A tool for building community resilience? A case study of the Lewes Pound

In the last decade, “resilience” has gained increasing recognition as a theoretical framework for understanding and managing change in complex social–ecological systems. Resilience assessments are increasingly used to inform sustainability initiatives, strategies, and policies. The Lewes Pound represents a new complementary currency model in the UK, aiming to build community resilience. However, there have been no empirical studies to date assessing the socio-economic impacts of this model. This article addresses the need to understand how such currencies function by measuring whether the Lewes Pound is capable of building resilience. This is done by developing a novel framework for estimating economic, social, and environmental outcomes, which uses a mixed-methods approach. Findings suggest that complementary currencies can enhance social-ecological resilience through awareness-raising and changes in consumption. Although economic localisation – a key indicator – is lacking, there is evidence that the Lewes Pound has developed social interactions and changed consumption patterns of its users.     

Toward better understanding vacuum ultraviolet–iodide induced photolysis via hydrogen peroxide formation,iodine species change,and difluoroacetic acid degradation

• UV/VUV/I^– induces substantial H₂O₂ and IO₃^– formation, but UV/I^– does not. • Increasing DO level in water enhances H₂O₂ and iodate productions. • Increasing pH decreases H₂O₂ and iodate formation and also photo-oxidation. • The redox potentials of UV/VUV/I^– and UV/VUV changes with pH changes. • The treatability of the UV/VUV/I^– process was stronger than UV/VUV at pH 11.0. Recently, a photochemical process induced by ultraviolet (UV), vacuum UV (VUV), and iodide (I^–) has gained attention for its robust potential for contaminant degradation. However, the mechanisms behind this process remain unclear because both oxidizing and reducing reactants are likely generated. To better understand this process, this study examined the evolutions of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and iodine species (i.e., iodide, iodate, and triiodide) during the UV/VUV/I^– process under varying pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions. Results show that increasing DO in water enhanced H₂O₂ and iodate production, suggesting that high DO favors the formation of oxidizing species. In contrast, increasing pH (from 6.0 to 11.0) resulted in lower H₂O₂ and iodate formation, indicating that there was a decrease of oxidative capacity for the UV/VUV/I^– process. In addition, difluoroacetic acid (DFAA) was used as an exemplar contaminant to verify above observations. Although its degradation kinetics did not follow a constant trend as pH increases, the relative importance of mineralization appeared declining, suggesting that there was a redox transition from an oxidizing environment to a reducing environment as pH rises. The treatability of the UV/VUV/I^– process was stronger than UV/VUV under pH of 11.0, while UV/VUV process presented a better performance at pH lower than 11.0.     

神经毒剂沙林的破坏机理研究

采用VAMP和密度泛函程序DMol3计算了沙林的生成热,并用VAMP-PM3/UHF半经验方法对沙林裂解的过渡态进行了优化计算,共发现9种过渡态,据此判断化学键断裂的难易顺序为P=O＞P-F＞P-O＞C-O＞P-C＞C-C＞C-H; C-H键断裂的活化能最小,可能与氢原子迁移到氧原子上有关.活化能小于相应的键解离能,计算结果能解释沙林的质谱数据.计算结果对使用低当量小型核武器破坏沙林等生化武器(核除剂)的可行性提供了能量上的参考,即试图通过计算得出有效的原位破坏沙林等生化战剂所需的最低能量,进而研究使用低当量小型核武器破坏沙林等生化武器的可行性.     

中国农民问题与可持续发展

作为中国现代化特有的一个基本属性,中国农民问题根本不是也不可能是“被解决”的。而只能在中国特色的现代化模式创制中“失去意义”。正是这种创制．使得中国农民问题的变化和转型有机会成为可持续发展是否可能的典型实验。其基本含义和特点,在于如何建设和维护人和地球共同构成的这个自组织系统运行的涵养机制,以及如何把握适度发展的分寸。     

What makes institutional crafting successful? Applying the SES to case studies from India and the greater Mekong Region

Using two very different empirical settings, this paper emphasizes the required conditions for the successful crafting of sustainable institutions. In the first setting, different farmer groups in Cambodia and Vietnam try to establish a collective approach for small-scale community-based aquaculture and fail. In the second setting, the collective initiatives of urban women in India are analysed. The Indian women succeed in their objective of a fuel transition from firewood to gas cookers using a cooperative approach. Ostrom's variables identified in the “Multitier Framework for Analyzing Social–Ecological Systems (SES)” (Ostrom, 2007) are applied to local collective action initiatives in both settings to understand which factors make some of the groups succeed in their objectives and others fail. This research highlights the complexity as well as the uniqueness of different SESs. At the same time, the paper contributes to demonstrating the usability of the SES and certain variables to estimate the likelihood of success of self-organisation and crafting of rules. It highlights the relevance of certain conceptual variables for sustainable or unsustainable outcomes for different cases.     

The formation of dithionate during the iron(III)-catalysed autoxidation of sulfur(IV)-oxides

The iron(III)-catalyzed autoxidation of sulfur(IV)-oxides results in the formation of two different oxidation products of sulfur(IV): dithionate, S₂O₆²⁻, and sulfate, SO₄²⁻. The yield of these reaction products depends on the experimental conditions. Under the studied conditions ([Fe(III)] : [SIV)] = 1:10, pH = 2–4) dithionate is the minor reaction product. The formation of dithionate is influenced by the initial pH but not by the initial O₂ concentration. The presence of CO²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Ni²⁺ have no influence on the yield of dithionate, whereas in the presence of Cr³⁺ less and, in the presence of Cu²⁺, no dithionate is formed.     

The pathway to a sustainable industrial society – initiative of the Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS) at Osaka University

While it is widely known that sustainable development is the only sound and viable pathway for humankind’s future, its attainment remains elusive despite intensive efforts and some successes. The current industrial society approach based on product and process innovation in a variety of fields is not providing the expected results in addressing this important issue. In an attempt to carry out this unavoidable task, Osaka University’s Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS) introduces an integral and dynamic innovation system where technology plays a key role in fulfilling societal functions. This innovation system adopts a highly solution-driven approach that makes use of backcasting techniques based on long-term visions and mid-term strategic goals. Since technology management is the key to propelling effective innovation towards sustainability, we propose a technology transition management through the interaction of technology push, demand pull and institutional design, along with eight transition principles. RISS will develop this innovation system based on these three components and through the design of dynamic scenarios and their roadmaps.     

Long-term dynamics of terrestrial carbon stocks in Austria: a comprehensive assessment of the time period from 1830 to 2000

This article presents a comprehensive data set on Austria’s terrestrial carbon stocks from the beginnings of industrialization in the year 1830 to the present. It is based on extensive historical and recent land use and forestry data derived from primary sources (cadastral surveys) for the early nineteenth century, official statistics available for later parts of the nineteenth century as well as the twentieth century, and forest inventory data covering the second half of the twentieth century. Total carbon stocks—i.e. aboveground and belowground standing crop and soil organic carbon—are calculated for the entire period and compared to those of potential vegetation. Results suggest that carbon stocks were roughly constant from 1830 to 1880 and have grown considerably from 1880 to 2000, implying that Austria’s vegetation has acted as a carbon sink since the late nineteenth century. Carbon stocks increased by 20% from approximately 1.0 GtC in 1830 and 1880 to approximately 1.2 GtC in the year 2000, a value still much lower than the amount of carbon terrestrial ecosystems are expected to contain in the absence of land use: According to calculations presented in this article, potential vegetation would contain some 2.0 GtC or 162% of the present terrestrial carbon stock, suggesting that the recent carbon sink results from a recovery of biota from intensive use in the past. These findings are in line with the forest transition hypothesis which claims that forest areas are growing in industrialized countries. Growth in forest area and rising carbon stocks per unit area of forests both contribute to the carbon sink. We discuss the hypothesis that the carbon sink is mainly caused by the shift from area-dependent energy sources (biomass) in agrarian societies to the largely area-independent energy system of industrial societies based above all on fossil fuels.     

长江三角洲地区城镇扩展、开发区设置遥感解译

长江三角洲地区开发区的设置同城市扩展紧密相联，１９８５年以来掀起了办开发区热。通过遥感信息的解译，获取了城镇扩展和开发区的设置的数据，至１９９３年下半年，经过调整，开发区走上了稳步、健康发展的轨道，成为经济发展的“窗口”与“示范”。     

Assessing the impact of driverless haul trucks in Australian surface mining

Australia has been a leading mining nation and its mines continue to attract substantial investment due to its strong mineral endowment, mining tradition and high skills base. In recent years Australian mining companies have been facing higher labour costs, which need to be offset by other savings. Automating mine-site machinery offers one potential source of such savings.Underground mines pioneered automated technology largely for safety and mine accessibility reasons and to reduce operating costs. Yet these operations now represent a much smaller portion of the total ore tonnes mined due to the changing mining techniques meaning larger lower grade deposits are becoming economic. It appears the future of mine automation will be directed by surface mining as this maturing technology finds further applications above ground and in the next decade large scale open pit automation trials gain more momentum.This paper assesses the implications of introducing driverless haul trucks in a typical large remote Australian open-pit mine. Such automation will save employee and associated costs, increase operational productive hours and ultimately will reduce mine site workforce numbers. While there will be fewer jobs per mine, with reduced costs and higher productivity some previously uneconomic mines may again be profitable.The social implications of greater mine site automation are the reduction in population of remote mining towns and a decrease in the lower skilled labour requirements for the mining sector. There will be an increase in fly-in fly-out mining operations and companies will establish remote control centres for automated mines in larger cities. This may decrease overall labour requirements and so reduce employment in the sector; therefore, the government should be mindful of implementing policies that ensure a fair return on the economic rent of mineral leases.