on the surface which formed at the polymer-air interface. Scanning electron microscopy and attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy revealed this surface to have a rougher texture and a greater PHBV content.     

Automatic classification of climate change effects on marine species distributions in 2050 using the AquaMaps model

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - Habitat modifications driven by human impact and climate change may influence species distribution, particularly in aquatic environments. Niche-based...