This book represents one of the first attempts by a multidisciplinary research team, encompassing the social sciences, business, architecture and planning, engineering, and finance and economics, to help rural communities discover sustainable and self-reliant paths to development and transformation. The opening chapter outlines the background of the research, its importance in the context of China and other countries, the rationale for choosing the case study communities in rural China, and the composition of the research team. Chapter 2 explores key issues in the role of social entrepreneurship and leadership in rural community development. Chapter 3 analyses a green platform for a pilot transaction of China forest carbon sinks led by the Huadong Forestry Exchange. The fourth chapter examines carbon trade, forestry land rights, and the livelihoods of farmers in rural Chinese communities. Chapter 5 explores alternative energy development in rural Chinese communities, where the poor are often disproportionately dependent on fuel wood and solid biomass, causing environmental degradation, reduced productivity and the decline of income generating opportunities. Chapter 6 examines and tests the proposition that stronger communities will result from 'connected up', holistic, synergistic and inclusive planning of services and supporting infrastructure. Chapter 7 analyzes information and communications technology (ICT) based service innovations for supporting rural community enterprises. Chapter 8 highlights key elements of stronger rural communities, drawing together the themes and proposals of preceding chapters and constructing an integrated model. The authors demonstrate that interconnected community enterprises based on clean forest products, forest carbon and ecotourism can be underpinned by local infrastructure enterprises such as renewable energy, water, waste management, ICT and transport, and financial mechanisms like carbon finance, all involving skills development, leadership and social entrepreneurship coupled with corporate and investment partnerships. Such interconnected approaches are expected to generate increased employment and prosperity, improve social livelihoods, and benefit the environment.

This book represents one of the first attempts by a multidisciplinary research team, encompassing the social sciences, business, architecture and planning, engineering, and finance and economics, to help rural communities discover sustainable and self-reliant paths to development and transformation. The opening chapter outlines the background of the research, its importance in the context of China and other countries, the rationale for choosing the case study communities in rural China, and the composition of the research team. Chapter 2 explores key issues in the role of social entrepreneurship and leadership in rural community development. Chapter 3 analyses a green platform for a pilot transaction of China forest carbon sinks led by the Huadong Forestry Exchange. The fourth chapter examines carbon trade, forestry land rights, and the livelihoods of farmers in rural Chinese communities. Chapter 5 explores alternative energy development in rural Chinese communities, where the poor are often disproportionately dependent on fuel wood and solid biomass, causing environmental degradation, reduced productivity and the decline of income generating opportunities. Chapter 6 examines and tests the proposition that stronger communities will result from ‘connected up’, holistic, synergistic and inclusive planning of services and supporting infrastructure. Chapter 7 analyzes information and communications technology (ICT) based service innovations for supporting rural community enterprises. Chapter 8 highlights key elements of stronger rural communities, drawing together the themes and proposals of preceding chapters and constructing an integrated model. The authors demonstrate that interconnected community enterprises based on clean forest products, forest carbon and ecotourism can be underpinned by local infrastructure enterprises such as renewable energy, water, waste management, ICT and transport, and financial mechanisms like carbon finance, all involving skills development, leadership and social entrepreneurship coupled with corporate and investment partnerships. Such interconnected approaches are expected to generate increased employment and prosperity, improve social livelihoods, and benefit the environment.

The IUTAM Symposium on Advances in Nonlinear Stochastic Mechanics, held in Trondheim July 3-7, 1995, was the eighth of a series of IUTAM sponsored symposia which focus on the application of stochastic methods in mechanics. The previous meetings took place in Coventry, UK (1972), Sout'hampton, UK (1976), FrankfurtjOder, Germany (1982), Stockholm, Sweden (1984), Innsbruckjlgls, Austria (1987), Turin, Italy (1991) and San Antonio, Texas (1993). The symposium provided an extraordinary opportunity for scholars to meet and discuss recent advances in stochastic mechanics. The participants represented a wide range of expertise, from pure theoreticians to people primarily oriented toward applications. A significant achievement of the symposium was the very extensive discussions taking place over the whole range from highly theoretical questions to practical engineering applications. Several presentations also clearly demonstrated the substantial progress that has been achieved in recent years in terms of developing and implement ing stochastic analysis techniques for mechanical engineering systems. This aspect was further underpinned by specially invited extended lectures on computational stochastic mechanics, engineering applications of stochastic mechanics, and nonlinear active control. The symposium also reflected the very active and high-quality research taking place in the field of stochastic stability. Ten presentations were given on this topic ofa total of47 papers. A main conclusion that can be drawn from the proceedings of this symposium is that stochastic mechanics as a subject has reached great depth and width in both methodology and applicability.