Pressure group politics in modern Britain

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Opportunities in power applications of superconductors

Since the discovery of high temperature superconductors in 1986/87, rapid progress has been made in the development of these materials in forms suitable for engineering applications. Amongst the most important are flexible silver/superconductor composite wires or tapes capable of carrying tens of amperes at liquid nitrogen temperatures essentially without loss. Diverse applications in areas such as electricity supply, medicine industry and transportation now seem accessible and a total market in excess of US $l5O billion is forecast for the year 2020. A consortium consisting of Metal Manufactures Ltd. (MM), the University of Wollongong and CSIRO has produced high quality tapes on the laboratory scale, and is planning the establishment of a pilot plant within MM Cables for the production of 1 km long tapes. This paper reviews the present status of superconducting technology, discusses its likely impact on power transmission and other applications and outlines opportunities for Australian collaboration in the development of prototype devices

Driving forces of tropical deforestation: The role of remote sensing and spatial models

Remote sensing technologies are increasingly used to monitor landscape change in many parts of the world. While the availability of extensive and timely imagery from various satellite sensors can aid in identifying the rates and patterns of deforestation, modelling techniques can evaluate the socioeconomic and biophysical forces driving deforestation processes. This paper briefly reviews some emerging spatial methodologies aimed at identifying driving forces of land use change and applies one such methodology to understand deforestation in Mexico. Satellite image classification, change analysis and econometric modelling are used to identify the rates, hotspots and drivers of deforestation in a case study of the southern Yucatán peninsular region, an enumerated global hotspot of biodiversity and tropical deforestation. In particular, the relative roles of biophysical and socioeconomic factors in driving regional deforestation rates are evaluated. Such methodological approaches can be applied to other regions of the forested tropics and contribute insights to conservation planning and policy. © 2006 Department of Geography, National University of Singapore and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd