Процеси сучасної інтернаціоналізації в Азійсько-Тихоокеанському регіоні у вимірах глобальної конкуренції

In 2012, governments worldwide renewed their commitments to a more sustainable development that would eradicate poverty, halt climate change and conserve ecosystems, and initiated a process to create a long-term vision by formulating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although progress in achieving a more sustainable development has been made in some areas, overall, actions have not been able to bend the trend in critical areas (including those related to the so-called food-water-energy nexus). Here, we analyze how different combinations of technological measures and behavioral changes could contribute to achieving a set of sustainability objectives, taking into account the interlinkages between them. The objectives include eradicating hunger, providing universal access to modern energy, preventing dangerous climate change, conserving biodiversity and controlling air pollution. The analysis identifies different pathways that achieve these objectives simultaneously, but they all require substantial transformations in the energy and food systems, that go far beyond historic progress and currently formulated policies. The analysis also shows synergies and trade-offs between achieving the different objectives, concluding that achieving them requires a comprehensive approach. The scenario analysis does not point at a fundamental trade-off between the objectives related to poverty eradication and those related to environmental sustainability. The different pathways of achieving the set of long-term objectives and their implications for short-term action can contribute to building a comprehensive strategy to meet the SDGs by proposing near-term actions

Exploring wastewater nitrogen and phosphorus flows in urban and rural areas in China for the period 1970 to 2015

China has experienced rapid population growth and increasing human N and P discharge from point sources. This paper presents a new spatial and temporal model-based, province-scale inventory of N and P in wastewater using detailed information on the location and functioning of 4436 WWTPs covering China for the period 1970–2015. China's nutrient discharge to surface water increased 22-fold from 177 to 3908 Gg N yr−1 and 29-fold from 20 to 577 Gg P yr−1 in urban areas between 1970 and 2015. The ten strongly urbanized and industrialized provinces along the Eastern coast contributed 43 % of China's total N and P discharge to surface water in 2015. At present, the contribution of rural areas to total wastewater discharge (2082 Gg N yr−1 and 434 Gg P yr−1) is 35 % for N and 43 % for P. The model approach and sensitivity analysis of this study indicate that policies aiming at improving water quality need to consider these regional differences, i.e., improvement of the wastewater treatment technology level in Eastern regions and increasing both the sewage connection and wastewater treatment in Central and Western regions

Future global pig production systems according to the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

peer-reviewedGlobal pork production has increased fourfold over the last 50 years and is expected to continue growing during the next three decades. This may have considerable implications for feed use, land requirements, and nitrogen emissions. To analyze the development of the pig production sector at the scale of world regions, we developed the IMAGE-Pig model to describe changes in feed demand, feed conversion ratios (FCRs), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and nitrogen excretion for backyard, intermediate and intensive systems during the past few decades as a basis to explore future scenarios. For each region and production system, total production, productive characteristics and dietary compositions were defined for the 1970–2005 period. The results show that due to the growing pork production total feed demand has increased by a factor of two (from 229 to 471Tg DM). This is despite the improvement of FCRs during the 1970–2005 period, which has reduced the feed use per kg of product. The increase of nitrogen use efficiency was slower than the improvement of FCRs due to increasing protein content in the feed rations. As a result, total N excretion increased by more than a factor of two in the 1970–2005 period (from 4.6 to 11.1 Tg N/year). For the period up to 2050, the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) provide information on levels of human consumption, technical development and environmental awareness. The sustainability of pig production systems for the coming decades will be based not only on the expected efficiency improvements at the level of animal breeds, but also on four additional pillars: (i) use of alternative feed sources not competing with human food, (ii) reduction of the crude protein content in rations, (iii) the proper use of slurries as fertilizers through coupling of crop and livestock production and (iv) moderation of the human pork consumption

Integrating Life Cycle and Impact Assessments to Map Food's Cumulative Environmental Footprint

Producing food exerts pressures on the environment. Understanding the location and magnitude of food production is key to reducing the impacts of these pressures on nature and people. In this Perspective, Kuempel et al. outline an approach for integrating life cycle assessment and cumulative impact mapping data and methodologies to map the cumulative environmental pressure of food systems. The approach enables quantification of current and potential future environmental pressures, which are needed to reduce the net impact of feeding humanity. © 2020 The AuthorsFeeding a growing, increasingly affluent population while limiting environmental pressures of food production is a central challenge for society. Understanding the location and magnitude of food production is key to addressing this challenge because pressures vary substantially across food production types. Applying data and models from life cycle assessment with the methodologies for mapping cumulative environmental impacts of human activities (hereafter cumulative impact mapping) provides a powerful approach to spatially map the cumulative environmental pressure of food production in a way that is consistent and comprehensive across food types. However, these methodologies have yet to be combined. By synthesizing life cycle assessment and cumulative impact mapping methodologies, we provide guidance for comprehensively and cumulatively mapping the environmental pressures (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, spatial occupancy, and freshwater use) associated with food production systems. This spatial approach enables quantification of current and potential future environmental pressures, which is needed for decision makers to create more sustainable food policies and practices. © 2020 The Author

Measuring subluxation of the hemiplegic shoulder: Reliability of a method

Objective: Subluxation of the shoulder after stroke can be measured according to the method described by Van Langenberghe and Hogan. Methods: To evaluate the reliability of this method, the shoulder radiographs of 25 patients were available for this study. Two independent raters each assessed these radiographs twice. Results: The intrarater reliability was good: percentage of agreement was 88 and 84%, weighted κ, 0.69 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.38-1 0] and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.60-0.95) for raters 1 and 2, respectively. The interrater reliability was poor: percentage of agree ment was 36 and 28%, κ, 0.11 (95% CI, 0.0-0.31) and 0.09 (95% CI, 0.0-0.23) in sessions 1 and 2, respectively. Subsequently the original method was adjusted by com bining two categories (no subluxation and beginning subluxation) into one (“no clin ically important subluxation”). Conclusions: After this adjustment of the categories, the interrater reliability improved [percentage of agreement, 72%, and κ, 0.49 (95% CI, 0.18-0.80)], but did not reach acceptable values

Physics and Chemistry of Planet-Forming Disks in Extreme Radiation Environments

Our knowledge about the formation history of planetary systems is obtained by comparing the demographics of proto-planetary disks with the exoplanetary system population. Most of the disks that we have been able to characterize to date are located in nearby low-mass star forming regions. However, it is well known that most stars form in denser environments and therefore, it is questionable that the well studied population of planet forming disks is representative of those in which most exoplanets were assembled. Due to their large distances and high densities, so far it has been impossible to study the physical and chemical properties of proto-planetary disks in massive star-forming regions. We will exploit the unique resolution and sensitivity of JWST/MIRI to explore for the first time the impact of disk evaporation on the disk structure, warm disk chemistry, and dust mineralogy, all of which are important for planet formation models and exoplanet atmosphere composition. The derived physical and chemical properties will be compared to similar data of low-mass star forming regions of JWST GTO programmes