Interactive governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob; Peters, B. Guy

Governance has become one of the most commonly used concepts in contemporary political science. It is, however, often used to mean a variety of different things. This book helps to clarify this conceptual muddle by concentrating on one variety of governance-interactive governance. The authors argue...... that although the state may remain important for many aspects of governing, interactions between state and society represent an important, and perhaps increasingly important, dimension of governance. These interactions may be with social actors such as networks, with market actors or with other governments......, but all these forms represent means of governing involving mixtures of state action with the actions of other entities.This book explores thoroughly this meaning of governance, and links it to broader questions of governance. In the process of explicating this dimension of governance the authors also...

Phenotypic and epistatic grouping of hypo- and hyper-rec mus mutants in Aspergillus.

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Kafer, E; Chae, S K

1994-03-01

The mutants musK to musS of Aspergillus nidulans are sensitive to methyl-methanesulfonate (MMS) and several of them are meiotic-defective and alter mitotic recombination frequencies. All were found to be cross-sensitive to 4-nitro-quinoline-N-oxide (4-NQO) but unexpectedly none of them was hypersensitive to gamma-rays and few to UV light. Double mus; uvs mutants were constructed to test for interactions with uvs mutations of the four epistatic groups of Aspergillus, "UvsF", "UvsC", "UvsI", and "UvsB". All meiotic-defective mus mutations caused some lethal interactions, usually with uvsF. None of them showed epistasis with UvsF or UvsB group mutants and one, musO, may represent a new group. Three mus mutations that affect recombination were assigned to the UvsC group, namely musN and K, and also musL which is recombination-defective and closely resembles uvsC. While uvsC mutants are mutators and lack UV-mutagenesis, most mus mutants had no effects on mutation. Only musR, which appeared epistatic with uvsI, showed reduced UV-reversion frequencies similar to uvsI. The recombination-proficient mus mutants appeared to be epistatic with more than one group, but in several cases sensitivities were slight and overlaps insufficient to obtain corroborating results with MMS and 4-NQO.

Multi-location wheat stripe rust QTL analysis: genetic background and epistatic interactions.

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Vazquez, M Dolores; Zemetra, Robert; Peterson, C James; Chen, Xianming M; Heesacker, Adam; Mundt, Christopher C

2015-07-01

Epistasis and genetic background were important influences on expression of stripe rust resistance in two wheat RIL populations, one with resistance conditioned by two major genes and the other conditioned by several minor QTL. Stripe rust is a foliar disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) caused by the air-borne fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and is present in most regions around the world where commercial wheat is grown. Breeding for durable resistance to stripe rust continues to be a priority, but also is a challenge due to the complexity of interactions among resistance genes and to the wide diversity and continuous evolution of the pathogen races. The goal of this study was to detect chromosomal regions for resistance to stripe rust in two winter wheat populations, 'Tubbs'/'NSA-98-0995' (T/N) and 'Einstein'/'Tubbs' (E/T), evaluated across seven environments and mapped with diversity array technology and simple sequence repeat markers covering polymorphic regions of ≈1480 and 1117 cM, respectively. Analysis of variance for phenotypic data revealed significant (P located in chromosomes 2AS and 6AL, with epistatic interaction between them, were responsible for the main phenotypic response. For the T/N population, eight QTL were identified, with those in chromosomes 2AL and 2BL accounting for the largest percentage of the phenotypic variance.

Epistatic adaptive evolution of human color vision.

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Shozo Yokoyama

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Establishing genotype-phenotype relationship is the key to understand the molecular mechanism of phenotypic adaptation. This initial step may be untangled by analyzing appropriate ancestral molecules, but it is a daunting task to recapitulate the evolution of non-additive (epistatic interactions of amino acids and function of a protein separately. To adapt to the ultraviolet (UV-free retinal environment, the short wavelength-sensitive (SWS1 visual pigment in human (human S1 switched from detecting UV to absorbing blue light during the last 90 million years. Mutagenesis experiments of the UV-sensitive pigment in the Boreoeutherian ancestor show that the blue-sensitivity was achieved by seven mutations. The experimental and quantum chemical analyses show that 4,008 of all 5,040 possible evolutionary trajectories are terminated prematurely by containing a dehydrated nonfunctional pigment. Phylogenetic analysis further suggests that human ancestors achieved the blue-sensitivity gradually and almost exclusively by epistasis. When the final stage of spectral tuning of human S1 was underway 45-30 million years ago, the middle and long wavelength-sensitive (MWS/LWS pigments appeared and so-called trichromatic color vision was established by interprotein epistasis. The adaptive evolution of human S1 differs dramatically from orthologous pigments with a major mutational effect used in achieving blue-sensitivity in a fish and several mammalian species and in regaining UV vision in birds. These observations imply that the mechanisms of epistatic interactions must be understood by studying various orthologues in different species that have adapted to various ecological and physiological environments.

Distinct configurations of protein complexes and biochemical pathways revealed by epistatic interaction network motifs

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Casey, Fergal

2011-08-22

Abstract Background Gene and protein interactions are commonly represented as networks, with the genes or proteins comprising the nodes and the relationship between them as edges. Motifs, or small local configurations of edges and nodes that arise repeatedly, can be used to simplify the interpretation of networks. Results We examined triplet motifs in a network of quantitative epistatic genetic relationships, and found a non-random distribution of particular motif classes. Individual motif classes were found to be associated with different functional properties, suggestive of an underlying biological significance. These associations were apparent not only for motif classes, but for individual positions within the motifs. As expected, NNN (all negative) motifs were strongly associated with previously reported genetic (i.e. synthetic lethal) interactions, while PPP (all positive) motifs were associated with protein complexes. The two other motif classes (NNP: a positive interaction spanned by two negative interactions, and NPP: a negative spanned by two positives) showed very distinct functional associations, with physical interactions dominating for the former but alternative enrichments, typical of biochemical pathways, dominating for the latter. Conclusion We present a model showing how NNP motifs can be used to recognize supportive relationships between protein complexes, while NPP motifs often identify opposing or regulatory behaviour between a gene and an associated pathway. The ability to use motifs to point toward underlying biological organizational themes is likely to be increasingly important as more extensive epistasis mapping projects in higher organisms begin.

Epistatic effects contribute to variation in BMD in Fischer 344 x Lewis F2 rats.

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Koller, Daniel L; Liu, Lixiang; Alam, Imranul; Sun, Qiwei; Econs, Michael J; Foroud, Tatiana; Turner, Charles H

2008-01-01

To further delineate the factors underlying the complex genetic architecture of BMD in the rat model, a genome screen for epistatic interactions was conducted. Several significant interactions were identified, involving both previously identified and novel QTLs. The variation in several of the risk factors for osteoporotic fracture, including BMD, has been shown to be caused largely by genetic differences. However, the genetic architecture of BMD is complex in both humans and in model organisms. We have previously reported quantitative trait locus (QTL) results for BMD from a genome screen of 595 female F(2) progeny of Fischer 344 and Lewis rats. These progeny also provide an excellent opportunity to search for epistatic effects, or interaction between genetic loci, that contribute to fracture risk. Microsatellite marker data from a 20-cM genome screen was analyzed along with weight-adjusted BMD (DXA and pQCT) phenotypic data using the R/qtl software package. Genotype and phenotype data were permuted to determine a genome-wide significance threshold for the epistasis or interaction LOD score corresponding to an alpha level of 0.01. Novel loci on chromosomes 12 and 15 showed a strong epistatic effect on total BMD at the femoral midshaft by pQCT (LOD = 5.4). A previously reported QTL on chromosome 7 was found to interact with a novel locus on chromosome 20 to affect whole lumbar BMD by pQCT (LOD = 6.2). These results provide new information regarding the mode of action of previously identified rat QTLs, as well as identifying novel loci that act in combination with known QTLs or with other novel loci to contribute to the risk factors for osteoporotic fracture.

A novel epistatic interaction at two loci causing hybrid male sterility in an inter-subspecific cross of rice (Oryza sativa L.).

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Kubo, Takahiko; Yamagata, Yoshiyuki; Eguchi, Maki; Yoshimura, Atsushi

2008-12-01

Postzygotic reproductive isolation (RI) often arises in inter-subspecific crosses as well as inter-specific crosses of rice (Oryza sativa L.). To further understand the genetic architecture of the postzygotic RI, we analyzed genes causing hybrid sterility and hybrid breakdown in a rice inter-subspecific cross. Here we report hybrid male sterility caused by epistatic interaction between two novel genes, S24 and S35, which were identified on rice chromosomes 5 and 1, respectively. Genetic analysis using near-isogenic lines (NILs) carrying IR24 (ssp. indica) segments with Asominori (ssp. japonica) genetic background revealed a complicated aspect of the epistasis. Allelic interaction at the S24 locus in the heterozygous plants caused abortion of male gametes carrying the Asominori allele (S24-as) independent of the S35 genotype. On the other hand, male gametes carrying the Asominori allele at the S35 locus (S35-as) showed abortion only when the IR24 allele at the S24 locus (S24-ir) was concurrently introgressed into the S35 heterozygous plants, indicating that the sterility phenotype due to S35 was dependent on the S24 genotype through negative epistasis between S24-ir and S35-as alleles. Due to the interaction between S24 and S35, self-pollination of the double heterozygous plants produced pollen-sterile progeny carrying the S24-ir/S24-ir S35-as/S35-ir genotype in addition to the S24 heterozygous plants. This result suggests that the S35 gene might function as a modifier of S24. This study presents strong evidence for the importance of epistatic interaction as a part of the genetic architecture of hybrid sterility in rice. In addition, it suggests that diverse systems have been developed as postzygotic RI mechanisms within the rice.

Inference of epistatic effects in a key mitochondrial protein

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Nelson, Erik D.; Grishin, Nick V.

2018-06-01

We use Potts model inference to predict pair epistatic effects in a key mitochondrial protein—cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2—for ray-finned fishes. We examine the effect of phylogenetic correlations on our predictions using a simple exact fitness model, and we find that, although epistatic effects are underpredicted, they maintain a roughly linear relationship to their true (model) values. After accounting for this correction, epistatic effects in the protein are still relatively weak, leading to fitness valleys of depth 2 N s ≃-5 in compensatory double mutants. Interestingly, positive epistasis is more pronounced than negative epistasis, and the strongest positive effects capture nearly all sites subject to positive selection in fishes, similar to virus proteins evolving under selection pressure in the context of drug therapy.

Epistatic Effects Contribute to Variation in BMD in Fischer 344 × Lewis F2 Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Koller, Daniel L; Liu, Lixiang; Alam, Imranul; Sun, Qiwei; Econs, Michael J; Foroud, Tatiana; Turner, Charles H

2008-01-01

To further delineate the factors underlying the complex genetic architecture of BMD in the rat model, a genome screen for epistatic interactions was conducted. Several significant interactions were identified, involving both previously identified and novel QTLs. Introduction The variation in several of the risk factors for osteoporotic fracture, including BMD, has been shown to be caused largely by genetic differences. However, the genetic architecture of BMD is complex in both humans and in model organisms. We have previously reported quantitative trait locus (QTL) results for BMD from a genome screen of 595 female F2 progeny of Fischer 344 and Lewis rats. These progeny also provide an excellent opportunity to search for epistatic effects, or interaction between genetic loci, that contribute to fracture risk. Materials and Methods Microsatellite marker data from a 20-cM genome screen was analyzed along with weight-adjusted BMD (DXA and pQCT) phenotypic data using the R/qtl software package. Genotype and phenotype data were permuted to determine a genome-wide significance threshold for the epistasis or interaction LOD score corresponding to an α level of 0.01. Results and Conclusions Novel loci on chromosomes 12 and 15 showed a strong epistatic effect on total BMD at the femoral midshaft by pQCT (LOD = 5.4). A previously reported QTL on chromosome 7 was found to interact with a novel locus on chromosome 20 to affect whole lumbar BMD by pQCT (LOD = 6.2). These results provide new information regarding the mode of action of previously identified rat QTLs, as well as identifying novel loci that act in combination with known QTLs or with other novel loci to contribute to the risk factors for osteoporotic fracture. PMID:17907919

uvsI mutants defective in UV mutagenesis define a fourth epistatic group of uvs genes in Aspergillus.

Science.gov (United States)

Chae, S K; Kafer, E

1993-01-01

Three UV-sensitive mutations of A. nidulans, uvsI, uvsJ and uvsA, were tested for epistatic relationships with members of the previously established groups, here called the "UvsF", "UvsC", and "UvsB" groups. uvsI mutants are defective for spontaneous and induced reversion of certain point mutations and differ also for other properties from previously analyzed uvs types. They are very sensitive to the killing effects of UV-light and 4-NQO (4-nitro-quinoline-N-oxide) but not to MMS (methylmethane sulfonate). When double- and single-mutant uvs strains were compared for sensitivity to these three agents, synergistic or additive effects were found for uvsI with all members of the three groups. The uvsI gene may therefore represent a fourth epistatic group, possibly involved in mutagenic repair. On the other hand, uvsJ was clearly epistatic with members of the UvsF group and fitted well into this group also by phenotype. The uvsA gene was tentatively assigned to the UvsC group. uvsA showed epistatic interactions with uvsC in all tests, and like UvsC-group mutants is UV-sensitive mainly in dividing cells. However, the uvsA mutation does not cause the defects in recombination and UV mutagenesis typical for this group.

Fitness ranking of individual mutants drives patterns of epistatic interactions in HIV-1.

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Javier P Martínez

Full Text Available Fitness interactions between mutations, referred to as epistasis, can strongly impact evolution. For RNA viruses and retroviruses with their high mutation rates, epistasis may be particularly important to overcome fitness losses due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations and thus could influence the frequency of mutants in a viral population. As human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 resistance to azidothymidine (AZT requires selection of sequential mutations, it is a good system to study the impact of epistasis. Here we present a thorough analysis of a classical AZT-resistance pathway (the 41-215 cluster of HIV-1 variants by fitness measurements in single round infection assays covering physiological drug concentrations ex vivo. The sign and value of epistasis varied and did not predict the epistatic effect on the mutant frequency. This complex behavior is explained by the fitness ranking of the variants that strongly depends on environmental factors, i.e., the presence and absence of drugs and the host cells used. Although some interactions compensate fitness losses, the observed small effect on the relative mutant frequencies suggests that epistasis might be inefficient as a buffering mechanism for fitness losses in vivo. While the use of epistasis-based hypotheses to make general assumptions on the evolutionary dynamics of viral populations is appealing, our data caution their interpretation without further knowledge on the characteristics of the viral mutant spectrum under different environmental conditions.

Interactive Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Henrik

2016-01-01

Governance analysis has exploded in recent years, and it has become nearly impossible to tell what difference the concept and practice of governance makes from those of government and state. In addition governance analysis has been placed more and more in the shadow of the new institutionalisms and...... and growth. However, interactive governance is not a property or effect of institutions; nor does it apply solely to those individuals who seek success above everything else. It is connective more than individualistic or collectivistic in nature; and it manifests a governability capacity which...

An epistatic interaction between the PAX8 and STK17B genes in papillary thyroid cancer susceptibility.

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Iñigo Landa

Full Text Available Papillary Thyroid Cancer (PTC is a heterogeneous and complex disease; susceptibility to PTC is influenced by the joint effects of multiple common, low-penetrance genes, although relatively few have been identified to date. Here we applied a rigorous combined approach to assess both the individual and epistatic contributions of genetic factors to PTC susceptibility, based on one of the largest series of thyroid cancer cases described to date. In addition to identifying the involvement of TSHR variation in classic PTC, our pioneer study of epistasis revealed a significant interaction between variants in STK17B and PAX8. The interaction was detected by MD-MBR (p = 0.00010 and confirmed by other methods, and then replicated in a second independent series of patients (MD-MBR p = 0.017. Furthermore, we demonstrated an inverse correlation between expression of PAX8 and STK17B in a set of cell lines derived from human thyroid carcinomas. Overall, our work sheds additional light on the genetic basis of thyroid cancer susceptibility, and suggests a new direction for the exploration of the inherited genetic contribution to disease using association studies.

Spatiotemporal dynamics and epistatic interaction sites in dengue virus type 1: a comprehensive sequence-based analysis.

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Pei-Yu Chu

Full Text Available The continuing threat of dengue fever necessitates a comprehensive characterisation of its epidemiological trends. Phylogenetic and recombination events were reconstructed based on 100 worldwide dengue virus (DENV type 1 genome sequences with an outgroup (prototypes of DENV2-4. The phylodynamic characteristics and site-specific variation were then analysed using data without the outgroup. Five genotypes (GI-GV and a ladder-like structure with short terminal branch topology were observed in this study. Apparently, the transmission of DENV1 was geographically random before gradual localising with human activity as GI-GIII in South Asia, GIV in the South Pacific, and GV in the Americas. Genotypes IV and V have recently shown higher population densities compared to older genotypes. All codon regions and all tree branches were skewed toward a negative selection, which indicated that their variation was restricted by protein function. Notably, multi-epistatic interaction sites were found in both PrM 221 and NS3 1730. Recombination events accumulated in regions E, NS3-NS4A, and particularly in region NS5. The estimated coevolution pattern also highlights the need for further study of the biological role of protein PrM 221 and NS3 1730. The recent transmission of emergent GV sublineages into Central America and Europe mandates closely monitoring of genotype interaction and succession.

Epistatic determinism of durum wheat resistance to the wheat spindle streak mosaic virus.

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Holtz, Yan; Bonnefoy, Michel; Viader, Véronique; Ardisson, Morgane; Rode, Nicolas O; Poux, Gérard; Roumet, Pierre; Marie-Jeanne, Véronique; Ranwez, Vincent; Santoni, Sylvain; Gouache, David; David, Jacques L

2017-07-01

The resistance of durum wheat to the Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus (WSSMV) is controlled by two main QTLs on chromosomes 7A and 7B, with a huge epistatic effect. Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus (WSSMV) is a major disease of durum wheat in Europe and North America. Breeding WSSMV-resistant cultivars is currently the only way to control the virus since no treatment is available. This paper reports studies of the inheritance of WSSMV resistance using two related durum wheat populations obtained by crossing two elite cultivars with a WSSMV-resistant emmer cultivar. In 2012 and 2015, 354 recombinant inbred lines (RIL) were phenotyped using visual notations, ELISA and qPCR and genotyped using locus targeted capture and sequencing. This allowed us to build a consensus genetic map of 8568 markers and identify three chromosomal regions involved in WSSMV resistance. Two major regions (located on chromosomes 7A and 7B) jointly explain, on the basis of epistatic interactions, up to 43% of the phenotypic variation. Flanking sequences of our genetic markers are provided to facilitate future marker-assisted selection of WSSMV-resistant cultivars.

Molecular signature of epistatic selection: interrogating genetic interactions in the sex-ratio meiotic drive of Drosophila simulans.

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Chevin, Luis-Miguel; Bastide, Héloïse; Montchamp-Moreau, Catherine; Hospital, Frédéric

2009-06-01

Fine scale analyses of signatures of selection allow assessing quantitative aspects of a species' evolutionary genetic history, such as the strength of selection on genes. When several selected loci lie in the same genomic region, their epistatic interactions may also be investigated. Here, we study how the neutral polymorphism pattern was shaped by two close recombining loci that cause 'sex-ratio' meiotic drive in Drosophila simulans, as an example of strong selection with potentially strong epistasis. We compare the polymorphism data observed in a natural population with the results of forward stochastic simulations under several contexts of epistasis between the candidate loci for the drive. We compute the likelihood of different possible scenarios, in order to determine which configuration is most consistent with the data. Our results highlight that fine scale analyses of well-chosen candidate genomic regions provide information-rich data that can be used to investigate the genotype-phenotype-fitness map, which can hardly be studied in genome-wide analyses. We also emphasize that initial conditions and time of observation (here, time after the interruption of a partial selective sweep) are crucial parameters in the interpretation of real data, while these are often overlooked in theoretical studies.

CRISPR Perturbation of Gene Expression Alters Bacterial Fitness under Stress and Reveals Underlying Epistatic Constraints.

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Otoupal, Peter B; Erickson, Keesha E; Escalas-Bordoy, Antoni; Chatterjee, Anushree

2017-01-20

The evolution of antibiotic resistance has engendered an impending global health crisis that necessitates a greater understanding of how resistance emerges. The impact of nongenetic factors and how they influence the evolution of resistance is a largely unexplored area of research. Here we present a novel application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology for investigating how gene expression governs the adaptive pathways available to bacteria during the evolution of resistance. We examine the impact of gene expression changes on bacterial adaptation by constructing a library of deactivated CRISPR-Cas9 synthetic devices to tune the expression of a set of stress-response genes in Escherichia coli. We show that artificially inducing perturbations in gene expression imparts significant synthetic control over fitness and growth during stress exposure. We present evidence that these impacts are reversible; strains with synthetically perturbed gene expression regained wild-type growth phenotypes upon stress removal, while maintaining divergent growth characteristics under stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate a prevailing trend toward negative epistatic interactions when multiple gene perturbations are combined simultaneously, thereby posing an intrinsic constraint on gene expression underlying adaptive trajectories. Together, these results emphasize how CRISPR-Cas9 can be employed to engineer gene expression changes that shape bacterial adaptation, and present a novel approach to synthetically control the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.

Prediction of genetic values of quantitative traits with epistatic effects in plant breeding populations.

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Wang, D; Salah El-Basyoni, I; Stephen Baenziger, P; Crossa, J; Eskridge, K M; Dweikat, I

2012-11-01

Though epistasis has long been postulated to have a critical role in genetic regulation of important pathways as well as provide a major source of variation in the process of speciation, the importance of epistasis for genomic selection in the context of plant breeding is still being debated. In this paper, we report the results on the prediction of genetic values with epistatic effects for 280 accessions in the Nebraska Wheat Breeding Program using adaptive mixed least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). The development of adaptive mixed LASSO, originally designed for association mapping, for the context of genomic selection is reported. The results show that adaptive mixed LASSO can be successfully applied to the prediction of genetic values while incorporating both marker main effects and epistatic effects. Especially, the prediction accuracy is substantially improved by the inclusion of two-locus epistatic effects (more than onefold in some cases as measured by cross-validation correlation coefficient), which is observed for multiple traits and planting locations. This points to significant potential in using non-additive genetic effects for genomic selection in crop breeding practices.

Paradoxes of Deliberative Interactions on Government-Managed Social Media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Zhu, Demi

2016-01-01

The presence of government agencies on increasingly popular social media platforms potentially enables interactions that go beyond one-way government-to-citizen information or service provision, and include citizen-to-citizen open interactions. These interactions can either contribute to delibera......The presence of government agencies on increasingly popular social media platforms potentially enables interactions that go beyond one-way government-to-citizen information or service provision, and include citizen-to-citizen open interactions. These interactions can either contribute...

Governing 'Spaces of Interaction' for Sustainable Fisheries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bush, S.R.

2010-01-01

This paper introduces the concept of 'spaces of interaction' to determine how existing market-based governance tools improve participation and deliberation between actors along fish value chains. Exploring these linkages through the sociology of environmental flows and interactive governance theory

Directed Evolution Reveals Unexpected Epistatic Interactions That Alter Metabolic Regulation and Enable Anaerobic Xylose Use by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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Trey K Sato

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The inability of native Saccharomyces cerevisiae to convert xylose from plant biomass into biofuels remains a major challenge for the production of renewable bioenergy. Despite extensive knowledge of the regulatory networks controlling carbon metabolism in yeast, little is known about how to reprogram S. cerevisiae to ferment xylose at rates comparable to glucose. Here we combined genome sequencing, proteomic profiling, and metabolomic analyses to identify and characterize the responsible mutations in a series of evolved strains capable of metabolizing xylose aerobically or anaerobically. We report that rapid xylose conversion by engineered and evolved S. cerevisiae strains depends upon epistatic interactions among genes encoding a xylose reductase (GRE3, a component of MAP Kinase (MAPK signaling (HOG1, a regulator of Protein Kinase A (PKA signaling (IRA2, and a scaffolding protein for mitochondrial iron-sulfur (Fe-S cluster biogenesis (ISU1. Interestingly, the mutation in IRA2 only impacted anaerobic xylose consumption and required the loss of ISU1 function, indicating a previously unknown connection between PKA signaling, Fe-S cluster biogenesis, and anaerobiosis. Proteomic and metabolomic comparisons revealed that the xylose-metabolizing mutant strains exhibit altered metabolic pathways relative to the parental strain when grown in xylose. Further analyses revealed that interacting mutations in HOG1 and ISU1 unexpectedly elevated mitochondrial respiratory proteins and enabled rapid aerobic respiration of xylose and other non-fermentable carbon substrates. Our findings suggest a surprising connection between Fe-S cluster biogenesis and signaling that facilitates aerobic respiration and anaerobic fermentation of xylose, underscoring how much remains unknown about the eukaryotic signaling systems that regulate carbon metabolism.

Directed Evolution Reveals Unexpected Epistatic Interactions That Alter Metabolic Regulation and Enable Anaerobic Xylose Use by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, Trey K; Tremaine, Mary; Parreiras, Lucas S; Hebert, Alexander S; Myers, Kevin S; Higbee, Alan J; Sardi, Maria; McIlwain, Sean J; Ong, Irene M; Breuer, Rebecca J; Avanasi Narasimhan, Ragothaman; McGee, Mick A; Dickinson, Quinn; La Reau, Alex; Xie, Dan; Tian, Mingyuan; Reed, Jennifer L; Zhang, Yaoping; Coon, Joshua J; Hittinger, Chris Todd; Gasch, Audrey P; Landick, Robert

2016-10-01

The inability of native Saccharomyces cerevisiae to convert xylose from plant biomass into biofuels remains a major challenge for the production of renewable bioenergy. Despite extensive knowledge of the regulatory networks controlling carbon metabolism in yeast, little is known about how to reprogram S. cerevisiae to ferment xylose at rates comparable to glucose. Here we combined genome sequencing, proteomic profiling, and metabolomic analyses to identify and characterize the responsible mutations in a series of evolved strains capable of metabolizing xylose aerobically or anaerobically. We report that rapid xylose conversion by engineered and evolved S. cerevisiae strains depends upon epistatic interactions among genes encoding a xylose reductase (GRE3), a component of MAP Kinase (MAPK) signaling (HOG1), a regulator of Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling (IRA2), and a scaffolding protein for mitochondrial iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biogenesis (ISU1). Interestingly, the mutation in IRA2 only impacted anaerobic xylose consumption and required the loss of ISU1 function, indicating a previously unknown connection between PKA signaling, Fe-S cluster biogenesis, and anaerobiosis. Proteomic and metabolomic comparisons revealed that the xylose-metabolizing mutant strains exhibit altered metabolic pathways relative to the parental strain when grown in xylose. Further analyses revealed that interacting mutations in HOG1 and ISU1 unexpectedly elevated mitochondrial respiratory proteins and enabled rapid aerobic respiration of xylose and other non-fermentable carbon substrates. Our findings suggest a surprising connection between Fe-S cluster biogenesis and signaling that facilitates aerobic respiration and anaerobic fermentation of xylose, underscoring how much remains unknown about the eukaryotic signaling systems that regulate carbon metabolism.

Progeny-testing of full-sibs IBD in a SSC2 QTL region highlights epistatic interactions for fatness traits in pigs

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Iannuccelli Nathalie

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many QTL have been detected in pigs, but very few of them have been fine-mapped up to the causal mutation. On SSC2, the IGF2-intron3-G3072A mutation has been described as the causative polymorphism for a QTL underlying muscle mass and backfat deposition, but further studies have demonstrated that at least one additional QTL should segregate downstream of this mutation. A marker-assisted backcrossing design was set up in order to confirm the segregation of this second locus, reduce its confidence interval and better understand its mode of segregation. Results Five recombinant full-sibs, with genotype G/G at the IGF2 mutation, were progeny-tested. Only two of them displayed significant QTL for fatness traits although four inherited the same paternal and maternal chromosomes, thus exhibiting the same haplotypic contrast in the QTL region. The hypothesis of an interaction with another region in the genome was proposed to explain these discrepancies and after a genome scan, four different regions were retained as potential interacting regions with the SSC2 QTL. A candidate interacting region on SSC13 was confirmed by the analysis of an F2 pedigree, and in the backcross pedigree one haplotype in this region was found to mask the SSC2 QTL effect. Conclusions Assuming the hypothesis of interactions with other chromosomal regions, the QTL could be unambiguously mapped to a 30 cM region delimited by recombination points. The marker-assisted backcrossing design was successfully used to confirm the segregation of a QTL on SSC2 and, because full-sibs that inherited the same alleles from their two parents were analysed, the detection of epistatic interactions could be performed between alleles and not between breeds as usually done with the traditional Line-Cross model. Additional analyses of other recombinant sires should provide more information to further improve the fine-mapping of this locus, and confirm or deny the interaction

A bi-dimensional genome scan for prolificacy traits in pigs shows the existence of multiple epistatic QTL

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Bidanel Jean P

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prolificacy is the most important trait influencing the reproductive efficiency of pig production systems. The low heritability and sex-limited expression of prolificacy have hindered to some extent the improvement of this trait through artificial selection. Moreover, the relative contributions of additive, dominant and epistatic QTL to the genetic variance of pig prolificacy remain to be defined. In this work, we have undertaken this issue by performing one-dimensional and bi-dimensional genome scans for number of piglets born alive (NBA and total number of piglets born (TNB in a three generation Iberian by Meishan F2 intercross. Results The one-dimensional genome scan for NBA and TNB revealed the existence of two genome-wide highly significant QTL located on SSC13 (P SSC17 (P P P P P Conclusions The complex inheritance of prolificacy traits in pigs has been evidenced by identifying multiple additive (SSC13 and SSC17, dominant and epistatic QTL in an Iberian × Meishan F2 intercross. Our results demonstrate that a significant fraction of the phenotypic variance of swine prolificacy traits can be attributed to first-order gene-by-gene interactions emphasizing that the phenotypic effects of alleles might be strongly modulated by the genetic background where they segregate.

Modularization and epistatic hierarchy determine homeostatic actions of multiple blood pressure quantitative trait loci.

Science.gov (United States)

Chauvet, Cristina; Crespo, Kimberley; Ménard, Annie; Roy, Julie; Deng, Alan Y

2013-11-15

Hypertension, the most frequently diagnosed clinical condition world-wide, predisposes individuals to morbidity and mortality, yet its underlying pathological etiologies are poorly understood. So far, a large number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) have been identified in both humans and animal models, but how they function together in determining overall blood pressure (BP) in physiological settings is unknown. Here, we systematically and comprehensively performed pair-wise comparisons of individual QTLs to create a global picture of their functionality in an inbred rat model. Rather than each of numerous QTLs contributing to infinitesimal BP increments, a modularized pattern arises: two epistatic 'blocks' constitute basic functional 'units' for nearly all QTLs, designated as epistatic module 1 (EM1) and EM2. This modularization dictates the magnitude and scope of BP effects. Any EM1 member can contribute to BP additively to that of EM2, but not to those of the same module. Members of each EM display epistatic hierarchy, which seems to reflect a related functional pathway. Rat homologues of 11 human BP QTLs belong to either EM1 or EM2. Unique insights emerge into the novel genetic mechanism and hierarchy determining BP in the Dahl salt-sensitive SS/Jr (DSS) rat model that implicate a portion of human QTLs. Elucidating the pathways underlying EM1 and EM2 may reveal the genetic regulation of BP.

The Mosaic Ancestry of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel and the D. melanogaster Reference Genome Reveals a Network of Epistatic Fitness Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, John E.

2015-01-01

North American populations of Drosophila melanogaster derive from both European and African source populations, but despite their importance for genetic research, patterns of ancestry along their genomes are largely undocumented. Here, I infer geographic ancestry along genomes of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and the D. melanogaster reference genome, which may have implications for reference alignment, association mapping, and population genomic studies in Drosophila. Overall, the proportion of African ancestry was estimated to be 20% for the DGRP and 9% for the reference genome. Combining my estimate of admixture timing with historical records, I provide the first estimate of natural generation time for this species (approximately 15 generations per year). Ancestry levels were found to vary strikingly across the genome, with less African introgression on the X chromosome, in regions of high recombination, and at genes involved in specific processes (e.g., circadian rhythm). An important role for natural selection during the admixture process was further supported by evidence that many unlinked pairs of loci showed a deficiency of Africa–Europe allele combinations between them. Numerous epistatic fitness interactions may therefore exist between African and European genotypes, leading to ongoing selection against incompatible variants. By focusing on hubs in this network of fitness interactions, I identified a set of interacting loci that include genes with roles in sensation and neuropeptide/hormone reception. These findings suggest that admixed D. melanogaster samples could become an important study system for the genetics of early-stage isolation between populations. PMID:26354524

Interactions of checkpoint-genes RAD9, RAD17, RAD24 and RAD53 determining radioresistance of Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koltovaya, N.A.; Nikulushkina, Yu.V.; Roshchina, M.P.; Devin, A.B.

2007-01-01

The mechanisms of genetic control of progress through the division cell cycle (checkpoint-control) in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been studied intensively. To investigate the role of checkpoint-genes RAD9, RAD17, RAD24, RAD53 in cell radioresistance we have investigated cell sensitivity of double mutants to γ-ray. Double mutants involving various combinations with rad9Δ show epistatic interactions, i.e. the sensitivity of the double mutants to γ-ray was no greater than that of more sensitive of the two single mutants. This suggests that all these genes govern the same pathway. This group of genes was named RAD9-epistasis group. It is interesting to note that the genes RAD9 and RAD53 have positive effect but RAD17 and RAD24 have negative effect on radiosensitivity of yeast cells. Interactions between mutations may differ depending on the agent γ-ray or UV-light, for example mutations rad9Δ and rad24Δ show additive effect for γ-ray and epistatic effect for UV-light

Genetics of simple and complex host-parasite interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sidhu, G.S.; Webster, J.M.

1977-01-01

In nature a host plant can be viewed as a miniature replica of an ecological system where true and incidental parasites share the same habitat. Consequently, they influence each other's presence directly by interspecific interaction, and indirectly by inducing changes in the host's physiology and so form disease complexes. Since all physiological phenomena have their counterpart in the respective genetic systems of interacting organisms, valuable genetic information can be derived from the analysis of complex parasitic systems. Disease complexes may be classified according to the nature of interaction between various parasites on the same host. One parasite may nullify the host's resistance to another (e.g. Tomato - Meloidogyne incognita + Fusarium oxysporum lycopersici system). Conversely, a parasite may invoke resistance in the host against another parasite (e.g. Tomato - Fusarium oxysporum lycopersici + Verticillium albo atrum system). From the study of simple parasitic systems we know that resistance versus susceptibility against a single parasite is normally monogenically controlled. However, when more than one parasite interacts to invoke or nullify each other's responses on the same host plant, the genetic results suggest epistatic ratios. Nevertheless, epistatic ratios have been obtained also from simple parasitic systems owing to gene interaction. The epistatic ratios obtained from complex and simple parasitic systems are contrasted and compared. It is suggested that epistatic ratios obtained from simple parasitic systems may, in fact, be artifacts resulting from complex parasitic associations that often occur in nature. Polygenic inheritance and the longevity of a cultivar is also discussed briefly in relation to complex parasitic associations. Induced mutations can play a significant role in the study of complex parasitic associations, and thus can be very useful in controlling plant diseases

Interactive forest governance to conflict management in Ghana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derkyi, M.; Ros-Tonen, M.A.F.; Dietz, A.J.; Kyereh, B.

2012-01-01

This paper analyzes forest governance and conflict management in the Ghanaian forest sector from the perspective of forest experts. It does so by applying interactive governance theory (Kooiman et al. 2005, 2008) to characterize the governing system in terms of governance modes, actors and elements.

Interactive forest governance for conflict management in Ghana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derkyi, M.; Ros-Tonen, M.A.F.; Dietz, T.; Kyereh, B.

2012-01-01

This paper analyzes forest governance and conflict management in the Ghanaian forest sector from the perspective of forest experts.1 It does so by applying interactive governance theory (Kooiman et al. 2005, 2008) to characterize the governing system in terms of governance modes, actors and

Dominant Epistasis Between Two Quantitative Trait Loci Governing Sporulation Efficiency in Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Juraj; Mitrikeski, Petar T.

2015-01-01

Summary Sporulation efficiency in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a well-established model for studying quantitative traits. A variety of genes and nucleotides causing different sporulation efficiencies in laboratory, as well as in wild strains, has already been extensively characterised (mainly by reciprocal hemizygosity analysis and nucleotide exchange methods). We applied a different strategy in order to analyze the variation in sporulation efficiency of laboratory yeast strains. Coupling classical quantitative genetic analysis with simulations of phenotypic distributions (a method we call phenotype modelling) enabled us to obtain a detailed picture of the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) relationships underlying the phenotypic variation of this trait. Using this approach, we were able to uncover a dominant epistatic inheritance of loci governing the phenotype. Moreover, a molecular analysis of known causative quantitative trait genes and nucleotides allowed for the detection of novel alleles, potentially responsible for the observed phenotypic variation. Based on the molecular data, we hypothesise that the observed dominant epistatic relationship could be caused by the interaction of multiple quantitative trait nucleotides distributed across a 60--kb QTL region located on chromosome XIV and the RME1 locus on chromosome VII. Furthermore, we propose a model of molecular pathways which possibly underlie the phenotypic variation of this trait. PMID:27904371

The Mosaic Ancestry of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel and the D. melanogaster Reference Genome Reveals a Network of Epistatic Fitness Interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, John E

2015-12-01

North American populations of Drosophila melanogaster derive from both European and African source populations, but despite their importance for genetic research, patterns of ancestry along their genomes are largely undocumented. Here, I infer geographic ancestry along genomes of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and the D. melanogaster reference genome, which may have implications for reference alignment, association mapping, and population genomic studies in Drosophila. Overall, the proportion of African ancestry was estimated to be 20% for the DGRP and 9% for the reference genome. Combining my estimate of admixture timing with historical records, I provide the first estimate of natural generation time for this species (approximately 15 generations per year). Ancestry levels were found to vary strikingly across the genome, with less African introgression on the X chromosome, in regions of high recombination, and at genes involved in specific processes (e.g., circadian rhythm). An important role for natural selection during the admixture process was further supported by evidence that many unlinked pairs of loci showed a deficiency of Africa-Europe allele combinations between them. Numerous epistatic fitness interactions may therefore exist between African and European genotypes, leading to ongoing selection against incompatible variants. By focusing on hubs in this network of fitness interactions, I identified a set of interacting loci that include genes with roles in sensation and neuropeptide/hormone reception. These findings suggest that admixed D. melanogaster samples could become an important study system for the genetics of early-stage isolation between populations. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Theoretical Bases of the Model of Interaction of the Government and Local Government Creation

OpenAIRE

Nikolay I. Churinov

2015-01-01

Article is devoted to questions of understanding of a theoretical component: systems of interaction of bodies of different levels of the government. Author researches historical basis of the studied subject by research of foreign and domestic scientific experience in area of the theory of the state and the law. Much attention is paid to the scientific aspect of the question. By empirical approach interpretation of the theory of interaction of public authorities and local government, and also ...

Public-private interactions in global food safety governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Ching-Fu

2014-01-01

In response to an apparent decline in global food safety, numerous public and private regulatory initiatives have emerged to restore public confidence. This trend has been particularly marked by the growing influence of private regulators such as multinational food companies, supermarket chains and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who employ private standards, certification protocols, third-party auditing, and transnational contracting practices. This paper explores how the structure and processes of private food safety governance interact with traditional public governance regimes, focusing on Global Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalGAP) as a primary example of the former. Due to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of public regulation in the face of global problems, private governance in food safety has gradually replaced states' command-and-control regulation with more flexible, market-oriented mechanisms. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of constructive regime interaction instead of institutional boundary building to global food safety governance. Public and private ordering must each play a role as integral parts of a larger, dynamic and evolving governance complex.

The binary response of the GAL/MEL genetic switch of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is critically dependent on Gal80p-Gal4p interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Das Adhikari, Akshay Kumar; Bhat, Paike Jayadeva

2016-09-01

Studies on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL/MEL genetic switch have revealed that its bistability is dependent on ultrasensitivity that can be altered or abolished by disabling different combinations of nested feedback loops. In contrast, we have previously demonstrated that weakening of the interaction between Gal80p and Gal4p alone is sufficient to abolish the ultrasensitivity (Das Adhikari et al. 2014). Here, we demonstrate that altering the epistatic interaction between Gal80p and Gal4p also abolishes the bistability, and the switch response to galactose becomes graded instead of binary. However, the GAL/MEL switch of wild-type and epistatically altered strains responded in a graded fashion to melibiose. The properties of the epistatically altered strain resemble Kluyveromyces lactis, which separated from the Saccharomyces lineage 100 mya before whole-genome duplication (WGD). Based on the results reported here, we propose that epistatic interactions played a crucial role in the evolution of the fine regulation of S. cerevisiae GAL/MEL switch following WGD. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Theoretical Bases of the Model of Interaction of the Government and Local Government Creation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolay I. Churinov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Article is devoted to questions of understanding of a theoretical component: systems of interaction of bodies of different levels of the government. Author researches historical basis of the studied subject by research of foreign and domestic scientific experience in area of the theory of the state and the law. Much attention is paid to the scientific aspect of the question. By empirical approach interpretation of the theory of interaction of public authorities and local government, and also subjective estimated opinion of the author is given.

Epistasis × environment interactions among Arabidopsis thaliana glucosinolate genes impact complex traits and fitness in the field.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerwin, Rachel E; Feusier, Julie; Muok, Alise; Lin, Catherine; Larson, Brandon; Copeland, Daniel; Corwin, Jason A; Rubin, Matthew J; Francisco, Marta; Li, Baohua; Joseph, Bindu; Weinig, Cynthia; Kliebenstein, Daniel J

2017-08-01

Despite the growing number of studies showing that genotype × environment and epistatic interactions control fitness, the influences of epistasis × environment interactions on adaptive trait evolution remain largely uncharacterized. Across three field trials, we quantified aliphatic glucosinolate (GSL) defense chemistry, leaf damage, and relative fitness using mutant lines of Arabidopsis thaliana varying at pairs of causal aliphatic GSL defense genes to test the impact of epistatic and epistasis × environment interactions on adaptive trait variation. We found that aliphatic GSL accumulation was primarily influenced by additive and epistatic genetic variation, leaf damage was primarily influenced by environmental variation and relative fitness was primarily influenced by epistasis and epistasis × environment interactions. Epistasis × environment interactions accounted for up to 48% of the relative fitness variation in the field. At a single field site, the impact of epistasis on relative fitness varied significantly over 2 yr, showing that epistasis × environment interactions within a location can be temporally dynamic. These results suggest that the environmental dependency of epistasis can profoundly influence the response to selection, shaping the adaptive trajectories of natural populations in complex ways, and deserves further consideration in future evolutionary studies. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

Both epistatic and additive effects of QTLs are involved in polygenic induced resistance to disease: a case study, the interaction pepper - Phytophthora capsici Leonian.

Science.gov (United States)

Lefebvre, V; Palloix, A

1996-09-01

To study the resistance of pepper to Phytophthora capsici, we analyzed 94 doubled-haploid (DH) lines derived from the intraspecific F1 hybrid obtained from a cross between Perennial, an Indian pungent resistant line, and Yolo Wonder, an American bell-pepper susceptible line, with 119 DNA markers. Four different criteria were used to evaluate the resistance, corresponding to different steps or mechanisms of the host-pathogen interaction: root-rot index, receptivity, inducibility and stability. Three distinct ANOVA models between DNA marker genotypes and the four disease criteria identified 13 genomic regions, distributed across several linkage groups or unlinked markers, affecting the resistance of pepper to P. capsici. Some QTLs were criterion specific, whereas others affect several criteria, so that the four resistance criteria were controlled by different combinations of QTLs. The QTLs were very different in their quantitative effect (R(2) values), including major QTLs which explained 41-55% of the phenotypic variance, intermediate QTLs with additive or/and epistatic action (17-28% of the variance explained) and minor QTLs. Favourable alleles of some minor QTLs were carried in the susceptible parent. The total phenotypic variation accounted for by QTLs reached up to 90% for receptivity, with an important part due to epistasis effects between QTLs (with or without additive effects). The relative impact of resistance QTLs in disease response is discussed.

Identification of quantitative trait loci underlying seed protein content of soybean including main, epistatic, and QTL × environment effects in different regions of Northeast China.

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Weili; Li, Wen; Zhang, Qi; Wu, Depeng; Zhao, Xue; Li, Haiyan; Han, Yingpeng; Li, Wenbin

2017-08-01

The objective here was to identify QTL underlying soybean protein content (PC), and to evaluate the additive and epistatic effects of the QTLs. A mapping population, consisting of 129 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), was created by crossing 'Dongnong 46' and 'L-100'. Phenotypic data of the parents and RILs were collected for 4 years in three locations of Heilongjiang Province of China. A total of 213 SSR markers were used to construct a genetic linkage map. Eight QTLs, located on seven chromosomes (Chr), were identified to be associated with PC among the 10 tested environments. Of the seven QTLs, five QTLs, qPR-2 (Satt710, on Chr9), qPR-3 (Sat_122, on Chr12), qPR-5 (Satt543, on Chr17), qPR-7 (Satt163, on Chr18), and qPR-8 (Satt614, on Chr20), were detected in six, seven, seven, six, and seven environments, respectively, implying relatively stable QTLs. qPR-3 could explain 3.33%-11.26% of the phenotypic variation across eight tested environments. qPR-5 and qPR-8 explained 3.64%-10.1% and 11.86%-18.40% of the phenotypic variation, respectively, across seven tested environments. Eight QTLs associated with PC exhibited additive and (or) additive × environment interaction effects. The results showed that environment-independent QTLs often had higher additive effects. Moreover, five epistatic pairwise QTLs were identified in the 10 environments.

High-resolution mapping of a fruit firmness-related quantitative trait locus in tomato reveals epistatic interactions associated with a complex combinatorial locus.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Natalie H; Bonnet, Julien; Grivet, Laurent; Lynn, James; Graham, Neil; Smith, Rebecca; Sun, Guiping; Walley, Peter G; Poole, Mervin; Causse, Mathilde; King, Graham J; Baxter, Charles; Seymour, Graham B

2012-08-01

Fruit firmness in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is determined by a number of factors including cell wall structure, turgor, and cuticle properties. Firmness is a complex polygenic trait involving the coregulation of many genes and has proved especially challenging to unravel. In this study, a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for fruit firmness was mapped to tomato chromosome 2 using the Zamir Solanum pennellii interspecific introgression lines (ILs) and fine-mapped in a population consisting of 7,500 F2 and F3 lines from IL 2-3 and IL 2-4. This firmness QTL contained five distinct subpeaks, Fir(s.p.)QTL2.1 to Fir(s.p.)QTL2.5, and an effect on a distal region of IL 2-4 that was nonoverlapping with IL 2-3. All these effects were located within an 8.6-Mb region. Using genetic markers, each subpeak within this combinatorial locus was mapped to a physical location within the genome, and an ethylene response factor (ERF) underlying Fir(s.p.)QTL2.2 and a region containing three pectin methylesterase (PME) genes underlying Fir(s.p.)QTL2.5 were nominated as QTL candidate genes. Statistical models used to explain the observed variability between lines indicated that these candidates and the nonoverlapping portion of IL 2-4 were sufficient to account for the majority of the fruit firmness effects. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the expression of each candidate gene. ERF showed increased expression associated with soft fruit texture in the mapping population. In contrast, PME expression was tightly linked with firm fruit texture. Analysis of a range of recombinant lines revealed evidence for an epistatic interaction that was associated with this combinatorial locus.

Epistatic interaction between haplotypes of the ghrelin ligand and receptor genes influence susceptibility to myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Baessler, Andrea; Fischer, Marcus; Mayer, Bjoern; Koehler, Martina; Wiedmann, Silke; Stark, Klaus; Doering, Angela; Erdmann, Jeanette; Riegger, Guenter; Schunkert, Heribert; Kwitek, Anne E; Hengstenberg, Christian

2007-04-15

Data from both experimental models and humans provide evidence that ghrelin and its receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (ghrelin receptor, GHSR), possess a variety of cardiovascular effects. Thus, we hypothesized that genetic variants within the ghrelin system (ligand ghrelin and its receptor GHSR) are associated with susceptibility to myocardial infarction (MI) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the GHSR region as well as eight SNPs across the ghrelin gene (GHRL) region were genotyped in index MI patients (864 Caucasians, 'index MI cases') from the German MI family study and in matched controls without evidence of CAD (864 Caucasians, 'controls', MONICA Augsburg). In addition, siblings of these MI patients with documented severe CAD (826 'affected sibs') were matched likewise with controls (n = 826 Caucasian 'controls') and used for verification. The effect of interactions between genetic variants of both genes of the ghrelin system was explored by conditional classification tree models. We found association of several GHSR SNPs with MI [best SNP odds ratio (OR) 1.7 (1.2-2.5); P = 0.002] using a recessive model. Moreover, we identified a common GHSR haplotype which significantly increases the risk for MI [multivariate adjusted OR for homozygous carriers 1.6 (1.1-2.5) and CAD OR 1.6 (1.1-2.5)]. In contrast, no relationship between genetic variants and the disease could be revealed for GHRL. However, the increase in MI/CAD frequency related to the susceptible GHSR haplotype was abolished when it coincided with a common GHRL haplotype. Multivariate adjustments as well as permutation-based methods conveyed the same results. These data are the first to demonstrate an association of SNPs and haplotypes within important genes of the ghrelin system and the susceptibility to MI, whereas association with MI/CAD could be identified for genetic variants across GHSR, no relationship could be revealed for GHRL

Natural selection interacts with recombination to shape the evolution of hybrid genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Schumer, Molly; Xu, Chenling; Powell, Daniel L; Durvasula, Arun; Skov, Laurits; Holland, Chris; Blazier, John C; Sankararaman, Sriram; Andolfatto, Peter; Rosenthal, Gil G; Przeworski, Molly

2018-05-11

To investigate the consequences of hybridization between species, we studied three replicate hybrid populations that formed naturally between two swordtail fish species, estimating their fine-scale genetic map and inferring ancestry along the genomes of 690 individuals. In all three populations, ancestry from the "minor" parental species is more common in regions of high recombination and where there is linkage to fewer putative targets of selection. The same patterns are apparent in a reanalysis of human and archaic admixture. These results support models in which ancestry from the minor parental species is more likely to persist when rapidly uncoupled from alleles that are deleterious in hybrids. Our analyses further indicate that selection on swordtail hybrids stems predominantly from deleterious combinations of epistatically interacting alleles. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Features of Interaction of Business and Government in the Form of Public-private partnership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oksana N. Taranenko

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Today modernization of relations between the government and the business sector is an important issue particularly relevant in the context of financial globalization in the transition to a market economy. The paper discusses the theoretical concept of public-private partnership, as a form of business organization, combining the functional features of an independent firm or companies and the government, which implementation is caused by the need to ensure the production of the most important benefits in various areas, as well as the features of the interaction of business and government. It is proposed to highlight the definition of public-private partnerships in the form of a special system of relations of economic agents, as well to determine the required features that separate this form of interaction as a partnership from other forms of interaction. Also the authors consider a system of public-private partnership in terms of coordination of joint relations between the government and business, try to identify the basic principles of interaction between the participants, identify their main advantages that each of the participants in the partnership seeks to contribute to the joint project, and identifiess areas to support sustainable development the country's economy. The paper describes the problems associated with the implementation of projects in the public-private partnership system and suggests ways to improve them, discusses the main advantages and disadvantages of such members, as the government and business.

Government and Governance of Regional Triple Helix Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Danson, Mike; Todeva, Emanuela

2016-01-01

This conceptual paper contributes to the discussion of the role of regional government and regional Triple Helix constellations driving economic development and growth within regional boundaries. The impact of regionalism and subsidiarity on regional Triple Helix constellations, and the questions of governmentality, governance and institutional…

Interaction effects between internal governance mechanisms on the components of initial returns during the IPO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mediha Mezhoud

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Our work provides an analysis of the interaction effects between internal governance mechanisms on the components of initial returns during the listing period. The application of multivariate regressions on a sample of 110 IPO French companies during 2005-2010, has allowed us to conclude that the different interactions between these mechanisms significantly influence the level of under / overpricing. Indeed, the positive relationship between internal governance mechanisms and overpricing reflects a substitutability relationship. In contrast, the complementarity effect comes from the negative relationship characterizing the combination of governance mechanisms and the underpricing. Thus, the interactions effects between institutional ownership, board structure and under / overpricing are not conforming to the existence of a complementarity or substitutability relationship between these variables given the absence of a significant combination between these variables

Epistasis × environment interactions among Arabidopsis thaliana glucosinolate genes impact complex traits and fitness in the field

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kerwin, Rachel E.; Feusier, Julie; Muok, Alise

2017-01-01

(GSL) defense chemistry, leaf damage, and relative fitness using mutant lines of Arabidopsis thaliana varying at pairs of causal aliphatic GSL defense genes to test the impact of epistatic and epistasis × environment interactions on adaptive trait variation. We found that aliphatic GSL accumulation...

Studying the Interaction of the Epistemology in e-Government, Organization Studies and Information Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Meneklis, Vassilis; Douligeris, Christos

Although there are significant differences between Organization Studies, Information Systems and e-Government, certain boundaries between them have started to dissolve in the light of recent developments. Even though influences can be traced among all three concerning research results, epistemological interaction could produce interesting outcomes. In this paper we propose such an interaction in epistemology, and particularly in methods following the interpretive tradition, which has been notably underused. We present a brief review of literature in e-Government and after sketching its route, we propose ways to integrate in it perceptions and methods from Organization Studies and Information Systems.

Rainwater Harvesting and Social Networks: Visualising Interactions for Niche Governance, Resilience and Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Ward

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Visualising interactions across urban water systems to explore transition and change processes requires the development of methods and models at different scales. This paper contributes a model representing the network interactions of rainwater harvesting (RWH infrastructure innovators and other organisations in the UK RWH niche to identify how resilience and sustainability feature within niche governance in practice. The RWH network interaction model was constructed using a modified participatory social network analysis (SNA. The SNA was further analysed through the application of a two-part analytical framework based on niche management and the safe, resilient and sustainable (‘Safe and SuRe’ framework. Weak interactions between some RWH infrastructure innovators and other organisations highlighted reliance on a limited number of persuaders to influence the regime and landscape, which were underrepresented. Features from niche creation and management were exhibited by the RWH network interaction model, though some observed characteristics were not represented. Additional Safe and SuRe features were identified covering diverse innovation, responsivity, no protection, unconverged expectations, primary influencers, polycentric or adaptive governance and multiple learning-types. These features enable RWH infrastructure innovators and other organisations to reflect on improving resilience and sustainability, though further research in other sectors would be useful to verify and validate observation of the seven features.

Exploitation of genetic interaction network topology for the prediction of epistatic behavior

KAUST Repository

Alanis Lobato, Gregorio

2013-10-01

Genetic interaction (GI) detection impacts the understanding of human disease and the ability to design personalized treatment. The mapping of every GI in most organisms is far from complete due to the combinatorial amount of gene deletions and knockdowns required. Computational techniques to predict new interactions based only on network topology have been developed in network science but never applied to GI networks.We show that topological prediction of GIs is possible with high precision and propose a graph dissimilarity index that is able to provide robust prediction in both dense and sparse networks.Computational prediction of GIs is a strong tool to aid high-throughput GI determination. The dissimilarity index we propose in this article is able to attain precise predictions that reduce the universe of candidate GIs to test in the lab. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Exploitation of genetic interaction network topology for the prediction of epistatic behavior

KAUST Repository

Alanis Lobato, Gregorio; Cannistraci, Carlo; Ravasi, Timothy

2013-01-01

Genetic interaction (GI) detection impacts the understanding of human disease and the ability to design personalized treatment. The mapping of every GI in most organisms is far from complete due to the combinatorial amount of gene deletions and knockdowns required. Computational techniques to predict new interactions based only on network topology have been developed in network science but never applied to GI networks.We show that topological prediction of GIs is possible with high precision and propose a graph dissimilarity index that is able to provide robust prediction in both dense and sparse networks.Computational prediction of GIs is a strong tool to aid high-throughput GI determination. The dissimilarity index we propose in this article is able to attain precise predictions that reduce the universe of candidate GIs to test in the lab. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Inferring genetic interactions from comparative fitness data.

Science.gov (United States)

Crona, Kristina; Gavryushkin, Alex; Greene, Devin; Beerenwinkel, Niko

2017-12-20

Darwinian fitness is a central concept in evolutionary biology. In practice, however, it is hardly possible to measure fitness for all genotypes in a natural population. Here, we present quantitative tools to make inferences about epistatic gene interactions when the fitness landscape is only incompletely determined due to imprecise measurements or missing observations. We demonstrate that genetic interactions can often be inferred from fitness rank orders, where all genotypes are ordered according to fitness, and even from partial fitness orders. We provide a complete characterization of rank orders that imply higher order epistasis. Our theory applies to all common types of gene interactions and facilitates comprehensive investigations of diverse genetic interactions. We analyzed various genetic systems comprising HIV-1, the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium vivax , the fungus Aspergillus niger , and the TEM-family of β-lactamase associated with antibiotic resistance. For all systems, our approach revealed higher order interactions among mutations.

The influence of corporate governance on project governance

OpenAIRE

Gonda, Pavel

2011-01-01

This work identifies the interaction between corporate governance and project management in project governance. It begins with introduction of basics of corporate governance and various principles of corporate governance in chosen countries and organizations. Further it introduces theoretical background of project governance and its connection and to corporate governance. In practical part work analyzes the level of compliancy with Swiss codex of best praxis in chosen company. The results con...

A Human Work Interaction Design (HWID) Case Study in E-Government and Public Information Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clemmensen, Torkil

2011-01-01

This paper first outlines a revised version of the general HWID framework, with a focus on what connects empirical work analysis and interaction design, and then presents a case study of the Danish government one-for-all authentication system NemID. The case is briefly analyzed, using ethnomethod...... in studying how human work analysis and interaction design in concrete cases are related and connected.......This paper first outlines a revised version of the general HWID framework, with a focus on what connects empirical work analysis and interaction design, and then presents a case study of the Danish government one-for-all authentication system NemID. The case is briefly analyzed, using...... ethnomethodology, work domain/task analysis, and the HWID approach, and comparing the results. Compared to the traditional approaches, the HWID focus on case-specific connections between human work and interaction design, gives different and supplementary answers. The conclusion is that there are benefits...

A Simple and Computationally Efficient Approach to Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction Analysis of Gene-Gene Interactions for Quantitative Traits

OpenAIRE

Gui, Jiang; Moore, Jason H.; Williams, Scott M.; Andrews, Peter; Hillege, Hans L.; van der Harst, Pim; Navis, Gerjan; Van Gilst, Wiek H.; Asselbergs, Folkert W.; Gilbert-Diamond, Diane

2013-01-01

We present an extension of the two-class multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) algorithm that enables detection and characterization of epistatic SNP-SNP interactions in the context of a quantitative trait. The proposed Quantitative MDR (QMDR) method handles continuous data by modifying MDR's constructive induction algorithm to use a T-test. QMDR replaces the balanced accuracy metric with a T-test statistic as the score to determine the best interaction model. We used a simulation to ide...

A developmental systems perspective on epistasis: computational exploration of mutational interactions in model developmental regulatory networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jayson Gutiérrez

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The way in which the information contained in genotypes is translated into complex phenotypic traits (i.e. embryonic expression patterns depends on its decoding by a multilayered hierarchy of biomolecular systems (regulatory networks. Each layer of this hierarchy displays its own regulatory schemes (i.e. operational rules such as +/- feedback and associated control parameters, resulting in characteristic variational constraints. This process can be conceptualized as a mapping issue, and in the context of highly-dimensional genotype-phenotype mappings (GPMs epistatic events have been shown to be ubiquitous, manifested in non-linear correspondences between changes in the genotype and their phenotypic effects. In this study I concentrate on epistatic phenomena pervading levels of biological organization above the genetic material, more specifically the realm of molecular networks. At this level, systems approaches to studying GPMs are specially suitable to shed light on the mechanistic basis of epistatic phenomena. To this aim, I constructed and analyzed ensembles of highly-modular (fully interconnected networks with distinctive topologies, each displaying dynamic behaviors that were categorized as either arbitrary or functional according to early patterning processes in the Drosophila embryo. Spatio-temporal expression trajectories in virtual syncytial embryos were simulated via reaction-diffusion models. My in silico mutational experiments show that: 1 the average fitness decay tendency to successively accumulated mutations in ensembles of functional networks indicates the prevalence of positive epistasis, whereas in ensembles of arbitrary networks negative epistasis is the dominant tendency; and 2 the evaluation of epistatic coefficients of diverse interaction orders indicates that, both positive and negative epistasis are more prevalent in functional networks than in arbitrary ones. Overall, I conclude that the phenotypic and fitness effects of

Transcriptional robustness and protein interactions are associated in yeast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Conant Gavin C

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Robustness to insults, both external and internal, is a characteristic feature of life. One level of biological organization for which noise and robustness have been extensively studied is gene expression. Cells have a variety of mechanisms for buffering noise in gene expression, but it is not completely clear what rules govern whether or not a given gene uses such tools to maintain appropriate expression. Results Here, we show a general association between the degree to which yeast cells have evolved mechanisms to buffer changes in gene expression and whether they possess protein-protein interactions. We argue that this effect bears an affinity to epistasis, because yeast appears to have evolved regulatory mechanisms such that distant changes in gene copy number for a protein-protein interaction partner gene can alter a gene's expression. This association is not unexpected given recent work linking epistasis and the deleterious effects of changes in gene dosage (i.e., the dosage balance hypothesis. Using gene expression data from artificial aneuploid strains of bakers' yeast, we found that genes coding for proteins that physically interact with other proteins show less expression variation in response to aneuploidy than do other genes. This effect is even more pronounced for genes whose products interact with proteins encoded on aneuploid chromosomes. We further found that genes targeted by transcription factors encoded on aneuploid chromosomes were more likely to change in expression after aneuploidy. Conclusions We suggest that these observations can be best understood as resulting from the higher fitness cost of misexpression in epistatic genes and a commensurate greater regulatory control of them.

Ways of Civil Society Institutes Interaction with Local Governments in the Sphere of Anti-Corruption

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Kristina V. Кondrashova

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this article author analyzes ways of civil society institutes interaction with local government bodies in the sphere of anti-corruption, legal regulation in the sphere of anti-corruption is analyzed (including the Federal law of December 25, 2008 No. 273-FZ "About anti-corruption", opinions of scientists-jurists are researched. In the conclusion the author reviews 4 examples mutually beneficial cooperation of institutes of civil society and local government bodies.

Interaction Between National Governments and ICANN While Administering the Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Kalinauskas

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose – to review and analyze problematic issues related with the ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers role in the Internet administration and the interaction between national governing institutions.Design/methodology/approach – based on the comparison and systematic analysis of scientific literature, the authors discuss problematic issues related with the Internet governance model, where the ICANN takes the biggest part in the Internet administration. Its current legal status is causing controversies among different stakeholders, so the analytical approach towards the issue may help to facilitate the reach of the compromise in this area.Findings – the authors accentuate problematic phenomena, which are related with the Internet government structure. The current international legal state of the ICANN is highlighted in the article as well as the factors which influence the ICANNs struggle for independence.Research limitations/implications – the international legal status of the ICANN is a hard topic, where many interests from different parties collide. Because of that, it is impossible to convey the objective and impartial analysis of the problem. Different attitudes, political interest and even political views may influence the understanding of the issue. That is why the authors present their subjective opinion and suggest one of the possible Internet governance narratives as a basis for further discussion.Practical implications – the authors accentuate main sources of international friction between other state governing institutions and the ICANN. If the Internet administration structure will is left at the same status, there may be more upcoming hazards. The insights and recommendations in this article may be used as a basis for further problem analysis.Value – the article emphasizes current Internet governance problems and the role of the ICANN, while trying to moderate the interests of different

The origin of human complex diversity: Stochastic epistatic modules and the intrinsic compatibility between distributional robustness and phenotypic changeability.

Science.gov (United States)

Ijichi, Shinji; Ijichi, Naomi; Ijichi, Yukina; Imamura, Chikako; Sameshima, Hisami; Kawaike, Yoichi; Morioka, Hirofumi

2018-01-01

The continuing prevalence of a highly heritable and hypo-reproductive extreme tail of a human neurobehavioral quantitative diversity suggests the possibility that the reproductive majority retains the genetic mechanism for the extremes. From the perspective of stochastic epistasis, the effect of an epistatic modifier variant can randomly vary in both phenotypic value and effect direction among the careers depending on the genetic individuality, and the modifier careers are ubiquitous in the population distribution. The neutrality of the mean genetic effect in the careers warrants the survival of the variant under selection pressures. Functionally or metabolically related modifier variants make an epistatic network module and dozens of modules may be involved in the phenotype. To assess the significance of stochastic epistasis, a simplified module-based model was employed. The individual repertoire of the modifier variants in a module also participates in the genetic individuality which determines the genetic contribution of each modifier in the career. Because the entire contribution of a module to the phenotypic outcome is consequently unpredictable in the model, the module effect represents the total contribution of the related modifiers as a stochastic unit in the simulations. As a result, the intrinsic compatibility between distributional robustness and quantitative changeability could mathematically be simulated using the model. The artificial normal distribution shape in large-sized simulations was preserved in each generation even if the lowest fitness tail was un-reproductive. The robustness of normality beyond generations is analogous to the real situations of human complex diversity including neurodevelopmental conditions. The repeated regeneration of the un-reproductive extreme tail may be inevitable for the reproductive majority's competence to survive and change, suggesting implications of the extremes for others. Further model-simulations to

Epistatic and Independent Effects on Schizophrenia-Related Phenotypes Following Co-disruption of the Risk Factors Neuregulin-1 × DISC1.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Tuathaigh, Colm M P; Fumagalli, Fabio; Desbonnet, Lieve; Perez-Branguli, Francesc; Moloney, Gerard; Loftus, Samim; O'Leary, Claire; Petit, Emilie; Cox, Rachel; Tighe, Orna; Clarke, Gerard; Lai, Donna; Harvey, Richard P; Cryan, John F; Mitchell, Kevin J; Dinan, Timothy G; Riva, Marco A; Waddington, John L

2017-01-01

Few studies have addressed likely gene × gene (ie, epistatic) interactions in mediating risk for schizophrenia. Using a preclinical genetic approach, we investigated whether simultaneous disruption of the risk factors Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) and Disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) would produce a disease-relevant phenotypic profile different from that observed following disruption to either gene alone. NRG1 heterozygotes exhibited hyperactivity and disruption to prepulse inhibition, both reversed by antipsychotic treatment, and accompanied by reduced striatal dopamine D2 receptor protein expression, impaired social cognition, and altered glutamatergic synaptic protein expression in selected brain areas. Single gene DISC1 mutants demonstrated a disruption in social cognition and nest-building, altered brain 5-hydroxytryptamine levels and hippocampal ErbB4 expression, and decreased cortical expression of the schizophrenia-associated microRNA miR-29b. Co-disruption of DISC1 and NRG1, indicative of epistasis, evoked an impairment in sociability and enhanced self-grooming, accompanied by changes in hypothalamic oxytocin/vasopressin gene expression. The findings indicate specific behavioral correlates and underlying cellular pathways downstream of main effects of DNA variation in the schizophrenia-associated genes NRG1 and DISC1. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Paula; Stokes, Jennifer; Marr, Julia; Bock, Gavin; Desbonnet, Lieve; Waddington, John; O'Tuathaigh, Colm

2016-01-01

The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia.

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models

Science.gov (United States)

Marr, Julia; Bock, Gavin; Desbonnet, Lieve; Waddington, John

2016-01-01

The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia. PMID:27725886

A map of directional genetic interactions in a metazoan cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Bernd; Sandmann, Thomas; Horn, Thomas; Billmann, Maximilian; Chaudhary, Varun; Huber, Wolfgang; Boutros, Michael

2015-03-06

Gene-gene interactions shape complex phenotypes and modify the effects of mutations during development and disease. The effects of statistical gene-gene interactions on phenotypes have been used to assign genes to functional modules. However, directional, epistatic interactions, which reflect regulatory relationships between genes, have been challenging to map at large-scale. Here, we used combinatorial RNA interference and automated single-cell phenotyping to generate a large genetic interaction map for 21 phenotypic features of Drosophila cells. We devised a method that combines genetic interactions on multiple phenotypes to reveal directional relationships. This network reconstructed the sequence of protein activities in mitosis. Moreover, it revealed that the Ras pathway interacts with the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodelling complex, an interaction that we show is conserved in human cancer cells. Our study presents a powerful approach for reconstructing directional regulatory networks and provides a resource for the interpretation of functional consequences of genetic alterations.

Towards More Effective Water Quality Governance: A Review of Social-Economic, Legal and Ecological Perspectives and Their Interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susanne Wuijts

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this article, social-economic, legal and ecological perspectives on effectiveness of water quality governance and their interactions have been studied. Worldwide, authorities are facing the challenge of restoring and preserving aquatic ecosystems in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6. Over the last few decades, governance approaches have often been used to realise these ambitions. To date, scholars have identified that it is difficult to relate governance approaches to water quality improvement and have offered several different explanations for this. Combined with a targeted conceptualisation of the perspectives and their interactions, the systematic literature review demonstrates the gap that exists in the current understanding of these interactions and what their effects are on water quality improvement, especially in regard to the identification of ecological issues and their boundary conditions for the legal framework and the development of measures and follow-up. The review also reveals that the scientific debate is focused on the planning rather than implementation phase. A step forward can be made by supplementing existing analytical frameworks by the interactions between the different perspectives, especially those related to problem definition and the development and realisation of measures.

AprioriGWAS, a new pattern mining strategy for detecting genetic variants associated with disease through interaction effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qingrun; Long, Quan; Ott, Jurg

2014-06-01

Identifying gene-gene interaction is a hot topic in genome wide association studies. Two fundamental challenges are: (1) how to smartly identify combinations of variants that may be associated with the trait from astronomical number of all possible combinations; and (2) how to test epistatic interaction when all potential combinations are available. We developed AprioriGWAS, which brings two innovations. (1) Based on Apriori, a successful method in field of Frequent Itemset Mining (FIM) in which a pattern growth strategy is leveraged to effectively and accurately reduce search space, AprioriGWAS can efficiently identify genetically associated genotype patterns. (2) To test the hypotheses of epistasis, we adopt a new conditional permutation procedure to obtain reliable statistical inference of Pearson's chi-square test for the [Formula: see text] contingency table generated by associated variants. By applying AprioriGWAS to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) data, we found that: (1) angiopoietin 1 (ANGPT1) and four retinal genes interact with Complement Factor H (CFH). (2) GO term "glycosaminoglycan biosynthetic process" was enriched in AMD interacting genes. The epistatic interactions newly found by AprioriGWAS on AMD data are likely true interactions, since genes interacting with CFH are retinal genes, and GO term enrichment also verified that interaction between glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and CFH plays an important role in disease pathology of AMD. By applying AprioriGWAS on Bipolar disorder in WTCCC data, we found variants without marginal effect show significant interactions. For example, multiple-SNP genotype patterns inside gene GABRB2 and GRIA1 (AMPA subunit 1 receptor gene). AMPARs are found in many parts of the brain and are the most commonly found receptor in the nervous system. The GABRB2 mediates the fastest inhibitory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. GRIA1 and GABRB2 are relevant to mental disorders supported by multiple

Gene × Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Genetic Mouse Models

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Paula Moran

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The study of gene × environment, as well as epistatic interactions in schizophrenia, has provided important insight into the complex etiopathologic basis of schizophrenia. It has also increased our understanding of the role of susceptibility genes in the disorder and is an important consideration as we seek to translate genetic advances into novel antipsychotic treatment targets. This review summarises data arising from research involving the modelling of gene × environment interactions in schizophrenia using preclinical genetic models. Evidence for synergistic effects on the expression of schizophrenia-relevant endophenotypes will be discussed. It is proposed that valid and multifactorial preclinical models are important tools for identifying critical areas, as well as underlying mechanisms, of convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their interaction in schizophrenia.

An ancestry-based approach for detecting interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Danny S; Eskin, Itamar; Kang, Eun Yong; Gamazon, Eric R; Eng, Celeste; Gignoux, Christopher R; Galanter, Joshua M; Burchard, Esteban; Ye, Chun J; Aschard, Hugues; Eskin, Eleazar; Halperin, Eran; Zaitlen, Noah

2018-02-01

Epistasis and gene-environment interactions are known to contribute significantly to variation of complex phenotypes in model organisms. However, their identification in human association studies remains challenging for myriad reasons. In the case of epistatic interactions, the large number of potential interacting sets of genes presents computational, multiple hypothesis correction, and other statistical power issues. In the case of gene-environment interactions, the lack of consistently measured environmental covariates in most disease studies precludes searching for interactions and creates difficulties for replicating studies. In this work, we develop a new statistical approach to address these issues that leverages genetic ancestry, defined as the proportion of ancestry derived from each ancestral population (e.g., the fraction of European/African ancestry in African Americans), in admixed populations. We applied our method to gene expression and methylation data from African American and Latino admixed individuals, respectively, identifying nine interactions that were significant at Pancestry can be a useful proxy for unknown and unmeasured covariates in the search for interaction effects. These results have important implications for our understanding of the genetic architecture of complex traits. © 2017 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Strategic interaction between government and central bank in framework of cooperative and non-cooperative games

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahmoudinia, D.; Engwerda, Jacob; Esfahani, Rahim Dallali; Dastjerdi, R.B.; Fakhar, M.

2016-01-01

In this paper we analyzed the strategic interaction between government and central bank in Iranian economy. Using dynamic differential games and Nash equilibrium within cooperative and non-cooperative setting, we try to find the optimal values of debt, deficit and monetary base. The results of

Institutions for sustainable forest governance: Robustness, equity, and cross-level interactions in Mawlyngbna, Meghalaya, India

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Christoph Oberlack

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study adopts Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES framework in empirical fieldwork to explain how local forestry institutions affect forest ecosystems and social equity in the community of Mawlyngbna in North-East India. Data was collected through 26 semi-structured interviews, participatory timeline development, policy documents, direct observation, periodicals, transect walks, and a concurrent forest-ecological study in the village. Results show that Mawlyngbna's forests provide important sources of livelihood benefits for the villagers. However, ecological disturbance and diversity varies among the different forest ownership types and forest-based livelihood benefits are inequitably distributed. Based on a bounded rationality approach, our analysis proposes a set of causal mechanisms that trace these observed social-ecological outcomes to the attributes of the resource system, resource units, actors and governance system. We analyse opportunities and constraints of interactions between the village, regional, and state levels. We discuss how Ostrom’s design principles for community-based resource governance inform the explanation of robustness but have a blind spot in explaining social equity. We report experiences made using the SES framework in empirical fieldwork. We conclude that mapping cross-level interactions in the SES framework needs conceptual refinement and that explaining social equity of forest governance needs theoretical advances.

The politics of meta-governance in transnational private sustainability governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fransen, L.

2015-01-01

In order to address challenges resulting from interactions between transnational private sustainability standard organizations, initiatives emerge that meta-govern these standards. Contrary to prevailing understandings in public policy literature, such meta-governance initiatives are mostly run by

The politics of meta-governance in transnational private sustainability governance

OpenAIRE

Fransen, L.

2015-01-01

In order to address challenges resulting from interactions between transnational private sustainability standard organizations, initiatives emerge that meta-govern these standards. Contrary to prevailing understandings in public policy literature, such meta-governance initiatives are mostly run by nongovernmental rather than governmental actors. While literature presents the sustainability standards field as predominantly governed by one meta-governor, ISEAL, it is hardly recognized that, alo...

Epistatic Interaction of CYP1A1 and COMT Polymorphisms in Cervical Cancer

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Andreia Matos

2016-01-01

Full Text Available There is a clear association between the excessive and cumulative exposure to estrogens and the development of cancer in hormone-sensitive tissues, such as the cervix. We studied the association of CYP1A1 M1 (rs4646903 and COMT (rs4680 polymorphisms in 130 cervical cancer cases (c-cancer and 179 controls. The CYP1A1 TT genotype was associated with a lower risk for c-cancer (OR = 0.39, p=0.002. The allele C of CYP1A1 was a risk for c-cancer (OR = 2.29, p=0.002. Women with COMT LL genotype had a higher risk of developing c-cancer (OR = 4.83, p<0.001. For the interaction of the CYP1A1&COMT, we observed that TC&HL genotypes had a greater risk for c-cancer (OR = 6.07, p=0.006 and TT&HL genotypes had a protection effect (OR = 0.24, p<0.001. The CYP1A1 TT and COMT LL genotypes had higher estradiol levels in c-cancer (p<0.001 and p=0.037, resp.. C-cancer is associated with less production of 2-methoxy-estradiol resultant of functional polymorphisms of CYP1A1 and COMT, separately. CYP1A1 and COMT work in a metabolic sequence and their interaction could lead to an alternative pathway of estrogen metabolism with production of 16-OH-estrone that is more proliferative.

The democratizing impact of governance networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

2018-01-01

impact of governance networks. It claims that the initial celebration of the pluralization of public governance and the subsequent call for a democratic anchorage of governance networks should give way to a new concern for how governance networks can strengthen and democratize political leadership. Tying......Initially, governance networks were intended as tools for making public governance more effective. Yet, scholars have argued that governance networks also have the potential to democratize public governance. This article provides an overview of theoretical arguments pertaining to the democratizing...... political leadership to networked processes of collaborative governance fosters ‘interactive political leadership’. The article presents theoretical arguments in support of interactive political leadership, and provides an illustrative case study of a recent attempt to strengthen political leadership...

The interactions of Canadian ethics consultants with health care managers and governing boards during times of crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaposy, Chris; Maddalena, Victor; Brunger, Fern; Pullman, Daryl; Singleton, Richard

2017-01-01

Health care organizations can be very complex, and are often the setting for crisis situations. In recent years, Canadian health care organizations have faced large-scale systemic medical errors, a nation-wide generic injectable drug shortage, iatrogenic infectious disease outbreaks, and myriad other crises. These situations often have an ethical component that ethics consultants may be able to address. Organizational leaders such as health care managers and governing boards have responsibilities to oversee and direct the response to crisis situations. This study investigates the nature and degree of involvement of Canadian ethics consultants in such situations. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with Canadian ethics consultants to investigate the nature of their interactions with upper-level managers and governing board members in health care organizations, particularly in times of organizational crisis. We used a purposive sampling technique to identify and recruit ethics consultants throughout Canada. We found variability in the interactions between ethics consultants and upper-level managers and governing boards. Some ethics consultants we interviewed did not participate in managing organizational crisis situations. Most ethics consultants reported that they had assisted in the management of some crises and that their participation was usually initiated by managers. Some ethics consultants reported the ability to bring issues to the attention of upper-level managers and indirectly to their governing boards. The interactions between managers and ethics consultants were characterized by varying degrees of collegiality. Ethics consultants reported participating in or chairing working groups, participating in incident management teams, and developing decision-making frameworks. Canadian ethics consultants tend to believe that they have valuable skills to offer in the management of organizational crisis situations. Most of the ethics consultants

Government--utility interaction on spent fuel disposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mills, L.E.

1978-01-01

The question of the needs of the electrical power industry for spent fuel storage in light of the moratorium on fuel reprocessing is addressed. The author feels that since the Federal government has assumed the responsibility for spent fuel storage, it is imperative that a firm plan, program, legislation, and funding be forthcoming immediately. Designation of an existing government site with existing nuclear activities in order to expedite the establishment of a storage facility is recommended. It is felt that the timing for such a site should be ''at the earliest possible date.'' Without storage facilities being provided by the government, utilities will be forced to build storage facilities at the reactor sites. This course of action is not considered cost effective but certainly preferable to shutting down the reactors. It is emphasized that spent fuel storage must be an interim solution and certainly not a final solution to the fuel reprocessing and waste disposal aspects of nuclear technology

The Evolution of Community Self-Organization in Interaction With Government Institutions: Cross-Case Insights From Three Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Edelenbos (Jurian); I.F. van Meerkerk (Ingmar); Schenk, T. (Todd)

2018-01-01

textabstractThis article deals with the evolution of community self-organization in public administration. Within the literature of interactive governance, increasing attention is being paid to how communities take initiative in dealing with societal issues. However, we know little about the factors

The Evolution of the Collective Forms of Interaction between Foreign Business and Government in Russia

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Andrei A. Yakovlev

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper uses the evidence from Russia to analyze the arrangements for interaction between foreign firms and key national partners in the countries of their operations. We identify the main stages and factors that were driving the evolution of the two main channels of collective action for foreign firms in Russia over the last 25 years – the Foreign Investment Advisory Council under the Office of the Russian Prime Minister and foreign business associations. We also provide the comparative analysis of the effectiveness of these two main channels, as well as highlight the factors contributing to higher effectiveness of individual foreign business associations under the current Russia’s circumstances. We show that political rather than economic or institutional factors play a more significant role in explaining the changes in the effectiveness of collective efforts of foreign firms. Russia’s experience suggests that the mechanisms of interaction between foreign business and the authorities can work effectively only if there is mutual interest in such interaction. In Russia since the mid-2000s there have been relatively favorable political conditions for the dialogue between the Government and foreign firms, and the respective interaction mechanisms produced some positive effects regarding e.g. attraction of additional foreign investment inflows and modernization of the regulatory framework. However, with worsening the political situation in 2013, political priorities of the Russian Government became markedly more important than the economic ones, and thus, the effectiveness of the existing instruments for collective action of foreign firms significantly decreased. One consequence of this has been the greater willingness of foreign business associations to cooperate with Russian business in order to promote jointly a pragmatic reform agenda.

Towards More Effective Water Quality Governance : A Review of Social-Economic, Legal and Ecological Perspectives and Their Interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Rijswick, H.F.M.W.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/099909189; Wuijts, S.; Driessen, P.P.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/069081417

2018-01-01

In this article, social-economic, legal and ecological perspectives on effectiveness of water quality governance and their interactions have been studied. Worldwide, authorities are facing the challenge of restoring and preserving aquatic ecosystems in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable

Theoretical Ideas of Local Government and State Government Development

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Nikolay I. Churinov

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this article the characteristic of a theoretical component of model of interaction of local government bodies with the central government, and also development of scientific base in the course of history is given. Relevance to this subject in the conditions of the Russian reality is added by federalism of a state system of Russia, namely a thin side in questions of competences between bodies of one hierarchy. This article, will be useful to those who deal with issues in the field of the theory of the state and the right and the municipal right. Historic facts in the form of the regulatory legal acts adopted earlier which subsequently, were a source for development of theoretical ideas of local self-government and the government are given in article.

Interaction and activity coordination of territorial customs bodies of the State fiscal service of Ukraine with local state administrations and local self-government bodies

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Олексій Павлович Федотов

2016-06-01

Based on the results of the study the author notes that the interaction of the Ukrainian SFS customs offices and local state administrations with local self-government bodies is an inherent quality, link and component of the Ukrainian SFS Customs offices functioning organization, which aims to improve the state customs service implementation standards by the Ukrainian SFS customs houses and to ensure the said implementation efficiency. However, in the course of interaction of the Ukrainian SFS customs with local state administrations and local self-government bodies each of the mentioned organizations specializes in solving their specific tasks in accordance with their subject expertise, and forms a clear organizational system. The complementarity of such kind helps to improve the state customs affairs conductance quality and is realized through the coordination of performance of the Ukrainian SFS customs offices, local state administrations and local self-government bodies as the interaction subjects through normative, informational and analytical provision for the interaction and concretization of the activities of each subject within the planned activities.

Organizing interfaces between government institutions and interactive governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Edelenbos (Jurian); N. van Schie (Nienke); L.M. Gerrits (Lasse)

2010-01-01

textabstractInitiatives to encourage the involvement of citizens and NGOs in decision-making can be seen in a wide variety of countries. Interactive policy-making, citizen panels, citizen charters, new forms of participation and other forms are being used to increase the influence of citizens on

Cytoplasmic genetic variation and extensive cytonuclear interactions influence natural variation in the metabolome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joseph, Bindu; Corwin, Jason A.; Li, Baohua

2013-01-01

Understanding genome to phenotype linkages has been greatly enabled by genomic sequencing. However, most genome analysis is typically confined to the nuclear genome. We conducted a metabolomic QTL analysis on a reciprocal RIL population structured to examine how variation in the organelle genomes...... was a central hub in the epistatic network controlling the plant metabolome. This epistatic influence manifested such that the cytoplasmic background could alter or hide pairwise epistasis between nuclear loci. Thus, cytoplasmic genetic variation plays a central role in controlling natural variation...... in metabolomic networks. This suggests that cytoplasmic genomes must be included in any future analysis of natural variation....

Fighting over forest: interactive governance of conflicts over forest and tree resources in Ghana’s high forest zone

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Derkyi, M.A.A.

2012-01-01

Based on eight case studies, this book analyses conflicts over forests and trees in Ghana’s high forest zone and ways of dealing with them. It thereby addresses the full range of forest and tree-based livelihoods. Combining interactive governance theory with political ecology and conflict theories,

Marine informational governance, a conceptual framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoefnagel, E.W.J.; Vos, de B.I.; Buisman, F.C.

2013-01-01

Marine governance involves interaction between networks and actors from different types and levels of organizations. The concept of multi-level or network governance steps away from the assumptions that supra-national and national government at the macro level is the dominant policy making unit. At

Governance, Trust and Taxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weihe, Guri; Joensen, E. Juanna Schröter

This paper examines the role of social capital (trust) vis-à-vis the propensity of a country to be a tax haven. The empirical analysis corroborates that better governed countries have a higher ceteris paribus probability to be tax havens. However, social capital counteracts the effect of governance...... quality. This effect is so strong that the partial effect of governance quality is reversed for countries with the trust index in the top quartile – making these high trust countries less likely to be tax havens – even as governance quality is increased. Thus it is crucial to consider the interaction...

Assessing SNP-SNP interactions among DNA repair, modification and metabolism related pathway genes in breast cancer susceptibility.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yadav Sapkota

Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWASs have identified low-penetrance common variants (i.e., single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs associated with breast cancer susceptibility. Although GWASs are primarily focused on single-locus effects, gene-gene interactions (i.e., epistasis are also assumed to contribute to the genetic risks for complex diseases including breast cancer. While it has been hypothesized that moderately ranked (P value based weak single-locus effects in GWASs could potentially harbor valuable information for evaluating epistasis, we lack systematic efforts to investigate SNPs showing consistent associations with weak statistical significance across independent discovery and replication stages. The objectives of this study were i to select SNPs showing single-locus effects with weak statistical significance for breast cancer in a GWAS and/or candidate-gene studies; ii to replicate these SNPs in an independent set of breast cancer cases and controls; and iii to explore their potential SNP-SNP interactions contributing to breast cancer susceptibility. A total of 17 SNPs related to DNA repair, modification and metabolism pathway genes were selected since these pathways offer a priori knowledge for potential epistatic interactions and an overall role in breast carcinogenesis. The study design included predominantly Caucasian women (2,795 cases and 4,505 controls from Alberta, Canada. We observed two two-way SNP-SNP interactions (APEX1-rs1130409 and RPAP1-rs2297381; MLH1-rs1799977 and MDM2-rs769412 in logistic regression that conferred elevated risks for breast cancer (P(interaction<7.3 × 10(-3. Logic regression identified an interaction involving four SNPs (MBD2-rs4041245, MLH1-rs1799977, MDM2-rs769412, BRCA2-rs1799943 (P(permutation = 2.4 × 10(-3. SNPs involved in SNP-SNP interactions also showed single-locus effects with weak statistical significance, while BRCA2-rs1799943 showed stronger statistical significance (P

Legitimacy and the Cost of Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berggren, Niclas; Bjørnskov, Christian; Lipka, David

2015-01-01

While previous research documents a negative relationship between government size and economic growth, suggesting an economic cost of big government, a given government size generally affects growth differently in different countries. As a possible explanation of this differential effect, we......, in which two different measures of the size of government are interacted with government legitimacy, reveals that perceived legitimacy exacerbates a negative growth effect of government size in the long run. This could be interpreted as governments taking advantage of being regarded as legitimate in order...... to secure short-term support at a long-term cost to the economy....

Challenges facing transactional e-government systems

OpenAIRE

AI-Sebie, Madi M

2005-01-01

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 17/10/2005. A review of normative literature, in the field of e-government, indicates that the transactional stage of e-government is one of the most important to the implementation of an e-government system as it represents the highest level of interaction within organisations and between customers and government organisations. Due to the importance of the transactional stage of the e-govern...

Local Government System in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir V. Redko

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the issues of the activities of the local government of Japan. Particular attention is drawn to the legal framework and the material basis for the functioning of local self-government bodies. The system of local self-government is considered as a special form of self-government with a specific functional and meaning; system of municipal management and delegation of authority, as well as features of interaction between civil and imperious levels. The allocation of the city with a special status, as well as the financial structure of the local government of Japan, is considered in detail.

Governance Arrangements for the Adaptation to Climate Change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Termeer, C.J.A.M.; Buuren, Van Arwin; Dewulf, A.R.P.J.; Huitema, Dave; Mees, Heleen L.P.; Meijerink, Sander; Rijswick, H.F.M.W.

2017-01-01

Adaptation to climate change is not only a technical issue; above all, it is a matter of governance. Governance is more than government and includes the totality of interactions in which public as well as private actors participate, aiming to solve societal problems. Adaptation governance poses some

Visual Culture and Electronic Government: Exploring a New Generation of E-Government

Science.gov (United States)

Bekkers, Victor; Moody, Rebecca

E-government is becoming more picture-oriented. What meaning do stakeholders attach to visual events and visualization? Comparative case study research show the functional meaning primarily refers to registration, integration, transparency and communication. The political meaning refers to new ways of framing in order to secure specific interests and claims. To what the institutional meaning relates is ambiguous: either it improves the position of citizens, or it reinforces the existing bias presented by governments. Hence, we expect that the emergence of a visualized public space, through omnipresent penetration of (mobile) multimedia technologies, will influence government-citizen interactions.

Epistatic mutations in PUMA BH3 drive an alternate binding mode to potently and selectively inhibit anti-apoptotic Bfl-1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jenson, Justin M.; Ryan, Jeremy A.; Grant, Robert A.; Letai, Anthony; Keating, Amy E. (DFCI); (MIT)

2017-06-08

Overexpression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins contributes to cancer progression and confers resistance to chemotherapy. Small molecules that target Bcl-2 are used in the clinic to treat leukemia, but tight and selective inhibitors are not available for Bcl-2 paralog Bfl-1. Guided by computational analysis, we designed variants of the native BH3 motif PUMA that are > 150-fold selective for Bfl-1 binding. The designed peptides potently trigger disruption of the mitochondrial outer membrane in cells dependent on Bfl-1, but not in cells dependent on other anti-apoptotic homologs. High-resolution crystal structures show that designed peptide FS2 binds Bfl-1 in a shifted geometry, relative to PUMA and other binding partners, due to a set of epistatic mutations. FS2 modified with an electrophile reacts with a cysteine near the peptide-binding groove to augment specificity. Designed Bfl-1 binders provide reagents for cellular profiling and leads for developing enhanced and cell-permeable peptide or small-molecule inhibitors.

Physical interaction between components of DNA mismatch repair and nucleotide excision repair

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertrand, P.; Tishkoff, D.X.; Filosi, N.; Dasgupta, R.; Kolodner, R.D.

1998-01-01

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) and DNA mismatch repair are required for some common processes although the biochemical basis for this requirement is unknown. Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD14 was identified in a two-hybrid screen using MSH2 as 'bait,' and pairwise interactions between MSH2 and RAD1, RAD2, RAD3, RAD10, RAD14, and RAD25 subsequently were demonstrated by two-hybrid analysis. MSH2 coimmunoprecipitated specifically with epitope-tagged versions of RAD2, RAD10, RAD14, and RAD25. MSH2 and RAD10 were found to interact in msh3 msh6 and mlh1 pms1 double mutants, suggesting a direct interaction with MSH2. Mutations in MSH2 increased the UV sensitivity of NER-deficient yeast strains, and msh2 mutations were epistatic to the mutator phenotype observed in NER-deficient strains. These data suggest that MSH2 and possibly other components of DNA mismatch repair exist in a complex with NER proteins, providing a biochemical and genetical basis for these proteins to function in common processes

Environmental governance in China: Interactions between the state and "nonstate actors".

Science.gov (United States)

Guttman, Dan; Young, Oran; Jing, Yijia; Bramble, Barbara; Bu, Maoliang; Chen, Carmen; Furst, Kathinka; Hu, Tao; Li, Yifei; Logan, Kate; Liu, Lingxuan; Price, Lydia; Spencer, Michael; Suh, Sangwon; Sun, Xiaopu; Tan, Bowen; Wang, Harold; Wang, Xin; Zhang, Juan; Zhang, Xinxin; Zeidan, Rodrigo

2018-08-15

In the West, limited government capacity to solve environmental problems has triggered the rise of a variety of "nonstate actors" to supplement government efforts or provide alternative mechanisms for addressing environmental issues. How does this development - along with our efforts to understand it - map onto environmental governance processes in China? China's efforts to address environmental issues reflect institutionalized governance processes that differ from parallel western processes in ways that have major consequences for domestic environmental governance practices and the governance of China "going abroad." China's governance processes blur the distinction between the state and other actors; the "shadow of the state" is a major factor in all efforts to address environmental issues. The space occupied by nonstate actors in western systems is occupied by shiye danwei ("public service units"), she hui tuanti ("social associations") and e-platforms, all of which have close links to the state. Meanwhile, international NGOs and multinational corporations are also significant players in China. As a result, the mechanisms of influence that produce effects in China differ in important ways from mechanisms familiar from the western experience. This conclusion has far-reaching implications for those seeking to address global environmental concerns, given the importance of China's growing economy and burgeoning network of trade relationships. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coalition building by drug user and sex worker community-based organizations in Vietnam can lead to improved interactions with government agencies: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Leah T; Grau, Lauretta E; Nguyen, Huong H; Khuat, Oanh Hai T; Heimer, Robert

2015-10-16

Drug users and female sex workers are among the groups most vulnerable to HIV infection in Vietnam. To address the HIV epidemic within these communities, former drug users and sex workers established the first community-based organizations (CBOs) in 2009. The study provides a focused assessment of CBOs' expanding efforts to advocate for their members that identifies existing collaborations with Vietnamese government programs. This assessment explores the barriers to and facilitators of expansion in order to propose recommendations to improve the working relationship between CBOs and government programs. Thirty-two individuals from drug user and sex worker CBOs (n = 24) and relevant government programs (n = 8) participated in face-to-face interviews in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hai Phong. Coded interview transcripts were analyzed qualitatively concerning the purpose of CBOs, the interactions between CBOs and government programs, and the perceived barriers, facilitators, and feasibility of future CBO-government program collaborations. Services provided by the CBOs were considered to improve members' quality of life. The formation of coalitions among CBOs increased efficiency in meeting members' specific service needs, in addition to internal capacity building. Government field staff interacted with CBOs by providing CBOs with technical and legal support. CBOs and methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) clinics collaborated to help the clinics meet patient enrollment quotas and facilitate entry into treatment for CBO members. Barriers to CBO-government program collaboration included perceived conflicting missions on how to address drug use and sex work in the community, limited CBO-government program communication, CBO mistrust of the MMT system, and lack of legal status for CBOs. To reduce these barriers, we recommend (1) introduction of CBO consultative services at government healthcare centers, (2) enlistment of CBO outreach to ensure full access to the

Government expenditure, efficiency and economic growth: a panel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Finally Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) is applied to answer the two research questions. The results demonstrate that increasing government expenditure accelerates economic growth of low income countries in Sub Saharan Africa. However, when government expenditure is interacted with government efficiency ...

Interacting forms of expertise in security governance: the example of CCTV surveillance at Geneva International Airport.

Science.gov (United States)

Klauser, Francisco

2009-06-01

The paper investigates the multiple public-private exchanges and cooperation involved in the installation and development of CCTV surveillance at Geneva International Airport. Emphasis is placed on the interacting forms of authority and expertise of five parties: the user(s), owner and supplier of the camera system, as well as the technical managers of the airport and the Swiss regulatory bodies in airport security. While placing the issues of airport surveillance in the particular context of a specific range of projects and transformations relating to the developments of CCTV at Geneva Airport, the paper not only provides important insights into the micro-politics of surveillance at Geneva Airport, but aims to re-institute these as part of a broader 'problematic': the mediating role of expertise and the growing functional fragmentation of authority in contemporary security governance. On this basis, the paper also exemplifies the growing mutual interdependences between security and business interests in the ever growing 'surveillant assemblage' in contemporary security governance.

The strategic interaction between the government and international oil companies in the UK: An example of a country with dwindling hydrocarbon reserves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willigers, Bart J.A.; Hausken, Kjell

2013-01-01

The 2011 UK tax rise on hydrocarbon exploitation activities obviously increases short term tax revenues however the longer term effects are less clear. The strategic interaction between the UK government, a producer and a shipper has been analyzed in a game theoretical model. A complex interaction between players is expected given (1) dwindling resources and large decommissioning liabilities and (2) the fact that much of the hydrocarbons produced in the North Sea are exported through an infrastructure with shared ownership. The 2011 UK tax adjustment will most likely result in value destruction for the government, producers and shippers. Our analysis suggests that governments are unlikely to ultimately benefit from reducing their decommission liabilities at the expense of International Oil Companies. In countries with unstable tax regimes, such as the UK, International Oil Companies will adopt their strategies in anticipation of future tax changes. Their adopted strategy is a function of decommissioning liabilities and remaining reserves as well as whether they are producers, shippers or producers and shippers. The ultimate payoff of a government is a function of the remaining reserves and total decommissioning liabilities, but also depends on the distribution of these value metrics between producers and shippers. - Highlights: ► The 2011 UK hydrocarbon tax increase is likely to cause overall value destruction. ► Governments are unlikely to benefit from reducing their decommission liabilities. ► Differences in payoff functions of producers and shippers control the game. ► The distribution of reserves and decommissioning cost is a key factor in the game

An epistatic effect of KRT25 on SP6 is involved in curly coat in horses.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomer, Annika; Gottschalk, Maren; Christmann, Anna; Naccache, Fanny; Jung, Klaus; Hewicker-Trautwein, Marion; Distl, Ottmar; Metzger, Julia

2018-04-23

Curly coat represents an extraordinary type of coat in horses, particularly seen in American Bashkir Curly Horses and Missouri Foxtrotters. In some horses with curly coat, a hypotrichosis of variable extent was observed, making the phenotype appear more complex. In our study, we aimed at investigating the genetic background of curly coat with and without hypotrichosis using high density bead chip genotype and next generation sequencing data. Genome-wide association analysis detected significant signals (p = 1.412 × 10 -05 -1.102 × 10 -08 ) on horse chromosome 11 at 22-35 Mb. In this significantly associated region, six missense variants were filtered out from whole-genome sequencing data of three curly coated horses of which two variants within KRT25 and SP6 could explain all hair phenotypes. Horses heterozygous or homozygous only for KRT25 variant showed curly coat and hypotrichosis, whereas horses with SP6 variant only, exhibited curly coat without hypotrichosis. Horses with mutant alleles in both variants developed curly hair and hypotrichosis. Thus, mutant KRT25 allele is masking SP6 allele effect, indicative for epistasis of KRT25 variant over SP6 variant. In summary, genetic variants in two different genes, KRT25 and SP6, are responsible for curly hair. All horses with KRT25 variant are additionally hypotrichotic due to the KRT25 epistatic effect on SP6.

The Janus Face of Governance Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

2017-01-01

While the main current in the growing research on governance has praised its virtues, a critical undertow has insisted that governance carries the danger of depoliticization and democratic decline. Chapter 2 aims to complicate things by arguing that interactive forms of governance intending...... science perspective has a sharper eye for the political choices, conflicts, and power struggles. If the political science perspective has a blind spot, it concerns the role of elected politicians in the exercise of political meta-governance. That role is further developed towards the end of the chapter...

Universality Classes of Interaction Structures for NK Fitness Landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Sungmin; Schmiegelt, Benjamin; Ferretti, Luca; Krug, Joachim

2018-02-01

Kauffman's NK-model is a paradigmatic example of a class of stochastic models of genotypic fitness landscapes that aim to capture generic features of epistatic interactions in multilocus systems. Genotypes are represented as sequences of L binary loci. The fitness assigned to a genotype is a sum of contributions, each of which is a random function defined on a subset of k ≤ L loci. These subsets or neighborhoods determine the genetic interactions of the model. Whereas earlier work on the NK model suggested that most of its properties are robust with regard to the choice of neighborhoods, recent work has revealed an important and sometimes counter-intuitive influence of the interaction structure on the properties of NK fitness landscapes. Here we review these developments and present new results concerning the number of local fitness maxima and the statistics of selectively accessible (that is, fitness-monotonic) mutational pathways. In particular, we develop a unified framework for computing the exponential growth rate of the expected number of local fitness maxima as a function of L, and identify two different universality classes of interaction structures that display different asymptotics of this quantity for large k. Moreover, we show that the probability that the fitness landscape can be traversed along an accessible path decreases exponentially in L for a large class of interaction structures that we characterize as locally bounded. Finally, we discuss the impact of the NK interaction structures on the dynamics of evolution using adaptive walk models.

Discovering Citizens Reaction Toward E-Government: Factors in E-Government Adoption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Kamel Alomari

2014-10-01

Full Text Available E-government has been considered as one approach for changing the face of government in the eyes of the citizenry. Therefore, citizens’ socialization in relation to their engagement with e-government should be explored. This study argues that citizens played a significant role in determining the success of an e-government project in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan. This paper aims to provide insight and evaluation into the factors that could influence e-government’s effective functioning in the Jordanian social community through its interaction with citizens. The study collected data from 356 Jordanian citizens via a survey, to ascertain their understanding of 10 factors that may influence their intention to use e-government services. To investigate the adoption of e-government services in depth, two departments in Jordan were selected: the Jordanian Government’s Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD and its Driver and Vehicle Licenses Department (DVDL. The factor analysis technique was used to identify the main factors related to e-government services’ adoption. The results indicated that trust in the internet, website design, religious beliefs, internet and computer skill confidence, word of mouth, resistance to change, perceived usefulness, relative advantage and complexity are the main factors that should be considered when addressing the topic of e-government services’ adoption in Jordan. This study is different from most existing studies on e-government adoption as it empirically investigated the impact of word of mouth (WOM, wasta (favoritism, and resistance to change on e-government adoption. This study highlights the importance of considering the social cohesion of the Jordanian community when exploring factors related to e-government adoption.

Mapping Haplotype-haplotype Interactions with Adaptive LASSO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Ming

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The genetic etiology of complex diseases in human has been commonly viewed as a complex process involving both genetic and environmental factors functioning in a complicated manner. Quite often the interactions among genetic variants play major roles in determining the susceptibility of an individual to a particular disease. Statistical methods for modeling interactions underlying complex diseases between single genetic variants (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs have been extensively studied. Recently, haplotype-based analysis has gained its popularity among genetic association studies. When multiple sequence or haplotype interactions are involved in determining an individual's susceptibility to a disease, it presents daunting challenges in statistical modeling and testing of the interaction effects, largely due to the complicated higher order epistatic complexity. Results In this article, we propose a new strategy in modeling haplotype-haplotype interactions under the penalized logistic regression framework with adaptive L1-penalty. We consider interactions of sequence variants between haplotype blocks. The adaptive L1-penalty allows simultaneous effect estimation and variable selection in a single model. We propose a new parameter estimation method which estimates and selects parameters by the modified Gauss-Seidel method nested within the EM algorithm. Simulation studies show that it has low false positive rate and reasonable power in detecting haplotype interactions. The method is applied to test haplotype interactions involved in mother and offspring genome in a small for gestational age (SGA neonates data set, and significant interactions between different genomes are detected. Conclusions As demonstrated by the simulation studies and real data analysis, the approach developed provides an efficient tool for the modeling and testing of haplotype interactions. The implementation of the method in R codes can be

Adaptive approaches to biosecurity governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, David C; Liu, Shuang; Murphy, Brendan; Lonsdale, W Mark

2010-09-01

This article discusses institutional changes that may facilitate an adaptive approach to biosecurity risk management where governance is viewed as a multidisciplinary, interactive experiment acknowledging uncertainty. Using the principles of adaptive governance, evolved from institutional theory, we explore how the concepts of lateral information flows, incentive alignment, and policy experimentation might shape Australia's invasive species defense mechanisms. We suggest design principles for biosecurity policies emphasizing overlapping complementary response capabilities and the sharing of invasive species risks via a polycentric system of governance. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis

Local forms of governance in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torfing, Jacob

2010-01-01

of representative democracy. The supplement is taking its revenge as the interactive policy arenas are expanding and the role of elected politicians is being transformed from sovereign rulers to meta-governors. This development poses important challenges to the demand for effective and democratic governing......The proliferation of local forms of governance problematizes the well-established and highly normative idea that power and democracy in Denmark are organized in terms of a 'parliamentary chain of government', according to which the sovereign people elect the parliament, which in turn controls...... the government that governs the public administration through bureaucratic control. Consecutive waves of devolution have decentralized the Danish welfare state, and the power of local governments is now being challenged by the emergence of new forms of local governance that involve a plethora of private...

Co-production of knowledge in soils governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katrin Prager

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The co-production of knowledge between different actor groups has the potential to generate ‘more socially robust knowledge’ and better decisions, therefore improving governance processes. This paper explores knowledge co-production between different types of actors involved in soils governance in Scotland: policy makers, agency staff, scientists, local authorities, land managers and other stakeholders. In a setting characterised by network governance, we investigate knowledge co-production in three arenas that aimed to implement the Scottish Soil Framework and progress several activities such as a Soil Monitoring Action Plan and the Scotland’s Soils website. Adopting an action research, case study approach, we collected data through document analysis, observation, personal communication with policy actors involved, and semi-structured interviews with soil data users (local authorities, farmers, estate managers. The findings show different levels of interaction in the different arenas, ranging from major interaction and two-way communication to no interaction. The interaction levels indicate the extent to which knowledge exchange has taken place. Analysis highlights the divergence in problem framing between the actor groups, their diverse soil data needs and, therefore, a variation in perceptions of solutions. The combination of co-production in the different arenas enhanced policy actors’ knowledge and allowed them to reconsider policy implementation efforts. However, the delineation of knowledge types remains challenging since the same actor can hold different types of knowledge. We conclude that the concept of knowledge co-production is useful as a frame for developing polycentric, interactive and multi-party processes in soils governance, as well as to identify where interaction requires facilitation and/or improvement, but the concept does not provide a consistent theory.

Too difficult to govern? An assessment of the governability of transport biofuels in the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Lucia, Lorenzo

2013-01-01

Transport biofuels are currently the subject of heated debate in the EU. In the past decade the deployment of these technologies has been justified by claims of attractive environmental, geopolitical and rural development benefits. However, expectations have rapidly turned into deep criticism regarding the sustainability of these technologies and the desirability of pursuing the biofuel path. This situation has generated an on-going controversy and policy deadlock at EU level. This study explores these issues from a governance perspective. Employing the concept of system governability, derived from interactive governance theory, it attempts to shed some light on the problems facing the governance of biofuels and on how the quality of the governance system could be improved. The analysis showed that the governability of the system decreased substantially in the period 2003–2012 due to increasing governing needs and decreasing governing capacity. The quality of the governance system can be improved by (i) improving governing capacity by reducing conflicts among governing actors, advancing consistency among institutions and creating capacity at international and global level; and (ii) promoting advanced technologies and adjusting societal ambitions and expectations regarding biofuels. - highlights: • Biofuels in the EU are significantly more difficult to govern today than in 2003. • This is due to the qualities of the system to be governed and the governing system. • Sustainable biofuel systems are inherently difficult to govern

Experimentality: The friendly face of power? The interactive new media as tools of discretionary governance and risk management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolf Heydebrand

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The interactive new media (INM are a powerful information technology (IT with contradictory consequences for the nature of work, creativity, and innovation. Digital interactivity shortens both time and distance within and across global networks. It reduces labor time and transaction costs, eases the shift from manual to mental labor, and raises efficiency, productivity, and profits. It facilitates quick responses to changing conditions and new opportunities, and it encourages experimentation, risk taking, discovery, and innovation. IT and INM constitute the technical infrastructure of advanced business and consulting services like advertising, management consulting, and accounting. They are popular components of the globalizing culture industry. But INM are also instruments of discretionary governance and neoliberal governmentality. They have an unaccountable influence on financial, actuarial, cybernetic and ideological forms of power, and they serve to extend the mechanisms of indirect and anonymous social control into everyday life. The INM are widely adopted for purposes of discretionary governance and risk management, but tend to escape autonomous social and democratic regulation. The paper examines the effects of INM on small project teams as well as on aspects of neoliberal experimentality such as informalism and flexibility at work, the hacker work ethic, social networking, and techno-libertarianism. The conclusion reconsiders the intrinsic tension between neoliberal experimentality and governmentality.

DHU1 negatively regulates UV-B signaling via its direct interaction with COP1 and RUP1.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sang-Hoon; Kim, Hani; Chung, Sunglan; Lee, Jae-Hoon

2017-09-16

Although DWD HYPERSENSITIVE TO UV-B 1 (DHU1) is reported to be a negative regulator in UV-B mediated cellular responses, its detailed role in UV-B signaling is still elusive. To further understand the action mechanism of DHU1 in UV-B response, physical and genetic interactions of DHU1 with various UV-B signaling components were investigated. Yeast two hybrid assay results suggested that DHU1 directly interacts with COP1 and RUP1, implying a functional connection with both COP1 and RUP1. In spite of the physical association between DHU1 and COP1, loss of DHU1 did not affect protein stability of COP1. Epistatic analysis showed that the functional loss of both DHU1 and UVR8 leads to alleviation of UV-B hypersensitivity displayed in dhu1-1. Moreover, phenotypic studies with dhu1-1 cop1-6 and dhu1-1 hy5-215 revealed that COP1 and HY5 are epistatic to DHU1, indicating that UV-B hypersensitivity of dhu1-1 requires both COP1 and HY5. In the case of dhu1-1 rup1-1, UV-B responsiveness was similar to that of both dhu1-1 and rup1-1, implying that DHU1 and RUP1 are required for each other's function. Collectively, these results show that the role of DHU1 as a negative regulator in UV-B response may be derived from its direct interaction with COP1 by sequestering COP1 from the active UVR8-COP1 complex, resulting in a decrease in the COP1 population that positively participates in UV-B signaling together with UVR8. Furthermore, this inhibitory role of DHU1 in UV-B signaling is likely to be functionally connected to RUP1. This study will serve as a platform to further understand more detailed action mechanism of DHU1 in UV-B response and DHU1-mediated core UV-B signaling in Arabidopsis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The fully Mobile City Government Project (MCity)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scholl, Hans; Fidel, Raya; Mai, Jens Erik

2006-01-01

The Fully Mobile City Government Project, also known as MCity, is an interdisciplinary research project on the premises, requirements, and effects of fully mobile, wirelessly connected applications (FWMC). The project will develop an analytical framework for interpreting the interaction and inter......The Fully Mobile City Government Project, also known as MCity, is an interdisciplinary research project on the premises, requirements, and effects of fully mobile, wirelessly connected applications (FWMC). The project will develop an analytical framework for interpreting the interaction...

Interactions between Corporate Governance, Bankruptcy Law and Firms Debt Financing: the Brazilian Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Funchal

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between corporate governance level and the bankruptcy law for such debt variables as firms’ cost of debt and amount (and variation of debt. Our empirical results are consistent with the model's prediction. First, we find that the better the corporate governance, the lower the cost of debt. Second, we find that better corporate governance arrangements relate to firms with higher amounts of debt. Finally we find that better governance and harsher bankruptcy laws have a positive effect on debt. Moreover, this effect is stronger for firms with worse corporate governance, which indicates that the law works as a substitute for governance practices to protect creditors' interests.

Apple fruit acidity is genetically diversified by natural variations in three hierarchical epistatic genes MdSAUR37, MdPP2CH and MdALMTII.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Dongjie; Shen, Fei; Wang, Yi; Wu, Ting; Xu, Xuefeng; Zhang, Xinzhong; Han, Zhenhai

2018-05-11

Many efforts have been made to map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to facilitate practical marker-assisted selection (MAS) in plants. In the present study, we identified four genome-wide major QTLs responsible for apple fruit acidity by MapQTL and BSA-seq analyses using two independent pedigree-based populations. Candidate genes were screened in major QTL regions, and three functional gene markers, including a non-synonymous A/G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the coding region of MdPP2CH, a 36-bp insertion in the promoter of MdSAUR37, and a previously reported SNP in MdALMTII, were validated to influence the malate content of apple fruits. In addition, MdPP2CH inactivated three vacuolar H + -ATPases (MdVHA-A3, MdVHA-B2 and MdVHA-D2) and one aluminium-activated malate transporter (MdALMTII) via dephosphorylation and negatively influenced fruit malate accumulation. The dephosphotase activity of MdPP2CH was suppressed by MdSAUR37, which implied a higher hierarchy of genetic interaction. Therefore, the MdSAUR37/MdPP2CH/MdALMTII chain cascaded hierarchical epistatic genetic effects to precisely determine apple fruit malate content. An A/G SNP (-1010) on MdMYB44 promoter region from a major QTL (qtl08.1) was closely associated with fruit malate content. The predicted phenotype values (PPVs) were estimated using the tentative genotype values of the gene markers, and the PPVs were significantly correlated with the observed phenotype values. Our findings provide an insight into plant genome-based selection in apples and will aid in conducting research to understand the physiological fundamentals of quantitative genetics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Calvin on church and government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W.A. Dreyer

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This article examines Calvin’s understanding of civil govern- ment as well as the relationship between church and govern- ment against the background of radical political change during the sixteenth century. It becomes clear that Calvin had an organic understanding of church, government and people. These three entities are interwoven and interact on the basis of the covenant and civil contract. Calvin’s approach, however, is not limited to the covenant, but has a surprising richness and diversity. He integrated theological, juristic and philosophical concepts in his understanding of the state. It is further shown that Calvin’s high regard for civil government, entrenched the corpus christianum, even though he clearly distinguished between ecclesiastical and civil governance. It is also shown that Calvin had a fundamental influence on many of the political concepts which are generally accepted within modern democra- cies.

Planning for outdoor play: Government and family decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Sterman, Julia J; Naughton, Geraldine A; Bundy, Anita C; Froude, Elspeth; Villeneuve, Michelle A

2018-03-08

Despite indisputable developmental benefits of outdoor play, children with disabilities can experience play inequity. Play decisions are multifactorial; influenced by children's skills and their familial and community environments. Government agencies have responsibilities for equity and inclusion of people with disabilities; including in play. This multiple-perspective case study aimed to understand outdoor play decision-making for children with disabilities from the perspectives and interactions of: local government and families of primary school-aged children with disabilities. Five mothers, four local government employees, and two not-for-profit organization representatives participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive and iterative analyzes involved first understanding perspectives of individuals, then stakeholders (local government and families), and finally similarities and differences through cross-case analysis. Local government focused more on physical access, than social inclusion. Local government met only minimal requirements and had little engagement with families. This resulted in poor understanding and action around family needs and preferences when designing public outdoor play spaces. To increase meaningful choice and participation in outdoor play, government understanding of family values and agency around engagement with local government needs to improve. Supporting familial collective capabilities requires understanding interactions between individuals, play, disability, and outdoor play environments.

Warm experts in the age of mandatory e-government:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard Madsen, Christian; Kræmmergaard, Pernille

2016-01-01

interaction channels in a public service encounter. Until now, studies of citizens’ channel choice have taken place at the level of the individual and ignored the influence of group processes. Moreover, although the importance of digital literacy has been widely recognized in relation to citizen channel...... choice and e-government adoption, citizens’ knowledge of public administration and administrative processes has received less attention. To cover this gap, we conducted a qualitative study of how citizen-to-citizen interaction influences channel choice in public service encounters, and how citizens share......Citizens’ adoption of e-government channels has been the focus of both academic studies and public policy for over a decade. Current efforts seek to reduce citizens’ interaction with caseworkers through traditional channels in favor of increased use of e-government self-service channels...

MANAGING E-GOVERNMENT CHANGE IN EDUCATION SECTOR IN LIBYA

OpenAIRE

FARHAT HAMMAD

2010-01-01

All over the world, businesses and governments are putting critical information online, automating processes and interacting electronically with their customers and citizens. The main advantage of e-government is increasing availability of government services beyond the traditional working days. It provides quicker delivery of government services and easier access by citizens and businesses. These significant improvements will not necessarily lead to immediate, realizable cost savings.

Organizational Enablers for Project Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller, Ralf; Shao, Jingting; Pemsel, Sofia

and their relationships to organizational success. Based on these results, the authors discovered that organizational enablers (including key factors such as leadership, governance, and influence of project managers) have a critical impact on how organizations operate, adapt to market fluctuations and forces, and make......While corporate culture plays a significant role in the success of any corporation, governance and “governmentality” not only determine how business should be conducted, but also define the policies and procedures organizations follow to achieve business functions and goals. In their book......, Organizational Enablers for Project Governance, Ralf Müller, Jingting Shao, and Sofia Pemsel examine the interaction of governance and governmentality in various types of companies and demonstrate how these factors drive business success and influence project work, efficiency, and profitability. The data...

Social media & the Government: living happily ever after?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reint-Jan Renes; Danielle van Wallinga

2013-01-01

Social media play an important role in the rapidly changing dynamics of government organizations and their interaction with the public. Governments are facing changing demands at organizational level due to the exponential growth of connections, networks involved in social issues and collaboration

Transcending Landscapes: Working Across Scales and Levels in Pastoralist Rangeland Governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Lance W; Ontiri, Enoch; Alemu, Tsegaye; Moiko, Stephen S

2017-08-01

Landscape approaches can be subjected to mistakenly targeting a single "best" level of governance, and paying too little attention to the role that cross-scale and cross-level interactions play in governance. In rangeland settings, resources, patterns of use of those resources, and the institutions for managing the resources exist at multiple levels and scales. While the scholarship on commons offers some guidance on how to conceptualize governance in rangeland landscapes, some elements of commons scholarship-notably the "design principles" for effective governance of commons-do not seem to apply neatly to governance in pastoralist rangeland settings. This paper examines three cases where attempts have been made to foster effective landscape governance in such settings to consider how the materiality of commons influences the nature of cross-scale and cross-level interactions, and how these interactions affect governance. In all three cases, although external actors seemed to work appropriately and effectively at community and landscape levels, landscape governance mechanisms have been facing great challenges arising from relationships beyond the landscape, both vertically to higher levels of decision-making and horizontally to communities normally residing in other landscapes. The cases demonstrate that fostering effective landscape-level governance cannot be accomplished only through action at the landscape level; it is a task that must be pursued at multiple levels and in relation to the connections across scales and levels. The paper suggests elements of a conceptual framework for understanding cross-level and cross-scale elements of landscape governance, and offers suggestions for governance design in pastoralist rangeland settings.

Transcending Landscapes: Working Across Scales and Levels in Pastoralist Rangeland Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Lance W.; Ontiri, Enoch; Alemu, Tsegaye; Moiko, Stephen S.

2017-08-01

Landscape approaches can be subjected to mistakenly targeting a single "best" level of governance, and paying too little attention to the role that cross-scale and cross-level interactions play in governance. In rangeland settings, resources, patterns of use of those resources, and the institutions for managing the resources exist at multiple levels and scales. While the scholarship on commons offers some guidance on how to conceptualize governance in rangeland landscapes, some elements of commons scholarship—notably the "design principles" for effective governance of commons—do not seem to apply neatly to governance in pastoralist rangeland settings. This paper examines three cases where attempts have been made to foster effective landscape governance in such settings to consider how the materiality of commons influences the nature of cross-scale and cross-level interactions, and how these interactions affect governance. In all three cases, although external actors seemed to work appropriately and effectively at community and landscape levels, landscape governance mechanisms have been facing great challenges arising from relationships beyond the landscape, both vertically to higher levels of decision-making and horizontally to communities normally residing in other landscapes. The cases demonstrate that fostering effective landscape-level governance cannot be accomplished only through action at the landscape level; it is a task that must be pursued at multiple levels and in relation to the connections across scales and levels. The paper suggests elements of a conceptual framework for understanding cross-level and cross-scale elements of landscape governance, and offers suggestions for governance design in pastoralist rangeland settings.

Rice-arsenate interactions in hydroponics: a three-gene model for tolerance.

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Gareth J; Nigar, Meher; Williams, Paul N; Dasgupta, Tapash; Meharg, Andrew A; Price, Adam H

2008-01-01

In this study, the genetic mapping of the tolerance of root growth to 13.3 muM arsenate [As(V)] using the BalaxAzucena population is improved, and candidate genes for further study are identified. A remarkable three-gene model of tolerance is advanced, which appears to involve epistatic interaction between three major genes, two on chromosome 6 and one on chromosome 10. Any combination of two of these genes inherited from the tolerant parent leads to the plant having tolerance. Lists of potential positional candidate genes are presented. These are then refined using whole genome transcriptomics data and bioinformatics. Physiological evidence is also provided that genes related to phosphate transport are unlikely to be behind the genetic loci conferring tolerance. These results offer testable hypotheses for genes related to As(V) tolerance that might offer strategies for mitigating arsenic (As) accumulation in consumed rice.

Rice–arsenate interactions in hydroponics: a three-gene model for tolerance

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Gareth J.; Nigar, Meher; Dasgupta, Tapash; Meharg, Andrew A.; Price, Adam H.

2008-01-01

In this study, the genetic mapping of the tolerance of root growth to 13.3 μM arsenate [As(V)] using the Bala×Azucena population is improved, and candidate genes for further study are identified. A remarkable three-gene model of tolerance is advanced, which appears to involve epistatic interaction between three major genes, two on chromosome 6 and one on chromosome 10. Any combination of two of these genes inherited from the tolerant parent leads to the plant having tolerance. Lists of potential positional candidate genes are presented. These are then refined using whole genome transcriptomics data and bioinformatics. Physiological evidence is also provided that genes related to phosphate transport are unlikely to be behind the genetic loci conferring tolerance. These results offer testable hypotheses for genes related to As(V) tolerance that might offer strategies for mitigating arsenic (As) accumulation in consumed rice. PMID:18453529

Alleles versus genotypes: Genetic interactions and the dynamics of selection in sexual populations

Science.gov (United States)

Neher, Richard

2010-03-01

Physical interactions between amino-acids are essential for protein structure and activity, while protein-protein interactions and regulatory interactions are central to cellular function. As a consequence of these interactions, the combined effect of two mutations can differ from the sum of the individual effects of the mutations. This phenomenon of genetic interaction is known as epistasis. However, the importance of epistasis and its effects on evolutionary dynamics are poorly understood, especially in sexual populations where recombination breaks up existing combinations of alleles to produce new ones. Here, we present a computational model of selection dynamics involving many epistatic loci in a recombining population. We demonstrate that a large number of polymorphic interacting loci can, despite frequent recombination, exhibit cooperative behavior that locks alleles into favorable genotypes leading to a population consisting of a set of competing clones. As the recombination rate exceeds a certain critical value this ``genotype selection'' phase disappears in an abrupt transition giving way to ``allele selection'' - the phase where different loci are only weakly correlated as expected in sexually reproducing populations. Clustering of interacting sets of genes on a chromosome leads to the emergence of an intermediate regime, where localized blocks of cooperating alleles lock into genetic modules. Large populations attain highest fitness at a recombination rate just below critical, suggesting that natural selection might tune recombination rates to balance the beneficial aspect of exploration of genotype space with the breaking up of synergistic allele combinations.

Learning Predictive Interactions Using Information Gain and Bayesian Network Scoring.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia Jiang

Full Text Available The problems of correlation and classification are long-standing in the fields of statistics and machine learning, and techniques have been developed to address these problems. We are now in the era of high-dimensional data, which is data that can concern billions of variables. These data present new challenges. In particular, it is difficult to discover predictive variables, when each variable has little marginal effect. An example concerns Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS datasets, which involve millions of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs, where some of the SNPs interact epistatically to affect disease status. Towards determining these interacting SNPs, researchers developed techniques that addressed this specific problem. However, the problem is more general, and so these techniques are applicable to other problems concerning interactions. A difficulty with many of these techniques is that they do not distinguish whether a learned interaction is actually an interaction or whether it involves several variables with strong marginal effects.We address this problem using information gain and Bayesian network scoring. First, we identify candidate interactions by determining whether together variables provide more information than they do separately. Then we use Bayesian network scoring to see if a candidate interaction really is a likely model. Our strategy is called MBS-IGain. Using 100 simulated datasets and a real GWAS Alzheimer's dataset, we investigated the performance of MBS-IGain.When analyzing the simulated datasets, MBS-IGain substantially out-performed nine previous methods at locating interacting predictors, and at identifying interactions exactly. When analyzing the real Alzheimer's dataset, we obtained new results and results that substantiated previous findings. We conclude that MBS-IGain is highly effective at finding interactions in high-dimensional datasets. This result is significant because we have increasingly

'Good Governance' dan 'Governability'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

- Pratikno

2005-03-01

Full Text Available The article endeavors to trace the outset of governance concept, its dominant meanings and discourse, and its implication towards governability. The central role of government in the governing processes has predominantly been adopted. The concept of governance was emerged precisely in the context of the failure of government as key player in regulation, economic redistribution and political participation. Governance is therefore aimed to emphasize pattern of governing which are based both on democratic mechanism and sound development management. However, practices of such good governance concept –which are mainly adopted and promoted by donor states and agencies– tend to degrade state and/or government authority and legitimacy. Traditional function of the state as sole facilitator of equal societal, political and legal membership among citizens has been diminished. The logic of fair competition has been substituted almost completely by the logic of free competition in nearly all sectors of public life. The concept and practices of good governance have resulted in decayed state authority and failed state which in turn created a condition for "ungovernability". By promoting democratic and humane governance, the article accordingly encourages discourse to reinstall and bring the idea of accountable state back in.

Between Dependency and Autonomy – Taiwanese Entrepreneurs and Local Chinese Governments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-yi Lee

2010-04-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the changing interaction between Taiwanese entrepreneurs and local Chinese governments. Through the analysis of this changing process, it can be seen that Taiwanese businesses are a special “asset” of Chinese governments. The main argument of this paper is that both central and local governments in China have strategic considerations in respect of Taiwanese businesses. The Chinese central government values Taiwanese businesses because more Taiwanese investment in China strengthens the Beijing government in negotiations with the Taibei government. Nevertheless, since the Kuomintang (KMT (Guomindang regained power in 2008, the strategic value of Taiwanese businesses in the cross-Strait relationship seems to have decreased. The central government has created a profitable macro-environment enabling local officials to give a warm welcome to Taiwanese businesses. Chinese local governments value Taiwanese businessmen not only because of the central government’s deliberate policy but also because they are pursuing their own self-interest. This paper firstly focuses on the changing interaction between Taiwanese businesses and Chinese local governments. It then further analyses the different but complementary interests of both central and local governments in China in relation to Taiwanese investors.

Education Program for Doctoral Researchers by Industrial-Government-Academic Cooperation and Interaction between Different Research Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Oki, Kazuya; Sawaragi, Tetsuo; Hasebe, Shinji; Morisawa, Shinsuke

New education program to train graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who can be good leaders in a variety of social fields by cooperation of graduate school of engineering and pharmaceutical sciences is conducted as an advanced activity in Kyoto University. This program consists of four sub-programs and the educational effect by the collaboration of industry-government-academic and the interaction between dissimilar research fields is described in this paper. Trainees in this program acquire the ability to understand objectively one’ s research from comprehensive point of view and to debate with researchers in different fields. This program supports them to become ‘Global Leaders’ who play an important role internationally in advanced technology.

QTL Information Table: 87 [Q-TARO

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available n effects, epistatic effects and environmental interactions of QTLs on the cooking and eating quality of rice in a doubled-haploid line population. Theor Appl Genet 110, 1445-1452. ...

Transactional costs of the interaction between business and government as a threat to the economic security of the state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evmenov Aleksandr

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers the costs of the interaction between the state and business as a threat to the development of the economy of the Russian Federation from the point of view of ensuring economic security. The authors identified significant obstacles both from the business and from the government side, which pose a threat to economic security. The study is of interest for the further development of a system of providing the economic security of the Russian Federation.

Internal Guidelines for interactions with communities and local governments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-11-01

These Guidelines provide principles for interactions with local populations. Interaction with communities and local govenments are the responsibility of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Wastes Management program's implementing offices. The Guidelines provide policy direction to these implementing offices, while preserving their ability to tailor local interactions to fit a given situation, taking into account the social and political context and the history of local involvement in the program. Project Offices conduct community and local interactions within overall program resources which must be husbanded prudently. Careful planning by implementing offices should ensure that adequate resources are available to foster effective interactions with local representatives

Governance Challenges in Telecoupled Food Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Eakin, H.; Mahanti, A.; Rueda, X.

2015-12-01

Distal connections increasingly influence food systems' governance: social actors in one geographic context produce intended and unintended consequences in distant locations, coupling the dynamics of socio-ecological systems. While these linkages are not new, economic globalization, urbanization and the dynamics of consumer preferences have accentuated these 'telecoupled' relationships in food systems. Telecoupling refers to the unexpected causal interactions among human-environment systems that were otherwise not linked. This paper presents a framework for evaluating telecoupling processes and outcomes in food systems, focusing on how the disparate scales of drivers and outcomes, diverse values of actors involved, and spatial and social distance combine to challenge socio-ecological system governance. We draw from two examples of food systems (coffee and maize) to argue that telecoupling, as a challenge for food systems, emerges when the institutions and mechanisms of governance acting over one system do not account for the consequences and interactions involving a different system. Telecoupling can stimulate new forms of governance, such as the development of codes of conduct and certification schemes, with positive impacts on food and livelihood security. Our cases suggest that the emergence of new governance arrangements is at least partially contingent on the prior existence of alternative social networks, which cultivate shared values, meanings and goals in food systems, as well as the capacity of affected actors to mobilize political influence and demonstrate plausible causal links. In the absence of such networks and associated capacities, the prior governance arrangements, although poorly adjusted to the new circumstances, are likely to persist, reinforcing existing power relations and the probability of undesirable social and ecological outcomes.

Improving Government service delivery with private sector intermediaries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klievink, B.; Janssen, M.

2008-01-01

Government organizations operate a variety of channels to interact with citizens and businesses. Advances in information and communication technology enabled an online presence and more direct interactions. A focus on efficiency makes organizations encourage the use of electronic channels over

Budding yeast mms4 is epistatic with rad52 and the function of Mms4 can be replaced by a bacterial Holliday junction resolvase.

Science.gov (United States)

Odagiri, Nao; Seki, Masayuki; Onoda, Fumitoshi; Yoshimura, Akari; Watanabe, Sei; Enomoto, Takemi

2003-03-01

MMS4 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was originally identified as the gene responsible for one of the collection of methyl methanesulfonate (MMS)-sensitive mutants, mms4. Recently it was identified as a synthetic lethal gene with an SGS1 mutation. Epistatic analyses revealed that MMS4 is involved in a pathway leading to homologous recombination requiring Rad52 or in the recombination itself, in which SGS1 is also involved. MMS sensitivity of mms4 but not sgs1, was suppressed by introducing a bacterial Holliday junction (HJ) resolvase, RusA. The frequencies of spontaneously occurring unequal sister chromatid recombination (SCR) and loss of marker in the rDNA in haploid mms4 cells and interchromosomal recombination between heteroalleles in diploid mms4 cells were essentially the same as those of wild-type cells. Although UV- and MMS-induced interchromosomal recombination was defective in sgs1 diploid cells, hyper-induction of interchromosomal recombination was observed in diploid mms4 cells, indicating that the function of Mms4 is dispensable for this type of recombination.

Transforming governance to enhance social and educational innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacob Torfing

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The recent proliferation of governance networks at all levels and in different policy areas has led to a growing number of studies focusing on interactive forms of governance. This paper aims to contribute to the development of governance research by looking at how collaboration in governance networks can help to spur social and educational innovation. The paper begins by defining the concept of governance networks and then provides a systematic overview of different theories that explain the current rise of governance networks. Next, it defines the concept of innovation and discusses how collaboration in networks can enhance innovation. Finally, it discusses how collaborative innovation can be initiated, facilitated and catalysed through new forms of leadership and management.

A Markov blanket-based method for detecting causal SNPs in GWAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Bing

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Detecting epistatic interactions associated with complex and common diseases can help to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. With the development of genome-wide association studies (GWAS, designing powerful and robust computational method for identifying epistatic interactions associated with common diseases becomes a great challenge to bioinformatics society, because the study of epistatic interactions often deals with the large size of the genotyped data and the huge amount of combinations of all the possible genetic factors. Most existing computational detection methods are based on the classification capacity of SNP sets, which may fail to identify SNP sets that are strongly associated with the diseases and introduce a lot of false positives. In addition, most methods are not suitable for genome-wide scale studies due to their computational complexity. Results We propose a new Markov Blanket-based method, DASSO-MB (Detection of ASSOciations using Markov Blanket to detect epistatic interactions in case-control GWAS. Markov blanket of a target variable T can completely shield T from all other variables. Thus, we can guarantee that the SNP set detected by DASSO-MB has a strong association with diseases and contains fewest false positives. Furthermore, DASSO-MB uses a heuristic search strategy by calculating the association between variables to avoid the time-consuming training process as in other machine-learning methods. We apply our algorithm to simulated datasets and a real case-control dataset. We compare DASSO-MB to other commonly-used methods and show that our method significantly outperforms other methods and is capable of finding SNPs strongly associated with diseases. Conclusions Our study shows that DASSO-MB can identify a minimal set of causal SNPs associated with diseases, which contains less false positives compared to other existing methods. Given the huge size of genomic dataset

Novel Structures for the Excess Electron State of the Water Hexamer and the Interaction Forces Governing the Structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, S.; Kim, J.; Lee, S.J.; Kim, K.S.

1997-01-01

The geometrical and electronic structures of partially hydrated electron systems, in particular, the water hexamer, which have been controversial for decades, have been clarified by an exhaustive search for possible low-lying energy structures. Several competing interaction forces governing the conformation have been examined for the first time. The low-lying energy structures are hybrid (or partially internal and partially surface) excess electron states. Our prediction is evidenced from excellent agreements with available experimental data. The vertical electron-detachment energies are mainly determined by the number of dangling H atoms (H d ) . copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

A kernel regression approach to gene-gene interaction detection for case-control studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Nicholas B; Schaid, Daniel J

2013-11-01

Gene-gene interactions are increasingly being addressed as a potentially important contributor to the variability of complex traits. Consequently, attentions have moved beyond single locus analysis of association to more complex genetic models. Although several single-marker approaches toward interaction analysis have been developed, such methods suffer from very high testing dimensionality and do not take advantage of existing information, notably the definition of genes as functional units. Here, we propose a comprehensive family of gene-level score tests for identifying genetic elements of disease risk, in particular pairwise gene-gene interactions. Using kernel machine methods, we devise score-based variance component tests under a generalized linear mixed model framework. We conducted simulations based upon coalescent genetic models to evaluate the performance of our approach under a variety of disease models. These simulations indicate that our methods are generally higher powered than alternative gene-level approaches and at worst competitive with exhaustive SNP-level (where SNP is single-nucleotide polymorphism) analyses. Furthermore, we observe that simulated epistatic effects resulted in significant marginal testing results for the involved genes regardless of whether or not true main effects were present. We detail the benefits of our methods and discuss potential genome-wide analysis strategies for gene-gene interaction analysis in a case-control study design. © 2013 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Biogeochemistry and biodiversity interact to govern N2 fixers (Fabaceae) across Amazon tropical forests

Science.gov (United States)

Batterman, Sarah; Hedin, Lars; Lloyd, Jon; Quesada, Beto

2015-04-01

Dinitrogen (N2)-fixing trees in the Fabaceae fulfill a central role in tropical rainforests by supplying nitrogen from the atmosphere, yet whether they will support a forest CO2 sink in the future by alleviating nitrogen limitation may depend on whether and how they are controlled by local environmental conditions. Theory predicts that soil nutrients govern the function of N2 fixers, yet there have been no large-scale field-based tests of this idea. Moreover, recent findings indicate that N2-fixing species behave differently in biogeochemical cycles, suggesting that any environmental control may differ by species, and that the diversity of N2-fixing trees may be critical for ensuring tropical forest function. In this talk, we will use the RAINFOR dataset of 108 (~1.0 ha) lowland tropical rainforest plots from across the Amazon Basin to test whether the abundance and diversity of N2-fixing trees are controlled by soil nutrient availability (i.e., increasing with phosphorus and decreasing with nitrogen), or if fixer abundance and diversity simply follow the dynamics of all tree species. We also test an alternative - but not mutually exclusive - hypothesis that the governing factor for fixers is forest disturbance. Results show a surprising lack of control by local nutrients or disturbance on the abundance or diversity of N2 fixers. The dominant driver of fixer diversity was the total number of tree species, with fixers comprising 10% of all species in a forest plot (R2 = 0.75, linear regression). When considering the dominant taxa of N2 fixers (Inga, Swartzia, Tachigali) alone, environmental factors (nitrogen, phosphorus and disturbance) became important and clearly governed their abundance. These taxa, which contain >60% of N2-fixing trees in the data set, appear to have evolved to specialize in different local environmental conditions. The strong biogeochemistry-by-biodiversity interaction observed here points to a need to consider individual species or taxa of N2

Government-Driven Participation and Collective Intelligence: A Case of the Government 3.0 Initiative in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taewoo Nam

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The Park Geun-hye Administration of Korea (2013–2017 aims to increase the level of transparency and citizen trust in government through the Government 3.0 initiative. This new initiative for public sector innovation encourages citizen-government collaboration and collective intelligence, thereby improving the quality of policy-making and implementation and solving public problems in a new way. However, the national initiative that identifies collective intelligence and citizen-government collaboration alike fails to understand what the wisdom of crowds genuinely means. Collective intelligence is not a magic bullet to solve public problems, which are called “wicked problems”. Collective deliberation over public issues often brings pain and patience, rather than fun and joy. It is not so easy that the public finds the best solution for soothing public problems through collective deliberation. The Government 3.0 initiative does not pay much attention to difficulties in gathering scattered wisdom, but rather highlights uncertain opportunities created by collective interactions and communications. This study deeply discusses the weaknesses in the logic of, and approach to, collective intelligence underlying the Government 3.0 initiative in Korea and the overall influence of the national initiative on participatory democracy.

Physico-chemical laws governing solid-liquid interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schweich, D.

1984-01-01

Physico-chemical interactions between solutes in the aqueous phase and a natural solid are described in terms of four types of mechanisms: linear or non-linear adsorption, ion-exchange, precipitation/dissolution, and chemical reaction. Emphasis is placed on the qualitative differences in behaviour implicit in these mechanisms, attention being drawn to the respective roles of thermodynamics and kinetics. On the quantitative plane, simple theoretical models (and ones that can be used) are presented in parallel to experimental protocols necessary for measuring the interaction parameters. It is pointed out, in particular, that the concept of the distribution coefficient (Ksub(d)) is only an empirical approach to problems which could easily be 'debunked' by means of more realistic, yet at the same time simple, models. (author)

Institutional analysis of health system governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Abimbola, Seye; Negin, Joel; Martiniuk, Alexandra L; Jan, Stephen

2017-11-01

It is important that researchers who study health system governance have a set of collective understandings of the meanings of governance, which can then inform the methods used in research. We present an institutional framing and definition of health system governance; that is, governance refers to making, changing, monitoring and enforcing the rules that govern the demand and supply of health services. This pervasive, relational view of governance is to be preferred to approaches that focus primarily on structures of governments and health care organizations, because health system governance involves communities and service users, and because governments in many low- and middle-income countries tend to under-govern. Therefore, the study of health system governance requires institutional analysis; an approach that focuses not only on structures, but also on the rules (both formal and informal) governing demand and supply relations. Using this 'structure-relations' lens, and based on our field experience, we discuss how this focus could be applied to the three approaches to framing and studying health system governance that we identified in the literature. In order of decreasing focus on structures ('hardware') and increasing focus on relations ('software'), they are: (1) the government-centred approach, which focuses on the role of governments, above or to the exclusion of non-government health system actors; (2) the building-block approach, which focuses on the internal workings of health care organizations, and treats governance as one of the several building blocks of organizations; and (3) the institutional approach, which focuses on how the rules governing social and economic interactions are made, changed, monitored and enforced. Notably, either or both qualitative and quantitative methods may be used by researchers in efforts to incorporate the analysis of how rules determine relations among health system actors into these three approaches to health system

Governance of Arctic Offshore Oil & Gas Activities: Multilevel Governance & Legal Pluralism at Stake

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pelaudeix, Cecile

2015-01-01

This article analyses the governance process of offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic with the concept of multilevelgovernance and legal pluralism to address both issues of management of the environment and public participation. The analysis goes beyond the single issue of fragmentation p...... and from regional government, indigenous shareholders and corporation perspectives, could be helpful in providing relevant actors with arguments to weigh the decision on seismic and drilling activities in relation to risk acceptance.......This article analyses the governance process of offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic with the concept of multilevelgovernance and legal pluralism to address both issues of management of the environment and public participation. The analysis goes beyond the single issue of fragmentation...... pertaining to the international and supranational levels, to encompass national and regional levels and evaluate how the interactions between those levels structure the policy process and impact the efficiency of environmental management and public participation. Four paths of reflection arise from...

Role Orientation and Communication Behaviors of Faculty Governance Leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Michael T.; Pope, Myron L.

This study, part of the National Data Base on Faculty Involvement in Governance project at the University of Alabama, attempted to profile the role orientations of faculty governance unit leaders, and to determine if those orientations differed under conditions of communication apprehension (how a unit leader interacts with others) or were…

Understandig trust : longitudinal studies on trust dynamics in governance interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries, de J.R.

2014-01-01

Trust is generally perceived as an important concept in governance processes where people cooperate, as it enables people to take risks and deal with uncertainties, and it facilitates cooperation. These characteristics are seen as important in new and alternative ways of implementing public

COMPARISON OF EFFECTIVENESS OF TRADITIONAL AND INTERACTIVE LECTURE METHODS FOR TEACHING BIOCHEMISTRY AMONG FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE, IDUKKI, KERALA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajeevan K. C

2016-09-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Traditional lecture is the most common type of teaching learning method used in professional colleges of India. Interactive lecture seems to be an important and feasible teaching learning method to increase the effect of learning in medical education. MATERIALS & METHODS The study was performed from July 2015 to October 2015 among first year medical students in Government Medical College, Idukki. All fifty first year MBBS students of 2014 batch were divided into group A and group B by simple random method. Two topics of translation were taken to both groups by two different lecture methods. The first topic was taught by interactive lecture to group A and traditional lecture to group B on the first day. Pre-test and post-test were done to assess gain in knowledge by two lecture methods. Second topic was taken to both groups on the second day by exchanging lecture methods. Their increase in knowledge was assessed by pre-test and post-test. On the second day, their feedback regarding perceptions and preferences were taken. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Mean scores of pre and post-test were analysed by paired t test. Level of knowledge gained among two lecture methods was compared by independent t test and qualitative data on feedback was analysed using Chi square test. RESULTS The level of knowledge gained by interactive lectures was significantly higher than traditional lectures. Students agreed that interactive lectures motivated them for self-learning and increased their confidence regarding study materials. It also helped them in the recollection of lecture content and clearing doubt than traditional lectures. CONCLUSIONS Interactive lectures were accepted and considered to be more useful than traditional lectures for teaching biochemistry at Government Medical College, Idukki.

Sex-specific asymmetry in eye development in interspecific hybrids ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

hybrids having D. pseudoananassae as one of the parental species. One of them was the .... that recessive epistatic X-autosomal interactions are involved as none of the ... The X chromosome of the maternal species,. D. pseudoananassae ...

Crossbreeding Holstein-Friesian with Ethiopian Boran cattle in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Friesian with Boran (unselected for milk), the epistatic interaction genes might have been lost due to the free recombination process during meiosis. Similar negative recombination effects on milk yield were reported even for crossing between two B.

Estimating strategic interactions in petroleum exploration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia

2009-01-01

When individual petroleum-producing firms make their exploration decisions, information externalities and extraction externalities may lead them to interact strategically with their neighbors. If they do occur, strategic interactions in exploration would lead to a loss in both firm profit and government royalty revenue. Since these strategic interactions would be inefficient, changes in the government offshore leasing policy would need to be considered. The possibility of strategic interactions thus poses a concern to policy-makers and affects the optimal government policy. This paper examines whether these inefficient strategic interactions take place in U.S. federal lands in the Gulf of Mexico. In particular, it analyzes whether a firm's exploration decisions depend on the decisions of firms owning neighboring tracts of land. A discrete response model of a firm's exploration timing decision that uses variables based on the timing of a neighbor's lease term as instruments for the neighbor's decision is employed. The results suggest that strategic interactions do not actually take place, at least not in exploration, and therefore that the current parameters of the government offshore leasing policy do not lead to inefficient petroleum exploration. (author)

Evaluating the democratic accountability of governance networks: Analysing two Nordic Megaprojects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aarsæther, Nils; Bjørnå, Hilde; Fotel, Trine

2009-01-01

There is currently a need to analyse and measure the democratic accountability of governance networks. This kind of analysis and measurement calls for the development of an interactive conceptualisation of democratic accountability that makes it possible to measure the level of democratic...... accountability of concrete governance networks with reference to the extent to which they interact with (1) relevant politicians appointed through the institutions of representative democracy, (2) the relevant and affected stakeholders, and (3) the wider citizenry. A case study of two governance networks...... involved in two Nordic megaprojects illustrates how this measurement device can be brought into use and what the insights are that can be gained from it....

Modes of Governance in the Dutch Social Housing Sector

OpenAIRE

Ruys, P.H.M.; Bruil, J.; Dix, H.G.

2007-01-01

Abstract: We describe and analyze five consecutive modes of governance in the Dutch social housing sector. We compare these institutional forms with the five policy values that the sector was assumed to realize. For that purpose we propose and use a new, analytical framework based on a separation principle that is applied to the coercion domain (the governance of transactions) as well as to the interaction domain (the welfare values). The consecutive modes of governance were introduced to cop...

Quantitative genome-wide genetic interaction screens reveal global epistatic relationships of protein complexes in Escherichia coli.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohan Babu

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Large-scale proteomic analyses in Escherichia coli have documented the composition and physical relationships of multiprotein complexes, but not their functional organization into biological pathways and processes. Conversely, genetic interaction (GI screens can provide insights into the biological role(s of individual gene and higher order associations. Combining the information from both approaches should elucidate how complexes and pathways intersect functionally at a systems level. However, such integrative analysis has been hindered due to the lack of relevant GI data. Here we present a systematic, unbiased, and quantitative synthetic genetic array screen in E. coli describing the genetic dependencies and functional cross-talk among over 600,000 digenic mutant combinations. Combining this epistasis information with putative functional modules derived from previous proteomic data and genomic context-based methods revealed unexpected associations, including new components required for the biogenesis of iron-sulphur and ribosome integrity, and the interplay between molecular chaperones and proteases. We find that functionally-linked genes co-conserved among γ-proteobacteria are far more likely to have correlated GI profiles than genes with divergent patterns of evolution. Overall, examining bacterial GIs in the context of protein complexes provides avenues for a deeper mechanistic understanding of core microbial systems.

Improving Government service delivery with private sector intermediaries

OpenAIRE

Klievink, B.; Janssen, M.

2008-01-01

Government organizations operate a variety of channels to interact with citizens and businesses. Advances in information and communication technology enabled an online presence and more direct interactions. A focus on efficiency makes organizations encourage the use of electronic channels over traditional channels. Also, intermediaries in the service delivery chain are cut out in favor of direct interactions. This strategy of disintermediation finds its rationale in the transaction costs theo...

Capital Structure, Strategic Competition, and Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.T. Nguyen (Thuy Thu)

2008-01-01

textabstractThis thesis consists of four studies on the interactions of capital structure and product market competition, and on several aspects of governance, firm financing and growth. The first study investigates how competitive behavior and market uncertainty affect the capital structure of a

Academic faculty governance and recruitment decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prüfer, J.; Walz, U.

2013-01-01

We analyze the implications of the governance structure in academic faculties for their recruitment decisions when competing for new researchers. The value to individual members through social interaction within the faculty depends on the average status of their fellow members. In recruitment

Academic Faculty Governance and Recruitment Decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prüfer, J.; Walz, U.

2009-01-01

We analyze the implications of the governance structure in academic faculties for their recruitment decisions when competing for new researchers. The value to individual members through social interaction within the faculty depends on the average status of their fellow members. In recruitment

Electronic government: Rethinking channel management strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ebbers, Wolfgang E.; Pieterson, Willem Jan; Noordman, H.N.

2008-01-01

This article explores how an alternative multichannel management strategy can improve the way governments and citizens interact. Improvement is necessary because, based on empirical data from various sources, the conclusion can be drawn that there is a gap between the communication channels

Variability in working memory performance explained by epistasis vs polygenic scores in the ZNF804A pathway

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nicodemus, Kristin K.; Hargreaves, April; Morris, Derek; Anney, Richard; Gill, Michael; Corvin, Aiden; Donohoe, Gary; Ripke, Stephan; Sanders, Alan R.; Kendler, Kenneth S.; Levinson, Douglas F.; Sklar, Pamela; Holmans, Peter A.; Lin, Dan-Yu; Duan, Jubao; Ophoff, Roel A.; Andreassen, Ole A.; Scolnick, Edward; Cichon, Sven; St Clair, David; Gurling, Hugh; Werge, Thomas; Rujescu, Dan; Blackwood, Douglas H. R.; Pato, Carlos N.; Malhotra, Anil K.; Purcell, Shaun; Dudbridge, Frank; Neale, Benjamin M.; Rossin, Lizzy; Visscher, Peter M.; Posthuma, Danielle; Ruderfer, Douglas M.; Fanous, Ayman; Stefansson, Hreinn; Steinberg, Stacy; Mowry, Bryan J.; Golimbet, Vera; de Hert, Marc; Jönsson, Erik G.; Bitter, István; Pietiläinen, Olli P. H.; Collier, David A.; Tosato, Sarah; Agartz, Ingrid; Albus, Margot; Alexander, Madeline; Amdur, Richard L.; de Haan, Lieuwe; Linszen, Don H.

2014-01-01

We investigated the variation in neuropsychological function explained by risk alleles at the psychosis susceptibility gene ZNF804A and its interacting partners using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), polygenic scores, and epistatic analyses. Of particular importance was the relative

Variability in working memory performance explained by epistasis vs polygenic scores in the ZNF804A pathway.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nicodemus, K.K.; Hargreaves, A.; Morris, D.; Anney, R.; Gill, M.; Corvin, A.; Posthuma, D.; Donohoe, G.

2014-01-01

IMPORTANCE We investigated the variation in neuropsychological function explained by risk alleles at the psychosis susceptibility gene ZNF804A and its interacting partners using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), polygenic scores, and epistatic analyses. Of particular importance was the

A Balanced Accuracy Fitness Function Leads to Robust Analysis Using Grammatical Evolution Neural Networks in the Case of Class Imbalance

Science.gov (United States)

The identification and characterization of genetic and environmental factors that predict common, complex disease is a major goal of human genetics. The ubiquitous nature of epistatic interaction in the underlying genetic etiology of such disease presents a difficult analytical ...

Crepuscular flight activity of an invasive insect governed by interacting abiotic factors.

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Yigen Chen

Full Text Available Seasonal and diurnal flight patterns of the invasive walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, were assessed between 2011 and 2014 in northern California, USA in the context of the effects of ambient temperature, light intensity, wind speed, and barometric pressure. Pityophthorus juglandis generally initiated flight in late January and continued until late November. This seasonal flight could be divided approximately into three phases (emergence: January-March; primary flight: May-July; and secondary flight: September-October. The seasonal flight response to the male-produced aggregation pheromone was consistently female-biased (mean of 58.9% females. Diurnal flight followed a bimodal pattern with a minor peak in mid-morning and a major peak at dusk (76.4% caught between 1800 and 2200 h. The primarily crepuscular flight activity had a Gaussian relationship with ambient temperature and barometric pressure but a negative exponential relationship with increasing light intensity and wind speed. A model selection procedure indicated that the four abiotic factors collectively and interactively governed P. juglandis diurnal flight. For both sexes, flight peaked under the following second-order interactions among the factors when: 1 temperature between was 25 and 30 °C and light intensity was less than 2000 lux; 2 temperature was between 25 and 35 °C and barometric pressure was between 752 and 762 mba (and declined otherwise; 3 barometric pressure was between 755 and 761 mba and light intensity was less than 2000 lux (and declined otherwise; and 4 temperature was ca. 30 °C and wind speed was ca. 2 km/h. Thus, crepuscular flight activity of this insect can be best explained by the coincidence of moderately high temperature, low light intensity, moderate wind speed, and low to moderate barometric pressure. The new knowledge provides physical and temporal guidelines for the application of semiochemical-based control techniques as part of an IPM

Collaborative research among academia, business, and government

Science.gov (United States)

SETAC is a tripartite organization comprised chiefly of three sectors: academia, government, and industry. Collaborative connections within and among these sectors provide the basis for scientific structural integrity. Such interactions generally foster scientific integrity, tra...

Multilevel Governance and Organizational Performance: Investigating the Political-Bureaucratic Labyrinth

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Kenneth J.; O'Toole, Laurence J., Jr.; Nicholson-Crotty, Sean

2004-01-01

Research on governance has extensively explored the complex interactions of governmental, nongovernmental, and for-profit entities in the execution of public policy. It has consistently failed, however, to model empirically the joint effects of political and bureaucratic actors in governance systems. To address this issue, a theory of multilevel…

Genetic variation in foundation species governs the dynamics of trophic interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Valencia-Cuevas, Leticia; Mussali-Galante, Patricia; Cano-Santana, Zenón; Pujade-Villar, Juli; Equihua-Martínez, Armando

2018-01-01

Abstract Various studies have demonstrated that the foundation species genetic diversity can have direct effects that extend beyond the individual or population level, affecting the dependent communities. Additionally, these effects may be indirectly extended to higher trophic levels throughout the entire community. Quercus castanea is an oak species with characteristics of foundation species beyond presenting a wide geographical distribution and being a dominant element of Mexican temperate forests. In this study, we analyzed the influence of population (He) and individual (HL) genetic diversity of Q. castanea on its canopy endophagous insect community and associated parasitoids. Specifically, we studied the composition, richness (S) and density of leaf-mining moths (Lepidoptera: Tischeridae, Citheraniidae), gall-forming wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), and canopy parasitoids of Q. castanea. We sampled 120 trees belonging to six populations (20/site) through the previously recognized gradient of genetic diversity. In total, 22 endophagous insect species belonging to three orders (Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera) and 20 parasitoid species belonging to 13 families were identified. In general, we observed that the individual genetic diversity of the host plant (HL) has a significant positive effect on the S and density of the canopy endophagous insect communities. In contrast, He has a significant negative effect on the S of endophagous insects. Additionally, indirect effects of HL were observed, affecting the S and density of parasitoid insects. Our results suggest that genetic variation in foundation species can be one of the most important factors governing the dynamics of tritrophic interactions that involve oaks, herbivores, and parasitoids. PMID:29492034

Risk Management in Future Romanian E-Government 2.0 Projects

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Didraga Otniel

2015-08-01

Full Text Available E-government public services in Romania must follow unitary procedures considering the new requirements of the European Union from the Digital Agenda for Europe Strategy 2020. E-government 2.0 has to be implemented because of the cultural and behavioral transformations in the interaction between governments and users of e-services. E-government 2.0 projects use tools and techniques of social media to accomplish their goals. This article examines the possible risk categories and the risk management procedures needed to mitigate risks in future Romanian e-government projects, according to the strategic lines of development for the Digital Agenda. We propose a risk management plan for the e-government lines of action within the strategic lines of development that includes identifying, assessing, and mitigating the risks. New and modernized government services through e-government 2.0 projects that apply risk management will bring a significant improvement in how citizens and businesses relate to government and will increase the use of e-government services.

Emergence, institutionalization and renewal: Rhythms of adaptive governance in complex social-ecological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaffin, Brian C; Gunderson, Lance H

2016-01-01

Adaptive governance provides the capacity for environmental managers and decision makers to confront variable degrees of uncertainty inherent to complex social-ecological systems. Current theoretical conceptualizations of adaptive governance represent a series of structures and processes best suited for either adapting or transforming existing environmental governance regimes towards forms flexible enough to confront rapid ecological change. As the number of empirical examples of adaptive governance described in the literature grows, the conceptual basis of adaptive governance remains largely under theorized. We argue that reconnecting adaptive governance with foundational concepts of ecological resilience-specifically Panarchy and the adaptive cycle of complex systems-highlights the importance of episodic disturbances and cross-scale interactions in triggering reorganizations in governance. By envisioning the processes of adaptive governance through the lens of Panarchy, scholars and practitioners alike will be better able to identify the emergence of adaptive governance, as well as take advantage of opportunities to institutionalize this type of governance in pursuit of sustainability outcomes. The synergistic analysis of adaptive governance and Panarchy can provide critical insight for analyzing the role of social dynamics during oscillating periods of stability and instability in social-ecological systems. A deeper understanding of the potential for cross-scale interactions to shape adaptive governance regimes may be useful as society faces the challenge of mitigating the impacts of global environmental change. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the Interaction of Source and Channel Choice in the Government-to-Business Context

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Boer, Yvon; van de Wijngaert, Lidwien; Pieterson, Willem Jan; Arendsen, R.; Scholl, H.J.; Janssen, M.; Wimmer, M.A.; Moe, C.E.; Flak, L.S.

2012-01-01

Communication processes between governments and businesses are increasingly networked. This paper increases our understanding of the information seeking behavior of businesses in the Government-to-Business domain. We conducted a quantitative study among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the

Evaluating e-Government and Good Governance Correlation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suhardi Suhardi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Assessing the achievement of Indonesian government institutions in implementing e-government has been conducted since around a decade ago. Several national assessments are available with almost the same ranking results. There is an agreement that the ultimate goal of e-government implementation is to achieve good government governance (GGG, while success stories of e-government require good governance practices. This study explored the correlation between e-government achievement and GGG achievement in Indonesia. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to characterize the relationship strength between e-government assessment results and good governance assessment results. The data were collected from institutions that participated in e-government and good governance assessments. The results showed that the correlation between these two entities is not very strong. Most cases showed that e-government implementation and the achievement of good governance have only a moderate positive correlation and none of the studied cases indicated a significant connection. This result can be attributed to the lack of emphasis on goals achievement in the assessments. Thus, it is recommended that future Indonesian e-government assessments should involve impact indicators.

POEM: Identifying joint additive effects on regulatory circuits

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Maya eBotzman

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Motivation: Expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL mapping tackles the problem of identifying variation in DNA sequence that have an effect on the transcriptional regulatory network. Major computational efforts are aimed at characterizing the joint effects of several eQTLs acting in concert to govern the expression of the same genes. Yet, progress towards a comprehensive prediction of such joint effects is limited. For example, existing eQTL methods commonly discover interacting loci affecting the expression levels of a module of co-regulated genes. Such ‘modularization’ approaches, however, are focused on epistatic relations and thus have limited utility for the case of additive (non-epistatic effects.Results: Here we present POEM (Pairwise effect On Expression Modules, a methodology for identifying pairwise eQTL effects on gene modules. POEM is specifically designed to achieve high performance in the case of additive joint effects. We applied POEM to transcription profiles measured in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells across a population of genotyped mice. Our study reveals widespread additive, trans-acting pairwise effects on gene modules, characterizes their organizational principles, and highlights high-order interconnections between modules within the immune signaling network. These analyses elucidate the central role of additive pairwise effect in regulatory circuits, and provide computational tools for future investigations into the interplay between eQTLs.Availability: The software described in this article is available at csgi.tau.ac.il/POEM/.

No boundaries: genomes, organisms, and ecological interactions responsible for divergence and reproductive isolation.

Science.gov (United States)

Etges, William J

2014-01-01

Revealing the genetic basis of traits that cause reproductive isolation, particularly premating or sexual isolation, usually involves the same challenges as most attempts at genotype-phenotype mapping and so requires knowledge of how these traits are expressed in different individuals, populations, and environments, particularly under natural conditions. Genetic dissection of speciation phenotypes thus requires understanding of the internal and external contexts in which underlying genetic elements are expressed. Gene expression is a product of complex interacting factors internal and external to the organism including developmental programs, the genetic background including nuclear-cytotype interactions, epistatic relationships, interactions among individuals or social effects, stochasticity, and prevailing variation in ecological conditions. Understanding of genomic divergence associated with reproductive isolation will be facilitated by functional expression analysis of annotated genomes in organisms with well-studied evolutionary histories, phylogenetic affinities, and known patterns of ecological variation throughout their life cycles. I review progress and prospects for understanding the pervasive role of host plant use on genetic and phenotypic expression of reproductive isolating mechanisms in cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis and suggest how this system can be used as a model for revealing the genetic basis for species formation in organisms where speciation phenotypes are under the joint influences of genetic and environmental factors. © The American Genetic Association. 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Policy Analysis, International Relations, and European Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Mads Christian Dagnis; Tatham, Michaël

2017-01-01

The article highlights the rationale of the special issue in terms of its objectives and guiding principles. It maps different evolutions and challenges within three analytical streams (1) regarding the field of policy analysis, (2) concerning the interaction between domestic and international...... affairs, and (3) with regards to the transformation of European Union governance in troubled times. These three research avenues highlight how not only European governance itself has evolved in a changing world, but also how the analysis of interests, institutions, and policy-making has morphed...

Heath Sector Network Governance and State-building in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Science.gov (United States)

Bwimana, Aembe

2017-12-01

Longstanding patterns of interaction exist between state and non-state actors seeking to improve public health in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC is a weak state, and, in many cases, private actors have stepped in to fill the void created by the lack of state health care provision. However, the role of these interactions in creating a governance network in the health sector has been underexplored. Using data from 18 months of qualitative field research, this study aimed to explore governance networks in DRC's health sector, examining how multiple stakeholders work to manage the health system and how the resulting governance network has been relevant for the state-building process. The findings demonstrate that the health sector in South Kivu is emerging as an arena of networked governance based on active partnerships between state institutions and non-state actors. Interactions between state and non-state actors account for the persistence of the health sector in a setting characterized by state weakness. However, networked governance does not function optimally, because, although non-state interventions fill the void where the state falls short, the DRC state has faced the challenge of interacting with partners with fragmented and horizontally competing agendas. Although weak, the shadow of state authority is present in the arena of stakeholders' interactions, as the state plays a determining role by providing a regulatory framework. Overall, the findings show that the interactive engagement of non-state actors contributes to improving institutional capacity through these actors' engagement with state institutions for health system management and institutional development. However, although networked health sector governance does contribute to state capacity, it is difficult to assess the real influence of these interactions on the state-building process in a context of critical fragility, where coordination and alignment have been problematic. © The

Intellectual property as an instrument of interaction between government, business, science and society

Science.gov (United States)

Nikitenko, S. M.; Mesyats, M. A.; Rozhkova, O. V.

2017-09-01

This article is devoted to research the characteristics associated with pledge of intellectual property in foreign and domestic practice. Holding intellectual property objects’ pledge transactions accelerates the pace of creating innovative systems in the economy. In present paper the modern scheme for bank loan, financing secured with patented intellectual property is researched. The authors give the brief description of features of pledge security registration for loans in some Europe countries. The Europe Union experience shows that as collateral for monetary loans can be used trademarks, patents on the intellectual property, as well as their registration requests. Russian experience of the pledge operations of the intellectual property is too small. This way of bank lending is at an early stage of development. The main constraint is the difficulty of assessing the value of the pledged intellectual property as intangible assets. However, taking into account world and domestic practice this direction for Russian market is estimated by the authors as promising one. Pledge transactions take place within the framework of the Quadruple-Helix Model concept that involves four participants: “science”, “business”, “government” and “society”. Intellectual property are estimates by the authors as an instrument of interaction between government, business, science and society.

Polycentric governance of multifunctional forested landscapes

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Harini Nagendra

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Human-induced causes of forest change occur at multiple scales. Yet, most governance mechanisms are designed at a single level – whether international, national, regional or local – and do not provide effective solutions for the overarching challenge of forest governance. Efforts to “decentralize” governmental arrangements frequently do not recognize the importance of complex, polycentric arrangements and are based on a presumption of a single government at one level taking charge of a policy arena, often ignoring the existence of many vibrant self-governed institutions. Polycentric institutions provide a useful framework for governance, enabling aspects of preferred solutions to be used together in efforts to protect the long-term sustainability of diverse forested social-ecological systems. By considering the interaction between actors at different levels of governance, polycentricity contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the variation in diverse governance outcomes in the management of common-pool resources based on the needs and interests of citizens and the complexity of resources and governance systems at local, regional, national, and global levels. In this paper, we discuss challenges to polycentricity such as the matching of the boundaries of those who benefit, those who contribute with the boundary of the resource. We describe some approaches that have been effectively utilized to address these challenges in forests in various parts of the world. We also provide a brief overview of how the concept of polycentricity helps in the analysis of climate change and the closely related international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through degradation and deforestation (REDD.

Evolution of genetic architecture under directional selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Thomas F; Alvarez-Castro, José M; Carter, Ashley J R; Hermisson, Joachim; Wagner, Günter P

2006-08-01

We investigate the multilinear epistatic model under mutation-limited directional selection. We confirm previous results that only directional epistasis, in which genes on average reinforce or diminish each other's effects, contribute to the initial evolution of mutational effects. Thus, either canalization or decanalization can occur under directional selection, depending on whether positive or negative epistasis is prevalent. We then focus on the evolution of the epistatic coefficients themselves. In the absence of higher-order epistasis, positive pairwise epistasis will tend to weaken relative to additive effects, while negative pairwise epistasis will tend to become strengthened. Positive third-order epistasis will counteract these effects, while negative third-order epistasis will reinforce them. More generally, gene interactions of all orders have an inherent tendency for negative changes under directional selection, which can only be modified by higher-order directional epistasis. We identify three types of nonadditive quasi-equilibrium architectures that, although not strictly stable, can be maintained for an extended time: (1) nondirectional epistatic architectures; (2) canalized architectures with strong epistasis; and (3) near-additive architectures in which additive effects keep increasing relative to epistasis.

Filling the Gap between IT Governance and IT Project Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundin, Jette

2007-01-01

there is a gap between IT governance and IT project management. Theory on IT governance assumes that strategies are implemented through projects - but do not go into detail on how to do it. Theories on project management do not include interaction with governance processes. A gap between IT governance...... and IT project management can result in IT that does not support business strategy and in lack of flexibility and agility. Competitive, changing business environments combined with the uncertainty and unpredictability of IT implementation projects call for IT governance organisation and processes to sense......The goal of this paper is to explore coordination mechanisms as part of a solution to fill the gap between IT Governance and IT project management. The Gap between IT governance and IT project management has not been fully explored in IT management research. Both in theory and in practice...

Risk Management in IT Governance Framework

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Mirela GHEORGHE

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of governance has an already old contour: the system by which business corporations are directed and controlled. The most praised principles regarding shareholder rights, transparency and board accountability now constitute the foundation for new tendencies evolved from such ground. Executive compensation, transparency and shareholder reporting are new issues attached to board responsibilities. Besides such almost negative approaches the board faces a more and more prominent role from risk management and IT governance perspective. Nowadays is generally acknowledged that the board is in charge for managing and controlling the risks to assets of the enterprises and business future. IT Governance has emerged as a support for corporate governance, as an important part of board’s striving efforts to perform better in a competition environment. These responsibilities, risk management and IT Governance, remain within the framework of old concept of corporate governance and are fed from its substance. The interaction between these concepts is the core interest of this research.IT Governance is defined as procedures and policies established in order to assure that the IT system of an organization sustains its goals and strategies. The management of the organisations face a new challenge: structural redefinition of the IT component in order to create plus value and to minimize IT risks through an efficient management of all IT resources of the organisation. The evolution of the present IT environment is a natural process according to which business environment should adapt.

Towards Cyber City: DKI Jakarta and Surabaya Provincial Government Digital Public Services

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Mia Angeline

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research was to do a comparative study on the use of information technology in DKI Jakarta Provincial Government through Jakarta.go.id website and Surabaya City Local Government through Surabaya.go.id website. This research focused on public services and interactive use of communication media. Research method used was descriptive qualitative. Data were collected through a depth interview with Jakarta.go.id and Surabaya.go.id website administrators, observation of digital data, literature review, and through secondary data. Data analysis was done through a constant comparative technique. The results indicates that diffusion innovation theory is used by provincial government to give digital public services. It means that the government is seeking people to adopt the use of information technology in the interaction with the government. Local and Provincial Government provides a media center for public services, which the public can access information and provide input to the government. Some of the challenges show that society is not fully ready to change from conventional public services to digital public services received from the government. There is a massive need to educate society while also providing free mobile internet services. Other than that, there is also a gap in internal governmental human resources skill and competences. As a solution to some of these problems, both DKI Jakarta and Surabaya Provincial Government need to apply information technology to achieve e-government and cyber city. 

Genotype to phenotype mapping and the fitness landscape of the E. coli lac promoter.

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Jakub Otwinowski

Full Text Available Genotype-to-phenotype maps and the related fitness landscapes that include epistatic interactions are difficult to measure because of their high dimensional structure. Here we construct such a map using the recently collected corpora of high-throughput sequence data from the 75 base pairs long mutagenized E. coli lac promoter region, where each sequence is associated with its phenotype, the induced transcriptional activity measured by a fluorescent reporter. We find that the additive (non-epistatic contributions of individual mutations account for about two-thirds of the explainable phenotype variance, while pairwise epistasis explains about 7% of the variance for the full mutagenized sequence and about 15% for the subsequence associated with protein binding sites. Surprisingly, there is no evidence for third order epistatic contributions, and our inferred fitness landscape is essentially single peaked, with a small amount of antagonistic epistasis. There is a significant selective pressure on the wild type, which we deduce to be multi-objective optimal for gene expression in environments with different nutrient sources. We identify transcription factor (CRP and RNA polymerase binding sites in the promotor region and their interactions without difficult optimization steps. In particular, we observe evidence for previously unexplored genetic regulatory mechanisms, possibly kinetic in nature. We conclude with a cautionary note that inferred properties of fitness landscapes may be severely influenced by biases in the sequence data.

Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interaction and the Relationship between the Central Bank and the Government. (The Case of Republic of Moldova

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Corina Chironachi

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper the author is analyzing the impact of fiscal and monetary policies on the dynamics of the exchange rate, inflation and other macroeconomic variables. The author investigates the forms of strategic interaction between the Government and the Central Bank in designing and implementing these policies. As a result, the author concludes the necessity of institutions cooperation in the development and implementation of monetary and fiscal policy measures, but also concluded that the responsible institutions must remain independent in achieving an efficient monetary and fiscal policy of the Republic of Moldova.

Assembling an experimentalist regime: transnational governance interactions in the forest sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Overdevest, C.; Zeitlin, J.

2014-01-01

Transnational governance initiatives increasingly face the problem of regime complexity in which a proliferation of regulatory schemes operate in the same policy domain, supported by varying combinations of public and private actors. The literature suggests that such regime complexity can lead to

COMPARISON OF EFFECTIVENESS OF TRADITIONAL AND INTERACTIVE LECTURE METHODS FOR TEACHING BIOCHEMISTRY AMONG FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE, IDUKKI, KERALA

OpenAIRE

Sajeevan K. C; Lyson Lonappan; Sajna MV; Geetha Devi M

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Traditional lecture is the most common type of teaching learning method used in professional colleges of India. Interactive lecture seems to be an important and feasible teaching learning method to increase the effect of learning in medical education. MATERIALS & METHODS The study was performed from July 2015 to October 2015 among first year medical students in Government Medical College, Idukki. All fifty first year MBBS students of 2014 batch were divided into grou...

Beyond the single gene: How epistasis and gene-by-environment effects influence crop domestication.

Science.gov (United States)

Doust, Andrew N; Lukens, Lewis; Olsen, Kenneth M; Mauro-Herrera, Margarita; Meyer, Ann; Rogers, Kimberly

2014-04-29

Domestication is a multifaceted evolutionary process, involving changes in individual genes, genetic interactions, and emergent phenotypes. There has been extensive discussion of the phenotypic characteristics of plant domestication, and recent research has started to identify the specific genes and mutational mechanisms that control domestication traits. However, there is an apparent disconnect between the simple genetic architecture described for many crop domestication traits, which should facilitate rapid phenotypic change under selection, and the slow rate of change reported from the archeobotanical record. A possible explanation involves the middle ground between individual genetic changes and their expression during development, where gene-by-gene (epistatic) and gene-by-environment interactions can modify the expression of phenotypes and opportunities for selection. These aspects of genetic architecture have the potential to significantly slow the speed of phenotypic evolution during crop domestication and improvement. Here we examine whether epistatic and gene-by-environment interactions have shaped how domestication traits have evolved. We review available evidence from the literature, and we analyze two domestication-related traits, shattering and flowering time, in a mapping population derived from a cross between domesticated foxtail millet and its wild progenitor. We find that compared with wild progenitor alleles, those favored during domestication often have large phenotypic effects and are relatively insensitive to genetic background and environmental effects. Consistent selection should thus be able to rapidly change traits during domestication. We conclude that if phenotypic evolution was slow during crop domestication, this is more likely due to cultural or historical factors than epistatic or environmental constraints.

Expanding entrepreneurship opportunities through local governance: the case of Barbados

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Pounder

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper looks at the government and local governance structures of Barbados, arguing that local governance should be leveraged to expand entrepreneurship opportunities at the community level. It examines the links between local governance and entrepreneurship, and proposes a framework aimed at strengthening the relationship between Barbados’ newly formed constituency councils and its government institutions supporting entrepreneurship. The research concludes that there are many inefficiencies in the interaction between government agencies and constituency councils, which the proposed framework is a first step toward remedying.  The research suggests that local governance is a complex issue worldwide. More specifically in Barbados, even though the role of the constituency councils is defined, there are weak formal arrangements which undermine the processes and activities to support community entrepreneurship. The proposed framework highlighted in the research is a first step in formalising a way forward for entrepreneurship in the community. 

Community Governance and Vocational Education

Science.gov (United States)

Martasari, R.; Haryanti, R. H.; Susiloadi, P.

2018-02-01

Vocational education is required to create a design of education and training that is friendly and feasible for disabled people. The state has a responsibility for it, but with all the limitations, the state can not always be present. This article aims to analyze the capacity of community governance in passing vocational education for people with disabilities in Ponorogo, Indonesia. Articles are the results of research for approximately two years by using data collection techniques through interviews, documentation and observation. Source Triangulation with analysis technique using interactive model is used for data validation. The results show that there are two large capacities owned by Organisasi Sosial Rumah Kasih Sayang as community governance in conducting vocational education for the disabled person namely community credibility and community vigilance.

Corporate Governance, between Classicism and Modernism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niculae Feleaga

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Corporate governance represents a complex concept, being an assembly of mechanisms used to set order into company leaders’ decisions. The rules of corporate governance are the ones keeping the score between the economic entity’s leaders and the third parties who invest their resources in the business. The corporate governance issue did not appear by hazard, but it resulted from the necessity to reconcile many business interests within a company (sometimes contradictory issues, especially the ones between the shareholders and the business leaders. The Anglo-Saxon view, in which the business power is given to the Equity items, is traditionally opposing the European (continental vision, where focus is being made on the Stakeholders’ interests. Within a world dominated by globalization issues, and where the financial markets evolve on an exponential curve, the two above mentioned corporate governance models ought to interact one with another in a constructive manner. Even if the corporate governance concept has developed recently, mainly during the last 25 years, its origins are rooted way back into the world history. Corporate governance is organically linked to the capitalist society and economy. After the 11 September attacks, many of the contemporary authors had the tendency to declare this date as the beginning of the XXIst century. If the ‘Twin Towers’ had hosted companies like: Tyco, Enron, Xerox, Wordcom and many other Stock Exchange-quoted businesses, it is likely that the financial crisis from 2000-2002 would have been differently perceived, and corporate governance had developed slightly different evolutionary mechanisms. A scientific article, based on the comparison between the classical and modern corporate governance experiences, would therefore suit the Romanian business environment.

Corporate Governance, between Classicism and Modernism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Vasile

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Corporate governance represents a complex concept, being an assembly of mechanisms used to set order into company leaders’ decisions. The rules of corporate governance are the ones keeping the score between the economic entity’s leaders and the third parties who invest their resources in the business. The corporate governance issue did not appear by hazard, but it resulted from the necessity to reconcile many business interests within a company (sometimes contradictory issues, especially the ones between the shareholders and the business leaders. The Anglo-Saxon view, in which the business power is given to the Equity items, is traditionally opposing the European (continental vision, where focus is being made on the Stakeholders’ interests. Within a world dominated by globalization issues, and where the financial markets evolve on an exponential curve, the two above mentioned corporate governance models ought to interact one with another in a constructive manner. Even if the corporate governance concept has developed recently, mainly during the last 25 years, its origins are rooted way back into the world history. Corporate governance is organically linked to the capitalist society and economy. After the 11 September attacks, many of the contemporary authors had the tendency to declare this date as the beginning of the XXIst century. If the ‘Twin Towers’ had hosted companies like: Tyco, Enron, Xerox, Wordcom and many other Stock Exchange-quoted businesses, it is likely that the financial crisis from 2000-2002 would have been differently perceived, and corporate governance had developed slightly different evolutionary mechanisms. A scientific article, based on the comparison between the classical and modern corporate governance experiences, would therefore suit the Romanian business environment.

A decade of adaptive governance scholarship: synthesis and future directions

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Brian C. Chaffin

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Adaptive governance is an emergent form of environmental governance that is increasingly called upon by scholars and practitioners to coordinate resource management regimes in the face of the complexity and uncertainty associated with rapid environmental change. Although the term "adaptive governance" is not exclusively applied to the governance of social-ecological systems, related research represents a significant outgrowth of literature on resilience, social-ecological systems, and environmental governance. We present a chronology of major scholarship on adaptive governance, synthesizing efforts to define the concept and identifying the array of governance concepts associated with transformation toward adaptive governance. Based on this synthesis, we define adaptive governance as a range of interactions between actors, networks, organizations, and institutions emerging in pursuit of a desired state for social-ecological systems. In addition, we identify and discuss ambiguities in adaptive governance scholarship such as the roles of adaptive management, crisis, and a desired state for governance of social-ecological systems. Finally, we outline a research agenda to examine whether an adaptive governance approach can become institutionalized under current legal frameworks and political contexts. We suggest a further investigation of the relationship between adaptive governance and the principles of good governance; the roles of power and politics in the emergence of adaptive governance; and potential interventions such as legal reform that may catalyze or enhance governance adaptations or transformation toward adaptive governance.

Do reimbursement recommendation processes used by government drug plans in Canada adhere to good governance principles?

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Rawson NS

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Nigel SB Rawson,1–3 John Adams4 1Eastlake Research Group, Oakville, ON, 2Canadian Health Policy Institute, Toronto, ON, 3Fraser Institute, Vancouver, BC, 4Canadian PKU and Allied Disorders Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada Abstract: In democratic societies, good governance is the key to assuring the confidence of stakeholders and other citizens in how governments and organizations interact with and relate to them and how decisions are taken. Although defining good governance can be debatable, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP set of principles is commonly used. The reimbursement recommendation processes of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH, which carries out assessments for all public drug plans outside Quebec, are examined in the light of the UNDP governance principles and compared with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence system in England. The adherence of CADTH's processes to the principles of accountability, transparency, participatory, equity, responsiveness and consensus is poor, especially when compared with the English system, due in part to CADTH's lack of genuine independence. CADTH's overriding responsibility is toward the governments that "own," fund and manage it, while the agency’s status as a not-for-profit corporation under federal law protects it from standard government forms of accountability. The recent integration of CADTH’s reimbursement recommendation processes with the provincial public drug plans’ collective system for price negotiation with pharmaceutical companies reinforces CADTH's role as a nonindependent partner in the pursuit of governments’ cost-containment objectives, which should not be part of its function. Canadians need a national organization for evaluating drugs for reimbursement in the public interest that fully embraces the principles of good governance – one that is publicly accountable, transparent and fair and includes all stakeholders

THEORETIC INCURSION IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF DETERMINANTS AND E-GOVERNMENT STRATEGY. EMPIRIC STUDY OVER THE GRADE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF E-GOVERNMENT IN BIHOR COUNTY

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Pop Cohut Ioana

2012-07-01

Full Text Available We are currently witnessing an unprecedented development of new technologies, that offers great opportunities for the modernization of the society, it changes radically the way governments, businesses and citizens have the opportunity to obtain goods and services, the way in which public services are provided that become increasingly important for citizens, the way of obtaining and transmitting information, the way in which business connections are done, the interaction between different communities, etc.. From this point of view we research the way in which public strategies of achievement and implementation of model of e-government are shaped, model which can exploit the opportunities offered by new technologies and can implement roles for the citizen and public policy makers and implicitly of local and regional development. How the public sector should support the implementation of strategies of e-government, to polarize at the highest level all communities of interest, to provide a framework for planning and action across the board, covering local administration, institutions, organizations and government agencies, to empower appropriate training for implementation of IT strategies, can lead to stimulation of generators factors of local and regional development. We also, intend to identify, from carrying out an empirical study in Bihor county, by analysis of 30 public institutions, the degree of implementation of new technologies in public administration, human resources readiness for appropriate use of IT facilities and what level of implementation of e-government in these institutions, in order to outline the main characteristics and determinants of e-government implementation. The present paper is of interest to policy-makers, researchers, local communities through analysis how the introduction of new technology development in developing and implementing public policies, particularly by networking government and e-government, can cause

E-Government Partnerships Across Levels of Government

OpenAIRE

Charbit, Claire; Michalun, Varinia

2009-01-01

E-government Partnerships across Levels of Government, is an overview of the challenges and approaches to creating a collaborative and cooperative partnership across levels of government for e-government development and implementation.

Environmental governance as inclusion and exclusion of actors and issues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2016-01-01

The chapter analyses recent governance in Denmark of the interaction between climate, energy and land use. Governance is seen as inclusion and exclusion of actors and their perspectives in decisions about problems and solutions. Inclusion and exclusion are discussed as decisions about members...... and focus of public commissions. Furthermore, inclusion and exclusion are discussed as an aspect of NGOs’ development of climate plans and the societal role of such plans. The chapter concludes that governance of this field is balancing the interests of established and polluting sectors and the interest...

The Long Way From Government Open Data to Mobile Health Apps: Overcoming Institutional Barriers in the US Federal Government.

Science.gov (United States)

Mergel, Ines

2014-12-23

Government agencies in the United States are creating mobile health (mHealth) apps as part of recent policy changes initiated by the White House's Digital Government Strategy. The objective of the study was to understand the institutional and managerial barriers for the implementation of mHealth, as well as the resulting adoption pathways of mHealth. This article is based on insights derived from qualitative interview data with 35 public managers in charge of promoting the reuse of open data through Challenge.gov, the platform created to run prizes, challenges, and the vetting and implementation of the winning and vendor-created apps. The process of designing apps follows three different pathways: (1) entrepreneurs start to see opportunities for mobile apps, and develop either in-house or contract out to already vetted Web design vendors; (2) a top-down policy mandates agencies to adopt at least two customer-facing mobile apps; and (3) the federal government uses a policy instrument called "Prizes and Challenges", encouraging civic hackers to design health-related mobile apps using open government data from HealthData.gov, in combination with citizen needs. All pathways of the development process incur a set of major obstacles that have to be actively managed before agencies can promote mobile apps on their websites and app stores. Beyond the cultural paradigm shift to design interactive apps and to open health-related data to the public, the managerial challenges include accessibility, interoperability, security, privacy, and legal concerns using interactive apps tracking citizen.

Health in All Policies (HiAP) governance: lessons from network governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Khayatzadeh-Mahani, Akram; Ruckert, Arne; Labonté, Ronald; Kenis, Patrick; Akbari-Javar, Mohammad Reza

2018-05-25

The Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach requires formal and sustained governance structures and mechanisms to ensure that the policies of various non-health sectors maximize positive and minimize negative impacts on population health. In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of a network perspective in understanding and contributing to the effectiveness of HiAP. We undertook an exploratory, qualitative case study of a HiAP structure in Iran, the Kerman province Council of Health and Food Security (CHFS) with diverse members from health and non-health sectors. We analyzed relevant policy texts and interviewed 32 policy actors involved in the CHFS. Data were analyzed using within-case analysis and constant comparative methodology. Our findings suggest that CHFS governance from a network perspective drew in practice on elements of two competing network governance modes: the network administrative organization (NAO) and the lead organization mode. Our results also show that a shift from a hierarchical and market-based mode of interaction to a network logic within CHFS has not yet taken place. In addition, CHFS suffers from large membership and an inability to address complex 'wicked problems', as well as low trust, legitimacy and goal consensus among its members. Drawing on other HiAP studies and commentaries, insights from organization network theory, and in-depth findings from our case study, we conclude that a NAO may be the most effective mode of governance for tackling complex social problems in HiAP structures. Since similar studies are limited, and our single case study may not be transferable across all contexts, we suggest that further research be undertaken to explore HiAP structures from a network perspective in different institutional and cultural settings. With increasing emphasis given to HiAP approaches in national and international health policy discourse, it is important that comparative knowledge about the effectiveness of HiAP governance

An Empirical Investigation of the Role of Information Quality in Citizens' Trust in E-Government Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ally

2011-01-01

Over the past decade, there has been a change in the citizen-government relationship. Citizens have moved from a traditional face-to-face communication with their government, to an electronic interaction through the use of e-government systems. Emerging technology has enabled citizens to communicate with their government remotely. However, trust…

Is a Breakthrough on Climate Change Governance on the Horizon?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Figueroa, Maria Josefina

The recently released Fifth Assessment report of the IPCC has highlighted again with unprecedented scope and insight the urgency of addressing climate change. The international community has pledged to devise the next international agreement on climate change by 2015, while the EU and in particular...... the Scandinavian countries have forged ahead advancing a variety of policies to respond to climate change. Similarly, regions, municipalities, and private actors across the world are also contributing to climate governance. This paper asks whether the world is reaching a tipping point where a breakthrough...... on climate change governance is near?. The answer is approached by contrasting the governance model within which the IPCC operates and the conditions of policy and governance interaction toward the more scientific foundations laid out by IPCC, with the range of multilateral climate governance...

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2017-01-01

This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This article highlights how GWCs intersect with value chains, and provides brief case examples of wealth chains and how they interact.......This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of GWC governance – Market, Modular, Relational, Captive, and Hierarchy – which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous international tax laws to highly complex and flexible...

What governs governance, and how does it evolve? The sociology of governance-in-action.

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Nick J; Ward, Katie J

2008-09-01

Governance addresses a wide range of issues including social, economic and political continuity, security and integrity, individual and collective safety and the liberty and rights to self-actualization of citizens. Questions to be answered include how governance can be achieved and sustained within a social context imbued with cultural values and in which power is distributed unevenly and dynamically, and how governance impacts on individuals and institutions. Drawing on Gramscian notions of hegemony and consent, and recent political science literatures on regulation and meta-regulation, this paper develops a sociological model of governance that emphasizes a dynamic and responsive governance in action. Empirical data from a study of pharmaceutical governance is used to show how multiple institutions and actors are involved in sustaining effective governance. The model addresses issues of how governance is sustained in the face of change, why governance of practices varies from setting to setting, and how governance is achieved without legislation.

Usability in Government Systems User Experience Design for Citizens and Public Servants

CERN Document Server

Buie, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

As a usability specialist or interaction designer working with the government, or as a government or contractor professional involved in specifying, procuring, or managing system development, you need this book. Editors Elizabeth Buie and Dianne Murray have brought together over 30 experts to outline practical advice to both usability specialists and government technology professionals and managers. Working with internal and external government systems is a unique and difficult task because of of the sheer magnitude of the audience for external systems (the entire population of a country, a

Addressing Complexity in Environmental Management and Governance

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Sabrina Kirschke

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Governance for complex problem solving has been increasingly discussed in environmental sustainability research. Above all, researchers continuously observe that sustainability problems are complex or “wicked”, and suggest participatory models to address these problems in practice. In order to add to this debate, this study suggests a more differentiated theoretical approach to define governance for complex environmental problem solving than in previous studies. The approach consists of two vital steps: First, we operationalize complexity and define management strategies for solving environmental sustainability problems based on findings from psychology research. Second, we identify governance strategies that facilitate these management strategies. Linking those strategies suggests that the role of diverse institutions, actors, and interactions differs for five key dimensions of complexity: goals, variables, dynamics, interconnections, and informational uncertainty. The results strengthen systematic analyses of environmental sustainability problems in both theory and practice.

Governance of Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bringing together leading experts from various disciplines, this book offers a comprehensive study of the governance of offshore oil and gas activities in the circumpolar Arctic. As a consequence of energy globalisation, and of a sharp increase in world energy demand, the Arctic Ocean is also now...... being targeted for its offshore oil and gas resources, at the same time as an increasing demand for democratic legitimisation and recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples is emerging in the civil spheres of society. The volume analyses how, in the daunting context of climate change......, the interactions between the various levels of governance structure the policy process and impact on the efficiency of environmental management and the effectiveness of public participation, including the participation of indigenous peoples. Any governance system for Arctic offshore oil and gas activities...

Public Deliberation on Government-managed Social Media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Zhu, Demi

2017-01-01

– characterised by exposure to different opinions, mutual understanding, and reasonableness – or hinder them, resulting in increased homophily and polarisation. Using the theoretical lens of public deliberation, this study investigates attitudinal and cognitive aspects of user conversations on government......-managed social media accounts. Drawing on a survey of 417 users of the Chinese social media platform Weibo, our findings show that interactions on social media are mostly non-dialogical and non-creative in nature, and characterised by homophily and polarisation, even though users perceive their interactions...

How to improve e-government use: an empirical examination of multichannel marketing instruments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teerling, Marije L.; Pieterson, Willem Jan

2011-01-01

Citizens interact with government agencies through a variety of channels, e.g., front desk, telephone, website and e-mail. Regardless of these possibilities, they prefer the traditional channels like the front desk. Government agencies strive for a balance between service delivery resulting in

Engineering governance: introducing a governance meta framework.

OpenAIRE

Brand, N.; Beens, B.; Vuuregge, E.; Batenburg, R.

2011-01-01

There is a need for a framework that depicts strategic choices within an organisation with regard to potential governance structures. The governance meta framework provides the necessary structure in the current developments of governance. Performance as well as conformance are embedded in this framework and provide the balance for all governance domains. (aut.ref.)

Vulnerabilities of Government Websites in a Developing Country – The Case of Burkina Faso

OpenAIRE

Bissyandé , Tegawendé F.; Ouoba , Jonathan; Ahmat , Daouda; Ouédraogo , Fréderic; Béré , Cedric; Bikienga , Moustapha; Sere , Abdoulaye; Dandjinou , Mesmin; Sié , Oumarou

2015-01-01

International audience; Slowly, but consistently, the digital gap between developing and developed countries is being closed. Everyday, there are initiatives towards relying on ICT to simplify the interaction between citizens and their governments in developing countries. E-government is thus becoming a reality: in Burkina Faso, all government bodies are taking part in this movement with web portals dedicated to serving the public. Unfortunately, in this rush to promote government actions wit...

THE DETERMINANTS OF E-GOVERNMENT RELATIONAL MODELS CONSTRUCTION: INTERACTION, COMMUNICATION, PARTICIPATION AND COLLABORATION

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Florentina Neamtu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In recent decades the integrating approach of new information and communication technologies in the public sector grew faster. Worldwide, most states have made and still make substantiate efforts towards the coherent strategies implementation in order to favor the complex process of integrating the new information and communication technologies. Regardless of the objectives - maximizing efficiency, increase transparency in the decision process, improve service quality or citizen participation in decision making - what we call today e-Government has become an essential mechanism in administrative reforms, independent of aggregation level. The article presents an analysis of the factors that define the outline of the e-government relational model.

Network clustering analysis using mixture exponential-family random graph models and its application in genetic interaction data.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yishu; Zhao, Hongyu; Deng, Minghua; Fang, Huaying; Yang, Dejie

2017-08-24

Epistatic miniarrary profile (EMAP) studies have enabled the mapping of large-scale genetic interaction networks and generated large amounts of data in model organisms. It provides an incredible set of molecular tools and advanced technologies that should be efficiently understanding the relationship between the genotypes and phenotypes of individuals. However, the network information gained from EMAP cannot be fully exploited using the traditional statistical network models. Because the genetic network is always heterogeneous, for example, the network structure features for one subset of nodes are different from those of the left nodes. Exponentialfamily random graph models (ERGMs) are a family of statistical models, which provide a principled and flexible way to describe the structural features (e.g. the density, centrality and assortativity) of an observed network. However, the single ERGM is not enough to capture this heterogeneity of networks. In this paper, we consider a mixture ERGM (MixtureEGRM) networks, which model a network with several communities, where each community is described by a single EGRM.

Constructing a European Governance Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pontoppidan, Caroline Aggestam; Alijarde, Isabel Brusca; Chow, Danny

Financial crisis has emphasized the need for harmonized public sector accounts in Europe. After a public consultation on the suitability of the IPSAS for EU Member States, the European Commission considers that the proper way is the development of European Union Standards adapted to IPSAS (renaming....... On the basis of that discussion, Eurostat launched another public consultation named; ‘Towards implementing European Public Sector Accounting Standards for EU member states-Public consultation on future EPSAS governance principles and structures’. This paper seeks to provide an in-depth understanding...... of the negotiations and interactions that took place prior to, during and after the issuance of the public consultation on the ‘Suitability of IPSAS’. The focus of this paper is therefore on a systematic analysis of the construction of regional-transnational governance of public sector accounting, using the EPSAS...

48 CFR 225.7303-3 - Government-to-government agreements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Military Sales 225.7303-3 Government-to-government agreements. If a government-to-government agreement... support of a specifically defined weapon system, major end item, or support item, contains language in conflict with the provisions of this section, the language of the government-to-government agreement...

Government-to-Government E-Government: A Case Study of a Federal Financial Program

Science.gov (United States)

Faokunla, Olumide Adegboyega

2012-01-01

The problem with the study of the concept of electronic government (e-Gov) is that scholars in the field have not adequately explored various dimensions of the concept. Literature on e-Gov is replete with works on the form of government to consumer e-Gov. Much less work had been done on the government to government (G2G) e-Gov. This qualitative…

Innovative web based support for e-Governance in sociological, economical and biological systems

OpenAIRE

Ranđelović, Dragan

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a novel approach to facilitate and foster e-government optimization and automation through the use of advanced information retrieval methods and techniques, and advanced Web technologies, as well. The approach suggested in this article aims to consider interactive processes which are simple, effective, and based on the user's needs and capabilities, rather than the government's organizational structure or government business models. It should create the opportunity to eval...

Assembling an experimentalist regime: transnational governance interactions in the forest sector revisited

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Overdevest, C.; Zeitlin, J.; Bruszt, L.; McDermott, G.A.

2014-01-01

Transnational governance initiatives increasingly face the problem of regime complexity in which a proliferation of regulatory schemes operate in the same policy domain, supported by varying combinations of public and private actors. The literature suggests that such regime complexity can lead to

Business, Government and Foreign Policy: Brazilian Construction Firms Abroad

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardo Frossard Silva Rego

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the interaction between Brazilian companies and government in the context of foreign policy, observing the state's support for the internationalization of large Brazilian civil construction firms. The results show that over the years these companies had privileged access to the Federal Executive, including civil service agencies. One consequence of this system of channelling demands through the Executive was to demote the Legislative branch to a secondary role. This pattern of interaction changed following the restoration of Congress's decision-making capacity, prompting the sector to diversify its areas of influence, focusing in particular on the Congress. To expand internationally, construction firms interact with the government primarily through the Executive, specifically via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty, which provides technical and diplomatic support, and the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico, which supplies funding. The main argument of this article is that foreign policy should be examined through the relations between state and non-state actors in a multitude of decision-making arenas, taking into consideration both domestic and international factors.

Collaborative innovation as a tool for environmental, economic and social sustainability in regional governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torfing, Jacob; Hofstad, Hege

2015-01-01

solutions to common problems. The paper analyses the efforts of Norwegian regions to enhance collaborative innovation through the formation of interactive governance arenas. It compares three different policy areas in order to better understand how different forms of interactive governance enhance...... collaborative innovation for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The ultimate goal is to assess the ability and potential of Norwegian regions to solve wicked and unruly problems through collaborative innovation.......In the Scandinavian countries, the regional level of governance is neither the locus of large-scale policy reforms nor a significant provider of welfare to citizens. Nevertheless, it has some important policy tasks in the area of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. These policy...

Policing Visible Sexual/Gender Diversity as a Program of Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Dwyer

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Using interview data on LGBT young people’s policing experiences, I argue policing and security works as a program of government (Dean 1999; Foucault 1991; Rose 1999 that constrains the visibilities of diverse sexuality and gender in public spaces. While young people narrated police actions as discriminatory, the interactions were complex and multi-faceted with police and security working to subtly constrain the public visibilities of ‘queerness’. Same sex affection, for instance, was visibly yet unverifiably (Mason 2002 regulated by police as a method of governing the boundaries of proper gender and sexuality in public. The paper concludes by noting how the visibility of police interactions with LGBT young people demonstrates to the public that public spaces are, and should remain, heterosexual spaces.

Pan-European E-Government Services Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Vitvar, Tomáš; Mocan, Adrian; Nazir, Sanaullah; Wang, Xia

E-Government has been the center of interest for public administrations, citizens and businesses, as well as software vendors for several years. E-Government enables customers and members of the public and private sectors to take advantage of automated administration processes accessible on-line. These activities involve electronic exchange of information to acquire or provide products or services, to place or receive orders, or to complete financial transactions. All such communications must be performed securely, while at the same time maintaining the privacy of involved parties. E-Government allows citizens and businesses to process requests on-line, and with minimal physical interactions with public bodies. Since a complex information support often needs to be developed incrementally, e-Government services were first available as single services in specific sectors and for specific users. While these services are being further developed and expanded to be available in more sectors and for more users, their growing number leads to requirements of total or partial automation of certain tasks, for example, discovery, selection, composition and mediation of services. In addition, extensive numbers of such services are available in different sectors, and their provisioning in complex scenarios requires a good information strategy along with a good architectural and technological basis. The main goal is to identify and define methods, standards, technologies as well as legislation to be used within the whole development process and provisioning of complex e-Government systems. In the EU, the e-Government information strategy can be seen at two levels as (1) a European strategy driven by the European Commission to enable e-Government services across the EU member states and (2) national strategies to form a national e-Government available within a particular EU member state. The initiative which aims to develop the European strategy at the EU level is called IDABC.1

Applying TOGAF for e-government implementation based on service oriented architecture methodology towards good government governance

Science.gov (United States)

Hodijah, A.; Sundari, S.; Nugraha, A. C.

2018-05-01

As a Local Government Agencies who perform public services, General Government Office already has utilized Reporting Information System of Local Government Implementation (E-LPPD). However, E-LPPD has upgrade limitation for the integration processes that cannot accommodate General Government Offices’ needs in order to achieve Good Government Governance (GGG), while success stories of the ultimate goal of e-government implementation requires good governance practices. Currently, citizen demand public services as private sector do, which needs service innovation by utilizing the legacy system as a service based e-government implementation, while Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to redefine a business processes as a set of IT enabled services and Enterprise Architecture from the Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) as a comprehensive approach in redefining business processes as service innovation towards GGG. This paper takes a case study on Performance Evaluation of Local Government Implementation (EKPPD) system on General Government Office. The results show that TOGAF will guide the development of integrated business processes of EKPPD system that fits good governance practices to attain GGG with SOA methodology as technical approach.

Negotiating the discursive intersection of the government of others and the government of self in the face of climate change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindegaard, Laura Bang

both a boundary and a constitutive moment of government, and, secondly, the realisation that governmentality is somehow intertwined with the continuous becoming of ethical subjects, or, in other words, with continuously negotiated practices of subjectivation. The paper pursues and enforces......-depth analysis of focus group data stemming from sessions in a small Danish village in which citizens accomplish the contested discursive intersection of, one the one hand, a municipal strategy aimed at ’greening’ the citizens’ transportation conduct and, on the other hand, the citizens attempt to conduct...... their own conduct. In this way unravelling the subjectivation that unfolds as the government of others and the government of the self intersect in discursive interaction in the face of climate change, the paper can be seen as contributing more specifically to the yet underdeveloped area of studies...

Interaction management by partnerships: The case of biodiversity and climate change

OpenAIRE

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.; Arts, B.J.M.; Glasbergen, P.

2011-01-01

This article examines the contributions that partnerships make to interaction management. Our conceptualization of interaction management builds on earlier contributions to the literature on regimes and governance. The article focuses on the interactions among the biodiversity and climate change governance systems, since these systems interact intensively on the issues of biofuels and forests (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation—REDD+). The article shows that seven pa...

Conflict or synergy? Understanding interaction between municipalities and village commons (regole in polycentric governance of mountain areas in the Veneto Region, Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Favero

2016-08-01

Full Text Available A particular challenge for mountainous areas in Italy is the definition of suitable governance models for local resources. Several solutions have been proposed over time, resulting in the co-existence of a number of decision-making centers. A crucial role is played by municipalities, but, in recent years, village commons – regola (singular / regole (plural in the local language – have been re-constituted as institutions with local power. In this dynamic context, little is known on how municipalities and regole interact. This paper aims at improving the understanding of local governance of mountain areas in the Veneto Region, from the viewpoint of municipalities, which represent the political, legal and administrative authority. The analysis is grounded in the polycentric governance literature, especially crucial in drawing attention to level and extent of cooperation, trustworthiness, mutual learning and effort for adaptation. Tensions, conflicts and conflict-resolution mechanisms were also assessed. We carried out a survey of 14 municipalities containing regole within their administrative jurisdictions. The results of our work provide evidence that this relationship is mostly a synergistic one. Municipalities showed adaptive capacity in mirroring values and views of the regole and proved willing to share responsibilities. Their decisions were formulated whilst taking into account the need for creating the appropriate linkages with local communities. Where conflicts or discontent have emerged, they have been mostly resolved, or considered as reflecting a need for greater coordination. This outcome can be looked upon as a local polycentric governance innovation that so far has only partially received policy support at the regional level. We conclude that municipalities will continue to play a central role in regulation of local-level socio-economic dynamics, remaining the institutional reference point for mountainous areas in the Veneto

Engineering governance: introducing a governance meta framework.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brand, N.; Beens, B.; Vuuregge, E.; Batenburg, R.

2011-01-01

There is a need for a framework that depicts strategic choices within an organisation with regard to potential governance structures. The governance meta framework provides the necessary structure in the current developments of governance. Performance as well as conformance are embedded in this

Government and governance strategies in medical tourism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ormond, M.E.; Mainil, T.

2015-01-01

This chapter provides an overview of current government and governance strategies relative to medical tourism development and management around the world. Most studies on medical tourism have privileged national governments as key actors in medical tourism regulation and, in some cases, even

Empirical studies on changes in oil governance

Science.gov (United States)

Kemal, Mohammad

Regulation of the oil and gas sector is consequential to the economies of oil-producing countries. In the literature, there are two types of regulation: indirect regulation through taxes and tariffs or direct regulation through the creation of a National Oil Company (NOC). In the 1970s, many oil-producing countries nationalized their oil and gas sectors by creating and giving ownership rights of oil and gas resources to NOCs. In light of the success of Norway in regulating its oil and gas resources, over the past two decades several countries have changed their oil governance by changing the rights given to NOC from ownership right to mere access rights like other oil companies. However, empirical literature on these changes in oil governance is quite thin. Thus, this dissertation will explore three research questions to investigate empirically these changes in oil governance. First, I investigate empirically the impact of the changes in oil governance on aggregate domestic income. By employing a difference-in-difference method, I will show that a country which changed its oil governance increases its GDP per-capita by 10%. However, the impact is different for different types of political institution. Second, by observing the changes in oil governance in Indonesia , I explore the impact of the changes on learning-by-doing and learning spillover effect in offshore exploration drilling. By employing an econometric model which includes interaction terms between various experience variables and changes in an oil governance dummy, I will show that the change in oil governance in Indonesia enhances learning-by-doing by the rigs and learning spillover in a basin. Lastly, the impact of the changes in oil governance on expropriation risk and extraction path will be explored. By employing a difference-in-difference method, this essay will show that the changes in oil governance reduce expropriation and the impact of it is different for different sizes of resource stock.

Which type of government revenue leads government expenditure?

OpenAIRE

Abdi, Zeinab; Masih, Mansur

2014-01-01

This Malaysia is a developing Islamic state that faced government budget deficit since 1998. It is undeniable that a budget deficit or inability to cover government spending is not positively seen by external parties. The optimum level of government budget is the state where government spending is totally offset by government revenue and that can be achieved through an increase in tax revenue or decrease in spending. The paper aims to discover the existence of a theoretical relationship betwe...

Associations of Polymorphisms in WNT9B and PBX1 with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome in Chinese Han.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenqing Ma

Full Text Available Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH syndrome is a rare syndrome that is characterized by congenital aplasia of the uterus and the upper portion (2/3 of the vagina. Previous attempts to identify causal mutations of MRKH syndrome have primarily resulted in negative outcomes. We investigated whether these reported variants are associated with MRKH syndrome (types I and II in a relatively large sample size of Chinese Han patients, and whether any gene-gene epistatic interactions exist among these variants.This study included 182 unrelated Chinese women with MRKH syndrome (155 with type I and 27 with type II and 228 randomized female controls. Seventeen candidate loci in the AMH, PBX1, WNT4, WNT7A, WNT9B, HOXA10, HOXA11, LHXA1 and GALT genes were genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY iPLEX platform. Single-marker association, additive effects and multifactor interactions were investigated.The gene frequency distributions of MRKH type 1 and type 2 were similar. Rs34072914 in WNT9B was found to be associated with MRKH syndrome (P = 0.024, OR = 2.65, 95%CI = 1.14-6.17. The dominant models of rs34072914 and rs2275558 in WNT9B and PBX1, respectively, were significantly associated with MRKH syndrome risk in the Chinese Han patients. Additive gene-gene interaction analyses indicated a significant synergetic interaction between WNT9B and PBX1 (RERI = 1.397, AP = 0.493, SI = 4.204. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR analysis revealed novel dimensional epistatic four-gene effects (AMH, PBX1, WNT7A and WNT9B in MRKH syndrome.This association study successfully identified two susceptibility SNPs (WNT9B and PBX1 associated with MRKH syndrome risk, both separately and interactively. The discovery of a four-gene epistatic effect (AMH, PBX1, WNT7A and WNT9B in MRKH syndrome provides novel information for the elucidation of the genetic mechanism underlying the etiology of MRKH syndrome.

Dissecting quantitative trait loci for boron efficiency across multiple environments in Brassica napus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zunkang Zhao

Full Text Available High yield is the most important goal in crop breeding, and boron (B is an essential micronutrient for plants. However, B deficiency, leading to yield decreases, is an agricultural problem worldwide. Brassica napus is one of the most sensitive crops to B deficiency, and considerable genotypic variation exists among different cultivars in response to B deficiency. To dissect the genetic basis of tolerance to B deficiency in B. napus, we carried out QTL analysis for seed yield and yield-related traits under low and normal B conditions using the double haploid population (TNDH by two-year and the BQDH population by three-year field trials. In total, 80 putative QTLs and 42 epistatic interactions for seed yield, plant height, branch number, pod number, seed number, seed weight and B efficiency coefficient (BEC were identified under low and normal B conditions, singly explaining 4.15-23.16% and 0.53-14.38% of the phenotypic variation. An additive effect of putative QTLs was a more important controlling factor than the additive-additive effect of epistatic interactions. Four QTL-by-environment interactions and 7 interactions between epistatic interactions and the environment contributed to 1.27-4.95% and 1.17-3.68% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. The chromosome region on A2 of SYLB-A2 for seed yield under low B condition and BEC-A2 for BEC in the two populations was equivalent to the region of a reported major QTL, BE1. The B. napus homologous genes of Bra020592 and Bra020595 mapped to the A2 region and were speculated to be candidate genes for B efficiency. These findings reveal the complex genetic basis of B efficiency in B. napus. They provide a basis for the fine mapping and cloning of the B efficiency genes and for breeding B-efficient cultivars by marker-assisted selection (MAS.

Timing of favorable conditions, competition and fertility interact to govern recruitment of invasive Chinese tallow tree in stressful environments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher A Gabler

Full Text Available The rate of new exotic recruitment following removal of adult invaders (reinvasion pressure influences restoration outcomes and costs but is highly variable and poorly understood. We hypothesize that broad variation in average reinvasion pressure of Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow tree, a major invader arises from differences among habitats in spatiotemporal availability of realized recruitment windows. These windows are periods of variable duration long enough to permit establishment given local environmental conditions. We tested this hypothesis via a greenhouse mesocosm experiment that quantified how the duration of favorable moisture conditions prior to flood or drought stress (window duration, competition and nutrient availability influenced Triadica success in high stress environments. Window duration influenced pre-stress seedling abundance and size, growth during stress and final abundance; it interacted with other factors to affect final biomass and germination during stress. Stress type and competition impacted final size and biomass, plus germination, mortality and changes in size during stress. Final abundance also depended on competition and the interaction of window duration, stress type and competition. Fertilization interacted with competition and stress to influence biomass and changes in height, respectively, but did not affect Triadica abundance. Overall, longer window durations promoted Triadica establishment, competition and drought (relative to flood suppressed establishment, and fertilization had weak effects. Interactions among factors frequently produced different effects in specific contexts. Results support our 'outgrow the stress' hypothesis and show that temporal availability of abiotic windows and factors that influence growth rates govern Triadica recruitment in stressful environments. These findings suggest that native seed addition can effectively suppress superior competitors in stressful environments. We also

Does local government staff perceive digital communication with citizens as improved service?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berger, Jesper Bull; Hertzum, Morten; Schreiber, Trine

2016-01-01

Digital communication between government and citizens is pivotal to e-government. The Danish e-government initiative Digital Post aims to digitize all communications between government and citizens. We surveyed local government staff about how Digital Post affects the service delivered to citizens....... As much as 82% of the 448 respondents considered digital communication with citizens using Digital Post a good idea, yet 47% reported concrete incidents in which they perceived a decrease in service with Digital Post. This result shows the importance of distinguishing between the overall service...... relationship and the concrete incidents of which the service consists. We discuss interactions between the relationship level and the incident level of Digital Post on the basis of a content analysis of the respondents' incident descriptions....

Earnings management, corporate governance and expense sticki

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuang Xue

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Cost and expense stickiness is an important issue in accounting and economics research, and the literature has shown that cost stickiness cannot be separated from managers’ motivations. In this paper, we examine the effects that earnings management has on expense stickiness. Defining small positive profits or small earnings increases as earnings management, we observe significant expense stickiness in the non-earnings-management sub-sample, compared with the earnings-management sub-sample. When we divide expenses into R&D, advertising and other general expenses, we find that managers control expenses mainly by decreasing general expenses. We further examine corporate governance’s effect on expense stickiness. Using factor analysis, we extract eight main factors and find that good corporate governance reduces expense stickiness. Finally, we investigate the interaction effects of earnings management and corporate governance on expense stickiness. The empirical results show that good corporate governance can further reduce cost stickiness, although its effect is not as strong as that of earnings management.

Coexistence of contrasting principles in corporate governance: Two tales of Japanese firms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taeyoung Yoo

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The underlying logic that shapes the coexistence of contrasting mechanisms in a firm’s governance system remains unclear. We examine the logic that promotes a hybrid form of corporate governance in functional terms. The empirical analysis of Japanese firms shows that a firm’s reliance on capital markets for resource acquisition facilitates its adoption of shareholder-oriented mechanisms, such as committee systems. In contrast, corporate performance is still influenced by some of Japanese society’s characteristic governance mechanisms, such as bank ownership. This finding illustrates that contrasting governance mechanisms coexist in a given system owing to their respective or interacting contributions to corporate performance.

[An ADAA model and its analysis method for agronomic traits based on the double-cross mating design].

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Z C; Zhu, J

2000-01-01

According to the double-cross mating design and using principles of Cockerham's general genetic model, a genetic model with additive, dominance and epistatic effects (ADAA model) was proposed for the analysis of agronomic traits. Components of genetic effects were derived for different generations. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted for analyzing the ADAA model and its reduced AD model by using different generations. It was indicated that genetic variance components could be estimated without bias by MINQUE(1) method and genetic effects could be predicted effectively by AUP method; at least three generations (including parent, F1 of single cross and F1 of double-cross) were necessary for analyzing the ADAA model and only two generations (including parent and F1 of double-cross) were enough for the reduced AD model. When epistatic effects were taken into account, a new approach for predicting the heterosis of agronomic traits of double-crosses was given on the basis of unbiased prediction of genotypic merits of parents and their crosses. In addition, genotype x environment interaction effects and interaction heterosis due to G x E interaction were discussed briefly.

Learning on governance in forest ecosystems: Lessons from recent research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine May Tucker

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, with particular attention to work conducted through the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change and the International Forestry Resources and Institution Research Program. By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and challenges for successful forest governance, the discussion points to policy implications and priorities for research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, which indicate that sustainable management of forest resources is associated with secure rights, institutions that fit the local context, and monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, the variability in local contexts and interactions of social, political, economic and ecological processes across levels and scales of analysis create uncertainties for the design and maintenance of sustainable forest governance.  By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and gaps in knowledge, the discussion suggests priorities for further research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of

Cooperation at different scales: challenges for local and international water resource governance in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mirumachi, N

2010-03-01

Full Text Available . This paper examines how the cooperative principle has influenced stakeholder interaction at the local and international scales of water governance in South Africa. Water policies and initiatives have been set up to promote multi-level governance...

Inhibitors of e-Government adoption: Determinants of habit and adoption intentions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Rey-Moreno

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Explanatory models of e-Government adoption are based on the premise that user behavior results from users’ intentions, which derive from users’ beliefs and attitudes. According to such models, citizens’ high intentions to use e-Government tools should have led to the widespread adoption of these tools. Yet this has not occurred. Therefore, existing models fail to explain the adoption of e-Government. These models must be complemented to explain the cause of citizens’ failure to adopt e-Government. Attempts to build a satisfactory model include the design of dual models (jointly analyzing facilitators and inhibitors and integrating models (jointly analyzing the interaction between intention and habit in prompting behavior. This study identified several inhibitors of e-Government adoption. Organizational support, self-efficacy, benefits, loss aversion, regret aversion, control, transition costs, sunk costs/switching costs, uncertainty, habit, resistance, and inertia were found to inhibit citizens’ adoption of e-Government.

Role of polymerase η in mitochondrial mutagenesis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chatterjee, Nimrat; Pabla, Ritu [Dept. of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States); Siede, Wolfram, E-mail: wolfram.siede@unthsc.edu [Dept. of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States)

2013-02-08

Highlights: ► DNA polymerase η is detectable in mitochondria of budding yeast. ► Pol η reduces UV-induced mitochondrial base pair substitutions and frameshifts. ► For UV-induced base pair substitutions, Pol η and Pol ζ interact epistatically. -- Abstract: DNA polymerase η mostly catalyzes an error-free bypass of the most frequent UV lesions, pyrimidine dimers of the cyclobutane-type. In addition to its nuclear localization, we show here for the first time its mitochondrial localization in budding yeast. In mitochondria, this polymerase improves bypass replication fidelity opposite UV damage as shown in base pair substitution and frameshift assays. For base pair substitutions, polymerase η appears to be related in function and epistatic to DNA polymerase ζ which, however, plays the opposite role in the nucleus.

The effects of energy co-governance in Peru

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontaine, Guillaume

2010-01-01

Soon after the launching of the Camisea Gas Project, in 2000, Peru became a medium-range Latin American gas exporting country. Our central argument is that energy governance in this country has been shifting from a 'hierarchical' to a 'co-governance' mode. Accordingly, interactions among the State, the society and economic actors are now regulated in a horizontal and decentralized way, rather than a vertical and centralized one. This shift contributed to the success of the Camisea gas project and had a positive effect on foreign direct investments inflow in the energy sector (1). In addition, it has helped Peru reach energetic self-sufficiency, while improving its energy balance (2). Meanwhile, energy policy has welcomed a major participation of social actors, contributing to institutionalized arrangements between the State, the companies and indigenous communities and their NGO partners (3). Two theoretical conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, the State's role remains central in energy governance, thus invalidating the 'hollowing of the State' thesis. Second, the co-governance mode helps to overcome the 'resource curse' thesis.

Program governance

CERN Document Server

Khan, Muhammad Ehsan

2014-01-01

FOUNDATION OF GOVERNANCEGovernanceDefining GovernanceGovernance at Multiple LevelsSummaryReferencesTransaction Cost EconomicsTransactions-Core Elements and Attributes     Behavioral Assumptions     Governance Structure AttributesHazards of Concern     Incomplete Contracting     Bilateral Dependency and Fundamental Transformation     Adaptation or MaladaptationLinking Governance, Governance Structures, and ContractsThe Impact of Asset Specificity and Behavioral Assumptions on ContractsAp

Alignment between business process governance and IT governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rahimi, Fatemeh; Møller, Charles; Hvam, Lars

2014-01-01

frameworks to enable business-IT strategic alignment, efficient process and IT requirements specification, and IT-enabled business value realization. We examine the actuality of this alignment in practice through a case study conducted in a relatively mature multinational corporation. The findings indicate......The importance of business processes and the increasing centrality of IT to an organization's performance have called for a specific focus on business process governance and IT governance in contemporary enterprises. Despite the wide scope of business process management, which covers both business...... and IT domains, and the profound impact of IT on process innovations, the association between business process governance and IT governance remains under-explored. Analyzing the constituting elements of the two governance concepts, we propose the necessity of alignment between business process and IT governance...

Identification of QTLs with main, epistatic and QTL by environment ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

interaction effects for seed shape and hundred-seed weight in soybean ... worldwide. It provides about 69 and 30% of dietary protein ... as main component of plants is affected by seed shape. ... In this analysis, in 2010–2012, seed shape and.

Framing REDD+ in India: Carbonizing and centralizing Indian forest governance?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vijge, Marjanneke J.; Gupta, Aarti

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We analyze whether India's REDD+ strategy induces carbonization and centralization. • REDD+ in India is framed as an opportunity for synergistic, decentralized governance. • Yet national safeguards are not as strong as asserted. • Controversial issues have so far been side-lined in India's REDD+ strategy. • Without investments, synergistic and decentralized REDD+ governance remains unlikely. - Abstract: This article analyzes the interaction of newly articulated climate governance goals with long-standing forest policies and practices in India. We focus on India's REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and related forest activities) strategy, with a particular focus on the Green India Mission (GIM). The GIM calls for a doubling of the area for afforestation and reforestation in India in the next decade as a dominant climate mitigation strategy. We analyze how the GIM policy document frames carbon versus non-carbon benefits to be derived from forest-related activities; and how the GIM envisages division of authority (between national, regional and local levels) in its implementation. We are interested in assessing (a) whether the GIM promotes a “carbonization” of Indian forest governance, i.e. an increased focus on forest carbon at the expense of other ecosystem services; and (b) whether it promotes an increased centralization of forest governance in India through retaining or transferring authority and control over forest resources to national and state-level authorities, at the expense of local communities. We argue that the GIM frames the climate-forest interaction as an opportunity to synergistically enhance both carbon and non-carbon benefits to be derived from forests; while simultaneously promoting further decentralization of Indian forest governance. However, based on past experiences and developments to date, we conclude that without significant investments in community-based carbon and biodiversity

Analysis of heterosis and quantitative trait loci for kernel shape related traits using triple testcross population in maize.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Jiang

Full Text Available Kernel shape related traits (KSRTs have been shown to have important influences on grain yield. The previous studies that emphasize kernel length (KL and kernel width (KW lack a comprehensive evaluation of characters affecting kernel shape. In this study, materials of the basic generations (B73, Mo17, and B73 × Mo17, 82 intermated B73 × Mo17 (IBM individuals, and the corresponding triple testcross (TTC populations were used to evaluate heterosis, investigate correlations, and characterize the quantitative trait loci (QTL for six KSRTs: KL, KW, length to width ratio (LWR, perimeter length (PL, kernel area (KA, and circularity (CS. The results showed that the mid-parent heterosis (MPH for most of the KSRTs was moderate. The performance of KL, KW, PL, and KA exhibited significant positive correlation with heterozygosity but their Pearson's R values were low. Among KSRTs, the strongest significant correlation was found between PL and KA with R values was up to 0.964. In addition, KW, PL, KA, and CS were shown to be significant positive correlation with 100-kernel weight (HKW. 28 QTLs were detected for KSRTs in which nine were augmented additive, 13 were augmented dominant, and six were dominance × additive epistatic. The contribution of a single QTL to total phenotypic variation ranged from 2.1% to 32.9%. Furthermore, 19 additive × additive digenic epistatic interactions were detected for all KSRTs with the highest total R2 for KW (78.8%, and nine dominance × dominance digenic epistatic interactions detected for KL, LWR, and CS with the highest total R2 (55.3%. Among significant digenic interactions, most occurred between genomic regions not mapped with main-effect QTLs. These findings display the complexity of the genetic basis for KSRTs and enhance our understanding on heterosis of KSRTs from the quantitative genetic perspective.

The evaluation of the transformation of government public relations in the new media era

OpenAIRE

Hasnawati, Siti; Salamah, Ummi

2017-01-01

New media creates ways to interact between government and relevant stakeholders. Nowadays, public have an opportunity to participate and engage in direct dialogue with the government. This research applied qualitative methodology with case study on The Audit Board of The Republic of Indonesia (BPK RI). Aimed to evaluate the implementation of the transformation of government public relations performed by Public Relations and International Cooperation Bureau, The Audit Board of the Republic Ind...

E-Government for Good Governance in Developing Countries ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

E-Government and E-Governance Benefits ..... Morocco's central government promotes the use of ICT in the public sector in order to enhance ...... The project's mission is to develop low-cost laptops with educational value for African children.

An online clinical governance learning package for student radiographers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Messer, Simon; Griffiths, Marc

2007-01-01

Purpose: Clinical governance is a key element of the Government's plan for reform in the National Health Service. As such, it is an essential element for final year undergraduate radiography studies. With Ciris becoming a standard web-based solution for clinical governance within the NHS, a need has been identified for it to be introduced at university to undergraduate radiographers. Methods: A distance learning package for Ciris has therefore been developed that was trialed by third year radiography students whilst on their final clinical placement. The package includes a specifically designed online virtual hospital which the students engaged with interactively using a workbook. The students undertook detailed individual and group exercises aimed at delivering practical experience of the Ciris program and its role in clinical governance. Results: The package was evaluated by the students in terms of their experiential learning and their perceived learning needs for clinical governance. Technical and support issues associated with the delivery of this package online were identified. Conclusion: The combination of a distance online learning environment, supported by a workbook, is an effective method of engaging students and is beneficial in terms of helping achieve learning outcomes in clinical governance for final year radiography studies

Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Ghana: What Governance System Works?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eileen Bogweh Nchanji

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Urban farming takes advantage of its proximity to market, transport and other urban infrastructure to provide food for the city and sustain the livelihoods of urban and peri-urban dwellers. It is an agricultural activity which employs more than 50% of the local urban population with positive and negative impacts on local and national development. Urban agriculture is an informal activity not supported by law but in practice is regulated to a certain extent by state institutions, traditional rulers, farmers and national and international non-governmental organisations. Tamale’s rapid population growth, exacerbated by the unplanned development system and institutional conflicts, are factors contributing to the present bottlenecks in the urban agricultural system. In this paper, these bottlenecks are conceptualised as problems of governance. These issues will be illustrated using ethnographic data from land sales, crop-livestock competition, waste-water irrigation, and markets. I will explain how conflicts which arise from these different situations are resolved through the interactions of various governance systems. Informal governance arrangements are widespread, but neither they nor formal systems are always successful in resolving governance issues. A participatory governance does not seem possible due to actors’ divergent interests. A governance solution for this sector is not yet apparent, contributing to food and nutritional insecurity.

Genetic Analysis of Reduced γ-Tocopherol Content in Ethiopian Mustard Seeds.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Navarro, Elena; Fernández-Martínez, José M; Pérez-Vich, Begoña; Velasco, Leonardo

2016-01-01

Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) line BCT-6, with reduced γ-tocopherol content in the seeds, has been previously developed. The objective of this research was to conduct a genetic analysis of seed tocopherols in this line. BCT-6 was crossed with the conventional line C-101 and the F1, F2, and BC plant generations were analyzed. Generation mean analysis using individual scaling tests indicated that reduced γ-tocopherol content fitted an additive-dominant genetic model with predominance of additive effects and absence of epistatic interactions. This was confirmed through a joint scaling test and additional testing of the goodness of fit of the model. Conversely, epistatic interactions were identified for total tocopherol content. Estimation of the minimum number of genes suggested that both γ- and total tocopherol content may be controlled by two genes. A positive correlation between total tocopherol content and the proportion of γ-tocopherol was identified in the F2 generation. Additional research on the feasibility of developing germplasm with high tocopherol content and reduced concentration of γ-tocopherol is required.

Genetic Analysis of Reduced γ-Tocopherol Content in Ethiopian Mustard Seeds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena García-Navarro

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun line BCT-6, with reduced γ-tocopherol content in the seeds, has been previously developed. The objective of this research was to conduct a genetic analysis of seed tocopherols in this line. BCT-6 was crossed with the conventional line C-101 and the F1, F2, and BC plant generations were analyzed. Generation mean analysis using individual scaling tests indicated that reduced γ-tocopherol content fitted an additive-dominant genetic model with predominance of additive effects and absence of epistatic interactions. This was confirmed through a joint scaling test and additional testing of the goodness of fit of the model. Conversely, epistatic interactions were identified for total tocopherol content. Estimation of the minimum number of genes suggested that both γ- and total tocopherol content may be controlled by two genes. A positive correlation between total tocopherol content and the proportion of γ-tocopherol was identified in the F2 generation. Additional research on the feasibility of developing germplasm with high tocopherol content and reduced concentration of γ-tocopherol is required.

Detection of epistatic effects with logic regression and a classical linear regression model.

Science.gov (United States)

Malina, Magdalena; Ickstadt, Katja; Schwender, Holger; Posch, Martin; Bogdan, Małgorzata

2014-02-01

To locate multiple interacting quantitative trait loci (QTL) influencing a trait of interest within experimental populations, usually methods as the Cockerham's model are applied. Within this framework, interactions are understood as the part of the joined effect of several genes which cannot be explained as the sum of their additive effects. However, if a change in the phenotype (as disease) is caused by Boolean combinations of genotypes of several QTLs, this Cockerham's approach is often not capable to identify them properly. To detect such interactions more efficiently, we propose a logic regression framework. Even though with the logic regression approach a larger number of models has to be considered (requiring more stringent multiple testing correction) the efficient representation of higher order logic interactions in logic regression models leads to a significant increase of power to detect such interactions as compared to a Cockerham's approach. The increase in power is demonstrated analytically for a simple two-way interaction model and illustrated in more complex settings with simulation study and real data analysis.

Web 2.0 and Participatory Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Towbin

2009-09-01

Full Text Available By integrating a Geographic Information System (GIS into a web portal, we allow a multi-way dialog between Hong Kong's citizens and planning officials. Alternative development plans for Lantau (Hong Kong's largest island can be analyzed through interactive maps, which allow citizens to compare and comment on specific geo-referenced features. Lantau Island's extensive nature reserves, which offer protected nesting grounds for numerous bird species and other ecological and recreational services, are being weighed against extensive economic development. This experiment in open governance within China will also serve as a laboratory to study qualitative differences in citizen learning, between online dialog and face-to-face group deliberation. Our experiments will explore resolutions to a classical economic paradox from social choice theory, and point to potential improvements in contemporary efforts to bring open and responsive government through information technology.

Project governance: selected South African government experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. van der Walt

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Some form of accountability and power structure binds all organisations. Such structures are typically referred to as the “governance” structure of the organisation. In organisations that have relatively mature project applications and methodologies in place, governance mechanisms are established on more permanent bases. With its focus on performance, results and outcomes, project governance establishes decision-making structures, as well as accountability and responsibility mechanisms in public institutions to oversee projects. As government institutions increasingly place emphasis on project applications for policy implementation and service delivery initiatives, mechanisms or structures should be established to facilitate clear interfaces between the permanent organisation and the temporary project organisation. Such mechanisms or structures should enhance the governance of projects, that is, the strategic alignment of projects, the decentralisation of decision- making powers, rapid resource allocation, and the participation of external stakeholders. The purpose of this article is to explore the concept “project governance”, and to highlight examples of project governance as applied in selected government departments in provincial and national spheres. This would enable the establishment of best practice examples and assist to develop benchmarks for effective project applications for service delivery improvement.

Governance of differential stakeholder interests in supply chains and networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wubben, E.F.M.; Bremmers, H.J.; Ingenbleek, P.T.M.; Wals, A.E.J.

2013-01-01

Competing frames and interests regarding food provision and resource allocation, adding to the increased global interdependencies, necessitate agri-food companies and institutions to engage themselves in very diverse multi-stakeholder settings. To develop new forms of interaction, and governance,

PRACTICE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bălăceanu Cristina

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Corporate governance reforms are occurring in countries around the globe and potentially impacting the population of the entire planet. In developing countries, such reforms occur in a larger context that is primarily defined by previous attempts at promoting “development” and recent processes of economic globalization. In this context, corporate governance reforms (in combination with the liberalising reforms associated with economic globalization, in effect represent a new development strategy for third world countries. The most basic questions that arise with respect to this situation are what the prospects for this new development model are and whether alternatives should be considered. Keywords: governance, corporate governance, economic globalization, development.

Dynamic metabolic exchange governs a marine algal-bacterial interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Segev, Einat; Wyche, Thomas P; Kim, Ki Hyun; Petersen, Jörn; Ellebrandt, Claire; Vlamakis, Hera; Barteneva, Natasha; Paulson, Joseph N; Chai, Liraz; Clardy, Jon; Kolter, Roberto

2016-11-18

Emiliania huxleyi is a model coccolithophore micro-alga that generates vast blooms in the ocean. Bacteria are not considered among the major factors influencing coccolithophore physiology. Here we show through a laboratory model system that the bacterium Phaeobacter inhibens , a well-studied member of the Roseobacter group, intimately interacts with E. huxleyi. While attached to the algal cell, bacteria initially promote algal growth but ultimately kill their algal host. Both algal growth enhancement and algal death are driven by the bacterially-produced phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid. Bacterial production of indole-3-acetic acid and attachment to algae are significantly increased by tryptophan, which is exuded from the algal cell. Algal death triggered by bacteria involves activation of pathways unique to oxidative stress response and programmed cell death. Our observations suggest that bacteria greatly influence the physiology and metabolism of E. huxleyi. Coccolithophore-bacteria interactions should be further studied in the environment to determine whether they impact micro-algal population dynamics on a global scale.

Governance or Governing – the Missing Link?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luminiţa Maria Crăciun

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Governance and governing are two distinct concepts, but they intertwine. “Good governing” exercises good influence on development. “Good governance” supposes first a relationship of power focused on a series of reforms structured at three levels: the political – administrative level, the economic level, and the level of civil society. As this dimension is difficult to measure, the qualitative evaluation of the governing act raised the interest of the World Bank researchers, who elaborated and monitored the dynamics of a set of indicators, which includes six major dimensions of the governing. A retrospective concerning the image of governing in Romania during the period from 1996 to 2005 suggests a modest increase of the score: from -0.138 (1996 to 0.008 (2002; that was partially achieved based on the voice and responsibility index and on the political stability index, not on those that measure more directly the administrative performance or the integrity of the governing act. For a comparative study, we chose seven countries for the purposes of analysis (two new European Union member states: Romania and Bulgaria; two older member countries of the European Union: Slovenia and Latvia; three non-member states: Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia, which reveal the quality of the governing from a comparative perspective. Corruption control completes the image created by the analyzed indicators. The mere formal accomplishment of commitments made in the pre-accession activity, doubled by recent internal evolutions, bring doubts about the credibility of the anticorruption reforms, as Romania continues to be considered the country with the highest CPI in the European Union. The pessimism of public opinion and the fact that only 34% of the Romanian people consider that the level of corruption will decrease in the following three years constitutes an alarm signal addressed to the governance, in view of the real reformation of the administration system

Plural Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mols, Niels Peter; Menard, Claude

2014-01-01

Plural governance is a form of governance where a firm both makes and buys similar goods or services. Despite a widespread use of plural governance there are no transaction cost models of how plural governance affects performance. This paper reviews the literature about plural forms and proposes...... a model relating transaction cost and resource-based variables to the cost of the plural form. The model is then used to analyze when the plural form is efficient compared to alternative governance structures. We also use the model to discuss the strength of three plural form synergies....

Long term government debt, financial fragility, and sovereign default risk

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Kwaak, C.; van Wijnbergen, S.

2013-01-01

We analyze the interaction between bank rescues, financial fragility and sovereign debt discounts. To that end we set up a model that contains balance sheet constrained financial intermediaries financing both capital expenditure of intermediate goods producers and government deficits. The financial

Participation, political economy and protection: food aid governance in Darfur, Sudan.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Helen; Maxwell, Daniel

2013-10-01

Humanitarian food assistance aims to meet short-term emergency needs, yet often it is sustained over many years and develops its own systems and infrastructure that interact with local governance and local communities. This paper explores the links between participation and local governance, as well as the implications for exclusion of certain groups, the dignity of those involved, and protection issues. The paper proposes a framework for reviewing the governance functions and capacities of local Food Relief Committees, based on the following criteria: accountability; gender equity; legitimacy and authority; representativeness; responsiveness; and transparency. A case study of the Darfur region reviews how local governance evolves as a result of both the wider conflict and of adapting to the international humanitarian system, itself a form of governance. The paper concludes by proposing three strategies for enhancing participation and applying lessons learned: improved analysis of participation; linking programming strategies and protection; and taking account of governance functions and capacities. © 2013 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2013.

Social Functions of Corporate Governance in Modern Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D V Stanis

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The article demonstrates that realization of social functions in corporate governance increases the corporate competitiveness as the basis to economy development. It marks out several important social functions of modern Russian corporations. It's stressed that institution of corporation regulates not only moral basis of business ethics but also influences behavior norms that structure interactions in society.

Informal Institutional Responses to Government Interventions: Lessons from Madhupur National Park, Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, H. M. Tuihedur; Sarker, Swapan Kumar; Hickey, Gordon M.; Mohasinul Haque, M.; Das, Niamjit

2014-11-01

Madhupur National Park is renowned for severe resource ownership conflicts between ethnic communities and government authorities in Bangladesh. In this study, we applied the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to identify: (i) past and present informal institutional structures within the ethnic Garo community for land resource management; (ii) the origin of the land ownership dispute; (iii) interaction mechanisms between formal and informal institutions; and (iv) change in land management authority and informal governance structures. We identify that the informal institutions of the traditional community have undergone radical change due to government interventions with implications for the regulation of land use, informal institutional functions, and joint-decision-making. Importantly, the government's persistent denial of the role of existing informal institutions is widening the gap between government and community actors, and driving land ownership conflicts in a cyclic way with associated natural resource degradation.

Creating a Common Grammar for European Higher Education Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhaes, Antonio; Veiga, Amelia; Ribeiro, Filipa M.; Sousa, Sofia; Santiago, Rui

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the interaction between European Union policies and national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the TRUE project (England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland) making the case for European governance. Relevant for this matter is the role of political processes that…

Governing Forest Ecosystem Services for Sustainable Environmental Governance: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shankar Adhikari

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Governing forest ecosystem services as a forest socio-ecological system is an evolving concept in the face of different environmental and social challenges. Therefore, different modes of ecosystem governance such as hierarchical, scientific–technical, and adaptive–collaborative governance have been developed. Although each form of governance offers important features, no one form on its own is sufficient to attain sustainable environmental governance (SEG. Thus, the blending of important features of each mode of governance could contribute to SEG, through a combination of both hierarchical and collaborative governance systems supported by scientifically and technically aided knowledge. This should be further reinforced by the broad engagement of stakeholders to ensure the improved well-being of both ecosystems and humans. Some form of governance and forest management measures, including sustainable forest management, forest certification, and payment for ecosystem services mechanisms, are also contributing to that end. While issues around commodification and putting a price on nature are still contested due to the complex relationship between different services, if these limitations are taken into account, the governance of forest ecosystem services will serve as a means of effective environmental governance and the sustainable management of forest resources. Therefore, forest ecosystem services governance has a promising future for SEG, provided limitations are tackled with due care in future governance endeavors.

Organism-Sediment Interactions Govern Post-Hypoxia Recovery of Ecosystem Functioning

Science.gov (United States)

Van Colen, Carl; Rossi, Francesca; Montserrat, Francesc; Andersson, Maria G. I.; Gribsholt, Britta; Herman, Peter M. J.; Degraer, Steven; Vincx, Magda; Ysebaert, Tom; Middelburg, Jack J.

2012-01-01

Hypoxia represents one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning loss for coastal waters. Since eutrophication-induced hypoxic events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, understanding the response of ecosystems to hypoxia is of primary importance to understand and predict the stability of ecosystem functioning. Such ecological stability may greatly depend on the recovery patterns of communities and the return time of the system properties associated to these patterns. Here, we have examined how the reassembly of a benthic community contributed to the recovery of ecosystem functioning following experimentally-induced hypoxia in a tidal flat. We demonstrate that organism-sediment interactions that depend on organism size and relate to mobility traits and sediment reworking capacities are generally more important than recovering species richness to set the return time of the measured sediment processes and properties. Specifically, increasing macrofauna bioturbation potential during community reassembly significantly contributed to the recovery of sediment processes and properties such as denitrification, bedload sediment transport, primary production and deep pore water ammonium concentration. Such bioturbation potential was due to the replacement of the small-sized organisms that recolonised at early stages by large-sized bioturbating organisms, which had a disproportionately stronger influence on sediment. This study suggests that the complete recovery of organism-sediment interactions is a necessary condition for ecosystem functioning recovery, and that such process requires long periods after disturbance due to the slow growth of juveniles into adult stages involved in these interactions. Consequently, repeated episodes of disturbance at intervals smaller than the time needed for the system to fully recover organism-sediment interactions may greatly impair the resilience of ecosystem functioning. PMID:23185440

Petra Governance Handbook - WP7 – Governance structures & business models : D7.3: Governance Handbook

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veeneman, W.; Hirschhorn, F.; Klievink, A.J.; Steenhuisen, B.M.; van der Voort, H.G.

2017-01-01

This document represents the governance handbook on mobility data platforms for the PETRA project. The governance handbook provides metropolitan authorities contemplating the implementation of a mobility data platform in line with the PETRA project about governance issues and design.
The

The Internet and Increased Citizen Participation in Government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael E. Milakovich

2010-04-01

Full Text Available What roles do communication systems, information technologies and the internet play in fostering citizen participation and influencing the electoral and administrative decisions of government? The internet is simultaneously a world-wide broadcasting network, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic boundaries or time zones. This article describes the origins of participatory democracy, discusses how modern concepts of democracy link to citizen participation, and describes the ways that newly-created spaces on the internet referred to as “polispheres” are being used by political activists and candidates to facilitate wider collaboration and citizen participation. The following questions are addressed: What role does the internet play in fostering and aiding citizen participation in government? Does increased involvement lead to greater trust and confidence in government? What role did the internet play in apparently reversing downward trends in citizen apathy and drawing 8 million new voters to the United States 2008 presidential election? The article suggests that information technology facilitates broader citizen participation and identifies the challenges facing governments in adopting internet-based ICT strategies.

Evolving legal framework of corporate governance in India – issues and challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pankaj Kumar GUPTA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Investors now started considering corporate governance as very essential factor before investment especially in view of the unstable environment in the securities market. It is considered that good corporate governance inspires, strengthens and maintains investor’s confidence by ensuring company’s commitment to higher growth and profits. Corporate Governance has become a major concern for global economies particularly the transition world. Sound corporate governance is extremely important for transition economies for creation of the key institutions, the private corporations, which drive the successful economic transformation to a market based economy, effective allocation of capital and development of financial markets, attracting foreign investment and making a contribution to the process of national development. The Corporate Governance issue has emerged primarily because of the growing importance of corporations in the national economies and their interaction with the international agencies and institutions. This paper presents the current scenario of corporate governance in India, the evolving legal framework and identified the major issues and challenges that need to be addressed to implement an effective system of corporate governance in India.

Comment on ``Communicating Government Science''

Science.gov (United States)

Lins, Harry F.

2006-05-01

Soroosh Sorooshian's editorial in the 18 April issue of Eos (87(16) 2005) is a timely reminder of the need for unambiguous guidelines governing the interactions between government scientists and the media. His comments implicitly recognize the central role that science plays in a modern democratic society, which includes informing policy at the highest levels of government and educating the general public about the world we inhabit. Federal research scientists, who constitute approximately 15 percent of the AGU's U.S. membership, have a unique public responsibility. They would welcome a consistent policy for the review and approval of publications, oral presentations, and media communications. An example of the value and success that such a policy can have to both science and the nation is evident in the operations of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). For more than a century, the USGS has had clear policies and procedures for ensuring the communication of accurate, high-quality, and impartial scientific information. These policies and procedures are set forth in the USGS Manual under sections entitled ``Approval by the director for outside publication and oral presentation,'' ``Review of USGS publications and abstracts of oral presentations for policy-sensitive issues,'' and ``News release and media relations policy.'' These policies are available online at http:// www.usgs.gov/usgs-manual/500/500-9.html (.../500-8.html and .../500 5.html).

Predictable Phenotypes of Antibiotic Resistance Mutations.

Science.gov (United States)

Knopp, M; Andersson, D I

2018-05-15

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria represent a major threat to our ability to treat bacterial infections. Two factors that determine the evolutionary success of antibiotic resistance mutations are their impact on resistance level and the fitness cost. Recent studies suggest that resistance mutations commonly show epistatic interactions, which would complicate predictions of their stability in bacterial populations. We analyzed 13 different chromosomal resistance mutations and 10 host strains of Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli to address two main questions. (i) Are there epistatic interactions between different chromosomal resistance mutations? (ii) How does the strain background and genetic distance influence the effect of chromosomal resistance mutations on resistance and fitness? Our results show that the effects of combined resistance mutations on resistance and fitness are largely predictable and that epistasis remains rare even when up to four mutations were combined. Furthermore, a majority of the mutations, especially target alteration mutations, demonstrate strain-independent phenotypes across different species. This study extends our understanding of epistasis among resistance mutations and shows that interactions between different resistance mutations are often predictable from the characteristics of the individual mutations. IMPORTANCE The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria imposes an urgent threat to public health. The ability to forecast the evolutionary success of resistant mutants would help to combat dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Previous studies have shown that the phenotypic effects (fitness and resistance level) of resistance mutations can vary substantially depending on the genetic context in which they occur. We conducted a broad screen using many different resistance mutations and host strains to identify potential epistatic interactions between various types of resistance mutations and to determine the effect of strain

Governance and Institutional Autonomy: Governing and Governance in Portuguese Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhaes, Antonio; Veiga, Amelia; Ribeiro, Filipa; Amaral, Alberto

2013-01-01

This paper aims at looking at governance instruments beyond managerial technicality. It intends to do so by analysing the impact of governance reforms on the universities autonomy assumed as a regulation instrument to politically steer systems and institutions. The regulation efforts undertaken at the European and national levels reflect a trend…

Who governs energy? The challenges facing global energy governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florini, Ann; Sovacool, Benjamin K.

2009-01-01

This article conceptualizes the energy problems facing society from a global governance perspective. It argues that a notion of 'global energy governance,' taken to mean international collective action efforts undertaken to manage and distribute energy resources and provide energy services, offers a meaningful and useful framework for assessing energy-related challenges. The article begins by exploring the concepts of governance, global governance, and global energy governance. It then examines some of the existing institutions in place to establish and carry out rules and norms governing global energy problems and describes the range of institutional design options available to policymakers. It briefly traces the role of a selection of these institutions, from inter-governmental organizations to summit processes to multilateral development banks to global action networks, in responding to energy issues, and points out their strengths and weaknesses. The article concludes by analyzing how the various approaches to global governance differ in their applicability to addressing the conundrums of global energy problems.

Who governs energy? The challenges facing global energy governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Florini, Ann; Sovacool, Benjamin K. [Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore 259772 (Singapore)

2009-12-15

This article conceptualizes the energy problems facing society from a global governance perspective. It argues that a notion of 'global energy governance,' taken to mean international collective action efforts undertaken to manage and distribute energy resources and provide energy services, offers a meaningful and useful framework for assessing energy-related challenges. The article begins by exploring the concepts of governance, global governance, and global energy governance. It then examines some of the existing institutions in place to establish and carry out rules and norms governing global energy problems and describes the range of institutional design options available to policymakers. It briefly traces the role of a selection of these institutions, from inter-governmental organizations to summit processes to multilateral development banks to global action networks, in responding to energy issues, and points out their strengths and weaknesses. The article concludes by analyzing how the various approaches to global governance differ in their applicability to addressing the conundrums of global energy problems. (author)

THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF INTERACTION BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS IN THE SPHERE OF INNOVATION: NEW TOOLS FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anastasiya Yurievna Nikitaeva

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the study of international experience of interaction between government and business in the innovative development of the industrial sector. Purpose of the paper is to determine the features and content of the new mechanisms of industrial development, based on integration platform of economic agents’ partnership.Methodology. The complex of system, synergy, institutional, evolutionary, and endogenous approaches is used as a methodological basis of research. Methodological apparatus of the article is presented by methods of the analysis, synthesis, abstraction, logical generalization.Results: the assessment of influence of government and commercial structures partnership on the innovative industrial development is given; the tendency of expansion of a partnership segment in the innovative sphere of the industry is empirically illustrated; features and key technologies of the new integration mechanism of industrial development are given.Conclusion: complication of innovative processes in combination with other factors results in expediency of development of partnership of economic entities in the sphere of industrial development. The extent and effectiveness of partnership practices in innovation is largely determined by the role of state institutions. For innovation of industrial development it is expedient to form the mechanisms using the integrated capacity of public and private institutions.Practical implications: the results of the study can be used in the justification of the priorities and measures of the state innovation and industrial policy, the development of concepts and programs of clustering of the regions and the development of public-private partnerships, and also formation of strategy of development of industrial structures.

THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Yashchuk

2017-01-01

Full Text Available УДК 34The article highlights the main stages in the development of local government and self-gov-ernment in Russia. It shows the specifics of each stage. The formation of the Russian state was accompanied by the synthesis of the princely power and the community self-government. The genesis autocracy was accompanied by a struggle with the self-government institutions. The creation of rural and urban self-government in the second half of the XIX century was accom-panied by a debate on the social and public origin of these institutions.The Soviet state was based on the unity of the Soviet system. It concluded the discrete de-velopment of local self-government in Russia. There is no historical strong tradition of local government in this system.Objective of the article is to identify and characterize the main stages of development of local government and self-government in Russia. Show the discrete nature of the develop-ment of local self-government in Russia.The formation of the Russian state was accompanied by the synthesis of princely power and community self-government. Genesis autocracy was accompanied by a struggle with self-government institutions. The absence of territorial self-government in Russia was offset by the presence of social class municipality for a long time. Caste traditions tradition had a negative impact after the establishment of rural and urban self-government in the second half of the XIX century.During the preparation of the reforms and their implementation were discussions of the rela-tionship between the state and the community began in management. As a result, there is the inclusion of local authorities in the sphere of active state regulation. The desire of the county public to the political activity was suppressed by autocracy. The Provisional Government at-tempt to rely on the local self-government to create new authorities ended in failure.The Soviet state was based on a single management system. Certain powers

Understanding global health governance as a complex adaptive system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Peter S

2011-01-01

The transition from international to global health reflects the rapid growth in the numbers and nature of stakeholders in health, as well as the constant change embodied in the process of globalisation itself. This paper argues that global health governance shares the characteristics of complex adaptive systems, with its multiple and diverse players, and their polyvalent and constantly evolving relationships, and rich and dynamic interactions. The sheer quantum of initiatives, the multiple networks through which stakeholders (re)configure their influence, the range of contexts in which development for health is played out - all compound the complexity of this system. This paper maps out the characteristics of complex adaptive systems as they apply to global health governance, linking them to developments in the past two decades, and the multiple responses to these changes. Examining global health governance through the frame of complexity theory offers insight into the current dynamics of governance, and while providing a framework for making meaning of the whole, opens up ways of accessing this complexity through local points of engagement.

E-Government Dimension

OpenAIRE

Rosiyadi, Didi; Suryana, Nana; Cahyana, Ade; Nuryani, Nuryani

2007-01-01

Makalah ini mengemukakan E-Government Dimension yang merupakan salah satu hasil TahapanPengumpulan Data, dimana tahapan ini adalah bagian dari penelitian kompetitif di Lembaga Ilmu PengetahuanIndonesia 2007 yang sekarang sedang dilakukan. Data E-Government Dimension ini didapatkan dari berbagaisumber yang meliputi E-Government beberapa Negara di dunia, E-Government yang dibangun oleh beberapapenyedia aplikasi E-Government. E-Government Dimension terdiri dari tiga dimensi yaitu DemocraticDimen...

Governance of Aquatic Agricultural Systems: Analyzing Representation, Power, and Accountability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blake D. Ratner

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Aquatic agricultural systems in developing countries face increasing competition from multiple stakeholders over rights to access and use natural resources, land, water, wetlands, and fisheries, essential to rural livelihoods. A key implication is the need to strengthen governance to enable equitable decision making amidst competition that spans sectors and scales, building capacities for resilience, and for transformations in institutions that perpetuate poverty. In this paper we provide a simple framework to analyze the governance context for aquatic agricultural system development focused on three dimensions: stakeholder representation, distribution of power, and mechanisms of accountability. Case studies from Cambodia, Bangladesh, Malawi/Mozambique, and Solomon Islands illustrate the application of these concepts to fisheries and aquaculture livelihoods in the broader context of intersectoral and cross-scale governance interactions. Comparing these cases, we demonstrate how assessing governance dimensions yields practical insights into opportunities for transforming the institutions that constrain resilience in local livelihoods.

Governance and asset specificity as facilitators and sources of innovation and value creation

OpenAIRE

Sunde, Per Anders

2007-01-01

Drawing on transaction cost theory and relational exchange theory, this dissertation examines the different performance effects of formal and relational governance mechanisms, project specific investments, and the interaction between governance and project specific investments in inter-firm innovation projects. The following four performance dimensions are studied: goal attainment, value creation potential for the customer and the contractor, and innovative performance. The model and hypo...

Leadership, Governance

Science.gov (United States)

: Environmental Documents, Reports LANL Home Calendar Search Contacts About » Leadership, Governance Leadership national security and energy challenges. Leadership, Governance Ethics, Accountability Los Alamos National . Director's Office terry wallace in leadership, governance Director Terry C. Wallace, Jr. Terry C. Wallace, Jr

Challenges in developing e-government for good governance in North Sumatra

Science.gov (United States)

Siahaan, AY

2017-01-01

E-government as one form of public administration reform in Indonesia is increasingly related to the pursuance of good governance. This paper examines the relationship between of e-government and good governance by utilizing the case study design on the implementation of e-procurement in North Sumatra. It reveals centrality of local politics and business culture in understanding resistances of both local government officials and local business which creates loopholes’ for the practice of ‘bad governance’ in all phases of e-procurement in North Sumatra province. Data transparency does not equate and guarantee the realization of good governance. Public knowledge and understanding on government decision making processes and accountability (process and policy transparency) are central to achieve good governance through e-procurement. E-procurement system does not automatically change organizational and working culture of the implementers and suppliers. This paper provides insight to the attitude and the perception of private sector engage in e-procurement towards government in implementing e-government. Resistance, digital divide and local politics interrelatedly obstruct the realization of pursuing good governance through e-procurement.

Driving biofuels in Europe. A research on the interaction between external regulation and value chain governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aantjes, J.C.

2007-05-01

To explain the unforeseen ascendancy of biofuels in the transport sector, a thorough understanding of the biofuel industry (i.e. the value chain) is crucial. Next to the industry structure, it seems that the regulatory framework surrounding the chain also contributes to the formation and structure of the biofuel industry in Europe. This assumption rests on the 2003 European Union (EU) biofuel directives for the promotion of biofuels in EU member states. With tax exemptions and reference values, the European Commission (EC) achieves to raise the amount of biofuels in transportation. The hypothesis in this thesis is that the European biofuel industry reflects a correlation between external regulation and value chain structure. More specifically, it is expected to be a mutual relation. The proposition is that value chain actors not only anticipate to the regulatory environment, they are also likely to influence decision-making on regulations in their advantage. Simply stated, value chain actors are concerned with the regulatory framework in order to enhance their position in the chain. From an empirical and theoretical point of view, this is an interesting proposition since the interaction between regulations and value chain governance receive little attention in theory. For the food industry, this approach contributes to understand the development in biofuel regulations and the European biofuel industry. Chapter Two reports the theoretical foundation of this study. The research framework rests on two rather independent streams of literature. The first part discusses 'value chain theory' and enables to examine how the biofuel value chains in Europe looks like. Among the analytical instruments of this research tradition, the role of powerful actors in controlling the value chain is elaborated in depth. The second stream is rooted in political theory and is characterized as 'political decision-making theory'. Its focus is on the formulation of governmental regulation. A

Renewing governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Loos, Gregory P

2003-01-01

Globalization's profound influence on social and political institutions need not be negative. Critics of globalization have often referred to the "Impossible Trinity" because decision-making must 1. respect national sovereignty, 2. develop and implement firm regulation, and 3. allow capital markets to be as free as possible. To many, such goals are mutually exclusive because history conditions us to view policy-making and governance in traditional molds. Thus, transnational governance merely appears impossible because current forms of governance were not designed to provide it. The world needs new tools for governing, and its citizens must seize the opportunity to help develop them. The rise of a global society requires a greater level of generality and inclusion than is found in most policy bodies today. Politicians need to re-examine key assumptions about government. States must develop ways to discharge their regulatory responsibilities across borders and collaborate with neighboring jurisdictions, multilateral bodies, and business. Concepts such as multilateralism and tripartism show great promise. Governments must engage civil society in the spirit of shared responsibility and democratic decision-making. Such changes will result in a renewal of the state's purpose and better use of international resources and expertise in governance.

Public Procurement of Innovation; Endogenous Institutions in User-Producer Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjaltadóttir, Rannveig Edda

2013-01-01

Introduction 2010 government expenditure on works, goods and services in EU 19.7% of GDP - 2.406,98€ billion. Can be used to stimulate innovation Focus on public procurement of innovation in EU maintain competitive advantage and welfare Governments are important first users for high technology (U...... (Urban & von Hippel, 1988). Need interaction in public procurement of innovation (PPI). The aim of this research is to investigate the institutions that govern this interaction and how they influence performance in PPI. Institutions are “the rules of the game” (North, 1990)......Introduction 2010 government expenditure on works, goods and services in EU 19.7% of GDP - 2.406,98€ billion. Can be used to stimulate innovation Focus on public procurement of innovation in EU maintain competitive advantage and welfare Governments are important first users for high technology...

Open government and municipalities: Beyond e-governement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Cruz Meléndez

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article’s purpose is to analyze egovernment and open government as tolos to strengthen the role of municipal government. It reviews the evolution of both tolos in Mexico and contains a conceptual analysis of both terms to gain an understanding of their meaning and of the reason why they are promoted for the benefit of local governments. Finally, it explores the availability of these tools in the municipalities, and how they contribute to each municipality in the fulfillment of its responsibilities.

Director remuneration, corporate governance and performance: A comparison between government linked companies vs non government linked companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazrul Hisyam Ab Razak

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This study has examined the relationship between director’s remuneration, corporate governance structure and performance of a sample of 150 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia from year 2008 until 2013. The sample was selected to provide matched-pair of government linked companies (GLCs and non-government linked companies (non-GLCs, as it was anticipated that these group would have different governance structure, the key difference being government ownership. The result holds even when we control for company specific characteristic such as corporate governance, company size, leverage, director’s remuneration, board size and auditors. This study uses panel based regression model to examine the impact of government control mechanism on company performance using two important measurers. These are accounting based measure proxies by ROA and non-accounting based measures by Tobin’s Q. Statistically significant relationships were found across the groupings and for different performance measures. Findings appear to suggest that there is a significant impact of government ownership on company performance after controlling for company specific characteristics.

Survival dimensionality reduction (SDR: development and clinical application of an innovative approach to detect epistasis in presence of right-censored data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beretta Lorenzo

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Epistasis is recognized as a fundamental part of the genetic architecture of individuals. Several computational approaches have been developed to model gene-gene interactions in case-control studies, however, none of them is suitable for time-dependent analysis. Herein we introduce the Survival Dimensionality Reduction (SDR algorithm, a non-parametric method specifically designed to detect epistasis in lifetime datasets. Results The algorithm requires neither specification about the underlying survival distribution nor about the underlying interaction model and proved satisfactorily powerful to detect a set of causative genes in synthetic epistatic lifetime datasets with a limited number of samples and high degree of right-censorship (up to 70%. The SDR method was then applied to a series of 386 Dutch patients with active rheumatoid arthritis that were treated with anti-TNF biological agents. Among a set of 39 candidate genes, none of which showed a detectable marginal effect on anti-TNF responses, the SDR algorithm did find that the rs1801274 SNP in the FcγRIIa gene and the rs10954213 SNP in the IRF5 gene non-linearly interact to predict clinical remission after anti-TNF biologicals. Conclusions Simulation studies and application in a real-world setting support the capability of the SDR algorithm to model epistatic interactions in candidate-genes studies in presence of right-censored data. Availability: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sdrproject/

Electronic Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wimmer, Maria A.; Traunmüller, Roland; Grönlund, Åke

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2005, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2005. The 30 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions, and assess the state-of-the-art in e-government/e-governance...

WHY DOES GOVERNMENT GROW?THE SOURCESOF GOVERNMENT GROWTHFROM PUBLIC CHOICEPERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coskun Can Aktan, PhD

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Many empirical studies that examined the government spending concludes that the sizeand scope of government has grown considerably since the beginning of the twentiethcentury in most developed countries. If this is the fact, then we must ask and explore thefollowing questions: Why does government grow? What are the main sources ofgovernment growth? What are the main reasons of the expansion of government? Thisintroductory paper aims to answerthose and other questions regarding governmentgrowth. The paperismostlydependon public choice literature of government growth.

The Russia Corporate Governance Manual : Part I. Corporate Governance Introduced

OpenAIRE

International Finance Corporation; U.S. Department of Commerce

2004-01-01

The Russia corporate governance manual has been divided into and is published in six parts: (i) corporate governance introduced; (ii) good board practices; (iii) shareholder rights; (iv) information disclosure and transparency; (v) special focus section; and (vi) annexes model corporate governance documents. The first four parts contain chapters that focus on core corporate governance issu...

E-Government, Audit Opinion, and Performance of Local Government Administration in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bambang Sutopo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Local governments (LGs have an important role in providing services to the community. Nevertheless, some local governments still show relatively low performance. Scores of e-government implementation and audit opinions obtained by some local governments are also relatively low. This study examines whether there are relationships between e-government, the dimensions of e-government, and audit opinion and the performance of the local government administration. There are five dimensions of the e-government i.e. policy, institutions, infrastructure, applications, and planning. The sample used in this study includes 246 local governments from 2012 to 2014. Using regression analysis, the results of this study show that e-government has a positive association with the performance of the local government administration. This is supported by the positive association of e-government’s dimensions with performance. The audit opinion is also positively associated with performance as expected. These results suggest that e-government and audit opinion can be used as indicators of the performance of local government administration.

Collaborative Water Resource Management: What makes up a supportive governance system?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boer, C.L.; Vinke-de Kruijf, Joanne; Özerol, Gül; Bressers, Johannes T.A.

2016-01-01

Collaboration is increasingly seen as an important aspect of successful water management, and yet it remains insufficiently understood. This paper examines how collaboration is influenced by the governance system that guides and organizes the related actions and interactions. Building upon an

Political Representation and Governance: The Case of Second-Tier Councilors in Romania

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Cristina STĂNUȘ

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The notion of governance stresses interaction and co-operation between many interdependent actors and, as such, poses a challenge to political leadership and the traditional electoral- based notion of political representation. Governance-oriented reforms bring about new roles for all actors involved in local politics and policy-making, starting with the elected officials. Among these actors, councilors on both tiers of local government are called upon to take on a new role as goal-steering decision-makers, while accepting a clear separation between politics and administration and the increased interdependence with non-state actors. This paper reflects on the difficulties of accommodating the representational role orientations of local elected officials with the introduction of governance-oriented policy-making mechanisms. It explores two inter-related questions in the context provided by the second tier of local government in Romania: (1 How does the representational role orientation of Romanian councilors look like? and (2 How do Romanian councilors reconcile their representational role orientation with the introduction of governance elements in the Romanian public sector?

Impacts of government and market on firm’s efforts to reduce pollution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bowon Kim

2015-12-01

Full Text Available We examine how the government and the market affect firm’s pollution abatement efforts, i.e. firm’s efforts to reduce its pollution emission. The way for the government to control firm’s pollution is to impose penalty, whereas the consumers (the market make their purchasing decision by taking into account the pollution, i.e. the demand is affected by the stock of pollution. In effect, we consider two forces, government penalty and consumer’s sensitivity to pollution, as primary factors to control firm’s pollution and analyze their interaction in relation to the firm’s pollution reduction efforts. The analysis suggests as follows. The government penalty and the consumer’s awareness are substitutes either (1 when the market size is relatively large or (2 when the market is relatively small, but the government penalty is relatively heavy. On the contrary, the two factors are complements when the market size is relatively small and the government penalty is relatively light. We discuss managerial and economic implications of the analysis results.

TCS1, a Microtubule-Binding Protein, Interacts with KCBP/ZWICHEL to Regulate Trichome Cell Shape in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liangliang Chen

2016-10-01

Full Text Available How cell shape is controlled is a fundamental question in developmental biology, but the genetic and molecular mechanisms that determine cell shape are largely unknown. Arabidopsis trichomes have been used as a good model system to investigate cell shape at the single-cell level. Here we describe the trichome cell shape 1 (tcs1 mutants with the reduced trichome branch number in Arabidopsis. TCS1 encodes a coiled-coil domain-containing protein. Pharmacological analyses and observations of microtubule dynamics show that TCS1 influences the stability of microtubules. Biochemical analyses and live-cell imaging indicate that TCS1 binds to microtubules and promotes the assembly of microtubules. Further results reveal that TCS1 physically associates with KCBP/ZWICHEL, a microtubule motor involved in the regulation of trichome branch number. Genetic analyses indicate that kcbp/zwi is epistatic to tcs1 with respect to trichome branch number. Thus, our findings define a novel genetic and molecular mechanism by which TCS1 interacts with KCBP to regulate trichome cell shape by influencing the stability of microtubules.

Why Governments Intervene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Jette Steen; Brown, Dana

2015-01-01

Why are national governments increasingly adopting policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Government CSR policies have been explained either as a means of substituting or supporting (mirroring) domestic political-economic institutions and policies, or as a means for government...... to promote international competitiveness of domestic businesses. Both sets of explanations see governments as driving CSR policies to meet particular national government goals. Support is found for the thesis that CSR policies are often related to international competitiveness, yet our findings suggest...... that government goals in this regard are not necessarily pre-defined....

Multi-level governance of forest resources (Editorial to the special feature

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Esther Mwangi

2012-08-01

Full Text Available A major challenge for many researchers and practitioners relates to how to recognize and address cross-scale dynamics in space and over time in order to design and implement effective governance arrangements. This editorial provides an overview of the concept of multi-level governance (MLG. In particular we highlight definitional issues, why the concept matters as well as more practical concerns related to the processes and structure of multi-level governance. It is increasingly clear that multi-level governance of forest resources involves complex interactions of state, private and civil society actors at various levels, and institutions linking higher levels of social and political organization. Local communities are increasingly connected to global networks and influences. This creates new opportunities to learn and address problems but may also introduce new pressures and risks. We conclude by stressing the need for a much complex approach to the varieties of MLG to better understand how policies work as instruments of governance and to organize communities within systems of power and authority.

Transitions governance: Towards a new governance paradigm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

N. Frantzeskaki (Niki); D.A. Loorbach (Derk)

2009-01-01

textabstractThis paper presents a framework for governance in the context of large scale and long term societal change (transitions). We argue that existing theories of governance offer interesting descriptive insights for such a framework, but do not present innovative prescriptive ideas

Gobernanza Versus Gobierno Governance Versus Government

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Dany-Robert Dufour

2009-06-01

Full Text Available El desplazamiento del término moderno de gobierno por el postmoderno de gobernanza, pone de manifiesto un nuevo lenguaje postmoderno en el que se deja entrever que ambas nociones, gobierno y gobernanza, tienden a oponerse. La gobernanza corporativa designa la toma del poder del capitalismo financiero sobre el capitalismo industrial, que no es otra cosa que, por un lado, propender por la rentabilidad máxima para los accionistas, valorizar todo en el mercado sin consideraciones morales, obligar a los actores a la búsqueda de riesgo permanente y flexibilizar las relaciones jerárquicas en la Administración de la empresa; y por el otro, la marginación de la clase obrera. La gobernanza ha llegado a los asuntos políticos convirtiéndose en modelo de gestión pública por excelencia, ella trata que el gobierno reducido a su mínima expresión guie a una sociedad civil que adquiere un papel importante en la creación y seguimiento de las diferentes políticas, es decir, que el gobierno adquiere una forma flexible de regulación, es allá donde la gobernanza política nos conduce, a la supuesta autorregulación de los intereses privados que sumados pasan a configurar el interés general. En realidad se trata de una nueva forma de dominación marcada por un desvanecimiento político, donde la sociedad civil juega en contra del Estado. La gobernanza le está tendiendo una temible trampa a la democracia, en tanto se presenta como una ampliación de la democracia materializada en una mejor participación de la sociedad civil, destruyendo la persona pública que se forma por la unión de todos los otros y convirtiéndola en representante de intereses particulares.The displacement of the modern term of government for the postmodern one of governance, reveals a new postmodern language in which one is left to guess that both notions, government and governance, tend to be opposed. Corporate governance signifies the seizure of power of financial capitalism

Multilevel governance in community-based environmental management: a case study comparison from Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Sattler

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We analyze four case studies from Latin America using the concept of multilevel governance to assess at what vertical and horizontal levels and in what roles various state, market, and civil society actors interact for successful community-based environmental management (CBEM. In particular, we address the problem of how a conflict over natural resources with high negative impacts on the livelihoods of the respective communities could be overcome by a governance change that resulted in a multilevel governance arrangement for CBEM. The analysis involves a mixed-methods approach that combines a variety of empirical methods in social research such as field visits, personal interviews, participant observations, and stakeholder workshops. To visualize results, we introduce two schemes to present the composition of the governance structures for cross-case comparison. The first scheme plots the different actors into an arrangement that shows their associations with different societal spheres and at which territorial scales they are primarily involved. The second scheme differentiates these actors based on their complementing governance roles. Active roles are attributed to actors who implement activities on the ground, whereas passive roles are assigned to actors who provide specific resources such as knowledge, funding, legislative framework, or others. All cases involved governance actors from more than one societal sphere who operate on at least three different territorial levels (local to international and in distinct roles. Results show that multilevel governance can strengthen CBEM in different ways. First, the success of CBEM is an outcome of the sum of horizontal and vertical interactions of all involved actors, and there is no most appropriate single level of social organization at which a problem can best be addressed. Only the cooperation of actors from different societal spheres within and across levels ensures accessibility to needed

Governing Towards Sustainability-Conceptualizing Modes of Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lange, P. de; Driessen, P.P.J.; Sauer, A.; Bornemann, B.; Burger, P.

2013-01-01

There is a growing scientific debate regarding the suitability of certain modes of governance for promoting sustainable development (SD). However, thus far there is neither agreement on ways to meaningfully distinguish and understand governance modes nor a foundation of the aspects to be chosen

Towards a Typology of Adaptive Governance in the Digital Government Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Cancan; Medaglia, Rony; Zheng, Lei

2018-01-01

and of accountability between government and non-government actors is critical to developing different types of adaptive governance. Findings show that the distribution of decision-making power and of accountability can be decoupled, resulting in three types of adaptive governance – namely polycentric, agile......, and organic governance. We contribute to research by detailing and empirically testing the notion of adaptive governance in a digital government context, and to practice by highlighting the role of the distribution of decision-making power and of accountability in devising adaptive governance strategies....... there is an increasing need to establish forms of collaboration that can respond to swift changes in the environment related to technology and citizen demands. Drawing on the analysis of four cases of IT-related project collaboration, we put forward that the degree of sharing of decision-making power...

Transformative environmental governance

Science.gov (United States)

Chaffin, Brian C.; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Gunderson, Lance H.; Harm Benson, Melinda; Angeler, David G.; Arnold, Craig Anthony (Tony); Cosens, Barbara; Kundis Craig, Robin; Ruhl, J.B.; Allen, Craig R.

2016-01-01

Transformative governance is an approach to environmental governance that has the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime shifts in coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) at multiple scales. The goal of transformative governance is to actively shift degraded SESs to alternative, more desirable, or more functional regimes by altering the structures and processes that define the system. Transformative governance is rooted in ecological theories to explain cross-scale dynamics in complex systems, as well as social theories of change, innovation, and technological transformation. Similar to adaptive governance, transformative governance involves a broad set of governance components, but requires additional capacity to foster new social-ecological regimes including increased risk tolerance, significant systemic investment, and restructured economies and power relations. Transformative governance has the potential to actively respond to regime shifts triggered by climate change, and thus future research should focus on identifying system drivers and leading indicators associated with social-ecological thresholds.

Assessing eGovernment Systems Success: A Validation of the DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi-Shun; Liao, Yi-Wen

2008-01-01

With the proliferation of the Internet and World Wide Web applications, people are increasingly interacting with government to citizen (G2C) eGovernment systems. It is therefore important to measure the success of G2C eGovernment systems from the citizen's perspective. While general information systems (IS) success models have received much…

Gene X Environment Interactions in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Role of Epigenetic Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sylvie eTordjman

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Several studies support currently the hypothesis that autism etiology is based on a polygenic and epistatic model. However, despite advances in epidemiological, molecular and clinical genetics, the genetic risk factors remain difficult to identify, with the exception of a few chromosomal disorders and several single gene disorders associated with an increased risk for autism. Furthermore, several studies suggest a role of environmental factors in autism spectrum disorders (ASD. First, arguments for a genetic contribution to autism, based on updated family and twin studies, are examined. Second, a review of possible prenatal, perinatal and postnatal environmental risk factors for ASD are presented. Then, the hypotheses are discussed concerning the underlying mechanisms related to a role of environmental factors in the development of ASD in association with genetic factors. In particular, epigenetics as a candidate biological mechanism for gene X environment interactions is considered and the possible role of epigenetic mechanisms reported in genetic disorders associated with ASD is discussed. Furthermore, the example of in utero exposure to valproate provides a good illustration of epigenetic mechanisms involved in ASD and innovative therapeutic strategies. Epigenetic remodeling by environmental factors opens new perspectives for a better understanding, prevention and early therapeutic intervention of ASD.

Stakeholder Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flak, Leif Skiftenes; Rose, Jeremy

2005-01-01

to e-Government. Originally a management theory, stakeholder theory advocates addressing the concerns of all stakeholders in a firm, as opposed to concentration on the interests of senior managers and stockholders. Apart from the original profit focus, there is no serious conceptual mismatch between...... of governance. Finally, the paper makes recommendations for future work in adapting ST to the e-government context....

Government-industry-uUniversity and rResearch lLaboratories cCoordination for new product development: Session 2. Government research laboratory perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuzay, T.M.

1997-01-01

This talk is the second in an expanded series of presentations on the Government-Industry-University and Research Laboratories Coordination for new product development, which is a timely and important public policy issue. Such interactions have become particularly timely in light of the present decline in funding for research and development (R ampersand D) in the nation''s budget and in the private sector. These interactions, at least in principle, provide a means to maximize benefits for the greater good of the nation by pooling the diminishing resources. National laboratories, which traditionally interacted closely with the universities in educational training, now are able to also participate closely with industry in joint R ampersand D thanks to a number of public laws legislated since the early 80s. A review of the experiences with such interactions at Argonne National Laboratory, which exemplifies the national laboratories, shows that, despite differences in their traditions and the missions, the national laboratory-industry-university triangle can work together

Human resources of local governments as motivators of participation of businesses and citizens in protecting of environment

OpenAIRE

NIKOLIĆ N.; GAJOVIĆ A.; PAUNOVIĆ V.

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the importance of human resources of local governments in the motivation of businesses and citizens in protecting the environment. The inability to absorb current problems caused by inadequate and incomplete arrangement of utilization of human resources of the local government of Lučani caused the redefining of strategic priorities of environmental protection. The motivational power of human resources of local governments expressed through interaction with the population ...

WHY DOES GOVERNMENT GROW?THE SOURCESOF GOVERNMENT GROWTHFROM PUBLIC CHOICEPERSPECTIVE

OpenAIRE

Coskun Can Aktan, PhD

2017-01-01

Many empirical studies that examined the government spending concludes that the sizeand scope of government has grown considerably since the beginning of the twentiethcentury in most developed countries. If this is the fact, then we must ask and explore thefollowing questions: Why does government grow? What are the main sources ofgovernment growth? What are the main reasons of the expansion of government? Thisintroductory paper aims to answerthose and other questions regardin...

Promoting Sustainable Food Provision; the Role of Networks in Global Food Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oosterveer, P.J.M.

2017-01-01

Food provision in contemporary societies is transforming due to challenges of globalization, sustainability and equity. The interactions between civil society organizations, governments, the food industry, consumers and producers constitute dynamic fields of environmental change in global food

Corporate Sector Practice Informs Online Workforce Training for Australian Government Agencies: Towards Effective Educational-Learning Systems Design

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Elspeth; Vilela, Cenie

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to outline government online training practice. We searched individual research domains of the human-dimensions of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), information and communications technologies (ICT) and instructional design for evidence of either corporate sector or government training practices. We overlapped these…

Innovative Pathways for Effective E-Governance in Africa: The Imperative of Authentic Leadership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Godwyns Agbude

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The evolving concept of e-governance has become one of the leading praxis of the 21st Century. This again reinforces, not just the importance of governance in human societies, but the need to redefine, reappraise, reinvent and redirect the path of governance towards effective and efficient service delivery. The paradigm of Science and Technology therefore presents the leading edge in our contemporary world thereby validating the viability of Information and Communication Technology (ICT in governance at diverse levels of operations. This paper, employs secondary data and presents the position that in the light of the fact that e-governance covers areas such as government, citizens and businesses/interest groups, the central place of leadership that will authenticate trust and confidence in the effective delivery of the e-governance protocols therefore becomes an imperative. In the gamut of literature on leadership, this paper identifies authentic leadership as a necessary condition that will facilitate effectiveness and efficiency of e-governance. This paper concludes that since there is a human dimension to the process of e-governance, creating innovative pathways for its effectiveness in Africa calls for authentic leadership which emphasizes constructive and developmental interactions between leaders and followers.

Steuern und Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduard Müller

2014-05-01

Full Text Available ENGLISH: Taxation, in the modern state, has long been a mass phenomenon with an interdisciplinary outlook. On the macro level of the state, a new generation of administrative reforms has crystallized under the label “good public governance”. These reforms seek to resolve regulatory interdependence of state and non - state actors by way of cooperation and interaction. In parallel, on the micro level of businesses, “corporate governance” – voluntary compliance with legal and ethical standards – has become an increasingly important issue. With a view to tax law and tax collection, these developments open up new possibilities to raise tax compliance by means of consensual and cooperative instruments and, accordingly, address taxation as a mass phenomenon. DEUTSCH: Besteuerung ist im modernen Staat ein Massenphänomen und längst interdisziplinär ausgerichtet. Auf der Makro-Ebene des Staates hat sich unter dem Begriff Good Public Governance eine neue Generation von Staats- und Verwaltungsreformen herausgebildet, die Regelungsbeziehungen von staatlichen und nichtstaatlichen Akteuren durch Kooperationen und Interaktionen zu lösen versucht. Parallel dazu hat auf der Mikro-Ebene der Unternehmen mit dem Thema Corporate Governance die freiwillige Einhaltung von rechtlichen und ethischen Regeln an Bedeutung gewonnen. Für das Steuerrecht und den Steuervollzug resultieren aus diesen Entwicklungen neue Möglichkeiten, durch Nutzung konsens- und kooperationsorientierter Instrumente die Tax Compliance zu erhöhen und so dem Massenphänomen Besteuerung gerecht zu werden.

Highly specific salt bridges govern bacteriophage P22 icosahedral capsid assembly: identification of the site in coat protein responsible for interaction with scaffolding protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Cortines, Juliana R; Motwani, Tina; Vyas, Aashay A; Teschke, Carolyn M

2014-05-01

correctly shaped and sized procapsids and that the lack of these proper protein-protein interfaces leads to aberrant structures. The present work represents an important contribution supporting the hypothesis that virus capsid assembly is governed by seemingly simple interactions. The highly specific nature of the subunit interfaces suggests that these could be good targets for antivirals.

Digital Environmental Governance in China: Information Disclosure, Pollution Control, and Environmental Activism in the Yellow River Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiaxin Tan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The Chinese water bureaucracy increasingly utilises information and communications technology (ICT in order to strengthen interaction with the population, which is severely affected by industrial pollution. Government webpages, mailboxes, and online interviews with officers have become prevalent tools for environmental governance, including information disclosure, and a virtual communication forum between the state and its citizens. The present study employs a mixed methods approach with a qualitative emphasis to explore the process of communication and interaction between government agencies and local residents in Dongying, Shandong Province. The results show that information disclosure of pollution data remains far from being transparent, despite the fact that the local government has implemented digital environmental governance, as encouraged by the central Chinese state. Internet technologies empower resource-poor environmental activists in Dongying to strengthen their social network and build communication with the authorities. The application of bureaucratic techniques, however, is key for them to enter the communication interface with government agencies in order to influence political decisions. Results suggest that local cadres tend to send mixed signals to activists and display wariness towards them. They also tend to take preventive measures to keep the situation under control when environmental disputes arise. The proposed communication interface approach sheds a clearer light on the complexity among the emergent ICTs, environmental activism, and digital governance.

Forms of global governence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxim V. Kharkevich

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Global governance as a concept defines the meaning of contemporary world politics both as a discipline and as reality. Interdependent and globalized world requires governance, and a global government has not been formed yet. The theoretical possibility of global governance without global government is proved and justified. The purpose of this article is to analytically identify possible forms of global governance. Three such forms of global governance are identified: hierarchical, market and network. In a hierarchy the governance is due to the asymmetry of power between the parties. Market control happens via anonymous pricing mechanism. Network, in contrast to the market is characterized by a closer value link between the actors, but unlike the hierarchical relationship actors are free to leave the network. Global governance takes three forms and is being implemented by different actors. To determine the most efficient form of global governance is impossible. Efficiency depends on the match between a form and an object of government. It should be noted that meta governance is likely to remain a monopoly of institutionally strong states in global governance.

Leisure, Government and Governance: A Swedish Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, Lisbeth

2011-01-01

The leisure sector has witnessed a tremendous expansion since 1960. The purpose of this article is to analyse the decisions and goals of Swedish government policy during the period 1962 to 2005. The empirical analysis covers government Propositions and governmental investigations. The fields covered are sports, culture, exercise, tourism and…

RAD9, RAD17; RAD24, and RAD53 control one pathway of resistance to γ irradiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koltovaya, N.A.; Nikulushkina, Yu.V.; Roshina, M.P.; Devin, A.B.

2009-01-01

Mechanisms for the genetic control of the cell cycle transition (checkpoint control) have been studied in more detail in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To clarify tho role of the RAD9, RAD17, RAD24, and RAD53 checkpoint genes in cell radioresistance, diploid double mutants were analyzed for cell sensitivity to ionizing radiation. All mutations in combination with rad9Δ were shown to manifest the epistatic type of interaction. Our results suggest that the RAD9, RAD17, RAD24, and RAD53 checkpoint genes belong to a single epistasis group called the RAD9 group and participate in the same pathway. RAD9 and RAD53 have a positive effect on sensitivity to γ irradiation, whereas RAD17 and RAD24 have a negative effect. For haploid interactions between mutations may differ in the case of γ or UV irradiation, mutations - for example, rad9Δ and rad24Δ - were shown to have an additive effect in the first case and epistatic - in the second. The analyzed genes can also participate in minor mechanisms of radioresistance that are relatively independent of the above major mechanism

Quantitative trait loci mapping of heat tolerance in broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) using genotyping-by-sequencing.

Science.gov (United States)

Branham, Sandra E; Stansell, Zachary J; Couillard, David M; Farnham, Mark W

2017-03-01

Five quantitative trait loci and one epistatic interaction were associated with heat tolerance in a doubled haploid population of broccoli evaluated in three summer field trials. Predicted rising global temperatures due to climate change have generated a demand for crops that are resistant to yield and quality losses from heat stress. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) is a cool weather crop with high temperatures during production decreasing both head quality and yield. Breeding for heat tolerance in broccoli has potential to both expand viable production areas and extend the growing season but breeding efficiency is constrained by limited genetic information. A doubled haploid (DH) broccoli population segregating for heat tolerance was evaluated for head quality in three summer fields in Charleston, SC, USA. Multiple quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping of 1,423 single nucleotide polymorphisms developed through genotyping-by-sequencing identified five QTL and one positive epistatic interaction that explained 62.1% of variation in heat tolerance. The QTL identified here can be used to develop markers for marker-assisted selection and to increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant response to heat stress.

China's Insurance Regulatory Reform, Corporate Governance Behavior and Insurers' Governance Effectiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Huicong; Zhang, Hongliang; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Qiu, Aichao

2017-10-17

External regulation is an important mechanism to improve corporate behavior in emerging markets. China's insurance governance regulation, which began to supervise and guide insurance corporate governance behavior in 2006, has experienced a complex process of reform. This study tested our hypotheses with a sample of 85 firms during 2010-2011, which was obtained by providing a questionnaire to all of China's shareholding insurance companies. The empirical study results generally show that China's insurance governance effectiveness has significantly improved through strict regulation. Insurance corporate governance can improve business acumen and risk-control ability, but no significant evidence was found to prove its influence on profitability, as a result of focusing less attention on governance than on management. State ownership is associated with higher corporate governance effectiveness than non-state ownership. Listed companies tend to outperform non-listed firms, and life insurance corporate governance is more effective than that of property insurers. This study not only contributes to the comprehensive understanding of corporate governance effectiveness but also to the literature by highlighting the effect of corporate governance regulation in China's insurance industry and other emerging economies of the financial sector.

Transforming Government Service

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Keld

2017-01-01

The Danish government has defined an ambitious e-government strategy aiming to increase both citizen centricity and the efficiency of government service production and delivery. This research uses dynamic capability theory to compare a highly successful and a less successful e-government program...... both aiming at realizing this strategy by reengineering back office processes and implement one-stop shopping. The research contributes to the e-government literature by identifying key differences between the two cases in terms of dynamic capabilities, by identifying the importance...

Role of monitoring within a good corporate governance structure: Evidence from Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Azim

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the role of monitoring mechanisms within a corporate governance structures, focusing on top 500 publicly-listed companies in Australia. Specifically, it examines whether different monitoring mechanisms affect firm performance. Previous studies have been conducted to examine various monitoring mechanisms and firm performance. However, none of the have consider the interaction among the monitoring mechanisms when examining the relationship. In management and behavioural researches it is well established that Structural Equation Modelling can handle the problem of interaction among the variables. Therefore, we have decided to use Structural equation modelling to identify the complex inter-relations between the corporate governance monitoring mechanisms. We conclude that there is a possibility of having a substitution or complementary links among monitoring mechanisms which explains why there is no consistent empirical evidence between individual monitoring mechanisms and firm performance.

Health system governance in Tanzania : impact on service delivery in the public sector

OpenAIRE

Mikkelsen-Lopez, Inez K.

2014-01-01

Governance in the health system has perhaps been the least explored building block of the health system, receiving less attention due to its vague definition and complex nature. When discussed at the country level it often focuses on single elements such as corruption or accountability and doesn’t consider wider interactions of relevance to how policies are formed. How well governed a health system is can often mean the difference between the efficient use of resources and inefficient waste, ...

Disclosing and concealing: internet governance, information control and the management of visibility

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Mikkel Flyverbom

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The ubiquity of digital technologies and the datafication of many domains of social life raise important questions about governance. In the emergent field of internet governance studies, most work has explored novel governance arrangements, institutional developments and the effects of interactions among public and private actors in the emergence of the internet as a matter of concern in global politics. But the digital realm involves more subtle forms of governance and politics that also deserve attention. In this paper, I suggest that the 'ordering' effects of digital infrastructures also revolve around what I term the ‘management of visibilities’. Drawing on insights from science and technology studies and sociologies of visibility, the paper articulates how digital technologies afford and condition ordering through the production of visibilities and the guidance of attention. The basic tenet of the argument is that there is an intimate relationship between seeing, knowing and governing, and that digitalisation and datafication processes fundamentally shape how we make things visible or invisible, knowable or unknowable and governable or ungovernable. Having articulated this conceptual argument, the article offers a number of illustrations of such forms of ordering.

C. elegans ring finger protein RNF-113 is involved in interstrand DNA crosslink repair and interacts with a RAD51C homolog.

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Hyojin Lee

Full Text Available The Fanconi anemia (FA pathway recognizes interstrand DNA crosslinks (ICLs and contributes to their conversion into double-strand DNA breaks, which can be repaired by homologous recombination. Seven orthologs of the 15 proteins associated with Fanconi anemia are functionally conserved in the model organism C. elegans. Here we report that RNF-113, a ubiquitin ligase, is required for RAD-51 focus formation after inducing ICLs in C. elegans. However, the formation of foci of RPA-1 or FCD-2/FANCD2 in the FA pathway was not affected by depletion of RNF-113. Nevertheless, the RPA-1 foci formed did not disappear with time in the depleted worms, implying serious defects in ICL repair. As a result, RNF-113 depletion increased embryonic lethality after ICL treatment in wild-type worms, but it did not increase the ICL-induced lethality of rfs-1/rad51C mutants. In addition, the persistence of RPA-1 foci was suppressed in doubly-deficient rnf-113;rfs-1 worms, suggesting that there is an epistatic interaction between the two genes. These results lead us to suggest that RNF-113 and RFS-1 interact to promote the displacement of RPA-1 by RAD-51 on single-stranded DNA derived from ICLs.

Variants of SCARB1 and VDR Involved in Complex Genetic Interactions May Be Implicated in the Genetic Susceptibility to Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

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Ewelina Pośpiech

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The current data are still inconclusive in terms of a genetic component involved in the susceptibility to renal cell carcinoma. Our aim was to evaluate 40 selected candidate polymorphisms for potential association with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC based on independent group of 167 patients and 200 healthy controls. The obtained data were searched for independent effects of particular polymorphisms as well as haplotypes and genetic interactions. Association testing implied position rs4765623 in the SCARB1 gene (OR=1.688, 95% CI: 1.104–2.582, P=0.016 and a haplotype in VDR comprising positions rs739837, rs731236, rs7975232, and rs1544410 (P=0.012 to be the risk factors in the studied population. The study detected several epistatic effects contributing to the genetic susceptibility to ccRCC. Variation in GNAS1 was implicated in a strong synergistic interaction with BIRC5. This effect was part of a model suggested by multifactor dimensionality reduction method including also a synergy between GNAS1 and SCARB1 (P=0.036. Significance of GNAS1-SCARB1 interaction was further confirmed by logistic regression (P=0.041, which also indicated involvement of SCARB1 in additional interaction with EPAS1 (P=0.008 as well as revealing interactions between GNAS1 and EPAS1 (P=0.016, GNAS1 and MC1R (P=0.031, GNAS1 and VDR (P=0.032, and MC1R and VDR (P=0.035.

Does fiscal discipline towards subnational governments affect citizens' well-being? Evidence on health.

Science.gov (United States)

Piacenza, Massimiliano; Turati, Gilberto

2014-02-01

This paper aims to assess the impact on citizens' well-being of fiscal discipline imposed by the central government on subnational governments. Because healthcare policies involve strategic interactions between different layers of governments in many different countries, we focus on a particular dimension of well-being, namely citizens' health. We model fiscal discipline by considering government expectations of future deficit bailouts from the central government. We then study how these bailout expectations affect the expenditure for healthcare policies carried out by decentralized governments. To investigate this issue, we separate efficient health spending from inefficiencies by estimating an input requirement frontier. This allows us to assess the effects of bailout expectations on both the structural component of health expenditure and its deviations from the 'best practice'. The evidence from the 15 Italian ordinary statute regions (observed from 1993 to 2006) points out that bailout expectations do not significantly influence the position of the frontier, thus not affecting citizens' health. However, they do appear to exert a remarkable impact on excess spending. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Corporate Governance

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Dragoș-Mihail Daghie

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand the recently introduced form of managementof a company limited by shares. The Law no. 441/2006, which fundamentally amended Company Law,created this form of controlling the company, the corporate governance, but the legislation does not explicitlydefine what it wants to achieve through this instrument. This topic is recent in research as the theme ofgerman-roman commercial law systems (in French corporate governance system was introduced in 1966 andin Romania in 2006 but in terms of Anglo-Saxon law, the topic has been addressed years since 1776 (AdamSmith: The Wealth of Nations The concept of corporate governance would like, as a result, to establish somerules that companies must comply in order to achieve effective governance, transparent and beneficial forboth shareholders and for the minority. Corporate governance is a key element with an aim at improvingefficiency and economic growth in full accordance with the increase of investors’ confidence. Corporategovernance assumes a series of relationship between the company management, leadership, shareholders andthe other people concerned. Also corporate governance provides for that structure by means of which thecompany’s targets are set out and the means to achieve them and also the manner how to monitor such.

Sensorimotor paradigms for design of movement and social interaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barakova, E.I.; Feijs, L.; Kyffin, S.; Young, B.

2006-01-01

The human brain has evolved for governing motor activity by transforming sensory patterns to patterns of motor coordination. Movement, as a basic bodily expression of this governing function is shown to underlie higher cognitive processes and social interaction.There are three prevailing concepts of

75 FR 75188 - Listening Session Regarding Improving the Accessibility of Government Information

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-02

... SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Listening Session Regarding Improving the Accessibility of... of diverse communities and provide better solutions, the U.S. Council of CIOs, in collaboration with... out of? What technologies should the Federal government use that would enhance your interactions with...

Air-Sea Interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Csanady, G. T.

2001-03-01

In recent years air-sea interaction has emerged as a subject in its own right, encompassing small-scale and large-scale processes in both air and sea. Air-Sea Interaction: Laws and Mechanisms is a comprehensive account of how the atmosphere and the ocean interact to control the global climate, what physical laws govern this interaction, and its prominent mechanisms. The topics covered range from evaporation in the oceans, to hurricanes, and on to poleward heat transport by the oceans. By developing the subject from basic physical (thermodynamic) principles, the book is accessible to graduate students and research scientists in meteorology, oceanography, and environmental engineering. It will also be of interest to the broader physics community involved in the treatment of transfer laws, and thermodynamics of the atmosphere and ocean.

Improving Unsustainable Environmental Governance in South Africa: the Case for Holistic Governance

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LJ Kotze

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Environmental law in South Africa has developed in a rapid fashion since the inception of the new constitutional dispensation in 1994. This development is evident from, inter alia, the constitutionalisation of the environmental right in section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Section 24 contains amongst other provisions, directive principles that impose duties on government to protect the environment for present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures. It is apparent from section 24 that these measures should ensure environmental governance practices that are aimed at the achievement of sustainable results. The South African environmental governance regime is, however, characterised by fragmentation that may negate the achievement of sustainable environmental governance. It is argued in this article that, for environmental governance to become sustainable, it is necessary to integrate environmental governance efforts, possibly by way of a holistic approach to environmental governance. In light of the above, this article: investigates the nature and extent of fragmentation; explores reasons for fragmentation; discusses disadvantages of fragmented governance efforts in South Africa; investigates the concept of integration and holistic governance as means to achieve sustainable environmental governance results; and makes recommendations regarding the eventual achievement of integrated, holistic and sustainable environmental governance.

THE MAIN TRENDS OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THE ADMINISTRATION OF ROSPOTREBNADZOR IN THE LENINGRAD REGION AND THE GOVERNMENT OF LENINGRAD REGION IN THE FIELD OF POPULATION RADIATION PROTECTION

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S. A. Gorbanev

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The article gives the main interaction trends of the Administration of Rospotrebnadzor in the Leningrad Region and the Government of Leningrad Region regarding issues of regional radiation protection. It reports on comprehensive measures devoted to the limitation of the population exposure from natural irradiation sources, monitoring of territories which suffered from Chernobyl NPP accident and monitoring of the environmental impact of unauthorized dumps and solid municipal waste sites in the Leningrad Region. It presents the basic issues of medical exposure limitation in the Leningrad Region and measures for their solving.

Governance in Health - The Need for Exchange and Evidence Comment on "Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models".

Science.gov (United States)

Chanturidze, Tata; Obermann, Konrad

2016-05-17

Governance in health is cited as one of the key factors in balancing the concerns of the government and public sector with the interests of civil society/private players, but often remains poorly described and operationalized. Richard Saltman and Antonio Duran look at two aspects in the search for new provider models in a context of health markets signalling liberalisation: (i) the role of the government to balance public and private interests and responsibilities in delivering care through modernised governance arrangements, and (ii) the finding that operational complexities may hinder well-designed provider governance models, unless governance reflects country-specific realities. This commentary builds on the discussion by Saltman and Duran, and argues that the concept of governance needs to be clearly defined and operationalized in order to be helpful for policy debate as well as for the development of an applicable framework for performance improvement. It provides a working definition of governance and includes a reflection on the prevailing cultural norms in an organization or society upon which any governance needs to be build. It proposes to explore whether the "evidence-based governance" concept can be introduced to generate knowledge about innovative and effective governance models, and concludes that studies similar to the one by Saltman and Duran can inform this debate. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Interaction between 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met polymorphisms on HPA axis reactivity in preschoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Dougherty, Lea R; Klein, Daniel N; Congdon, Eliza; Canli, Turhan; Hayden, Elizabeth P

2010-02-01

This study examined whether the interaction between the serotonin transporter promoter region (5-HTTLPR) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphisms was associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress. A community sample of 144 preschool-aged children was genotyped and exposed to stress-inducing laboratory tasks. Salivary cortisol was obtained at four time points during a standardized laboratory assessment before and after stressors involving separation from a parent and frustrating tasks. Children homozygous for the short-5-HTTLPR allele and carrying the Met-BDNF allele evidenced a significantly lower initial level of cortisol, followed by a positive increase in cortisol in response to the laboratory stressors. In contrast, children who were homozygous for the short-5-HTTLPR and the Val-BDNF alleles evidenced a greater decline in cortisol in response to the laboratory stressors. Findings indicated that the BDNF gene moderated the association between 5-HTTLPR and children's biological stress responses, suggesting that epistatic effects play a role in individual differences in stress regulation, and possibly genetic vulnerability to stress-related disorders. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating water and agricultural management: collaborative governance for a complex policy problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Fish, Rob D; Ioris, Antonio A R; Watson, Nigel M

2010-11-01

This paper examines governance requirements for integrating water and agricultural management (IWAM). The institutional arrangements for the agriculture and water sectors are complex and multi-dimensional, and integration cannot therefore be achieved through a simplistic 'additive' policy process. Effective integration requires the development of a new collaborative approach to governance that is designed to cope with scale dependencies and interactions, uncertainty and contested knowledge, and interdependency among diverse and unequal interests. When combined with interdisciplinary research, collaborative governance provides a viable normative model because of its emphasis on reciprocity, relationships, learning and creativity. Ultimately, such an approach could lead to the sorts of system adaptations and transformations that are required for IWAM. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medical universities educational and research online services: benchmarking universities' website towards e-government.

Science.gov (United States)

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Meidani, Zahra

2014-06-01

Websites as one of the initial steps towards an e-government adoption do facilitate delivery of online and customer-oriented services. In this study we intended to investigate the role of the websites of medical universities in providing educational and research services following the E-government maturity model in the Iranian universities. This descriptive and cross- sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking the websites in 2012. The research population included the entire medical university website (37). Delivery of educational and research services through these university websites including information, interaction, transaction, and Integration were investigated using a checklist. The data were then analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and using SPSS software. Level of educational and research services by websites of the medical universities type I and II was evaluated medium as 1.99 and 1.89, respectively. All the universities gained a mean score of 1 out of 3 in terms of integration of educational and research services. Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adapt to e-government in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users' e-literacy, access to the internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other organizations, suggest that e-government realization goes beyond technical challenges.

Strategic interaction between fiscal and monetary policies in an export-oriented economy

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Merzlyakov Sergey

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Solving the problem of stabilizing the economy is directly tied to the necessity of keeping the main macroeconomic variables stable. However, macroeconomic stability is not in the general case a purely fiscal or a purely monetary problem. How the central bank and the government interact is of principle importance. We investigate the impact of macroeconomic policies on the dynamics of the exchange rate, inflation, output and stabilization fund and consider different forms of strategic interaction between the government and the central bank. In this paper we build a stylized model of an export-oriented economy. We use numerical examples for our analysis and practical conclusions. The effective interaction of fiscal and monetary policies is possible under a cooperative Stackelberg game interaction with the government as leader. It is shown that the independence of the central bank does not play a crucial role.

The link between UHC reforms and health system governance: lessons from Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hort, Krishna; Jayasuriya, Rohan; Dayal, Prarthna

2017-05-15

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how and to what extent the design and implementation of universal health coverage (UHC) reforms have been influenced by the governance arrangements of health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC); and how governments in these countries have or have not responded to the challenges of governance for UHC. Design/methodology/approach Comparative case study analysis of three Asian countries with substantial experience of UHC reforms (Thailand, Vietnam and China) was undertaken using data from published studies and grey literature. Studies included were those which described the modifications and adaptations that occurred during design and implementation of the UHC programme, the actors and institutions involved and how these changes related to the governance of the health system. Findings Each country adapted the design of their UHC programmes to accommodate their specific institutional arrangements, and then made further modifications in response to issues arising during implementation. The authors found that these modifications were often related to the impacts on governance of the institutional changes inherent in UHC reforms. Governments varied in their response to these governance impacts, with Thailand prepared to adopt new governance modes (which the authors termed as an "adaptive" response), while China and Vietnam have tended to persist with traditional hierarchical governance modes ("reactive" responses). Originality/value This study addresses a gap in current knowledge on UHC reform, and finds evidence of a complex interaction between substantive health sector reform and governance reform in the LMIC context in Asia, confirming recent similar observations on health reforms in high-income countries.

Gene × Environment Interactions in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Role of Epigenetic Mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Tordjman, Sylvie; Somogyi, Eszter; Coulon, Nathalie; Kermarrec, Solenn; Cohen, David; Bronsard, Guillaume; Bonnot, Olivier; Weismann-Arcache, Catherine; Botbol, Michel; Lauth, Bertrand; Ginchat, Vincent; Roubertoux, Pierre; Barburoth, Marianne; Kovess, Viviane; Geoffray, Marie-Maude; Xavier, Jean

2014-01-01

Several studies support currently the hypothesis that autism etiology is based on a polygenic and epistatic model. However, despite advances in epidemiological, molecular and clinical genetics, the genetic risk factors remain difficult to identify, with the exception of a few chromosomal disorders and several single gene disorders associated with an increased risk for autism. Furthermore, several studies suggest a role of environmental factors in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). First, arguments for a genetic contribution to autism, based on updated family and twin studies, are examined. Second, a review of possible prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal environmental risk factors for ASD are presented. Then, the hypotheses are discussed concerning the underlying mechanisms related to a role of environmental factors in the development of ASD in association with genetic factors. In particular, epigenetics as a candidate biological mechanism for gene × environment interactions is considered and the possible role of epigenetic mechanisms reported in genetic disorders associated with ASD is discussed. Furthermore, the example of in utero exposure to valproate provides a good illustration of epigenetic mechanisms involved in ASD and innovative therapeutic strategies. Epigenetic remodeling by environmental factors opens new perspectives for a better understanding, prevention, and early therapeutic intervention of ASD. PMID:25136320

Ethnic Variation in Classroom Interaction: Myth or Reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumaravadivelu, B.

1990-01-01

A study of ethnic variation supports the hypothesis that rules/norms governing second-language classroom interactional patterns are affected by the teacher's pedagogical orientation and turn allocation management, learner disposition/motivation toward participation, and interactional opportunities. It cautions against hasty linkages between…

Quantitative Content Analysis of Communication Patterns on Facebook: A Case Study of the Croatian Government

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Mato Brautović

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the process of involving citizens more deeply in the democratic process, Facebook is becoming an increasingly important tool for governments in policy making. Facebook has the potential to increase political participation, but many governments fail to use it in the right way, because they just share information online and do not engage with their followers/citizens. This paper shows how the Croatian government is using Facebook and the communication patterns resulting from their work. The quantitative analysis of 20,546 posts and 52,311 comments show that communication is one way, rather than interactive. Government users do not follow the 90-9-1- rule of thumb for social networks.

The Role of Governance in Mobile Phones for Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

OpenAIRE

Asongu, Simplice A; Nwachukwu, Jacinta

2016-01-01

This study assesses the synergy effects of governance in mobile phone penetration for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000-2012 by employing a battery of interactive estimation techniques, namely: Fixed effects (FE), Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Tobit regressions. Concepts of political (voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), economic (government effectiveness and regulation quality) and institutional (corruption-contr...

Membrane interaction of retroviral Gag proteins

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Robert Alfred Dick

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Assembly of an infectious retroviral particle relies on multimerization of the Gag polyprotein at the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. The three domains of Gag common to all retroviruses-- MA, CA, and NC-- provide the signals for membrane binding, assembly, and viral RNA packaging, respectively. These signals do not function independently of one another. For example, Gag multimerization enhances membrane binding and is more efficient when NC is interacting with RNA. MA binding to the plasma membrane is governed by several principles, including electrostatics, recognition of specific lipid head groups, hydrophobic interactions, and membrane order. HIV-1 uses many of these principles while Rous sarcoma virus (RSV appears to use fewer. This review describes the principles that govern Gag interactions with membranes, focusing on RSV and HIV-1 Gag. The review also defines lipid and membrane behavior, and discusses the complexities in determining how lipid and membrane behavior impact Gag membrane binding.

Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard B. Saltman

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A central problem in designing effective models of provider governance in health systems has been to ensure an appropriate balance between the concerns of public sector and/or government decision-makers, on the one hand, and of non-governmental health services actors in civil society and private life, on the other. In tax-funded European health systems up to the 1980s, the state and other public sector decision-makers played a dominant role over health service provision, typically operating hospitals through national or regional governments on a command-and-control basis. In a number of countries, however, this state role has started to change, with governments first stepping out of direct service provision and now de facto pushed to focus more on steering provider organizations rather than on direct public management. In this new approach to provider governance, the state has pulled back into a regulatory role that introduces market-like incentives and management structures, which then apply to both public and private sector providers alike. This article examines some of the main operational complexities in implementing this new governance reality/strategy, specifically from a service provision (as opposed to mostly a financing or even regulatory perspective. After briefly reviewing some of the key theoretical dilemmas, the paper presents two case studies where this new approach was put into practice: primary care in Sweden and hospitals in Spain. The article concludes that good governance today needs to reflect practical operational realities if it is to have the desired effect on health sector reform outcome.

Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Saltman, Richard B; Duran, Antonio

2015-11-03

A central problem in designing effective models of provider governance in health systems has been to ensure an appropriate balance between the concerns of public sector and/or government decision-makers, on the one hand, and of non-governmental health services actors in civil society and private life, on the other. In tax-funded European health systems up to the 1980s, the state and other public sector decision-makers played a dominant role over health service provision, typically operating hospitals through national or regional governments on a command-and-control basis. In a number of countries, however, this state role has started to change, with governments first stepping out of direct service provision and now de facto pushed to focus more on steering provider organizations rather than on direct public management. In this new approach to provider governance, the state has pulled back into a regulatory role that introduces market-like incentives and management structures, which then apply to both public and private sector providers alike. This article examines some of the main operational complexities in implementing this new governance reality/strategy, specifically from a service provision (as opposed to mostly a financing or even regulatory) perspective. After briefly reviewing some of the key theoretical dilemmas, the paper presents two case studies where this new approach was put into practice: primary care in Sweden and hospitals in Spain. The article concludes that good governance today needs to reflect practical operational realities if it is to have the desired effect on health sector reform outcome. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

GOVERNMENT SIZE VERSUS GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY IN A MODEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

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Francisca Guedes de Oliveira

2016-04-01

Full Text Available We develop a Solow type growth model where firms produce a single homogenous good using labor, private capital and a public good. The "amount" of public good depends on current government spending and government quality. Quality is the result of the accumulation of public capital. Governments charge distortionary taxes and provide the public good, investing also in "quality" by accumulating public capital. We analyze how the composition of government spending between current expenditures and quality affects the equilibrium levels. We aim to understand the difference in terms of steady state levels between leviathan, quality driven and benevolent governments.

Transformative environmental governance

Science.gov (United States)

Transformative governance is an approach to environmental governance that has the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime shifts in coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) at multiple scales. The goal of transformative governance is to actively shift degraded SESs to ...

Governance matters: an ecological association between governance and child mortality.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Ro-Ting; Chien, Lung-Chang; Chen, Ya-Mei; Chan, Chang-Chuan

2014-09-01

Governance of a country may have widespread effects on the health of its population, yet little is known about the effect of governance on child mortality in a country that is undergoing urbanization, economic development, and disease control. We obtained indicators of six dimensions of governance (perceptions of voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption) and national under-5 mortality rates for 149 countries between 1996 and 2010. We applied a semi-parametric generalized additive mixed model to examine associations after controlling for the effects of development factors (urbanization level and economy), disease control factors (hygienic conditions and vaccination rates), health expenditures, air quality, and time. Governance, development, and disease control showed clear inverse relations with the under-5 mortality rate (pcountry's need for better governance is as important as improvements in development and disease control. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

The governance of the European patent system:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borras, Susana

2006-01-01

at the formal and informal dimensions of interactions in economic systems. This is further developed into an analytical framework which is then used in the assessment of the structural features of the current European patent system, one of the most advanced, complex, and contested economic systems in Europe....... The conclusions elaborate on the normative implications regarding the current weaknesses of the European patent system, and examine the general theoretical implications of the findings, particularly looking at the effectiveness and legitimacy of technically complex governance systems....

Integrating adaptive governance and participatory multicriteria methods: a framework for climate adaptation governance

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Stefania Munaretto

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Climate adaptation is a dynamic social and institutional process where the governance dimension is receiving growing attention. Adaptive governance is an approach that promises to reduce uncertainty by improving the knowledge base for decision making. As uncertainty is an inherent feature of climate adaptation, adaptive governance seems to be a promising approach for improving climate adaptation governance. However, the adaptive governance literature has so far paid little attention to decision-making tools and methods, and the literature on the governance of adaptation is in its infancy in this regard. We argue that climate adaptation governance would benefit from systematic and yet flexible decision-making tools and methods such as participatory multicriteria methods for the evaluation of adaptation options, and that these methods can be linked to key adaptive governance principles. Moving from these premises, we propose a framework that integrates key adaptive governance features into participatory multicriteria methods for the governance of climate adaptation.

Succeeding with interactive research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krogh, Andreas Hagedorn; Nielsen, Morten Velsing

2017-01-01

Increasingly, social science research is carried out in collaboration with partners outside universities, yet research methodology is lacking on how to manoeuvre in a terrain where multiple actors set expectations for research. This article conceptualizes interactive research as research...... the capacity for critique and ensuring that scientific standards are met. Based on our own experience and theories of interactive governance, network management and collaborative leadership, as well as on existing methodological literature, we provide guidance and suggest concrete tools and methods...

Succeeding with interactive research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krogh, Andreas Hagedorn; Nielsen, Morten Velsing

2017-01-01

the capacity for critique and ensuring that scientific standards are met. Based on our own experience and theories of interactive governance, network management and collaborative leadership, as well as on existing methodological literature, we provide guidance and suggest concrete tools and methods......Increasingly, social science research is carried out in collaboration with partners outside universities, yet research methodology is lacking on how to manoeuvre in a terrain where multiple actors set expectations for research. This article conceptualizes interactive research as research...

Bridging communication between public and government: a case study on kim surabaya

Science.gov (United States)

Aji, G. G.; Tsuroyya; Dewi, P. A. R.

2018-01-01

In democratic era, the public communication paradigm has shifted from a one-way socialization to more interactive one. As a consequence of freedom of speech, the public can Actively communicate with the government and vice versa. The problem is government is almost impossible to reach all public groups. Therefore, they has created the concept of social institutions as a communication hub between the government and its public, named the Kelompok Informasi Masyarakat (KIM). This research examines the activity of KIM in Surabaya on bridging public between government and the public. Using a case study approach, this research utilized various techniques of data collection such as: interviews, observation, and documentation. The results Showed that KIM plays a role in the two-way flow of information; to diseminate program and submit complaints and suggestions from the public about the policy. This study confirm the urgency of utilization on various channels in communicating with the public.

Practice of good governance and corporate governance

OpenAIRE

Bălăceanu Cristina; Predonu Andreea – Monica

2010-01-01

Corporate governance reforms are occurring in countries around the globe and potentially impacting the population of the entire planet. In developing countries, such reforms occur in a larger context that is primarily defined by previous attempts at promoting “development” and recent processes of economic globalization. In this context, corporate governance reforms (in combination with the liberalising reforms associated with economic globalization), in effect re...

Multi-actor governance of sustainable biofuels in developing countries: The case of Mozambique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schut, Marc; Cunha Soares, Núria; Ven, Gerrie van de; Slingerland, Maja

2014-01-01

This paper describes and analyses the multi-actor governance process that made Mozambique the first African nation-state to develop a national policy framework for sustainable biofuels. The paper draws on findings from action research conducted in Mozambique between December 2008 and July 2012. We analyse interactions between the changing governance context, the course of the multi-actor governance process, and the choices in relation to governance framework characteristics and content for four successive stages of governance framework development. This provides the basis for reflection on the competences required for effective multi-actor sustainability governance, and a discussion about the role of the nation-state in sustainability governance of global economies such as biofuels. The governance framework for sustainable biofuels has contributed to a more transparent and secure investment climate for biofuels in Mozambique. Key factors for success were (1) the presence of different types of competences during the various stages of the governance framework development, (2) closing the gap between ‘licences to sell’ and ‘licences to produce’ across different governance levels, and (3) balancing between the short- and long-term objectives for biofuel production in Mozambique and requirements of global biofuel markets. Developing-country nation-states can provide an essential contribution to these success-factors for global governance of sustainable biofuels. - Highlights: • Mozambique is the first African country that developed a national governance framework for sustainable biofuels. • Independence, representation, expertise and operational capacity are essential competences in multi-actor sustainability governance. • Developing country's nation-states play an essential role in harmonizing short- and long-term objectives across different governance levels. • Synergies between licences to sell and licences to produce biofuels sustainably should

Incorporate Social Network Services in E-Government Solutions: The Case of Macedonia

OpenAIRE

Koste Budinoski; Vladimir Trajkovik

2012-01-01

This paper presents the state of e-Government sophistication in R. Macedonia. The survey is done using the 20 basic public e- services. A survey result showed that further progress will need to be made on two – way interaction. Social networks are seen as convenient mean for introducing two – way interaction, social capital, transparency, anti-corruption, democracy, law enforcement, and mainly trust and citizen inclusion and empowerment. We explored the potential impacts of social media in e-...

Effects Of Governance On Corporate Ethics: A Cross-Country Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Boța-Avram

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This research paper empirically investigates the extent to which the quality of governance measured through six dimensions developed by World Bank has a positive influence on the corporate ethics, or in other words, the ethical behaviour of firms in their interaction with public officials, politicians and other companies. By using a dual approach, from geographical and income group classification, this study analyses data from official reports issued by World Bank and World Economic Forum for a final sample of 140 countries, trying to highlight the positive relationship that might exist between governance clusters and ethical behaviour of firms. For the purpose of the paper, a multiple regression analysis was performed. The research results confirm that there are strong positive correlations between most of the governance indicators and companies’ ethical behaviour, even if there are some differences between various geographical areas, and also between different income categories economies, in terms of the intensity of this influence.

Energy Efficiency Governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

The purpose of this report is to help EE practitioners, government officials and stakeholders to establish the most effective EE governance structures, given their specific country context. It also aims to provide readers with relevant and accessible information to support the development of comprehensive and effective governance mechanisms. The International Energy Agency (IEA) conducted a global review of many elements of EE governance,including legal frameworks, institutional frameworks, funding mechanisms, co-ordination mechanisms and accountability arrangements, such as evaluation and oversight. The research tools included a survey of over 500 EE experts in 110 countries, follow-up interviews of over 120 experts in 27 countries and extensive desk study and literature searches on good EE governance.

China’s Insurance Regulatory Reform, Corporate Governance Behavior and Insurers’ Governance Effectiveness

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongliang; Qiu, Aichao

2017-01-01

External regulation is an important mechanism to improve corporate behavior in emerging markets. China’s insurance governance regulation, which began to supervise and guide insurance corporate governance behavior in 2006, has experienced a complex process of reform. This study tested our hypotheses with a sample of 85 firms during 2010–2011, which was obtained by providing a questionnaire to all of China’s shareholding insurance companies. The empirical study results generally show that China’s insurance governance effectiveness has significantly improved through strict regulation. Insurance corporate governance can improve business acumen and risk-control ability, but no significant evidence was found to prove its influence on profitability, as a result of focusing less attention on governance than on management. State ownership is associated with higher corporate governance effectiveness than non-state ownership. Listed companies tend to outperform non-listed firms, and life insurance corporate governance is more effective than that of property insurers. This study not only contributes to the comprehensive understanding of corporate governance effectiveness but also to the literature by highlighting the effect of corporate governance regulation in China’s insurance industry and other emerging economies of the financial sector. PMID:29039781

China’s Insurance Regulatory Reform, Corporate Governance Behavior and Insurers’ Governance Effectiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huicong Li

2017-10-01

Full Text Available External regulation is an important mechanism to improve corporate behavior in emerging markets. China’s insurance governance regulation, which began to supervise and guide insurance corporate governance behavior in 2006, has experienced a complex process of reform. This study tested our hypotheses with a sample of 85 firms during 2010–2011, which was obtained by providing a questionnaire to all of China’s shareholding insurance companies. The empirical study results generally show that China’s insurance governance effectiveness has significantly improved through strict regulation. Insurance corporate governance can improve business acumen and risk-control ability, but no significant evidence was found to prove its influence on profitability, as a result of focusing less attention on governance than on management. State ownership is associated with higher corporate governance effectiveness than non-state ownership. Listed companies tend to outperform non-listed firms, and life insurance corporate governance is more effective than that of property insurers. This study not only contributes to the comprehensive understanding of corporate governance effectiveness but also to the literature by highlighting the effect of corporate governance regulation in China’s insurance industry and other emerging economies of the financial sector.

Local government financial autonomy in Nigeria: The State Joint Local Government Account

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Jude Okafor

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the statutory financial relations and financial autonomy of local government in Nigeria, and the freedom of local government to generate revenue from its assigned sources without external interference. It focuses particularly on a financial instrument called the State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA and how its operations have positively or negatively affected the financial autonomy of local government councils and the inter-relations between state and local government in Nigeria.

Intramolecular epistasis and the evolution of a new enzymatic function.

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Sajid Noor

Full Text Available Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA and its close relative melamine deaminase (TriA differ by just nine amino acid substitutions but have distinct catalytic activities. Together, they offer an informative model system to study the molecular processes that underpin the emergence of new enzymatic function. Here we have constructed the potential evolutionary trajectories between AtzA and TriA, and characterized the catalytic activities and biophysical properties of the intermediates along those trajectories. The order in which the nine amino acid substitutions that separate the enzymes could be introduced to either enzyme, while maintaining significant catalytic activity, was dictated by epistatic interactions, principally between three amino acids within the active site: namely, S331C, N328D and F84L. The mechanistic basis for the epistatic relationships is consistent with a model for the catalytic mechanisms in which protonation is required for hydrolysis of melamine, but not atrazine.

Interaction management by partnerships: The case of biodiversity and climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.; Arts, B.J.M.; Glasbergen, P.

2011-01-01

This article examines the contributions that partnerships make to interaction management. Our conceptualization of interaction management builds on earlier contributions to the literature on regimes and governance. The article focuses on the interactions among the biodiversity and climate change

Modelling End-User of Electronic-Government Service: The Role of Information quality, System Quality and Trust

Science.gov (United States)

Witarsyah Jacob, Deden; Fudzee, Mohd Farhan Md; Aizi Salamat, Mohamad; Kasim, Shahreen; Mahdin, Hairulnizam; Azhar Ramli, Azizul

2017-08-01

Many governments around the world increasingly use internet technologies such as electronic government to provide public services. These services range from providing the most basic informational website to deploying sophisticated tools for managing interactions between government agencies and beyond government. Electronic government (e-government) aims to provide a more accurate, easily accessible, cost-effective and time saving for the community. In this study, we develop a new model of e-government adoption service by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) through the incorporation of some variables such as System Quality, Information Quality and Trust. The model is then tested using a large-scale, multi-site survey research of 237 Indonesian citizens. This model will be validated by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The result indicates that System Quality, Information Quality and Trust variables proven to effect user behavior. This study extends the current understanding on the influence of System Quality, Information Quality and Trust factors to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

Optimalisasi Penerapan Prinsip Good Governance Bidang Akademik dalam Upaya Mewujudkan Good University Governance

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Hery Harjono Muljo

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This study wants to know and understand whether good governance principles have been well applied as well as the factors influencing optimization of the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field in an effort to realize good university governance in Bina Nusantara University. The study aims to evaluate the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field, know the factors that affect the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field, and improve and develop the academic areas in accordance with good governance principles in order to maximize the role of Bina Nusantara University as Good University Governance. The approach model used to understand the implementation of good governance principles was a model to educational institution using the 8 principles, namely academic freedom, shared governance, clear rights and responsibilities, selection at merit, financial stability, accountability, regular testing of standards, and the importance of close cooperation. Research used qualitative method with descriptive analysis, by analyzing the factors influencing optimization of the implementation of good governance principles, particularly on academic areas. The results achieved there were 18 factors that affect the optimization of the implementation of good governance principles. Then the factors affected the optimization ofthe implementation of good governance principles the most are operational centralization and academic decentralization which were the novelty of this study.

Experimentalist governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sabel, C.F.; Zeitlin, J.; Levi-Faur, D.

2012-01-01

A secular rise in volatility and uncertainty is overwhelming the capacities of conventional hierarchical governance and ‘command-and-control’ regulation in many settings. One significant response is the emergence of a novel, ‘experimentalist’ form of governance that establishes deliberately

Remaking Governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Carver, John

2000-01-01

The Policy Governance model's philosophical foundations lie in Rousseau's social contract, Greenleaf's servant-leadership, and modern management theory. Policy Governance stresses primacy of the owner-representative role; full-board authority; superintendents as chief executive officers; authoritative prescription of "ends," bounded…

Performance Effects of Stakeholder Interaction in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Brazil

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Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Firm survival in emerging economies is often related to having access to valuable resources that are in stakeholders‟ hands. However, the literature on strategy in emerging economies provides scant information on the efficiency of acquiring stakeholder resources and its effect on firm performance. We investigated the stakeholder interaction effects on performance of domestic firms competing in an emerging market (Wright, Filatotchev, Hoskisson, & Peng, 2005 from a contractual perspective (Williamson, 1985. We argue that interacting stakeholders in a contractual set yield synergistic governance structures that allow firms more efficient access to external resources. Using a sample of 267 firms in Brazil (secondary data, we explored different patterns in stakeholder contracting with community, government, top management, and employees. A three-stage analysis process was devised: cluster analysis, general linear model estimation and verification tests. Results suggest that stakeholder interaction has a positive impact on firm performance. The conjoint effect of government and community contracts was found to yield superior firm performance as they provide a basic structure for contracting with other interacting stakeholders.

Digital Government and Public Health

OpenAIRE

Fountain, Jane E.

2004-01-01

Digital government is typically defined as the production and delivery of information and services inside government and between government and the public using a range of information and communication technologies. Two types of government relationships with other entities are government-to-citizen and government-to-government relationships. Both offer opportunities and challenges. Assessment of a public health agencys readiness for digital government includes examination of technical, manage...

A Conceptualization of Knowledge Governance in Project-based Organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pemsel, Sofia; Wiewiorac, Anna; Müller, Ralf

2014-01-01

This paper conceptualizes and defines knowledge governance (KG) in project-based organizations (PBOs). Two key contributions towards a multi-faceted view of KG and an understanding of KG in PBOs are advanced, as distinguished from knowledge management and organizational learning concepts. The con......This paper conceptualizes and defines knowledge governance (KG) in project-based organizations (PBOs). Two key contributions towards a multi-faceted view of KG and an understanding of KG in PBOs are advanced, as distinguished from knowledge management and organizational learning concepts....... The conceptual framework addresses macro- and micro-level elements of KG and their interaction. Our definition of KG in PBOs highlights the contingent nature of KG processes in relation to their organizational context. These contributions provide a novel platform for understanding KG in PBOs....

The Politics of Stakeholder Influence in Corporate Environmental Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Backer, Lise

In this article I analyse how the multinational oil company Shell has responded to the increasing institutional pressures (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) related to corporate environmental governance. The corporate culture in Shell appears favourable (Hoffman, 2001) towards the adoption of corporate...... environmental governance practices. The Shell top management is to this end appearing sincere in the way they monitor (Meyer and Rowan, 1977) the progress in giving secondary stakeholders (Clarkson, 1995) access to environmental information and to environmental decision-making in Shell. Based on the Shell case...... I contribute in this article to descriptive stakeholder engagement theory by conceptualising a number of new internal influence strategies that engaged secondary stakeholders can use in their new face-to-face interactions with the corporations. These internal stakeholder influence strategies should...

Noncovalent Interactions in Organic Electronic Materials

KAUST Repository

Ravva, Mahesh Kumar; Risko, Chad; Bredas, Jean-Luc

2017-01-01

In this chapter, we provide an overview of how noncovalent interactions, determined by the chemical structure of π-conjugated molecules and polymers, govern essential aspects of the electronic, optical, and mechanical characteristics of organic

Governance of Higher Education--Implementation of Project Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Macheridis, Nikos

2017-01-01

This article focuses on coordination between governance actors in higher education. The object of the study is a department at a public university, seen as a multi-project environment. The purpose of this article is to illustrate and analyze project governance as a tool that allows departmental management to coordinate with the authorities, the…

Control mechanisms in corporate governance

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Jovanović-Zattila Milena

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The structure of corporate governance is determined by the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different actors in the company structure. Organizationally complex structure of corporate entities, established as a reflection of composite forms of business corporations, give rise to the conflict of interest between the owners, the board of directors and managers, which is generally known as the principal-agency problem. Given the fact that operations of modern companies include interaction with a large number of stakeholders, matters of ethics and accountability to the owners, employees, creditors and the state are the basic postulates which have been subject to re-examination lately. The reasons for reassessing these issues are to be sought in numerous abuses by companies, which are on the other hand highly active in their effors to protect themselves from similar abuses (mainy cyber crime. In order to respond to new challenges and requirements, which include providing for the interests of both shareholders and stakeholders, corporate management is required to establish an adequate system of internal control covering all company activities. Contemporary trends in the development of internal audit, as a mechanism of good corporate governance, are reflected in providing advice in respect of anticipated future risks and risk management.

Medical Universities Educational and Research Online Services: Benchmarking Universities’ Website Towards E-Government

Science.gov (United States)

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Meidani, Zahra

2014-01-01

Background: Websites as one of the initial steps towards an e-government adoption do facilitate delivery of online and customer-oriented services. In this study we intended to investigate the role of the websites of medical universities in providing educational and research services following the E-government maturity model in the Iranian universities. Methods: This descriptive and cross- sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking the websites in 2012. The research population included the entire medical university website (37). Delivery of educational and research services through these university websites including information, interaction, transaction, and Integration were investigated using a checklist. The data were then analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and using SPSS software. Results: Level of educational and research services by websites of the medical universities type I and II was evaluated medium as 1.99 and 1.89, respectively. All the universities gained a mean score of 1 out of 3 in terms of integration of educational and research services. Conclusions: Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adapt to e-government in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users’ e-literacy, access to the internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other organizations, suggest that e-government realization goes beyond technical challenges. PMID:25132713

Epistatic participation of REV1 and REV3 in the formation of UV-induced frameshift mutations in cell cycle-arrested yeast cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heidenreich, Erich [Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Borschkegasse 8a, A-1090 Vienna (Austria)]. E-mail: erich.heidenreich@meduniwien.ac.at; Eisler, Herfried [Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Borschkegasse 8a, A-1090 Vienna (Austria); Steinboeck, Ferdinand [Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Borschkegasse 8a, A-1090 Vienna (Austria)

2006-01-29

Mutations arising in times of cell cycle arrest may provide a selective advantage for unicellular organisms adapting to environmental changes. For multicellular organisms, however, they may pose a serious threat, in that such mutations in somatic cells contribute to carcinogenesis and ageing. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae presents a convenient model system for studying the incidence and the mechanisms of stationary-phase mutation in a eukaryotic organism. Having studied the emergence of frameshift mutants after several days of starvation-induced cell cycle arrest, we previously reported that all (potentially error-prone) translesion synthesis (TLS) enzymes identified in S. cerevisiae did not contribute to the basal level of spontaneous stationary-phase mutations. However, we observed that an increased frequency of stationary-phase frameshift mutations, brought about by a defective nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway or by UV irradiation, was dependent on Rev3p, the catalytic subunit of the TLS polymerase zeta (Pol {zeta}). Employing the same two conditions, we now examined the effect of deletions of the genes coding for polymerase eta (Pol {eta}) (RAD30) and Rev1p (REV1). In a NER-deficient strain background, the increased incidence of stationary-phase mutations was only moderately influenced by a lack of Pol {eta} but completely reduced to wild type level by a knockout of the REV1 gene. UV-induced stationary-phase mutations were abundant in wild type and rad30{delta} strains, but substantially reduced in a rev1{delta} as well as a rev3{delta} strain. The similarity of the rev1{delta} and the rev3{delta} phenotype and an epistatic relationship evident from experiments with a double-deficient strain suggests a participation of Rev1p and Rev3p in the same mutagenic pathway. Based on these results, we propose that the response of cell cycle-arrested cells to an excess of exo- or endogenously induced DNA damage includes a novel replication

Network governance and capacity of local governments to deliver LED in Uganda

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Rose B Namara

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses network governance and its contribution to the capacity of local governments (LGs to deliver local economic development (LED in Uganda. Although a formal LED policy was only established in Uganda in February 2014, there have been LED-inspired practices in the past decade. Various scholars and practitioners have observed that the autonomy and capacity of LGs to deliver LED is limited, but have been hopeful that new governance strategies like network governance would increase the capacities of LGs. However, neither network governance arrangements among LGs, nor their potential to improve governance capacity, have been documented. In a case study of Kyenjojo District, this paper finds that existing network governance arrangements have been fundamental in improving financial autonomy at this LG, delivering some income to invest in LED activities, although no evidence was found of reduced transaction costs in transforming local economies. The study further reveals that network governance arrangements have not led to the development of specialised skills in regulation or law enforcement, and capacity gaps are evident amongst staff and members in understanding the private sector and how it works. On a positive note, there is clear evidence of attempts by the LG to be innovative. Based on these findings, this study recommends that LGs need to consider a multi-pronged or multi-network governance approach to LED, which in turn will require a refocusing of governance mechanisms to become more dynamic and responsive, and offer incentives to the various actors in the development sector.

Data governance implementation concept

OpenAIRE

Ullrichová, Jana

2016-01-01

This master´s thesis discusses concept of implementation for data governance. The theoretical part of this thesis is about data governance. It explains why data are important for company, describes definitoons of data governance, its history, its components, its principles and processes and fitting in company. Theoretical part is amended with examples of data governance failures and banking specifics. The main goal of this thesis is to create a concept for implementing data governance and its...

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – WAY OF GOVERNANCE FOR MODERN COMPANIES

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Alina HAGIU

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Through corporate governance is aimed the building of a structure enabling a wide degree of freedom, within the law, and includes several changes of principle in accordance with international standards of transparency. A good governance within an organization mitigate risk, increase performance, pave the way towards financial markets, brings competitive goods and services on market, improves management style, show transparency towards all stakeholders and social responsibility. The lack of some mandatory rules and structures can lead to chaos in business. The paper aims to present the role and the importance of the corporate governance for modern companies, as well as the principles on which this is based. In order to do that we also identified the main ways to quantificate the level of corporate governance, including also the non-financial performance criteria used by investors to assess companies listed on stock exchange.

Smart governance for smart city

Science.gov (United States)

Mutiara, Dewi; Yuniarti, Siti; Pratama, Bambang

2018-03-01

Some of the local government in Indonesia claimed they already created a smart city. Mostly the claim based of IT utilization for their governance. In general, a smart city definition is to describe a developed urban area that creates sustainable economic development and high quality of life by excelling in multiple key; economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and government. For public services, the law guarantees good governance by setting the standard for e-government implicitly including for local government or a city. Based on the arguments, this research tries to test the condition of e-government of the Indonesian city in 34 provinces. The purpose is to map e-government condition by measuring indicators of smart government, which are: transparent governance and open data for the public. This research is departing from public information disclosure law and to correspond with the existence law. By examining government transparency, the output of the research can be used to measure the effectiveness of public information disclosure law and to determine the condition of e-government in local government in which as part of a smart city.

Governance of disaster risk reduction in Cameroon: The need to empower local government

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Henry N. Bang

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The impact of natural hazards and/or disasters in Cameroon continues to hit local communities hardest, but local government lacks the ability to manage disaster risks adequately. This is partly due to the fact that the necessity to mainstream disaster risk reduction into local governance and development practices is not yet an underlying principle of Cameroon’s disaster management framework. Using empirical and secondary data, this paper analyses the governance of disaster risks in Cameroon with particular focus on the challenges local government faces in implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. The hypothesis is that the governance of disaster risks is too centralised at the national level, with huge implications for the effective governance of disaster risks at the local level. Although Cameroon has reinvigorated efforts to address growing disaster risks in a proactive way, it is argued that the practical actions are more reactive than proactive in nature. The overall aim is to explore the challenges and opportunities that local government has in the governance of disaster risks. Based on the findings from this research, policy recommendations are suggested on ways to mainstream disaster risk reduction strategies into local governance, and advance understanding and practice in the local governance of disaster risks in the country.

RELEVANCE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MODELS IN COMPANIES DEVELOPMENT, IN CONTEXT OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LUMINIŢA CECILIA CRENICEAN

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Although the existing confusion regarding the concept of corporate governance persists, its role on sustainable maximize corporate values and providing high performance is undeniable. Moreover, the test of a corporate governance effectiveness model is the measurement in which it succeed to achieve the main objective, namely, that the company's perspective to maximize value to shareholders. In the economic crisis, it requires that by those systems in which companies are managed and controlled has to interact directly with social responsibility and business ethics held by those entities. It is expected that corporate managers have an efficient economic behavior, different from that of members of governments and economic decline that records do not meet current socio-economic situation

Interaction of Degradation, Deformation and Transport Processes in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

OpenAIRE

Bente, Sonja

2010-01-01

In this thesis a model for the complex interactions between deformation, degradation and transport processe in municipal solid waste landfills is presented. Key aspects of the model are a joint continuum mechanical framework and a monolithic solution of the governing equations within the Theory of Porous Media. Interactions are considered by coupling the governing physical fields over the domain of a representative elementary volume via selected state variables. A simplified two-stage degrada...

Architecture Governance: The Importance of Architecture Governance for Achieving Operationally Responsive Ground Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kolar, Mike; Estefan, Jeff; Giovannoni, Brian; Barkley, Erik

2011-01-01

Topics covered (1) Why Governance and Why Now? (2) Characteristics of Architecture Governance (3) Strategic Elements (3a) Architectural Principles (3b) Architecture Board (3c) Architecture Compliance (4) Architecture Governance Infusion Process. Governance is concerned with decision making (i.e., setting directions, establishing standards and principles, and prioritizing investments). Architecture governance is the practice and orientation by which enterprise architectures and other architectures are managed and controlled at an enterprise-wide level

Good government and good governance: record keeping in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article addresses the challenges that arise when record keeping systems are advocated as a necessary under-pinning for good government and good governance. The relationship between record keeping and accountability is analysed and contextualised in relation to transparency and Freedom of Information ...

Polyploidy Enhances F1 Pollen Sterility Loci Interactions That Increase Meiosis Abnormalities and Pollen Sterility in Autotetraploid Rice1[OPEN

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jinwen; Chen, Lin; Chen, Zhixiong; Wang, Lan; Lu, Yonggen

2015-01-01

Intersubspecific autotetraploid rice (Oryza sativa ssp. indica × japonica) hybrids have greater biological and yield potentials than diploid rice. However, the low fertility of intersubspecific autotetraploid hybrids, which is largely caused by high pollen abortion rates, limits their commercial utility. To decipher the cytological and molecular mechanisms underlying allelic interactions in autotetraploid rice, we developed an autotetraploid rice hybrid that was heterozygous (SiSj) at F1 pollen sterility loci (Sa, Sb, and Sc) using near-isogenic lines. Cytological studies showed that the autotetraploid had higher percentages (>30%) of abnormal chromosome behavior and aberrant meiocytes (>50%) during meiosis than did the diploid rice hybrid control. Analysis of gene expression profiles revealed 1,888 genes that were differentially expressed between the autotetraploid and diploid hybrid lines at the meiotic stage, among which 889 and 999 were up- and down-regulated, respectively. Of the 999 down-regulated genes, 940 were associated with the combined effect of polyploidy and pollen sterility loci interactions (IPE). Gene Ontology enrichment analysis identified a prominent functional gene class consisting of seven genes related to photosystem I (Gene Ontology 0009522). Moreover, 55 meiosis-related or meiosis stage-specific genes were associated with IPE in autotetraploid rice, including Os02g0497500, which encodes a DNA repair-recombination protein, and Os02g0490000, which encodes a component of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. These results suggest that polyploidy enhances epistatic interactions between alleles of pollen sterility loci, thereby altering the expression profiles of important meiosis-related or meiosis stage-specific genes and resulting in high pollen sterility. PMID:26511913

What's your favorite blend? Analyzing source and channel choices in business-to-government service interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Boer, Yvon

2014-01-01

In the Netherlands, over a million businesses regularly have to deal with complex matters imposed by the government (e.g., managing tax problems). To solve their problems, businesses have various potential sources to consult (e.g., Tax Office, advisor, friends/family). The myriad sources can be

Corporate Governance and Shariah Governance at Islamic Financial Institutions : Assessing from Current Practice in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Mizushima, Tadashi; Tadashi, Mizushima

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between corporate governance and Shariah governance, and how those governance concepts are handled at Islamic financial institutions.Although using the same word “governance,” Western corporate governance and Islamic Shariah governance may be different. The main research question is how different or similar are governance at conventional banks and Shariah governance at Islamic banks? We would like to find an answer to this question by under...

Governance and organizational theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos E. Quintero Castellanos

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this essay is to propose a way to link the theoretical body that has been weaved around governance and organizational theory. For this, a critical exposition is done about what is the theoretical core of governance, the opportunity areas are identified for the link of this theory with organizational theory. The essay concludes with a proposal for the organizational analysis of administrations in governance. The essay addresses with five sections. The first one is the introduction. In the second one, I present a synthesis of the governance in its current use. In the next one are presented the work lines of the good governance. In the fourth part, I show the organizational and managerial limits in the governance theory. The last part develops the harmonization proposal for the governance and organizational theories.

The Utilisation of Facebook for Knowledge Sharing in Selected Local Government Councils in Delta State, Nigeria

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Uzoma Heman Ononye

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: Facebook has made it possible for organisation to embrace social and network centric knowledge processes by creating opportunities to connect, interact, and collaborate with stakeholders. We have witnessed a significant increase in the popularity and use of this tool in many organisations, especially in the private sector. But the utilisation of Facebook in public organisations is at its infancy, with many also believing that the use of Facebook is not a common practice in many public organisations in Nigeria. In spite of this fact, our discernment on the implications of Facebook usage in public organisations in Nigeria, especially organisations at the local level, seem to be remarkably limited. This paper specifically sought to ascertain if Facebook usage influenced inward and outward knowledge sharing in the selected local government councils in Delta State, Nigeria Methodology: The qualitative method was adopted. The study used interview as the primary means of data gathering. The study purposively sampled thirty-six employees as interviewees, twenty from Oshimili South and sixteen from Oshimili North local government councils respectively. The thematic content analysis method was used to analyse interview transcripts. Contribution: This research made distinct contributions to the available literature in social knowledge management, specifically bringing to the fore the intricacies surrounding the use of Facebook for knowledge sharing purposes in the public sector. Findings: The local government councils were yet to appreciate and utilise the interactive and collaborative nature of Facebook in improving stakeholders’ engagement, feedback, and cooperation. Facebook was used for outward knowledge sharing but not for inward knowledge sharing. Recommendations for Practitioners: Local government councils should encourage interaction via Facebook, show willingness to capture knowledge from identifiable sources, and effectively manage

The Development of an IT Governance Maturity Model for Hard and Soft Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, Daniël; van Hillegersberg, Jos; Devos, Jan; DeHaes, Steven

2014-01-01

To be able to advance in maturity, organizations should pay attention to both the hard and soft aspects of governance. Current literature on IT governance (ITG) is mostly directed at the hard part of governance, focusing on structures and processes. The soft part of governance is related to social

Governing Academic Medical Center Systems: Evaluating and Choosing Among Alternative Governance Approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Chari, Ramya; O'Hanlon, Claire; Chen, Peggy; Leuschner, Kristin; Nelson, Christopher

2018-02-01

The ability of academic medical centers (AMCs) to fulfill their triple mission of patient care, medical education, and research is increasingly being threatened by rising financial pressures and resource constraints. Many AMCs are, therefore, looking to expand into academic medical systems, increasing their scale through consolidation or affiliation with other health care systems. As clinical operations grow, though, the need for effective governance becomes even more critical to ensure that the business of patient care does not compromise the rest of the triple mission. Multi-AMC systems, a model in which multiple AMCs are governed by a single body, pose a particular challenge in balancing unity with the needs of component AMCs, and therefore offer lessons for designing AMC governance approaches. This article describes the development and application of a set of criteria to evaluate governance options for one multi-AMC system-the University of California (UC) and its five AMCs. Based on a literature review and key informant interviews, the authors identified criteria for evaluating governance approaches (structures and processes), assessed current governance approaches using the criteria, identified alternative governance options, and assessed each option using the identified criteria. The assessment aided UC in streamlining governance operations to enhance their ability to respond efficiently to change and to act collectively. Although designed for UC and a multi-AMC model, the criteria may provide a systematic way for any AMC to assess the strengths and weaknesses of its governance approaches.

Governing environmental conflicts in China: Under what conditions do local government compromise?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Y. Li (Yanwei); J.F.M. Koppenjan (Joop); S. Verweij (Stefan)

2016-01-01

markdownabstractIn recent years, governing environmental conflicts concerning the planning, construction, and operation of urban facilities has increasingly become a challenge for Chinese local governments. Chinese governments seek adequate responses to deal with these conflicts, for instance by

E-participation and Climate Change in Europe: An analysis of local government practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Yetano

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Citizens are demanding greater transparency and accountability from their governments, and seek to participate in shaping the policies that affect their lives. The diffusion of the Internet has raised expectations that electronic tools may increase citizen participation in government decision-making and stop the decline of trust in political institutions. This paper brings together two relevant topics, e-participation and climate change, analyzing the websites of the environment departments of European local governments that have signed the Aalborg+10 commitments, in order to establish to what extent European local governments are making use of the Internet to promote e-participation and environmentally-friendly behaviors among their citizens. Our results show that the developments on e-participation are higher in transparency than interactivity. The Internet as a tool to revitalize the public sphere is still limited to those countries with higher levels of transparency, and penetration of ICTs and a culture of citizen engagement.

Management as an innovation paradigm of education governance: philosophical analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. G. Sytnychenko

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Value of management paradigm management determined that it is the most adequate model of implementation of educational innovations. Innovative approaches to governance, grounded in management theory, the needs reorientation of government to the needs of the consumer education. The main reason for this is the nature of activity management, its focus on management education as a social and cultural process determined in all the richness of social, organizational and personal relationships. In modern terms the greatest impact on innovation processes in governance provides administrative management. Distribution system innovations in the field of education creates opportunities to influence the system of government most directly dynamic management - innovation. Innovation Management - a purposeful innovation management system, its resources, people involved in developing and implementing innovations in order to maximize the effectiveness of innovation as the most important factor of the control system. The focus of innovation management in the management of education is to develop strategies of educational innovation as from within the educational sector, and about the management of innovation processes in its interaction with socio-cultural environment. Development and dissemination of innovation is a priority strategy of education in modern times, as it defines the rest of educational strategies.

The Role of Transnational Municipal Networks in Transboundary Water Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savitri Jetoo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The transboundary nature of stressors impacting shared water bodies has been traditionally recognized in agreements between nation states. Several developments have led to new layers of cross border environmental actors, including regional and city level interactions. This proliferation of non-state actors is witnessed in two large water bodies, the Baltic Sea and the North American Great Lakes. In both regions, transboundary water governance was led by nation states in agreements to improve heavily contaminated waters, the Helsinki Convention (1974 and the North American Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972, respectively. Whilst there has been much research on transnational regional networks, especially in Europe, there has been less theoretical work done on transnational municipal transboundary water networks due to the delay of recognition of the legitimacy of these local government actors. This paper aims to examine the role of the transnational municipal networks in transboundary water governance by looking at the case studies of the Union of Baltic cities in the Baltic Sea region and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in the North American Great Lakes Basin. It does this by assessing the role of these transnational municipal networks in bridging water governance gaps in these regions.

Knowledge governance, innovation and development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonardo Burlamaqui

2010-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to be a very preliminary effort to contribute to a better understanding of the interaction among innovation, competition and intellectual property policies from an evolutionary-developmental perspective. As such, it seeks to build a more coherent framework within which the discussions of both institution building and policy design for development can proceed. In order to accomplish that, the paper introduces the concept of "Knowledge Governance" as an alternative analytical and policy-oriented approach, and suggests that from a public policy/public interest perspective, and within an evolutionary framework, it is a better way to address the problems concerning the production, appropriability and diffusion of knowledge. In doing so, it also intends contribute to broaden the ongoing discussions on the "New Developmentalism".

Governing environmental conflicts in China : Under what conditions do local governments compromise?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Yanwei; Koppenjan, Joop; Verweij, Stefan

2016-01-01

In recent years, governing environmental conflicts concerning the planning, construction, and operation of urban facilities has increasingly become a challenge for Chinese local governments. Chinese governments seek adequate responses to deal with these conflicts, for instance by ignoring criticism

Study on e-government services quality: The integration of online and offline services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Fan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: E-Government, as a new bond linking the government and the public, has gradually become the focus of innovation in government services. The paper focuses on the e-Government service quality issues from the perspective of users. Design/methodology/approach: From the aspects of online service quality perception and offline service quality perception, based on IS Success model and SERQUAL model, e-Government Services Quality model has been set up with information quality, system quality and service quality as key factors. Then, the survey method was applied to collect data and then to test the model. Findings: It was found that users’ perception of offline service quality has a significant effect on improving their perception of online service quality, and online service quality perception has a significant effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services; information clarity, system security and stability, interactive services and “one-stop” services all have a significant effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services. However, offline service quality perception has certain positive effect on public satisfaction of e-Government services but not dramatically. Research limitations/implications: Mobile e-Government as an important direction of the development of e-Government, in the future, we will study more about mobile e-Government services channels. Originality/value: This study further develops the theory of information system service quality, and also provides a theoretical reference for government departments. On the one hand, based on the characteristics of e-government system, information quality, system quality and service quality in the previous system service model are further discussed; on the other hand, both online and offline services are taken into consideration in the information system service model, thus establishing the e-government services quality model and making an in-depth study of the

Public management and governance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bovaird, A. G; Löffler, Elke

2009-01-01

... how the process of governing needs to be fundamentally altered if a government is to retain public trust and make better use of society's resources. Key themes covered include: ■ ■ ■ ■ the challenges and pressures which governments experience in an international context; the changing functions of modern government in the global economy; the 'mixed ec...

Synaptotagmin interaction with SNAP-25 governs vesicle docking, priming, and fusion triggering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mohrmann, Ralf; de Wit, Heidi; Connell, Emma

2013-01-01

ramifications of proposed SNAP-25 × synaptotagmin-1 interaction in mouse chromaffin cells. We demonstrate that the postulated central binding domain surrounding layer zero covers both SNARE motifs of SNAP-25 and is essential for vesicle docking, priming, and fast fusion-triggering. Mutation of this site caused...... but is required for the full size of the readily releasable pool. Intriguingly, we also found that mutation of synaptotagmin-1 interaction sites led to more pronounced phenotypes in the context of the adult neuronal isoform SNAP-25B than in the embryonic isoform SNAP-25A. Further experiments demonstrated...

Hard and Soft Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moos, Lejf

2009-01-01

of Denmark, and finally the third layer: the leadership used in Danish schools. The use of 'soft governance' is shifting the focus of governance and leadership from decisions towards influence and power and thus shifting the focus of the processes from the decision-making itself towards more focus......The governance and leadership at transnational, national and school level seem to be converging into a number of isomorphic forms as we see a tendency towards substituting 'hard' forms of governance, that are legally binding, with 'soft' forms based on persuasion and advice. This article analyses...... and discusses governance forms at several levels. The first layer is the global: the methods of 'soft governance' that are being utilised by transnational agencies. The second layer is the national and local: the shift in national and local governance seen in many countries, but here demonstrated in the case...

Interoperability, Enterprise Architectures, and IT Governance in Government

OpenAIRE

Scholl , Hans ,; Kubicek , Herbert; Cimander , Ralf

2011-01-01

Part 4: Architecture, Security and Interoperability; International audience; Government represents a unique, and also uniquely complex, environment for interoperation of information systems as well as for integration of workflows and processes across governmental levels and branches. While private-sector organizations by and large have the capacity to implement “enterprise architectures” in a relatively straightforward fashion, for notable reasons governments do not enjoy such luxury. For thi...

Delineating locals: Transformations of knowledge/power and the governance of the Danube delta

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Assche, van K.A.M.; Duineveld, M.; Beunen, R.; Teampau, P.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we adopt a Foucauldian perspective on power/knowledge interactions to investigate the evolution and implementation of policy for the Romanian Danube delta. We argue that a better understanding of the potential for citizen participation in environmental governance can be obtained from

Governance in Health – The Need for Exchange and Evidence; Comment on “Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tata Chanturidze

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Governance in health is cited as one of the key factors in balancing the concerns of the government and public sector with the interests of civil society/private players, but often remains poorly described and operationalized. Richard Saltman and Antonio Duran look at two aspects in the search for new provider models in a context of health markets signalling liberalisation: (i the role of the government to balance public and private interests and responsibilities in delivering care through modernised governance arrangements, and (ii the finding that operational complexities may hinder well–designed provider governance models, unless governance reflects country-specific realities. This commentary builds on the discussion by Saltman and Duran, and argues that the concept of governance needs to be clearly defined and operationalized in order to be helpful for policy debate as well as for the development of an applicable framework for performance improvement. It provides a working definition of governance and includes a reflection on the prevailing cultural norms in an organization or society upon which any governance needs to be build. It proposes to explore whether the “evidence-based governance” concept can be introduced to generate knowledge about innovative and effective governance models, and concludes that studies similar to the one by Saltman and Duran can inform this debate.

Governance: Blending Bureaucratic Rules with Day to Day Operational Realities Comment on "Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models".

Science.gov (United States)

Chinitz, David P

2016-05-31

Richard Saltman and Antonio Duran take up the challenging issue of governance in their article "Governance, Government and the Search for New Provider Models," and use two case studies of health policy changes in Sweden and Spain to shed light on the subject. In this commentary, I seek to link their conceptualization of governance, especially its interrelated roles at the macro, meso, and micro levels of health systems, with the case studies on which they report. While the case studies focus on the shifts in governance between the macro and meso levels and their impacts on achievement of desired policy outcomes, they also highlight the need to better integrate the dynamics of day to day operations within micro organizations into the overall governance picture. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Fragmented International Governance of Arctic Offshore Oil : Governance Challenges and Institutional Improvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Humrich, Christoph

The governance architecture in the Arctic region is subject to broad public and academic debate. Existing governance arrangements are not considered sufficient to minimize risks and impacts from Arctic offshore oil activities. These governance arrangements are fragmented between law of the sea

Status of will governance in determination of law governing business documents validity

OpenAIRE

Peyman Mohammadi; Saeed Kheradmandi

2014-01-01

Law governing substantive conditions of business documents issuance is one of important problems facing investigators. Since law governing business contracts and documents is governing out of limits of national law today, value and effect of will governance is of interest to jurisprudents because contract parties are allowed to determine contract effects and terms consensually to the extent to which these effects and terms do not contradict public order and imperative law and, in fact, they c...

The Role of Deliberative Collaborative Governance in Achieving Sustainable Cities

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Margaret Gollagher

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Sustainability issues involve complex interactions between social, economic, and environmental factors that are often viewed quite differently by disparate stakeholder groups. Issues of non-sustainability are wicked problems that have many, often obscure causes, and for which there is no single, straightforward solution. Furthermore, the concept of sustainability is itself contested. For example there are disputes over whether a strong or weak interpretation of sustainability should be adopted. In cities, as elsewhere, sustainability therefore requires discursive plurality and multiple sites of action. It is the thesis of this paper that effective problem solving, decision-making and enacting of a sustainability agenda require deliberative collaborative governance (DCG, a logical hybrid of the closely related fields of deliberative democracy and collaborative governance. We provide a provisional typology of different modes of deliberative collaborative governance, explaining each with a sustainability example, with a particular focus on DCG initiatives for planning in Western Australia. It is argued that the lens provided by such a typology can help us to understand the factors likely to promote better resolution of wicked problems and increased sustainability.

Telecommunications in South Africa: Governance of who is actually regulating?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L-F Pau

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Although the Republic of South Africa telecommunications market is a maturing one with a large customer base to serve, it has been repeatedly been observed over the past few years that many good intentions were formulated in the regulatory sphere with sometimes poor outcomes and unclear governance. A number of surprising observations have been made on the outcomes, the delays or other process related events linked to regulatory measures. The paper thus researches first, from a governance point of view, who is actually regulating the telecommunications industry; it identifies next opportunities and bottlenecks whereby a change might happen to reach the expected outcomes. A political economy methodology is taken, backed up by extensive field work over 2010 and 2011, leading to a web of conjectures providing answers to the first question, based on an extensive analysis of key stakeholders goals, positions and interactions. Finally, a number of measures are proposed to improve the governance, regulatory impact and efficiency, and evolve the South African telecommunications eco-system.

E-GOVERNANCE IN EDUCATION: Areas of Impact and Proposing A Framework to Measure the Impact

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sami ALHOMOD

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Information Technology (IT is said to be the technology of 21st century. There has been a huge growth in the field of information technology. Traditionally IT was used only to provide the back office support to organizations. Nowadays it plays a strategic role in organizations supporting many business functions and also shapes new strategies in organizations. The IT field has also been introduced in the field of governance called “E Governance”. This IT based E governance has also been introduced in the field of education. The implementation of e governance in education has led to new broader innovations. E governance has enabled universities to expand their current geographical reach, to interact to prospective students all around the world and to establish themselves as global education providers. This paper examines the need for implementation of e governance in education sector and its possible advantages. The paper also proposes a framework to measure the success of an e governance initiative in an educational organisation. The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of change in Education with respect to the introduction and growth of IT based e governance.

Cloud Computing Governance Lifecycle

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Soňa Karkošková

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Externally provisioned cloud services enable flexible and on-demand sourcing of IT resources. Cloud computing introduces new challenges such as need of business process redefinition, establishment of specialized governance and management, organizational structures and relationships with external providers and managing new types of risk arising from dependency on external providers. There is a general consensus that cloud computing in addition to challenges brings many benefits but it is unclear how to achieve them. Cloud computing governance helps to create business value through obtain benefits from use of cloud computing services while optimizing investment and risk. Challenge, which organizations are facing in relation to governing of cloud services, is how to design and implement cloud computing governance to gain expected benefits. This paper aims to provide guidance on implementation activities of proposed Cloud computing governance lifecycle from cloud consumer perspective. Proposed model is based on SOA Governance Framework and consists of lifecycle for implementation and continuous improvement of cloud computing governance model.

Governance and the making and breaking of social-ecological traps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana M. Baker

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have areas of significant ecological importance that overlap with pressing development needs and high levels of natural resource dependence. This makes the design of effective natural resource governance and management systems both challenging and critical. In Ghana, this challenge is made more complex by the necessity of connecting formal, state-led systems of governance with Ghana's informal governance systems through which customary authorities exert considerable control over land and resources. We present findings from two multimethod research projects in two regions of Ghana that have significant issues related to resource exploitation and that have experienced extensive management interventions. The goals of the research were to characterize the social-ecological traps from a local perspective, to describe how governance and management structures interact with and relate to those traps, and to discuss the strategies used and challenges encountered when community-based natural resource management initiatives seek to reverse persistent social-ecological traps. In both case studies, participants described persistent cycles of resource dependence, overexploitation, and unsustainable land-use practices, which are exacerbated by illegal logging, intensive agricultural development, and population growth. Findings highlight how natural resource management is constrained by a lack of capacity to implement and enforce state policies, ongoing tension between customary and state institutions, and ambiguity regarding management responsibility and resource tenure. Interventions included targeted governance reform that centred on improving linkages between customary and state institutions, new and nonlocal actors, and complementary investments in capacity building and training. We conclude with a discussion of implications for the design of effective natural resource governance regimes in Ghana and beyond.

Spatial Collaboration Model among Local Governments in Ratubangnegoro Region in the Boundary Area of Central Java and East Java Provinces, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Wahyono, H.; Wahdah, L.

2018-02-01

In Indonesia, according to Law No. 23/2014 on Local Government, a local government can conduct cooperation with other local governments that are based on considerations of efficiency and effectiveness of public services and mutual benefit, in order to improve people's welfare. Such cooperation can be categorized into mandatory and voluntary cooperation. Cooperation shall be developed jointly between the adjacent areas for the implementation of government affairs which have cross-local government externalities; and the provision of public services more efficient if managed together. One of the parts of the area that is directly related to the implementation of the policy liabilities of inter-local government cooperation which is mandated is the he province boundary areas. The public management of the provincial boundary areas is different from the central province area. While the central province area considers only their own interests, the management of boundary development must consider the neighboring regions. On one hand, the area is influenced only by its own province policy, while on the other influenced by neighboring regions. Meanwhile, a local government tends to resist the influence and intervention of neighboring regions. Likewise, neighboring local governments also tend to resist the influence and intervention of other local governments. Therefore, when interacting on the boundary, inter-local government interaction is not only the potential for cooperation, but also conflict-prone regions. One of the boundary area provinces attempt to implement the collaborative planning approach is the boundary area of Central Java Province and East Java Province, which is known as Ratubangnegoro Region. Ratubangnegoro region is one of the strategic areas of both provinces. In order to the interaction between the region could take place, there are regencies in the region have formed and joined the Inter-Local Government Cooperation Agency (BKAD-Badan Kerjasama Antar

Integrative environmental governance: enhancing governance in the era of synergies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.

2015-01-01

The issue of regime complexity in global environmental governance is widely recognized. The academic debate on regime fragmentation has itself however been rather fragmented, with discussions circling around different concepts, including inter-organizational relations, polycentric governance,

A Primer on E-Government: Sectors, Stages, Opportunities, and Challenges of Online Governance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Seifert, Jeffrey W

2003-01-01

...), public access to government information, service delivery, and information security. E-government solutions are prominently represented in efforts to improve the management and efficiency of government information technology resources...

Does Adaptive Collaborative Forest Governance Affect Poverty? Participatory Action Research in Nepal's Community Forests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McDougall, C.L.; Jiggins, J.L.S.; Hari Pandit, B.; Thapa Magar Rana, S.K.; Leeuwis, C.

2013-01-01

Despite recognition of forests’ roles in rural livelihoods, there has been relatively little empirical exploration of community forestry’s contribution to poverty alleviation. Similarly, there has been little study of the interaction of social learning-based approaches to forest governance with

E-Government Maturity Model for Sustainable E-Government Services from the Perspective of Developing Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pusp Raj Joshi

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Electric government (e-government projects in developing countries are facing many challenges to deliver sustainable e-government services. From the existing literature, we found that most of the studies considered lack of technology, and limitations in budgets and human resources as the main hurdles in effective implementation of e-government services. Along with these limitations, we found that the e-government maturity models adopted by developing countries are failing to provide an appropriate strategic plan to deploy sustainable e-government services. While assessing the existing e-government maturity model, we made several observations on the lack of detail, the technology-centric nature, the emphasis on implementation, and the lack of an adoption strategy. This work contributes toward the proposition of a new e-government maturity model that would address the limitations of exiting e-government maturity models, and would support governments in developing countries to achieve sustainable e-government services. To achieve this goal, we considered five determinants—a detailed process, streamlined services, agile accessibility, use of state-of-the-art technology, and trust and awareness. The proposed model was validated by employing an empirical investigation through case-study and survey methods. We found that both the implementers (government and adopters (users of the e-government services benefited from the proposed model, resulting in an increased sustainability of e-government services.

Network Governance and the Making of Brazil's Foreign Policy Towards China in the 21st Century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Cardoso

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Driven by China's increasing global influence, China-Brazil relations have deepened significantly in the 21st century; for Brazil, this bilateral relationship has become one of the most important aspects of its foreign relations. This article aims at analysing how Brazil's foreign policy towards China was made and implemented during the eight years of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's presidency, and the first four years of Dilma Rousseff's presidency. While scholars agree that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not exclusively dominate this policy, little is known about which state and non-state actors were involved, how and why they interacted, and how their interactions influenced policy choices. The article starts by identifying the actors that played a significant role in formulating Brazil's China policy. Next, drawing on the concept of network governance, it explores the processes and mechanisms that governed the interactions among them. It concludes with an assessment of the democratic quality of this policy area.

The Governance of University Knowledge Transfer: A Critical Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Geuna, Aldo; Muscio, Alessandro

2009-01-01

Universities have long been involved in knowledge transfer activities. Yet the last 30 years have seen major changes in the governance of university-industry interactions. Knowledge transfer has become a strategic issue: as a source of funding for university research and (rightly or wrongly) as a policy tool for economic development. Universities…

Data governance tools evaluation criteria, big data governance, and alignment with enterprise data management

CERN Document Server

Soares, Sunil

2015-01-01

Data governance programs often start off using programs such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft SharePoint to document and share data governance artifacts. But these tools often lack critical functionality. Meanwhile, vendors have matured their data governance offerings to the extent that today's organizations need to consider tools as a critical component of their data governance programs. In this book, data governance expert Sunil Soares reviews the Enterprise Data Management (EDM) reference architecture and discusses key data governance tasks that can be automated by tools for business glossa

Polyploidy Enhances F1 Pollen Sterility Loci Interactions That Increase Meiosis Abnormalities and Pollen Sterility in Autotetraploid Rice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jinwen; Shahid, Muhammad Qasim; Chen, Lin; Chen, Zhixiong; Wang, Lan; Liu, Xiangdong; Lu, Yonggen

2015-12-01

Intersubspecific autotetraploid rice (Oryza sativa ssp. indica × japonica) hybrids have greater biological and yield potentials than diploid rice. However, the low fertility of intersubspecific autotetraploid hybrids, which is largely caused by high pollen abortion rates, limits their commercial utility. To decipher the cytological and molecular mechanisms underlying allelic interactions in autotetraploid rice, we developed an autotetraploid rice hybrid that was heterozygous (S(i)S(j)) at F1 pollen sterility loci (Sa, Sb, and Sc) using near-isogenic lines. Cytological studies showed that the autotetraploid had higher percentages (>30%) of abnormal chromosome behavior and aberrant meiocytes (>50%) during meiosis than did the diploid rice hybrid control. Analysis of gene expression profiles revealed 1,888 genes that were differentially expressed between the autotetraploid and diploid hybrid lines at the meiotic stage, among which 889 and 999 were up- and down-regulated, respectively. Of the 999 down-regulated genes, 940 were associated with the combined effect of polyploidy and pollen sterility loci interactions (IPE). Gene Ontology enrichment analysis identified a prominent functional gene class consisting of seven genes related to photosystem I (Gene Ontology 0009522). Moreover, 55 meiosis-related or meiosis stage-specific genes were associated with IPE in autotetraploid rice, including Os02g0497500, which encodes a DNA repair-recombination protein, and Os02g0490000, which encodes a component of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. These results suggest that polyploidy enhances epistatic interactions between alleles of pollen sterility loci, thereby altering the expression profiles of important meiosis-related or meiosis stage-specific genes and resulting in high pollen sterility. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Genetic interactions between Shox2 and Hox genes during the regional growth and development of the mouse limb.

Science.gov (United States)

Neufeld, Stanley J; Wang, Fan; Cobb, John

2014-11-01

The growth and development of the vertebrate limb relies on homeobox genes of the Hox and Shox families, with their independent mutation often giving dose-dependent effects. Here we investigate whether Shox2 and Hox genes function together during mouse limb development by modulating their relative dosage and examining the limb for nonadditive effects on growth. Using double mRNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in single embryos, we first show that Shox2 and Hox genes have associated spatial expression dynamics, with Shox2 expression restricted to the proximal limb along with Hoxd9 and Hoxa11 expression, juxtaposing the distal expression of Hoxa13 and Hoxd13. By generating mice with all possible dosage combinations of mutant Shox2 alleles and HoxA/D cluster deletions, we then show that their coordinated proximal limb expression is critical to generate normally proportioned limb segments. These epistatic interactions tune limb length, where Shox2 underexpression enhances, and Shox2 overexpression suppresses, Hox-mutant phenotypes. Disruption of either Shox2 or Hox genes leads to a similar reduction in Runx2 expression in the developing humerus, suggesting their concerted action drives cartilage maturation during normal development. While we furthermore provide evidence that Hox gene function influences Shox2 expression, this regulation is limited in extent and is unlikely on its own to be a major explanation for their genetic interaction. Given the similar effect of human SHOX mutations on regional limb growth, Shox and Hox genes may generally function as genetic interaction partners during the growth and development of the proximal vertebrate limb. Copyright © 2014 by the Genetics Society of America.

Governance conditions for improving quality drinking water resources : the need for enhancing connectivity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wuijts, Susanne; Driessen, P.P.J.; van Rijswick, H.F.M.W.

Realising the water quality objectives of the European Water Framework Directive have appeared to stagnate over the last decade all across Europe because of their highly complex nature. In the literature, interactive governance approaches tend to be regarded as the best way of dealing with complex

The Delphi Method as a Useful Tool to Study Governance and Protected Areas?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mehnen, Nora; Mose, Ingo; Strijker, Dirk

2013-01-01

The Delphi method is a systematic, interactive, written method, which relies on a panel of experts. This paper seeks to discuss whether the Delphi method is an appropriate method for obtaining information about governance. In this study we used the Delphi method to assemble information from 10

Innovation in City Governments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lewis, Jenny M; Ricard, Lykke Margot; Klijn, Erik Hans

Innovation has become an important focus for governments around the world over the last decade, with greater pressure on governments to do more with less, and expanding community expectations. Some are now calling this ‘social innovation’ – innovation that is related to creating new services...... that have value for stakeholders (such as citizens) in terms of the social and political outcomes they produce. Innovation in City Governments: Structures, Networks, and Leadership establishes an analytical framework of innovation capacity based on three dimensions: Structure - national governance...... project in Copenhagen, Barcelona and Rotterdam. The book provides major new insights on how structures, networks and leadership in city governments shape the social innovation capacity of cities. It provides ground-breaking analyses of how governance structures and local socio-economic challenges...

Governing Knowledge: The Formalization Dilemma in the Governance of the Public Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Woelert, Peter

2015-01-01

This paper offers a conceptually novel contribution to the understanding of the distinctive governance challenges arising from the increasing reliance on formalized knowledge in the governance of research activities. It uses the current Australian research governance system as an example--a system which exhibits a comparatively strong degree of…

Voluntary Environmental Governance Arrangements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, J.

2012-01-01

Voluntary environmental governance arrangements have focal attention in studies on environmental policy, regulation and governance. The four major debates in the contemporary literature on voluntary environmental governance arrangements are studied. The literature falls short of sufficiently

Beyond Good Governances: Lesson from Forest and Cultural Governance in Pelalawan, Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Novi Paramita Dewi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The shift in government concept into governance takes the consequence of changes in public governance including in the forestry sector. Good forest governance becomes a great hope for managing the forest condition so that sustainable forest management can be realized. However, in its implementation, it contains a big challenge for the forest in Indonesia which is mostly identical with indigenous people. Meanwhile, the development becomes a necessity that cannot be inhibited in which business corporation as the actor who plays in the forest governance is considered as a major threat to the environment and indigenous people. To achieve good forest governance, it is necessary to have a synergy with cultural governance that is hoped to be able to accommodate the indigenous people interests. This paper is a case study related to the practice as an effort to achieve good forest governance in the indigenous people of Pelalawan that are followed by the cultural governance effort so that the indigenous people culture of Pelalawan that is closely related to the forest can still be maintained.

Digital government and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Fountain, Jane E

2004-10-01

Digital government is typically defined as the production and delivery of information and services inside government and between government and the public using a range of information and communication technologies. Two types of government relationships with other entities are government-to-citizen and government-to-government relationships. Both offer opportunities and challenges. Assessment of a public health agency's readiness for digital government includes examination of technical, managerial, and political capabilities. Public health agencies are especially challenged by a lack of funding for technical infrastructure and expertise, by privacy and security issues, and by lack of Internet access for low-income and marginalized populations. Public health agencies understand the difficulties of working across agencies and levels of government, but the development of new, integrated e-programs will require more than technical change - it will require a profound change in paradigm.

Replication and explorations of high-order epistasis using a large advanced intercross line pedigree.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mats Pettersson

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Dissection of the genetic architecture of complex traits persists as a major challenge in biology; despite considerable efforts, much remains unclear including the role and importance of genetic interactions. This study provides empirical evidence for a strong and persistent contribution of both second- and third-order epistatic interactions to long-term selection response for body weight in two divergently selected chicken lines. We earlier reported a network of interacting loci with large effects on body weight in an F(2 intercross between these high- and low-body weight lines. Here, most pair-wise interactions in the network are replicated in an independent eight-generation advanced intercross line (AIL. The original report showed an important contribution of capacitating epistasis to growth, meaning that the genotype at a hub in the network releases the effects of one or several peripheral loci. After fine-mapping of the loci in the AIL, we show that these interactions were persistent over time. The replication of five of six originally reported epistatic loci, as well as the capacitating epistasis, provides strong empirical evidence that the originally observed epistasis is of biological importance and is a contributor in the genetic architecture of this population. The stability of genetic interaction mechanisms over time indicates a non-transient role of epistasis on phenotypic change. Third-order epistasis was for the first time examined in this study and was shown to make an important contribution to growth, which suggests that the genetic architecture of growth is more complex than can be explained by two-locus interactions only. Our results illustrate the importance of designing studies that facilitate exploration of epistasis in populations for obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the genetics underlying a complex trait.

Systems approach to waste governance: unpacking the challenges facing local government

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Godfrey, Linda K

2008-09-01

Full Text Available and Tourism (DEAT, 2007) highlighted the obstacles that are faced by local government in achieving service delivery for waste. The three identified obstacles included Financial Capacity; Institutional Capacity; Technical Capacity. 2 Opportunity cost... the systems diagrams show (Figure 2), is that without intervention by national government departments, e.g. National Treasury, Department of Provincial and Local Government, or Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, municipalities will be unable...

What?s Downstream? A Set of Classroom Exercises to Help Students Understand Recessive Epistasis ?

OpenAIRE

Knight, Jennifer K.; Wood, William B.; Smith, Michelle K.

2013-01-01

Undergraduate students in genetics and developmental biology courses often struggle with the concept of epistasis because they are unaware that the logic of gene interactions differs between enzymatic pathways and signaling pathways. If students try to develop and memorize a single simple rule for predicting epistatic relationships without taking into account the nature of the pathway under consideration, they can become confused by cases where the rule does not apply. To remedy this problem,...

Developing digital forensic governance

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Grobler, M

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a Digital Forensic (DF) governance framework and its mapping on the SANS ISO/IEC 38500:2009 Corporate governance of information technology structure. DF governance assists organisations in guiding the management team...

Censoring the Press: A Barometer of Government Tolerance for Anti-regime Dissent under Authoritarian Rule

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Ann Stein

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes that dissident leaders aiming to build mass opposition movements follow the mainstream press to help them gauge government tolerance for anti-government mass actions in repressive authoritarian regimes. Under conditions of censorship, media–state interactions serve as a barometer of the government’s disposition toward and capacity to impede public displays of dissent. Observing trends in coverage and the government’s reaction to this coverage helps activist leaders assess when it should be safest to plan anti-government mass actions, such as demonstrations, marches, or strikes. Using original data derived from coding content from the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo over the period of 1974–1982, I test whether opposition mass actions followed trends in taboo content and government treatment of the press during the period of political liberalization of Brazil’s military regime.

Federalism and multilevel governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wusten, H.; Agnew, J.; Mamadouh, V.; Secor, A.J.; Sharp, J.

2015-01-01

Federalism and multilevel governance both emphasize polycentricity in governing arrangements. With their different intellectual pedigrees, these concepts are discussed in two separate sections. Fragments are now increasingly mixed up in hybrid forms of governance that also encompass originally

An empirical analysis of corporate governance and firm value: Evidence from KSE-100 Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asad Khan

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the impact of corporate governance on firm value measured by Tobin’s Q. Different corporate governance proxies i.e. board size, board independence, audit committee and CEO duality are interacted with firm value. A sample of 91 nonfinancial firms listed on KSE was selected over the period 2010-2014. The findings of the study show that board size and CEO duality had negative impacts on firm value. Moreover, board size, non-executive directors and audit committee had positive and significant impacts on firm value.

Regulatory Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær, Poul F.; Vetterlein, Antje

2018-01-01

Regulatory governance frameworks have become essential building blocks of world society. From supply chains to the regimes surrounding international organizations, extensive governance frameworks have emerged which structure and channel a variety of social exchanges, including economic, political...... by the International Transitional Administrations (ITAs) in Kosovo and Iraq as well as global supply chains and their impact on the garment industry in Bangladesh....

Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Malaysia

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2012-01-01

This report assesses Ghana s corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Ghana. It is an update of the 2005 Corporate Governance ROSC. Good corporate governance enhances investor trust, helps to protects mino...