Coastal areas across the globe and people who live in them are vulnerable to a host of natural disasters including hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis. During the past several decades, coastal communities of the world have also been seriously affected by man-made disasters resulting in severe social, economic, and environmental damages. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) was the worst man-made disaster for the Gulf coast communities of the US. Community residents and resource organizations in the Florida Gulf coast responded quickly to address social, economic, and environmental needs after this disaster. The purpose of this single case study is to determine these community responses. The research uses documents from community organizations and in-depth interviews with community leaders. Constant comparative analysis method was used to determine major and sub categories of community efforts. Results show that community efforts centered on collaboration, outreach, and grassroots mobilization for resiliency after the disaster.

The uninhabited Senkaku islands, which have been administered by the Okinawan local government, have been claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan. The vicinity of the disputed islands has long been identified as possessing potential oil and gas resources. The territorial disputes have been intensified after the Japanese government nationalized the islands in 2012. The situation has been regarded as the most serious for Sino-Japanese relations in the post-war period in terms of the risk of militarized conflict. The Chinese government used “core interests” to describe national sovereignty over the islands which it will make no compromise at any price, while the Japanese government hardened its stance by insisting that there is no territorial dispute to negotiate with China over the islands. The peaceful settlements on the disputed islands are complicated because it involves history, economy, security and nationalism. This paper argues that the best way to ease territorial disputes will be to create a common economic zone based on mutual understanding and economic interests through the wisdom of the islands of Okinawa and Taiwan based on a growth triangle (GT) approach. China has been claiming that the disputed islands are under Taiwan’s jurisdiction. Both Japanese and Chinese central governments should leave all powers to both Okinawa and Taiwan governments for peaceful, joint development of the disputed waters.

The self-propagating high temperature synthesis approach was applied to synthesize amorphous boron nanopowders in argon atmospheres. For this purpose, we investigated the characteristics of a thermally induced combustion wave in the B2O3 + α Mg system(α = 1.0-8.0) in an argon atmospheres. In this study, the exothermic nature of the B2O3-Mg reaction was investigated using thermodynamic calculations. Experimental study was conducted based on the calculation data and the SHS products consisting of crystalline boron and other compounds were obtained starting with a different initial molar ratio of Mg. It was found that the B2O3 and Mg reaction system produced a high combustion temperature with a rapid combustion reaction. In order to regulate the combustion reaction, NaCl, Na2B4O7 and H3BO3 additives were investigated as diluents. In an experimental study, it was found that all diluents effectively stabilized the reaction regime. The final product of the B2O3 + α Mg system with 0.5 mole Na2B4O7 was identified to be amorphous boron nano-powders(< 100 nm).

Malaysia, situated between East and West, is an interface in world maritime trade, playing a crucial role in the business of moving container boxes in South-eastern parts of Asia. The prominent container terminals in Malaysia such as Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas are positioned among the top twenty ports in terms of volume handled. The annual average growth of throughputs in Malaysian container ports increased more than three-fold from the year 2000 to 2010. Within this context, the development of Malaysian seaports has been significantly influenced by three forces: increased use of containerisation, significant growth in domestic economic activities and ever-changing patterns in both supply and demand chains, all of which have led to increased transshipment activities and altered shipping routes. This phenomenon has brought dynamic change to Malaysian container ports, resulting in the establishment of new terminals and adapting emerging technology to enhance the ports’ ability to accommodate larger vessels and an increased number of containers. This paper aims to present the development of Malaysian container seaports by addressing changes to acreage size and handling volumes during the last three decades. The results of the analysis suggest that major Malaysian ports are experiencing an exponential growth in container trade with the expansion of port capacity following trade growth and need effective strategies to reduce the operational pressures of Malaysian seaports. The results of this research offer directions for development strategies of seaports by utilising the existing inland freight facilities as an effective strategy for capacity enhancement and develop efficient distribution network to meet future demands.

This paper analyzes the current intellectual discourse on Jeju identity and its implications on the position of Jeju women. Debates on Jeju identity may be grouped roughly into three schools. Each of these schools has quite different implications for Jeju women’s position, implicitly or explicitly argued by each school. When the influence of China and Neo-Confucianism is emphasized in defining Jeju identity, women’s position is necessarily subordinate to that of men. When the culture of Jeju is presented as a culture of “compromise” between Jeju reality and Neo-Confucianism, the women’s position is inevitably raised and strengthened, since Jeju women, especially women divers, are at the forefront of coping with the harsh nature of the island along with men. Such a society cannot survive without women or men. When Jeju identity is presented as a “women centredness”, again women’s position is raised or the main axis (or the essence) of the island society is presented as women. The author proposes to take these debates one step further by synthesizing them and substantiating some crucial gaps in them, through fieldwork planned.

Sustainable community development has become a cornerstone for the overall sustainability movement in the recent years. Island provinces, due to the unique make up of their communities can and should adopt sound community development process for sustaining their futures growth. Civic engagement and citizen input are crucial for planning sustainable growth of island communities. This is primarily due to the fact that most island communities are inundated with rapidly growing tourism industry that threatens to affect the future of their environmental assets, island cultures and living standards. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of environmental governance and citizen participation for sustainable growth of island communities. In addition to discussing the importance of citizen participation in sustainable development of island communities, this article also provides a brief case study of Jeju island and its recent attempts to promote sustainability in the wake of rapidly growing tourist industry. Two emerging and important planning processes that can enhance sustainable community development of island provinces are also discussed with specific applications to Jeju

Electrochemical reduction has previously been reported for uranium oxide and mixed oxide nuclear fuel (uranium oxide, plutonium oxide). The laboratory scale electrochemical reduction of plutonium oxide powder is demonstrated in CaCl2- 1wt%CaO. The plutonium oxide contained within a permeable steel basket cathode is sacrificed during the process. A graphite anode is also employed during the reduction, leading to a significant contamination of the product.