‘Energy regions’: The transformative power of regional discourses on socio-technical futures

‘Guiding visions’ play an important role in the transition management approach as a central means of mobilizing social actors and the co-ordination of dispersed agency.‘Energy regions’ in Austria are an interesting example for the strategic promotion of such guiding visions in the context of regional development. We describe the case of Murau, an alpine district in which a strong actor network has been built around a vision of systematically exploiting renewable energy sources and at the same time saving the region from economic decay. The vision gained much authority and has been institutionalised at various levels of regional governance. It furthermore was supported by and played an important role for regime level attempts to influence socio-technical change.Development and social propagation of such visions are inherently political and contested processes involving much strategizing and anticipation of conflict. We describe particular discursive strategies applied in niches - such as the combination and translation of sentiments into localised visions and demonstrations of feasibility. These strategies can be understood as systematic attempts to support discursive shifts at regime level by means of local activities, and aim to modify rather durable power structures.We suggest ways to analyse such discursive practices in order to orient strategic action in the course of such processes: analysing ‘guiding visions’ and their interference with other emerging trends; extending analyses across spatial scales (e.g. translations) and across thematic fields (e.g. convergence of agendas); and focusing on processes of stabilisation, institutionalisation and mutually reinforcing developments.     

Electrical futures past

Futurist writing about technology emerged in the late 19th century at the same time as new kinds of electrical technology were making utopian futures seem practically attainable. Electrical writers and novelists alike thus borrowed from the popular "science" fiction of Jules Verne, Edward Bellamy and others to try to create self-fulfilling prophecies of a future in which electrical gadgets and machines met all major practical needs of civilization. To the extent that many parts of our world are populated by the hardware that they forecast, they succeeded in their goal.     

Modifiable futures: science fiction at the bench

Science fiction remains an alien dimension of the history of science. Historical and literary studies of science have become increasingly attentive to various "literary technologies" in scientific practice, the metaphorical features of scientific discourse, and the impact of popular science writing on the social development of scientific knowledge. But the function of science fiction and even literature as such in the history of scientific and technological innovation has often been obscured, misconstrued, or repudiated owing to conventional notions of authorship, influence, and the organic unity of texts. The better to address those close encounters where scientific practice makes use of speculative fiction, this essay proposes that we instead analyze such exchanges as processes of appropriation, remixing, and modification.     

中国开展股指期货业务的可行性

通过对开展股指期货所应满足的基本条件的分析，指出由于法律、法规和股指期货交易指数还不完善，目前暂不适宜推出股指期货业务，同时也指出今后推出股指期货是大势所趋。     

企业持续创新:理论研究基础、定义、特性和基本类型

持续创新已经成为 21世纪企业谋求可持续发展的必然途径和企业创新研究的重要方向。本文指出:由熊彼特创新理论基本思想及由之发展起来的技术创新理论和制度创新理论和当代可持续发展思想共同构成企业持续创新的理论研究基础。在此基础上,系统提出持续创新和企业持续创新定义、特性和基本类型,从而廓清企业持续创新基本概念,最后讨论企业持续创新与其它有关概念的联系与区别。     

竞争战略、企业绩效与持续竞争优势——来自中国上市公司的经验证据/FONT

摘要：基于中国上市公司2000-2006年的财务数据,利用验证性因子分析技术构建了两个因子以反映公司竞争战略是倾向于差异化还是低成本,在此基础上考察战略定位对公司短期绩效和长期绩效的影响。研究发现：低成本战略和差异化战略均能给上市公司带来短期竞争优势,但采用差异化战略的企业其短期获利能力显著高于采用低成本战略的企业;低成本战略创造的竞争优势难以持续,而差异化战略建立起来的竞争优势则具有可持续性。总体而言,差异化战略在创造竞争优势方面优于低成本战略。     

Scientific collaboration for a better,more sustainable tomorrow

Collaboration among scientists and the chemistry community is as much a feature of the research process as the desire to discover.At the American Chemical Socie...     

中国科学院海岸带可持续发展研究所(筹)

中国科学院烟台海岸带可持续发展研究所(简称烟台海岸带所)是中国科学院与山东省政府、烟台市政府共建的资源环境与高技术交叉领域的研究机构。隶属中国科学院。组建的意义：海岸带是社会经济发展的     

Biomass power generation： toward a sustainable energy future

16 October, 2005 was a day of celebration for the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion(GIEC), CAS, as its technology ofbiomass gasification and power generation (BGPG) was chosen by an evaluation panel of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization as one of the 10 top investment scenarios to apply new technologies for renewable energy utilization.     

效率革命:实现可持续发展的有效途径

自然生态极限正迅速地逼近人类 可持续发展思想产生于人类活动与自然生态系统之间的冲突。西方一些经济学家如马尔萨斯(Muhhus，1820)，李嘉图(Ricardo，1817)，穆勒(Mill，1900)等人的著作中，也都较早地认识到人类消费的物质限制，即经济活动的范围存在着生态边界或者自然生态系统对人类活动的承载能力存在着极限。     

国际期铜价格波动中的金融因素分析

近年来,以期货市场为定价基础的金属价格呈现频繁而剧烈的波动,直接影响中国工业经济系统的稳定。而金融属性凸显被认为是国际铜价短期剧烈波动的主要原因。在这一背景下,从金融化视角出发探究金融因素是否影响国际期铜价格的波动,对维护中国工业系统稳定运行和保障国家资源安全具有重要意义。本文首先基于ICSS方法将2000—2014年LME期铜价格分为七个阶段,继而采用PLS方法实证检验了六种主要金融因素在不同阶段内对国际期铜价格波动的影响。研究发现,美元指数对期铜价格波动的解释力最大;黄金价格在铜价“大幅上涨”时期对铜价变化的解释作用最强,但反映的是市场对美元价值变化的信息;标准普尔500指数对期铜价格上涨具有明显支撑作用,反映出国际期铜市场金融化特征明显;投机行为虽在一定程度上导致期铜价格剧烈波动,但并未改变期货市场内在功能的发挥。基于以上结论,本文建议可借力人民币国际化抑制美元计价影响;应构建矿业金融战略体系,防范过度金融化下的价格波动风险;需理性对待投机,防范价格异常波动。     

资源、能力和知识的持续竞争优势观

持续竞争优势已经成为战略管理研究和企业实践所追求的重要目标,而资源、能力和知识在持续竞争优势的创造和持续过程中起着决定性作用,三者在一定条件下均可成为持续竞争优势的来源。本文对资源、能力和知识这三个内涵不尽相同,但又彼此紧密相连的基本概念进行了探讨,然后分别对三者在发展中的作用,在持续竞争优势过程中的作用以及它们与持续竞争优势的关系做了深入分析。     

金融发展、环境污染与经济可持续最优增长路径

在内生化人力资本和技术进步的理论分析框架下,将环境污染约束以及金融发展引入到增长模型中。根据动态最优均衡分析,推算出理论模型的Hamilton函数、欧拉方程以及各个变量的稳态增长率。分析结果显示：金融发展、人力资本积累和技术进步是经济可持续发展的关键因素。而且,金融发展作为增长模型的外生因素,能够通过投资规模的增大来提高人力资本积累速度和技术创新效率,从而提高经济的稳态增长率,降低最终产品的污染排放强度,增强消费者的环保意识,保证经济沿着最优的可持续增长路径发展。     

Chinese,Australian scholars meet in Beijing to probe sustainable ecosystems

Co-hosted by CAS, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), a Sino-Australian Workshop     

Towards a sustainable quality of university research: knowledge sharing

It is claimed that by providing a sustainable environment, a university’s research profile can be enhanced. Questions then arise about how universities define sustainability, what criteria are used to judge sustainable quality in research, and how a university can maintain sustainable research quality? This paper places emphasis on sustainable quality of research from the perspective of knowledge sharing. It is argued that effective sharing of knowledge among academics could lead to improved university research performance. It is most important that universities establish credible leadership influences on knowledge sharing. We apply Beer’s Viable System Model to identify those domains of research leadership and knowledge sharing that are necessary for an institution to maintain sustainable quality in research. This paper considers examples of research-knowledge sharing in U.K. research communities, and explores a positive relationship between research leadership and research-knowledge sharing.     

Jointly addressing the challenge： Developing a sustainable energy system

An energy report entitled Lighting the Way. Toward a Sustainable Energy Future by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), and the other one entitled Addressing the Challenge: Developing a Sustainable Energy System by CAS, were jointly released recently. The Sustainable Energy Forum: Panel Discussions on IAC/CAS Energy Reports, organized by CAS and held in Beijing on the afternoon of 22 October 2007, attracted around 50 distinguished participants, including senior governmental leaders, experts, and industrial representatives from both domestic and foreign energyrelated organizations.     

Information systems and sustainable supply chain management towards a more sustainable society: Where we are and where we are going

The objectives of this study are to identify and systematize scholarly articles on the use of information system to support sustainable supply chain management and to suggest future research opportunities. Therefore, a structured literature review was conducted. The most relevant studies identified were classified and categorized into seven dimensions: research context, research focus, research method, sector analyzed, information system (IS) beneficiaries, relationship between IS and green supply chain practices, and performance benefits. The main authors and articles on this particular topic were identified. In addition, it was concluded that IS is an important support tool for sustainable supply chain management practices since it brings benefits to the organization, suppliers, and customers. Furthermore, IS positively influences the operational, financial, and environmental performance of the organization. However, further advances in the literature are still needed. The major contribution of this research is related to the recommendations that provide opportunities for future research.