China’s Energy Conditions and Policies

Energy is an essential material basis for human survival and development. Over the entire history of mankind, each and every significant step in the progress of human civilization has been accompanied by energy innovations and substitutions. The development and utilization of energy has enormously boosted the development of the world economy and human society.Over more than 100 years in the past, developed countries have completed their industrialization, consuming an enormous quantity of natural resources, especially energy resources, in the process. Today, some developing countries are ushering in their own era of industrialization, and an increase of energy consumption is inevitable for their economic and social development

\u3cem\u3eSouth Carolina Standards and Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations\u3c/em\u3e

The 2005 edition of Standards and Guidelines has been designed as an advisory framework for archaeological fieldwork and reporting in the state of South Carolina. It offers guidance to project archaeologists, administrators, and other interested parties who prepare reports and case studies like those initiated or conditioned by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended. While this edition of Standards and Guidelines focuses on archaeological concerns, readers should note that Section 106 of the NHPA also requires the consideration of buildings, districts, structures, and objects. While this manual therefore provides an overview of the legislation and processes by which all historic properties are considered, the specifics of investigating and documenting buildings, districts, structures, and objects can be found in the Survey Manual for the South Carolina Statewide Survey of Historic Places (available from the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office [SHPO])

Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for achieving sustainable social housing (SSH)

The overarching objective of social housing is to meet housing needs, particularly those of the vulnerable households – low and middle income earners. However, there is evidence to show that social housing is not adequately supported to achieve sustainable goals despite its significance for addressing the housing crisis. The aim of this study is to determine the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for achieving Sustainable Social Housing (SSH) from economic, environmental and social perspectives for meeting housing needs. The document content analysis approach involving relevant literature resources was used for generating the success factors (SFs) for achieving SSH. Findings from this approach were refined before using them in preparing a questionnaire used to gather data from housing authorities (public) and private non-profit social housing organisations in England and they were asked to rank the criticality level of the identified success factors. The data gathered through the relevant documents and respondents were analysed respectively with NVivo and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Findings revealed some of the CSFs for achieving SSH for meeting housing needs as: adequate funding and provision, affordability, efficient economic planning, appropriate construction technology, environmental protection, use of environmental friendly materials, effective land use planning, appropriate design, security of lives and property, provision of social services and ensuring social cohesion. The paper recommends the use of efficient sustainable development (SD) strategies and legal and institutional frameworks for monitoring and evaluating the delivery of SSH. The Government must embark on effective housing programmes for ensuring adequate provision of social housing that is sustainable for meeting housing needs in the short and long-run. There is need for the Government to regularly provide financial supports to social housing providers and users for addressing the housing crisis

Randomized controlled trial of functional family therapy for offending and antisocial behaviour in UK Youth

Background: Youth offending and antisocial behavior (ASB) are associated with low quality mental health and relationships and usually lead to poor adult functioning; they are very costly for society. Family interventions are effective in children but there are few reliably effective and inexpensive interventions for adolescents. Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is an evidence-based intervention but seldom tested outside the US. Methods: 111 adolescents (10-17 years of age, M = 15.0, SD = 1.63) and their families were randomized to FFT + Management As Usual (MAU) (n=65) or to MAU (n=46). Assessments were made at baseline, 6, and 18 months after randomization and included interviews and questionnaires of parenting behaviors, Conduct Disorders and offending. Parent-child interaction was directly observed and police records obtained. Trial registration: ISCRTN27650478. Results: 89 (80%) were followed-up. In both groups, there were large reductions over time in all measures of offending and antisocial behavior (e.g. primary outcome p < 0.001), but no significant changes over time in parenting behavior or the parent-child relationship. However, there were no differences between intervention and control groups at 6 or 18 months on self-reported delinquency, police records of offending, symptoms or diagnoses of Conduct Disorders, parental monitoring or supervision, directly-observed child negative behavior, or parental positive or negative behavior. Against predictions, the intervention group showed lower levels of directly-observed child positive behavior at 18 months compared to controls. Conclusions: In contrast to most previous trials of FFT, FFT+MAU did not lead to greater reductions in youth ASB and offending compared to MAU alone, and did not lead to improvements in parenting or the parent-child relationship. This may be because the trial was more rigorously conducted than prior studies; equally, the possibility that MAU was effective requires further research

Measuring scarce water saving from interregional virtual water flows in China

Trade of commodities can lead to virtual water flows between trading partners. When commodities flow from regions of high water productivity to regions of low water productivity, the trade has the potential to generate water saving. However, this accounting of water saving does not account for the water scarcity status in different regions. It could be that the water saving generated from this trade occurs at the expense of the intensified water scarcity in the exporting region, and exerts limited effect on water stress alleviation in importing regions. In this paper, we propose an approach to measure the scarce water saving associated with virtual water trade (measuring in water withdrawal/use). The scarce water is quantified by multiplying the water use in production with the water stress index. We assessed the scarce water saving/loss through interprovincial trade within China using a multi-region input-output table from 2010. The results show that interprovincial trade resulted in 14.2 km3 of water loss without considering water stress, but only 0.4 km3 scarce water loss using the scarce water concept. Among the 435 total connections of virtual water flows, 254 connections contributed to 20.2 km3 of scarce water saving. Most of these connections are virtual water flows from provinces with lower water stress index (WSI) to that with higher both water scarcity status and water productivity across regions. Identifying key connections of scarce water saving is useful in guiding interregional economic restructuring towards water stress alleviation, a major goal of China’s sustainable development strategy