Negotiating Virtue and Vice: Articulations of Lay Conceptions of Health and Sustainability in Social Media Conversations around Natural Beverages

Prior studies have suggested that despite increasing sustainability awareness, many consumers are confused about the impact of green products on their health and the environment. Unlike those studies that privilege professional discourse and adopt unrealistic presumptions of rationality and morality, this article showcases consumers as active co-producers of value and meanings. Using netnography, it analyzes social media conversations around Naked Juice and Innocent smoothies—two products marketed as healthy, all-natural, and environmentally sustainable beverages. The findings reveal a baseline picture of the products' virtues of healthiness feeling (hedonic) and holistic health image (symbolic). The article illustrates how this moral conception was dynamically constructed and transformed in the course of consumers' communicative practices. It proposes three discursive strategies by which consumers negotiate the nature and boundaries of good and bad choices vis-à-vis the products: highlighting (separating virtue from vice), balancing (reconciling virtue and vice), and resisting (reconstructing virtue as vice).     

Sustainability classifications in engineering: discipline and approach

In order to discuss how to advance sustainability in engineering, it is necessary to be clear as to what exactly is the science of sustainability. The linkage between sustainability philosophy and scientific principles has, in some ways, been acknowledged in the wider literature. Moreover, the recent scholarship on sustainability in international literature has focused on providing definitions, policies and methods, though from an engineering perspective, there is an obvious need for clarity on how the engineering and science community can integrate the science of sustainability into practice. Prima facie, this article provides an overview of the development of sustainability science through a textual analysis to collate the underlying discourse and ideology cited in literature. While the number one sustainability challenge is to mitigate climate change, compiling a definition genesis of sustainability will assist the engineering community in gaining an understanding in the underlying philosophical frames. The aim of this paper is to analyse sustainability information in the print press, journals, periodicals and textbooks since publication patterns contribute to our understanding of the cognitive aspects of scholarly knowledge development.     

Towards practice-oriented design for sustainability: the compatibility with selected design fields

Design scholars are currently exploring the potential role of design in fostering sustainable consumption. The social practice has been put forward as a relevant unit of analysis for capturing the dynamics of consumption, and, as a possible unit of intervention for design. This article sets out to explore the extent to which existing design resources may come to use in the development of practice-oriented design. To do that, it takes social practice theory as a starting point, and outlines some implications for design. Based on that, their compatibility with key principles and approaches from the design fields concerned with environmental issues and the relationships between humans and technologies is discussed, and tensions and promising resources are identified. By doing that, the aim is to contribute to the ongoing inquiry into what practice-oriented design may be, and more specifically, to discussions on the characteristics of design and innovation activities that may help foster transitions in less environmentally impacting directions.     

Promoting Sustainability with Ecological,Economic and Social Dimensions in Developing Countries

Abstract

Sustainable development is one of the most important ideas, and goals of our time. It is defined as “development which meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation and develops safe and sound society for future generation”. Achieving sustainable development thus involves a vigorous and urgent debate on different dimensions. The different dimensions of sustainability as a framework involve all issues such as science, technology, economic growth and development, health, education, finance investment and trade, politics, natural disasters, population growth and terrorism, etc. No single dimension is responsible to develop sustainable society. This article mainly described the integrated relationship among the three dimensions of sustainability.     

基于改进蝴蝶算法和社会力模型的多出口疏散模型研究*

为提高多出口场景下行人疏散效率和精度,基于蝴蝶算法和社会力模型,提出一种新的应急疏散仿真路径规划方法。在原有社会力模型中,考虑距离出口远近及行人所处位置拥挤度对运动过程中期望速度的影响,引入速度调节因子,描述行人在疏散中的期望速度变化;针对蝴蝶算法中后期收敛速度慢和易陷入局部最优的缺陷,提出自适应感知概率参数以增强局部搜索和全局搜索之间的平衡;在每轮迭代结束时引入迭代局部搜索策略,扰动局部最优解获得中间状态,并重新搜索上述中间状态得到全局最优解。研究结果表明:提出的应急疏散仿真路径规划方法在多出口环境下能够更有效地利用出口资源,提高疏散效率。     

Contrasting community and corporate perceptions of sustainability: A case study within the platinum mining region of South Africa

The concept of sustainable development is debatable within the mining context as the fact that mineral resources are non-renewable makes mining inherently unsustainable. The need for a realistic definition of sustainability that can be applied to mining is important, in light of claims by the industry that sustainable development principles underpin aspects of their operations. Furthermore, the socio-economic upliftment that should logically follow the implementation of these principles is not visible in many mining areas. Within the theoretical frameworks of intermediate sustainability, our study aimed to determine the level of sustainability that is appropriate for the mining context. The evaluation of community perspectives within the Rustenburg platinum region in South Africa as a case study, based on qualitative information derived from structured questionnaires and informal interviews brings further clarity. We found out that the environmental and social costs associated with mining were high, while economic benefits to surrounding communities were low. The perceptions of community and corporations were found to contrast sharply: the reality experienced by community members fell well short of the optimistic scenarios presented in the corporate social responsibility reports of the mining companies, which has implications for the mining industry in the area. The Rustenburg region is typical of mining areas, more especially the developing world, and application of a realistic sustainable development concept here can help the mining industry elsewhere to move its operations onto a genuinely more sustainable path.     

大气污染源在线监测系统工况监测评估与工程实践

目前,由于大气污染源在线监控设施落后、诸多原因造成监管力度不到位,部分生产企业已出现监测数据与环境污染实际情况不一致的问题.本文以试点企业为研究对象,在构建工况监测系统的基础上,建立了工况监测评估体系,对试点企业大气污染源的在线监测系统进行监测和故障诊断,并通过工程案例分析,介绍了故障诊断过程中所采用的主要分析方法.实践表明,通过在线监测系统的工况监测,生产企业在获得准确可靠的监测数据的基础上,也具备了快速查明并排除监控设施故障、保证系统正常运行的能力,避免了因监控系统故障造成的经济损失和安全环保事故.     

高职《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的构建

三元模式是高等职业教育改革的一条重要途径。通过把三元模式与《会展服务与管理》课程相结合,具体细化三元模式的实践应用,深化《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的内涵,重点对高等职业教育《会展服务与管理》课程三元模式的实现途径进行了探讨,包括整合教育资源、独创性的课程设计、采用“双导师”制授课、研究教学活动特点等方面。     

Access and Local Government Research: Methodological Reflections

Abstract

This methodological paper draws on research from Australia to examine the question of gaining access to local governments in undertaking work on natural resource management. It is argued that a range of macro-level changes have impacted on the local government sector in Australia, and these changes have rendered access problematic for researchers. These changes include an expansion of local government roles, an increase in financial pressure within the sector, a proliferation of audit measures across local governments and a low level of respect amongst local government personnel for academics and academic work. The paper concludes by identifying the reasons why understanding access in qualitative research on local government and environmental sustainability is important.     

Social sustainability – society at the intersection of development and maintenance

Since the late 1980s, much of the debate on sustainability has been dominated by ecological perspectives. However, the last decade has seen an increasing interest in the social aspects of sustainability. While, to some extent, general consensus has been reached regarding the definitions of ecological sustainability, the definition of social sustainability is still in the making. Therefore, there is a need for conceptual frameworks and theoretical constructs in order to develop the understanding of social sustainability further. This article addresses the lack of theorisation and is composed of three different sections. The first section is a literature overview covering some of the most influential texts on social sustainability. The second section introduces and relates a number of existing, polemically constructed theoretical frameworks. In the third section, Jacques Derrida's theory of différance is used to suggest a way of understanding the relationship between the oppositional positions identified in the frameworks.