ALBERT

Description: 'Thinking Literature across Continents' finds Ranjan Ghosh and J. Hillis Miller—two thinkers from different continents, cultures, training, and critical perspectives—debating and reflecting upon what literature is and why it matters. Ghosh and Miller do not attempt to formulate a joint theory of literature; rather, they allow their different backgrounds and lively disagreements to stimulate generative dialogue on poetry, world literature, pedagogy, and the ethics of literature. Addressing a varied literary context ranging from Victorian literature, Chinese literary criticism and philosophy, and continental philosophy to Sanskrit poetics and modern European literature, Ghosh offers a transnational theory of literature while Miller emphasizes the need to account for what a text says and how it says it. This book highlights two minds continually discovering new paths of communication and two literary and cultural traditions intersecting in productive and compelling ways.

Description: This new collection of J. Hillis Miller’s essays centres on the question “why and to what end should we read, teach, and spend our time with literary and/or cultural studies?” At a time when electronic media seem to dominate the market completely, and jobs follow the money flows into electronic and technical fields, literary and cultural studies might appear as a decorative addenda but not really necessary for the process of growth and development, neither in business nor in the area of personal development. This question is not really new, it has many facets, requires differentiated answers which depend and mirror the political and cultural climate of a society.

Description: The Digital Revolution, including technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, additive manufacturing or 3D-printing, (general purpose) artificial intelligence, or the Internet of Things, has entered the public discourse in many countries. Looking back, it is almost impossible to believe that digitalization is barely featured in the 2030 Agenda or the Paris Agreement. It is increasingly clear that digital changes, we refer to them as the Digital Revolution, are becoming a key driving force in societal transformation. The transformation towards sustainability for all must be harmonized with the threats, opportunities and dynamics of the Digital Revolution, the goals of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. At the same time, the digital transformation will radically alter all dimensions of global societies and economies and will therefore change the interpretation of the sustainability paradigm itself. Digitalization is not only an ‘instrument’ to resolve sustainability challenges, it is also fundamental as a driver of disruptive change. This report that focuses on the Digital Revolution is the second one by The World in 2050 (TWI2050) that was established by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and other partners to provide scientific foundations for the 2030 Agenda. This report is based on the voluntary and collaborative effort of more than 50 authors and contributors from about 20 institutions, and some 100 independent experts from academia, business, government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations from all the regions of the world, who met four times at IIASA to develop science-based strategies and pathways toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presentations of the TWI2050 approach and work have been made at many international meetings such as the United Nations Science, Technology and Innovation Forums and the United Nations High-level Political Forums. In 2018, the first report by TWI2050 on Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals identified Six Exemplary Transformations needed to achieve the SDGs and long-term sustainability to 2050 and beyond: i) Human Capacity & Demography; ii) Consumption & Production; iii) Decarbonization & Energy, iv) Food, Biosphere & Water; v) Smart Cities and vi) Digital Revolution. The focus of this report is the Sixth Transformation, The Digital Revolution. Although it is arguably the single greatest enabler of sustainable development, it has, in the past, helped create many negative externalities like transgression of planetary boundaries. Progress on the SDGs will be facilitated if we can build and implement detailed science, technology and innovation (STI) roadmaps at all levels that range from local to global. STI is a forceful driver of change connected to all 17 SDGs. The Digital Revolution provides entirely new and enhanced capacities and thus serves as a major force in shaping both the systemic context of transformative change and future solutions; at the same time it potentially carries strong societal disruptive power if not handled with caution, care, and innovativeness. This report assesses all the positive potential benefits digitalization brings to sustainable development for all. It also highlights the potential negative impacts and challenges going forward, particularly for those impacted by the ‘digital divide’ that excludes primarily people left behind during the Industrial Revolution like the billion that go hungry every night and the billion who do not have access to electricity. The report outlines the necessary preconditions for a successful digital transformation, including prosperity, social inclusion, environmental sustainability and good governance. Importantly it outlines some of the dramatic social implications associated with an increasingly digital future. It also covers a topic that so far has not been sufficiently dealt with in the cross-over discussions between sustainability and the Digital Revolution, that is, the considerations about related governance aspects.

Description: We discuss two types of ice shelf firn aquifers present in coastal Antarctica: melt-derived and brine-infiltration. Mapping of melt-derived firn aquifers and regions of melt-saturated firn using both passive and active L-band microwave data has identified perennial melt-derived aquifers in the southwestern Antarctic Peninsula, and several seasonal melt-saturation regions there and in widely separated sites around the ice sheet fringe. Extensive melt aquifers are identified on the Wilkins Ice Shelf, the northern George VI Ice Shelf, and the Müller Ice shelf, and are suspected on the former Jones and Wordie ice shelves. Field work has confirmed the aquifer presence in at least two sites on both the Wilkins and Müller shelves. We also present an improved assessment of the extent of brine aquifers based on their characteristics in modern airborne ice-penetrating radar profiles. Brine aquifers are relatively widespread and are found in shelf areas with porous firn at the waterline, as was previously recognized by Cook et al.(2018). Our study also assesses the relative risk of hydrofracture for ice shelves bearing melt and brine aquifers under various scenarios of firn density, aquifer depth, and brine density. We find that ponded surface melt poses the greatest threat, but that the increased density of brine may also be an issue if the brine layer is relatively shallow in the shelf. We also discuss the likely future expansion of melt aquifers on ice shelves under warming conditions, and consider the process of transitioning from a brine aquifer to a melt aquifer.

Description: Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are increasingly viewed as of central importance to improving the quality of human and environmental health in urban areas. Preservation and planting of trees are probably the most common management strategies for ensuring urban ecosystem services. For the aquatic environment the benefits of trees are typically assumed to be self-evident or are based on knowledge translated from other systems. However, this is often not the case for urban areas due to different combinations of stressors and the fine-scale complexity of urban environments. Here we present a concept for assessing multiple-benefits of NBS, and addressing key elements around scale, which is often missing from such frameworks. The work was developed through international collaborations. To provide important underpinning evidence supporting the framework, we have undertaken systematic evidence reviews and meta-analyses of scientific literature for hydrological (flood relief), water quality (pollution control) and aquatic macroinvertebrate (biodiversity) indicators. This information has been aligned with new statistical analyses and incorporated into modelling assessments. The findings are set in the context of priority needs of city stakeholders to identify strategies for optimal NBS establishment and inform best practice.

Description: Mediterranean regions are widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change, especially in terms of experiencing longer and more severe droughts. In recent years, there has been significant investment in generating more accurate climate projections, with the goal of providing hydrological model users with future climate scenarios. However, hydrological models are often driven by a set of climate forcings, without subjecting the model itself to stress testing its parameters and the simulated processes. We present a new perspective by focusing on stress testing the adaptable rainfall-runoff model JAMS/J2000 for Mediterranean South Africa. Resulting from 7 years of research and development, our systematic approach provides valuable insights into data requirements, simulated hydrological process variability, factors impacting model uncertainty, and methods to improve hydrological process simulation and model robustness. We evaluated: 1) the impact of precipitation station density on model performance and recommendations of minimum number of precipitation station, 2) factors which impact model uncertainty (catchment size, streamflow signal, anthropogenic factors such as dams), 3) driving forces behind reduced model performance and the potential influence of hydrological process changes and 4) the capability of the model to detect different drought types and the most reoccurring seasonal precipitation shortfalls. Finally, we introduce a new hydrological model using stable isotopes and End-Member-Mixing and aim to further develop robust isotope-enabled modelling tools. We conclude that stress testing the hydrological model is as important as the climate inputs and more effort should be placed on developing robust models.