Are we there yet? A legal assessment and review of the concept of sustainable development under international law

Some of the most consistently utilized terms in international environmental law are “sustainable  development” and “sustainability”. Sustainable development is mentioned in virtually every domestic, regional and international laws on environment, energy and natural resources. This has led to the contentions by some scholars that the concept of sustainable development has matured into customary international law, or at least has become a general principle of international environmental law. Many researchers, however, argue that the idea of sustainable development is vague, elusive and does not add much to the efficient implementation of international environmental law. This article aims to examine and discuss these views. In this paper, the content of the widely used concepts “sustainability” and  “sustainable development” are studied from the perspective of their implementation in different parts of the world. The article examines the status of the concept of sustainable development under international law, its implementation across sectors, its key contributions to international law and how its practical actualization can be further strengthened. The article sets out with a broad inter-disciplinary review of the existing definitions of the concepts  “sustainability” and “sustainable development”. The article will then examine examples of how “sustainability” and “sustainable development” are incorporated in  contemporary environmental law, in order to highlight its current status under international law and its overall influence on different spheres of our life. Major  difficulties and challenges associated with  implementing and enforcing sustainability are also examined. It is suggested that market systems should be  supplemented by political processes and legal regulations that include special mechanisms and tools to protect and control the health of the environment. Growing awareness of sustainability, primarily environmental, among produces is viewed in the article as a very positive trend. It is welcomed that more and more  industries are engaged in sustainable production throughout the entire product life  cycle. The use of such tools as sustainability criteria, sustainability standards and eco-labels must also be promoted.Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, implementing sustainability, industrial sustainability

Legal analysis of the European Union sustainability criteria for biofuels

This paper provides a legal analysis and review of the European Union (EU) sustainability criteria for biofuels, presented in Directive 2009/28/EC. The paper discusses the EU sustainability criteria as a tool that could be efficiently utilized to operationalize and implement the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability in an industrial setting. The results of the analysis highlight that to safeguard the sustainable quality of biofuels and their production, the list of the EU sustainability criteria should be elaborated further. Other criteria that regulate various aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability need be added. For example, there is a need for further elaboration of the sustainable agricultural practices and tolerable use of water resources. Furthermore, as long as the EU requirements to fulfill the sustainability criteria have global impacts, the perspective of the involved actors from other regions and countries should be taken into account. Practical possibilities of the involved actors, their costs for the implementation of the sustainability criteria and regional differences should also be considered. More generally, the paper suggests that the list of sustainability criteria, incorporated in a legal framework, should neither be too long, nor too short. A long list is not easy to implement. For a short list, as illustrated by the EU, it could be difficult to guarantee sustainability. Consequently, to the extent possible, the legislated list of sustainability criteria should be complemented by non-binding recommendations, explanations and guidelines. Furthermore, before making the suggested sustainability criteria legally binding, possible conflicts between different interests and contradictions with the already existing regulations from neighboring spheres of law should be investigated as a matter of necessity.Keywords: Sustainability, Sustainability criteria, Biofuels, Directive 2009/28/EC

Experimental Investigation of the Vibro-impact Capsule System

Dr. Yang Liu would like to acknowledge the financial support for the Small Research Grant (31841) by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. This work is also partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11672257 and 11402224), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No. BK20161314).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Path-following analysis of the dynamical response of a piecewise-linear capsule system

Acknowledgements The first author has been supported by a Georg Forster Research Fellowship granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, GermanyPeer reviewedPreprin

Linguistic False Friends and Expected Food Markets: What can Make Consumers Not Choose Your Product?

Many researches have been done concerning the study of parameters which make people choose or not such product on the market. Concerning food industry, scientists have been involved in the analysis of technical parameters (nutrition, health characteristics) and their perception by the consumer, and in the analysis of psycho-sociological parameters linked with the perception of the product, or emotion associated with food or its environment. Other parameters investigated are suspicion of novelties, adherence to technology or to natural food, enjoyment, necessity. But what about the effect of words from the socio-psycholinguistic standpoint? It seems to be poorly investigated. Some claims: “It doesn’t matter how important the brand name is to the company, it’s what it means to the public that counts”. Concerning the foreign migration of brands (the use of a brand from one country to another), some psychological functions associated with language are weakened in the communication process. If an undesirable link is built between the concept of the brand and another one in the target foreign market, this can come from some communication channels detailed in this study. The weakened psychological functions can be some of the causes, and the undesirable link built through the communication channels is the consequence. It is shown why unexpected links between the brand (or the product name) and an undesirable concept must be looked for in six dimensions (academic, common, popular, rude language, slang, and “no meaning” language), and how an adapted advertisement campaign can enforced the psychological functions associated with language.agronomy, product, market, marketing, food industry perception, psycholinguistic linguistic communication, language, foreign migration, brands, homonym, paronym, neograph, Consumer/Household Economics,

Global dynamics of a harmonically excited oscillator with a play : Numerical studies

This work was supported by the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador (SENESCYT); the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral of Ecuador (ESPOL); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11272268, 11572263) and Scholarship of China. A.S.E. Chong and Y. Yue acknowledge the hospitality of the Centre of Applied Dynamics Research at the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPostprin

Multi-modes approach to modelling of vortex-induced vibration

Acknowledgements A.P. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Subsea Research Institute (NSRI) UK. E.P. and M.W. are grateful for partial support provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) by the PRIN funded program 2010/11 N.2010MBJK5BPeer reviewedPostprin