Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development in China: A Review

Hydrogen and fuel cells may have a major role in the future energy market if governments give a high priority to reduction of CO₂ emissions with associated R&D investment in efficient hydrogen technologies. It is predicted that China would have the highest share of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2050 if their ambitious climate and energy security policies are adopted (OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)/IEA (International Energy Agency) (2005) Prospects for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (Paris: OECD Publications)). R&D in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in China has been pushed by the central government's commitment to reduce air pollution emissions from transportation, to enhance energy security and improve national competitiveness. The paper focuses on current policies and progress on hydrogen and fuel cell development in China. Development prospects and challenges are discussed with a view to achieving better understanding of the emerging hydrogen economy.     

THE RENEWED VIABILITY OF GRAIN CORN PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO, 1961–1971, AND CHANGES IN HARVESTING AND STORAGE METHODS

The decade 1961–1971 was one of remarkable expansion in grain corn production across southern Ontario, most notably reflected by the increase in the average scale of production. The complex of factors related to the renewed viability of the crop is discussed, with particular attention to developments in harvesting and storage methods. This serves to illustrate the process by which new developments in harvesting and storage methods were adopted and relates technological change to the economics of grain corn production and adaptive decision-making.
De 1961 à 1971, l'ensemble du Sud de l'Ontario a connu une expansion remarquable de la production de grains de maïs, une expansion surtout reflétée par une augmentation notable du niveau moyen de production. Dans notre article, nous discutons les facteurs complexes reliés à ce renouveau de la viabilité du maïs. Nous nous concentrons sur le développement des méthodes de récolte et d'entreposage. Notre perspective nous permet d'illustrer le processus d'adoption des nouvelles méthodes de récolte et d'entreposage, et de lier le changement technologique à l'économie de la production de grains de maüs et aux prises de décisions conséquentes.     

'Hired Hands' or 'Local Voice': Understandings and Experience of Local Participation in Conservation

In recent years, the notion of local participation has emerged as a major force in both policy-making and political philosophy. This paper explores the role that participation is playing in mediating relations between local people, conservation organizations and the ideas and practices of nature conservation in England. Drawing upon empirical research in the county of Kent, the paper argues that there are systematic discrepancies between the motives, experiences and understandings of the various policy actors towards the theory and practice of a participatory conservation. It argues that these apparent discrepancies have serious implications for both the credibility and the effectiveness of present initiatives, whereby participatory practice serves to reshape existing conceptions of conservation and rural space.     

The cultural dimension in comparative research: Making sense of development control in France

There is a tendency amongst planners to think of planning systems as phenomena with an independent existence that may be directly compared. Such a view lingers even where the concept of end‐state planning has long been abandoned, and where it is understood that the context for plan‐making and development control is an important factor in comparing systems of different countries. This paper will argue that systems of plans and development control procedures are essentially creatures of the cultures which give rise to them. They are to be understood as expressions of underlying beliefs about the way that decisions ought to be taken for the administration of a country. This paper presents three cases drawn from the author's own experience of research in France as indicative of the approach. The first, a development control case of the extension to a heavy goods vehicle depot, looks at the cultural factors that affected the way the application was determined. The second, concerning the formal development control agreements between state and commune in rural France, hinges on the understanding of the concept of a plan. The third, a consultation procedure in Lyon, is dependent for its explanation on the status of the participants in the procedure. Such an approach implies a mature understanding of the way in which a country works, not merely of its planning system. It implies an ability to communicate in the language of the country being studied. The paper concludes by suggesting that comparative research has important benefits for the understanding of planning in the home country, because of the way in which, if properly done, it questions the assumptions that are made about the nature and purpose of planning.     

Technology‐Led Innovation: The Non‐Linearity of US Jet Propulsion Development

Despite repeated announcements of its death or uselessness, the ‘linear model’ of science–technology relations persists, the notion that fundamental scientific research precedes applied studies that in time generate technological advances. This article undertakes first to revisit investigations and critiques of the model, and to remind historians of technology that intriguing alternatives to it have been developed. Second, using the case study of Cold War military jet propulsion, it argues that innovative, complex technologies have been created without reliable understanding of scientific fundamentals. These were messy, non‐linear, and failure‐filled processes, to be sure, yet they may well prove to have been more the rule than the exception, once scholars pursue richly textured studies of technical practice in experimental development. Ultimately, project needs to overcome engineering obstacles in technological innovation may provide the platforms and the funding to support basic scientific research as well, reversing the linear model’s expected flows.