Concrete is the most common building material in the world and its use has been increasing during the last century as the need for construction projects has escalated. Traditionally, concrete uses Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as binder, water as the activator of cement and aggregate. Finding an appropriate replacement for traditional concrete is a desirable solution to obviate the environmental problems caused by cement production. The use of fly ash as a partial replacement for Portland cement is a method to maintain the properties of concrete and reduce the need for cement. Fly ash is a by-product from coal-fired power plants and is abundantly available. The percentage of cement replacement can be varied according to application and mix design. One of the potential materials to substitute for conventional concrete is geopolymer concrete (introduced by Davidovits in 1979). Geopolymer concrete is an inorganic alumino-silicate polymer synthesized from predominantly silicon, aluminum and byproduct materials such as fly ash. Geopolymer properties have been investigated for several years and it is still a major area of interest among researchers and industry partners as it does not contain cement and uses fly ash and alkali liquids as binders to produce a paste to consolidate aggregates. Furthermore, the aggregate comprises a substantial portion of concrete. Including coarse and fine aggregates it is normally obtained from natural sources. Fine aggregate in Australia is usually mined from sand quarries. As the demand for concrete production increases, more natural sand is needed. The need for fine aggregate should be addressed in an environmentally friendly manner, considering the diminishing sources of natural sand. Red sand is a by-product generated from the manufacture of alumina from bauxite by the Bayer process. / Previous studies on properties of red sand have shown that it has the potential to be used in concrete as a fine aggregate. While the use of red sand in traditional concrete has been investigated by some researchers, no research has been reported regarding the use of this by-product in manufacturing geopolymer concrete. This research looks into the replacement of natural sand fine aggregates with red sand in geopolymer concrete. Initially, an extensive series of mixtures was prepared and tested. The objective of the research was to identify the salient parameters affecting the properties of geopolymer concrete when natural sand is replaced by red sand. At the next stage, attempts were made to enhance the mechanical and durability features of red sand geopolymer concrete. The final stage consisted of testing red sand geopolymer concrete to find out the various properties of this novel construction material.

This document reports on a research project aimed at developing a concrete acoustic barrier made from Recycled Aggregate (RA) Concrete. The research project was undertaken in response to the needs expressed by the Victorian concrete recycling industry. The industry, the scientific community conducting research into relevant disciplines, and the community at large, represented by Victorian government agencies, are of the opinion that there is a need to devise a higher value utilisation application for selected concrete recycling products. This document outlines the rationale and objectives of the research project which involves the examination of Recycled Concrete (RC) Aggregate, the design and examination of RA Concrete, and finally the development of an acoustic barrier made from RA Concrete. The literature review presented in this report examines aspects of concrete recycling and concrete technology pertaining to traditional and alternative constituent materials for concrete production. Firstly, the importance and influence of fine and coarse aggregate on basic properties of concrete is introduced. Secondly, an account on the use of alternative materials in concrete technology, especially of coarse recycled aggregates and supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) is described. Thirdly, some of the physical and mechanical properties and how the use of RC Aggregate and SCM changes these properties are discussed. Fourthly, a number of commonly used techniques and neutron scattering techniques to investigate aggregate and concrete properties are introduced and discussed. Fifthly, the porosity of aggregate and concrete including durability are specifically discussed and testing methods are reasoned. The literature review also discusses the use of no-fines concrete; its physical, mechanical and acoustic properties. Finally it presents an account of the use of concrete in transportation traffic noise attenuation devices. This document continues with an outline of a methodology that was adopted in this research project. It outlines experimental work aimed at examining the properties of RC Aggregate which amongst other properties includes porosity, particle size distribution, water absorption, shape and density. It continues examining RA Concrete properties and includes, among other properties, compressive strength, porosity and durability as well as sound absorption of acoustic barrier. The methodology introduces standard and purposely modified test procedures used in the examination of aggregates, concrete and acoustic barrier. An account of various research techniques is presented, spanning from simple visual observations to more sophisticated neutron scattering techniques. The summary of test procedures follows a description of test specimen composition and their sizes, and a suite of tested specimens. It also introduces statistical methods used to analyse test results. After a detailed description of the aggregate, concrete and RA Concrete acoustic barrier, the document outlines a summary of data generated through the experimental program of this research project. The data on fine aggregate, on selected 14/10mm coarse RC Aggregate, on concrete made from natural and recycled aggregate and on acoustic barrier are presented and discussed. Test results of various physical, mechanical and acoustic properties of aggregate, concrete and barrier are reported, analysed and discussed. The data from observations, visual assessment and scientific experimentation of specific properties are then crossed analysed in a search for relationships between properties of fine and coarse aggregates and properties of concrete made from such aggregates. A cross analysis of data on ?less-fines? RA Concrete and on the acoustic performance of barrier is examined, and the relationship between the volume of interconnected voids in a porous part of ?less-fines? concrete, and the sound absorption of acoustic barrier is discussed and reported. The document then presents a synthesis of the literature review results, project aims adopted within the experimental program and test results in the three main areas of this research project. These areas include recycled concrete aggregate, recycled aggregate concrete and acoustic barrier made from RA Concrete. Finally, conclusions reached through the course of this investigation are summarised and recommendations are proposed in relation to the RA Concrete acoustic barrier. The main conclusion is that selected RC Aggregate can be used in the production of concrete of a compressive strength of 25MPa, if the moisture content and water absorption in the aggregate are closely monitored, and the foreign material content is kept below 1.5%. The author concludes that acoustic barrier made from selected RC Aggregate has unique sound absorption characteristics that can easily be tunable by a selection of appropriate aggregate and by specific concrete mix designs. Recommendations for further research are also proposed.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is often caused by a disruption of an atherosclerotic plaque with activation of coagulation, platelets and inflammation. The aims were; to investigate whether the oral direct thrombin inhibitor, ximelagatran affected markers for coagulation, platelet and inflammation in a patient cohort with recent MI and if the coagulation markers could identify patients with increased risk of new ischemic events; to evaluate some of the mechanisms involved in formation of platelet-monocyte aggregates (PMAs). In a biomarker substudy patients with recent MI were randomized to 24-60 mg of ximelagatran or placebo for six months. There was a persistent dose-independent reduction of coagulation markers (F1+2, D-dimer) by ximelagatran treatment. 60 % reduced their D-dimer levels after one week and that group had less ischemic events during treatment. There was an early increase of the platelet activation marker and ximelagatran in higher doses attenuated these increased levels. Both in vivo and in vitro the direct thrombin inhibitor diminished procoagulant activity and tissue factor (TF) presenting microparticles. In contrast, the inflammatory markers increased after six months of ximelagatran treatment. The PMA-levels were elevated for long-term after MI. In vitro thrombin inhibition diminished formation of PMAs. Formation of PMAs in stimulated whole blood was P-selectin dependent and induced TF expression through phosphorylation of the Src-family member Lyn in monocytes. Addition of an oral direct thrombin inhibitor reduces coagulation and platelet activation markers for long-term after a MI together with reduced procoagulant activity which may contribute to the clinical benefit of the drug. Early reduction of D-dimer levels seems to be suitable to identify patients with reduced risk of new ischemic events independent of antithrombotic treatment. Circulating PMAs persist after a MI connecting coagulation to inflammation. Within these aggregates P-selectin induces TF, the main initiator of coagulation, partly through phosphorylation of Lyn.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting motor neurones in motor cortex, brain stem and spinal cord. This inevitably leads to paralysis, respiratory failure and death. In about 5% of patients with ALS there is an association with mutations in gene for the abundant intracellular scavenging enzyme superoxide dismutase1, SOD1. The noxious property of SOD1 is proposed to be due to gain of function. In familial cases the inheritance is most commonly dominant. This study focus on two disparate SOD1 mutations occurring in Scandinavia. The recessive D90A mutation which has properties similar to that of the normal wild-type human SOD1. The dominantly inherited G127insTGGG mutation, G127X, causes a C-terminal truncation of the last 21 amino acids and is a highly unstable protein. Transgenic mice were created expressing D90A and G127X mutated human SOD1. Results from studies of tissue from the central nervous system of patients carrying either of these mutations were compared with similar tissue collected from transgenic mice generated with the same mutations. Tissue from the mice were also compared to central nervous tissue from several other transgenic mouse strains expressing human wild type SOD1 as well as other ALS associated human SOD1 mutations. The transgenic mice expressing D90A respectively G127X mutated human SOD1 develop motor neurone disease. Microscopic studies of central nervous tissues from G127X transgenic mice reveals inclusions of aggregated misfolded SOD1 in motor neurones and adjacent supporting cells. These inclusions are composed of detergent resistant aggregates and preceded by accumulations of minute quantities of detergent-soluble aggregates. The inclusions mimic those found in G127X patients. In D90A transgenic mice the progression, as in the humans, was slower and the mice, as the patients, showed bladder disturbance. In the D90A patients, the SOD1 inclusions mimic those found in sporadic ALS patients. Aggregation of SOD1 in central nervous tissue appears to be related to severity of disease. Degenerative features as vacuolization and gliosis precedes phenotypic alterations. Changes are seen not only in motor areas but also in higher centres of the telencephalon.

Proteins are the most important molecules in the cell since they take care of most of the biological functions which resemble life. To ensure that everything is working properly the cell has a rigorous control system to monitor the proper function of its proteins and sends old or dysfunctional proteins for degradation. Unfortunately, this system sometimes fails and the once so vital proteins start to misbehave or to accumulate and in the worst case scenario these undesired processes cause the death of their host. One example is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS); a progressive and always fatal neurodegenerative disorder that is proposed to derive from accumulation of aberrant proteins. Over 140 mutations in the human gene encoding the cytosolic homodimeric enzyme Cu/Zn-Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1) are linked to ALS. The key event in SOD1 associated ALS seems to be the pathological formation of toxic protein aggregates as a result of initially unfolded or partly structured SOD1-mutants. Here, we have compared the folding behaviour of a set of ALS associated SOD1 mutants. Based on our findings we propose that SOD1 mediated ALS can be triggered by a decrease in protein stability but also by mutations which reduce the net charge of the protein. Both findings are in good agreement with the hypothesis for protein aggregation. SOD1 has also been found to be able to interact with mitochondrial membranes and SOD1 inclusions have been detected in the inter-membrane space of mitochondria originating from the spinal cord. The obvious question then arose; does the misfolding and aggregation of SOD1 involve erroneous interactions with membranes? Here, we could show that there is an electrostatically driven interaction between the reduced apo SOD1 protein including ALS associated SOD1-mutants and charged lipid membrane surfaces. This association process changes the secondary structures of these mutants in a way quite different from the situation found in membrane free aqueous environment. However, the result show that mutants interact with charged lipid vesicles to lesser extent than wildtype SOD1. This opposes the correlation between decreased SOD1 stability and disease progression. We therefore suggest that the observed interaction is not a primary cause in the ALS mechanism.

Este trabajo de investigación presenta un estudio acerca de los efectos de la temperatura ambiental sobre las prestaciones del hormigón en estado fresco y endurecido y sobre las propiedades de los materiales constituyentes del mismo, desde una perspectiva industrial. El objetivo principal de este estudio es el de optimizar la dosificación del hormigón en climas cálidos y al mismo tiempo, proponer algunas medidas de actuación a nivel industrial para minimizar los efectos adversos en plantas de producción de hormigón preparado.Por tal motivo se realizaron varias campañas experimentales para determinar la influencia de las temperaturas ambientales extremas (verano e invierno) sobre las propiedades térmicas, de trabajabilidad y mecánicas del hormigón, morteros, pastas de cemento y áridos, desarrollando los procedimientos y herramientas experimentales de caracterización necesarias.Los resultados experimentales obtenidos indican que cuando menor es el diferencial térmico entre la temperatura del hormigón y la temperatura ambiente, mejores son los resultados relativos a prestaciones mecánicas. Asimismo, la trabajabilidad está influenciada por las propiedades de los áridos, las cuales son susceptibles de variaciones en función de la temperatura. En este sentido, la temperatura actúa sobre la velocidad de absorción y el rozamiento interno de los áridos, mientras que en el hormigón tiene un efecto sobre su desempeño y sobre el coste final.Las conclusiones apuntan pues al árido como un factor de gran importancia, no sólo por las características específicas de su comportamiento con la temperatura, sino también, porque es el componente más numeroso en el hormigón. Lo anterior, es significativo en términos de sus potenciales aplicaciones a nivel industrial en la producción de hormigón preparado, debido a que las características del hormigón son dependientes de las propiedades de los áridos y éstas son altamente influenciables por las condiciones ambientales. Por otro lado, con el propósito de reducir costes, el consumo de cemento en el hormigón puede ser optimizado en función de variables dependientes de la temperatura. La forma de actuar frente a este problema consiste básicamente en lograr que el comportamiento del hormigón en verano sea lo más semejante posible al de primavera y otoño, lo anterior se puede llevar a cabo mediante actuaciones a escala industrial, principalmente sobre la dosificación de cemento y sobre los áridos.En este sentido, se presentan las bases de una formulación metodológica para llevar a cabo dicha optimización del hormigón en climas cálidos en base a la variación de la temperatura ambiental y de las curvas de calor de hidratación del hormigón. Dicha propuesta se ha aplicado con éxito a escala industrial en plantas de producción de hormigón preparado, obteniendo resultados satisfactorios en relación a considerables ahorros en el consumo de cemento en períodos estivales.La presente tesis doctoral se ha realizado en el marco de dos convenios de colaboración (C-4669 y C-5737) entre el Grupo Cementos Molins con el Departamento de Ingeniería de la Construcción de la UPC, en colaboración con el Centro de Innovación Tecnológica de Estructuras y Construcción (CEINTEC) y gestionados por el Centro de Transferencia de Tecnología (CTT). / This researching work deals with a study about the effects of environmental temperature over the concrete performance in both, fresh and hardened states, and over the properties of the materials constituents of concrete, from an industrial point of view. The main objective of this study is the optimization of concrete in hot weather environments, proposing at the same time, some industrially proceedings in ready-mix-concrete plants, in order to minimize the adverse effects of climatology on the concrete performance. In this way, several experimental stages were carried out in order to detect the influence of extreme environmental conditions (hot weather and cold weather conditions) over the thermal, workability and mechanical properties of concrete, cement mortars, cement pastes and aggregates, developing the experimental procedures for the materials characterization. The experimental results obtained point out that the minor the thermal difference between concrete and environmental temperature, the best the compressive strength performance. Likewise, the concrete workability is influenced by the aggregates properties, which also are sensitive to variations depending on the environmental conditions. In this way, the temperature acts over the aggregates absorption rate and internal friction, while in the concrete it has a harmful effect over its performance and over its final production cost. For this reason, the aggregates can be considered as a major importance factor, not only because their specific properties are affected by temperature, but also, because these are the most numerous component in concrete. All the above mentioned is important in relation to the potential applications from an industrial perspective in ready-mix-concrete production plants, since the concrete properties are highly influenced by the aggregates conditions, and these, in turn, are highly affected by environmental conditions. On the other hand, with the aim of a reduction in production costs, the cement consumption in concrete can be optimized by means of temperature related variables. This can be done achieving a concrete performance in the summer season the most similar to a performance in spring or autumn seasons, by means of some industrial implementations in ready-mix-concrete production plants, acting over the cement dosage and over the aggregates properties. In this way, the fundaments of a methodological formulation to optimize the concrete performance in hot weather environments are presented, which are based on the environmental temperature prediction and on the heat of hydration of concrete. This methodological proposal has been applied successfully at an industrial scale in ready-mix-concrete production plants, having finally satisfactory results regarding significant savings in cement consumptions in the summer seasons. This thesis has been accomplished within a collaboration agreement (C-4669 y C-5737) between Cementos Molins Group and the Department of Construction Engineering of UPC, in association with the Center of Technological Innovation of Structures and Construction (CEINTEC) and administered by the Center for Technology Transfer (CTT).

En el siglo pasado se ha desarrollado una nueva energía: la nuclear. Su aplicación comprende tanto el campo militar como el campo civil. Unos de los aspectos más interesantes es el uso de esta energía para la producción de electricidad de uso civil. El combustible nuclear es de larga duración: unas barras de uranio pueden llegar a producir energía eléctrica durante una década aproximadamente. Sin embargo, a mediados del siglo pasado se planteó el problema de los residuos nucleares. Este problema es muy complejo por que, aunque la duración del combustible sea de una década, el periodo de decaimiento es del orden de siglos. Esta tesis quiere aportar su granito de arena a esta nueva rama de la ciencia nuclear, estudiando algunos aspectos del comportamiento geotécnico de los agregados de sal, para su uso como material de relleno en los depósitos definitivos de los residuos nucleares de mayor peligrosidad.La regla fundamental de diseño de dichos depósitos es que su función debe desarrollarse sin la ayuda del hombre o de máquinas y que la misma naturaleza tiene que ser quien proteja al hombre del riesgo de radiaciones durante el transcurso de los siglos. Parece que al día de hoy la solución mundialmente aceptada es la de un depósito profundo en formaciones rocosas, a veces utilizando antiguas minas, incluso de sal. Se prevé que entre esta década y la próxima entrarán en funcionamiento varios de estos depósitos en los países en que la investigación en este área está más avanzada.En Europa se está haciendo un esfuerzo común, bajo supervisión de la Unión Europea y por medio de proyectos de investigación, para estudiar el funcionamiento del almacenamiento y la difusión de los resultados de esos estudios entre los miembros de la Unión Europea, a fin de dar el mayor provecho a las diferentes investigaciones que en la actualidad se están desarrollando en todos los centros de investigación de Europa.Esta tesis trata sobre el comportamiento termo hidráulico de los agregados de sal debido a las altas temperaturas que el decaimiento de los residuos nucleares produce. Este fenómeno crea unos efectos en los materiales de relleno y en la formación de base de alrededor del deposito.La tesis tiene un desarrollo básicamente experimental. En el laboratorio se realizaron fundamentalmente dos ensayos; el primero permitió determinar la curva de retención de los agregados de sal altamente compactados. Para ello se utilizó la técnica de traslación de ejes para aplicar la succión matricial y se construyó una placa de succión apta a los materiales salinos para la realización de estos ensayos.Este ensayo permitió determinar el comportamiento de una propiedad básica de los materiales salinos no saturados, sus resultados pudieron aplicarse al resto de los trabajos que se realizaron con posterioridad en esta tesis.El objeto del segundo ensayo de laboratorio fue reproducir los fenómenos de variación de porosidad debidos a la presencia de una diferencia de temperatura en las extremidades de la muestra. Dicho ensayo tiene una importancia fundamental para los almacenamientos profundos, porque los residuos radiactivos serán una fuente de calor durante varios siglos y la presencia de elevadas temperaturas induce fenómenos de flujo y transporte en el contacto con los contenedores de carburante nuclear agotado. Además, en el caso de los agregados de sal, a estos fenómenos cabe añadir el intercambio de sal entre la fase sólida y la líquida (precipitación /disolución).Para desarrollar estas pruebas de laboratorio, se dedicó una parte importante de la investigación al desarrollo y comprobación del equipo de ensayo, siendo éste poco convencional y completamente novedoso. Este último ensayo, en su segunda fase, fue convalidado mediante un modelo numérico (CODE BRIGHT). Los resultados del modelo numérico han permitido confirmar todo cuanto se determinó en la fase experimental y la importancia de la succión matricial en estos fenómenos.

This study develops an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding institutional change and resistance to change towards sustainability. The research rests on two leading theories of change within the social and ecological sciences: the New Institutionalism and Panarchy theory. A theoretical framework integrating insights from the two theories is applied in an analysis of the development of the Town of Caledon’s mineral resources policies. The research suggests that institutional change and inertia are interconnected and interdependent and, depending on the case and context, they may interact with each other across spatial and temporal scales. There may be overlap in the emergence of pressures for institutional inertia and change across temporal and spatial scales, and both institutional change and inertia may be present when opportunities arise for renegotiation of the “rules of the game”. Results show that the two theories share many concepts (e.g., thresholds or tipping points, fast and slow moving variables, etc.) to aid in understanding the dynamics of institutional and ecological realms. Moreover, the integrated theoretical framework can help to explain the dynamics of institutional systems in a way that overcomes the limitations in Panarchy and the New Institutionalism theories by themselves. Key concepts within Panarchy theory (e.g., regime shifts, etc.) complement the New Institutionalism’s ability to capture important contextual factors influencing institutional change and inertia, and help to overcome the current limitation in its capacity to explain the nonlinear, multi-scalar dynamics of institutional systems. In turn, key concepts within the New Institutionalism (e.g., uncertainty, etc.) complement and enrich Panarchy theory’s capacity to illustrate the social and economic dimensions of institutional dynamics. Results of the case analysis demonstrate that a range of overlapping, historic and immediate, local-to-provincial factors (e.g., socioeconomic costs, uncertainty, path dependent effects, etc.) and institutional elements (e.g., interests and values, power and resources, issues of fit, etc.) drove institutional change and inertia in the development of Caledon’s mineral resources policies. The slow moving institutional variables in Caledon’s case (core Town, industry and provincial government values and interests) were perhaps the greatest determinants of institutional change and resistance to change towards sustainability. The story of the development of Caledon’s mineral resources policies, then, is about the resilience and resistance efforts of a small Town committed to maintaining core community values under the constraints of a resilient and resistant, ecologically destructive and inequitable institutional system.

A materials synthesis technique was recently developed to generate polymer/nanoparticles composite microcapsules in which synthetic polyamines such as polyallylamine and/or polylysine were crosslinked with multivalent anions to form polymer-salt aggregates, that then served as templates for deposition of nanoparticles (NPs) of various compositions to form micron-sized hollow spheres or "nanoparticle-assembled capsules" (NACs). This electrostatically-driven "polymer-salt aggregate" or "PSA" assembly route is attractive for encapsulation and scale-up because encapsulation and materials formation occur in water, at mild pH values, and at room temperature. NACs can potentially find wide-ranging applications in pharmaceutical, food, and consumer products. It is of crucial importance to address the physical property aspects of NACs in view of their use and applicability. While most applications may require that NACs not disassemble or deform under shear stress, some may require triggered release under specific conditions to release the encapsulated material (e.g., enzymes or drugs). Comparatively, little has been done to assess the physical properties of NACs. The behavior of NACs under varying p1-1 and ionic strength conditions were determined. The capsules were found to be structural intact in the pH range of 4-9 at an ionic strength of 10 mM. The pH range in which they were intact narrowed with increasing ionic strength; the capsules fragmented into smaller pieces at 500 mM. The NACs could be made stable at ionic strengths as high as 1M by the addition of multivalent anions to the suspending fluid. The structurally intact NACs were found to vary in compressive strength from 1 atm to > ∼25 atm, via osmotic pressure studies. The benign assembly conditions of NACs allowed for encapsulation studies of various molecules such as fluorescein, Gd[DOTP] 5- (MRI contrast agent), doxorubicin (an anticancer drug), and uracil (pharmaceutical drug with anticancer properties). X-ray irradiation was studied as a potential external trigger for cargo release. A thorough experimental analysis on diffusive release of a dye molecule (fluorescein) from NACs was carried out. Manipulation of the PSA assembly process was carried out in several studies to explore the generality of the synthesis method. Positively-charged aluminosilicate NPs were studied in place of negatively-charged silica NPs. Surprisingly, these led to solid microspheres instead of hollow microspheres. Following the diffusion-deposition model for microsphere formation, it is seems that the NPs, with positively charged alumina patches on top of a negatively charged silica surface, can fully penetrate into the polymer-salt aggregate to form the solid microspheres. The viscoelastic nature of polymer-salt aggregates was exploited to produce non-sphere-shaped NACs through the use of a high-shear flow instrument (Reynolds number of ∼21,000). A mathematical model was developed to understand the formation of elongated NACs, which indicated the shear and elongational stresses within the boundary layer zones along the flow channel walls were responsible for the observed formation of rod-like microparticles.

This study develops an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding institutional change and resistance to change towards sustainability. The research rests on two leading theories of change within the social and ecological sciences: the New Institutionalism and Panarchy theory. A theoretical framework integrating insights from the two theories is applied in an analysis of the development of the Town of Caledon’s mineral resources policies. The research suggests that institutional change and inertia are interconnected and interdependent and, depending on the case and context, they may interact with each other across spatial and temporal scales. There may be overlap in the emergence of pressures for institutional inertia and change across temporal and spatial scales, and both institutional change and inertia may be present when opportunities arise for renegotiation of the “rules of the game”. Results show that the two theories share many concepts (e.g., thresholds or tipping points, fast and slow moving variables, etc.) to aid in understanding the dynamics of institutional and ecological realms. Moreover, the integrated theoretical framework can help to explain the dynamics of institutional systems in a way that overcomes the limitations in Panarchy and the New Institutionalism theories by themselves. Key concepts within Panarchy theory (e.g., regime shifts, etc.) complement the New Institutionalism’s ability to capture important contextual factors influencing institutional change and inertia, and help to overcome the current limitation in its capacity to explain the nonlinear, multi-scalar dynamics of institutional systems. In turn, key concepts within the New Institutionalism (e.g., uncertainty, etc.) complement and enrich Panarchy theory’s capacity to illustrate the social and economic dimensions of institutional dynamics. Results of the case analysis demonstrate that a range of overlapping, historic and immediate, local-to-provincial factors (e.g., socioeconomic costs, uncertainty, path dependent effects, etc.) and institutional elements (e.g., interests and values, power and resources, issues of fit, etc.) drove institutional change and inertia in the development of Caledon’s mineral resources policies. The slow moving institutional variables in Caledon’s case (core Town, industry and provincial government values and interests) were perhaps the greatest determinants of institutional change and resistance to change towards sustainability. The story of the development of Caledon’s mineral resources policies, then, is about the resilience and resistance efforts of a small Town committed to maintaining core community values under the constraints of a resilient and resistant, ecologically destructive and inequitable institutional system.