Comparing centralized and decentralized bio-energy systems in rural China

Biomass energy development has become part of the national energy strategy in China. The dis-/advantages of decentralized and centralized bio-energy systems are evaluated. Bio-energy systems should be selected based on the local circumstances. a r t i c l e i n f o t r a c t Under the dual pressures of an energy crisis and rising greenhouse gas emissions, biomass energy development and utilisation has become part of the national energy strategy in China. The last decade has witnessed a strong promotion of both centralised and decentralised bio-energy systems in rural China. The government seems to have a strong preference for centralised (village-based) bio-energy systems in recent years. However, these government-driven systems have not worked without difficulties, particularly regarding economic and technological viability and maintenance. Studies on the advantages and disadvantages of decentralised and centralised bio-energy systems are rare. This study aims to shed light on the performances of these two systems in terms of social, economic and environmental effects. Through interviewing local officials and village leaders and surveying farmers in 12 villages in Shandong Province, it was found that bio-energy systems should be selected based on the local circumstances. The diversity of the local natural, economic and social situations determines the size, place, technology and organisational model of the bio-energy system

Sediment source fingerprinting: benchmarking recent outputs, remaining challenges and emerging themes

Abstract: Purpose: This review of sediment source fingerprinting assesses the current state-of-the-art, remaining challenges and emerging themes. It combines inputs from international scientists either with track records in the approach or with expertise relevant to progressing the science. Methods: Web of Science and Google Scholar were used to review published papers spanning the period 2013–2019, inclusive, to confirm publication trends in quantities of papers by study area country and the types of tracers used. The most recent (2018–2019, inclusive) papers were also benchmarked using a methodological decision-tree published in 2017. Scope: Areas requiring further research and international consensus on methodological detail are reviewed, and these comprise spatial variability in tracers and corresponding sampling implications for end-members, temporal variability in tracers and sampling implications for end-members and target sediment, tracer conservation and knowledge-based pre-selection, the physico-chemical basis for source discrimination and dissemination of fingerprinting results to stakeholders. Emerging themes are also discussed: novel tracers, concentration-dependence for biomarkers, combining sediment fingerprinting and age-dating, applications to sediment-bound pollutants, incorporation of supportive spatial information to augment discrimination and modelling, aeolian sediment source fingerprinting, integration with process-based models and development of open-access software tools for data processing. Conclusions: The popularity of sediment source fingerprinting continues on an upward trend globally, but with this growth comes issues surrounding lack of standardisation and procedural diversity. Nonetheless, the last 2 years have also evidenced growing uptake of critical requirements for robust applications and this review is intended to signpost investigators, both old and new, towards these benchmarks and remaining research challenges for, and emerging options for different applications of, the fingerprinting approach

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Environmental governance in the Information Age: the emergence of informational governance

Castells’s influential work on the Information Age has hardly impacted on the environmental social sciences; and where it has, it has been mainly in terms of intrusions of global flows and networks in fragile environments. This paper explores to what extent and how environmental governance is changing under the conditions of the Information Age. On the waves of information and communication technologies and globalisation processes, a new informational mode of environmental governance—or informational governance—is emerging, in which environmental information gains transformative powers. Information generation, processing, transmission, and use become fundamental (re)sources of power and transformation in environmental reform. As illustrated by several examples, the conventional powers of (state) authority in environmental protection are partly replaced by informational resources, flows, and processes in new governance arrangements and networks. These new modes of informational governance not only point at innovative means of environmental reform, but also pose a series of more critical questions related to new power constellations, (information) access and democracy, and structural uncertainties following multiple knowledges. Hence, a new research agenda emerges for the environmental social sciences.

Certification of Markets, Markets of Certificates: Tracing Sustainability in Global Agro-Food Value Chains

There is a blossoming of voluntary certification initiatives for sustainable agro-food products and production processes. With these certification initiatives come traceability in supply chains, to guarantee the sustainability of the products consumed. No systematic analysis exists of traceability systems for sustainability in agro-food supply chains. Hence, the purpose of this article is to analyze the prevalence of four different traceability systems to guarantee sustainability; to identify the factors that determine the kind of traceability systems applied in particular supply chains; and to assess what the emergence of economic and market logics in traceability mean for sustainability. Two conclusions are drawn. Globalizing markets for sustainable agro-food products induces the emergence of book-and-claim traceability systems, but the other three systems (identity preservation, segregation and mass balance) will continue to exist as different factors drive traceability requirements in different supply chains. Secondly, traceability itself is becoming a market driven by economic and market logics, and this may have consequences for sustainability in agro-food supply chains in the future

Multiple modernities: transitional Bulgaria and the ecological modernisation of solid waste management

In 1996 Bulgarian municipalities were facing practical impacts of the transition from socialism affecting their solid waste systems. Existing waste infrastructure and practices had to accommodate both increased quantities and types of waste, and new EU performance norms. New demands, in combination with rising fuel prices, made ordinary operations unaffordable. Municipal managers searching for solutions joined with environmental nongovernmental organisations and consultants in exploring alternative modes of modernising their solid waste systems, using models that deviated as much from socialist-era traditions as from emerging EU waste management doctrine. We present and analyse a selection of seventeen small-scale, leading-edge solid waste modernisation projects, implemented between 1996 and 2008 in two regions in Bulgaria. Results and insights from these projects suggest that ecological modernisation in Bulgaria is a richer and more complex process than pure compliance with EU norms, having its own dynamics in relation to adaptation of EU blueprints.

Artigo: Para uma sociologia dos fluxos ambientais. Uma nova agenda para a Sociologia Ambiental do século XXI

The emerging Sociology of Networks and Flows, as it can be found in the works of Castells and Urry among others, offers promising perspectives for Environmental Sociology in rethinking its principle object of study: nature and environment. The Sociology of Flow perspective takes us beyond the nationstate, helps us to rethink global dynamics, puts an emphasis on the “material dimension” of the social and provides new insights into issues of equality and power in relation to environmental flows. Next to these positive points to be derived from the works of Castells and Urry, environmental sociologists will be also confronted with problems or dilemma’s when working within a network and flow perspective. Noteworthy in this respect are Castells’ relation between the space of flows and the space of place and Urry’s emphasis of natural science dynamics at the expense of human agency. When these problems are dealt with in an adequate way, the Sociology of Networks and Flows can help to formulate a new agenda for 21st century Environmental Sociology. Keywords: Environmental Sociology; flows; networks; governance; states.A emergente Sociologia das Redes e Fluxos, representada nos trabalhos de Castells e Urry, entre outros, oferece perspectivas promissoras para que a Sociologia Ambiental repense seu principal objeto de estudo: a natureza e o meio ambiente. A perspectiva da Sociologia dos Fluxos nos leva além do Estado- nação, nos ajuda a repensar a dinâmica global, enfatiza a “dimensão material” do social e permite novas maneiras de olhar para questões como igualdade e poder em relação aos fluxos ambientais. Junto a esses pontos positivos a serem extraídos do trabalho de Castells e Urry, os sociólogos ambientais confrontarão problemas ou dilemas ao trabalhar com a perspectiva das redes e dos fluxos. Dignas de atenção, neste aspecto, são a relação que Castells faz entre o espaço dos fluxos e o espaço do lugar, e a ênfase de Urry na dinâmica das Ciências Naturais em detrimento da agência humana. Ao lidar com esses problemas de modo adequado, a Sociologia das Redes e Fluxos pode ajudar a formular a nova agenda para a Sociologia Ambiental do século XXI