Human spaceflight in the UK: the cost of non-participation

Human space exploration is not considered a strategic priority in the United Kingdom at present. However the UK would benefit from participating in human spaceflight, for both scientific and social reasons. From the point of view of medical science there are many parallels between the physiology of spaceflight and terrestrial disease processes, and studies of the response of astronauts to long-duration spaceflight can therefore help in the development of therapeutic strategies on Earth. On the social side, human spaceflight is an attractive vehicle for stimulating the interest of young people in science and engineering, something that must be of value for an aspiring ‘knowledge-based’ economy.     

优化发电能源结构的初探

从我国电力工业发展的角度，浅析了国内外发电能源结构及其变化趋势，作者认为优化我国发电能源结构、采取必要的技术措施，是实现我国电力 工业可持续发的重要途径。     

测定度盘分划改正的新方法──组合固定角距法

本文分析了国外用于测定度盘分划改正的几种方法，并分析了固定角距法的优点和不足之处；详细叙述了组合固定角距法测定对径改正的原理和计算公式；并且讨论了两对显微镜之间夹角变化以及显微镜比例尺变化对对径改正的影响，给出了相应的修正方法。用固定角距法所测的对径改正精度可达±０″．００９。     

发挥行业和地域优势开辟经济发展新领域——矿业网站的建设设想

网络经济已成为新的社会生产力的代表。广西地质矿产勘查开发局应该利用其行业和地域方面的固有优势，积极参与网络经济，以期打开矿业市场。文章提出了建立矿业网站的设想和框架。     

The trouble with nature: Ambivalence in the lives of urban Australian environmentalists

The number and range of contests over the social production of nature is growing. Much environmentalist discourse, however, continues to appeal for unequivocal scientific support on clearly demarcated issues of pure, a-social nature. This paper explores the question of how participants in environmental movements view this demarcation in the context of their own lives. After introducing scholarly critique of dualistic ideas of nature and the ambivalence characteristic of environmentalist conceptions of nature, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with environmentalists in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Hobart. Inquiring into the interplay of discourse of nature and everyday worlds, interviews revealed a complex interdependence of dualistic and non-dualistic understandings of nature. This ecology of ideas was especially evident in spatial imaginaries of nature. Scientific terminology, social disaffection and pessimism were associated with abstract and mutually exclusive conceptions of society and nature. Reflections on personal experience, however, indicated more flexible and hopeful negotiations in everyday liminal spaces offering ‘the best of both worlds’. It is concluded that environmentalist resistance to dismantling of conceptual boundaries between society and nature may often stem not from failure to appreciate socionatural complexity, but from a strongly felt sense that the self can only truly be found in nature.     

GMOs and their contexts: A comparison of potential and actual performance of GM crops in a local agricultural setting

In this paper, I argue that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have inherent potential to contribute to socially and environmentally sustainable agriculture by virtue of their ‘biological embeddedness’. Their actual ‘performance’ and how this contributes to sustainability depends on the ‘mutual shaping’ of technology and context. While much attention has been given to the design context of GMOs, this paper considers the influence of the application context and of users. A case study investigating the use of insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant GM cotton in the cotton-growing region of New South Wales in Australia is presented. The study was based on focus groups with farmers and other stakeholders in a cotton-growing community. It demonstrated a range of direct and indirect effects of GM cotton use, both positive and negative for sustainability, and the ways in which these effects were influenced by the local social context. The influences of the biotechnology industry context, in limiting the contributions that gene technologies can make to sustainability, were also considered, and remedies suggested. I argue that the polarity of the GM debate is hindering progress on these issues, and that a more balanced approach to our analysis of GMOs is necessary in order to fully understand, and to influence, their role in the future of rural spaces.     

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.     

Tantulocarida (Crustacea: Maxillopoda): A New Taxon from the Temporary Meiobenthos1

Abstract. Two new genera of Tantulocarida are described from the Ligurian deep sea (Western Mediterranean) off Corsica. Xenalytus scotophilia is referred to the Microdajidae and differs from Microdajus GREVE in thoracopodal segmentation as well as in the presence of coupling spines on thoracopod 6 and longitudinal lamellae on the cephalic shield. Aphotocentor styx is placed in the Deoterthridae and holds an intermediate position between Deoterthron BRADFORD & HEWITT and Boreotantulus HI/YS & BOXSHALL. Some aspects of cephalon internal structure are described for the first time and give a possible explanation for the mechanism of stylet protrusion. The external structures of the oral disc are described using SEM. The discovery of well-developed muscles in the trunk and thoracopods is discussed in the light of the benthic phase the tantulus passes through. The boundary between the thorax and abdomen in the tantulus is reinterpreted, corroborating the 5–7-5 bodyplan of the hypothetical urmaxillopodan as found in the Upper Cambrian Skaracarida and possibly also Dala peilertae MOLLER. Some aspects related to dispersal, infection, and feeding are reinterpreted or approached from a different perspective. SEM of Microdajus langi GREVE gives evidence that the tantuli hatch via a conspicuous slit located at the posterior end of the female trunk sac. A worldwide key to the tantulocaridan families and genera is given, and distributional records are compiled. It is suggested that Tantulocarida might be common representatives of the temporary meiobenthos and that their present species number represents only the tip of the iceberg.     

Reliability-Based Optimal Design for Very Large Floating Structure

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Fatigue Behavior of Plain Concrete Under Biaxial Compression: Experiments and Theoretical Model

The effects of different lateral confinement stress on the fatigue behavior of and cumulative damage to plain concrete are investigated experimentally. Eighty 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm specimens of ordinary strength concrete are tested under constant- or variable-amplitude fatigue loading and lateral confinement pressure in two orthogonal directions. A fatigue equation is developed by modifying the classical Aas-Jakobsen S-N equation for taking into account the effect of the confined stress on fatigue strength of plain concrete. The results of variable-amplitude fatigue tests indicate that the linear damage theory proposed by Palmgren and Miner is unreasonable in the biaxial stress state. A nonlinear cumulative damage model that could model the effects of the magnitude and sequence of variable-amplitude fatigue loading and lateral confinement pressure is proposed on the basis of the evolution laws of the residual strains in the longitudinal direction during fatigue tests. The residual fatigue life predic