Involving Diverse Interests: Theoretical and Practical Insights from Native Vegetation Management in New South Wales,Australia

Through an Australian case study, this article considers the broad issue of involving multiple stakeholders in processes designed to resolve complex issues that link environment, society, health, and sustainability. The approach adopted to address native vegetation management in New South Wales, a state of Australia, is an interesting attempt at directly involving farming communities with other stakeholders in formulating vegetation management plans. The process included a unique combination of centralized interest group mediation and decentralized regional planning processes through regional committees. The article draws upon evidence from one Regional Vegetation Committee in order to highlight some of the difficulties in coupling together centralized representative group bargaining with decentralized deliberative decision making. Suggestions are made as to further areas for research.     

英国脱欧后基因技术监管趋势及对中国的启示*——基于英国《基因技术报告》的分析

英国脱欧后加快了生物技术领域的立法进程,迫切希望通过革新原先欧盟的保守监管模式,在保障技术安全的前提下充分发挥基因技术的应用价值。为实现该目标,英国发布了《基因技术报告》,旨在重新构建更加全面的基因技术监管体系。这一报告不仅分析了既有基因技术治理实践的不足,还指明了未来英国基因技术监管的方向。当前基因编辑、合成生物学等新型基因技术正处于高速发展时期,英国的报告也为这些技术的应用提供了一条可供参考的治理路径。     

DFT studies of the role of C-2-O-2 bond rotation in neighboring-group glycosylation reactions

Although the synthetic utility of the 1,2-trans relationship of the products of neighboring group participation is well established, it is still common to find glycosylation reactions where the stereochemical purity of the products is not 100%. As part of an ongoing series of density functional theory (DFT) studies of the factors that affect glycosylation reactions which are aimed at allowing synthetic chemists to achieve such selectivities, the structures of four oxacarbenium ions and eight methanol complexes of these ions were optimized for the prototypical ions 2-O-acetyl-3,4,6-tri-O-methyl-D-gluco- (1) and mannopyranos-1-yl (2). These studies corroborate the two-conformer hypothesis and further demonstrate that glycopyranosyl oxacarbenium ions exhibit facial selectivity that depends on, besides the inherent steric and Van der Waals effects, the conformational effect associated with the change from sp(2) to sp(3) hybridization at C-1 during nucleophilic attack and H-bonding between the incoming nucleophile and the electronegative atoms of the electrophile. Further studies based on systematic C-2-O-2 bond rotations found TSs that connect the monocyclic ions with the bicyclic ions associated with neighboring-group participation. It was also possible to find two TSs that connect nucleophilic attack at C-1 with C-2-O-2 bond rotation ultimately leading to 1,2-trans O-glycosides, that is, the probable TS that determines the stereochemistry of neighboring-group participation. Both of these TSs exhibit intramolecular H-bonding, which is considered the first step in proton transfer. It is further hypothesized that this coupling of proton transfer and nucleophilic attack is integral to glycosylation. It is further hypothesized that in many cases analogous intermolecular H-bonding is also favorable with the most likely acceptor the anion that is ion-paired to the oxacarbenium ion. These general features are found for both 1 and 2, but characteristic features of each isomer are found that provide further insights into the origins of stereoselectivity.     

Legitimizing the shameful: end-of-life ethics and the political economy of death

This paper explores one of the most politically sensitive and intellectually neglected issues in bioethics--the interface between the history of contemporary end-of-life ethics and the economics of life and death. It suggests that contrary to general belief, economic impulses have increasingly become part of the conditions in which contemporary end-of-life ethics continues to evolve. Although this conclusion does not refute the philosophical justifications provided by the ethics for itself, it may cast new light upon its social role.     

In Search of Sustainable Land Use and Food Security in the Arid Hillside Regions of Central America: Putting the Horse Before the Cart

This article is based on a 2003 case study of the Special Program for Food Security in two dry, upland regions of Honduras and Nicaragua. In particular the research sought to identify factors influencing farmers’ interest in various “best practices” being promoted as alternatives to the use of fire in cropping and ranching systems. The economic feasibility and/or affordability of several of these practices are questionable in light of most farmers’ priorities, risk concerns, or limited resources. The technical feasibility of several of the practices is unclear, at least in the marginal agroecological environments in which most of the farmers in these regions operate. The study highlights the weaknesses of agricultural development initiatives designed without a sufficient understanding of existing agricultural strategies and their purposes. It also reveals the limitations of technological approaches to problems of food insecurity and land degradation, and the need for broader, more integrated rural development strategies. The findings support critiques regarding the biases of many development professionals that may prevent them from giving sufficient attention to local knowledge and perspectives.

Community‐based social interventions for people with severe mental illness: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of recent evidence

People living with severe mental illness (SMI) are one of the most marginalized groups in society. Interventions which aim to improve their social and economic participation are of crucial importance to clinicians, policy‐makers and people with SMI themselves. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on social interventions for people with SMI published since 2016 and collated our findings through narrative synthesis. We found an encouragingly large amount of research in this field, and 72 papers met our inclusion criteria. Over half reported on the effectiveness of interventions delivered at the service level (supported accommodation, education or employment), while the remainder targeted individuals directly (community participation, family interventions, peer‐led/supported interventions, social skills training). We identified good evidence for the Housing First model of supported accommodation, for the Individual Placement and Support model of supported employment, and for family psychoeducation, with the caveat that a range of models are nonetheless required to meet the varied housing, employment and family‐related needs of individuals. Our findings also highlighted the importance of contextual factors and the need to make local adaptations when “importing” interventions from elsewhere. We found that augmentation strategies to enhance the effectiveness of social interventions (particularly supported employment and social skills training) by addressing cognitive impairments did not lead to transferable “real life” skills despite improvements in cognitive function. We also identified an emerging evidence base for peer‐led/supported interventions, recovery colleges and other interventions to support community participation. We concluded that social interventions have considerable benefits but are arguably the most complex in the mental health field, and require multi‐level stakeholder commitment and investment for successful implementation.     

地方应用型本科院校“固体废物浆体管道输送”课程教学改革初探

为更好地适应地方应用型高等院校的人才培养战略,“固体废物浆体管道输送”课程教学也需要进行不断地探索。以解决环境工程专业学生在该课程学习过程中出现的问题为目标,探讨了培养应用型技术人才背景下“固体废物浆体管道输送”课程的教学改革。教师在理论与实践教学过程不断探索,及时更新授课内容,整合思政元素,密切关注固体废物浆体管道输送的前沿科技;改进教学方法,培养主动学习能力;加强实验等实践环节,并建立综合的考核方式;提高学生学习兴趣的同时也加强了对理论知识的理解和应用。     

德融课程盐溶于汤：微生物学课程思政的思考与实践

课程思政是以“课程”作为“思政”的载体,探索知识传授、能力培养与价值塑造三位融合的有效途径,当前高等教育已步入全面建设课程思政的新时期。微生物学专业面与应用范围均非常广泛,而且与人类社会发展、生产实践、日常生活都息息相关,蕴含着极为丰富的思政元素,是开展课程思政的优秀载体。我们微生物学教学团队一直以来秉承教书育人的教育理念,致力于微生物学创新教学改革,近年来又以此为基础进行了课程思政思考与实践。本文总结了“微生物学”开展课程思政的必要性、融入路径、教学评价、反思与持续改进等,以期为高等院校课程思政教学改革提供参考。     

Socio-economic and ecological consequences of the ban on adventure tourism in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, western Himalaya

Prior to 1982, the uncontrolled mountaineering activities to the Nanda Devi peak led to theheavy destruction of the biological resources of the region in the form of poaching of wild animals, treefelling by expedition parties, collection of medicinal herbs and accumulation of garbage. To curb thebiotic interference, the area was declared as Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) and adventure tourismwas stopped in 1982. Further in 1988, an area of 2236.74km2 was designated as Nanda Devi BiosphereReserve (NDBR) with an inner core zone (NDNP) surrounded by a buffer zone. A ban on tourismactivities, followed by the designation of NDBR directly helped in a significant improvement in forestcover and density. The better status of wild animals, including rare and endangered species such as muskdeer (Moschus chrysogaster) and blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur), is an indicator of such improvements.However, from a socio-economic point of view the loss of income from adventure tourism forced localpeople to migrate from the area, a phenomenon that was reflected in the human population trends,registering 15% decline between 1981 and 1991 and another 13% between 1991 and 1996. In theabsence of alternative income sources, marginal agriculture and animal husbandry became the majorsources of income for the locals. Nonetheless, the low density of human population kept the level ofbiotic pressure under control in NDBR. Promotion of eco-tourism and natural resource based employmentgeneration schemes are suggested to compensate for the economic loss to the local people and tomaintain the biodiversity of NDBR.     

Biodiversity and stakeholder participation

Consensus building through stakeholder participation is a promising new trend that takes into account the interactive character of the communication process. There is a growing realisation that stakeholder participation has a significant role to play in the development and delivery of biodiversity policy and practice. Experience and best practice from activities such as the designation and management of Natura 2000 and Integrated Coastal Zone Management shows that problem solving and conflict management are significantly enhanced through participative processes. There is therefore the potential for a change to take place in the way that biodiversity policy is developed and implemented. This brings challenges to the biodiversity community in terms of developing new skills and processes and in engaging with new agendas and sectors.