AbstractThe authors draw upon the principles of the social identity tradition in order to elaborate a psychological model of mass communication. This centres on the way in which people construe their social identities and the meanings of events for these identities. They then go on to look at the ways in which these principles have been employed both to mobilize collective support for genocide and collective resistance to genocide. They conclude that it is critical to understand these principles and to apply them effectively in order to promote social harmony and the defence of vulnerable groups.
This article presents three portraits of adolescent students with Asperger's syndrome. These portraits include descriptive details about these students as young children, their schooling experiences, their interests, and their social life experiences. To construct these portraits, we conducted a series of focus groups with professionals who provide direct services to these students. We also conducted interviews with the students and parents. The purpose of these three portraits is to serve as a starting point for those in the field to further examine possible solutions for better meeting the needs of these students. The role of these portraits (or personal stories) in helping to inform critical areas of need and important directions for meeting the needs of adolescent students with Asperger's syndrome conclude our article.
This paper presents the results of a step-by-step Delphi analysis used to develop a definition and measure of quality of working life [QWL] in a case specific setting. A representative panel of 64 employees from the headquarters of a large insurance company constituted the Delphi panel that engaged in defining QWL utilizing a six-phase Delphi methodology. The results of a 34-item QWL questionnaire developed from that definition were tested with a sizable [n = 450] sample of the company's employees. Those results identified the following seven significant predictors of QWL, four of which extended beyond specific job content: [a] degree to which my superiors treat me with respect and have confidence in my abilities, [b] variety in my daily work routine, [c] challenge of my work, [d] my present work leads to good future work opportunities, [e] self-esteem, [/l extent to which my life outside of work affects my life at work, and [g] the extent to which the work I do contributes to society.
China has ambitious goals for economic development, and must find ways to power the achievement of those goals that are both environmentally and socially sustainable. Integration into the global economy presents opportunities for technological improvement and access to energy resources. China also has options for innovative policies and measures that could significantly alter the way energy is acquired and used. These opportunities and options, along with long-term social, demographic, and economic trends, will shape China s future energy system, and consequently its contribution to emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). In this study, entitled China s Sustainable Energy Future: Scenarios of Energy and Carbon Emissions, the Energy Research Institute (ERI), an independent analytic organization under China's Na tional Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), sought to explore in detail how China could achieve the goals of the Tenth Five-Year Plan and its longer term aims through a sustainable development strategy. China's ability to forge a sustainable energy path has global consequences. China's annual emissions of greenhouse gases comprise nearly half of those from developing countries, and 12 percent of global emissions. Most of China's greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of CO2, 87 percent of which came from energy use in 2000. In that year, China's carbon emissions from energy use and cement production were 760 million metric tons (Mt-C), second only to the 1,500 Mt-C emitted by the US (CDIAC, 2003). As China's energy consumption continues to increase, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to inevitably increase into the future. However, the rate at which energy consumption and emissions will increase can vary significantly depending on whether sustainable development is recognized as an important policy goal. If the Chinese Government chooses to adopt measures to enhance energy efficiency and improve the overall structure of energy supply, it is possible that future economic growth may be supported by a relatively lower increase in energy consumption. Over the past 20 years, energy intensity in China has been reduced partly through technological and structural changes; current annual emissions may be as much as 600 Mt-C lower than they would have been without intensity improvements. China must take into account its unique circumstances in considering how to achieve a sustainable development path. This study considers the feasibility of such an achievement, while remaining open to exploring avenues of sustainable development that may be very different from existing models. Three scenarios were prepared to assist the Chinese Government to explore the issues, options and uncertainties that it confronts in shaping a sustainable development path compatible with China's unique circumstances. The Promoting Sustainability scenario offers a systematic and complete interpretation of the social and economic goals proposed in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. The possibility that environmental sustainability would receive low priority is covered in the Ordinary Effort scenario. Aggressive pursuit of sustainable development measures along with rapid economic expansion is featured in the Green Growth scenario. The scenarios differ in the degree to which a common set of energy supply and efficiency policies are implemented. In cons ultation with technology and policy experts domestically and abroad, ERI developed strategic scenarios and quantified them using an energy accounting model. The scenarios consider, in unprecedented detail, changes in energy demand structure and technology, as well as energy supply, from 1998 to 2020. The scenarios in this study are an important step in estimating realistic targets for energy efficiency and energy supply development that are in line with a sustainable development strategy. The scenarios also help analyze and explore ways in which China might slow growth in greenhouse gas emissions. The key results have important policy implications: Depending on how demand for energy services is met, China could quadruple its gross domestic product between 1998 and 2020 with energy use rising by 70 percent to 130 percent (Figure 1). Continual progress in improving the efficiency and structure of industry is crucial to maintaining economic growth with minimal growth in energy use. In some industries, output may grow with no rise in energy use at all. Swelling ranks of motor vehicles will deepen China's dependence on imported oil up to 320 Mt per year by 2020 an amount that global markets can easily supply. To moderate growth in transportation energy use, the strong promotion of convenient public transport will be needed in addition to tighter fuel efficiency standards and advanced vehicles. Fuel switching, efficient appliances, better heating and cooling systems, and improved building envelope technologies will be needed in the fast-growing buildings sector. By 2020, China will still be dependent on coal for 54 percent to 65 percent of its primary energy, even with rapid growth of other fuels and substantial progress in raising the efficiency of coal use. Natural gas supplies, including imported pipeline gas and LNG, will have to expand tremendously to meet demand from households, commercial buildings, and electric utilities; obtaining sufficient supply is a crucial uncertainty. Sustainable growth in electricity generation will require strong policy support for a range of technologies, including advanced coal-fired generation, natural gas, hydropower, non-hydro renewables, and nuclear. If sustainable policies for energy development are not pursued, energy-related carbon emissions could more than double between 1998 and 2020, but if such policies are aggressively pursued carbon emissions could increase by only 50 percent. Although China's energy sector faces many future challenges, it is technically feasible for China to progress towards meeting its development goals while limiting the growth of energy use. However, each of the three scenarios in this report will require significant, long-term policy efforts to achieve the energy and emission trajectories described in the following pages.
This report provides a detailed, bottom-up analysis of energy consumption in China. It recalibrates official Chinese government statistics by reallocating primary energy into categories more commonly used in international comparisons. It also provides an analysis of trends in sectoral energy consumption over the past decades. Finally, it assesses the future outlook for the critical period extending to 2020, based on assumptions of likely patterns of economic activity, availability of energy services, and energy intensities. The following are some highlights of the study's findings: * A reallocation of sector energy consumption from the 2000 official Chinese government statistics finds that: * Buildings account for 25 percent of primary energy, instead of 19 percent * Industry accounts for 61 percent of energy instead of 69 percent * Industrial energy made a large and unexpected leap between 2000-2005, growing by an astonishing 50 percent in the 3 years between 2002 and 2005. * Energy consumption in the iron and steel industry was 40 percent higher than predicted * Energy consumption in the cement industry was 54 percent higher than predicted * Overall energy intensity in the industrial sector grew between 2000 and 2003. This is largely due to internal shifts towards the most energy-intensive sub-sectors, an effect which more than counterbalances the impact of efficiency increases. * Industry accounted for 63 percent of total primary energy consumption in 2005 - it is expected to continue to dominate energy consumption through 2020, dropping only to 60 percent by that year. * Even assuming that growth rates in 2005-2020 will return to the levels of 2000-2003, industrial energy will grow from 42 EJ in 2005 to 72 EJ in 2020. * The percentage of transport energy used to carry passengers (instead of freight) will double from 37 percent to 52 percent between 2000 to 2020,. Much of this increase is due to private car ownership, which will increase by a factor of 15 from 5.1 million in 2000 to 77 million in 2020. * Residential appliance ownership will show signs of saturation in urban households. The increase in residential energy consumption will be largely driven by urbanization, since rural homes will continue to have low consumption levels. In urban households, the size of appliances will increase, but its effect will be moderated by efficiency improvements, partially driven by government standards. * Commercial energy increases will be driven both by increases in floor space and by increases in penetration of major end uses such as heating and cooling. These increases will be moderated somewhat, however, by technology changes, such as increased use of heat pumps. * China's Medium- and Long-Term Development plan drafted by the central government and published in 2004 calls for a quadrupling of GDP in the period from 2000-2020 with only a doubling in energy consumption during the same period. A bottom-up analysis with likely efficiency improvements finds that energy consumption will likely exceed the goal by 26.12 EJ, or 28 percent. Achievements of these goals will there fore require a more aggressive policy of encouraging energy efficiency.
