Greening as strategic development in industrial change - Why companies participate in eco-networks

Networking between companies and other regional key actors has grown into a widespread instrument for economic development since the 1990s. Participatory networks have formed the concept for many activities of Local Agenda 21. Simultaneously, economic geography has focused on network theories to explain innovation in and the economic success of regions.This article focuses on the reasons why individual actors participate in environmentally oriented information networks. The questions approached are: Does the concept of learning within networks influence a firm’s development? How do the participants interact with each other? What effects do the networks have on their environment (arenas)?The changing arenas of a firm are analysed with regard to environmental concerns. These changes need to be anticipated for reliable strategies. To gain information and knowledge about current behaviour and activities, the functions of networks as learning platforms are discussed. Drawing upon arguments from different network theories, the motivations of participating in a network are threefold: actor and firm oriented, network internal (inter-firm), and network external. From these, a generic target cube of network motivations and actions is set up.The concept is reviewed by examining 12 ‘regional environmental information-oriented corporation networks’ (RUN) in the Greater Munich Area. The empirical material reveals that this type of network does not provide a guarantee for significant improvements in a firm’s environmental behaviour. However, participants learn about best practices while pursuing explicit or implicit aims as to influence their arenas.     

Drought and institutional adaptation in the Great Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914–1939

Agriculture in the southern Great Plains of Canada has been particularly vulnerable to prolonged episodes of drought. Using climate data and a precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration index, the extent of the region’s exposure to drought is examined. Between 1914 and 1917, the Dry Belt was particularly vulnerable to drought, whereas after 1928, a much larger region known as the Palliser Triangle covering most of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was much more exposed to drought. These droughts provoked major institutional adaptation, in particular the establishment of the Special Areas Board by the Government of Alberta, and the creation of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration by the Government of Canada. Both organizations have proved to be relatively permanent public adaptations to the natural hazard of drought in the region. Moreover, these earlier experiences with prolonged drought as well as institution-building may be of value in helping the residents of the Palliser Triangle adapt to predicted climate changes in the future as well as anticipate some of the barriers to effective institutional adaptation.     

The spatial implications of the functional proximity deriving from air passenger flows between European metropolitan urban regions

Until recently the traditional spatial configuration of the European geography was based upon the core-periphery model. The ‘pentagon’, broadly defined as lying between London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg, was seen as the core area characterised by having the highest concentration of economic development in the European Union (EU), with the remainder of the European territory viewed as peripheral, albeit to varying degrees. In a number of cases such peripheral areas equated with clear regional disparities. The elaboration of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) (CEC, European spatial development perspective, towards balanced and sustainable development in the territory of the European Union, 1999) challenged this core-periphery model. European spatial planning policies, aimed at encouraging social and economic, and with ever increasing importance, territorial cohesion, seek amongst other aspects to encourage the development of a balanced and polycentric urban system. This paper adopts a network analysis approach to the analysis of air passenger flows between some 28 principal European metropolitan urban regions. The evaluation of these flows contributes to an enhanced comprehension of the spatial dynamics of the European metropolitan territory which goes beyond that deriving from the more standard analyses of the individual components of the urban system. Several indicators are used, deriving from gravitational modelling techniques, to analyse the complexity of the air passenger flows. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique is introduced in order to interpret and visualise the resulting spatial configuration and positioning of the different metropolitan centres within the conceptual European ‘space of air passenger flows’, thereby contrasting with the more traditional map-based geographical image of Europe, based upon Cartesian coordinates.

Influence of Structural Non-Stationarity of Surface Roughness on Morphological Characterization and Mechanical Deformation of Rock Joints

Summary Structural non-stationarity of surface roughness affects accurate morphological characterization as well as mechanical behaviour of rock joints at the laboratory scale using samples with a size below the stationarity threshold. In this paper, the effect of structural non-stationarity of surface roughness is investigated by studying the scale dependence of surface roughness and mechanical behaviour of rock joints. The results show that the structural non-stationarity mainly affects the accurate characterization of the surface roughness of the fracture samples. It also controls the amount and location of the contact areas during shear tests, which in turn affects the mechanical properties and asperity degradation of the samples. It is concluded that for accurate determination of the morphological and mechanical properties of rock joints at laboratory and field scales, samples with size equal to or larger than the stationarity threshold are required. Author’s address: Nader Fardin, Rock Mechanics Group, Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box: 11365/4563, Tehran, Iran     

华北克拉通北缘隆化地区S型花岗岩的独居石年龄图谱

位于华北克拉通北缘中段的隆化S型花岗岩由石榴石黑云母花岗岩、石榴石花岗岩以及片麻理化的黑云母花岗岩组成。其主体岩性石榴石黑云母花岗岩SiO_2和Al_2O_3含量分别为64.09%～69.6%以及14.6%～16.13%,K_2O/Na_2O>1.0,A/CNK>1,0,Mg~#在20.76～34.89之间变化,具有明显的Nb、Ta、P、Ti和Sr亏损以及Rb、K和Th富集。石榴石黑云母花岗岩(样品JB6031-1)采用独居石电子探针U-Th-Pb化学法进行测年,获得了2553±120Ma、2180±42Ma和1854±24Ma三个年龄峰值。一颗独居石内部成分分带上6个分析点定年结果构成2553±120Ma的峰值年龄,这一年龄与我们最新获得的2506±7Ma和2541±8Ma(继承锆石年龄)LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素年龄相似,我们将这一独居石年龄解释为继承独居石的年龄,表明在赤城-隆化断裂以北存在太古宙陆块,并且在后期构造-热事件中发生部分熔融形成S型花岗岩。该独居石颗粒幔部成分分带上10个分析点的测年结果揭示的峰值年龄为2181±42Ma,该年龄也是出现频率最高的年龄值,我们建议2181±42Ma为S型花岗岩的结晶年龄,反映了S型花岗岩的侵位时代。独居石颗粒外部成分分带上8个分析点的测年结果构成1854±24Ma的峰值年龄,该年龄与华北克拉通中部带的变质年龄接近,我们将其解释为S型花岗岩的变质年龄,表明华北克拉通北缘的构造演化与中部带的构造演化密切相关。     

柴达木盆地北缘侏罗系两类不同有机质丰度泥岩的 生物标志物特征对比研究

在柴达木盆地北缘地区,分别选取有机碳含量很低和较高的侏罗系泥岩样品,对比分析了它们在生物标志物组成上的差异。结果发现,高有机质丰度泥岩的生标组成与我国西北地区侏罗纪煤系有机质的特征差异不大,相比而言,低有机质丰度泥岩的正烷烃以前主峰为特征,Pr/Ph比值在1.0左右,三环萜烷和伽马蜡烷丰度较高,并在部分样品中检出了25 降藿烷系列。结合泥岩的有机岩石学特征,认为这些差异可能反映了泥岩沉积环境和生烃母质的不同:高有机质丰度泥岩的有机显微组分以相对弱还原条件下的形态有机质为主,包括藻类体、孢子体和角质体等,而低有机质丰度泥岩的有机显微组分以相对强还原条件下的矿物沥青基质为主,其母质可能来源于低等显微菌藻类。进一步通过对比不同有机质丰度泥岩,以及区内原油生标组成之间的相互关系,讨论了研究区的油源问题。     

三峡库区生基包滑坡监测及成果分析

生基包滑坡监测属于三峡库区奉节县三期地质灾害监测预警项目之一,该滑坡位于长江左岸,临近人口稠密的安坪乡集镇,地理位置重要。三峡水库175 m蓄水后,其变形破坏特征有何表现？对航道安全运营有无潜在威胁？是否会对滑坡体上的重要建筑及村民生产生活构成危害？针对这些问题,首先分析了滑坡的工程地质特征及主要的影响因素;其次,确立以4种监测手段为主、人工巡查为辅的监测方案;通过对大地变形GPS、深部位移、滑坡推力等几种监测方法的运用及对其成果进行分析研究,以实例说明其在滑坡监测中的应用;再次,结合宏观人工巡查进行对照分析,以充分说明大地变形、深部位移和滑坡推力监测在实际运用中的可行性;最后,根据监测结论提出对生基包滑坡防治的建议。     

基于泡沫钻进中消泡装置的试验研究

泡沫钻进过程中,会产生很多泡沫,如不及时清除,会造成施工现场泡沫的大量堆积,影响正常的生产。因此,选择合适的消泡方法在泡沫钻进过程中是非常重要的环节。选用机械消泡法中的缝隙式消泡器,建立消泡装置室内试验台进行试验,取得了良好的效果,消泡率可达86%。     

饱和粉砂不稳定性的试验研究

通过对净砂和级配良好粉砂(含10 %粉土)进行一系列三轴固结不排水试验（CU）,研究了粉土、孔隙比和围压对饱和粉砂不稳定性的影响。试验结果表明,净砂与粉砂在不排水剪切条件下均会出现应变软化现象（即不稳定性）。同一围压下脆性指数(IB)随孔隙比增加,但不稳定线的应力比随孔隙比增加而减小。引用等效粒间孔隙比(ege)后,净砂和粉砂在ege-ln p?平面上拥有基本相同的临界状态线。在临界状态理论及等效粒间孔隙比的基础上,提出在同一修正状态参数(?ge)下净砂和级配良好粉砂有相似的不稳定性。