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Agricultural land abandonment due to biophysical and socioeconomic constraints is increasing across Europe. Meanwhile there is also an increase in bioenergy demand. This study assessed woody crop performance on several relevant types of marginal agricultural land in Europe, based on field experiments in Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. In Latvia, hybrid aspen was more productive than birch and alder species, and after eight years produced 4.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony soil with sandy loam texture, when best clone and treatment combination was selected. In Spain, Siberian elm produced up to 7.1 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony, sandy soil with low organic carbon content after three triennial rotations. In Ukraine, willow plantations produced a maximum of 10.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on a soil with low soil organic carbon after second triennial rotation. The productivity was higher when management practices were optimized specifically to address the limiting factors of a site. Longer rotations and lower biomass yields compared to high-value land can be expected when woody crops are grown on similar marginal agricultural land shown in this study. Future studies should start here and investigate to what extent woody crops can contribute to rural development under these conditions.

Introduction—I begin by considering two competing definitions of sustainability (utilitybased versus throughput-based), and offer reasons for rejecting the former and accepting the latter. Next I consider the concept of development as currently understood (GDP growth led by global economic integration), and why it conflicts with sustainability, as well as with the premises of comparative advantage. Then I turn to the more general necessity of introducing the concept of throughput into economic theory, noting the awkward consequences to both micro and macro economics of having ignored the concept. Finally I consider some policy implications for sustainable development that come from a more adequate economic theory. These policies (ecological tax reform and/or cap and trade limits on throughput) are based on the principle of frugality first, rather than efficiency first. As a concluding addendum I comment on the World Bank’s 2003 World Development Report, dedicated this year to the topic of sustainable development, and note points of agreement and difference with the ideas presented here.

A schematic diagram of a transport hybrid power plant using a new design RPE-4.4/1.75 rotary piston air engine is proposed. Its external speed characteristic is determined, according to which the maximum engine power is 8.75 kW at 850 rpm and the maximum torque is 127.54 N∙m at 400 rpm. For various gears and speeds, all the components of the power balance were determined and the dynamic characteristic of the hybrid car was obtained when operated on an air engine. According to the dependences of the power balance, the total traction force from the rotary piston air engine on the driving wheels is 5 kN. The performance of acceleration of a hybrid car while working on an air engine is estimated, namely, the dependences of acceleration, time,and acceleration path are obtained. In urban traffic, the required time to accelerate the car to a speed of 60 km/h is 15.2 s and the path is 173 m. The possible drive range of the hybrid car on compressed air without additional recharging is analyzed. On one cylinder with compressed air with a volume of 100 liters, an initial pressure of 35 MPa, and a final pressure of 2 MPa, the hybrid car can travel about 26 km.

Liu, X., Burras, C. L., Kravchenko, Y. S., Duran, A., Huffman, T., Morras, H., Studdert, G., Zhang, X., Cruse, R. M. and Yuan, X. 2012. Overview of Mollisols in the world: Distribution, land use and management. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 383–402. Mollisols – a.k.a., Black Soils or Prairie Soils – make up about 916 million ha, which is 7% of the world's ice-free land surface. Their distribution strongly correlates with native prairie ecosystems, but is not limited to them. They are most prevalent in the mid-latitudes of North America, Eurasia, and South America. In North America, they cover 200 million ha of the United States, more than 40 million ha of Canada and 50 million ha of Mexico. Across Eurasia they cover around 450 million ha, extending from the western 148 million ha in southern Russia and 34 million ha in Ukraine to the eastern 35 million ha in northeast China. They are common to South America's Argentina and Uruguay, covering about 89 million and 13 million ha, respectively. Mollisols are often recognized as inherently productive and fertile soils. They are extensively and intensively farmed, and increasingly dedicated to cereals production, which needs significant inputs of fertilizers and tillage. Mollisols are also important soils in pasture, range and forage systems. Thus, it is not surprising that these soils are prone to soil erosion, dehumification (loss of stable aggregates and organic matter) and are suffering from anthropogenic soil acidity. Therefore, soil scientists from all of the world's Mollisols regions are concerned about the sustainability of some of current trends in land use and agricultural practices. These same scientists recommend increasing the acreage under minimum or restricted tillage, returning plant residues and adding organic amendments such as animal manure to maintain or increase soil organic matter content, and more systematic use of chemical amendments such as agricultural limestone to replenish soil calcium reserves.

The purpose of research. Determination of the optimal number of buses, taking into account the opposite economic factors and economic feasibility in new routes of passenger transport when changing the parameters of transport system using legislative methods and norms.Methods: The article defines the total expenditures of participants of passenger transportation process, which is influenced greatly by the number of buses on the route: on one hand, a large number of them provides the least amount of waiting time, on the other hand, with such quantity of buses carrier’s expenditures increase, as well as the estimate and the cost account of the bus operation on the route using regulatory documents.Results: Using of the proposed methodology allows organizers and performers, in accordance with the current legislation, to overestimate (underestimate) costs deliberately (unintentionally), determine the economic expediency of opening new routes and calculating fares on existing routes and optimal number of buses on the route taking into account the influence of opposite factors. The compromise of the interests of the carrier and the passenger is influenced by the transport service time cost, operating costs and turnover time. Daily operating costs of the route studied and the volume of passenger traffic flow indicate that at the socially preferential (specified) by local council fare the carrier can cover expenditures by increasing the fare or targeted subsidies (subventions).

Today clearing of contaminated soils from heavy metals, pesticide residues is very important problem for Ukraine. Soil pollution is considered to be the result of the functioning of metallurgical and chemical industrial enterprises, as well as the irrational application of chemical plant protection means in the agricultural sector. The range of such preparations as well as the areas of contaminated soils are increasing every year. Phytoremediation with the help of herbaceous plants is one of the most effective methods of decontamination. This list of plants should be supplemented by perennial energy crops, taking into account the absorbing powers of their root system. The basis for preparing the material was the multiple scientific literary sources of domestic and foreign scientists on an investigated theme, the working-out of relevant techniques and scientific and practical recommendations. We applied both general scientific methods (dialectics, analysis and synthesis) and special ones for conducting of analytical review of literature. The largest area of soil in Ukraine is contaminated with cobalt, molybdenum, and copper, whose content exceeds not only the background values but also the maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). It has been defined that the intensity of heavy metals transition in the system “soil-plant” of the energy crops has the following form Cd→Cu→Zn→Pb. Perennial energy crops are capable to create quickly an above ground phytomass and to form an aggressive root system that enables them to accumulate heavy metals from the soil. They can be new and important plants for phytoremediation. At the same time, the energy crops are allocated in accordance with agroclimatic zoning taking into account plant responses to the growing conditions and also applying the scheme of soil remediation from heavy metals. It has been established that energy crops (Switchgrass and Silvergrass) are Hyperaccumulators. They actively absorb heavy metals and partialy accumulate them in their underground and above ground parts. Silvergrass (Miscanthus giganteus) provides higher yield than switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), though switchgrass has less dry matter content, higher accumulation of heavy metals in plant phytomass but the maximum permissible concentration is lower than regulated standards. Silvergrass (Miscanthus giganteus) provides higher yield than switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), though switchgrass has less dry matter content, higher accumulation of heavy metals in plant phytomass and maximum permissible concentration is lower than regulated standards. On termination of the vegetation, the above-ground vegetative mass of these plants can undergo to proper processing that is an additional source of non-ferrous metals or biofuel production for energy purposes.

Due to urbanization, large portions of vegetated territory have been replaced by waterproof surfaces. The consequences are greater outflows, lower infiltration, and lower evapotranspiration. Pavement systems made with permeable surfaces allow the infiltration of water, ensuring reduction of runoff volume. In this paper, the methods of analysis of the hydrological and environmental performance of the pavement systems are reviewed in the context of urban drainage and regarding their durability. The purpose is to present an overview of the studies published during the last decade in the field. The Pubmed and Web Science Core Collection electronic databases were used to conduct the scientific literature survey. This generated 1238 papers, of which only 17 met the criteria and were included and discussed in this review. The evidence drawn from the knowledge on which the document is based provides useful critical interpretations of existing studies to progress the current understanding on hydrological performance and environment impacts in terms of conventional pollutant removal efficiency and the current permeable pavement systems.