Interrogating sustainable productivism: lessons from the ‘Almerían miracle’

Many have suggested that a new form of sustainable agricultural productivism is needed in response to the challenges to food security posed by climate change and population growth. This paper employs elements of ecological modernisation theory and focusses on sustainability challenges and solutions, as well as the knowledge networks and production rationale to assess whether the intensive horticultural industry located in the Spanish province of Almería represents sustainable productivism. The Almerían horticultural industry, lauded as an example of neo-endogenous growth, manifests a range of sustainable technologies addressing environmental impacts. Yet, we argue that Almerían horticulture represents ‘weak ecological modernisation’ and its main sustainability challenges are posed by water scarcity, a demand led production rationale and the precarious situation of family farms that at present provide a degree of economic embeddedness in this highly industrialised production model. A competitive imperative yields marketing organisations huge sway in production decision-making, and while a cost-price squeeze has driven efficiency in the use of farm inputs and product innovation, it has paradoxically made further advances in sustainable water management very difficult to achieve. Transforming the Almerían horticultural industry into a truly sustainable model of productivism would require the concerted efforts of individual farmers and marketing organisations as well as regional and local water governance institutions and land use planning. A significant obstacle to this remains the dominant normative perception that justifies groundwater abstraction on the grounds of its high economic returns and the perceived inability of small farmers to invest in desalinated water or further technological solutions

Navigating CIMIC:lessons from military-local government cooperation

Abstract. Military organizations have been involved with crisis management processes in numerous occasions ranging from war to natural disasters and humanitarian aid. Recent crises, like COVID-19 pandemic have increased the military involvement in crisis management. COVID-19 pandemic brough Finnish Border Guard operations at the normally open Schengen border at Tornio, between Finland and Sweden. The cooperation between the local government and the Finnish Border Guard can be considered as a successful Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) as both organizations representatives interviewed for this study reported being satisfied with the outcome. Similarly, the Russo-Ukrainian War has challenged the Ukrainian society on a major scale since the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. As the war has escalated into a total war involving the entire Ukrainian society, the CIMIC environment is exceptionally demanding. This study focuses on identifying the key elements of successful cooperation between military organizations and local government and attempts to construct a model based on these elements. This study also showcases the difficulties experienced with CIMIC operations in Ukraine, between a Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) and local government of the city of Vyšhorod. The study utilizes semi-structured interviews to provide better understanding of the nature of practical CIMIC applications in the studied cases. The empirical data is complemented with non-systematic literature review to show the key elements of CIMIC identified by prior literature. The research shows that long lasting relationship between the Finnish Border Guard and the municipality of Tornio enabled the organizations to have a joint crisis management operation and effectively coordinate in demanding situations. Representatives of both organizations credit the personal relationships between officials as a key component in successfully cooperating in crisis, but also recognize the importance of organizational partnership. In contrast, the lack of existing relationship and experience in working together caused substantial difficulties in enabling CIMIC in Ukraine by TDF and the city of Vyšhorod. Without proper knowledge on other organizations capabilities and needs, it is proved to be difficult to engage in meaningful cooperation. Also, based on experiences in Ukraine and previous academic literature, inefficient or unsuccessful cooperation between the civil society and the military can risk military overreach in a crisis. Besides continuous collaboration before a crisis, the research shows the need and benefits in upholding responsibilities and positions of each organization and person in a crisis and maintaining a continuous communication among organizations and actors participating in the crisis management. Together these elements form a resilient operational model of CIMIC that can be utilized to improve the cooperation capabilities of military organizations and local governments

Factors influencing the realisation of the social impact of urban nature in inner-city environments: A systematic review of complex evidence

The beneficial health, wellbeing and liveability impacts of urban nature are broadly evidenced and increasingly engaged with in planning and policy. But anomalies in empirical evidence suggest that benefits do not flow equally to all. This review paper analyses the contribution of existing research on how the material and social context and subjective factors shape the social impact of urban nature. We review 46 international papers published between 2019 and 2021 that present findings from inner-city metropolitan contexts. The findings evidence variations in benefits and some dis-benefits derived from urban nature associated with features of the material context (e.g., urban and greenspace form, infrastructure and facilities), the social context (e.g., demographic diversity and socio-economic standing) and subjective factors such as gender and cultural identity. We recommend an inclusive research and planning approach that is attuned to the role of the human experience in the realisation of the social impact of urban nature to ensure that the prevalent urban greening agenda actually benefits all city dwellers and does not unintentionally contribute to further inequality. We recommend a shift of focus from ‘physical access to nature’ to ‘actually realised access to its benefits’ for more inclusive policy and planning

A framework to assess integration in flood risk management: implications for governance, policy, and practice

Over decades the concept of integration has been promoted to enhance alignment between policy domains, and to manage trade-offs and maximize synergies across management practices. Integrated approaches have the potential to enable better outcomes for flood risk management (FRM) and society as a whole. However, achieving integration in practice is a recurring challenge, especially for FRM where multiple actors need to work together across fragmented policy domains. To disentangle this complexity of integration, a framework is proposed for assessing integration and identifying different degrees of integration. This framework is based on evidence from a literature review, 50 interviews with FRM-related professionals in England, and participant observation at 24 meetings relevant for FRM. The framework sets out the context of integration, assesses the governance capacity for integration through the strength of relationships between different types of actors (bridging, bonding, and linking) and the mechanisms (actor-, rule- and resource-based) that influence them, and the realization of integration in practice through knowledge, policies, and interventions. The framework is applied for FRM in England and used to identify degrees of integration: high, intermediate, low, and minimal. An important characteristic of the framework is the interconnectivity between the governance capacity and realization of integration. The framework provides further theoretical insights into the concept of integration, while offering an approach for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners to recognize current degrees of integration in FRM and identify the critical elements for improvement. It is recommended that further research and practice-based applications of the framework are completed in different geographical and institutional contexts. Specifically, such applications can create further understanding of the interactions and dependencies between elements of the governance capacity and realization of integration

A Novel Application of Polynomial Solvers in mmWave Analog Radio Beamforming

Beamforming is a signal processing technique where an array of antenna elements can be steered to transmit and receive radio signals in a specific direction. The usage of millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) beamforming are considered as the key innovations of 5th Generation (5G) and beyond communication systems. The technique initially performs a beam alignment procedure, followed by data transfer in the aligned directions between the transmitter and the receiver. Traditionally, beam alignment involves periodical and exhaustive beam sweeping at both transmitter and the receiver, which is a slow process causing extra communication overhead with MIMO and massive MIMO radio units. In applications such as beam tracking, angular velocity, beam steering etc., the beam alignment procedure is optimized by estimating the beam directions using first order polynomial approximations. Recent learning-based SOTA strategies for fast mmWave beam alignment also require exploration over exhaustive beam pairs during the training procedure, causing overhead to learning strategies for higher antenna configurations. In this work, we first optimize the beam alignment cost functions e.g. the data rate, to reduce the beam sweeping overhead by applying polynomial approximations of its partial derivatives which can then be solved as a system of polynomial equations using well-known tools from algebraic geometry. At this point, a question arises: 'what is a good polynomial approximation?' In this work, we attempt to obtain a 'good polynomial approximation'. Preliminary experiments indicate that our estimated polynomial approximations attain a so-called sweet-spot in terms of the solver speed and accuracy, when evaluated on test beamforming problems.Comment: Accepted for publication in the SIGSAM's ACM Communications in Computer Algebra, as an extended abstrac

Lignin-Rich PHWE Hemicellulose Extracts Responsible for Extended Emulsion Stabilization

Peer reviewe

Centrifugal fractionation of softwood extracts improves the biorefinery workflow and yields functional emulsifiers

With the emerging bio-based technologies, the fractionation of complex biomass is essential to obtain value-added functional molecules for material, chemical, and energy production. The refining process of biomasses often requires the use of solvents and hazardous chemicals, whose removal after fractionation decreases the eco-compatibility of the process and increases the cost and time of the refinement. Softwood extracts obtained through the environmentally friendly pressurized hot water extraction are heterogeneous mixtures rich in hemicelluloses and lignin. Here we developed a simple, fast, organic solvent-free, and sustainable method to fractionate softwood extracts using centrifugal forces. The characteristics of each obtained fraction in terms of composition, macromolecular properties (particle size, molar mass, charge), interfacial activity, and stabilization capacity were highly dependent on the centrifugal force and time applied. The hemicellulose and lignin contents in the fractions were balanced by centrifugal forces to obtain functional emulsifiers that efficiently stabilized the oil/water interface. Through fractionation of softwood extracts, we also found that both the hemicelluloses and lignin particles are involved in emulsion interface formation and stabilization. Centrifugation is a scalable concept that can be feasibly and easily introduced into the biorefinery system and used to optimize the composition of biomass fractions for targeted purposes.Peer reviewe

Terahertz Communications and Sensing for 6G and Beyond: A Comprehensive View

The next-generation wireless technologies, commonly referred to as the sixth generation (6G), are envisioned to support extreme communications capacity and in particular disruption in the network sensing capabilities. The terahertz (THz) band is one potential enabler for those due to the enormous unused frequency bands and the high spatial resolution enabled by both short wavelengths and bandwidths. Different from earlier surveys, this paper presents a comprehensive treatment and technology survey on THz communications and sensing in terms of the advantages, applications, propagation characterization, channel modeling, measurement campaigns, antennas, transceiver devices, beamforming, networking, the integration of communications and sensing, and experimental testbeds. Starting from the motivation and use cases, we survey the development and historical perspective of THz communications and sensing with the anticipated 6G requirements. We explore the radio propagation, channel modeling, and measurements for THz band. The transceiver requirements, architectures, technological challenges, and approaches together with means to compensate for the high propagation losses by appropriate antenna and beamforming solutions. We survey also several system technologies required by or beneficial for THz systems. The synergistic design of sensing and communications is explored with depth. Practical trials, demonstrations, and experiments are also summarized. The paper gives a holistic view of the current state of the art and highlights the issues and challenges that are open for further research towards 6G.Comment: 55 pages, 10 figures, 8 tables, submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorial